New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-07-05

were impossible for those old worthies whose eie"'
az pioneers Ii grea) to err. and an Engi'sh hs'oIy
which shall be comprehensive. yet thoroughly d,-
rested. Is still a desideratum. Worse than such
things however. are the plumbers which are perpe-
trated by Ignorant and rhapsodical writer's copying
from their kind Two volumes before us are sadly
married by this unsccntinc and unliterary loHy'
Professor George Lansing Raymond. OF princeton,
has published C.. p. Putnam's Sons) "Rhythm ana
Harmony In Poetry and Music, Tosether WIN
Music as a Representative Art; the Kew FRANK
Landon Humphreys. through Charles scr1pher >
Sons has issued The Evolution OF Church Music
Both Of these gentlemen have plainly read car
diners Music of Nature" and have taken whole
spoonfus OF fat out OF It to give strength 10 'heir
own broth. without stopping to ma OUT "he'"e'
Gardiner was right or wrong In MS statemeh's' 4"
consequence. certain seeming or fantasuc rese'h
blances between natural sounds and certain musical
nhrases are paraded at great length by Professor
Lansing not as being mere resemolances Duh hs
intentional limitations. The absurdity OF the proc
ess and the indignity put upon music DO not as
turb the author in the least. Thus Beethoven gives
'the cluck of the hem In the scherzo VI Ills
"Heroic" symphony: Haydn "yawns IN ms hi'y
seventh quartet; Beethoven "sneezes' ana coughs
IN his eighth symphony; there Is an Imitation Oh
the scolding of a woman In the overture by MOZART
N Tho Magic Flute" OF the tone OF motner
fondling her child" In Haydn's hfty-eghth quartet
while of the motif upon which Beethovens mhor
symphony is based nothing more pregnant or sig
nincant Is said than that 1t Is an imitation OF c"'
dren frshtenng one LANSING as ass makes
generous drafts from the thematc CATALOGUES , o'
Wagners Wheeling wn,en order 10 show the
delineative capacity OF music but ne nowhere 'e.'s
his readers that the titles wich enae o. mn nbyases
by Wagner and that the music would De quIte . as
admirable It IL there had never eye 1esn Of ody
Wrath" Pronunciation" or Question TO rate.
One OF the rhapsodical writers on music VINO mas mas
done much to prevent the intellectual appreciation
of music is the Rev Mr. Haweis. He Is also an
amusing writer because OF The nnmer1usness d,a
stupendousness OF the blunders which ne cofnmlts
The Rev Mr. Humphreys. who writes on the nvo-
luton Of Church Music with the preIac,ory SAM
ton of the Right Rev Bishop Potter quotes one
Of these plumbers though without credlt-a blunder
which almost amounts to a wicked mlsrepresenta-
melody and text Of which composers are sometimes
guilty Mr. Humphreys i,own M IN the re to2ts
Them with the music may be impossible as In
webers Der Freischutz when me hrst , ine .,
and aT the CORRESPONDING line Of the second Oh what
te .r 1ri' All my bosom Now this is wicked mis-
rep lSe simple reason that Weber never adapted
the same music to such widely contrasting senti-
n@n,jsman who made the English version Of the
opera and who probably had keener ap,reca,,oan
capacity a. theatrical censor than he had reverence
for the dramatic methods OF the German COMPOSER.
In the original the two stanzas they are from the
familiar scena sung by Agathe) runs as follows:
Ieise less fromme Wese.
Schwing' d!ch auf yum Sternen-Kreise.
Lied erschae, feiernd VALE
Mein Gebet EUR Himmelshalle!
IN dir wendc ich die Hande
Herr ohm Aufang und Ohm Ende!
Won Gefahren uns zu Warren
Sende define Engelschaaren.
The entire utterance Is prayer. and the stanzas
arc soma ted BY passages Of reci,ative. Now note
the English version upon which the reverend gentle
men challenge the intelligence and taste OF Weber:
Softly signs the voice of evening
Stealing through yon willow grove.
While the stars. like guardian spirits.
Sit their nightly watch above.
Oh what terrors I'll my bosom,
Where my Rodolph dost thou rover
Oh may heavens protection shelter
Him my heart must ever love.
II will be seen that the English adapter did not
even attempt the frcest kind OF translation,
but changed the German librettist's prayer into
sollloquy Yet In an English edition or the opera
Roosey's the editors, Arthur Sullivan and j. Pitt
man compliment themselves or the fact that par
tIcular care has been taken that the music does
not suffer in its adaptation 70 the three languages
German. English and ltal'an).