Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-02-14
THIS AND THAT


on the patient. An Offering following
by good orchestra was no better.
Several of the famous numbers played
almost moved the sick man to tears.
Turn that thing off, he finally or
dered.
He got to wondering about all these
radio sets In hospitals.
They are installed usually by good
hearted. healthy men, who have only
the finest intentions.
But so much of the music played is
sad-not sad with the sugary quality
of 1.-THE Prisoners Song" but with
the keen pathos Of beautiful music.
Now that he stopped 10 realize 1t, the
patient recalled that he had never
been able to hear on his photograph
a soprano sing Gounods Sing, Smile,
Slumber" without a certain feeling
of sadness. 1t was not SO much the
magic quality of q great voice as the
indefinite something that is somehow
imposed on the creator OF real music.
1t Is as If God had placed every must
clan under secret orders to put a
strain of melancholy in every com
position in order that JOY might not
be unconflned.
There Is to all great music n GER
tain air, a certain fall, that seems to
find some inexplicable bond of under
standing with some similar quality in
the human mind. And the two meet
and the blend Is sadness.
Even such thing as "The Spanish
Fandango," a. celebrated guitar num-
Der. has in it aspects of unutterable
woe. The solemn, throbbing repeat
Of certain notes put in by the thumb,
with the wall in the upper register,
ut-Iy L. h.
full compositions of the world.
This brings us around to the differ
ence between real sadness and IN
tended sadness.
Composers who start out with the
intention Of doing something lugubri-
Gus ordinarily fail in their endeavors.
THE Death of Ase" Is not half as
mournful as Dvorak's 'Humoresque.
There IS nothing at all humorous"
about the latter composition; it Is one
of the saddest pieces Of music in
existence. The famous portion in
sixteenth notes may be played with
THE Old Folks at Home" thereby
proving its innate melancholy char
acter.
There IS this quality in whole races
of composers. The happy Irish peo-
to produce only lifting melodies, have
some of the saddest songs in the
world
Some of the negro 'spirituals," so
called although rot very well called,
in our opinion), are intensely sad in
effect. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"
"Steal Away" and III Want to Be
Like Jesus" when done with the
proper old-time harmonic effects, are
The music Of the late Victor Her
berthe was an Irishman--possess
the note of sadness.
1t is a remarkable thing that almost
every one of his songs in "a march
time may be transformed into a
lullaby by playing them slowly. In
the same way. most Of his songs in
march and common time may be
easily turned into %waltZes.
He could not escape from the inner
sorrow Of sweet sounds. No amount
of being a good fellow" could make
him untrue to his commission, which
was to create real music. The pen
sive soul of the artist shone through.
The efforts Of the modern jazz ex-
ponents to make music only gay is
a futile gesture in the eternity of
music. 1t is sound and fury, signi-
lylIS IotHiIlB. IHty lIy u give the
lie to Nature by making a great noise.
They fee from reality to land of
ma ke- believe, just as some persons
stay up all night because they are
afraid to go to sleep.
Real music recognizes that man
always be rejoicing. Like life
itself, it knows the possibilities of
Death, and Of Love, which Is stronger
than Death. Beneath it's tripping
movement there is a groundwork of |
tears, built Of the hopes and fears
If humanity. This is why real music |
Is all things to all men, but often sad |
ness to the wise, although not gloomi- |
ness. 1t was this sweet sadness |
Shakespeare meant when he wrote, |
II am never merry when I hear |
sweet music"