The art of music, Vol. 03 (of 14) — A Reader’s Guide

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Authors: Mason, Daniel Gregory, 1873-1953 [Editor], Hill, Edward Burlingame, 1872-1960 [Editor], Saerchinger, César, 1889-1971 [Editor], Newman, Ernest, 1868-1959 [Editor] Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2022 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Musicians; Music -- History and criticism Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

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Words 168,618

Reading time 734 min

Text sections 56

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This volume of 'The Art of Music' focuses on modern music, tracing its roots to Berlioz, Chopin, Liszt, and Wagner. It includes a detailed comparison of Hugo Wolf and Johannes Brahms, examining their lyrical styles, psychological range, and technical approaches in song composition.

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Introductory; the term 'modern'--The 'old-romantic' tradition and the 'New German' school--The followers of Mendelssohn: Lachner, F. Hiller, Rietz, etc.; Carl Reinecke--Disciples of Schumann: Robert Volkmann; Bargiel, Kirchner and others; the Berlin circle; the musical genre artists: Henselt, Heller, etc. (pianoforte); Jensen, Lassen, Abt, etc. (song)--The comic opera and operetta: Lortzing, Johann Strauss, etc.--French eclecticism in symphonic and operatic composition: Massenet--Saint-Saëns, Lalo, Godard, etc.

II. THE RUSSIAN ROMANTICISTS 37

Romantic Nationalism in Russian Music--Pathfinders; Cavos and Verstovsky--Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka; Alexander Sergeyevitch Dargomijsky--Neo-Romanticism in Russian music; Anton Rubinstein--Peter Ilyitch Tschaikowsky.

III. THE MUSIC OF MODERN SCANDINAVIA 59

The rise of national schools in the nineteenth century--Growth of national expression in Scandinavian lands--Music in modern Denmark--Sweden and her music--The Norwegian composers; Edvard Grieg--Sinding and other Norwegians--The Finnish Renaissance: Sibelius and others.

IV. THE RUSSIAN NATIONALISTS 107

The founders of the 'Neo-Russian' nationalistic school: Balakireff; Borodine--Moussorgsky--Rimsky-Korsakoff, his life and works--César Cui and other nationalists, Napravnik, and others.

V. THE MUSIC OF CONTEMPORARY RUSSIA 137

The border nationalists; Alexander Glazounoff, Liadoff, Liapounoff, etc.--The renaissance of Russian church music; Kastalsky and Gretchaninoff--The new eclectics: Arensky, Taneieff, Ippolitoff-Ivanoff, Glière, Rachmaninoff and others--Scriabine and the radical foreign influence; Igor Stravinsky.

VI. MUSICAL DEVELOPMENT IN BOHEMIA AND HUNGARY 165

Characteristics of Czech music; Friedrich Smetana--Antonin Dvořák--Zdenko Fibich and others; Joseph Suk and Vitešlav Novák--Historical sketch of musical endeavor in Hungary--Ödön Mihálovich, Count Zichy and Jenö Hubay--Dohnányi and Moór; 'Young Hungary': Weiner, Béla Bartók and others.

VII. THE POST-CLASSICAL AND POETIC SCHOOLS OF MODERN GERMANY 201

The post-Beethovenian tendencies in the music of Germany and their present-day significance; the problem of modern symphonic form--The academic followers of Brahms: Bruch and others--The modern 'poetic' school: Richard Strauss as symphonic composer--Anton Bruckner, his life and works--Gustav Mahler--Max Reger--Draeseke and others.

VIII. GERMAN OPERA AFTER WAGNER AND MODERN GERMAN SONG 238

The Wagnerian after-current: Cyrill Kistler; August Bungert, Goldmark, etc.; Max Schillings, Eugen d'Albert--The successful post-Wagnerians in the lighter genre: Götz, Cornelius and Wolf; Engelbert Humperdinck and fairy opera; Ludwig Thuille; Hans Pfitzner; the _Volksoper_--Richard Strauss as musical dramatist--Hugo Wolf and the modern song; other contemporary German lyricists--The younger men: Klose, Hausegger, Schönberg, Korngold.

IX. THE FOLLOWERS OF CÉSAR FRANCK 277

The foundations of modern French nationalism: Berlioz; the operatic masters: Saint-Saëns, Lalo, Franck, etc.; conditions favoring native art development--The pioneers of ultra-modernism: Emanuel Chabrier and Gabriel Fauré--Vincent d'Indy: his instrumental and his dramatic works--Other pupils of Franck: Ernest Chausson; Henri Duparc; Alexis de Castillon; Guy Ropartz.

X. DEBUSSY AND THE ULTRA-MODERNISTS 317

Impressionism in Music--Claude Debussy, the pioneer of the 'atmospheric' school; his career, his works and his influence--Maurice Ravel, his life and work--Alfred Bruneau; Gustave Charpentier--Paul Dukas--Miscellany; Albert Roussel and Florent Schmitt.

XI. THE OPERATIC SEQUEL TO VERDI 366

The musical traditions of modern Italy--Verdi's heirs: Boito, Mascagni, Leoncavallo, Puccini, Wolf-Ferrari, Franchetti, Giordano, Orefice, Mancinelli--New paths; Montemezzi, Zandonai and de Sabbata.

XII. THE RENAISSANCE OF INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC IN ITALY 385

Martucci and Sgambati--The symphonic composers: Zandonai, de Sabbata, Alfano, Marinuzzi, Sinigaglia, Mancinelli, Floridia; the piano and violin composers: Franco da Venezia, Paolo Frontini, Mario Tarenghi; Rosario Scalero, Leone Sinigaglia; composers for the organ--The song writers: art songs; ballads.

XIII. THE ENGLISH MUSICAL RENAISSANCE 409

Social considerations; analogy between English and American conditions--The German influence and its results: Sterndale Bennett and others; the first group of independents: Sullivan, Mackenzie, Parry, Goring Thomas, Cowen, Stanford and Elgar--The second group: Delius and Bantock; McCunn and German; Smyth, Davies, Wallace and others, D. F. Tovey; musico-literary workers, musical comedy writers--The third group: Vaughan Williams, Coleridge-Taylor and W. Y. Hurlstone; Holbrooke, Grainger, Scott, etc.; Frank Bridge and others; organ music, chamber music, songs.

LITERATURE FOR VOLS. I, II AND III 445

INDEX FOR VOLS. I, II AND III 491

ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOLUME THREE

The Garden Concert; painting by Watteau (in colors) _Frontispiece_

French Eclectics (Lalo, Massenet, Saint-Saëns, Godard) 30

Russian Romanticists (Glinka, Dargomijsky, Rubinstein, Tschaikowsky) 48

Neo-Russian Composers (Moussorgsky, Balakireff, Borodine, Rimsky-Korsakoff) 122

Contemporary Russian Composers (Rachmaninoff, Glazounoff, Rebikoff, Glière) 150

Bohemian Composers (Smetana, Dvořák, Fibich, Suk) 178

Hungarian Composers (Count Zichy, Jenö Hubay, Dohnányi, Moór) 192

Modern German Symphonic and Lyric Composers (Mahler, Bruckner, Draeseke, Wolf) 202

Modern German Musical Dramatists (Humperdinck, Thuille, Pfitzner, Goldmark) 246

Modern French Composers (Chabrier, d'Indy, Charpentier, Ravel) 298

Contemporary Italian Composers (Mascagni, Wolf-Ferrari, Puccini, Zandonai) 372

Modern British Composers (Bantock, Sullivan, Parry, Elgar) 424

CHAPTER I BY- AND AFTER-CURRENTS OF THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT

Introductory; the term 'modern'--The 'old-romantic' tradition and the 'New German' school--The followers of Mendelssohn: Lachner, F. Hiller, Rietz, etc.; Carl Reinecke--Disciples of Schumann: Robert Volkmann; Bargiel, Kirchner and others; the Berlin circle; the musical _genre_ artists: Henselt, Heller, etc. (pianoforte); Jensen, Lassen, Abt, etc. (song)--The comic opera and operetta: Lortzing, Johann Strauss, and others--French eclecticism in symphonic and operatic composition: Massenet--Saint-Saëns, Lalo, Godard, etc.

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The third volume of The Art of Music opens by asserting that the direct sources of modern music lie in the works of Berlioz, Chopin, Liszt, and Wagner. The editors, Edward Burlingame Hill and Ernest Newman, frame these four masters as the essential point of departure, despite acknowledging earlier prophetic figures like Monteverdi and Bach. The volume then proceeds to examine the evolution of harmonic idiom, formal diversity, and musical sentiment that characterize the modern era.

A substantial portion of the excerpt is devoted to a comparative analysis of Hugo Wolf and Johannes Brahms. The text argues that Wolf represents a cleaner break from romanticism, while Brahms is portrayed as the continuer of Schumann and the older romantic movement. The comparison extends to their treatment of song structure, psychological range, and technical handling, with Wolf praised for his spontaneous composition and varied character types.

The Four Masters as Modern Foundations

The introduction explicitly names Berlioz, Chopin, Liszt, and Wagner as the direct sources of modern music. This claim is presented as a truism, yet the editors insist on its reiteration because the achievements of these four in harmonic idiom, formal evolution, and musical sentiment remain the point of departure. The text acknowledges earlier figures—Monteverdi’s use of unprepared dissonance, Bach’s diminished seventh chords, and Wilhelm Friedemann Bach’s prefigurations of German romanticism—but treats these as prophetic glimpses rather than direct sources. The framing suggests that the volume will trace how these four masters catalyzed the modern era, though the excerpt does not reveal how subsequent chapters develop this argument.

Wolf and Brahms: A Study in Contrasts

The excerpt offers a detailed comparison of Hugo Wolf and Johannes Brahms, focusing on their lyrical styles. Wolf is described as “much more the man of the new time,” making a clean departure from Brahms’s matter and manner. The text claims that Wolf’s thinking left Brahms’s mental world completely aside, and that his music is free from the “touches of sugariness and of the larmoyant” detectable in Brahms. Wolf’s psychological range is broader: he creates more types of character, set in more varied milieux, whereas Brahms’s personages recur with similar heredity, appearance, and gait. The comparison extends to technical handling: Brahms is said to work within a convenient frame, while Wolf lets the picture determine the frame. The excerpt also notes that Wolf composed without sketches, writing most songs at a single sitting.

Technical Distinctions in Song Composition

The text further contrasts the two composers’ approaches to songwriting. It refutes the accusation that Wolf is more of an instrumental writer than a singer, arguing instead that Brahms thought primarily in terms of instrumental phrases even for voices. Wolf’s pianoforte parts are described as self-subsistent compositions, integrated into the song’s tissue from the first bar. The excerpt emphasizes that Wolf’s adaptation of melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic values to the poem is not a calculated policy of “follow the words,” but the spontaneous utterance of a mind where all factors were present equally. This technical discussion underscores the editors’ interest in the evolution of song form and the integration of text and music.

Readers approaching this volume should note that the editorial lens emphasizes contrasts and tensions—between tradition and innovation, between composers, and between technical approaches. The comparison of Wolf and Brahms serves as a case study for broader shifts in musical thinking. The volume likely continues to explore other figures and movements that shaped modern music, but the excerpt provides a focused entry point into its critical method.

Reading how Wolf and Brahms wrestled with the same poetic lines, each hearing a different inner voice, reminded me of settling in with a favorite record, needle dropped, not wanting the side to end. There's a companionable quiet in that space, much like the one found in How To Get the Most Out of Your Victrola — Background and Themes, which feels less like a manual and more like a friend’s patient, knowing nod.