Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1877-03-14
Musical Sensations.

cnes were Quilt IN SomerSetsnire.-
FortRightly Rerier.
Musical Sensations.
Now We can explain, perhaps, why
is it that our musical sensations are diff
ferent in small rooms and in large ones,
or, to speak more closely, why the rela-
tfOns between the volume of sound and
the space to be filled must be suitable
in order to produce the right effect.
can sit close to piano and listen to
''Lied ohne Worte." | can take in
every infection of touch with ease, not
arefinement is lost, but if | go to the end
OF long room, the impact is less direct,
the pleasure is less intense; the player
must then exaggerate all his effects,
hence a loss of refinement and ease.
/ Public players and singers constantly
make shipwrecks thus in private rooms.
Accustomed to vast spaces, they roar
and the only reason why they unknOw-
ingly applaud on such occasions, and
the only difference, as far as they are
concerned, between the professional
and the amateur, is simply that the
/ first is so much louder than the second.
/ This makes them clap their hands and
cry ''bravo" But in reality they are
applauding a defect.
The only musical sounds which really
master vast spaces like the Albert Hall
are those of a mighty organ or an i'm
msnse chorus. The Handel Festival
chOruses are fairly prOportiOned TO the
Crystal Palace, but on one occasion,
when a terrific storm burst over Syden-
ham in the midst of "Isrsel in Egypt"
every one beneath that crystal dome
felt that, acOUstically, the peal of
thunder was very superior to the whole
power of the chorus, because the rela
tion between the space to be filed and
the volume of sound required to fill it
was in better proportion.
But there is still something which
has not yet been said for small sounds
in large places. Transport yourself in
Imagination TO the Albert Hall on some
night wnen, as IS usually the case,
there is but scanty orchestra, and
presently new mystery Of sound will
reveal itself to you. Atfirst you win be
disappointed. Any one can hear that
the hall is not properly occupied by tine
sound; the viOlins should be trebled At
least, several of the wind instruments
doubled, &c. You think you will not
listen to this charming f Hat symphony
Of Mozart; you cannot help thinking
that you lose delicate infection here,
a staccato there, flute tone, pianissi-
mo on the drum, or a whole piece of
counter melody, owing TO the scattered
conditions of isolated vibrations lost in
space.
Bat you have still something to learn,
something like new musical truth,
which few people seem yet to have no
ticed. Listen! The sounds from the
band reach you too late perhaps. They
are not Simultaneous; the impact on the
ear is somewhat feeble; you must even
strain attentively to catch what is pas
sing, but the more you do so the easier !
it becomes, just as the eye, i'll looking
through lens, may see all dim, but
gaze on until the objects become sharp
and clear. The nerves of the eve have |
adapted themselves 10 the new condi- |
tion; the longer you look the better
you see. So in these vast uncOmforta- !
bic spaces, the longer you listen the
better you hear. A certain special |
training is required, and then gradu- |
ally a new quality is pereeived-we |
must give the process a new name
"sOund filtering." The Albert Hall |
and the Crystal Palace are great sound |
filters. From this point of view, which |
it requires some delicate and attentive |
ear-culture to appreciate, new delights |
are born from the defective space, con !
ditions usually complained of. | have |
heard the voice of Madame Lemmens- |
Sherrington in the extreme distance at 4
the Crystal Palace, when she was ex-
erting herself to the utmost, and it /
sounded like a voice from heaven, full |
of unearthly, far-away sweetness; the
same intensity and volume in small |
room would have been intolerable. l |
have heard Bottessini on the double |
bass in the open air with similar effect. |
Listen TO an orchestra or quartet, |
however fine, in moderate-sized room;
there is the cat-gut, the resin, the |
serape, the bite of horsehair on strings;
the earthly cannot be completely got |
rid of; but space will filter all that, and |
leave nothing but a kind of spiritual 1
disembodied sound, like the tones of
those plugged pipes in the organ that
seem to steal out of some remote cloud
land with a certain veiled sweetness /
that makes us hold cur breath.
Since have learned to listen to these |
peculiar effects in all their strange gra-
datioDs, new class of musical impress
ions has been revealed to me, and |
have become much reconciled to hear
ing music in vast spaces. do not go /
there for the kind of normal impress |
ions, for the direct study, for the |
strong, immediate impact gained from
music in a moderately-sized room-I |
lose much ofall that-but gain num-
Der of new abnormal effects, which
also have power over certain hidden |
depths and distant fastnesses of the
emotional region.-GOod Words.
DIR. William Harvey, the originator
of the Banting cure, died recently in
London. The Banting cure received its
name from its first patient, who was