Part 1 (1/2)
Music: An Art and a Language
by Walter Ray of books there is no end,” this book, on so human a subject as music, we believe should justify itself A twenty-years' experience in teaching the Appreciation of Music at Harvard University and Radcliffe College has convinced the author that a knowledge ofis, to get thened by the state certain standard coed and their love for it greatly increased
In the illustrations (published in a Supplementary Volume) no concessions have been made to so-called ”popular taste”; people have an instinctive liking for the best when it is fairly put before theest, since music requires _active cooperation_ by the hearer, nor are we trying to interpret music in terms of the other arts Music is itself For those whoas to the connection between music and art, numerous books are available--some of them excellent from their point of view
This book concerns itself with music _as_ music It is assulad to do serious work to quicken his sense of hearing, to broaden his ithen his ent in appreciation rather than merely absorbed in honeyed sounds Music is of such power and glory that we should be ready to devote to its study as e In the creed of the music-lover the first and last article is fahly know a co in our memory and we feel at home in the structure, the music will speak to us directly, and all books and analytical comments will be of secondary importance--those of the present writer not excepted Special effort has been made to select illustrations of musical worth, and upon these the real emphasis in study should be laid
The material of the book is based on lectures, often of an informal nature, in the Appreciation Course at Harvard University and lays no clai points of approachto speak or write about music than about the other arts Music is sufficient unto itself Endoith the insight of a Ruskin or a Pater, oneBut in music the line between mere statistical analysis and senti care
If the subject matter be clearly presented and the analyses true--allowance being made for honest difference of opinion--every hope will be realized
The author's gratitude is herewith expressed to Mr Percy Lee Atherton for his critical revision of the text and to Professor Willia and preparing the e, Massachusetts _June_, 1919
CHAPTER I
PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS
In approaching the study of any subject we h some one has ironically remarked that every definition is a misfortune Music-lovers, however, will rejoice that their favorite art is spared such a misfortune, for it can not be defined We know the factors of which music is constituted, rhythm and sound; and we can trace the historic steps by which methods of presentation and of style have been so perfected that by means of this twofold s may be expressed and permanently recorded We realize, and with our inborn equip power of music; but to define, in the usual sense of the term definition, what music really is, will be forever impossible The fact indeed that music--like love, electricity and other elelory It is a peculiar, h with certain aspects which it shares with the other arts The writings of all the great poets, such as Milton, Shakespeare, Browning and Whitman, abound in eloquent tributes to the power and influence of music, but it is noticeable that no one attempts to define it The mystery of music must be approached with reverence and music must be loved for itself with perfect sincerity
[Footnote 1: For suggestive comments on this point see the essays _Harmonie et Melodie_ by Saint-Saens, Chapters I and II]
Soained into the nature of nition of what it is _not_, and by a comparison with the ible and elusive factors of rhyth fundamentally from the concrete static arts such as architecture, sculpture and painting Furthermore, instrumental music, _ie_, uage like prose and poetry It speaks to our feelings and i for this very reason depths of our being quite beyond the power ofthat rhythm, in the sense of motion, is the fundamental fact in the universe and in all life, both physical and hu in the heavens above and in the earth beneath is in ceaselessremains the same for two consecutive seconds Even the component parts of material--such as stone and wood, which we ordinarily speak of as concrete and stationary--are whirling about with ceaseless energy, and often in perfect rhythm Thus we see how natural and vital is the art of music, for it is inseparably connected with life itself
As for the other factor, sound is one of the most elemental and mysterious of all physical phenomena[2] When the air is set in motion by the vibration of certain bodies of wood,upon the tyination Sound is a reciprocal phenomenon; for, even if there were syste bodies, there could be no sound without some one to hear it[3] Goodhearing; and the ear,[4] as Saint-Saens says, is the sole avenue of approach to the musical sense The first ambition for one ould appreciateIt is quite possible to be stone-deaf outwardly and yet hear most beautiful sounds within the brain This was approximately the case with Beethoven after his thirtieth year On the other hand,but nothing is registered within
[Footnote 2: See Chapter II of Gurney's _Power of Sound_, a book reht]
[Footnote 3: It is understood that this statement is made in a subjective rather than a purely physical sense See the _Century Dictionary_ under _Sound_]
[Footnote 4: Il y a donc, dans l'art des sons, quelque chose qui traverse l'oreille comme un portique, la raison comme un vestibule et qui va plus loin
HARMONIE ET MELODIE, CHAPTER II]
Combarieu, the French aesthetician, definesin tones”[5] There is food for thought in this statement, but it seems to leave out one very ireat musical composition reveals a carefully planned and perfect balance between the emotional and intellectual elements And yet the basic impulse for the creation of music is an emotional one; and, of all the arts, music makes the most direct appeal to the e called the iination and the soul Eion Just as there can be no really great art without passion, so we can not iine music without all the emotions of mankind: their loves, joys, sorrows, hatreds, ideals and subtle fancies Music, in fact, is a presentation of emotional experience, fashi+oned and controlled by an overruling intellectual power
[Footnote 5: _La musique, ses lois, son evolution_, by Jules Coh at first dimly, what is to be our line of approach to this mystery One of the peculiar characteristics of music is that it is both the most natural and least artificial of the arts, and as well the most complicated and subtle On the one hand it is the most natural and direct, because the materials of which it is constituted--that is, sound and rhythm--make an instinctive appeal to every nor[6] Every one likes to listen to beautiful sounds merely for their sensuous effect, just as everyone likes to look at the blue sky, the green grass and the changing hues of a sunset; so the rhythm of e and motion, which is the basic fact in all life, appeals at once to our own physical vitality This fact may be observed at a sy their heads, beating ti on the floor with their feet; a habit which shows a rudimentary love of music but which for obvious reasons is not to be commended On the other hand, music is the most complicated of all the arts froible, evanescent sounds and rhythrammar and structure by which these factors are used as rammar of music, _ie_, its methods of structure and of presentation, has been worked out through centuries of free experimentation on the part of soreat h rank Behind the sensuous factors, sound and rhythe of the corasp this and to o with hiain in our inations The practical inference fro is clear; everyone can derive a large aenuine pleasure and even spiritual exaltation, can feel hi tonic force,his ears and drinking in the sounds and rhythms in their marvellous variety The all-sufficient reason for the lack of a complete appreciation of music is that so many people stop at this point, _ie_ for thener hi, in regard to the appreciation of his operas: ”I require nothing from the public but healthy senses and a huh this may be particularly true of opera, which is a co so varied an appeal to the participant that everyone can get soendary, even fictitious--as well as from the actors, the costumes and the story, the statement is certainly not applicable to what is called absolutehelp of words, and expressed by thequartet, pianoforte, and various enseroups For in addition to its sensuous appeal, e used as a means of personal expression; sometimes in the nature of an intimate soliloquy, but far more often as a direct means of communication between the mind and soul of the composer and of the listener To say that we understand the e just because we happen to like beautiful sounds and stiht as well say that because we enjoy hearing Italians or French what they say The question, therefore, faces us: how shall we learn this e so as readily to understand it? And the answer is equally inevitable: by learning so of the material of which it is composed, and above all, the fundamental principles of its structure
[Footnote 6: Just as some people are color-blind there are those who are tone-deaf--to whoreeable noise--but they are so few as to be negligible]
In atte to carry out this simple direction, however, we are confronted by another of the peculiar characteristics of music Music, in distinction from the static, concrete and imitative arts, is always in motion, and to follow it requires an intensity of concentration and an accuracy of ood things, we have to work We all know the adage that ”beauty is in the eye of the beholder” and that any work of art ination of the participant The difficulty of this process of recreation, as applied to music, is that we have, derived from our ordinary daily experiences, so little to help us Anyone can begin, at least, to understand a work of architecture; it must have doors and s, and should confor, either a portrait or a landscape, must show some correspondence with nature herself, and so we have definite standards to help our iination But music has worked out its ohich are those of pure fancy, having little to do with other for of the constructive principles, instead of recreating the work before us, we are simply lost--”drowned in a sea of sound”--often rudely shaken up by the rhyth As the well-known critic, Santayana, wittily says, ”To most people music is a drowsy revery relieved by nervous thrills”
Notwithstanding, however, the peculiar nature of ical impressions as the sounds and rhythms flood in upon us, there is one simple form of cooperation which solves most of the difficulties; that is, familiarity It is the duty of the co so clear, that we can receive it with a et to know the ood music corresponds to such a standard; that is, if it is needlessly involved, abstruse, diffuse, or turgid, it is _in so far_ not hest artistic worth In this connection we must always remember that music does not ”stay put,”
like a picture on the wall We cannot walk through it, as is the case with a cathedral; turn back, as in a book; touch it, as with a statue