will be adopted by the musical world; nor should we be in too much
haste to conclude that it will not be. Certainly he has succeeded, at
least, in dividing the highest critics of the glorious art; and the
history of music shows, as does also that of all art, that what is
rejected to-day may be warmly and even rapturously accepted to-morrow.
Of the festival at Bayreuth, Mr. Hazard, musical critic of "The
New-York Tribune," writes, "The effect of the music was magnificent
beyond all description. It far surpassed all expectation; and the
general verdict is that it is a triumph of the new school of music,
final and complete."
Of the impression created by one of the parts of the opera,
"Rheingold" (Mr. F.A. Schwabe), of "The New-York Times," says,
"Musically considered, it is not significant. It is hopeless,
therefore, to look for popularity for the work; at present, at least."
"The agony is over; and the grandest of all operatic conceptions, the
musical drama over which Richard Wagner toiled and dreamed for twenty
years, has been given to the world in its complete form."[10]
[Footnote 10: From a writer in the New-York Herald.]
Very recently, Mr. Moncure D. Conway thus expresses his high
admiration for the work of Wagner:--
"I am satisfied that the English-speaking world is little
aware at present of the immensity and importance of the work
Wagner has done for art. Plato declared that the true
musician must have poetry and music harmonized in himself;
and the world has waited twenty-five hundred years for that
combination to appear. Having carefully read the poems all
written by himself which Wagner has set to music, or rather
which incarnated themselves in music, and costumed
themselves in scenery as he wrote them, I venture to affirm
that none can so read them without the conviction that their
author is a true poet. In the first place, the general
conception of his chief operas, taken together, is in the
largest sense poetic, and I might even say Homeric. This man
has transmitted an entire religion to poetry, and then set
it to music. And it is one of the greatest of
religions,--what Nature engraved on the heart of our own
Teutonic ancestors. It is all there,--its thousand
phantasmal years, from the first cowering cry of the Norse
savage before the chariot of his storm-god to the last
gentle hymn that rose to Freya under her new name of
Mary,--all. It is interpreted as a purely human expression;
and, I repeat, no man has done so vast and worthy an
artistic work in our time."
While America has perhaps produced as yet no _great_ composers, it has
several of very high merit, such as J.K. Paine, Dudley Buck, and
others. In the United States there are many remarkable vocal and
instrumental artists, a large number of classical musical clubs and
societies; while several of its great vocalists, male and female,
accept and decline engagements in Europe. Perhaps no finer orchestra
exists anywhere than that of Theodore Thomas of New York; while nearly
as high praise may be given to the Mendelssohn and Beethoven Quintette
Clubs of Boston, and to others in different parts of the country.
Music is quite generally cultivated in this country; and there are
many excellent critics, musical writers, and periodicals devoted to
this beautiful and elevating science.
A very startling late American musical invention is the "telephone," a
description of the working of which is given below:--
"MUSIC BY TELEGRAPH.
"A most interesting field for the musical student is the
progress that is being made in _telegraphing musical
sounds_.
"This is done by means of the telephone, which transmits
simultaneously several different tones through one wire by
means of steel forks made to vibrate at one end of the line,
the pulsations passing through the wire independently of
each other, and reappearing at the distant station on
vibrating reeds.
"Some very interesting tests were made in the Centennial
Main Building a few days ago in the presence of about fifty
invited guests, among whom were noticed the Emperor and
Empress of Brazil, Sir William Thompson, and quite a number
of eminent electricians.
"The experiments were of a very interesting and successful
character.
"The inventor, Mr. Gray of Chicago, asked his assistant, Mr.
Goodridge, to transmit musical sounds, which were received
very distinctly amid hearty applause from those present.
"It was the first time that many present had heard 'Home,
Sweet Home,' 'My Country, 'tis of Thee,' or 'Old Hundred,'
rendered so beautifully by telegraph; and they evidently
enjoyed the treat."
By this invention, music played upon a piano-forte or melodeon is
reproduced upon a violin attached to the receiving end of the wire at
a distance of twenty-four hundred miles.
Another important musical invention (English) is that of the "voice
harmonium." Of this Mr. Theo. T. Seward writes,--
"To all such the invention of which I speak is a matter of
deep interest, because in it is practically solved the
problem of perfect intonation. It is called the 'voice
harmonium,' because the securing of perfect intonation
brings the tones much nearer to the quality of the human
voice. The instrument has been invented and patented by Mr.
Colin Brown of Glasgow, Ewing lecturer on music. By the use
of additional reeds and a most ingenious keyboard, he has
succeeded in giving each key in _perfect_ tune. The 'wolf'
is banished altogether, without the privilege of a single
growl. I do not need to say that the effect upon the ear is
rich, and extremely satisfactory. After listening to it a
little while, the tones of a tempered organ sound coarse and
harsh. I wish very much that some of our ingenious American
instrument-makers could have the opportunity of examining
it. It has been publicly exhibited at the South-Kensington
Exhibition, before the recent meeting of the British
Association, and elsewhere. The highest scientific
authorities have pronounced most thoroughly in favor of its
'perfectness, beauty, and simplicity.' Whether the greater
complication of the keyboard will interfere seriously with
its popular use, remains to be seen."
Mr. Theodore Thomas recently gave an excellent performance of the
works of American composers. Among those rendered were compositions by
Dudley Buck, A.H. Pease, and William Mason. One of the gems of the
evening was a symphonic poem by William H. Foy, entitled "A Day in the
Country."
Mr. Thomas's orchestra, noted for placing upon its programmes only
works of the highest merit, has recently also presented with much
success a new symphony by the talented composer of oratorios, &c.,
J.K. Paine.
In alluding to the progress of music in the United States, "The Music
Trade Review" says, "If the centennial year could disclose all its
triumphs, music would shine among its garlands. A hundred years ago
was a voiceless void for us compared with the native voices and native
workers who now know a sonnet from a saraband."
IV.
THE BEAUTY, POWER, AND USES OF MUSIC.
"The soul lives its best hours when surrounded by melody,
and is drawn towards its home, Paradise, dreaming of its
hymning seraphs who adore with ecstasies that can find
utterance only in song."
"And how can happiness be better expressed than by song or
music? And, if the body and mind are both attuned to a true
enjoyment of their resources, how much more will the moral
nature be refined and educated!"
The cultivation of the art of music has ever followed closely the
progress of civilization; and those nations that have attained to the
highest state of the latter have most encouraged the growth, and have
been most skilled in the creation and performance, of music.
Montesquieu avers that "music is the only one of all the arts that
does not corrupt the mind." Confucius said, "Wouldst thou know if a
people be well governed, if its laws be good or bad? examine the music
it practises." Again: another has quite aptly said that
"Music is one of the greatest educators in the world; and
the study of it in its higher departments, such as
composition, harmony, and counterpoint, develops the mind as
much as the study of mathematics or the languages. It
teaches us love, kindness, charity, perseverance, patience,
diligence, promptness, and punctuality."
And a writer in "Chambers's Journal" remarks, that
"In society, where education requires a submission to rule
singing belongs to the domain of art; but, in a primitive
state, all nations have their songs. Musical rhythm drives
away weariness, lessens fatigue, detaches the mind from the
painful realities of life, and braces up the courage to meet
danger. Soldiers march to their war-songs; the laborer
rests, listening to a joyous carol; in the solitary chamber,
the needlewoman accompanies her work with some love-ditty;
and in divine worship the heart is raised above earthly
things by the solemn chant."
Happily for the world, this beautiful art is one, the delightful forms
of which nearly all may enjoy, the inspiring, soul-elevating
influences of which nearly all may feel. I say, nearly all; because it
is a sad truth that there are some persons who have no ear whatever
for music, and to whom the harsh, rattling noise of the cart on the
stony street affords just as much melody as do the sweetest tones that
may issue from a musical instrument. Again: there are those, who,
although possessing to some extent a faculty for musical discernment,
are yet so much governed by what is called a sense of the "practical"
in life as to avoid all opportunity for the enjoyment of melody,
considering such indulgence as a waste of precious time. It is,
however, pleasant to know that the number of all such persons--who
must, I think, be regarded as really unfortunate--is but a small one,
and that almost every one has a born capacity for musical appreciation
and enjoyment.
It is true that the mighty genius of Mozart and Beethoven soared far
above common musical minds. With a love for the noble art of music
almost sacred in its intensity, these great composers penetrated far,
far into its depths, finding their greatest enjoyment in so doing.
Starting with the simpler forms of the art left by their predecessors,
they deepened, they broadened and varied those forms; while, with
every intricacy created, they experienced the sweetest of pleasure.
And one of the most fitting tributes that can be paid to these and
others of the noble masters of harmony is beautifully embodied in the
lines of Rogers:--
"The _soul_ of music slumbers in the shell
Till waked and kindled by the master's spell."
But this far-reaching art, with all its difficult forms to awaken and
enchain the interest, and to inspire the love of the man of genius or
the ambitious student of æsthetics, has also those more simple ones
for the delight of the humbler mind. Even the babe that lies in its
mother's arms has within the yet narrow confines of its new-born soul
the germ of musical sympathy. Often, when it is in a state of
disquiet, its mother sings to it a simple, pretty song. Soon the
crying ceases; the little eyes brighten with a delighted interest; the
charm of music is working. The mother continues the touching
"lullaby," and anon finds that her tender charge, with the pleasing
sounds of melody gently ringing in its ears to the last, has been
soothed into dreamland. Indeed, the power of music to touch the heart,
to fill the soul, lies oftenest in those tones that are comprised in
its least difficult melodies. Nothing is truer than that music, so
beneficent in its influence, is _meant_ for the comprehension,
enjoyment, and improvement of _all_; and that it should never be
regarded as an all-mysterious art, the charming domain of which only
the gifted few are to enter. Whoever can distinguish musical sounds
from their reverse, is, in degree at least, a musician; and whether
such a one may enlarge his faculty for musical discernment and
enjoyment depends only upon the extent of his observations, or rather
upon the amount and kind of his study.
As elsewhere remarked, some time has elapsed since the music-loving
world has been called to the contemplation of any great, new
revelation in harmony. Meanwhile devotees of the divine art have
generally been so much employed in endeavors to properly interpret the
sublime works left for their study and enjoyment by the great
composers of the past, that they have had neither time nor desire to
seek for newer creations. For nearly all seem convinced that what is
most needed now is, not new music, but that the masses of the people
should possess an intelligent appreciation of, and warm love for, the
best of that which is already at hand; and as an intelligent,
heartfelt religious faith is needed to carry light and happiness alike
into the homes of the highly-favored and the lowly, so is the
beauty-shedding art of music--a close ally of that faith--needed to
cheer, to soothe their hearts, and to develop in the minds of all
God's children a love for that which may be fitly called the "true,
beautiful, and good." Associating music with the very highest form of
happiness, one of the older poets imagines this beautiful scene in
heaven:--
"Their golden harps they took,
Harps ever tuned, that glittering by their side
Like quivers hung, and with preamble sweet
Of charming symphony they introduce
Their sacred song, and waken raptures high
No voice exempt, no voice but well could join
Melodious part, such concord is in heaven."
But I shall now more particularly invite the reader to a consideration
of a few among the many forms in which the beauty, the power, and
good uses of music are exemplified, and of the advantages to be
derived from its conscientious study.
It may be noticed, that, in those towns and cities containing a
preponderance of cultivated people, theatres do not flourish to the
same extent as in neighborhoods where the reverse is true. The reason
is obvious: cultured people have attractive and generally musical
homes, and are thus made, to a great extent, independent of the
amusements afforded in public places. This I mention, not to decry the
theatre, which, I hold, has its appropriate, and, under proper
conditions, educational and refining uses. In fact, the theatre (in
which is performed the legitimate drama) would seem to be in certain
respects a necessity, affording as it does occasional change of scene,
and ministering to that desire for relaxation and amusement so
naturally, so invariably felt by those persons who have not, in a true
sense, homes. Nevertheless, our firesides should be made to compete
with, nay, to far surpass in attractiveness, all places of public
amusement; for it is very much better that the employments and
_entertainments_ of our homes should charm and retain their members,
than that these should be sought for outside their, in some respects,
sacred confines. The reasons for this are so apparent to the
thoughtful, that they need not be greatly enlarged upon. Briefly,
then, in the home is _safety_: over its members are extended the
protecting wings of guardian angels; while without are often snares
and danger, either in palpable forms, or in those hidden by the
glittering, the alluring disguises which are so often thrown over
vice. On this very subject with what truth and directness Cotton
speaks, when he says,--
"If solid happiness we prize,
Within our breasts this jewel lies;
And they are fools that roam.
The world has nothing to bestow:
From our own selves our joys must flow,
_And that dear hut, our home_!"
Nor need I dwell at great length upon the delights and benefits
afforded the members of families whose leisure is given to the study
and practice of an art so ennobling as music. How charming are those
homes in which it is, in its purest style, cultivated! what refinement
reigns therein! and what a gentle yet potent aid it is in parental
government! The allurements to outside and often harmful pleasures
lose their power over the children of that household in which music's
engaging, magic influence holds delightful, elevating sway. And then
at times, when instruments and voices mingle in a "concord of sweet
sounds," how delightful is the effect, how serenely beautiful is the
scene! Often have I, when passing in the evening a dwelling from which
floated out upon the air the notes of tuneful voices, accompanied by
the piano-forte or some other instrument, paused to listen, lingering
long, the ear so ravished by the sweet sounds as to cause me to stand
almost spell-bound, and to remain under music's magic influence even
after its charming sounds had died away.
"The music in my heart I bore
Long after it was heard no more."
To the great aid afforded them by music in government, the teachers in
our common schools can testify. Often a turbulent school, swayed by
youthful passions, or wearied by monotonous study into a state of
painful unrest, has been stilled, calmed, and refreshed by the
singing of a song,--an indulgence in the enjoyment of its melody
affording delightful relaxation, and also awaking to life that better,
that poetic sentiment that abides in every soul. The writer readily
recalls his own experience as a teacher in gently enforcing lessons in
polite deportment among his pupils by the aid of music. The exercises
of each session of his school were always begun and ended with song;
while sometimes, for reasons previously mentioned, books were laid
aside, and all joined in singing, even during a part of the time
usually devoted to study. By such procedure (the songs were of the
simplest kind, and without the adding charm of instrumental
accompaniment), even the most unruly pupils were generally induced to
yield to the softening influences of "magic numbers and persuasive
sound." In regard to the influence wielded over the mind and heart by
songs, an eminent writer thus speaks: "Songs have at all times, and in
all places, afforded amusement and consolation to mankind: every
passion in the human breast has been vented in song; and the most
savage as well as the most civilized inhabitants of the earth have
encouraged these effusions." The following description of the effects
of music at a reform-school is quite interesting in this connection.
It is clipped from a recent number of "The Boston Transcript."
"A reporter of 'The San Francisco Chronicle,' who recently
visited the industrial school, was very much impressed by
what he saw and learned there concerning not only the
taming, but the reforming and refining influence of a
'concord of sweet sounds.' Attached to the institution is a
music-teacher, who has at all times in active training a
number of boys, who perform on the various instruments that
make up a brass band. This teacher, who is an intelligent
German, and to all appearances an able instructor, testifies
to the wonderful efficacy of music in softening the rugged
nature of the boys, who are sent to school usually because
they are uncontrollable by their parents or guardians. He
says he has noticed the singular fact, that boys whose
aversion to learning was so great that they could not or
would not acquire even a knowledge of their 'a, b, abs,'
took hold with evident relish of the comparatively difficult
study of theoretical music, and in a very short space of
time mastered the notes sufficiently to be able to read a
tolerably hard score or piece of music. This seemed to him
like a phenomenal phase, and he can only account for it on
the ground that a love of music is inherent in the average
bad boy. He has usually in training a band of twenty pieces:
but he says that this number he could easily augment at any
time to two, three, or even four times as many; for he very
rarely finds a boy that has not a taste for some musical
instrument. The greatest trouble he has yet encountered in
the formation of his bands is the fact, that, as soon as his
pupils become really proficient, they are ready for a
discharge for good conduct, the music possessing such an
influence for good over them as to completely reform
dispositions that would otherwise be incorrigibly bad. Since
he has held the position of music-teacher at the
institution, several boys have been discharged for good and
promising conduct, who have turned their knowledge of music,
acquired within the walls of the industrial school, to
profitable account."
We know that music, either vocal or instrumental, and in many cases
the two combined, has for many centuries been considered necessary for
the proper worship of God. The harmony that issues in grand and
melting tones from the noble organ subdues the heart, and fills it
with solemnity, sweetness, and hope: the sacred chant, the prayer or
thanksgiving, uttered in melodious song by the choir or by all the
congregation,--these cause the sordid world with all its cares and
wild passions to be for the while forgotten, and the soul, charged
with the influences of divine harmony and most holy aspiration, is
lifted to heaven. And so music, with its gentle, its ever-winning
power, has constantly been used by the churches to secure the
attendance of those who without it had been indifferent. This has been
especially the practice of the Roman-Catholic Church for inducing the
attendance of Protestants, and is after the custom of olden times,
when the Gentiles were thus drawn into the Christian churches, coming
at first through motives of curiosity. They were, however, often so
captivated by the music as to submit to baptism before departing. In
most of our large cities, a considerable number of wealthy Protestants
are induced, by the superior musical attractions of Catholic churches,
to attend for a while, renting pews, and finally, in some cases, to
become members; and Protestant churches, to sustain the interest in
their services, and to insure the attendance of members and others,
have been obliged to recognize this love among the people for the
divine art.
The German race is remarkable for the intelligence, steadiness, and
industry of its members, and their love for and cultivation of the art
of music,--these latter characteristics prevailing to a most pleasing
degree among all classes of the race. Indeed, it is rare to find a
German not, in some sense at least, a musician. And in what beneficent
uses do they employ the art, especially in their social relations!
Their children are inducted into its charming beauties and helpful
uses from their very earliest years. Of a steady-going, rather
practical life, the Teutonic race yet seeks relief from care, and
finds delightful rest and recreation, in united song, or in some other
form of pleasing harmony; thus wisely uniting the practical with the
poetical in life. How in keeping is a musical love so warm, and a
musical proficiency so general, with a nation which has given to the
world a Mozart, a Haydn, and a Beethoven!
Most persons have remarked the superior affability, the polish of
manners, that distinguishes the people of France. It is also
observable that this nation is much devoted to music; that which is
produced by their own composers, and most in use by the people, being
usually of the graceful, brilliant style. An eminent French writer
states, that, for the possession of these pleasing characteristics,
this nation is indebted to that ancient order of musicians, the
troubadours, whose musical qualities, politeness, and other winning
graces, laid the foundation of the same.