FOOTNOTES:[3]Without opus number. The score was published in 1903.[4]It is intended to point out here that the composer has realized that a piece of elaborate orchestral programme-music is as authentic and legitimate a fusion of literary and musical modes of expression as is the song, the opera, or the oratorio; that a full knowledge of its subject-matter is as essential in the one case as in the others, and as little to be satisfied, in most instances, by a knowledge of the title alone. Mr. Bantock has appreciated that certain things in his music were conceived in a particular way not primarily in obedience to a musical design, but as an expression of a definite mood or picture or idea; and that he owes it to his hearers not to set his music before them without giving them at the same time full and definite information as to what it is intended to express.[5]A mute is an implement placed over the bridge of a stringed instrument to give a veiled and softened quality to the tone.[6]Those who may wonder concerning the precise significance of Shelley's poem—"unrivalled as an Ariel-like flight of fairy fancy," affirms his most succinct biographer—should turn to the poet's ironical prefatory verses addressed "To Mary, On Her Objecting to the Following Poem Upon the Score of Its Containing No Human Interest."[7]Without opus number. Published in 1906.[8]Swinburne devised an ingenious embroidery on this exquisite fragment in his "On the Cliffs.""I loved thee.—hark, one tenderer note than all—Atthis, of old time, once—one low, long fall,Sighing—one long, low, lovely, loveless call.Dying—one pause in song so flamelike fast—Atthis, long since in old time overpast—One soft first pause and last.One.—then the old rage of rapture's fieriest rainStorms all the music-maddened night again."[9]The extant examples of the verse of the Lesbian poetess comprise the Ode to Aphrodite, twenty-seven lines in Sapphic strophes; the four strophes instanced by Longinus as a specimen of the sublime: "Blest as the immortal gods is he"; and a hundred or more single lines and stanzas in a wide variety of metres. These are contained in the TeubnerAnthologia Lyrica, in thePoetæ Lyriciof Bergk, and, with English translations, in Henry Thornton Wharton'sSappho: Memoir, Text, Selected Renderings, and a Literal Translation."Among the ancients," wrote John Addington Symonds in hisStudies of the Greek Poets, "Sappho enjoyed a unique renown. She was called 'The Poetess,' as Homer was called 'The Poet.' Aristotle quoted without question a judgment that placed her in the same rank as Homer and Archilochus. Plato, in thePhædrus, mentioned her as the tenth Muse. Solon, hearing one of her poems, prayed that he might not see death till he had learned it. Strabo speaks of her genius with religious awe.... The epigrammists call her Child of Aphrodite and Eros, nursling of the Graces, pride of Hellas, peer of Muses, companion of Apollo. Nowhere is a hint whispered that her poetry was aught but perfect. As far as we can judge, these praises were strictly just. Of all the poets of the world, of all the illustrious artists of all literatures, Sappho is the one whose every word has a peculiar and unmistakable perfume, a seal of absolute perfection and inimitable grace."[10]The English translations used by the composer, and quoted here, are from Mr. H. T. Wharton'sSappho, mentioned on a preceding page.
FOOTNOTES:
[3]Without opus number. The score was published in 1903.
[3]Without opus number. The score was published in 1903.
[4]It is intended to point out here that the composer has realized that a piece of elaborate orchestral programme-music is as authentic and legitimate a fusion of literary and musical modes of expression as is the song, the opera, or the oratorio; that a full knowledge of its subject-matter is as essential in the one case as in the others, and as little to be satisfied, in most instances, by a knowledge of the title alone. Mr. Bantock has appreciated that certain things in his music were conceived in a particular way not primarily in obedience to a musical design, but as an expression of a definite mood or picture or idea; and that he owes it to his hearers not to set his music before them without giving them at the same time full and definite information as to what it is intended to express.
[4]It is intended to point out here that the composer has realized that a piece of elaborate orchestral programme-music is as authentic and legitimate a fusion of literary and musical modes of expression as is the song, the opera, or the oratorio; that a full knowledge of its subject-matter is as essential in the one case as in the others, and as little to be satisfied, in most instances, by a knowledge of the title alone. Mr. Bantock has appreciated that certain things in his music were conceived in a particular way not primarily in obedience to a musical design, but as an expression of a definite mood or picture or idea; and that he owes it to his hearers not to set his music before them without giving them at the same time full and definite information as to what it is intended to express.
[5]A mute is an implement placed over the bridge of a stringed instrument to give a veiled and softened quality to the tone.
[5]A mute is an implement placed over the bridge of a stringed instrument to give a veiled and softened quality to the tone.
[6]Those who may wonder concerning the precise significance of Shelley's poem—"unrivalled as an Ariel-like flight of fairy fancy," affirms his most succinct biographer—should turn to the poet's ironical prefatory verses addressed "To Mary, On Her Objecting to the Following Poem Upon the Score of Its Containing No Human Interest."
[6]Those who may wonder concerning the precise significance of Shelley's poem—"unrivalled as an Ariel-like flight of fairy fancy," affirms his most succinct biographer—should turn to the poet's ironical prefatory verses addressed "To Mary, On Her Objecting to the Following Poem Upon the Score of Its Containing No Human Interest."
[7]Without opus number. Published in 1906.
[7]Without opus number. Published in 1906.
[8]Swinburne devised an ingenious embroidery on this exquisite fragment in his "On the Cliffs.""I loved thee.—hark, one tenderer note than all—Atthis, of old time, once—one low, long fall,Sighing—one long, low, lovely, loveless call.Dying—one pause in song so flamelike fast—Atthis, long since in old time overpast—One soft first pause and last.One.—then the old rage of rapture's fieriest rainStorms all the music-maddened night again."
[8]Swinburne devised an ingenious embroidery on this exquisite fragment in his "On the Cliffs."
"I loved thee.—hark, one tenderer note than all—Atthis, of old time, once—one low, long fall,Sighing—one long, low, lovely, loveless call.Dying—one pause in song so flamelike fast—Atthis, long since in old time overpast—One soft first pause and last.One.—then the old rage of rapture's fieriest rainStorms all the music-maddened night again."
[9]The extant examples of the verse of the Lesbian poetess comprise the Ode to Aphrodite, twenty-seven lines in Sapphic strophes; the four strophes instanced by Longinus as a specimen of the sublime: "Blest as the immortal gods is he"; and a hundred or more single lines and stanzas in a wide variety of metres. These are contained in the TeubnerAnthologia Lyrica, in thePoetæ Lyriciof Bergk, and, with English translations, in Henry Thornton Wharton'sSappho: Memoir, Text, Selected Renderings, and a Literal Translation."Among the ancients," wrote John Addington Symonds in hisStudies of the Greek Poets, "Sappho enjoyed a unique renown. She was called 'The Poetess,' as Homer was called 'The Poet.' Aristotle quoted without question a judgment that placed her in the same rank as Homer and Archilochus. Plato, in thePhædrus, mentioned her as the tenth Muse. Solon, hearing one of her poems, prayed that he might not see death till he had learned it. Strabo speaks of her genius with religious awe.... The epigrammists call her Child of Aphrodite and Eros, nursling of the Graces, pride of Hellas, peer of Muses, companion of Apollo. Nowhere is a hint whispered that her poetry was aught but perfect. As far as we can judge, these praises were strictly just. Of all the poets of the world, of all the illustrious artists of all literatures, Sappho is the one whose every word has a peculiar and unmistakable perfume, a seal of absolute perfection and inimitable grace."
[9]The extant examples of the verse of the Lesbian poetess comprise the Ode to Aphrodite, twenty-seven lines in Sapphic strophes; the four strophes instanced by Longinus as a specimen of the sublime: "Blest as the immortal gods is he"; and a hundred or more single lines and stanzas in a wide variety of metres. These are contained in the TeubnerAnthologia Lyrica, in thePoetæ Lyriciof Bergk, and, with English translations, in Henry Thornton Wharton'sSappho: Memoir, Text, Selected Renderings, and a Literal Translation.
"Among the ancients," wrote John Addington Symonds in hisStudies of the Greek Poets, "Sappho enjoyed a unique renown. She was called 'The Poetess,' as Homer was called 'The Poet.' Aristotle quoted without question a judgment that placed her in the same rank as Homer and Archilochus. Plato, in thePhædrus, mentioned her as the tenth Muse. Solon, hearing one of her poems, prayed that he might not see death till he had learned it. Strabo speaks of her genius with religious awe.... The epigrammists call her Child of Aphrodite and Eros, nursling of the Graces, pride of Hellas, peer of Muses, companion of Apollo. Nowhere is a hint whispered that her poetry was aught but perfect. As far as we can judge, these praises were strictly just. Of all the poets of the world, of all the illustrious artists of all literatures, Sappho is the one whose every word has a peculiar and unmistakable perfume, a seal of absolute perfection and inimitable grace."
[10]The English translations used by the composer, and quoted here, are from Mr. H. T. Wharton'sSappho, mentioned on a preceding page.
[10]The English translations used by the composer, and quoted here, are from Mr. H. T. Wharton'sSappho, mentioned on a preceding page.