W H AT I S G O O D

MUSIC ?
SU G G ESTIO N S TO PE R S O N S D E S IRI N G
TO C U LT I VA TE A T A S TE I N
MU S I C A L A RT

W . J . H EN D E RSO N
A uthor f
o

T H I RD ED I T I O N

N EW YO R K
CH A R L E S S C RI BN E R S S O N S
’

1
9 ;
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 C O PYRI G H T , 1 89 8. BY

C H A RL ES SC R I B N ER S ’
SON S
su m
 DO
"

PH I L I P H A L E
 C O N T EN T S

M us i c an d th e o the r ar ts —C ri ti c i sm as o pp o se dt o eu PREL U D E .

j y
o m en t— I n fl u en c e of r om an ti c i sm —Wa gn er an d hi s th eo
ri e s — Phr ases , s ec ti on s , an d m e l o di e s — G ro w th o f th e
d e si re to u n d e r stan d m u si c — Li vi n g wi th g oo d m u si c
C on d i ti on of th e u n i n stru c t e d l i st e n er —H e a ri n g i n th e
c o n v en ti o n a l wa y — S on a tas v er s u s fan d gan o e s— H e a ri n g
B h
ac
'
s
“
Passi on — C h a mb e r mu si c as a so po ri fi c

Fi d
r en s in n ee d but n ot in d d
ee .

T H E ES S E N T I A L S OF F O RM

Excell en c e of musi c al i d eas—M u si c al h i gh th i nki n g CH AP .

L w whi h
a s c g i bl —M u i l f m d h i t y
are rec o n za e s ca or an s or

Wh y dful t k w f m —M i i ts wh h ard
n ee o no or u s c ex s en e

N i ty f
ec e ss p ti ti —D i t ib ti
o re e f p ti ti —D i
on s r u on o re e ons

i ty i
ve rs i ty—I m p t
n un f p t f tio —H i gh
or an c e o se ar a e un c ns

g d f g i ti —N t
ra es o or f h y th m—El m t y
an za on a u re o r e en ar
 C o n t en t s

CH AR
r hythm s — S i m pl e an d c om p ou n d r h y th m s — N a ture of mel
o dy —N y— M l dy d hy th m
a tu r e o f h ar m on
i t d e o an r a ssoc a e
—A ly i g na m m n m l d y— T h
z n a l i g d
co o e o e c os n ca e n ce

E pl x ti f ph
an a — R p ti t i
on o f m ti — S ti fy
r ases e e on o a o ve a s

i g th
n — M u si l a d p eti
e ea r hy thms—C mpl i ty f
ca n o c r o ex o

or g an iz a ti on .

f b é¢MMn fi h fi b mms

C AR
H Po lyph on i c s y st e m of r e p e ti ti on — T h e mon o ph on i c sy s

t e m—T h e h ar m on i c b asi s—A tu n e a c co m p yi g an n i tse f l

A tu n e a c c om p an i e d by c h or d s — Po ly ph on i c m u si c d efi ne d
—M ean in g o f c ou n t e r p oi n t — T he fu g ue d e fi n e d— S ub j ect

a n d an sw e r — C o u n te rWh t t li t -
j
su b e c t a n d st re t to — a o s en

f —T h f g i t ll t li ty— A g f p ly ph y— L
’
or e u ue s n e ec u a e o o on asso

and P l t i —M i i gi
a es r n a lly f m l — B gi i g f
us c or na or e ss e nn n o

song— A pp f hy th m — Rh y th m t k
ear a n c e o f m t t r a en ro ex

Th el i ti l h t— O b i
e c c e s as f m l di f m
ca c an v o u sn e ss o e o c or

—T h i t m t l d
e l pm t— T h f g
n s ru en a f J S eve o en e u u es o . .

B h—C h t i ti f p ly ph y— M t y f i gi d
ac ara c er s cs o o on as e r o r

m t ri al
a e .

l
T he so o-v oi ce st yle—D omi n a n c e of son g th ught—T h -
o e

son a ta i ts i ssu e— Peri o d an d s ta n z a —M y h man f sc e es o

re p e ti ti on — T he Ro n do for m— A R on do in v e rs e — D ev el
o p m e n t of R o n do fo r m s— T he l a te R on d o form — T he Fi rs t
M o v e m en t form — T h e s o w i n tro du c ti on — S o m eti m e s m a d e
l
im p or tan t— T h e two c hi ef t h em e s — R e l a ti on of ky e s —S u b
j e c ts a n d h
t eir l
r e a ti o n s —U se of e pi so d e s —Val u e o f the

re p ea t — T he wor i n k g
l p -
ou t p
h m ti art — T e a c d ev e o

m t—A l t
en t i o s o f therau n m l dy e s bj t— A l t i g th
ec er n e e o

T tm
re a t a nd ol i g—D i ff e c
en i cst yl s—V al
or n f er n e n e ue o

worki g u t— C l i m
n o of a mo m e t—T h S k el et n on
ax ve n e o c

c eale d— Ess n ti al s f so a ta form—V oc al an d i n st um en

e o n r
 C on ten ts

tal st yl e s— T he sec on d m o v e m en t— T h e m i n u e t wi t h de
v e lo p m e n t — T h e m i n u e t a n d sc h e rz o — O i gi r n of th e s ch e rz o

—Sc h e rz i by B h— T h
ac e t ru e B e e t o v e n sc e rz o— F o r m
h h
of th e sc h erz o — Fi n a l e of th e so n a ta — M o d e m i n n o v a ti on s

— T he c o n c er t o fo rm — S on a ta th e l
c as si c for m— T h e e ra

of m u si c a l y
b e a u t — T h e t er m l
c assi c a l ”
-
Ab se n c e o f

d ee p e m o ti on — B ea u t y an d th e S on a ta .

Rom a n t i c F ar m s

p l
R ec a i tu a ti on — T h e two rea t i m u ses— C assi ci sm g p l l C AP
H .

an d R o m a n ti c i sm — D e m an d for e x r e ssi o n — e e t ov en s p B h '

ro m an t i c i sm — I ts e ffe c t on fo r m — C o m m u n i ty o f t e m e h
Sc h u m an n s
’

fo u rt h y m ph y I t pl
s on s an o f d e v e o l pm t en

T he S m y ph o n ic p m— T h p g m m
oe e ro ra e o v e r tu r e — Li t sz
'
s

pi an o c on c ertos —T rai ts of rom an ti c m u si c .

F u n da m en ta l P r i n ciples

Bl a an c e a n d d ig
es n —Essen ti al s of form—C omm on to C AP
H .

a ll mu si c—S ma ll v er sus l gar e fo rm s .

O
V CA L F O RM S
Cnun "
; Cou n ter oi n t
p
d
M e i aev a l h c u rc h m u si c— Essen ti a l s o f v oc a l c oun ter

p oi n t — B ea u t y of c h u rc h p ly ph y
o on .

A ge of the g— S g f
s on on o rm an d p oe tr y—T he c y clic al
son g—M i g i
e an n mp n acco an i m en t — Vl a ue of for m an d

st yl e—D ra m ti a g —Ec so n s l
sse n ti a s o f a g oo d son g—V ar i

e ty o f son gf m or s.
 C on ten ts

O ri in g —M o no ton y of r ec i ta ti v e—Adv ent of the

of opera

ari a — R e i gn o f v o c al di spl a y—T i c kli n g the e ar— Ab o li sh

i n g se t form s—Pur p ose o f o p era m u si c — Fi d eli ty to th e

t ex t M u si c as an ex p re ssi on — K i n ds of r e c i t a ti v e

Re c i t a ti v e se c co —T h e a ri o so st yl e —T he ar i a da ca p o

—D i fi eren t kin ds of ari a—A rti sti c l ev el of o p era—Ab sol ute

'

musi c h igher

T H E CO N T EN T OF M U SI C

T ao S en su ous

C AP
H . F orm n ot e v er y thi g— C
n ri ti c i sm of for m an d sty e—Fun l
d ame n t al qu a i ti es o f m u si c — F orm i m
l pli es c on t en t —T hr e e
fu n d a m e n ta l forc es— T h e sen su ous e e m e n t l —P ur ely s en
su on s m u si c — S en su o u sn ess of th e o rc h e stra — P le asu r e of

h ghtl — F
th e t ou ess a c t or s of t he sen su o u s— C o m p os i t i on

d p i ti g— T
an a n n l
on e- c o or a n d ar t —T he S en suous a m ean s
—C l d O tl i
o or an u n e.

C AP
H . M u si c of h d—T h
the i n t e ll ect — I n t elle c t an d me t o e

I t ll t l d d i g — D m d f m i l d i g —A
n e ec u a an es n e an s o us ca es n

correc t m ti l h m — A tt ib t
e o f
on a g im
sc e e r u es o an or an s

O g i m i m i —H li k f m—T h I t ll t l
r an s n us c an s c on or e n e e c ua

i h i t y— B th d th I t ll t l—M u i hi gh ’
n s or ee ov e n an e n e ec u a s c s

est g im
or an s . P g 97 a e

n o Em oti on a l
C AP
H .
M u si c a ro u se s e m o ti on — M i sta k es a b ou t mu si ca l e mo

ti on — Pri m ar yl aw o f e x p ressi on —M u si c i mi tates speec h

 C o n t en t s

Power of m usi c a l p p i
ex r essi on — L i m i t of h
t i s ex r ess o n C AP
H .

M i
u s c ex p m d —N t
re sse s i d fi it p i
oo s o an n e n e ex ress o n

E rrors of th h —G dl
e p t ti —Wh t
ea r er rou n e ss ex ec a on s a on e

m y a p t—B th
ex ec m ti l tt
ee —E il
ov en s
’
e o on a u e r an c e v s of

b d a i t i i m —H W
cr t t
c s i ti i —M Oi w gly
no o cr c se us c ron c en

d—C
su r e ti f p i —D i pti m i
onv en on s o ex re ss on e sc r ve us c

P g m m m i —T lli g
ro ra e t y—V lu
us c f pe m e n a s or a e o o ra u si c

—C ommuni c a ti on of em oti on.

Wh t i a s the b e au tifu l ? —K an t on B eau t y—F ree an d

a dh t b
e re n eau t y—T h eir pl i ace n m u si c— A r t an d s ym bo l
i sm — B yaeau t n d e du cati on — A rt an d j d gm
u en t— Vl a u e of

t h e I n vi t a b l e
e - S u i t ab i i t l y o f st yl e — Fi tn e ss i n o p era mu si c
—i Esthe ti c s of th e e m o ti on a l — M u si c an d a b stra c t B e au t y
— F o rm l
ab so u t e ly essen ti a l S u mm ar y of mu si c a l

I N ST RU M E N T A L P E R F O RM A N C E

Performance a su re g rou n d— " u esti on s of fac t—T he

mo d e rn orc h estra —I ts
h g p S cope an d p w o e r— I ts t re e r ou s
—T h i i t m t —F
e var ou s ti f th th
n s ru h i en s unc on s o e ree c o rs
—T h w d wi d—I t m i
e g p —I t mp
oo n d s n or ro u s s co a ss an va

i ty—C l
r e d di p d w i ti g — T h b
ose an h i s e rse r n e r ass c o r

F h h p g —T m p t d t mb —U f
re nc orn assa es ru e s an ro on e s se o

k ttl d m —T h t i g q i t t—S p i l ff t — M ut d
e e ru s e s r n u n e ec a e ec s e
 C on ten ts

g —R l g i nstru m en ts—T h e l '

stri n s e ati ons of stri n ed vio a s

" II I . c h ara c ter —I ts dram a ti c pw

o er —T he l
Vi o on ce llo—V ar i e t y
i n the stri n g —G d s oo orc h t
e s ra ti on — S ol idi ty an d ba la n ce

—C on trast an d v a ri e t y—H e a ri n g all the i n stru m en ts

G d oo orc h e st r a l pl yi g—B l
a n a an c e of t on e —S moothn e ss
of ton e— S o id i t l y f t —P i i o on e rec s on an d u nani m i t y
Li ght an d sh d e—T h
a m i ddl v i e e o ces —D ut i es of a c on

H omo ge n ei t y o f ton e —T he pervasi ve l

so oi st —Place
of the pi an o —B eau ty of quart t playi g—T aste fo ch e n r am

P age 1 51

T no P i a n o

C APH .
I gn oran ce a b ou t pi ano pl yi g—T h
a n ec n i c an d ton e
l
c o or— M u si c — Po we r of th e i n ter re ter
m u st b e h e ar d p
Pa d e re ws i an e x a m le— b e c t of i a n o t ec n i c — Em a n
k p Oj p h
B h
u el ac an d M oz art —C le m e n t i s sty le— i sz t, C o i n a n d
'
L hp ,

I dp l
t on e -co or— n e en d en c e O f fi n gers— T he si n i n ton e g g
T h d p d lli g—Rhythm d ph i
ou c an . e i l a n an ras n g—M us c a

t mp
e m t Em ti
er a d p f m
en C t l f o on an e r or an c e on ro o

em ti — I t l l t i
o onm m d— P i
n e f th i t ll t
ec n co an rov n c e o e n e ec

Em ti
- d h di g
o H i t i l j ti
on — M ki g
an s a n s or c a us ce a n a

read i g— A ly i f th d i g —Adj tm t f ff t
n na s s o e es n us en o e ec s

G p f g i u i ty—Value of moti o l pow —S m

r as o or an c n e na er u

mary of th matter e .

CH AP . T he vi o i n tec l h ni c —Ac curac y —

g "uali ty of of sto ppi n

tone —T ou ch in b owi n g—P uri t y an d son ori ty—L arg e and

sm a ll t on e —T he b ow arm — S p ec i al e ffe c ts — Vi oli n s as

si n ge rs —I n ti mac y of the violi n .

 C on ten ts

V O CA L P E R F O R M A N CE

R qu i r
e e h
m en ts o f c oral si n i n — rc g g O h t e s r a an d c h oru s C AP
H .

B al an c e o f t on e — S i n i n g g
i n t u n e— m I po t r an c e o f phras o

i n g— P h rasi n g an d th e t t— Li gh t
ex d sh d an a e — Re fi n e

men t an d siz e .

Ig b
n oran c e a ou t si n gi g— T
n em p era m en t an d a gi li ty
H i gh t ty p f
es e o si n gi g— V i
n o ce an d a rt — D iffe ren c e of

m th d — R gi t
e o s e s e rs an d e qu a li z a ti o n — G oo d to n e-pro
d u c ti on — C le arn e ss an d fr ee d om — S e cr e t o f a ttac k—T h e

lg
e a to st yl e M e ssa di v oc e V oc a li
z a ti on D i sti n ct
e n u n c i a t i on — G d ph
oo ras i n g— R g l ti e f b
u a th i gon o re a n

T ec h nic an d P tti
a kill— U ltim t p p
'
s s a e ur ose

of son g .
 H E right to like dislike a m u si c a l
or

composition without giving a rea

son has long been regarded as coexistent
with human freedom M usic has been .

a sort o f Cinderella o f the arts casually ,

Observ ed incidentally admired but gen

, ,

e r a lly treated as o f no serious importance

in the presence o f her favored sisters ,

painting and p oetry N O on e presumed

.

to pronounce an opinion o n the m erit of

a picture or a statu e who had not at least
learned th e di fference between a pen
and ink drawing and a water color and
- -
,

fe w persons would have ventured to

write down Shakespeare an ass before
having acquired a suffi cient knowledge
o f poetry to tell a sonnet from a fi v e act -

tragedy B ut it was deemed altogether

.

fitting and indeed intellectually satis

, ,
"

fy i n g that Beethoven should be smugly

patted o n the back Brahms vie wed with
,
 W h at I s Goo d M us i c ?

E
PR LU D E .
lifted brows and Wagner convicted o f
,

lunacy by persons who could not while ,

in the concert room detect a fa ntasia

-
,

masquerading as an overture nor a suite ,

disguised as a symph ony— n ay more , ,

who c o uld not tell when the composer

dr o pped the elementary rhythm of the
valse t o take up that of th e polonaise .

F or music was if you please not matter

, ,

to be reasoned about but j ust to be lis ,

tened t o and to be enj oyed Who are .

these fellows said th e concert goers

,
-
,

with their prosy platitudes about m u

sic and her dignity as an art ? D o we .

go into the concert room to search for -

the S keleton under the beautiful flesh ?

Nay let us feast o u r 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 o f composers wh o used the scalpel
on their own art and who cried aloud ,

in the market places for intellectual con

-

sideration A nd these composers were

.

forth with discovered to be romanticists ,

w h o d eclared that music was not only

beautiful but throbbing with the pent
,
 Pre l u d e

u p pa ssion of humanity I n her these .

EL U D E
PR .

found the elemental voice of mankind ,

the speech of fundam ental em otions the ,

irresistible declaration o f the primeval

barbarian grandeur of the man and
woman at gaze o n e u pon the other ; and
they called the worl d to witness that
when they sat down t o compose music
they were engaged in graving with su b t
ler tools what the painter splashed with
his brush and the poet traced with his
pen .

F inally o n e of these romanticists a

, ,

mad uncontrollable fellow whose con

, ,

v i c t i o n s burnt into his soul with su ch

fierce fire that they sent him running

through the high ways o f the world
screaming his agony into the faces of
men p roclaimed his belief in a hybrid
, ,

acephalous thing called th e art work of -

the future in which poetry painting act

, , ,

ing and music should unite and form

,

an aesthetic D agon to be worshipped in

Gath and A ska lon and a ll the cities o f
,

the P hilistines A nd then th e listeners

.

t o music said to one another Wherein ,

do the works o f this U topian di ffer from

those o f M ozart and the p r ophets ? We
 W h at I s Goo d M us i c ?

PR EL E UD .
hear a great confusion of sounds but the ,

aria and the trio a n d the finale are not .

So they learned that there w a s a some

thing called a lezz m ot if and that some‘
'

times i t was o n ly a phrase sometimes a ,

section and again a complete melody

,
.

Whereup o n they became aware that

they themselves did not know ho w a
phrase a section or a complete melody
, ,

might di ffer o n e from the other A nd .

so as has frequently happened since the

,

beginning o f the world the woman tim ,

o r o u sly tasted the fruit o f the tree o f

knowledge and finding that it was good

,

“
for food and to make o n e wise gave ,

also unto her husband with her and he ,

did eat A nd the eyes of them both

.

were Opened and they knew that they

were naked .

A ssuredly whatever may have been

,

the course of musical culture in other

lands in the U nited States the appetite fo r
,

to u n der an understanding of music was aroused

musi c .
by Wagner N O W many who have for
.

years been sitting in the t emples o f the

divine art in sloth and carelessness are
“
crying out What S hall I do t o be
,

saved ? I t has been the happy ex pe

 P relu d e

ri en c e the writer to m eet with hun

of PREL U D E .

dreds who were searching anxiously for

the path that leads to musical salvation .

F ortunately it is not only a straight path

, ,

but a broad and S hort o n e The person .

who desires to cultivate a discriminating

taste in music may acquire the funda
mental knowledge i n a few S hort months .

A fter that o n e needs only to live much

,

in an atmosphere o f good music until

the acquired p rinciples become u n c o n
sc i o u sly the moving factors underlying

a ll attention to the art I f therefore I .

, ,

ventu re to o ffer a few hints to those who

find pleasure in listening to music but ,

desire to make that pleasure dependent

not on fancy but on j udgment I may ,

hO pe that not every man will deem me

an impertinent fellow .

Let us suppose then forbearing , ,

reader that y o u are in the state o f the

,

average m usic lover Y o u get great

-
.

enj oyment ou t o f th e Opera though you , Con di t i on

freely admit that you begin t o be weary

at the point where the inner brother
hood pric k s up its ears and loo k s very
wise Yo u atten d the functions of the B o s
.

t o n Sym phony O rchestra and the P hil

 W h at I s G oo d M usi c ?

PR EL U E
D .
harmonic S ociety and when they play ,

Haydn s works y o u are quite c ontent

’

,
.

Y o u like also some o f the symphonies

o f Mozart some o f Mendelssohn s and
’

, ,
th e con v en
parts o f Beeth oven s But y o u are ’
.

troubled by that dark blue music o f -

Tschaikowsky and those impolite com

,
‘
positions o f D vo r ak ; and you deem it
’

an unpardonable rudeness o n the part

of any orchestra to confuse you with
those tonal riddles of B rahms P rivate .

ly you are willing to admit that the slow

movements o f nearly all symphonies are
as poppy and m andragora to you ; and
y o u surreptitiously go to the Sunday
evening concerts where the ballet music -

o f Massenet and D elibes refreshes your

intellect by its appeal to your feet You .

go to piano recitals when the buzz o f

public talk about the pianist excites your
curiosity but y ou do wish the 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 .

A S for the oratorio y ou like others , , ,

go religiously once a year to hear the

 Pre l u d e

Messiah thoroughly satisfied that it

,
PR EL U E D .

towers above other oratorios as M ount

Browne above Tacoma and sometimes ,

y o u go to hear th e E lij ah Y o u never

.
”

—
heard any other oratorios and but stop
a bit ; someone induced you once to go
B a ck
and listen to a thing called the St M at .
s

thew P assion and you might have

,

known better because it was by that old

,

contrapuntal carpenter Bach Thank , .

goodness y o u had the good fortune to

,

hold a seat under the gallery where you ,

could S leep without bei n g seen More .

over y o u were once persuaded to go to

,

what a friend described as a chamber

music concert There y ou heard four
.

ghostly persons perform an op eration

which seemed to y ou to be th e articula
tion o f a symphonic skeleton A t that .

entertainment y ou became reckless and

S lept Openly in the sight o f a ll m en .

A nd let me add in strict confidence that

if the performance was no better than
most of o u r quartet pla y i n g l do not
-
,

blame y o u for your somnolence .

Now h ow are you to escape from this

,

slough o f despond ?
Y o u know there
is a land of promise somewhere on the
 W h at I s G oo d M us i c ?

PR EL U D E .
other side because your friends who
, ,

have entered into it have told y ou there

,

is and have comforted you with their

,

pity for your unregenerate state and ,

with vivid descriptions o f the superiority

n eed bu t n ot
o f their own condition They have e n
.

c o u r a ge d you vastly but have neglected

,

t o pu ll y o u ou t o f 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 ine ffable mystery and mira

cle about it which may n o t be under
stood by the average man Let us .
,

then address oursel v es 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 o f aid

, ,

to him who has been in search some

g uid e for hi s j u d gm e nt .
 Part I

T he "
ua li t i e s o f G o o d M u sic
 F O RM

rule can be laid down for recog

n izin
g the excellence o f a musical
idea It ca n not for instance be said
.
, ,

that originality o f rhythm o r harmony

is necessary . Su ch a statement would
be overthrown at once by th e m ere cita
tion o f the first them e of Beethoven s ’

E roica symph ony or the Walhalla

theme from Wagner s D er R ing des
’

Nibelung . Th e essential qualities o f

greatness in a musical subj ect are not to
b e described The lofti ness o f their
'

thought commands an immediate recog

n i t i o n from th e cultured mind and that
,

recognition by force o f habit becomes

, ,

immediate and almost instinctive No .

practised listener to m usic is often at a

loss to decide w het he r a theme is d i gn i
 T he Ess en ti al s o f Fo rm

C RA P . I .
fi ed or trivial The power to recogn i ze
.

the elevation of a fine musical thought

must come from continued musical high
thinking O ne must live with the mas
.

ters and absorb the S pirit of their n o bi l

ity There is no other way to learn to
.

discern the excellence of musical ideas .

But it is possible to help the student

o f music to perceive the S kill o f the

composer in building music with his

ideas and that of the performer in pre
senting the composition to the bea r e r .

F o r in these departments we are c o n

fronted with a system O f laws derived
from the discoveries o f the great gen
i u se s of the ar t The task o f the honest
.

student of music is to learn these la w s ,

to acquire the ability to perceive in lis ,

tening to a performance when they are ,

observed and when they are broken .

H e will thus come to listen to [11 11 8 1 0 1 n

t elli ge n t ly .

It is my purpose in this volume t o d o

what I can to assist the reader to gain
an acquaintance with those qualities of
excellence in music and musical per
fo r m a n c e which are susceptible o f def
inition . The person who desires to
 Rh yth m M e l o d y , , an d H arm on y

cultivate a taste in music ought t o be C AR I

H . .

acquainted first of all with m usical

, ,

form and the history of m usic F rom .

the first h e will learn t o perceive the

structure the artistic d esign of every
, ,

composition to which he listens and ,

from the second he will acquire a knowl

edge o f the period t o which a composi
tion belongs of the state of d evelop
,

m ent of the art o f the purposes and

,

possibilities Of composition at th at tim e .

It is obvious that any attempt at an

outline o f the history o f music would
be o u t o f place in this volume The .

subj ect is altogether too large for treat

m ent here and there are already extant
,

excellent and trustworthy treatises o n

th e subj ect Let us therefore start
.
, ,

with the inquiry : Why is it essential to

th e intelligent appreciation of m usic
that o n e sh ould be acquainte d with the
elements of musical form ?
Because in music form is the first
m a nifestation of law Music is t o be
.

conceived primarily as presented to the

hearing The printed page o f a compo
.

sitio u is not music ; it is merely the rec

o r d o f music The mu sic itself has no
.
 Th e Esse n t i als o f Fo rm .

C AP I
H . .
existence except when it is sounded by
instrument o r voice and heard There
,
.

are very fe w persons even among pr o

,

fe s si o n a l musicians who are capable of

,

imagining the precise sound o f a com

position from reading the printed page .

A nd even if many could do this it would ,

still be foreign to the art It would be .

like imagining a picture from reading

a description o f it P ictures must be
.

seen ; music must be heard The m u .

si c a l composition ,
then passes before,

the sense o f hearing as a panorama of

sounds If the music consists of a se
.

ries of consecutive m elodic bits each ,

different from the other the m ind grasps

,

nothing The fleeting natu re o f a musi

.

cal thought demands that i t be repeat

ed i n order that the mind m ay become
acquainted with it A nd S O w e come
.

upon the first requisite o f musical form

— repetition .

The necessity of repetition in musical

composition is so Obvious that it calls
for brief di scussion The music lover
. .
-
,

by e x a m l n l n g any simple air will find ,

that at regular intervals the initial notes

o f the melody are repeated as for ex ,
 Rhyth m ,
M el o d y ,
an d H a rm on y

“
ample in H ome Sweet H ome and , ,
C AR I
H . .

th at it is the repetition of these notes

that identifies the tune Thus we com e .

upon the elementary fact that a musical

form is d ependent upon the m ore o r
less regular repetition of some recog
n i z a ble bit o f m elody Th e study of .

the methods o f distributing repetitions

led composers t o the organization o f
forms and hence we find that form in
,

music is synonymous with design .

With out design there is no artistic

work ; and the greater the diversity in
u nity displayed by th e design the high ,

er the art I n architecture to make

.
,

use o f analogical illustration the sim ,

p l es t form is a plain square building

, ,

but the highest art is to be found in a

great Gothic cath edral with its thou
sands o f details each beautiful in itself
, ,

but all similar in general character and ,

all forming part o f a whole which is the ,

perfect embodiment of u nity I n nat .

ural life a simple form is the polyp ,

while the highest and m ost complex

form is man If y o u cut a polyp into
.

pieces each piece lives still Turn it

, .

inside o u t and the skin becomes the

,
 T he Esse n t ials o f Fo rm

C AR I
H . .
stomach and v i ce v er sa
,
E very part .

performs every function and hence no ,

one part is indispensable That is the .

I mpor ta n c e lowest form of design I n man every .

part has a separate function and with ,

ou t that part the whole would be i n

complete That is the highest form of
.

design It is the most ad mirable exam

.

ple o f diversity in unity Goethe con .

,

t e m pla t i n gthese facts formulated in his

,

“ “
Mo r phology this law : The more
perfect the being the more dissimilar
,

are its parts Subordination o f parts

.

indicates h igh grade o f organization

-
.

Hence in music the simplest form is

, ,

that of a common ballad but the most ,

complex form is that which is th e m ost

highly organized — the sonata Before .

the lover o f 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 c on

si sts of rhythm melody an d harmony
, , .

R hythm is the grouping of sounds with

reference to their duration and accent .

I n poetry it is primarily manifested by

 Rh y th m M el o d y
, , an d H a rm o n y

the distribution of accented and unac C AR I

H . .

n t e d syllables in what is called a foot .

I n musi c it is indicated by the number

o f notes o f similar character in o n e m eas [Va/ ta r e o f
ure I n three fourth time we have three
.
-

quarter notes in a measure with the

-
,

accent normally o n the first I n fou r .

fourth time we have four quarter notes -

,

with t he principal accent o n th e first and

a secondary accent on the third The .

elasticity o f musical material however , ,

makes it p ossible for th e composer to

build rhythms which S hall extend be
y ond the limits of a single measure and ,

thus we get a wide limit o f complexity ,

leading always toward that high organ

i z a t i o n which is part o f an art work -
.

B ut as the complexity o f a musi cal work

may depend largely o n factors other
than rhythm we find that in som e of
,

th e greatest compositions th e rhythms

are elementary A n elementary rhythm
.
r /zy tlzms .

may be described as o n e in which the

notes o f the m elody nearly o r wholly
coincide with the number o f beats in a
measure . Instances of this kind o f
rhythm are the them e of the scherzo
o f Beethoven s Seventh Symphony
’

,
 Th e Esse n tials o f Fo rm

CH AR
. I .

and the choral theme of the same com

poser s Ninth Symphony
’

Féti scalls this kind of rhythm simple ,

and distinguishes it from compound

rhythm in which th e notes in succes
,

sive measures do not so nearly coincide

with the number of beats in a bar as for , ,

example

I t must be obvious to the reader that

in the construction o f a melody a com
poser has wide scope for complexity o f
rhythm and that he can display marked
,

originality and produce striking e ffects .

The second ele ment o f form is melody ,

by which we mean the distribution o f

 Rh yt h m M e l o d y
, , an d H arm on y

sounds with reference to their succes CH AP I .

S ion. No amount of rhythmic origi

n a li t
y would satisfy the ear if a S ingle
tone were maintained throughout I n .

orde r to have m elody we must have ,

m ovement from lower tones to higher ,

o r v i ce v er sa The melodic succession

.
,

therefore is dependent upon changes o f

,

pitch It is a succession of tones of dif

.

f orent elevation The third element of

.

—
form harmony is the distribution O f
—
lza r m ony
sounds with reference to their uni o n .
.

It is the science o f arranging the e ffect

o f tones which are t o be heard S imul

t a n e o u sly and it also governs the se

,

q u e n c e s o f the groups or chords

, as ,

they are called O ur m odern music is

.

so thoroughly founded on harm ony that

it is di fficult to conceive of any familiar
air as dissociated from its usual chord
arrangement A . new harm onizati o n
gives the air apparently a new melody .

F or example
 Th e Essen tials o f Fo rm

C AR I
H . .
It is equally true that melody is indis
S olubly associated with rhythm and that ,

an alteration of the rhythm will give a

a ssoc i a ted.
new character to a melodic succession ,

thus

We may lay harmonic form aside fo r

the present and confine ourselves to the
study of melodi c form The simplest.

and most inte l ligible method o f pro

c e d u r e is to take a com mon tune and

pull it apart to see how it is built

— I s t S ecti on —
r fl

This is the first part o f the principal

theme in the Opening movement o f
Beeth oven s Seventh Symphony A n
’
.

examination will S how that it divides

 R h y th m M e l o d y , , an d H arm on y

itself into t w o equal parts o f fou r meas C AR I

H . .

ures each the first part which m ay be

, ,

called the proposition ending at t he ,

point marked by an arrow Long habit .

has taught the human ear that a melody

is not ended till it closes with a cadence
c a den ce.
returning it to the tonic key ; hence o n
hearing th e S uspension at th e arrow we
'

realize t ha t t he sense is incomplete j ust ,

“
as w e would if we heard a m an say If ,
”
I go down town t o morro w and then ,

“
pause . But when the man adds I ,

shall buy new S hoes he completes the ,

sense and th e sentence Just so B e et ho .

ven completes his sentence by adding

the second half o r conclusion These ,
.

two equal parts of a m elody are called

sections and the portion making com
,

p le t e sense whether
,
composed of two or

more sections is called a period ,

.

A further examination will show that

each section is naturally divide d into
t w o balancing parts o f two m easures
each and that each Of these parts has a
,
.

perfectly defined S hape and m otion and Expla n a

a point Of repose o r partial repose ,
.

These parts are called phrases Th e .

germ of the phrase is the motive which ,

 Th e Essen ti al s o f Fo rm

CH AR . I .
indeed is the germ o f the whole melody .

I t defines the rhythm and sets the fi gri r e

for the melody I n the example quoted
.
,

the motive is coincident with the first

phrase but of course this is n o t always
, , ,

th e case I n Bee t hoven s F ifth Sym

.
’

phony the motive is this

while the first phrase is this

F rom the example quoted above the ,

reader will be able to gather what was

meant by the phrase distribution o f
repetitions H e will note for instance
.
, ,

that the repetition may be either r hy th

mic o r melodic o r both The mo tive an
, ,
.
,

n o u n c e d in the first m easure is repeat ,

’

ed exactly in both rhythm and melody

in the fifth (the first measure o f the
second section) So indeed is the whole
.
, ,

o f the first phrase T he third measure

.

o f the first se ction I S 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 ’

 Rh yth m M e l o d y , , an d H arm on y

perception o f th e most suitable method C AR I

H . .

o f returning to the tonic H e could have

.

used the third measure of the first sec

ti o n over but it would have deprived
,
th e ea r .
him o f the reposeful e ffect gained by the
B preceding the final A which requires
,

a harmony passing from dominant t o

tonic and thus giving a satisfying
,

dence Th e fourth measure of the first

.

section repeats the rhythm o f the third

measure with the le n gths o f th e first
two notes transposed for the obvious
purpose o f accentuat i ng the suspension ,

and o f satisfying a demand of harmony

which need not be discussed here .

This examination o f the first period

o f a melody by Beethoven reveals to

us some o f the principles o f elementary

form It S hows us that rhythms and
.

metres in m u sic are distributed in very

much the same way as they are in poet
r
y
,
and that the identity Of a tune is es

t a bli she d by the repetitions o f the fun

d a m e n t a l melodic id eas of which it is
made A ny S imple song a folk song
.
— -
,

a ballad o r o n e Of the ordinary opera

,

airs — can be analyzed in the manner

above employed and without di fficulty .
 T he Essen tials of Fo rm

C AR I
H . . B ut when we come to a composition in
which several complete tunes are used ,

o r in w hich even one is used with muc h

varie t y o f m usical treatment we find ,

ourselves in the presence o f o n e of those

higher organizations in which the system
of construction does not so rea d ily make
itself known Yet it is not b ey o nd the
.

power o f any listener t o learn to perceive

the formal construction of a composition
to which he is listening and in doing so
,

to enj oy the beauty o f its design o r

d etect f u n d amental weaknesses in it .
 P oly/anom c F or m s
'

m u sic will soon dis

of

cover that there are two great

classes o f forms— polyphonic and m ono
—
phonic many voiced and single voiced
- -
.

In the former he will find that th e o r

n i sm is effected by repeating at a dis
g (
'

a P olyplw m c

tance of o n e o r m ore measures) in a

second voice wh at has already been sung
o r played by a first .Th e co m plexity
o f this system o f repetition may be m ade

very great as i n a four voiced canon

,
-
,

and the system is capable o f mar v ellous

detail and compactness as in the fugue
, .

The monophonic system o n th e other ,

hand makes its repetitions within t he

,

phon i c
limits of a single voiced melo d y having
-

a subsidiary accompaniment Its sim .

p le s t form is the song and

, its highest the
symphony The stu dent should endea
.
 Th e Essen ti al s of Fo rm

CH AR .
vor to form a clear conception of t h e
essential di fference be t ween polyphonic
and monophonic writing In the poly
.

phonic style we are confronted by a

melody repeated at di fferent intervals
by di fferent voices and forming its
,

harmonies In the monophonic style

.
,

sometimes called the harmonic we have

,

a single voiced melody whose succes

-

sion of tones is conceived as an organic

part of a su ccession o f chords o u t o f
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 S how th e

reader h o w a tune is made to work as its
o w n accompaniment

The reader will note that in the sec

ond measure the first voice beg i ns at an,
 Po lyph on i c Fo rm s

interval half a tone higher the tune be ,

gun by the second voice i n the first

measure The first voice follows the
.

second in intoning th e air always j ust a

,

measure behind and half a tone higher ;

and the tune working against itself in
this way provides its o w n harmonies .

This is a fair illustration o f the process

o f polyph onic construction while a brief
,
”
quotation fro m the Ta nnh auser over
‘ '

ture will su ffice to illustrate the n ature

o f the m onoph onic style and its har

monic character

Here it is Obvious t h at the lower voices

do not repeat th e m elody o f the upper
voice nor are they essentially melodious
,

in themselves as they would have t o be

,

in polyphonic w riting The upper voice

.

-
the melody is h owever plainly con
, ,

c e i v e d as an inseparable part of a suc

cession o f chords which not only form

its accompaniment but add distinctive
,
 T he Essen t ials o f Fo rm

C AR II
H . .
features to its character The reader .

ought now to be prepared to accept cer

tain definitions which bear upon form .

P olyphonic m usic is that in which

several voices each intoning a melody
, ,

move simultaneously without discord .

P olyphonic writing is based o n coun

t orpoint which is the art of constru ct
,

i n g two or more melodies which may

proceed together with correct harmony .

The di fferent voices in a contrapuntal

composition are n ot required to repeat
the same m elody Two o r more indi.

vidual tunes m ay be heard at once In .

the finale of W agner s D ie Meister

“ ’

singer prelude five melodies are going

simultaneously When the same mel
.

o dy is repeated by the various voices ,

we have a canoni c form of which the ,

highest development is the fugue A .

canon as I have S hown is a composition

, ,

in which th e voices begin o n e after a n "

other each intoning p recisely the same

,

melody .The laws of canon require

that th e point of entry having been es ,

t a bli she d must be followed by all the

,

voices ; that is if the second voice be

,

gins on e measure after the first the ,

 Polyph on i c Fo rm s

third must begin o n e measure after the CH AR .

second F urtherm ore the voices must

.
,

rigidly p reserve the first intervallic dif

ference ; that is if the second voice
,

takes up the tune a third above the first ,

it must follo w out th e melody at that i n

t e r v a l The reade r will at once perceive
.

that canonic writing requires profound

mastery o f m usical material and that it ,

is likely to interest us more by the i n

t e lle c t u a l qualities displayed in its con
struction than by its merely sensuous
charms . A fugue is a com position
written in strict polyphonic style a c
cording to laws laid down by the elder
masters Bach is the accepted head o f
.

the school o f fugue writers and his ,

works formulate th e entire code o f pr a c

tice It is quite u nnecessary and foreign
.

to the general purpose o f this book to

describe the entire construction o f a
fugue ; but its general features ought
to be pointed ou t The required parts
.

o f a fugue are the Subj ect th e A nswer

, ,

the Countersubj ect and th e Stretto

,
.

The Subj ect is the theme the funda ,

S u bj ec t a n d

mental melody Th e A nswer is the cor

.

relative of the Subj ect The former is

.
 Th e Ess e nti als o f Fo rm

CH AR usually t h e first phrase o f the fugue and ,

the latter the second phrase and the ,

polyphonic character o f t h e composition

is at once revealed by the fact that the
A nswer is s i mp ly the Subj ect repeated
at a di fferent pitch thus
,

Th e Countersubj ect is that part of the

melody which is so constructed as t o
form t he accompanimen t t o the A nswer .

s u b ec t a n d
j
The Stretto is a drawing together o f the
parts near the end o f the fugue by caus
ing their entries to overlap The stu .

dent will find that th e A nswe r is some

times an inversion of the Subj ect .

Sometimes it repeats th e Subj ect in

longer notes (augmentati o n) and some
times in sh orter n o tes (diminuti o n) V a .

rions other devices are empl o yed to give

life and interest to a fugue but there is
,

no necessity of dwelling up o n them here .

A ccurate and complete criticism o f a

fugue is only possible to o n e who is fully
 Po lyph o n i c Fo rm s

acquainted with the laws o f fugue ; but CH AR

an intelligent estimate o f the value o f a
fugal composition may be made by any
person wh o knows the general princi
ples of polyphony The listener t o a
.

fugue should identify the Subj ect and

watch for th e A nswer H e should note .

whether it is direct o r inverted o r ,

whether it has been augmented o r di

minished A t the same time he should
.

hear the Countersubj ect and bear it in

mind .

Thereafter he should follo w the i n

t e r w e a v i n g o f these m elodic parts and
endeavor to decide whether it shows i n
nuit r baldness plasticity o r st i fl
g e
y o , ,

ness power and fecundity o r unsuccess

, ,

ful effort and barrenness A bove all the .

,

great question is : D oes it make music ?

Is it beautiful within the field o f poly
ph onic writing o r is it ugly ? If it has
,

b alance symmetry clarity and logical

, , ,

development it will have the front o f

beauty It will come with all the c o n
.

v i n c i n g force o f a clear argument The .

fugue i s an intellectual produ ct and it ,

must be studied with the intellect H e .

w ho listens fo r rhythm and melody o nly ,

 T he Essen tials o f Form

C AP II
H . .
will be disappointed in all fugues eve n , ,

those of B ach The proper endeavor is

.

to follow the interwea v ing of th e voice

parts and discover what ingenious a n d
striking e ffects are p roduced by the
workings of the different phrases o f a
melody against o n e another .

P olyphonic writing is the ol d est form

o f modern music and the first few cen
,

t u r i e s of musical history were taken up

with the labors o f industrious and gift
ed musicians i n developing this kind o f
music . The masters of the famous
Netherlands school which flourished in ,

the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries ,

were most accomplished writers o f poly

phonic music and originated most o f its
,

laws Their music was all vocal and

.

with out accompaniment (a capella ) It .

reached its highest development in the

L am an d compositions of O rlando Lasso and the ,

mm .
noble works o f P alestrina o w e their ex
i st e n c e to the science formulated by th e
Netherlanders Th e development o f this
.

church polyphony was an a r ti fi Ci a l proc

ess yet it was inevitable that it S hould
,

have preceded the monophonic o r ba r ,

monic style .
 Po lyph on i c Fo rm s

M usic was originally a free dictation C AR

H . II .

of fancy o r 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 o f ceremonials as in ,

st a n c e d in the first book o f Samuel x ,

.

5 :
“
A fter that thou shalt come to the
hill o f God where is th e garrison of the
,

P hilistines : and it S hall come to pass ,

when thou art come thither to the city ,

that thou shalt meet a company o f

p rophets coming down from the high
place with a psaltery and a tabret and a
, , ,

pipe and a harp before them and they

, ,

shall prophesy . F urth er historical sup

port o f th e p robability that song began
in mere inflections of the voice is found B egi n n i ng

in th e old Neume notation which pre ,

ceded the notation now in use The .

Neumes were marks somewhat like the ,

Greek accents placed over the vowels

,

o f a text to indicate the intervals up or

,

down through which the voice should

pass in intoning What we now recog
.

nize as m elody was developed by grad

ual growth from intonations o f this kind .

R hythm must have made its appearance

 Th e Essen t ials o f Fo rm

C AR I I
H . .
in music as soon as it did in the verses
to which music was set E ugene V eron .
,

in his f Est het i c s says ,

”

A very imp orta n t c harac teristic of a ncien t lan

guages wa s rhyt hm T he m ore or less regul ar re .

c urren ce o f i n to n a t ion s a n d o f S im i l a r c a d en c es c o n

stit ut es for c h i l d ren a n d sa vages the m ost agreea bl e

form o f m usic T he m ore t he rh y th m i s a c cen t

.

u a t ed t he b ett er t h ey a re pl eased ; t h ey l ove n o t

on ly i t s so u n d bu t i t s m ovem en t a lso
,
T he .

m ost c iv il iz ed n at ion s c a n n ot e sc a p e t h is tyran n y

o f rh y t h m . Rhyth m seem s indeed t o con , ,

t a in som e g e n era ll w p
a v lm t
, oss essin gp o w er o er a os

a ll l ivi g t h i g
n On m i gh t
s .
y t h t h y t h
ne m i t h sa a r s e

d f
an c e o d
s o un d i g i t h h y th m f m v
, as an c n s e r o o e

m t en . T h f th e w g b k i t th p t th
ar er e o ac n o e as e

m ore m k d ar d d mi
e an t i it f d i l gu g
o n an s o un n an a e .

It i t i th t t
s c er a n p i d f t h d v l pm t
a a on e er o o e e e o en

o f h m i t y hy t h m
u an rt it u t d t h ly mu i
con s e e on s c

k w no d it w
n , an ev i t t wi d w it h l gu g
as en n er ne an a e

it lf
se .

The earliest music then must have , ,

been a kind Of intonation in which the

rhythm was simply that o f the text and ,

the melody a derivative o f the inflections

o f the voice as dictated by the natural
,

utterance o f that text The most arti .

fi c i a l attempts in music have been based

on the idea that we could return to that
primitive form O ne attempt was that .
 T he Esse n t ials of Fo rm

CH AR .
dic idea firmly fixed in their minds they ,

conceived a composition to be a combi

nation of m elodies and when at some
,

period about the end o f the eleventh

century the device o f imitating in a sec
o n d 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 1 1 00
and the death o f Bach I 750 A fter Lasso
,
.

and P alestrina a capella church music

,
s tr u m en ta l
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 o f fugue

since B ach s day and the di fficulty of
’

producing good fugues increases every

year because available subj ects are slow
,

ly being exhausted Those who desi re to

.

m pr e he n d fully the scope and power

of a capella church music should study
the work s o f Lasso and Pazest r i n a while ,

for perfectio n in t h e instrument al form

they should devote their attention to
Bach s fugues In studying the poly
’
.

phonic works o n e should recognize their

 Po lyph on i c Fo rm s

intellectua l an d emotional c ha r a c t e r i s C AR I I
H . .

tics.

F irst note the profundity of th e m u

,

si c al learning Contrapuntal writing is

.

the most learned kind of composition ,

because every measure m u st be made in

obedience to fixed laws The polyphonic .

period began with the di sco v e r v of these

laws and the early composers exhaust
,

ed their ingenuity i n the invention Of

canons by inversion by augmentation ,

and diminution by retrogression etc , , .

The constant study o f such forms led to

the second feature o f their work which ,

must be noted v ia mastery of musical , ,

material In spite o f the rigid require

.

ments o f 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 spo n t a

n e o u s flexibility o f the works o f Lasso ,

P alestrina and Bach The third feature

,
.

to be noted is the serenity o f the emo

t i o n a l atmosphere o f these works The .

earliest polyphonic writers displayed no

feeling at all Their only e ffort was to
.

be as ingenious as possible A nd in the .

 T he Essen ti als o f Form

C AR
H .
culmination o f the a capella school o n e
c an find only a pure chaste
, and gentle
,

religious feeling O ne seeks in vain for

.

the note of dramatic passion which ,

found its way into artistic music after

the birth of opera and the adoption
melodic styl e Of the folk song -
.
 M on ophon ic F or ms

H E essential difference between poly

phonic and monophonic form lies
in the distribution o f the repetitions In
.

the former the idea is repeate d by several

voices working harmoniously In the lat
.

ter it is repeated by o n e 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 ide as to be made as a c c o m pa
n i m e n t s to o n e another
. I n the mono
phonic style the song thought prevails ;
-

the single voiced melody is sung to a su b

-

ordinate accompaniment an d the system

,

o f repetitions is designed so that the me

lo d i c ideas are presented symmetrically

by the o n e voice P olyphonic devices
.

are sometimes intro d uced in monophoni c

compositions fOr the sak e of contrast an d
 Th e Esse n tials o f Form

variety but the monophonic part of the

,

work clings to its own system o f repeti

tions The history o f the development
.

o f the monophonic style is very interest

ing but it cannot be introduced in this

,

volume The reader can find accounts

.

o f it in most histories o f music o r in D r ,

.

P arry s admirable E volution of the A rt

’

T /ze s on a ta o f Music The sonatas and symphoni es

.

of Haydn Mozart Beethoven and their

, , ,

success o rs the great overtures and the

,

famous concert o s are all written in the

n o ho n i c
p style and nearly all o f ,

them are in the sonata form which is ,

the highest organization o f m o nophonic

repetitions The elements o f the song .

form which lies at the basis o f the so

,

nata and kindred modern forms have ,

already been set forth They are the .

elements of all melodies .

The period which ha s already been ,

described may be regarded as the musi

,

cal equivalent o i the stanza i n p o etry .

Let us see h ow t his is .

—1 8 t P hr ase
r r

A
‘

s hi p t he r es t l ess 0 oe an sw e ep s, B lood
 M o n oph o n i c Fo rm s

2d P hr ase — — 3d P hr ase
fl i

r ed h er l
sa i s a n d b l kh
ac er m as ts ; H er p al li d ca p ta i n

2d S ecti on

ne v l
er s eep s, B u t w a tc f uh l glan c es
-
r oun d hi m c as ts .

H ere is a p eriod o f Senta s ballad in ’

The F lying D utchman with the E ng ,

”

lish text I t becomes plain at a glance

.

that each ph rase of the music is the equi v

a le n t o f a line o f poetry th at a section ,

equals half a stanza and that the period ,

is equal to the stanza in extent and r hy t h

mic construction Now as it is possible .
,

to constru ct many varieties o f poetic

stanza so it is possible to constru ct
,

many varieties o f period and hence ,

there is a wide field open to the musi

c i a n at the very outset o f his arrange

ment of repetitions Musical rhythms .

are capable of m uch greate r extension

than poetic r hythms so that the compos ,

er may constru ct musical stanzas much

m ore flexible than th e stanzas o f the
poet The necessity o f repetition o f the
.
 Th e Esse n t ials o f Fo rm

principal m usical idea led the earli er

"

composers to th e establishment o f the

R ond o form upon which many su bse
,

n gk m do quent developments were based The .

R ondo is a round Its construction

.

is cyclical its chief characteristic be i ng

,

regular returns to the first s u bj ect The .

R ondo in music is similar t o the F rench

poetic form called R ondeau which is a ,

short poem so arranged that the open

ing and closing two lines are the same .

Some variations of the form which a p ,

proach more nearly th e musical form ,

have the t w o lines also repeated in the

middle A n excellent example is the
.

following charming poem by the late

C Bunner
.

O hon ey of H ymettus H ill ,

Gol d brown a n d c loying sweet to taste ,

Wert here for the soft a morous bill

O f A p hrod ite s courser place d ?
’

Thy musky scent what virgin a l c haste

B lossom was ravished to d istil ,

O h on ey of H y mettus H ill ,

Gol d brown an d c loying sweet to taste ?

W h t upt
a d calyx dran k its fill
urn e

Wh en ran t he d raugh t d ivi n e t o waste ,

 M o n oph on i c Fo rm s

Tha t her w h ite h an d s were d oom ed to fi ll

S weet H eb e fall en an d disgraced
O h on ey o f H ym et t us H i ll ,

Gold brown and c l oyi ng sweet to taste ?

The reader will note ho w natu rally
the first two lines recur This is o n e o f
.

the features O f the art R ondo in music

-
.

I n its earliest state it began with a sub

je c t (a melody ) o f o n e o r t w o periods .

The composition then wandered through R on do

several keys and introduced considera
ble mere passage work after which it
-
,

returned to th e pr i n c i pa l su bje c t Later .

composers introdu ced a second subj ect ,

and still later ones a third but the first ,

was always repeated after each of them .

The first Of these rondo form s that —

with o n e subj ect was i n use by c o m

—

posers from F ran cois Couperin (organ

ist and clavier player P aris 1 6 8 8 1 733)
,
—
,

to Haydn The second and third forms

.

were th ose Of M ozart and Beethoven .

Students Of the latter master will find

a good example o f th e second form in
the sonata in A Opus 2 N O 2 The
, ,
. .

Ron do
fully developed third form is as fo l
lows first subj ect second subj ect in the
,

dominant key first subj ect third sub

, ,
 Th e Ess en t ials o f Fo rm

j
ec t, first subj ect second subj ect in
,
t he

t onic coda,
.

The fundamental di fference between

the R ondo and the F irst Movement form ,

which is the distinguishing part o f the

modern Sonata is in the middle por
,

tion I n the R ondo there is a simple

.

statement Of themes connected by more

o r less relevant matter I n the F irst .

Movement form or Sonata form as it , ,

is frequently called after th e statement ,

o f the first and second themes there ,

follows a middle part devoted to a musi

cal elaboration O f these them es — a work
ing out as it is called — afte r which the
-
,

themes are restated and the movemen t ,

is brought to a conclusio n The three .

parts of the Sonata form then may be , ,

designated P roposition D iscussion and , ,

Conclusion .

F irst movements usually begin with

a slow introduction and concert goers ,
-

will find them indicated o n program mes

in som e such way as this : A dagio
“

allegro con brio The adagio here is

.

the slow introdu ction Sometimes this .

is Omitted as in the E roica sy mphony

,
”
,

in which the statement of the first theme

 M on oph o n i c Fo rm s

of the m ovement pr O pe r is prefaced

only by two staccato chords O n th e .

other hand the introdu ction is some

,

times developed to an important extent ,

S om et i mes

as in Beethoven s Seventh Symphony ’

.
f or ma t ,

‘
The slow introd uction may foreshadow
what is to come and so add to the gen
,

eral coherence o f the m ovement The .

allegro itself must contain t w o principal

subj ects varied and contrasted in style
,

and in a symphony so made as to give

opportunity fo r ch anges of instrumental
coloring .

The existence o f the two contrasted T /ze tw o

themes is a s i n e qua n on o f m odern W m“ ,

sonata writing I n the earliest sonatas

.

the first m ovement h ad only one theme ,

and as a result th e development was

limited In the later sonatas the prin
.
.

c i ple Of contrast becam e m ore and more

fully established u ntil 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 o f the se cond as the cantabile

theme The first subj ect m ay be brief
.

o r it may be a m elody o f several peri

o d s in the song form But the studious .

 T he Essen ti als o f Fo rm

listener will find that the germ i nal pa r t

of the first subj ect i s usually a strong
and clearly defined motive constructed ,

with an especial vie w to its possibilities

o f development in the working out por -

tion o f the m ovement Contrast be .

tween the t w o subj ects is increased by

change Of key The first subj ect is a l .

ways in the key o f the symph ony When .

that key is well established the com ,

poser prepares the way for a change o f

tonality The Old fashioned way was to
.
-

lead up to a suspension and then pass to

the second subj ect in the dominant "
.

F or instance in a symphony in C the ,

writer would lead up to a chord in D ,

M
-
a n0 m .
and so modulate t o his second subj ect

F or the b en efi t o f t he r eader w ho ha s di d
n ot stu e

h ar m on y
i t m ay b e
, b ri efl y n ot e d th at the k y i w
e hi h n c

a co m o si t i o n st an
p d s is ca ll de t he t on i c , th fi ft h t
e on e

a b ov e t h at t he d o mi n an t , an d the fou r t h t he su bdo m i

n an t . h i t h k y f C G i th d m i t d
T us n e e o , s e o n an , an

F t h b d m i t A mi
e su i tho l ti m i
n an f . n or s e re a ve n or o

C . I mm di t l y l t d k y
e th w hi h m y b
a e re a e e s are o se c a e

re ach d by d i
e t di t i m d l ti E mi
r ec E a on c o u a on s, a s n o r,

m j A fl t m j
a o r, o r F ig k y - th
a wh i h a or . or e n e s ar e o se c

c an b h d ly by p i g t h gh v l th
e r eac e on as s n r ou se er a o er

k y r by h m ti m dul ti
e s, o c F h p C h p
ro a c o a on , a s - s ar ,
- s ar

m i n or, B fl at m in or -
.
 M on oph o n i c Fo rm s

in G If the sonata began in a minor

.

key the second subj ect was in the rela

,

tive maj or The later writers however

.
, ,

have advanced much beyond the O ld

rule s and second subj ects are written
,

n o w in almost any imm ediately related

key U ncertainty of tonality is avoided

.

by not u sing foreign keys in the propo

si t i o n a l part Of the symphony A fter .

the principal subj ects are stated there ,

may be introduced o n e or two su b si d

i a r y o r episodal subj ects and thus we ,

come to the end Of the first part It is .

worthy Of note t hat some o f t he c o n

temporaneou s composers S h ow a ten
de n c y to advance th e episodal subj ect
t o the importance of a t hird principal
them e ; but it is still kept in su bo r d i
nation to the other t w o A t the end of .

the part Of the m ovement containi n g

the announcement o f th e subj ects the ,

Older composers always w rote a double

bar and a repeat The repeat is now .

sometimes omitted by composers but ,

I u se h
t i s w or d in on e o f itsp l
u re c as si c a l L at in
sen ses Pr o p — a pr i n c i
o si t i o l bj e ct , a t h em e Ci c
.
pa su .

er o ,
“
De O r at or i a,
”
3
.
 Th e Essen t ials o f Form

seldom with good e ffect . It is better ;

that the subj e ct matter Of- a movement

should be heard twice in ,
order that it
may be firmly fixed in the mind Of the
be a r e r .

A fter the repeat comes the expository

part o f the movement called the free fan
,

tasia o r working ou t It has already been

.

out p ar t .
called in this volum e the discussion In .

this part the composer gives his imagina

tion free reign and may employ a ll the
,

devices of music in discussing o r work

ing o u t the themes previously stated It .

is Obvious that to produce a well kn it -

structure he must stick to his texts and

not allow extraneous o r disconnected
matter to creep in Yet he may very
.

properly employ that form o f thematic

development which consists in the evo
lu t i o n of new matter directly from the
Old It is indispensable o f course that
.
, ,

the direct relation of the new matter to

the Old should be readily discernible .

Thematic development in its various

forms is the highest type of working out .

Its means are many but it will be su ffi

,
d ev elop
cient for the p u rposes Of the present
work to quote the following from E rnst
 M onophon i c Fo rm s

Pa u e r
’
s excellent primer on
“
Musical CH AR .

III
F orms
.
"

(L )
“
T he m ot i v e orp i ip l bj r nc a su ec t
‘

i s t ra n s
form ed h y t h m ic a
r s s ar lly wh i l t it h m y
on a n d m e l o dy
,

rem a in un d ist urb e d ; in o t h er w ord s t he va l u e o f t he t i on s of til e

n o t es i s a l t ered t he n o t es are m ul t i pl ie d or d im in
,

i shed l on g n ot es are com p ressed i n to sh ort on es

, ,

S h ort on es ex p an d ed i n t o l on g the accen t uat ion i s ,

a l tered rh y th m ic a l c h a n g es sy n co p e a n t ic ip a t ion s
, , , ,

etc are i n t ro d u ced t he t ime i s t ran s form e d fro m

,

common i n t o t ri pl e a n d t he sp eed i s a l t ered by re

,

t arda t ion or a cc e era tion l .

M el od ious a l tera tion w ith un al tered har

“

m on y a n d rhy th m p a rt ia l va ria t ion s o f t he m em

,

b ers c on stitut ing the m el ody a ppl icat ion of ch an ges ,

o f d irec t m ovem en t i n t o c ou n t er m ovem en t and -

,

v i ce v er sa lb
e a ora t ion a n d orn a m e n ta t ion o f p art s

of the p rin c i p l m l dy
a e o , e tc .

A l tera tion O f h armon y an d m el od y the ,

rh y t h m b ei n g l e ft i n tac t ; by t he rh y t h m i n th is c ase

is m a in t ain e d the o n l y resembl anc e with t he p rin

c ipal mot i v e .

Alt h arm on y ; a ppl ic ation of

era t i on o f t he

d ifferen t succession s of c h ord s ; tran sp osition from

maj or in to m inor key an d v i ce v er sa w h ic h of , ,

c ourse a l so a ff ec t s t he n a tu re o f the m el o d y
, .

A l terat ion o f m el ody an d rhy th m ; th us the A lter i ng

t h em a t ic resem bl a n c e w i th t he p rinc ip a l m ot ive i s

vested in the harmon y w h ich of course m ust con , , ,

sist of a v ery st ro n gly p ron o unc e d a n d c h ara ct e r

ist ic succ ession o f c h ord s .

A lteration of the accomp an imen t ; a l tera

 Th e Essen t i als o f Fo rm

t ion of p lyph i tyl

a o on c s e in to a m ore
on e , an d th v ; v e re erse aria t ion of t he su ppl e

men ta r y mp y i g p
a c co an n a rt s in a c h aracteristic
”
m a nn er .

V ariet y of the c o n tra p l

un ta t reatm e n t ; im
i ta t ive a n d can on i c trea tm en t ; t ra n s os i ti on o f t he p
v
m o ti e in t o ot h er p arts ; in v ersi on by m eans of

d bl
ou e c o u n t er p o in t .
”

“
A l teration of force an d co orin l g o f soun d
(by dy n a m ic o r i n stru men ta l effec t s ) .

A ltera tion of re gi ster (ch a n g i n g p i t c h of

me l d y)
o .

( I O .
) A l terat ion of ex p ression w i th reg dar to
lg
e a t o , stacca t o , p o rtam en t o , etc .

O nly the first five o f these m eans belong

strictly to what is called th ematic devel
O pm e n t In the ot her five there is no
.

development of a theme but merely ,

changes in its presentation The first .

five therefore are o f a higher o rder than

, ,

the second fi v e Th e second five are .

found more frequently in symphonies

than in sonatas for solo instruments be ,

cause the instrum ental combinations in

the orchestra render th e m easy o f pro
duction In regard to the value o f the
.

working out o f themes I take pleasure in

qu oting further from Mr P auer because .
,

what he says bears not only upon th e

 M o n oph on ic Form s

First Movement form but upon all high ,

ly organized music . H e says

T he li sten er p i ex f li g f
er en ces ti f a ee n o sa s ac

t ion as the or d y t m g d l pp
er , s s e , d ra ua a earan c e a n

d isa ppeara n ce o f m l dy h m y
a e o h y th m w i l l
, ar on , or r
w or ki ng

be for him an o bj t f i ity i t t d g tifi

ec o c u r os , n e res , an ra

c a t i on . Th ematic w ork is a m usica l m ax im h

t a t is
b ase d on t he l aw s o f n a ture h ersel f i t i s i d en t ica l
w ith the law of organ ic p roduc t ion
Th is law de .

m an d s t h a t every p ro d uc t o f t he a n im a l or v ege
ta bl e w orl d m ust d evel op i tsel f ac cord in g t o a fi e d x

ec onomic ord er an d t he n a t ure o f t he g erm con

ta in ed w ith in i t T he i n st ru m e n ta l w o rk s o f H ay d n
.
,

M oz art B eeth oven an d o th ers o f o ur b est c omp os

, ,

ers d ispl a y a th orough ly l og ic a l a n d sy st em a t ic de

,

v elopmen t w h ic h gra d ua lly u n fo l d s i t sel f fro m t he

,

germ or fi rst id ea to the p oin t we techn ically ca ll

The hearer will usually find the climax

o f a movement built o n the first move

ment form in the working out part -

, m ov emen t .

though it is sometim es reserved for the

coda A fter the working out comes the
.
-

recapitulation o r conclusion in which , ,

both p rincipal subjects are restated in

the tonic key The coda (tail piece) .
-

brings the movement to an end A sim .

ple outline of the F irst Movement form

is this
 Th e Essen tials of Fo rm

S e con d ar P t ,
D i sc u ssi on .

S l ow i n tro du c ion t Th m ti d ev e op l Fi rst su b e c j t t on i c

t t t
e a c ,

F ir s su bj e c , a nI m en t of fi rs a n d se c ke
m a t e d , t o n i c k ey on d su bj e c s t Se con d b j ec t
t t 5 u
.

S e c on d 3 u b j e c F ree fa n t a si a on i c ke y
l
c a n t a b i e, r e a l
ive t st ri c t e d in form .
n n re
Co da .
.

k ey .

Ep isode s .

Re p ea t .

The music lover will bear in mind that -

this is a skeleton and that in the living ,

work he will find it covered with the

flesh of beauty It will not appear in i t s .

naked articulations as I have set them ,

forth with Mr Pa u er s aid ; but it will .

’

determine the form of the composition

j ust as the human skeleton determines
the form O f man Y o u will ne v er mistake .

the body for the limbs of a well made -

composition simply because y ou cannot

see the framework .

S O much for what is called the F irst

M o v ement or Sonata form It has been , .

described separately because it embodies

the essenti als of cyclic form the variety ,

of form in which the masterpieces o f a h

solute m usic are generally cast The .

reader will note that its essentials are its

tripartite form its contrast Of thematic ,

material its development o f that mate

,
 M o n oph on i c Fo rm s

rial and its return to the original propo

,

si t i o n I n all high classes of music con

.
,

trast and development of themes will be

found The simple p roposition o f a mel
.

o dy belongs primarily to the realm o f

song ; the discussion o f a melodic sub Voca l and

je c t is specifically t h e privilege of a b so m en ta l

lute instrumental music The song form .

in an extended variety is often trans

ferred to instrumental music and is fr e ,

quently found in symphonic slow move

ments .

The second movement o f a symphony

is usually a slow o n e and is variable in ,

form It som etimes closely resembles

.

the F irst M ovement form the working ,

o u t portion being much curtailed o r a l

together omitted F o r an example see

.
,

the slow m ovement o f Beethoven s S O ’

nata opus 31 No 2 Sometimes the ron

, ,
. .

do form is employed as in B eethoven s ,

’

Sonata Pa t he ti qu e and in other cases,

the theme and variations a r e u se d It is '

not necessary to explain a theme and

variations but it is worthy of note that
,

Beethoven sometimes separates succes

sive variations by p assages built o u t o f
the material at hand A nother form of .
 T he Essen tials o f Fo rm

slow movement is that sometimes called

‘

the cavatina It consists o f a long pas

.

sage i n song form followed by an i n st ru ,

mental recitative and ,

a return to the origi

nal melody The m ost .

familiar example o f it T
.

is the slow movement E

U
N

o f Chopin s F minor
I
’
M

piano concerto .

The third move

ment is a minuet o r
a s c h e rz o
. The min
n et is a movement
in a dance rhythm
o f F rench origin It .

. O
I

R
is in three fourth time
- T

and was originally

played slowly A .

second melody was

added in early times ,

and as this was a l

ways written i h three
part harmony it was ,

called the trio The .

form is extremely
simple in the earlier
work s being simply
,
 M on oph on ic Fo rm s

a plain proposition of the minuet mel

o dy 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 O h that som e o n e , ,

would teach us ho w t o write a new m i n

uet Beethoven gratified th e desire
o f the father o f the symphony when

he introduced the scherzo The word .

is I talian and means j oke o r j est The

,
.

term was first used as a direction to

players when it appeared as sch erzando
,
.

B ut in the early part o f the seventeenth

century Italian canzonets were popu
lar in Germany and were called scherz i
m us i ca li When it became the custom
.

to name the different parts o f a m usical

composition the terms a llegr ett o scker
,

z a n do and pr esto sclzerz a ndo appeared .

We find several instances in the sonatas S ck er xi by

o f E manuel Bach and even Johann Bach ,

wrote a scherzo in o n e of his suites The .

modern scherzo is a development o f th e

minuet Haydn too k the stateliness o u t
.

o f the minuet by increasing its speed and

introducing the element o f humor but

 Th e Esse n tials o f Fo rm

the transition to the scherzo was d efi

n i t e l made by Beethoven though he did
y ,

not abandon the minuet which appears ,

in many o f his works The di fference .

between the minuet and the scherzo is

o n e o f feeling rather than of form The .

time is quicker the rhythm is more varied

,

and the working out is frequently much

m ore elaborate But it is the character
.

of the music that makes a scherzo R ol .

licking gayety as in that o f the Seve nth

Symphony grim mystery as in that o f
,

the F ifth and even tragic porte nt as in

,

that o f 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
‘
o f his symphonies while D v o i ak has even
,

“
substituted fo r it the furiant whose ,

title is self explanatory The form o f the

-
.

scherzo is precisely the same as that o f

the minuet This is an excellent demon
.

st r a t i o n of the plasticity of the classic

forms The content o f the movement

.

t/ze s elzer z o
.

has changed completely but its outward ,

shape remains the same Th e trio con .

t i n u es to supply the necessary contrast ,

the point o f repose without which so

,
 M on oph o n i c Fo rm s

vivacious a movement would inevitably

become wearisome .

The last movement o f a sonata o r

symphony is generally an allegro I n .

the earlier classic compositions it was

the custom to make this m ovement
lighter and more genial than the first .

th e s on a ta .
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 th e first except that the,

repeat o f the first part is generally

omitted and the working out is not made -

so elaborate Th e R ondo form is often

.

employed and occasionally the theme

,

and variations Modern writers often

.

depart widely from th e classic form o f

the sonata as for instance in th e case
, , ,

of Tschaikowsky s Symphonie P ath e

“ ’

tique which has th e slow m ovement

,

las t and the working o u t o f each theme

of the first m ovement immediately after
the announcement of the theme But .

the old form is easily recognizable as

the foundation o f all that has followed
it and it was bound to be so because
,

it was the fullest embodiment o f the

 T he Ess en ti als o f Form

fundamental pri nciples of form in m u

sic.

I have spoken o f sonata and sym

phony but the concerto is also in the
,

T lze con sonata form The purpose of the con .

certo is to disp lay the resour c es o f some

solo instrument and it is usually writ ,

ten i n three movements allegro adagio , , ,

and allegro The scherzo is omitted in

.

this three movement form but there are

-
,

four movem ent 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 o f

the powers Of the solo instrument I t is .

customary to introduce near the close

o f 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

fec t e d and employed by the great clas
sic masters o i instrumental music Th e .

th e c la ss i c
classic e r a in mus 1 c was that in wh ich
monophonic form reached its highest de
v e lo pm e n t and all who desire to obtain
,

an acquaintance with symmetrical c o n

 M o n oph on i c Fo rm s

struction in its finest revelations must

look to the classic composers I n ex .

a m i n i n g the intellectual and em otional

characteristics o f the classic era we are ,

convinced that this was the golden age

o f pure musical beauty We find no
.

thunder of tragedy no paroxysm o f

,

passion in H ayd n and M ozart nor in ,

the early works o f Beethoven The .

works o f Beethoven s middle period are

’

transitional They are classic in form

.
,

but romantic in spirit His later works

.

belong altogether to th e romantic p e

r iod
. H ence we are justified in noting
as the first o f th e characteristics o f th e
classic era symmetry o f form So i m .

portant an element was formal beauty

that even at the p resent time works
, ,

which follow closely the classic forms T I ze ter m

are said to belo n g to th e classical sch ool ,

though nothing can be regarded strict

ly as classic which has not endured the
test o f time.

A second distin ctive characteristic o f

the era was th e su bordination o f pro
found musical learning t o a p leasi ng
style O ne has only to remember the
.

geniality o f the music o f H aydn M O ,

 Th e Esse n ti als of Fo rm

zart and the early Beethoven the sim

, ,

p l e and tuneful subj ects the bright , ,

good natured and perspicuous treat

-
,

ment to understand what is meant by

,

this subordination A natural co mcom .

i t a n t o f such a style was the serenity

and sweetness of the emotional atmos
p h e r e o f the music Haydn thought .

that t o be a great composer was to write

“
with good taste R ubinstein with.
”
,

“
much reason called Mozart eternal ,

sunshine in music In short the clas

.
,

sic era was the period of pure m usical

beauty and the secrets o f that beauty
,

are to be sought most s u ccessfully by

an examination into the methods of de
B ea u ty a n d sign employed by the masters o f the
tlze S on a ta
.

period The sonata was the represent

.

ative work o f th e time and a knowl ,

edge o f the sonata form is an absolute

necessity to th e u nderstanding and e n
m n t o f compositions written in the
j y
o e

classic style It is also necessary to an

.

appreciation o f all absolute music o f a

later birth and freer form because the
, ,

new forms are all developed from the

sonata .
 Rom a n tic

E have seen that the po lyphonic

period was devoted to t he dis
c o v e r y o f m usical materi a l and to the de

v e lo p m e n t o f the purely m el o dic form in

,

which every voi ce part was melodious

-
.

We h ave seen that the classical period

was devoted t o th e exposition o f pure
beauty in music a n d that it d eveloped a
,

comp lex yet s ym m etrical form in which ,

single voic ed m elody based o n b armo

-

nic chords was used We now come to .

t he romantic music in whi ch the older

,

forms were m odified to m eet the de

mands o f se lf expression
-
.

Thr o ughout th e history o f music we

find constantly striving with o n e a n
,

other two impulses classicism and r o

,
—

mant i cism . The terms are somewhat

freely used and frequently m i su n d e r
,
 T he Essen ti als o f Fo rm

C AR
H .
stood The uninformed person calls a
.

good music classical as distinguished ,

from operetta or dance music or po pu -

lar songs B ut by writers o n music

.

these terms are used somewhat arbitra

,

rily to distinguish music in which pure

,

beauty o f form and matter is th e 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 b een

given ; the latter is known as romantic .

The contest between classicism and r o

manticism began very naturally as soon
as musical science had formulated su fh
cient la w to enable composers to work
according t o some system A system .

being established so m e impulse was

,

necessary to urge an advance beyond its

D ema n d limitations That impulse was found in
.

the imperious demands of original minds

for freer expression Those demands .

were pure ly romantic but they always ,

led to the development of forms Hence .

the growth o f the classic period itself

was due to the urgency o f romanticism .

But this must be said : T hepe r fe c t l n g

o f form is a purely intellectual process .
 R o m an t i c Fo rm s

Hence the dominance of form al develop CH AR .

m ent was du e to a belief that form was

o f paramount importance in musi c and

to a determination to work according to

that belief The dominance of r o m a n t i
.

c i s m o r free emotional impulse

,
could ,

com e only when composers had arrived

at the intellectual conviction that this
impulse ought to be p ermitted to make
its o w n forms according to its needs .

This conviction found its first em

phatic expression am ong the classic
writers when Beethoven introduced his
pregnant m odifications into the sonata
form j oining the second and third m ove
,

ments o f piano concertos and maki n g a ,

continuous fl ow o f the scherzo and the

finale of th e F ifth 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 B e e t ho ,

ven wh o was the culmination of the

,

classic and the foundation of the roman

,

tic school further showed how emotion

, ,

a l impulse was to stretch the limits of

form Schubert s art songs went side

.
’
-

by side with Beethoven s symphonies in ’

 Th e Essen t ials o f Fo rm

preaching the gospel of freedom

formalism and led the way to the forms
,

o f Schumann and Liszt .

Schumann s modifications of the sym

’

phonic form consisted in uniting all four

movements in o n e continuous flow as in ,

his D minor symphony and in the em ,

ployment of the device which has been

“ ”
called partial community o f theme .

By this is meant the transfer o f c erT

tain thematic ideas from on e movement
to another I n some modern composi
.

tions mel o dic subj ects announced in the

first m o vement appear with unexpected
persistency in other m ovements some ,

times subj ected to developing processes

and at other times maintaining the iden
tity of a fixed idea In his D minor.

symphony Schumann prescribed that

,
ma nn
’
s
the four m ovements should be in o n e
piece — t h at is played through with
,

out a break The community o f them e

.

is worked o u t in this com position with

a thoroughness which ha s not been ex
celled by any later composer The mo .

tive of the introduction o f the first move

m ent is used as the second theme o f the
second movement and the close o f this
,
 R o m an t i c Fo rm s

them e is used to form a new m elody C AR

H .

with a violin obbligato above it The .

trio o f the S cherzo is built from the

theme o f this violin obbligato and the ,

last m ovement of the symphony

ploys in a n e w and striking form the
, ,

principal subj ect o f the first movement .

This manne r o f writing a symphony

leads directly to th e sym phonic p oem ,

the invention of F ranz Liszt This form .

is based o n the idea which seem s to ,

have floated in S chumann s mind that ’

there is no break between su ccessive

emotional states Th e form o f a sym
.

phonic poem therefore is al w ays dic

, ,

t a te d by the com poser s em otional ’

schedule U sually this kind of compo

.

si t i o n aims to illustrate some story or

poem but the music lover will find that

,
-

the fundamental principles o f musical

form have to be followed Slow move .

m ents alternate with q i i i c k ones ; dy

n a m i c climaxes are opp osed to points o f

repose m elodic subj ects are proposed

,

and discussed and the symphonic po

,

em has an appreciable musical shape

Closely akin to this form is the pr
gramm e overture such as T sc ha i ko w
,
 Th e Esse n ti als O f Fo rm

CH AR .
sky s
’
H amlet or Goldmark s ’

”
m e t he u s But in these also the attentiv e
.

listener will find that the principles o f

form are not violated though the o u t ,

line of the works is not at all like that

o f the sonata The di fficulty in the way
.

o f immediate appreciation o f the pure

ly musical value o f such comp ositions

is the necessity of getting at the com
poser s emotional schedule O ne has to
’
.

have some key to the content o f su Ch

works and often in searching for it he
,

loses his grip on the absolute music o f

the composition Judicious programme
.

notes are serviceable in s u ch cases for ,

they convey the needed information as

to the intention o f the music In the .

case o f a composition without a story

behind it programme notes are o f little
,

value t o t he skilled listener .

A word should be added here as t o

Liszt s piano concertos which have set
’

the fashion for many succeeding works .

In these the uninterrupted flow o f m ove

ments and partial community o f theme
are employed with striking e ffect The .

music itself is not of a lofty kind but the ,

form is very e ffective for concerto pur

 R o m a n t i c Fo rm s

poses It has a brilliancy and glitter

.
C AR
H .

which while superficial are very i n fl u e n

, ,

tial But here again o n e finds that while

.

the out w ard shape is novel the underly ,

ing principles o f form are those which

are found in the class i cal works .

F rom what has been said the reader will

have n o di fficulty in gathering that the
m ental and emotional characteristics o f
the romantic sch ool embrace two funda m us 1 0 .

mental conditions : F irst subordination ,

o f form t o content and second restless

, ,

ness and intensity o f emotional moods .

The romantic school is the school o f our

time and even the writer who adhered
,

most closely to the classic forms Johan ,

nes B rahms aimed at an intensity o f

,

emotion similar to that found in B eet

hoven s later works A ll that we can
’
.

ask o f the romanti c composer is that

his form shall be the best t hat can be
devised for his purpose and that it d oes
,

n o t violate the primary canons o f musi

cal constru ction .

 AVIN G seen the elements o f 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 o f musical form in the
abstract These should readily suggest
.

themselves to the reader who has now

,

had a tolerably wide survey o f the mate

rials of musical design In a simple song
.

form the student will find that perfect

balance in the arrangement of phrases ,
a nd des ign .

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 o f musical

form as gathered from the works o f
,
 Fu n d am en tal P ri n c iples ~

the masters sonata constru ction

of ,
CH A R
. V .

these :
I — P roposition of themes suitable for
.

development .

2 — Contrast (a) o f themes (b) o f keys

.
, ,

( )
c o f movements .

— D evelopment a o f themes b
3 .
( ) ( ) o f ,

harmony .

— Systematic distribution o f repeti

4 .

tions with recurrence to first subj ect

matter .

— Climaxes dynamic rhythmic and

5 .
, , ,

o f time .

jz 6
‘
7
. P oints of repose
-
.

— V ariety o f tone coloring

7 .
- .

8 —. Correlation of parts and su bor di

nation o f details proportion .

— P erspicuity o f design
4 9 . .

These principles the reader will per ,

c ei v e are not inseparable from the s o

,

nata form but belong to all music which

,

is o f complex design They underlie and .

condition not only the symphonies o f

Beethoven o r Tschaikowsky but those ,

o f Haydn They govern the constru o

.

tion of both classic and romantic over

tures and scherzos and they are e x e m ,

li fi e d in the ballet music o f Gluck as

p ,
 Th e Esse n t ials of Fo rm

CH AR well as in the ballades of C hO pi n o r the

novelettes of Schumann In a fine S O
.

nata all o f them are illustrated in the

"
highest light yet all of them are obeyed
,
728 7 3 2 6
very Often in much smaller compositions ,

and one must not be deluded into sup

posing that a sonata is better than other
works S imply because it is a sonata ;
 VO CA L FO RM S

Cnu rcn Cou n terpoin t

O C A L forms can be discussed with

comparative brevity n o w that th e
,

general principles and development o f

form in music have been reviewed .

The growth o f vocal forms in artistic

music began with the medi aeval church
counterpoint which as we have already
, ,

seen was the work o f monks bent upon

, ,

producing an e ffective 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 i n st r u
.

mental development o f polyphony was

begun by the early organists o f the V e
n e t i a n and R oman schools and was per
,

fe c t e d by Bach in his great fugues At .

the outset however the vocal and the

, ,
 V oc al Form s

C AR
H .
instrumental treatments of polyphony
were practically the same The essen .

t i als of vocal chu rch counterpoint are

those of all polyphonic writing and these ,

have already been explained .

The finest examples o f ecclesiastical

polyphony are the works of the great
Netherlands masters who flou rished
,

from 1 4 50 to 1 6 00 and of P alestrina the

, ,

Italian composer who was contempo

,

rary with the last lights of that school .

O pportunities for hearing these works ,

the purest and loftiest church music ever

composed are not as numerous as music
,

polyp/t ony .
lovers could wish Those who desire to
.

cultivate a fine taste in music should

never miss hearing performances o f
the famous ecclesiastical compositio n s .

F rom an educational point of View they

are as important as Bach s fugue ’

Beethoven s symphonies In mere sen

’
.

su o u s beauty they far excel the former ,

and it is not possible to conceive o f a

musical ear that will not be ravishe d by
the exquisite harmonies of these lovely
work s.
 H E m onophonic form o f v o cal 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 o f 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 c o n st r u c
tion o f polyphonic puzzles The o ld folk
.

songs are admirable examples o f t his

form in its simplest aspect It will be
.

seen upon examination o f songs that the

musical form is dictated by the poetic .

The general principles o f song form have

already been explained and the reader
,

wi ll therefore understand that a stanza

, ,

o f four lines calls for a song form o f o n e

period A stanza of eight lines calls for

.
 V oc al Fo rm s

o n e of two periods and the relation be

,

tween the t w o periods is established by

preserving the general character o f the
melody the rhythmic movement and the
, ,

harmonic treatment In a song form o f .

three peri o ds the composer may in the

second period depart considerably from
the original melodic style of the fi r St peri
o d 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 o f the sonata form ,

the second period corresponding t o the

working o u t and the third to the reca
,

p i t u la t i o
. n These forms belong t o the
songs in which each stanza is set to the
same melody as in folk songs o r ballads
,
-
.

In many modern songs however the , ,

composers have found it impossible to

give adequate expression to the feelings
conveyed by th e text w i t hou t m aki n g ‘

a melody for each stanza The music .

lover will find this the case with many

o f t he songs o f Schubert Schumann , ,

F ranz and other romantic writers I n

, .

songs o f this kind there is indeed a l , ,

ways some repetition o f the original

melodic idea but the unity of the com
,
 S i mpl e S o n g Fo rm s

position is to be found chiefly in its

character O ften as in Schubert s E rl
.
,
’

”
K onig th e formal element o f repetition
,

is preserved mostly in the a c c o m pan i

ment yet there is an individuality in th e
,

style of the vocal melody from begin

ning to end .

It is di fficult to speak o f the formal

qualities of a song separately from its
other aesthetic properties because the ,

form is so important a part o f the ex

pressive power The form and style .

almost inseparable and both are dictated f or m and

,

by the subj ect matter The simpler the

-
.

emotion to be portrayed the sim pler as ,

a rule are the form and the style H ence .

we find that songs range from those o f

a purely lyri c nature in which emotion ,

is the product of pure contemplation as ,

in songs o f night s beauty the loveliness ’

o f spring o r the charms of a m aiden to

, ,

those in which the dramatic element is

almost as much in evidence as it is in D r a m a ti c

Opera and in which emotion is the prod

,

n ot o f personal passion as in Schubert s

’

E rl K On i g o r D oppelganger Schu '

,
”

mann s I ch grolle nicht o r F ranz s

’

,
’

I m Herbst The requirements o f a

.
 V ocal Fo rm s

genuinely good song are not nu merous ,

but they are di fficult to fulfil A good .

song should reproduce perfectly the

form of the poem should be absolutely
'
, ,

faithful to its S pirit sh ould exhibit a ,

lofty simplicity of style should have a ,

f
o a good
moderate compass and S hould be sup ,

plied with an accompaniment thorough

ly in sympathy with the emotional char
acter of the work The accompaniments
.

o f Schubert and Schumann are the per

fec t models .They always have lyric

beauty and dramatic force yet they never ,

interfere with the voice part but o n the -

, ,

contrary a fford it complete support

, .

This brief discussion of the song runs

beyond the consideration o f its form
alone but it seems better to discuss the
,

whole topic here and dismiss it A n ex .

ha u sti v e study o f song forms and styles

is foreign to the purpose o f this volume ,

which aims at the exposition o f general

principles ; and furthermore it would
, ,

supply material for a volume in itself .

Let us therefore proceed t o a view of

, ,

those vocal forms which are employed

in dramatic m usic and which have caused
,

so much controversy .
 P P REC I A T I O N of opera depends
not simply upon a knowledge o f
form but upon an acquaintance with the
,

nature and purpose o f Operatic music .

This acquaintance may be obtained from

—
two sources musical history and an ex
amination into the internal evidence o f
operatic music itself F ew persons have
.

time to make su ch an examination but the

,

historical facts are easily ascertainable .

D ramatic recitative o f which alone the

,

opera at first consisted was the invention

,

o f some F lorentine enthusiasts who were

endeavoring to resuscitate th e Greek

drama Their intention in constru cting
.

recitative w a s to create a kind o f musi

cal declamation in which the m elodic se
q u e n c e s S hould follow as closely as possi

ble the inflections o f the voice in speech .

 Vo cal Fo rm s

In a very short time it was found that

'

this was a grave restriction o n the free

dom o f composition and that its results
,

were wearisome A lmost at the same

.

time th e capacity of music for emotional

expression forced its clai ms upon compos '

ers and there was developed a free arioso

,

style a cross between pure reci t ative and

,

melody in which the imitation of S peech

,

was not sought so much as pure musi

cal expression of emotion The cyclic al .

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 o f t he operatic

system The vital fault in the aria as
.
,

first written was that the required repe

,

tition in the third part o f the melody

heard in the first destroyed all possi
,

bi li t y of a natural emotional continuity .

N o matter how agitated the S oprano

was in the second part o f her aria she ,

had to feel in the third j ust the same as

she did in the first .

The result w a s that the composers

abandoned all thought of voicing emo
tion logically in an aria and contented ,
 O pe rat i c Fo rm s

themselves with making all arias vocal

display pieces for th e singers The reci
- .

t a t i v e was then used to carry o n that

v oc a l di s
part o f the dialogue necessary t o the de
v e lo pm e n t of the story o f the opera The .

custom o f writing vocal display pieces -

for the S ingers led to such a domination

o f the singer in opera that operatic m u
,

sic became mere ear tickling show work

- -
,

and composers be came simply purvey

ors to the princes and princesses o f the
stage A reaction at length set in and
.
, ,

led by Gluck composers reasserted the

,

divine rights o f genius The recitative.

was improved and the arias S implified

and restricted to their proper function
o f embodying states o f emotion C on .

temporary with Gluck was Mozart ,

whose operas exhibit th e highest per

fe c t i o n o f the o ld form T he arias are
.

d ramatic poems and th e recitative is

,

the m ost finished m usical setting o f col

lo q u i a l conversation that the stage has
ever known .

Italian composers however again r e

, ,

sorted to the easy process o f tickling the

r without regard for the fitting o f the
melody to the text and in the wor ks of
,
 V oc al Fo rm s

Bellini D onizetti and R ossini we find

, ,

m uch of this kind o f writing But reci .

t a t i v e was constantly t ending away from

the Mozartian style toward the arioso .

In the operas o f the later Italian com

po sers there is very little pure recita
tive arioso and aria forms being chiefly
,

employed This led toward a m ovement

.

to ab o lish all set forms from opera which ,

was carried to its achievement by Rich

ard Wagner I n his later works th ere
.

are no set arias duets o r 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 reader .

must now see that the purpose of artis

tic opera m usic is to illustrate and vital
-

ize the text U nless it does this o r a t

.
—

tempts to do i t operatic music is not

—

an art form but an absurdity It is a c .

c e pt e d by the world simply as a part o f

the symbolism of art for no o n e would ,

accept as a fact the singing o f 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 ,
 O pe rat i c Fo rm s

n ot an art work at all H ence th e first

- .
,

and fundamental basis o f j udgment o f

an opera is the fidelity o f its music to
the text The second question to be a n
.

t/ze t ex t
sw e r e d is : H ow eloquently does the .

music voice the emotions contained in

the text ? A nd third : Is th e music beau
tiful in itself ?
The key to th e music o f an opera is
the libretto O bviously if the libretto
.
,

is weak o r incongruous th e m u S I O I s ,

likely to be poor The appropriateness .

o f the music is the first requirement If .

it is inappropriate it does not make any ,

di fference how melodious o r sy m m e t r i

cal it is it is not good It is by this test
,
.

that so m uch o f the o ld Italian opera

music fails pretty as it is Th e reason
,
.

why so few people detect the hollowness

o f this music is that they do n o t hold it

to the text They read th e libretto to

.

learn th e story of th e opera and that is ,

al l But a critical View of an opera holds

.

the composer to th e text of every speech

in it R ossini s Semiramide a ffords
.
“ ”
’

the finest example of o ffence in this mat

te r and th e reader who desires to know
,

what an artistic opera should not be will ,

 V ocal Form s

do well to study the ch arming music o f

the score in the light o f the text The .

enormous vitality and powerful influence

o f V erdi s
’
A ida o n the other hand is
, ,

due to the honesty m ore than to the ,

beauty of its music Wagner s music

,
.
’

dramas are the finest exponents o f the

true meth od o f writing opera .

The reader will perhaps not be satis

, ,

fi e d wi t h this brief hint as to the nature

and purpose of opera without the addi
tion o f some general remarks o n the
forms employed O f recitative pure and
.

S imple there are t wo kinds recitative ,

secco,
and recitative st r om en ta to R ec .

i t a t i v e secco is that in which th ere is

absolutely no form e xcept that o f the
text the music being alm o st with out
,

rhythm or definite melody The a c c o m .

a n i m e n t consists wholly o f detached

p
c hords which are struck only whe n the
,

harmony changes I n o ld times the

.

double bass and the harpsichord struck

-

Rec i ta the chords and it is customary n o w in

, ,

performances o f Moz art s D on Gio “ ’

”
vanni i n well regulated opera houses
,
- -

to play the chords o f the recitative o n a

piano R ecitati v e s t r omen t a t o is that
.
 Operat i c Fo rm s

whi ch is accompanied throughout by

the orchestra I n its m ost com mon form
.

the instruments between the passages o f

recitative play illustrative m elodic pas T be ar i oso

sages which bring o u t more clearly the

feeling of the text A r i oso is a form o f .

recitative in which there are passages of

m elody without the formation o f a c o m
,

le t e air
p .

The a r i a has already been explained .

The old form in which the first part was

,

always repeated was called the a r i a da

,

p
ca o . M ost m odern a r i a s are n o t d a

capo ,
but have a free repetition o f the
original subj ect matter as in the first
- T be ar ia

tenor solo in A ida “

Celeste A ida .

In modern operas a r i a s are still written ,

because they are an essential part o f

Opera but they are in v ery free form
, ,

th e form indeed being m ade for the

, ,

occasion as in Loh engrin s narrative

,
’

“
Siegmund s love song o r Isolde s lie
’
-
,
’

be s t o d . O f course these things are not

”

a r i a s i n the o ld sense but th ey stand in ,

the same relation to m usic d rama as the

formal a r i a did to the o ld fashioned -

opera I n th e o ld Operas the di fferent

.

kinds of a r i a s had distinctive titles as ,

 V ocal Fo rm s

a r ia di br a v u r a , an
for the display
a r ia

of vocal agility (v i de Lucia s mad scene )

’

a r i a pa r la n t e o n e in which there w ere

,

passages resembling speech ; a r i a buf a

a comic a r i a 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 o f forms but to lay ,

down general principles by which j udg

ment m ay be guided and taste formed .

The reader can find definitions of the

vari ous forms in any musical dictionary .

Let me call the reader s attention to ’

o n e important point O pera is the m ost

.

A r t i st i c popular form of musical entertainment ,

because in it the comprehension of music

is made easy by m eans o f pictures and
text But it is obviously not the high
.

est form o f music I n i t music is only a

.

component part o f a whole and it is ,

govern ed absolutely by the text The .

only artistic opera is that which Wagner

described and aimed to write that in ,

which musi c poetry painting and action

, , ,

are united in organic unity M usic is .

in this organic union precluded from th e

possibility of independent development .
 Ope rati c Fo rm s

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 o w n unaided

powers Music unaccompanie d 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 a t

tention in this book chiefly to absolute
music It is for th e sam e reason that I
.

invite the reader wh o desires to arrive

at an u nderstanding and appreciation of
musical art to study most zealously
great instrumental works .
 C O N T EN T

T ue S en s uous

must be evident to the m ost carele ss

listener to music that there is some
thing more in the art than high organism
o f construction F orm is not all that
.

inheres in music If it were the sym

.
,

phonies of G y r o w et z would live beside

those of Beethoven and the é tudes o f J
, .

B Cramer would be heard as often as

.

those o f Chopin What qualities can

.

the listener detect in m usic as evidence

of its excellence ? What phenomena o f
the art present themselves to us as a
basis for critical j udgment ? I said at
the outset that no rule could be laid
down for recognizing th e excellence o f
a musical idea Neither can absolute
.

rules be laid down fo r pronouncing j udg

ments on complete compositions O nly .
 Th e S en suous

the mind which has lived m uch with CH AR .

music thought intensely about it and

, ,

absorbed its inner spirit can say with

certainty in the presence o f a work
“
wholly novel in form and style This ,
” “ ”
is good o r This is ba d
,
More than.

ninety nine out o f every hundred critics

-
a n d s ty le .

err in j udgment o f a thing wholly new in

mu si c because the m aj ority of them base
,

their j u dgments almost altogether o n

form and style Nevertheless it is my
.
,

belief that th ere is a substantial basis

for musical criticism I believe that crit
.

fc i sm is redu cible to method and that ,

every man is capable o f perceiving and

grasping the standards by which true
musical art is to be measured It m ay .

n o t be possible to lay down absolute rules

for pronouncing j udgments o n m u si c a l

compositions but it is possible to get at
,

certain fundamental qualities and from ,

them to deduce certain basic principles

o f art in music .

We have already reviewed F orm th e ,

constructive principle o f artistic design ,

the method o f development of m usical

thought the logic o f sound B ut F orm
, .

implies Content otherwise we have an

,
 Th e C o n ten t of M usi c

empty and soulless edifice a cathedral o f ,

Gothic grandeur which does n o t express

F orm and
'

man s spiritual aspiration

’
.

F or m Content together make the j Est het i c o f

Musical A rt In their action and reaction
.

upon on e another in their individual ex

,

c e lle n c e and their combined significance ,

they produce the ultimate Truth and

Beauty which are at once the subj ects
and the Obj ects o f all A rt In order that .

we may properly understand their re la

tions let us examine the fundamental
,

forces of music one of which includes

, ,

or rather produces F orm and all o f , ,

which are a part o f the Content .

Three fundamental forces o r qualities

are inherent in music and claim c o n si d
c ration in respect of their e ffect upon the

b e a r e r It is by the presence and amount

.

of influence of these qualities that the

artistic val ue of a composition must be es
timated If it can be shown that every
.

o n e o f these qualities is capable of em

ployment in th e composition o f artistic

music it follows that the sum total o f
,
-

the value of the composition cannot be

estimated if any one o f these factors is
ignored These three qualities are the
.
 Th e S e n suous

Sensuous the Intellectual and the Em o

, ,
C AR
H .

t i on a l .

The Sensuous embraces that part o f

music which appeals solely to th e physi
cal sense o f hearing It is that which .

“
in common parlance tickles the ear .

It a ffects h earing as the flav or o f food

affects taste and th e enj oyment o f it is
,

analogous to the enj oyment o f edibles ,

such as cake or candy without c o n si d ,

cration o f the nutritive properties It .

is o f course not quite possible to make

, ,

a line o f strict demarcation for the Sen

su o iI s in music because it so frequently

works in close organization with the

other qualities fo r a com mon end In .

deed all three fundamentals are con

,

sta n t l
y present in the high est class of
modern m usic and o n e who measures
,

the aesthetic value o f a composition by

the relative prominence given to each
will not go far astray F or instance if it
.
,

be said that the strongest claim to atten

tion in a given composition is its m erely
sensuous charm th en that comp osition
,

is at once placed i n the lowest class .

Music without any form whatever ,

without any evidence o f constructive

 Th e C on te n t of M us i c

C AR
H .
design without emotional content
, ,

without the aesthetic manifestations o f

symmetry grace o r strength might
, , , ,

nevertheless be full of sensuous charm

, ,
5 6 725 11 014 5
by reason of its various bits of pretty
melody its rich harmony or i t s highly
, ,

colored instrumentation Indeed it is in .

,

orchestral m usic that one is most likely

to be deceived by the purely sensuous
quality o f music for th e palette of the ,

modern symphonist is full o f go r geo U s

colors and a very poor piece o f com
,

position may be made to sound imposing

by the cunning employment of divided
violins with harmonies of horns and harp ,
n ess o f tile
by ingeniously dispersed chords for the
wood wind o r by the thunderous shock
-
,

o f a solid tutti I n solo work however

.
, ,

the sensuous element plays an equally

deceptive part A contralto who com .

m i t t e d every O ffence against the rules o f

vocal art was successful on the operati c
stage for years by reason of the engaging
quality o f her voice A pianist who read .

the works o f Chopin in a manner most

e rratic carried away the public by the

beauty o f his tone coloring -

.

The Sensuous is that part of music

 Th e S en su ous

which makes its appeal triumphantly to C AR

H .

the indolent or unintelligent listener .

H e does not wish to understand m usic .

H e wishes only to hear it H e abhors . P leas u r e

its intellectual attributes and of course ,

its true emotion never reaches him H e .

refuses to trouble his mind su fficiently

to detect evidences o f design in the
work H e reduces musi c to the level o f
.

confectionery The sweetness and the

.

flavor o f it are all that he loves H e .

takes it as the school girl takes her -

novel If the ending be happy what

.
,

cares sh e for the pu rity of the diction ,

the picturesqueness of the descriptions ,

the fidelity o f the character drawing -

,

the profound I n sI gh t into human life ?

So the thoughtless music b earer if the -
,

tunes be pretty the rhythms incisive

, ,

and the voice timbres rich cares not

-
,

a fig whether there is thematic develop

ment organic life o r deep feeling in the
, ,

work Yet o u t o f the Sensuous is great

.

m usic made .

This Sensuous part o f music embraces

all that first appeals to the ear— rhythm ,

melody harmony tone color In and of

, ,
-
.

themselves these factors are S imply sen

 Th e C o n ten t o f M usi c

C AR H .
su o u s . U norganized without design , ,

without form but employed S imply to

,

fascinate the sense of hearing to make ,

“
a dance o f sound these factors de ,

scend to their lowest use and m usic so ,

composed can hardly be said to be music

at all Yet melody rhythm and har
.
, ,

mony are the elements o f musical form .

They are the material o u t o f which its

highest organizations are developed .

They are sensuous when they are U s ed

as a painter might use th e H ogarthian
line o f beauty and the entire Winsor
81 Newton catalogue of colors to fashion
a kaleidoscopic canvas which should
give to th e eye the same sort of delight
that a gas light gives to the vision o f
-

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

t i on an d
several recognizable forms such as trees
'
, ,

roses grass clouds and perhaps a hu

, , ,

man figure o r two in a work with evi ,

dent design .

A nd so in music melody rhythm , ,

 Th e Se n suous

and harmony cease to be mere sensuous CH AR .

things when they work together i

piece of constructive composition E ven .

tone color the m ost absolutely sensuous

-
,

factor o f all ceases to be simply that

,

when it is employed with an intellectual

or an emotional purp ose But tone .

color being the m ost sensuous and

, ,

therefore the most easily dazzling is the ,

factor which is m ost abused in recent

music The noble artistic reticence o f
.

Beethoven whose tonal sch emes are full

,

o f the solid yet subdued glory o f C o r o t s

’

landscapes is seldom found in new o r

,

c he st r a l works many o f which seek to

,

cover up barren melodic subj ects feeble ,

development and insincere emotion with

,

Turneresque outpours o f gorgeous color .

Chamber music seeks to rival orchestral

in the complexity o f its polyphony and ,

the variety o f its tone tints while the

,
,

piano aims at tonal dictatorship .

Th e laws which govern the employ

ment of the Sensuous in music belong
partly to the I ntellectual and partly to ,

the E motional The Sensu ous is th eir

.

servant and must obey their commands

, .

It is a means n ot an end A ll that is

, .
 Th e C o n te n t of M usi c

embraced in it belongs fairly t o the ma

t e r i a l o f the art and this m ust be sub
,

servient to thought and feeling E spe .

c i a lly is this true o f the m ost s ensuous

'

part of the Sensuous the color scheme

, .

F or while we ad mit the undoubted exist

ence o f a rule that there should be sen
suo n s variety we must also admit that
,

this rule is subservient to the laws o f

melodic and harmonic development and ,

that the color must never be o u t of ke ep

ing with the outline The purple c o w
.

o r the green carnation always an i n

artistic m onstrosity .
 M O ST important part of th e I ntel
lectual quality o f musi c has already
been discussed under th e head o f F orm ,

fo r it is not di fficult to perceive that the

I ntellectual embraces that part o f com
position which discloses purpose and ,

produ ces logical construction A mbros

.
,

in his excellent work The B oundaries o f

,

P oetry and Music designates th e m usic

,
”

“
o f th e romanti c school as th e music
o f the intellect,
and that of the early
“
classicists as th e music o f th e soul .

By this he m eans to convey th e idea

that the classicists gave their souls free
play and that th ose souls revelled in pure
,

musical beauty while the romanticists

, ,

in endeavoring t o m ake m usic voice

emotions definitely displayed a purely
,

intellectual method But a little r e fl ec

.
 Th e C o n ten t o f M usi c

C AR
H . 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 o f

O ckeghem as well as in the sunny ge
,
~

nial symphonies o f Haydn They are .

present in all the classic compositions ,

side by side with the emotional qualities .

Yet A mbros 1 s m a measure right for ,

the more definitely a composer aims at

method .
making his music an expression o f em o
tion the m ore firmly must he fashion I t
,

according to the dictates of intellect fo r ,

were he to attempt emotional expression

without preserving the supremacy o f
the reason in his work he would speed
,

ily fall into formlessness and instead o f

,

enlightening w ould merely bewilder his

hearers In all art creative o r inter
.
,

p r et at i v e
, th e emotion must be under
the dominance of the reason or else ,

there is no method and art without

,

method is inconceivable .

The I ntellectual in music then em , ,

braces first all the principles o i design ,

lec tu a l a n d
the laws o f form and development But .

rising from the specific laws of form to

the generic principle which lies at the
 Th e I n te llectual

basis of the I ntellectual in music we find C AR

H .

that the ultimate aim o f design in the

tone art is organic unity that u nity in ,

diversity which as M r H adow perti "

,
.

n en t l
y reminds us it was the chief aim ,

o f Greek philosophy to discover in Nat

ure The requirement o f organic u nity

.

is that details o f diverse character sh all

be absolutely vital parts of one organism .

I n a work o f art this requirement de

mands that no accessory shall be foreign
to the general design I n music it espe .

c i a ll
y demands that th e form shall be
perfect that the whole shall be equal t o
,

th e sum of all its parts that nothing can ,

be subtracted without causing i m pe r fec

tion and that nothing can be added to
,

what is already complete I t calls for .

an absolutely reasonable development

o f each m ovement 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 n o extraneous matter shall obtrude

itself upon the attention and that if new ,

“
d
S t u i es i n M d o ern M u si c ,
”
by W . H . H a d ow ,

MA S
. .
, econ dS er i es.
 Th e C on ten t of M us i c

C AR
H . " .
thought is introduced it shall clearly
grow out o f the ideas first propounded .

It furthermore demands that the e m o

t i o n a l scheme of a movement shall not
be in congruous but shall follow accepted
,

psychological laws It goes still farther

.

and commands that the several move

ments o f a work shall be organically r e
lated to o n e anoth er in melodic charac
ter emotional m ood and in style If you
, ,
.

were t o hear the scherzo o f B e et ho v e n S ’

Seventh Symphony performed in the

F ifth Symphony instead of t hat which
belongs there you would detect the i n
,

organic conditions a t once A s A mbros .

has wisely said no o ne has ever found

,

the E roica symphony u nheroic o r the ,

P astoral unpastoral but there would

”
,

be an immediate outcry if the titles were

transposed .

M r Hadow whose works I heartily

.
,

comm end to every sincere lover of music ,

quotes H erbert Spencer o n the three

main attributes of an organism F irst .
,

it must be definite clear in outline com

, ,

p le t e in substance and filling,

with n u

broken continuity the fixed limits by

which it is circumscribed Secondly it .
,
 Th e I n tellectual

must be heterogeneous composed that ,

C AR
H .

is of a plurality of parts e a c h o f which

‘

, ,

has its o w n function and no mo o f

,

which are interchangeable Thirdly it .

,

must be coherent : holding this plural

ity in exact balance and equipoise so that ,

each part in capable by itself o f m ain

,

taining the whole body is yet essential

,

t o the due hea lth and effi ciency o f the

others . A s M r H adow j ustly says
.
,

It is to music that the law o f o rganic

proportion m ost intimately applies and ,

the construction of a m usical organism

is a purely intellectual accomplishment .

The conception o f m usical id eas m ay be ,

an d in great music generally is the result ,

o f some emotional state but the fashion

,

ing o f a composition and all that belongs

t o that task are intellectual ; and in music
the intellectual element issues in F orm ,

because F or m is the met hod o f expression .

So important hav e the higher a t t r i

butes o f musical form appeared to some
critics that they have declared form to
,

be expression The most n otable a dv o

.

cate o f this view is D r E duard H a n sli c k

.
,

whose Beautiful in M usic aims to

prove that music is nothing more than
 Th e C on te n t of M us i c

C AR
H .
sounding forms that it is incapable o f
,

emotional expression and that its high

,

est attributes are intellectual The bo o k .

is worth study if fo r no other purp o se

,

than to learn how highly the Intellectual

in music m ay be estimated by Some who
have loved the art all their lives i But
it is di ffic u lt to understand ho w any
close student o f m usic and its history
can fail to perceive that emotion has
been present in the tone art almost from
its birth I n the early history of musi c
.

we find that the necessity of making the

materials o f the art kept the I ntellectual
in the foreground until composers had
lec t u a l i n
su fficiently mastered their material to
enable them to seek for pure euphony
o f tones and then the Sensuous j oined
,

the Intellectual When these two ele

.

ments had become su fficiently plastic in

the hands of the m asters music disclosed
,

a purpose and that purpose was plainly

,

the expression o f feeling In th e day s o f

.

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 regard ed as
,
 Th e I n te llectual

su fficient for a movement to be i n a gen C AR H . " .

eral mood throu g h out But with B eet

.

hoven the C o lumbus w ho opened up a

,

new world to the art there entered a B th

, ee ov en

definite intellectual method o f express

ing emotions and a sonata became an
,

epic with each m ovement a canto sur

,

charged with a variety o f emotions .

Yet there can be no question o f the

artistic unity o f each work Th e organ .

ism is always complete and vital and it ,

is so not simply because B eethoven per

c e i v e d m ore clearly than M ozart and

Haydn the emotional expressiveness o f

music but equally because he p erfected
,

the intellectual processes o f expression .

T o Beethoven we o w e the completed

sonata form th e highest organism o f M i
,
us c s
’

unaided m usic H e carried that form

.
g i or an sm .

to its furth est influence but he did not ,

preclude the possibility o f the d evelop

ment o f oth e r forms What h e did was
.

to embody in the sonata the fundam ental

principles o f all F orm in m usic and it ,

is because F orm is essentially intellectual

method in this art that I lay so much
stress upon the necessity of acquaintance
with its laws .
 T he Em otion a l

H E power o f music to express em o

tion has been denied but it is n Ot,

th e p urpose of the present volume to

reopen the discussion of that questi
The controversy over the expressive
power of music may be regarded as
closed The artistic world has agreed
.

that music does convey emotion o r ,

a r ou s es
feeling of some kind and that it arouses
,

feeling in the be a r er The theory that

.

the aroused feeling is of a nervous kind ,

caused wholly by the physical effects of

melody an d rhythm has already been
,

overthrown and indeed it never had

, , ,

much weight with those who were capa

ble o f psychological self examination
-
.

There is n o doubt however that m ost

, ,

people have vague and unsettled ideas

as to the expressive powers o f musi c ,
 T he Em ot ional

and that in loo k ing for something that C AR

H .

does n o t exist they fail to find that which

,

does This vagueness arises from three

.

causes : F irst ignorance o f the true nat

,

ure o f musical expressiveness ; se cond ,

ignorance o f musical history which ,

leads them t o loo k fo r effects n o t sought

by composers o f certai n periods ; and
third foolish and rhapsodic al criticism
, ,

which pretends to see definite poetic

imagery in m usic A correct under
.

sta nding o i the true nature o f musical

expressiveness would at o n ce expose
the fallacy o f such criticis m I t is my .

intention to point o u t as briefly as pos

,

sible what constitutes the emotional

,

content o f musi c It will perhaps lead

.
, ,

to a readier compreh ension o f this to i n

di ca t e in a general way the materials o f
emotional expression in this art .

The rea d e r will rem ember that under

the head o f F orm it was stated that song
was originally a free expression o f fancy
o r feeling , an d that the melodic inter
vals were based o n th e inflections o f the
voice in speech I t can be shown with
.

ou t great di ffi culty that this primary

law of musical e xpression lies at the

 Th e E m oti o n al

to show the thoughtful reader that th e CH AR .

means o f m usical expression are n o t a l

together arbitrary but are founded o n
,

natural law But because m usic has

.

more co m plex machinery than the hu

man voice i t can achieve m ore c o m
,

plex exp ression Its compass is wider

.
,

its variety o f tone color is greater its

-
,

dynamic force is higher its number o f ,

rhythms is larger and it has harmony

, ,

which th e voice has not The intensity .

and power o f the utterance o f an orches

tra for instance far exceeds t hat o f
, ,

any orator or singer By the pow erful .

proj ection through song o f a singer s ’

personality we are often misled into

,

supposing that the human voice is the

m ost expressive o f all instruments ; but
pure musical expressiveness exists in its
highest degree in th e orchestra where ,

the influence is not personal but a bso ,

lu t e ly m usical .

But music has n o articulate speech .

F or that reason it is compelled to ex

press emotions i n the abstract Th e . L i mi t f
o

“
composer can say t o you I am sad , , expr ess i on .

and in saying it he can influence y o u to

be sad with him B ut he cannot say to
.
 Th e C o n te nt o f M us i c
C AR
H .

“
y o u in music I am sad because my
,

bro t her is dead The materials of m u

.

si c a l expression do not admit o f such

definite statement Music can speak a .

sadness more intense than words can

utter but it is the privilege o f the poet
, .
,

not o f the musician to tell the cause o f ,

.

the sadness M usic then is an art

which expresses moods and it expresses
.
, ,

them with d e fi n i t e n ess tremendous elo ,

q u e n ce and
, overwhelming influenc e .

The mistake o f those who are ignorant

o f the real nature o f musical expres

si v e n e ss is that they try to discern in

the music the cause o f the m oods and ,

this we have seen is j ust what music

cannot tell us A s A mbros has a d m i r
.

ably said : Music conveys moods o f

fi nished expression it as it w ere forces , ,

the m o n the b ea r e r It conveys them .

in fi n i shed form because it possesses ,

no means for expressing the previous

series o f ideas w hich speech can clearly
and definitely express The charm of .

music which one is so very much i n

,

c li n e d to a scribe to sensuous euphony

alone hes I n a great measure if not

, , ,

for the most part in this contrasting ,

 Th e E m ot i o n a l

of finished states of mind concerning ,

C AR
H .

whose previous series of ideas it gives

us n o account .

That the expressive power of music is

none the less definite is easily demon N ot a n

st r a ble No o n e would mistake the

.

slow movement o f Tschaikowsky s Sym ’

ph ony Pa t he ti qu e for a hymn to jo y ,

and equally no one would think B e e t h o

ven s melody for Schiller s Hymn to
’ ’

J o y in the last m ovement o f the Ninth

Sym phony was a lament The grace .

ful contemplative m ood o f Schubert s

,
’

“
Hark hark the lark could n ever be
, , ,

mistaken for the tragic feeling of B eet

h oven s sonata opus 1 0 6 The attitude
’

,
.

o f the b e a r e r I repeat is what leads to

, ,

“
error When he asks W hat does this
.
,
”
music express ? n i ne tim es out o f ten .

he wishes to know what caused th e com

poser s emotion It is not always i m
’
.

possible to learn that but it must be ,

learned from a study of th e composer s ’

life n o t from his music A s the auth or

, .

has said in another place : W ho has

“

solved the riddles o f Beethoven s last ’

quartets and sonatas ? Their i n t e r pr e

t at i o n must rest upon a sympathetic
 Th e C o n ten t o f M u si c

CH AP study of the emotional life o f th e com? ”

p oser at the time t hey were conceived .

Tell us what B eethoven suffered or

dreamed while he wrote any one o f
t hese works and you have o ffered us a
,
”
key to his meaning .

The mistake o f those who know n oth

ing o f musical history is that they seek
in the older works for an intensity o f
emotional expressiveness not attempt
ed by th e composers and either wh ol ly
,
ex pec ta
misunderstand the works by fancying
they find it o r 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 em otional characteristics
of the three great periods o f music .

O ne must not seek for anything beyond

contemplative o r religious emotion in
the works of th e early contrapuntists .

With Haydn the emotional schedule

is broader yet here the gentler feelings
, ,

mingled with unaff ected gayety and

W ha t on e genial hum or abound Tragedy is n o t
, .

found in th e H aydn symphonies or

quartets nor is it in those o f Mozart
,
~
,

whose emotional sched ule was still wider

 Th e E m oti on al

than that o f Haydn But with all the .

classic writers pure musical beauty was

the chief en d o f the art and the em otion ,

a l scheme had to remain subservient to

th e laws of form It was Beethoven

.

w h o first definitely aimed at m aking

emotional utteran ce th e purpose o f m a
sic and from his time dates the develop
,

ment o f th e knowledge o f th e full re

sources o f 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
indu ced to read into music definite i m
ages which are contrary to the nature
of the art and are simply the product
,

o f t he fancy o f o n e person P ermit m e . Ev i ls of

to quote a passage of the sort o f com
ment to which I refer It is from a de .

scription o f Beethoven s Seventh Sym ’

phony

T he longed for
-
m om en t i sd rawin g n ear an d ,

in bl issful a n t ic ip a t ion of t he a pp roac h in g c onsum

m a t ion o f t h eir w ish es t he grac eful s p i ri t sh ap es
,
-

m ove a b out pl ayfully n ow a scen d in g n ow d esc en d

, ,

i n g (B a r 2 1 an d t he fo ll ow in g b efore ll gr o) un t il
, a e ,

at l en gt h t h ey a re l oud ly b i dd en t o b egi n t he r oun d

d an ce Th ey h esi tate b ash fully at fi rst as th ough

.
, ,
 T he C on t en t of M u si c

l oat h to divulge th eir secret (the last

a llegr o) S udden ly a sl ight tremor passes t hrough
.

th ei r ran ks I t is the l ast trep i dat ion of joy pre

. ,

c ed i ng its ful l est outward m an ifesta t i on w h ic h n o w

ensues . Louder and louder the summon s t o the

gen eral j ubi lation issues forth ; h igh er and h igh er
still the w aves of en j oymen t rise ; c loseu a n d ever

c l oser t h eir sp iri t s j oin eac h ot h er i n t he dan c e a n d

cr i t i c i se.

un ite t h eir voic es in a song of rap ture T he fi rst .

d el irium of ecstatic joy over the magic measure of

,

i n d i i d u l t on e sp irit s i s d isp l a ye d
v a -
A n d a l ik e i n
. .

t he sweet a cc en t s of t he flute i n the l oud blast of

,

t he trump et and in the gen t le t on e of the h orn the

. ,

secret of every on e of t h em b ecomes m an ifest .

Then (with the organ p oint upon E) the sp irits

-

a ga in un it e i n l ovi n g em b race resumi ng th eir son g

,

o f joy w it h d ithyram b ic fervor

’
.

O f course the person who having re a d ,

that tries to discover in th e Seventh

,

Symphony a story o f spirits engaged in

a dance will meet with certain d i sap
pointment and if he doe s not blame
,

himself for the failure he will blame the

music I t is obvious that t he censure
.

should fall upon the comm entator who ,

foun d his explanation not in t he music

but i n his ow n imagination .

C e rt ain conventions however have , ,

been established in musical expression ,

a n d these are a t onc e intelligible Fo r .

 Th e E m ot i o nal

instance a slow march in a minor key

,
C AR H .

with the beats heavily marked and the

tone color dark is universally accepted
-

now as a funeral march Thoughts o f r e .

li gi o u s functions arise in us the m oment

we hear the trombones intone a solem n
phrase in full harmony ; an oboe melody
in six eighth tim e over a d rone bass
-

brings up a pastoral picture o f a S hep

herd playing upon his pipe ; trumpets
and drums suggest war and so o n , .

Motion is easily imitated by music and ,

there are conventional ways o f imitating

the rolling of waves the galloping o f ,

horses and the rippling o f forest leaves

,
.

But the thoug htful music lover will eas -

ily perceive that these purely imitative

p rocesses are materialistic and that de ,

scriptive music only becomes spiritually

influential wh en it embodies in the i m
i t a t i on of a natural obj ect the emotions
which it causes A splendi d example .

o f this is Siegfrie d s forge song in which

’

,
ti v e mu s i c
th e music embodying the rhyth m of
.

the bello w s also expresses th e splendid

,

vigor an d enthusiasm o f th e young

H ow to Li st en to Mu si c,
”
by H . E K rehb i el
. .
 T he C o n t en t o f M us ic

C AR
H .
smith P ure description in music with
.

out emotional content is the lowest

form of musical expression It is imita .

tion not utterance It is obj ective and

,
.
,

a ll high music is sub j ective .

These considerations a fford us a toler

ably sure ground for our estimates of
compositions belonging to the class
“
known as programme music U nder
the head o f F orm it was stated that
programme music was intended to illus
trate some story o r poem lA ft er wh at .

has been said about t

r essi v e n ess o f music will
p
perceive that the use of a suggestive
title o r o f a story is simply a method of
, ,

giving the hearer a definite cause for

m u si c .
the emotions contained in a composition .

“ ”
Goldmark s Sakuntala overture fo r
’

instance would be j ust as admirable a

,

composition and j ust as strong in em o

t i o n a l expression if it were called S imply
Concert O verture But by his title
.

the composer invites us to accept the

Sanskrit p oem as the cause o f the pa r ti c
ular series of emotions here conveyed
to us in music .

P lainly the excellenc e o f any piece

,
 Th e E m oti onal

of programm e music logically depends .

C AR
H .

upon th e suitability o f the story t o

broad emotional treatment and upon ,

the composer s ability to grasp the fun

’

d a m e n t a l m oods o f the story and paint

them in tones H e cannot tell the story ;
.

he can only voice its feelings If some .

o n e o f t h e natural obj e cts fo r which

m usical conventions exist plays an i m

portant part in the story he may use the ,

descriptive convention with good e ffect .

B ut h e cannot become a novelist and

’

give u s sc e n e r y action and incident

, , .

H e must adhere to his art and sing th e

contents o f the heart The opera com .

poser can hav é the help o f text scenery , ,

and action They tell the story It is

. .

the composer s business to proj ect th e

’

emotions o f th e charac t ers and make

the auditors o f his m usic feel them A n .

opera libretto is good when like that o f ,

Tristan und Isolde it deals in broad

, ,

powerfu l scenes of pure human e m o ,

tion because then the composer s task

,
’

is o n e within th e S cop e o f his art .

8 0 operatic m usic is to be valued

,

precisely according to the power and m usi c .

beauty with which it unfolds the e m o

 Th e C on ten t of M us ic

tions indicated by the text The same .

law applies to p rogramme music A s .

“
I have said elsewhere however the
, ,

highest form of p rogramme music is

that in which the programme is simply
Commu n i an emotional schedu le I m ean that the
.

mot i on
e .
composer having studied his o w n soul
, ,

and having found that certain events in

his life o r observation have given rise
to a train o f em otions designs his com
,

p osition to convey some knowledge of

that train of em otions to his hearer and ,

to place him in responsive sym pathy

‘
with it H e says t o the bea r e r Listen
.
,

to my music and feel what I have felt .

’
 '

A i sthotics
l
f
o M u sic

the broad essen

r ou n dw or k o f ,

tial principles o f the aesthetics o f

m usic has now been explored and we ,

are re a dy following the inductive meth

,

od,
to formulate some o f the funda
mental laws o f musical beauty It is .

generally conceded that an art work -

should be beautiful but th ere is c o n si d

,

c rable di fference o f opinion as t o what

constit u tes beauty It is the Opinion o f

. W ha t i s
the present w riter that o n this topic the bea u t ifu l ?

utterance o f th e great German phi lo so

pher Immanuel Kant is the m ost satis
, ,

“
factory H e holds that the Beauti
.

ful is that which through the harmony

,

o f its form with the faculty of human

knowledge awakens a disinterested uni

, ,

versal and necessary satisfaction

, By .

disinterestedness in relation to beau

 Th e C o n te n t o f M us ic

CH AR .
ty , Kant means freedom from gr a t i fi c a
tion of sensual appetite o r preconceived
conceptions The Beautiful gives pleas
.

u r e not because it sa tisfies any physical

,

appetite or corresponds t o any extant

idea but because in and through itself
,

it imprints its own I deal upon the soul ,

which by its faculty of knowledge is

, ,

capable o f receiving it By universal .

satisfaction Kant mean s that which is

not peculiar to the individual but i s ,

Ka n t on general The satisfaction is necessary

.

in the sense that it is inevitable It .

must be borne in mind that Kant is

speaking o f general law not of individ ,

instances .

Kant (furthermore) distinguishes be

tween f r ee a n d a dher en t beauty F ree .

beauty presupposes no conception of

that which the o bj ect ought to be ;
merely adherent beauty implies both
such a conception and also the pe r fe c
tion of the obj ect as determined by com
parison with the concepti on Now it .

seems to me perfectly obvious that m u

sic beyond all other arts supplies us
, ,

with both free a n d adherent beauty .

The absolute musical concept the me ,

“
 fEst het i c s o f M us i c

lo d i c idea does not and in the very nat

, ,

ure o f its existence cannot presuppose ,

any conception o f what it ought to

be No human being could h ave de
.

t e r m i n e d beforehand what kind o f a

theme Beethoven should invent as th e
principal subj ect o f the F ifth Symphony ,

“
yet the moment it is h eard through ,

the harmony o f its form with th e fa c u l

”
t y o f human knowledge that them e ,

“
certainly does awaken a disinterested ,

universal and necessary satisfaction

, .

F ree beauty in music then is that , ,

which belongs to its germinal c o n c e p

tions . The adherent beauty is that T h ei r

which belongs to its expression and must m us i c .

be sought in th e Sensuous and the In

t e lle c t u a l The em otional content o f
.

music is not merely a part of its beauty ;

it is also a cause o f it for it is that which
,

the art symbolizes A ll art is symbol

.

ical and the em otional content o f m usic

,

bears precisely t he same relation to its

beauty as th e character which a por
trait painter reveals i n his portrait o r
the mood of Nature which a landscape
painter shows in a landscape does to the
picture A m usical composition which
.
 Th e C on te n t o f M u si c

symbolized in a most convincing musi

“

cal manner a series of incongruous emo

tions would fail to a waken Kant s satis ’

faction not because the musical ideas in

,

themselves were ugly n or because th e

,

expression was incomplete but because ,

the matter symbolized was untrue I t .

would be like a tropical landscape with

a frozen river in the foreground— not a
work o f art but a curiosity
, .

The first law of musical ae st he ti cS ,

then is that a composition must contain

,

free beauty The melodic ideas must in

.

and o f themselves be beautiful i\A s I .

said at the beginning of this work no ,

rule can be laid down for recognizing

the excellence o f 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 o f excellence in m usical
ideas That however is only true o f
.
, ,

people who have been educated down to

something else P eople who have been
.

brought up on dance music variety ,

stage songs and music hall ditties have

,
-

to be educated up to Beethoven and

 [Esth et i cs o f Mu sic

Wagner S o do people who have never

.

been in the presence of any art at all ,

musical o r pictorial B ut even th ese

.

people very speedily learn t o perceive

the superiority o f B eeth oven s melodic ’

ideas to those o f D avid B raham .

But free beauty which a ppea s to an

,

i n d e fi n a ble consciousness o f vitality is ,

not enough A work o f art must appeal

.

t o the j udgment which is an intellect

,

ual power The very word art indicates

.

something in which skill thought e ffort , , , A r t and

and taste are exercised and the percep ,

tion of the results o f such exercise is the

labor o f reason H ence a musical com
.
,

position must have adherent beauty and ,

that beauty is surely to be found chiefly in

the qualities which have been described
as intellectual But in musical art the
.

adherent beauty o f the intellectual de

v e lo pm e n t in a composition has a singu

lar quality o f its o w n It d oes not satisfy

.

us so m uch by its agreement with a pre

conceived conception of what it ought
to be as by an imme d iate conviction
that it could not have been other than
what it is This is o n e o f the finest
.

traits of a great composition It must .

 Th e C o n ten t o f M us i c

possess the element o f Inevitableness .

In listening to such a work as B e e t ho

ven s F ifth Symphony we feel that e v ery
’

phrase is inevitable To have written .

it otherwise would have weakened th e

structure This I nevitableness is pro
.

d u c e d by perfection of form by absolute ,

logic of development and is therefore , , ,

an intellectual quality .

sely related to it is the pr i n c i ple o f

on which M r H adow lays much .

stress B ut this F itness is almost wholly

.

concerned with style and may be dis ,

missed briefly This principle demands

.

that th e manner S hall be suitable to the

matter It not only forbids the employ
.

m ent o f a secular style in sacred music ,

but it prohibits the j uxtaposition o f i n

congruous styles in any work F or i n .

stance imagine the working o u t part o f

,
-

a Beethoven sonata written in a Chopin .

esque manner O r fancy a sonata built

.

of music like that of R ossini s Semira ’

”
mide . The t hing would be a burlesque
o n music It may be said however
.
, ,

that the principle o f F itness applied to

vocal m usic demands that the musical
ideas shall be appropriate t o the text .
 j Estheti c s o f M usi c

This m eans of course that the m usic

, ,

shall be as complete and life like an em -

bodiment as possible o f the emotions

set forth by the poet It is the principle
.

which lies at the basis of opera and a d ,

h e r e n c e to it is th e only excuse which F i tn ess i n

operatic writing has fo r its existence .

m u si c .

r a music which does n o t voice the

emotions o f the text is emp ty j i ngle It .

may be m elodious and sy mm etrical in

f o rm but it is insincere it is n o t inevi
, ,

table i t is not fit and h ence it is not ar

, ,

t i st i c
. Its appeal is chiefly to the ear ,

and its beauty is mainly sensuous .

v I t is hardly necessary to add anything

to what has already been said about the
emotional part o f a comp osition The .

reader will speedily perceive that the

chief law is that the em otional schedule
S hould not embrace anything incapable

o f being expressed in music The whole.

range o f elementary em otions is open

to the c omposer if h e will only content
,

himself with treating them in the a h ( Es theti cs

stract H e m ust not try to tell the
.

cause o f th e emotion ; he needs text

when he aim s at that A nd he mu st n o t
.

try to represent purely intellectual proc

 Th e C onte n t o f M us i c

esses .I need hardly add that gr e aT '

emotions should be fo u n d in a great

composition .

The c o n é rpti on o f Beauty as Kant ,

notes belongs to man alone The beasts

,
.

do not share it with him Now music .

,

is wholly the creation o f the human i n

t e lle c t It has no model in Nature as
.

painting and sculptu re have T he very .

materials o f music are the products of

man s thought Because Beau ty is Co n
’
.

c e i v e d o n ly by man and music is t he ,

pure product o f his intellect it seems to ,

m e that this art comes nearer to an ex

pression o f beauty in the abstract than
any other It is the highest produ ct
.

o f the imagination and hence closer t o ,

free beauty than any other art It pro .

c e e d s out of the elements o f our t r i pa r

tite nature sensation reas on and emo

, , ,

tion in their most uncircumscribed and

,

unconditioned state and consequently it ,

appeals to them with irresistible force .

A s symmetry proportion balance , , ,

and logical development are essential to

the perfection o f an art work and as -
,

these are the results o f design no com ,

position can be truly great no matter ,

 [Esth et i cs o f M us i c

how notable the free beauty o f its ger

m inal ideas o r how eloquent its expres
sion of emotion unless it is built accord
i n g t o the fundamental laws o f F orm
. .

The m usical conceptions a n d the play of

emotions must be alike governed by
th e reason O f the genuine composer
.

it must always be said as Martin Luther

said o f th e great pupil o f O ckegh em
“
O ther com posers have to do as the
notes le t them but Josquin is master of
,

the notes A nd so we com e at last to

.

the true balance o f parts in a musical

art work a balance pre existent in the
-
,
-

tripartite nature o f man A great man .

is o n e who has a great body and a great

soul absolutely ruled by principle which ,

is a product o f reason A great com .

position is one i n which there are sen

suo n s beauty and emotional eloquence ,

governed by the laws o f F orm .

 Pa rt II

T he Per fo rm a n c e o f M u si c
 the lover o f musi c may
often be in doubt as to the merit
o f a composition he need never be so in
,

regard to that o f a performance H ere .

we stand o n safe and sure ground for ,

the qualities that make excellence in per

fo r m a n c e are all well known and it is
,

necessary only th at the ear shall be able

to detect them Th ere m ay o f course
.
, ,

be some di fference o f Opinion about the

reading o f a sonata o r the interpreta
tion of a symphony ; but even these dif '
a n ce a s ur "
fe r e n c e s should be rare
. D ifferences o f gr oun d .

j udgm ent about the technical qualities

o f a musical performance should neve r

exist. Whether a person plays the

piano or sings well or ill is not a ques
 I n stru m en tal Perfo rm an ce

tion of opinion but of fact The critic

,
.

wh o is acquainted with the technics

o f the art can pronounce j udgment
upon a per formance with absolute cer
tainty and there is no reason in the
,

world why every lover o f music should

not do the sam e thing There should not .

“
b e any room for such talk as this :
-

I
think M rs B lank sang very well didn t
.
,
’

”
you ? Well I didn t like it much
,
’
.

A nd there should be n o room for

the indiscriminate app lause o f bad per
fo r m a n c e s which so often grieve the
hearts o f j udicious listeners Bad o r .

c h e st r a l playing bad piano playing bad

, ,

"u es ti on s S inging are applauded every day in the

course o f the musical season by people

wh o think they have a right to an Op i n
ion I repeat that i t is not a matter o f
.

opinion but a m atter o f fact ; and a per

son might just as well express the belief
‘

that a short fat m an was finely propor

t i o n e d as t o say that an ill balanced o r -

c hest r a was a good one and he might ,

as well say that in his opinion a fire

g i ne whistle was music as to say that a
throaty voice production was good sing
-

ing .
 Th e O rch est ra

In the second part o f this little v o l

um e therefore I p ropose to set forth as
, , ,

briefly as p ossible the essentials of good

,

performance for th e inform ation o f those

who not knowing them have not the
, ,

grounds for j udgm ent I nstrumental

.

perform ance will be considered first and ,

it is natural to study first o f all the great

est o i all instruments the orchestra
—

The m od ern orchestra is th e result o f

a long d evelopment which it would not
,

be profitable t o trace in this book It is .

a body o f instruments selected with a ,

vie w to their abi lity to perform the m ost

complex music It will be readily u n
.

d e r st o o d that su ch an instrumental body

must p ossess a wide range o f timbres a ,

great compass extensive gradations o f

,

force the greatest flexibility and a sol

, ,

id sonority which can be m aintained

from the finest pianissim o to the hea v i
est forte O f course the preserva t ion of
.

and pow er
some o f these qualities su ch as fl ex i bi l
,
.

ity and solidity depend largely upon the

,

skill of the composer but they are all ,

inherent in the orchestra They are .

gained by th e use o f three classes of in

st r u m e n t s grouped under t h e general
,
 I n stru m en tal Perfo rm an c e

heads of wood brass and strings which

, , ,
“

have special tone colors and individual

-

ity when heard in their distinct groups ,

but which c ombine admirably in the e n

semble .

It is the custom to name the three

groups in the order given because for the ,

sake o f convenience composers place the

,

flute parts at the top o f the page of the

score when the wide margin gives room
for their high notes The other w ood .

wind instruments follo w 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 o f the wood instruments in sound
ing chords This brings the strings to
.

the bottom o f the page th e i nstrum ent s ,

of percussion (drums cymbals etc ) be , ,

.

ing inserted between them and t he brass .

The instruments of the conventional

symphonic orchestra o f the classic peri
o d then are flutes oboes C larinets bas
, , , , ,

soo n s in the wood department horns , ,

trumpets and trombones in th e brass

, ,

and violins Violas violoncellos and

, , ,

double basses for strings M odern c o m

-
.

posers have added fo r specia l r e asons

 Th e O rch estra

the E nglish horn which is the alto o f

,

the oboe the bass clarinet th e c o ntra

,
-
,

bassoon (which sounds an octave lower

th an 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 th an the ordinary flute was in ,

t r o d u c e d into th e symphony orchestra

by Beeth oven though it had frequently
,

been used before i n opera scores .

It is not possible to convey in p rint

any idea o f the timbres o f the various in
st r u m e n t s These are only to be learned
.

by hearing them and the simplest plan

,

is t o get a friend who knows the different

instruments by sound to identify them
fo r y o u Something may be said how
.
,

ever about th e functions o f the three

,

choirs The wood wind used to be em

.
-

ployed with very little s kill u ntil M ozart

introduced the art o f instrumental c o l
o r ing This he did by em ploying di ffer
.

ent wood wind instruments in solo pas

-

sages and in combinations A ny per .

so n will readily understan d that a fl ute

has a di fferent tone from an oboe o r a

clarinet ; but few stop to think how
 I n s tru m en tal Pe rfo rm an ce

much di fference in color can be ob?

t ai n e d by sounding a flute with an oboe
instead of with a clarinet It is by .

making di fferent combinations o f i n

st r u m e n t s that di ff erent tone colors are -

produ ced in an orchestra and for this ,

purpose the wood choir is especially -

well adapted .

Now this choir as a whole is capable

, ,

o f playing by itself in full harmony as ,

in the music of E lsa s entrance to t he ’

cathedral o r th e exit of E lizabeth in

,

the third act o f Tannh auser I t is '

capable also o f subdivision into small

, ,

groups each of which can produce har

,

mony and melody F or instance two .

,

flutes and two oboes or two flutes and ,

t w o C larinets or two oboes and t w o bas

,

soo ms o r two C larinets and t w o bassoons

,

I ts m i n or may be used and each of these combi

,

nations can play a melody built o n full

chords of four tones A gain the whole .
,

of the woo d can be employed in com

bination with all th e strings o r all the

brass o r with parts of either In tutti
, .

passages (those written for the entire

orchestra) all th e wood wind i n st r u -

ments are used though the i r I ndividual

,
 T he O rch estra

ity of tone is lost in th e general mass of

sound .

Flutes and oboes are purely S O pr a n o

instruments while bassoons cover th e
,

bass and baritone registers and part of

the tenor Clarinets are both S oprano
.

and contralto their low tones being o f ,

S ingular depth and richness but o f som ,

bre tint T he instruments are generally

.

employed in pairs but in modern works ,

a third flute a third clari n et and a third

, ,

bassoon are often found and sometimes ,

a fourth The older composers always

.

wrote their wood wind parts in o n e man -

ner putting the flutes and oboes upper

,

most th e former usually doubling the

,

latter in th e octave and both sounding ,

what may be described as the S oprano

and alto parts o f the chord The clari .

nets filled in the middle notes and the ,

bassoons played the bass This pr o . Clos e and

d u c e d a close harm ony upon which no ,

improvement can be made in tutti pas

sages But late writers use a dispersed
.

harmony m aking th e compass o f their

,

chords much greater and the intervals ,

between the neighboring tones wider .

This is a method which produces much

 In stru m en tal Perform an ce

beauty and variety o f color and in Wagi ,

’

ner s music it causes those rich organ

’

like e ffects which are so lovely .

The list o f brass instruments used i n

the contemporaneous orchestra com
prises four horns t w o trumpets and , ,

three trombones O th ers are frequent .

ly added the most familiar being the

,

bass tuba in E fl a t The F rench horn as

- - .
,

it is usually called is the old medi ae val ,

hu n ting horn adapted fo r orchestral u S e

-
.

It is a most valuable instrument by rea

so n o i the refined nobility and gentle

sadness of its tone when used in solos , .

It is beyond question the most expres

sive of the brass instruments and its ,

variety o f color is so wide that it can

give a good imitation o f a thundering
trombone o r unite excellently in soft
,

chords with strings or C larinets and ,

bassoons The older composers used

.

two horns but now it is customary to

,

e mploy four of them When n o t used .

for solo purposes the horns generally ,

sustain long ch ords in s upport of other

instruments F requently the horn quar
.

tet is heard alone F amiliar horn pas .

sages by which anyone may i d entify the

,
 T he O rc h estra

tone of the instrument are the trio in the,

scherzo o f the E roica and the hunt

”
,

ing calls previous to the entrance of the

L a ndgrave in A ct I o f Tannh auser
“
. .
”

The trumpets usually replaced by

,

cornets are the sopranos o f th e brass

,

choir Their brilliant militant tone is

.
,

familiar They are used in chords and

.

in enforcing tutti passages They are .

seldom given the melody except when

the brass plays al one o r leads the o r
c hest r a
. The three trombones alto , ,

tenor and bass are used chiefly to sus

, ,

tain harmonies but they are capable of

,

fine e ffect in broad melodic passages as , tr ombon es :

“
in the pilgrims chorus i n the Tann
’

h auser overture
'

The tuba is the

.

double bass o f the brass band and plays ,

the lowest notes of the harmonies It is .

n o t necessary to say much about the

character of the brass E veryone is fa .

miliar with it B ut it is a great mistake

.

to suppose that brass is always noisy S i m

ply because i t is used to make a volum e
of tone in tutti passages Its effect wh en .

played softly is incomparably fine as may ,

”
be noted in the prayer in Lohengrin .

The instruments o f percussion speak

 I n stru m en tal P erfo rm an c e

fo r themselves They are all used t o

.

accentuate rhythms except the kettle

,

drums (called tympani) which can be ,

tuned to ce rtain tones The low drum

.

has a compass from F below the bass

clef to the middle C and the high drum
,

from B fl a t up to F on the fourth line

-
.

A great many striking e ffects are o b

t ai n e d by skilful use of the tympani as , ,

U se f
o het for examples the use of o n e drum t o
,

play the bass to the melody of flutes and

violins in the andante of Beethoven s ’

F irst Symp hony and the same master s

,
’

employment of two drums tuned an o c

tave apart in the scherzo of the Ninth .

T he string choir is usually spoken o f

-

as the quartet though it is really a

,

quintet Its most important instrum ent

.

is the violin the prima donna o f th e o r

,

c h e st r a Its clear penetrating tones make

.
,

qu i n tet .

it the richest voice of th e orchestra and ,

a mass of violins playing in the upper

o r middle register make the most brill

i a n t color in the instrumental palette .

The compass o f violins which extends,

from the C below the treble clef to C -

in the sixth space abo v e the sta ff is i n ,

creased by the use o i harmonics These .

 Th e O rc hestra

are called by scientists overtones o r ,

better upper partials

,
A ccording to .

" ahm A string emitting a musical note

,

rarely if ever vibrates as a wh ole with

, ,

o u t a t the same time vibrating in seg

ments which are aliquot parts of the

”
whole V iolinists have found o u t that
.

by touching a string very lightly with

o n e o f the fingers o f the left hand they ,

can cause o n e o f these aliqu ot parts to

vibrate alone so that we hear th e upper ,

partial alone without its fundamental .

These harmonics o r fl a geo le t tones as , ,

the Germans call the m are used to give ,

mystic a erial effects as in the closing

, ,

“
measures o f the Lohengrin prelude .

The tremolo a rapid alternation of up ,

and down strokes o f the bow expresses ,

great agitation when playe d by many vio

lins not far above the middle B fl a t I t is -
.

stormy and violent when given forte o n

the middle o f the first string and a erial ,

and mystic in the high register "

O ther .

“
A T r eat i se on Mo d ern I n str u m en ta t i o n an d Or
c h t ti
e s ra by
on ,
”
H ec t or l
B er i oz . Ot h er b k oo s a cc e s

s i b l t b gi
e o e n n er s i n th e st u dy of t hi s su bj e ct a r e
“
I n

st ru m en t a t i on ,
”
by E . Pr ou t, i n N ov e ll o, Ew er Co .
’
s

S eri es of P r i m er s, an d
“
T he O r c h e str a, an d H ow to
W r i t e for I t ,
”
by F C d . or er .
 I n st ru m e ntal Pe rfo rm an ce

e ffects in bowing are the saltato a j ump ,

ing o f the bow o n the strings and th e ,

col legno playing with the back of the

,

b o w someti m es used in grotesque pas

,

sages V eiled and mournful sounds in

.

slow and sustained movements o r mys

f erio n s effects in quick m ovements are
obtained by the use o f sordines o r ,

mutes little dampers set over the strings

,

to deaden the vibrations .

V iolins are divided in the orch estra

into first and second There is no dif
.

ference between a first and a second

violin except in the music allotted to
them . The division is made in order
that the middle parts of the harm ony
may be properly filled o u t Th e i n st r u .

m ents o f the string quintet m ay be rated

as follows : first violins equal sopranos ,

Rela t i on s second violins equal altos Violas equal ,

tenors violoncellos equal baritones and

, ,

double basses equal basses This is only

-
.

true where all are playing together for ,

the viola and Violoncello can go far up

into the soprano register But in the .

natural order o f things the viola part

wou ld lie too far below the violin part
if all the violins played together so we ,
 Th e O rc h est ra

have second violins M o d ern compos .

ers often enrich their instrumentation

by subdividing the first and second
violins Wagner was fond o f this effect
.

and he carried it to extremes V iolins .

can be divided into as many as eight

parts with fine e ffect but more than that
,

are without value .

The viola is o n e o f th e m ost valuable

m embers o f the quintet I t is larger .

than the Violin a n d its compass goes five T he v i ola s

’

tones lo w er It is th e tenor o f the

.

strings though its m usic is written o n

,

th e alto clef It is to its beautiful quality

-
.

o f tone that it owes its value Gloomy .

,

sombre and even forebodi n g in th e low

,

er register in its upper range it becom es

,

mellow tender pathetic and i n ex pr es

, , ,

si bly winning No wonder that Berlioz

.

selected it for the voice o f the mel

a n c ho l
y Childe Harold or that B rahms
,

made it play such important parts in

his quartets Its dramatic power is now
.

i c p ow er
universally recognized by composers ,
.

and from th e p osition o f a m i su n de r

stood and ignored member o f th e string
quintet it is rapidly ad v ancing to the
equally undesirable condition o f being
 I n stru m en tal P erfo rm an ce

severely overworked The v i o lo n c e llO .

and the double bass are so familiar that

-

it is unnecessary to say much about

them Students of scores will find that
.

the older masters did not appreciate

the expressive p owers o f th e cello as ’

it is usually called and seldo m gave it

,

T he v i olon a melody to sing R ecent composers

.

have availed themselves o f this admira

ble instrument and it has becom e o n e
,

o f the m ost vocal members o f the b and .

The d ouble bass is of course the fun

-
, ,

d a m e n t a l bass of th e entire orchestra .

The string quintet as a whole is capable

, ,

o f producing a great variety o f tone

color because o f the large compass o f

the instruments It is possible to give
.

a melody in t he soprano register to the

violins the violas o r the cellos each
, ,
’

with a di ff erent quality of tone I t is .

possible to write four part harmony for -

Va r i ety i n violins or violas o r cellos alone and

, ,
’

further variety can be obtained by writ

ing i n close o r dispersed harmony for ,

few o r many voices o r in high or low ,

registers Many compo si t ions are writ

.

ten for the string quintet alone and they ,

are full of color .

 Th e O rc h estra

Though it is not a part o f orchestral

performance but o f th e technics of c o m
,

position I have deferred th e considera

,

tion o f orchestration (the art o f writing

for orchestra) until now lest in its proper
,

place it might have distracted th e read

er s mind from other important mat
’

ters Let us now dismiss it briefly The

. .

characteristics o f good orchestration are

solidity balance o f tone contrast and
, , ,

variety Solidity is obtained by a pr o pe r

.

dispersal of the harmony so that certain ,

tones in the chords d o n o t stand o u t too

prominently at th e expense o f others .

The foundation o f solidity is good writ

ing for the strings Their part must .

al w ays be planned with great skill in

harmony and a perfect knowledge o f the
relative tonal values of the different in
st r u m e n t s Balance o f tone m eans a
.

proper adj ustment of the forces o f the

three ch oirs so that o n e shall not over
,

power the other I n tutti passages bal

.

ance o f tone m erges itself in solidity ,

and it depends partly o n a p roper dis

persal o f the harmony and partly o n a
kn owledge of the strength o f tone o f ba la n ce
.

each instrument F o r instance it is not

.
,
 I n stru m en ta l Pe rfo rm an c e

possible to play wood as softly as strings ?

hence in a pianissimo if the wood is ,

richly scored it will overbalance the

,

strings whereas in a forte all the violins

,

in unison can dr own the wood The .

middle parts require to be treated with

great skill If they are too fully scored
.
,

the orchestration is thick ; if n o t fully

enough it is thin
,
.

Contrast is obtained by giving the

melodic parts to instruments first o f O n e
kind and then of another A t o n e time .

the strings may voice the theme at a n ,

other the wood a t another the brass

, .

Contrast is still further increased by

alternating di fferent parts o f the same
Con tr a st choir— now flutes now oboes n ow horns
, , ,

v a r i ety .
now trombones Contrast it will be
.
,

seen also gives variety but variety is

, ,

widened by mixing tints A flute alone .

has o n e tone ; a flute w i th an oboe a n

‘

other ; a flute with a clarinet still ,

another A large number o f combina

.

tions is possible and every o n e o f them

,

produces di fference in tone color The -

.

music lover sh ould le a r n t o note these

-

changes in tone color and he should

-

’
,

also accusto m his ear t o hearing the

 Th e O rch estra

voices o f all the instruments at once A .

great many p ersons do not hear any

thing definitely except the principal
melody while beautiful bits o f counter
,

point and exquisite e ffects in harmony

are lost to them because they have not
learned how to follow th e many voices
o f an orchestra . E very person sh ould
acquire the habit o f ear analysis The
-
.

amount o f pleasure added t o the hearing

o f a sym phony by ability to hear all the

instruments at once is what might be

added to the delight o f seeing a paint
ing if the p ower to perceive the colors
were given to o n e w ho had before no
ticed only the d rawing .

I have dealt as briefly as possib le with

th e constitution o f the orchestra and
the characteristics o f good orchestra
tion because these topics a r e C opiously
treated in other works not beyond th e
reach o f the general reader We come .

n o w to th e question ,
What constitutes
good orchestral playing ? This is a
question which many people appear to
be unable to answer fo r very bad o r
,

c h e st r a l playing is frequently applaud

ed to the ech o The requisites o f good

.
 I n stru m e n tal Perfo rm anc e

orchestral play i ng are balance ,

and solidity of tone precision unanim , ,

ity flexibility nuancing and revelation

, , ,

of the value of the middle voices .

Balance of tone r equires that o n e part

o f the orchestra S hould not overpower

another It is the result partly of good

.

orc h estration partly o f the constitution

,

o f the orchestra and partly o f the work

,

of the conductor Th e part which good .

orchestration plays in it has alread y

been d e scribed B ut if there are not
.

su fficient strings in the orchestra the ,

brass will certainly overp ower them in

forte passages With the array o f brass
.

and wood used in modern orchestras it

is impossible to get a good balance with
less than sixteen first violins S ixteen ,

seconds twelve violas ten cellos and

, ,
’

eight double basses M ore strings can

-
.

be added without damage but with ,

advantage for the quality o f tone will

,

be improved because in moderato pas

sages each individual stringed i n st r u
ment will n o t have to be forced quite
so much The conductor s part in pre
.
’

serving balance is naturally to see to

it that players of sonorous instruments ,
 Th e O rc h estra

such as trombones do not play too ,

loudly .

The q uality o f tone should be rich ,

smooth and sweet The audience should

,
. S m oothn ess

never hear the scratching o f violin bows

nor the hoarse barking o f overworked
brass The clarinet S hould not squeak
.
,

and the oboe should not wheeze E very .

thing S h ould have that liquidity and

mellowness which comes only from
good instruments in the hands o f good
players Solidity is due partly to good
.

orchestration and partly to good play

ing There can be n o solidity of tone if
.

the quality is bad o r if the balance is

disturbed Lack o f solidity comes some
.

times from bad acoustics in a hall and ,

at other times from a lack o f unanimity

in th e orchestra Lack o f it also arises
.

from pau city o f instruments Solidity .

is easier to recognize than to describe ,

but n o o n e can fail t o detect the differ

ence between a full subst a ntial res o , ,

nant body o f tone and o n e that is thin ,

hollow o r nasal
, .

P recision means accu racy in begin

ning and ending a tone The attack as .
,

it is called o f every phrase shou ld be so

,
 I n stru m e n tal Pe rfo rm an c e

orchestral play i ng are balance ,

and solidity of tone precision unanim , ,

ity flexibility nuancing and revelation

, , ,

o f the value of the middle voices .

Balance of tone r equires that o n e part

o f the orchestra should not overpower

another It is the result partly o f good

.

orchestration partly of the constitution

,

of the orchestra and partly of the work

,

o f the conductor Th e part which good

.

orchestration plays in it has alre ady

been described B ut if there are not
.

su fficient strings in the orchestra the ,

brass will certainly overp ower them in

forte passages With the array of brass
.

and wood u sed in modern orchestras it

is impossible to get a good balance with
less than sixteen first violins sixteen ,

seconds twelve violas ten cellos and

, ,
’

eight double basses M ore strings can

-
.

be added without damage but w i th ,

advantage for the quality o f tone will

,

be improved because in moderato pas

sages each individual stringed i n st r u
ment will not have to be forced quite
so much The conductor s part in pre
.
’

serving balance is naturally to see to

it that players o f sonorous instruments ,
 Th e O rc h estra

such as trombones do not play t oo ,

loudly .

The q uality of tone should be rich ,

smooth and sweet The audience should

, . S m oothn ess

never hear the scratching o f violin bows

n o r the hoarse barking o f overworked

brass The clarinet should not squeak

.
,

and the oboe should not wh eeze E very .

thing sh ould hav e that liquidity and

mellowness w hich comes only from
good instruments in the hands o f good
players Solidity is due partly to good
.

orchestration and partly to good play

ing There can be no solidity o f tone if
.

the quality is bad o r if th e balance is

distu rbed Lack of solidity comes some
.

times from bad acoustics in a hall and ,

at other times from a lack of unanimity

in th e orchestra Lack o f it also arises
.

from paucity of instruments Solidity .

is easier to recognize than to describe ,

but n o o n e can fail to detect the differ

ence between a full substantial reso , ,

nant body o f tone and o n e that is thin ,

hollow o r nasal
, .

P recision means accuracy in begin

ning and ending a tone The attack as .
,

it is called o f every phrase should be so

,
 I n st ru m e n ta l Perfo rm an c e

precise that the orchestra speaks as o n e

voice and the end of a tone should be
,

reached by every instrument at exactly

the same instant .

U nanimity demands that all the i n

s t r u m e n t s should play exactly together

all the time No one sh ould ever pre

.

cede o r drag behind another O ther .

wise the rhythms of the composition

become clouded and the music sounds
un a n i m i ty .
ragged B rilliancy is o u t o f the q ues
.

tion when there is no precision nor

unanimity These two qualities belong
.

to accuracy o f performance and a rigid ,

technical accuracy is a si n e qua n on o f

good orchestral performance P recision .

and unanimity are to be obtained only

by frequent and arduous rehearsals and
by the constant working together of the
members o f an orchestra .

F lexibility is an essential of goo d o r

c h e st r a l playing The music should
.

never sound rigid but should seem to

,

come in a sinuous stream of purling

sound . A bsence of flexibility is due
som etimes to bad playing but m ore ,

often to bad conduc t ing A condu ctor .

whose temperament is phlegmatic and

 Th e O rc h estra

whose beat is rectangular will take all

the flexibility o u t o f a fine orchestra .

Nuancing means attention to the man

i fo ld nuances o f light and shade An .

orchestra should have a very fine pian L igh t an d

i ssi m o and a stunning fortissim o and it ,

should have every gradation between

these The conductor m ust see that
.

proper attention is paid to all the cres

c e n di and diminuendi th e ha st e n i n gs
,

and retardations o f time and the other

,

factors in light and S hade .

The revelation of th e value o f the i n

ner voices is th e conductor s business ’
.

H e should see to it that melodic frag

ments bits o f counterpoint and si gn i fi
, ,

cant touches o f all kinds allotted to i n

st r u m e n t s not engaged in playing the

principal melody are sounded so that

they can be heard by th e audience .

Composers d o n o t write such passages

with the expectation that they will be
lost.

These are the essential qualities o f

good orchestral performance A ny per .

so n with a musical ear can recognize

their presence o r detect their absence .

A ll of them should always be present in a

 I n stru m e n ta l Pe rfo rm an ce

good performance The function of the

“

conductor is partly to drill his orchestra

till it possesses these qualities in its play
ing His additional duty is to study
.

and analyze each composition form his ,

ideas as to the proper manner o f its per

fo r m a n c e and then impart them to the
,

orchestra This is done at rehearsal

.
,

not at the concert A ll that a c o n du c

.

tor does in the presence of an audience

is to beat time to indicate to the v ari
,

o u s players their points of entrance and ,

by certain signs to remind them o f what .

he told them at rehearsal H e and he .

alone is responsible for the interpreta

tion of a work but he does n o t magnet
,

ize an orchestra into following his ideas

at a performance H e teaches the ideas
.

at rehearsal and it is there that his work

,

is done.
 N the performance o f chamber m usic
one should look fo r th e sam e excel
lences as those o f orchestral playing ,

with something added . Balance and

quality of tone are absolutely essential
to good quartet or trio playing but o f
, ,

course it is n o t p ossible to obtain from

,

three or four instruments that massive

solidity o f tone which is expected from
an orchestra O n the other hand in a
.
,

string quartet there should be a per

fe c t homogeneity o f tone an absolutely
,

exact agreement o f quality and force ,

which no orchestra could quite equal .

This hom ogeneity is obtained partly

from equality of excellence among the
instru ments and partly from good w ork
,

by the performers If the compositi o n

.

be a piano quartet o r trio th e piano is

,
 I n stru m e n tal Pe rfo rm an c e

likely to o ffend by disturbing the bal "

ance of tone There are few pianists

.

who play chamber music well because ,

they are either unwilling or unable to

subordinate personality t o the general
e fl ec t . Chamber music organizations
encourage this condition by advertising
the pianist who is especially engaged for
a certain work as a soloist P eople fall
.

into t he habi t of asking who is the soloist

er v as i v e
p
at a chamber music concert and they
-
,

listen to the Schumann quintet as if it

were a piano solo with string ac c o m pa
miment .Some compositions j ustify this
view because the piano part is made so
,

prominent but such is not the case in the

,

works of the great masters A gentle .

man said to m e after a concert : D idn t ’

J o se fI y play the F orellen quintet beauti

”
fully ? Now as a matter o f fact M r
, ,
.

J o se ffy did not even attempt to play th e

quintet but kept his part in its proper
,

proportion to the whole like a true artist .

B u t my friend went to hear J o se fl y and

he did not hear anyone else P eople .

who listen to chamber music composi-

tions in which a piano figures ought

to remember that th ere is no solo in
 C ham ber M us i c

the matter and should expect and de

,

mand of the players correct balance o f

tone .

P recision unanimity flexibility and

, , ,

nuancing can all be carried to a finer

finish in chamber music than in orches
tral performance Four players inspired
.
,

by devotion to their art animated by a ,

common sympathy which is the result

o f long association and guided by deep ,

and earnest study o f th e works before

them can play with a unanimity with
, ,

a finish with a subtlety o f expression

,

which no orchestra can hope to attain .

B ut the person who attends chamber

music performances especially those o f ,

string quartets must be prepared to a c

,

cept in lieu of th e brilliancy the power

, , ,

the splendor of color and the opulence ,

o f sound o f an orchestra the chaste and ,

naked beauty o f the pure music voiced

by instruments whose utterance is i n
timate c o n fi di n g winning and e x q u i
, , ,

si t e ly polished The string quartet is

.

never imposing and grandiose but its ,

art is like that o f classic scul pture in its

repose its purity and its elevation I t
, ,
.

is the most intimate form of m usic and ,

 I n stru m en tal Perfo rm an c e

C AR
H . it is heard t o the very best advantage
'

“
in a small room where two o r three
are gathered together .To love and
understand quartet playing is the surest
evidence of good taste in music because
,

m us i c . this is the form of entertainment in

which the sensuous element is most kept
in the background and the most direct
appeal is made to the j udg m ent P er .

sons who desire to arrive at a compre

he n si o n o f form and of the aesth etic
,

qualities o f music sh ould attend string

,

quartet concerts frequently .

 T he P ia n o

E come now to a consideration of

instrumental solo performance ,

and it is natural to take up piano playing

first because that is the most plentiful .

M ore people go to hear piano playing

than any other form o f instrumental solo
playing and this is because so many per
,

sons practise piano playing J udging

.

from observation ex t ending over a tol

c rable number o f years I should say
,

that o u t of every o n e thousand per

sons who attend piano recitals about o n e
has any real knowledge of what consti
t u t es good piano playing .This sweep
ing assertion includes all the pianists ,

m usic teachers and students who go o n

-
,

complimentary tickets for I ha v e w i t

,

messed a greater display o f ign o rance o f

the true significance of music as an art
 I n stru m en tal Perfo rm an c e

C AR
H .
at a convention o f musicians than
other musical gathering I ever attended .

Liszt is credited with having uttered this

bit of smartness : Three things are
necessary to make a great pianist : first ,

technic ; second t echn i c

, and third ,

T EC H N IC A nd technic in o n e form
,

o r another is what the great mass o f lis

,

t e n e r s to piano playing hear The man .

who can strike the largest number o f

notes in a second is their hero and their ,

amazem ent is modified only by the sen

T ec hn i c suons delight which they get from a
ton e- color .
luscious tone color appropriate o r inap
-
,

r O r i a t e to the music
p p A nd over
. all
floats that mysterious personal influence
of the artist which compels so many
,

thousands of persons to listen with their

eyes .

Millions o f pages o f black spots laid

upon staves of five lines are in the world .

Som e of them were written by men of

marvellous genius a n d though they rep
,

resent nothing but sequences of sounds

in orderly array the j udgment o f the
,

world has accorded them fellowship

with the works o f Michel A ngelo and
D ante which speak at once through
,
 Th e Pi a n o

the eye to the heart of every man wh o C AR

H .

can see and read E ven the dramas o f.

Shakespeare live in th e seclusion o f the

library for the pri nted word vitalizes
,

the imagination and the tragedy of

,
”
H amlet enacts itself within the four
walls o f a man s skull But music the
’
.
,

o n e art which has no exemplar in natu re ,

and whose printed sym bols are as mys

tic to the man o f ordinary culture as the
hieroglyphs o n the tom bs o f the P ha
r a o hs must wait al w ays the m ediation
,
M u si c m u s t
be h ea r d
of the interpretative artist Whether it .
.

be but ingenious arabesqu e s o f tones or

the language o f emotions too deep for
words the pathetic fact remains that in
,

the shrine o f the printed page it lies

dead and entombed till the Gabriels o f
art sound it in th e trumpet tones o f its
o w n resurrection .

It is not strange therefore that when, ,

the interpretative musician sits robed in

the garments o f h igh priesthood in the
temple o f music t he devotees should
,

sometimes forget the gods whose a d

ministrator h e is and bend the knee o f
,

worship before him His mission is so .

gracious so be n e fi c e n t so mysterious
, ,
 I n st ru m en ta l Perfo rm an ce

in its methods and withal so potent

,

its results that he becomes at once a

,

teacher a benefactor and a ruler Let

, , .

us for the sake o f enlightenment and

, ,

that we be not swayed blindly as the

devils were swayed by O rpheus inquire ,

wherein lies the power of a great pianist .

To do so demands a revie w of piano

playing and the deduction therefrom of
certain principles to be applied as tests
t o the work o f any particular player I
shall I believe not be accused o f a lack
, ,

o f appreciation o f other players if I

quote as an embodiment of these prin
,

Ci ple s Ignace Jan P aderewski o n e of

, ,

the greatest living pianist

Let us look first then at the t e c hn i , ,

cal aspect o f his playing for that is what ,

is most patent It lies at the very gate

.

o f observation and i nvites us t o enter

'

.
,

The technics o f piano playing in their

lowest sense are the mechanics th e o p ,

e r a t i o n s o f the m achinery o f fingers ,

wrists and arms Let it be admitted

, .

at once that techn i cs I nclude ability to

strike without error and at a given speed
all the notes set down in a composition .

The street pianos Operated by turning

-
,
 Th e Pi an o

a crank possess the best technic

,
this of C AR
H .

kind but their music is fit only fo r Hades

,
.

The true aim o f piano technic is the pro

duction o f a tone o f beautiful quali t y and
singing chara cter u nder all conditions
o f force and speed
’

Back in the pre M ozartian period

E m anuel Bach wrote : M ethinks musi c
ought principally to m ove th e heart ,

and in this no perform er will succeed

by merely thumping and d rumming o r
by continual arpeggio playing D uring .

the last few years my chief endeavor has

been to play the piano forte in spite of -

its deficiency in sustaining sound as ,

much as possible in a singing m anner

and to compose for it accordingly .

E very advance in the art of piano play

ing since E manuel Bach s day has been ’

made by men endeavoring to do pre

c i se l
y the same thing M ozart followed
.

the son o f the great S ebastian in both

theory and practice H e demanded o f
.

the pianist a smooth gliding m ovement

,

o f the hands so that th e passages S h ould

,

flow like wine and o il In order t hat .

th e vocal character o f piano music might

be preserved Mozart wrote continually
,
 I nst ru m e n tal Pe rfo rm an ce

CH AR .
in the cantabile style for the instrument ,

and constructed mu ch of his music o f

passages founded o n the scale It must .

be borne in mind that the piano of Mo

z a r t s day was the o ld harpsichord whose
’

fleeting tones never could have lent

themselves t o the mass e ffects o f later
composition .

When Clementi began to write for the

E nglish piano with its heavy st r i n gs an d
, fi

long h ammer fall he aim ed at greater ,

sonority than had been known before ,

and introduced runs in thirds sixths , ,

and chords Beethoven was satisfied

.

with Clementi s technics and made no ’

advance in piano playing per se The .

mighty Ludwig was occupied with r e

vealing the emotional possibilities o f
music and it is an undeniable fact that
,

some of his piano compositions great i n , ,

deed as pure music are not character

, ,

i st i c o f the instrument for which they

were written It remained fo r later m u
.

si c i a n s to S how h ow the new percussive

e ffects could be made amenable to the

fundamental command that the piano
ton e-color .

must Sing C hO pi n and Liszt explored

.

the resources of the modern instrument ,

 Th e Pi an o

and to them we owe the revelati o n o f its C AR

H .

p ossibilities in variety of tonal quality

and vocal sound The secrets o f modern
.

tone may be traced to two principal fac

tors— perfectly equal development o f all
the fi n ge r s w hi c h le ads to their absolute
,

independence and management o f the

,

pedals .

The supreme achievem ent of M r P ade .

r e w sk i s technic is its dem onstration that

’

th e singing tone and perfect control o f

every variety of tone color are possible -

in all circumstances no matter ho w d i ffi ,

cult the passage This is the acm e of

.

tec hnical accomplishment and it is the ,

‘

explanation o f th e marvellous witchery

o f sound which the P olish pianist p r o

duces from the blows o f hamm ers u p

on m etal strings There was a time .

when it was considered su fli c i e n t to play

a rapid running passage o r involved
phrases smooth ly accurately and with , ,

o u t pounding .But that has not satisfied

M r P aderewski H e has h eld the theory
. .

that the singing tone must be preserved

at all hazards and his study has been to
,

perfect his digital facility to that end .

His control of the striking force o f his

 I ns tru m en tal P e rfo rm ance

CH AR .
fingers is masterful His employm ent
.

o f the di fferent positions of fingers ,

wrists and fo rearms is always correct

, ,

and its results are perfect P ianists.

know that som e teachers advocate the

elevati o n of the back of the hand and ,

others its depression M r P aderewski

. .

u ses either position acc o rding to the

tone he desires to produce A nd his .

pedalling is simply beyond description .

H e seems to do almost as mu ch play i ng

T ou c h a n d with his feet as wit h his hands A nd .

it is all for the sake of tone color for -

,

it is the combination of expert ped a lling

with the variety o f touch that colors the
tones.

But even the S i nging tone would b e

come monot o nous were there no rhythm
in the playing R hythm in piano play
.

i n g resolves itself into correct timing

and accentuation E very note must have
.

its proper duration or the rhyth m is

disturbed E very t one must be sounded
.

with th e correct dynamic relationship

to those which precede it and those
w hich follow it o r the rhythm d i sap
,

phr a s i ng:
pears F urther than that the contours
.

of the melodies are spoiled The phr as .

 Th e P ian o

ing is disarranged and the m usical o u t

,

line o f the composition is distorted .

R hythm is o f course primarily a matter

, ,

of artistic j udgment but it is conveyed,

to the b e a r e r by th e blows o f th e fingers

and is th e m echanical result o f absolute
ly j ust distribution o f force It is there .
,

fore dependent o n the sam e technical

,

accomplishments as tone color M r -

. .

Pa d e r e w ski s rhyth m is flawless He

’
.

never o ffends th e m ost j udicious listener

either in quantity o r in dy n amics but o n , ,

the contrary accentuates in such a man

,

ner that th e phrasing of a compositi o n

comes o u t in t he clearest possible light .

So much for th e me chanical features

of M r . P aderewsk i s playing But b e .

hind the technic is th e soul o f an artist .

Without musical em otion that can be Ad u s i ca l

communicated to the hearer the m ost

exquisite touch in th e world will have
no e ffect Temperament temperament
.
—

— is what we all cry for What is tem .

e r a m e n t ? I t is hard to define but easy

p ,

to discern W e know that J ean de

.

R eszke radiates with it and that Melba ,

absolutely without it A ll we can say .

o f it is that it is musical organization It .

 I n stru m en tal Pe rfo rm an c e

C AR H .
is the vital spark which lies in the soul
of an artist to be fanned into luminous
fire by the sound o f his own music so ,

that the world may bask in the S plendid

glow It is inspiration for which poor
.
, ,

yearning hungry asp i ration is so often

,

mistaken .

Mr P aderewski has a powerful musi

.

cal organization H e is as M r S w i n .
,
.

a nd per “
burne would phrase it filled full to the ,

lips and eyes with temperament H e .

throbs with emotion which may be ,

accepted as th e th reefold product o f

national ity personal character and ex
, ,

p e r i en c e The .P oles are a k eenly sus

c e pt i ble people and they are full o f fire
,

and passion They have su ffered much

.
,

and their emotions have become a part

o f their national heritage M r P ade . .

r e w ski is a P ole and he is o n e who c o m

,

bines the national characteristics with a

gentle amiable and sensitive character
, ,

o f his o w n This is n o t the place to

.

speak o f personal experiences which

have deepened the em o tional nature o f
this artist I t may su ffice t o recall the
.

o ld story o f the singing master w ho on ,

hearing an unimpassioned soprano said ,

 Th e Pi an o

If I were that wom an s teacher I would

’
C AR
H .

marry her and break her heart and in ,

two years she would be the greatest

singer in E urope .
”

Silly stories have been told about the

current of M r P a d e r e w ski s thoughts
.
’

while at the piano and it has even been

,
em oti on
said that he usually leaves the stage .

with tears coursing down his cheeks .

Such talk is absurd No o n e knows .

what are the artist s thoughts while he

’

is playing but it is a safe assertion that

he would never have attained his pres
ent eminence if they were not absorbed
in the work o f his hands The capacity .

to receive the em otional content o f the

m usic a n d the ability to transmute it
through his o w n execution to the mind
o f the hearer are the results as we have ,

seen o f nationality character and ex

, , ,

e r i e n c e ; but the act o f revealing these

p
results must not be a mere burst o f em o
t i o n a l impulse for that would be de
,

structive o f all art The emotion of the

.

artist must be controlled It must be u m .

comma n d
d er the command o f the will which in its ,

turn m ust be guided by the intellect .

Music is a glorious ship upon the ocean

 I n stru m e n ta l Pe rfo rm an c e

C AR
H of art ; emotion is the breeze that fills
the sails ; intellect is the skilled hand at
the wheel .

The province o f the intellect in the

study of music for performance is by no
means difficult to determine It is the .

designing power and the design must ,

be based upon a fu ll and sympathetic

perception o f the formal and emotional
beauty of the work in hand Ch ristiani .
,

in his P rinciples o f E xpression I n

P iano forte P laying allots this work to
-
,

emotion which he describes as the power

,

o f conceiving and divining the beautiful .

This of course is only a partial state

, ,

ment of the truth The emotion o f a .

musician contributes the sympathetic

ele ment without which no am ount o f
,

intellectual application will be su ffi cient

to reveal the content of a compositio n .

The player must be able to feel the com

poser s emotion o r he cannot reproduce
’

it fo r the hearer D r v o n B ii lo w failed

. .

here ; he showed with much skill the

construction o r purely musical beauty
,

o f every work but he could not transfer

,

its emotion O n the other hand emo

.
,

tion without complete intellectual per -

 Th e Pi an o

c e pt i o n results in mere sentimentalism ,

CH AR .

and is more likely to obscure than to

reveal the constructive work of th e com
p oser A s A dolph K u llak says : M ere
.
“

diversity of expression does not su ffice

to render the interpretation beautiful .

The most manifold variety in the dis

t i n c t i o n s o f tone power and m ovement
, ,

must bear a fitting relation to the unity Em ot i on

o f meaning o f the individual composi

tion It is the latter which must first

.

be recogni z ed and understood ; starting

from this only as the poetical essence
, ,

should the player calculate the prop or

tions in which the multifarious shades
are to be laid o n .

The i n tellect t herefore has a twofold

, ,

duty First comes the acquisition of i n

.

formation as to the general character

and purp ose o f the pe riod to which a
composition belongs and the individual
theories o f the composer No player .
,

for example is j ustified in reading a

,

M ozart sonata as if it were the work o f

a contemporaneous composer H e is in . H i s tor i ca l

duty bound to remember the general

character o f piano music in Mozart s ’

day and also the glorious boy s o w n

,
’
 I n stru m e n tal Perform an c e

C AR
H .
personal theories as t o piano playing .

The second and more serious business

o f the intellect is to make a keen and

exhaustive analysis o f the work in hand ,

to the end that in the reading the ar

t i st i c proportions designed by the c o m
M a hi n ga poser may be faithfully preserved F rom .

these two operations o f the intellect we

get a synthetic result which is usually ,

termed a reading The technical mani .

fe st a t i o n s o f this reading are in the gen

eral tempo the placing o f crescendi and
,

diminuendi o f forte and piano o f hard

, ,

and soft touch o f staccato and legato

, ,

o r what is usually included under the

vague expression light and shade , .

V ariety o f tone color contrasts o f -

,

power and all the other elements o f

,

musical expression may be distributed ,

in such a way as to produce a ravishing

A na lyszs e ffect upon the c a r without resulting in
truly artistic work It is only when the .

intellect has so analyzed the work that

these things are correctly placed that
'

the masterpiece glows before us in its

original power convincing us and sway
,

ing our emotions M r P aderewski is a

. .

man of well disciplined mind H e ha s

-
.
 T he P i an o

broadened his perceptions and strength CH AR .

ened his reasoning powers by the

study o f many subjects not connected
with music H is innate refinement has
.

been polished by culture and h e has ,

also made himself a com plete master o f

musical constru ction H e a n a ly z
.

composition with the S kill o f a m athe

m a t i c i a n but with the feeling o f a man
,

o f powerful musical temperament That .

he goes through this analytical process

with the smallest works in his repertory ,

as well as with the largest is abundantly

,

demonstrated by th e exquisite adjust

ment of his purely technical effects Not .

a single me a sure is ever read in a S loven

ly manner but each one is treated with
,

the m ost loving care fo r its m elodic o u t

line its individual rhythm its rhythmic
, ,

relation to the remainder of the phrase ,

and its o fli ce as an element in the com

position as a whole N o m atter how
.

rapid o r mechanically diffi cult th e pas

sage the result of M r Pa de r e w ski s pri
, .
’

vate study as reveale d to his h earers is

manifested in this remarkable insistence
upon the artistic relations o f the thou
sands of tones in a composition co u pled ,
 I n strum e n ta l P erfo rm an c e

C AR
H .
with a mastery o f tone color which pre
-

serves a t all ti m es the vocal illusion .

A nd behind all this lies a mental grasp

o f the organic unity o f the musical work ,

which gives to us a symmetrical and

satisfying interpretation .

In listening to the performance of a

pianist th e reader should apply th e con
siderations which have been set forth .

In these days complete technical equip

ment is not only to be expected but de ,

m a n de d The end of technic is tone

.
,

and the listener to piano playing is j usti

fi e d in measuring the value of the artist s
’

technics by the range o f his tone color -

,

o r at least by the general beauty o f his

tone Intellectual grasp of a composi

.

tion is also to be expected of a good

player and emotional warmth is an ele
,

ment whose absence makes truly great

performance impossible I nteresting .
,

indeed a purely intellectual player may

,

power .
be and such a o n e is always wor t h hear
,

ing ; but emotional power is what moves

and melts an audience and since there is
,

some emotion in all musi c there should ,

be some in all playing The cold and .

glittering brilliancy o f a player who is

 Th e P ian o

Simply able t o play fast and with a gla C AR

H .

c i a l tone is not the acme o f good piano

performance and the attendant at piano

,

recitals should not look for the pianist s ’

best work in those compositions which

are dazzling su pe r fi c i a li t i e s Bach Beet .
,

hoven and Schumann are better tests

,

o f a player s ability than the astonish

’

ing works o f Liszt The latter compo.

ser does indeed reveal the technical r e

, ,

sources o f the instrument but to play ,

"‘ ”
Beethoven s Waldstein sonata per
’

fe c t ly requires a great pianist while a ,

tolerably good o n e may m ake a sur

prising e ffect with a Liszt H ungarian
rhapsody What has been said o f the
.

beauty of music itself applies w ell to

that of its performance Beauty in .

piano playing is th e result o f high i n

t e llec t u a l conception warmed by emo
,

t i o n a l force and made known through

the medium of ample technic .
 V ERY T H I N G that has been said o f
the relations o f technic inte llect , ,

and emotion in the constitution of go o d

piano playing applies also to solo V l o li n
performance and indeed to all musical
, , ,

performance It remains therefore only

.
, ,

t o consider the especial qualities of good

technic in violin playing and this may ,

be done briefly A s in piano playing

.
,

the highest function o f technic is th e

production of beautiful tone so it is in ,

Violin playing with the addition which

, ,

is at once a new di fli c u lty and a large

techn i c .

advantage that the player wholly forms

,

the tone himself If you go to a piano

.

and strike the white key just below a

pair of black ones the instrument if in
, ,

tune will sound a true C and no matter

, ,

how you strike that key you cannot get

 T he V i o l in

any other note If y o u put a violin u

.

der your chin press o n e o f the fingers

,

of your left hand upon a string and draw

a bow across that string you may get a ,

tone belonging to o n e of the scales pro

du c i ble from the piano and y o u may get
one a fraction of a tone ou t o f the scale .

The violinist in other words must locate

, ,

the pitch o f each tone by the pressure

o f the fingers of his left hand upon the

strings.

This placing o f the tones has been

”
named stopping the fingers being said
,
A cc u r a cy

“
to stop the strings at certain points .

A ccuracy in stopping is the first requi

site o f violin playing because i n a c c u r a
,

c y means playing o u t o f tune which is , ,

o f course not to be tolerated

,
To play .

or sing o u t o f tune is to make an i n

harmonious noise which is not music .

When a violinist plays o n more than

o n e string at a time as he does in sound
,

ing thirds o r a chord he must practise,

what is called double stopping and as ,

this is more di fficult than single s topping ,

it belongs to the more complicated tech

nics o f the instrument .

But in addition to the accuracy of pitch

 I n stru m e n tal Perfo rm an ce

in his tones the violinist is responsible

,

in a larger measure than the pianist for

their qu ality The quality o f tone in
.

violin playing is due to excellence in the

instrument to the character of the finger
,

pressure in stopping and m ost of all to,

the manner in which the bo w is drawn ,

o r the bowing as it is called

,
The m o .

tion and p ressure of the elastic violin

bow are responsive to the slightest gr a
dations in the muscular action of t he a r m '

and wrist and as these are guided di

,

r ec tl
y by th e brain it may be said
,
that
the design o f the player is commun i cated
almost directly to the instrument Great .

as delicacy o f touch may be in piano

playing it is far greater in violin per
,

fo r m a n c e and hence every player s tone

’

has individuality o f character and this ,

T ouch i n reflects very strongly the personality

o f the player It would be foreign t o
.

the purpose of this book to enter into a

detailed account o f the methods of t one
production in violin playing But it is .

proper to tell the reader what he has a

right to expect from a good violinist .

It has already been said that his stopping

must be accurate and this accuracy must
,
 Th e V i ol in

be preserved in the most intricate pas

sages E very tone should be i n tune and
.

it S hould also be distinct Many violin .

i st s blur their rapid passages because ,

their finger tech nic is so i n su fli c i e n t ly

developed that they are forced to smear
the fingers uncertainly over the strings .

This is an imperfection in technic no ,

matter ho w fine the violinist s work may ’

be in other respects .

The tone should always be pure mel ,

low and so n orous It should be pure

, .

in that crystalline clarity which comes

from absolute freedom from scratching
o f th e bow o r twanging o f the strings .

The tone ought to seem t o flow spo n t a

n e o u sl
y from the instrument and the ,

mechanical process o f rubbing th e bow

back and forth should be like little chil
dren seen but not heard The scraping
, , .

o f the horse hair o r the vibrating o f the

-

string should be indistinguishable The .

tone should always be mello w It should .

not be squeaky or metallic or wooden

, , .

There is a liquidity in a good violin tone ,

which always reminds m e o f t h e \s0u n d

o f running water A nd th e tone S hould
.

always be sonorous : that is it sh ould be ,

 I n strum en tal Perform an c e

vibrant not dead and hollow The a t

,
.

t e n t i v e hearer will note that some v i o

li n i st s h a ve a la rge tone and o t hers a
small o n e The di fference is partly in
.

instruments F o r instance a S t r a di va
.
,

rius violin usually has a bigge r tone than

a Guarnerius A ne w violin will some
.

times have a bigger tone than an O ld o n e ,

but the latter will outshine the former

in purity and mellowness B ut the body .

o f tone produced is largely due to g o od

technics . A fine violinist will get a
larger tone than a poor player from the
same instrument This di fference is du e
.

almost entirely to di fference I n skill in

bowing .

The bowing is indeed the soul o f v i o

, ,

lin playing The bow arm should be

.
-

strong and from shoulder to fi n ge r tips

,
-

it should be perfect in its flexibility .

O ne o f the best tests o f free and

flexible bowing is a sustained staccato
passage If it is played clearly lightly
.
, ,
ar m .

and yet firmly the bo w i n gi s good P as

,
.

sages i n which several notes flow from

a single stroke o f the bow require much
S kill in the arm while th ose in which
,

each note has o n e whole stroke demand

 Th e V i ol i n

great freedom and power P laying close .

t o the bridge where the strings d o n o t

,

vibrate readily produces a nasal tone

, .

P laying a little farther away from it

gives a powerful though sometimes ,

harsh tone A s the bow approaches the

.

fi n ge r board the tone loses power and

-

gains in mello wness P laying over the .

fi n ge r board evokes sounds very soft and

-

m uch veiled V i o linists who are masters

.

o f the technics of their i n strument know

how to combine the di fferent varieties

o f bowing with the di fferent placi n g of

the bow u pon the strings in such a way

as to obtain a wide ra n ge o f e ffects all ,

o f which help to make t h e wonderful

expressivene ss o f the violin "uivering .

o f the fingers of the left hand is em

ployed t o produce a vibrato which is
e ffective when n o t used t o o much a s it ,

generally is The special e ffects o f v i o

.

lin playing harmonics saltato pizzicato

, , , ,

the use of mutes etc have already been

,
.
,

menti o ned A ll o f them are o f course

.
, ,

employed by solo performers A ll th at .

has been said about violin playing a p

plies to the viola and the Violoncello ,

with the qualification that the latter

 I n stru m e n tal Pe rfo rm an c e

instrument does not admit o f such

agility o f exe cution and is especially
,

irresponsive to solo tricks in its lower

strings .

Instruments o f the Viol family are by

nature singers and the listener should
,

demand of solo players a constant flow

of pure vocal tone no matter what be
, ,

the nature o f the mu 5 1 c It is no excuse .

for a violinist that the rapidity o r com

p le xit
y of a passage causes his
, tone to
become thin cold or scratchy If he
, ,
.

cannot preserve the pure fl o w of singing

tone in such passages h e should play ,

simpler musi c Let m e beseech the

.

reader to set his face against mere dis

plays o f acrobatic skill in Violin playing .

I have to my horror heard a violinist

, ,

o f great reputation transform a P hi lha r

monic concert into a fiddle circus with

o n e o f E rnst s show pieces Technics
’
.

should always be a means not an end ,

.

V iolinists who make cadenzas unto their

o w n glory should not be encouraged ,

for virtuosity has always been a stum

bling block in the path o f true art The
-
.

violin is the m ost intimate o f all i n st r u

ments Tucked under the player s chin
.
’

,
 Th e V i o l i n

and responding to every touch o f his

hand it becom es a part of himself H e
,
.

should never m ake it a m ere medium for

the exhibition o f technical tricks but
,

should use his skill in stopping and bow

ing make it sing .
 VO CA L PERFO RMA N CE

"VI I

H E e ffective performance o f v ocal

music is dependent so largely upon
purely technical considerations that it
seems wiser to consider first the work o f
a chorus in which the essentials o f good
,

sm gi n g as exemplified in t he delivery
,

o f a fine soloist are so obscured in the

,

emission o f a great volume o f tone that

the m ore readily perceptible qualities
are those closely akin to the excellences
of orchestral performance A s these
.

have already been rev i ewed it will be ,

easier to mention the re q uirements o f

choral singing first and afterward take
,

up th ose of solo work The require

.

ments of good choral singing then are , ,

quality and balance o f tone correct i n

,

tonation attack precision unanimity

, , , ,
 Th e W or k of a C h o ru s

phrasing shading and enunciation The

, ,
.

reader who has already perused the " VI I .

chapter o n orchestral performance will ,

not be at a loss t o understand the sig

n i fi c a t i o n of most o f these terms In a .

chorus the quality o f tone should be full ,

vibrant and pure It should not be a

, .

mere noise which almost any large

,

chorus can produce but should always ,

be sweet and musical no matter how ,

powerful it is It should be a smooth

.

and fluent tone without harshness o r ,

huskiness A nd th ere should be a vol

.

ume of it commensurate with the size o f

the chorus It is remarkable what a big
.

tone some small choruses p roduce and

what a small one proceeds from some
large choruses This is o f course a .
, ,

matter of good singing o n the part

o f the individuals who comprise the
chorus .

Balance o f t one is absolutely essential

to good choral work There should not .

be a preponderance o f any o n e part ,

o r of any two parts In m ost choruses .

the tenor department is weak because ,

it is di fficult to get competent tenor

singers But such a weakness is o f
.
,
 V o c al Perfo rm an c e

course a defect The ideal balance o f

, .

tone is that in which each part soprano

—
,

contralto tenor and bass — is capable

, ,

o f precisely the same degree of power .

Correct intonation is an absolute meces

si t
y in choral singing No singing
. o u t
of tune should be tolerated The rela .

tions o f the parts to o n e another in r e

spect to pitch should be accurately
maintained and furthermore the whole
, , ,

body should keep the cor rect pitch an d ,

not permit it to sink down half a tone

o r more between the beginning and the

end of a number By attack is mean t

.

the onset of the vocal force at the be

ginning o f a passage This should be.

firm sure and masculine It s h ould

, ,
.

never be weak timid irregular o r n u

, , ,

certain P recision and unanimity have

.

already been explained These terms .

have the same meaning when applied to

choral singing as they have when a p
plied to orchestral performance By .

phrasing is meant the division of the

melody into connected groups o f notes ,

I mpor ta n ce each o f which groups is to be sung in a

single flow of breath The places for .

taking breath are the intervals between

 Th e W o rk o f a C ho ru s

th e phrases Good ph rasing is an essen

.

tial quality o f all singing I n the work

.

o f a chorus the phrasing must be ar

ranged by the conductor and it should ,

be such that neither the contour o f the

melody nor the sense o f the text is dis
t u r be d A single example will su ffice
.

to show what is meant In a chorus o f

.

“
The M essiah is the following pas
sage

It is absolutely fatal to the beauty o f

this passage to take breath at any points
except those indicated by the pu n c t u a
tion Handel fitted his music so per
.

fe c t ly to the text that the literary and

the musical phrasing are o n e and if the ,
a nd "b e
singers take breath at other points than
those indicated they n ot only spoil th e
sense of the words but upset the melody
,

as well Not every passage written for

.

chorus is as easily phrased as this The .

 Vocal Perfo rm an ce

duty o f the conductor is to aim at a

phrasing in di ffi cult passages which will
as far as possible preserve both literary
and musical sense If he is forced to .

sacrifice o n e o r the other he must fo l ,

lo w the composer and s acrifice the

words The musical phrasin g must al
.

ways be preserved .

Shading or nuancing has alrea d y

, ,

been explained It only remains to be

.

L iglzt an d said that choral singi ng i s capable of the

greatest niceties of light and shade and ,

these refinements should be expected

.
.

E nunciation of course m eans a clear

, ,

delivery of the text There is n o reason .

at all why the text of a chorus should

not be enunciated in such a m a n n e r that
the audience can follow it It can be .

done and therefore it ought to be done

, .

The text is intended to be heard not to ,

be lost in indistinct mumblings The .

listener however must make some

, ,

allowance for the size of the chorus be

f ore him A body of say o n e thousan d
.

voices is likely to be some what unwieldy ,

and no conductor can get as much r efi n e

ment from such a chorus as he can from
o n e o f half the size It is the custom of
.
 T he W o rk o f a C h orus

musical managers to mak e a great noise

in their advertisements of a big chorus ,

and su ch a body is indeed imposing in

, ,

mere volume of tone ; but a small and

well trained chorus of some two hundred
-

selected voices will far excel it in qual

ity attack precision unanimity shad
, , , ,

ing an d enunciatio n
, .
 " VI II

all the branc hes of musical per

fo r m a n c e si hgi n g is that a bout
whi ch the great maj ority o f music
lovers know the least I have never.

heard any vocal solo so bad that there

were no persons in an audience ready to
demand an encore O n the contrary
.
,

very bad singing if it is only su fficiently

,

I gn or a n ce pretentious arouses much enthusiasm

, ,

and the general public makes very lit

tle discrimination between the work o f
a D e R eszke o r a Melba and that of a
fourth rate Sunday night concert singer
- - -

who has paid the manager to give her

an a ppe a r a n c e r smgi n g is di fficult to
j udge calmly and dispassionately be ,

cause the personal influence of the ar

t i s t exercised almost without the inter
,

v e n t i o n of a medium reaches the b ea r e r

,
 S o l o S i n gin g

with a direct force ; and a panting ,

screaming dram atic S oprano who is

, ,

really full of passion and w ho p roj ects

,

temperam ent into the atmosphere as a

hose would squirt water stirs up an ,

audience powerfully and sends people

,

away crying O h what a divine

,

singer " O n the other hand a woman

”
,

who can sing trills scales and staccati

, ,
a m en t a nd
w ith accuracy and rapidity may be as
void o f feeling as an oyster but she will ,

get great gl or y simply by amazing h er

auditors B etween these two extremes
.

the finished cantilena of th e cultivated

vocal artist is lost and the critic wh o
,

mourns the infrequ ency o f a polished

legato style is voted an old fogey .

Singi n g is th e m ost clearly expressive

form of musi c Song has text which
.

makes the emotional sched ule plain and ,

the music following the text is vital

, ,

with feeling The singer using this

.
,

hybrid but powerful art form and i n

fusing into it the p otency o f his o w n
temperament sways an au dience at will
, .

It is obviou s that th e highest type o f

song is that in which the music most
accurately voices the emotional content
 Vo c al Perfo rm an ce

of th e words It is equally obvious that

.

the highest type o f singing is that which

is devoted to the interpretation o f this
kind o f song whether it be a mere song
,

o r a whole Opera The greatest singer

.

o f the lyric stage is the most a c c o m

p li sh e d impersonator o f the famous

dramatic r oles it being understood that
,

operatic impersonation demands perfect

vocal technics The great concert singer
.
-

is on e who excels in the delive ry o f the

most artistic songs not in that of clap ,

trap ballads or empty show pieces like “

P r o c h s A ir and V ariations
“
’
.

B ut there are certain well established -

qualities of vocal technic and these are ,

what the general public seem n o t to

know I have heard a fam ous contralto
.

who stre w ed the stage with the d is

j er m m em bm o f the vocal art applauded
to the ech o simply because she had a
,

big sonorous voice The same people

, .

went mad about Jean de R eszke the ,

greatest male singer of o u r time the ,

finesse of whose art was wholly beyond

their perception though they felt its i n
,

fl u en c e Now there may be a good deal

.

o f di fference of opinion as t o the correct

 S o l o S i n gin g

interpretation o f a song but as to the ,

technical merits of its d elivery there

should be none whatever Whether a .

person sings well o r badly is not a mat

ter o f Opinion but a matter o f fact
,
.

F ortunately I am not called upon to ex

plain th e physical processes by which
good vocal tech nic is produced I .

should indeed be in a sorry plight were

, ,

that my duty for I know o f no subj ect

,

o n which there is so much disagreem ent

among profe ssors E very o n e o f them

.

appears to have a different method and ,

they waste much good a n d use ful time

in hurli n g vituperation at o n e another D
’ '

fi er en c e
z

in the columns o f th e musical j ournals .

I suspect that m any o f them have a good

deal m or e method than is beneficial to
their pupils and I am o f the opinion
,

that my friends Jean and E douard de

,

R eszke w ho advo cate processes in song

,

similar to those of well rou n ded S peech -

,

are nearer to the laws o f Nature than

many o f the teachers A ll that I am .

called upon to do in this book h owever , ,

is to direct the attention o f the reader to

t he results aimed at by good vocal tech
nic t o the end that he may note when
,
 S o l o S i n gin g

voice was a significant description o f

perfection in this essential H e said .

There are no registers at all in that

voice it is all o n e .

This equalization of the registers be

‘

lo n gs to the general department o f tone G ood ton e

production which is the foundation o f

,

all good singing The secret o f good .

tone production is management o f the

-

breath It is the passage o f a colum n o f air

.

from the lu n gs t hr o u gh the vocal c of ds

‘

which sets those cords in vibration and ,

these vibrations make the sound E very .

sung tone ought to sound to the be a r e r

as if it were formed j ust behind the teeth
of the singer It should be absolutely
.

pure ; that is all the breath should be

,

turned into tone and none sh ould be al

lowed to escape with a hissing sound .

'

The tone sh ould be clear ; that is it ,

should never sound as if there w ere som e

obstacle in the singer s m outh that pre ’

vented part o f it from coming ou t and

kept it m u ffl ed down in the throat I t .

should be free ; that is it should never ,

a n ti f r ee
sound as if it were sung through a
squeezed u p th roat a process which
-
,
”
produces the tone called th roaty A .
 Vo c al Perfo rm an c e

throaty voice has somethi n g of the

quality of the voice o f a person w ho tries
to speak while swallowing The se es .

se n t i a ls o f a good tone d epend entirely

on the manner o f propelling the breath

from the lungs through the vocal cords .

Though I do not desire to enter into

technics it m ay n o t be hazardous to say
, .

that a good tone produ ction is largely -

dependent upon th e attack that is the , ,

beginning o f the tone O n this pom t I .

give way t o the author of The P hilos

”
O ph o f Singing Mrs Clara Kathleen
y ,
.

Rogers
I f the t on e i s ut tere d or struc k at the p rec i se

m o men t th at t he b rea t h is given up a p erfec ,

t ly l
c ea r ,

b ll l ik
e -
e d p it i v
an tt osk f e t ta k ac , as o a n o e s ruc

s h ply th p i
ar on e w ill b than o , ul t d th f e e res , an e e

f t w i ll b b t h
ee e otf l d d l igh t f l
res u M v an e u . oreo e r,

wi l l p d t v l d fill t ly th
‘

th te one ex an , ra e , an no on e

l g t udit i m but wh t i b tt it will l

ar es a or u , , a s e er , a so

fill t h dit e au Ior th

. pl th m th
n ano er a ce e sa e au or

y
sa s : I f t h m ti g f t h v
“
e ee nl d i o d e oc a c or s n soun

an t i ip t
c t h l ib
a es tie f th b
era th t h
on ot t e rea , e on e a

tac k i h d d pl iv
s ar an exIf thos th h d e .
, on e o er an ,

t h l ib
e ti
era f th b
on o th t i ip t
e th l i g
rea an c a es e c os n

o f th v e l d th
oca co r s , l t i t h t th t
e re su d s a e on e s oun s

if i t b g wit h h ‘ ’
as e an .

A good singer should h ave a perfect

 S o l o S i n gin g

legato style as the foundation o f his

“ ”
manner of delivery Legato means
.

bou n d and in a legato style th e tones

,

are bound together in a single current .

E ach tone is sustained until the very i n

stant that the next o n e is begun yet the ,

v o ice at the conclusion o f the first tone

must not gradually slid e through the i n
t e r v a l between that and the next o n e .

“
That effect is called portamento o r ,

carrying the voice I t can be used o c

.

c a si o n a ll
y with beauty but its constant
,

employment is a grave defect and leads ,

to all kinds o f bad singing including ,

singing o u t o f tune which indeed is , , ,

n o t singing at all .In a ll pure fl uent ,

melody su ch as the themes o f songs and

,

o f opera t ic airs a pure legato style is a

,

s i n e qua non. I n dramatic declamation

it is o f course not so necessary yet it
, , ,

underlies all good singing .

A good singer should h ave complete

command o f the w a rm a z v oce This
'
’
.

means the gradual increase o f the dy

n a m i c force o f a sustained tone t o its

ful lest capacity and its diminution to

th e faintest pianissim o It is upon this .

power that th e expression o f emotion

 V oc al Pe rfo rm an c e

largely depends for it enables the singer

,

to make crescendi and diminuendi and

other e ffects .

P ure pronunciation o f the vowel

sounds is an absolute essential of good
singing The artist m ust be able to pr o
.

duce a good tone o n any of the vowel

sounds at any musical pitch within the
scope of the voice This is o n e o f the
.

greatest di fficulties of singi ng It is .

technically called vocalization When .

you read in a criticism that a certain

singer s vocalization was good it means
’

—
emission of vowel sounds not singing .

The processes by which the diffi culties

o f vocalization are overcome are i n
volved and some singers never master
,

them T w o singers of o u r time sing

.
,

ers of W holly di fferent styles and pur

poses are fine examples of perfection in
,

this matter They are Jean de R eszke

.

and F rancesco Tamagno O n th e other .

hand a German tenor admired through

, ,

o u t E urope always vocalizes the word

Maria at th e end o f the first scene o f

”
Tannhauser thu s : —i —
Mari oo w u b -
,

and people applau d him for it .

To pure e mission of vowel sounds

 S o l o S i n gin g

must be j oined distinct enu nciation of

the consonants Again I point t o D e .

R eszke and Tamagno as exponents o f

perfection in diction Their articulation .

is so distinct that every person in the

audience can follow every word o f the
text sung by them There is no reason .

why the words o f a song should not be

clearly enunciated Singers wh o do not .

enunciate clearly simply d o not know ,

how M rs R ogers whose words voice

. .
,

my i d eas so well that I have di ffi culty in

avoiding absolute plagiarism in writing
this ch apter says ,

In s p it e of h
the fac t t at c on son an ts form for a

b
brief m omen t an o struc t ion t o the ocal s oun d v
inasmuch a s the s oun d w h ic h asses free t h ro u h p ly g
the m out h in s in gi n gv l
o w e s i s i n te rc e t ed e i t h er p
wh o lly or in p a rt in conson an t s — th y
e v n e er rea lly
p v
ro e a h in dran ce to p erfect t on e ro uc on w h en -
p d ti
the singer un d erstan d s t he n a ture of t he d ifferen t
c on son an ts a n d t h eir rel a t ion t o v oca l soun d T he .

s inger who sacri fi ces c l earn ess of soun d t o sm ooth

n ess of v oca l iza t ion l a b ors un d er t he great m ist ak e

of supp osi ng t h at t h ese t w o qual it ies cann ot be har

mon ized They n ot only can be h arm on iz ed but

.
,

the on e can be m a d e to h elp t he oth er

”
.

O f phrasing I have already S poken

in connectio n with choral work . Good ”m m “
 V ocal Pe rfo rman ce

phrasing is an essential o f artistic sing

ing Breath should ne v er be inhaled at
.

any point where the action is an inter

ruption o f the musical idea A melody .

must not be broken into disj ointed frag

ments to accommodate the breathing of
a singer ; the breathing must ac c o m m o
date itself to the m elody I t w ould .

benefit many singers t o study the laws

o f musical form for good ph rasing must
,

obey these laws It is the duty o f the

.

composer to write his music in such a

way that its phrases are coincident with
the rhythmic phrasing of the text But .

if the composer has not paid strict atten

tion to this matter the singer must use
,

his judgment and he should be gui d ed

,

by the musical form .

F ew and apparently simple as these

requirements are they are the funda
,

mental qualities o f good singing The .

overwhelming influence of such art as

that of the M M de R eszke M me P atti
.
, .
,
a n d a r t.
Mme Lehmann and other gre a t dra
.
,

matic singers of o u r time is due to ,

their perfect com mand of these technics ,

which they make a medium for the ex

pression of their personality and thei r
 S olo S in gin g

emotional force Whether we are m oved .

by the intense pathos o f M J ean de .

R eszke s Tristan the maj esty of M

’

, .

E douard d e R eszke s Wotan the stu ’

n d o u s passion o f M me Lehmann s ’

p e .

Isolde o r th e spark ling vivacity of

,

M me P atti s R osina we o w e o u r de
.
’

light to the perfect adaptation o f their

v ocal powers to their purp oses The .

ornaments o f si n ging which are the ,

stock i n trade o f th e colorature singer

- -
,

are surprising because they are di ffi cult ,

but surp rise is not the aim o f true art .

M me P atti was in her day as a St

.
,
.

P etersburg writer said the P aganini

“
,
”
am ong vocal virtuosi but it sh ould ,

also be remembered that her delivery of

a simple melody was th e perfection o f
pure legato singing There was a time .

when trills staccati and roulades were

, ,

regarded as indispensable to good sing

“
ing Mancini called the trill th e sup
.

port and life o f song and Tosi de ,

c la r e d that o n e w ho could n o t produce

a goo d trill coul d never be a great

singer The world has outgrown such
.

i d eas and t o d ay we demand o f an artist

,
-

a pure dramati c cantilena and care little ,

 Vo cal Perform an c e

about cadenzas A t the sam e time we

.

must ask o f singers who do attempt the

ornamental style perfect flexibility and
accuracy o f execution There are t e xts
.

to whi ch such a style is the best adapt

ed and whatever is done in song m ust
,

pu rpose of
be well done F urthermore all these
.
,

ornaments are valuable as exercises

in acquiring command over t he vocal
organs But the high purpose of son g
.

is deep emotional expression and fo r ,

this the trills and jumps are of little '

value I n th e d omain of t rue vocal

.
.

eloquence pure tone perfect legato

, , ,

messa di voce correct phrasing

,

distinct enunciation are and ,

be the reigning powers

,
.
 I N D E"

A c c o mpa m n n n r . a '
tu n e i ts ri od, 61 m et h d o of e x p re ssi on

o wn 29 ; o f c or
, h d s. 29 ; in 1 03 ; pi an o t h i
ec n c , 1 60

son g . 78 B wi 74 i q
o n g , 1 c se .

i Esth e ti c s , of mu si c , 1 1 7 et saga B h m 69
ra s,

lw
a s o f. 1 2 0 et seq. B h i 36 t
rass c o r, 1 e seq.

Ai d a,
"
84 B th m g m
r ea , an a e en t in si n gi g
n ,

A ly
na si s o f a tun e . 2 4 et seq. 1 9 1 et s eq .

A n swe r , 31 , 32 B ul ow , Dr . v on , 1 66

A g
ri a , ori i n o f, 80 ; d e v e o m en t l p
o f, 8 0 et seq i n d s o f, 85 k
Air oso , ori gi
.

n a n d n a tu re of, 80
C A EN D C E. 2 3

A rt so n g , 76
C a n on , l a ws o f, 30
C a v a ti n a , 56
A r t-wo r k of the fu ture . 5 '
ll
C e o , se e i o V l ll
Att k h l
ac c or a 1 82
on c e o .

A g m t ti
u
, ,
C h a mb e r m u si c , 1 51 et seq .

en a on . 32
q u ali ti e s of p erfor m a n c e , 1 53 ;
t as t e fo r , 1 54

EA C H , EM M A N EL U , 1 59 Ch an t, G g re ori an , 37
B ac h S eb a sti a n 31 , 38, 39
, , Ch or u s , w k or o f, 1 80 et seq .

Bla an c e o f to n e , 1 43 1 46 . Cl ari n e ts , 1 34, 1 35

B ass . d o u b e , 1 40 , 1 42 l C l a ssi c , e ra , 6o et se
q ; m u si c , 6 1
.

B assoon s . 1 34 , 1 35 v s. ro m a n ti c , 63 et seq .

B e au t y defi d
,
ne ,
1 1 7 et seq . free C l e m e n ti , 1 60

and a dh er e n t, 1 1 8, 1 1 9 ; pl ace l
C i m ax i n son a ta , 53
i n m u si c , 1 19 ; m an
’
s con c e p Co d a, 53
t i on , 1 2 4 ; a b s trac t i n mu si c , C on c ert o , 60
C on c l u si on , in son a ta, 46 , 53
B th
ee o v en , hi s ro m an ti c i sm , 65 ; C on d u c to r , d u ti es o f. 1 50

son a t a s an d s ymphoni e s , 42 ; C on te n t of mu si c , 8 8 et seq .

ro n d o form . 45 ; h
t eme a nd C o n trast , h
o f t e m e s , 47 ; i n or

v ari a ti ons , 55 ; sc h e rz o i n tro c hest ra ti on , 1 44

du c e d by , 57 ; tran si ti on a pe l C on v en ti on s of e x p ressi on , 1 1 2
 I n d ex

C o u n te r p oi n t , 30 , 38 c hu h rc , 73
C o u n te r su b j ect, 31 , 32 Fl ibili ty
ex , 1 48

C ou p er i n , 45 Flu t 1 34
es , 35 , 1

C ri ti c i sm , wi t h out k n ow e l dg 3;e, F o rm , n e e d o f k n owi n g , 15 ma

w . en o j ym e n t, 4 ; b asi s o f, 89 ; t e ri a l o f, 1 8 ; me l o di c , 22 ,37 ;
e vi s of l bad , 1 11 p lyph
o on i c an d m on o ph on i c ,

26 et s eq .
, 41 ; ori gi n o f, 35
DE RES "K E ,
ED O U AR D ,
et seq . p ly ph
o on i c , w h en de
r o m an ti c ,
‘
v e lo p e d , 38 ; 63 ez
De R e sz k e,
J ean , 1 63, 1 88, 1 89 , s eq Sc h u m an n s
’
m o difi c a
1 90 . 1 9 4, 1 9 5 . 1 9 6 . 1 97 ti o n s , 66 ; fu n d a m en ta l pi r n ci

p
D e sc ri ti v e m u si c , 1 13 pl e s o f, 70 et s eq . ; v oc al 73 , et

D esi g n , de man ds o f, 99 seq. ; son g

75 e t seq ; o era tic , , . p
D ev e l pmo en t , t h e m at i c , 50 et seq. 79 et seq ; th e i n te e ct u a a n d,
. ll l
D i c ti o n i n si n gi gn ,
1 94 , 1 9 5 1 01 , 1 03 ; th e g ov ern in gpi r n

D i m i n u ti on , 32 c i ple , 1 2 5

D i sc u ssi o n i n sonata , 46 , 50 Fu g u e, 31 et seq.

D v ora , 5 8 k F u ri an t , 5 8

EM O T IO N , ru e d l b y i t ll t n e ec , 98 , GL U CK p , o era ti c r efor ms, 81

1 65 et s eq . exp i f r ess on o , 1 02 G k mre e s, u si c o f, 37
an d p erfo rm a n c e , 1 64
Em o ti o n a l , th e , 1 04 et seq . aes H A N S L I CK , th eor y of mu si ca l
t h e ti cs o f, 1 2 3 b ea u t y , 1 01

En u n c i a ti on , c h ora l , 1 84 ; so o , l H a rm on i c s, 1 38 , 1 39

1 94, I "S H a r m on y , n a tu r e o f, 2 1

H a yd n, 42 c h ara c t er o f hi s mu
Eq u a l iza tion of regi sters 1 90 , si c , 6 1 , 62
Ex p re ssi o n l a ws of 1 05 ; con , , H i stor y , m u si c a l
,
nee d of k n ow

v e n ti o n s of 1 1 2 , i n g, 1 5, 1 1 0

Ex pr essi v e p owe rs of m u si c 1 04 ; , H orn s , 1 36

b asi s of, 1 05 ; l i mi t s of, 1 07 , 1 09

et seq . n a tu r e of, 1 0 8 INEV I TA B LENESS , 121

I t m t i
n s ru h t 3
en s n o rc es ra , 1 2

F A N T A SI A , fre e , 50 I t ll t l th 9 7 t q ; d
n e ec u a , e, e se . an

Fin g er , in dp e en d en ce of, 1 6 1 d i g 9 8 ; i pi pl yi g
es n, n an o- a n ,

Fi rst m ove m en t form, 46 et s eq. ;

I n ton a ti on , 1 82
 I n d ex

I t
n ro d u c t i on , in son a t a , 47 Op e ra , o ri gi n of, 79 p p ur o se o
f ,

I t li
a an o p e ra , wea k n ess o f, 83
‘
82 ; r e qu i re m en ts of, 83 ; It la

i a n , 8 3 a rti sti c e v e of, 86 l l

K AN T ,
on B e au t y , 1 17 Op e ra ti c form s, 7 9 et seq .

K ett l e - d ru m s, 1 38 O h rc e stra , c o n st i tu ti on o f, 1 31 et

Ke y l
s , re a t i o n s o f, i n fi r st m ov e s eq .
; i n stru m e n ts o f, 1 32 ; th e
m en ts 49 , t h re e c h oi rs , 1 33 et s eq .

O rc h es tra ti on , l
q u a i ti e s o f, 1 43 et

L a sso O RLA N O 34 38 39
,
D , , , seq .

Lw a g i bl 4
s , re c o n za e, 1 Og r an i sm , a ttri b u te s o f an , 1 00

L g t 93
e a o, 1 Og r an i z a ti on , 1 7, 1 8 , 99
Lg e l 4
n o, co , 1 0 O v e r tu r e , p g
ro r a mm e , 68
L hme L i lli 96 97
an n , ,
1 , 1

L t th
i s e n er , t t d 7 e u n i n s ru c e , et P A D EREW SK I , 1 5 8 et seq.

seq. Pa l e st ri n a , 34, 38 , 39 , 74
Li sz t , 67 c o n c e r tos , 68 Pa t ti , 1 90 , 1 9 6 , 1 97

P e da l s, 1 61 , 1 62
ME LB A , 1 63, 1 90 P erc u ssi on , i n stru m e n ts of, 1 37 et

Me l dy
o , n a tu r e of, 2 1

M essa d i v oce , 1 9 3 P erform an c e , qu a i ti e s l o f, 1 2 9 et

M etre s, m u si c a l a nd p oeti c al , seq. ; orc h es tra l

45 ; c am er
, 1 h b
m u si c , 1 51 et seq ; i a n o , 1 55 et
. p
M i n u e t , 56 seq . ; vi o li n , 1 72 et s eq .
; c h or a l ,

M on o ph
on i c m u si c , 4 1 et s eq. 80 ; so o-si n i n
1 l g g , 1 86
M oo d s m u si c e x re sses,
, p 1 08 Pe ri o , 2 3, 42d
M o ti v e , 2 3; re p e ti ti on o f, 2 4 Ph r ase , 2 3

M ove m e n ts i n son a ta , fi rst , 46 ; Ph g i pi pl yi g 1 62

r as in ,
n an o- a n ,

sec on d . 55 ; h d
t ir , 56 ; l ast, h l 8 ; l i gi g 95
c ora , 1 2 so o-s n n , 1

Pi pl y i g 55 t q
a n o- a n , 1 e se .

M oz art , 42 , 45 ; c a ra c ter of hi s h P l y ph
o i m i 3 ; hi t y f
on c us c , 0 s or o ,

mu si c 6 1 , 62 ; o e ras , 8 1 ; pi
, p 34 ; h t ict i f 39
ar ac e r s cs o ,

an o pl y g
a i n , 1 59 Porta m e n to , 1 93

Prec i si on , 1 47

N ET H ERL A N D S S C H OO L , 34, 74 Pr o g ra m m e m usi c , 1 14

N eu me n o ta ti on 35 , Pro g r a m m e n ot es , 68
N u an c i n g ,
1 49 , 1 84 Pro g ra m m e o v e rt u re , 68
Pro p os i ti on , me l dio c, 23 ; in so

0 s on s, 1 34. 1 35 n a t a, 46, 49
 I n d ex

" U ARTET PLAYI N - G , b e a u ti e s o f, Sc h u m ann s

’
mo di fi c a ti on s i n ,

S on gf -
or m s , 75 et seq .
; fo lk , 75
REC I T AT I V E , o ri gi n of, 79 ; ki d n s c y li l
c ca , 76 ; a rt , 76 ; ri c a n d ly
dra m a ti c , 77 r e q u i re m en ts o f,

R gi t
e s e rs o f v o i c e , 1 90

R ep t i ea , n so n a ta , 49 S or d i n e s , 1 40
R p t i ti
e e on , 1 6 ; di stri b u ti on of, 1 7 S tan z a , 42
Rhy th m , 1 8 l
e e m e n t ar y , 19 ; S to pp g
i n , v i o in , l 1 73

s i m pl e an d c o m p ou n d , 2 0 ; o r~ S to r y , te lli g a n , 1 15

i ing o f, 35 ; i n pi a n o- pl y i g
a n , S tre tto , 31 , 32
1 62 g h
S tri n —c o i r , 1 38 et seq .
; di vi sion

R o m a n t i c i sm , 4 , 63 et seq .

R o m a n ti c s c h l o o , fo rm s of, 67 et St yl e , sui t a b i li ty o f, 1 2 2

s eq .
; t ra i ts o f, 69 S ub j t gec , r e a tn e ss o f, 13 ; in
R o n do , 44 et seq . f g
u 3 3 u e, 1 , 2

R o ssi n i , we a k n ess of, 83 S y mph i p on c oe m , 67

S ALTA T O , 1 40 T AM A G N O , FR A N ES O C C , 1 94, 1 9 5

Sc h erz o , 57 et s eq. T a st e , r e a d i ly a c qu i r e d , 7
Sc h ub e rt , hi s r o m a n t i c i sm , 65 T ec h n i c, pi a n o , 1 56 , 1 58 ; vio in , l
Sc h u m an n , s y m ph onic fo r m , 66 1 72 et s eq .

S c or e , pl ac e of i n stru m e n ts i n , T em p e ra m en t , 1 63
Th e m a ti c d ev e l pmo 50 et seq
en t , .

S e c ti o n , 23 Th em e s , in so n a ta , 47 ; c omm u
S e n su ou s i n m u si c , 8 8 et seq . n i ty o f, 66
l
e e m e n ts of, 92 et seq . ; l a ws of, T on e , qu a i ti es l of, in o rc h estra ,

1 43, 1 46 ; i n c h a m b er m u si c ,

S e n te n c e mu si ca , l , 23 1 51 ; pi an o , 1 61 ; vio li n, 1 74 et

S h g 84
a di n , 1 seq. ; in c h ora l -
gi g
si n n , 1 81 et

S in gi g h l n ,
c ora , r e q u i re men ts o f, seq ; i n so
. l o- S i n g g 9
in , 1 1 et seq.

1 8 0 et s eq .
; so o , l 1 86 et seq. ; T on e- co l or , 95 , 1 61
tr u e p p ur ose of, 1 97 , 1 9 8 T on e p r o d u c ti o n , v oc a l ,
1 91 ci

l y i r h estra 1 43
S o idi t n o c ,

So l oi t i ha mb r mu si c
s n c e , 1 52 T ou c h pi,
ano, 1 60 et seq.

S on a ta , 46 et seq . T re mo lo , 1 39

S on ata form . 46 et seq . ; e sse n ti a s l T romb on es, 1 36 , 1 37

o f. 54 ; d e p artures from , 59 ; p
T ru m ets, 1 36 , 1 37
 In d ex

T sc h ik
a o ws ky , 58 Vi l o on c e ll o, 1 40 , 1 42 ; pl y i g
a n ,

T u b a , 1 36 , 1 37

T ymp an i , 1 38 V oc a lf or m s 73 et s eq
, .

V oc al p e rfo r m a n c e , 1 8 0 et seq.

UNA N I M I TY , 1 48 V oc a li z a ti o n , 1 94
U i ty
n g i
,
or an c , 99 V o i c es , i n n er , 1 49

V ERD I , 84 WA G N ER , 5, 6 ; O p era ti c form ,

Vi l o a . 1 40 , 1 41 pl y i g
a n , 1 77 8 1 , 84
V i li
o n, in or c h e s tr a , 1 38 et seq .
; W o od w i n d , 1 34

fi r st an d se c on d , 1 40 W ki g
or n ou t , so n a t a , 50
V i l i pl y i g
o n- a n . 1 72 l f
va ue o ,
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fi el d .

T H E E V O L U T I O N OF C H U R C H M U SI C By Rev F . . .

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