New-York tribune., 1915-03-03
Passionate but MelOdiOuS
COoings of a Gentle
AnarCh.
KNEISEL QUARTET
PLAYS A NOVELTY
Composers Name a Greater
Bugbear than His Music,
Which Pleases.
By II. f. KREHBIEL.


I sextet for strings entitled "Nerklarte
Nacht" ("Transhgured Night), in
tended 20 illustrate, delineate, depict,
adumbrate and expound n precious
bit of German poetry, so permeated
with Walt Whtmanism that Mr.
Kncisel seems TO have been unwilling
TO print il, or even an outline OF II, on
his programme. Since it was the m
spiration of the music, however, the
audience ought 70 have been informed
Of its contents. so as TO be able TO
swell with the appropriate emotion
synchronousiy with the composer. Ihe
subjects chosen by modern German mu-
sicians being an illuminative gloss
upon the tendency of their art witness
"Salome." "Elektra" and "Rosenkava-
lier'), we shall presently make the
considerate delinquency good. The sex
tet was grouped with other music whlch
calls for no special comment, 1t oeing
sufficient IN its beauty or national SIG
nifcance, and the manner IN whlcn
such music is played by Mr.. kneisel
and his fellows being as familiar as
household words. First, there came
Brahms's Quartet in A minor, Op. oil,
No. p; then the novelty. Then followed
.he third and fourth movements OF the
Quartet By the Hungarian, kodaly' an
earlier novelty of the season, and' 10
conclude. Bocchernfs Quintet IN -
with two viOloncel!os. -
when Schonberg's Quartet IN u
minor was produced here by the Fioh-
alley Quartet in January OF last year
a prodigious effort was made to make
il appear that it was music "h0ss,
beauty and significance were sealsu
with seven seals, which had 10 pe
broken by preliminary private PEI,
formances, oral eXpositions ana prlhIe9
analyses. When finally II was heard
IN nublic II was discovered that the
onIv bugbear in the piece was the com
noser's name. the music, though con-
toirinq much that was fiat, stale and
unavailable. containing also much that
was of beauty, gratifying to the ear
and alluring to the fancy. Now the
case of Schonberg is like the case oil
Richard Strauss; both began with COM
positions which recognized the geheE
ally accented canons of beauty, thOuSh
from the beginning Schonbergs pur-
nose was more dedly set on poeu-
caf expression. Very naturally, too, fof
his first three opera were songs. lheh
came in both the GesIre TO make music
something more and different than
their predecessors and the estheticians
had conceived it to be. The progress
WAS gradual, but in decade ochon-
berp had already achieved the dlstlnc-
tion of having had his works DIVIDED
into as many periods or styles as LEM
assigned 10 Beethoven. Now the seHtet
heard last night belongs IN the hrSt
period; the Quartet IN ID minor IN tne
second. 1t follows that the former Is
one degree more innocuouS than the
latter. Perhaps it was because OF thls
that Mr.. Kneisel issued no pamPhletS
and gave no eXpository lectures.
The quartet mas no programme, now
ever. and the sextet has. II IS found IN
a poem called "Transfigured Night,
culied from Richard DehmePs Web
und Welt ("Woman and the World y
whose contents (since We dare not
translated them literally even here
NAV be summarized in this fashion:
Two mortals walk through cold, par
rem grove. The moon sails over the
tall oaks, which send their scraWny
branches up through the uncIouded
moonlight. A woman speaks. She con-
fesses a sin TO the man at her side.
. She is with a child and he IS not lts
father She had lost belief in happi-
ness. and longing for life's fulness' lot
Motherhood and mothers duty. she nad
{ surrendered herself, shuGderlhg, TO the
embraces of man she knew not. one
had thought herself blessed, Dut no"
Life had avenged itself upon het Dy
giving her the love OF HIM she waIked
with. She staggers onward eaZihS
with lack-lustre eye at the moon Wnlch
follows her. A man speaks Let me-.
not burden her soul with thoughts OF
Guilt. See. The moons sheen enwraps
the universe! Together they are driV-
ing over chill waters, but hame from
oacb warns the other. II, too, Will
transfgure the little stranger. and she
will bear the child TO him. or she mas
;nsnired the brilliant glow within MN
and made him, too, a child. Ihey Sink
into each others arms. Their breaths
meet in kisses in the air. Two mortals
wander through the wondrous moon
light. .L..,~l,. of this as
poetrv lit presents a sort OF reversed
NicheIetismJ }, it IS for those Wiling 10
accent it good material Tor music. -
offers opportunities for as much seeh'e
delipeatlon as can be gwen 10 ,IoU"-
LIGHT. invites impersonation ana ulu
logue from the instruments Two VIZ
lins. two violas and two VlolohoeHoSJ
calls for varied and passionate e%pfeS-
sion in melody, offers a superb cllinaA
and glorification OF all us IhooIS niau
DictuTes at the close. The transhgufa-
tion is twofold, materIal aS "''' 90
psycholog gical. .t.o,io
- - a programme for n symphonic
noon for orchestra, and not the ieasi
of Sch0nberg's undeniably success,i.u vi
treatment of il lies in the fact that as
pensing, Of necessity, with the I@lse
isonorities which modern composers
love. he vet secured such excellent SIM
ulation of them. as well as OF orcheS'
trail color, with his six instruments
The openine theme, based upon pedai
noirt lends itself 20 a great variety OF
motival treatment, the cllmaNeS are l.
mirably wrought and the development
is steadily from the quiet but hea'y
hearted mood Of the beginning up 10
the most acute accents Of passion. whicn
are clarified and beautified more ana
more, until, at the close, the Instru-
ments themselves speak as II trahsHs
ured. The devices used IN giving All
this variety TO the music are strange
10 the chamber music OF an carrier dd!
brt are used more sparingly than iH
the quartet, and, as rule, with greater
Effectiveness. Chords OF harmonics
,nived with the natural and muted
tones of the instruments become IN
creasincly sublimated in their effects
Rnt the greatest charm of all comes
fror, the fact that there is steady
erow,b in the sublimated song. II IS
FOR the greater part, at least, transhg'
mod music. 1t was entranclngly played
Samupl Gardner and Hyman EisenoerG
aiding the quartet, the former as sec
ond viola. the latter as second eelio
Tic nnyeltY made q most agreeaole "