The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-11-07
By w. J. HENDERSON.
HE season of music is yet yor

t Already IL SHOWS the 1anlllar
signs of hard usage. Its brow is
wrinkled. It's step lags. 1t is aweary.
Since it began much water has flowed
under the bridges Of violins. Much
mere wind has been blown from in
struments of wood. There has been
great sounding OF brass and tinl<ling
of cymbais. The people have rushed
madly hither and thither in search of
new things They have heard many
fiddlers-almost all good. They have
heard many pianists-not too good
And they have heard some new music,
most of il confusing.
Sometimes the mind is confused by
the naive simplicity of tire new COM
position and sometimes by the parade
of difficulties The suspicion grows
that orchestral composition is too easy.
1t seems only few years ag4that the
professional chronicler of musical
doings felt il his duty to make note
OF the orchestration of new works.
."The composition is admirably scored"
he used TO say. He accepts good scor-
ing now as a matter of course. just as
he accepts good piano or violin technic.
All the tricks of orchestration have
been exposed. There have been books
and books All sorts and conditions
of authorities from Richard Strauss to
Cecil Forsythe have told us how it is
done. We follow Beethoven with the
score no longer. We have put aside
the primer. We must look now only
at the fifth reader.
1t is like taking up the works of DR..
johnson after reading John Bunyan.
What was that old Empire Theatre play
in which Miss Ethel Barrymore. then
only an ingenue, used TO say so implor-
ingly professor. after dinner will you
pour II out to 10" She referred to his
overwhelming flow of language. Or
chestral music is all language now. But
who has anything 10 say?
Certain to Be Sonorous.
IT is too easy Give the budding geu-
ius hundred instruments and he Will
make n prodigious sound. 1t matters
little how he scores the common chord
of c major. Ii is certain to be sonorous
II enough instruments play it at once
Il
lish horn. three elarlnets. bass clarinet.
three bassoons. contra bass bassoon,
eight horr.s. three trumpets. three from
bones. tuba four tympani, bass drum.
celesta, gong. xylophone. tambourine.
two harps. thirty-six violins, twelve
violas. ten 'cellos and eight double
BASES. nothing can go wrong with the
big mass effects. If in doubt. however,
the composer can throw in more trum-
pets, a heciSlephone. q bunch of saxo-
phones and some big bells
But suppose you invite this eager
youth TO sit down before n sheet OF
score paper containing this list of instru-
ments One flute. two oboes. two horns
and the usual strings What do you
think he will produce? The little mouse
Of the laboring mountain would look like
a behemo.h beside his fancy's child.
young composer should be urged to
eschew the employment of all the opu-
lent apparatus OF the modern orchestra
until ne has ascertained whether he
really has anything to say. If a man
has something worth communicating to
the world he will manage TO publish
his message. 1t makes a great differ
cnce whether a man has a picture Ia
paint or has to paint picture. If he
has a picture to paint II VIII paint IT.
self I'm one way or another in spite OF
all obstacles. even the want of paint.
But when II merely is a case OF having 90
paint picture the result is often
Just paint.
Painting implies color: what a hess
ing it would be to art IL all the young
aspirants were compelled to pass some
years In working in monotone. AS for
writer's. their salvation might perhaps
lie in the abolition Of the type machine.
such as the present writer is now US
ing. Ii is so easy to rattle off a page
OF copy with this Janko keyboard thing.
But has one anything to say?
Well. there is a perfectly simple way
of finding that out. Write a single para
graph with an. idea in il. Lay IL away
for a week Take il out and polish IL
up. Improve the expression as much
as possible. Lay IL away again. Polsh
II up again. Then examine it infinitely
and see whether there Is any idea left.
Every Stole was a stole: but in
Christendom where is the Christian
That is a single sentence written by
Nacaulay. There Is no great parade OF
apparatus about that. II defines con-
trast In conditions In n single sentence
of, two clauses II presents an idea
fersely and forcibly. II does not employ
any figure Of speech. II makes use OF
a primitive rhetorical device and gets
its effect.
Urges string Quartet writing
Youthful composers ought to be COM
PEELED TO get down TO bed rock IN some
corresponding way. The best thing that
could happen 20 them all would be
compulsory course of string quarter
writing. Lot them write string quartets
till they find out that they have nothing
10 say Each one OF them would men
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