The Jackson herald., 1910-09-08

the bride or young
- wife expresses her
longing for the alb.
sent one. Our meetings in the
house Of God are accompanied by de.
Votional songs. Sad and sombcr mu.
Sic ascends In the house Of mourn.
ing, and yet. what n relief this music
Is TO sorrowing hearts. With the
sound OF drum and trumpet and the
clang OF the cymbal the soldier plum.
6es into the smoke and carnage of bat.
tie and even the trained horses dance
and curvet In time with the music
and strain at the reins which restrain
them and learn the meaning OF the
inherent bugle calls. Love. anger. sor.
row. enthusiasm, pain-all the pas.
s'ons and emotions Of the human soul
can be, and are, expressed In mu.
sic
The progress which has been made
In the composition of music and in the
building Of musical instruments of
every kind is enormous. The primi.
tive instruments of the ancients and
their monotonous music. or the instru.
va bhA bdlpur vi StUll-tlNlllZ vi
people and the intolerablc noise which
they call music cannot be compared
with the expressive harmony OF our
music or with the multitude Of beau.
ful and powerful musical instruments
and in the execution OF musical pieces
our age has doubtless advanced furth.
er than any preceding time. In com.
position. however. in the art OF pro.
ducing musical pieces, the past oen.
fury undoubtedly had greater masters
than the present.
At the opening of the nineteenth
century the musical leadership, which
Italy had enjoyed for considerable
period, had passed TO Germany, and in
the twentieth century It appears as II
Germany would also lose this exalted
position In It's turn. for in the field
of art no nation can long hold the
leadership. Perhaps the Industrial
and commercial development OF Ger.
many may be one of the causes why
the number OF its great composers Is
decreasing; for though prosperity is
no obstacle to the enjoyment and cul.
uyation of art, yet it does not seem TO
form specially favorable soil for the
growing masters OF this noble art.
When the nineteenth century
dawned Bach. Hacndel and Mozart
had raised German music TO a pin.
nacle OF glory. and Beethoven and
fect!on as today. Chamber music has
Haydn were at the zenith of their
xznlanlil ,g.hf I
Kreutzer and Schubert had begun
their immortal careers. Before Bee
thoyen died. Mendelssohn, Schumann
and Wagner had been born. This was
therefore golden age of music with
an unexampled array of peerless mas.
ters and unequalled musical works.
Comparing the present age with that
glorious time, we are compelled TO
admit that today there are no giants
In musical composition. for the three
greatest composers of the present, Ed
ward Grieg, Anton Dvorak and Rich
ard Strauss, only the last named a
German, do not reach up to the stand,
urd OF the heroic age
But though there are today no Ger
man WIN ID9Hlo > VI COMMANDING Bt-
MUS, yet there has never been time
when their works were so highly es.
Ceemed and produced with such per.
reached the highest stage Of develop.
ment in Germany.
In England also musical education
has reached a high degree OF perfec,
doR. but England never produced
many composers and none of com.
manding genius, Richard Elgar has,
however. succeeded IN meeting with so
much approval that he is being reck.
oned among the great composers. The
majority OF British and Irish com.
posers, however are content TO fol.
low in the footsteps Of German mas.
ters; the later ones, though following
their own ideals. love 20 walk abroad
in the mantle of Wagner or brahms.
France has for three centuries oc,
cupied a prominent place on the mu,
sical stage and her great masters
Boieldieu, Auber, Herold. Adam and
Chopin offer much that Is interesting
and valuable. Yet it must be ad
mitted that here the tendency was
mainly TO write for the opera and for
the production OF light and frivolous
music. OF more serious and nobler
character are the modern musical