[Figure 23]
Dance. Brazil
[Figure 24]
Simple [Figure 25] or
Dance [Figure 26]
The fact that so many nations have the pentatonic or five-note
scale (the Chinese, Basque, Scotch, Hindu, etc.), would seem to
point to a necessary similarity of their music. This, however,
is not the case. In tracing the differences we shall find
that true folk song has but few marked national traits, it is
something which comes from the heart; whereas nationalism in
music is an outward garment which is a result of certain habits
of thought, a _mannerism_ of language so to speak. If we look at
the music of different nations we find certain characteristics;
divest the music of these same characteristics and we find
that the figure upon which this garment of nationalism has
been placed is much the same the world over, and that its
relationship to the universal language of savage music is very
marked. Carmen's song, divested of the mixture of triplets
and dual rhythms (Spanish or Moorish) is akin to the "howl."
Nationalism may be divided into six different classes:
First we have what may be broadly termed "orientalism,"
which includes the Hindu, Moorish, Siamese, and Gypsy, the
latter embracing most of southeastern European (Roumania,
etc.) types. Liszt's "Second Rhapsody," opening section,
divested of orientalism or gypsy characteristics, is merely
of the savage three-note type.
Our second division may be termed the style of reiteration,
and is to be found in Russia and northern Europe.
The third consists of the mannerism known as the "Scotch snap,"
and is a rhythmic device which probably originated in that
trick of jumping from one register of the voice to another,
which has always had a fascination for people of simple
natures. The Swiss _jodel_ is the best illustration of this
in a very exaggerated form.
The fourth consists of a seemingly capricious intermixture
of dual and triple rhythm, and is especially noticeable in
Spanish and Portuguese music as well as in that of their South
American descendants. This distinction, however, may be traced
directly back to the Moors. For in their wonderful designs we
continually see the curved line woven in with the straight, the
circle with the square, the _tempus perfectum_ with the spondee.
This would bring this characteristic directly under the head
of orientalism or ornamental development. Yet the peculiarity
is so marked that it seems to call for separate consideration.
The fifth type, like the fourth, is open to the objection that
it is merely a phase of the oriental type. It consists of the
incessant use of the augmented second and diminished third,
a distinctively Arabian characteristic, and is to be found
in Egypt, also, strange to say, occasionally among our own
North American Indians. This, however, is not to be wondered
at, considering that we know nothing of their ancestry. Only
now and then on that broad sea of mystery do we see a half
submerged rock, which gives rise to all sorts of conjectures;
for example, the custom of the Jutes to wear green robes and
use fans in certain dances, the finding in the heart of America
of such an Arab tune as this:
[Figure 27]
or such a Russian tune as this:
[Figure 28]
The last type of nationalism in folk song is almost a negative
quality, its distinguishing mark being mere simplicity,
a simplicity which is affected, or possibly assimilated, by
the writer of such a song; for German folk song proper is a
made thing, springing not from the people, but from the many
composers, both ancient and modern, who have tried their hands
in that direction.
While this of course takes nationalism out of the composition
of German folk song so-called, the latter has undoubtedly gained
immensely by it; for by thus divesting music of all its national
mannerisms, it has left the thought itself untroubled by quirks
and turns and a restricted musical scale; it has allowed this
thought to shine out in all its own essential beauty, and thus,
in this so-called German folk song, the greatest effects of
poignancy are often reached through absolute simplicity and
directness.
Now let us take six folk songs and trace first their national
characteristics, and after that their scheme of design, for
it is by the latter that the vital principle, so to speak, of
a melody is to be recognized, all else being merely external,
costumes of the different countries in which they were born. And
we shall see that a melody or thought born among one people
will change its costume when it migrates to another country.