The Lambertville record., 1920-10-22
Musical Composition

| is what is contained in 1.-THE ideas and
! feelings which find expression through
it.. and the ideas which are embodied
in it.
No images can be expressed or con
veyed by combination or succession Of
tones. No events can be described in
this way, no situations indicated, except
indirectly and with difficulty Nor can
any abstract ideas be expressed. Ger
tain sounds do, indeed, suggest certain
ideas and images, and may be employed
in music for this purpose. Thus the
barking Of dog raises the idea of the
animal because we have always asso-
ciated the sounds with dogs given by
this sound; alone, it is extremely incom-
plete SO that any one confined to a
mere imitation Of barking in an attempt
to express and convey his idea to any
particular dog would be very unsuc-
cessful Given other particulars. and
the mere suggestion by this sound would
be sufficient to raise the complete idea.
There are instances of this kind in
music. Thus, Mendelssohn, in his mu-
sic to Shakespeare's Midsummer
Nights Dream" introduced in the
midst Of music appropriate to a love
scene an imitation Of the braying of a
donkey, and this irresistib1y suggests at
once the scene with Bottom and Titania,
which Mendelssohn had in mind. But
If we did not know beforehand that the
composers music referred to this par
tlcular play, the mere introduction of a
bray would convey no such idea.
1t will be necessary to discard, then,
at the outset, any notion that music can
be used as words are, or as the pictorial
arts are, for the expression and convey
ance of the images impressed on our
minds by outward objects. Any use of
music for such purpose must be incl
dental and secondary to its main object.
There has been great deal of nonsense
written about "the meaning of music"
by writers who wished to connect some
definite scene or event with particular
pieces, incorporating into them a sig
niflcance wholly foreign to the COM
posers intention
People talk about describing" this or
that event or situation in tones indi-
eating confusion of thought Properly
speaking, no music ever described or
depicted" anything. The expressions
used, however, are attempts to convey
real truth, the relations of which are
apparently not clear in the minds of the
writers who use them.
But are there, then, no ideas in
music? Certainly, there are. But
only musical ideas, except when other
ideas are indirectly suggested.
What, then, is musical idea? A
musical idea is any succession or COM
bination of musical sounds, the sepa-
arate components OF which have def
mite, intelligible relation to one another
Motives are musical ideas. The de-
velopment arrangement of these mo-
tives in combination so as to involve
from them complex wholes, satisfactor-
lily TO the intellect, constitutes musical
thought
The proper apprehension of the COM
pleted product of the composers
thought. as coherent, logical musical
discourse, is also to be called musical
phony studied scientifically, in all the
relations OF the separate parts to one
another and to the whole, demands for
its proper comprehension intellectual
powers and training Considered from
the side of construction of technical
knowledge and technical treatment of
sounds music is purely a product of
intellect and the composition of it is a
POt C1N iliNNLC(lddt plOIESS.
But no composer of genius impresses
himself on the world merely or mainly
as an intelligent athlete or a ski1lful
composer His skill is subordinate-is
is only a means to an end. That end
is the embodiment of some ideal.
Mere technical skill, dexterity in the
combination and arrangement of sounds
may be acquired by diligent study. 1t
may be possessed as an attainment by
scholars without a spark of creative
power. But the real creative artist uses
the materials accumulated by study, and
the facility acquired by practice as so
much food for his imagination; as
means for the embodiment of ideal con-
ceptions. First, and foremost, that
which occupies the attention of the
artist is the embodiment of ideals of
beauty 1t is not enough that his pro-
ductions be skilfully constructed; it
must be beautiful in order to satisfy
his artistic sense and make for itself a
permanent place in the worlds estima-
ton.
Beauty in music is of three kinds:
Sensuous beauty of tone, symmetrical
beauty OF form. and the beauty which
comes OF the adequate expression of a
worthy emotional content. OF these
three kinds OF beauty, any one may pre-
dominate almost to the exclusion of the
other two; or two OF them may be
prominently present, the other being ne
elected; or all three may unite to form
well-rounded and satisfactory whole
OF these three kinds. compositions
which embody simply an ideal of the
pleasing in sensation are lowest in the
| scale, because the production of them
involves the minimum of intellectual ef-
fort and of technical attainment, and
also because the emotional content is
inferior. Compositions which combine
with this the embodiment of an ideal of
formal beauty stand higher, because
form is the result of the high intel
lectual process.
Maize, steel, pumpkin, tan and Jade