[Illustration: MALIBRAN]

FOR EVERY MUSIC LOVER

A SERIES OF PRACTICAL ESSAYS ON MUSIC

BY AUBERTINE WOODWARD MOORE

AUTHOR OF "FOR MY MUSICAL FRIEND" ETC. 

NEW YORKDODGE PUBLISHING COMPANY55 FIFTH AVENUE

Copyright, 1902, byDODGE PUBLISHING COMPANY

PRINTED IN U. S. A. 

Illustrations

1. MALIBRAN _Frontispiece_2. MOZART 223. BRAHMS 544. FRANZ LISZT 865. LILLIAN NORDICA 1186. PAGANINI 1507. JENNY LIND 1828. CORELLI 2149. SAINT-SAËNS 246

Contents

Preface 17

 How we can approach knowledge of music. Mistaken isolation of the art. Those who belong to the privileged class. Music, as well as religion, meant for all. Business of its ministers and teachers. Promise of the twentieth century. Fruitage of our own free soil. American world-view. Purpose of volume. 

The Origin and Function of Music 21

 Story of music affording knowledge of man's inner life. Mythology and legendary lore. Emerson's dualism. Music a mirror. Ruskin and art. Beethoven's lofty revelation. The real thing of Schopenhauer. Views of Carlyle, Wagner and Mazzini. Raw materials. Craving for sympathy in artistic type. Evolution of tone-language. French writer of 1835. Prince of Waldthurn, in 1690. Spencer's theory. Controversy and answer. Music of primeval man and early civilizations. The Vedas. Hebrew scriptures. Basis of scientific laws. Church ritual. Folk-music. Influence of crusades. Modern music architect of its own fortunes. Present musical vocabulary and literature. Counsel of Pythagoras. What Plato taught. Euripides on song. Auerbach. Martin Luther. Napoleon Bonaparte. Bain and Dr. Marx. Shakespeare, in Merchant of Venice. Wagner's unspoiled humanity. Tolstoi in art. 

Blunders in Music Study 43

 Voice from the unseen. Perverted soul. Normal instincts. Genius and talent. Æsthetic tastes. Musical sound and rhythmic motion. Average child. Frequent blunders. Appeal to intellect. Teacher with strong personality. Experimenting with beginners. Legal protection. Vienna musician. Class instruction. French solfège. English tonic sol-fa. Mrs. John Spencer Curwen. Rev. John Curwen. Time a mental science. Musical perception of the blind. Music in public schools. Phillips Brooks on school song. Compulsory study. Socrates. Mirabeau. Schumann on brilliancy. Unrighteous mammon of technique. Soul of music. Neglect of ensemble work. As to accompaniments. Underlying principles. Hearing good music. Going abroad. Wagner's hero. A plumed knight wanted. 

The Musical Education That Educates 61

 Symmetrical development. Well-rounded musician. Well-balanced individual. Profits proportionate to investment. Living force. What Goethe said. Rich harvest. Aristotle on command over mind. Music study many-sided. Madox-Brown on art. Mabie on beauty. Practical forces in shaping character, purifying taste and elevating standards. Master-works. Human voice as music teacher. Scientific methods of study. Both art and science. Mental discipline. Stephen A. Emory. Huxley on education. 

How to Interpret Music 73

 College professors on criticism and interpretation. External and technical forms. Distrusting impressions. Trampling on God-given intuitions. Throb and thrill of great art. Insight requisite for interpretation. Living with masterpieces. Three souls of Browning. Dr. Corson. Every faculty alive. Vital knowledge. Musical imagination. Technical proficiency. Head, hand and physical forces. In service of lofty ideal. Musical art work. Theme. Unfolding. Climax. Labor of composition. Mind of genius. Elementary laws. Tonal language. Karl Formes and operatic aspirant. Motto of Leschetitzky. Marks of expression. Adolph Kullak. Hans von Bülow. Pulse of music. Memory. Ruskin's fatal faults. 

How to Listen to Music 89

 Listening an art. Painting completed whole. Music passing panorama. Not translatable into words. To follow, even anticipate composer. Bach's absolute knowledge. Fire of Prometheus. Inner sanctuary of art. Science of acoustics. Prime elements. Dr. Marx and Helmholtz. Motive. Beethoven's fifth symphony. Phrase. Period. Simple melody. "God Save the King. " Our "America. " Masters of counterpoint. Bach's fugues. Monophony and polyphony. Classical and romantic. Heretic and hero. Hadow on musical laws. Form the manifestation of these. Good music versus ragtime. Dr. Corson on spiritual appeal. 

The Piano and Piano Players 105

 Pythagoras and musical intervals. Pan pipes. Portable organs. Monochords with keys. Guido d'Arezzo. Clavier type. Virginal in Elizabethan age. Early clavier masters. First woman court clavier player. Scarlatti and Bach. True art of clavier-playing. Sonata form. Where Haydn gained much. Mozart and Clementi. Pianoforte and improvements. Viennese school. Clementi school. Giant on lofty heights. Oscar Bie on Beethoven. Golden age of pianoforte. Piano composers and virtuosi, from Weber to the present time. Teachers and performers often corrupters of music. 

The Poetry and Leadership of Chopin 135

 Rubinstein on Polish patriot and tone-poet who explored harmonic vastness of pianoforte. Like exquisitely constructed sounding-board. Enriched and spiritualized the pianoforte for all time. Universal rather than individual experiences. National tonality. Zwyny and Elsner. Intimate acquaintance with Bach. Prince Charming of the piano. Liszt on Chopin. Raphael of music. Playing and teaching. Tempo rubato. Compositions. Schumann's words. Oscar Bie. 

Violins and Violinists--Fact and Fable 151

 Volker the fiddler. Nibelungen lay. Videl of days of chivalry. Bow fashioned like sword. Hagen of Tronje. Wilhelm Jordan, in "Sigfridsage. " Henrietta Sontag and the coming Paganini. Wagner's Volker-Wilhelmj at Bayreuth. Magic fiddles and wonderworking fiddlers. Grimm's Fairy Tales. Norse folk-lore. English nursery rhymes. Crickets as fiddlers. Progenitors of violin. The violin of Queen Elizabeth and her age. Shakespeare in Twelfth Night. Household of Charles II. Butler, in Hudibras. Viola d'amore in Milwaukee, Wis. Brescian and Cremonese violin-makers. Early violinists. Value and history of some violins. Strings and bow. Violin virtuosi from Corelli to our day. Mad rush for technique. 

Queens of Song 183

 Florentine lady, Vittoria Archilei. Embryo opera of Cavalieri. Peri's "Eurydice. " Euterpe. Marthe le Rochois and Lully's operas. Rival queens in London. Steele, in "Tattler. " Second pair of rivals, Cuzzoni and Faustina. Master Handel. Germany's earliest queen of song. Frederick the Great and German singers. Mrs. Billington. Haydn and Sir Joshua Reynold's St. Cecilia. Mozart's operas introduced into England. Catalani. Pasta. Sontag. Schröder-Devrient and Goethe's "Erl King. " Malibran a dazzling Meteor. Another daughter of Manuel del Popolo Garcia. Marchesi, Grisi and Mario. Manuel Garcia and the Swedish Nightingale. Other Swedish songstresses. Patti. Queens of song pass in review. Two Wagner interpreters. A Valkyrie's horse. A word for American girls. 

The Opera and Its Reformers 213

 Evolution of drama. At the altar of Dionysus. Greek poetry and music. Aristotle on Greek stage-plays. Æschylus and Sophocles. Euripides. Words, music and scenic effect. Lenæan theatre exhibitions. More costly than Peloponnesian war. Roman dominion. Primitive Christian church. St. Augustine. Mystery, miracle, morality and passion plays. Strolling histriones, etc. Florence "Academy. " Vincenzo Galilei. Monody. Polyphonic music. Emilio del Cavalieri. Vittorio Archilei. Music of Greeks recovered. Peri. Monteverde and his work. First opera house. Alessandro Scarlatti. Troubadours. Lully, Rameau and French opera. Purcell, Handel and music in England. Gluck, the regenerator. German opera. Mozart, Beethoven, Weber and Wagner. What came from Bach, Chopin and Berlioz. Rossini's melodies. Wagner's influence. Verdi, the grand old man. 

Certain Famous Oratorios 235

 Neri's oratory. Dramatized versions of biblical stories. Palestrina and harmonies of celestial Jerusalem. Religious dramas of Roswitha. Laura Guidiccioni's first oratorio text. Music by Cavalieri. At Santa Maria della Vallicella. Orchestra behind the scene. Description. Carissimi, "father of oratorio and cantata. " Alessandro Scarlatti. Another Alessandro. Dr. Parry's opinion. "San Giovanni Battista" and famous air. Tradition about Stradella. What recent writers say. Handel and the "Messiah. " Bach and the "Passion Music. " "The Creation" and Haydn. Beethoven's "Mount of Olives. " Mendelssohn, in "St. Paul" and "Elijah. " Oratorios of Liszt and Gounod. Next step in the evolution. 

Symphony and Symphonic Poem 247

 That adventurous spirit, Monteverde. Charm in exploring resources of instrumentation. Operatic overture. Forge of genius. Dance of obscure origin. Craving for individual expression. Touch of authority by Corelli. Cardinal Ottoboni's palace. Symphony, a sonata for orchestra. Purcell, Scarlatti, Sammartini and the Bachs. Monophonic style. Contrasting movements. German critic on early sonata. Further explanation. Meaning of symphony. Haydn with Esterhazy orchestra. Father of the symphony. Mozart. Beethoven. Schubert. Schumann. Mendelssohn. Berlioz, the musical heretic. His "fixed idea" and programme music. Liszt and symphonic poem. Saint-Saëns. Tschaikowsky and Russian spirit. Sinding. Grieg. Gade. Brahms and absolute music. 

Preface

We cannot gain experience by being brought into contact with theexperiences of others, nor can we know music by reading about it. Onlyby taking it into our hearts and homes, by admitting it to our intimatecompanionship, can we approach a knowledge of the art that has enrichedso many lives, even though it has never yet completely fulfilled itsfunction. At the same time, every music lover is helped to new ideas, inspired to fresh efforts, by suggestions and statements from those whohave themselves had deep experiences in their search for the innersanctuary of the Temple of Art. 

Musicians have been too much inclined to treat their art as something tobe exclusively appropriated by a favored class of men and women, and arethemselves greatly to blame for its mistaken isolation. True, music hasits privileged class. To this belongs the mind of creative genius thatcan formulate in tones the universal passions, the eternal verities ofthe soul. In it may also be numbered those gifted beings whoseinterpretative powers peculiarly adapt them to spread abroad theutterances of genius. Precisely in the same way religion has itsprophets and its ministers. Music, as well as religion, is meant foreveryone, and the business of its ministers and teachers is to convey toall the message of its prophets. 

The nineteenth century was the period of achievement. There is everyreason to believe that the twentieth century will be the period of stillnobler achievement, beyond all in the realm of the spirit. Then willmusic find its most splendid opportunity, and in our own free soil itwill yield its richest fruitage. Amid the favorable conditions ofliberty it will flourish to the utmost, and will come to afford blessedrelief from the pressure of materialism. During the era we are enteringno unworthy teacher will be permitted to trifle with the unfoldingmusical instincts of childhood. The study of music will take an honoredplace in the curriculum of every school, academy, college anduniversity, as an essential factor in culture. Then music among us willcome to reflect our deepest, truest consciousness, the Americanworld-view. 

It is with a desire to stimulate thought and incite to action that thepresent volume has been prepared for every music lover. The essayscontained in it have not previously appeared in print. They are composedto a large extent of materials used by the author in her lectures andinformal talks on music and its history. That her readers may be led toseek further acquaintance with the divine art is her earnest wish. 

Many thanks are due L. C. Page & Company, of Boston, for kind permissionto use the portrait of Corelli, from their "Famous Violinists, " by HenryC. Lahee. 

AUBERTINE WOODWARD MOORE. MADISON, WIS. 

FOR EVERY MUSIC LOVER

I

The Origin and Function of Music

One of the most interesting of the many interesting stories of ourcivilization is the story of Music. It affords an intimate knowledge ofthe inner life of man as manifested in different epochs of the world'shistory. He who has failed to follow it has failed to comprehend thenoblest phenomena of human progress. 

Mythology and legendary lore abound in delightful traditions in regardto the birth of music. The untutored philosophers of primitive humanityand the learned philosophers of ancient civilizations alike strove tosolve the sweet, elusive mystery surrounding the art. Through the mythsand legends based on their speculations runs a suggestion of divineorigin. 

The Egyptians of old saw in their sublime god, Osiris, and his idealspouse, Isis, the authors of music. Among the Hindus it was regarded asa priceless gift from the great god Brahma, who was its creator andwhose peerless consort, Sarasvati, was its guardian. Poetic fancies inthese lines permeate the early literature of diverse peoples. 

This is not surprising. Abundant testimony proves that the existence ofmusic is coeval with that of mankind; that it is based on themodulations of the human voice and the agitations of the human musclesand nerves caused by the infinite variations of the spiritual andemotional sensations, needs and aspirations of humanity; that it hasgrown with man's growth, developed with man's development, and thatits origin is as divine as that of man. 

[Illustration: MOZART]

The inevitable dualism which Emerson found bisecting all nature appearsalso in music, which is both spiritual and material. The spiritual partof music appeals to the spiritual part of man, addressing each heartaccording to the cravings and capacities of each. The material part ofmusic may be compared to the body in which man's spirit is housed. It isthe vehicle which conveys the message of music from soul to soul throughthe medium of the human ear with its matchless harp of nerve-fibres andits splendid sounding-board, the eardrum. 

Music is the mirror which most perfectly reflects man's inner being andthe essence of all things. Ruskin saw clearly that he alone can love artwell who loves better what art mirrors. This may especially be appliedto music, which offers, as a Beethoven has said, a more lofty revelationthan all wisdom and philosophy. 

Having no model in nature, being neither an imitation of any actualobject, nor a repetition of anything experienced, music stands aloneamong the arts. It represents the real thing, as Schopenhauer has it, the thing itself, not the mere semblance. Were we able to give athoroughly satisfactory explanation of music, he declares, we shouldhave the true philosophy of the universe. 

"Music is a kind of inarticulate, unfathomable speech, which leads us tothe edge of the Infinite, and impels us for a moment to gaze into it, "exclaimed Carlyle. Wagner found in music the conscious language offeeling, that which ennobles the sensual and realizes the spiritual. "Music is the harmonious voice of creation, an echo of the invisibleworld, one note of the divine concord which the entire universe isdestined one day to sound, " wrote Mazzini. Literature is rich in nobledefinitions of the divine art. 

From a matter of fact standpoint music consists of a vast concourse oftones which are its raw materials and bear within themselves thepossibility of being moulded into form. Utterances and actionsillustrating these raw materials are common to all living creatures. Adog, reiterating short barks of joy, or giving vent to prolonged howlsof distress, is actuated by an impulse similar to that of the humaninfant as it uplifts its voice to express its small emotions. The soundsuttered by primeval man as the direct expression of his emotions wereunquestionably of a like nature. 

The tendency to manifest feeling by means of sound is universallyadmitted, and sound, freighted with feeling, is peculiarly exciting tohuman beings. The agitations of a mob may be increased by the emotionaltones of its prime movers, and we all know that the power of an oratordepends more on his skill in handling his voice than on what he says. 

A craving for sympathy exists in all animate beings. It is strong inmankind and becomes peculiarly intense in the type known as artistic. The fulness of his own emotions compels the musician to utterance. Tostrike a sympathetic chord in other sensitive breasts it becomesnecessary to devise forms of expression that may be unmistakablyintelligible. 

Out of such elements the tone-language has grown, precisely as theword-language grew out of men's early attempts to communicate facts toone another. Its story records a slow, painstaking building up ofprinciples to control its raw materials; for music, as we understand it, cannot exist without some kind of design. Vague sounds produce vague, fleeting impressions. Definiteness in tonal relations and rhythmic planis requisite to produce a defined, enduring impression. In primitivestates of music rhythmic sounds were heard, defined by the pulses butwith little or no change of pitch, and sounds varying in pitch withoutregularity of impulse. A high degree of intellectuality was reachedbefore our modern scales were evolved from long-continued attempts atmaking well-balanced successions of sounds. As musical art advancedrhythm and melodic expression became united. 

The study of the origin, function and evolution of music, according tomodern scientific methods, is a matter of comparatively recent date. Aslate as 1835 a French writer of the history of music expressed profoundregret that he had been unable to determine when music was invented, orto discover the inventor's name. It was his opinion that musical man hadprofited largely from the voices of the feathered tribes. He seriouslyasserted that the duck had evidently furnished a model for the clarionetand oboe, and Sir Chanticleer for the trumpet. An entire chapter of hisbook he devoted to surmises concerning the "Music before the Flood. " Thepoor man felt himself superior to the poetic fancies of the ancients, which at least foreshadowed the Truth, but had found no firm ground onwhich to stand. 

Much finer were the instincts of Capellmeister Wolfgang Kasper, Princeof Waldthurn, whose historical treatise on Music appeared in Dresden in1690. He boldly declared the author of music to be the good God himself, who fashioned the air to transmit musical sounds, the ear to receivethem, the soul of man to throb with emotions demanding utterance, andall nature to be filled with sources of inspiration. The goodCapellmeister was in close touch with the Truth. 

It was in 1835, the same year that the French writer mentioned offeredhis wild speculations, that Herbert Spencer, from the standpoint of ascientist, produced his essay on the "Origin and Function of Music, "which has proved invaluable in arousing discriminating thought in theselines. Many years elapsed before its worth to musicians was realized. To-day it is widely known and far-reaching in its influence. 

In those inner agitations which cause muscular expansion andcontraction, and find expression in the inflections and cadences of thevoice, Herbert Spencer saw the foundations of music. He unhesitatinglydefined it as emotional speech, the language of the feelings, whosefunction was to increase the sympathies and broaden the horizon ofmankind. Besides frankly placing music at the head of the fine arts, hedeclared that those sensations of unexperienced felicity it arouses, those impressions of an unknown, ideal existence it calls forth, may beregarded as a prophecy to the fulfilment of which music is itself partlyinstrumental. Our strange capacity for being affected by melody andharmony cannot but imply that it is possible to realize the delightsthey suggest. On these suppositions might be comprehended the power andsignificance of music which must otherwise remain a mystery. Theprogress of musical culture, he thought, could not be too much applaudedas a noble means of ministering to human welfare. Mr. Spencer's theoryhas of late led to much controversy. Its author has been censured forsetting forth no explanation of the place of harmony in modern music, and for not realizing what a musical composition is. In his last volume, "Facts and Comments, " which contains many valuable thoughts notpreviously published, he declares that his critics have obviouslyconfounded the origin of a thing and that which originates from it. "Here we have a striking example of the way in which an hypothesis ismade to appear untenable by representing it as being something which itdoes not profess to be, " he says. "I gave an account of the origin ofmusic, and now I am blamed because my conception of the origin of musicdoes not include a conception of music as fully developed. If to someone who said that an oak comes from an acorn it were replied that he hadmanifestly never seen an oak, since an acorn contains no trace of allits complexities of form and structure, the reply would not be thought arational one;" but he believes it would be quite as rational as tosuppose he had not realized what a musical composition is because histheory of the origin of music says nothing about the characteristics ofan overture or a quartet. 

Of the music of primeval man we can form an estimate from the music ofstill existing uncivilized races. As the vocabulary of their speech islimited, so the notes of their music are few, but expressive gesturesand modulations of the voice supplement both. With advancingcivilization the emotions of which the human heart are capable becomemore complex and demand larger means of expression. Some belief in thehealing, helpful, uplifting power of music has always prevailed. Itremains for independent, practical, modern man to present the art to theworld as a thing of law and order, whose ineffable beauty andbeneficence may reach the lives of the average man and woman. 

Without the growth of the individual, music cannot grow; without freedomof thought, neither the language of tones nor that of words can gainfull, free utterance. Freedom is essential to the life of the indwellingspirit. Wherever the flow of thought and fancy is impeded, or theenergies of the individual held in check, there music is cramped. InChina, where conditions have crushed spiritual and intellectual liberty, the art remains to this day in a crude rhythmical or percussion state, although it was early honored as the gift of superior beings. TheChinese philosopher detected a grand world music in the harmonious orderof the heavens and the earth, and wrote voluminous works on musicaltheory. When it came to putting this into practice tones were combinedin a pedantic fashion. 

In all ages and climes music has ministered to religion and education. The sacred Vedas bear testimony to the high place it held in Hinduworship and life. Proud records of stone reveal its dignified rôle inthe civilization of Egypt, where Plato stated there had existed tenthousand years before his day music that could only have emanated fromgods or godlike men. The art was taught by the temple priests, and theeducation of no young person was complete without a knowledge of it. 

Egyptian musical culture impressed itself on the Greeks, and also on theIsraelites, whose tone-language gained warmth and coloring from variousOriental sources. Hebrew scriptures abound in tributes to the worth ofmusic which was intimately related to the political life, mentalconsciousness and national sentiment of the Children of Israel. Throughmusic they approached the unseen King of kings with the plaintiveoutpourings of their grief-laden hearts and with their joyful hymns ofpraise and thanksgiving. 

From the polished Greeks we gained a basis for the scientific lawsgoverning our musical art. The splendid music of which we read inancient writings has for the most part vanished with the lives itenriched. Relegated to the guardianship of exclusive classes its mostsacred secrets were kept from the people, and it could not possibly haveattained the expansion we know. 

Music has been called the handmaiden of Christianity, but may moreappropriately be designated its loyal helpmeet. Whatever synagogue orother melodies may have first served to voice the sentiments kindled bythe Gospel of Glad Tidings it was inevitable that the new religiousthought should seek and find new musical expression. 

In shaping a ritual for general use, an accompaniment of suitable musichad to be considered. The fathers of the church constituted themselvesalso the guides of music. Those forms which give symmetry andproportion to the outward structure of the tonal art were pruned andpolished under ecclesiastical surveillance until spontaneity wasendangered. Happily in the spirit of Christianity is that which everproves a remedy for the mistakes of law-givers. The religion thatinculcates respect for the individual has furthered the advance of musicand of spirituality. 

Beyond the confines of the church was another musical growth, springingup by the wayside and in remote places. Folk-music it is called, and itgives untrammeled utterance to human longings, human grief and despair, and human wondering over the mysteries of life, death and the greatBeyond. Untutored people had always found vent in this kind of music forpent-up feelings, and the folk-music of the Christian world, during theCrusades, gained a new element in the fragments of Oriental melodytransplanted into its midst. In time, through the combined wisdom ofgifted composers and large-minded ecclesiastical rulers, the music ofthe church and the music of the people became united, and modern musicwas born. 

Architecture, painting, sculpture and poetry possess practical proofs oftheir past achievements and on these their present endeavors arebuilded. Modern music has been compelled to be the architect of its ownfortunes. It is the one new art of our era, and, as the youngest in thefamily of arts, it has but recently reached a high state of development. 

During those eleven Christian centuries, from the latter part of thefourth century, when the corner-stone for our musical system was laid, until the wonderful exploration period of the fifteenth was welladvanced, the masters of music were absorbed in controlling the elementsof their art. Since then event has crowded upon event with rapidlyincreasing ratio. During the past two centuries the progress of the arthas been like a tale in fairyland. We now possess a magnificent musicalvocabulary, a splendid musical literature, yet so accustomed are we togrand treasure-troves we perhaps prize them no more than the meagrestores of the past were prized. 

Music is often mentioned in literature as a means of discipline, inspiration and refreshment. We read in Homer that Achilles wasinstructed in the art that he might learn to moderate his passions;Pythagoras, father of Musical Science, counseled his disciples torefresh themselves at the fount of music before retiring to theircouches at night in order to restore the inner harmony of their souls, and to seek strength in the morning from the same source. Plato taughtthat music is as essential to the mind as air is to the body, and thatchildren should be familiarized with harmonies and rhythms that theymight be more gentle, harmonious and rhythmical, consequently betterfitted for speech and action. 

"Song brings of itself a cheerfulness that wakes the heart to joy, "exclaimed Euripides, and certain it is a large measure of joy surroundsthose who live in an atmosphere of music. It has a magic wand that liftsman beyond the petty worries of his existence. "Music is a shower-bathof the soul, " said Schopenhauer, "washing away all that is impure. " Oras Auerbach put it: "Music washes from the soul the dust of everydaylife. "

Realizing the influence of music, Martin Luther sang the Reformationinto the hearts of the people with his noble chorals in which every onemight join. He called music a mistress of order and good manners, andintroduced it into the schools as a means of refinement and discipline, in whose presence anger and all evil would depart. "A schoolmaster, "said he, "ought to have skill in music, otherwise I would not regardhim; neither should we ordain young men to the office of preachingunless they have been well exercised in the art, for it maketh a finepeople. " It were well if teachers and ministers to-day more generallyappreciated the value of music to them and their work. 

Music is an essential factor in great national movements. Everycommander knows how inspiring and comforting it is to his men. NapoleonBonaparte, who was not readily lifted out of himself and who complainedthat music jarred his nerves, was shrewd enough to observe its effect onmarching troops, and to order the bands of different regiments to playdaily in front of hospitals to soothe and cheer the wounded. The onetune he prized, Malbrook, he hummed as he started for his last campaign. In the solitude of St. Helena he said: "Of all liberal arts music hasthe greatest influence over the passions, and it is that to which thelegislator ought to give the most encouragement. "

An art that in some form is found in the varied activities of allpeople, at all times, must be the common heritage of humanity. "It doesnot speak to one class but to mankind, " said Robert Franz, the Germansong writer. Alexander Bain called it the most available, universal andinfluential of the fine arts, and Dr. Marx, the musical theorist, thought music beneficial to the moral and spiritual estate of themasses. 

Truly indeed has it been said that its universality gives music its highworth. Mirroring neither your inner life alone nor mine, but theworld's essence, the transfiguration of what seems real, the divineIdeal, some spark of which glows in every bosom, each individual mayfeel in it whatever he is capable of feeling. The soul's language, ittakes up the thread dropped by words and gives utterance to thoserefined sentiments and holy aspirations words are inadequate to awakenor express. Its message is borne from heart to heart, revealing to eachthings unseen, according as it is prepared to receive them. 

In the Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare made Lorenzo speak to Jessica ofthe harmony that is in immortal souls and say that "whilst this muddyvesture of decay doth grossly close it in we cannot hear it. " To refinethis muddy vesture, to render the spirit attentive, to bring light, sweetness, strength, harmony and beauty into daily life is the centralfunction of music which, from the cradle to the grave, is man's mostintimate companion. 

Richard Wagner devoutly believed it would prepare the way for anunspoiled, unfettered humanity, illumined by a perception of Truth andBeauty and united by a bond of sympathy and love. This ideal union isthe goal at which Tolstoi aims in his "What is Art?" He defines art as ahuman activity to be enjoyed by all, whose purpose is the transmissionof the most exalted feelings to which men have arisen; but the union heproposes would have to be consummated by a leveling process. All artthat cannot without preparation reach the uncultured classes isdenounced by him. He is most bitter in his denunciation of Wagner, whofought for a democratic art, but who wished to attain it by raising thelowliest of his fellow-creatures to an ever loftier plane of highthinking and feeling. 

According to Tolstoi, art began to degenerate when it separated itselffrom religion. There must have been dense mist before the Russian sage'smental vision when he fancied this separation possible. Art, especiallymusical art, is a vital part of religion, and cannot be put asunder fromit. Like thought, music, since the bonds of church and state have beenbroken, has spread wide its pinions and soared to hitherto unsuspectedheights. All noble music is sacred. 

Amid the marvelous material progress of to-day music is more needed thanever. Unburdened by the responsibility of fact, it brings relief to thesoul from the grinding pressure of constant grappling with knowledge. The benefits of knowledge are great, but it is also beneficial to beuplifted, as we may be by music, from out the perplexing labyrinth ofthe work-a-day world toward the realm of the Divine Ideal. 

As a means of culture music is a potent factor in human civilization. Itis destined to wield even greater influence than has yet been known. Ithas become the household art of to-day. As it enters more and more fullyinto the heart of the home and social life it will more and more enrichhuman existence and aid in ushering in the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. 

If music can do so much for mankind, why are not all musicians great andgood? Ah, my friend, that is a hard question to answer, and can only befairly treated by asking another equally difficult question: Why are notall people who have enjoyed the advantages of religion wise and noble?Consider the gigantic machinery that has been put in motion topromulgate Christianity, and note how slow men have been to appropriatethe teachings of its founder. Slow progress furnishes no argumentagainst the mission either of religion or its comrade music. 

In common with religion music kindles our finer sensibilities and bringsus into an atmosphere superior to that which ordinarily surrounds us. Itrequires wisdom to beautify commonplace conditions with what has beenenjoyed in aërial regions. Rightly applied, music can lend itself tothis illumination. As it is better known, its advantages will be morecompletely realized. 

II

Blunders in Music Study

Like a voice from the Unseen, the Eternal, music speaks to the soul ofman. Its informing word being delivered in the language of the emotionalnature finds some response to its appeal in every normal human breast. Shakespeare indicated this truth when he had his Lorenzo, in theMerchant of Venice, say:

 _"The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils; The motions of his spirit are dull as night, And his affections dark as Erebus; Let no such man be trusted. "_

It is not the normal soul, fresh from its Creator's hands, that is fitfor such dire evils, but the soul perverted by false conditions andsurroundings. Where vice has become congenial and the impure reignssupreme, that which rouses and expresses noble aspirations and pureemotions can find no room. Normal instincts may also be dulled, theinner being made, as it were, musically deaf and dumb, by a falseeducation which stifles and dwarfs the finer feelings, or bycircumstances which permit these to remain dormant. 

The emotional natures of human beings differ as widely in kind anddegree as the intellectual and physical natures. In some peoplesensibility predominates, and the irresistible activity of fancy andfeeling compels the expression in rhythmic tone combinations of idealsgrasped intuitively. Thus musical genius manifests itself. No amount ofeducation can bring it into being, but true culture and wise guidanceare needed to equip it for its bold flight. "Neither diligence withoutgenius, nor genius without education will produce anything thorough, "as we read in Horace. Other people with marked aptitude for musicalexpression have reproductive rather than creative endowments. To thembelongs talent in a greater or less degree, and they are adapted topromulgate the message which genius formulated for mankind. Talent maybe ripened and brightened by suitable environments and fostering care. 

There are besides persons led by genius or talent into other avenuesthan those of the tone-world, and the great public with its diversegrades of emotional and intellectual gifts. The cultivation of theæsthetic tastes is profitable to all, and no agency contributes sofreely to it as music. Too many people engaged in purely scientific orpractical pursuits have failed to realize this. In those nations knownas musical, and that have become so through generations occupied withthe art, music study is placed on an equal footing with any other worthypursuit and no life interest is permitted to exclude musical enthusiasm. 

Unless disabled by physical defects, every one displays some sense ofmusical sound and rhythmic motion. It is a constant occurrence forchildren, without a word of direction, to mark the time of a stirringtune with hands, feet and swaying motions of the body. A lullaby willalmost invariably soothe a restless infant, and most children old enoughto distinguish and articulate groups of tones will make some attempt atsinging the melodies they have often heard. The average child beginsmusic lessons with evident pleasure. 

It should be no more difficult to strengthen the musical instincts thanany other faculties. On the contrary, it too often chances that a childwhose early song efforts have been in excellent time and tune, and notwithout expression, who has marched in time and beat time accurately, will, after a period of instruction, utterly disregard sense of rhythm, sing out of tune, play wrong notes, or fail to notice when the musicalinstrument used is ever so cruelly out of tune. Uneducated people, trusting to intuitive perceptions, promptly decide that such or such achild, or person, has been spoiled by cultivation. This is merely afailure to trace a result to its rightful cause, which lies not incultivation, but in certain blunders in music study. 

These blunders begin with the preliminary course on the piano or violin, for instance, when a child, having no previous training in the rudimentsof music, starts with one weekly lesson, and is required to practice aprescribed period daily without supervision. To the difficulties of anintroduction to a musical instrument are added those of learning to readnotes, to locate them, to appreciate time values and much else. Theteacher, it may be, knows little of the inner life of music, still lessof child nature. Manifold perplexities arise, and faltering throughthese the pupil acquires a halting use of the musical vocabulary, withother bad habits equally hard to correct. A constant repetition of falsenotes, wrong phrasing, irregular accents, faulty rhythms and ameaningless jumble of notes dulls the outer ear and deadens the innertone-sense. Where there is genius, or decided talent, no obstacle canwholly bar the way to music. Otherwise, it retreats before theblundering approach. 

Many a mother when advised to direct her child's practicing, or at leastto encourage it by her presence, has excused herself on the plea that itwould bore her to listen. If the work bores the mother it is notsurprising that the child attacks it with mind fixed on metal moreattractive and eyes seeking the clock. Occupations which are repellentin early life leave behind them a memory calculated to render themforever distasteful. It is therefore a grave mistake not to make musicstudy from the outset throb with vital interest. An appeal to theintellect will quicken the æsthetic instincts, be they never so slender, and almost any one will love work that engages all the faculties. 

Those pupils are fortunate who come under the influence of a teacherwith strong, well-balanced personality and ripe knowledge, and aretreated as rational beings, capable of feeling, thinking and acting. Toomany music teachers learn their business by experimenting on beginners. It has been suggested as a safeguard against their blunders, and allignorance, carelessness and imposture, that music might be placed underthe same legal protection accorded other important factors in sociallife, and that no one be permitted to teach it without a license grantedby a competent board of judges after the applicant had passed asuccessful examination, theoretical and practical. This would be well ifthere was any certainty of choosing suitable persons to select thejudges. 

A practical Vienna musician, H. Geisler, has recently created no littlesensation by asserting that the pianoforte, although indispensable forthe advanced artist, is worthless, even harmful, in primary training, and that the methods used in teaching it are based on a totalmisapprehension of the musical development prescribed by nature. Sensualand intellectual perceptions must actively exist, he feels, before theycan be expressed by means of an instrument. It is a mistake to presumethat manual practice can call them into being, or to disregard thesupremacy of the tone-sense. He considers the human voice the primitiveeducational instrument of music and believes the reasonable order ofmusical education to be: hearing, singing, performing. 

This order is to be commended, and might readily be followed if primaryinstruction was given in classes, which being less expensive thanprivate tuition, would admit of more frequent lessons and the servicesof a competent teacher. Classes afford the best opportunity for trainingthe ear to accuracy in pitch, the eye to steadiness in reading notes, the mind to comprehension of key relationships, form and rhythmicmovement, and the heart to a realization of the beauty and purport ofmusic. In classes the stimulating effect of healthy competition may befelt, an impulse given to writing notes, transposing phrases andmelodies, strengthening musical sentiment and refining the taste. 

Both the French Solfège method and the English Tonic Sol-fa system provethe advantage of rudimentary training in classes. Mrs. John SpencerCurwen, wife of the president of the London Tonic Sol-fa College, anddaughter-in-law of the late Rev. John Curwen, founder of the movement itrepresents, has applied to pianoforte teaching the logical principlesunderlying the system, which are those accepted by modern educators asthe psychological basis of all education. From her point of view themusic lesson may be made attractive from the moment the pupil is placedat the instrument. 

Time is taught by her as a mental science, with the pulse as the centralfact. She proceeds rhythmically rather than arithmetically, makingconstant appeals to that within the child which is associated withmusic. As the ear is expected to verify every fact, whether of time orpitch, she deems essential to profitable practicing the dailysupervision of some person who understands the teacher's requirements. 

Many times a child who can readily explain the relative value of everynote and dot will stumble in the time movement when confronted with amixture of the same notes and dots. This is because no mentalconnection has been established between the mechanical time sign and itssound, which is the outgrowth of instinctive impulses. Time confusionmay also be caused by confiding too implicitly in loud and persistentcounting, instead of trusting to the intelligently guided rhythmicpulse. 

The keenness of musical perception in the blind is a subject of frequentcomment. It is due to the fact that neither outer nor inner ear isdistracted by the organ of sight, and the mind is compelled toconcentrate itself with peculiar intensity on the tone-images arousedfor its contemplation. When one of the senses is weakened or lost, theothers become strong through the requirements made on them. This showshow much may be gained in music study by throwing responsibility onthose faculties it is desirable to develop. 

There are numerous promising schemes for class work in operation in ourown country, some of them offering excellent advantages to the student. From the music study in our public schools valuable results ought tocome in time. Thus far, unfortunately, it is too often conducted byteachers who are themselves without trained musical ability and whopermit their pupils to shout rather than sing music of an inferior orderto the accompaniment of a piano wretchedly out of tune. 

The much beloved Phillips Brooks once said: "A school song in the heartof a child will do as much for his character as a fact in his memory, ora principle in his intellect. " Unquestionably a love for good music, inspired during the formative period, is calculated to open unlimitedpossibilities, and ours could readily be molded into a musical nation ifa firm foundation for musical knowledge and appreciation were laid inour schools. After the rudiments were mastered, it could easily bedecided which pupils had a natural bent demanding special training. 

Where music study becomes compulsory the blunder of permitting thecompulsion to be felt must be avoided. Socrates of old, in Plato'sRepublic, advised making early education a sort of amusement. Those whoheed his counsel should not forget that in turning music studyaltogether into play work there is danger of weakening the will. Thetottering footsteps should be guided wisely, as well as tenderly, in thefirst approach to the Temple of Art, that the pupil may learn to walk, as well as to observe and think independently. We most prize beauty thatwe are able to discern for ourselves. We gain strength by intelligentlyconquering our own problems and perplexities. "Nothing is impossible, "as Mirabeau has said, "for one who can will. "

The aim of music study is to know music, to gain a correct conception ofhow it should sound, and so, as far as possible, to make it sound. Thisaim can never be reached by the mere cultivation of technicaladroitness. Untold sacrifices are made to-day to what becomes theunrighteous mammon of technique when the mechanical side of practice isexalted above its interpretative aspects. Schumann deemed brilliancy ofexecution only valuable when it served a higher purpose. That higherpurpose is to reach and express the soul of music. Unless enriched byit, all mechanism is dead. It is not desirable that every one shouldperform acrobatic feats on some musical instrument, or indulge in vocalpyrotechnics, but it is desirable to extract music out of whatevertechnique may be attained. Instead of racing onward with feverish hasteto ever increased technical skill at the expense of other development, it were well for the student to pause until each composition attacked, be it but an exercise, could be interpreted with accuracy, intelligence, and feeling. We should then have more musicianly players and singers. Weshould more often be brought under the magic spell of exquisitely shadedtone that may make a simple little melody alive with beauty. 

[Illustration: BRAHMS]

A grave blunder of our present music study is the neglect of ensembleplaying and singing. Some of the noblest music written is forpart-singing and for two or more instruments. Much profit and delightwill be the result of making its acquaintance. Four and eight hand pianoarrangements of the great overtures and symphonies, too, are valuableand enjoyable. They prepare the way for an appreciation of anorchestral performance of these masterpieces, and broaden the musicalhorizon. Where there are several music students in a family it is a pityfor them to confine their efforts exclusively to the piano, althoughevery musician should have some knowledge of this household instrument. That is a happy home whose members are united by the playing or singingof noble concerted music. 

It is an absurd error to suppose that fine soloists cannot succeed inensemble work, or as accompanists. Those who fail have been poorlygrounded in their art. They may give dazzling performances of worksbristling with technical difficulties, yet make a sad failure of someslow, tender movement that calls for musicianly understanding anddelicate treatment. The truth is, the requirements for an artisticaccompanist, or for artistic concerted work, are the same as for anartistic soloist: well directed musical aptitude, love of art, an earattuned to listening and large experience in sight-reading. 

The music pupils' public recital contributes no little to the blundersof the day in music study. Especially with piano pupils, the work of theyear is likely to be shaped with reference to the supreme occasion whenresults attained may be exhibited in the presence of assembled parentsand friends. The popular demand being for the mastery of technique, showy pieces are prepared whose mechanism so claims the attention thatthe principles underlying both technics and interpretation areneglected. Well-controlled hands, fingers, wrists and arms, withexcellent manipulation of the keyboard, may be admired at the recital, but little of that effective playing is heard which finds its way to thehearer's heart. A dead monotony will too often recall the letter thatkilleth because devoid of the spirit that giveth life. 

Sounding notes, even sounding them smoothly, clearly, and rapidly, isnot necessarily making music, and a succession of them without warmthand coloring is truly as inartistic as painting without shading. If itwere more commonly realized that it is an essential part of the musicteacher's vocation to train the mind and the emotions and through themthe will and the character, there would be a higher standard for themusic pupils' recital. No one would be permitted to play, or sing inpublic who could not give an artistic, as well as a technically correctperformance. 

Music students should lose no opportunity to hear the best music, bothvocal and instrumental. Heard with understanding ears one good concertis often worth a dozen lessons, yet many students know nothing in musicbeyond what they have practiced themselves, or heard theirfellow-students give at rehearsals or recitals. If they attend concertsat all, it is rather to observe some schoolmaster method in their ownparticular branch than actually to enjoy music. Trying to gain a musicaleducation without a wide acquaintance with the literature of music islike attempting to form literary taste without knowing the world's greatbooks. To bathe in the glow of the mighty masterpieces of geniusneutralizes much that is evil. In music they are the only authoritativeillustrations between notes and the ideals they represent; they form themodels and maxims by means of which we approach a knowledge of music. 

In view of hearing good music, breathing a musical atmosphere and beingglorified into artists, vast numbers of American girls seek foreignmusical centres. They are apt to go without suitable equipment, mentalor musical, and with inadequate pecuniary provisions. They expect toattain in a few months what they are doomed to discover would take yearsto accomplish, and cannot fail to suffer for the blunder. Many of themreturn home disappointed in their aims, and ruined in health. Many ofthem are stranded in strange lands. A crusade should be started againstindiscriminate going abroad for music study, without thoroughpreparation in every respect. 

The fact is, a free, true, fearless hero, such as Wagner found in hisSiegfried, is needed to slay, with his invincible sword, the dragon ofsordid materialism, and awaken the slumbering bride of genuine art. Astorm-god is wanted to swing his hammer and finally dissipate theclouds that obscure the popular vision. Some one has called for a plumedknight at the literary tournament, with visor down, lance in hand, booted and spurred for the fight with prevalent errors. One is equallyneeded at the musical tournament. 

III

The Musical Education That Educates

There is a musical education that educates, a musical education thatrefines, strengthens, broadens the character and the views, that ripensevery God-given instinct and force. It arouses noble thoughts and loftyideals; it quickens the perceptions, opening up a world of beauty thatis closed to the unobservant; it bears its fortunate possessor into acharmed atmosphere, where inspiring, elevating influences prevail. Itsaim is nothing short of the absolutely symmetrical development of thespiritual, intellectual and physical being, in view of making thewell-rounded musician, the well-balanced individual. 

The profits derived from a musical education are proportionate to theinvestment. Careless work, an utter disregard of principles, in otherwords, a mere dabbling with music, will afford but superficial results. It is precisely the same with a haphazard pursuit of any branch of art, science, or literature. Through music the soul of mankind may beelevated, the secret recesses of thought and feeling stirred, and everyemotion of which the individual is capable made active. In order toattain its full benefits it is imperative to use it as a profound livingforce, not as a mere surface decoration. 

"The musician ever shrouded in himself must cultivate his inmost beingthat he may turn it outward, " said Goethe. A true musical educationprovides culture for the inmost being. It tends to enlarge thesympathies, enrich social relations and invest daily life with graciousdignity. Those who gain it beautify their own lives and thus become ableto make the world seem more beautiful to others. Those who are neverable to give utterance to the wealth of thought and feeling it hasaroused in their hearts and imaginations are still happy in possessingthe store. After all, our main business in art, as in life, is tostrive. Honest effort meets with its own reward, even where it does notlead to what the world calls success. 

It has been said that he who sows thoughts will reap deeds, habits, character. The force of these words is exemplified in the proper studyof music, which results in a rich harvest of self-restraint, self-reliance, industry, patience, perseverance, powers of observation, retentive memory, painstaking effort, strength of mind and character. Topossess these qualities at their best abundant thought must be sown. Merely to ring changes on the emotions will not elevate to the heights. The musical education that educates makes of the reasoning powers alever that keeps the emotions in their rightful channel. 

Aristotle, who dominated the world's thought for upwards of two thousandyears, attributed his acquirements to the command he had gained overhis mind. Fixedness of purpose, steady, undivided attention, mentalconcentration, accuracy, alertness, keen perception and wisediscrimination are essential to achievement. This is true of giantminds; it is equally true of average intellects. The right musicaleducation will conduce to these habits. Musical education without themmust inevitably be a failure. 

Music study is many-sided. To make it truly educative it must be pursuedfrom both theoretical and practical standpoints. It should includetechnical training which affords facility to express whatever a personmay have for expression; intellectual training which enables a person tograsp the constructive laws of the art, its scope, history andæsthetics, with all that calls into play the analytic and imaginativefaculties; and spiritual development which imparts warmth and glow toeverything. Even those who do not advance far in music study would dowell, as they proceed, to touch the art on as many sides as possible, inview of enlarging the musical sense, sharpening the musical perception, concentrating and multiplying the agencies by virtue of which musicalknowledge and proficiency are attained. 

"Truth, " said Madox-Brown, the Pre-Raphaelite, "is the means of art, itsend the quickening of the soul. " Music does more than quicken the soul;it reveals the soul, makes it conscious of itself. Springing from thedeepest and best that is implanted in man, it fertilizes the soil fromwhich it uprises. Both beauty and truth are essential to its welfare. AsHamilton W. Mabie has said: "We need beauty just as truly as we needtruth, for it is as much a part of our lives. We have learned in partthe lesson of morality, but we have yet to learn the lesson of beauty. "This must be learned through the culture of the æsthetic taste, a matterof slow growth, which should begin with the rudiments, and is bestfostered in an atmosphere saturated with good music. 

Too much stress cannot be laid on the importance of hearing good music. When it falls on listening ears it removes all desire for anythingcoarse or unrefined. Constant companionship with it prepares the ear tohear, the inner being to receive, and cannot fail to bring forth fruit. The creations of noble minds form practical working-forces in shapingcharacter, purifying taste and elevating standards. A literary scholarcannot be made of one who has not been brought into close touch with theproductions of the great masters in literature, nor an artistic painter, or sculptor, of one who has never known a great painting or piece ofstatuary. Neither can a thorough musician be made of any one who isignorant of the master-works of music. It is well to realize, withGoethe, that the effect of good music is not caused by its novelty, butstrikes more deeply the more we are familiar with it. 

The human voice being practically the foundation of music and the firstmusic teacher, every well-educated musician should be able to use it, and should have a clear understanding of its possibilities andlimitations, no matter what his specialty may be. Composers andperformers alike will derive benefit from some dealing with the vocalelement. Vocal culture is conducive to health, and aids in gainingcommand of the nerves and muscles. They who profit by it will bestunderstand the varied nuances of intonation, expression and coloring ofwhich music is capable, and will learn how to make a musical instrumentsing. Likewise vocalists should familiarize themselves with otherdomains of their art, and should be able to handle some instrument, moreespecially the piano or organ, that they may be brought into intimaterelations with the harmonic structure of music. 

To make music study most effective the scientific methods of otherdepartments of learning must be applied to it. For the supreme good ofboth art and science need to be brought into close fellowship. Art isthe child of feeling and imagination; science the child of reason. Artrequires the illumination of science; science the insight of art. Musiccombines within itself the qualities of art and science. As a science itis a well-ordered system of laws, and cannot be comprehended withoutknowledge of these. As an art, it is its business to awaken a mood, toexpress a sentiment; it is knowledge made efficient by skill--thought, effect, taste and feeling brought into active exercise. 

No art, no science, affords opportunity for more magnificent mentaldiscipline than music. Moreover, a careful, earnest study of the artfurnishes a stimulus to activity in other fruitful fields. Althoughsubordinate to life and character it contributes freely to these, andits best results come from life that is exceeding rich, and characterthat is strong, true and enlightened through broad, general culture. Themusical education that educates develops something more than mereplayers and singers; it develops thinking, feeling musicians, in whomlarge personalities may be recognized. 

Stephen A. Emory of Boston, whose studies in harmony are widely used, and who left behind him an influence as a teacher that is far-reaching, divined the true secret of musical education, from the rudiments upward, and expressed his views freely and clearly. He thought it indispensablefor the musician to make music the central point of his efforts andequally indispensable for him to have, as supports to this, knowledgeand theories from countless sources. "It must be as a noble river, " hesaid of the pursuit of music; "though small and unobserved in itssource, winding at first alone its tortuous way through opposingobstacles, yet ever broadening and deepening, fed by countless streamson either hand till it rolls onward in a mighty sweep, at once a gloryand a blessing to the earth. "

To conquer music a musician must have conquered self. As music can nomore be absolutely conquered than self, the effort to gain the masteryover both necessitates a continual healthy, earnest striving, whichmakes the individual grow in strength, grace and happiness. Thatmusician has been rightly trained whose every thought, mood and feeling, every muscle and fibre, have been brought under the subjection of hiswill. Professor Huxley uttered the following words that may well beapplied to a musical education:

"That man, I think, has had a liberal education, who has been so trainedin his youth that his body is the ready servant of his will and doeswith ease and pleasure all the work that, as a mechanism, it is capableof; whose intellect is a clear, cold, logic engine, with all its partsof equal strength and in smooth working order; ready, like the steamengine, to be turned to any kind of work, and spin the gossamers as wellas forge the anchors of the mind; whose mind is stored with knowledge ofthe great and fundamental truths of nature and of the laws of heroperations, one, who, no stunted ascetic, is full of life and fire, butwhose passions are trained to come to feel, by a vigorous will, theservant of a tender conscience; who has learned to love all beauty, whether of nature, or of art, to hate all vileness, and to respectothers as himself. "

The correctness of applying the last clause to the musician will bequestioned by those who delight in enlarging on the petty jealousies ofmusicians. It will be learned in time that these foibles belong only topetty musicians, and that no one knows better how to respect others ashimself than one who has enjoyed the privilege of the musical educationthat educates. 

IV

How to Interpret Music

Certain learned college professors were once heard discussing methods ofliterary criticism and interpretation. They spoke of external andtechnical forms, and how magnificently these were illustrated in theworld's acknowledged masterpieces of literature. Every work read orstudied, they decided, should be carefully weighed, measured andanalyzed, and should be judged solely by the maxims and laws deducedfrom classical standards. The critical faculty must never be permittedto slumber or to sleep. Above all, the literary student should beware oftrusting to impressions. 

Not a word was uttered in regard to the contents of the masterpieces inquestion, the special emotions, the overwhelming passions they revealed, the mighty experiences of which they were the result. Nothing was saidabout the source of a great book in the life of its author, or its valueas a record of what many minds and hearts of an entire epoch havethought, felt and desired. The learned professors were so deeplyconcerned with what they considered the demands of strict scholarshipthat they lost sight of the spirit which animates every true work ofart. To them literature consisted of words, phrases, sentences, figuresof speech, classical allusions, and well-constructed forms. Theyregarded it apparently as an artificial product, compounded according totraditional and cautiously prescribed recipes. 

An aged man of letters present, one who was characterized by his ripescholarship, his richly cultured personality, sat listening in silenceto the conversation. Suddenly he rose up, and, in vibrant tones, exclaimed: "Where hath the soul of literature fled, its vital part? Ifwe are to trample upon our impressions the best that is within us willbe chilled. Of what avail is education if it does not lead to theunfolding of our God-given intuitions? Friends, if the trend of moderncriticism be to divorce literature from life, the throb and thrill ofgreat art will soon cease to be felt. "

The lesson conveyed by these words may with equal propriety be appliedto the field of music. Viewing certain current tendencies the culturedmusician is often moved to wonder where the soul of music has fled. Thecritical faculty is keenly alive to-day, but musical criticism, shorn ofits better part, musical appreciation, can never lead to the insightrequisite for true musical interpretation. Observation and perception, intellectual discernment and spiritual penetration are essential to gaininsight into a great musical composition until its musical ideas, thevery grade and texture of its style, are absolutely appropriated. 

In his "Death in the Desert, " Robert Browning tells of the three soulsthat make up the soul of man: the soul which Does; the soul which Knows, feels, thinks and wills, and the soul which Is and which constitutesman's real self. Appreciation of music requires the utmost activity ofall three souls. The more we are, the broader our culture, the more wethink, feel and know, the more we will find in music. Dr. Hiram Corson, commenting on Browning's words, says the rectification, or adjustment ofwhat Is, that which constitutes our true being, should transcend allother aims of education. If this fact were more generally accepted andenforced it could soon no longer be said that few persons reach maturitywithout the petrifaction of some faculty of mind and heart. 

Every faculty we possess needs to be keenly alive for the interpretationof the best in music. One who is accustomed to earnest thinking, quickobservation and sympathetic penetration will see, hear and feel muchthat utterly escapes those whose best faculties have been permitted tolie dormant, or become petrified. The interpreter of music must havevital knowledge of the inner, spiritual element of every work of art heattempts to reproduce. His imagination must be kindled by it, andmusical imagination is infinitely more precious than musical mechanism. 

It is by no means intended to underrate technical proficiency. No onecan be a satisfactory exponent of music whose technique is deficient, however profound may be his musicianly understanding and feeling. At thesame time, with every tone, every measure, mechanically correct, aperformance may fail to move the listener, because it lacks warmth andglow. Only they can make others feel who feel themselves, but sentimentis apt to be confounded with sentimentality unless it is guided by ascholarly mind. The more feeling is spiritualized with thought thenobler it will be. Heart and head need to operate in company withwell-controlled physical forces, in order that a fine interpretation ofmusic may be attained. Faultless technique, in the service of a loftyideal, indeed ceases to be mechanical and becomes artistic. 

A musical work of art originates in the deep well of the fertileimagination of genius, and can only be drawn forth when the composer isin that highly exalted frame of mind we call inspiration. The theme, ormusical subject, is a vital spark of the divine fire, and has flashedunbidden into his consciousness, demanding undivided attention for itslogical development. With infinite care he molds and groups the musicalfactors which are his working forces, and of which he has both anintuitive and a practical knowledge. The manifold forms he fashions allcombine for one purpose, and lead persistently to one grand climax, fromwhich they may return to the repose whence they came. Unity in diversityis the goal he sets before himself. All aglow though he is with the joyof artistic production, he dare not permit his mind to waver from thetask in hand. 

Music is not to be played with, and the labor of composition is notrifling matter. It demands the keenest mental activity, the mostprofound mental concentration. It demands consecration. The composerthinks and works in tones, in an ideal realm, far removed from therealities of the external world. His business is to bring his theme toits most magnificent unfolding, treating it with absolute definiteness, that his intention may be perfectly clear. 

It is the business of the interpreter of music to be so thoroughlyacquainted with the elements of which music is composed that he canpromptly recognize the color, complexion and individual character ofevery interval, chord and chord-combination, every consonance anddissonance, every timbre and nuance, and every degree of phrasing andrhythm. He must have so complete a mastery of his materials and workingforces that his imagination may be influenced unimpeded by theemanations from the composer's imagination which animate the movingforms he commands. 

It is his business to respond with his whole being to the appeal of themusical masterpiece he attempts to interpret, and so express theemotions aroused by it from their slumbers in his own bosom that aresponsive echo may be found in the bosoms of the listeners. A mostingeniously constructed music-box, with the presentation of acomplicated piece of music, may fail to move a heart that will bestirred to its depths by a simple song, into which the singer's wholesoul has been thrown. 

Though the mind of the inventive genius be a mystery that may not fullybe explained, its product is within the grasp of the intelligent seeker. The æsthetic principles of musical construction rest on certainelementary laws governing both the human organism and the phenomena ofsound, and may become familiar to any one who is capable of study. Inthe same way the established canons of musical expression, observed bythe skilful artist, consciously or unconsciously, are traceable tonatural causes. Without realizing the inherent properties of music, aswell as its technical possibilities and limitations, we cannot know theart. 

The tonal language is one that is not translatable into words. It iscomposed of an infinite variety of tone-forms, now sharply contrasted, now gradually blending into one another, all logically connected, alltending to form a perfect whole. The profusion of harmonic, melodic, dynamic and rhythmic changes it brings forth invests it with a meaningfar beyond that of words, a musical meaning. Every masterpiece of musicclothes in tonal form some idea which originated in the composer's mind. To the interpreter it is given to invest it with living sound. 

Chords and chord combinations all have their individual characteristics. Some cause satisfaction, for instance, others unrest. When a chord ofthe dominant seventh is heard, the educated musician knows that asolution is demanded. The unspoiled ear and taste instinctively feelsomething unfinished, and are disturbed if it be not followed by areturn to the key chord. Where the faculties are dormant or petrified, its significance will be unobserved. 

The story is told of a young lady whose musical education had beenutterly hollow and false, but who, having been overwhelmed with flatteryfor her voice and her singing, was deluded into a belief that she wasdestined to shine as a star on the operatic stage. She consulted thefamous basso, Karl Formes, who good-naturedly had her sing for him. Heperceived at once that she possessed neither striking talent noradequate training. 

As a supreme test he struck on the piano a chord of the dominantseventh, and asked the young aspirant for dramatic glory what shethought it meant. Presuming it to be incumbent upon a prospective primadonna to have uppermost in her mind the grand passion, she replied, in asentimental tone, "Love!" Promptly Karl Formes sounded the solution tothe chord. "There is your answer, " quoth he. "I ask a question, and itis thought I speak of love. Go home, my good girl, and seek some otheravocation. You have a fair voice, but you are tone-deaf. You can nevermake a musician. "

A favorite motto of the piano teacher Leschetitzky is, "Think ten timesbefore you play once. " If this rule were more generally observed weshould have better interpreters of music. A great composition shouldcompletely occupy mind and heart before it is attacked by fingers orvoice. In that case it would be analyzed as to its form, its tonalstructure, its harmonic relations, its phrasing and rhythms, and itsmusical intention would become luminous. The interpreter wouldunderstand where accents and other indications of expression shouldoccur and why they should so occur, and would be able, in however feeblea way, to find and reveal the true heart music that lies hidden in thenotes. 

It is never too early in a course of music study to consider therequirements of musical expression. Persistent observance of them willinevitably quicken the artistic sense. The rules to which they havegiven rise are for the most part simple and easily explained. Forobvious reasons, all musical interpretation is expected to imitate songas closely as possible. The human voice, the primitive musicalinstrument, in moments of excitement, ascends to a higher pitch, increasing in intensity of tone as it sweeps upward. Consequently everyprogression from lower to higher tones, whether played or sung, demandsa crescendo unless some plainly denoted characteristic of the musiccalls for different treatment. A descending passage, as a return totranquillity, requires a decrescendo. 

"The outpouring of a feeling toward its object, whether to the endlessheavens, or forth into the boundless world, or toward a definite, limited goal, resembles the surging, the pressing onward of a flood, "said the great teacher, Dr. Adolph Kullak. "Reversely, that feelingwhich draws its object into itself has a more tranquillizing movement, that especially when the possession of the object is assured, appeasesitself in equable onward flow toward the goal of a normal state ofsatisfaction. The emotional life is an undulating play of up-surging andsubsidence, of pressing forward beyond temporal limitations and ofresigned yielding to temporal necessities. The crescendo and decrescendoare the means employed in music for the portrayal of this manifestationof emotional life. "

Another important matter which may to a great extent be reduced to ruleis that of accentuation. Through it a tone-picture is invested withanimation, and a clue is given to the disposition of tonal forms. Accents are always required to mark the entrance of a theme, a phrase ora melody. Where there are several voices, or parts, as in a fugue, eachvoice denotes its appearance with an accent. Every daring assertionhazarded in music, as in speech, demands special emphasis. Dissonancesneed to be brought out in such prominence that they may not appear to beaccidental misconceptions, and that confident expectation may be arousedof their ultimate resolution. Accentuation must be regulated by theclaims of musical delivery. At all times too gentle an accent is withouteffect, too glaring an accent is to be condemned. 

Hans von Bülow strenuously advised young musicians to cultivate theirears and strive to attain musical beauty in what is termed phrasing, which he regarded as the real beginning of greatness in a performer. Phrasing and time keeping are two of the prime essentials in musicaldelivery, and cannot be neglected with impunity. 

Time may well be called the pulse of music. Upon some occasions thepulse beats more rapidly than others. It is incumbent on the interpreterof music to ascertain the harmonic and other causes which determine thetempo of a musical composition, as well as those which make slightvariations from it admissible. Among other points to be noted is thefact that sudden transition from repose to restless activity calls foran accelerando, while the reverse requires a rallentando. 

It is absolutely imperative for one who would interpret music tocultivate the memory. The musician who cannot play or sing without notesis compelled to expend a large amount of mental activity on readingthese, and will find it difficult to heed the manifold requirements ofmusical expression and delivery, of which a few hints have here beengiven. A musical composition is never thoroughly understood until it hasbeen intelligently memorized. One who can play or sing without notes isas free as a bird to soar aloft in the blue ether of musicalimagination. 

[Illustration: FRANZ LISZT]

Every interpreter of music longs for appreciative listeners, and youngmusicians, in especial, often lament the lack of these. It is well toremember that the genuine musical artist is able to create an atmospherewhose influences may compel an average audience to sympatheticlistening. A good plan for the artist is to be surrounded in fancy withan audience having sensitively attuned ears, intellectual minds, andwarm, throbbing hearts. Music played in private before such an imaginaryaudience will gain in quality, and when repeated before an actual publicwill hold that public captive. 

We have it from Ruskin that all fatal faults in art that might otherwisebe good arise from one or other of three things: either from thepretence to feel what we do not; the indolence in exercise necessary toobtain the power of expressing the Truth; or the presumptuous insistenceupon, or indulgence in, our own powers and delights, with no care orwish that they should be useful to other people, so only they should beadmired by them. 

These three fatal faults must be avoided, or conquered, by the personwho would interpret music. 

V

How to Listen to Music

Listening is an art. It requires close and accurate attention, sympathy, imagination and genuine culture. Listening to music is an art of highdegree. Many derive exquisite enjoyment from it, for music is potent anduniversal in its appeal. To listen intelligently to music is anaccomplishment few have acquired. 

A great painting presents itself as a completed whole before theobserver's eye. It holds on the canvas the fixed place given it by themaster from whose genius it proceeded. No intermediary force is neededto come between it and the impression it makes on the beholder. Music, on the contrary, must be aroused from the written, or printed page toliving tone by the hand or voice of the interpreter, and but a fragmentat a time can be made perceptible to the listener's ear. Like apanorama, it comes and goes before the imagination, its kaleidoscopictints and forms now sharply contrasted, now almost imperceptiblygraduated one into the other, but all shaping themselves into a logicalunion, stamped with the design of a creative mind. Properly to inspectthe successive musical images, and grasp their significance, in partsand as a whole, demands keen mental alertness. 

Many are content to listen to music for the mere sensuous impression itcreates as it wraps itself about the inner being, lulling a perturbedspirit to rest, or awakening longing and aspiration, joy and sadness, according to the nature of the music and the hearer's mood. Some eventake pleasure in formulating into words the sensations evoked by the ebband flow of the tonal waves, and fancy they are thus derivingintellectual profit from music. 

From both ways of listening helpful results may accrue, but by no meansthe greatest. Music is far beyond words, and in attempting to translateit into these we miss its musical meaning, the best that is in it. Aslisteners we derive our highest æsthetic and intellectual satisfactionfrom the ability to follow, even anticipate, the composer's intention, now finding our expectations fulfilled, now being agreeablydisappointed. Failure to catch the opening phrase and preliminaryrhythms of the composition makes it impossible to appreciate the tonalforms into which they develop. Nor may the mind linger over any onepart, if we would grasp the work as an unbroken whole. That musicalcreation alone can afford the noblest delights that prompts and rewardsthe act of thus closely following the composer's thought. 

An instance of absolute knowledge of music appears in an anecdote toldof Johann Sebastian Bach. When he was present at the performance of afugue and one of his two most musical sons was with him, he would, assoon as the theme was heard, whisper what devices and developments hethought should be introduced. If the composer had conformed to his ideaof construction he would jog his son to call attention to the fact. Otherwise, his exceeding modesty and reverent comprehension of thedifficulties of the art made him the most lenient of critics. 

Few have reached the luminous heights this master of masters trod. Evena well-cultivated ear and taste may often be baffled by the intricaciesof a fugue, symphony or other great work of musical art heard for thefirst time. The best listener beyond the pale of genius will at timesfeel as one astray in a labyrinth of beauty to which for the moment noclue appears. A single representation will rarely suffice to reveal thefull worth of a masterpiece of music. By hearing it often, by admittingit, or some reproduction of it, to our own fireside, we will becomefamiliar with its contents and learn truly to know it. 

Those who are fortunate enough to have been surrounded from childhood upby the choicest gems of the tonal language, and whose minds are of thedeceptive order, will insensibly attain a refinement of taste anddelicacy of perception no learned dissertation on music could afford. Atthe same time, an acquaintance with the materials and elements of whichthe art is composed and with the laws that govern them, is essential toenable even one who has heard much to gain the complete enjoyment thatcomes from understanding. Confident as we are that Prometheus capturedhis fire from Heaven, we ought to learn something of its attributesbefore we accept it at his hands, that we may be able to distinguish atrue spark of the divine flame from a phosphorescent will-o'-the-wisp. 

The idea so largely accepted that music is an unfathomable mystery, likeall half truths has wrought much mischief, and has greatly retardedmusical progress in social life. Behind the Divine Art, as behindReligion, lies the inscrutable mystery of Life, and in both there is aHoly of Holies only the consecrated may enter. Before the portals ofthis are reached there is a broad, fertile field for intellectualactivity that all may work to advantage, preparing the way to the innersanctuary. 

The musician is continually confronted with fresh evidence of thepopular ignorance, even among students of music, in regard to theoutward form and inner grace of what is conceded to be the most popularof all arts. In a roomful of professed music lovers a definition ofcounterpoint was recently called for, and no one present could give anintelligent answer. This led to a discussion of musical questions whichresulted in the disclosure that not one of the company could definemelody, harmony or rhythm, or had the slightest conception of themeaning of the simplest component parts of the art in whose service theywere making plentiful sacrifices. Some knowledge of these things isabsolutely imperative, not alone to the student, but to one as well whowould listen intelligently to music. 

Sound and motion constitute the essence of music. Its raw materials arean infinitely rich mass of musical sounds that bear within themselvesthe possibility of being molded into form. By the musical builders ofthe past they have been carefully considered, mathematicallycalculated, and have finally resolved themselves into a recognizedscale, composed of tones and half tones. These are the composer'splastic resources. He shapes them precisely as the sculptor fashions thepliable clay with which he strives to bring his ideal to realization. 

All sounds are the result of atmospheric vibrations affecting the ear. Musical sound, or tone, is produced by regular vibrations, and differsfrom mere noise whose vibrations are irregular and confused. The pitchof a musical tone rises in proportion with the rapidity of thevibrations that produce it. Tones may be perceived by the human earranging from about sixteen vibrations in a second to nearly fortythousand, more than eleven octaves. Only about seven octaves are used inmusic. The science of acoustics is full of interesting facts of thiskind, and is of profound value to any one who would gain an insight intothe structure of music. It is unfortunately much neglected. 

The prime elements of music are Melody, Harmony and Rhythm. They areperhaps as little realized as its raw materials. Melody is a wellordered succession of musical sounds, heard one at a time, and selectedfrom a defined, accepted series, not taken at random from aheterogeneous store. Harmony is a combination of well-ordered soundsheard simultaneously, and with suitable concord, or agreement. Rhythm ismeasured movement, or the periodical recurrence of accent; and signifiessymmetry and proportion. 

Melody, unexhausted and inexhaustible, is the initial force, or, as Dr. Marx has called it, the life-blood of music. Within itself it bears thegerm of harmony and rhythm. A succession of tones without harmonious andrhythmic regulation would be felt to lack something. Melody has beendesignated the golden thread running through the maze of tone, by whichthe ear is guided and the heart reached. Helmholtz styled it theessential basis of music. In a special sense, it is artisticallyconstructed song. The creation of an expressive melody is a sure mark ofgenius. 

Harmony arranges musical sounds with reference to their union, and isregulated by artistic and æsthetic rules and requirements. It hasendless modes of transforming, inverting and intensifying its materials, thus continually affording new means of development. All the intervalsand chords used in music had to be discovered, one by one. It often tookmore than a century to bring into a general use a chord effectintroduced by some adventuresome spirit. Our scale intervals are theslowly gained triumphs of the human mind. Modern music did not emergefrom the darkness of the past until harmony, as we know it, came intoactive being. 

Both melody and harmony are controlled by rhythm. It is the master forceof the musical organism. Before man was the ebb and flow of nature hadits rhythm. On this elementary rhythm, the one model music finds innature, the inventive mind of man has builded the wonderfully impressiveart rhythms existing in the masterpieces of music. 

Melodies are made up of smaller fragments, known as motives, phrasesand periods, or sentences, all of which are judiciously repeated andvaried, and derive their individuality from the characteristics of theirintervals and rhythms. 

A motive is the text of a musical composition, the theme of itsdiscourse. The most simple motive, with proper handling, may grow into amajestic structure. In Beethoven's Fifth Symphony three G flats ineighth notes, followed by an E flat in a half note, form a text, as ofFate knocking at the door, which, when developed, leads to tremendousconflict ending in victory. Those notes that repeat and modify themotive and are combined under one slur constitute the phrase, which issimilar to a clause in a sentence of words. A period, or sentence, inmusic, comprises a musical idea, complete in itself, though of a natureto produce, when united with other harmonious ideas, a perfect whole. 

A simple melody is usually composed of eight measures, or some numberdivisible by four. There are exceptions, as in "God Save the King, " our"America, " of which the first part contains six measures, the secondpart eight. 

Habit and instinct show us that no melody can end satisfactorily withoutsome cadence leading to a note belonging to the tonic or key chord. Veryoften the first part of a melody will end on a note of the dominantchord, from which a progression will arise in the second part that leadssatisfactorily to a concluding note in the tonic chord. 

Counterpoint, literally point against point, is the art of so composingmusic in parts that several parts move simultaneously, making harmony bytheir combination. During the fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth andeighteenth centuries the masters of counterpoint shaped the musicalmaterials in use to-day. So anxious were they to attain perfection ofform they often lost sight of the spirit which alone can give vitalityto musical utterances. The great Bach infused this into his fugues, thehighest manifestation of the contrapuntal, or polyphonic music of old. 

Meanwhile the growth of the individual led to the growth of monophonyin music, in which one voice stands out prominently, with anaccompaniment of other voices. Its instrumental flower was reached inthe symphony. Melody reigns supreme in monophonic music. Both the canonand the fugue form a commonwealth, in which all voices are rated alike. Viewed rightly, this suits the modern democratic instinct, and there isto-day a tendency to return to polyphonic writing. It is individualityin union. In the hands of genius it affords the most refined kind ofharmony. 

A thorough knowledge of counterpoint shows the mistake of regarding itmerely as a dull relic of a dead past. It is a living reality that, ifcorrectly studied, leads to a solid, dignified, flowing style, rich indesign, and independent in its individuality. Counterpoint, said acritic in the London Musical News, shows the student how to make aharmonic phrase like a well-shaped tree, of which every bough, twig andleaf secures for itself the greatest independence, the fullest measureof light and air. Composer, interpreter and listener may all profit bya comprehension of counterpoint. 

From its infancy modern music has been affected by two perpetuallywarring factors, the Classical and the Romantic. The first demandsreverence for established ideals of formal beauty; the second, strikinga note of revolt, compels recognition of new ideals. As in all otherdepartments of art and life, progress in music comes through thecontinual conflict between the conservative and the radical forces. Aposition viewed as hazardous and unsuitable in one age, becomes theaccepted position of the next, and those who have been denounced asmusical heretics come to be regarded as musical heroes. Very often theuntutored public, trusting to natural instincts, will be in advance ofthe learned critic in accepting some startling innovation. Old laws maypass away, new laws may come, but the eternal verities on which allmanifestations of Truth and Beauty are based can never cease to be. 

"The scientific laws of music are transitory, because they have beententatively constructed during the gradual development of the musicalfaculty, " says W. H. Hadow, in his valuable "Studies in Modern Music. ""No power in man is born at full growth; it begins in germ, andprogresses according to the particular laws that condition its nature. Hence it requires one kind of treatment at one stage, another atanother, both being perfectly right and true in relation to their properperiod. But there are behind these special rules certain psychologicallaws which seem, so far as we can understand them, to be coeval withhumanity itself; and these form the permanent code by which music is tobe judged. The reason why, in past ages, the critics have been so oftenand so disastrously at fault is that they have mistaken the transitoryfor the permanent, the rules of musical science for the laws of musicalphilosophy. "

An acquaintance with form as the manifestation of law is essential to anintelligent hearing of music. The listener should have at least arudimentary knowledge of musical construction from the simplest balladto the most complex symphony. Having this knowledge it will be possibleto receive undisturbed the impressions music has to give, and todistinguish the trivial and commonplace from the noble and beautiful. 

The oftener good music is heard the more completely it will beappreciated. Therefore, they listen best to music who hear the bestcontinually. The assertion is often heard that a person must be educatedup to an enjoyment of high class music. Certainly, one who has heardnothing else must be educated down to an enjoyment of ragtime, with itscrude rhythms. 

"We know a true poem to the extent to which our spirits respond to thespiritual appeal it makes, " says Dr. Hiram Corson. It is the same with atrue musical composition. We must take something to it, in order toreceive something from it. Beyond knowledge comes the intuitive feelingwhich is enriched by knowledge. Through it we may feel the breath oflife, the spiritual appeal, which belongs to every great work of art andwhich must forever remain inexplicable. 

VI

The Piano and Piano Players

When Pythagoras, Father of Musical Science, some six centuries beforeour era, marked and sounded musical intervals by mathematical divisionon a string stretched across a board, he was unconsciously laying thefoundation for our modern pianoforte. How soon keys were added to themonochord, as this measuring instrument was named, cannot positively beascertained. We may safely assume it was not slow in adopting the rudekeyboard ascribed by tradition to Pan pipes, and applied to the portableorgan of early Christian communities. 

After the tenth century the development of the monochord seems to havebegun in earnest. Two or more strings of equal length are now dividedand set in motion by flat metal wedges, attached to the key levers, andcalled tangents, because they touched the strings. In response to thedemand for increased range, as many as twenty keys were brought to acton a few strings, commanding often three octaves. Guido d'Arezzo, thefamous sight-reading music teacher of the eleventh century, advised hispupils to "exercise the hand in the use of the monochord, " showing hisknowledge of the keyboard. The keyed monochord gained the nameclavichord. Its box-like case was first placed on a table, later on itsown stand, and increased in elegance. Not until the eighteenth centurywas each key provided with a separate string. 

No unimped triumphal progress can be claimed for the various claviers orkeyboard instruments that came into use. Dance music found in them acongenial field, thus causing many serious-minded people to regard themas dangerous tempters to vanity and folly. In the year 1529, PietroBembo, a grave theoretician, wrote to his daughter Helena, at herconvent school: "As to your request to be allowed to learn the clavier, I answer that you cannot yet, owing to your youth, understand thatplaying is only suited for volatile, frivolous women; whereas I desireyou to be the most lovable maiden in the world. Also, it would bring youbut little pleasure or renown if you should play badly; while to playwell you would be obliged to devote ten or twelve years to practice, without being able to think of anything else. Consider a moment whetherthis would become you. If your friends wish you to play in order to givethem pleasure, tell them you do not desire to make yourself ridiculousin their eyes, and be content with your books and your domesticoccupations. "

A different view was entertained in England during Queen Elizabeth'sreign, where claviers were in vogue styled virginals, because, as anancient chronicle explained, "virgins do most commonly play on them. "The virginal was usually of oblong shape, often resembling a lady'sworkbox. With the Virgin Queen it was a prime favorite, although notnamed expressly for her as the flattering fashion of the time led manyto assume. If she actually did justice to some of the airs withvariations in the "Queen Elizabeth Virginal Book, " she must indeed havebeen proficient on the instrument. Quaint Dr. Charles Burney (1726-1814)declares, in his "History of Music, " that no performer of his day couldplay them without at least a month's practice. 

The clavier gave promise of its destined career in the Elizabethan age. Shakespeare immortalized it, and William Byrd (1546-1623) became thefirst clavier master. He and Dr. John Bull (1563-1628), says Oscar Bie, in his great work on "The Clavier and Its Masters, " "represent the twotypes which run through the entire history of the clavier. Byrd was themore intimate, delicate, spiritual intellect; Bull the untamed genius, the brilliant executant, the less exquisitely refined artist. It issignificant that these two types stand together on the threshold ofclavier art. " Bull had gained his degree at Oxford, the founding ofwhose chair of music is popularly attributed to Alfred the Great. 

As early as the year 1400 claviers had appeared whose strings wereplucked by quills attached to jacks at the end of the key levers. Tothis group belonged the virginal, or virginals, the clavicembalo, theharpsichord, or clavecin, and the spinet. Stops were added, as in theorgan, that varied effects might be produced, and a second keyboard wasoften placed above the first. The case was either rectangular, orfollowed the outlines of the harp, a progenitor of this clavier type. Itwas often highly ornamented, and handsomely mounted. Each string fromthe first had its due length and was tuned to its proper note. 

The secular music principle of the sixteenth century that called intoactive being the orchestra led also to a desire for richer musicalexpression in home and social life than the fashionable lute afforded, and the clavier advanced in favor. In France, by 1530, the dance, thatpromoter of pure instrumental music, was freely transcribed for theclavier. Little more than a century later, Jean Baptiste Lully(1633-1687) extensively employed the instrument in the orchestration ofhis operas, and wrote solo dances for it. 

François Couperin (1668-1733), now well-nigh forgotten, although oncementioned in the same breath with Molière, wrote the pioneer clavierinstruction book. In it he directs scholars how to avoid a harsh tone, and how to form a legato style. He advises parents to select teachers onwhom implicit reliance may be placed, and teachers to keep the claviersof beginners under lock and key that there may be no practicing withoutsupervision. His suggestions deserve consideration to-day. 

He was the first to encourage professional clavier-playing among women. His daughter Marguerite was the first woman appointed official courtclavier player. He composed for the clavier little picture tunes, designed to depict sentiments, moods, phases of character and scenesfrom life. He fashioned many charming turns of expression, introducedan occasional tempo rubato, foreshadowed the intellectual element inmusic and laid the corner-stone of modern piano-playing. Jean PhilippeRameau (1683-1764) continued Couperin's work. 

What is generally recognized as the first period of clavier-virtuositybegins with the Neapolitan Domenico Scarlatti (1683-1757), and JohannSebastian Bach (1685-1750), the German of Germans. The style ofScarlatti is peculiarly the product of Italian love of beautiful tone, and what he wrote, though without depth of motive, kept well in view thetechnical possibilities of the harpsichord. His "Cat's Fugue, " and hisone movement sonatas still appear on concert programmes. In a collectionof thirty sonatas he explained his purpose in these words: "Amateur, orprofessor, whoever thou art, seek not in these compositions for anyprofound feeling. They are only a frolic of art, meant to increase thyconfidence in the clavier. "

In Germany, with grand old Father Bach, the keyboard instrument wasfound capable of mirroring a mighty soul. The germ of all modern musicaldesign lies in his clavier writings. It has been aptly said of thismaster of masters that he constructed a great university of music, fromwhich all must graduate who would accomplish anything of value in music. Men of genius, from Mozart to the present time, have extolled him forthe beauty of his melodies and harmonies, the expressiveness of hismodulations, the wealth, spontaneity and logical clearness of his ideas, and the superb architecture of his productions. Students miss the soulof Bach because of the soulless, mechanical way in which they deface hislegacy to them. 

His "Twelve Little Preludes" alone contain the materials for an entiresystem of music. The "Inventions, " too often treated as dry-as-duststudies, are laden with beautiful figures and devices that furnishinspiration for all time. As indicated by their title, which signifies acompound of appropriate expression and just disposition of the members, they were designed to cultivate the elements of musical taste, as wellas freedom and equality of the fingers. His "Well Tempered Clavichord"has been called the pianist's Sacred Book. Its Preludes and Fuguesillustrate every shade of human feeling, and were especially designed toexemplify the mode of tuning known as equal temperament, introduced intogeneral use by Bach, and still employed by your piano tuner and mine. 

Forkel, his biographer, has finely said that Bach considered the voicesof his fugues a select company of persons conversing together. Each wasallowed to speak only when there was something to say bearing on thesubject in hand. A highly characteristic motive, or theme, assignificant as the noblest "typical phrase, " developing into equallycharacteristic progressions and cadences, is a striking feature of theBach fugue. His "Suites" exalted forever the familiar dance tunes of theGerman people. His wonderful "Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue" ushered therecitative into purely instrumental music. 

As a teacher he was genial, kind, encouraging and in every respect amodel. He obliged his pupils to write and understand as well as soundthe notes. In his noble modesty he never held himself aloof as superiorto others. When pupils were discouraged he reminded them how hard he hadalways been compelled to work, and assured them that equal industrywould lead them to success. He gave the thumb its proper place on thekeyboard, and materially improved fingering. Tranquillity and poeticbeauty being prime essentials of his playing, he preferred to the morebrilliant harpsichord, or spinet, the clavichord, whose thrilling, tremulous tone, owing to its construction, was exceedingly sensitive tothe player's touch. The early hammer-clavier, or pianoforte, invented in1711, by the Italian Cristofori, who derived the hammer idea from thedulcimer, did not attract him because of its extreme crudeness. Nevertheless, it was destined to develop into the musical instrumentessential to the perfect interpretation of his clavier music. 

His son and pupil, Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788), proceeding on theprinciples established by his illustrious father, prepared the way forthe modern pianist. His important theoretical work, "The True Art ofClavier Playing, " was pronounced by Haydn the school of schools for alltime. It was highly extolled by Mozart, and to it Clementi ascribed hisknowledge and skill. In his compositions he was an active agent in thecrystallization of the sonata form. From him Haydn gained much that helater transferred to the orchestra. 

Impulse to the second period of clavier virtuosity was given by WolfgangAmadeus Mozart (1756-1791) and Muzio Clementi (1752-1832). Mozart, wholed the Viennese school, developed the singing style of playing and thesmooth flowing legato. Leaving behind him the triumphs of hiswonder-boyhood with spinet and harpsichord, he boldly entered the publicconcert-hall with the pianoforte, now greatly advanced by theimprovements of Silbermann. Mozart brought into use its specialfeatures, showed its capacity for tone-shading and for the reflectionof sentiment, and may well be said to have launched it on its career. Tradition declares that his hand was fashioned for clavier keys, andthat its graceful movements afforded the eye no less pleasure than theear. His noble technique, based on his profound study of the Bachs, wasspiritualized by his own glowing fancy. In his playing, as in hiscompositions, every note was a pearl of great price. With his pianoconcertos he showed how clavier and orchestra may converse earnestlytogether without either having its individuality marred. The sameequilibrium is maintained in his piano and violin sonatas and his otherconcerted chamber music, amid all their persuasive and eloquentdiscourse. His charming four-hand and double piano pieces, written forhimself and his gifted sister Marianne, and his solo clavier sonataswould prove his wealth of musical invention had he not written anothernote. 

Clementi, born in Rome, passed most of his life in London, where heattracted many pupils. Without great creative genius, he occupiedhimself chiefly with the technical problems of the pianoforte. He openedthe way for the sonority of tone and imposing diction of the modernstyle. His music abounded in bold, brilliant passages of single anddouble notes. He is even credited with having trilled in octaves withone hand. Taking upon himself the management of an English pianofactory, he extended the keyboard, in 1793, to five and a half octaves. Seven octaves were not reached until 1851. His "Gradus ad Parnassum"became the parent of Etude literature. Carl Tausig said: "There is butone god in technique, Bach, and Clementi is his prophet. "

Losing the spirituality of a Mozart the Viennese school was destined todegenerate into empty bravura playing. Before its downfall it produced aHummel, a Moscheles and a Czerny, each of whom left in their pianostudies a valuable bequest to technique. Karl Czerny (1791-1857), calledking of piano teachers, numbered among his pupils, Liszt, Doehler, Thalberg and Jaell. The Clementi school was continued in that familiarwriter of Etudes, Johann Baptist Cramer (1771-1858), and began to showrespect for the damper pedal. Its most eminent virtuoso was John Field(1782-1837) of Dublin. 

Between these two schools stood Ludwig von Beethoven (1770-1827), agiant on lofty heights. Every accent of his dramatic music was embodiedin his piano compositions. Tones furnished him unmistakably a languagethat needed no commentary. "In him, " says Oscar Bie, "there were notricks of technique to be admired, no mere virtuosity to praise; but hestirred his hearers to the depths of their hearts. Amid his storm andstress, whispering and listening, his awakening of the soul, an originalnaturalism of piano-playing was recognized, side by side with thenaturalism of his creative art. Rhythm was the life of his playing. " Aunion of conception and technique was a high aim of Beethoven, and heprized the latter only as it fulfilled the requirements of his idealism. "The high development of the mechanical in pianoforte playing, " he wroteto a friend, "will end in banishing all genuine emotion from music. "His prophetic words might serve as a warning to-day. 

[Illustration: LILLIAN NORDICA]

The past century has given us the golden age of the pianoforte. Advancedknowledge of acoustics and improved methods of construction have made itthe magnificent instrument we know in concert hall and home, and towhich we now apply the more intimate name, piano. Oscar Bie calls it themusic teacher of all mankind that has become great with the growth ofmodern music. As a photograph may convey to the home an excellentconception of a master painting in some distant art gallery, so thepiano, in addition to the musical creations it has inspired, may presentto the domestic circle intelligent reproductions of mighty choral, operatic and instrumental works. Through its medium the broad field ofmusical history and literature may be surveyed in private with profitand pleasure. 

Piano composers and virtuosos rapidly increase. Carl Maria von Weber(1786-1826) stood on the threshold of the fairyland of romance. Hisscheme of a dialogue, in the opening adagio of his "Invitation to theDance, " followed by an entrancing waltz and a grave concluding dialogue, betokens what he might have accomplished for the piano had he livedlonger. Franz Schubert (1797-1828) and Robert Schumann (1810-1856) werethe evangelists par excellence of the new romantic school. Schubert, closely allied in spirit to the master-builder, Beethoven, wasunsurpassed in the refinement of his musical sentiment. The melodyflooding his soul beautified his piano compositions, to which only adelicate touch may do justice. His Impromptus and Moments Musical, smallimpressionist pieces, in which isolated musical ideas are clothed inbrief artistic forms adapted to the timbre of the instrument, may wellbe thought to have placed piano literature on a new basis. 

The romantic temperament of Robert Schumann was nurtured on Germanromantic literature and music. His impressions of nature, life andliterature he imprisoned in tones. He was a profound student of Bach, towhom he traced "the power of combination, poetry and humor in the newmusic. " Infusing his own vital emotions into polyphonic forms he gavethe piano far grander tone-pictures than those of Couperin. The dreamyfervor and the glowing fire of an impassioned nature may be felt in hisworks, but also many times the lack of balance that belongs with themalady by which he was assailed. 

His love of music became early interwoven with love for Clara, thegifted daughter and pupil of his teacher, Friedrich Wieck. To her hededicated his creative power. An attempt to gain flexibility by means ofa mechanical contrivance having lamed his fingers, he turned from apianist's career to composition and musical criticism. In becoming hiswife Clara gave him both hands in more senses than one, and they shonetogether as a double star in the art firmament. Madame Schumann hadacquired a splendid foundation for her career through the wise guidanceof her father, whose pedagogic ideas every piano student might considerwith profit. Her playing was distinguished by its musicianlyintelligence and fine artistic feeling. Earnest simplicity surroundedher public and her private life, and the element of personal display waswholly foreign to her. She was the ideal woman, artist and teacher whoremained in active service until a short time before her death, in 1896. 

Those were charmed days in Leipsic when the Schumanns and Mendelssohnformed the centre of an enthusiastic circle of musicians, and created afar-reaching musical atmosphere. Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847), in hiswork for the piano, adapted to drawing-room use technical devices of hisday, and in his "Songs without Words" gave a decisive short-story formto piano literature. His playing is described as possessing an organfirmness of touch without organ ponderosity, and having an expressionthat moved deeply without intoxicating. Living in genial surroundings, he was never forced to struggle, and although he climbed through flowerypaths, he never reached the goal he longed for until his heart broke. 

Delicate, sensitive, fastidious, Frédéric Chopin (1809-1849) deliveredhis musical message with persuasive eloquence through the medium of thepiano. It was his chosen comrade. With it he exchanged the most subtleconfidences. Gaining a profound knowledge of its resources he raised itto an independent power. Polish patriotism steeped in Parisian eleganceshaped his genius, and his compositions portray the emotions of hispeople in exquisitely polished tonal language. Spontaneous as was hiscreative power he was most painstaking in regard to the setting of hismusical ideas and would often devote weeks to re-writing a single pagethat every detail might be perfect. The best that was in him he gave tomusic and to the piano. He enlarged the musical vocabulary, here-created and enriched technique and diction, and to him the musicianof to-day owes a debt that should never be forgotten. "He is of the raceof eagles, " said his teacher, Elsner. "Let all who aspire follow him inhis flights toward regions sublime. "

The man who, by his demands on the piano, induced improvements in itsmanufacture that materially increased its sonority and made itavailable for the modern idea, was Franz Liszt (1811-1886). He willalways be remembered as the creator of orchestral piano-playing and ofthe symphonic poem. The impetuous rhythms and unfathomable mysteries ofMagyar and gipsy life surrounding him in Hungary, the land of his birth, strongly influenced the shaping of his genius. Like the wanderingchildren of nature who had filled the dreams of his childhood, he becamea wanderer and marched a conqueror, radiant with triumphs, through themusical world. Chopin, who shrank from concert-playing, once said tohim: "You are destined for it. You have the force to overwhelm, control, compel the public. "

The bewitching tones of the gipsy violinist, Bihary, had fallen on hisboyish ears "like drops of some fiery, volatile essence, " stimulatinghim to effort. On the threshold of manhood he was inspired to apply themethods of Paganini to the piano. All his early realistic andrevolutionary ideas found vent in his pianistic achievements. He gainedmarvelous fulness of chord power, great dynamic variety, and numerousunexpected solutions of the tone problem. Many technical means ofexpression were invented by him, and a wholly new fingering was requiredfor his purposes. He taught the use of a loose wrist, absoluteindependence of the fingers and a new manipulation of the pedals. Tocarry out his designs the third or sustaining pedal became necessary. His highest ambition, in his own words, was "to leave to piano playersthe foot-prints of attained advance. " In 1839 he ventured on the firstpure piano recital ever given in the concert hall. His series ofperformances in this line, covering the entire range of pianoliterature, in addition to his own compositions, given entirely withoutnotes, led the public to expect playing by heart from all other artists. 

As a great pianist, a composer of original conceptions, a magneticconductor, an influential teacher, an intelligent writer on musicalsubjects and a devoted promoter of the interests of art, he stands outin bold relief, one of the grand figures in the history of music. Hispiano paraphrases and transcriptions are poetic re-settings oftone-creations he had thoroughly assimilated and made his own. In hisoriginal works, which Saint-Saëns was perhaps the first to appreciate, students are now beginning to discover the ripe fruits of his genius. Faithful ones among the pupils who flocked about him in classic Weimarspread wide his influence, but also much harm was done in his name bycharlatans who, calling themselves Liszt pupils, cast broadcast thefallacy that piano pounding was genuine pianistic power. 

Large hearted, liberal minded, whole souled in his devotion to his artand its true interests, Franz Liszt seemed wholly without personaljealousies, and befriended and brought into public notice a large numberof artists. Hector Berlioz declared that to him belonged "the sincereadmiration of earnest minds, as well as the involuntary homage of theenvious. " At the opening of the Baireuth Temple of German Art, in 1876, Richard Wagner paid him this tribute in the midst of a joyful company:"Here is one who first gave me faith in my work when no one knewanything of me. But for him, my dear friend, Franz Liszt, you might nothave had a note from me to-day. "

A rival of Liszt in the concert field, especially before a Parisianpublic, was Sigismund Thalberg (1812-1871), who visited this country in1855 and literally popularized the piano in America. Alfred Jaell andHenri Herz, who had preceded him, doubtless prepared the way for histriumphs. He and the "Creole Chopin, " Louis Moreau Gottschalk, attractedmuch attention by several joint appearances in our musical centres ofthe time. Thalberg was a pupil of Hummel, and felt the influence of histeacher's cold, severely classic style. He possessed a well-trained, fascinating mechanism, with scales, chords, arpeggios and octaves thatwere marvels of neatness and accuracy, and a tone that was mellow andliquid, though lacking in warmth. His operatic transcriptions, in whicha central melody is enfolded in arabesques, chords and running passages, have long since become antiquated, but his art of singing on the pianoand many of his original studies still remain valuable to the pianist. 

When Liszt and Thalberg were in possession of the concert platform, theyoccupied the attention of cartoonists as fully as Paderewski at a laterdate. Liszt, his hair floating wildly, was represented as dartingthrough the air on wide-stretched pinions with keyboards attached--aplay on Flügel, the German for grand piano. Thalberg, owing to hisdignified repose, was caricatured as posing in a stiff, rigid mannerbefore a box of keys. 

Rubinstein and Von Bülow offer two more contrasting personalities. AntonRubinstein (1830-1894) was the impressionist, the subjective artist, whore-created every composition he played. The Russian tone-colorist he hasbeen called, and the warmth and glow with which he invested every nuancecan never be forgotten by those who were privileged to hear his Titanicinterpretations, over whose very blemishes was cast the glamor of theimpassioned temperament that caused them. "May Heaven forgive me forevery wrong note I have struck!" he exclaimed to a youthful admirerafter one of his concerts in this country during the season of 1872-3. Certainly the listener under the spell of his magnetism could forgive, almost forget. Hans von Bülow (1830-1894) was the objective artist, whose scholarly attainments and musicianly discernment unraveled themost tangled web of phrasing and interpretation. His Beethoven recitals, when he was in America in 1875-6, were of especial value to pianostudents. As a piano virtuoso, a teacher, a conductor and an editor ofmusical works, he was a marked educational factor in music. 

In his youth Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), the great apostle of modernintellectual music, made his début before the musical world as abrilliant and versatile pianist. Once, when about to play in publicBeethoven's magnificent Kreutzer Sonata, with Remenyi, who was the firstto recognize his genius, he discovered that the piano was half a tonebelow concert pitch, and rather than spoil the effect by having theviolin tuned down, the boy of nineteen unhesitatingly transposed thepiano part which he was playing from memory into a higher key. The fire, energy and breadth of his rendering, together with the splendidmusicianship displayed by this feat, deeply impressed the greatviolinist Joachim, who was present, and who became enthusiastic in hispraise. Schumann, on making his acquaintance, proclaimed the advent of agenius who wrote music in which the spirit of the age found itsconsummation, and who, at the piano, unveiled wonders. By others he hasbeen called the greatest contrapuntist after Bach, the greatestarchitectonist after Beethoven, the man of creative power whoassimilated the older forms and invested them with a new life entirelyhis own. His piano works are a rich addition to the pianist's store, butwhoever would unveil their beautiful proportions, all aglow as they arewith sacred fire, must have taken a master's degree. 

Two pupils of Liszt stand out prominently--Carl Tausig (1841-1871) andEugene D'Albert (1864- ----). The first was distinguished by hisextraordinary sense for style, and was thought to surpass his master inabsolute flawlessness of technique. To the second Oscar Bie attributesthe crown of piano playing in our time. Peter Iljitch Tschaikowsky(1840-1893), the distinguished representative of the modern Russianschool, was an original, dramatic and fertile composer and wrote for thepiano some of his highly colored and very characteristic music. EdwardGrieg (1843- ----), the national tone-poet of Norway, has given thepiano some of his most delightful efforts, fresh with the breezes of theNorth. 

The veteran French composer, Charles Camille Saint-Saëns (1835- ----), has won great renown as a pianist, and was one of the most precociouschildren on record, having begun the study of the piano when under threeyears of age. He was the teacher that knew how to develop theindividuality of the young Russian, Leopold Godowsky, who has done suchremarkable work on two continents, as a teacher and piano virtuoso. 

Perhaps the most famous piano teacher of recent times is TheodoreLeschetitzky, of Vienna. His method is that of common sense, based onkeen analytical faculties, and he never trains the hand apart from themusical sense. His most renowned pupil is Ignace Jan Paderewski, themagnetic Pole, whose exquisite touch and tone long made him the idol ofthe concert room, and who, with time, has gained in robustness, but alsoin recklessness of style. Another gifted pupil of the Viennese master isFannie Bloomfield Zeisler, of Chicago, an artiste of rare temperament, musical feeling and nervous power, of whom Dr. Hanslick said that hervirtuosity was stupendous, her delicacy in the finest florid work asmarvelous as her fascinating energy in the forte passages. 

The great tidal wave set in motion by the piano has swept over thecivilized world, carrying with it hosts of accomplished pianists. Ofsome of those who are familiar figures in our musical centres it hasbeen said that Teresa Carreño learned from Rubinstein the art of pianonecromancy; that Rosenthal is an amazing technician whoseinterpretations lack tenderness; that De Pachmann is on terms ofintimacy with Chopin, and that Rafael Joseffy, the disciple of Tausig, combines all that is best in the others with striking methods of hisown. 

Great is the piano, splendid its literature, many its earnest students, numerous its worthy exponents. That it is so often made a means of emptyshow is not the fault of the piano, it is due to a tendency of the daythat calls for superficial glamor. Herbert Spencer was not so wrong assome of the critics seem to think when, in his last volume, he said thatteachers of music and music performers were often corrupters of music. Those certainly are corrupters of music who use the piano solely formeaningless technical feats. 

VII

The Poetry and Leadership of Chopin

"The piano bard, the piano rhapsodist, the piano mind, the piano soul isChopin, " said Rubinstein. "Tragic, romantic, lyric, heroic, dramatic, fantastic, soulful, sweet, dreamy, brilliant, grand, simple, allpossible expressions are found in his compositions and all are sung byhim on his instrument. "

In these few, bold strokes one who knew him by virtue of close art andrace kinship, presents an incomparable outline sketch of the Polishtone-poet who explored the harmonic vastness of the pianoforte and madehis own all its mystic secrets. 

Born and bred on Poland's soil, son of a French father and a Polishmother, Frédéric Chopin (1809-1849) combined within himself two natures, each complementing the other, both uniting to form a personality notunderstood by every casual observer. He is described as kind, courteous, possessed of the most captivating grace and ease of manner, now inclinedto languorous melancholy, now scintillating with a joyous vivacity thatwas contagious. His sensitive nature, like the most exquisitelyconstructed sounding-board, vibrated with the despairing sadness, thesuppressed wrath, and the sublime fortitude of the brave, haughty, unhappy people he loved, and with his own homesickness when afar fromhis cherished native land. 

Patriot and tone-poet in every fibre of his being, his genius inevitablyclaimed as its own the soul's divinest language, pure music, unfetteredby words. The profound reserve of his nature made it peculiarlyagreeable to him to gratify the haunting demands of his lyric musethrough the medium of the one musical instrument that lends itself inprivacy to the exploitation of all the mysteries of harmony. Strongconviction in regard to his own calling and clear perception of thehidden powers and future mission of the piano early compelled him toconsecrate to it his unfaltering devotion. He evolved from its moreintimate domain effects in sympathy with those of the orchestra, yetpurely individual. He enriched it with new melodic, harmonic andrhythmic devices adapted to itself alone, and endowed it with a warmthof tone-coloring that spiritualized it for all time. 

To the piano he confided all the conflicts that raged within him, allthe courage and living hope that sustained him. In giving tonal form tothe deep things of the soul, which are universal in their essence andapplication, he embodied universal rather than merely individualemotional experiences, and thus unbared what was most sacred to himselfwithout jarring on the innate reticence which made purely personalconfidences impossible. Although his mode of expression was peculiarlyhis own, he had received a strong impulse from the popular music ofPoland. As a child he had become familiar with the folk-songs and dancesheard in the harvest-fields and at market and village festivals. Theywere his earliest models; on them were builded his first themes. As Bachglorified the melodies of the German people, so Chopin glorified thoseof the Poles. The national tonality became to him a vehicle to befreighted with his own individual conceptions. 

"I should like to be to my people what Uhland was to the Germans, " heonce said to a friend. He addressed himself to the heart of this peopleand immortalized its joys, sorrows and caprices by the force of hissplendid art. Those who have attempted to interpret him as thesentimental hero of minor moods, the tone-poet in whom the weakness ofdespair predominates, have missed the leaping flames, the vividintensity and the heroic manliness permeated with genuine love of beautythat animated him. True art softens the harshest accents of suffering byplacing superior to it some elevating idea. So in the most melancholystrains of his music one who heeds well may detect the presence of alofty ideal that uplifts and strengthens the travailing soul. It hasbeen said of him that he had a sad heart but a joyful mind. 

The two teachers of Chopin were Adalbert Zwyny, a Bohemian violinist, who taught the piano, and Joseph Elsner, a violinist, organist andtheorist. "From Zwyny and Elsner even the greatest dunce must learnsomething, " he is quoted as saying. Neither of these men attempted tohamper his free growth by rigid technical restraints. Their guidanceleft him master of his own genius, at liberty to "soar like the larkinto the ethereal blue of the skies. " He respected them both. A reveringaffection was cherished by him for Elsner, to whom he owed his sense ofpersonal responsibility to his art, his habits of serious study and hisintimate acquaintance with Bach. 

There is food for thought in the fact that this Prince Charming of thepiano, whose magic touch awakened the Sleeping Beauty of the instrumentof wood and wires, never had a lesson in his life from a mere pianospecialist. Liszt once said Chopin was the only pianist he ever knewthat could play the violin on the piano. If he could do so it wasbecause he had harkened to the voice of the violin and resolved to showthat the piano, too, could produce thrilling effects. In the same way hehad listened to the human voice, and determined that the song of his owninstrument should be heard. Those who give ear to the piano alone willnever learn the secret of calling forth its supreme eloquence. 

We can see and hear this "Raphael of Music" at the piano, so many and soeloquent have been the descriptions given of his playing. It is easy tofancy him sweeping the ivory keys with his gossamer touch that envelopedwith ethereal beauty the most unaccustomed of his complicated chromaticmodulations. We can feel his individuality pulsating through every toneevoked by those individualized fingers of his as they weave measures forsylphs of dreamland, or summon to warfare heroes of the ideal world. Weare entranced by his luxuriant tone-coloring, induced to a large extentby his original management of the pedals. We marvel at his softlywhispered, yet ever clearly distinct pianissimo, at the full, round toneof its relative fortissimo, that was never harsh or noisy, and at allthe exquisitely graded nuances that lay between, with those timefluctuations expressive of the ebb and flow of his poetic inner being. No wonder Balzac maintained that if Chopin should but drum on the tablehis fingers would evoke subtle-sounding music. 

And what an example he has left for teachers. Delicately strung as hewas, he must often have endured tortures from the best of his pupils, but so thoroughly was he consecrated to his art that he never falteredin his efforts to lift those who confided in him to the aërial heightshe had found. A vivid picture of his method of teaching is given in thelectures on "Frédéric Chopin's Works and Their Proper Interpretation, "by the Pole, Jean Kleczynski. 

The basis of this method consisted in refinement of touch, for theattainment of which a natural, easy position of the hand was consideredby Chopin a prime requisite. He prepared each hand with infinite carebefore permitting any attempt at the reproduction of musical ideas. Inorder to place it to advantage he caused it to be thrown lightly on thekeyboard so that the five fingers rested on the notes E, F sharp, Gsharp, A sharp and B, and without change of position required thepractice of exercises calculated to insure independence. The pupil wasinstructed to go through these exercises first staccato, effected by afree movement of the wrist, an admirable means of counteractingheaviness and clumsiness, then legato-staccato, then accented legato, then pure legato, modifying the power from pp to ff, and the movementfrom andante to prestissimo. 

He was exceedingly particular about arpeggio work, and insisted upon therepetition of every note and passage until all harshness and roughnessof tone were eliminated. "Is that a dog barking?" he was known toexclaim to an unlucky pupil whose attack in the opening arpeggio of aClementi study lacked the desired quality. A very independent use of thethumb was prescribed by him. He never hesitated about placing it on ablack key when convenient, and had it passed by muscle action alone inscales and broken chords whose zealous practice in different forms oftouch, accent, rhythm and tone were demanded by him. 

Individualization of the fingers was one of his strong points, and hebelieved in assigning to each of them its appropriate part. "In a goodmechanism, " he said, "the aim is not to play everything with an equalsound, but to acquire beautiful quality of touch and perfect shading. "Of prime importance in his eyes was a clear, elastic, singing tone, onewhose exquisite delicacy could never be confounded with feebleness. Every dynamic nuance he exacted of fingers that fell with freedom andelasticity on the keys, and he knew how to augment the warmth andrichness of tone-coloring by setting in vibration sympathetic harmonicsof the principal notes through judicious employment of the damper pedal. 

By precept and example he advocated frequent playing of the preludes andfugues of Bach as a means of cultivating musical intelligence, muscularindependence and touch and tone discrimination. His musical heroes wereBach and Mozart, for they represented to him nature, strongindividuality and poetry in music. At one time he undertook to write amethod or school of piano-playing, but never progressed beyond theopening sentences. A message directly from him would have beeninvaluable to students, and might have averted many unluckymisapprehensions of himself and his works. Those of his contemporarieswho have harkened with rapture to his playing have declared that healone could adequately interpret his tone-creations, or make perfectlyintelligible his method. Pupils of his and their pupils have faithfullyendeavored to transmit to the musical world the tradition of hisindividual style. The elect few have come into touch with his vision ofbeauty, but it has been mercilessly misinterpreted by thousands ofruthless aspirants to musical honors, in the schoolroom, the students'recital and the concert hall. 

Whoever plays Chopin with sledge-hammer fingers will deaden all sense ofhis poetry, charm and grace. Whoever approaches him with weaksentimentalism will miss altogether his dignity and strength. It hasbeen said of him that he was Woman in his tenderness and realization ofthe beautiful; and Man in his energy and force of mind. The highest typeof artist and human being is thus represented. To interpret him requiressimplicity, purity of style, refined technique, poetic imagination andgenuine sentiment--not fitful, fictitious sentimentality. 

In regard to the much discussed tempo rubato of Chopin many and fatalblunders have been made. Players without number have gone stumbling overthe piano keys with a tottering, spasmodic gait, serenely fancying theyare heeding the master's design. Reckless, out-of-time playingdisfigures what is meant to express the fluctuation of thought, thesoul's agitation, the rolling of the waves of time and eternity. Therubato, from rubare, to rob, represents a pliable movement that iscertainly as old as the Greek drama in declamation, and was employed inintoning the Gregorian chant. The recitative of the sixteenth centurygave it prominence, and it passed into instrumental music. Indicationsof it in Bach are too often neglected. Beethoven used it effectively. Chopin appropriated it as one of his most potent auxiliaries. In playinghe emphasized the saying of Mozart: "Let your left hand be the orchestraconductor, " while his right hand balanced and swayed the melody and itsarabesques according to the natural pulsation of the emotions. "You seethat tree, " exclaimed Liszt; "its leaves tremble with every breath ofthe wind, but the tree remains unshaken--that is the rubato. " There arestorms to which even the tree yields. To realize them, to divine thelaws which regulate the undulating, tempest-tossed rubato, requireshighly matured artistic taste and absolute musical control. 

Too sensitive to enjoy playing before miscellaneous audiences whoseunsympathetic curiosity, he declared, paralyzed him, Chopin was at hisbest when interpreting music in private, for a choice circle of friendsor pupils, or when absorbed in composition. It is not too much to sayfor him that he ushered in a new era for his chosen instrument, spiritualizing its timbre, liberating it from traditional orchestral andchoral effects, and elevating it to an independent power in the world ofmusic. Besides enriching the technique of the piano, he augmented thematerials of musical expression, contributing fresh charms to thoseprime factors of music melody, harmony and rhythm. New chord extensions, passages of double notes, arabesques and harmonic combinations weredevised by him and he so systematized the use of the pedals that themost varied nuances could be produced by them. 

In melody and general conception his tone-poems sprang spontaneouslyfrom his glowing fancy, but they were subjected to the most severetests before they were permitted to go out into the world. Everyingenious device that gave character to his exquisite cantilena, andsoftened his most startling chord progressions, was evolved by the vividimagination of this master from hitherto hidden qualities of thepianoforte. Without him neither it nor modern music could have been whatit is. An accentuation like the ringing of distant bells is frequentlyheard in his music. To him bell tones were ever ringing, reminding himof home, summoning him to the heights. 

James Huneker, the raconteur of the Musical Courier, discussing thecompositions of Chopin, in his delightful and inspiring book, "Chopin, the Man and His Music, " calls the studies Titanic experiments; thepreludes, moods in miniature; the nocturnes, night and its melancholymysteries; the ballades, faery dramas; the polonaises, heroic hymns ofbattle; the valses and mazurkas, dances of the soul; the scherzos, thework of Chopin the conqueror. In the sonatas and concertos he sees theprincely Pole bravely carrying his banner amid classical currents. Forthe impromptus alone he has found no name and says of them: "To write ofthe four impromptus in their own key of unrestrained feeling andpondered intention would not be as easy as recapturing the first'careless rapture of the lark. '"

Unquestionably the poetry of Chopin is of the most exquisite lyriccharacter, his leadership is supreme. So original was his conception, sofinished his workmanship, so sublime his purpose, that we may wellexclaim with Schumann, "He is the boldest, proudest poetic spirit of thetime. " "His greatness is his aristocracy, " says Oscar Bie. "He standsamong musicians in his faultless vesture, a noble from head to foot. "

[Illustration: PAGANINI]

VIII

Violins and Violinists--Fact and Fable

That fine old bard who shaped the character of Volker the Fiddler in theNibelungen Lay, had a glowing vision of the power of music and of theviolin. Players on the videl, or fiddle, abounded in the days ofchivalry, but Volker, glorified by genius, rises superior to his fellowminstrels. The inspiring force of his martial strains renewed thecourage of way-worn heroes. His gentle measures, pure and melodious as aprayer, lulled them to sorely-needed rest. 

And what a wonderful bow he wielded! It was mighty and long, fashionedlike a sword, with a keen-edged outer blade, and in his good right handcould deal a deft blow on either side. Ever ready for action was he, andhis friendship for Hagen of Tronje furnished the main elements of thatgrim warrior's power. Together they were long invincible, smiting thefoe with giant strokes, accompanied by music. 

The modern German poet, Wilhelm Jordan, in his Sigfridsage, clothesVolker with the attributes of a violin king he loved, and represents himtenderly handling the violin. His noble portrayal of a violinisttestifies no more fully to the mission of the musician than the creationof the Nibelungen bard. In August Wilhelmj, once hailed by HenriettaSontag as the coming Paganini, Richard Wagner saw "Volker the Fiddlerliving anew, until death a warrior true. " So he wrote in a dedicatoryverse beneath a portrait of himself, presented to "Volker-Wilhelmj as asouvenir of the first Baireuth festival. "

The idea of a magic fiddle and a wonderworking fiddler was stronglyrooted in the popular imagination of many peoples, through many ages. Typical illustrations are the Wonderful Musician of Grimm's Fairy Tales, whose fiddling attracted man and beast, and the lad of Norse folk-lorewho won a fiddle that could make people dance to any tune he chose. InNorway the traditional violin teacher is the cascade-haunting musicalgenius Fossegrim, who, when suitably propitiated, seizes the right handof one that seeks his aid and moves it across the strings until bloodgushes from the finger-tips. Thenceforth the pupil becomes a master, andcan make trees leap, rivers stay their course and people bow to hiswill. 

Those of us who were brought up on English nursery rhymes early lovedthe fiddle. Old King Cole, that merry old soul, was a prime favorite, notwithstanding his fondness for pipe and bowl, because when he calledfor them he called for his fiddlers three and their very fine fiddles. According to Robert of Gloucester, the real King Cole, a popular monarchof Britain in the third century, was the father of St. Helena, thezealous friend of church music. The nursery satire of doubtfulantiquity is our sole evidence of his devotion to the art. 

That John who stoutly refused to sell his fiddle in order to buy hiswife a gown placed the ideal above the material. It is to be hoped Mrs. John enjoyed music more than gay attire. Certainly the dame who wasforced to dance without her shoe until the master found hisfiddling-stick knew the worth of the fiddler's art. 

It may have been from a play on the word catgut that so many of theseditties represent pussy in relation with the fiddle. True fiddler'smagic belonged to the cat whose fiddling made the cow jump over themoon, the little dog laugh and the dish run away with the spoon. Rarelyaccomplished too was the cat that came fiddling out of the barn with apair of bagpipes under her arm, singing "Fiddle cum fee, the mouse hasmarried the humble bee. "

Scientists tell us that crickets, grasshoppers, locusts and the like arefiddlers. Their hind legs are their fiddle-bows, and by drawing thesebriskly up and down the projecting veins of their wing-covers theyproduce the sounds that characterize them. Was it in imitation of thesesmall winged creatures that man first experimented with the friction ofbow and strings as a means of making music? Scarcely. It was the resultof similar instinct on a larger human scale. 

String instruments played with a bow may be traced to a remote periodamong various Oriental peoples. An example of their simplest form existsin the ravanastron, or banjo-fiddle, supposed to have been invented byKing Ravana, who reigned in Ceylon some 5, 000 years ago. It is formed ofa small cylindrical sounding-body, with a stick running through it for aneck, a bridge, and a single string of silk, or at most two strings. Itsprimitive bow was a long hairless cane rod which produced sound whendrawn across the silk. Better tone was derived from strings plucked withfingers or plectrum, and so the rude contrivance remained longundeveloped. 

The European violin is the logical outcome of the appliance of the bowto those progenitors of the pianoforte, the Greek monochord and lyre, precisely as our music is the outgrowth of the diatonic scale developedby the Greeks from those instruments. Numerous obstacles stand in theway of defining its story, but it is known that from the ninth centuryto the thirteenth bow instruments gained in importance. They dividedinto two classes--the viol proper, with flat back and breast andindented sides, to which belonged the veille, videl, or as it has beencalled, guitar-fiddle, and the pear-shaped type, such as the gigue andrebec. The latter is what Chaucer calls the rubible. 

Possibly an impulse was given the fiddle by the Moorish rebab, broughtinto Spain in the eighth century, but ancient Celtic bards had longbefore this used a bow instrument--the chrotta or crwth, derived fromthe lyre, which was introduced by the Romans in their colonizingexpeditions. As early as 560 A. D. , Venantius Fortunatus, Bishop ofPoitiers, wrote to the Duke of Champagne:

 _"Let the barbarians praise thee with the harp, Let the British crwth sing. "_

This instrument, whose name signifies bulging box, was common inBritain, and was used in Wales until a comparatively recent period. Oneof its distinguishing features was an opening in the lower part for theadmission of the fingers while playing. A fine specimen is preserved inthe South Kensington Museum, corresponding well to the followingdescription by a Welsh poet of the fifteenth century: "A fair cofferwith a bow, a girdle, a finger-board and a bridge; its value is a pound;it has a frontlet formed like a wheel with the short-nosed bow across. In its centre are the circled sounding-holes, and the bulging of itsback is somewhat like an old man, but on its breast harmony reigns, fromthe sycamore melodious music is obtained. Six pegs, if we screw them, will tighten all its chords; six advantageous strings are found, which, in a skilful hand, produce a varied sound. "

In this same museum is a curious wedge-shaped boxwood fiddle, decoratedwith allegorical scenes, and dated 1578. Dr. Burney states that it hasno more tone than a violin with a sordine. It is said to have beenpresented by Queen Elizabeth to the Earl of Leicester, and bears both oftheir coats-of-arms in silver on the sounding-board. Besides her otheraccomplishments, the Virgin Queen, we are told, was a violinist. Duringher reign we find the violin mentioned among instruments accompanyingthe drama and various festivities, and viols of diverse kinds werefreely used. Shakespeare, in Twelfth Night, has Sir Toby enumerate amongSir Andrew Aguecheek's attractions skill on the viol-de-gamboys, SirToby's blunder for the viola da gamba, a fashionable bass viol heldbetween the knees. A part was written for this instrument in Bach's St. Matthew Passion, and a number of celebrated performers on it arerecorded in the eighteenth century. Two of these were ladies, Mrs. SarahOttey and Miss Ford. 

Violers and fiddlers formed an essential part of the retinue of manymonarchs in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Charles II. , ofEngland, had twenty-four at his court, with red bonnets and flauntinglivery, who played for him while he was dining according to the customhe had known at the French court during his exile. Place was grudginglyyielded to the violin by friends of the less insistent viol. Butler, inHudibras, styled it "a squeaking engine. " Earlier writers mention "thescolding violin, " and describing the Maypole dance tell of not hearingthe "minstrelsie for the fiddling. " Thus all along its course it has hadits opponents and deriders as well as its friends. 

The soft-toned viol had deeply indented sides to permit a free use ofthe bow, was mostly supplied with frets like a guitar, and had usuallyfrom five to seven strings. Its different sizes corresponded with thesoprano, contralto, tenor and bass of the human voice. An extremelyinteresting treble viol much in vogue in the eighteenth century was theviola d'amore, with fourteen strings, the seven of gut and silver beingsupplemented by seven sympathetic wire strings running below thefinger-board and tuned in unison with the bowstrings, vibratingharmoniously while these are played. A remarkably well preservedspecimen of this instrument, made by Eberle of Prague, in 1733, andsuperbly carved on pegbox and scroll, is in the fine private violincollection of Mr. D. H. Carr, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is one of thefew genuine viola d'amores extant. The owner says of it: "The tone issimply wonderful, mellow, pure and strong, and of that exquisite harmonythat comes from the throne of Nature. I know of no other genuine violad'amore, and it compares with the modern copies I have seen as a Raphaelor a Rubens with some cheap lithograph. " These modern copies are theresult of recent efforts to revive the use of this fascinatinginstrument. A barytone of a kindred nature was the viola di bordone ordrone viol, so called because there was a suggestion of the buzzing ofdrone-flies, or humble bees, in the tones of its sympathetic strings, which often numbered as many as twenty-four. These violas recall theHardanger peasant fiddle of Norway, of unknown origin and antiquity, whose delicate metallic under strings quaver tremulously andmysteriously when the bow sets in motion the main strings. 

At one time every family of distinction in Britain deemed a chest ofviols, consisting for the most part of two trebles, two altos, abarytone and a bass, as indispensable to the household as the piano isthought to-day. It was made effective in accompanying the madrigal, thatdelightful flower of the Elizabethan age. Singers not always beingavailable for all of the difficult voice parts viols of the same compasssupplied the lack. It was but a step for masters of music to composepieces marked "to be sung or played, " thus contributing to the forcesthat were lifting instrumental music above mere accompaniment for songor dance. 

When musicians make demands musical instrument makers are ever ready tomeet them, and the viol steadily improved. One who contributed to itsprogress was Gasper Duiffoprugcar (1514-1572) a luthier and mosaicinlayer, known in the Tyrol, in Bologna, Paris and Lyons. The beliefthat he originated the violin rests chiefly on the elaboratelyornamented forgeries bearing his name, the work of French imitators from1800 to 1840. There is an etching, supposed to be a copy of a portraitof himself carved on one of his viols with this motto: "I lived in thewood until I was slain by the relentless axe. In life I was silent, butin death my melody is exquisite. "

The words might apply to the perfected violin, whose evolution was goingon all through that period of literary and artistic activity known asthe Renaissance. When or at whose hands it gained its present form isunknown. The same doubt encircles its first master player. Perhaps theearliest worthy of mention is one Baltzarini, a Piedmontese, appointedby Catherine de Medici, in 1577, to lead the music at the French court, and said to have started the heroic and historical ballet in France. 

He is sometimes confounded with Thomas Baltzar, a violinist of Lubec, who, in 1656 introduced the practice of shifting in London, where hewholly eclipsed David Mell, a much admired clockmaker fiddler, althoughthe latter, as a contemporary stoutly averred, "played sweeter, was awell-bred gentleman, and was not given to excessive drinking as Baltzarwas. " His marvelous feat of "running his fingers to the end of thefinger-board and back again with all alacrity" caused a learned Oxfordconnoisseur of music to look if he had hoofs. Notwithstanding the jovialtastes of this German, he was appointed leader, by Charles II. , of thefamous violins, and had the final honor of a burial in WestminsterAbbey. 

Here reposed also in due time his successor in the royal band, JohnBanister, who had been sent by the king to France for study, and who wasthe first Englishman, unless the amateur Mell be counted, to distinguishhimself as a performer on the violin. He wrote music for Shakespeare'sTempest, and was the first to attempt, in London, concerts at which theaudience paid for seats. Announcements of the initial performance, September 30, 1672, read: "These are to give notice that at Mr. Banister's house (now called the Musick School) over against the GeorgeTavern in White Friars, this present Monday will be performed musick byexcellent masters, beginning precisely at four o'clock in the afternoonand every afternoon for the future at precisely the same hour. "

Credit for shaping the first violin has been given Gasparo Bertolotti(1542-1609), called Gasparo da Salo, from his birthplace, a suburb ofBrescia, that pearl of Lombardy so long a bone of contention amongnations. Violins were doubtless made before his time, but none are knownto-day dated earlier than his. A pretty legend tells how this skilfulviol-maker imprisoned in his first violin the golden tones of thesoprano voice of Marietta, the maiden he loved and from whom deathparted him. Her likeness, so the story runs, is preserved in the angelface, by Benevenuto Cellini, adorning the head. The instrument thusfamed was purchased for 3, 000 Neapolitan ducats by CardinalAldobrandini, who presented it to the treasury at Innsprück. Here itremained as a curiosity until the French took the city in 1809, when itwas carried to Vienna and sold to a wealthy Bohemian collector, afterwhose death it came into the possession of Ole Bull. 

Gasparo's pupil, Giovanni Paolo Maggini (1581-1631), improved theprinciples of violin-building, and gave the world the modern viola andvioloncello. A rich viola-like quality characterizes the Maggini violin. De Beriot used one in his concerts, and its plaintive tone was thoughtwell suited to his style. He refused to part with it for 20, 000 francswhen Wieniawski, in 1859, wished to buy it. To-day it would command afar higher price. It is stated on authority that not more than fiftyinstruments of its make now exist, although a large number of Frenchimitations claim recognition. 

While Gasparo was founding the so-called Brescian school, Andrea Amati(1520-1580), a viol and rebec maker of picturesque Cremona, began tomake violins, doubtless to fill the orders of his patrons. He must havebelieved the pinnacle of fame reached when King Charles IX. Of France, in 1566, commissioned him to construct twenty-four violins, twelve largeand twelve small pattern. They were kept in the Chapel Royal, Versailles, until 1790, when they were seized by the mob in the FrenchRevolution, and but one of them is known to have escaped destruction. Heron-Allen, in his work on violin making, gives a picture of it, obtained through the courtesy of its owner, George Somers, an Englishgentleman. Its tone is described as mellow and extremely beautiful, butlacking in brilliancy. 

As the Amati brothers, Antonio and Geronimo (Hieronymous) Amaticontinued their father's trade, producing instruments similar to his. The family reached its flower in Nicolo Amati (1596-1684), son ofGeronimo. He originated the "Grand Amatis, " and attained a purer, moreresonant tone than his predecessors, although not always adapted tomodern concert use. One of his violins was the favorite instrument ofthe French virtuoso Delphine Jean Alard (1815-1888), long violinprofessor at the Paris Conservatoire. It has been described as soundinglike the melodious voice of a child heard beside the rising tide. Another fine specimen was exhibited by Mr. J. D. Partello, in 1893, atthe World's Fair, in Chicago. 

Nicolo Amati's influence was felt in his famous pupils. Foremost amongthese was Antonio Stradivarius (1644-1737), whose praises have been sungby poets, and whose life was one of unwavering service. His firstattempts were mere copies, but after he was equipped with his master'ssplendid legacy of tools and wood, his originality asserted itself. His"Golden" period was from 1700 to 1725, but he accomplished good workuntil death overtook him. From his bench were sent out some seventhousand instruments, including tenors and violoncellos. Of theseperhaps two thousand were violins. 

A romance encircling this master of Cremona tells that in youth he lovedhis master's daughter, but that failing to win her heart and hand, hegave himself wholly to his work. He married, finally, a wealthy widowwhose means enabled him to pursue his avocation undisturbed by monetaryanxieties. His labors steadily increased the family property until "asrich as Stradivarius" became a common saying in Cremona. Because of hisachievements and his personal worth, he was held in high esteem. Membersof royal families, prelates of the church, men of wealth and culturethroughout Europe, were his personal friends as well as his clients. Hishandsome home, with his workshop and the roofshed where he stored hiswood, was, until recently, exhibited to visitors. To-day not a vestigeof it remains. Weary of the importunities of relic-seekers, theCremonese have torn it down, and have banished violins and everyreminder of them from the town. 

The tone of a Stradivarius, in good condition, is round, full andexceedingly brilliant, and displays remarkable equality as the playerpasses from string to string. Dr. Joseph Joachim, owner of the famousBuda-Pesth Strad, writes of the maker that he "seems to have given hisviolins a soul that speaks and a heart that beats. " The Tuscan Strad, one of a set ordered by Marquis Ariberti for the Prince of Tuscany, in1690, was sold two hundred years later to Mr. Brandt by a London firmfor £2, 000. Lady Hallé, court violinist to Queen Alexandra, owns theconcert Strad of Ernst (1814-1865), composer of the celebrated Elegie, and values it at $10, 000. A magnificent Stradivarius violin, with anexceedingly romantic history, belongs to Carl Gaertner, the veteranviolinist and musician of Philadelphia, and could not be purchased atany price. 

Another violin-builder from Nicolo Amati's workshop was AndreaGuarnerius (1630-1695), whose sons, Giuseppe and Pietro, followed in hisfootsteps. The family name reached its highest distinction in hisnephew, Giuseppe (Joseph) Guarnerius (1683-1745), called del Gesu, because on his labels the initials I. H. S. , surmounted by a Romancross, were placed after his name, indicating that he belonged to aJesuit society. 

This Joseph of Cremona figures in story as a man of fascinating, restless personality, who for weeks would squander time and talents andthen set to work with a zeal equalling that of Master Stradivarius. Tradition has it that he was once imprisoned for some bit oflawlessness, and was saved from despair by the jailor's daughter whobrought him the tools and materials required for violin-building. Whathe esteemed the masterpiece of his lonely cell he presented as asouvenir to his gentle friend. 

The violin about which this legend is woven, dated 1742, was bought byOle Bull from the famous Tarisio collection, and is now the property ofhis son, Mr. Alexander Bull. It has an unusually rich, sonorous tone andsplendid carrying powers. Similar qualities are attributed to thePaganini Guarnerius del Gesu, 1743, known as the "Canon" and kept underglass at the Genoa Museum. Mr. Hart, a violin authority, places highestin this make the "King Joseph, " 1737, long in the private collections ofMr. Hawley, Hartford, Connecticut, and of Mr. Ralph Granger, ParadiseValley, California, and recently put on the market by Lyon & Healy, ofChicago. 

An interesting Nicolo Amati pupil was Jacob Steiner (1621-1683), aTyrolese, who, although bearing a glittering title, "violin maker to theAustrian Emperor, " was harassed with financial perplexities and diedinsane. His most noted violins were the sixteen "Elector Steiners, " onesent to each of the Electors and four to the Emperor. During his lifethe average price of his violins was six florins. A century after hisdeath the Duke of Orleans, Louis Philippe's grandfather, paid 3, 500florins for one of them. It is also recorded that an American gentlemanon La Fayette's staff, in the Revolutionary War, exchanged for a Steiner1, 500 acres of the tract where Pittsburg now stands. Mozart's violin, inthe Mozarteum at Salzburg, is a Steiner. 

Many violin-makers did good work in the past, many are achieving successto-day. It has been confidently asserted that the violin reached itshighest possibilities in the old Brescian and Cremona days. Why shouldthis be the case? The same well-defined principles, based on acousticsand other modern sciences, that have led to the steady improvement ofother musical instruments ought surely to be of some advantage to theviolin. Indeed, who knows but the day may come when the present will beconsidered its golden age. 

While the men of Cremona were still fashioning their models the want ofgood strings was felt. This was met by Angelo Angelucci, known as thestring-maker of Naples, a man who loved music and passed much time withviolinists. Through his painstaking efforts such perfection was reachedthat Tartini, who was born the same year as he, 1692, could play hismost difficult compositions two hundred times on the Angelucci strings, whereas he was continually interrupted by the snapping of others. Improvements in the bow, often called the tongue of the violin, are dueto the house of Tourte, in Paris, in the eighteenth century, lightness, elasticity and spring coming to it from Francis Tourte, Jr. 

Three eminent virtuosi, Corelli, Tartini and Viotti, whose unitedcareers spanned a period of 150 years, prepared the way for modernmethods of violin-playing. Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713) left his homein Fusignano, near Bologna, a young violinist, for an extended concerttour. His gentle, sensitive disposition proving unfitted to cope withthe jealousy of Lully, chief violinist in France, and with sundryannoyances in other lands, he returned to Italy and entered the serviceof Cardinal Ottoboni in Rome. In the private apartments of the prelatethere gathered a choice company of music lovers every Monday afternoonto hear his latest compositions. Besides his solos these comprisedgroups of idealized dance tunes with harmony of mood for their bond ofunion, and played by two violins, a viola, violoncello and harpsichord. They were the parents of modern Chamber Music, the place of assemblagefurnishing the name. 

Refined taste and purity of tone, we are told, distinguished the playingof Corelli, and to him are attributed the systematization of bowing andthe introduction of chord-playing. He heads the list of musicians whoprotest against talking where there is music. On one occasion when hispatron was addressing some remarks to another person, he laid down hisviolin, and on being asked the reason said "he feared the music wasdisturbing the conversation. " This did not prevent him from being heldin the highest esteem. After his death Cardinal Ottoboni had a costlymonument erected over his grave in the Pantheon, and for many years asolemn service, consisting of selections from his works, was performedthere on the anniversary of his funeral. 

It was during a period of retirement in the monastery of Assisi thatGiuseppi Tartini (1692-1770) resolved to quit the law course in theUniversity of Padua and seek a career with his violin. He became a greatmaster of this, a composer of works still regarded as classics, and ascientific writer on musical physics. His letter to his pupil, SignoraMaddelena Lombardini, contains invaluable advice on violin practice andstudy, especially on the use of the bow, and his treatise on theacoustic phenomenon known as "the third sound, " together with his workon musical embellishments, may at any time be read with profit. 

It was after hearing the eccentric violinist Veracini that His SatanicMajesty appeared to Tartini in a dream and played for him a violin solosurpassing in marvelous character anything that he had ever heard orimagined. Trying to write it down in the morning he produced his famous"Devil's Sonata, " with its double shakes and sinister laugh, a favoriteof the violinist, but to the composer ever inferior to the music of hisdreams. It is rather curious that anything of a diabolic nature shouldbe associated with this man of amiable and gentle disposition, whosecare of his scholars, according to Dr. Burney, was constantly paternal. Nardini, his favorite and most famous pupil, came from Leghorn to Paduato attend him, with filial devotion, in his last illness. 

The talents of Corelli and Tartini seem to have been combined in thePiedmontese, Giovanni Battiste Viotti (1753-1824), a man of poetic, philanthropic mind, whose sensitive, retiring disposition unfitted himfor public life. Wherever he appeared he outshone all other performers, yet there was constantly something occurring to wound him. At the Courtof Versailles he left the platform in disgust because the noisy entranceof a distinguished guest interrupted his concerto. In London, after hismeans had been crippled by the French Revolution, he was accused ofpolitical intrigue. 

While living in seclusion near Hamburg he composed some of his finestworks, among them six violin duets, which he prefaced with the words:"This work is the fruit of leisure afforded me by misfortune. Some ofthe pieces were dictated by trouble, others by hope. " At one time heembarked in a mercantile enterprise, in London, his transactions beingregulated by the strictest integrity, but, as was inevitable, he soonreturned to Paris and his art. After he had abandoned the concert roomone of his greatest pleasures was in improvising violin parts to thepiano performances of his friend, Madame Montegerault, to the delightof all present. He never had more than seven or eight pupils, but hisinfluence has been widely felt. Many anecdotes are told of his kindnessand generosity, and it is an interesting fact that among those whosought his advice and patronage was no less a personage than Rossini. 

It must be because genius is little understood that its manifestationshave so often been attributed to evil influences. The popular mind couldonly explain the achievements of the Genoese wizard of the bow, NicoloPaganini (1784-1840) by the belief that he had sold himself body andsoul to the devil who stood ever at his elbow when he played. When, after a taxing concert season, the weary violinist retired to a Swissmonastery for rest and practice amid peaceful surroundings, rumor had itthat he was imprisoned for some dark deed. To crown the delusion, hisspectre was long supposed to stalk abroad, giving fantastic performanceson the violin. It is his apparition Gilbert Parker conjures up in "TheTall Master. "

Paganini is described as a man of tall, gaunt figure, melancholycountenance and highly wrought nervous temperament. His successors haveall profited by his development of the violin's resources, the result ofcombined genius and labor. He was practically a pioneer in the effectiveuse of chords, arpeggio passages, octaves and tenths, double and tripleharmonics and succession of harmonics in thirds and in sixths. His longfingers were of invaluable service to him in unusual stretches, and hisfondness for pizzicato passages may be traced to his familiarity withthe twang of his father's mandolin. He shone chiefly in his owncompositions, which were written in keys best suited to the violin. Students will find all that he knew of his instrument and everything hedid in his Le Stregghe (The Witches), the Rondo de la Clochette, and theCarnaval de Venise, which have been handed down precisely as he leftthem in manuscript. 

Signora Calcagno, who at one time dazzled Italy by the boldness andbrilliancy of her violin playing, was his pupil when she was sevenyears old. The only other person who could boast having directinstructions from him was his young fellow townsman, Camillo ErnestoSivori (1815-1894), who was in his day a great celebrity in Europeanmusical centres, and who was familiar to concert-goers in this country, especially in Boston, during the late forties and early fifties. He wasthought to produce a small but electric tone, and to play invariably intune. To him his master willed his Stradivarius violin, besides havinggiven him in life the famous Vuillaume copy of his Guarnerius, a set ofmanuscript violin studies and a high artistic ideal. 

A scholarly teacher and composer for the violin was the German LudwigSpohr (1784-1859), who was born the same year as the wizard Paganini, and who, although having less scintillant genius than the weird Italian, is believed to have had a more beneficent influence over violin playingin his treatment of the instrument. He set an example of purity of styleand roundness of tone, and raised the violin concerto to its presentdignity. His violin school is a standard work. 

From the beginning of the nineteenth century to the present time thelists of excellent violinists have rapidly increased and heights oftechnical skill have been reached by many that would have dazzled earlyviolin masters. The special tendencies of gifted leaders have dividedplayers into defined schools. Among noted exponents of the French schoolmay be mentioned Alard and his pupil Sarasate, Dancla and Sauret. Charles August de Beriot (1802-1870) was the actual founder of theBelgian school whose famous members include the names of Vieuxtemps, Leonard, Wieniawski, Thomson and Ysaye. Ferdinand David (1810-1873), first head of the violin department at the Leipsic Conservatory, gaveimpulse to the German school. Among his famous pupils are Dr. JosephJoachim, known as one of the musical giants of the nineteenth century;August Wilhelmj, the favorite of Wagner, and Carl Gaertner, who, withhis violin has done so much to cultivate a taste for classical music inPhiladelphia. Among the many lady violinists who have attained a highdegree of excellence are Madame Norman Neruda, now Lady Hallé, TeresinaTua, Camilla Urso, Geraldine Morgan, Maud Powell and Leonora Jackson. 

The only violinist whose memory was ever honored with public monumentswas Ole Bull (1810-1880), who has been called the Paganini of the North. Two statues of him have been unveiled by his countrymen, one in hisnative city, Bergen, Norway, and one in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Thesetributes have been paid not so much to the violinist who swayed theemotions of an audience and who could sing a melody on his instrumentinto the hearts of his hearers, as to the patriot, the man who turnedthe eyes of the world to his sturdy little fatherland, and who gave thestrongest impulse for everything it has accomplished in the past halfcentury in art and in literature. Another patriot violinist was theHungarian Eduard Remenyi (1830-1898), who first introduced JohannesBrahms to Liszt, and should always be remembered as the discoverer ofBrahms. 

The great demand of the day in the violin field, as in that of othermusical instruments, is for dazzling pyrotechnic feats. It has perhapsreached its climax in the young Bohemian Jan Kubelik, whose playing hasbeen pronounced technically stupendous. In the mad rush for advancedtechnique, the soul of music it is meant to convey is, alas, too oftenforgotten. 

[Illustration: JENNY LIND]

IX

Queens of Song

Our first queen of song was Vittoria Archilei, that Florentine lady ofnoble birth who labored faithfully with the famous "Academy" to discoverthe secret of the Greek drama. It was she who furthered the success ofthe embryo operas of Emilio del Cavalieri, late in the sixteenthcentury, and roused enthusiasm by her splendid interpretation for JacopoPeri's "Eurydice, " the first opera presented to the public. She wascalled "Euterpe" by her Italian contemporaries because her superb voice, artistic skill, musical fire and intelligence fitted her to be the museof music. Her memory has been too little honored. 

When Lully was giving opera to France he secured the co-operation ofMarthe le Rochois, a gifted student of declamation and song at theParis Académie Royale de Musique, for whose establishment he hadobtained letters patent in 1672. So great was his confidence in herjudgment that he consulted her in all that pertained to his work. Hergreatest public triumph was in his "Armide. " This earliest French queenof song is described as a brunette, with mediocre figure and plain face, who had wonderful magnetism and sparkling black eyes that mirrored thechangeful sentiments of an impassioned soul. Her acting andvoice-control were pronounced remarkable. Her superior powers, unspoiledsimplicity, frankness and generosity are extolled by that quainthistorian of the opera, Dury de Noinville. On her retirement from thestage, in 1697, the king awarded her a pension of 1, 000 livres in tokenof appreciation, and to this the Duc de Sully added 500 livres. She diedin Paris in the seventieth year of her age, her home having long beenthe resort of eminent artists and literary people. 

Katherine Tofts, who made her début in Clayton's "Arsinoe, Queen ofCyprus, " about 1702, was the first dramatic songstress of English birth, and is described by Colley Cibber as a beautiful woman with a clear, silvery-toned, flexible soprano. Her professional career brought herfortune as well as fame, but was short-lived. In the height of her bloomher reason gave way, and although judicious treatment restored it for atime, she did not return to the stage. As the wife of Mr. Joseph Smith, art connoisseur and collector of rare books and prints, she went toVenice, where her husband was British Consul, and lived in much stateuntil, her malady returning, it became necessary to seclude her. Wandering through the garden of her home she fancied herself the queenof former days. Steele, in the "Tattler, " attributes her disorder to herstage habit of absorbing herself in imaginary great personages. 

While Mrs. Tofts reigned in Clayton's opera, Signora Francesca Margaritade l'Epine, a native of Tuscany, sang Italian airs before and after it. Tall, swarthy, brusque in manner, she had a voice and a style that madeher famous. It was she who inaugurated the custom of giving farewellconcerts. Meeting with brilliant success at a performance announced asher last appearance, "she continued, " says Dr. Burney, "to sing morelast and positively last times and never left England at all. " There wasa rivalry between the two queens of song, which being a novelty, furnished gossip and laughter for all London. Hughes, that "agreeablepoet, " wrote of it:

 _"Music has learned the discords of the State, And concerts jar with Whig and Tory hate. "_

Retiring in 1722 with a fortune of ten thousand pounds, Margaritamarried the learned Dr. Pepusch, who was enabled by her means to pursuewith ease his scientific studies. In his library she found QueenElizabeth's Virginal Book, and being a skilled harpsichordist, she sowell mastered its intricacies that people thronged to her home to hearher play. 

London was divided by another pair of rival queens of song in 1725-6. One of these, Francesca Cuzzoni, a native of Parma, had created such afurore on her first appearance, three years earlier, that the operadirectors who had engaged her for the season at two thousand guineaswere encouraged to charge four guineas for admission, and her costumeswere adopted by fashionable youth and beauty. Although ugly andill-made, she had a sweet, clear dramatic contralto with unrivalled highnotes, intonations so fixed it seemed impossible for her to sing out oftune, and a native flexibility that left unimpeded her creative fancy. Handel, in whose operas she sang, composed airs calculated to displayher charms, but she, confident of her supremacy, rewarded him withconduct so capricious that, finding her at last intolerable, he sent toItaly for the noble Venetian lady, Faustina Bordoni. She was elegant infigure, handsome of face, had an amiable disposition, a ringingmezzo-soprano, with a compass from B-flat to G in altissimo, and wasrenowned for her brilliant execution, distinct enunciation, beautifulshake, happy memory for embellishments and fine expression. 

However pleased the directors may have been at first to have two popularsongstresses, they were soon dismayed at the fierce rivalry that sprangup between them and was fanned to flames by Master Handel himself, whonow composed exclusively for Faustina. By increasing the salary of hermore tractable rival they finally disposed of Cuzzoni, who thenceforththrough her exaggerated demands, managed to disgust her patrons wherevershe appeared. Her reckless extravagance left her wholly destitute afterlosing her voice and her husband, Signor Sandoni, a harpsichord-maker. She passed her last years in Bologna, subsisting on a miserable pittanceearned by covering buttons. 

Faustina married Adolphe Hasse, the German dramatic composer, and atforty-seven sang before Frederick the Great, who was charmed with thefreshness of her voice. The couple lived until 1783, the oneeighty-three, the other eighty-four years of age. Dr. Burney visitedthem when they were advanced in the seventies and found Faustina asprightly, sensible old lady, with a delightful store of reminiscences, and her husband a communicative, rational old gentleman, quite free from"pedantry, pride and prejudice. "

Gertrude Elizabeth Mara, Germany's earliest noted queen of song, beganher public career in 1755 as a child violinist of six, traveling withher father, Johann Schmäling, a respectable musician of Hesse-Cassel. InLondon her musical gifts proved to include a phenomenal soprano voice, which developed a compass from G to E altissimo, unrivalled portamentodi voce, pure enunciation and precise intonation. She became skilled inharmony, theory, sight-reading and harpsichord playing. When she sang, her glowing countenance, her supreme acting and the lights and shades ofher voice made people forget the plainness of her features and theinsignificance of her form and stature. Her rendering of Handel's airs, especially "I Know that My Redeemer Liveth, " was pronounced faultless. 

Frederick the Great, who as soon expected pleasure from the neighing ofa horse as from a German songstress, vanquished on hearing her, retained her as court singer. While in his service she became the wifeof Jean Mara, a handsome, dissipated court violoncellist, whom she loveddevotedly, but who led her a sorry life. Returning to London later shetaught singing at two guineas a lesson. Upon fear being expressed thather price, double that of other teachers, would limit her class, shesaid her pupils having her voice as a model could learn in half the timerequired for those who had only the tinkling of a piano to imitate. Though she believed singing should be taught by a singer, a tendernessfor her own experience made her insist that the best way to begin themusical education was by having the pupil learn to play the violin. Whenshe heard a songstress extolled for rapid vocalization she would ask:"Can she sing six plain notes?" This question might afford young singersfood for reflection. Madame Mara passed her declining years teachingsinging near her native place, and died at Reval, in 1833. Two yearsearlier, on her eighty-third birthday, Goethe offered her a poetictribute. 

At a London farewell concert given by Madame Mara in 1802, she wasassisted by Mrs. Elizabeth Billington, who has been ranked first amongEnglish-born queens of song. Her pure soprano had a range of threeoctaves, from A to A, with flute-like upper tones. She sang withneatness, agility and precision, could detect the least false intonationof instrument or voice, and was attractive in appearance. Haydneulogized her genius in his diary, and in the studio of Sir JoshuaReynolds, who was painting her portrait as St. Cecilia, exclaimed: "Youhave represented Mrs. Billington listening to the angels, you shouldhave made them listening to her. " It was she who introduced Mozart'soperas into England. She only lived to be forty-eight, breaking down in1818, from the effects of brutal treatment of her second husband, aFrenchman, named Felissent. 

Last of the eighteenth century queens of song was Angelica Catalani, born some forty miles from Rome in 1779, destined by her father, alocal magistrate, for the cloister, and borne beyond its walls by hermagnificent voice, with its compass of three octaves, from G to G. Sheis described as a tall, fair woman with a splendid presence, large blueeyes, features of perfect symmetry and a winning smile. So great was hernatural facility she could rise with ease from the faintest sound to themost superb crescendo, could send her tones sweeping through the airwith the most delicious undulations, imitating the swell and fall of abell, and could trill like a bird on each note of a chromatic passage. She dazzled her listeners, but left the heart untouched. 

Her domestic life was a happy one, and her husband, Captain deVallebregue, adored her, although he knew so little about music thatonce when she complained that the piano was too high he had six inchescut off its legs. Surrounded by adulation at home and abroad, herself-conceit became inordinate, tempting her to the most absurd feats ofskill. Her excessive love of display and lack of artistic judgment andknowledge finally led her so far astray in pitch that she lost allprestige. After seventeen years of retirement, she died of cholera in1849, in Paris. A few days before she was stricken with the direepidemic Jenny Lind sought and received her blessing. 

A queen of song who profoundly impressed her age was Giuditta Pasta, born near Milan in 1798, of Hebrew parentage. For her Bellini wrote "LaSonnambula" and "Norma, " Donizetti his "Anna Bolena, " Pacini his"Niobe, " and she was the star of Rossini's leading operas of the time. Her voice, a mezzo-soprano, at first unequal, weak, of slender range andlacking flexibility, acquired, through her wonderful genius and industrya range of two octaves and a half, reaching D in altissimo, togetherwith a sweetness, a fluency, and a chaste, expressive style. Althoughbelow medium height, in impassioned moments she seemed to rise toqueenly stature. Both acting and singing were governed by ripe judgment, profound sensibility and noble simplicity. She died at Lake Como in1865. 

So many queens of song have reigned from the beginning of thenineteenth century to the present time that only a few brilliant namesmay here be mentioned. Among these Henrietta Sontag was the greatestGerman singer of the first half of the century. A distinguished travelertells of having found her when she was eight years old, in 1812, sittingon a table, where her mother had placed her, and singing the grand ariaof the Queen of the Night from the "Magic Flute, " her voice, "pure, penetrating and of angelic tone, " flowing as "unconsciously as a limpidrill from the mountain side. " At fifteen she made her regular début, andwe are told that she sang "with the volubility of a bird. " During herfour years at the Conservatory of Prague she had won the prize in everyclass of vocal music, piano and harmony. 

Acquitting herself with ease in both German and Italian, and beingexceedingly versatile, she won equal renown in the operas of Weber, Mozart, Rossini, and Donizetti. Paris, in special, marveled at thelittle German who could give satisfaction in Grand Opera. Her voice, apure soprano, reached to D in alt. , with upper notes like silverybell-tones, and its natural pliability was cultivated by taste andincessant study. She was of medium stature, elegant form, with lighthair, fair complexion and soft, expressive blue eyes that lent anenchantment to features that were not otherwise striking. In demeanorshe was artless, unaffected and ladylike. Romantic stories werecontinually in circulation regarding suitors for her hand. As the wifeof Count Rossi, an attaché of the Sardinian legation, she retired toprivate life in 1830, and passed many happy years with her husband invarious capitols of Europe. When, in 1848, owing to financial shipwreck, she returned to the stage her voice still charmed by its exquisitepurity, spirituelle quality and supreme finish. In 1852 she came toAmerica and created an immense furore in the musical and fashionableworld. She died of cholera in Mexico in 1854. 

Born the same year as Madame Sontag was Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient, one of the world's noblest interpreters of German opera and GermanLieder, although surpassed by others in vocal resources. She grew up onthe stage, and was trained by her father, Friedrich Schröder, a baritonesinger, and her mother, Sophie Schröder, known as the "Siddons ofGermany. " Her dramatic soprano was capable of producing the most tender, powerful, truthful and intensely thrilling effects, although it was notspecially tractable and was at times even harsh. It was she who by hermagnificent interpretation of Leonore, in Beethoven's "Fidelio, " firstrevealed the beauty of the part to the public. In Wagner's operas sheappeared as Senta, in the "Flying Dutchman"; Venus, in "Tannhäuser, " andactually created the rôle of Adriano Colonna, in "Rienzi. " Goethe, whohad earlier failed to appreciate Schubert's matchless setting to his"Erl King, " when he heard Madame Schröder-Devrient sing it, exclaimed:"Had music instead of words been my vehicle of thought, it is thus Ishould have framed the legend. " She died in 1860. 

Full of caprice, radiating the fire of genius, wayward and playful as achild, Maria Felicità Malibran swept like a dazzling meteor across themusical firmament. M. Arthur Pougin thus epitomizes her story:

"Daughter of a Spaniard, born in France, married in America, died inEngland, buried in Belgium. Comedienne at five, married at seventeen, dead at twenty-eight--immortal. Beautiful, brilliant, gay as a ray ofsunlight, with frequent shadings of melancholy; heart full of warmth andabandon; devoted to the point of sacrifice; courageous to temerity;ardent for pleasure as for work; with a will and energy indomitable. Asinger without a peer, and a lyric tragedienne capable of exciting theinstinctive enthusiasm of the masses and the reasonable admiration ofconnoisseurs. Pianist, composer, poet, she drew and painted with taste;spoke fluently five languages; was expert in all feminine work, skilledin sport and outdoor exercises, and possessed of a striking originality. Such was Malibran in part, for the whole could never be expressed. "

Her genius developed under the iron control of her father, Manuel delPopolo Garcia, who compelled to submission her seemingly intractablevoice until it became sonorous, superb, a brilliant and fascinatingcontralto, with a range of over three octaves, reaching E in alt. Herown indomitable will and exceptional artistic intelligence were primefactors in the training. In her heart-searching tones and passionateacting her glowing soul was felt. When she was but seventeen, herfather, seeking an ideal climate, started with his family for Mexico. InNew York she contracted her unfortunate marriage with the French banker, M. Malibran. She soon returned to Paris and the stage, and later havingobtained a divorce, married the famous violinist De Beriot, with whomshe had a brief but happy union. 

Madame Malibran was said to be equally at home in any known school ofher time. Mozart and Cimarosa, Boieldieu and Rossini, Cherubini andBellini were all grasped with the same sympathetic comprehension. Sontagwas her rival, Pasta was yet in the height of her fame, but no contrastswhatever dimmed the glory of Malibran. A rare personal charm added toher artistic graces. Mr. Chorley describing her, in his recollections, said that she was better than beautiful, insomuch as a "speaking Spanishhuman countenance by Murillo is ten times more fascinating than many afaultless face such as Guido could paint. " When her death was announced, in 1836, Ole Bull, who had known her well, exclaimed: "I cannot realizeit. A woman with a soul of fire, so highly endowed, so intense. How Iwept on seeing her as Desdemona! It is not possible she is dead. "

Pauline Garcia, thirteen years younger than her remarkable sister, andwith a voice similar in quality, also did justice to her father'srigorous discipline and became famous. She married M. Viardot, operadirector and critic, and after a brilliant career as a singer, gave longand valuable service as a vocal teacher in Paris. She remained in thefull tide of her activity until she was long past the allottedthreescore years and ten. It is an interesting fact that Madame MathildeMarchesi, author of a noted vocal method, 24 books of Vocalises, avolume of reminiscences, and other works, and once famed as a singer, is only five years younger than Madame Viardot-Garcia, but atseventy-six is still teaching--still shining as an authority on the artof song. Singers seem often to have been long-lived. In truth, there isthat in music which is life-giving. 

A songstress whose name will always be mentioned in the same breath withthat of the tenor Mario, who became her husband, and with whom shetoured the United States in 1854, was Giulia Grisi. She was born inMilan in 1812, made her début at sixteen, and had an undisputed reign ofover a quarter of a century. Her voice, a pure soprano of finestquality, brilliant and vibrating, spanned two octaves, from C to C. Shepossessed the gift of beauty, and was said to unite the tragicinspiration of Pasta with the fire and energy of Malibran. A favoriterôle with her was that of the Druid priestess in "Norma. " Her deliveryof "Casta Diva" was said to be a transcendant effort of vocalization. 

Living to-day in London at the advanced age of ninety-seven is the elderbrother of Malibran and Viardot-Garcia, Manuel Garcia, the inventor ofthe laryngoscope, author of the renowned "Art of Song, " and teacher ofJenny Lind. It was in 1841 that the ever-beloved Swedish Nightingale, then twenty-one years old, sought him in Paris, with a voice worn fromover-exertion and lack of proper management. In ten months she hadgained all that master could teach her in tone production, blending ofthe registers and breath-control. Her own genius, her splendidindividuality, her indefatigable perseverance, did the rest in investingher dramatic soprano with that sympathetic timbre, that power ofexpressing every phase of her artistic conception, that bird-likequality of the upper notes, that marvelous beauty and equality of theentire range of two octaves and three quarters (from B below the staveto G on the fourth line), that exquisite sonority, that penetratingpianissimo, that unrivalled messa di voce, that mastery over techniqueof which so much has been written and said. 

Jenny Lind was to Sweden what Ole Bull was to Norway, the inspirer ofnoble achievement. The faithful interpreter of the acknowledgedmasterpieces of genius in opera, oratorio and song, she also freelypoured forth in gracious waves the poetic, the rugged, and theexquisitely polished lays of the Northland, making them known for thefirst time to thousands of people. It was through her pure and noblewomanhood, quite as much as through her artistic excellence that sheswayed the public and left so deep and enduring an impression. True tothe backbone in her artistic allegiance, she believed that art, theexpression and embodiment of the spiritual principle animating it, couldnot fail to elevate to a high spiritual and moral standard the genuineartist. 

She had lived thirty-five happy years with her husband, Mr. OttoGoldschmidt, pianist, conductor and composer, who still survives her, when death overtook her at their home on the Malvern Hills, November 2, 1887. When the end drew near, one of her daughters threw open the windowshutters to admit the morning sun. As it came streaming into the room, Jenny Lind uplifted her voice, and it rang out firm and clear as shesang the opening measures of Schumann's glorious "To the Sunshine. " Thenotes were her last. A bust of her was unveiled in Westminster Abbey in1894. 

A Swedish songstress with a powerful, well-trained voice, who beforeJenny Lind won operatic laurels in foreign lands, was HenriettaNissen-Saloman, also a pupil of Garcia. Later, the brilliant Swedishsoprano, Christine Nilsson, with a voice of wonderful sweetness andbeauty, reaching with ease F in alt. , with the most thorough skill invocalization, with dramatic intuitions, expressive powers and magneticpresence, charmed the public on two continents in such rôles asMarguerite, Mignon, Elsa, Ophelia and Lucia. She, too, bore through theworld with her the northern songs she had learned to cherish inchildhood. 

Still another delightful dramatic soprano from the land of Jenny Lind isSigrid Arnoldson, who has a beautiful voice, winning personality, andpronounced musical intelligence. She is still in her prime. 

When the name of Adelina Patti is mentioned, we always think of longenduring vocal powers, many farewells and high prices. Catalani, in herfull splendor, earned about $100, 000 a season. Malibran's profits foreighty-five concerts at La Scala ran to $95, 000. Jenny Lind received$208, 675 for ninety-five concerts under Barnum's management. Patti hashad as much as $8, 395 for one performance, and long received a fee of$5, 000 a night. In coloratura rôles she has been pronounced the greatestsinger of her time, both in opera and concert. Her voice, noted for itswide compass, exceeding sweetness, marvelous flexibility and perfectequality, has been so wonderfully well cared for that even now, in hersixtieth year, she enjoys singing, although she rarely appears inpublic. Her sister, Carlotta, was also a coloratura vocalist ofexquisite technique. 

Queens of song now pass in swift review before the mind's eye. We recallMarietta Alboni, the greatest contralto of the middle of the lastcentury, with a voice rich, mellow, liquid, pure and endowed withpassionate tenderness, the only pupil of Rossini; Theresa Tietiens, withher mighty dramatic soprano, whose tones were softer than velvet, andher noble acting; Marie Piccolomini, a winning mezzo-soprano; ParepaRosa, with her sweet, strong voice and imposing stage presence; PeschaLeutner, the star of 1856; Louisa Pyne, the English Sontag; Parodi, pupil of Pasta; Etelka Gerster, whose beautiful soprano could fascinateif it could not awe; Pauline Lucca, whose originality, artistictemperament and intelligence placed her in the front rank of dramaticsopranos, and many others. 

Amalie Materna, dramatic soprano at the Vienna Court Theatre from 1869to 1896, with great musical and dramatic intelligence, with a voice ofremarkable compass, volume, richness and sustaining power, vibrant withpassionate intensity, and with a noble stage presence, proved to beWagner's ideal Brünnhilde and introduced the rôle at Bayreuth in 1876. She was also the creator of Kundry at the same place in 1882. Shearoused unbounded enthusiasm as Elizabeth in "Tannhäuser, " and as Isoldein "Tristan and Isolde. " She is not forgotten by those who heard her invarious cities of this country. 

The same may be said of Marianne Brandt, who sang the part of Kundry atthe second "Parsifal" representation at Bayreuth, having been FrauMaterna's alternate in 1882. With her superbly rich, deep-toned voiceand her splendid vocal and dramatic control she thrilled her audiencesin her Wagnerian rôles, in Beethoven's "Fidelio, " and in all sheattempted, whether in opera or concert. She was a magnificenthorsewoman, and was perhaps the only Brünnhilde who was able to givefull play on the stage to her Valkyrie charger. It is told by an eyewitness that before a first appearance in a German city she was bornefuriously on the stage at rehearsal by her spirited, prancing steed, andwhen she drew him up suddenly, rearing and pawing the air, near thefootlights, the members of the orchestra dropped their instruments andfled affrighted. It was not long, however, before she succeeded inwinning their confidence, and all went well at the evening performance. 

Six more radiant queens of song whose reign belongs to these moderntimes must be mentioned in conclusion: Sembrich, Nordica, Calvé, Melba, Sanderson and Eames. These are but a few of the many present day rulersin the realms of song. 

Marcella Sembrich, a coloratura soprano from Galicia, has a light, penetrating, marvelously sweet, and exceedingly flexible voice, with analmost perfect vocal mechanism. As one of her admirers has said, hertones are as clear as silver bells, and there is something buoyant andjubilant in her mode of song. With her genuine art and engagingpersonality she holds her audiences entranced and, being wise enough tokeep within her special genre, she always succeeds as an actress. She isa pupil of the Lampertis, father and son, studied the piano with Liszt, becoming an excellent interpreter of Chopin, and is no mean violinist. 

An American, born in Farmington, Me. , Lillian Nordica pursued her vocaland musical studies at the New England Conservatory, in Boston, andafter much experience in church, concert and oratorio singing, studiedfor the opera in Milan, under Signor Sangiovanni. She made her operaticdébut at Brescia in "Traviata, " and in Paris as Marguerite, in "Faust. "Her superb, liquid soprano is pure, smooth and equal throughout itsentire large compass. She combines feeling with that artisticunderstanding which regulates it, and has been pronounced one of themost conscientious and intelligent singers of the day. An admirableactress and extremely versatile, she has been successful in Mozart'soperas, and has won high renown in her Wagnerian rôles. 

Emma Calvé, a Spaniard, possessed of all a Spaniard's fire, thrills, bewilders, her hearers, though the more thoughtful among them wonder ifthey were not moved rather by her tremendous passionate force andpowerful magnetism than by her vocal and histrionic art. Her voice issuperb, yet she often loses a vocal opportunity for dramatic effect, often mars its beauty in the excitement that tears a passion totatters. Withal there is a charm to her singing that can never beforgotten by those who have heard it. Her first triumph was won as theinterpreter of Santuzza, in "Cavalleria Rusticana, " Mascagni himselfpreparing her for the rôle. She next created a furore as Carmen, andwith her fascinating gestures, complete abandon, grace, and dazzlingbeauty made the part one of the most original and bewitchingimpersonations on the stage. 

The Australian, Nellie Melba, who takes her stage name from Melbourne, her birthplace, has been compared to Patti as a vocal technician. Hervoice is divine, but she seems powerless to animate her brilliantsinging with the warmth that glows in her eyes. As an actress shecompletely veils whatever emotions she may feel, and while her marvelousvocalization overwhelms her audiences, she meets with her greatesttriumphs in operas that make the least demands on the dramatic powers. 

Massenet wrote the title rôles of his "Esclarmonde" and his "Thais" fora California girl, Sybil Sanderson, and himself trained her for theirstage presentation. Her success was assured when she made her début inthe first-named opera at the Opera Comique, in Paris, in 1889. She has avoice of that light, pure, flexible quality so characteristic of ourcountrywomen, and is an admirable actress. She is a pupil of MadameMarchesi. 

Another distinguished pupil of the same teacher is Emma Eames, who wasborn in China of New England parents, and was educated in Boston and inParis. Her voice too is exceedingly flexible, is fresh, pure and clear, her intonations are correct and her personality most attractive. She hasbeen very successful in Wagnerian rôles, makes a superb Elsa, and, inthe "Meistersinger, " an ideal Eva. During her early years on the stageher extreme calmness amounted almost to aggravating frigidity, but withtime she has thawed. She may well be considered a conscientious artistendowed with rare musical intuition. 

There is no possession more perishable, more delicate, than the humanvoice. When one considers the joy it is capable of shedding about it, the blessings that may follow in its train, it seems sad to think of thereckless waste caused by its neglect and mismanagement. Its life isbrief enough at best. Let it be cherished to the utmost. 

In America where there are to-day more fine voices among women than inany other country and where time and means are so freely expended on themusical education of girls, the twentieth century should produce noblerqueens of song than the world has yet known. First, the American girlmust learn that the real things of life are more to be prized than falsesemblances, and that genuine musical culture resting on a foundationbuilt with painstaking care and consecrated artistic zeal, is of farhigher and more enduring value than the most dazzling feats of displaywhich lack solid, intrinsic support. 

X

The Opera and Its Reformers

The evolution of the drama is intimately associated with that of musicand both are inseparably entwined with the unfolding of the spirituallife of the human race. Man is essentially dramatic by nature, and bothhistory and tradition show it to have been among his earliest instinctsto express his inner emotions by action and song. 

From this tendency arose the Greek religious drama. We find it inlegendary times at the altar of Dionysus, master of the resources ofvitality, in whose train followed the Muses, actual leaders andconductors of human existence. At seed-time and harvest festivals a rudechorus, grouped about the altar, told the story of the god's wanderingsand adventures, in simple words, accompanied by gesture, dance andmusic. This expression of thought and feeling mirrored the emotions ofthe worshipers, kindled the imagination, and strengthened the innateinstinct for freedom. Gradually the narrative detaching itself from thechoral parts fell to individual singers, the acting became more and morea distinct feature of the occasion, ever increasing dramatic qualitycharacterized the song, and the materials were at hand for the Greekdrama so fruitful to us in its results. 

Greek poetry, in its matchless beauty, may still be enjoyed by all whohave powers of literary appreciation. Of Greek music we know littlebeyond the theories which form the basis for modern musical science andthe fact that it was highly esteemed. Aristotle tells us that it was anessential element in Greek stage plays and their greatest embellishment. Both Æschylus and Sophocles were practical musicians and composed musicfor their dramas. Euripides, less musician than poet, was at leastable to have the music for his works prepared under his direction. Indeed, words, music and scenic effect were inseparably connected in theGreek dramas. 

[Illustration: CORELLI]

The enthusiasm these aroused is indicated by the fact that travelersfrom distant lands undertook perilous journeys to attend the famousperformances at Athens, often remaining in their seats twenty-four hoursbefore the play began in order to secure desirable places. Fully fiftythousand spectators could be accommodated in the Lenæan Theatre, whosestage machinery would make ours seem like a toy model. Many of itstheatrical exhibitions cost more than the Peloponnesian War. 

In Greek life, at the period of its glory, music and the drama wereesteemed elevating factors in culture. The supreme things of humanexistence were pictured in them. They expressed the world-view of anentire people. Under Roman dominion, with its corrupting slavery, theydegenerated into mere sources of diversion, and finally becameassociated with evil and degrading practices. 

For this reason and because at best they represented pagan ideals, theatrical representations were discouraged by the fathers of theprimitive Christian Church. The dramatic instinct was not condemned, andits imperative needs were appealed to in the church service, which earlyset forth in symbols all that was too mysterious and awe-inspiring forwords. In order further to reach the mind through the senses, scenesfrom the Scriptures were read in the churches, illustrated with livingpictures and music. Gradually the characters personated began to speakand to move. The drama rose anew at the foot of the altar. Christianpriests were its reformers, its guardians and its actors. Designed forthe amusement as well as the instruction of the gaping multitudes, itwas necessarily a pretty crude affair. Satan was introduced as theclown, and laughter was provoked at his discomfiture when routed, or atthe destruction of those who wilfully cast themselves into his clutches. It is not strange that the pious and learned St. Augustine, in thefourth century, regretted the polished dramatic performances atAlexandria that in his youth had afforded him so much genuine enjoyment. Among the people the church play became so popular that in the course oftime it was found necessary to erect more spacious stages in the openair. 

Thus arose the Mystery, Miracle, Morality and Passion Plays, the directprogenitors of the Opera and the Oratorio. The descent of the Opera maybe traced also to another source, to the secular play which persisted inthe face of ecclesiastical disfavor and the ban that excluded itsplayers from the church sacraments. 

Strolling histriones, jongleurs and minstrels passed from court tocourt, appeared in castle yards, market places or village greens, recited, acted, sang, danced and played on musical instruments. Theyafforded a welcome means of communication with the outside world; theybroke up the monotony of life when events were few. As modern musicrests on the two pillars of the Gregorian chant and the folk-song, sothe opera rests on the two pillars of the religious drama and thepeople's play. 

During the high tide of the revival of Greek learning in Italy, late inthe sixteenth century, a group of the aspiring young nobility ofFlorence, gentlemen and gentlewomen, adopting the dignified name of the"Academy, " resolved to recover the much discussed music of the Greekdrama. The place of rendezvous was the palace of Count Bardi, a memberof one of the oldest patrician families in Tuscany. Edifying discourseand laudable exercises were indulged in by the guests, among whom wereseveral persons of genius and learning. The meetings were presided overby the host, himself a poet and composer, as well as a patron of thefine arts. 

The culture of the times demanded a higher gratification for man'sdramatic cravings than either rude religious or secular plays afforded. Other music was required to depict the emotions than that of thecontrapuntist, with its puzzling intricacies. So thought these ardentHellenists, and a burning zeal possessed them to mate dramatic poetrywith a music that would heighten and intensify its expression andeffect. They who seek are sure to find, even if it be not always theobject of their search. In the earnest quest of these reformers fordramatic truth an unexpected treasure was disclosed. 

Vincenzo Galilei, father of Galileo Galilei, opened the way. He was theactive champion of monody, in which a principal melody was intoned orsung to the accompaniment of subordinate harmonies, believing that inmusic designed to arouse personal feeling individualism shouldpredominate. The art music of the time was polyphonic, that is, constructed by so interweaving melodies that harmonies resulted. Ofsolos in our modern sense nothing was known beyond the folk-songs, instinctive outpourings of the human heart, and these learned composershad merely used as pegs on which to hang their counterpoint. Not contentwith giving his ideas to the world in the form of a dialogue, Galileicomposed two musical monologues, between 1581 and 1590, one to the sceneof Count Ugolino, in Dante's "Inferno, " and one to a passage in theLamentations of Jeremiah. These the chroniclers tell us he sang verysweetly, accompanying himself on the lute. He was also a fine performeron the viola. 

A dramatic representation at a court marriage, in 1590, in which theartificially constructed ecclesiastical music illy fitted the textlauding the bride's loveliness, gave a new impulse to the "Academy"efforts. Soon there was produced at court, by a company of highbornladies and gentlemen, two pastoral plays: "Il Satiro" and "LaDisperazione di Fileno, " so set to music that they could be sung ordeclaimed throughout. The author of the text was Signora LauraGuidiccioni, of the Lucchesini family, renowned in her day for herpoetic gifts and brilliant attainments. Signor Emilio del Cavalieri wasthe composer, and he triumphantly announced his music as that "of theancients recovered, " having power to "excite grief, pity, joy andpleasure. "

These two "musical dramas, " as they were called, contained the germs ofmodern opera, despite their crudities of harmony and monotonous melody. That noble songstress, Vittoria Archilei, known as "Euterpe" among herItalian contemporaries, greatly enhanced the success of the new venturewith her superb voice, artistic skill, musical fire and splendidintelligence. She "whose excellence in music is generally known, " as weare told, and who was able to "draw tears from her audience" at theright moment, also aroused enthusiasm for a third work of a similarnature by the same authors, "Il Giuco della Cieco, " that appeared in1595. 

Besides being the first to tell the entire story of a play musically andto utilize the solo, Cavalieri introduced various ornaments into vocalmusic and increased the demands on instrumentation. He did not succeed, however, in satisfying the Academicians with his attempt to grasp themedium between speech and song, and his choruses were thought tediousbecause of their employment of the intricate polyphonic style. Furtherreform was desired. 

This came through Jacopo Peri, maestro at the Medician court, and after1601 at the court of Ferrara. In studying Greek dramas, as he states inone of his writings, he became convinced that their musical expressionwas that of highly colored emotional speech. Closely observing diversemodes of utterance in daily life, he endeavored to reproduce soft, gentle words by half-spoken, half-sung tones, sustained by aninstrumental bass, and to express excitement by extended intervals, lively tempo and suitable distribution of dissonances in theaccompaniment. To him may be attributed the first dramatic recitative. It appeared in his "Daphne, " a "Dramma per la Musica, " written to textby the poet Rinuccini and privately performed at the Palazzo Corsi, in1597. This was actually the first opera, although the term was notapplied to such compositions until half a century later. Several soloswere added by the court singer, Giulio Caccini, who composed a number ofsongs for a single voice, "in imitation of Galilei, " as a contemporarystated, "but in a more beautiful and pleasing style. " Invited threeyears later to produce a similar work for the festivities attending themarriage of Henry IV. Of France with Maria di Medici, Peri wrote his"Eurydice, " and once more Signora Archilei interpreted the leading rôle, greatly to the composer's satisfaction. It was the first opera performedin public. The singing had a bald accompaniment of an orchestra placedbehind the scenes and consisting of a clavicembalo, or harpsichord, aviola da gamba, a theorbo, or large lute, and a flute, the last beingused to imitate Pan-pipes in the hands of one of the characters. 

Seven years afterward, for another court marriage, a musical drama waswritten by a man of genius who completely broke the fetters of ancientpolyphony. This was Claudio Monteverde, then in his thirty-ninth year, and chapel master to the Duke of Mantua. He was the first composer touse unprepared chords of the seventh, dominant and diminished, and toemphasize passionate situations with dissonances. He invented thetremolo and the pizzicato, and originated the vocal duet. His keendramatic sense enabled him to arouse interest through contrasts, conspicuously characteristic passages, and independent orchestralpreludes, interludes and bits of descriptive tone-painting. 

His opera, "Orfeo, " 1608, had an orchestra of two harpsichords, two bassviols, two violas di gamba, ten tenor viols, two little French violins, one harp, two large guitars, three small organs, four trombones, twocornets, one piccolo, one clarion and three trumpets. In "Tancredi eClorinda, " produced in Venice, in 1624, a string quartet indicated thegalloping of horses, a prototype of the "Ride of the Valkyries. " LikeAbbé Liszt, he took holy orders late in life, without ceasing tocompose. At seventy-four years of age, when the fire of his geniusburned brightly as ever, he wrote his last opera "L'Incoronazione diPoppea. " It may truly be said that Monteverde was the great operaticreformer, the Wagner, of the seventeenth century, as Gluck was of theeighteenth. 

An epoch-making event in opera history was the opening, in 1637, of thefirst public opera house in commercial Venice whose wealth afforded hercitizens leisure to cultivate art. Soon popular demand led to theerection of many Italian opera-houses. At the same time growing tastefor magnificence of stage setting and brilliant, dazzling, evenextravagant song effects, caused neglect of Academician principles. Thelearned and gifted Neapolitan composer, Alessandro Scarlatti, father ofthe famous harpsichordist, gave an impulse in his operas, during thelast quarter of the century, to sensuous charm and beauty of melody. Heinvested recitative with classic value, enlarged the aria, and devisedthe da capo which became a menace to dramatic truth. 

In France, the troubadours had borne melody into the domain ofsentiment, and laid a solid foundation for musical growth. Adam de laHallé's pastoral, "Robin et Marion, " was an actual prototype of theopera. During the seventeenth century Corneille and Molière refined thedramatic taste of their compatriots. Attempts to introduce Italian operaonly resulted in arousing a desire for an opera in accord with Frenchideals. 

This was gratified by Jean Battiste Lully, who had come to the Frenchcourt from Italy in boyhood, and had risen, in 1672, from a subordinateposition to that of chief musician. Undertaking to make reforms, hesucceeded in giving his adopted country a national opera. He establishedthe overture, gave recitative rhetorical force, added coloring to theorchestra, and introduced the ballet. New life was infused into thetraditions he left when Jean Philippe Rameau, in 1733, at fifty years ofage, wrote his first opera. He was well-known as a theorist andcomposer, and was the author of a harmony treatise in which were setforth the laws of chord inversions and derivations, a stroke of geniusthat hopelessly entangled him in perplexities. His instrumentation wasmore highly colored, his rhythms more varied than those of hispredecessor, and his sincerity of purpose more evident. In common withother reformers he was accused of "sacrificing the pleasures of the earto vain harmonic speculations. " Some of his many operas were written toworks of Racine. He died in 1764, in his eighty-first year. 

A century earlier the English reached the culmination of their GoldenAge of musical productiveness in Henry Purcell, known as the mostoriginal genius England has produced. His dramatic powers were fosteredby the popular masques with their gorgeous show of color and rhythm, andin mere boyhood he wrote music for several of them. In 1677, when onlynineteen, he produced his first opera. He attempted no reform, but hisinstinct for the true relation between the accents of speech and thoseof melody and recitative seems to have been unerring. Saturated withnative English melody, tingling with fertile fancy and controlled byeducation, whether he wrote for stage, church, or chamber, he evinced afreshness and vigor, a breezy picturesqueness and a wealth of rhythmicphrases and patterns, and many new orchestral devices. In 1710, fifteenyears after his early death, the giant Handel began to dominate musicalEngland, flooding the stage with operas of the Italian type and finallyushering in the reign of the oratorio. The delicate plant of Englishopera never took root. 

Italian influence had almost caused the decline of French opera whenChristopher Willibald Gluck turned to Paris, in 1774, as itsregenerator. In Vienna, twelve years earlier, he had already producedhis "Orfeo, " whose calm, classic grandeur seemed the embodiment of theGreek art spirit. His choice of subjects indicates the enterprise onwhich he had embarked. He sought simplicity, subjugation of music topoetic sentiment, dramatic sincerity and organic unity. His operaticversion of Racine's "Iphigènie en Aulide" called forth unboundedenthusiasm in the French metropolis directly after his arrival, and ledto the warfare with the brilliant Italian Piccini, which was as hot asany Wagner controversy. 

The homage of all time is due this man of genius for the splendidcourage with which he attacked shams. He claimed it to be the divineright of the dramatic composer to have his works sung precisely as hehad written them, and protested against the innovations that had beenpermitted to suit the caprices and gratify the vanity of singers. It washis idea that the Sinfonia, in other words the Overture or Prelude, should indicate the subject and prepare the spectators for thecharacters of the pieces, and that the instrumental coloring should beadapted to the mood of the situation, thus anticipating modernprocedure. He prepared the way for the work of Cherubini, Auber, Gounod, Thomas, Massenet, Saint-Saëns and others. 

In Germany, Italian opera, early introduced, long remained fashionable. Native dramatic tastes, once fostered by minnesingers and strollingplayers, were kept alive by the "singspiel, " or song-play, composed ofspoken dialogue and popular song, which furnished the actual beginningsof German national music drama. The threshold of this was reached, thesanctuary of its treasures unlocked, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who, without thought of being a reformer, unconsciously infused German spiritinto Italian forms. It was during the last five years of his brief life, from 1786 to 1791, that he produced his operatic masterpieces, "TheMarriage of Figaro, " "Don Giovanni, " and "The Magic Flute. " Hismarvelous musical and poetic genius, supported by profound scholarship, led him into hitherto untried regions of expression, and to him it wasgiven to bring humanity on the stage, splendidly depicting the innerbeing of each character in tones. Wagner said of him that he hadinstinctively found dramatic truth and had cast brilliant light on therelations of musician and poet. 

Ludwig van Beethoven, the great tone-poet, guided by his profoundcomprehension of the deep things of life and his active sympathies toabsolute truthfulness in delineating human passions, made the nextadvance in his one opera, "Fidelio, " written in 1805. Ranked, though itis, rather as a symphony for voice and orchestra than as the musicalcomplement of a dramatic poem, there is nevertheless infused into someof its chief numbers more potent dramatic expression than is found inany previous opera. Thoroughly cosmopolitan in subject, it isnevertheless German in that its lofty earnestness of tone offers aprotest against all shallowness and sensationalism. The entire story ofthe opera is told in tones in the overture. 

The next German to write overtures with a deliberate purpose toforeshadow what followed was Carl Maria von Weber, whose greatest opera, "Der Freischütz, " appeared in 1821. The initial force of the Germanromantic school, he founded his operas on romantic themes, and depictedin tones the things of the weird, fantastic and elfish world thatkindled his imagination. He has been called the connecting link betweenMozart and Wagner, and in many of his theories he anticipated thelatter. National to the core, he embodied in his music the finestqualities of the folk-song, and noble tone-painter that he was heexcelled his predecessors in his employment of the orchestra as a meansof dramatic characterization. 

Richard Wagner was long regarded as the great iconoclast whose businessit was to destroy all that had gone before him in art, but no one evermore profoundly reverenced Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Weber than he. The public was persistently informed that his compositions were beyondordinary comprehension, and yet designed, as they were, to picture man'sessential life, they have slowly but surely found their way to thepopular heart. It was the very essence of his musical dramatic creedthat to have blood in its veins and sincerity in its soul art must comefrom the people and be addressed to the people. He chose the nationalmyth and hero tradition as the basis of his music-drama because of theuniversality of their content and application, and because he believedthey reflected the German world-view. Himself he regarded as theSiegfried whose mission it was to slay the dragon of sordid materialismand awaken the slumbering bride of German art. 

Bach and Chopin had anticipated him in some of his most startling chordprogressions. The motives of Bach's fugues and Beethoven's sonatas andsymphonies, and the so-called "leading motives" of the Frenchman, HectorBerlioz, had preceded his "typical motives. " Moreover, the orchestrationof Berlioz had been a precursor of his orchestral tone-coloring. Nevertheless, everything he touched was so characteristically applied byhim as to produce new impressions, and to emphasize the idea of music asa language. So peculiarly were music and poetry blended in the delicatetissue of his genius that one seemed inseparable from the other. United, he believed it to be their mission to inculcate high moral lessons ofpatriotism and love. 

He gave the death-blow to an opera whose sole aim is to tickle the ear. Many an exquisite melody of Rossini and other Italian composers willlong continue to live, but their productions as wholes have mostlyceased to be satisfying to those of us who have Teutonic blood in ourveins. The Italian opera composer who holds the highest place to-day inthe heart of the serious musician is that grand old man of music, Giuseppe Verdi, whose genius enabled him to yield four times to thespirit of the age, during his long career, and who in his ripe old ageendeavored to give Italy what Wagner had given the German nation. 

XI

Certain Famous Oratorios

About the middle of the sixteenth century, San Filippo Neri, a zealousFlorentine priest, opened the chapel, or oratory, of his church in Rome, for popular hours with his congregation. His main object being "toallure young people to pious offices and to detain them from worldlypleasure, " he endeavored to make the occasions attractive as well asedifying, and supplemented religious discourse and spiritual songs withdramatized versions of Biblical stories provided with suitable music. Associated with him in his labors for a good cause, was no less acomposer than that great reformer of Catholic church music, GiovanniPierluigi Sante da Palestrina, whose harmonies were declared by amusic-loving Pope to be those of the celestial Jerusalem. The laudableenterprise proved successful. People flocked from all quarters to enjoythe gratuitous entertainments, and a form of sacred musical art resultedthat derived from them its name. 

Roswitha, a nun of the Gandersheim cloister, in the tenth century, madethe earliest attempt recorded to invest church plays with artisticworth. Her six religious dramas, written in Latin for the use andedification of her sister nuns, were published in a French setting, in1845. It was a woman, too, Laura Guidiccioni, a brilliant member of theFlorence group of aristocratic truth-seekers in art, who wrote the textof the first religious musical dramatic composition to which the nameoratorio became attached. It was set to music of a declamatory style byEmilio del Cavalieri, the author's collaborator in the pastoral playsthat were really embryo operas. The title of the piece, "TheRepresentation of the Body and the Soul, " indicates the allegoricalnature of the subject. 

Its initial performance occurred at Rome, February, 1600, in the oratoryof San Filippo's church, Santa Maria della Vallicella. The composer haddied some months earlier, but his minute stage directions wereaccurately observed. Behind the scenes was placed an orchestracomprising a double lyre, a harpsichord, a large guitar and two flutes, to which was added a violin for the leading part in the ritornels, thatis, instrumental preludes and interludes. The chorus had seats assignedon the stage, but rose to sing, employing suitable movements andgestures. Time, Morality, Pleasure, and other solo characters bore intheir hands musical instruments and seemed to play as they acted anddeclaimed their parts, while the playing actually came from theconcealed instruments. The World, the Body and Human Life illustratedthe transitoriness of earthly affairs by flinging away the gorgeousdecorations they had worn when they appeared on the stage, anddisplaying their utter poverty and wretchedness in the face of deathand dissolution. The representation ended with a ballet, danced"sedately and reverently" to music by the chorus. 

Some idea of the oratorio in its infancy may be gained from thisdescription. Except that the subject had a religious bearing, itdiffered little from the opera. With Giacomo Carissimi, director ofmusic at San Apollinare, Rome, from 1628 until his death, in 1674, thepaths of the two diverged. He laid down lines that have been followed inthe oratorio ever since. Dancing and acting were excluded by him, andthe rôle of narrator introduced. His broad, simple treatment of chordsenhanced the purity and beauty of everything he wrote, and in his handrecitative gained character, grace and musical expressiveness. Only asmall portion of his epoch-making work has been preserved, but quiteenough to make clear his title "Father of Oratorio and Cantata. "

His pupil, Alessandro Scarlatti, founder of the Neapolitan school andpractically the musical dictator of Naples, from 1694 to 1725, was anincredibly prolific composer in almost every known species of musicalform. His many improvements in vocal and instrumental music operatedgreatly to the advantage of the oratorio. Possessing feeling fororchestration to an unusual degree for his time, he grouped musicalinstruments of different timbres with marked boldness and skill, and wasthe first specially to orchestrate recitative. His genius and knowledgeenabled him to restore counterpoint to its rightful place, and hisoratorios show great gain in elasticity and form. 

Another Alessandro, he who bore the surname Stradella and was the heroof Flotow's opera of that name, has figured so freely in romance that itis not easy to separate truth from fiction in accounts of his life. Dr. Parry says of him that he had a remarkable instinct for choral effects, even piling progressions into a climax, that his solo music aims atdefiniteness of structure, that, in 1676, he used a double orchestrawhose principal instruments were violins, and that his oratorios werespecially significant, as he cultivated all the resources of that formof art. His most celebrated composition is an oratorio, "San GiovanniBattista, " and one of the airs attached to it "Pietà Signore, " abeautiful, symmetrical, heart-searching melody, is sung to-day, althoughit is by no means as well known as it deserves. 

According to tradition, its tender, worshipful strains sung in thechurch of the Holy Apostles, at Rome, by the composer himself, oncestayed the hand of an assassin whom jealousy had prompted to slay the"Apollo della Musica. " So Alessandro Stradella was called, because ofhis great gifts as singer and composer, and his manly beauty. A jubilantmultitude surrounded him in life, and loud lamentation arose, when, atlength, he fell a victim to envy and malice. Thus the graceful legendruns. Recent writers are trying to make us believe that the famous"Pietà Signore" was a later interpolation in "San Giovanni Battista, "and that it may be attributed to this or that composer, a century ormore after the death of Stradella, in 1681. Unless absolute proof beafforded us, let us forbear from plucking this gem from his crown. 

Composer of fifty operas and many other works, magnificent organist andharpsichordist, with musical genius of a Titanic order, intellect thatwas swift, sure and keen, an indomitable will, a lofty philosophy, and alordly personality, George Friedrich Handel, seemingly defeated byoutrageous fortune, wheeled about like some invincible general whosebusiness it was to win the battle and entering the field of the oratoriogained a colossal victory. He had for some time passed the half centurymilestone of his life when he scored his greatest achievements in thisline, and with magic touch transformed existing materials into theart-form we know to-day. His "Messiah, " which alone would have sufficedto immortalize him, was produced, in one of his herculean bursts ofpower, within twenty-three days, when he was well-advanced in hisfifty-seventh year. It was first given to the public, in Dublin, April13, 1742, seven months after its completion. The enthusiasm it awakenedwas repeated when it was performed later in London. Here, indeed, theaudience became so transported that at the opening of the Hallelujahchorus every one present, led by the king, rose and remained standing, acustom we follow to-day. 

Herder calls the "Messiah" a Christian epopee, in musical sounds. It iscertainly written in the large, grand style of a noble epic, for it hadlarge matters to express, and its composer regarded music as a means ofaddressing heart and soul. The theme is treated with reverence, delicacyand judgment, and the leading tone is that of a mighty hymn ofrejoicing. Following an overture that is in itself a revelation, theopening tenor recitative, "Comfort Ye, My People, " has a convincing ringthat all is and will be well, mingled with infinite tenderness, and thesucceeding aria, "Every Valley, " is pervaded with the freshness of earthnewly arisen amid great glory. The heart-rending desolation ofselections like the contralto air, "He was Despised, " only serves toaccentuate the triumph of other portions. Throughout there is a warmth, a contrapuntal splendor, a breadth, an elasticity, a richness oforchestration, unknown in previous oratorio, unless in parts of some ofthe master's own works. Even in the duet and choruses remodeled from hischamber duets, there is that jubilant character that makes them blendperfectly with the great whole. 

Born and educated on German soil, steeped during his wanderer's years inthe spirit of the Italian muse, and finally nourished on the cathedralmusic of England, Handel became thoroughly cosmopolitan, appropriatingwhat he chose from the influences that surrounded him. The Englishregard him as one of their national glories, call him the "SaxonGoliath, " the "Michael Angelo of music, " a "Bold Briareus with a hundredhands, " and have carved his form in enduring marble above his tomb inWestminster Abbey. Nothing they have said can equal the tribute paid himby the dying giant Beethoven, who pointing to Handel's works exclaimed:"There is the truth. "

Another lofty, yet wholly different personality, born also in 1685, isfound in Johann Sebastian Bach, whose Passion Oratorios, a directoutgrowth of the Passion plays of old, furnish materials and inspirationfor all time. Handel worked in and for the public and fought his battlesin the great world. Bach was the lonely scholar who lived apart fromoutside turmoil and unabashed in the presence of earthly monarchs, reigned supreme in the tone-world. A typical Teuton, his music, intensely earnest, highly intellectual, contains the essence ofTeutonism, and gives full, rich, copious expression to the inmost beingof humanity. The spirit of Protestant Germany is embodied in hisreligious tone productions which have proved to Protestantism a tower ofstrength. His service in developing the choral alone is inestimable. Nothing that he has written, better represents the majesty and sublimityof his style than his "Saint Matthew Passion" with its surpassingutterances of human sorrow and infinite tenderness. 

In the year 1790, when Joseph Haydn had accepted an invitation to makea professional visit to London, his young friend, Mozart, endeavored todissuade him from going on account of his age, but Haydn persisted, declaring that he was still active and strong. Eight years later, atsixty-six years of age, he wrote his celebrated oratorio "The Creation, "with all the vigor and sparkle of youth. The rambles of years in thebeautiful grounds of Esterhazy had attuned his soul to communion withnature, and this work plainly shows his power of putting into tones thesecrets nature revealed to him. Blissful joyousness and child-likenaïveté are among its characteristic features. 

The style of Beethoven as a composer of sacred music is reflected in hissingle oratorio "Christ on the Mount of Olives, " that like his singleopera stands apart, amply sufficient to prove what he was capable ofaccomplishing. Mendelssohn, in his "St. Paul" and his "Elijah, " embodieda high ideal, building on his predecessors and attaining, especially inthe latter, an eclectic spirit that manifests keen discrimination. Theoratorios of Liszt, the "Christus, " "St. Elizabeth" and some lesserworks, reveal high purpose and original treatment of a revelation intones of sacred events. In the oratorios of the Frenchman Gounod, preeminently in his "Redemption, " it is interesting to find modernchorals based on those of the German Bach, and, in fact, as it has beenaptly said, a modernized treatment of Bach's passion form. 

What may be the next step in the evolution of the oratorio it weredifficult to estimate. Whether modern efforts can ever surpass, or evenequal, the sublime productions in this field, or whether creative geniuswill be turned into wholly new channels, the future alone maydetermine. 

[Illustration: SAINT-SAËNS]

XII

Symphony and Symphonic Poem

That adventurous spirit, Claudio Monteverde, who nearly three hundredyears ago made himself responsible for the first feeble utterances of anorchestra that tried to say something for itself, divined thepossibilities of expression in varying combinations of tone-quality andgave vigorous impulse to the germ of the symphony already existing inthe formless instrumental preludes and interludes of his predecessorsamong opera-makers. His revelation of the charm that lies in exploringthe resources of instrumentation led to ever increasing demands on theorchestra. The prelude developed into the operatic overture whosebusiness it became to prepare the spectator for what followed. Thatmusic was capable of conveying an impression in her own tone-languagewas apparent, and in due time the symphony rose majestic from the forgeof genius. 

Prominent among the materials welded into it was the dance of obscureorigin. As the vocal aria was the result of the simple folk-songcombined with the intense craving of song's master molders forindividual expression, so instrumental music striving to walk alone, without support from words, gained vital elements through the discoverythat various phases of mental disposition might be indicated byalternating dance tunes differing in rhythm and movement, according toNature's own law of contrasts. That unity of purpose was essential tothe effectiveness of the diversity was instinctively discerned. 

The touch of authority was given to this kind of music, during the lasttwo decades of the seventeenth century, by Arcangelo Corelli when hepresented in the camera, or private apartment, of Cardinal Ottoboni'spalace, in Rome, his idealized dance groups, thoroughly united byharmony of mood, yet affording a wholly new tone-picture of this mood ineach of several movements. These compositions were usually written forthe harpsichord and perhaps three instruments of the viol order, themaster himself playing the leading melody on the violin. He called themsonatas from sonare, to sound, a name originally applied to any piecethat was sounded by instruments, not sung by the human voice. Theyprefigured the solo sonata, the entire class of chamber music named fromthe place where they were performed, and the symphony which is a sonatafor the orchestra. Absolute music was set once for all on the right pathby them. They ushered in a new era of Art. 

Purcell, in England, Domenico Scarlatti and Sammartini, in Italy, theBachs, in Germany, and others continued to fashion the sonata form. Itceased to be a mere grouping of dances, the name suite being applied tothat, and struck out into independent excursions in the domain offancy. The prevailing melody of its monophonic style proved suitable tofurnish a subject for the most animated discussion. Three contrastingmovements were adopted, comprising a summons to attention, an appeal toboth intellect and emotions, and a lively reaction after excitement. 

A German critic has jocosely remarked that the early writers meant thesonata to show first what they could do, second what they could feel, and third how glad they were to have finished. Time vastly increased itsimportance. Two subjects, a melody in the tonic, another usually in thedominant, came to set forth the exposition of the opening movement, leading to a free development, with various episodes, and an assuredreturn to the original statement. The prevailing character being thusdefined, the story readily unfolds, aided by related keys, in a slowmovement and perhaps a minuet or scherzo, and gains its denouement in astirring finale, written in the original key. Each movement has its ownsubjects, its individual development, with harmony of plan and idea fora bond of union. 

The name symphony, from sinfonia, a consonance of sounds, appliedoriginally to any selection played by a full band and later toinstrumental overtures, was given by Joseph Haydn to the orchestralsonata form inaugurated by him. His thirty years of musical service tothe house of Esterhazy, with an orchestra increasing from 16 to 24pieces to experiment on, as the solo virtuoso experiments on piano orviolin, brought him wholly under the spell of the instruments. Theirindividual characteristics afforded him continually new suggestions inregard to tone-coloring, and he rose often to audacity, for his time, inhis harmonic devices. Grace and spirit, originality of invention, joyousabandon, a fancy controlled by a studious mind, a profusion of quainthumor and a proper division of light and shade, combine to give thedominant note to his music. His symphonies recall the fairy tale, withits sparkling "once upon a time, " and yet like it are not without theirmysterious shadows. In everything he has written is felt that facultyof smiling amid grief and disappointment and pain that made Haydn, theFather of the Symphony, exclaim in his old age, "Life is a charmingaffair. "

With Mozart, whose life-work began after, but ended before that ofHaydn, influencing and being influenced by the latter, the symphonybroadened in scope and grew richer in warmth of melodious expression, definiteness of plan and completeness of form. His profoundly poeticmusical nature, with its high capacity for joy and sorrow and infinitelonging, was reflected in all that he wrote. By means of a generousemployment of free counterpoint, in other words a kind of polyphony inwhich the various voices use different melodies in harmoniouscombination, he gained a potent auxiliary in his cunning workmanship, and emphasized the folly of rejecting the contrapuntal experiences, of, for instance, a Sebastian Bach. Musical instruments, as well as musicalmaterials, were his servants in developing the glowing fancies of hismarvelously constructive brain. The crowning glory of his gracefulperfection of outline and detail is the noble spirit of serenity whichillumines all its beauty. 

Beethoven further advanced the technique of the symphony, and proved itspower to "strike fire from the soul of man. " Varying his themes whilerepeating them, adding spice to his episodes and working out his entirescheme with consummate skill, he was able to construct from a motive ofa few notes a mighty epic tone-poem. He translated into superborchestral pages the dreams of the human heart, the soul's longing forliberty and all the holiest aspirations of the inner being. He discussedin tones problems of man's life and destiny, ever displaying sublimefaith that Fate, however cruel, is powerless to crush the spiritualbeing, the real individuality. His conflicts never fail to end intriumph. Well may it be said that the ultimate purpose of a symphony ofBeethoven is to tell of those things from the deepest depths of whichevents are mere shadows, and that as high feeling demands loftyutterance his tonal forms are inevitably worthy of their contents. 

Twenty-six years younger than Beethoven Schubert lived but a year afterhe had passed away and died in 1828, two years later than Weber, andfelt the glow of the spirit of romanticism. From the perennial fount ofsong within his breast there streamed fresh melodious strains throughhis symphonies, the ninth and last of which, the C major, ranks him withthe great symphonists. Intense poetic sentiment, dreamy yet strongmusical individuality, romantic fulness of plan to embody in tones thepassionate emotions of a storm and stress period, and much originalityof orchestral treatment characterize the symphonies of Schumann. Herises to towering heights in some passages, but in his daringexplorations through the tone-world he is often betrayed into avagueness of form, largely traceable perhaps to lack of early technicaldiscipline, as well as to lack of mental clarity. Ultra romanticism wasforeign to the nature and repulsive to the tastes of the refined, elegant Mendelssohn, yet in spite of himself its influence crept gentlyinto his polished works. As a symphonist he displayed fertility inpicturesque sonorities, facility in tracing the outlines and filling inthe details of form, keen sense of balance of orchestral tone, thoroughscientific knowledge of his materials, and, as some one has said, becameall but a master in the highest sense. His overtures are unquestionablyromantic, and as their histrionic and scenic titles indicate, partake ofthe nature of programme music. 

This brings us to Hector Berlioz, the famous French symphonist, theexponent par excellence of programme music, that is, music intended toillustrate a special story. He lived from 1803 to 1869, and because ofhis audacity in using new and startling tonal effects was called themost flagrant musical heretic of the nineteenth century. He was thefirst to impress on the world the idea of music as a definite language. His recurrent themes, called "fixed ideas, " prefigured Wagner's "leadingmotives. " His skill in combining instruments added new lustre toorchestration. The personal style he created for himself was the resultof his studies of older masterpieces, above all those of Gluck which heknew by heart, and of his philosophic researches. His four famoussymphonic works are: "Fantastic Symphony, " "Grand Funeral and TriumphalSymphony, " "Harold in Italy" and "Romeo and Juliet. " In a preface to thefirst he thus explains his ideas: "The plan of a musical drama withoutwords, requires to be explained beforehand. The programme (which isindispensable to the perfect comprehension of the work) ought thereforeto be considered in the light of the spoken text of an opera, serving tolead up to the piece of music, and indicate the character andexpression. "

From programme music came the symphonic poem of which Franz Liszt wasthe creator. Although he found this culmination of the romantic ideal inthe field of instrumental music in his maturer years, he displayed in itthe full power of his genius. His great works in this line are a "FaustSymphony, " "Les Préludes, " "Orpheus, " "Prometheus, " "Mazeppa" and"Hamlet. " Symphonic in form, although less restricted than the symphony, these works are designed to give tone-pictures of the subjectsdesignated, or at least of the moods they awaken. "Mazeppa, " forinstance, is described as depicting in a wild movement, rising tofrenzy, the death ride of the hero, a brief andante proclaims hiscollapse, the following march, introduced by trumpet fanfares andincreasing to the noblest triumph, his elevation and coronation. 

Camille Saint-Saëns, without doubt the most original and intellectualmodern French composer, who at sixty-seven years of age is still in themidst of his activity, and who has made his own the spirit of theclassic composers, owes to the symphonic poem a great part of hisreputation, and has also written symphonies of great value. Hisorchestration is distinguished by its clarity, power and exquisitecoloring. The orchestral music of Tschaikowsky, who died in 1893, symphonies and symphonic poems, are saturated with the glowing Russianspirit, are intensely dramatic, sometimes rising to tempestuous burstsof passion that are only held in check by the composer's scholarlycontrol of his materials. A strong national flavor is also felt in thework of Christian Sinding, the Norwegian, whose D minor symphony hasbeen styled "a piece born of the gloomy romanticism of the North. "Edward Grieg, known as the incarnation of the strong, vigorous, breezyspirit of the land of the midnight sun, has put some of his mostcharacteristic work into symphonic poems and orchestral suites. Thefirst composer to convey a message from the North in tones to theEuropean world was Gade, the Dane, known as the Symphony Master of theNorth, who was born in 1817 and died in 1890. 

It is impossible to mention in a brief essay all the great workers insymphonic forms. One Titanic spirit, Johannes Brahms, (1833-1897) whosucceeded in striking the dominant note of musical sublimity amid modernunrest, is reserved for our final consideration. Of him Schumann said, "This John is a prophet who will also write revelations, " and he hasrevealed to those who can read that high art is the abiding-place ofreason, that it is moreover compounded of profundity of feeling yokedwith profundity of intellectual mastery. Dr. Riemann writes of him, "From Bach he inherited the depth, from Haydn, the humor, from Mozart, the charm, from Beethoven, the strength, from Schubert, the intimatenessof his art. Truly a wonderfully gifted nature that was able to absorbsuch a fulness of great gifts and still not lose the best of gifts--thestrong individuality which makes the master. "

Wonderful is the power of instrumental music, absolute music withoutwords, that may convey impressions, deep and lasting, no words couldgive. All hail to the memory of Johannes Brahms, who has reminded us ofits true mission and delivered a message that will ring through thetwentieth century. 

[Transcriber's Note: In the caption for the illustration featuringMs. Nordica, the spelling of her first name was corrected from "Lilian"to "Lillian. "]