Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-01-15

The Kneisel Quartet

iiC iNllCioCl LuuitCt
Dost thou think. because thou art ylrtuous,
there shall be no more cakes s,. a9d T s'e eR7s,cb
The concert OF chamber music given last
night by the Kneisel Quartet was a
study In temperaments and lesson In
eneroslty-temperame because their
three numbers we're one exquisite, another
profound and the third human; generos-
ity because we who have our cakes and
ale do not renounce virtue and beg those
who have virtue CBoccherini in this case)
not to repudate the cakes and ale OF
schoenberg and Dvorak.
what was to he expected in the work
Of the quartet. with Mr. Lett restored TO
u and with Messrs. Gardner and Hisen-
berg to assist II. was iudlciouH playing,
robust and satisfying tone and measure
OF exaltation which arose more from sim
cere Interpretation OF the music than
from vlrtuosity OF temperament Pre-
cisely these things we're realized; the
allegro Of the Dvorak quartet lin d
minor, with which the program began,
was almost stupidity played but before
its ravlshinF ndaglo was reached the
players had taken ~ the slack Of their
inspiration, Tho complexities Of execu-
ton In the SchOenberR seXtet we're solved
with a fine facility, and the touching and
artificial graces Of the Boccherini quintet
were neatly and deity expressed. MIR.
Gnrdner playing now the viola, and Mr..
Escnberg the additional cello both IN
Scnoenberg and Boccherini, were thor
oughly good
The Schoenberg sextet bears the title
OF a poem by Richard Dehmel. an adj
Junct or offspring OF the Eeberbrett'
movement. The music which this happy
movement evoked was largely ragtme,
ouch as the settings to the songs of Otto
julius. The "Verkaertc Nacht" is not
OF that order II is Of exceptional dra-
matte power and intensity, conversation
between man and woman, hi which
forgiveness for sin Is itself transiIV-
nred into affirmation After the fact
one can think Of Nietzsche and his "be-
yond good and evil" In a sense IL can
b" said that the music of Schoenberg Is
also jenselts"
!, Is not Of the same period MS the
quartet heard here last year, and It does
not offend normal. or critical, Canons In
any way The strict logic of Schoen-
berg which leads him to distinct devel-
opment Of the four voices of a quartet,
as IT might lead him to the distinct de-
velopment Of the hundred voices Of an
orchestra, without regard to the discords
which such a development might bring
about, Is only suggested IN the seXtet. In
fact. the unison Of the Instruments. In
carrying the melodic themes, and In cx-
pressing the motif Of the TRANSPORTATION
Ia particularly notable for It's power and
effectiveness. When the strings are
divided the contrapuntal development ia
sane and conventional. If the sextet
needed to depend upon unusual qualities
for success, 1t would never be played.
The fact In that II is the result of
profound and moving inspIration--the
mn = I1E.tUV s,a1 Ia 4 a.
has been treated sentimentally by Goethe
and romantlcally by Dowson, and reI-
EIously In the New Testament. ,.Jn this
time 1t must be treated with a certain
tragic optimism, a bitter joyousness. and
despalrinR affirmation, All this, I
should say, the music OF Schoenberg has
expressed, He has expressed II with more
beauty of melody than the profound tone
poems Of Strauss can often be made to
yield. His major themes are Of an In
effable appeal and the melodic intri-
cacies Of the middle portion, which aug-
gest the later development OF his genius
are infinitely more worthy of attention
because they are infinitely richer In mean
ing than the "passage work" which can
be found In nine-tenths Of the chamber
music from the 18th century down Quar-
rel as we may with the later renuncia-
tions Of beauty In the name of musical
Justice, we are none the less compelled
to Yield tribute to the fresh and far
reaching inspiration of this work.
It may be noted, for the sake OF COM
pleteness. that the applause after the sex
tet was normal; after the quintet OF Boo
Cherini 1t was enthusiastic and bore n
certain aura of thanks-for this relief.
After Schoenberg, Boccherini was like
tho prattling of a doll; before Schoenberg.
Dvorak was as the voice of man. And
so.