New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-11-09
OF FORMULATION.


THEMES AND THE LAW
OF FORMULATION.
The first Of this seasons visits OF the Boston
s,mphony Orchestra 20 New-Yorl is over and
s.s left a feeling Of admiration and gratitude in
no minds the lovers Of high class music greater
sosnsr more tender and more fragrant than ever
Assore The concert OF yesterday afternoon in
carnegie Han brought symphony to local
,ioe but IL not that fact which warmed
no emotions OF the audience much as the man.
sr in which familiar music was played. The
amazed delight excited by the performance OF
Prshms's third symphony on Tuesday evening had
as nsralle yesterday afternoon in the perform
,,ce ~ BeTlioz's overture. Carnival Romain"
ru, this has always been a show piece Of the
hand and its conductors. and needed not 10 have
csused special wonder. Its special effectiveness
yesterday vas doubtless due to some extent to
,be pecuIiar susceptibility Of the listeners who
hrought fresh. uniaded faculties and unprecedented
minds into the concert room. 1t was also due
and this is fact which has never received ade-
ouste recognition hereto the fine sense OF
suphony. symmetry balance. representatives,. logic
ana al the other factors which enter into the
sum az musical beauty possessed by Mr.. Gericke
On Thursday il the romantic breeze stirring
IN Brahmss beautiful work which gave il a lit
that Rooed and charmed the senses and the fancy
Al the same time There was the buoyancy OF
Young and happy life i'm every phase. and all the
instrumental voices sang together if inspired by
q common joy in uttersnce BeroZ's music is not
NJ the emotional order. except I'm the beginning
when it draws its sentiment from one Of the love
scenes Of the opera. hut il is amazingly dashng.
sdntilsnt and gay, and becomes fairly intoxicat-
;-g when PLAYED the Boston virtuosi played IL
yesterday.
The overture captivating. and Ssint-Sasnss
"Rouet d Omphale" iridescent and alluring. With
hem was associated a new composition which
might furnish forth texts for dozen artistic hom-
ITr1,ar No, . in =
minor a work which has occupied the attention of
the orchestras Of Germany than anything
Of its kind during the last twelve months. The
name Of the composer is not wholly strange to our
Programmes, but almost so. Mr.. Thomas played
piece entitled "A Roman Carnival at one OF his
concerts as long ago as 1887. but neither in that
work in a few organ and vocal pieces which
have found places upon our lists did the Swiss
composer loom M he does i'm this symphony
It's work Of high imagination. fun Of subjective
feeling yet consistently proudly proclamant Of its
allegiance TO aesthetic law and order. It the
purpose Of its composer with il 10 pay tribute 20
the genius Of Arnold Bocklin. the painter, and he
done in a peculiarly beautiful and ap
propriste. by disclosing the spirit in his music
that the painter disclosed in his pctures-a pous
reverence the principles of classic beauty and
ardent devotion 10 modern methods of expression.
The antique world and the live in Huber
as they lived in B6ckn: they meet embrace. laugh
and weep together in sheer enjoyment of their own
tive creative, regulative and conservative princi-
PIES are blended together in this symphony as in
Of the works OF the would-be revolutonarles
Of Germany and France. Here is learning; here is
fancy: here is proportion; here form and color,
thought expression. Poverty Of idea is not con-
caled by pompousness of rhetoric, color is not re-
lied upon TO hide bad drawing. Yet the score CLOVIS
Tadisnty and pulsates with life.
The last movement is a caring experiment, but
@ successful one Huber's friends say that all the
movements give out in music impressions created
by B6cklin's pictures, and that he at first con-
templated procaiming the fact in the title of the
symphony: but he ref-ained and affixed pro-
grmme only to the finale which he called Meta
m0rphoses. suggested by B0cklin's pictures 1t IS
theme with variations. V hch by reference ana
quotations recall the principal thematic material
Of the first movement. and thus conserve the arin-
cple of unity and establish the significance OF the
whole The variations are freely rhapsodic' and
publish the moods OF the pictures which form their
programmes with marvellous fidelity. They are
kaleiodoscopic prismatio alluring in their rapid
changes of form, sentiment and color. Hubers
exuberant fancy ana mastery OF expression would
have done wonders with such eonceit as lies at
the base Of Vincent dIndy's ''Istar' variations
variations which proceed retrogressiTely from
ornate elaborateness 10 the nude simplicity or the
theme However there was no such ingeniously
fantastic conceit IIubers service. His variations
are picturesauely oontrasted moods-the silence of
~.
meifuous piping OF a rymph; nocturnal glooTn-a
darkness that can be felt; the sportive dalhance
OF naiads and mermen with the waves plous
canticle before a figure OF the Madonna CoTgan
harrnonies and soft wood wind chords buoying up
q violin solo): passionate song Of love. and an
tio,e baccbanaie with its wild 'Evoe'" ringing
out ever and anon until all the instruments ana
the healing organ unite in finale acclaim 10 the
object Of the composers tribute. Delightful and
proftabe 10 the work was the collaboration of MI
Kneisel solo violin and Mr. Wallace Goodrich.
organ. in the performance, though the latter was
handicapped by the instrument which ne was COM
PEELED TO play. and which was not designed for
such use.
Mr.. Rsoul Pugno played the solo part in Liszt's
rauscription for pianoforie and orchestra OF
schubert's .Wanderer" fantasia. lie played with
mastery effect in the first and second movements
hut became a bit uncoUth at the close \ me audi
erce showed itself keenly and warmly sppreciative
n his skill.
The subject Il thernatic condolences in the com
positions of Great composers which received atten-
ton in The Tribune Of last Sunday threatens To
become as haunting as The late Mr. Bromleys
Jingle Punch brothers 1t IS fatal thing 10
turn ones mind and memory loose in such neid-
The very first musical entertainment OF last week
after the article he'd appeared. raised the spectre
ghostIy echo Of Beethov@ns violin concerto tsec-
ond subject. FIRST movemeno stole upon experienced
ears IN the slow movement Of Rubinstein's piano.
forte concerto In u minor Next day, when Miss
Herschel and Miss Smith appeared 10 play violin
duet By Bach and all the audience hao seuieo
down 20 something like bedrock OF contented ex-
psctstion what the surprise OF me memory
rifted ,or memory cursed TO note that the theme
the slow, movement Of the concerto for two
viohns began with the selfsame fragment Of melody
which had formed the text for part OF the dis-