[Frontispiece: W. S. B. MATHEWS. ]

THE

MASTERS AND THEIR MUSIC

 A SERIES OF ILLUSTRATIVE PROGRAMS, WITH BIOGRAPHICAL, ESTHETICAL, AND CRITICAL ANNOTATIONS

 DESIGNED AS AN INTRODUCTION TO MUSIC AS LITERATURE

 FOR THE USE OF CLUBS, CLASSES, AND PRIVATE STUDY

BY

W. S. B. MATHEWS

Author of "How to Understand Music, " "A Popular History of Music, ""Music: Its Ideals and Methods, " "Studies in Phrasing, " "StandardGrades, " Etc. , Etc. 

Philadelphia

Theodore Presser

1708 Chestnut Str. 

COPYRIGHT, 1898, BY THEO. PRESSER

PREFACE. 

When a musical student begins to think of music as a literature and toinquire about individualities of style and musical expression, it isnecessary for him to come as soon as possible to the fountainheads ofthis literature in the works of a few great masters who have set thepace and established the limits for all the rest. In the line ofpurely instrumental music this has been done by Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, and Wagner. Thelatter, who exercised a vast influence upon the manner of developing amusical thought and in the selection of the orchestral colors in whichit can be expressed advantageously, powerfully stimulated all composerslater than himself, nevertheless exerted this influence at second-hand, so to say, never having written purely instrumental movements, butmerely dramatic accompaniments of one intensity or another. Hence, forour present purposes we may leave Wagner out altogether. Practically, down to about the year 1875, everything in instrumental music isoriginal with the masters already mentioned, or was derived from themor suggested by them. Hence, in order to understand instrumental musicwe have, first of all, to make a beginning with the peculiarities, individualities, beauty, and mastership of these great writers. Suchis the design of the following programs and explanatory matter. 

My first intention has been to provide for the regular study of amusical club, in which the playing is to be contributed by activemembers designated in advance, the accessory explanations to be readfrom these pages. I have thought that the playing might be dividedbetween several members, through which means the labor for each wouldbe reduced, and, on the whole, an intimate familiarity with the musicbe more widely extended in the club. This method will have thedisadvantage of leaving a part of every program less well interpretedthan the others, whereby it will sometimes happen that valuable partswill not be properly appreciated. The advantages of this method, however, will outweigh the defects, since the awakening influence of acourse of study of this character will greatly depend upon having asmany members as possible practically interested in it. 

While designed primarily for the use of a club, this course is equallywell adapted to serve as a manual for individual study, in which casethe individual himself will necessarily study every composition uponthe list, and advance to a new program only after having completelymastered each and understood its relation to the remainder of thecourse. The only exception to this rule will be in the case whereseveral programs of increasing difficulty are given. In this case theplayer should take the easiest; after mastering this, let him go on tothe next most difficult, and, having succeeded with this, if possiblelet him attack the most difficult given. In case the latter should beimpracticable for his technical resources, let him at least familiarizehimself with the general features of all of the pieces mentioned, andget into their meaning and beauty as much as he can. 

The course is also well adapted for use as a text-book in femaleseminaries and the like. In this case the forms of a musical club ordefinite musical organization had better be observed, and the meetingsconducted weekly or bi-weekly. The teacher should remember that allthe most important works, in which the maturity and mastership of thecomposer come to their fullest expression, should be studied by themost advanced members of the class, according to their ability, andafterward played by the teacher himself, should he happen to possessthe necessary technical qualifications. When the maturity of theteacher comes in to supplement the immaturity of the pupil, after thelatter has done his best, the best results will be produced. 

It will be noticed, and with disappointment to some, that the analysesand comments are free from so-called "poetry, " and gush of every kind. Particularly are they free from attempts to connect each piece with astory or poetic idea. In the opinion of the writer, the first steptoward musical growth lies in learning to appreciate music, as music. In instrumental music the development of a musical idea, the creationof musical symmetries, figures, and arabesques, and the legitimatebuilding up of musical climaxes upon purely harmonic and rhythmicgrounds are the phases of thought which interested the composer andgave rise to the composition. And while we may not attempt to assignlimits to the inspiration and uplifting effects of great tone-poetry, it is quite certain that effects and influences of this kind arearrived at in the consciousness of the listener only when purelymusical appreciation is active and deep. Without the background ofliving musical appreciation of this kind, the highest flights of thecomposer will pass as mere noise and fury, the hearer being in no whituplifted or inspired. The uplifting which comes from the supposedassistance of a "story" or a poetic idea attached to the composition bysome outside person is quite likely to fail of being the same inquality as that intended by the composer. Music is one thing, poetryanother. While aiming at like ends, --the expression of spiritualbeauty, --they move in different planes, which in the more highlyorganized minds are not proximate. The hearer specially gifted inmusic does not need the story or the poem; he finds it a hindrance. The hearer specially gifted in poetic sensibility does not care verymuch for the music; to him it is merely a foreign speech, trying to sayvaguely and imperfectly what the poetry has said definitely and well. To put the immature and unspecialized hearer upon the poetic track asan aid to understanding a piece of music is, therefore, to place him ata disadvantage, leading him to expect phenomena which he will find onlyin literature; just the same as it would be a mistake to intrude piecesof music as explanations in a course in poetry or imaginativeliterature. 

There is a time in both cases when these accessory or related provincesof mind can be called into friendly activity to the advantage of eachother. In a poetic training this might be at the point where themotive of the poem is of that vague, mystical character--a meresoul-mood--which words express so imperfectly; or, in a course ofmusic, when it is a question of a piece in which the composer hasdefinitely attempted to express a poetical idea--as happens often indramatic music, occasionally in symphonic poems and elsewhere. Herethe outside help is needed not so much in order to explain the music asto supplement its shortcomings. But in the earlier stages of musicaltraining in this higher sense, purely musical observation (not so muchtechnical as esthetic) comes first, since without this all ourrhapsodies upon the greater works signify nothing. 

In the course of the book there are two essays embodied which are veryimportant to the true mastery of the material. They are the essay upon"Moving Forces in Music, " the first chapter, and that upon "The TypicalForms of Music, " at the end of Part I. The first should be taken upwhere it occurs. The other may be left to the end or introduced at anystage of the discussion preferred by the student or by the conductor ofthe class or club. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

PART I. 

THE MASTERS AND THEIR MUSIC. 

CHAPTER I. 

MOVING FORCES IN MUSIC

CHAPTER II. 

BACH AND HÄNDEL

The importance of Bach in the world of music. Pleasing and representative compositions. 

CHAPTER III. 

HAYDN AND MOZART

The importance of Haydn as the creator of the sonata. 

CHAPTER IV. 

CHARACTERISTIC MOODS OF BEETHOVEN

CHAPTER V. 

BACH, MOZART, AND BEETHOVEN COMPARED

CHAPTER VI. 

SCHUBERT AND MENDELSSOHN

CHAPTER VII. 

ROBERT SCHUMANN

CHAPTER VIII. 

CHOPIN

CHAPTER IX. 

BACH, BEETHOVEN, SCHUMANN, AND CHOPIN IN THE DIFFERENT PHASES OF THEIR ART

CHAPTER X. 

LISZT

CHAPTER XI. 

BACH, BEETHOVEN, CHOPIN, SCHUMANN, LISZT

CHAPTER XII. 

CONCERNING THE TYPICAL MUSICAL FORMS

PART II. 

MODERN MASTERS AND AMERICAN COMPOSERS. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE

CHAPTER I. 

NATIONALITY IN MUSIC

CHAPTER II. 

JOHANNES BRAHMS

CHAPTER III. 

EDVARD GRIEG

CHAPTER IV. 

RUBINSTEIN AND TSCHAIKOWSKY

CHAPTER V. 

THE LATER ROMANTICISTS

CHAPTER VI. 

GOTTSCHALK AND MASON

CHAPTER VII. 

E. A. MACDOWELL

CHAPTER VIII. 

ARTHUR FOOTE AND MRS. H. H. A. BEACH

CHAPTER IX. 

MISCELLANEOUS PROGRAM BY AMERICAN COMPOSERS

ILLUSTRATIONS

W. S. G. Mathews . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_

Joh. Sebastian Bach, Geo. Fred. Handel

Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang A. Mozart

Ludwig van Beethoven

Franz Schubert, Felix Mendelssohn

Robert Schumann

Frederic Francois Chopin

Franz Liszt

PART I. 

THE MASTERS AND THEIR MUSIC. 

CHAPTER I. 

MOVING FORCES IN MUSIC

The art of music shows the operation of several moving forces, ormotives, which have presented themselves to the composer withsufficient force to inspire the creation of the works we have. Themost important of these motives is the Musical Sense itself, since itis to this we owe the creation of the folk-song, with its pleasingsymmetries, and the greater part of the vast literature of instrumentalmusic. 

Aside from the expression of the musical consciousness as such, thecomposer has been moved at times by the motive of Dramatic Expression. In opera, for example, a great deal of the music has for its object tointensify the feeling of the scene. Accordingly, the composercarefully selects those combinations and sequences of tones which inhis opinion best correspond with the dramatic moment they are intendedto accompany. And since many of these moments are of extremeintensity, even tragic in character, very strong and intensecombinations of tones are sometimes employed, such as could not bejustified in an instrumental composition to be played independently ofany illustrative scenery or story. 

There is a third motive of composition which also has had a large placein the development of instrumental music--viz. , the Expression of theIndividual Mood of the Composer; and the further we come down in thehistory of music, the more unrestricted we find the operation of thismotive. 

In the order of development, the purely musical is entitled to thefirst place; and it has also been the principal moving cause in thedevelopment of the art of music, from its universality--its power toact upon all grades of musical consciousness according to the abilityof the individual musician. For example, the desire to realize intones agreeable symmetries of rhythm and strong antitheses of melodicsequence has given rise to the folk songs, all of which operate uponwhat are now very elementary lines, since they never exceed very simpleand obvious rhythmic proportions and the most common chords of the key. 

Recent investigations of the music of barbarous and half-civilizedtribes show that the attainment of symmetry in the folk-song is asomewhat late experience. In many of the songs of the AmericanIndians, for example, the first phrase moves practically along thetrack of the common chord; the second phrase frequently repeats thefirst, and in some instances the repetition goes on indefinitelywithout any answer or conclusion. In other cases a second phrasefollows along the track of a closely related chord, but I have nevernoticed a case in which a third phrase appeared, corresponding to thefirst, after a digression of the second phrase into another chord. Generally the rhythm runs out with a series of what might be calledinarticulate drum-beats, as if an impulse existed still unsatisfied, blindly making itself felt in these insignificant pulsations; animpulse which a finer melodic sense would have satisfied by the properantithesis in relation to the first phrase, thus leaving the melody andthe rhythm to complete themselves together, as always takes place incivilized music. 

The art of music seems to be an evolution from the sense of number andthe feeling for the common chord, combined with a certain fondness forreverie, which in the earlier stages of the art was perhapssemi-religious in character, and in the later stages is more nearlyrelated to the dance, until finally, in the highest stage, it is areverie of the beautiful or the pathetic, pure and simple. Theexistence of the harmonic sense in rude natures, where music has notbeen heard, seems very difficult to account for, since, while it istrue that any resonant tone contains the partial tones constituting thecommon chord, a resonant tone is very seldom heard among rudesurroundings; and the discovery of the instinct of barbarous melodiesto work themselves along the track of the chord is one of thoseunexpected finds of modern investigation which, while at first seemingto explain many things, are themselves excessively difficult to accountfor. 

In a sense, there is no difference in kind between the folk-song andthe most complete and highly organized art-music; that is to say, bothalike are primarily due to the operation of simple musical instinctsworking off along the track of rhythmic proportion and harmonicrelation. The vast difference in the grade of the results attained isdue to the capacity of the composers. The simple man giving himself upto reverie and being gifted with a certain amount of musical feeling, produces a commonplace melody of serious import or of lively rhythmaccording to the nature of the reverie in which he indulges. This isto him a complete expression of his mood, and it is received as such byothers in like state. 

A Bach, a Beethoven, or a Schumann, giving himself up to tonal reverie, will also arrive at more or less symmetrical melodic formsproportionate to the mood of the composer and the idea which he isseeking to bring to expression; but instead of his reverie terminatingat the end of one or two periods, as is invariably the case with thesimple man (an additional idea having to be sought with much diligenceand imperfect success), he goes on for a series of periods, and perhapsdevelops a quite long discourse, all having relation to the simpleconception with which he started and to a fundamental mood. It isevident that, owing to the time consumed in writing out a musicaldiscourse, the high composer will not have been able to complete hiscomposition, or at least the written expression of it, at a singlesitting; and upon examining it we do, in fact, find it to consist ofsuccessive chapters or paragraphs, each one of which might be taken asthe expression of a mood, and all having reference to the central moodunderlying the beginning, which by the arrangement of materialnecessarily becomes the characteristic mood of the entire work. 

Moreover, Bach, Beethoven, or Schumann, in bringing their tonal mood toexpression, will permit themselves all sorts of freedom in bringingtogether unexpected motives, rhythms, or chords, and the result, consequently, will be of a very different character from that attainedby the composer of simple pieces, and will, therefore, be intelligibleto those only who have the musical capacity to realize these moreremote and less obvious relations. 

Our composer also will have embraced in his tonal reverie, or at leastin the extreme moments of it, all those extraordinary means of intensemusical expression which the dramatic composer may have found out inhis effort to represent the tragic and extreme moments of dramaticcomplication. And thus the tendency of the musical art is constantlytoward the complex, and toward the bringing together of relations sosubtle as to have been unintelligible to earlier musicians, andunintelligible now, at first hearing, to common ears, lacking in thesefiner perceptions of advanced musical endowment. It is to be noticed, however, that these extraordinary combinations and relations of theadvanced composer occur only at remote intervals in the works of any ofthe great masters. The extremely intense or dramatic or tragic is notthe staple of human life. They are incidents in a checkered andtempest-tossed existence, and the music representing these moods isalso a little outside the range of the purely beautiful. 

In one department of the higher art of music--viz. , that ofsymphony--there has been a working-out of the taste for the symmetric, the well proportioned, and the agreeable sounding; in other words, thebeautiful as to proportion, charm of melody, and the satisfactory inharmony. In symphony the tragic and the extremely dramatic have hadbut a limited realization, while the purely beautiful in tonal relationhas been the main creative motive. This we find in Mozart andBeethoven to a remarkable degree. 

The general color of instrumental music, or its increasing complexityand high flavor, has been very much influenced by the writers of songs, as well as by the dramatic composers writing for the stage. There havebeen a few great geniuses in the art of music who, while gifted with awide musical fantasy of their own, have taken pleasure in derivingtheir inspiration from poetry, and have occupied a large part of theirtime as creative composers in setting to music such lyric texts asinterested them. In this way Schubert, for example, wrote somethinglike 700 songs, Schumann a considerable number, and there have beenvarious other composers who have written extensively in this line. Theexperience of the song-writer has, on the whole, been of great use toinstrumental music, since it has tended not alone to diversify themusic by encouraging a freer and more graphic employment of tonalforms, but also to retain the melody within the compass suitable to thevoice and to preserve the agreeable proportions of phrases, such as wealready find in poetic meters. Still, the fact remains that forintensification and for the extravagant element in the higher art ofmusic, the dramatic composer is the influence mainly to be thanked, since in opera all these things are done upon so much larger a scaleand with so much greater intensity. 

It is not easy in words to point out how extremely large a factor inart-music is the operation of the unconscious. Instinct governed theoperation of Bach and Beethoven almost as much as it does the swimmingof the swan or the flying of the pigeon. For although the instinct oftonal relations is not one of those universal endowments shared byevery individual to the same degree, there have appeared in the art ofmusic a series of remarkable geniuses who seem to have had withinthemselves the power to turn all kinds of moods and experiences intomusical expression. What part of this was due to fortunate heredity, and what to environment, and how much to original genius, pure andsimple, it is impossible to say. The nature of genius always remains amystery. At the same time, the currency which the music of thesemasters has gained in the world, and still maintains, goes to show thatthe instinct which governed them in putting together tonal forms forexpressing delight, and for operating upon the feelings of the hearer, is not different in essence from that of the common listener; sinceexperience shows that all this music affords gratification to the greatmajority of individuals who can be brought to listen to it a few times. Of course, it is not to be expected that a casual hearer, inattentive, it may be, and unaccustomed to remembering what he has heard, will beimpressed by a long instrumental composition to the same degree as apractised hearer, and especially a hearer who has already followed thecomposition through several times before; but the longest symphony orsonata always contains a variety of moments which are intenselypleasing to the ordinary hearer listening seriously to them for thefirst time. The difference between the casual hearer and the morecultivated one is that with practice will come a perception of a largernumber of these attractive moments, and finally, at last, therealization of the entire discourse as a one, having a central idea; inthe same way as in a sermon a casual hearer notices here and there anidea which strikes him; then he goes off into reverie, and is onlyrecalled by some other striking idea which attracts his attention, while the trained hearer may have followed the discourse entirely, andfound it interesting from first to last. 

Moreover, the repeated experience of hearing brings out in ordinarylisteners a capacity which they had not previously realized--viz. , theexperience of feeling in connection with the music. We are still veryfar from understanding the relation between music and feeling. Themost that is known about it as yet is that to a listener of even a veryslight amount of experience the minor chord suggests unhappiness, whilethe major chord sounds brighter and more agreeable; a pleasant rhythm, somewhat lively, betokens cheerfulness; a slow and heavy rhythmbetokens seriousness, perhaps sadness; but beyond this elementarybeginning of musical feeling, which is common to the mostinsignificantly endowed individuality, there is a vast world of finersensibilities connected with music. A certain chord, or succession ofchords, or especially a certain melo-harmonic phrase, touches thesensitive ear with a peculiar thrill, and this happens over and overagain, and continually in the more fortunate works of all the greatmasters, when followed by sympathetic hearers. The point in thisconnection which we have to notice is that the capacity of feeling tobe touched and awakened by tonal incitations is practically universalas regards civilized man. The extent of the influence which music willexert varies enormously in individual cases, but from the fact thatevery normal hearer will be touched more and more by music with alittle practice in hearing it; that the number of those who areextremely sensitive to this form of spiritual suggestion is much largerthan is ordinarily supposed; and from the fact of this capacity in theaverage individual, and the universality of the admiration awakened bythe works of the great geniuses in music, it is a fair conclusion thatthe future is destined to throw more light upon this obscure part ofthe psycho-musical capacity of mankind; and it is obvious, as saidbefore, that the great geniuses whose works are demonstrated to containthis power to touch hearers had this endowment in an extraordinarydegree, but not to such a degree as need place any bar upon the popularappreciation of their music, if a comparatively small amount ofeducation has been given in hearing. 

To sum up, then, the results arrived at in this discussion. Theprograms and discussions now about to be undertaken have been arrangedfor the purpose of assisting the listener to a recognition of thepeculiarities and individual charms of the works of the mastersrepresented, and also, incidentally, to afford the listener a certaineducation in the art of hearing, and, by bringing together stronglycontrasted musical moments, to afford the musical feeling a strongincitation, in the hope of awakening in every listener this capacity ofmusical delight, when the sense of the beautiful and of the expressiveis appealed to through exquisite tonal incitation. 

All the music in these chapters, without exception, has been createdupon musical grounds, since it is the instinctive following out ofmusical ideas which has operated through the greater part of them, while the pursuit of the highly dramatic and strongly marked has hadbut a small influence. 

The higher musical fancy has many ways of expressing itself or ofelaborating musical ideas, but there are two of its characteristicmodes which the student will do well to observe at the start. Theseare what I call the "thematic" and the "lyric. " The ordinaryfolk-song, which starts off with a melodic phrase, this phrase beingpartly answered, followed by a third phrase like the first, and then afinal answer, is the general type of the lyric moment. The thematic isgenerally based upon a short phrase or melodic figure, and this figureis repeated over and over in a variety of ways and different chords andthe like until a complete idea is formed from it. These two modes ofconstruction are traced at greater length in the concluding essay inthis work on "The Typical Musical Forms, " and the student will do wellto fortify himself from time to time by reference to that chapter. 

In all the programs of this course there is one caution which thestudent will do well to observe: All kinds of technical analysis ofart-works put the hearer in a mood essentially different from thatnecessary for properly enjoying the works as art. Every art work isintended to awaken an artistic delight after its kind. In painting, adelight in form and color, and in some a kind of suggestion or story bymeans of them. In music, a delight in tone and tonal relations andrhythm, and always a sense of tonal beauty, with a strong flavor offeeling awakened by means of them. This entire expression of musicalmasterworks belongs to the unconscious operation of mind, and thehearer who occupies himself with the effort to recognize all thevarious devices and artifices of the composer, and to follow the formas such, or who occupies himself mainly with the idea of the storywhich the composer is trying to tell, puts himself in a wrong attitudefor deriving the most complete gratification from the work. In acultivated realization of the beauty of a great musical masterwork, these perceptions of technical skill on the part of the composer nodoubt enter to some degree, but they are always more or less in thebackground, and form a part of the actual pleasure of hearing thesymphony or the sonata scarcely more than the capital initials andpunctuation marks enter into the enjoyment of a poem. All theincidents of punctuation and typography we take instinctively, and areconscious of them only when some one of them is missing and an errorexists in the work. This is the case with music. Symmetry and flow ofimagination are presupposed. Hence, whatever analyses may be made inthe class as a part of the operation of studying these differentmaster-works, the end to be sought by the student is the enjoyment ofthe work as music; to take an active and lively pleasure in the melody;to feel the harmony and the rhythm; to enjoy the contrast of thedifferent moods, and so on. Every piece in the entire list is a voicein which the composer speaks to us, and the question is not the How, but the What. 

CHAPTER II. 

BACH AND HÄNDEL. 

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH. 

 Born March 21, 1685, at Eisenach. Died July 28, 1750, in Leipsic. 

Johann Sebastian Bach was the son of the city musician of Eisenach, anda descendant of about ten generations of musical Bachs. His fatherhaving died when the boy was young, the latter's brother, JohannChristoph, gave him lessons for some time, after which he studied withother masters of considerable celebrity, and at the age of seventeen hewas engaged as violinist in the private orchestra of Prince John Ernst, of Saxe-Weimar. He held this place, however, for but a few months, leaving it to accept a more desirable one as organist in the new churchat Arnstadt. During the time he held this position he made severaljourneys on foot to Lübeck to hear the famous Buxtehude play, and laterpaid the same compliment to another eminent organist. The mostimportant of the early positions which Bach held was that of directorof chamber music, and organist to the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and here, after seven years' service, he was made chief concertmeister. In 1717he left Weimar to accept a position as musical director at Köthen, where he had a better opportunity to express himself with orchestra. In 1723 be became cantor of the St. Thomas School at Leipsic and musicdirector of the university, as the successor of Johannes Kuhnau. Inthis position he had the direction of the music in the St. ThomasChurch, where he had at his disposal an orchestra, organ, and twochoirs, besides which he trained the school-children. He here wrote anenormous amount of church music, consisting of a very large number ofcantatas for church service, of which first and last he seems to haveproduced five entire series for every festival Sunday in the year. These cantatas were short oratorios consisting of choruses, solos, recitatives, instrumental movements, and were frequently ofconsiderable elaboration. Many of them are now lost, but a veryconsiderable number remain. He also composed five oratorios for theGood Friday season--Passion music--of which three yet remain, the mostfamous one being the "St. Matthew's Passion. "

[Illustration: Joh. Sebastian Bach, Geo. Fred. Händel]

Bach was married twice, and had, in all, eleven sons and ninedaughters, of whom six sons and four daughters survived him. As apractical musician Bach excelled upon the violin, the organ, and theclavier, and he left a very large number of works in all three of thesedepartments, works which still remain the admiration of musicians theworld over. His genius was unquestioned in his own lifetime, and thememory of it remained lively even during the fifty years following hisdeath when very few of his works were accessible. 

The most complete biography of Bach is the large work by Spitta, inthree volumes, in which the entire life-history of this great master, and all the circumstances amid which he worked, his discouragements, and what he accomplished, have been traced with most patient and lovingcare. 

The list of Bach's compositions includes three sonatas and threepartitas (generally classed as six sonatas) for violin alone; sixsonatas for violin and piano, a large quantity of chamber music of onesort and another, a few orchestral suites, and about ten large volumesof music for the clavier and for the organ. 

GEORG FRIEDRICH HÄNDEL. 

 Born February 23, 1685, at Halle. Died April 14, 1759, in London. 

Händel was the son of a surgeon and it was the wish of his father toeducate him to his own profession, but the inclination to music was sostrong that it was impossible to prevent him from following it, and, accordingly, he had the best training it was possible to get in thevicinity. When the boy was eleven years old he was taken to Berlin andplaced under the instruction of Bononcini and Ariosti, Italian musicbeing then the style at the Prussian court. At the age of sixteenyoung Händel had obtained a position as organist, and he was also afine clavecin player and a good violinist. A few years later we findhim at Hamburg, where he played the clavecin in the orchestra and wassometimes conductor. Here he produced several operas--"Nero, ""Daphne, " "Florindo, " "Almira"--with so much success that in 1707 hemade a journey to Italy for further perfecting himself in the Italianstyle. Accordingly he spent some months in Florence, three months inRome, thence back to Florence to produce a new opera, and by the newyear of 1708 he was in Venice, where his second Italian opera, "Agrippina, " was produced. From Venice he went again to Rome, where hewrote two short oratorios for Cardinal Ottoboni. 

He had already made the acquaintance in Venice of Scarlatti, Corelli, and of Antonio Lotti. He accompanied the Scarlattis to Naples andremained with them about a year, and there was great rivalry in regardto the harpsichord playing of Händel and Domenico Scarlatti. Thissuccess made Händel's name so celebrated that it led to his beinginvited to London, where he went in 1712 to bring out some operas. Heliked London so well that he remained there all the rest of his life. During a part of this time he was himself the manager of the opera, importing his principal singers from Italy, producing his own operas aswell, occasionally, as those by other composers, and experiencing inthe vocation of manager the vicissitudes well known to attend it. Hemade and lost several fortunes; but finally, at his death, had paid upall claims against him and left to charity a very handsome estate. 

In London he produced a large number of operas, and then, about 1733, he began to compose oratorios, and in 1741 produced the "Messiah, "which had a great success. He also composed a large amount ofinstrumental music, and was very famous as an organist. He composed alarge number of concertos for organ with orchestra, and he was in thehabit of playing a new organ concerto in the intermission of anoratorio. 

The number of Händel's works is extremely large. All his operas arenow forgotten. Nevertheless individual fragments remain, such as thefamous alto air, "Lascio Pianga, " and many others. From hisinstrumental works also many charming bits have survived and stillplease the public, such, for instance, as the famous "Largo. " Of theoratorios, his greatest are the "Messiah" and "Israel in Egypt. " Themost complete biography of Händel is that by Chrysander. 

 * * * * *

In order to appreciate the importance of Bach and Händel in the historyof music, it is necessary to know something of the condition of theworld of music when they commenced to work in it. The music-making ofthe world at that time had come from three original sources, and, inspite of the vast increase in the number of composers and in the volumeof musical production, these streams had been kept, and still remained, almost entirely distinct from each other. 

At the foundation of all the art of music lies the folk-song--simplemelodies which spring up in every country and are easily learned, andpass from one to another until they become current over large extentsof territory. The folk-song had its origin, most likely, in the dance;and the dance, in turn, was an artistic evolution from the cadencedchant, accompanied by a measured march, with which the early religiousservices were performed. The folk-song of the nation naturallydisposed itself in the tonality most esteemed by the people, and, accordingly, we find in some countries that most of the folk-songs arein major tonality, while in others minor tonality prevails; the rhythmbeing determined by the favorite dancing step of the people. Thus, inGermany, many of the folk-songs are waltzes; in Spain, seguidillas; andin Italy, tarantellas. The making of folk-songs must have gone oncontinually through the spontaneous creation of new melodies by giftedbut untaught musicians in all parts of the musical world. Thesemelodies were seldom written down, but were passed from one to anotherorally; and down to the time of Händel and Bach very little recognitionof the folk-song as a possible element in art had been accorded by anytrained musician. This is not the place to trace the evolution of thefolk-song into more and more symmetrically disposed phrases andagreeable relations of tonality. Enough to say that from the ratherslow and minor songs of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, folk-songhad blossomed out until, in the time of Bach, it had come to expressvery much of the simple delights and sorrows of the natural people. 

At the opposite extreme from the folk-song were the operations of thethoroughly trained composer. While the folk-song developed itselfentirely by ear, --and the ear and feeling of the untaught musician werehis sole guide in the production of an agreeable melody, --the trainedcomposer for many centuries entirely disregarded the testimony of theear, or admitted it in only a slight degree. His principal care was tocarry out the rules which he had been taught; and in following thistradition, --the operation of which was almost entirely unchecked by themusical sense properly so called, --the tendency was constantly towardgreater and greater elaboration, since only in elaboration could themastery of the composer be shown. The art of combining tones had beenhanded down for some centuries almost entirely in the form of what isknown as counterpoint, in which the relation of each voice melody tothe others was more considered than the chords resulting as the voicesmoved from one tone to another. This art had its origin apparently inFrance, and the most promising of the early compositions we know werethose produced at the Sorbonne about the eleventh century. By thethirteenth or fourteenth century the pre-eminence had been transferredto the Low Countries, and the Netherlands became the great hothouse ofcontrapuntal development. 

This tendency to extravagant display of learning manifested itself inthe Netherlanders in almost every department; and whoever will read theaccounts of their receptions and festivals, with the elaborate Latinpoems and processions which attended the ceremonies, will find in themusic of those times the same qualities brought to expression. Nevertheless, the ear could not be entirely ignored, and now and then amaster arose with genius and musical intuition necessitating hispruning his compositions more or less in accordance with the dictatesof the ear; and thus there were such masters as Adrian Willaert, whofounded a school in Venice somewhere about 1500, and Orlando di Lasso, who founded that in Munich at about the same time. Among themultitudinous works of these men are many which are simple, or at leastmusical in the proper sense. Nevertheless, as yet, simplicity in thisso-called high art was accidental and momentary, and complication wasthe rule of its being and the measure of its power. 

The complication of the works of the contrapuntal school almost passesbelief. All kinds of imitations, canons, and fugal devices; inversionsof motives, so that an ascending melody was transformed into adescending melody and vice versa; the enlargement or augmentation of amotive by doubling or quadrupling the length of each one of its tones;the diminution of a motive by shortening its tones to a quarter oftheir original value; modification by repeating its rhythm in thechromatic scale in place of the melodic intervals of the originalfigure, and even to the extent of reversing motives, so that themelodic steps were made in reversed order from the end to thebeginning;--and in the midst of all this elaboration the composer orthe trained listener of the time was supposed to enjoy not alone themusic as such, but all these complicated devices of the composer. 

When these things had been carried out in movements having as many assixteen voice parts, which was not a phenomenally large number at thattime, two results unexpected by the composer almost necessarily cameabout. The first of these was the production of chord successionswhich could be felt by the hearer only as such, since sixteen realparts moving within the three octaves of choral compass werenecessarily obliged to cross each other continually, whereby thecontour of the different voice melodies became lost in the mixture, andonly the chords and chord successions came to realization. In thisway, perhaps, the perception of harmonic good and evil was very muchforwarded where nothing of the kind had been intended. The otherresult was the practical exhaustion of all these artificial resourcesfor conveying an impression of power in a composer. When everythinghad been done that could be done, the new composer necessarily had totake a different path and arrive in some other way; otherwise he becamemerely a repeater of what had been done before. 

All the scientific composition up to about the middle of the sixteenthcentury had been designed for voices, and the great bulk of it for theservice of the Church. Presently, however, a distinctly secular musicbegan to be developed, in which, very naturally, lighter principles ofcomposition prevailed. Thus arose a great literature of madrigals, which generally were love-songs or glees, containing many of thedevices of the extremely well-taught composer already mentioned, butalso having in them a lively rhythm and a pleasant quality which, evenafter the lapse of three centuries and more, still has power to impressand please our ears. A little later an instrumental music of thecultivated kind began to be developed. The two Gabriellis, in Venice, wrote various kinds of organ pieces of a semi-secular flavor; theviolin found its form, and, by the beginning of the sixteenth century, had become an instrument somewhat highly esteemed. The principalinstrument still in use among the people, however, was the lute, whichhad taken the place of the harp, and both these instruments naturallytended to develop a taste for chords, since chords were what might becalled their "natural product. "

About the year 1600 a new department of musical creation was opened inthe discovery of opera. This great form of art, which has now attainedso much importance, was an accidental evolution from the effort torecover the Greek drama, in which, owing to the size of the theaters, the lines were chanted or intoned rather than spoken, in order that thevoice might carry farther. The first operatic composers sought only aclear expression of the declamation, and intended to give their writtennotes similar effects to those which a speaker's voice would produce inthe emphatic delivery of the sentiments and words of the text. Accordingly, the first opera had no melody, properly so called; butalmost immediately, in 1608, there appeared a genius in this new formof composition, Monteverde, who not only introduced melodies, but alsomade a very intelligent use of harmony, and, above all, showed himselfthe founder of modern instrumentation by placing the violin at the headof the orchestra. Then ensued in Italy a century of the most animatedmusical productivity the world has ever seen. Operas followed eachother from a great variety of composers, and opera-houses were erectedin all the principal cities; opera was played everywhere, sometimes bythe support of princes and sometimes by the support of the peoplethemselves. 

The development of opera was the most important creative inspirationwhich had ever come into the art of music, since, in the nature of thecase, everything was new. What the music sought to do almostimmediately, beginning with Monteverde himself in his opera "Tancred, "was to represent the feeling of the dramatic moment. Almost at thevery first they began to use music in the melodramatic way foraccompanying the critical moments of the action, when the performerswere not singing, and the forms of the singing utterance differentiatedthemselves into recitatives for the explanatory parts and arias for themore impassioned moments; and then, very soon, there came ensemblepieces, in which several performers sang together. 

Thus all kinds of emotional situations were presented to music forrepresentation and comment, and thus, upon the expressive side, musicreceived the highest possible stimulation. At the same time, throughthe competition of composers for pleasing the ear, there was an everincreasing tendency toward symmetry and graceful forms. And so thearia became, after a little, a piece of vocal display, often entirelyopposed to the action, and sometimes foreign to the genius of thescene; still, it was heard for the sake of the pleasure which peoplehave in a skilfully managed voice. Toward the end of this century, somebody, whose name I do not at this moment recall, began to introduceinto opera occasional moments of which the people's song was the type;short movements which did not aim at display or at immense dramaticexpression, but sought to please by simplicity alone. In this way, through the desire of the operatic composers to avail themselves as faras possible of the technical resources of composition acquired by thelearned musicians of the contrapuntal schools, and to please theirhearers and to astonish them in various ways, all the different forcesin music began to exercise themselves and come to expression in opera;but as yet nothing of the sort had made any great progress ininstrumental music. 

Thus we come to the period of Bach and Händel, both of whom began towrite shortly after 1700. In the working out of their respectivetalents, both these composers show their well-schooled musicianship, according to all the learning of the contrapuntal schools--but withvery important differences. Händel had all his life a predilection fordiatonic tonality, and it is very rarely indeed that he deals with thechromatic at all, and never with the enharmonic. All the music inwhich he best expressed himself was written for voices, and as a masterof vocal effect he still holds a distinguished position, particularlyin the creation of compositions in which a large number of voices canbe effectively massed. He also had a distinct flavor of the folk-songin many of his melodies, and in some instances the folk-song is theentire work. Such, for instance, is the case in "See, the ConqueringHero Comes, " in "Joshua, " and in several of the short instrumentalmovements in "Joshua, " "Solomon, " and his other oratorios. 

Bach, on the other hand, was of a much more intensely organized musicaltemperament. His genius was of the greatest possible character. As avirtuoso he not only played upon the organ, the clavecin, and theviolin better than most of his contemporaries, and upon the organprobably better than any; he also created works in these threedepartments which held the attention of his own time to an astonishingdegree, considering the meager means of communication among men, workswhich still remain, in our time, the indispensable corner-stones of theliterature of these three instruments. The violinist gets a large partof his mastery through the sonatas of Bach for violin solo, theorganist learns his art from Bach, and the pianist finds "TheWell-tempered Clavier, " and many other works of Bach written for theclavecin of indispensable importance for the development of intelligentplaying. 

The peculiar importance of Bach to modern music lies in the delicacy ofhis sense upon the harmonic side and upon his intuition of theemotional value of musical combinations. In the form of his work healways more or less resembled his predecessors, the fugue underlying, probably, something more than half of all the music he wrote. But healso showed a strong tendency to impart to his work the vivacity of thefolk-song and the expressive melodic quality which he had already foundin the violin. Owing to his intensely sensitive harmonic perceptions, he was never able to confine himself for long to the more obviouschords of the key. The diatonic chords and combinations in whichHändel found an ever complete satisfaction are not sufficient for Bach, and we find continually new chords, evasive cadences, and a flowingcontinuity of thought belonging to the master mind. 

Hence to the ordinary student there are two difficulties in the way ofappreciating and enjoying Bach. The first one is the somewhat antiqueflavor of much that he wrote, for it is now almost two hundred yearssince many of Bach's compositions were completed; and the second isthis sensitive and evasive harmonic fancy, which surpasses the capacityof untrained hearers. Hence, such works as the recitatives in the"Chromatic Fantasia, " the beautiful modulations and changes in theorgan Fantasia in G minor, and scores of other passages that might bementioned in the larger works of Bach, are the legitimate pleasure ofadvanced musicians or of those especially gifted; but there is a wholeworld of Bach which lies nearer, within our reach, and it is this moreaccessible part of the land of Beulah that the present program willapproach. 

The importance of Bach in the world of art is further attested by theinspiration which he has been to all great composers since his time. In this respect he is the musician's musician _par excellence_. Therehas never yet appeared a master so advanced as not to find delight inthe works of Bach, and in the opinion of many, all things considered, he was the most richly endowed genius who has ever adorned the art ofmusic. 

 PROGRAM. 

 Invention in C major. From the Two-part Inventions. No. 1. Invention in F major. From the Two-part Inventions. No. 8. Saraband in D minor. Fifth English Suite. Loure in G major. Heinze. Third 'Cello Suite. Song, "My Heart Ever Faithful. " Preamble in E major. Sixth Violin Sonata. Heinze. Saraband in E minor. Fifth English Suite. Gavotte in E major. Tours. Sixth Violin Sonata. Cradle song, from the Christmas Oratorio. Prelude and Fugue in C minor. Clavier. Book I, No. 2. "Hope in the Lord. " Arranged by William Mason from the celebrated Largo. Händel. Menuet in D major. First 'Cello Suite. Heinze. Gavotte in B minor. Saint-Saëns. 

(All the instrumental pieces of this program except the two inventionsand the Tours arrangement of the Gavotte in E are in the "Bach Album, "Peters edition, No. 1820, fifty cents. The inventions are in thePeters edition, fifty cents. The prelude and fugue in C minor may behad separately, as also the two songs. )

The conditions of being pleased with this program are that it be playedin a melodious and expressive manner upon a good-toned piano, and thatthe songs are reasonably well done. 

The selections from Bach in this program are intended to illustrate thelighter and, so to say, more superficial characteristics of Bach'smusic. Accordingly, the inventions are taken to show his manner ofdeveloping a piece from a single motive, which by many repetitionsremains as a text all through the movement. The same principle carriedmuch farther will be found later in Schumann. 

The sarabands illustrate Bach's method in slow movements. These beingwritten for the clavier, which in Bach's time had little tonal value, are rather meager in their development, but when played with a verysincere, melodic quality of tone, and treated exactly like expressivesinging, with the necessary rise and fall of the phrase (varyingintensity, as the idea advances or retrogrades), will always please. Moreover, while very short, such is the cleverness of theirconstruction that they interest a musician very much. 

The gavottes, being arranged from pieces which Bach wrote for clavierwith other instruments, are naturally more free; both because Bach hadthe benefit of a stringed instrument--violin or 'cello--forintensifying the melody, and because they have been recently arrangedfor piano solo, and hence manifest more of the modern treatment of thepiano. 

The song, "My Heart Ever Faithful, " is really instrumental in itscharacter. In the second part the melody lies very badly for thevoice. It is practically an instrumental piece in which the voice isthe sole instrument. 

Owing to the length of the program and the relatively greaterimportance of Bach in the development of music, only one selection isgiven from Händel--Dr. William Mason's adaptation of the words, "Hopein the Lord, " to the Händel largo. This melody is so well known as notto require further comment. In later programs other selections fromBach will be given which will illustrate the larger aspects of hisstyle, and, above all, his intense emotionality. This quality, whichwas once popularly denied concerning Bach, is now recognized by allmusical hearers, and it should be brought out in the playing. Anotheressential characteristic of a successful Bach interpretation is the dueobservance of the rhythm, which is always admirably organized in Bach'sworks. Rubato must be introduced in a very sparing manner, and alwaysin such a way as not to destroy the rhythm of the period as a whole. 

If the student is disposed to undertake this work seriously, it will beadvantageous to enter into an analysis of one or more of the Bachselections (or better, perhaps, assign each selection to one member forstudy and report), in order to ascertain exactly in what manner he usesmotives to answer each other, when he continues upon the same motive, and when he branches off with other material. The inventions will beeasiest for this purpose. It would be an advantageous exercise to playthe inventions while the hearers note the number of times the leadingidea occurs in each one. The object of this exercise is to leadunaccustomed hearers to note the actual musical idea--motive--insteadof remaining passively attentive, taking in the music by contemplation. The latter attitude of hearing is the one best adapted for receivingwhatever emotional movement there may be in the music; but since thelarger works depend upon the development of musical ideas as such, itis desirable to acquire the habit of attending to them. The passivecontemplation may be applied later to more emotional works. With Bachthe purely musical is the first object of his work. 

CHAPTER III. 

HAYDN AND MOZART. 

FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN. 

 Born April 1, 1732, at Rohrau. Died May 31, 1809, in Vienna. 

Haydn came of peasant stock, his father being a wheelwright, and thelittle Franz Joseph the second of twelve children. At the age of eighthis beautiful voice attracted the attention of the director of thechoir of St. Stephen's Church in Vienna and he was entered as a choirboy. Here he received a thorough training in singing, in clavier, andviolin playing, and also a good education. When his voice broke hemanaged to sustain himself in an honorable way by various subordinatepositions as organist and violinist, playing the organ at an early massin one church, the violin at a mass an hour or two later in anotherchurch, and finally, at eleven o'clock perhaps, reaching his principalposition. Thus for several years he passed an extremely industriousand fruitful, but unrecognized, existence. 

[Illustration: Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang A. Mozart]

As early as 1750 he had written his first string quintette, and soonafter he was twenty years of age he held various positions as musicaldirector in noblemen's houses. In 1761--Haydn being now twenty-nineyears of age--he was appointed assistant musical conductor of theprivate orchestra of Prince Esterhazy. The orchestra consisted ofsixteen men. Five years later the senior director died, and Haydnbecame the chief director and remained in this position until 1790, when, in consequence of the death of the old Prince Esterhazy, his sondiscontinued the private orchestra and dismissed Haydn upon a pensionof 1000 florins a year. He was now invited by a professional managerto make a visit to England, which he did in 1790-92 and again in1794-95, conducting many concerts there, and composing for the Englishmarket a series of twelve symphonies for full orchestra, which are nowconsidered to represent his best work in this line. Still later heturned his attention to oratorios and produced his "Seasons" and the"Creation. "

During his long service in the Esterhazy establishment, where he had toproduce a constant succession of new and pleasing music, he had theopportunity of trying all sorts of combinations and devices, and inthis way he turned out an enormous amount of music, including 125symphonies, more than 100 compositions for viol da gamba, an instrumentof which the old Prince Esterhazy was very fond, and a variety of musicof almost every kind then practiced. All of this music reflectsHaydn's character, which was simple, unassuming, kindly, and sincere. As a composer he must be considered as the first of what we might callthe homophonic writers, --that is to say, he was the father of themodern free style in which the normal form of the musical idea is thatof a melody and an accompaniment, as distinguished from the style ofBach, in which the ground form is that of independently moving voices. The following list will give a better idea of the astonishing range ofHaydn's activity as composer: One hundred and twenty-five symphonies;20 clavier concertos and divertisements with clavier; 9 violinconcertos; 6 concertos for 'cello, and 16 concertos for otherinstruments (contra-bass, baritone, lyra, flute, horn, etc. ); 77 stringquartets; 68 trios; 4 violin sonatas; 175 pieces for baritone; 6 duetsfor solo violin and viola; 53 works for piano; 7 nocturnes for lyra, and various other pieces for the same instrument; 14 masses; 2 TeDeums; 13 offertoriums; 24 operas. 

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART. 

 Born January 27, 1756, at Salzburg. Died December 5, 1791, in Vienna. 

Mozart was the son of an excellent musician, and as soon as the boybegan to show his astonishing sensitiveness of ear and bias for musicin every direction, his father commenced to give him instruction. Hisactivity as a composer commenced when he could scarcely read, forbefore he was five years old he showed his father a manuscript of aviolin concerto which at first the father took to be mere meaninglessmarks, but on having them explained by the boy he found there wasindeed a musical idea and, of course, a composition. 

When he was about six years old his father decided to take the boy andhis older sister upon a concert tour, which accordingly he did, visiting the principal courts of Germany, and finally reached ParisNovember 18, 1763. Here his first compositions were printed--fourconcertos for violin. In Paris he was very successful, and the tourwas continued to London, where he published six additional concertosfor violin. By the time he was ten years of age he had written hisfirst oratorio, and now when he was upon a concert tour he was met withskepticism and misrepresentations, the claim being put forward that thecompositions being published under his name had really been written forhim by his father, since it was evident from the face of them that noboy of his age could have composed so well. To counteract thesecharges poems were brought to him upon which he had to improvise andfit the music to the words in the presence of the audience. In 1769 hewent to Italy, where, being now thirteen years of age andcorrespondingly mature as compared with his early appearances, he madea most astonishing success. In Bologna and in Rome as well as inVenice he was examined by the most eminent theorists in Italy, andreceived memberships in the societies of artists, and the Pope made hima Knight of the Golden Spur. His first opera, "Mitridate, " wascomposed in 1770, Mozart being then fourteen years of age. The operawas played twenty times. In Milan, two years later, he composed hisopera "Lucio Silla, " and the same year his opera "Idomeneo, " forMunich. His other celebrated operas followed in fairly rapidsuccession: "Figaro, " 1785; "Don Giovanni, " 1787; "Cosi fan Tutte, "1790, and the "Magic Flute" in 1791. His last was his "Requiem. " Theworks of Mozart included thirteen operas, thirty-four songs, forty-onesonatas, thirty-one divertisements for orchestra. The best biographyis that by Otto Jahn. 

 * * * * *

The epoch of Haydn is a very important one in art, since it was in histime, and almost entirely by his own work, that the sonata andsymphony, the two most important forms in modern music, were inventedor discovered and brought to something like definite form. Practicallyspeaking, a symphony is merely a sonata written for orchestra; but thepossibilities of orchestral contrasts and changes in the working out ofthe part known as "free fantasia" permits the symphonic composer toconduct his work in larger lines and carry it to a greater length thanis advisable for the composer of sonatas for a single instrument, inwhich monotony of tone-color is an element which must not be forgotten. 

The "sonata-piece, " as the principal movement of the sonata has beencalled, is one of the great typical forms in music. Its greatness liesin the latitude it permits the composer and the practically unlimitedfield it gives for the illustration of musical beauty, contrast, sweetness, and musical strength in a single composition. In thisrespect it binds up in itself some of the most valuable possibilitiesof the entire art of modern composition. In order to understand whatwe are to have in the sonatas of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, some ofthe peculiarities of the form need first to be noticed. 

The sonata-piece consists practically of three chapters, of which thethird is substantially a repetition of the first, with a few not veryimportant modifications. The first chapter contains from two to fourdifferent melodic subjects, of which one comes as principal, and issubstantially of a thematic character. The second is almost invariablya lyric subject. In the sonatas of Mozart and Beethoven some verylovely melodies will be found in this position. Between the first andsecond subjects modulating periods may appear; and after the secondthere is a concluding subject, which brings up to a close at the doublebar, upon the dominant of the principal key. In the older practicethere is a repeat sign at this point, and the whole of the first partis gone over again. In modern practice this repeat is oftendisregarded, since the memory of musical ideas appears more lasting inour day than formerly. After the double bar comes the greatcharacteristic opportunity of this form of art-music, in what theGermans call a working out (Durchführungssatz), in which the composermakes a free fantasia upon any or all of the material introduced in thefirst division of the work, already described. This working out isoften mere play, rarely rising to a seriousness at all approaching thatof fugue; still, a clever composer manages to afford many attractivefeatures in this part of a sonata, and still more in the largeropportunities of symphony. 

Haydn is entitled to the credit of having given the sonata-piece itsmain characteristics of form. In this respect it follows thesuggestion of the older "binary form, " in which sarabands, gavottes, and the like were written by Bach. All of these, being composed upon asingle melodic idea, necessarily had to develop this idea by means ofsequences, imitations, transpositions, and transformations of one sortand another, employing in this treatment much of the art which fuguehad supplied. All the pieces in this old binary form come to a halfclose at the double bar upon the dominant of the principal key, or uponthe relative major if the principal key be minor. After the double barthe development is taken up in the dominant, or in whatever key thepreceding part had ended in. Later the principal key is resumed andthe work concluded. 

Haydn enlarged this form by completing his leading periods generally toa symmetrical length of eight measures, and by adding a second subjectand a different melodic material for conclusion, both before the doublebar and at the end of the movement. 

The style of the Haydn sonata-piece is generally light and pleasing. Only in a very few cases, and in those for a few measures only, does heattempt pathos. Thus the principal movement of the Haydn sonata seemsto have been developed from a dance motive, and the carrying out isgenerally done in regular period forms--the form being substantiallyverse throughout, the meter regular and not capricious. Haydn arrivedat this treatment through his natural fondness for symmetry and order, and through having had for thirty years to produce a constantsuccession of interesting pieces, mainly orchestral, primarily designedto interest and please his princely patron, the old Prince Esterhazy. The best symphonies of Haydn were written late in life, after he hadbeen called to London to conduct some new works of his. The glanceinto the outer world, and perhaps the availability of a larger body ofplayers, gave his ideas a freer scope; and these twelve Londonsymphonies belong to a higher type than those of his earlier time. 

As yet we have not spoken of the lyric melody, which in the Beethovensonata forms almost invariably a second subject. This idea appears tohave been due to Mozart, whose second subjects not only are sweet andsong-like melodies, but many of his first ones as well. Thus theMozart sonata, while excelling that of Haydn in melodiousness andsweetness, is almost invariably of less musical interest, thedevelopment of a musical thought being rarely considered. In the fewcases in which Mozart takes a serious mood he succeeds well, notably soin the famous sonata in C minor, the last one in the volume of hisworks. But in general, particularly in the sonatas, Mozart ismelodious in pure lyric pattern. These melodies of Mozart, while ofgreat sweetness and beauty, do not, as a rule, have much depth; they donot sing from the soul. The soul has not "seen trouble, " as folks say;it sings with the instinctive sweetness of childhood, and thus fails totouch the feelings of adults. The selections following illustratethese points:

 PROGRAM. 

 Sonata in E-flat (entire). No. 3, Schirmer edition. Haydn. "My Mother Bids Me Bind My Hair. " Canzonetta. Haydn. Sonata in C-sharp minor (entire). No. 6, Schirmer edition. Haydn. Trio from "The Creation, " "Most Beautiful Appear. " Haydn. Soprano, tenor, and bass. Sonata in F major. No. 6, Peters edition (first movement). Mozart. Air of Cherubino in "The Marriage of Figaro, " "Voi Che Sapete. " Mozart. Sonata in E-flat (first and second movements only). Schirmer edition, No. 1. Haydn. Quintette, "Magic Flute, " Mozart. Scene X, Act I, Andante. "Drei Knaben, Knäbchen jung. " Aria of Countess from "The Marriage of Figaro, " "Dove sono, " Mozart. Fantasia and Sonata in C minor. Mozart. Trio from "The Creation, " "On Thee Each Living Soul Awaits. " Haydn. 

(The copies for this program are as follows: Haydn sonatas, Schirmeredition, first volume, paper, seventy-five cents. This is a veryelegant and in every way satisfactory edition for study or for thelibrary. Mozart sonatas, Peters edition, $1. 50 (retail). The songsare to be had separately. Copies of "The Creation" and "The MagicFlute" will be necessary. )

The selections above are made for the purpose of illustrating the moreprominent characteristics of the two composers mentioned. Haydn is nowbeginning to be undervalued, and, in fact, his works are used mainlyfor purposes of instruction, and comparatively little for that. Thisis unjust, for while Haydn does not belong to the class of composerswhose music is conceived by them as a message to mankind, but rather isconceived as an intelligent and refined form of delight, he is asmusical as Bach himself, and consequently his music remains fresh andinteresting despite the comparatively small forms. This will benoticed in every one of the sonatas selected here. The Sonata inE-flat, No. 3, is the one oftenest selected and studied, because itshows Haydn in his most genial mood. The spirit is bright, pleasing, fresh, and not a little vigorous. Practically, every single movementof a Haydn sonata is developed mainly out of one leading motive. Inthe present instance there is a second idea, of a quasi-lyricimportance, introduced in the thirteenth measure--counting each measurefrom the first bar. In the forty-third measure a closing theme isintroduced. The places are marked in the Schirmer copies, so therewill be no difficulty in finding them. The second movement, if playedin a very singing but not dragging manner, will be found enjoyable, although by no means sensational. The ideas are musical and the spiritearnest. The finale, in the tempo of a minuet, is very pleasingindeed. Here, also, the purely musical idea rules everything. Theproblem with the composer is to treat an idea which pleased him, and tocarry it through all the changes and modifications which occurred tohim as attractive. 

The Sonata in C-sharp minor (No. 6, Schirmer) is more significant, andapproximates the spirit of later works in the same key. The principalsubject has a great deal of vigor, and the musical treatment is veryfresh and original. The scherzando which follows is a very lightmovement, and needs to be played with great delicacy and spirit. Thewhole concludes with a menuetto, moderate in movement, song-like. 

To my mind the strongest of the Haydn sonatas is the one which standsfirst in the Schirmer edition, also in E-flat, a favorite key withHaydn. The principal subject is very forcible, and the treatmentvaried to a degree. The whole work is one which a musician can playmany times through, and always with enjoyment. 

The second movement has the remarkable peculiarity of being in the keyof E major--a violent modulatory relation to that of the firstmovement. I should say that this fact indicated that Haydn did notconceive of the three movements of the sonata as constituting a singlewhole, because if he had he could not have followed a close in E-flatmajor with an opening in E major, exactly a semitone higher, withoutthe slightest modulation. This proceeding is inexplicable to me, if heexpected the sonata to be played through entire at a single hearing. The slow movement, however, is a very strong one, the subject full ofmusical feeling, and the treatment clever and interesting. All themelodic passages in this movement need to be sung with great feeling. Then the contrast with the lighter portions will produce their propereffect. The finale, presto, is a very light and, one might almost say, insignificant movement, relieved only by a few moments of somethingbetter. 

The Mozart collections are calculated to show the peculiar and womanlysweetness which Mozart introduced into music. In Haydn, moments ofsweetness do indeed occur, and in his "Creation" they are frequent; butin his instrumental works they are not so frequent. The Sonata in F, of Mozart, is full of pleasing melodic ideas, and the first and secondperiods and the first episode are all very attractive melodies. Notethat each of these ideas comes in the form of a fully completed melody, and not in the form of a musical motive of one, or at most two, phrases. Each of the Mozart subjects is eight measures long. Thecharacteristic tone of the Mozart sonatas is this melodic sweetness, and the stronger parts only intensify this fundamental tone. The slowmovement is rather meager, but it is also pleasing and well made. Theso-called "Alberti" bass should be played in such a manner as tominimize the motion of the sixteenths, and to intensify the chordfeeling. This will be done by playing softly with the left hand, bearing down a little, and using the pedal with every chord, exceptwhere it will mix up the melody. 

The Fantasia and Sonata of Mozart, which concludes the program, is awork which is well worth studying. The fantasia opens with a veryserious subject, which is carried through a variety of delightfulchanges, in a manner indicating a poetic intention. The expressionmust be carefully observed in the playing, and in the elaboration, where the subject occurs in several keys in connection, the first toneis taken rather strong and with a slight dwelling upon it. The slowmelody in D major, as well as the adagio in E-flat, illustrate Mozart'sfaculty with sweet and rather deep melodies which, while perfectlysimple in structure, nevertheless have in them the soul of the artist. The tone has to be full, round, singing, and never loud. There areparts of the fantasia which do not come up to the level of the others;particularly the allegro in G minor, which is inconvenient to play, andalmost never played in a musical manner. It has, however, to be gottenover the best one can. 

The vocal selections are of peculiar attractiveness. The canzonetta ofHaydn, "My Mother Bids Me Bind My Hair, " is a fresh, girlish affair, which can not fail to please. The trio, "Most Beautiful Appear, " is sosweet that Mozart might have written it. 

Then in the Mozart selections, the "Dove sono" is an aria requiring tobe sung with a very pure tone and good style. All of Mozart's operaticarias were intended for well-trained Italian singers having a refinedand high-bred style of singing. When so done, they are alwaysdelightful. The Cherubino air is very fresh, and full of the charm ofyouth and love. The trio of girls from "The Magic Flute" is givenbecause it is so taking, while involving a succession of impliedconsecutive fifths. And the great trio, "On Thee Each Living SoulAwaits, " concludes the concert in a noble manner. If the resources ofthe local society should happen to make it easy, it will afford anadmirable close to give along with this trio the two choruses, "Achieved is the Glorious Work. "

It is to be understood that the selections here offered from these twogreat masters illustrate but a small part of their individualities. The selection has been determined by the convenience of copies and thelikelihood of the resources in every place being equal to theiracceptable performance. 

CHAPTER IV. 

CHARACTERISTIC MOODS OF BEETHOVEN. 

LUDVIG VAN BEETHOVEN. 

 Born December 16, 1770, at Bonn. Died March 26, 1827, in Vienna. 

Beethoven was the son of a very dissipated tenor singer of the chapelof the Elector of Cologne, and the family had been musical for severalgenerations. The boy learned to play the viola and violin as well asthe piano while he was still very young indeed, and by the age ofeleven was regularly engaged as viola player in the orchestra and hadgained such proficiency upon the piano that it was popularly said ofhim that he could have played a good part of Bach's "Well-temperedClavier" by heart. While still but a lad he succeeded informally tothe post of assistant conductor of the orchestra, and it was his dutyto prepare the music for the men, making the abridgments, emendations, and rearrangements that might be advisable to adapt old music to thethen modern orchestra. In this way he gained, no doubt, much of hismarvelous acquaintance with orchestral effect. When he was fifteen hewas regularly appointed organist to the private chapel of the Elector, and he was left in charge of the orchestra for months together in theabsence of the head director, Neefe. 

[Illustration: Ludwig van Beethoven]

He began to compose by the time he was ten, but he did not manifest anyespecial precocity in this direction: his published compositions withopus number contain only one movement, it is believed, which he wrotebefore he was twenty or twenty-one years of age. After the death ofhis father he was left, as he had been practically for some yearsbefore, the responsible head of the family, with the care of his motherand his younger brothers. He remained in Bonn, with one visit toVienna in 1787, until he was about twenty-two years of age, when heleft Bonn definitely and took up his abode in Vienna. Here he studiedwith the best masters attainable--Haydn, then in his prime, Salieri, and others. His first published compositions with opus numbers--threetrios--date from the Vienna time. 

In Vienna he lived all the remainder of his life--about thirty-fiveyears. In the earlier part of this period he was considered one of thegreat pianoforte virtuosi of his time; his playing was distinguishedfor force, strong contrasts, musical quality, and, above all, patheticexpression. Czerny states that it was not unusual for a company of theViennese aristocracy to be affected to tears by the playing of thismaster. His published works were generally criticized as being toobold and unconventional. 

As Beethoven had the fortune to live to quite a good age, he graduallyestablished his position with regard to the earlier compositions, inasmuch as by repeated hearings they sooner or later commendedthemselves to the critics as well as to the public; but by the timethis had come to pass with the works of a certain period, he hadadvanced and composed others, which now in turn succeeded to the chargeof being too advanced and forced. These in turn were later onaccepted, only to leave a still later stratum of his compositions underthe same condemnation which had been the portion of the earlier works. 

Nevertheless, the want of recognition of Beethoven by hiscontemporaries has been greatly overrated. He enjoyed a fairlycomfortable income, as such things went among the middle-class Vienneseof his time, and during most of his career he was esteemed to beprobably the most eminent composer living. 

As compared with the works of Händel or Bach, those of Beethoven do notmake a great display in volume. Nevertheless, there are thirty-twopiano sonatas, ten violin sonatas, nine symphonies for full orchestra, five pianoforte concertos, twenty-one sets of variations for pianoalone, sixteen string quartets, and a very large mass of chamber musicof other sorts. There are two masses, one opera, and above one hundredsongs. 

 * * * * *

As generally stated, the characteristic point of difference betweenwhat we call the classical and the romantic in the art of music lies inthe feeling actuating the composer, and consequently embodied more orless successfully in his music. In the older practice, especially thatof the Netherlandish contrapuntal composers of the sixteenth century, the motive of composition was that of producing a musical piece moreelaborate, more imposing, or more sonorous than previous works; or, perhaps, the more commonplace conception of producing a piece as goodas previous works. The purely musical (conceived from a technicalstandpoint) remained the moving principle with the composer. With theinvention of opera, about 1597, A. D. , and the active development whichfollowed for a century after, a new principle came into operation, namely, the expression of dramatic contrasts and situations, and so atlength the expression of intense individuality--the working of strongindividualities under the clash of tragic situations. 

Along with the invention and development of opera, during the periodhere mentioned, the mastery of the violin was carried forward withgreat results to the art of music. About 1685, Archangelo Corellipublished his first collection of pieces for the violin, and in theseare found what are practically about the first examples of awell-developed lyric melody, of the kind we now mean when we speak of"bel canto"--the type of melody made the very crux of the art ofItalian singing. This impassioned, sustained, and expressive melodytook with wonderful rapidity and was almost immediately adopted intoopera, the ideal of which in the beginning had been that of an artisticand dramatically expressive delivery of the text. Now, melody as suchhas little to do with the dramatic delivery of the text. In asustained melody--as in "Home, Sweet Home, " to quote a simple type--itis first of all a question of sustained sentiment; whereas in awell-determined declamation it is first of all a matter of effectivedelivery of the words and phrases from an elocutionary standpoint, allowing the voice all the stops, interruptions, shocks, and variationsof intensity requisite for effective delivery. But by the time thissustained melody had been introduced into high art (it seems to havemade a beginning earlier in folk-song, although we have no preciseindications upon the subject) the mere delivery of a text, somewhatafter the manner of a liturgical intoning, no longer satisfied thedemands of opera. 

Music grew by what it fed upon. The violin, which Monteverde hadplaced in the position of honor at the head of the orchestra in 1608, had grown upon the ears of the people; and there was a need felt forsomething more impassioned, but at the same time more distinctivelymusical, than the mere declamation of the first opera, no matter howsing-song that delivery might be made. Hence arose the aria, whichpractically is a prolongation of a single moment of the dramaticsituation. The Arias, at first and for quite a long time later, hadvery few words, and these were repeated over and over, as we find stillin the well-known arias from Händel's "Messiah. " Thus opera came intopossession of a simple and sustained melody, patterned after thecantilena of the violin; and it was employed for marking the successivepoints of the dramatic action. That is to say, as the drama unfolded, one new situation after another developed itself. Each new entrance ofa dramatic person made a new complication and a new situation, broughtto the attention of the hearer by means of the lines and then enforcedby the aria, which the singer of greatest momentary importance had tosing. That these arias very soon degenerated into show pieces forvirtuoso singers was an accident due to the popularity of the operaticstage, the development of the new art of singing, and a delight in thehuman voice as a musical instrument. It has no concern with ourpresent subject. 

Moreover, it inevitably happened that as composers multiplied andcompeted for the favor of the public, they tried more and more to bringout in their music the very innermost passions and passing feelings ofthe leading individuals in the play; hence the art of expressive musicwas greatly developed, and the ears of the public learned gradually tofeel after and enjoy the human heart-beat in the music. Thus musicpassed beyond the stage of working for itself as a development ofmusical forms or science of construction, and became more and more, inopera, the expression of individualities and moods. At the same timethat this tendency was working for making the music more expressive, the necessity of pleasing the public tended also in the oppositedirection of pleasing the hearer by means of agreeable combinations oftone-colors, delightful symmetries of tone-forms, and the like. So atthe very time when composers of one class were laboring in opera forthe development of deep expression, those of another class were workingno less effectually for making the music merely shallow and pleasing. Light operas dealing with shallow situations--comedy, farce, expressedby means of light and pleasing music--came to occupy more and more theoperatic stage, where, after all, the question of amusement will alwaysprevail. 

All of these different tendencies came later on to their expression inmusic purely instrumental. We have seen already how Bach managed tocompose truly expressive music which, nevertheless, is first of allstrong music, yet highly humoristic and fanciful. Then Haydn andMozart introduced various types of pleasing and simply expressivemelody, but it is only in occasional moments that their music touchesthe deeper feelings of the heart. It is music to admire for itscleverness, to enjoy at times for its sweetness and tenderness, and itsfresh melodic symmetry; but it is only in very rare moments that theaccent of emotional individuality is given. 

In Beethoven we find this quality for the first time illustrated ininstrumental music; and, along with this occasional accent ofintensity, we have also a great and inexhaustible variety of moods andmanners appertaining to the different sides of the mighty individualityof this great tone-poet. Along with this variety of moods, which intheir inner nature must be regarded as representing different facets ofindividuality, we have also in Beethoven a certain comprehensiveelement. Everything that he says to us belongs somehow to a largerwhole, and that larger whole is the entire man of the composer. It islike the conversation of some highly gifted person, which, whilelasting perhaps for only a few minutes, nevertheless affords us aglimpse into a remarkable personality, and appears in our memory as achapter accidentally revealed out of the entire soul of the talker. 

Hence in trying to form an idea of the individuality of Beethoven andof the range and peculiar beauty of his music, we have to learn hismost characteristic moods in order to get the range of his genius; andthen to see how he combines these widely different moods into awhole--as he does in his sonatas and symphonies. Accordingly, thisfirst program begins with several pieces, comparatively small incompass, but directly illustrating the variety of his humoristictendencies. All of these little pieces, moreover, have that accent ofintense individuality mentioned above--an accent very much moreobservable in Beethoven than in any of his predecessors, and surpassedonly by Schubert and Schumann later. The latter, it may beanticipated, is the most humoristic of all composers of instrumentalmusic. 

There are certain conditions of largeness in a piece of music intendedto say something without words, and to work up to an imposing climax, which give it a different form from what is practicable in pieceshaving a text for doing a part of the talking. In order to reach agreat effect, an instrumental music piece has to last for some time, and to continue quite a while in the same movement, as to rate ofpulsation and frequency of measure accent. It has to work within asingle tonality--remain in one key or revolve around one key in such amanner as to preserve its own unity as a single being. Hence arise thelong movements of the sonata and symphony. It is not possible toarrive at similar impressions upon hearers by the use of shorter, disjointed movements. Only by carrying a movement on for some time, and so developing it as to impress some one idea as central, and at thesame time to arrive eventually at some kind of a climax or goal, can aserious instrumental movement become expressive and effective. 

In Mozart these long movements have nothing like the unity of those ofBeethoven. A beautiful variety prevails, and the main ideas arerepeated a sufficient number of times; but it is for beauty rather thanfor completing a cycle of moods or a cycle of soul-experiences. Or ifa cycle, then a cycle of pleasant and youthful experiences. InBeethoven this is not the case. When he is much in earnest he takesplenty of time for saying his say, and says it so thoroughly that youare quite sure of what he is at. This will be shown in the presentprogram by means of the Sonate Pathetique, and phases of the mannerwill appear in all the selections. 

 PROGRAM. 

 Selections of a quasi-lyric character: Menuetto in E-flat. Opus 31, No. 3. Menuetto in D major. Opus 10, No. 3. Subject from Allegretto from Sonata, opus 90. Thirty-two measures. Andante from Sonata, opus 27, No. 1. Formal Variations: Andante and Variations. Sonata in G major. Opus 14, No. 2. Andante, from Sonata Appassionata. Opus 57. Humoristic Variations and Moods; Theme and Variations. Opus 26. Scherzo in C, Sonata in C. Opus 2, No. 3. Allegretto from "Moonlight Sonata. " Opus 27, No. 2. Scherzo in A-flat, Sonata. Opus 31, No. 2. Sonata-piece: Allegro (first movement), from Sonata in G. Opus 14, No. 2. Allegro (first movement), Sonata in F minor. Opus 2, No. 1. Sonata-piece, Impassioned; Introduction and Allegro (first movement), Sonate Pathetique. Opus 13. 

The minuet proper, in the first selection, is a simply expressivefolk-song throughout its first period. It is only at the beginning ofthe second period, with the dissonant C-flat, that something differentcomes to illustration. The distinction of the mood is furtherillustrated in the trio which follows, where the chords by their skipsand their delightful changes afford a most agreeable and charmingcontrast with the main subject. (It is upon this trio that Saint-Saënshas written his lovely variations for two pianos, four hands. )

The minuet in D, from the very strong Sonata in D major, opus 10, affords very strong contrasts before we pass beyond the minuet proper. The first period (eight measures repeated) is purely lyric and verylovely. The second period starts out with an imitative bit, quite inthe manner of fugue, one voice after another responding in a vigorousand spirited manner. When this is completed by the delightful returnof the principal subject, we are led to a trio in the related key of Gmajor, which is in a totally different style. It goes like a scherzo, and when it in turn has been completed the main minuet returns withmost agreeable effect. At the end, a short coda. Both theseselections contain much which is not purely lyric, but rather thematic. This occurs always in the trios, and in the second period of the minuetin D. 

The next selection is the beginning of the beautiful closing movementof the Sonata, opus 90. This movement takes the place of a slowmovement in this sonata, and it is entirely in lyric style, exceptwhere the imperative need of relief has led to the introduction of lessconnected and sustained matter. The melody itself is one of the bestof Beethoven's. The illustration comprises the first thirty-twomeasures. 

In the next division of selections we come upon the Beethoven facultyof diversifying a musical theme in the form of variations. Theexamples here given represent certain of the simpler phases of thispart of his art, and if the student is ambitious in this direction hemight read for himself the variations upon the waltz in C, or thefamous thirty-two variations, in which endless varieties are obtainedfrom a very simple theme. A still more highly developed example ofthis art is found in the last sonata of all, opus 111; but these aretoo difficult for our present use. 

The theme and variations in C, from the Sonata in G, opus 14, are easyand pleasing. The theme itself affords a very pretty contrast betweenthe staccato of the first period and the close legato of the secondperiod. Then the sweetness of it is relieved by the strongsyncopations which break it up, toward the end (measures 17 and 18). The first variation has the melody in the tenor, unchanged excepting tomake it legato. The right hand deals mainly with syncopated repeatednotes. 

The second variation is much more broken. The left hand plays the bassupon the beat, while the right hand comes in with a chord containingthe melody at the half beat. The third variation brings the melodyagain in the bass, with an accompaniment figure in sixteenths for theright hand. At the end there is a lovely coda of six measures. Throughout these variations the harmony and the melody have not beenchanged. Only the place of the melody and the rhythm of the accessoryaccompanying figures have been changed. 

A still more remarkable illustration of this phase of the Beethovengenius is found in the andante and variations which form the secondmovement of the Sonata Appassionata, opus 57. Here the variations arenot indicated in the notation, but the player has to find them forhimself, which is easy enough, because the two periods of the theme, each of eight measures, are exactly repeated in the followingvariations. 

The theme itself has a church-like character, almost "sacred. " This isdue to the first harmonic step from tonic to subdominant and backagain, in the manner of the "Amen" cadence so well known in anthems. In the second period there is an intense and almost strained expressiondue to the chord of 4-2, the seventh low in the bass. The firstvariation plays the melody in the same place as in the theme, and inthe same chords; but the bass enters a half beat later and holds over, so that a restless and searching expression results. The secondvariation, again, is very reposeful. The melody is only suggested inthe upper tones of the right-hand part, and the sixteenth motion isintended to have a certain chord-like character; meanwhile the bass hasa part somewhat like a melody suitable for 'cello. The third variationbrings the melody high in the treble (later changing again to the lefthand in the middle range of the piano), while the left hand performs anarpeggio figure in thirty-seconds. At the end a lovely coda of sixteenmeasures, recalling the theme in its original form. Throughout thesevariations not only is the harmony and melody of the theme nevervaried, excepting in time of coming in, but the spirit of the theme iseverywhere retained. Observe that the coda is not concluded, butinterrupted by the entrance of a diminished chord, leading into the keyof F minor. In place of this chord, end with a chord of D-flat, directly after the dominant chord preceding the diminished chord, whenthe finale is not to be played. 

Quite different from the foregoing are the highly humoristic variationsof the Sonata, opus 26. These, being designated in the copy, requireonly mention and characterization. The theme is three periods inlength, the second opening with a syncopation. The first variationfollows the harmony of the theme, but in a broken manner, not alone inthe cutting up into sixteenth notes, but also in changes of positionupon the keyboard. This tendency to excitement continues in the secondvariation, where the melody is in the bass, in octaves broken intosixteenth notes. The third variation changes the mode to minor, andthe musical treatment contains strong syncopations, implying muchsuppressed passion. The fourth variation is a scherzo, bounding fromone point of the keyboard to another, like a musical Ariel. The fifthvariation returns to the harmony and manner of the theme, but in thefirst eight measures the melody is held in reserve, suggested ratherthan fully brought out, in order that the complete appearance of themelody, legato, in the ninth measure shall be more effective. Thewhole closes with a beautiful coda of fifteen measures. (Count backfrom the end, if you do not find it at first. )

Still more humoristic is the scherzo from the Sonata in C, opus 2, No. 3. Here the principal subject is quite in fugue style, excepting theorder of keys. In place of answering in the fifth, it answers in theoctave. 

It is unnecessary to add that this is a pure fancy-piece, theimitations being unexpected and capricious, and never for the sake ofcompleting a pattern or form. The trio is a complete contrast, andvery free and effective upon the keyboard. Then, after the return ofthe scherzo, we have a delightful coda of twenty-three measures. 

Less pronounced, but very beautiful, is the allegretto from theso-called "Moonlight Sonata, " opus 27, No. 2. This is gentle, anddesigned to mediate between the intense sadness of the first movementand the equally intense and impassioned sorrow and longing of thefinale. 

The sonata-piece is one of the most serious and diversified movementsknown to music, and while continuous and characterized by great unity, it is also rather complicated. Hence it will not be properlyappreciated except by those who observe the leading ideas as they enterand recall them when they turn up again in the course of the treatmentand development. When a sonata is written for orchestra it becomes asymphony, in which form the different ideas are more easily followedbecause they derive a certain individuality from the tone-color of theinstrument first announcing them. When an artist plays a sonata heseeks to intensify the individuality of the leading ideas and thus aidthe hearer in recognizing and remembering them. 

The first example of sonata-piece is the rather light and pleasingallegro which begins the Sonata in G, opus 14, No. 2. The Principalsubject lasts through twenty-four measures, the Second entering in thekey of D with the beginning of the twenty-fifth measure. TheConclusion begins with the forty-seventh measure. Counting from thedouble bar, the Elaboration lasts, including the pedal point upon thedominant which prepares for bringing back the Principal, sixty-onemeasures. There the first part begins over again. 

The first movement of the Sonata in F minor, opus 2, No. 1, is shorterand the subjects less marked than in any other sonata of Beethoven. Italso has less "stuffing, " the ideas following with very little passagework between them. The Principal lasts twenty measures, the Secondbeginning with the F-flat in the soprano at the end of the twentiethmeasure. The Conclusion begins with the C-flat in the soprano, inmeasure forty-one. The Elaboration lasts sixty-two measures. 

The "Sonate Pathetique" begins with a slow introduction, lasting tenmeasures of very slow time. Then enters the headlong allegro, of whichthe Principal, with its retinue of modulating sequences, lasts fortymeasures. The Second enters in measure forty-one, and the Conclusionin measure seventy-nine. The Elaboration lasts sixty-two measures, beginning with a few measures of the introduction. 

Time will not be wasted if before playing each of these movements thesubjects themselves be played through separately. 

CHAPTER V. 

BACH, MOZART, AND BEETHOVEN COMPARED. 

The present program brings together a few representativeselections from the two greatest masters alreadynoticed, for the purpose of bringing out more clearlythe individualities of their style and the predominantflavor of their work. In this comparison we are not asyet undertaking to represent either Bach or Beethovenin their moments of greatest and most impassionedabandon. The so-called "Moonlight Sonata"approaches this point in the case of Beethoven, but if ithad been desired to perform the same service for Bachlarger works would have been taken, such as the"Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue, " the "Fantasia and Fugue inG minor" for organ (arranged for piano by Liszt), andthe like. And for Beethoven the sonatas in F minor, opus 57, "Appassionata, " the opus 106 in B-flat, andopus 111 in C minor. All these go much farther in theuntrammeled expression of deep feeling than any of theworks brought together upon the present program, eventhe "Moonlight Sonata, " although the finale of this isdistinctly representative of Beethoven in the impassionedand strong. As for Mozart, this headlong passion wasnot at all in his line. But for the sake of showing thepeculiar sweetness of his imagination in contrast withthe more concentrated expression customary with Bachand Beethoven, his Fantasia in C minor is here included. 

Before entering upon the actual acquaintance with theworks in the program, it is advisable for the hearer tobe disabused at the outset of certain prepossessionslikely to be harmful. The most important of these isthat which regards Bach as having had a higher idea ofhis art than later composers had, and of having intendedto illustrate in his works a very high degree of skill, contrapuntal cleverness, and the like. This prepossessionis included in the phrase which describes all serious musicas "classical, " as contradistinguished from that which ismerely beautiful and pleasing. 

Bach had, indeed, great originality, but he came by ithonestly. His mental activity in musical directions wasof such a spontaneous character that immediately atheme presented itself all sorts of possible treatmentoccurred to him. If the theme pleased him heimmediately began to develop it, and in the course of this onehappy thought after another presented itself, withouthaving been sought for or worked out in the slightest. Thus his highest and largest works have a good deal thecharacter of play, so easily were they composed. True, they do not present to the player of the present daynearly so much of this quality, for the technic requiredto play them well is not quite that of the ordinarypianist. Bach expects the hands to play melodiously andvery fluently, and the player to think in fugue; _i. E. _, beable to follow the answering voices in a fugue withoutbecoming confused when there are three, four, or five, and without losing any one of the threads. This habit ofthought--for this is what it amounts to--is not naturalto the present generation, since nearly all our music ismore or less monodic (having one leading melody andan accompaniment. ) Therefore the art of playing Bachhas to be diligently mastered by much playing anda great deal of hard study. 

 PROGRAM. 

 Bach, Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp major. Clavier, No. 3. Beethoven, Sonata in C-sharp minor ("Moonlight"), opus 27, No. 2. Bach, Fantasia in C minor. Mozart, Fantasia in C minor (from Sonata and Fantasia). Bach, Allegro from Italian Concerto. Beethoven, Sonata in E minor, opus 90. Bach, Prelude and Fugue in G major. Clavier, No. 15. Beethoven, Sonata in D minor (Shakspere's "Tempest"), opus 31, No. 2. 

Every art-work, in whatever line, has to satisfy threeprime conditions: unity, symmetry, and variety. Therecan not be an impression of beauty into which thesethree qualities do not at the same time enter, but thebeauty will differ in quality according as one or the otherelement preponderates. In the successful music of JohannSebastian Bach (and he wrote unsuccessful music as wellas other men) we find all these qualities represented, but not in the modern way. A prelude or a fugue ofBach is essentially a "monody, " a composition of oneidea, which preponderates so decidedly as to enforce itscharacter and individuality upon the work; nay, it is thework. Variety and symmetry are always present, butthe variety is to be found in the modulatory treatmentand in the counterpoint--the various accessory ideaswhich appear in the course of the work for better settingoff the leading idea forming the substance of thecomposition. Hence we have in Bach, along with aunity which pervaded every single idea and everysuccession of ideas, a variety also going on at the sametime (as in the melody of the different voices, rhythm, etc. ); and symmetry, which also expresses itself asbetween ideas heard simultaneously and between ideas andparagraphs introduced successively. A Bach work, therefore, is rather complicated almost always, and needsto be studied a little, and the art of hearing itappreciatively has to be acquired; but once we have mastered it, there are no works in music which are more fresh orpermanently pleasing. 

The Bach selections upon the present program includethree preludes and fugues, those of C-sharp major, Cminor, and G major, all from the first volume of the"Clavier. " There is no necessary connection betweenthe prelude and the fugue following, except that inBach's idea they somehow corresponded or contrastedin such a manner that they could be heard agreeably inconnection. 

The prelude in C-sharp, which opens the program, consists of a long leading idea (eight measures) whichis repeated completely six times in the course of thework. After it has been heard four times, --in thekeys of C-sharp, G-sharp, D-sharp minor, and A-sharpminor, --it is relieved by a modulatory interlude, constructed out of new material (measures 33 to 46). Thenthe original theme is resumed in the subdominant of theprincipal key (F-sharp major) and is given entire in theoriginal key of C-sharp, the repetition being exact. Inmeasure 63 the conclusion begins. It consists of a pedalpoint upon G-sharp, treated very pleasantly, and relievedand developed in measures 75 to 91 by interestingmatter of a more impassioned character. At measure 91the pedal figure returns, and is abandoned only atmeasure 101, after which the end speedily follows. (Beforeplaying the piece have the parts played and explainedseparately, each division as here marked, and then thewhole prelude entire. ) The work as a whole is singularlylight and pleasing. 

The fugue is built upon the subject in the soprano atthe beginning, running two measures. This subject isrepeated entire ten times, and fragments are used overand over again. 

In immediate contrast with this work is placed theso-called "Moonlight Sonata"--the title affixed not byBeethoven but by some fanciful writer. The firstmovement of this is quite as much a monody as anything ofBach's, but with a difference. Little is attempted in theway of modifying the harmony of the theme except tocarry it through several different keys, nor is there muchaccessory matter employed as filling. It is practically asong, --an ode if you like, --of a melancholy, grievingcharacter. Its structure will be understood by aid of thefollowing analysis: It begins with a prelude of fourmeasures, after which the leading idea enters in the keyof C-sharp minor, closing in E-major, four measures. After a measure of accompaniment the subject resumesin C major, proceeding immediately to B minor, after acadence in which an accessory melodic bit is introduced, having the character of suspending the action, eightmeasures, ending in F-sharp minor. The leading ideanow enters in F-sharp, five measures, and three littlemelodic bits followed by eleven measures of arpeggiomatter hold back the action for the return of the themein measure 42 (first accent in 43). Everything in thismovement grows out of the leading melody, and themovement has no skeleton or orderly arrangement ofparts except in a very general manner. 

The allegretto which follows is practically a sort ofscherzo, in song-form with trio. Then comes the verydramatic finale, consisting of three main elements handledin the style of a sonata-piece. The Principal extends tothe first beat of the twentieth measure. On the secondbeat of this the Second enters and runs twenty-threemeasures. With the second eighth note of this measurea movement of eighth notes in chords enters, whichforms the concluding piece. This carries us to thedouble bar, after which a free fantasia follows upon thesame material. The free fantasia extends to twomeasures of whole notes, thirty-six measures in all, wherethe original theme returns and the first part is recalledin different keys. At the end there is an added coda ofthirty-four measures counting from the end of the piece. 

The Prelude in G major of Bach is another pleasingillustration of his manner. It is very simple inconstruction and needs only to have the first two measures and ahalf played in advance for defining the subject, and thefourth measure once, to define the second leading idea. Everything else is developed out of these ideas. Inmeasure 11 some new material is introduced and treatedwith excellent effect. 

The fugue is rather an elaborate one. After thesubject has been carried through the first time, the subjectis introduced in a new form, in inversion (measure 43, alto), all ascending passages in the original being nowimitated in downward directions and by the sameinterval. This taken as a new subject affords ground formuch additional development, and later on the fuguebecomes very complicated and interesting. When wellplayed, however, the complication is only an incident ofa very playful and varied composition. In the entirework there is no lyrical idea; everything comes thematically. 

In the Beethoven sonata which I have chosen forcontrast, D minor, opus 31, No. 2, the thematic mode ofconstruction is also marked, but the contrast of subjectsis very much greater than in the Bach work, and theeffect of the whole impassioned to a high degree. Beginning with a slow arpeggio chord (two measures) thefirst theme follows only to be interrupted in the sixthmeasure. In the seventh the Principal subject is resumed, and in measure 10 a new motive appears in thevigorously ascending bass theme, which is immediatelyanswered by a soprano counter theme, measures 11, 12, 14. This carries us forward to measure 30, where anepisode comes in not unrelated to the first theme, andagain in measure 44 a passage of chords practicallyforming a pedal point, and the conclusion proper inmeasure 55. In the elaboration these themes are delightfullytreated, and the entire movement has much the characterof an improvisation. The slow movement continues therhapsodical spirit of the first movement. The finale isone of the most delightful examples of charming effectreached by means of composition essentially thematic. 

The Sonata, opus 90, in E, is one of the most pleasingof Beethoven, and, aside from a certain figure in tenthsfor the bass (measures 55 to 58, and again later on), itpresents no serious difficulties for the player. Thesecond movement is a delightful song, which is carried outat great length. 

The first movement of Bach's Italian concerto is muchmore modern in style than the other pieces of Bach inthis program. Without ever quite reaching themodern conception of the lyric, it at least approaches itclosely at times, and produces a beautiful effect. 

Of the Mozart fantasia there is not room to speak indetail. Note, however, the very clever modulatorytreatment of the leading idea in the first two pages, andthe entrance of the lovely slow melody in D major nearthe end of the second page. The latter is Mozart-likein the extreme. 

CHAPTER VI. 

SCHUBERT AND MENDELSSOHN. 

FRANZ PETER SCHUBERT. 

 Born January 31, 1797, at Lichtenthal, near Vienna. Died November 19, 1828, at Vienna. 

Franz Peter Schubert, the great song-writer, was born, the son of aparish schoolmaster, at Lichtenthal, near Vienna. The family wasmusical, and the father and a few of his friends used to hold quartetparties every Sunday afternoon, at which the works for string quartetthen current were played, also compositions by Haydn and other goodcomposers. The boy very early showed such talent that his fathertaught him the violin, and occasionally allowed him to take part withthe rest. He had a beautiful soprano voice, which, attracting theattention of the director of the music at St. Stephen's Cathedral, secured him admission to the choir and to the Imperial Convict, orschool for educating the choristers for the Court-chapel, where, besides the usual branches of education, he was taught musicthoroughly. This continued until his voice broke, whereupon he wasturned out to shift for himself. For the three years next following heassisted his father in the school, teaching the lowest class in it, andproved himself, it is pretty certain, a very indifferent teacher. Later he resigned this position, and struggled on during his short lifemainly by the assistance of friends, one of whom saw to it that theindefatigable composer was supplied with music paper; another sharedhis room with him, etc. Between 1818 and 1824 he spent his summers atthe Hungarian estate of the great Prince Esterhazy, teaching thedaughters music and arranging music for the household. Here many ofhis works were written. In Vienna he had an orchestra of school-boysfor quite a long time, which probably played his works occasionally, aswell as those of composers of less complicated works. 

[Illustration: Franz Schubert, Felix Mendelssohn]

Schubert began to compose in earnest very early, and by the time he wastwenty years of age he had written about 400 of his songs. His workscomprise a volume of pianoforte sonatas, several volumes of light worksfor piano, about 600 songs, nine symphonies, of which two are among thegreatest we have, one opera, several masses, and a large number ofcompositions for chamber music. 

FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY. 

 Born February 3, 1809, at Hamburg. Died November 4, 1847, at Leipsic. 

He was the nephew of the celebrated Jewish philosopher and reformer, Moses Mendelssohn, and a son of the well-known banker, AbrahamMendelssohn. 

The family was Israelitish, but Felix Mendelssohn was brought up aLutheran. The boy was of a very amiable and thoughtful disposition, and was well instructed in music from his earliest years, his principalteacher having been the celebrated theorist, Zelter. His firstappearance in concert was made at the age of nine, in the piano part ofa trio by Wolf. A year later he appeared as a singer. Hisacquaintance with the orchestra commenced very early. There was asmall orchestra which met at his father's house on Sunday afternoons, and by this means the compositions of the boy were tried and he himselfacquired his experience as a director. His activity as a composercommenced about 1820. In this year he wrote a violin sonata and twoclavier sonatas, a little cantata, and an operetta. In 1821 Zelterbrought him to the great poet Goethe, who heard his music and conversedwith the lad with great interest. The friendship with Goethe continuedfor many years. In one of his letters Mendelssohn tells of havingvisited the poet and having had a long conversation with him, in whichthe poet had given an account of Hegel's lectures on esthetics, whichMendelssohn had heard that winter in Berlin, and in which Goethe wasvery much interested on account of the novelty of the ideas presented. The first of the important compositions of Mendelssohn to be publishedand played was the overture to the "Midsummer Night's Dream, " which waswritten in 1826 and played immediately. He seems to have worked thisout upon the piano, improvising it piece by piece as he became excitedin reading Shakspere's comedy. This overture is of most completemastery in its working out and of thorough originality, and scarcelyanything of his later works surpasses it in merit as a finishedcomposition for orchestra. 

It was largely through Mendelssohn's influence that the "St. MatthewPassion" of Bach was brought out and given entire in Berlin, in 1829, just one hundred years after its first production in Leipsic. Mendelssohn was the conductor, and it was given in the Sing-Akademie. This was the work of a boy of twenty. Nothing could speak more plainlyof the authority which his genius gave him than that he should conceiveand bring to completion an undertaking of this magnitude in a city likeBerlin at so early an age. He made many journeys for pleasure andinstruction. Full accounts of these will be found in his charmingletters, which are among the most delightful contributions of this kindthat any literary man or artist has left. During one of these journeyshe visited the Hebrides, and afterward produced his overture called"Fingal's Cave, " as a memory of that visit. 

Mendelssohn attained great celebrity as a pianist and organist, thelatter mainly by his improvisations, although he has the credit ofhaving been one of the first to play Bach's fugues in England. Thelate August Haupt, however, told one of his pupils that Mendelssohn, inhis time, never had an adequate pedal technic but played upon a sort ofhit-or-miss principle, which generally succeeded from his thoroughgrasp of the music. He early produced his concerto for pianoforte in Gminor, and played it at many musical festivals. He was in great demandas a director for festivals in Germany and also in England. He becamedirector of the Gewandhaus concerts at Leipsic in 1835, and in 1843, with very distinguished artist associates, he founded the Conservatoryof Music at Leipsic, which, under his management, became so celebrated. Mendelssohn produced works in almost every department of musicalcomposition, a great variety of chamber music, symphonies, overtures, one opera, and a very large collection of music for the piano-forte andorgan. Probably his fame will last longer through the influence ofthree works--viz. , the "Midsummer Night's Dream" overture, which openedthe new world of the romantic; the oratorio of "Elijah, " which is invery many respects one of the most beautiful ever written, just as itis also fortunate in the selection of subjects and of the episodes fortreatment; and the "Songs Without Words" for the pianoforte, which, while not of remarkable depth, are very beautiful and poeticcompositions of such quality as to awaken in the musical world a newappetite and a new appreciation of an instrument which has now becomethe most universal in use. 

All the works of Mendelssohn are distinguished for clearness of form, elegance of sentiment, and delicate fancy. They are more feminine thanmasculine, although at times he has a great deal of strength. Hispianoforte writing is not so well suited to the instrument as that ofsome other composers, such as Chopin and Liszt, and his concertos, although very popular, are not ranked among the master works of thisform of composition. Of all the pianoforte music which he produced, the "Rondo Capriccioso" is the one which most completely represents thecharacteristic range of his imagination. 

The two composers for the present chapter have distinguished themselvesin almost every walk of composition. Schubert left a large quantity ofmanuscript, most of it unheard until after his death, consisting ofabout 700 songs, nine symphonies, various pieces of chamber music, pianoforte sonatas, dances, marches, overtures, one opera, and manymiscellaneous compositions. In every department of this vast activitythere are a few works which stand out as masterpieces. To begin at thetop, his "Unfinished Symphony" and the great Symphony in C are in thevery first line of orchestral masterpieces, standing well up alongsidethe greatest of Beethoven, and with an originality of style and beautywholly independent of the overshadowing Beethoven, who was, just at themoment of their composition, engaged in his last works, including theimmortal Ninth Symphony. 

Nevertheless, while Schubert was great in all musical directions, hemarked an epoch in one direction, and therefore has a fame peculiarlyhis own. As a songwriter he was one of the greatest the world has everknown. His fame in this department rests upon two wholly differentconsiderations, the union of which in the same composer forms theepoch-marking peculiarity already mentioned. As a melodist he standsin a rank by himself. His melodies move easily, now within thediatonic mode, and now in the chromatic, but generally, within thelimits of each period, in the diatonic mode. The melodies areflexible, well balanced, very singable, and natural. Each comes up, lives its day, and dies away into silence, like a lovely flowerunfolding from its own germ in the moment of the year when the sunshineand the showers have brought the time for its appearing. In this casethe predisposing external cause leading to the appearance of one ofthese melodies is found in the poem chosen for text. Whatever Schubertread, if it interested him, immediately called up within him a melodicform. These melodies not only differ from one another by degrees ofindescribably delicate gradation, but each as it comes proves itselfadapted to the text which gave it birth. These lovely melodies, moreover, are supported by pianoforte accompaniments which at timesrise to a co-ordinate rank with the melody itself as part of theexpression of the poem. Sometimes the so-called accompaniment isitself almost the main thing. Such cases are found in "The Erl King, ""To Be Sung on the Waters, " and "Gretchen at the Spinning-wheel. " Atother times the accompaniment is as simple as the melody, and serves noother purpose than that of supporting the voice. A typical case ofthis kind is found in "Hedge Roses, " and in "Hark! Hark! the Lark. "It is another peculiarity of Schubert that, beginning with an entirelysimple melody, he sometimes digresses to a remote key, within which fora moment he goes quite as simply, only to return again immediately tothe main key. The "Hark! Hark! the Lark" is a case of this kind. (Note the transition to G-flat in the ninth measure. )

The universal type of Schubert's music is the melodic. This we find inthe pianoforte sonatas quite as plainly as in the songs themselves. Inthe minuet and march on the present program the melodic ideas are themain thing. Charmingly naïve are the little waltzes upon the presentlist. Beautifully simple, delightfully symmetrical, their simplicityrelieved by short modulations into neighboring keys, it is not possibleto find elsewhere compositions so short, so simple, and yet sobeautiful. In spite of their brevity and simplicity, the student willfind them worth knowing thoroughly. It is also an excellent exercisefor the student to learn some of these by heart and to play them inseveral different keys. 

As an illustration of Schubert's cleverness in treating the pianoforte, which is already sufficiently evident in the dramatic accompaniments ofhis larger songs, before mentioned, attention is called to theImpromptu in B-flat--the air and variations known as "The FairRosamunde, " the title due to the appearance of this melody in his operaof "Rosamunde. " At least three of these variations display greatfinesse in treating the pianoforte. The first needs to be done withthe utmost delicacy and lightness, the melody suggested rather thanbrought out. The third has a new rhythm and a melodic secondary figurein the left-hand part, which, taken with the treatment of the variationin the right-hand part, gives this piece a wholly new content andeffect. The fourth, again, is equally novel and equally significantfor the pianoforte. The remaining variations are of little importance, although, as a matter of course, all are to be played. 

Mendelssohn as pianoforte composer represents two very important andcharacteristic moods--the scherzo and the song without words. It isprobable that by the good fortune of the latter name for hiscollections of little piano pieces Mendelssohn rendered the musicalworld a greater service than he did even by the elegant quality of hiscompositions themselves. It was the happy thought of the title whichat once puts the listener upon the right track, and disposes him to tryto discover what the words of the unworded songs ought to be. It was afortunate guess rather than a something thought out by reason, and ifhe had been pressed to assign a reason for including some of thesepieces under the name, he would probably have been driven to confessthat they were so included because he did not know what else they were. 

The "Songs Without Words" embody many types, the most important beingthe true cantabile--pieces in which there is a flowing lyric melodywith a soft accompaniment. These pieces are in effect nothing elsethan "nocturnes, " quite after the manner of Chopin, only less elaboratein treatment and less extended. Among the best types of this class areto be mentioned the first, the two folk-songs in the program following, and the duetto. In all these the connected legato of the melody is ofthe first importance; and, second, the proper sinking and swelling ofthe melody in the true manner of impassioned singing. Theaccompaniment follows closely and shares in the fluctuations ofintensity and mood. 

Another type of these pieces is illustrated by the eighth, in B-flatminor. This piece, which has the speed and restless movement of ascherzo, has also the true Mendelssohnian flavor of sweet melancholy. It goes at great speed, and often the melody is suggested by an accentrather than fully expressed. Such cases are found in measures 3 and 4, and elsewhere. In these instances there is a fragment of melody in themiddle voice. 

Somewhat between the cantabile type and the scherzo is to be mentionedthe "Table Song, " No. 28, in G. This is like a part-song of light andpleasant yet somewhat sentimental character, suitable to be sung attable. 

As a composer for voice, Mendelssohn attained a very high rank, producing melodies of great sweetness (yet often also of inherentcoldness) and very singable. One of the most beautiful examples ofthis kind is found in the "O for the Wings of a Dove, " first sung assoprano solo and then later for chorus, in his setting of a psalm. Another well-known example for alto is the "O Rest in the Lord. " Thelatter melody derives additional beauty from the contrast it makes withthe rather dramatic place in the oratorio where it occurs. Furtherillustrations of Mendelssohn's powers in this direction may be takenfrom the list above, which there is not time at present to discuss morefully. 

The part-songs of Mendelssohn for mixed voices deserve to be morefrequently sung. They are extremely beautiful and delightfully writtenfor the voices. While of moderate difficulty, they belong among thevery best of part-songs for unaccompanied mixed voices. The omissionof the accompaniment is of very great importance, as these pieces arestrictly written in such a manner that the voices have the completeideas, both melody and harmony, and when given independent ofaccompaniment it is possible to obtain a purer intonation and bettersympathy. 

The present program permits a somewhat greater latitude of arrangementof parts than those of the preceding chapters. The works do notcontrast with each other exactly as was sought in previous programs, but rather form phases of lyric melody, to be sung in such order andcombination as best suits the performers, taking care however, that anagreeable succession of keys is generally observed. 

 PROGRAM. 

 Schubert: Waltzes. Minuet, opus 79. March, from four-hand collection. "Fair Rosamunde and Variations. " Songs: "Hedge Roses. " "Wanderer. " "Hark! Hark! the Lark. " "Gretchen. " "Frühlingsglaube. " Mendelssohn: Songs Without Words. The first. "Hunting Song, " No. 3. "Folk-song, " No. 4. "Gondellied, " No. 6. B-flat minor, No. 8. "Table Song, " No. 28. Duetto, No. 18. Overture to "Midsummer Night's Dream"; four hands. "O rest in the Lord. " "If with all your hearts. " "It is enough. " Scene from "Elijah, " "Lord God of Abraham, " etc. "Hunting Song, " ) part-songs "Farewell to the Forest, "; )

CHAPTER VII. 

ROBERT SCHUMANN. 

ROBERT SCHUMANN. 

 Born January 8, 1810, at Zwickau in Saxony. Died July 29, 1856, at Endenich, near Bonn. 

Schumann was the son of a bookseller and a confirmed music lover. Theboy showed marked talent for music, playing to some extent upon themore usual instruments, and even getting together and conducting asmall orchestra of the school-boys. For this orchestra he very earlycomposed pieces. His father died when the boy was sixteen and hadnearly completed his gymnasium course, and in 1828 Schumann entered atthe University of Leipsic as a student of law. After a time he leftLeipsic in favor of Heidelberg, where some very celebrated lectureswere at that time being given; but at Heidelberg he practically wastedhis time, so far as the law studies were concerned, and devoted himselfentirely to music. As early as 1829 he made a short vacation journeyinto Italy, and at Milan heard the famous violin virtuoso Paganini, andthen became wholly influenced for music. Schumann's mother wasextremely averse to his fitting himself for the musical profession, andit was only with great difficulty that she was brought to consent. Accordingly, his serious musical studies began in 1830, when he cameback again to Leipsic and became a music student with Frederick Wieckand Heinrich Dorn. It was Wieck's daughter Clara who afterward becameMme. Schumann. 

[Illustration: Robert Schumann]

Schumann had a great determination to become a piano virtuoso, not somuch for the repetition of effects already standard as for theinvention of new ones. In this direction he devoted himself topractice with such assiduity that he very soon reached a point wherehis fingers could not keep up with his imagination. In the effort toimpart a greater individuality and strength to the fourth finger of theright hand, he made some experiments which resulted in disabling hisfinger for a while, and he never afterward regained the use of it to acomplete degree. Thus his career as virtuoso was cut short, but thestudies he made and the playing he was afterward able to do resulted invery singular and productive discoveries of musical effects possible tothe piano, so that it is not too much to say that the piano playing ofthe present time is more indebted to Schumann than perhaps to any othermaster in the history of the instrument. 

He began his creative career by the arrangement of a collection ofPaganini's studies, in which he sought to reproduce upon the pianofortesome of the effects of the famous Paganini caprices for the violin. Hemade two collections of these, about four years apart, and prefaced thefirst book with many observations in regard to the methods of practiceand innovations of technic. Almost simultaneously with this he beganseriously as a composer upon his own account, and, quitecharacteristically, as a composer of short pieces. The Papillons, opus2, or "Scenes at a Ball, " consist of short pieces of from two to sixlines in length, and among them are many of great beauty. Another ofthese early works is the so-called "Dances of the Davidsbündler againstthe Philistines. " These consist of eighteen short pieces withoutindividual titles. Already, by the time when the composition of thiswork was undertaken in 1835, Schumann had commenced to write as amusical literary man under two pseudonyms--Florestan and Eusebius, theone representing the sentimental and tender side, and the other theimpassioned and vigorously moved. The different numbers in the"Davidsbündler Dances" are signed with one or the other of theseinitials, and sometimes with both. The name "Davidsbündler Dances" wasin allusion to the term Philistine, which, in the German universitytowns, signified the old fogies, the conservative element, who takethings as they find them and want nothing changed. Schumann belongedto the new party, who wanted about everything changed. 

Two or three years later a second work of very similar import, calledthe "Carnaval, " was produced, consisting of thirty-one short pieces, each bearing a characteristic title. This work is of a veryextraordinary character. The moods of the pieces are extremelyindividual and marked, and the range of pianoforte expression coveredby them is as great as can be found in the compositions of any masterfor the instrument. Another characteristic set of pieces at this timewas the "Fantasy Pieces, " opus 12, each of which had its own title;also the "Kreisleriana, " a series of queer sayings after the manner ofone Kreisler, an eccentric old musician in a novel popular at thattime. There are also what he called "Novelettes, " a series of eightsomewhat elaborate pianoforte pieces. 

In 1834 Schumann, in connection with two other young men, founded the"Neue Zeitschrift für Musik" as an organ of musical progress. Heremained editor of this for ten years, writing there a great variety ofarticles, and in 1844 resigned the editor's chair to Brendel andremoved to Düsseldorf. It was from Düsseldorf that he wrote his famousarticle about the newly-risen star of Johannes Brahms. 

In 1840 he succeeded in overcoming Wieck's objections to a marriagewith the young Clara, who was then a very distinguished piano virtuoso, and in the same year he received a doctorate from the University ofJena. In 1839 and 1840 he composed a very large number of songs--viz. , one hundred in all. In 1841 his first symphony was played at theGewandhaus in Leipsic, and in 1843, upon the founding of the LeipsicConservatory by Mendelssohn, Schumann was appointed teacher of playingfrom score. As he was practically no teacher at all, and found theduties irksome, he soon resigned this position and lived for a while atDresden, and made a number of concert tours to various foreigncountries with his wife, his own works forming generally a part of theprogram. It is told of one of these journeys that at some court orother where they were graciously received, the amiable prince, aftercomplimenting the brilliant young pianist upon the solidity of herwork, continued, "And is your husband also musical?" At that time Mr. Schumann was the husband of Clara Wieck, rather than Clara Wieck thewife of Robert Schumann. 

Early in 1851 Schumann's mind began to show signs of giving way, and in1853 he was removed to a retreat for the insane, where he died in 1856. 

Schumann's compositions comprise four rather large volumes of pianoworks, four symphonies for grand orchestra, and a number of chamberworks of different kinds, of which the quintet for piano and strings isperhaps the most successful; about 100 songs, one opera, severalcantatas, a series of music pieces for "Faust, " to be played inconnection with the drama, etc. 

In his lifetime his piano music had very slight recognition from anyquarter, its novelties both in the subject-matter of the music and inthe manner of treating the piano making it practically impossible forpiano players at that day, and it was only about the time of Schumann'sdeath that his piano music began to attract attention upon aconsiderable scale. Schumann's Symphony in B-flat had a great successunder Mendelssohn's direction in Leipsic in 1841, but it was played invery few other places for a number of years, although it was anextremely bright and interesting production. When William Mason was inLeipsic in 1850 he sent home a score and parts to the orchestra inBoston. They held two rehearsals of this symphony and then laid itupon the shelf in the belief that the composer must have been crazy, and it was only five or six years later that they mustered up nerve toproduce the work and were astonished to find that it pleased thehearers. 

The universal currency of Schumann's piano music can not be said tohave made much progress until the appearance of Rubinstein. In theearly days of Schumann's productivity he composed his enormouslydifficult and beautiful "Fantasie, " opus 17, and dedicated it to Liszt. Accordingly, not to be outdone in politeness, Liszt introduced some ofSchumann's pieces in his programs once or twice, but the effect of themupon the audience was so much less than that of his own music or of theChopin pieces which at that time he was very fond of playing, that hediscontinued further efforts to aid Schumann's cause, although he wrotehim very polite and encouraging letters. The first real Schumannplayer was Rubinstein, who had the qualities of tone and ofemotionality which Schumann's music imperatively required; and sinceRubinstein, Schumann's music has entered more and more into theworld-current of piano music, until at the present time it occupies aposition inferior to none other. 

Of a composer so varied in his capacities, so original, so influentialupon the later course of development in his art, and so interesting inevery way, it is not possible from a single program--no matter howcarefully selected the works may be--to gain a complete idea. The mostthat can be done is to give a glimpse of the man, to bring out a few ofhis moods, and to observe the more salient features of his style. Thefollowing list of selections has been influenced by the same idea asthat underlying all the previous programs of this series--namely: Apreference for selections of moderate difficulty, both for performerand hearer; and a representation of what might be called the moreelementary characteristics of his art. 

 PROGRAM. 

 Kinderscenen. Opus 15. "From Strange Lands and People. " "A Curious Story. " "Playing Tag. " "Happy Enough. " "Traumerei. " Album for the Young. Opus 68. "The Jolly Farmer. " "A Little Romance. " Papillons. Opus 2. Polonaise in D major. Songs. "The Hat of Green. " "The Wanderer's Song. " Forest Scenes. Opus 82. "Entrance to the Forest. " "The Wayside Inn. " "Prophetic Bird. " "Farewell to the Forest. " Songs. "Moonlight. " "He, the Noblest. " Night-piece in F. Opus 23. No. 4. Novelette in F. Opus 21. No. 1. Songs. "Thou Ring Upon My Finger. " "The Spring Night. " Fantasy Pieces. Opus 12. "In the Evening. " "Soaring. " "Why?" "Whims. " "End of the Song. "

The foregoing selections, as will be noticed, are all for piano andvoice; I have thought it better to confine them to these easilyaccessible sources than to attempt to cover more ground. In a laterprogram more difficult piano selections will be given. All theinstrumental selections in this list are in the volume of "Selectionsfrom the Works of Robert Schumann, " edited by the present writer andpublished by the publishers of "Music. " All the songs are in thecollection of Schumann songs published by Boosey and Company. 

I have written so many times upon the works and characteristics ofSchumann that it would, perhaps, suffice to refer the student to a fewof those places, such as "A Popular History of Music, " pages 464 to477. Also in the first volume of "How to Understand Music" there issomething to the point, and at various other places in the course ofthe work, as will be found by looking up the references to Schumann'smusic given in the index. At the beginning of the collection ofSchumann pieces, above mentioned, is an essay upon Schumann and hisworks which will be found suggestive. One of the best single articlesI have seen is Mr. W. H. Hadow's essay upon "Schumann and the RomanticMovement in Germany, " which occupies pages 149 to 231 in the firstvolume of his "Studies in Modern Music. " In spite of these I shall adda few observations in the present pages, since it is a peculiarity ofthe works of any great writer that they grow upon the appreciation, andwhile their shortcomings and limitations of whatever kind become moreapparent as the student grows in years and clearness of thought, thebeauties and originalities also press more and more upon our notice, and perhaps, in the case of creative artists of the first order, comeout into even greater luxuriance than we at first realized. Such, atleast, I find in my own case since my first introduction to the worksof Schumann, which practically began with my acquaintance with Dr. Mason at South Bend, Indiana, in the summer of 1870. Before that I hadheard but very few of the Schumann works, and these had not been welldone and so had failed of making an impression. I was much surprisedwhen Dr. Mason told me that one could not properly understand Beethovenwithout knowing Schumann. And it was like opening a new world when Ibegan with the Novelette in E, the Fantasy Pieces, opus 12, and theRomance in F-sharp, opus 28. 

The most distinguishing quality of the Schumann music, and the onewhich perhaps demarcates it from other music most strikingly, is itshearty quality, its spontaneity, its headlong driving speed. Anotherquality almost or quite equally notable is its conciseness. Schumannis above all the poet of the short, the clear, the well-defined. Inparallel line with this is his habit of employing fanciful designationsfor his short pieces, generally poetical titles suggesting a mood or ascene. Examples of this latter peculiarity occur in the presentprogram. The titles were perhaps always put on after the piece hadbeen composed. It is not known with certainty whether Schumann had theidea of the title in his mind in composing the piece. In most cases itserves merely as a suggestion to the player of a proper standpoint forconceiving the work. 

Another peculiarity of Schumann's writing is the close unity of eachlittle piece or movement. He develops his period or his two periodsout of a single motive or a motive and a counter-theme, and the leadingidea is repeated several times. When the first idea gives place to asecond idea, this proves to be something totally unlike the idea whichit follows, making with it a strong contrast. In the clearness of hismoods and their contrast is one source of the vigor of impression whichthe Schumann music has made and is making upon the musical world. 

The first number in the present program contains five pieces from theset called "Scenes from Childhood, " written in 1837, when the composerwas in the very thick of his somewhat diversified course of true loveand had advanced seven years along the pathway of a composer. 

Following the "Träumerei" are two popular selections from the "Albumfor the Young, " written some ten years later--the "Jolly Farmer" andthe "Little Romance. " This program number closes with the Polonaise inD, from the "Papillons, " written in 1832. It is a very brilliant andoriginal piece, full of delightful pianoforte effect. 

In the second series of instrumental numbers are included four of thebeautiful cycle, "Forest Scenes. " Each of these is like a littlesonnet--brief, picturesque, and individual. In the first we have thevague and shadowy effect of the entrance into the forest, theshimmering leaves, the sunlight and shade, and whatever fancifulexplanation one likes of the imaginative tone-sonnet of the author. Inthe "Wayside Inn" the thematic style of Schumann is well illustrated, and also the variety of effect possible to be obtained from a verysmall amount of musical material. The reference to the title is notvery apparent, since the speed of the piece and its quick and forciblecharacter deprive it of the reposeful "Stimmung" one would anticipatefrom the title assigned. I do not know the true explanation of the"Prophetic Bird. " It is a most lovely little bit, and is now so wellknown in the concert-room as not to need further discussion. 

The "Farewell to the Forest" is one of the most delightful songswithout words in the whole Schumann category. Its melody is musicaland new, and the changing rhythms, the occasional coming out of amiddle voice, and the general effect of the whole are alike interestingand absorbing. 

In the next instrumental number we come upon another mood of Schumann, or rather upon two of them. The "Night-piece" is of a lyric qualityenjoyable by every one. Nearly all young players object to the speedwhich Schumann has marked, and many play it much more slowly; this, however, is not warranted, since in the nature of the case Schumannmust have known what he intended, and when we have made an allowancefor the undue slowness of his metronome at given tempi, we are stillnot warranted in making this slower than eighty for quarters. To takeit still more slowly is to change the character of all the latter partof the piece. If well played it is sufficiently reposeful in the formin which we now have it. In the second part there is some delightfulimitative work between the motive in the treble and its answer in thetenor. 

With the Novelette in F, opus 21, we come into the domain of what wemight call the higher Schumann, for in these works and in those whichfollow upon this list greater demands are made upon the player, and themusic itself is deeper, stronger, more original, and therein moresatisfactory. The novelette consists of two main parts. First comes amarch-like movement, in which certain very strong chords withoccasional triplet octaves in the bass impart a singularly driving andforceful character to the music. After the double bar at the beginningof the fifth measure a new motive appears, which sets in operation aseries of sequences, and this period ends in D-flat. 

The next period begins in the same manner, but the modulation isdifferently conducted, and the period now ends in the key of A. Nowcomes in what he calls the trio, a lovely lyric melody in the key of F. This is developed to quite a length, after which the main theme of thenovelette returns, and the period ends in the key of F. Now ensues acurious sort of intermezzo, in the key of D-flat, where one voicestarts out with a little melodic subject and another takes it up andimitates it, and this in turn is followed by another, quite in themanner of fugue, only that here the motive itself is very short and theimitations follow so fast, one after another, that only the beginningof each is to be made out. For the rest, it is a question of mystery. When he has carried this as far as he cares, the first subject returns;and after this again the trio, but now in the key of A major. At theend of this, again the original subject, and so finally the end. Themost notable features of this novelette are its vigor, the differentforms in which the subjects return, and the persistence of the two mainideas--the march and the lyric trio--which form the substance of it. The mystic and fugue-like interlude is merely an interlude. It perhapsrepresents one of those moments when the mind is too full for clearutterance--a condition more celebrated in fiction than desirable inreality. 

The Fantasy Pieces, opus 12, are among the most happy of the smallerworks of this composer. Their general character is sufficientlyindicated by their titles. "In the Evening" represents one of thosemystic moods suitable to twilight. "Soaring" has also been translated"Excelsior, " which perhaps more truly represents its spirit. "Why?" isa question, just like the word; nevertheless this has become thegreatest favorite of all the smaller Schumann pieces. "Whims" also iswell named, since in this quickly moving little piece one mood followsanother irrepressibly; among them are some which are highly poetic. Last of all, "The End of the Song"--a very vigorous and strongly markedmovement which appeals to every one. 

The Schumann songs are so remarkable as to demand separate treatment. Those upon the present list are so placed because they represent in ageneral way the more noticeable moods of Schumann in this form of art. They can be sung high or low, as the singer's voice requires, but theyare more satisfactory if sung by a soprano voice, I think. 

The first upon the list is the merry and arch little "Hat of Green, "which with folk-tone sweetness and simplicity brings out a situation asold as the world and as new as the morning. The musical treatment isvery clever and interesting. 

The "Wanderer's Song" is characteristically German, representing thesong of the young student as he sets out upon his student career astraveler, for seeing strange lands; or the emigrant who leaves his landto find a better home, but never one so well loved as his own nativecountry. It is full of heart and courage until the middle part, wherethe intermezzo in the key of E major tells of softer feelings--oflonging and homesickness. 

"Moonlight, " again, represents the peculiarly mystic and dreamy side ofthe Schumann nature, and there are few songs in the whole world sosweet and so beautiful as this; but it needs a pure, clear, and verytrue soprano voice, controlled with musical feeling. Thus interpretedit is indeed a dream. 

The next two songs upon the list are out of the famous cycle called"Woman's Love and Life"--the poems of no great depth, but the subjectsof lasting and universal application and interest. "He, the Noblest"gives a very spirited and sensitive musical setting to the woman'sopinion of the loved one; words and music bring to expression one ofthe most ideal moments of woman's life. The next, "Thou Ring Upon MyFinger, " tells its own story, but here, again, the music is well worthwhile for its own sake. It is interesting as an instrumental piecewithout the aid of the voice. Few songs as musical have been written. The last upon the list, "Spring Night, " while out of anothercycle, --the so-called "Liederkreis, "--is nevertheless of quite similarexcellence to the preceding. 

All need to be sung with abandon, and above all with sentiment, poetry, and flexible rhythm, yet always with abounding musical life. To singsuch songs well is to be an artist. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

CHOPIN. 

FREDERIC FRANCOIS CHOPIN. 

 Born March 1, 1809, at Zelazowa-Wola, near Warsaw. Died October 17, 1849, in Paris. 

Chopin was the son of a French father who had lived in Warsaw and wasteacher in the gymnasium there; his mother was a Polish woman. Chopin's early talent for music was unmistakable, both his parentshaving been gifted in this direction. The child, therefore, was put atmusic very young and appeared as a wonder-child at an early age. Histeachers were a Bohemian named Zwyny and Joseph Elsner. But the mostof his work he must have accomplished by himself, since we find thatbefore he was nineteen he had written his theme and variations upon "LaCi Darem la Mano, " and all his works up to and including the Concertoin E minor, opus 11. It is believed that the so-called second concertoin F minor was also completed before this period. This mass of worksincluded not alone the very remarkable variations upon Mozart's air, already mentioned, and the brilliant concertos, with certain rondos andmazurkas and other characteristic illustrations of the Chopin genius, but also the studies for pianoforte, opus 10, which in methods oftreating the piano amount to a most astonishing advance over anythingwhich had appeared before them. They are also as beautiful andoriginal from a musical standpoint as they are remarkable from that ofpiano-forte technic. 

[Illustration: Frederic Francois Chopin]

Accordingly, when Chopin, in 1828, went upon a concert tour to Paris, Vienna, and Munich, he was received everywhere with astonishingenthusiasm, and was very much surprised to hear himself called one ofthe first virtuosi of the time, as, indeed, he must have been. AtParis his opus 2 was published (the variations just mentioned), andthis was the composition which attracted Schumann's attention andconcerning which he wrote such a glowing and enthusiastic account. In1829 he came to Paris to reside, and immediately became an activemember of a small but extremely brilliant art circle, among the membersof which were to be found such celebrities as Liszt, Berlioz, Heine, Balzac, Ernst, and Meyerbeer. 

Chopin's father having died, he assumed the care of his mother, andsupported himself partly by concert playing and partly by teaching. Asearly as 1838 the symptoms of pulmonary weakness began to appear, andfrom that time to the end of his life he was more or less an invalid, always in delicate health and sometimes unfit for any exertion. Fromthe brilliancy of his position in Paris, the death of Chopin was agreat shock to the artistic world, and he was buried with mostimpressive ceremonies. His grave is not far from those of Bellini andCherubini. He was a man of fine wit, aristocratic presence, distinguished manners, and a highly sensitive and poetic nature, all ofwhich qualities reached expression in his music. 

The best biography of Chopin is that by Fr. Niecks, in two volumes. The so-called "Chopin, " by Liszt, is merely a rhapsody upon hisdeparted friend, having very little biographical but a great deal ofcritical value, because no one knew better than Liszt how to estimatethe innovations which Chopin had made in piano playing. 

It will be noticed by the attentive reader that the art of modern pianoplaying, as we now have it, depends practically upon the works ofChopin, Schumann, and Liszt, with possibly a little advance help fromWeber and Thalberg. The three artists first mentioned began to work intheir several provinces at about the same time; Chopin and Lisztbetween 1826 and 1830, and Schumann from 1830 on. Liszt, however, didnot produce works of distinguished originality until after the contestwith Thalberg in Paris and after hearing Paganini, somewhere about1834, so that, on the whole, if superior eminence were to be accordedeither of these artists in point of priority of invention, we wouldperhaps give the credit to Chopin; and in point of precocity of genius, considering the astonishing innovations he made, I think Chopin is tobe held even in advance of Mozart, Schubert, and Mendelssohn, all ofwhom created remarkably mature works in new styles at a very early age. 

Chopin's works are almost entirely for the pianoforte, and he was theoriginator of several forms which have now become types; the salonwaltz was practically created by him, although Weber's "Invitation tothe Dance" opened the way, and the ballads, scherzi, and nocturnes ofChopin were new types, showing his genius in the most beautiful manner. 

 PROGRAM I. (Easy. )

 Polonaise in A major, opus 40, No. 1. Polonaise in C-sharp minor, opus 26, No. 1. Preludes: Opus 28. No. 4, E minor. No. 6, B minor. No. 7, A major. No. 9, E major. Prelude in D-flat, opus 28, No. 15. Waltz in C-sharp minor, opus 64. Waltz in D-flat, opus 64, No. 1. Nocturne in E-flat, opus 9, No. 2. Waltz in A-flat, opus 42. 

 PROGRAM II. (More difficult. )

 Polonaise in A major. Fantasia Impromptu in C-sharp minor, opus 66. Scherzo in B-flat minor, opus 31. Nocturne in E-flat major, opus 9, No. 2. Nocturne in G major, opus 37, No. 2. Ballad in A-flat, opus 47. 

 PROGRAM III. (Still more difficult. )

 Études: Opus 10, No. 1, C major. No. 2, A minor. No. 3, E major. No. 4, C-sharp minor. No. 5, G-flat (black key). Ballad in A-flat, opus 47. Romanza from First Concerto, in E minor. (Reinecke's arrangement or with second piano. ) Impromptu in A-flat, opus 29. Nocturne in D-flat, opus 27, No. 2. Polonaise in A-flat, opus 53. 

In order to fully understand the individuality and genius of FredericFrançois Chopin (1809-1849) it would be necessary to study his workfrom three standpoints. First, naturally, for what it is in and ofitself--the moods, the qualities of style, the peculiar individualityof his musical thought; second, with reference to the modifications ofpianoforte style inaugurated by this gifted genius--modificationswhich, while having their source in certain improvements of themechanism of the pianoforte made immediately before Chopin began towrite, would not have come so soon but for his genius and insight; and, third, to study the relation of this master in his style of musicalideas and working out, his fancy, his imagination, his representationof many sides of human nature, to the music of the other composers ofthe romantic school, and especially to that of Mendelssohn andSchumann, whose compositions were produced contemporaneously with thoseof Chopin. To cover all this ground is naturally impossible in one, two, or even in several, chapters, wherefore I shall confine myself inthe present program to illustrating a few of the characteristicindividualities of Chopin and the essential features of his style. There are difficulties in doing this adequately, arising from the factthat as piano virtuoso, Chopin, when fully expressing himself, did sowithout regard for the convenience of imperfectly-trained hands uponthe pianoforte. Hence the works of his which represent his genius atits best are mostly too difficult for any but very accomplished players. 

In recognition of this difficulty I have made three programs, each moredifficult than the preceding, from which the student may make hischoice, since the qualities are mainly the same in all, excepting thathis complete treatment of the pianoforte is more perfectly illustratedin the more difficult examples of his style. These, I may add, are nolonger the utmost limit of pianoforte difficulty, as they were at thetime when written; later writers have passed considerably beyond eventhe most difficult works of Chopin. But for pianists in general someof the Chopin works still remain along the farthest borders of theirart. 

Among the most striking peculiarities of Chopin's style are, perhaps:first, melodiousness, combined with a certain melancholy, almostmorbid, mood; second, pleasing running work, especially for the righthand, generally overlying an entirely simple bass, or a bassessentially simple upon the harmonic side but broken or modified so asto conceal this fact from the superficial observer. All his later lifeChopin was an invalid or semi-invalid, and much of his musicillustrates a certain feverishness and morbidness of temperament. 

The originality of Chopin shows best, perhaps, in his polonaises, ballads, preludes, and nocturnes; but the two sonatas, while presentingmarked differences from those of the older writers, are, nevertheless, tone-poems of strong originality. Practically, he may be said to haveinvented the polonaise, the nocturne, and the ballad. The preludes areshort pieces of marked originality and expression, which have alwaysseemed to me like chips struck off in working at something else. Verylikely they may have been beginnings of larger works which were nevercompleted. Possibly they may have never been intended to reach anylarger dimensions than those in which we find them. First, hispolonaises. 

The polonaise, as perfected by Chopin, is a composition in 3/4 measure, having really six beats to the measure, arranged in three twos; thesecond of these six beats is divided, and there is an extra accent uponthe fifth. 

Moreover, this rhythm must be kept quite strictly, like a march, for amarch the polonaise is in its general characteristics, rather than adance properly so called. The fanciful description of the polonaisegiven by Liszt in his memoir of Chopin may be taken as in the maincorrect. He says:

"While listening to some of the polonaises of Chopin we can almostcatch the firm, nay the more than firm, the heavy, resolute tread ofmen bravely facing all the bitter injustice which the most cruel andrelentless destiny can offer with the manly pride of unblenchingcourage. 

"The progress of the music suggests to our imagination such magnificentgroups as were designed by Paul Veronese, robed in the rich costume ofdays long past; we see passing at intervals before us brocades of gold, velvets, damasked satins, silvery, soft, and flexible sables, hangingsleeves gracefully thrown back upon the shoulders, embossed sabers, boots yellow as gold or red with trampled blood, sashes with long andundulating fringes, close chemisettes, rustling trains, stomachersembroidered with pearls, head-dresses glittering with rubies or leafywith emeralds, light slippers rich in amber, gloves perfumed with theluxurious attar of the harems. "

The delicacy of Chopin's playing is traditional, but Liszt is authorityfor the statement that Chopin was fond of hearing his larger and moreheroic works played with a power of which he himself was incapable. Itis related by some one that upon one occasion a very talented youngpianist called upon Chopin, and, being invited to play, did so, thegreat polonaise in A-flat being the matter. Excited by the work and bythe presence of the author, and full of the heroic spirit of the music, he broke several hammers--an occurrence quite common in heavy playingin those days. Naturally, the young man was extremely mortified atthis, and endeavored to apologize over and over again. But thecomposer cut him short. "Say not a word, " said he; "if I had yourstrength I would break every hammer in the piano when I played thatpiece. " This may be one of those "ben trovato" anecdotes which, if nottrue, ought to be. 

Both the polonaises upon the first program illustrate the breadth, impassioned force, and vigor of Chopin's idea to a marked degree, aswell, perhaps, as anything he ever composed. The first, commonly knownas the "Military Polonaise, " is one of those pompous pieces whichinevitably suggest some kind of great ceremonial. The movement beginsin stately march-like rhythmic swing, and goes on with interruptions ofbrilliant effect, as if where the cannon and drums add their noisyemphasis. The pomp resumes its march, but presently gives place to amiddle part--a trio. This, again, is in the key of D major, with agreat swinging melody like a trumpet, the military rhythm going onuninterruptedly below. At length the original movement is resumed, andpresently comes the end. In all, it is a matter of pomp, brilliantceremony, stately march, like some national festival. 

The second polonaise is of a wholly different character. Theexpression is even more forcible than that of the first, but thecharacter is not the same. It is now as if one remembered some of theheroes of Poland. With what fervor enters the leading subject (firstfour measures)! It is complete in itself. Then comes a softer andmore capricious melody, but little more heroic than a nocturne. Thesecond principal idea (measure 25) is mystic, as if some kind ofceremonial were being conducted. The rhythm goes on, but softly andwith interruptions. At length the principal idea again. Now comes themiddle piece, in the key of D-flat--a beautiful melody, one of thefinest of Chopin's, supported upon very delicate and sensitivelychanging harmonies, full of chromatic and enharmonic modulation. Afterthis a second idea, in which two voices carry on the interest; theupper a soprano, the lower a baritone or tenor, and they have a sort ofdialogue (measure 66). Then the soft melody again. In the firsteditions of this work the da capo was not marked, and for about fortyyears critics gave themselves headaches in trying to explain why Chopininvented a new form of this anomalous construction, --a first part inthe key of C-sharp minor; a second part in the key of D-flat major. "Where, " they asked, "was the unity?" And by way of emphasis theyspelled the word Unity with a capital initial. At last, however, someSolomon among editors affixed the missing letters "D. C. , " and behold!we had our Unity all right. It was simply a case of a middle piece inthe major key of the same tonic, with the notation changedenharmonically for the sake of simplicity, the key of D-flat being, forthe majority of players, easier to read than that of C-sharp major. 

The preludes which follow represent individual moods. The first, in Eminor, consists of a slow melody, almost stationary, while against thelong tones a chord accompaniment softly pulsates, the harmoniesshifting chromatically. 

The second, No. 6, in B minor, has a lovely melodic idea in the bass, while the right hand carries a soft harmony and a slow pulsation in theupper voice. The impression of the whole is most mysterious, melancholy, and tender. 

No. 7, in A major, is one of the preludes which seems as if it mighthave been a beginning for a longer composition, perhaps a slow waltz. 

No. 9, in E major, a very grave, serious, organ-like movement, in whichmassive, tremendous chord-successions march onward to a climax throughunheard-of modulations. This piece, by the way, has been arranged fororgan very effectively by A. W. Gottschalg. In playing it the slowmovement, the sustained and deep melody, and the steady rhythm allrequire careful attention. 

The prelude in D-flat represents a larger flight of the Chopin fancy. It begins with a lovely melody, like a nocturne. This exquisite melodygives place to a somewhat broken part in the key of C-sharp minor, inwhich the remarkable thing is the incessant repetition of the noteG-sharp. This continues in eighth-note motion throughout all themeasures of this part of the work. It can only be made tolerable bycareful observance of the "sotto voce" at beginning and graduallyincreasing in power up to the fortissimo in the fortieth measure. Again it subsides into pianissimo, and again the crescendo. Finallythe original melody in D-flat is resumed--and with what gratefulsweetness!--and the piece is carried through to the close. 

The waltzes of Chopin are not to be taken too seriously. They aresalon music, but of a particularly pleasing character. One of the mostcharming, although a small one, is that in C-sharp minor, which isbuilt upon three leading motives. First the motive of two measureswhich opens the work; then the little passage of eighth notes whichanswers it; and finally the running work beginning in measure 33. Farther along there is a melody in D-flat, which stands in place of atrio. It is a sentimental and lovely melody. The effect of the wholeis light, capricious, and musical. 

Following this is the little waltz in D-flat, opus 64, so often heard, and so many times built over in all sorts of double notes, thirds, sixths, etc. It illustrates the knack which Chopin had of developing apleasing whole out of very slight materials. Observe the extremesimplicity of the bass. 

The name nocturne was invented by John Field, who wrote twelve pieceswith this title (the remaining ones of the twenty usually printed werenamed by the publishers) which are, in effect, sonnets; little lyricpieces, of greater or less depth, having the general type of a songwithout words, but preferably of a melancholy or tender character, andthe form of a melody with accompaniment. Chopin took up this form andgreatly ennobled it. His nocturnes are vastly more beautiful andoriginal than those of Field; they have greater variety, deepertenderness, and in every way are more distinguished and characteristic. The little nocturne in E-flat, opus 9, is one which is now verygenerally played upon every sort of instrument capable of singing asoprano melody. 

The waltz which concludes the first program is of a more brilliantcharacter than the two little ones earlier upon the list. It begins, after the introduction, with a double rhythm, the right hand playing amelody in double measure, while the left hand goes on in triple rhythm. It should be played with brilliancy, the left hand quite crisp andclear, but light; the right hand rather brilliantly. The syncopationgives place to agreeable running work for the right hand, and thisagain to another subject in double notes, a very earnest melody. Alittle later there is another short melody, and the double-note subjectreturns, and so all the material over again. 

SECOND AND THIRD PROGRAMS. 

The Fantasia Impromptu in C-sharp minor belongs to that class ofChopin's works mentioned in the beginning of this chapter, in whichpleasing effects are made by fluent running work, containing more orless changing notes and other forms of dissonance--running work so fastthat the ear does not follow each note, but skims along the melodicthread, as it were, the general impression of an "effect" being theform of conscious delight. This kind of effect in music, which dependsin part upon the persistence of the pianoforte tone after the keys arereleased, was original with Chopin; or, if we can not say that he fullyoriginated, he certainly brought it to greater perfection than any ofhis predecessors ever did. Moreover, the runs of Chopin are morecomplicated and daring, yet at the same time better adapted to rapidperformance than any of those by the older writers for pianoforte. Inthe present instance, moreover, there is a further unsettling elementin the fact that against the six tones of the right hand groups, theleft hand plays groups of four tones. This, which was never carriedout upon so extensive a scale before, is now perfectly easy to perform, although in Chopin's time it was considered a difficulty. It serves toimpart an elusiveness to the effect of the music, entirely in keepingwith the name. 

The place of "middle piece" in this Fantasia Impromptu is filled by aslow melody which in effect is a nocturne--quite in the manner of themiddle piece in the Impromptu in A-flat. The principal ideas in thisare also somewhat varied in their repetitions, and light and delicatearabesques occur, which add to the charm. The slow part affords arepose, after which the principal subject returns and the whole comesto a brilliant ending by means of a coda. The entire piece isextremely characteristic of Chopin's genius. 

The Scherzo in B-flat minor is more analogous to a ballad than to anyone of the varieties of piece known under this title in the classicworks of Beethoven. It consists substantially of about four primordialelements. First there is the principal subject, the characteristicexpression of which is due to the unexpected answer of the suggestivequery of the low notes by strongly accented chords. Still in emphaticmood the second idea comes in (measure 48) with running work. 

Then follows a delightful melodic idea (measure 64), which is repeatedin different keys no less than five times, the entire period extendingto forty-nine measures. The accompaniment of this charming melody isthoroughly Chopinesque, consisting of arpeggio figures generallycovering the compass of a tenth. In spirit this passage is much thesame as that of the second idea in the Polonaise in C-sharp minor. After the second idea there is a coda concluding this part of the work. It is then repeated with a few very slight modifications. Then followsthe middle piece, a melody in the key of A, a novel relation of keyswhich no doubt troubled the contemporaries of the composer more than itneed us, since the key of the piece is properly D-flat, the B-flatminor predominating only at the beginning, and the first part, as wellas the last, closing in D-flat major. From this to the key of A, counting by the keyboard, is a major third, and everybody knows thatthe major third above or below is an agreeable relation of keys;moreover, we have here the music to tell us. This middle part ismystic and truly charming. Several other ideas meet us presently, oneof which, with triplets in the alto, is rather troublesome to play andstill more troublesome when it occurs again near the end of the piece. Also some very pretty running work, charmingly supported upon a basscontaining considerable melody of its own. This running work isafterward given considerable development, as also is the subordinateidea already referred to characterized by the triplets in the alto, andthen the first part of the piece is repeated, and so at length the end. 

The name "scherzo" in this connection is to be taken as signifying aplay of fancy, rather than an especially playful mood in the sense ofmirthfulness; in fact, it is not easy to find a rational explanation ofthe grounds upon which Chopin named his pieces, especially as betweenthe ballad and the scherzo. Probably, however, he called those balladswhich begin with a lyric melody and depend for their interest mainlyupon the development of lyric melodies, reaching at times a tragicelevation; but even with this explanation the line between thenocturnes and ballads will be very difficult to draw, since theNocturne in G major, of which we shall speak presently, lacks only amore brilliant treatment in the middle part to raise it to the grade ofa ballad. On the whole, we may as well confess that all these namesare more or less fanciful and perhaps applied without any very deepreason, but simply because it was necessary to call the pieces by sometitle in particular. 

The Nocturne in G major is one of the most pleasing of all thecompositions of this kind in the works of Chopin. It is also ratherdifficult, since the principal subject runs in thirds and sixths moreor less chromatic and in the course of the treatment these figures arecarried into a large number of keys, in all of which they have toretain a singing quality of tone in the soprano and a very clean andlegato style of performance; but when adequately done the effect isvery charming indeed. The middle part again consists of a verybeautiful digression, something like a cradle song, or a barcarolle, --agentle, peaceful, rocking motion, --and then again the principal subjectreturns. It will be seen that in spite of the quite considerablelength to which this nocturne is developed, it never rises to theimpassioned diversification which Chopin seems to have considered asbelonging to the ballad. For all his ballads, no matter how quiettheir opening subject, become more or less dramatic before they arecompleted. 

The Ballad in A-flat is one of the most frequently played compositionsof Chopin. It opens with a very pleasing and melodious subject, which, by the aid of various subordinate ideas, is carried out to the extentof fifty-two measures. At this point a new motion begins and a verypleasing second subject, of a more playful character, perhaps, than thefirst. Later on, in measure 115, some very pretty running work comesin; then again, still farther on, where the signature changes to foursharps, the second subject appears in the treble, somewhat changed, against some very pretty running work in the bass; and then begins acharming and elaborate building up to the climax, when the firstsubject is brought back in fortissimo form. For the player and for thehearer this piece, when well treated, is one of the most pleasing pianosolos possible to mention. I do not know, however, that it isnecessary to turn it wrong side out in the effort to find some hiddenor recondite meaning. It is pleasing and well made rather than deeplyimpassioned, and it is a mistake to overdo the contrasts in it. 

The studies of Chopin form a literature by themselves. In all, thereare twenty-seven published. The first book, opus 10, containing twelvestudies, was composed when Chopin was a boy of sixteen or seventeen, and I do not think the history of music shows any similar case ofprecocity. These studies were vastly more difficult than anythingexisting at that time excepting the fugues of Bach, and they spring outat once, fully armed as it were, with a well-developed style in melody, in harmonic handling, and especially in the application of the hands tothe piano; thus they turned over an entirely new leaf; and what is moresignificant, and to the credit of the young genius, is that he seems tohave divined, by a sort of intuition, the strategic points of modernpiano playing as it was to be, so that in spite of these works havingnow been before the musical world more than fifty years and theirhaving entered into conservatory and boarding-school curricula to analmost universal extent, the pianist who can play them all in themanner in which Chopin intended is already an artist. They belong tothe most poetic and sagaciously conceived compositions for theinstrument. The five here selected are not particularly better thanthe five next following, or the last numbers of this same opus, andperhaps no better than those in the second set, the opus 25. The firststudy, in C major, has for its object to accustom the hand to wideextensions, the arpeggio figure nearly always covering a tenth andsometimes an eleventh. This extension should be accomplished by thefingers themselves as far as possible, and then by slightly turning thewrist. To play this study well betokens first-class execution. Thesecond study, in A minor, has a chromatic scale for soprano withstaccato chords below, and its technical object is to impart greaterflexibility and usefulness to the fourth and fifth fingers of the righthand. The third, also, is a cantabile in a beautiful singing melody, with some very interesting contrasts in the middle part. Here, again, Chopin addresses himself to the weak fingers of the right hand, sincethese are the ones which will experience the greatest difficulty insecuring a proper effect in this study. No. 4 is a very impassionedpresto in C-sharp minor, in which strong single notes and octavesoccur, along with an insistent and very rapid sixteenth-note motion. The effect of the whole is very strong and striking, and estheticallyconsidered it belongs to the dramatically conceived moods of Chopin. No. 5, in G-flat major, is commonly known as the "black-key study, " andits object is to accustom the hands to the black keys and to very rapidchanges from one part of the keyboard to another. It is a charmingpiece, producing the effect of a delightful scherzo. 

It is interesting to note in this connection that all of these studiesand many others belonging to this set have, in recent times, beenrewritten for the left hand. This has been done in various ways. Mr. Phillippe, of Paris, has simply transferred the right-hand part to theleft, and left the right hand with nothing or with but little to do. Mr. Leopold Godowsky, the distinguished Russian pianist, has taken adifferent course. The first study he has placed with the arpeggiofigure in both hands simultaneously, and a heavy melody of chords isalso added. The second study gives the chromatic runs to the weakfingers of the left hand. The black-key study also is written for theleft hand, while an entirely new part has been composed for the right. One of the most curious of all these arrangements of Chopin's materialis that of the late eminent organist, August Haupt, of Berlin, whoarranged this fourth study in C-sharp minor for the organ for Mr. Clarence Eddy, by whom it is often played in concerts with an effectextremely remarkable, especially when the pedals have thesixteenth-note motion. 

It should not be forgotten that all these five studies, as well as theothers in the whole collection, are tone-poems no less than exercisesfor the pianoforte, and they can not be said to have been played untilthis poetic sense is derived from them. 

The romanza from the Concerto in E minor is a very beautifulnocturne-like movement, and if given with an accompaniment of secondpiano, or, better still, a very soft accompaniment of organ, itproduces the most delightful effect. 

The Impromptu in A-flat, opus 29, might just as well have been called astudy, since the essential part of it is a rapid movement in eighthnotes having for its object, in part at least, the freer and moredelicate treatment of the left hand in accompaniments. It will requirea great deal of practice to play well, but when so played it produces avery pleasing pianoforte effect. It belongs to the same class ofChopin's works as the Fantasia Impromptu in C-sharp minor, alreadymentioned. The middle part of this impromptu, as in the case of theother, is essentially a nocturne-like movement. 

The Nocturne in D-flat, opus 27, No. 2, is very often played. It is avery beautiful composition, and while representing a number of serioustechnical difficulties, esthetically considered, it is perhapssufficiently plain to any student capable of mastering it. In allthese cases it is to be observed that Chopin takes the implication ofthe term "nocturne" somewhat freely, often developing the idea withconsiderable force and dramatic spirit. 

One of the most celebrated of all the compositions of Chopin is thefamous Polonaise in A-flat major, which seems in the fullest manner toillustrate the description of the polonaise already quoted above, fromLiszt's Chopin. This remarkable work opens with a rather strikingintroduction, the principal subject entering in the seventeenthmeasure, very bold and strong. In the forty-ninth measure an extremelyforcible and dramatic idea begins which presently, in the fifty-seventhmeasure, gives place to a more quiet melody. The most remarkable partof this piece, and the one which has had much to do with its use byvirtuoso pianists, is the middle part in E major. Here, after a seriesof heavy chords, a sixteenth-note motion enters in octaves for the lefthand, and for the right hand a melody, which is at first soft andafterward built up. This octave middle figure continues withoutinterruption for sixteen measures, and then, after the chords arerepeated, is continued again for the same length of time. When this isproperly done, the passage begins quite softly and works up by degreesuntil the very imposing climax at the end, and in the repetition thesame thing takes place again. The difficulty consists in thisinsistent repetition of the same figure in the left hand, and a veryclear note of Chopin's genius is seen when he changes this bass figurefrom E major to E-flat major. This change, although apparently notsignificant on paper, has the keyboard peculiarity of giving the lefthand a rotary motion in the opposite direction from that necessitatedin the E major, and in three measures of it the player unwinds himself, as it were, and is ready to begin again with the original figure. Still another pleasing Chopin peculiarity is noted at the close of thisstrong part, where there is a page or more of very delightful dreamywork, at first in G major, afterward in F minor, and so at length theoriginal subject is resumed and the Polonaise brought to an end. Awork of this magnitude admits of being considered in so many differentlights as to make any short discussion of it seem fragmentary andsuggestive merely, and such, in fact, is the intention of the presentcomments. Enough that we have in it a poetic suggestion brought toexpression. 

CHAPTER IX. 

BACH, BEETHOVEN, SCHUMANN, AND CHOPIN. 

There are endless selections of compositions which might be made inorder to bring together into a single chapter enough of the music ofthese four great masters to give a taste of their individualities, style, and sentiment. Following are examples:

 PROGRAM I. 

 Bach, Prelude and Fugue in C minor, Clavier, No. 2. Beethoven, Sonate Pathetique, opus 13. Schumann, Forest Scenes; "Entrance. " "Wayside Inn. " "Prophetic Bird. " "Homeward. " Bach, Fantasia in C minor. Loure in G (Heinze). Chopin, Nocturne in G minor, opus 37, No. 1. Waltz in A-flat, opus 42. 

 PROGRAM II. 

 Bach, Prelude and Fugue in D major, Clavier, No. 5. Beethoven, Sonata in D, opus 10, No. 3. Schumann, Fantasy Pieces, opus 12: "At Evening. " "Excelsior. " "Why?" "Whims. " "Dream Visions. " "End of the Song. " Chopin, Nocturne in B major, opus 32, No. 1. Ballad in A-flat, opus 47. 

 PROGRAM III. 

 Bach, Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp, Clavier, No. 3. Beethoven, Sonata in A-flat, opus 26. Schumann, Fantasy Pieces, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8. Chopin, Nocturne in B major, opus 32, No. 1. Ballad in A-flat, opus 47. 

 PROGRAM IV. (Regardless of difficulty. )

 Bach, Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue. Beethoven, Sonata, opus III. C minor. Schumann, Études Symphoniques, opus 13. Chopin, Nocturne in D-flat major, opus 27, No. 2. Polonaise in A-flat, opus 53. 

To discuss these selections in detail would take us too far, for whichreason only those observations will be made which seem more essential. Throughout, the intention is to alternate the thematic work of Bach andSchumann with the lyric or quasi-lyric writing of Beethoven and Chopin. While Beethoven was also at times thematic, his work is generally wellbalanced as to its structure, and so melodious in comparison withalmost anything of Schumann (excepting a few distinctly lyric pieces)or of Bach, that it seems like lyric melody. It was also the intentionin these programs to preserve an agreeable succession of keys. Thefirst three programs are of moderate difficulty, although not so easyas might be made. Still, in the present state of piano playing thereare few seminaries or private circles where these numbers can not beplayed well enough to afford pleasure and instruction. 

Of the various Bach numbers upon the programs the followingdistinctions may be made: The preludes and fugues are generallycontrasted in respect of the qualities of lyric and thematic writingrespectively. The prelude in C minor, for instance, is almost anexercise, being without clearly expressed melody (although the accentsin the soprano distinctly suggest a melody), and the whole is rapid andincisive. The fugue, on the other hand, opens with a very sprightlyidea, which is carried out delightfully, quite in the manner of ascherzo. The prelude in D major, again, is very light and graceful, yet having a character somewhat between a fancy piece of tone-poetryand an exercise, being capable of receiving either construction, according to the ability and skill of the player. The fugue, on thecontrary, is rather firm, resolute, and marked, yet with distincttouches of sentiment--which latter quality is always to be sought forin the playing, but without resorting to rubato. It is not enough topresent these selections, they must be made to display the best effectof which they are capable. It is not a question of composers merely, but why we should love and reverence them. The prelude in C-sharp isone of the loveliest in the entire "Clavier. " It is lyric in itsprincipal motive, and there is a very pretty interlude of alternatingwork between the two hands upon the dominant, just before the return ofthe principal theme, which is quite in modern style. The fugue also isvery melodious, yet at the same time rather difficult, and it will be agood player who is able to produce this fugue successfully in anythingshort of about a month's practice. With the last program we come upona very different grade of difficulty, especially in the matter ofinterpretation, for in mere finger work the last Bach piece is not somuch more difficult than the fugue in C-sharp major. 

The "Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue" is a very curious illustration ofBach's genius. No one knows the circumstances under which it waswritten nor the time. There is absolutely nothing else in his workswhich is at all like it, taken as a whole, although each one of itspeculiarities may perhaps be found elsewhere in his works. It openswith a bravura run in scale work, --the two hands co-operatinginterchangeably, --which must have the character of a bold flourish, such as a virtuoso might give upon taking his place and beginning hispiece. This is followed with a delicate harmonic passage in which amelody is very distinctly suggested; a very delicate and musicalpassage it is. Then the bravura run returns, and then the harmonicarpeggio motive as before, but always carried out in different keys andchords. Upon these two elements the first part of the fantasia isconstructed. 

In the forty-ninth measure begins another chapter, in which we have aseries of recitative-like phrases, the most of which end upondiminished chords and contain or suggest enharmonic modulations ofextreme modern type. The recitatives are very expressive, and theirproper delivery necessitates a high degree of musical sensitiveness andexperience in singing. After the recitatives, at measure 76, a codabegins, which brings the fantasia to an end. The coda is perhaps themost beautiful part of this great work. I have here also forgotten tomention the series of arpeggios upon chromatic chords, beginning inmeasure 27. These Bach wrote merely as chords to be played arpeggio, and it was for a long time a question as to what manner of filling upthe time would be nearest his intention. Mendelssohn, in one of hisletters, says he wishes that he knew what Bach meant here, and Ibelieve it is generally thought that the carrying out of the arpeggiosin Hans von Bülow's edition of this piece is very near the solutionsuggested by Mendelssohn. At any rate, I advise using the Bülowedition, particularly as the figures are written out in full and thefingering is carefully marked--a very important consideration in one ortwo places in the fugue. 

The fugue also is interesting, and is elaborated to two quite imposingclimaxes, the first beginning in measure 60 and the other in measure140, where the bass has the principal theme in octaves. Mr. Lieblingdoes not regard this fugue as quite up to Bach's standard, inasmuch asBach has repeated quite long passages in different keys withoutmaterially changing the treatment, something which he rarely does, hisfertility of fancy being such that he always or nearly always avoidsexactly repeating himself, no matter how many times he chooses to bringback the principal theme. The composition as a whole is by far themost modern of Bach, and it is a veritable tone-poem. In order torealize this it will be necessary to hear it several times, itselaboration being so great and the difficulty of playing soconsiderable that only very good players will have enough sentiment andsurplus of technic to interpret it with sufficiently musical quality. But when so played it is one of the surest masterpieces in the entirerepertory of the piano-forte. And in consequence of its elevated andpoetic sentiment, its caprice and program-like character, it affordsone of the best possible studies in Bach's style at its best. 

The sonatas by Beethoven named upon the programs are of quitedissimilar value. The "Sonate Pathetique" is a very strong workindeed, and, if we have many times seen its name, we must not forgetthat after all it is not very often played in any one place. Moreover, new players are all the time coming on to whom this strong and originalwork is new. The introduction carries out the emotional spirit of theBach fantasia, as also does the work itself. The headlong allegro, theslow, sustained, and beautiful adagio, and the easy-going finale allhave their own beauties, and continue the story, which, as Beethoventhought it, was one story from beginning to end. The leastsatisfactory part of this work is the rondo, the tempo of which is notaltogether easy to determine; I prefer it at rather a slow tempo. There is a unity of movement in this work which is not always observed. In a general way the eighth note in the introduction, the whole note inthe allegro, and the eighth note in the adagio, and the half note inthe rondo go at about the same rate--approximately, from sixty toseventy-two by the metronome. If any modification is made, take therondo faster, say about eighty-four. 

A very important technical point of the work is the treatment of thechords in the introduction and in the allegro. All must have a melodicquality in their highest tones, since the melody passes through thechord. Neglect of this imparts a brutal and unmusical quality to thetones of chords struck so forcibly. Throughout the work strongcontrasts continually occur between the impassioned motive and thepathetic or appealing idea. These two elements struggle for mastery. The adagio is one of those slow movements for which Beethoven wasnoted; the cantilena is lovely and the sentiment deep and tender. 

In some respects the sonata upon the second program is even moreremarkable. Its general build is rather light and pleasing, andneither in length nor in dramatic contrast is it to be compared withmost of the "Pathetique. " Especially is this the case when we confineour attention to the light and pleasing first movement and the finale. The latter, opening with that capricious little motive which seems tosay "Why don't you?" is all the way arch, sprightly, and pleasing. Butthe second movement is one of the strongest and most impassioned in allthe sonatas. It opens grave, serious, as if fate herself impended. Avery slow and appealing motive is carried out thematically, almost inthe modern style of Schumann or Brahms. It is a slow movement whichmight have been played upon Olympus or in Walhalla--provided thedissipated gods of the old dispensations had been developed to thecapacity of remorse and repentance. Out of this profoundly sad, despondent, slow movement grows the tender flower of the deliciousmenuetto in D major which follows it. This is not to be taken toofast, remembering that we have our fast movement still to settle withlater. It is a melodious, tender, gentle movement, which is one of themost characteristic and beautiful of the kind to be found anywhere inthe entire list of the sonatas. In point of technical difficulty thissonata presents no very great problems. 

The Sonata in A-flat, commonly remembered from the "Funeral March, "which takes the place of a slow movement, opens with an air andvariations. These were for a long time the most played of anything inthe entire collection of sonatas. Lately, under the influence of thegreater variations of Schumann and Brahms, they are becoming relegatedto the more remote seats in the musical synagogue. They are, nevertheless, very interesting variations, quite in the "character"line, each variation being a new picture, a new mood. Opposed to thiskind of variations is the "formal" variation, where, although the themeis varied in its figuration and rhythm, the harmony remains unchanged, and the esthetic character of the successive variations remainspractically unchanged. The "Funeral March Upon the Death of a Hero" isone of the famous pieces. It no longer presents material difficultiesto the student. The scherzo must not be played too rapidly; the finaleis to go about as fast as possible, and with the greatest possiblelightness and delicacy. 

The great Sonata in C minor, opus 111, is the last which Beethovencomposed, having been written after the Ninth Symphony, about a year ortwo before his death. It is very difficult, technically; very seriousin its spirit, and has the curious peculiarity of consisting of twomovements only, excepting a short but very profound and seriousintroduction. The first movement is very impassioned, and the entiremovement is developed from one or two short germs, thematically, quitein the manner which Schumann took up and accomplished so much with. The spirit of the allegro is almost like that of the "SonatePathetique, " but naturally much more mature. The slow movement, again, consists of an arietta of two eight-measure strains--the first in Cmajor, the second in A minor. These two strains alternate throughoutthe variations, which are of the formal order; but here Beethovenmanages to attain a very considerable development of interest, andrises to an imposing climax without ever quite forsaking the peace ofthe opening measures of the arietta. The variations are quitedifficult to play, and the ending is very troublesome to treat in anymanner to make it sound as one thinks an ending should. The whole, while perhaps but little more characteristic of Beethoven than the"Sonata Appassionata" or the great sonata for "Hammerklavier, " opus106, is nevertheless a very beautiful illustration of Beethoven'stone-poetry for pianoforte. 

The Schumann "Études Symphoniques, " here chosen for illustrating thiscapricious and humoristic master, is also a most astonishing work. Itis in the form of a theme and variations, but the variations almostrequire the newspaper libel-saving reservation "alleged, " since thetheme in some of them is not referred to at all, while in others itoccurs but for occasional measures here and there. Except for themonotony of key, this piece might as well have been called "studies" asvariations. Nevertheless it is a most delightful example of Schumann'simagination and of tone-poetry for pianoforte. Each variation orsuccessive movement is a new leaf from the world of the ideal. Nothingmore contrasted, no more agreeable succession of moods, no moreimposing example of poetic treatment of the pianoforte is to be foundin the entire literature of the instrument. It is a work which themore one hears the more one likes it. It is curious, now that thiswork is so often played, to remember that Schumann wrote concerning itto a friend that he had just been writing a set of variations whichinterested him very much, but he doubted whether they would ever beplayed in public. Naturally, he said, it is unfit for such a position;it is for the musician in his closet. Yet of all the Schumann pianoworks this one probably is oftenest played, the immortal fantasia in Cnot excepted. 

The other pieces here omitted from comment have perhaps alreadyreceived sufficient attention in the earlier programs where they firstappeared. 

It will be quite possible for the player to substitute still othernumbers in place of some of those here, or to rearrange the matter herepresented, for the sake of using pieces which one can play well. Inarranging the programs, however, it is desirable to preserve anagreeable succession of keys, a due contrast of moods, and a fittingillustration of the masters concerned. 

CHAPTER X. 

LISZT. 

FRANZ LISZT. 

 Born October 22, 1811, at Raiding, Hungary. Died July 31, 1886, at Bayreuth. 

Unquestionably, Liszt was one of the most interesting personalities ofmusical history. This began to show itself in his early childhood. Born at Raiding in Hungary, the boy had piano lessons at the age ofsix, his father having been a good musician himself, playing easily andwell upon the piano and many other instruments. At the age of nine theboy appeared in concert with such success that, after a repetition ofthe concert in a neighboring town, the great Hungarian magnates, PrinceEsterhazy at their head, united in providing a stipend of six hundredgulden yearly for his proper education. Thereupon Liszt's fatherresigned his position and attended scrupulously to his son, removing toVienna and placing him under the teaching of the famous writer ofétudes, Czerny. Liszt was now ten years old, and for two years hestudied in Vienna. At the end of this period a farewell concert wasgiven, in which the boy played with such astonishing power thatBeethoven, who was present, came upon the stage and embraced and kissedhim at the close of the concert. 

[Illustration: Franz Liszt]

Liszt was now taken to Paris, with the intention of entering him at theConservatory. But Cherubini, who was then head of the institution, wasnot favorable to gifted children, and admission was refused him on theground of his being a foreigner. Accordingly Liszt went on by himself, but entered upon thorough private lessons in counterpoint andinstrumentation from Paer and Reicha. He attracted attention in Parisat once, his princely letters of introduction giving him admission incircles where a common person could never enter; once entered, his owngenius and fascinating personality did the rest. Liszt seems to havebeen of a very fine and sincere nature, genial, charming inconversation, having plenty of wit as well as sentiment; entirely freefrom jealousy, yet most likely feeling within himself powers which asyet had not come to expression. He was singularly pure in characterand a universal favorite of women as well as men. In 1824 he made hisfirst concert journey to England, and he played everywhere in Franceand in parts of Germany. In 1827 his father died, and the boy now hadthe responsibility of supporting his mother. Accordingly he continuedto make his home in Paris, and occupied a part of his time in teaching. At this time he was in the habit of playing such concert numbers as theWeber "Invitation to the Dance, "--with perhaps a few cadenzas of hisown, but mainly in the original form, --the Concertstücke of Weber, andnow and then a sonata of Beethoven. One of his favorite numbers was asonata by Czerny, and we find a letter in which he says, substantially(I quote from memory): "Dear Master: I wish you would write me anothersonata, for nothing pleases so well as the one you formerly wrote forme. "

Liszt does not appear to have entered upon any course as pianist whichcould be called original or marking out a new path until after Paganinicame to Paris, in 1831. This wonderful genius performed the mostastonishing and unheard-of things upon the violin. More than a yearbefore this time Robert Schumann had heard him in Milan, and wasalready beginning to try to do for the piano some of the things whichPaganini did upon the violin, in his famous "Studies after Paganini. "

Paganini's appearance in Paris set the town on fire, musically, and forsome time all attention was centered upon him, to the neglect even ofsuch well-tried favorites as Liszt had by this time become. This factand the inspiration of his novel playing inspired Liszt to new effortson his own behalf, and he now entered upon the career of originalmastery of the pianoforte and the new style which from this timecharacterized his works. It is probable that some of his famous"Studies for Transcendent Execution" date from this period, but as herewrote them twice afterward, it is not possible now to say which ones, or to trace the steps by which he arrived at the many new effects inpiano playing which later came from his pen in such astonishing andepoch-marking number. 

Berlioz, the father of program music, came back from his residence inItaly in 1833, and brought with him his fantastic symphony, "Episodesin the Life of an Artist. " This work Liszt set for the piano, and, ifI am right, it was the beginning of the enormous number oftranscriptions of orchestral works for piano which are to be found inhis works. Liszt had already made a certain mark as composer, hisoperetta of "Don Sancho" having been produced in 1825. 

When Liszt turned his serious attention to composition, which he musthave done about this time, he entered earnestly into the path of theso-called "music of the future, " although this term had not then beeninvented. Berlioz had shown himself very bold in his modulations, andthe learned Fétis had advocated the closer association of keys whichdistinguishes the harmonic practice of Richard Wagner from the rules ofthe classic school. So it was with two fixed ideas that Liszt began towrite. First (from Berlioz), that music ought to signify something, adhere more or less closely to a poetic or imaginative program; and, second, that in trying to do this, one might go in any direction neededfor the desired tonal effect. Meanwhile, upon the keyboard of thepiano he had the individuality of manner which had been developed muchsooner, and which was now taking on an astonishing range. Add to theseinfluences the ideas of individuality and human freedom which were inthe air, and we need not wonder that the talent of this great artistnow blossomed out with such luxuriance that its fragrance filled theworld. 

It was in 1834 that Liszt's first marriage took place, or as soon afteras circumstances warranted. The young and brilliant Countess D'Agoult, wearied with a tyrannic and unsympathetic husband, left him and placedherself under the care of Liszt. They lived during the next threeyears in Geneva, in a semi-private manner, and here also Lisztcontinued his studies and experiments. Then, in 1836, he entered uponhis great career as performing artist, when he astonished Europe fromone end to the other by playing the piano in a manner previouslyunheard of. His art had everything in it. He had enormous facility, his very long hand giving him the same kind of mastery over technicaldifficulties that Paganini had upon the finger-board of the violin;and, while indulging in long stretches of pianissimo, he diversifiedhis performances by climaxes of prodigious power, under which for along time piano hammers gave way, so that often there were three orfour grand pianos upon the stage, and as soon as one was knocked out inthe melée another was rolled forward to be sacrificed in turn. After afew years the piano-makers found ways of strengthening the actions, sothat nowadays such a thing as a hammer breaking in a concert neveroccurs. 

In 1839 Liszt did one of those daring things which hardly any othermusician has ever done. Hearing that the committee in charge ofraising funds for a Beethoven monument at Bonn had found themselvesmaking little or no headway, Liszt wrote them offering to raise theentire missing sum himself. This he did, and in 1847, I think it was, he himself conducted the musical festival with which the monument wasdedicated, himself playing the Fifth Concerto of Beethoven in a mannerwhich Berlioz characterized gloriously in his letters from Bonn to theParis "Journal des Débats. "

In this same year Liszt entered upon the restful period of his life inaccepting the position of musical director at Weimar, where he livedand kept up a sort of musical court until 1861, and at intervalsafterward. In the exercise of his duties here he was able to acceptthe manuscript of Wagner's "Lohengrin" when that hot-headed youngmusician had gotten himself mixed up in the revolution of 1848 atDresden, and Liszt produced the work at Weimar in 1850. From that timeforward Liszt was the mouthpiece of the new school, or rather he was asort of godfather to it, ministering to Wagner's impecuniousness oftenand again out of resources which were absurdly small when we considerthe rank of genius which the salary covered. Liszt's salary at Weimarwas about $1100 a year. 

In order to appreciate Liszt's standpoint as pianoforte writer moreparticularly, it is necessary for a moment to glance at his celebratedcontemporary, Thalberg. This artist, born one year later than Liszt, was taught by Hummel and Sechter at Vienna, and in 1827 he made hisdebut as pianist, exciting admiration by the beauty of his tone, hisunexampled equality of running work, and perhaps a little later throughan effect of which he was the inventor (at least for thepianoforte)--that, namely, in which the melody is carried by the thumbsin the middle range of the instrument, the long tones being sustainedby the pedal while the hands carry long and light running passagesacross the full range of the instrument. The real inventor of thiseffect was Parish-Alvars, a great virtuoso of the harp, who was born in1808. Availing himself of the beautiful melodies of his native Wales, and later of suitable operatic melodies of the Donizetti and Bellinischool, he created beautiful effects upon the harp, previously unheard, by means of melodies and surrounding variations or accompanyingarabesques of runs, both arpeggios and scales. When Thalberg began tobe praised for discovering this device in piano playing there ensued along and acrimonious correspondence between him and Parish-Alvars, thelatter claiming the prior invention--and rightfully so. 

Thalberg arrived in Paris in 1836, and for some time there was quite acontest between him and Liszt for superiority of art. Thalberg sang amelody beautifully, and his running work was of the most delightfullyclear and even description. He was entirely reposeful in his work, never manifesting any uneasiness of bodily position, no matter what thedifficulty of his playing might be. Liszt, on the other hand, being ofan impassioned and nervous temperament, had a great deal more motion, and in his brilliant climaxes he developed a strength which seemedexcessive to the aristocratic hearers constituting the main portion ofhis audiences. Presently, however, the honors of the competition wentto Liszt, where they have ever since remained. 

Liszt had the good fortune to divine the future course of pianodevelopment, as also did Schumann. Both took for the strategic centerof the piano the principle of what has been called the "differentialtouch, " or discrimination in touch, by means of which not only longpassages of different kinds were discriminated from one another, as inthe Thalbergian melodies and their surrounding arabesques, but theinfinitely finer discriminations which take place within the phrase, and especially in chord playing, where at least one tone of the chordbelongs to the melodic thread, and as such receives an emphasis, or atleast a distinctness of delivery, to which the remainder of the chordhas no claim whatever. Moreover, while Thalberg employed thepedal, --and it was, in fact, an indispensable condition of the effectof his pieces, --he did not rightly consider what would be the effectwhen the piano should be developed to a sonority and continuance ofvibration which in his time it did not have. Schumann and Lisztrecognized the inner significance of the pedal, and wrote their workswith reference to what we might call perhaps a sort of pianofortechiaro-oscuro (luminous-indistinctness), which inevitably follows whenthe pedal is rapidly employed in quickly moving chords. In many of theSchumann pieces this is one of the most notable elements of the tonalbeauty, and it is the underlying condition of the successfulperformance of nearly or quite all of the great Liszt transcriptions. 

Thus, in the course of the thirty years or more over which his activityas composer extended, Liszt not only inaugurated new principles ofplaying, but brought them to perfection himself, and illustrated themin a thousand ways in his voluminous works; and, through the charm ofhis personality and his pleasure in contact with young and promisinggenius, became the master and the forming influence of all the concertpianists who came upon the stage previous to his death. 

No periods can be safely marked in the creative career of Liszt, atleast not in so far as relates to the pianoforte. In his "Studies forTranscendent Execution, " which appear to have been first written about1836, advanced principles of playing are illustrated as fully as anythat meet us later; and in the first of his serious transcriptions oforchestral works for piano, --the "Fantastic Symphony" of Berlioz, --heset himself as carefully to reproduce upon the piano the orchestralwork as he did in his famous transcriptions of the Beethoven symphoniesand the later things of Wagner. But, while creative periods can not beaffirmed with certainty, there are differences of style. In some ofhis works he indulges in a variety of piano-playing additions having noessential, or indeed suitable, relation to the musical matter which hepurports to be illustrating. In others, on the contrary, he isessentially simple, loyal, and scrupulous to the last degree. Thelatter is true of his transcriptions of some of the Schubert songs, especially such as "My Sweet Repose, " "The Wanderer, " "Hark! Hark! theLark, " "The Erl King, " "The Ave Maria, " "Greeting to Spring, " etc. Inmany of his operatic fantasies, on the contrary, he puts in runningwork, effect-cadenzas, and interpolations of various sorts. This isillustrated, perhaps better than elsewhere, in his enormously difficultfantasia upon melodies from Bellini's "Sonnambula, " which for severalyears was one of his own concert pieces. In this there is a verydifficult part where two melodies are going together, and a long anddifficult trill. Other examples of this kind of writing are found inhis "Trovatore" fantasias, his "Rigoletto, " and the like. 

After the production of "Lohengrin, " Liszt seems to have entered upon amore serious view of his art than he had previously held, and his workslater are generally more confined to musical considerations, and freefrom display as such. Nevertheless, the "Rigoletto" fantasia can nothave been written prior to 1851, for it was in this year that the operawas first produced. 

In cataloguing the Liszt works according to the difficulty they presentto the piano player, it must first be noted that such has been theadvance during the fifty years since the early ones were produced, thatcompositions which at their first appearance seemed stupendous toordinary pianists have now, thanks to education and the general advanceof art, become practicable to players of little beyond ordinarycapacity. In fact, there is a whole world of pieces by Liszt which aremore practicable to young players than most of the serious compositionsof Chopin. The latter composer demands, above everything else, refinement and delicate finish; Liszt demands musical idea and effect, and, while refinement adds greatly to the charm of the works, it is notabsolutely a _sine quâ non_. In other words, Liszt always wrote withan eye to the stage, and with a certain largeness and ample scope oftreatment, in which breadth and genuine musical intention, combinedwith a certain freedom upon the keyboard, are the main conditions ofsuccess. From a modern standpoint, the most difficult of all the Lisztworks are, probably, his arrangement of the overture to Wagner's"Tannhäuser, "--which he himself considered by far the most difficultpiece ever written, --the "Don Juan" fantasia, and perhaps also the"Sonnambula. "

It is, of course, extremely difficult to illustrate powers so variedand ample as those of Liszt in any single program, unless we were toconfine ourselves to compositions of the most extreme difficulty, sinceit is in these that he has shown most fully what he considers possibleupon the pianoforte. The following list, however, will afford a goodidea of his style, without making upon the player any demands which cannot be met by the common run of superior amateurs. At the same time, in consequence of the variety of composers represented, the programpresents quite a variety. 

 PROGRAM. 

 "A Dream of Love. " No. 3. "Waldesrauschen. " "Consolation. " No. 5. Polonaise in E major. Five Transcriptions from the songs of Schubert. "The Wanderer. " "Greeting to Spring. " "My Sweet Repose. " "Hark! Hark! the Lark. " "The Erl King. " Four Transcriptions from Wagner and Paganini. March and Chorus from "Tannhäuser. " Romance of the Evening Star. "Tannhäuser. " Spinning Song from "The Flying Dutchman. " "La Campanella. " (Paganini. ) Concerto in E-flat. With second piano. (Optional. )

The first group of these pieces contains four numbers entirely originalwith Liszt. The first one, "A Dream of Love, " is No. 3 in a series ofnocturne-like compositions which are very melodious, picturesque, andfull of sentiment. At the same time, toward the end of this thirdnumber there is one of those brilliant passages the opportunity forwhich Liszt could never forego. The second piece on the list, "ForestMurmurs, " is a little on the line of the "Forest Murmurs" in Wagner's"Siegfried, " except that Liszt operates mainly in the upper range ofthe piano, whereas Wagner busies himself for a long time with the lowerranges of pitch. When this piece is done with sufficient delicacy, andat the same time with adequate brilliancy and fervor, it produces amost astonishing and gratifying effect. The next selection is one of aset of six called "Consolations. " These, again, are nocturne-like incharacter, and the one here selected is so simple that no explanationis necessary. The Polonaise in E major is one of the most brilliantand satisfactory of the original pieces of Liszt for the piano. Thesemi-martial chivalry of this style of composition is extremely wellreproduced, and while there is a long passage in A minor which requiresto be played rather discreetly to prevent its becoming tiresome, thereis some lovely cadenza work in the last part in a style thoroughlyoriginal with Liszt. 

If the player prefers one of the Hungarian rhapsodies, it might besubstituted for the Polonaise in E in this group. The Hungarianrhapsodies are written some of them on original melodies in Hungarianstyle, but most of them probably on well-known Hungarian Czardas. Itis difficult to speak with certainty on this subject, as Liszt has leftno indications as to which are original and which are quoted. To referto a very different composition in the same school, it may be mentionedthat the famous Hungarian dances of Brahms are composed upon melodiesgiven him by Remenyi, when both were young. These melodies were nottraditional Hungarian themes, but were improvised by Remenyi himself. 

The next group of pieces consists entirely of transcriptions fromSchubert's songs. They are very varied in musical spirit and in mannerof treatment, but, with the exception of the long-continued successionof octaves in "The Erl King, "--for which Schubert is responsible ratherthan Liszt, --they are not very difficult for the player, and theresources of the piano are used with the utmost discretion forproducing a musical effect. 

In the third group of pieces we have several selections of the Wagnertranscriptions, beginning with the very brilliant march from"Tannhäuser, " which, however, should not be ended at the first climax, but the intermezzo should be played, and so to the end. The "Romanceof the Evening Star" is one of those delightful melodies which it isalways a pleasure to hear. These selections conclude with the verybrilliant study after Paganini, "La Campanella. " In case this shouldnot prove practicable for the player, a Liszt rhapsody might besubstituted or the Tarantelle from "Venice and Naples. " The programmay be regarded as complete at this point, but if it happens to beconvenient to give one or more movements of the Concerto in E-flat, astill different idea of Liszt's manner of writing will have beengained. The Concerto in E-flat is very brilliant, but, excepting thethird movement, is not very difficult. There are few piano pieces inthe repertory which produce so much effect in proportion to the laborof performing them as this. It would be possible to omit the thirdmovement and play the first, second, and fourth. 

CHAPTER XI. 

BACH, BEETHOVEN, CHOPIN, SCHUMANN, LISZT. 

The fullness with which the characteristics of the different composershave been treated in the preceding chapters of this course leaveslittle to be said in this final summing up, since the only element ofthe present program which we have not already had in combination withthe others is that of Liszt, itself fully treated in the previouschapter. 

We have now arrived at a point where a completely developed recitalprogram, according to modern ideas, can be presented, and this upon agreat variety of grades of difficulty. As an illustration, threeprograms are given. The first contains nothing of greater difficultythan the fifth grade, and is, therefore, within the reach of pianistsof very moderate abilities. The second is of a more difficultcharacter, involving technic up to the eighth or ninth grade, andrequiring more experience and brilliant capacity. The third program isa fully developed recital, such as an artist might play. In so far asregards the mechanical difficulties of the last program, they are notbeyond the reach of the better class of pianists, as we find themalmost anywhere; but from an artistic point of view the interpretationsrequire a good deal of musical maturity. 

 PROGRAM I. (Easy. )

 Bach, Prelude and Fugue in D major. Clavier, No. 5. Saraband in E minor. Loure in G major. (Heinze. ) Beethoven, Sonata in G major, opus 14, No. 2. Chopin, Impromptu in A-flat, opus 29. Nocturne in B major, opus 15. Schumann, Forest Scenes: "Entrance, " "Wayside Inn, " "Homeward. " Nachtstück in F, opus 23, No. 4. Wagner-Liszt, Spinning Song, from "The Flying Dutchman. "

 PROGRAM II. (Moderate. )

 Bach, Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp major. Clavier, No. 3. Beethoven, Sonata in A-flat major, opus 26. Schumann, Fancy Pieces, opus 12: "In the Evening, " "Soaring, " "Why?" "Whims, " "End of the Song. " Chopin, Prelude in D-flat; Scherzo in B-flat minor. Liszt, "A Dream of Love" (No. 3); Eighth Hungarian Rhapsody. 

 PROGRAM III. (Difficult. )

 Bach-Liszt, Fantasia and Fugue in G minor. (Organ. ) Beethoven, Sonata in C minor, opus 111. Chopin, Fantasia Impromptu in C-sharp minor, opus 66. Studies, opus 10, Nos. 3, 5, and 12. Nocturne in G major, opus 37. Schumann, "Kreisleriana, " opus 16, Nos. 1 and 2. Liszt, "Eclogue, " "Au Bord D'Un Source. " "The Erl King. " (Schubert. )

In all these programs, except the second, the order observed is that ofBach, Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, and Liszt. When forming a programto be played before those not accustomed to classic music, it is quitepracticable to make a combination on a different plan, beginning with acombination of three pieces by Bach, Chopin, and Schumann or Liszt, orBach, Schumann, and Chopin. These could be followed by a seriousBeethoven work, such as one of the larger sonatas; and this again by afew small pieces, in order to relieve the overtaxed attention; thewhole concluding with a Hungarian rhapsody or some other brilliantpiece. The advantage of this arrangement is that the audience does nothave to wait so long before arriving at music which pleases. 

In the ordinary arrangement--as that in the programs above--the programfollows a systematic development from the beginning to the end, in thedirection of greater freedom of expression and more brilliancy andadaptability to the pianoforte; so the music becomes more and morepleasing all the way through, and the only trouble is a fear lest theearly pieces may prove too severe to those who are not accustomed tolistening to music of this kind. In the case of musical clubs, andother places where the study of art is the principal motive, this fearis not entitled to any weight, since when it is designed to presentprograms of serious works, requiring to be understood and to be heardseveral times before their full meaning is apparent to the listener, acertain amount of preliminary analysis or study ought to be done, either by members of the club separately or by the club together in asort of preliminary rehearsal by a competent person, who will both playthe works in fragments and comment upon their peculiarities. As anillustration of a program arranged on the plan last mentioned, thefollowing is presented:

1. Bach, Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp major, Clavier No. 3. Chopin, Fantasia Impromptu in C-sharp minor, Valse in A-flat, opus 42. 

2. Beethoven, "Sonata Appassionata, " opus 57. 

3. Grieg, "Butterflies. " Wm. Mason, "Reverie Poetique, " "The Silver Spring. "

4. Schumann, "Traumes Wirren, " "End of the Song, " opus 12. Liszt, Second Hungarian Rhapsody. 

This could be played in two numbers, pausing after the sonata; or, better, in four, pausing after the Chopin valse, the sonata, and theMason "Silver Spring. " Each number is pleasing by itself. 

A certain amount of care has been taken in the easy program toillustrate different phases of all the writers; accordingly, the Bachillustration begins with the Prelude and Fugue in D major, which is avery pleasing one, followed by the short Saraband in E minor, and thisagain by the Loure in G major. The saraband is of a very serious andmelodious turn, and is about as near a sustained lyric melody as Bachever got upon the piano. In writing for the violin he reaches a higherflight in several cases. 

In the most difficult program of all, we open with the Bach-LisztFantasia and Fugue in G minor, which, having originally been composedfor the organ with a difficult pedal part, becomes very much moredifficult when put upon the piano for two hands alone. This is a veryremarkable work indeed, the fantasia being full of chromatic changesand very expressive and thoroughly modern modulations and sequences. It is almost as modern a work as the "Chromatic Fantasia. " The fugueis remarkable for having a very long subject, which is almost a gavottein its rhythm; and the splendid subject is developed with charmingfreedom. It is one of the greatest favorites of all the Bach fugues, and when arranged for orchestra--as has been done by Abert--it is oneof the most pleasing numbers in the entire orchestral repertory, neverfailing of delighting an audience. The Beethoven sonata in thisprogram (opus 111, in C minor) is the last one which that great masterwrote. Opinions of artists differ in regard to this sonata; some, likethe present writer, holding it to be, on the whole, the most expressiveof all the sonatas, or nearly so; others regarding the last movement aspractically a failure. The peculiarities of the work which have givenrise to these differences of opinion are substantially the following:It begins with a slow introduction, which is full of meditative anddreamy harmonic changes of a very delicate and suggestive character. Then enters the allegro, with a very strong subject, such as wouldnaturally be used for a fugue. The entire first movement is developedout of this subject in a very strong and almost fugue-like manner. Infact, fugal passages occur repeatedly in the course of thisdevelopment. The effect of the whole is very impassioned andirresistible. It is a very similar vein to that of the allegromovement of the "Sonate Pathetique, " a work which Beethoven composedabout twenty-five years earlier. 

Up to this point it will be seen that the work differs from the usualsonata treatment in not possessing a lyric second subject. The elementof song-like repose is entirely wanting in this first movement; it issuggested in the slow introduction, but in the allegro itself we havenothing of it. 

The second movement consists of an Arietta, which is in twostrains--one in C major, the other in A minor. These two strains aretreated with variations through a very long and highly developedunfolding, the necessary relief of key being secured by the alternatingtonalities of C and A minor. In my opinion, what Beethoven sought todo was to end this sonata in a more serious and poetic vein thansonatas usually close in. The general character of the sonata form, with a slow movement in the middle, necessarily amounts to ananti-climax. The sonata finale is almost always either asonata-piece--in which case it is of a very impassioned character, suchas we find illustrated in the first sonata and in the "MoonlightSonata"; or a rondo--an easy-going movement, the principal subjectoften returning, examples of which we find in the "Pastoral Sonata, "the opus 2 in C major, opus 7 in E-flat, and a great variety of others. While the regular finale admits of a serious and effective ending, itprecludes the peculiarly elevated and poetic sentiment of the adagiomovement. I think Beethoven undertook in the present instance todevelop the sonata to the necessary complexity for climax and at thesame time to end with the poetic and sentimental spirit. When thesevariations are played in this mood, they produce a very beautiful andexcellent effect, but the close of the sonata is very difficult totreat satisfactorily. 

In the Liszt selections at the close of the last program are two piecesvery seldom played--an eclogue and "At the Fountain. " Both theserequire delicate playing rather than extremely brilliant, and both arerather difficult, without making a show proportionate to the difficultyof performing them. They are, however, very musical and pleasing. Thewhole ends with "The Erl King" of Schubert. 

CHAPTER XII. 

CONCERNING THE TYPICAL MUSICAL FORMS. 

By form in music is meant the general plan in accordance with which theideas composing the piece are arranged; that is to say, if the piece bea short melody of one period, there will be one phrase which isrepeated at least twice, and two other phrases which are not exactlyalike. In an ordinary simple melody the first phrase has the generalcharacter of proposing a subject or of stating a proposition, and thesecond phrase has the general character of answering that subject, or, in musical parlance, it forms a counter-theme, but as a rule does notfully complete itself on the original key. The third phrase is veryoften quite the same as the first; thus the original proposition isrepeated and emphasized, and the fourth phrase completely answers itand ends upon the principal key. A period of this type is known as a"lyric" form, and this is the general type of all simple melodies. 

There is a period of quite a different type, sometimes called"thematic, " in which, in place of a single idea extending throughoutthe first phrase, we have a short idea, or motive, which is repeated ormodified in one way or another a sufficient number of times to fill upthe rhythm proper to the first phrase of the simple period--viz. , twomeasures. Occasionally, the development of this motive is carriedthrough the first two phrases of the piece, or four measures; afterwhich it is answered by a counter-theme or new material, bringing thewhole period to an end on its own or some other key. This type ofconstruction is very common in Schumann's works, and striking examplesof it are found in the first period of the Novelette in E major, thefirst "Kreisleriana, " the first period of the "Aufsschwung, " and inmany other places. Up to this point we might make a scheme of theperiod forms as follows: Letting _a_ represent the first subjectunchanged, _a'_ the first subject slightly modified and _b_ theanswering material, and _b'_ the answering material of thecounter-theme somewhat modified, the lyric period would present thefollowing schedule:

 _a_ plus _b_ _a_ plus _b'_;

and the thematic this:

 _a_ plus _a'_ _b_ plus _b'_;

or, more generally:

 _a_ plus _b_. 

The _a_ and _b_ in this latter case each extend to four measures. 

In case a form is to be developed to two periods, new material is oftenintroduced at the beginning of the second period. Designating this newmaterial by _c_ and _c'_, the schedule of the two-measure period wouldbe as follows:

 First period: _a_ plus _b_ _a_ plus _b'_. Second period: _c_ plus _c'_ _a_ plus _b'_. 

Thus represented in algebraic formulae, it is easy to see thatrepetition of the materials designated _a_, or _a_ and _b_ together, isthe source of unity in the period, and the third element introduced, here designated as _c_, has its only use in serving as variety. Thenormal dimensions for the two-period form just scheduled would besixteen measures; but if the motive were two measures, then the periodform resulting would be sixteen measures, and the two-period formthirty-two measures. Many examples will be found in the instrumentalworks of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, and also in Schumann. 

This simple form above given serves also as a type of the organizationof the larger forms. For example, one of the most numerouslyrepresented forms in music is the rondo, which derives its name fromthe reappearance of the principal subject at intervals, after themanner of a round. Supposing such a principal subject to be a one- ortwo-period song form like those described above, this entire form wouldbe designated as A; after A, a small amount of passage work might beintroduced, and then would enter a second form, B, which within itself, however, would be modeled quite like the two-period form describedabove. After this second form the first form would then be repeated, and after this a coda would be added. Designating the entire firstform or principal subject of a rondo by A, and the second subject orsecond song form by B, the rondo then will have this schedule:

 A plus B plus A plus Coda. 

This is the form of the great majority of polkas and waltzes, exceptthat the song forms standing for A and B respectively are very often ofthree periods instead of two. This form also lies at the foundation ofthe great majority of salon pieces for the piano. 

The only difference between the rondo form and the form lastdescribed--the proper designation of which is "song form with trio"--isthat the rondo introduces passage work between the subject and thesecond subject. Should it be desired to develop the rondo to a greaterlength, the second subject can be repeated after the repetition of thefirst, and the first subject brought in still again. A third subjectcan be introduced, and in the longest rondo form the schedule is likethis, C standing for the third subject:

 A-B-A-C-A-B-A-Coda. 

A form of this sort might extend to a very considerable length, ashappens in the case of Chopin's Rondo in E-flat major, opus 18, whichreaches to ten or twelve pages and occupies about ten minutes toperform. 

The essential principle of musical form--form in music--is quiteanalogous to form in literature. As in a poem or article the firstconsideration is Unity, or the preponderance of a leading idea, and thesecond Variety, or the occurrence of interesting illustrative matter, and the third Symmetry, or the just relation between the differentparts in order that the leading idea may not be obscured by theprolixity of the subordinate ideas, so the same principles prevail inmusic. Unity also is attained by peculiarly similar means in bothcases. As in the article the leading idea is repeated a number oftimes in order to impress it upon the hearer, but frequently indifferent language, so in music the principal idea is repeated moretimes than any other in the course of the piece; and in the smallforms, or rather in the molecular construction of a piece of music, therepetitions are in a great variety of speech, exactly as they are in awell-made article. The same idea can be presented in differentaspects, and different words may express it. In music this takes placethrough the appearance of the motive in different chords from those inwhich it first appeared, giving rise to variations in the melodicintervals and the like. 

Symmetry in music is much more exactly observed than in literarycomposition, even in verse, since music itself is a matter of time andvibration, and the proportionate and mathematical relation of partsbelongs to the very essence of the art. Every musical form, therefore, whether large or small, consists essentially of one leading idea and oftwo or more subordinate ideas, brought in with whatever cleverness oftreatment the composer may find convenient, and the whole turned overand diversified according to his fancy. 

In certain aspects the musical forms bear a good deal of resemblance tothe quasi-geometric figures called arabesques, in which a certain lineor form is many times repeated; or to the arrangement of crystals whichthe frost forms upon the glass of the window, when the simplecrystalline form of water is repeated in a great diversity of ways, andlarger figures and curious symmetries and suggestions are brought out. In music of a serious construction the leading motives are diversifiedin a great variety of ways by being made to appear in different chordsand intervals from the original form, and by being carried into otherkeys, whereby the impression upon the ear is very materially modified, at the same time without destroying the unity of the idea. 

Musical forms in general may be divided into elementary and complete. The elementary forms are those which are used as structural elements inthe larger or complete forms. Thus, a motive repeated becomes aphrase; a phrase repeated or answered by counter-theme becomes asection; a section repeated becomes a period; the period repeated ormodified becomes a two-period form or a period group, which may extendto a considerable number of periods. Out of these elementary forms thelarge forms are constructed. Beginning with the song form as theprincipal subject, the rondo goes on with a second song form as secondsubject, and so on to any extent desirable, according to the plan givenabove. In analyzing a large piece of music to find these leadingsubjects, the student should begin by first finding the great divisionsin the piece, such as, for instance, those where an entirely new melodycomes in a change of key, and the like. Having found the larger pointsof joining, he should then proceed to find the dividing lines in thesmaller parts, which, in music, is rendered somewhat more difficult inconsequence of the entire absence of punctuation bringing out relationsof this kind. Not only are the marks wanting, but the bars confuse theeye and make it more difficult to find the real point where the ideasbegin and end. The student, however, accustomed to memorizing hismusic, and consequently to thinking about it, will soon be able to findit by his intuition, in the same way that the reader knows when thesentence has been completed by the sense and not necessarily by theperiod which is placed after the last word. 

There are a few leading types of form to which all others more or lessconform. The first of these, and perhaps, on the whole, the mostimportant, are those which are called unitary forms. A unitary form isa musical form with only one leading melodic idea, out of which theentire piece is developed. This can only be done in one or the otherof three ways. Taking the simplest way first, it will be to developthis leading idea into a song form according to the pattern givenabove, in the beginning of this discussion. This, being sufficientlyobvious on the face of it, requires no further attention here. Formsof this kind belong essentially to popular music, although they are notuncommon by way of relief in the more elevated art music. 

There are two types of unitary form, however, which enter into andcolor all instrumental music to a degree, making it indispensable thatthe pupil thoroughly understand them. The first of these is the fugue. In the fugue a melodic subject of two measures or four, rarely more, istaken by a single voice and is answered by another voice in thedominant, and this again by the third voice in the original key, and soon according to the number of voices performing the fugue. The voicewhich has completed the subject goes on with the counter-subject or thecounterpoint while the second voice is singing the subject. When allthe voices have had their turn at the phrase there is an interlude ofmodulating material, after which the subject comes again and isanswered one or more times in the properly related keys, for which theartificer of fugues has his rules already prepared, following theprinciples laid down by Bach. After this second appearance of thetheme in these new keys, another interlude, and then an additionalstrophe in still a different key and with finer treatment; and thus, according to the fancy of the composer and his skill, the piece isextended to one, two, or even six or eight pages. But during the wholeof it the principal subject has reappeared at very short intervals andin a great variety of keys, while the interlude matter has always beenof a lighter and less significant character. In order to arrive at anappreciation of fugues, the student perhaps can not do better than tobegin with some of the two-part inventions of Bach, which, while notfollowing the fugue form strictly, approximate it very nearly. Thefirst invention and the eighth are perhaps the best for this purpose. After these, an easy fugue in the "Well-tempered Clavier, " such as theone in D major or that in C minor; more difficult examples are those inC-sharp major and in G major. In the development of fugues the oldmasters made use of a great variety of artifices, including all thedevices of double counterpoint at the tenth and twelfth, canon andinversion, the latter applied not alone to the relation of the voicesbut also to the melodic material constituting a voice. "The fugue, "Cherubini says, "contains everything which a good composer ought toknow, " and it is, in fact, the underlying element in all seriousmoments of modern music except those which are purely lyric. The fugueunderlies the elaboration in the middle of a sonata-piece, and, infact, is the original source, as said before, of nearly all the seriousmoments in the higher departments of art. 

The second serious unitary form is the theme and variation. In thiscase the theme is itself a complete song form of perhaps two or threeperiods, and each variation is precisely of the same number ofmeasures, and follows the same harmonic structure in many cases. 

There are, however, in modern use, two types of the variation form. One of these, called formal variations, leaves the harmony entirely thesame in all the variations, except, perhaps, to change the melody frommajor to minor of the same key and back again. In the best examplesthe harmony remains entirely unchanged, but the melody is diversifiedrhythmically in various ways. Good examples of this type of variationsare to be found in the works of Mozart and in the second movement ofBeethoven's Sonata in G major, opus 14, and in the second movement ofthe "Sonata Appassionata" of Beethoven. 

The character variation pursues a different course. At times the keyis changed and the harmony changes very much. In order to see how thiscan be accomplished without destroying the identity of the musicalidea, it should be remembered that a musical idea consists essentiallyof three elements: it has a rhythm, a melodic figure, and a harmonicfoundation. If the melodic figure is retained, and the harmonicfigure, the rhythm can be diversified indefinitely, and, in fact, ifany two of these elements are retained the third can be modified verymuch. In the latest practice of variation writing, two of theseelements are changed at the same time, leaving only one element fixed, and in some instances it is difficult to find exactly where any of theoriginal element of the theme remains. Beethoven began the developmentof character variation in his Sonata, opus 26, the first movement ofwhich is in this form. He also did more or less in this direction inhis famous "Thirty-two Variations. " The variations of Schumann in the"Études Symphoniques" pass even beyond the bounds here defined. Whileremaining fast upon the original harmonic foundation, measure formeasure, entirely new melodies come in and wholly different rhythms, sothat in many instances only a few notes of the original theme areretained in any one variation. The student desiring to explore themost advanced variation writing will find examples ready to his hand inBrahms' variation on a theme of Händel and the two books of variationson a theme of Paganini. These may be considered as at present the_ultima thule_ of variation-making art. The principle of the variationlies at the foundation of very much that meets us in the higherdepartments of music, even when the variation form is not heard of. All modifications or amplifications of a theme belong essentially tothe variation type, and it is liberally applied to all longcompositions where the same material is used a number of times. 

When a piece of music consists of two fully developed melodic ideas, itis said to be binary in form, and these are all either song forms withtrio or small rondo forms. Nearly all of the slow movements ofBeethoven in the sonatas are binary forms, the dimensions of which mayvary extremely. The student desiring to investigate this part of thesubject more thoroughly is referred to the "Primer of Musical Forms, "by W. S. B. Mathews (Arthur P. Schmidt & Co. , Boston), where theprinciples are more fully unfolded. 

There is one form in modern music which is the type of so large aproportion of extended instrumental movements that the student will dowell to master its peculiarities at the earliest possible moment. Thisis the form sometimes called the sonata form or sonata-piece. The termsonata was originally used in two senses: in its larger sense itindicates an extended musical composition with three or four movements, all which taken together form the sonata. By the term sonata-piece, however, is meant the particular movement of the sonata which gives thename to the whole piece. This, as a rule, is the first movement, butsometimes it is the closing movement, and in some instances there arethree of these movements in the same sonata, so arranged with referenceto one another as to form the necessary contrasts. The sonata-piece isthe form which contains within itself very much of the essence of allthe smaller forms. It generally consists of three large chapters, beginning with the principal subject, which may be longer or shorter, according to the fancy of the composer, and may end on its ownprincipal key or on the dominant, and may be followed by passage workor not, to any extent the composer chooses; then comes a secondsubject. According to Beethoven's almost invariable practice, thefirst subject of a sonata form is thematic in its character, and indeveloping this theme many of the principles of variation work areapplied. The second subject is almost invariably a lyric melody, sometimes very charming, and always in a different key from that of thefirst subject, usually in the dominant; or, if the first subject is aminor, this will be in the relative major. Then follows a concludingparagraph of anywhere from six to thirty measures, and a double barwith a repeat sign. This forms the first chapter of the sonata-piece. After the double bar comes the second chapter, which is an elaborationor free fantasia on the material of the first part. At the end of thisfree fantasia, which may be longer or shorter at the fancy of thecomposer, comes the recapitulation, or the repetition of the entirefirst part, the only change being that the second subject is now in theprincipal key. In the elaboration of the sonata all sorts of musicalfancies are liable to appear--queer juxtapositions of motives from thedifferent parts of the first and second subjects, inversions, variations, and so on. 

The sonata-piece is the type, not alone of the principal movement insymphonies and chamber quartets and trios, but it is also the type ofall serious overtures, and therefore it has been well designated byGerman theorists as the Principal Form of modern music. 

Whether longer or shorter, whether serious or lively, all musical formshave the same conditions to satisfy--viz. , those of unity, or thepreponderance of a single idea; symmetry, or just proportion of parts;and variety, the proper relief and introduction of new material. Ifthe principal idea is repeated too much, monotony ensues; if there aretoo many accessory ideas, in place of variety we have looseness andwant of unity. And in carrying out these principles in compositions ofdifferent lengths and in different styles, the composer has practicallyunlimited freedom. 

PART II. 

MODERN MASTERS

AND

AMERICAN COMPOSERS

AUTHOR'S NOTE. 

According to the original design, this work was completed with the tenchapters in which the great masterworks of the leading composers of theperiod from 1750 to 1850 were compared and their peculiarities andindividualities emphasized. 

In response to a wide-spread demand, however, it is deemed advisable toadd a few programs of later masters, and a few of the leading Americancomposers, who, although not yet to be mentioned in the same connectionas those forming the subject of the original ten chapters, are, nevertheless, of more immediate interest to a large circle of students, and in demand for the use of musical clubs, lecture recitals, and thelike. The selection of these later composers has been a matter of nosmall difficulty, but the names decided upon for the present are Grieg, Brahms, Rubinstein, Tschaikowsky, and a miscellaneous list of the laterromantic German composers. The American names included are those ofDr. William Mason, L. Moreau Gottschalk, E. A. MacDowell, Mrs. H. H. A. Beach, Arthur Foote, Ethelbert Nevin, and Wilson G. Smith, withscattering compositions from a few others of the more notable composersof the present time. 

Concerning these supplementary programs, it is also to be said thatonly one name belongs to the high category of great immortals embracedin the first ten chapters--namely, that of Johannes Brahms. Grieg, however, is certainly a composer of rare poetry and originality; andthe same is to be said of Rubinstein and Tschaikowsky--even withgreater emphasis of the last mentioned. Still, the student will bewise to remember that in the works of these latest composers there ismuch which, as yet, is imperfectly understood, and its ultimate placein the pantheon of art unascertained. That all these have shown greatoriginality is unmistakable; yet no one of them has written pianofortemusic uniting elegance and pianoforte tact with complete originalityand success. If any exception is to be made at this point, it shouldbe in the case of Brahms, who has shown, in orchestral and vocalwriting, constructive and poetic powers of the very highest order. This fact, taken in connection with his unquestioned mastery of thepianoforte and the epoch-marking originality of his technic and effectsupon this instrument, should make us pause before considering anythingof his as standing beyond the line of the beautiful. Schumann wascondemned for many years after his death, yet at the present time nomaster stands higher as a pianoforte writer pure and simple. It ismore than likely that Brahms will later stand as the maker of an epochin piano playing not less significant than that established by theworks of Liszt, Chopin, and Schumann. 

One of our American masters also, Mr. Edward Alexander MacDowell, isheld by many to belong to the very highest rank of living composers(1898). Comparisons of this kind have no proper place in a work likethe present. The question which these chapters are intended to assistin solving is not as to the highest, the broadest, the most pleasing, but the characteristic individuality of certain composers, of abilityso high that they have gained the ears of their own generation and havebeen found of lasting interest. 

"_What_ have these men done?" And "What is the new note which they havesounded in the pantheon of art?" These are the two questions whichthis little essay is meant to discuss. 

Moreover, we may remember that it is one of the laws of gravitationthat it increases in proportion to the "square of the proximity, " asthey say in social science. Composers near to us, and the outgrowth ofour own conditions of life and our national heredity, can hardly escapebringing to expression in their works something of the Americancharacter and turn of thought. This inner something may well givetheir works a transient interest for us which better works wantingthese national traits might fail to awaken. The programs in thesesupplementary chapters, therefore, should be taken up after those ofthe first ten have been fully mastered. 

If a word of regret is needed that so little of American matter hasbeen included, the explanation must be that the scope of this work andthe present resources of the writer do not afford him the means oftreating American music in the broad and comprehensive way possible toepochs in art the works of which are fully finished and catalogued. Inthe nature of the case the treatment of American writers herein istentative and incomplete. Later on, additions will be made, asoccasion may arise. 

MODERN MASTERS AND AMERICAN COMPOSERS. 

CHAPTER I. 

NATIONALITY IN MUSIC

The outflow of musical production has become so wide during the lastfifty years, and so many composers have distinguished themselves inevery part of the world, that it is a matter of no small difficulty tomake a selection of names sufficiently representative to illustrate themany-sided individualities of this movement. Dividing the entire listinto countries which have produced the composers, or in which they haveprincipally expressed themselves, we have at least four great Europeanprovinces or musical centers, viz. , Germany (including alsoAustro-Hungary), Russia, France, and the Scandinavian countries, including Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. To this list of characteristicnationalities in music must be added our own, the American. 

As soon as we pass beyond the short roll of the great masters ininstrumental music of the first class, we immediately come upon a largecircle of composers of such cleverness that they have just missedbecoming enrolled in the higher list, and perhaps some of them will, later on, be included among the immortals. The operation of this slowpromotion is something like that of the French Academy, where, when onemember dies, a new one is elected to take his place. In this way, withforty immortals constantly on duty, as one may say (although as amatter of fact they are rarely elected to that honor until theirproductive activity has practically ceased), the nation has a long rollof distinguished and honored authors, composers, artists, and the like. 

In all this music since Liszt there are curious resemblances andequally curious differences. To speak first of the resemblances, it isan interesting circumstance that by far the greater number of thecomposers have been educated, at least in part, at the Conservatory ofLeipsic, which, ever since it was founded by Mendelssohn, has held awholly unique pre-eminence among the music schools of the world--apre-eminence which in many respects it has not deserved, especiallyupon the technical side of musical instruction; and most emphaticallywith reference to the pianoforte, where for at least ten years afterthe death of Schumann nothing of Chopin, Schumann, or Liszt wasadmitted or permitted to be taught to the students. Then a verygrudging reception was given to the works of Chopin, while Schumann hadto wait some time longer; and it is only within a very recent periodthat the peculiar value of Liszt as a writer for the piano-forte hasbeen recognized at all. On the other hand, it is evident that anyschool able to attract to itself so large a percentage of the highlygifted musicians of the different countries, who have afterward shownthemselves to possess creative talent of a high order, must have hadabout it a quality at least unusual and commanding. Almost all thecomposers who will be taken up have been educated in Germany, or byteachers who were themselves educated in Germany. Almost the onlyexceptions to this rule are probably the American, Gottschalk, and theFrenchman, Saint-Saëns. Accordingly, the marks of nationality and ofindividuality in the music of the different composers are rarelysufficient to prevent the works of any composer from being current inany other country, and, from the mere sound of the works, in a greatmajority of cases it would be difficult to tell whether they are Germanor of some other nationality, so strongly does the German influencepervade and underlie nearly the whole of this production. 

The opportunity for expressing nationality in music, or, to say itdifferently, the possibility of national coloring in music, is somewhatnarrow. It is only in the case of the nations which are distinctlyunmusical that it is entirely easy to recall their peculiarities, andthe features by means of which this is usually done amount to parody. For example, when it is a question of something Turkish, much is madeof the tambourine, the cymbals, and the fife. In something Persian orArabic, the triangle cuts quite a figure; but when it is a questionbetween composers of the civilized countries of Europe, music hasbecome a cosmopolitan language among them all, and only a small numberof national traits are to be found distinguishing the production of onecountry from that of another. It would be an interesting study totrace these marks of nationality, but it would take us too far. Suffice it to say that in general, taking German music as representingthe purest type of instrumental music, in which the musical idea assuch has full sway, the Russians differ from this mainly in their ownuncontrollable energy and a certain fondness for a semi-barbaricdisplay of over-coloration. The pigments with which they work and themanner of treating their ideas are not materially different from thatof the German composers of the purest type. It is only a question ofexaggerating certain features--to judge them from the Germanstandpoint. This is true, in a general way, of the entire list ofRussian composers, all of whom have been influenced a good deal fromLeipsic, although Russia has had for many years a very strong musicschool of its own at St. Petersburg, established by Rubinstein in 1862. It was at this school that Tschaikowsky and Glazounow were educated. In the Austro-Hungary empire there are two nationalities which haveleft quite an impress upon their music productions. They are theBohemians and the Hungarians. The Hungarian, representing the extremeof the emphasis and caprice; the Bohemian, showing a great deal ofimpetuosity;--which, however, they lose in their productions inproportion as they become polished and finished writers. Bohemianism, in German music, has more the character of provincialism than of anational mark. 

In France there has been a national school this long time in which allthe young composers are educated; a school which has turned out menlike Berlioz, Gounod, Bizet, Delibes, Massenet, and a great and honoredroll of composers and artists. French music differs from Germanprimarily in taking itself less seriously. Everything tends to beshorter; there is a more fanciful and capricious use of passing tonesand by-tones of every sort, and its general complexion is that ofdaintiness and sensuous sweetness, rather than of deep thought. TheFrench school is therefore well adapted for imparting refinement to thestyle of a performer. 

The writers of the Scandinavian peninsula have certain peculiarities intheir melody which impart to their work a trait of local color. Thisone finds in the writings of Grieg, Svendsen, and to some extent inthose of Gade. A similar coloring was hit upon much earlier byMendelssohn in the beginning of the "Hebrides" overture. 

America can not be said, as yet, to have attained a national school. We had one genius who might be called self-instructed--viz. , LouisMoreau Gottschalk. All of our composers since have been Germaneducated, or educated under teachers who themselves were German taught, and as yet our music is little more than a slightly modified Germanproduction, although our composers are beginning to show as muchoriginality and force as the better class of the writers of any country. 

Selecting only those names the most prominent in the several countries, and more particularly the composers who have distinguished themselvesin pianoforte music, the following seem, on the whole, the most worthyof our attention:

In Germany--Brahms, Dvorak, Raff, D'Albert, Nicode, Moszkowski, Jensen, Reinecke, Paderewski, and Scharwenka. 

In Russia--Rubinstein, Henselt, Tschaikowsky, Balakirew, Glazounow, andKarganoff. 

In France--Stephen Heller, Saint-Saëns, Pierne, Faure, Widor, Guyrand, and Benoit. 

In Scandinavia--Grieg, Gade, Svendsen, Kjerulf, and Meyer-Helmund. 

In America--Gottschalk, Mason, Wollenhaupt, Foote, Chadwick, MacDowell, and others. 

CHAPTER II. 

BRAHMS. 

JOHANNES BRAHMS. 

 Born at Hamburg, May 7, 1833. Died at Vienna, April 3, 1897. 

In Johannes Brahms we have a musical master of the first order. Hisquality as master was shown in his marvelous technic, in which respectno recent composer is to be mentioned as his superior, if any can benamed, since Bach, as his equal. This technic was at first personal, at the pianoforte, upon which he was a virtuoso of phenomenal rank; butthis renown, great as it is in well-informed circles, sinks intoinsignificance beside his marvelous ability at marshaling musicalperiods, elaborating together the most dissimilar and apparentlyincompatible subjects, and his powers of varying a given theme and ofever unfolding from it something new. These wonderful gifts--for suchthey were, rather than laboriously acquired attainments--Brahms showedat the first moment when the light of musical history shines upon him. It was in 1853, when the Hungarian violinist, Edouard Remenyi, foundhim at Hamburg and engaged him as accompanist, and having ascertainedhis astonishing talents, brought him, a young man of twenty, to Lisztat Weimar, with his first trio and certain other compositions inmanuscript. The new talent made a prodigious effect upon Liszt, whoneeded not that any one should certify to him whether a composer hadgenius or merely talent. And that Brahms on his own part made theregrettable mistake of falling asleep while Liszt in turn was playingfor him his newly completed sonata for pianoforte, is an incident whichwas important only for the moment. The Liszt circle took up the Brahmscult in earnest, played the trio at the chamber concerts, and themembers, when they departed to their homes, generally carried with themtheir admiration of this new personality which had appeared in music. 

William Mason, the New York teacher and pianist, was at Weimar at thetime, and when he came back to New York and, with the young TheodoreThomas, opened the celebrated series of chamber concerts, --modeled, asthe prospectus said, "after those of Mr. Liszt at Weimar, "--the firstprogram included the Brahms Trio in B-flat. From that time until now, for nearly forty years, Mr. Thomas has paid his tribute to the geniusof Brahms, introducing the new works as fast as they have appeared, andrepeating the older ones many times. 

Johannes Brahms was born at Hamburg, May 7, 1833, the son of a finemusician who was player upon the double bass in the orchestra there. The boy was always intended for a musician, and his instruction wastaken in hand with so much success that at the age of fourteen heplayed in public pieces by Bach and Beethoven, and a set of originalvariations. At the age of twenty he was a master, and it was in thisyear that he accompanied Remenyi, made the acquaintance of Joachim andLiszt, and had a rarely appreciative notice from a master no less thanRobert Schumann himself, who, in his "New Journal of Music, " said:

"He has come--a youth at whose cradle graces and heroes kept watch. Sitting at the piano, he began to unveil wonderful regions. We weredrawn into more and more magical circles by his playing, full ofgenius, which made of the piano an orchestra of lamenting and jubilantvoices. There were sonatas, or rather veiled symphonies; songs whosepoetry might be understood without words; piano pieces both of ademonaic nature and of the most graceful form; sonatas for piano andviolin; string quartets, each so different from every other that theyseemed to flow from many different springs. Whenever he bends hismagic wand, there, when the powers of the orchestra and chorus lend himtheir aid, further glimpses of the magic world will be revealed to us. May the highest genius strengthen him! Meanwhile the spirit of modestydwells within him. His comrades greet him at his first entrance intothe world of art, where wounds may perhaps await him, but bay andlaurel also; we welcome him as a valiant warrior. "

The next few years were spent by Brahms in directing orchestra andchorus at Detmold and elsewhere, and in Switzerland, which always hadgreat attraction for him. In 1859 he played in Leipsic his first greatpianoforte concerto; most of the criticisms thereon were, however, suchas now excite mirth. In the later years of his life he played inLeipsic again, conducted several of his works, and was greeted with thereverence and enthusiasm due the greatest living representative of theart of music. In 1862 Brahms located in Vienna, where he lived untilhis death. Mr. Louis Kestelborn, in "Famous Composers and theirWorks, " says: "About thirty years ago the writer first saw Brahms inhis Swiss home; at that time he was of a rather delicate, slim-lookingfigure, with a beardless face of ideal expression. Since then he haschanged in appearance, until now he looks the very image of health, being stout and muscular, the noble, manly face surrounded by a fullgray beard. The writer well remembers singing under his direction, watching him conduct orchestra rehearsals, hearing him play alone orwith orchestra, listening to an after-dinner speech or privateconversation, observing him when attentively listening to other works, and seeing the modest smile with which he accepted, or rather declined, expressions of admiration. "

The Serenade, Opus 11, in D major, was written before 1859. Itconsists of six pieces, in form analogous to a suite. The first ismarked allegro molto. It is in the key of D, the melody opening forhorn. This is followed by a counter-theme of clarinets, after whichall the instruments take part. Much is made of a pleasing motive inthirds by the clarinets. There is a charming elaboration containingbold and free modulations, touching such keys as D-flat, B-flat, Dminor, etc. 

The second movement, scherzo, allegro non troppo, is in the key of Dminor and in the style of a Beethoven scherzo, which, again, is alegitimate outgrowth of certain movements of Bach. It opens with anidea for violins and bassoons, and goes on in a very buoyant andvigorous manner, with abundant syncopations, modulations, andunexpected incidents. It is beautifully developed. Then it givesplace to a trio in B-flat, in which the violins start with a syncopatedrhythm, and later all the orchestral persons take their turn in thedevelopment. After this is finished the scherzo is recapitulated. 

The adagio opens with a melody for bassoons and basses, which laterleads to a very legato and lovely melody for violins, treated at timeswith very elaborate figuration, especially at the return of theprincipal theme. 

The first menuetto begins with a melody for clarinets, which isdeveloped into a short form. Then follows the second menuetto, whichmany would have called a trio, excepting that it really is a completelittle minuet, the leading idea of which is given by the secondviolins; after this the first menuetto returns. 

Then follows another scherzo, in D major, the subject being given outby the horns, accompanied by the 'cellos. 

In the trio the same combination takes precedence, but the 'cellofigures are twice as fast. 

The work concludes with a rondo, the principal subject of which is verysprightly in character, given out by the clarinets and bassoons, accompanied by the lower strings. This movement is carried out withgreat spirit. The work as a whole is of singularly genial character. 

It happened to the writer to enter the rehearsal once during one of themovements. He was expecting something by Tschaikowsky or RichardStrauss. As he listened, the simplicity and naïveté of the ideassuggested Mozart; but presently there was an earnestness foreign toMozart, and Beethoven was recalled. Just then the counterpoint took aturn which was plainly not Beethoven, but surely the work of some latemaster, and the question was, Who could have done a thing of this kindso delightfully, with such reserve? All at once the author's nameoccurred. "Surely, " he said, "it is Brahms"; and it was. It is thebeauty of an unpretending work of this character by so great a masterthat the hearer is able to follow it with so much enjoyment and frompurely musical motives, without making himself unhappy in the effort torealize a story or some great and mysterious power. It is genius inits moments of pure enjoyment. 

The Symphony in E minor was first published in 1885, and immediatelywas pronounced by advanced musicians the most significant of Brahms, because showing the composer's nature more completely and, so to say, more spontaneously. This opinion, says Dr. Kretschmar, is based uponthe elevation of the work and the fact that in it Brahms for the firsttime fully displays his many-sided individuality and genius in theprovince of symphony. "The singer of the great German requiem standsbefore us. " Like its predecessors, it is developed out of a smallnumber of fundamental ideas, but with a degree of complexity beneathits apparent simplicity which makes it a rich field for musicalanalysis. 

The first movement is marked allegro non assai (quick, but not tooquick). In spirit it is noble, forceful, yet tender and extremelymusical. The opening melody is itself made up thematically out of thefirst little molecule of two tones, or out of the first four tones, ifyou please. This is carried through sixteen measures in order to bringit to completion; it is immediately resumed with an added element ofrhythmic motion and varieties of harmony, and carried through along tothe second idea. 

The instruments concerned in the first enunciation of the theme aremainly the strings, the horns having long holding tones, and thewood-wind coming in with accompanying chords upon the off beat. Presently a second or transitional theme enters, of a jolly freecharacter, which brings us almost immediately to a beautiful secondtheme for the 'cellos, the sustained and song-like character of whichwell contrasts with the broken character of the leading idea. 

The elaboration now follows the jolly little counter-theme inconnection with the leading theme, and while the continued treatment ofthe working out seems simple, it is in fact extremely rich, and wellmanaged for intensifying the elegiac character of the opening subject. Abundance of melodic life meets us in every one of the orchestralvoices, and the richness of detail is like that of one of the oldcathedrals, where the mighty mass of the whole is no less significantto the distant observer than the patient care with which all thesmaller spaces have been elaborated is grateful to the close student. A curious circumstance of this movement is the apparent resumption ofthe principal theme prematurely in its own key, the developmentimmediately taking a new turn, and when finally the principal themereturns, it is at first in a foreign key, almost at once, however, giving place to the original harmonies. 

A movement of this character is not to be judged or studied from atechnical standpoint, but from that of enjoyable hearing. It is amusical discourse, in which the first thing to feel is the very patentfact that the author is trying to say something to us; and the secondto make out something of what this significance may mean in its generaland larger aspects; and, only later than this, what it is in itsdetails. 

In two respects this work seems to the student different from thesymphonic work of Beethoven on the one hand, and from the earnestorchestral work of later masters on the other. It is thoroughly modernin its thematic handling. Everything grows out of a very few centralroots; yet out of these vital germs, as in the stories of Easternmagicians, a mighty tree forms itself before our very eyes. Or, tochange the figure, while the actual melodic germ is very small, itsdevelopment into the leading subject takes it over a considerable rangeof rhythm and harmony, and brings it to us with almost a song-likecharacter. Then, when we come to a second subject, it is not socompletely contrasted as in Beethoven; or, rather, it still partakes ofthe modern spirit, being, if very legato, nevertheless very appealingand earnest in its harmonic treatment. This is one point whereBeethoven always did differently, for his second subjects are almostinvariably simple and lyric, with something very like a folk-song turnof melody. Brahms remains upon the elevated plane of musicalearnestness which he assumes at starting, and throughout the entirework carries us ever to greater heights. 

Again, from the side of tone-color Brahms differs from later writers innot giving himself much to mere lusciousness of tone contrast, butconfines himself to carrying out his ideas with those portions of theorchestra best suited in turn, and with more reference to cumulativeimpression from the treatment than to mere richness and contrast ofcolor. The contrasts do still meet us here, but they are neverglaring. It is even a question whether the colors are so stronglycontrasted as commonly in Beethoven. But it is not a question whetherthe music is strong, meaningful, and musicianly. These qualities arepatent to even a casual hearing. Equally recognizable is that innersomething which has been called the ethical element; a something in thegeneral spirit of treatment, or behind it, which we intuitively feel asconsistent with our highest thoughts, noblest moods, and bestresolutions. This is distinguished from the merely sensuous, asrepresented sometimes in Berlioz, Goldmark, Gounod, and the like; andthe fantastic, inconsequent, and irresponsible, as represented, forinstance, in Richard Strauss' "Till Eulenspiegel. "

The second movement, andante moderate, although very strange in certainof its peculiarities, is nevertheless very beautiful, and at the sametime novel. The subject is given out first by the horn alone;afterward it is taken up by the oboes and flutes, while the stringshave a secondary place and complete the harmony. 

Kretschmar says that it reminds one of a story of the olden time, animpression due to the archaic tonality, the first version of the themebeing in the Gregorian Phrygian mode--a key of E in which all the notesare naturals. On its repetition it is given a different turn, thescale having a major seventh, but minor third and sixth. 

Kretschmar says: "In the middle of this movement, where the tripletsbegin, the music forsakes this neutral tone and shows a friendly spiritand breaks out into heart-felt lamentations. " In other words, asubordinate subject is introduced which Mr. Apthorp characterizes (inthe Boston Symphony Orchestra programs) as "a grave, solemn melody, harmonized and scored in the richest coloring. "

A third melodic idea still remains to be mentioned. It is the melodyfor 'cello, which is delicately accompanied by the higher strings. Later the first subject returns in a variety of treatment, alwayscumulative in its character, and frequently with strangetransformations. The impression of the whole is, after all, thatalready mentioned; it is a story of the olden times, into which amodern thread has been woven, and through which the modern heart stillthrills and vibrates none the less powerfully for the strange-soundingaccents of the ancient tonality. 

The third movement, allegro giocoso (giocoso primarily means jokingly), opens with full orchestra. This movement takes the place of a scherzo. It is earnest, vigorous, and free; at times, as Mr. Apthorp says, "almost fierce"; and for straightforward directness stands in manlycontrast to the movements preceding. 

The fourth movement, again, is marked allegro energico epassionato(quick, energetically, and passionately). It opens with eight measuresfor all the brass. The melody lies in the upper voice. 

Upon this as cantus firmus Brahms has developed what is known as apassacaglia; originally a rather slow and stately dance, but in musicaluse denoting a movement developed over a ground bass, or singleharmonic foundation, the final result partaking somewhat of the natureof variations; but more of a sort of cumulative playing with musicalelements, finally reaching a great degree of complexity, which, if welldone, should also be a complexity of idea and a fullness and richnessof expression. It was in this spirit that Bach handled the form in hisgreat C minor Passacaglia for organ, now transcribed for orchestra, andplayed occasionally, if I remember, by Mr. Thomas; and it is in thisspirit that Brahms works here. Occasionally the spirit changes tosomething tender, meditative; but this is only to gain strength. Immediately it resumes, and is carried ever and ever to higher pitchesof force and meaning. Melody after melody appears in prominent places, but under every one lies the harmonic foundation of the fundamentalsubject. There are thirty-two of these variations in all. 

The criticism which has been made upon Brahms, that a movement of thiskind has no proper place in symphony, is "not competent, " as lawyerssay; for, setting aside the demonstrated fact that Brahms knew betterwhat could be done in symphony than any of his critics, there is plentyof precedent for doing almost anything one cares to try in the fourthmovement of a symphony. The old practice had a rondo for the finalmovement of the sonata. Beethoven rightly felt the insignificance ofthis form and its half trivial spirit, and in many directions he soughtto get out of it, and to end his sonatas with a climax of the spiritualinterest. The same desire is shown in his symphonies and chambermusic. Brahms has here given us a manly, vigorous, strongly developedpiece. At least, it closes the symphony without loss ofvitality--whether with increasing elevation of spiritual meaning is foreach hearer to determine according to the measure of his capacity andreceptive ness. Inspiration is not a question of light being ready, but of clear glass to shine through. 

For virtuoso pianists an entirely new world remains to be conquered inthe works of Brahms. Beginning with those of his earliest period, there is even then a marvelous novelty in the combinations and, aboveall, a peculiarly rich and melodic quality of thought which rarelyforsakes him, even in the passages where at first sight it seemsimpossible to make anything of the music beyond an extremely tryingexercise. The melodiousness of Brahms and the complexity of the formsin which beautiful conceptions express themselves is even surpassed bythe endless variety of new forms and effects which these works reveal. Passages which to the casual player seem dry and forbidding, whenproperly interpreted, and played gently and melodiously as Brahmsdemanded, reveal themselves full of an inner warmth and ideality suchas no recent master has surpassed or equaled. 

From the piano-playing side these new effects rest upon the utmostequality and suppleness of the fingers, a much wider extension of thehand than any previous composer demanded (save possibly Schumann in the"Kreisleriana" and the "Phantasie"), and a melodic quality in all thevoices. When to these are added the necessary discrimination of touchand the clear definition of the contrasting voices, together with asensitive and changeful use of the pedal, the new worlds open. 

Beginning with the most advanced of these technical unfoldings, let ustake the variations upon a theme from Paganini, of which there are twobooks. At first view the variations in the first book seem to addressthemselves exclusively to technical objects, the first variationcontaining a succession of sixths in the right hand which is extremelytrying, the second variation having the same succession for the lefthand. In the third variation a very capricious figure is taken aspattern, and the piano is covered in a new way. In the fourthvariation there is a long capricious figure and trills high up in thetreble with the weak fingers of the right hand. These trills areafterward transferred to the bass, where the thumb and second fingerhave them, the design being apparently technical. In the fifthvariation a very characteristic trick of Brahms' music is brought outin strong light. It is his way of carrying on together a cantus firmusin two's and a counterpoint in three's. All his writing is full ofthis expedient, one design of which is to mystify the rhythm and toimpart to the music a more flowing and ideal character, and at the sametime to concentrate the attention of the player upon the large meter, with which these conflicting two's and three's never interfere. In thesixth variation a syncopated effect. In the seventh, very brilliantoctave effects. In the eighth a sort of caprice. In the ninth, anextremely brilliant octave effect. In the tenth, the excitement quietsa little, and the variation begins _sotto voce_. In the eleventh, weenter the major key, and a very delightful and beautiful effect is hereproduced. The twelfth, again, begins to contain greater difficulties, and our old friend of the two's and three's greets us. The thirteenth, a very brilliant octave variation, which in the fourteenth is carriedto a still higher point, and leads immediately to a finale, whichconcludes the first book. 

In the second book technical discussion of this theme is resumed withsome running thirds in the bass, which are very troublesome; and in thecourse of this second book a variety of highly ingenious technicaleffects are unfolded, almost any one of which affords practice for avery good player for quite a long time. In fact, from a technicalpoint of view, a moderately accomplished pianist might spend perhaps ayear in mastering these variations, and at the end of the time would beunable to play them with any artistic effect, unless exceptionallygifted. At the same time, in spite of the technical complication andthe apparent absorption in technical treatment of the instrument whichthese variations show, they each and every one have a legitimatemusical object, and when played with a sufficiently masterlytechnic--as, for instance, by Joseffy, Godowsky, or Rosenthal--they areamong the most interesting examples of the evolution of piano playing. 

Similar qualities also show themselves in the earliest set ofvariations upon a theme of Schumann's, and in the beautiful variationsupon an original theme in D major, opus 21; but perhaps even betterthan anywhere else in the variations upon a theme of Händel, opus 22, where the beautiful, the musically fresh and pleasing, and thetechnically unforeseen meet and intermingle with one another. 

The Händel variations begin somewhat modestly, and as the theme is inthe major mode and the harmonies limited almost entirely to tonic anddominant, Brahms was almost compelled to be simple and melodious attimes. He contents himself in the earlier variations with rhythmiccomplications, which are very ingenious and delightful, particularly inthe second variation, where a chromatic movement in two's isaccompanied in the soprano by a triplet formation. It is doubtfulwhether any pianoforte work of recent times affords such a brilliantillustration of how much can be done in art by a fortunate combinationof constructive ability of the most masterly character with highideality as Brahms has given in these variations upon the Händel theme. They are, at the same time, musical, melodious, rhythmicallyinteresting. The student will do well if he desires a lesson inmusical evolution to refer to the variations in their original form aswritten by Händel. They can be found in the Händel "Lessons for theHarpsichord, " edited by Kohler, in the Peters edition. Händel givesbut five variations, and these are all of very moderate difficulty. Nevertheless, while they were written for the use of amateurs, theycontain nearly all of the Händel art of variation-making, as the readercan easily satisfy himself by comparing their treatment with that inthe famous "Harmonious Blacksmith" variations in E major. 

A very remarkable, and at present almost unknown, chapter of the Brahmscult is afforded by his four Ballads, opus 10. These are short, --onlyabout four pages each, --and when properly interpreted are very nobleand beautiful. The first, in D minor, has an opening theme of a veryserious and almost antique character, like an old ballad. After onepage of this a second subject comes, allegro, in D major, very muchmore dramatic and broken. This lasts about a page; the principal themeis resumed again, with certain variations of treatment, and the wholeconcludes at the end of the third page. The second ballad is of asofter and more tender character in its principal subject, and verybeautiful it is, too; but the second subject, in B minor, is veryemphatic in rhythm, and is followed by a middle piece in B major, in6/4 time, which is rather difficult to play satisfactorily to one'sself. Then the second subject returns, and finally the first, in thekey of B major, changing afterward to minor, and thus the end. Thethird ballad is marked intermezzo, and has the character of a scherzo. It is rather difficult. The fourth ballad, again, is a purely lyriccomposition, and is precisely what its name implies--a story, a melodywith a past. The middle piece of this ballad is in F-sharp major, theoriginal key of the whole being B major, and there is a very pretty andreposeful melodic effect. Nevertheless, the tonality of the piecethroughout is extremely vague, no key being adhered to for any lengthof time, but modulations occurring with a free hand. This ballad iscarried out to the extent of eight pages, and is the longest of the lot. 

A careful study of these ballads will show them to be works of thedeepest poetry, which, while never appealing to the player in search ofthe grateful and effective, nevertheless richly reward the mostintimate acquaintance, and show themselves full of ideality and musicalsuggestiveness. That they are devoid of all kinds of passage work andpianoforte effects, as such, is merely another way of saying that theyare entirely and exclusively loyal to the ideal and the poetic; andthese elements in them must eventually give them long life. 

A lighter side of the Brahms cult is shown in the Waltzes, opus 39. There are sixteen of these, all short, and very poetic and not at allforbidding in their manner of writing. One or two of them are quitedifficult; as, for instance, No. 6. Most of them, however, are withinthe reach of players of medium grade. 

The later works of Brahms have already begun to find currency in themore advanced musical circles in Europe, but for some time after theirfirst publication their value was persistently denied, and they are asyet entirely unknown to the amateur. The following works have beenselected as on the whole representing the later development of Brahmsto the greatest advantage. 

The first intermezzo in opus 119 is in B minor, adagio. A very idealand poetic movement, requiring, however, to be played with greatdelicacy and a deep and musical tone, which rarely rises to forte. Theother intermezzi of this book I do not much care for. In the opus 116, the fourth number, entitled Intermezzo, is also a very beautiful adagioin E major, and it is one of the most poetic and delightful shortpieces for the piano of any recent master. Both these pieces are ofquite moderate difficulty. Of a somewhat more dramatic and diversifiedcharacter is the second intermezzo in the opus 116. This is in Aminor, with a somewhat capricious middle piece. The great beauty ofthese short, slow movements of Brahms is the moderation with which theyare treated, and, at the same time, the masterly manner in which theinterest is kept up to the end. The most fortunate illustration ofBrahms' treatment of the piano in the dramatic and highly moveddirection is afforded, perhaps, by the second of the rhapsodies, opus79. These are in no respect to be mentioned in connection with therhapsodies by Liszt, which, as is well known, are somewhat _adcaptandum_ show pieces founded upon popular airs. The Brahms rhapsodyis a poetic rhapsody, perhaps such as the rhapsodists of Greece used todeliver; and in this particular case the music is very dramatic andstrongly marked, and at the same time the treatment of the piano isfree and the effect brilliant. It is, however, considerably moredifficult than any of the pieces mentioned above except the Paganinivariations. 

This program might well be diversified by a few songs of Brahms; andfor this purpose selections may as well be made from the first book ofsongs by this writer as from any other, as they are among hisbest-known works. 

The first volume of selected songs of Brahms contains six. The firstone, --

 "O sink, O sink thy grief, my child, To the bottom of the deep, deep sea, "--

is founded upon a poem by Robert Reinick. In the edition which Inotice (Schirmer) there are three texts--German, English, and French. This song is of a very serious and impassioned character, the melodysomewhat slow and deliberate. The accompaniment, as so often happensin the songs of Brahms, is purposely developed out of a differentrhythmic figure from that of the song itself. In this instance themelody runs in pulses and half pulses, whereas the accompaniment runsin triplets; that is to say, the chords in the right hand run intriplets, while the bass preserves the rhythm of the song itself. Theentire rhythmic sense is sustained, or nearly sustained, by half-pulsemotion, running at the same time with a continually sustained tripletmotion, three to a pulse. 

The musical handling of this song presents several peculiarities, themost notable of which is the entrance of the bass upon a dissonance, which at the same time is an advance imitation (to speak Hibernically)of the leading motive of the melody. The effect of this combinationwith the rhythmic figure already noticed gives the song a much moreimpassioned character than it would otherwise have. 

It would be difficult to say why Brahms has so long remained unpopularwith singers, considering how well he uses the voice. In the secondline, "A stone, alas, in the sea will sink; my grief returns to me, "the lower part of the accompaniment is at the same pitch and identicalwith the melody itself, but the voice breaks through at the emphaticclimax of the phrase, "grief. " This is taken upon high G-flat, and issupported with full harmony by both hands, giving the effect of a muchstronger harmonic climax, and also affording the singer the neededassistance in maintaining the high pitch. 

The second song in the series is a very beautiful one, "To a Violet. "This is on a poem by Holty, beginning:

 "Hide, O flow'ret, within thy blue recesses, Hide these pale dews of sorrow. "

The entire effect of the song and the accompaniment is extremely tenderand delicate, one of the important features in the artistic effectbeing the arpeggios of the accompaniment, which is throughout insixteenth-note motion, whereas the melody, in 6/8 time, runs in dottedquarters and eighths. 

Another very famous piece, which comes in this volume, is, "Like aBlossoming Lilac My Love Is Fair, " here written in the fearfullyuninviting key of D-sharp minor. It is poetic and lyric in theextreme, and a more charming selection can not be found. 

The next song is "The Old Love, " on a poem by Candidus. This is amoderate movement:

 "The dusky swallow flieth toward her northern home, The songsters build and flutter beneath the leafy dome; The morn is warm and cloudy, the sky bedimmed with rains, My heart awakes from slumber to old forgotten pains. "

Then comes "To a Nightingale, " and, last of all, "In Summer Fields. "

In closing this somewhat extended discussion of the works of Brahms thewriter desires to emphasize the importance of this music and itsinherent beauty. In consequence of the entire absence of show passagesin the Brahms works, and his uniform adherence to lofty and poeticideals, together with his fondness for deep and somewhat mystical andmeditative effects, his nature has been misunderstood by the greaterpart of the musical world. It has been charged against him that hismusic is purely mechanical in its construction, and that he tookdelight in putting together forbidding and repelling figures withoutregard for the convenience of players or the pleasure of the hearers. The tone of the previous discussion is perhaps sufficiently clear todefine the position of the present writer in regard to this notion. Nevertheless, it is perhaps well to say something a little moredefinite, and this I will do presently. 

It is to be observed, further, that the Brahms symphonies have atlength made their way, and are heard now with pleasure in all parts ofthe world where enlightened audiences listen to orchestral music. Eventhe Fourth, which in some respects is less attractive at first sightthan the others, awakened very great popular applause when it was lastplayed by the Chicago Orchestra, and the Second Symphony is universallyrecognized throughout the world as a very beautiful masterpiece. However, Brahms has written about 100 songs which have more or lessentered into the current of concert appearance, and there are not twoopinions concerning their general melodiousness, rare musical quality, and exquisitely poetical effect. But they require beautiful and truevoices, finished art of the singer, and, from the accompanist, a realmastery of the instrument. That these qualities are, unfortunately, not always provided by our musical education is one of the reasons whythe public at large has made the acquaintance as yet of only a limitednumber of these songs, among which those in the list above are the bestknown. 

In the judgment of the present writer it is as certain as anything inthe future can be that the works of Brahms are destined to enter intothe pantheon of the classical in musical art; and are entitled to thatdistinction by the purity and beauty of their style no less than by theintense originality of the ideas themselves and of their treatment. Musical students, therefore, are earnestly recommended not to permitthemselves to be discouraged by the difficulties which their firstacquaintance with Brahms will reveal. It is, first, to play thepieces; and, second, to play them in a musical way; then, if theinstrument itself is of a musical tone, with a good singing quality, the beauties of the works will more and more appear, and the study willbecome a delight and an inspiration no less than a great technicaleducation. 

 PROGRAM. 

 Symphony in E minor. Four hands. (Schirmer. ) Waltzes, opus 39. Variations upon a Theme by Händel. Opus 21. Four Ballads. Opus 10. Intermezzo, No. 1, opus 119. Intermezzo, No. 4, opus 116. Rhapsody, No. 2, opus 79. Serenade in D major. Four hands. Songs ad libitum. 

If it is possible to command the services of capable instrumentalists, very attractive modifications of the foregoing program can easily bemade. 

CHAPTER III. 

GRIEG. 

EDVARD GRIEG. 

 Born 1843, at Bergen, Norway. 

Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born June 15, 1843, at Bergen, Norway. Hismusical talent asserted itself early, and fortunately his parents wereable to provide him with the best of conditions for its development. The famous violinist Ole Bull was a friend of the family and encouragedhim to devote himself to the musical profession. In 1858 Grieg went toLeipsic to study under Moscheles, Hauptmann, Wenzel, and Reinecke. Hegraduated in 1862, receiving praise for one or two small compositionswhich were played at the final rehearsal, but he was not considered asmarked for certain distinction. 

Soon after he went to Copenhagen and studied with Gade. Here he met acompatriot, Nordraak, with whom he struck up a warm friendship. Thelatter, so it is said, imbued Grieg with the idea of giving form andexpression to the national spirit and life, and from that time on hedevoted himself assiduously to national music, literature, andfolk-lore. 

Later he married Miss Nina Hagerup, a popular Norwegian singer, who hashelped to make his songs well known in all Europe. 

The next few years were spent in travel and study, and later in hard, successful work among his own countrymen. The latter are genuinelyproud of him, and he has a firm hold on the affections of the people ofhis native city, where he now resides. His country home, which is hisfavorite retreat, is almost ideally located, with a commanding view ofthe fjord and surrounded by forest and heights. 

 PROGRAM. 

 Suite. "From Holberg's Time. " Opus 40. Praeludium. Sarabande. Gavotte. Air. Rigaudon. Songs for Alto Voice. Sunset. Cradle Song. The Poet's Last Song. Eight Lyric Pieces. Opus 12. Arietta, Walzer, Wachterlied, Elfentanz, Volksweise, Norwegisch, Albumblatt, Vaterländisches Lied. Songs for Soprano. "Good Morning. " "Thanks for Thy Hand. " Suite, Peer Gynt, Opus 46, 1. "Morning Mood" (Morgenstimmung). "The Death of Ase. " "Anitra's Dance. " "In the Halls of the Mountain King. " "On the Mountains. " Opus 19, No. 1. 

NOTE. --In case a good violinist is available, I recommend modifying theabove by omitting the "Holberg" suite and taking the "Peer Gynt" tobegin with; then close with the Sonata for Piano and Violin, Opus 8. 

In many respects Edvard Grieg is one of the most interesting composersof the present time. While it is by no means certain that his workswill find a place in the classics of the tone poetry of the world, heis entitled, at least, to this much credit--of having, in the firstplace, found a wider acceptance outside of his native Norway than hasfallen to the lot of any Scandinavian composer before him. He has alsomade a more marked impression, and has brought into the music of theworld what might be called, in literary parlance, "a characteristicnote. " It would be very curious and interesting, if it wereconvenient, to trace the gradual evolution of this talent, as shown inthe successive works which have come from his pen. But for the presentit must suffice to speak of a few of them in a more particular manner. 

Grieg has written in almost every department of music: chamber music, orchestra suites, overtures, compositions for string quartet, andsonatas for piano and violin, a sonata for piano, concerto for piano, and a very considerable variety of poetic and interesting compositionsfor piano alone; in addition to these, many songs, some of which haveattained a wide currency. In all these works certain characteristicpeculiarities of Norwegian music continually make themselves felt, sothat there is nothing of Grieg's which could be mistaken for the workof any good German composer. Whether we should regard these nationalpeculiarities in his music as provincialisms, considered from theworld's standpoint, or as a fortunate appeal to the ears of his owncountrymen and generation, who shall decide?

Grieg belongs to the modern romantic school, conspicuously, in havingderived the suggestion or inspiration of many of his pieces from poeticsuggestion. One of the most famous and best known of this kind is thefirst "Peer Gynt" suite. Peer Gynt is a ne'er-do-weel in Ibsen's poem. He had a variety of adventures in the course of his unprofitable life, a few of which are alluded to in the suite here under consideration. For example, it begins with a prelude in 6/8 time--a movement somewhatpastoral in character, designated "Morgenstimmung, " or, in English, "The Morning Mood. " In this piece the flavor of Norwegian folk-song isonly very faintly perceptible, if at all, and is perhaps more to beimagined from the somewhat unusual succession of chords than fromanything very characteristic in the melody. The second piece of thissuite, "The Death of Ase, " is practically a funeral march of a sad andgrief-laden character. Ase is the poor mother of Peer Gynt, who wasleft alone in her cottage on the mountains while her ne'er-do-weel sonwas off on his travels. At length death overtook her, desolate andalone, on the bleak mountain side. This is the story of the march. The third piece in this suite is entitled "Anitra's Dance. " Anitra, inIbsen's story, was a fascinating minx of the desert, who, when PeerGynt was masquerading as the prophet, encountered him upon his travelsand beguiled from him one gift after another until finally she tookfrom him his rings, spare apparel, and finally his horse, and caperedoff with them like the winds of the morning, while the pseudo-prophetpursued his sandy and inglorious way on foot. In this music of Griegwe have simply the sparkling lightness of Anitra, the unaccustomedcharm which induced her victim to yield so easily to her the things hemost valued. To come down from the realm of poetry to the barrenfacts, it is simply a sort of quick waltz or mazurka, and theconnection of Mr. Ibsen's Anitra with it is purely imaginary. 

The fourth of these tone pictures is entitled "In the Hall of theMountain King. " It relates to an episode in Peer Gynt's life when, inexploring the mountain, he came upon one of the original owners of thecountry, quite in the manner that happened later to Rip Van Winkle inthe Catskills of New York. The gnome took him into the cavern in themountain where his people had their home, and it is the queer anduncanny music of these humorous and prankish people that Grieg hasbrought out in this closing movement of the suite. It is a rapid, dance-like movement which, in the orchestral arrangement, is extremelygrotesque in the tone coloring; even on the piano, when sufficientlywell done, much of this quality appertains to it. 

More closely examined, this suite of Grieg's has a certain resemblanceto a sonata. The first movement is somewhat elaborately worked out, the second movement a slow one, the third in the manner of a scherzo, and the fourth a sort of grotesque finale. The order of the keys, however, is different from what would be considered correct in asonata. The first piece is in the key of E major, the funeral march inB minor, Anitra's dance in A minor, and the finale in B minoragain--the whole very pleasing and poetic. 

In the collection of pieces called "Aus dem Volksleben, " or "Sketchesof Norwegian Life, " the national coloring is still more marked. Thiswork contains three pieces, the first entitled "On the Mountain, " thesecond a "Norwegian Bridal Procession, " and the third "Carnival. " "Onthe Mountain, " after an opening of a soft chord or open fifth in Aminor, commences with a bass melody in unison, as if played by bassesand 'cellos. The rhythm is that of a strongly-marked peasant dance, asis shown by the emphatic half-note at the end of the phrase, as if herethe peasant put down his foot solidly. In the sixth measure of thismelody another Norwegian peculiarity appears in the minor seventh ofthe key. This melody, after having been delivered in unison by thebasses, is taken up by the sopranos and continued with accompaniment. Later on a soft and rather sweet middle piece in A major comes in, after which the first idea returns with a coda. 

The "Norwegian Bridal Procession" is extremely well known. It is avery pretty light march which, when well done, is capable of verycharming effect. The "Carnival" is a very sprightly presto, full ofhurry and excitement, with occasional moments of softer suggestion, thewhole making very considerable demands upon the skill of the player. In the coda the whole work is brought together again as one, since theleading motives of all the parts here occur and intermingle one withthe other. 

One of the most strongly worked out of the lighter works of Grieg isthe "Holberg" suite, the name being derived from that of the famousDanish-Norwegian poet, who lived about the time of Bach. This openswith a "Praeludium, " followed by a "Sarabande" and "Gavotte"; the wholeends with a "Rigaudon. " This work has very much more the character ofa modern sonata than some that bear the name, but, avoiding the namesonata, it is able to go its own way in any form of originality whichpleased the composer. The prelude is a musical idea worked out withgreat bravura, and when well done it makes an excellent effect. Thereis no particular story suggested in it, any more than in the firstprelude of Bach. The second movement, the Sarabande, has a great dealof the peculiar pathos of Grieg. It should be played as if it werebeing done by a string quartet, as legato and sympathetically aspossible. The Gavotte, again, is a charming example of modern antique, short and pleasing. The fourth movement, an "air, " is beautifullydone, and the last, the Rigaudon, in G major, a very pleasing andsprightly dance effect. This work has less of the distinctly Norwegiancharacter perhaps than many of the earlier ones of Grieg, and it ismore seriously worked out in some respects, and therefore extremelysatisfactory. 

In some of the earlier and smaller works of Grieg the national traitsappear, while in others nothing of this sort is to be observed. Forexample, in the collection entitled "Lyric Pieces for the Piano, " Opus12, there are a charming arietta, a pretty little waltz, a very seriousfanciful piece called "Wachterlied, " or the song of the watchers inShakspere's "Macbeth, " an elfin dance, a curious peasant mazurka, aquick Norwegian dance, an album-leaf, and a song of the Fatherland. Here are eight little pieces, all comprised within the compass of eightpages. In point of difficulty no one exceeds the fourth grade, yetthey are little poems that the greatest artist could play with pleasure. 

Perhaps, on the whole, the songs of Grieg show his remarkable talent inits most favorable light, and for this purpose those in the first GriegAlbum of Schirmer are as good as any. Accordingly, it is from thisthat the selections of the illustrative programs are taken. For lowvoice, "Sunset" and the "Cradle Song" are both very delightful, thelatter particularly so. The former might be sung by baritone, but thelatter requires an alto. Yet another song for low voice, which wouldindeed be better for a baritone than alto, is "The Poet's Last Song, " anoble lyric of elevated sentiment. For high voice, "Good Morning" and"Thanks for Thy Hand" are both unusually fine songs. 

No doubt other examples equally good are to be found in other works ofGrieg, of which the house of G. Schirmer publishes four volumes, which, being in the Schirmer Edition, are sold at moderate prices. Fromthese, should it be more convenient, other selections could be made. 

CHAPTER IV. 

RUBINSTEIN AND TSCHAIKOWSKY. 

ANTON RUBINSTEIN. 

For the purposes of the musical amateur and pianist, the two mostimportant of the well-established Russian composers are Rubinstein andTschaikowsky. It is by no means easy to make up a satisfactoryhalf-program from either composer, and this without in any waydisparaging their remarkable genius, which had personal qualities of avery marked character and a richness of musical inspiration in certaindirections rarely surpassed. But in both these masters there is anelement which is peculiarly Russian; a fondness for force as such, andfor stormy passion. Moreover, both composers have in their natureintense contradictions, which render it extremely difficult to compilea short list of pieces in any way satisfactorily representing theirindividualities. 

Anton Rubinstein, as is well known, was one of the most distinguishedpiano virtuosi who hay appeared since Liszt. He was born, November 28, 1830, at a place called Wechwotynez, and died at Peterhof, near St. Petersburg, November 20, 1894. Soon after his birth his parentssettled in Moscow, where his father had a pencil factory. Rubinstein'smother was very musical, and from her he received his earliestinstruction, up to his seventh year, when he became a pupil of a localmusician named Villoing, who was his only teacher. In 1840 he appearedin Paris, whither his teacher had preceded him, and his talent wasfully recognized by the highest authorities, Liszt among others. Incompliance with a suggestion of Liszt, he went to Germany to completehis studies, but first undertook a concert tour through Holland, England, Scandinavia, and Germany. In 1844 Rubinstein's parentsremoved to Berlin in order to give Anton and his younger brotherNicolas a musical education, and the boys became pupils of Dehn, thecelebrated contrapuntist. When Anton was about sixteen years old hisfather's illness recalled the mother to St. Petersburg, and the youngmusician was left to provide for himself as best he could by givinglessons and by concert engagements, which were very few. In hisautobiography he has narrated the dreadful straits to which he wasreduced, nearly dying of starvation, and laying the foundation ofgastric trouble which lasted him all his life long. In 1848 he settledagain at St. Petersburg, where he was so fortunate as to win thepatronage of the Grand Duchess Helene. Here he wrote several operas, of which "Dimitri Donskoi" was produced in 1852, and has been performedmany times since. In 1863 he founded the Conservatory of St. Petersburg, and remained its director five years. Meanwhile his famehad become very much established as a pianist, through his concerttours in various parts of Europe, and in 1872-1873 he visited Americaand made a very successful concert tour, a part of which was inassociation with Theodore Thomas' orchestra. The season in Americanetted him something less than $60, 000, but the tour was a great burdento him in many ways, and after returning to St. Petersburg heresolutely declined most munificent offers to return again to America. He received many favors from the Imperial family of Russia, having beenmade Imperial Russian Councillor of State and a Knight of the RussianOrder of Merit; but after 1890 he declined all public offices, andresided for some years in Dresden. 

As a pianist Rubinstein was one of the most remarkable that the historyof the instrument has known. He had a beautiful touch, enormous power, and great delicacy. Being of an emotional nature, he sometimes playedlike an angel, but at other times quite the reverse. It is notoriousof him that in the warmth of public performance, false notes werealways liable to occur. Yet in spite of them the playing was soessentially musical and genial that it used to be said that the publicwould rather hear Rubinstein play false notes than hear Bülow play nonebut right ones. 

Rubinstein composed in every department of music. Besides severaloperas written for the regular theater, he originated a sort ofbiblical drama, which was, in fact, an oratorio designed to be stagedand acted; in other words, a biblical opera. Of Israelitish race, thestories of the Old Testament appealed to him with intense force, andhis "Tower of Babel, " "The Maccabees, " "Sulamith, " "Paradise Lost, "and, later, "Christus, " were very important and interesting works. 

He wrote six symphonies, one of which, the famous "Ocean Symphony, " waslengthened out from time to time by supplementary movements, so that, at last accounts, it has seven movements, all of which are sometimesplayed. He wrote a large amount of chamber music and a great manypiano pieces of every sort. As a composer for the piano he wasextremely unequal. In the vast volume of his works will be found animmense amount of noisy, stormy, unsatisfactory music. Yet many ofthese works, which as wholes are repugnant to almost every person ofgood taste, contain beautiful ideas which with a different treatmentmight have given rise to extremely beautiful productions. He is mostsuccessful in his smaller creations, such as the Barcarolle, one or twonumbers of the series of portraits called Kamennoi-Ostrow, and thatfamous Staccato Study. He wrote a large number of songs, some ofwhich, upon Russian subjects, are in queer minor scales. Many of themare extremely beautiful. 

PETER ILITSCH TSCHAIKOVSKY. 

Peter Ilitsch Tschaikowsky, all things considered, was the mostimportant and artistically satisfactory composer of the Russian school. He was born December 25, 1840, and died November 5, 1893, at St. Petersburg. He studied law and entered the Government service, but, showing a marked inclination for music, at the advice of Rubinstein heentered the conservatory as a pupil when he was already eighteen ornineteen years of age. Such was his success in his new field thatwithin a few years he was made professor of harmony in the school, aposition which he retained for eleven years. From that time he devotedhimself entirely to composition. In his earliest tendencies he wasextremely Italian, with a fondness for sweet and sensuous melodies withsimple harmonies. Later on he developed a more virile vein, andRiemann well says of him that he "was a highly gifted, true musician, but at the same time a good Russian; hence are found in his worksthoughts of almost maidenly delicacy and sentiment and of the mostrefined construction; yet, side by side with them, others ofsemi-Asiatic roughness and brutality. "

Owing to his having resided at times in Switzerland, Italy, etc. , hisworks were quite soon recognized and played, and the University ofCambridge in 1893 conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor ofMusic. 

Tschaikowsky was the composer of eleven operas, the first having beenproduced in 1869 and the last in 1893. All of these, as I understand, were performed, and several of them are standard favorites in theRussian repertory, the most important, perhaps, being "Eugen Onegin, "which was also produced at Hamburg in 1892. He wrote six symphonies, of which the last, the so-called "Pathetique, " was completed shortlybefore his death. The Fifth Symphony is a more popular and commandingmusical work than any other of its class written since Beethoven. According to the idea of Mr. Theodore Thomas, it is too emotional anddramatic for a symphony; but it is extremely powerful and beautifulmusic, and the world has recognized it and takes pleasure in paying ithonor. Among the most satisfactory of the Tschaikowsky compositionsare the songs, which are among the most impassioned and beautiful ofrecent years; the melodies are flowing and thoroughly vocal, while theharmonies have that singular originality and heart-searching fervor ofwhich Tschaikowsky was the greatest exponent. Many of his orchestralworks have been cut for the Aeolian, and persons possessing thatconvenient instrument can easily explore the treasures of them. 

His piano compositions present a very curious contradiction; while thecomposer produced in one instance a concerto for piano and orchestra, in B-flat minor, which contains extremely strongly marked andproductive themes worked out exquisitely for the piano and for theorchestra, his works for piano solo are generally not altogethersatisfactory. Possibly this may be due to innovations of style andtechnic which later will become easy to the players; but at present aneasy piece by Tschaikowsky requires more or less preparation. Thefollowing program, on the whole, seems to represent his peculiaritieswith some success:

PROGRAM FROM RUBINSTEIN AND TSCHAIKOWSKY. 

 Rubinstein: Tarantelle in B minor. "Kamennoi-Ostrow, " No. 22. Valse Caprice, in E-flat. Barcarolle in G major. "La Melancholic. " "Polka Boheme. " Melodie in F. Staccato Study in C major. 

 Tschaikowsky: Scherzo from Opus 2. Barcarolle in G minor. Opus 37. No. 6. Song without Words. In F major. Opus 12. "Weihnachten" Waltz. Opus 37, No. 1. Songs (_ad lib. _). Polonaise from "Eugen Onegin, " arranged by Liszt. Or Waltz from "Eugen Onegin, " arranged by Pabst. 

Excellent four-hand arrangements are to be had of all the orchestralworks by Rubinstein and Tschaikowsky. Address the publishers of thiswork for particulars. 

CHAPTER V. 

THE LATER ROMANTICISTS. 

Among the numerous composers of Germany in recent times, of whom thereare a very large number worthy of special notice, there are four who, by reason of their personal qualities and the general directions inwhich they have expressed their talent, demand special attention. Their names are Adolf Jensen, Xaver Scharwenka, Moritz Moszkowski, andI. J. Paderewski. As will be noticed from the names, three of theseartists are Polish in nationality and stock. 

Adolf Jensen (born at Königsburg, January 12, 1837; died January 23, 1879) was mainly a self-taught composer, inasmuch as he had only twoyears' instruction. Nevertheless, at the age of twenty he wassufficiently advanced to be appointed conductor of the orchestra atPosen. Afterward he lived in Russia, and at Copenhagen, and wasfinally back as teacher in the school of Tausig, in Berlin. Very soonafterward, however, he contracted a pulmonary disease, which was thecause of his death. 

Jensen was a very prolific composer in many departments, but especiallybrilliant as a song writer and as a composer of romantic pieces for thepianoforte. As a song writer, Riemann considers him the legitimatesuccessor of Schumann; and among the hundreds of songs which heproduced are many of very great beauty. His piano pieces are elegantlywritten, --somewhat Schumannesque in point of style, although not nearlyso rugged and much more fluent, --and the pieces on the program belowgive a sufficiently fair idea of the general features of his style inthis department. The selection of songs may, perhaps, be left to theconvenience and taste of the singers, since it is impossible todesignate any two or three songs of his which so fully illustrate hiscapacity as to be held up as models of all the rest. 

The second upon the list is Xaver Scharwenka, born at Samper, January6, 1850. He was educated at the Kullak School, in Berlin, and at theage of eighteen was appointed teacher in Kullak's Academy. His firstconcert appearance was made at the age of nineteen in theSing-Akademie, with great success, and his reputation as adistinguished and accomplished player was almost immediatelyestablished, and was strengthened by numerous appearances for years. In 1881 he opened in Berlin the Scharwenka Conservatory, which is stillin existence, his older brother, Philip, upholding there the familyname. 

Scharwenka made a very marked impression on the musical world by hisearlier compositions, an impression which perhaps has not been fullyreinforced by some of his later works, which seem, somehow, to bewanting in those qualities of spontaneity and innate grace of stylewhich distinguished the earlier pieces. The best work from his pen, undoubtedly, is the first concerto for piano, which is one of thecleverest works in this department of recent years. He is the authorof a large amount of chamber music and pieces of different sorts. Themost popular of all his compositions is the well-known "Polish Dances. "One of the most meritorious is the theme and variations on the programbelow. 

I. J. Paderewski, the famous piano virtuoso, is so well known thatparticulars are, perhaps, not necessary in his case. He was bornNovember 6, 1859, at Polodien. He has written a considerable number ofpieces for the piano and for chamber instruments, and a little fororchestra. His music is melodious and sentimental, occasionallybrilliant. Opinions differ very much in regard to the essentialoriginality of his melody, numerous resemblances existing between hissuccessful pieces and others which have been popular some time earlier. At any rate, he is an interesting personality, with a certain naturalgrace and style which entitle him to consideration. The most highlyesteemed of his compositions are the three upon the list below, although no one of the pieces of his which attained American popularityis here included. 

The most distinguished of this entire group is Moritz Moszkowski, thewell-known composer and pianist, who was born August 23, 1854, atBreslau, the son of a Polish father. He had his early musical trainingat Breslau and Dresden, and later at Berlin, where for many years hehas been established as a teacher. He early attracted attention as apianist, and very soon also began to be distinguished as a composer. He has produced a large number of piano pieces of various sorts, manycompositions for orchestra, songs, etc. His music is melodious andartistic, although, as a rule, of no great depth. Among the moreattractive of his works are the pieces on the present list. Hisfascinating little Serenata in D major for piano will be remembered, aswell as a number of more _ad captandum_ pieces which he has turned outat different times. 

 PROGRAM. 

 Scharwenka: Theme and Variations. Staccato Étude, E-flat. Valse Caprice. Paderewski: Nocturne in B-flat. Burlesque. Suite a l'Antique. Jensen: Eroticon, No. 3, No. 7. Berceuse. Moszkowski: Polonaise, D major. G-flat Study. Barcarolle, G major. Moment Musicale, in C-sharp minor. 

CHAPTER VI. 

GOTTSCHALK AND MASON. 

Owing to the composite character of our American civilization, in whichso many different nationalities are mingled, several of which maintainas long as possible their own language and customs, there is a certaincrudity in the national life and a want of ripeness which as yet hasprevented the development of what properly can be called an Americanschool of musical composition. Almost all our composers have beeneducated in Germany, many of them at Leipsic, and their compositions donot differ in a striking degree from those of good German composers. Minor traits of individuality and differences of imaginative scope arenoticeable and afford marks of distinction; but, essentiallyconsidered, there has been very little music composed in this countrywhich is at the same time good and so characteristically American thatit could not have been produced under any other circumstances. Nevertheless, there have been at least two American composers who arecharacteristically American and who could not have been produced underany different circumstances; and a number of others in whom theAmerican traits are well defined. 

The two American composers of original and characteristic genius arethe late Louis Moreau Gottschalk and the famous march king, John PhilipSousa. As the compositions of Mr. Sousa have shown themselves able totake care of themselves, and as his popularity needs no assistance fromthis quarter, I will consider his case first, and say that in this sonof an Italian father and a German mother, born and raised in the cityof Washington, D. C. , we have a thoroughly characteristic American, inwhom different heredities mingle in a curious way and give rise to acertain originality of temperament and style. 

While Mr. Sousa, from his earlier career, and probably by force of histemperament, has naturally taken the position of a popular composer, hehas done so almost entirely in consequence of the inherently popularcharacter of the music he has turned out, which, for striking rhythmand melodic piquancy, has taken the ear not alone of the United Statesbut of the whole world, his marches being widely played in all foreigncountries, where they are received with the liveliest demonstrations ofapproval. In fact, very much the same kind of mild excitement that a_chic_ American girl awakens in a foreign reception, the band music ofSousa affords to the travel-worn palates of European bandmasters. Itstirs them up and gives them a new sensation. It is a mistake, therefore, to speak of this artist in terms implying an unwillingnessto classify him among serious composers. He is entitled to a veryhonorable place among those who have loved their fellow-men so wellthat they have made them feel good. 

LOUIS MOREAU GOTTSCHALK. 

In the year 1829 our two first American pianists were born: LouisMoreau Gottschalk in New Orleans, and William Mason in Boston. Theheredity, environment, and training of these two men were as differentas it is possible to imagine. Gottschalk was the son of a German whocame to New Orleans by way of England, and in this country married aFrench woman. New Orleans at that time was practically a French city, and the French language was very largely spoken in the family life. The boy, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, showed talent for music at theearliest possible age, and made a number of public appearances of avery interesting and creditable kind, and at the age of thirteen, whenhe was sent to Paris to go on with his education, he had alreadyestablished quite a little reputation. In Paris he was educated underthe late Charles Hallé and Stamaty, and in 1844, at the age of fifteen, he produced his first two works, called ballads, "Ossian" and "TheDance of the Shades. " His concert career in Europe began in 1846, whenhe was seventeen years of age, and he gave a series of concerts at theItalian Opera in Paris in which he was associated with the celebratedHector Berlioz. 

He made a genuine furor as pianist, and Berlioz, in charmingly turnedphrases, speaks of him as follows:

"Gottschalk is one of the very small number who possess all thedifferent elements of a consummate pianist--all the faculties whichsurround him with an irresistible prestige and give him a sovereignpower. He is an accomplished musician--he knows just how far fancy maybe indulged in expression. He knows the limits beyond which anyliberties taken with the rhythm produce only confusion and discord, andupon these limits he never encroaches. There is an exquisite grace inhis manner of phrasing sweet melodies and throwing off light touchesfrom the higher keys. The boldness and brilliancy and originality ofhis play at once dazzle and astonish, and the infantile naïveté of hissmiling caprices, the charming simplicity with which he renders simplethings, seem to belong to another individuality distinct from thatwhich marks his thundering energy. Thus the success of M. Gottschalkbefore an audience of musical cultivation is immense. "

His first American tour was made in 1853-54. Then ensued a time oftravel in the West Indies, but in 1862 he was back in New York again, and his American tours lasted until 1869, when he went to SouthAmerica, where he died at the comparatively early age of forty. 

There is a disposition at the present time to undervalue the work ofGottschalk. He was a melodist pure and simple, and his distinctionfrom an American standpoint consists in his having given a new note tohis music by availing himself of the rhythms and characteristiccadences of negro, creole, and Spanish nationalities in the southernUnited States and Central America. At the present time of thepianistic day, when very little attracts attention unless it is verydifficult, it seems incredible that works so simple in their nature asthose of Gottschalk could have attracted the attention they did; butthere is more in this simplicity than at first sight appears, even ifwe admit that from a critical standpoint the introductions and endingsare entirely too long for the matter they contain. Gottschalk himselfhad a way of doing them which made them seem extremely significant, andwhen he came to the melody itself it was played with such a delicacyand such a masterly touch that it seized the attention and concentratedthe interest to a remarkable degree. Harmonically considered, almostall his works are within rather narrow limits, but as compared with theFrench composers of the day when his works made so much furor in Paris, Gottschalk has nothing to apologize for, since his music has a charmand a distinction of originality superior to almost all of that time orthe present. 

Many of the things with which Gottschalk made a great effect in hisconcert tours would not have been composed if he had lived thirty orforty years later. I mean now his four-hand arrangements of theovertures to "William Tell" and "Oberon. " These are extremelybrilliant and sensational arrangements, and are well worthy theattention of boarding-schools and clubs desiring something out of theordinary way. It was his custom, in his concerts, to play the upperpart himself while the best available local performer played the otherpart. This gave most of the melody and all of the brilliant work tothe masterly fingers of the pianist himself. 

The poetic thread or suggestion underlying many of his pieces is veryslight. Nevertheless, it is not without value. Take, for instance, the beautiful "Marche de Nuit, " a piece which opens with six lines ofintroduction, amounting practically to an excellent study of crescendo, the idea being to show the effect of the march-music in the extremedistance and its gradual approach. At length we come to the marchitself, and it is a pleasant and agreeable melody, and the difficultyof the whole is no more than is now well within the powers of a pupilin the early fifth grade. The famous "Last Hope" is well known to all, and is one of the most persistent melodies which any American composerhas produced in instrumental music. The introduction and the coda areboth much too long, and can only be saved by a certain distinction inthe manner of performing them. Mr. Wolfsohn said that such was thecharm of Gottschalk's personality and touch that everything he playedimpressed itself and you remembered it a very long time. Dr. Masontells me that in these pianissimo runs in _alt_, which abound in somany of his works, Gottschalk's fingers were like little steel hammers, the tone being perfectly clear and like a bell, but not pianissimo inthe true sense of the term. 

It seems puerile now that in his concerts Gottschalk could have made aneffect with his famous piece "The Banjo, " which is a very realistictranscription of a negro banjo performance, the banjo effect on thepiano, in his case, I think, having been accomplished by the touch, whereas many others find themselves obliged to lay a sheet of music onthe strings in order to impart to the vibrations the peculiar twang ofthe original. 

Another and more favorable example of his talent is in the beautiful"Slumber Song, " which can be had for voice or for piano alone. Thereis another class of pieces by Gottschalk which seem very peculiar atthe present time. They are the rather loud and somewhat difficultconcert fantasies called the "Bamboula, " or "Negro Dance, " and"Jerusalem, " the latter being made upon certain melodies in Verdi's "ILombardi. " Another piece of his which made a great effect in hisconcerts and was a general favorite of students was the "AeolianMurmurs, " a pleasant melody with a lot of fine pianissimo work torepresent the murmurs. Speaking of the misleading effect of theGottschalk performances, I will mention that the well-known piece, "TheDying Poet, " was played by him many and many a time in public, to thegreat pleasure of the audience; yet before we gather up stones to throwat the American concert audiences of the early '60's, let us not forgetthat within the past few years audiences have shown themselves equallyvulnerable to the charm of Paderewski's "Minuet, " a work in no respectsuperior to the slightest of our American pianist. In this case, as inthe former, it is a question of the personality and appealing nature ofthe performer. 

WILLIAM MASON. 

The other American pianist born in the year 1829 had a totallydifferent heredity, environment, and education. William Mason alsoshowed his talent at an early age, and was seriously taught the pianounder the direction of his father, the late very distinguished andeminent Dr. Lowell Mason, who at that time and for about twenty yearslater exerted a most commanding influence in Boston and the country atlarge. Mason's advance was so rapid that by the time he was thirteenor fourteen, or a little later, he appeared in public with orchestra inBoston, playing the Mendelssohn G minor concerto, and I think he hadplayed the Weber "Concertstück. " In the season of 1846 and 1847 heplayed the piano part in the chamber concerts given by the HarvardMusical Association. In 1849 he went to Leipsic and became a pupil intheory of the distinguished Moritz Hauptmann. Upon Hauptmann's deathhe went to Prague for a year with Dreyschock, and then to Liszt atWeimar. This was in 1851, or thereabouts, and here he remained sometime. Returning to America in 1854 he removed to New York, and tookthe commanding position which he has almost ever since occupied asteacher and as concert pianist. While there are traces of Americantraining in the musical compositions of Dr. Mason, these traces arevery few, the general character of his work being distinctly German. His musical talent was strong upon the harmonic side, but upon themelodic side his imagination was not so free. He has produced severalvolumes of compositions, probably about one hundred in all, almostevery one being elegantly written and well made, and many of them of aclassical elegance of style. His reputation as a composer has sufferedfrom his limiting his work always to the field of the salon, andespecially to the piano. I believe he has never composed an originalsong, although he has arranged several which have been very usefulindeed. It is as a composer for the piano that we have to speak of him. 

The most sensational of the Mason pieces is his famous "Silver Spring, "which was composed shortly after the late Scandinavian pianist, Haberbier, had visited Weimar and had played many brilliant effects ofrunning work upon the piano, in which the hands were used"inter-locking, " as it is called; that is, the left hand taking now andthen one or two notes of the run. This method of dividing up a run hasthe effect of imparting a certain amount of arm element to the touch, whereby the tone becomes considerably heavier and more brilliant. Itwas thought at Weimar at that time that piano playing would very likelytake this direction in future, and that the day of running work in thefingers of one hand alone had practically passed. Accordingly, Masonexperimented in these new effects which Haberbier had suggested, andworked out this piece, "The Silver Spring. " As he told me, he firsthad to find out an accompaniment figure which pleased him, and then todiscover in which chords it would go most easily, because the locationof the black keys with reference to the white plays a very importantpart when the hand has to fall in its place in rapid motion. When hehad ascertained these points, he then had to consider what key wouldafford the greatest number of chords of this character, and so at lasthe came to the key of A and the chords he has in "The Silver Spring. "When he had arrived at this point it was necessary to provide a melody, and, as the melody had to fit the accompaniment, the melody was madelast, and in this way he arrived at the seeming "impromptu" of "TheSilver Spring. " This is his own story to me many years ago, and it mayhave had a humorous exaggeration in it, not to be taken too seriously. I mention it because somewhere about the same time when Mason told itto me I had been talking with Dudley Buck one day, and we were speakingof Mason with very great admiration, especially for the elegance of hisstyle as illustrated in some of his then recently composed works, suchas his "Cradle Song, " his two impromptus, "At Evening" and "In theMorning, " his "Romance Étude" and the like, and Buck said, "If Masonever had an inspiration it was in that beautiful melody in 'The SilverSpring. ' I have arranged a church tune from it and my choir sings itwith never failing delight. It will not do to undervalue Mason's giftfor melody when he has produced a piece like that. "

With reference to the trend of piano playing in the direction of thisinterlocking work, there were several years when it looked as if theHaberbier suggestions would bear no fruit, but latterly in theTschaikowsky concerto, to some extent, and in the Schytte concerto inC-sharp minor, to a very great extent, the interlocking principle isemployed. 

One of the first of Mason's pieces which attained anything likepersistent popularity was the "Danse Rustique, " which, by the way, isone of the best finger studies for piano students in the fourth gradeof which I have any knowledge. It is one of those pieces which canalways be learned even by a pupil who is not very smart, provided hewill practise it carefully and earnestly enough. It is a piece whichcan not be played well without very careful practice, and which, whenwell played, produces a good effect. Hence it has a remarkablepedagogic value if the teacher knows when to put it in and how tohandle it when it is once there. While this piece makes no veryimportant figure in the esthetic world, it is by no means a compositionto be treated with disrespect. There is a great deal of energy in itand the second subject is very pleasing indeed, and the modulating workin the middle of the piece, where the elaboration would naturally standin a serious work, is of considerable range and ingenuity, andthoroughly characteristic of the author. 

One who wishes to know Mason should study some of the lighter aspectsof his productions; and first of these, since it is more nearly relatedto what I have just now been mentioning, is the "Romance Étude" in Gminor. This is a pretty melody, often in thirds, in G minor, lying inthe convenient soprano range of the piano. Long runs cross thismelody, in Thalbergian manner, from one end of the keyboard to theother, and at times the scale business gives place to charmingarpeggios, figures which transfer themselves from one hand to theother. The scale is a curious minor scale with a sharp fourth, and istherefore anything but inviting to the fingers at first. The effect ofthe whole, when well played, is very charming, although it is more theeffect of a study than of a poem. 

Still lighter in their characteristics are his charming and half-jocosevariations on the old French air, "Ah vous dirais-je maman, " betterknown in school circles of my time as "Haste thee, winter, haste away. "There is a very playful effect in these variations, and in the titleMason calls them "Variations Grotesques"; but when he sent a copy toLiszt, that amiable critic replied that the word "grotesque" had noplace in piano playing--that they should properly be called jocose, orsomething of that sort. 

Thoroughly interesting in every way is the remarkable series of duetsfor teacher and pupil. Here are eight little nursery melodies which atthe time these variations were composed were among the best known inthis field, and the pupil, supposed to be a small child, plays themgenerally with one hand alone, or with both hands in octaves, veryrarely in parts. The teacher, meanwhile, adds the harmonies, andwonderfully interesting and highly diversified harmonies they are. Andin the same line with these are two other pieces which were originallywritten for the Mason and Hoadley Method for beginners: a march inwhich the pupil plays under the five fingers entirely, while theteacher adds the most strange and diversified harmonies, and a waltz inwhich the pupil still has nothing more than five-finger positions todeal with. I consider these pieces superior to anything of this kindthat I have ever seen in point of cleverness and harmonic wit. 

It would be a mistake, however, to dismiss the work of Dr. Mason withthese half-jocose illustrations of his genius. He has a very elegantlywritten "Berceuse" which if very well done produces a lovely effect. Atrifle more flexibility in the melody would have been an advantage, butit is a beautifully made piece and well worthy attention. He has alsoa ballad of very considerable dramatic force, and I have always beenfond of his "Reverie Poetique, " which is very much in the style ofHenselt. A melody without a great range, but running in two parts uponrather diversified harmonies, constitutes the first part of this piece, and it is afterward developed or varied in double notes, which areprincipally sixths, in a very lovely manner. The only drawback, asidefrom the difficulty of playing it well, is the length to which it isspun out. Undoubtedly it is a little monotonous, owing to the samemotive coming over so many times. On the other hand, however, itpretends at the start to be nothing more than a poetic "reverie, " andit has the character of a reverie--something which dwells and muses andperhaps never arrives. I mentioned, before, two reveries called "Inthe Morning" and "At Evening. " The first of these is a very cleverstudy, and both are well worth studying. 

The works of both these composers have a distinct and pronouncedpedagogic value, but in wholly different directions, and both appealprincipally to American pianists. The Gottschalk pieces now are mainlyused in the earlier stages of instruction for forming good melodyhabits. They appeal to the poetic sensibility of the players who asyet are hardly ready for Chopin or any of the more elaborate composers. Dr. Mason's works, especially those I have here mentioned, appeal uponthe opposite side to the harmonic sense, and to the sense of workingout a theme with good consistency and persistency. While theGottschalk pieces improve the style of melody and the sparkle of theplaying, the Mason pieces conduce to system and regularity in study andto a serious and careful treatment of the left-hand part as well as theright, and they have in them some of that quality which belongs tonearly all the works of Bach, when undertaken by students: they promoteseriousness and musical feeling. 

Hence I propose the following program as on the whole affording a goodidea of the works of these composers:

 PROGRAM. 

 Gottschalk-Weber: Overture to "Oberon. " Four hands. Mason: Amitie pour Amitie. (Available for four hands if preferred. ) Air and Variations Grotesques. "Ah Vous Dirais-je Maman. " Spring Dawn Mazurka. Reverie Poetique. Gottschalk: Marche de Nuit. The Banjo. (Negro Sketch. ) Song, "Slumber On. " Mason: Eight Duets for Teacher and Pupil. (Ditson Co. ) Four hands. March and Waltz for Teacher and Pupil. Four hands. Gottschalk: Aeolian Murmurs. The Last Hope. Mason: The Tocctina. Reverie, "Au Matin. " "The Silver Spring. " Gottschalk-Rossini: The Overture to "William Tell. " Four hands. 

CHAPTER VII. 

MACDOWELL. 

EDWARD ALEXANDER MACDOWELL. 

By general consent of music lovers and connoisseurs, Mr. EdwardAlexander MacDowell, or Prof. MacDowell as he should now be called, isthe most finished and accomplished writer for the pianoforte that wehave. Mr. MacDowell was born in New York on the 18th of December, 1861, and after having some instruction from his mother, who was a goodmusician, he received lessons for a while from Teresa Carreno. In 1877he went to Paris and became a pupil of Marmontel and Savard. Later onhe went to Frankfort-on-the-Main, where he studied composition with thelate Joachim Raff and piano playing with Carl Heymann. In this mannerfive years of European student-life passed, and in 1888 he was madepiano teacher at the Darmstadt Conservatory; he remained there only oneyear, in 1882 going to Weisbaden, where his position was a verydistinguished one. In 1888 he returned to America and located inBoston, where he immediately succeeded to an extremely fine clientele. In Boston Mr. MacDowell naturally found very congenial surroundings. He lived on West Cedar Street, a few doors from Arthur Foote, well downon the slopes of Beacon Hill, a short distance from the Common and notvery far from Charles Street. The aristocratic desirability of thisparticular location in Boston is measured by its remoteness from streetcars and all means of public transit. This, however, is a mere detail. In 1896 Mr. MacDowell was appointed professor of music at ColumbiaUniversity, after negotiations extending over several months. 

It is impossible to read over the list of Mr. MacDowell's publishedworks without realizing at once that here we have a composer of nosmall fertility of idea and great seriousness and ambition of purpose. The list from which I take the following particulars is, no doubt, incomplete, since it reaches only to opus 50, which work was publishedin 1895. But the list contains four symphonic poems for orchestra, theFirst Suite, scored for orchestra, and the Second, or "Indian"Suite, --in all, six large works for orchestra. There are two concertosfor pianoforte and orchestra, both of which have been played verysuccessfully, the first one many times over by Mme. Carreno and by Mr. MacDowell himself. There is a romance for 'cello and orchestra; twonumbers of four-hand pieces, originally so composed; twelve books ofsongs; and quite a long list of pieces for the pianoforte. 

To take the more important of the latter, there are, first, twelvestudies, opus 39, which are of various lengths, from two to six pageseach; in part fancy pieces for the piano, and in part intended to serveas exercises in different styles of playing. Then there are twelvevirtuoso studies, opus 46, much more difficult than the preceding andvery interesting and marked in their characteristics. There are sixIdylles, opus 28, and quite a number of other small pieces for piano, of no great ambition, but all poetic and seriously done. The mostpopular of the purely pianoforte pieces, perhaps, is the "Witches'Dance, " which has the advantage of being a most excellent finger study. The only drawback to this piece is the rather commonplace character ofthe melody which serves as middle piece. This, however, is somewhatconcealed by the cleverness of the treatment. 

Of all the piano works, the three upon which Mr. MacDowell's reputationin the higher musical circles will rest are his First Suite and his twosonatas, the one called "Tragic, " the other "Heroic. " The First Suitedates from the time when he was with Raff at Frankfort, and it waspublished in Germany by Breitkopf and Hartel. It is perhaps modeledsomewhat on a suite by Raff. The first movement, praeludium, is quitein the old style at first. Presently, a flowing melody in the bassbegins against a pianissimo, arpeggiated accompaniment in the righthand, with a very charming and thoroughly pianistic effect, and thepraeludium is carried through on this motive. The second movement, presto, is practically a scherzo with a strong flavor of fugue at thebeginning. It is very fully developed, extending to eight pages. Thenfollows the slow movement, andantino and allegretto, bearing a motto, "_Per arnica silentia lunae_" (Virgil); and "by the friendly silence ofthe moon" the sweet cantilena goes on, now for soprano, now for tenor. The middle piece is of a more dramatic character perhaps. This isfollowed by an intermezzo, like a quick minuet, which is verysuccessful; and this in turn by a rhapsody, which bears a motto fromDante's "Inferno, " "Those who enter here leave hope behind"--surely nota very inviting suggestion to the student who takes it for the firsttime. Fortunately the period when hope forsakes the reader is short, being really of only one page, after which a sort of mitigated griefensues, and in another page this movement ends. Then follows thefinale--a fugue in E major, well made and effective but by no meanseasy to play. At the end of the fugue there is a coda of a stormycharacter. 

This suite, as a whole, is a very brilliant piano piece, and alsodifficult to play; but it is musical and well done and therefore worthplaying. 

The latest of his large works in a serious form is the second sonata, called the "Eroïca. " This is designated by the composer as a "flowerfrom the realm of King Arthur, " and it is dedicated to Dr. WilliamMason. Beginning very seriously and slowly, it almost immediatelyrises to intense vigor, which, after a while, gives place to a secondsubject--a song-melody in the folk-tone; and out of these twoingredients--or three, more properly (the motive of the first page, thesecond page, and the song-form already noticed)--the movement iscarried to completion. It is very difficult to play, but when welldone is effective and serious. The second movement is a very playfulscherzo, which is designated as elf-like--as light and swift aspossible. The third movement is designated "tenderly, longingly, yetwith passion"; the hero is now in love, very much so; his being isstirred to its utmost core; his rhythm is shaken up so that two's andthree's intermingle in the most inviting confusion; and his harmonicfoundations are also subjected to fast and loose experiences verytrying to the outsider who would represent all this inner commotion. Nevertheless the movement, when well done, is very lovely. The finaleis designated "fiercely and very fast"--a very strong and tumultuousmovement. 

Throughout his career as a composer Mr. MacDowell has placed greatimportance upon the advantage a composer gains from a poetic standpointor conception. He has often maintained that one could write bettermusic if inspired by poetry than when he merely gives rein to hismusical fancy, as such; and that, in fact, the only salvation for themodern composer, and his only protection from falling into mererhapsody, is in having a poetic story in mind to which the music shouldconform. Accordingly, in all these large works of Mr. MacDowell's, especially in the two sonatas, and perhaps even more so in the secondthan in the first, the transitions of mood in the music are verynoticeable indeed, and the work needs to be played with a great deal oftaste as well as mastership in order to prevent it from having acertain fragmentary effect. This, in the production of a composer somasterly in musical treatment as Mr. MacDowell, is rather curious, andI have never been able fully to account for it. The disposition tolean on poetic suggestion is very evident in the books of studiesalready mentioned. For instance, in the opus 46 there are such titlesas "Wild Chase, " "Elfin Dance, " "March Wind"; and in the former bookthe "Dance of the Gnomes, " "The Shadow Dance, " "In the Forest"; in theopus 37, "By the Light of the Moon, " "In the Hammock, " "DanceAndalusian "; in the opus 32, --entitled "Four Little Poems, "--"TheEagle, " "The Brook, " "Moonshine, " "Winter"; then, again, in the latestof Mr. MacDowell's works which I have seen--the "Woodland Sketches, "opus 51--there are ten little pieces, with such titles as "To a WildRose, " "Will o' the Wisp, " "At an old Trysting Place, " "In Autumn, ""From an Indian Lodge, " "To a Water Lily, " "From 'Uncle Remus, '" "ADeserted Farm, " "By a Meadow Brook, " "Told at Sunset. " These titlesmay or may not have been in the mind of the composer at the moment ofproducing the work. It is quite possible that a significant musicalidea, upon being developed, suggested the name, and that the fancifulname was taken for the sake of the student. These "Woodland Sketches"in particular are very simple pieces indeed, rarely presentingdifficulties beyond the fourth grade, and all of them musical. 

Mr. MacDowell has also shared the opinion of many writers thatsomething new is to be reached by the modern composer from thesuggestion of characteristic folk-songs, and in his "Indian" Suite hehas made use of themes derived from the North American Indians orsuggested by some of their melodies. The "Indian" Suite is undoubtedlya very beautiful and poetic work for orchestra. I can not say that Ifind it better by reason of its barbarous themes, but the treatment ofthose themes has in it nothing that is barbarous, but, on the contrary, everything that is highly finished and polished, with a keen sense ofthe comely and well sounding. 

On the whole, therefore, considering the mastery with which he hasworked out his different pieces, and the characteristic and modernmanner in which his poetical suggestions are realized upon the piano, we are obliged to take Mr. MacDowell very seriously, and to rank himamong the first of writers at the present time. As he is still a youngman, and has accepted the professorship of music at Columbia primarilyfor the purpose of having more leisure for composition, other andgreater works ought to follow from his pen. I have been informed thathe has in hand, or already finished, a symphony for full orchestra, andno doubt his portfolio contains a multitude of other pieces which asyet he is not ready to give to the world. Many of the songs which hehas published are upon his own verses, and some of them are verybeautiful. In fact, you will rarely find eight songs together sopleasing and well worth knowing in every way as the "Eight Songs" byMr. MacDowell, opus 47. 

At the same time, there is a certain amount of make-believe in thesefantastic titles for piano pieces, which, after all, can be nothingelse than more or less legitimate developments of certain musicalmotives, as such; and can be satisfactory only in proportion as theideas are legitimately unfolded and adequately treated, and contrastedwith other material. Even the marks of expression are arbitrary, avery amusing illustration of which I am able to give from my ownexperience. It happened some months ago that an out-of-town pupil, connected with a musical club, brought me a program of MacDowell'sworks which she had to play at one of the club meetings, and in thelist was the difficult chord study entitled "March Wind. " This wasmarked pianissimo. It is rather a difficult thing to bring down tosmoothness, and I spent a great deal of time in getting it playedsoftly, in order to represent the distance of the wind and the rise andfall of the intensity. A few days later Mr. MacDowell played a recitalin Chicago, and among the other selections was this same "March Wind, "which he played fortissimo throughout. When I saw him the next day Ibegan, in that irreverent manner which critics and composers have withone another (for Mr. MacDowell was not yet a professor): "You're a finefellow! To mark your own 'March Wind' pianissimo and then play itfortissimo. What's the good of my working two hours with a pupil toget it down fine when you upset everything by playing it in thistumultuous way?" To which Mr. MacDowell answered: "Did I mark thatpianissimo? When I got ready to play it I could n't remember whetherit was pianissimo or fortissimo, and I said, 'March Wind, ' 'MarchWind, ' that must be very loud and roaring; and so I played itfortissimo. "

But however this may be, it can be said of Mr. MacDowell that he hasillustrated his talents as a composer in a wide variety of styles, andalways in a delicate and finished manner. He is, therefore, a composerto be treated seriously, and to be looked up to as a master, with anexpectation of even more beautiful and satisfactory works still tofollow. 

 PROGRAM. 

 I. First Suite. Opus 10. Praeludium. Presto. Andantino and Allegretto. Intermezzo. Rhapsodie. Fugue. 2. Woodland Sketches. "To a Wild Rose. " "Will o' the Wisp. " "At an Old Trysting Place. " "In Autumn. " "From an Indian Lodge. " "To a Water Lily. " "From 'Uncle Remus'. " "A Deserted Farm. " "By a Meadow Brook. " "Told at Sunset. " 3. Two Songs from Opus 33. "Cradle Hymn. " "Idyll. " 4. Selections from Opus 39. "Romance. " "Arabeske. " "In the Forest. " "Idylle. " "Shadow Dance. " "Witches' Dance. " Opus 17, No. 2. 5. Eight Songs. Opus 47. "The Robin Sings in the Apple-tree. " "Midsummer Lullaby. " "Folk-song. " "Confidence. " "The West Wind Croons in the Cedar Trees. " "In the Woods. " "The Sea. " "Through the Meadow. " 6. Sonata, "Eroïca. " Opus 30. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

ARTHUR FOOTE AND MRS. H. H. A. BEACH. 

There is nothing especial in common between the composers herementioned that they should be put together in one program, exceptingthe fact that they both live in Boston; nor, on the other hand, isthere anything especially contrasting between them. For this reason Ithink it better to give the selections of the different composersseparately, leaving the superintendent of the concert to arrange theprogram of selections in any order most pleasing to him. 

ARTHUR FOOTE. 

Arthur Foote was born of a good New England family at Salem, Mass. , March 5, 1853. He pursued the usual course of a well-bred New Englandboy, passing successively through the district school and academy, andat length graduated at Harvard in 1874. He had already madeconsiderable study of music, both upon instruments and in theory, andunder the competent instruction of Mr. Stephen A. Emery had madeconsiderable progress in composition. 

He now entered seriously upon the study of music, with the intention ofmaking it a life-long profession. His teachers were Mr. B. J. Lang, inorgan and pianoforte playing, and Prof. J. K. Paine, in composition. In 1875, after examination, he received from Harvard the degree of A. M. In music. Since 1876 he has been engaged as a successful teacher ofthe pianoforte in Boston, and since 1878 has been organist of the FirstUnitarian Church in Boston. In daily work, as an interesting andstimulating instructor in art, Mr. Foote leads an honored life; but heis better known to the outside world by his compositions, whichindicate talent of a high order. The range of them and the variety arealike remarkable. 

Among his important compositions are to be mentioned an Impromptu (Gminor); Gavotte (B minor); Mazurka (G minor); Opus 6, consisting offive pieces; Prelude and Nocturne (F minor and F major); Sarabande (Gmajor); Petite Valse (for the left hand); Polonaise (D major) andGavotte in C minor (Opus 8, No. 1); Eclogue (Opus 8, No. 2); Suite in Dminor (Opus 15), containing Prelude and Fugue, Romance and Capriccio;Sarabande and Courante of J. S. Bach (transcribed); two PianofortePedal Studies; Études Album, a collection of études, selected andarranged in progressive order; and Additions to Buttshardt Method ofPianoforte Technic. 

I do not find myself very well prepared to make a program ofcompositions of Mr. Foote which fully satisfies. The best I can dowith the material I have is the following, which is offered to thoseneeding it as a suggestion:

 PROGRAM. 

 Five pieces for piano. Opus 6. Prelude and Nocturne. Sarabande. Petite Valse. (For left hand alone. ) Polonaise. Three pieces for piano. No opus number. Impromptu in G Minor. Gavotte in B Minor. Sarabande and Courante from the Violoncello Sonatas of Bach. Arranged by Arthur Foote. 

The pieces here listed will occupy about forty minutes in performance. All of this music is seriously intended, all is well done, and allmusical. Naturally, the best pieces are the last, since theexperienced composer, Mr. Bach, had already laid the foundation, andhis music has had a longer time to ripen and grow a halo. 

SONGS BY ARTHUR FOOTE. 

In addition to the foregoing program of works by Mr. Arthur Foote, following is a selection of songs which can be confidently recommendedas attractive and valuable additions to these illustrative programs, and as well worthy the widest possible currency on their own account:

 "Into the silent land. " "O my love's like a red, red rose. " "If you become a nun, dear. " "A song from the Persian. " "In Picardie. " "O swallow, swallow, flying south. " "On the way to Kew. " "When icicles hang by the wall. " "Irish folk-song. " "I'm wearing awa'. " "Go, lovely rose. "

The first one in the above list is a very lovely quartet for femalevoices--originally composed for funeral occasions--upon Longfellow'stranslation of the song by Silas. It is a very beautiful quartet. The"Song from the Persian" is a duet for soprano and alto or baritone, preferably baritone, of an unusual, but on the whole pleasing, character. "O my love's like a red, red rose" is very charming, indeed, but perhaps best of the entire list is the soprano song, "Oswallow, swallow, flying south, " which is dedicated to Mme. LilianBlauvelt. 

Several of these selections are to be had for a low voice or a highvoice, but most of them are for mezzo-soprano or baritone. There isone for bass, "When icicles hang by the wall, " and one for alto, "I'mwearing awa', " and of the collection as a whole, I say again, it is anhonor to American art. They are songs that are extremely well worthknowing. 

MRS. H. H. A. BEACH. 

Mrs. H. H. A. Beach, whose maiden name was Amy Marcy Cheney, of Boston, was the daughter of a well-known singer and pianist. Her talent formusic showed itself in extreme youth, and at the age of six her realstudy began. Among her teachers were Ernst Perabo, Carl Baerman, andJulius Hill. She is a pianist of accomplished powers and a composer ofremarkable talent. It is told of her that on one occasion she playedthe Schumann concerto with the Boston Orchestra at a week's notice, inplace of a soloist who had canceled an engagement at the last moment. On another occasion she played her own pianoforte concerto with theorchestra with splendid effect. Last year her "Gaelic Symphony, " in Eminor, was played in Boston and also in Brooklyn by the BostonOrchestra. Her instrumentation is said to be excellent and the work avery strong one. 

Among the many clever compositions of Mrs. Beach's the following areperhaps the most suitable for our use:

Ballad for the pianoforte, dedicated to Mme. Fanny Bloomfield-Zeisler;a seriously made composition with a beautiful principal melody, cleverly developed, and a good deal of dramatic power in the workingout of the middle part. A composition of considerable difficulty forthe player, and also capable of very excellent effect when well done. 

There are also four sketches--"In Autumn, " "Dreaming, " "Phantoms, ""Fireflies. " "In Autumn, " a very sprightly composition in F-sharpminor, in a good 4/8 rhythm, capable of very charming effect. "Dreaming, " a meditative sustained melody in the key of G-flat, restingupon a triplet motion in the middle part, with harmonies sensitivelychanging at unexpected places, capable of most beautiful effect; alsoan excellent study in cantabile. "Phantoms, " a scherzo orquasi-mazurka, very sprightly and pleasing. "Fireflies, " a verydelightful study in thirds for the right hand, with novel and modernfingering; therefore extremely well adapted for study. This, when welldone, must be very beautiful, but it is necessary that the thirds beplayed with the utmost lightness and equality. It is more difficult, and also more extended than either of the preceding, but extremely wellworth attention. 

There are also three interesting pieces not so difficult in theirworking out. First, there is a "Barcarolle" in G minor, opus 28, No. 1; a very attractive rhythm and an extremely attractive harmonictreatment. This is a piece to be played with pleasure by any amateurof taste. It is only of moderate difficulty, as, for instance, sixthgrade. Perhaps a little less attractive, but more easy of execution, is the "Menuet Italien, " No. 2 of the same opus as the preceding. Thisis remarkably well worked out, however. The third piece in the sameopus is a waltz, "Dance of the Flowers, " bright, sparkling, evanescent;clever for the piano, and attractive if well done. 

Best of all, perhaps, is a "Romance for Violin and Piano, " which isdedicated to Miss Maud Powell. This is a very delightful piece, andwould make an admirable conclusion to a program. It requires goodplaying in all the parts. 

With reference to these compositions by Mrs. Beach, it deserves to besaid that they are not women's compositions. The musical spirit isunquestionable, the technic of developing ideas that of a well-trainedartist, and the writing for the instrument that of an accomplishedpianist. At the same time, Mrs. Beach makes no effort to be boisterousand to prove that she is a man by the brute force necessary to play herworks. Unless I am very much mistaken, her music will have a muchwider currency than it has yet received, because it deserves it. 

CHAPTER IX. 

MISCELLANEOUS PROGRAM BY AMERICAN COMPOSERS. 

For the convenience of clubs and classes desiring programs not sodifficult of performance and not confined to one or two composers, thefollowing is offered, embracing examples from Messrs. Edgar S. Kelley, Wilson G. Smith, Homer A. Norris, E. R. Kroeger, Geo. W. Chadwick, andMr. William Sherwood. All of these gentlemen have made thoroughstudies of composition and several of them have exercised themselves inthe larger forms, including orchestral and chamber writing. This isparticularly true of Messrs. Chadwick, Kroeger, and Kelley. 

Mr. Edgar Stillman Kelley was born April 14, 1857. He is a native ofWisconsin, and was formerly a pupil of Mr. Clarence Eddy, after whichhe studied in Stuttgart. He has produced quite a large number oforchestral pieces but only a small number for the pianoforte alone. Ibelieve that dramatic music is his main delight. He is also a lecturerupon musical subjects, bringing to his task a large amount of knowledgeupon the subject and plenty of enthusiasm. 

I have here only two examples of his work. The first is entitled the"The Flower Seekers, " a very pretty and melodious scherzo, having amotto from Chaucer's "Court of Love":

 "Fourth goeth al the court, both moste and leste, To feche the flowers freshe, and branche and blome. "

The second is entitled "Confluentia" and the motto upon it: "Here isthe conflux of the Rhine and the Mosel. This led the Romans to callthe city 'Confluentia. ' These streams--which rise in regions soremote--are here united until they pass into the eternal seabeyond. "--_Hans van Brechnowski_ (David Rockwell). 

It is a piece in nocturne style with a melodious voice coming in allsorts of forms, a little in the style of the well-known Schumann"Warum. "

Mr. Wilson G. Smith is a native of Ohio, educated under Otto Singer inCincinnati, and at Berlin. He is a pianist and composer and haspublished a very large number of pieces (something like 150) amongwhich it is quite possible more attractive selections could be foundthan those upon the present program; still, these are the best I knowof his. His work is light, melodious, and pleasant to play. The listfrom Mr. Smith comprises several very pleasant pieces. The "ValseMenuet, " opus 43, No. 1; the "Reverie at the Piano, " a sort of songwithout words; the second, "Polka Caprice, " which is very bright andpleasant; and the "Marche Fantastique, " opus 73, which is morebrilliant and diversified in its style than the others. 

Mr. Ernest Kroeger is a native of St. Louis and received his educationthere. He has written a large number of pieces for the piano (eightyor more), many songs, and quite a list of chamber and orchestralcompositions. 

I have here three Sonnets. The first one is in G minor, a sort ofcheerful nocturne, with nice melody and good musicianship. There is avein of melancholy about it. The next one, allegretto in B minor, isvery charming, and the last one is the strongest of all, I think. If astronger representation of Mr. Kroeger's art is desired, his firstsuite for the piano can be taken. 

Mr. Emil Liebling is better known as a teacher and pianist than as acomposer, but it has been his good fortune to win high commendation forthe few works he has published. He made his studies in compositionunder the late Heinrich Dorn, the same who was the master of Schumannin composition--though this may be no more than a coincidence. Mr. Liebling, although born in Berlin, has resided in the United States fornearly thirty years. He is essentially American. The two Romancesrepresent the most serious side of his work, in addition to which Ihave put on that very popular little scherzo, "Spring Song, " and a verypleasing parlor waltz. 

Mr. William Sherwood, the distinguished pianist, is not generally knownas a composer, but in any other country than this his strong tendencytoward composition would have found encouragement, and he would havebeen well known and probably as distinguished in this department as heis now in playing. I have placed Mr. Sherwood's compositions lastbecause they are the strongest of any in the list, and also the mostdifficult; when well played they are very effective and deserve to bebetter known than has hitherto been the case. 

The songs upon this program represent two other composers. At the headof the list are placed some highly impassioned compositions by Mr. Geo. W. Chadwick, of Boston. Mr. Chadwick is one of the most accomplishedAmerican composers. From this set of songs, called "Told in theGates, " selections are to be made at the convenience of singers. 

The collection, as a whole, is one of the most remarkable of recenttimes. It would be difficult to find twelve equally stirring songs inthe whole repertory. The key-note is set by the very first song, "Sweetheart, Thy Lips are Touched with Flame, " and in examining it onehardly knows what to admire most, the symphonic skill of theaccompaniment, the placing of the emphasis for voice, or the intimatefeeling for musical expression, which enables the composer to arrive atsuch thrilling effects. At the same time it is not a song for a timidsinger or a timid player. The second one, "Sings the Nightingale tothe Rose, " is of a more quiet and reposeful character, well written. The third, "The Rose Leans over the Pool, " a delightful scherzando, inwhich playful spirit and skilful use of material combine to produce itseffect. The fourth, "Love's Like a Summer Rose, " is a very charmingsong indeed for more ordinary occasions; well within the resources ofordinary singers, but with an effect very unusual. The next, "As theWaves without Number, " a baritone song with a very elaborateaccompaniment and the usual masterly opportunity for the singer. "DearLove, when in Thy Arms I Lie, " a slow and very expressive melody, witha delightful bit of obligato in the first measures, where a 'cellowould produce a charming effect; modeled a little after a song ofSchumann's, "Poet's Love":

 "Was I not Thine when Allah Spoke the Word Which Formed from Earth the Sky?"

A colossal song for baritone, having in it tenderness and most intensepassion. 

"In Mead where Roses Bloom, " adapted for mezzo-soprano. 

"Sister Fairest, why Art Thou Sighing?" a gem adapted for the femalevoice. 

"O Let Night Speak of Me, " dedicated to Max Heinrich. 

"I Said to the Wind of the South, " dedicated to Miss Edmunds. A songfor mezzo-soprano, beautifully done. 

It is difficult to speak of these songs in any kind of adequate terms, because they represent what very rarely happens nowadays: a veryperfect union of music and poetry. The poetry for its own part beingsingularly impressive and provocative of song; and the music, in turn, sympathetic, masterly, and equal to the occasion; considered, therefore, from an ideal point of view, as to the poetic expression ofmusical moods or as the musical expression of poetic moods, both alikeretaining the deepest and strongest sentiments, nothing lately haspleased so well. All the poems are by Arlo Bates. It is a collectionof songs which every American lover of music ought to possess. 

The other songs I take from a set by Mr. Homer A. Norris, a young butvery talented and promising composer. The first is called "Twilight, "and a lovely piece it is. 

 PROGRAM. 

 Edgar S. Kelley: "The Flower Seekers. " "Confluentia. " Wilson G. Smith: Valse-Menuet, Opus 43, No. 1. "Reverie at the Piano. " Second Polka Caprice. Marche Fantastique. Homer A. Norris, song: "Twilight. " E. R. Kroeger: Second, Third, and Fourth Sonnets. Emil Liebling: Romance Dramatique. "Spring Song, " Madeleine Waltz. Geo. W. Chadwick, songs: According to the taste and convenience of the singers. Wm. H. Sherwood: Romance Appassionata, Opus 8. Gypsy Dance, Opus 10. Mazurka, Opus 6. Scherzo Caprice, Opus 9.