The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-04-09
PROGRAMME MUSIC OF OLD.
BACH'S LAMENT AT. his BROTH
ER'S DEPARTURE.
Olden Time Writers Of Delineativs CSmpO'
sltlOns-FrOberEer Musical Account
or the Count Won Thurn's Adventures
and JOha mn Kuhnau's biblical HOnatas

and Johhn mn Kuhnau's Biblical SOnatas'
No one would he likely to mistake Wesley
Weyman for a revolutionary pianist, yet
he started a train OF thought the other
night in Mendessohn Hall when he played
Bach's Cappriccio sopra Ia lontananza
del suo fratello dilettissimo.' This, being
interpreted. In Caprice on the departure
Of a beloved brother Fancy Sebastian
Bach composing a sort Of miniature Sym
phonia Domestica- for the clavierl Yet
there the composition stands and Mr.. Wey-
man must be thanked for giving us an
opportunity 10 hear how II sounds In the
concert hall In these parlous times OF saints
walking on the water and other songs
without words.
We are inclined 10 suppose that pro-
gramme music "a We call il, is modern
invention but az a matter OF fact u Ia a.
old as music itself, or almost 30. There
IL a difference. however. and that difference
IL fundamental The ancients Of the art
we're chiefly concerned with eIternals,
while your modern IL nothing II not intro
spective. Away back in the fifteenth cent
ury, for example, when composers we're
busy building up liturgy for the Roman
selves with secular composition. They
penned airy little glees and madrigals in
double counterroint crab canonE or riddle
rounds. Thev we're a CHEEKY lot and took
music much as they took llfe merely as a
preparation for death But they made
some interesting tunes and their polyphony
will last as long as the seven seas.
One OF these interesting gentlemen was
named Jannequin and he wrote two com
positlons. one called THE Battle" and the
other THE Cries Of Paris" They we're
both programme pieces in the strictest
sense OF the term. They were, however,
purely descriptive They dwelt with things
seen and heard not with things felt. They
were initiative They were a cdTsld COM
positions and fashioned in the polyphonic
style, yet they initiated the sounds Of battle
and those Of the streets OF the French
capital.
When instrumental music had fairly
started along it's path Of progress, its com
posers were not long in searching for imita-
tive effects which would justify them in
placing over their works titles indicating
a descriptive purpose. II Is not necessary
to 20 back further than the excellent Johann
Jakob FrobergeT, whose useful life eK-
tended through the Oslerian period Of 81
years, from 1910 TO 1887
He passed away eighteen years before
the great Bach was born. yet he had his
influence upon that immortal master. For
one thing. it should be noted that Froberger
studied for a time in Paris where he gained
an intimate acquaintance with the old
French clavier ornaments called agr6mens-
the "tremblement simple, '"autre cadence
"pinc6, '"ohute ct pince, -ooulee, 'tierce
ooulee. and all the rest Of them.
The Bach caprice on the departure Of his
brother IL we'll supplied with old fashioned
olavier agremens, descended 10 Bach
through Froberger, whose works he studied.
II any one thinks that good old Froberger
did not know the value Of a title, let him
gaze upon this, the appellation Of the first
collection Of this masters compositions,
published in the good city OF MAyenoe:
diverse ouhose rarissime partite di
tocoate. roercate, capTicci, fantaisie per
eli amaton di oembal, organi ed instro-
menh'
That il good, fat talk. But 1t is not ALL
Matheson, tolerably respectable chronicler
Of musical records, informs US that Fro
berger could tell whole histories on the
olavier, giving a representation Of the
persons present and taking part In II. with
al their natural oharacters.' Truly, the
Richard Mansfield Of his time.
Matheson, moreover. says that he pos
sessed a suite by this composer In which the
passage across the Rhine OF the Count Won
'Thu1n, and the danger he was exposed TO
from tho T1ver, is most clearly set before our
oy0sAnd ears In twenty six little pieces
Tho passage OF the Rhine Is a portentoua
feat ct any time, when one considers the
BOTelei, the Rhine maidens, the Drachenfels
and tho guides, but one cannot help sus-
peoting that Matheson's imagination was
'e1quisitely facile. But the intent Of the
composer Il undeniable. He sndeavored
With all the resources Of his art 10 deSOibe-
certain e1ternals, even to the overseeing
Of the boat and the unoeremonious dump
ing Of 30 mighty a dignitary as the Count
Of Thmn into the waters which lave the
shores Of Oberwesel and Bingen.
A moro subtle person perhaps was Johann
Kuhnau. who lived from 1887 to INA. He
had no hesitation in setting out to make
the piano tell whole Biblical histories, and
he showed some perception Of the true
nature Of programme music. For instance,
one Of his works, saul Cured by David by
Means Of Music Is thus described by DR..
Spitta in his great biography Of Bach
First, Saul's melancholy and madness
Second, David's refreshing harp playing
Third, the Kings mind restored to peace
The composition Is we'll made. The
themes have character, and they are skill
fully handled in the development The
great point, however, il that Kuhnau, while
dealing with simple ideas, seized upon
some that were not merely external, but
yet were perfectly suited to musical en-
bodiment,
Melancholy can be conveyed in music
So can refreshing harp playing, which IL
music itself, A return TO a peaceful state
Of mind can also be indicated KuhnAu
appears 20 have had a dim idea that only
broad and fundamental emotions can be
delineated in music, and in this he was,
Of course, right beyond all question.
The plan Of this sonata by Kuhnau may
be confidently commended 10 any modern !
master. Why should not Richard Strauss |
recompose the subject-Saul's melancholy |
and madness adagio lsmentosoe allegroagi !
iato. in c fat minor, written on "a stave paper |
and introducing eight saXophones, four tenor |
subss, six bass trumpets, and FIVE double bass