Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-04-01
By DAY THORPE

Passion" that in the tenor's
c minor aria the music "inli-
tates" a rainbow.
I quickly admit that the
word was ill-chosen, but am
at a loss for a more precise
one.
The practice of which the
present case is an example is
so widespread in musical his
tory, and has fascinated so
many composers of the great
est rank, that one must guard
against the first impulse to
reject it as patent naivete.
Bach sets the word rain
bow" in a series of regularly
undulating notes that suggest
to the eye a bow or arc. I i'm
agine the suggestion would be
noticeable only to a person
that knew beforehand that
Bach was used to such pic
turization and that it would
be harder to be apprehended
by the ear than by the eye.
But the evocative power OF
music is so difficult to analyze
that / would hesitate to say
that Bach was merely indulg-
ing in a harmless, private ana
extra-musical pastime.
Convention a Potent Force
It is impossible to exagger-
ate the part convention plays
in our appreciation of the
meaning of music. Everyone
associates a note of rapid fire.
uuency with height and one
of slow frequency with depth.
possibly only because one is
spoken of as being higher in
pitch" than the other, or per-
haps because one stretches
and strains to produce a nigh
note and collapses the muscles
to sing a low one. But there
is no logic in calling the top
note of a violin higher than
the bottom note Of a cello.
The Greeks, it is said, re-
yersed the order and called
what we would speak of as
descending scale an ascending
one. They were no more or
no less reasonable than we are
in assigning quite contrary i'm
plications to the same phe-
nomenon.
I believe it could be shown
that all the basic. universal
meanings" that music has
acquired for all of us-not
merely the musically informed.
but the average man-are
equally arbitrary. That the
minor key represents sadness.
or terror, or pathos, or wicked
ness, in contrast to the ma
jor keys gayety, serenity.
vigor. or strength; that many
notes indicate rapid action;
that discords represent con-
fusion-all these implications
are true for us here today.
Ny point is that the mean
ings come not from the music
itself, but from a lifetime OF
association.
Not Playing Silly Games
If this is true land I think
the question is far from being
proved), we do not know even
the fundamental prime rea-
sons Of the evocative power OF
music. If composers go to
lengths that appear absurd
when singled out for our at
tention, it may be that hey
know subconsciously that they
are creating a more receptive
field in their hearers and
widening their perceptive hori-
IONS. Otherwise they are play
ing silly games.
Why else should tears be
represented by pizzicato notes.
faith or the act of holding by
extremely long-held notes,
whipping by a series of notes
that look on paper like a
scourge, the Trinity-Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost-by
triple time, the fan Of Adam
by jagged descending intervals
(why do / say "jagged?"),
scattering sheep by figures in
contrary motion, false wit
nesses by the tritone-the
augmented fourth. known as
the devil in music?"
The list could easily be ex-
banded to include hundreds Of
examples, not only by Bach
but by composers Of all per-
suasions. Such intellectual
fooling is in reality a very
genuine and characteristic
part of a great deal Of music.
How Is Perception Assured?
To what extent can it con-
sciously be perceived? Ger
tainly to a large extent in its
simpler forms-who does not
recognize the fitness of descend
ing scales for the words fall
down" or descend" and who
would not sense an absurdity
in a reverse setting? More
abstruse and abstract note pic
lures are undoubtedly lost
upon the unprepared nearer.
However, an experiment I
once made has some interest
though no value because ]
quit after testing only two
people. There is a very long
phrase Of Bach to which are
set the words: HE that hum
bleth himself shall be exalted,
and he that exalteth himself