New-York tribune., 1909-01-03
THE BLGAR SYMPHONY.
How The London Daily Telegraph Critic
Regards It.

Of the Flgar symphony. the following recent
comment from the London Daily Telegraph
spropos Of its interpretst. in Free Trade Hall
may Of interest;
tic why that great multitude let itself go, the
phrase has II. il is difficult 10 explain to pubic
feeling rather than Of arbitrary and conventional
h9 hit But have A shreWd suspicion that the intense
hunlaneness ar tlgar un'Ger ANNA d''l,l,r..n tSs ist
had much to do with lis ready N'gePlaIee Jus JuSI
the public We're Immediately seized. many years
azo, by TsChaikOTskys = Pathetic symphony. 'eI-
tainiy the classical symphonic form doe- nor imp
a public-we have many examples :" prove @ ule
contrary. Nor do deviauons from II have any
other effect. In Manchester the runl"r Vas ne
that in some mysterious manner General Gordon
this emphatically denied by Eigar hiInseIl,
and It may be added that neither Gordon nor any any
other concrete hero was called I" NINA ny IN"
The symphony bears no motto. It gives no ind
cation whatever OF Il dden meaning For its title
there stand these words, ana tleSe 0hiE: ;! M
phony by Edward llgar- To Hans RichteT: True
stances the Inventor Of the Gordon myth did NOT
suggest Hans Richter the hero il Is not easy to
having set out to illustrate any particular story
phase Of life. He has written in the fulneSs of a
used Is implied by tie statement believe, Cigars
own-that. roughly. there i, expressed here the
the innumerable phases Of JOY and sorrow. strug-
gle and conquest EnpnatIcally. 10Y Is triun-
Whatever the aim the TesqI! is NC wenderfu ,tdt,
%nates tha @9tire YORK vet il Is in 10 sense to
be regarded as an i5fe IKE. This strong. healthy
and noble Jiatonir melody member OF IT.
is seldom completely out Of sight fact which in
Itself makes for Unity-though in lis full form II
reappears only in the finale. Again. let him whose
mind f1ourishes conundrums seek the solution
of thc composers use OF the Identical notes Of the
scherzo for the theme Of that exquisite ana IN
tensely moving SLOW movement tthe rhythm and
rhrasnE. however. being entirely different, which
emotional has rarely II ever been equdIled
by a COMPOSER uf British nationality. The solver
OF conundruIns will fin6 much to his taste here
T3ut for 7 content marvel at the H.
yentve power which created the central melody
ard at the brilliant ingenuity which evolved the
slow movement mat wells mp In all It's glorious
melody from the pquant scherzo the while ! am
happily bnuuC by the spell OF the lovely SoIhdS
that are the outcome neither OF inventive power
nor OF brilliant ingenuity. such. but OF what VIC
Inspiration
But the note Of almost tragi" emotion which TO
a considerable extent is the key 70 the symphony
or al least dominates much of il, Is by no means
The only note There is manly VigOr, cOnCcn-
trated power, q persistency OF strongly masculine
rhvthTn that equally noteworthy.
Ii is difficult to give a cea~ idea Of the mani
fold beauties of this truly astonishing composition
hours after the performance when the glamour Of
the croUued and enthusiastic audience is dmmed.
when the sound Of its applause no longer rings
triunphantly in ones ears. nave sun no heSlId-
finn in reuea-inC my words that Elaar has given
70 rs a master work. He has summed the PIT
falls in which many modern composers nave been
trapped. Though there is an abundance OF sent. =.
r1-nt there is no trace Of sentirneDtalitN OF of
weakness. And what is possibly Of Infinitely more
value Just nov. there Is robustness: a sincerity.
poyver, q conviction and an individuality that
while the,- give life the music to-day. yej rightly
lead one to jjci0ate still further advance when
FlEar ehal elect 10 compose his second symphony.
Fer El2ar himself has not previously attained 70
such heigl-s even "a his most distinguished work:
not overlook the noble example Of Nerdi-ever to
rise higher.