From an engraving published about 1860.
]
The æsthetics of music have been extensively treated by the foremost
German philosophers. Hegel and his followers Vischer and Kahlert, laid
the foundation of a comprehensive consideration of the subject. The
philosophers outside the Hegelian school, Krüger, Schelling, Krause,
Carriere, Karl Köstlin, Fechner, Wundt and Lötze, have included in
larger works more or less extensive treatments of musical æsthetics, and
the interest which Wagner felt for the theories of Schopenhauer is well
known. In addition to these, several writers—Schubart, Hand, Schilling,
Heinrich Köstlin, Reissmann, Riemann, Kullak, Stumpf, Engel—have written
large treatises devoted exclusively to the subject. The object has been
to establish, if possible, the psychological relations of music, and to
deduce the _raison d’être_ of the various musical forms; but no one has
yet established conclusions which have been generally accepted. Opposed
to these writers are a small number of advocates of a purely formalistic
theory of music,—Herbart, Zimmermann and Hanslick. The last-named is the
author of a book entitled “Concerning the Musically Beautiful,” which
has been perhaps more generally read and commented upon than any other
single work on musical æsthetics. It is safe to assert that this work of
Hanslick does not solve the mystery of the power of music on the soul.
Certainly it seems to be a superficial idea of Hanslick that music has
no inward meaning (or Inhalt), and is only a mere play of form
(Formspiel). But this interesting little book is so brilliantly written
and so carefully considered that it still holds its own, and is known
throughout the musical world.
In this connection mention should be made of “The Sensations of Tone,”
published in 1863 by Hermann Helmholtz, the great Berlin physicist. This
work is not only one of the greatest achievements of German science, but
is also unique among all works published on the subject of music. It
embodies the results of exhaustive research into all phenomena connected
with the production of tone and its perception by the human
consciousness. In a word, it establishes a firm physical foundation for
all future philosophical speculations concerning music.
It is commonly and truly said that the time is not yet ripe for an
exhaustive history of music. An enormous amount of material, it is true,
has been collected, but in most divisions of the subject the sources of
information have not yet been thoroughly explored. At present Germany is
distancing all other nations in the contributions made to the sum of
historical knowledge concerning music. Not to mention the numberless
treatises and monographs which are continually appearing, the regularly
published musical periodicals are numerous and excellent, and frequently
make important contributions to musical scholarship.
Although the present article is far from professing to present a
complete account of all that Germany has accomplished in music, it may
serve to show the many-sided character of musical culture in that land.
Not one of the many branches of musical activity has failed to feel the
influence of Germany, and in only a few branches does she hold any other
than the leading position. In our own day her musical zeal remains
unabated. The number of musical compositions and books published year by
year in Germany is enormous, and the proportion of her young men who
enter on the career of teacher or performer seems to be increasing
rather than diminishing. While it is true that there are very few great
composers now living in Germany, and that they are rivalled by the
living composers of other nationalities, and even though in the latest
music of over-cultivated Germany there is a want of freshness,
naturalness and _naïveté_ that belong only to musical youth, yet there
is no reason for supposing that any other nation will, in the near
future, usurp Germany’s well-merited title of “laureate amongst all
musical nations.”
[Illustration: John K. Paine]
[Illustration: Leo R. Lewis]
[Illustration: