The Washington times., 1903-06-28

Chorus-O Dolly Gray, etc.
You move your lovely crimson lips,
o Dolly GRAY, true,
And move. mine, but, bitter fate!
! cannot speak TO YOU.
Chorus-O Dolly Gray, etc.
Cater to Lack of Taste
Thus do we get "Allnachtlich i'm
Traume" trarslated into the true 70
nature" style.
Now. as the writer has already said
he does not know whether the writer's of
the popular songs Of this blessed land
OF ours are men OF refinement and edu-
cation or not He is of the opinion.
judging from the character of their work,
that they are OF the great army OF the
educated. But that may be do
ing them wrong They may be simply
clever men who cater to a plentiful lack
OF taste. For genuine taste in poetry
aud music is almost as scarce as the
proverbal hens teeth. OF all things in
art that seem 10 be misunderstood. and
most artistic things are. the song is the
most unfortunate.
The most popular poetry printed in
this country is that which is found in
the corners OF provincial newspapers.
Of that poetry-let us courteously call
It that-ninety- nine one -hundreths is
nothing on this green footstool but plain,
straightforward statements of fact, cut
of in lengths and furnished with rhymes
at the ends of the lines.
l sit in solemn silence,
With bent and lowly head,
And melt my heart TO tearurops
Because my mothers dead
Cheap Standardization.
That is not poetry. 1t is tommy-rot.
II is silly sentimentalism- 1t is a cheap
and commonplace announcement OF an
emotion which ought to be treated with
respect even by the person who cher
ishes it. II man desires to inform the
world that he grieYes over the loss Of
his mother-it would be much more
important If he didn't-he ought TO con-
trive to do it in a lofty and elevating
style. 1t has been done 1t ought 10 be
possible to do II again And what about
the melody to which such sentiments
are to be set? Ought that not to be one
of high dignity and genuine pathos?
Surely. But what usually happens when
the great American composer OF popu-
lar songs gets in his deadly work?
Nine times out OF ten he vamps up an
awkward. limping tune for the stanza
and saves his one tottering little idea
for the refrain or chorus. And what is
this iGea. when ne comes to It? Three
times out OF four IT is a very bad Imita-
ton Of the old fashioned Sunday school
hymn turned into waltz time just TO dis
guise it. It is perfect companion piece
to the poetry. In that one respect it
commands all praise. In appropriate
ness IL is not excelled by the noblest
fruit Of the genius Of Schubert.
Pathos a Variable Quantity.
This depth OF pathos which the gen
Tleman mentions is a variable quantity.
song is a work Of art and like every
other work of art it must appeal to the
emotions through the understanding.
That is to say, the language must be
comprehensive 70 the person addressed
before he can be touched by the subject
matter It would be futile 70 expect
an Irish emigrant to find an echo Of his
emotions in a French exile's song He
would not know what II was all about.
So. too. # would be hopeless to ask emo
tional sympathy from an Italian peas
ant listening to Beethovens Adelaide. -
The great mass Of people who find
deep pathos in the stilted and prosaic
expressions OF the popular song writer's
do 50 because the text is of that plain
,matter-of-fact sort which they have no
difnCulty in understanding. The music
is OF precisely the same sort. To call
the text poetry is 70 degrade the title
OF a noble art. According 10 Mr. Sted-
man. poetry is ryhthmical. imaginative
language, expressing the invention
taste, thought, passion and insight OF
the human soul" Hector Bcrlioz defined
music as the art OF moving intelli-
gent men, gifted with special and prac-
ticed organs. by combinations of tones. '
No Trace of Imagination.
In the text OF the popular song. as
written by the eminent authors known
10 our correspondent. the invention
taste, thought passion and insight are
those Of people who have not equa
portions OF these things. Passion the!
certainly have, for that is the common
possession: put what OF their inyen.
tion. which Is the product Of culture
thought, which is a purely intellectual
habit. and insight. which is a very
special grace OF nature?
To be sure the world is full OF poetry
Emerson said: Wherever snow falls, Of
water flows, or birds fly. wherever da!
and night meet in twilight. wherever
the blue heaven is hung by clouds. Of
sown with stars. eherever are formr
with transparent boundaries. whereve,
are outlets into celestial space, whereye
is danger and awe and love. there Il
beauty. and though thou shouldst wall
the world over. thou shalt not be abl'
to end a condition inopportune o.
ignoble."
But IL takes poet to put these thing
into ''rhythmical. imaginative Ian
yuaae" In the texts of the popular