Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/206

* MUSIC. 170 MUSIC. manifold gifts; gifts not only of originality, but of oliaractiT. In llie slow revolution of music, it may be lemarked that the most original men are not always the elect; their very origi- nality sometimes degenerates into the bizarre, and a splendid isolation is their fate. But Beethoven, with all his revolutionary instincts, began in a conservatie manner, building on the foundations of his |)redeeessors, kee])ing in the line of tradi- tion. The bases of his tonal palaces are dug deep, but their towers pierce the very skies. His thirty-two sonatas, concertos, chamber music, and nine symphonies re])resent the simiiiium boitum of human musical elVort and. as Parry truthfully says, "bear the marks of a higher degree of con- centration and a wider range of design" than those of his forerunners except Bach, "and the sum of the result is the richest and most perfect form of abstract instnuuental music which exists in the whole range of music." Beethoven liter- ally re-created the sonata form, adding to it new movement, tilling it with an incomparable emotional and intellectual content. The sym- phony he enlarged and vivified, buried the old tones of formalism, and gave it the scherzo, gave it power, majesty, tenderness, and sujjreme beau- ty. The orchestra became a new instrument in his treatment of it, and for the first time each mem- ber of the instrumental army was given lib- erty. Color, grace, delicacy, and elasticity are revealed in the Beethoven orchestration. (See IxsTRtMENT.Tlox.) liiitv in variety, the highest law in all artistic creation, is the distinguished characteristic of this wonderful man's work. There is little need to dwell ujion Hummel ( 17TS- 1837), a ])upil of Mozart and a refine<l pianist; or upon Ries and other imitators of the Bee- thoven style. Karl Maria von Weber (17S6- 1820) proved himself to In- a versatile composer and one who greatly inlluenced Wagner. Dir Freischiitz is still played. In his overtures to Dcr Freischiitx. Obiron. Kiiri/anthr, Weber revealed a fine color sense and a genuine fantasy. His piano music is brilliant, ell'eetive, and some of it chivalric. though in formal sense he broke away from the classic and reveled in the romantic. Franz Schubert ( 1707-1828), unique as a lied composer (see Lied), wrote many symphonies, two of which, at least, are famous, many piano sonatas, minor pieces, and chamber music. His charm lies in his rich melodies, the most fragrant and original since Mozarfs. and a personality of rare attractiveness. His very profusion enchants. With Louis Spohr ( I784-18.V.)) wp have little in common nowadays, despite his valuable contribu- tions to violin literature. His music in the larger choral and instrumental forms sounds antiquated. Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (180!l- 47 I wa« one of the best equipped musicians of the century, a writer of refineil melodies, a master of orchestration and a man of delicate imagination. He wrote his Miilxiimnirr Xirihl'.i Drram when a mere youth, and he never surpassed it. though there is more depth in the Hebrides overttire (18.30). From an idol of the mid-Victorian reign. Mendelssohn has become a man to-day compar.nlively neglected and certainly under- estimated. He wrote absolute music in a pure »tylp and did not attempt to transcend its sphere, or rather his own limitations. He wan an accomplished organist and pianist. and wrote with skill and ingenuity for both instruments. The Mendelssohn piano music — not the familiar .s'o»;/,s' Without TTorrfs — is a mine of good things — the Vurintions s^rieuses, for example. (See V.ikiatiox.) His oratorios Elijah, .S'oiM< Paul, and the Reformation Sym- phony, with its chorale, are built upon a close study of Bach and Handel. To Mendelssohn the musical world owes a debt of gratitude for his labors in unearthing many Bach manuscripts. Of the many symphonies ilendelssohn wrote, the most frequently heard are the Scotch and the Italian. His violin concerto is a model of its kind. Hector Berlioz (180.3-C9), a Frenchman of colossal ambition, elected to tread in the foot- steps of Beethoven, composing music in the grand manner and devoting himself to the development of orchestral resources, with the result that he die<l the greatest composer of France and may be truly entitled the father of the progranuue school in nuisic. What he did for it was chiclly in a loosening of formal knots, in rh^llimic devices and orchestral color. The affixing of romantic titles, such as King Lear. Warerley, Leg francs juges, Lelio, Harold, and the rest, is not an original device, while Franz Liszt, affected as he was by Berlioz's original discoveries in instru- mentation, is really the intellectual protagonist of the movement, for he invented the I'oeme sym- phonitjuc, a species of foreshortened symphony. (See Symphont.) Berlioz had not so nuich new to say, but he was an incomparalde stylist. His music is agitated, dranuitic. fantastic, and also fascinating. In his Te Deum he has almost com- passed the sublime, and he forged a passport to posterity in his Damnation of Faust. Like Liszt, .Schumann, and Wagner. Berlioz was a man of juonounced literary ability. Frederic Chopin (lSOO-40) stands alone in an age crowded with nuisical greatness. The most poetic of all com- posers, using poesy as sidijcct matter rather than the ordinary jihraseology of music, he contrived to write for the pianoforte, an instrument abused by vapid virtuosi, a mass of nuisic as individual as Bach's or Beethoven's. He had no predilection for the .sonata form, though he left three solo sonatas and one for piano and violoncello; hut he idealized various dance forms such as the polo- naise, valse. mazurka, krakowiak. composed most original ballads, scherzos, nocturnes, fantasias, impromptus. and as a companion book to the Well- Trill prrril t'la rirliiird wrote twcnty-srven studies and twenty-five preludes which are invaluable contributions to piano literature, ilore than this, Chopin was a melodist of rare quality and an inventor of harmonies the most daring of the cen- tury. Fven Wagner shows a close study of Chopin in his harmonic system. An apparition in art. this Pole sang the sorrows of his native laml in exquisite accents, played the pianoforte as no one l)efore or after him. and literally formed a new technical school. His early music shows traces of Hummel and .Tohn Field, but his native originality soon lifted him out of the track of routine. His influence affected Liszt and the younger school, the Xeo-Russians. and Wag- ner. Robert ."^ehimiann (18IO-.i) is another original composer quite as subjective as Chopin, but without the bitter's formal sense, a sense cul- tivated by devotion to Bach's nui«ic. Schumann's imagination i< tropical and his indirect influence in modern nuHic has been a powerful one. Not a great symphonist. he nevertheless composed fotir charming symphonies, and chamber music of ■