=Music in England=.—In the Middle Ages, the much-used art of
Counterpoint was developed by the people of England and the
Netherlands. In the Elizabethan age, the music of England was scarcely
less important than her literature. Under Charles II, she could boast
of Henry Purcell, one of the few great names in music. But in the 19th
century her musical glory had faded, and sentimental songs and popular
ballad-operas seemed all that she could produce. Her musical leaders
went bravely to work, importing such composers as Mendelssohn and
Wagner, and building up great music schools. There was, however, no
high standard of taste in the country, so the task proceeded slowly.
A race that is gifted with real love of music, and possesses worthy
Folk-songs, can easily develop great composers; but England, like the
United States, is too commercial for the best results. Dvořák once said
of the English people: “They do not love music; they respect it.”
=Stanford=.—For some years, a group of five men were the advance guard
of England’s development. While none of them showed any remarkable
inspiration, their work was learned and thorough, and prepared the way
for men of more originality. The foremost of them was Charles Villiers
Stanford (Dublin, Ireland, 1852). After studying under Reinecke and
Kiel, he became organist and conductor at Cambridge University. His
works include five symphonies (among them the “Irish”), two overtures,
an “Irish Rhapsody,” a piano concerto, two oratorios, and several
cantatas; but he is best known by his operas. Of these, “Shamus
O’Brien” is most popular, because of its subject, while “Much Ado
about Nothing” shows much grace and elegance. “The Canterbury Pilgrims”
aims to picture old England, as the “Meistersinger” did old Germany.
Stanford’s work is always carefully planned, but not deeply inspired.
=Parry=.—Charles Hubert Hastings Parry (Bournemouth, England, 1848)
fills a similar position at Oxford University. He has composed four
symphonies, and two overtures, the “Tragic” and “Guillem de Cabestanh,”
but his most important work has been in the field of oratorio. His
sacred works include “Judith,” “De Profundis,” “Job,” and “King
Saul,” also a great Magnificat and Te Deum. These, too, show excess
of erudition, and are somewhat academic in character; but in all
his choral work, Parry displays a breadth and power that deserve
high praise. His incidental music to the “Frogs” and the “Birds” of
Aristophanes is also worthy of mention. His contributions to musical
literature are very important.
=Other Musical Leaders=.—=Alexander Campbell Mackenzie= (Edinburgh,
Scotland, 1847) became teacher and conductor in his native city,
afterwards joining the University forces. His “Colomba,” an early
opera, displays much real dramatic worth; more, in fact, than his
later productions. Among his other works are two oratorios, “The Rose
of Sharon” and “Bethlehem,” while his entr’actes for “Manfred” and
his powerful “Coriolanus” music also deserve notice. =Frederic Hymen
Cowen= (Kingston, Jamaica, 1852) studied with Reinecke, Moscheles, and
Kiel, and conducted in many cities, including Melbourne, Australia.
He has written two oratorios, “Ruth” and “The Deluge,” four operas,
including “Pauline” and “Harold,” and several cantatas, of which “The
Sleeping Beauty” and “The Water Lily” are delightfully poetic. But
his six symphonies are his most valuable works, the “Scandinavian,”
“Idyllic,” and “Welsh” ranking in the order named. =Arthur Goring
Thomas= (Eastbourne, England, 1850—London, 1892) devoted himself to
the lighter style of romantic music, in which his opera “Esmeralda”
and his posthumous cantata “The Swan and the Skylark” met with the
most success. With these five should be classed =Sir J. Frederick
Bridge=, often called in jest “The Westminster Bridge” because of
his post as organist in Westminster Abbey. His works include many
cantatas, oratorios, and lesser sacred pieces. His teaching has been
made delightful by his inimitable humor, which often appears in
his compositions also. Other men of this school are =Walter Cecil
Macfarren=, =Sir Walter Parratt=, and =Charles Harford Lloyd=, while
the excellent work of =Sir Arthur Sullivan= in light opera must not be
forgotten.
=Elgar=.—In Edward William Elgar (Broadheath, England, 1857) we find
a man who is possessed of real originality, and takes rank with the
world’s great composers. This is all the more remarkable when we
consider that he is almost wholly self-taught. Son of an organist, he
soon grew familiar with the instrument, and gained further musical
experience by playing in a theatre orchestra at Worcester. Too poor to
go to Germany, he lived by teaching violin at first. He went through
various books on harmony and orchestration, gaining much from Mozart’s
“Thorough-Bass School,” and Parry’s articles in Grove’s dictionary.
He ruled a score for the same number of bars and instruments as in
Mozart’s G-minor symphony, and wrote a work in this form—an exercise
which he considers of the utmost value. When he obtained a new
orchestral work, he would go into the fields to study it.
=His Works=.—Elgar first won attention by his cantata “The Black
Knight,” given at a Worcester festival. Its success caused him
to continue with “The Light of Life” and “King Olaf,” the latter
displaying much direct power and orchestral mastery. His “Variations,”
which won a London triumph, possess great intrinsic worth; but each one
is intended to portray some friend of the composer’s, and the work thus
has an added meaning for his acquaintances. “The Dream of Gerontius,”
a setting of Cardinal Newman’s sacred poem, met with remarkable favor.
It is not altogether unified in effect, but contains many passages of
compelling beauty and sublimity. It has been heard in many countries,
and one German writer considers it the greatest sacred work of the
last century, except the “Requiem” of Brahms. “The Apostles,” a later
oratorio, is the first part of a proposed trilogy. It displays similar
excellence, but at times is too mystic and psychological in effect.
Other works by Elgar are three overtures: the attractive “Froissart,”
the broadly-popular “Cockaigne” (typical of London), and the more
recent “In the South.” The music to “Diarmid and Grania” is also
worth mention, while the five songs, entitled, “Sea Pictures,” show
remarkable breadth and nobility.
=Coleridge-Taylor=.—England boasts the first great negro composer in
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (London, England, 1875). Son of an educated
African father and a white mother, he began violin lessons at six.
At a more mature age, he studied piano with Ashton and composition
with Stanford. His early works included a number of anthems, some
chamber-music, and a symphony in A-minor. For his beloved violin he
wrote the passionate “Southern Love-Songs” and “African Romances,”
also the “Hiawatha” sketches. In 1898, he became world-famous by his
cantata “Hiawatha’s Wedding-Feast,” which he followed with “The Death
of Minnehaha” and “Hiawatha’s Departure.” These display a strength and
profusion of passion that sway all hearers, and the glowing richness
of the instrumentation forms an appropriate frame for Longfellow’s
picture. Later vocal works are “The Atonement” and “The Blind Girl of
Castel-Cuillé.” His other compositions include an orchestral ballade
with violin, an Idyll, a Solemn Prelude, the music to “Herod,” and four
waltzes. All show breadth of treatment, and effects of real beauty
attained by simple means.
=Bantock=.—Some younger composers have headed a movement for greater
originality, under the lead of Granville Bantock (London, England,
1868). His one-act operas “Caedmar” and “The Pearl of Iran” show much
warmth of color, and his musical ideas are always worthy of the great
literary conceptions in which he delights. His two overtures, “Eugene
Aram” and “Saul,” the suite of “Russian Scenes,” and the more recent
rhapsody, “The Time Spirit,” are the work of a truly musical nature.
His greatest effort, however, is a set of twenty-four symphonic poems,
illustrating Southey’s “Curse of Kehama.”
=Other Composers=.—In the new movement are William Wallace, Erskine
Allon, Reginald Steggall, Stanley Hawley, and Arthur Hinton. Clarence
Lucas and Cyril Scott are two other young men of prominence.
=Edward German= is a composer of remarkable gifts, for he attains
effects of the utmost grace and musical beauty by the simplest diatonic
themes. His “Rival Poets” and “Merrie England” are worthy examples of
light opera, while the “English Fantasia,” the symphonic poem “Hamlet,”
the suite “The Seasons,” and the “Welsh Rhapsody” are all works of
pleasing freshness and originality. German has also made a name in the
special field of incidental music, his settings including “Romeo and
Juliet,” “As You Like It,” “Much Ado about Nothing,” “The Tempest,”
and several other plays. In a period when many composers are losing
themselves in the intricacies of the modern orchestral style, the clear
simplicity of German’s compositions is an example of the utmost value.
=The Belgian School: Benoit=.—The new school of Belgium, fostered by
the Brussels Conservatory, owes its origin chiefly to Peter Benoit
(Harelbeke, Flanders, 1834—Antwerp, 1901), who broadened its influence
by his teaching at the Flemish School of Music, in Antwerp. His early
opera, “Het Dorp in t’ Gebergte” (The Village in the Mountains),
showed delightful local color. A second opera, a mass, a concerto, and
a choral symphony increased his fame, but he is identified chiefly
with the cantata. His great works in this field include “Oorlog”
(War), “Lucifer,” “De Schelde,” “De Rhyn,” the Rubens cantata, and
“Promethée.” They are modern in effect, and show breadth of conception
and real inspiration, united with ripe technical mastery. They have
been described as great decorative pictures in tone, suggesting vistas
of grand palaces, armies in battle array, rich fields of grain, mystic
visions of the spirit world, or gorgeous triumphal marches.
=Gilson=.—Paul Gilson (Brussels, Belgium, 1865) has written for
orchestra a Dramatic Overture, a Festival Overture, a Canadian and an
Irish Fantasy, half a dozen suites, the “Bucolics” of Virgil, and other
lesser works. But his best-known composition is the set of symphonic
sketches entitled, “La Mer.” This illustrates a poem of Levis,
frequently read before the performance. The different movements depict
sunrise at sea, and the many-colored splendors of dawn; the rollicking
songs and lively dances of the seaman; a love-duet and parting between
a sailor and his sweetheart; and a fatal tempest, in which the themes
of the sailors’ choruses are introduced in mocking irony as the ship
goes down. Through it all runs a vein of poetic fancy, well suggesting
the beauty and mystery of the sea. The oratorio “Francesca da Rimini”
is another strong work, the best of Gilson’s productions in that form.
=Lekeu=.—Guillaume Lekeu (Verviers, Belgium, 1870-1894) was a composer
whose early death cut short a career of great promise. His chief
studies were pursued in Paris, where he came under the elevating
influence of Franck. The subtle delicacy of his harmonic effects is a
result of this teaching, and Lekeu seems like a member of the French
school who strayed across the border by mistake. His early cantata
“Andromède,” and his Fantasie on popular Angevin airs, gained him some
notice. His works include two Symphonic Studies, an attractive “Poeme”
for violin and orchestra, and an exquisite Adagio for violin, ’cello,
and strings. His greatest vocal composition is the “Chant Lyrique,” for
chorus and orchestra, but he has produced many songs of lofty melodic
style. His music is marked by great originality and fertility of
invention, but tinged with a spirit of melancholy and gloom.
=Other Composers=.—=Edgar Tinel= (Sinaai, Flanders, 1854) is another
pupil of the Brussels Conservatory, where he studied with Fétis. His
great work is the three-part oratorio “Franciscus,” treating the story
of St. Francis of Assisi. Other works are “Sainte Godelieve” and the
music to “Polyeucte.”
=Jan Blockx= (Antwerp, Belgium, 1851) is the most popular opera
composer of his country. His greatest success is the “Herbergprinses”
(Princess of the Inn), a work with a strong dramatic plot and music
of remarkable freshness and vigor. “Thyl Uylenspiegel,” in Blockx’s
opera of that name, is no longer the graceless rogue of the old German
story, but a popular hero who rescues Maestricht from the Spaniards.
Other operas of this composer are “The Bride of the Sea,” and “Maître
Martin,” an earlier work. Other composers prominent in the new movement
are Keurvels, Wambach, Mortelmans, Vleeshouwer, and Mathieu. The first
place among the women is occupied by Juliette Folville, the young
violinist, who has written the opera “Attala,” a march, parts of a
symphony, and many smaller works.
=Music in Holland=.—=Richard Hol= was for many years the Nestor of
the Dutch composers. His fame was assured by the patriotic hymn,
“Comme je t’aime, O mon pays,” and his long career of activity was
of great service to the cause of music in Holland. He was a prolific
composer, and an excellent critic and journalist. =Julius Roentgen=,
who studied under Reinecke and Lachner, was better known as pianist
than as composer, but produced an excellent concerto, also “Das Gebet,”
for chorus and orchestra, and other works. The best of the younger
men are =Bernard Zweers= and =Alphonse Diepenbrock=, while others
deserving mention are Van t’Kruys, Gottfried Mann, Dirk Schaefer, and
the Brandt-Buys brothers. Among the women-composers, Catherine van
Rennes and Hendrika van Tussen-Broek have done excellently in small
forms, while Cornelia van Oosterzee attempts ambitious orchestral work,
and Cora Dopper has entered the field of opera. Amsterdam has become a
great musical centre, and Holland, no less than Belgium, is reaping the
result of the widespread educational movement.