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LEFT SYMONS 209 SYMPHYTISM Nights"; "Silhouettes"; "London Nights"; "Amoris Victima"; "Studies in Two Literatures"; "The Symbolist Movement in Literature"; "Images of Good and Evil"; "Collected Poems"; "Plays, Acting and Music"; "Cities"; "Studies in Prose and Verse"; "Spiritual Adventures"; "A Book of Twenty Songs"; "The Fool of the World and Other Poems"; "Studies in the Seven Arts"; "William Blake"; "Cities of Italy"; "The Romantic Movement in English Poetry"; "Knave of Hearts"; "Figures of Several Centuries"; "Trag- edies"; "Tristan and Iseult"; "Cities and Sea Coasts and Islands"; "Colour Stud- ies in Paris"; "The Toy Cart." SYMPATHY, a feeling corresponding to that felt by another; the quality or state of being affected by the affections of another, with feelings corresponding in kind if not in degree; compassion, fel- low feeling, commiseration. Sympathy is first evoked in small societies, such as a single family or a small tribe, and grad- ually extends beyond these limits. One of its moral acquisitions is to go forth toward the lower animals, as shown, for example, by the efforts to prevent their being cruelly and thoughtlessly treated. Also, an agreement of affections or incli- nations; a conformity of natural temper- ament, which makes two persons pleased or in accord with each other; mutual or reciprocal affection or passion ; communi- ty of inclination or disposition. In physiology and pathology, recipro- cal action of the different parts of the body on each other; an affection of one part of the body in consequence of some- thing taking place in another. Thus, when there is a local injury the whole frame after a time suffers with it. Also the influence exerted over the susceptible organization of one person, as of a hys- teric female, by the sight of paroxysms of some nervous disease in another or in others. SYMPHONY, in music, a form of orchestral composition. The name was originally applied to the purely instru- mental portions of works primarily vo- cal, under it being included overtures to operas and oratorios as well as ritornelli and the introduction to choruses and ar- ias. It received its first restrictive mean- ing toward the end of the 17th century when, under Lulli and Alessandro Scar- latti, the various instrumental pieces in the operas began to grow in importance: it was then reserved for the opening sec- tion or overture which consisted of a se- ries of contrasted movements without definite rule as to their number or ar- rangement. Subsequently a plan, attrib- uted to Lulli and known as the "ouver- ture a la maniere frangaise," prescribed three movements, the first and third slow and the middle one quick and bright. Its place was eventually taken by the "Ital- ian overture," in which the three move- ments were retained but in inverse or- der, the first and last being quick and the second slow. This form was identical with that of the clavier sonata, to which, however, the overture long remained inferior in respect of the internal structure of its move- ments, few composers caring to show themselves at their best in pieces to which talkative audiences paid little heed. As a further result of such inat- tention it seemed to be forgotten that the overture should fitly foreshadow the work which it preceded: its material, consequently, became distinct and inde- pendent, so that it was only natural that the best examples should in course of time find their way into the concert room where they met with a more courteous reception. It was not, however, till 1788, the year in which Mozart wrote his great exam- ples, that the symphony attained the rank of an important work of art. In these three works, the E flat, G minor, and C major symphonies, an extraordinary advance is visible both in expression and in richness of instrumental effect. Haydn, though born nearly 20 years be- fore Mozart, wrote his most important symphonies during the 18 years he sur- vived his younger contemporary. But the symphony was brought to its most perfect stage of development by Beetho- ven. The Eroica, C minor, and A major stand as the most perfect examples of the classical symphony, and also mark the close of the classical period. For, as the perfection of the symphony was due to the increased value of the subject matter, it was natural when the emo- tional domain of music became still more extended that composers should find themselves somewhat circumscribed by the limitations of the old form. Beetho- ven himself is an instance of this, for the 9th Symphony he substitutes for the usu- al finale an elaborate choral setting of one of Schiller's odes. Succeeding writ- ers have mostly aimed at a compromise between their poetical instincts and their regard for conventional rule. Among such may be mentioned Schubert, Spohr, Berlioz, Raff, and Schumann, the work of the last being the most import- ant. Mendelssohn was content with the true classical form, and the same in a general way might be said of Brahms. SYMPHYTISM, in philology, a term applied by Earle to a tendency, in that