The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-05-14
By w. J. HENDERSON.
HE celebrations Of the tercen-
t.nar,. ~ Wii1i,m ~ro

tNioI vi i'tt t'itGNNoPVohC
continue. 1t IL in the nature Of
things that the most imposing
should he theatrical. Little enough
has been lone in the musical line.
What has been offered was lacking in
dcfinitenews of plan and in Importance.
The production of Coetz's flaming Of
the Shrcw" at the Metropolitan Opera
House was inevitably destined for in
ClusiOn among the blurred mass Of
incidents described as interesting"
The Boston symphony Orchestra
gave a programme Of music composed
on Shakespearian themes and this
helped the observer to the perception
that the great dramatic poet had per-
laps done more for music than 1t had
done for him. Shakespeare's mex
haustible creative power poured its
treasures into the hollows OF a thou
sand musical lima ginations. Com
posers of all types aud Of all degrees
Of ability have attempted to translate
into music some Of the passion n
the poetry Of the Bard of Avon.
But when all is recorded the sun,
appears tn he comparatively small
An exhaustive list need not be COM
piled. but some important works
should be mentioned. Smetana. a Bo.
hemian. wrote a Richard H." over
tuJe; Dvorak. another Bohemian. an
"Othello" overture. The Russian
Tschaikowsky found material in
Hamlet" and IN Romeo and Juliet"
for what he called overture fantasies.
He wrote also on THE Tempest"
Schumann composed an overture to
-- ., H aHern
phonic poem II Hamlet" Richard
Strauss gave us a symphonic poem on
'Macbeth."
When SCHNEIDER asked Beethoven to
explain the underlying idea Of the r
minor sonat the master replied. Read
Shakespcare's Tempest" Prof. John
X. Paine. former head Of Harvard's
musical department.. wrote an overture
to AS You Like It," and a symphonic
poem. The Tempest" Edgar Stillman
Kelley composed music for Macbeth"
Templeton Strong. an American COM
poser. who passed most OF his life in
Europe. produced "A piece on The
Tempest" David Stanley Smith II
Yale has recently given us a prince
Hal' overture. f.. a. Mcdowell found
inspiration in the characters OF Hamlet
and Ophclid. and ". II. Humiston Of
this city composed a Twelfth Night
overture.
No great Shakespearian opera was
composed by an Englishman. No
Briton has given us any great in
strUmental or other concert compost
ton founded on the poetry of the
dramatist. The best known and most
aIp,ir.I Slalaspaara UNttsir NJ fn-dAv
was handed down to us by a French
la and a German.
Hector Berlioz vas almost, one
might say, doomed to make a hercu-
lean effort to absorb the spirit OF the
English poet and to %republish II
through the medium Of his own mu-
sic. 4 creature Of uncomfortable pas
sion. of vast projects destined Away $
to exceed his powers of realization. ~
sudden and blazing impulses which he-
came obsessions. Berlioz vas impellcd
to send his bold and piercing gaze far
down into the depths of Shakespeares
imagination: and, filled with his un-
firing confidence in the grandeur OF
his own genius. he was certain to at
tack with brilliant energy h task Of
translating into music the divii.e
creams Of the poet.
But We have satisfying evidence
that Berlioz never found the real Sc.
Crets Of Shakespeare. All that was
spectacular, all that suggested infinite
variety Of form and color all that
peopled the mimic world with types,
and all that c~atalogued the passions
and the follies Of humanity was clea"
70 the eye of Berlioz's fancy. What
lay below these, the profound comprc.
hension of man nature. the inc"n-
ceivaDle delicacy in the differentiation
of desires and motives. the consun-
mate balance Of perception, and above
all the superhuman breadth of vision
and depth of sympathy, all this, indeed
was beyond the ken of Berlioz.
lie believed sincerely. fervently in
his Sh~akespearian understanding. He
was stirred violently by the poetry az
he was invariably stirred by anything
which appealed at once to his feelings
and his artistic sensibilities. Offended
BY sham or prejudice, Berlioz could
lash out in a frenzy Of rage and in a
literary style which cracked and
smoked with its Owl con1agration.
Moved by sincerity and beauty Of ut
terance he could declaim p~anegyr'Cs
which went to the verge OF hysteria,
One is not astonished to find him writ
Ing;
shakespeare. falling upon me unex-
pectedly, struck me like a thunderbolt.
His lightning, opening the heaven of
art with q sublime crash. illuminated
the most distant pr~ofundities. rec
ognizcd the true grandeur, true beauty
real dramatic truth. | saw, compre-
hendcd. felt thai | was alive and must
arise and march
ON his way home from Rome to Nice
H. 1881 he was detained at Florence by
a sore throat. He consoled himself by
reading and he wrote to . friend In
these characteristic words: ION the
banks OF the Arno in a delightful wood
a mile from the town l passed whole
days reading Shakespeare. 1t was
there | read for the first time King
Lear and this work OF genius made
me utter explanations of admiration
] thought ! should burst with enthu'
siasm. | rolled about in the grass
rolled about convulsively, TO satisfy my
transports. I ave almost finished thu
overture to King Lear; only the in
strumcntation remains to Ike com
pleted"
Now the overture to King Lear" IL
performed i~nfrequently in this coun'
try, ana with reason. II Is a gOoc
overture but il is UNNECESSARILY in
fcrior to the subject. BerliOZ's great