New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-12-28

uCh nm liner
it is entirely mpraeticable its harmonic treatment
for tae Of church and exquisite Ineioaies-
positions for the Church by
frdns Schubert, true child
OF Vienna's greatest musical
epoch, are worthy OF the
composer OF so many beauti-
full songs and remarkable
instrumental works. mass
especially remark able with
regard TO q characteristic
harmonic treatment, so en-
trely 1mbued with schu-
bert's spirit, and rich in ex-
quisite meiodic CHARMS
Vol. H., PIP 1884
This certainly is an instance in which the at
tempt 20 alter the phraseology" has resulted IN
changing the meaning of the thought" Inc Ut
erary oomprdchcO has dls6gured the stolen offspring
One AT least of the transformed sentences has lost
all its sense and another has lost its accuracy Or.
Ritter saws that one of Bccthovens masses is lm-
practicable for the Church which is true. MT.
Challoner alters this statement so as to make IL
apply to both masses, although he ought to know
that the mass IN is in the standard repertory even
of American cbors. The cOmical introduction OF
the few lines about Schubert i'm SIR. ChallOners an
swer to his question about Beethoven is explained
by the fact that the Schubert passage happened 10
come next i'll Ritter, so our compiler threw IL H.
haphazard, without caring whether II was peril
ncnt or not. If we bear in mind that the plaglar-
isms of which we have given samples extend to at
least seventy-ive closely printed octave pages COW
erng by far the most important portion OF the
work we shall have no difficulty in approaching
Mr. ChalOner'S feelings when he declares that he
does not deem it necessary to name III detail"
his authorities.
Let us now examine, the quality of Mr. Chal-
toner's original contributions to the volnme He
states that Guido of Arezzo twhom he often and
always calls Aretlua. as if he had been woinanl
invented tho system of musical scale or ganut,'
substantially as We have it, and that his improve
ment consisted in adopting the use OF IRE lines as
now forming the modern staff; and in another
place he says thai Guido substituted flee lines
for the one formerly used 1t Is hardly necessary
to tell a student of music that Guido adopted Jour
lines instead of the tico previously employed, and
that the fourline staff was still in general use cen
turies after his death. Mr.. Challoner also tells us
that Guido wrote a tract entitled microloJ and
treatise datiphonqriam." These titles are neither
Latin nor English nor common Mr.. Chal-
loner got them as well as the mistake of Aretna
instead of Aretnus or AIetno, from Moore's blum
dering Encycop;edia of Music >; and it is easy to
see how lie obtained his astonishing statement
about the fveline staff by a misnterpretatiOn
of the same wretched authority. still grosser
error is the statement propos OF Hucbalds
"Organum" that " consecutive tOarths. hfths. and
octaves, are not tolerated at the present day"
Curious TO trace the origin of such mistake, we
turned to the parallel passage in Ritter where we
read "The specimens which the learned monk
gives us of the harmony or Orsanun III use id ms
time are very Grade and sound to our ears not very
pleasant; as he employed and. according to the
renowned old Greek system, allowed. only success
sion of perfect c0nsonants which are the fourth,
the fifth and the octave That is plain enough.
Everybody knows the modern rule about lfths and
octaves but what is the objection TO consecutive
fourths Mr. ChalOner is unfortunate with fourths
and ffths He says that kettle-drums are tuned
commonly to the fifth OF the fourth of one another,
but there instances IL Which tbs ordeT IS ~
rcrted" We doubt whether he myself has any idea
what this means: he has probably met with an eX-
PLANTATION somewhere OF the method of tuning the
drums and has travestied without understanding
it, Describing the organ and its divisions he onlts
the swell organ; when there ale three manuals he
saws, they are the great the choir and the solo.
The instruments called trombones" were copied
from sackbut dug mp at Herculaneum or Pompeii
and presented to George " by the King Of Naples.
professor of music, if he is not aware OF the
antIduity of trombOnes. ought not 10 be ignorant
of the great effects which Gluck produced with
them nearly half q century before the time of
George ". But is is another of the instancesin
which Mr.. Chaloner missed the meaning OF the
thought " by rashy mixing mp the language of his
Authority. His reckless naccuracy is illustrated
again by his account of the four successive Neither
landsh schools represented respectively by Dufay,
Okeghem Josquin des Pres, and Willaert. Ho
borrOws it all from Ritter, but spols it in tho
Transcription. "Thc " canon and fugue," he says,
as aiordng the greatest freedom and facility for
prolress in the art of counterpOnt," the chief
study Of the school Of Dufay. On the same
page occur this question and answer: ~. Who was
the principal composer and teacher of the Flemish
school after Dufayl A.-John Okeghcm (Ocken
helln) the patriarch of music the iHrenor Of the
canon and Of artificial cOURtTp0at in general" This
fat contradiction can be explained by referring TO
Ritter. who says: Okoghcm was for long lime
considered the patriarch of music, the inventor OF
the canon and IN general of artificial cOunteIpont
BIT as hare already shOwR great and important
school preceded him" Here MIR ChalOncr both stole
the language and reversed the sense. We must not
forget to add that our author also attributes the
invention of counterpart to Guido Aretina, four
hundred years before either Dufay or Okeghem.
st. Ambrose, we are told, lived 80 years before
Christ. Queen Elizabeth abolished Papacy."
The establishment Of the Church of England him
dered the progress OF music and in 1914 organs in
churches and chapels ordered to Ice taken
down-a deed for which Mr.. ChallODer evidently
believes the Church of England to have been re-
snonsibe =" 1t appears reasonable to attribute the
origin of music to mankind The origin Of music
was the song of the birds. Mercury Orpheus, and
Hercules are treated rs authentic historical char
acters "Sinfonia" is Greek. So are the words
= hvmcnae" and jalemc," by which Mr.. Challoner
probably means "hymenaios" and "ialemos,"
marriage song and dirge. John Sebastian Bach
devoted himself entirely to building up the form Of
instrumental music" Did Bach. then write no
vocal musicf Some Of the sketches oI comp sers
are the Queerest things in the book Tor NJ. ChaI-
loner seems to lack ordinary diletta lte ac-
ouaintance with famous works. Ii should be re-
marked that most of the great musicians are
sketched twice-frst in the historical part largely
borrowed. and again in a chapter specially devoted
- hin-rnLhical nnlice-. md indmstTioms reaaers