The sun., 1916-12-24
BY w. J. HENDERSON.

partment OF this ne WSpaper are
hereby expressed to DIR. A. A.
Brill. who has discussed the psycho-
pathology Of noise In the Medical
Journal He says. among other things.
Music and its spurious part, noise.
act ns strong human narcotics: they
control the painful tension Of con-
scious thinking M paralyzc IL when
It becomes dangerous" He holds that
what music docs for intellectual per-
sons, noise does for the unintellcctual.
He also explains the "~Ioudness'' Of
Wagner's music on the ground that
cit had its origin In his stormy child
hood and dealt with primitive infan-
tile feelings" The musical editor OF
THE SrN regrets TO he Obliged "a
quote this second passage. because 1t
weakens the authoritative force of the
first.
Wagner's music, to p~araphrasc Mark
Twain. IL not as loud as II sounds. 1t
In made loud by III disciplined and
none too musical conductors. That IL
can be beautifully performed without
degenerating into noise was conclu-
sively demonstrated last season by
Mr.. Bodanzky before lie began to yield
to the clamor Of noise epicures who
found themselves starved,
DIR. Brill Is too learned a nan to
lend his aid to the preservation of an
ancient theory long ago discarded by
all persons in the musical world. 10
wit. hat Wagner was the only com
poser who wrote loud music. The
truth is hat four-ffths of II Wag-
ner score consists Of moderate or even
piano passages.
The richness Of the Instrumentation
In M greater han that of the COM
positions of Liszt, Berlioz. Strauss.
Dvorak. Sibelius or Tschaiiowsky. TO
name the first half dozen that occur.
And in no work of Wagner is there
such an array of brass as there is In
some of the compositions of Strauss.
And Strauss did not hav n stormy
childhood. He was very comfortable.
had "A good home, a loving mother. and
went to school in a perfectly prosaic
and unhistoric manner.
Errors Of this kind are continually
mnde by men who write on music.
which never ceases to be Il mystery
even to the philosopher and the scien-
tist. The assertion in DIR. Brill's paper
which filed one readers soul with sat
isfaction was that noise serves as a
narcotic for the unintcllectual. At once
this reade knew why thousands upon
thousands of honest people wished to
eat their dinners in the midst of an in
describable din. which they fancicd
was music. He had believed that they
needed something to MI the aching void
created by their own inability 10 sus-
tain q conversation.
No: II was essential to the preserva-
ton OF their sanity. Its divine office
was to control the painful tension of
conscious thinking and to paraly2e 1t
when IL become dangerous"
OF course Or. Brill would declare
that II these people demanded noise in
stead of music. they openly proclaimed
themselves members a. the unintc.lcct-
ualmasses. But IL the distinguished ply
stefan would spend about three even
ings n week for a month in the Metro
politan Opera House. the resort OF the
r,,l,,,,a a., haar,,. ,,J th. f.sl,,n 90
Tho ,our ha y,o,id ho h,rd n,, Ia =,
% do6ro his ou.n no,i,ion
Tha n,oro ,io,or, ,ho nroooadir,s an
the stage. the more loudly and unmusi-
ca,,v tho "sirg.rs" ,hrtok ord shou,
IN ,ro,,ar ,bo ,nn,,u,. NJ at,
,hosa naonI. orc ~, Iohn c,,.,, >iuI
u,Io a.. ,b. dnc,o- al -, hiraI , hn~
o. .ha,, , IL, To s,,r,,.,o,, ht,
thoughts ubiIn II. norkeJ" Thcso
naoni. arc no, worliny. ,hev ar. in
,nId., -, ,,oir roynri,a r.cre,,L,r ,nox,
On e,tin,,l and douh,,oss ,bey desire Tho
rohus,io,s hauI,n.s 10 stimulate ,b.ir
hr,,Ii,n ipte,Iocts "a the ~nroduction
~ moro and more conversation rho
doctor should 90 often IN the onsra
and no should road the rev s Miller
IJegeman,s noam on "S,,enco" In
u,bich no .ays.
"Sound ,s lint .hs dram of s,lenco
silence t,lkiny I, i,s Gloon"
Tn ,ho n,ids, -, tho cnmro,v -,
cho,ce ard master SHIRTS NJ this ay.
az tho onora silence hos how mos,
nrodipious n~ipb,more.
Apotbor nbysiciap bos ,o..lv wri,tep
an interesting ARTICLE. II Is abou. Tho
hoout,sui ava IT, onost,es In,,o 40
toh., issue NJ, tho Ar, U-orJ mr.
1rhoodoro y Uvs,on ,ate serior nbvsi.