New-York tribune., 1900-05-12
MUSIC.
ForRTH DAY OF THE FESTIVAL AT
CINCINNATI.

rrnov STAFF CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRrBUNEl
Cincinnati May 1.-THE concert OF the Music
Festival to-day devoted to two works of the
new not 10 say sensational school-Liszt's Faust
z,-nohonv and the TIE Deum'' OF Berlioz-highly
ro3o-ed music ali of II. vast pomp and circum-
stance attending. the proclamation of things which
ACQUIRED most Of their value from the manner of
their utterance. The fact that three hundred boys
from the public schools were take part in the
~Te Deznl- and that it had been trumpeted forth
as the large feature OF the Festival had led to
expect & elimination OF popular interest tonight
but I had forgotten the point which was potently
Illustrated Wednesday night.
High above the interest in the music Of I.iszt or
Berloz far beyond the curiosity hear new and
angular music, * your popular love of the prina
5onna and there no prina donna in to-night's
concert. In fact there only solo singer
and though il was Ben Davies the public seemed
70 think that the sight of the quartet wednes-
day Ghe sight merely for little was heard from
theul outweghed in value the Welsh tenor Liszt's
symphony and Berlioz's TIE Deum."
Yet the audience superb and the en-
.husiasrn commensurate with the occasion when
Il had chance 10 break forth in the phantas-
uaagoria which Berlioz conceived a tribute to
Bonaparte.
This wss the fourth performance of Berlioz's
'Te Deum' IN the United States. The first took
,lace in Chicago on December l. 1887 the second in
Boston on January % 1sSs; the third in New-York
on May 8 1881. the festival with which Carnegie
Hall was opened and which honored with
L
asd not hear the Chicago performances and there
fore cannot speak Of rs merit either positively or
comparatively. The that ! do is TO tell
Of the distribution of forces that occasion. and
compare The figures with those of the other three
performances which have heard. and also with
the requirements OF Beriozs score. Perhaps I
might say, in addition since my failure 10 do
q former occasion caused heartburnngs in Chi
cago that the Apollo Club. which sang the work
there, the equal of the contemporaneous Gin
rim 1Ofr in of CjSinr and
quality Of tone though in volume. A COM
parave study is Of interest TO those who would
reach understanding OF Berliozs music and the
interpretations which some Of il receives here and
abroad I make distinction. for I have yet 10
hear OF a single performance of one of Bertozs
great Works-or shall I call them his architectural
monumental cyclopean works?-in which his
wishes in respect of the participating forces
even approximately fulfilled Yet something ap-
preaching his wishes is essential if the effects
which Berlioz dreamed Of are TO be attained His
imagination was fantastically and gigantic in
the carrying out Of ideas which were in them
serves not at all striking He colorist. dis
temper painter who could have made the sides of
Cheops erubescent Il a recognition of this
quality in his which led Heine 10 lken him
strangely with colossal nightingale and a
gigantic lark and say that his music had
something primitive and prirneval about il. and
suggested thoughts of vast mammoths or other X
tnct animals Of fabulous empires filed with fabu-
Ious sins Beroz professed be fattered by
Heine's comparisons. but whenever he talked about
his music he selected the very things for praise
which suggested least justified Heine's char
acterlzaton-the climax Of his Requiem, with
its four brass bands and the "Judex crederis"
OF the "Te Deun," which he himself set down
as his greatest creation, though he admitted
that ne agreed with musicians generally
IN liking best the love scene from his
Romeo and Juliet" symphony. The fact is that
Berlioz could not help being theatrical He
extravagant in small things and wildly, grotesquely
fantastic in great A simple thought simply stated
had no value with him; but he knew better than
any other musician that ever lived how TO make a
commonplace sound awe inspiring. and his appeals
were always elemental He aimed TO crush and over
wheIm, 10 stem reason and loose fancy and emo
ton Yet he professed TO believe that Heine had
been misled by his apparatus into nisunderstand-
ing ms style The pieces that led Heine astray
are exceptional. because they require exceptional
methods, he said, and continued: In the
Requiem for instance. 1 employ four distinct
brass orehestras answering each other at certain
distances round the main orchestra and chorus.
In the 'Te Deum' the organ one end of the
church answers the orchestra and two choirs the
other, while a third large choir represents the
mass OF the people, taking part from time time
in vast sacred concert. But il is more especially
the form Of the pieces, the breadth Of style and
the unusual extent and apparent vagueness of
some Of the progressions that give those works
their strange gigantic physiognomy and colossal
aspect The result Of this immensely Of form is
that either one misses the drift of the whole or IS
crushed by tremendous emotion
What Berlioz calls here "inmensity of form" is
not immensfty Of form at all, but immensity and
coTnpiexity OF apparatus Always when thought
u festal occasions large and lurd visions took
session Of his fancy. Thus he dreamed Of 4
festival 10 employ all the musical forces OF Paris
Being primarily colorist, he returned TO the
Bachian relationship between singers and instru-
nentalists. and while his choir was to number $50
his band was TO contain 4s7 players. and among
the Instruments were 10 be thirty harps, thirty
ptanoforres organ eight pairs Of kettledrums
with ten drummers. besides side and bass drums;
SIX sets OF bells TWO great bells and twelve pairs
Of ancient cymbals in different keys. ChoraIly IL
would De z simple matter meet his require
rnents in the TIE Deum, but instrumentaIIy it is
quite impossible. The four harps Of Mr. Thomas's
band cannot co the work required by the twelve
demanded in Berlioz's score.
II great spectacular function which filed
the composers mind when he conceived the TIE
Deuu' ard this determined the style Of the
composition, its forces and the method Of their
employment Berlioz designed IL a portion Of a
sort Of epicaI drama in honor OF Napoleon Bona
parte, which he called The Return of the First
Consul from His italian Campaign" The surviving
relics Of this vast scheme are TO be seen In the
Instrumental march. Pour la Presentation des
Drapeaux,' and the magnitude and disposition of
the forces employed in the work He imagined
Napoleon returned from Italy with the trophies OF
his Victories, entering the cathedral Of Notre Dame
ard being received with grand Outburst of sound
from ali portions Of the cathedral An orchestra Of
"a instruments and choirs Of 100 singers each
We're send up their voices from 4 platform at
one END Of the cathedral, and a grand organ
20 echo the iUbIlation from other end. Between
the antiphonal forces 70 be placed a third
chorus Of six hundred children VINO We're TO join
II the music intervals representatives OF the
congregations. Like others Of the gigantic
schemes OF BerIioz the epicaI was never car