Page:Pratt - The history of music (1907).djvu/507

 almost without personal contact, or of Weber and Morlacchi at Dresden, or of Cherubini and Spontini at Paris, stimulates inquiry and surprise. The truth seems to be that the musical world was awaking to a new breadth of activity, was putting forth energy in many directions at once, and was passing through a time when no one influence was generally recognized as dominant enough to serve as a unifying centre.

Yet it is clear that in this period certain lines of effort were pushing into significant importance. One of these was the development of piano technique, especially under the influence of Clementi and his followers. Here preparation was being made for the epochal achievements of a series of pianistic masters in the next period. Another was the discovery of how to make free application of the orchestra to the portrayal of emotion and passion in dramatic connections, especially exemplified by the gifted Weber. This plainly foreshadowed not only the interesting later growth of the historical opera, but also the extraordinary innovations of Wagner. Still another was the uncovering of the hidden resources of the song as a medium of intimate self-expression, accomplished chiefly through the unconscious and unostentatious impulse of Schubert. Out of this grew immediately an efflorescence of song-writing that gave fragrance and beauty to the whole field of musical art, reacting upon instrumental style as well as vocal.

In the matter of tools, the practical completion of the piano was an event of capital importance, providing an instrument remarkably efficient for both private and public use. The steps in the process of improvement were taken so gradually that their full value was not at once seen. Certainly the perfected piano, with its iron frame, its steel strings and its extremely powerful and responsive action, supplied to the next period an implement of performance of which the 18th century could hardly have more than dreamed.

On the sides of theory, research and pedagogy this period should not be treated apart from that which followed (see secs. 225-228). We may simply note that here began the shaping of the modern doctrine of harmony, the scholarly investigation of many questions of æsthetic, critical or historical importance, the organization of several of the many influential conservatories, the better systemization of instruction in technical