choir in 1895, introducing Russian folk-music to Spain, he became
very much interested in the folk-music of Catalonia. His enthusiasm
was contagious and Spanish musicians themselves caught the fever. In
that very year Enrique Morera made a harmonization of the first verse
of _Sant Ramón_, a traditional melody from the island of Mallorca,
which was performed by the Russian Choir. Later Amadeo Vives founded
the Orfeó Catalá, a choral society which devotes itself for the most
part to the exploitation of the old folk and religious music, arranged
by Morera, Pedrell, and other Spanish composers. Lluis Millet is now
the director of this organization, which visited Paris and London in
the spring of 1914. In both these cities the Choir was received with
enthusiasm. Henry Quittard wrote in "Le Figaro": "We must confess that
we have never heard anything that could approach this extraordinary
ensemble." Emile Vuillermoz said, "A most varied program showed all
the resources of this miraculous instrument, which ravishes and at
the same time humiliates us profoundly. The comparison of our most
reputed French choruses with this splendid phalanx is singularly sad
for our own pride. Never have we had such discipline in a group which
unites voices of such quality. Now we know what can be done. It is
impossible to imagine the degree of technical perfection, of collective
virtuosity, which human voices can attain, before one has heard the
colossal living organ which Lluis Millet has presented Barcelona."
Lluis Millet has issued a book with musical illustrations on "The
Religious Folk-Song of Spain." On January 15, 1918, the Schola Cantorum
of New York under the direction of Kurt Schindler gave a concert at
Carnegie Hall in which the major part of the program was devoted to
songs in the répertoire of the Orféo Catalá, sung in the original
tongues. Strictly speaking these can no longer be called folk-songs
as they have all been re-arranged. In some instances, aside from an
occasional use of a folk-melody, they may be considered original
compositions. Several of the songs were arranged, in some instances
one might almost say composed, by Kurt Schindler and presented for the
first time in their new form. One of these, _A Miracle of the Virgin
Mary_, a fourteenth century canticle of Spanish Galicia, in which Mabel
Garrison's lovely voice was assigned an important rôle, proved to be
very beautiful. The whole program, indeed, aroused the deepest interest.
P. 62. "After the bull-fight": E. E. Hale ("Seven Spanish Cities")
achieved the almost impossible feat of writing a book about Spain
without having seen a bull-fight. One might as well attempt to write
a history of opera, after refusing to listen to Wagner's _Ring_. H.
T. Finck ("Spain and Morocco") was satisfied and disgusted with half
a bull-fight. His attitude is quoted and reflected in Baedeker....
More sympathetic and detailed accounts of this very popular Spanish
diversion may be found in Richard Ford's "Gatherings from Spain,"
Gautier's "Voyage en Espagne," Havelock Ellis's "The Soul of Spain,"
and de Amicis's "Spain and the Spaniards." Edward Penfield has
illustrated a bull-fight in his "Spanish Sketches." The chapter on the
bull-fight in John Hay's "Castilian Days" is very readable. The best
descriptions in fiction of the tauromachian sport that I know of are in
Frank Harris's very vivid story "Montes the Matador" (Gautier, by the
way, devotes many nervous pages to Montes) and in Edgar Saltus's early
novel, "Mr. Incoul's Misadventure."
P. 64. "often introduce dialogue of their own": This is no longer true,
Mr. John Garrett Underhill informs me, as the Sociedad de Autores has
forbidden such interpolations.
P. 64. "The Zarzuela": I am indebted to Mr. John Garrett Underhill for
the following remarks anent the zarzuela: "The zarzuela was originally
a three act romantic operetta, partly sung and partly spoken, and it
continued in this form until the introduction of the one act form in
the early eighties. The performances given at the Teatro de Zarzuela
were mostly in the more elaborate form, while the _género chico_
(lesser genre) made its home at the Apolo. With the change to one
act, the zarzuelas became more realistic--minute pictures of local
customs, etc., built up around characteristic songs and dances, so that
now the name has come to be pretty well synonymous with this species
of entertainment, while the longer older form is generally spoken of
as operetta. In other words a zarzuela is rather a musico-dramatic
entertainment that is strongly Spanish than merely a mixed form. _The
Land of Joy_ illustrates precisely this quality, although, having no
dramatic element, it is not a zarzuela.
"The most popular zarzuelas are all strongly coloured. They are _La
Alegría de la Huerta_, music by Federico Chueca, built up about a
scene of provincial merry-making, _La Verbena de la Paloma_ by Bretón,
dealing with a popular religious festival in Madrid, Manuel Nieto's
_Certamen Nacional_, Fernández Caballero's _El Cabo Primero_ and
_Gigantes y Cabezudos_, and Chapí's _El Puñao de Rosas_. All these are
in one act and the spoken parts are broad low comedy. To these must be
added Emilio Arrieta's _Marina_, in three acts, the best example of
the old form, showing strong Italian influence. _Marina_ is the sort
of operatic classic with Spaniards that _Pinafore_--another nautical
work--is with us.
"What is most distinctive in the zarzuela is its low comedy and
Spanish _sal_, together with that peculiar indiscipline so well
exemplified by _The Land of Joy_. In other words, the zarzuela is a
state of mind, just as Spanish music is an expression of Spanish life,
and unintelligible without some understanding of its symbols.
"It would be safe to say that every zarzuela has either a realistic low
comedy element or otherwise exhibits some direct form of theatricalism,
differentiating it in this respect from works of a purely artistic
category. Yet it is difficult to draw the line. The zarzuela is
not without a tang similar to that of our burlesque stage. The
analogue would be American burlesque written by playwrights of high
intelligence. Had Harrigan's _Mulligan Guards Ball_ been compressed
into one act, it would have been a typical zarzuela."
P. 65. "_La Gran Vía_": See note to page 14.
P. 65. "Usually four separate zarzuelas are performed in one evening
before as many audiences": At the Apolo. "The evening is divided into
separate sections--four or five are the usual number," writes Mr.
Underhill. "These are called _funciones_, each consisting of a single
play. If the first _función_ begins at eight, the second will follow
at nine or nine-fifteen, the third at ten, the fourth shortly after
eleven, and the last, which is commonly a farce, appealing perhaps to
the less puritanical elements in the community, at twelve or a quarter
after twelve. A similar system prevails in the afternoons. There is
considerable variation in the hours of the _funciones_ in different
cities, according to the character and habits of the population. In
some theatres performances are practically continuous.... A separate
admission is charged to each _función_.... Spacious and comfortable
waiting rooms are provided in which the audience gathers for the
succeeding _función_ previously to the conclusion of that actually in
progress, so that the delay incident to the necessary change is reduced
to a minimum, never exceeding a quarter of an hour. Meanwhile ushers
circulate through the aisles and boxes taking up the tickets of those
who remain, although in these popular theatres the reconstitution of
the audience is practically complete."
P. 69. "_villancicos_": On the program of the second historical concert
given by M. Fétis in Paris, November 18, 1832, devoted to music of the
sixteenth century, I find: "_Vilhancicos espagnols, à 6 voix de femmes,
avec 8 guitars obligées, composés par Soto de Puebla et exécutés dans
un concert à la cour de Philippe II (1561)._"
P. 70. George Henry Lewes gives some account of the drama in Spain,
touching on the zarzuela, in Chapter XIV of "On Actors and the Art of
Acting."
P. 70. "the Italian opera": In Gautier's day Bellini was the favourite
composer (see P. 215, "Voyage en Espagne").
John Hay writes in "Castilian Days" (1871): "It (Madrid) has a superb
opera house, which might as well be in Naples, for all the national
character it has; the Court Theatre, where not a word of Castilian is
ever heard, nor a strain of Spanish music.... The champagny strains of
Offenbach are heard in every town of Spain oftener than the ballads
of the country. In Madrid there are more _pilluelos_ who whistle _Bu
qui s'avance_ than the Hymn of Riego. The Cancan has taken its place
on the boards of every stage in the city, apparently to stay; and the
exquisite jota and cachucha are giving way to the bestialities of the
Casino Cadet."
It is well to remember in this connection that the Metropolitan Opera
House in New York and Covent Garden Theatre in London "might as
well be in Naples" too, "for all the national character" they have.
Our symphony orchestras, too, perform works by native composers as
infrequently as those in Madrid.
P. 75. To fill in the period between 1850-70 four names, inadvertently
omitted from the original text of "Spain and Music," are necessary,
those of Joaquín Gaztambide, Emilio Arrieta, Baltasar Saldoni, and
Francisco A. Barbieri. Joaquín Gaztambide, born February 7, 1822, was
a pupil of the Madrid Conservatory, and conductor of the "Pensions"
concerts at the Conservatory. He was the composer of at least forty
zarzuelas of which some of the titles follow: _La Cisterna Encantada_,
_La Edad en la Boca_, _Matilda y Malek Adel_, _El Secreto de la Reina_,
_Las Señas del Archiduque_, and _El Valle de Andorra_. He died March
18, 1870.
Emilio Arrieta, born October 21, 1823, was a pupil of the Milan
Conservatory from 1842 until 1845. Many of the best Spanish musicians
have received their training outside of Spain. His first opera,
_Ildegonda_, was produced at Milan. He returned to Spain in 1848. In
1857 he became a teacher of composition in the Madrid Conservatory and
later became director of that institution. He died February 11, 1894.
The extensive list of his zarzuelas and operas (there are about fifty
altogether) includes the following titles: _La Conquista de Granada_,
_La Dama del Rey_, _De Madrid à Biarritz_, _Los Enemigos Domesticos_,
_La Tabernera de Londres_, _Un Viaje á Cochinchina_, and _La Vuelta
del Corsario_.
Francisco Asenjo Barbieri, born at Madrid, August 3, 1823, studied
in the Conservatory there and after a varied career as member of a
military band, a theatre orchestra, and an Italian opera troupe,
became secretary and chief promoter of an association for instituting
a Spanish national opera and encouraging the production of zarzuelas,
in opposition to the Italian opera. _Gloria y Peluca_ (1850), _Jugar
con Fuero_ (1851) were the first of these zarzuelas, of which he wrote
seventy-five in all. He was also a teacher and a critic. He died in
Madrid, February 19, 1894.
Baltasar Saldoni (1807-1890), born at Barcelona and educated at the
monastery of Montserrat, was organist and teacher as well as composer.
His works include a symphony for orchestra, military band and organ,
_A mi patria_, a _Hymn to the God of Art_, operas and zarzuelas, and a
great quantity of church and organ music.
P. 76. "Felipe Pedrell": _El Último Abencerraje_ was sung in Italian
when it was produced in Barcelona in 1874. _Quasimodo_ is an operatic
version of Victor Hugo's "Notre-Dame de Paris." _Mazeppa_ (after
Byron) is in one act as is _Tasso_; _Cleopatra_ is in four acts. _Los
Pireneos_ is the first part of a triptych of which _La Celestina_ is
the second. The three parts are named respectively, Fatherland, Love,
and Faith. So far as I know the third part has not yet appeared. _La
Matinada_ is called "a musical landscape," for solo, chorus, and an
invisible orchestra.
Henri de Curzon, who translated _La Celestina_ into French, has an
exhaustive and extremely interesting account of Pedrell in "La Nouvelle
Revue," Vol. 25, P. 72, under the title "Un maître de la Musique
Espagnole." A highly laudatory essay on _La Celestina_ by Camille
Bellaigue may be found in his book entitled, "Notes Brèves." Bellaigue
tells how he received the score in 1903 but only found time to study
it during the rainy summer of 1910. His enthusiasm is unrestrained
although he has not heard the work performed. The title of the essay is
"Un Tristan Espagnol" and he says: "la joie et la douleur, l'amour et
la mort partout se touchent et se fondent ici. De leur contact et de
leur fusion, jamais encore une fois, depuis _Tristan_, l'art lyrique
n'avait aussi fortement exprime le sombre mystère." He calls the
work "le plus originale et le plus admirable peut-être, après _Boris
Godunow_, qui, depuis les temps déjà lointains de _Falstaff_, nous soit
venu de l'étranger."
P. 78. "_La Bruja_": Manrique de Lara says of this work: "This score of
our greatest composer broke abruptly with the Italian tradition which,
in form at least, had enslaved our musical productions until that time.
A new influence, having its high origin in works of pure classical
style whether symphonic or dramatic, led our steps down fresh pathways
in _La Bruja_."
P. 80. "_La Verbena de la Paloma_": Raoul Laparra told me that
Saint-Saëns admired this work so much that he had committed it to
memory and played and replayed it on his piano.
P. 81. A name that should be inserted here is that of Emilio Serrano,
born in the Basque city of Vitoria. He went early to Madrid, where he
studied the piano under Zabalza and composition, at the Conservatory,
with both Eslava and Arrieta. While very young he began to write
zarzuelas, the best of which belonging to this period is probably _El
Juicio de Friné_. His opera, _Mithradates_, in the Italian manner,
was produced in 1882 at the Teatro Real in Madrid. Later he produced
at the same house _Doña Juana la Loca_ and _Irene de Otranto_, for
which José Echegaray supplied the libretto. He wrote his own book for
_Gonzalo de Córdoba_, an opera in a prologue and three acts (1898).
His latest opera, _La Maja de Rumbo_, designed for the Lírico (now
the Gran) has been performed only in Buenos Ayres. He has written
a quartet, a symphony, a piano concerto and at least two symphonic
poems, _La Primera Salida de Don Quijote_ and _Los Molinos de Viento_.
Emilio Serrano succeeded Arrieta as professor of composition at the
Madrid Conservatory and there are few Spanish composers of the past two
decades who have not been his pupils.
P. 82. "Albéniz": G. Jean-Aubry writes of this composer: "One and all
the young composers of Spain owe to him a debt. Albéniz is Spain, as
Moussorgsky is Russia, Grieg Norway, and Chopin Poland.... _Iberia_
marks the summit of the art of Albéniz. Albéniz alone could venture
to place this title, both simple and proud, at the head of the twelve
divisions of this poem. One finds here all that emotion and culture
can desire. The composer here reached a sureness of touch and grasped
an originality of technique which demand much attention and which have
no ulterior object. He even at times sacrificed perfection of form.
There are no doubt fastidious critics who will find blemishes, but
such blemishes as exist are not detrimental to expression, and this
alone is important. In music there are many excellent scholars but
few poets. Albéniz has all the power of the poet--ease and richness
of style, beauty and originality of imagery, and a rare sense of
suggestion.... The _Preludes_ and _Studies_ of Chopin, the _Carneval_
and _Kreisleriana_ of Schumann, the _Years of Pilgrimage_ of Liszt, the
_Prelude_, _Choral and Fugue_, and the _Prelude_, _Aria and Finale_
of Franck, the _Islamey_ of Balakirew, the _Estampes_ and _Images_ of
Debussy, and the twelve poems of _Iberia_ will mark the supreme heights
of music for the pianoforte since 1830."
P. 82. "_Catalonia_": Henry J. Wood conducted a performance in London,
March 4, 1900.
P. 84. Tradition and often necessity have driven many Spanish composers
out of the peninsula to make their careers abroad. Victoria went to
Rome; Arrieta to Milan; Albéniz, Valverde, de Falla (and how many
others!) to Paris. Of late, indeed, Paris has been the haven of
ambitious Spanish composers who have been received with open arms by
their French confrères and where their music has been played by Ricardo
Viñes, the Spanish pianist, and by J. Joachim Nin, the Cuban pianist.
Viñes, indeed, has been friendly to the moderns of all nations. His
programs embrace works of Satie, Albéniz, and Ravel ... doubtless,
indeed, Leo Ornstein.
As a result some of the zarzuela writers who have stayed at home
have produced more characteristic Spanish music than some of their
more ambitious brethren. One of the reasons is explained by Mr.
Underhill in his essay on the Spanish one-act play: "Spaniards are very
particular about these things (the strict Spanish tradition without
foreign influence). They insist upon the national element, upon the
perpetuation of indigenous forms of expression, both in the matter
of literary type and convention, and in mere questions of speech as
well. Few writers of the first rank belonging to the past generation
have escaped reproach upon this score. They were expected not only
to spring from the soil but to taste of it." Equal demands are made
upon the zarzuela writers. As a consequence the zarzuela, although
scarcely taken seriously by either Spanish musicians or public, and
always, according to the pedants, in a tottering decadent stage, may be
considered the most national form of Spanish musical art.
I have referred to Joaquín Valverde in the text and his music has
become comparatively familiar to Americans through _The Land of Joy_.
José Serrano is another of the popular zarzuela writers. Perhaps his
best-known work is _El Mal de Amores_ for which the Brothers Quintero
furnished the book. Serrano's home is in Madrid where he belongs to
Benavente's _tertulia_. In the season of 1916-17 he organized a company
for the purpose of presenting his operas and zarzuelas and conducted a
campaign in the provinces. He was especially successful in Valencia.
His three-act opera, _La Canción del Olvido_, was first performed
during this tour. He recently rented the Zarzuela Theatre in Madrid
and has continued to give his own and other composers' works there,
including Usandizaga's posthumous _La Llama_. Other works of Serrano
are _La Reina Mora_ (zarzuela in one act, book by the Quinteros) and
_La Canción del Soldado_.
Here also I might mention Gerónimo Giménez, who was born in Seville.
As a boy he went to Cadiz, studying with his father and singing in
the cathedral. At sixteen he conducted a performance of an opera by
Petrella at Gibraltar, and in consequence became the conductor of a
number of Italian opera companies touring Spain and Portugal. The
Province of Cadiz granting him a pension for foreign study, he entered
the Paris Conservatory under Ambroise Thomas. He also lived for a
time in Milan. Returning to Spain he was engaged by Chapí, who then
controlled the Teatro Apolo at Madrid, to direct the orchestra at the
production of his new _El Milagro de la Virgen_. Later at the Zarzuela
Theatre he conducted the first performance of Chapí's _La Bruja_.
Still later he succeeded Luigi Mancinelli as conductor of the Sociedad
de Conciertos in Madrid; he held this post for twelve years. He is
a member of the Academia de Bellas Artes and composer of _María del
Pilar_ and numerous other zarzuelas, including _Las Panderetas_, _El
Baile de Luis Alonso_, _La Tempranica_, _El Húsar de la Guardia_, and
_Cinematógrafo Nacional_.
[Illustration: AMADEO VIVES]
Other light composers who may be listed are Rafael Calleja, Enrique
Brú, Alberto Foglietti, Pablo Luna, Vicente Lleó, and Arturo Saco del
Valle.
Of a more serious character is the music of Amadeo Vives, born at
Collbato. At the age of 10 he went to Barcelona to study with his
brother, a musician in a regimental band. He became an acolyte in a
church and his first compositions were written under the influence
of the organ music which he then heard. From Barcelona he strayed to
Málaga where he became a conductor, and from there he went to Madrid
where he played in churches and cafés indifferently, it would seem. At
times he was even reduced to peddling on the streets and to writing
musical criticism for a Barcelona paper. _Artús_ (after a Breton
legend), produced in Barcelona in 1897, established his fame. He
founded the celebrated Orfeó Catalá in Barcelona, afterwards directed
by Millet, and his male choruses written for this organization are said
to be among his best works. The list of his operas includes _Don Lucas
del Cigarral_, his first attempt at the traditional classic Spanish
zarzuela, produced in Madrid in 1899, _Enda d'Uriach_, for which Angel
Guimerá wrote the book (Barcelona; 1900); _Colomba_ (Madrid; 1910);
_Maruxa_, "égloga lírica en 2 actos" (1914); and _Tabaré_ (1914), and
about thirty zarzuelas including _El Tesoro_, _El Señor Pandolfo_, and
_Bohemios_.
Joaquín Larregla was a native of the mountain town of Lumbier in
Spanish Navarre. After some schooling at Pamplona he entered the
Madrid Conservatory under Zabalza and Arrieta. He has made somewhat of
a name both as pianist and composer. He is especially, according to
Manuel Manrique de Lara, the composer of Navarre, his works "evoking
the landscapes, songs, and traditions of his province." He is a member
of the Bellas Artes and an instructor in the Conservatory. His works
include _Navarra Montañesca_, _Miguel Andrés_, and _I Viva Navarra!_
The war, it may be suggested, has had a most salutary effect on Spanish
music, while it has killed the tonal art in most other countries. It
has driven the Spaniards, however, back into their own country and
thus may be directly responsible for the foundation of a definite
modern school of Spanish music. One of those to leave Paris in 1914
was Manuel de Falla, of whom G. Jean-Aubry says, "Today he is the most
striking figure of the Spanish school, tomorrow he will be a composer
of European fame, just as is Ravel or Stravinsky."
Manuel de Falla was born at Cadiz, November 23, 1877. He studied
harmony with Alejandro Odero and Enrique Broca; later he went to Madrid
where he studied piano with José Trigo and composition with Felipe
Pedrell. He was still under fourteen when the Madrid Academy of Music
awarded him the first prize for his piano playing. Between 1890 and
1904 he divided his time between composing and piano playing, both as
soloist and in concerted chamber music. The compositions of this period
were not published, however, and now de Falla cannot be urged to speak
of them. In 1907 he went to Paris, where, from the very first, he
received a warm welcome from Paul Dukas. Debussy was also friendly. His
only published works at this time were _Quatres Pièces Espagnoles_:
_Aragonesa_, _Cubana_, _Montañesa_, and _Andaluza_, for piano, and
_Trois Mélodies_: _Les Colombes_, _Chinoiserie_, and _Seguidille_,
words by Théophile Gautier. In 1910 he made his début as a pianist in
Paris and the following year in London....