vW™" UC-NRLF B M sn 3Dfi 1 ■ 1 ^^1 1 ■ ;K;^^H|^^H^^^^H|^H H^^^H L. ^^1 '^^I^H 1 K^^^^H ^^^^^^^^^1 ^H 1 HI^^^^^^^^B' oH^mnsHnaM^^^ \ WHAT IS GOOD USIC? • SUGGESTIONS TO PERSONS DESIRING TO CULTIVATE A TASTE IN MUSICAL ART BY W. J. HENDERSON Author of " The Story of Music,'' " Preludes and Studies," etc. LONDON JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET 1898 h-l- A Copyright, 1898, by Charles Scribner's Sons for the United States of America Printed by the Trow Directory, Printing and Bookbinding Company New York, U. S. A, TO PHILIP HALE 253315 CONTENTS Prelude Music and the other arts — Criticism as opposed to en- joyment — Influence of romanticism — Wagner and his theo- ries — Phrases, sections, and melodies — Growth of the desire to understand music — Living with good music — Condition of the uninstructed listener — Hearing in the conventional way — Sonatas versus fandangoes — Hearing Bach's "Passion" — Chamber music as a soporific — Friends in need but not in deed Page 3 PART I, — THE QUALITIES OF GOOD MUSIC The Essentials of Form Rhythm, Melody, and Harmo}iy Excellence of musical ideas — Musical high thinking- Laws which are recognizable — Musical form and history — Why needful to know form ? — Music exists when heard — Necessity of repetition — Distribution of repetitions — Di- versity in unity — Importance of separate functions — High grades of organization — Nature of rhythm — Elementary VII Prelude. Chap. I. Vlll Contents Chap. I. rhythms — Simple and compound rhythms — Nature of mel- ody — Nature of harmony — Melody and rhythm associated — Analyzing a common melody — The closing cadence — Explanation of phrases — Repetition of a motive — Satisfy- ing the ear — Musical and poetic rhythms— Complexity of organization Pi^ge 13 Polyphonic Forms Chap. Poljrphonic system of repetition — The monophonic sys- II. tem — The harmonic basis — A tune accompanying itself — A tune accompanied by chords — Polyphonic music defined — Meaning of counterpoint — The fugue defined — Subject and answer — Counter-subject and stretto — What to listen for — The fugue's intellectuality — Age of polyphony — Lasso and Palestrina — Music originally formless — Beginning of song — Appearance of rhythm — Rhythm taken from text — The ecclesiastical chant — Obviousness of melodic form — The instrumental development — The fugues of J. S. Bach — Characteristics of polyphony — Mastery of rigid material Page 27 Chap. III. Monophonic Forms The solo-voice style — Dominance of song-thought — The sonata its issue — Period and stanza — Many schemes of repetition — The Rondo form — A Rondo in verse — Devel- opment of Rondo forms — The late Rondo form — The First Movement form — The slow introduction — Sometimes made important — The two chief themes — Relation of keys — Sub- jects and their relations — Use of episodes — Value of the " repeat " — The " working-out " part — Thematic develop- ment — Alterations of the subject — Altering the melody — Treatment and coloring — Difference in styles — Value of working out — Climax of a movement — The skeleton con- cealed — PIsscntials of sonata form — Vocal and instrumen- Contents IX tal styles — The second movement — The minuet with de- velopment — The minuet and scherzo — Origin of the scherzo — Scherzi by Bach — The true Beethoven scherzo — Form of the scherzo — Finale of the sonata — Modern innovations — The concerto form — Sonata the classic form — The era of musical beauty — The term "classical" — Absence of deep emotion — Beauty and the Sonata. . . . Pa^e 41 Chap. III. Rontaniic For jus Recapitulation — The two great impulses — Classicism and Romanticism — Demand for expression — Beethoven's romanticism — Its effect on form — Community of theme — Schumann's fourth symphony — Its plan of development — The Symphonic poem — The programme overture — Liszt's piano concertos — Traits of romantic music. . . Ptr^e 63 Chap, IV. Ftindamental Principles Balance and design — F.ssentials of form — Common to all music — Small versus large forms Page 70 Chap. V. Vocal Forms Church Counterpoint Mediaeval church music — Essentials of vocal counter- point — Beauty of church polyphony Page 73 Chap. VI. Simple Song Forms Age of the song — Song form and poetry — The cyclical song — Meaning in accompaniment — Value of form and style — Dramatic songs — Essentials of a good song — Vari- ety of song forms Page 75 Chap. VII. Contents Operatic Forms Qwx-p. Origin ofopera — Monotony of recitative — Advent of the VIII. aria^Reign of vocal display — Tickling the ear — Abolish- ing set forms — Purpose of opera music — Fidelity to the text — Music as an expression — Kinds of recitative — ''Recitative secco " — The arioso style — The aria da capo — Different kinds of aria — Artistic level of opera — Absolute music higher Pa^e 79 The Content of Music CiTAr. IX. The Senstious Form not everything — Criticism of form and style — Fun- damental qualities of music — Form implies content — Three fundamental forces — The sensuous element — Purely sen- suous music — Sensuousness of the orchestra — Pleasure of the thoughtless — Factors of the sensuous — Composition and painting — Tone-color and art — The Sensuous a means — Color and Outline Pa^'e 88 T/ie Intellectual Chap. " Music of the intellect" — Intellect and method — The X« Intellectual and design — Demands of musical design — A correct emotional scheme — Attributes of an organism — Organism in music— Hanslick on form — The Intellectual in history — Beethoven and the Intellectual — Music's high- est organism Pagf 97 CiiAr. XI. The E)iiotional Music arouses emotion — Mistakes about musical emo- tion — Primary law of expression — Music imitates speech — Contents XI Power of musical expression — Limit of this expression — Music expresses moods — Not an indefinite expression — Errors of the hearer — Groundless expectations — What one may expect — Beethoven's emotional utterance — Evils of bad criticism — How not to criticise — Music wrongly cen- sured — Conventions of expression — Descriptive music — Programme music — Telling a story — Value of opera music — Communication of emotion Page 104 Chap. XI. ^Esthetics of Music What is the beautiful ? — Kant on Beauty — Free and adherent beauty— Their place in music — Art and symbol- ism — Beauty and education — Art and judgment — Value of the Inevitable — Suitability of style — Fitness in opera music — .(Esthetics of the emotional — Music and abstract Beauty — Form absolutely essential — Summary of musical beauty Page 117 Chap. XII. PART IL—THE PERFORMANCE OF MUSIC Instrumental Performance The Orchestra Performance a sure ground — Questions of fact — The modern orchestra — Its scope and power — Its three groups — The various instruments — Functions of the three choirs — The wood wind — Its minor groups — Its compass and va- riety—Close and dispersed writing — The brass choir — French horn passages — Trumpets and trombones — Use of kettle drums — The string quintet — Special effects — Muted Chap. XIII. Xll Contents Chap. strings — Relations of stringed instruments — Tlie viola's XIII. character — Its dramatic power — The violoncello — Variety in the strings — Good orchestration — Solidity and balance — Contrast and variety — Hearing all the instruments — Good orchestral playing — Balance of tone — Smoothness of tone — Solidity of tone — Precision and unanimity — Light and shade — The middle voices — Duties of a con- ductor Page 129 Chap, XIV. Chamber Music Homogeneity of tone — The pervasive " soloist " — Place of the piano — Beauty of quartet playing — Taste for cham- ber-music , Page 151 The Piano Chap. Ignorance about piano playing — Technic and tone- X\^ color — Music must be heard — Power of the interpreter — Paderewski an example — Object of piano technic — Eman- uel Bach and Mozart — dementi's style — Liszt, Chopin, and tone-color — Independence of fingers — The singing tone — Touch and pedalling — Rhythm and phrasing — Musical temperament — Emotion and performance — Control of emotion — Intellect in command — Province of the intellect — Emotion and shading — Historical justice — Making a reading — Analysis of the design — Adjustment of effects- Grasp of organic unity — Value of emotional power — Sum- mary of the matter Pi!ge 155 The Violin Chap. The violin teclmic — Accuracy of stopping — Quality of X\ I. tone — Touch in bowing — Purity and sonority — Large and small tone — The bow arm — Special effects — Violins as singers — Intimacy of the violin Page 17a What Is Good Music? Prelude THE right to like or dislike a musical composition without giving a rea- son has long been regarded as coexistent with human freedom. Music has been a sort of Cinderella of the arts, casually observed, incidentally admired, but gen- erally treated as of no serious importance in the presence of her favored sisters, painting and poetry. No one presumed to pronounce an opinion on the merit of a picture or a statue who had not at least learned the difference between a pen- and-ink drawing and a water-color, and few persons would have ventured to write down Shakespeare an ass before having acquired a sufficient knowledge of poetry to tell a sonnet from a five-act tragedy. But it was deemed altogether fitting and, indeed, intellectually satis- fying that Beethoven should be smugly patted on the back, Brahms viewed with Music and the other arts. What Is Good Music ^ Preutde. Criticism as opposed to eiijoy- 7?ie7it, Influence of roman- ticism. lifted brows, and Wagner convicted of lunacy by persons who could not, while in the concert-room, detect a fantasia masquerading as an overture, nor a suite disguised as a symphony — nay, more, who could not tell when the composer dropped the elementary rhythm of the valse to take up that of the polonaise. For music was, if you please, not matter to be reasoned about, but just to be lis- tened to and to be enjoyed. " Who are these fellows," said the concert-goers, " with their prosy platitudes about mu- sic and her dignity as an art ? Do we go into the concert-room to search for the skeleton under the beautiful flesh ? Nay, let us feast our hearts upon the ravishing beauty of naked Sound, and let these anatomists go fall upon their own scalpels." But even as they spoke there arose a race of composers who used the scalpel on their own art, and who cried aloud in the market-places for intellectual con- sideration. And these composers were forthwith discovered to be romanticists, who declared that music was not only beautiful, but throbbing with the pent- Prelude up passion of humanity. In her these found the elemental voice of mankind, the speech of fundamental emotions, the irresistible declaration of the primeval barbarian grandeur of the man and woman at gaze one upon the other; and they called the world to witness that when they sat down to compose music they were engaged in graving with subt- ler tools what the painter splashed with his brush and the poet traced with his pen. Finally, one of these romanticists, a mad, uncontrollable fellow, whose con- victions burnt into his soul with such fierce fire that they sent him running through the highways of the world screaming his agony into the faces of men, proclaimed his belief in a hybrid, acephalous thing called the art-work of the future, in which poetry, painting, act- ing, and music should unite and form an aesthetic Dagon to be worshipped in Gath and Askalon, and all the cities of the Philistines. And then the listeners to music said to one another, " Wherein do the works of this Utopian differ from those of Mozart and the prophets ? We Prelude. Wa^er and his theories. What Is Good Music? Prelude. Phrases^ sections and melodies. Growth of the desire to under- stand music. hear a great confusion of sounds, but the aria and the trio and the finale are not." So they learned that there was a some- thing called a leit motif, and that some- times it was only a phrase, sometimes a section, and again a complete melody. Whereupon they became aware that they themselves did not know how a phrase, a section, or a complete melody might differ one from the other. And so, as has frequently happened since the beginning of the world, the woman tim- orously tasted the fruit of the tree of knowledge, and finding that it was good for food and to make one wise, " gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked." Assuredly, whatever may have been the course of musical culture in other lands, in the United States the appetite for an understanding of music was aroused by Wagner. Now many who have for years been sitting in the temples of the divine art in sloth and carelessness are crying out, " What shall I do to be saved ? " It has been the happy expe- Prelude rience of the writer to meet with hun- dreds who were searching anxiously for the path that leads to musical salvation. Fortunately, it is not only a straight path, but a broad and short one. The person who desires to cultivate a discriminating taste in music may acquire the funda- mental knowledge in a few short months. After that, one needs only to live much in an atmosphere of good music until the acquired principles become uncon- sciously the moving factors underlying all attention to the art. If, therefore, I venture to offer a few hints to those who find pleasure in listening to music, but desire to make that pleasure dependent not on fancy but on judgment, I may hope that not every man will deem me an impertinent fellow. Let us suppose, then, forbearing reader, that you are in the state of the average music-lover. You get great enjoyment out of the opera, though you freely admit that you begin to be weary at the point where the inner brother- hood pricks up its ears and looks very wise. You attend the functions of the Bos- ton Symphony Orchestra and the Phil- Prelude. Living with good music. Condition of the un- instructed listener. What Is Good Music? Prelude. Hearing in the conven- tional way. Sonatas versus fandan- goes. harmonic Society, and when they play Haydn's worlcs, )"ou are quite content. You like also some of the symphonies of Mozart, some of Mendelssohn's, and parts of Beethoven's. But you are troubled by that dark-blue music of Tschaikowsky, and those impolite com- positions of DvoMk ; and you deem it an unpardonable rudeness on the part of any orchestra to confuse you with those tonal riddles of Brahms. Private- ly you are willing to admit that the slow movements of nearly all symphonies are as poppy and mandragora to you ; and you surreptitiously go to the Sunday- evening concerts where the ballet-music of Massenet and Delibes refreshes your intellect by its appeal to your feet. You go to piano recitals when the buzz of public talk about the pianist excites your curiosity, but you do wish tlie artist would let those dreary Beethoven so- natas, Schumann fantasias, and Bach fugues rest, and stick to his Chopin valses, Rubinstein barcarolles, and Liszt fandangoes. As for the oratorio, you, like others, go religiously once a year to hear the Prelude " Messiah," thoroughly satisfied that it towers above other oratorios as Mount Browne above Tacoma, and sometimes you go to hear the " Elijah." You never heard any other oratorios and — but stop a bit ; someone induced you once to go and listen to a thing called the " St. Mat- thew Passion," and you might have known better, because it was by that old contrapuntal carpenter, Bach. Thank goodness, you had the good fortune to hold a seat under the gallery, where you could sleep without being seen. More- over, you were once persuaded to go to what a friend described as a chamber- music concert. There you heard four ghostly persons perform an operation which seemed to you to be the articula- tion of a symphonic skeleton. At that entertainment you became reckless and slept openly in the sight of all men. And let me add in strict confidence that if the performance was no better than most of our quartet-playing, I do not blame you for your somnolence. Now, how are you to escape from this slough of despond? You know there is a land of promise somewhere on the Prelude. Hearing Bach' s "Passion." Chamber music as a soporific. lO What Is Good Music? Prelude. Friends in need but not in deed. other side, because your friends, who have entered into it, have told you there is, and have comforted you with their pity for your unregenerate state, and with vivid descriptions of the superiority of their own condition. They have en- couraged you vastly, but have neglected to pull you out of the slough. Yet it is possible to escape from it. Music is an art. It is a thing of law and order. There is no ineffable mystery and mira- cle about it which may not be under- stood by the average man. Let us, then, address ourselves to the inquiry, What is good music ? It is not a ques- tion to which a complete and satisfying answer can be given, but something can be said which will, perchance, be of aid to him who has been in search of some guide for his judgment. Part I The Qualities of Good Music THE ESSENTIALS OE FORM I Rhythm, Melody, mid Harmony NO rule can be laid down for recog- nizing the excellence of a musical idea. It cannot, for instance, be said that originality of rhythm or harmony is necessary. Such a statement would be overthrown at once by the mere cita- tion of the first theme of Beethoven's "Eroica" symphony or the Walhalla theme from Wagner's " Der Ring des Nibelung." The essential qualities of greatness in a musical subject are not to be described. The loftiness of their thought commands an immediate recog- nition from the cultured mind, and that recognition, by force of habit, becomes immediate and almost instinctive. No practised listener to music is often at a loss to decide whether a theme is digni- 13 Excellence of musical ideas. H The Essentials of Form Chap. I. Musical high think- ing. Laws xvhich are recogniza- ble. fied or trivial. The power to recognize the elevation of a fine musical thought must come from continued musical high- thinking. One must live with the mas- ters and absorb the spirit of their nobil- ity. There is no other way to learn to discern the excellence of musical ideas. But it is possible to help the student of music to perceive the skill of the composer in building music with his ideas and that of the performer in pre- senting the composition to the hearer. For in these departments we are con- fronted with a system of laws derived from the discoveries of the great gen- iuses of the art. The task of the honest student of music is to learn these laws, to acquire the ability to perceive, in lis- tening to a performance, when they are observed and when they are broken. He will thus come to listen to music in- telligently. It is my purpose in this volume to do what I can to assist the reader to gain an acquaintance with those qualities of excellence in music and musical per- formance which are susceptible of def- inition. The person who desires to Rhythm, Melody, and Harmony i r cultivate a taste in music ought to be acquainted, first of all, with musical form and the history of music. From the first he will learn to perceive the structure, the artistic design, of every composition to which he listens, and from the second he will acquire a knowl- edge of the period to which a composi- tion belongs, of the state of develop- ment of the art, of the purposes and possibilities of composition at that time. It is obvious that any attempt at an outline of the history of music would be out of place in this volume. The subject is altogether too large for treat- ment here, and there are already extant epcellent and trustworthy treatises on tibut-ubject. Let us, therefore, start with the inquiry : Why is it essential to the intelligent appreciation of music that one should be acquainted with the elements of musical form ? Because in music form is the first manifestation of law. Music is to be conceived primarily as presented to the hearing. The printed page of a compo- sition is not music ; it is merely the rec- ord of music. The music itself has no Chap. I. Musical form and history. Why need- ful to knoto forin f i6 The Essentials of Form Chap. I. Music ex- ists when heard. Necessity of repeti- tion. existence except when it is sounded by instrument or voice, and heard. There are very few persons, even among pro- fessional musicians, who are capable of imagining the precise sound of a com- position from reading the printed page.. And even if m.any could do this, it would still be foreign to the art. It would be like imagining a picture from reading a description of it. Pictures must be seen ; music must be heard. The mu- sical composition, then, passes before the sense of hearing as a panorama of sounds. If the music consists of a se- ries of consecutive melodic bits, each different from the other, the mind grasps nothing. The fleeting nature of a musi- cs o o, cal thought demands that it be \ lis-'^t- ed in order that the mind may ^-^ome acquainted with it. And so we come upon the first requisite of musical form — repetition. The necessity of repetition in musical composition is so obvious that it calls for brief discussion. The music-lover, by examining any simple air, will find that at regular intervals the initial notes of the melody are repeated, as for ex- Rhythm, Melody, and Harmony 17 ample in " Home, Sweet Home," and that it is the repetition of these notes that identifies the tune. Thus we come upon the elementary fact that a musical form is dependent upon the more or less regular repetition of some recog- nizable bit of melody. The study of the methods of distributing repetitions led composers to the organization of forms, and hence we find that form in music is synonymous with design. Without design there is no artisti* work; and the greater the diversit3Mn unit}^ displayed by the design, the high- er the art. In architecture, to make use of analogical illustration, the sim- plest form is a plain, square building, but the highest art is to be found in a great Gothic cathedral with its thou- sands of details, each beautiful in itself, but all similar in general character, and all forming part of a whole, which is the perfect embodiment of unity.. In nat- ural life a simple form is the pol3'^p, while the highest and most complex form is man. If youcut a polyp into pieces, each piece lives still. Turn it- inside out, and the skin becomes the Chap. I. Distribu- tion of repetitions. Diversity tn unity. i8 The Essentials of Form Chap. I. Importance of separate functions. High grades of organi- zation. Stomach, and vice versa. Every part performs every function, and hence no one part is indispensable. That is the lowest form of design. In man every part has a separate function, and with- out that part the whole would be in- complete. That is the highest form of design. It is the most admirable exam- ple of diversity in unity. Goethe, con- templating these facts, formulated in his "Morphology" this law: "The more perfect the being, the more dissimilar are its parts. Subordination of parts indicates high-grade of organization." Hence, in music, the simplest form is that of a common ballad, but the most complex form is that which is the most highly organized — the sonata. Before the lover of music is able, however, to discern the component parts of a so- nata, and therefore to appreciate its de- sign, he must acquaint himself with the elements of musical form. The material of form in music con- sists of rhythm, melody, and harmon}-. Rhythm is the grouping of sounds with reference to their duration and accent. In poetry it is primarily manifested b}' Rhythm, Melody, and Harmony the distribution of accented and unac- cented syllables in what is called a foot. In music it is indicated by the number of notes of similar character in one meas- ure. In three-fourth time we have three quarter-notes in a measure, with the accent normally on the first. In four- fourth time we have four quarter-notes, with the principal accent on the first and a secondary accent on the third. The elasticity of musical material, however, makes it possible for the composer to build rhythms which shall extend bcr yond the limits of a single measure, and thus we get a wide limit of complexity, leading always toward that high organ- ization which is part of an art-work. But as the complexity of a musical work may depend largely on factors other than rhythm, we find that in some of the greatest compositions the rhythms are elementary. An elementary rhythm may be described as one in which the notes of the melody nearly or wholly coincide with the number of beats in a measure. Instances of this kind of rhythm are the theme of the scherzo of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, 19 Chap. I, Nature of rhythm. Elemen- tary rhythms. 20 Chap. I. The Essentials of Form and the choral theme of the same com- poser's Ninth Symphony : Simple and compound rhythms. -d^=i J J ^■^^^ • , "1 — 1~ —,..-. . _ :-J-J— ^-^ :*=J_^i^ -A 1— -j-J— '-*— *— •— *-^ —1 1> ~ Fetis calls this kind of rhythm simple, and distinguishes it from compound rhythm, in which the notes in succes- sive measures do not so nearly coincide with the number of beats in a bar, as, for example : : 1 * ^ =^=iz: =*rp=irEf!E«r_^ : -gz g-1 It must be obvious to the reader that in the construction of a melody a com- poser has wide scope for complexity of rhythm, and that he can display marked originality and produce striking effects. The second element of form is melod}^ by which we mean the distribution of rN Rhythm, Melody, and Harmony 21 sounds with reference to their succes- sion. No amount of rhythmic origi- nality would satisfy the ear if a single tone were maintained throughout. In order to have melody, we must have movement from lower tones to higher, or vice versa. The melodic succession, therefore, is dependent upon changes of pitch. It is a succession of tones of dif- ferent elevation. The third element of form — harmony — is the distribution of sounds with reference to their union. It is the science of arranging the effect of tones which are to be heard simul- taneously, and it also governs the se- quences of the groups, or chords, as they are called. Our modern music is so thoroughly founded on harmony that it is difficult to conceive of any familiar air as dissociated from its usual chord arrangement. A new harmonization gives the air apparently a new melody. For example : Chap. I. A^ature of melody. Nature of harmony. 22 The Essentials of Form Chap. I. Melody and rhythm associated. Analyzing- a common melody. It is equally true that melody is indis- solubly associated with rhythm, and that an alteration of the rhythm will give a new character to a melodic succession, thus : We may lay harmonic foi^m aside for the present and confine ourselves to the study of melodic form. The simplest and most intelligible method of pro- cedure is to take a common tune and pull it apart to see how it is built: -Ut Section -~d Phrase- -Sd Phrase- -2d Section- I I -Uh Phrase- ^Em ^:*=*: ih^^JEf. X-^- This is the first part of the principal theme in the opening movement of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony. An examination will show that it divides Rhythm, Melody, and Harmony itself into two equal parts of four meas- ures each, the first part, which may be called the proposition, ending at the point marked by an arrow. Long habit has taught the human ear that a melody is not ended till it closes with a cadence returning it to the tonic key; hence on hearing the suspension at the arrow we realize that the sense is incomplete, just as we would if we heard a man say, " If I go down town to-morrow," and then pause. But when the man adds, " I shall buy new shoes," he completes the sense and the sentence. Just so Beetho- ven completes his sentence by adding the second half, or conclusion. These two equal parts of a melody are called sections, and the portion making com- plete sense, whether composed of two or more sections, is called a period. A further examination will show that each section is naturally divided into two balancing parts of two measures each, and that each of these parts has a perfectly defined shape and motion and a point of repose, or partial repose. These parts are called phrases. The germ of the phrase is the motive, which 24 The Essentials of Form Chap. I. indeed is the germ of the whole melod}'. It defines the rhythm and sets the figure for the melody. In the example quoted, the motive is coincident with the first phrase, but, of course, this is not always the case. In Beethoven's Fifth Sym- phony the motive is this : while the first phrase is this : Repetition of a motive. From the example quoted above, the reader will be able to gather what was meant by the phrase " distribution of repetitions." He will note, for instance, that the repetition may be either rhyth- mic, or melodic, or both. The motive, an- nounced in the first measure, is repeat- ed exactly in both rhythm and melody in the fifth (the first measure of the second section). So, indeed, is the whole of the first phrase. The third measure of the first section is identical in rhythm, but not in melody, with the third meas- ure of the second section. The change in melody is dictated by the composer's Rhythm, Melody, and Harmony 25 perception of the most suitable method of returning to the tonic. He could have used the third measure of the first sec- tion over, but it would have deprived him of the reposeful effect gained by the B preceding the final A, which requires a harmony passing from dominant to tonic, and thus giving a satisf3'ing ca- dence. The fourth measure of the first section repeats the rhythm of the third measure with the lengths of the first two notes transposed for the obvious purpose of accentuating the suspension, and of satisfying a demand of harmony which need not be discussed here. This examination of the first period of a melody by Beethoven reveals to us some of the principles of elementary form. It shows us that rhythms and metres in music are distributed in very much the same way as they are in poet- ry, and that the identity of a tune is es- tablished by the repetitions of the fun- damental melodic ideas of which it is made. Any simple song — a folk-song, a ballad, or one of the ordinary opera airs — can be analyzed in the manner above employed and without difficulty. Chap. I. Satisfying the ear. Musical a}td poetic rhythms. 26 The Essentials of Form Chap. I. Complex- ity of organi- zation. But when we come to a composition in which several complete tunes are used, or in which even one is used with much variety of musical treatment, we find ourselves in the presence of one of those higher organizations in which the system of construction does not so readily make itself known. Yet it is not beyond the power of any listener to learn to perceive the formal construction of a composition to which he is listening, and in doing so to enjoy the beauty of its design or to detect fundamental weaknesses in it. 27 II Y- Polyphonic Forms THE student of music will soon dis- cover that there are two great classes of forms — polyphonic and mono- phonic — many-voiced and single-voiced. In the former he will find that the or- ganism is effected by repeating (at a dis- tance of one or more measures) in a second voice what has already been sung or played by a first. The complexity of this system of repetition may be made very great, as in a four-voiced canon, and the system is capable of marvellous detail and compactness, as in the fugue. The monophonic system, on the other hand, makes its repetitions within the limits of a single-voiced melody having a subsidiary accompaniment. Its sim- plest form is the song, and its highest the symphony. The student should endea- Polyphonic system of 7-epetiticn. The 7?iofio- p}w7iic system. 28 The Essentials of Form Chap. II. The har- monic basis. vor to form a clear conception of the essential difference between polyphonic and monophonic writing: In the poly- phonic st3'le we are confronted by a melody repeated at different intervals by different voices, and forming its own harmonies. In the monophonic stj'le, sometimes called the harmonic, we have a single-voiced melody whose succes- sion of tones is conceived as an organic part of a succession of chords out of which the accompaniment is formed. Here is an example of polyphonic writ- ing (a canon — of which a definition will be given later) which will show the reader how a tune is made to work as its own accompaniment : The reader will note that in the sec- ond measure the first voice begins, at an Polyphonic Forms 29 interval half a tone higher, the tune be- gun by the second voice in the first measure. The first voice follows the second in intoning the air, always just a measure behind and half a tone higher ; and the tune working against itself in this way provides its own harmonies. This is a fair illustration of the process of polyphonic construction, while a brief quotation from the " Tannhauser " over- ture will suffice to illustrate the nature of the monophonic style and its har- monic character: Chap. II. A tune ac- contpaiiy- tng itself. Here it is obvious that the lower voices do not repeat the melody of the upper voice, nor are they essentially melodious in themselves, as they would have to be in polyphonic writing. The upper voice — the melody — is, however, plainly con- ceived as an inseparable part of a suc- cession of chords which not only form its accompaniment, but add distinctive A tiaie ac- companied by chords. 30 The Essentials of Form Chap. II. Polyphonic music dc- Jined. Meaning of counter- point. features to its character. The reader ought now to be prepared to accept cer- tain definitions which bear upon form. Polyphonic music is that in which several voices, each intoning a melody, move simultaneously without discord. Polyphonic writing is based on coun- terpoint, which is the art of construct- ing two or more melodies which may proceed together with correct harmony. The different voices in a contrapuntal composition are not required to repeat the same melody. Two or more indi- vidual tunes may be heard at once. In the finale of Wagner's " Die Meister- singer " prelude five melodies are going simultaneously. When the same mel- ody is repeated by the various voices, we have a canonic form, of which the highest development is the fugue. A canon, as I have shown, is a composition in which the voices begin one after an- other, each intoning precisely the same melody. The laws of canon require that the point of entry, having been es- tablished, must be followed by all the voices ; that is, if the second voice be- gins one measure after the first, the Polyphonic Forms 31 third must begin one measure after the second. Furthermore, the voices must rigidly preserve the first intervallic dif- ference ; that is, if the second voice takes up the tune a third above the first, it must follow out the melody at that in- terval. The reader will at once perceive that canonic writing requires profound mastery of musical material, and that it is likely to interest us more by the in- tellectual qualities displayed in its con- struction than by its merely sensuous charms. A fugue is a composition written in strict polyphonic style ac- cording to laws laid down by the elder masters. Bach is the accepted head of the school of fugue writers, and his worlds formulate the entire code of prac- tice^ It is quite unnecessary and foreign to the general purpose of this book to describe the entire construction of a fugue ; but its general features ought to be pointed out. The required parts of a fugue are the Subject, the Answer, the Countersubject, and the Stretto. The Subject is the theme, the funda- mental melody. The Answer is the cor- relative of the Subject. The former is Chap. II. The fugue defined. Sul'jrct atid answer. 32 The Essentials of Form Chap. II. Counter- subject and stretto. usually the first phrase of the fugue, and the latter the second phrase, and the polyphonic character of the composition is at once revealed by the fact that the Answer is simply the Subject repeated at a different pitch, thus: ^= It; , '-^ 1 — f^ — antwer -r ^ — m — 1 1 p^ ~i r — '^^ — <^— — -- The Countersubject is that part of the melody which is so constructed as to form the accompaniment to the Answer. The Stretto is a drawing together of the parts near the end of the fugue by caus- ing their entries to overlap. The stu- dent will find that the Answer is some- times an inversion of the Subject. Sometimes it repeats the Subject in longer notes (augmentation) and some- times in shorter notes (diminution). Va- rious other devices are employed to give life and interest to a fugue, but there is no necessity of dwelling upon them here. Accurate and complete criticism of a fugue is only possible to one who is fully Polyphonic Forms 33 acquainted with the laws of fugue; but an intelligent estimate of the value of a fugal composition may be made by any person who knows the general princi- ples of polyphony. The listener to a fugue should identify the Subject and watch for the Answer. He should note whether it is direct or inverted, or whether it has been augmented or di- minished. At the same time he should hear the Countersubject and bear it in mind. Thereafter he should follow the in- terweaving of these melodic parts and endeavor to decide whether it shows in- genuity or baldness, plasticity, or stiff- ness, power and fecundity, or unsuccess- ful effort and barrenness. Above all, the great question is: Does it make music? Is it beautiful within the field of poly- phonic writing, or is it ugly ? If it has balance, symmetry, clarity, and logical development it will have the front of beauty. It will come with all the con- vincing force of a clear argument. The fugue is an intellectual product, and it must be studied with the intellect. He who listens for rhythm and melody only. Chap. II. What to Its ten for. The fugue's intellectu- ality. 34 The Essentials of Form Chap. II. A^e of polyphony. Lasso end Pales- trina. will be disappointed in all fugues, even those of Bach. The proper endeavor is to follow the interweaving of the voice- parts and discover what ingenious and striking effects are produced by the workings of the different phrases of a melody against one another. Polyphonic writing is the oldest form of modern music, and the first few cen- turies of musical history were taken up with the labors of industrious and gift- ed musicians in developing this kind of music. The masters of the famous Netherlands school, which flourished in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, were most accomplished writers of poly- phonic music, and originated most of its laws. Their music was all vocal and without accompaniment {a capelld). It reached its highest development in the compositions of Orlando Lasso, and the noble works of Palestrina owe their ex- istence to the science formulated by the Netherlanders. The development of this church polyphony was an artificial proc- ess, yet it was inevitable that it should have preceded the monophonic, or har- monic stvle. Polyphonic Forms 35 Music was originally a free dictation of fancy or feeling-, and it dates back to the night of time. When I say "free," I mean in respect of form. It was prob- ably a kind of intonation employed in the solemn speech of ceremonials, as in- stanced in the first book of Samuel, x. 5 : " After that thou shaft come to the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines : and it shall come to pass, when thou art come thither to the city, that thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place, with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp, before them ; and they shall prophesy." Further historical sup- port of the probability that song began in mere inflections of the voice is found in the old Neume notation, which pre- ceded the notation now in use. The Neumes were marks, somewhat like the Greek accents, placed over the vowels of a text, to indicate the intervals up or down through which the voice should pass in intoning. What we now recog- nize as melody was developed by grad- ual growth from intonations of this kind. Rhythm must have made its appearance Chap. II. Music originally formless. Beginning of song. Chap. II. Appear- ance of rhythm. Rhythm taken from text. in music as soon as it did in the verses to which music was set. Eugene Veron, in his " Esthetics," sa3's : " A very important characteristic of ancient lan- guages was rhythm. The more or less regular re- currence of intonations and of similar cadences con- stitutes for children and savages the most agreeable form of music. The more the rhythm is accent- uated the better they are pleased; they love not only its sound, but its movement also. . . . The most civilized nations cannot escape this tyranny of rhythm. . . . Rhythm seems, indeed, to con- tain some general law, possessing power over almost all living things. One might say that rhythm is the dance of sound, as dancing is the rhythm of move- ment. The farther we go back into the past the more marked and dominant is it found in language. It is certain that at one period of the development of humanity rhythm constituted the only music known, and it was even intertwined with language itself." The earliest music, then, must have been a kind of intonation in which the rhythm was simply that of the text, and the melody a derivative of the inflections of the voice, as dictated by the natural utterance of that text. The most arti- ficial attempts in music have been based on the idea that we could return to that primitive form. One attempt was that Polyphonic Forms 37 of the founders of the church chant ; the other was that of the inventors of opera. It is incumbent upon us to consider now only the first of these. At the beginning of modern artistic music (not the music of the people, the folk-songs) we find the Gregorian chant, a musically formless droning of the church liturgy, in which the only rhythm was that of the text, and the melody was the outgrowth of mere intonation. The first cultivators of artistic music were the monks, who found as mate- rial re^dy to hand only the folk-songs of the people and the music of the Greeks. The latter appealed to these cloistered mediseval scholars as the only proper material for churchly use, and they set to work to develop a system. It was inevitable that modern scientific music should begin with the invention of the materia vmsiccB. These old monks had first to develop melody, and it was natural that having once started upon that labor they should carry it out to its logical issue. Melodic form is more obvious than harmonic, hence they de- veloped it. Having once got the melo- ClIAP. II. The eccle- siastUal chant. Obv to lis- tless of melodic form. 38 The Essentials of Form Chap. II. The in- strumental develop- ment. The fugues of J. S. Bach. die idea firmly fixed in their minds, they conceived a composition to be a combi- nation of melodies, and when at some period about the end of the eleventh century the device of imitating in a sec- ond voice the melody uttered by the first was invented, counterpoint, single and double, grew with great rapidity. The polyphonic forms in music were developed in the interval between iioo and the death of Bach, 1750. After Lasso and Palestrina, a capella church music went backward rather than forward, but polyphony continued to be developed by instrumental composers and found its issue in the North German fugue. Noth- ing has been added to the laws of fugue since Bach's day, and the difficulty of producing good fugues increases every year, because available subjects are slow- ly being exhausted. Those who desire to comprehend fully the scope and power of a capella church music should study the works of Lasso and Paiestrina, Avhile for perfection in the instrumental form they should devote their attention to Bach's fugues. In studying the poly- phonic works one should recognize their Polyphonic Forms 39 intellectual and emotional characteris- tics. First, note the profundity of the mu- sical learning. Contrapuntal writing is the most learned kind of composition, because every measure must be made in obedience to fixed laws. The polyphonic {3eriod began with the discovery of these laws, and the early composers exhaust- ed their ingenuity in the invention of canons by inversion, by augmentation and diminution, by retrogression, etc. The constant study of such forms led to the second feature of their work, which must be noted, viz., mastery of musical material. In spite of the rigid require- ments of the polyphonic laws these com- posers gradually acquired a power to make seemingly inflexible forms do their bidding. This power is manifested in its highest degree in the apparently sponta- neous flexibilit}' of the works of Lasso, Palestrina, and Bach. The third feature to be noted is the serenity of the emo- tional atmosphere of these works. The earliest polyphonic writers displayed no feeling at all. Their only effort was to be as ingenious as possible. And in the Chap. II. Character- istics of polyphony. Mastery of ri^ id mate- rial. 40 The Essentials of Form Chap. II. culmination of the a capella school one can find only a pure, chaste, and gentle religious feeling. One seeks in vain for the note of dramatic passion, which found its way into artistic music after the birth of opera and the adoption of the melodic style of the folk-song. 41 III Monophoiiic Forms THE essential difference between poly- phonic and monophonic form lies in the distribution of the repetitions. In the former the idea is repeated by several voices working harmoniously. In the lat- ter it is repeated by one voice. In the former a tune is made to act as its own accompaniment, and the system is de- signed wholly to enable repetitions of thematic ideas to be made as accompa- niments to one another. In the mono- phonic style the song-thought prevails ; the single-voiced melody is sung to a sub- ordinate accompaniment, and the system of repetitions is designed so that the me- lodic ideas are presented symmetrically by the one voice. Polyphonic devices are sometimes introduced in monophonic compositions for the sake of contrast and The solo- voice style. Dominance of son f^- thouj^ht. 42 CitAP. III. The sonata its issue. Period and stanza. The Essentials of Form variety, but the monophonic part of the work clings to its own system of repeti- tions. The history of the development of the monophonic style is very interest- ing, but it cannot be introduced in this volume. The reader can find accounts of it in most histories of music, or in Dr. Parry's admirable " Evolution of the Art of Music." The sonatas and symphonies of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and their successors, the great overtures and the famous concertos are all written in the monophonic st3de, and nearly all of them are in the sonata form, which is the highest organization of monophonic repetitions. The elements of the song form, which lies at the basis of the so- nata and kindred modern forms, have already been set forth. They are the elements of all melodies. The period, which has already been described, may be regarded as the musi- cal equivalent of the stanza in poetry. Let us see how this is. I 1st Section 1 M Phrase sbip tlie rest - less o - cean sweeps.Blood- Monophonic Forms 2d Phrase- 1 r -Sd Phrase '^^^^ '&g-^ iaJ -U- ^- 1— led her sails and black her masts; Her pal - lid cap- taiu -2d Section , -Uh Phrase- =!*=«*= p=tg= ? — r— ^^ i,r-'^^=f=^ --^ •£^ nev - ur sleeps, But watchful glanc-es rouud him casts. Here is a period of Senta's ballad in " The Flying Dutchman," with the Eng- lish text. It becomes plain at a glance that each phrase of the music is the equiv- alent of a line of poetry, that a section equals half a stanza, and that the period is equal to the stanza in extent and rhyth- mic construction. Now, as it is possible to construct many varieties of poetic stanza, so it is possible to construct many varieties of period, and hence there is a wide field open to the musi- cian at the very outset of his arrange- ment of repetitions. Musical rhythms are capable of much greater extension than poetic rhythms, so that the compos- er may construct musical stanzas much more flexible than the stanzas of the poet. The necessity of repetition of the 43 Chap. III. Many schemes of repetition. 44 Chap. III. The Rondo form. A Rondo in verse. The Essentials of Form principal musical idea led the earlier composers to the establishment of the Rondo form, upon which many subse- quent developments were based. The Rondo is a " round." Its construction is cyclical, its chief characteristic being regular returns to the first subject. The Rondo in music is similar to the French poetic form called Rondeau, w^hich is a short poem so arranged that the open- ing and closing two lines are the same. Some variations of the form, w^hich ap- proach more nearly the musical form, have the two lines also repeated in the middle. An excellent example is the following charming poem by the late H. C. Bunner: " O honey of Hymettus Hill, Gold brown and cloying sweet to taste, Wert here for the soft amorous bill Of Aphrodite's courser placed .'' " Thy musky scent what virginal chaste Blossom was ravished to distil, O honey of Hymettus Hill, Gold brown and cloying sweet to taste } " What upturned caly.x drank its fill When ran the draught divine to waste. Monophonic Forms 45 That her white hands were doomed to fill — Sweet Hebe fallen and disgraced — O honey of Hymettus Hill, Gold brown and cloying sweet to taste? " The reader will note how naturally the first two lines recur. This is one of the features of the art-Rondo in music. In its earliest state it began with a sub- ject (a melody) of one or two periods. The composition then wandered through several keys and introduced considera- ble mere passage-work, after which it returned to the principal subject. Later composers introduced a second subject, and still later ones a third, but the first was always repeated after each of them. The first of these rondo forms — that with one subject — was in use by com- posers from Francois Couperin (organ- ist and clavier player, Paris, 1688-1 733) to Haydn. The second and third forms were those of Mozart and Beethoven. Students of the latter master will find a good example of the second form in the sonata in A, opus 2, No. 2. The fully developed third form is as fol- lows : first subject, second subject in the dominant key, first subject, third sub- ClfAP. III. Develop- ment of Rondo forms. The late Rondo form. 46 Chap. III. The First Movement form. The slow introduc- tion. The Essentials of -Form ject, first subject, second subject in the tonic, coda. The fundamental difference between the Rondo and the First Movement form, which is the distinguishing part of the modern Sonata, is in the middle por- tion. In the Rondo there is a simple statem.ent of themes connected by more or less relevant matter. In the First Movement form, or Sonata form, as it is frequently called, after the statement of the first and second themes, there follows a middle part devoted to a musi- cal elaboration of these themes — a work- ing-out, as it is called — after Avhich the themes are restated, and the movement is brought to a conclusion. The three parts of the Sonata form, then, may be designated Proposition, Discussion, and Conclusion. First movements usually begin with a slow introduction, and concert-goers will find them indicated on programmes in some such way as this : " Adagio — allegro con brio." The adagio here is the slow introduction. Sometimes this is omitted, as in the "Eroica" symphony, in which the statement of the first theme Monophonic Forms of the movement proper is prefaced only by two staccato chords. On the other hand, the introduction is some- times developed to an important extent, as in Beethoven's Seventh Symphony. The slow introduction may foreshadow what is to come, and so add to the gen- eral coherence of the movement. The allegro itself must contain two principal subjects, varied and contrasted in style and in a symphony so made as to give opportunity for changes of instrumental coloring. The existence of the two contrasted themes is a shie qua non of modern sonata writing. In the earliest sonatas the first movement had only one theme, and as a result the development was limited. In the later sonatas the prin- ciple of contrast became more and more fully established, until now it is accept- ed that the first theme is to be vigorous, or, at least, animated, and the second fluent and melodious. Many writers speak of the second as the cantabile theme. The first subject may be brief or it may be a melody of several peri- ods in the sons: form. But the studious 47 Chap. III. Sometimes made im- portant. The tzvo chief themes. 48 Chap. III. Relation of keys. Subjects ami their relations. The Essentials of Form listener will find that the germinal part of the first subject is usually a strong and clearly defined motive, constructed with an especial view to its possibilities of development in the working-out por- tion of the movement. Contrast be- tween the two subjects is increased by change of key. The first subject is al- ways in the key of the symphony. When that key is well established, the com- poser prepares the way for a change of tonality. The old-fashioned way w^as to lead up to a suspension and then pass to the second subject in the dominant." For instance, in a symphony in C the writer would lead up to a chord in D, and so modulate to his second subject * For the benefit of the reader who has not studied harmony, it may be briefly noted that the key in which a composition stands is called the tonic, the fifth tone above that the dominant, and the fourth the subdomi- nant. Thus in the key of C, G is the dominant, ai'id F the subdominant. A minor is the relative minor of C. Immediately related keys are those which may be reached by direct diatonic modulations, as E minor, E major, or A-flat major. Foreign keys are those which can be reached only by passing through several other keys, or by chromatic modulation, as F-sharp, C-sharp minor, B-flat minor. Monophonic Forms 49 in G. If the sonata began in a minor key, the second subject was in the rela- tive major. The later writers, however, have advanced much beyond the old rules, and second subjects are written now in almost any immediately related ke3^ Uncertainty of tonality is avoided by not using foreign keys in the propo- sitional * part of the symphony. After the principal subjects are stated, there may be introduced one or two subsid- iary or episodal subjects, and thus we come to the end of the first part. It is worthy of note that some of the con- temporaneous composers show a ten- dency to advance the episodal subject to the importance of a third principal theme ; but it is still kept in subordi- nation to the other two. At the end of the part of the movement containing the announcement of the subjects, the older composers alwa3^s wrote a double bar and a repeat. The repeat is now sometimes omitted by composers, but * 1 use this word in one of its pure classical Latin senses. Propositio — a principal subject, a theme. Cic- ero, "De Oratoria," 3. Chap. III. Use of episodes. Value of the '■^ repe• u Q M odulation with close in tonic. '3 3 o 'c p o H s i. > P Modulation with close in tonic of trio. in 3 V IE >^ . -t-> , ij rt i; Id c V E % J V o Modulation with close in tonic. 'S a 15 1 '5 e2 Monophonic Forms 57 a plain proposition of the minuet mel- ody, the trio, and a return to the minuet. A more ambitious style led to a form something like that of the first move- ment. Its outline is shown in the table opposite. Haydn once said, "Oh, that some one would teach us how to write a new min- uet ! " Beethoven gratified the desire of the father of the symphony when he introduced the scherzo. The word is Italian, and means joke or jest. The term was first used as a direction to players, when it appeared as scherzando. But in the early part of the seventeenth century Italian canzonets were popu- lar in Germany and were called scJierzi musicali. When it became the custom to name the different parts of a musical composition, the terms allegretto scJier- zando and presto scherzando appeared. We find several instances in the sonatas of Emanuel Bach, and even Johann Bach wrote a scherzo in one of his suites. The modern scherzo is a development of the minuet. Haydn took the stateliness out of the minuet by increasing its speed and introducing the element of humor ; but Chap. III. Origin of the scherzo. Scherxi by Bach. 5» Chap. III. '/'//e true Dfi-thovcn sclici zo. Form of the scherzo. The Essentials of Form the transition to the scherzo was defi- nitely made by Beethoven, though he did not abandon the minuet, which appears in many of his works. The difference between the minuet and the scherzo is one of feeling rather than of form. The time is quicker, the rhythm is more varied and the working out is frequently much more elaborate. But it is the character of the music that makes a scherzo. Rol- licking gayety as in that of the Seventh Symphony, grim mystery as in that of the Fifth, and even tragic portent as in that of the Ninth were introduced by Beethoven, and composers of to-day often transform the scherzo into a wild orgy as Tschaikowsky has done in some of his symphonies, while D vof-ak has even substituted for it the *' furiant," whose title is self-explanatory. The form of the scherzo is precisely the same as that of the minuet. This is an excellent demon- stration of the plasticity of the classic forms. The content of the movement has changed completely, but its outward shape remains the same. The trio con- tinues to supply the necessary contrast, the point of repose, without which so Monophonic Forms vivacious a movement would inevitably become wearisome. The last movement of a sonata or symphony is generally an allegro. In the earlier classic compositions it was the custom to make this movement lighter and more genial than the first. This custom did not survive, however, and in recent symphonies the final move- ment is often the most ambitious. The last movement is often written in the same form as the first, except that the repeat of the first part is generally omitted and the working-out is not made so elaborate. The Rondo form is often employed, and occasionally the theme and variations. Modern writers often depart widely from the classic form of the sonata, as, for instance, in the case of Tschaikowsky's " Symphonic Pathe- tique," which has the slow movement last and the working out of each theme of the first movement immediately after the announcement of the theme. But the old form is easily recognizable as the foundation of all that has followed it, and it was bound to be so because it was the fullest embodiment of the 59 Chap. III. Fhwle of the sonata. Afodc7-n in- novations. 6o Chat. III. The con- ci> to fortn. Tiie Essentials of Form Sonata the classic form. fundamental principles of form in mu- sic. I have spoken of sonata and sym- phony, but the concerto is also in the sonata form. The purpose of the con- certo is to display the resources of some solo instrument, and it is usually writ- ten in three movements, allegro, adagio, and allegro. The scherzo is omitted in this three-movement form, but there are four-movement concertos containing the scherzo. The working-out parts of the first and last movements in concertos are not so elaborate as in symphonies, but are devoted rather to the exhibition of the powers of the solo instrument. It is customary to introduce near the close of the first movement a long cadenza for the soloist, and a few concertos have cadenzas also in their closing move- ments. The sonata form was the form per- fected and employed by the great clas- sic masters of instrumental music. The classic era in music was that in which monophonic form reached its highest de- velopment, and all who desire to obtain an acquaintance with symmetrical con- Monophonic Forms struction in its finest revelations must look to the classic composers. In ex- amining the intellectual and emotional characteristics of the classic era, we are convinced that this was the golden age of pure musical beauty. We find no thunder of tragedy, no paroxysm of passion in Haydn and Mozart, nor in the early works of Beethoven. The works of Beethoven's middle period are transitional. They are classic in form, but romantic in spirit. His later works belong altogether to the romantic pe- riod. Hence we are justified in noting as the first of the characteristics of the classic era symmetry of form. vSo im- portant an element was formal beauty that, even at the present time, works which follow closely the classic form.s are said to belong to the classical school, though nothing can be regarded strict- ly as classic which has not endured the test of time. A second distinctive characteristic of the era was the subordination of pro- found musical learning to a pleasing style. One has only to remember the geniality of the music of Haydn, Mo- 61 Chap. III. The era of musical beauty. The term ' ' classi- cal:' 62 Chap. III. Absence of deep emo- tion. Beauty and the Sonata. The Essentials of Form zart, and the early Beethoven, the sim- ple and tuneful subjects, the bright, good-natured, and perspicuous treat- ment, to understand what is meant by this subordination. A natural concom- itant of such a style was the serenity and sweetness of the emotional atmos- phere of the music. Haydn thought that to be a great composer was to write with " good taste." Rubinstein, with much reason, called Mozart " eternal sunshine in music." In short, the clas- sic era was the period of pure musical beauty, and the secrets of that beauty are to be sought most successfully by an examination into the methods of de- sign employed by the masters of the period. The sonata was the represent- ative work of the time, and a knowl- edge of the sonata form is an absolute necessity to the understanding and en- joyment of compositions vv'ritten in the classic style. It is also necessary to an appreciation of all absolute music of a later birth, and freer form, because the new forms are all developed from the sonata. 63 IV Romaiitic Forms WE have seen that the polyphonic period was devoted to the dis- covery of musical material and to the de- velopment of the purely melodic form, in which every voice-part was melodious. We have seen that the classical period was devoted to the exposition of p\re beauty in music, and that it developed a complex yet symmetrical form, in which single-voiced melod}' based on harmo- nic chords was used. We now come to the romanti(i music, in which the older forms were modified to meet the de- mands of self-expression. Throughout the history of music we find, constantly striving with one an- other, two impulses — classicism and ro- manticism. The terms are somewhat freely used, and frequently misunder- RecapHu- lation. The ht'o great impulses. 64 Chap. IV. Clafsicism and Ro- manticism. Demand for expres- sion. The Essentials of Form stood. The uninformed person calls all good music classical, as distinguished from operetta or dance-music or popu- lar songs. But by writers on music these terms are used, somewhat arbitra- rily, to distinguish music in which pure beauty of form and matter is the pre- vailing feature from that in which the composer's fancy governs and makes the form. The former kind is called classi- cal for reasons which have already been given ; the latter is known as romantic. The contest between classicism and ro- manticism began very naturally as soon as musical science had formulated suffi- cient law to enable composers to work according to some system. A S3'stem being established, some impulse was necessary to urge an advance beyond its limitations. That impulse was found in the imperious demands of original minds for freer expression. Those demands were purely romantic, but they always led to the development of forms^ Hence the growth of the classic period itself was due to the urgency of romanticism. But this must be said : The perfecting of form is a purely intellectual process. Romantic Forms Hence the dominance of formal develop- ment was due to a belief that form was of paramount importance in music and to a determination to work according to that belief. The dominance of romanti- cism, or free emotional impulse, could come only when composers had arrived . at the intellectual conviction that this impulse ought to be permitted to make its own forms according to its needs. This conviction found its first em- phatic expression among the classic writers when Beethoven introduced his- pregnant modifications into the sonata form, joining the second and third move- ments of piano concertos, and making a continuous flow of the scherzo and the finale of the Fifth Symphony in order that his thought might not be hampered by established forms. In the freedom ' with which he distributed his keys, and in his invention of the scherzo, Beetho- ven, who was the culmination of the classic, and the foundation of the roman- tic, school, further showed how emotion- al impulse was to stretch the limits of form. Schubert's art-songs went side by side with Beethoven's symphonies in 65 Chap. IV. Beet- hoven's ro- manticism. Its effect on form. 66 Chap. IV. Commun- iiy of Theme. Schu- tnann^s fourth, symphony. The Essentials of Form preaching the gospel of freedom from formalism, and led the way to the forms of Schumann and Liszt. Schumann's modifications of the sym- phonic form consisted in uniting all four movements in one continuous flow, as in his D minor symphony, and in the em- ployment of the device which has been called " partial community of theme." By this is meant the transfer of cer- tain thematic ideas from one movement to another. In some modern composi- tions melodic subjects announced in the first movement appear with unexpected persistency in other movements, some- times subjected to developing processes and at other times maintaining the iden- tity of a fixed idea. In his D minor S3miphony, Schumann prescribed that the four movements should be in "one piece " — that is, pla)^ed through with- out a break. The community of theme is worked out in this composition with a thoroughness which has not been ex- celled by any later composer. The mo- tive of the introduction of the first move- ment is used as the second theme of the second movement, and the close of this Romantic Forms theme is used to form a new melody with a violin obbligato above it. The trio of the scherzo is built from the theme of this violin obbligato, and the last movement of the symphony em- ploys, in a new and striking form, the principal subject of the first movement. This manner of writing a symphony leads directly to the symphonic poem> the invention of Franz Liszt. This form is based on the idea, which seems to have floated in Schumann's mind, that there is no break between successive emotional states. The form of a sym- phonic poem, therefore, is always dic- tated by the composer's emotional schedule. Usually this kind of compo- sition aims to illustrate some story or poem, but the music-lover will find that the fundamental principles of musical form have to be followed. Slow move- ments alternate with quick ones ; dy- namic climaxes are opposed to points of repose, melodic subjects are proposed and discussed, and the symphonic po- em has an appreciable musical shape. Closely akin to this form is the pro- gramme overture, such as Tschaikow- 67 Chap. IV. Its plan of develop- ment. The Sym- phonic poem. 68 Chap. IV. The pro- gramme overture. Liszt's piano The Essentials of Form sky's " Hamlet " or Goldmark's " Pro- metheus." But in these also the attentive listener will find that the principles of form are not violated, though the out- line of the works is not at all like that of the sonata. The difficulty in the way of immediate appreciation of the pure- ly musical value of such compositions is the necessity of getting at the com- poser's emotional schedule. One has to have some key to the content of such works, and often in searching for it he loses his grip on the absolute music of the composition. Judicious programme notes are serviceable in such cases, for they convey the needed information as to the intention of the music. In the case of a composition without a stor}' behind it, programme notes are of little value to the skilled listener. A word should be added here as to Liszt's piano concertos, which have set the fashion for many succeeding works. In these the uninterrupted flow of move- ments and partial community of theme are employed with striking effect. The music itself is not of a lofty kind, but the form is very effective for concerto pur- Romantic Forms 69 poses. It has a brilliancy and glittef which, while superficial, are very influen- tial. But here again one finds that while the outward shape is novel, the underly- ing principles of form are those which are found in the classical works. From what has been said the reader will have no difficulty in gathering that the mental and emotional characteristics of the romantic school embrace two funda- mental conditions : First, subordination of form to content, and second, restless- ness and intensity of emotional moods. The romantic school is the school of our time, and even the writer who adhered most closely to the classic forms, Johan- nes Brahms, aimed at an intensity of emotion similar to that found in Beet- hoven's later works. All that we can ask of the romantic composer is that his form shall be the best that can be devised for his purpose, and that it does not violate the primary canons of musi- cal construction. Chap. IV. Traits of romantic music. 7° V Fundamental Principles Balance and design. HAVING seen the elements of form and their combination in the com- plex organism of the sonata, the most highly organized of all musical forms, it becomes possible now to view the gen- eral principles of musical form in the abstract. These should readily suggest themselves to the reader, who has now had a tolerably wide survey of the mate- rials of musical design. In a simple song form the student will find that perfect balance in the arrangement of phrases, and natural, unforced progress of har- monies are imperative necessities. But it is to the more highly organized forms, as including the simpler ones, that I especially invite attention. The fundamental requisites of musical form, as gathered from the works of Fundamental Principles 71 the masters of sonata constructign, are these : I. — Proposition of themes suitable for development. 2. — Contrast (a) of themes, (b) of keys, (c) of movements. 3. — Development (a) of themes, (b) of harmony, 4. — Systematic distribution of repeti- tions with recurrence to first subject- matter. 5. — Climaxes, dynamic, rhythmic, and of time. 6. — Points of repose. 7. — Variety of tone-coloring. 8. — Correlation of parts and subordi- nation of details = proportion. 9. — Perspicuity of design. These principles, the reader will per- ceive, are not inseparable from the so- nata form, but belong to all music which is of complex design. They underlie and condition not only the symphonies of Beethoven or Tschaikowsky, but those of Haydn. They govern the construc- tion of both classic and romantic over- tures and scherzos, and they are exem- plified in the ballet music of Gluck, as Chap. V. Essentials of form. Common to all 7?iusic. 72 The Essentials of Form Chat. V Small versus large forms. well as in the ballades of Chopin or the novelettes of Schumann. In a fine so- nata all of them are illustrated in the highest light, yet all of them are obeyed ver}' often in much smaller compositions, and one must not be deluded into sup- posing that a sonata is better than other works simply because it is a sonata. yOCAL FORMS VI CImrch Coitnterpomt VOCAL forms can be discussed with comparative brevity, now that the general principles and development of form in music have been reviewed, . The growth of vocal forms in artistic music began with the medigeval church counterpoint, which, as we have already seen, was the work of monks, bent upon producing an effective liturgy. The ear- ly polyphonic compositions were all intended for voices, and their most elaborate development was in the Ro- man Catholic mass. The purely instru- mental development of polyphony was begun by the early organists of the Ve- netian and Roman schools, and was per- fected b}' Bach in his great fugues. At the outset, however, the vocal and the MedicEvai church music. 74 Chap. VI. Essentials of vocal counter- point. Be duty of church polyphony. Vocal Forms instrumental treatments of polyphony were practically the same. The essen- tials of vocal church counterpoint are those of all polyphonic writing, and these have already been explained. The finest examples of ecclesiastical polyphony are the works of the great Netherlands masters, who flourished from 1450 to 1600, and of Palestrina, the Italian composer, who was contempo- rary with the last lights of that school. Opportunities for hearing these works, the purest and loftiest church music ever composed, are not as numerous as music- lovers could wish. Those who desire to cultivate a fine taste in music should never miss hearing performances of the famous ecclesiastical compositions. From an educational point of view they are as important as Bach's fugues or Beethoven's symphonies. In mere sen- suous beauty they far excel the former, and it is not possible to conceive of a musical ear that will not be ravished by the exquisite harmonies of these lovely works. 75 VII Simple Song Forms THE inonophonic form of vocal music is found in the song and its varieties. Simple song forms, of which some de- scription has already been given, date back to the very birth of music. The troubadours were cultivating them at the time when the scientific musicians were devoting their whole energy to the solu- tion of riddle canons and the construc- tion of polyphonic puzzles. The old folk- songs are admirable examples of this form in its simplest aspect. It will be seen upon examination of songs that the musical form is dictated by the poetic. The general principles of song form have already been explained, and the reader will, therefore, understand that a stanza of four lines calls for a song form of one period. A stanza of eight lines calls for Age of the song. Sovg fo7-m and poetry. 76 Chap. VII. The cyclical song. Meaning in accom- paniment. Vocal Forms one of two periods, and the relation be- tween the two periods is established by preserving the general character of the melodv, the rhythmic movement, and the harmonic treatment. In a song form of three periods the composer ma}' in the second period depart considerably from the original melodic style of the first peri- od, but he must return to it in the third. The three-period song form is cyclical, like the sonata, and its general contour is a diminished outline of the sonata form, the second period corresponding to the working out, and the third to the reca- pitulation. These forms belong to the songs in which each stanza is set to the same melody, as in folk-songs or ballads. In many modern songs, however, the composers have found it impossible to give adequate expression to the feelings conveyed b}' the text without making a melody for each stanza. The music- lover will find this the case with many of the songs of Schubert, Schumann, Franz, and other romantic writers. In songs of this kind there is, indeed, al- ways some repetition of the original melodic idea, but the unity of the com- Simple Song Forms 77 position is to be found chiefly in its character. Often, as in Schubert's " Erl Konig,"the formal element of repetition is preserved mostly in the accompani- ment, yet there is an individuality in the style of the vocal melody from begin- ning to end. It is difficult to speak of the formal qualities of a song separately from its other aesthetic properties, because the form is so important a part of the ex- pressive power. The form and style are almost inseparable, and both are dictated by the subject-matter. The simpler the emotion to be portrayed, the simpler as a rule are the form and the style. Hence we find that songs range from those of a purely lyric nature, in which emotion is the product of pure contemplation, as in songs of night's beauty, the loveliness of spring, or the charms of a maiden, to those in which the dramatic element is almost as much in evidence as it is in opera, and in which emotion is the prod- uct of personal passion, as in Schubert's " Erl Konig " or" Doppelganger," Schu- mann's " Ich grolle nicht," or Franz's " Im Herbst." The requirements of a Chap. VII. Value of form and style. Dramatic son^s. Chap. VII. Essentials of a good song. Vocal Forms Variety of SOfl,^ forms. genuinel}' good song are not numerous, but they are difficult to fulfil. A good song should reproduce perfectly the form of the poem, should be absolutely faithful to its spirit, should exhibit a lofty simplicity of style, should have a moderate compass, and should be sup- plied vv'ith an accompaniment thorough- ly in sympathy with the emotional char- acter of the work. The accompaniments of Schubert and Schumann are the per- fect models. They always have lyric beauty and dramatic force, yet they never interfere with the voice-part, but, on the contrary, afford it complete support. This brief discussion of the song runs beyond the consideration of its form alone, but it seems better to discuss the whole topic here and dismiss it. An ex- haustive study of song forms and styles is foreign to the purpose of this volume, which aims at the exposition of general principles ; and, furthermore, it would supply material for a volume in itself. Let us, therefore, proceed to a view of those vocal forms which are employed in dramatic music, and which have caused so much controversy. 79 VIII Operatic Forms APPRECIATION of opera depends not simply upon a knowledge of form, but upon an acquaintance with the nature and purpose of operatic music. This acquaintance may be obtained from two sources — musical history and an ex- amination into the internal evidence of operatic music itself. Few persons have time to make such an examination, but the historical facts are easily ascertainable. Dramatic recitative, of which alone the opera at first consisted, was the invention of some Florentine enthusiasts who were endeavoring to resuscitate the Greek drama. Their intention in constructing recitative was to create a kind of musi- cal declamation in which the melodic se- quences should follow as closely as possi- ble the inflections of the voice in speech. Origin of opera. 8o Chap. VIII. Monotony of recita- tive. Advent of the aria. Vocal Forms In a very short time it was found that this was a grave restriction on the free- dom of composition, and that its results were wearisome. Almost at the same time the capacity of music for emotional expression forced its claims upon compos- ers, and there was developed a free arioso style, a cross between pure recitative and melody, in which the imitation of speech was not sought so much as pure musi- cal expression of emotion. The cyclical form of instrumental music now caught the fancy of composers for the stage and they transferred it to the opera, produc- ing the aria, a tripartite song form, which became the central sun of the operatic system. The vital fault in the aria, as first written, was that the required repe- tition in the third part of the melody heard in the first, destroyed all possi- bility of a natural emotional continuity. No matter how agitated the soprano Avas in the second part of her aria, she had to feel in the third just the same as she did in the first. The result was that the composers abandoned all thought of voicing emo- tion logically in an aria, and contented Operatic Forms themselves with making all arias vocal display-pieces for the singers. The reci- tative was then used to carry on that part of the dialogue necessary to the de- velopment of the story of the opera. The custom of writing vocal display-pieces for the singers led to such a domination of the singer in opera, that operatic mu- sic became mere ear-tickling show-work, and composers became simply purvey- ors to the princes and princesses of the stage. A reaction at length set in, and, led by Gluck, composers reasserted the divine rights of genius. The recitative was improved and the arias simplified and restricted to their proper function of embodying states of emotion. Con- temporary with Gluck was Mozart, whose operas exhibit the highest per- fection of the old form. The arias are dramatic poems, and the recitative is the most finished musical setting of col- loquial conversation that the stage has ever known. Italian composers, however, again re- sorted to the easy process of tickling the ear without regard for the fitting of the melody to the text, and in the works of 81 Chap. VIII. Reign of vocal dis- play. Tickling the ear. 82 Chap. VIII. Abolishing set forms. Vocal Forms Purpose of opera music. Bellini, Donizetti, and Rossini we find much of this kind of writing. But reci- tative was constantly tending away from the Mozartian style toward the arioso. In the operas of the later Italian com- posers there is very little pure recita- tive, arioso and aria forms being chiefly employed. This led toward a movement to abolish all set forms from opera, which was carried to its achievement by Rich- ard Wagner. In his later works there are no set arias, duets, or ensembles, but the musical form follows that of the text, which is written freely, as it would be in a spoken drama. The result is that the music embodies in a faithful manner the emotions of the text. The read^ must now see that the purpose of artis- tic opera-music is to illustrate and vital- ize the text. Unless it does this — or at- tempts to do it — operatic music is not an art form but an absurdity. It is ac- cepted by the world simply as a part of the symbolism of art, for no one would accept as a fact the singing of person- ages in a play. But if the opera is not a play in which an attempt is made to express dramatic emotions in music, it is Operatic Forms not an art-work at all. Hence, the first and fundamental basis of judgment of an opera is the fidelity of its music to the text. The second question to be an- swered is: How eloquently does the music voice the emotions contained in the text? And third : Is the music beau- tiful in itself? The key to the music of an opera is the libretto. Obviously, if the libretto is weak or incongruous, the music is likely to be poor. The appropriateness of the music is the first requirement. If it is inappropriate, it does not make any difference how melodious or symmetri- cal it is, it is not good. It is by this test that so much of the old Italian opera- music fails, pretty as it is. The reason why so few people detect the hoUowness of this music is that they do not hold it to the text. They read the libretto to learn the stor}^ of the opera, and that is all. But a critical view of an opera holds the composer to the text of every speech in it. Rossini's "Semiramide" affords the finest example of offence in this mat- ter, and the reader who desires to know what an artistic opera should not be, will 83 Chap. VIII. Fidelity to the text. Music as an expreS' 84 Chap. VIII. Kinds of recitative. ' ' Recita- tive secco. Vocal Forms do well to study the charming music of the score in the light of the text. The enormous vitality and powerful influence of Verdi's " Aida," on the other hand, is due to the honesty, more than to the beauty, of its music. Wagner's music dramas are the finest exponents of the true method of writing opera. The reader will, perhaps, not be satis- fied Avith this brief hint as to the nature and purpose of opera without the addi- tion of some general remarks on the forms employed. Of recitative pure and simple there are two kinds, recitative sccco, and recitative strovioitato. Rec- itative secco is that in which there is absolutely no form except that of the text, the music being almost without rhythm or definite melody. The accom- paniment consists wholly of detached chords, which are struck only when the harmony changes. In old times the double-bass and the harpsichord struck the chords, and it is customar}- now, in performances of Mozart's " Don Gio- vanni," in well-regulated opera-houses to play the chords of the recitative on a piano. Recitative stromcntato is that Operatic Forms which is accompanied throughout by the orchestra. In its most common form the instruments between the passages of recitative play illustrative melodic pas- sages which bring out more clearly the feeling of the text. Arioso is a form of recitative in which there are passages of melody, without the formation of a com- plete air. The aria has already been explained. The old form, in which the first part was always repeated, was called the aria da capo. Most modern arias are not (fa. capo, but have a free repetition of the original subject-matter, as in the first tenor solo in "Aida" — "Celeste Aida." In modern operas arias are still written, because they are an essential part of opera, but they are in very free form, the form, indeed, being made for the occasion, as in Lohengrin's narrative, Siegmund's love-song, or Isolde's " lie- bestod." Of course these things are not arias in the old sense, but they stand in the same relation to music drama as the formal aria did to the old-fashioned opera. In the old operas the different kinds of arias had distinctive titles, as 85 Chap VIII. The ai'ioso style. The aria da capo. 86 ClIAI'. VIII. Different kinds of aria. Artistic level of opera. Vocal Forms aria di bravura, an aria for the display of vocal agility iindc Lucia's mad scene) ; aria parlante, one in which there were passages resembling speech ; aria buffa, a comic aria, as Leporello's " Madamina." The terms trio, quartet, and ensemble explain themselves. It is not the pur- pose of this volume to enter into a de- tailed description of forms, but to lay down general principles by which judg- ment may be guided and taste formed. The reader can find definitions of the various forms in any musical dictionary. Let me call the reader's attention to one important point. Opera is the most popular form of musical entertainment, because in it the comprehension of music is made easy by means of pictures and text. But it is obviously not the high- est form of music. In it music is only a component part of a whole, and it is governed absolutely by the text. The only artistic opera is that v/hich Wagner described and aimed to write, that in which music, poetrv, painting, and action are united in organic unity. Music is in this organic union precluded from the possibility of independent development. Operatic Forms 87 Hence, I hold that the highest form of music is that in which music stands alone, and exercises her sway upon us wholly by means of her own unaided powei'S. Music unaccompanied by text is called absolute music, and this is sure- ly the highest form of the art. It is for that reason that I have devoted my at- tention in this book chiefly to absolute music. It is for the same reason that I invite the reader who desires to arrive at an understanding and appreciation of musical art to study most zealously the great instrumental works. Chap. VIII. Absolute ?nusic higher. 88 THE CONTENT OF MUSIC IX T/ie Sensuoits Form not n'ery- thing. IT must be evident to the most careless listener to music that there is some- thing more in the art than high organism of construction. Form is not all that inheres in music. If it were, the sym- phonies of Gyrowetz would live beside those of Beethoven, and the etudes of J. B. Cramer would be heard as often as those of Chopin. What qualities can the listener detect in music as evidence of its excellence ? What phenomena of the art present themselves to us as a basis for critical judgment? I said at the outset that no rule could be laid down for recognizing the excellence of a musical idea. Neither can absolute rules belaid down for pronouncing judg- ments on complete compositions. Only The Sensuous 89 the mind which has lived much with music, thought intensely about it, and absorbed its inner spirit can sav with certainty in the presence of a work wholly novel in form and style, " This is good," or " This is bad." More than ninety-nine out of every hundred critics err in judgment of a thing wholly new in music, because the majoritv of them base their judgments almost altogether on form and style. Nevertheless, it is my belief that there is a substantial basis for musical criticism. I believe that crit- icism is reducible to method, and that every man is capable of percei\-ing and grasping the standards bv which true musical art is to be measured. It may not be possible to lay down absolute rules for pronouncing judgments on musical compositions, but it is possible to get at certain fundamental qualities, and from them to deduce certain basic principles of art in music. We have already reviewed Form, the constructive principle of artistic design, the method of development of musical thought, the logic of sound. But Form implies Content, otherwise we have an Chaf. IX. Criticism of farm and style. Fur.£z- msstjj qualities cf vtMsic 90 Chap. IX. Form implies content. Three fund l- mcntal forces. The Content of Music empty and soulless edifice, a cathedral of Gothic grandeur which does not express man's spiritual aspiration. Form and Content together make the ^Esthetic of Musical Art. In their action and reaction upon one another, in their individual ex- cellence and their combined significance, they produce the ultimate Truth and" Beauty which are at once the subjects and the objects of all Art. In order that w^e may properly understand their rela- tions, let us examine the fundamental forces of music, one of which includes,* or rather produces. Form, and all of which are a part of the Content. Three fundamental forces or qualities are inherent in music and claim consid-. eration in respect of their effect upon the hearer. It is by the presence and amount ■ of infiuence of these qualities that the artistic valueof a composition must be es- timated. If it can be shown that every one of these qualities is capable of em- ployment in tiie composition of artistic music, it follows that the sum-total of the value of the composition cannot be estimated if any one of these factors is ignored. These three qualities are the The Sensuous 91 Sensuous, the Intellectual, and the Emo- tional. The Sensuous embraces that part of music which appeals solely to the physi- cal sense of hearing. It is that which in common parlance "tickles the ear." It affects hearing as the flavor of food affects taste, and the enjoyment of it is analogous to the enjoyment of edibles, such as cake or candy, without consid- eration of the nutritive properties. It is, of course, not quite possible to make a line of strict demarcation for the Sen- suous in music because it so frequently works in close organization with the other qualities for a common end. In- deed, all three fundamentals are con- stantly present in the highest class of modern music, and one who measures the assthetic value of a composition by the relative prominence given to each will not go far astray. For instance, if it be said that the strongest claim to atten- tion in a given composition is its merely sensuous charm, then that composition is at once placed in the lowest class. Music without any form whatever, without any evidence of constructive Chap. IX. The sensuous element. 92 Chap. IX. Purely sensuous music. Sensuous- ,uss of the oicJtcstra. Tlie Content ot Music design, without emotional content, and without the aesthetic manifestations of symmetry, grace, or strength, might, nevertheless, be full of sensuous charm, by reason of its various bits of pretty melody, its rich harmony, or its highly colored instrumentation. Indeed, it is in orchestral music that one is most likely to be deceived by the purely sensuous quality of music, for the palette of the modern symphonist is full of gorgeous colors, and a very poor piece of com- position may be made to sound imposing by the cunning employment of divided violins with harmonies of horns and harp, by ingeniously dispersed chords for the wood-wind, or by the thunderous shock of a solid tutti. In solo work, however, the sensuous element plays an equall}' deceptive part. A contralto who com- mitted every offence against the rules of vocal art was successful on the operatic stage for years by reason of the engaging quality of her voice. A pianist who read the works of Chopin in a manner most erratic carried away the public by the beauty of his tone-coloring. The Sensuous is that part of music The Sensuous 93 which makes its appeal triumphantly to the indolent or unintelligent listener. He does not wish to understand music. He wishes only to hear it. He abhors its intellectual attributes, and of course its true emotion never reaches him. He refuses to trouble his mind sufficiently to detect evidences of design in the work. He reduces music to the level of confectionery. The sweetness and the flavor of it are all that he loves. He takes it as the school -girl takes her novel. If the ending be happy, what cares she for the purity of the diction, the picturesqueness of the descriptions, the fidelity of the character- drawing, the profound insight into human life? So the thoughtless music-hearer, if the tunes be pretty, the rhythms incisive, and the voice-timbres rich, cares not a fig whether there is thematic develop- ment, organic lifCj^^deep feeling in the work. Yet out oi^ffe Sensuou^s great music made. '^H^ This SeiTSupus part of music gmbraces all that fii^^^^eals to the ear — rhythm, melody, hS^^y, tone-color. In and of themselves these factors are simply sen- Chap. IX. Pleasure of the thought- less. 94 Chai', IX. Factors of the Sensuous. Composi- tion and painting. The Content of Music suous. Unorganized, without design, without form^ but employed simply to fascinate the sense of hearing, to make " a dance of sound," these factors de- scend to their lowest use, and music so composed can hardly be said to be music at all. Yet melody, i-hythm, and har- mony are the elements of musical form. They are the material out of which its highest organizations are developed. They are sensuous when they are used as a painter might use the Hogarthian line of beauty and the entire Winsor & Newton catalogue of colors to fashion a kaleidoscopic canvas which should give to the eye the same sort of delight that a gas-light gives to the vision of a babe. The painter would advance a step when he combined his lines and colors into some recognizable form — say, a tree or a rose. But he would not then produce a composition. That would come only in a work which combined several recognizable forms, such as trees, roses, grass, clouds, and perhaps a hu- man figure or two, in a work with evi- dent design. And so in music melody, rhythm. The Sensuous and harmony cease to be mere sensuous things when they work together in a piece of constructive composition,_ Even tone-color, the most absokitely sensuous factor of all, ceases to be simply that when it is employed with an intellectual or an emotional purpose. But tone- color, being the most sensuous, and therefore the most easily dazzling, is the factor which is most abused in recent music. The noble artistic reticence of Beethoven, wdiose tonal schemes are full of the solid yet subdued glor}' of Corot's landscapes, is seldom found in new or- chestral works, many of which seek to cover up barren melodic subjects, feeble development, and insincere emotion with Turneresque outpours of gorgeous color. Chamber music seeks to rival orchestral in the complexity of its polyphony, and the variety of its tone tints, while the piano aims at tonal dictatorship. The laws which govern the employ- ment of the Sensuous in music belong partly to the Intellectual, and partly to the Emotional. The Sensuous is their servant, and must obey their commands. It is a means, not an end. All that is 95 Chap. IX. Tone-color and art. The Sensuous a means. 96 Chap. IX. Color and Outline. The Content of Music embraced in it belongs fairly to the ma- terial of the art, and this must be sub- servient to thought and feeling. Espe- cially is this true of the most sensuous part of the Sensuous, the color scheme. For while we admit the undoubted exist- ence of a rule that there should be sen- suous variety, we must also admit that this rule is subservient to the laws of melodic and harmonic development, and that the color must never be out of keep- ing with the outline. The purple cow or the green carnation is always an in- artistic monstrosity. 97 X The Intellectual A MOST important part of the Intel- lectual quality of music has already been discussed under the head of Form, for it is not difficult to perceive that the Intellectual embraces that part of com- position which discloses purpose, and produces logical construction. Ambros, in his excellent work, " The Boundaries of Poetry and Music," designates the music of the romantic school as the " music of the intellect," and that of the early classicists as the " music of the soul," By this he means to convey the idea that the classicists gave their souls free play, and thatthose souls revelled in pure musical beauty, while the romanticists, in endeavoring to make music voice emotions definitely, displayed a purely intellectual method. But a little reflec- " Music of the intellect.'''' 98 The Content of Music Chap. X. Intellect and method. The Intel- lectual and design. tion should make it obvious that there are fundamental intellectual qualities in all music. They are to be found in some measure in the emotionless works of Ockeghem, as well as in the sunny, ge- nial symphonies of Haydn. They are present in all the classic compositions, side by side with the emotional qualities. Yet Ambros is in a measure right, for the more definitely a composer aims at making his music an expression of emo- tion, the more firmly must he fashion it according to the dictates of intellect, for were he to attempt emotional expression without preserving the supremacy of the reason in his work, he would speed- ily fall into formlessness, and instead of enlightening would merel}^ bewilder his hearers. In all art creative, or inter- pretative, the emotion must be under the dominance of the reason, or else there is no method, and art without method is inconceivable. The Intellectual in music, then, em- braces first all the principles of design, the laws of form and development. But rising from the specific laws of form to the generic principle which lies at the The Intellectual basis of the Intellectual in music we find that the ultimate aim of design in the tone art is organic unity, that vinity in diversity which, as Mjr^.tLadow* perti- nefttly^-r6{ftind9-U'Sr4t^was the chief aim of Greek philosophy to discover in Nat- ure. The requirement of organic unity is that details of diverse character shall be absolutely vital parts of one organism. In a work of art this requirement de- * mands that no accessory shall be foreign to the general design. In music it espe-^ cially demands that the form shall be; perfect, that the whole shall be equal to. the sum of all its parts, that nothing can ■ be subtracted without causing imperfec- " tion, and that nothing can be added to-- what is already completCv It calls for an absolutely reasonable development - of each movement from its germinal melodic ideas. It demands that those - germs shall be developed to the full measure of their fruitfulness, but that there shall be no overripeness. It orders that no extraneous matter shall obtrude itself upon the attention, and that if new *" Studies in Modern Music," by W. H. Hadow, M.A., Second Series. 99 Chap. X. Demands of musical desig7t. lOO The Content of Music Chap. X. A correct emotional scheme. Attributes of an ore'anism. thought is introduced it shall clearlj- grow out of the ideas first propounded. It furthermore demands that the emo- tional scheme of a movement shall not be incongruous, but shall follow accepted psychological laws. It goes still farther and commands that the several move- ments of a work shall be organically re- lated to one another in melodic charac- ter, emotional mood, and in style. If you were to hear the scherzo of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony performed in the Fifth Symphony instead of that which belongs there, you would detect the in- organic conditions at once. As Ambros has wisely said, no one has ever found the " Eroica " symphony unheroic, or the " Pastoral " unpastoral, but there would be an immediate outcry if the titles were transposed. Mr. Hadow, whose works I heartily commend toever}^ sincere lover of music, quotes Herbert Spencer on the three main attributes of an organism. " First, it must be definite, clear in outline, com- plete in substance, and filling with un- broken continuity the fixed limits by which it is circumscribed. Secondly, it The Intellectual must be heterogeneous : composed, that is, of a pkirality of parts, each of which has its own function, and no two of which are interchangeable. Thirdly, it must be coherent : holding this plural- ity in exact balance and equipoise, so that each part, incapable by itself of main- taining the whole body, is yet essential to the due health and efficiency of the others." As Mr. Hadow justly says, " It is to music that the law of organic proportion most intimately applies," and the construction of a musical organism is a purely intellectual accomplishment. The conception of musical ideas may be, and in great music generally is, the result of some emotional state, but the fashion- ing of a composition and all that belongs to that task are intellectual ; and in music the intellectual element issues in Form, because Form is the method oi expression. So important have the higher attri- butes of musical form appeared to some critics, that they have declared form to be expression. The most notable advo- cate of this view is Dr. Eduard Hanslick, whose "Beautiful in Music" aims to prove that music is nothing more than 102 The Content of Music Chap. X. The luld- lectUitl in history. sounding forms, that it is incapable of emotional expression, and that its high- est attributes are intellectual. The book is worth study, if for no other purpose than to learn how highly the Intellectual in music may be estimated by some who have loved the art all their lives. But it is dil^cult to understand how any close student of music and its history can fail to perceive that emotion has been present in the tone art almost from its birth. In the earl}' history of music we find that the necessity of making the materials of the art kept the Intellectual in the foreground until composers had sufficiently mastered their material to enable them to seek for pure euphony of tones, and then the Sensuous joined the Intellectual. When these two ele- ments had become sufficiently plastic in the hands of the masters, music disclosed a purpose, and that purpose was plainly the expression of feeling. In the days of the a capella church writers, the feeling was purely religious and contemplative. In the days of the strictly classic writ- ers the emotions continued to be of the simpler kind, and it was regarded as The Intellectual 103 sufficient for a movement to be in a gen- eral mood throughout. But with Beet- hoven, the Columbus who opened up a new world to the art, there entered a definite intellectual method of express- ing emotions, and a sonata became an epic, with each movement a canto sur- charged with a variety of emotions. Yet there can be no question of the artistic unity of each work. The organ- ism is always complete and vital, and it is so not simply because Beethoven per- ceived more clearly than Mozart and Haydn the emotional expressiveness of music, but equally because he perfected the intellectual processes of expression. To Beethoven we owe the completed sonata form, the highest organistn of unaided music. He carried that form to its furthest influence, but he did not preclude the possibility of the develop- ment of other forms. What he did was to embody in the sonata the fundamental principles of all Form in music, and it is because Form is essentially intellectual method in this art that I lay so much stress upon the necessit}' of acquaintance with its laws. Chap. X. Beethoven and the In- tellectual. Music's highest organism. 104 XI The Emotional Music arouses emotion THE power of music to express emo- tion has been denied, but it is not the purpose of the present volume to reopen the discussion of that question. The controversy over the expressive power of music may be regarded as closed. The artistic world has agreed that music does convey emotion, or feeling of some kind, and that it arouses feeling in the hearer. The theory that the aroused feeling is of a nervous kind, caused wholly by the physical effects of melody and rhythm, has already been overthrown, and, indeed, it never had much weight with those who were capa- ble of psychological self-examination. There is no doubt, however, that most people have vague and unsettled ideas as to the expressive powers of music, The Emotional and that in looking- for something that does not exist, they fail to find that which does. This vagueness arises from three causes : First, ignorance of the true nat- ure of musical expressiveness ; second, ignorance of musical history, which leads them to look for effects not sought by composers of certain periods ; and third, foolish and rhapsodical criticism, which pretends to see definite poetic imagery in music. A correct under- standing of the true nature of musical expressiveness would at once expose the fallacy of such criticism. It is my intention to point out, as briefly as pos- sible, what constitutes the emotional content of music. It will, perhaps, lead to a readier comprehension of this to in- dicate in a general way the materials of emotional expression in this art. The reader will remember that under the head of Form it was stated that song was originally a free expression of fancy or feeling, and that the melodic inter- vals were based on the inflections of the voice in speech. It can be shown with- out great difficulty that this primary law of musical expression lies at the IOC Chap. XL Mistakes about musical emotion. Primary law of expression. io6 Chap. XI. Music imitates speech. The Content of Music base of the most imposing symphonies or symphonic poems. For instance, the minor kej'S are usually employed to express grief. Why ? Because the in- flections of the human voice in ex- pression of sorrow usually ascend and descend through intervals closely re- sembling those of the minor scale. Still more poignant grief, that which has a note of tragic passion in it, is expressed by chromatic harmonies. Why ? Be- cause the human voice in speaking such grief actually moves through the chro- matic scale. High, shrieking sounds are suitable to the expression of stormy feelings because we so express them with our voices, while dark and gloomy feelings call for low, suppressed tones. Again, in calm, contemplative speech the voice flows smoothly and equably. And such a mood would call for a stead- ily maintained rhythm and a moderate tempo. In an agitated mood the speech does not flow, but is spasmodic and ir- regular ; hence music imitates speech with complex rhythm, with staccato chords, rinforzayidi, and syncopations. These few comparisons are sufficient The Emotional to show the thoughtful reader that the means of musical expression are not al- together arbitrary, but are founded on natural law. But because music has more complex machinery than the hu- man voice, it can achieve more com- plex expression. Its compass is wider, its variety of tone-color is greater, its dynamic force is higher, its number of rhythms is larger, and it has harmony, which the voice has not. The intensity and power of the utterance of an orches- tra, for instance, far exceeds that of any orator or singer. By the powerful projection through song of a singer's personality, we are often misled into supposing that the human voice is the most expressive of all instruments ; but pure musical expressiveness exists in its highest degree in the orchestra, where the inf^iuence is not personal, but abso- lutely musical. But music has no articulate speech. For that reason it is compelled to ex- press emotions in the abstract. The composer can say to you, " I am sad," and in saying it he can influence j^ou to be sad with him. But he cannot say to 10' Chap. XI. Power of musical express iofi. Limit of this expression. io8 The Content of Music Chaiv XI. Music expresses moods. you in music, " I am sad because my brother is dead." The materials of mu- sical expression do not admit of such definite statement. Music can speak a sadness more intense than words can utter, but it is the privilege of the poet, not of the musician, to tell the cause of the sadness. Music, then, is an art which expresses moods, and it expresses them with definiteness, tremendous elo- quence, and overwhelming influence. The mistake of those who are ignorant of the real nature of musical expres- siveness is that they try to discern in the music the cause of the moods, and this we have seen is just what music cannot tell us. As Ambros has admir- ably said : " Music conveys moods of finished expression ; it, as it were, forces them on the hearer. It conveys them in finished form, because it possesses no means for expressing the previous series of ideas which speech can clearly and definitely express. The charm of music, which one is so very much in- clined to ascribe to sensuous euphony alone, lies, in a great measure, if not for the most part, in this contrasting The Emotional of finished states of mind, concerning whose previous series of ideas it gives us no account." That the expressive power of music is none the less definite is easily demon- strable. No one would mistake the slow movement of Tschaikowsky's " Sym- phony Pathetique " for a hymn to joy, and equally no one would think Beetho- ven's melody for Schiller's " Hjann to Joy " in the last movement of the Ninth Symphony was a lament. The grace- ful, contemplative mood of Schubert's " Hark, hark, the lark," could never be mistaken for the tragic feeling of Beet- hoven's sonata, opus io6. The attitude of the hearer, I repeat, is what leads to error. When he asks, " What does this music express ? " nine times out of ten he wishes to know what caused the com- poser's emotion. It is not always im- possible to learn that, but it must be learned from a study of the composer's life, not from his music. As the author has said in another place : " Who has solved the riddles of Beethoven's last quartets and sonatas? Their interpret tation must rest upon a sympathetic 109 Chai', XI. Not an indefinite expression. Errors of the hearer. 1 lO Chap. XL Groundless expecta- tions. What one may expect. The Content of Music study of the emotional life of the com- poser at the time they were conceived. Tell us what Beethoven suffered or dreamed while he wrote any one of these works, and you have offered us a key to his meaning." The mistake of those who know noth- ing of musical history is that they seek in the older works for an intensity of emotional expressiveness not attempt- ed by the composers, and either w^hoUy misunderstand the works by fancying they find it, or are disappointed by what appears to be their weakness. It was because of the existence of this error that the author called attention to the mental and emotional characteristics of the three great periods of music. One must not seek for anything beyond contemplative or religious emotion in the works of the early contrapuntists. With Haydn the emotional schedule is broader, yet here the gentler feelings, mingled with unaffected gayety and genial humor, abound. Tragedy is not found in the Haydn symphonies or quartets, nor is it in those of Mozart, whose emotional schedule was still wider The Emotional than that of Haydn. But with all the classic writers pure musical beauty was the chief end of the art, and the emotion- al scheme had to remain subservient to the laws of form. It was Beethoven who first definitely aimed at making emotional utterance the purpose of mu- sic, and from his time dates the develop- ment of the knowledge of the full re- sources of the tone art as the wordless poetry of the soul. The misfortune of those who fall vic- tims to bad commentary is that they are induced to read into music definite im- ages which are contrary to the nature of the art, and are simply the product of the fancy of one person. Permit me to quote a passage of the sort of com- ment to which I refer. It is from a de- scription of Beethoven's Seventh Sym- phony : " The longed-for moment is drawing near, and in blissful anticipation of the approaching consum- mation of their wishes, the graceful spirit-shapes move about playfully, now ascending, now descend- ing (Bar 21 and the following, before allegro), until at length they are loudly bidden to begin the round- dance. They hesitate, bashfully at first, as though 111 Chap. XI. Beethoven 5 emotional utterance. Evils of bad criticism. 112 Chap. XI. How not to criticise. Music turongly censured. The Content of Music loath to divulge their secret (the last bars before the allegro). Suddenly a slight tremor passes through their ranks. It is the last trepidation of joy, pre- ceding its fullest outward manifestation which now ensues. Louder and louder the summons to the general jubilation issues forth ; higher and higher still the waves of enjoyment rise ; closer and ever closer their spirits join each other in the dance and unite their voices in a song of rapture. The first delirium of ecstatic joy over, the magic measure of individual tone-spirits is displayed. And alike in the sweet accents of the flute, in the loud blast of the trumpet, and in the gentle tone of the horn, the secret of every one of them becomes manifest. Then (with the organ-point upon E) the spirits again unite in loving embrace, resuming their song of joy with dithyrambic fervor." Of course the person who, having read that, tries to discover in the Seventh Symphony a story of spirits engaged in a dance will meet with certain disap- pointment, and if he does not blame himself for the failure he will blame the music. It is obvious that the censure should fall upon the commentator, who found his explanation not in the music but in his own imagination. Certain conventions, however, have been established in musical expression, and these are at once intelligible. For. The Emotional 113 instance, a slow march in a minor key with the beats heavily marked and the tone-color dark is universally accepted now as a funeral march. " Thoughts of re- ligious functions arise in us the moment we hear the trombones intone a solemn phrase in full harmony; an oboe melody in six-eighth time over a drone bass brings up a pastoral picture of a shep- herd playing upon his pipe ; trumpets and drums suggest war, and so on." * Motion is easily imitated by music, and there are conventional ways of imitating the rolling of waves, the galloping of horses, and the rippling of forest leaves. But the thoughtful music-lover will eas- ily perceive that these purely imitative processes are materialistic, and that de- scriptive music only becomes spiritually influential when it embodies in the im- itation of a natural object the emotions which it causes. A splendid example of this is Siegfried's forge song, in which the music, embodying the rhythm of the bellows, also expresses the splendid vigor and enthusiasm of the young Chap. XI. Conven- tions of expression. Descrip- tive music. * " How to Listen to Music," by H. E. Krehbiel. iH Chap. XI. Pro- gramme The Content of Music smith. Pure description in music with- out emotional content is the lowest form of musical expression. It is imita- tion, not utterance. It is objective, and all high music is subjective. These considerations afford us a toler- ably sure ground for our estimates of compositions belonging to the class known as "programme music." Under the head of Form it was stated that programme music was intended to illus- trate some story or poem. After what has been said about the emotional ex-, pressiveness of music, the reader will perceive that the use of a suggestive title, or of a story, is simply a method of giving the hearer a definite cause for the emotions contained in a composition. Goldmark's "Sakuntala" overture, for instance, would be just as admirable a composition and just as strong in emo- tional expression if it were called simply " Concert Overture." But by his title the composer invites us to accept the Sanskrit poem as the cause of the partic- ular series of emotions here conveyed to us in music. Plainly, the excellence of any piece The Emotional 115 of programme music logically depends upon the suitability of the story to broad emotional treatment, and upon the composer's ability to grasp the fun- damental moods of the story and paint them in tones. He cannot tell the story ; he can only voice its feelings. If some one of the natural objects for which musical conventions exist pla3's an im- portant part in the story, he may use the descriptive convention with good effect. But he cannot become a novelist and give us scenery, action, and incident, He must adhere to his art and sing the contents of the heart. The opera com- poser can have the help of text, scenery, and action. They tell the story. It is the composer's business to project the emotions of the characters and make the auditors of his music feel them. An opera libretto is good when, like that of " Tristan und Isolde," it deals in broad, powerful scenes of pure, human emo- tion, because then the composer's task is one within the scope of his art. So, operatic music is to be valued precisely according to the power and beauty with which it unfolds the emo- Chap. XI. Telling a story. Value of opeia music. ii6 Chap. XI. Communi- cation of emotion. The Content of Music lions indicated by the text. The same law applies to programme music. As I have said elsewhere, however, "the highest form of programme music is that in which the programme is simply an emotional schedule. I mean that the composer, having studied his own soul, and having found that certain events in his life or observation have given rise to a train of emotions, designs his com- position to convey some knowledge of that train of emotions to his hearer, and to place him in responsive sympathy with it. He says to the hearer, ' Listen to my music and feel what I have felt.' " XII ^Esthetics of Music 117 THE groundwork of the broad, essen- tial principles of the aesthetics of music has now been explored, and we are ready, following the inductive meth- od, to formulate some of the funda- mental laws of musical beauty. It is generally conceded that an art-work should be beautiful, but there is consid- erable difference of opinion as to what constitutes beauty. It is the opinion of the present writer that on this topic the utterance of the great German philoso- pher, Immanuel Kant, is the most satis- factory. He holds that "the Beauti- ful is that which, through the harmony of its form with the faculty of human knowledge, awakens a disinterested, uni- versal, and necessary satisfaction." By disinterestedness in relation to beau- What is the beautiful J ii8 Chap. XII. Kant on Beauty. The Content of Music ty, Kant means freedom from gratifica- tion of sensual appetite or preconceived conceptions. The Beautiful gives pleas- ure, not because it satisfies any physical appetite or corresponds to any extant idea, but because in and through itself it imprints its own Ideal upon the soul, which, by its faculty of knowledge, is capable of receiving it. By universal satisfaction Kant means that which is not peculiar to the individual, but is general. The satisfaction is necessary in the sense that it is inevitable. It must be borne in mind that Kant is speaking of general law, not of individ- ual instances. Kant furthermore distinguishes be- tween free and adJicrent beauty. " Free beauty presupposes no conception of that which the object ought to be ; merely adherent beauty implies both such a conception and also the perfec- tion of the object as determined by com- parison with the conception." Now it seems to me perfectly obvious that mu- sic, beyond all other arts, supplies us with both free and adherent beauty. The absolute musical concept, the me- ^Esthetics of Music 119 Iodic idea, does not, and in the very nat- ure of its existence cannot,' presuppose any conception of what it ought to be. No human being could have de- termined beforehand what kind of a theme Beethoven should invent as the principal subject of the Fifth Symphony, yet the moment it is heard, " through the harmony of its form with the facul- ty of human knowledge," that theme certainly does awaken "a disinterested, universal, and necessary satisfaction." Free beauty in music, then, is that which belongs to its germinal concep- tions. The adherent beauty is that which belongs to its expression and must be sought in the Sensuous and the In- tellectual. The emotional content of music is not merely a part of its beauty ; it is also a cause of it, for it is that which the art symbolizes. All art is symbol- ical, and the emotional content of music bears precisely the same relation to its beauty as the character which a por- trait painter reveals in his portrait or the mood of Nature which a landscape- painter shows in a landscape does to the picture. A musical composition which Chap. XII. F> ee and adherent beauty. Their place in music. 120 Cm AT. XII. Art and symbolism. Beauty and education. The Content of Music symbolized in a most convincing musi- cal manner a series of incongruous emo- tions would fail to awaken Kant's satis- faction, not because the musical ideas in themselves were ugly, nor because the expression was incomplete, but because the matter symbolized was untrue. It would be like a tropical landscape with a frozen river in the foreground — not a work of art, but a curiosity. The first law of musical eesthetics, then, is that a composition must contain free beauty. The melodic ideas must in and of themselves be beautiful. As I said at the beginning of this work, no rule can be laid down for recognizing the excellence of a musical idea. Such recognition belongs to the intuitions of the mind. I am well aware that in say^ ing this I contradict a general belief that people have to be educated up to a recognition of excellence in musical ideas. That, however, is only true of people who have been educated down to something else. People who have been brought up on dance music, variety- stage songs, and music-hall ditties have to be educated up to Beethoven and ^Esthetics of Music Wagner. So do people who have never been in the presence of any art at all, musical or pictorial. But even these people very speedily learn to perceive the superiority of Beethoven's melodic ideas to those of David Braham. But free beauty, which appeals to an indefinable consciousness of vitality, is not enough. A work of art must appeal to the judgment, which is an intellect- ual power. The very word art indicates something in which skill, thought, effort, and taste are exercised, and the percep- tion of the results of such exercise is the labor of reason. Hence, a musical com- position must have adherent beauty, and that beauty is surely to be found chiefiy in the qualities which have been described as intellectjaal. But in musical art the adherent beauty of the intellectual de- velopment in a composition has a singu- lar quality of its own. It does not satisfy us so much by its agreement with a pre- conceived conception of what it ought to be as by an immediate conviction that it could not have been other than what it is. This is one of the finest traits of a great composition. It must 121 Chap. XII. Art and Judgment. Value of the Inevi- table. 122 Chap. XII. Suitability of style. The Content of Music possess the element of Inevitableness. In listening to such a work as Beetho- ven's Fifth Symphony, we feel that every phrase is inevitable. To have written it otherwise would have weakened the structure. This Inevitableness is pro- duced by perfection of form, by absolute logic of development, and is, therefore, an intellectual quality. Closely related to it is the principle of Fitness, on which Mr. Hadow lays much stress. But this Fitness is almost wholly concerned with style, and ma}^ be dis- missed briefly. This principle demands that the manner shall be suitable to the matter. It not only forbids the employ- ment of a secular style in sacred music, but it prohibits the juxtaposition of in- congruous styles in any w^ork. For in- stance, imagine the working-out part of a Beethoven sonata written in a Chopin- esque manner. Or fancy a sonata built of music like that of Rossini's "Semira- mide." The thing would be a burlesque on music. It may be said, however, that the principle of Fitness applied to vocal music demands that the musical ideas shall be appropriate to the text. ^Esthetics of Music 123 This means, of course, that the music shall be as complete and life-like an em- bodiment as possible of the emotions set forth by the poet. It is the principle which lies at the basis of opera, and ad- herence to it is the only excuse which operatic writing has for its existence. Opera music which does not voice the emotions of the text is empty jingle. It may be melodious and symmetrical in form, but it is insincere, it is not inevi- table, it is not fit, and hence it is not ar- tistic. Its appeal is chiefly to the ear, and its beauty is mainly sensuous. It is hardl}' necessar}^ to add anything to what has already been said about the emotional part of a composition. The reader will speedily perceive that the chief law is that the emotional schedule should not embrace anything incapable of being expressed in music. The whole range of elementary emotions is open to the composer, if he will only content himself with treating them in the ab- stract. He must not try to tell the cause of the emotion j he needs text when he aims at that. And he must not try to represent purely intellectual proc- Chap. XII. Fitness in opera music. .■Esthetics of the emotional. 124 Chap. XII. Music and abstract Beauty. Form absolutely essential. The Content of Music esses. I need hardly add that great emotions should be found in a great composition. The conception of Beauty, as Kant notes, belongs to man alone. The beasts do not share it with him. Now, music is wholly the creation of the human in- tellect. It has no model in Nature as painting and sculpture have. The very materials of music are the products of man's thought. Because Beauty is con- ceived only by man, and music is the pure product of his intellect, it seems to me that this art comes nearer to an ex- pression of beauty in the abstract than any other. It is the highest product of the imagination, and hence closer to free beauty than any other art. It pro- ceeds out of the elements of our tripar- tite nature, sensation, reason, and emo- tion, in their most uncircumscribed and unconditioned state, and consequentl}^ it appeals to them with irresistible force. As symmetry, proportion, balance, and logical development are essential to the perfection of an art-work, and as these are the results of design, no com- position can be truly great, no matter yEsthetics of Music how notable the free beauty of its ger- minal ideas or how eloquent its expres- sion of emotion unless it is built accord- ing to the fundamental laws of Form. The musical conceptions and the play of emotions must be alike governed by the reason. Of the genuine composer it must always be said as Martin Luther said of the great pupil of Ockeghem : " Other composers have to do as the notes let them, but Josquin is master of the notes." And so we come at last to the true balance of parts in a musical art-work, a balance pre-existent in the tripartite nature of man. W great man is one who has a great body and a great soul absolutely ruled by principle, which is a product of reason.. A great com-7 position is one in which there are seni suous beauty and emotional eloquence^ governed by the laws of Form. / 125 Chap. XII. Summary 0/ musical beauty. Part II The Performance of Music 129 INSTRUMENTAL PERFORM- ANCE. XIII The Orchestra WHILE the lover of music may often be in doubt as to the merit of a composition, he need never be so in regard to that of a performance. Here we stand on safe and sure ground, for the qualities that make excellence in per- formance are all well known, and it is necessary only that the ear shall be able to detect them. There may, of course, be some difference of opinion about the reading of a sonata or the interpreta- tion of a symphony ; but even these dif- ferences should be rare. Differences of judgment about the technical qualities of a musical performance should never exist. Whether a person plays the piano or sings well or ill is not a ques- Pcrform- ance a sure gi oiind. 130 Chap. XIII. Questions of/act. Instrumental Performance lion of opinion, but of fact. The critic who is acquainted with the technics of the art can pronounce judgment upon a performance with absolute cer- tainty, and there is no reason in the world why every lover of music should not do the same thing. There should not be an}^ room for such talk as this : " I think Mrs. Blank sang very well, didn't you ? " " Well, I didn't like it much." And there should be no room for the indiscriminate applause of bad per- formances which so often grieve the hearts of judicious listeners. Bad or- chestral playing, bad piano playing, bad singing are applauded every day in the course of the musical season by people who think they have a right to an opin- ion. I repeat that it is not a matter of opinion but a matter of fact ; and a per- son might just as well express the belief that a short fat man was finely propor- tioned as to say that an ill-balanced or- chestra was a good one, and he might as well say that in his opinion a fire-en- gine whistle was music as to say that a throaty voice-production was good sing- injr. The Orchestra In the second part of this little vol- ume, therefore, I propose to set forth, as briefly as possible, the essentials of good performance for the information of those who, not knowing them, have not the grounds for judgment. Instrumental performance will be considered first, and it is natural to study first of all the great- est of all instruments — the orchestra. The modern orchestra is the result of a long development, which it would not be profitable to trace in this book. It is a body of instruments, selected with a view to their ability to perform the most complex music. It will be readily un- derstood that such an instrumental body must possess a wide range of timbres, a great compass, extensive gradations of force, the greatest flexibility, and a sol- id sonority which can be maintained from the finest pianissimo to the heavi- est forte. Of course the preservation of some of these qualities, such as flexibil- ity and solidity, depend largely upon the skill of the composer, but they are all inherent in the orchestra. They are gained by the use of three classes of in- struments, grouped under the general 131 Chap. XIII. The modern orchestra. Its scope and power. 132 Chap. XIII. Its three groups. The vari- ous in- struments. Instrumental Performance heads of wood, brass, and strings, which have special tone-colors and individual- ity when heard in their distinct groups, but which combine admirably in the en- semble. It is the custom to name the three groups in the order given because, for the sake of convenience, composers place the flute parts at the top of the page of the score when the wide margin gives room for their high notes. The other wood- wind instruments follow the flutes, so as to keep the wood-choir together. The brass is placed under the wood because its members are so often combined with some of the wood instruments in sound- ing chords. This brings the strings to the bottom of the page, the instruments of percussion (drums, cymbals, etc) be- ing inserted between them and the brass. The instruments of the conventional symphonic orchestra of the classic peri- od, then, are flutes, oboes, clarinets, bas- soons in the wood department, horns, trumpets, and trombones in the brass, and violins, violas, violoncellos, and double-basses for strings. Modern com- posers have added for special reasons The Orchestra the EngHsh horn, which is the alto of the oboe, the bass-clarinet, the contra- bassoon (which sounds an octave lower than the ordinary bassoon), the bass- tuba, a powerful double-bass brass in- strument, and the harp. The piccolo, a small, shrill flute sounding an octave higher than the ordinary flute, was in- troduced into the symphony orchestra by Beethoven, though it had frequently been used before in opera scores. It is not possible to convey in print any idea of the timbres of the various in- struments. These are only to be learned by hearing them, and the simplest plan is to get a friend who knows the different instruments by sound to identify them for you. Something may be said, how- ever, about the functions of the three choirs. The wood-wind used to be em- ployed with very little skill until Mozart introduced the art of instrumental col- oring. This he did by employing differ- ent wood-wind instruments in solo pas- sages and in combinations. Any per- son will readily understand that a flute has a different tone from an oboe or a clarinet ; but few stop to think how 133 Chap. XIII. Functions of the three choirs. 134 Chap. XIII. The wood- wind. Its minor groups. Instrumental Performance much difference in color can be ob- tained by sounding a flute with an oboe instead of with a clarinet. It is by making different combinations of in- struments that different tone-colors are produced in an orchestra, and for this purpose the wood -choir is especially well ada{)ted. Now this choir, as a whole, is capable of playing by itself in full harmony, as in the music of Elsa's entrance to the cathedral, or the exit of Elizabeth in the third act of " Tannhauser." It is capable, also, of subdivision into small groups, each of which can produce har- mony and melody. For instance, two flutes and two oboes, or two flutes and two clarinets, or two oboes and two bas- soons, or two clarinets and two bassoons may be used, and each of these combi- nations can play a melody built on full chords of four tones. Again, the whole of the wood can be emplo3'ed in com- bination with all the strings or all the brass, or with parts of either. In tutti passages (those written for the entire orchestra) all the wood - wind instru- ments are used, though their individual- The Orchestra ity of tone is lost in the general mass of sound. Flutes and oboes are purely soprano instruments, while bassoons cover the bass and baritone registers and part of the tenor. Clarinets are both soprano and contralto, their low tones being of singular depth and richness, but of som- bre tint. The instruments are generally employed in pairs, but in modern works a third flute, a third clarinet, and a third bassoon are often found, and sometimes a fourth. The older composers always wrote their wood-wind parts in one man- ner, putting the flutes and oboes upper- most, the former usually doubling the latter in the octave, and both sounding what may be described as the soprano and alto parts of the chord. The clari- nets filled in the middle notes, and tlie bassoons played the bass. This pro- duced a close harmony, upon which no improvement can be made in tutti pas- sages. But late writers use a dispersed harmon}', making the compass of their chords much greater, and the intervals between the neighboring tones wider. This is a method which produces much 135 Chap. XIII. Its compass and variety. Close and dispersed writing. 13^ Chap. XIII. The brass choir. French ho? n pass