The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-06-28
4 READING OF THE "EROICA;."
ARTHUR NIKISCK RUNS AFOUL
or THE METRONOME.

The Value of Tradition In the lnterpreta ton
az Beethoven's symphonies-lmpor.
lance 81 schindler's Dlscretiited Testi.
mOny About Musical Signs in Score.
. Ia musical criticism the most inexact
science in the world? There be those
who declare that such 1t Is. and who do
sheer and smoker at the proclamations OF
the scrbes. These sneerers and snick-
erers are for the most part not professors
Of the more or less divine art. When the
professor desires to sneer, he retires into
darkened corner Of his private abode and
exercises much care that the man with
the power OF writing notices" does not
detect him in the act. But. after all. the
criticism of music Is, OF truth both exact
and inexact As Mr.. Gilbert remarks,
In -The Gondoliers." Bless you. 1t all
depends"
II critics know their business-and some
times they do-they will seldom fall into
disagreement as to the merits and dement's
Of technical performance. 1t is In matters
Of Interpretation that they. are prone to
differences of opinion; and perhaps this
is but another way Fl ba showing ord fhss s
has pretty metaphysical twist. which
makes an essay assume learned look;
but it is not really formidable.
Is all music subject we? Does its inter-
probation depend on the conception OF the
performer Or should there be certain
established facts about each composition
to which every performer should show
respect? When the questions are put thus,
1t seems almost impossible to avoid single
answer, namely, that piece OF music
cannot be changed to suit the whims OF
all its assailants To be sure, there Is the
eminent example of Shakespeare's Ham
let" Heaven and Mr.. Sothern know what
can be done with that drama. Which re-
calls the practical observation Of John
Mccullough, the tragedIan. He said;
actor can make hit. II he will just let the
metaphysics alone and attend to the stage
business
There is a substratum OF sound common
sense in this, and the principle might
well be noted by musicians. For. when a
composition his first ecccntricities deal with
the tempt. Oh, those tempt! How the
critical remarks about them seem to puzzle
the dabblers with art. Tempo, dear breth-
rem. Is not a cabalistic symbol. 1t Is Just
a plain Italian word, meaning "time,' and
the rate CT proce lure through movement.
The determine ton Of the proper rate Is
Of the gravest importance. as any person
can at once demonstrate for himself. Take
any familiar pathetic air and play or sing It
twice as fast as you have habitually heard
/, and you will at once perceive that its
entire nature is changed Con versely,
perform lively piece much too slowly
and1t will probably become sad or solemn,
Now Of all compositions. in the world
be well known It's teInT,i ought surely by
this time to b., established. Neverthe, esss
no two conductors appear TO agree about
it. Theodore Thomas certainly did not
direct it as Leopold Damrosch did, and
neither of them as Walter Damrosch does.
Emil Paur's reading differed wholly from
that of Wilhelm Gerickc, and both Of them
treated the work as Arthur hikisch did not,
while Anton Seidl, after. playing the first
movement as II it we're the Beautiful Blue
that the horn players could not play the
difficult trio.
Mr.. Nikisch not long ago conducted he
Eroca" in Berlin, where he is the director
of the Philharmonic concerts, and some OF
the critics fell upon his tempt tooth and nail
There was al most rs great disturbance
of the aesthetic atmosphere as there was in
this town when he disclosed his conception !
Of the work at Chickering Hall through
tn e admired medium Of the Boston Sym |
phi ony Orchestra in the halcyon days Of |
never mind when.
Some respectable parsons of comfortable
were grievously disturbed !
because Mr.. Nikisch failed to bow to ira;
judgment declared that he
had no right to be original, The "Eroica
had always been played in ce rtain way, |
and it was ecr> ltric, yea, even discour-
teous 10 play it in any other way. |
because it was old. t was the way in
which R,etho ven himself would have liked |
to hear his symphony cond ucted. No doubt |
I hose who felt thus would have. sympathized |
with Mend>lssohn had they been present |
-ynp,,ony about which Richard Wagner |
cnats so pleasant " in hi admirable volume
son Conducting He says:
Now the late Capelimaister Ressiger of |
Dresden once conducted this symphony |
performance. together with Mendelssohn.
We talked about the dilemma just de- |
scribed thc difficulty of making certain |
Ineligible when played at the |
Gust omary tempo) and its proper solution; |
which told Mendessohn that
had promised that he would take the tempo |
slower than usual. Mendelssohn perfectly |
agreed with me. We listened. The third
movement began and ! was terrified on |
hearing precisely. the old lander tempo;
but before l could give vent to my annoy
ance Mendelssohn smiled and pleasa ntly
nodded his head, as if TO say, Now it's all
right Bravo,' So my terror changed to
Reissigor. for reasons which |
| shall discuss presently. may not have lesn
so very much to blame for persisting in the
old tempo, but Mcndelssohn's Indifference
with regard to this queer artistic contre-
temps ,,'aised doubts in my mind whether
he saw any distinction and difference in
the case at all fancied myself standing
before an abyss Of supcrficiality veritable
void
OF course. the root of the difference o.
opinion between Wagner and Mendelssohn
was differences as ia Beethoven's designs,
similar disagreement gave rise to the
reading of the "Eroica, Every living
soul among tho warning critics would assent
to the proposition that any reading which
violated thu wishes OF Beethoven was in
defensihle The question to he decided
in these tlavs is What We're the wishes Of
Beethoven?"
There can be no dispute that the funda-
mental element in proper Interpretation
is a correct tempo. The tempt Of Beet
hoven's symphonies are established too
largely by tradition. 1t is true that metron-
ONE marks are 10 be found on every score,
but that Beethoven placed all Of them there
has been disputed bv an author to whom
;e