Page:Rolland - A musical tour through the land of the past.djvu/150

138 sometimes found combined with a severity of form which to Telemann's thinking was already archaic. For him the importance of the composition did not reside in its form, but in the descriptive scenes and dramatic choruses.

The cantata Ino constitutes a much greater advance upon the path of musical drama. The poem by Ramler, who contributed to the resurrection of the German Lied, is a masterpiece. It was published in 1765. Several composers set it to music: among others, J. C. F. Bach of Bückeburg, Kirnberger, and the Abbé Vogler. Even a modern musician would find it an excellent subject for a cantata—the reader may remember the legend of Ino, daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, sister of Semele, and Dionysos' foster-mother. She wedded the hero Athamas, who, when Juno destroyed his reason, killed one of his sons, and sought to kill the other. Ino fled with the child, and, still pursued, threw herself into the sea, which welcomed her; and there she became Leucothea, "the White," white as the foam of the waves.—Ramler's poem shows Ino only, from the beginning to the end; it is an overwhelming part, for a continual expenditure of emotion is required. In the beginning she arrives running over the rocks overlooking the sea; she no longer has strength to fly, but invokes the gods. She perceives Athamas and hears his shouts, and flings herself into the waves. A soft and peaceful symphony welcomes her thither. Ino expresses her astonishment; but her child has escaped from her arms; she believes him lost, calls him, and invokes death. She sees the chorus of the Tritons and the