Dargomijsky was one of the older generation, a sort of father confessor to the neo-Russian group. This group worked under the inspiration of Mily Balakireff (1837-1910), a young enthusiast with fine visions and a considerable knowledge of music, mostly self-learned. It was he who first of all gave the great emphasis to the use of folk-songs in Russian composition and this he made the cornerstone of the new school. As members of his little group he was lucky enough to have two geniuses of very nearly the first order, one Modest Moussorgsky (1835-1881) and the other Nicholas Rimsky-Korsakoff (1844-1908). Balakireff’s own songs show artistic qualities of a high order; they are marked by unfailing taste and proportion and range over a broad field of expression, nearly everywhere successfully. But, though his artistic and critical sense was superb, he had not the creativeness of most of the group. One man who has done much finer work in song than he is Alexander Borodine (1834-1887). Borodine entered the neo-Russian group as a mere amateur, but he became filled with the new enthusiasms and set himself to work in earnest. The high and consistent creative level of his work, considering his short and interrupted study and the smallness of his output, is amazing. He wrote some twelve songs in his lifetime and fully half of them are masterpieces. Borodine was courageous in his attitude toward new musical principles and extremely happy in his use of the new materials. Expressive dissonance, in particular, he uses with rare effectiveness. The ballad or romance entitled ‘The Sleeping Princess’ is surely one of the finest things of its kind in existence. The spell of the enchanted forest, the calm beauty of the sleeping princess, are suggested in a succession of major second dissonanceswhich weave a web over the mysterious melodies of the accompaniment. The same power of creating ‘atmosphere’ with simple means is shown in ‘The Sea-Queen,’ which is an exquisite inspiration. The romance, ‘A Dissonance,’ is a gem of concentrated lyricism. But the most original of Borodine’s songs, one of the most memorable of the whole Russian product, is ‘The Song of the Dark Forest.’[33]This is written purely in the Russian idiom, with a great and savage melody which is irresistible in its vigor. The accompaniment only duplicates the voice part, with the addition of dissonances that sound forth like trumpet blasts. With his handful of songs and his definite quantity of genius Borodine has made a place for himself in the history of lyric music.
César Cui (born 1835), who was in early years the press agent of the neo-Russian group, need be mentioned here only to be passed over. His song output is generous and nearly always marked with much grace and good taste. But Cui took less stock in the adoration of the folk-song than the other members of the group and his art product is in every way weaker. Rimsky-Korsakoff combined an intense feeling for the native Russian idiom with an exhaustive knowledge of the technique of music and produced a large number of works which, while being truly Russian, seem not unnatural to western ears. He is shown in romantic vein in two early songs, ‘On the Georgian Hills’ and ‘A Southern Night.’ His oriental songs are perhaps the best known of his lyric works. In these the greatest modern master of musical exoticism has brought vividly to our ears not only the phrases, but the very spirit of the east. The ‘Hebrew Love Song’ may be taken as one of the best of the group. But the greatest of the neo-Russian group, the greatest Russian composer hitherto, and one of the great composersof all musical history, was Moussorgsky. This man was utterly absorbed in the Russian folk-song and based his style on nothing else. He had the faculty of genius which goes straight to the heart of something new and produces his result without seeming effort. Few musicians of the nineteenth century have spoken with so individual a voice. The world is only beginning to appreciate the greatness of his operas. As for his songs, they have made their way even more slowly, but where they are once known they are never forgotten. Moussorgsky’s many remarkable qualities are not to be set down in a single paragraph like the present. Suffice it to point out his harmonic originality, which made use of atmospheric chords, unusual scale combinations, and powerful modulation long before Debussy’s time (Debussy, in fact, confesses to have learned much from Moussorgsky); his freshness of inspiration, which has produced some of the most glorious of melodies; and his unsurpassed ability in the delineation of character and mood. His songs are not a great many, but there are few of them that are not masterpieces. His pictures of peasant life are marvellous in their persuasive picturesqueness. As an example we may quote the ‘Peasant Cradle Song,’ one of the greatest of songs anywhere. The ineffable pathos of the beginning, the strange ethereal light of the end, are hardly to be paralleled in the whole range of song. But it is more than a mere lullaby; it is a peasant’s lullaby and the music almost makes us see the poor hut in which the mother croons her song. Another lullaby, the ‘Cradle Song of the Poor,’ is hardly less appealing, but is totally different in design. Another song showing Moussorgsky’s highest genius is theHopak, a long piece with admirable picturing of various phases of Russian character. The song is tremendously effective in concert.
Moussorgsky’s three song groups are all of the highest rank. In the Nursery Songs he has done whatno other composer has ever done better, and not more than two or three have done so well. He has depicted the events and emotions of a child with the simplicity of spirit of a child. The songs, however, are not simple technically—so much the contrary that, composed in 1868 to 1870, they are prophetic of future musical procedure. This freedom and delicacy of delineation had never been seen in songs before. The four ‘Death Dances’ are tremendous songs of grim tragedy; in ‘Death and the Peasant’ the accompaniment depicts the indifference of nature at the fate of the peasant who is dying in the snow after a debauch. The most amazing product of Moussorgsky’s lyrical genius, however, is his last group of six songs—‘Where No Sun Shines.’ These, written in the later years of his life, under the influence of the deepest pessimism, are perhaps the most intense expression of spiritual despair in all song literature. The extraordinary technical method of these pieces, hardly less than that of the remarkable children’s songs, was Debussy’s chief guiding light in the early years of the development of his style. In absolute musical value these six last songs stand very high and ‘By the Water’ has few parallels in song literature.
The remaining Russian song writers can be summed up briefly. Antony Arensky (born 1861) is the composer of many songs, graceful and pleasing but not highly original in style. Sergius Taneiev (born 1856) inclines to the conservative and classical, but is an able musician and capable song-writer. Alexander Glazounoff (born 1865) has worked with most success in the smaller forms and in his graceful songs has put much that is charming, though little that is genuinely inspiring. His work is marked by its extraordinary suavity and taste. Michael Ippolitoff-Ivanoff (born 1859) has composed some ninety songs, distinguished by a straightforward honesty of method and healthfulnessof feeling. Sergei Rachmaninoff (born 1873) is a much greater man than those we have just named and a masterful song-writer. He is not always, however, writing in the strenuous eastern idiom. ‘Before My Garden’ and ‘Lilacs’ are excellent in the conventional way. But he has written at least one truly great song of genuine Russian inspiration. This is ‘Oh, Thou Billowy Harvest Fields,’ which deserves to rank with Borodine’s ‘Song of the Black Forest’ in daring and stark power.
Since the time of Grieg, song writing in Scandinavia has flourished. The chief Norwegian exponent of the art is Christian Sinding (born 1856), a hardworking and sincere artist, with occasional flashes of something near genius. His many songs include settings and adaptations of Norwegian folk-songs, which he has handled with rare taste. He has put something of their directness into his own art, for he is one of the best of the modern song-writers in his power of getting the nub of an emotion in a few notes. His song product is uneven, for much of his work has been hurried and routine in quality. But there are many pieces of superior character and these reveal a quality which is above all things lyrical.
Emil Sjögren (born 1853) is probably the foremost song writer of Sweden. He is not a man of power. His range of expression is limited to the graceful and tender. Much of his work is of the second order. But very often he produces lyrics of quite original beauty. Among these we may mentionDu schaust mich an,Jahrlang möcht’ ich, andIch möchte schweben. The second, in particular, should prove highly effective in concert. Of recent years Sjögren has cultivated the new harmonic style with much industry and acquisitive talent. He has, in fact, changed his style completely. Itis doubtful if he can be said to be wholly successful in his metamorphosis. He seems over-concerned with details and fails to attain cogency of form.
Jean Sibelius (born 1865) is the greatest of Finnish composers and is rapidly coming to be recognized as one of the greatest in the world. We must remember that the Finns are dominantly Teutonic, and that culture has been Teutonic in the past and not Russian or Mongolian as is sometimes supposed. But Sibelius has developed a marvellous individuality of expression which is at once expressive of him and of his nation. Some of his songs are epoch-making in their form and method. In the more graceful lyrical mood Sibelius is often charming. We may mention ‘Idle Wishes’ and ‘Oh, Wert Thou Here’ as of this class. In the simple folk-style Sibelius is even more individual. ‘A Little Flower Stood on the Wayside’ is a thing of remarkable tenderness and beauty. But it is when Sibelius strikes his national idiom that he is at his greatest. This idiom is characterized by long, slowly-moving, angular phrases, with frequent repetitions of the same note. The style is admirably presented in the long song ‘To Frigge.’ The accompaniment is scarcely less simple than the voice part, yet it is truly delineative. The song is a model of pure genius creating something quite new and very beautiful out of materials so simple that they have been left by the wayside as useless.Des Fahrmanns Bräuteis a very long ballad of great strength. But Sibelius is at his greatest and most original in the ‘Autumn Evening,’ a song which has no fellow anywhere. Sibelius’s method here is unique. The song is almost recitative, but the various irregular phrases of the voice have an incisive quality which makes them rank as descriptive. The accompaniment is little more than a chord support at most points, but now and then rises into great delineative power. The method is one of selection until only the essentialsremain. Each unit of expression which Sibelius has here used is ideally fitted for its purpose. Moreover, the song, though free in the extreme, has a close structure which is entirely convincing. The originality of this song should ultimately make a deep impression on current song-writing.
In latter-day England song-writing has risen to a dignity and importance which it had not possessed since the time of Purcell. With Arthur Goring-Thomas, whom we have already mentioned, a new note of artistic sincerity entered the art. This was continued by an unusually talented man, Arthur Somervell (born 1863), who has composed some of the best song cycles of recent times. Somervell is by no means a radical in his method. But his lyric sense is keen and his invention fertile. His cycle from Tennyson’s ‘Maud’ attains rare fidelity and tragic intensity. Among his other numerous songs are the two cycles, ‘A Shropshire Lad’ and ‘James Lee’s Wife,’ the latter scored for orchestral accompaniment. These both show his happy invention and his high musicianship. A song-writer who has gained a much more glittering reputation less deservedly is Edward Elgar, whom people regard for some reason as the chief representative of modern English song. As a matter of fact, Elgar’s song output has been slight and has not pretended to show the best he was capable of (as Reger did attempt to show inhissongs). There is little of Elgar’s forceful musicianship which comes across to us in these songs. The ‘Sea Pictures’ have made their effect chiefly through the effective orchestration which their composer provided for them. Considered as independent music, they are inferior and somewhat conventional. The best is probably ‘Where Coral Lies.’ ‘The Swimmer’ will serve tosuggest Elgar’s descriptive style. The conventional, in fact, hangs over most of Elgar’s songs. The one which notably escapes it is the beautiful lyric, ‘My Love Lives in a Northern Land,’ which is worthy to be signed by a first-class musician. Of the others we may mention ‘Queen Mary’s Song,’ which, with its accompaniment in imitation of a lute, is effective in concert; ‘Through the Long Days,’ The Shepherd’s Song,’ and The Pipes of Pan.’
Granville Bantock (born 1868) may justly be called a radical modern composer, whereas Elgar has much of the classical reserve about him. Bantock’s very great ability and learning sometimes produce rather chaotic results, the more so because his output is unusually great. But frequently it produces results that are altogether admirable. To singers he is known chiefly through his ‘Songs of the East.’ These are published as cycles, as follows: Songs of Egypt, Songs of India, Songs of Persia, Songs of the Seraglio, Five ‘Ghazels of Hafiz,’ lyrics from ‘Ferishtah’s Fancies,’ Songs of China, and Songs of Japan. The exoticism of these many songs is rarely genuine and Bantock’s facile technique extends over them all to make them seem rather too much alike for the good of his reputation. But theeffectof exoticism is frequently attained with rare skill and the musical standard is kept far higher than is usual in this class of music. Bantock’s powerful technique, which is obviously influenced by Richard Strauss, is to be studied to advantage in many of these songs, especially the more pretentious ones. From the Songs of Egypt we should mention the majestic ‘Invocation to the Nile,’ the mystical song ‘The Unutterable’; and the poignant ‘Lament of Isis.’ Of the Hindoo songs that of the Nautch girl is ever memorable for its effect of fierce physical motion. The songs from Persia include two of high quality, the ‘Drinking Song’ and the ‘Hymn of the Ghebers.’ Let us further pick out, asamong the best, the Persian Love Song from the ‘Songs of the Seraglio’; and the ‘Shah Abbas’ and ‘Mahirab Shah’ from ‘Ferishtah’s Fancies,’ the last remarkable for its expression of physical pain. The songs of China and Japan are in no way unusual. Nor are the six Jester Songs, though they sometimes catch the joy of life in engaging fashion. But Bantock has one very ambitious work, the cycle of fragments from Sappho, which is sufficient to put him in the front rank. It is hard to describe the richness of the technique he has lavished on this work. We should find it difficult to name anything similar to it in its peculiar emotional intensity. The best that Bantock has to show of his art (his instrumentation aside) is all to be found in this remarkable group of songs. Every one of them is admirable, as is also the very long introduction. But one remembers especially the opening number, the ‘Hymn to Aphrodite,’ dramatic and passionate; the painfully beautiful song, ‘The Moon Has Set’; the masterful description of ‘Peer of the Gods’; and the profuse musical richness of ‘In a Dream I Spake.’ Possibly these songs will in later years be judged too pretentious. But while the judgment is still unmade we must regard with the highest respect the musician who has done this thing in the musical conditions that have prevailed in England.
It only remains to speak of the most radical of the young English composers, Cyril Scott (born 1874). He broke away completely from the traditional English style, founded on conventional church music, and embraced the ‘atmospheric’ manner of the modern Frenchmen. In this style he has displayed great energy and no small amount of inventiveness. It remains to be seen whether he can make his influence permanently felt in music. His songs well exemplify the general style of his music. The best are ‘Lovely Kind and Kindly Loving’ and ‘Why so Pale and Wan,’ both from opus 55. Others which should be mentioned are ‘My Captain’(to Walt Whitman’s words), ‘A Reflection,’ and ‘Afterday.’ The song writing of the modern English school has not yet gathered body. It is only beginning to make itself felt beyond the seas. But it has already shown so much vigor and independence that we may justly look for abundant and fine results from it.