Omaha daily bee., 1918-09-15


an American wedding march to take the
| place Of the wedding marches of Mendels-
| Sohn and Wagner. / dare say that the march
king will make n tolerable job of it, and IL
would not be surprising if the new genera
ton will find it agreeable to be married pa
triotically to the strains OF wedding march
with made in the United States" on its
cover But fancy that some OF us oldsters
! who were married to the decorative strains OF
MendelsSohn or the dramatic music OF Wag-
ner. will be REASONABLE enough to continue
to hold these pieces in tender esteem. Most
people are married but once and the wedding
is an important occasion. Those who were
welded to the music of the old nuptial
marches will have a liking for them for the
! rest of their lives The government can ban
German music, it can make it crime to
play Bach or Wagner, Beethoven, or Men
delssohn, but it cannot outlaw sentiment.
What will be the effect of this was mu-
sic? The glamour and the passion OF battle
have been the musicians theme since the
triumpets rang out for the hosts of Troy and
the buccina blared forth the Roman chal-
lenge to Caradoc. Yet curiously enough few
set battle pieces are examples OF the high
est art When, however, the composer rises
superior to jngoism and contemplates war
as Shakespeare contemplates it in "Othello
then we get a masterpiece of the measure OF
the "Eroica" symphony. Beethoven Cancelled
the dedication of the work to Napoleon when
the first consul became the emperor. Never
theless the Corsican is its inspiration. 1t
stands for the hero's struggle against great
obstacles; it mourns his loss; it celebrates
his apotheosis. The protagonist of this piece
of symphonic weaving is no merely destruc-
tive force, no Tamerlane or Genghis Khan,
but the upholder of the ideal, the triumphant
% he Il ,e
tone portrait of hero before his downfall
1t is impossible to believe that the man who
wrote this music, which someone has said is
! like watching the fighting before lion
through the eyes of Homer, could, we're he
alive, find inspiration for another "Eroica'
in the deeds OF a Won Hindenburg or a Lu-
dcndorff.
But to what musical heights would not
Frederic Chopin ascend we're he on earth to-
day? When the news reached him of the
downfall of his native Poland he was over
! whelmed. But what he suffered in heart and
mind he expressed in music. Within a few
days he had composed the most insurrectory
document that the art of music has ever
brought forth. It is the Revolutionary"
etude. 1t is volcanic, eruptive, and the
| rhythmic undersong is as stern as the youth
| full Hannibal's oath of undying enmity
against Rome.
How the soul of Frederic Chopin would
be torn were he on earth today! The rape
and ravage of Belgium, the voting of Po-
| land the mutilation of France-what passion
ate music of hate these enormities would in
| spire in the heart and soul of the Pole Like
Raemakers. the Hun long since would have
put price on his head
Patriotism has ever been an inspirer of
music; and music, in turn, has ever been the
| begetter of patriotism. All the kings horses
| and all the kings men could not stop the
| singing of the Wearing of the Green" The
despotsm and the tyranny of the house of
| Hapsburg could not Danish the "Rakaczy'
march from Hungary. History proves that
song may put into the heart of the patriot
that which makes tyrants tremble. With
that tune and 10000 men could CONQUER the
world" exclaimed Robert Emmett when
Moore played him "Let Erin Remember. A."
Whatever the horrors OF the Reign of Terror,
the song of liberty that Rouget de Isle sang
in the early days of the French revolution is
like the insurgency of dawn against the op-
preston of darkness.
Very little is known regarding the mill
tary airs that have become associated with
various regiments. In both American and
British regiments the old Irish air, THE Girl
Lett Behind Me-" is invariably played when
a regiment is quitting post. The Camp
bells Are Coming" heard far in the distance
by little girl, announced the joyous tidings
of the relief of Lucknow. All we know is
that since man first fought man the inspiring
effect of martial music has been recognized,
The various varieties of horn were much in
evidence at the battle of Hastings and tam
bours and drums figured largely in the inspi-
ration of the Crusaders. Without its bag
pipes a Scotch regiment would lose much of
its usefulness. Kettledrums and rifles were
allotted to every hundred soldiers in the six
teenth century, and Shakespeare refers to the
fifer in THE Merchant of Venice" when he
speaks of the vile squealing of the wry-