A Croatian composer — Context and Discussion

Underscores “_” before and after a word or phrase indicate _italics_ in the original text. Small capitals have been converted to SOLID capitals. Illustrations have been moved so they do not break up paragraphs. Deprecated spellings have been preserved. Typographical and punctuation errors have been silently corrected.

NOTES TOWARD THE STUDY OF JOSEPH HAYDN

_Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford Author of “Studies in Modern Music”_

LONDON SEELEY AND CO. LIMITED 38 GREAT RUSSELL STREET 1897

_A small return for much assistance and encouragement_

The materials for this essay have been almost entirely gathered from two works by Dr. František Š. Kuhač, the one his collection of South Slavonic Folksongs, the other a pamphlet upon Joseph Haydn. Indeed, so greatly am I indebted to them that the essay would not have been written had it been possible to present them to the reader more directly. All that has been added is a certain rearrangement of the data, a certain amount of commentary and exposition, and a few supplementary facts which happen to have come within my reach. I should state that during a recent visit to Croatia, I saw Dr. Kuhač, who most kindly gave me full permission to make use of his results, and augmented the gift with much valuable information.

It is not for me to determine how far the subject will be of interest to English readers. We have somewhat forgotten Haydn: we do not always attach great importance to abstract problems. But I venture to think that the practical issue is not insignificant, and that in any case the question of historical truth is one which demands some consideration and regard. There is little need to say that I am myself convinced of the point which I have endeavoured to make: if the facts have been misinterpreted, at least the endeavour may invite discussion.

No doubt it will have to take its chance with those critics who would censure it at the outset for prying too curiously behind the veil. From such antagonists I beg, for two reasons, courteously to differ. In the first place, this is not a question of irrelevant detail, but an inquiry into the methods of a great artist, and into the character of his work. Grant that it deals with a single aspect alone, it does not therefore disregard or undervalue the others. And to suppose that Haydn is depreciated by the acknowledgment of his debt to his age and country is, I think, somewhat to misunderstand the conditions under which all true “creative” art is produced. In the second place, if we accept the historical statement as true, we do something to rescue a musical nation from undeserved neglect. The race which has given to a master not only birth but inspiration may surely claim from us something better than the oblivion into which we have allowed its name to fall.

I wish to offer all due acknowledgment to Mr. L. Finkenstein for his translation of Dr. Kuhač’s pamphlet.

OXFORD, _October 12, 1897_.

The study of Human Nature contains few problems more difficult or more important than those which deal with distinctions of national character. In most countries the original race, itself not always pure, has been affected and modified by a hundred causes; by conquest, by immigration, by intermarriage with neighbours, by all the circumstances and conditions of historical development; and the result is commonly a web of many diverse threads; in which we are fortunate if we can explain the prevailing colour and the prevailing pattern. Sometimes, as in our Indian Empire, the threads lie comparatively free, and puzzle us more by their number and variety than by actual closeness of texture. Sometimes, as in the Kingdom of Hungary, the interplay is so thorough and so complex as almost to baffle analysis at the outset. And when to this is added the influence of climate, of government, of religion, of all that is implied in past record and traditional usage, it will be seen that the question of causality is one which may well tax to their utmost limit the skill and patience of the ethnologist.