New-York tribune., 1918-12-02
Music
A Concert by the Symphony
and Some Observations
on Dvorak s Ameri-
can Symphony
By II. E. Krehbiel

The Symphony Society repeated it's
concert OF Saturday night in Aeolian
Hall yesterday afternoon. The con-
tinued indlsposton of Miss Gates con-
tinucd the service of Miss AlcocA, who
sang "Ombra mai fu" and ooh, don
tataIe' with beauty and fervor. The
Dvorak symphony was again finely
played, but the audience seemed
little less apprcciativc of its beauties
than that of Saturday night VIII lch con-
tnuod its demonstrations Of delight
after the slow movement until Mr..
Damrosch had the musicians to rise
and share the tribute with him. After
twenty-five years of sporadic discus
sion it would seem, from the comment
"Symphony Society Bulletin" that there
are still some singularly minded in
dlviduals who are unable to accept
the symphony "From the New World"
as an expression In music of American
sentiments and emotions, albeit it came
from the mind and heart of Bohe-
mlan. 1t seems impossible to clear
this matter up. First we had a fantas-
tic tale attributed to an anonymous
an old work which Dr. Dvornk brought
with him to America. Then came the
theory, lung to with pertinacity in
Europe, that the themes of the work
was partly Indian, partly negro. Then
we heard the pronouncement of a man
who spoke er-cathedra, because, for
sooth he had written book about
Smetana, that the symphony was a
bohemian psychologist utterance, only
negro airs neither copied, adapted nor
initiated. Against all this it might be
sufficient to plead the uDdeniable fact
that there is something in the SYM
phony which has endeared it to the
American heart; something which cor
responds to the illustration which we
believe DR.. Dvorak himself has used
to explain nationalism when he said
that if an American walking in Cairo
the lips of whistling boy and drawn
10 follow the whistler, that tune had
IN 1T the essence of American music.
mat something we have repeatedly
shown lies in the idiom of the majority
OF the themes employed in the SYM
phony
We will now add that the score Of
the work was for days IN the hands of
this writer before it had its first per
1ormance and that he discussed these
elements and the purpose of their in
PRODUCTION with the composer and
knows what was his mind on the sub
Ject. If it were not that it might be
Interpreted as vainglory we could tell
OF Dr. Dvorak's expressed willingness
TO make our intervallic change in one
theme IN obedience to timid hint. 8.
that the idiomatic character of the
phrase might be strengthened and
anat when the writer asked him if the
suggestion of yankee Doodle" which
comes so strikingly from the reiter-
ated melody of the vioas as a counter
point to the melody Of the slow move
ment when it is quoted in the scherzo
did not indicate the source of
his inspiration, Dr. Dvorak made
no denial. True, he remarked, quite
nalvely. That's the principal theme
IN dlmInution and the major mode;
put when the writer replied, "Wouldn't
IL be quite as correct to say that
the principal theme is this Yankee
Doodle' counterpoint in augmentation
and they minor mode ?" he smiled.
but did mot give the speaker nav.
We have also DR.. Dvorak's own
authority for saying that the slow
movement was written under the in
nuence OF reading of "Hiawatha."
ouch sayings are generally cryptic,
especially when they come from true
tone poets, who are not given to the
cheap devices of programmistic com
posers and must not be interpreted in
terms of bald literalness But if one
wanted to mar the mood of the wide
prairie in half-lit night, the thoughts
o. a vanishing race and the dawn of
new day and a new life, we should
not be inclined to smile at the notion
as mere idle fancy and affected hyper
bole.
The fantasia on two melodies from
Anjou by Lekeu, which ended the con
cert is beautiful piece of music, as
we'll as a verltable and effective tone
poem, we'll deserving Of a permanent