The writing of Odes seems to have passed so completely out of our
literary life, that I thought it inadvisable to incorporate any
remarks upon it with the standing part of my book, but I cannot
refrain from saying a few words upon it in the Appendix, since I
am convinced that it is destined to play a great part in the near
future.
I will take for my example the well-known Ode (almost the only
successful modern example of this form of composition) which was
sung on the beach at Calshott Castle, by a selected choir, on the
return of Mr. Joseph Chamberlain from South Africa; and I will use
some passages from it in order to emphasize the leading principle
that _the Ode depends for its effectiveness almost entirely upon
the music accompanying it_.
Thus, Mr. Daniel Witton’s opening lines:
“What stranger barque from what imperial shores
The angry Solent dares to what mysterious goal?”
would seem tame enough were it not for the wonderful rising of the
notes, which accompany them; and the famous outburst:
“She to Southampton steers!”
is equally dependent upon the crash of music and the combined
voices of the whole choir. It is difficult for us, who have heard
it rendered in the Albert Hall, to appreciate what the words would
be without this adventitious aid. Even the lovely single line,
“Lift up your head, Southampton, dry your honourable tears,”
would be less without the delicate soprano floating above its
syllables.
I will admit that the passage on the body-guard of National Scouts
is very fine, but then, precisely in proportion as it is effective
_quâ_ literature, it fails to impress when accompanied by music,
though the author of the score was wise enough to set it to a
somewhat monotonous recitative. If the student will read the lines
slowly to himself, first with, and then without, the notes, he will
see what I mean.
“And who more fit than they
Whose better judgment led them to betray
An aged leader and a failing cause
Because--
Because they found it pay.”
Mr. Daniel Witton did not write that word “because” twice over in
his original manuscript. He put it in twice to please the musician
(whose ignorance of the English tongue was a great handicap
throughout), and, as I at least think, he made an error in so doing.