New-York tribune., 1902-08-31
INDIAN MELODIES.
INTERESTING EXPERIMENTS WITH
THEIR sEFTINGs-PRIMITIvE TUNES
AND EXOTIC HARMoNIES-
oJTBwAY SONGS
INTERESTING
oJTBwAY SONGS.

THEIR 1C~sLS
AND EXOTIC HARMoNIEs-
oJIBwAY SONGS.
In her strong belief in the essential beauty
Of Indian melody and its serviceabiity ma
teriai for artistic composition. Miss Alice c
Fletcher has found sympathetic companion
In Ar. Arthur Farwel q young musician or ad-
mirable training and excellent taste In Miss
F1etcher's first Iahors IN behalf Of the songs
oe the Onlahas she had the help of the late
John c. Fillmore. who wrote cut many OF the
songs gathered by Miss Fletcher. and provided
them with iarmonies. Dir. Fillmore was mu-
sician Of the old school, and had theory to
uphold and illustrate IN his arrangements for
Miss Fsetcher's publications. He wished to
demonstrate that Indians tand all primitive
peoples. for that matter) worked along har-
aaonic lines while inventing their melodies. The
proposition not new, nor was it difficult to
prove. in view Of the fact that the bulk Of
Indian music such may be heard on the
plains to-day IS built on the formula repre-
sented in harmony by the common chord, major
and minor. / have gathered scores and hum
dreds Of Indian songs which present the same
physiognomy. and concluded long ago that on
the whole Indian melodies not promising
artistic material To Miss Fletcher they are
full OF beauty. and so they seem TO MIR. FarweIl.
who has made the first sustained attempt to in
fuse them with poetical significance and emo
ton by means Of harmony. and, in one case.
by other devices which are at the command Of
the composer. Mr.. FilImore's denominations
were simpler employing only a few elementary
chords; Mr. Farwell has clothed the tunes with
richly colored vestments. going frequently TO
Grfeg's color box for his pigments.
Two years ago Miss Fletcher selected
Der Of Indian songs, chiefly Omaha. from the
monograph on which MIR. Fillmore had collab-
srated with her, put them in a neat little book
md appended 20 each account Of its origin
statement Of its alleged significance or de-
fcription of the ceremony of which ii formed a
part Indian Story and Song from North
America" the title of the work, which was
sublshed by Small, Maynard & Co. of Boston
she did this with the avowed purpose of show
ng the availability of the songs themes for
he American composer. In her preface she
rrote: 1T was felt that this availability would
se greater if the story, the ceremony which
ave rise TO the song, could be known. that
q developing the theme all the movements
night be consonant with the circumstances that
iad inspired the motive" Mr.. Farwell has
scted upon her suggestion. first, by publishing
Of the melodies with harmonies. and.
iszt. by working two Of them into an elaborate
,ianoforte composition in which he has sought
embody and illustrate their poeticai con-
'American Indian Melodies Harmonized by Ar
bur Farwell"; Dawn. Development of Ind
an Melodies. by Arthur Farwell.' The Wa
Van Press. Newton Centre, Mass.). The result |
Z HIS experiment is extremely interesting, and |
ustifes some discussion of his method of pro- |
edure.
Fer his themes Mr.. FarweI chose THE Old /
Hans Love Song" and an Otoe melody. OF the |
rst Miss Fletcher wrote as follows:
Early in the century there lived an Omaha |
indian tall and comely man, gifted with |
ldnireG by the and women of the tribe.
although genial with every one, he was re
n his life or that occupied his thoughts. He
Fss prosperous man. His lodge was well sup
lied, for his skill as hunter was equal TO his
Sior warrior.
Years passed and here ard there a silver |
hread glistened in his black hair. the burrows
teepened in his handsome face, and more and
nore his thoughts seemed 10 dwell on the past
bne day he was heard TO sing a love song of his |
Fwn composition. and gossip became busy as to
Ehat this song might mean. His actions threw |
light on the mystery. He was the same kind
husband and father, the same diligent provider,
nd he sought no new companionship- Never
heless. at every dawn he went upon the bill /
ear his ledge. and, while the morning star
Jung like Jewel in the east, ne sang the mel
oy carrying the words.
with the dawn L seek thee
The young caught the tune and sang it /
s they wooed the maidens. and the old man |
rniled as he heard them. Yes, they are right -
ie said. t-1t is love song
He grew TO be very old man. old man
rith a love song, until it was only when the |
Farm days came that he could slowly climb the |
iii al dawn. and, alone with the breezes and
irds greet the day with his song that
9th kept and revealed his secret-the secret Of
love. like the radiant bow. spanning the whole
iorizon of his life AT last a time came when
is voice was no longer heard.
The tender cadences of his song, fraught with |
unan hope and human feeling, still Tnger and
o-day awaken echoes across the barriers Of |
irne and race.
accompanies the restoration Of the calumets
not pipes, but perforated and colored sticks
ecoTated with pendant eagles feathers) to
heir resting place in the calumet ceremony |
These sacred objects waved over the heads |
the worshippers and then deposited on a
fiidcat skin spread upon the ground at a spot |
the lodge opposite its eastern entrance Over
his skin, which had its symbolic meaning, the
'earer waved the '-calumets initiating the |
movements CT the eagle, sweeping lower and
sSeT, rising and circling again. and then drop
ang lightly upon its nest" The melody ia
sren in Miss Fletcher's book as follows:
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