MODERN MUSIC
MODERN MUSIC
INTRODUCTION
The direct sources of modern music are to be found in the works of Berlioz, Chopin, Liszt, and Wagner. This assertion savors of truism, but, since the achievement of these four masters in the enlargement of harmonic idiom, in diversity of formal evolution, and in intrinsic novelty and profundity of musical sentiment and emotion remains so unalterably the point of departure in modern music, reiteration is unavoidable and essential. It were idle to deny that various figures in musical history have shown prophetic glimpses of the future. Monteverdi's taste for unprepared dissonance and instinct for graphic instrumental effect; the extraordinary anticipation of Liszt's treatment of the diminished seventh chord, and the enharmonic modulations to be found in the music of Sebastian Bach, the presages of later German romanticism discoverable in the works of his ill-fated son Wilhelm Friedemann, constitute convincing details. The romantic ambitions of Lesueur as to program-music found their reflection in the superheated imagination of Berlioz, and the music-drama of Wagner derives as conclusively fromFidelioas from the more conclusively romantic antecedents ofEuryanthe. But, despite their illuminating quality, these casual outcroppings of modernity do not reverse the axiomatic statement made above.
The trend of modern music, then, may be traced first along the path of the pervasive domination of Wagner;second, the lesser but no less tenacious influence of Liszt; it includes the rise of nationalistic schools, the gradual infiltration of eclecticism leading at last to recent quasi-anarchic efforts to expand the technical elements of music.
If the critics of the late nineteenth and the twentieth centuries have successfully exposed not only the æsthetic flaws in Wagner's theory of the music-drama, but also his own obvious departures in practice from pre-conceived convictions, as well as the futility of much of his polemic and philosophical writings, European composers of opera, almost without exception, save in Russia, have frankly adopted his methods in whole or in part. Bruckner, Bungert, d'Albert, Schillings, Pfitzner, Goldmark, Humperdinck, Weingartner, and Richard Strauss in Germany; Saint-Saëns (in varying degree), Chabrier, Lalo, Massenet (temporarily), Bruneau and Charpentier (slightly), d'Indy, Chausson, and Dukas in France; Verdi (more remotely), Puccini, and possibly Wolf-Ferrari in Italy; Holbrooke in England, are among the more conspicuous whose obligation to Wagner is frankly perceptible. In Germany the most prominent contributors to dramatic literature, aside from Cornelius, withDer Barbier von Bagdad, and Goetz withDer Widerspenstigen Zähmung, have been Goldmark, Humperdinck, and Richard Strauss. The latter, with an incredibly complex system of leading motives, an elaborately contrapuntal connotation of dramatic situations, aided by an intensely psychological orchestral descriptiveness, has reached the summit of post-Wagnerian drama. His later dramatic experiments—a ruthless adaptation of Molière'sBourgeois gentilhomme, containing the one-act operaAriadne auf Naxos, and the ballet 'The Legend of Joseph'—are distinctly less representative examples ofhis dramatic resourcefulness. In France, the Wagnerian influence is typified in such works as Chabrier'sGwendoline, d'Indy'sFervaal, and to a lesser extent Chausson'sLe Roi Arthus. Bruneau's realistic operas and Charpentier's sociologicalLouisebelong, first of all, to the characteristically French lyric drama in which the Wagnerian element is relatively unimportant. In Debussy'sPelléas et Mélisande, Dukas'Ariane et Barbe-bleue, Ravel'sL'Heure espagnole, and Fauré'sPénélope, we find a virtually independent conception of opera which may be almost described as anti-Wagnerian. In Italy, the later Verdi shows an independent solution of dramatic problems, although conscious of the work of Wagner. Puccini is the successor of Verdi, rather than the follower of Wagner, although his use of motives and treatment of the orchestra shows at least an unconscious assimilation of Wagnerian practice, Mascagni and Leoncavallo are virtually negligible except for their early successes, and one or two other works. Younger composers like Montemezzi and Zadonai are beginning to claim attention, but Wolf-Ferrari, combining Italian instinct with German training, seems on the way to attain a renascence of theopera buffa, provided that he is not again tempted by the sensational type represented by 'The Jewels of the Madonna.' Opera in England has remained an exotic, save for the operettas of Sullivan, despite the efforts of British composers to vitalize it. Holbrooke's attempt to produce an English trilogy seems fated to join previous failures, notwithstanding his virtuosity and his dramatic earnestness. Russian composers for the stage have steadily resisted the invasion of Wagnerian methods. Adhering, first of all, to the tenets of Dargomijsky, individuals have gradually adopted their own standpoint. The most characteristic works are Borodine'sPrince Igor, Rimsky-Korsakoff'sSniégourutchka,Sadko,Mlada,Le Coq d'Or,and Moussorgsky'sBoris GodounoffandKhovanshchina.
In the field of orchestral composition, the acceptance of Wagner's procedure in orchestration is even more universal than his dramatic following. If his system follows logically from the adoption of valve horns and valve trumpets, the enlargement of wind instrument groups and the subdivision of the strings, its far-reaching application is still a matter of amazement to the analyst. Even if it be granted that Wagner himself predaciously absorbed individual methods of treatment from Weber, Meyerbeer, Berlioz, and Liszt, the ultimate originality of his idiom justified his manifold obligations. German composers, except among the followers of Brahms, appropriated his extension of orchestral effect as a matter of course, the most notable being Bruckner, Goldmark, Humperdinck, Mahler, and Strauss. If the two latter in turn can claim original idioms of their own, the antecedents of their styles are none the less evident. French composers from Saint-Saëns to Dukas have made varying concessions to his persuasive sonorities; even the stanch Rimsky-Korsakoff fell before the seduction of Wagnerian amplitude and variety of color. Glazounoff, Taneieff, Scriabine, and other Russians followed suit. Among English composers, Elgar and Bantock fell instinctively into line, followed in some degree by William Wallace and Frederick Delius. If Holbrooke is more directly a disciple of Richard Strauss, that fact in itself denotes an unconscious acknowledgment to Wagner.
If Liszt has had a less all-embracing reaction upon modern composers, his sphere of influence has been marked and widely extended. To begin with, his harmonic style has been the subject of imitation second only to Wagner up to the advent of Richard Strauss and Debussy. His invention of the structurally elastic symphonic poem remains the sole original contributionin point of form which the nineteenth century can claim. For even the cyclic sonata form of Franck is but a modification of the academic type, and was foreshadowed by Beethoven and Schumann. The vast evolution of structural freedom, the infinite ramifications of subtle and dramatic program-music, and the resultant additions of the most stimulating character to modern musical literature rest upon the courageous initiative of Liszt. In France, Saint-Saëns' pioneer examples, though somewhat slight in substance, prepared the way for César Franck'sLes ÉolidesandLe Chasseur maudit, Duparc'sLénore, d'Indy'sLa forêt enchantée, the programmisticIstarvariations,Jour d'été à la Montagne, Dukas'L'Apprenti-sorcier, Debussy'sPrélude à l'Après-midi d'un fauneand the Nocturnes (programmistic if impressionistic), Florent Schmitts'Tragédie de Salomé, and Roussel'sEvocations. In Germany, Richard Strauss' epoch-making series of tone-poems, fromMacbethtoAlso sprach Zarathustra, combine descriptive aptitude and orchestral brilliance with a masterly manipulation of formal elements. Weingartner'sDie Gefilde der Seligenand Reger's Böcklin symphonic poems may be added to the list. In Russia, Balakireff'sThamar, Borodine's 'Sketch from Central Asia,' Rimsky-Korsakoff'sScheherezade(although a suite), Glazounoff'sStenka Razineand other less vital works, Rachmaninoff's 'Isle of the Dead,' Scriabine's 'Poem of Ecstasy' and 'Poem of Fire' mark the path of evolution. Smetana's series of six symphonic poems entitled 'My Home' result directly from the stimulus of Liszt. In Finland, Sibelius' tone-poems on national legendary subjects take a high rank for their poetic and dramatic qualities. If in England, Bantock's 'Dante and Beatrice,' 'Fifine at the Fair' and other works, Holbrooke's 'Queen Mab,' Wallace's 'François Villon,' Delius' 'Paris' and Elgar's 'Falstaff' exhibit differing degrees of merit, the example of Liszt is still inspiriting. Moreover, theLisztian treatment of the orchestra, emphasizing as it does a felicitous employment of instruments of percussion, has proved a remarkable liberating force, especially in Russia and France. Liszt's piano idiom has been assimilated even more widely than in the case of the symphonic poem and orchestral style. Smetana, Saint-Saëns, Balakireff, and Liapounoff occur at once as salient instances.
The contributory reaction of Berlioz and Chopin upon modern music has been relatively less direct, if still apparent. It was exerted first in fertile suggestions to Wagner and Liszt at a susceptible and formative stage in their careers. Both have played some part in the awakening of Russian musical consciousness, Berlioz through his revolutionary orchestral style and programmistic audacity, Chopin through his insinuating pianistic idiom, which we find strongly reflected in the earlier works of Scriabine. Some heritage of Berlioz can undoubtedly be traced in the music of Gustav Mahler, although expressed in a speech quite alien to that of the French pioneer of realism.
It may be remarked in passing that the influence of Brahms has been intensive rather than expansive. This statement is entirely compatible with a just appraisal of the worth and profundity of his music, nor can it in any way be interpreted as a detraction of his unassailable position. But in consideration of the absence of the coloristic and extreme subjective elements in Brahms' style, and in view of its conserving and reactionary force, the great symphonist cannot be regarded as specifically modernistic. Still, with his extraordinary cohesiveness of form and vital rhythmic progress, both in symphonic writing, chamber music and piano pieces, Brahms has affected Reger, Weingartner and Max Bruch in Germany, but also Glazounoff, Rachmaninoff, Medtner, Parry, and others outside of it.
With the four symphonies of Brahms the long evolution of the classic form in Germany has apparently come to an end with an involuntary recognition that little more could be attained upon conventional lines. The symphonies of Bruckner emphasize this realization. Following in Wagner's orchestral footsteps, both their structure and their ideas are of unequal value, in which separate movements not infrequently rise to sublimity of expression and dramatic fervor. While opinion is still divided as to the merit of Mahler's ten symphonies, they represent isolated instances of powerfully conceived and tenaciously executed works whose orchestral eloquence is in singularly apt conformity with their substance. After a precocious and conservative symphony, composed at the age of nineteen, which pleased Brahms, Richard Strauss waited twenty years before attempting in theSymphonia Domesticaso elastic a form as almost to escape classification in this type. Despite much foolish controversy over the programmistic features of this work, its brilliant musical substance, its fundamental and logical coherence, and the remarkable plastic coördination of its themes constitute it a unique experiment in free symphonic structure. In France, the symphony has evolved a type somewhat apart from the Teutonic example, although an outcome of it, namely, the cyclical, in which its themes are derived from generative phrases. After three innocuous specimens (one unpublished) Saint-Saëns' third symphony shows many of the attributes of classicality. César Franck's symphony in D minor embodies most of his best qualities, together with much structural originality. Lalo's more fragile work in G minor displays a workmanship and individuality which entitles it to record. Chausson's Symphony in B-flat, despite its kinship with Franck, possesses a significance quite beyond its actual recognition. D'Indy, after composing an excellent cyclic workupon a French folk-song, produced his instrumental masterpiece with a second in B-flat, which for logical structure and fusion of classic elements with modernistic sentiment deserves to be classed as one of the finest of its time. If Russian symphony composers have not as a whole reached as high a mark as in the freer and more imaginative forms, nevertheless Rimsky-Korsakoff, Borodine, Balakireff, Glazounoff, Rachmaninoff, and Taneieff have displayed sympathy with classic ideals, and have achieved excellent if not surpassing results within these limits. The symphonies of Parry, Cowen and others in England have enlarged little upon the conventional scope. Elgar raised high hopes with his first symphony in A-flat, but speedily dismissed them with his second in E-flat. Sibelius, in Finland, having given proof of his uncommon creative force and delineative imagination in his tone-poems, has also exhibited unusual originality and vitality in his four symphonies. The last of these virtually departs from a genuine symphonic form, but its novelty alike in ideas and treatment suggests that he, too, demands greater elasticity of resource. For the problem of combining the native style and technical requirements of the symphony with modern sentiment is one of increasing difficulty.
The field of piano music, chamber works, songs and choral works is of too wide a range for detailed indication of achievement. The piano music of Balakireff, Liapounoff, Rachmaninoff, Scriabine, of Grieg, of Franck, Debussy, Dukas, and Ravel, of Cyril Scott and others merits a high place. The chamber music of Smetana, Dvořák, Grieg (despite its shortcomings), Franck, d'Indy, Fauré, Ravel, of Wolf, Strauss and Reger deserves an equal record. The songs of Wolf and Strauss, of Duparc, Fauré and Debussy, of Moussorgsky, of Sibelius; the choral works of Franck, d'Indy, Pierné, Schmitt, of Delius, Bantock, Elgar and otherEnglishmen are conspicuous for technical and expressive mastery.
Apart from the general assimilation of the innovating features due to Wagner and Liszt, the most striking factor in musical evolution of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries has been the rise of nationalistic schools of composition. These have deliberately cultivated the use of native folk-song and dance-rhythms, and in the case of operas and symphonic poems have frequently drawn upon national legend for subjects. One of the earliest of these groups was the Bohemian, whose leader, Smetana, already mentioned in connection with the symphonic poem, chamber and piano music, also won a distinguished place by his vivacious comic opera 'The Bartered Bride,' known abroad chiefly by its inimitable overture. If Dvořák promised to be a worthy disciple of a greatly talented pioneer, his abilities were diffused by falling a victim to commissions from English choral societies, and in endeavoring to emulate Brahms. In reality he was most significant when unconscious, as in the Slavic Dances and his naïve and charming Suite, op. 39, although his symphony 'From the New World' and certain chamber works based upon negro themes are as enduring as anything he composed. Hampered by a truly Schubertian lack of self-criticism, his path toward oblivion has been hastened by this fatal defect, although his national flavor and piquant orchestral color deserve a juster fate.
In the Scandinavian countries Grieg, and, to a lesser degree, Nordraak, as well as Svendsen and Sinding tempered nationality with German culture. Grieg, the more dominant personality, was a born poet, and imparted a truly national fervor to his songs and piano pieces. In the sonata form he was pathetically inept, despite the former popularity of his chamber works andpiano concerto. Certain mannerisms in abuse of sequence, and a too persistent cultivation of small forms, have caused his works to lose ground rapidly; nevertheless Grieg has given a poetic and nationalistic savor to his best music that makes it impossible to overlook its value.
A coterie of accomplished and versatile musicians which yields to none for intrinsic charm, vitality, and poetic spontaneity is that of the so-called Neo-Russians, self-styled 'the Invincible Band.' Resenting Rubinstein's almost total surrender to Teutonic standards, and scorning Tschaikowsky as representing a pitiable compromise between Russian and German standpoints, they revolted against conventional technique with as great pertinacity as did Galileo, Peri, Caccini, and Monteverdi in the late sixteenth century. Their æsthetic foster-father, Balakireff, for a time dominated the studies and even supervised the composition of the members—Borodine, Cui, Moussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakoff. Ultimately, each followed his own path, though not without a certain community of ideal. Aiming to continue the work of Glinka and Dargomijsky, both in opera and instrumental music, they wished to use folk-songs for themes and to utilize national legends or fairy stories. But they could not resist the alien form of the symphonic poem, and with it the orchestra of Liszt, and, while they opposed the Wagnerian dramatic forms, one at least, Rimsky-Korsakoff, could not withstand the palpable advantages of the Wagnerian orchestra. Their works combined the elements of western and oriental Russia, adhered largely to folk-song or elements of its style, and in the opera embodied folk-dances, semi-Pagan worship and ceremonial with striking nationalistic effect. Many of their orchestral pieces have taken place in the international repertory of orchestras; of the operas a smaller number have penetrated to European theatres. While thenationalistic operas of Rimsky-Korsakoff are little known beyond Russia, they show his talent in a broadly humanistic and epic standpoint, hardly hinted at in his orchestral works. Moussorgsky'sBoris Godounoff, one of the finest operas since Wagner, claims attention from the fact that it attains dramatic vitality from a standpoint diametrically opposed to Wagner. The influence ofBoris Godounoffis palpable as forming the subtle dramatic idiom ofPelléas et Mélisande.
Glazounoff, Taneieff, and Glière represent the cosmopolitan element among Russian composers of to-day. Of these Glazounoff is the most notable. His early symphonic poem,Stenka Razine, gave promise of an original and brilliant career, but instead he has become steadily more reactionary. Among his eight symphonies there is scarcely one that is preëminent from beginning to end. His ballets,Raymonda, 'The Seasons,' and 'Love's Ruses,' have been surpassed by younger men. His violin concerto is among his most able works. A master of technique and structure and a remarkably erudite figure, his lack of progressiveness has been against him. A younger composer, Tcherepnine, is known for his skillful ballets, 'Narcissus,' 'Pan and Echo,' and 'The Pavilion of Armida,' which incline, nevertheless, towards the conventional. Rachmaninoff is also of reactionary tendencies, although his piano concertos and his fine symphonic poem, 'The Isle of the Dead,' have shown his distinction.
The rise of the modern French school, largely owing to a patriotic reaction after the Franco-Prussian war and the liberal policies of the National Society, has brought about one of the most fertile movements in modern music. The transition from the operas of Gounod, Thomas, Bizet, and the early Massenet to those of Chabrier, Lalo, d'Indy, Bruneau, Charpentier, Debussy, Dukas, Ravel, and Fauré is remarkable for its concentrated progress in dramatic truthfulness. Similarly,beginning with the eclectic and facile Saint-Saëns, the more romantic and fearless Lalo, and the mystic Franck, through the audacious Chabrier and the suave and poetic Fauré, including the serious and devoted followers of Franck, d'Indy, Duparc, de Castillon, Chausson, and Lekeu, the versatile Dukas, to the epoch-making Debussy with the younger men like Ravel, Schmitt and Roussel, French instrumental music has developed, on the one hand, a fervently classic spirit despite its modernism and, on the other, an impressionistic exoticism which is without parallel in modern music. Aside from a vitally new harmonic idiom, which in Debussy reaches its greatest originality despite d'Indy, Fauré, and the later developments of Ravel, the attainment of racially distinct dramatic style in such works as Debussy'sPelléas et Mélisande, Dukas'Ariane et Barbe-bleue, Ravel'sL'Heure espagnole, and Fauré'sPénélopeis one of the crowning achievements of this group. Furthermore, following the examples of the younger Russians, the ballets ofJeuxandKhammaby Debussy,La Périby Dukas,La Tragédie de Saloméby Florent Schmitt,Le Festin de l'Arraignéeby Roussel,Orphéeby Roger-Ducasse, and, most significant of all,Daphnis et Chloéby Maurice Ravel, have given a remarkable impetus to a genuine choreographic revival.
There has been no nationalistic development in England comparable to that in other countries, although there has been no lack of serious and sustained effort to be both modern and individual. The most important of British composers is undoubtedly Elgar, who has attained something like independence with his brilliant and well-made orchestral works, and more especially for his oratorio 'The Dream of Gerontius.' If Elgar only carried on further a systematized use of the leading motive as suggested by Liszt in his oratorios, it was done with a dramatic resource and eloquence whichmade the method his own. Bantock, gifted with an orchestral perception above the average, showing a natural aptitude for exoticism, achieved a successful fusion of eclectic elements with individuality in his three-part setting of the Rubaîyat of Omar Khayyám. Other choral works and orchestral pieces have met with a more uncertain reception. William Wallace has been conspicuous for his imaginative symphonic poems, and the insight of his essays on music. Frederick Delius, partly German, has maintained a personal and somewhat detached individuality in orchestral, choral and dramatic works of distinctive value. Josef Holbrooke has been mentioned already for his unusual mastery of orchestral technique, and his courageous and ambitious attempts in opera. Many younger composers are striving to be personal and independent, though involuntarily affected by one or another of existent currents in modern music. Of these Cyril Scott attempts a praiseworthy modernistic and impressionistic sentiment, in which he leans heavily on Debussy's harmonic innovations. Thus, while English composers have been active, they have fallen to the ready temptations of eclecticism, a growing force in music of to-day, and in consequence their art has not the same measure of nationalistic import as in Russia, France, and Germany.
In the meantime, as the musical world has moved forward in respect to structure from the symphony to the symphonic poem, followed by its logical sequence the tone-poem, in which the elements of various forms have been incorporated, so has there been progress and even revolution in the technical material of music itself. Dargomijsky was probably the pioneer in using the whole-tone scale, as may be seen in the third act of his opera 'The Stone Guest,' composed in 1869.Rimsky-Korsakoff elaborated on his foundation as early as 1880 in his operaSniégourutchka. Moussorgsky showed unusually individual harmonic tendencies, as the first edition ofBoris Godounoffbefore the revisions and alterations by Rimsky-Korsakoff clearly demonstrate. After casual experiments by Chabrier, d'Indy, and Fauré, Debussy founded an original harmonic system, in which modified modal harmony, a remarkable extension of whole-tone scale chords, the free use of ninths, elevenths and thirteenths are the chief ingredients. Dukas has imitated Debussy to some extent, Ravel owes much to him; both have developed independently, Ravel in particular has approached if not crossed the boundaries of poly-harmony. Scriabine, following the natural harmonic heritage of the Russians, has evolved an idiom of his own possessing considerable novelty but disfigured by monotony, in that it consists chiefly of transpositions of the thirteenth-chord with the alteration of various constituent intervals. What he might not have accomplished can only be conjectured, since his career has been terminated by his sudden death. Although Richard Strauss has greatly enlarged modern harmonic resource, his results must be regarded on the whole as a by-product of his contrapuntal virtuosity. In his treatise on harmony Schönberg refers to his 'discovery' of the whole-tone scale long after both Russians and French had used it, but it is noteworthy that Schönberg arrived at the conception of this scale and its chords with an absolute and unplagiaristic independence.
The most recent developments affecting the technical character of music are poly-harmony, or simultaneous use of chords in different keys, and free dissonant counterpoint. Striking instances of the former type of anarchic experiment may be found in the music of Igor Stravinsky, whose reputation has been made by the fantastic imagination and the dramatic sincerityof his ballets 'The Bird of Fire,'Petrouchka, 'The Ceremonial of Spring,' and 'The Nightingale.' In these he has mingled Russian and French elements, fusing them into a highly personal and extremely dissonant style, which in its pungent freedom and ingenious mosaic of tonalities is both highly diverting and poignantly expressive. Stravinsky is one of the most daring innovators of to-day, and both his dramatic vitality and the audacity of his musical conceptions mark him as a notable figure from whom much may be expected.
If Maurice Ravel, as shown in his balletDaphnis et Chloé, was a pioneer in poly-harmony, Alfred Casella, of Italian parentage but of French education, has gone considerably further. Similar tendencies may be found in the music of Bartók, Kodály and other Hungarians.
It seemed formerly that Strauss had pushed the dissonant contrapuntal style as far as it could go, but his style is virtually conventional beside that of the later Schönberg. Schönberg has already passed through several evolutionary stages, but his mature idiom abjures tonality to an incredible extent, and he forces the procedures of free counterpoint to such audacious disregard of even unconventional euphony that few can compass his musical message. Time may prove, however, that tonality is a needless convention, and it is possible to declare that there is nothing illogical in his contrapuntal system. It lies in the extravagant extension of principles of dissonance which have already been accepted. It is indubitable that Schönberg succeeds in expressing moods previously unknown to musical literature, and it is conceivable that music may encompass unheard-of developments in this direction, just as poly-harmony has already proved extremely fruitful.
The developments of poly-harmony and dissonant contrapuntal style prophesy the near inadequacy of our present musical scale. Busoni and others havelong since advocated a piano in which the sharps and flats should have separate keys. As music advanced from the modes to the major and minor keys, and finally to the chromatic scale, so the necessity for a new scale may constitute logically the next momentous problem in musical art.
Within recent years, the barriers of nationalism have become relaxed. An almost involuntary interchange of idioms has caused music to take on an international character despite a certain maintenance of racial traits. Eclecticism is becoming to a certain extent universal. Achievement is too easily communicable from one country to another. In some respects music was more interesting when it was more parochial. To prophesy that music is near to anarchy is to convict one's self of approaching senility, for the ferment of the revolutionary element has always existed in art. Since the time of Wagner and Liszt, however, musical development has proceeded with such extreme rapidity as to endanger the endurance of our traditional material. Poly-harmony, dissonant counterpoint and the agitation for a new scale are suspicious indications. Disregarding the future, however, let us realize that the diversity and complexity of modern music is enthralling, and that most of us can readily endure it as it now is for a little longer.
Edward Burlingame Hill.
May, 1915.