New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-10-18
,.opean War I'm
,reIy 10 III ave
Stimulating Eff
feet ON Music
Writing.
nr II. Z. KREHBIEI..

.ryHAI Is hhVi! W " WV :
M Of Tire European war on music
w The question is uppermost in
-spss Of musicians and music
~, IN one phase or another,
Al ~. arts are the fruits of peace.
..--,s and Of all the arts that of
s.+e Is most dependent on peace for
--o,scation. This does not mean
= ls rsr may not be a stimulant TO the
~ 80 81 great musical compositions,
{. n, instances IN which 1t has been
stimulant are not many except
g. -. ne event and as p consequence
~ ..,ionnd feelings stimulated by the
fsonly such feelings, moreover, as
- from the contemplation of lofty
E.s,ies War music. SIS such, has
III. srrt;stie value. Its first expression
- nstriotic songs. and even these
:, no value unless they give voice
" ,,metbing higher than mere con
u. The Hottest political monu-
"a which musical history has TO
- - e the Heroic Symphony and
=. vss Bee;hoven's tribute TO Ma
-, Bonsparte, IN whom the COM
- When he wrote It, saw the IN
rs.s.son Of democracy. When the
49, consul became the French En-
- ~, Beethoven had nothing more 20
bjs favor. Then he could shake
a. a. & French officer and utter
.ish that he knew as much about
.,t ~ warfare as he knew about
..,,srpoint. so that he might take
- and set s few problems for them
!. srsck. A democrat Beethoven re-
80 "a the end Of his days, railing
."bie against the Austrian govern
r snd sdmirinC the English people,
y. &c he said. lad "heads on their
s.,,Ssrs": sGmiring. too. the French
H., Who rewarded him for his mass
\ nv striking a medal in hisshonor,
~, ne Prussian King paid him for
\, ssSiestion Of the Ninth symphony
: .srSing him so tawdry a ring that
,.,t h out 70 be sold as soon as he
nrled Of its petty value.
p. Cermsn propagandists were i'll
.s-;sss and short sighted when they
:. s,-vard the Names Of Beethoven
II Goethe as propagandists for their
,,.orsl culture, as against their enc
- in the present universal crisis.
=, tvo great contemporaries stood
\, Ast cosmopolitanism of genius
,,;.h knows no political boundaries
(, i,- AZ thew stood for states, they
~ FOR the small ones. which the po-
"a philosophy Of 'o-day $50 far as
4 snding expression in Germany's
..+sse to-dav) is seeking to destroy
s,s.57sn wrote his "Sinfonia Fro
a'p glorify the hero of France at
=, when he saw in Bonaparte a
v,.r liberator. Goethe. challenged
ka.s be did not lift up his voice m
eaEsinst the traditional "i
emmy, replied: "HOw could -ii,e
on d hate without hating! Az. Low
M ]. 70 whom the only distinctions
II natter are civilization and bar
ASH. hate a nation that is one OF
nost civilized on earth, a nation
Ftieh ! owe so ruch Of my cult
u" II the present war is one be-
7an civilization AMI barbarism, the
~ sntagonism which might have
tired a Goethe 70 wsrlike utterance,
nay become necessary to look into
is artistic fruits which the warning
splss have borne in our day. Here
q are concerned with music only
Il feds Of literature and the plastic
rz belong 10 others. Music needs a
'aA Inspiration. II must be emancl-
l,st from the spirit Of materiallsm,
T.i,h has dominated II more and more
ting the last generation. II must be
.ssised Of the arrogance and self
1seiency Of the men who represent
~ what the modern philosophers OF
K Treitschke and Bernhard stripe
pfssent in politics. There must be
s1m 70 an idealism which represents
z ruth Of beauty and the beauty or
nh. Great art is not created for the
again counter; il cannot be promoted
y he hawking bell-ringer in the mar
q place, nor enforced by Krupp
writer's. The triumph Of French
c.s will not advance that which is
steuent In French art, nor the
1-nph Of German guns what IS harm
z IN the music which parades as the
'eome Of German Kultur. II Goethe
''n alive to-day It is doubtful if he
''lld have seen peril TO art in the
sible triumph OF Russia. II is not
oil improbable that he would have
''ssd that so far as the best in music
1 hiding expression now il is finding
n Slavic idiom. or. If all good
se Of the highest type must be
Aft German music as 20 a large de-
FH II must, then that the Russians
taking more eloquently to-day
al the Germans themselves. DR.. Won
aeV had a provision Of what was
ING nearly half q century ago. In
latter part Of 1879 ne made con-
Z tour in Great Bcitain and wrote
ny he called "Autccritical Notes OF
Quincy in Fog" for the "Signale"