The Princess Amalia, a pupil of Kirnberger, was a great upholder of the
rules of Thorough Bass, and a sharp critic. As Gluck did not care much
about many of those dry rules, it is perhaps not surprising that the
Princess Amalia did not care much about Gluck. What she thought of him
she has expressed forcibly enough in the following extract from a letter
to Kirnberger, who had sent her the opera 'Iphigenia in Tauris':--
"Mr. Gluck will, in my opinion, never pass for a clever man in musical
composition. He has, firstly, not the least invention; secondly, a bad,
miserable melody; and thirdly, no accent, no expression,--it is all
alike. He is very different from Graun and Hasse, but very similar
to.... The introductory piece ought to be a kind of overture; but the
good man does not like Imitations, and he is right, for they require
labour. However, he is more fond of Transposition. This is not
altogether objectionable; for, if a bar is often repeated, the hearer
will all the more easily remember it; but Gluck appears to transpose the
same idea from want of a new one. Finally, regarded in its entirety, the
opera is very miserable. Now, this is in the new taste which has a great
many adherents. However, I thank you for having sent it me. Through the
faults of others one learns to know one's own. Be so kind as to procure
for me the words of the whole opera; but, as regards the musical
notation, I am not yet wise enough to find it beautiful."
If the letters of musicians to princes are often sadly devoid of
sincerity, those of princes to musicians possess generally at least the
negative merit of not containing intentional misrepresentations, since
a prince has seldom a motive for disguising his likes and dislikes in
music. Whether the estimable Kapellmeister Schulz had committed the
indiscretion of suggesting to Princess Amalia that she was still capable
of some improvement as a musical composer is uncertain, but appears
probable, to judge from the following letter which she wrote to him
after he had sent her the manuscript of his choruses to 'Athalia,' with
the humble request for permission to dedicate them to her,--or, as he
expressed himself, "to preface the work with the adorable name of so
illustrious a connoisseur."
The reply he received from her is here translated from the German as
literally as possible.
"To the Kapellmeister Schulz in Rheimsberg.
I surmise, Mr. Schulz, that by an oversight you have sent me,
instead of your own work, the musical bungling of a child, since I
cannot discover in it the least scientific art; on the contrary, it
is throughout faulty from beginning to end, in the expression,
sentiment, and meaning of the language as well as in the rhythm.
The _motus contrarius_ has been entirely neglected; there is no
proper harmony; no impressive melody; the interval of the Third is
often entirely omitted; the key is never clearly indicated, so that
one has to guess in what key the music is meant to move. There are
no canonic imitations, not the least trace of counterpoint, but
plenty of consecutive fifths and octaves! And this is to be called
music! May heaven open the eyes of those who possess such a high
conceit of themselves, and enlighten their understanding to make
them comprehend that they are but bunglers and fumblers. I have
heard it said that the work ought to praise the master; now-a-day
everything is reversed and confused, the masters are the only ones
who praise themselves, even if their works are offensive. Enough of
this.