The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-01-15
CONDUCTORS AND BATONS.
HISTORY AND ART or THE TINE
DEiTER.
Considerations Evoked by Mr. saf0noH's
Conducting without the Little SUCK
How Operas Jscd 10 He Directed o>
Player sitting at the IiarpSlchorn
sCnic UuncOni ~ In { onductO rS' AnticsF

Srnic BuncOnb he In CONDUCTORS Nh'ics'
WaseiH Safonob conducting without a
taton at the latest Philharmonic concerts
and accusing tho performers 10 pitch OF
enthusiasm such rs they have seldom at
tanned in recent seasons. was the cause OF
some learned promulgations as to the
beginning Of the baton habit. whether a
man can conduct better with baton than
without is not an important matter yet IN
New York a bnton is vital necessity.
The conductor requires II TO hammer on
his desk for silence. Otherwise New
York audience would never stop talking
after the first movement Of symphony
long enough to allow the conductor to begin
the second. Mr.. Safonofr learned this when
ne was conducting Glazounow's sixth
symphony and he was hard put to " 10 Hhu
way TO show that he wished 10 go on
It was said in the preliminary announce
mepts OF Mr.. Safonoh's temporary apohtl"h
Of the baton that conductors wands had
been growing smaller ever since the time
Of Luly. Now the truth Ia that IN the
time of Lully they were SO small that they
were invisible They were not used.
At the time when the opera came into
existence, namely the very beginning oil the
seventeenth century, there were no CON
ductors at all The orchestra " IN Eiided
10y leader one Of the players whom the
rest followed At that time he was always
the harpsiohordist, In small theatre or
chestras of to-day leaders are seen. The
leader now always plays violin and occa-
sionally indicates the time or an accent
with the neck Of his instrument.
The concert master of an orchestra OF
large size, the first OF the first volins, Ia
also sometimes called a leader, because at
ons time the player occupying that post
led the orchestra, just as the theatre leader
does now. The leader was the only con-
duotor Ia existence at the beginning OF the
history OF opera, and at that time there we're
no orchestral concerts. because orchestral
concert music had not begun to be COM
posed.
There has been such wide diversity
Of practice In different countries at different
: times that II is almost impossible to trace
the development of the art Of conducting
or the use OF the baton. But IL is quite
certain that at least the time heater existed
long before the beginning Of the seventeenth
century.
A manuscript in a Paris library shows
Heinrich Won Nielsen, a minnesinger who
died In 1918, conducting a company Of singers
and instrumentalists. He sits on a raised
platform and waves long baton and also
the extended little finger OF his left hand.
His attitude and expression show clearly
that no ia leading or possibly correcting
those below him. Some OF the choir appear
to bs repeating his beat.
None OF the authorities on oouductin
mention this picture, which is reproduced
In historical works without much informing
comment. IT establishes the fact that there
was at least one conductor and one baton
before the fourteenth century
In the fifteenth century Il was the custom
to beat time in the choir OF the Sistine Chapel
with a roll of paper. Galilei, one OF the
creators Of modern opera, writing In ms
@Dialogo' in 1888. says that the ancient
Greeks did not beat time. as IL customary
now" Thomas Morley, an English writer
in his plain and Easy Introduction to the
Practise of Aiusick' Q00s) has this bit OF
dialogue
Philomathes What is stroke'
AIagister-lt is a successive motion OF the
hand, directing the quality of every note
and rest in the song with equal measure
according TO the variety OF sings and pro-
! portions.
This is as plain a. pike stan. When
polyphonio music began to fall into disuse
and the simple song form 10 dominate music
the need of time beater was not felt
and no gave way 20 the harpaichorc
] leader. This. at any rate, was what hap
pened down in Italy. The method OF con
ducing Italian opera followed the work
itself into France and Germany.
Lully, who died in 1887, was an Italian
born. and ne surely carried the Italian
method with him 70 Paris. Pelham Hum
phreys. one Of the gentlemen Of the King
Chapel in England, studied in France unde
Imlly. When he returned "a young mon
sieur" IA Pepys notes. and ndicnled thu
performances Of his former companion
because they could not keep time. he mus
have shown them how Lully conducted hi
operas
Certainly Purcell England great genius
a pupil of Humphreys conducted at tn
harpslchord, and Handel did after him
II Heinrich Schultz was unacquainted wit
: this manner Of conducting before he wen
down TO Italy to get the score OF the frs
Italian opera. Peri's Daphne, for thu
Dresden court, he must have learned j
then
At any rate the Italian method OF con
Quoting was Introduced into Germany
and 1t Tas continued at Hamburg unde
Reinhard keiser, and nltervard al the sam
place under Handel But even in these day
there were different ways OF conducting
and there seems II have been no settles
method Johann Hdhr. concert master a
Weissenfels. published a book at Nurem
berg in l7le. and in it he said:
"One conducts with the foot. anothe
with the head a third with the band, som
with both hands, some again take ro
Of paper, and others a stick
1t sounds like description Of VignE
but It is not. The harpsichord conductor
employed mods of the head an oocasionJ
wave Of the hand. and sometimes an en-
uhatic stamp of the foot. A Nurember
engraving. published certainly befor
i725. shows a man conducting the perform
ance Of a motel from a score and usin
n roll Of music in each hand. An insorir
ton IN verse says; silent myself. 1 caus
the music control
This does not leave any room for dout
as 70 the Office Of the gentleman wh
needed a roll Of music in each hand. Sor
other pctures Of about the same date sho
performances in church, with conductc
II Al