The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-04-05
ABOUT LITERARY xUSIC.
THE TONE ART NOW DEVOTED TO
DELINEATION AND DISCUSSION.
what IL Meant by . Literary Flavor" In
Music:-tiowN thc Composer Of To-
day ignore Criticism and Philoso-
phize In Music. and the Public Likes IL.

day ignore Criticism and Philoso.
phize In Music. and the Public Likes II.
In another place will be found quoted
some words Of David Ffrangcon-D Davies. a
barytone singer of Welsh descent and
t.; Celtic temperament, much given to the
employment Of words. But, unlike many
persons who distribute their parts OF speech
with unstinted liberality. Mr.. Ffrangcon-
Davies is in the habit OF employing them
for the expression Of ideas. Indeed. he rs
habitually thinker. or perhaps 1t would
, be more nearly correct to say q speculator.
An interesting and active factor In the
musical activities OF the time. this Welsh
singer Is one Of the most enthusiastic and
progressive students OF the art CT which
no Ia an admired exponent. Therefore
when he talks about singing he is wont
10 be suggestive.
In the letter quoted. after expressing the
opinion that the world is a very long way
yet from real appreciation OF Richard
Wagner, he says, Il believe he will be the
means Of developing finally a type OF vocali-
zation transcending any that has ever
been. Vocalization must finally assume
a literary favor II It is TO be progressive
| forco.-
Possibly TO those who have not seriously
! considered the condition Of modern vocal
writing this may seem but impcrfectly
expressive. But what are the songs OF
Richard Strauss IL pot music with dis
| tinctly literary flavor? How much more
closely do they approach the state OF ultra
refined defamation than the melodious
lyics Of Schubert! That ultra-refinement
Of defamation is precisely what Wagner
sought with some success In his word
tone-speech," but il Is altogether likely
that II we were to hear-or rather to have
heard-the Wagnerian defamation un-
assisted by the orchestral tone-painting
we should discover that IL had good many
bare spots in It, Now, when we hear IT.
even with piano Accompaniment we recall
the gorgeous orchestral tints. Our imagina-
tions and our memories work together
for the good Of US who love Wagner.
But take the contemporaneous song and
subject it 10 the cold dissection of critical
analysis. What is it2 A sublimated re-
citation OF text In which the composer
aims chiefly at combining detailed musical
accentuation OF the words with atmos-
pheric instrumental effect used as a back
ground. Fundamentally there Is no Diff
ference between the nature OF the Strauss
songs, for example. and that OF Schubert,
just as there il no fundamental difference
between the system Of construction and
, thematic development Of Elm Helden-
leben" and that of Beethoven's fifth sym
phony. But in the manner there is an
enormous difference, and Mr.. Ffrangcon-
! Davies is right In attributing the change
to the influence Of Wagner. He Ia right,
too. in speaking of the literary flavor OF
such music.
What is this literary havorf 1t may be
less easy to describe 1t than TO recognize
IL. All they who spend their lives In watch
ing the progress and development Of musi-
cal art are well aware Of the subtle changes
which have been going on ever since the
tone artists Of Europe took up the hue
and cry Of the new romantic movement.
They have seen the gradual departure
OF mnsic from it's old attitude Of royal self
satisfaction. its proud pose OF Music for
music's sake or course. the first departure
had to be made in the tinselled world OF
opera, for there the absurdities Of the situa-
ito, first made themselves clearly seen.
Chuck, gentleman and scholar, progressist
and cosmopolite, tried TO demonstrate the
foolishness of the operate methods OF his
day, and in his famous preface to "Alceste'
laid down the art principles upon which
as every conservatory student now knows,
Weber and Wagner afterward took their
stand and reared q national German opera.
But the fundamental principle Of Gluck
was the deposition Of music from her sover-
eighty.
Il endeavored," he wrote. "to reduce
music to it's proper function, that OF second
ing poetry, by enforcing the expression OF
the sentiment and the interest of the situa-
tions without interrupting the action or
weakening 1t by superluous ornament
This was a step in the direction Of i'm
parting to music literary flavor. Yet the
radical nature Of the step was not obvious
in the works OF Chuck. because he retained
the old operate forms. SO long as the aria
continued to hold it's place In the operate
system the predominance Of the musical
pattern over the literary was certain.
Weber preserved this ascendency in another
form by his use Of the rolkslied model and
his cultivation Of the grand soena. Wagner
threw out the entire set Of old patterns and
proceeded wholly on the doctrine that the
music must be married to the text and that
the union should constitute a type abso-
lutely free from the domination of either
musical or literary form.
But as this purpose was complete and
convincing exposition Of the content OF
the text, in which the music should become
a sort Of sublimated tonal infection, he
reduced music far more accurately than
Gluck did to the function OF enforcing the
expression and sentiment OF poetry. Gluck
treated poetry as Jewel, for which he
as an artist was to provide the most chaste.
beautiful and appropriate setting. Wagner
treated poetry and music as two precious
metals which he was TO melt in the crucible
OF his genius into new one. more precious
than either.
This was the movement toward imparting
q literary flavor to vocalization in the opera.
II Is going on yet, for IL could not end with
Wagner. The Italians have fully recog-
nized the value Of the movement. They
do not try foolishly to ignore it. Neither
do they strive to combat II. But, unwilling
to part company with the lovely musical
traditions which have came down to them
from tie fathers Of operate art. they strue-
gle to combine high dramatic expressive
ness with the old musical features Of lyric
art. They give us -Tosca' and Iris and