History of Germans in Romantic Music

THE
HISTORY OF GHRMAJ
AN ACCOUNT OF THE
Progress of Vocal Composition
FROM THE TIME OF THE MINNESINGERS TO THE

PRESENT AGE, WITH SKETCHES OF THE LIVES
OF THE LEADING GERMAN COMPOSERS.
Louis
c.
ELSON.
BOSTON:
ENGLAND CONSERVATORY OF Music
1888.
xi,fc
COPYRIGHT,
BY
NEW ENGLAND
1888,
CONSERVATORY OF Music.
TO
(KoBeri
THE LAST OF THE GREAT TRIUMVIRATE OF GERMAN
SONG COMPOSERS,
WITH THE HIGHEST ADMIRATION FOR HIS GENIUS,

THIS
WORK
IS
RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY
THE AUTHOR.
'0
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
C HAPTER.
I.
II.
Jongleurs and Minnesingers

Customs, Manners, and Instruments of the
Minnesingers
III.
.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
X.
XI.
Famous Minnesingers and their works

The Mastersingers
The Folk-song
The Ancient Instrumental Forms
The Influence of the Reformation
The Music of the Reformation
German Music after Luther's Death
The Rise of Secular and Operatic Music
The Rise and Fall of German Opera
17
33
26
...
.
42
50
....
.
56
62
70
79
XII. "Handel and Mattheso'n
87
XHI.'Johann Sebastian Bach

XIV. The Sons of Bach
XV. Odes and Juvenile Songs of
Century
OfVI.: Haydn, 'Mozart and Beethoven
97
107
the
i8th
118
XVII. The Influence of the German poets
28_
137 */
-XVIII. 'Franz Schubert
146
SXIX. The works of Schubert

^XX. Robert Schumann
XXI. Schumann as Composer and Critic
XXII. Robert Franz
XXIII. The Songs of Robert Franz
XXIV. Mendelssohn and others
XXV. Wagner and the German Opera
XXVI. The Reforms of Wagner
.
157
166
v*
179
188
197
205
'
......
215
224
PREFACE.
The
claims of
Germany
in the
domain of instrumental
music, have been so thoroughly and universally recognized, that the labors of her composers in the field of
vocal music
them.
have
Without
been somewhat over-shadowed
in the least detracting
by
from the great
achievements of Italian masters in vocal work,
have
endeavored in these pages to set forth what the Germans
have accomplished in the same branch, and, as German
song has closely intertwined

musical
life,
itself
with
all
Teutonic
venture to hope that this volume
may
become a condensed record of the general reforms and

improvements which have taken place in musical art
throughout Germany, from the earliest historical times.
Louis C. ELSON.
THE HISTORY OF GERMAN
SONG.
i.
JONGLEURS AND MINNESINGERS.
THE
some
fc r
it
history of the vocal music of
respects, a peculiar one, and
Germany
full of
extends back, almost in an unbroken
o er six hundred years.

r
The songs
is,
in
interest
line, for
of Italy, at least
so far as regards secular music, sprang into promi-
nence
in
the great
epoch which gave birth
Talian opera, about
the
year
1600:
the
to the
songs of
France sprang up sporadically, with this or that revobut in no country have the ancient
h.tion or war;
beginnings of
garnered up
vocal
as in
composition
Germany, and
in
been so carefully
no land have the
o d works so practical a significance.
The reason
of this
German
is
not far to seek.
In the
first
been a singer, and

his songs have always been interwoven in his daily
place, the
life.
aid
in all times has
Secondly, while in other countries the popular

classical schools of composition
were kept sepa-
HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG
and had nothing
rate
in
common,
in
Germany, after
was made,
the eleventh century, no such distinction
but the music which ^sprang from the people was used
by the most learned composers, and the skilful works
the
of
higher school were accepted and
So inherent was
by the people.
cherished
this instinct of pop-
song that the system of congregational hymns

was flourishing in Germany even in the Catholic days
ular
preceding the Reformation.
The
its
rise
sturdy root from which the
must be sought
German song had
for in the Minnesingers, those

'
ancient minstrels who, noble by birth, took up the
cause of music in a most inspired manner, and sang

of love (Minne)
and
of
the beauties of nature in a
which bears comparison even with the works

of our own times.
Contemporary with the Troubastrain
dours and the Trouveres of France, they were yet
much broader
in
and expression.
der
strains
of
thought and deeper
in poetic feeling
The Troubadours sang
only the ten-
Trouvere
amatory passion, the
was
the mediaeval novelist and playwright, but the Minne-
singer was both of these in one, and, like the ancient
Greek
tragic poets,
composer.
was both
his
own
librettist
and
Before the rise of the Minnesinger, music
the service of
had but a single recognized mission,
It is true that there were secular songs in
religion.
existence,
were held
and also secular musicians

in very slight esteem,
but the latter
and belonged
to a
They were
very low caste.

le
-s,
and the modern word
from their
title
for
called Jongleurs, or jing"
"
juggler
takes
rise
its
they were travelling vagrants,
w 10
were ready to sing or play at any gathering, able

perform tricks of sleight of hand, and often eking
out their slender income by exhibiting bears, monkeys,
tc
The term
or other animals.
"
" FunJoculator," or
iraker," which was also applied to these wandering

that they were only clowns ad
rrinstrels, shows
j(.sters.
But they were not only the musicians of the
rustics, for as
early as
the
nobility with giving
we
eighth century
writers savagely denouncing them,
find
and reproving
money and entertainment
to
'the
such
Poor wandering sons of the

While the monastic musician taught his art
honored ease, they sang their love son^s and gave
strolling vagabonds.
Muses!
i
their
carols
to
a world which
because they were

(
amusing.
only tolerated them
They were
at
times
ven under the ban of the law, for edicts were issued
by which they could be imprisoned for no offence

:,ave that they were "travelling" musicians and vagrants.
This condition of secular music existed from
he beginning of the eighth nearly to the end of the
Now 'came the first great epoch

n the music of Germany, and the Minnesinger gave
to secular music a dignity which had previously been
eleventh century.
denied
it.
It
is
probable that the Troubadours of
France gave rise to the movement, but
it
is
certain
that the plant found firmer
on German
growth and better nurture
soil.
The Minnesingers must not, however, be regarded

merely as an offshoot of the Troubadours. Like the
latter, they were noblemen, but, recognizing the fact
that
art
meaner
knows no
rank, they admitted persons
estate te their numbers,
if
The Troubadour was
of musical genius.
of
they gave evidence

often merely
a composer, not a player or singer, and, as a consequence, frequently employed his humbler brother, the
With
Jongleur, to play and
sing his compositions.
the Minnesinger, this
was not the case: he did not
intrust
the
performance of
works
his
a second
to
party, but cherished ability of execution equally with

fertility of
hduser,
As
invention.
singers, such as
a consequence, contests of
Wagner has
pictured in his Tann-
sometimes occurred, the
greatest
of
these
taking place on the Wartburg, A.D. 1207.

In France there was a wide gap between the work
of the noble musician
and the songs of the people
but in Germany, already in these early days, the spirit

of
the folk-song was present in the compositions of
this aristocratic order of musicians.
The songs
of the
Troubadour were amatory those of the Minnesinger

were chivalric. The Troubadour praised the eyes, the
:
hair, the lips, the
form, of his chosen one
the Minne-
singer praised the sweetness, the grace, the modesty,

the
tenderness, of
the
entire
sex.
The one was

the other abstract.
concrete,
The melodies
of the
Minnesingers were far different from the modern idea

of a secular lyric. They resembled the chorale or
the Gregorian chants somewhat, although at times one
can find a dash and swinging rhythm in them, which

suggest untrammelled spirits seeking a freer expression in music.
Some
of these,
if
properly harmonized
:md accompanied, would sound very agreeable, even

o modern ears but it must be borne in mind that
;
he songs were not to be judged purely as music.
In
he time of the Minnesingers, poetry and music were

and the words could not be
ndissolubly wedded;
udged apart from the tune, nor the tune from the
We give, on page 6, an example of one of the
ivords.
Vfinnesongs, which was written in praise of Rudolph

3f
Hapsburg, about the year 1287.*

is so simple and symmetrical that
The melody
it is
easily accompanied with modern harmony, although,

probably, it had but the crudest instrumental support
originally.
The
playful
and sudden turn
of the
poem,
from deep homage to reproach for stinginess,, at the

end,
is
a touch worthy of Heine himself, and
in the vein of that poet.
our subject,
we must add
that direct pay
given to the noble singers

cloaks, armor, horses, etc.,
is
much
In speaking of this part of
was seldom
but costly presents of
were often received by them.
* The notation of the

manuscript is in the square notes of the time of
Franco of Cologne. It has been modernized by Amb'ros, Geschichte der
iky vol.
ii.,
p. 253.
IgA
The language
Swabian
the
of the
in
which their poems were written was
dialect, to-day a
German
It
tongue.
little-esteemed
odd
is
branch
to find complaints,
n at the remote epoch of the rise of the Minne-
evt
singers, of the decline of music; but these complaints
haê existed
in all
ages of the world.
The Chinese,
hundred years ago, lamented the decline of their

music; the Greek philosophers bemoaned the fact
five
that enervating melodies

cello, in
1704, wrote,
in 1760, exclaimed,
toli that the
blcw.
fin'i
"
had driven out true
Music
"Music
is
is
art
Mar-
declining"; Rameau,
lost"; to-day, we are
modern school has given music its deathwe are not greatly astonished to
Therefore,
Henry
of Veldig, at the close of the twelfth cen-
tuiy, plaintively saying that the art of love-singing (for
word "Minne" meant the homage of

parsing away, and are not even surprised
the
greatest of the
love)
was
to find the
Minnesingers coming on the scene
so ne time after his death.
II.
AND INSTRUMENTS OF THE MINNE-
CUSTOMS, MANNERS,
SINGERS.
To UNDERSTAND
in
1150 to 1300 A.D.,

daily life
and poetic
fully the musical
demic which raged
it
epi-
Germany from about the years

well to study
is
of the singers themselves.
somewhat
the
Their songs were
sometimes rather above the comprehension of some

of the rough nobility.
Nevertheless, they sang on because of the spirit that was in them.
sentation of this feeling
songs
of
Conrad
is
left
of Wiirzburg,
Unwilling stays the throng
To hear the
minstrel's song
Yet cease
not to sing,
Though
small the praise
E'en
on desert waste
if
were
My lonely lot
Unto my
My numbers
To hear
Still
bring.
cast,
would frame;
ear were found
the lonely sound,
should
As the
it
harp, the same,
Though never
it
echo round,
lone nightingale
one of the
which we give
lor's translation:
"
beautiful pre-
to us in
in
Tay-
HISTORY OP GERMAN SONG

Her
To
tuneful strain sings on
her sweet
self alone,
Whiling away the hour,
Deep
in her leafy
Where, night by
Her music
bcwer,
night, she loves
to prolong,
And makes the
hills
and groves
Re-echo to her song."
This
is
a far nobler sentiment and truer appreciation
of the scope of music than the
musician, the
remark of that would-be
Emperor Nero, who
said that " music un-
heard was valueless."

Naturally, however,
such noble
singers
gradually
devated the standard of manners and morals.
They
were, in fact, the censors of that time, and fiercely sati
ized and condemned the faults of their epoch.
France
the
Troubadours,
singers, wrote
gentlemen.
in
Germany
the
In.
Minne-
books of etiquette both for ladies and
Custom and
(he elegance of the courtly
singers and knights gradually introduced a code of behavior which would astonish those who imagine those
tmes
as wholly barbarous.
regarding
ladies'
demeanor:
Here are a few points
lady ought
not
to
march about with long and heavy strides; she ought

n3t to swing her arms nor gesticulate vehemently with
them; her glance modestly sinking to earth, not gazHer mantle drawn around her to conceal
ii.g around.
h^r, she
si
shall
>me what, that
walk quietly about, lifting her dress

does not become dirty. To address
it
IO
a stranger
first
was a great breach
Even
to sit cross-legged.
of etiquette
a] 1*0,
to look at a stranger
was
forbidden by these stringent moralists (whose theory
much beyond actual practice); but, if the

man spoke to them, they might reply, courteously and
not at much length.
often went
" To
speak with mouth
full
while you eat
Is not considered very neat,"
says one of the old guides to behavior

certainly agree with
"
and we must
it.
A maid may speak with gentle mien,

But not too loud or bold,
ween,"
says the same authority.

If a man came suddenly into a room where ladies
were assembled, these were to arise, greet him cour-
teously,
The
and then resume
their seats.
these ladies
education of
whom
the Minne-
poems was also a very good

and
one.
sewing were the prosaic
Naturally, cooking
and
medicine
were also added
but
foundation,
surgery
singers celebrated in their
and the wounded knight always found a ready physician in the ladies of any castle where he might take
Spite of
refuge.
was a
certain
of both
A box
male
ear, a
or
gentleness,
of theory,
there
of physical force in the actions
men and women
on the
servant,
all this
amount
of the aristocracy of the time.
thorough beating of an awkward
female,
was thought nothing
of.

For example, two noble
Lancelot
is
sisters, disputing as to
II
whether
a knight or a merchant, the elder gives the
younger so strong a box on the ear that the blood

mouth and such arguments
were not very uncommon.
flows from her nose and
the aristocracy of that time were
It is certain that all
cleanly,
and that the bath was constantly used.
also interest our fairer readers to
may
know
It
that the
heroines of the songs of these early ages sometimes
wore
false
The
hair.
aristocratic
recreation of
the
epoch was chess, played nearly in the same manner as to-day.
was one
Naturally, feasting
the
Minnesingers
played an
would
On
important part.
start a
such
and, at
song
and
all
ladies
occasions,
of the great delights of
such feasts, music always

Sometimes, one singer
would join in the refrain.

also would occasionally
allow their voices to be heard both in chorus and in

solo.
'
The dance was
at
all
times a welcome relaxation,
but there was a wide distinction between the dances

of
"
the
peasantry and those of the aristocracy.
Hopaldei," or
"
The
Hop-up," belonged to the former

its name.
Skirts flew
class,
and
high,
and heads often knocked together with violence,
is
well described by
during this rough capering.
The
"
"
Reihen," or row,"
was, on the contrary, a sedate and not ungraceful per-
formance.
The knights and
ladies, in
a long row,
fol-
12
lowed their leader, and with dainty steps and pleasing

gestures imitated each motion of the lady or knight at
the head of the column.
As they danced, they
sang.
Sometimes, the leader sang the melody; while the

whole company of dancers gave the refrain. Some-
Many were
times, the chorus sang all the time.
ballads which the
The
occasions.
dances.
the
for such
Minnesingers composed
orchestra was crude enough at these
Sometimes,
it
was a few
Some-
fiddlers only.
times, a combination of drums, trumpets, fiddles, harps,
and
rotas,
rota
was not
gave instrumental support
to the song.
as might be imagined from
a hurdy-gurdy, but a primitive zither with
and played
like
a guitar.
It
was called
of its round, wheel-like shape.
The
its
The
name
many
strings,
rota,
because
fiddles
were also
uncouth instruments, when compared with the violins

of the last century and this.
Nevertheless, they play
an important part in the music of the Middle Ages.

The fiddle certainly has an antiquity of at least eight
hundred years; and the fiddles of the twelfth century

were bowed almost exactly as those of to-day, even if
their shape was somewhat different.
They possessed
from two to four strings, which (as is the case to-day)
were tuned
in fifths.
In Germany, as
many
readers know, instrumental music received
its
of our
greatest
impetus through the custom of each prince supporting

a Kapelle, or private orchestra. The origin of this
custom dates back
to these early days,
and began with

the maintenance of
bands of such
to
dancing.
castles,
alludes
antil
for
The playing was
At
the
of the
;o that
fiddlers, richly
most violent descrip-
peasants' dances, the fiddlers played
the strings or even the
.he castle
fiddlers at different
The Nibelungenlied
such a band of twenty-four
to
dressed.
cion.
play
13
dances, the
we have
bow broke;
bowing was
fierce
and, even at
and vehement,
descriptions in the minnesongs of the
ury and prowess of this or that celebrated fiddler.

Of course, the Minnesingers were the greatest musicians of their time, in Germany; but it must not be
supposed that music was confined wholly to them.

Music was then, as now, considered a necessary part
Every youth or maiden was

and to be able to play upon
xpected
least one instrument
and often, after a banquet,
of a
t
good education.
to learn singing,
Z'.t
these high-born amateurs were expected to delight the
quests by a display of their abilities.
Of the instruments of the time

fall
rota
f rst
accounts are
and the
fiddle.
of the Minnesingers,
have already spoken of the
We
left.
They
also possessed the harp,
with twelve, but in the fourteenth century already
possessing
twenty-five
strings.
There
were
cifferent varieties of harps as well as guitars.
instrument,
somewhat akin
cilled the organistrum.

a
It
to
many
One
the hurdy-gurdy, was
was a large
wheel with a handle was attached.
fiddle, to
which
This wheel was
ibbed with rosin, and served instead of a
13
istrument
bow
to t'le
HISTORY OF GERMAN SUNG
14
Many
varieties of flutes
were used, possessing from
three to eight finger-holes.

herd's pipe, and also
use.
Fe'tis
oboe, which
some
imagines, also,
is
The chalumeau,
or shep-
sorts of a bagpipe
that
were
they possessed
in
an
more than probable, since instruments
of the double reed family have existed in

tions of the world
many
por-
even since early Egyptian days.
Horns were unquestionably used, especially in giving

hunting and military signals. Whether the instrument
called the busine was the predecessor of the trombone
(German, Posaune) or of the bassoon may be con-
sidered a moot point

to
show
ment.
that
it
yet the weight of evidence goes
was a brass
or, at least,
Portable organs existed
a metal instru-
and the larger organs
had already become celebrated, probably coming origiDrums were used freely by
nally from the East.*
the musicians
of
the
Middle Ages, and also
bells,
tambourines, and other percussive instruments. The

cymbals used at this epoch were afterward forgotten,
and reintroduced from the East only during the

century.
It
is
last
not astonishing to find Eastern and
Southern instruments used in these early days, for

must be remembered that the constant pilgrimages
it
and crusades made the mediaeval knight better
ac-
quainted with these countries than the Meistersingers

*In
sent
lost
the ancient days, and especially in the
first
century, Alexandria
many organs to Rome. It is possible that the art of orgar-bui'ding,

to Europe, may have been retained in less civilized countries through
the Middle Ages.

at a later date.
15
Just as, to-day, the fashionable
study pianoforte, so the dilettanti
.MTiateur is certain to
of those times only studied the stringed instruments;
hunting nobleman was able to

perform upon the horn.
The songs which the young singers learned to give
but, naturally, every
t.t
banquet or other
set to music.
ballad,
It is
festivities
or musical story,
popularity
in
were generally
which afterward had such
England, Scotland, and Wales,
Teutonic origin.
.tales
an important fact that the true
The
cultivated
Greeks
in
is
of
ancient
times had not perfected or even greatly used this form.

In Oriental
countries, the
love of fiction or legend
(supplied in our times by the novelist) was pandere/1
by the professional story-teller, who recited his

lumbers in prose. In ancient Germany and Scandiravia, however, the saga, or tale, became a poem, and
to
was sung; and this laste, corm'ng clown through many

centuries, was in full bloom in the time of the Minnes
ngcrs.
cur
first
Sometimes the travelling musicians (alluded

chapter)
such songs
5
made
and a
a pretty
fine
tale
penny by singing
to in
just
of a popular hero, well
ung, was sure to reap a great reward, the guests at
times becoming so enthusiastic that they would unt
uckle their rich mantles and give them to the singer.
'Pales of the
Holy Land,
of
Turk and Saracen, and
foreign customs were not lacking for did not many a

come by the castles, and was not each such
I ilgrim
;
16
pious traveller
But the
made welcome with
tales of these
zealous hospitality
wanderers of the Middle Ages
unvarnished prose and they have thereThe tales with

fore nothing to do with our subject.
music were true legendary ballads, and give the his-
were in
plain,
tory of Charlemagne or the deeds of Siegfried, the
Teuton's delight, in
heroic style.
That
were not without musical form, even
the
in the
songs
modern
the example of music already

the
which
contains
germ of the minuet shape
given,
influenced
our own music.
so
which has
largely
sense,
may be judged by
III.
.FAMOUS MINNESINGERS AND THEIR WORKS.
WOLFRAM
of
Eschenbach, living during the last

and the beginning of the-
half of the twelfth century
thirteenth, was, perhaps, the
band of poet musicians
most remarkable of the
of his epoch.
He was
one of
tie participants in the remarkable contest of Minne-
singers which took place at Wartburg, in

v<as
1207.
He
youngest son of a Swiss nobleman, and was the
biau ideal of the school of wandering minstrel knights.
Not only do
his
works survive him, but his contempoand capabilities;
raries are full of praise of his nature
yet he was not so accomplished a musician as
some
of
them,
songs were by no means his strongest point.
Historical romance, on the other hand, seems to have
arid
best fitted his

b.ich,
\\
e;
muse
as as bold as he
irly
and the larger part of the Helden-
or book of heroes,
is
attributed to his pen.
was talented
and, in fact,
all
He
these
musical aristocrats were well skilled in feats of
strength and arms.
The
o-
following verse, from one of the oldest songs

Scandinavian origin (preceding even the time of
may show what accomplishments
our Minnesingers),
were held
in
"
esteem
Eight things
To
Through
I
know
carve with
Across the
I
ice,
among
to play
to
go
I glide
swim away
on skates,
can row 'gainst any tide."
Troubadours
sessed Richard
war
the spear I throw
Royalty was among the

the
games
in
rising waves, I
ride with ease
And
at
skill
I.,
Minnesingers
of
The
France.
as
it
was
latter pos-
Alfonso X., and others; while the
former enrolled Kaiser Heinrich, the son of Frederic

Barbarossa,
among
their ranks.
Ulrich of Lichtenstein not only leaves to us
some
specimens of the minnesong, but in his
gives
good
an odd example of the calm manner
in
life
which the Min-
nesinger dedicated himself to some particular dame,
whatever circumstances stood

in
the
in the
way.
He
existed
Petrarch
middle of the thirteenth century.
never followed his Laura with more constant affection
and
versification than this knight did his unresponsive
mistress.
One warms toward
this chivalric
sistent lover, until the lady begins

learn,
almost by way of
to relent;
parenthesis,
that
and perand we
the
Ulrich has a wife and good-sized family already.
noble
He
leaves a full record of himself in a romance, or metrical

essay,
entitled
lated ladies'
Frauendienst, which
service or homage.
may be
trans-
In apologizing for

the
19
seeming egotism which causes him to speak so

of himself, he says " My lady wished it so
and
much
what she wishes, that must
The book belongs
do.
worthy ladies."
Walther von der Vogelweide was also one of the
to all
grât Minnesingers of his time, which was previous to

tint of the last-named
He
the year 1240.
thi early epoch;
knight, he having died about
the heroic and warlike singer of
is
and
it
was
fitting that
he should be
he served under many banners. His life was

that of the true knight-errant; and he seems to have
so, for
often
wandered about on horseback, carrying along

and harp. His patriotism was
or ly his sword, fiddle,
gieat,
and he bursts
into praise
of his
own
He
country.
whenever he speaks
says of himself that he has
wmdered through France, Austria, and Hungary, and

sf en many people and customs
but
;
" German
men have finest breeding,

And German women angels are."
Iii
his later years, he undertook the greatest journey
o:
that age.
P:
oly
Land;
records of
He became
a Crusader, and went to the
and some of his songs remairv,

,,ix
life and manners of
the Crusades.
,
the
The most tender
picture of
all
that the Minnesingers
tve left us, is this
ost the entire world (as far as
wanderer, after roaming over
returning, an old man, to his
k nging
for the days
gone by
al-
was then known),

native province.
His
is
it
as pathetic as
if
it
20
were written by any modern poet, and we believe that

poem to which he then gave utterance will recall
the
some
the thoughts of
of
own
of our
We
minds of our readers.
celebrated poets to the
attempt a free translation
it:
Oh, where have

Is
fled the pleasant
all this real,
The
or but a
place that had such mystic powers
All changed and altered
Yes
it
was
sleep.
And things
The
tell
The
me
Alas
whither they have gone,

old and gray
flows on, no longer gay.
that such change ever
very ones with
Salute
I slept on.
me beamed,
and woods are not the same;
fields
The stream
and dreamed;
have changed, while
faces that once on
Ah
now doth seem.
I slept,
My young companions,
The
hours ?
dream ?
me now
whom
came
played
with manner cold.
A few years all this change have made,

The
very earth seems growing old.
This plaintive sorrow of A.D. 1235
is,
just as real in the nineteenth century,

all
centuries to come.
and was buried
in
The
unfortunately,
and
will
Wurzburg.
weide," or Birdmeadow,
be in
minstrel died soon after,

His name of "
may have come from
Vogel-
his fond-
ness of bird-catching; and a legend relates that he

His
left orders to have birds fed daily over his grave.
coat-of-arms also contains a picture of two birds in a
cage.
It will
be seen, by what has already been de-

scribed, that the
21
Minnesingers tuned their lyres to
other subjects besides that of love, although the latter
and was even personified by a

Frau
Minne, a much purer one than the
goddess,
was
their chief theme,
Veius
of the Greeks.
In the union of music and poetry, however, the

old Germans were unconsciously copying the Hellenic
idea.
Vwo
species of their love songs must be alluded to.

"
" Dance
and the "Watch
Songs
These were the

Songs."
We
daices; and
have already spoken of the style of the

only remains to add that the Minne-
it
singers loved a gay and genial vein of expression, and
Tanziveise in more serious
frequently introduced a
wo
-ks,
to lighten the general effect.
Ulrich of Licht-
ens tein, for example, having lost his fortune, begins a
Ian ent, but suddenly adds,

"
My lady,
though, she smiled on me,"
"anc breaks forth in a dance rhythm.

The " Watch Songs " were ballads in
which the sen-
was introduced
as a character.
tint:!
of the lady's castle
Sometimes, the singer pleads with

vig lance,
fail.
and allow him
to slip in
Sometimes, the watchman
is
him
to relax
his
and see his lady
a friend, who, hav-
ing admitted the knight in secret, sings words of cau-
and warning, heralding, perhaps, the approach of

dav n or of the lady's husband or guardian. At times,
tioK
22
the
watchman sings
knight
is
announcing that her
to the lady,
Two
near.
specimens may
suffice of these
songs, a single verse of each giving sufficient clew to

their general scope *
:
"
The watchman
'
dawn
heard, before the
If
of day,
loud proclaim
:.
any knightly lover stay
In secret with his dame,
Take heed
Then
fly,
the sun will soon appear.
ye knights, your ladies dear.
"
Fly ere the daylight dawn.'
The second begins
as follows
" The sun no more
The moon
is
gleaming
its light is
bringing
The
night has come, with dreaming
The
nightingale
And
sweetly soft
Then sang
'
If
is
winging,
is
singing.
the watchman, low:
any knight be sighing,
For
lover's
He
shall not
Unto her
let
meeting trying,
have denying.
him
go.'
"
In closing our chapters relative to the Minnesingers,
we must
of course speak of that great historical event
which occurred
at
the
very climax of this
musical
period, the Singers' War, or the contest of the Minne-
singers at the Wartburg, about 1207.
There
is
some
* The first is taken from

Taylor's Lays of the Minnesingers.
second we have translated from Gorres's collection.
The
23
cbubt'as to whether such a contest really took place at

a
I,
in
consequence of the large amount of fiction with

have embellished it. It
\\hich the succeeding poets

is.
however, certain that
n amber of Minnesingers,
who
to
court
his
a large
prized his princely hos-
so highly that they even
pitalities
munificent
the
Hermann,
Landgrave of Thuringia, drew
left
the
Suabian
which their songs had before that been

c imposed, and wrote in the Thuringian, thus beginning the separation which took place -between the
dialect, in
High German and Low German literature of the latter

Middle Ages. That competitions took
part of the
quite
in
court
his
place at
is
more than probable, and was
keeping with the customs of the time.
It
must be remembered that France enjoyed similar contjsts among the Troubadours, in which discussions
*
concerning some point of homage to ladies took place,

and which were called " Courts of Love." It is not un1
War of the Wartburg was an occasion

and Wagner has followed out this idea
his opera of Tannhduser.
But the poems relating
the combat became hyperbolical in such a large
kely that the
cf this order,
1
t:>
egree that
justly
relegated the entire
riythology.
2
ccounts
we
some commentators have
The
following
combat
is
one
to the
of
think, un-
domain
these
of
florid
Henry, the virtuous
clerk,
veide, Bitterolf, Reinmar,
Walther von der VogelOfterdingen, and Wolf-
Von
24
ram von Eschenbach were the
participants
and the
Landgrave and others were to be the judges. The

was to be adjudged to the best singer and
prize
composer, and the worst was to be at once taken out

and hung. [This latter feature at once proves the
version to belong to later and more brutal times.]
Henry
Ofterdingen was the best; but his rivals
of
conspired that he should be judged the worst, and he
was given over to the hangman, but escaped by force,

and fled to Austria in search of the great enchanter,
Klingsor, who, on hearing him,
commended
his singing,
go back with him for another comThe two passed their time very pleasantly
and proposed
petition.
to
together; but finally, by his magic, Klingsor had them
both transported in a night to the palace
in Thuringia.
Here Klingsor entered into competitive singing with

Wolfram von Eschenbach, without, however, gaining
any superiority, after which he substituted one of the
evil
spirits
was equal
command
his
at
in his place.
Wolfram
emergency, and began to sing a song

about the holy sacraments, which at once sent the
to the
disgusted imp flying.

cian
won
astrology
Klingsor
contest
the
;
and
left
But, in the evening, the magi-
by introducing the topic of
Wolfram was
the hall
entirely
discomfited.
loaded with presents, and de-
parted the next day.
What wonder
if,
amid such
story should be doubted?
tales as these, the entire
Nevertheless, as
we have
25
already seen, there was a substratum of truth in
and
it
one subtracts Klingsor, his imps, and

the hangman, there still remains the fact that at the
court of Thuringia was the climax of that poetic and
all
after
noble epoch of
wo/ks and
German
chivalry represented
lives of the Minnesingers.
by the
IV.
THE MASTERSINGERS.
WITH
the passing
German song
doned
tion,
fell
away
upon
of the Minnesingers, the
The
evil days.
nobility aban-
their interest in the art of poetry
and the burghers entered the
field.
and composiFor nearly
three centuries, a lower order of composition, a weaker
vein of music, ruled in
It
Germany.
assign an exact epoch to the change.

singers
Wolfram
claim
is
difficult to
The Master-
Eschenbach and Watther
of
von der Vogelvveide as the founders of their order;

while, on the other hand, Frauenlob* is reckoned by
some
historians as a Mastersinger,
the last of the Minnesingers.
and by others as
There
is
some
truth in
both theories, for he existed between the two epochs.
His death
loftiest
women'
Mainz, in 1318, marks the end of the
at
poetical
of
who had spent
and we
his life in praising their sex;
read that his body was borne to the grave by

only,
attended
*This
to
The
epoch of the Middle Ages.
the time were not ungrateful to the poet
singer's
women won him
by
large
name was Henry

the
title
of
"
procession
of Meissen
Frauenlob," or
"
of
women
weeping
but his constant
homage
Women's-praise."
who threw
females,
libations of
After
sleep.
It
roses into the grave and poured
wine into
this, the
27
it
until
it
overflowed.
German Muse
was quite natural
fell
into a prolonged
that, as the Mastersingers
had not the high poetic thoughts
of their predeces-
sors, the Minnesingers,
they should try to elevate form

Their entire attention seemed given
above inspiration.
the invention of
tc
at
new metres and
shapes.
The
era
which the Mastersingers arose may be set as early
as the beginning of the fourteenth century.
They
at
once began forming themselves into societies, guilds,
and corporations, bound by various whimsical laws,

and consenting to many formalities of construction and
rliythm in poetry and music, which clearly marked
tie absence of a true
There were
at first
understanding of the subject.
still
a few bold spirits remaining
wtio chose to take the freer methods and

]V
innesingers
but these soon gave
way
ized pressure of the Mastersingers,
life
of the
to the organ-
and very soon
all
German song composition was bound hand and foot.

With the Meister, the spirit of competition became
rouch-more keen than
it
had been
in
the Minnesing-
The
knightly musicians were satisfied with
mere work
of art creation, or, at the most, with
irg days.
tl
tl:
e applause of a
si
ccessors desired that the whole world should echo the
plaudits,
a<
chosen dame.
Their coarser-grained
and that their excellence should be formally
knowledged.
28
The
contests of
given with great
the
Meistersingers were
pomp and circumstance.
fidelity
the
names
may
it
of
not be generally
his characters are
Sachs, Veit Pogner, Sixtus

are
chronicled
Nuremberg
an occasion with much
of such
festivity
and
among
in 1550.
the
in
of Nuremberg, has repro-
his opera, the Meistersingers
duced the
always
Wagner,
known
exact,
that even
since
Hans
Beckmesser, and others,

twelve great
masters in
There are many points
of resem-
blance between fhe ceremonials of the Mastersingers
and the Masons of modern times.
among
degrees
meant
that one
the former,
There, were even
and the
title
" master "
had risen by attainments from the
humbler rank of apprentice.
The
regular meetings of
the guild generally took place on the afternoons of
Sundays or of holidays, as the singers worked at their

At the large competitions, the
trades on other days.
following rules were observed
Behind a green curtain

whose business it
of silk sat four Merker, or critics,
was
to
watch the singer and mark down any mistakes

Each of these critics had a special
which he made.
department.
grammar
One was
of the singer.
to judge of the
language and
In later years, this Merker
had before him an open copy of Luther's translation of

the Bible, as the best standard of the
German
tongue.
Another was to watch the contents of the song, and see

if it contained
worthy and learned thoughts. Another
was
to
observe the construction and metre of the verse,
29
conformed to the Meistersinger

The other was to watch the music, and see if
:md see
if
rules.
it
it
was
properly composed and performed.
Regarding the last

two critics, we may add that their task was a most important one. The versification of the singers was often
very complex, and each metre had given to it a name
taken from heraldry or from war. Thus, one reads
"
"
i the early chronicles of the
shield," the
sword,"
"
"
of
a
To
invent
a new
tie " thrust," the
parry
song.
node
of versification
was the
singer's greatest glory;
were accepted by the judges, he .was allowed

In this manner arose the "rosegive it a name.
if
and,
t)
it
mary," the "flowery-paradise," the "fresh," the "yelthe
.low,"
"blue,"
Some
modes.
the
"frog,"
verses even
and
the
"mirror"
with one hundred
exist
and twenty-two rhymed lines in each. Our readers

cm imagine how much of inspiration there could have
bên
in
As
free.
such a mechanical jingle.
to the music, the singer

It
was
set
down
was
left
to his credit,
if
somewhat more
he invented his
o vn song; but he was allowed to take his tunes readyirade,

s(
if
veral
he wished.
And
for this purpose there
" official melodies "
were
furnished by the society,

'
s, t
a<
upon a raised stool while performing
junct of the scene gave
it
singer
and every
a pedagogic character, not
unlike a college examination.

ei
The
any of which he might set his poem.
tc
The
chief faults
umerated A*the laws of the society.
were
There were
30
thirty-two of these.
The
The
following are a few of them
singer was forbidden to employ sentences which
nobody could understand, a wise rule where there

was so much of pedantry. He was also forbidden
use words which had no meaning.
to
make gestures
allowed to
or grimaces.
pronunciation was a fault;
of
He was
not
Indistinctness
singing off the pitch
was reckoned a great fault and over-embellishment,

" black
strange to say, was also a fault, and produced
;
The
marks."
prize given
to
the
winner was some-
times a crown, but more usually a scarf or long chain
The second
and a medal.
prize
The
was a wreath.
subjects of the songs at the "free singings" were

to the singer,
pate
but. at
left
and on such occasions any might particithe great competitions, none but members
could take part, and the subjects (after the Reformation)
were
singer
to
be taken wholly from the Scriptures.
who had won
was
n prize
at
once accorded
the rank of Kfcister ; and, at the next competition, he
was
entitled
to
seat
among
the
judges.
At
great competitions, the singer was compelled to

his
song by heart, as no
allowed him.
If
the
know
book or prompting was
he strayed altogether from the tune,
the judges at once ordered
him
to stop.
Only one important poet was produced by the Masduring the centuries of their existence.
This was Hans Sachs, born at Nuremberg in 1494.
tersingers
He
studied at the free school in his*ity, and says
31
himself that he was not thoroughly educated. His

was a tailor; and Hans, at the age of fifteen,
oj
father
took up a trade, that of shoemaking. At this

tine, a friend of the family, a weaver named Nunnenalso
b^ck, taught the youth the .principles which governed

and, after he had gone
IV'astersinging;
customary
he settled
cinderjahre,
at
through the
Nuremberg
was admitted with honor into the society of

Probably no poet achieved more honor dur-
aâin, and
singers.
ir
He
Nuremberg.
enormous
three
humble
his lifetime than the
not give
all
died in
cobbler-rhyiriester of
leaving behind him
1576,
folios of printed
works
but even these
his literary labors, for he wrote over six
thousand pieces, some of them long plays of seven

each.
The reason that Sachs won so much
a:ts
n ore fame than his brother singers
was genuine;
for,
pedantic rules
of his
to stifle his
is
own
spite
of
his
is
that he alone
observance of
the
time, he did not permit them
hearty,
good-humored nature. There

even to-day makes
a bonhomie in his works which
them pleasant reading, and forces the reader

in the evident
enjoyment of the poet
to join
in relating his
tile.
The
appear
OL the
last vestiges of the
until this century,
U 1m
tanners,
Meistersingers turned over their records,
etc., to
C3mpleting
Mastersingers did not diswhen, in 1839, tne ^ ast f ur
the
the singing society of that town, thus
existence
of
the
guild which had
32
existed since the Middle Ages.

for out of the
It
was a
typical act,
Mastersingers' guild has grown the
German Maennerchor.
existent
Frauenlob or Sachs
the early times, of
changed
its
Gregarious singing
Teutonic people than
the
among
is
it
was
in
has only
it
not less
form.
we
In leaving this branch of our subject,
present
a specimen of the Scriptural introduction to one of the

old competitive songs.
Gen
tell
fierce
It
us
sis
true,
What Ja
broth -er
and twen-ty, doth
nine
at
sau
was not sheer pedantry which
cob
to
did
his
do,
led the singer thus
announce where his subject was to be found.

must remember that there was behind the green
to
tain a
if
this
We
cur-
Merker, with an open Bible before him and,

gentleman was ignorant of the singer's text, the
chances
were
that
damaging marks
rectness.
he
would receive
for tampering with
few very
Scriptural
cor-
V.
THE FOLK-SONG.
THE
il
influence of the Minnesingers reached
e Mastersingers,
meated the
d;iys
down
to
and that of the Mastersingers per-
taste of the general public in these early
but in Germany, as elsewhere, the folk-song had
also an independent existence.
It
would be most
inter-
esting, were*it but possible, to trace the early folk-songs

oJ
Europe, as they sturdily arose in spite
ir
opposition
to,
classical
of,
and often
or pedantic laws.
It
is
almost certain that, while the ancient Greeks hampered

tleir
music with rigid rules and an unwieldy nomensang pleasant minor melodies, and
clature, the peasants
kiew not
that they were transgressing canons of aft.
King Canute was not a musician yet he was. able to

give England a folk-song which existed for centuries,
;
bocause he gave free utterance to a spontaneous musici.1

In this case, the origin of the song was
thought.
kiown, because
ir
it
was such a
lofty
one
but the work-
an at his bench, or the soldier on the march, couid
p oducc a song in the same spontaneous way, am(

yi
ars after, its rise might be sought for in vain.
34
T.hat
Germany possessed many such songs
is
not to
be doubted, for this country was especially noted for

the delight which
its people took in chorus singing.

This was so marked a characteristic that even the
Church was obliged to yield to it, and congregational

singing was permitted in the Catholic ritual in Germany,
while jealously prohibited
ecclesiastical singing
songs
in
other countries.
This
took the form of Maricnliedcr,
which were incorporated

These songs were sometimes rather
in praise of the Virgin,
in the service.
secular in their style; or rather,

time, the difference
in
Germany
at this
between sacred and secular music
was not a very marked one. To the secular music (the

folk-song) is due much of the power of the Protestant
music of the country, and it has been well observed
that the Teutonic folk-song equalled in its power and
It was a melodious
results even the Gregorian chant.
and bewildering system of

the very wild flower of
was
Mastersingers.
music, springing up by the wayside and doubly attrac-
protest against the complex
the
It
tive
because of
its
mystic origin.
The
praise of
woman,
which was so great a ^characteristic of the Minnesong,

was carried forward in the Marienlieder, in which the
Holy Virgin was invested with every lovely attribute,

and became the type of true womanhood. But these
were only one kind of the folk-songs of the epoch beginning with the fourteenth century
there were also
love-songs, battle-songs, and vocal descriptions of com-

bats,
35
drinking-songs, dance-songs, wanderers' songs,*
children's songs, knights', students',
and hunters' songs,
an entire repertoire, giving expression to many widely

differing emotions,
and some of the works possessing

seems to have been a char-
a rich vein of humor, which
acteristic of certain folk-songs in
and
different ages
climes.
Another feature of the folk-song

elsewhere, was the frequent use of the
t
Germany, as
refrain,
ne.
The
a repe-
end
meaning,
sometimes even between each
tion of words, apparently without
cf the various verses, or

1
in
at the
various refrains of folk-songs and ballads
would make a most interesting subject for philologists

Mid antiquarians to investigate for these refrains seem
;
come down from very ancient

(:ven among some barbaric races.
to
days, and are found
The Maoris
Zealand, for example, have long refrains in
of
New
words which
themselves do not understand, but which they

assert have come down to them from their remote an-
ihe.y
The Indians of Canada, when first met by

he early Jesuits, sang a refrain which sounded very
nuch like " Alleluia," and which immediately led the
)ious fathers to imagine that they had discovered the
oestors.
ost tribes of Israel.

"
Jown," or
Hey,
Derry down,"
3riginally a druidical
* The "
The English
charm.
is
refrain of
"Derry
said to have been
Naturally,
some
of these
wandering years" have always constituted a definite epoch in

Every youth was expected to fini&h his years of apprentice
hip with a certain amount of travel, generally on foot.
Herman
life.
36
refrains bear immediate evidence that they are only a
meaningless
"
to
out the words
piece
Fackelorum, dideldorum," or "Dudel,
probably had no more meaning in the

"
"
in the ancient
Tra, la, la
songs than
didel, dura,"
old
meant
jingle,
and melody.
German
and modern English ones. Reissmann, the eminent

commentator on German music, seems to imagine that
in some cases the refrains were ignorant imitations of
the responses used in the ritual of the Church.
though the
some
Church was obliged
Al-
to use the folk-song to
extent, the latter did not always return the com-
pliment by using the ecclesiastical style of composition,

the Gregorian
tones.
On
the contrary, the
departure from the Gregorian system
is
first
found
true
in the
ancient popular melodies.
That there
is
at times considerable variation in dif-
same song is to be expected,

where the songs were preserved only by oral teaching.
In Russia, one finds important points of difference in
ferent versions of the
national melodies, as sung in St. Petersburg, from the
same
airs as
sung
in
Moscow
and
difference were to be found in songs
just
such points of
sung
in
North and
South Germany. But the folk-songs of Germany are

not to be compared in their contents with those of Russia or of
any other country.
The
folk-song,
more than
any other vehicle, brings to us the spirit of an epoch or

and is therefore always sui generis. The
English peasantry, for example, sang in major modes
of a people,
37
the other races of
in
while almost
all
Europe sang
a typification of the merry and hearty character
mir
or.
of
he singers.
The mournful
resignation of the Rus-
sian, the vivacity of the Frenchman, the excitable and
frenzied nature of the Spaniard, are all clearly reflected

in the folk-music
and, in a like manner, the folk-songs
calmer and more contemplative style of

the German of centuries ago, who seems to have had
bri:ig to us the
the
same phlegmatic,
yet earnest nature, as his de-
scendants.*
the earliest of the
Among
baLads,
pation of the people.

the
German
folk-songs were
while war was the chief occu-
tales of war,
Religion and drinking represent
vices and virtues
of
the ancient
German
peas-
antry; and the drinking-songs, therefore, were not

.much fewer in number than the Marienlieder. Long
how
beJore Luther's time, the church musicians saw

the roughly the spirit of the people
ular music,
was
in all the sec-
and used some of the baser tunes for
relig-
Many masses were built upon this or

th<t popular love-song, and even drinking-songs were
this put to holy use. The mass generally, in such a
ious purposes.
ca: e,
took the
name
of the
song on which
it
was
" I knew a
* Fletcher of
very wise man who beSaltoun, in 1703, said,
a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not
liev :d that, if
can
who
should
make
the laws of a nation."
This tribute to the power of
It
the folk-song is so often misquoted that we are tempted to give it here.
" wise man " reocc irs in a letter to the Marquis of Montrose ; and the
fen ;d to
is
thought to have been Sir Philip Sidney, with
the thought probably originated.
whom,
therefore,
38
founded * and often one composer would endeavor to

outdo the other in ingenious treatment of such melo;
dies.
With
the beginning of the art of music-printing, f the
folk-song had a more definite history

ant to
know
that
Germany were
tions
and
it
of the earliest printed
many
pleas-
works
in
Some
collec-
in manuscript,
and of
collections of folk-songs.
had previously been made
is
these the
tury) is
Limburg Chronicle (of the fourteenth centhe most valuable.

These collections are in-
tensely interesting to the musician and antiquary, and
sometimes show the German geniality in a very quaint

manner. We give, for example, a translation of the
verses which are printed on the different voice parts of
an ancient set of songs

Discant (upper part)
" Ye
little
We
youths and maidens neat,
want your voices high and sweet
Your study
The
Alto:
to the discant bring,
only part that you should sing."
" The
Who
young men
alto suits to nice
can sing up, and
down again
This surely
is
the alto's w*y,
So study
it
night
at
and day."
*The same fact was true of ancient French music.

certain very
ancient song, entitled "L'Homme Arme"," was so well adapted to contrapuntal treatment that dozens of the old composers used it in their masses,
and these works were
called
t Music-printing dates
" L'Homme Arme" Masses."
back
to 1473,
and possibly
earlier.
The
39
tenor has the following:

" In middle
path are
all
my arts,
I sing against the other parts
They lean on me throughout the song,

Or else the singing would go wrong."
The bass
is
"
more humorous
My station
is
He who to
middle age has got,
a lower
And growleth
Why,
let
Not only did the
him
like
lot
a bear so hoarse,
sing the bass, of course."
writers of church
music greatly em-
ploy the folk-song (of which more hereafter), but the

1
ite-players
and the pipers often arranged the melodies
The
for instrumental performance.
tDok
many
lute-players often
liberties with the tunes in transcribing
and seem to have been as ornate
them,
in their disguising of
nelodies as some of our modern pianists in the treatoperatic themes.
rient of
yond
<11
f
Naturally,
possibility in so short a
work
it
would be be-
as this to illustrate
the different species of folk-song.
We
content our-
elves with a single specimen of the lyric school (taken
jrom Lange's Collection).
The
(
vocal forms, however, were but one of the influ-
nces which, between the fourteenth and sixteenth cenuries,
moulded German music.
Instrumental forms
and to wield an important power upon

he music, not only of Germany, but of the whole world.
'>egan to arise,
4o
SUNSHINE.
Moderate,
Shine for
us,
sun
love-ly
ifJ.J
J.
rays dance in
your
Let
I
I
TM
light,
And
glee!
'Y~.
shine us
two
to
geth
er,
to
geth
ITT
er,
Who

dim.
side
by side would
be,
"Who
side
by side would be.
VI.
THE INSTRUMENTAL FORMS.
ALTHOUGH
many,
it
is
our subject
impossible
to
different
epochs without
two
seem
is
the vocal music of Ger-
examine the songs of the
studying the instrumental

forms which often gave rise to them. The dances
especially are so interwoven with singing that the
arts
music.
belong to each other in the folkThe most ancient dances of Germany were
to
of two kinds, those which belonged to the court
and
and those which were the delight of the

burghers and the peasantry. The former were always
slow and slately, and involved no indecorous gesture
aristocracy,
or action: the latter were wild, jumping, and full of

activity.
means
This broad division
of/
dancing
solely the property of the
probably been
in
existence
in
all
is
Germans:
ages.
by no
has
it
We
have
already alluded to the difference of courtly and popular
dances in the time of the Minnesingers, but we
can go back even to ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt

for similar distinctions.* The ancient dances of cere*For excellent details regarding the epochs of the dance,
the reader to Czerwinski's History of the Dance.
we
refer
mony
(as,
43
for example, those mentioned in the Script-
ures) were probably not even marching, but a merely
pantomimic
That many
action.
of the
did not involve motions of the feet
is
Greek dances
proved by the
descriptions of the actions of the tragic choruses, left

in
many
of the
works of contemporary
writers, while
Lucian* proves conclusively that the great Roman

dancers were pantomimists, and did not caper about,
bit relied wholly upon gesture and
we
movement
of the
dances more
hands.
In later times,
al ied to
gesture than to caperings, although the body
was no longer kept
find the court
stationary, but
atout in time with the rhythm.

Pnssacaglia, the
moved
gracefully
Such dances as the
Chaconne, the Pavane, the Minuet,
represented the loftier side of
the saltatory art in
Southern and Central Europe in the past; while the

Gigue, the Hornpipe, the Bourre'e, or the Musette
represented the heartier rustic side.
In Germany, the
ccurtly dances were often combined with song; and
the knight would take a lady by the hand, and, singing

and stepping gracefully to the rhythm of the lute, the
Sometimes, the
p;.ir would move slowly to and fro.
gentleman was allowed two partners in such a dance.

These were called the "stepped dances," and the
n;ime itself proves
society
d:tncing
dances.
the difference from the
On
the
was ruder and
other
wilder.
tv/o kinds, the "circling"
hand, the
It
modern
people's
was divided
into
and the "springing" dance.
"DeSaltatione."
44
The former was
the
more reputable
of the two,
and
could not have been very different from the old English
Maypole dance; but the springing dance, of which
the Hopaldei, spoken of in Chapter II., was the predecessor, was a very rough exercise
down
of the female participants
and the throwing
was not infrequent,
and often occasioned the calling out of the city guards

to preserve order, and only too frequently the dance
would end
also with
in a
bloody
fight.
Singing was combined
these uncouth merrymakings, and
many a
folksong owes its origin to some satirical verses sung

on these occasions to the dance tune. Of the instru-
ments which accompanied these dances, the drum was

the most prized; but it was soon taken from the dances
of the lower classes,
ings of the nobility.
and allowed only to the gatherThe trumpet and drum during
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were
deemed
to
be the only two instruments which a gentleman might

Many were the
delight in and even perform upon.
laws regulating the use of these two instruments.
was regarded as an especial token
It
of graciousness
when, in 1426, the Emperor Sigismund permitted the
Augsburg to establish a band of trumpeters.

Trumpeters and drummers were under the immediate
city of
jurisdiction of their prince,
and had many privileges
and were highly honored. In 1623 and in 1630, decrees

were issued fixing their station and defining their
rights.
One
of the
most curious of the laws regarding
45
drummers, and one which shows how highly the

instrument was regarded, existed in Saxony at the
beginning of this century. Drums were forbidden to
be ised at any dance or ball, unless some person ot
noble rank or academical degree were present.
This
Middle Ages did not

cause any serious inconvenience, for it was very easy to
relic of the legislation of
obtain
the "attendance
the
of
some penniless
The kings
and with him the desired drums.
professor,
of Poland
kep twelve court trumpeters and two drummers.

Sjace forbids giving the various laws which surrounded the two arts, a full collection of which may
be 1ound in a curious work, entitled Introduction to
heroic Musical Trumpeter's
the
and Drummer s Art

1
(Anleitung zur heroisch-musikalischen Trompeter und
Paucer Kunst), by
be
-egarded as
harj
and
nobility
fiddle
J.
E. Altenburg;* but the fact
entirely established
that,
may
while the
were the instruments used by the

trumpet and
to the fifteenth century, the
up
druri took the lead in aristocratic circles thereafter.

City bands existed at a very early epoch in
The most
prin
:es,
for the
som itimes
Germany.
ancient bands were those formed by the
amusement
of their
own
courts
and
these would be allowed to play for the gen-
* The writer of the work was himself a
member
of the honorable
Guild of Trumpeters and Drummers, and states that many of the nobility
studiel this "knightly art." The Duke of Weimar presented himself
abilit)
rumpeter in 1734, and after an examination as to his musical

was admitted a member, by a committee of some forty drummers
and
umpeters.
as a
ti
46
the streets or public squares of the
eral public, in
With the
towns.
free
cities,
rise
and of the
of the burghers
own bands, which

great festivity. These
the people had their
were heard on
all
occasions of
bands often contained pipers

very popular in
and sixteenth
Germany
and the bagpipe was
in the fourteenth, fifteenth,
Albrecht Diirer has
centuries.
left
drawings of these ancient musicians, which prove the

bagpipes to have been about the same as those used
in Scotland.
It
was natural
that the strong
of the bagpipe should influence the dance,
rhythm
and that
the rhythm of the dance should influence the folksong;

for in all popular music, since the days
ural characters clapped their
singing, strongly
hands
when
the Script-
in time with their
marked rhythm has been a leading
element.
Although it is not our purpose to trace instrumental

form per se in this chapter, we may here remark that
many modern
orchestral forms have their origin in
these primitive dances.

as follows':
first,
The genealogy
the dances
is
were used
somewhat
as
instru-
mental pieces by the lutenists then, the composers

found that, by combining a stately dance with one of
;
the livelier sort, they heightened the effect of both;

then, the suite (originally, suite de pieces] took
and combined several of the dances

tral
work, in one key throughout
trasted
movements
in a
its rise
long orches-
and from the con-
of the suite, not from the vague

s:iape
of
the
suonata, came the modern sym-
old
phony, sonata, string quartet, concerto,

ail
47
our drawing-room music
etc.
Almost
written in a form
is
de-
r.ved from the combination of two of the old dances,
vith a repeat of the
one after the second.- The
first
subjects of the songs which were
combined with the
cances were various, but naturally never very sad or

plaintive.
Spring songs are numerous, legends somet
mes appear, and love
is
never-ending
theme.
Often these songs are given as a conversation between
two persons, and there

A
/ere
f
such a dance-song
"
reason to believe that these
is
The
sung as duets.
came before my
darling's
One evening 'mid

I
is
the
first
verse
bower
the gloaming,
spoke to her with passion's power,

'
Alas
But
I late
me
let
let
am coming
not here pleading stay,
me
But' give
And
'
following
me
cordial greeting,
in to thee,
Oh, teasing youth,
We shall
pray.'
must say nay,
not have a meeting
So chase your thoughts of love away,

For you my heart's not beating.' "
Sometimes the
brm
attained,
was heightened, and a contrasted

by changing the rhythm of dance and
effect
;ong with each voice.

>art
of the above
*
is
The beginning
given thus
of the
Reissmann, Geschichte der deustchen Musik.
male
1
came
eve
The female
Oh
ning
be -fore
'mid
my
darling's
the
part changes thus
gloam
ing
must
cease, teas-ing youth,
r-
say
nay,
The
bow 'r one
We
shall not
division
first
have
would be
meet
called
the
ing
Vortanz, or
dance" (Nachand
the
two
a
between
considerable
lanz\
pause was
opening dance, the second the "after

made, while the dancers stood
still.
The
first
division
was dignified and -stately, but the second was wild

and somewhat indelicate for a court dance.
This
combination of two different forms was
at
much
the end of the sixteenth century, and
in favor
contrasts
its
undoubtedly led to the more developed contrasts of

the suite.
But
it
was not
to
German
the dance forms that

"
song owed
its
chief charm:
its
earnestness and dignity

;ame from a much higher source; and
)f
the
Minnesingers,
the
all
pedantry of
49
the passion
the
Master-
singers, the zeal of the Marienlieder, and the jollity of
dance songs might have been unavailing to give to

Germany a lasting repertoire of vocal music, had not
:he
.he seeds
and
fruit
which called forth

aation,
been cherished
all
in
a movement
the enthusiasm of the
movement which,
entirely
German
religious,
yet
upon music to aid it in a powerful manner,

anknown since the days of Ambrose, Gregory, and
jailed
the early Church.
VII.
THE INFLUENCE OF THE REFORMATION.

IN
all
times of great religious excitement, music
has been an important factor in strengthening zeal or

assisting devotion.
Julian, the Apostate, ascribed the
decline of pagan rites
in
Rome
to the fact that the
Christians had elevating music in their service, while

the
Roman
heathen had not.
Christianity into the
In the introduction of
northern nations, music always
became the valued handmaid

surprising,
therefore,
to
find
of religion.
music
It
not
is
its
performing
highest mission during the white heat of the religious

struggle of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and
Martin Luther, a skilled musician and lover of music,

fostering the art with a care which had
only in
even Luther,
of
its
root not
policy, but in personal taste as well.
religion,
influence he
in striving to
scarcely
But
employ the art in the cause
could
have known how much
was exerting upon the German song
of
centuries later.
History must deny to Luther the composition of

of the tunes which have been ascribed to him;*
many
* One
"
by one, these songs have been traced
"
Strong Castle
is
now
ascribed to Franc.
to other sources.
Even

elevating the art to
but, in
its
great position in the
Reformation, in causing the best

loftiest religious
51
composers
to set the
thoughts to singable music, in being
the presiding genius over the music of his time, his

"
I am not ashamed to
immeasurably great.
"
that, next to the study of divinity,
say," he once said,
I hold music to be the noblest of
occupations." He
work
is
was himself a good singer, and loved each evening,

which he is said
after supper, to join in part-singing, at

to
We
have been very expert.
our opinion
that,
when a
good composers are sure

of songs
most
is
have already declared
nation possesses great poets,
and a repertoire
Luther served music
to follow;
thus certain to arise.
directly in this
for sacred music
manner
for his
were of the
poems intended
loftiest character,
and
may, without irreverence, be compared to the dignity

have seen how, with the
of the Scriptures.
We
Meistersingers, Luther became the standard of pure
German
diction.
Not
less
direct
was the influence
which caused the folk-song to be incorporated into the

chorale of the Reformation, and not only gave
dignity
and power, but caused
it
to
be
it
new
preserved intact
through coming ages. It was the perception of the

true musician which caused Luther to use popular
melodies as the basis of
many
of his chorales.
Two
this connecfacts, however, should be remembered in
tion; firstly,
love song)
the folk-song of those days (even the
was of a very
stately
and dignified cast
52
(see
selection
in
Chapter
and, secondly, the
V.);
chorale was freer and bolder in the sixteenth century
One
than in later times.
the musician of to-day
commonest
of the
to
is
errors of
imagine that the
rigid
school of Congregational singing comes to us through

Luther" and the chorale, whereas
in the
Genevan
so zealously taken up by the
Scotch
Covenanters,
it
has
root rather
its
which was
that of Calvin,
school,
and
English Puritans and

these
through
influences
The use
afterward became acclimatized in America.

of popular music in religious
Even
not original with Luther.
custom seems
this
Triumph
"
to
rites
in Scriptural times,
have existed.
must have been
set to
was nevertheless
Miriam's "Song of
an Egyptian popular
melody, to have been so entirely impromptu and the

early Christians in Rome did not disdain to use any
popular melody, save those associated with the pagan
;
rites or theatre, in their love feasts.
Luther certainly used no half-measures

his
songs.
Soldiers' songs, sailors
were
dies of the streets,
service of
the Church.
all
in selecting
songs, the melo-
taken, and pressed into the
Before they were sung in
however, they were
purged from
were
set
to dignified
triviality.
They
and musicianly counterpoint, under the direction of
religious
service,
every element of
by the greatest composers availaand they were furnished with new words, some-
the great reformer,

ble
times by Luther himself.

"
53
He was a Little Scholar who went to School,"

Dame complaining," "All my Thoughts are
"
heard a
with thee," and "
had a Stately Sweetheart
"
can be
mentioned as songs which gave rise to great chorales.

Bach's lofty chorale, ".O Sacred Head now wounded,"
shows us that the ancient folk-song was not out

place as a religious
was
time,
originally a love
many
of
the
title
One such
"Soldiers', Sailors',
Low
Service of God."
Although the chorale soon
Street
the characteristic musical

it
Songs, altered to the
very
much
but to have
instead of in Latin.
ritual
it
rendered in Ger-
The beginnings
tantism were far less radical than
Germany
The
new church a
akin to the musical service of the Catholic

the mass,
Church,
man
by Luther.
at first
reformer desired to keep for the
became
Protestant
expression of
was not desired
collec-
and Miners'
Songs, and other
worship,
life-
hymns, derived from such
popular sources, were published.

tion bears
Luther's
During
song.
collections
of
noble tune
for this
selection;
many
of Protes-
imagine.
In
this effort to retain the mass, in England a
desire to hold to the prayers to the saints, prove that the

religion
thrown.
and customs of centuries were not
lightly over-
Luther's early singing in Eisenach had been
in the ecclesiastical school of the
mass; and,
in 1526,
he
wrote, '"êt the use of the Latin mass remain free to

the young, so that the Latin tongue in which so
good songs are found
shall not
become
many
unfamiliar."
54
In writing of the different

ship, Luther held
modes
of conducting wor-
that, in the earnest
meetings of the
music
was
necessary all should
truly faithful,
be regulated by the Bible, prayer, and Christian love.
Luther was far from desiring to give an authoritative,
but
little
On
formal church service to the Protestants.
the con-
changes which he made at different times

clearly show that much was experimental, and that
scarcely anything was to be regarded as entirely arbi-
trary, the
beginning, almost
In the
trary.
all
the points of
"
Lord,
The Kyrie became,
the mass were retained.
"
the Gloria, " Allein Gott in der
have mercy upon us
"
the Credo, " Wir glauben all' an einen
Hoh' sei ehr
;
Gott"; the Benedictus, "Gott

deiet
"
:
O Lamm
and the Agnus Dei,

But the beginning even of
schuldig."
tion of the Catholic service

tional
sei gelobet
"
hymn,
a chorale or
und beneGottes un-
this close imita-
was always a congrega-
German psalm.
This
whole service could, in case of need, be given without

employing a choir, as each number was suited to congregational singing; yet
it
must not be supposed
that
Luther was arrayed against choir-singing, the exact

contrary is the case, and he more than once entered
vehement protests against the disbanding of
He
desired choir-singing in the service, not
choirs.
only be-
cause he loved the art of music, but because he believed that a
good choir would be a guide and model
for the congregation in matters belonging to church
55
Of all the composers of his time, Luther

ranked Josquin des Pres as highest. Naturally, many
of the very best were in the service of the Catholic
music.
Church but their music could be adapted, or translated

in the German Protestant churches, whether
;
and used
they would or not*

sary
evolved
all
Yet even
this
was scarcely neces-
for, although the Protestant Church had not yet

its
great tone masters, Bach and Handel, yet
Germany was awake
literary
in the
new
cause, and every
mind wrought, out a hymn, and every composer
a tune, as the most worthy offering to the Church.
The number
of the chorales of the first century of the
Reformation
is
colossal.
VIII.
THE MUSIC OF THE REFORMATION.
HENRY ISAAC was

Pres
not far behind even Josquin des
in placing religious
music on a firmer footing.
The Evangelical Church owes

ruhen
alle
Walder
"
to
the melody, "
him
(" Now all the Woods are
Nun
resting
"),
which he originally wrote as a secular song. But the

pupil of Isaac, Ludwig Senfl, was Luther's avowed
One
favorite.
evening, after singing a motette by this
he always had music

his home), Luther said " If I were
composer
in the
(for
pieces,
could not write a work like
could not expound a psalm as
Holy
with his
with what
gifts of the
and various, just as there are

a body. But no one is contented
own
God
gifts,
and we are never quite satisfied

Luther wrote a letter
has allotted us."
to Senfl in 1530,
and the commentators have endeav-
ored to place the latter

posers because of
that this
of
The
can.
to
But then, he
this.
Spirit are manifold
various organs in
Senfl
evening in
to tear myself
was
is
this.
among
It is
the Protestant com-
scarcely necessary to say
not satisfactorily proven
in a public position in the
Munich proves
that his
and the
most
fact that
catholic court
works were adapted, and not
written, for the Protestant Church.
The same was
true of
whose names appear

Heinrich Fink,
of the other composers

music of the Reformation.
many
in the
Thomas
57
Stoltzer,
Stephen Mahn, Mar-
Agricola, Benedict Ducis, George Rhaw, and even

Orlando di Lasso existed in the time of Luther's
tin
activity
while, in Venice,
Adrian Willaert directed in
the cathedral of St. Mark's,

disciples.
and taught many German
Most important, however,
in their influence
upon the music of the Reformation were Conrad

and Johann Walther,
who worked with Luther
Rupf
in his
founding a music worthy of the great new

Church which had arisen. Rupf was Kapellmeister to
^reat task of
vas in the service of Frederic the

(
hief singer,
of the
.'
Walther
Protestant prince, the Elector of Saxony.
.1
Wise
at
Torgau, as
and subsequently also entered the service

He was one of the earliest of the
elector.
killed musicians
who devoted
their lives to the service
His Geystlich Gesangk

Protestant hymnwas
one
of
the
earliest
iûchleyn
hooks. Walther gives many details of his life with
cf
Church.
the Protestant
Luther in Wittenberg, in 1524, during the time they
vorked on the above-mentioned hymnal.
He
states
Luther set tunes to several of the Gospels and

Epistles, playing the melodies as he invented them on
that
tl.e flute,
The
while he (Walther) noted them down.
great epoch
wis the year
-in
1524, for
hymn-books began
the music of the Reformation

the publication of
at that time.
Protestant
It is difficult to ascer-
58
which was the very first collection

published. The honor has been
tain with certainty
of Protestant
hymns
claimed for a book called the Enchiridion, published
by Luther
at Erfurt in 1524;
collection
published at Wittenberg by the reformer,
in
same
the
year,
The
but
it is
may have been compiled

work
the first-named
of
possible that the
earlier.
in existence
only copy
was destroyed by the German bombardment of Strassburg during the recent Franco-Prussian war, which
burnt the town library where
The
it
was preserved.
Protestant hymn-books, however, were not the
oldest in
Germany;
for there
was a Catholic one dated
some
of which were
collection,
while others
1517, containing seventy-four tunes,
composed
especially for the
were older melodies.
Unquestionably, the older chorales of the Hussites exerted a great influence upon
the music of Luther's days
for they
were carefully pre-
served and honored by the reformer, and incorporated

in his
hymnals.
The Enchiridion, already mentioned,
contains two.
The
come
Protestant
in
Germany.
hymns found
the most ardent wel-
Their music was
lofty,
and wedded
They were not too difficult for the

and
the people therefore sang them
to
sing;
people
with an enthusiasm that proved how well music, propto noble words.
erly directed,
who were
hymns,
was serving the cause of
not followers of
religion.
Many
Luther yet sang these
until the fires of sectional strife blazed
up too
59
hotly for such a thing to be done with safety.
aided the progress of these
more of the vocal service

gations
lis
hands of the congrehe never cast
into the
we have before
yet, as
stated,
The
influence against choir singing.
over,
was
lional singing.
how-
latter,
more perfect congregaway

Latin was the rock against which hith-
pave the
to
Luther
hymns by giving more and
for
erto the cause of popular singing in the service

*plit.
before spoken
c
had
In the Latin mass (apart from the Marienlieder

of),
the
congregation generally could
nly grasp the repeated phrase of the opening
and the
number
"
Kyrie Eleison, Christe Eleison," was sung in

season and out of season. With Luther's music, all
He
vas changed.
said,
"
wish, after the example of
tie prophets and ancient Fathers of the Church, to
make German psalms
for the people; that is, to
sicred hymns, so that the word of
God may
say,
dwell
If ever a
the people by means of song also."
was accomplished, this one was. The songs were
taught in all the schools. The Wanderbursch sang
anong
\\ish
tl
em on
his way.
The besieged
or persecuted Protes-
tant found comfort even in the midst of his affliction in

"
" Em' feste
tl: ese
Burg ist unser Gott besongs.
cz.me really
It
"a strong castle"
was the
R ^formation.
is
to
to those
battle-cry as well as
the
Yet the root of even
be found in the
Roman
this
who sang
shelter
it.
of the
grand melody
Catholic chants which
Luther had sung in his youth.
Herr Kostlin,
in a
60
recent treatise,* easily proves that the music

original, but that
of the
words
is little
to give
it
it
needed the
meaning and
was the body, the hymn the soul.

tion of Wagner's formula, " Music
and on a grander
it,
and majesty
fire
life.
The tune
was an
the
is
applica-
handmaid
of
scale,
In closing our sketch of the music of this epoch,
may
not
the operatic reformer
poetry," three centuries before
had used
It
is
we
add, as items of interest, that Luther possessed a
bass or baritone voice, and was a good player upon the

In addition to his practical work
flute and the lute.
above described, he wrote a

music, and also the following
treatise
poem
in
praise
of
in praise of the art,
which we translate from the German, preserving as far

as possible the odd vein of the original:
Of
all
DAME
MUSICA.f
earth's joy
and pleasure
Not one has
Than
greater bliss to measure
that which lies in fine singing
Or when
tender tones are ringing.
There can be no
Where
No envy,
And
And
guilt or care
the youths are singing
fair.
scorn, or hate bides long
sorrow
flies off at
the song,
avarice and malice, too,
Along with
grief,
they hide from view.
* Luther als der Vater des evangelischen Kirchengesanges.

t This poem has so seldom been even spoken of in the biographies of
Luther that we deem

be cast upon
its
music, entitled
it
necessary to state that not the slightest doubt can

It first appeared in a little book in praise of
authenticity.
Lob und Preis der
loblichen
Kunst Musica, by H. Johan.

And
well the heart within,
all is
For such a joy
God even
And
is
not a
sin.
takes delight in this
for each mortal
Since Satan's work
The
61
'tis
it
great bliss,
hinders
oft,
tone which rises sweet and soft.
This well
Which
is
did
seen in David's song
King Saul
With tender
his life prolong
and harp's sweet tone,

Else sure the king no peace had known.
lays
And by sweet music hearts are stirred

To listen to God's Holy Word.
Eliseus this secret knew,
And
I
played the harp with rapture, too.
love the sweet time of the year,
When
the birds are singing clear.
all
Then heaven and
earth are full of glee,
And many songs are borne to me.

The nightingale with tender voice
Makes
all
the pleasant
Her song can
And many
rejoice.
stir,
thanks we give to her
But greater thanks

For he
woods
every bosom
to
God be
this songster fine
a model from above
To
the souls that music love.
Of God she
sings the
Through
the nights
all
has made,
To be
all
said
wondrous praise
and
all
the days.
To Him, too, would my song ascend,

And thank him ever without end.
D. MARTIN LUTHBR.
"a poetical introduction by Doctor Lurepub'.ibhed in a periodical in Halberstadt in 1789, and

thence reproduced (by Dr. J. A. G. Steuber) in the Allgeineine musika-
\S alter,
Wittenberg, 1538, with
thir."
It
lii
was
:ke Zeitung, June 19, 1811, whence
we have made
the translation.
IX.
GERMAN MUSIC AFTER LUTHER'S DEATH.

LUTHER'S ideas had been too thoroughly promulgated to allow of any lapse of his musical plans after
his death.
Indeed,
it
became a labor
of love, during
the latter part of the sixteenth century, for every fairly
educated Protestant to add at least one to the already

long list of chorales. The music of the 'German
Church which Luther had brought into existence only

in the works of Bach two centuries
found culmination
later.
Yet a vehement struggle ensued ere
was reached.
Renewed
strength to
this
climax
Catholicity
and
schisms in the Protestant ranks immediately followed

the death of the reformer; and the atmosphere of sectional hatred
fine arts
and of distrust was not one
could thrive.
One
result,
in
which the
however, followed
this, which was eventually beneficial.

began to receive more attention on all
Secular music
sides,
and
flour-
most important change in

the treatment of chorales took place at the end of the
ished as never before.
sixteenth century.
to give the
and
In Luther's time,
melody of the chorale
to allow the
upper voices
it
was customary
to the tenor voice,
to carry
a discant or

counterpoint to
it.
Lucas Osiander,
decisive change of giving the

voices,
and defends
for public use.
He
this
says
in 1586,
melody
"
know
made
the
to the highest
on the ground of
:
6?
suitability
well that hitherto
composers have led the chorale in the tenor. If one

does this, however, then the melody is not well recognized
among
the voices.
Therefore,
have given the
shall be easily known,

melody
and that every layman may sing along." Hans Leo
Hassler (born 1564), a most celebrated composer of
to the discant, that
it
new system, which

soon revolutionized chorale singing.
We must again mention here that the Calvinistic
that time, gave his adhesion to the
music of the Protestant Church, although accepting

The
this reform, did it from no definite art principle.
entire spirit of the songs inaugurated
was opposed
ans.
The
by John Calvin
to the brighter, florid style of the Luther-
Calvinists accepted music only as a neces-
sary adjunct of divine worship, and did not desire that

it should be in itself
enjoyed. They pushed to a
severe extreme the doctrine that the truest music for
church use was that which attracted the least notice
and, as the Catholics had a brilliant and artistic musical service (which, as
degree copied), they

austere, giving rise
tunes
to
whose
Luther.
origin
we have
made
their
to the
many
seen, Luther in
some
psalms most rigid and
square-cut, formal
hymn
to-day mistakenly attribute
64
It
would be unnecessary
prolixity, in so short a his-
tory as this, to speak of the numerous composers
arose at this time in sacred and secular music
who
yet
we
must name one
of the greatest,
both schools was very marked.
who won renown both
whose influence upon

This was John Eccard,
as singer and composer, his
practical abilities in the former art making all his
works
especially smooth, flowing, and successful.
Naturally, with the rise of
German sacred
song, the
art of organ-playing received a very decided impetus.

It
must, however, not be forgotten that almost
all
instrumental performance at this epoch was but a support of singing; and even organ-playing had not yet
become an independent species

striking proof of
of music.
and much other instrumental music
awkward
The most
the low position occupied by this
fingering which
The compass
advanced performers.
is
found
in the
was used by even the most

of the key-board
of the clavicembalo or spinet (the piano of those days)
was but four octaves, and that of the organ still less.
A most extraordinary system was used in the lower
octave of the organ, where the notes were not placed
in
their natural
The
gether.
C,
F-sharp,
named
order,
and some were omitted
alto-
notes of this octave were the following
D, G, E, G-sharp, and A, in the order
and this>nonsensical
the "short octave."
We
set received the
name
of
can discover no plausible
reason for such a curious custom, but the omission

of notes
may have
65
occurred because of the fact that
but few different keys were used in composition before
Bach's time.
the year
Although Adrian Willaert had (about
1550) discovered
the principle of the tem-
pered scale, yet the scale of nature was persistently

clung to by many, causing distant modulations to be
practically impossible,
and forcing composers
to use
very few keys, and those closely related to C, in their

instrumental works
panied.
was the equality of
The
or
those
instrumentally accom-
Only with Bach's Well-tempered Clavichord

all
keys thoroughly established.
works was such that no great

could
by any possibility have been attained.
virtuosity
One would naturally imagine that, with a key-board
fingering of
the
under the hand, a natural fingering would result almost

spontaneously. Such was by no means the case with
our forefathers in the sixteenth and seventeenth cen-
The scale of C major was played with the

second and third fingers only, both ascending and deturies.
Only, upon the highest

was allowed, thus
scending.
finger
note the fourth
In the above, we have given the German fingering,

and have, for the sake of simplicity, used the G-clef,
66
although the use of this clef did not become general

until the eighteenth century.
It
will
be noticed
if it
fingering,
little
that,
can be
in
calle'd
the above
These
finger are not used at alL
system
very sparingly used, even in intervals.
of
thumb and
the
such,
fingers
were
Thirds were
struck with the second and fourth fingers, fourths,

fifths,
and sixths with the second and
thumb and
larger intervals with the
cause of this fingering
is
fifth,
and only
fifth finger.
easily discovered.
The
One
key-
board of the organ was so high, or the organist's seat

so low, that he could not easily reach the keys with
the comparatively short thumb and little finger.
It
must
also be
remembered
1480 the organ had no

keys, from
three to
six
that
down
to
about the year
fingering whatever, but the
inches
wide,
were struck
by the player with clenched fist, while, even after this

epoch, the keys were made about one-third wider than
at present,
causing the fingering, at best, to be very
from the modern system. Yet even these

explanations do not account for the application of
different
such a system to the smaller-keyed clavicembalo or

spinet, nor for the fact that it was preserved for over
one hundred and

about the year
fifty
730.
years, only going out of use
Nor does
it
account for the fact
importance was attached to the fingering in any case. The student was allowed in those
days to take any fingers which seemed most conthat very
little

venient to him.
In
1619,
67
"
Praetorius
says,
Many
have a fashion to despise some organists who use

or that system of fingering, which, to
my
mind,
this
not
is
worth the trouble of speaking about for a person

can run up or down with his fore, middle, or hind
;
finger,
yes,
and help with
his nose
so long as he brings everything
and, in the
scale
left
he wants
fine, exact,
to,
and pleas-
In the early part of the eighteenth
ant to the ear."

century, the
if
was fingered thus
hand, thus:
43243212133423434
It
would be
to
such an order.
difficult to
indebted to the
conjecture what idea gave rise
It is
to
first practical
Bach
that the
world
system of fingering
is
for
he brought the thumb and little finger into as constant use as the other digits, and founded the method
of fingering
which has been
in use, with slight modifi-
cations, ever since.
But
sufficient
has been said to convince the most
sceptical that brilliant playing
epoch of which we write.
was not possible
in the
HISTORY OF, GERMAN SONG
68
The
other instruments used in the accompaniment
some
of song are worthy of
The
description.
clavi-
chord was the predecessor of the piano, and was held

by the old musicians as an excellent medium to begin
the practice of organ with.
It
was nearer
to the idea
of the piano than the clavicembalo, with which
often confounded.
The
it
is
gave a twang to the

wire, which could not be increased or diminished in
latter
power nor changed in expression. Its music has been

wittily denned by a commentator as "a scratch with a
-
tone at the end of
it."
The
clavichord,
on the con-
trary, did not twang the wire, but gently pressed
and
it;
be regulated by the skill of

the performer, so that tones of more or less softness
this pressure could
could be produced, although no great degree of loud-
ness was possible upon the instrument.

of the violin
Instruments
family existed in even greater variety
than to-day; while
flutes,
and drums were used
oboes, bassoons, trumpets t
in profusion.
The
clarinet,
how-
had not yet been perfected.

But the most important instrument of the epoch
was the lute, which stood in relation to the home
ever,
music of the seventeenth century very much as the

piano does to that of the nineteenth. There were
many
varieties of lutes, of
largest.
differed
which the theorbo was the
In shape somewhat like a guitar, the lute
from
strings, of
this instrument in having twenty-four

which ten were never to be stopped, but
69
were always played as open strings, and therefore had

to be tuned over each time that a new key was used.
It
was
this
constant
necessity of
drove the lute out of use.
rary of Handel, wittily estimates that,
up
retiming which
Mattheson, the contempoif
a lutenist lived
he had spent sixty years in

The lute was" sweeter toned
to the age of eighty,
tuning his instrument,
than the guitar, and was equally adapted for accompurely instrumental
panying song or for

Its
tone was not unlike
the
more
that of the zither.
easily tuned guitar,
passages.
The
rise of
and the perfecting of the
various keyed instruments, drove the lute into oblivion.
Yet
it
died hard
for
we
find
Bach writing
for
it,
and,
even in the time of Mozart, composers for the instru-
ment
existed,
and the
lute still furnished the
many a German household.
music of
X.
THE RISE OF SECULAR AND OPERATIC MUSIC

IN GERMANY.
ALREADY
in these early days,
Germany had shown
greater tendency toward instrumental music than any
other nation
and
this taste
recognized as the
leaders
caused the Germans to be

in
lute,
clavichord,
and
This
instrumental branches of composition.
Bother
leadership Germany has never lost for, after the race
;
become nearly extinct, the clavichord compositions of Bach took the leading place in
of lute-players had
instrumental music, only to be followed in turn by the
sonata and symphonic forms of Haydn,

ment by Mozart and Beethoven, and
their developfinally
by the
romantic efforts of the moderns, but, in one form or

another,
since the
sixteenth
century,
Germany has
been pre-eminently the land of instrumental composition.
At
the beginning of the sixteenth century,
said that
varieties
years
Germany possessed
of
later,
in general
fifty
it
is
different
musical instruments; and, one hundred

the
historian
than one hundred kinds,
lected
nearly
use.
because
all
Praetorius
of
describes more
which he declares to be
Nevertheless, singing was not negof
this
overwhelming fondness for

instrumental
thereby.
little
of in
music,
was somewhat influenced
but
made but
Solo singing, for example, was
many
countries
but in Germany, where the
such excellent support for the voice,
lute furnished
the songs for a single voice soon reached a very large
was customary in such songs not to write

the various harmonies in full, but merely to give a fignumber.
It
ured bass, which any musician of the time was required

to
be able to render at sight into appropriate harmoWe subjoin an example of this kind of work,
nies.
taken from a collection published in the early part of

the eighteenth century.
SMOKING -TOBACCO AND SNUFF.
st. v.
v.
What
To
de-light
Snuff
is
bac
co
Tis great -er
best
smok-ing,
treas ure,
Cembalo.
Pleas - ure
Gives the
6
nose
6.6
ver
se
6
re
pro vok ing,

ner pleas -ure,
-
'tis
-
_ 5
72
i
Yes
for
No
to
me
-
bac
'tis
bliss
co
quals snuff.
After different praises' of their favorite modes of
we
using the weed, the two singers give a duet, which
have not space to reproduce, since our only object

examine the style of notation of these songs.
The
is
to
birth of a great school of vocal composition
on the other side
the operatic
without
its
effect
upon
was not
of the Alps
the songs of
Germany
before the importation of Italian opera, the
but,
even
Germans
possessed a sort of musical-dramatic entertainment,

as also did the Italians before the invention of the true
opera.
The
works
"
whom
To be
following
is
the
title
of one of these early
beautiful singing-play of three
God nor
neither'
their
bad wives,
husbands can
satisfy.
This was printed in
exhibited by six persons."
Nuremberg, in 1618.
Naturally, such broad touches were intended for the
general public
spectacles,
As
in
early as
while the aristocracy had more refined
which music bore

1628, the
entrance into Germany.
Italian
In
a prominent part.
opera
had made
fact, the wonderful
its
new

combined
school, which
try,
the
in itself all the
of music, the
power
charms
the luxury of princes, spread at once
73
beauty of poe-
of painting,
England and France, as well as
tocracy of every land.
once cherished the new entertainment
at
Germany,
which had arisen from the good taste of a few
vated Florentine noblemen, gentlemen
culture, but
and
the aris-
among
culti-
excellent
of
by no means astounding musicians.
It
was
the Italian opera of Daphne by Rinuccini,

which had the honor of first representing the new
school in Germany.
The
following was the plot of the
work, and will suffice to show
how
was the
different
construction of a libretto at that time from the present.
Ovid entered
often customary
first to
speak the prologue, as it was

shade of some Grecian
to bring in the
poet to announce the play.

that the opera
owed
its
It
must be borne
mind
in
inception to an effort to bring
back the mousike of the ancient Greeks.
Now
enter
three shepherds, complaining of the frightful dragon
who 'has
laid the country waste,
and now
with blood in the neighboring wood.

as a consoling
nymph.
lies
Echo was frequently
fied in the early Italian operas,
gorged
Echo now
enters
personi-
taking a part not unlike
some of the choruses of Euripides. Apollo

and changes the character of the scene by
innouncing that he has killed the dragon, on which,
that
of
enters,
with a concerted musical expression of thanks
shepherds, the act closes.
The second
by the
act begins
74
with a conversation between Cupid, Venus, and Apollo
The last-named
and
tells
these.
him
satirizes Cupid's little
bow and
Cupid swears revenge, and the chorus of shep-
The
herds closes the act with a praise of love.

act
is
shows that Cupid has taken
he
his revenge.
deeply in love with Daphne, but
She avoids him,
vain.
is
arrows,
that he will never kill a dragon with
a god
all his
third
Apollo
sighs are in
in spite of his protestations that
and the obliging shepherds again bring the
act to a close with a chorus in praise of love.
fourth act, Cupid and
Venus have
a dialogue
In the
and, again,
the persistent shepherds sing further praises of love,

this time
adding the ichthyological fact that not a fish

moved by love, and the agricultural
in the sea but is
information that even the herbs of the field are obliged

to.
yield to the softening influences of the tender pas-
sion.
This closes the
act.
Now
which closes the lengthy story.

chasing Daphne.
father,
The
changed
act,
upon her
Peneus, to help her, and
is
which moves Apollo to a

which he finally resolves to cause
a laurel
prolix complaint*, in
fifth
again seen
is
latter in despair calls
the river god,

into
comes the
Apollo
tree,
the laurel tree to be honored forever;
and, with a
dance of nymphs and shepherds around the tree, the

opera ends. A very different plot from Meyerbeer's
Huguenots or Rossini's William

be confessed that many
are scarcely less
earliest of operas.
weak
of the
in
Tell,
although
modern
their
Italian
librettos
it
must
operas
than this
75
Often, at the close of such an opera, an epilogue

.spoken,
complimentary
to the princes in
was
whose honor
ihe entertainment was given; and these were generally
compared to the heroes of the play.

There were no large vocal forms used
operas, and even the aria
;i
generation
later.
came
in these early
into existence nearly
In a work such as the one above
described there would be short, interchanging melodies,
and probably a single chorus
:natters
to each act, to bring
The
a dignified conclusion.
to
acts
them-
must have been extremely short; but probably

he " waits " between them were long, since many prep-
selves
arations
had
cal effects,
to
be made for grand scenic and mechanof which would be considered won-
many
derful even in our day.
And now,
;he
for a long time, Italian vocal
music was
only secular music cared for at courts and in aris-
expended
in
Vast sums were
even in Germany.
tocratic circles,
importing Italian singers, and every Ger*
nan court made
it
a point of pride to possess an
Ital-
an leader and a company of Italian singers. For a

ong time, opera in Germany was only an abject copy-
ng of the
Italian school; and,
had
it
rested. with the
might have gone on thus forever, for

:here was no desire to build up an independent, a na-
;ourts alone,
ional school,
it
only a longing to hear gentle southern
"
:adences, of linked sweetness long
Dart of .the princes of all the
drawn
German
out,"
States.
on the
*/-
To
the city of
is
Hamburg
due the honor of
first
having changed this state of affairs for in that city,

on the 2d of January, 1678, the first original Ger;
man opera was
given.
It
was almost exactly a half
century since the Italian opera had

into the country,
made
and about eighty years
its
entrance
after the
com-
The opera was not
position of the first Italian opera.
given for the entertainment of a prince, but under the
number of sturdy and wealthy burghers.

The work was a semi-religious one, and was entitled
Adam and Eve, words by Richter, music by J. Thiele,
auspices of a
and the dances arranged by M. de
The
stage, at the
la Feuillade.
beginning of this work, represented
chaos, which was gradually divided by the four ele-
ments,
who sang melodious phrases
the partition.
alternately during
Fire brought the prologue to an end by
asking the indulgence of the gentry for the new play
which was
to follow.
nection that
many
It
may be remarked
in this con-
things occurred, even in the sacred
operas of the ancient days, which seem intensely ludicrous to modern taste; but
was the intention
it
doubtful whether
is
it
of the writers to introduce a playful
The first act of the first

.into serious operas.
German operas began with what must have been
element
of
a startling mechanical effect. Lucifer is cast from

heaven into the abyss, by angels and then the Deity
descended, and created Adam and Eve. In the sec;
ond
act,
Lucifer was seen storming about in the infer-

nal regions,
and
77
calling his legions together.
Finally,
imp of secrecy, was despatched, in the shape

a serpent, to charm Eve. The triumphant success
Sodi, the
of
oc the
scheme led
to a
number
of choruses of infernal
which the succeeding acts took place
imps, after
in
haaven, and dealt largely with promises' of the redemption. But, at the close, Adam and Eve were pictU'-ed as cast
sin,
out of paradise, and, after bewailing their
being consoled by the appearance of the Saviour,
who promised
to
off the
lift
punishment.
Naturally,
such a plot gave ample opportunities for the display of

rich scenery and magnificent stage effects. Although
\ve
should hesitate to hazard any guesses about the
costumes
strange a plot as that of
in so
I ve before the
fall,
yet, as there
Adam and
was not much
indelicacy on the stage at the time,
flagrant
we can hazard
the
conjecture that the appearance of the hero and heroine
n ust have been startlingly incongruous.

It will scarcely be necessary to speak of the operas
which immediately followed. In all of them there were
p.;r?^nxical situations
and odd incongruities, as well
as the quaintest mixture 01 &cds, goddesses, personifi id

elements, and pagan and Christian herulo and
s;
tints
in
the
most
Lirth of Christ
startling
juxtaposition.
(1681), not only
In The
a host of Scriptural
characters appear, but Apollo and the priestess Pythia,

fi
rious at
the
downfall of Paganism.
In Cain
and
the four winds hold a conference, and de-
78
cide to rage forever against the race of the murderer.
In The Maccabean
Mother and her Seven Sons,
the
apostate Jew Javan appears, and eats pork sausage and

ham every moment, and praises their taste to his ortho-
dox brethren.
Everything in the German opera, at
first,
was rude,
uncultured, and even coarse,
vastly different from
the elegant entertainment which
became permanent
Italy.
But, in a short time,
Germany found
in
a national
composer (as France had already done in Lully), who

was to advance her opera to a position of independence.
This composer was Reinhard Keiser.
XI.
THE RISE AND FALL OF GERMAN OPERA.
REINHARD KEISER was born

and was one of those natural
many
near Leipzig, in 1673,

talents
who achieve
Such
things in art without great effort.
talents,
however, seldom leave a very permanent impression in
any kind. Beethoven, who worked

and polished and refined until the most
humble themes became pregnant with a meaning belasting reforms of
and
toiled
unknown, was perhaps one of the best proofs of

" Genius is
the truth of tarlyle's saying,
only the
fore
capacity for taking pains."

ferent stamp.
first
period of
Keiser was of a vastly
him the Mozart
Lindner
calls
German
music, and
he possessed some of the
it
is
dif-
of the
certain that
fertility of invention
and
melodic grace which afterward shone in the Salzburg

musician but he became spoiled by success, and often
;
aimed
for
immediate recognition rather Jhnii permaNevertheless, it neeJtd such a man to
nent worth.
combat the
His
ultra Italian taste
which dominated Ger-
was something astonishing.
Almany.
fertility
most without effort, he poured forth opera after opera,
until the number reached to
nearly one hundred and
8o
twenty^ most of them of great length,

as
as
many
some containing
with a goodly admixture of duets,
fifty airs,
recitatives, instrumental interludes,
was the case with the
Italian
and choruses.
As
opera, the recitatives
took the place of spoken dialogue, the latter being admitted only in the comic operas of that time. Keiser's
power may be estimated by the fact that he alone and

single-handed was able to turn the tide which from
Italy
had rolled over Germany.

performed
only
Germany, and
through
The Hamburg
His operas were not

spread at once
Hamburg, but
at
finally
reached even
operatic stage was
to
Paris.
Germany,
at this
epoch, what the Parisian stage afterward became to
France; and
it
Leipzig, thither.
was
this fact
He
which drew Keiser from
had, in his earliest youth,
won
recognition in Leipzig as a wonderful musician, and
was soon called
to Wolfenbiittel as operatic
composer.
There, at the age of nineteen, he brought forth two

operas, which
mined him
i.
he
made
iliits.
the
won immediate success
to attempt a career in
and
Hamburg.
this deter-
In 1694,
appearance there with his opera of BaKeiser seems to have written somewhat like
his
Drench composers of that day. His forms were

prettiness rath~ than depth.
and he 2 im
^_at
small,
He seems
to
have been a light-hearted, merry wight,
careless
-turning from music to dissipation very easily,
about improving his style in composition, dressing foppishly,
and generally
keeping richly liveried servants,
81
desirous of playing the fine gentleman.

nature of a
man
It
was the
of the world (of that time) rather than
that of the earnest
musician;
but under
it
all
was
the wonderful gift of melodic thought, in the fecundity

of which he can only be likened to a
or a Schubert.
We
with which he looked

sicians of his time,
rious, pedantic,
down upon other and
who were
ill-dressed,
everything with
careless
would be a sacred anthem

sical farce,
Haydn, a Mozart,
can easily imagine the superiority
mu-
generally plodding, labo-
and poor.
indifference.
better
He
attempted
One
day,
the next, an indecent
it
mu-
sometimes so out of bounds that the Sen-
was obliged to prohibit the performance.

The
comical operas and musical farces of that time were a
ate
very strange oila podrida.
Noise, noise, and
noise
seems to have been the chief delight of the public and

the main desire of the composer.
Battles took place,
with
constant discharges (f musketry and cannon.

Fireworks and explosions were introduced, sometimes
even to the danger of audience and edifice. Fairies,
demons, dragons, etc., were forever in action. Camels,

monkeys, ancj even wild beasts, were often upon the
What wonder that, with such debasement of
stage.
art,
as
the
it
Hamburg opera went down
had arisen
at least
it
But,
if its
almost as speedily
splendor was short-lived,
served a great purpose during
its
career; for
proved to the German people that they could originate their own secular music, and need not depend
it
82
upon foreign works, even in opera. It must, however,

be remembered that, even in the palmy days of the
Hamburg school, the level of the Italian opera was
not reached.
In every opera of the
at this epoch, a comical character
German
school
was demanded.
It
mattered not that the opera was upon a lofty subject

or that
it
dealt even with
holy personages.
If
the
clown was lacking, so. was the public. The managers

were obliged ,to yield to the pressure and comical
;
servants, tinkers, tailors, and cobblers were the main-
stay of
many an
operatic performance in
Hamburg,
while the worthy burghers never tired of laughing at

the mishaps of
some unfortunate Jew on the
stage.
Another strange illustration of the unformed and

uncouth taste of the times is found in the fact that
these operas were often
guages.
a mixture of
This absurd custom had
its
various lan-
origin in the fact
would often interpolate a song in

their native tongue and, finally, this incongruity was
not only looked upon as unimportant, but even re-
that foreign singers
as giving an additional charm.

Naturally
Keiser yielded to every temptation to make his work
garded
more fascinating to the paying public; and, in 1707,

find him composing The Carnival of Venice, a
we
musical
farce
in
four languages,
Italian,
French,
High German, and Low German, or plattdeutsch.

But poor Keiser fell upon on evil times at last, for he
had to compete with a true genius.
His flashing me-

was
teor
in
very well in
all
its
way, but
it
83
faded wofully
the rays of a sun which had arisen.
come upon
Hamburg
Handel had
the scene, and even the frivolous public of
could not
fail to
the earnest works of the
songs of their
whilom
ser's orchestra in
see the difference between
new composer and
favorite.
the pretty
Handel entered Kei-
a manner that did not awaken the
suspicion of the composer and director to the fact that
he was nurturing a genius

stroy him; for the
unknown
who would grow and

violinist
de-
pretended to be
something of an ignoramus, and displayed no especial

musical talent, until one fine day, Keiser being obliged
to hide temporarily
ist,
from his
creditors, the
violin-
young
Handel, took his place as conductor at the harpsi-
chord,* and led so well that he remained there.

ser
made many
but with
little
efforts to retain his hold

effect.
the cathedral, and
on the
Kei-
public,
In 1728, he became cantor at
turned
his
attention
to
sacred
music, not without some success.
His capacity to
cannot be
fall on his feet after any catastrophe
Handel
he
even
after
had
for
succeeded,
doubted;
become known, in receiving great honors from foreign
courts,! in marrying
Hamburg
* Almost
citizen,
the
and
in
daughter
of a prominent
pushing yet a few more
was done by giving out the

time from harpsichord or organ. The fashion of leading an orchestra
with a baton, although known in Italy in the seventeenth century, took no
all
conducting in the last century
permanent root anywhere

t
He was
lived in
until this present century.

appointed Kapellmeister to the King of Denmark, and
Copenhagen some
years.
84
operas
(in
mixed languages) upon the public.

The
was Circe, composed in 1 734. After that,
last of these
he disappeared from the scene, and

scarcely regretted
by
the people
died in
who had once
1739,
idolized
him.
Summing up his talent, one must say that he was

just the man to combat the Italian influence in Germany for he was able to fight the invader with
own weapons, having a fund of melody which even
;
Italian
composers might envy.
light of this peculiar period of
del could have given back to
have advanced
it
He was
German
not' the only
Han-
opera.
old splendor, and
it all its
to a higher plane
his
the
but he soon de-
Mattheson did great service to the

German school; but his labor was not confined to
parted for Italy.
opera alone, and the influence exerted by the two

friends (for Mattheson and Handel were boon companions) seems important enough to be treated of in
special detail in our next chapter.
Therefore,
we pass
composers of the Hamburg

He was born in
school, George Philip Telemann.
1681, in the city of Magdeburg, -and received no reguto the last of the great
lar
musical instruction
but,
by zealously studying the
scores of the old French composers, he gradually be-
came able
to compose.
Meanwhile, he also kept on

Although he won
in a scientific course of education.
honor in the
latter, his
his abilities as a
excellence as an organist and
composer soon were recognized
and,
85
by various lucrative appointments, he was forced entirely into
a musical career.
several important positions,
In 1721, after holding
we
find
him
director of the
Hamburg and cantor at the Johanof

which
both
neum,
posts he held until his death.
He was much influenced by the French school of comprincipal church in
position,
both on account of his early studies and
because of a long visit made to Paris in 1737. His

compositions were innumerable. His contrapuntal skill
was marvellous, and Handel says of him that he could

write an eight-voiced motet as easily as one would
But
write a letter.
this
was a
fatal facility.
It
has
been said of Dean Swift that he could mould language

so easily that he could write beautiful verses to a
broomstick.
In the same manner, Telemann grew
different in his choice of subjects,
"a good composer should be able

ment to music,'.' evidently caring
art,
and, contrary to the
modern
that the music of a composition
in-
and once said that

to set
an advertise-
little
for poetry in
principles, imagining
was more important
Naturally, he became a conventional

composer; and, although his contemporaries ranked
than the words.
him among the greatest composers

terity
of his time, pos-
has not re-echoed the opinion, and
it
seems pass-
ing strange to us that the world should at any time
have ranked such a
He
man above John
Sebastian Bach.
wrote some forty operas, but long outlived the ex-
istence of the
German opera
as a public performance.
86
He
1
died in 1767; while the
Hamburg opera vanished in

an existence of sixty years.
hundred and forty-six different operas had been
738, after
Two
produced in that time.
German opera
entirely disap-
peared with the performance of a work entitled Atalanta in Dantzig, in 1741, which was the last
operatic effort of the early epoch.
troupe, under
Angelo Mingotti, came
An
to
German
Italian opera
Hamburg and
;
thenceforth, for a couple of generations, the
school ruled here, as

history of the
it
did
all
over Germany.
Hamburg opera
is
Italian
But the
interesting as show-
ing the conflict of two schools of composition
even
if
the greater overcame the weaker,
this first flash of
German opera was
we know
and,
that
not in vain, for its
was not altogether barren. The seed lay dormant for half a century, and then brought forth a
result
golden and beautiful harvest.
XII.
HANDEL AND MATTHESON.
WERE
one speaking of the general compositions of

Handel,* it would be an absurdity to couple his great
name with
that of
Mattheson
but
we
are only con-
cerned with the short part of his career which was de-
German opera and song, and during this

epoch he was thrown almost constantly with the latter,
either as friend or rival. Therefore, our history will be
voted to
more succinct if we speak of them together. There

were points of unity, yet also great contrasts, between
the two men.
They were of nearly the same age.
Both were composers beginning their career together,
and both finished their careers well-to-do and highly
Yet the end was attained by vastly
respected men.
different means.
Handel, irascible, irregular
in habit
and nature, careless in very much that he undertook,

was yet a genius Mattheson, careful, shrewd, and cal:
culating, regular as a railway time-table,

in music,
was a martinet
and .came very near being what the Germans
*The
spelling of the name of this composer became metamorphosec

Handel in England. Haendel or Handel is the German spel'ing.
Handel at first spelled his name Hendel in England, to give a phonetic
into
idea of
its
pronunciation.
88
expressively call a Philister.
Handel's genius shone

and the solid training
forth even in his youngest years,
he received from Zachau in Halle made him almost as

learned as he was spontaneous in invention.
death of his father brought him to
Hamburg
subsistence for himself and his mother
made
the acquaintance of Mattheson,
The
to earn a
and he
at
once
who was then
tenor singer and composer at the opera, under the

direction of Reinhard Keiser.
This was
in
1703
and,
during the three years (Mattheson erroneously says
was
five
it
or six years) which Handel spent in
Hamburg,
young men were the closest of companions.
Mattheson was twenty-two, Handel eighteen. Matthe-
the two
son had a firm position, and was already known as

a rising man, while Handel, in order to get along
peaceably in the orchestra where he was engaged as
violinist,
pretended to be a dull clod of a musician,
able to play his part, but utterly without ambition be-
yond
that.
The acquaintance between
organ of the
at the
Church
was
at
him
to his father's house,
once of benefit
to
of St.
Handel
the two began
Mary Magdalen, and

;
for
Mattheson took
and introduced him
in
many
families, besides taking him to the opera, theatres, and
Mattheson kept the secret of

his musical powers well guarded, while Handel enacted
the part of half-witted second violinist in the opera but
concerts of
Hamburg.
when
the opportunity came, and the latter took the posi-
tion of leader of the orchestra, as described in the last

chapter, the relations
89
between our two young men

less natural, for Matthesoa
became more strained and
was both jealous and conceited, and Handel was by

no means of a yielding disposition, and kept all the
advantages he could attain. Mattheson says of Han" He
del at this time
composed very long, long airs,
:
and almost endless cantatas, which, although the harmonious treatment was perfect, nevertheless had not
the requisite fitness
nor did they exhibit the proper
However, the high school of the opera soon

him
put
upon the right track. He was great upon the
organ, greater even than Kuhnau, in fugues and countaste.
terpoint, especially in
extemporizing" (this greatness

and many traditions regarding
exist
in
his performance
England even to this day).
"
However, he knew very little of melody until he had
Handel had
to
all his life,
do with the Hamburg opera.
On
the other hand,
Kuhnau's pieces were all extremely melodious, and

suited for the voice, even those arranged for playing.
In the preceding century, scarcely any one thought of
all
melody:
aimed merely
at
harmony."
In reading this criticism by a contemporary,
it
must
it at a much
when Handel had become world-famous,
be borne in mind that Mattheson wrote

later epoch,
and when he was most thoroughly jealous of his ex-comIn fact, all that Mattheson
panion's great reputation.
wrote
seems
and he wielded a
to
versatile and bitter pen

have been partially inspired by a desire
90
vaunt his
own musical
capacity at the expense of his
Most amusing
contemporaries.
is
the account of the
two friends going to Liibeck in August, 1703, to see

whether one of them could become successor to the
held by Buxtehude, who had announced his intention of retiring. To their amazeorganist's position
ment, they found that the veteran had made one con-
upon the applicants: the successful

a fortunate prince in a fairy tale, was
dition imperative
contestant, like
to
marry his daughter.
To
this
arrangement they both
emphatically objected, and returned to
Hamburg
with-
out competing, although another musician, Johann Christian
S chief erdecker, was found more pliable, and won
both the position and the lady soon

conclusively that
after.
Mattheson did not care

-
It
to
proves
measure
himself against Handel's skill on the instrument that,
when
the contest was
abandoned, they agreed that
during the remainder of their stay in Liibeck Handel
should play only on the organ and Mattheson only
upon the harpsichord.

In the year 1704, the friendship of the pair suffered
a violent rupture.
continue
first
Handel's claim to be allowed to
harpsichord of
orchestra had given rise to
the
Hamburg
operatic
some disputes among
the
musicians, and there was a degree of especial touchiness and obstinacy in the young leader regarding
Mattheson was at the opera in the double
this point.
capacity of composer and singer; and
it
was custom-

ary to allow him to direct his
own
when he was
operas,
not occupied as a singer upon the
9!
stage.
Handel,
however, did not follow Keiser's courtesy in this matter
and,
when
at
performance of Cleopatra, on
the
December, 1704, after the death

Antony and the conclusion of his part, the tenor
composer came into the orchestra to direct the re-
the night of the 5th of

of
mainder of the opera, he calmly ignored him, and

It was a rather
retained his place at the harpsichord.
ungrateful return for
naturally felt
Mattheson's
was leaving
box on th^ ear
indignant.
was given a solid

companion. Both drew their swords, and
the opera house, he
by
his irate
and he
civilities,
When Handel
a duel followed, in which both showed considerable
and Handel would probably have been killed

but for a brass button which turned the point of his
courage
adversary's sword.
The
quarrel soon blew over, however; and
HanJel
the leader's post, but
became
not only remained
at
composer for the company as

written toward the end of
duced Jan.
1705.
8,
It
was
show how the composer's
His
well.
this
year,
entitled
style
cpera was
and was pro-
first
Almira:
had changed
and, tc
frorj
ht
melody^'' vvicL
"long, long
Mattheson (above) charges him with compos^/ on
his arrival in Hamburg, we produce one selection from
airs," with
this first
"little
of
opera of the great composer.
that study of
the pretty airs
of
It is
probable
Reinharcl
Reiser

had influenced him somewhat.
ily
Our readers
will read-
see that the following dance from the early opera
song in a much later opera (Rinaldo *), which

has become famous the world over as " Lascia ch' io
led to a
pianga."
SARABANDE.
From "ALMIRA."
r\\ ^
^s
93
^
This
is
but one instance out of
many
illustrating
Handel's method of robbing Peter to pay Paul. He

took freely from the melodies of his earlier works and
incorporated them in his later operas and in his great
oratorios, the best of
life.
He
which were only begun
late in
even took the melodies of other composers
without giving credit, and used them as his own; but

case the
it must be confessed that in every such
94
is pardonable, for the

thoughts are treated
plagiarism
in such a manner as to make them seem altogether
different
and
infinitely
grander than before.
Let our
readers play the above Sarabande and then perform

"
Lascia ch' io pianga
me
in
;'
anguish," or
"
(generally
Lord,
entitled,
correct me,"
"
Leave
in
the
English adaptations), and they will at once perceive

the full force of this
statement.
Handel
produced
other operas for the
Feb.
25,
1705,
Hamburg stage, Nero, produced

under his own direction, and some
time later Florindo and Daphne.

left
Germany
for Italy,
In
1706,
Handel
and had no further connection
Hamburg stage nor any direct influence on

His life was
German vocal music thereafter.
with the
the
given to promoting Italian opera
in
England, and,
finally, to establishing the great oratorios
become the heritage not

world.
tailed
which have
of a nation, but of the entire
His further progress, therefore, needs no deanalysis here, especially since his one German
oratorio,
The Passion, composed
in
Hanover between
worth compared with the

his career.
Mattheson's
which
closed
works
great
in a very
music
and
blended
career
politics
subsequent
1716 and 1718,
is
of
little
strange but pecuniarily successful manner.
came an attache
of
He
be-
the English embassy in Saxony,
and held many important State offices thereafter. He

was an accomplished man of the world, rather foppish
(Reiser gave
him the nickname
of the " white cravat
"),
95
very systematical, and his merits attracted the atten-
John Wych, the

made 'him music teacher and
tion of Sir
British ambassador,
who
tutor to his son, in place
Handel, who was discharged after having given a
of
few lessons.
retary
Soon afterward, the post of private secto his duties and the foundation of
was added
a fortune was laid.
The modern commentators have
scarcely done full justice to
Mattheson.
They
call
him a coxcomb, a conceited pedant, charlatan, and
many other not very complimentary appellations and,

when one views the complacent, smirking self-conceit
;
which stands out in every other sentence of his

it is
ary wosks,
difficult
liter-
not to join in the chorus.
must be credited with being an
But Mattheson
indefatigable worker, and with continuing in music
necessity for his doing so had passed,
even after
all
evidently,
therefore, purely
He was
from a love of the
year until his death, at the age of eighty-three

\vas
art.
troubled with deafness from his twenty-fourth
no Beethoven.
His
life
and he
was comfortable and
respectable from beginning to end, and he had none of
those fiery trials which refine the gold of the
He was
a worthy
portion
of
the
Christian,
Scriptures,
artist.
and every day read a

and,
"when
the
St.
Michael's Church was burnt down, contributed some
thousand marks for a new organ, paid the money

in advance, and intends to do more in different
ways,"
as he himself informs us.
He was a musical prodigy
forty
g6
in his youth.
Hamburg
He
first
appeared as a singer, with the
troupe, in female characters, but, after his
voice changed,
became one
of the chief tenors.
He
was not without personal courage, as his duel with

Handel proves.. His music was dry and mediocre;
but his writings were very readable, generally witty
and
sarcastic, yet not always reliable.
Nevertheless,
pen made him feared by many of his contemporaries, who had not the ability to contend with
his sharp
him
in
literary strife,
even
if
they were better musi-
His writings have, even to-day, considerable

value, as they give insight into -the state of music in
cians.
the eighteenth century, and reflect something of the

taste of the, epoch.
That he thought his own works

them is evident from the fact
excellent and believed in

that he
composed
duly sung
his
own
after his death,
fully as dreary as
funeral anthem, which
and
is
was
said to have been
any of his preceding compositions.
XIII.
JOHN SEBASTIAN BACH.
FROM
down
the time of Luther
the present century, no
man
HIS LIFE.
to the beginning of
exerted so powerful an
upon German song as John Sebastian Bach,

work lay almost entirely in the direc-
influence
although his vocal

/
tion
church music.
of
In speaking of this contra-
seems almost impossible to avoid both

comparisons and contrasts with that other great master who also won his triumphs in sacred music, and
puntal giant,
whose
life
it
seems curiously held up by
fate in juxta-
position with the gentle career of the subject of this

chapter.
Bach and Handel were born within but a
few days of each other, Bach being born on the 2ist

of March, 1685, and Handel twenty-six days earlier, on
the 23d of February
own way
both German, both making their
against difficulties, and both stricken with
blindness in their later days
highest triumphs
both, also, achieving the
in ecclesiastical
music.
What wonder,
"
then, that the wortd glibly says
Bach and Handel," or

"Handel and Bach," and superficially imagines them
the twin representatives of an epoch which was undoubtedly
full of
ingenious music, but which has be-
98
come
rather
musty
to
modern
taste
Never was a
mistake more pronounced or more jimjust. They are

not mates: they are opposites.
Having given the
above points of resemblance, we can only speak thereafter of dissimilarity, of contrast,
school and of nature.
and
and of opposition
of
Bach was kind, benevolent,
in family relation a veritable patriarch.
His
life
was spent in quiet dignity and labor; and while fame

came upon him unavoidably, because of his great attainments, he never sought for
it,
and never knew the
worldly ways by which it could be used for his own

advancement. He was courteous even to musicians
who were
far
beneath him
in
ability,
receiving even
the conceited Hurlebusch (a clavicinist of very slight
and magnified self-importance) with
ability
civility
and
kindliness; while toward the greatest artists he dis-
played a reverence that proved
how
far
removed was
jealousy from so noble a nature.

It is
gave
not our intention to belittle the genius which
to
the
world a "Messiah," a "Judas Macca-
baeus,"-or an "Israel in Egypt": but the senseless
combination of the two masters on a plane of equality

deserves rebuke in very definite terms. Personally,
then,
Handel was
entirely the opposite of Bach.
Iras-
cible, impetuous, and arbitrary, domestic life had no

charms for him; and he never married, but lived a
amid the constant
contentious and excited
life,
osities of court intrigue
and operatic
cabal.
sinu-
Dignity

was not
in him,
and
his
99
vehement bursts of passion
enormous appetite led to more than one epiand

caricature in that age of lampooning.
Hangram
del roundly abused inferior musicians, and had but
and
his
little
patience with any
who
did not accord
ing place in the musical world

there was but one,
superiors),
him a
lead-
while as to equals (or
when Bach sought
meet him, he made not the slightest
effort to
to
have an
owing to his own course of action, the

two never met. Yet, even at that time, none could
interview, and,
have known better the worth of the quiet Leipzig composer, whom the world at large had not yet fairly recognized.
Handel was charitable, but it was generally in
a conspicuous and public manner; and, while Handel
died wealthy, Bach died so poor that the family was

obliged to break up at his decease, to avoid starvation.
His wife died ten years
later in the
almshouse.
Bach
was precluded by
the school in
of his
life
the composition of opera.
years,
Bach worked
his
religious scruples from attempting

which Handel passed the greater number
at a style of
composition which Handel only
took up steadily after he had become a

ing years.
In short,
consistently, thoroughly, devotedly, all
That Handel worked with
impetuosity of genius, the
man
all
works of the
of declin-
the
fire
and
later period
emphatically prove; yet he naturally could not attain

the ease and perfection of form of the
entire existence
had been spent
works of large form.
in
man whose
producing religious /
100
It is in just this direction that the relative value of
the two composers has been miscalculated.
Bach,
because of the care with which he perfected his forms
and the symmetry with which he invested all his work,

becomes daily more useful to the thorough musical
In instrumental work, especially, he was the
student.
superior of Handel
where the
for,
latter
would
brill-
iantly and rapidly dash off an interesting suite or a

fugue, Bach, in a quiet and persistent way, would study
the
principles
instrumental
underlying
music, and
gogic or acoustical point,
some pedaand thus give them a value
The fugues
of the Well-tempered Clavi-
would
fit
his pieces practically to illustrate
for all time.
chord, for example, are not only most interesting ex-
amples of
this school
of
equality of the keys for
have written an oratorio
composition, but fixed the
all
posed the opera of Rinaldo
Messiah
in twenty-four),
time.*
Bach could never
weeks (Handel coinfourteen days, and the
in three
in
but he could stubbornly pur-
sue an idea in musical form or theory until

yielded up
its
it
had
every secret to him, and, therefore, his
researches are more valuable to the modern musical
world than those of any of the older composers. The

mere statement of some of his labors would seem to
prove
this.
He was
* The
a great composer in every field
tempering of the scale, as will be seen, did not originate with

Bach ; but he was the first practically to introduce it, by thus proving the
Before this time, only three or four keys were
equality of all the keys.
used in composition.
IOI
He established the fugue (as

and
Beethoven
afterward established
Haydn, Mozart,
the symphony) he fixed the form of the suite he esexcept the
operatic.
tablished the use of
all
the keys, practically introduc-
ing the tempered scale, which had been promulgated

by Willaert centuries before; he. first established a
proper fingering for pianoforte, or clavichord, music he
;
was a superb organist, and an equally great clavichord

player; he was a violinist of thorough technical knowledge
he understood the construction of the organ
invented a
new
the viola pomposa,
violin,
ing between viola and violoncello, and gave
he
stand-
many
im-
provements to the clavichord he was an engraver of

music, and from necessity engraved and printed many
;
of his compositions
will
be seen
and theoretical works.
that, while
Thus,
it
Handel's influence, upon the
student especially, has grown weaker since his death,
Bach's has grown and

and, even
inspiration to
The
is
growing continually stronger;

homophonic age, his polyphony is an
the musician and a guide to the pupil.
in this
life
of this
man remains one
of the purest
and
most dignified in the pages of musical biography. His

mother died while he was yet a child and the death
;
father (court
of^his
soon
age.
and town musician
after, in 1695, left
He had come
Bach an orphan
at
Eisenach)
at ten years of
of a very musical stock.
In Ger-
were many families where the

many,
art and profession of music had descended from father
at that time, there
102
to
son for generations
but in no family had this con-
tinued so long and brought forth such great results as

in that of the Bachs.
Beginning with Veit Bach,
born somewhere between 1550 and 1560, and who
was
chased
from Germany to
Hungary and back
again, because of his Protestant belief, the family pro-
duced musician after musician, reaching
its
climax in
John Sebastian Bach, yet giving forth musical geniuses still later* in his sons, and then becoming extinguished in
poser,
his
Ernst
Friedrich
who
solitary musical grandson,
Bach,
pianist,
violinist,
Wilhelm
and
The orphan
died as late as 1846.
com-
boy, in
1695, was obliged to live with his brother, John Christopher Bach, an organist at Orduff in Weimar, and
from him received the first regular training in the art
which he was soon
His brother must have
to adorn.
been a hard and stern man; for we read of Bach's

eagerness to possess certain musical manuscripts in
his library, of stealthy copyings
for he
had no candle,
on moonlight nights,
of the final completion of
the treasured transcriptions, and of the rough confiscation of the hard-earned
prize,
on
its
discovery.
As
with Schubert, a fine soprano voice lifted the boy
somewhat above the

and a choir position
years to pursue his
Luneberg enabled him for three

musical studies under a little more
favorable conditions.
voice changed
bitterness of extreme poverty;
in
At
the end of that time, his
but he was
now a good
n usician,
103
capable of attaining other positions, and in

left
Luneberg and went
to
1703 he
Weimar, where he obtained
an engagement as violinist in the duke's band. The

following year, he became organist of the new church
at Arnstadt, a position
much more
to his liking, since
he always exhibited the greatest fondness for
this
instrument, as giving freest scope to his flow of ideas.
His reputation began to grow rapidly and the choice

of many positions was soon open to him, and in 1707
we find him settled as organist at Mulhausen, where
;
he married a distant relative of the same family name,

who subsequently bore him seven children. She died
in
1720 very unexpectedly, her husband making a
short tour, leaving her in good health, and finding her
buried on his return.
He
again married a year and a
half later, his
second wife being a
who bore him
thirteen children.
fine
soprano singer,
Thus,
this patriarch
had twenty children, some of whom were geniuses, and

one was an idiot. The second wife was a cultivated
musical nature, and a noble helpmate to her husband in
his career.
It is
an indelible stain upon the city of
Leipzig that, after the death of the great master, she
was suffered
first
to die
a pauper.
marriage, however, seem
to
The
children by the
the true inbeen
have
heritors of their father's genius; for
among
these were
Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philip Emanuel Bach.
To return to our young artist's career. In 1714, he

was appointed director of the court concerts at
104
Weimar, and, from
this time, his reputation
was
firmly
established; yet, either because he was not worldly-
wise or because he lacked influential protectors, he
seems
to
have been unsuccessful
in his application for
several musical posts in this part of his career.*
In
1717, before the King of Saxony, Bach proved himself
so
much
the superior of Marchand, the French
tuoso, that the latter ran
away
formal contest, to which he was challenged.
Bach became Kapellmeister
quently,
vir-
rather than hazard a
to
Subse-
Prince Leo-
pold of Anhalt-Kothen, and for six years continued

in this
post,
which seems to have been one of the
pleasantest.
The most important event of Bach's career took

place in 1723, when he was appointed "Cantor "and
musical director
of the
Thomas-Schule
a post which he held until his death.
in
Leipzig,
He
received
and distinctions from many noblemen

subsequently, but none of these brought any money
honorary
titles
with them; and, spite of his great reputation, Bach's
income was always a modest one, especially when we

think of the family which he had to support. In 1747
occurred Bach's famous
visit to Berlin.
His second
son, Carl Philip Emanuel, had been appointed cham-
ber musician to Frederic the great; and this celebrated
monarch frequently expressed the wish

*He certainly failed,
both in
Hamburg and
inferior organists received the appointment.
to
him
that
Halle, and in both cases

his talented father should
dam.
pay a
visit to
105
him
at Pots-
After repeated invitations, Bach set out upon
the journey, and
every honor.
upon arriving
at the palace
was shown
are the accounts which
Many
of the wonderful exhibitions of
survive
power which Bach
gave on this occasion, such as extemporizing a fugue

on a subject which the king gave him, and finally
improvising even a fugue in six voices. It was Bach's
He was
last journey.
in feeble health,
citement must have been too

eyes, which
fail
much
and the
for his frame.
ex-
His
had always troubled him,* now began
altogether.
Two
to
attempts at restoring his sight
not only failed, but reduced him to total blindness.
A six months' illness
followed,
when
his sight suddenly
emotions caused by this were so

violent that he became delirious, had a fit of apoplexy,
returned, but the
and suddenly expired
at half-past eight
of the 28th of July, 1750.
The
on the evening
family dispersed after
some of them being reduced in later years

extreme poverty.
Bach's career was a model of a pure, innocent, and
his death,
to
exemplary
life.
Modest
in the highest degree,
he was
frequently pushed aside by artists greatly inferior to

himself.
He was
not a milksop, either; for, in direct-
ing music, he would maintain a firmness which could

not be overborne, and would fight valiantly for an
*Some
biographies ascribe this to the moonlight copying of his

had used them mercilessly in other studies
brother's manuscripts, but he
aswelL
106
artistic point,
where a personal matter would be alHe was a model father,
lowed to pass uncontested.
carefully educating his large family,
He was
moral guidance.
He
religious.
and giving them
deeply, but not ostentatiously
might have made a fortune, had he
turned his talents into the operatic channel, the most

profitable at that
day
but his conscientious scruples
Although never possessed of a large income,
forbade.
he had enough for his simple tastes. His life was

tranquil and its only troubles were those which natu;
rally
would come in the domestic
of wife, of
David and
many
the death
his death at the age of fourteen.
Such
which came upon him before

blindness and illness, and these were met with
were the simple

his final
circle,
of his children, the idiocy of his son
afflictions
a fortitude born of religious faith. To him more than

to any other great musician may be applied Gray's
lines:
" Far from the
madding crowd's ignoble
strife
His sober wishes never learned to stray ;
Along the cool sequestered vale of
He kept the
life,
noiseless tenor of his
way."
XIV.
THE SONS OF SEBASTIAN BACH.

BACH'S influence upon music by no means ended
for, while Handel left no direct fol-
with his death
lowers in his school, Bach

family spoken
lect
not only the numerous
left
of in our last chapter,
from idiocy
ranging in
several of
to genius,
whom
intel-
he had
carefully instructed in all the details of his art,
also
many
pupils,
who became
master's system and spread

tle
it
but
the disciples of their
abroad.
If
Bach's man-
did not descend to any one follower, at least there
were many after his death who could truthfully claim

to possess a portion of it and some of them (notably
;
his third son, Karl Philip
Emanuel Bach) were honored
by the world in a higher degree than their father and

preceptor.
The fame
of the followers, however,
was
evanescent; and the world gradually came to recognize

the value of the stream (or Bach} at
It is singular, also, that
its
fountain-head.
the stream which
broad in the middle of the

abruptly vanished in this.
last century
seemed so
should have
single grandson, a
tal-
ented musician, Frederic William Ernst Bach, dying in

1843, brought the musical line of the Bachs, the glory
108
of centuries, to a close.
Nevertheless, before this

took place, the influence of Bach's descendants was
considerable, and especially interesting in this,

it
marked the
transition
from one
that
art
epoch to another,
to homophony, from counterpoint to
polyphony
NJ'from
harmony. Such great epochs are rare in the history of
art,
epochs in which the entire musical taste of the
world underwent a change.
Such an era was
it
when
the Flemish school of composers, in the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries, changed the music of Europe

from the simple unison progressions or the empty
fifths
and fourths of Hucbald
to
the
intricate
but
interesting contrapuntal forms which found culmination in the wonderful works of Palestrina, and, in a
more modern sense,

Bach. Such an era
in the oratorios
it
was, also,
and cantatas of
when
the intricacies
of the sixteenth century composers were
melodic and emotional amateurs
who
met by the
in Florence, just
before the year 1600, evolved Italian opera.
Equally marked was the change which took place

between the years 1750 and 1775, when intellectuality
in instrumental music began to yield to emotional
power and in the change some of the sons of Bach

The eldest son/ Wilhelm
were important factors.
was
both
a genius and a scamp.
Friedemann Bach,
;
Inheriting his father's musical powers, had he but pos-
sessed with them his parent's sobriety, steadiness of

purpose, and artistic zeal, he might have furnished an
109
found very seldom in music,

as with Alessandro and Domenico Scarlatti, for example,
of father
instance,
and son being almost equally gifted. Wilhelm Friedemann Bacn was born in 1710 at Weimar. His father
always had for him an especial affection, and seems to
have bestowed the greatest care upon the cultivation

of those musical talents
a remarkable degree.
easily, too easily,
which the boy possessed in

boy, on his part, learned
The
and became without
effort a
master
and organ the most difficult contrapuntal studies had no terrors for him. The six sonatas
for two pianos (with pedal obligate), which his father
of clavichord
how
wrote for him during his twelfth year, prove
tech-
He received
nically advanced he must have been.
instruction upon the violin from Graun, and became a
superb player upon
to
this
He
instrument also.
is
said
have been the greatest organist of his time, and also

he was unrivalled. As
in his musical improvisations
a mathematician, he was also regarded as a marvel.

Philip
could
fill
our father's place better than
us put together."
mous
He
his
And
all
all
and
He
the rest of
these noble gifts and enor-
talents led but to poverty
and a miserable death.
Dresden
attained the position of organist in
1733,
city,
well say of him, "
Emanuel Bach could
later a similar post in Halle.
in
In the latter
he wrote more than thirty cantatas in the vein of

father.
He
had, however, fallen on
Already the taste of the public
had begun
evil
tines.
to turn
away
110
from the severe school of contrapuntal work, and all

his abilities were regarded by the inhabitants of Halle
with more of wonder than of true appreciation.
This
made him opinionated and pedantic. A

drink made him less careful than ever. Fits
love of
in turn
straction
made him
the church.
of ab-
unreliable, even in the service of
In -the midst of
all
this,
he must needs
marry; and his vices and weaknesses carried their

He soon lost his position in
blight into other lives.
Halle,
and never found another permanent one.
did so great an artist sink so low.

the family suffered either
drunken abuse of
its
Never
From day
to day,
from hunger or from the
He
reckless head.
sold his
father's manuscripts, with utter disregard of the value
of the legacy over which he had charge
while, on the
other hand, his brother, Philip Emanuel, carefully pre-
served and catalogued his share, and transmitted them

to posterity.
ily,
Pecuniary help was given from his fam-
but the erring brother was irreclaimable.
By
play-
ing violin at taverns and with street bands, an unstable

existence was eked out.
Occasionally,
if
he could be
brought into condition for it, a concert was given, and

on these occasions his slumbering talent would sometimes burst forth with unexpected and dazzling
iancy.
He moved
brill-
about from town to town with the
erratic impulses of a gypsy,
and deeper and deeper he
sank, with an utter carelessness of duty that was most

pitiable to
contemplate.
In one thing only was he

steadfast: he
would not attempt to
III
alter his style of
composition to suit the changing taste.
This man,
seemingly without honor of any kind, seemed to make

it a
point of honor to sustain unaltered the old polyphonic vein which had been his father's glory. It was
a genius of a great school born a trifle too late. He
died a very pauper the
Of
of July, 1784.
third son,* Karl
Emanuel Bach, whose fame, during his lifetime

was above that of any member of the entire
Philip
at
first
mould was the
totally different
east,
Bach
family.
mar.
He
He was
schools and universities
had received from
born March
but the musical training he
his father (he says of himself, " In
composition and clavichord-playing,
any teacher but

fruit.
It is,
Wei-
1714, in
14,
philosophy and law in different
studied
have never had
father ") soon bore the
my
noblest
however, not quite true that he studied
music only as a recreation

states that all his
in his youth.
desires were
direction of music as a life-work,
He
himself
early trained in the
and that
merely a secondary object to him.
He
all else
was
attained a
high position even from the beginning of his career
and, at thirty-two years of age,
we
pianist (or clavi cembalist) to
Frederic the Great, in
Berlin,
where
who was a
it
was
his duty to
find
him appointed
accompany the
king,
passionate flute-player, in his various solos
upon that instrument.
Philip
Emanuel Bach was not
* The second son died in infancy.
112
greatly inferior to his brother

in talent,
and he was
ness of insight, in
Wilhelm Friedemann
infinitely his superior in keen-
and
tact,
in practicality.
old clavichord was
intuitively that the
new
He saw
changing
its
character, and
that a
evolved for
In his pioneer efforts in this direction,
and
it.
of music
style
must be
in his establishing the principles of scale-finger-
ing for the
first
time, he
made a higher technical

won the title of
plane of work possible, and fairly
"the father of modern pianoforte playing."
The
first
systematic efforts toward the melodic and homophonic
school of composition (outside of mere dance forms)

are also found
in
hands became a
real musical form,
monotonous
works
his
and the rondo
and not a
in his
series of
repetitions.
Although his chief reforms were
in the direction of
clavichord music, yet his influence
upon the German
song was not much less marked. The ode, which

was the chief musical expression of poetry outside of
opera, had sapped the
as
we
life
out of
German
shall see in the next chapter
vocal music,
and almost
all
the
songs which were not portions of larger works were

without stamina, weak in their accompaniments and
colorless in their melody.
and words was never

if
Bach,
father
good
close
attempted.
he had not the depth of
possessed, had at least
taste,
and saw
at
wedding
Philip
of
music
Emanuel
genius which his
that useful
quality,
once that a closer union must

be effected.
While other composers
113
of
this
epoch
held any words to be good enough for musical setting,
he acted up to his
own maxim,
moved with
not
if
that,
the composer
his subject, he loses the
power of
moving others, and sought out better poems and set
them to more expressive music than his contempois
His
raries did.
first
great step in this direction was
by the religious training which he had received from his high-minded father during childhood,
and which seems to have taken much deeper root
inspired
in
his
nature than in that of his
When
brother.
Gellert,
in
elder
dissipated
1757, brought forth his
Odes and Songs, Philip Emanonce set them to worthy music and,
collection of Religious
uel
Bach
at
while the previous song accompaniments had been of

a most meagre character, he gave to these a dignified
support
later
in
the instrumental
portion,
thus
bringing
accompaniment, which in
germ
was
of the German Lied.
the
foundation
years
forth the
of developed
In whatever branch of musical composition this great

talent worked, he
yield
to
displays
always avoided the temptation to

of
mere
virtuosity.
methods, in his sacred works,
In his piano
in his songs, the
funda-
that true
mental principle was always insisted upon.
were
the
and
not
mere
factors
emotion,
display,
feeling
its power; and in this,
he was a most healthful influence against the
from which music was to draw

also,
tendency of his times, which, having lost the taste for
1-4
the intricate
of
meaning
music, had not
his father's
melodic beauty and simple symmetry of Haydn or Mozart. In this, he was, if not
the founder of the classical epoch of homophony, at
yet achieved the
least the pioneer
who
best prepared the way for
Yet, although religious subjects
him most
in his vocal
seem
to
work, he by no means neglected
hundred poems
the secular song, and set nearly one

of this
character, of widely differing scope.
not, however, give birth to the true
we know
it
it.
have attracted
German
He
did
Lied, as
to-day, but, as Bitter well says,* produced
works which were
like fragrant flowers,
blooming upon
the edge of the grave toward which the contrapuntal
music was going.

At fifty-four years of age, on account of the Seven
Years' War, he left Berlin, and went to Hamburg,
where a wider sphere was opened to him. The great

Frederic had scarcely appreciated the value of this
artist,
and afforded him few opportunities
to
do more
than play spinet or clavichord accompaniments to his

flute solos, while he seemed to value Ouantz and
Graun
in
tainly, as
much
greater degree,
regards the
first
of the two last named, proves
that the royal flutist dabbled

his abilities warranted.
in
it
in Berlin,
much more
Philip
Hamburg was much more

had been
a fact which cer-
and
in
music than
Emanuel Bach's work
varied and extended than
his reputation chiefly rests
*Dl* Sohne Sebastian Backs,
p. 27.
115
upon the works which he composed in that city.

He is most frequently called the "Hamburg" Bach,
He
died in 1788,
this
work intended
full
of years and of honors.
to deal with instrumental
much more would need
detail,
Were
music in
to be said of this great
His method for clavichord or piano has not

its importance, and has influenced in a
lost
yet
greater
or less degree all the treatises on piano-playing which
man.
have followed
it.
His instrumental compositions, even
while upholding the traditions of the old school, betray a romantic style which belongs to the new.
His
symmetrical forms were faithfully studied by Haydn,

and unquestionably helped that great master in his
efforts to establish the
form which we now know as
the sonata, but which in preceding times had been

a varying and indefinable
composition.
without being a great genius, Philip

did as
some
solid
work
of those
in
Therefore,
Emanuel Bach
the advancement of music as
whom
the world places in the leading
The
other brothers did not achieve
ranks of fame.
nearly so much, nor was their work so original.
Johann Christian Bach, the eleventh son of the great

Bach, is known as the Milan or London Bach, because
his life
was
chiefly spent in these
two
the opposite of the two brothers of
already spoken.
the world, he
singers,
Light-hearted,
gay,
cities.
He was
whom we have
and a man of
soon formed connection with Italian
and gave himself up
to the light, frivolous, but
Il6
He was
tuneful Italian vein then in vogue.
the suc-
cessor of Handel in London, the queen's music teacher,

praised by the poets and petted by the society of his
day.
He
spend
it all,
earned a very large income, but managed to

and more, and died deeply in debt but his
;
wife received a royal pension, which protected her from
He
want.
cared not at
all for
the traditions of his
art,
proven by his answer to the friend who spoke to

him of his brother Philip Emanuel Bach and his abil-
as
is
"
ity
brother lives to compose, while I compose

and the reply to this brother himself, who
Don't become childish," to which the response
My
to live
"
!
"
wrote,
" If
was,
better."
He
work
ful
for
stammer, the children
will
understand
was, however, dissatisfied with his
sometimes he would say
after
at the piano, "

"
This
improvisation
would play
if I
dared
me
own
some thoughtis
the
way
John Christoph Frederic Bach was born in 1732, and

became music director of
at twenty-four years of age
Count Schaumburg
at Biickeburg,
which position he
contentedly held until his death at the age of sixty-three,
and was an industrious composer in all branches of

music his son was the last musical descendant of the
;
great musical family.

talents of
some
If
he did not attain to the great
of his brothers, at least he
seems
to
have been the heir of his father's sweet, contented,
and pious disposition
and
this placed
the scroll of happiness than
upon
him higher upon
that of fame.
As
the
Bach family died out
117
after a period of splen-
did achievements, so gradually also decayed the school
with which the Bach
name
is
associated.
Its
works
always remain a keen enjoyment to the thoughtful

musician and a valuable study to all who practise our
art, but it will never be imitated by moderns any more
will
than the lofty tragedies of Racine or the grand epics

of Milton will be copied
is
a noble legacy
by creators in literature. It
and the world, even at this late day,
does not fully appreciate how

labors of
much
it
owes
to the
John Sebastian Bach, his numerous disciples,
and his four differently endowed and strangely dissimilar
musical sons.
XV.
ODES, ARIAS,
AND JUVENILE SONGS OF THE
EIGH-
TEENTH CENTURY.
THE
eighteenth century was by no means a pleasant
or prosperous period in
attempt to establish
and
Italy held
German
vocal music.
German opera had proved
undisputed sway in
The
futile,
the realm of vocal
all
Naturally, therefore, the grand aria form which
music.
originated in that country was reproduced in Germany.

It
generally had the following shape

1.
An
phony
2.
instrumental introduction (often called
"Sym-
"
*).
The
principal
theme or melody, with a modulaif the work was minor, into
tion into the dominant, or,
the relative major.

3.
return, with variations
and embellishments,
to
the key of the tonic.

4.
short instrumental postlude.
*The word "Symphony"
before Haydn's time had a very vague
meaning. It was applied to preludes, interludes, and postludes; and it

" Pastoral
will be found with this significance attached to the
Symphonies" in Bach's Christmas Oratorio and Handel's Messiah.
a
sonata
for
Since Haydn's time, it has a definite meaning, signifying
orchestra, generally in four movements.

This was the
first
1.
2.
in
which was strongly con
section,
trasted with a second section
119
formed as follows
A short and quiet instrumental introduction.

A gentle and simple melody, generally cantabile,
a related key.
Again a postlude (sometimes omitted).
3.
After this came a repeat of the entire
first section,
Da capo
in
music
in
were
used
written, at other
1696)
(first
times made more florid and intricate, in which case, of
sometimes unaltered,
in
which case the words
course, the melody was written out in full. This form,

under one name or another, had, with slight deviations,
become the most used shape of the world in both vocal
and instrumental composition, and our musical readers

can discern
morceaux of
its
influence in almost
to-day.
It
all
was not bad
drawing-room
in itself, for
it
admitted of some well-drawn contrasts of key and

but it led gradually to a putting of the cart bestyle
;
fore the horse, a fitting of the shape of the
the pre-ordained shape of the music.

of the art of poetry
by music
(in
poem
to
This domination
the conjunction of the
two) would not have existed had
Germany possessed
Whenever great
any great lyric poets at this epoch.
poets arise, they" wield a direct influence upon the song
forms of their nation, and great song composers always follow in their wake. But Germany had no poets
of eminence
who
cared to work in the smaller forms.
Leasing and Schiller both sought to charm or instruct
120
m the
larger forms only; and a, host of poetasters who

wrote short poems for music, to order, only made mat-
worse by impressing the doctrine, practically, that

that the
any poems would do for musical treatment,
charm of a song lay in the music only. These latter-day
ters
laborers on Parnassus gave rise to the

which
'ôde,"
was very different from the "aria" above described,
being only a
many
poem
set to a tune,
which was repeated as
times as there were verses.
jingling works had as many as
|/
Sometimes these
fifteen or
twenty verses;
and, although the sentiment of the poetry might change

as
much
as
immutable
it
pleased, the music remained fixed and
in its dreary round.
was generally figured
The accompaniment
in thorough-bass, only the funda-
mental notes being given; for then, far more than

now, every musician was supposed
to
be able to read
ordinary thorough-bass figuration at sight.
Toward
"
the close of the century, however, a simple " harp (or
broken chord) accompaniment came into use.
to
The
was the mission of the accompaniment

do something more than accompany the voice had
thought that
it
not yet arisen.
Yet there were remonstrances raised occasionally

against this inartistic treatment of song forms.
Mat-
theson raised his voice against this crude style of
demanded that composers should unite

and
music
more closely but the call was more
poetry
theoretical than practical, for there was really nothing
work, and

to unite.
in
ful
Dull words and dull music could not result
a very brilliant marriage.
and singable,
if
the
If the
poem
latter
melody was tune-
was metrical and scanned

was held
properly, the mission of both

If in
121
to
be
fulfilled.
the aria music ruled over poetry, in the ode the
took revenge, for the
the lead, and no one
heightening
its
progressions.
guessed
at
effect
What
from
poem was allowed
to take
dreamed of intensifying
it
or
by any especial tone colors or
poems were -may be

Odes to Death, to
these
their
titles.
Friendship, to Resignation, to
Hope, to Despair, to
a thousand other topics
Night, to Morning, and to

which the boarding-school miss now treats of in her
graduation essay, were then poured forth with a pedantry that seemed to be inexhaustible.
The
writer
has in his possession a volume containing odes to
White, Black, Green, Yellow, Violet, Blue, Gray, and

Lavender, some of which are treated of to the extent
of twelve verses each, the tunes having rarely
more
than sixteen bars, which are repeated over and over

until the essay is done.
The
ingenuity of the poetaster
was worthy of a better cause but, naturally, the musician could draw no inspiration from such a barren soil.
;
bacchanalian song in which
all
the verses bore a
kindred sentiment might suit to such treatment, and

therefore
we
find the students'
effective of this epoch.
into the
domain of
songs
among
the most
The dreariness even extended
children's songs.
Juvenile .songs
122
century
had
said to have
may be
for,
their beginning in the last
before that time, the songs of
Germany
were chiefly cast in the sacred mould, and in the fiery

days of the Reformation the songs of the adults were
held to be equally proper for their progeny.
cient days, children's
In an-
music, although existing, was
never dignified into an especial branch of composition.

In the days of the most ancient Romans, the praises
Romulus and Remus were chanted by children in

public on festive occasions but, when one remembers
of
the
severity of
doubts
if
Roman
school training, one rather
the children were especially festive
on these
In the early days of the Christian Church,
occasions.
children's music
was held
to
be a valuable adjunct of
the religious service, and led to the turning of the
orphan asylums, for which the Christians were so

famous, into incipient conservatories, in which children were taught hymns.
that the
Italy,
lums
When we
switch of St. Gregory
is
recall the
still
fact
exhibited in
and that he was a music teacher in these asywe can readily surmise that
in the sixth century,
many
a juvenile howl was intermingled with the music,
and that
all
was not always pure harmony. Neverthemust have been successful even in the
less, the result
earliest days,
whom
for
we
find
the wise
Emperor
Julian,
"
history delights in branding as the apostate,"
trying to build up the ancient

in the aid of children
and youth
Roman
rites
by
calling
in the musical services
123
by founding a conservatory in Alexandria, where they

might be appropriately trained. The scheme was only
thwarted by his untimely death.
Guido
Arezzo
of
also, in the eleventh century, trained children in the
way they should

method of vocal
by teaching a simple
and to that end invent-
go, musically,
sight-reading,
ing those vocal syllables which have come dow.n to

us, almost without a change, from the dark ages.
But none
of these epochs can properly be given as
having originated children's music. They taught children music, to be sure but it was labor, unremitting
;
and constant, that they demanded.

-please, not the
young
singers, but
The music was

more
to
critical ears,
to
form a part in a service and pageant made for
adults.
In the eighteenth century, however, the idea
and
arose of systematically writing music to please

dren,
of bringing
the joys of
chil-
our art to even the
with a
youngest, in order that they might grow up
It does not seem to us
love
for
the
art.
spontaneous
that the plan was very clearly followed for the dismal
odes to " Death " and to. "Piety" which we find in the
;
earliest collection of
awaken
children's songs could scarcely
childish glee of a very exuberant sort, -how-
ever edifying they
may have
been.
plant, although unpromising, bore
Nevertheless, the
very
good
All the kindergarten music of the world, and
noble efforts of the best
Reinecke, Schumann,
German composers
fruit.
all
the
(such as
Taubert, Kullak, etc.) to educate
124
a true taste in children by accustoming them to proper
and worthy harmonic during early

from
these crude beginnings of the eighyears, sprang
teenth century. We may complain that juvenile music
musical
forms
been estimated
of such a sort has not yet
value in America
that our
composers
at its true
feel
still
it
be-
neath their dignity to try to minister to the young

tastes that
must be fed
when music books
are
the simpler forms
in
made
for children
that,
among
us.
"
"
which any wellbaby-talk
they consist of musical
But we are dealing with
regulated child would resent.
the eighteenth century, not with the faults of the nineteenth.
Among
the
ever published was
first
collections of juvenile songs
that of
were the morals inculcated
Johann A.
Killer.
Many
For example,
in the songs.
one would not consider the following a very cheering

or appropriate theme for children to-day
TO DEATH.
Old men have perished
Who were not cherished,

For whom no lofty nature grieved.
When in death they were lying,
Men said, but without sighing,
"
Quite long enough, for sure, they've lived."
Be my endeavor
To
fail
If I die
thus never.
young,
let
some be
Let good deeds never

Let pious
men
And
"
say,
fail
grieved.
me,
bewail me,
"
Oh, had he longer lived!
I2 S
This poem, by Weisse, is one of the collection; but,

fortunately, not all were tune.d to such a doleful key,
and
some matters
in
Killer
seems
to
have had
at least
a theoretical idea of the exigencies of the case.
example, he states in his preface
dren must be very easy
"
:
Songs
For
for chil-
they must be flowing, natural,
from pedantry \ungekunstelf}, and of limited comBepass, nqt to exceed the strength of the children.
free
sides this, there should be something genial and attractive
about them, that they
retained in the
mind.
may be easily caught up and

The peculiarity of all good
songs, that the melody shall closely follow the expression of the words,
must not be neglected even
in these
works."
How
out
is
little
these admirable theories were followed
self-evident, but, at least, Hiller
ing the accompaniments musical

self for this
much more
by saying
was wise
in
mak-
and he excuses him-
that, as children learn to sing
easily than to play, he has made the accom-
paniment for older and more practised hands, while

the
melodies are simple enough
singers, although the compiler
to
fit
to
youthful
and composer disclaims
the intention of writing only for the youngest children,
but claims that

a larger growth.
many
of his songs will suit children of
In any case,
we can commend
Hiller
for having kept a certain dignity in the treatment of

his subject,
which not
all
of his followers achieved, as,
for example, J. F. Reichardt,
who
in his collection of
126
children's songs published in 1781, begins with the
lowing twaddle
fol-
TO CHILDHOOD.
My
intention in the publishing of these songs, dear chilto cheer
you up, that you shall endeavor to learn to

and
well.
sing clearly
But, before one gives one's self trouble about any matter,
dren,
is
one desires to know of what use

lives
ful
and agreeable
it is
it
Is
is!
it
not so,
my
how useyou
to sing clearly and correctly.
See, then, I will explain
it
to
at once,
Often in church you are disturbed by the totally false and

ill-sounding screaming of children,
and even by older people;
and you look round, and sometimes even laugh. Are you not
worried by this, and troubled in your own sing ng because of
it,
my
dears
There
is
much more
of the
same
style of infantile
somewhat
jingle; but, fortunately, the songs are
better
than the nauseating preface.
/^T
It is
not
(
/
I
noticeable that
make any
many
of these
composers did
great distinction between the children's
song and the folk-song. It is only another instance of

the vast and wide-spreading influence of the folk-song.
Not only
chorale,
V_music,
The
lific
children's music took root in
and
it,
finally the perfect flower of
but also the
German
vocal
the Lied.
eighteenth century, however, was not very pro-
in folk-songs
composers had
all
until
toward
its
become more or
very close.
less artificial.
The
It
127
was a transition epoch, as a whole. Spite of Bach and

his sons, counterpoint had lost its hold upon the pop-
and the true melodic grace of Haydn and
ular taste,
Mozart had not yet been spread abroad. The pedantic

complexities of the poets had crushed out what little
individuality there
many
might have been in the music.
Ger-
stood far behind France and Italy and even Eng-
land in song forms at this time, and the third quarter

of the last century is as uninspiring a portion of musical history in
It
Germany
as one can possibly imagine.
The
was, however, the dark hour before dawn.
had departed, but a

of
other
musical
achievements
was to begin.
bright day
A whole host of great song composers were soon to
glories of the contrapuntal epoch
arise
and
lift
dust where
front of the
it
the standard of
had been
army
trailing,
German song from

and bear
of musical progress.
it
the
in the very
XVI.
HAYDN, MOZART, AND BEETHOVEN.
THESE
three
names represent the
rise,
progress, and
culmination of the sonata form in instrumental music,

exactly as
names
the
of
Schubert,
Schumann, and
Franz represent the same conditions in the history of

It will scarcely be
the German Lied.
necessary, in a
work
lives
of this character, to enter into the details of their

;
not be
and even
upon German song can-
their influence
collectively estimated in
a single chapter.
To Haydn is due the credit of first making the accompaniment an important factor in the musical picture in German song. Gluck had, to be sure, already
pointed the way in opera, and had conveyed emotions
of graphic force entirely by the orchestral support of
the voice.
Such a touch was
it
when
murdered his mother, and racked by

tions, exclaimed,
"At
last,
Orestes, having
conflicting
peace enters in
my
emosoul,"
while the violas went on muttering and groaning, proving to the poetic auditor that the wicked one had but
mistaken exhaustion for peace.
was
it
Such a master stroke
also in the opera of Orpheus,
when
that hero
approached the gates of Hades, and, as the chorus an-
129
nounced the approach of a mortal, the contrabasses, by

fierce,
upward swoops, imitated the hoarse barking
of
the dread guardian of the gates of the infernal regions,

the three-headed dog, " Cerberus, cruel monster, fierce
and strange."
Such a sense
was
it
with
of the importance of accompaniment

which led Gluck to support the solos of Orpheus
harp,
although that instrument before Erard's
great improvements (made in
1810)
was one
of the
crudest that could be imagined, and almost diatonic in

All these great reforms are due to Gluck.
character.
was Haydn who introduced them into German

vocal music; and they attained their culmination, so
but
it
far as the last century is concerned, in the
Creation
accompaniments of which
are a constant succession of tone pictures from begin-
(first
produced
ning to end.
in 1798), the
As examples taken merely
we may mention
in
"
at haphazard,
the surgjng of the waves at " Rolling
foaming billows," the tranquil flow of the brook
at
Softly purling, flows on," the winding passages at
"In serpent
error, rivers flow," the groans of the con

"
trabassoon at " By heavy beasts the ground is trod
a hundred other equally realistic passages could be

cited.
It
was the beginning
of a
new
school.
The
value of a developed accompaniment had been recognized,
and the road was open toward the
German
ideal of the
Lied, a well-rounded picture in both vocal and
instrumental tones.
130
Haydn
an
tirely
way toward German

we find him not en-
did yet more: he led the
national music.
In
originator,
thoughts of others.
this, again,
but a great developer of
As he drew
the
the idea of his ac-
companiments from Gluck, and found the germ
of
sonata form in Philip Emanuel Bach, so he received

his grandest vocal inspiration, as portrayed in a single
short work, from England.
During
his stay in Lon-
don, he had observed the deep emotion caused
among
Englishmen by the performance of their national anthem, the greatest that the world possesses. It made
a profound impression upon him, and he determined,
upon
his return to his country, to
to his
native land.
somewhat
tion,
make
altered subsequently, served
and the
erhalte Franz
a similar gift
hymn, written
by Haschka,
him for inspira-
"Gott
great German national song
den Kaiser "(God save the emperor)
first
was composed amid the stirring events which followed

French Revolution, and which plunged Austria into
te
a succession of sanguinary wars.
It
was
first
sung on
the emperor's birthday, Feb. 12, 1797, and spread like

The kinship with " God save tke King " canwildfire.
not be questioned, and the work suggests the English

It was
anthem strained through a German mind.
Haydn's favorite work.
Not only did he make
it
the
nucleus of a set of masterly variations in one of his
most famous quartets, but almost his last musical act

was connected with it. On May 26, 1809, as he lay on
he called his servants around him, and,
his death-bed,
having been carried
to the piano, played this
He
three times over with great solemnity.
days
May
after,
was exerted
tion of operatic music,
advance over
all
lowed the course
hymn
died five
31, 1809.
art's influence
went
131
and
chiefly in the direc-
he made
in this
his predecessors.
laid
.a distinct
Naturally, he
open by Gluck's works
fol-
but he
beyond that master in giving meaning to accompaniment and melody both. Over and above this,
far
he was a composer who knew most thoroughly the

the voice;
pabilities of
singable as any in the Italian school.
his
He was
ready to accept the suggestions of singers,
ca-
works, therefore, are as
always
and
fit
any
had composed to their voice and style. His
accompaniments were full of dramatic effect, so that
aria that he
even the effects of the Leit-motif, which many imagine

to have arisen with Wagner, may be found in his works.
Such an
as
is
intricate orchestral combination, for example,
vanni was unheard

this
Don
Gio-
opera before his time.
In
introduced at the finale of the

of
in
first
wonderful movement, we have
combination of
3-4, 3-8,
simultaneous
and 4-4 rhythms, which even
Berlioz, with all his striving for
not equal.
act of
Mozart leaned
complex rhythms, could
chiefly to the Italian school
works (since that school has ever been the

most singable), but the influence of Gluck is marker]
in his vocal
in
his works,
and
his
latest operas, particularly the
132
Magic
Flute, are in an individual
manner which
is
en-
and which may be called the very beof

true
German opera. Such arias as those
ginning
of Sarastro, full of dignity and solemnity, and those of
tirely his own,
Papageno, with their Gemuthlichkeit and heartiness, are

Teutonic to the backbone. It is not strange that the
latter
as to
have been sung by the people to such an extent

become actual folk-songs. Mozart could have
been a great power
German
in
the direction of elevating the
folk-song; but the truth must be spoken that
he cared very
little
set to music,
and
for the worth of the

in
some few cases
were
His single songs, when
beyond the line of decency.

in the
words which he
his subjects
popular vein, seldom aspired to anything higher
than Viennese couplets.
Mozart, viewed purely from
the vocal side, deserves the high praise of having been

the
first
(and perhaps the only)
combined dramatic
of his voices.
We
German who thoroughly
effect with a true vocal treatment
shall find that later
German com-
posers have surpassed him in dramatic power, but

doubtful
if
any have equalled him
it is
in the singable char-
acter of his operatic arias.
Before dismissing this
great
name from our
his-
may be proper to rebuke those biographies

tory,
for
romantic reasons, throw a haze of mystery
which,
it
around his death.
It
is
undoubtedly true
before his final illness, a stranger
some degree
of secrecy, for a
came
requiem
that, just
to him, with
that, after
some

time,
133
Mozart became imbued with the idea that the
re-
quiem would be his own, and that it eventually became

But the records of disease contain many a case
so.
where the
imagination, working upon an enfeebled
frame, has succeeded in fulfilling a preconceived idea.
Some
life
the
of the biographies
end
their account of Mozart's
with a delineation of the death-bed scene where
Requiem was sung, as
if
it
were the fulfilment of
a strange prophecy, without adding the prosaic fact

that the stranger subsequently took the
requiem he
had ordered and paid for it. The mystery unravels

itself still more when we learn that the stranger was
Leutgeb, the steward of Count Walsegg,
performed
attending
in 1793 in
its
memory of
purchase
is
easily
who had
it
The secrecy
understood, when it is
his wife.
discovered that the count before the performance copied out
all
the score, and
Count Walsegg "

to
many doubts
The
as to the
sition of Mozart,
marked
it
"composed by
act of this noble plagiarist led
Requiem being a
true
compo-
doubts which were happily set at rest
by the eventual discovery of original parts of the

score.*"
^Beethoven, the greatest name
in all musical history,
does not require much space in

life is
well
known
sical reader; and, secondly,

*It
is
well
known
this.
For,
firstly, his
in its important details to every
that
some
Mozart's death by Siissmayerj
hi<?
mu-
he has exerted no very
portion of the
mipil.
work was
filled in aftef
134
-,
German
great influence on
vocal music.
Beethoven's
greatest works are in the classical instrumental forms
and, beside these, his vocal compositions

atively weak.
It is
grow compar
singular that his eulogists do not
more frankly admit this fact. Just as all persons think

unconsciously in some language, great composers receive their musical thoughts through the
medium
of
voice.
Schumann thought piano,
Schubert thought voice, Beethoven thought orchestra.
Not any musical idea came to Beethoven through the
some instrument or
human
imagination of a
voice
clad in an orchestral garb.
every thought came
was
It
this self-acknowl-
which made the master's piano sonatas

edged
broader than the instrument for which they were comfact
posed.
It is this
which
suits the
works composed
lor
the tiny instruments of the beginning of the century so
admirably to the concert grands of to-day, and makes
them
this,
easily susceptible of orchestration;

also, which made
works
his vocal
but
it
was
at times entirely
unvocal, and deprived the great musical thoughts pre-
sented by Beethoven in his oratorio of The
Mass
Mount
of
and the choral finale of

the Ninth Symphony, of real and lasting influence
Olives, his great
among
singers.
series of
in
C,
clarinet can give a high note .or a
them without
its
it
quality in subsequent pasis
about as easy for a con-
sages being impaired
trabassoon to give
deepest
the -voice
is
its
a living thing, and
as
its
may
deepest
but
not be treated in
135
ihis manner.
When Beethoven in the Ninth Symphony gave a theme upon instruments and allowed
voices to develop and vary

of things
it,
he reversed the order
and, although the idea of combining voice
and orchestra
symphony was a
in
lofty
one,* which
and Berlioz have copied to advantage, although

the manner in which the work is carried over a bridge
Liszt
of contrabasses
portion
is
from the instrumental
to
the vocal
superb, and although the thoughts them-
selves are of the
most glorious order, the vocal parts
remain unsatisfactory, because unsingable. And this

would be the case still, even if a transposition of a
semitone downward were to restore our high modern
pitch to the lower diapason of the composer's time.
Ffflelio,
howevJV^*n.
its
second
act,
and
in
the
chorus of
brought an intensity to the operatic stage which was unknown before; and, had not
its first act,
Rossini's baleful genius held the advance of opera in

check for two generations, it might have led directly
to
that
defiant
modern German
opera, which, scarcely less
of vocal traditions, yet
holds the world en-
thought, the glow of

and
the
wonderful
orchestration,
interweaving of
thralled
by the depth of
its
its
its
accompaniments.
În
the field of pure song, Beethoven
form which was important.
made one
re-
Struck with the weakness
*
Particularly in the presentation of Beethoven's cherished favcy, the
" Ode to
Joy."
Millennium, as pictured in Schiller's
136
of the repeating ode,
mentioned in a previous chapter,
yet not wishing to set the form aside, he used

characteristic variations of
etition.
in the
immortal cyclus, "
the distant
true
accompaniment
mo'del of this strophe form
An
die
Loved One"); and
is
at
each rep-
found
to be
feme Geliebte
in
with
it
A delaide we
"
("
To
see the
development of accompaniment combined with
dramatic expression:^ In the folk-song, Beethoven at
tempted various manners, but effected

Scotch
flavor,
scarcely
folk-songs
and
his
few attempts
reproduced
at the
His
little.
the
Gaelic
humorous folk-song
were puerile compared with any of his other works.

He was too lofty in ideal and aspiration to be able to
descend to and sympathize with the people's life and
his deafness and sensitive nature precluded this, even
;
had he wished
In a word, then, Beethoven gave
it.
great and noble orchestral thoughts in the language of
He
song, and in so far assisted the dramatic school.
did not found
it,
had been done by Gluck but

sometimes with utter disregard
for that
he spoke through
it
of singers' larynxes
in a
more earnest and intense
way than had up to his time been
deemed
possible.
XVII.
THE INFLUENCE OF THE GERMAN POETS ON
GERMAN
German
MUSIC.
songs languished under the barrenness of
poetasters during the larger part, of the eigh-
teenth century.
Schiller
had made his great successes
large epic and in narrative poems and, although

they were suited to cantata treatment only, the pov-
in
the poetic field led composers occasionally
erty of
to set
even these as songs.
Thus, Schubert made a
song nearly thirty pages in length out of one of Schilmost graphic poems, " The Diver " and the most
ler's
effective setting of
any of
this poet's
works in song
form was made some years afterwards by the same

the " Gruppe aus dem Tartarus."
But
composer,
Schiller's
poems were
to use.
composer
densation
far too
ponderous for any song
They lacked direct force and con-
they were
filled
with vivid contrast, and
were dramatic in construction, but they had the
fault
The
ideal
that they left
poem
little
for the
composer
to add.
for musical setting, especially in
Lied lorm,
is
738
one which gives an impression only, rather than one

which supplies all details, and Goethe was the first
German
of the
fully to
the
fill
new
it.
poets to understand this need and tasteis a fine

of
His "
example
Erl-King"
this, an entire tragedy is told
In
departure.
The
almost wholly in dialogue.
ride
through the
night, the appearance of the Erl-King, the coaxing of
the child,
its fright
and
resistance, the father's half-
hearted reassurances, and the

of the child
manner
by
violence, are
to preclude
partnership.
The
final seizure of the soul
all
depicted, yet not in a
music adding something
to the
en
fierce gusts of wind, the gentle,
ticing tones of the Erl-King, the wild
the shriek of the child,
all
homeward
gallop,
these are only suggested by
the poetry; but they are pictured in the music.
Not
only Schubert, but Carl Loewe, was inspired by this
poem
to a great musical production.
" Meeresstille
und Gluckliche Fahrt"
is
another
poem by Goethe which has borne great results in

music. In two stanzas, the poet pictures a scene akin
to that
in "
given by Coleridge in portraying a
The Ancient Mariner."
place the two passages side

" Down
It
by
may
side.
Coleridge
dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down,
'Twas sad as sad could be ;
And we
The
lifeless
did speak only to break
silence of the sea.
sea
be of interest
:
to

"
Day
after day,
"We
Upon
" Tiefe
day after day,
stuck, nor breath nor motion,
As idle
Goethe:
139
as a painted ship
a painted ocean."
Stille herrscht
Ohne Regung
im Wasser,
ruh't das
Und bekummert sieht der
Meer.
Schiffer
Glatte Flache rings umher.
" Keine Luft von keiner

Todesstille
Seite,
f iirchterlich
In der ungeheuerern Weite
Reget keine Welle sich."
Which may be
"
translated as follows
Deepest silence rules the waters,
Without motion
rests the sea.
And the troubled sailor gazeth
On
the
flat
monotony.
" Not a wavelet e'en
is stirring,
Not a breeze doth
lift its
breath.
O'er the whole wide, vast horizon
Broods a
stillness as of
death."
After this picture, Goethe makes a vivid contrast by

picturing the springing up of a prosperous breeze, the
hoisting of sails, and the speedy attainment of the desired haven.
Such concise descriptions could not but cause a muresponse in the minds of composers, and we find
sical
the above
poem awakening a whole
representations, of
series of musical
which the three best are Beethoven's
vocal setting (chorus), Schubert's song (solo),
and Men-
140
delssolm's overture (instrumental).
Thus, we see one
poem exerting an influence in three different departments of music.

all
One
of the strangest
misnomers
in
music has occurred with Mendelssohn's overture
on the above subject. The English have translated it

" A Calm Sea
and Prosperous Voyage," which leaves
each auditor under the impression that a thoroughly
is
joyous picture
"
Becalmed
being presented, while the words
Sea, and Prosperous Voyage," would
at
present the tremendous contrast as the poet intended

Spite of Goethe's
which he may almost be said
of
it
success in the short lyrir fnj-m,

to
be the German
upon music (not, howupon the Lied} was exerted through an extended
and philosophical poem, Faust, Never in the history
founder, his greatest influence

ever,
of literature has a subject been so vastly
and variously
treated by composers as this great work.
Gounod,
in his favorite opera,* has
developed the
amatory side only, and has properly brought melodic
power
to bear
chosen to
on the treatment
illustrate, in
prominent figure than Faust.

it
in the ethical
subject,
of the section he has
which Marguerite
is
Schumann has
manner most consonant with
and best
reflects
a more
treated
the entire
the Goethe ideal.
Berlioz
has seized upon fragments of the work, placed them

together in most vivid contrasts, and brought forth
its
sensational characteristics, although his remodel* Gounod's Faust
is
generally called
Margarethe
in
Germany.
H1STORV OF GERMAN SONG

work has banished the
of the
ling
in
many
poet's intentions
Wagner has been moved by
places.
to write his
J^f
grandest purely instrumental work,
Faust Overture.
has taken the philosophical,
Liszt
and religious touches, and brought them
lyric,
deeper meaning by instrumental music,

Boi'to
phony.
fact,
the
list is
has been
endless.
ple of a poet's thought
moved
in
how many
there was
to a
a sym-
Grand Opera. In
Here, then, we have an examto
awakening many
of the great-
est workers in a kindred art into activity;

in
it
the
and we see
and poetry unite. /Y'eV

Goethe's Faust which was
directions music
an element in
absent from the great works of Schiller or Lessing.
The
short lyric form which they discarded was intro-
duced by Goethe profusely into
song of the
Thule,
rat, of
"My
Heart
the
is
flea,
poems have been
The
the serenade, the King of
heavy," and others, prove that
Goethe knew the value of

these
this large work.
this
condensed form; and
treated independently in music
by many who have not essayed
.setting
the
entire
work.
Goethe's poems at once drew composers away from
the rigid "grand aria" form, and from the monotonous
"
"
construction.
Durchcomponirung (compostrophe
sition in
which the music did not repeat with each
verse, but
had a changing character throughout) took

and music was at once
the place of these inanities,
wedded more
closely to poetry.
142
It is
the
not within our province here to follow in detail
life
of
Goethe
it
yet
may be
stated as a strange
fact that, spite of the great influence that he exerted
on music and the various musicians that he was thrown

in contact with, his love
for the art
was not a strong
or lofty one, nor could he appreciate the life-work of
Mendelssohn was his friend rather

the composers.
because he was of a wealthy, influential, and cultured
because
family than
of
musical
his
He
abilities.
treated Beethoven shabbily and, when Schubert sent

him his setting of the " Erl-King," he took no notice of
;
it,
it
sung at all until after the comwas ended. He never assisted the
nor did he hear
poser's short
life
career of any musician, and seemed to regard
them aH
and undesirable companions.

After Goethe, who may be styled the Jupiter
as unpractical beings
man
poetry, there
came a poet who was
of
less phil-
osophical and more human, less polished, but more

passionate, less
broad and majestic, but even more
epigrammatic and concise. This was Heinrich Heine.

Naturally, Heine wielded a yet greater influence upon
the
Lied than Goethe
and, in fact, no composer ever
did such noble service to this form of music by his
tones as Heine did by his poems.

of Goethe's
the Louvre,
less.
poems
Heine himself says
that they were like the statues
of wonderful beauty, but cold and
Certainly, hisôwn
poems
in
lifj-
are pregnant with
human
recent
passion, ardor, hope, exaltation,
and despair.
HISTORY 'OF GERMAN SONG
143
authority,* taking Challier's voluminous catalogue of
songs as a basis, made a calculation of the musical
music.
German poets by the number

most popular lyrics had been set to
The result was overwhelmingly in favor of
Heine.
Schiller
popularity of different
of times their
was scarcely represented; while the
comparison between Goethe and Heine can best be

judged by the following list of seven popular poems,
the figures representing the
cal settings each
"
Goethe
poem
number
has* received
of different musi:
Der du von dem Himmel
ber alien Gipfeln
ist
Run'," 56;
"
bist," 50
" Ue-
Kennst du das
Land? "65.
Heine: " Ein Fichtenbaum steht einsam," 74; " Ich
"Leise zieht durch mein
hab' im Traum geweint," 81
;
Gemiith," 85;
"Du
bist wie eine
Blume,"
167.
There were many influences which made Heine's

poetry very intense. His religious struggle, swerving
from Judaism to Christianity, first leaning toward one
and then the other, yet not finding complete repose in
either; his severe illness, by which he became semiparalytic during the latter part of his life
faction with
German conservatism and
nature of his compatriots,
in every direction, his
an- unsatisfied, yearning, longing existence;
reflected, m all its
ure
phases, in his
must be ranked as
more
to the
his dissatis-
the phlegmatic
inferior to
most emotional of
music.
Zeitung.
it
If
was
this
Such a
poems.
Goethe yet
arts,
*The Reichenberger
and
he
nat-
offered
Goethe
144
was a philosopher, a calm reasoner, and above all naHeine was an impres-
tional prejudice or enthusiasm,*

sionist,
the
an enthusiast, and even a partisan.
poems
Naturally,
of this child of impulse are full of the
sudden changes, the oddest surprises

be splendidly reflected in tones.
most
and these could
If
Goethe was able
to give a powerful picture in a short
poem, Heine was
able to suggest a whole
life
history in a stanza or two.
For example, the following short poem contains the

essential points of hundreds of novels which run to
octavo size in expressing their emotions and
dents
inci-
"
A youth
he loves a maiden,
Another she doth prefer
But
this
And given
"And when
She
The
It is
first
And
the maiden
knows
it,
man
in her
pathway,
leaves the youth to weep.
an
Yet
his heart to her.
takes, in anger deep,
And
"
one has chosen another,
old, old story,
it is
he to
ever
new
whom
it
happens,
His heart-strings rend in two."
Heine's influence, although spread
that
among many com-
power upon one alone

one was the greatest of all the German Lied
posers, yet exerted
its
chief
but
coni-
* Goethe has been

reproached with never having helped his country
felt that he belonged not to a nation,
with truly national poetry; but he

but to the world.

posers.
Schubert died before Heine's works had be-
come world-famous;
"Am
music
yet
etc.
all
their
intensity
best
mode
it
to
Fischer-
and power.
Heine, he showed a tendency to change
from the objective to the subjective school
Meer"and
did set
"Das
prove that he could have caught the
composer's feelings in
In setting
the few that he
Meer," "Die Stadt,"
madchen,'
but
145
" Ihr Bild
"),
(as in
"
Am
so thoroughly did he sense the
of treatment for the
most of these poems
was Schumann who brought the
full
glory of the
musical side of Heine's poems to the hearts of the

world.
his
own
The works,
life-story,
as
we
shall see later,
and
his
own passions coalesced
white heat with the intensity of the poet.

of Heine's poetry
Lied reached
its
appealed to
at
In the union
and Schumann's music, the German

climax, and the sister arts were de-
monstrated to be true equals and companions.
XVIII.
THE LIFE OF FRANZ SCHUBERT.
*^~
THREE names
stand forth in musi
great founders of the
mann, and Franz

bert
who was
German
Lied,
al history as the
Schubert, Schu-
but, strictly speaking,
it
was Schu-
the pioneer and actual founder, the other
two being the improvers and perfecters of the school.
Schumann has won a
leading rank in
fields of
many
music; but Schubert and Franz owe their great reputation to their songs, spite of the instrumental
works of
the former and the retouching of old masters
by the
Schubert was the most spontaneous composer

If there ever existed
that ever existed.
^natural mulatter.
sician
it
was
An
all
Liszt said of
he.
"THSsT'poetic of
all
him
was the
that he
musicians.
mspired nature and a good voice were probably
the gifts that Providence allowed him; for his child-;
hood was one

was passed
that
in the
had
little
midst of
pleasure, his
manhood
pitiful privations,
and his
death occurred long before the world at large recognized his genius.
Franz Peter Schubert was born
in
a suburb of
Vienna, Jan. 31, 1797, and was the son of a poor

who imitated Bach
school-teacher,
possession of piety
The
had nineteen.
and
two respects, the
Of the
of children.
latter
he
father endeavored to educate his
children as best he could
and the boy Franz received,
a school education, a training on the
in addition to
from
in
147
and on the piano from his elder

Evincing a great taste for music, he
was placed under Michael Holzer, the choir-master of
violin
his father
brother, Ignaz.
the parish,
who gave him a
general musical education
but he soon outstripped even this master.

not been prodigal to the boy.
He was
Nature had
not only poor
and one among many brethren, but he was ugly in

appearance and very near-sighted. But the fact that
he was endowed with a sweet voice and musical taste
made
his childhood pleasanter than
have been.
friendship with
it
frequently repaired piano-cases, gave

sional chance to play
otherwise could
a cabinet-maker,
who
him an occa-
upon a better piano than the one
he was obliged to use in his humble home and his

entrance into the village choir gave him a little well;
earned pre-eminence, and led to higher things.

eleven, he
was leading soprano
(treble) in
the choir,
playing violin solos as they occurred in the
and occupying his spare time

tion.
little
ents secured
*
It is
at
before his twelfth
him entrance
to the
home
in
At
service
composi-
birthday, these
tal-
Imperial Convict*
a strange error that some English biographers speak of Schua convict school, without further explanation.
bert's entering
148
or school for the training of singers for the imperial
Here he soon silenced those who were disposed

uncouth manners by his musical supe-
court.
to laugh at his
An
riority.
dents
to
orchestra was formed by the older stu-
and, spite of Schubert's youth, he was admitted
membership.
He
also had a constant fever of com-
position, limited only by his
inability to
buy music
In the Convict, Schubert enjoyed in some de-
paper.
gree the instruction of Salieri; but the master seems

to
have taken no especial interest
have given but a

at
time
this
little
in his pupil,
desultory advice.
and
to
Had any one
given the lad thorough instruction in
Schubert might have achieved great

deeds in the instrumental forms. As it was, he only
counterpoint,
arranged to take a course in counterpoint just before

his death.
There were rigors enough attached
the school,
life at
little
between meals, and rather
strict
food, long intervals

discipline.
There
to the
a cold practice-room in winter,
is
a pitiful
letter
existing
fronj
Schubert to his favorite brother, Ferdinand (Nov. 24,

1812), in which he begs for a few pennies to buy food
and music paper, and quotes Scripture to enforce his

At this time, Mozart was his favorite com-
petition.
poser
and Beethoven seemed
because of his eccentricities.

learned to give Beethoven his
to
make him impatient
At a
full
later
epoch, he
due, and
fairly idol-
ized his works.
In 1813, change of voice took place with the youth:
149
wxl, ?Jr >/n^h he would have been permitted to con!
tinue
himself for teaching in his father's school,
prep3./
not
* while in the school, he decided to leave, and
f'/r
any love of pedagogics, but because he might
froafi
escape the conscription, which, forcing him into
tm?.s
military service,
would mar
his
all
musical studies.
Uutil the end of the year 1816, he continued in the
thankless position of village schoolmaster, often allowing his impatience to find vent in corporal punishment
He
unfortunate pupils.
of his
poured
forth,
mean-
an uninterrupted stream of compositions. The

chief fault of the early works was that they were too
while,
long and often

vein
but
too
much
now they took
in
the
blood-and-th under
a finer shape, and the "
"
King," the Songs of Mignon," a couple of
much worth
(in
and
B-flat)
Erl-,
Masses of
prove that the composer
was beginning to master his powers. The numerous

compositions were written without reference to publication,
of
simply because the
spirit
them were pledged by him
been irrevocably
lost.
Many
and have
it
had been put
for a debt), with the first act entirely gone,
having been used, page by page,
by the servant.
If Schubert composed
works as
ter
him.
One opera was rescued from
the Hiittenbrenner family (where
pawn
moved
for petty debts,
easily.
Many
easily,
in
it
to light the fire with
he also
forgot his
are the anecdotes which clus-
around his compositions, which prove both
facts.
150
Once, on hearing a song which he had written for the

tenor Vogl a few days before, he praised it
heartily,
and demanded to know who had composed it. Another time, he finished a song (" Die Forelle," " The
Trout") late in the evening, and in haste seized the
sand to strew over the writing, which was not dry.
Alas
the ink-bottle was the one he reached
moment he had poured
its
and
in a
contents over his work.
On
another occasion, returning from an early walk in the

suburbs of Vienna with some friends, the party turned
aside in one of the beer gardens along the road, to
On
take their breakfast.

translations
of the
seized
it,
upon
the table
poems
and according
of
Schubert
to his habit
began hur-
All at once he stopped, and,
riedly turning the leaves.

after reading a
was a volume
Shakspere.
of
moment, burst out
with,
"
Oh,
if
only
had music paper here, I have a melody in mind that

would just suit this poem " One of the friends at once
!
took the
staves.
bill
of fare,
and
carefully ruled
it
off into
Schubert took his pencil, and, amid the
clat-
and confusion of a busy restaurant on a Sunday

" Hark hark the Lark at
Heaven's
morning, wrote
ter
Gate sings," in
Schubert's
less
life
than twenty minutes.*
now took a
pleasanter direction, be-
cause a new friend and admirer,
Von
Schober,
who had
* Some writers have stated that the famous " Serenade " was thus
composed. This is untrue. The facts are as above. The confusion -has
arisen from the fact that
" Hark!
aubade, or morning serenade.
the Lark,"
is
also a serenade;
i.e.,
an
151
a fairly lined purse, came to his rescue, and bore him
away from school-teaching, insisting that he should live

him in Vienna, and devote himself entirely to com-
with
This was an existence entirely in accord with

his tastes
and he now began to compose with fervor,
position.
and also to enjoy himself heartily with the circle of

friends which he and Von Schober soon drew around
them.
Spite of the
many
privations of Schubert's
poverty was never very
far
from the door,
it
life,
would
be wrong to imagine that his was a wholly unhappy
Almost the contrary is true. He had the

merry, hearty, Viennese nature, an inordinate share of
Bohemianism, and enjoyed himself royally when in the
career.
company
of friends of his
own
He
kind.
could not
bear the upper classes, they seemed unnatural to him,
and he naturally gravitated toward those in lower station.

One thing, however, he demanded: his boon
companions must be something more than mere jolly
natures
they must be artists in some direction,
;
poets, painters, musicians, or the like.
His
first
ques-
tion, on a new friend being introduced into the circle

of which he was the acknowledged chief, was, "Kami
was? "("Can he do anything ?") and from this he

soon received the nickname of "Kanevas," which, with
er
the other nicknames of "the tyrant
"
(in allusjon to his
and " Bertl,"

show how pleasant a bond the friendships must have
imperious authority with
all
his friends)
152
been.
friendship with the tenor Vogl was a very
useful as well as agreeable one.

literature led
him
to give
Vogl's knowledge of
Schubert some excellent ad-
vice regarding the choice of subjects for songs
also took
tours,
and he
Schubert, subsequently, on some vacation
which were the happiest events in the comBut he did not have the courage to first
life.
poser's
introduce his works to the public.
That honor belongs

"
The Shep-
herd's Plaint" ("Schafer's Klagelied") in
a concert,
to another tenor,
where
Franz Jager, who sang
made an instantaneous and complete
it
success,
work of the composer ever heard

the
Viennese
Schubert was the most impublic.
by
it
being the
pecunious of
much,
first
all
the
composers,
which
and his circumstances prevented
is
saying
his seeking
Had he gone to Engwhole career might have been different for
his fortunes about the world.

land, his
the English, although not classed as a great musical

nation,
have been in many respects a very appreciaand their appreciation has generally been
tive one,
shown
in the
substantial form of bank-notes
instead
more ethereal fame upon which Germany has

fed some of its famishing composers. As it was,
of the
Schubert was never beyond the Austrian dominions.
couple of trips to Hungary and three journeys to
Upper Austria compose his travels.

The first journey to Hungary was made
Schubert had been so warmly recommended
in
1818.
to
Count
153
John Esterhazy that he was offered the position of

music-teacher to his two daughters, at his chateau at
Zelesz.
This change was an important one for Schubrought him in contact with the Hungahis later works.
It
bert, since
it
rian music,
and influenced some of
was also pleasant
in
another way.
The count had a
good bass voice, the countess and her daughters were

good altos and soprano, and a visitor to the family,
Baron Schonstein, had a charming and expressive
tenor voice. All loved Schubert's songs and he not
;
only had the pleasure of frequently hearing them well

sung, especially by the baron, but could at times essay
the
performance of
rather
Nevertheless, he did not
ambitious larger works.
feel at
home
in his
new
sur-
roundings, and gravitated gradually down to the society of the servants, accepting that low caste to which
musicians in Europe were so readily relegated
beginning of this century.
He was
and
his cir-
He grew heartily homesick. An
unfort-
Viennese to be happy away from the

cle of friends.
unate tenderness for Caroline

yet
more unhappy,
but once,
at the
too thoroughly
city
Esterhazy made him
for of course he dared not speak
when she asked him why he had never
cated anything to her, he blurted out
"
:
it;
dedi-
For what pur-
The
?
It is all dedicated to you without that."
end of the year found him back in Vienna with his old
friends, and the next year brought him the first of the
A mere glorious
upper Austrian trips with Vogl.
pose
154
time than our composer had
would be impossible
it
He was among just
imagine.
to
the hearty middle class
whose company suited him the best, and they all aphim to the fullest extent. He composed but
preciated
during this happy epoch. The return to Vienna

brought the circle together again; and many are the
"
incidents recorded of the
Schubertiades," as the
little
gatherings were called.
It
hood, a veritable artistic

therefore
all
goods were held
new
achieve the dignity of a

it
fitted)
was an absolute brother-
commune.
might wear
it
when
making a good appearance.
in
All were poor,
common.
Did one
coat, any of the set
(whom
was a necessity for

Hats, neckties, boots, were
there
One
never considered as individual property.

friends being without a pipe, or the
means
of the
to
buy one,
yet possessing some tobacco, took Schubert's wooden
spectacle case, bored a hole in
it,
and, inserting a straw,
was soon puffing away in contentment.

of prosperity were equally abused by all.
bert once sold a large
number
The seasons
When
Schu-
of songs, although a
period of famine had just been bravely passed through
by the company, he insisted on buying tickets to Paganini's concert (at five gulden each) and giving them a
musical feast with his
money.
The next day
the
famine was resumed.
With such
the end.
riously
irregular habits, one could easily foretell
The
candle was burning at both ends
fu-
and, with the excitement of composition and

the lack of needed repose, everything
shorten the great composer's
It
life.
155
was tending ta
is
impossible,
however, not to pity and even to love him.
His nature
whom
was so tender with those
he loved, especially
with his brother Ferdinand, and he was so guileless in
all
the affairs of
men
The
condemning.
that
one sympathizes even while
publisher
Diabelli
managed
to
take advantage of his innocence, and buy a vast num-
ber of his most successful songs for eight hundred

'-The Wanderer" alone, which was one of
florins.
brought
these,
florins.
It
the
publisher
was impossible
over
to help
thousand
thirty
such a nature.
No
previous engagements could take hjjm from the circle

of friends,
when he was enjoying
himself.
Periods of
pleasure were followed by periods of intensest gloom.

All his applications for positions of
in vain,
and sometimes he even
there might have been
by
lost
ill-timed
permanency were
what little chance
temper or severity.
Again (in 1824) he went into Hungary with his aristocratic patron, and again the composer's heart turned
back to his beloved Vienna.
After the return, another
vacation trip with Vogl followed, in 1825
and
this
as pleasant as the first one, but the return to
was
Vienna
At Beethoven's
brought more poverty than ever.
funeral, in 1827, he was one of the prominent mournIn
ers, but little thought how soon he was to follow.
this year also
short
life.
came the
last
journey to
gleam of sunshine
in the
Gratz with Jenger, the
pia-
156
nist,
in
was
full of delight,
but was
all
too brief.
Again,
Vienna, the load of poverty and debt was momenta-
rily
own
lightened by a most successful concert of his
compositions; but .he was unfitted to keep money, and

flew away with wings, the flight being materially
hastened by the demands of his creditors. The final
it
illness set in
very suddenly
(of its details
and progress
of No-
we have elsewhere spoken*); and on the iQth

vember, 1828, the weary striving was at an end.
Grill-
on Schubert's grave epitomizes his

better than any words of ours could do.
It reads
parzer's epitaph
fate
" The tone
art buried here
rich .possession
To which we may add
a single
applied to another genius,

irregular,
Burns
loving,
and yet greater hopes."
who,
line,
which has been
like Schubert,
democratic,
was
and
sincere,
light
from heaven."
"The light which
led astray
was
Last Hours of Great Composers, by L. C. Elson.
wild,
Robert
XIX.
THE WORKS OF SCHUBERT.
THE
great masters in music have
all,
with the single
exception of Chopin, achieved their reputation in various fields of composition
and mass and symphony,
sonata and string quartet, opera and oratorio, were
in-
Schubert also worked
in
termingled
all
in
their labors.
these different schools (except the last named), but
his success
varied widely in them.
It
may be sum-
was exerted only

vocal works his instru-
marily stated that his real influence
on vocal music, and beside his

mental compositions pale.
This statement
is not-invali-
dated by the fact that he has added at least one masterpiece and part of another
the " Unfinished
Symphony
"
)
symphonic repertoire, and that his string quartets

are most enchanting in their contents.
The sonata
to the
form, in which
all
the
great instrumental works of
Schubert's time were written,
is
not to be mastered
without fluency in the art of counterpoint; and

unfortunately, Schubert had not.
lack of
it,
and shortly before
He
himself
felt
this,
the
his death arranged for a
contrapuntal course with Sechter, the most celebrated
HISTORY OF GLRMAN SONG
158
teacher in Vienna.
the vocal forms,
The
demand
smaller forms, and especially

less of skill,
and
rely rather
upon the poetic and imaginative qualities of the com-
The
poser for their effect, than upon learning.
har-
monic rather than the contrapuntal structure is presThe charm of

ent, even in Schubert's symphonies.
even the greatest of his instrumental works is in the
melodies themselves, in their contrasts, and not in
their interweaving.
Something was gained by Schubert's sojourn in

Hungary; the Magyar 'music of ten comes into prominence in his string quartets, his piano works, and his
symphonies.
example,
is
The great Symphony
in
so thoroughly in this vein that
thought by some commentators
to picture
major, for
it
has been
gypsy
life in
Hungary.
The
songs, however (of which Schubert composed
more than
six hundred), are of
infinite
variety;
and
even Beethoven, on his death-bed, recognized the divine

The prolixity which is a defect in the infire in them.
strumental works of Schubert, and the incessant repetitions of
which he seemed never
to weary, are gener-
His earliest vocal works

the songs.
ally absent from
have more than a reasonable length, and a decided
but these flaws
leaning toward sensational effects
are not apparent, even after his sixteenth year, save
;
and even here they are rather the result

of the unfortunate librettos which he was obliged to
in his operas,
159
choose, because of his inability to secure better, than
any blood-and-thunder tendency of the composer.

unable to seek out great dramatists, and could
of
He was
Meyerbeer, purchase the services of a Scribe

Let any one examine the conglomera-
not, like
to assist him.
of daggers, poison, tyrants, and persecuted innocence of the opera Rosamunde, and he will readily
tion
why Schubert's operas have
see
"
axiom,
That which
be sung," has
its
is
Even
failed.
the old
too foolish to be spoken
limits;
may
and these were passed
in
Mademoiselle von Chezy's sentimentalities as gushed

The songs, however, had
forth in her operatic plots.
not these defects;
choose from a
friends, that
less
ability
for
circle
Schubert was able, to
here
of poets,
almost
and Mayrhofer vied in writing verses for

and Vogl, although not able
art-brother
;
verses,
in
the
other
all
personal
would have inspired a composer pf .far

than his own. Von Schober, M tiller,
had the requisite culture

choice of
German
the
best
1
writers.
to originate
guide Schubert
to
of
poems
their prolific
Goethe
and
Before this time, he had en-
deavored to set some of Schiller's poems to music,
undaunted by the length even of the most extended.

We have already alluded to the fact that these were
far better
suited to cantata than to Lied, and Schu-
bert's efforts in this direction
permanent worth.
brought forth
.
little
of
Goethe's innovations in poetic form probably
first
Go
departure from the old strophe
rise to Schubert's
gave
style.
Heine, also, exerted some influence upon our
composer, but his greatest poems were written after

Schubert's brief career had ended, and therefore one
can only surmise what great heights he might have

attained in setting such a powerful cyclus
as
" Poet's
Love
As
(Tragbdie).
it
"
Dichterliebe
of
poems
"
"A
or
Tragedy
was, however, Schubert was the first
(
musician to make thorough use of the cyclus form.
The
cyclus in vocal music
suite, or
may be compared
even the symphony,
In the latter, each
in the
movement
instrumental
complete in
is
to the
'
field.
itself,
yet
forms a part of a larger whole, just as Thorwaldsen's

"Winter,"
bas-relief,
forms only a link
completed subject
set-
which
is
in
itself,
entitled "
The
same manner, the single song of the

be a unit; yet its enhancement by con-
In the
Seasons."
cyclus seems to
trast
in the
and juxtaposition with other songs makes the per-
fection of a
was " The
still
larger form.
Miller's Pretty
Schubert's great cyclus

" *
Die Schone
Daughter
("
Miillerin
"
),
which has
all
the requisites of dramatic
interest.
unity, artistic contrast, and sustained
" Das Wandern "
first
number,
"Wandering "),
In the
we
find
the miller's apprentice tired of his surroundings, and
learning to love a roving
life
From even
the
of the brook.
from the restless rushing

song, the brook forais
first
a fundamental feature of the work, and
heard
in
almost every number

*
its
in the set.
Words by William
Miiller.
undertone
is
In this son;;.
\j

its
voice ( in the accompaniment )
confident, as
is
l6l
bold, impetuous,
and
counselling the young hero to go forth

and give battle to the world. In the next song, we find
if
the youth on his wanderings.
muring brook
Again there
is
a mur-
accompaniment, for he has discovered a half-hidden stream which purls and coaxes
in the
The youth and the gently rippling accomin the distance, but in the
vanish
paniment
succeeding
him
to follow.
song we find that the brook has led him to a secluded

and a beautiful maiden. The murmuring waters
mill
are
his companion, for he confides his love to the
still
brook
and,
when
his happiness
sealed by the sweet
is
confession of returned affection, the lovers

tranquillity
youth
is
on
its
Alas
banks.
brief, for, in
sit in
happy
the happiness of the
a rollicking, swaggering move-
ment, a hunter appears in the
dell,
and
at
once induces
faithless one to transfer her changeable heart.

Jealousy, pride, and despair follow in swift succes-
the
sion
and
finally, in
the
bosom
of the stream, the un-
happy boy seeks eternal repose, while as a finale
to the
loving waters sing his lullaby.

^The brook and the mill-wheel have mingled their
set, the
tones through the
set,
very
much
as a Leitmotif runs through a

is
astonishing to note in
in the
same manner
Wagnerian opera; and
how many
'
it
different emotions
Schubert has pictured the sequestered stream. The

j
voice of the waves seems always to have had a great at- /
traction for him, judging
by the many songs
in
which//
62
it
appears.
tender
poem by Heine has
paniment.
"
singen
seem
alike
to
;
In the " Fishermaiden," for example, the
("To be sung on
dance and glance
and
in
dem Wasser
zu
the Waters''), the waves
in voice
"Die Stadt
plash of the oar of the

of
a light, barcarolle-like accom-
In the song entitled " Auf
"
("
and accompaniment
The
City
")
the steady
boatman and the gray
stillness
the waters at eventide are pictured with graphic
power by a constantly recurring broken chord. One

however, in this connection, may be remarked
fact,
Schubert's water-pictures
may be
bright, as in
"To
be
sung on the Waters," or gloomy, âs in "The City";

"
they may be enticing, as in Wohin," or they may be
"
but they are never temyearningjas in Das Meer,"
had
seen
Schubert
the Danube, and had
ppsfiiniijk f
sailed
on the Austrian and Hungarian lakes
;,
but he
had never seen the ocean, and this fact can be traced
his music.
'
There have been greater works
"
cyclus form than
The
Schumann's works,
for example)
recollect that Schubert's
Miller's Pretty
was the
in
Daughter"
in
the
(in
but we must always

first.
It
may
also be
form (repeating verses) is

in this set, not as
Schubert
employed very freely by
Beethoven had used it in " An die feme Geliebte," with
noticed that
the
strophe
changes of accompaniment at each repetition of the

melody, nor as Franz employed it some years later, with
contrapuntal touches and changes at the last verse, but
in the
simple and crude manner of the eighteenth cen-

tury
*
;
yet the severest criticism would
163
fail to find
mo-
notony in them, so powerful is genius to counteract the

faults even of a weak form.
(This cyclus was composed
in an incredibly short space of time, and was the most
spontaneous of works, even of
Spontaneity
*T\
_songs.
We
this fertile
come nearer
music
to the soul of
than in the songs of any other composer
music
itself
composer.
the chief characteristic of Schubert's
is
in
we seem
and, in studying them,
them
they are
to enter
with the composer into a purer atmosphere.
Von
Schober voiced Schubert's feelings toward art in his

beautiful poem " To Music," and those who will seek
this not widely
known song
will find in Schubert's set-
ting a veritable musical creed and thanksgiving.
words are
The
" Thou
holy Art, how
When
life
and
oft in sad,
all its
gray hours,
cares pressed
down on me,
Hast thou upheld me with thy heavenly powers,
And
world hast
in a better
set
me
free
" Oft has a tone

from thy great harp immortal
Lifted the sorrows from rny aching heart,
Unlocked
I
The use
for
me
of Paradise the portal.
thank thee for
it
now,
holy Art."
that
of Leitmotif
is,
a musical figure in-
by no means
vested with a dramatic significance
originated with Wagner, although he undoubtedly
*"
Wandering,"
" The
Morning Greeting,"
Flowers," "The Wicked Color,"

btrophe form,
etc.,
may be
"The
made
Miller's
cited as examplesôf
iiiyru:;y
164
the grandest use of
oi'
it.
C;KKMAN SONG
In Mozart's
Don
Giovanni,
one may find a thorough employment of Leitmotif; and

some commentators (we think without sufficient evidence) ascribe the origin of such figures to the earliest
Italian operas about
A.D. 1600.
It will
therefore not
surprise us to find such figures in Schubert's works.

In the wonderfully dramatic song entitled " Atlas "
there
is
a figure which typifies
the restless struggle
and straining of the world-bearing g'ant as perfectly as

the loves of Siegmund and Sieglinde are pictured by
Wagner in a few tones. Schubert could scarcely avoid
employing such figures; for without being a great
re-
former, such as Cluck, Beethoven, Haydn, or Wagner,
he perceived, with intuitive taste, that the accompaniment of vocal music needed to become a part of the
picture,
if
true dramatic effect
What Gluck had done
were
to
be attained.
for opera Schubert applied to
song, but with even more than Cluck's taste and with
infinitely
more
variety.
The most unpromising
sub-
accompaniment became transmuted in Schuhands from lead to gold. In the " Hurdy-gurdy
jects for
bert's
Player" (often mistranslated "The Organ-grinder"),

the tones of a cracked and worn-out hurdy-gurdy
become a most
realistic
and poetic accompaniment
a song which almost typifies Schubert's

"
The
own
life.
to
In
Post," the gallop of the horses and the sound of
the post-horn are interwoven in the accompaniment.
In
"The
Tavern," a weary, slow accompaniment
pict-
165
ures the fatigued life-wanderer nearing a graveyard,
which he chooses as his tavern of
Not only
in
rest.
dramatic accompaniments was Schubert
pre-eminent, but he -united the melody more closely to
words than any one had clone before

In the " Stormy Morning," turbulent unison
spirit of the
his
fthe
time.
passages and brusque transitions and skips give, in a
few broad touches, a powerful picture of a winter storm.

Most of the songs last mentioned belong to a cyclus
much more
sorrowful and gloomy than the one already

"
described,
The Winter's Journey."
It is
painful to
think of Schubert, on his almost deserted death-bed,

toiling
We
away
sombre
at the proofs of this
have not space
in a single
set.
chapter to speak of
each of even the most famous of the songs of Schubert.
We
might cite the '-Wanderer's Night Song" as a

"
model of epitomized music, " The Spectre as one of
"
the weirdest compositions ever written,
from
"
Tartarus,"
"An Schwager
"
Harper's Songs
of the
loftier
that
from Wilhelm Meister as examples
Schubert's
every direction
Chronos," and the
Greek and dramatic schools
would be supererogatory.
show
The Group
Sufficient has
influence
of vocal
work
but
it
been said to
was far-reaching in
was really a
that he
to be an actual
pioneer, while not intending or aiming
reformer;
preciated
and that
his songs
to their full
are not even
now
ap-
extent in America, where the
"
musical bonbon, the
Serenade,"
is
too often held to
be the greatest of the songs of this composer.
XX.
ROBERT SCHUMANN.
IN Schumann's
1
I
reached
for
vocal
German
works, the
highest ideal.
its
Lied
There were several causes
Schumann's nature was deeper and more

He had lived a life-
this.
intense than that of Schubert.
drama which demanded expression in tones, and could

it
only in Lieder. Heine appealed more strongly
find
to his imagination
and poetic
poet could, so that for
Schumann.
his
only
In the
Lied achieved
its
full
musical interpretation
fulness.
Schubert, a singer; and
the youngest of five children,

8 ro,
his
life
did
He was
not,
jSchumann's early
the entire bent of his
musical inclination lay toward the piano.
in
union of these two, the German
not point in the direction of vocal music.

like
any other
there was but one
Heine; while, on the other hand,
true poetic outlet,
Heine found
instincts than
Schumann
was born
father being a publisher
Schumann,
at
in
Zwickau
in
easy circum-
stances, founder of a large business house, which existed in
Saxony
until 1840.
His father seems to have
perceived the musical abilities of the boy,

in his eighth year,
who
already,
gave some indications of them.
Im-
167
provisation (on the piano) seems to have been an -easy
matter with him, even in childhood
amused
his elders
by
guess
for he frequently
illustrating, musically, the char-
acters of different people,
whom
and allowing
These
he meant.
said to have been most
his hearers to
early tone pictures are
amusing and
course were of the nature of
lifelike,
but of
a free fantasia, and
everything in Schumann's musical work in early years
seems
have been
to
untrammelled
and
untrained.
Rich thoughts grew up like natural verdure in a tropical garden, but weeds were inextricably mingled with
His
the flowers.
first
teacher, a self-made
named Kuntsch, was not capable
luxuriant nature, far less of reducing
but
little
progress was made.
mann always
first
gratefully
musician,
of understanding the
it
to order,
Nevertheless,
and
Schu-
remembered the teacher who
helped him on the road up Parnassus, and sent

silver laurel wreath on the occasion of his ju-
him a
bilee
celebration long after,
father soon
begun,
made
if
saw
in
1850.
Schumann's
that a higher course of study
must be
the boy were really to attain greatness, and
application to no less a musician than Carl Maria
von Weber
composer.
undertake the training of the embryo

Why this scheme came to naught is a mysto
since it is evident
tery which has not been unravelled,
that Von Weber consented to receive the pupil.
One
made a great impression on Schumann

he went to Carlsbad, to hear Moscheles
incident
at this time
68
play,
and was transported into an ideal fairy-land by
this first
glimpse of really
same
years later, this

to
Schumann one
sonata, op. 121
artistic
pianist
Thirty
of his finest works, the violoncello
and then the
piano music.
and composer dedicated
latter,
greater of the two, confessed that
now become
the
from that concert,
in
had treasured up a program which

Moscheles had touched, as a sacred relic, little dream-
his childhood, he
ing that he would ever be honored by such a dedication
from such a source.
The
father bought a grand piano for the boy (who
seems indeed
family),
and
to
this
have been a favorite with the entire
added
to his zeal in practice, for
instruments were rare enough at this time.
such
Music was
also bought in copious quantity, so that, although un-
regulated and wild,* young
Schumann's genius was
abundantly fed. The accidental discovery of an orchestral score * in his father's bookstore led Schumann,
then eleven years old, to form a small orchestra from
his youthful acquaintances.
This crude organization
consisted of two flutes, one clarinet, and two horns,
while the piano
filled
up the remaining
tinued in existence for a long time.

after its
parts..
It con-
year or two
commencement, Schumann attempted
to write
a work for performance by this band.
The probable cause

there
was
of the lack of thorough musical
Schumann's youth
lay in the fact that
total variance of opinion
between the parents
training during
Righini's overture to Tigranes.
169
The mother
as to the career which he should pursue.
held music to be one of the breadless arts (although a
good ornament
to a finished education),
and thought
that the study of law should be her youngest
aim
son's
while the father, although sometimes feeling that
the son could achieve greatness as a musician, had no
very fixed conviction on the subject, and tacitly coincided in the view that the legal profession was the
more
practicable.
The
father died
in 1826,
youth of sixteen lost thus early the friend
and the
who
could
have understood his subsequent strivings best.

ready, the
sombre side
Al-
Schumann's nature had
of
begun to develop. He was abstracted and taciturn,

and only music could thoroughly arouse him. Two
widely different authors were
sentimental
German
and Shakspere,
in a
now
his delight,
the
philosopher, Jean Paul (Richter),
German
translation.
Jean Paul,
exuberant in fancy, sentimental and extravagant in

style,
was exactly suited
musical vein of
Schumann
to
the
in his
rather ill-balanced
younger days.
In March, 1828, at the age of eighteen,
Schumann
entered the Leipzig University, and began the study
nist, his
Although he had been so enthusiastic a piageneral education had by no means been neg-
lected;
and he passed his examination with
of law.
credit.
short journey to Munich, undertaken shortly after,
led to an acquaintance with Heine, although neither of
the young
men
then foresaw
how
their
names should
IjO
be linked together in the future.
They spent but
few hours together. Returned to Leipzig, the study of

law was begun with an ardor which very soon cooled.
Not only was Schumann by nature unfitted for so proseemed to lead him away
saic a study, but fate itself
from
for in Leipzig he
it;
met an old
friend,
Madame
Cams, whose musical gifts always had fanned his love

for the art, and here, too, he met Frederic Wieck, and
his
young daughter Clara who was
entire future career.

lard, of
tic,
The
Laura and Petrarch,
more
self-sacrificing,
influence his
to
loves of Heloise and Abeoffer nothing
more roman-
than the loves of
Schumann and Clara Wieck
Robert
but as yet the influence
exerted was purely an artistic one, for the latter was a
mere
every one by her

She was not what
child, yet already astonishing
wonderful musical attainments.
"
"a
prodigy
generally termed
is
equipped
artist,
although so young,
she was a well-
about nine years,
and compelled the respectful attention and admiration of all the leading critics.
of
It
may be
briefly stated
Wieck, afterward Madame Schumann, that
Clara
fulfilled the promise of her

She has devoted her riper years to the
task of compelling the world to recognize the merits of
her
life
has abundantly
childhood.
her husband.
She has won renown as
pianist,
com-
poser, and as the devoted wife and helpmate of Schumann. She is probably the greatest female musician
the world has yet possessed, and lives to enjoy, in a

ripe old age, the
171
honors she would so gladly have
shared with her great husband.

Schumann took lessons in piano-playing from Fred-
Wieck, but refused to take the harmonic and contrapuntal studies which that master sensibly combined
eric
with his teaching, as he held such studies to be absolutely unnecessary, believing
a musician had
that, if
them
poetic ideas to express in tone, he would express

correctly
by
This was a fallacious opinion,
instinct.
which Schumann lived to regret

lack of
afterward, through
short time
Wieck was
time,
Schumann
dismiss his pupil.
to
bitterly.
thereafter
obliged
went
to
Heidelberg to continue his legal studies, which were

still tinged with music in a very unlawyer-like fashion.
In Heidelberg, one of the faculty
Thibaut
chiefly
attracted
him
and
this
was because
this professor
was
a refined musical enthusiast.
In 1830, after a pleasant journey to Italy and a return
musical dreamings, the vacillation suddenly

He found that he was making no progress in
ceased.
to
his
law,
and not enough
in music.
"
My
whole
life,"
he
wrote to his mother, "has been but a twenty years'

strife between poetry and prose, music and law
and
;
this
should come to an end now."
It
was a most
pathetic letter, that of July 30, 1830, in which he im-
plored
his
mother
Equally earnest and
mother
to
Frederic
to
make
troubled
the
fateful
was the
Wieck, leaving
(at
decision.
letter of the
Schumann's
172
request) the
verdict to his
The
musical judgment.
mother deeply loved her youngest son but she could

not bring herself to look upon music as a profitable
;
business, nor upon his talents as decided enough to
make a mark
been made
in this field.
After Wieck's decision had
definitely in favor of
mother
music, the
bravely acquiesced, and Schumann returned
to Leipzig
to study piano-playing only.
well-known accident lost to the world a great
and gave to it a great composer. Not that

two
functions are generally incompatible with
the
pianist
each other,
.Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Saint-Saens,
Rubinstein, and others, have united them,
Schumann succeeded
but,
had
as a pianist, he would probably
have held to his obstinate view, that harmony and

counterpoint were useless studies, and his works
would have been
ill-balanced at the best.
the accident which lamed his right hand

as a fortunate one.
Finding much
Therefore,
may be
classed
difficulty in
attain-
ing an equal touch with his right hand, he
hit
upon the
device of fastening his third finger securely, and practising only with the other four fingers.
Paralysis of
the finger ensued, which soon extended to the entire
hand; and his career as a pianist at once hopelessly

ended.
it
This was
was too
late
had he desired
in the
autumn
of 1831.
He
felt that
to return to the study of law,

it.
his arbitrary course,
Therefore, at
last,
even
he turned from
and took up the study of composS-

tion in all its branches.
Henry Dorn was
173
his teacher,
and his progress was amazingly rapid. Nevertheless,

the influence of years of untrammelled practice was
and Schumann often
not entirely to be
cast aside,
lamented
conceptions were chiefly "piano
that
his
is, the piano unconsciously remained

foremost in his mind when composing.
that
thoughts,"
In the
autumn
of 1833, the death of a sister-in-law
evoked a reappearance of the deep melancholy which

had followed his father's death, and which seemed to
pass beyond the limits of mere grief into absolute
hypochondria.
a
This was, however, counteracted by
new duty which arose
cism was bound
Beethoven, Mozart, and

lute
in
Schumann's
career.
in iron fetters in
in
Germany
Weber were made such
Criti-
1833.
abso-
landmarks by the reviewers that they could see

in any of the moderns who deviated from
no merit
their paths;
helps
stilted,
and they became obstacles rather than

path of progress.
Everything was
on the
rigid,
unchangeable.
Fortunately,
at
this
period, Schumann met with Ludwig Schunke, and

the two soon drew around them other young musi-
cians with radical ideas.
and a host
of recognized
Knorr, Wieck, and Banck,
names, gave
in their adhesion,
and on the 3d of April, 1834, the Neue Zeitschrift fiir

Musik was issued, with which paper a new era of
Schumann, the critic, achieved

Schumann, the composer; but we
musical criticism began.

as great reforms as
174
Between the
shall consider these separately later on.
years 1836 and 1840, the master passion of Schumann's

life,
his love
influence on
and struggle for Clara Wieck, exerted its

There were two or three
all his work.
lighter attachments, the result of a very impressible,
romantic temperament, which preceded this love

they were entirely obliterated by the fervor of
but
this
It is unnecessary to dwell at length upon

well-known part of Schumann's life. The two
affection.
this
hearts were responsive to each other from the
first,
although for years the father showed a vehement opposition to the marriage; judicial pressure at last was
brought to bear to aid in forcing consent. It was the
natural, true, and healthy love of two artist natures for
each other:
it
is
able,
much
a pity that so
should have been written about
it.
sentimentality
It is
unquestion-
however, that the sharp alternations of hope and
despair, which took place frequently during the four
years preceding the marriage, seriously affected Schu-
mann's
to
mind, already prone
" Clara loves
me
morbid influences.
as deeply as ever, yet
have forever
resigned her," he despondingly writes to his sister-inlaw, Theresa, in
1836 (November 15); yet the next
year things looked better, and his hopes rose again.
The
father,
however, insisted that the couple were not
in a financial position to
of all
men knew
and Schumann, who

money least, and worked
marry
the value of
only for art and art's sake, was brought face to face
175
with a very prosaic problem, and manfully he set to
work
to solve
it.
In 1838, he went to Vienna, hoping that the larger

city
would yield greater opportunities for his paper.

visit was a failure, and
In this respect, however, his
he soon returned; but the

results, for
during
trip
'was not without solid
he discovered a number of unpub-
it
by Schubert (of whose works he

was an especial admirer), and had them printed at his
own expense. Among the manuscripts was the great
lished manuscripts
major Symphony, which he
who had
once sent to Men-
at
at the
Gewandhaus,
performed
he found upon the grave
of Beethoven was reverently used by him in writing
delssohn,
Dec.
12, 1839.
it
A pen which
the score of his
own
beautiful B-flat
Symphony.
On
he labored unremittingly to achieve the

He sought and attained a degree
object of his life.
of Doctor of Philosophy from the university at Jena,
his
return,
hoping thereby to win the elder Wieck's consent to

It was all in vain; and, as he saw
the marriage.
that he might wait hopelessly for a trace of yielding, the
consent of the courts * was obtained, and the
wedding took place Sept.

at
Schonefeld, near
12, 1840, in
Leipzig.
a village church
period of
tranquil
happiness ensued, and at this time he burst forth in

song.
*A
At one bound, he
legal
attained the highest position
custom in Germany where parents oppose a reasonable
marriage between persons
who
are not minors.
176
German song
in
liebe ("
Dichterliebe ("Poet's
composition.
Love"), picturing his
own
Woman's Love "),
experiences, and Frauen-
picturing those of his bride,
are the two finest cycles of song in existence, a trib-
ute which causes even the offering of sonnets which
Petrarch gave to his Laura to seem slight by comparison.
After his marriage, his

serene.
at this
At a
to
him
in
work was done con amore; yet

time there were moments of abstraction,
and
all
of isolation, which
nature.
became more calm and
His wife was of direct assistance
his labors,
even
life
his
seemed a part
later epoch, these
of
Schumann's very
Not all
grew apace.
the love of his wife and children, not all the triumphs
which attended his career, could retard the steady
approach of the insidious mental disease which finally
At times, he would
caused his premature death.

absolutely silent,
circle;
and
even
many a
in the
sit
midst of a conversational
friendly
visitor
found
himself
obliged to be entirely silent, or to indulge in a monologue,
when
who would
the
left
alone with the eccentric composer,
not unclose his
professors of the
lips.
He became one
of
Leipzig Conservatory in 1843,
but never was successful as a teacher.
Sometimes,
an entire lesson would pass away without Schumann

having uttered a word of praise, blame, or criticism.
Subsequently, when he was appointed director at
Diisseldorf, the
same strange abstraction was apparen*.
177
From musicians who have played under him
at this
epoch, the author has learned something of the strange

ways of the composer at the conductor's desk. Often,
both at concert and rehearsal, he would forget to start
the orchestra at
look to the
tial
When
beat.
all
and the men gradually came
first violinist (the
this
Concertmeister)io\: the
to
ini-
was once given, and the orchesstart, as from a
Schumann would
tra
began to play,
and begin beating the time; but all the quick
movements were taken too slow, for his mind had (in
reverie,
1850) already lost the faculty of thinking quickly.
stood before the orchestra, scarcely looking at
If,
He
with
if
he were whistling to himself.
rehearsals, things
went badly, as under such
pursed up as
his lips
at
it,
circumstances they often would, he would repeat the

work over and over, but without criticism or comment,
and would get angry with the musicians, as
if
they
played badly out of personal spite against him. A
concert tour through
Russia
(in
1844) had been one
succession of triumphs, and in 1853 he again had the
happiness
of
finding
his
works
recognized in the
Netherlands, whither he made a tour with his wife,
whose playing made

understood
This was the
than
last
ney, the disease

*For
his
could
they otherwise
gleam of sunshine
grew upon him
details of his last days,
Composers.
piano compositions better
have been.
for, after
rapidly.*
see Elson's Last
the jour-
Feb.
27,
Hours of Great
178
1854, he attempted suicide; and, although rescued, the

shock caused his nerves to give way entirely. The
remainder of his life was passed in a private asylum.
July 29, 1856, he expired in the arms of his faithful

wife.
mourn
He
left also
his
Schumann's
loss.
three daughters and four sons to
He was
buried at
influence, both as
critic
was great during
his lifetime, but
How
far-reaching this
his
death.
Bonn
much
be considered in the next chapter.
July 31.
and composer,
greater after
influence was will
XXI.
SCHUMANN AS COMPOSER AND
SCHUMANN was
CRITIC.
so many-sided, and worked with so
much success in so many different directions that it is

difficult to sum up his influence on the music of the
present without pursuing
As
ysis.
only,
this
we need
many
different lines of anal-
work deals with German vocal music

not, however,
go very deeply
regarding his piano compositions
yet
it
into details
may be
tersely
upon piano playing and comand

was
position
great
lasting, and that he was the
head and front of the romantic school of instrumenstated that his influence
More than any composer, he wrote himself
talists.
into his piano works,
and many of them are merely
reflections of events in his
own
life.
Thus, the Car-
nival becomes a record of his interest in the young

Clara Wieck and his affection for Ernestine von
Fricken,
who was born
the juggling which the

ters spelling the
name
in the
town of Asch, and
composer did with the lettown* is an ingenious
of this
German nomenclature, As is A-flat, Es is E-flat, and

is B.
Sphinxes," Schumann does most of this spelling work, giving
His genthe name with the letters "A, Es, C, H," then "As, C, H."
ius was able to surmount the obstacles of such work, and redeem it from
*In
In the
the
"
l8o
'
tribute and homage to her, just as the previous theme

and variations on the name " Abegg" show a preceding affection for a young lady, whose name is thinly
disguised under
His
the
title
of
"Countess" d'Abegg,
works are also inextricably interwoven
literary
with his piano compositions.
Schumann, more than any other

the fact that criticism could be
writer, appreciated
made from
different
stand-points, and the same composition would receive

different treatment according to difference in the nat-
ures of the
critics.
He
therefore wrote his reviews
music as coming from different imaginary person" Eusebius "

represented the dreamy, mystical
of
alities.
nature, which
would be moved by the spirit of a work

its grammar, and would seek beauties
rather than by
rather than
defects.
"Florestan," on the contrary,
represented the ardent radical,
who would
seize
upon
defects with an eagle eye, and was impetuous and exthird

character was " Master
acting.
Raro," who
imaginary
these extremes. The

"
and " Florestan " extended
characters of " Eusebius
tried
to reconcile
even into Schumann's music, and their opposing qualiappear in
ties
many
being merely ingenious
Schumann indulged
to
of his piano works.
In order to
The amount of tone picturing which

trifling.
may be judged from the Carnival, where the
"
clumsy steps of the clown (in Pierrot")) the graceful skips of Harlequin,
the daintiness of Columbine, the comicality of Pantaloon, the sweetness
of Clara's character (" Chiarina"), the dreaminess and impetuosity of his
own
are
(" Eusebius
all
" and " Florestan

"), and
pictured in succession.
his fight against the Philistines,

understand Schumann's greatness in the
cism,
sum up
necessary to
it is
field of criti-
the difficulties which
In 1834 there was a battle
he had to contend against.
The newer composers were
of progress going on.
ginning to
l8l
work outside the
limits of the classical
be-
and
sonata form, while the hide-bound critics of the time
would have none of
They looked
it.
of a work, regardless of
grammar
Mdry* has
spoken of
sarcastically
cism, which accepts only what
lows:
"They
What
shape and
poetic contents.
this order of criti-
established, as fol-
is
'O sublime Mozart! What ayfnale!
cry:
a duet in the
Mozart
at the
its
act
first
And what
basses
But these same persons, who have such
'
!
when they hear the name of Mounder other names when Don Giovanni was
colics of admiration
zart, lived
written;
and then they cried: 'O Gluck
Gluck
He would
the Leporello aria!

1
Orpheus!"
different
'O
etc.
names,
That
is
music
majestic Gluck
And
said,
Lulli! godlike
the
That
is
And why
O Armide !
same people, under again
when Orpheus
Lulli!
as in Gluck's Orpheus !
the orchestra.
What
first
touching simplicity!
One hears
not?
the singer, and not
Music must be
Godlike Lulli
umph of Flora ! What an opera that is

above Gluck and his howling Armida !
!
Quoted by Liszt in his

phony."
appeared
not a shrieking and howling,
smelt like an invisible flower.
Divine
never have written such a thing as
"
essay on
Berlioz
felt,
O TriHow far
"
Come,
and the Harold Sym-
182
zephyr, sweetest zephyr, Flora calls thee
ever write a melody
like that
again reach to such a height
Such
taste,
critics
No
?
'
"
Did Gluck
Music
will
never
"
imagine that they are leading public

it, at a re-
while they are in reality only following
spectful distance.
cession of
They bring up
the rear in the pro-
Such were
progress.
the
conservative
who sought to stifle the new

school of romantic composition, who measured everything with the yard-stick of formalism, who caused
reviewers in Leipzig
even Beethoven and Mozart to become obstructions in

the path of musical progress.
mann manfully began a
Against these, Schu-
reaction.
Full of poetry and
enthusiasm, he gathered around him a circle of admiring assistants, not less zealous than himself; and the
Neue
Zeitschrift
fur Musik became the rallying point

Schumann leading the
of the radicals in music, with
van in the onslaught upon the Philistines.*

would have been service enough for
itself
Schumann was
in addition the
selfish of critics.
He was
and
is
star in
rising
first
to
the
discover,
such composers as Gade,
Brahms, Franz, and even Berlioz.
* This war
but
never so happy as when dis-
assist
contributors were called
art,
most generous and un-
covering some new genius, some

musical firmament. He was the
justly appreciate,
This in
young
"
He and
his staff of
fancy-mongers,"
culti-
also represented in his piano music, his own band of

"
title of the
Davids Buudler."
followers being idealized under the
183
vating only the poetical side of music, to the detriment

of the technical; but he gladly
assumed the character
thus thrust upon him, and upheld poetic judgment of
As a
poetic productions.
servatory, his influence
teacher in the Leipzig Con-
was not very
knowledge, and his pupils

In the same
manner and from
He was
great.
much
made but
abstracted to be able to impart
the
too
of his musical
little
progress.
same causes,
his
career as orchestral conductor cannot be called a great

success.
But
it is
as a vocal composer that
attained his perfection.
Schumann
Great as his piano works
powerful as some of his symphonic movements
are,
may be
ranked, they are not so entirely powerful as his songs.
We
have already alluded to the cause which led to the

"
Poet's
production of his two greatest cycles of song,
Love " and " Woman's Love," the winning of the

after an intense struggle. That all
hand of Clara Wieck
Schumann's songs are singable cannot be asserted.

Judged by the vocal teacher's standard, they do not
flow from the larynx as easily as the mellifluous measof
ures of the Italian school

the master-works of the
fault of the vocal
voice
pause
is
in
treatment
but, musically, they
Lied form.
is
that the
not carefully regarded.
mid career
suit the singer:
to think
if
yield.
are
technical
compass
of (he
Schumann could
a note suited or
di:l
not
not
the musical picture was the thought
pre-eminent in his mind, and to this
must needs
The
Therefore,
we
all
other points
find the part of
Mar-
184
guerite in his
Faust continuing
for a long while in
the deep register of a mezzo-soprano, and then leaping
up
to the
passages whose tessitura would try even a
find the voice also

in the
other.
greatest vocal
"A
Sunday on the Rhine" we

used first in one extreme and then
high soprano; and in
Faust may be classed as Schumann's

work
tings of Goethe's
and, of
poem,
this
all
the
many
one best
different set-
reflects the phil-
Yet Man-
osophical, ethical tendencies of the poet.
fred
is
fred'is
more successful work, as a whole for Mana more romantic Faust, and suited Schumann's
a
one blemish
vein of thought perfectly.
Its
troduction of a requiem at
its close,
is
the in-
number which
certainly adds to the musical contrast, but
is
as
much
out of place in the Byronic idea as a set of dancing dervishes would be at a pope's funeral.
Byron's text has
been somewhat mangled also in the attempt to make it

In all of Schumann's
suit the needs of a cantata.
songs, spite of inequality, of unvocal treatment, or of
spasmodic character, the subjective style of the music,

the keenness of perception, and the romantic intellectuality
is
lead one to reiterate Liszt's verdict,
"Schumann
the best music thinker since Beethoven."
In Schu-
mann's songs, we find very little of the definite objectpainting which one encounters in Schubert's vocal
works.
picture of emotion, not of objects, was the
desideratum in his Lieder.

stantly
met with
in the
The
strophe jorm, so con-
songs of Schubert and Franz,

was but
little
used by Schumann.
185
Durchcomponirung^
or the setting of different music to each verse accord-
ing to
its
emotions, was for him the only true method.
In the ballad form, however, where a definite story
is
told, the composer heightened the effect by a certain
amount
of tone painting.
In the "
Two
Grenadiers,"
where Heine has pictured the frenzied

anguish of two old soldiers returning from a Russian
captivity, on learning of the capture of their idolized
for example,
Napoleon, the hobble of the two wounded men, the

"
Marseillaise,"
increasing agitation culminating in the
and the
final reaction
has passed away and
when
the abnormal excitement
heroes
the
find
themselves
merely two helpless old men (pictured by a few gloomy

chords at the end) are realistic touches which heighten
"
the effect of the poem, just as Goethe's " Erl-king was
by Schubert.
Schumann's accompaniments
intensified
the
repay
closest
study; for often some delicate touch
is
which
instant recog-
is full
Maiden
of meaning, yet
may escape
The accompaniment
nition.
"
seems meaningless,
to "
until
the sarcastic tone of the poem.

irony.
Youth he loved
one has understood
It is
bit of
musical
"The Rose, the

jingly accompaniment
Sun, and the Dove," shows how Schumann
The
Lily, the
introduced
to
"
" Woman's
Love
caught the exhilaration of the poet.
is full of these subtle touches of musical
meaning.
When,
for
example, the husband
is
dead, and the
86
widow bewails her unutterable

introducing the theme of the
loss, the
first
composer by
song (picturing the
awakening of love) indicates that she may

solation in the
memory
of
him who
is
find con-
gone,â
point
suggested by the poem, and thoroughly in keeping

with
Most wonderful
it.
songs, was the great
of
all,
in connection with the
versatility displayed.
Every note
gamut of feeling is sounded, and each with a

"
master hand. " Ich grolle nicht
is a picture of triin the
umphant
scorn, such as
single line,
and
The
is
" Perish
Tennyson has massed
in thy self-contempt
in the
"
the most dramatic song of its length in existence.

enchantment of " Aus Alten Mahrchen " is
fairy
as far
removed from
tive.
He
most
this as possible, yet equally effec-
has achieved the simplicity of the folk-song
difficult to
acquire
in
"The Green
Hat," and
" Blondel's
the dignity of the historic ballad in
Song."
wonderful bits of nature are "
Two most
Spring
Night "and "Moonlight," both of which are entirely
records of emotion
subjective in their character,
rather than of scenery.
Among
his
all
earnestness, none
contrasts of light-heartedness and

is
more charming than
on the Rhine."
Schumann
and pictured
often in his
his "
Sunday
dearly loved the Rhine
life,
works, notably in his

"Cologne" Symphony; and in this song he presents
first
it
the pleasant delight of a Rhine voyage, and then,
187
suddenly adopting an earnest tone, he portrays the

greatness of the
in
German
nation,
which
is
represented
impossible to speak of even the foremost
It is
it.
among Schumann's songs
in a
work devoted
to gen-
But the facts may be dwelt upon that

["
Schumann's songs have always something to say, and
eral history.
say
it
well
that his
accompaniments are the most

German Lied; and that in
masterly^ ever given to the
Heine he found
his true
literary prototype.
was the
foe of formality in poetry as
.music.
Heine was
terse,
Heine
Schumann was
in
condensed, and epigrammatic
in words as Schumann was in tones.

Strong contrasts
were the delight of both. Heine delighted in discovering new forms of expression, and enjoyed shocking the
formalists and critics by using them; and Schumann
certainly followed the same course in his fielcLjlt is

therefore not to be wondered at that the combination
of the art of both should have
man
song, the very
acme
produced the ideal Ger-
of the Lied,
and a model
which may serve for coming generations of composers

showing what power may be condensed into this shape
in the hands of masters, and how much may be said
in
even a few bars of music.
XXII.
ROBERT FRANZ.
THE Greek
is
dead,"
ers into,
he
"
saying,
Count no man happy
until
he
may readily be altered in the case of compos" Count no musician

thoroughly famous while
Brahms
is alive."
in the orchestral field
and Rob-
Franz in the domain of German song must wait for

posterity to do full justice to their wonderful genius.
ert
not surprising that so quiet, modest, and retiring

a nature as that of Robert Franz should remain unrecIt is
by those who were thrown in close conand who knew of the earnest study, the
ognized, even
tact with
it,
the lofty ideas which inspired
fidelity to art,
ings.
The
of
life
hand, so
full of
bert, nor,
on the
of
Schumann
attractive
work-
misery and struggle as that of Schuother, so strange
but one will find
sterling heroism,
more
its
Franz has not been, on the one
and romantic as
it
to
be
filled
that
with a
which was not less valuable than the

deeds of the former masters, even
though it be more prosaic.

Robert Franz
for, by a pleasant coincidence, the
great song-writer of the present bears the
of the
first
names
two great song-writers of the past (Schumann
189
was born in Halle, June

and Schubert) as his own
28, 1815, and was the son of a good solid citizen of
that city,
who
believed in music only as an embellish-
good education or as a means of religious

worship, he belonging to that order of pietists who
ment
of a
made Halle a centre such

old Scotch Covenanters.
as Edinburgh -was to the
The young
plenty of music in the family circle

all
of the psalm-singing variety,
the highest order.
it
was almost
and was not always of
Nevertheless,
influence over the
ficial
Franz, then, had
but
exerted a bene-
it
young musician,
for
it
caused
him, even from the beginning, to love the sacred school

of music, the influence of
of his works.
which
is
perceptible in
The young musician seems
to
many
have had
an intense love of music even from the very begin"A

ning, for he himself chronicles the recollection of
Strong Castle
is
our Lord," which he heard given at a
religious celebration,
of age.
when but a
little
His greatest delight, as a
over two years
child,
was
to sit
near his father, as the latter led the family worship in

the evening, and listen to the sacred songs which he
sang and, when one was completed, the young Robert

would generally beg for one or two more, a request
which was generally granted, for the elder Franz loved
;
religious
its
music
heartily,
and was able
to execute
both
vocal and instrumental requirements, although not
a musician, and, as already intimated, not understanding the full scope of music by any means.
Never-
IQO
theless, the
grand old chorales, which must have been
given frequently in such a pious
Protestant
family,
were good food for the young prince of song.

In school, during his early days, his love of music
was shown
in a rather quaint
The
manner.
children
were obliged, as part of their studies, to sing certain

simple melodies, which the plodding schoolmaster di-
The young
rected.
musician, prompted by a love of
harmonic combination, generally improvised an alto

But the teacher had
part to these tunes, and sang it.
no comprehension of the refined musical thought which

this betokened, and finally threatened a severe flogging
unless the pupil would promise immediate reformation,
and stick to the tune

tioned,
in
this
in the future.
It
may be men-
connection, that the harmonic mind
which this incident betokened
is
much
rarer than
the thousands
generally supposed. Among

" I love
music," the great
say,
who
mass merely
is
glibly
enjoy
rhythmic melody, which is a natural taste with all mankind, but a few may be found whose love of music
runs deeper, and means a fondness for combinations,
modulations, and other intricacies, as well as an enjoy-
ment
of tune.
Such a nature was Robert Franz.
When
he reached the age of fourteen, the longing

for a systematic course of musical study became too
strong to be resisted, and he pleaded with his parents
that he might be allowed to study the art.
intense opposition at
first,
There was
for the father held that,
if
191
he knew enough of music to sing and play a chorale,

all
the real purposes of music were accomplished,
the rest,
it
was a breadless
than cherished.
When
art,
and rather
to
at last the parents'
for
be avoided
consent was
was but a compromising, half-hearted one

gained,
and a cheap and rather incompetent teacher was emit
ployed, the father not believing that his son would persist in
delving deeply into the
art.
was impossible, however, to dam up the stream

which was to flow from the musical genius of Franz.
It
Obstacles but
made him more determined, more
quietly
persistent, and he sought the acquaintance of several
of the local musicians, particularly of the organists,
who
often allowed
struments.
him
to practise a little
on their
in-
This fed his love of the sacred forms, and
On Sundays
the chorale became his chief admiration.
he would rush from church to church, hoping to find
some of his organist friends ready for a temporary and
unpaid substitute, and he was often rewarded for his
efforts
by finding a chance
to play a chorale or
two for
congregational singing during service.
Thus passed
the years, uneventfully, yet not unfruit-
the boy had grown to young manhood.

There was nothing to attract the attention of the world
or of the historian. There was no Sturm und Drang,
fully, until
as with
Schumann
as with Schubert.
ing consistently on
no
It
bitter poverty
and
seemed a plodding
its
own slow
path.
life-struggle,
nature, work-
But hidden
HISTORY OF GLRMAN SONG
\(J2
under the placid surface was the tremendous force of
mind thoroughly made up, and the lava stream of burning genius and aspiration, and at last the stream began
to
widen and flow more rapidly.

At twenty years of age, Franz
native Halle
left his
where he became a pupil of Friedrich

Schneider, whose influence upon him was most bene-
for Dessau,
While pursuing
ficial.
a former schoolmate,
his studies in Dessau, he
met
named Reupsch, a famous
im-
proviser on the organ and a great lover of the chorale.

Naturally, this led to a renewed friendship, by
which Franz's already great love of the chorale grew

apace.
Reupsch was a genius, but a very one-sided
His passion was entirely for organ, and all his
one.
wonderful 'improvisations were given
must have been marvellously

self, in later
that he
life
upon
chorale
In the development of these, however, he
themes.
gifted, for
years, told his great pupil,
Franz him-
August Saran,
had never heard anything so wonderful in his

Reupsch used to improvise
as the music which
during the hours
they passed together in
Reupsch's ipfluence
was not altogether bad
Dessau.
for our
young musician, since he, in trying to imitate this

ratic
meteor, attained a
good
mastery of free
er-
coun-
terpoint in improvisation, while his teacher Schneider
brought order into the chaos which might otherwise

have ensued, and Franz thus became an excellent
organist.

But the studies
at
and Franz returned
Dessau
at last
193
came
to
an end,
to a prosaic life in Halle.
Now
ensued six years of patient waiting, of unrecognized
His return took place
heroism.
in 1837;
and for
six
years his art seemed to have been studied in vain, so
any tangible return was concerned. Neither

fame nor money came to the quiet young organist,
whose modest ways seemed quite unsuited to carve
far as
out a career in this working world.

severest
critic,
destroying
many
He was
of his
his own
own composi-
because they did not satisfy him, and keeping

others locked up in his desk, without an idea as to
tions,
their ultimate use.
His friends were
bitterly disap-
pointed that the musical study should have borne so

little fruit.
His relatives longed for him
more remunerative
to his determination to
that
was one of the
mother
lea,d to
to take
career, but all in vain, for
be a musician with a steadiness
finest traits in his character.
intuitively perceived that this trait
success, and through
and apparent
upholder.
failure
up a
he held
all
His
would yet
the six years of doubt
remained his steadfast friend and
Meanwhile, no musical employment came,
and Franz refused any other.

around him a circle of kindred
He
gradually drew
musicians
who
enjoyed the antique school of compositions, and a
little
spirits,
club was formed, which had a decided influence on his

study.
Franz
is
to-day the
greatest musical anti-
quarian (Father Gevaert deserves honorable mention
194
in this field also),
and more than any one
ciates the spirit of the ancient composers,
else,
appre-
a fact which
has led to his giving the world the best revisions of

the old masters in music, and saving to us many of the
best works of Bach in a practical shape. But it was
not Bach and the antique school only which he studied,
the romantic works of Schubert were also his great
delight,
and the combination
these tastes can be
of
readily detected in his vocal compositions, where the
melodic grace of the new school

strict
form of the
engrafted upon the
is
old.
In 1843, the six years of plodding, patient waiting

came to an end; he published a set of twelve songs,
which
at
once aroused the attention of
Never had such an opus
so unheralded, from such an

are
set
Go
unknown
source.
"
Oh, wert thou
in the
In this
"
The
Cauld Blast,"
fetch a Flask of Sparkling Wine," " Sunday," and
the charming "

the
Germany.
contained such glorious numbers as
Lotos Flower,"
"
all
burst forth upon the world,
Neue
Slumber Song."
Zeitschrift fiir Musik,
of the world to the fact that a
the vocal
Schumann
field of
composition.
at once, in
called the attention
new
star
had arisen
in
His enthusiasm was
soon shared by Liszt, Mendelssohn, Gade, and others,

and a fairly remunerative position as director in Halle
His
was the immediate consequence.
though by no means a brilliant one, was
liking, since
it
gave him an opportunity
position,
al-
quite to his
to delve
still

more constantly among the scores
195
of the old masters,
an employment for which, as we shall see later, the

world has cause to be very grateful to him.
A post as organist was soon after added to his em-
ployment as director, and this kept alive the practice of

the old chorale music: therefore, although not famous
even
in his
own
little
city, his lot
would have been a
contented one, had not a growing deafness set in
almost at the very commencement of his labors.

is
said that the primary cause of this
was
It
his being
stunned by the shriek of a locomotive close beside

him, which gave him both a nervous and physical
shock.
The
disease progressed in a peculiar manner,
the higher notes vanishing one by" one, at intervals,
from his perception.
Another whistle of an engine,

hastened matters, and
accidentally heard, materially
caused him
of his
1868 to give up his positions because
in
shattered nerves.
In 1861, the University of
Halle had conferred upon him the

in recognition of a series of
title
of " Doctor,"
musical lectures delivered
His fame was gradually extending;

and when the loss of his income, through his aural and
to the students.
nervous maladies, threatened poverty, there were eminent workers and famous friends ready to drive the
wolf from his door.
tuting concerts
master.
that
all
Fr-anz Liszt led the van in insti-
the world over, to help this suffering
America even responded to the cry for aid

forth and the result of it all was that a
went
196
munificent
sum was
raised, sufficient not only to help
immediate needs, but
to place the great musician in
Like Schumann,
comfort for the rest of his days.
Franz married a musician

lished
the songs of his wife, pub-
some years ago under her maiden name
Maria Hinrichs, are worthy of the attention of
of
all
musicians.
Franz's later days are passed in quiet and tranquillity

in Halle.
He. has never travelled much, and one
search through the entire

find a life as placid
been.
free
lists
and as uneventful as
Nevertheless, as
we have
seen,
from the troubles which seem
of genius;
and
it
has been
in
may
of musical biography to
to
it
this
one has
has not been
make
the glory
some respects a model
of
painstaking, and of
when
form in music
In
these
days,
self-abnegation.
a
set
aside
as
useless
encumbrance
is being rashly
modesty, of quiet
resolution, of
when every amateur
believes that he cannot express
emotion without overthrowing the entire architecture

of music, such a life teaches a double lesson; and
Franz's life and works may stand as a barrier against
"
which the neothe inundation of the " sea of tone
phytes (following the example of

" swim in."
Wagner) propose
to
XXIII.
*
THE SONGS OF ROBERT FRANZ.
OUT
rale,
of the
German
came the German Cho-
folksong,
and from them both Franz drew the
which has made
inspiration
his lieder the best productions of their
school in the present generation.
Often his songs ap-
proach very closely to the simplicity
and naivete of the
music of the people, but there
is
always some touch of coun-
terpoint which makes them rank among
The
in
moments
of the utmost passion or tenderness, have
led his critics to rebuke
ing"
works.
classical
habit of introducing such contrapuntal passages even
and endeavoring
him
for
having "too
to display
it.
were made against Beethoven in his

only today that
we understand
much
learn-
The same charges

time.
life
It is
that the so-called learned
passages in the great Sonatas
were but
the natural
expression of some especial thought which could not be
given in any other form.
The
made
accusation
Franz, that his works smell of the midnight

false as the older
one against Beethoven.
against
oil,
is
as
His songs are
the legitimate outcome of the contrapuntal
mind and
it
would be unjust to demand of such a sedentary nature,
198
the
same
style of expression as that of the
melodious and
erratic Schubert.
His work in the restoration of ancient musical masterpieces alone, should entitle
him
to the lasting gratitude
no
field
of labor which requires
of the world, for there
is
such self-abnegation as this retouching of the works of

others.
The
It is entirely altruistic.
cantatas of
Bach and Handel were
in a skeleton state
in their time
great oratorios and
by those composers
was expected that the
left
it
composer would always be present at the performance of

his work, or at least confer with those who were to produce it, and therefor the score was often left merely a
rough draft of vocal parts with the contrabass or cello
part under them, while a few guiding passages were
"cued
and were
in",
sufficient to recall to the
of the composer-director the

parts.
Add
movement of
to this the fact that
memory
the interior
some of the instruments
used have become obsolete, that the discant-trumpet has
been greatly altered, that the oboes and bassoons were

unnecessarily prominent, and that the king of the wood
wind
the clarinette
not then admitted
why
for
it
ftito
had not been perfected and was

the orchestra, and it will be seen
has been necessary to
performance
paniments
in our time
fit
the ancient masterpieces
by arranging additional accom-
In such accompaniments the modern
to them.
composer must attain thtjuste milieu he must not obscure

the original thought he must sink his own individuality
;
he mnst think with the ancient composer.
Mendelssohn

attempted such work, and
a half-success at
and
it,
failed,
*99
and even Mozart was but
changes being at times, too bold
his
original, beautiful as they were.
modest unassuming musical antiquary,
It
was Franz, the
who with
a rever-
ent yet firm hand, gave the true touches of color to
Handel and Bach, which brought back the real spirit of

He has only added what the
the old tone paintings.
old composers
themselves would have done had they
possessed the resources of the
was but
modern
pecuniary reward
little
was but
acknowledgement on the part of the public

very ideal of Art for Art's sake.
the
gift,
and rebuke the
There
orchestra.
there
it
little
was the
Posterity will recognize
critics
who demanded
that
Franz should do the task by merely adding a few chords

to the ancient polyphony, a proceeding that would have
resulted as badly as an attempt to mix oil with running
water.
But Franz's
are as original
title
to
fame
and often as
or Schubert, and have
is
His lieder
a double one.
beautiful as those of
shown
to the world
Schumann
how
well pas-
sion and romantic feeling can be expressed within the

He has often used the. strophe
limits of strictest form.
form of Schubert, but with a richer and deeper meaning.
He
is
subjective rather than objective in his treatment.
His accompaniments are generally more elaborate than

those 'of Schubert, for he was strong just where the latter
was weak,
in
counterpoint.
form, after repeating the
When
using the strophe
accompaniment
for
two or three
200
he usually adds a
verses,
last, as a climax
little
florid
making a more
counterpoint to the
end.
effective
In the
beautiful
"Slumber Song", "The Thornbush", and "There
Sounds
in
the Air",
touches
these dainty final
may
readily be seen.
Many
of his lieder are formed, as already intimated,
The sequence form
upon very simple_melodies.

simplest in music)
is
frequently
and
effectively
(the
employed
by him. "Meerfahrt" ("On the Sea") is a masterpiece of

One of his songs, and a work of considerable
this form.
length
when one
single
figure,
"Ya du
bist
made up
of a
considers the materials,
elend", ("Yea, thou art wretched")
is
continually rising, step
dose resemblance
to
by
The
and more intense denunciation.
step,
in
more
subject bears a
Schumann's "Ich Grolle
nicht",
Both composers well understood the

increase of dramatic power and vehemence which could
already spoken
of.
be represented by the constant reiteration of a figure on

ascending degrees.
In
"Er
ist
Gekommen" ("He
come") rising sequences are used in a
less tragic
has
manner
here expressing joy and rapture.
Not
many
all
of Franz's songs are in the strophe form
are durckcompontrt
matic style
the music going
without repetitions.
contrapuntal accompaniment
either.
Not
all
on
in dra-
possess
the
"Out of the depths
of Sorrow" may, for example, stand as a beautiful example of
what a simple chord accompaniment should be.

in which Franz has allowed his contrapun-
The songs

tal
genius
full
scope are the most
effective,
2 OT
and
at
once
suggest other instruments than the piano in the accom-
The added
paniment,
parts
by no means take away
from the pathos or beauty of the melodies.
"Mother oh sing me
readers will but examine
"When
If
our
to rest"
song is ringing" they will find the

greatest depth of emotion combined with the most conor
that sweet
trapuntal accompaniment.
as
Franz sounded every note in the scale of human feeling

Schubert and .Schumann had done. It is almost
impossible to describe the versatility which can be found

in his vocal works, yet
least
we
feel
tempted to
classify at
a few of the emotions depicted, each song being
among the
to study
best models of
and
its
class for
young composers
imitate.
"Liebchen
Daintiness
ist
da"
"My
love
here."
is
"Abends" "Gently roves the
Evening Tranquility
Evening breeze."
Ave Maria
Religion
(a tone picture of religious exal-
tation.)
Impatient Joy
Folksongs
not,"
"Er
Gekommen" "He has come."
"My mother loves me
"Rosemary".
War
* '
Go
fetch a flask of sparkling wine."
Exalted Aifection
The Forest
fair
ist
" The
Thornbush",
wood."
"
Dedication," "Marie."
"Willkommen mein Wald," " Welcome
202
Deep Melancholy
"In Autumn," "The Rider
in the
Valley."
Calm Sea
"Meerfahrt,"
"On the
Sea."
" Mit Schwarzen

Segeln," "With black-
Angry Sea
ened sails."
" Ya du
Denunciation
bist elend,"
"Yes thou
art
wretched".
Dreamy Tenderness "The Lotus

Drowsiness "Slumber song."
Pathos
"Mother oh sing me
Spring
"Mai
But the
mind
Lied",
"May
to rest."
song."
would be endless.
list
that the above are
flower."
It
by no means
must be borne
all
the songs
in
upon
these subjects, nor are the emotions cited the only ones
in the songs
Schiffs
the
named.
wand" or "Es
In such songs as
most intense longing
derness.
"An
die Bretterne
traiimte mir voneiner weiten Haide,"

is
combined with
ineffable ten-
Contrasts are frequent and always artistically
"
made, as at the end of In Rhein, im heiligen Strome."
with
case
the
Schumann, many of Franz's most
As was
beautiful songs
It is
were inspired by the poetry of Heine.
pleasant to
-German song
remember
that the great triumvirate of
owe something of their power

German lyrical poet. The poet has passed
writers, all
to the greatest
away, the wonderful composers save their
last, physically
and the German song has

entered upon an epoch of deterioration and decay, during
which we. can only hope for a renaissance when a new'
feeble, brother,
have followed
German poet shall arise,

German composers.
203
to lead again, a
new
race of
In the Scotch songs which Franz attempted, he scarcely

succeeded better than Schumann, but he did not always
attempt a
so
literal
far, is less
reproduction of the Scotch style, and, in
His
disappointing.
"Go
fetch a flask of
sparkling wine," makes no attempt at local Gaelic color,
but
is
a grand picture of love and war.
Franz's latest songs have a sombre

plainly of life's autumn
tint,
but even these
master of form, the poetic composer.
telling too
still
In
fact, in
ing of the songs of Franz, the historian cannot

injustice to
some, by mentioning any
show the
speak-
fail
to
do
for it is not as
with Schubert's or Schumann's works, where one can

boldly affirm certain songs to be powerful, and others
comparatively weak;
Franz's lamp has shone with a
steady light, and from opus

of the master
it is
difficult to
to the
most recent songs
find a passage, far less a
composition, which one would wish omitted from the

list.
It is
indeed a pity that so skilled and poetic a com-
poser, should not have undertaken the larger form of
musical work.
He
present, could have

Dratorios
ing, all
Df
his
only, of all the composers of the
added another
knowledge,
combined
to
taste,
make him
to the short list of
and deep
religious feel-
the upholder of a school
composition which seems to have passed away with

4
:he polyphonic epoch, never to
come back
again.
Art and nature united in Robert Franz in a wonderful
204
manner.
tide of
He
will
long stand as a sea wall against the
young composers who believe
passion which
all
that the bursts of
concede to be necessary to great music,
cannot be given without violating form.

Not yet can full justice be done to the work and influence
of this quiet and resolute genius, for
it
seems to be a fun-
damental law of Musical history that no great worker in

this art shall be fully comprehended until his epitaph is
written.
Nevertheless, as
some of his
services have been
so palpable, and as his musical knowledge has come to
be so well conceded,
tion
may be
let
us hope that an earlier recogni-
given to Robert Franz.
XXIV.
MENDELSSOHN AND OTHER SONG COMPOSERS.
AFTER
the
three great composers
whose
lives
and
works we have just examined, there comes a large list of

names of composers' who have varied the character of the
German
Lied, and have largely increased the repertoire/
yet without exerting so vast an influence
we need examine very minutely

delssohn's greatest claims
from his
fully
lieder.
upon songs, that
Men-
into their works.
upon our admiration
lie
apart
Most cultured of men and most
care-
educated of musicians, his
life
was too smooth and
tranquil, his character too elegant, to
admit him to the
His greatest
ranks of the great reformers in music.

vocal works are his oratorios, and these
may be
said to
be the only ones of modern times which
may be
classed
as at
all
approaching the power of the masterpieces of
Handel, Bach, of Haydn. More dramatic perhaps, than

such works should legitimately be, they will yet continue as active influences in the sacred school because
of their melodious beauty, their excellent counterpoint,
and
their evident sincerity.
Judged by the
strict
standard
206
of the oratorio school, " St. Paul"
"
is
a greater work than
Elijah," yet the latter, glowing with emotion
of strong contrast and startling
full
remarkably
effect,
and
color,
and above
all
remain the more
tuneful, will probably ever
popular work of the two.
made but one complete
In opera Mendelssohn
is
that a complete failure
done in
is
essay,
"
" Camacho's
Wedding
not a sure indication of what Mendelssohn might have
and
this field, for
it is
yet
work of a mere youth, and
the
weighed down by the most stupid of librettos. The

"
Loreley" shows vastly more virility and
unfinished
But in the compositions which
eTect.
in
the line of this
showed himself to be an
lar
musican.
the
history
lie
lieder
most
directlj
Mendelssohn
elegant, symmetrical arid popu-
He had by no means the depth of Schumann,
the poetry of Schubert, or the subtlety of Franz, but in a

certain
way he prepared
these three.
Symmetry
the public taste to appreciate
there
is
in his songs, as in those
of Franz, but with Mendelssohn this becomes an end,

rather than a means.
He
seems to have avoided the
poems of Heine, as too vehement for his gentle muse, or

possibly because he did not wish to be too closely com-
pared with the giants
them
who had
set them,
and were setting
His song subjects seem to have been

chosen in. such a manner that the music should generally
to music.
be more important than the words.
Song, what
delicate,
Thomas Moore
is
He
in poetry
is
in the
German
always graceful,
even delightful, but never grand or soulstirring.

Yet we
207
who look
cannot agree with the ultra-moderns
down upon Mendelssohn's lieder with a pitying sufferance. In these days when it has come to be the fashion to
discard form, to develop the accompaniment until the voice
becomes merely a
ful
slight adjunct to the song,
it is
health-
as well as pleasant to turn to Mendelssohn's suave
His lieder only become disappointing when

works spoken of
measures.
brought in direct contrast with the great
in the preceding chapters, but there is in
of equal excellence, and
them a degree
of refinement that ought not to
be obliterated by the greater works. It would be a harsh

critic who would deny Moore's right to fame simply because Milton or Shakespeare had existed, and the great-
" Ich Grolle

ness of Schumann's two " Grenadiers," and
" Aufenthalt" and

Nicht," or of Schubert's
derer" should not
Mendelssohn's "
make us
Der Wan-
turn from the daintiness of
hear a wee bird calling." the plain-
melancholy of
"By
Celia's
Arbor" or the sweet
melodic languor of
"On
song's
bright pinions."
tive
The
most marked influence of Mendelssohn's songs was

exerted in England, and it would be folly to assert that
this influence
for a time,
latter
was not a good one,
since, although they
kept out the works of Schumann,
compositions did
riper to receive
come
in,
when
the British taste
the
was
them.
Of the numerous modern German composers of eminent rank
it
will
since their fame
be unnecessary to speak at great length,

is
not fully established in song-compo-
208
and
sition,
at least their lieder are not

sufficiently im-
portant to create
Brahms
an epoch, or to make musical history.

shown that he possesses that
in his songs has
of melody which the
gift
and
his
of his symphonies are

His " Deutsches Requiem "
critics
often disposed to deny him.
" Schicksal's Lied" are

among the grandest
modern additions
to the large vocal forms with chorus.
and always display origThey vary from simplicity, as in his "Cradle
His songs are often beautiful,

nality.
Song," to highly developed musical thoughts as in "Wie

du meine KOnigin," yet they attract rather by the
bist
evident mastery of
sesses, than
harmony which the composer pos-
by great emotional power.
to predict that they will not
of
German
to
judge of
the
songs.
It
It
may be
safe
rank with the very greatest
would however be a great
injustice
Brahms by his songs alone. The moment

orchestra comes upon the scene, whether with chorus
or alone, the thoughts of the master have freer scope, and
he remains the only great standard bearer of the form
which Beethoven so grandly established

Rubinstein, although not a
that
is
more
the
symphony.
German has added much
worthy to the repertoire of German song.
He
has
than almost any other living composer, the gift of
originality in melody,
and has given a quaint
flavor to
many of his vocal works by choosing the poems

German orientalist Bodenstedt ("Mirza-S chaffy,
of the
11
for
musical illustration, and giving them the true Eastern style,
an
effect at
which even Beethoven and Mozart labored
in
2o()
March" and Mozart's
"Turkish
Beethoven's
vain.
"Alia Turca" are not really Oriental, while Rubinstein's

"
" Gold rolls here beneath me" have the real
Asra," and
Eastern wailing, and coloratur.
credited with giving entirely
Therefore he
new touches
to
may be
German
song, although these effects can by no means be called
Teutonic.
Jensen deserves honorable mention in the
man song
much
list
of Ger-
Spite of the fact that he wrote
composers.
for the piano, his talent lay entirely in the direction
of song, for even his instrumental works have a singable
He was an enthusiastic admirer of

melody attached.
\
and
his
Schumann,
songs bear traces that his admiration
His accomtook the form of unconscious imitation.
paniments are open to the charge of being too difficult,
satirists have accused them of being
piano
and some
' '
The sarcasm
solos with vocal accompaniment."

for the lyrical
Examine
for
element
is
example the tenderly melodious
muring breeze whose perfumed breath

phrase,
Bach's
by an odd coincidence,
' '
My
is
unjust,
ever pre-dominant in them.
is
heart ever faithful ")
"Mur-
"
the
(whose opening
same as that of
and one
will
readily
see that the work, spite of a difficult accompaniment,
The
the ideal of lyric melody.

to
* ;
By
the Manzanares
"
to a truly Spanish song.
am Thore "
melody
is
is
far too
rollicking
is
but a
intricate
fitting guitar
The piano
is
accompaniment
background
"
part of
Margreth
developed for the subject, yet the
and lighthearted
just as such a
song
210
Jensen's songs are even beyond those of
should be.
Mendelssohn
a
style, is
in beauty of tune, while this very developed
failing
makes the work

the amateur.
which leans to
virtue's
since
side,
it
interesting to the musician as well as to
Occasionally however, the fault of cloying
sweetness, of excess of tenderness can be found.
In such
-*
"Oh
songs as
let
me
hold thee, golden moment," or
"Press now thy cheek, against mine own" this defect is

Yet we believe that Jensen's songs will
self-evident.
take higher rank than has hitherto been accorded
possibly a position
those. of
We
Schumann.
between Mendelssohn's
them
lieder
an^
Jensen died in 1879.
have already spoken of the power and excellence
It remains yet to speak of

of the true German Ballade.
one composer who more than any other, brought this
form into Teutonic music; a composer whose works
have been
nations,
far too little
and whose
known among English-speaking
style is
spoken of in Groves' "Dic-
"
tionary of music and musicians" as
gone by forever."
Carl
Loewe or (Johann Carl
name
pleasant
travel,
Gottfried
runs) was born near Halle

life
chiefly as professor
and famous enough
Loewe
in 1796,
in
as his
and
Stettin.
to gratify his taste
full
lived a
Fond
of
he visited
most European countries, and was well received in all.

His personal career was uneventful save for the long
trances which attacked
finally
ended
his request,
his
by
life
him
in his later years
in 1869.
his beloved
and which
His heart was buried at
organ in the church of St.

Jacobus
Loewe was one of
in Stettin.
of composers, and boldly attempted

creation, but
it
was only
211
the most prolific
all fields
of musical
domain of song that he

leave an impression on his
in the
achieved success enough to

time and our own.
Melody and poetic thought were possessed by Loewe

and he had the true dramatic instinct in
in a high degree,
all
of his songs.
This led him to give to the story
in
song (or ballade} a meaning and graphically which it

lacked under all other composers save Schumann, and occasionally Schubert.
Naturally his songs are generally
durckcomponirt, for his first object
was
to
make
the music
fittingly portray the ever changing sense of the words.
In ecstatic beauty of expression his works are at times,
"Die Abgeschiedenen" may be named as

an example of blissful melody of which any composer
would be proud. His setting of Byron's "Hebrew Melo-
unrivalled.
dies
"
is
beautiful
the only really worthy musical treatment these
poems have ever
matic picture was
to
be
received.
But when a dra-
portrayed,
when
poet,
and
musician were to give a thrilling narrative together, then
Loewe became,
the really
accompaniment became
full
of subtle touches.
great
master.
Then
the
of meaning and the melody

His "Erlking" overshadowed
full
by the great work of Schubert, is yet worthy to take a

His
place beside the more celebrated composition.
"Archibald Douglass "is a wonderfully attractive tale
His "Sir Oluf" is a whole fairy-
from Scotch History.
212
In order that our readers
story told in tones.
derstand what a true ballad should be,
may unwe may briefly
analyze the effects of this song.

"
Sir
He
Oluf through the night doth ride

goes to meet a lovely bride."
Here the accompaniment pictures the gallop of the
steed.
" The elves were

dancing upon the strand
The elfking's daughter gives him her hand.
Now welcome Sir Oluf come dance thou with me
Two golden
Elfin
light
spurs
I will
give to thee."
dance accompanies
dance around him.
He
as the
this,
fears to accept, since
fairies
whoever
dances with the elves, dies of exhaustion.

"
dare not dance nor dance
Tomorrow
may
my wedding day."
A strange mixture of pleading and anxiety is here in
A silken mantle is vainly
voice and accompaniment.
offered as bribe,
is
and
finally a pile
of gold.
The knight
becomes desperate.
"
Thy pile
of gold would please me well

I neither may nor shall."
But dance
The
last is given with a defiant change of the harmonies which before were entreating. Then comes a
threat and its fulfillment, marked in the music by a
dance to a minor key, then a

series of diminished seventh arpeggios in sudden strug-
sudden change of the
gle
elf
and agony, picturing the following

"And
since thou Sir Oluf wilt not dance with
Shall plague and sorrow follow thee.

She struck his breast in anger sore,
Such pain he ne'er had borne before,

And then she placed him on his steed.
"
go and meet your bride with speed."
" Now
me
213
Here the accompaniment again gives the gallop of the

and fainter until it is lost in the dis-
horse, but fainter
Now
tance.
follows a mournful
and portentous move-
embodiment of apprehenand
a
set
of plain minor chords
and
sion
foreboding,
ment
in chromatics, a perfect
accompanies the following conversation:

" And as he came
to his castle gate
He saw his mother his coming wait.

Oh speak my son why such affright
'
And why
art thou so strange
and white?'
'And should I not seem strange and white?

The elfdance I have seen this night!'
"
Say on
my
What can
'
Tell her
son so loved and
I tell
I
ride in the
To try my horse and
Now
there
ment the
woods dark bounds
try
my
hounds.'"
suddenly bursts forth in the accompani-
blare of trumpet phrases,
approaching bridal party.

occur
tried,
unto your bride?'
and the bustle of
the
In the description these lines
"
'
They drank of Mead, they drank of wine.

Where is Sir Oluf the bridegroom mine?' "
This in the brightest and gayest of tones.
The gloom
returns, all the blacker by contrast.

" Sir Oluf rides in the wood's dark bounds
To
And
try his horse
" The bride

There lay
The
and try his hounds."
then with an impressive recitative the ballade ends.
close is
by Schubert
raised
much
like the
wonderful end of the Erlking
"In seinen Armen das Kind war todt,"

no trace of plagiarism
yet there
is
then
serve to
may
up the tartan red,

and was dead."
Sir Oluf
in the work.
show our readers what there
is
This
in the
214
school of composition which has been referred to as
"gone by
forever."
is
song
the duty then of
It is
great singers to bring
more generally
it
some of our
back, for assuredly
no form
of
interesting than the true ballad
(not in the misapplied English sense however) and no
composer has worked in

Loewe.
Of the songs
bert
and others
it
more worthily than Carl
of such composers as Abt, Kucken,

is
it
Gum-
unnecessary to speak in a work on
German song, for they are not characteristic enough to

become national property, but an allusion to the work of
the first two in the domain of Maennerchore is proper.
The male chorus has always been an
musical relaxation.
It
especially
German
has entered into the warp and
woof of Teutonic existence.
It
seldom aims at ambitious
work but presents the geniality and social aspects of our

art, and is an important Jfactor in preserving German
vocal music among the masses. Abt especially has done
much good work
in this direction,
and while
his songs
generally only represent the confectionery of music, his
male choruses have been singable and pleasing enough
to
many societies who desired the

enjoyment of music without much of the labor entailed by
become a pabulum
more
intricate works.
for
XXV.
WAGNER AND THE GERMAN OPERA.
WE cannot better conclude a
history of
German
vocal
music than by giving a sketch of the life and the theories

of the man who came like a thunderstorm to clear the
atmosphere of the impurities and vapors which had been
engendered in
grace at
it
by a school which elevated mere melodic
The
the expense of poetry.
true
union of
word and tone began with the ancient Greeks, and

as the early
just
founders of opera
(Count Vernio, Peri,

Caccini, and Monteverde,) found their justification in
the works of Sophocles and Euripides, and as Gluck
built
upon the same time-honored foundation, so Wagner
also endeavored to elaborate the old Athenian idea into
a great
even
The
modern culmination, and
far
beyond
criticism that
the
Wagner has degraded
inferior position in a field
in the opera
in this he succeeded
splendors of the ancient theatre.
where
it
the voice to an
should be ruler
i.
e.
cannot, from the German standpoint, be
regarded as altogether a just one
he has but followed
out the path opened by the great lied-composers,
who
2i6
have made the accompaniment an integral part of the

musical picture, or the theories of Gluck who held that
much
could be portrayed by the orchestra which
much
farther in this direction however, than
predecessors cannot be denied, and
whether
all
his
(in the substitution of
in
spite
was
it
any of
his
may be doubted
bold reforms will be accepted by the

In some portions of his works,
musicians of the future.
tive, for
it
That he has gone
impossible for the voice to represent.
the Melos or modulating recita-
melody, for example) he has succeeded rather

of,
than because
his
of,
theories.
Yet
his
extreme vie ws have been well in place in a reformer, for

such a radical must always demand somewhat more than he
expects to have conceded, and
stuff of
Wagner was
of the stern
which true reformers are made.
Wagner's youth
was of the most trying description and much of the
asperity of his character
cause.
tilence,
fever,
may have proceeded from
this
Born in the year 1813, in the midst of war and peshe never knew his father,
which,
after the battle
the inhabitants
who died of the epidemic
of Leipzig, raged
of that unhappy
city.
soon sent a stepfather who took
in
among
Fortunately fate
him
the kindliest
and provided well for the large family of which

William Richard Wagner was the ninth child. The boy
exhibited no very wonderful talents in childhood like
interest,
Schumann, Brahms, and Beethoven, his genius ripened

He was not even comparable to these in having
slowly.
had a musical childhood, and
his stepfather died without
217
having any inkling of the genius of the boy of
whom
he
had become so fond.

Yet he was not
Walter Scott
like Sir
accounted a
dullard during these early years, but only a moderately

gifted, fairly intelligent child
passion,
Po etry became
his earlies c
and the bombastic verses and dramas of
his
remind one forcibly of the similar works

of the young De Quincy, for in his first tragedy he made
such an indiscriminate slaughter of his characters (killjuvenile muse,
ing forty of them before the last act) that he was obliged
to
conclude his sanguinary tragedy with their ghosts.
Even
this ludicrous effect
may
serve to
show
that vast-
ness which was a characteristic of the composer from
Wagner had almost no
the very beginning.

instruction, yet
drew
his inspiration
source in the world.
musical
from the very best
has been said that Beethoven
It
had but a single pupil

Ferdinand Ries
yet history
must modify this statement sufficiently to add, that he
had a second and
shape of a young
far greater pupil after his death, in the
man who
studied his every score with
such avidity that, at eighteen not a musician in
many knew
the works of
the master
This furore was awakened in the young

teen years of age,
when he
ven's symphonies given

Leipzig.
Ger-
Wagner
at six
heard some of Beetho-
by the Gewandhaus orchestra
at
This was the spark that ignited the musical
fervor that slumbered
youth.
first
all
so thoroughly.
all
unsuspected in the soul of the
Furious self-instruction was followed by a very
2l8
short course of study with Gottlieb Muller, whose con-
servatism exasperated the ambitious student, and led to
a speedy end to the lessons.

in the few compositions
It is
noticeable that even
which mark
this epoch,
Wagner
declined to busy himself with the short forms
(lieder,
which marked the early career of other

but
composers,
sprang at once to the larger shapes of
rondos,
etc.,)
music.
At
last
came
real instruction,
who was keen enough

was a genius, who would not bow
of a teacher
through the
efforts
to see that this lad
to ordinary rules or
was Theodore Weinlig, cantor and director

of the Thomas-Schule in Leipzig, a post of great intrin-
methods
this
importance, and dignified by the fact of
sic
once been held by John Sebastian Bach.

severely curbing
its
having
Without too
the radical tendencies of
musician, he enforced
the young
some study of Mozart's works as
the best possible antidote for the tempestuous boldness
of his compositions.
Even
this salutary course of study
was but a very short one, and
at nineteen
we
find the
almost self-taught composer launched upon a career of
which at
An
at
Vienna
first
fifteen
he had given no indications whatever.

have a symphony brought out
ineffectual attempt to
finally resulted in Leipzig
having the honor of
introducing the composer to the world,
and
it
may
be said of Wagner that he is the only composer who

made his debut with a symphony at such an early age.
The work was performed

January 10, 1833.
at the
Gewandhaus
in Leipzig,
Spite of the fact that the work,
now
MISTORV OF GERMAN SONG

again being performed
in
to
it is
many
just criticisms,
many
significant that at that time
even, the best reviewers found in
of
spirit,
to a
man
and of
originality,
219
concerts, has given rise
it
much
of boldness,
and universally ascribed
it
of orchestral experience, rather than to a boy
emerged from the student's chamber.

achieved no lasting fame for the composer, can
scarcely
That
easily
it
be
imagined, for in Germany a series of constant successes
seems necessary
win acknowledgement
to
sufficient to
constitute anything but an ephemeral musical reputation.
At
the age of twenty then,
poser,
upon
subsisting
we
the
find this
symphonic com-
scantiest
of
salaries,
as
chorus master of a provincial opera company at Wiirz-
His musical career had not been
burg, in Bavaria.
all
brilliant
at
from a pecuniary point of view, and the
family viewed the outcome of his efforts with most doubtful
minds.*
Nevertheless at this time he had already
turned his attention to operatic composition, and was
"Die Feen " (" The Fairies ")

composing his first opera
a work which was never published, the manuscript of
which was afterwards given
Fragments of a
ding" seem
to
still
earlier
to
the
King of Bavaria.
opera entitled
" The
have been composed before Wagner came
to Wiirzburg (in 1833) but the
work was never completed:
The subsequent wanderings from Wiirzburg

burg,
to Leipzig,
*Remarks
of
Wed-
and
members
finally to
to
Magde-
Riga, only show the
of the family to the grandmother of the writer
[in 1834] entirely confirm this statement.
220
young musician trying to obtain a foothold somewhere,

and endeavoring at the same time to keep the wolf from
the door,
field.
and
to produce
The hearing
of
some great work
some of the
in the operatic
larger Italian operas,
such as Bellini's "Normar," and Auber's "Masaniello"

led
Wagner
to throw aside
"The
Fairies" (without even
a single performance) and work in a new direction.
summer's rest at Teplitz was the occasion of his begining the composition of
"Das
Liebesverbot," the libretto
him from Shakespeare's "Measure

He had always admired Shakespeare,
of which was taken by

for
Measure."
and
this
admiration, together with the influence which
the Italian school of composition temporarily exerted
upon him, led him to labor with much energy at the

work. It was produced but a single time, at Magdeburg
(1836) and then also consigned to oblivion. At Riga he
received what appeared to' be a fairly lucrative appoint-
ment as music
director,
and journeyed thither with the
young Minna Planer whom he had just married. This

marriage, we may here state, was not a happy one, and
The
was also
childless.
arbitrary
and ambitious husband an unswerving devotion,
beautiful actress brought to her
but she could not understand the greatness of his purposes nor the eccentric workings
of
his
character.
Through no fault of her own the outcome of all her

sacrifices and suffering finally resulted in a separation,
years afterward, and she died, in 1866, alone.
In Riga,
Wagner began
a work on a
much
larger scale
221
than any he had yet attempted.

Again an English
author inspired the libretto, and Bulwer's " Rienzi" was
begun
in the
autumn of
that foreshadowed the
and power
to be an
1838, with a breadth
pomp
at least
which was
element in the later works of the composer.
It
was not
however constructed upon the art principles which guided

the later works from the composer's pen, but followed in
the footsteps of
Auber and
Bellini
that
it
was greater
than the works of these composers was not due to any
marked departure from their school, but to the fact that

Wagner was a much loftier musician than either of them.
" Rienzi " which induced
It was
to leave
Wagner
for before the opera
that
Riga,
was half completed, he determined
such a work demanded the paraphernalia of the
best equipped operatic stage of the world for
its
proper
Such a stage was only to be found at the

Grand Opera in Paris, and thither Wagner at once went,
accompanied by his pretty wife, a huge Newfoundland
presentation.
dog, and the score of the
first
two acts of
his opera.
voyage, during which shipwreck was imminent,

led to the first inception of an opera upon the subject of
terrible
"The
Flying Dutchman," and
the
acquaintance
of
Meyerbeer, formed en route, led to the hope that

"Rienzi" would readily be accepted at the French
.
How bitterly these hopes were blasted is

known, and the subsequent hatred of the French,
and the virulence toward Meyerbeer, which distinguished
Metropolis.
well
Wagners
literary
works, was undoubtedly due to the
222
The
succeeding disappointment.
terrible
trials
which
Wagner underwent in Paris were sufficient to enrage a

less susceptible nature, yet one cannot but blame the
-esentment which led this
implacable
contemptuous personalities upon

at
least
attempted (even
him, to extend
and
if
man
to
the composer
luke-warmly)
that hatred afterward
shower
who had
to befriend
to his entire race,
to triumphantly sneer at a fallen, though chivalric
nation,
as he afterwards did at the French after their
disastrous war with
Germany, in such a senseless and

vehement lampoon as " The Capitulation/
1
Wagner's
first
work.
At
first
of Paris were composed
experiences
and most
distasteful hack-
his hopes were placed
upon the Grand
alternately of semi-starvation
Opera, and the Conservatoire,
but rapidly
descending
was soon perforce, dancing attendance at

the smallest Boulevard music houses and theatres, seekthe scale, he
ing even an engagement
yield to
as
chorus-singer, and being
Yet Wagner was not a man to

adverse circumstances however hopeless they
unable to obtain
might appear.
the newspapers,
soon a series
it.
He
sought work at the publishing houses,
the musical journals, everywhere, and
of arrangements
of operas and popular
melodies, even for cornet at times, short songs of not

too difficult a character
(yet
some of them of remarka-
and piquant feuilletons on musical subjects,

enabled him at least to keep his head above water. - The
was
sale of his libretto to " The
Dutchman"
ble beauty)
Flying
(it
223
almost fraudulently wrested from him by a Parisian manager) added a few francs to his slender purse, and in a
house in the suburb of Meudon, the young wife
little
practiced the most rigid
meet.
But
all
economy
to
make both ends
thoughts of a successful Parisian career
had been hammered out of the struggling genius.

turned his thoughts again towards his Fatherland.
He
He
had now not only " Rienzi" to offer to German managers,

but a romantic opera, " The Flying Dutchman," which,
French rights in the
spite of the sale of the
had
libretto
he
home
in
hastily but adequately sketched out, at his
Meudon, hoping now to carry his wares to a more sucIt was the darkest period of his career
cessful market.
;
confident in his
lofty flight
forced
own
genius he had worked on in his
the cold refusals of operatic managers, the
composition
of
numerous
"potboilers,"
the
ascendancy of Meyerbeer and Auber, and the difficulty

of combating their power, none of these things seemed
to daunt him.
ner, the
In
in this part of his career
fact,
man, stands out
any other portion of

was to come.
struggle
it.
Wag-
in a better light than at almost
And
the reward of the manly
The sun
of prosperity was even
then piercing the adverse clouds that for three years had
hung over him.
XXVI.
RICHARD WAGNER'S REFORMS.
THE
of "Rienzi" for
tide turned with the acceptance
performance at the grand opera house at Dresden.

did not overpower the struggling young musician,
own
he -heard that his
fatherland was
opportunity he had so long sought.
him the
to give
Even
It
when
in poverty
and privation he had always had confidence in his own

genius, and felt that it must sometime be recognized,
when
news came of the beginning of his

he quite philosophically packed up his few
therefore the
real career,
belongings, shook the dust of Paris from his

started for
Dresden.
French nation
the
weak
He
feet,
and
however, never forgave the
their neglect of his works,
and years
after,
"The Capitulation," -a venpeople whom war and affliction
effusion called
omous
satire
had so
terribly
on the
humbled, proved that personally Wagner

was a man of the most ungenerous nature. " Rienzi
won an immediate and overwhelming success, and al11
most
in a night,
Wagner was transformed from an
known, halfstarving musician, into
leader
un-
among

operatic composers
this, too,
225
before he had originated a
single theory or brought forth any of those iconoclastic
ideas which were
enough
to follow
the
to revolutionize
The management of
the Dresden
" Rienzi" with
"The Flying Dutchman,

not reconcile
but strange to say, the public could
made a
work however,
1 '
itself
between the two works and the
to the great difference

latter
operatic school.
Theatre were glad
half-success
The beauty of the
merely.
attracted Spohr, at that time
one of the
leading musical directors of Europe, and led to an ac-
quaintance between the two composers.
"The
out
Flying Dutchman"
Spohr brought
at Cassel, a year later.
All these things led to Wagner's receiving the post of
Hof-Kapellmeister, (Court Music-director) in Dresden,
and thus we
him
find
at
thirty,
already a recognized
leader in composition, holding a high position

free
from pecuniary
and
quite
care.
For seven years Wagner held
this
honorable post, and
during this time he abundantly proved his ability as an

orchestral conductor,
works
especially, in a
he understood the
giving
spirit
many
of
of that master.
ever, his strong individuality
led to
readings
Beethovens
manner that proved how thoroughly

permeated
adverse criticisms.
Naturally howhis
work, and
His labors in the
field
of operatic composition were by no means suspended
October iQth, 1845 "Tannhaiiser" was
first
given at
Dresden, and strange to say, did not make a success.
To
us,
who are quite accustomed to
the
Wagnerian school
226
in its more advanced phases, it seems odd that the world

should have turned from " Tannhaiiser" as being odd, as
havinga different vein from that to which public and critics

had become accustomed.
You are a genius' said the
" but
priina donna to Wagner,
you compose in altogether
too strange a manner."
Spite of the fact that Wagner
1
'
partially discarded
" Tannhaiiser"
in later years,
we
are
disposed to class this opera as the very beginning of the
new
it had, to be sure, no great use of the leit"

no series of formulated theories as
no
melos,"
motif,
later
works
had, but it evinced dissatisfaction
Wagner's
school
with the old methods,

ventional school,
it
it
was a departure from the con-
was the
first
step
upon a new road, a
path which gradually led up to the Tril ogy and to
' '
Par-
During the later part of* Wagner's Dresden

career " Lohengrin" was composed, and sketches for
"Die Meistersinger" begun. It was characteristic of
sifal."
Wagner
that he
was never content with
his
own
achieve-
ments but continually set up for himself a higher ideal.

Fortunately he was of the stuff of which true reformers
Combative by nature, able with the
are made.
essayist's
pen, a master of polemics, he was fully able to defend himself
from the attacks which soon poured in from
for Tannhaiiser, spite of
mance, held
its
its
unsuccessful
place in the repertoire,
all sides,
first
and
its
perfor-
every
performance was the signal for a host of animadversions.

The ill reception of "Tannhaiiser,, in the city, caused
Wagner
to
become
dissatisfied with his position in Dres-
2~/
den, but there was at the time no other opening possible
He felt that " Lohengrin" went beyond "Tann-
for him.
haiiser" in
its
boldness, and doubted
its
The
reception.
management evidently shared his doubts since only a few

fragments from the opera were performed in Dresden in
It
1848.
was about
Wagner had
this time also that
the
work
inception of the scheme to write a great operatic
which should be of an essentially national character.

When Wagner began at a subject n6 one could ever pre-
where
dict
his
resulted in
development of
it
would end.
studies of the minne-singer
ample, his
" Tannhaiiser
"
For ex-
epoch,
which
led to a yet greater work
the resultant era of the master-singers
upon
his studies into
which brought
had
a
forth
greater fruit
Lohengrin," subsequently
"
Parsifal," and
(rather than an aftermath) in the loftier
"
German hero,
of
as a
his
the ancient legends of the
Holy
Grail,
**
choosing
and
Siegfried"
his musical labors in
typical
worthily setting the subject,
eventually led to the vastest musical
contemplated by man, the

prologue, which form the
work ever written or
set of three operas
and a great
trilogy which stands as
Wag-
ner's representative worlft
Such a inagnum opus did*not unfold

once
when
ancient
to his
mind
all at
he began reading the Nibelungen-lied, the
German
classic, with
a view to using some part
he certainly had no thought of the dimensions his

work would assume, but when the idea was once seized
of
it,
upon, a grander idea than ever entered the mind of any
228
composer, he clung to
had found his life-work.
true grandeur of
with the ardor of a
it
man who
we can
In this episode
see the
Wagner^s character, as in others
have been forced to see
its
we
There could be
littleness.
but small hope of recognition for so great and radical a
work, pecuniary benefit as a result was entirely out of the

question, he could scarcely hope even to live to finish the
task,
and
if
he did, where was the management, where
the theatre that
creator;
"if
lived gloriously,
None
would undertake its performance?
of these considerations for a
moment
to see its
live
if I die, I
beautiful," he wrote
shall
disturbed this great
completion
have died
when
to a friend
shall
have
for
the
something
tremendous
It was owing
most fortunate conjunction of circumstances that
character of the task burst upon his mind.

to the
the first-named eventuality was reached
courses
fought for this
seemed adverse
battling
the stars in their
Sissera;
events that
at the time turned out in their conse-
qences to be the greatest aids to the scheme,
min-
gling in the super-heated politics of that time, (1848) an

ill-advised speech
to
it
and an
affiliation
Wagner's falling
was only with difficulty
artd
through the assistance of
his true-hearted friend Liszt that
across the frontier, and

at Paris,
with revolutionists led
under the bSn of the government and
an
exile,
but
we soon
he was able to escape
find the
composer again
now no longer helpless or unknown.
France once more declined to appreciate or assist the

thoroughly
Teutonic
composer,
and
in
Switzerland,
229
during his long banishment, the great life-work began to

take shape.
He saw
that
of
first
to a world that
his reforms
all,
was wedded
to
an
effete
must be explained
school of operatic
composition, and he began writing pamphlets in which

the
est
meaning
of his efforts
manner.
Like
all
influence of the Jews
in
then were but
little
read.
Liszt aided
him
he brought out
virulent attack
' '
known,
at
new
upon the
subjects,
which
once became widely
Germany with unremitting

"
Lohengrin in Weimar, and when
in
the critics poured forth censure, scorn and

the
most earn-
music made such a sensation
on more legitimate
until
zeal
set forth in the
and a
to success in agitation,
that his pamphlets
was
great reformers he found his road
weak wit upon
school,* he also took up the pen and defended
Yet the performance was

it with intelligence and vigor.
a success and he was able to write to Wagner " Thus far
have we brought the cause
we may advance
later
it still
now give to us a new work that
further
"
;
and when a few years
he visited Wagner and heard portions of this new

he said of it: " It towers above our whole
art
work,
epoch as Mont Blanc towers above
its
surrounding moun-
tains."
During
this
long period of exile
Wagner became
ac-
quainted with the philosophical works of Schopenhauer,
and these exerted a strong and
lasting influence
upon
his
*"
Lohengrin has been performed; violin strings have risen in price,"
wrote one of these jesting reviewers.
230
views of music.
seems strange, however, that the
It
philosopher did not fully appreciate the labors of his
The composition
ardent disciple.
Ring of the Nibelungs

time from 1849
"
"The
of the Trilogy
occupied, intermittently, the
1874,. but of course there were other
events connected with the period of exile which could be
chronicled were
we
writing a detailed
life
of Wagner, a
task too large for a general history such as this; atrip
London, and some concerts
there, for example, proved

composer that England cared nothing for his advanced theories, and was by no means ready to take
to
to the
Mendelssohn down from
his pedestal.
More important, however, was

the
monotony of
his labors in
least that his theories
vaster
in
the event which broke
1857, when, desiring at
should have a hearing before the
work could be completed, he composed an opera
which
all
his views
were carried out
in a less
extended
and grandiose shape, an opera which made no extreme

demands upon orchestra, scenery, or numbers of participants, the
first
opera by which he was willing that his
peculiar views should be judged

It is
" Tristan and Isolde."
not our purpose to give in detail the events which
attended the gradual acceptance of the later works of
Wagner, nor can we give all the views regarding music

in general and his own music in particular which he gave
thousand pages of printed matter and which
have only recently been collated in their entirety but a
in a few
condensation of some of his leading theories
may
not be

amiss.
relationship
stones.
231
Historical accuracy, dramatic unity, and a proper
of poetry and music were the foundation

held that music was to be the hand-
Wagner
maid of poetry, that in their wedding Poetry was the man,

Music the woman, that the former was to take precedence.
He
was not the inventor of the leit-motif any more than

Beethoven was the inventor of the Sonata or Symphony,
but he used
it
with a
new
The
significance.
leit-motif,
or guiding motive, may be characterized as a musical

figure
having a certain dramatic significance,
figures
i.
e.,
With Wagner
nected with some person or event.
conthese
become the most condensed musical thought',
representing sometimes in a few notes a characteristic

idea.
We can
cite for
example the stern power of the
name-motive or warning-motive
in
knight forbids Elsa ever to ask his
Nie
soll'st
Lohengrin where that
name
du mich be
fra
gen,
which reappears in the orchestra whenever the latter, led

on by a fatal curiosity and the artful devices of Ortrud,
transgresses the
Such an employment of
command.
ures has given a
new kind of
which now demands
to
intellectuality to
fig-
music,
be studied in a different way, for
example, from the complexities of the contrapuntal school^

he
of Bach.
Form, Wagner very largely abolished
;
held that emotion was in
its
essence the
enemy
of pre-
232
and
scribed form,
theme
the chief
that the
grand
with
aria,
Continuity was a sine qua non with Wagner
opera with
etc., etc.,
to enter
its
return to
art.
the Italian
divisibility into arias, cavatinas, cabalettas,
with neat
and
its
theme was not true
after the central
to
little
pauses to permit the applause
make encores
was not
feasible,
for
him
the opera was to be in every sense a complete whole, and
have no interruptions.
to
Naturally tonality also became
a vague matter with this composer, and the set relationship of keys
was done away with,
perfect freedom of
modulation was to be allowed.
The
probably the most radical step of
all.
substitution of a
melodic recitative, the " Melos" for rhythmic tunes was
Tune
the foundation of music, and however

structure
may become,
to
is
it
is after
artificial
all
the super-
be doubted
whether
rhythmic melody can ever be banished from music.

These are but a few of the reforms which the great com-
He was
poser gave to modern opera.
to live to see his views accepted
fortunate enough
by the leading musicians
of the world, to achieve a triumph beyond that
any other composer during
In May, 1864, King Louis

throne, and
won by
life.
II
of Bavaria ascended the
Wagner was at once
lifted
above
all his
cares
who was his
and
trials
his
cherished schemes promoted, fortune smiled upon
him
in
him
to win the heart and eventually the
the solicitude of this monarch,
by
most sincere admirer.
many ways, but
His
in
political disabilities
none more than
removed,
in allowing
hand of Cosima,
233
woman who knew the nobler
the daughter of Liszt, a
side
and who became during his later years his

helpmate and friend. It was under happy condi-
of his nature,
truest
The Mastermost genial opera

was
completed. Spite of the
singers of Nuremburg'
" The Masand of
loftiness of the
tions then that his
'*.
"Parsifal,"
Trilogy
"
tersingers
work.
It
remain Wagners most enjoyable

does not take us into the realm of gods and
will ever
human
goddesses but tells us a story of human passion in a
manner.
It
charms by
its
unforced manner,
its
autobio-
" David
graphical confidences (like those of Dickens in
Copperfield ")
and by
its
grand
style of
humor, almost
like the scathing satirical vein of Aristophanes.
In 1876 came at last the fruition of Wagner's labor

the great trilogy
manner
was performed
in a theatre built in Bayreuth especially for
and even
after this great
in the worthiest possible

it,
triumph the composer at the age
of 65 was able to add yet another work of amazing
power
"Parsifal"
to
the
long
list
of his labors.
Scarcely had the echoes of the success of this subsided,

and the composer gone to Venice for well-earned repose,
when with great suddenness the long life came to its termination.
The details of Wagner's death on February
3th, 1883, need not be retold ;* it was well that the im1
)atient
and vehement nature had not
to suffer long
he light went out

*
it
had not
lost
any of
its lustre
and
When
vasting illness nor see a decline of his powers.

;
See" Last Hours of Great Composers," by Louis C. Elson.
Wag-
234
'
ner was
all
still
Whethei
the foremost of living composers.
of Wagner's theories will stand the test of time can-
not be foretold, but
we may regard him
most
at least as a
salutary thunder storm which cleared the musical atmo-
sphere and placed
German
purer surrounding.
Even those who
vocal art in a clearer and

disclaim sympathy
with his views have been forced to pay him the homage
Verdi no longer dares
of imitation.
libretti
and commit
because of the power
ear but attempts

tives
of
' '
been influenced
in
o use nonsensical
all
Gounod no
longer
to catch the public
rhythm
typical melodies
Almost
vainly.
Wagner
12-8
airs in
writes pretty
kinds of historical anachronisms,
all
"
and dramatic mo-
of the larger vocal forms have
some degree by the great
With such a man, and with such an

appropriately conclude our history.
Its
been to show that while the reverence
Symphonic and Sonata work
is
iconoclast.
influence,
we may
endeavor has
for
Germany
not misplaced,
it is
in
unjust
not to acknowledge her deeds in vocal music as well.
Not as thoroughly singable

position, the
shown us
German
as the Italian school of
vocal
com-
works have none the
less
the noblest expressions of musical thoughts,
and have proved that our Art attains its highest power
when word and tone unite to elevate the human soul and
to unlock for
it
the gates of a paradise to which no other
art possesses the key.
[THE END.]
LAST HOURS
OF-
GREAT COMPOSERS
-BY-
I,OUIS C.
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Qi AFTER.
I.
II.
III.
IV.
Last Hours of Bach, Handel and Mozart

The Death-bed of Beethoven
....
The Last Works and Illness of Schubert

The Insanity of Robert Schumann
.
V. Frederic Chopin
VI. The Death of Mendelssohn
VII.
The Poverty
of various Composers
IX.
Wagner
in
248
253
257
262
and
its
Fatal Results
VIII. Richard
239
244
267
Venice
271
The Last Performance of Wagner's Sym-
phony
X. The Death of Wagner
277
282
Last Hours of Great Composers.

CHAPTER
ONE f)f
I.
the weakest points in musical biographies
the fact that so
little
detail is
decease of the various great
opened the door
to a great
is
given concerning the
masters
many
and
has
this
slanders, intimating
composer shortened his days by a

A few brief facts concerning
career of dissipation.
or that
that this
the last hours of
only be
some of the great masters may not

but
of interest,
left
impressions
in the
will
counteract
many
false
minds of many musical readers,
caused by lack of detail in the biographies aforesaid.

Bach's later years were troubled by an ailment which
he had brought upon himself by too diligent study, by

constant writing of music, and, most of
ing (in
came
copperplate) some of
Two
blind.
his
unsuccessful
all,
by engrav-
own works.
He
be-
operations upon his
eyes gave a severe shock to his general health, which

He felt that his
up to that time had been hearty.
death was
his
"
Wenn
28,
approaching; yet, true to
he
art,
dictated
to
his
the religion of
son-in-law the
wir in hochsten Nothen sein."
1750,
his
career
terminated with
chorale,
Finally, July
an attack
of
LAST HOURS OF GREAT COMPOSERS
240
He was
apoplexy.
His had been
sixty-five years old.
an entirely domestic
had twenty children.
life
(apart from his music) and he
The
city of Leipzig
a fine funeral, and then forgot
all
gave to him
about the family.
His widow was dependent on charity
at her decease
in 1760.
career was in
Handel's
some
He was
with that of Bach.
contrast
in
respects
never married, and never
any inclination toward the joys of domestic life.

irascible in the highest degree.
He became
felt
He was
and devout
religious
also
yet was never
in his later years;

'
wholly weaned
from his
became blind
in
chief fault,
his
later
years
gluttony.
He
and the three
operations which were attempted, undoubtedly had an
he continued
influence in hastening his end, although
the organ in public even after his total blind-
to play
His death occurred
ness.
in
London, April
14,
1759
(although one authority has given the date as April 13)
and was met with calm and Christian

attending
physician
aware of
his
says
that
meet
nearly
his
all
on Good Friday, and rise

This wish was very
Lord on Easter day.
The
fulfilled.
were in almost
must
His
perfectly
approaching dissolution, and expressed
the wish that he might die

to
fortitude.
Handel was
be sought
last
twenty years of
respects exemplary, and
all
for in his
his
life
his failings
younger days.
Haydn's career presents chiefly but a single fault,

servility
and even
this
was largely due
to the
humble
241
positions which musicians were obliged to occupy in

his day.
He,
Bach and PJandel, attained
like
old age, expiring
May
to
a ripe
31, iSc-oât the age of seventy-
seven, his death being largely* due to the infirmities of

age.
The
incidents attending his decease prove
thoroughly his art
Seasons
was interwoven with
said to have killed him
is
from
recovered
We
shall
said to
owe
their deaths to
Among
called
his
Dcr
fatigue.
find
later
very latest
that
he never
is,
that
other composers are
some*bf their masterpieces.
works was a vocal
quartet
Greis, picturing an old man's weakness
The words
how
The
life.
composing that great
the strain of
work.
his
of the opening bars,
and
wedded
to
music graphically suited to the limping gait and weak

accents of age, seemed so applicable to his
that he
own
case
wrote them as a conclusion to his last un-
finished work, a string quartet,
upon a card which he gave

who came to inquire about
(translated) was as follows
and had them printed

numerous friends
to the
his
health.
The
card
242
Haydn's
appearance in public was at a great
last
performance of his Creation at the University, March

He was then so weak that he had to be
27, 1808.
carried thither in a chair.
"Let
said that at the words,
It is
there be light; and there was light,
1'
the clouds
which had obscured the sun through the day rolled

away, and bright rays darted into the hall. This, with
moved Haydn
the majesty of the performance,
so that
he excitedly rose and, pointing upwards, exclaimed,

" It came from above !" His
agitation grew so intense
that
was thought best
it
of the performance.
and raised
At
remove him before the end
to
the door of the hall, he turned
his hands, as if to
bestow a
last blessing
upon the orchestra and musical public whom he was to

leave forever.
Almost his last musical act during the
illness
and
which followed was
to
national
to
be carried to the piano,
play over three times, with great feeling, the
hymn which he
himself had composed,
" Gott
erhalte unser Kaiser."
Mozart's last hours afford more of pathos than those

In the
of any other composer.

at a ripe
die
tioned, but passed
did not die
first
place, he did not
old age, as the composers above-men-
full
away
at
thirty-five.
Secondly, he
of honors, but in poverty, with which
had been a struggle. It is scarcely natsame placid resignation or the high religious feeling with which Handel
his
whole
ural,
life
then, to expect to find the
and Haydn approached
their
end
in the closing hours
He
of Mozart's existence.
left
unprovided
243
thought of his poor family
and of the sadness that he should
for,
he thought, before he had shown the full power

musical spirit within him.
Mozart's whole
die, as
of the
had been embittered by the narrow prejudices

of musicians le$s learned and able than himself, who
career
had formed many
cabals
incomprehensible
illness,
him.
against
stricken
wonder, then, that,
It
is
suddenly down
small
by an
he should have become
infat-
uated with the idea that some one had poisoned him.
The
the
physician himself did not thoroughly understand
complaint, and hastened the composer's end by
mistaken remedies, such as cold water bandages, for

Severe commentators
example.
zart's
have said that MoThis we
death was due to his drinking habits.
can dismiss as a decidedly mistaken conclusion.
The
number and magnitude of Mozart's works show

and the
plainly that he did not neglect his labors
great
faculty which he had of imbibing
punch
shared with him by
is
many
long draughts of
a true child of the
wild city of Vienna, without sharing any odium.

fact
is,
suffered
many
to certain
anxieties
carried
which made his system prone

His constant labor and feverish
diseases,
attacks.
combined
him
The
Mozart was delicate in childhood, and
that
to
easily accounted for
do the
to
the
grave
:
it
rest.
The
disease which
was one which could be
was malignant typhus
fever.
244
CHAPTER
II.
PASSING from the sad end of Mozart, we come to the

death of the world's greatest composer,
Few have
appreciated
how much
Beethoven.
of true religion lay in
Because he was
the brusque nature of this genius.
very reticent in speaking of religious topics and because he was
known
many have jumped
to
the conclusion that he had no
Never was a hasty
whatever.
convictions
religious
be republican in his aspirations,
to
conclusion more erroneous.
he had no formal creed
It
is
true,
however, that
and the only side of this part

nature which he showed to the world was a
of his
broad humanitarianism.
"Ode
Schiller's
choosing
greatest and last
This
showed
to Joy"
This ode
symphony.
itself
in
his
as the finale of his

is
one of the
noblest voicings of a lofty humanitarianism.
Yet
it
must be confessed that Beethoven was not very fond

of the Bible, and very rarely quoted it, save the single
" Love one another."
the best
Perhaps
passage,
proof
that Beethoven at least thought reverently

ious topics
is
upon
relig-
found in the following sentences which
he copied out himself and had constantly hanging in

his
room
"I am that which

" I am all that
is,
mortal
man
"
is
He
things
owe
hath
is."
that was,
lifted
my
and that
alone by himself, and to

their being."
shall be.
No
veil."
Him
alone do
all

This may be
245
accepted as the chief part of Bee-
thoven's theology.
death
Beethoven's
pected
as that
not cut
down
was not so
of Mozart
sad
in the midst of his labors
promise had borne
or
The
full fruition.
so unex-
He was
or Schubert.
and before
his
pathetic part of
his existence lay, not in his decease, but rather in the
deafness which had clouded
all
physician
of him
illness thus writes
The
his later years.
who attended Beethoven during
his
last
Beethoven said that he had always enjoyed, from

youth up, a robust state .of health, which never
his
seemed
He was
to vary.
accustomed to any amount
of work, and excess in this direction never hurt him.
Even
his
work during the night hours did not
late
iron
constitution.
He
three or four in the morning,
always finding
five
generally composed
and then took some
affect
until
sleep,
hours amply sufficient; and imme-
diately after breakfast he
went
to
work again, and con-
tinued until two in the afternoon.
His deafness began

and a
in his thirtieth year with a hemorrhoidal trouble
humming
in the
ear.
Soon
after
this,
dyspeptic
Beethoven always detested medicine

and doctors, and tried to bring back his appetite by
trouble began.
great
walks.
indulgence in alcoholic stimulants and in long

It
is
astonishing to note
how
careless
Bee-
thoven was in every detail of hygiene. He seemed to

do all that he could to break down his constitution.
246
In addition to the night hours, the stimulants, and the

fatiguing walks mentioned above, he would sit
heated and worn, in the open

to
any
air, utterly
down,
oblivious as
of the weather, and would compose (or
state
take notes of musical thoughts) for hours together.
After one of these imprudent sojourns in the country,
feeling himself
growing weaker, he suddenly
solved to go to Vienna.
went
in a
As
to hasten his end,
if
damp season and made
re-
he
the journey in a
milk wagon I
Stopping on the road, he was taken
with fever, slept in a cold room, drank numerous
glasses of ice-water,
and then -went on
must be borne
cart.
It
also,
before
this,
in
mind
in
his
open
that Beethoven had
been troubled most severely with

and
dropsy, that he had submitted to surgical operations,

that this disease
was interwoven with
which now beset him.

Dr.
all
the ailments
Spite of the foolhardy journey,
Wawruch soon had the great composer on the

when an unfortunate relapse
road to health again,
by a violent fit of anger ocWe need

hope of recovery fled.
trouble the reader with no more pathological details.
provoked,
curred,
The
it
and
is
said,
all
severest symptons of dropsy told plainly the nat-
Beethoven knew that
ure of the illness.
his
approaching, and would not take any medicine.

sistant doctor,
in at
this
end was
An
as-
an old friend of Beethoven's, was called
time, and unfortunately ordered
doses of iced punch
a remedy
him
large
which Beethoven took
247
only too gladly, but which was very pernicious in
its
final effects.
Four months he lay
ening state.
During this time, he saw Hummel, young

and many other musicians who con-
in a gradual weak-
Hiller, Schubert,
came
stantly
to
He
sicial giant.
pay their respects to the dying mualso studied the scores of Handel, and
was greatly impressed by them.

Among his latest
words was a quotation from the Messiah, in response
to a
hope expressed by his physician that the approach"

ing spring would benefit his health. He replied
My
*
his
journey is ended, The physician who can aid me
:
name
shall
spired
by a deep sense of
be called
Wonderful,
supreme moment came.
"
a sentence in-
his situation.
The doctor
the words which banished hope.
of paper that death was near,
and
At
last,
the
could not speak
He
wrote on a
that, if there
slip
were
any duties as a citizen or as a Christian which Beethoven had left undone, they must be performed at
Beethoven read the
" Call in a
once.
calmness.
he
slip
with the most absolute
minister," said he.
lost consciousness.
The
Soon
after,
following day, he died.
more impressive death-scene cannot be imagined.

It
was a day of tempest. A heavy snow-storm was raging,
accompanied
thunder.
to
It
by vivid lightning and heavy peals of

was as if all the elements had come
memorize the dreadful moment.
ber
lay
heavily.
the
composer,
At
six
o'clock
Within the cham-
unconscious,
in the
and
breathing
afternoon, a
vivid
248
flash
lit
up.
hand
Beethoven
aloft as
to
if
loftiest
opened
answer the
Thus passed away the

of the
by a deafening
the room, followed
of thunder.
natures
crash,
eyes, raised his
his
call,
and was dead.
greatest tone-master and one
of
the
world.
If
he
was
erring, impetuous, and wayward, he was also suffering and sympathetic; and during; his lifetime none
could understand what beauty lay beneath that rugged
and uncouth
exterior.
It is
a mistake to suppose that
Beethoven died unhonored or poor.
The names of
the visitors during his last illness disprove the former,
and the
value
fact
that several
latter supposition.
ing his illness that
from
bank shares of considerable
were hidden in his room does away with the
this
Yet he himself said frequently durhe had no resources whatever, and
many have argued
that
Beethoven was a
more probable that, being a man of

very disorderly habits, he had placed these shares in
different hiding places for safe keeping, and then formiser.
It is far
gotten their existence.
CHAPTER
SCHUBERT was
III.
present at the funeral of
Beethoven
and, on returning from the obsequies, he, in company

with Lachner and Randhartinger, entered an inn, and
in
German custom drank a
departed composer.
the composer
who
toast to the
memory of
the
second glass was emptied to
should next follow him to the grave.
The
249
present.
composer was then

Franz Schubert was the next of the famous
composers
whom Death
friends little thought that this
claimed as his own.
That Schubert had led an
irregular
be denied, yet the fair-minded

the
prove that
of
can scarcely
biographer
and exaggerated.
compositions proves beyond
can easily
excesses have been
accounts of his
greatly magnified
life
His enormous
dispute
list
that his
could not have been a very dissipated one, and
life
it
is
more probable that the ardor of composition shortened

his days than that his bohemian habits should have
undermined
He was
his constitution.
two years old when he died;

nearly five hundred
songs
many must have been

operatic
works,
authorities
differ),
part-songs,
string
or
more, for
some eighteen or twenty

symphonies
quartets,
pianoforte
No
here
(for
works, besides
eight large sacred
could have
library of original
composed
(possibly even
ten
other works innumerable.

ular habits
yet he had
lost),
nine
not quite thirty-
sonatas,
and
person of entirely irregforth such
brought
an
entire
Let the reader imag-
compositions.
an early age, and judge

what the world would have known of him! A single
ine Beethoven dying at such
symphony
(largely in the
nal piano sonatas
Haydn
vein)
would have been
all,
and a few
origi-
and these would
soon have been forgotten.
Of
Schubert's religion,
was more reserved on
it
is
difficult to
this point
speak
for
he
even than Beethoven.
250
He was
of a most affectionate nature, ever ready to
when he had any means,
oblige a friend, or,
kindness.
His love
for his father
and
to
do a
for his brothers
was strongly marked.
At
the very close of his short
life,
he became aware
that he was deficient in contrapuntal studies,
and made
take a course of lessons of Sechter,
arrangements
to
who was then
the leading authority in Vienna in this
field.
These lessons were never taken.
premonitions of illness had set in.
Already the
Giddiness and rushes
On the evening
he
sat
in
the
tavern where he generally
of Oct. 31, 1828,
of blood to the head were very frequent.
took his meals,
when suddenly an intense loathing for

From that time until his death,
food came upon him.
he could scarcely be brought to touch any solid nourishOn the nth of November, we find him writing
ment.
a pathetic note to
his friend, the poet Schober, graphi-
cally describing his
weak
some books
to
state,
and begging the loan of
read in his lonely and invalid state.
Schober did not immediately respond; but it must be

urged in extenuation that none of Schubert's friends felt
any anxiety about him, as the illness was not believed to
be a severe one. Some of Schubert's friends only heard
of his death after the funeral.
Schubert's very last musi-
cal works were the songs contained in the
Die Winterreise
("The Winter Journey")
striking coincidence that these songs
ness and hopelessness of his
own
last part of
;
and
it
is
embody the sadOne of them
career.
251
Schubert spent almost every
reads like a premonition.
afternoon, from five to seven o'clock, in Bogner's coffee-
house and tavern, smoking his pipe, sipping
and
coffee,
meeting his friends who gathered there. In Das Wirthshaus (" The Tavern") of this set of songs, he pictures
the weary wanderer seeking repose in the churchyard as
a tavern of
rest.
very soon became his peaceful
It
abode.
One cannot imagine a more

Schubert, in his last days,
desolate
sitting
up
picture than
in bed, correcting
the proofs of these hopeless, despairing strains, which
culminate in the
"
the callousness of a
Hurdy-Gurdy Player,"
life
in
which
all
of patient endurance seems conthe tones of the
centrated, while the
accompaniment
cracked instrument
rings out with a terribly pathetic
contrast to the condition of the singer.

trast existed
The same
con-
between the grace of Schubert's music and
the rigor of his
life.
He
himself complained that the
songs which he had written in circumstances of deepest

distress seeme to please the public most.
" The
anguish of the singer
Made
the beauty of the strain."
Schubert suffered no pain.
His condition was one
extreme weakness and great depression.
wonder
at this,
when one imagines
of
One cannot
the composer entirely
intent on these gloomy songs, deserted by
all his
friends
(an honorable exception must be made of Randhartinhad an inger), who either dreaded lest the composer
252
made
factious disease or else
whole matter
light of the
without any pecuniary resources, and utterly unfit by
The
nature to cope with the practical world.
doctors
was typhus (which had

carried off Mozart at an early age, in somewhat similar
circumstances) which eventually set in, and delirium
feared a nervous fever
but
clouded the last days.
it
In his ravings, he frequently
spoke of Beethoven, and showed
how deeply
his
music
had impressed his mind. Almost the very last music

which he heard in life was Beethoven's C-sharp minor
and
quartet,
this
made a very deep impression upon him.
Once, in a lucid moment, Schubert turned to the doctor
and said
in a solemn,
earnest tone, " Here, here
end," and then turned his face to the wall.

o'clock,
on the afternoon of Wednesday, Nov.
Schubert's troubles found an end.
The
At
is
my
three
19, 1828,
stern moralist
can forgive him much, because he suffered much.
Of all
the numerous cases of genius struggling against poverty,
none in musical history was so marked, so intense, as

Besides him, even Mozart
that of Franz Schubert.
seems
rich.
Selling great Lieder, which
rank as the
masterpieces of the world in their school, for twenty
was a depth which no other composer has

had to sound. Yet Schubert's life had its gleams of sunshine, and through all his trials his beloved art was a
cents apiece
consolation to him.
Indeed, one can imagine his whole
soul entering into the noble harmonies of his song "
Music
:"
To

" Thou
holy Art, in
many
253
sad, gray hours,
When all the skies seemed dull and dark to

Hast thou upheld me with thy noble powers,
And oped a higher, better world to me,
be,
" Oft has a sound from

thy great harp immortal
Seemed like a balm upon my heart to roll,
'
And
me up
raised
Thou holy
even
to heaven's
Art, I thank thee from
CHAPTER
WITH
the
Schumann.
whom
the
name of Schubert
For,
who brought
If Schubert's
der nature,
moved
my
soul."
IV.
often associated that of
Schubert was the one composer to
German Lied owes
as surely the one
ment.
if
is
high portal,
its
it
origin,
Schumann was
to its highest develop-
songs sprang from his poetic, ten-
Schumann's burst from a passion which
his nature to the very depths,
his love for Clara
and who can say but that the violence of the

emotions which moved him before he finally obtained
Wieck
permission to marry her

share in wrecking a
may have had an important
mind which had from
the
first
Melancholia was in his family,
dency toward insanity ?
and, spite of his happy marriage, soon showed
Schumann.
attack,
which seemed to threaten
good
mental
his
mind, but which
But, throughout his later years, a
sensitiveness
to his
itself in
Already, in his youth, he had suffered an
soon passed away.

nervous
a ten-
was apparent, which boded no

The affection for his wife and
state.
the tenderness with which she watched over
him put
off
254
In 1844 there came a severe
the evil day for a time.
attack of nervous prostration,

for a time,
overwork; and,
music.
to
listen
marked
undoubtedly caused by
he was forbidden even to
This again passed away, but left

It showed itself first in his con-
traces behind.
His tempi grew slower.

He was unable
and understand a rapid movement. The writer
ducting.
to
follow
of
known many musicians who have

in this epoch
under
Schumann
and they all conplayed
these articles has
cur in stating that he stood on the conductor's
moody, and abstracted,
silent,
his lips
pursed,
stand
as
if
whistling the melody to himself, and often so absent-
minded
that he forgot to give the signal to begin to the
orchestra,
among
who would
Delusions
mann
start the
works by arrangement
themselves.
now began
to
grow upon the mind of Schu-
with a rapidity which cansed the greatest alarm
to his friends.
He began
to believe in Spiritualism,
and
maintained that at one of the seances Beethoven had
been present and had rapped out the theme of one of his
symphonies to him. He also claimed that the spirits of

Schubert and Mendelssohn came to him with a theme
which they desired him to work out. It will be remembered that it was Schumann who rescued to the world
Schubert's greatest
feel that
symphony
Schubert desired him to
and now he began to.

finish the " unfinished
symphony," and haunted him for that purpose. It was

" false
natural that
hearing," a malady often connected

with mania, should set
in.
Schumann began
that he continually heard a solemn

this tone
began
to evolve phrases,
positions sprang from
it
in the
"A";
255
to
imagine
and,
finally,
and even whole com-
mind of the unhappy
suf-
This note seemed to his distracted mind the key-
ferer.
note of the universe.
His deplorable condition was
made
cies
yet more so by the fact that at times all these fanwould leave him and he would become aware of his
true state.
In these lucid intervals, he would beg his
him to ail asylum

but, meanwhile, he
would continue at work unremittingly.
On the afternoon of Feb. 7,
Finally, the crisis came.
wife
to send
1854, a small party of friends were at his house; and,
although Schumann was taciturn and did not mingle in

the conversation, his friends were so well used to this
silence
on
his part that
they took no notice of
it.
short time after, he withdrew from the house unnoticed,
walked to the bridge spanning the Rhine, and threw

himself into the stream, seeking death beneath its rushing waters.
He was
rescued by some sailors
but the
shock was too much for his jaded brain, and he was
changed from a morbid hypochondriac into a raving

maniac. He was taken to the asylum at Enderich, near
Bonn, where he remained until his death, two years
after.
Yet once more
his
strong physical constitution
triumphed for a short time, and an interval of calm and

comparative reason set in; and again, with his unflag-
ging zeal for
art,
he recommenced composition.
He
256
demanded the manuscript of a Spirit-Theme, on which

he had been at work before his attempted suicide, so
earnestly that
it
was judged best not
he immediately began to
to
deny him
finish this his last
and
work, a series
These, ho\vcver, already show the hand
of variations.
of decay which was laid upon his great genius
and
it
was
judged best not to gratify a morbid curiosity by publish-
The manuscript was
ing them.
carefully preserved,
and Brahms subsequently founded a beautiful

set of four-hand variations (op. 23) upon it, which were
however
published, and are
among
the composer's most successful
piano works, and in which,

little
Gradually,
He was
and
it is
said, the
altered from the state in which

all
theme
Schumann
is
but
left it,
Schumann's violent insanity disappeared.
able to receive friends, to correspond with them,
to play
Those who have heard him
upon the piano.
play in these sad days say that occasionally an idea would
seem
to struggle for utterance, but generally the
whole
was spasmodic and meaningless.
But a profound melanHis wearied form grew weaker,
choly seized upon him.

and death soon mercifully came to his relief. He died
in the arms of his wife, July 29, 1856, at the age of only
forty-six years.
Schumann's
ing contrast to Schubert's.
life
and death are
The former of high
in strik-
position,
from pecuniary care, greatly honored during his lifetime, and surrounded by all that love and money could
free
furnish during his dying days.
Schubert, of low position,
constantly in need of even the smallest
sums
to
keep the

wolf from the door, entirely slighted by
boon companions as poor as

by a
Yet who
serted, save
faithful
tremity.
shall say
happier?
sion.
life
all
and
himself,
257
but a few
entirely de-
brother, during his last ex-
which of these two was the
All Schumann's days were at the highest ten-
Only one great stream of sunshine came upon his

and this was when, in 1840, he was wedded to the
woman whom he had adored with a steady, faithful

attachment. To that marriage and its subsequent happiness, the
world owes the greatest works of Robert
Schumann.
CHAPTER
V.
WE have found, in tracing the last hours of great composers thus
far,
that all the deep sentiment, the tender-
ness of their lives seemed to concentrate in the supreme
hour of their death; and, in almost every case, the dramatic element has been present in a strong degree at
their death-bed.
No
of these qualities in
He had
life,
its
however, could display more
departure than that of Chopin.
never been of a robust nature
and
his person-
Chopin was the idol

and was a welcome guest even in the
ality was, like his music, ethereal.
of Parisian society,
.highest salons.
which he was
only
His delicate frame, the cough with

and the hectic flush of his cheek
afflicted,
made him more
interesting,
pathetic feeling of those
and awakened the sym-
who came
in contact with him.
258
The drawing-room which he frequented most during

later years
was that of his intimate
his
Madame Dude-
friend
vant,
George Sand. The writer of this has had the
good fortune to know one of the visitors at this celebrated house, and from him has gleaned some of the
description of Chopin's personal characteristics.
a noteworthy scene, this drawing-room,

of friends was complete.
when
regal-looking
It
was
the circle
woman
with
large, thoughtful eyes, and with a more placid demeanor

than Frenchwomen generally have, was the central fig-
was George Sand. A young man of surpassing

and grace of manner, of witty
and
almost
of
constant vivacity was also
conversation,
ure
this
attractiveness of person
there
was Franz
this
On
Liszt.
a reclining chair was
stretched a figure which looked more like a corpse than a

living being, only the eyes were so piercing
that they seemed almost demoniacal
the impassive figure.
when
Occasionally,
keen sarcasm would pass the pale
and bright
contrasted with
a lively jest or a
lips,
but a complaint
never: this was Heinrich Heine, king of satirists and
most
pitiable of invalids.
describe
all
who were
It
would be impossible to
all the brains and
present, since
genius of France was represented
man
but the slim, pale
with delicate, oval face, but rather prominent
nose,
who
Roman
occasionally interrupted the conversation
prolonged paroxysm of coughing, was Chopin,
whom
already disease had
made
But, although this society
life
its
by a
upon
inroads.
had an
infinite
charm,

it
was of
citable
all
259
things the worst for the nervous and ex-
The
composer.
doctors
who had
already been
consulted had prescribed periods of rest and absolute

But rest was impossible to Chopin, who, overrun
quiet.
with piano pupils, needed the income which his teaching
brought him; and quiet was irksome to the man of

In 1840, already his lungs were seriously
society.
affected.
George Sand watched over him with
ate care.
The summers which he spent
affection-
at her house at
Nohant always brought an amelioration of
his illness
but the winter of Parisian gayety always destroyed what
had been
built up,
Madame Sand
and more.
has often
been aspersed by Chopin's biographers as having become

tired of Chopin as he became more and more an invalid,
and having finally broken

Chopin needed her the most.
off
the
This
is
friendship,
when
partially true, but
they forget to present the other side of the picture.
Chopin's illness was of a most lingering description,

lasting nearly ten years
and
often, during this time,
he
became petulant and made great demands, with an invalid's selfishness and peevishness.
Madame Sand certainly
She
made
left
sacrifices for
Paris
and
him which demand recognition.
lived a
life
of retirement for a season,
Chopin the absolute rest which

his physicians commanded and which he conld not well
afford to take.
But that these sacrifices did not conthat she might give to
tinue to
the end
is
undoubtedly true.*
*Chopin's friends maintain that in the novel
Saud pictured Chopin and
herself.
The
It
'would be,
Lucrezia Floriani Madame
authoress, however, denies this.
260
most
painful to
follow the stages of Chopin's malady
His cough grew constantly

more and more hacking, and his strength at times failed
him utterly. His faithful pupil Gutmann was now his
through their long course.
dearest friend and protector, watching over

stantly,
and ready
make any
to
suffering of his master.
cian and his friends

cessful
for
him con-
sacrifice to lighten the
In 1847, the efforts of the physi-
seem
to
have been temporarily suc-
He
Chopin again took up his labors.
arranged a trip to England, and before leaving Paris de-
termined to give a farewell concert.
appeared
in public, as
his nature
career of the concert stage
Chopin seldom
was not formed for the
yet
on
this occasion the
character of the audience and the evidence of

appreciation led
him
its
high
The
to excel his previous efforts.
English and Scottish tour was a triumphant one
but
the late hours of society in the former country, and the
raw climate of the
was so
ill
that his
only debilitated Chopin
latter,
In 1849, he was again in Paris; and
further.
that
all
work was
at last suspended.
much.
He knew
end was near, and expressed the wish
buried in Pere-la-Chaise, beside Bellini,
His
whom
still
now he
to
be
he loved
Louise hastened from .Warsaw to
sister
soothe her brothers last moments.
Yet even now a
and he engaged new lodgings

slight improvement
and
made every arrangement
12
Place
Vendome),
(No.
set in
to furnish
them, even to the minutest details.
strange irony of fate,
By a
while the undertakers were placing

his
in the casket, the
body
ing his
new
Mm
and
i, is
house furnishers were arrang-
lodgings.
In his last days,

left
261
M. Gutmann and Chopin's sister never
and the Countess
friend, to
whom
Delphine Potocka, his pupil
his celebrated
Op. 64, No.
False,
dedicated, hastened to Paris on learning of his dan-
During one of the
gerous state.
awoke and gazed

tremely beautiful,
her in wonder.
at
and clothed
last,
when Chopin
Tall,
in white,
an angel sent to claim his troubled

recognized her at
she stood at
last days,
the foot of the bed of her teacher, weeping,
slim, ex-
he took her for
spirit.
When
he begged of her to sing.
he
The
piano was rolled to the door of the room; and the

countess,
"Prayer."*
above his
her emotion, sang Stradella's

During the music, Chopin was exalted
suffering; but, when it ceased, he became
conquering
worse,.and begged for more.

all fell
pencil
on
their
of an
artist,
By an
What
knees.
irresistable
impulse
a fitting scene for the
the lovely countess at the piano
singing, while the tears were yet wet upon her cheeks
the dying composer hanging
upon the tones
in ecstacy
the grieving friends kneeling around in devotion
next day, he was calmer, but very weak, and
The Abbe
to see the priest at once.
The
demanded
Jelowicki admin-
istered the extreme unction according to the rites of the

*This
is
is
the song
known
as
said once to have saved the
"
"
Saviour," and
Pieta, Signore,"
Pity,
of Stradella. Late commentators throw
life
doubt upon the anecdote and

ascribe it to Gluck.
even on the authorship of the song, and
262
Catholic Church, and then one by one he took leave of

his
From
friends.
On
sat beside him.
His
Who
is
M. Gutmann
the ryth of October, 1849, ne died.
He
act was characteristic.
last
voice,
this time to the end,
"
me?
near
M. Gutmann, he bent down
On
asked in a
being told that
to kiss his hand,
and
faint
it
was
in this
He was
buried in
Pre-la-Chaise, between Bellini and Cherubim.
He was
last act of love
and gratitude expired.
always fond of flowers
was smothered
in roses,
and, at his funeral, his casket
and the
entire
room was buried
Chopin was greatly beloved, and his

nature
must
have been of the sweetest before
personal
sickness had racked his frame. Yet there is little in his
in floral offerings.
life
which could leave a lasting impress upon the reader.
Schumann's pure love for Clara Wieck, Schubert's brave

combat with poverty, Mozart's cheerful spirit under adversity, Beethoven's
broad humanitarianism, Bach's piety
and modesty, all appeal more to us than the society

(gentle and kind though it was) of Frederic Chopin.
CHAPTER
MENDELSSOHN attracts
who had, like Chopin, all
tions of the
life
life
VI.
our attention as a composer

the advantages and tempta-
of society, yet was entirely free from the
excesses of the latter, and throughout lived an exemplary
and praiseworthy
life.
His
faults
were an intense
artistic
263
jealousy and, possibly, a certain degree of self-conceit,

his friends
might
justly call
it
self-esteem
that one can readily
were so many
cite
but his virtues
him
as a model
of the refined, cultured, and well-balanced gentleman,
The
the ideal of the advanced musician.
may be found
his childhood
man
in the excellent influences
and youth.
tion of his children that

their after
It is
His
of business, displayed so
it
cause of this
which surronnded
father, although entirely
much
care in the educa-
could not but bear
fruit
in
life.
not our purpose, however, to speak in detail of
the career of Mendelssohn.
In studying his letters or
his various biographies, our readers
can gain a just
esti-
mate of a man who may justly be classed as the most

many-sided, the most broadly cultured of all musicians.
He was
of rather delicate physique, and yet a most
earnest and constant worker.
His labors as composer,
pianist, director, and as teacher, were unremitting, and

unquestionably laid the foundation of the disease which
him
carried
off before
he had even reached his prime.
Duties of most manifold character were thrust upon him
from every side, as his fame grew

his thirty-fifth
year,
seemed
and he
set
in,
There
much
of the
young manAt this time, also, a serious cough seems to have

which occasioned some alarm to his friends.
buoyancy which was a characteristic of

hood.
himself, before
to have lost
is
but
little
his
doubt that the work upon the oratorio
of Elijah gave the finishing stroke to the enfeebled health
264
of Mendelssohn, just as the composition of the Seasons

is
said to have killed
Haydn.
pictures of the later years of
Most
delightful of all the
Mendelssohn are the mo-
ments of domestic happiness and repose which the composer was able to take occasionally, in the country,
He was
imharassed by any professional duties.

loving father
and husband
were the most precious of
all
to
may be seen
to the
subject.
letters referring
teaching in the
Conservatory at Leipzig
trial to his
patience
rest
him, as
from any of his
severe
a most
and these moments of
His
was often a
and he often became ex-
tremely irritable and nervous, rather a disease than a

condition with one
natural
Elijah
its
success from
performance at Birmingham, Aug. 26, 1846.

the excitement attending the production and suc-
very
Amid
of Mendelssohn's nature.
made a complete and overwhelming

first
cess of the work,
of spirits
and
to excitement
Mendelssohn seemed
health.
in the very best
This was, however, due rather
than to any normal condition
and
it
had the composer followed the

exertion
with
of
one of rest and recuperation.
period
As it was, he soon began to suffer from severe headaches,
would have been
well,
and was constantly
in the doctor's care.
a London season followed
and a
Nevertheless,
series of concerts
and
a round of social receptions utterly exhausted him, and
he began to look haggard and prematurely old.
On
his
return to Frankfort, he received the news of the sudden
death of his beloved sister Fanny.
It
was too much
for
LAST HOURS OP GREAT COMPOSERS

his
broken health
sensible for
some
and, swooning away, he remained in-
time.
His nerves, from
this
a weak and harried state
were constantly
in
utterly weary.
There was as yet no
time on,
and he was
but
definite disease,
He gradually recovered
utter exhaustion.
265
from
this,
and
was even able to apply himself to composition again,

although one can readily find a sadder spirit in the music
of this epoch than in his other compositions, the male
chorus of the " Loreley" being almost the only exception.
There were moments of

passing moments
in his motions,
vivacity, but
and acted as one very weary.
Yet, as no actual illness had shown
did not realize his alarming state
were
felt.
they were only
and, as a rule, he became dull, slow
He
ances, and gave
itself,
his friends
and no apprehensions
withdrew himself from public performhis conductor's baton to his friend and
co-laborer, Rietz.
trip
to Berlin,
and a view of
his
apartments, which had been undisturbed since

her death, had the effect of entirely unstringing him, and
sister's
took away whatever benefit he had gained by preceding

rest.
His depression grew greater and greater;
and, al-
though at times it would lift and reveal the bright and

witty Mendelssohn of years gone by, these gleams were
but momentary.
On
Oct. 9, 1847, ne na d called at the
house of a friend, to consult her about the arrangement

of a set of songs.
Here, he was attacked with a most
severe headache and a severe
chill,
and on being sent
266
home, became comatose.
An
application of leeches re-
sulted in temporary recovery, but
it
was
really the first
On
stroke of apoplexy which he had undergone.
the
28th of the same month, he was so far recovered that he
was able
to take a
too much.
On
walk with
his wife.
The
exertion was'
second shock took place,

much more severe than the first. His brain was entirely
his return, a
weakened by this attack and, now, all felt that the end
The house was surrounded by inquiring
was near.
friends, bulletins were issued, and the newspapers printed
;
frequent reports as to the state of the invalid.
The
final
shock came on November 3rd, and deprived him of
He
consciousness.
lingered until
the
next day,
and
^lied Thursday, Nov. 4, 1847, less than thirty-nine years

It must strike the reader of these articles that
old.
many of
the great composers died young.
The
fire
of
consuming one and Mozart, Schubert,

and Mendelssohn were shrivelled by its flames before
genius
is
often a
they had reached their prime.

to
Mendelssohn
stroyed him.
to
The world does
justice
in saying that his constant labors de-
When will
biographers do the same justice
Mozart and Schubert, whose works have been even
more numerous than those of Mendelssohn, and whose

lives
were
fully as short?
CHAPTER
267
VII.
IT must not be supposed by our readers, because

Schubert, Mendelssohn, and other composers
Mozart,
died young, that musicians are a short-lived race.
Ex-
actly the
Mo-
contrary
is
true.
Cherubini,
Rossini,
scheles, as well as the old masters, Bach, Handel,
and a host of others, prove that
active musical
The
not incompatible with longevity.

to the
demise of composers
indirectly to be foun
Haydn,
work is
causes which led
in their early
manhood
stances against which they were obliged to struggle.

is
also a mistake to suppose
It
that these causes have
ceased to exist in the cases of great composers

affluence
are
d in the poverty and adverse circum-
and luxury of such men as Wagner or
and the
Liszt are
held up as a contrast to the comparative poverty of the

older composers,
its
recognizes
conclusion
musicians
as a proof that the world to-day
geniuses.
Never was a more mistaken
It is true that
among
was in the
and
last
is
a greater demand for
the public in this century than there
(when the composer could
the patronage of princes),
geniuses
there
who have met
exist only
but there are
the
Mozart, even in recent times.
fate of
Among
still
by
many
Schubert or of
these
may be
mentioned Lortzing, Goetz, and Volkmann.

Lortzing was probably the most successful composer
of light opera that
puzzle
many
Germany
ever possessed.
readers to understand why,
It may
when a com-
268
poser's
works were extremely popular, he should nearly
starve to death.
The
cause, however,
In Germany, the composer
find.
is
not
is
difficult
The
mercy of either publisher or manager.
to
the
practically at
operatic
managers constantly took advantage of the poverty of

Lortzing, and for fifty or one hundred gulden would
purchase the entire right to works which brought them
in fortunes.
The composer, poor and without
was obliged to take whatever was

pletely at the
ishing,
mercy of these
therefore,
that,
offered,
tyrants.
after
resources,
and was com-
It is
precarious
not astonexistence,
Lortzing died in extreme poverty in 1852, aged fortynine
while his operas were admired throughout
all
Germany, and had even become known in foreign lands.

Had Lortzing had the good fortune to have lived in France
instead of in Germany, he might have died a millionfor that beneficent country guards its composers
from their own improvidence as well as from grasping
naire
managers, and secures to them a fixed percentage of the

receipts every time one of their works is performed.
Goetz must be added to the
list
of composers
who
died
before their fortieth year, and whose death was also has-
tened by the struggle with poverty.
Although his opera,

The Taming of the Shrew, at once became famous, and
bids fair to become a permanent addition to the repertoire of standard works, and while his symphony met
with favor wherever
diligently trying
to
was performed, the composer was

keep the wolf from the door by
it

teaching,
by leading a vocal
that he could
obtain.
and by any drudgery

symphony was per-
society,
When
269
his
formed in Vienna, the conductor invited the composer

be present. The invitation was declined, because
to
Goetz had not the means to pay his railroad fare to the
scene of his triumph.
He
died in 1876, at Zurich, at
the age of thirty-six.
Volkmann, who died only two years ago, was more

career for he lived to see
fortunate in the close of his
and
his merit recognized
a leading position in
to hold
Pesth, Hungary, at the time of his death.

struggle with
Leipzig, the
for his
illness,
finally
work
Yet the long
fate, the days and nights of severe study in
many
privations which he bore while waiting
be recognized, laid the foundation of an

which embittered even his triumph and which
to
caused his death.
Among
the composers
who
died in the " thirties" must
be mentioned Georges Bizet, the composer of Carmen,
who died suddenly

just three
months
in 1875, at the
age of thirty-seven,
after his greatest opera
had been per-
formed and had achieved a triumph. There is but little

doubt that the labor of composing the masterpiece, and
the excitement of
Among
its
production, killed the musician.
the strange deaths of composers must be
tioned that of Carl Loewe, the great

of Lieder and Balladen.
men-
German composer
Loewe may be ranked as the

and his fame was recognized
greatest of ballad composers,
throughout Germany.
He had
lived
many
years in
270
Stettin,
where he held positions both
in the college
and
under the municipality, when, in 1864, he had a strange

illness, during which he lay in a trance for the space of
The occasion
six weeks.
his subsequent recovery
he
fell
it,
have never been
into another strange slumber, and,
two day-
calmly breathed his
bus Church, in Stettin
by his organ
and this was done.
Giacomo Meyerbeer presents a

poverty of
requested
in St. Jaco-
vivid contrast to the
of the operatic composers.
many
awakening
He
last.
that his heart might be buried
5,
fully
Finally, in 1869, at the age of seventy- three,
explained.
after
of so unusual a sickness, and
from
Born Sept.
1791, Jacob Liebmann Beer was the son of a wealthy
Jewish banker, and began his career under very
The
auspices.
addition of the prefix
"Beer" occurred
relative,
who
to the
will of a
wealthy
him a fortune on condition
that he
later,
left
because of the
flattering
"Meyer"
name
would
manner. Of Meyerbeer's
works it is surely unnecessary to speak. Whatever the
malice of his enemies (led by Wagner, whom he had
adopt his
even befriended
in
in this
the days of his poverty)
may
say
about him, his originality will forever remain unquestioned
and many wonderful instrumental

credits to
Wagner
ness
and
came on.
it
which the world
or Berlioz, will be found for the
time in the works of Meyerbeer.

last opera,
effects,
first
DAfricaine was
his
was scarcely finished before his last illOn April 27, 1864, he was taken with a
sudden prostration, which increased
until
May
I,
when

were summoned.
his daughters
only
and
his
a pleasant "good-night.'"
friends
was yet
evening, he
manner and speech, and wished
natural in
ters
Their nursing extended
On Sunday
a few hours.
A. M., he was dead.
horror of being buried alive

to
be opened
command
its
at his death,
that his
daugh-
The next
morning, early, his pulse began to grow weaker

fore 6
271
and be-
Meyerbeer had a morbid

and he left a sealed paper,
which was found
to contain a
body should be allowed to remain on
bed, constantly watched, for four days, although the
Hebrew
ritual allows
interment.
but one day between decease and
His instructions were scrupulously followed.
Six days afterwards, the funeral took place in Paris, and
was of a grandeur equal
to that accorded to the obsequies
Meyerbeer's will showed the charitable
of monarchs.
impulses which moved his nature during life for he

made numerous bequests for the benefit of musicians,
;
authors,
and
artists,
and proved that he did not forget
the necessities of his co-workers.
CHAPTER
VIII.
WE cannot more fittingly end the
series of our articles
upon the death of famous musicians than by giving a

description of the last days of the great composer of
modern
times,
Richard Wagner.
The
life
and death
of this master stand out in vivid contrast- with the existence of such masters as Schubert or Mozart.
Wagner,
272
in his Parisian days,
endured poverty, but all through

which was princely.
his later career revelled in a luxury
His
villa
of Wahnfried, in Bayreuth,
is
the finest house
town; and, wherever Wagner went, he kept up an

establishment on the same large basis. His own cosin the
tumes were of the utmost magnificence; and his letters

(which have been published) to the lady who made his
dressing-gowns prove
how much
mind was taken up
his
with every detail of his costume and surroundings.

In the
for
fall
of the year 1882,
Wagner went to Venice

The palace Ven-
a period of repose and recreation.
dramin-Calergi was engaged for the composer.
This
is
one of the most magnificent buildings of the great city

of palaces.
Yet, before Wagner's arrival, he caused
even more splendor to be added to
that painting
The
it.
the object of his especial solicitude.
studio
was
Here, everything
and upholstering could do was brought into

make the room a perfect sanctum. The
requisition, to
size of the establishment
which Wagner maintained may
be judged by the following

family
list
of the personnel of the
Richard Wagner and his wife Cosima

His three daughters, Daniela, Eva, and Isolde
His only son, Siegfried
;
The governess
for the daughters, Signora Corsani;
Siegfried's tutor,
The
Herr Hausburg
intimate family friend, Baron von Stein.
Valets, cooks, porters, gondoliers,
servants completed the
list.
and a
retinue of
How the
273
old masters would have stared to have seen
a composer enjoying such ease and luxury
The
palace
contained twenty-eight rooms, gardens, and a large reception hall.

in
It is
almost ludicrous to hear the manner
which some of the master's friends
for luxurious surroundings.
palliate his passion
They say
that he absolutely
needed to be removed from the hard, prosaic world during the fervor of composition and the rustle of silks, the
;
feeling of rich
and
costly laces, the sweet fragrance of
expensive perfumes, the sensation of every physical luxury,
was necessary
the creation of his
for
magnificent tone pictures.
pompous and
fortunate that the older
It is
masters did not need this kind of inspiration, or the

Jupiter
Symphony
of Mozart, the immortal nine of Bee-
major Symphony by Schubert would
thoven, and the
never have been written.
It is
also fortunate that
Wag-
ner himself did not begin by needing such costly exaltaotherwise,
tion;
the Flying
Dutchman, Lohengrin, and

These
Tannhauszr would not have been produced.
works, which he composed during a period of poverty,

real or comparative, are as full of
pomp and magnificence
as any of those which honored his later and more sybaritical years.
Wagner seems
be his
last great
to
have
work
felt
for
he
that Parsifal
said,
was
soon after
pletion, "I shall not write another note."
Yet
rather the result of natural fatigue than of any
ment
for
he was soon occupied
likely to
its
com-
this
was
presenti-
in preparing the outlines
274
for
another work, this time upon an Oriental subject.*
Wagner generally composed

arose between five
and
in
He
the early morning.
six o'clock,
and
it
was stringently
forbidden for any one to disturb him under any pretext.
Generally the work ran on until 10 A.
Wagner had the

to
Schumann, of whistling
generally (as with Gluck)
M.
which has also been ascribed
habit,
softly while
composing and,
;
a glass of wine or of brandy
was on his work-table before him, and received
his occa-
At about 10 A. M., his faithful wife

room, and gave to him in condensed form
sional attention.
came
to his
the contents of the letters of the morning, the news, etc.
taken alone.
After this
Breakfast was
generally
followed a walk, or a gondola ride, around the city, in
which his wife frequently accompanied him.

of him
that once coming to Saint
is related
It
Mark's Place, he heard the band which performs
there each day in autumn, give selections from Lohengrin.
The
compliment
idly that
performance
was
to himself; but the
Wagner rushed
evidently given
as
tempo was taken so rap-
into a neighboring restaurant,
with his hands over his ears, and did not come out until
the music had ceased.
After the morning promenade of the composer, he

generally
returned directly to his palace, where at one
o'clock the family united at the dinner table.

* This
After the
is the version of the Italian newspapers, from which many dehave been gleaned. The German jpapers assert that he was at work
upon investigating Greek music of ancient times.
tails
Wagner
meal,
generally took a nap.
275
servant was
always stationed in the anteroom during Wagner's sleep,

to attend to
him,
if
he should, awake and desire any
attendance.
Wagner was
gondola ride followed his awaking.
very fond of going abroad in his gondola; and, in
The
a more pleasant siesta cannot be imagined.
fact,
writer
of these sketches has often shot along the byways of
Venice, hearing not the slightest sound save the melodious call of the gondoliers as they approached a corner,
warning to any other boats which might be
to give
nearing, thus avoiding a collision
It
is
not alone the
two great canals, the Grande and the Giudecca, which

have attraction, but more especially the
which are often quite deserted and
Wagner
also loved to explore.
little
side canals,
utterly silent.
These
In the evening, between
seven and eight o'clock, the family were again united at

supper,
Wagner
following the German, not the French,
fashion in the order of his meals.
was gathered in the
hall,
generally read aloud.
The
always chosen by
After
this,
the family
where one of the daughters

subjects of the readings were
Wagner himself, and ranged
" From
grave
to gay,
from lively to severe,"
but seldom changed from one emotion during a single

evening, as they reflected the master's
being.
for the time
This ended the day.
It will
life
mood
be seen from the above that the composer's
was not only a very regular one, but that
his
276
was exceptionally
domestic existence
first
marriage with a beautiful
actress,
His
happy.
Minni Planer
by name, was an unhappy one; and no children were

the result of this
His second marriage with
match.
Cosima von Billow was an
happy one. She is

and has inherited much
entirely
of Franz List,
the daughter
of her father's talent, but not his great personal beauty.

In appearance,
Madame Wagner was
never very preposes-
sing, being somewhat gaunt and lank but her eyes are
remarkably attractive, and indicate the noble soul within.
;
Her manners and conversation were
altogether charming,
and suavity were certainly as great as that

of her illustrious father. She was first married to the
and her
pianist
was an
tact
Von Bulow
but both soon discovered that
and remedied the
ill-assorted union,
it
false step,
without causing each other prolonged pain, by a legal
was married to Wagner,

Never was a nobler, fonder or more self-sacrificing wife.
Her whole existence became bound up in her husband,
whom she not only loved affectionately, but whose works
separation, after which the lady
she revered and whose genius she thoroughly recognized.
Wagner, on
his side also, understood his artist wife
and
the Siegfried Idyl well illustrates the affection which he

felt for
her and his son.
cates this
formed on
her)
The poem
to them
work
musical
Madame Wagner's
runs as follows
with which he dedi(it
was
first
per-
birthday, as a surprise to
277
Thy sacrifices have shed blessings o'er me,

And to my work have given noble aim,
And in the hour of conflict they upbore me,
Until
my labor
reached a sturdy frame.
Oft in the land of legends we were dreaming,

Those legend's which contain the Teuton's fame,
Until a son upon our lives was beaming,
Siegfried
must be our youthful hero's name.
For him and thee
in tones I
now am
praising,
What
thanks for deeds of love could better be,

Within our souls the grateful song upraising,
Which in this music I have now set free?
And,
in the cadence, I
have held united
Siegfried, our dearly cherished son,
And
all
the harmonies
But speak the thought which
We shall see
how
and thee;
now am bringing
in
strong this love
my heart is ringing.
was in the hour of
was fast approaching although as yet

no one dreamed that the great master was nearing his
separation, which
e d.
CHAPTER
WAGNER
himself
him crabbed and
knew
well
IX.
enough that people called
ill-tempered, but excused these qual-
"People call me
and
the autopsy
ill-natured,
simply sick";
after his death established the fact that his stomach was
ities
on the score of
when
in a
ill-health, saying,
am
most disturbed condition, causing
all
the ill-tempei
attendant upon severe dyspepsia.
Upon
his arrival in Venice, although feeling in better
health than usual,

his choice fell
Wagner chose
a family physician
and
upon one of the ablest German physicians
278
resident in Italy, Dr. Frederic Keppler,
already
known through
whom
he had
the introduction of an intimate
friend, Princess Hatzfeld.
Dr. Keppler visited the family daily, and soon came
be regarded not only as a physician, but intimate

Wagner was one of those semi-invalids who
to
friend.
enjoy speaking of their ailments, and gave the doctor

daily descriptions of all symptoms, real
On
and imaginary.
the other hand, the composer seldom confided even
his serious pains to his loving wife, as she immediately
became anxious, and worried about them.

The doctor, however, was one of those sensible physicians who drew the patient's thoughts gradually into
more
cheerful channels,
and gave very
Dr. Keppler himself says that
little
Wagner was
medicine.
too
much
given to taking medicines and stimulants indiscriminately

for his troubles,
and had
partially injured his
stomach
composer resembled Beethoven,

who has already been described as taking remedies in an
impetuous and unsystematic manner. Wagner's family
In
thereby.
circle, as
to
this, the
we have
receive
seen, was a large one
two additions.
and
it
was soon
The Countess Blandine
Gravina, eldest daughter of Cosima Wagner, was coming

to
Venice, with her young husband; and the newly
wedded
pair were to take
up
their
abode
in the palace.
be borne in mind that the three daughters of

Cosima von Billow, before she married Wagner, were
It will
constantly with her after her second marriage.
The

children of
Wagner were two
in
279
Eva and
number,
Siegfried.
Society the composer did not desire in this his last vacation.
Many
of the nobility sought the acquaintance of
the famous master
but these visitors were always re-
Madame Wagner, and their calls were returned,

if at all, by the same lady.
The only friends, besides
those already mentioned, who came in closer contact with
ceived by
Wagner, were Count Bardi the artists, Schukowsky,

Passini and Ruben and Madame Pinelli, an intimate
;
friend of his wife.
The hours
Liszt also
came
in
November.
of work grew longer in the winter, and, as
were shrouded in a sort of mystery.
During Wagno one but Cosima Wagnter was

allowed even to enter his study and the family of the
usual,
ners entire married
life,
writer of these
who knew Wagner
sketches,
in
his
younger days, describe the same isolation of labor as

a characteristic of his youth
The
love.
December was occupied by a labor of

his earliest career, had written a work
early part of
Wagner,
in
which received the honor of successful performance
in tlrj
The symphony a large

C major made a success on its
Leipzig Gewandhaus Concerts.
one in four movements,

first
in
performance, but was afterwards lost.
posed in 1832,
and
its
It
was com-
parts were discovered in Dresden
nearly a half century later.

They were sent to Wagner,
and naturally came first into the hands of his faithful secCosima Wagner had the separate parts
retary, his wife.
280
copied into a score, learned them, and one day seated

herself at the piano
and began
to play the
first
move-
Wagner sprang up in amazement. "It is my

"Where where has it been
symphony !" he cried.
ment.
After the lapse of nearly a whole lifetime, he
found?"
once recognized the work.
at
the pleasure which his
return
He
determined that the
to her,
and
to her alone,
And now
he desired to
had given him.
wife
work should be performed

under his own direction. It
was to be performed at the Liceo Bendetto Marcello, the

Conservatory of Venice and Wagner led the rehearsals
;
accustomed vigor. He liked the symphony,

and said of it, "Clearness and strength were what I
with
all
aimed
It
his
for
may be
said of this
and these are

interesting
work
to
in the work, spite of
critic
at its performance in Leipzig, so long
ago, while the composer was an utterly
man.
its faults."
read what an eminent
Laube writes:
"There
is
unkown young
a stout and earnest
energy in the thoughts which intertwine in this symphony a stormy, audacious step, which treads through
;
the
work from one end
are to be built
The
to the other.
Great hopes
11
upon the musical talent of the composer.
preparations for the concert were somewhat in-
terrupted by an illness in the family, Wagner's daughter
Eva being attacked with symptons of

however, to
Dr
fever.
Thanks,
Keppler's prompt and skilful treatment, the
malady soon passed by. The next illness in the family

was not to be of so slight a nature. Already, the mas-

ter's
281
health showed signe of serious impairment.
In
moments, he had often expressed the belief

that he would Jive to ninety years; but, during these
his stronger
months
in Venice, he frequently
The
prophetic presentiments.
him
and
greatly;
his
seemed
to
have almost
fogs of Venice depressed
breathing,
on such occasions,
He concealed many of these

pained him severely.
and
symptoms
melancholy impressions from his family
;
and even
his physician, although
aware of the presence
of disease, found no organ seriously enough impaired to

cause alarm.
The occasion
symphony was
of the performance of the
to be the birthday of his wife,
and only
the family were to be present.
The evening of
came
the performance
the concert began at nine o'clock.
at last,
and
Wagner, Liszt, and

and were received
the family entered the brilliant hall,
by the
director of the Conservatory,
who
greeted the
composer with an address of welcome, thanking him

for the honor he was about to confer upon the institution.
The
orchestra burst into
took the baton and began.
loud plaudits, and

It
was the
great conductor led a musical
work.
coincidence that the extremes of his
Wagner
last time that the

It
was a. strange
life
should thus
How many strange thoughts must have filled

mind as the symphony went on! When it was
have met.
his
written,
he was a youth of less than twenty, struggling,

not yet had he thought of breaking the
for recognition
fetters
of operatic form;
no
art theories
and broad
282
schemes of musical reform had opened upon his mind.

And here he stood, an old man, honored as never
musician had been honored before him, conqueror in the
greatest fields of composition, leading the
own boyhood
to
for the first time.
It is
no
work of
his
flight of fancy
imagine that he deeply felt^his touch of destiny for,

he exclaimed sadly: " I shall
;
at the close of the work,
never direct again
soon die!
have
more
shall never write
felt
this long,
must
and now more than
The circle of his art life was completed on this

The beginning and the end were with his
ever."
occasion.
symphony
in C.
CHAPTER
THE
premonitions of
X.
Wagner
were, however, soon
forgotten; and Christmas Day, 1882, found the family
joyously celebrating the feast
New
Day was
Year's
ment and
also
feasting at the
in
true
German
ushered in with
Vendramin
style.
merri-
all
palace.
Yet Wagner's health was not such as to leave

friends without care.
Dr. Keppler came
much
his
oftener
than usual, although no alarming symptons of any kind

yet
showed themselves.
ter verv frequently
real
remedy.
friend, little
On
but
the
Rheumatism
this,
tortured the mas-
of course, admitted of no
i$th of January, Liszt
thinking that he should never see
A month later,
Wagner was a
corpse.
left his
him
again.
The
carnival season,
Venice, brought so
most glorious of
many
all at
enjoyments that
283
Rome
or
the symp-
all
tons of illness seemed to vanish in the round of gayety.
Only one thing vexed him
The
in these latest days.
Italians,
wishing to honor him, not only kept
praising Rienzi
and Tannhauser, bnt even once per-
formed selections
from
the latter opera before
whereupon the composer at once fled.

later days,
seemed
Lohengrin, and
Wagner,
him,
in his
to discard all his earlier operas
especially disliked Rienzi,
built in the Italian
up to
which was
model.
The day after the Carnival, a visit was paid by the

composer to San Michele, the Campo Santo, or graveof Venice. After a prolonged stay among the
"
tombs, he said,
Soon, I, too, shall find repose in such a
yard,
however, to seek for a deep pre-
It is idle,
quiet spot."
for Wagner was always a man

when sombre, would burst upon
sentiment in this remark

of strong moods, and,
his friends with such
a remark as as " Let us think about
death," and would then hear only the gloomiest music
or poetry.
his
moods
It
may be added
in his dress.
If
that
Wagner
represented
he was in deep red
satin,
with gold trimmings, he was easily approached, for he
was
in a
good humor
but, if
visitor did well to avoid
him.
he was in gray, then the

It was during one of his
gray days that the great prima donna, Pauline Lucca,
came
to
Venice to
visit
him, and was repulsed.
284
On
his
the day before his death,
best moods.
Wagner awoke
in one of
His stomach had ceased to trouble
him, his rheumatism had vanished, and he praised Dr.
Keppler
at this,
who, he
heartily,
him over
said,
his little ailments.
and
had successsfully
The
carried
family were delighted
particularly his son Siegfried, with
whom
he
had planned a short excursion to Verona on the following day. That day, full of good humor, Wagner went
banker to get the money
to his
for the
proposed
trip.
In the evening, Dr. Keppler came, and found
seemingly in the best of health and

joking,
and
telling
last of these tales
so bitterly hated,
The
spirits,
the Jews.
and the sky was
sible to think of
very
whom Wagner
3th of February was a dismal day.
torrents,
The
one story after another.
was a sneer at the race
him
laughing,
dull
and gray.
It
It
rained in
was impos-
making the proposed excursion.
Wag-
ner did not feel nearly so well as on the previous day.

Nevertheless, he arose at six o'clock, and worked steadily
the
entire
many
morning.
He was engaged
in arranging
details regarding the performances of Parsifal,
which were to take place in the summer of this year.

He gave orders, on this day, that he should not be disturbed until two o'clock
and, as
we have
already
mated, these orders were law to Cosima Wagner.
inti-
Yet,
as he had complained of not feeling so well as usual, his

wife
took the customary precaution of stationing the

faithful servant,
Betty Biirckel, in an antechamber, that
she might be notified,
The
2&$
her husband desired, anything.
if
hours passed on.
Occasionally,
Madame Wagner
would step into the anteroom, to inquire of Betty if Wagner had called her and, on being each time answered
;
had not, and that he had been pacing up and
that he
down
one
his study in his
Wagner rang and
o'clock,
ordered
my
gondola
for four
asked,
"Have you
o'clock?" and, on being
answered in the affirmative, said: "Very good.

eat in
my room
At
customary manner, withdrew.
to-day.
bowl of soup
I will
will do.
do
not feel very well."
This was nothiug unusual, as
The soup was brought

still
Wagner had
manner on
given orders in a similar
frequently
his
"gray" days.
a time after, all was
and, for
in the study.
In a short time, however, Betty heard a hasty pacing

to
and
fro,
and, after that, a prolonged
She threw her work
was the
of coughing.
when she heard
the
yet so
Wagner's study that
discipline regarding
she dared not enter, and was about to

ner,
fit
and noiselessly approached
Soon, she heard a painful groaning
the door.
fixed
aside,
murmured
call
call,
Madame Wag-
"
"
Betty!
She
rushed into the study, where she found the master lying
stretched on the sofa, half covered with his fur, and his
feet
upon a
natural
chair.
and, with
His features seemed
much
effort,
frightfully
un-
he gasped, "Call
my
286
and
wife
the doctor!"
These were
In wildest affright, the servant ran for
who rushed
the
to the study,
"The
crisis.
Keppler!" she
at
Wagner
Bring Dr,
and groaning continually. His faithAfter a vehement spasm
held him in her arms.
less violent
and
His throes
his wife, as she held him, thought
that he had sunk into slumber.
The slumber was
death.
fully an hour before Dr. Keppler was found.

finally came hurriedly into the study (It was the first
It
He
words*
lay unable to speak, but
of pain, the master seemed to rest easier.
grew
last
once saw the danger of
doctor, quick! the doctor!
cried.
suffering frightfully
ful wife
and
his
Madame Wagner,
was
time he had entered the mysterious apartment), and
found
Madame Wagner
supposed
to
holding her husband, whom she

in her arms.
She spoke softly
be sleeping,
to the doctor, fearing to

at a glance that this
awaken him.
was no slumber.
Dr. Keppler saw

Lifting the
body
upon the magnificent
bed. A hasty examination of pulse and heart followed,
and then the terrible news was broken to Madame Wagfrom the widow's arms, he laid
ner,
who, uttering a wild
less.
It is
it
cry, fell
upon the body sense-
not our purpose to go into further details
to describe the heart-rending scene
which followed the
breaking of the dread news to the children the awakening of the widow to consciousness, and her inconsolable
;
grief.
The
illness
which so suddenly terminated the
career of the composer was disease of the heart.
The
287
honors which attended the funeral were great enough to

have been bestowen upon a king, but among these tokens
of regret at the death of the Master, was none so note-
worthy as the
Cosima Wagner. The

was in Bayreuth during the summer
heartfelt sorrow of
writer of these articles
of 1883, at the memorial performance of Parsifal ; and
Madame Wagner's sorrow was even

it
then so intense that
was feared her reason was shattered.
to see any one.
Even her
father,
Franz
She refused
was not
Liszt,
permitted to offer his consolations in person.
Scarcely
even could her children be admitted to her presence.
Wagner, who is said

was occasionally allowed
Siegfried only, the beloved son of

to resemble his father greatly,*
to see the grief-stricken mother.
Every day, whatever
the weather, she sat an hour by the grave (which
Wagner's
estate
is
upon
of Wahnfried, in Bayreuth), and was
so jealous of the master's resting-place, that the writer
with great
difficulty
the sacred spot.
only obtained permission to visit
by constant exertions of the
Finally,
memorial committee, the public were allowed one hour
on
certain days of the
Even now,
week
to
the conjugal grief
make a pilgrimage
is
thither.
not altogether stayed ;
Wagner employs her life, as Madame Clara

Schumann has done, in superintending the performances
but Cosima
* Nevertheless, he has exhibited no

great attainments
ruling passion being for the study of architecture.
in music, his
288
of works of her husband, and in lending assistance
wherever necessary to their success.*
With
the death of
Wagner, our
various composers,
series
of articles
In studying the last hours of the
appropriately closes.
we have endeavored
to
show
that
have been in some degree exemplified in their deaths, and that the contrasts which
their different characters
marked
their lives, only
standout in sharper colors in the
supreme hours which closed them.
* The most touching tribute
Cosima Wagner.
hair.
She cut
to the funeral gifts
Her husband had
this off,
and
it
was
that given
by
always admired her long and glossy
was buried with
the composer.
[THE END.]
ML
2529
E47
Elson, Louis Charles

The history of the
German song
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
EDWARD JOHNSON
MUSIC LIBRARY

History of Germans in Romantic Music

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THE

Progress of Vocal Composition

FROM THE TIME OF THE MINNESINGERS TO THE

WITH THE HIGHEST ADMIRATION FOR HIS GENIUS,

Jongleurs and Minnesingers

Famous Minnesingers and their works

XII. "Handel and Mattheso'n

XHI.'Johann Sebastian Bach

XVII. The Influence of the German poets

-XVIII. 'Franz Schubert

SXIX. The works of Schubert

been somewhat over-shadowed

in the least detracting

from the great

achievements of Italian masters in vocal work,

endeavored in these pages to set forth what the Germans

have accomplished in the same branch, and, as German

song has closely intertwined

venture to hope that this volume

become a condensed record of the general reforms and

THE HISTORY OF GERMAN

JONGLEURS AND MINNESINGERS.

history of the vocal music of

respects, a peculiar one, and

extends back, almost in an unbroken

o er six hundred years.

so far as regards secular music, sprang into promi-

epoch which gave birth

Talian opera, about

o d works so practical a significance.

not far to seek.

been a singer, and

in all times has

Secondly, while in other countries the popular

were kept sepa-

HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG

and had nothing

the eleventh century, no such distinction

higher school were accepted and

this instinct of pop-

song that the system of congregational hymns

preceding the Reformation.

sturdy root from which the

German song had

for in the Minnesingers, those

ancient minstrels who, noble by birth, took up the

cause of music in a most inspired manner, and sang

the beauties of nature in a

which bears comparison even with the works

dours and the Trouveres of France, they were yet

thought and deeper

The Troubadours sang

only the ten-

amatory passion, the

the mediaeval novelist and playwright, but the Minne-

singer was both of these in one, and, like the ancient

Before the rise of the Minnesinger, music

and also secular musicians

but the latter

HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG

very low caste.

and the modern word

called Jongleurs, or jing"

they were travelling vagrants,