Part 18 (1/2)

To return to the exa considered,--it is in Three-part form (A, B, A, with Coda) the first part in thein B e from E-flat to D-sharp This first part, re impetuosity, should dispel any idea that Chopin was a weak sentih of a delicate constitution he certainly had a fiery soul The second part, sotto voce--note the fes--reminds us of the muffled music of a military band as it passes by

[Footnote 225: For an account of its origin see the chapter in Huneker's book and the article on the Polonaise in Grove's Dictionary]

BARCAROLLE IN F-SHARP MAJOR, OP 60

This cole piece we have froenius It see melodies, wealth of harmony, bold dissonances (note in particular the 6th and 7th measures of the Coda), brilliant embellishments; and withal, it is written in a pianistic style which, for richness and warmth of color, is quite unsurpassed

It is also estiveness of the descriptive title Would that objective program music were always so true to life and to the real nature of music! It is in free three-part forently undulating waves; a more rhythgest the monotonous steadiness of oar-strokes; an interlude, htfulof the beauties of love and nature; an iether with a partial presentation of theand brilliant coda The composition is unique in roination, or, as Schu for themselves”

SCHERZO IN C-SHARP MINOR, OP 39

The four Scherzos, for passion and eloquence, rank ah it seeical correspondence between the for of the term ”Scherzo” and the contents revealed to us in these poems; save that they are all in triple rhythm, hence on a dance-form basis As Niecks well says, ”There is in them neither frolicsomeness nor humor”--such, for exaests that ”Capriccio” nation But, however inexplicable the title which Huneker thinks Chopin may have applied in serious jest, there is no doubt of the uncoriht well consider attributes of humor These were marked traits in Chopin's nature, and the Scherzos are their revelation in terms of ravity to clothe itself if jest goes about in dark veils?” This Scherzo (Presto con fuoco) is in extended three-part for one of feverish agitation, which expresses itself in spasmodic outbursts The second part, with its broad cantabile melody of a hymn-like character, reveals a calhout with lovely coloristic embellishments After a return to the first the ly resener's _Valkyrie_ A long and fiery coda of new the is like a shaft of light dispelling storenius and have proved to be so immortal that they may well be considered as ideal witnesses to the triumph of quality over mere quantity or sensational display To-day, e suffer fronificance

CHAPTER XV

BERLIOZ AND LISZT PROGRAMME MUSIC

There is no doubt that Hector Berlioz (1803-1869), however varied the appeal of his music to different temperaments, is an artistic personality to be reckoned with; one not to be ticketed and laid on the shelf Although a century and more has elapsed since his birth the perly enough, by those who seehts of the case, in practice his principles are the reigning ones in modern music As Berlioz stands as the fore without a title, it is certain that before his music or influence can be appreciated, the nize that ram music is a condition--an artistic fact, not a theory--and that the tendency towards specific, subjective expression (whether , opera or sy present day composers It is true that all ination of the composer; true, also, thatBut iinations differ That of Berlioz, for exa principles of musical composition, they are as much subject to modification as any other form of human experimentation Berlioz, himself, says that he never intended to subvert the laws of music, only to make a new and individual use of theraphy--one of thein the history of art, only to be compared with that of Benvenuto Cellini--should be familiar to all ould penetrate the secrets of his style Berlioz's coraphic than those of any other notable musician Both in his music and his literary works are the same notes of passionate insistence on his own point of view, of radical dislike for accepting conditions as they were (he says of himself that he loved to make the barriers crack) and of fondness for brilliant outward effect In considering Berlioz, one is always reminded of Matthew Arnold's lines on Byron, who reseht us little; but our soul Had felt hi heart the strifeOf passion with eternal law; And yet with reverential awe We watch'd the fount of fiery life Which served for that titanic strife”

Only realize that Berlioz's _Fantastic Symphony_ was composed but twenty-one years after Haydn's death, and compare the simple, self-centered Haydn with the restless, wide-visioned Berlioz, of a mentality positively omnivorous; who, in addition to his musical achievements, was a brilliant critic and _litterateur_, a man of travel and wide acquaintance with the world Then indeed you will appreciate what an enore had come over music A mere mention of the authors from whom Berlioz drew his subjects: Shakespeare, Goethe, Byron, Scott, Virgil, Hugo, shows the wide range of his reading and the difference in output which would inevitably result

The previous impersonal attitude towards music is shown by the very nainning of the 19th century) were seldom more than Symphony, Sonata, or Quartet, No so and so; while the movenations of teio, andante, etc--those ”senseless ter pre-ehly cultivated ie of e therefrom has necessitated differences of form and treatment A frequent misconception on the part of the layman is that worthy music should be so constructed that the hearer be spared allas it was certain that a composer would present just so many themes in a prescribed order and treated in the routine fashi+on, listening to music was a comparatively easy task

Since Berlioz, reater demands on the hearer; who only when his receptivity is of an equal degree of cultivation with the creative power of the co of the music The first step, therefore, toward an appreciation of Berlioz is to recognize the peculiar, picturesque power of his iination, which was of an entirely new order, and may be called musico-poetic in distinction from purely musical activity This form of double consciousness is equally necessary on the part of the hearer As Debussy, the modern French composer, so well says, people often do not understand or enjoy new music because it differs from ”unetype which they have in their mind The real effect of Berlioz's ”_Carnaval Romain_” Overture, to take a simple example, is to complement and intensify the mental picture which any well-read person--or better still, any one who has actually visited Rome--will have of this characteristic incident in Italian life If the work be consideredthe stiht caused by the rhythmic vitality and by the orchestral effects, the real poetic purpose of the composer remains unfulfilled This peculiar quality of Berlioz was partly the result of his fiery excitable temperament and partly the reactive effect of the environroup in Paris (beginning about 1830) was that hich he was associated! De Musset, de Vigny, Liszt, Rossini, Meyerbeer, Balzac, Duevery art and several nationalities, all under the lead of Hugo, that prince of Ro--revolt from conventional standards and a coo, as he says in the fa down the plaster which hides the facade of the fair temple of art; Dumas had just de conceptions, were founding our

Into thislocks, ”that hairy Ro hihter and always in opposition to soy of his compositions are but the natural result of the tendencies of the period Berlioz's early career is of extre people, because the first strong stiination came from his acquaintance with the dramas of Shakespeare

In 1827, some of the dramas, (such as Halish co He would wander about the streets raving of Shakespeare; he promptly fell in love with the most beautiful actress in the troupe--Henrietta San the frenzied period of co, which came to a climax in the _Fantastic Sye and perseverance are shown by his winning the Prix de Rome, after four failures! His two years in Italy (his pictureand thrilling incidents, were, on the whole the happiest period of his stor account of this tragic ouve]

But we must pass to some brief comments upon the characteristics, pro and con, of his style In the first place it was extreinal; showed little or no connection with former composers; has had no ireat range of eh he rarely touched the sublieneral, of achieving with unerring certainty the effects desired The poet Heine said that much of Berlioz's music reminded him of ”primeval monsters and fabulous ereatest inthe Ger rather stereotyped; and the vigorous elasticity introduced by these two coe of dranition is his genius in the treatment of the orchestra Berlioz had an inborn instinct for sensuous tonal effect for its own sake, and not as the clothing of an abstract idea With hi that coreatest beauty and variety of sound beca effects has been evolved the orchestra as we hear it to-day Berlioz thought, so to speak, in terms of orchestral color In his , the contour of the pure line, is the chief thing; but that the assignht instrural parts of the conception Notwithstanding the fact that soant or at ti possibilities in orchestral shading and color which, still further developed by Wagner, Strauss and Tchaikowsky, have become conventional means of expression So works, in addition to those mentioned, are the _Harold in Italy_ Symphony, with its personification by a solo viola of the chief character; the _Romeo and Juliet_ Symphony, for both vocal and instrumental forces (of which the ball-scene with its wondrous love-melody and the _Queen Mab_ Scherzo--unequalled for daintiness--represent his highest attainments as a tone-poet) and, most popular of all, the _damnation of Faust_ based on scenes fro incidental pieces for orchestra alone, such as the _Ballet of Sylphs_ and the _Rakoczy March_, are often played at symphony concerts, and are familiar to everyone Certain blemishes in Berlioz's music are obvious and need not be over-emphasized There is often more style and outward effect than real substance His works excite, but how seldom do they exalt! For he was frequently deficient in depth of emotion and in latent warlow and the feverish passion which his French adenuine attributes of musical inspiration, of power to compel universal attention We of other nations can only firmly dissent

Without question his work has never succeeded in calling forth the spontaneous love of a large body of ade the conductor and critic Weingartner sums up the case: ”Berlioz will always represent a milestone in the development of music, for he is the real founder of the modern school He did not approach that ethical depth, that ideal purity which surround Beethoven's nalory, but no coner, has enriched reat Frenchner are the heroes of the last half of the 19th century, just as Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Weber and Schubert were of the first”

[Footnote 227: It is understood that this is ht well have been prefaced by the Socratic ”it see--Mr

So-and-So likes port, Mr So-and-So sherry The object of fair-minded appreciation is to understand clearly just what each composer set out to do, _ie_, as the natural tendency of his individual genius; then the only question is: did or did he not do this well? It is futile to blame him because he was not someone else or did not achieve what he never set out to do]

As Berlioz is, if possible, even more idiomatic for the orchestra than Chopin for the pianoforte, no conception of the real quality of his ood His works[228] must be studied at first hand in the orchestral score and then heard in performance by an excellent orchestra Some preliminary acquaintance and appreciation, however, of characteristic features in his style is possible fro works and movements: The _Fantastic Symphony_, the _Carnaval Romain_ Overture, the _Ballet des Sylphes_ and the _Feux Follets_ frorim's March_ from the _Childe Harold_ Symphony and the Slow Movement from the _Romeo and Juliet_ Sy[230] about Berlioz and his influence; for, as Theophile Gautier acutely reenie, on peut le discuter encore, le monde est livre aux controverses; rand caractere” The _Symphonie_[231]

_fantastique_, op 14, _episode de la vie d'un artiste_, in fivethe first manifestation of Berlioz's conviction that music should be yet more specifically expressive, since it is founded on a characteristic the_

[Music]

[Footnote 228: The best edition is the coraved and with critical coartner This is expensive, but should be found in any large library]