New-York tribune., 1897-12-20

tellectual night and knows not what is going IN
music under Of daylight. When his god
Wagner. turned TO clay. he few Bizet, and II he
to hear the music OF Richard Strauss we
fancy that he would specialize one Of his fire.
netic generalizauons and proclaim that the COM
poser instead OF man must be overcome "Once
We were apes, and ye more ape than
ape"
Let us see what is the philosophy OF Netsche
Zarathustra DR.. Reimann tells us in his analysis
OF the symphonic poem of Richard Strauss which
played by the Boston symphony Orchestra
on last Thursday night:
The great problem that Zarathustra tries TO
Of Life: all human values must be .'transvnlued,'
and therewth new order Of me universe created:
this world bevond, he is the freest of the free.
fier h,s oven self W and earhSg Witch yearnne
alone can overcome the simian" world and
ton and ofer to man-hot the happiness Of life,
for taore Is such thing-but the ,fulncss OF
exuberance Of vitality. In the pure. lofty natural
ness of the antique; in shor; IN the fgson OF Coz
shall be shared by mankind; herein shall Zarath-
TstTa be m d In mqnEd d a9h & @o
ing words. OF the fourth chapter OF Twilight OF
Midday the moment Of the shortest SHADOW: H
the, the END nd 0f t9e onfest 5sipt
Here, and thank you. is material for musical
expression. Before saying anything about Its
aiaDtabllity, let uS take a glance at what lIN
composer invited us 20 see and hear In his score
for the words that printed on the programme
are quite important the sounds that are sym
bol.zed on the musical page. In an Introduction
based theme consisting of The first. NTH and
octave OF the scale, in the key OF c, followed
bv the three tonic chords & Major. c Minor,
Major We are to hear: Thus spake Zarathustra,
the over-man, the mysterious solver Of the world
riddle" The philosopher walks among "the dwell
ers In the rear world"-fools and hypocrites who
sought the solution OF the "wcrld-ridde" In reg-
ION. Zarathustra had belonged 10 them once, and
had made God in his own image, and found him "an
insanity Ike all gods" A tremolo on the basses
invocation OF the melodc phrase TO which the
"Credo is .ntoned by the priest In the Roman Cath
olc mass organ tones and broad melody IN 4 fat
which has real pith and moment tell us this. Then
have Motive OF Yearnlng," which introduces
into the next subdivision OF the symphonic poem
which has for a superscription, "Of the Great
Yearnng" in which there is intonation OF the
"Magnihcat." well as the 'Credo' phrase. and
which gives voice 10 the poet-philosophers resou-
tion, being willing to weep out his purple
dependency" TO invite his soul to bosterous song
The acd-sweet tones OF the English horn Danish
Zarathustras purple dependency. Next the Gym
ical mystic plunges into the whiri "Of Joys ana
Passions" deneated in a wild allegro. with sweep
ing glissandos on two harps. Again in vain; like
Faust. he curses patience. He now turns 70
science, and seeks the solutlon o: the problem
which is racking him In a fugue. the subject Of
which. opening Ike nearly everything else, with
the portentous C-G-C OF the first theme. has In II
all the dlatonc and chromaiic degrees in the scale.
The thread Of the scientific discourse IS lost. and
the fugue abandoned. Next come hints OF dance
tunes blended with the symbols Of yearnns and
cursing. and of course. the pervasive CG-C OF the
beginning. A trumpet IN cracked voice. sounding
as no symphonic trumpe: ever sounded before.
twice utters call like a caricature OF the crow
OF chancleer. and the commentator tells MS In
Ne,sche's words: so learn 10 laugh your way out
o. yourselves TTn1tff ID dancers,
hiSh' higher, And forget not the good laughter!
lnls crown to the laughers, this rose-wreathed
crown 10 you, my brothers. do ! dedicate THIS
crown have pronounced laughter holy; ye higher
men Iearn-to laugh, One must have chaos in hifii-
self TO give birth 20 a dancing star" Then the
music runs out into a waltz which starts eloquent
ly with C-G-C and calls for n blessing upon Mr..
kneisers butter fiddle All the motivi thus far
used fall under the spell Of the dance rhythm and
there is tonaI orgie such never was before
on land or sea. Quiet comes again and the lis
'eher Is invited by Strauss commentator to grasp
The mood OF Netsche's night song. "An unslenced,
ho'-to-oe-siienced something is In which would
'ain become vocal A greed Of love Is In me which
Itself speaks the language OF love am Light, All
would that were Night" There come twelve bell
strokes. dimnuendo. the trombones sound far
away, ossonant chords, the keys OF Major and
Major are mixed up. higgledy-piggleay and then
comes silence, accentuated with a reiterated single
note pizzicato the double basses "Zarathustra's
oo~nfall!" says the commentator. HAS Zarathus-
IRA soNed the worio-Flddley so the composer seems
70 ASK or does the searching and yearning push
ing forward and working. suffering and downfall
begin afresh?'
What Is the riddle OF the Sphinx compared with
this! Have We not here the "Ode-Symphonie
The Plains par Jabez Tarbox," to which John
Phoeniy In prophetic outburst introduced the
last generation OF Americans. outdone? NJ. Tarbox
translated the frying OF gridde-cakes into music
- accurately that Mr. Phoenix tells W . woman