The Washington times., 1903-02-01
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Of Beethoven was the first great vic
tory for Tomanticism.
Now, such a statement requires def
milton of those two terms. Classic mu-
sic is the music Of BAch and his fol
lowers, music in which pure beauty of
form and matter is the prevailing fea-
ture. Romantic music is the music which
BEGAN with Beethoven, and takes its
form entirely from the composers fancy.
As great critic has already pointed out,
this contest began very naturally as
soon as musical science had formulated
sufficient law to enable composers TO
work according to a system The sys-
tem being established. the demands Of
original minds for freer expression uTg-
ed an advance beyond the limits CT the
system. These demands were purely TO-
mantle. ana always led to the develop
ment of fTeer forms. The conflict, there
fore. tended constantly 10 this twofold
result-to develop music artifcially, and
to make it more and more capable of eX-
pressing emotion.
The fight to make music most Of all
an expression of emotion carried with il
a movement to abolish all set forms
wherever those forms could be abau-
doned without musical loss. and this
movement was carried TO its achieve
ment by Richard Wagner. In mis- later
works all form is set aside for teXtual
appropriateness; there are no aTias,
duets, or ensembles: the musical form
follows that of the text In his hands,
the purpose of artistic music when cOu-
pied with words. is to illustrate and
vitalize its text: when performed alone,
to delineate the sweep Of emotion IS
cfTectively-i1 that is possibIe-as though
accompanied by words. Wagner's mu-
sic dramas are the finest opponents Of
true operate composition.
Reinforced by the deepest convictions
and encouraged by pronounced success
/ in composing free" music, Wagner's
mind went a step further. Music was
in his judgment most effective when IT
/ became an integer OF dramatic express
sion and took equal rank lbut no mOrel
with the costuming, scenery, orchestra,
and other features of dramatic presen-
tation.
According to his own writings this
conception took the strongest hold Of
him He became dramatist who was
only incidentally a musician, an admiTa-
bic poet. q student of subtle and pro-
found PHILOSOPHERS. His music was 10
/ be regarded only as the handmade of
his dramatic invention, q modern variant
/ of the exegiticaI chorus OF the Greek
plays.
! It is on this ground that students Of
quarter century ago called Wagner
/ great. Proceeding from such basis,
they gave themselves to study Of his
/ poetry. listened as eagerly for the or
/ chestra as for the vOcalists. attached
the most trauscendentaI and mystical
/ significance TO the most inconseQuential
/ speeches Of his characters, and reveled
! in the assumption Of a perception re-
served only for the few and denied to
the great world.
! But today the attitude Of the most
/ competent sludents-men like Walter
Damrosch, H. z. KrehbieI. ". j Hen
/ derson. to cite the best American crit
/ ics-is different. Wagner is accepted as
/ worthy Of all this praise, as q Philos-
opher, poet and dramatist Of titanic
power; but he is thought TO be much
more a musician, "a transCendent mu-
stefan, an Incompatible musical human
ist. an authentic and inspired but IN
/ conscious mystic"
In Tristan ind Isolde" for example.
they assume the music to be the real
source OF the works influence just as
the music of THE Magic Flute" is it's
! greatest influence. They cannot conceive
it easily possible to yield oneself to this
magnificent tone poem OF Tristan uud
Isolde music which is truly like the
poetry OF Shelley, a singing and soar
ing flame and not realize with the
utmost conviction that here is no mere
stage play with an accessory musicaI
accompaniment. but rather lyric rhai,
sody with a text which is wholly Incl
/ dental "a tone poetry so incalculabIe
In its beauty, so exhaustive in its emo
tional range. SO surcharged with spirit
uaI ecstacy that one knows not where
TO find its parallel" In their judgment
Wagner. the musician. easily o'ertops
Wagner, the philosopher, poet, and
dTamatist.
The conclusions. then are many--th3I
/ Wagner advanced great musical move,
ment in further freeing music from hard
/ and unnecessary forms; that he devel-
! oDed to a degree OF marvellous success
that form OF the drama which includes
music; that he taught for the first time
/ the true importance in opera OF stage
/ settings, costumes and orchestra; tina,
/ he was a distinguished philosopher ann
Ia great poet, and that. more notable
than all Of these, he was d composer
capable Of expressing emotion with more
force and uDlift than any Of his great
/ predecessors Of the same great school.
a D. \
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