The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-08-17
He's America HOPE for
a National Mus,c9

Apropos OF the ever prevailing discus
sion among critics. scholars and students
national Influences In molding the forr
Of music today comes recollection o. a
extended and illumina Ting article in tn
ttlantic Monthly upon this theme, writ
len only A few months ago by Redfer
Mason. who Is entitled TO speak wit
more than an ordinary degree OF au
horily. Introducing his subject, MI
Mason says:
National rnusic, if such a thing
there be. is q form of art The very
mention OF which causes many excel
lent people to shudder. 1t offends
lheIr musical ideal, which is that OF
pure sorority unperplexed by the sug-
gestion of anything outside OF It's own
beauty. The confusion or tongues
cannot reach 1t; 1t dwells far from
view. 10 stamp music with national
characteristics is 10 reduce II from
the proud position OF being the one
Language which all can understand to
speech split up. into hundred
dialects, some Of them as incompre-
hensible 70 The generality Of mankind
as pigeon English. Here and there.
one Of these ,deaiists Will grant to
foik-sorg ma tional flavor, just as
there may be dialect poetry. or flow
part of the world I'm which they are
found. But that the peculiarities of
folk k-song are TO be met with in the
music OF the masters. or, II found.
would become It's dignity. this they
deny. firm In the conviction that the
huctusting qualities OF race and M
tiouality cannot be expressed in an
art SO pure and abstract as music.
on the other hand, IL is pointed out
that our generation has not lacked
composers who chose TO write in what
they deemed their national idiom-
Liszt as a Hungarian. Grleg as
Norwegian, Moussorssky as a Rus
sian. Believers In the nationalism
the masters Is ns tional, and, In sup
port of this view they point to the
-vesembla resemblance which
they declare not 10 be accidental
borne by the best melody OF the great
composers TO the folk music of their
native land In this resemblance
they see a fitness based on the In
herent dignity Of national character
for folk-sons in its best form is
the peoples praise OF love and
their reaching out after the divine.
When Napoleon forbade under pen
atty OF death, the playing OF the
RAM Ges Naches" in the hearing OF
his Swiss soldiers. lest they should
desert. as they had often done. some
times IN whole companies. he was
bearing testimony 10 the existence OF
something in this mountain music
that had meaning fo- the SwitZers
which il possessed for no one else: 1,
memory. or had Some quality allied
10 the genius OF the race insinuated
itself Into The notes? On this point
hinges the whole question OF national
music, whether by that term we
mean the song of the folk or the
sican. Mountain melody has char
acter of Us own. The bold slsips and
arpeggios of Styriau song may be
paraIleled, in significantly different
way and the Scotch Highlands.
Moreover, strains inspired by the
hills have a richness OF harmonic sug-
sestion. the reason for which we
must seek In the echoes OF elm and
hollow
Mr., Mason points out that because
iIr the dsstlnes amt a Of
usic. the German idiom has been mis-
ken for the speech OF humanity and
have hardly dared to sing
ith the accent nature gave them" And
: shows that while the German masters
-e occasionally touched by an alien race
brit In their use of q foreign idlom,
ley reach their highest points only in
ielr native strains. Here Is the conclu
on reached:
that can be recognized as iucontestably
American-and un European-is that
in which the native composer has
made use OF the melodies Of the red
skins. Edward Macdowell's indian
suites are genuine American music.
The elements Of music he derived
from the old world, but they were not
the discovery or property of any one
single civilization than does the al
phabet His musical scholarship he
gained IN Germany. but ne was too
strong a character to be warped from
his native bent by the manner OF a
school His way OF thinking is his
Indian melody, the three factors OF
acquired knowledge. personality. and
thematic material combine in for
mula which belongs to America, and
TO her alone,
While the broad general aspects Of
nature-nountalns. rivers, prairies.
the sea suggest distinctive types OF
melody these types are susceptible,
not ne cly of national complexion,
but OF = charm that reveals the per-
ceivable that the influences which
make the Wit Of Touchstone English,
and the beauty Of the Phidian mar
bles Hellenic. should be imperative in
music, Can we logically seek the
esprit ,dt gauG%ts q =, in RaosIas end End oit
neral March of a Marionette" proves
It's existence in Gounod. II Is the
functioning OF the genius Of race In
the composer. That spirit is not to
be limited 10 tonality and rhythm; It
is diffused through melody and makes
itself felt as the character Of an in
dlvidual shines In his countenance.
We cannot reduce 1t to constituents
more fundamental. It Is the mani
festation OF something supersensuous
and mythical We can recognize IT'S
effects: we can follow some of its pro-
cessss. but we can no more understand
II. root and all, branch and all. than
We can understand a mothers love.
or the infinity OF space. To deny mu-
sic the racial expression we And so
significant In the human face is to
withhold from art what nature has
given TO the flowers, 10 deprive mel
ody of the color Of language.
Tribute to Veteran Singer.
) testimonial Is being arranged for Mrs.