The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-12-12

sufanCe vi a t~n0fOugnly COn-
WINGED mind that the post -impression-
tstic painters did not know how to
draw and were lamentably deficient IN
technic. Naturally these are matters
which do not disturb them at all.
Theirs not to draw but to paint. And
this Is what IL the matter with the
futurists or post-impressionists In
music. They are tone colorists and
that is all.
To be sure. there II nothing radically
new in the trend OF their effort. Music
n by no means as juvenile an art az
most OF the thoroughly convention
Allied writer's on the subject would
have us believe. Indeed there is now
abundant evidence before us to show
that much OF basic importance had
been accomplished centuries before the
dates handed complacently down from
Hawkins and Burney to Ambros. The
last n exposed many Of the veneer
ated errors, but he left us not a few
OF his own. which I.eichtentritt has
corrected up to date.
Treasures buried for ages have been
unearthed in the last twenty or thirty
years and most OF them in the last
fifteen. The epoch making works OF
Pierre Auhry. Johann Beck and
Johannes WolT. for examples. have
been published from 1904 onward.
Roman Rolland's original researches
came later than the first books Of these
men.
Looking over the historic ground as
We now know 1t we find that the real
development OF musical art began
(crudely to be sure) when st. James.
brother of Christ and first Bishop of
Jerusalem, and st. Mark, first Bishop
OF Alex indria. set about arranging
their twD lfturgies. For in these prod
ucts :. the infancy Of modern music
we And certain characteristics which
deepened their impress till they be-
came salient features Of all music up to
the time of Paiestrina and even later.
The chief OF these was the employ
ment OF foridity as an element Of
purely musical expression. But one
element Of the whole mass Of medieval
music refused to submit to any incur
sion from without or any impulse from
within. The melodic substance OF all
this music was the simple diatonic
scale. and whether We find its appari-
we III NV y Itottt Wv
Greeks and known to us rs the &C.
clesiastic or in the modern major and
minor. We recognize In this body OF
material the timber from which Bach.
Beethoven and Mozart built their
works.
Nevertheless from very early tine
there has been n movement to enlarge
the variety Of scales. or at least to en-
rich melodic possibilities by the intro
ducins Of observation-disclosures notes
foreign to the scale in use NJ the mo-
ment. In the effects produced by such
practice many adventurous composers
have from time to time found sugges-
tons for new mctiiu,l~ in The construc-
tih of melodies: and since our modern
music knows no melody which exists
without harmonic support or back
ground, these new methods have in
var.ably led to the arrangement Of new
chords or move. SUGGESTIONS of chords.
The post-impressionist is concerned
chiefly about chords. He views melody
as an integral part Of chord succession
and not as the root Of music from
which chords are 10 sprout. The chord
and the melody are with him one and
indissoluble. II the chief aim OF his
art il to a your attention by a
remarkable series Of harmonies.
Now melody Is one of the defining
elements OF music, Rhythm il another.
But sine melodies are so frequently
identified largely by their rhythmic
movement we must admit that the
succession of tones is no more impor-
iant than the figure. The %futurist. or
compassionate. cares little about
drawing. He sometimes insists on It,
as the wild youth Orstein does in his
wild Mems Dance which Is nothing
but a series of ear torturinG groups of
tones pounded out in an orgy of brutal
rhythm. one likes these new men
better when they do not draw, but keep
20 their harmonic painting.
They create abominable discords,
but when they do ii in piano
music there Is a device which makes
them sound as old as the instrument,
BY using the pedals crafty the player
can so muddle the confusion OF
overtones that the general result Is
much like. that obtained by some un-
skilful players through bad pedalline
in a piece by Chopin or SchumaIN
But perhaps there is something be-
yond this, too.
When Busoni lamented that the
scale could not he subdlvided into
sl-aller intervals than semitones and
suggested that a splitting OF musicaI
hairs would enormously enrich the
harmonic scheme, he placed dead,
weapons in the hands OF the futurists
They seem to have set out to show the
world how an Illusion on demi-semi-
tones can be created.
When the ~futurist plays upon the
piano in three keys at one moment
and brings together, let IA say, a
series of discords caused by the stimuli
tancous sounding of notes and their
adjacent sharps or flats, he employs
his pedals in such a way that the i've
neighnoring tones seem to blend. and
TINS We get a phantasm OF Mr.. Blu.
sonl's microscopic intervals.
II is all very interesting and stimu-
lating To the imaeination. 1t suggests
remote and mysterious possibilities fol
the future. Perhaps that Is what q
futurist is for; it seems almost con
elusive that he is not for the present
:, n rate when one listens to this
aew fashion". music he can ferventlS
.2ycat TIE NERDS % III, a'ghly recep,
dive H%uncker.
There is no melodlc or harmoni,
line. only a series of points. dots
Sashcs Or phrases that sob and scream
UcSDair. cNulOuc pAnlt. blasphemp." q