The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-06-26

quAted Il expressed in literature.
The connection between modernism IN
music and the type Of emotional expansion
associated with Rousseau IL easily 20 b
traced. Perhaps no one pushed that
notion Of originality further than certain
Russian oomposorv. and there 10 the sane
compliment inbresdlng in music 90 In it
erAture. not only og personal but Of local
and national pecuharitieA. Whon Grieg
was advised 10 make his neEt sonata lees
Norwegian he replied dohAntly; -On
the contrary tho NEXT shall be more %. >
Above all. music has sst itself 10 ren-
dsring the modern mood par sxoellsnce.
the mood Of melting into outer nature.
and reflects tho suggestive interaoti0n
Of all the sense Impressions. Thus Schu-
mann sought 10 give musical express
sion 10 Cologne Cathedral. Richard StrauGs
TO Niet1sohss philosophy; Huber set out
70 orchestrate one Of Arnold Boecklin's
pictures, while BOecklin In turn had
aimed in this picture 10 write with coloIs
a pantheistio nature poem We can
thus follow the ricOOhst from one art %
the other comments our author. The
common element In all these musical tan
denotes is an increasing emphasis on must
cal expression a. compared with musical
form. Rousseau not only emphasized
the suggestive power Of music a. no one
had ever done before him but gave a
definition Of programme music which stall
remains unsurpassed. Yet tho AFcadian
revSry that 10 the soul Of all that 10 most
poetioal In Rousseau does not attain full
musical expression until BeethOvsa's
Pastoral Symphony. or in painting until
the Landscapes Of Corot. Beethoven vas
somewhat uneasy over his composition. q
appeaEs. for heWrots in theshb-titls Of one
of the copies: Expressive rather Of feel
ing than Of painting Hector BsrlioS,
the most important figure in the history
Of programme music. may be taken ~ the
example Of the emotional unrestTaint
which tended 10 make all the arts merge
in one another. He. like the whole mod.
ern school in devotional music. was weak
in the expression Of what Is above the rea-
son with the accompanying sense Of awe
and elevation. % his 'Requiem Mass
DannreuthsT said that mo such volume Of
sound had been heard in Paris since the
taking II the Bastils-; enough 20 raise the
dead. instead Of contributing % their re-
pose In truth. many modern musicians
are in danger Of resembling the writer Of
whom II was said that he could express
anything he wished. only. unfortunately,
h. had arehfns 80 -,rry-s-s. -. 49,. - -,
likenedto a painterwhois an accomplished
oolorist but has no design. A Sainte.
Beuvs would say. they have transferred
the capital Of music from Rome 70 Byzan.
tium; and when the capital Of an empire
" thus pushed over 10 its extreme FROM
tier Il is very close 70 the barbarians.
The more extreme forms Of romantic
word painting and programme music are
closely allied 20 color addition. which
seems 10 furnish a definite physiological
basis for that running together 81 all the
different impressions. that mystical syn.
thetic sense Of which the modern asthete
dreams. the sense that 'seea. hears. tastes.
smells. touches. all In one Color audi
ton and allied phenomena do not appear
to any great extent in the earlier French
romanticists and IL IL only with Raude-
laire that this confusion Of sense i'm
preasions assumes Importance. He seems
almost 10 have arrived a. the ultimate
dim Thule Of refined sensation; but some
Of his disciples. notably HuyBmans,
% whose fantastic organ we have already /
alluded. pushed on still further into the !
region Of the rare and the remote. Huys- |
mans was evidently Influenced strongly in |
writing the novel in question by Poe. and I
this makes clear 10 up why Poe 10 the only |
American author who has had an i'm |
portant influence In France: he alone I
possessed the ultra type Of sen
sibilty Characteristic Of Rousseau and his /
descendants.
We live. says Prof Babbitt. In ar age
which hiss goi mad on the powers Of sug-
gestion In everything from ia art 10 it,
therapeutics. Even the art Of dancing 1
has caught the contagion. and must needs |
be a symbol and suggestion Of something
else. a Greek vase. for example. or a
Beethoven symphony. n all the arts are
thus restless and impuessiOnistic. II they
lack dignity. centrally. repose. 10 Is be-
cause the men Of the present have no
centre. no sense Of anything fixed or per-
rnanent. either within or without thsm-
selves. that they may oppose 70 the fiuK
Of phenomena and the torrent u impress
sions. In short. the confusion in the arts
IN simply a special aspect Of a more gen
aral maladv from which the Occidental