The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-01-17

can understand to have a sublime mean
ing, but what meaning can there be In
Bach organ fugue or Beethoven sympho-
ny? The musician is apt TO be short with
such inquirers. The fact is that he has no
answer to give. The only answer is the
music 1t is precisely because 1t expresses
the things that cannot be put into words
that music has become the great and po-
tent art that IL is. IL a sonata could be put
into words IL might as well be made a short
story or poem in the first place. Intel
lectual people sometimes say that music is
not intellectual because il has no meaning
as expressed in words. This is giving too
narrow and distorted q sense to intel
lectual. The inventor who constructs out
or thousands of parts a complex machine
which does the work OF hundreds of men,
the chemist who deals with new-found
substances 10 which no photographer has
given q name. might find 1t difficult 10 re-
cord his mental operation in words, but the
work Is none the less intellectual. And the
same is true of the musical composer.
Moreover in these days Of improved psy-
chology ii is no longer possible 10 cut off
treat them as different organs from the in
tellect and TO restrict the latter to merely
ratiocinative processes. Music proves moth
ing, TO be sure, perhaps it tells US nothing.
but in the broader sense ii is intellectual in
high degree. Mr.. Henderson well says:
In music the art lies in the music itself.
Music must ever be studied from within,
not from without. AS it is the absolute
prototype in nature or life, IL can be cog
niZed only by the human intellect. The
pretty melody may give pleasure, the ear
may be ravishe by the multifold sweetness
of the orchestral sound, but the esthetic
organism which constitutes a work of art
is completely lost unless one listens with
the mind.
DEMAND TOO MUCH.
The problem is TO get habitually serious
minded people, who seek Inner meanings"
in Browning, and want to find a moral
lesson in everything, to feel this. They
are the people who worry the musical prop
agandist. They are prone TO demand of
music what it is not in the power of music
to give and to miss not only the simple
pleasure OF tone, but the intellectual joy
of the realization OF a noble and beauti-
full design II may be suggested that such
persons often first really enter the realm
of music by means of music which is pro-
found and sublime. Many who find the
sonata form tedious, proliX and mean
ingless yield TO the spell of solemn Bee
thoven adagio. Here is something positive
"a profound emotion expressed in man.
ner which moves the nearer as would be
impossible with words. Hearers OF this
type. which is perhaps specially common
in New England, could hardly do better
than to take course in the slow move
ments of the Beethoven sonatas, especial
ly the noble largo of OPP. 10, No. 3, and the
corresponding parts OF the "Pathetique'
and the .Appassionata." Also the slow
movements of the quartets and sympho-
MES.
When the note of subimity has been
mastered, the varied gamut of musical ex-
preston, from grave to gay may be more
confidently essayed, with the hope of de-
irving equal pleasure. But the main thing
is to know what to look for and what not
to expect, and here some of the popular
books on How to Listen TO Music" How
to Understand Music" etc, may have their
value. Better still is to go to a competent
teacher and get lessons not in piano
playing or singing, but in music. With a
little sound guidance and moderate
amount of concert-going, any person not
tone-ueaf and gifted with certain de-
to have a genuine insight into the nature
greatest works. 1t is mistake to suppose
that one must begin with so-calied ''popu-
lar music, and work up TO the classics.
In the case of persons of strong and active
minds the mistake Is specially fatal. In
Beethoven and Wagner they may recognize
master intellects, even while the details
of their works are but dimly perceived,
while trivial music would be only a source
of irritation. No doubt there are shallow
natures which find irksome anything more
serious than q waltz, but the people who
take up music with set resolve to master
ii or die in the attempt are not apt TO
be Of this kind And the serious and
thoughtful people those that the
musical propaganda would specially like
to convert