The record-union., 1897-04-18

longing to Schwind's daughter and con-
choly mien and dishevelled hair it is very
characteristic of the great composer.
Joseph Bennett of the London "Tele-
graph is not one of those who believe
that the symphony is an obsolete form
of music. Here is.what he says:
Notwithstanding Richard Wagner's
illumination against the orchestral SYM
phony as a played OUT musical form,
composers, who really should know bet
ter will insist on putting that great man
| in the wrong Almost the last act of
Peter Tchaikovsky was to produce a
work which has stirred musical Europe
over all its broad surface. In England,
the Pathetic" symphony of the Russian
master excites positive enthusiasm. The
public cannot hear it too often, and
short-sighted concert managers are, as
| in Wagner's case, doing their best to set
| up nausea by ministering in excess of
appetite. Why not make this god-send
| last the longer by dispensing it econom-
| ically? The main point is, however,
| that a good symphony has no less vi
| tally now than in the palmy classic
days.
New York Times: ''The absence of
fluent melody is a pretty phrase, but it
| is untruthful. To be sure, Wagner $
melodies are not east in the mold OF
the operate aria of old time. There Is
| one melody of Lucia" and another
melody of Tristan" and one melody
differeth from another in glory. just as
the stars do Wagners later dramas
are composed of numerous melodic
fragments. called leading motives"
Joined together with wonderful ingenui-
". These form the warp and wool of
| the orchestral score, while the voices
generally move independently in sus-
tanned arioso, which at rare intervals
melts into something like the Lied
stvle. There is an absence of separatae
and completed tunes, but there is not
an absence of fluent melody. The
whole of each of these works simply
| throbs and burns with melody: but,
| of course, if you are looking for Old
style of tune you will miss it. Melo-
dy" said Schumann, who was not
Wagnerite. lis the amateurs war cry,
and certainly music without melody is
no music Therefore you must under
stand what amateurs fancy the word
| means; anything easily, rythmically
pleasing But there are melodies of a
different stamp, and every time you
open Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, ETC.,
they will smile out at you in a thousand
different ways; you will soon weary, if
YOU know these, of the faded montony
of modern Italian opera melodies"
Within few years Sunday concerts
have become customary and popular in
London. and no disaster has resulted.
Efforts are now being made to over
come other ecclesiastic prejudices based
en- the erroneous notion that music is
| a mere entertainment and has no edu-
cational and refining value. The Lon
| Con Academy believes that the pro-
| hfbition of Biblical operas will one day
| be withdrawn-"the sooner the better"
| There are four composers, 1t says, who
| have written Biblical operas, which,
| in each case, are regarded by compe-
| tent critics as their best contributions
| to the stage-Mehul's Joseph" Gold
marks Queen of Sheba," Saint-Saens's
Samson ct Dalilah," and Massenet's
l"Herodiad These can be performed
on the Continent and in America, but
are tabooed in England, owing to an old
prohibition, dating back to Handles
time Music can be vulgar, but never
| immoral in itself. and the custom Of
! the church in all ages shows that it is