The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-01-10
MUSIC AMONG THE ARTS.
Music Club, Jan. 4. 1895, by Mr
VIM. Il. Williams.

W., n U-iIIioms
1,-.,-aD
IL we LOOK pack upon 'he Hieeh anu i'O
man civilization of some 2,O-0 years ago. we
will see that two great arts had there
reached q nerfection never since eoualled
w.. C,u..;',, 49,. :, .,,,,,,+,,r, md arcbi-
Ing "ieO'"" 'a9'e III ..
lecture resulted IN WORKS WhlcH an suo9e-
quent criticism has regarded as model
works and SO far as we can now see, VIII
he co REGARDED for an indefinite time to
NC % iee wv i0' on
come.
At that epoch, music, as we now know
II NAV he said to have been quite I'M
! known Had those Grecian artists been
] told that $50 years later. art critics would
| have attempted to describe their great
masterpieces as frozen music. they would
| have worried themselves TO death trying
to imagine what such a comparison could
| mean
| About century and a half ago we will
! find from the history and@ literature Of
! that period that music was lust beginning
/ to be admitted into sisterhood with the
! other arts-yet only kind of Cinderella
! sisterhood But the work of such giants
as Bach. Handel and Gluck although of
course then only fmperfectly understood
and appreciated had forced the cultured
world to recognize that there was more
in music than had ever been dreamed of
during the long centuries which had de-
veloped the imposing array of illustrious
painters. whose splendid work had easilv
elevated painting to pre-eminence among
the arts.
Yet the function and scope of music
was very inadeduatelv racoanizod tbon
as we may learn from the critical writers
of that time. Perhaps our best illustra
ton may be found in Lord Kames' cole
brated and admirable hook .',The E,Ja-
|
around 1850
Music. he said. was unite unified tn ex
press any but pleasing emot;ons- couI5
not be rightfuliv adaptad 70 tbe exnres-
sion of passionate grief or any violent
passions, because such were NOT what he
! called pleasing" II is trre he said
| that the Italian and French coronoeors
had been recently endeavoring 70 nt3l,ze
| music in that wav but necessarily with
out success. Very likely. If Lord Kames,
had been personally more intimately ac-
quainted with the Italian and French on
eras to which he alluded he would have
| broadened his views and NOT Insisted on
the scope of music as being So limited
But as another century passed the
sighted sister became the favortte the
| ugly duckl6ng became q swan. or ia mr.
sue our former aIlusion the Sinner Of
poetry that universal poetry which needs
no words, and which is the lie and sonl
or art was found to tit the foot of Cin6pr-
| ella better than that of anv of her sisters
A glorious succession of insured masters
had done more to advance music in orr
century than had previously heen SLOWLY
and laboriously Accomplished in more tban
| twenty
And how does music now stand in the
affections of the vorId9
1t is recognized as the divine art. il has
more adherents, more disciples. more SIN
dents, than all the other arts combined
! The inhabitant of rural barnIet NAV
| have in his modest dwelling as sneciroane
of the pictorial art only a crochete5 motto
| God Bless Our Home" and two or three
| tea store chromos. the Whole husiness
| probably not worth $40. but tbe ia mill, hoe
found the money to raise s2o0 o,. s95o For
a piano We need not dwell at roo much
| length upon the degree of artistic avneri-
ence which that niano is Iikely, TO ,,nia,l+o
during its earthly piIgrimage blt il is t6o
| pride and delight of The fanoi;,, ara 10 sor,,o
extent of such neisbhors as ,,aI, ~ ~
able to ACQUIRE one Themselves
Even the churches have bee,, aro,,so7 10
the importance. Of music ana ite ros,',n ~
and ennoblinp inAuoncos. go ~
least rituaIlstic ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ~
realizing that an arfistia ~,
steal service is hetter tbon ~
dolefuI chants which tbei, ,,oo,+Cr. 49,.
ed alone fi.tno for no No., - ~, 49,
uary Thus we soc mnsie nov, a. ~ en-
side of thf masses affnrdfnr, o.ig III
recreation dnring The hriaf 80 ~ gn't
10 the sons ana 5o,,at,tor 80 ~ w ie7S
il in the bouea of ,,,orsbi -, ~ i a.,
huence 70 ave- ~ -, q 4esiuitiS "
ana nobio ,bi,,r. IN 'iio Ss MS 70 ms llsr
r5iristori,,., nir see II az last az
which CO.,, 10 tnSn' .Ie VI y coilsolat
| mo 80 ~ IT, &c W ~ neai - oiioN
| 8a,;9 49, - q NePs'i teu loNeu one
,,,hiat 1881 even nov ~ Ihe advance
" ~ lS - inaAlIs III .he aiIections
arc soclelles eAlst ana
/ 81 Deiis o's%Iii1eu III every quarter OF
ne the clvIlIzep sIooe, yer, strange 10 say
10y az Neis many people otherWlse cui-
Ire, ,uIe"' " no are avsoiuleIy ue4cieht IN any
Hillu ol regard LOT music. Lake Charles
1ahp, WHO sdlp some ihree-quarters OF a
century ago mat ne cared pothlng for mu-
T.c-ue'Ssteu symphony " course
hathp knew nothing OF muslc-lacklns,
| as ne sala' an ear Tor music ne had never
stuoleu a. OtherWlse' such nnely-strung
critlc anu true poet as ne was would nave
| seen that a man OF general culture can
a q han