of Norwegian Life," the national coloring is still more marked. This
work contains three pieces, the first entitled "On the Mountain," the
second a "Norwegian Bridal Procession," and the third "Carnival." "On
the Mountain," after an opening of a soft chord or open fifth in A
minor, commences with a bass melody in unison, as if played by basses
and 'cellos. The rhythm is that of a strongly-marked peasant dance, as
is shown by the emphatic half-note at the end of the phrase, as if here
the peasant put down his foot solidly. In the sixth measure of this
melody another Norwegian peculiarity appears in the minor seventh of
the key. This melody, after having been delivered in unison by the
basses, is taken up by the sopranos and continued with accompaniment.
Later on a soft and rather sweet middle piece in A major comes in,
after which the first idea returns with a coda.
The "Norwegian Bridal Procession" is extremely well known. It is a
very pretty light march which, when well done, is capable of very
charming effect. The "Carnival" is a very sprightly presto, full of
hurry and excitement, with occasional moments of softer suggestion, the
whole making very considerable demands upon the skill of the player.
In the coda the whole work is brought together again as one, since the
leading motives of all the parts here occur and intermingle one with
the other.
One of the most strongly worked out of the lighter works of Grieg is
the "Holberg" suite, the name being derived from that of the famous
Danish-Norwegian poet, who lived about the time of Bach. This opens
with a "Praeludium," followed by a "Sarabande" and "Gavotte"; the whole
ends with a "Rigaudon." This work has very much more the character of
a modern sonata than some that bear the name, but, avoiding the name
sonata, it is able to go its own way in any form of originality which
pleased the composer. The prelude is a musical idea worked out with
great bravura, and when well done it makes an excellent effect. There
is no particular story suggested in it, any more than in the first
prelude of Bach. The second movement, the Sarabande, has a great deal
of the peculiar pathos of Grieg. It should be played as if it were
being done by a string quartet, as legato and sympathetically as
possible. The Gavotte, again, is a charming example of modern antique,
short and pleasing. The fourth movement, an "air," is beautifully
done, and the last, the Rigaudon, in G major, a very pleasing and
sprightly dance effect. This work has less of the distinctly Norwegian
character perhaps than many of the earlier ones of Grieg, and it is
more seriously worked out in some respects, and therefore extremely
satisfactory.
In some of the earlier and smaller works of Grieg the national traits
appear, while in others nothing of this sort is to be observed. For
example, in the collection entitled "Lyric Pieces for the Piano," Opus
12, there are a charming arietta, a pretty little waltz, a very serious
fanciful piece called "Wachterlied," or the song of the watchers in
Shakspere's "Macbeth," an elfin dance, a curious peasant mazurka, a
quick Norwegian dance, an album-leaf, and a song of the Fatherland.
Here are eight little pieces, all comprised within the compass of eight
pages. In point of difficulty no one exceeds the fourth grade, yet
they are little poems that the greatest artist could play with pleasure.
Perhaps, on the whole, the songs of Grieg show his remarkable talent in
its most favorable light, and for this purpose those in the first Grieg
Album of Schirmer are as good as any. Accordingly, it is from this
that the selections of the illustrative programs are taken. For low
voice, "Sunset" and the "Cradle Song" are both very delightful, the
latter particularly so. The former might be sung by baritone, but the
latter requires an alto. Yet another song for low voice, which would
indeed be better for a baritone than alto, is "The Poet's Last Song," a
noble lyric of elevated sentiment. For high voice, "Good Morning" and
"Thanks for Thy Hand" are both unusually fine songs.
No doubt other examples equally good are to be found in other works of
Grieg, of which the house of G. Schirmer publishes four volumes, which,
being in the Schirmer Edition, are sold at moderate prices. From
these, should it be more convenient, other selections could be made.
CHAPTER IV.
RUBINSTEIN AND TSCHAIKOWSKY.
ANTON RUBINSTEIN.
For the purposes of the musical amateur and pianist, the two most
important of the well-established Russian composers are Rubinstein and
Tschaikowsky. It is by no means easy to make up a satisfactory
half-program from either composer, and this without in any way
disparaging their remarkable genius, which had personal qualities of a
very marked character and a richness of musical inspiration in certain
directions rarely surpassed. But in both these masters there is an
element which is peculiarly Russian; a fondness for force as such, and
for stormy passion. Moreover, both composers have in their nature
intense contradictions, which render it extremely difficult to compile
a short list of pieces in any way satisfactorily representing their
individualities.
Anton Rubinstein, as is well known, was one of the most distinguished
piano virtuosi who hay appeared since Liszt. He was born, November 28,
1830, at a place called Wechwotynez, and died at Peterhof, near St.
Petersburg, November 20, 1894. Soon after his birth his parents
settled in Moscow, where his father had a pencil factory. Rubinstein's
mother was very musical, and from her he received his earliest
instruction, up to his seventh year, when he became a pupil of a local
musician named Villoing, who was his only teacher. In 1840 he appeared
in Paris, whither his teacher had preceded him, and his talent was
fully recognized by the highest authorities, Liszt among others. In
compliance with a suggestion of Liszt, he went to Germany to complete
his studies, but first undertook a concert tour through Holland,
England, Scandinavia, and Germany. In 1844 Rubinstein's parents
removed to Berlin in order to give Anton and his younger brother
Nicolas a musical education, and the boys became pupils of Dehn, the
celebrated contrapuntist. When Anton was about sixteen years old his
father's illness recalled the mother to St. Petersburg, and the young
musician was left to provide for himself as best he could by giving
lessons and by concert engagements, which were very few. In his
autobiography he has narrated the dreadful straits to which he was
reduced, nearly dying of starvation, and laying the foundation of
gastric trouble which lasted him all his life long. In 1848 he settled
again at St. Petersburg, where he was so fortunate as to win the
patronage of the Grand Duchess Helene. Here he wrote several operas,
of which "Dimitri Donskoi" was produced in 1852, and has been performed
many times since. In 1863 he founded the Conservatory of St.
Petersburg, and remained its director five years. Meanwhile his fame
had become very much established as a pianist, through his concert
tours in various parts of Europe, and in 1872-1873 he visited America
and made a very successful concert tour, a part of which was in
association with Theodore Thomas' orchestra. The season in America
netted him something less than $60,000, but the tour was a great burden
to him in many ways, and after returning to St. Petersburg he
resolutely declined most munificent offers to return again to America.
He received many favors from the Imperial family of Russia, having been
made Imperial Russian Councillor of State and a Knight of the Russian
Order of Merit; but after 1890 he declined all public offices, and
resided for some years in Dresden.
As a pianist Rubinstein was one of the most remarkable that the history
of the instrument has known. He had a beautiful touch, enormous power,
and great delicacy. Being of an emotional nature, he sometimes played
like an angel, but at other times quite the reverse. It is notorious
of him that in the warmth of public performance, false notes were
always liable to occur. Yet in spite of them the playing was so
essentially musical and genial that it used to be said that the public
would rather hear Rubinstein play false notes than hear Bülow play none
but right ones.
Rubinstein composed in every department of music. Besides several
operas written for the regular theater, he originated a sort of
biblical drama, which was, in fact, an oratorio designed to be staged
and acted; in other words, a biblical opera. Of Israelitish race, the
stories of the Old Testament appealed to him with intense force, and
his "Tower of Babel," "The Maccabees," "Sulamith," "Paradise Lost,"
and, later, "Christus," were very important and interesting works.
He wrote six symphonies, one of which, the famous "Ocean Symphony," was
lengthened out from time to time by supplementary movements, so that,
at last accounts, it has seven movements, all of which are sometimes
played. He wrote a large amount of chamber music and a great many
piano pieces of every sort. As a composer for the piano he was
extremely unequal. In the vast volume of his works will be found an
immense amount of noisy, stormy, unsatisfactory music. Yet many of
these works, which as wholes are repugnant to almost every person of
good taste, contain beautiful ideas which with a different treatment
might have given rise to extremely beautiful productions. He is most
successful in his smaller creations, such as the Barcarolle, one or two
numbers of the series of portraits called Kamennoi-Ostrow, and that
famous Staccato Study. He wrote a large number of songs, some of
which, upon Russian subjects, are in queer minor scales. Many of them
are extremely beautiful.
PETER ILITSCH TSCHAIKOVSKY.
Peter Ilitsch Tschaikowsky, all things considered, was the most
important and artistically satisfactory composer of the Russian school.
He was born December 25, 1840, and died November 5, 1893, at St.
Petersburg. He studied law and entered the Government service, but,
showing a marked inclination for music, at the advice of Rubinstein he
entered the conservatory as a pupil when he was already eighteen or
nineteen years of age. Such was his success in his new field that
within a few years he was made professor of harmony in the school, a
position which he retained for eleven years. From that time he devoted
himself entirely to composition. In his earliest tendencies he was
extremely Italian, with a fondness for sweet and sensuous melodies with
simple harmonies. Later on he developed a more virile vein, and
Riemann well says of him that he "was a highly gifted, true musician,
but at the same time a good Russian; hence are found in his works
thoughts of almost maidenly delicacy and sentiment and of the most
refined construction; yet, side by side with them, others of
semi-Asiatic roughness and brutality."
Owing to his having resided at times in Switzerland, Italy, etc., his
works were quite soon recognized and played, and the University of
Cambridge in 1893 conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of
Music.
Tschaikowsky was the composer of eleven operas, the first having been
produced in 1869 and the last in 1893. All of these, as I understand,
were performed, and several of them are standard favorites in the
Russian repertory, the most important, perhaps, being "Eugen Onegin,"
which was also produced at Hamburg in 1892. He wrote six symphonies,
of which the last, the so-called "Pathetique," was completed shortly
before his death. The Fifth Symphony is a more popular and commanding
musical work than any other of its class written since Beethoven.
According to the idea of Mr. Theodore Thomas, it is too emotional and
dramatic for a symphony; but it is extremely powerful and beautiful
music, and the world has recognized it and takes pleasure in paying it
honor. Among the most satisfactory of the Tschaikowsky compositions
are the songs, which are among the most impassioned and beautiful of
recent years; the melodies are flowing and thoroughly vocal, while the
harmonies have that singular originality and heart-searching fervor of
which Tschaikowsky was the greatest exponent. Many of his orchestral
works have been cut for the Aeolian, and persons possessing that
convenient instrument can easily explore the treasures of them.
His piano compositions present a very curious contradiction; while the
composer produced in one instance a concerto for piano and orchestra,
in B-flat minor, which contains extremely strongly marked and
productive themes worked out exquisitely for the piano and for the
orchestra, his works for piano solo are generally not altogether
satisfactory. Possibly this may be due to innovations of style and
technic which later will become easy to the players; but at present an
easy piece by Tschaikowsky requires more or less preparation. The
following program, on the whole, seems to represent his peculiarities
with some success:
PROGRAM FROM RUBINSTEIN AND TSCHAIKOWSKY.
Rubinstein:
Tarantelle in B minor.
"Kamennoi-Ostrow," No. 22.
Valse Caprice, in E-flat.
Barcarolle in G major.
"La Melancholic."
"Polka Boheme."
Melodie in F.
Staccato Study in C major.
Tschaikowsky:
Scherzo from Opus 2.
Barcarolle in G minor. Opus 37. No. 6.
Song without Words. In F major. Opus 12.
"Weihnachten" Waltz. Opus 37, No. 1.
Songs (_ad lib._).
Polonaise from "Eugen Onegin," arranged by Liszt. Or
Waltz from "Eugen Onegin," arranged by Pabst.
Excellent four-hand arrangements are to be had of all the orchestral
works by Rubinstein and Tschaikowsky. Address the publishers of this
work for particulars.
CHAPTER V.
THE LATER ROMANTICISTS.
Among the numerous composers of Germany in recent times, of whom there
are a very large number worthy of special notice, there are four who,
by reason of their personal qualities and the general directions in
which they have expressed their talent, demand special attention.
Their names are Adolf Jensen, Xaver Scharwenka, Moritz Moszkowski, and
I. J. Paderewski. As will be noticed from the names, three of these
artists are Polish in nationality and stock.
Adolf Jensen (born at Königsburg, January 12, 1837; died January 23,
1879) was mainly a self-taught composer, inasmuch as he had only two
years' instruction. Nevertheless, at the age of twenty he was
sufficiently advanced to be appointed conductor of the orchestra at
Posen. Afterward he lived in Russia, and at Copenhagen, and was
finally back as teacher in the school of Tausig, in Berlin. Very soon
afterward, however, he contracted a pulmonary disease, which was the
cause of his death.
Jensen was a very prolific composer in many departments, but especially
brilliant as a song writer and as a composer of romantic pieces for the
pianoforte. As a song writer, Riemann considers him the legitimate
successor of Schumann; and among the hundreds of songs which he
produced are many of very great beauty. His piano pieces are elegantly
written,--somewhat Schumannesque in point of style, although not nearly
so rugged and much more fluent,--and the pieces on the program below
give a sufficiently fair idea of the general features of his style in
this department. The selection of songs may, perhaps, be left to the
convenience and taste of the singers, since it is impossible to
designate any two or three songs of his which so fully illustrate his
capacity as to be held up as models of all the rest.
The second upon the list is Xaver Scharwenka, born at Samper, January
6, 1850. He was educated at the Kullak School, in Berlin, and at the
age of eighteen was appointed teacher in Kullak's Academy. His first
concert appearance was made at the age of nineteen in the
Sing-Akademie, with great success, and his reputation as a
distinguished and accomplished player was almost immediately
established, and was strengthened by numerous appearances for years.
In 1881 he opened in Berlin the Scharwenka Conservatory, which is still
in existence, his older brother, Philip, upholding there the family
name.
Scharwenka made a very marked impression on the musical world by his
earlier compositions, an impression which perhaps has not been fully
reinforced by some of his later works, which seem, somehow, to be
wanting in those qualities of spontaneity and innate grace of style
which distinguished the earlier pieces. The best work from his pen,
undoubtedly, is the first concerto for piano, which is one of the
cleverest works in this department of recent years. He is the author
of a large amount of chamber music and pieces of different sorts. The
most popular of all his compositions is the well-known "Polish Dances."
One of the most meritorious is the theme and variations on the program
below.
I. J. Paderewski, the famous piano virtuoso, is so well known that
particulars are, perhaps, not necessary in his case. He was born
November 6, 1859, at Polodien. He has written a considerable number of
pieces for the piano and for chamber instruments, and a little for
orchestra. His music is melodious and sentimental, occasionally
brilliant. Opinions differ very much in regard to the essential
originality of his melody, numerous resemblances existing between his
successful pieces and others which have been popular some time earlier.
At any rate, he is an interesting personality, with a certain natural
grace and style which entitle him to consideration. The most highly
esteemed of his compositions are the three upon the list below,
although no one of the pieces of his which attained American popularity
is here included.
The most distinguished of this entire group is Moritz Moszkowski, the
well-known composer and pianist, who was born August 23, 1854, at
Breslau, the son of a Polish father. He had his early musical training
at Breslau and Dresden, and later at Berlin, where for many years he
has been established as a teacher. He early attracted attention as a
pianist, and very soon also began to be distinguished as a composer.
He has produced a large number of piano pieces of various sorts, many
compositions for orchestra, songs, etc. His music is melodious and
artistic, although, as a rule, of no great depth. Among the more
attractive of his works are the pieces on the present list. His
fascinating little Serenata in D major for piano will be remembered, as
well as a number of more _ad captandum_ pieces which he has turned out
at different times.
PROGRAM.
Scharwenka:
Theme and Variations.
Staccato Étude, E-flat.
Valse Caprice.
Paderewski:
Nocturne in B-flat.
Burlesque.
Suite a l'Antique.
Jensen:
Eroticon, No. 3, No. 7.
Berceuse.
Moszkowski:
Polonaise, D major.
G-flat Study.
Barcarolle, G major.
Moment Musicale, in C-sharp minor.
CHAPTER VI.
GOTTSCHALK AND MASON.
Owing to the composite character of our American civilization, in which
so many different nationalities are mingled, several of which maintain
as long as possible their own language and customs, there is a certain
crudity in the national life and a want of ripeness which as yet has
prevented the development of what properly can be called an American
school of musical composition. Almost all our composers have been
educated in Germany, many of them at Leipsic, and their compositions do
not differ in a striking degree from those of good German composers.
Minor traits of individuality and differences of imaginative scope are
noticeable and afford marks of distinction; but, essentially
considered, there has been very little music composed in this country
which is at the same time good and so characteristically American that
it could not have been produced under any other circumstances.
Nevertheless, there have been at least two American composers who are
characteristically American and who could not have been produced under
any different circumstances; and a number of others in whom the
American traits are well defined.
The two American composers of original and characteristic genius are
the late Louis Moreau Gottschalk and the famous march king, John Philip
Sousa. As the compositions of Mr. Sousa have shown themselves able to
take care of themselves, and as his popularity needs no assistance from
this quarter, I will consider his case first, and say that in this son
of an Italian father and a German mother, born and raised in the city
of Washington, D. C., we have a thoroughly characteristic American, in
whom different heredities mingle in a curious way and give rise to a
certain originality of temperament and style.
While Mr. Sousa, from his earlier career, and probably by force of his
temperament, has naturally taken the position of a popular composer, he
has done so almost entirely in consequence of the inherently popular
character of the music he has turned out, which, for striking rhythm
and melodic piquancy, has taken the ear not alone of the United States
but of the whole world, his marches being widely played in all foreign
countries, where they are received with the liveliest demonstrations of
approval. In fact, very much the same kind of mild excitement that a
_chic_ American girl awakens in a foreign reception, the band music of
Sousa affords to the travel-worn palates of European bandmasters. It
stirs them up and gives them a new sensation. It is a mistake,
therefore, to speak of this artist in terms implying an unwillingness
to classify him among serious composers. He is entitled to a very
honorable place among those who have loved their fellow-men so well
that they have made them feel good.
LOUIS MOREAU GOTTSCHALK.
In the year 1829 our two first American pianists were born: Louis
Moreau Gottschalk in New Orleans, and William Mason in Boston. The
heredity, environment, and training of these two men were as different
as it is possible to imagine. Gottschalk was the son of a German who
came to New Orleans by way of England, and in this country married a
French woman. New Orleans at that time was practically a French city,
and the French language was very largely spoken in the family life.
The boy, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, showed talent for music at the
earliest possible age, and made a number of public appearances of a
very interesting and creditable kind, and at the age of thirteen, when
he was sent to Paris to go on with his education, he had already
established quite a little reputation. In Paris he was educated under
the late Charles Hallé and Stamaty, and in 1844, at the age of fifteen,
he produced his first two works, called ballads, "Ossian" and "The
Dance of the Shades." His concert career in Europe began in 1846, when
he was seventeen years of age, and he gave a series of concerts at the
Italian Opera in Paris in which he was associated with the celebrated
Hector Berlioz.
He made a genuine furor as pianist, and Berlioz, in charmingly turned
phrases, speaks of him as follows:
"Gottschalk is one of the very small number who possess all the
different elements of a consummate pianist--all the faculties which
surround him with an irresistible prestige and give him a sovereign
power. He is an accomplished musician--he knows just how far fancy may
be indulged in expression. He knows the limits beyond which any
liberties taken with the rhythm produce only confusion and discord, and
upon these limits he never encroaches. There is an exquisite grace in
his manner of phrasing sweet melodies and throwing off light touches
from the higher keys. The boldness and brilliancy and originality of
his play at once dazzle and astonish, and the infantile naïveté of his
smiling caprices, the charming simplicity with which he renders simple
things, seem to belong to another individuality distinct from that
which marks his thundering energy. Thus the success of M. Gottschalk
before an audience of musical cultivation is immense."
His first American tour was made in 1853-54. Then ensued a time of
travel in the West Indies, but in 1862 he was back in New York again,
and his American tours lasted until 1869, when he went to South
America, where he died at the comparatively early age of forty.
There is a disposition at the present time to undervalue the work of
Gottschalk. He was a melodist pure and simple, and his distinction
from an American standpoint consists in his having given a new note to
his music by availing himself of the rhythms and characteristic
cadences of negro, creole, and Spanish nationalities in the southern
United States and Central America. At the present time of the
pianistic day, when very little attracts attention unless it is very
difficult, it seems incredible that works so simple in their nature as
those of Gottschalk could have attracted the attention they did; but
there is more in this simplicity than at first sight appears, even if
we admit that from a critical standpoint the introductions and endings
are entirely too long for the matter they contain. Gottschalk himself
had a way of doing them which made them seem extremely significant, and
when he came to the melody itself it was played with such a delicacy
and such a masterly touch that it seized the attention and concentrated
the interest to a remarkable degree. Harmonically considered, almost
all his works are within rather narrow limits, but as compared with the
French composers of the day when his works made so much furor in Paris,
Gottschalk has nothing to apologize for, since his music has a charm
and a distinction of originality superior to almost all of that time or
the present.
Many of the things with which Gottschalk made a great effect in his
concert tours would not have been composed if he had lived thirty or
forty years later. I mean now his four-hand arrangements of the
overtures to "William Tell" and "Oberon." These are extremely
brilliant and sensational arrangements, and are well worthy the
attention of boarding-schools and clubs desiring something out of the
ordinary way. It was his custom, in his concerts, to play the upper
part himself while the best available local performer played the other
part. This gave most of the melody and all of the brilliant work to
the masterly fingers of the pianist himself.
The poetic thread or suggestion underlying many of his pieces is very
slight. Nevertheless, it is not without value. Take, for instance,
the beautiful "Marche de Nuit," a piece which opens with six lines of
introduction, amounting practically to an excellent study of crescendo,
the idea being to show the effect of the march-music in the extreme
distance and its gradual approach. At length we come to the march
itself, and it is a pleasant and agreeable melody, and the difficulty
of the whole is no more than is now well within the powers of a pupil
in the early fifth grade. The famous "Last Hope" is well known to all,
and is one of the most persistent melodies which any American composer
has produced in instrumental music. The introduction and the coda are
both much too long, and can only be saved by a certain distinction in
the manner of performing them. Mr. Wolfsohn said that such was the
charm of Gottschalk's personality and touch that everything he played
impressed itself and you remembered it a very long time. Dr. Mason
tells me that in these pianissimo runs in _alt_, which abound in so
many of his works, Gottschalk's fingers were like little steel hammers,
the tone being perfectly clear and like a bell, but not pianissimo in
the true sense of the term.
It seems puerile now that in his concerts Gottschalk could have made an
effect with his famous piece "The Banjo," which is a very realistic
transcription of a negro banjo performance, the banjo effect on the
piano, in his case, I think, having been accomplished by the touch,
whereas many others find themselves obliged to lay a sheet of music on
the strings in order to impart to the vibrations the peculiar twang of
the original.
Another and more favorable example of his talent is in the beautiful
"Slumber Song," which can be had for voice or for piano alone. There
is another class of pieces by Gottschalk which seem very peculiar at
the present time. They are the rather loud and somewhat difficult
concert fantasies called the "Bamboula," or "Negro Dance," and
"Jerusalem," the latter being made upon certain melodies in Verdi's "I
Lombardi." Another piece of his which made a great effect in his
concerts and was a general favorite of students was the "Aeolian
Murmurs," a pleasant melody with a lot of fine pianissimo work to
represent the murmurs. Speaking of the misleading effect of the
Gottschalk performances, I will mention that the well-known piece, "The
Dying Poet," was played by him many and many a time in public, to the
great pleasure of the audience; yet before we gather up stones to throw
at the American concert audiences of the early '60's, let us not forget
that within the past few years audiences have shown themselves equally
vulnerable to the charm of Paderewski's "Minuet," a work in no respect
superior to the slightest of our American pianist. In this case, as in
the former, it is a question of the personality and appealing nature of
the performer.
WILLIAM MASON.
The other American pianist born in the year 1829 had a totally
different heredity, environment, and education. William Mason also
showed his talent at an early age, and was seriously taught the piano
under the direction of his father, the late very distinguished and
eminent Dr. Lowell Mason, who at that time and for about twenty years
later exerted a most commanding influence in Boston and the country at
large. Mason's advance was so rapid that by the time he was thirteen
or fourteen, or a little later, he appeared in public with orchestra in
Boston, playing the Mendelssohn G minor concerto, and I think he had
played the Weber "Concertstück." In the season of 1846 and 1847 he
played the piano part in the chamber concerts given by the Harvard
Musical Association. In 1849 he went to Leipsic and became a pupil in
theory of the distinguished Moritz Hauptmann. Upon Hauptmann's death
he went to Prague for a year with Dreyschock, and then to Liszt at
Weimar. This was in 1851, or thereabouts, and here he remained some
time. Returning to America in 1854 he removed to New York, and took
the commanding position which he has almost ever since occupied as
teacher and as concert pianist. While there are traces of American
training in the musical compositions of Dr. Mason, these traces are
very few, the general character of his work being distinctly German.
His musical talent was strong upon the harmonic side, but upon the
melodic side his imagination was not so free. He has produced several
volumes of compositions, probably about one hundred in all, almost
every one being elegantly written and well made, and many of them of a
classical elegance of style. His reputation as a composer has suffered
from his limiting his work always to the field of the salon, and
especially to the piano. I believe he has never composed an original
song, although he has arranged several which have been very useful
indeed. It is as a composer for the piano that we have to speak of him.
The most sensational of the Mason pieces is his famous "Silver Spring,"
which was composed shortly after the late Scandinavian pianist,
Haberbier, had visited Weimar and had played many brilliant effects of
running work upon the piano, in which the hands were used
"inter-locking," as it is called; that is, the left hand taking now and
then one or two notes of the run. This method of dividing up a run has
the effect of imparting a certain amount of arm element to the touch,
whereby the tone becomes considerably heavier and more brilliant. It
was thought at Weimar at that time that piano playing would very likely
take this direction in future, and that the day of running work in the
fingers of one hand alone had practically passed. Accordingly, Mason
experimented in these new effects which Haberbier had suggested, and
worked out this piece, "The Silver Spring." As he told me, he first
had to find out an accompaniment figure which pleased him, and then to
discover in which chords it would go most easily, because the location
of the black keys with reference to the white plays a very important
part when the hand has to fall in its place in rapid motion. When he
had ascertained these points, he then had to consider what key would
afford the greatest number of chords of this character, and so at last
he came to the key of A and the chords he has in "The Silver Spring."
When he had arrived at this point it was necessary to provide a melody,
and, as the melody had to fit the accompaniment, the melody was made
last, and in this way he arrived at the seeming "impromptu" of "The
Silver Spring." This is his own story to me many years ago, and it may
have had a humorous exaggeration in it, not to be taken too seriously.
I mention it because somewhere about the same time when Mason told it
to me I had been talking with Dudley Buck one day, and we were speaking
of Mason with very great admiration, especially for the elegance of his
style as illustrated in some of his then recently composed works, such
as his "Cradle Song," his two impromptus, "At Evening" and "In the
Morning," his "Romance Étude" and the like, and Buck said, "If Mason
ever had an inspiration it was in that beautiful melody in 'The Silver
Spring.' I have arranged a church tune from it and my choir sings it
with never failing delight. It will not do to undervalue Mason's gift
for melody when he has produced a piece like that."
With reference to the trend of piano playing in the direction of this
interlocking work, there were several years when it looked as if the
Haberbier suggestions would bear no fruit, but latterly in the
Tschaikowsky concerto, to some extent, and in the Schytte concerto in
C-sharp minor, to a very great extent, the interlocking principle is
employed.
One of the first of Mason's pieces which attained anything like
persistent popularity was the "Danse Rustique," which, by the way, is
one of the best finger studies for piano students in the fourth grade
of which I have any knowledge. It is one of those pieces which can
always be learned even by a pupil who is not very smart, provided he
will practise it carefully and earnestly enough. It is a piece which
can not be played well without very careful practice, and which, when
well played, produces a good effect. Hence it has a remarkable
pedagogic value if the teacher knows when to put it in and how to
handle it when it is once there. While this piece makes no very
important figure in the esthetic world, it is by no means a composition
to be treated with disrespect. There is a great deal of energy in it
and the second subject is very pleasing indeed, and the modulating work
in the middle of the piece, where the elaboration would naturally stand
in a serious work, is of considerable range and ingenuity, and
thoroughly characteristic of the author.
One who wishes to know Mason should study some of the lighter aspects
of his productions; and first of these, since it is more nearly related
to what I have just now been mentioning, is the "Romance Étude" in G
minor. This is a pretty melody, often in thirds, in G minor, lying in
the convenient soprano range of the piano. Long runs cross this
melody, in Thalbergian manner, from one end of the keyboard to the
other, and at times the scale business gives place to charming
arpeggios, figures which transfer themselves from one hand to the
other. The scale is a curious minor scale with a sharp fourth, and is
therefore anything but inviting to the fingers at first. The effect of
the whole, when well played, is very charming, although it is more the
effect of a study than of a poem.
Still lighter in their characteristics are his charming and half-jocose
variations on the old French air, "Ah vous dirais-je maman," better
known in school circles of my time as "Haste thee, winter, haste away."
There is a very playful effect in these variations, and in the title
Mason calls them "Variations Grotesques"; but when he sent a copy to
Liszt, that amiable critic replied that the word "grotesque" had no
place in piano playing--that they should properly be called jocose, or
something of that sort.
Thoroughly interesting in every way is the remarkable series of duets
for teacher and pupil. Here are eight little nursery melodies which at
the time these variations were composed were among the best known in
this field, and the pupil, supposed to be a small child, plays them
generally with one hand alone, or with both hands in octaves, very
rarely in parts. The teacher, meanwhile, adds the harmonies, and
wonderfully interesting and highly diversified harmonies they are. And
in the same line with these are two other pieces which were originally
written for the Mason and Hoadley Method for beginners: a march in
which the pupil plays under the five fingers entirely, while the
teacher adds the most strange and diversified harmonies, and a waltz in
which the pupil still has nothing more than five-finger positions to
deal with. I consider these pieces superior to anything of this kind
that I have ever seen in point of cleverness and harmonic wit.
It would be a mistake, however, to dismiss the work of Dr. Mason with
these half-jocose illustrations of his genius. He has a very elegantly
written "Berceuse" which if very well done produces a lovely effect. A
trifle more flexibility in the melody would have been an advantage, but
it is a beautifully made piece and well worthy attention. He has also
a ballad of very considerable dramatic force, and I have always been
fond of his "Reverie Poetique," which is very much in the style of
Henselt. A melody without a great range, but running in two parts upon
rather diversified harmonies, constitutes the first part of this piece,
and it is afterward developed or varied in double notes, which are
principally sixths, in a very lovely manner. The only drawback, aside
from the difficulty of playing it well, is the length to which it is
spun out. Undoubtedly it is a little monotonous, owing to the same
motive coming over so many times. On the other hand, however, it
pretends at the start to be nothing more than a poetic "reverie," and
it has the character of a reverie--something which dwells and muses and
perhaps never arrives. I mentioned, before, two reveries called "In
the Morning" and "At Evening." The first of these is a very clever
study, and both are well worth studying.
The works of both these composers have a distinct and pronounced
pedagogic value, but in wholly different directions, and both appeal
principally to American pianists. The Gottschalk pieces now are mainly
used in the earlier stages of instruction for forming good melody
habits. They appeal to the poetic sensibility of the players who as
yet are hardly ready for Chopin or any of the more elaborate composers.
Dr. Mason's works, especially those I have here mentioned, appeal upon
the opposite side to the harmonic sense, and to the sense of working
out a theme with good consistency and persistency. While the
Gottschalk pieces improve the style of melody and the sparkle of the
playing, the Mason pieces conduce to system and regularity in study and
to a serious and careful treatment of the left-hand part as well as the
right, and they have in them some of that quality which belongs to
nearly all the works of Bach, when undertaken by students: they promote
seriousness and musical feeling.
Hence I propose the following program as on the whole affording a good
idea of the works of these composers:
PROGRAM.
Gottschalk-Weber:
Overture to "Oberon." Four hands.
Mason:
Amitie pour Amitie. (Available for four hands if preferred.)
Air and Variations Grotesques. "Ah Vous Dirais-je Maman."
Spring Dawn Mazurka.
Reverie Poetique.
Gottschalk:
Marche de Nuit.
The Banjo. (Negro Sketch.)
Song, "Slumber On."
Mason:
Eight Duets for Teacher and Pupil. (Ditson Co.) Four hands.
March and Waltz for Teacher and Pupil. Four hands.
Gottschalk:
Aeolian Murmurs.
The Last Hope.
Mason:
The Tocctina.
Reverie, "Au Matin."
"The Silver Spring."
Gottschalk-Rossini:
The Overture to "William Tell." Four hands.
CHAPTER VII.
MACDOWELL.
EDWARD ALEXANDER MACDOWELL.
By general consent of music lovers and connoisseurs, Mr. Edward
Alexander MacDowell, or Prof. MacDowell as he should now be called, is
the most finished and accomplished writer for the pianoforte that we
have. Mr. MacDowell was born in New York on the 18th of December,
1861, and after having some instruction from his mother, who was a good
musician, he received lessons for a while from Teresa Carreno. In 1877
he went to Paris and became a pupil of Marmontel and Savard. Later on
he went to Frankfort-on-the-Main, where he studied composition with the
late Joachim Raff and piano playing with Carl Heymann. In this manner
five years of European student-life passed, and in 1888 he was made
piano teacher at the Darmstadt Conservatory; he remained there only one
year, in 1882 going to Weisbaden, where his position was a very
distinguished one. In 1888 he returned to America and located in
Boston, where he immediately succeeded to an extremely fine clientele.
In Boston Mr. MacDowell naturally found very congenial surroundings.
He lived on West Cedar Street, a few doors from Arthur Foote, well down
on the slopes of Beacon Hill, a short distance from the Common and not
very far from Charles Street. The aristocratic desirability of this
particular location in Boston is measured by its remoteness from street
cars and all means of public transit. This, however, is a mere detail.
In 1896 Mr. MacDowell was appointed professor of music at Columbia
University, after negotiations extending over several months.
It is impossible to read over the list of Mr. MacDowell's published
works without realizing at once that here we have a composer of no
small fertility of idea and great seriousness and ambition of purpose.
The list from which I take the following particulars is, no doubt,
incomplete, since it reaches only to opus 50, which work was published
in 1895. But the list contains four symphonic poems for orchestra, the
First Suite, scored for orchestra, and the Second, or "Indian"
Suite,--in all, six large works for orchestra. There are two concertos
for pianoforte and orchestra, both of which have been played very
successfully, the first one many times over by Mme. Carreno and by Mr.
MacDowell himself. There is a romance for 'cello and orchestra; two
numbers of four-hand pieces, originally so composed; twelve books of
songs; and quite a long list of pieces for the pianoforte.
To take the more important of the latter, there are, first, twelve
studies, opus 39, which are of various lengths, from two to six pages
each; in part fancy pieces for the piano, and in part intended to serve
as exercises in different styles of playing. Then there are twelve
virtuoso studies, opus 46, much more difficult than the preceding and
very interesting and marked in their characteristics. There are six
Idylles, opus 28, and quite a number of other small pieces for piano,
of no great ambition, but all poetic and seriously done. The most
popular of the purely pianoforte pieces, perhaps, is the "Witches'
Dance," which has the advantage of being a most excellent finger study.
The only drawback to this piece is the rather commonplace character of
the melody which serves as middle piece. This, however, is somewhat
concealed by the cleverness of the treatment.
Of all the piano works, the three upon which Mr. MacDowell's reputation
in the higher musical circles will rest are his First Suite and his two
sonatas, the one called "Tragic," the other "Heroic." The First Suite
dates from the time when he was with Raff at Frankfort, and it was
published in Germany by Breitkopf and Hartel. It is perhaps modeled
somewhat on a suite by Raff. The first movement, praeludium, is quite
in the old style at first. Presently, a flowing melody in the bass
begins against a pianissimo, arpeggiated accompaniment in the right
hand, with a very charming and thoroughly pianistic effect, and the
praeludium is carried through on this motive. The second movement,
presto, is practically a scherzo with a strong flavor of fugue at the
beginning. It is very fully developed, extending to eight pages. Then
follows the slow movement, andantino and allegretto, bearing a motto,
"_Per arnica silentia lunae_" (Virgil); and "by the friendly silence of
the moon" the sweet cantilena goes on, now for soprano, now for tenor.
The middle piece is of a more dramatic character perhaps. This is
followed by an intermezzo, like a quick minuet, which is very
successful; and this in turn by a rhapsody, which bears a motto from
Dante's "Inferno," "Those who enter here leave hope behind"--surely not
a very inviting suggestion to the student who takes it for the first
time. Fortunately the period when hope forsakes the reader is short,
being really of only one page, after which a sort of mitigated grief
ensues, and in another page this movement ends. Then follows the
finale--a fugue in E major, well made and effective but by no means
easy to play. At the end of the fugue there is a coda of a stormy
character.
This suite, as a whole, is a very brilliant piano piece, and also
difficult to play; but it is musical and well done and therefore worth
playing.
The latest of his large works in a serious form is the second sonata,
called the "Eroïca." This is designated by the composer as a "flower
from the realm of King Arthur," and it is dedicated to Dr. William
Mason. Beginning very seriously and slowly, it almost immediately
rises to intense vigor, which, after a while, gives place to a second
subject--a song-melody in the folk-tone; and out of these two
ingredients--or three, more properly (the motive of the first page, the
second page, and the song-form already noticed)--the movement is
carried to completion. It is very difficult to play, but when well
done is effective and serious. The second movement is a very playful
scherzo, which is designated as elf-like--as light and swift as
possible. The third movement is designated "tenderly, longingly, yet
with passion"; the hero is now in love, very much so; his being is
stirred to its utmost core; his rhythm is shaken up so that two's and
three's intermingle in the most inviting confusion; and his harmonic
foundations are also subjected to fast and loose experiences very
trying to the outsider who would represent all this inner commotion.
Nevertheless the movement, when well done, is very lovely. The finale
is designated "fiercely and very fast"--a very strong and tumultuous
movement.
Throughout his career as a composer Mr. MacDowell has placed great
importance upon the advantage a composer gains from a poetic standpoint
or conception. He has often maintained that one could write better
music if inspired by poetry than when he merely gives rein to his
musical fancy, as such; and that, in fact, the only salvation for the
modern composer, and his only protection from falling into mere
rhapsody, is in having a poetic story in mind to which the music should
conform. Accordingly, in all these large works of Mr. MacDowell's,
especially in the two sonatas, and perhaps even more so in the second
than in the first, the transitions of mood in the music are very
noticeable indeed, and the work needs to be played with a great deal of
taste as well as mastership in order to prevent it from having a
certain fragmentary effect. This, in the production of a composer so
masterly in musical treatment as Mr. MacDowell, is rather curious, and
I have never been able fully to account for it. The disposition to
lean on poetic suggestion is very evident in the books of studies
already mentioned. For instance, in the opus 46 there are such titles
as "Wild Chase," "Elfin Dance," "March Wind"; and in the former book
the "Dance of the Gnomes," "The Shadow Dance," "In the Forest"; in the
opus 37, "By the Light of the Moon," "In the Hammock," "Dance
Andalusian "; in the opus 32,--entitled "Four Little Poems,"--"The
Eagle," "The Brook," "Moonshine," "Winter"; then, again, in the latest
of Mr. MacDowell's works which I have seen--the "Woodland Sketches,"
opus 51--there are ten little pieces, with such titles as "To a Wild
Rose," "Will o' the Wisp," "At an old Trysting Place," "In Autumn,"
"From an Indian Lodge," "To a Water Lily," "From 'Uncle Remus,'" "A
Deserted Farm," "By a Meadow Brook," "Told at Sunset." These titles
may or may not have been in the mind of the composer at the moment of
producing the work. It is quite possible that a significant musical
idea, upon being developed, suggested the name, and that the fanciful
name was taken for the sake of the student. These "Woodland Sketches"
in particular are very simple pieces indeed, rarely presenting
difficulties beyond the fourth grade, and all of them musical.
Mr. MacDowell has also shared the opinion of many writers that
something new is to be reached by the modern composer from the
suggestion of characteristic folk-songs, and in his "Indian" Suite he
has made use of themes derived from the North American Indians or
suggested by some of their melodies. The "Indian" Suite is undoubtedly
a very beautiful and poetic work for orchestra. I can not say that I
find it better by reason of its barbarous themes, but the treatment of
those themes has in it nothing that is barbarous, but, on the contrary,
everything that is highly finished and polished, with a keen sense of
the comely and well sounding.
On the whole, therefore, considering the mastery with which he has
worked out his different pieces, and the characteristic and modern
manner in which his poetical suggestions are realized upon the piano,
we are obliged to take Mr. MacDowell very seriously, and to rank him
among the first of writers at the present time. As he is still a young
man, and has accepted the professorship of music at Columbia primarily
for the purpose of having more leisure for composition, other and
greater works ought to follow from his pen. I have been informed that
he has in hand, or already finished, a symphony for full orchestra, and
no doubt his portfolio contains a multitude of other pieces which as
yet he is not ready to give to the world. Many of the songs which he
has published are upon his own verses, and some of them are very
beautiful. In fact, you will rarely find eight songs together so
pleasing and well worth knowing in every way as the "Eight Songs" by
Mr. MacDowell, opus 47.
At the same time, there is a certain amount of make-believe in these
fantastic titles for piano pieces, which, after all, can be nothing
else than more or less legitimate developments of certain musical
motives, as such; and can be satisfactory only in proportion as the
ideas are legitimately unfolded and adequately treated, and contrasted
with other material. Even the marks of expression are arbitrary, a
very amusing illustration of which I am able to give from my own
experience. It happened some months ago that an out-of-town pupil,
connected with a musical club, brought me a program of MacDowell's
works which she had to play at one of the club meetings, and in the
list was the difficult chord study entitled "March Wind." This was
marked pianissimo. It is rather a difficult thing to bring down to
smoothness, and I spent a great deal of time in getting it played
softly, in order to represent the distance of the wind and the rise and
fall of the intensity. A few days later Mr. MacDowell played a recital
in Chicago, and among the other selections was this same "March Wind,"
which he played fortissimo throughout. When I saw him the next day I
began, in that irreverent manner which critics and composers have with
one another (for Mr. MacDowell was not yet a professor): "You're a fine
fellow! To mark your own 'March Wind' pianissimo and then play it
fortissimo. What's the good of my working two hours with a pupil to
get it down fine when you upset everything by playing it in this
tumultuous way?" To which Mr. MacDowell answered: "Did I mark that
pianissimo? When I got ready to play it I could n't remember whether
it was pianissimo or fortissimo, and I said, 'March Wind,' 'March
Wind,' that must be very loud and roaring; and so I played it
fortissimo."
But however this may be, it can be said of Mr. MacDowell that he has
illustrated his talents as a composer in a wide variety of styles, and
always in a delicate and finished manner. He is, therefore, a composer
to be treated seriously, and to be looked up to as a master, with an
expectation of even more beautiful and satisfactory works still to
follow.
PROGRAM.
I. First Suite. Opus 10.
Praeludium.
Presto.
Andantino and Allegretto.
Intermezzo.
Rhapsodie.
Fugue.
2. Woodland Sketches.
"To a Wild Rose."
"Will o' the Wisp."
"At an Old Trysting Place."
"In Autumn."
"From an Indian Lodge."
"To a Water Lily."
"From 'Uncle Remus'."
"A Deserted Farm."
"By a Meadow Brook."
"Told at Sunset."
3. Two Songs from Opus 33.
"Cradle Hymn."
"Idyll."
4. Selections from Opus 39.
"Romance."
"Arabeske."
"In the Forest."
"Idylle."
"Shadow Dance."
"Witches' Dance." Opus 17, No. 2.
5. Eight Songs. Opus 47.
"The Robin Sings in the Apple-tree."
"Midsummer Lullaby."
"Folk-song."
"Confidence."
"The West Wind Croons in the Cedar Trees."
"In the Woods."
"The Sea."
"Through the Meadow."
6. Sonata, "Eroïca." Opus 30.
CHAPTER VIII.
ARTHUR FOOTE AND MRS. H. H. A. BEACH.
There is nothing especial in common between the composers here
mentioned that they should be put together in one program, excepting
the fact that they both live in Boston; nor, on the other hand, is
there anything especially contrasting between them. For this reason I
think it better to give the selections of the different composers
separately, leaving the superintendent of the concert to arrange the
program of selections in any order most pleasing to him.
ARTHUR FOOTE.
Arthur Foote was born of a good New England family at Salem, Mass.,
March 5, 1853. He pursued the usual course of a well-bred New England
boy, passing successively through the district school and academy, and
at length graduated at Harvard in 1874. He had already made
considerable study of music, both upon instruments and in theory, and
under the competent instruction of Mr. Stephen A. Emery had made
considerable progress in composition.
He now entered seriously upon the study of music, with the intention of
making it a life-long profession. His teachers were Mr. B. J. Lang, in
organ and pianoforte playing, and Prof. J. K. Paine, in composition.
In 1875, after examination, he received from Harvard the degree of A.M.
in music. Since 1876 he has been engaged as a successful teacher of
the pianoforte in Boston, and since 1878 has been organist of the First
Unitarian Church in Boston. In daily work, as an interesting and
stimulating instructor in art, Mr. Foote leads an honored life; but he
is better known to the outside world by his compositions, which
indicate talent of a high order. The range of them and the variety are
alike remarkable.
Among his important compositions are to be mentioned an Impromptu (G
minor); Gavotte (B minor); Mazurka (G minor); Opus 6, consisting of
five pieces; Prelude and Nocturne (F minor and F major); Sarabande (G
major); Petite Valse (for the left hand); Polonaise (D major) and
Gavotte in C minor (Opus 8, No. 1); Eclogue (Opus 8, No. 2); Suite in D
minor (Opus 15), containing Prelude and Fugue, Romance and Capriccio;
Sarabande and Courante of J. S. Bach (transcribed); two Pianoforte
Pedal Studies; Études Album, a collection of études, selected and
arranged in progressive order; and Additions to Buttshardt Method of
Pianoforte Technic.
I do not find myself very well prepared to make a program of
compositions of Mr. Foote which fully satisfies. The best I can do
with the material I have is the following, which is offered to those
needing it as a suggestion:
PROGRAM.
Five pieces for piano. Opus 6.
Prelude and Nocturne.
Sarabande.
Petite Valse. (For left hand alone.)
Polonaise.
Three pieces for piano. No opus number.
Impromptu in G Minor.
Gavotte in B Minor.
Sarabande and Courante from the Violoncello Sonatas of Bach.
Arranged by Arthur Foote.
The pieces here listed will occupy about forty minutes in performance.
All of this music is seriously intended, all is well done, and all
musical. Naturally, the best pieces are the last, since the
experienced composer, Mr. Bach, had already laid the foundation, and
his music has had a longer time to ripen and grow a halo.
SONGS BY ARTHUR FOOTE.
In addition to the foregoing program of works by Mr. Arthur Foote,
following is a selection of songs which can be confidently recommended
as attractive and valuable additions to these illustrative programs,
and as well worthy the widest possible currency on their own account:
"Into the silent land."
"O my love's like a red, red rose."
"If you become a nun, dear."
"A song from the Persian."
"In Picardie."
"O swallow, swallow, flying south."
"On the way to Kew."
"When icicles hang by the wall."
"Irish folk-song."
"I'm wearing awa'."
"Go, lovely rose."
The first one in the above list is a very lovely quartet for female
voices--originally composed for funeral occasions--upon Longfellow's
translation of the song by Silas. It is a very beautiful quartet. The
"Song from the Persian" is a duet for soprano and alto or baritone,
preferably baritone, of an unusual, but on the whole pleasing,
character. "O my love's like a red, red rose" is very charming,
indeed, but perhaps best of the entire list is the soprano song, "O
swallow, swallow, flying south," which is dedicated to Mme. Lilian
Blauvelt.
Several of these selections are to be had for a low voice or a high
voice, but most of them are for mezzo-soprano or baritone. There is
one for bass, "When icicles hang by the wall," and one for alto, "I'm
wearing awa'," and of the collection as a whole, I say again, it is an
honor to American art. They are songs that are extremely well worth
knowing.
MRS. H. H. A. BEACH.
Mrs. H. H. A. Beach, whose maiden name was Amy Marcy Cheney, of Boston,
was the daughter of a well-known singer and pianist. Her talent for
music showed itself in extreme youth, and at the age of six her real
study began. Among her teachers were Ernst Perabo, Carl Baerman, and
Julius Hill. She is a pianist of accomplished powers and a composer of
remarkable talent. It is told of her that on one occasion she played
the Schumann concerto with the Boston Orchestra at a week's notice, in
place of a soloist who had canceled an engagement at the last moment.
On another occasion she played her own pianoforte concerto with the
orchestra with splendid effect. Last year her "Gaelic Symphony," in E
minor, was played in Boston and also in Brooklyn by the Boston
Orchestra. Her instrumentation is said to be excellent and the work a
very strong one.
Among the many clever compositions of Mrs. Beach's the following are
perhaps the most suitable for our use:
Ballad for the pianoforte, dedicated to Mme. Fanny Bloomfield-Zeisler;
a seriously made composition with a beautiful principal melody,
cleverly developed, and a good deal of dramatic power in the working
out of the middle part. A composition of considerable difficulty for
the player, and also capable of very excellent effect when well done.
There are also four sketches--"In Autumn," "Dreaming," "Phantoms,"
"Fireflies." "In Autumn," a very sprightly composition in F-sharp
minor, in a good 4/8 rhythm, capable of very charming effect.
"Dreaming," a meditative sustained melody in the key of G-flat, resting
upon a triplet motion in the middle part, with harmonies sensitively
changing at unexpected places, capable of most beautiful effect; also
an excellent study in cantabile. "Phantoms," a scherzo or
quasi-mazurka, very sprightly and pleasing. "Fireflies," a very
delightful study in thirds for the right hand, with novel and modern
fingering; therefore extremely well adapted for study. This, when well
done, must be very beautiful, but it is necessary that the thirds be
played with the utmost lightness and equality. It is more difficult,
and also more extended than either of the preceding, but extremely well
worth attention.
There are also three interesting pieces not so difficult in their
working out. First, there is a "Barcarolle" in G minor, opus 28, No.
1; a very attractive rhythm and an extremely attractive harmonic
treatment. This is a piece to be played with pleasure by any amateur
of taste. It is only of moderate difficulty, as, for instance, sixth
grade. Perhaps a little less attractive, but more easy of execution,
is the "Menuet Italien," No. 2 of the same opus as the preceding. This
is remarkably well worked out, however. The third piece in the same
opus is a waltz, "Dance of the Flowers," bright, sparkling, evanescent;
clever for the piano, and attractive if well done.
Best of all, perhaps, is a "Romance for Violin and Piano," which is
dedicated to Miss Maud Powell. This is a very delightful piece, and
would make an admirable conclusion to a program. It requires good
playing in all the parts.
With reference to these compositions by Mrs. Beach, it deserves to be
said that they are not women's compositions. The musical spirit is
unquestionable, the technic of developing ideas that of a well-trained
artist, and the writing for the instrument that of an accomplished
pianist. At the same time, Mrs. Beach makes no effort to be boisterous
and to prove that she is a man by the brute force necessary to play her
works. Unless I am very much mistaken, her music will have a much
wider currency than it has yet received, because it deserves it.
CHAPTER IX.
MISCELLANEOUS PROGRAM BY AMERICAN COMPOSERS.
For the convenience of clubs and classes desiring programs not so
difficult of performance and not confined to one or two composers, the
following is offered, embracing examples from Messrs. Edgar S. Kelley,
Wilson G. Smith, Homer A. Norris, E. R. Kroeger, Geo. W. Chadwick, and
Mr. William Sherwood. All of these gentlemen have made thorough
studies of composition and several of them have exercised themselves in
the larger forms, including orchestral and chamber writing. This is
particularly true of Messrs. Chadwick, Kroeger, and Kelley.
Mr. Edgar Stillman Kelley was born April 14, 1857. He is a native of
Wisconsin, and was formerly a pupil of Mr. Clarence Eddy, after which
he studied in Stuttgart. He has produced quite a large number of
orchestral pieces but only a small number for the pianoforte alone. I
believe that dramatic music is his main delight. He is also a lecturer
upon musical subjects, bringing to his task a large amount of knowledge
upon the subject and plenty of enthusiasm.
I have here only two examples of his work. The first is entitled the
"The Flower Seekers," a very pretty and melodious scherzo, having a
motto from Chaucer's "Court of Love":
"Fourth goeth al the court, both moste and leste,
To feche the flowers freshe, and branche and blome."
The second is entitled "Confluentia" and the motto upon it: "Here is
the conflux of the Rhine and the Mosel. This led the Romans to call
the city 'Confluentia.' These streams--which rise in regions so
remote--are here united until they pass into the eternal sea
beyond."--_Hans van Brechnowski_ (David Rockwell).
It is a piece in nocturne style with a melodious voice coming in all
sorts of forms, a little in the style of the well-known Schumann
"Warum."
Mr. Wilson G. Smith is a native of Ohio, educated under Otto Singer in
Cincinnati, and at Berlin. He is a pianist and composer and has
published a very large number of pieces (something like 150) among
which it is quite possible more attractive selections could be found
than those upon the present program; still, these are the best I know
of his. His work is light, melodious, and pleasant to play. The list
from Mr. Smith comprises several very pleasant pieces. The "Valse
Menuet," opus 43, No. 1; the "Reverie at the Piano," a sort of song
without words; the second, "Polka Caprice," which is very bright and
pleasant; and the "Marche Fantastique," opus 73, which is more
brilliant and diversified in its style than the others.
Mr. Ernest Kroeger is a native of St. Louis and received his education
there. He has written a large number of pieces for the piano (eighty
or more), many songs, and quite a list of chamber and orchestral
compositions.
I have here three Sonnets. The first one is in G minor, a sort of
cheerful nocturne, with nice melody and good musicianship. There is a
vein of melancholy about it. The next one, allegretto in B minor, is
very charming, and the last one is the strongest of all, I think. If a
stronger representation of Mr. Kroeger's art is desired, his first
suite for the piano can be taken.
Mr. Emil Liebling is better known as a teacher and pianist than as a
composer, but it has been his good fortune to win high commendation for
the few works he has published. He made his studies in composition
under the late Heinrich Dorn, the same who was the master of Schumann
in composition--though this may be no more than a coincidence. Mr.
Liebling, although born in Berlin, has resided in the United States for
nearly thirty years. He is essentially American. The two Romances
represent the most serious side of his work, in addition to which I
have put on that very popular little scherzo, "Spring Song," and a very
pleasing parlor waltz.
Mr. William Sherwood, the distinguished pianist, is not generally known
as a composer, but in any other country than this his strong tendency
toward composition would have found encouragement, and he would have
been well known and probably as distinguished in this department as he
is now in playing. I have placed Mr. Sherwood's compositions last
because they are the strongest of any in the list, and also the most
difficult; when well played they are very effective and deserve to be
better known than has hitherto been the case.
The songs upon this program represent two other composers. At the head
of the list are placed some highly impassioned compositions by Mr. Geo.
W. Chadwick, of Boston. Mr. Chadwick is one of the most accomplished
American composers. From this set of songs, called "Told in the
Gates," selections are to be made at the convenience of singers.
The collection, as a whole, is one of the most remarkable of recent
times. It would be difficult to find twelve equally stirring songs in
the whole repertory. The key-note is set by the very first song,
"Sweetheart, Thy Lips are Touched with Flame," and in examining it one
hardly knows what to admire most, the symphonic skill of the
accompaniment, the placing of the emphasis for voice, or the intimate
feeling for musical expression, which enables the composer to arrive at
such thrilling effects. At the same time it is not a song for a timid
singer or a timid player. The second one, "Sings the Nightingale to
the Rose," is of a more quiet and reposeful character, well written.
The third, "The Rose Leans over the Pool," a delightful scherzando, in
which playful spirit and skilful use of material combine to produce its
effect. The fourth, "Love's Like a Summer Rose," is a very charming
song indeed for more ordinary occasions; well within the resources of
ordinary singers, but with an effect very unusual. The next, "As the
Waves without Number," a baritone song with a very elaborate
accompaniment and the usual masterly opportunity for the singer. "Dear
Love, when in Thy Arms I Lie," a slow and very expressive melody, with
a delightful bit of obligato in the first measures, where a 'cello
would produce a charming effect; modeled a little after a song of
Schumann's, "Poet's Love":
"Was I not Thine when Allah Spoke the Word
Which Formed from Earth the Sky?"
A colossal song for baritone, having in it tenderness and most intense
passion.
"In Mead where Roses Bloom," adapted for mezzo-soprano.
"Sister Fairest, why Art Thou Sighing?" a gem adapted for the female
voice.
"O Let Night Speak of Me," dedicated to Max Heinrich.
"I Said to the Wind of the South," dedicated to Miss Edmunds. A song
for mezzo-soprano, beautifully done.
It is difficult to speak of these songs in any kind of adequate terms,
because they represent what very rarely happens nowadays: a very
perfect union of music and poetry. The poetry for its own part being
singularly impressive and provocative of song; and the music, in turn,
sympathetic, masterly, and equal to the occasion; considered,
therefore, from an ideal point of view, as to the poetic expression of
musical moods or as the musical expression of poetic moods, both alike
retaining the deepest and strongest sentiments, nothing lately has
pleased so well. All the poems are by Arlo Bates. It is a collection
of songs which every American lover of music ought to possess.
The other songs I take from a set by Mr. Homer A. Norris, a young but
very talented and promising composer. The first is called "Twilight,"
and a lovely piece it is.
PROGRAM.
Edgar S. Kelley:
"The Flower Seekers."
"Confluentia."
Wilson G. Smith:
Valse-Menuet, Opus 43, No. 1.
"Reverie at the Piano."
Second Polka Caprice.
Marche Fantastique.
Homer A. Norris, song:
"Twilight."
E. R. Kroeger:
Second, Third, and Fourth Sonnets.
Emil Liebling:
Romance Dramatique.
"Spring Song,"
Madeleine Waltz.
Geo. W. Chadwick, songs:
According to the taste and convenience of the singers.
Wm. H. Sherwood:
Romance Appassionata, Opus 8.
Gypsy Dance, Opus 10.
Mazurka, Opus 6.
Scherzo Caprice, Opus 9.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Masters and their Music, by W. S. B. Mathews