New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-12-19

The personal note is sounded loudly in TINS
hook In fact il rings in the readers ear as per-
sSst1nrly ss ever the imaginary tone haunted the
disordsred faculties OF Schumann. Smetana ana
Jullen II is evident that Mr. Finck wished 10
have n So The London Athen@um once re-
ferred 10 him as "a typical exemplar OF what
NAV be called free thought in music and he
quotes the remark with satisfaction, says that
the reader will find considerable free thought In
thfs hts latest book and is willing that he shah
he hath ANNOYED and sngered by IL. Then he puts
glasses on nose pencil behind ear and proceeds TO
the manufacture OF a musical Baedel0er, turning
over the pages Of volume after volume OF songs
and marking those that win live forever with
two stars those that have some merit with one
and consigning 10 everlasting redemption the
thousands that remain II is Mr.. F1Eck's musical
credo that Wagner was the greatest Of all mNs'-
clans: that second place is shared by Chopin
Liszt and Rubinstein: that Schubert and Bach
are entitled TO much respect. AMI that Beetho-
ven Mozart and Haydn chiefly interesting
from an historical point Of view. He cannot WORK
out the consequences Of this belief fully IN
discussion OF single form Of composition such
as his book is devoted 10. for two reasons-hrst'
some u his transcendent heroes have done very
little in the song form and, second. some others
whom he would like 10 see lifted up TO the
transcendent plane have cultivated little else
10 spplv the yardstick 10 art works in order TO
determine the amount Of genius possessed by
their authors ne is not quite certain that the
inch rule wi! suffice.
Here Mr.. Fnck. or rather Mr. Flncks reaoeIs
are confronted by something slightly resembling
a dilemma Some years ago he advanced
the theory that one obstacle TO the appre-
citation Of truly artistic things was a love
for the Jumhoism' he called it, 10
lie
planation OF the reason WIZ such geniuses as
Bach. Gluck Haydn. Mozart and Beethoven did
so little for the song form. They were all az
hicted with "Jumboism." They thought. poor,
mistaken creatures that the only artistic things
were five act operas or four story symphonies
and since we know better than that now we are
entitled 70 our fling at them. Wen, perhaps
thinker who has emancipated himself from the
duty OF recognizing the laws Of nature and be-
come free" is so entitled but all the same, the
rest Of the thinkers, some Of whom may tnlnh
soundly and sanely and take historical fact ana
the law Of evolution for their guides instead Of
personal within and inspired prejudice VIII stil
recognize merit in the standards which have
prevailed from time TO time in the onward
march ef tastes purposes and ideals. There Is
vet some validity in stan 1ards OF beauty that
were established centuries before the art forms
az to-day were thought Of. Wagner seems 10
have had a pretty strong conviction n that d.
rection when he Landed the ideals oi the Greek
dramatists and if the "Jumboism" OF Beetno-
ven who was guilty OF taking particular de-
light in enlarging the several movements OF
the symphony. is deplorable, what shall we say
Of the "Jumboism' of Wagner, who enlarged the
five act opera 20 the four nights lyric drama?
It is best not 10 take Mr.. Finck too seriously IN
this matter, for his augmentation does not do
as much credit to mis- judicial faculty as his
estimate Of most Of .thefsqDgs which he puts to
the Baedeker test and stamps with the Baedeker
signs Of moderate, strpng or enthusiastic APP
proval. The musical Trims have gone and are
going through a process of evolution like all
other art forms, and the process has been and
is synchronous with popular demand, popular
understanding and popular taste. There could
be no lyric song until there were lyric poets and
since Mr. Finck persists in identifying artistic
song with the German romantic Lied, we are
somewhat at a loss 10 understand how in the
nature Of things that art form could nave burst
into hOrescence before il received an impulse
from German romantic poetry There hae 10
be a Goethe before there could be Schubert
and Goethe living in the popular heart. on
the principle OF "Jumboism." says Mr.. Finek-
that is the tendency TO esteem art in proper
ton to fits bulk"-a tendency, by the way, which
never existed in music in any greater degree
than II exists nOW-1n elephant IKE JUMBO
would be finer animal than humming bird
a bird Of paradise. sunhower more bea dti-
full than a pansy" Singular ratiocination, this,
Jumbo was a better elephant than the daintiest
humming bird that ever flashed through the
sunlight, and in the economy OF The kitchen gar
den the sunfower has uses and values which
the pansy must forever lack.
But Mr. Finck has done so much in his book
toward supplying a decided lack in the litera-
ture Of music that we haven't the heart to quar-
rel with him al length. Most OF the American
people who read books on musical topics and
all who read his criticisms in The Evening
Pest" newspaper know where he has set his
horizon and the observation point which he has
chosen from which 10 survey it. They will.
therefore. be prepared TO read in this fairly
printed little volume much that will please and
instruct them. and also much that will amaze
them. II they know Mr.. Finck well they will be
neither annoyed nor angered Let see. then,
how be estimates the principal composers Of
songs that the world has produced
Gluck is entitled 10 some respect because he
was careful OF his accents, avoided useless
establishment and made the music reflect the
spirit OF the poem. As music, Haydn's SONGS
are more interesting than Glucks, but they are
inferior from the point Of view Of the ideal
LIED, because he used his texts merely as pegs
10 hang tunes The pest OF his songs IS
Colt erhalte Franz den Kaiser" Mr. Fincl
seems 10 have overlooked the English can
comets. or he would surely have had something
pretty 10 say about My mother bids me bine
my hair" very gracious specimen of expres
sive song Mozart cid next TO nothing for IN,
Lied because. like the world in general he wa,
interested chiefly in musical sunhowers" O
course, Mr.. Finck appreciates "Das Veileben
but OF Mozarts forty-one songs there are onl,
four othe;s that he would care 10 hear again
And these four do not include that fine bi+ .