Evening star., 1928-03-03
One must sympathize with the music
critic who Is trying to describe the
effect OF one art In the medium OF

critic who iS trying TO describe tnf
effect OF one art In the medium OF
another
Music can be described only in music
Words cannot tell one anything about
Beethovens "Pathetique" sonata. but q
reasonably good performer with a gooc
piano can play It.
The only real written tribute to such
masterpiece would be mlsica
composition by another composer who
had been stirred to the depth OF his
musical being by the work.
A sensitive man. who possessed some
ability at the keyboard. might sit down
under the influence of the Beethoven
| opus. and play his idea OF what the
"Pathetique" meant.
To write a lot OF words about 1t. te
attempt to tell the story" Is to put
forth only group Of paragraphs which
we'll might come under Shakespeare
classical description Of life, mere sount
and fury. signifying nothing"
The absurditieS of the stories" of so.
called program music In which some
person Solemly writes down mental pic.
lures which he declares are evolvet
throught the hearing OF compositions
have only to be reCounted to be recog-
nized
One Is supposed to see almost every.
thing from a prize fight to a pastora
scene. according to the tempo of the
passages and the energy expended BY
the performers
III let alone. however. every auditor
would "see" something different. ant
what would be rocky island" to one
would turn out TO be a plum pudding t.
another. and what would seem to q
third to be a glorious description" of q
peaceful meadow might strike a fourth
as nothing but the picturing OF cat
asleep on cushion.
" X
One who has grown older without
| real. live music in his home during re-
cent years will receive quite a pleasant
shock some evening when ne visits &
friend who owns and plays piano.
Some OF us have grown so welded tt
| our radios and monographs that We
forget that theg" are reproductions oi
music. not the tibrating. alive thing it.
self
II any or" doubts this. let him put
the fines. IA; lilo and speaker TO be OBJ
tanned III a room with a fine Crane
piano. then turn on the set TO allow a
pIdllb SbiO 10 come Ul~-tIlen allow LTe
real human performer there in the
room to 81 Gown at the real piano
Then he Will hear Something
There Is possibly no more ardent dew
ot2" OF the radio In Washington thar
the writer here. but he admits that he
began to feel that he was missing
something when he visited friends the
other night and listened to the playing
OF the aforementioned Beethoven
sonata on real piano.
Here were the very vibrating strings
themselves, singing their tones into the
ears. There was tone In It's essence
and purity, engulfng every listener
There was the almost miraculous feel
of grand piano. to be duplicated by
no other instrument In the world
surely.
AS We sat there watching tho pr
formers hands move In the d"lcatr
Butterfly" etude Of Chopin. somctaihc
OF the magic wonder OF music, pc.o, eu
art OF the centuries. came over us, for
these glimpscs Of wonder come chi 81
times. at no stated periods. for no par-
ticular reasons. perhaps. but none tha
less surely for lack OF a reason.
Music Is. In sense the unrca%oning
art, that Is why efforts To apply human
reason to II strike one as futile. While
based Solidly upon intelligence. as ex-
emplified in It's very structure tthose
high mathematical qualities OF con-
structton, riva!inR the I'm st algebraical