Chapter XII: Part 12

Franz Peter Schubert was born in Vienna, Austria, on January 31, 1797. He was extraordinarily precocious in music and was early trained to play the violin, viola and organ. From 1808 to 1813 he attended the Imperial Chapel School where he received a thorough musical background while preparing to be a chorister in the Chapel Choir. He showed such remarkable and natural gifts for music that one of his teachers, the renowned Antonio Salieri, did not hesitate to call him a “genius.” When the breaking of his voice compelled him to leave the school in 1813, Schubert was encouraged by his father, a schoolmaster, to enter the field of education. For two years, from 1814 on, Schubert taught in the school owned and directed by his father. During this period he demonstrated phenomenal fertility as a composer by producing operas, symphonies, masses, sonatas, string quartets, piano pieces, and almost 150 songs including his first masterpiece, _The Erlking_ (_Der Erlkoenig_). After 1817, Schubert devoted himself completely to composition. He remained singularly productive even though recognition failed to come. Few of his works were either published or performed—and those that were heard proved dismal failures. He managed to survive these difficult years only through the kindness and generosity of his intimate friends who loved him and were in awe of his genius. Combined with the frustration in failing to attract public notice with his music—and the humiliation of living on the bounty of friends—was the further tragedy of sickness brought on by a venereal disease. A concert of his works in Vienna on March 26, 1828 seemed to promise a turn in his fortunes. But it came too late. He died in Vienna on November 19, 1828—still an unrecognized composer. So completely obscure was his reputation that for many years some of his crowning master works lay forgotten and neglected in closets of friends and associates, none of whom seemed to realize that they were in the possession of treasures.

Schubert was undoubtedly one of the greatest creators of song the world has known. His almost five hundred art songs (_Lieder_) is an inexhaustible source of some of the most beautiful, most expressive, most poetic melodies ever put down on paper. He created beauty as easily as he breathed. The most inspired musical thoughts came to him so spontaneously that he was always reaching for quill and paper to get them down—whether at his home, or at the houses of his friends, in restaurants, café-houses, and even while walking through the country. “The striking characteristics of Schubert’s best songs,” wrote Philip Hale, “are spontaneous, haunting melody, a natural birthright mastery over modulation, a singular good fortune in finding the one inevitable phrase for the prevailing sentiment of the poem, and in finding the fitting descriptive figure for salient detail. His best songs have an atmosphere which cannot be passed unnoticed, which cannot be misunderstood.” But far and beyond his natural gift at lyricism was his genius in translating the slightest nuances and suggestions of a line of poetry into tones. It is for this very reason that he is often described as the father of the _Lied_, or art song.

Because Schubert’s melodies come from the heart and go to the heart they have been staples in semi-classical literature by way of orchestral transcription. Thus though they are as lofty and as noble a musical expression as can be found anywhere, Schubert’s songs have such universality that they are as popular as they are inspired. These are a few of the Schubert songs that have profited from instrumental adaptations:

“_Am Meer_” (“By the Sea”), poem by Heinrich Heine. This stately melody seems to catch some of the vastness and mystery of the sea. This is the twelfth song from the song cycle _Schwanengesang_ (1828).

“_An die Musik_” (“To Music”), poem by Franz von Schober (1817). The glowing melody has caught the composer’s wonder and awe at the magic of music.

“_Auf dem Wasser zu singen_” (“To Be Sung on the Water”) poem by Stolberg. This gay, heartfelt tune expresses the composer’s delight in floating on the water.

“_Ave Maria_,” based on a poem by Sir Walter Scott (1825). This is a melody of exalted spiritual character touched with serenity and radiance. August Wilhelmj’s transcription for violin and piano is a staple in the violin repertory.

“_Du bist die Ruh’_” (“You are Peace”), poem by Rueckert. An atmosphere of serenity is magically created by a melody of wondrous beauty.

“_Der Erlkoenig_” (“The Erlking”), poem by Goethe (1815). This is one of Schubert’s most dramatic songs, describing the death of a child at the hands of the Erlking, symbol of death.

“_Die Forelle_” (“The Trout”), poem by Schubert (1817). This gay tune gives a lively picture of a trout leaping happily in and out of the water. Schubert used this melody for a set of variations in his piano quintet in A major, op. 114 (1819).

“_Gretchen am Spinnrade_” (“Marguerite at the Spinning Wheel”), poem by Goethe (1814). Against an accompaniment suggesting the whirr of the spinning wheel, comes Marguerite’s haunting song as she thinks of her loved one.

“Hark, Hark, the Lark” (“_Horch, Horch, die Lerch_”), poem by Shakespeare (1826). The melody reflects the light-hearted mood of the famous Shakespeare verse from _Cymbeline_.

“_Der Lindenbaum_” (“The Linden Tree”), poem by Mueller is a poignant poem of unhappy love. It is the fifth song in the cycle _Die Winterreise_ (1827).

“_Staendchen_” (“Serenade”), poem by Rellstab. This is probably one of the most famous love songs ever written. It is the fourth song in the cycle _Schwanengesang_ (1828).

“_Der Tod und das Maedchen_” (“Death and the Maiden”), poem by Claudius (1817). This dramatic song consists of a dialogue between a young girl and Death, the words of death appearing in a solemn melody while that of the girl in a breathless entreaty. Schubert used this melody for a set of variations in his string quartet in D minor (1824).

Like Beethoven and Mozart Schubert wrote a considerable amount of popular dance music for solo piano, and also for orchestra: German Dances, Laendler, and Waltzes. All have a vigorous peasant rhythm and with melodies reminiscent of Austrian folk music. Schubert’s waltzes are of particular interest since he was one of the first composers to unite several different waltz tunes into a single integrated composition. The Schubert waltzes, each a delight, are found in _Valses sentimentales_, op. 50 (1825) and _Valses nobles_, op. 77 (1827). Liszt adapted nine of the more popular of these waltz melodies in _Soirées de Vienne_ for solo piano. The 20th-century French Impressionist composer, Maurice Ravel, was inspired by these Schubert waltzes to write in 1910 the _Valses nobles et sentimentales_ in two versions, for solo piano, and for orchestra.

_Marche militaire_ (_Militaermarsch_) is a popular little march in D major originally for piano four hands, the first of a set of three marches gathered in op. 41. This is one of Schubert’s most popular instrumental numbers. Karl Tausig transcribed it for solo piano, and it has received many other adaptations including several for orchestra, in which form it is undoubtedly best known.

_Moment Musical_ is a brief composition for the piano. It is in song form and of an improvisational character, and is a _genre_ of instrumental composition created and made famous by Schubert. He wrote many such pieces, but the one always considered when this form is designated is No. 3 in F minor, a graceful and lovable melody, the very essence of Viennese _Gemuetlichkeit_, although it is subtitled “Russian Air” (_Air Russe_). Fritz Kreisler transcribed it for violin and piano and it is, to be sure, familiar in orchestral adaptations including one by Stokowski, as well as versions for cello and piano, string quartet, clarinet quartet, four pianos, and so forth.

The incidental music to _Rosamunde_ (1823) includes an often played overture and another of Schubert’s universally loved instrumental numbers, the _Ballet Music_. When _Rosamunde_ was introduced in Vienna on December 20, 1823 it was a failure, but this was due more to the insipid play of Helmina von Chézy than to Schubert’s music. The overture heard upon that occasion is not the overture now known as _Rosamunde_. The latter is one which Schubert had written for an earlier operetta, _Die Zauberharfe_. A dignified introduction is dominated by a soaring melody for oboe and clarinet. The tempo changes, and a brisk little melody is given by the violins; a contrast is offered by a lyric subject for the woodwind.

The Entr’acte No. 2 in B-flat major from _Rosamunde_ is one of Schubert’s most inspired melodies, whose beauty tempted H. L. Mencken once to point to it as the proof that God existed. Schubert himself was fond of the melody for he used it twice more, in his String Quartet in A minor (1824) and for a piano Impromptu in B-flat major (1827).

There are two musical episodes in _Rosamunde_ designated as _Ballet Music_. The famous one is the second in G major, a melody so sparkling, infectious and graceful—and so full of the joy of life—that once again like the _Moment Musical_ in F minor it embodies the best of what today we characterize as Viennese. Fritz Kreisler’s transcription for violin and piano is famous.

Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann was born in Zwickau, Germany, on June 8, 1810. Though he demonstrated an unusual gift for music from earliest childhood he was directed by his father to law. While attending the Leipzig Conservatory in 1828 he studied the piano with Friedrich Wieck. In 1829, in Heidelberg, where he had come to continue his law study, he completed the first of his works to get published, the _Abegg Variations_ for piano. He returned to Leipzig in 1829, having come to the decision to make music and not law his lifework, and plunged intensively into study. His ambition was to become a great virtuoso of the piano. In his efforts to master his technique he so abused his hands that a slight paralysis set in, putting to rest all hopes of a career as pianist. He now decided on composition. After an additional period of study with Heinrich Dorn, he completed his first major work, the _Paganini Etudes_ for piano, and started work on his first symphony. He became active in the musical life of Leipzig by helping found and editing the _Neue Zeitschrift fuer Musik_, which became a powerful medium for fighting for the highest ideals in music. He also formed a musical society called the _Davidsbuendler_ made up of idealistic young musicians who attacked false values and philistinism in music. All the while his creative life was unfolding richly. He wrote two unqualified masterworks for piano between 1833 and 1835, the _Carnaval_ and the _Études symphoniques_. In 1840 Schumann married Clara Wieck, daughter of his one-time piano teacher. Their love affair had been of more than five years’ duration, but Clara’s father was stubbornly opposed to their marriage and put every possible obstacle in their way. Schumann finally had to seek the sanction of the law courts before his marriage could be consummated. He now entered upon his most productive period as composer, completing four symphonies, three string quartets, a piano quartet, numerous songs, a piano concerto among other works. In 1843, he helped found the Leipzig Conservatory where for a while he taught the piano, and between 1850 and 1853 he was municipal music director for the city of Duesseldorf. After 1853 there took place a startling deterioration of his nervous system, bringing on melancholia, lapses of memory, and finally insanity. The last two years of his life were spent in an asylum at Endenich, Germany, where he died on July 29, 1856.

Schumann was a giant in German Romantic music. His works abound with the most captivating lyricism, heartfelt emotion, subtle moods, and an unrestricted imagination. There is not much in this wonderful literature that falls naturally within the category of semi-classics—only three piano pieces familiar in transcriptions, and a song.

_Abendlied_ (_Evening Song_), a gentle mood picture in the composer’s most rewarding Romantic vein, comes from _Twelve Four-Hand Pieces for Younger and Older Children_, op. 85 (1849) where it is the final number.

“_Die beiden Grenadiere_” (_The Two Grenadiers_) op. 49, no. 1 (1840) is probably the most familiar of Schumann’s many songs. The poem is by Heine. The music describes with telling effect the reaction of two French grenadiers on learning that their Emperor Napoleon has been captured. The song reaches a powerful climax with a quotation from the _Marseillaise_.

The _Traeumerei_ (_Dreaming_) is the seventh number in a set of thirteen piano pieces collectively entitled _Scenes from Childhood_ (_Kinderscenen_), op. 15, (1838). Like the _Abendlied_, it is an atmospheric piece, perhaps one of the most popular compositions by Schumann.

_Wild Horseman_ (_Wilder Reiter_) can be found in the _Album for the Young_ (_Album fuer die Jugend_), op. 68, no. 3 (1848). It was made into an American popular song in the early 1950’s by Johnny Burke.

Cyril Scott

Cyril Meir Scott was born in Oxton, England, on September 27, 1879. His musical training took place at Hoch’s Conservatory in Frankfort, Germany, and privately with Ivan Knorr. He went to live in Liverpool in 1898 where he taught piano and devoted himself to composition. Performances of several orchestral and chamber-music works at the turn of the century helped establish his reputation. He also distinguished himself as a concert pianist with performances throughout Europe and a tour of America in 1921. Though frequently a composer with _avant-garde_ tendencies—one of the first English composers to use the most advanced techniques of modern music—Scott is most famous for his short pieces for the piano which have been extensively performed in transcription. His writing is mainly impressionistic, with a subtle feeling for sensitive atmosphere and moods. The best of these miniatures, each a delicate tone picture, are: _Danse nègre_ (_Negro Dance_), op. 58, no. 3 (1908); and _Lotus Land_, op. 47, no. 1 (1905). The latter was transcribed for violin and piano by Kreisler and for orchestra by Kostelanetz.

Jean Sibelius

Jean Sibelius was born in Tavastehus, Finland, on December 8, 1865. Though he early revealed a pronounced gift for music he planned a career in law. After a year at the University of Helsinki he finally decided upon music. From 1886 to 1889 he attended the Helsinki Conservatory where one of his teachers was Ferruccio Busoni, after which he studied in Berlin with Albert Becker and in Vienna with Robert Fuchs and Karl Goldmark. He was back in his native land in 1891, and one year after that conducted in Helsinki the première of his first work in a national style, _Kullervo_. From then on, he continued producing works with a pronounced national identity with which he became not only one of Finland’s leading creative figures in music but also its prime musical spokesman. In 1897 he was given the first government grant ever bestowed on a musician which enabled him to give up his teaching activities for composition. He now produced some of his greatest music, including most of his symphonies. In 1914 he paid his only visit to the United States, directing a concert of his works in Norfolk, Connecticut. After World War I, he toured Europe several times. Then from 1924 on he lived in comparative seclusion at his home in Järvenpää, which attracted admirers from all parts of the world. Sibelius wrote nothing after 1929, but by then his place in the world’s music was secure as one of the foremost symphonists since Brahms. In Finland he assumed the status of a national hero. He died at his home in Järvenpää on September 20, 1957.

Some of the compositions by Sibelius enjoying popularity as semi-classics are in the post-Romantic German style which he had assumed early in his career; only one or two are in the national idiom for which he is so famous.

In the former category belongs a slight, sentimental piece called _Canzonetta_, for string orchestra, op. 62a (1911). As its name implies it is a small and simple instrumental song for muted strings, deeply emotional in feeling, at times with deeply somber colorations.

_Finlandia_, for symphony orchestra, op. 26 (1900) is one of Sibelius’ earliest national compositions, and to this day it is the most famous. Both in and out of Finland this music is as much an eloquent voice for its country as its national anthem. One can go even further and say that more people in the world know the melodies of _Finlandia_ than the Finnish anthem. So stirring are its themes, so identifiably Finnish in personality and color, that for a long time it was believed Sibelius had utilized national folk tunes; but the music is entirely Sibelius’. It opens with a proud exclamation in the brass. After this comes a sensitive melody for the woodwind, and a prayer-like song for the strings. The music now enters a dramatic phase with stormy passages. But there soon arrives the most famous melody in the entire work, a beautiful supplication sounded first by the woodwind and then by the strings. A forceful climax ensues with a strong statement which seems to be speaking in loud and ringing tones of the determination of the people to stay free.

Performances of _Finlandia_ played a prominent role in the political history of Finland. When performed in its first version, in 1899, it was used to help raise funds for a Press Pension fight against the suppression of free speech and press by the Russians. Within the next two years (following a radical revision of the music in 1900) the work was given under various titles: In France it was first performed as _Suomi_ and then as _La Patrie_; in Germany, as _Vaterland_. In Finland the music proved so inflammatory in arousing national ardor that Russia suppressed its performances in that country, while permitting it to be played in the Empire so long as the title _Impromptu_ was used. When, in 1905, Russia made far-reaching political concessions to Finland, Sibelius’ tone poem was once again permitted performances. For the next twelve years it became the national expression of a people stubbornly fighting for its independence. Performances kept alive the national fire to such an extent that it has been said that they did more to promote the cause of Finland’s freedom than all the propaganda of speeches and pamphlets.

When the Soviets invaded Finland in the first stages of World War II, _Finlandia_ once again acquired political importance. In the free world, particularly in the United States, the music was used to speak for the spirit of a people refusing to accept oppression and defeat.

Another piece of stirring national music that has become a lighter classic comes out of the _Karelia Suite_ for orchestra, op. 11 (1893), the _Alla Marcia_ section. This work was written for a historical pageant presented by the students of Viborg University and consists of an overture, two melodious sections (_Intermezzo_ and _Ballade_) and the _Alla marcia_, march music of dramatic surge and sweep, in which effective use is made of abrupt key changes.

Sibelius wrote several delightful _Romances_ in the German-Romantic idiom of his early _Canzonetta_. One of these was originally for solo piano, in D-flat major, op. 24, no. 9 (1903); another for violin and piano, F major, op. 78, no. 2 (1915). The former has become popular in transcriptions for salon orchestra; the latter, for violin and orchestra, and cello and piano. Perhaps the most famous of Sibelius’ _Romances_ is that in C major, for string orchestra, Op. 42 (1903). It begins with an unorthodox opening, unusual in harmonic structure and varied in inflections, but its principal melody—a soulful song—is in the traditional idiom of an uninhibited Romanticist.

The best known of Sibelius’ Romantic compositions, a universal favorite with salon orchestras, is the _Valse Triste_, for orchestra, op. 44 (1903). This is a section from the incidental music for _Kuolema_, a play by Sibelius’ brother-in-law, Arvid Jaernefelt; but it is the only one from this score to get published. This slow and lugubrious melody, bathed in sentimentality, is a literal musical interpretation of the following program, translated by Rosa Newmarch: “It is night. The son who has been watching by the bedside of his sick mother has fallen asleep from sheer weariness. Gradually a ruddy light is reflected through the room; there is a sound of distant music; the glow and the music steal nearer until the strains of a valse melody float distinctly to our ears. The sleeping mother awakens, rises from her bed, and, in her long white garment which takes the semblance of a ball dress, begins to move slowly and silently to and fro. She waves her hands and beckons in time to the music, as though she were summoning a crowd of invisible guests. And now they appear, these strange visionary couples, turning and gliding to an unearthly valse rhythm. The dying woman mingles with the dancers, she strives to make them look into her eyes, but the shadowy guests one and all avoid her glance. Then she seems to sink exhausted on her couch, and the music breaks off. But presently she gathers all her strength and invokes the dance once again with more energetic gestures than before. Back come the shadowy dancers, gyrating in a wild, mad rhythm. The weird gaiety reaches a climax; there is a knock at the door, which flies wide open; the mother utters a despairing cry; the spectral guests vanish; the music dies away. Death stands on the threshold.”

Christian Sinding

Christian Sinding was born in Kongsberg, Norway, on January 11, 1856. After attending the Leipzig Conservatory from 1877 to 1881 he settled in Oslo as a teacher of the piano. His first published composition was a piano quintet in 1884, and in 1885 he directed a concert of his own music in Oslo. Though he wrote in large forms, including symphonies, concertos, suites, tone poems and various chamber-music compositions, he is best known for his smaller pieces for the piano. In 1890 he received an annual subsidy from his government to enable him to devote himself completely to composition. One of Norway’s most significant composers, he was given a handsome life pension in 1915, and in 1916 an additional government gift of 30,000 crowns. In 1921-1922 he visited the United States when he served for one season as a member of the faculty of the Eastman School of Music. He died in Oslo on December 3, 1941.

His smaller pieces for the piano include etudes, waltzes, caprices, intermezzos and various descriptive compositions. It is by one of the last that he is most often remembered, a favorite of young pianists throughout the world, and of salon and pop orchestras in instrumental adaptations. This is the ever-popular _Rustle of Spring_ (_Fruehlingsrauschen_), probably the most popular piece of music describing the vernal season. This is the second of _Six Pieces_, for solo piano, Op. 32 (1896). The rustle can be found in the accompaniment, against which moves a soft, sentimental song filled with all the magic of Nature’s rebirth at springtime. In this same suite, a second number of markedly contrasting nature, has also become familiar—the first number, played in a vigorous and picaresque style, the _Marche grotesque_.

Leone Sinigaglia

Leone Sinigaglia was born in Turin, Italy, on August 14, 1868. His preliminary music study took place at the Liceo Musicale of his native city and was completed with Mandyczewski in Vienna and Dvořák in Prague. The latter encouraged him to write music in a national Italian idiom. It was in this style that he created his earliest significant compositions, the first being _Danze piemontesi_, introduced in Turin in 1905, Toscanini conducting. Later works included _Rapsodia piemontese_ for violin and orchestra; _Piemonte_, for orchestra; a violin concerto; and various works for chamber music groups, solo instruments and orchestra. He died in Turin on May 16, 1944.

His best known and most frequently played composition is a gay, infectious little concert overture, _Le Baruffe chiozzotte_ (_The Quarrels of the People of Chiozzo)_, op. 32 (1907). It was inspired by the Goldoni comedy of the same name which offers an amusing picture of life in the little town of Chiozzo. There Lucietto and Tita are in love, quarrel, and become reconciled through the ministrations of the magistrate. A loud theme for full orchestra provides the overture with a boisterous beginning. A passing tender thought then comes as contrast. After some elaboration of these ideas, a delightful folk song is heard first in the oboe, and then in violins. The tempo now quickens, the mood becomes restless, and the music grows sprightly. An amusing little episode now appears in woodwind and violins after which the folk song and the loud opening theme are recalled.

_Piemonte_, a suite for orchestra, op. 36 is a charming four-movement composition in which the folk melodies and dances of Piedmont are prominently used. The first movement, “Over Woods and Fields,” opens with a folk tune, which the composer repeats in the finale. Two other delightful ideas follow: the first in the horn, repeated by the cellos; the second in muted first violins. In the second movement, “A Rustic Dance,” the principal Piedmont dance tune is heard in solo violin and oboe; a second subject occurs after the development of the first in lower strings and woodwind. The heart of the third movement, “In the Sacred Mountain,” is a folk song first offered by the horns, accompanied by cellos and double basses. The suite ends with a picture of a festival, “Piedmontese Carnival,” its two vigorous ideas heard respectively in full orchestra, and in trumpet and first violins.

Bedřich Smetana

Bedřich Smetana was born in Leitomischl, Bohemia, on March 2, 1824. Though he was interested in music from childhood on, he received little training until his nineteenth year when he came to Prague and studied with Josef Proksch. For several years after the completion of his music study he worked as teacher of music for Count Leopold Thun. He soon became active in the musical life of his country; in 1848 he was a significant force in the creation of Prague’s first music school. In 1849, Smetana was appointed pianist to Ferdinand I, the former Emperor of Austria residing in Prague. From 1856 to 1861 Smetana lived in Gothenburg, Sweden, where he was active as conductor, teacher, and pianist. After returning to his native land in 1861 he became one of its dominant musical figures. He served as director of the music school, conducted a chorus, wrote music criticisms, founded and directed a drama school, and organized the Society of Artists. He also wrote a succession of major works in which the cause of Bohemian nationalism was espoused so vigorously and imaginatively that Smetana has since become recognized as the father of Bohemian national music. His most significant works are the folk opera, _The Bartered Bride_, and a cycle of orchestral tone poems collectively entitled _My Country_ (_Má Vlast_). Smetana was stricken by deafness in 1874, despite which he continued creating important works, among them being operas and an autobiographical string quartet called _From My Life_ (_Aus meinem Leben_). Total deafness was supplemented by insanity in 1883 which necessitated confinement in an asylum in Prague where he died on May 12, 1884.

The rich folk melodies and pulsating folk rhythms of native dance music overflow in Smetana’s music, providing it with much of its vitality and popular interest. Smetana’s gift at writing music in the style, idiom, and techniques of Bohemian folk dances is evident in many of his compositions, but nowhere more successfully than in his delightful folk comic opera, _The Bartered Bride_ (_Prodaná nevešta_). This little opera, first performed in Prague on May 30, 1866, is the foundation on which Bohemian national music rests securely. It is a gay, lively picture of life in a small Bohemian village. The principal action involves the efforts of the village matchmaker to get Marie married to Wenzel, a dim-witted, stuttering son of the town’s wealthy landowner. But Marie is in love with Hans who, as it turns out, is also the son of the same landowner, though by a previous marriage. Through trickery, Hans manages to win Marie, though for a while matters become complicated when Marie is led to believe that Hans has deserted her.

In its first version, _The Bartered Bride_ was presented as a play (by Karel Sabina) with incidental music by Smetana. Realizing that this work had operatic possibilities, Smetana amplified and revised his score, and wrote recitatives for the spoken dialogue. In this new extended form the opera was heard in Vienna in 1892 and was a sensation; from then on, and to the present time, it has remained one of the most lovable comic operas ever written.

There are three colorful and dynamic folk dances in this opera which contribute powerfully to the overall national identity, but whose impact on audiences is by no means lost when heard apart from the stage action. “The Dance of the Comedians” appears in the third act, when a circus troupe appears in the village square and entertains villagers with a spirited dance. The “Furiant”—a fiery type of Bohemian dance with marked cross rhythms—comes in the second act when villagers enter the local inn and perform a Corybantic dance. The “Polka,” a favorite Bohemian dance, comes as an exciting finish to the first act as local residents give vent to their holiday spirits during a festival in the village square.

The effervescent overture which precedes the first act is as popular as the dances. The merry first theme is given by strings and woodwind in unison against strong chords in brasses and timpani. This subject is simplified, at times in a fugal style, and is brought to a climax before a second short subject is stated by the oboe. Still a third charming folk tune appears, in violins and cellos, before the first main subject is recalled and developed. The coda, based on this first theme, carries the overture to a lively conclusion. Gustav Mahler, the eminent music director of the Vienna Royal Opera which gave this opera its first major success outside Bohemia, felt this overture was so much in the spirit of the entire work, and so basic to its overall mood and structure, that he preferred using it before the second act so that latecomers into the opera house might not miss it.

Smetana’s most famous work for orchestra comes from his cycle of six national tone poems entitled _My Country_ (_Má Vlast_), which he wrote between 1874 and 1879 in a tonal tribute to his native land. Each of the tone poems is a picture of a different facet of Bohemian life, geography, and background. The most famous composition of this set is _The Moldau_ (_Vltava_), a portrait of the famous Bohemian river. This is a literal tonal representation of the following descriptive program interpolated by the composer in his published score:

“Two springs gush forth in the shade of the Bohemian forest, the one warm and spouting, the other cold and tranquil. Their waves, gayly rushing onward over their rocky beds, unite and glisten in the rays of the morning sun. The forest brook, fast hurrying on, becomes the river Vltava, which, flowing ever on through Bohemia’s valleys, grows to be a mighty stream; it flows through thick woods in which the joyous noise of the hunt and the notes of the hunter’s horn are heard ever nearer and nearer; it flows through grass-grown pastures and lowlands where a wedding feast is celebrated with song and dancing. At night the wood and water nymphs revel in its shining waves, in which many fortresses and castles are reflected as witnesses of the past glory of knighthood and the vanished warlike fame of bygone ages. At St. John Rapids the stream rushes on, winding in and out through the cataracts, and hews out a path for itself with its foaming waves through the rocky chasm into the broad river bed in which it flows on in majestic repose toward Prague, welcomed by time-honored Vysehrad, whereupon it vanishes in the far distance from the poet’s gaze.”

The rippling flow of the river Moldau is portrayed by fast figures in the strings, the background for a broad and sensual folk song representing the river itself heard in violins and woodwind. Hunting calls are sounded by the horns, after which a lusty peasant dance erupts from the full orchestra. Nymphs and naiads disport to the strains of a brief figure in the woodwind. A transition by the wind brings back the beautiful Moldau song. A climax is built up, after which the setting becomes once again serene. The Moldau continues its serene course towards Prague.

John Philip Sousa

John Philip Sousa, America’s foremost composer of march music, was born in Washington, D. C., on November 6, 1854. The son of a trombone player in the United States Marine Band, John Philip early received music instruction, mainly the violin from John Esputa. When he was about thirteen, John enlisted in the Marine Corps where he played in its band for two years. For several years after that he played the violin in and conducted the orchestras of various theaters; in the summer of 1877 he played in an orchestra conducted by Jacques Offenbach at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. Between 1880 and 1892 he was the musical director of the Marine Band. It was during this period that he wrote his first famous marches. In 1892 he formed a band of his own with which he toured Europe and America for many years, and with which he gave more than a thousand concerts. His most popular marches (together with his best transcriptions for band of national ballads and patriotic airs) were always the highlights of his concerts. Besides the marches, Sousa wrote the music for numerous comic operas, the most famous being _El Capitan_ (1896) and _The Bride Elect_ (1898). In 1918 Sousa and his band were heard in the Hippodrome extravaganza, _Everything_. He published his autobiography, _Marching Along_, in 1928, and died in Reading, Pennsylvania, on March 6, 1932.

In the closing years of the 19th century, and in the first part of the 20th, America was undergoing expansion in many directions: art, science, literature, commerce, finance, world affairs. Hand in hand with this development and growth came an aroused patriotism and an expanding chauvinism. Sousa’s marches were the voice of this new and intense national consciousness.

As Sigmund Spaeth has pointed out, most of Sousa’s famous marches follow a similar pattern, beginning with “an arresting introduction, then using a light, skipping rhythm for his first melody, going from that into a broader tune,” then progressing to the principal march melody. A massive climax is finally realized with new, vibrant colors being realized in the main march melody through striking new combinations of instruments.

The following are some of Sousa’s most popular marches:

_El Capitan_ (1896) was adapted from a choral passage from the comic opera of the same name. This music was played aboard Admiral Dewey’s flagship, _Olympia_, when it steamed down Manila Bay for battle during the Spanish-American War. And it was again heard, this time performed by Sousa’s own band, when Dewey was welcomed as a conquering hero in New York on September 30, 1900.

_King Cotton_ (1895) was written on the occasion of the engagement of the Sousa Band at the Cotton States Exposition. _Semper Fideles_ (1888) was Sousa’s first famous composition in march tempo, and to this day it is still one of his best known marches, a perennial favorite with parades of all kinds. Since Sousa sold this march outright for $35.00 he never capitalized on its immense popularity.

Sousa’s masterpiece—and probably one of the most famous marches ever written—was the _Stars and Stripes Forever_, completed on April 26, 1897. In 1897 Sousa was a tourist in Italy when he heard the news that his friend and manager had died in the United States. Sousa decided to return home. Aboard the _Teutonic_ a march melody kept haunting him. As soon as he came home he put the melody down on paper, and it became the principal subject of “The Stars and Stripes Forever.” This principal melody achieves an unforgettable climax in the march when it is proudly thundered by the full orchestra to figurations in the piccolo.

_The Thunderer_ and _The Washington Post March_ were written in 1889. The latter was commissioned by the _Washington Post_ for the ceremonies attending the presentation of prizes in a student essay contest.

Among Sousa’s other marches are _The Bride Elect_ (1897) from the comic opera of the same name; _The Fairest of the Fair_ (1908); _Hands Across the Sea_ (1899); _Invincible Eagle_ (1901); and _Saber and Spurs_ (1915) dedicated to the United States Cavalry.

It was long maintained that Sousa was the composer of the famous hymn of the Artillery branch of the United States armed services, “The Caisson Song.” Sousa played this march in his own brilliant new band arrangement at a Liberty Loan Drive at the Hippodrome, in New York, in 1918. For some time thereafter Sousa was credited as being the composer. But further research revealed the fact that the words and music had been written in 1908 by Edmund L. Gruber, then a lieutenant with the 5th Artillery in the Philippines.

Oley Speaks

Oley Speaks was born in Canal Winchester, Ohio, on June 28, 1874. He received his musical training, principally in voice, from various teachers including Armour Galloway and Emma Thursby. He then filled the post of baritone soloist at churches in Cleveland, Ohio, and New York City, including the St. Thomas Church in New York from 1901 to 1906. He also filled numerous engagements in song recitals and performances of oratorios. He died in New York City on August 27, 1948.

Speaks was the composer of more than 250 published art songs which have placed him in a front rank among American song composers. Three have become outstandingly popular; there is hardly a male singer anywhere who has not sung such all-time favorites as “Morning,” “On the Road to Mandalay” and “Sylvia,” each of which is among the most widely circulated and most frequently heard art songs by an American. “Morning,” words by Frank L. Stanton, was published in 1910. Where “Morning” is lyrical, “On the Road to Mandalay” (published in 1907) is dramatic, a setting of the famous poem by Rudyard Kipling. The persistent rhythmic background suggesting drum beats, and the effective key change from verse to chorus, have an inescapable effect on listeners. “Sylvia,” poem by Clinton Scollard, published in 1914, is in a sentimental mood, and like “Morning” reveals the composer’s marked gift for sensitive lyricism.

Robert Stolz

Robert Stolz was born in Graz, Austria, on August 25, 1882. His parents were musical, his father being a successful conductor and teacher, and his mother a concert pianist. Robert’s music study took place first with his father, then with Robert Fuchs in Vienna and Humperdinck in Berlin. In 1901 he assumed his first post as conductor, at an opera house in Brunn. When he was twenty-five he was appointed conductor of the Theater-an-der-Wien in Vienna where he remained twelve years, directing most of the masterworks in the field of Austrian and German operettas. His own career as composer of operettas had begun in 1903 with _Schoen Lorchen_ produced in Salzburg. Since then Stolz has written music for about sixty operettas, scores for more than eighty films, and a thousand songs in all. His music is in the light, graceful, ebullient style that has characterized Viennese operetta music since the time of Johann Strauss II. His most famous operettas are: _Die lustigen Weiber von Wien_ (1909), _Die Gluecksmaedel_ (1910), _Die Tanzgraefin_ (1921), _Peppina_ (1931), _Zwei Herzen in dreiviertel Takt_ (1933), _Fruehling im Prater_ (1949) and _Karneval in Wien_ (1950). In 1938 Stolz came to the United States where for several years he worked in Hollywood. After the end of World War II he returned to Vienna, remaining active as a composer not only in that city but also in Berlin and London.

Stolz’ most famous song is “_Im Prater bluehn wieder die Baeume_” (“In the Prater the Trees Are Again Blooming”), a glowing hymn not only to a district in Vienna famous for its frolic and amusement but even more so to the city of Vienna itself.

A waltz from his operetta, _Two Hearts in Three-Quarter Time_ (_Zwei Herzen in dreiviertel Takt_) is perhaps one of the most celebrated pieces in three-quarter time written in Vienna since Lehár, and it is loved the world over. This operetta originated in 1931 as a German motion-picture which won accolades around the world for its charm and freshness, for which Stolz wrote a score that included his famous waltz. It was then adapted for the stage by Paul Knepler and J. M. Willeminsky and introduced in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1933. This delightful text concerns the trials and tribulations of producing an operetta. That operetta is accepted for production on the condition that a good waltz melody is written for it, and the composer Toni Hofer gets his inspiration for that tune from lovely Hedi, the young sister of the librettist. This waltz, of course, is the title number, which, in its lilt and buoyancy and Viennese love of life, is in the best tradition of Viennese popular music.

Oscar Straus

Oscar Straus was no relation to any of the famous Viennese Strausses; nevertheless in the writing of light, gay music in waltz tempo and spirited melodies for the operetta stage he was certainly their spiritual brother. He was born in Vienna on March 6, 1870, and studied music with private teachers in Vienna and Berlin, including Max Bruch. In 1901 he settled in Berlin where he became conductor at a famous cabaret, _Ueberbrettl_, for whose productions of farces he wrote a number of scores. Soon after that he turned to writing operettas, becoming world famous with _The Waltz Dream_ in 1907 and _The Chocolate Soldier_ in 1908, both introduced in Vienna. He wrote about thirty operettas after that, many heard with outstanding success in the music centers of the world. The best of these were _Der letzte Walzer_ (1920), _Die Teresina_ (1921), _Drei Walzer_ (1935), and _Bozena_ (1952). He was at his best writing waltz melodies but he was also skilful in interpolating satirical elements into his musical writing through the exploitation of ragtime, jazz, and the shimmy. Straus lived in Berlin until 1927, and for a decade after that he made his home in Vienna and Paris. In 1939 he became a French citizen, and from 1940 to 1948 he lived in the United States, filling some assignments in Hollywood. He returned to his native land in 1948, and died at Bad Ischl, Austria, on January 11, 1954.

_The Chocolate Soldier_ (_Der tapfere Soldat_) was the operetta adaptation of Bernard Shaw’s comedy, _Arms and the Man_, by R. Bernauer and L. Jacobsen. Its première took place in Vienna on November 14, 1908, with the first American performance taking place a year later at the Casino Theater in New York. The setting is Serbia in 1885 where the hero, Lieutenant Bumerli, gains the nickname of “chocolate soldier” because of a sweet tooth. While escaping from the enemy, he finds refuge in the bedroom of Nadina, daughter of Colonel Popoff. Nadina becomes the instrument by means of which the lieutenant is now able to effect his escape, disguised in the coat of Colonel Popolf. But before the final curtain Bumerli and Nadina also become lovers.

The waltz, “My Hero,” (“_Komm, Komm, Held meiner Traeume_”) Nadina’s waltz of love to the chocolate soldier, is the most celebrated excerpt from this operetta. Other familiar pages include the lovely first act duet of Nadina and Bumerli, “Sympathy”; the little orchestral march in the second act, a satirical take off on military pomp and circumstance; and Nadina’s “Letter Song” in the third act.

_A Waltz Dream_ (_Ein Walzertraum_), book by Felix Doermann and Leopold Jacobsen, was introduced in Vienna on March 2, 1907, and in New York in April 1908. Lieutenant Niki of the Austrian army is ordered by the Austrian Emperor to marry Princess Helen, but he falls in love with Frantzi, a violinist in a girl’s orchestra. This love affair becomes frustrated when Niki must return to Vienna to become Prince Consort.

The main musical selection from this operetta is the title number, a waltz which first appears as a duet between Niki and a fellow officer in the first act, then recurs throughout the operetta, and finally brings it to a close. Two sprightly march excerpts, from the second and third acts respectively, and the duet, “Piccolo, piccolo, tsin, tsin, tsin” are also popular.

Eduard Strauss

Eduard Strauss, the younger brother of Johann Strauss II, was born in Vienna on March 15, 1835. He studied music in Vienna with G. Preyer following which he made his café-house debut in 1862 by conducting his father’s orchestra at the Dianasaal. He continued to lead his father’s orchestra at the Volksgarten and Musikverein as well as at various leading café-houses in Vienna. He also made many tours, including two of the United States in 1892 and 1901. In 1902 he dissolved the musical organization which his father had founded three-quarters of a century earlier and which all that time had dominated the musical life of Vienna. Besides conducting this orchestra, he also substituted from time to time for his famous brother, Johann Strauss II, and in 1870 he succeeded him as conductor of the court balls. Eduard Strauss died in Vienna on December 28, 1916.

Eduard wrote over three hundred popular instrumental compositions in the style of his celebrated brother but without ever equalling his remarkable creative freshness and originality. But there is a good deal of pleasurable listening in Eduard’s waltzes and polkas. In the former category belongs the _Doctrinen_ (_Faith_) Waltzes, op. 79; in the latter, the gay _Bahn Frei_ (_Fast Track_) Polka, op. 45. In collaboration with his two brothers, Johann and Josef, Eduard wrote the _Trifolienwalzer_ and the _Schuetzenquadrille_.

Johann Strauss I

Johann Strauss I was one of the two waltz kings of Vienna bearing that name. The more famous one, the composer of “The Blue Danube” was the son. But the father was also one of Vienna’s most popular composers and café-house conductors. He was born in Vienna on March 14, 1804, and as a boy he studied both the violin and harmony. His love for music, combined with the decision of his parents to make him a bookbinder, led him to run away from home. When he was fifteen he joined Michael Pamer’s orchestra which played at the Sperl café; another of its members was Josef Lanner, soon also to become a major figure in Vienna’s musical life. As Lanner’s star rose, so did Johann Strauss’. First Strauss played in the Lanner Quartet at the _Goldenen Rebbuhn_ and other cafés; after that he was a member of the Lanner Orchestra which appeared in Vienna’s leading cafés. When Lanner’s mounting success made it necessary for him to create two orchestras, he selected Johann Strauss to conduct one of them. Then, in 1826, Johann Strauss formed an orchestra of his own which made its debut at the Bock Café. For the next two decades he was the idol of Vienna, Lanner’s only rival. By 1830 he had two hundred musicians under him. His major successes as a café-house conductor came at the Sperl and the Redoutensaal. But his fame spread far beyond Vienna. In 1833 he toured all Austria, and in 1834 he appeared in Berlin. After that he performed in all the major European capitals, achieving formidable successes in London and Paris. Meanwhile, in 1833, he had become bandmaster of the first Vienna militia regiment, one of the highest honors a performer of light music could achieve in Austria. In 1845 he was appointed conductor of the Viennese court balls. He died in Vienna on September 25, 1849.

Like Lanner, Strauss wrote a considerable amount of dance and café-house music, over 250 compositions. His first composition was the _Taeuberlwalzer_, named after the café _Zwei Tauben_ where he was then appearing. After that he wrote waltzes, galops, polkas, quadrilles, cotillons, contredanses, and marches—which Vienna came to love for their rhythmic vitality and appealing lyricism. People in Vienna used to say that the waltzes of the first Johann Strauss were _made_ for dancing because their rhythmic pulse excited the heart and made feet restless.

Not much of the father Strauss’ library of music has survived. The exceptions are the following waltzes: _Caecilien_, _Donaulieder_, the _Kettenbruecken_, and the _Lorelei Rheinsklaenge_. To the waltz, the older Johann Strauss brought a symphonic dimension it had heretofore not known, particularly in his spacious introductions of which the thirty-bar prelude of the _Lorelei Rheinsklaenge_ is an outstanding example. He also carried over to the waltz a variety of mood and feeling and a lightness of touch new for this peasant dance. “This demon of the ancient Viennese folk spirit,” wrote Richard Wagner after hearing Strauss perform one of his own waltzes in Vienna, “trembled at the beginning of a new waltz like a python preparing to spring, and it was more the ecstasy produced by the music than the drinks among the enchanted audience that stimulated that magical first violin to almost dangerous flights.”

Of his other music the most famous is the _Radetzky March_. Count Radetzky was an Austrian military hero, victor over the Italians in 1848-1849. In honor of his Italian triumphs and suppression of the Italian nationalist movement, Strauss wrote the spirited, sharply accented march in 1848 which almost at once became the musical symbol of Hapsburg Vienna and Austrian military power. The following programmatic interpretation of this music by H. E. Jacob is of interest: “Drunk with triumph, the Generalissimo’s battalions hurl themselves down into Lombardy. They are close on the heels of the fleeing troops of King Albert, the King of Sardinia. And then comes a new phase of the march to accompany the victorious troops. A different sun shines down on this, a memory of Vienna, a lingering trace of the feel of girls’ arms; scraps of a dance song with a backward glance at three-quarter time. But on they go, still forward. There are no more shots, there is laughter. The trio follows. The ... superdominant ... hoisted as if it were a flag.... Finally comes the return of the principal theme with the laurels and gaiety of victory.”

Johann Strauss II

Johann Strauss II, son of the first Johann Strauss, was born in Vienna on October 25, 1825. Though he showed an unmistakable bent for music from his childhood on, he was forbidden by his father to study music or to indulge in any musical activity whatsoever. The young Johann Strauss, encouraged by his mother, was forced to study the violin surreptitiously with a member of his father’s orchestra. Only after the father had deserted his family, to set up another home with his mistress, did young Johann begin to devote himself completely and openly to music. After studying the violin with Kohlmann and counterpoint with Joseph Drechsler, he made his debut as a café-house conductor and composer at Dommayer’s Casino in Hietzing, near Vienna, on October 15, 1844. The event was widely publicized and dramatized in Vienna, since the son was appearing as a rival to his father. For this momentous debut, the son wrote the first of his waltzes—the _Gunstwerber_ and the _Sinngedichte_—which aroused immense enthusiasm. He had to repeat the last-named waltz so many times that the people in the café lost count. “Ah, these Viennese,” reported the editor of _The Wanderer_. “A new waltz player, a piece of world history. Good night, Lanner. Good evening, Father Strauss. Good morning, Son Strauss.” The father had not attended this performance, but learned of his son’s triumph from one of his cronies.

Thus a new waltz king had arisen in Vienna. His reign continued until the end of the century. For fifty years Johann Strauss II stood alone and unequalled as the musical idol of Vienna. His performances were the talk of the town. His own music was on everyone’s lips. After the death of father Strauss in 1849, he combined members of the older man’s orchestra with his own, and toured all of Europe with the augmented ensemble. From 1863 to 1870 he was conductor of the Viennese balls, a post once held by his father. In 1872 he made sensational appearances in Boston and New York. All the while he was writing some of the most famous waltzes ever written, as well as quadrilles and polkas and other dance pieces. And in 1871, with the première in Vienna of _Indigo_ he entered upon a new field, that of the operetta, in which once again he was to become a dominating figure. He was admired not merely by the masses but also by some of the greatest musicians of his generation—Brahms, Wagner, Verdi, Hans von Buelow, Offenbach, Goldmark, Gounod, all of whom expressed their admiration for his music in no uncertain terms. In 1894, Vienna celebrated the 50th anniversary of his debut with a week of festive performances; congratulations poured into Vienna from all parts of the civilized world. He died five years after that—in Vienna on June 3, 1899—and was buried near Schubert, Beethoven, and Brahms.