The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-02-28

ne has employed every artifice of or
chestral technique TO Illustrate and de-
fine the most concrete physical occur
/ reEces, the most violent contact with
( reality.
I The representation Of bieating sheep
by the bieating Of muted brass instru-
ments,, of a gale of wind by the whis-
ting of theatrical wind machine"
are most obvious and directly natural
lStic OF these, We are warned by the
authoritative commentators that the
J gale is not real gale, but one mag
ined by Don Quixote; yet the distinc-
ton seems TO be one, 50 far as practical
results are concerned, without differ
ence. Others are conditioned upon the
conVentionalities Of musical representa-
I ton, as the pOnderous tones of the
! brass Instruments that suggest the re-
Volving arms of the windmill, or the
crashing chords through which we are
asked to see the drubbing of the fan
[ tastic knight by the penftents he has
attacked.
OF the more imaginative appeal of
really musical themes treated in the
endless combinations Of ingenious coun-
/ terpoint and harmonic subtleties. the
work is full: in fact, the score is. com
pacted Of them, and there is not a
measure IL tx but that is intended to
make its literal contribution to the
story. There are hints Of far-reaching
psychological interpretation I'm the mu-
sic-the Introduction. in which the on
/ coming OF the poor geutleman's mad
ness is depicted is full Of such sug-
gestiveness. So in the finale. in which
the phartasms vanish and the reaiiza-
ton Of their vanity comes to him with
the peace Of death And there are not
few passages of remarkable beauty
az n = rs~4a - III
with the most ruthless realistic ca
cophony.
Don Quixote speaks nobly of the
ideal in music Of truly ideal beauty
and conviction in the third variation:
IN the fifth the vigil of the knight, his
vision of the Ideal Woman, are ex-
pressed in strains of poetic ard rap
furious elOquence. In that very scene
with the wind machine, where the
knight inagines himself and his es-
quire riding through the air, the music
gives something more than a hint of the
GREATNESS exaltatiOn that Strauss
would have US feel.
The thematic material out of which
the piece is composed is of the char
acteTistic StTaussian quality; much of
it is rich III beauty. in suggestiveness;
much of il has real distinction. OF the
marvellous technical mastery of the or
chestra aud Of the thematic treatment
IL WOULD be idle to dwell at this time
They are not TO be fully taken in
at a single hearing, but it is always
plain that the master is at work. that
his touch is precise, that for good or
Tor i'll he is accomplishing precisely
what he is aiming at, without falter-
iaS. without uncertainty. The score is
sIlc ssf the fullest and the instrumental
EIspaEatus required enormous. Yet the
efIecr is often of singular deliCacy Of
o:cEestrati0n. There is passage after
stszsage in which several solo instru-
ments are playing almost alone with
each other il independent part writ
ing.
There is much 10 bewilder and TO
amaze in the work much to offend the
ear, even the ear that has been Injured
to the matter and the manner or
Strauss through the hearing Of his
other works There IS needed q full
preparation as TO the parts Of this
story TO be told. or the part Of the
listener. and also a new point of view.
in approaching Don Quixote, a COM
PLEASANT frame Of mind that is willing
70 grant the composer the pOstulates
with which he sets cut. But with all
the willingness in the world It is diff
hcult to accept il, as a whole, Of mu-
steal value.
1t is difficult to grant The composers
postuIates. and much readjustment OF
ideas viii be needed before Dor Quix-
ote. with ali its beauties. can be lis
tened TO as anything other than tour
de force. Nor will the question fail TO
present itself as 10 how far the com
poser means 70 be taken seriously In Il;
how far he IS bent on carrying out the
mystificatiOn suggested in his pedantie
title with its conventional Italian de-
se1iption; how far he means 70 push the
fantasticai' Of which he gives warning
in it.
There is no doubt a certain touch of
irony in Don Quixote." but there. is -
much besides the grotesque ard ridicll-
ious side Of the rueful Knights Dature
presented in this portrait shat it seems