SCHUBERT AND MENDELSSOHN.
FRANZ PETER SCHUBERT.
Born January 31, 1797, at Lichtenthal, near Vienna.
Died November 19, 1828, at Vienna.
Franz Peter Schubert, the great song-writer, was born, the son of a
parish schoolmaster, at Lichtenthal, near Vienna. The family was
musical, and the father and a few of his friends used to hold quartet
parties every Sunday afternoon, at which the works for string quartet
then current were played, also compositions by Haydn and other good
composers. The boy very early showed such talent that his father
taught him the violin, and occasionally allowed him to take part with
the rest. He had a beautiful soprano voice, which, attracting the
attention of the director of the music at St. Stephen's Cathedral,
secured him admission to the choir and to the Imperial Convict, or
school for educating the choristers for the Court-chapel, where,
besides the usual branches of education, he was taught music
thoroughly. This continued until his voice broke, whereupon he was
turned out to shift for himself. For the three years next following he
assisted his father in the school, teaching the lowest class in it, and
proved himself, it is pretty certain, a very indifferent teacher.
Later he resigned this position, and struggled on during his short life
mainly by the assistance of friends, one of whom saw to it that the
indefatigable composer was supplied with music paper; another shared
his room with him, etc. Between 1818 and 1824 he spent his summers at
the Hungarian estate of the great Prince Esterhazy, teaching the
daughters music and arranging music for the household. Here many of
his works were written. In Vienna he had an orchestra of school-boys
for quite a long time, which probably played his works occasionally, as
well as those of composers of less complicated works.
[Illustration: Franz Schubert, Felix Mendelssohn]
Schubert began to compose in earnest very early, and by the time he was
twenty years of age he had written about 400 of his songs. His works
comprise a volume of pianoforte sonatas, several volumes of light works
for piano, about 600 songs, nine symphonies, of which two are among the
greatest we have, one opera, several masses, and a large number of
compositions for chamber music.
FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY.
Born February 3, 1809, at Hamburg.
Died November 4, 1847, at Leipsic.
He was the nephew of the celebrated Jewish philosopher and reformer,
Moses Mendelssohn, and a son of the well-known banker, Abraham
Mendelssohn.
The family was Israelitish, but Felix Mendelssohn was brought up a
Lutheran. The boy was of a very amiable and thoughtful disposition,
and was well instructed in music from his earliest years, his principal
teacher having been the celebrated theorist, Zelter. His first
appearance in concert was made at the age of nine, in the piano part of
a trio by Wolf. A year later he appeared as a singer. His
acquaintance with the orchestra commenced very early. There was a
small orchestra which met at his father's house on Sunday afternoons,
and by this means the compositions of the boy were tried and he himself
acquired his experience as a director. His activity as a composer
commenced about 1820. In this year he wrote a violin sonata and two
clavier sonatas, a little cantata, and an operetta. In 1821 Zelter
brought him to the great poet Goethe, who heard his music and conversed
with the lad with great interest. The friendship with Goethe continued
for many years. In one of his letters Mendelssohn tells of having
visited the poet and having had a long conversation with him, in which
the poet had given an account of Hegel's lectures on esthetics, which
Mendelssohn had heard that winter in Berlin, and in which Goethe was
very much interested on account of the novelty of the ideas presented.
The first of the important compositions of Mendelssohn to be published
and played was the overture to the "Midsummer Night's Dream," which was
written in 1826 and played immediately. He seems to have worked this
out upon the piano, improvising it piece by piece as he became excited
in reading Shakspere's comedy. This overture is of most complete
mastery in its working out and of thorough originality, and scarcely
anything of his later works surpasses it in merit as a finished
composition for orchestra.
It was largely through Mendelssohn's influence that the "St. Matthew
Passion" of Bach was brought out and given entire in Berlin, in 1829,
just one hundred years after its first production in Leipsic.
Mendelssohn was the conductor, and it was given in the Sing-Akademie.
This was the work of a boy of twenty. Nothing could speak more plainly
of the authority which his genius gave him than that he should conceive
and bring to completion an undertaking of this magnitude in a city like
Berlin at so early an age. He made many journeys for pleasure and
instruction. Full accounts of these will be found in his charming
letters, which are among the most delightful contributions of this kind
that any literary man or artist has left. During one of these journeys
he visited the Hebrides, and afterward produced his overture called
"Fingal's Cave," as a memory of that visit.
Mendelssohn attained great celebrity as a pianist and organist, the
latter mainly by his improvisations, although he has the credit of
having been one of the first to play Bach's fugues in England. The
late August Haupt, however, told one of his pupils that Mendelssohn, in
his time, never had an adequate pedal technic but played upon a sort of
hit-or-miss principle, which generally succeeded from his thorough
grasp of the music. He early produced his concerto for pianoforte in G
minor, and played it at many musical festivals. He was in great demand
as a director for festivals in Germany and also in England. He became
director of the Gewandhaus concerts at Leipsic in 1835, and in 1843,
with very distinguished artist associates, he founded the Conservatory
of Music at Leipsic, which, under his management, became so celebrated.
Mendelssohn produced works in almost every department of musical
composition, a great variety of chamber music, symphonies, overtures,
one opera, and a very large collection of music for the piano-forte and
organ. Probably his fame will last longer through the influence of
three works--viz., the "Midsummer Night's Dream" overture, which opened
the new world of the romantic; the oratorio of "Elijah," which is in
very many respects one of the most beautiful ever written, just as it
is also fortunate in the selection of subjects and of the episodes for
treatment; and the "Songs Without Words" for the pianoforte, which,
while not of remarkable depth, are very beautiful and poetic
compositions of such quality as to awaken in the musical world a new
appetite and a new appreciation of an instrument which has now become
the most universal in use.
All the works of Mendelssohn are distinguished for clearness of form,
elegance of sentiment, and delicate fancy. They are more feminine than
masculine, although at times he has a great deal of strength. His
pianoforte writing is not so well suited to the instrument as that of
some other composers, such as Chopin and Liszt, and his concertos,
although very popular, are not ranked among the master works of this
form of composition. Of all the pianoforte music which he produced,
the "Rondo Capriccioso" is the one which most completely represents the
characteristic range of his imagination.
The two composers for the present chapter have distinguished themselves
in almost every walk of composition. Schubert left a large quantity of
manuscript, most of it unheard until after his death, consisting of
about 700 songs, nine symphonies, various pieces of chamber music,
pianoforte sonatas, dances, marches, overtures, one opera, and many
miscellaneous compositions. In every department of this vast activity
there are a few works which stand out as masterpieces. To begin at the
top, his "Unfinished Symphony" and the great Symphony in C are in the
very first line of orchestral masterpieces, standing well up alongside
the greatest of Beethoven, and with an originality of style and beauty
wholly independent of the overshadowing Beethoven, who was, just at the
moment of their composition, engaged in his last works, including the
immortal Ninth Symphony.
Nevertheless, while Schubert was great in all musical directions, he
marked an epoch in one direction, and therefore has a fame peculiarly
his own. As a songwriter he was one of the greatest the world has ever
known. His fame in this department rests upon two wholly different
considerations, the union of which in the same composer forms the
epoch-marking peculiarity already mentioned. As a melodist he stands
in a rank by himself. His melodies move easily, now within the
diatonic mode, and now in the chromatic, but generally, within the
limits of each period, in the diatonic mode. The melodies are
flexible, well balanced, very singable, and natural. Each comes up,
lives its day, and dies away into silence, like a lovely flower
unfolding from its own germ in the moment of the year when the sunshine
and the showers have brought the time for its appearing. In this case
the predisposing external cause leading to the appearance of one of
these melodies is found in the poem chosen for text. Whatever Schubert
read, if it interested him, immediately called up within him a melodic
form. These melodies not only differ from one another by degrees of
indescribably delicate gradation, but each as it comes proves itself
adapted to the text which gave it birth. These lovely melodies,
moreover, are supported by pianoforte accompaniments which at times
rise to a co-ordinate rank with the melody itself as part of the
expression of the poem. Sometimes the so-called accompaniment is
itself almost the main thing. Such cases are found in "The Erl King,"
"To Be Sung on the Waters," and "Gretchen at the Spinning-wheel." At
other times the accompaniment is as simple as the melody, and serves no
other purpose than that of supporting the voice. A typical case of
this kind is found in "Hedge Roses," and in "Hark! Hark! the Lark."
It is another peculiarity of Schubert that, beginning with an entirely
simple melody, he sometimes digresses to a remote key, within which for
a moment he goes quite as simply, only to return again immediately to
the main key. The "Hark! Hark! the Lark" is a case of this kind.
(Note the transition to G-flat in the ninth measure.)
The universal type of Schubert's music is the melodic. This we find in
the pianoforte sonatas quite as plainly as in the songs themselves. In
the minuet and march on the present program the melodic ideas are the
main thing. Charmingly naïve are the little waltzes upon the present
list. Beautifully simple, delightfully symmetrical, their simplicity
relieved by short modulations into neighboring keys, it is not possible
to find elsewhere compositions so short, so simple, and yet so
beautiful. In spite of their brevity and simplicity, the student will
find them worth knowing thoroughly. It is also an excellent exercise
for the student to learn some of these by heart and to play them in
several different keys.
As an illustration of Schubert's cleverness in treating the pianoforte,
which is already sufficiently evident in the dramatic accompaniments of
his larger songs, before mentioned, attention is called to the
Impromptu in B-flat--the air and variations known as "The Fair
Rosamunde," the title due to the appearance of this melody in his opera
of "Rosamunde." At least three of these variations display great
finesse in treating the pianoforte. The first needs to be done with
the utmost delicacy and lightness, the melody suggested rather than
brought out. The third has a new rhythm and a melodic secondary figure
in the left-hand part, which, taken with the treatment of the variation
in the right-hand part, gives this piece a wholly new content and
effect. The fourth, again, is equally novel and equally significant
for the pianoforte. The remaining variations are of little importance,
although, as a matter of course, all are to be played.
Mendelssohn as pianoforte composer represents two very important and
characteristic moods--the scherzo and the song without words. It is
probable that by the good fortune of the latter name for his
collections of little piano pieces Mendelssohn rendered the musical
world a greater service than he did even by the elegant quality of his
compositions themselves. It was the happy thought of the title which
at once puts the listener upon the right track, and disposes him to try
to discover what the words of the unworded songs ought to be. It was a
fortunate guess rather than a something thought out by reason, and if
he had been pressed to assign a reason for including some of these
pieces under the name, he would probably have been driven to confess
that they were so included because he did not know what else they were.
The "Songs Without Words" embody many types, the most important being
the true cantabile--pieces in which there is a flowing lyric melody
with a soft accompaniment. These pieces are in effect nothing else
than "nocturnes," quite after the manner of Chopin, only less elaborate
in treatment and less extended. Among the best types of this class are
to be mentioned the first, the two folk-songs in the program following,
and the duetto. In all these the connected legato of the melody is of
the first importance; and, second, the proper sinking and swelling of
the melody in the true manner of impassioned singing. The
accompaniment follows closely and shares in the fluctuations of
intensity and mood.
Another type of these pieces is illustrated by the eighth, in B-flat
minor. This piece, which has the speed and restless movement of a
scherzo, has also the true Mendelssohnian flavor of sweet melancholy.
It goes at great speed, and often the melody is suggested by an accent
rather than fully expressed. Such cases are found in measures 3 and 4,
and elsewhere. In these instances there is a fragment of melody in the
middle voice.
Somewhat between the cantabile type and the scherzo is to be mentioned
the "Table Song," No. 28, in G. This is like a part-song of light and
pleasant yet somewhat sentimental character, suitable to be sung at
table.
As a composer for voice, Mendelssohn attained a very high rank,
producing melodies of great sweetness (yet often also of inherent
coldness) and very singable. One of the most beautiful examples of
this kind is found in the "O for the Wings of a Dove," first sung as
soprano solo and then later for chorus, in his setting of a psalm.
Another well-known example for alto is the "O Rest in the Lord." The
latter melody derives additional beauty from the contrast it makes with
the rather dramatic place in the oratorio where it occurs. Further
illustrations of Mendelssohn's powers in this direction may be taken
from the list above, which there is not time at present to discuss more
fully.
The part-songs of Mendelssohn for mixed voices deserve to be more
frequently sung. They are extremely beautiful and delightfully written
for the voices. While of moderate difficulty, they belong among the
very best of part-songs for unaccompanied mixed voices. The omission
of the accompaniment is of very great importance, as these pieces are
strictly written in such a manner that the voices have the complete
ideas, both melody and harmony, and when given independent of
accompaniment it is possible to obtain a purer intonation and better
sympathy.
The present program permits a somewhat greater latitude of arrangement
of parts than those of the preceding chapters. The works do not
contrast with each other exactly as was sought in previous programs,
but rather form phases of lyric melody, to be sung in such order and
combination as best suits the performers, taking care however, that an
agreeable succession of keys is generally observed.
PROGRAM.
Schubert: Waltzes.
Minuet, opus 79.
March, from four-hand collection.
"Fair Rosamunde and Variations."
Songs: "Hedge Roses."
"Wanderer."
"Hark! Hark! the Lark."
"Gretchen."
"Frühlingsglaube."
Mendelssohn: Songs Without Words. The first.
"Hunting Song," No. 3.
"Folk-song," No. 4.
"Gondellied," No. 6.
B-flat minor, No. 8.
"Table Song," No. 28.
Duetto, No. 18.
Overture to "Midsummer Night's Dream"; four hands.
"O rest in the Lord."
"If with all your hearts."
"It is enough."
Scene from "Elijah," "Lord God of Abraham," etc.
"Hunting Song," ) part-songs
"Farewell to the Forest,"; )