Chapter I: Front Matter

[Transcriber's Note: Obvious printer errors have been corrected. Questionable text is marked with a [Transcriber's Note]. A macron over a letter is represented by an equal sign, e.g., punct[=u]s. A caron over a letter is represented by a v, e.g., Dvo[vr]ak.]

MUSIC: AN ART AND A LANGUAGE

BY

WALTER RAYMOND SPALDING

_Price $2.50 net_

THE ARTHUR P. SCHMIDT CO.

BOSTON 120 BOYLSTON STREET

NEW YORK 8 WEST 40th STREET

Copyright, 1920, by THE ARTHUR P. SCHMIDT CO.

International Copyright Secured

A.P.S. 11788

TO MY COLLEAGUES IN THE DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY

WILLIAM CLIFFORD HEILMAN, EDWARD BURLINGAME HILL, ARCHIBALD THOMPSON DAVISON, EDWARD BALLANTINE

SUPPLEMENTARY ILLUSTRATIONS

for

_MUSIC: an ART and a LANGUAGE_

Vols. I & II now ready

(_Schmidt's Educational Series No. 257-a, b_)

Price $1.00 each volume

Preface

Although "of the making of books there is no end," this book, on so human a subject as music, we believe should justify itself. A twenty-years' experience in teaching the Appreciation of Music at Harvard University and Radcliffe College has convinced the author that a knowledge of musical grammar and structure does enable us, as the saying is, to get more out of music. This conviction is further strengthened by the statement of numerous students who testify that after analyzing certain standard compositions their attitude towards music has changed and their love for it greatly increased.

In the illustrations (published in a Supplementary Volume) no concessions have been made to so-called "popular taste"; people have an instinctive liking for the best when it is fairly put before them. We are not providing a musical digest, since music requires _active cooperation_ by the hearer, nor are we trying to interpret music in terms of the other arts. Music is itself. For those who may be interested in speculating as to the connection between music and art, numerous books are available--some of them excellent from their point of view.

This book concerns itself with music _as_ music. It is assumed that, if anyone really loves this art, he is willing and glad to do serious work to quicken his sense of hearing, to broaden his imagination, and to strengthen his memory so that he may become intelligent in appreciation rather than merely absorbed in honeyed sounds. Music is of such power and glory that we should be ready to devote to its study as much time as to a foreign language. In the creed of the music-lover the first and last article is familiarity. When we thoroughly know a composition so that its themes sing in our memory and we feel at home in the structure, the music will speak to us directly, and all books and analytical comments will be of secondary importance--those of the present writer not excepted. Special effort has been made to select illustrations of musical worth, and upon these the real emphasis in study should be laid.

The material of the book is based on lectures, often of an informal nature, in the Appreciation Course at Harvard University and lays no claim to original research. The difficulty in establishing points of approach makes it far more baffling to speak or write about music than about the other arts. Music is sufficient unto itself. Endowed with the insight of a Ruskin or a Pater, one may say something worth while about painting. But in music the line between mere statistical analysis and sentimental rhapsody must be drawn with exceeding care. If the subject matter be clearly presented and the analyses true--allowance being made for honest difference of opinion--every hope will be realized.

The author's gratitude is herewith expressed to Mr. Percy Lee Atherton for his critical revision of the text and to Professor William C. Heilman for valuable assistance in selecting and preparing the musical illustrations.

W.R.S.

Cambridge, Massachusetts
_June_, 1919

Contents

I. PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS 1

II. THE FOLK-SONG 18

III. POLYPHONIC MUSIC; SEBASTIAN BACH, THE FUGUE 33

IV. THE MUSICAL SENTENCE 50

V. THE TWO-PART AND THREE-PART FORMS 69

VI. THE CLASSICAL AND THE MODERN SUITE 73

VII. THE RONDO FORM 81

VIII. THE VARIATION FORM 85

IX. THE SONATA-FORM AND ITS FOUNDERS--EMMANUEL BACH AND HAYDN 91

X. MOZART. THE PERFECTION OF CLASSIC STRUCTURE AND STYLE 108

XI. BEETHOVEN, THE TONE-POET 122

XII. THE ROMANTIC COMPOSERS. SCHUBERT, WEBER 160

XIII. SCHUMANN AND MENDELSSOHN 172

XIV. CHOPIN AND PIANOFORTE STYLE 188

XV. BERLIOZ AND LISZT. PROGRAM MUSIC 202

XVI. BRAHMS 228

XVII. CESAR FRANCK 255

XVIII. THE MODERN FRENCH SCHOOL--D'INDY AND DEBUSSY 280

XIX. NATIONAL SCHOOLS--RUSSIAN, BOHEMIAN AND SCANDINAVIAN 300

XX. THE VARIED TENDENCIES OF MODERN MUSIC 326

_Music is the universal language of mankind._

--LONGFELLOW.

_Music can noble hints impart,
Engender fury, kindle love;
With unsuspected eloquence can move
And manage all the man with secret art._

--ADDISON.

_Music is the sound of the circulation in nature's veins. It
is the flux which melts nature. Men dance to it, glasses
ring and vibrate, and the fields seem to undulate. The
healthy ear always hears it, nearer or more remote._

--THOREAU.

_To strike all this life dead,
Run mercury into a mold like lead,
And henceforth have the plain result to show--
How we Feel hard and fast, and what we Know--
This were the prize, and is the puzzle!--which
Music essays to solve._

--BROWNING.

_All music is what awakes from you when you are reminded by
the instruments._

--WHITMAN.

Music: an Art and a Language