Evening star., 1954-02-07
News of Music

Two works have been played
in Washington during the past
few days which to the average
concert-goer are examples of
the extremes of music The
fifth symphony CT Tchaikovsky
is the paragon of euphOny. in
telligibility, and appeal: Berg's
Lyric. Suite the limit of caco-
phony, chaos. and revulsion.
Whether the average concert
goer is right or wrong in his
appraisal, he has many good
reasons to feel the way he
does.
The concert-goer believes
that he wants melody, rhythm,
and instrumental color in mu-
sic. He certainly wants what
he has been accustomed to, for
it is a highly plausible theory
that any mans response to a
piece of music is conditioned
by every other piece of music
that he has ever heard during
his life, and what the concert
goer calls melody. rhythm and
color are the commonest coins
that are legal tender today.
But where he may go astray
is in the belief that 10Th CEN
tury music is natural" while
goth century music, at least
the kind usually called mod
ern, is unbearably perverse.
Pure Artifice
There is little if any evi-
dence that there is anything
natural about any music what
ever. Music does not come
from nature but from man
it is artiflce. Major and minor
scales were never discovered.
they were evolved like the
alphabet. The octave, the
closest thing to complete iden-
tity to anybody'S ear, is created
quite matter-of-factly by dou-
bling the vibrations of the
string or tube. Every note in
the scale was created by the
simplest of mathematical ra-
tloS-one to two, one to three,
one to four, and so on. Sounds
in nature display these ratios
only by chance; birds do not
generally sing, nor brooks
ripple, in tune.
The scale is only one of many
examples of the artif1ciality of
music. l mention 1t to show
that the tune in Tchaikovsky
is no more natural or inevitable
than the tune in Berg. The
former tune is what We have
habitually listened to, and
most of us only listen, we do
not hear consciously and cri-
tically. always sorting out and
classifying. To sort out and
classify is the basis of all
music appreciation" though
certainly not of all enjoyment
of music.
Listeners No Sponge
A pernicious falsehood that
has caused so much trouble is
the venerable saw that Music
is. the universal language"
Whatever music is. it is
clearly not universal. either
geographically or in time.
Many people who have been
exposed to music all their
lives have no feeling for it
whatsoever; inhabitants of
different parts of the world
today have entirely opposed
conceptions of cacophony; the
fifth symphony of Tchaikov-
sky would sound not a jot
less discordant and chaotic to
a man of Palestrina time
than Berg's Lyric Suite does
to us. On the contrary, music
. is the most precise. unequi-
: vocal. and specialized Ian
guage in the world. The
. listener need not know the
theory necessary to the COM
poser or even to the perform
er. but he must teach himself
to hear. he must be, in this
way, a participant in per-
formance. not a sponge.
Must, of course, is non-
sense. He should pay his
money and do as he pleaseS,
and happy is the uninvolved
man. Still, if he spends his
time, he may decide that it is
worth while to hear more
than comes naturally. A
9 phrase of music has no mean
ing to a nearer except as 1t
is different from or similar to
all other phrases he has heard,
and the man who enjoys
Tchaikovsky the most is the
man who unconSciously COM
pares it to diverse other
things.
Surfeit Of Melody
The hearer may find that
. what we want is some melody,
&. but not very much melody.
: Most music in the 18th CEN
/. tury was all melody, nothing
z but melody, melody of the
Esmost expressive and sensitive
kind. The surfeit of melody
is probably what causes this
music to have no great ap-
peal to the average modern
ear-that and its unfamiliar
ity. Again, he may find that
what we want is not rhythm
=, but meter, for the infinite
rhythmic resources of a
: Schultz or, say, a John Dow
: land, do not cause a tremen-
douS demand for either of
these composers, each Of whom
is highly endowed with the
gift of melody.
Against the argument that