New-York tribune., 1897-12-20
the audience started up with the exclamation

| mad wae the Chapclmaster Kreissler. who wore
| a C-sharp coorcl coat with an E-major collar
| and who. striking jangling C-major chord on
wrecked pianoforte. made 1t say: Let us dance
| over open graves with wild rejoicing; let us shout
| for Joy. for those below cannot hear us. Hurrah
hurrah. Dance and iollity: the devil is riding In
with drums and trumpets!" Can music really de-
scribe for US an Enpishman who has gone into
foreign parts changed his religion and forgotten
his umbrella? Can 1t tell us the day Of the week
and whisper to us OF those purple longings which
! make cry with the sad poet:
Oh, to be waited away
From this black Aceldama OF sorrow,
Where the dust OF an earthly to-day,
Is the earth of dusty tomorrow!
Oh micke Is the powerful grace that lies In
tones chords. rhyhms and their true qualities but
| can they do that?
strauss's symphonic poem is the latest we fear
not the last. word of cacophony, instrumental com
bn0tion and thomatic transmogrihcation In music.
but in principle 1t illustrates reversion to the aims
and methods OF the programmatc composers VINO
lived in the babyhood of programmatic music Two
hundred and twenty-five years ago Froberger wrote
| n suite In which the passage across the Hhihe OF
| the Count Won Thurn and the danger he was ex-
posed 10 from the river were most clearly set pe-
fore the eyes and ears Of the listeners III twenty!
| six little peCes-at least Mattheson snys ne oid.
Some years Kuhna, told six Bible stories IN rs
| many sonatas written for the harpsichord kuhnau
| was Bach's predecessor and had a high opinion
| OF the expressive capacity of music-f words were
| brought to It's aid Sadness or Joy In the ABSTRACT
| he held could be expressed by music alone, hut ne
enlisted the aid Of words when he wished to have
distinction drawn between the lamentations or sad
Uezekiah q weeping Peter mourning Jeremiah
lie was stanch believer In the potency or wordS'
| and ingenious in his defence Of composer whose
name has not got into the record bu. VINO was
almost as subtle as Richard Strauss. This com
| poser had written a piece which he called la
Medica" in which he described the whines Of the
natient and his relaions-it will he noted that ne
d!d not forget to indicate the seX-the running ol
the latter TO the doctor. and the pouring forth ~
| their eorrow The piece ended with gigun under
which stood the words: The patient Is progressing
| favora blv bu, has not quite recovered his health
AT this" says Kuhnau. "some mocked and were
OF opinion that had 1t been in his power the a"'hor
might well have depicted the JOY OF perfect recoV-
| orv 60 far however as I could Judge there was
| good reason for adding words TO the music Inc
sonata began in d minor; in tho giGne there was
| constant meditation toward 6 minor AT the hha'
close the ear was not satisfied and expected the
| closing cadence in c." Therefore the patcht was
| not quite well. Could anything he clearer Ter
| tainly not TO Kuhnau who quite as clever rs
| tho composer Of la Med!ca" in inc Invention of
| devices TO make music explicit ore OF MS h"-
usche H!storien" told the story OF Gideon tho
! Savior of Israel. In this story GIDEON ASKS n
sign from God that He would save lsrae' pE ms
! hand-he would put n fleece upon the moor ana Il
on tho morrow the fleece should 10 found 10 he wet
with dow and the earth dry then would he accept II
40 the desired sign And IT But Gideon
was unsatisned and wanted another test-let "
| now be dry only upon the fleece, ana upon al '"'
ground let there be dew And God did so tha'
nieht-for {, was dry upon the fleece only ana th"f'
was dew on all the ground The composer OF inc
Pastoral" symphony might have been siumpei oy
the task of setting such phenomenon 10 must
but not so Kuhnau. He introduced " 'h'ihe 10
| -eDresent the dcwy fleece and the dry ground ana
then wrote it backward 20 represent the de"y
ground and the dry fleece and the thing was done
And so Richard Strauss can ring the changes on
c G c. the Grcgorian intonation OF the Credo ana
Magn!Acat, set dozen phrases, all properly
labelled 20 simmer in the cauldron OF his wonder
fully ingenious technical knowledge take OF inc
scum and presen, the philosophy Of Harathustra
"freely after Nietsche." as the musical resdnum
Ponder the words OF schumann. the ideal composer
OF programme music: 1T Will always be bad sign
for a composition II 1t requires n superscrption
! Such music cannot have gushed out from the SOUL
but must have been instlgaed hy exterhai heehcies
That our art Is capable OF giving expression 10
many things. the progress OF an occurrence OF
rs wav->yho will venture to deny that But those
h, ,,ish tn test the effect and the value OF their
creations of such origin have a simple means-tHey
need but TO erase their supcrscrlptlons
There was an interesting Indication OF how the
N,s,cal Art Society IS extending Its usefuIhess az
an educator at its last concert IN Carnegie Han ~
mas been tho rule heretofore the first part Of The
programme was devoted to old "A capela chnrcA mu-
sic. the second 20 secular competitions Inc HFS'
part was divided between songs In worship OF tho
Virgin Mary and two Protestant Christmas hymns
the second 10 the first set OF Branms's charming
Law. Songs wal,zcs, for pianofor;e duet with
four voices ad libtum, and TWO Russian par; songs
! by a hitherto unknown composer. Gretchhninow. IL
was in these pieces hat the society disclosed eS-
tension OF rs mission 10y anordins rs patrons an
opportunlty 20 get acquainted with music strongly
tincured with national character. one OF the pieces
was based upon folksong. the other was an orisi-
nal ART song but in both cases the audience was
cornpelled 10 recognize the attributes which are
commanding attention for the Russian School There
was any amount Of daring in the harmonizatior OF
the pieces and also IN the Instrumental handling OF
the voices ana the effects obtained were fascinating
enough TO win such hearty admiration that II
I seemed for awhile as II repetition OF the folk
song would be compelled. Notwithstanding that It
was the last piece the programme. In the art
song-a song OF autumn in which the poet describes
the chasing OF the fallen leaves before the wind
the composer has invented descriptive melody and
also introduced deep bass part which calls for
voices Ike those peculiar 10 Russian choirs The
;wo songs among the best performances OF the
/ evening though the keencst enjoymea. was mani
tested after the singing OF the simple and beautiful
old ave Maria" by jacques Arcadelt. NJ. Ysaye
was the solo performer OF the evening and. though
ne gave much pleasure In Handel sonata. which
he played IN an appropriately dlgnhed and admir-
able manner, he caused the judicious 10 grieve by
the impury OF his playing In some modern
pieces which were besides IN keeping with the
character OF the concert
I The series Of chamber music recltals which Mr.
Arthur Whiting is giving IN OF the OF the
Fine Arts Building with members OF the Knesel
Quartet had delightful beginning yesterday
when Mr.. Whiting played Schumann's quartet, op
A. and Brahmss quartet. op %. with Messrs
Kneisc syecenski and Schroeder. and two move
8 ments from Brahms's sonata for pianofor,e and
voloncolo with Mr.. Schroeder. The series was
given last season In the house OF "A well-known