Masters of German music

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CONTEMPORARY

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of Contemporary

A SERIES OF BIOGRAPHICAL AND
CRITICAL SKETCHES

Jtftasters of Contemporary

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WITH PORTRAITS, &c.

MASTERS OF ENGLISH MUSIC.

By CHARLES WILLEBY,
Crown 8vo, cloth, 55.

MASTERS OF FRENCH MUSIC.

By ARTHUR HERVEY,
Crown 8vo, cloth, 55.

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of German

BY

J. A/FULLER MAITLAND
#./

Wl TH ILL US TRA TIONS

LONDON

OSGOOD, McILVAINE & CO.

45 ALBEMARLE STREET

1894

ML

57.3897
10. 12,.

DEDICATED

BY GRACIOUS PERMISSION

TO
HER ROYAL HIGHNESS

PRINCESS CHRISTIAN

OF SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN

PRINCESS HELENA
OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND

PREFACE

FOR much of the material of this book I am indebted,
not only to several of the composers themselves, who
have kindly given information not otherwise obtain-
able, but to G. J. Bennett, Esq., Mas. D.; G. Milner-
Gibson-Cullum, Esq.; W. Ashton Ellis, Esq.; Frau
Dr. Kilian, of Dresden; H. E. Rensburg, Esq.;
Miss Eugenie Schumann ; Mr. and Mrs. W. Shake-
speare; Messrs." Simrock ; Edward Speyer, Esq., and
in particular to R. H. Legge, Esq., who has given me
invaluable assistance in every part of the work.

J. A. FULLER MAITLAND.
London, 1894.

CONTENTS

PAGE

JOHANNES BRAHMS I

MAX BRUCH . . ..... 97

KARL GOLDMARK 137

JOSEF RHEINBERGER 173

THEODOR KIRCHNER — CARL REINECKE — WOLDEMAR

BARGIEL ....... IQ9

JOSEPH JOACHIM — CLARA SCHUMANN . . . 21?
HEINRICH VON HERZOGENBERG — HEINRICH HOF-

MANN— ANTON BRUCKNER— FELIX DRAESEKE 237

JEAN LOUIS NICOD^ — RICHARD STRAUSS — HANS

SOMMER — CYRILL KISTLER .... 263

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

JOHANNES BRAHMS Frontispiece

FRAGMENT OF SONG " MAGYARISCH " BY

BRAHMS To face p. 28

AUTOGRAPH CANON BY BRAHMS HITHERTO

UNPUBLISHED 80

MAX BRUCH ,97

FACSIMILE OF AUTOGRAPH SCORE BY MAX

BRUCH ,, Iiy

KARL GOLDMARK •• J37

FACSIMILE OF AUTOGRAPH SCORE BY KARL

GOLDMARK 158

JOSEF RHEINBERGER ,, 173

FACSIMILE OF AUTOGRAPH SCORE BY

JOSEF RHEINBERGER 184

JOHANNES BRAHMS

LITTLE more than a decade since, the musical
world of Germany was dominated by two men
who divided between them the allegiance of the
intelligent musicians of the Fatherland. If you
were not among the Wagnerians you were by
that fact enrolled among the partisans of
Brahms; to appreciate neither master was to
own yourself a hopeless Philistine, but to profess
an admiration for both was to adopt a position
which was obviously untenable. The war was
not the less keenly carried on because there were
no such scenes as made memorable the battle
of the Gluckists and Piccinists, or that of the
admirers of Faustina and Cuzzoni. Every sort
of invective and misrepresentation was employed
by the journalists who fought in the front ranks
of the action, and no doubt some ingenious
person will one day collect from the Wagnerian
literature a companion volume to the famous

I A

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

dictionary of opprobrious epithets applied to the
Bayreuth master by his opponents. It should
be clearly understood that the question at issue
was chiefly the position of Wagner ; the parties
were rightly described as Wagnerians and anti-
Wagnerians, not as Brahmsians and anti-Brahms.
ians or even as Wagnerians and Brahmsians. But
the composer to whom the most influential and
intelligent of the anti-Wagnerian party have
looked to counteract the tendencies of "the
music of the future," and to continue the great
line of German composers, has of course been
forced into a prominent position in the combat,
even though his personal share in the quarrel
has been of the slightest.

Since the death of Wagner left only one
composer of the highest rank at the head of
German musicians, there has gradually sprung
up a feeling of toleration on each side, not for
the other, but for those who can conscientiously
claim to be numbered among the admirers of
both the great masters of the latter half of the
nineteenth century. And it is absurd to suppose
that mankind can persist in ignoring one of two
things — either the poetic imagination and
dramatic power of the creator of the " music
drama," or the freedom, originality, and con-
2

JOHANNES BRAHMS

structive genius of the present representative of
the classical masters. Part of the great debt
which English lovers of modern music owe to
Hans Richter is on account of his having
placed, from the beginning of his concerts in
London, the works of Brahms and Wagner side
by side in positions of equal honour. His doing
so has undoubtedly enabled English musicians
to free themselves from the prejudices to which
too many Germans are still subject. As an
instance of how little the German condition of
things can be paralleled among ourselves, the
remark of an eminent and somewhat self-
centred English musician may be quoted, who,
on hearing of a new appointment on the musical

press, observed : " is a dangerous man ; he

is an admirer of Brahms and Wagner." One
can hardly conceive the remark being made by
even the most borne of German musicians.

It is not necessary to go into the Wagner
controversy, except for the sake of illustrating
the position held by Brahms in the musical
world of Germany at the present time. In their
desire to bring forward a champion in opposi-
tion to Wagner, the antagonists of the modem
developments of the art could find no composer
but Brahms worthy of the place. In fact no
3

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

attempt was made on behalf of any other
musician, and both sides accepted him as the
defender of musical orthodoxy. Of course a
position of this kind, or even one of absolute
pre-eminence, is not any sort of actual criterion
of greatness. In England, as everywhere else,
sensible men know how little the public estimate
in such matters is really worth ; but Germany at
the present moment affords a striking instance
of the coincidence of popular and expert
valuation. And it is impossible to study the
compositions of Brahms as a whole and not to
realise that their author is one of the strongest
personalities in the whole line of the masters of
music. If evidence of this were wanting from
without, we have only to consider the hostility
with which they are still received in some
quarters ; for the existence of a strong opposi-
tion implies strength in the thing opposed.
Relatively to his contemporaries, he stands on
so great a height that it is difficult to see how
the great line of German composers is to be
maintained after him. He is of an age when
his successor should be already in active work
in the world of music, but as yet no one has
appeared who promises to succeed him worthily,
and it would almost seem as if the tide of music,
4

JOHANNES BRAHMS

which for so many years has favoured Germany
above all other nations, were at the ebb at last.
If it is fated to be so, and Germany is to
become a second-rate power in art, it will be
interesting to see which of the nations will
succeed her in the supremacy. France has
long had a fine school of earnest and accom-
plished composers ; if the younger Italians will
follow the noble example set them by their
oldest composer, they may reach the high place
that once belonged to their countrymen by a
kind of natural heritage ; and a wave of music
has lately been passing over England which
may bring about a condition of things only
to be compared with the glorious days when
England was the chief among musical nations.
We have not to deal, however, with the future,
but with the present state of music in Germany,
and with its greatest representative there.

It is difficult to see what quality of greatness
is absent from this composer's work; the
grandeur, wealth, and originality of his ideas,
and the ease and power with which he uses
forms already invented, or develops them into
new organisms full of suggestion and opportu-
nity for those who may come after, are, perhaps,
the most striking of his peculiar attributes ; but
5

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

there is also a deep expression as well as an
exquisite beauty in the greatest of his works.
He is sometimes accused of neglecting the
merely pleasing side of music, and, as far as
some of his earlier compositions are concerned,
it is certainly possible to find passages where
sensuous beauty of melody is not easily to be
discovered. Taking the whole of his work into
consideration, however, it is quite impossible to
agree with the charge, for no composer, past or
present, has invented lovelier melodies, or has
set them in more delightful surroundings ; and
they are to be found in nearly all his works,
scattered through them with no niggard hand.
Of course, if the only function of music is to
appeal to the lower emotions of the less culti-
vated classes, then Brahms cannot rank with the
great masters at all ; but in that case the whole
of musical history must be re-arranged, and
Beethoven must be recognised as the artistic in-
ferior of Offenbach or the compiler of the last
street song. Where the usual tests of musical
merit are fairly applied, there must Brahms rank
with the masters of the first order. There is
one test which it is a little dangerous to apply,
since it takes from certain popular idols their
long-held position of supremacy : it can only be
6

JOHANNES BRAHMS

of real value when all allowances are made for
circumstances and the influence of the outer
world upon the artist's lite. It is the test that is
applied to a chain, the strength of which is
judged by that of its weakest link ; in matters
of art it resolves itself into the question, " Does
a man's work contain examples altogether un-
worthy of himself at his best ? " This does not,
of course, imply a dead level throughout his
work, for such a level must be one of medio-
crity ; but it requires the absence of any com-
position obviously written to order or against
the grain, or of anything the composer would be
ashamed of in his better moments. We need
not take into account the posthumous com-
positions of any master, for these may be
merely the contents of his waste-paper basket,
thrust into publicity by injudicious survivors;
but the Devil's Advocate will have to expel
many a famous name from the list of the
supreme masters, and in fact, putting aside the
old composers, whose weaker works may very
likely have disappeared, there will remain few
beside Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, and, curi-
ously enough, Chopin. In the case of Mozart
and Haydn, it must be remembered that the con-
dition of the musical world in their day made
7

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

it imperative upon them to write in and out of
season. This high test, it is not too much to
say, is fulfilled by one living composer alone,
and his name is JOHANNES BRAHMS. Through
the long list of his works we may search in vain
for music that he need blush to own ; naturally
some are far better than others, but in the least
attractive we shall find signs of the master's
genius, whether in the manipulation of an un-
promising theme or the exact portrayal of some
subtlety of expression. The felicitous combina-
tion of intense earnestness of aim and nobility
of ideal with the passionate ardour that is
characteristic of Southern countries, may well
have its origin in the circumstances of his life :
the first possibly comes from his North German
birth, the second from the artistic atmosphere
of Vienna, the city of his adoption.

Johannes Brahms was musical by inherit-
ance; his father, a double-bass player in the
opera band at Hamburg, was also a proficient
on other instruments, and the boy, born May 7,
1833, was put, at a very early age, under the
tuition of a pianoforte-teacher named Gossel.
Eduard Marxsen of Altona has the honour of
being named as the young composer's principal
teacher, and his complete theoretical equipment,
8

JOHANNES BRAHMS

his refined taste, and great experience as a
teacher, were invaluable in directing the genius
of his pupil into the highest paths. At fourteen
years of age, Brahms gave a concert or " piano-
recital," at which a set of variations on a
Volkslied was brought forward as an example
of his creative power. Most fortunately for him
and for his art, he was not forced into the
career of a pianoforte prodigy; no doubt this
was due partly to Marxsen's good sense and
the parents1 wisdom, but it is also possible that
the amount of actual " virtuosity " displayed by
the boy was not so exceptional as to make it
advisable from a commercial point of view. In
later life, the composer's playing has been
described as possessing an amount of interest
and beauty all its own : in particular, his per-
formance of Bach's organ works on the piano is
said to be quite phenomenal, and of his playing
in general it has been said that it is " powerful
and soft, full of pith and meaning, and never
louder than it is lovely." Still, the qualities that
are essential in a successful performer, such as
brilliancy and perfect technical accuracy, are not
among the attractions mentioned by those who
have been privileged to hear him play. Even
in Germany, where we are accustomed to think
9

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

of musical skill always and at once receiving its
due reward, young composers cannot immedi-
ately make a living by their works, and an
association with Remenyi, a Hungarian violinist
who has already almost outlived the great
reputation he once enjoyed, had an influence
on Brahms' career which could not have
been foreseen. While acting as this artist's
accompanist on a concert tour in 1853 he
came across Joachim and Liszt, the former of
whom was destined to become one of his most
intimate friends and keenest admirers. It may
easily be imagined how great was the influence
exerted by the illustrious violinist, who was also
an artist of the most earnest purpose, upon the
young composer, to whom the companionship of
a mere virtuoso must have been far from satis-
fying. We have only to look at the list of
Brahms' works to see how many and how im-
portant are the results of the intimacy which
now began ; for it is no secret that some of the
most beautiful and popular of these compositions
were primarily intended for Joachim, and first
played by him. Joachim was nearly two years
the older of the pair, and by this time had
already made an European fame for himself. It
was no doubt a thing quite outside his previous
10

JOHANNES BRAHMS

experience to find a pianist who could at a
moment's notice transpose the piano part of
the " Kreutzer sonata " from A to B flat when
he found that the pianoforte was half a tone
flat ; and it was not every day that he met with
a composer or a composition student, who had
already finished a group of works so original
and full of promise as the pianoforte sonatas,
the scherzo in E flat minor, and the first set of
songs. That he should give the young man a
letter of introduction to Schumann, who was then
living at Diisseldorf, was almost a matter of
course, since Schumann was always eager to
hear of new writers or musicians of any kind
who were really in earnest. When we consider
these earliest achievements of Brahms' genius,
it will not seem surprising that Schumann
should have taken up his pen, which had been
long idle, in eloquent praise of the newcomer.

The sonata in C, op. i, has for the principal
subject of its first movement a theme almost
identical with that of Beethoven's great sonata
in B flat, op. 106. The resemblance saute aux
yeux, and has not escaped the notice of the
German biographers of the master; but it
throws into all the greater prominence the
astonishing originality of its treatment. The
ii

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

slow movement, built upon the theme of a
national song, is an early example of the com-
poser's fondness for characteristic traditional
melodies, and the coda of the movement is of
magical beauty. The second sonata, in F
sharp minor, has much originality of design,
exhibited in the employment of the same
subject for the slow movement and the scherzo,
and the expressive recurrence of the intro-
duction to the finale at its close. The third,
in F minor, op. 5, must almost have been the
piece about which a story is told, to the effect
that when an admirer ventured to point out
some reminiscence of Mendelssohn, the com-
poser remarked rather grumpily (as well he
might) : " True, such things will happen some-
times, even to the best of us ; the pity only is
that every donkey should go and find it out at
once ! " The story is told of a new concerted
piece of his later period, but as this sonata is
the only instance of Mendelssohn's influence
on the composer, I may perhaps be forgiven for
surmising that it belongs to the earlier work.
The beautiful resumption of the slow move-
ment called "Riickblick," and the exquisite
subsidiary theme of the finale, a chorale-like
subject in D flat, are enough to distinguish the

12

JOHANNES BRAHMS

sonata. The scherzo, op. 4, was sufficiently
in the vein of a more vigorous Chopin to excite
the admiration of Liszt, an admiration which
was bestowed on very few other works by
Brahms. Perhaps the most surprising thing
in this first batch of compositions is the very
first song of the group numbered op. 3, the
powerful ballad " Liebestreu," beginning " O
versenk ! " The setting of each stanza is the
same, it is true, and it is perhaps unlikely that
in his maturer years Brahms would have been
content to leave it so ; but the steady increase
in dramatic passion is actually intensified by
the fact that the change is only made in speed
and tone-colour. Surely no first-fruits of
genius were ever more strikingly individual
than these, or contained things of greater
promise. If Schumann's experienced eye
could detect, as it undoubtedly did, the future
characteristics of a Chopin in the conventional
set of variations on " La ci darem," he had an
easier task here, and the different tone of his
famous article, "Neue Bahnen," marks his
sense of the greatness of the career he foresaw.
In this remarkable article the young composer
is greeted as "one who should claim the
mastership by no gradual development, but
13

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

burst upon us fully equipped, as Minerva
sprang from the brain of Jupiter." In one
respect alone was Schumann wrong in his
prophecy — that there was to be no further
development in Brahms' powers. It is no
doubt true that he has undergone no great
revolution of convictions or of style, and that
the earliest and latest of his works have
possibly more in common with each other than
the corresponding works of any other composer
whatever ; but at the same time an unmis-
takable tendency has shown itself in his later
years towards clearness of utterance and the
abandonment of many of the characteristics
that were least pleasing to superficial hearers.
Not that his thoughts are less deep now than
they were when they were harder to under-
stand, but they are more clearly and directly
enunciated, more flowing in their treatment,
and therefore more agreeable to those who do
not care to go beneath the surface. For those
who do care to go deeper, and who are, there-
fore, capable of the highest degree of musical
enjoyment, the later works are not less, but more,
full of interest, than the earlier. Looking back
upon this first group of works, they afford an
interesting parallel with those of Beethoven,

JOHANNES BRAHMS

for, like them, they are influenced by the com-
poser's predecessors, while they contain unmis-
takable tokens of strong individuality. In the
same group as the compositions just referred to
falls the first of the master's trios for piano and
strings, the work in B major, op. 8, which was
published about the same time as the sonatas
and three books of songs. This trio has lately
acquired an interest and importance beyond
almost any other work of the composer's, since
a few years ago he remodelled it, and a com-
parison of the two versions is an invaluable
lesson in composition, as well as an incident
scarcely to be paralleled in musical history. It
is the best proof that can be given of what was
asserted above — that an exceptional degree of
unity in style has always subsisted between the
earlier and the later compositions of Brahms.
For though a period of nearly forty years
divides the two versions, the latter, which con-
tains very little material that is actually new,
has no lack of homogeneity, although in every
movement important alterations have been
made. As a rule these are in the direction of
making the general course of the work clearer
and more intelligible ; in its earlier form it was
one of the most difficult of his works, not only
'5

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

to play, but to understand. One of the
changes demonstrates an amount of self-
criticism that is the rarest of all virtues among
artists of all kinds. In the adagio there
occurred a theme of beautifully melodious
character, exactly suiting its place as a con-
trasting subject to the main theme, but, unfor-
tunately, very strongly resembling the opening
of Schubert's song, "Am Meer." This has
now been replaced by a long-drawn theme in
G sharp minor, given out by the violoncello.
But it would take too long to enumerate the .
alterations and the reasons for each, though a
more profitable exercise can hardly be recom-
mended to young composers.

In 1854 Brahms stayed for some time with
Liszt at Weimar, and appeared on several
occasions as a pianist at Hanover, for this
career had not been definitely given up at that
time; the post of choir-director and music-
master to the Prince of Lippe-Detmold, to
which he was appointed about the same time,
gave him occupation of a more or less lucrative
kind during the winter months, and plenty of
opportunity for the quiet development of his
powers, for which, of course, no help from other
composers was any longer necessary. It would
16

JOHANNES BRAHMS

be an interesting study for the musical historian
to estimate the influence of these posts at the
small German Courts upon German music.
Not merely the leisure for composition, the
various opportunities for performance of the
composer's efforts, have to be considered, but
the familiarity with practical music — in this
case with a choir — and, last but not least, the
intercourse with cultivated people. A long
period of service in this sort of capacity would
inevitably lead, however, to a gradual merging
of the artist in the pedant, and it was to
Brahms' advantage that he gave up the post
after a few years, and returned to Hamburg,
subsequently living for a time in Switzerland,
where he enjoyed the friendship, sympathy, and
good advice ofTheodor Kirchner. His appear-
ance at one of the Gewandhaus concerts in
conservative Leipzig, in January 1859, in his
own pianoforte concerto, op. 15, was not
successful ; for this the notorious reluctance of
the audience to accept anything really new
cannot be held wholly responsible, since the
concerto is one of the least attractive of the
composer's works, exhibiting all the harshnesses
of his early manner in an excessive degree. At
the same time it is interesting to notice how
17 B

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

even here is to be traced a characteristic of all
the master's work in this kind, the complete
blending of the solo part with the orchestral, so
that each part exists for the sake, not of itself,
but of the whole. When it appeared in print,
in the early sixties, it was in the same group
with some compositions that have enjoyed
immediate and almost universal popularity from
the date of their first performance until the
present day. The two serenades (op. n and
1 6, in D and A respectively) are less often
given in England than the lovely sextet in B
flat for strings, op. 18, but they are not less
beautiful; and the wonderful and, as it has
been called, Haydnesque, clearness of structure
which now begins to distinguish the composer's
best works, is all the more remarkable when
compared with the qualities of the piano
concerto. An " Ave Maria " for female chorus,
orchestra and organ (op. 12), a funeral hymn
for chorus and wind instruments (op. 13), and
a group of part-songs or trios for female voices
accompanied by two horns and harp (op. 17)
show that at this time the composer was
making experiments in tone-colour ; the last is
especially successful, and it is curious to note
how happy the composer has always been in
18

JOHANNES BRAHMS

dealing with the horn, whether in the larger or
the smaller combinations.

Though many of these works have precisely
the characteristics that were ascribed, a little
while ago, to the influence of the Austrian
capital, Brahms did not take up his residence
in Vienna until after they were not only
written, but actually published. It was in 1862
that he appeared there, and gave a number of
pianoforte recitals to the delight of the more
cultivated Viennese musicians. Within a year
from his arrival he was appointed director of
the Singakademie ; but resigned it after a year
of useful work, devoted in large measure to the
study of Bach's choral music. For some three
years he had no fixed place of abode, but
visited various towns for short periods. He
conducted the first serenade at Cologne (where
he had, years before, been offered a post in the
Conservatorium, but had refused it), and gave
concerts in Switzerland. In 1867 he returned
to Vienna, which has since been his head
quarters.

The artistic result of these " Wanderjahre "
was a most important group of chamber-com-
positions, including the two delightful quartets
for piano and strings (op. 25 and 26, in G
19

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

minor and A respectively), the splendid quintet
in F minor (op. 34), the second sextet in G (op.
36,) the sonata for piano and violoncello (op.
38), and the lovely "horn" trio in E flat (op.
40) — truly, a batch of compositions that might
have set up two or three composers in the
estimation of musicians ! In the finale of the
first of these, the wonderful " Gipsy rondo " of
the G minor quartet, we have the most import-
ant example of that love of Hungarian colour-
ing and themes which, in connection with the
well-known arrangements of the " czardas " for
pianoforte duet, did so much to make Brahms'
name familiar to English amateurs. The ex-
quisite tone-colour of the slow movement of the
other quartet is not less worthy of remark, and
these two works and the quintet are among the
loveliest of the master's works. Another beau-
tiful instance of Magyar characteristics is a set
of variations upon a Hungarian song, for piano,
op. 2irt, the theme of which has a curious rhythm
of seven crotchets disposed in two bars, that
reappears in the slow movement of the latest of
his pianoforte trios. The variation form occu-
pied the composer much at this time ; not only
was there a very beautiful companion set to that
already mentioned, but a four-hand set on a

20

JOHANNES BRAHMS

theme by Schumann, a solo set (culminating in
a masterly fugue) on a theme from one
of the less familiar harpsichord suites of
Handel, and a set of twenty-eight enormously
difficult studies in the form of variations on a
theme by Paganini, date from the same period,
the earliest of the composer's maturity. In two
other branches of composition the same group
contains work of importance ; the set of nine
songs to words by A. von Platen and G. F.
Daumer, containing the exquisite lyric, "Wie
bist du, meine Konigin ? " and the great set of
fifteen romances from Tieck's " Magelone," are
unsurpassed in beauty and tenderness of ex-
pression by any of his later songs, and in them
is reached the highest point of development of
the German " Lied."

The chief interest of certain sacred choral
works, such as Psalm xiii. for female choir and
organ, the setting of Flemming's " Lass dich
nur nichts dauern," and others, is in the fact that
they are practically sketches for the most famous
of Brahms' contributions to sacred music, the
" German Requiem." In the sketches a most
noble dignity and gravity is maintained, while
every sort of contrapuntal device is to be found
in them, though these are in no sense obtruded
2,1

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

upon the hearer's notice. The two works
mentioned, as well as the two motets for five-
part chorus, unaccompanied, of which the
vigorous " Es ist das Heil " is the better known,
in England at least, are in the finest style of
church music — broad, dignified, and wholly free
from sentimentality. As an illustration of the
composer's industry in the production of choral
music just at this time, it may be worth
mentioning that this branch of art is repre-
sented in this period by no less than seven
opus-numbers in the catalogue, some of them
including as many as five compositions.

The work for which these were in a sense pre-
paratory studies is, it is not too much to say, the
greatest achievement of modern sacred music
in Germany. It was possibly suggested by the
Austrian and Prussian war of 1866, but a more
personal element seems gradually to have
obtruded itself. It is curious that it should
have been at first performed piecemeal, the
first three choruses under Herbeck in 1867,
and six out of the seven numbers in 1868 at
Bremen : the reason for this was simply that
the oratorio as we now have it was not finished
until later in 1868. The scheme lent itself to
gradual enlargement, for the words chosen from

JOHANNES BRAHMS

Scripture by the composer himself do not
follow in any very necessary sequence. The
title is a little clumsy, for there is nothing
whatever in common with the Requiem of the
Catholic ritual, and there is nothing essentially
German in the passages selected or in their
treatment, except that they are taken from the
Lutheran Bible. Without touching further
upon the composer's religious beliefs, it is quite
clear, from the way in which the different texts
are strung together and from the depth of
devotional expression revealed in almost every
number, that Brahms must, at the time of its
composition, have been under strong religious
impressions. Not Bach himself has penetrated
more deeply into the spiritual meaning of the
thoughts called up by the death of one beloved,
though the distinctively " pietistic " element of
his church cantatas and the like is not forth-
coming in the newer composition. The first
chorus opens with the calm utterance of the
words " Blessed are they that mourn," succeeded
by the promise " They that sow in tears shall
reap in joy," set to music of the most consola-
tory character imaginable. With the second
number we enter upon the contemplation of
the "four last things" which, it may be, would
23

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

have suggested the title for the work, if the
equivalent of this name had not already been
appropriated by Spohr in the work which we in
England know as "The Last Judgment." The
idea of the whole human race marching in
solemn procession to the grave, is one that on
two separate occasions inspired no less prosaic
a person than Dr. Watts to genuine poetic
utterance ; in Blake's wonderful illustrations to
Young's " Night Thoughts " there is a design,
among many others that haunt the memory,
representing Time as sitting beside a river in
the stream of which are borne along types of
every age and condition of mankind on their
way to death. The same idea inspired Brahms
to the composition of a march unlike all
marches that ever were written, but not to be
mistaken by the most superficial hearer for any-
thing but a march. It is in triple time, and in
this, and in the inevitable character of the
music, we know that we are listening to the tramp
of no ordinary host. The effect is heightened by
the employment of unisons in the vocal parts,
which seem to give the sense of chill helpless-
ness as the words are sung " Behold, all flesh is
as the grass." The imagery of the words,
perhaps connected with the " sowing in tears "
24

JOHANNES BRAHMS

of the previous chorus, suggests the passage
from the Epistle of St. James, "The husband-
man waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth,"
and this leads by no abrupt transition to the
beautiful fugal setting of the familiar words,
" The redeemed of the Lord shall return." The
reiteration of the words "joy everlasting," with
which the chorus closes, is a most striking
contrast to the gloom of the beginning. A
somewhat analogous principle of construction
underlies the next number, yet the treatment is
so vastly different that no sense of repetition is
created. It starts with a baritone solo, " Lord,
make me to know mine end," melodious,
expressive, and pre-eminently vocal ; a passage
of fine suggestion, at the words " My hope is in
Thee," in which the four sections of the choir,
entering successively from the lowest register of
the bass to the high soprano, give the idea of a
hope built upon a sure foundation, leads into
the splendid fugue throughout on a "pedal
point," "But the righteous souls are in the
hands of God," in which the same impression
of stability and permanence is admirably con-
veyed. If any doubt existed as to the great-
ness and originality of this creation, it received
the crowning testimony to its power in the
25

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disapproval it excited among the German
pundits of the time, who were naturally blind to
its emotional meaning, and only saw in it a bold
innovation on their jealously-guarded fugue-
form. After the assurance as to the destiny of
the " righteous souls " it is natural to turn to the
celestial joys of their abode, and in the next
number, " How lovely is Thy dwelling-place ! "
the perfect peace of heaven is reflected, and
the longing of the faithful heart for the
Beatific Vision. The subject of the next
number, that of comfort to mourners, based
upon the happy state of the holy dead,
follows so naturally what has gone before
that it is difficult to believe it to have been
composed later than all the rest. A personal
loss, that of the composer's mother, is said to
have determined its form, which is that of a
soprano solo, kept for the most part in its high
register, and accompanied by a quiet choral
section, which repeats the words, " As one
whom his own mother comforteth, so will I
comfort you." The solo part may be open to
the reproach of not being very easy to sing — an
unpardonable sin in the eyes of many English
amateurs — but of its real effect and profoundly
impressive character in the hands of a competent
26

JOHANNES BRAHMS

artist there can be no manner of doubt. The
sixth chorus really deserves the epithet ' ' monu-
mental," so often misapplied by German and
English critics. Beginning with a passage of
simple four-part harmony, " Here we have no
continuing place," the composer leads our
thoughts towards that change from mortality to
immortality on which the Lutheran, like the
Anglican, burial-service lays stress. To English
amateurs, saturated with "The Messiah" from
their earliest youth, there may well have seemed
something almost sacrilegious in re-setting the
words, " For the trumpet shall sound," etc., and
giving them to a baritone soloist ; but even if the
resemblance to Handel's work went farther than
it does, we must remember that the oratorio in
which the familiar air occurs is far less often
given, and far less universally adored, in
Germany than here. The " mystery," described
in wonderfully graphic strains, though by the
simplest means imaginable, is represented in the
chorus parts by a vigorous and well-developed
section in triple time, "For the trumpet shall
sound," in which, for once, the element of
dramatic excitement is allowed to appear, though
only as a preparation for the calm dignity and
devotional grandeur of the magnificent double
27

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fugue, "Lord, Thou art worthy." After this
surprising peroration, in order to bring back
the prevailing tone of the Requiem, the final
number, modelled more or less closely upon the
first, resumes the thoughts connected with the
departed, and closes in undoubtedly more
appropriate expression than if the penultimate
chorus, with its jubilant outburst of praise, had
been allowed to end the work.

While preparing this work for the press,
in the summer of 1868, Brahms stayed at
Bonn, where he wrote also a large number of
songs and two important works for male choir
and orchestra, each with a part for a solo
voice ; the first of these, " Rinaldo " (op. 50),
in which a tenor soloist is employed, is set
to Goethe's adaptation from Tasso, and is
conceived in the finest spirit of romance ; the
second, " Rhapsodic " (op. 53), set to a passage
from the same poet's " Harzreise im Winter,"
contains a part for alto or mezzo-soprano, and
the strange and beautiful effects due to the
unusual combination of voices entitle the work
to more general recognition than it has yet
received, even if it were not one of the most
melodious and impressive of the larger works of
the master. The smooth, sustained passage,
28

o

£ *

«

JOHANNES BRAHMS

" 1st auf deinem Psalter, Vater der Liebe," has
a haunting loveliness that is not easily forgotten.
In strong contrast with these and the Requiem
is one of the works produced about this time,
which may perhaps be regarded as the healthy
natural reaction after the continued concentra-
tion on the solemn subject of the Requiem : the
famous " Liebeslieder-Walzer," op. 52, though
written away from Vienna, may well have been
a reflection of the most characteristic popular
music of the Austrian capital and the perform-
ances of Strauss' band in the Volksgarten,
which have been among Brahms' most constant
enjoyments since his first visit to that city of
pleasure. In the waltzes written some time
before for piano duet, op. 39, Brahms showed
how much of real emotion could be put into
the conventional form, without straining it, as
Schumann often did in his adaptations of the
waltz to romantic music. Here the piano duet
is again employed, but in association with four
solo voices, a combination which Schumann was
the first to use in his " Spanische Liebeslieder."
Brahms' waltzes are short, and adhere most
strictly to the prescribed structure : this is, of
course, simplicity itself, yet we never feel that
the great composer is conscious of any want of
29

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freedom. He yields himself up unrestrainedly
to the mood of the dancers, for whom we may
imagine the waltzes to be intended — for many
of them could perfectly well serve for the
practical purposes of the ball-room. The people
who are fond of complaining that there is so
little of what they call "tune" in Brahms'
music, should turn their attention to these
waltzes, and the later series, op. 65. By " tune "
they mean, as is well known, melody cut into
lengths of exactly eight bars, neither more nor
less ; of the character of the melody they take
little notice, and they will rave about quite
ugly music, provided only it has " tunes " in
this sense. Here they will find a wealth of such
tunes, cut into lengths as definite as the latest
English royalty ballad, though a good deal less
threadbare in the quality of the music. While
the less cultivated amateur may enjoy the
waltzes in his own way, the musician wonders at
the skill with which the vocal and instrumental
parts are interwoven, and at the amount of
interest and real value the pieces have, for all
their popular guise. In the earlier set there is
no such deeply poetic " envoy " as is attached
to the later series, " Nun, ihr Musen, genug "
— one of the most beautiful musical inspirations
30

JOHANNES BRAHMS

in existence ; but in spite of this, there is plenty
of romantic sentiment and playful humour to
be found in them, and their enormous popularity
need not be wondered at. The fate of the
second series, in England at least, is widely
different from that which befalls most sequels,
since it is more admired, or at all events more
often given, than the first. It may not be use-
less to draw attention to the wording of the title,
which gives the most excellent hint as to the
secret of obtaining a good performance. The
waltzes are not described as " quartets with four-
hand piano accompaniment," but as duets with
four voices ad libittim. The singers must follow,
not lead, the players, if an effective rendering is
to be given; of course the latter must make
allowance for the presence of the vocal parts,
but they must not hesitate to adopt the thousand
little modifications of time that are suggested by
the instrumental phrases, as they might well do
if the pianoforte were used simply as an accom-
paniment. In both sets of waltzes, and in other
works of kindred arrangement, a peculiar charm
is felt, and the actual treatment of the voice-parts
has an individuality that is difficult to analyse.

The German victories of 1870-1 were cele-
brated in a noble "Triumphlied," op. 55, for

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

baritone solo, eight-part chorus, and orchestra,
first performed at Bremen on Good Friday,
1871. It is a little strange that it is not
oftener given at English festivals, since our
own national anthem, long since adapted by
the Germans as "Heil dir im Siegerkranz,"
appears in a much disguised form in its first
number, and the chorale, "Nun danket Alle
Gott " — a hymn-tune scarcely less familiar here
than in its native land — is referred to in its
second. Next to this in order of composition
comes a very famous specimen of Brahms' skill
in choral writing, the picturesque and suggestive
" Schicksalslied," or song of destiny (op. 54),
which, in its moderate extent and real effect-
iveness seems to have set the pattern for those
shorter choral works in which some of the best
of our living English composers have expressed
themselves most successfully. In the poetic
depth of emotion, in the contrast between its
two sections, and in the hopeful teaching of the
music, as against the fatalistic purport of the
words, we are here conscious, as before in the
Requiem, that the author has entered into the
very soul of his subject, and that he is no mere
machine for setting words to suitable music.
The opening section describes the state of
32

JOHANNES BRAHMS

Olympian calm in which the pagan deities may
be supposed to pass an eternity of unruffled
happiness. The pure beauty of the music in
this part is greatly enhanced by the fine orches-
tration, and the movement gives place all too
soon to a rapid and restless section in triple
time, in which the harsh destiny of the human
race is considered. As in the second number
of the Requiem, the choral parts sweep to and
fro as though driven before a resistless tempest.
Holderlin's line "Wie Wasser von Klippe zu
Klippe geworfen" is set to a most graphic
passage of staccato notes in cross rhythm, and
the final words of the poem " Ins Ungewisse
hinab " suggest a headlong falling into non-
existence, illustrated in the gradual dying away
of the voices in their lowest registers. Here is
where the composer asserts his own individu-
ality, for the work does not end at this point ;
in an instrumental epilogue, built on the theme
of the quiet opening, he seems to show us that
there is a hope beyond the poet's ken, that the
pessimistic view of life may not perhaps be the
true one after all. The power of instrumental
music to suggest definite non-musical ideas —
that power generally denied by the partisans of
what is called "absolute" music, among whom
33 c

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

Brahms is usually counted — was never better
illustrated.

By this time the composer had finally fixed
upon Vienna as his permanent home, and had
even accepted new duties connected with the
performance of music, having been appointed
conductor of the famous concerts of the
" Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde," a post which
he filled with much success until 1875, when
he resigned it to his friend Herbeck. From
this time forth, a period now of nearly twenty
years, he has devoted himself exclusively to
composition, in surroundings the most con-
genial that can be imagined, and, as far as can
be known, his life is arranged almost ideally
for the production of artistic work of the finest
kind. He is no example of the prosperous
musician who is contented to receive the
homage of the world, and to give it in return
his less happily inspired effusions. Nor need
we fear his becoming the centre of a mutual
admiration society, or turning into a narrow-
minded pedant, such as are not unknown
among German and English musicians. Power
such as he possesses is its own safeguard, and
all that it requires for its full development is
freedom from outward vexations, though indeed
34

JOHANNES BRAHMS

Beethoven's powers are not held to have been
lessened by either of the two trials of his latter
days, his ne'er-do-weel nephew and his deafness.
Brahms, though happily free from such
troubles, stands in little danger of being
"spoilt," for yet another reason, which is a
certain most salutary intolerance of anything
like the "lionising" process; at no time has
his manner to strangers or mere acquaintances
been remarkable for urbanity, but on the
slightest suspicion of expressed admiration he
assumes a stony or rather thorny impenetra-
bility, and many an ardent and too outspoken
amateur has had reason to regret his boldness.
Like Tennyson and many another son of the
muses, he is bored to death with that kind of
thing, and does not scruple to show it. There
is a story — only one of many — that illustrates
this peculiarity particularly well, though it may
not exhibit the master in a very amiable light.
At Baden-Baden, where he often passes part of
the summer, he was accosted by a certain lion-
hunter one day as he lay under a tree in a
garden; a little speech, obviously prepared
beforehand, was delivered, in which was duly
set forth the speaker's enormous admiration for
the composer's works and his overpowering
35

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

sense of honour he felt at the interview — in fact
the whole stock-in-trade of the professional
"interviewer" was employed, just a little too
evidently. The temptation to punish the
stranger, whom we may fancy to have been a
person of a full habit, was too much for
Brahms, who interrupted the flow of enthusiasm
with the remark, " Stop, my dear sir, there must
be some mistake here. I have no doubt you
are looking for my brother, the composer ; I'm
sorry to say he has just gone out for a walk, but
if you make haste and run along that path,
through the wood, and up yonder hill, you may
probably still catch him up."

He is seen at his best in the small circle of
his intimate friends, among whom he enjoys the
reputation not only of being witty, full of fun,
and, in the best sense, " good company," but of
possessing a kind heart and a most generous
disposition. His Spartan simplicity of life is
one of the many points of resemblance with
Beethoven, which extend to such physical char-
acteristics as the thickset build, small stature,
and the proportion, or want of proportion,
between the body and the lionlike head, with
its eyes "of penetrating regard and fire and
nobility of expression." Unlike the generality of
36

JOHANNES BRAHMS

musicians, he is a great reader, and his conversa-
tion, even on matters unconnected with his art, is
that of a highly cultivated intellect. A less un-
usual peculiarity is the intense interest which a
new work of his own excites in him, as long as
it is in progress, or, in fact, until it is first per-
formed ; this ordeal past, it seems to be laid
aside, as far as the composer's memory is con-
cerned, and nothing is harder, even for his
intimates, than to get him to talk about his past
compositions. For the opinion of outsiders on
his work he has the profoundest contempt, and
is completely indifferent to journalistic verdicts.
His almost filial devotion to Madame Schu-
mann is a graceful trait in his character.

It is no doubt mainly the dread of being
made a lion of that has kept him away from
England, where he has so many admirers and
unknown friends. On two occasions he has been
offered the degree of Doctor of Music by the
University of Cambridge, but both times has
declined to come to receive it. The chief
loss occasioned by his refusal, from an artistic
point of view, is that English audiences have
not heard him conduct one of his orchestral
compositions; these, however, have been so
constantly kept in the programmes of the
37

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

Richter and other concerts, and so admirably
interpreted, that the loss is greatly lessened.
There is, after all, no possible reason why a
man may not decline a proffered distinction
that involves a somewhat formidable journey to
receive it, and we may conclude that Brahms
knows his own interests as well as we can know
them. He is rich enough in distinctions of all
kinds, one of the most important being the
degree of Doctor of Philosophy granted by the
University of Breslau.

Up to the time at which he went to live
in Vienna purely orchestral music had oc-
cupied a secondary place in his sphere of
work, and it is not without reason that
his career in this direction is generally con-
sidered to have begun with the first of his
symphonies, which dates from 1875. Shortly
before this was written, some further contri-
butions to instrumental chamber-music were
made, the numbers of which in the catalogue
come close to those of the choral compositions
lately spoken of. These, the three string
quartets, opp. 51 and 67, and a third quartet for
piano and strings, op. 60 in C minor, un-
doubtedly show certain signs of labour; they
"smell of the lamp" a little, and seem to
33

JOHANNES BRAHMS

indicate that in this particular direction the
vein was for the time exhausted ; this is all the
more remarkable since the choral works dating
from the same period, the " Liebeslieder " (both
sets), and many of the numerous songs of the
time, are among the most widely accepted and
most genial of his earlier compositions. Per-
haps, as far as chamber-music was concerned,
it was a case of reculer pour mieux, sauter^ since
he was within measurable distance of a work
which was received as the first of a new series
of masterpieces in this department, the first of
the violin sonatas.

The first symphony, which still remains to be
spoken of, has a special interest to English
amateurs, since it was the work by which the
composer was represented among others who
actually took the Cambridge degree at the time
when it was first offered to Brahms. A curious
coincidence marks it in connection with the
performance at Cambridge, and accounts for
the practice into which amateurs have fallen of
calling it the " Cambridge Symphony." In the
impressive introduction to the final Allegro, the
subject of which, by the way, is a curiously
faithful pendant to (by no means a replica of)
the theme of the finale of Beethoven's Choral
39

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

Symphony, the horn has a short phrase which
would arrest attention anywhere, but which, in
Cambridge, struck a most familiar note ; for it
is identical in its first two sections with certain
of the chimes known as the "Cambridge
quarters " — that pretty set of four-note phrases
said to have been arranged by Crotch from a
passage in " I know that my Redeemer liveth,"
which has gradually spread from St. Mary's
Church till it has become the best-known
arrangement for marking the quarters of the
hour. Of course the composer did not know
this, nor, indeed, was the symphony written for
the occasion at which it was performed at the
English University; it had been heard at
Carlsruhe in November 1876, while the Cam-
bridge celebration, at which it was conducted
by Joachim, did not take place until the
following March.

Four sets of songs only separate this im-
pressive and important work in Brahms' cata-
logue from his second symphony in D major,
op. 73, a work in strongest contrast to the first.
Many passages in the C minor symphony
remain difficult to grasp, even after a second
or even a third hearing ; in the three first
movements this is particularly the case, and it
40

JOHANNES BRAHMS

would be useless to deny that the work as a
whole is by no means one of the most generally
pleasing of the master's compositions. In the
new symphony a delicious and almost pastoral
quietude prevails ; the subjects are- exenJHal^
ing " in their simple beauty, recalling sometinies
one or other of the waltzes of Schubert or of
the minuets of Mozart. There is a bewitching
passage in the allegretto grazioso, which reminds
one of a child pretending to be completely
transformed, and firmly believing that it is
unrecognisable, when it has tied a handkerchief
under its chin and pulled a grimace. The
little theme of the minuet-like opening suddenly
appears in two-four time, with all the airs of
being new, but really unaltered in any import-
ant particular, and the effect of the device is
most charming. Both subjects of the lovely
finale deserve to rank with the most beautiful
inventions in music, and their treatment is no
less masterly than their conception is felicitous.
The Haydnesque character of the movement
may point back to the beautiful variations on
that master's "Chorale Sancti Antonii" (Brahms'
op. 56) which were among his most important
works of preparation for his first symphony.
Two works of the greatest value and importance
41

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to violinists are among the compositions which
occupy an intermediate place between the
second and third symphonies ; these are : op.
77, the violin concerto, written for Joachim,
and often played by him in England, and the
first sonata for violin and piano in G, op. 78.
The former, in the same key as the single
concerto of Beethoven's for the instrument, is,
of all modem concertos, the one most worthy to
stand beside it; the same subjection of indivi-
dual display to general effect— using that word
in its highest sense — distinguish both, and the
serene beauty of themes is as conspicuous in
the later work as in the earlier. As show-
pieces, neither is likely to oust Mendelssohn's
concerto and those of other popular writers in
the affections of the multitude of fiddlers ; but
the violinists who are also artists in the true
sense will come to recognise the real oppor-
tunities for making a deep impression --not
merely of provoking applause — that are con-
tained in Brahms' as in Beethoven's work. As
an example of the perfect friendship and unity
of artistic conviction existing between the
composer and the great artist for whom he
wrote, it may be mentioned that Joachim con-
tributed the cadenzas to his friend's composition,
42

JOHANNES BRAHMS

passages in which no lack of continuity or ho-
mogeneity can be traced by the keenest critic.
For Joachim, too, there can be no doubt that
the last movement, with its distinctively Hun-
garian colouring, was especially designed, and
we may be sure that it will be a very long time
before another artist arises to play it as he does.
The exquisite subject of the slow movement,
with its lovely touches of orchestral effect, is an
example of the composer's invention at its
greatest height, and it would be difficult to
match it, or indeed the movement as a whole,
for melodious beauty.

The second of the two violin compositions, the
sonata in G, has throughout a singularly winning
character, and it is certain that none of the works
of his later life has gained him more admirers,
from those who formerly stood aloof. A wonderful
degree of unity in expression prevails from the
beginning of the first vivace ma non troppo to the
quiet close of the sonata in which a "plagal
cadence " is employed with the happiest effect.
The beautiful adagio flows on its even course,
and is brought in again in the finale, as if to
calm down the slight restlessness of the main
subject of this movement. To this main
subject attaches a peculiar interest, for it is one of
43

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

the rare instances in which a modern master has
successfully adopted the device which Handel
was wont to employ in order to save himself
the trouble of inventing new music. We may
be quite sure that this was not the motive by
which Brahms was impelled when he took the
theme of a song written some years before for
the finale of his sonata. In the album of
songs, op. 59, is one called " Regen-
lied, " in which the figure of accompaniment
gives exactly the dreary effect of pattering rain,
while the plaintive vocal theme carries out the
impression of a gentle inquietude. It is quite a
different kind of weather from that reflected in
a celebrated prelude of Chopin's suggested by a
prolonged storm in Corsica ; but if less tragic
than that in its emotion, the song is not less
expressive or artistic. In Chopin's prelude you
are made to feel with the composer the hope-
lessness with which a child regards something
it sees no end to ; in Brahms' song we know the
rain will stop, and that the restless feeling ex-
cited by it is only a passing mood. The com-
poser was evidently taken with the subject and
its figure of accompaniment, for the next song
in the series to which "Regenlied" belongs,
called "Nachklang," carries on both, though to
44

JOHANNES BRAHMS

a different purpose. In the finale of the sonata
both appear again, but the figure of accompani-
ment is no longer confined to one part, as it had
to be in the songs ; its possibilities are now
more fully taken advantage of, and it is surpris-
ing, to those who knew the songs first, to see
the process by which their material has been
utilised for instrumental purposes. No work of
the master's has met with wider acceptance than
this, which displayed his powers in a direction
hitherto untried, unless we may include the
violoncello sonata in E minor, as belonging to
the same group — a place it hardly deserves, since
with all the beauty of its opening movement, and
the winsome charm of its minuet, the somewhat
crabbed character of its canonic finale marks it
as belonging to the composer's less genial days.
Immediately before and after the two violin
pieces just mentioned were two sets of piano-
forte solos, op. 76, a set of eight so-called
"Capriccios and Intermezzi," and op. 79, two
Rhapsodies. It has never been Brahms' habit
to seek out effective titles for his smaller works,
such as were beloved of Schumann ; for this
reason, perhaps, they have been less popular
with the typical amateur than those of the
older master. Still, without going into " fancy "
45

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descriptions, some more suitable names might
have been found for both sets of pieces. A few
of the " capriccios " have, indeed, the fantastic,
unruly wilfulness implied in the title, and, besides
being very difficult to play, are certainly inter-
esting, and in a sense beautiful, notably one in
B minor involving a perfect command of the
staccato. But intermezzos that are apparently
intended to take no intermediary place, but to
stand as independent pieces, seem a little
wrongly named, and certainly anything less
rhapsodical than the two regularly-constructed
pieces in almost conventional " da capo " form
to which the name of rhapsody is applied can
hardly be imagined. But, titles apart, both sets
have manifold beauties and points of interest ;
the intermezzo in A flat is the most suitably
written for the pianoforte of the earlier set, but
both the rhapsodies appeal to pianists as much
as to the lover of music. It is not one of
Brahms' merits, any more than it was one of
Beethoven's, to write what is called " grateful "
music for the pianoforte alone ; few of his pieces
of any period "play themselves " as do those of
Mendelssohn in one school, those of Chopin
in another, or those of Liszt in a third. The
peculiar and distinctive qualities of the instrument
46

JOHANNES BRAHMS

have not, apparently, found in him a very loving
interpreter, and only here and there, and then
mainly in concerted music, does the pianist find
his work congenial from the technical point of
view. Like all great originators, he has invented
passages which require a special technique for
themselves, and the handfuls of chords, the
sudden extensions, and the rapid changes of
position, in which he freely indulges, have to be
carefully studied ; there are formidable difficul-
ties enough, in all conscience, in the writers I
have named, yet they undoubtedly yield a more
satisfactory result to the student than do the
works of Brahms. It must be understood that
the quality here spoken of is one that affects
none but players. It is entirely independent of
musical merit, and, as has been well said, music
that is easy to play is not always easy to listen
to. To put ease of vocal or instrumental effect
in a high place among the virtues of a composer
is surely to see things in their wrong proportion.
Both the rhapsodies, particularly the one in G
minor, are genuine " pianoforte music " in the
sense that is so rare with Brahms, and the two
pieces are most deservedly popular with the
better class of players.

Next to them came out two overtures, of course
47

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

for full orchestra : op. 80, " Akademische Fest-
Ouvertiire," and op. 81, " Tragische Ouverture " :
the former, written in recognition of the degree of
doctor of philosophy conferred upon the com-
poser by the University of Breslau, was privately
performed in that place on January 4, 1881 ;
and both were soon afterwards played at Vienna,
and very coldly received. The first is built for
the most part upon the themes of German
students' songs, such as are familiar to every
German audience : many, like the " Gaudeamus,"
with which the work closes most brilliantly, are
scarcely less well known in England. Still,
though it is justly popular among us, its success
in its native country has been, and certainly will
be, far greater. One of the most humorous
passages in the work has been discounted for
English audiences by the familiarity of a certain
device employed in it — a device which has not
yet been done to death in Germany, as it has
with us. After a pause, the bassoon enters with
intensely comic effect, with the theme of what
is known as the " Fuchslied " or freshmen's
song (" Was kommt dort von der Hoh' ? ") ; the
point of the joke, the quality of tone of the
instrument chosen, falls a little flat with English
audiences, as, since its first appearance in the
48

JOHANNES BRAHMS

Sorcerer's song, the bassoon jest has been drawn
upon for a safe laugh in any comic opera when
the wit of the dialogue has run a little thin. The
" Tragic " overture wants no " programme " for
its elucidation ; what may be the particular form
of fate that so obviously hangs over it until the
trombones bring about the final catastrophe we
are not told, but the course of the story is plain
enough to those who have ears to hear, and
most impressive it is.

The two choral works which precede the third
symphony, and which are the last compositions
for choir and orchestra that the master has given
us, again deal with the problem of human
destiny. The first, "Nanie," set to Schiller's
words, was suggested by the death of the
promising young painter, Feuerbach, a great
friend of the composer's, and it is dedicated to
the mother of the artist. It has suffered, in
England especially, from a comparison with
Goetz's setting of the same words, which occupied
the attention of amateurs just about the time
when Brahms' setting came out. The romantic
circumstances of Goetz's early death, and the
vogue which his posthumous works enjoyed for
a brief season in England, were enough to
account for this preference, and, beside this,
49 D

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

there is much to be said for the earlier compo-
sition, which is one of its author's most happily
inspired creations, while Brahms' version is
not by any means the best of his works in this
form. On the strength of this verdict of the
musical world, a certain set of critics tried to
persuade themselves that the dead composer was
in every way greater than the living, and quite
recently one of the chiefs of the " irresponsible "
school of writers has repeated the assertion. It
is a thankless task to play Devil's Advocate with
a posthumous fame, but it has come to be very
generally recognised as possible that Goetz did
not die so very prematurely, and that in fact
some of his later works betrayed certain manner-
isms which threatened to become more notice-
able as time went on. In regard to his actual
achievement, beautiful as much of his work
undoubtedly is, and high as is its general level,
it were absurd to set it up against the whole
body of Brahms' work, which, although it has
left opera untouched, has covered every other
branch of art, and with absolute success in all.
In the other choral work of this time, the
" Gesang der Parzen," from Goethe's Iphigenia,
a six-part chorus is employed, and some im-
pressive antiphonal effects are thus made
So

JOHANNES BRAHMS

possible ; in feeling, it is a curious counterpart
and contrast to the " Schicksalslied," though it
is scarcely as fine. The second pianoforte
concerto, in B flat, op. 83, isTiot "wholly free
from the tragic intensity of these two works, in
spite of its strikingly beautiful opening, in which
the announcement of the theme is given to the
horn j it abounds in formidable difficulties in
the solo part, and can hardly be ranked among
the most attractive of the composer's works, at
least to any but diligent students, who will find
much to interest them in its construction. A
somewhat forbidding trio for piano and strings,
op. 87, and a very interesting string quintet,
op. 88, complete the number of instrumental
works that preceded the third symphony • but
some three books of songs are of the same date,
and it is very curious to find, just in one of the
less genial periods of the master's activity, such
a delightfully humorous song as " Vergebliches
Standchen " or the suave melody of " Feldein-
samkeit " — songs which rank with the best, as
well as the most popular, of the composer's vocal
works.

As with the first pair of symphonies, so with
the second : nothing but vocal works of com-
paratively small calibre separate them in the

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

list of works, although no less than two years
elapsed between the publication of the third
and fourth, which appeared respectively in 1883
and 1885. The third, op. 90, in F major, is as
easy to follow as the symphony in D, while its
themes have even greater value and individu-
ality. Each as it comes strikes us as a new
revelation of beauty, and the well-devised con-
trast, not only between the successive subjects
themselves, but between the movements con-
structed on them, makes for their appreciation.
For example, the first theme of the opening
movement, given out by the violins, sweeps
along through a compass of nearly two octaves,
with an altogether irresistible elan ; the second
subject moves by small intervals and has a
range of six notes, its smoothness of phrasing
being again in contrast to the dashing, broken
rhythms of its companion. The lovely andante
proceeds from a tune of almost religious cha-
racter ; to the younger generation of musicians
it loses nothing by an accidental resemblance
which is apt to bother older hearers, for its first
group of notes is unmistakably like the once
famous prayer in " Zampa," and although, as it is
hardly necessary to say, Brahms' way of treat-
ing it considerably differs from Herold's, the
52

JOHANNES BRAHMS

similarity remains. It is difficult to think of
anything in its way more perfect than \hepoco
allegretto which occupies the place of the
scherzo, and which has all the plaintive grace
of Schubert at his very best. The finale
has been not inaptly likened to a battle ; the
determination of the opening subject, in F
minor, and the wild outcries of the violins later
on, would of themselves suggest this, even
without the presence of a most realistic passage
for the violoncellos, which is as joyous a shout
of victory as ever was uttered.

The fourth symphony, in E minor, op. 98, is
far less attractive to the casual hearer than its
predecessor, and now and then a return is made
for a short time to the crabbed manner of some
of the earlier works. The same contrast as that
noticed in the F major symphony, between a
theme of wide range and one of closer texture,
occurs here; but neither subject has anything
like the amount of actual beauty possessed by
its counterpart, though the dramatic character
of the movement, and the masterly treat-
ment to which the themes and their subsi-
diaries are subjected, give it interest and value
of another kind. The andante, built on an
extremely simple and balladlike melody, is
53

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

certainly the most taking of the four sections,
for the presto, with its somewhat archaic
flavour, is not of surpassing interest. The finale
is the movement in virtue of which the sym-
phony may claim a place of its own among the
landmarks of instrumental music. A survey of
all the typical symphonies since the form first
had its rise, would make it quite clear that each
of the three first movements has, in the course
of years, attained to what may be called an
ideal form. The " sonata form " for the first
movement; the "extended lied-form," or "aria
form," for the slow movement ; and the " da capo
form," in more or less developed guise, for the
scherzo, minuet, intermezzo, or whatever the
section may be called — have evidently satisfied
the great masters of the symphony, and excep-
tions to the types are neither numerous nor
successful. With the finale it is different ; the
rondo form, once accepted almost universally,
has not, in the later and greater days of the
symphony, fulfilled the requirements of com-
posers, and it is interesting to see how in this
section, more than in any other, experiments have
been made. Take Beethoven's nine master-
pieces, and you will find the old type of rondo
occurring in only three at most ; in one a set of
54

JOHANNES BRAHMS

variations, in others a free adaptation of the
" sonata form " replaces it, and the splendid
formlessness of the finale of the Choral Sym-
phony is, perhaps, the strongest proof of all that
accepted types were insufficient, the more so
since in the other sections of this very sym-
phony the traditional forms are preserved, not,
indeed, without modification, but with no
change of any essential feature. There was,
therefore, every excuse for making innovations
in this movement, since no type hitherto in-
vented had been found perfect ; and in apply-
ing to it a form already in existence, though
for some time obsolete in connexion with com-
positions of large calibre, the modern composer
showed his wisdom. It is not necessary to
enter into the subtle distinction between the
English "ground" or "ground bass," the
French "chaconne," and the Italian "passa-
caglia " ; it is enough to say that certain
features common to them all, and some pecu-
liar to one or other of the two last, are employed
by Brahms in this place, and that the form
which had been virtually dormant ever since
Bach's time has received a new lease of life from
the modern composer. The immediate sug-
.gestion must. have come from that monumental
55

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

chaconne of Bach for violin alone which
Joachim has made so familiar, and of which
Brahms wrote a pianoforte arrangement. Bach's
wonderful succession of variations on a con-
stantly recurring theme of eight bars, changes
its course suddenly in the middle, and it is easy
for a not very attentive listener to lose the
connecting thread of the music, and to think
that the phrase is absent when it is overlaid with
ornament or represented by its essential sequence
of harmonies. In like manner in the symphony,
even those who keep their attention fixed on the
phrase in their analytical programmes, find
themselves, after a time, foiled in the effort to
trace it; and, losing this, they lose all, for the
interest of the variations as they pass is not
likely to impress itself on hearers who are busy
searching for a series of notes they cannot hear.
In truth, this movement cannot as yet be com-
pletely grasped or enjoyed except by those who
not only follow the score, but have studied it to
some extent beforehand, and it is no wonder
that many who have not taken the trouble to do
this should find the work nothing but a rather
tiresome riddle. Their position is an exact
parallel to that of amateurs not so very long
ago, who voted the Ninth Symphony an
56

JOHANNES BRAHMS

unintelligible piece of work, showing a sad falling
off in a composer whose earlier works had won
their admiration — if indeed they did not look
upon it as the incoherent ravings of a lunatic
who also chanced to be deaf. To show how
easily the thread of this finale may be lost, or
rather never found, it may be mentioned that
the analysis of it given in Hermann Kretzsch-
mar's useful "Fuhrer durch den Concertsaal"
contains no mention of the phrase out of which
the whole movement is developed.

Three new examples of chamber-music were
the next product of the composer's genius, and
in these it was clear that he had perfectly
regained, not only his power — that, in fact, he
had never lost — but his geniality of utterance
in this branch of music. Perhaps the least
valuable of the three is the violoncello sonata in
F, op. 99, the beautiful slow movement of
which shows a decided, though possibly not
wholly successful, innovation in the matter of
key-relationship, being laid out in the key of F
sharp major. The strange effect of the "lead-
ing-note " of the new movement being identical
with the keynote of that which has gone before
is a little perplexing to the hearer, and its
excuse is that the theme of the second
57

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

movement seems to require a feeling of ambigu-
ous tonality. The device, though no doubt
the composer adopted it, as he does all, most
logically, can hardly be held up for imitation.
Op. 100, a second sonata for piano and violin,
is a fitting companion to the lovely sonata in
G ; it opens, in A major, with a theme that is
oddly like that of the "Preislied" in "Die
Meistersinger," but of a far quieter and less
impassioned character. The second movement
is another of those experiments of which the
composer gave us so many just at this point ; it
combines a slow movement of very beautiful
expression, in F major, with a scherzo in D
minor, both appearing alternately, until the
rapid section, which has increased in vivacity
with each repetition, finishes off with what may
be called a whisk of its tail. The mysterious
pianoforte arpeggios which are so prominent a
feature of the finale reappear, but with quite a
different effect, in the trio, op. 101, for piano
and strings, in a dainty little presto of that half-
playful, half-plaintive kind of which there are
many examples, particularly in Brahms' later
compositions. The slow movement is in
"seven-four" time, the same rhythm as the
Hungarian song on which the composer wrote
58

JOHANNES BRAHMS

an early set of variations. The test of such
departures from the usual rhythmic forms is
that the thing should sound perfectly natural
when it is done; for instance, the beautiful
little piece in F major, the second of
Schumann's " Stiicke in Volkston," never seems
to depart from perfect symmetry and grace of
movement, and yet its rhythm of seven bars is
one of its chief characteristics. Here, too, the
natural, easy, swing of a popular melody is
perfectly preserved, though the theme has far
more of what the Germans call " import " than
any traditional tune known to collectors.

It has often seemed as though Brahms fell in
love with one particular instrument or group of
instruments at one particular time, and this
batch of chamber compositions was so far from
exhausting his interest, even temporarily, in the
violin and violoncello, that it was immediately
succeeded by a concerto for the two instruments
with orchestra, another revival of old estab-
lished but long neglected usage ; for the
concerto in which one solo instrument
takes part is of less ancient date than that in
which several occupy the prominent position.
To entrust the solo part, as we should call it
now, to a number of instruments, called in old
59

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

days the "concertino," was, of course, to do
away with many of those opportunities for
individual display which are supposed to be,
and with performers perhaps are, among the
chief attractions of the concerto form ; and it
may well be imagined that this of itself would
commend the older variety to a composer who
has nearly as strong an objection as Schumann
had to effect for effect's sake. Written for
Joachim, and the most distinguished artist
among the members of his famous quartet,
Herr Robert Hausmann, the work contains
difficulties of every kind, though these are not
its most striking characteristic. Perhaps the
first thing that arrests attention in the concerto
is its continual variety of tone-colour, and the
curious results obtained by the combination of
the solo instruments either alone or with the
orchestra. In an important passage the two
stringed instruments, each playing double
notes, are made to sound like a string quartet,
and the cadenza of the first movement is a
marvel of ingenuity. The exquisite melody
of the slow movement, given out by both
soloists, is not insisted on as it would have
been in the hands of a less original writer ;
and as a consequence it makes less impression
60

JOHANNES BRAHMS

upon a general audience than it deserves
to do.

The next work published was in some sort
a combination of two of the forms in which
Brahms had most successfully caught the
popular ear; the "Zigeunerlieder," as his op.
103 is called, are a number of short compositions
based on themes of distinctively Hungarian or
Gipsy character (the two are so much alike that
it takes an expert to differentiate them), in
which much of the charm and "go" of the
Hungarian dances is found again ; they are set
for four voices with piano accompaniment, and
in the handling of the vocal parts we are often
reminded of the " Liebeslieder." The piano
(solo) accompaniment occasionally imitates the
characteristic effects of the "cimbalom," but
to a far less realistic extent than is done, for
example, in Mr. Korbay's clever arrangements
of Hungarian songs. Three more sets of single
songs, and then came the third of the sonatas
for piano and violin, the beautiful work in D
minor, op. 108, which at once became as
popular as either of its predecessors. It
appealed by its originality and charm to in-
telligent amateurs, and by the masterly treat-
ment of its first movement to lovers of
61

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

structural peculiarities, for in both sections of
the movement a long "pedal point" occurs,
and the extraordinary freedom of the com-
poser's gait in what would have been merely
fetters to less accomplished men cannot fail
to provoke astonishment and admiration. The
deep expression of the slow movement, the
fairylike grace and the stormy vigour of the
finale, though none of them reveal any new
characteristic in the master, are elements which
have endeared the sonata to large numbers of
musicians, whether players or listeners. A set
of three short motets for eight-part choir a
capella, entitled "Fest- und Gedenkspriiche,"
written in celebration of three important
national events (the battle of Leipzig, 1813;
that of Sedan, 1871 ; and the unification of the
German Empire), were first heard at an indus-
trial exhibition at Hamburg, in September
1889; all three are masterly in construction
and impressive in the highest degree. These,
together with a book of three motets, op. no,
preceded a very beautiful string quintet with
an unusually prominent part for the first viola,
op. in. The set of canons, op. 113, ends
with one that illustrates an odd peculiarity of
the composer's, a certain carelessness in giving
62

JOHANNES BRAHMS

titles to his works and in acknowledging their
sources when they are built upon borrowed
material. This sounds a little like the Han-
delian method of "conveying" other people's
ideas and usinej them in works of his own with-
out either asking leave or acknowledging
indebtedness ; but in the case of the living
composer, he has borrowed, where he has
borrowed, from quarters so well known to all
musicians, that if there were any intention of
palming off the themes as his own, conviction
must have followed on the instant. The tunes
used by Brahms in his " Hungarian Dances "
were familiar as household words to all who
knew the music of the country, or indeed to
those who were only conversant with the
" czardas " through Liszt's Rhapsodies ; still,
some misunderstandings arose from no mention
being made on the title-page that they were not
original melodies by Brahms, and some sapient
person wrote to an English musical paper
giving the names of other composers for whom
their invention was claimed, and no doubt
thinking himself as skilful a musical detective
as the first discoverer of the various composi-
tions appropriated in " Israel in Egypt." In like
manner, some note referring to the songs
63

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

"Regenlied" and "Nachklang" would un-
doubtedly have given additional interest to the
finale of Brahms' first violin sonata ; and the
last of the canons just mentioned would have
lost nothing if it had pleased the composer
to call it a vocal transcription of Schubert's
plaintive song "Der Leyermann," for such,
with very slight alteration — made necessary in
order to bring it into canonic shape — it is. An
earlier instance occurs in a set of 15 "Volks-
kinderlieder," some lovely arrangements of
traditional tunes, published without acknow-
ledgment of their, source, and indeed without
Brahms' name. They were dedicated to the
children of Robert and Clara Schumann, and
no doubt are among the first-fruits of the com-
poser's genius. The dear little lullaby " Sand-
mannchen" is scarcely less popular than the
lovely and original cradle-song, " Guten Abend,
gut' Nacht," from op. 49. The six vocal
quartets, op. 112, which followed the string
quintet, were in part a kind of aftermath of the
" Zigeunerlieder " ; they include four more
quartets which seem to belong to the former
set, beside two very beautiful compositions in
strong contrast with these, suave and flowing
broadly, and powerfully imagined.
64

JOHANNES BRAHMS

It has often been noticed that Brahms'
compositions have come out in pairs, and the
foregoing analysis of the catalogue of his works
has given many instances of the kind ; there are
yet four more before the end is reached.
Whether the discovery of an exceptionally gifted
clarinet-player inspired the composer, as Weber's
admiration for the greatest clarinettist of his
day gave rise to some of his most charming
compositions, cannot be definitely stated, but
any amateur who heard Herr Miihlfeld play
the two new works of Brahms which appeared
in 1892 will have no difficulty in believing
this to have been the case. It is probably
an accident that led to the trio for pianoforte,
violin and clarinet being numbered op. 114,
while its companion, the quintet for clarinet and
strings, appeared as op. 115; but whether this
be the case or not, it cannot be denied that the
master kept the best till the last. It was wise,
too, to let English audiences become acquainted
with the quintet, and with the powers of the
artist for whose special use it was written, before
introducing the other work to the patrons of the
Popular Concerts. Of course, by this means,
the quintet carried off all the honour, and
perhaps the trio came in for rather too much
65

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

abuse; still, the feeling of disappointment
which it created after the wonderful and imme-
diate success of its companion was not to be
dissimulated. It is in truth one of the works in
which the intellect of the composer rather than
his heart seems to have been engaged; the
theme of the andantino grazioso which stands in
the place of a scherzo is considerably below the
master's usual level of refinement, and the
pleasantest impression left by the work is of the
graceful and characteristic second subject of the
first movement.

The quintet may or may not have been
designed with a definite purpose of showing
off Herr Miihlfeld's extraordinary powers ; if it
were it succeeded beyond all anticipation, and
the impression the work and the player made
upon the conservative "Pop" audience was a
thing to remember. The artist's wonderful
command of his breath enabled him to deliver
the leading theme of the first movement with a
smoothness quite unexpected by those who
were most familiar with the difficulties of the
instrument, and the not unnatural feeling of
resentment at the importation of a foreign
player — which, by the way, involved the tem-
porary adoption of a reasonable pitch, a rare
66

JOHANNES BRAHMS

thing at an English concert— gave way at once
to whole-hearted admiration. The theme in
question contains what has been called in the
works of Wagner an "essential turn," that is to
say, a group of notes in form identical with a
turn, but being an organic part of the theme,
not a mere fortuitous accretion. Such a group
of notes, common enough with Wagner, is most
rare with Brahms, and it is indeed difficult to
call to mind another instance of it in his works.
Every one of the six notes of which this turn
consists was phrased with an exquisite sense of
proportion which few players, except Joachim,
ever exhibit, and which appears to lie entirely
outside the ken of singers. In such a passage
as that with which the wonderful slow move-
ment closes, and in which a long phrase of
melodious beauty is given out first by the
clarinet and then by the first violin, it seemed
inevitable, according to all former experience,
that a deeper meaning, a warmer expression,
and a nobler emotion, should be put into it on
its repetition by the leader — at least, when
Joachim occupied that position — than at its first
occurrence; but so complete was the clarinet-
tist's artistic endowment that nothing was left
for the violinist to improve upon. The free-
67

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

dom, too, with which the dramatic ornamenta-
tions of the same movement (which are strongly
tinged with Hungarian colouring) were exe-
cuted, left no room for question as to the
composer's wisdom in insisting on Herr Miihl-
feld's engagement at the London concerts, and
the public appreciation of the artist and the
work with which his name will be inseparably
connected, in England at least, must have made
the managerial speculation well worth while,
even from a lower standpoint than the purely
artistic.

The groups of pianoforte solos which make
up the latest publications of Brahms, leave,
like their predecessors, the so-called "rhap-
sodies," etc., something to be desired in the
way of nomenclature and even arrangement.
Op. ii 6, called collectively "Fantasien," con-
sists of eight pieces, named either intermezzo or
capriccio according as their pace is slow or fast,
and their character sedate or restless. In key-
relationship, style, and other qualities, few of
these are disposed in what seems to be the best
order for performance in public; indeed, this
order does not seem to have been yet dis-
covered, since each pianist who has essayed
them in London has made a different selection
68

JOHANNES BRAHMS

and has played them in a different sequence.
The powerful capriccio in G minor, with its
beautiful melody in E flat, resembling in
character the youthful fire and richly harmonious
style of the early piano sonatas; the romantic
intermezzo in E major, with its graceful effects
of crossed hands — a real piece of "pianoforte
music" in the strictest sense; the charming
minuet in the same key ; and the fine capriccio
in D minor, in which a bravura passage, that
rarest thing with Brahms, occupies a prominent
place, are the most valuable of the set, which, as
a whole, cannot compare with its companion
series of three intermezzi, op. 117. Of these, the
first, on an entrancingly beautiful subject, a
little like the English carol, "The First No well,"
is the most sure of immediate popularity; its
motto from Herder's " Volkslieder "—

" Schlaf sanft, mein Kind, schlaf sanft wnd schon,
Mich dauert's sehr, dich weinen sehn,n

is ostensibly of Scottish origin, though it is
difficult to identify ; at all events it gives the
suggestion of a lullaby, and as such the piece is
a worthy pendant to the simple song lately
mentioned, though its middle section breathes
of weightier issues than the words_seem to
69

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

authorise. The second piece, a rather Schu-
mannesque composition in B flat minor, is
elegant and, in the hands of a competent player,
effective, with its airy passages of tender melody ;
and the third, a ballad-like piece of longer
extent than any of the other intermezzi, founded
on a subject resembling that of the finale of the
composer's third symphony, is remarkable for
the exquisite grace with which the return to the
first theme is made. Another set of " Clavier-
stiicke " appeared at the end of last year. Op.
118 contains six pieces (four intermezzi, a
ballade, and a romance) ; the ballade, in G
minor, is as vigorous as anything the master has
given us, and the romance, with its rhythmic
changes and its exquisite middle section in a
pastoral mood, is a real inspiration ; the last
intermezzo, too, is most poetical. Op. 119 con-
sists of three more intermezzi, one in E minor,
of enchanting beauty in the " alternative " sec-
tion and another, in C, a delicious little scherzo ;
to wind up the whole set, there is a " rhapsodic "
of formidable difficulty and great beauty, con-
structed on a theme of five-bar rhythm. A
book of fifty-one Uebungen appeared almost at
the same time ; although these are studies of
a purely technical kind, in one and all musical
70

JOHANNES BRAHMS

interest as well as practical value is to be found.
A new set of songs is spoken of, and faint
rumours are heard of a " Faust " overture as
shortly to be brought out.

I have left the multitude of Brahms' songs
to be spoken of together, since they are even
less divisible into distinct periods than any of
his instrumental works. The dramatic note
struck in the first of them all, the beautiful
"Liebestreu" ^"O versenk ") recurs again and
again throughout the long series, and these,
together with the romantic atmosphere he, like
other great song-writers of Germany, has suc-
ceeded so often in obtaining, are the strongest
characteristics they exhibit. In actual dramatic
utterance, though examples are not so many as
of the more lyrical kind, there are quite enough
to prove that the composer could deal with a
strongly dramatic situation as powerfully and
truly as with any other. In the picturesque
" Von ewiger Liebe," and many other songs and
duets, in which two persons are supposed to
take part, such as the humorous " Vergebliches
Standchen " and the rest, the characters are
"individualised" as strongly within the limits of
a single song as they could be in a whole opera.
But, at the same time, his lyrics are the best

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

production of his muse in the direction of vocal
music. To enumerate the songs of lasting beauty
he has given us in this branch would take far
too long, but mention must be made of such
perfect works as "Ruhe, Siissliebchen," and
many another of the " Magelonelieder," " Wehe,
Liiftchen," " O komme, holde Sommernacht " —
a song strangely neglected by the small number
of vocalists who can do justice to the master's
music — the duet " Phanomen," the justly
popular " Meine Liebe ist grtin," the exquisitely
melodious and deeply felt " Minnelied,"
"Sapphische Ode," and " Wie Melodien." These
date from widely different portions of Brahms'
life, but all have the mark of the same genius.
Such splendid outbursts of manly vigour as " O
Lady Judith " and the intensely powerful
" Verrath " are, however, found only among the
later books of his songs. Those who have
penetrated most deeply into the spirit of the
composer's lyrics would make, it may be, a dif-
ferent list if they were asked to name their
favourites ; but these are works which must win
acceptance from every cultivated musician. In
what may be called musical landscape-painting,
there are a number of instances to prove him to
be a most accomplished master of a branch of
. 72

JOHANNES BRAHMS

art that he has not specially cultivated in the
deliberate way in which some other composers
have set themselves to achieve fame. " Mainacht "
is a perfect specimen of this, and all the more so
that the portrayal of a night in early summer
with nightingales' song and lovers' vows is one
of the commonplaces of the hack song-writer.
" Verzagen " gives us the very sound of the sea,
with waves restlessly drawing back from a stony
beach and reflecting the mental tension of some
modern Ariadne on the shore ; and in " Feld-
einsamkeit," a picture of a summer day with
little clouds drifting lazily through the blue
heaven, is given as faithfully as though the
medium were colour, instead of sound. A more
suggestive or picturesque barcarolle than " Auf
dem See " can hardly be imagined, although the
recognised figure of accompaniment for such
pieces is unused. Some of the most purely
lyrical of the composer's vocal works are to be
found among the unaccompanied choral composi-
tions, such as the six " Lieder und Romanzen,"
op. 930, or the five-part songs, op. 104. The
second of the former set, " Stand das Madchen,"
a quaint and most characteristic little song,
appears in op. 95 as a solo with accompaniment,
here as a part-song with a soprano solo obbligato.
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MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

The tender " Fahr wohl, o Voglein ! " with its
beautiful effect of diminuendo, is an absolutely
perfect little piece of writing in this popular form
and is as easily intelligible as the most hackneyed
of Mendelssohn's part-songs for open-air perform-
ance. The later set contains things far more
deeply felt and more beautifully expressed than
the earlier. The two first, both called " Nacht-
wache," are among the master's most individual
creations ; and the second, with its antiphonal
effects, imitating the answering horn-notes of
the watchmen — " Ruhn Sie ? — Sie ruhn " — is a
wonderful instance of vivid suggestion of orches-
tral colouring by the human voice alone. All
these five are most beautiful, and all are in the
same sombre mood.

Among the small group of works not included
in the numbered catalogue of Brahms' composi-
tions, the best known are the Hungarian dances,
originally published as a pianoforte duet, in two
books, subsequently arranged by the composer
for orchestra and by Joachim for violin and
piano, and finally completed by the addition,
not very many years since, of two more books.
The charming set of "15 Volkskinderlieder,"
dedicated to the Schumann children, has been
already referred to; there remain to be men-
74

JOHANNES BRAHMS

tioned a chorale prelude and fugue for the
organ on the theme of " O Traurigkeit, o Herze-
leid ! " a fugue in A flat minor for the same
instrument, a setting of the song " Mondnacht "
(not improbably excluded from the numbered
list out of reverence for Schumann's well-known
setting of the same words), and a group of
arrangements for the piano some of which
exhibit him in an almost mischievous mood.
The beautiful F minor study from the second
book of Chopin's immortal twenty-four, is trans-
formed into an exercise of really hideous diffi-
culty by the change of the right-hand part from
single notes to sixths ; the " moto perpetuo "
from Weber's sonatas in C major is, in like
manner, turned upside down, the part for the
two hands being interchanged, and other altera-
tions made ; and the famous violin chaconne of
Bach is transcribed for the left hand alone.
This, and the two arrangements of the same
master's presto from the sonata in G minor
for violin alone, have a far higher value than
the transcriptions just mentioned, and the con-
cert-version of Gluck's well-known gavotte in
A from " Paride ed Elena " (a version made for
the use of Mme. Schumann) treats the charming
piece with complete reverence. One most inter-
75

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

esting composition has remained in manuscript
for many years : the movement contributed to a
sonata for violin and piano, composed as a gift
of welcome to Joachim by Schumann, Albert
Dietrich, and Brahms, on the occasion of the
illustrious violinist's visit to Diisseldorf in 1853.
It would be most interesting to see the work
in which two of the greatest German masters
collaborated, and it is to be hoped that the for-
tunate artist in whose honour it was written will
some day introduce it to English audiences.

Two sonatas for violin and piano by C. P. E.
Bach, recently re-issued, are said to have been
furnished by Brahms with amplifications of the
figured bass of the original; the self-restraint
with which this has been done, and the entire
simplicity of the filling-up, are marks of the true
artist's hand, and the study of these beautiful
pieces may be recommended, not only to
violinists — who would find them a very effective
and valuable addition to their repertory — but to
those who undertake to make accompaniments
to the old masterpieces of chamber-music, and
who are too often tempted to show off their own
ingenuity at the composer's expense. Another
work of the same kind is the accompaniment to
an edition of Handel's vocal duets.
76

JOHANNES BRAHMS

The reprint of Couperin's "Suites de Pieces,"
edited by Brahms and Dr. Chrysander, contains
nothing but the original text ; and the composer's
editorial work on the committees formed for the
issues of the complete works of Bach, Mozart,
and Chopin, brought out by the firm of Breitkopf
und Hartel, is, of course, only critical.

In other ways than these, and apart from
his musical compositions, Brahms has not been
without influence on the art of his time, since
we owe to him the "discovery" of Dvorak,
whose early compositions, represented only by
the album of vocal duets, " Moravske dvojpavy,"
struck him as possessing real originality and
power, and as giving brilliant promise for the
future. If we consider the subsequent works of
the Bohemian composer, we shall be apt to
wonder at the exceptionally favourable opinion
formed of his powers by a composer whose chief
characteristic is the masterly manipulation of
the established forms of music. But Dvorak's
lack of skill in dealing with these, his inability
to subject his material to interesting develop-
ment, and the constructive weakness exhibited
in his more ambitious works, had not then
declared themselves, and his freshness of
invention and unconventional way of expressing
77

• MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

himself no doubt appealed strongly to Brahms,
whose hatred of anything like " capellmeister-
musik " is as great as Wagner's. The German
master has not always been so tolerant of the
work even of his best contemporaries, and there
are many stories, told on good authority, of the
chilling silence or the crushing remarks with
which he has received the compositions of
certain composers, and these not by any means
the least distinguished among living musicians.
One of these played through to Brahms the
score of a work since accepted with favour by
the best German critics, and received, for all
criticism on his music, the remark, "What
beautiful music-paper you use ! Pray, where do
you get it ? " On being pressed for an opinion
on a new setting of Schiller's " Lay of the Bell,"
he observed to the composer, "Yes, I have
always thought this ' Glocke ' of Schiller's one
of the greatest poems ever written, and I shall
continue to hold that opinion." One is
reminded of Beethoven's remark to Pae'r on
his opera " Eleonora." "What a fine libretto !
I shall set it to music one of these days." It
seems likely that time will confirm his estimate
of Raff, concerning whom it is reported that
Brahms said, on being informed that a monu-
78

JOHANNES BRAHMS

ment was to be erected to that composer, " A
monument to Raff ? Dear me ! Well, you had
better be quick about it, lest he should be
forgotten before you have got it ready."

No one sees more clearly than Brahms the
harm that is done to modern composers by the
fashion of commissioning works for festivals or
other occasions of the kind. He has never
consented to hurry his work or to force his
inspiration in order to have a particular com-
position brought out at a particular time. For
a man in his position, and in a country where
the opportunities of producing new works are
far more numerous than they are with us, it
may be easy to make and keep a strict rule
against accepting such commissions ; but in
England one fears that such a plan, if generally
adopted by composers, would end in their
sinking to the level of song-writers and purvey-
ors of pianoforte pieces. For it is notorious
that almost the only encouragement at present
offered for the composition of large works of
any kind comes from the committees of the
autumnal festivals. That Brahms is perfectly
right, however, in his disapproval of the
arrangement will, I think, be felt by all earnest
musicians. The caustic reply he sent to the
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MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

Leeds committee in 1887, when asked to write
a work for the festival, has been printed at full
length in " The History of the Leeds Festival "
by Alderman Spark and Mr. Joseph Bennett,
but I may be forgiven for referring to it again.
He says : " Should you deem one of my old
works worthy the honour of being performed on
this occasion, it would be a great pleasure to
me. But if this is, as it appears, not the case,
how may I hope that I shall succeed this time ?
If, however, the charm of novelty be an absolute
necessity, then pardon me if I confess that I
fail properly to appreciate, or have no sympathy
with, such a distinction."

If but a few of his contemporaries have
excited his admiration, he yields to none in his
devotion to the giants of music who have passed
away. Bach is his favourite among these ; and
a story is told which illustrates his feeling for
that master. Brahms took some friends to dine
at a certain restaurant in Vienna, where the host,
when asked to produce his best wine, remarked :
" Here is a wine that surpasses all others as
much as the music of Brahms does that of
other composers." " Well, then," said Brahms,
"take it away, and bring us a bottle of Bach!"
For Haydn, too, he has a specially warm affection,
80

JOHANNES BRAHMS

and a considerable part of his working hours is
passed in the analysis of such models of form as
this master's symphonies ; his " hero-worship "
of Beethoven goes so far that one of his
favourite resorts is the old restaurant in the
Wildmarkt where Beethoven used to dine. In
his large music-library is a special " museum "
devoted to autographs of the great masters,
among them those of Mozart's G minor sym-
phony, Schubert's "Wanderer," etc.

It is difficult to answer in a few words, and with-
out help from musical illustrations, the question,
What are the most striking characteristics of
Brahms' music, taken as a whole ? Many of its
prominent peculiarities are curiously like those
of Beethoven's music massive power in dealing
with themes beautifully invented, or, as the
phrase goes, happily " inspired ; " the greatest
possible degree of originality, not sought out as
an end in itself, but reached as if unconsciously ;
and, closely connected with this last, an absolute
indifference to what the pedants may think
of the ultimate result, together with a certain
disregard for neat and elaborate finish. One
of the most personal " notes " of Brahms is
his fondness for out-of-the-way rhythms, and
in particular for those which are variations
81 F

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

upon the normal triple time. The spreading of
the triplet over two bars of " three-four " time, a
device which occurs so strikingly in the finale
of Schumann's piano concerto, and which is
so graphically used in a passage of Brahms'
" Schicksalslied," has, nowadays, very little
claim to be considered as an eccentricity at
all, for it is a main feature of compositions so
far from recondite as the waltz in Gounod's
" Faust," the once hackneyed " II Bacio," and
the refrain of "Sweethearts." But far more
daring experiments have been made by Brahms,
and scarcely one of his larger works does not
contain instances of cross rhythms and elaborate
syncopations used with consummate skill and
with almost uniform success. Nowhere in the
whole range of his works are they entirely absent,
from the scherzo and finale of his first sonata to
the " Capriccio " in D minor from op. 1 16, where
a perfectly new cross-accent appears in the
middle section. Here it is of scarcely more
obvious advantage — at least if judged by the
ear alone — than some of Schumann's elaborate
experiments of the same kind, such as a well-
known passage in the first allegro of the
" Faschingsschwank aus Wien," where what
appears complicated to the player or the reader
82

JOHANNES BRAHMS

of the music seems perfectly straightforward to
the ear.

That his rhythms do not always spell them-
selves out before the hearer is, no doubt, one
cause of the undeniable want of universal admira-
tion for Brahms' work. Even among cultivated
musicians there are those who still hesitate to
give him the foremost place among living
composers. There is nothing new or astonishing
in this, for he is only undergoing what Bach
Mozart, and Beethoven underwent in their own
day. The non-appreciation of the greatest genius
by its own contemporaries is the commonest
of all incidents in the history of every art, and
it has probably never happened yet that the
greatest living creative artist in any department
has been universally recognised by his con-
temporaries as even belonging to the first rank
at all. Supreme achievement has always had to
wait for its reward, and history shows us example
after example, which should prove, to those who
can argue from facts, that the universal homage
and admiration of a man's contemporaries is the
strongest of all arguments against his retaining
the supremacy after his death. There are, of
course, exceptions both ways, and it would be
absurd to base a man's claim to immortality
83

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

merely on the circumstance that the genera-
tion in which he lived would have none of him.
But it is well to remember — in case public
opinion is quoted as against the claims of a con-
temporary— that during the lifetime of all who
are now enthroned among the immortals by
common consent, the full and universal admira-
tion which is now their right was denied them.
There are undoubtedly qualities in Brahms
which are likely to delay his wide appreciation
by the great public even longer than usual. A
close analogy might be instituted between his
music and the poetry of Browning. With both
of them the thought is of paramount importance,
the manner of its expression a secondary thing.
The idea or motive of the poem, the theme of
the music, are nearly always of great and incon-
testable beauty ; but some rhyme or turn of
expression that seems clumsy to ears accustomed
to the honeyed cadences of Tennyson, some
harmonic or rhythmical change that strikes
admirers of Mendelssohn as ungainly, comes in
almost as if intent on preventing the piece from
making an impression of connected beauty.
There is beauty there, if we will but see it ; but
it is not of a kind that wins our heart at once.
Nor is it easy to grasp the general drift of the
84

JOHANNES BRAHMS

poem or the musical creation at first, or, indeed,
until after they have been assiduously studied.
If there is no parellel among the musician's
productions to the poet's virtually insoluble
riddle of "Sordello," there are many compositions
more or less like it, in that passages of exquisite
and easily intelligible beauty are continually
jostled by others of which the purpose and
meaning are far from clear. To push the
analogy further would be to lose sight of the
thousand melodies of perfect symmetry and
haunting beauty that occur in Brahms' music,
and find only rare counterparts in Browning's
lyrics. Of both one thing is certainly true — that
the better they are known the more deeply they
are loved, and the more extraordinary it seems
that any person of normal intelligence and the
usual educational endowment should fail to
understand and admire them. Both, again,
have the priceless quality that you never leave off
delighting in them, when once you have learnt
to love them. " How they brought the good
news to Ghent " might be constantly recited at
village entertainments, or Brahms' cradle-song
might be as incessantly performed as Mas-
cagni's intermezzo; one could never lose the
sense of graphic power in the vigorous poem>
85

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

or of perfect beauty of expression in the simple
song.

It is the fashion to sneer at acquired tastes,
as though these were less deeply seated than
natural or congenital preferences ; it will gene-
rally be found, however, that those which are
formed late remain the longest and the strong-
est, and if we must admit that many admirers of
the great German master have been only gradu-
ally awakened to the sense of the beauty of his
work, there is no reason why we should suspect
that their feeling for it is wanting in depth,
sincerity, or permanence. Anything that is
original in the highest sense, whether in itself
or in its modes of expression, must be ap-
proached by all but exceptionally far-sighted
persons, with a certain degree of humility. That
it does not strike the ordinary amateur as
beautiful at the first moment is not a sufficient
reason for him to declare himself on the side of
the professed opponents of the artist who has
produced it. In music, a larger share of diffi-
dence is to be desired than almost anywhere
else. A picture stays on the wall, to be looked
at ; a poem can be read over and over till
its meaning is grasped ; but a musical composi-
tion passes with the moment of performance,
86

JOHANNES BRAHMS

and a man who should be able to take in all
the salient points of a symphony at a first
hearing and without the full score before him
is scarcely to be imagined. This would hold
good of a composition in a style already
familiar : for instance, if Sir George Grove can
unearth the " Gastein " symphony of Schubert,
in the existence of which he is probably the
only believer, it will be difficult enough to follow
it with the ear alone, although we may have
Schubert's modes of expression at our fingers'
ends ; how much more difficult is it, then, to
expect that we can at once grasp a new work by
the most original thinker among living com-
posers, and form a trustworthy opinion upon it
after a single hearing ! Perhaps the most
essential thing of all for a rapid realisation of
Brahms' ways of working, is a keen sense of
rhythm — such a sense as will allow the balance
of accentuation to be (perhaps unconsciously)
perceived throughout all the mutations in which
the composer may indulge. In one important
respect the German musician is a good deal
more fortunate than the English poet : there
exists no " Brahms Society," nor is there need
for one, since there is, happily, no want of recog-
nition of the composer on the part of those who
87

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

make up our concert programmes. English
audiences hear his most recent compositions, as
a matter of course, almost as soon as they are
published, and if there really exists a clique for
the admiration of Brahms it is a clique that is
large and rich enough to make it worth while
for entrepreneurs of concerts to place his works
in the front rank of attraction.

The word entrepreneur suggests the single
musical form in which Brahms has not made
any experiment; in every other he has given
to the world compositions which will last
while music lasts, but in opera he has not only
done nothing, but the history of his life contains
no such attempts to begin upon one as were
made, for example, by Mendelssohn. So much
of vigorous dramatic imagination, such buoyant
humour, such romantic feeling for what is called
" atmosphere," such command of " local colour,"
appear scattered up and down his vocal compo-
sitions, that it is difficult to believe that the stage
would not appeal very strongly to him, or that
he would not welcome the opportunity of dealing
with a story more extensive than any of those
which have suggested his more dramatic ballads.
We may presume the usual difficulty of finding
a good libretto to exist in his case, as it did with

JOHANNES BRAHMS

so many of the great composers ; but beyond this
there are, or seem to be, reasons which justify
the master's abstention from a form of art
which presents far more temptation to a
German than to an English composer, since in
Germany native dramatic music is a good deal
less churlishly treated by managers and audiences
than is the case with us. In the present state
of the stage, even in the reformed conditions
begun at Bayreuth, a certain element of super-
ficiality is hardly separable from successful
operatic work; the paint and tinsel of the
theatre seem to require a corresponding garish-
ness in the music, and the highest musical
creations can hardly fail to seem slightly profaned
by the associations of the stage. Wagner was
so many things besides a composer that he
could make his own conditions and create new
surroundings, and a new dramatic method in
which it is difficult to see any banality whatever ;
but to attain the complete fulfilment of his ideal
took him the whole of a fairly long life, and
Brahms, we may be quite sure, would not be
likely to adopt the Wagnerian methods of
expressing himself in music. For one thing,
form — meaning by the word constructive beauty
of the highest kind — has always been dear to him,

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

and while amplifying and modifying the moulds
handed down by the classical masters he has
never attempted to recast them de novo, as Liszt
did with very imperfect success. And form, as
Brahms understands it, could hardly be trans-
ferred to the theatre without results that would
be unconvincing, if not actually ridiculous.
Besides, the ordinary exigencies of theatrical
management are so foreign to his nature that
any attempt either to accommodate himself to
them, or to set them at naught, is almost
foredoomed to failure. Not even on his death-
bed can we imagine Brahms being intimidated
by a charming prima donna, as Goetz was,
into cutting out a great concerted piece in order
to leave room for a clap-trap waltz; and it is
scarcely easier to conceive of a composer not
accused of insusceptibility adopting the Han-
delian method and holding the singer out of
the window until she became compliant.

The following saying of his is currently
reported : " Had I already written one opera, I
would assuredly have written a second ; but I
cannot make up my mind to write the first.
I regard opera-writing (for myself) in much the
same view as I do matrimony."

Whatever the future may have in store in the
90

JOHANNES BRAHMS

way of new compositions by Brahms, we are
justified by experience in expecting that they
will be in no way inferior either in conception
or in workmanship to those which he has
given us already, and in no respect unworthy of
the great position he holds in the estimation
of the most thoughtful musicians of his own
and other countries.

CATALOGUE OF PUBLISHED COMPOSITIONS
BY BRAHMS.

op.

1. Sonata, pf., in C.

2. Sonata, pf., in F sharp minor.

3. 6 Songs.

4. Scherzo, pf., in E flat minor.

5. Sonata, pf., in F minor.

6. 6 Songs.

7. 6 Songs.

8. Trio, pf. & strings, in B (afterwards issued in a

revised form).

9. Variations, pf., on a theme by Schumann.

10. 4 Balladen, pf.

11. Serenade, orch., in D.

12. Ave Maria, female choir and orch.

13. Begrabnissgesang, choir and wind.

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MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

op.

14. 8 Songs.

15. Concerto, pf. & orch., in D minor.

16. Serenade, small orch., in A.

17. 3 Songs (trios) for female choir with 2 horns and

harp.

18. Sextet, strings, in B flat.

19. 5 Songs.

20. 3 Duets, soprano & alto.

21. Variations, pf., 2 sets.

22. 7 Marienlieder, choir.

23. Variations, pf., 4 hands, on a theme by Schumann.

24. Variations and fugue, pf., on a theme by Handel.

25. Quartet, pf. & strings.^in G minor.

26. Quartet, pf. & strings, in A.

27. Psalm xxiii., female choir and organ.

28. 4 Duets, alto and baritone.

29. 2 Motets, 5-part choir.

30. Geistliches Lied, 4-part choir and organ.

31. 3 Vocal quartets.

32. 9 Songs.

33. 15 Romances, from Tieck's " Magelone."

34. Quintet, pf. & strings, in F minor.

346/5. Sonata for 2 pfs. arranged from the quintet.

35. Studies, pf. (variations on a theme by Paganini).

36. Sextet, strings, in G.

37. 3 Geistliche Chore, female choir.

38. Sonata, pf. & violoncello, in E minor.

39. Walzer, pf.

40. Trio, pf., violin, and horn, in E flat.

41. 5 Songs, 4-part male choir.

42. 3 Songs, 6-part choir.

92

JOHANNES BRAHMS

op.

43. 4 Songs.

44. 12 Lieder & Romanzen, female choir.

45. Ein deutsches Requiem, soli, choir, and orch.

46. 4 Songs.

47. 5 Songs.

48. 7 Songs.

49. 5 Songs.

50. Rinaldo, tenor solo, male choir, and orch.

51. 2 String quartets, in C minor and A minor.

52. Liebeslieder-Walzer, pf. (4 hands), with 4 voices

ad lib.

53. Rhapsodic, alto solo, male choir, and orch.

54. Schicksalslied, choir and orch.

55. Triumphlied, 8-part choir and orch.

56. Variations, orch., on a theme by Haydn.

57. 8 Songs.

58. 8 Songs.

59. 8 Songs.

60. Quartet, pf. and strings, in C minor.

61. 4 Duets, soprano and alto.

62. 7 Songs for choir.

63. 9 Songs.

64. 3 Vocal quartets.

65. Neue Liebeslieder-Walzer, pf. 4-hands, with 4

voices ad lib.

66. 5 duets, soprano, & alto.

67. String quartet, in B flat.

68. Symphony, in C minor.

69. 9 Songs.

70. 4 Songs.

71. 5 Songs.

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MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

op.

72. 5 Songs.

73. Symphony, in D.

74. 2 Motets, choir.

75. 4 Vocal duets.

76. 8 Clavierstiicke (Capricci & Intermezzi).

77. Concerto, vln. and orch., in D.

78. Sonata, pf. & vln., in G.

79. 2 Rhapsodies, pf.

80. Akademische Festouvertiire.

81. Tragische Ouvertiire.

82. Nanie (Schiller), choir and orch.

83. Concerto, pf. and orch., in B flat.

84. 5 Songs (for one or two voices).

85. 6 Songs.

86. 6 Songs.

87. Trio, pf. & strings, in C.

88. String quintet, in F.

89. Gesang der Parzen, 6-part choir and orch.

90. Symphony in E.

91. 2 Songs, alto with viola obbligato.

92. 4 Vocal Quartets.
93 A. 6 Songs for choir.
93B. Tafellied, 6.pt. choir.

94. 5 Songs.

95. 7 Songs.

96. 4 Songs.

97. 6 Songs.

98. Symphony in E minor.

99. Sonata, pf. & violoncello, in F.

100. Sonata, pf. & vln., in A.

101. Trio, pf. & strings, in C minor.

94

JOHANNES BRAHMS

op.

102. Concerto, vln. & vcello. with orch., in C.

103. Zigeunerlieder, 7 vocal quartets.

104. 5 Songs, choir.

105. 5 Songs.

106. 5 Songs.

107. 5 Songs.

108. Sonata, pf. & vln., in D minor.

109. Fest- & Gedenkspriiche, 3 motets, 8-part choir,
no. 3 Motets, choir.

in. String quintet, in G.

112. 6 Vocal quartets.

113. Canons, female choir.

114. Trio, pf., clar. & vcello., in A minor.

115. Quintet, clar. & strings, in B minor.

116. 8 Fantasien (Capricci & Intermezzi), pf.

117. 3 Intermezzi, pf.

1 1 8. 6 Clavierstiicke, pf.

119. 4 Clavierstiicke, pf.

Works without opus-numbers : —
Abendregen. (Blatter fur Hausmusik.)
Chorale Prelude for organ, on " O Traurigkeit, o

Herzeleid."

Deutsche Volkslieder. 14 Songs.
Fugue, organ, in A flat minor.
Gavotte, by Gluck, arranged for pf.
Song; Mondnacht.
5 Studies, pf.

Ungarische Tanze, pf. 4 hands, 4 books.
51 Uebungen, pf.

95

MAX BRUCH

IT is not easy to estimate the exact distance
which separates him whom the wisest critics call
the greatest of living German composers from
the master whom most of these would agree in
placing nearest to him in order of artistic merit ;
nor is it likely that if the relative greatness of
the two could be assessed, all or even the
majority of those whose opinion is best worth
having would measure it in the same way. They
would, I think, agree in one thing : that a very
great interval should be placed between MAX
BRUCH and the rest of his German contempo-
raries. For my own part I should not hesitate
to place Bruch midway between Brahms and
the other composers of their country, and to
make both intervals wide. It is especially
difficult for English people to realise what a
power Bruch's music is in Germany, and how
popular, in the best sense, it is, since the com-
97 G

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

poser spent some time in England and was
received with a coolness which we most rarely
exhibit to musicians of other nations. Very
little of his music has entered into what may
be called the permanent repertory of English
concerts, and the works that have attained to
the dignity of standard compositions with us do
not belong to the class in which Bruch's widest
fame has been won. That neither the com-
poser nor his work has found real acceptance in
the English musical world must be admitted by
all who are acquainted with his compositions
as a whole. It is certainly not the fault of the
compositions, since these, or the best of them
at all events, are distinguished by great and
easily intelligible beauty, and by the rare
quality of distinction.

In dubbing him "echt niederrheinisch," a
German wit went no further than the truth.
Both the music and the man belong to the
Lower Rhine country by every circumstance of
origin and congenital disposition. The broadly
flowing melodies of his invention suggest the
course of such a river as that of his native
country, and the absence of any very great
heights in his music might be held to support
the analogy. Born at Cologne, January 6,

MAX BRUCH

1838, he is the grandson of a once-famous
clergyman of the Evangelical Church at
Cologne, Dr. Christian Bruch ; his father held
a high official position in the same town, and
his mother had sung with success, under her
maiden name of Almenrader, at many of the
Lower Rhine festivals. She was her son's first
music teacher, and taught him to such excellent
purpose that by the time he was fourteen a
symphony of his was considered worthy of
being performed by the Cologne Philharmonic
Society. This symphony was only one of some
seventy compositions in all branches of music
produced by the young composer since his first
attempts at the age of nine. In the year made
memorable to him by the performance of his
symphony, he won the exhibition (Stipendium),
worth 400 gulden annually for four years, of the
"Mozart Stiftung" at Frankfort, one of the
judges being Spohr. The award led to his
being placed under the tuition of Ferdinand
Hiller, with whom he remained until 1861, with
the single exception of a short visit to Leipzig
in 1858, where he came in contact with
Moscheles, Hauptmann, David, and others.
He made a longer tour after the death of his
father in 1861, and ultimately settled down at
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MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

Mannheim, where he lived from 1862 to 1864.
Both the journeys mentioned were undertaken
(the second partly for the sake of health, for
signs of overwork were showing themselves) at
the suggestion of Killer, whose almost parental
care was richly rewarded by his pupil's success
both as a composer and a conductor. In the
latter capacity he appeared fairly regularly at
many of the Rhineland centres of music.

It is not many composers whose first numbered
or acknowledged work is in operatic form, or
who first have attracted public attention by a
dramatic work. It is possibly due to the
enormous number of Bruch's early attempts in
different forms that he acquired the ease and
assured command of structure which are the
most remarkable features of his op. i, an opera
in one act, "Scherz, List und Rache," written
to the libretto which Goethe intended, it is said,
for Ditters von Dittersdorf. The opera by
which his name first became known resembled
this in one particular, that its " book " was at
first intended for another composer. Mendels-
sohn's difficulties in procuring an operatic
libretto are familiar to all who know his life,
and when at last he got from Geibel a poem in
three acts on the Lorelei legend, he did not
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MAX BRUCH

live to finish more than a very few numbers.
This book the poet steadily refused to give to
any other composer ; but, notwithstanding this,
Bruch, who read it when it was first published
separately in 1861, had the resolution to under-
take its composition ; and one of the main
objects of his journey in that year was to break
down, if he might, the restrictions of Geibel,
who was then living at Munich. He attained
his object, and the opera, carefully prepared by
Vincenz Lachner, the conductor of the opera at
Mannheim, was produced there on June 14,
1863. The success it achieved was not con-
firmed when it was given on some of the
other principal stages of Germany, and, only
three years after its first appearance, its per-
formance at Mainz was noticed in one of the
papers under the heading "Accidents." In
later years the composer entirely re-cast his
work, and Oscar Walther, of the Leipzig opera-
house, made a new arrangement of the libretto,
compressing its four acts into three, and making
other important changes. As an instance of
how thorough were the alterations made, it may
be mentioned that the passage which is well-
known as the finale of Mendelssohn's fragment
appears, according to the first version of Bruch's

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

opera, in the second act, while in the newer
version it is delayed until the last act. In its
new guise the work was brought out at Leipzig
in 1887, and made a succes d'estime ; even in its
altered form the story was too weak and
invertebrate an affair to make a lasting success
likely ; it is not often that amended versions of
serious operas excite much enthusiasm, and this
was no exception to the rule. There is a danger
in choosing for stage-presentment a story that is
too familiar, and, seeing that the legend of this
opera has been used usque ad nauseam in every
sort of art, both in Germany and elsewhere,
there was the less chance of its proving really
successful, unless a far more dramatic libretto
had been provided for it than the poem which
Geibel put together. The music contains many
beautiful numbers, notably the large ensembles,
the fine chorus which begins the second act,
formerly the third, and the picturesque chorus
of Rhine spirits with the dramatic soprano solo,
which formerly was the whole second act, and
now appears as the finale of the opera. One
obvious difficulty to the composer was the result
of taking a libretto which a predecessor had
begun to set — namely, that of avoiding resem-
blances which in this case would have been

MAX BRUCH

particularly easy to identify, since Mendelssohn's
fragment is sufficiently well known. It is to
Bruch's credit that he did avoid such
resemblances completely. He must have
had intuition enough to perceive, in spite of
the temporary success of his opera, that the
stage was not the best sphere for his talent,
for he made no further essay in dramatic com-
position for some time to come, until he had,
indeed, "found his feet" in a form of music
which he had already cultivated with success.
While the fifteen numbered compositions preced-
ing the " Loreley " in his list contain pianoforte
duet and solos, a trio, and two string quartets,
beside vocal works for solo or chorus, the group
of works which separate his opera from his next
composition of great importance are exclusively
vocal. He attained, whether by this or other
means, to the complete ease in writing for the
voice which characterises much of his best work.
He seems to have contemplated some large
" Christmas oratorio " or the like, for his ops. 20
and 21 deal respectively with the Flight into
Egypt and the Visit of the three Kings. This
last is immediately succeeded by his op. 23, the
famous "Frithjof Scenen," for male chorus,
soli, and orchestra : for, by an oversight, the
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MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

number 22 was left out, and has never been
filled up. The words — by Esaias Tegner, the
well-known Swedish poet — exactly suit Bruch's
free, open-air manner, and it was little wonderful
that the scenes attained a real and lasting
success immediately upon their first appearance
under the composer's direction at Aix-la-Chapelle.
The recognition the work at once obtained may
be best illustrated, not by quoting a list of the
German performances given within the first few
years after its production, but by mentioning the
fact that it reached Paris in the following year,
and was no less successful there than it had
been in its native land. The composer, who
conducted it, made friends with Rossini and
Berlioz, both of whom were among the warm
admirers of his composition, a circumstance
which points at once to the obvious character of
its melody, and to the originality of its concep-
tion. Already, at the age of twenty-six, Bruch
had acquired an extraordinary power and facility
in the manipulation of large vocal masses ; his
choral writing, while entirely free from pedantry
or stiffness of any kind, was even now the work
of a completely accomplished musician, solid
and earnest as well as spontaneous, tuneful and
effective. Although he has since written worthy
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MAX BRUCH

companion pieces to the " Frithjof Scenen "
he has not yet produced one that throws this
early work into the shade, nor is he likely to do
so. The six scenes chosen from the " Frithjof
saga" of Tegner are treated with a genuine
dramatic feeling which is scarcely ever revealed
in the " Loreley ; " the masterly treatment of the
third of these, in which Frithjof avenges the
loss of Ingeborg, is most remarkable; the
fourth, " Frithjof s Farewell," is admirably laid
out for effect, and the -pathetic processional
music of the unwilling bride, and her " lament "
in the fifth scene, are exceedingly expressive.
The last was at one time familiar in English
concert-rooms, but the work as a whole, though
given with success at a Crystal Palace concert,
June 8, 1878, has fallen into quite undeserved
neglect. Two other choral works, opp. 24 and
25, and a third, "Frithjof auf seines Vaters
Grabhiigel," a concert scena for baritone, female
choir, and orchestra, which is no doubt to be
regarded as a kind of appendix to the scenes,
were the next compositions in order of publica-
tion ; but meanwhile changes had taken place in
Bruch's outward circumstances. In the autumn
of 1 865 he went to Coblenz as conductor of the
concert-institution there, and, after a year and a
105

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

half of work in this capacity, he was appointed
court-capellmeister to the Prince of Schwarz-
burg-Sondershausen. Just as Brahms' tenure of
a similar post at the Court of Lippe-Detmold
gave him experience in choral-writing, so these
appointments brought Bruch into relations of a
closer kind than he would otherwise have en-
joyed with an admirable orchestra, the outcome
of which intimacy may be seen in the first violin
concerto in G minor and the two symphonies
in E flat and F minor respectively. The choral
works mentioned above were also written at
Sondershausen. The first, " Schon Ellen " (first
performed at Leipzig in 1869), is set to a poem
by Geibel, who transferred to the more romantic
surroundings of the Scotland of romance the
apocryphal episode of the siege of Lucknow,
according to which a girl brought hope to
the exhausted defenders of the city by declar-
ing that she heard the pipes playing "The
Campbells are coming." This tune has
no very romantic associations for English
hearers, and it is no wonder that no perform-
ance has yet been given here of a work which
makes so large a use of a melody not among
the best of Scottish tunes. For other audiences
it is, no doubt, impressive enough, and its dis-
106

MAX BRUCH

tinctly happy employment of local colour, apart
from the tune referred to, is extremely good.
Considering that the composer had devoted
some time while at Mannheim to the study of
national music of all sorts, and having regard to
the fact that he arranged a set of twelve Scottish
songs that were practically unknown and very
beautiful, it is only natural that he should have
been attracted to this poem by the man whose
" Loreley " he had set but a few years ago. A
very beautiful number is the solo, " Fahrt wohl
denn, Weib und Kind daheim," for baritone,
which, with the soprano, is the only single voice
employed. The chorus is "mixed" in this
work, the male choir alone being employed in
the other cantata, " Salamis," a fine and ener-
getic song of victory, belonging to a class of
subjects especially dear to the composer, who,
like the young man in Mr. Kipling's " Finest
Story in the World/' is never so much in his
element as in Greek or Scandinavian stories of
heroism and adventure, more especially by
sea.

The violin concerto already mentioned, in G

minor, op. 26, though written at Coblenz, was

not published until after these two cantatas had

appeared. It is dedicated to Joachim, and

107

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

bears upon it the impress of his character and
genius in every movement. Grave and earnest
from beginning to end, yet rising into passionate
outbursts of almost tragic intensity, this work
acquired at once a place of its own among violin
concertos. Its melodies have a character deeper,
nobler, and more genuinely expressive than any
former work of its composer's, and its solo part
is written with consummate knowledge of violin
effect. If it hardly deserves to be reckoned, as
some critics have done, among the three
greatest concertos for the instrument, beside
those of Beethoven and Mendelssohn, it comes,
at all events, as one of the first five— that is to
say, it is only equalled by two more works of
the kind— the concerto of Brahms, and the
exquisite "Hungarian" concerto of Joachim.
The first two movements are so rich in lovely
thoughts charmingly expressed, that the finale
makes, perhaps, less effect than it otherwise
would; and it seems, indeed, as if in the
romance the composer's vein of inspiration was
for the time exhausted. For none of the large
group of works, numbered 28 to 40, come
up to the standard of his best compositions,
although they include church-music— a motet,
"Rorate Coali," and portions of a mass — the
108

MAX BRUCH

two symphonies already mentioned, and several
more short choral pieces, among them a beauti-
ful setting of Schiller's " Dithyrambe." "Das
Lied vom Deutschen Kaiser " was his tribute to
the Imperial triumph after the Franco-German
war, and it was shortly afterwards followed by
a four-act opera, " Hermione," based on " The
Winter's Tale," by a librettist named Hoppfer.
This was produced in Berlin in 1872, but, from
much the same cause as the former theatrical
failure, met with no very remarkable degree of
success. It contains some well-written instru-
mental numbers, which might be very effective if
arranged as a suite for orchestra.

In the previous year Bruch had given up his
Court appointment in order to devote himself
more exclusively to composition, and the work
that succeeds the opera in the catalogue is that
by which Bruch's name is, perhaps, best known
all the world over. Again he reached his
highest point in setting to music isolated scenes
from a story that appealed strongly to his
imagination, and there can be no doubt that the
"Odyssey" lends itself particularly well to this
sort of treatment, since its episodes are fairly short
and not too closely connected with each other.
A close study of this masterpiece of Bruch's
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MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

genius will shed some light on his failure as an
operatic composer. Separate as the ten scenes
are from each other, several of them, indeed the
greater part, consist of various musical "move-
ments," and in the transitions from one such
movement to another we cannot but feel that
the composer is a little constrained and, as it
were, uncomfortable until he lands us in the
new section. If this is the case in a work
without action, how much more is it noticeable
in a composition intended for the stage, where
it is indispensable that the various solos and
ensemble pieces should be divided, either by
spoken dialogue such as has now gone out of
fashion except in the lighter forms of opera, or
by music more or less partaking of the char-
acter of recitative! For the "endless melody"
of Wagner would hardly be adopted by a writer
so little in sympathy with the modern tendencies
of music as Bruch has proved himself. The

Odysseus" contains numbers of such transi-
tional passages, although they are reduced in
extent as much as possible, a proceeding which
makes the sections divided by them approach
each other far too closely for good effect.

There are not many librettos, sacred or secular,
better suited to the requirements of the composer
no

MAX BRUCH

for whom they are intended than this series of
scenes arranged from the " Odyssey " by Herr P.
W. Graff. Each is thoroughly representative and
picturesque ; all are in good contrast with each
other, and none of the most prominent features of
the story are either omitted or dwelt upon at too
great length. The first, " Ulysses in the Island
of Calypso," contains some charming three-part
choruses for female voices, and, after a short scene
between Ulysses and Hermes, who announces
to him Zeus' permission that he shall return
home safely, a phrase, most happily " invented,"
is heard, which afterwards recurs as a musical
equivalent of the prosperous voyage, and the
scene closes very effectively with a baritone solo.
The visit to the infernal regions occupies the
next division of the work ; no musical picture
of the darker aspects of the classical Hades is
attempted, and the various episodes of Teiresias,
the mother of Ulysses, and the like, are treated
with a grace that a more politic composer would
hardly have cared to impart to them, even if he
could, for fear of discounting the effect of what
was to follow. The composer justifies himself
in the next number, for it loses but very little of
its effect from its position, since its melodious
beauty is far in excess of anything we have yet
in

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

heard. The richly harmonised song of the
sailors as they prepare to resist the sirens' sweet
sounds, throw these into stronger relief when
they are heard, and the scene is throughout of
magical beauty. That it would have been more
effective still if we had been allowed to taste
some of the horror which should at least appear
in the previous scene, can hardly be denied. In
the fourth scene we have a vigorous description
of a storm, culminating in a beautiful chorus of
sea-nymphs with Leucothea at their head, a
number which suitably ends the first part of this
" secular oratorio," as it is called. The second
"act " begins with an expressive solo for Pene-
lope (mezzo-soprano), which comes as a plea-
sant relief after the ensembles of the former
scenes, although in itself it is not one of the
most remarkable parts of the work. The pretty
chorus, with solos, which follows it gives a most
charming picture of Nausicaa with her maidens,
and their reception of Ulysses, and the scene is
an appropriate introduction to the magnificent
scene of the Banquet with the Phaeacians, which
is rightly regarded as the climax of the work.
Starting with a broadly treated song of welcome,
which no one but a scientific musician would
suspect of being mfugato form, so freely does the

113

MAX BRUCH

theme seem to be handled, the festal feeling of
the scene is splendidly maintained, and the fine
passage of eight-part harmony in which the
Rhapsodes are called upon to sing the tale of
Troy leads most brilliantly into their unisonous
song, a vigorous measure in triple time. We
have hardly time to take breath after this before
we are plunged into another massive ensemble
number, led off by Ulysses, whose tears at
hearing of the deeds in which he has taken part
lead to his identification. He sings of the joys
of home, and the rest of the company "join
in " ; exquisite as the musical setting of the
passage undoubtedly is, it would have been
wiser to dwell on the episode of the identifica-
tion— a not unimportant one, surely — a little
longer, if only to allow the hearers to prepare
for the suave strains in which the domestic
blisses are so melodiously sung. It is thankless
work, however, cavilling at what, after all, is a
scene of very great beauty and power, which
very few musicians of any nation could im-
prove or rival. And the actual setting of the
words in which Ulysses makes himself known,
" Ich bin's, bin Odysseus selbst," is perfect in
its simplicity and directness. Yet another
section of massive design and beautiful work-
113 H

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

manship, describing the resumption of the
voyage, has to come, before the scene is ended.
The very beautiful song of Penelope weaving
her endless web, with its refrain "O kehre,
Odysseus," is among the most expressive and
perfectly formed of its author's creations; no
wonder that it has become a standard song
among German contraltos, for its poetical
motive loses nothing by its performance apart
from the rest, while in its place it is a little apt
to escape attention, and to serve merely as a
sort of entr'acte between two more salient
sections. The final divisions, occupied with
the return of Ulysses and the feast at Ithaca,
rely for their effect more on the elaborate chorus
of rejoicing, " Lasst Opfer flammen," than on
anything else; the themes of the short duet
which precedes it have appeared in important
positions in the overture, and the climax of the
scene with the Phaeacians is resumed for the
close of the whole. The repetition of this by
another set of characters — for Ulysses alone is
supposed to take part in both — may take away
a little of what verisimilitude the scenes might
have ; but it is a very difficult thing to say how
far such things are admissible in cantatas,
though, of course, it is easy enough to see that
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MAX BRUCH

anything of the kind would be wholly out of
place on the stage. On its production at
Bremen in 1873 this beautiful work was
received with much enthusiasm, for it is of a
kind that makes its effect immediately, though
that effect is by no means transient or super-
ficial. The success achieved by it wherever it
has been given has been very remarkable, con-
sidering how completely free it is from the ad
captandum element.

As Bruch's first violin concerto was published
almost immediately after a group of his most
successful choral works, so again it happened,
whether by accident or design, that the beauti-
ful work just noticed was directly followed by
another violin composition for which violinists
are apt to claim an equally high place with the
concerto. In its necessarily smaller scale, the
" Romance," op. 42, for violin and orchestra, is
in no way inferior to the former work ; the
same perfect realisation of the best character-
istics of violin music, the same broadly
melodious themes treated with the same
elegance and real mastery, appear in the later
as in the earlier creation, and the two stand
together among the highest achievements of the
composer's genius. The romance was written
"5

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

for the late Robert Heckmann, the founder and
leader of the famous string quartet called after
him, but in style and character there is nothing
to distinguish it from the concerto; no such
difference as appears, for example, between the
first and second concertos, the latter of which
reflects the individuality of Sarasate (for whom
it was written) as closely as the former does that
of Joachim. This is far more of a bravura
piece, more sentimental, more obviously written
with a view to effect, than its predecessor, and
in spite of its many beauties must be considered
as in every way on a lower level than the other.
It was written at the time when Bruch had
taken up his residence at Bonn in order to
enjoy complete leisure for composition It may
be that the coquettish quality which we call
inspiration may have declined to favour the
composer's suit just because he had so carefully
laid out his life in order to court it. The so-
called " oratorio " of " Arminius " dates from
the same time. Dedicated to Mr. Henschel, it
contains a very fine baritone part ; the six-part
choruses, " Ich habe sie geseh'n ; " and that
which accompanies the death of Siegmund, are
impressive and excellently worked, and the
whole is concise and certainly effective in many
116

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FACSIMILE OF AUTOGRAPH SCORE BY MAX BRUCH

MAX BRUCH

ways. The reason for employing the female
choir as well as the male in the numbers sup-
posed to be sung by Roman soldiers is not very
evident, and of course the practice does not
add to the realism of these sections.

Far better than this is the setting of Schiller's
"Lied von der Glocke,"* a work which also
dates from the Bonn period, but is certainly one
of his best as well as most popular productions.
It is not an easy thing, in spite of the many
obvious suggestions which the poem offers
to musicians, to give it the necessary variety, or
to apportion it successfully between solo voices
and choir; this difficulty has been overcome by
Bruch with remarkable success, and the work
cannot certainly be reproached with any lack of
effect. The introductory chorus, "Vivos voco,"
the first baritone solo with its broadly flowing
phrases ; the pretty chorus, "Denn mit der Freude
Feierklange," with its fine organ prelude; the
charming love-passages, "O zarte Sehnsucht,"and
the stirring fine chorus which leads so charmingly
to the tranquil ensemble "Ein siisser Trost,"
give to the first part an interest and attraction

* It may, perhaps, be worth mentioning that it was
not Bruch' s setting of this poem that called forth the
caustic sneer from Brahms, quoted on p. 78.
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MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

above the second, though the chorus, " Heil'ge
Ordnung," and the finale, are admirably worked
numbers. Here, again, the composer is at his
best when singing the joys of domestic life, and
each subject, of the first part at least, suits him
excellently.

The first of Bruch's visits to England took
place in the autumn of 1877 ; the immediate
object of his journey was to conduct the new
violin concerto for Senor Sarasate, for whom
it was specially intended. On October 13 of
that year he conducted it, and the prelude
to his " Loreley," at the Crystal Palace, where
both were received with much favour. Ten
days later he conducted the " Odysseus " at
Liverpool ; the work was first given in England
at Manchester, March 13, 1875, with Mary
Davies, Redeker, and Henschel in the principal
parts. In the spring of 1878 he paid us another
visit, conducting his " Frithjof " at the Crystal
Palace on June 8. The performance of
" Odysseus " at Liverpool belongs to this year, a
somewhat momentous performance for the com-
poser, since to its success he owed the invitation
to a permanent post in that town two years
later. Meanwhile his period of leisure from all
but composition had come to an end, for in
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MAX BRUCH

1878 he succeeded Stockhausen as director of
the " Gesangverein " founded by Julius Stern in
Berlin. While in England he was invited to
contribute a work to the Birmingham Festival
of 1879; he at first intended to write a new
choral cantata on the subject of " The Lady of
the Lake," but whether from pressure of other
work, or from any other reason, he failed to do
this, and the directors of the Festival had to con-
tent themselves with giving the first English per-
formance of "The Lay of the Bell," instead of a
brand-new composition. The work succeeded
with the audience, though some of the more
severe critics reproached it on account of
the want of interest in the narrative portions,
and with want of inspiration. The composer's
fame had now become sufficiently established
in England to make it seem not such a very un-
wise thing to offer him the post of conductor of
the Liverpool Philharmonic Society, on the retire-
ment of Sir Julius Benedict, who after a fashion
that is not yet quite exploded, managed to com-
bine his Lancashire duties with the more agree-
able occupations of his London life. Those who
had the interests of music most at heart among
the Liverpool amateurs felt that an opportunity
had come for the engagement of a first-rate
119

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

foreign conductor whose name was becoming
well known in English musical circles, and they
very properly made residence in Liverpool a con-
dition of the appointment. Bruch had made a
great impression by his conducting and by the
direction of the choir on the occasions when
"Odysseus" and "The Lay of the Bell" had
been given by the Society. Not only were the
committee, or at all events many of the most
influential members, convinced of his ability,
but the choristers approved of him, and those
who know the constitution of our English
music-meetings are aware how much that meant.
In spite of his popularity with those who had
most right to an opinion, there was a party, not
merely in Liverpool but in the musical world of
London, who opposed themselves to the
appointment by every means in their power, on
the plea of " Englishmen for English Music," a
cry that might be reasonable enough did it not
proceed as a general rule from those who are
most tolerant of foreign incapables, and busiest
in ignoring such English talent as may declare
itself, whether in composition or in any other
branch of artistic activity. It has often been
pointed out how very little we should know of
the most advanced and original of the composi-
te

MAX BRUCH

tions of the younger English school, as well as
of the treasures of the glorious English schools
of the past, if the work of foreigners in bringing
them forward could be entirely taken away.
Things are better now, it is true, and there are
many Englishmen who have a right to be con-
sidered as protectors of native art ; but in the
seventies it was not so, and, besides this, it
would have been difficult to find an Englishman
really fitted for such an appointment as was
offered to Bruch, at least among those musicians
who were not already fully occupied in other
ways. The cry was all the more absurd, too,
since Bruch's predecessor was also a German by
birth. Bruch was of a far less sensitive fibre
than the somewhat apocryphal Keats whom the
" Scotch reviewer " snuffed out, and he was not
the man to abandon the good work that he
found waiting for him to do because the musical
critics set themselves against him : this was not
why he resigned the appointment, after holding
it for two years and a half. By the kindness of
Mr. H. E. Rensburg, of Liverpool, I am able to
give the main reasons for his departure
from England in the spring of 1883. The
members of the choir of the Society had
even more than the usual amount of voice in its
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MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

arrangements, since they were in some sort its
founders, and as such were largely represented
on its committee ; Bruch's attitude to them was
at the root of the strained relations which soon
began to appear, as it had been one of the chief
causes of his appointment. Perhaps if he had
adhered to the old arrangement by which a
choirmaster was responsible for the ordinary
work of rehearsals, things might have gone more
smoothly, though the performances might have
suffered; this arrangement, though doubtless
very convenient to Benedict, did not at all suit
the thoroughgoing nature of his successor, and
he very soon abolished the choirmaster, con-
ducting the practices in person with the aid of
an accompanist. For a time all went well, and
it has never been contested that the standard of
performance given under the new management
was very much higher than it had been ; the
unity of control yielded good results imme-
diately, and the welcome given by the public
of Liverpool was a most hearty and hospitable
one. No doubt Bruch's popularity with his
choir would have lasted longer than it did if he
had been able to speak English fluently; the
best conductor is not always the most popular,
however, and it is not to be expected that,
12?

MAX BRUCH

members of the class from which choral
societies are usually recruited should give their
due value to the details of artistic excellence, or
weigh them against any little jars such as must
always arise between a conductor and his choir,
unless indeed he is exceptionally diplomatic
or exceptionally easygoing. Bruch happens to
be neither the one nor the other, but to possess
most keen artistic feelings and intolerance of
anything short of perfection in performance.
While his imperfect English made his dealings
with the choir more difficult than they other-
wise might have been, it had another effect —
that of withdrawing him from what there was of
cultivated society outside the necessarily limited
circle of German residents; and this was
naturally a serious loss to a man who had
enjoyed to the full his intercourse with the
intellectual aristocracy of his own country.

If the best fruits of his residence in England
are to be sought in the improved standard of
performances in the Liverpool Society, and if
no very great composition of his dates from the
time when he was living among us, the episode
had one important result for him, since it was
at Liverpool that he married Fraulein Clara
Tuczek ; and to lovers of English music it is
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MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

not uninteresting to know that, while at Liver-
pool, Bruch gave lessons in orchestration to the
late Arthur Goring Thomas. The group of
works written at Liverpool includes a set of
three Hebrew melodies for choir and orchestra,
several times brought forward at the concerts of
the society ; the " Scottish Fantasia " for violin
and orchestra, a work which illustrates very
happily the composer's singular affinity with a
certain class of national music, but one which
at its first production did not attain the success
it has since made; a quintet for piano and
strings, which does not appear in the numbered
list of his works ; and the famous violoncello
piece "Kol Nidrei," founded on a subject of
Hebrew origin, still in use in the synagogue
ritual. Would it be unreasonable to see in the
inexpressibly sad strains of this beautiful little
work a reflection of the state of the writer's feel-
ings at the time, conscious, at all events, of
partial failure, and of want of appreciation, with
possibly some trace of home-sickness ? It was
11 a far cry " from the Rhine to the Mersey, from
the storied river beside which he had lived prac-
tically all his life, to the commercial surroundings
which were only too faithfully reflected in the
minds of many with whom he was brought in
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MAX BRUCH

contact : is it any wonder that he longed to get
away, or that he ultimately gave up the post ?

Besides the conductorship of this society,
Bruch held that of another choral body, formed
by the amalgamation of two choirs of long stand-
ing. This has now practically superseded the
former Liverpool Philharmonic chorus. A per-
formance of "Odysseus," given in March 1883 by
the Bach Choir, was conducted by the composer,
who during his residence in Liverpool received
many offers from various parts of the world. That
he refused them shows that his life at Liverpool
was not throughout an irksome one. An offer
of a conductorship at New York, though it was
not accepted, may have led to the tour in the
United States which he undertook in April and
May 1883. In the summer of that year he was
back in Germany, and in September he became
conductor of the orchestral society at Breslau.

Since his return to his own country he has
given to the world several compositions that are
worthy of his genius in its highest development.
The most prominent of these is, undoubtedly,
the "Achilleus," which was evidently intended
to be a companion work to the "Odysseus,"
and which fulfils that intention in the best
possible way. In structure it is even better
125

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

than the earlier work ; the recitative-like passages
which separate the sections are a good deal
stronger and more spontaneous than those of
"Odysseus," and add greatly to the general
effect; the scenes themselves are treated with
the same picturesque feeling, the same breadth
of melody, and the same free swing that appear
in the other. Yet it would be perhaps too much
to say that it is in all respects its equal; the
earlier production surpasses the later in the
originality of its ideas and in freshness of
treatment. The libretto, arranged from the
" Iliad " by Herr H. Bulthaupt, consists of three
parts or acts, in which are successively de-
scribed the discussions in the Greek camp as to
the continuation or abandonment of the siege,
the parting of Hector and Andromache, the
fight between Achilles and Hector, the triumph
of the former suggesting a brilliant song of
victory for the end of the second part; the
third opens with the funeral games in honour
of the dead Patroclus, a most interesting and
effective group of numbers, containing three
elaborate quasi-ballet movements ; the lamenta-
tion of the widowed Andromache, in some ways
forming a counterpart to the songs of Penelope
in the earlier work, and a scene in which Priam
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MAX BRUCH

begs for the restoration of his son's body, lead
to an epilogue in which the chorus alludes more
or less directly to the death of Achilles himself.
The most striking numbers, beside the panto-
mime music already mentioned, which, by the
way, was given under the composer's direction at
one of the Philharmonic Concerts of last season,
and with great success, are the prologue for six-
part choir, the five sections in which Achilles is
consoled by his mother, Thetis, after the death
of Patroclus — scenes in which the most attractive
side of the composer's power is displayed — an
elaborate " Morgengesang " for quartet and
chorus, the number in which the fight is
described, and in which the utterances of the
Greeks and Trojans as they watch the issue are
admirably combined and contrasted, and the
beautiful funeral chorus " Durch die ambrosische
Nacht." The solos of Achilles and, in fact, all
the solo parts, are interesting and expressive,
well designed and carried out, and it is rather
surprising that no choral society in England has
yet had the courage to take up the work and
introduce it to the public of London or the
provinces. The success of the new "oratorio,"
when produced at Bonn in 1885 was not less
than that of its predecessor ; a third symphony
127

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

in E (op. 51) was possibly occasioned by the
Breslau appointment, which was given up in
1889. In that year he went to live in Berlin,
and in the same year a new cantata appeared
which it is difficult not to connect with the
Birmingham suggestion of ten years before.
For " Das Feuerkreuz," the book of which was
prepared by Herr Bulthaupt, is founded on a
short episode from the third canto of " The Lady
of the Lake," and though the sorrows of Norman
and "Tombea's Mary" are not expanded by
Scott, the first and most suggestive scene of the
cantata is due to him, that, namely, in which the
marriage is interrupted by the advent of the
fiery cross which the bridegroom must carry on
to the next bearer. The musical setting of the
piece is scarcely in Bruch's best manner, though
he has not hesitated to employ such modern
additions to the recognised orchestra as a bell
and an organ in the church scene. The
number most worthy of him is the " Kriegsge-
sang," in which a march-motive is finely
worked.

Among the latest of Bruch's works are a third

violin concerto of great merit and brilliancy,

showing a great improvement on the second,

though scarcely reaching as high a point as the

128

MAX BRUCH

first ; a very expressive Adagio appassionato for
violin and orchestra, two pieces for violoncello
and orchestra, some short choral pieces, among
which the deeply felt "Gruss an die heilige
Nacht" (with an alto solo) is the most important,
an effective set of " Swedish Dances " for violin
and piano, a "Scottish Fantasia" for violin, harp,
and orchestra, " In Memoriam," an adagio for
violin and orchestra, and a mass, some portions
of which were recently performed at Barmen
with great success. When we think how much of
beauty and real value is comprised in what seems
so short a list of works we shall realise one of
the composer's best qualities, his rare amount of
self-criticism, leading him to the determination
to give the world nothing but what he considers
his best. He is one of those who uphold most
worthily the dignity of the art, and if he has not
attained to the position of one whose every
publication is received by musicians with the
reverence due to a new revelation, he has won
the hearts of many thousands of hearers by his
beautiful creations in certain branches of music —
viz., choral works of large design with orchestral
accompaniment, and works for violin or violon-
cello. It is curious to see how very little
lasting effect has been made by the many works
129 i

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

in forms other than the two here referred to,
while so many compositions in these two
classes have won almost universal admiration.
His melodies, with their broad design, seldom
suit the solo voice as they do the choral ; a
special quality in his work is his original and
individual way of disposing his harmonies, and
this is exhibited far more strikingly in choral
works than in any others ; and his writing for
orchestra alone is less spontaneous than when
the instruments are used in accompanying.
For this cause, partly, his symphonies do not
belong to the small number of those by living
composers that are likely to endure; the
very extent and pronounced character of his
themes — in fact just the quality that makes them
so suitable for choir or solo stringed instruments
— does not make them any the more pliable for
those thematic developments which are, or
should be, the crowning feature in symphonic
work. While, too, the composer has all the
resources of the orchestra at his fingers' ends, he
is not of those whose treatment of the orchestra
is delightful independently of the material dealt
with. The matter of his utterance is always of
more importance than the manner, and it is
difficult to find fault with him on this account.

MAX BRUCH

That the best of his works, including among
these not merely the few compositions that have
become almost hackneyed, but the large number
that deserve to be as well known, should not be
more often heard in England or more widely
appreciated by English people is one of the
anomalies of our musical state at the present
moment. " Kol Nidrei " is often heard at
chamber concerts, and three, or at most four,
of the works for violin hold a permanent place
in the repertory of players, but beyond this we
are allowed to hear very little of a master who
certainly has deserved better things at our
hands.

As a matter of course honours of all kinds
have been showered upon Bruch. Numerous
Prussian and Bavarian orders have been con-
ferred upon him; he has been since 1888 a
member of the Berlin Academy of Arts, and
has had the title of "Professor" since 1890.
In June of last year he received the honorary
degree of Mus. D. from the University of
Cambridge, representing Germany on- that occa-
sion, as Saint-Saens, Boi'to, and Tschaikowsky
represented France, Italy, and Russia. He
conducted the banquet scene from " Odysseus "
at the concert in the Guildhall, and three days

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

later appeared at the Philharmonic concert of
June 15 as before mentioned.

If a somewhat blunt manner and an amount
of self-centredness that is not common even
amongst musicians prevent his making friends
very quickly, or being what is called popular
in general society, those who know him best
know how whole-hearted is his devotioo to his
art, how pure are his aims, and how honest
and upright he is in every artistic matter, as
well as in those which concern everyday life.

CATALOGUE OF PUBLISHED COMPOSITIONS

BY MAX BRUCH.
Op.

1. "Scherz, List, und Rache," comic opera in one

act.

2. Capriccio, pf., 4 hands.

3. " Jubilate, Amen," for soprano, choir, & orch.

4. 3 Duets, soprano and alto.

5. Trio, pf. & strings, in C minor.

6. 7 Songs, 2 and 3 part choir.

7. 6 Songs.

8. " Die Birken und die Erlen," soprano, choir, and

orch.

132

MAX BRUCH

op.

g. String quartet, in C minor.

10. String quartet, in E.

11. Fantaisie for 2 pfs.

12. 6 small pf. pieces.

13. Hymn for soprano.
.14. 2 Pf. pieces.

15. 4 Songs.

16. " Die Loreley," grand opera in 3 acts.

17. 10 Songs.

1 8. 4 Songs, baritone.

19. 2 Sets of male-voice choruses.

20. " Die Flucht der heiligen Familie," choir & orch.

21. " Gesang der heiligen drei Konige," 3 male voices

& orch.

22. (not written).

23. "Frithjof-Scenen," soli, male choir, & orch.

24. " Schon Ellen," soprano & baritone solos, choir, &

orch.

25. " Salamis," male choir and orch.
26 Concerto, vln. & orch., in G minor.

27. " Frithjof auf seines Vaters Grabhiigel," baritone

solo, female choir, and orch.

28. Symphony in E flat.

29. " Rorate Coeli," choir, orch., & organ.

30. " Die Priesterin der Isis in Rom," alto & orch.

31. "Flucht nach Aegypten," and " Morgenstunde,"

soprano, female choir & orch.

32. " Normannenzug," baritone solo, male choir, and

orch.

33. 4 Songs.

34. " Romische Leichenfeier," choir & orch.

133

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

op.

35. Kyrie, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei, 2 soprano solos,

double choir, orch., and organ.

36. Symphony in F minor.

37. " Das Lied vom Deutschen Kaiser."

38. 5 Songs for choir, a capella.

39. " Dithyrambe," tenor solo, 6-part choir, & orch.

40. " Hermione," grand opera in 4 acts.

41. "Odysseus," soli, choir, & orch.

42. Romance, vln. & orch.

43. " Arminius," oratorio.

44. Concerto, vln. & orch., in D minor.

45. "Das Lied von der Glocke," soli, choir, and

orch.

46. Scottish Fantasia, vln. & orch.

47. " Kol Nidrei," vcello. & orch.

48. 4 Male choruses.

49. 7 Songs.

50. " Achilleus," soli, choir and orch.

51. Symphony in E.

52. " Das Feuerkreuz," soli, choir, & orch.

53-

54. Songs.

55. Canzone, vcello. & orch.

58. Concerto, vln. & orch., D minor.

59. 5 Songs.

60. 9 Choruses.

61. " Ave Maria," vcello. & orch.

62. " Gruss an die heilige Nacht," alto solo, choir, &

orch.

63. Swedish Dances, vln. & pf.

1 64. Scottish Fantasia, vln., harp, & orch.
•34

MAX BRUCH

Without opus-numbers : —

2 Male choruses, " Auf die bei Thermopylae Gefallen,

and " Schlachtgesang des Tyrtaos.
Hebraische Gesange.
Wettspiele for orch.

135

KARL GOLDMARK

IT has happened over and over again in the
history of art that one personality of strong and
dominating nature has repressed, instead of
stimulating, the productivity of its contempo-
raries in the same sphere of production, and,
instead of founding a school, has to all intents
and purposes exhausted the stream of invention
which, diverted into other channels, might have
fertilised the talents of many perhaps inferior
artists. Such a personality was Wagner's, and
a marked result of his career and of the change
gradually worked by his innovations on all
the most important German stages, was that
German opera, apart from his works, has been
represented, since his influence began to be
felt, by strangely few works that can be called
"epoch-making." Another inevitable result of
such a revolution as came about by Wagner's
means is that for a time every contribution to

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

dramatic music, unless it proceeded on purely
conventional lines, was considered as a mere
reflection of the great master's influence. For
the time being, opera seems almost to have
quitted Germany for its old home; the long
series of German masterpieces in this kind
seems to have come to an end, just at the
point of time when the Italian schools started
into fresh vigour. It is beyond question that
among living operatic composers of Germany,
none holds or deserves a higher place than the
writer whose name stands at the head of this
chapter. Yet he has not been able to escape
the charge of imitating, more or less consciously,
the works and methods of the great dramatic
reformer of the nineteenth century, though I
venture to predict that the charge will appear
less and less well-founded as time goes on.
For the same accusation has been brought
against very nearly every important opera pro-
duced since Wagner's music first became known,
and though at first the remark is apt to pass for
sapient criticism, in after years it seems hardly
credible that it can have been made. Who, for
instance, would in the present day accuse Bizet's
" Carmen " of owing anything to Wagner ? Yet
the French critics were considered to have said
138

KARL GOLDMARK

the last word concerning it when they had
asserted that it was influenced by Wagner, and
a truer view was long in obtaining acceptance in
the composer's own country, though the rest of
Europe recognised the work as an original
masterpiece. Certain musical critics, and those
not of one country alone, seem long in learning
that an opera may be constructed on genu-
inely dramatic lines, with continuous action,
richly-coloured orchestration, and definite "in-
dividualisation " of its characters, and yet be
something more than a mere copy of the man
who insisted most strongly on these features,
and illustrated them most successfully in his
own achievements.

KARL GOLDMARK was born at Keszthely-am-
Plattensee, a small town in Hungary, on May
1 8, 1832 ; the needy circumstances of his father,
a " cantor " in the Jewish synagogue, and the
unimportant character of the town in which he
lived, precluded him from such opportunities of
musical education as have been granted to most
composers. Yet a certain amount of music is
inherent in the race, and, like many another
Jew, young Goldmark made his own oppor-
tunities, and did the best he could to cultivate
the talent of whose presence he was early con-
139

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

scious. One is reminded of the young Siegfried
when one reads of his making little flutes from
sticks cut from the hedges ; later on he got a
violin by some means or other, and the village
schoolmaster happily knew enough to start him
in the rudiments, with the result that he became,
in 1842, advanced enough to enter a small
music-school attached to the " Oedenburger
Musik-verein," where his talent, first exhibited
publicly at a concert given by the society in the
winter of 1843-4, manifested itself to such an
extent that his parents determined to let him be
a musician, and, to that end, managed to send
him to Vienna, where for a year (1844-5) ne
studied under Jansa, a violinist whose fame, to
Englishmen of the present generation, rests
upon that of his distinguished pupil Lady Halle,
notwithstanding the fact that he himself appeared
in London with much success in earlier years.
In 1847 he entered the Vienna Conservatorium,
becoming a pupil of Bohm for violin, and of
Preyer for harmony. Unluckily the institution
had to close its doors on account of the revolu-
tion of March 1848, and the same crisis in
public affairs threw Goldmark on his own re-
sources. He proceeded not only to study every
orchestral instrument, as if he had already some
140

KARL GOLDMARK

presentiment that he was to be a composer, but
to obtain an engagement in the orchestra of the
theatre at Raab, where his career very nearly
came to an abrupt termination, since he was
actually led out to be shot on the capitulation
of that place to the Government forces. Fortu-
nately for himself and for art, an old friend
turned up in the nick of time, and gave satis-
factory assurances that the young musician was
not, as had been supposed, a rebel, and his life
was spared.

He worked hard at composition both before
and after his return to Vienna in 1850, when
he was befriended to some purpose by a Herr o*- W.'44-'.el, C
Mittrich, under whose guidance he made a
close acquaintance with the great classics
of music. About 1854 he was carried away
by the Mendelssohn fever, with the intensity
of which racial instinct may have had some-
thing to do. Of the numerous essays he
made in imitation of Mendelssohn, there
were enough that were presentable in one
kind or another to make it worth while for
Goldmark to give a concert consisting of his
own works in 1857, and in the same year
to give up orchestral playing for good, though
he had obtained an engagement at the Karl-
Hi

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

theater shortly before. A pianoforte quartet, a
psalm for solo voices, choir and orchestra, as
well as an overture, were brought forward, and
the concert was a great success, although
Goldmark's name was hardly known at all to
the Viennese public. Encouraged by this
cordial reception, he was now fully purposed to
proceed further in the knowledge of his art as
well as of things outside it. He betook himself
to Pesth, where he devoted himself to the study,
not only of counterpoint and composition, but
of languages, literature, and philosophy.
Among the great masters whose works he
studied most deeply were Bach, Beethoven and
Schumann, who have remained the special
objects of his admiration through life; but a
more definite effect was made upon him, as has
been the case with many a young musician, by
the study of the score of "Lohengrin," which
quite completed the cure of his Mendelssohn-
worship. Some of the best of Goldmark's non-
theatrical works date from about this time,
l«dcr. (among them the picturesque overtures,
"Sakuntala" and " Penthesilea," the popular
symphony known as " Die landliche Hochzeit "
(The Country Wedding), and the first Suite for
violin and piano.

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KARL GOLDMARK

In 1859 he gave a concert of his own
works at Pesth, and in the following year
returned for good to Vienna, where his com-
positions now began to make their way.
The year is marked for the composer as the
point at which other people began to play his
works. ("Von da ab spielten die Andern
meine Sachen," as he says, with a naive modesty
that is very characteristic.) It was the beauti-
ful string quartet in B flat, published as op. 8,
and written in Vienna, that particularly delighted
Hellmesberger and drew from him a promise of
performing all that the composer should produce
in the department of chamber-music. The day
after the performance of this quartet Goldmark
received a visit from Peter Cornelius and Carl
Tausig in his dingy lodging, a visit which he
regards as the first legitimate triumph of his life."
The three were united by a common admiration
for Wagner's music, and during the years that
followed, Goldmark was not only a successful
pianoforte teacher (a sufficiently remarkable fact,
considering that until he was fifteen he is said
never even to have seen a piano), but was busy
with musical criticism. As critic of the Kon-
stitutionnelle Zeitung he dared to express him-
self in favour of Wagner when that master gave

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

a concert in Vienna, concerning which the large
majority of journalists took an opportunity of
" letting fly " at his music. Goldmark did what
he could in the way of pressing upon his readers
the necessity of properly producing Wagner's
works in Vienna, and we may be sure that he
would speak with no lack of enthusiasm. For
since his feeling for dramatic music was first
awakened by a play for which Kreutzer had
written incidental music, and of which a perfor-
mance was given at the Oedenburg theatre when
Goldmark was twelve years old, he had been
passionately fond of the stage and operatic
music. The old-fashioned " Schweizerfamilie "
of Weigl sufficed to send him into a perfect fever
of delight when he was a little older, and during
his engagement at Raab, Verdi was his musical
idol. Thus he was ready to receive the new
gospel according to Wagner, and to help the
movement forward with all his power. He was
not the less ardent a Wagnerian because he
refused to become a member of the " Wagner
Verein " when it was regularly started, although
he himself had been among its original promoters.
Whether his refusal, or retirement from member-
ship, arose from a feeling that it was not well for
him to pose as a champion of Wagnerism, now
144

KARL GOLDMARK

that such championship seemed less necessary
than it had been, or whether it was, as has been
asserted, simply due to pique at his name having
been entered on a list of members without his
knowledge or consent, does not greatly matter ;
for there can be no doubt of his complete
acceptance of Wagner's theories of dramatic
composition, and if there were at first any
such doubt, it must have been set at rest when
the first of his operas was brought out.

A meeting between Goldmark and Wagner,
possibly the only one that took place, is
described by a friend of both composers, in the
Vienna Fremdenblatt, shortly after the production
of " Merlin " in November 1 886. The writer says :
" I was one evening walking with Wagner from
Pensing, where he was then staying, to Hacking.
He complained bitterly that a chorus in the
second act of " Lohengrin " had been taken too
fast at a recent performance, and as we walked
along he sang the whole number in the correct
tempo. As he did not ' hum,' but sang out lustily,
the passers-by gave him a wide berth, thinking
him tipsy. One man in particular who got out
of his way I recognised as Goldmark, walking
along reading as he went. I called to him, and
introduced him to Wagner, who had never even
i45 K

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

heard his name. We all returned to Wagner's
dwelling, where he complained all the time of
his poverty and of his other unhappy circum-
stances. Goldmark was much moved, and
remarked : * But, Meister, are you not satisfied
with the knowledge that your name will be im-
mortal ? ' This made Wagner very angry, and
he replied : * Never speak to me thus. People
consoled Cherubini, as he lay on his deathbed,
with hopes of " immortality." He cried " Immor-
tality ? Please don't make any bad jokes at such
a moment." '

There are not many instances of first operas
making or deserving such success as was
achieved by "Die Konigin von Saba"; but the
absence of early attempts at operatic writing was
more than compensated by the extraordinary
pains that the composer took over his work.
From first to last, no less than seven years were
occupied in its preparation ; during this time, of
course, the composer continued his critical work,
as well as his teaching. This last he gave up
in the winter season, in order to have more time
for his opera. Meyerbeer himself can hardly
have done more in the way of writing and re-
writing than Goldmark did ; the whole of the
third act was composed twice over, and many
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KARL GOLDMARK

other portions underwent thorough revision.
Work of this kind has seldom been more richly
rewarded, for from the date of its production
at the Court Theatre of Vienna, March 10,
1875, its success has never waned in Germany,
while it has been most favourably received in
many foreign countries. The composer has
personally superintended the getting-up of his
work in the chief musical centres of Italy, such
as Rome, Milan, Turin, and Bologna, and it has
been given in Madrid, St. Petersburg, Warsaw,
New York, etc. It is among the works most
frequently given in the theatre of its first perform-
ance, and at Pesth it has celebrated its i5oth
night. The cast of the original performance
was as follows : — Sulamith, Wilt ; Queen, Ma-
terna ; Astaroth, Siegstadt ; Assad, Walter ;
Solomon, Beck; and High Priest, Rokitansky.
Gericke was the conductor.

A " Friihlingshymne " for alto solo, chorus,
and orchestra had been brought forward in the
previous year ; it was then laid aside, to appear,
only two years ago, with a new finale written for
the occasion. As a natural result of the success
of his opera, Goldmark's previous compositions
now found wide acceptance ; many of the
chamber works were only now published, and
"47

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

among the new productions of the composer in
this branch of music are a violin concerto in A
minor, op. 28, a quintet and trio for piano and
strings (ops. 30 and 33), beside numerous songs
and piano pieces. It was not for want of oppor-
tunity that so long an interval elapsed between
the first and second operas ; the composer's
friends and the various theatrical directors repre-
sented to him that he ought not to let the
success of " The Queen of Sheba" "get cold " for
want of a second work. Goldmark, however,
remained firm to his principles of working slowly
and not forcing his inspiration. The testimony
to this may be trusted, for it comes from a
quarter that is far from friendly to Goldmark or
his music, viz., the eminent Viennese critic,
Dr. Hanslick. The passage occurs in his review
of " Merlin," a work in which he could not be
expected to find much to admire.

It was in the summer of 1882 that Siegfried Lip-
piner offered Goldmark the libretto of " Merlin "
and for the next four years he devoted himself
entirely to its composition, retiring altogether
from the world at Gm linden. In a highly-
wrought " interview " in a Viennese paper, from
which I have already quoted, a story is told of
Goldmark's troubles while writing " Merlin," in

KARL GOLDMARK

consequence of the obstreperous singing of some
goldfinches in the woods near his windows. These
birds resisted every means adopted for their
removal, and finally, when one pair were shot by
a friend of the distracted musician, another took
their place. At last he obtained repose by
cutting off the bough in which their nest had
been built, and was then able to complete
the opera, which was produced in Vienna on
November 19, 1886. The cast was as follows : —
Viviane,Materna; Merlin, Winkelmann ; Demon,
Reichenberg : King Arthur, Sommer.

In spite of the favourable reception of the
new work, the composer was not satisfied until
he had completely re-written the third act ; the
wisdom of this proceeding was justified by the
far greater success attained by the newer
version.

The enthusiastic writer in the Fremdenblatt
is eloquent in his description of the composer's
appearance in 1886, as an old-looking man with
" flowing locks powdered with silver dust," and
a moustache " approaching the autumnal." He
is represented as sitting in an armchair, gazing
upon a photograph of Schumann, at the top of
a house in a by-?treet in Vienna. He has not
spent all his time since " Merlin " was brought
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out in such contemplations, for numerous and
important are the works produced since that
time. A second symphony, in E flat, op. 35 ;
the overtures, " Im Fruhling " and " Prometheus
Bound " (opp. 36 and 38) ; a violoncello sonata,
op. 39, and a second suite for violin and piano,
op. 43, have seen the light within the last few
years ; and his latest work, an overture called
" Sappho," was played towards the end of last
year at a Philharmonic Concert in Vienna
under Richter. It is considered to be the
most difficult work yet written for orchestra;
this may readily be believed since its key is G
jUt

In London, where Goldmark's chamber and
orchestral compositions are not infrequently
played, it is at least likely that his operas
might catch the public ear ; they should attract
the attention of a manager whose stage manage-
ment is his strong point, for both are spectacular
in a marked degree. In addition to this, they
are confessedly the composer's chef-cCceuvres,
and it is hardly possible for the English public
to realise the position among German musicians
held by Goldmark until these are brought
forward. To the first there attaches the grave
objection that it is founded, to some extent,
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KARL GOLDMARK

upon a Biblical subject ; but the second opera
would certainly pass the censorship. With many
men an opera is included in their list of compo-
sitions, or it may be they have written more than
one work for the stage without being regarded
chiefly as operatic writers; thus, to take two
prominent instances, both Beethoven and Schu-
mann hold their positions in the history of art
almost without reference to the single opera
which each wrote. Goldmark's two operas,
however, represent so large a period of his life
and are in all respects so important that his
claim to be considered one of the masters of
contemporary music rests mainly on them. A
story is current that Goldmark, after some
casual conversation with a lady to whom he was a
stranger, announced himself as " the composer
of ' The Queen of Sheba.' " ' ' Dear me ! " was the
lady's comment; "that must be a very lucrative
post ! "

The plot of " The Queen of Sheba " is entirely
different from that of Gounod's fine opera, but it
is certainly not less suitable for operatic purposes.
The personages are well contrasted with each
other, and the action is continuous and fairly
concise. At the opening of the piece we learn
that Sulamith, the daughter of the High Priest,

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

is to wed Assad on his return from a martial
expedition; the Jewish "local colour" is not
long in making its appearance, in an extremely
pretty chorus for female voices, with solo for
the bride, " Dein Freund ist dein," a passage of
unmistakable Hebrew flavour, finely treated.
The quiet, dignified music allotted to Solomon
is another feature of the whole work, which
soon is brought forward; the king finds out
from Assad that his affections have been
diverted from Sulamith by the sight of a
beautiful woman, whom the audience is not
long in discovering to be the Queen of Sheba
herself, on her way to Jerusalem. The march
and chorus which accompany the entrance of
the queen are most effective, and the fine piece
of six-part writing at the words "Sonne des
Mittags" shows the hand of a most accom-
plished musician. The dramatic climax of the
act is the frantic appeal of the infatuated Assad
to the queen, and her not unnatural repudiation
of the acquaintance. (It is made clear that
love-passages have taken place between them.)
It was hardly possible that the second act, a
romantic scene with an impassioned love-duet
for Assad and the queen, should not suggest, in
its dramatic structure at least, the famous second
152

KARL GOLDMARK

act of " Tristan und Isolde," and the difficulty is
increased by an episode in which an attendant,
after the manner of Brangane, sings a long
me Its ma behind the scenes. If the music is
honestly examined, I do not think that the
resemblance will be found to be more than a
superficial one, and for a great part of it the
librettist is alone responsible. The orchestral
" Morgendammerung " with the choral prayer
ends the scene suitably, and leads effectively to
the second scene of the act, in the interior of
the Temple. There is, of course, any amount
of Hebrew colouring here, and very well is it
managed. It is not quite clear, perhaps, why the
queen should be introduced into this scene, in
which the marriage of Assad and Sulamith is to
take place ; but her presence gives fine oppor-
tunities for ensemble numbers, and a really dra-
matic climax occurs at the point where Assad,
after the High Priest thinks he succeeded in
exorcising the evil spirit that is supposed to
have caused unfaithfulness, is brought back to
the queen's side by a single word from her lips.
He is condemned to death, and the sentence is
ultimately commuted, at the urgent request of
the queen, to banishment in the desert. The
well-written duet between Solomon and the
153

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

queen is preceded by an elaborate ballet,
including a very graceful " Almeentanz " ; it is
followed by a picturesque lament sung by
Sulamith and her maidens. In the fourth act,
which takes place in the desert, Assad declines
the queen's endearments, now lavished upon
him ; when her wiles are in vain, she leaves him
just before a sand-storm comes on, which, after
the convenient fashion of operatic cataclysms of
all kinds, is enough to give Assad his death,
while it leaves entirely unharmed not only the
queen, who has just left the stage, but Sulamith,
who arrives in time to receive her fickle lover's
last breath. The resumption of the pretty
ensemble " Dein Freund ist dein " from the first
act closes the work with a considerable amount
of pathos.

The episode of the sand-storm savours a good
deal more strongly of the old fashioned opera
than of Wagner ; one is reminded of the finales
of " L'Africaine " and " Aida " by the amount of
imagination that has to be exercised by the
audience, for even with the elaborate mise-en-
sdne of Vienna it is quite impossible to divine
from the action alone the cause of Assad's
death, just as it is difficult to tell why Ai'da and
Radames, after singing a duet, should expire

KARL GOLDMARK

from asphyxiation in a position in which they
are evidently able to breathe the air of the
entire theatre. If the richly coloured orchestra-
tion, the dexterous manipulation of the
numerous large ensemble numbers, and occa-
sionally the manner of handling, remind us more
or less of the Wagner of the " Lohengrin "
period, there are also many characteristics in
common with Meyerbeer's work, and the rapid
succession of situations obviously intended
rather to impress the public than to carry the
dramatic truth of the work to the furthest
possible point, suggests the manner of the great
Jewish opera-maker. Still, with all its super-
ficial brilliancy, its marches and pageants of
various kinds, it cannot be denied that the
characters are well individualised, or that each
stands out from the rest as a real dramatic
creation. The calm and dignified strains
allotted to Solomon have been alluded to
before ; they fit the character of the wisest of
men as well as the impetuous phrases of the
title-part suit the savage and unscrupulous
queen, or the gentle accents of Sulamith the
Jewish maiden always ready to forgive her lover's
aberrations.

It is a pity that the Biblical source of the

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

subject makes it at present impossible to hope
for a performance of this work in England, and
it is fortunate that no such objection exists in
the case of Goldmark's other opera, the action
of which passes in Britain. Founded on a
" mystery " by Immermann, " Merlin " has only
the most distant connection with the "Morte
d'Arthure,"from which, of course, it is ultimately
derived. From the point of view of the super-
ficial observer, and considering the wide-spread
impressions that Goldmark is nothing but a
copyist of Wagner, it was, perhaps, a pity that
Herr Lippiner knew his Wagner so well as he
must have done. Mme. Materna, too, had to
create in Viviane a character that could hardly
fail to bring back remembrances of precisely the
two parts in which the artist is at her best, the
Briinnhilde of " Die Walkiire," and Kundry in
" Parsifal," so that the personality of the singer
could not but give colour to the idea, and in
some measure affect the success of the work, in
spite of her admirable impersonation of the
heroine. In a sense, Goldmark had followed
Wagner, for the dramatic method of " Merlin "
shows as much advance upon that of "The
Queen of Sheba " as the style of " Parsifal " does
on that of " Lohengrin." The living composer is
156

KARL GOLDMARK

clearly cognisant of the innovations of his pre-
decessor, and adopts them unhesitatingly; the
musical ideas are, however, entirely his own ;
he has merely chosen to cast them in forms that
are of recent origin, rather than in those of
older fashion. If in his adoption of the new
dramatic methods he exhibits less divergence
from the actual style of Wagner than is shown
in the two masterpieces of Verdi's old age, it
must be remembered that Verdi is of a different
nation from the master who first practised, if he
did not actually invent, these methods, while
Goldmark is of the same nationality. In both
his operas certain characteristics appear which
seem typical of the Jewish race; the "local
colour" of the earlier work is, of course,
suggested by its subject, and though this is
absent in the later, there are other character-
istics generally recognised as Semitic, such as
the instinct for brilliant effects on the stage and
certain turns of harmony. By these, if by
nothing else, Goldmark is differentiated from
Wagner, in spite of the fact that in Goldmark's
second opera the leit-motiv is far more freely
used than in his first.

The harp-phrase in triple time which is soon
divined as the instrumental equivalent of
'57

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

Merlin, is accounted for by the magic harp
possessed by the seer, which will only sound as
long as his moral purity remains. At the loss
of this, too, his prophetic power must disappear.
The scenario opens in Arthur's " burg," whither
Lancelot comes to know from Merlin how the
approaching battle with the Saxons will go, and
to entreat his aid against the enemy. Merlin
calls up a familiar spirit and commands him to
use his power in Arthur's favour. The con-
dition of this demon is somewhat pitiable, for
he is in Merlin's power, and is constantly
compelled to do good actions against his will.
It is he who devises a method of depriving
Merlin of his skill by ensnaring him in the toils
of Viviane's charms. A very effective invoca-
tion of Fata Morgana, who plays a part similar
to that of Erda in the Wagnerian trilogy,
follows, and her prophetic utterances give place,
none too soon, to the music which ushers in
the victorious Arthur and his knights. Merlin
detects in Bedwyr, one of the knights, the signs
of treachery, and compels him to confess that
he has indeed been plotting against the king.
A song of welcome to Arthur is then sung by
Merlin, who breaks off suddenly as Viviane's
voice is heard singing a wild hunting-song with
158

KARL GOLDMARK

a family resemblance to the Walkiire cry. A
fine ensemble with seven solo parts now leads
up to a scene in which Viviane, asked to crown
the singer, touches him for that purpose, when
it turns out that her mere touch, although he
shrinks from it, has made his harp useless in
his hand. His attempts to strike its chords
are entirely ineffectual; and, throwing the
crown at Merlin's feet, Viviane runs off, and
Arthur himself puts the wreath on Merlin's
head as the act closes. The incident of the
harp suddenly made silent is one of those
things which, in themselves suggestive enough,
can scarcely ever make much effect upon the
stage ; even the best artists rarely attain to such
perfection of gesture as to deceive the audience
into thinking that the "property" harps they
pretend to play are really sounding, and the
sight of a singer vigorously twanging a harp
without the slightest audible result is only too
common a spectacle in " Tannhauser " and other
operas where the instrument in the orchestra
has to supply the sounds supposed to come
from the instrument in the singer's hand. The
effect of the passage, therefore, unless the work
is very carefully managed, must almost certainly
be to create an idea that the harp-player in the
159

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

band has forgotten his cue, or else that the
representative of Merlin has made the gesture
of playing the harp too soon.

The matter-of-fact part of the next act is got
over with a laudable brevity. Modred and
Bedwyr conspire against Arthur, rather unwisely
choosing Merlin's magic garden for their con-
versation; the king comes to the same place
afterwards to take leave of Merlin before going to
battle, and announces that the kingdom is to be
left in Modred's hands until his return. This is
resented by Lancelot, who in good set terms
accuses Modred of treachery, with the usual result
that Merlin's superhuman knowledge of character
is called upon to pronounce on Modred's honesty.
His momentary yielding to temptation at the
sight of Viviane has deprived him of this faculty
as well as of his proficiency on the harp, for he
declares Modred to be innocent. Between
this false decision and the demonstration of its
falsity when Modred's revolt actually breaks
out, there comes a scene full of musical
possibilities, in which Viviane, led in by the
Demon, is induced to invoke, by means of a
magic veil, all kinds of spirits, who dance
according to the accepted traditions of the
habits of their kind. Merlin, entering, warns
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KARL GOLDMARK

Viviane that the veil, if wrapped round her head,
will hold her fast; she, of course, uses the
information for her own purposes, enveloping
Merlin in the veil at a point when he tries to
break free from her endearments. In spite of
all this, the love of the two is represented as
being a real and deep emotion that is capable
of baffling the fiend at the end. The veil
changes to a magic chain confining Merlin,
and the magic garden is at the same moment
transformed into a dreary waste. No very
obvious dramatic purpose is served by this last
change, such as that which accounts for the
fading of Klingsor's magic garden in " Parsifal "
— an incident which cannot have been unknown
to Goldmark's librettist. The state of the
garden continues into the third act, in the early
part of which occurs an effective scene for
Morgana, a graceful chorus of Viviane's hand-
maidens, and another of mocking spirits rejoic-
ing in Merlin's discomfiture. All in vain news
is brought of Arthur's perilous position in the
battle; Merlin cannot free himself by his own
power. Like Vanderdecken, he proposes to
barter his eternal happiness for present freedom
from the chain ; the demon appears, agrees to
the bargain, and at once he is free, and the
161 L

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

garden is in its former luxuriance. Merlin goes
forth to fight, and during his absence a scene of
remarkable effectiveness passes between Viviane
and her attendants, at the close of which, as she
approaches the climax of her song of triumph
to the victorious Merlin, mournful strains are
heard, and the seer is borne in wounded to
death. A stately death-march gains immensely
in effect, of course, from the brilliant music
that has preceded it. As the lovers are saying
their last farewells, the demon appears to claim
his part of the bargain ; but Viviane, recalling
the prophetic words of Morgana, and possibly,
too, the finale of " Der fliegende Hollander,"
stabs herself, an action which has the usual
operatic result of driving off the disappointed
fiend, and reuniting the lovers in a better world.
The work is orchestrated with enormous
ability and feeling for colour ; the harmonic
progressions are sometimes daring, but never
indefensible on technical grounds, although a
certain section of the German press found
grievous fault in this particular. Another
favourite charge to bring against " Merlin " was
the alleged lack of human interest, and the
prominence of the magic and diabolic elements
in the story. This last was a useful accusation
162

KARL GOLDMARK

both for the anti-Wagnerians, who shook their
heads over the composer's "modern" tenden-
cies, and for the Wagnerians, who, of course, did
not wish to accept too heartily a man that was
no longer to be counted among the professed
members of the party. There is no doubt that
demons, fairies, and such like personages have
gone a little out of fashion in opera of late
years ; the magic element, once almost a matter
of course in German opera, if nowhere else, was
used with the utmost restraint by Wagner, and
has entirely or almost entirely disappeared in
the works of the newest Italian school. Yet
there is no reason why this should be so ;
opera at the best of times is a purely conven-
tional form of art, and objections that are valid
enough with regard to plays do not hold good in
regard to the musical drama. To enumerate the
successful operas in which there is a spice of the
supernatural would take far too long, and when
we remember that the most popular opera in
existence at the present moment, Gounod's
" Faust," relies on its supernatural part for all
its effect, it seems scarcely enough to build a
condemnation upon, that a new work deals with
such factors. Zamiel has had his day, perhaps
— more's the pity ! — but Mephistopheles still
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MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

flourishes, and he and his kind seem likely to
hold the stage for many years to come. The
fault seems to me to lie rather on the other
side ; and in " Merlin," I cannot help thinking
that either the librettist or the composer has
erred in treating the figures of Merlin and
Viviane as if they had any real existence. The
wrong note is struck, not by the supernatural
power of the one, or the mysterious witcheries
of the other, but by the sentimental, quasi-
religious ending. The union of these lovers,
begun as a device of the demon to ruin Merlin,
ends as it were in the odour of sanctity and
with the blessings of the audience, if not exactly
of the Church. The truth is that the interesting
figures of the action are one and all a little
removed from ordinary human experience :
Arthur is not nearly as finished a portrait as the
Solomon of the earlier opera, Lancelot and the
other knights are little more than " supers/' and
the interest is concentrated on Merlin and
Viviane, with Fata Morgana and the Demon for
subordinate characters. This being so — and it
is difficult to see how it could be otherwise —
the attempt should have been made to carry
the thing off without reference to "human

164

KARL GOLDMARK

atmosphere of the whole was of a purely
imaginary world, and to keep all psychology
and sentimental speculations as to the future as
far as possible from the minds of the audience.
The intensely human interest which Wagner
managed to put into such extra-human figures
as Kundry is not within the power of less
highly gifted men to reach, and the Bayreuth
master knew the secret of surrounding his
mythical heroine with more or less ordinary
human beings, and of showing her in relation to
these.

The changes in the third act, made since the
publication of the piano score, have certainly
improved the real effect of the end. From the
close of Viviane's song of triumph the action
now proceeds as follows : — The battle is actually
fought on the stage, for a short space, during
which Merlin kills Modred in single combat;
the Demon relates the subsequent course of the
fight to Viviane, and tells her that it was he who
freed the seer from his chain. Morgana passes
across the stage at the back, reminding Viviane
of her vision, and soon after the wounded Merlin
is brought in as in the earlier version. The work
now closes with the funeral march far more
impressively and suitably than before. It may
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MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

not bear that minute analysis into which one
is tempted by its resemblance to Wagner's
works, but from the ordinary operatic standpoint
there can be no doubt as to the brilliancy and
effectiveness of Goldmark's second opera.

It is to be hoped that he will in time add a
third stage-work to these already existing, for
herein lies his power, rather than in the
domain of absolute music. His achievements
in this latter department — taking the term
"absolute" in its widest sense of "non-
dramatic" music — are by no means to be
despised. His best productions, apart from
the theatre, are perhaps those which rank as
" programme - music." The symphony called
" The Country Wedding " has a most agreeable
pastoral flavour, and indeed the only reproach
that can be brought against it is in respect of its
form. The first of its five movements is a set
of variations on a rustic march, the theme of
which is given out, quaintly enough, by violon-
cellos and double-basses alone. In spite of the
interest and variety of the variations, it is diffi-
cult for those who regard the orthodox " first
movement " form as one of permanent value and
beauty, to forgive its absence in a work calling
itself a symphony. For these critics, however, it
1 66

KARL GOLDMARK

is easy to call the work a " suite," in order to
satisfy their consciences and enjoy the music at
the same time. The second movement, called
" Brautlied," is a naive and expressive, sometimes
almost plaintive, little section, and the succeed-
ing scherzo, called "serenade," is scored with
great delicacy and originality. It was rather a
bold expedient to write the movement in D,
when the symphony is in E flat, but the gain in
brightness is undeniable, and the fourth move-
ment leads back to the principal key by way of
G minor. This, called, for no very evident
reason, "Im Garten," is remarkable for a
curious cadenza in the string parts at the
reprise. The finale, inscribed " Tanz," is a very
effective section, and in its course the subject of
the preceding movement is brought in again, as
if the bridal pair took a walk in the garden
between the dances. The second symphony,
in the same key as the first, has a good deal
of the same rustic character, though it is
written to no " programme. '>1L It cries aloud
for scenery and action, for it is far more opera-
tically than symphonically conceived. The
curious want of refinement in the trumpet-tune
played as the trio of the scherzo is, happily, not a
very common characteristic of the composer.
167

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

The " Sakuntala " overture is a fine piece of
colouring in the Oriental style; the admirable
cleverness of its orchestration may be held
to make up for what it lacks in interest of
themes or development. The " Penthesilea "
overture is a picturesque and vivid presentment
of the Amazon queen, needing no words for its
elucidation. The vigorous main section in G
allegro is interrupted by a graceful andante in
the same triple time, but in E, and the close of
the work is very striking : after a slight pause, a
full chord of E major is given out by the wind-
instruments, and answered by the chord of C in
the strings passing into E ; again the chord of
A in the wind is followed by that of F; F
passing in like manner into A in the strings,
and painting for us most unmistakably the
death-blow given by Achilles. The short coda,
built on new material, is decidedly impressive.

The first of the suites for violin and piano is
divided into five movements, and is throughout
interesting and well-written for both instruments.
The second, if not quite so attractive, gives
many good opportunities to a skilful violinist,
and its success in the hands of an artist like
Senor Sarasate, for whom it was written, is
undeniable. Recently the composer has to a
168

KARL GOLDMARK

great extent given up the larger forms of
chamber music — a matter of regret, for in the
works of his early time in this branch of com-
position he achieved some noteworthy results in
the way of colour. It is indeed as a musical
colourist that Goldmark's name will endure;
whether he handles voices or instruments, and
whether in larger or smaller groups, he is nearly
always successful in getting the precise shade of
colouring that is desirable. His arrangements
of material generally arrest attention and keep
it fixed, and this mainly by the disposition of
the forces at his command. He is a master of
superficial effect, though his actual inventive
power is not exceptionally great, by any means.
His melodies have neither the grandeur of
Wagner's ideas nor the flowing grace and
freedom of Bruch's, and the task of trans-
forming or developing themes appears to be
merely a task to him, and to possess no such
attractions as the greatest composers, whether
living or dead, have found in it. Still, as the
best writer for the stage working in Germany,
he has a distinguished place of his own among
contemporary musicians.

169

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

CATALOGUE OF PUBLISHED COMPOSITIONS
BY KARL GOLDMARK.

op.

i.

2.

3-

4. Trio, pf. & strings.

5. " Sturm und Drang," 9 pf. pieces.
6.

7-

8. String quartet in B flat.

9. String quintet in A minor.

10. " Regenlied " for choir.

11. Suite, pf. & vln., in E.

12. 3 Pf. pieces, 4 hands.

13. Overture, " Sakuntala."

14. 2 Male choruses.

15. "Friihlingsnetz," male quartet, 4 horns and pf.

16. " Meeresstille und Gliickliche Fahrt," male voices

and horns.

17. 2 Male choruses.

18. 12 Songs.

19. Scherzo, orch.

20. " Beschworung," song.

21. 4 Songs.

22. Dances, orch.

23. " Fruhlingshymne," alto solo, choir, and orch.

24. " Im Fuscherthal," 6 songs for choir.

25. Sonata, vln. & pf.

26. Symphony, " Die landliche Hochzeit."

27. " Die Konigin von Saba," grand opera in 4 acts.

170

KARL GOLDMARK

op.

28. Concerto, vln. & orch., in A minor.

29. " Novelletten," preludes & fugues, pf.

30. Quintet, pf. & strings, B flat.

31. Overture, " Penthesilea."

32. Songs.

33. Trio, pf. & strings.

34. 4 Songs.

35. Symphony, E flat.

36. Overture, " Im Fruhling."

37. 8 Songs.

38. Overture, " Prometheus Bound."

39. Sonata, pf. & vcello.

40. ,

41. Las yet unpublished.

42. J

43. Suite, vln. & pf.

Without opus-number :—" Merlin," grand opera in

3 acts.
Overture, "Sappho."

171

; •( •«*>

jfa* ViA***d<sr4M~-

y^ <?

JOSEF RHEINBERGER

OF the many classes of musical material, none
was more prolific of influence upon German
composers of the earlier generations than the
organ. The art of organ-composition and per-
formance (the two were so constantly joined
in one individual that they are fitly spoken of
together), starting in Italy and the Netherlands
almost simultaneously, found in Germany a soil
prepared for their growth by the Lutheran
institution of chorales. For the fact that these
hymns were in some sense a protest against the
elaborate polyphonic music of the Roman
Church tended to discourage the development
of the more intricate vocal forms, while the
simplicity of the tunes required much of the
musical interest to be transferred to the instru-
ments which supported and accompanied them.
The long pauses which, for very practical
reasons, were made between the lines, gave an

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

obvious opportunity to a clever organist to
improvise " interludes " of greater or less
elaboration ; and we know what such interludes
ultimately became in the hands of Sebastian
Bach, many of whose sublimest compositions
are little more than a development of the plan
which still subsists in the Lutheran Church.
After Bach the " royal line " of composers, as it
may be called, gave up the organ as the central
root of music, and with the rise of the classical
orchestra the greatest productions of Germany
ceased gradually to be influenced as strongly as
they had been by the king of instruments.
There has not failed a line of organists par
excellence in Germany, but few of these have
attained so high a level of distinction, whether
as a composer for this instrument or in other
departments of art, as JOSEF RHEINBERGER, who,
now that Merkel is dead, may be regarded as the
chief representative in modern music of the
Pachelbels and Buxtehudes of the older day.
In the long list of his works it is very curious
to see the very large proportion of the composi-
tions in which the organ plays an important if
not the only part.

Rheinberger's birthplace is a sort of earthly
paradise among deep forests, with lovely views

JOSEF RHEINBERGER

of the upper Rhine valley. Vaduz, a small
town four miles from the lake of Constance,
used to be the capital of the smallest of the
German Confederations. Here the fourth son
of Prince Liechtenstein's treasurer (Rentmeier),
Peter Rheinberger was born on March 17, 1839,
and baptised in the historical church of St.
Florian by the names of Josef Gabriel. Neither
of the parents was musical to any appreciable
extent, though his father was keen enough to
wish for, and at length to obtain, a new organ
for the parish church, little suspecting that the
first organist appointed to it would be his
youngest son. Frau Rheinberger's brother, a
priest of a village in the neighbourhood, per-
suaded her to allow the village schoolmaster to
give her daughters lessons in the guitar and
singing. To these lessons the little four-year-old
brother used to listen by stealth, and it was
noticed that he profited by what he heard, for
he was learning faster than his sisters. The
father was wise enough to let him learn the
pianoforte, at first on an old harpsichord
belonging to the schoolmaster, and afterwards
on a real piano got for the purpose from Vienna.
For two years he worked assiduously, and soon
became an excellent reader of music. He was.

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

now introduced to the study of musical theory
by one Sebastian Pohly, a pensioned school-
master in Schlanders, who, knowing that an
organist would soon be required for Vaduz,
undertook to make the child fit for the post.
To this end he invented an apparatus by which
the organ-pedals could be brought within reach
of the little player's feet, and at the age of seven,
Josef Rheinberger was actually appointed as the
regular organist of the parish church. Within
the following year the proud parents " assisted "
at a performance of a three-part mass with organ
accompaniment composed by their son. Hear-
ing of this wonderful child, the Bishop of Chur,
who had a taste for music, invited the father to
introduce the boy to him in order that his
musical ability might be tested. A " Salve
Regina," for four male voices and organ, was
put before him on the organ desk, and he was
told to play it while the Bishop and the clergy
sang. After a few bars this enfant terrible
turned round and calmly informed the Bishop
that he was singing out of tune ! Happily the
good-natured dignitary took it in good part and
laughingly gave the boy a ducat for his honesty
and fearlessness. Another very characteristic
story dates from about the same time. There
176

JOSEF RHEINBERGER

were in the organ-loft at Vaduz a number of
masses of which the young organist did not
approve ; so one day during service he stuffed
them all, a la Hedda Gabler, into the stove,
which was put in the organ-loft for his con-
venience. His crime was discovered by a
terrific volume of smoke arising, which naturally
alarmed and disturbed the congregation. He
probably had to thank his youth that this auto
dafe had no serious consequences, or, perhaps,
the masses were of such a kind that the
authorities were secretly not sorry to be rid of
them. Still, one wonders what would have
become of an English boy in the same position
who should have destroyed even "Jackson
in F " !

The elder Rheinberger, though he seems to
have lacked any musical talent, was fully con-
scious of the responsibility of his position as the
father of a musical genius, and was careful to
protect him from influences concerning which
he was not quite sure. For example, when
Liszt passed through the neighbourhood on a
concert-tour, the boy was not allowed to go and
hear him, since the father, or his musical
advisers, dreaded the measure of charlatanism
which they suspected to exist in the great
177 M

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

virtuoso. The circumstance speaks, of course,
more eloquently for their artistic conscience
than for their worldly wisdom.

At the age of nine Rheinberger heard a string
quartet for the first time. The auguries were
good, for the quartet was one of Mozart's, and
the day was the feast of St. Cecilia. A few
dilettanti came over for the day from the
neighbouring Austrian town of Feldkirch,
bringing their instruments with them. The boy
was allowed to turn the leaves for the leader of
the quartet, a revenue official (Cameralbeamter)
named Schrammel, and his delight in the new
musical revelation was so great as to attract
attention ; his casual remark, that the violins
sounded a semitone higher than his piano at
home, was found after the performance to be
accurate, proving him to possess the invaluable
sense of musical pitch that is one of the most
certain proofs of natural capacity for the art.
After some persuasion, Rheinberger's father was
induced to allow the boy to go with Herr
Schrammel to Feldkirch to be taught music,
especially theory, by the choir director there,
Philipp Schmutzer. One severe condition was
attached to the permission : that the organist's
duties at Vaduz were not to be neglected. So
178

JOSEF RHEINBERGER

for some two years the boy trudged the nine
or ten miles between the two places every Satur-
day and Monday. Besides the regular music-
lessons he practised concerted music with the
violin every day, since Schfammel was an
ardent amateur, and no doubt made the most of
his opportunities. His knowledge of other
kinds of music grew rapidly from a lucky friend-
ship he formed with a superannuated school-
master, who not only possessed copies of
Beethoven's sonatas, Bach's " Wohltemperirtes
Clavier," and Mozart's operas (it must be
remembered that in the days before cheap
music had been introduced such a library as
this was not often to be found in out-of-the-way
towns), but had known Mozart personally. The
story is told by a writer in the Neue Musik-
Zeitung, who gives the following conversation
as reported by the old teacher : "I was in 1790
in Vienna as Schulpraparand* and fondly
thought I had a lovely bass voice. To train
this I was recommended to Kapellmeister
Mozart. I went to him, and found a well-
dressed, fine gentleman, who received me

* A master whose work consists of preparing the
pupils at home for their school work.
179

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

graciously. I naturally wanted to show off the
full power of my voice, and I sang, I suppose, a
bit too loud. ['Em bisl zu laut.'] Mozart
jumped up from the piano, stopped his ears,
and, laughing, said, ' Excuse me, dear sir, but I
can't teach oxen to sing ' [* Sie verzeihen's, lieber
Herr, aber an Ochsen kann ich's Singen net
lehren ']." Beside the music above-mentioned,
the old teacher had a cupboard full of music of
all kinds, at which Rheinberger cast longing
eyes. He was given permission to take out one
piece at a time, but on the rather harsh con-
dition that he was to play it, from memory, to
the teacher before exchanging it for another.
No doubt the training did the boy good, and it
may be maintained that the strict discipline to
which he was subjected in one way or another
helped to invigorate his musical constitution,
and to deepen the roots of his musical know-
ledge. If there is one quality for which Rhein-
berger is pre-eminently distinguished, it is the
thoroughness with which all of music that can
be taught has been mastered.

Small as Feldkirch was there were many

opportunities of hearing music, and even of

taking part, and the young Rheinberger appeared

several times at concerts. In 1850 he returned

1 80

JOSEF RHEINBERGER

home and spent a year in hard study, preparing
to enter the Munich Conservatorium. At that in-
stitution he remained from October 1851 to 1854,
learning the piano from Prof. Emil Leonhard,
organ from Prof. Herzog, and counterpoint from
J. J. Maier, the famous curator of the musical
department of the Munich Library. Professor
Niecks states, on good authority, that the last-
named musician is regarded by Rheinberger as
the master to whom he owed most. On leaving
the Conservatorium, Rheinberger became a
private pupil of Franz Lachner, and remained
in Munich earning money by giving lessons on
his own account. On Professor Leonhard's
resignation of his post in the Conservatorium,
Rheinberger was appointed to succeed him, in
1859, as professor of the pianoforte; this situation
he only held a year, for in the next year he was
given the more important office of professorship
of composition. His op. i, a set of four piano
pieces, was not published until the year of his
appointment as teacher, although the pieces had
been written three years before. In 1860 he
obtained his first appointment as organist in
Munich, to the Court church of St. Michael ; in
1864 he undertook to conduct the Munich
Oratorio Society, whose accompanist he had
181

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

been since 1854 ; and about the same time
he became " solo-repetitor " (i.e., " maestro al
cembalo") to the Hoftheater. The first of
these offices was given up in 1866, the second
in 1877, and the third in 1867.

It is curious that in the dated list of his com-
positions there should be none which appears to
have originated during his tenure of his first
important organist's post, and that he should
have produced no works for the organ, a class of
composition in which he was afterwards to make
so great a success. His long connexion with
the choral society bore fruit in the numerous
works for choir and orchestra, and his employ-
ment at the theatre gave opportunity for the
production of two works in the shape of incidental
music to Raimund's Unheilbringende Krone,
and to a version of Calderon's Magico pro-
digioso, the second of which was a great success
when given under the composer's direction. An
opera, " Die sieben Raben," was not produced
until 1869 (May 23), when the composer's
connexion with the theatre had been severed.

That this severance was not wholly due to

the rapidity with which the Wagnerian influences

were gaining ground in the Munich opera just

at this time is pretty conclusively proved by the

182

JOSEF RHEINBERGER

fact that Rheinberger, upon his resignation,
accepted the professorship of counterpoint and
organ in the new Munich Royal Music School,
founded by Von Biilow. Still, there can be no
doubt that throughout his career Rheinberger
has been a pronounced anti-Wagnerian, and it
is very natural that the atmosphere of the theatre
should not have been very congenial to him.
In 1867, the year of his new appointment, he
received the title of Royal Professor, and in
the same year he married a Frl. von Hoffnaas,
the author of the words of some of his most
successful compositions, among others, of
" Toggenburg," op. 76, and " Montfort," op.
145, both works of large calibre. She died
recently.

When the Hoch Conservatorium at Frankfort
was founded the direction was offered to Rhein-
berger, but declined by him; in 1877 he
succeeded Wiillner as Konigliche Hofcapell-
meister (i.e., director of the Court church music).
This new appointment stimulated him to the
composition of many ecclesiastical works, and
from this time onwards sacred music has taken
an ever more prominent place in his list of
works. His Masses, to say nothing of the early
compositions mentioned above, are eleven in

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

number, and among them are one for a single
voice and organ, one for three female voices,
and one in eight parts. This last, op. 109, was
the immediate cause of his obtaining the order
of knighthood of Gregory the Great, from Pope
Leo XIII., to whom it was dedicated ; another,
lately published, op. 172, is for male choir,
organ and wind-instruments. Besides these
there are two settings of the "Stabat Mater,"
op. 1 6 and op. 138 ; two Requiems, opp. 60 and
84, the former written in honour of those who
fell in the war of 1870-71 ; many sacred part-
songs, choruses, and single songs, and no less
than sixteen organ sonatas, the latest, op. 175,
in G sharp minor, besides other organ pieces.
An oratorio, " Christoforus," * and several
cantatas, sacred and secular, for children, as
well as a more recent work, "Die Stern von
Bethlehem," a Christmas cantata, op. 164, are
among his more successful choral works, and a
comic opera, in four acts, "Thiirmers Tochter-
lein," op. 70 (produced at Munich, April 23,
1873), is to De added to the dramatic works
already mentioned.

* Given first in England by Miss Holland's choir,
Feb. 24, 1885.

184

JOSEF RHEINBERGER

Much of his earliest success as a composer
was due to his symphony entitled "Wallen-
stein," which bears the early opus-number 10;
it was given under Rheinberger's direction at
Munich, Leipzig, and Prague, with great success.
Another symphony in F, op. 87, is known as
the " Florentine Symphony," since it was com-
missioned by the Societa Orchestrale of Florence.
His overture, " Demetrius," is a good example
of the happy treatment of national themes.

To English amateurs, the name of Rhein-
berger suggests at once the quartet in E flat for
pianoforte and strings, a work which has been
extraordinarily popular in England since a very
few years after its composition. In spite of a
certain want of distinction in the themes, a
defect which is common to many works of the
composer, the treatment of the materials is so
uniformly skilful, and the instruments are so
effectively employed, that the vogue it has
enjoyed need surprise no one. Since music for
wind-instruments has begun to receive attention
in London (owing to the establishment of the
Wind Instrument Chamber Music Society), the
Nonet, for wind and strings, op. 139, has been
performed several times : it is a good example
of the composer's complete knowledge of the
185

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

nature of the various instruments, and indeed it
is hard to mention a single work of his which is
not perfectly suited to the medium for which it
is intended. His pianoforte pieces are models
in their kind in this respect. One has only to
look at the first bars of "Die Jagd," a piece
included in Rheinberger's op. 5, and dating as
far back as 1862 or so, to see that he has got
the greatest possible effect out of very little : for
the piece, though it sounds fairly difficult, is
within the powers of very ordinary performers.
In looking through the long list of his works it
is curious to see how many of the early composi-
tions have made their mark. The "Wallen-
stein " symphony is only op. 10; a most effective
duo for two pianofortes is op. 15 ; " Aus Italien,"-
a group of pieces containing some of the com-
poser's happiest inspirations, is op. 29 ; and the
famous quartet is op. 38. This, taken in con-
nection with the comparative want of general
recognition that has befallen many of his later
works, seems to indicate that the fountain of his
inspiration has not kept its freshness ; and the
sign is, perhaps, not wholly misleading. The
department of his work in which the highest
level has been maintained throughout his career
is beyond question that of the organ composi-
186

JOSEF RHEINBERGER

tions. The whole series of organ sonatas,
covering as they do a period of over twenty
years, has a richness of colouring, a mastery of
effect, and a constant flow of beautiful ideas
that are by no means always found in his other
works. If we except the works of Gustav
Merkel, these sonatas are by far the most
valuable addition to the literature of the instru-
ment since the sonatas of Mendelssohn. In
many of his larger works, too, whether for
orchestra or voices, there is a freedom of mani-
pulation and a real breadth of treatment that
appeal strongly to the musical sense, and
successfully veil the occasional thinness, not to
say poverty, of invention.

In early life Rheinberger learnt easily all
that could be taught, and in later years he has
taught successfully all that can be learnt. Those
who are the most original and in the highest
sense distinguished among composers very
rarely attain great success as teachers of the
art in which they themselves excel. It often
happens that they have assimilated its techni-
calities so unconsciously that they are unable to
impart them to others ; and the great creative
genius is seldom very tolerant of the difficulties
encountered by natures less richly endowed.
187

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

Rheinberger has been called, and not without
justice, the best teacher of composition since
Hauptmann. By the kindness of a pupil of
Rheinberger's, Dr. G. J. Bennett, I am able to
give a somewhat detailed description of the
course of study adopted by him, for composi-
tion pupils, who, strangely enough, are never
taught separately, but always in classes or
smaller groups. The course extends over three
years, and each class contains from twelve to
twenty-four pupils. The work consists princi-
pally of " the composition of fugues, canons,
variations, etc., at the blackboard, pupils being
called on in turn to go to the blackboard, the
whole being supervised, corrected, and often
entirely condemned, by Rheinberger. The
work is copied into manuscript books by all the
pupils, and at the next lesson the master calls
on a pupil to play the piece as far as it is done,
and it is then continued from that point. The
composition of a fully developed fugue, or a set
of variations, extends over several lessons.
Rheinberger frequently suggests at the piano
the manner in which the work should be con-
tinued.

" I think that his strong point as a master is
his truly wonderful command of free counter-
188

JOSEF RHEINBERGER

point, combined with modern free harmonic
treatment. He does not believe in the practice
of strict counterpoint — in fact, he does not teach
it at all. In the blackboard work he always
insists on some individuality : mere correct,
pedantic counterpoint has immediately to be
rubbed out. Many of the fugues, canons, or
variations written in this way are good and even
charming compositions, far above the usual
merely correct contrapuntal work done in
schools. One set of variations for string quartet
so produced has been published by him.
Although Rheinberger is an advocate of strict
classical forms, and strongly opposed to Wag-
ner's principles, in other respects he is by no
means a pedant. In matters of harmony he is
extremely free, and in part-writing he continually
allows progressions which would horrify many
masters, but which are always justifiable by the
natural flow of the individual parts. The scheme
of teaching for three years is as follows : —

" First year. — Free harmonisation of chorales,
including canto fermo in alto, tenor, and bass ;
the same for strings with florid counterpoint,
free florid counterpoint in four parts, and rapid
review of harmony based on Hauptmann and
Richter.

189

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

" Second year. — First half of lesson : Double
counterpoint, and, later, fugue, vocal and instru-
mental, in two to six parts ; double and triple
fugue. — Second half of lesson : Instrumentation,
based on Berlioz, comprising a complete de-
scription of instruments, their compass, etc., and
scoring of movements, usually slow movements
from Mozart or Beethoven's sonatas or quartets,
for small orchestra.

"Third year. — First half of lesson: Canon,
at all intervals, usually with a free bass,
and double canon. — Second half of lesson :
Choruses on a chorale with free accompani-
ment for strings ; choruses in six, seven, eight
parts, unaccompanied, and on a chorale. Com-
position of free variations for string quartet, and
analysis of sonatas and symphonies.

"In instrumentation he holds some very
old-fashioned views. He has, for instance, a
great objection to reiterated chords for the
wind, as in the scherzo of Beethoven's eighth
symphony, and in the 'Italian' symphony of
Mendelssohn.

"Although he also occupies the position of

principal organ-professor at the Musikschule, I

think that his organ-lessons are of less value

than those in counterpoint and composition.

190

JOSEF RHEINBERGER

He is a believer in the colourless style of
playing so prevalent in Germany. Bach is
taken very slowly and with little change of
registering, and Rheinberger is entirely out of
sympathy with modern French organ-music —
in fact, with any music introducing staccato
playing on the organ. This is possibly to be
accounted for partly by the state of organs in
Germany.

" Although his manner is naturally proud and
ceremonious, and occasionally harsh when teach-
ing dull or lazy pupils, he is uniformly kind to
those who work regularly, and is very much
respected by them. He teaches a great number
of foreigners, and among these the most talented
are frequently Americans : for he enjoys in
America an even higher reputation than in
England."

It will interest English readers to learn that
he was delighted with "The Mikado" when it was
given at Munich by a travelling company.

On the other hand he was disappointed with
" The Golden Legend," holding Sir Arthur Sulli-
van's strong point to be the composition of comic
music, and discerning, what few othercritics of
this work have found, a Wagnerian influence in
it. Like other strong opponents of Wagner's
191

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

methods and theories, he fancies the existence
of such influences even among his fellow
anti-Wagnerians.

CATALOGUE OF PUBLISHED COMPOSITIONS
BY JOSEF RHEINBERGER.

op.

1. 4 Pieces, pf.

2. 5 Choruses.

3. 7 Songs.

4. 5 Songs.

^ 3 Small pf. pieces.
^ 3 Studies, pf.
^7*. 3 Pieces, pf.
^. •• Waldmarchen," pf.
9. 5 Studies, pf.
10. " Wallenstein," symphony.
"Tre^ Pf. pieces.
^is. Toccata, pf.

13. "Tarantella," pf., 4 hands.

14. 24 Preludes, pf.

15. Duo, 2 pfs.

16. " Stabat Mater," choir, stringed orch. & organ.

17. 2 Balladen, choir.

18. Overture, " Taming of the Shrew."

19. Toccatina, pf.

20. " Die sieben Raben," romantic opera in 3 acts.

192

JOSEF RHEINBERGER

Op.

21. " Wasserfee," vocal quartet & pf.

22. 4 Songs.

- 23. Fantasiestiick, pf.

24. 4 Vocal quartets.

25. " Lockung," vocal quartet & pf.

26. 7 Songs.

27. ist Organ sonata, C minor.
Xa3. 4 Humoresken, pf.

""^ " Aus Italien," 3 pf. pieces.

30. 7 Pf. duets (from the music to " Der Wunderthatige

Magus ").

31. 5 Part-songs.

32. " Jairus's Daughter," cantata for children.
_ 33. Prelude & fugue, pf.

34. Trio, pf. and strings.

35. Hymn for female choir and harp.

36. 9 Duets, pf. (from the music to " Die unheilbring-

ende Krone ").

37. " Der arme Heinrich," Singspiel for children.

38. Quartet, pf. & strings, in E flat.
^-3^. 6 Pf. pieces, in fugal form.

40. 5 Motets, choir.

41. 7 Songs.
,-42. Pf. studies.

^ Capriccio giocoso, pf.

44. 3 Male choruses.

"4^. 2 Pf. studies on a theme by Handel.

46. " Passionsgesang," choir and organ.

^7. Sonata symphonique, pf.

48. 4 Male choruses.

49. 10 Organ trios.

193 N

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

op.

50. " Das Thai von Espingo," ballad, choir & orch.

51. Improvisation on a theme from " Die Zauber-

flote," pf.

52. 5 Part-songs.

53- 3 Klaviervortrage, pf.

54. 4 Hymns, soprano & organ.

55. 8 Songs.

56. 4 Vocal quartets, with strings & pf.

57. 7 Songs.

58. 6 Vocal quartets.

59. Studies, pf.

60. Requiem, choir and orch.
^&j^. Theme & variations, pf.

62. Mass for one voice & organ.

63. 8 Part-songs.

64. " Maitag," 3-part female choruses.

65. 2nd Organ sonata in A flat.

66. 3 Studies, pf.

67. 6 Preludes, pf.
"68^ 6 Fugal pieces, pf.

69. 3 Sacred part-songs.

70. "Thurmers Tochterlein," comic opera in 4

acts.

71. " Konig Erich," ballad, vocal quartet & pf.

72. " Aus den Ferientagen," 4 pf. duets.

73. 5 Male choruses.

74. 5 Male choruses.

75. 2 Vocal quartets.

76. " Toggenburg," soli, choir and pf., or orch.

77. Sonata, pf. & vcello., E flat.

78. 3 Pf. pieces.

194

JOSEF RHEINBERGER

op.

79. Fantasia, orch. or pf., 4 hands.

80. 5 Part-songs.

81. " Die todte Braut," romance, mezzo soprano,

choir, & orch.

82. String quintet in A minor.

83. Missa brevis in D minor.

84. Requiem in E flat.

85. 7 Male choruses.

86. 7 Male quartets.

87. Symphony (" Florentine ") in F.

88. 3rd Organ sonata in G.

89. String quartet in C minor.

90. " Vom Rheine," 6 male choruses.

91. " Johannisnacht," male quartet and pf.

92. Sonata, pf. and vcello., in C.

93. Theme and variations, string quartet.

94. Pf. concerto in A flat.

95. 2 Choruses.

96. 3 Latin hymns, for female choir.

97. " Klarchen auf Eberstein," ballad, soli, choir,

& orch.

98. 4th Organ sonata in A minor.
^99^ Pf. sonata in D flat.

100. 7 Male choruses.

101. 3 Vortragsstudien, pf.

102. " Wittekind," ballade, male choir & orch.

103. 3 Vocal duets.
—104. Toccata, pf.

105. Sonata, vln. & pf., in E minor.

106. 2 Romantic songs, 4 voices & orch.

107. 5 Hymns for choir.

195

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

op.

1 08. " Am Strom," 6 part-songs.

109. Mass in E flat for double choir, ded. to Leo XIII.
no. Overture to Schiller's " Demetrius."

in. 5th Organ sonata in F sharp.

112. and Trio, pf. & strings, in A.
-113. 6 Studies for pf. (left-hand).

1 14. Quintet, pf. & strings, in C.
• 115. Toccata, pf.

1 16. 4 Male choruses.

117. " Missa Sanctissimae Trinitatis," choir, in F.

118. 6 Two-part hymns, with organ.

1 19. 6th Organ sonata, in E flat minor.

1 20. " Christoforus," legend, for soli, choir, & orch.

121. Trio, pf. & strings, in B flat.

122. Sonata in C minor, pf. 4-hands.

123. 24 Fughetten for organ.

124. 8 Songs for 4 voices.

125. 7 Male choruses.

126. Mass, 3-part female choir, in A.

127. 7th Organ sonata, in F minor.

128. 4 Songs.

129. 3 Italian songs.

130. 6 Male choruses.

131. 6 Female choruses.

132. 8th Organ sonata in E minor.

133. 4 Motets, 6-part choir.

134. Easter hymn, double choir.
,.135. Pf. sonata in E flat.

136. 14 Songs.

137. Organ concerto in F, with orch.

138. Stabat Mater, choir & orch.

196

JOSEF RHEINBERGER

Op.

139. Nonet, wind & strings.

140. 5 Hymns, choir & organ.

141. 6 Male choruses.

142. gth Organ sonata in B flat minor.

143. Ballade, male choir & brass, " Die Rosen von

Hildesheim."

144. 3 Male choruses.

145. "Montfort," soli, choir, & orch.

146. loth Organ sonata, in B minor.

147. String quartet in F.

148. nth Organ sonata in D minor.

149. Suite, organ, vln., & vcello.

150. 6 Pieces, vln. & organ.

151. Mass in G.

152. 30 Children's songs.

153. " Das Zauberwort," Singspiel, in 2 acts, for child-

ren.

154. 1 2th Organ sonata in D flat.

155. Mass, 3-part female choir, & organ.

156. 12 Characterstiicke for organ.

157. 6 Sacred songs.
158.

159. Mass, 4-part choir and organ in F minor.

160. " Auf der Wanderung," 7 male choruses.

161. 1 3th Organ sonata, in E flat.

162. "Monologue," 12 organ pieces.

163. Five motets, 5-part choir.

164. "Die Stern von Bethlehem," Christmas cantata.

165. I4th Organ sonata, in C.

166. Suite, vln. & organ.

167. " Meditations," 12 organ pieces.

197

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

op.

1 68. 1 5th Organ sonata, in D.

169. Mass, soli, choir, & orch.
170.

171. " Marianische Hymnen," voice & organ.

172. Mass, male choir & orch.

173. 4 Male choruses.
174.

175. 1 7th Organ sonata, in G sharp minor.

Without opus-numbers : —

" Ave, Maria," soprano & organ.
Romance for soprano & harp.
" Carmina sacra," songs with organ.
Arrangement of Bach's 30 variations for 2 pfs

198

THE OLDER GENERATION

THEODOR KIRCHNER— CARL
REINECKE— WOLDEMAR BARGIEL

THE two composers whose names stand first at
the head of this chapter afford a curious parallel
and a still more curious contrast to each other.
Each has been so wholly possessed by admiration
of a great master a little older and a great deal
more richly endowed with genius than himself
as to lose to a great extent his own artistic
personality in that of his ideal. In early life
THEODOR KIRCHNER took Schumann as the
model of his life's work, and Reinecke in the
same way took Mendelssohn.

The contrast between the outward circum-
stances of the great men has been strangely
repeated in the lives of their respective followers ;
Reinecke seems to have inherited the prosperity
and good fortune that were Mendelssohn's,
199

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

while to Kirchner has fallen an undue share of
trouble, though not of the same kind as that
which darkened Schumann's days. It is only
fair to add that Kirchner has inherited at the
same time a double portion of Schumann's
spirit.

Born December 10, 1823,* at Neukirchen
in Saxony, Kirchner, the son of a schoolmaster
in very humble circumstances, was brought
up at Wittgensdorf, where, at a very early
age, he began to learn the organ from his
father. In 1831 he was taken to Dresden
to be introduced, as a promising musical
genius, to J. G. Schneider, an organist, the
brother of the composer of " Das Weltgericht "
— an oratorio that, whatever its worth, is perhaps
more famous in the present day from the fact
that Schumann, when a boy, got up a performance
of it, than for any other reason. After learning
what he could from theBiirgerschuleat Chemnitz,
Kirchner was taken to Leipzig, and presented
to Weinlig and Mendelssohn, the latter of
whom was delighted with the boy's powers of

* The date given in Grove and elsewhere, 1824, is
wrong, as the certificate of birth, in the possession of
Herr Constantin Sander, of Leipzig, shows the above
to be the true date.

200

THEODOR KIRCHNER

extemporising on a given theme. He remained
at Leipzig, studying with K. F. Becker, organist of
the Nicolaikirche. Here the works of Schumann,
who was then comparatively unknown, began to
influence him, and in his own attempts at
composition he naturally formed himself on the
composer whom he admired. Both in Schu-
mann's letters, and in his contributions to the
Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik, the favourable
references to Kirchner's early works are numerous
and most encouraging. Looking back upon
Kirchner's career, Schumann's opinion of his
powers seems a little exaggerated ; but we know
that he was the kindliest of critics and often
mistook promise for actual attainment.

After a year at Dresden, where he went to com-
plete his organ-studies under Schneider, Kirchner
returned to Leipzig at the request of Mendelssohn,
to enter the newly founded Conservatorium as its
first pupil. In the autumn of 1843, after six
months at the new school, he received his first
appointment as organist at Winterthiir, where
he remained for nearly twenty years. He
was succeeded, on his departure for Zurich,
where he went to conduct the subscription con-
certs, by Hermann Goetz, the illustrious com-
poser of the " Taming of the Shrew." Kirchner

3QI

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

took part as organist at many musical festivals
of considerable importance in Switzerland ; his
knowledge of "registration" is said to be one
of his most remarkable qualities in this way,
and it is one that is extremely rare among
German organists. After a short residence at
the ducal Court of Meiningen, he was appointed
director of the newly-founded music-school in
Wiirzburg, in February 1873; Dut two years of
this kind of work were enough for him, and he
went back to Leipzig in order to devote himself
to composition and private lessons. Unfortu-
nately these latter were so few that the composer's
circumstances rapidly became serious : and at
last, in desperation, he had to take to a means of
livelihood which has often been resorted to by
necessitous musicians — that of making pianoforte
arrangements of popular works. It is only fair
to say that he avoided the perpetration of this
class of "pot-boiler" work as long as it was
possible. Meanwhile his original compositions
were long in making their way, and even now it
cannot be said that they have received the
attention they deserve. An appointment as
teacher of ensemble-playing and score-reading
at the Dresden Conservatorium, bestowed upon
Kirchner in 1883, did not mend matters very
202

THEODOR KIRCHNER

much, for lessons were still very few; and in
1884 a subscription of some 36,000 marks was
raised, by the energies of a committee of his
friends, including Brahms, Stockhausen, Joachim,
Billow, and others. Since 1890 Kirchner has
lived in Hamburg.

His works, the list of which now extends to
op. 90, were at first very slowly produced; his
op. i appeared in 1843, op. 2 not till 1850, and
by 1870 only op. 10 had been reached. This
points to a remarkable degree of self-criticism,
and the same rare quality is to be perceived in
the works themselves, which are always most
carefully finished and maturely considered.
Just as August Roeckel, when Capellmeister at
Dresden, destroyed an opera of his own which
had been accepted for performance, because he
was overwhelmed by the greatness of Wagner's
genius, so Kirchner dreaded publishing anything
of his composition because he was only too
fully conscious of his inferiority to Schumann.
The disciple's music receives a strong colouring
from that of the master, as is perhaps only
natural ; still, there are many features of distinct
charm and even individuality. The great bulk
of his work is in the form of songs and short
pieces for pianoforte or violin ; the list contains
203

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

also a " serenade " for piano, violin, and violon-
cello, and a string quartet. It may be doubted
whether the direct imitation of Schumann in
the character of the titles chosen for many of
these pieces has not actually stood in the way
of their popularity, instead of assisting it, as it
was no doubt meant to do.

We are sometimes inclined to think of Ger-
many as a country where possibly all men, and
certainly all musicians, find their proper level ;
where offices are always filled with the most
competent candidates, and the right man is, as
a matter of course, put into the right place.
There may be fewer round pegs in square holes
among German musicians than among those of
our own country, but in general the impression
is by no means correct. If it were, then should
the name of CARL REINECKE, who has held for
upwards of thirty years the most important post
in the most important musical centre of Germany,
stand high above all his countrymen. With his
performance of his duties as conductor of the
famous Gewandhaus concerts in Leipzig, English
readers have little to do; it is hardly to be
maintained, however, that he is a perfect con-
ductor. To conduct an orchestra with complete
204

CARL REINECKE

success demands many of the characteristics
which go to make a great general, and these
characteristics could hardly be suggested to a
German in connection with Reinecke's name
without exciting mirth. He has the qualities
of his defects, and a gentle nature gives to the
best of his compositions the value which they
undoubtedly possess. When the list of a com-
poser's published works reaches the formidable
number of over two hundred separate composi-
tions, cast in every imaginable form, it seems
strange that so very few of them should find
wide or lasting acceptance in the world of music.
It is pretty certain that Reinecke will be remem-
bered in the near future, not by his operas
" Konig Manfred " or " Der Gouverneur von
Tours," his symphonies, his chamber composi-
tions, or even by his piano concerto in F sharp
minor — a work in which he has appeared with
success in England, and one which is a good deal
more happily inspired than the bulk of his com-
positions— but by certain works he has written
for children, such as the pretty cantatas, "Schnee-
wittchen " and "Aschenbrodel," "Dornroschen,"
"Schneeweisschen und Rosenroth," and the like,
and the many children's songs by which his name
is endeared to thousands of small Germans. His
205

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

works in the larger forms are reproached, and
no doubt fairly enough, with poverty of invention
and cold classicality, although he is master of
the ordinary resources of the instruments for
which he writes, as well as of the more
scientific parts of music, such as counter-
point, canonic devices, and so forth. As an
arranger of other men's work he is especially
successful : a delightful instance of this is the
" improvisata " for two pianos on a hackneyed
gavotte by Gluck, in the course of which he
introduces with great ingenuity a musette of
Bach against the theme. He is not merely an
admirably sympathetic accompanist, but a most
highly accomplished pianist of the older school
— a school unaffected by the pyrotechnics of a
generation that is now in its turn passing away.
To have heard one of Mozart's concertos
played by Reinecke is a memorable experience
in the lives of such musicians as are sufficiently
trained to appreciate the consummate delicacy
and artistic skill which the performance exhibits.
The exact cause of his want of success as a
composer may be hard to determine, for many
men not more original than he have succeeded
where he has not. It may be that his career
has been too uniformly prosperous.
206

CARL REINECKE

" Wer nie sein Brod mit Thranen ass,

* * . * * * * *

Der kennt euch nicht, ihr himmlischen Machte."

Many a career outwardly as prosperous as his
has been saved from the unenlightened condition
that Goethe speaks of, by difficulties of which
the world never hears, by throes of production
or tortures of self-criticism ; but in this case
the enormous list of compositions shows that
their creation cannot have cost their author
many pangs of travail.

Born in 1824 at Altona, the son of a musician,
Carl Heinrich Carsten* Reinecke began to learn
the pianoforte at five years old, and at eight to
compose. At twelve his first appearance as a
player took place at a concert of the " Apollo-
Verein" in his native place; and about the
same time he perpetrated an overture embodying
the " Marseillaise," the performance of which
had the honour of being stopped by the authori-
ties. After many successful appearances in
Denmark and elsewhere, he made his bow to
the Leipzig audience at a Gewandhaus concert,
playing Mendelssohn's "Serenade and Allegro
giojoso " in the presence of the composer, and,

* The words of some of his songs are signed with
his second and third names alone.
207

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

as far as is known, to his complete satisfaction.
This took place just fifty years ago, in the winter
of 1843. It was a curious coincidence that at
the first chamber concert in Leipzig in which
he took part he should have played Schumann's
quintet, and thus at first identified himself in
some measure with the two masters whose
influence has been strongest upon him through-
out his life. The years between this appearance
and his appointment to the post which he still
holds were occupied with successful concert-
tours, in the intervals of which he lived first at
Copenhagen, until the death of Christian VIII.
in 1848, and the subsequent appropriation of
Holstein, his native province, by Prussia.
During a stay of three months in Paris in
1851 he gave pianoforte lessons to Liszt's two
daughters — a high testimony to that great
virtuoso's appreciation of his powers. After
this he was successively appointed teacher of
composition and piano in the Cologne music-
school under Hiller (1851), music director at
Barmen (1854), and director (" Universitats-
musikdirector ") of the Singakademie at Breslau
(1858). During his tenure of this last office
he instituted the orchestral concerts which are
still prosperous and famous throughout Germany.
208

CARL REINECKE

In 1860 he was invited to become conductor of
the Gewandhaus concerts in succession to Julius
Rietz, who went to Dresden in that year. At
the same time he became teacher of composition
and the pianoforte in the Conservatorium,
another post which he still holds. In October
1885, his completion of twenty- five years' service
as director was celebrated by a performance of
his " Konig Manfred " at the Opera, and by a
concert consisting exclusively of his compositions.
At the opening of the new Gewandhaus in 1884
he received the degree of doctor honoris causa
from the University of Leipzig. He is the
recipient of many orders and honours of various
kinds, the list of which would take up almost as
much space as that of his compositions. It
may be surmised that he would gladly part with
some of these distinctions, if by so doing he
could attain for his music a larger share of wider
and more permanent popularity than it now
enjoys.

It is a truism that the romanticists of one
generation become the classics of the next ;
that the discoveries over which pedants shook
their heads at first are before long transformed
into accepted canons of the schools. The change
209 o

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

usually takes place almost imperceptibly, as
those who were, in their youth, fervent admirers
of 'what was new reach an age at which the
pedagogic manner is too easily assumed. It
is always the followers of the innovators, never
the innovators themselves, who undergo this
transition from living enthusiasms to dryasdust
formulae. Such a transition can sometimes be
observed in progress, as in the case of WOLDEMAR
BARGIEL, in the course of whose career the
admiration of the great master who dominated
German music during his early life has gradually
changed into a more or less cold and academic
habit of mind and work. Outward causes
have contributed largely to this, for his
career as a teacher began immediately on the
close of his pupilage, and for this reason,
too, it is hardly to be wondered at if his
own compositions have failed to make a very
deep or permanent mark upon the art of his
time.

With Schumann, the chief object of his musi-
cal adoration, he had more than an artistic
connexion, since he is half-brother of Madame
Schumann, whose mother, after being separated
from Friedrich Wieck, married a musician named
Bargiel. The composer was born in Berlin,
210

WOLDEMAR BARGIEL

October 3, 1828, and, like so many of his
colleagues, received the rudiments of musical
instruction on the piano, organ, and violin from
his father, who was the founder of an institute
on the Logier method in Berlin. On the death
of his father his musical education must have
stopped, the widow being unable to afford her
son regular lessons, had it not been for the
kindness of Herr Grell, the well-known director
of the " Singakademie," through whose influence
the boy was admitted into the probationary
choir, and ultimately, as alto soloist, into the
Domchor. He made good use of his time,
and of the opportunities for more advanced
instruction which came to him through Wilhelm
Dehn; in 1846, having applied for it on Schu-
mann's advice, he obtained the equivalent of
a scholarship at the Leipzig Conservatorium,
where for four years he studied with such
excellent masters as Richter, Hauptmann, Rietz,
Gade, and Moscheles, and where he wrote an
octet for strings, performed with success at one
of the concerts of the institution. He was
enabled to remain at the Conservatorium longer
than the regular time by a grant from the King
of Prussia, and in 1850 he returned to Berlin
as a pianoforte teacher, composing only in
211

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

his spare time. Throughout his life, indeed,
composition has been only the resource of
his leisure, not the main employment of his
time. With the change of residence seems
to have come a change in artistic ideals, for
Mendelssohn was no longer what he had
been, prime favourite among composers ; Schu-
mann's influence, both personal and artistic,
was upon the young man, and the promise
given in his early works was hailed by the
older musician with his usual warmth of ex-
pression.

In 1858 Bargiel received an invitation from
Hiller to the post of pianoforte teacher at the
Cologne Conservatorium, where he remained
until 1865, when he was appointed director
of the " Maatschappij tot Bevordering der
Toonkunst " at Rotterdam ; here he conducted
the excellent concerts given by this energetic
and useful society for some nine years, until
he returned once more to Berlin as teacher of
composition in the Royal Academy of Arts,
a post which he held together with that of
teacher of score- and ensemble-playing in the
Hochschule. In 1875 he was made a mem-
ber of the Academy; in 1878 he received the
title of Royal Professor; in 1882 he became

WOLDEMAR BARGIEL

president of what is known as a Meisterschule,
intended for advanced pupils only, and in 1888
president of the composition department of the
Hochschule. Since 1875 he has conducted
the Bach Society of Berlin.

The largest section of his works is that for
pianoforte solo or duet, that instrument being
alone concerned in 26 out of his 47 published
compositions. He is at his best in these, for
he excels in the invention of ingenious
passages, and in the dexterous arrangement of
ideas not often marked by individuality or
exceptional beauty. The suite in G minor, op.
31, with its five well contrasted movements, is
perhaps the most popular of these works, and
it certainly deserves to be so. Its "Marcia
fantastica" contains a curious instance of the
amalgamation, or rather alternation, of two
different and wholly contrasting movements
in one, the device which adorns the middle
movement of Brahms' violin sonata in A.
Some of the author's most ambitious works,
such as the symphony in C major, op. 30,
suffer from a certain triviality in the thematic
material, and a want of originality in its treat-
ment. The working out of his subjects seems
often to be done in an almost perfunctory way,
213

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

as if from a sense of duty to the composer's
pupils, rather than in obedience to any impulse
of genius. The first of his three trios, op. 6, in
F, is among the best of his works; dedicated to
Schumann, it opens with a quotation from that
master's quintet, treated canonically, and its
subject-matter throughout is very beautiful.
The grace of many of his slighter pieces, such
as a particularly lovely "Albumblatt" in G
major, and others, make it most unjust to
describe Bargiel as academical, and nothing
more. Of the three orchestral overtures, that
to "Medea" is better than the "Overture to a
Tragedy" (also called " Romeo and Juliet"), or
that to " Prometheus." Four psalms for different
choral combinations, with and without orches-
tra, represent his contribution to church music ;
and a group of six most graceful trios for female
voices, opp. 35 and 39, have attained a well-
deserved popularity. An essay of some interest
on "Novelty in Music," which appeared in
Lewinsky's "Vor den Coulissen," represents
the composer's contribution to musical liter-
ature. If he cannot be classed with the
greatest of the living masters, or look forward
with certainty to a place among the immortals
of music, it must be remembered in his favour
214

WOLDEMAR BARGIEL

that he has never fallen below a high artistic
ideal, or courted popularity by work consciously
of an inferior order. His influence has been
wholly for good, and his success as a teacher
undeniable.

215

TWO GREAT VIRTUOSI

JOSEPH JOACHIM— CLARA
SCHUMANN

THE present series of monographs does not
pretend to deal with any class of musicians
except composers ; but it so happens that two
of the most illustrious instrumental performers
that Germany has ever produced are also two
composers of high merit, one of them a creative
genius of quite exceptional power. It is only
just, then, to notice, however shortly, the career
both of Joachim and Mme. Schumann as com-
posers, leaving on one side the brilliant record
of each in the sphere where each has made the
greatest mark on the history of the art.

It is a rule of almost universal application

that performers of rare dexterity are bound to

make certain sacrifices to that dexterity, and at

least to make it the chief element in their

217

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

artistic career. By dexterity I do not mean
merely superficial agility of finger or of voice,
but the whole technical side of the performer's
art. This side of music acquires such an
attraction for them that they are apt to neglect
not only the other branches of music itself, but
all the rest of the intellectual life. The better
members of the virtuoso class are frequently to
be found among the composers, but in nearly
all cases their compositions, if not actually and
intentionally show-pieces for their own use, are
almost sure to be affected in some way or other
by that particular quality in which they excel
as performers. Liszt is an instance of a
brilliant performer who cultivated other deve-
lopments of music, besides those which con-
cerned the pianoforte, and his contributions to
the new effects of orchestration are of perma-
nent value, though his original creations are
as a rule far less excellent than his manifold
transcriptions and arrangements of various
kinds. In these, or rather in many of them,
even where the pianoforte is not employed at
all, the figures seem often to have been
suggested by pianoforte passages, and his extra-
ordinary lack of the sense of beauty in melody
may be in some sort accounted for by the
218

JOSEPH JOACHIM

damaging effect upon the musical ear of certain
branches of piano practice. JOSEPH JOACHIM is
the very reverse of all this. If the greater
number of his exceedingly small list of com-
positions are for the violin, and if they natu-
rally include works of " transcendental "
difficulty (as it is the fashion to call them),
there are also many whose musical value is
entirely independent of the instrument on
which the master has so long ago gained his
complete supremacy.

He does not, like Schumann, deliberately shun
" effect," but no writer has ever shown a more
complete disregard of what will please the
public. In this way, as in so many others,
Joachim stands alone amongst virtuosi, for in
each and all of his works art is the first thing
considered. On a certain memorable occasion,
when a large number of his admirers in England
presented him with a Stradivarius violin of
historic celebrity, after a "Monday Pop," he
made a little speech, at the end of which he stated
his conviction that the musician's ideal should be
" to uphold the dignity of art." This high object
has in the fullest sense been realised by him,
whether in his illustrious career as a player, or
in his less prominent capacity as a composer.
219

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

Born at Kittsee, near Pressburg, June 28,
1831, the youngest of a family of seven, he
played the violin at five years old, and was very
early placed under Szervacsinsky, the leader of
the opera band at Pesth, for instruction. From
1841 onwards he was a pupil of Bohm in
Vienna, receiving from him the traditions of the
greatest school of violin-playing, that had been
handed down in an unbroken line from Corelli.
At twelve years old he visited North Germany
for the first time, appearing at Leipzig at a
concert given by Mme. Viardot on May 14,
1843; ne played a rondo by De Beriot, Men-
delssohn himself doing him the honour of
playing the accompaniment. The Leipzig
musical atmosphere suited the boy's earnest
nature, and here under David he laid the
foundations of his wonderful power of inter-
preting the classical masterpieces, while he
studied composition under Hauptmann, and
learnt much from his intimacy with Mendels-
sohn. When he came to London, in 1844, he
was in some senses a finished artist. It is odd
to think of his making his first bow to an
English audience under the auspices of the
"poet Bunn," at whose benefit concert he
appeared on March 28. A more satisfactory

220

JOSEPH JOACHIM

engagement at the Philharmonic followed in
two months' time, and he played there Beet-
hoven's immortal concerto. It may be almost
said that ever since then England has been a
second home to him all through his artistic
career ; his visits did not become annual, how-
ever, until the establishment of the Popular
Concerts. In 1849, through the recommenda-
tion of his countryman, Franz Liszt, he received
the appointment of leader of the Grand Duke's
band at Weimar, but the " advanced " or revolu-
tionary theories which were then beginning to
make themselves felt in the music of the place
were by no means congenial to him, and in
1854 he accepted the post of solo-violinist to
the King of Hanover. Here he remained until
1866, and here he married the famous contralto
singer, Amalie Weiss, in 1863. In 1868 he was
made head of the " Hochschule fur ausiibende
Tonkunst " at Berlin, a post in which he has
exercised a splendid influence on the younger
generation ever since.

It may well be imagined that there would not
be much time for composition in a life taken up
with perpetual appearances in public and con-
stant teaching, to say nothing of the manage-
ment of a great school of music. There would
321

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

have been no cause to grumble if his work as a
composer had been confined to a few trifling
violin solos, attractive because played by their
author in unsurpassable style, but disappointing
in other hands. With that sort of thing we are
only too familiar. But with Joachim the case
is different ; his compositions are none of them
trifles, and those which are for the violin he
most rarely plays, at least in England. The
list is somewhat remarkable, for the extremely
small number of small things in it, and for the
large proportion of important works : —

Op.

1. Andantino and allegro scherzoso, vln. & orch.

2. Three pieces (Romance, " Fantasiestiick," " Friih-

lingsfantasie"), vln. & pf.

3. Concerto in G minor for vln. & orch.

4. Overture to " Hamlet," orch.

5. Three pieces ("Lindenrauschen," "Abendglocken,"

Ballade), vln. & pf.

6. Overture to Schiller's " Demetrius," unpublished.

7. Overture to " Henry IV.," unpublished at present.

8. Overture to a play by Gozzi, unpublished.

9. Hebrew melodies for viola and pf.

10. Variations on an original theme, viola and pf.

11. Hungarian concerto in D minor, vln. & orch.

12. Notturno in A, vln. & small orch.

13. Overture in memory of Kleist.

14. Scena, "Marfa" from Schiller's Demetrius, con-

tralto & orch.

223

JOSEPH JOACHIM

Two marches, in C and D respectively.

Romance for violin & pianoforte.

Variations in E minor, vln. & orch.

Concerto in G major (written soon after the " Hun-
garian Concerto," but only lately published).

Song, " Ich hab im Traum geweinet."

Song, " Rain, Rain, and Sun," written for an album of
settings of Tennyson.

Cadenzas for Beethoven's concerto.

The cadenza in Brahms' violin concerto, intended for
Joachim, is said to have been written by the player.

These works, whatever their calibre, have
certain strongly marked characteristics in
common. At first hearing they are often a
little obscure, and at times even forbidding and
on the surface harsh. The long-drawn sweet-
ness of the romance from op. 2, or of the slow
movement of the Hungarian concerto, is a
quality not very often met with elsewhere, and
the sombre mien of the Kleist overture seems
to have more attractions for the composer. On
a closer acquaintance the real grandeur of his
ideas, and the passionate ardour which seems to
be the result of his Hungarian parentage, make
themselves felt, and the complete command
of musical structure which all the works reveal
is very remarkable in a man who has after all
written so little, The masterpiece among the
223

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

compositions is undoubtedly the Hungarian
concerto, which in the perfect proportion
between its national themes and the original
matter, in its exquisite treatment of the solo
instrument as well as of the orchestra, and in its
rare and captivating beauty, stands alone among
works of the kind. It contains, in the cadenza
of the first movement, an effect which never
loses its electrifying impression, however often
it is heard. In the course of its embroideries
on the themes of the movement, the solo instru-
ment seems to call forth one after another of
the accompanying instruments, each of which
enters, at first in unison with the violin, so that
each is playing for a moment or two before its
presence is detected ; the impression produced,
upon some listeners at all events, is that of a
magician who evokes one spirit after another to
do his bidding. Next to this superb work I am
inclined to place the concerto in G major, in
which the first movement has, in its breadth
and smoothness of melodic construction, some
characteristics of the best English music about
it. The variations in E minor have this dis-
advantage— that in any one's hands but the
composer's they cannot but sound scratchy, and
even crabbed in construction.
224

JOSEPH JOACHIM

In only three of the works mentioned above is
the human voice employed ; in the scena set to a
passage in Schiller's unfinished play a very re-
markable degree of dramatic force is displayed in
the treatment of the voice, and it is clear that, if
he had chosen or had had time and opportunity,
Joachim might have written a fine opera. By
the setting of Merlin's song there hangs a tale
which illustrates both the composer's true
instinct in the setting of words even in a
language not his own, and a great poet's
intuitive recognition of musical merit. When
the album spoken of above was first published,
an eminent English musician, who was a friend
of Tennyson's, went through the songs for the
poet's benefit ; it is well known that Tennyson
was as little of a practical musician as a man
can be, and that in particular he had a rooted
objection to musical settings of his own songs,
giving as the reason for this that the music
always went up when he wanted it to go down,
and down when he wanted it to go up. From
the whole book of songs he selected those
which seemed to fall in with his ideas of
what the melody should be, and the performer
noticed with much interest that the poet,
though ignorant of the names of the composers
225 P

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

as the songs were gone through, pronounced
favourably upon precisely those songs which a
trained musician would have chosen if he had
the list of composers before him. Joachim's
song was one of those most warmly praised. It
is strange that so great a master of concerted
music, perhaps the greatest quartet-leader the
world has ever seen, should have contributed
nothing to music of this class ; nor is it now
likely that the omission will be repaired, since
the composer has stated his intention of writing
no more, as his teaching and playing take up too
much time.

The outward appearance of Joachim is so
familiar to English amateurs that no reference
need be made to it. His rapt look as he stands
absorbed in some suite by Bach, or some other
work that he loves, is as well known to us as to
his countrymen, and is as familiar as the famous
lock of hair, now slightly grey, that falls over
his eyes. Concerning this, the story, afterwards
inserted in Punch, with, of course, a face of Mr. Du
Maurier's invention attached to it, is absolutely
true — that a Kensington hairdresser, when per-
forming on the great violinist, strongly recom-
mended the removal of this lock, saying : " It
makes you look just like one o' them fiddling
fellows."

2J6

JOSEPH JOACHIM

The revelation of personal character in musi-
cal performances is a science which has yet to
be studied ; but only those who know Joachim
and his playing most intimately can tell how
exactly the one is the counterpart of the other.
A nobler character it would scarcely be possible
to imagine ; generous, full of sympathy, tender
with the great tenderness of a great nature, yet
firm as a rock where any principle, artistic or
otherwise, is concerned. To say that the ad-
miration which has been his throughout his life
has left him entirely unspoilt is very meagre
praise, since artists of the highest calibre not
seldom possess the power of going through the
world unscathed by adulation, and, indeed, par-
tially unconscious of it. A great sorrow, which
a few years since darkened his life, broke up a
home which had been the centre of all that was
best in the musical life of Germany, and for a
time seemed to have affected his playing, in how-
ever slight a degree ; as time has gone on, even
this has been turned to artistic good, and recently
his playing has a pathos more profound, a sym-
pathy more wide, and if I may venture to say so,
a style more mature, than ever before.

It is quite certain that if some accident had
227

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

deprived Joachim of the use of his hands as a
violinist, he would have attained a very high
position among composers ; that CLARA
SCHUMANN would have done so, in a similar
case, can perhaps be less positively asserted,
although the quality of her music is undoubtedly
so high as to make it impossible to omit
her name from a list of the best composers of
Germany. The tiny list of her compositions
contains things of such deep feeling, such real
power, and such high attainment, that in strict
justice no account of German music in the
present day could be complete without a refer-
ence to them. Still, supposing her to have
been isolated from the pianoforte, one does not
feel that composition would have been a per-
manent necessity of her existence; and the
wifely devotion which was so beautiful a trait in
her character is carried into the music she wrote
to such an extent that the common reproach —
that it is merely a reflection of her husband's
work — is widely accepted, although as a matter
of fact it is by no means true. To superficial
observers there may seem to be no elements of
real individuality, apart from the great composer
with whom she was allied, just as the same
class of critics are in the habit of denying to
228

CLARA. SCHUMANN

Sterndale Bennett originality apart from Men-
delssohn. Both assertions are equally false.

This is not the place to recapitulate the
events of Mme. Schumann's career as a pianist,
or to dwell upon the exquisite qualities in her
playing which have made her by far the greatest
artist in her own direction among pianists of all
periods. In this connexion it may be said
of her, as of Joachim, that she has not only
touched nothing that she did not adorn, but
has touched nothing that was not worthy of her
position as a supreme artist. Of how many
public performers can the same be said ? Her
perfect technique, her marvellous power of tone-
gradation, and the romantic expressiveness of
her touch, were simply used as means to an end,
and that end was, not to glorify herself, but to
explain to her hearers the full meaning of the
music she "interpreted" (the well-worn word
was true of her as it has been true of very few
musicians of any kind). Few missions have
been so completely fulfilled as that which she
set herself, when still quite young, of bringing
home to musicians the works of her illustrious
husband. She has truly " seen of the travail of
her soul," and the universal recognition of Schu-
mann's genius which long ago succeeded to the
229

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

shameful and persistent ignoring of his powers,
is due in no small measure to her perseverance
in the early days. The necessity for forcing her
audiences, as it were, to see, in spite of the
critics, what there was in her husband's music,
may well have stimulated the gift of interpreta-
tion, in the same way that the wonderful and
unapproachable depth and intensity of her style
must have been increased, though not altogether
caused, by the long succession of troubles of
different kinds which have been her companions
almost throughout her life. Bitter anxiety and
distressing illness — these she has known inti-
mately, although, of course, there have been
many bright days in her life, and such an artis-
tic career as hers must be a source of very real
pleasure, whether at the time or in retrospect.

Born September 13, 1819, Clara Wieck 'made
her first appearance in public soon after her
ninth birthday; her regular appearances can
scarcely be said to have begun until 1832, from
which time onwards she was a constant per-
former at the Gewandhaus concerts of her native
town, Leipzig. The romantic story of her mar-
riage with Robert Schumann in 1840, after a
terrible amount of difficulties placed in the way
by her father, is one of the best-known incidents
230

CLARA SCHUMANN

of musical history. It was just before her hus-
band's tragic death in 1856 that she made her first
appearance in London, where the most prominent
musical critics vied with each other in indecent
abuse of the compositions which she was most
anxious to make popular. It cannot have been
much consolation to her to read the somewhat
halfhearted praises of her own performances,
side by side with scurrilous witticisms on
Schumann's music, or to know that the person
who held the highest position on the musical press
happened to be the husband of a lady who was
supposed to be a rival of Mme. Schumann's.
Happily the episode (one of the least agree-
able in the musical history of our country) was
afterwards amply atoned for in the brilliant
successes of her appearances in subsequent
years. From 1865 to 1882 her visits were
annual, excepting the years 1866, 1878, 1879,
and 1880. She came again every year from
1885 to 1888 inclusive, and each year her
reception was more and more cordial. From
1878 till 1892 she was principal teacher of the
pianoforte at the Hoch Conservatorium in
Frankfort, resigning her post at last on account
of bad health. It is difficult to imagine any
form of disease more distressing to a musician
231

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

than an affection of the auditory nerve which
causes the sensation of continually hearing
musical sounds entirely unconnected with any
music that may be actually going on. It is a
curious coincidence that for some time in his
later life Schumann heard a persistent A in
the same way, which, of course, entirely pre-
vented his enjoying music at all; it is most
welcome news that Mme. Schumann has
latterly lost the terrible obsession to which
she was at one time subject, and which she has
described as a continual series of "sequences."
In a life so full of other interests and occu-
pations— for in her later years Mme. Schumann
has thrown herself heart and soul into the
highest branches of pianoforte-teaching, with
the greatest possible success — it may readily be
imagined that not much time was left for com-
position ; still, the main reason for the excessive
smallness of the list of her works is probably to
be found in a certain artistic fastidiousness
which prevented her giving to the world any-
thing that was not representative of her work at
its very best. That self-criticism which so very
few, even of the best composers, possess is hers
in a very high degree, and it has, no doubt,
tended to keep down the number of her
232

CLARA SCHUMANN

published compositions. Here is the list, taken

in the main from Grove's Dictionary :

Op.

1. 4 Polonaises, for pf.

2. Caprices en forme de valses, for pf.

3. Romance variee, for pf.

4. " Valses Romantiques," for pf.

!' [ " Soirees musicales," 10 characteristic pieces, forpf.

7. Concerto for pf. and orch. in A minor.

8. Concert variations on a theme from Bellini's

" Pirata," for pf.

9. " Souvenir de Vienne," for pf.

10. Scherzo in D minor, for pf.

11. 3 Romances for pf .

12. 5 Songs, included in Schumann's op. 37, from

Ruck erf s " Liebesfriihling."

13. 6 Songs.

14. Scherzo for pf., No. 2.

15. 4 Fugitive pieces, for pf.

16. 3 Preludes and fugues for pf.

17. Trio, pf. & strings in G minor.

1 8. \ These numbers seem to have been passed over

19. j from inadvertence.

20. Variations on a theme by Robert Schumann (No. 4

of his " Bunte Blatter," op. 99), for pf.

21. 3 Romances for pf.

22. 3 Romances for pf. and violin.

23. 6 Songs from Reliefs " Jucunde."
Andante and allegro, pf.

Cadenzas to Beethoven's concertos in C minor and G,
& to Mozart's in D minor.
233

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

The theme of her op. 3 was used by her
husband as that of his eleven impromptus,
op. 5 ; the so-called " motto " of his " Davids-
biindlertanze," and two themes in the sonata
in F minor, op. 14, are also by the wife,
and occur— the motto in her mazurka, op.
6, No. 5, and the sonata themes in the
fourth piece of op. 5, called "Le Ballet des
Revenants."

These and other subjects by her have a
directness and simplicity, combined with a
dignity of demeanour, that are characteristic of
Mme. Schumann's compositions, as indeed they
are of her playing. The actual workmanship of
her trio, and the scholarly construction of her
fugues, reveal the earnest student, and her
cadenzas, while brilliant and effective, are always
in keeping with the works they adorn. Her work,
I venture to think, reaches its highest point in
the songs written for joint production by herself
(as her op. 12) and her husband (as his op. 37).
The three lyrics, " Er ist gekommen in Sturm
und Regen," " Liebst du um Schonheit ? " and
" Warum willst du And're fragen ? " may not
reach the tragic depth of expression of her
husband's " Ich grolle nicht," or touch the
heights of spiritualised passion with his
234

CLARA SCHUMANN

" Widmung" ; but for a parallel to their revelation
of the purest and most ardent love of a woman's
soul we must look away from music altogether
to the " Sonnets from the Portuguese " of Mrs.
Browning. In beauty of theme and treatment,
and in those qualities which are rightly extolled
as of the essence of a perfect lyric, these songs
are surpassed by few of the greatest creations
of the greatest songwriters, Schubert, Schumann,
Franz, or Brahms. The first of these three is
sometimes heard, and the delicious little link
between it and the next, " O ihr Herren " (by
Robert Schumann) more seldom ; " Liebst du
um Schonheit ? " is unaccountably neglected by
singers, for it is pre-eminently effective in the
hands of an intelligent artist. The third of
Mme. Schumann's contributions, the concluding
song of the album, has a remarkable foreshadow-
ing of a passage in "Er der herrlichste von
Allen " at the words " Sondern sieh' die Augen
an."

As the perfect lyric is the flower and crown
of the poet's attainment, the song that reaches
perfection in music is the infallible mark of
high genius, perhaps even more sure than the
larger forms, in which so much may be accom-
plished by well-trained mediocrity. If this be
235

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

true, then should Mme. Schumann's place
among German composers be in the highest
rank, even had she written nothing but these
exquisite songs.

236

THE LITTLE MASTERS

HEINRICH VON HERZOGENBERG—

HEINRICH HOFMANN ANTON

BRUCKNER FELIX DRAESEKE

IT may be permitted to borrow from a sister ait
a convenient term that has long been recognised
as indicating a class of men, belonging to
various schools, whose productions are not
striking enough to win them a great name in
history, although they contain such excellences
as make it impossible to ignore them or to
regard them as in a state of pupilage to the
school of which they are members. A group
of such composers demands notice in any
complete account of contemporary art, and it is
particularly necessary in dealing with German
composers of the present day, since, with the
one great exception, the living musicians stand
237

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

so nearly on a level that to single out a few
names for detailed notice would be invidious
and unfair. The lovers of the purely classical
school, whether in its earlier or later develop-
ments, will agree to assign the first place in such
a group to HEINRICH vox HERZOGENBERG, who
is not only looked upon by German purists as
one of the few defenders of the orthodox faith,
but is also held up as one of the still fewer
converts from a Wagnerism more or less pro-
nounced.

Heinrich von Herzogenberg was born at
Graz, June 10, 1843, an^ after some elementary
musical instruction entered the Vienna Con-
servatorium in 1862, remaining there for three
years under the late Otto Dessoff, the well-known
conductor of the Frankfort Opera, and a musician
of the widest sympathies. At the close of the
school curriculum, Herzogenberg returned to
Graz, in order to devote himself almost entirely
to composition. His comparatively late adop-
tion of a serious musical career may have had
something to do with the freedom and certainty
of intention which distinguish even his first
published compositions. As I have said, in
early life he was an ardent Wagnerian, and
two of the most ambitious productions of this
238

HEINRICH VON HERZOGENBERG

part of his career are unmistakably influenced
by the newer methods. In particular this is the
case with the " Odysseus " symphony, op. 16,
and " Columbus," a dramatic cantata for solos,
choir, and orchestra, op. n. This latter is a
most remarkable work, if we consider that it
was a first experiment in orchestral composition.
It is full of picturesque passages, and sections,
such as the sailors' choruses, that have a frank,
manly character, though it can hardly be main-
tained that the cantata has the unity which is
indispensable in works that are to live. At
Graz he married Elizabeth Stockhausen, an
accomplished pianist and a composer of some
attainment. In 1872, feeling a not unnatural
dearth of musical opportunities in Styria, the
couple transferred themselves to Leipzig. The
intimacy which he ormed with Volkland, Spitta,
and von Holstein resulted in the formation of a
Bach Society which has since become famous,
and to the same cause may, no doubt, be assigned
the pronounced change in the composer's
musical opinions ; the close study of Bach's
works, and in particular of the church cantatas, a
set of which Herzogenberg edited in piano
score, effected what one party in Germany
regarded as his cure from the dangerous tenets
239

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

into which he had been led. On Volkland's
removal to Basle, Herzogenberg suceeded him
as conductor of the society, and from this time
a severe and more dignified tone became appa-
rent in his own work. An arrangement for
chorus of a number of old German Volkslieder,
made about this time, show that the influence
of Wagner had almost, if not entirely, been over-
come. In 1885 he was summoned to Berlin to
help Kiel in the Hochschule, and on Kiel's
death in the same year the younger man was
given the post and title of professor of compo-
sition. Unfortunately he was obliged to resign
the office after about a year's work, in conse-
quence of ill-health ; after trying various German
baths he went to Nice, where he spent the
greater part of two years. Having recovered
his health, he returned to Berlin, and was
appointed director of the " Academische Meis-
terschule " for composition. In 1890 he re-
ceived the much coveted distinction of election
to the Academy, subsequently becoming a
member of the senate of that body. Once
more he was compelled to give up his profes-
sorial work, owing to his wife's health. Since
her death in Italy, he has lived in that country ;
but has not yielded to the temptation to
240

HEINRICH VON HERZOGENBERG

over-production, which few composers set free
from routine work would have resisted.

It has been maintained by an eminent
German critic that Herzogenberg has not yet
reached the highest point of his development ;
this may very well be the case, although it is a
little unsafe to commit oneself to such an opinion.
He certainly has not as yet manifested any
strong individuality in his music, for his recent
works are as plainly influenced by Brahms as
those of his green youth were by Wagner.
Still, if a man has not reached to the expression
of his own personality by the time he is fifty
years old, there seems but slight chance of
his arriving at any very high point. At the
same time, the skilful workmanship and the
completely artistic style which mark his compo-
sitions, entitle them to a high place in the
estimation of musicians ; and if he has not
evinced any remarkable degree of originality,
he is at all events no plagiarist. In the opinion
of German connoisseurs, Herzogenberg's best
works are those for choir, notably his setting of
Psalm cxvi. for four-part chorus a capella, with
its three contrasting yet homogeneous sections,
and Psalm xciv. in which a quartet of soloists
and the organ are added to the double choir
241 fi

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

and orchestra. Two odes, "Der Stern des
Lieds " op. 55, and " Die Weihe der Nacht,"
op. 56, have much nobility of character, and
among the numerous songs are many that reach
a high standard of beauty and refined expression.
A finely conceived setting of the Requiem Mass,
op. 72, is among the best of the composer's
recent works ; it was suggested by the death of
Frau von Herzogenberg. Of the smaller vocal
works, the graceful " Deutsches Liederspiel,"
op. 14, and a set of four Notturnos, op. 22, are
deservedly popular, and perhaps not the less
that they shew traces of the influence of Brahms'
" Liebeslieder." In England Herzogenberg's
name is hardly known, except as the composer
of three violin sonatas, the first of which, an
effective and scholarly work, has been occasion-
ally played in public by Joachim, who is a great
friend of the composer. A quintet for piano-
forte and wind-instruments has been brought
forward by the Wind Instrument Chamber Music
Society, and a string quartet at the Popular
Concerts, but of the rest of his concerted music
English amateurs know as little as they do of
his two symphonies, opp. 50 and 70.

The remark which has often been made with
regard to Sterndale Bennett's music, that it is
242

HEINRICH HOFMANN

essentially that of a gentleman, is particularly
true of Herzogenberg's work : an almost ex-
cessive degree of refinement, of fastidious self-
criticism, stand revealed in his compositions —
qualities which, admirable as they are, must to
some extent hinder them from becoming widely
popular. It is, perhaps, inevitable that they
should lack breadth and boldness, but " finish "
is so rare a quality in these days, at least with
all but the very greatest masters, that for its
sake much may be excused.

If Herzogenberg's music is essentially the
music of a gentleman, that of HEINRICH HOF-
MANN is in like manner indicative of the
author's origin. It is evidently written with a
view to popularity, and at times he seems to be
seeking for the position of purveyor of the
people's music, that position which has hardly
been filled in Germany since the death of
Nessler. There is generally a bourgeois flavour
about it, and, occasionally, plebeian seems the
only word to apply. It is, of course, a mere
coincidence that the composer's social status
was not very high in early life, and it is entirely
to his credit that he has succeeded in making
for himself an honourable place among the
243

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

musicians of Germany. His father was a poor
artisan who wandered fiom Bamberg to Berlin ;
in the latter city the composer was born,
January 13, 1842. A childhood spent in
sickness and poverty was relieved by one divine
gift — that of a beautiful soprano voice. This
attracting the attention of Herr Bader, a member
of the Hofoper company, and a "heroic tenor"
by profession, the boy was admitted into the
choir of the cathedral in 1851, and after two
years was entrusted with the solo work there.
The church pay, small as it was, suggested to
the boy's father that he might enter the Church
in a higher capacity, and this in spite of very
decided disinclination for the priesthood on the
son's part. As usual the musical bent was too
strong, and young Hofmann was receiving a
considerable amount of training and experience,
both from his position in the choir, which made
him acquainted with the works of Palestrina,
Bach, Handel, and others, and, in another
branch of art, from an engagement in the opera
chorus, where he was employed from 1853 to
1856. A piano was bought for twelve thalers,
and a kind-hearted pupil of the Conservatorium
was induced to give him gratuitous lessons.
On the breaking of his voice he ceased, as a
244

HEINRICH HOFMANN

matter of course, to earn money, and it is
difficult to see what would have become of his
musical education if it had not been for Theodor
Kullak, the eminent pianoforte-teacher, who
undertook the lad's tuition for an almost
nominal sum. A certain amount of lessons to
be given to less advanced performers came in
his way through his intercourse with the well-
known teacher, and as time went on other
branches of music were mastered by the help
of some of the best professors in Berlin — Grell,
who imbued him with a taste for the noblest
school of Italian church music, Dehn, who
taught him counterpoint, and Wiierst, who
instructed him in score-reading. A considerable
number of more or less experimental composi-
tions, written now, were committed to the
flames in later years ; the first success, and that
not a very brilliant one, was with a one-act
opera, "Cartouche," op. 7. A Hungarian Suite
for orchestra, op. 16 — almost a first attempt
at purely orchestral writing — drew the attention
of the public at large to the young composer,
and as an illustration of what popularity means
in Germany it may be mentioned that it was
given upwards of 100 times in the year 1873
alone, and that in good concerts. His next
245

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

compositions were, of course, successful. Among
them are a " Champagnerlied " for male choir
and orchestra ; a trio in A for a piano and
strings, op. 18; " Nornengesang " for female
choir and orchestra, op. 21, and a symphony,
" Frithjof," op. 22. This last was played
upwards of seventy times in 1874, after its pro-
duction under Bilse's direction. It is an effec-
tive piece, more or less closely conforming to
the type of "programme music," and dealing
mainly with the loves of Frithjof and Ingeborg ;
it relies for its local colour on a scherzo called
" Elves of light and rock-giants." A string
sextet, many songs and piano pieces, an " over-
ture to a comedy," and other things, separate
this, in the composer's list, from a cantata for
soli, choir and orchestra, " Die schone
Melusine," a work which soon went the rounds
of choral societies in Germany, succeeding in
general popularity the " Erl King's Daughter "
of Gade. A four-act opera, £>'Armin," after a
poem of Felix Dahn, was produced in Dresden
in 1877 and spread to most of the German
opera-houses. The success of these works was
such as to enable him to give up teaching
altogether, an occupation in which he had
been much engaged and with considerable
246

HEINRICH HOFMANN

success. His second grand opera, " Aennchen
von Tharau," in three acts, produced in 1878 at
Hamburg, was revived in the spring of last
year at Schwerin and received with remarkable
favour. " Aschenbrodel " (Cinderella), for soli,
choir and orchestra, has also been successfully
given in Europe and America, and a number of
smaller works, belonging to the same period,
illustrate the ceaseless activity which is one of
Hofmann's chief characteristics, and one which,
it may be, has hindered his advance to higher
artistic levels than he has attained. The cold
reception of " Wilhelm von Oranien," an opera
in three acts, at Hamburg on Feb. 5, 1882, must
have been a strange experience for one whom
success has followed almost slavishly; an
unsatisfactory performance is said to have been
the immediate cause, and the unfavourable
verdict was reversed at Dantzig not long after-
wards. Two sets of songs from Wolffs poem
" Singuf," opp. 59 and 60; a piano quartet, op. 50 ;
and some graceful serenades, preceded the pro-
duction of his next opera, " Donna Diana," in
three acts, brought out at Berlin in November
1886. " Im Schlosshof," an orchestral suite, op.
78, is a sufficiently picturesque piece of work,
and is considered one of the composer's best
247

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

achievements. "Lenz and Liebe," a cycle in
" Liebeslieder " form, op. 84; " Irrlichter und
Kobolde," an orchestral scherzo, op. 94 ;
"Editha," a cantata, op. 100, and "Johanna
von Orleans," another choral work, with solo
parts, op. 105, are among Hofmann's most
recent works, the latest of which is yet another
cantata on the subject of Prometheus, op.
no.

An amazing facility in manufacturing music,
complete mastery in expressing what he desires
to express, an absence of such originality as
might offend the public, and an entire lack
of distinction, are the chief characteristics of
Hofmann's music, and perhaps among the chief
causes of its success with the German people.
The composer has been freely " decorated " :
he was made a member of the Berlin Academy
in 1882, and has been given the title of Professor
by the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.
In his prosperous career it is not probable that
he has been visited by qualms as to his ultimate
position in the history of music, and he is no
doubt to be envied for many reasons.

To include among the " little masters " a man
who has written eight symphonies, one of which
248

ANTON BRUCKNER

suffices for an entire concert, is, perhaps, to
stretch the term to its utmost limits ; but, judging
from the quality and value of his work, rather
than by its pretensions, ANTON BRUCKNER finds
here his legitimate place. The composer is one
who must command the respect of all true
lovers of art, for he has worked for art's sake
alone with a singleness of purpose and a real
unworldliness that are entirely estimable. He
has waited long for his reward, but in later years
he has obtained a great measure of recognition,
and if that recognition is mainly found in one
section of the German musical world, it is the
section which, no doubt, Bruckner is most
anxious to please. He is the symphonist of
the extreme Wagnerians, who consider him to
possess that small portion of Beethoven's spirit
which failed to descend upon theBayreuth master.
So late has his day been in coming that it is
difficult to realise that he has recently entered
upon his 7oth year.

Born at Ansfelden in Upper Austria, Septem-
ber 4, 1824, Bruckner began to study music
under his father, a village schoolmaster, when he
was nine years of age. About three years later
the death of the father left the family in extreme
poverty, and the prelate of St. Florian, a Jesuit
249

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

college at Kalksburg, gave the boy a free berth
on that foundation, as a chorister. His musical
education was well looked after, for not only
did he learn the violin from a certain Gruber,
a pupil of Schuppanzigh, known to readers of
the Beethoven literature, but he was taught
harmony and counterpoint, and had lessons
from Diirrnberger at Linz. In 1841 he received
his first appointment, as a school-teacher at
Windhag, with the incredible salary of two
florins a month — i.e., considerably less than a
shilling a week. He managed to scrape along
somehow by playing dance-music at weddings,
etc., for 25 kreuzer (about 6d.} a night. In
1845 he returned to Kalksburg as deputy organ-
ist and teacher, and in 1851 became principal
organist, with an annual salary of -£S, and an
additional salary as teacher of ^3 I2S. His
post gave him plenty of opportunities for the
composition of sacred music, and many masses,
psalms, etc., date from this time. He also
visited Vienna, and ultimately became pupil of
the famous Sechter for counterpoint and com-
position. He attracted the notice of the best
musical authorities by his astonishing powers of
improvisation, and his extemporaneous per-
formance of a regularly-constructed fugue on
250

ANTON BRUCKNER

the organ procured him the place of cathedral
organist at Linz in 1855. He continued his
studies in Vienna, and in 1861 the authorities
of the Conservatorium gave him a certificate of
proficiency. For two years after this, so want-
ing was he in the false pride which academical
success too often generates, he studied orches-
tration with Otto Kitzler, a man ten years his
junior, and in 1864 his first symphony was
played at Linz. In 1867 he was appointed
professor of the organ, harmony and counter-
point at the Vienna Conservatorium, and in the
following year he succeeded his old master,
Sechter, as Court organist. (Sechter, it will be
remembered, was the master of J. L. Hatton,
and of many other distinguished musicians.)
Bruckner's fame as an organist had spread so
far that in 1869 he visited Paris, after a success-
ful competition at Nancy, and gave recitals
there, and was invited in 1871 to give recitals
on the new organ in the Albert Hall in con-
nection with the International Exhibition of
that year. The fame of his extempore play-
ing was used, most injudiciously, as a "puff
preliminary," and, as a natural result, some
critics were disappointed. The Monthly Musical
Record of September 1871, remarks: "Herr
251

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

Bruckner is a very respectable player ; but really
great improvisations are productions peculiar to
genius, and of that we perceived no proof." At
the same time due allowance has to be made
for the difficulty of managing a strange organ
effectively, especially when the curious acoustic
properties of the hall at Kensington are con-
sidered. During the same visit to England,
while he was playing at the Crystal Palace, he
was so carried away by the course of his ideas
in improvisation that the exhausted blowers
could not maintain the supply of wind, and the
piece came to an abrupt end. A parallel story
to this is told of the competition for the post of
Court organist at Vienna, where a space of twenty-
five minutes was allowed to each candidate for the
development of a theme given by the judges ;
Bruckner got so interested that he had to be
reminded that the allotted time had expired.
Not even then did he cease, and after nearly
one hour's playing he left off, greatly satisfied
with himself, and entirely regardless of the
effects of his performance upon those who were
to adjudge the post. It is to the credit of these
worthy gentlemen that they bestowed it on the
unruly candidate.

In 1872 the distinguished critic, Dr. Hanslick,
252

ANTON BRUCKNER

wrote a glowing account of Bruckner's mass
in F minor; his opinion of the composer
and of the work changed completely in the
course of time, and those who care to ferret out
the weaknesses of eminent critics may be
referred to the Musikalisches Wochenblatt for
1893, p. 280. It is not without significance,
to those who are acquainted with the position
of parties in the German musical world, that
Bruckner's open allegiance to the cause of
Wagner's music should have been made in the
year after Hanslick's first article appeared. In
1873 Bruckner took the three symphonies,
which then represented his work in that kind,
to Bayreuth, and Wagner was so delighted with
them that he willingly accepted the dedication
of the third, in D minor. Its predecessor, in C
minor, was performed for the first time at a
concert organised by the composer for the
closing of the Vienna exhibition of 1873.
Wagner must have had reason to believe in
Bruckner's powers, for he allowed the final
chorus of "Die Meistersinger " to be given
under his direction at a " Liedertafel " concert
at Linz, several years before the corrudy was
performed as a whole.

In 1875 he was appointed University
253

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

Reader* at Vienna for musical theory and
harmony; a pupil of his, Dr. R. Wallaschek,
describes the admiration he excited in the
students by working out extemporaneously
fugues and canons, on themes given him at a
moment's notice, with as much resource and
clearness as if he had thought them over for a
long time.

Such vogue as the composer has enjoyed in
his own country did not fall to his share until
1884, when his seventh symphony, in E major,
was given at Leipzig under Arthur Nikisch, at a
concert in aid of the Wagner Memorial Fund.
The adagio of the symphony is an elegy on
Wagner, and the whole work is very decidedly
Wagnerian in character ; the theme introduced
as the " Non confundar in aeternum " in a " Te
Deum " of Bruckner's own, is a prominent fea-
ture in this adagio.t The work is throughout
melodious and often effective, but it is so deeply

* A " Lector" is a teacher who has had no university
education, and therefore cannot advance to a higher
position in the university.

t The following note from the composer himself

perhaps shows that the passage was at first intended

for the words to which it was afterwards set, not at

first conceived instrumentally : — " I composed the " Te

254

ANTON BRUCKNER

tinged with the Wagnerian influence that it can
scarcely be regarded otherwise than as a reflec-
tion of his spirit, and the scherzo has been
described as a mere transcription of the
" Walkiirenritt." Its popularity was rapid and
extensive; Herr Richter conducted it at one
of his London concerts in 1887, when it was
received with favour, though with far less
enthusiasm than it obtained in many towns of
Germany. In 1891 another work of Bruckner's
was given at the same concerts, viz., his sym-
phony in D minor, No. 3, already referred to as
being dedicated to Wagner. The scherzo, very
certainly the best of the four movements, was
to have been introduced to the English public
years before, but Herr Richter found no oppor-
tunity of bringing it forward at his earlier seasons.
The composer has here taken almost the iden-
tical theme of the first movement of Beethoven's
Ninth Symphony for his own opening section ;

Deum" in 1884, the symphony in 1883. Therefore I
wrote the passage you refer to in the year 1883, just at
the time of the death of our immortal master, who had
predicted great things of me." He adds that his " Te
Deum" is dramatically conceived, and that the trom-
bones are supposed to reflect the sense of dread con-
veyed in the final words of the hymn.
255

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

the finale is cleverly constructed, but it cannot
be said to have been very successful in London.
Six months before, in Vienna, the repetition of
the scherzo was so vigorously demanded, that
Richter had to explain that it could not be
repeated owing to the lateness of the hour. At
the close of last year the same conductor, who
is devoted to Bruckner's music, brought for-
ward, also at Vienna, the eighth of his sym-
phonies, in C minor; as its performance
occupies an hour and a half, there is not room
for much else in the programme, in a country
where the musical digestion is better understood
than it is with us. The adagio alone takes twenty-
six minutes in performance, and yet the success of
the work is said to have been beyond dispute.
In the finale the composer has worked up con-
trapuntally the chief themes of the three pre-
ceding movements, and the instrumentation of
the whole is very highly spoken of, even by
those who least approve of the composer's
" modern " tendencies.

The composer's chief production in the
department of chamber music is a quintet in F
major, which was brought forward on two
occasions by the Hellmesberger quartet in
Vienna with the greatest success. It is
256

ANTON BRUCKNER

rumoured to be one of the most difficult works
of its class in modern music, and is regarded
apparently by both Wagnerians and anti-
Wagnerians as an application of the Bayreuth
master's methods to chamber music, a pro-
ceeding which can hardly be expected to be
more successful than that of putting new wine
into old bottles. Beside these works, a setting
of Psalm cl. for soli, choir and orchestra, and
a chorus, " Der Germannenzug," for male
voices and brass instruments, are highly spoken
of.

In character Bruckner is extremely straight-
forward, naive, sincere and simple; in fact he
seems hardly to belong to the present day, so
complete is his disregard for the many con-
venances of Austrian musical society. It has
been absolutely impossible to him to push his
way onward in the world, and he has been
content to let his symphonies remain unplayed
some for a quarter of a century, without
making any efforts to get a hearing for them.
He is still very much of a rustic, and rather a
"rough diamond" in many ways, and he is of
those who hold that a musician's education is
none the worse for not extending beyond the
limits of his own art.

257 R

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

In 1886 he received the cross of the Franz
Joseph Order, in 1890 the Upper Austrian
Landtag bestowed upon him an annual pension
of 400 gulden, and in 1891 the Vienna Uni-
versity made him Doctor of Philosophy honoris
causd.

An earlier and not less devoted Wagnerian
than Bruckner, FELIX DRAESEKE, has scarcely
as yet made the mark that might have been
expected from a man of his high ideals and
thoroughly artistic methods of working. With
him, as with so many of the best of the un-
recognised, an excessive habit of self-criticism
has kept him from the position that a more
unscrupulous man might have claimed, and
has, of course, affected most materially the
extent of his lists of works. A certain diffusion
of interests, too, is partly responsible for the
comparatively small number of his composi-
tions, since he has contributed largely and with
good results to the literature of music, and has
gone somewhat deeply into the modern
developments of pianoforte technique.

He was born October 7, 1835, at Coburg,
where his father, the son of a once famous
bishop of Magdeburg, was Court chaplain. He
258

FELIX DRAESEKE

was educated at the "gymnasium" of his
native town, and from 1852 to 1855 was a
student at the Leipzig Conservatorium, study-
ing with Richter, Hauptmann, and Rietz. In
spite of th3 conservative tendencies of the
school, he became a declared adherent of
Wagner during his student days, being moved
thereto by a performance of " Lohengrin " at
Weimar in 1852, and one of " Tannhauser " at
Leipzig in 1853. Regarded in the light of the
new music, and with this influence strong upon
him, Beethoven's mass in D only confirmed
him in his allegiance to the party of progress,
and he undertook the analysis of Liszt's sym-
phonic poems, brought out about 1857, exe-
cuting the task with such literary ability and
enthusiasm as to win the complete approval of
the composer, whose acquaintance, with that of
Billow, he had been so fortunate as to make
soon after leaving Leipzig for Berlin.

In the summer of 1857 he took up his abode
in Dresden, and completed an opera, " Konig
Sigurd," a work of which Liszt thought so
highly that he got it accepted at Weimar and
even rehearsed; just then, however, arose the
storm over Cornelius's " Barbier von Bagdad,"
and on Liszt's resigning his post in conse-
259

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

quence of the reception of that work, his
young friend's opera naturally got "shelved."
During his five years' stay in Dresden some
of his works attracted a considerable degree of
attention from the musicians of the advanced
school; among these was a ballad for solo
voice, "Helges Treue." His critical articles,
contributed to the Neue Zeitschrift fitr
Musik, had considerable influence at the time,
and are now of some historical interest. At
Lowenberg in Silesia, where he spent some
months in the early part of 1862, he enjoyed
the opportunity of hearing some of his com-
positions played by the private orchestra of the
Prince of Hohenzollern-Hechingen. Shortly
after this he went to Switzerland, where he
lived until 1875, with the exception of nearly a
year spent at Munich and an extensive foreign
tour, settling down at Lausanne, and working
at composition. Two symphonies, a piano-
forte sonata, an "Adventlied" (op. 30), and
part of a Requiem, were the chief productions
of this period of his life. In 1873 the first
of the symphonies, in G minor, op. 12, was
given in Dresden, and in 1876 Draeseke
returned to the Saxon capital, where he com-
pleted his second opera, " Herrat," a work
260

FELIX DRAESEKE

which had to wait until 1892 for perform-
ance. His third opera, *' Gudrun," was luckier
in this respect, since it was given at Han-
over in 1884. Meanwhile the Requiem was
finished, and after being brought out at Leip-
zig in 1883 with very great success, it was
given by many of the best choral societies in
Germany. A third symphony, "Symphonia
tragica," op. 40, was given in Dresden and
Berlin in 1888, under Billow. In 1880
Draeseke was appointed teacher of theory in
the Rollfuss academy, and four years later he
succeeded Wiillner as teacher of composition
in the Dresden Conservatorium, a post which
he still holds. His latest work of importance
is a mass in F sharp minor, still in MS., given
in Dresden and Leipzig in the winter of 1892.
A new opera is in course of composition.
Among the most prominent of his works,
unmentioned above, are two " symphonic over-
tures" to " Das Leben ein Traum" and
" Penthesilea," op. 45 and 50 respectively;
" Jubilaums-Festmarsch," op. 54; Academic
Overture (MS.); "Columbus," a cantata for
soli, chorus and orchestra, op. 52 ; two string
quartets ; a quintet for piano, strings and horn,
op. 48, and two curious sets of canons for
pianoforte duet.

261

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

The composer has a decided gift of melody,
though his themes are sometimes less " distin
guished " in style than their treatment ; he is
more successful than most professed Wagnerians
in the department of " absolute " music, though
strong dramatic feeling is exhibited in his works
for the stage. The ingenuity with which, in
the " Domine " of his Requiem, he has brought
in the chorale-tune, " Jesus meine Zuversicht,"
shows him to be a thoughtful and imaginative
musician, and the whole work has considerable
breadth and imaginative power; very few of
his other works, however, seem to contain the
elements of greatness in the strict sense of the
word.

262

NEW PATHS (?)

JEAN LOUIS NICODE RICHARD

STRAUSS HANS SOMMER—

CYRILL KISTLER

WHEN Schumann wrote his famous article on
the youthful Brahms, headed " Neue Bahnen,"
he seems almost to have discerned, as by a clear
prophetic vision, the position which the young
composer would ultimately reach ; just as he
had seen in the second published work of
Chopin the imaginative power which, to ordinary
observers, is by no means visible until a much
later date. Such exceptional powers are not
required in considering the claims of the leaders
of the latest German school to be regarded as
great composers, for all four of the men whose
names stand at the head of this chapter have
published far more important works than had
263

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

been produced by either Chopin or Brahms at
the time when Schumann first wrote about
them. Still, it is impossible to declare with
certain voice any one of the four to be the com-
ing champion of music, unless it be first conceded
that such a champion cannot be looked for
anywhere but in Germany, and, therefore, that
the best of the young Germans must of necessity
be the future acknowledged master of the art
for all the world. It is hard to believe that a
time may possibly come when Germany will
not contain the greatest master of the world's
music ; she has brought them forth in so regular
a succession from the time of Bach and Handel
until now, that the idea of her ceasing to bring
them forth is hardly to be admitted, although
the history of arts and of literature might teach
us that the mere fact of the long series having
been produced is an argument continually
becoming more cogent in favour of its ceasing.
The great Germans have curiously often come
in pairs, as Bach and Handel, Haydn and
Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, Schumann
and Mendelssohn ; but from the four men who
alone seem worthy of serious consideration in
the present day, it were hard to fix upon two,
or even upon one, who is fit, or who gives
264

JEAN LOUIS NICODE

promise of some day being fit, to assume the
crown of music, and hand down the glorious
line of German supremacy to yet another
generation.

The first of the four, JEAN Louis NICODE, is
wholly a German, in spite of the French form
of his name ; he was born at Jerczitz, near
Posen, August 12, 1853. His father, a man of
property, was a skilful amateur violinist, and on
the loss of his fortune, some three years after
the birth of his son, he removed to Berlin,
where he turned his talent to good account. At
the age of eight the boy began to learn the
violin from his father, and three years afterwards
a school friend gave him his first pianoforte
lessons. His talent was already so remarkable
that the organist of the St. Elizabeth Church in
Berlin gave him free instruction in the organ,
piano, and counterpoint. In 1869 he was
admitted into the Neue Akademie der Tonkunst,
and studied there for two years under Kullak
for piano and Wiierst for theory. He was
afterwards appointed one of the subordinate
pianoforte masters in the same school, and
from 1873 to i&jG served his time in the
German army. On returning to Berlin he
co-operated in conducting and accompanying at
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MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

a series of " Monday Chamber Concerts," and
during the three years of his tenure of this
office he was studying composition with Kiel.
On his return from a concert tour in Galicia
and Roumania with Mariano Padilla and his
wife, Mme. Desiree Artot, he went to Dresden
as first pianoforte professor in the Conserva-
torium, a post which he retained until 1885,
when he felt bound to resign it, owing to a
violent difference of opinion with the council
as to the value of Liszt's compositions for
teaching purposes. The " last straw " was when
Nicode announced for performance at one of
the Conservatorium concerts Liszt's own
arrangement of his " Faust " symphony for two
pianos ; the directors, sheltering themselves
behind the rule forbidding transcriptions, struck
the number from the programme. In the
autumn of the same year he started a most
successful series of " Philharmonic Concerts "
in Dresden, which he conducted for three
years. Since 1888 he has devoted himself
entirely to composition ; in that year one of his
most important works was brought out and
made a considerable stir in different parts of
Germany. "Das Meer" (op. 31), as it is
called, may or may not have been suggested by
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JEAN LOUIS NICOD£

Rubinstein's " Ocean Symphony " ; whether it is
so or not, Nicode's work cannot be reproached
with any plagiarism further than that of name,
and, to some extent, of form, since there are no
less than seven movements in it. It is styled a
" symphonic ode " and is cast for soli, male
chorus, orchestra and organ. In style it is
aggressively " modern," a piece of such un-
compromising realism that, as a very eminent
German musician expressed it, " one feels sea-
sick as one listens to it." It shows very con-
siderable powers of imagination and a strong
feeling for the picturesque in music — qualities
which appear also in a set of symphonic varia-
tions ; in " Maria Stuart," a symphonic poem,
and elsewhere. His orchestration is very often
more noisy than skilful, and it may be surmised
that the best of his numerous pianoforte works
will ultimately take a higher position than any-
thing he has written for the orchestra. In these
he shows himself completely master of the in-
strument, and they have that delightful peculiarity
(to pianists) of sounding far more difficult than
they are — a peculiarity which distinguishes the
music of many authors who are primarily
virtuosi, or who, by choice or accident, are
mainly writers for one instrument. As a teacher
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MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

and an orchestral conductor he is excellent, and
he has only done one thing which calls for
censure— viz., the perpetration of an orchestral
accompaniment to Chopin's Concert Allegro,
op. 46, with the addition of a new " working-out
section " of his own, consisting of more than
seventy bars.

There is an important party in Germany,
strong rather in influence than in mere numbers,
which regards RICHARD STRAUSS as the coming
man among the younger composers. As he is
not yet thirty years old, it is unsafe to oppose
too vehemently the opinion formed of him by
these judges, although it may be permissible to
point out that at the same age Brahms had
produced, in the two serenades and the first
sextet, works which stamped him as a genius of
the highest order. Of course the standard of
precocity varies constantly, and it is not always
the infant prodigy who ultimately attains the
highest rank; in different generations, too,
development goes at different rates, so that a
Mozart's lifework is done at an age when a
Beethoven's genius has hardly declared itself.
In Strauss' case it is fair to take what he has
already accomplished as a test of his powers,
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RICHARD STRAUSS

since his early artistic growth was extraordinarily
rapid, and he has had everything in his favour,
except indeed the priceless boon of health. His
father, Professor Fr. Strauss, was for many
years considered to be the finest player of the
waldhorn in Europe, and has for many years
been chief horn-player in the Bavarian Court
Band; his son was born at Munich, June n,
1864, and music came to him as a natural
inheritance. That he would listen with rapt
attention to his father's practising, or be reduced
to tears by the high notes of the violin, is not a
sign that distinguishes him from many other
babies of more or less sensitive nervous organi-
sation; but to compose a three-part song at
the age of six, after having had only the most
rudimentary instruction on the piano up to that
time, does strike one as an exceptional thing.
It came about one Christmas time, as some
children were singing round the Christmas tree,
that he remarked, " I can do that, too ! " and
produced a composition he had written entirely
without parental or other superintendence. It
will be obvious to every musician that the
wonder is, not that a child of six should invent
little tunes, but that even an attempt at writing
in parts should be made at that age. Shortly
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MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

before this he was sent to the Volkschule, and
at ten years old entered the " humanistische
Gymnasium," as the main school for the study
of "literae humaniores" is oddly called. On
completing the course there, he went, in
1882, to the university of his native city: for
his father was quite aware of the primary
value of a good general education — a some-
what rare degree of worldly wisdom in a pro-
fessional musician. During his school-days
music was, of course, not neglected ; his school-
books were degraded from their primary func-
tion as weapons of warfare to serve as material
for jotting down musical ideas, since his mother
had, happily, chanced to bind them in blank
music-paper. During a French lesson, for
instance, he wrote, in his fifteenth year, the
scherzo of a string quartet, afterwards published
as op. 2. Three years before this, during an
illness, he had employed his time in writing a
trio, which was played in the presence of Franz
Lachner, and met with his approval. A piano
sonata and other works dating from his school-
days have also seen the light, but a chorus
written to a Greek text, with orchestral accom-
paniments, and performed at a school concert,
does not appear among his printed works. He
270

RICHARD STRAUSS

was still at school when he wrote his first sym-
phony in D minor, which was performed at a
subscription concert by the Royal Band, and
received with much favour. On the boy's
repeated advances to the platform in answer to
the applause, a stranger in the audience asked,
in a voice that could be heard all over the room :
" What has that boy got to do with the matter ? "
"Oh, he's only the composer," was the reply.
No fewer than eleven of his published works
were actually printed while he was yet at school,
among them concertos for violin and waldhorn
— the latter a piece of enormous difficulty,
obviously intended for his father's delectation.
Yet he does not seem to have been forced on at
all, nor even to have had any very first-rate
musical training ; he was under Herr W. Mayer,
the Hofkapellmeister, for theory, and under
Concertmeister Benno Walter for violin, until
he met with Hans von Biilow, who was so much
delighted with his serenade for thirteen wind-
instruments, op. 7, that he gave it at Meiningen,
and put it, together with the hern concerto, into
the repertory of the famous band. On his
return from a visit to Berlin (where a concert-
overture of his was played with great success), at
the close of his university career in 1883, the
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MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

young composer betook himself to Frankfort,
where, at the Raff Conservatorium he studied
with Biilow, who at that time used to go to
Frankfort for a month in every year. Biilow
thought so much of Strauss' powers that he
offered to take him to Meiningen as assistant
conductor ; almost immediately after the arrange-
ment had been completed, Billow's resignation of
his appointment placed the splendid orchestra
under the sole direction of Richard Strauss, a
piece of good fortune almost without parallel in
modern times. At his first appearance at
Meiningen, Strauss played the D minor piano-
forte concerto of Mozart to the conductor's
complete satisfaction ; not only was he com-
pelled to play the solo part by heart, but
the band were required to do the same.
Another of the conductor's whims was to print
the programme on a card, so as to avoid the
rustle usually produced by a large audience all
turning over their programmes at the same
moment. While at Meiningen, Strauss wrote a
pianoforte quartet, op. 13, which obtained the
prize offered by the Berlin Tonkiinstler-Verein,
and in recognition of which he, the composer,
received the " Verdienstkreuz fur Kunst und
Wissenschaft." A " Burleske " for piano and
272

RICHARD STRAUSS

orchestra, and a set of variations and fugue for
piano, written about this period, are not yet
published. Another work written at this time,
the symphony in F minor, op. 12, holds an
important place in his life, as well as for its own
sake ; he was asked to conduct it at Munich,
and the performance was so brilliantly success-
ful that he was given, in August 1886, the post of
conductor, under Levy, at the Munich Hof-
theater. He conducted it in various musical
centres of Germany, and twice in Milan, where
he was made an honorary member of the
"Societa Quartetta," because of its success, and
was, moreover, presented with a silver baton by
the members of the orchestra. His next work
of importance, op. 16, "Aus Italien," a so-
called symphonic fantasia for orchestra, was no
doubt suggested by this visit to Italy ; it is in
some ways his most spontaneous and indi-
vidual work, but the choice of theme for its
last movement shows a strange want of taste, as
well as of knowledge of the ordinary musical
history of his time. For the song " Funiculi-
funicula" is not a traditional tune, nor is it
possible to imagine how a cultivated musician
should ever have mistaken it for one ; it is far
too vulgar to have sprung up, as national music
273 s

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

always does, from the hearts of the people, or
to be anything but a " composed " tune. As a
consequence of this choice, the finale had to be
left out when the work was given at one of Mr.
Henschel's orchestral concerts a few years ago.
He remained three years in Munich and wrote
there his three "tone-poems," — "Tondichtun-
gen" — "Don Juan," op. 20 ; " Macbeth," op. 23,
and "Tod und Verklarung," op. 24. In 1889
he was appointed second " Hofkapellmeister "
at Weimar, a post he still holds with credit.
He was chosen to conduct the performances of
the Tonkiinstler-Versammlung at Wiesbaden
and Eisenach, an honour rarely conferred
upon so young a man. In the winter of
1892 he was granted by the Grand Duchess
of Weimar eight months' leave of absence, in
order to recover his health, which had been
broken by overwork ; he returned lately from a
tour in Greece, Italy, and Egypt, and is at
present engaged in completing an opera,
" Guntram," for which he has written his own
libretto.

Strauss did not strike out a definite syle of

his own until he had come, through Biilow,

under the strong influence of the most modern

music. In form and style his earlier com-

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RICHARD STRAUSS

positions adhere to classical models, while
his "tone-poems" and the like are uncom-
promisingly modern. Some of them show an
excessive straining after originality, and some
seem to have reached the ultimate point of
ugliness. The composer's skill in orchestration
is, perhaps, his best quality, though here he
does not always exercise self-restraint: this is
particularly the case with "Don Juan" and
" Macbeth." The third of the tone-poems, " Tod
und Verklarung," is a little apt to remind the
hearer of "Tristan " and "Gotterdammerung " : it
has vivid imagination, is decidedly characteristic,
and splendidly scored, but at the same time defi-
cient in real musical inspiration. In what may be
called the politics of music, he is not too rabid
a radical to ignore such masters as Schumann
and Brahms, and he has indeed been severely
criticised by the Wagnerians for admitting
works by these masters into his programmes at
Weimar ; not only that, but in a work for six-
part choir and orchestra, set to a part of
Goethe's "Wanderers Sturmlied," op. 14, given
last May by the Allgemeine Deutsche Musik-
verein at Munich, he has, apparently, been
influenced to a considerable extent by Brahms'
" Schicksalslied " and the "Rhapsodic." A
275

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

well-known critic (" C. A. B. ") describes the
work in the Athenaum of June i, 1893, as
being "enormously difficult and bravely
attacked by the choir." He goes on to say,
" Its effect as a broadly flowing stream of poly-
phonic vocal harmony against an elaborate and
independent orchestral accompaniment was
something quite unprecedented."

As a conductor Strauss is excellent, and his
powers as a song-writer are very considerable.
On the whole, he is one of the most interesting
figures among the younger musicians of
Germany, and it may, of course, be that those
who regard him as a genius of the first order
will be some day proved to be right. Time
will show.

When Richard Strauss was born, HANS
SOMMER was twenty-six years old, and yet he is
properly to be considered among the younger
composers, since his early life was passed in a
very different sphere of work — as a professor of
mathematics in the University of Gottingen.
His full name is a somewhat formidable con-
cern : " Hans Friedrich August Zincke genannt
Sommer " is the way he himself writes it, and it
is to be presumed that the last is a surname of
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HANS SOMMER

choice. He was born at Brunswick, July 20,
1837, and his early predilections were from the
first mathematical, rather than musical. Still,
he began to learn the piano when he was ten
years old, and during his residence at Got-
tingen, first as undergraduate, then as professor,
he studied music with Julius Otto Grimm, and
went in for it thoroughly, not merely in an
amateur sort of way.

From 1875 to J88i ne was director of the
" Technische Hochschule " in his native town,
and in 1884 he retired altogether from public
life as a mathematician, on account of ill
health. In 1885 he married the daughter of
the once famous " Kammersanger " Hill and
went to live in Berlin, subsequently removing to
Weimar, where he still lives. During a period of
residence in Brunswick he was conductor of a
concert society, and studied composition with a
Herr Meves, making a first serious attempt at
dramatic composition in a one-act opera, " Der
Nachtwachter," a piece in the Lortzing manner,
produced at Brunswick in 1865. He had
become entitled to a pension as professor ; and
when he had once given up mathematics he
took to composition in good earnest, and
poured out an immense number of songs.
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MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

He has written many essays on musical as
well as mathematical subjects; some of the
former appeared in Bayreuther Blatter. He
edited Georg Kaspar Schiirman's opera,
" Ludewig der Fromme," for the Gesellschaft
fur Musikforschung, by which it may be seen
that his tastes in music are of the most eclectic
kind. This characteristic is the first thing that
strikes one in looking through the songs by
which his name has become more or less
famous in Germany. His published works in
this form amount to nearly two hundred, so
that in quantity, if not in quality, he bids fair
some day to rival Schubert himself. The
influence of Schubert is, perhaps, the oldest that
he owns ; for the most part, Franz, Schumann,
Jensen, Brahms, seem to have been among his
models, while throughout a tendency is per-
ceived towards certain progressions that are
characteristic of Wagner, and occasionally we
meet with one of the stereotyped turns of
musical phrases that we are apt to connect
with Strauss' waltzes. A leit-motiv goes
through the large number of songs from Wolff's
" Rattenfanger," a set which contains the most
bewitching of his songs, one called "Stell-
dichein" (an assignation). The vocal part,
27*

HANS SOMMER

though entirely subordinate, is by no means
ineffective, and the waltz, under cover of which
the assignation is made, is perfectly irresistible.
The next song in the set is scarcely less taking :
"Am Waldteiche," as it is called, relates, in
alternate lines of German and Latin, the
adventure of a maiden who bathes in a wood-
land pool, and the contrasting treatment of the
alternate lines is most happy and entirely
appropriate. These are from the third set of
op. 4, which contains also the Wagnerian
"Herbst," and the melodious " Grabschrift."
Op. 6, a set written to verses by the Queen
of Roumania (Carmen Sylva), is, perhaps,
more thoughtful than these, and some more
elaborate "Balladen und Romanzen" are
numbered opp. 8 and n. A picturesque, if
rather superficial, set of songs, mostly on Italian
or Spanish subjects, called "Aus dem Siiden,"
appears as op. 10. One of the most popular of
Sommer's songs is " Frau Venus," from op. 9 ;
and another, which deserves to be better known,
is "Odysseus," from op. n — a lyric of very
remarkable beauty. Op. 12, "Werner's Lieder
aus Welschland," and two pretty slumber songs,
op. 15, are among his more recent works in the
form in which his popularity has been gained.
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MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

Latterly he has been attempting the higher
branches of vocal music : his opera " Lorelei,"
written to a libretto arranged by Gustav Gurski,
from Wolff's poem, was given in Brunswick
with great success on April 12, 1891, twenty-six
years after his first opera was produced there.
It is Wagnerian in its use of " leading-motives "
and in many points of style, but the composer
always has an eye to what is likely to be
popular, and his decided gift of melody stands
him in good stead in writing for the stage.
One of Sommer's latest works is " Eliland ; ein
Sang am Chiemsee," written, after Stieler's
poem, for declamation, tenor voice, and piano.
It was given at the meeting of the Tonkiinstler-
Verein at Munich last summer, and is said to
be a poetical little work, although it did not
meet with unqualified approval from the
musicians who were present. A comic opera,
" Saint Foix," set to a very bright libretto by
Hans von Wolzogen, has not yet been pro-
duced, but it promises to be a great success
when it appears. It has been accepted for
Munich, and Gura is to sing the title part.

It would be rash to count upon Sommer as
the future representative of the great line of
German song-writers, for the absence of any
280

CYRILL KISTLER

fixed ideal which is conspicuous in nearly all
his compositions, clever as they are, is likely
to gain him present popularity rather than per-
manent fame. Although his later songs show
a decided increase in real worth, his un-
certainty of artistic conviction is likely, sooner
or later, to result in the usual lowering of the
standard : for, even in Germany, popularity with
the musical " masses " means a far greater degree
of worldly prosperity than is to be gained by too
firm an adherence to the highest aims.

Little more than a year after the death of
Wagner there was brought out at Sondershausen,
on March 20, 1883, a three-act opera, " Kuni-
hild und der Brautritt auf Kynast,"- in which a
certain section of the Wagnerian party discerned
a worthy successor to the compositions of the
master himself. Outside a small circle of ardent
souls, the performance made no great noise in
Germany, and it was only last year (1893)
that the merits of the work were more widely
discussed, in connection with its extremely
successful revival at Wiirzburg on Febuary 24.
The antecedents of the composer were not such
as warranted his success. His previous works
were mainly of a popular kind, such as polka-
281

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

mazurkas, marches, and those part-songs f<-r
male chorus in which the German student takes
such lasting delight. Such wild oats as these
need not, of course, stand as accusations against
the artistic convictions of their sower ; many a
man who has done great things in after life
has been compelled by circumstances to make
a living by work confessedly far below his
ideals, and there is now every reason to suppose
that means will be found to enable the composer
to pursue the high aims he has latterly professed.
To become a recognised successor of a great
master it is not enough to carry on precisely
his method, applying it without alteration to
new subjects. New developments must be made,
or individuality exhibited in some direction or
other; for, without this, the copyist's work is not
only itself worthless, but it has the far more
serious result of degrading the master's own
work in the eyes of superficial observers. Now
the art which Wagner developed during his
life had this remarkable feature — that the career
of a single man saw its inception, gradual
advance, and completion : for it has of late
years become pretty generally realised that this
art, which may be called the art of music-drama,
is entirely distinct from that of music alone, or
282

CYRILL KISTLER

from poetry alone, just as certainly as it is dif-
ferentiated from that of scene-painting alone.
In view of its extraordinary elaboration, and the
certainty of effect with which it was used by
its creator, it seems at least probable that it
can reach no further point of development in
its own direction, although it will be, and has
already been, most fruitful of influence upon
stage music of every school. If it were possible
to remove Wagner and the body of his work
from the history of music, the whole of the
modern Italian school, from the later works
of Verdi downwards, and most, if not all, of
the healthiest schools of France and England,
could never have existed, at all events in their
present condition ; but no development in
Wagner's own direction has yet been even
attempted. The first impression produced by
the pianoforte score of " Kunihild " is that it con-
tains nothing that has not already been said,
and a great deal better said, by Wagner. The
libretto, a cleverly constructed poem in allite-
rative verse on strictly Wagnerian lines, by Graf
Sporck (the author's name has only lately been
made public), deals with a legend that is full
of opportunities for closely imitating the manner
of the Bayreuth master. By an elaborate system
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MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

of " leading-motives " and the use of harmonic
progressions that arrested attention, whether for
praise or blame, when they first appeared in the
later works of Wagner, a copy has been pro-
duced that might quite easily pass for a work of
Wagner's, were it not that in the various scenes
in which short choruses are introduced a sudden
and entirely uncalled-for change is made from
the declamatory and passionate style to part-
writing of the tamest description, suggesting
that the composer's earlier style has not, after
all, been quite abandoned. The opera may be
effective on the stage, grateful to the singers,
and suggestive to thoughtful hearers, but if it
stood alone the prediction that Wagner's life-
work would be carried on by CYRILL KISTLER
would seem to rest on anything but a solid
foundation. At the same time, it is undeniable
that, with no small powers of invention, he has
acquired a very remarkable mastery over means
of expression ; granting the strong influence of
the older master, the music is appropriate to
the characters of the drama, and its various
situations are grasped with very decided ability.
The composition of this work did not occupy
him long ; in fact, three months were all he spent
upon it, not including the scoring.
284

CYRILL KISTLER

Born in 1848, at Grossaitingen, near Augsburg,
he was early left an orphan and adopted by his
grandfather, a shoemaker, who encouraged such
love for music as he displayed ; at eight years old
he was a choirboy, and could play the flute. A
first intention of preparing him for holy orders
being abandoned, he was educated for the career
of a schoolmaster, and from 1867 to 1875 he
taught in various schools, studying music only
as a recreation; not till 1876, when he entered
the Munich Conservatorium, did he receive any
thing more than the usual amount of musical
teaching that every schoolboy in Germany
receives in the natural order of things. Under
Rheinberger, Franz Lachner, Wullner, and other
teachers, he remained here for two years, sub-
sequently becoming a private pupil of Lachner,
who did not at all approve of the Wagnerian
tendencies which, even then, had declared them-
selves. The time between the completion of
his studies and the commencement of his
career as a dramatic composer was spent in
the composition of various works of small
calibre. It is easily credible that he pondered
the themes, etc., of " Kunihild " long before the
winter of 1881-2, when it was composed; the
scoring was not completed until February,
285

MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

1883, and by a curious coincidence the day
of its completion was the death-day of Richard
Wagner. By this time he had been appointed
teacher of musical theory in the Conservatorium
at Sondershausen ; two years later, Kistler
moved to Kissingen, whence he published some
not very well-judged contributions to musical
literature, some of them called forth by the
refusal of a certain manager to bring out his
opera unless the composer paid him ^750 for
the privilege. It is certainly not by literary
work or criticism that Kistler's name will be
known, and very few of the numbers of his
" Tagesfragen " (questions of the day) — a
brochure of somewhat spasmodic character,
both in its matter and in the irregularity of
its appearance — are worth reading. So far as
Kistler is to be judged by works already
brought out, including many pieces of dance-
music, no doubt written for the fashionable
world of the watering-place, and several
musicianly marches (notably one on the death
of Wagner, in which the themes of Beethoven's
march in A flat minor, and of Siegfried's death-
march, are combined with good effect), the
position claimed for him by a small band of
admirers seems hardly justified. There have
286

CYRILL KISTLER

been issued, however, from the composer's
publishing office at Kissingen — for he is to some
extent his own publisher — a pair of operatic
scores which have far greater individuality
than appears in his first opera. The first, a
musical comedy, based on Kotzebue's " Eulen-
spiegel," is entirely free from any debt to Wag-
ner ; it shows in every scene a distinct gift
of comic power, and its popularity, in Germany
at least, seems to be assured as soon as it is
brought out. The fatuous opening theme, with
its resemblance to the silly tune known as the
" Chopsticks " waltz, exactly suits the character
of the chief personage, the apprentice, half
stupid, half mischievous, who disobeys every
order of his master, though strictly fulfilling the
letter of his injunctions. The working up of
this theme in the overture, and the really
masterly way in which the fun is kept up in
the music, as well as the power of characterisa-
tion displayed throughout, are far more hopeful
signs for the future fame of Kistler than any-
thing to be found in " Kunihild." In " Baldur's
Tod," the third of Kistler's operas, we are again
in surroundings that suggest Wagner ; many of
the personages are identical with those in "Der
Ring des Nibelungen," and some of them are
287

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MASTERS OF GERMAN MUSIC

true to the characters Wagner has given them.
The Odin of the younger composer is quite as
much given to discoursing at enormous length
on things in general as his prototype, the Wotan
of the Cycle. For all that, the work is well
handled, and, even on a perusal of the piano
score, reveals many beautiful points ; the
choral parts, again, are far more homogeneous
with the rest of the music than is the case in
the earlier work, and, in spite of many super-
ficial resemblances to the trilogy, which, after
all, can scarcely be avoided, the music has a
character of its own, and a very beautiful
character too. In August of last year the cir-
cumstance that a monk plays the part of villain
in the earlier opera drew forth the wrath, not
only of the local press, but of the Church, one
preacher going so far as to denounce the per-
formance from the pulpit.

The composer lives a quiet life, in surround-
ings excellently adapted to the production of
worthy works of art. In person he is described,
in a recent number of The Meister (to which
the reader may be referred for further informa-
tion), as about 5 ft. 10 in. in height, "large-
boned, slightly stooping, with strongly-marked
and regular features, keen dark eyes, rhetorical
288

CYRILL KISTLER

lips, and a forehead and shock of hair like
Beethoven's." A portrait prefixed to BalduSs
Tod bears this out, though it does not throw
much light on the epithet "rhetorical."

The art which Wagner brought to perfection
— the art, that is to say, of the music-drama —
has lain dormant since his death; one is tempted
to liken it to the sword Nothung, buried to
the hilt in the ash-stem by Wotan, the world's
wanderer. Will Kistler's be the hand to draw
it forth ?

N,

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ML Puller-Mai tland, John

Alexander

Masters of German music

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