The New York herald., 1922-03-26

positions, just as bad rhythm, ungr
companions of bad speech and dispo!
One pauses hare in an instant of
jazz fiapper and the fox. trot hound
not. how could he have enunciated pI
of our own time? But to continue ,
piers preachment. Poets, painters,
hibited from embodying in their wo
"None will be tolerated as artists exc
type of the beautiful
1t makes one wonder whether the
the inestimable privilege of hoverinI
way we do things to-day. Those who
of musical art in the last few years
must perceive that we know many
things that Plato did not know. It
is true that the same things exist in
music and the other arts, those ele
ments which he so gravely discussed,
but we have learned how to employ
them to our advantage and our pleas
ure in ways that never occurred to
Plato.
He undoubtedly took music very
seriously and regarded it as an art
10 be used largely in raising the poetic
eloquence of texts to still loftier
level In times long after his, men
discovered that greater wonders could
be worked with songs without words
and upon tEis discovery was reared
the splendid edifice of modern instru-
mental music.
In the beginning It was simple and
dignifled and occupied itself with
making beautiful forms and patterns
10 ravish the mind with beauty eX-
pressed in elementary designs. But
later came the notion of turning the
art of music into story telling con-
trivance. and finally in our own day
we behold it transformed into an audi
BILE moving picture art.
Art OF Musical Movies.
The art of musical movies is gaining
in popularity and we daily are con-
fronted with evidences that composers
are more and more eagerly going into
it's practice. The ancient art OF carv-
ing immortal forms is falling into dis
use, not because il no longer is capable
OF giving pleasure TO the human mind,
but because the musical movie offers
an easier road for mediocrfty TO reach
success.
A few days ago the Boston Sym
phony Orchestra under the unmagic
wand of the wholly methodical NJ.
Monteux performed the Iberia" of
Debussy. a work which, at one time
Nn1 80 ~ @1t~ -
subtle suggestions. 1t no longer Gre
ates such an Illusion. 1t reveals itself
now as a somewhat awkward effort on
the part of a French philosopher to
transform himself into a Spanish sere-
nader-one of those gay masqueraders
who stole most Of his good ideas from
the Arabs, as, for instance. when he
sang:
How beauteous is this garden.
where the flowers of the earth vie
with the stars OF heaven. What can
compare with the vase OF yon ala
baster fountain filled with crystal
water? Nothing but the moon in her
fullness shining in the midst of an un-
clouded sky
The Partisan Is lost in the bosky
groves beside the Guadalquiver. The
FAULT OF his music for us is that il
IS too subtle. We clamor for some
thing more definite. We hearken TO
Charles Martin Loefiier orchestrating
Irish poems and we exclaim. That
Is it," Yet Mr.. Loeffier is a true musi-
cal poet. II ever there was one. Still
he Is compelled TO follow the march
Of progress. His instrumental back
ground in his Irish Fantasies for
Voice ard Orchestra" Is plainly ar
fectcd by the contcmporaneous tend
cncy Of music TO 90 into tho moving
picture business.
The skill OF Lorfficr.
1f a composer must make moving
pictures. let him do II with the skill
~ \ LoefIler. The Alsatian- American
employs orchestral instruments with
something like an artists instinct for
color. lie seems always to select the
right one. IL you wonder for mo-
ment what the xylophone Is doing in
Ireland. tho next instant you decide
that Il must have been born there
Mr. Locfllor compels II TO rattle with
a broguc. And 70 matter what claims
may be set up for the Egyptians with
their museum OF flutes, II is certain
that the piccolo grew UP beside the
Kerry dance.
Yet one wonders whether tho art
Of music Us materially advanced BY
this species OF composition Illustra-
tion Is thing demanding insight and
sympathy and incxhaustible technical