CBIES OF STANDARD
ACHING PIECES
Hf HE PIANO-FORTE
IDWARD BAXTER PERRY
Barton, Dursttoe & Osborn
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
SDWARO JOHNSON
MUSIC
STORIES OF STANDARD
TEACHING PIECES
CONTAINING EDUCATIONAL NOTES AND
LEGENDS PERTAINING TO THE BEST
KNOWN AND MOST USEFUL PIANOFORTE
COMPOSITIONS IN GENERAL USE BY
STUDENTS OF MUSIC AND DESIGNED AS
A COMPANION VOLUME TO THE AUTHOR'S
"DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSES OF PIANO-
FORTE COMPOSITIONS" X X X X
BY
EDWARD BAXTER PERRY
THEO. PRESSER CO.,
1712 Chestnut St.,
PHILADELPHIA, PA.
Copyright, 1910. by fheo. Preset Co,
British Rights Secured.
Contents
BMB
Introduction 11
Esthetic Analysis Possible for Pupils 15
Six Easy Classics for Students 21
Some Noted Compositions by Mendelssohn 31
Robert Schumann's Carnaval 47
Schumann's Fantasy Pieces, Opus 12 64
Schumann's Novelletten. 74
The Arabesque, by Schumann 78
Schumann's Nachstiick in F Major 81
The Traumerei, by Schumann 83
Schumann's Romance in F Sharp 86
Schumann's Cradle Song in E Flat 88
Schumann's Vogel als Prophet (Bird as Prophet) 90
Some Familiar Compositions by Franz Liszt 93
Compositions by Godard 105
L'Indienne, by Godard 110
Trilby, by Godard 112
Pan's Flute, by Godard 116
Schytte's Compositions as Teaching Material 119
Nevin's Compositions 127
Miscellaneous Modern Compositions 132
Teaching Pieces for Second and Third Grades 166
Inflection in Music 179
DANCE FORMS
The Story of the Waltz 183
The Story of the March 190
The Story of the Polonaise 205
The Story of the Gavotte 216
The Story of the Tarantelle 218
The Story of the Minuet 221
Composers' Index 229
Alphabetical Index 233
Stories of Standard
Teaching Pieces.
Introduction.
[INCH the publication, some years ago,
of my "Descriptive Analyses of Piano
Works," and the gratifying reception
accorded it by the public, there has
been a general and growing demand,
especially among teachers, for a volume
of similar analyses, dealing with an
easier grade of compositions suited to the needs of
students.
It is in response to this request that this book has
been prepared.
It contains analyses of one hundred pieces available
for teaching purposes, while the other volume dealt
almost exclusively with the artist's repertoire.
The aim of this work has been the same as in the
former volume, viz. : to emphasize the descriptive,
emotional, imaginative and suggestive elements in
ti
12 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
the compositions treated, rather than their mechanical
structure or technical details.
It cannot be too often or too forcefully reiterated
that good music is a form of ART, a medium of expres-
sion, appealing to the intelligence, the emotions, and
the imagination, not merely to the ear.
It is an important element in education, not a
mere pleasant pastime; an ethical and cultural force,
not a competitive exhibition of mechanical skill.
It is becoming more and more fully recognized as a
subtle but powerful factor in the upbuilding of human
character, capacity and perceptive faculty; in the
development of emotional force, which is the main-
spring of action, and of self-control, which is the
balance-wheel of the whole life mechanism.
As such, it cannot be ignored and should not be
treated merely as a pretty toy, a parlor decoration,
or a means of vain display, but should demand our
serious attention, our careful study, from its inner and
more profoundly significant, not its sensuous and
superficial side.
A good composition is a thought, a mood, or, in
some cases, a scene; expressed or embodied in a
beautiful form; the constituent elements of which
are rhythm, melody and harmony. But the form
exists merely as the means of expression. Hence
any effort to focus the mind of the player or listener
upon this inner meaning is legitimate and helpful if
rightly understood.
That is the sole purpose and aim of this book. If it
serves this purpose the object of the writer will be
attained, and his labor repaid.
Introduction. 13
The compositions herein discussed are, with few
exceptions, of a much easier grade, technically, than
those in the former volume; hence it is hoped the
book will prove of greater practical value to the
average teacher and student.
It must be remembered, however, that for that
very reason the collection of authentic, historical,
legendary and personal data concerning them has
been the more difficult.
The great composers naturally put their best efforts
and embodied their most important subjects in their
larger works; reserving their lighter, less dramatic
themes for their smaller compositions, so that from a
purely literary standpoint, as reading matter, it has
been extremely difficult to maintain the same standard
of interest. I can only hope that any deficiencies
along this line may be compensated for by the greater
pedagogic usefulness of this second volume. It must
also be borne in mind that the subject matter is too
vast to be entirely covered by any two, or even any
twenty such books. I have done what I could and
hope still to continue the work.
I have only gathered a few shining pebbles and
bright shells scattered on the shore of this great
ocean, which I offer for whatever they may be worth.
If, by chance, my readers find a few pearls among
them, I shall be content.
EDWARD BAXTER PERRY.
Aesthetic Analysis Possible
for Pupils.
Y aesthetic analysis I do not mean musi-
cal analysis, that common and neces-
sary branch of instruction more or
less efficiently dwelt upon by all the
advanced teachers of the age. This
latter concerns itself exclusively with
the form and workmanship, the archi-
tectural structure and details of a composition, which
will be good or bad according to the amount of skill,
the command of mechanical resources, possessed by
the composer. ^Esthetic analysis deals with the
principles of aesthetics, which are back of all mechani-
cal means and underlie every form of art work. It
has to do rather with the essence than with the sub-
stance, rather with the matter expressed than with the
manner of its expression. It is the analysis of es-
sences or properties ; the last crucial test of the musical
chemist, reducing a work to its simple elements, in
order the more fully to understand and utilize its real
value, power and influence in human life.
JSsthetic analysis concerns itself with the spiritual
germ, from which every art product is evolved; that
15
1 6 Stones of Standard Teaching Pieces.
conception, evoked from nihility by the creative power
of the composer, through a stimulus, which may be
either objective or subjective, applied to his imagina-
tion and emotions; which conception must always
exist prior to any material embodiment, and alone
vitalizes such material when embodied.
Let us take for illustration an example of objective
stimulus to the artistic activity of a person fittingly
constituted and endowed, resulting in an art product,
because the sources of subjective stimulus are more
difficult to trace and expound.
Suppose some grand and inspiring but not uncom-
mon event, such as a storm at sea, be experienced by
a poet, a painter, and a musician, all of whom are
endowed with the artistic temperament and talent,
and all laborers in the domain of art, though in different
departments. Each is stirred to his being's core, and
the activity thus engendered seeks to find vent in ma-
terial expression along the channel familiar to it.
The poet describes to us in words the terror of the
tempest-torn deep, the wild winds and weltering
waters, the vain struggles of wrecked mariners, and
the corpses drifting shoreward in the wan light of a
murky dawn. The painter seizes one climactic
moment as characteristic of the whole, and gives us in
colors, in an expressive tableau, this one single signifi-
cant situation, from which we must infer what has
gone before and what will inevitably follow. His
canvas shows us a pall of cloud above a heaving waste
of sea, a dismantled ship, just disappearing beneath a
sheet of foam, and the tossing arms and blanched faces
of her crew in their last brief struggle. The composer,
^Esthetic Analysis Possible for Pupils. 17
restricted to the medium of tone, gives us all the dis-
cordant minor voices of the storm and its impetuous
and resistless movement; the shriek of the gale, the
roar of answering billows, the mighty sweep of mam-
moth surges, and the crash of shattering timbers;
closing, perhaps, with the remorseful sobbing of the
sea, in its subsiding fury, upon a wreck-strewn shore.
Bach has treated the theme from a different stand-
point, aiming at the same results and effects, but
subjecting it to the inherent laws of his own peculiar
medium, embodying it in different material, and
emphasizing different component elements and their
appeal to various faculties and senses. But it is the
dread spirit of the storm, which they have caught and
imprisoned in every case, and which thrills us with its
terrific presence.
Now, while the technical analysis of these different
art products would be radically diverse, and in each
case is wholly concerned with elements, none of which
can be found to figure at all in either of the others, the
aesthetic analysis would be precisely identical in every
instance, and would lead us directly to the fear, the
fury, and the struggle, the quickened and intensified
life, aroused by the storm, which agitated the breast
of the artist at the time of the conception of his work.
Words and colors are so universally familiar that all
perceive more or less clearly, and feel • more or less
keenly, according to temperament, the artistic inten-
tion of poet and painter, however ignorant of the
technical means used to embody it; but tone is to
many so new and strange a medium of expression
that they are susceptible only to the sensuous effect
1 8 Stones of Standard Teaching Pieces.
of music, just as a savage would see only a blaze of
color in a painting, and catch only the rhythmic jingle
of a poem.
I have selected a simple incident in nature to illus-
trate my idea. A battle-field, a love-scene, a death-
bed, a religious ceremony — any one of the thousand
episodes of life which awake emotion and quicken
imagination — might have been equally well chosen as
furnishing inspiration to poet, painter, and musician.
Oftener still, some purely subjective experience of the
composer himself must be sought as the impulse which
quickened his artistic activity to fruition, and will be
found in his perfected work by those who have eyes
to see and ears to hear.
This inner meaning is often vague, subtle, ethereal,
a shadowy emanation from that mysterious under-
world of consciousness, with which music deals more
successfully and satisfactorily than any other language,
and which, in fact, in its ultimate perfection of utter-
ance, baffles every resource. It is this inner meaning
which it is the duty and privilege of the artist or the
teacher to discover and make plain to others by any
and every possible means.
"What is expression in piano playing? and how
shall I acquire it?" are perhaps the most frequent ques-
tions asked by all music students, and are certainly
among the most important, to which the teacher is ex-
pected to give a ready, concise, and intelligible answer.
Expression in playing is precisely the same as in
reading or declamation. It consists in making unmis-
takably clear to the listener, by means of the proper
tone, emphasis, and inflection, the true meaning of a
^Esthetic Analysis Possible for Pupils. 19
composition, whether musical or literary. The first
essential step toward acquiring the ability to do this is
to grasp clearly and feel vividly for oneself the meaning
which is to be impressed upon others; to separate this
meaning from the merely sensuous beauty of the
medium and ornamental elaboration of the form in
which it is embodied. To be able to express the sig-
nificance of a composition, at least the pith of it,
briefly and plainly in one's own words is always proof
of this power already possessed to considerable ex-
tent, and practice in doing so will develop it amazingly.
When a player has no more definite idea of a compo-
sition, and can give no more comprehensible descrip-
tion of it, than that it is a pretty piece, be sure that
he or she does not understand its artistic import any
more than if it were a poem in Choctaw, and will be
equally unable to make others comprehend it.
The pupil should be led by easy stages, from the
very beginning, to seek and recognize the intention
and effect of every strain of music, even the simplest.
In addition to the works he is himself studying, the
teacher should frequently play for him short musical
periods of a distinct but widely varied character,
either improvised, or taken from compositions with
which the pupil is unfamiliar; and then, by judicious
questions, he should be trained to think and talk
about the impressions so produced upon him. To
tell, for instance, whether the music is fast or slow,
major or minor, cheerful or sad, exciting or soothing;
whether he thinks it would be suited for a wedding
or a funeral, a hunt or a cradle song, a battle-field
or a ball-room; to the bright, exhilarating hours of
2O Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
morning, the dreamy twilight of evening, or the gloom
of winter midnight. Let him select an appropriate
descriptive name for the strain, and in every possible
way characterize it as a distinct entity in its appeal
to his own nature.
Object lessons of this kind, continued and gradually
increasing in comprehensiveness and delicacy of dis-
crimination, supplemented by hints and suggestions
from the teacher, by the study of writers on music and
of the works of the best composers, will work wonders,
even with the most unpromising pupils. I speak from
experience, having tried the plan many times, and
almost always with results as surprising as they are
gratifying. The teacher will be astonished to find how
much may be done in a few months, with bright pupils,
in stimulating activity of feeling and fancy, in culti-
vating imagination and perception, and in establish-
ing that instantaneous and sympathetic connection
between the merely physical effect of music on the
ear and the responsive echoes of thought and mood
within, upon which connection music must base its
only just claim to be called an art.
From this cultivation of perception and appreciation
an improvement in interpretation follows as a matter
of course. What is felt will be expressed the moment
the pupil has the technical power of expression neces-
sary, and there will be no more trouble from rushing a
funeral march into a quickstep, or dragging a hunting
gallop down to the amble of a tired cart-horse.
The tendency of this training, moreover, is to make
better listeners, who are about as rare and as much
needed in our concert-rooms as are good performers.
Six Easy Classics for Students.
LL intelligent teachers recognize the
importance of familiarizing pupils with
the names and works of the old masters.
Not that these compositions are
intrinsically any better than the best
modern works, in fact many of them
are really less interesting and musical
and no whit better made.
But the old standard names carry a certain weight
and dignity and the student's education is incomplete
without some acquaintance with the old forms and
methods of expression and the various stages of evolu-
tion through which the art of music has passed.
It is well to select a few of the best and most dis-
tinctively representative of these old, time-honored
works, of moderate technical difficulty, insist on a
careful study of them, and let them serve as land-
marks in musical history in the memory of the pupil,
as well as typical specimens of the forms and manner
of musical thought in those earlier days. The perma-
nent impression made upon the mind of the child by
pieces of this kind is of utmost importance.
The first choice of half a dozen such works would
most naturally include the following:
21
22 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
The Largo in G, by Handel.
This is a fine study in the production of a broad,
sonorous, yet mellow tone in full chords, with a sus-
tained melody which must be given special promi-
nence, and also in a grave dignified style of playing
seldom demanded by the modern works. The very
term largo, which means large, broad, or in other
words massive and very slow, is seldom seen now.
Most of our modern music, like our manner of living,
is too hurried and impetuous for such a style.
This composition is distinctly religious in character
and should be given with a serious, almost devotional
spirit. It suggests the vast dim aisles, the stately pil-
lars, the lofty vaulted dome, of some solemn cathedral,
where the reverential hush, and vague awe of bygone
generations and dead ages seem to linger in the air
like the faint odor of incense, and the lightest footfall
echoes weirdly above the tombs of the forgotten dead.
The Harmonious Blacksmith, Handel.
This is decidedly the most famous of all Handel's
works for the piano, was formerly in universal use,
and still holds its own to some extent in popular favor,
even appearing at times on the concert programs of
prominent artists. It is a good study in clear, melodic
phrasing, and crisp, clean-cut finger work.
It consists of a simple, cheerful theme with several
increasingly difficult variations, a form once very
much in vogue but now rather antiquated and seldom
used. It is said to have been conceived under the
Six Easy Classics for Students. 23
following circumstances. Handel, who was living in
England at the time, was on his way one summer
afternoon to the chapel at Cannons to use the organ.
He was caught in a sudden thunder shower and took
temporary refuge in the village smithy. The sturdy,
cheery smith was hard at work at his anvil and sang
to himself as he worked, keeping time with the ring-
ing rhythmic blows of the hammer.
This lusty, jovial song, to the fitting accompani-
ment of the hammer strokes on the iron, while the
sparks flew in bright showers and the ruddy forge-fire
glowed in the background, furnished Handel with the
actual theme, as well as the general idea for this com-
position. This picture of simple village life and honest
cheerful toil in old England should be borne clearly
in mind by the player, and its mood reproduced in the
music. Alas ! for the hearty, healthy, happy yeoman
of the old days whom it recalls ! The type is well-
nigh obsolete in our time.
The melody is supposed to be the song of the smith,
note for note, as he sang it, and the suggestions of
rhythmic hammer strokes, and clanging anvil, and
flying sparks, are obvious and unmistakable. The
atmosphere of the forge has been retained, but at the
same time, medocrity has been avoided.
This work is a bit of avowed realism, though writ-
ten at a time when descriptive music was supposed
to be unknown or disdained.
The fact is that its beginnings are to be found even
among the works of Handel, Haydn, and most of the
other so-called severe classicists. Even Bach in his
dance forms was pictorial.
24 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces,
The Loure in G, by Bach.
The Loure is an antique rustic dance originating
in Normandy. It is somewhat slower than the jig
and was named after the Loure, a local form of bag-
pipe which usually furnished the music for the danc-
ing. I have found this composition one of the most
useful and practicable teaching pieces by this old,
scholarly, ponderous giant in the realm of tone,
whose very name is a terror to most pupils at first,
but whom it is not possible or desirable to ignore in
the study of the art in which he ranks as one of the
greatest.
The involved, polyphonic style of music, appealing
chiefly to the intellect and the sense of mathematical
relation and proportion, so much in vogue in his time,
and in which he immeasurably excelled all other writers
of any age, is not attractive to most young students
in the beginning. It demands more intelligent in-
sight into form, more depth and gravity of thought
and mood than they have at command, to be appre-
ciated. It does not interest them and ought not to
be expected to, because there is no developed faculty
in them as yet which grasps or responds to it. We
do not teach geometry in a kindergarten, neither
should we try to cram a fugue into the immature
brain of a musical infant, for a fugue is only a geomet-
rical problem, interestingly worked out in tone.
The student's approach to these heavier, more com-
plex forms, and the powerful, but somewhat ponderous,
minds which produced them, should be gradual and
Six Easy Classics for Students. 25
carefully guided. Much is gained if the player's intro-
duction to Bach can be made a pleasurable, rather
than a painful, experience; to be remembered with
affectionate reverence for the name and personality of
this new acquaintance, not with weariness and detes-
tation.
True education is the drawing out of latent capacity,
not stuffing in of unwelcome material by force. We
enjoy and assimilate only what we can understand
at a given time, hence it seems to me wise to begin
the study of Bach with some of his lighter, more easily
grasped forms.
The "Loure" is a very old, now obsolete, rustic
dance, stately but cheerful and bright, full of the
lusty vigor and rude jollity of a simple, light-hearted
peasantry, accustomed to an active "out-of-doors"
life and to noisy, rough hilarity. It is a little clumsy
and grotesque, perhaps, like an elephant dancing a
skirt dance, but all the more humorous for that, and
bold and brilliant and vivacious; interesting to the
pupil and pleasing to an audience, which is always
gratified, in spite of its prejudices, if it finds that it
can really enjoy what is called classic music, after all.
This is a point worth considering by the progressive
teacher, as he finds that he must educate his public
as well as his pupils.
The Gipsy Rondo, by Haydn.
Probably no composition of the old school is so
universally known and used as the Gipsy Rondo. It
is a stock piece in the repertory of every teacher, a
26 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
fine study in finger technic, a perfect specimen of the
fully developed rondo form, and a bright, showy,
pleasing number, attractive to all pupils, while bear-
ing the magical name of classical music by a standard
composer. "Old Papa Haydn," as he was called,
with his good-natured optimism, his easy, cheerful
melodious style, and his almost invariable adherence
to the simpler major keys, with few of those objec-
tionable accidentals, the bugbear of young players,
has always been a favorite with teachers because he is
a safe, conservative classic writer, and with pupils and
their friends because he does not sound classical.
This best known of his small works is not, in any
sense, a realistic imitation of gipsy music. It has
none of the distinguishing characteristics of the music
of that singular race; none of the strange melodic
progressions, augmented seconds, and the like, and
none of those wild, weird minor harmonies which are
the ear-marks of their musical productions. But it is
bright, spirited, full of life and verve, expressing the
mood of the gipsy, as Haydn conceived it.
Imagine a gipsy camp, with the rude tents scattered
here and there among the trees, a big cheerful fire
blazing and crackling in the centre, and around it,
in the flickering light and shifting shadows, a crowd of
young gipsies bent on a frolic, dancing gaily to the
music of fiddle and guitar.
The music should be given with dash and brilliancy,
a clear, crisp tone and well-marked accents. Its under-
lying mood is that of joyous youth, unrestrained
hilarity, and primitive, somewhat rough, out-of-door
life. Its chief element of interest is a pronounced,
Six Easy Classics for Students. 27
pulse-stirring rhythm. It contains no hint of serious
thought or profound emotion, only the joy of swift,
free movement.
Sonata in C Major, by Mozart,
Op. 112.
This much-used, much-abused, long-suffering little
sonata, which generally serves the reluctant student
as a study in rhythm and finger technic, and which is,
of course, valuable along these lines, is nevertheless a
musical gem, replete with fine ethereally beautiful
melody and graceful embellishments. It is more than
an etude, or a mere sample of the strict old sonata
form. It represents Mozart at his best, expressing
in a form as clear and finely finished as a delicate
ivory carving, that mood of restful, sunny, imper-
sonal optimism which is the essence of most of his
musical creations.
It is like some finely wrought Greek idyl, the
apotheosis of the pastoral, perfect in detail, without
apparent effort, gently, tenderly emotional, without
a trace of passionate intensity or restless agitation;
the mood of a bright, cloudless June day on the up-
land pastures, where happy shepherds watch their
peaceful flocks untroubled by the storm and stress,
the vexing, unanswered questions and feverish long-
ings of our modern life; a mood so foreign to the
hearts and environments of most present-day human
beings, that it is rarely understood by player or hearer
and still more rarely enjoyed.
It seems flat, and insipid as tepid water, to the
28 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
fevered lips of the young, passion-driven, ambition-
goaded soul in its first stormy period of struggle and
achievement ; but later, it is welcomed as the answer
to that inarticulate, but ever increasingly frequent
sigh for peace and tranquil beauty, and escape from
futile strife, and vain seeking after lasting happiness.
The first movement gives us the pastoral scene
complete; the green stretches of meadow, and sum-
mer breezes softly breathing among swaying grasses
and clover-tops; the floating shadows of passing mist-
wreaths across the azure sky, the silvery, flute-like
notes of the shepherd's pipe, drifting through the
sunlit spaces.
The second movement is like the song of the shep-
herd, tender but hopeful and contented, sure of his
loving welcome when he wends his leisurely way back
to his simple home in the valley as the twilight shadows
fall. The last suggests the gay, but innocent frolic
on the village green in the later evening. Throughout
the entire movement one is continually impressed by
Mozart's melodic inventiveness and inborn skill.
The whole is a musical picture of the simple life,
lived in all sincerity by simple folk, not played at
with labored affectation by the city- jaded modern
victim of the relentless Juggernaut we call the higher
civilization.
It is a backward glimpse into the heart of the golden
age.
The work requires the utmost repose and tran-
quillity of style, an ethereal beauty of tone, soft and
pure as the petals of a white rose, and an easy fluent
technic.
Six Easy Classics for Students. 29
Andante Favori, by Beethoven.
This work, now published separately, and popular,
the world over, among all classes of players, was
originally written as the slow movement in the great
C major sonata, known as the Waldstein, also as the
Aurora sonata, full description of which may be found
in my volume of Descriptive Analyses.
As there stated, the whole work was dedicated to
the Count Waldstein of Vienna, a descendant of the
famous general and statesman Waldstein, or Wallen-
stein, who figured so prominently during the thirty
years' war.
The work was composed as a tribute and with ref-
erence to the life, character, historical importance, and
personal peculiarities of this great field-marshal who
was, at the same time, one of the leading astrologers
of his day.
The sonata was considered too long by the pub-
lishers, in fact was so, and is so still.
The Andante was cut out and published separately,
and a brief, unimportant introduction to the Rondo
substituted in its place.
The Andante deals with the astrological investiga-
tions and calm reflective mood of Wallenstein, the
student of the heavens, rather than with the more
active stirring episodes of his public life.
The opening theme portrays the quiet starry night
with its hushed solemnity, its vast inspiring majesty
and the deep reflective mood of the solitary beholder
alone in b^s observatory.
30 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
Then follows a series of variations, or rather a
progressive development of the theme, suggesting the
growing, broadening current of thoughts induced by
the sublime, the limitless host of inconceivably dis-
tant stars, gleaming through immeasurable spaces, the
other planets, wheeling in silent splendor, all, as he
fully believes, exercising an irresistible influence upon
human life and destiny, including his own.
The heavier, more agitated octave passages later
in the work, indicate his memories of the stormy,
eventful hours in his own life, with their struggles and
conflicts and victories or defeats, whose origin, signifi-
cance, and ultimate outcome he is striving to discover
from these mighty, inscrutable arbiters of his fate.
The close is eminently reflective, and its slow, hesi-
tating, sorrow-fraught minor cadences show his long-
ing for the ever-sought but never found solution of
life's great problem, one more voice added to the volume
of that great human chorus that, from all times and
lands, comes echoing down the ages the same refrain;
the old unanswered questions, How, and whence and
why?
The true musician will render this work with ex-
treme gravity, with serious, reverent, thoughtful tran-
quillity, yet with a certain repressed intensity.
Some Noted Compositions by
Mendelssohn.
T has come to be quite the fashion of
late years, among a large class of musi-
cians, to sneer at the piano composi-
tions of Mendelssohn as shallow and
superficial, and to relegate them more
and more to oblivion; and not without
a certain excuse.
His unvarying, blandly complacent optimism, his
smoothly rounded periods, his graceful, but never pro-
found ideas, and his occasional unblushing use of
pleasing but century-old musical platitudes are all out
of keeping with the intensity and complexity of modern
thought and feeling and cannot but remind us of a
very slender-waisted gentleman in full evening dress.
Compared with the vigor and variety, the uncom-
promising directness of the giant, Beethoven, or the
fervid emotionality of Chopin, or the subtle mysticism
and rugged force of the dual Schumann, Mendelssohn's
style and prevalent mood suggest the perfect manners
of the cultured man of the world, the social favorite,
rather than the fine frenzy of that genius which to
madness is allied.
31
32 Stones of Standard Teaching Pieces.
But this very happy serenity and polished elegance
constitute his peculiar charm and one which has its
legitimate place and use in the realm of music and
should not be ignored.
To some natures, and they are not few nor the most
unworthy, all extreme emotion, which they are not so
constituted as to share or even understand, seems
unreal, hysterical, delirious, and its unveiled embodi-
ment in art strikes them as indelicate, even vulgar;
while to those more richly though perhaps less for-
tunately endowed emotionally, who demand in art
the fullest, strongest possible expression of life as
they know it, with its stress and strife, its tempests
and conflicts, its unanswered questions and unsatis-
fied longings, even to these there come moments of
lassitude when weary alike of the heights of fevered
ecstasy and the depths of despair they sigh for the
quiet valley of repose. Moments when it seems better
to give over the struggle and the protest, and drift
smoothly on the stream of chance with shipped oars
and slackened sails, with the will dozing beside the
helm, and ambition gagged and fettered in the hold.
To these, at such moments, and to the former class
at all times, Haydn, Mozart, and Mendelssohn stand
as the exponents of restful content, of delicate fancy,
which pleasantly occupies without violently arousing
the mind; of gentle moods, which lightly touch the
surface of emotion as a swallow skims the sunlit lake
without disturbing its darker depths; above all, of
abstract beauty of form, of symmetry and finish,
which gratifies the taste without exciting the feelings
or arousing the intellect.
Some Noted Compositions by Mendelssohn. 33
There are those who claim that this is the only
true music, which is manifestly absurd. As well say
that Wordsworth and Longfellow wrote the only
true poetry. It is merely the expression of one of
the infinitely varied phases of human life and ex-
perience— more or less persistent or recurrent ac-
cording to individual temperament and circum-
stances. It is not the highest or the best, but it has
its place and use, and the first duty of the musician
is to learn to recognize and appreciate all forms and
shades of experience as expressed in music, and to
render them all with equal fidelity and sympathy.
An art which met only the needs of a certain lim-
ited class, or of certain special occasions, would be
limited indeed !
As a study of pure musical form the compositions
of Mendelssohn, especially his " Songs Without Words,"
are unequaled. Their symmetry is perfect, though
simple, free from elaborate embellishment and con-
fusing complexity — reminding one of the earlier Greek
architecture, restful but satisfactory. Although these
compositions are written in a great variety of rhythms
and meters, and although the harmonies are distinctive
and individual, they never lose the unforgetable Men-
delssohn flavor.
His periods are clear-cut, definite and well-balanced,
easily grasped by the student, and there are few episodical
or parenthetical passages and almost no interpolated ca-
denzas to distract the attention from the general outline.
One may select almost at random any one of these
wordless songs to illustrate to a class the distinct
eight-measure period, with the thesis and antithesis.
3
34 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
The Spring Song.
This is probably the most famous of the "Songs
Without Words/' and is written in Mendelssohn's
happiest vein.
The mood it expresses is thoroughly in keeping
with his prevalent mental attitude — sunny, joyous
and hopeful, full of love of life and a mild, pleasur-
able exhilaration. It was written in London on the
first day of June, 1842, and is a perfect embodiment
of the composer's impressions of an English spring,
so well described by Browning in the lines:
Oh, to be in England now that April's there,
And whoever wakes in England sees, some morning unaware,
That the lowest boughs and the brushwood's sheaf
Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
In England — now!
And after April when May follows,
And the white-throat builds, and all the swallows!
Hark, where my blossomed pear tree in the hedge
Leans to the field and scatters on the clover
Blossoms and dew drops at the bent spray's edge —
That's the wise thrush : He sings each song twice over
Lest you should think he never could recapture
The first, fine, careless rapture!
The melody is a pure lyric suggesting a fresh young
soprano voice, thrilling with exuberant gladness tuned
to harmonious accord with the manifold voices of
nature, wakening from their long winter silence in
bubbling brooks, rustling leaves, and jubilant bird
calls. Like the English skylark, it soars and floats in
the upper air, pouring forth its overflowing delight in
a shower of golden notes like sunbeams made audible.
Some Noted Compositions by Mendelssohn. 35
The light rippling arpeggio chords of the accom-
paniment should simulate the swaying branches, nod-
ding their cheery greeting to the passing breeze or
the white fleecy clouds adrift upon an azure sky.
The whole composition is instinct with delicate
grace, yet with a certain joyous freedom and abandon
only fully appreciated "when the heart is young."
The Spinning Song.
One of the universal favorites is "The Spinning
Song," a very clever bit of realism, as well as of tuneful
melodic writing.
"The Spinning Song" has always been a familiar
and much-used subject among piano composers, on
account of the tempting facility with which the idea
can be expressed on the piano and the variety of
moods which may be coupled with it.
Every spinning song contains two distinct elements,
the literal imitation of the buzz and hum of the
spinning wheel in the accompaniment and the lyric
melody representing the song of the maiden or matron
who sings at her work.
This melody may vary in mood through all the
gamut of feeling from rapture to despair, according to
the emotional state of the supposed singer which it is
intended to indicate. As, for example, in Schubert's
"Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel," the heart of the
singer is breaking, and every throb of anguish quivers
through the song, while the very wheel drones sympa-
thetically in the minor key. In this one by Mendels-
sohn the mood is quite the reverse — careless, light-
36 Stones of Standard Teaching Pieces.
hearted, with the sunshine of youth's morning bright-
ening it. Fancy a young, sanguine peasant maiden
sitting at her open cottage door on a bright May
morning at her daily, but not irksome task, of spinning.
The wheel hums and b-r-r-s at great speed under her
supple, active foot, while her gay voice vies with the
nesting robins in the blossoming apple or cherry out-
side, in a tripping lilt as light and free and joyous as
the voice of the linnet, as fresh as the May breezes
which toss the white blossom bells of the apple-
boughs till they scatter perfume music in sweet showers
over all the country side.
The whole mood is as riotously gay as the May
morning, as happy as the untried heart of innocence;
a mood which we are the better and more cheerful to
have shared — even though only for a moment.
The Hunting Song.
This is one of his brightest, most joyous composi-
tions, thoroughly characteristic of his prevalent mood,
and a fine piece of suggestive symbolic writing. It
breathes the freshness and dewy aromatic fragrance
of the woodland at daybreak, and expresses through-
out the buoyancy and elation, the careless joy in life
and action always naturally associated with a hunting
scene.
One can feel in it the bounding pulses and super-
abundant vitality of youth and health, the stirring
of the blood in answer to the voice of nature, the
call of the wild.
It is singular that men are never so hilariously
Some Noted Compositions by Mendelssohn. 37
gay as when starting out to inflict suffering and death
upon their innocent brothers of the forest, who never
did them any harm and are as fond of life as they.
Think of a man with all the resources of his trained
intelligence, supplemented by all the latest improve-
ments in firearms, finding his keenest pleasure in
mutilating and murdering a deer that has committed
no wrong, and has no means of defense, no chance for
life or retaliation in the unequal battle. To one who
reflects, or feels, it is a fearful commentary on the
cruelty and cowardice of the human race.
But that is an ethical rather than an artistic con-
sideration, and has no place here. Art deals with life
as it is, not with the ideal conception of what it
might be.
As is usual in such works, the common device of
imitating the hunting-horn in the theme or melody is
employed in this work. The sound of the bugle or
horn through the cool green aisles of the forest is
always associated with the idea of the hunt. The
various horn signals tell of the progress of the hunt,
indicate that the game is afoot, or in sight, etc. In
music the imitation of the horn is universally em-
ployed as the most suggestive, appropriate symbol
of a hunting scene.
In this case it is not the shrill, aggressive English
bugle, but the German Wald-horn (forest horn), an
instrument of lower register and more mellow yet
resonant quality of tone and Mendelssohn uses two,
writing his horn melody in the form of a duet most of
the time, and the rich sonorous theme rings through
the forest glades, now stronger, now fainter, as the
38 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
hunt winds nearer or further away. At the close we
seem to linger by a bubbling woodland stream which
gurgles and tinkles along its rocky bed, half hidden
beneath a profusion of fern and brake, tangled elder
and weeping-willow; while the music of the horn
gradually recedes and at last dies in the distance.
The ripple of the flowing water is distinctly given in
the right hand accompaniment, while the receding
horn theme in the left should be made markedly
realistic.
The whole should be given at a moderate tempo, so
that the ideas can be clearly expressed and easily
grasped.
It is usually played much too fast. The power
must vary constantly, and through a considerable
range, to preserve the artistic illusion of the continu-
ous change of location on the part of the huntsmen.
The tempo ought to vary but little.
Mendelssohn was not a friend of the excessive
rubato and it is not in place in his music. The rubato
indicates agitation and emotional intensity, both
foreign to his nature and style.
Venetian Gondola Song. Opus 30,
No. 6.
The Gondola forms an exception to any general
characterization of Mendelssohn's usual style and
mood. Far from expressing his ordinary cheerful
easy-going optimism it is sad, even morbid, so much so
that one is tempted to believe that it was not written
by him.
Some Noted Compositions by Mendelssohn. 39
It is well known that his sister, Fanny Mendelssohn,
composed, and published under her brother's name, a
number of songs and piano pieces now included among
his works, as it was not considered "good form" for a
lady of high social position to figure publicly as a
composer — or in any other capacity — especially among
the Jews.
It is not definitely known which of these works so
originated. We are inclined, however, to attribute
to her those of a more intense and passionate character
than the majority, as her nature was far deeper and
more emotional than that of her brother, and subject,
at times, to moments of depression.
I fully believe that the work in question was written
by her. This is indicated by its mood, and a certain
vague indistinctiveness of form so different from
Mendelssohn's usual clarity of outline.
In every gondola song and barcarole, just as in the
spinning song, there are two distinct elements — the
realistic element, suggesting the physical conditions
on which the idea is based ; the rocking of the boat,
the rhythmic swing of the oar, the splash of water, etc.,
and the emotional element expressed in the song of the
boatman, which may vary from transport to tragedy.
The gondola is exclusively associated with Venice,
but it may be Venice smiling under the azure sky and
glorious radiance of summer noon, or sulking in the
dark phantom-shrouding fogs of late November. This
picturesqueness appealed very strongly to the beauty-
loving Mendelssohn.
The singer may be the happy lover serenading his
promised bride, or the discarded and jealous suitor
40 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
waiting in the gloom of a murky midnight to assassi«
nate his rival.
In the case of this little work the mood of the singer
is that of dull, sadly pensive depression, discourage-
ment and profound sorrow; not new and keen, but
old and wearily familiar, sounding in every phrase.
The scene which forms its fitting background, is
Venice on a misty sullen evening in the autumn.
The sky and water are leaden grey, the outlines of
churches and palaces blurred by the heavy sluggish
masses of fog rolling in from the Adriatic. The boat
glides wearily onward like a spent sea-gull, rocking
slowly on the long tide-swells; the water whispers
darkly, in muffled monotone, of tragedies hidden in
its depths, with no cheerful splash or silvery ripple to
break the oppressive monotony, while the song of the
boatman, subdued and plaintive, voices in minor
melody the spirit of the night.
The very unusual mood here portrayed is exactly
duplicated by Edgar Allan Poe in the following lines
from "The City in the Sea":
Relentlessly beneath the sky
The melancholy waters lie,
For no ripples curl, alas,
Along that wilderness of glass.
No swellings tell that winds may be
Upon some far-off happier sea —
No heavings hint that winds have been
On seas less hideously serene.
Opus 53, No. 2.
Another of these little works, which it is more than
probable was written by Fanny Mendelssohn, and
Some Noted Compositions by Mendelssohn. 41
which is one of the most beautiful in the collection, is
the No. 2, Op. 53. It is a pure lyric with no realistic
suggestion in it, dealing with emotion merely — an
impassioned love-song, full of tenderness, fervor and
ardent longing, with a marked undertone of impa-
tience, uncertainty and restless agitation, expressed
in the accompaniment by triplet chords, against even
eighths, in the melody.
This rhythmic problem, so trying to the amateur
pianist, of playing evenly and accurately two notes in
one hand against three in the other, as presented in
this work throughout its entire length, is a very
important one and should be mastered early in the
study of the piano; hence this composition, apart
from its musical interest, is one of the most valuable
and helpful of the "Songs Without Words" to both
teacher and student.
The difficulties it presents are purely rhythmical,
as the music is otherwise simple and easily under-
stood, without any elaborate cadenzas or technical
complexities.
The solution of the puzzle is easy when clearly
comprehended, and once grasped, gives no further
trouble. It is only necessary to divide the beat
mentally into six equal parts, giving two to each note
of the triplet and three to each even eighth, thus
bringing the second of the two exactly half way between
the second and third of the three. (At half past two by
the accompaniment, so to speak.) That so few players
are able to do this easily shows that they depend
more upon the hands and good luck than upon the
head. No student's training is complete without a
42 Stones of Standard Teaching Pieces.
careful study of this work. Having once thoroughly
mastered it, he will always be able to play longer
or shorter passages of two against three wherever they
appear, without difficulty, and this rhythm is a com-
mon device with modern writers, to express unrest
and agitation — emotional stress of any kind.
Consolation.
It would be impossible to pass from a considera-
tion of these "Songs Without Words" without men-
tion of "The Consolation" in B major, No. 9, prob-
ably the best known and most often played of any
of the set. It is a fine study in sustained, smoothly
connected chord playing, and in the production of a
full, yet mellow quality of tone in full chords like
that of the organ. Though technically simple and
devoid of any very profound musical significance,
it possesses a certain individual quiet charm which
has endeared it to many hearts the world over.
It expresses simply and directly a tranquil resig-
nation to the inevitable, a trustful, reposeful — almost
hopeful — submission to a superior will and wisdom,
which renders it restful and soothing to many minds
in moments of lassitude amid the stress and struggle
of life. It reminds one of the little verses which were
so popular with a certain class of readers a few years
ago:
Be still, my soul, be still and sleep,
The storm is raging on God's deep,
God's deep, not thine, be still and sleep.
Some Noted Compositions by Mendelssohn. 43
Be still, my soul, be still and sleep,
God's hand shall stay the tempest's sweep,
God's hand, not thine, be still and sleep.
Be still, my soul, be still and sleep,
God's heaven shall comfort those who weep,
God's heaven and thine. Be still and sleep.
The brief arpeggio passage used as introduction and
coda serves little purpose other than to establish the
tonality and make a beginning and ending. It is
wholly irrelevant, and might better have been omitted.
II Duetto.
"II Duetto" is a composition that explains itself.
It is intended to simulate a vocal duet between soprano
and tenor in the flowing, melodious Italian style. It
is attractive to pupils and is an excellent study in
melody playing, and dynamic values, and accurate
balance of parts ; for the tenor theme must be brought
out distinctly, and carefully phrased, maintaining a
degree of independence, while remaining in the main
subordinate to the other. Both must stand out clearly,
with a warm, full, mellow quality of tone, suggesting
the human voice against the quiet, neutral back-
ground of the accompaniment, like embossed figures
in rich red gold on a soft azure field.
Why is it that these purely lyric effects in piano
playing, which form one of its most attractive and
beautiful features, are so neglected and so rarely
well given? Have we no time or taste for anything
but hurry up music, because we travel by express
train and do business by wire? Must we also have
44 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
our music ground out, machine- like, on high-speed
gearing and served against time, like hash at a depot
lunch counter? What wonder that our people have
musical indigestion!
Prelude in E Minor.
One of the small works of Mendelssohn, which is
far less known and used than it deserves to be, is
the Prelude in B Minor, one of the strongest things
he has done. It is a broad, vigorous, baritone melody,
expressing courage, resolution, manly strength and
noble purpose. It might be the musical introduction
to the principal act in some heroic drama, in which
truth, bravery and fidelity triumph over fraud and
crime, winning final victory through suffering and
struggle.
It is a thankful program number and a fine study
in the production of a large, resolute melody tone,
which suggests the quality and color of bronze from
which the statues of heroes are made and predomi-
nates over a rapid, stormy accompaniment in a higher
register. It is a good example of the noble lyric.
The Rondo Capriccioso.
This article would not be complete without a ref-
erence in closing to thetgpndo Capriccioso, the most
widely and favorably known of Mendelssohn's larger
works for the piano. It is not of the first magnitude
musically or technically, but is, nevertheless, a world-
famous concert number, played by eHsh the greatest
Some Noted Compositions by Mendelssohn. 4^
artists^and very popular as a recital piece for ad-
vancea students in graduation programs, as it con-
tains no insurmountable difficulties for the fairly
equipped pianist and is always pleasing to an audience.
Its musical merit is characteristic of its author,
and lies in its charm and grace rather than in any
great strength or depth.
I It may fairly be considered one of his best pro-
ductions, and is full of quiet, tender, poetic sentiment
and delicate grace. J
The introductory movement, which should be
played at a very moderate tempo, with a warm sus-
tained tone, shows Mendelssohn at his best in the
lyric vein and is more>» significant in content than
most of his lyrics, whilaljhe bright, dainty, yet playful
and sparkling rondo that follows manifests to the full
his capricious, airy fancy, his happy, hopeful optimism.
Mendelssohn's best, most original work was on the
style of depicting the half-playful, half -fanciful side of
life and nature.
He was a tone painter who succeeded best in flower
pieces rather than in scenes of battle or tempest;
and he was especially happy in his occasional incur-
sions into the realm of elves and fairies, as in the
music to the "Midsummer Night's Dream," which
was one of his earliest and most famous productions.
This style is exemplified in the rondo movement re-
ferred to.Y
I have not been able to find any authentic his-
torical, or even traditional, foundation for my idea,
outside of the intrinsic quality of the music, but that
is uneqai vocally suggestive. If called upon to give
46 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
a word-picture allegorically representing this com
/ position I should do it somewhat after this fashion:
I /0/f\SLimagin£<£ long, gentle slope of velvet green meadow
V rising gradually to a line of forest which forms the
darker background. The sun is slowly sinking in the
west, not in gorgeous flaming splendor triumphing
in his conquest over the broken flying host of thunder-
clouds, but gently drawing behind him the soft violet,
amber and pearl-gray curtains of his night pavilion,
as if seeking rest after his day's journey. As the
silence and the twilight deepen, the dainty little elves
emerge from the shadows of the forest and begin their
nightly dance and frolic upon the open meadow.
Occasionally, from the depths of the wood, can be
heard the good-night call of a bird, or a few distant
notes from the horn of a belated hunter wending
homeward.
As the sheltering darkness closes in, the dance of the
elves becomes more wild and unrestrained and their
fantastic pranks more daring.
At the close the first chill wind of night sweeps
through the tree-tops with a boisterous rush, and her
black wings fold over the scene. \ This is, at least,
as I conceive the work, though it' is not ostensibly
"program music" and has no descriptive title to guide
the fancy.
Robert Schumann's
Carnaval
SCENES MIGNONNES SUR 4 NOTES. (LITTLE
SCENES ON FOUR NOTES.)
MONO Schumann's larger works for the
piano, none is more frequently played,
or generally speaking so little enjoyed,
as the "Carnaval Scenes." This ap-
parently contradictory statement may
readily be accounted for on the follow-
ing grounds, and thereby incidentally
an important lesson learned.
The trained pianist finds this work thoroughly and
refreshingly Schumannesque, full of all the subtle
fancies, droll humor and originalities of treatment
peculiar to this composer; replete with all the kalei-
doscopic variety of tone color and harmonic effect,
all the symbolic and realistic suggestiveness, char-
acteristic of the romantic school, of which Schu-
mann was one of the ablest and most enthusiastic
champions. Hence he finds it a fascinating study
and regards it as an effective number for the con-
cert stage.
With the fatuous assumption, common to the spe-
.47
48 Stones of Standard Teaching Pieces.
cialist, that every one knows, or ought to know, about
the subject-matter in question, he simply discharges
this piece at the heads of his unoffending audience,
on the hit-or-miss plan, in a series of fragments, like
scrap-iron from a fast-firing machine gun, with the
same rap:dity and general inaccuracy of aim, fondly
imagining that his hearers will catch them as they
fly, and see and appreciate at a first fleeting glance
that which has taken him, the professional musician,
months of study to perceive and value properly.
The listeners, on the other hand, ignorant usually
of the composer's meaning and intention, except that
in some vague way the work probably has to do
with a carnival, and often failing to comprehend the
foreign names designating some of the sections, hear
only a succession of incoherent, apparently irrele-
vant musical scraps, with no logical sequence, dram-
atic development or emotional continuity, without
even a pause to show where one fragment ends and
the next begins. They are confused, bored, and nat-
urally conclude that if this is "high-class music artis-
tically performed," they greatly prefer the kind
Susie plays at home, with its marked dance rhythms
and simple melodies, easily grasped and affording at
least a sort of superficial sensuous pleasure; and it
is no wonder they do.
An audience has some rights, and one of them is
to know "what and where the player is at," to use
a colloquialism. Another is to get something in return
for its money.
The following simple but accurate explanation may
aid students and others who may chance to read it
Robert Schumann's Carnaval. 49
in arriving at this desirable state of pre-knowledge
concerning the work in question. Some such an-
alysis or description ought to be supplied, at least
in outline, by every pianist who presents the com-
position, either by word of mouth or in print upon
the program.
The secondary title, "Little Scenes on Four Notes,"
with its partial justification in the music, is based
on a curious and very inadequately sustained conceit
on the part of Schumann, namely, the use of the
letters, A, E flat, C and B natural, as the initial theme
in several of the numbers.
In English nomenclature this would spell nothing,
but in German E flat is called es (pronounced S),
and B natural is called H, so that the four letters,
A-S-C-H, spell the name of the little village of Asch
in Bohemia, the home of Fraulein Ernestine von
Fricken, one of Schumann's most intimate lady
friends at the time of composing this music (1834
and 1835). The same notes, S-C-H-A, also repre-
sent the only letters in Schumann's own name, which
are used in musical notation, and he seems to have
never tired of playing upon and with them in his
compositions.
This form of musical joke, which consisted in clev-
erly working the letters of some proper name into
the theme of a composition, was quite in vogue
with musicians of Schumann's and preceding genera-
tions. Sebastian Bach was guilty of building his
own name into a theme B-A-C-H, and Schumann
employed the same device in his very first composi-
tion, his Op. i, of which the theme is formed of the
4
50 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
letters A-B-E-G-G, spelling the i^ name of Meta
Abegg, of Mannheim. He later u:>ed Gade's name,
and the woman's name Beda in a similar way.
It is possible that Schumann originally intended
all the numbers of the " Carnaval " to consist of some
grouping of the musical notes represented by the
letters in the name Asch, but these notes in that
order appear only a few times as the opening phrase
of the melody in some of the earlier sketches. The
idea is not fully carried out even there, and is later
abandoned altogether, so has little value or signifi-
cance from a musical or any other standpoint. It is
merely a droll passing whim.
The work, as a whole, is intended to express the
moods and portray some of the scenes and charac-
ters of the Carnival masquerade and procession, com-
mon in all the Catholic European cities on Mardi Gras,
and witnessed repeatedly by Schumann in Vienna in
his early life. The spontaneity of the minute, the
spirit of frolic, and the poetical undercurrent mark
the "Carnaval" as a most original work.
The masquerade idea seems to have had a very
strong hold upon Schumann, for three of his most
notable and popular piano works are based upon it.
Aside from this Carnaval, Op. 9, the Papillons, Op.
2, represents scenes and characters at a masked ball,
and the Faschingsschwank, Op. 26, depicts the Viennese
Carnival.
The work we are considering consists of twenty-
two musical sketches, and I have numbered them
here for convenient reference, though it is not so
done in the printed score.
Robert Schumann's Carnaval. 51
No. 1. Preambule. (Preamble.)
This first number is a musical introduction, sup-
posed to be played by the band at the head of the
procession, expressing the mood of the time, with its
excitement and anticipation, its complete abandon-
ment to hilarious gaiety and rollicking, often rough
fun. It is followed by a representation of a number
of the maskers in the procession, interspersed with
typical incidents and an occasional band number.
For this composition depicts, not the masked ball on
the evening of Mardi Gras, but the street procession
which precedes it.
No. 2. Pierrot. (Clown.)
This is a name quite generally adopted throughout
Europe to designate a clown or tumbler of the old-
fashioned uncouth German type, a personification of
rough, clumsy Teutonic humor. In this case he
heads the procession, stalking down the street, pre-
tending to be master of ceremonies, preserving a
wondrous pompous dignity and a ludicrous solem-
nity, but turning a sudden grotesque somerset or
handspring at frequent intervals, to the great amuse-
ment of the spectators.
The mood of farcical gravity and also the realistic
effect of the somerset are graphically portrayed in
the music, the latter occurring on the single notes
marked forte in the midst of piano passages. These
should burst out so as to startle the listener and
52 Stones of Standard Teaching Pieces.
instantly relapse into solemnity as does the circus
clown.
No. 3. Arlequin. (Harlequin.)
This is another impersonation of the buffoon, a
harlequin of the fantastic mercurial French type,
dressed in a vivid striped costume of many colors.
He carries in his hand a long whip, which he snaps
occasionally in the faces of the bystanders, osten-
sibly to clear the street, but really to startle and
annoy them, and create merriment at their expense.
This number should be as animated as the former
was solemn, and the cracking of the whip is unmis-
takable, occurring in the first and third measure, and
at intervals of every few measures afterward. It
should be given very staccato, with a snapping accent
on the sixteenth which precedes the rest.
No. 4. Valse Noble.
This is another composition played by the band,
somewhat more subdued and graceful than the intro-
duction, presumably heard at a greater distance, but
distinctly music in the carnival vein.
No. 5. Eusebius.
This number and the one immediately following it,
Florestan, are interesting creations of Schumann's
own imagination. Here they are fictitious characters,
supposed to be taking part in the procession, but
Robert Schumann's Carnaval. 53
the names are familiar to all students of his life and
works during early manhood. One or the other is
signed to a large number of his critiques and liter-
ary articles, and sometimes both together to his
musical compositions, as in the case of the great
Sonata, Op. II, which was "Dedicated to Clara, by
Florestan and Eusebius."
Goethe's oft-quoted statement that two souls
dwell in very breast was distinctly true of Schu-
mann, who himself recognized the duplex person-
ality under the two names referred to, which typify
two different phases of his character and genius.
Eusebius represents the poetic metaphysical side of
his nature, the introspective impractical dreamer,
the writer of delicate lyrics and involved mystical
harmonies. It must be remembered that Schumann's
representation of his dual personality is not confined to
his musical compositions, but continually appeared in
his writings as well.
No. 6. Florestan.
As suggested above, this was Schumann's own
name for his sterner self. Florestan is just the re-
verse of Eusebius, bold, aggressive, turbulent, fight-
ing with fierce joy for his ideals, fighting if neces-
sary with a club, and yet with a certain rollicking
gaiety which suggests the college boy out for a lark.
Florestan was the organizer and leader of the Davids-
bundler or hosts of David, who to quote his own words
are "youths and men destined to slay all the Philis-
tines, musical or otherwise."
54 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
No. 7. Coquette.
This admirably suggestive sketch hardly needs
analysis. The name tells the story. It embodies in
a musical form, replete with dainty witchery and
capricious archness, touched here and there with
seductive tenderness, the familiar and famous co-
quette, fascinating but unreliable. Most composers
have tried their hands first or last at depicting this
type of the eternal feminine, under titles containing
the words flirt, coquette, siren, Lorelei, witch, and
the like, but I regard this as a peculiarly happy effort
and one of the best examples of portrait painting in
music which has been produced.
No. 8. Replique.
This is merely a brief phrase, a sort of echo or
reply to the blandishments of the foregoing.
No. 9. Sphinxes.
This number can hardly have been intended to
be played. It has no musical significance, but is
a jest in the form of a riddle, addressed only to one
who is reading the score. It is another of Schu-
mann's good-natured but rather awkward drol-
leries. It contains no notes, but the parallel bars
which take the place of them are seen on examina-
tion to occupy places on the staff corresponding to
the four letters already referred to, upon which the
Robert Schumann's Carnaval. 55
"little scenes" are supposed to be built. The first
represents the notes S-C-H-A, the letters from the
name Schumann which occur in music. The second
spells the word Ach, an interjection in German trans-
lated by our word Alas. The third is the name Asch,
the village previously mentioned as the home town of
an intimate friend.
No. 10. Papillons. (Butterflies.)
The music does not represent in any sense the
light-winged vagrants of the summer field. It sug-
gests rather a group of maskers dressed to repre-
sent butterflies, but forgetting their role in the excite-
ment of the occasion and indulging in a good deal of
noisy merriment. They pass quickly and vanish amid
the crowd of revellers.
No. 11. A. S. C. H— S. C. H. A.
Lettres Dansantes. (Dancing
Letters.)
Here we have another recurrence of the quaint
conceit already referred to, a play upon the letters
A. S. C. H. and S. C. H. A., which are here made
to dance and tumble boisterously before us like veri-
table living entities, none too sober, or a species of
roguish kobald whose antics are supposed to be very
amusing. The idea is ingenious, but the actual musical
effect not very satisfactory. In some modern panto-
mimes the idea has been presented on the stage with
dancers holding huge letters.
56 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
No. 12. Chiarina.
Chiara is the Italian for Clara, and Chiarina, the
diminutive, was a favorite pet name of Schumann
for Clara Wieck, the charming and gifted young
artist, afterward famous the world over as Clara
Schumann, to whom the composer was deeply at-
tached from her fourteenth year, and to whom he
was secretly betrothed at the time this work was
written. He pays a delicate tribute to her charming
personality in this dainty lyric. The melody con-
sists of a little phrase of four notes, constantly re-
iterated, in different positions but with the same
accent and inflection, so as to simulate the syllables
of the name Chiarina.
No. 13. Chopin.
The next character represented is the well-known
composer Frederic Chopin, for whom Schumann felt
and expressed profound admiration. He has here
done an exceedingly clever bit of imitation of the
Polish composer's most familiar and characteristic
form of writing, viz., the Nocturne, in which Chopin
excelled all other composers, and by means of which,
in connection with his waltzes, he first became widely
known to the musical world.
This number is an exquisite specimen of the Noc-
turne, a tender lyric melody with a certain plain-
tive undertone and a flowing arpeggio accompani-
ment. It might easily be mistaken for Chopin's
Robert Schumann's Carnaval. 57
own work, both as to general mood and details of
construction. In fact, Chopin's personality seems
manifested in it, which of course was the composer's
intention.
No. 14. Estrella.
Estrella was a romantic name applied by Schu-
mann to Frl. Ernestine von Fricken, a gifted and
attractive young lady residing at Asch, with whom
the composer at the time of writing the Carnaval
was on the closest terms of friendly intimacy. Her
personality is indicated, as well as her participation
in the masquerade, by this very winning bit of music.
No. 15. Reconnaissance.
(Recognition.)
Schumann has endeavored in certain portions of
this work to express not only the general mood of the
Carnival time and some of the characters in the mas-
querade, but also special emotions and incidents con-
nected with some of its phases. In this case, for
example, the music indicates the feeling of glad sur-
prise arising from the recognition of two of the maskers
of each other's identity, the sudden pleasure of coming
in contact with the familiar personality of friend or
lover in spite of the disguise, in the midst of the
noisy, rollicking crowd. Although bordering upon
the impossible, Schumann has attempted to reflect a
mood which only the most sensitive tone-poet would
depict.
58 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
No. 16. Pantalon et Colombine.
Pantalon is the harlequin of Italian comedy, a
fantastically dressed buffoon, the distinguishing fea-
ture of whose costume is that trousers and stockings
are all of one piece. The name is derived from the
patron saint of Venice, Pantaleone, and is a common
one among the Venetians. It is quite generally
used by other Italians as a nickname for one of whom
they wish to make sport, particularly if a Venetian.
Colombine is the sweetheart of Pantalon, and the two
characters figure largely in the pantomimes of all
countries. We are to imagine them passing in this
procession hand in hand.
It may seem to the player of this composition
that Schumann has given quite too much time and
prominence to the clown in various types. But any
one who has lived through the Carnival season in
one of the German Catholic cities knows by experi-
ence that the streets are full of masked clowns on
Mardi Gras, even in broad daylight, and they form
the favorite disguise in all processions and balls. It
is difficult for one who has not experienced the Car-
nival spirit to appreciate the abandon and effervescence
of the convivial crowds.
No. 17. Valse Allemande.
Another number by the band, an old-fashioned
German waltz, of a graceful but rather slow and
stately character.
Robert Schumann's Carnaval. 59
No. 18. Paganini.
Here again Schumann has introduced and un-
mistakably identified the personality he wishes to
have pass before our mental vision, by means of
an ingenious imitation of one of the best-known and
distinctive characteristics of Paganini's style, both
as player and composer. This celebrated violinist
was noted throughout Europe as the superior of
all players of his time in technical mastery of his
instrument, but particularly in the special form of
technic known as staccato bowing. The startlingly
brilliant, almost demoniac, effects which he produced
along this line have never been equalled before or
since. Hence he is very naturally represented here
by a series of crisp intricate staccato passages for both
hands, not particularly melodious, but interesting,
original and strikingly characteristic.
No. 19. Aveu. (Avowal.)
Evidently an avowal of love, from the tender
pleading character of the music, made under cover
of the confusion and the concealment of the masks,
in what the Germans call "A solitude for two,"
which is nowhere more complete than in the midst
of a crowd where each is engrossed in his own amuse-
ments.
No. 20. Promenade.
Again a musical fragment for the band, in the
mood and movement indicated by the name.
60 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
No. 21. Pause.
The name implies a pause in the progress of the
procession, but the idea is not carried out in the
rather impetuous music so designated, and its pre-
cise significance is not clear.
No. 22. Marche des Davidsbiindler
Contre les Philistins.
(March of the Hosts of David Against
the Philistines.)
This final number is the longest and most preten-
tious of the work and demands special attention, as
it contains many and varied points of interest. It is
a bold, dashing and at times humorous composition,
in an almost frivolously jolly mood, written in three-
four time, to which it is obviously impossible to
march, unless in a sort of hopping, halting fashion,
like a man with one leg longer than the other. This
odd conceit has undoubtedly some humorous and
symbolic meaning, which however is not apparent, at
least to the writer.
The title of this number has a double significance.
The Philistines, as all know, were a people of Pales-
tine continually at war with the Jews. King David
won signal victories over them and compelled them
to pay tribute to himself and his successors.
Again Philister or Philistine is a term which for
generations past has been contemptuously used by
Robert Schumann's Carnavai. 61
the students of the German universities, to desig-
nate the townspeople and other outsiders felt to
be antagonistic to the student life and spirit. It was
retained by Schumann long after passing his college
years, and has come to be very generally adopted
by the "younger blood" among poets, musicians and
artists, to denote conservatism and mediocrity. Per-
haps Matthew Arnold has best summed up the feel-
ing in the following sentence: "On the side of beauty
and taste, vulgarity; on the side of morals and feel-
ing, coarseness; on the side of mind and spirit, unin-
telligence; this is Philistinism."
The David in the title as used by Schumann is
one of the allegorical personifications of which he
was so fond. It represents Schumann's creative
genius as champion of the romantic school of music.
Bundler is the German word for band or company,
from Bund, which means a league or union. It stands
here, as in several other of his works, for a little band
of faithful friends, adherents and allies of Schumann,
who rallied under his leadership around the standard
of Modern Romanticism and helped bear it forward
to the victory which was later achieved.
The Philistines, as used by Schumann in his musi-
cal and literary works, were the enemies of the ro-
mantic movement, the opponents of progress, the
conservative, somewhat pedantic advocates of the
fast degenerating classical school. Against them
Schumann and his associates waged perpetual war-
fare, and like King David, he ultimately compelled
them to pay tribute to his own genius and to the
dynasty of the Romantic School of Music. Hence
62 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
the significance of the title March of the Davidites
against the Philistines.
To emphasize the careless, irresponsible mood of
the Davidites and their contempt for the conven-
tions, traditions and critical standards of the Philis-
tines, Schumann has woven into the march very
cleverly a quaint old tune of the iyth century, known
throughout Germany as the Grossvatertanz (Grand-
father-dance), and a favorite college song at the
German universities. It was also adopted in this
country and is familiar to those whose memories
reach back over half a century, sung to the following
doggerel:
Tim Doolan he dreamt that his father was dead,
And his father he dreamt that Tim Doolan was dead,
And Tim Doolan was dead
And his father was dead
And Tim Doolan he dreamt that his father was dead.
The accent and rhythm of these words exactly
match those of the musical notes.
This old tune seems to have been a sort of battle-
hymn or rallying cry of the Davidsbiindler, and ap-
pears in several of Schumann's works. In this march
he plays it with a real facetious gusto, passing it
about from one hand to the other, now in playful
staccato effects, now in big pompous octaves, always
appearing in a new key when least expected. He
seems to flaunt it deliberately in the faces of his
shocked critics, in the spirit of pure fun and bravado.
The march closes with a spirited finale like a joyoua
defiance hurled at the foe.
The "Carnival" as a whole presents Schumann's
Robert Schumann's Carnaval. 63
genius, not in its most profound and strictly musical
aspect, but in its flood-tide of youthful vivacity, of
exuberant fancy and fertility of suggestive symbolism.
It is best characterized by the German expression
Geistreich, for which we have no English synonym,
but which means rich in mentality.
The work is replete with graphic realism and recalls
Schumann's own words of his earlier compositions:
"At that time the man and the musician in me were
always trying to speak at once."
Schumann's Fantasy Pieces,
Opus 12.
MONG all composers there is none, with
the possible exception of Chopin, who
possesses such a remarkable and unmis-
takable individuality of style and such
pronounced subjectivity in all his work
as Robert Schumann. In spite of the
manifold variety of his forms and diver-
sity of his subjects, he is always Schumann, not by
any possibility to be mistaken for anybody else, in any
single period. Whether he is portraying the graceful
flight of the butterfly or the grotesque pranks of the
carnival clown, the dreams of a child or the stern
ambition of a hero, a strain of his may be recognized
anywhere without hesitation by any one at all familiar
with his work.
This distinctive peculiarity of style is due mainly,
though not wholly, to two leading characteristics:
a plain, wholly unembellished, almost primitive in-
tensity of emotional content, and a certain vagueness
of expression, an indistinctness of outline in his periods,
which renders them hard to grasp. It is the former
that so endears him to musicians and the latter which
is responsible for his unpopularity with the public.
Schumann's Fantasy Pieces, Opus 12. 65
He has all the typical German's force and depth,
all his fondness for rugged, even if rough, directness
and for calling things exactly by their right names,
all his scorn of mere external refinements and graces;
but on the other hand he has, more than all, the Ger-
man's involved obscurity of expression, his fondness
for shadowy mysticism, his inability to formulate with
clearness.
His grandest visions of beauty are apparently seen
"as through a glass, darkly." His thoughts seem at
times too big for his musical vocabulary. Or rather
perhaps his ideas are poured forth from the volcanic
depths of his genius, in a molten state, too rapidly
to solidify into separate forms; but intermingle, over-
lapping and blurring each other.
This defect, for a serious defect it unquestionably is,
will always prevent Schumann's works from being
universally understood and appreciated ; but naturally
it is less apparent in his shorter compositions.
Of these, the Fantasy Pieces Op. 1 2 are among the
most effective and widely known. They are very va-
ried in mood, full of the richest, most vivid fancy and
striking originality, and clearer, more definite in form
than the majority of Schumann's works.
Aufschwung.
The strongest of this set is the "Aufschwung," a
powerful treatment in music of the idea of human
ambition, mounting with irresistible, inherent strength
toward the summits of fame and achievement, scorn-
ing obstacles, defying dangers, ignoring temptations,
5
66 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
and the soft allurements of easier paths; sweeping
onward with the overwhelming force of a tidal wave
toward its goal, grand but destructive in its might.
It is the same idea precisely that is so ably handled
in Longfellow's famous poem Excelsior. The player
should study that poem carefully in connection with
this composition, and reproduce its thoughts and
moods in the music; it is often a help to have it well
read to an audience before playing the number in
public.
The bold opening theme in B flat minor is the Ex-
celsior cry of the poem, the enunciation of pride,
courage, resolution, aspiration, yet of a stern sadness
withal, for ambition is the avowed and deadly foe of
happiness. Then follow successively, as in the poem,
suggestions of the various difficulties, temptations and
dangers that beset the upward path, the seductions of
love, the allurements of home and rest, the peace and
resignation proffered by religion, the growing terror of
the ever darker and lonelier way, the warning,
" Beware the pinetree's withered branch,
Beware the awful avalanche."
But, as answer to each and all, comes the reiterated
ringing shout, "Excelsior!"
This first theme should be given always with great
strength and dignity, increasing in intensity with
each repetition. It easily may be — and too often is —
made trivial by excess of speed. The sections which
follow must be treated with the utmost diversity of
shading and tone coloring, each expressing its own
particular mood and suggestion, while the superb
Schumann's Fantasy Pieces, Opus 12. 67
climax in chords, with the scale passages in the left
hand, should begin slowly and very softly and steadily,
increasing in power and speed to the final reiteration
of the first theme, like the threatening whisper, the
ominous approach and the deafening crash of the on-
coming avalanche.
This work is a fine concert number and an invalu-
able study in dynamic proportions and varied tone
qualities. The name "Aufschwung" has no adequate
English synonym. It has been improperly translated
"Soaring," and so appears in many editions. But that
word fails entirely to convey the meaning of the origi-
nal. "Auf" means upward and "Schwung" signifies
swing or sweep, with the implied sense of great power
and weight, as of some heavy body in swift motion
with resistless momentum. It might be applied to the
movement of a battleship under full headway, but
never to a bird. Or. if we translate the title "Soar-
ing" at all, it should be the bold, strong, majestic flight
of the eagle that we have in mind, not the joyous rise
of the skylark into the blue.
Des Abends.
The exquisite lyric, entitled Des Abends (Evening),
forms a beautiful and restful contrast to the Auf-
schwung, if played immediately after it. This little
work, one of the most perfect of Schumann's produc-
tions, is just what its name implies, a delicate picture
in shades of violet and pearl. It expresses but one
phase of emotional experience, the quiet, dreamy mood
of the twilight hour, with just a touch of wistful long-
68 Stones of Standard Teaching Pieces.
ing, a hint of tenderness in it, faint memories of the
stronger emotions of the day, like the soft, slowly fad-
ing tints in the western sky, when the glory of the
sunset has departed, that linger for a time as faint
echoes of that symphony of color, then merge into the
shadows.
It is the hour and mood which idealists love and
lovers idealize, which poets have sung in all ages, and
which Schumann sings here in as true and flawless
a strain as was ever penned. I never play it without
thinking of the opening lines of Byron's "Parisina,'*
which it so aptly fits.
"It is the hour when from the boughs
The nightingale's high note is heard ;
It is the hour when lovers' vows
Seem sweet in every whispered word.
And gentle winds and waters near
Make music to the listening ear.
Each flower the dews have lightly wet,
And in the sky the stars are met,
And on the wave is deeper blue,
And on the leaf a browner hue ;
And in the heaven that clear obscure,
So softly dark and darkly pure,
Which follows the decline of day,
As twilight melts beneath the moon away."
The composition should be given with the utmost
tranquillity, with a gentle, caressing pressure touch,
with little agitating rubato, and no intensity of in-
flection.
It has been claimed that the form chosen by Schu-
mann in this work was unfortunate and metrically
incorrect; that it should have been written in three
eight instead of two-eight measure, thus making plain
eighth notes of the sustained melody and alternate six-
Schumann's Fantasy Pieces, Opus 12. 69
teenth rests and sixteenth notes in the lower voice.
This is a mistake. Schumann knew what he wanted
and how to produce it. Just that slightly swaying
effect of the triplet rhythm, if properly handled, and
the natural lessening of stress on the alternate melody
notes falling on unaccented parts of the measure, even
though the melody is, as it should be, distinctly sus-
tained, add materially to the wavering, wistful charm
of the music. The triplet rhythm is there for a pur-
pose. It must be just perceptibly indicated but by no
means emphasized. The ear must recognize it uncon-
sciously without its being distinctly heard.
Traumeswirren.
Perhaps the most original, and certainly the most
technically difficult, of the group of "Fantasy Pieces"
is the Traumeswirren, which we might translate
"Dream Tangles" or "The Confusion of a Dream."
It is a fanciful attempt to portray in music the capri-
cious vagaries of a bright and happy dream, in which
a host of dainty, fairy-like figures, all luminous color
and swift motion, appear and disappear, floating,
circling, flashing hither and thither, as in some playful
dance of the sprites.
The middle movement in chords brings a startling
contrast, slow, sombre and impressive. It seems to
indicate the moment when the sleeper half awakes
and gazes about his darkened room in vain search for
the bright visions that have haunted his slumbers.
But soon he realizes the situation and you can almost
hear him say to himself, "I've been dreaming." Then
70 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
he settles quietly back again and little by little the
dream god reasserts his sway.
This is a fine study for the fourth and fifth fingers
of the right hand, and as such may be used by stu-
dents, but it requires extreme flexibility, delicacy and
speed, to make it effective as a program number. In
fact, it is one of the most difficult things of its size
in all piano literature.
Warum?
The most famous and, in some respects, the best of
this whole group is the Warum? (Why?) It is very
brief, very intense, supremely beautiful and technically
very easy; a lyric of the warm, impassioned type,
expressing the question which the name implies, with
an undertone of sorrowful pleading and restless long-
ing, more fully and forcibly than is elsewhere to be
found in music.
It was inspired by and written for and to his be-
loved Clara, in the days of alternate hope and doubt
and torturing uncertainty before their engagement.
In those early days Schumann was an obscure but
aspiring student at Leipsic, and already a composer of
promise, but no prominence as yet, and of most meagre
income. Through his piano lessons of Prof. Wieck,
then the leading teacher in Europe, and consequent
intimacy in that family, he had fallen desperately in
love with the Professor's daughter, Clara, who, though
still very young, was already recognized as the first
lady pianist of her time, and had won fame and suc-
cess in all the musical centres of the old world. She
Schumann's Fantasy Pieces, Opus 12. 71
was an artist of prominence, he an unknown student,
and quite naturally the proud father decidedly opposed
his suit, though Clara seems to have favored it from
the first. The marriage finally took place in 1840,
after five years of love, courtship and struggle, during
which period most of Schumann's leading pianoforte
works, including the one in question, were written.
He himself confesses that they reveal and depict
much of the personal experiences and feelings of his
long and agitated courtship.
So much is fact. The following legend is afloat
concerning this particular composition, which seems
to be borne out by the internal evidence of the music
and has at least all the probabilities in its favor,
though I cannot vouch for its accuracy. In any event
the legend is an interesting one.
One evening Schumann, having been most rudely
repulsed by the irate Professor, in fact, shown the door
and requested not to re-enter it in most unequivocal
terms, wandered away humiliated and disconsolate to
one of the many beer saloons where students con-
gregated. He sat him down in an obscure corner at
a soiled, drink-stained table. A wine card lay before
him, and soon he began to pencil lines on the back of
it, later notes upon the lines, and there, amid those
vulgar surroundings, this perfect gem of purest art
was born. It is the questioning cry of a soul, con-
scious at once of its own power and future possibili-
ties, and of its present pain and piteous helplessness,
and is singularly free from the bitterness and anger
that might have been expected under the circum-
stances. Next morning the card was sent to Clara,
72 Stones of Standard Teaching Pieces.
as a protest and an appeal in language which she as
none other would understand.
Their marriage was an unusually happy one till
darkened by the great and growing shadow of his devel-
oping insanity and ended by the tragedy of his death.
The noble woman, who devotedly returned his affec-
tion, shared his life and labors, interpreted and edited
his works, finally lived to be chiefly known to fame,
not as Clara Wieck, the celebrated pianist, but as the
wife of the great composer, Robert Schumann.
Grillen.
One more of the set deserves special attention, the
Grillen, usually translated "Whims." It is, indeed,
a most whimsical, capricious composition, full of sur-
prises and abrupt contrasts, of odd harmonies, unex-
pected modulations and particularly of fantastic
rhythms.
The opening subject, in chords, with its startling,
seemingly misplaced accents, recalls the swing of the
gavotte and suggests a jolly but clumsy country dance,
while the exceptionally poetic and attractive trio
theme affords a most effective contrast, like the motive
of kobold and fairy.
The work as a whole, both in conception and execu-
tion, reminds us strongly of one of those fantastic
sketches by Hartmann, entitled "Dreams," much read
in Schumann's time, by which it was very possibly
suggested. I refer to the one in which a rather bom-
bastic, would-be poet of that day, whose imperfect
verse showed a decided tendency to limp, was satirized
Schumann's Fantasy Pieces, Opus 12. 73
in the person of a particularly grotesque Earth-Giant,
with one leg much shorter than the other, making his
clumsy advances to the muse of poesy. The jocose
humor of the conceit would readily appeal to Schu-
mann, for though wholly lacking, as are all Germans,
in the sparkle of true wit, he was quite given in cer-
tain moods to a sort of broad drollery.
Ende vom Lied.
The last of the series bears a somewhat curious
title, Ende vom Lied, which we should translate the
"End of the Song." This phrase is a common conver-
sational idiom in Germany, signifying the close of a
story or experience, just as "Once upon a time" is our
stock phrase in English for beginning such. Indeed,
anything brought to a finish, an anecdote, an argu-
ment, a yarn, a joke, is dismissed with the words, "and
that is the end of the song."
One cannot help feeling that it would have been
better in this case if the song had ended before this
last verse had been written. For the composition so
designated contains little of the originality and power
usually so plentiful in Schumann's works, in fact,
seems rather trivial and commonplace and is rarel>
played, with good reason.
Schumann's Novelletten.
|N the earlier part of the nineteenth cen-
tury, a number of German writers of
fiction of the romantic school, led by
Paul Heise, inaugurated a new depar-
ture in the realm of national literature.
It was their aim to condense into from
fifty to a hundred pages all the salient
points, all the force, interest, and dramatic effect of
the full-length novel, omitting all needless detail and
florid description, all mere "fine writing" so called,
and to concentrate their efforts on the plot and move-
ment of the story, and to portray the life and love, the
thoughts, feelings, actions and personalities of their
characters, in a few bold, broad, telling strokes.
This new product was named the Novelle or Novel-
ette, meaning simply a miniature novel, and became
very popular. It fell into line with the modern ten-
dency toward concentration and epigrammatic brev-
ity. It was the beginning of the flood of short stories
with which our literary market is now well-nigh
submerged. In spite of the thousands of inferior
imitations which pass current too freely today, the
form when well handled has much to recommend it.
Robert Schumann, who was one of the staunchest
and ablest champions of the romantic school in mu-
74
Schumann's Novelletten. 75
sic, and an inveterate foe of the pedantry, prolixity,
and over-elaboration of the old formal school, was
quick to catch this new idea, to appreciate its many
advantages, and to adapt it to his own art. He
wrote nearly a score of Novelletten for the piano,
some of which are among his very best productions
for that instrument. In fact, it may be remarked
in passing that Schumann seems, to the present
writer, always most thoroughly at home, most com-
pletely master of himself and his resources, in the
smaller forms. His pronounced tendency toward vague
mysticism and inconsequential wandering into the nebu-
lous regions of thought has here less time and space to
manifest itself, while his grasp of logical sequence and
symmetrical relations seems more fully adequate than
it sometimes appears in works of larger proportion.
In these Novelletten his ideas are admirably bal-
anced and expressed with concise precision. In most
of them he has adhered strictly to the original con-
ception, which was to embody clearly and forcefully
in small compass the simple elementary factors which
are the life and substance of every good story. That
is, the strong, bold, sometimes even rough, masculine
element, represented in fiction by the hero, and the
sweet, tender, graceful, feminine element, spoken of
so often in German as the "eternal feminine," and
personified in books in the heroine.
The striking contrasts in their natures, which,
nevertheless, blend into a happy artistic unity, their
transient strifes and differences, and final reconcilia-
tions, and the difficulties and struggles which they
meet along tHe path of true love, which we are told
76 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
never runs smoothly — these make up the details and
fill in the picture. It is a brief, terse, vigorous sketch,
without a single superfluous phrase or irrelevant orna-
ment, manifesting a refreshing scorn of mere sensuous
effect and technical display.
Novellette in F. Op. 21. No. 1.
The first Novellette, Op. 2 1 , in F, is the best known
and most used, and one of the most satisfactory.
The stirring first subject, in chords and octaves, is in
gavotte movement, and the character of the hero it
suggests is that of a rugged German baron of the
fighting half-brigand class, in solid plate mail, hack-
ing his way to victory and love with a mighty two-
handed sword, though with a genial heart and many
sterling, manly qualities. To judge from the second
subject, the heroine is a mild-eyed, domestically in-
clined Fraulein, loving and lovable, with a marked
religious trend of mind.
Novellette in E. Op. 21. No. 7.
The No. 7, in E, is almost identical with the above
in general style and form, but the characters are dif-
ferent. This time the hero is a dashing cavalier,
with more polish, indeed with something of the
"grand manner," but not less of courage and prowess,
perhaps a knight of Charlemagne's court; while the
lady is unmistakably a court dame, a good specimen
of the " steel-engraving lady," refined, graceful, charm-
ing, with many a dainty air and winsome witchery,
but a tender heart.
Schumann's Novelletten. 77
Novellette in F sharp minor. Op. 21.
No. 8.
The No. 8, in F sharp minor, which is undoubtedly
the greatest of them all, is not so easily analyzed.
The outlines are less clear and simple, and the con-
tent more complex and metaphysical. It contains
much of mediaeval mysticism, much of thwarted pas-
sion, of vain psychological struggle, and infinitely
tender sadness and pleading, while I infer, from the
close, that the end of the story was tragic.
Novellette in B minor. Op. 99.
The Opus 99 contains a charming little Novellette
but little known, yet very attractive. It differs from
most of the others in being more delicate and fanciful,
and containing less of the distinctly human element.
Its first subject deals not with the story of love and
life and struggle, but with sylvan solitudes and their
imaginary denizens.
To quote Kullak: "It suggests the sprightly dance
and frolic of forest elves about a secluded chapel."
The Trio gives us the organ and choir within the
chapel, filling the quiet woodland twilight with rich,
solemn harmonies, while the evening wind in the tree-
tops murmurs Nature's dreamy obligate. When the
service is ended, the elves resume their dance, which
they have suspended apparently to listen.
The above will serve as representative examples of
the Schumann Novelletten and the general lines on
which they should be understood and interpreted.
The Arabesque, by Schumann.
|HB term Arabesque is derived from Arab
and signifies like, or after the manner
of, the Arabs. The peculiar form of art
which it designates is a direct product of
the Mohammedan religion and reached
its highest development among the
Moors, who were Mohammedans of Arab
descent, but who settled in Morocco, and later con-
quered the greater part of Spain, attaining a high
degree of civilization, for that period, during their
occupation of that country. The Mohammedans were
strictly forbidden by their sacred book, the Koran, to
make any picture, or statue, or any sort of representation
of any human or animal form, or any scene in nature.
They considered it sacrilegious to attempt to copy
God's handiwork. Consequently they produced noth-
ing along the line of plastic art.
The Moors were an imaginative, beauty-loving
people with a strong instinct for artistic expression,
and, handicapped by this restriction, were forced to
develop along new lines and create a new form of art,
which is known to the world as the Arabesque. The
aim and effort of this form of art are to express or sug-
gest ideas, moods and qualities in their abstract
78
The Arabesque, by Schumann. 79
essence, by means of form symbolism. Movement and
repose, strength and grace, majesty and charm, elation
or depression, etc., are embodied by means of symbolic
forms, possessing more or less intrinsic suggestiveness
and becoming, with study and familiarity, a definite
and intelligible medium of expression, like the audible
symbols which form our spoken language.
The simple elements of this art are the straight and
curved line, corresponding to the vowels and conso-
nants of speech. These are combined into an infinite
variety of complex designs and elaborate patterns
like sentences and paragraphs, or the different lyric
forms of poetry. The intelligent eye delights in
following these intricate convolutions, in tracing the
symmetry of proportion, the relation and correspon-
dence of the different parts and in finding the subtle
symbolic suggestion they contain. The effect pro-
duced, and the kind of pleasure derived, are similar to
those found in architecture and based on the same
principle, viz., the significance of mathematical rela-
tion, which Pythagoras declared to be the fundamental
law of the universe. But in the Arabesque, only two
dimensions are employed, while in architecture, three
are used, and in painting the third is suggested by
means of perspective.
In music the idea of duplicating the peculiar charm
of the Arabesque has been occasionally used, the deli-
cate interwoven tracery simulated in tonal effects.
The best example is found in "The Arabesque for
piano" by Schumann.
The first subject, which is decidedly the best and
most characteristic, is inimitable in its airy grace, its
80 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces
smoothly flowing lines and warmly sensuous curves,
as real as if drawn in visible outline instead of fluent
sound.
If the dainty tracery on those wonderful friezes hi
the Alhambra could be dissolved in the fervid molten
gold of that southern sunlight and transmuted into
music, we might expect a similar result to that here
produced by Schumann.
The second and third subjects of this work, which is
in Rondo form, are less beautiful but not less suggestive.
They are more vague in content and less clear and
distinct in form, with a hint of oriental mysticism, and
there are passages where the pattern seems broken or
incomplete, as if the composer had in mind some beau-
tiful piece of Arabesque work which had never been
quite finished or was in part broken or defaced by the
vandal hand of man or time. But these seeming
imperfections add to the subtle fascination of the com-
position, as well as greatly to the difficulty of its
interpretation.
The work demands a clear grasp of musical form, a
light, fluent finger technic, and a touch like the fall of
rose leaves.
Schumann's Nachtstiick in
F Major.
[HE term Nachtstiick means literally
night-piece and, like the Nocturne, a
piece of music so designated, to justify
its title, must deal with some mood,
or scene, or incident associated with
the night.
Strictly speaking, any scene or inci-
dent or emotion which might conceivably form part of
a nocturnal experience, from a love-tryst to a murder,
from a moonlight boat-ride to a tempest and shipwreck,
might legitimately be used as the subject of a Nacht-
stiick; but usually themes are chosen which are more
commonly and naturally identified with the night,
themes of a tranquil, reposeful character, of which the
Serenade is the most frequent. This is the case with the
composition referred to by Schumann. The music
describes no scene or incident, is in no sense realistic,
but embodies perfectly the mood of the summer night :
a quiet, restful, gravely pensive mood, deep and solemn
and mysterious as the dusky vault of heaven where the
storm-winds sleep; broad and vast and impressive as
6 81
82 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
the slumbering sea with its vague hint of limitless
power in repose.
It is the mood of a great and noble human heart,
with infinite capacities for tempestuous emotion but
in its hour of restful introspective revery and finding a
sympathetic environment and symbolic expression of
its own solemn peace in the kindred silence of the
summer night.
The mood is that so ably expressed in Goethe's
famous, oft-quoted, and oft-misconstrued lines, which,
in free translation might read: — "Above all summits
there is peace. In the forest boughs stirs scarce a
breath. Wait awhile, wanderer, thou too shalt restr—
in death."
The character of the harmonies suggests the rich,
mellow effects of the organ. The rolled chords should
be played throughout with quiet deliberation and a
clinging legato touch and the pedal must be con-
stantly and most judiciously used, so that the upper
tones shall form a continuous, sustained, and smoothly
flowing melody.
It is a fine study in tone quality and pedal effects;
the latter forming the chief difficulty.
The Traumerei, by Schumann.
|O composition by Schumann, large or
small, has attained the same universal
popularity with the musical and un-
musical public of all lands as the Trau-
merei.
It is one of the "Childhood Scenes for
Piano" written for young players, but
which, though technically easy, are, with very few ex-
ceptions, practically unusable for teaching purposes,
being musically too subtle and abstruse to be under-
stood, or felt, by children ; for the musical intelligence,
as well as the mechanical ability of students, has its
limitations, which the wise teacher must take into con-
sideration.
The Traumerei is an example in point. It is like
some excellent little poems by Field and others;
ostensibly written for children, but really appealing,
and intended to appeal, to more adult minds. It
requires a certain degree of maturity both of poetic
perception and musical insight, to appreciate or
render it. I do not believe it can be well played by
any child under fifteen.
The name means revery. It represents not at all
83
84 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
the dream of one asleep, tho' the word is derived from
Traum, which means a dream.
It is a dream in the poetic sense of a mind awake
but tranquil and inclined to pensive re very. It is a
"waking dream" of childhood in after years, rather
than that of a child, with vague regret for its bygone,
fleeting joys, and tolerant though half-smiling sym-
pathy for its transient sorrows, seemingly trivial now,
but very real and poignant at the time.
It recalls the mood of that wonderful mystical
hour, when alone with the silent beauty and sugges-
tive mystery of the summer night, we first dimly
realized our own identity; our individual sentient
existence, with its untried abilities for joy and suffer-
ing and achievement; the hour when with nascent
self -consciousness we felt, rather than definitely
thought, "I am I, and I am a part of this vast, beauti-
ful, but secretly terrible nature around me"; an
experience which comes to every intelligent human
being soon or late, but is rarely put into words, and of
which music affords the only full and fitting expression.
The Traumerei perfectly embodies this mood in its
softest, least intense and most attractive aspect; a
mood too introspective for the real child mind, but
universally felt, though perhaps not intelligently
analyzed by older listeners.
This is one secret of its world-wide popularity.
There is, however, another which is, and must always
remain, an art secret; that nameless, unanalyzable
quality possessed by a few poems and compositions
and by a few only, which is not to be had by seeking,
by means of which they find at once, and unquestioned,
The Traumerei, by Schumann. 85
the open door to all hearts; a welcome alike from the
uncultivated and those of the most highly trained and
fastidious taste.
Shall we say it is the happy blending in equal pro-
portions, «of translucent simplicity, sensuous beauty,
and emotional significance? This might hint at, but
not really furnish the solution of the problem.
Many of the great composers have done their best to
strike just this vein and produce music at once worthy
and popular.
Most of them have signally failed, their music, in
this line, pleasing neither the musical public nor the
masses.
There are a few notable exceptions, of which one of
the best is Schumann's Traumerei.
Schumann's Romance, in
F Sharp.
HIS Romance is, beyond question, the
broadest and noblest lyric from Schu-
mann's pen. It is as grave and deep
as any Adagio by Beethoven, as warm
and impassioned as any Nocturne by
Chopin, a masterpiece in miniature,
faultless in form and rich in content,
without a single dry, uninteresting or superfluous
measure.
It is technically easy and melodically clear and
readily grasped by the student, except for a few
measures in the climax, where in an outburst of pas-
sionate emotion it becomes, for a moment, wildly
impetuous and a trifle incoherent, in the hands of an
amateur.
It is the expression of a true and manly love, strong,
profound and enduring, of which the beautiful and
gifted Clara Wieck is the object, of course. She was
Schumann's only and life-long passion. He is
away from her in Vienna at the time, in the midst of
the mad pranks and frantic, flippant hilarity of the
Faschingsschwank, the local name for the Viennese
86
Schumann's Romance, in F Sharp. 87
Carnival, portrayed by him in the first movement of
his composition bearing this title; and the Romance
seems like a grave protest against the foolish mocking
spirit of the place and time, an outcry of the heart for
the truer, deeper things of life, of which his love and
his Clara are the truest and the deepest. It says to
the jesters: "Whereto is all this noisy striving after a
factitious gaiety, in which neither the brain nor the
heart of a real man can take any part or pleasure?
Love is the only thing worth while, and love is mine,
strong and sure as the sun in the heavens, enduring as
the everlasting hills, though clouded now by absence.
I wait, and long and hunger, but am not dismayed or
disconcerted, nor is my spirit in the least diverted
from its true and ultimate goal by the meaningless
madness of this wild rout."
It should be noted as significant that the melody is
not in single notes, like the pleading tones of a lover's
serenade to his doubtful mistress, but written through-
out in the form of a full- voiced duet, with occasional
bits of interweaving counterpoint, suggesting the
complete blending and interdependent harmony of
two united lives, so characteristic of his perfect union
with his beloved Clara through all the later years, till
fate ended the duet with cruel discord, shattering his
reason and her happiness by a blow.
Those of us who were fortunate enough to know her
personally, and hear her play this romance, and speak
of him in the after years, can, in some measure, realize
what her love and companionship meant to him.
Schumann's Cradle Song, in
E Flat.
|HE Cradle Song (German, Schlummer
Lied; French, Berceuse), with its general
theme of world-wide significance, — ma-
ternal love, watching and soothing the
sleep of infancy, — and with its realistic
suggestions of rocking cradle and lullaby
melody, has always been a facile and
fruitful subject for piano composers. There are few
who have not utilized it with more or less success.
The one by Schumann referred to is not a great
work, either as regards ingenuity of structure, or
depth and complexity of the moods it expresses. It is
just a simple, straight-forward, unpretentious cradle
song, for e very-day household use, so to speak, con-
taining neither technical difficulties nor musical
subtleties beyond the grasp of the ordinary pupil, and
hence the more valuable as a practical teaching piece.
The gentle, reposeful, swaying movement of the
accompaniment clearly imitates the rocking of the
cradle and is easily understood and maintained by the
young player; while the melody is a tender, quietly
beautiful lullaby-song, making no attempt to express
88
Schumann's Cradle Song, in E Flat. 89
even indirectly the stress and agitation, or the in-
volved psychological problems of our modern emo-
tional life. It might well be the nursery song of any
modest, simple-hearted, German mother, whose r/.cntal
and emotional horizon is bounded by the walls of her
village home, and whose preferences, as well as duties,
are summed up in the one ideal of selfless motherhood.
Who shall say that Schumann was altogether wrong
in this conception of what the true cradle song should
be?
It is a homelike picture, rather old fashioned, per-
haps, but possibly more restful, if less piquant, than
that of the modern ideal of maternity, which rocks the
cradle absently with one hand, while it writes club
papers on Hindu philosophy with the other.
At all events, the work is an excellent and helpful
study in sustained melody playing, clear phrasing, and
tranquillity of style.
The short middle movement, in the minor key,
gives scope for a little more dramatic intensity, with
its suggestion of the gathering darkness of the coming
night, pressing close against the curtained windows,
with its hint of secret fears and lurking dangers for
the future of the little life, now so carefully guarded.
But it is only a passing thought, a brief vague
terror of the unknown, soon submerged again in the
soft, warm flood of love, which for that peaceful hour
fills the universe for the heart of the young mother.
Schumann's Vogel als Prophet
(Bird as Prophet).
|HIS is one of Schumann's ethereally deli-
cate and fancifully suggestive smaller
numbers, decidedly the best of his
" Forest Scenes," and a great favorite
with concert pianists.
It combines in a rare degree the
openly avowed realism of the modern
descriptive school of composition, and the more subtly
poetic romanticism of the earlier period of musical re-
formation, if one may so call that reaction and revolt
from the old "cut-and-dried" traditions of form and
subject, and the opening up of newer and richer fields
of emotional expression, and wider liberty of fancy in
musical creation, which took place in the last century.
Schumann, in this work, gives us, not only a most
dainty and fascinating musical imitation of the twit-
tering bubbling song of some forest warbler, perched
high in the swaying branches and pouring out his
little heart in liquid golden notes like audible sun-
shine, but goes a step further into the realm of mysti-
cal, imaginative suggestion, and imputes to this
bird-music a deeper, double meaning, a subtler sig-
90
Schumann's Vogel als Prophet. 91
nificance of prophetic import, bearing on the life and
future of the listener.
It is not merely a bird that sings to us in joyous,
care-free, springtime rapture, it is the embodied spirit
of the ancient wisdom of the forest that, in this mo-
ment of present gladness, hints of coming change;
the slow but inevitable circle of the years, foretelling,
with prophetic voice, the deadly frost, the falling leaf,
the gathering gloom and silence of the winter nights,
when no flower shall bloom, no bird shall sing, and
warning the listening mortal that, for him also, tne
winter and the night must come, when joy, and love,
and life itself will be for him as a forgotten dream.
It was characteristic of Schumann, as in fact of
every profoundly poetic nature, to perceive this under-
tone of serious suggestion in every sight or sound
of nature, however seemingly joyous; to find in the
music of wind and wave, of bird and bubbling brook,
a half-hidden prophetic import, an underlying minor
tonality, so to speak, a throbbing pulse-beat of that
great heart of nature which, through all its transient
hours of deceptively tranquil happiness and its brief
fevered moments of ecstasy, still marks inexorably,
eternally, the time for that dead march toward
dissolution.
The idea is carried out perfectly in this composi-
tion. The rippling, melodious arpeggio effects of the
first subject unmistakably simulate the bird music.
The slower, more sombre and pathetic second subject
indicates the more serious vein of thought and the
dark prophetic meaning, perceived or imagined by the
listener to underlie the whole. The belief that birds
92 Stones of Standard Teaching Pieces.
convey warnings and prophecies to mankind in their
songs is older than history. There are constant
references to it in the Nibelungen Lied and other
ancient epics, and even our own American Indians
often stated that "singing birds" told them of an
approaching storm, a fire in the forest, or that a neigh-
boring tribe was preparing to take the war path; so
that Poe in his melancholy poem "The Raven," which
he calls "prophet still, if bird or devil," and Schumann
in this more cheerful composition, are but voicing in
modern art this age-old superstition.
Some Familiar Compositions
by Franz Liszt.
[HERE are very few of Liszt's composi-
tions which are technically within the
possible reach of the average piano
student, none which may be called easy,
but there is a very limited group of
much prized, much used, well-nigh
threadbare works of this "wizard of the
piano" which forms a part of the working repertoire of
every teacher and serves to introduce the pupil to the
peculiar style and special technical difficulties common
to Liszt's productions.
As intimated, they are not easy.
Billow once said, very aptly, of Liszt: "The rest of
us overcome difficulties, he never found any." As a
consequence he has little regard for the mechanical
limitations of other players.
But the works referred to are possible for advanced
students.
Soiree de Vienne No. 6.
Schubert-Liszt.
The narre Dignifies evenings at Vienna, and the piece
is an elaborate setting for the piano, of one of a set of
93
94 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
simple, graceful, charmingly melodious waltzes by
Schubert, once much in vogue in the aristocratic
circles of that second Paris, as dance music.
These waltzes by Schubert, though simple and un-
pretentious in form, give fullest expression to the half
coquettish, half tender mood of the dance in those
early days when the waltz was young and still possessed
the charm of novelty; also to the graceful, yet viva-
cious step and gliding, circling movement which they
were written to accompany.
They are full, too, of dainty suggestions of those
elegant Viennese drawing-rooms, the sparkle of lights
and jewels, the fascination of bright costumes, of
shifting, kaleidoscopic colors, of the flutter of laces and
ribbons and the witchery of smiles and glances.
This particular waltz, in Liszt's arrangement for the
piano, assumes the proportions not only of a full-devel-
oped and well-rounded concert solo, but also of a com-
plete and quite elaborate picture of a ball-room scene,
drawn with the distinct personality of at least two of
the dancers clearly portrayed in the introduction, with
its two strongly contrasting themes. The first, a pom-
pous passage in octaves and chords, seems to present
the lordly, self-important cavalier in all the splendor of
uniform, gold lace and orders, an officer of the Imperial
guard, perhaps, stalwart, stately, assertive, more than
sufficiently impressed with his own dignity, and the
honor he is conferring upon his prospective partner;
while she, a dainty, exquisite Viennese belle, a thor-
oughly equipped coquette, fully mistress of herself
and the situation, is symbolized in the airy, capricious
second theme. The two pictures are as clearly drawn
Some Familiar Compositions by Liszt. 95
here in tone as they could be on canvas by a master
painter, and the individuality of each and the marked
contrast between them must be strongly emphasized
by the player. Then comes the alluring but simple
little waltz practically as Schubert wrote it, after
which the waltz melody is repeated entire, but this
time half disguised and greatly enhanced in beauty
by a continuous series of delicate, intricate embellish-
ments flowing around and among the notes of the
melody, as light and transparent as a fall of the finest
lace, or the sunlit spray of a fountain.
When played, the melody should remain distinct
to the ear, with all its rhythm, accents and phrasing
carefully preserved and apparent through the sil-
very ripple of the embellishments, like a fair face
through the fluttering folds of a delicate veil. The
effect, when properly produced, reminds one of that
famous statue of the veiled bride, chiseled from a
single block of marble, in which every line of the
perfect form, every feature, and even shade of ex-
pression, of the lovely face is clearly visible through
the fine meshes of the long flowing bridal veil which
drapes the whole.
The composition closes with a clever Coda in which
the waltz theme and the " leit" motive of the lady are
both utilized, and which also includes one of the long,
tricky, chromatic cadenzas, the despair of young
players, so common in Liszt's works.
96 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
Liebes Traum, No. 3. Liszt.
This is one of the very few original compositions
by Liszt which are at all available for students, hence
is especially valuable to the teacher.
It is one of a set of lyrics for the piano entitled
"Liebes Traume" (love dreams), in which Liszt en-
deavored to express in this musical form — precisely
as a poet might have done in a group of sonnets — his
idea of the different kinds and phases of human love,
as experienced by various individuals, or types, modi-
fied, in each case, by the divergencies of temperament,
education and environment.
The No. 3 in A flat, which is the best known of the
set, deals, according to Liszt's own statement, with
the love of a mature man in the emotional vigor of his
prime, a man familiar with life's vicissitudes, its
struggles and disappointments, its transient joys and
fleeting hopes; a man tempered in the fires of experi-
ence, hardened by the constant bufferings of fate, yet
preserving through all, in the secret temple of his
inmost heart, a clear and deathless votive flame on the
altar of his ideals. He loves with all the strength of
his being, intensely, profoundly, passionately, yet
with a certain grave reserve, a stern, self-reliant dig-
nity, a strong, restraining grip on himself, determined
that the tidal wave of passion surging about him shall
not overwhelm his will or disturb his mastery of the
situation. This intense, ever-renewed struggle be-
tween the raging tide of emotion and the rock of
dominant will is the fundamental idea of the work, its
Some Familiar Compositions by Liszt. 97
esoteric significance, so to speak, but is an element
not always grasped by the casual listener.
Superficially considered, the composition is a love
song without words, mainly for baritone voice, cast
in the form of a serenade, with harp or guitar accom-
paniment.
In the last repetition of the melody, in the soprano
register, is introduced the suggestion of the sooth-
ing, tranquilizing influence of the feminine element.
Twice in the course of the work the melody is
interrupted by a brief interlude between the verses,
as it would seem, giving us a fleeting glimpse of the
physical environment, a hint of the summer night
in which the singer stands — the summer night with
its hush and mystery, its subtle perfumes and vague
whisperings, its wavering shadows and half-revealing
star-gleams and the sense of indefinite longing and
expectancy, which are its very breath.
The work closes with a passage of soft, sweet, rest-
ful harmonies, a sigh of content in the final fruition of
love's dream.
The player should avoid the common mistake of
accenting the running notes of the accompaniment in
triplets instead of in groups of six as intended, which
destroys the effect and their proper rhythmic relation
to the melody
Consolation No. 6. Liszt.
This is an original composition from his pen, of
moderate difficulty and possessing much simple melodic
charm, which, by its grave, tranquil mood and earnest,
7
gS Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
devotional spirit, appeals to many, especially those of
a religious turn of mind. It is one — and probably the
best one — of a set of piano pieces entitled "Consola-
tions" which were written, with many other more
pretentious works — all of a distinctly religious char-
acter— during a peculiar episode in Liszt's varied and
erratic career.
In 1856, tired of the world, its cloying successes and
pleasures, its exhausting, unsatisfying excitements
and dissipations, and under the domination of religious
enthusiasm — very genuine while it lasted — Liszt aban-
doned for a time his phenomenally brilliant artistic
career before the public and retired into monastic
seclusion of the most strict and rigorous type in the
Vatican at Rome, where he was the honored guest of
his holiness, the Pope, and for five years devoted him-
self to religious study, meditation, devotional exer-
cises and the creation of serious compositions based
upon religious themes, many of them texts or inci-
dents from the Bible, others upon spiritual experiences
of his own.
Some of his best original works date from this
period. (It was at this time he received the title
of Abbe.) The "Consolations" were written at that
time. They are small, comparatively unimportant
productions, but are of considerable intrinsic beauty
and are interesting because of the peculiar condi-
tions under which they were written and of the un-
usual spirit they embody. They are especially valuable
to the student in that they afford a glimpse into that
phase of the composer's life and experience.
The No. 6, which is the most familiar, expresses
Some Familiar Compositions by Liszt. 99
a tranquil, contemplative twilight mood, the wel-
come repose of a soul that has found rest and peace
in the Faith after the storms and struggles and feverish
agitation of a strenuous and not wholly sinless life.
It contains certain hints and echoes of bygone
tempests, of doubt and rage and questionings, but
softened and subdued like the sound of a distant
sea, sobbing itself to sleep in some sheltering cave
as the hush of evening falls after a wild day of futile
fury. But the idea which forms the keynote of the
work is final and complete reconciliation.
Serenade. Schubert-Liszt.
Among Liszt's most valuable contributions to
pianoforte literature may be classed his masterly
arrangements, as piano solos, of a large number of
Schubert's songs. Some of the most famous of
these, like "Der Erlkonig,"* "Auf dem Wasser zu
Singen," "Gretchen am Spinnrade" and others, are
far beyond the reach of the student and only avail-
able for a concert pianist. But there are a few equally
beautiful, though in a more quiet vein, which may be
safely attempted by fourth and fifth grade pupils, and
furnish excellent studies in tone production and
phrasing.
First among these is to be mentioned Schubert's
world-famous and immortally lovely "Serenade," every
measure of which is replete with exquisite tenderness
and idealized passion. It is a love-song of the warmest
* For full description see Descriptive Analyses of Piano Works,
by same author.
loo Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
yet purest type, which will speak to the hearts of all
lovers in all lands and in every age as long as love
endures and music remains its most perfect and ap-
propriate language.
This will prove an invaluable study for all who
recognize the fact that the imagination and the emo-
tional capacity of the player must be developed as
carefully as his muscles.
It cannot be too frequently repeated, or too strongly
emphasized, that three factors go to the making of the
artistic pianist — hands, head and heart; or, in other
words, technic, intelligence and emotion.
This composition presents one serious difficulty
to the young player, viz.: the old puzzling problem
of playing two notes against three with smoothness
and accuracy in adjusting the accompaniment to the
melody. It is not continuous, but occurs occasion-
ally all through it, which is more confusing; but it
can be solved with careful and intelligent study and is
good mental training — as much so as a problem in
algebra.
Du Bist Die Ruh. Schubert-Liszt.
This is a charming and comparatively easy lyric
from the same collection of Schubert's songs tran-
scribed by Liszt. It also is a love song, but of a
tender, reposeful character in which the beloved is
apostrophized as the embodiment of rest and peace,
the solace after pain, the calm after storm, the twi-
light dream of a quiet heaven after a day of earth's
heat and hurry and fretting turmoil
Some Familiar Compositions by Liszt. 101
Both melody and accompanying harmonies are won-
derfully expressive of this soothing, tranquil mood —
the very essence of perfect trust and ideal devotion.
It is singular that this exquisite little work is so sel-
dom used. It should be familiar in every studio.
Evening Star. Wagner-Liszt.
Another beautiful love lyric which Liszt in his
piano arrangement has made available for moder-
ately advanced players is this "Evening Star" aria
from Wagner's opera of Tannhduser.
It is sung in the third act of the opera by Wolfram,
a man of noble and self-sacrificing nature, who secretly
and vainly loves Elizabeth, the heroine, who in turn,
loves and is beloved by Tannhauser, the knightly
minstrel. Wolfram and Tannhauser have previously
taken part in the famous singing contest at the Wart-
burg, wherein each singer treats the great theme of
love from a different standpoint, the various expres-
sions of the same general idea making of this scene
a profound psychological study, one of the ablest
manifestations of Wagner's colossal genius.
In this "Evening Star" aria love is extolled as the
highest and purest sentiment of the heart, enshrined
within a sacred temple, remote from all selfish and
earthly considerations; a self -forgetting, self -abas-
ing reverential devotion, to be guarded and cherished
with a sort of religious ecstacy.
The lady is symbolized by the bright but unat-
tainable evening star, the guide and inspiration of
the singer's existence.
IO2 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
The melody is for baritone voice, rich and full
and warm, but subdued and dignified, a wonderfully
accurate expression of the intended mood.
It is, of course, accompanied by the harp, as was
the case with all the songs of the minstrels or minne-
singers of that early time, and the harp effects are
simulated, or rather, literally reproduced, in the piano
accompaniment.
Rigoletto Fantasie. Verdi-Liszt.
Every teacher knows the facile and rather cheap
possibilities for display afforded by this old — not to
say hackneyed number — once a great favorite in the
concert room.
Any girl in the fifth grade, with lively fingers and
a supple wrist, can scramble through the brilliant
runs and toss off the octave passages with which
this work is so lavishly decorated, in a manner to
tickle the fond vanity of admiring parents and friends
and to score a point for the technical training re-
ceived from her professor, which appears to be in the
opinion of many the sole purpose for which such
pieces exist.
Nevertheless, in spite of the facility with which
it lends itself to such use — or misuse — the work is
not without real musical merit and beauty of its
own special sort, worthy the consideration of the
serious musician.
It is a fine specimen of a class of pianoforte works,
now practically obsolete, but very much in fashion
fifty years ago, namely, the fantasies on operatic airs,
Some Familiar Compositions by Liszt. 103
scores of which were written and played by most of
the leading pianists of that earlier day, and which
held a high place in popular favor.
The plan of construction was simple, demanding
some ingenuity, but very little creative ability. It
was merely to select and combine several of the most
attractive melodies in a given opera, to form a sort of
idealized medley more or less cleverly elaborated and
highly embellished, according to the ability of the
compiler.
.The general form of the work and character of
the ornamentations had usually no reference to any
dramatic development or logical sequence of ideas,
the aim being merely to present a series of pleasing
melodies, decorated with pianistic fireworks.
In the hands of Liszt, however, this class of com-
position, like all his transcriptions, received more
than the usual care and finish. The melodies were
better chosen and better arranged, with some re-
gard for musical character and contrast. The har-
monization was richer, fuller and more varied; the
embellishments more significant and effective, the
resources of the instrument more fully utilized, and
the result was the production of something more
nearly resembling a genuine art form.
The "Rigoletto Fantasie" is one of his best efforts
in this line, and though its charm is somewhat super-
ficial and sensuous, as must be admitted, it is real and
lasting of its kind.
The work contains several fine bits of melody of
the warm, emotional, Italian type, some telling caden-
zas, and one superb climax at the close.
IO4 Stones of Standard Teaching Pieces.
It is an effective concert number, possessing the
much appreciated merit of showing for all, perhaps
more than all, it is worth.
The opera of Rigoletto, one of the strongest pro-
ductions of Verdi's prime, is founded on that thril-
lingly, pathetically tragic drama by Victor Hugo,
"Le Roi s'amuse." The plot is intensely, though
gruesomely interesting, but of questionable moral
trend, as it exemplifies the triumphs of evil, and the
useless, hopeless sacrifice of virtue and innocence.
Liszt has selected three of the most prominent
and characteristic airs for the Fantasie in question:
the pleading, seductive tenor air of the heartless,
pleasure-loving duke; the recklessly rollicking con-
tralto melody of the mirthfully vicious siren of the
story, who is indirectly the cause of the final tragedy,
and the impassioned soprano lament of the heart-
broken heroine, ruined, forsaken, yet loving still
with unreasoning devotion, who dies by the dagger
of the hired assassin, a voluntary sacrifice to save her
unworthy lover, whose place she secretly takes at
the fatal moment when her father's just vengeance
was about to be consummated ; while the duke escapes,
unconscious of his peril or her devotion, a flippant
song on his lips.
These three representative and strongly contrast-
ing melodies Liszt has ingeniously woven together,
closing with a stirring climax in which the last two re-
ferred to are combined as in the final act of the opera.
To appreciate fully the mood of each and to realize
the dramatic situation, the student should read the
libretto — or better — the drama by Victor Hugo.
Compositions by Godard.
MONG the best modern teaching pieces
of excellent musical quality but mod-
erate difficulty are those which Godard
has contributed to the students' reper-
toire. Though possessing great origi-
nality and freshness, both in melody and
harmonic treatment, which raise them
far above the commonplace, and introducing many
startling and novel effects, they do not, for the most
part, belong to the ultra-realistic modern French
school, but to a somewhat earlier style of composi-
tion, in which the element of tuneful melody still
predominates. Despite his occasional digressions into
the realm of the fantastic, Godard may be said to be
one of the few who, to use the words of a Boston
critic, "still remember that the piano was once con-
sidered a musical instrument."
Second Mazurka. Godard.
His " Second Mazurka " is probably the best known
and most widely used of all his compositions, and
though rather hackneyed to-day, will long remain a
stock selection in the class-room and in pupils' recital
105
Io6 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
work. If well given it is always an interesting and
effective number. It contains some rather puzzling
rhythmic problems for the student, a number of
warm, sensuous, attractive melodies, many rich and
vivid harmonic combinations, and is a fine study in
tone quality and contrast; the middle movement in
octaves and chords affords opportunity for arousing
the dormant fire and energy of the sleepy, lackadaisical
pupil, who is inclined to play everything as if all music
were or ought to be a slumber song.
The Mazurka is the characteristic local dance of the
Masures or Masurvians, as they are sometimes called,
the peasants of one of the former provinces of Poland.
It is a graceful, languorous, coquettish dance, con-
siderably slower than the waltz, but with occasional
sudden outbursts of fierce Slavonic fire and passion,
its distinguishing feature being that the accent falls,
generally speaking, on the second beat of the measure.
This should be kept in mind by the player and this
rhythmic peculiarity made apparent, also the sudden
marked contrasts of mood.
Music owes to Poland two of its finest, most versatile
and dignified dance forms, perhaps more susceptible
of truly musical treatment than any of the others,
the Polonaise and the Mazurka. Both are most
admirably exemplified in the works of the leading
Polish composer, Chopin. The Polonaise may be con-
ceived as representing the masculine Polish type, and
the Mazurka the feminine. The Polish ladies are
renowned for grace, charm, tenderness, fire and fascina-
tion, beyond any other women of Europe, and these are
all found in the Mazurka. Liszt was greatly enamored
Compositions by Godard. 107
of the Polish Mazurka as danced by the Polish ladies,
and much picturesque language concerning it may be
found in his little work on Chopin, which should be
read by all v/ho would understand the true mood
and meaning of the Mazurka as seen "on its native
heath."
Au Matin. Godard.
Another number of Godard, also well known, which
no well-equipped teacher can afford to ignore, is the
4<Au Matin" (To the Morning). This is technically
easier than the "Second Mazurka," but musically of a
higher grade, as finely finished a bit of graceful lyric
as can be found on the music shelves.
The introductory measures simulate very literally
the distant chimes of matin bells, ringing in the new
day. Their soft notes sound far and clear through
the hush of dawn, and seem like an answer from the
pulsing strings of the great harp of Nature to the
touch of Aurora's rosy fingers. These measures
should be taken very slowly and ad libitum, the sus-
tained B flat being allowed to vibrate as long as it
will, then fade away into silence, like a distant bell,
while the changing harmonies below it are kept very
subdued.
Then the whole composition, with its dainty swingt
its sweet dreamy melody, its soft, warm, harmonic
coloring, should be made to suggest the freshness, the
tender yet radiant beauty of the summer morning,
with the gentle sway of branches in the light and
newly awakened breeze, the joyous bird notes wel-
lo8 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
coming the growing golden light. It should tell, like
those exquisite lines of Lucy Larcom, of —
"The grace of the bending grasses,
The flush of the dawn-lit sky,
The scent that lingers and passes,
When the loitering wind goes by."
At the Spinning Wheel. Op. 85.
An excellent study in finger technic and at the same
time in sustained melody is Godard's "At the Spinning
Wheel," which, though not much used, is an effective
recital number.
Here we find the usual device, a literal imitation of
the sound of the spinning wheel, in the accompaniment,
and above it the song of the spinning maiden, who is
evidently in a mournful mood. The song is plaintive
and pathetic, now tearful, now rebellious, but always
with an undertone of impatient questioning of fate,
of restless longing and half-suppressed pain. We
wish we might know the personal history of the singer.
This form of composition is always interesting to an
audience, because easily comprehended. The realistic
in music appeals far more to the average listener than
the emotional or the symbolic, because more readily
grasped.
Cavalier Fantastique. Godard.
One of the strongest things from Godard's pen, a
work very different from the foregoing, broad, heavy,
dramatic and a fine study in chords and octave play-
ing, is the "Cavalier Fantastique." This is one of
Compositions by Godard. 109
his departures into the fantastic referred to, but for
all that a most original and fascinating number.
It represents a knight of the olden times, disap-
pointed in love or defeated at arms, desperate, reck-
less, vengeful, pounding away at headlong gallop on
his heavily armored charger, across the echoing draw-
bridge and down the steep, stony bridle-path from
the great forbidding feudal stronghold that looms dark
behind him, away into the chill and gloom of a winter
night, away and ever away, into a world that holds
no joy, no hope, no definite purpose for him, but to
escape what lies behind, his heart in a flame, his brain
in a tumult of frenzied rage. It is a study in black,
shot with lurid flashes of passion and a masterpiece
of its kind. It must be given with limitless dash and
abandon, and a firm dramatic quality of tone verging,
toward the close, on the harsh and strident. Though
short, it taxes to the limit the strength and endurance
of the player.
L'Indienne, by Godard.
|NE of the strongest, most strikingly
original compositions in Godard's
" Magic Lantern" series, is entitled
"L'Indienne" (The Indian). It will
never become generally popular on
account of its peculiar form and its
very unusual mood; but it is, for these
very reasons, of great and novel interest to musicians.
It was suggested by a remarkably strange and powerful
picture, bearing the same title, by a painter, whose
name I have, unfortunately, forgotten and cannot
now find, which was exhibited in a number of galleries
some years ago.
The scene is a giant forest, of a sombre and forbidding
aspect, writhing in the torturing grip of a furious
tempest. The great branches bend and twist and
entwine as if in acute agony. The beholder can almost
hear them moaning and shrieking in their pain. The
monster trunks reel and shiver in the shock of the blast.
The whole vivid impression is one of fierce turmoil
and almost supernatural terror.
Two figures in the foreground give the needed touch
of human interest to the scene, and the almost violent
contrast of an immovable calm in the midst of that
no
L'Indienne, by Godard. in
wild agitation — one in the stillness of death, the other
in that of frozen despair. At the foot of one of the
mammoth trees a beautiful Indian girl lies dead on a
rude bier. Above her a stalwart young brave, in full
war paint and feathers, stands motionless, with folded
arms, gazing down, in wordless, tearless sorrow on
the fair, still face of her who was evidently his bride.
The wind plays mad pranks with his fluttering
garments and streaming hair, threatening to tear
them from his body; but he neither heeds nor knows
it, absorbed in his mighty struggle with this strong,
unfamiliar foe, a great grief, which grips him cruelly,
but shall not wring from the proud warrior the smallest
sign of weakness. His face is sternly set, his pose is
that of a bronze statue, indifferent to passing time or
outward conditions. The whole conception is gloomily
grand, almost sinister in its ominous repose of sup-
pressed passion.
Godard' s music faithfully and forcefully reproduces
this impression of silent, sullen grief, of subdued
power, of gloomy, hopeless, but uncomplaining lone-
liness; of elemental rage, met by passive resistance,
by proud stoicism. The first theme, with its sombre
setting, portrays the personality and mood of the
warrior; and, at its repetition later, the storm effects
are introduced with startling realism. The composi-
tion will prove of exceptional interest to those who
are in search of novel impressions in music, and to
whom the dramatic element in tonal art appeals more
strongly than mere sensuous beauty.
Trilby, by Godard.
HIS is a most interesting, fanciful and
strikingly descriptive sketch for the
piano, by one of the best modern French
composers, and an excellent example
of the realistic French School of Com-
position of the present day. It is
very little used, indeed hardly even
known, in this country, but will be found to be a
valuable study and a grateful and attractive concert
number, presenting a variety of strongly contrasting
effects, some of which are most novel and original, and
appealing forcefully to the imagination of player and
listener.
The name "Trilby" is somewhat misleading to
most American readers — suggesting at once the story
of Trilby by Du Maurier, which was so universally
read and generally popular in this country some years
ago, but with which this composition has absolutely
no connection, beyond a chance similarity of name.
The legend of Trilby, with which it deals and which
may be found best told in the exquisitely poetic French
prose of Charles Gautier, where Godard derived his
subject and inspiration, is, briefly outlined, as follows:
Trilby, the fantastic little hero of the story, was a
112
Trilby, by Godard. 113
fire-sprite, who dwelt in the cozy chimney nook in a
fisherman's cottage, on the shore of a Highland loch
in Scotland, back in that vaguely indefinite period
conveniently designated by the romancers, as "once
upon a time." He wore a variegated Tartan plaid of
deftly woven flames, and a jaunty little cap of blue
smoke, and used to dance and frolic amid the flying
sparks and cheery crackle of the fire, dance his best
and prettiest, and play his winsome or mischievous
pranks about the room to attract the attention of the
fisherman's fair daughter, who sat by the evening fire
to spin.
Poor little Trilby, mere sprite though he was, and a
very small sprite at that, was very much in love with
the fisherman's daughter and did his best to win her
favor. But she cared little enough for him. An
amused smile, such as one gives to the pretty antics of
a kitten, or a half-playful scolding when he tangled
her thread, or unfastened and let down her hair, in a
teasing mood, was the most she would ever accord
him, then relapse into her fireside dreams of more
serious things, perchance of some mortal lover. Then
Trilby, in despair, would give up his dancing and try
singing to her a quaint, weird, but plaintive little love
song of Spriteland origin, while the green back-log
hummed a low accompaniment, and his brothers, the
sparks, kept time with their little clattering castanets.
But the song serves his purpose less than the dance,
for it harmonizes with her grave thoughts, and but
charms her into deeper reverie, so he returns to his
dancing.
At last, his long awaited opportunity comes, as he
8
1 14 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
thinks, to be of real service to her and insure her
gratitude. Her father being away at a distant town,
she must herself attend to the fishing nets spread in
the lake near by. So she looses the skiff from its
moorings and puts off; but is hardly well afloat before
she is caught in one of those sudden violent mountain
tempests, so common to the Highlands, which come
swooping down from the peaks above like a black
bird of prey, shadowing the little loch with its wings of
darkness, and arousing echoes, that lie like wakeful
watch-dogs among the crags and cliffs around, to
furious answering chorus, with crash of thunder and
shriek of storm-wind and war of angry waves.
Alone in her tossing skiff, at the mercy of wind and
wave, bewildered by the alternate gloom and lightning
glare, our heroine was in imminent danger, when little
Trilby comes gallantly to the rescue, in the guise of a
will o' the wisp; still in keeping with his character, he
dances across the foaming billows to her side, gives
her the much needed light and half guides, half draws
the boat back to its moorings, and she is saved. Then
he accompanies her back to the cottage, singing again
his pathetic little love song, while the storm, its brief
fury spent, recedes into the distance, the mutterings of
its baffled rage dying away behind the encircling hills.
Trilby now expects gratitude, if not affection. But
no. Again he is to be disappointed. She thinks that,
being a sprite, he has control of the elements, and that
the storm is only one of his tricks, called up especially
to frighten her, and give himself the chance for seem-
ingly heroic rescue, for the purpose of securing her
gratitude. She is very indignant and vows that she
Trilby, by Godard. 115
will endure his persecution no longer. So she goes at
once for the good priest of the district, who soon comes
with his sacred book and symbols, his muttered
formulas and his cruel holy-water, and exorcises poor
little Trilby from his safe cozy nook in the warm
chimney, and drives him out into the cold, dark forest,
where he dies of damp and chill and loneliness.
This composition treats the story in three distinct
and very realistic movements. First, the dance among
the flames, spritely, sparkling, piquant, yet dainty and
fantastic, which is twice repeated. Second, the love
song, full of novel, fascinating and plaintive beauty,
and the more odd and uncanny, for being written in
five-four time, one of the very few really artistic and
musical examples of this extremely unusual rhythm
in piano literature. Third, the tempest, brief but
exceedingly strong and graphic, with its most realistic
thunder, its shuddering chromatic progressions, veri-
tably darkness made audible, and its ominous receding
whisper at the close, like threats of future vengeance.
Trilby's last, short, flurried, terrified attempt to
repeat his old fire-dance before he is relentlessly
driven off up the chimney, is touching in its half
pathetic, half humorous suggestiveness.
The whole is fanciful in the extreme and admirably
in keeping with the playful, tender mood of the legend
as given in the French version of M. Gautier.
Pan's Flute, by Godard
HIS is a small but daintily exquisite
composition, cleverly embodying the
idea suggested by the name. Pan, it
will be remembered, was the Greek
god of Nature, the special divinity of
field and forest, of pastoral life and
rustic scenes and pleasures. He was
also, according to Greek mythology, the inventor of
the flute, or shepherd's pipe, and the first of the world's
great players upon this typically pastoral instrument.
Hence the frequent references to the pipe of Pan, so
familiar to readers of classic literature. He was sup-
posed to be specially enamored of the nymph, "Echo,"
the most coy and unapproachable of all the fair denizens
of mountain and forest, and it is intimated that her
fondness for sweet sounds and readiness to respond
to them first gave him the idea and incentive for the
devising of this instrument, by means of which he
might, like the birds, do his wooing in melody. This
little composition purports to be one of Pan's capricious
improvisations; the accompaniment, in slow, repose-
ful, yet sonorous chords, soft but rich, and of very
ingenious harmonic texture, symbolizes the forest,
on the edge of which we may fancy him standing,
116
Pan's Flute, by Godard. 117
just at evening, gazing across toward the hillside home
of his beloved Echo; the forest, with its dark, restful
depths, its dreaming shadows and the occasional
organ-like swell of its solemn voice when stirred in its
slumber by the passing wind. Above this accompani-
ment, delicate, but distinct in the right hand, Pan's
flute piping its dainty pastoral melody, fitfully at first,
as if experimenting with his new-found instrument
in various keys and registers; then, in fuller, swifter
cadences, as assurance grows and with it the desire
to win an answer from the faint, sweet voice so fondly
awaited. In this he would seem, in a measure, success-
ful, as hinted by the soft, reiterated, echo-like sequences
at the close.
In this connection I have a suggestion to make to
the many earnest, conscientious teachers in small
communities, struggling patiently with a class of not
overly well-endowed pupils, who have had few ad-
vantages for general musical culture, and with a busy,
superficial and rather indifferent public.
Plan a series of informal pupils' recitals, with brief
programs, each devoted to some particular composer.
Now do not, in a frenzy of enthusiasm for educating
the public, begin with an entire program of Bach
fugues, to be followed the next week by five Beethoven
sonatas, administered without a word of enlighten-
ment. If you do, your audience will not survive to the
third meeting; your course will come to an untimely
end, and you will not have accomplished your pur-
pose, but will instead have given your patrons a prac-
tical demonstration of their own previously vague
theories that classical music is always a bore.
Il8 Stones of Standard Teaching Pieces.
Select some always standard and meritorious but
rather comprehensible and melodic composer, like God-
ard. Take, for instance, six of the compositions enum-
erated above and give them in the following order:
i, The Mazurka; 2, Au Matin; 3, Spinning Song; 4,
Trilby; 5, Pan's Flute; 6, Cavalier Fantastique.
Write yourself a brief, but graphic and interesting,
sketch of the composer and his work, which you will
either read yourself as prelude to the program, or
have read by some pupil who has a pleasant voice,
good enunciation and intelligent delivery. Then pre-
cede each of the selections rendered by the pupils
with a short description such as I have written, or
other and better ones if you have them at hand.
You will find such a lecture-recital much more of a
success with your audience than the ordinary miscel-
laneous, incoherent, indigestible pupils' program.
Give such recitals as often as you yourself can pre-
pare the sketches and your pupils the pieces, present-
ing a new composer each time. In this way you will
do much to arouse the interest and enthusiasm of your
students and to keep them at their practice faith-
fully, and you will find that you have insinuated una-
wares into your public much information concerning
pianoforte literature and many miscellaneous musical
ideas. Occasionally you will have the satisfaction of
awakening a taste for music and love of it hitherto
dormant. All of which makes for general musical
culture in a community, and lightens the labors and
increases the success of the music teacher.
Schytte's Compositions as
Teaching Material
MONG the romantic composers of the
present day, or the recent past, none
offers to the musical world a richer,
more varied selection of genuinely
meritorious small compositions, avail-
able for teaching purposes, than
Schytte.
Though Scandinavian by birth and early education,
he has none of the distinctively Norse characteristics
so pronounced in Grieg; none of the weird, grotesque
suggestions of winter-midnight dreams of troll and
werewolf, which one might expect to find in his music
as a sort of racial birthmark; neither has he the strik-
ing, bizarre originality and odd piquancy of his popular
French contemporary, Godard; but he has more
breadth and versatility, more melodic spontaneity
than either.
Like that of Rubinstein, his music may be said to be
cosmopolitan, rather than national or strongly indi-
vidual.
His family is said to have originally come from
Finland. The Finns are of pure, though very early,
119
I2O Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
Aryan stock, a division of that race which began
its migrations even prior to the Celts, but resembling
them more nearly than they do the Teutons or the
Slavs.
This fact, if it be such, coupled with his thorough
German musical training, would account for the lack
of Norse traits in his productions, as also for the notable
leaning toward the fairly conservative German school
in his work.
Nevertheless, his creations, though neither vividly
local in color nor narrowly personal in tone, possess an
originality and freshness all their own and show a
mastery of form and a command of melodic and har-
monic material manifested by few modern writers.
The following — selected from among his easier things
— will be found of special interest to the teacher.
At Evening. Schytte.
This is a pure lyric, warm, exquisitely melodious,
and sensuously beautiful, though somewhat sad. It is
more difficult for young players than at first appears,
in spite of its seeming simplicity, on account of the in-
terlocking and occasionally interrupted figures of the
accompaniment, but it is a fine study in sustained
melody playing and dynamic balance of parts.
The mood is distinctly different from that in the well-
known Des Abends by Schumann, although both deal
with the quiet, dreamful, evening hour and are full of
its subtle tenderness and veiled pathos. In this, the
composer has evidentlv in mind a still, hazy evening
in September, with its sense of vague depression, its
Schytte's Compositions as Teaching Material. 121
faint floating odors of fading flowers and falling leaves,
with the feeble breath of the dying summer just stirring
the branches, and Nature's pulses perceptibly slowing
down for the long winter's sleep. An hour when one
half unconsciously sighs for the ' 'might have been,"
recalling the fair blossoms of hope, now faded, and one's
thoughts — like withered leaves — drift aimlessly on the
sluggish current of memory. The closing measures are
an unmistakable good-bye to the long, soft summer
days.
Forest Elves. Schytte.
In notable contrast to the foregoing is the bright,
playful, capricious Wald Elfen, full of sparkling fun
and dainty tricksy roguery, a scherzo of the most
perfect type. Here we have the elves at their mid-
night frolic in the cool, darksome glades of the forest,
while a silver shower of moonbeams, falling through
the leaves, works a shifting fairy patchwork on the
mossy carpet and the "horns of Elfland, faintly blow-
ing," mark the time for the steps of the mazy dance.
This is a splendid study in combined lightness and
accuracy, one of the most difficult achievements of
piano-playing. It demands great speed, without ap-
parent hurry; the utmost crispness and lightness of
touch, united with certainty and flexibility. Above
all, a perfect control of motor nerves and muscular
mechanism. The player must be as the music should
sound, intensely vitalized, keenly, joyously alive, yet
perfectly cool. There must be no feverish flurry,
no nervous slighting of notes, or fearsome stiffening
of muscles. The apparent careless effervescence of
122 Stories ot Standard Teaching Pieces.
hilarious spirits must be carefully studied and intelli-
gently, though not apparently, controlled.
Berceuse (Cradle Song). Schytte.
One of the most melodically beautiful and charmingly
winsome compositions by Schytte, or any composer
since Chopin, is the Berceuse. With the exception of
the inimitable and exquisite Chopin Berceuse, I regard
this as far the best cradle song ever written for the
piano. It is perfect in form and detail.
The swaying rhythm of the accompaniment suggests
throughout the rocking cradle, the soothing yet
sensuous melody breathes the warmth and tenderness
of maternal love, the peace and quiet of the summer
twilight; while a certain rich glow and passionate
fervor in the harmonic coloring stir the imagination,
engendering the idea that the environment is tropical
and Oriental, the scene some vine-wreathed villa in a
rose garden of the far East, the singer perhaps a fair
Georgian, whose flowing garments and loosened hair
exhale the scent of myrrh and sandalwood, whose voice
has caught the melting cadences from the tones of the
nightingale, and whose dreams of the future of her
child are woven of the fervid tints, the intoxicating
perfumes, of the only world she knows. Her song,
like her emotions, is simple, but intense.
The utmost warmth and richness of tone quality
is here demanded— full, deep, but velvet soft; a tone
like the heart of a crimson rose.
Schytte's Compositions as Teaching Material. 123
Across the Steppes. Schytte.
This is a composition by Schytte which is compara-
tively little known, but is one of the most useful for
teaching purposes and one of the most original of his
smaller works, also a study in rapid, sustained wrist
movement and a fine recital number.
The Russian steppes are to our prairies what the
North Sea is to Lake Champlain, — vast, sombre, storm-
swept, enveloped much of the year in almost perpetual
darkness.
The rider must be imagined, not as a cow-boy, or a
sporting gentleman from New York, but as a Tartar
horseman, in the red and black uniform of the race.
The ride is a fast and furious gallop over the Russian
steppes, a dash for life into the frost-laden wind from
the Ural Mountains.
The rider is born to the saddle and seems a part of his
wild, half -broken steed, for he is a son of that race whose
ancestors, far back in the dim mythological past,
originated in the minds of the Greeks the legend of the
Centaur, — that fierce, fighting animal from the northern
wilds, half man, half horse, one and indivisible.
He rides at break-neck speed, savagely, sullenly, his
heart filled with a sombre fatalistic mood, as dark as the
night that closes in around him.
This work demands, and develops, a strong, supple
wrist. It must be given with an impetuous abandon
of style, much needed by certain pupils, and always
very effective with an audience.
124 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
Allegro from Sonata, Op. 53. Schytte.
This is a much broader, more pretentious work than
any thus far referred to. In fact, it is a fully developed
sonata of considerable magnitude, only to be handled
successfully by advanced players. For such, it will
well repay careful study, especially the first movement.
It is rich in musical content, and shows masterly skill
in thematic development. It has, moreover, a most
interesting literary background.
It is founded on the old mythological epic of Finland,
probably the oldest epic poem in existence, only
recently translated into English, the Kalevala. Inci-
dentally it is worthy of note that the Kalevala is in
form and rhythm identical in every particular with
Hiawatha, and the claim has been made that the latter
was a deliberate plagiarism on the part of Longfellow,
but that is irrelevant here.
The allegro deals only with a part of the poem,
namely, the Rune entitled The Fate of Aino. She,
according to the legend, was the sister of Youkahainen,
the hero, poet and magician of Lapland. He, in
over-confidence, challenged to mortal combat, with
the magic weapons of enchantment and incantation,
the old and famous champion of Finland (also equipped
as soldier, magician, and poet), and was completely
overthrown and found himself sinking deeper and
deeper in the freezing morass, under the relentless
spells of his conqueror, till only his head remained in
sight.
In vain he offered all his worldly goods for life and
Schytte's Compositions as Teaching Material. 125
relief, till in despair he bethought him of his sister,
the lovely Aino, fairest of the Lapland maidens. Her
he offers as bride to his tormentor, Wainamoinen, the
old, grizzled, but formidable wizard of Finland, and
the bride is accepted. Youkahainen is released and
hastens home to make known his defeat, and prepare
the sacrifice, while Wainamoinen follows more slowly,
with pomp and splendor, to claim his bride. Aino,
at his approach, terrified and despairing, flies to the
white temple of the sea-god on a rock in the sea and
prays to the god for protection. He, in answer, sends
an earthquake, and the rock and the maiden sink to
the bottom of the sea with crashing of thunder and
mighty surging of billows : —
"With a crash and roar of waters
Falls the stone of many colors,
Falls upon the very bottom
Of the deep and boundless blue-sea,
With the stone of rainbow colors
Falls the weeping maiden Aino.
Sleeping on the very bottom,
In the caverns of the salmon,
There to be the mermaid's sister,
And the friend of nimble fishes."
This short quotation from the Kalevala gives the mood
and the rhythm of the ancient poem, supposed to be
more than three thousand years old.
The bold, pompous character of the opening theme
of the sonata indicates the triumphant approach of
the victorious bridegroom, his pride and power, and
the tramp of the score of reindeers which draw his
magnificent sleigh.
The plaintive second theme tells of the sorrow of
Aino and her friends, and later of the united lament of
ia6 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
the sea and forest; while the great ponderous climax
portrays unmistakably the thunder crash of the ca-
tastrophe, which rescues, by destroying the heroine.
The story is not told consecutively in the music, or
with definite sequence of events in detail, but the ele-
ments are all brought vividly before us.
The two remaining movements of the Sonata, Inter-
mezzo and Finale, are musically inferior to the Allegro
and are rarely played.
Nevin's Compositions.
The Narcissus. Nevin.
MONO Nevin's compositions for piano,
the Narcissus undoubtedly stands first,
on account of a certain rhythmic swing
and easy flow of melody, which give it a
semi-popular air, sometimes misleading
to musicians in their estimate of its real
merit. It has the direct unaffected
sweetness and classic simplicity of a Greek pastoral,
quite in harmony with the old familiar legend from
which its name is derived.
In the golden days when myths were born of the
first love between man's imagination and the charms
of Nature, a youth of surpassing beauty, wandering by
the side of a quiet stream, saw for the first time his own
reflection in the mirror-like depths of the water. lie
supposed it to be the face of a water nymph, fell deeply
in love with it, and lingered there day after day to
watch and woo, until he died of love and longing.
From his grave upon the bank sprang the first Nar-
cissus flower, named for him. Its pure delicate white
and gold loveliness, its sweet seductive perfume, have
insured it a place in the hearts of all races in all ages, as
127
128 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
the symbol of a love stronger than life itself. A later
Greek legend tells us that it was while gathering the
narcissus or asphodel that Persephone, daughter of
Ceres, was captured and borne away to the infernal
regions to be the bride of Pluto. India and China
revered the narcissus. The Egyptians placed wreaths
of it about the embalmed dead, so that even now
when a mummy is opened, a dried wreath of narcissus
is sometimes found about its neck, the flowers of which
bloomed more than two thousand years ago.
The Romans crowned their gods with garlands ol
narcissus and even the war- like Mohammed writes in the
Koran: "He that has two cakes of bread, let him sell
one of them for flowers of the narcissus: for bread is
food for the body, but the narcissus is food for the soul."
In feudal days the narcissus stood for chivalry, as
with the orientals in prehistoric ages it stood for im-
mortality. The British corrupted the ancient name
asphodel into Affodyle and then Daffodil, which desig-
nates today a certain type of narcissus in England and
America.
Nevin, in his charming, sweet, simple little work, has
embodied certainly the spiritual essence if not the actual
story of the Greek myth, and it deserves a place in
piano literature with Mendelssohn's Spring Song and
Schumann's Traumerei, even though he was "only an
American."
The Barcarolle. Nevin.
This composition, from the same set as the Narcissus,
though by no means so widely known, deserves especial
Nevin's Compositions. 129
mention. It is a graceful, smoothly flowing, win-
somely melodious work of no great difficulty, and is
without doubt the best thing of its kind yet written
by an American, not equalling, it is true, but closely
approaching, in beauty, realistic effects and finished
perfection, the famous Barcarolles by Rubinstein.
The Barcarolle, from Barca, a boat, is the Neapolitan
boatman's song, with the rhythmic accompaniment of
oars and murmur of the waves. The swing and splash
of the oars, the rocking of the boat, the soft ripple of
the placid water, are all deftly simulated in Nevin's
composition; while the melody, though not so dis-
tinctively Italian in character as in Rubinstein's works
of this type, is eminently suggestive. It depicts a
calm, lovely moonlight scene on the blue Vesuvian bay,
where happy lovers glide and dream, as if storm and
disaster, whether on southern seas or in the emotional
tides of the heart, were things unknown and impossible.
The Dragon Fly. Nevin.
Another exquisite little musical sketch from Nevin's
hand is the Dragon Fly, a fantastic composition, full of
sparkle and dainty witchery, suggesting the capricious
flight of this erratic wanderer, flashing hither and
thither, skimming the surface of a shallow stream, in
pursuit of who knows what elfish sport or purpose.
The music is thoroughly representative in its playful
vagaries, and as bright and rapid as the scintillations of
swift iridescent wings. The piece is more difficult than
the others mentioned, and requires a light crisp touch
and easy, fluent technic. In this respect it is in the
9
130 Stones of Standard Teaching Pieces.
same class with Grieg's Butterfly and Schumann's
Bird as Prophet.
The Love Song. Nevin.
This little work for piano is invaluable as a study of
tone production and phrasing. It is one of Nevin' s best
lyrics, a love song in a broad, grave, manly vein, emo-
tional, warm and impassioned, without becoming
violent or hysterical.
It sings the love of a deep strong but well-poised
nature, faithful and true but devoid of frenzy, like a fire
that would warm and brighten a life, without consuming
it. It demands a quality of tone like that of the 'cello,
deep, rich and resonant but never explosive.
In My Neighbor's Garden. Nevin.
This is one of Nevin's most fascinating and thankful
compositions for the piano and but surprisingly little
used. It is constructed on the plan of the Chopin
Impromptus, with a rapid sparkling first movement,
and a slow pathetic minor trio or rather interlude, for it
is hardly long enough to be properly designated as trio.
The opening movement is full of rustling leaves,
fluttering wings, and silvery bird notes, the very breath
of the spring garden and the jubilant ecstasy of mating
birds.
In the interlude the mood changes suddenly to one of
pensive depression and lonely longing. Evidently there
is something lacking in that spring, some presence
Nevin's Compositions. 131
missing in that garden. The flowers and birds seem a
sad mockery to the hungry heart.
But the sun shines on, the bright blossoms nod to the
passing breeze, the bird's wild rapture continues, and
the mood of Nature dominates the personal grief in a
repetition of the first movement with some slight
modifications; and the piece ends in a fountain- like
spray of joyously ascending notes, like an irrepressible
spring of gladness.
A facile dexterous finger technic is absolutely essential
for this work, which is tricky and difficult, but must
sound easy.
Miscellaneous Modern
Compositions.
MID the mass of mostly insignificant com-
positions with which scores of would-be
composers are flooding the market, there
is occasionally one that stands forth
with bold, commanding individuality
like a giant among pigmies ; composi-
tions of real solid worth and originality,
with something new and forceful to say for themselves
as an excuse for being.
These exceptional products come, not from any one
pen or nation, but seem to be sporadic growths in our
overworked latter-day musical soil, where the all too
abundant crop runs mostly to excessive leafage rather
than to fruit. This is an age, not of genius but of
generally diffused ability, of what Walt Whitman
democratically extols as "divine averages," which
means widespread but mediocre achievement, especially
along all lines of artistic creation. The technic of
composition, like that of piano playing, has become
in a manner of speaking common property. Almost
any one can write music, but few can write something
worth writing, and they not always nor often.
132
Miscellaneous Modern Compositions. 133
The works referred to result from the specially
stimulated efforts of exceptional men in exceptional
moments. They mark the extreme high-water line
of the rare flood-tides in such men's experiences, not
their normal level. It is worthy of note, in view of
the abuse which is lavished upon the taste and percep-
tion of the general public, how quickly and how
almost universally such efforts are appreciated and
such productions welcomed by the musical world.
Rachmaninoff. Prelude, Op. 3, No. 2.
This is one of the strongest productions of the new
Russian school, Slavonic to its very marrow, original in
every line, mighty with the untamed, uncompromising
passions of a newly wakened, half -barbaric race, vital
with the essence of a tremendous historic situation.
The scene is Moscow, the proud, the vanquished,
in the midst of its illimitable snow-clad plains, in the
first depressing gloom of the long winter night; its
desolate streets resounding to the stern tread of Napo-
leon's victorious troops; Moscow, suddenly ablaze in
every part, the torch applied by the hands of its
fiercely sullen inhabitants; its costly palaces, its cosy
homes, its vast accumulation of military stores con-
suming to ashes, and Napoleon's long cherished, all
but fulfilled hope of safety and comfort for his vast
army through the long winter, on which he has staked
his all, going up in smoke before his eyes, and leaving
four hundred thousand invading Frenchmen without
food or shelter in the heart of a frozen desert; while
the ponderous deep-throated bell of the Kremlin,
134 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
sounding the alarm, booms on above the rush and roar
of the flames, the crash of falling buildings, the shrieks
of the wounded, burned alive in the hospitals, and all
the confused terror and frenzy of destruction.
Through it all one feels the mingled triumph and
despair, the desperate, savage exultation of the Rus-
sian people, who have turned the foe's victory into
worse than defeat, by means of this fearful ally, the
all-devouring fire, and who glory, though with break-
ing hearts, in their own heroic sacrifice. It stirs the
depths of elemental passions slumbering in us all,
concealed by the pleasant observances and peaceful
seeming of our superficial civilization, as the treach-
erous slopes of Vesuvius have been covered by orchard
and vineyard and garden, till the eruption comes and
the lava stream pours its molten destruction over all.
In the closing chords one hears the slowly dying sigh
of spent fury, the hushed voice of uttermost darkness
and desolation.
D 'Albert. Melodie.
D' Albert has given us a composition entitled "Mel-
ody," of intrinsic merit and originality almost equal
to the one just discussed, which however for some
reason has not as yet received the general recognition
it deserves, perhaps because of the very wild and un-
familiar mood which it expresses, and still more because
it deals apparently with purely abstract emotions in
their elemental simplicity, with no attempt to localize
them or give to them any special personification or
natural setting. In other words, it belongs to the class
Miscellaneous Modern Compositions. 135
of compositions known as emotional, not to that usually
called descriptive.
That distinction is entirely erroneous, though so
general that we are forced to recognize it, since music
which expresses or portrays an emotion is just as
descriptive in its way as that which delineates a scene
in nature or in human life. In fact, strictly speak-
ing, all music worthy of the name is descriptive. The
difference lies merely in the character of the thing
described.
Now while it is an undoubted fact that music is
primarily the language of the emotions and always at
its best when describing or expressing them, also that
in most cases the introduction of the imitative element,
such as the suggestion of storm or battle, tolling bells
or rippling water, is intended only to supplement and
intensify the emotional effect, still it is equally true
that most persons, musicians as well as public, grasp
and feel an emotion more fully and deeply if asso-
ciated with some definite person in some particular
situation, than if merely presented in an abstract
form. For example, we sympathize with the love of
Juliet more readily and more warmly than with love,
the quality, put before us as an abstraction. So in
music we are eager for any definite data bearing upon
the personal origin or application of the moods we find
expressed, and we welcome any realistic suggestions
that will tend to localize the scene and connect the
mood with some concrete human experience.
In cases where such definite data and realistic hints
are wholly wanting, it is helpful and interesting to
allow the imagination to find its own way back from
136 Stones of Standard Teaching Pieces.
the general to the specific, from the mood expressed
to the probable or possible conditions which produced
it ; to picture the approximate scene, setting and action
of which this mood is or might be the distilled essence.
The habit of such aesthetic analysis once formed is
a wonderful aid in the appreciation and interpretation
of every style of composition.
Let us try it with the work by D' Albert referred to,
with no guide but the internal evidence of the music
itself. Here we find one mood throughout, pro-
nounced, sustained, unmistakable, a strong, dark, domi-
nating mood. It is a fierce yet gloomy courage, defy-
ing man and the elements, in the consciousness of
rugged, invincible strength and stern, inflexible deter-
mination; not courage that riots and exults under the
stimulus of action, the wild joy of battle, but courage
that sullenly, silently, bides its time, a waiting menace
to the foes it scorns yet longs to meet. The setting is
a background of midnight darkness through which is
felt the ominous threat of storm and the breath of an
icy cold. The only realistic suggestion is a hint of
rushing, foam-flecked waves in the agitated accompani-
ment.
Now suppose you were a painter and were called
upon to reproduce that mood and general impression
in a picture, by means of the representative symbolism
employed in that art. The mood must be personi-
fied in an actual man placed in a situation where it
would be appropriate and probable. That impression
of cold and darkness and agitation must be given by
a setting that includes those elements. What char-
acter and setting would you select for the purpose?
Miscellaneous Modern Compositions- 137
What scene so fitting as the North Sea, that synonym
for darkness, storm, and mysterious terror? What
character so suitable as that type of courage, strength,
and endurance, and so appropriate in that setting, as
the Norse Viking on his warship, daring the night and
the gathering tempest on some reckless quest of spoil
or vengeance, against a background of tumbling waves
and black, wind- torn clouds?
You would paint a Danish war galley, lit by flaring
torches, breasting the great seas with the foam flying
from her cutwater, and in her prow the figure of the
Viking fully armed, standing stern and motionless,
but alert and watchful, instinct with intensest life,
the embodiment of courage and confident power. And
if you were a great painter you would make the beholder
feel the danger, the bitter cold, the suppressed excite-
ment and expectancy of the situation, as D' Albert
makes us feel them in his music.
In the one case the scene is represented and the
imagination supplies the resultant emotions. In the
other the emotions are directly expressed and the
imagination fills in the probable scene and causal
conditions.
If you were a poet striving to produce the same
impressions, you could neither express the emotion as
directly as in music, nor present the scene as vividly
as in painting, but would have to reach the imagina-
tion and the emotions through the intellect by means
of the familiar symbolism of language. Your work
would take the form of a story told in verse, describing
the conditions and details as vividly as possible, en-
hanced by all the special resources of the poet's art at
138 Stones of Standard Teaching Pieces.
your command. You might write something in this
vein:
On the white-breasted billows
The good ship doth ride,
And her decks are awash
With the spume of the tide.
At the prow stands the Viking
In sea coat of leather,
And laughs his disdain
In the teeth of the weather.
How bitter the blast!
'Tis the iceberg's keen breath;
And the surges are singing
Of danger and death.
But with stern joy of combat
His nostrils dilate,
As he stands, the embodied
Defiance of fate.
With broadsword at belt,
And with axe burnished bright,
He waits for the dawn
Through the storm and the night.
With the swoop of the hawk
He'll descend on his prey;
And his blade will drip blood
At the breaking of day.
If you are, unlike the writer, a great poet, the poem
would be much stronger, more finished and more com-
plete, but the method employed would be the same, and
this will serve as illustration. To the present writer
nothing is more interesting or more illuminating than
to analyze and compare the laws underlying the different
arts and see how the same subject matter is treated
in the different forms, bearing always in mind that all
the arts are but different mediums of expression, and
that the soul of every art work is its content; the
peculiar beauty and fascination inherent in the material
and form of each special art should be of only secondary
importance. Too many artists are inclined to deify
Miscellaneous Modern Compositions. 139
the technic of their specialty, making that paramount,
when in reality it is but a means to a much broader end,
like the idiomatic charm of a dialect, which is only an
adjunct, not a vital factor.
But to return to the D'Albert "Melody," shall we
assume that it actually describes some such scene as
I have outlined ? Not necessarily. But it does express
just such a mood as I have described, which might be
accounted for or produced in the manner suggested.
Raff. Eclogue in G Flat.
This is a pure lyric, of about the fifth grade of dif-
ficulty, in the fluently melodious vein in which Ran7
was always at his best. The word eclogue was the
Greek name of a certain type of pastoral poem, a short,
simple poem in a tranquil, tender mood, describing
rural scenes in which shepherds appeared, singing and
playing upon the flute. Raff has cleverly utilized the
name and the idea in connection with several short
compositions for the piano, of which this is perhaps the
best.
The mood suggested by his chosen Greek model in
verse has been admirably expressed by the composer
in this music. It is soft, gentle, and pensive, but with-
out sadness or more intense moments to break its
restful placidity. It possesses, too, a pronounced
pastoral character, even on casual examination.
The imagination of the listener readily supplies the
rustic scene as a fitting background for the tone-
picture, a sunlit mountain slope, its green expanses
dotted with grazing sheep, which have been, since time
140 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
began, the symbols of rural peace and plenty; in the
shadow of a little grove a party of shepherds resting,
watching their flocks and whiling away the long hours
of the summer afternoon with simple music of their
own making. One sings a simple, tender song — a love
song, it may be — to the quiet accompaniment of the
guitar or zither. Another contributes a delicate flute
obligato, the light notes falling in a crystal shower above
and around the sustained tones of the melody, like
dewdrops shaken from wind-tossed branches.
The song-like theme in the right hand suggests the
voice of the shepherd. It should be given with a firm,
clinging pressure touch. It should sound full, but not
loud, and be well sustained, perfectly legato, and very
clearly phrased. This phrasing must be maintained
with equal distinctness at the repetition, when the
flute-like obligato is added, so that it may be easily
followed. The quiet arpeggio accompaniment in the
left hand must be subdued, of course, to a mere har-
monious murmur, producing as nearly as possible the
illusion of the effect of harp or guitar.
The flute runs in the upper register should be light
as a breath, yet clear as crystal, so as to embellish,
without in the least obscuring, the melody. It should
be demi-staccato, played with the very tips of well-
curved fingers. The piece affords opportunities for
study in relative dynamic effects and various tone-
qualities, and is a grateful number for the player.
Miscellaneous Modern Compositions. 141
The Night has a Thousand Eyes,
by Ferdinand Dewey.
"The night has a thousand eyes,
The day but one;
But the light of the whole world dies
With the dying sun.
The mind has a thousand eyes,
The heart but one ;
But the light of the whole life dies
When love is done."
The beauty, tenderness, and pathos of these brief
lines are reproduced in the music with a fidelity and
finish worthy of a Chopin. In fact, though written
by a comparatively obscure American musician, whose
place in the hearts of his sorrowing friends is far larger
and more justly awarded than in the temple of fame,
this composition has few equals in its line from any pen
in any land.
The melody, considered with or without the words,
is a song of the heart, as simple, as concise, and as
universally appealing as the thought in the lines which
inspired it. It is another fine study in tone-quality
and inflection.
The accompaniment, though admirably written,
enhancing and enriching the effect of the melody, if
well rendered, offers a problem in left-hand technic
not too easily solved even by the professional artist.
The figures are involved and unusual, a tax of no
common order on the memory as well as the finger
dexterity, and for that very reason furnish an excellent
left-hand study, well up in the sixth grade. These
142 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
sinuous, interwoven runs, with their subtle, chromatic
modulations and their shadowy suggestions of half-
veiled bits of counterpoint, produce a dreamy, elusive
effect, a veritable chiaro-oscuro of sound, reminding one
of the soft, starry summer night and of Tennyson's
lines in reference to the Pleiades :
"Like a swarm of golden fire-flies
Tangled in a silver braid."
The Dryad, by Jensen.
The Dryad is one of a charming set of Idyls for the
Piano, by Jensen, a modern German writer of the
romantic school, with no great profundity and no
startling originality of conceptions, but with a genial,
fluent and often remarkably clever manner of expres-
sion, and a delicate, refined fancy which should com-
mend him to a more general recognition than he seems
at present to enjoy. In the midst of the fervid intensity
of most modern music, Jensen's work is occasionally as
refreshing and restful as the pearl grey tints and fern-
scented coolness of some rock-shadowed grotto in the
heart of a sun-flooded, tropical rose-garden. This
composition, in form a song without words, in that most
optimistic of keys — G major — has a breezy freshness, a
natural, simple grace which characteristically express
the personality it is intended to suggest.
The Dryad, a Greek nymph of the forest, one of Pan's
court and one of the most unsophisticated and simple of
all those joyous children of nature, was a personification
of the life of the tree, its vital principle or soul. From a
realistic standpoint we may fancy this to be the Dryad's
Miscellaneous Modern Compositions. 143
song, a little vesper hymn of praise to the setting sun,
sung in quiet, happy confidence to the accompaniment
of the murmuring leaves above her head. This whisper-
ing, murmurous effect, as of leaves and branches stirred
by the evening breezes, is given in the left hand continu-
ously throughout the piece, and should receive special
attention from the player with this idea in mind. The
rapidity and delicacy of the left-hand passages, with
their proper shading, constitute the chief difficulty of
the work. The soprano melody, carried by the right
hand, may be supposed to typify the Dryad's voice,
full of her own fresh, child-like individuality. The
mood of the whole work is eminently characteristic and
replete with woodland witcheries.
Dance of the Elves, Sapellnikoff.
The "Dance of the Elves," by Sapellnikoff, one of
the most gifted and promising of the many Russian
composers of the day, himself a concert pianist of grow-
ing fame, a pupil and proteg6 of Mme. Sophia Menter,
is one of his brightest and most popular works,
frequently appearing on his own concert programs.
The conception of the character and attributes of
the Elf varies widely in the mythologies of different
lands and races. The English Elf, for instance, is a
merry, harmless, though roguish little dweller of the
green- wood, almost as dainty and winsome as the fairy,
but given to droll humor and tricky pranks. The Ger-
man Elf, especially as found in the depths of the
Black Forest, is a far more fearsome apparition, of
much greater stature and power and more intense and
144 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
sinister personality. Notably the Elf King, who figures
in so many weird German ballads, is a potent and vin-
dictive monarch of the gloomy solitudes, wielding the
power of life and death over mortals, while his Queen is
a most beautiful, but wicked, siren-like being, dangerous
to the souls as well as the bodies of men. In Russia
again the Elf is the gleesome, frolicsome child of this
North land and the Winter, the embodied spirit of the
swift, sparkling hail shower and the flying snow-flakes.
It is he who piles the drifts in such fantastical shape;
who traces those wondrous pictures on the frosted
window-pane; who festoons the drooping pines with
countless ice crystals, which glitter like prisms in the
light and tingle like fairy . sleigh-bells when swung by
the laughing North wind. This composition pictures a
dance by these blythe little snow-sprites. The time
is a winter night, the place a moon-lit forest glade.
The setting of the scene is unbroken white; the dance
floor, the level-frozen snow. Ice-covered trees — like
knights in silver armor — stand as stately chivalrous
spectators of the festival. In the centre of the dancers
the Elf Queen stands, and once in the midst of the dance
she brings all to a stand and holds their attention for a
moment while she makes what seems to be a little
address of welcome, it may be, or of warning, or narrates
some legend of Elf-land, after which the dance is
resumed with increased vivacity. The music graph-
ically portrays not only the mood and movement of
the dance, with all its spirit and sparkle, but the whole
frost-embroidered scene — cold, crisp, dazzling. It is
one of those singular transmutations, sometimes found
in Art, where the impressions, usually obtained through
Miscellaneous Modern Compositions. 145
one sense, are carried over into the realm commonly
appertaining to another; where, for instance, effects
generally recognized only by the eyes are made, to
some extent, perceptible to the ear, as in this case, where
the result might almost be called audible frost-work.
Rustle of Spring, by Ch. Sinding.
It is a recognized fact that all composers, not less
than authors, are materially influenced in temperament,
habit of thought, general style and choice of subject,
by their geographical and climatic surroundings, as well
as by their racial heredity.
This is especially true of the Scandinavian composers,
probably because of the strikingly prominent and in-
dividual characteristics of their native land, with its
rugged, yet fascinating scenery, its wild rock-ribbed,
snow-covered mountains, its smiling valleys, its sombre
pine forests, its flashing, tumbling streams, and its
broken irregular coast line, white with the flying foam
of restless breakers, its sharp contrasts of frozen winter
midnight and fervid, glowing, summer days — all of
which cannot fail of their effect on the imagination.
Such environment and conditions have helped to give
to the ancient mythology and to the more recent art
products of the Northland their peculiarly original
stamp. They are, in part at least, responsible for the
unusual type of genius of such men as Ibsen, Bjornson,
Grieg and Sinding. -
In these Northern latitudes the spring conies swiftly,
suddenly, with an impetuous rush. The ardent blus-
tering south-wind sweeps triumphantly over the icy
10
146 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
battlements of the frost-king's defences, breaking, at
a touch, the fetters of the mountain torrents, waking
the flowers from their long winter sleep and arousing
nature, with his jubilant voice, to prepare for her
bridal with the coming Spring. This ever-recurring
phenomenon, in past centuries, gave rise to the beau-
tiful allegorical legend of the Sleeping Beauty, that
enchanted lady in the dread castle of sleep, guarded
by her stern jailor, representing the Northland in its
winter trance under the spell of Jack Frost, while her
rescuing lover, the Fairy Prince, who wakes her with
a kiss to life and love, was the spring. His impa-
tient approach, accompanied by rushing winds and
rustling leaves, the ripple of glad waters and the mur-
mur of welcoming forests, is represented in this compo-
sition, which is justly one of the most popular of recent
works for the piano. It literally imitates the gusty
rush of spring-winds, the chatter of wayward brooks,
the all-pervading stir and rustle and murmur, which tell
of the quickening of new life throughout all nature, the
thrilling of her pulses at the revivifying kiss of spring;
while the warm emotional character of the melody and
the rich, sensuous harmonies, with their constantly
recurring sevenths and ninths and frequent suspensions,
suggest the vague, half mystical, half passionate long-
ings, the indefinable unrest, the subtle blending of joy
and sadness, which wake and stir and swell and surge in
the human heart at the voice of spring.
Miscellaneous Modern Compositions. 147
The Wedding Day, by Grieg.
This composition, in Grieg's most characteristic vein,
was written for the anniversary celebration of his own
wedding day, which took place at his country home
among the mountains, fantastically named Troldhaugen,
which means home or stronghold of the Trolls — the
Gnomes of the Norseland. The composition is in the
march form, with strongly marked rhythms, weird,
suggestive harmonies and simple, but original melodies.
It simulates the music at an old-time, rustic festival
among the rugged, robustly hilarious northern races —
rough as their mountains, wild as their tempestuous
seas, boisterous as their winter winds, yet wholesome,
kindly and given to harmless, if rather rude, merry-
making. The spirit of frolic is not lost in the land of
the midnight sun.
Grieg, who was a typical Norseman at heart, was
deeply interested in all the ancient myths, traditions
and customs of his country, and these intimate home-
festivals at his country-seat on his wedding anniversary
were arranged in keeping with the spirit and habit of
the olden days, including a revival of the old rude
games, trials of strength and various classically antique
forms of amusement of the rural sort.
In this music Grieg has not only expressed the prim-
itive, whole-hearted gayety and fantastic pranks of the
festival, but has introduced several realistic suggestions
to heighten the illusion and maintain the artistic
verities of the tone picture, as, for example, the sound
of drum and fife recurrent and unmistakable, and the
148 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
peculiar droning bass and whining melody characteristic
of the bagpipe, that most distinctly rustic instrument.
By the way, it is a mistake to identify the bagpipe
exclusively with the Scottish clans and their music.
True, the Scots used the bagpipe in war and peace as
their favorite, and almost their only instrument of
camp and field, as the harp was that of the ladies'
bower, but the "ancient and honorable" bagpipe, in
some of its many modifications and under different
names, was familiarly used by all the Teutonic races,
including the Scandinavians, and, to some extent, by
the Latins, especially in southern Italy and islands of
the Mediterranean. Hence the monotonous drone of
the bagpipe, simulated in constantly reiterated fifths
in the bass, as an accompaniment for country dances of
all lands, is common and legitimate.
The central idea of this wedding day music is the
march of the assembled guests to the place of meeting,
where a plentiful rustic feast is spread under the trees
and where the games are to take place, the music
growing louder and more spirited and impetuous as
they approach their destination, ending in an excited
burst of rollicking hilarity as some of the more lusty
youths break rank and join in a mad race for the goal.
Before this final clamorous outburst, however, there
is a curious little interlude, a quaint bit of rather stilted
lyric in "canon" form, where the voices follow and
answer each other as if in a dialogue. It is a brief touch
of sentiment, old-fashioned in its expression, but
genuine. A hint of a stolen exchange of warmer looks
and words between the bride and groom, — a moment in
which they forget the festive scene and noisy company,
Miscellaneous Modern Compositions. 149
engrossed with their own old yet eternally new love
story.
Doumka, by Tschaikowsky.
As a piano composer Tschaikowsky is, comparatively
speaking, "an unknown quantity" to the majority of
American music teachers, partly because of the weirdly
fantastic, ultra Russian character of his pianoforte
works, which are not very numerous, partly because, ac-
cording to his own admission, they are not strictly what
the Germans call "clavier-massig," that is, adapted
to the piano. Yet there are some among them, which,
in spite of this strong foreign flavor and his naive dis-
regard of pianistic limitations, are strikingly interesting
and in the modern frantic scramble for novelties it is a
wonder that they are so largely neglected. To this
class belongs "Doumka," a thought. It is descriptive
only in the strictly symbolic sense, expressing grave, in
fact, deeply gloomy reflection and the profound, in-
tensely melancholy emotions arising from it.
It is a thought, or rather a series of thoughts, con-
cerned with that most serious and solemn, as well as
most painful of all subjects with which the human mind
can grapple, the ultimate finality, death. In addition
to the vast significance, the vague terrors, the awesome
majesty of the subject in the abstract, it introduces,
and dwells upon, the more specific idea and more
personal mood of a rustic funeral scene, in all its sorrow-
ful details.
The principal theme, slow, impressive, intense,
mournful, in its constant monotonous reiteration, rep-
150 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
resents the death song, or chant, of the mourners, gen-
erally in use among all races from the early Greeks —
and probably long prior to their time — up to a com-
paratively recent epoch, and still in vogue in the rural
districts of Russia, a sort of dirge sung sometimes by
the friends of the deceased, sometimes by professional
mourners, specially trained for that purpose, but always
expressing the mood of the time and the occasion,
now tearfully plaintive, now passionately despairing,
but suggesting always by its persistent iteration the
endless hopelessness of the dread event.
The steady, solemn march of the procession is indi-
cated throughout the composition, symbolically sig-
nificant of the relentless tread of that inexorable fate
which plays so important a part in the beliefs and con-
ceptions of the Sclaves. The work closes with a
sudden, startling crash of heavy harmonies like the
clanging to of the door of a tomb — harsh, metallic, as
it shuts forever upon hope and effort, joy and love.
The scene is autumn, cold and brown and bare, with
no hint of promise, no touch of color anywhere. The
mood is the blackest that can be expressed in music, a
mighty tragedy in tone.
Troika en Traineaux, by .
Tschaikowsky.
This, odd, jolly, half-facetious bit of descriptive
writing for the pianoforte shows us the composer in a
light, playful mood very unusual with him, and it
forms the strongest possible contrast to the work just
described.
Miscellaneous Modern Compositions. 151
The troika is a Russian vehicle used in the rural
districts. It has two wheels, a rude open body and
no springs. It is usually harnessed with three horses
abreast, the middle one wearing a string of bells similar
to our sleigh bells. They are generally driven at a
furious gallop over the interminable stretches of rough
country road, with much shouting and cracking of the
cruel whip, the drivers sparing neither themselves nor
their teams, the bells marking their pace with wild
clangor and clash.
In winter the wheels are removed from the troika
and the body is fastened upon a sort of sledge, making
a kind of sleigh or traineau. Hence the title "Troika
en Traineaux," meaning in its winter guise.
In this music the melody simulates a Russian folk-
song, simple, catching, rollicking; supposed to be sung
by the Russian peasant driver, much in the mood of
Schumann's Happy Farmer, while the horses swing
along at a lively pace and the cumbersome troika, on
its rude runners, rocks and bumps and slues down the
icy, rutty road, the driver evidently in haste to reach
the place of some rustic merry making and jovially
hilarious in anticipation of the frolic to come.
In the latter part the sound of the merry bells is
distinctly imitated. The whole thing is a musical jest,
full of the rough, simple jollity of the Russian peasant
on one of his rare holidays, and remarkable, in all its
simplicity, for its strong local flavor.
152 Stones of Standard Teaching Pieces.
Cracovienne, by Paderewski.
This is a sparkling, spirited and eminently charac-
teristic composition, of moderate difficulty and great
musical charm ; one of the best of Paderewski's smaller
works, indeed, fully equal in merit to his famous Men-
uet though not nearly so well known.
The Cracovienne, or Krakoviak as it is interchange-
ably called, was originally a rude, wildly impetuous,
rustic dance among the peasants of Cracow, formerly a
large and important province of Poland of which Cracow
was the capital, also at one time the capital of all
Poland.
In the good old primitive days, when men had less,
knew less and enjoyed more than at present, when
the ruddy rollicking autumn in russet coat and scarlet
wreath came stalking jovially down from the north
over the plains of central Europe, bringing to the lusty
peasant rest and good cheer after the summer's work
in the fields, and leisure for all sorts of merry-making;
when the grain had been harvested and stored, and the
dull thunder of the flails was stilled, then came the time
for the great autumn festival, similar to the "harvest-
home" of old England and the still earlier " Herbst-
fest" of the Teutons.
Some barn of amplest proportions was selected as the
rendezvous, the great threshing-floor was cleared and
swept, the rude walls festooned with garlands of bright
leaves, and the peasants from far and near assembled
for the festive celebration, the chief feature of which was
the dancing of the Cracovienne. This function com-
Miscellaneous Modern Compositions. 153
bined with all the exciting fascination of the usual
rough country dance, a peculiar, purely local element
all its own, "The strife of torches." Around the walls
(commonly of unhewn stone and plaster) were fastened
at regular intervals, several feet from the floor, a large
number of flaming torches. In the course of the dance
each couple took its turn in passing around the entire
hall next the wall immediately beneath this row of
lights. The man who could extinguish, with his foot,
the greatest number of torches (a single high kick
being allowed for each), without missing his step in the
dance, disconcerting his partner, or losing his balance
and sprawling on the floor, was the champion of the
evening, and was awarded as a prize a dance and a kiss
by any girl he might choose as the prettiest in the
assembly.
Naturally, the frantic attempts of the various swains
to excel each other, in this rather strenuous feat, and
their frequent failures and ludicrous mishaps, were
provocative of the greatest excitement and the most
noisy hilarity, and it is highly probable that in the
darkness following the fall of the last torch, many a
kiss was taken not strictly in accordance with the rules
of the game.
The Cracovienne, like most ancient dances, has fur-
nished the vital germ for a modern musical art form,
elaborated and idealized, but conforming in general
character to the original mood and movement, includ-
ing the most essential features, as in this instance, for
example, the sudden comical effect of the high kick to
be found in every good Cracovienne.
The work by Paderewski referred to is a fine speci-
154 Stones of Standard Teaching Pieces.
men of its class, a thought too much idealized, per-
haps a fraction too dainty and refined; for the rough
peasant appears here to have donned an evening suit,
with clean collar and cuffs. The atmosphere is rather
that of the perfumed, modern ball-room than the dust
and chaff-laden air of the old granary; but the verve
and zest and humor are all retained in large measure.
The music is piquant, brilliant and playful, full of odd
rhythmic devices and fascinating melodies, and the
droll suggestions of the high kicking are frequent and
unmistakable.
Baba Yaga, Capriccioso by
LeRoy B. Campbell
This original and wildly fantastic composition in A
minor, by L. B. Campbell (one of our rising American
writers) will be found to be an interesting and welcome
novelty, either as a concert number or for use with
advanced pupils. It is founded upon an old weird
Russian legend, and Mr. Campbell's recent sojourn in
Russia and his familiarity with its legendary lore, as
well as with the modern style and peculiar atmosphere
of Russian music, eminently fit him to give appropriate
expression to the subject in tone.
Baba Yaga was the oldest, wildest and wickedest, as
well as the most potent of all the Russian witchwives,
the leader of the band. She dwelt alone, in a rude hut
on the shore of a black, storm-swept lake, in the depths
of a sombre ghoul-haunted forest.
Here, amid the drifting acrid smoke of the fire, and
the noxious vapors from the great witch-cauldron, she
Miscellaneous Modern Compositions. 155
brewed her deadly poisons, muttered her gruesome
incantations and danced her frantic spell-working
dances; and here any who sought her aid in working
secret mischief to a foe, must brave the terrors of the
woods at dead of night and seek her.
The music is intended to represent the wild sinister
mood of the scene, the frenzied delirium of the dance,
and even from time to time the blood-curdling shrieks
of the dancer.
It should be given with the utmost fire and dash, with
a hard, dry quality of tone like the rattle of bones, or
wooden castanets, and with a certain rough angularity
of outline, indicating the rude, primitive character of
the scene being enacted and the personages taking part
in it
Nocturne, by J. M. Blose.
As elsewhere stated in these pages, in connection
with Schumann's Nachtstiick, the Nocturne is a night-
piece, properly embodying nocturnal scenes, moods,
and experiences, and including within its possible and
legitimate scope a wide range and variety of subjects
and emotions, but all associated with the night in its
manifold aspects.
This Nocturne by Blose, though written by an Amer-
ican, is a fine specimen of its class, clear and symmetri-
cal in form, broad and forceful in style, rich in varied
and original harmonic coloring and scholarly in thematic
development.
It is no lover's dream of a summer eve, soft and sweet
and tender, but a strong, bold sketch of an autumn
night, in all its sombre majesty; a night of gloom and
156 Stones of Standard Teaching Pieces.
sudden storm, of flying clouds and gusty rain, with
moments of hushed suspense, ominous of tragedy,
broken by bursts of tempestuous, elemental passion;
the fitting symbol and setting for a strong man's sorrow
and conflict, and desperate, but courageous wrestlings
with the powers of darkness within and without.
The mood is gloomily heroic, suggesting at times the
most dominant element in Scandinavian music.
The work is in a sense allegorical, for I know, from
personal acquaintance with the writer, that the night
portrayed was that of the spirit, during a transient
experience of grief and struggle, rather than of nature;
and the tempest one of emotion, not of the elements.
The music is doubly interesting for this dual significance.
The brief but beautiful Trio, in the tender lyric vein,
affords the requisite reposeful contrast, suggesting a
glint of moon-light through the rifted clouds, a touch
of rest and peace and brightness in the midst of darkness
and turmoil, a gleam of the white wings of hope across
the stormy sea of emotion.
Then the first subject returns and night and tempest
again dominate the scene for a time; but the gravely
quiet finale seems to give promise of a tranquil dawn.
I have ventured to include here a few of my own
descriptive compositions which have been most success-
ful in concert work and about which I have received
many inquiries. The first four are not too difficult for
sixth grade pupils, but the last one is only possible
for very advanced players.
Miscellaneous Modern Compositions. 157
Die Lorelei, by Edward Baxter Perry.
DIE LORELEI.
After the German of Heine.
1.
The air grows cool and it darkens,
And tranquilly flows the Rhine ;
And kissed by the glow of sunset
The peaks of the mountains shine.
2.
High o'er the gliding river,
A maiden, wondrous fair,
Sits in the golden twilight,
And combs her golden hair.
3.
With a golden comb she combs it,
And sings a song the while,
With a wild and witching melody,
The listener to beguile.
4.
It reaches the ear of the boatman,
On the river's breast below,
And quickens his heart to a passion
Of love and longing and woe.
5.
Erect in his fragile vessel,
He stands spellbound by its might;
He sees not the rocks and the rapids,
He gazes alone on the height.
6.
Engulfed by the angry billows,
The boatman sinks anon :
And this with her siren singing,
The Lorelei hath done.
This composition, like all other "Loreleis," is descrip-
tive, and based upon the most famous of the Rhine
legends, that of the Lorelei Siren. The fantasy was
158 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
conceived by the writer when approaching and passing
by boat the Lorelei rocks on the Rhine, a mass of bare
black boulders, rising abruptly from the water to a
height of about 150 feet, at whose base runs the most
dangerous set of rapids on the river, and on whose
summit the Lorelei Siren was supposed to perch and
sing at twilight, to the intoxication and destruction of
the boatmen below, who, spellbound by the witchery of
her voice and face, forgot to keep midway in the current,
and perished on the rocks at her feet
The composition is supposed to open at some little
distance from the Lorelei rock, with a tranquil running
accompaniment in the left hand, indicating the twilight
flow of the river, with a broken thread of melody, which
occasionally wells to the surface in a single detached
note, suggested by that line of Tennyson's "With an
inner voice the river ran/' As we draw nearer the
scene of the legend, we catch snatches of the silver
laughter of the Siren, mingled with the distant ripple of
the water, at the foot of the famous rock. Then rises
clearly the Lorelei's song, sweet and vibrant, but
neither passionate nor powerful, alluring rather than
compelling, with the running accompaniment of the
water ever present. This mood is held throughout the
first recital of the entire melody, but with a slight in-
crease of strength, a little fuller pulsation, as we are
supposed to approach. At its sudden cessation is heard
the boatman's song, a minor theme in strong contrast,
suggestive of the mood and character of the boatman
on the river below, of the "love and longing and woe"
which "quicken his heart" at sight of the siren and
sound of her song. This sinister theme, with its turbu-
Miscellaneous Modern Compositions. 159
lent accompaniment, grows in intensity and passion to a
vehement climax, which indicates the catastrophe of
the legend, the engulfing of boat and boatman at the
foot of the Lorelei rock. It is followed by a few inco-
herent phrases of no melodic form, swirls of the gurgling
water where it has opened, diminishing rapidly to
pianissimo, when the Lorelei's song again arises, this
time jubilant and strong, ringing out over the river,
above the roar of the rapids, as she gloats over her
victim, and working up to a second climax of vindictive
glee. This subsides as we are supposed to leave the
rock behind us, till we hear only broken fragments of
the melody and snatches of laughter in the distance as
before; and finally, nothing is left but the peaceful
theme in the left hand which formed the introduction
of the composition, the tranquil flow of the river, with
the "inner voice."
Aeolienne. Edw. Baxter Perry.
"But once they set
A stringed gourd on the sill, there where the wind
Could linger o'er its notes and play at will —
Wild music makes the wind on silver strings —
And those who lay around heard only that ;
But Prince Siddartha heard the Devas play,
And to his ears they sang such words as these:
"We are the voices of the wandering wind,
Which moan for rest and rest can never find;
Lo! as the wind is, so is mortal life,
A moan, a sigh, a sob, a storm, a strife.
"Wherefore and whence we are ye cannot know,
Nor where life springs nor whither life doth go;
We are as ye are, ghosts from the inane,
What pleasure have we of our changeful pain?
160 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
"What pleasure hast thou of thy changeless bliss?
Nay, if love lasted, there were joy in this ;
But life's way is the wind's way, all these things
Are but brief voices breathed on shifting strings."
— From Edwin Arnold's Light of Asia.
This composition was suggested by the above lines,
the sentiment of which I have attempted to express
through an imitation of Aeolian harp effects, as lit-
eral as the limitations of the pianoforte and the neces-
sities of musical construction would permit. The
player should endeavor firstly to reproduce, as real-
istically as possible, the soft, plaintive, mysterious
murmur of wind-swept strings ; and secondly, by means
of tone effects and melodic shading, to suggest to the
listener the thoughts and moods embodied in the poet's
lines.
The Portent. Edw. Baxter Perry.
This composition was suggested by George Mc-
Donald's romance of the same name, or rather by the
ancient and uncanny Scotch legend about which the
plot of his story is ingeniously woven.
As the result of a peculiarly grewsome tragedy in
the history of one of the Highland clans, whose chief,
on account of his horse's loose and broken shoe, was
hurled over the edge of a precipice while riding at full
galop, with the unconscious form of his cousin and
lady-love over his saddle bow, the descendants of this
family for many generations became the victims of a
strange and singular hallucination, taking sometimes
the form of that second sight so familiar in Scotch
folk-lore, sometimes a sort of second hearing, a phenom-
Miscellaneous Modern Compositions. 161
enal acuteness of ear, which forced them to perceive
now sights, now sounds from the spectral world, to
which all others were oblivious. One manifestation in
particular was most frequent and came to be dreaded
as the family Portent. Every important catastrophe
occurring to any member of this family was heralded
by the sound, at first distant, then swiftly approaching,
then deafening, of a fiercely galoping horse with a loose
and clanking shoe.
It is this audible Portent that I have endeavored to
embody in the following work, beginning faint and
distant, suspected rather than heard, a fear rather than
a sound, rapidly growing, however, till the rhythmic
swing of the horse's galop is distinctly audible, crossed
now and then by the sinister clank of the broken shoe.
After the first impetuous climax, a plaintive inter-
lude is intended to suggest the moment when second
sight asserts itself, in a passing spectral glimpse of a wild
horseman, a jet-black steed, and the fair pale face of the
maiden, lying across the saddle, her long dark hair
streaming in the wind. This vision vanishes and the
horse's galop is heard faster and fiercer than before,
rising rapidly to the final climax, when he passes in
immediate proximity, then as rapidly diminishing,
fading, dying into distance and silence.
Autumn Reverie. Edw. Baxter Perry.
This composition is not objectively descriptive,
but is a mood picture, aiming to embody the emotions,
half sad, half passionately rebellious, of a strong but
sensitive soul struggling with the depressing influences
ii
1 62 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
of a sullen autumnal evening, in which it traces a
sympathetic reflection of its own moods. Falling
leaves and fading flowers, the fitful moaning of the
wind and the grey cloud-canopy veiling the sky, sym-
bolize fleeting joys, false promises, vain endeavor, and
vanishing hope, the futility of effort, however courage-
ous, and the certainty of sorrow, however ill-deserved.
The following lines are the expression of the same mood
in verse:
"All my roses are dead in my garden —
What shall I do?
Winds in the night, without pity or pardon,
Came there and slew.
"All my song-birds are dead in their bushes —
Woe for such things!
Robins and linnets and blackbirds and thrushes,
Dead, with stiff wings.
" What shall I do for my roses' sweetness,
The summer round, —
For all my garden's divine completeness
Of scent and sound?
"I will leave my garden for winds to harry;
Where once was peace,
Let the bramble- vine and the wild brier marry,
And greatly increase.
" But I will go to a land men know not, —
A far, still land,
Where no birds come, and where roses blow not,
And no trees stand."
— Philip Bourke Marsion
Miscellaneous Modern Compositions. 163
Ballade of Last Island.
Edw. Baxter Perry.
In Harper's Magazine for April, 1888, appeared a re-
markably graphic sketch by Lafcadio Hearn, entitled
"Chita; or, A Memory of Last Island: The Legend of
L'Ue Derniere." It dealt with the destruction of Last
Island, formerly a fashionable watering-place in the
Gulf of Mexico, thronged every season with hundreds of
aristocratic guests from the Southern States. On the
loth of August, 1856, at the height of the season, the
island was totally destroyed by a sudden tempest and
tidal wave. Every vestige of human habitation was
swept into the Gulf and nearly every soul of the hun-
dreds there assembled perished.
The composition is a musical transcript, almost
page for page, of Mr. Hearn's perfect and powerful
prose poem. It opens with a quiet lyric introduction,
intended to portray the mood of the bland, ethereal
azure days preceding the storm, which the author de-
scribes as ' ' Days born in rose and buried in gold, when
winds held their breath and slow wavelets caressed the
bland brown beach with a sound as of kisses and whis-
pers, and for weeks no fleck of cloud broke the heaven's
blue dream of eternity." Then the first mighty pre-
monitory rollers come surging in from the far horizon,
to break slowly in whispered thunder upon the strand,
indicated in the composition by a few sweeping, wave-
like arpeggios. The principal theme of the work, which
follows, portrays the rising, ominous voice of the sea,
164 Stones of Standard Teaching Pieces.
which, to quote Mr. Hearn again, "Is not one voice,
but a tumult of many voices, voices of drowned men,
the muttering of the multitudinous dead, all rising to
rage against the living at the great witch-call of storms."
Steadily the gale increases, the gloom deepens, and
the surf breaks higher, till toward midnight, when the
storm has nearly reached its climax, there is a sudden
lull, and winds and waves are hushed in suspense. In
this moment of tranquillity, merry, mocking strains of
waltz music are heard drifting out upon the gloom and
terror of that tempestuous night from the ball-room of
the great summer hotel upon the island.
Just here I have introduced a waltz of a light, almost
flippant character, in contrast to the sombre themes and
harmonies which precede and follow, suggesting the
mood as well as the movement of the dancers.
The incongruous strains reach the ear of the veteran
captain of the steamer Morning Star, which, dragging
three anchors, is drifting down to her inevitable doom
amid the breakers, and he exclaims, "Dancing! God
help them! for the wind dances with the sea to-night,
and if he takes a notion to whip around south, there'll
be dancing to a different tune!" In the repetition and
development of the waltz-theme, I have endeavored to
depict the moment when the wind veers and "from the
south he comes on, with the strength of a tornado and
the sound of a cannonade, bearing the sea, a blanched
and frightened partner, in his arms, and the very land
trembles to this giant tread, as but a moment since the
polished floor of the dance hall quivered to the pressure
of circling steps."
Then the original sea-theme returns, with its sobbing,
Miscellaneous Modern Compositions. 165
surging accompaniment, the voice of the sea again, but
rising to a shout of warning, and the tempest rapidly
increases to the final climax and ultimate awful catas-
trophe, when "Shattered wrecks of buildings, mingled
with uprooted trees and struggling human victims, are
swept surging together, in a weltering chaos of destruc-
tion, out into the black waters of the Gulf." Then, like
the storm, the composition gradually subsides in sad,
falling cadences, like repentant surges sobbing them-
selves to rest on a wreck-strewn shore; and at the close
are a few subdued minor chords, a musical requiescat
for the lost.
Musicians will notice that the theme of the Coda is
identical with that of the introduction, only given in
extension and in the minor key, to suggest that it is the
same scene, the same sea and sky, but altered almost
beyond recognition by the passing of the shadow o/
Death.
Teaching Pieces for Second
and Third Grades.
|CARCELY a week passes that I do not
receive requests for a list of pieces in
these earlier grades that are at once
meritorious and pleasing, well made and
practically usable. My personal ex-
perience with music of this grade is
very limited, but I will mention a few
such compositions which have come to my notice and
which I know to be available and useful of their kind.
Some of them may be new to the reader.
First let me say that in the study of the piano, as
in other lines, every stage has its mental as well as its
technical limitations, which the good teacher must
recognize.
It is as unwise to insist on an exclusive diet of the
classics for the young, undeveloped pupil, as to feed a
baby on roast-beef and mince-pie ; or to force a child
in the primary school to read only Browning and Bmer
son. The effect is as certain to be detrimental.
Bohm, Spindler, and even Lange are better musical
nourishment for the child than Schumann or Bach;
for the taste as well as technic must grow gradually
166
Second and Third Grade Pieces. 167
and nutrition must be adapted to the digestive capacity
of the recipient.
There are many small compositions, good, yet at-
tractive to the young student, and well suited to meet
the need in question. Among American writers who
have supplied much valuable material of this class
none ranks higher than my old friend, the lamented
Fred L,. Morey, formerly of Chicago.
His works will prove a treasure-trove to those not
familiar with them.
They are melodious, easily grasped, and free from
technical complexities.
Gavotte Imperial in A minor,
by Morey.
Here is a fine study in octave and chord work, in-
valuable to the student in the first stage of develop-
ment in that line. Musically it is strong, stirring, and
martial in character, with a fine melodious Trio, and
is an excellent specimen of that form of dance music.
For full description of the Gavotte see the "Story of
the Gavotte" in this volume.
Among the same set of six pieces, is a fine Cradle-
song in G.
Song of the Kankakee, by Morey.
This is a useful and attractive study in rippling
arpeggio figures, with a sustained tuneful melody in
the middle register. It is well made, both musically
and technically, is interesting and practicable for the
1 68 Stones of Standard Teaching Pieces.
pupil, and, as it is but little known, will prove a welcome
novelty to teachers who are looking for good yet pleas-
ing third-grade pieces.
It is a musical memory of Mr. Morey's boyhood,
many of its happiest hours having been spent on the
TT How-fringed banks of the tranquil Kankakee, watch-
ng the changing lights and shadows on the surface of
he dimpling water, listening to the low, slumberous
murmur of the languid stream as it wound its slow
way through the fertile plains of Illinois, while he lay
m the shadow, among the whispering willows and alders,
and dreamed a boy's dreams of the days to come,
when he should be a great composer and write mighty
symphonies for the world's orchestras to perform,
while listening thousands rejoiced and applauded —
dreams which, like most of those of youth, were des-
tined to remain unfulfilled.
Poor Morey! He died, like Spindler and Heller and
Schubert and Mozart, and a score of other greater men
than he, in obscurity and poverty; but a few of us
remember him loyally as the best of friends, a prince of
good fellows, and a musician gifted far beyond the lot
of most.
Hieland Laddie, by Fred L. Morey.
The idea here embodied is of a peculiarly playful,
quizzical character, yet not without tenderness and
poetry; of genuine Scottish tone, reproduced with ad-
mirable fidelity in the music. It was at first suggested
by a charmingly characteristic engraving.
A comely old lady, in the picturesque garb of the
Second and Third Grade Pieces. 169
Scotch peasant, sits just within the open doorway of a
simple cottage; her neglected knitting and idle hands lie
in her lap. Her head droops, and her eyes are closed.
She is evidently napping. Prominent on the opposite
wall, just facing her, hangs the portrait of a handsome
youth, in the jaunty cap and gay plaid of the High-
lander, his face and figure eloquent with health and
strength and buoyant animation. From a certain
resemblance in the woman's face, and the look of affec-
tionate pride which it wears, it is evident that the
picture is that of her own absent bonny boy, the sub-
ject of her last waking thoughts and present dreams.
Entering the door from without, approaching swiftly
but softly, so as not too soon to disturb her slumbers,
comes the Highland Laddie himself, the living original
of the picture, his eyes dancing with mischievous glee,
as he steals forward, enjoying in advance her start and
glad surprise when she wakes to find him whom she
thought so distant close beside her.
The music is at once pleasing and graphic. The
first strain should be played softly and gracefully, sug-
gesting the dreams of the waiting mother; the second
with more energy and decided contrasts, as if telling
of her sudden awakening and startled surprise. Then
the first strain repeats, stronger and more animated
than before, and we may fancy her gaily recounting
her dream to the returned wanderer. The third strain
gives, in a mellow baritone melody, his answering
voice; then one more subdued repetition of the first
strain closes the composition, as with tranquil reflection
on the remembered pleasure.
The peculiar Scotch inflection of the melody must
170 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
be brought out distinctly. Those familiar with Robin
Adair, Kelvin Green, and similar Scotch songs, will at
once recognize the slurred sixteenths on the first and
fourth beats of many of the measures as characteristic
of all Scotch music. These should be played precisely
as the words "Highland I,addie" are pronounced, with
a marked accent on the first syllable, gliding to the
second, which is much lighter and detached from what
follows. On this account the piece will be found an
excellent study in rhythm.
Around the Maypole, Rustic Dance,
by Fred L. Morey.
Among the most joyous and poetic of old English
festivals was the annual celebration of May-day.
The fairest maiden in the village was selected by her
companions as Queen of the revels, crowned with May-
flowers, and invested for the day with supreme author-
ity. (See Tennyson's "May Queen.") Under her
mild and mirthful sway, the young people abandoned
themselves to every kind of innocent and jovial merry-
making, till at evening, as culmination of the frolic,
the flower-wreathed Maypole was erected in the centre
of the village green, and around it all joined in the rustic
dance, circling hand in hand, to the rollicking measures
of pipe and fiddle. This composition is intended, as its
name implies, to suggest such a scene, and express its
merry mood. The melody and harmonies are pur-
posely kept simple and unpretentious to fit the primi-
tive, rural character of the festival ; while the third, or
Trio, strain, has a certain arch, capricious element,
Second and Third Grade Pieces. 171
hinting of the playful coquetries of some village belle,
or perhaps the May Queen herself.
The piece should be played at moderate tempo, with
a bright, cheerful tone, crisp, distinct rhythm, and
animated swing, as if to mark the time for the flying
feet of the dancers around the Maypole.
Jumping Rope. Edw. Baxter Perry.
With a hop and a skip
Without stumble or trip
My jump-rope I swing
Keeping time while I sing,
The morning is bright
And my heart is so light
For school doesn't keep
'Tis the first day of Spring.
This composition belongs to the class known as the
graceful or playful lyric.
The mood expressed throughout is the exuberant
light-hearted gaiety of the schoolgirl, out for a holiday
in the breezy, exhilarating spring weather. It should
be given with a rhythmic swing indicating the move-
ment implied by the name, and with all the capricious
abandon which the player can feel, remember, or imag-
ine, in connection with the springtime and the days
of youth, abounding health, and high spirits.
The Mermaid's Song, by Edward
B. Perry.
The mermaid sits by the summer sea,
At the evening hour and sings and calls,
The heart of the youth must break, Ah me!
For it owns her power as the twilight falls.
172 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
The sea song blends with her tender sighs
As she lingers there while the west grows cold;
With the blue of the sea in her melting eyes
And a gleam in her hair like the sunset's gold.
The youth well knows he must say good night
To the world above and with her must go
With rapturous dread, and fearsome delight,
To a life of love in the depths below.
Let the melody in the right hand suggest the plaintive
but sweetly seductive voice of the Mermaid, while the
left-hand accompaniment rises and falls in gentle un-
dulations, rippling and flowing like tranquil waves.
Undine, by Ferdinand Dewey.
This is named for that mythical water fairy of ancient
legend who was the personification of all the delicate
witchery of silver lake and stream, all the fleeting
grace of those vague floating forms compounded of
mist and moonlight, to which the primitive imagination
of men attributed supernatural life, and all the wistful
sadness of murmuring waves. She is said to have re-
ceived or developed a human soul as the result of
falling in love with a mortal, and when disappointed
and cast off by her earthly lover, to have returned, with-
out resentment or revenge, to endless sorrow and loneli-
ness beneath the water. The gentle, touching sadness
of the much-forgiving Undine breathes in the music
of this simple little nocturne. The melody may be
supposed to typify her plaintive yet winsome voice,
while the flowing triplet accompaniment suggests the
soft ripple of her native element. The composition
will be found invaluable to teachers as an almost un-
Second and Third Grade Pieces. 173
equaled study in tone-production. It is hardly more
than third grade in technical difficulty, so within the
reach of the majority of pupils; yet musically it is
sufficiently interesting to be used with far more ad-
vanced students who may need or enjoy something in
the pure lyric vein. The melody is simplicity itself,
yet warmly poetic and so clearly divided into short,
easily grasped periods that it may be said to phrase
itself. There are no tricky cadences to distract the
attention of the player from the songful quality, and
the left-hand accompaniment is unaffected and natural,
affording no excuse for even momentary withdrawal
of the mind from the quality and shading of the melodic
phrases.
Danse Ecossaise, by Baker.
This is an attractive, melodious, though light and
playful little work, of about third grade difficulty,
popular with pupils, well put together, and a good
rhythmic study, for it has the genuine characteristic
Scotch lilt in its theme, namely, the short, unaccented
note passing at once to a longer, sharply accented one,
which is the distinguishing peculiarity, or the most
noticeable one, in all Scotch melodies.
The harmonies are varied and pleasing, without
being too complex for the average pupil, and it con-
tains no dry sections and no tricky embellishments or
cadenzas beyond the grade of the piece. As a whole,
the mood is that of the joyous, frolicsome highland
dance.
Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
The Music Box, by Liebich.
The teacher will find in this musically rather trivial,
but very realistic little composition, a valuable bit of
most beneficial technical study, disguised under a
sugar coating of surface prettiness and real graphic
imitation, which will reach the interest and stimulate
the work of certain pupils whom otherwise it may be
hard to rouse.
It is a very excellent imitation of the sound of the
old-fashioned music-box, and a piece of pronounced
realism which they can fully understand, and the in-
tended effects of which they can themselves clearly
produce. This will often arouse the imagination and
latent artistic perception of a young pupil who is wholly
impervious to a deeper mood or thought-
It is the wedge that opens the way for better things ;
moreover, the child is getting a good £tude for finger
development without knowing it, which, as every
teacher knows, is in some cases an important step in the
right direction.
Titania, by Wely.
This little composition by the once great pianist is
familiar to every teacher and well-nigh every pupil
above the third-grade.
It has served as a sort of modest mile-stone on the
path of pianistic progress for two generations, and still
has its utilitarian value for students and its hosts of
friends. It possesses some of the general qualities of
Second and Third Grade Pieces. 175
the number by Liebich referred to ; it is a good chromatic
e"tude, well constructed and practically useful for
technical purposes, but skilfully disguised and sugar-
coated by means of a romantic name, and attractive
melodic and descriptive characteristics. The ear of
even the most superficial pupil is pleased, and his im-
agination awakened, while he is being adroitly stimu-
lated to do willingly some otherwise distasteful work
in the development of the much-needed finger facility
so essential to the pianist.
We may fancy the scene suggested by the music as a
secluded glade in the heart of the forest, half illuminated
by the silvery moonlight, but encircled by the shadowy
mystery of the woodland.
The introduction presents to us the capricious, mis-
chievous, but daintily charming Titania, queen of the
fairies. This should be played with extreme lightness
and a playful coquettish freedom, to indicate her
personality.
Then follows her graceful circling dance, as she
weaves her spells and traces her mystic rings about the
ancient oak in the centre of the glade, the silent witness
of so many fairy revels in the past. This bright, airy
dance movement should be given with the utmost
speed compatible with accuracy; and with a clear, crisp,
but always delicate touch.
The trio in B flat introduces a different mood and
personage. His Fairy Majesty, king Oberon, emerges
from the shadows in mock dignity, and half real, half-
pretended displeasure, checks the dance by an im-
perious gesture, and proceeds to lecture his wayward
wife for amusing herself so well in his absence. He
176 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
scolds for a while, and then is mollified and won by her
charms, and finally joins in the dance, which ends in a
frolicsome burst of hilarity.
The marked contrast of this more grave and de-
clamatory middle movement must be distinctly em-
phasized by means of a fuller tone, slower tempo, and
more emphatic delivery.
The work is a simple but attractive picture in tone,
devoid of any great depth or strength, but not without
merit of its kind, and as a study possesses considerable
technical value.
Heinrich Hofmann,
Aus Schoner Zeit.
This is another short and very beautiful lyric, of
perhaps fourth-grade difficulty, in a sadly pensive
mood. The name means literally, "Out of a beautiful
time," but the idea for which it stands would be more
aptly expressed in English by the words, "Sweet
Memories." A German couplet stands as motto at the
head of the music, suggesting its character and origin,
which might be freely translated as follows: "By the
door unheeded a zither swings, and the night wind sighs
through its trembling strings."
The dream-picture called up both by the words and
by the music may be something like this: A modest
peasant's cottage in the forest of Tyrol; the home of
childhood revisited in after years. Silence and loneli-
ness reign in the familiar scene, where memories of
departed loved ones wander like phantoms. By the
open door hangs an old forgotten zither, its gay music
Second and Third Grade Pieces. 177
now stilled like the voices of the dear old home life of
the bygone years, but stirring dreamily in its sleep at
the caress of the night wind and recalling to the listener
who shall say what vague, far-away fancies and longings.
The strings murmur faintly, indistinctly, in sweet,
shifting harmonies, through which a plaintive strain of
melody is heard, like the echo of a beloved voice sound-
ing through the halls of memory.
The whole effect should be subdued to the most
delicate of half-tones, and the accompaniment par-
ticularly must be a mere sigh of harmony. There is
one rather unusual and tricky cadenza, but with care-
fully selected fingering it is by no means impracticable
even for moderately advanced players.
The Will O' the Wisp.
This name (which is synonymous with the French
feu follet and the German Irrlichter) is applied to those
wandering, elusive, phosphorescent lights which appear
by night in marshy meadows and damp forest glades,
and which have been, in all lands and ages, the source
of much wonder and curiosity and the origin of many
superstitious fears. In Scotland they were formerly
called death lights, and their number, at any given time
or place, was supposed to indicate the number of
funeral candles that would be lighted in that community
during that year.
The Germans have a pretty legend that they are the
souls of candles prematurely extinguished, which fly
to these lonely places to live out the remainder of their
brief earthly existences, cut short by the cruelty or
178 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
carelessness of man; and that, in these fleeting hours
of weird nocturnal revelry, they dance and sport to-
gether and amuse themselves by narrating to each
other the scenes of human joy or sorrow which they il-
luminated during their short earthly lives.
This idea has been used by a number of composers
as the subject of pianoforte compositions, the attempt
being first to produce the realistic imitation in music
of the dancing, flickering, mysteriously appearing and
swiftly vanishing witch-lights against the dark back-
ground of the night; and second, in some cases, to
suggest, in addition, the stories told by these spirit
candles of the scenes they have witnessed, the ball-
room gaiety or bridal happiness or burial rites upon
which they have shone.
The subject is rich in varied possibilities which have,
as yet, by no means been exhausted, though there are a
number of compositions based upon it.
Probably the most difficult work of its length in
existence is the Irrlichter by Liszt, one of his trans-
cendental studies. A bright and pleasing, as well as
useful, little piece for second-grade pupils, is the Will
O' the Wisp by Jungman; a good, though simple em-
bodiment of the idea, and a fine study in light, crisp,
staccato playing.
The one by Jensen is somewhat more difficult, as
well as more subtle musically. Both will be found of
practical value to the student.
Inflection in Music.
NCIDENTALLY I wish here to call the
attention of teachers with very young
pupils to the set of easy and pleasing
little pieces by Leibitz,
It will be found to be of value, not
only in interesting the children, but
in accustoming them to play simple
melodies with some degree of intelligent expression
and declamatory style. The melodies are literally
fitted with words, which may be sung by the child
if desired, and which serve not only to give a general
idea of the character of the music and the way it
should be played, but also to indicate where the heavy
and light accents should properly fall. The child,
when playing, thinks of the words and tries to make
the notes say them; thus unconsciously getting the
first elementary conception of inflection in melody
playing; a most important, but often neglected ele-
ment, popularly spoken of as "the ability to make
music talk," that is, to put some individual life and
significance into it beyond what it is possible to indi-
cate by the ordinary marks of expression.
No two consecutive notes of a melody should ever
179
180 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
be played exactly alike; for the measures, precisely
like the lines in poetry, are subdivided into metrical
feet, dactyls, trochees, &c., certain notes having more
importance and demanding more stress or accent
than others, like different words in a sentence or syl-
lables in a word. This dynamic differentiation, prop-
erly observed, in a single simple phrase of music, makes
all the distinction between mere machine playing and
artistic delivery.
The little pieces referred to emphasize this point and
render it clear to the child mind. They are a much-
needed step in the right direction.
I would also mention as most useful in first grade
work the set of pieces by J. M. Blose, Op. 15, which
many teachers are finding invaluable.
Many more excellent things by American writers,
for first and second grades, might be mentioned. I
have no wish to discriminate, but lack of time and space,
as well as of experience in this grade of work, prohibit
my giving much attention to it in this volume.
Dance Forms
The Story of the Waltz.
|VBRY form of musical composition, and
there are many such, which is primarily
intended to accompany or suggest a cer-
tain definite physical action and move-
ment, is logically developed from, and
naturally grows out of, that movement
itself.
The human body, with its infinitely varied possi-
bilities of expression by means of attitudes, gestures,
and movements, may be said to have been the first
artistic instrument, and was used to convey ideas, emo-
tions, and impressions through a universal and highly
developed sign-language, long before speech was in-
vented, and ages before modern fine arts were even
dreamed of by the most visionary of prophets.
Men marched bravely and proudly to battle, ex-
pressing courage and defiance in every line and motion
of their war-inspired figures; or slowly and dejectedly
behind the bier of king or hero, expressing sorrow in
every reluctant step and drooping pose, ages before the
first band or even drum-corps headed the column.
Men danced the war dance, the love dance, the hunt-
ing and harvest and snake dances, and even the dance
of religious frenzy, long before the first progressive
184 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
savage devised the rhythm-marking "tom-tom" to ani-
mate the dancers and heighten the effect.
The dance was first of all the arts, for it is an art,
when properly considered. It was the primitive but
accurate expression of life-experiences through motion.
Dance music consisted originally of merely a marked
rhythm, beaten out on some instrument of percussion,
some kind of drum, probably in the first instance a hol-
low log pounded with a club, this rhythm growing out
of, and demanded by the dance itself, and intended to
guide, control, and stimulate the dancers.
Little by little vocal cries were added, in time with
the dance and expressing its mood, the cry of pain, or
pleasure, or desire; the shout of triumph or defiance;
the wail of death-agony; the whoop of delirious frenzy.
These were gradually developed, refined, and combined
into increasingly expressive and beautiful melodic
phrases, till the song evolved from the dance.
The element of harmony was slowly added, and music
as an independent art was born with a body of beauty
and an immortal soul of emotional expression.
Every good dance form, however, even if not in-
tended to accompany an actual dance, and no matter
how much it may be idealized, amplified, and elaborated,
must remain true in the main to its physical heredity
and antecedents; that is, it must be based upon the
rhythm and tempo, and express the general funda-
mental mood of the dance from which it springs;
though it may, and in modern times always does, add
many collateral and supplementary suggestions arising
out of, or conceivably incident to, the original dance.
The waltz is the love-dance of modern life, expressing
The Story of the Waltz. 185
the romance, the poetry, the subtile glamour and
fascination, of sex attraction, in its refined, idealistic,
but irresistible potency.
In spite of much controversy there can be little
doubt that it originated in Germany, as the name
waltz, derived from the German word walzen (to turn
or whirl), clearly indicates.
It was introduced into the social life of Vienna in
1780, and despite fierce opposition and abuse from cer-
tain quarters, soon gained a sure and permanent foot-
hold in popular favor and spread its dominion through-
out Europe, wellnigh supplanting most other dances,
probably because of the universality and strength of
the element which it embodies.
The most distinctive characteristic of the waltz, as a
dance, is the complete isolation of the couples; and
this is as it should be, symbolizing its significance.
In other dances, especially the older forms, the fig-
ures are executed by several couples, more or less col-
lectively and interdependently. Partners are temporar-
ily shifted; at times the evolutions are more complex
and the social element more in evidence. In the waltz,
each couple revolves in its own independent orbit, en-
veloped in its peculiar, exclusive atmosphere of swift,
graceful motion, sensuous music, intimate mutual ab-
sorption, as much alone for the moment, in the midst
of the whirling crowd, as if on a desert island. This
is characteristic of the mood it is intended to express,
and forms the most important element of fascination
in this dance.
But in connection with this original, simple, concrete
idea of the love-dance, many other subsidiary emotions
1 86 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
and suggestions naturally arise, associated with it and
incident to it, as, for example, the ardent wooing of the
man, the gentle tenderness or the witching coquetry or
playful mockery of the woman, the bitterness of misun-
derstanding, rebuff, and disappointment, the ecstasy of
reunion after long parting, the fear and pain of im-
pending separation, the anguish of a stolen farewell,
the sudden, startling call "to arms," in the midst of the
gaiety, the fateful, tragic message or ominous secret,
imparted under cover of the jest and laughter of the
ball-room. These and many more, of almost infinite
variety, are possible accessory elements, which may in-
terweave themselves with the simple pattern of the
waltz as primarily conceived.
Waltz music, originally intended as an accompani-
ment and rhythmic guide to the dance, and concerned
merely with the expression of the one simple idea, has
gradually evolved and expanded so as to include and
utilize all these secondary and incidental suggestions,
till to-day the best waltzes are no longer strictly dance
music, but complete, elaborate art works, tone pictures
of ball-room scenes and moods, with the waltz move-
ment and emotional motive as their principal theme,
of course, but with all the intricate complexities of
human life and passions vividly portrayed.
Among the light Viennese school of writers, catering
to the rather trifling and frivolous taste of that second
Paris, the crown as "waltz-king" was appropriated by
the elder Strauss, and seemed likely to become hered-
itary in that family; and for actual dance purposes their
waltzes remain to-day unequalled, strikingly rhythmic
and enspiriting, embodying fully the sprightly grace,
The Story of the Waltz. 187
the languorous, half-artificial tenderness, the exag-
gerated, flirtatious spirit of the primitive waltz, at its
first victorious entrance into the social centers of
Europe.
The Strauss waltzes will always remain representative
types of their class, but as genuine music they are of
very "light weight" and have only very ephemeral
value.
Even before their supremacy, Schubert and von
Weber had raised the waltz into the realm of real mu-
sic, developing and expanding its form, introducing into
it the suggestive, descriptive, more profoundly emo-
tional elements which gave to it a place among the dis-
tinct and recognized musical art forms.
Among their productions in this form Weber's "Invi-
tation to the Dance" stands as the most remarkable,
world-famous, and epoch-making example.
Then came Chopin, with his series of inimitable
piano-forte waltzes, which will always remain standard
classic types of this form, embodying, as they do, not
only the fundamental idea of the waltz, in all its se-
ductive grace and subtle tenderness and witchery, but
also almost every possible shade and variety of mood,
which might conceivably be experienced by the indi-
vidual dancers under diverse conditions; from the
heart-breaking sadness in the 'cello theme, forming the
opening and principal subject in the little waltz in A
minor, to the sparkling gaiety and frolicsome abandon
of the joy-intoxicated debutante in the concert waltz
Most of the pieces described in this chapter will be found in
Descriptive Analyses of Piano Works, by Edw. Baxter
Perry. — ED.
1 88 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
in B flat major; from the manifold realistic as well as
emotional suggestions in the waltz in A flat, founded
upon Byron's "Battle of Waterloo," to the simple, naive
delight in rhythmic motion and innocent coquetry ex-
pressed in the little waltzes in G flat and D flat major,
and the subtler, more exotic fascination of those in C
sharp minor and B minor.
These waltzes will always be found invaluable
studies for pupils of all grades above the second, for
they include almost every variety of style and degree of
difficulty, and are the best introduction to what has
been aptly called "the true Chopinism of Chopin."
Schulhoff, Wieniawski, Rubinstein, Godard, and a
host of others have contributed liberally and ably to
this most popular form of idealized dance music, till it
now offers to the pianist the richest, most varied selec-
tion of material for parlor or concert use of any of the
dance forms, with the possible exception of the Polon-
aise. Its development may be said to have culmin-
ated with Moszkowski, whose four masterly waltzes
for the piano, all concert numbers of some magnitude,
fairly surpass all previous productions in ornate com-
plexity of construction, in technical brilliancy, in
wealth of musical and emotional content, and variety of
fanciful suggestions. It is difficult to imagine their
being excelled by any subsequent writer.
Just one word more concerning the subject matter
of the waltz and its symbolic significance.
I repeat that it is openly and avowedly the love
dance of modern civilization, based upon and expressing
the mystery and magic of sex attraction.
Certain people are inclined to sneer at this emotion
The Story of the Waltz. 189
and its use as an art subject. Yet the fact remains that
love, with its corollary emotions, is and must remain
the oldest, most universal and most potent factor in
human existence, the motive power in most important
human actions, the determining element in most human
experiences. This fundamental truth has been recog-
nized by all great authors from Shakespeare and Victor
Hugo down. Our musical critics may scoff if they
choose, as indeed they sometimes do, at the idea that
Chopin founded so colossal and dignified a work as
his Sonata Op. 35, on what they are pleased to call* 'so
trivial a subject as a love story." But a theme of such
vital and universal interest to the race, which has been
deemed worthy to serve as the motive in nearly all the
great dramas and works of fiction since literature began,
may surely be legitimately utilized by the musician,
and nowhere does it find more facile or diversified
expression.
The Story of the March.
|HE march is probably the oldest and cer-
tainly the most universally employed of
all the forms of secular music. The name
march is derived from the French word
marcher, to step.
The distinctive rhythm of the march
had its origin in the steady, authorita-
tive beat of drums, cymbals, or tomtoms, accompany-
ing and regulating the tread of moving bodies of foot
soldiers, formerly spearmen and archers, later our
modern infantry.
In process of time, to these instruments of percussion
were added the trumpet, the fife, and in some instances
the bagpipe, as in Scotland, supplementing the element
of rhythm with that of melody of a stirring, inspiring
character.
Then, little by little, as the desire for harmony de-
veloped, other instruments of deeper, more sonor-
ous tone were introduced, like the horn and trom-
bone, till the modern military band, composed of five
varieties of brass instruments and four of wood-wind,
came into being, in which, however, the drums still
play an important part.
The practical use and importance of martial music,
190
The Story of the March. 191
especially the march, in all military manoeuvres and
on the field of battle, have been fully recognized by
all army experts in all ages. Its purpose is two-fold:
Firstj to stimulate courage, ardor, and enthusiasm
in the troops.
Second, to secure and facilitate concerted action,
a regular, orderly, simultaneous movement of large
bodies of men, by keeping them in step with a uniform,
commanding rhythm, which spurs the laggard, checks
the impatient, controls the rate of advance, and insures
precision and mathematical certainty in the execution
of army manoeuvres. For this reason, a good band is as
essential a part of a well-equipped regiment as its arms
or ammunition-wagon.
There are three distinct types of the march in gen-
eral use, among practically all nations, employed for
different purposes and occasions, each having its own
special characteristics and tempo.
First and most common, the ordinary parade march,
leisurely, dignified, yet stirring, adapted to a rate of
march of seventy-five steps a minute.
Second, the forced march or quickstep, more in-
spiring and exciting, with a tempo allowing for one
hundred and eight steps to the minute.
Lastly, the storming march, the French pas de
charge, with a hundred and twenty steps to the
minute.
All these are distinctively military marches, actu-
ally or hypothetically used in connection with the
various movements of troops.
In addition to them, there are the funeral march,
slow, impressive, and mournful, and the wedding
192 Stones of Standard Teaching Pieces.
march, brilliant, joyous, and hopeful, with occasional
touches of tender sentiment.
This wide diversity of mood and movement, pos-
sible within the legitimate limitations of the march,
makes of it one of the broadest, most elastic forms
of musical expression. The rhythmic tramp of march-
ing feet must always serve as its basic idea, its physical
germ, so to speak, out of which all other ideas sug-
gested in it must be logically evolved, and to which
they must all bear a definite relation.
But these secondary ideas and resultant moods
may cover and include a vast range of thought and
emotion.
For instance, men may march exultantly to vic-
tory, or sullenly to certain defeat; to the storming
of a fortress, or in the feverish panic of a rout; to
the coronation of an emperor, or the execution of
a comrade; to a wedding or a funeral. All the emo-
tions incident to these various occasions may be ex-
pressed in the music of the march.
As a definite, well-established musical form, recog-
nized and adopted by all modern nations, the march
reached its full development about the middle of the
1 8th century, since which time it has undergone few
alterations, and fine specimens of every type of march
are to be found in the writings of nearly all the leading
composers from Handel to Wagner. It is always in
two-four or four-four time, and is constructed on the
following general plan:
First, an introduction of from four to sixteen meas-
ures, consisting mainly of a fanfare of trumpets, often,
though not always, accompanied by drum effects.
The Story of the March. 193
This introduction, however, may be omitted, as is the
case with most funeral marches. The first subject, or
principal theme, is from sixteen to thirty- two measures
in length, divided into distinct periods of four or eight
measures, with no cadenzas or episodes of any kind to
break the uniformity or interrupt the steady tramping
of the rhythm. Then follows the second theme, most
frequently in the dominant, and usually in a lighter,
brighter vein, after which the first subject is repeated.
Then comes a trio, more lyric in character, more quiet,
and somewhat more slowly played, forming a marked
and effective contrast with the opening movement,
which is again repeated at the close of the work, with
often a brief but brilliant coda or finale added. Tech-
nically speaking, this form is based upon that of the
fully developed rondo, which, in its turn, had its origin
in the Folk-song.
The Mendelssohn Wedding March.
No work of its kind is so familiar to the general
public, throughout the civilized world, as the Wed-
ding March by Mendelssohn. Since its creation,
about eighty ago, it has been the one composition used
at all weddings, where music had any part in the cere-
mony, and at how many thousands of weddings it has
been heard, it would be impossible even to guess. No
other march has ever been found so acceptable.
In stately city churches and simple village chapels,
in hall and private parlor, in palace and cottage,
from the eastern confines of Russia to far California,
its jubilant, yet ideally lofty strains have voiced the
13
194 Stones of Standard Teaching Pieces.
mood of the happy occasion for countless human
hearts.
This march is a fragment, and the most familiar
one, from Mendelssohn's music to "The Mid-Summer
Night's Dream," an early but supremely able work,
replete with delicate mysticism and dainty fairyland
fancies, which accounts for the suggestions of that
style apparent in it — notably in the trio. It was
written to accompany the march of the noble wedding
party in the play, a brilliant and joyous company,
hence the atmosphere of pride and splendor as well as
gaiety which envelops it. Those who would appreciate
it fully should familiarize themselves with the scene
in Shakespeare's drama. The work was written for
orchestra, but there have been numerous piano ar-
rangements.
The introduction gives us the gladsome bugle calls
and trumpet signals which appear so often at the
opening of march movements, as already stated; but
in this case with no suggestion of the drums. The
first movement, or subject, is proud, triumphant,
exultant; telling of love the conqueror, of obstacles
overcome, of happiness assured and imminent; while
the trio, with its delicate trills and subtle wood-wind
effects, hints of a background of shadowy woodland
mystery, of fairy intrigue and influence, which color
the whole texture of the story and are treated by
Mendelssohn with a masterly finesse, which proves
him to be peculiarly at home in that realm of fasci-
nating unrealities.
The Story of the March. 195
The Bridal March from "Lohengrin,'1
by Wagner.
In recent years this march has, to some small extent,
encroached upon the universal supremacy in public
favor formerly maintained by the Mendelssohn march.
It is the only other famous wedding march, and is
preferred by those who seek novelties and change in
all the experiences of life, rather than the conservative,
time-honored observances, and who specially affect the
modern school in music. But there is a good and
sufficient reason, inherent in the music, why this march
will never supplant the one by Mendelssohn in general
usage, a reason of which the public is not definitely con-
scious, but which is instinctively felt; namely, that it
is not as broadly and fully adapted to any and every
wedding occasion, is not as characteristically a wedding
march in tone and mood.
The music is of a high grade of excellence, markedly
rhythmic, simply melodious, and easily understood, also
it is bright and joyous and so far well fitted for its
purpose; but, like all of Wagner's music, it is exactly
and exclusively adapted to the particular occasion and
mood it was written to reflect. It is distinctively local
in its coloring and, while perfectly in keeping with the
scene for which it was intended, is not so generally in
harmony with all occasions of the kind. It is desig-
nated as Brautzug (bridal train or march), and has
special reference to the bride.
It accompanies Klsa and her bridesmaids in their
progress from the palace to the chapel, where her
196 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
wedding with Lohengrin is to take place, and portrays
the personality of the innocent, white-souled, happy-
hearted, but rather visionary, heroine; a type of deli-
cately feminine but rather helpless maiden, of which
Wagner was particularly fond in his early works —
rather the modern German idea of maidenhood than
the stronger and more heroic model, on which his later
Brunhilde was moulded.
The music is light, tripping, daintily playful, but far
from profound or serious. The mood it embodies is
that of the fanciful girl, hardly more than a child,
pleased and impressed by the pomp and glitter of the
ceremony, the flowers and favors and bright costumes,
and fascinated by the mystery of the future, but by
no means realizing the intensely serious nature of the
step she is taking. There is no touch of strong or
deep emotion, or of vital reality, in these half-graceful,
half-playful strains, and the usual tender trio is en-
tirely lacking. While it is ideally beautiful and ap-
propriate in its proper place, this march taken sepa-
rately is obviously only a fragment and loses much of
its charm and pertinence when parted from its proper
setting and connection, like a section cut from some
great picture.
The Dead March from "Saul,"
by Handel.
This short but characteristic funeral march, the first
notable work of its kind, formerly universally known
and much played, is rarely heard in our own day,
though still familiar by name. It is an extract from
The Story of the March. 197
Handel's first great successful oratorio, which was first
presented in London at King's Theatre, January 16,
I739-
The plot and text of the oratorio were based upon
the well-known Bible narrative of Saul and David,
and deal with the vicissitudes of Saul's reign, his wars,
and intrigues; his relations with David, now friendly,
now the reverse; and with the more than brotherly
love of David and Jonathan. Its climax is reached
with the death of Saul and Jonathan in the battle with
the Philistines, and David's lament for their loss, espe-
cially for the latter.
"The Dead March," as it is called, symbolizes the
fall of the king and prince, as well as the crushing defeat
of the Jews, the grief of the nation, and David's deep
personal sorrow for his lost friend.
The emotional motives of the march are to be traced
to two familiar quotations from David's lamentation.
"How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the
battle!"
"I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan.
Very pleasant hast thou been unto me ; thy love to me
was wonderful, passing the love of women. How are
the mighty fallen!"
Their expression in the music, when regarded from
our modern standpoint, and compared with similar
efforts by a Chopin or a Wagner, is decidedly prim-
itive and inadequate — not to say commonplace.
The very tonality selected is wholly inappropriate
according to every law of aesthetics, the work being in
C major, the only funeral march in existence, so far as
known to the writer, entirely in a major key.
jg8 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
But it must be remembered that the piano score
gives a very imperfect idea of the orchestral effect;
also that it was at a time when music, as a medium
of emotional expression, was still in its infancy; its
material, like that of the English language in the time
of Chaucer, still in process of formation, its resources
scarcely even guessed at by the best musicians.
This march is one of the earliest steps in the develop-
ment of tonal art, and as such deserves our respect.
Moreover, though antiquated in style, and meager
in the means employed, it possesses a certain simple
dignity and directness, not without impressiveness.
It furnishes a good example of the effective massing
of the solid, if common, harmonies, imposing in their
grave simplicity, characteristic of all Handel's larger
works.
FUNERAL MARCH, BY CHOPIN.
I.
Bells that toll o'er a nation's tomb,
Solemn, slow, as the knell of doom,
Dirge, that voices a dawnless gloom,
Poland's woes lamenting.
Strong as rage for a loved one slain,
Strong as hearts that exult in pain,
Daring death though the cause be vain,
Poland's wrongs resenting.
II.
Sad as tears for a nation shed,
Sad as dreams of a hope that's fled,
Sad as thoughts of our long-lost dead,
Still for Poland sighing.
Brave as blades that in stern delight,
Flash and fall in the van of fight,
Keen for vengeance and for the right
Poland's foes defying.
* The famous Funeral March by Beethoven is a part of his
Sonata Op. 26, fully described in " Descriptive Analyses "
The Story of the March.
III.
Then a strain, like a tender prayer
Welling up from a soul's despair,
Suppliant sigh for a land once fair,
Heavenward now ascending.
Sobbing strain with passionate swell,
Striving still of the past to tell,
Ere their bravest and noblest fell,
Poland's life defending.
IV.
Then once more with relentless weight,
Crushing chords like the voice of fate,
Speak in dissonance desolate,
Wrath and anguish blended.
Sad and slow let the cadence fall,
Sombre, soft, like a velvet pall,
Silent darkness is over all,
Poland's pain is ended.
— E. B. P., March, 1897.
Chopin's Funeral March.
This composition, unquestionably the best funeral
march yet written for the piano, originally appeared as
the third movement in Chopin's great, dramatic, alle-
gorical tone-poem, the Sonata in B flat minor, Op. 35.
It is, however, a very complete and powerful work
in itself, and is published and most often played sepa-
rately, the whole sonata being too difficult for any but
the most advanced pianists.
A full analysis of the sonata, with the interesting
Polish narrative on which it is founded, as well as the
allegorical significance of both, may be found in my
volume of "Descriptive Analyses of Piano Works."
Taken independently, this march is the strongest and
noblest expression of profound and passionate sorrow,
as well as the most perfect type of its kind to be found
in piano literature.
2OO Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
It is supposed to accompany the march of the funeral
procession bearing the bride and heroine of the story
to her last long rest. It begins with the distant muffled
tolling of funeral bells, then the solemn, heart-breaking
music grows gradually stronger as the procession draws
nearer, taking on more and more the inflexible tramping
cadence of the funeral march, with an occasional sug*
gestion of muffled drums, rising at last to a stupendous
climax of pain and despair, then pausing by the open
tomb.
Next follows an exquisitely tender and touching
little Trio, in D flat major, sweet and simple as the song
of a child, symbolizing prayer at the grave, thrilling
with tearful memories of happier days. Then in heavy,
crashing chords, inexorable as the voice of fate, the
march movement is resumed, slowly diminishing, dying
into silence, as the black-robed procession of mourners
return to the village, their last sad offices completed.
The bride in this story is an allegorical personification
of Poland, so fondly loved and bitterly lamented, and
the grief and despair are for the death of a nation,
expressed with a passionate intensity, and yet with a
strength and nobility of utterance rarely equalled and
never surpassed, even by Chopin.
Regarded from a technical standpoint, the march is
not difficult, but it demands an emotional capacity and
insight, as well as a command of tone quality, possessed
by few players, and it is often atrociously murdered,
even by our leading concert pianists.
The Story of the March. 201
Marche Militaire, by Schubert.
This is another world-famous march used in many
lands and in many forms and arrangements. It is
scored for brass band and orchestra, also as a piano
solo and four-hand arrangement, as well as a brilliant
concert number in Tausig's superb paraphrase. It is
always enjoyed and admired (in spite of being almost
hackneyed) for its freshness and sparkling vitality, its
irresistible, rhythmic swing, its simple, beautiful, spon-
taneous melodies, as clear as crystal, as bright as sun-
light on steel.
It is a perfect example in form, content, and mood,
of the parade march, not rapid, but pompous, splendid,
full of martial spirit.
This march was written in honor of the Austrian
Imperial body-guard, a crack regiment of grenadiers
or heavy infantry, officered by some of the highest
nobles of the realm — a proud, dashing set of blades.
The ranks were composed of picked men, selected for
their lofty stature and stalwart proportions. They
were superbly uniformed, wearing glittering helmets,
breast plates, and back pieces of polished steel, and were
drilled to the last degree of military precision. The
regiment was maintained as much for display on state
occasions, to add pomp and splendor to court functions,
as for service in the field in time of need. They were
supposed to be invincible in war, and known to be so
with the ladies at home.
The music, written as a compliment to them, ex-
presses the spirit of this martial body, and conveys the
202 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
impression which their appearance in line of march
was calculated to produce.
It opens with an ingenious introduction of six
measures, giving, even in the piano score, a distinct
suggestion of the beat of drums in reiterated chords in
the right hand, exactly reproducing the most common
and simple rhythm employed by the drummers at the
beginning of so many marches — a rhythm familiar to
every schoolboy in every land, and imitated by every
boy that ever marched with a wooden gun. Inter-
woven with this is a stirring trumpet call, a ringing
summons to war and victory.
Then comes the march proper, stirring, brilliant,
with its catchy melody and swinging rhythm, growing
stronger and louder as the parade draws nearer.
The light, dainty, almost playful Trio in the sub-
dominant suggests the grace, beauty, and gaiety of the
fair spectators crowding windows and balconies to
witness the passing pageant, with flutter of fans and
kerchiefs, scattering smiles and glances and bouquets
upon the favorite officers as they pass.
Then a sonorous repetition of the first movement
closes this march, which will live as long as "Schubert,
the melodious" holds any place in the memory of the
musical world.
Rakoczy March (Pronounced
Rah-kow'-tsee), by Franz Liszt.
This is one of the most stirring and spirited concert
marches in the repertoire of the modern pianist. It is
generally attributed to Liszt, because chiefly known in
The Story of the March. 203
his version of it for the piano, but it is, in reality, much
older than Liszt's time, and is one of the many frag-
ments of wild, original, gipsy music rescued by him
from oblivion, and revivified for the musical world of
our day in his masterly adaptation for the piano. Its
authorship is anonymous, but it was composed (one
can not say written, as they never wrote anything) by
one of those gifted but unknown gipsy musicians, who
were for a time so closely identified with the social life
of Hungary in the palmy days of her independence and
prosperity. They were, in a sense, adopted as the
national musicians, were the special proteges of the
court and the great nobles, and from them comes all
the so-called Hungarian music, though they were of a
totally different race.
Rakoczy was a famous Hungarian general and pa-
triot in the days of her long, desperate struggle for
continued independence, of whose daring ability and
phenomenal achievements fabulous tales are told.
This march was composed in his honor, named for him
and dedicated to him, and is a splendid tribute to his
nemory.
It is a "storming march," fierce, yet sombre, full of
barbaric, half-fanatical patriotism and the lust of
battle.
It celebrates the swift marches through the gloom of
mighty forests, the midnight attacks, the resistless
charges and the sudden tempests of death and flame
descending upon the sleeping foe, which made Rakoczy,
at the head of his wild riders, the terror of the invader
and the idolized hero of his people. The mood is
impetuous, uncompromising, darkly exultant, the very
204 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
spirit of the night attack, the delirious Berserk frenzy
of the charge expressed in startlingly weird harmonies,
full of the rattle of the war-drums and the ring of
brazen trumpets and dissonant clank of contending
hosts.
This march is to be found in various arrangements
for the piano, the most complete and stupendous being
the Fifteenth Hungarian Rhapsody; but there are also
several more or less simplified editions, and it has been
effectively scored for both band and orchestra.
Other famous marches of more modern times are
"The Turkish Grand March," by Beethoven, from
"The Ruins of Athens," and "The Tannhaeuser
March," by Wagner; both described in detail in my
volume of Descriptive Analyses already referred to.
The Story of the Polonaise.
[HIS distinctively Polish musical form,
which has been so closely identified with
Poland's history through all her mani-
fold vicissitudes during more than three
centuries, originated in 1573 in Cracow,
then the Polish capital, on the occasion
of the coronation of the young French
prince, Henri d'Anjou, as king of Poland.
The great nobles, always, unfortunately, at feud
among themselves, which was ultimately the cause of
Poland's downfall, were wholly unable to agree upon
one of their own number to fill the throne left vacant by
the death of the last of the Jagiellos, and finally united
in electing the young prince to the office, which was
intended to be little more than that of a figurehead to
the ship of state.
The coronation ceremony, which took place in
October of that year, was one of the most magnificent
affairs ever witnessed, for Poland was then at the height
of her power, wealth, and splendor, and barbarically
oriental in her love of lavish display and extravagant
personal adornment.
It was no uncommon thing for a knight to wear the
205
206 Stones of Standard Teaching Pieces.
entire value of his estates and possessions in jewels at
a court function.
One of the important features of this grand festival
was a presentation ceremony to introduce the members
of the court and aristocracy to the new king, a recep-
tion of regal proportions.
All the great lords and ladies of the realm, arrayed
in their most sumptuous apparel, with all the available
jewels in evidence, assembled in one of the lower halls
in the royal castle, formed in a glittering procession,
marched in stately pomp up the grand staircase, through
various halls, galleries, and ante-chambers, finally up the
length of the vast magnificent throne-hall to the dais,
where the king awaited them, there to be presented to
his majesty by the grand master of ceremonies. This
march was accompanied by suitable music written for
the occasion by a local composer; music intended not
only to mark the rhythm of the march, but to add to
the pomp and pride and beauty of the occasion, and to
embody the peculiar racial characteristics and national
traits of the Poles, thus in a way supplementing the
introductory feature.
It was a musical presentation of the Polish people
to their new monarch. Then and there was born the
Polonaise, which, from that germ, crude and primitive
though it may have been, has gradually developed into
a definite, complete, and quite elaborate musical form,
recognized and used the world over, the common prop-
erty of all composers^SjL
But the true Polonaise, no matter when, where or by
whom it may be written, manifests distinct traces of its
original heredity, natal environment, and early associa-
The Story of the Polonaise. 207
tions; always " harks back," so to speak, to those olden
days of Polish pomp and splendor, is always Slavonic
in its general tone , and aristocratic in its manner and
mood. Vx
Its distinguishing rhythm is a measure of six eighths,
though sometimes written in three-four time, of which
the second eighth is divided into two sixteenths. It is
always a promenade march, not a dance. In later times
it was used as the opening number at state balls at
court and at the palaces of the nobles, not only in
Poland, but, to some extent, in other lands, but has
always retained its original characteristics even to the
present day, though it is now used rather as a musical
art form than as a familiar feature of the modern ball.
Precisely as in the case of the waltz, however, as time
went on, the music of the Polonaise was broadened and
elaborated so as to include in its scope the expression
not only of the original mood and scene, but additional
ideas, feelings and fancies, even incidents connected
with or arising out of it.
For example, one may recall the days of Poland's
glory with very widely different emotions; with pride
and exultation over her past; with heart-breaking sor-
row at her present degradation ; with tearful sympathy
for her wrongs and sufferings; with bitter indignation
against her oppressors. Any of these moods, as well
as many others, may be legitimately expressed in the
Polonaise.
<%nChopin, in whose hands the Polonaise reached its
highest development and perfection, has given us a
great variety of moods and suggestions, all based on
the original Polonaise idea and embodied in that form.
208 Stones of Standard Teaching Pieces.
They are all ideal Polonaises, but no two of them are
alike in emotional content.
The Military Polonaise, Op. 40, No. 1,
Chopin.
In his Military Polonaise, Opus 40, No. I, which is
perhaps the best known, he tells us of the martial
spirit and prowess, the courage and chivalry of the
Polish knights in their magnificent, gem-studded armor,
sweeping the field of battle on their matchless steeds,
with the clash of steel, the blast of trumpets, bearing
the Polish standard to victory.
Polonaise in C Minor, Op. 40, No. 2,
Chopin.
The Polonaise in C minor, Op. 40, No. 2, is a broad,
noble, but profoundly gloomy work of the darkly
majestic type.
The theme, in octaves, voices the stern, well-nigh
despairing indignation of a strong, dauntless race,
crushed to earth by the overwhelming weight of num-
bers, but sullenly biding its time, and gathering the
remnant of its strength for one last desperate struggle,
heroic, though hopeless, to avenge its many bitter
wrongs; with pride and courage still unbroken, but
with a full realization of its impotence.
It is the same spirit that led the Polish students in
the streets of Warsaw to throw themselves unarmed
upon the Russian bayonets by the hundreds, preferring
a futile death to a life of shame among a vanquished
people.
The Story of the Polonaise. 209
The lighter, more capricious trio, with its occasional
brief touches of plaintive tenderness, suggests a
fleeting thought, half pathetic, half satirical, of the
days that "might have been.'*
Polonaise in C sharp Minor, Chopin,
No Polonaise is a greater favorite, especially among
those who incline towards the lyric style in music, than
that in C sharp minor, on account of its great variety
and markedly poetic mood. It opens with a bold,
heroic introduction, expressing the martial, defiant
spirit of the Polish cavaliers, then changes abruptly to
a tender lyric strain, suggesting the grace and charm
and delicate beauty of the "eternal feminine," never
and nowhere more potent than in the chivalric days of
Poland's power and splendor.
Then follows a brief but strong and masterly climax
in a somberly dramatic mood, beginning with a whis-
pered hint of gloom and mystery and impending danger,
then rising suddenly through a series of sequences to
a crash 'of minor and diminished harmonies, thrillingly
significant of the sudden shock of conflict. Then a
radical transition to an exquisitely sweet and tender
strain, breathing of love and romance, like a sudden
gleam of sunlight through the storm clouds.
The trio is an intensely impassioned duet between the
knight and his lady, full of Slavonic fervor, yet vibrant
with an almost desperate sorrow, the reflex of the
omnipresent dangers and strife through which the path
of true love must lead, too often, to bitter partings and
into the shadow of sudden death.
14
2io Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
The composition is less of a Polonaise in the strict
sense than a picture of Polish life which the Polonaise
calls before the mind.
Polonaise, Op. 26, No. 2, Chopin.
A notably original and weirdly fascinating work by
Chopin in Polonaise form is the one in B flat minor.
It opens with a curious fantastic movement, darkly
tragic in mood, indeed voicing a shuddering despair
too black and terrible to be attractive to the majority
of young players, which is probably the reason why the
work, though extremely interesting and of only mod-
erate difficulty, is very little used.
One of Chopin's compatriots states that this first
strain is intended to imitate the doleful clank of the
qhains upon the vanquished Polish patriots in their long
march to Siberia.
It is followed by a long, reiterated and insistent move-
ment in choral form and unequivocally religious vein,
a suggestion of the pathetic attempt of hearts crushed
by defeat, smarting with injustice and humiliation, tor-
tured by keenest personal grief, striving to find comfort
and consolation in the promises of faith.
Andante Spianato and Polonaise,
Op. 22, Chopin.
One of the very best and also one of the most diffi-
cult and brilliant of the Chopin Polonaises is the one
in E flat, usually designated by the above title.
The Andante Spianato is simply a quiet introduction
The Story of the Polonaise. 211
prefixed to the Polonaise proper, spianato being an
Italian word not often used in musical terminology,
which means tranquil, and qualifies andante. It has no
reference to spinning, as has been inferred by some on
account of the name and the character of the accom-
paniment.
This movement is a tender lyric in Chopin's sweetest,
most exquisite vein, ornamented by a series of delicate
embellishments.
It appears to be a sort of waking dream, indulged in
by the young composer at the moment of the creation
of this great Polonaise, when his thought and fancy
were engrossed with the life-history and characteristics
of his beloved country. A dream of those happier days,
long past, touched by a transient gleam of hope that
they might return. The whole work belongs to his
early, more optimistic period before he was twenty,
before his long exile had begun, before Constantia had
broken his heart and shattered his ideals, before his
home had been sacked and burned by the Russians, the
period of youth and hope and aspiration, when life
still glowed with the rosy tints of dawn. Then a sudden
blast of trumpets and crash of cymbals recall us to the
gorgeous court pageant of 1573, heretofore described,
announcing that royalty has taken its seat in the great
hall, the ceremony has begun, and the splendid proces-
sion may start on its imposing march. Then comes the
Polonaise, brilliant, stirring, triumphant, replete with a
wealth of constantly varying melody, rich in harmonic
coloring, well-nigh overladen with embellishment, like
the costumes of the lords and ladies who defile in a
glittering line before the eyes of our fancy; superb
212 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
knights in jewel-studded armor, beautiful ladies in silk
and velvet of every hue, flashing with gems.
From moment to moment the music changes in char-
acter to suggest the shifting kaleidoscopic impressions
produced by this moving pageant, now bold and proud
and martial, now tender and graceful, again playful,
coquettish or impassioned, while the procession winds
on up the grand staircase and across the magnificent
throne hall.
Now and then a sharp dissonant clash of steel on
steel indicates the salute of the knights to their new
monarch with the war-like din of sword on shield.*
Polonaise in E Major, by Franz Liszt.
Among the well-nigh innumerable Polonaises of every
degree of merit and difficulty, written by different com-
posers of various lands and periods, this in B major,
by Liszt, is probably the best, aside from those by
Chopin, and it is certainly the most widely known. It
is a standard concert number the world over; a work
of the first magnitude in breadth, musical significance,
and technical difficulty, and it is the only one within
the writer's acquaintance in which identically the same
theme is made to serve both as first subject and as trio
melody. This is a unique conceit, and carried out with
Liszt's own clever ingenuity.
The idea is to suggest the distinctive traits and char-
acteristic attributes of the Polish race, manifested under
the modifying influence and conditions of sex. In other
* The greatest of the Chopin Polonaises, the Op. 53, is a
standard concert number with all pianists, and is fully analyzed
in " Descriptive Analysis " by same author.
The Story of the Polonaise. 213
words, the racial temperament in its masculine and
feminine embodiment. The characteristic theme sym-
bolizes the national spirit, remaining essentially and
fundamentally the same in both cases, while the widely
varying treatment and setting clearly differentiate be-
tween the sexes in which it finds embodiment.
In the first subject this theme appears in bold, force-
ful chords, instinct with a resolute, martial spirit, with
the pride, heroic courage and fierce joy in conflict,
typical of the dashing steel-clad cavalier.
In the trio it reappears note for note, but in a higher
register, treated in light, delicate, playful mood, with
a highly elaborate and ornate setting, sparkling with
dainty embellishments, to represent the feminine incar-
nation of the Polish racial type, the charming, capri-
ciously brilliant, witchingly winsome Polish lady.
Even the musically untrained ear may easily learn to
follow this dominant theme through all its modifica-
tions and transmigrations, and enjoy its varied poetic
suggestions, as well as its tonal fascination; while to
the student of the art it is a most interesting example
of musical symbolism.
The second subject, in heavy, rugged chords and
octaves, is in the style of Liszt, rather than Polish —
the Hungarian point of view — vigorous, but a little
pompous and supercilious.
It may be supposed to represent the rough, wild,
primitive conditions of those early days on the eastern
frontier of civilization, when the strong arm was the
only law and logic, and the good sword the only arbi-
tration.
214 Stones of Standard Teaching Pieces.
Polonaise, by E. A. MacDowell.
There has been one, and only one, Polonaise written
on this side the Atlantic which fully deserves to rank
with the masterpieces in this form by the Old- World
composers, namely, that by MacDowell.
Though not of extreme difficulty, in fact, within the
possible playing repertoire of most fairly advanced
amateurs, it is a broad, effective concert number,
worthy of a place on any artist's program, and far less
used than it should be.
Its opening theme is markedly original, yet thor-
oughly characteristic of the Polonaise, conceived in its
gloomily retrospective mood. Its sombre majesty and
forceful intensity bring irresistibly to the mind the
dark, tragic history, the desperate heroism, the gallant
but futile struggle, and the ultimate hapless doom of
a proud and noble race.
It is a stern, indignant protest against tyranny, in-
justice, and cruelty, as strongly and feelingly expressed
as if MacDowell had himself been a native son of Poland,
with an undertone of fatalism eminently in keeping
with the Slavonic temperament. In fact it always re-
calls to me those wonderful lines of Swinburne :
More dark than a dead world's tomb,
More deep than the great sea's womb,
Fate.
The trio, as is customary in the polonaise, introduces
a suggestion of a lighter, more playful vein. It is
bright, vivacious, almost humorous, indicating a brief
abandonment to an almost reckless gaiety on the very
The Story of the Polonaise. 215
verge of the disaster which is recognized as inevitable,
yet is ignored, even scouted for the moment, with that
incredible courage and half frivolous, half cynical
humor, characteristic alike of the French and Polish
nobility, even on the way to the guillotine, or that far
more terrible living death, Siberian exile.
This trio closely imitates, in mood and style, the
music of the Hungarian Gipsies; indeed, one might
easily fancy it to be of Hungarian origin.
This peculiar touch is a rather unusual and daring
innovation in the Polonaise, but is entirely legitimate
and appropriate, as will be understood when it is re-
membered that those musical nomads from across the
Hungarian border were often engaged at the castles
of the Polish grandees to furnish the music for their
balls and festivals, and were, of course, often called
upon, as we may assume to be the case in this instance,
to accompany the brilliant, stately march of the Polo-
naise. The long, wild, sweeping cadenza, which leads
back to the first theme, is unmistakably symbolic of the
rush and roar of the bitter winter wind from the
northern steppes, raging about the castle walls, moan-
ing dismally among the towers and battlements — the
ominous voice of Nature allegorically significant, per-
haps, of the rushing wings of death and destruction so
imminently impending.
The Story of the Gavotte.
|HB Gavotte is an antique French dance
named for the Gavots, or people of the
pays de Gap, a province in southeastern
France, now forming a part of Dauphine.
This slow, grave, but pompous dance
was for generations the special posses-
sion and pride of the peasants of that
section, forming a part of all their rustic merry mak-
ings, wedding festivals, and the like.
It is in common time, beginning always on the third
beat of the measure, with a strong accent on the first
of those following.
Its strongly marked rhythm and its mood of heavy
gaiety, and rather bombastic dignity, indicate the
strength and energy, the latent martial spirit, and the
somewhat exaggerated pride and self -complacency of the
peasantry of southern France, whose character is far
more akin to the fiery yet taciturn Spanish mountaineers
than to that of the flippant Parisian populace. In
fact, there is a tradition not fully authenticated, but
plausible, and seemingly borne out by the style of the
music, that the Gavotte was imported across the Pyre-
nees from Spain, where, in earlier times, it figured as a
sword dance, in which only the men-at-arms partici-
216
The Story of the Gavotte. 217
pated, the rhythm being marked by the clash of sword
on shield.
As a musical form it reached its full development and
general recognition in the days of Bach, who used it
frequently in his various suites.
Perhaps the best known and most usable of the Bach
gavottes are the one in G minor from his English Suite
and the transcription by Saint-Saens of his gavotte
in B minor, originally written for violin.
In modern times, no Gavotte has been so univer-
sally popular as that in E minor, by Silas. It is a
strikingly spirited and characteristic composition,
evidently based on the idea of the original use of the
Gavotte as a Spanish sword dance, just referred to.
The first and second subjects give the martial spirit
and splendor of the Spanish tourney, the clash of steel,
the flash and glitter of swift sword play; while the
trio in E major introduces what appears to be a dia-
logue in duet form, between one of the swordsmen and
a lady among the spectators.
This is a charming bit of melodic writing and a fine
example of simple, but thoroughly musical counter-
point.
For teaching material in this line I would refer the
reader to the "Gavotte Imperial" by Morey, elsewhere
mentioned in these pages, also the excellent and com-
paratively easy Gavotte in F sharp minor, by Orth.
The "Gavotte Moderne" by Liebling, a most original
and effective work, and the brilliant Gavotte by
D' Albert from his Suite for piano, are available for
pupils above the fourth grade.
Story of the Tarantelle.
|HIS fierce, fiery, and exceedingly rapid
dance, indigenous to southern Spain and
Italy, but now cultivated and popular in
all lands, as a definite and recognized
musical form, originated in an ancient
and widely prevalent belief, or legend,
among the credulous peasants, concern-
ing the bite of the tarantula. It was supposed that
the venom of this spider, which is in most cases fatal
to the victim, produced in him a delirious mania for
dancing, which must be indulged and encouraged to the
utmost as the only possible means of saving his life.
The excitement and violent exercise of the dances pro-
duced profuse perspiration, thus lessening the fever
and aiding nature in the effort to throw off the poison.
When any one of their number was bitten, it was
customary for the peasants of the village or country
side to assemble in haste, form a ring and take turns in
dancing with the poor wretch, till each became weary
and gave place to the next.
The dancers were stimulated to their utmost speed
and to a perfect frenzy of excitement, by the wildest,
fastest music which could be produced, and by the
218
Story of the Tarantella. 2ig
frantic shouts and applause of the spectators, till at
last the victim dropped in complete exhaustion. This
dance was called ' 'The Tarantella," and its half-delirious
excitation appealed so strongly to the fiery tempera-
ment of the south that it was gradually adopted as a
local feature of village festivals and country fetes,
without the physical necessity which first produced it;
and the accompanying music crystallized into a definite
form, with a distinctive character and rhythm, which
is now known and used the world over.
It is always a prestissimo movement, having no
trio or lyric theme of any kind, and usually, though not
invariably, in a minor key. It is, of course, always
stirring and impetuous to the last degree, with strongly
marked rhythmic effects suggesting its original spirit
and purpose.
The best specimens of this form, within the writer's
acquaintance, for use with pupils of third and fourth
grades, are the well-known Tarantelle in A flat, by
Heller, and the less familiar but equally effective Taran-
telle in A minor by Thorne.
Pupils should be told the story of the origin and
purpose of the dance, and encouraged to feel and ex-
press its wild mood and feverish excitement.
For more advanced students I would suggest, as
fine studies and telling numbers for public use, the
Tarantelle by Fred L. Morey, and the Tarantelle by
S, B. Whitney, also that by Gustave Schumann (not
Robert). Perhaps the best recent contribution to
piano literature, in this form, is the Tarantelle by A.
G. Salmon. Among other noted Tarantelles are those
of Franz Liszt, Joachim Raff, and I,. B. Mills. A
22O Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
little Tarantella in A Minor by Pieczonka has met with
immense favor in America. Closely allied to the Tar-
antelle is the Saltarelle and the Farandole; a popular
example of the latter is the well-known composition of
Raoul Pugno.
As all musicians know, the greatest Tarantelles are
those by Chopin and Liszt, but they are concert numbers
and technically too difficult for any but the most ad-
vanced students.
The Story of the Minuet.
|HIS ancient, dignified, and stately dance
is supposed by many to have originated
in England, in fact is often spoken of as
an "old English dance," because it was
much in vogue and a universal favorite
in England in former days, especially
during the eighteenth century, and be-
cause it seems peculiarly suited to the elegant and
polished but rather punctiliously formal customs and
atmosphere of English social life at that period. It
is closely identified in our minds with the sumptuous
drawing rooms, the elaborate costumes, the exagger-
ated, often stilted courtesy of intercourse in those
olden days in England, and even in our own country
in Colonial times ; with powder, patches and point-lace
ruffles, with curled wigs and velvet " small-clothes"
and gold-hilted rapiers ; with the days when a gentle-
man turned an epigram or the point of his antagonist's
sword with the same smiling nonchalance.
The true minuet is fairly redolent of lavender-
scented snuff and mint julep, so much is it a part of
the old regime, but in reality it is English only by adop-
tion and inherent fitness. It originated in the French
province of Poitou the middle of the iyth century.
221
222 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
Its name is derived from menu, meaning small, as the
steps of the dance were short and mincing. Its dis-
tinguishing characteristic was a slow, stately grace.
As a dance, for practical ball-room use, it went out
of vogue in our grandmothers' time and is now rarely
seen except on the stage ; but as a musical form, unlike
most of the obsolete dances, it still holds a certain place
in popular favor, even in our day
It was much used by Bach, Handel, Haydn and Mo-
zart and reached its highest development in the hands
of Beethoven.
But an occasional belated, sporadic, but perfect and
beautiful blossom of this form appears among the
modern works of living writers, side by side with the
waltz and the descriptive fantasy, like the old-fashioned
primrose and hollyhock in the midst of the latest
products of horticulture.
The Minuet is generally written in J, though some-
times in | time.
The first subject consists of two periods, usually of
eight bars, followed by a second subject, practically a
second minuet, of a more quiet, lyric character, form-
ing a contrast with the first, after which the first sub-
ject is repeated.
This second contrasting strain, of which there are
sometimes more than one, alternating with repetitions
of the first section, is called a Trio, not only in the
minuet, but in marches and all other dance music, and
an explanation of this term may be in place here; for
though in general use, it seems to be little understood
by the average student.
A Trio meant originally a composition for three in-
The Story of the Minuet. 223
struments, and these more quiet, contrasting, middle
movements in the various dance forms, such as the
Minuet, the Gavotte, etc., were at first written for only
three voices, or in three-part harmony.
Later this restriction was abandoned, but the name
and general character of the movement were retained.
Hence we speak of the Trio of a dance or even of an
Impromptu, though the entire work is played upon a
solo instrument like the piano.
Considered as a musical art form, the Minuet, like
every other dance, must conform to the rhythm and
general character, and express the usually prevalent
mood, of the special type of actual dance, out of which
it grew, but as explained in connection with the waltz
and other dances, it may also incidentally express,
in addition to this fundamental idea, any emotion,
fancy, thought, or even action, which might naturally
be attributed to any one or more of the dancers during
their participation in it, or be suggested by the time
and scene ; hence its scope, in spite of seeming limita-
tions, is quite varied and extensive.
We find, indeed, that the Minuet changes materially
in tone, with the passing of the years, reflecting the
temper of the times in which it was produced, and the
personality of the different composers. In the hands
of Bach and Handel it was stately and pompous, but
cold and rigidly formal; in those of Haydn it became
more cheerful, even brightly playful. Mozart gave it a
more graceful, tender and dreamy character; while
Beethoven, in many of his minuets, made open sport
of the prim, straight-laced formalism of the old days,
giving to them a decided flavor of rough and rugged
224 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
humor. In fact, with him the Minuet evolved into
the modern Scherzo.
The following are some of the best known and most
interesting Minuets now in general use for teaching
purposes:
Minuet by Boccherini.
This is an old, but still popular and attractive num-
ber, of moderate difficulty, with an exquisite sensuous
melody, and a captivating rhythmic swing, expressing
chiefly the languorous grace and tender witcheries of the
fair daughters of the sunny south, for whom the stately
figures of the Minuet served as a fitting field of con-
quest, an appropriate setting for their charms. Of all
Minuets now in use, this is the most in harmony with
the spirit of the dance as used in Italy. The red
blood and the rich red wine of the south are in it. We
cannot but associate it with the sumptuous, pleasure-
loving lives of the old Venetian and Florentine no-
bility.
Minuet in B Minor by Schubert.
This is a work of greater strength and more marked
contrasts than the foregoing, vigorously Teutonic in
character, containing two markedly different elements.
The first subject, in octaves and chords, is bold, vigor-
ous, almost stern in character, yet with a certain
rugged gravity. It reminds one of some old feudal war
baron of medieval days, more wonted to camps and
fields of strife than to the ladies' hall, yet striving with
a sort of half grim, half humorous solemnity, to tone
The Story of the Minuet. 225
down his rough manners and moderate his martial
stride, in keeping with the decorous demands of the
occasion and the movements of the dance.
The graceful melodious trio portrays his partner, a
sprightly, winsome maiden in all her festive finery of
silk and lace and jewels, with a touch of playful co-
quetry in her smile. The personality is piquante, yet
tender and charming. The two form a most effective
contrast.
The Minuet by Paderewski.
The most popular minuet of the present time for the
piano the world over is the one in G major by Pader-
ewski, partly because of the fame of its composer, and
partly because of its own intrinsic merit. It is light,
graceful, and pleasing, rather than markedly strong or
original, and is doubtless the more of a universal
favorite for that reason. The melodies are extremely
simple and easily grasped, though attractive, and the
harmonies are based mainly upon the tonic and domi-
nant seventh chords. The cadenzas are sparkling and
effective, but not especially difficult ; hence it is a useful
and available study for pupils of even the fourth grade.
It is distinctly a Minuet a la Franfaise, best char-
acterized, perhaps, by the word charming. The
Slavonic temperament, in its lighter moods, is more
closely akin to the French than to that of any other
race, and it is a significant fact that the French lan-
guage, French thought, and French social customs and
fashions have been predominant in the higher circles
in Poland and Russia for more than a century.
226 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
It is not surprising, therefore, that Paderewski, who
is Polish by birth and nature, but largely French by
education, long residence, and at least superficial
predilections, should have given us a Minuet which, in
spite of its modern hybrid origin, "reverted to type,"
as the scientists say, that is, returned to the original
French ideal and spirit. In listening to the spirited
yet polished phrases of this music, in which playful
vivacity and refined elegance are so equally blended,
one may easily fancy himself back in the days of Louis
XV, amid the glitter and gaiety of the court ball-room,
where the sparkle of lights and jewels is matched by the
scintillations of wit and repartee; where clever epi-
grams and florid compliment are bandied back and
forth with swift, accustomed skill, like balls in a tennis
court, while gallant cavaliers lead their fair partners
through the mazes of the dance, to the throbbing music
of flutes and violins, which covers the whispered inter-
change of the fleeting sentiment, born of the hour and
scene, half jest, half serious.
The composition should be played at a very moderate
tempo, with a certain capricious freedom and playful
abandon, yet with smoothness and careful finish of
detail, with extreme lightness and flute-like delicacy
in the opening theme, and only a relative degree of
power in the climaxes. Any suggestion of profound
or intense emotions, or of genuinely bravura style, is
out of place.
The Story of the Minuet. 227
Minuet from Sonata Op. 7, Grieg.
In speaking of the Minuet, one cannot ignore the
remarkably unique and original movement bearing
that name in Grieg's Sonata in E minor. It is typically
Norse in character; wild, grotesque, yet weirdly fas-
cinating. It is a Minuet in form and rhythm, but not
in spirit, in the ordinary sense.
The first theme, in heavy chords and octaves, is
sombre, fantastic, and ponderous, like a midnight
dance of the earth giants, who, according to Norse
mythology, inhabited the darksome caves and gorges
of the mountains, a rude, malevolent race that waged
perpetual war against the Gods.
The Trio is one of Grieg's masterpieces in the line
of simple, tenderly appealing, yet, in a way, uncanny
melodies, like the sweet, plaintive voice of one of the
forest fairies, or "little people," as they were called,
who were ever striving to protect humanity, and es-
pecially children, from the brutal power of the giants
and the vindictive machinations of the small but
vicious trolls.
Minuet by W. H. Sherwood.
Those who enjoy a bit of brilliant, wholesome humor
and genuine rollicking fun in music will find a treasure
in this extremely clever and effective Minuet by Sher-
wood, the theme of which is taken from the century-
old, popular English song known as "Buy a broom."
I would also call attention to two fine, thoroughly
musical Minuets, in modern style, by Edgar Sherwood,
228 Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces.
which, like most good American compositions, deserve
to be far better known, and more used than they are.
When will our musical public learn that a foreign
origin is not the only criterion of merit !
Other Dance Forms.
In my treatment of Dance Forms in this volume I
have not spoken of the Mazurka, although many ex-
cellent compositions have been and still are written
in this form; partly because I have given the main
facts about it in my analysis of Godard's Second Ma-
zurka on page 105, partly because no author could write
of the Mazurka with the same authority and eloquence
as Liszt in his familiar little book on Chopin.
I have also given no attention to the Polka, because
although at times a very popular dance, it has never
evolved, like the waltz, into a legitimate musical art
form, the best example in that line being Raff's Polka
de la Reine. The same is true of the Galop.
In regard to the Sarabande, Courante, Gigue, etc., once
subdivisions of the Suite, they are now practically
obsolete, both as dances and forms of musical composi-
tion.
Composers' Index
PACK
BACH, JOHANN SEBASTIAN : Loure in G 24
BAKER, G. : Danse Ecossaise 173
BEETHOVEN, LUDWIG VAN: Andante Favori 29
BLOSE, J. M. : Nocturne 155
BOCCHERINI, LUIGI: Minuet 224
CAMPBELL, LEROY B. : Baba Yaga, Capriccioso 154
CHOPIN, FREDERIC:
The Military Polonaise, Op. 40, No. 1 208
Polonaise in C Minor, Op. 40, No. 2 208
Polonaise in C Sharp Minor 209
Polonaise, Op. 26, No. 2 210
Andante Spianato and Polonaise, Op. 22 210
Funeral March 199
D' ALBERT, EUGENE : Melodic 134
DEWEY FERDINAND:
The Night Has a Thousand Eyes 141
Undine 172
GODARD, BENJ.:
Second Mazurka 105
Au Matin 107
At the Spinning Wheel, Op. 85 108
Cavalier Fantastique 108
L/Indienne 110
Trilby 112
Pan's Flute 116
GRIEG, EDVARD:
The Wedding Day 147
Minuet from Sonata, Op. 7 227
HANDEL, GEO. F.:
The Largo 22
The Harmonious Blacksmith 22
The Dead March from "Saul " 196
230 Composers' Index
PAGE
HAYDN, FRANZ Jos. : Gipsy Rondo 25
HOFMANN, HEINRICH: Aus Schoner Zeit 176
JENSEN, ADOLF:
Dryad 142
Will O' the Wisp 177
JUNGMANN: Will O' the Wisp 177
LIEBICH: The Music Box 174
LISZT, FRANZ:
Rakoczy March 202
Polonaise in E Major 212
Liebes Traum, No. 3 96
Consolation, No. 6. . . 97
MACDOWELL, EDW. A. : Polonaise 214
MENDELSSOHN, FELIX:
Spring Song 34
Spinning Song 35
Hunting Song 36
Venetian Gondola Song, Opus 30, No. 6 38
Opus 53, No. 2 40
Consolation 42
II Duetto 43
Prelude in E Minor 44
Rondo Capriccioso 44
Wedding March 193
MOREY, FRED. L. :
Gavotte Imperial in A Minor 167
Song of the Kankakee 167
A Hieland Laddie 168
Around the Maypole: Rustic Dance 170
MOZART, WOLFGANG A. : Sonata in C Major Op. 1 12 27
NEVIN, ETHELBERT:
Narcissus 127
Barcarolle 128
Dragon Fly 129
Love Song 130
In My Neighbor's Garden 130
Composers' Index 231
PADEREWSKI, IGNACE: PAGE
Cracovienne 152
Minuet 225
PERRY, EDWARD BAXTER:
Die Lorelei 157
^olienne 159
The Portent 160
Autumn Reverie 161
Ballade of Last Island 163
Jumping Rope 171
The Mermaid's Song 171
RACHMANINOFF, SERGEI V.: Prelude, Op. 3, No. 2 133
RAFF, JOACHIM: Eclogue in G Flat 139
SAPEU,NIKOFF, VASSILI: Dance of the Elves 143
SCHUMANN, ROBERT:
Carnaval 47
No. 1. Preamble 51
No. 2. Clown 51
No. 3. Arlequin 52
No. 4. Valse Noble 52
No. 5. Eusebius 52
No. 6. Florestan 53
No. 7. Coquette 54
No. 8. Replique 54
No. 9. Sphinxes 54
No. 10. Papillons 55
No. 11. A.S.C.H.— S.C.H.A. Lettres Dan-
santes 55
No. 12. Chiarina 56
No. 13. Chopin 56
No. 14. Estrella 57
No. 15. Reconnaissance (Recognition) 57
No. 16. Pan talon et Colombine 58
No. 17. Valse Allemande 58
No. 18. Paganini 59 ,
No. 19. Aveu (Avowal) 59
No. 20. Promenade 59
No. 21. Pause 60
No. 22. Marche des Davidsbiindler Centre les
Philistins (March of the Hosts of David
Against the Philistines) 60
232 Composers' Index
PAGE
Fantasy Pieces, Opus 12 64
Aufschwung 65
Des Abends 67
Traumeswirren 69
Warum 70
Grillen 72
Ende vom Lied 73
Novelletten 74
Novellette in F. Op. 21, No. 1 76
Novellette in E. Op. 21, No. 7 76
Novellette in F Sharp Minor. Op. 21, No. 8. . 77
Novellette in B Minor. Op. 99 77
The Arabesque 78
Nachstiick in F Major 81
The Traumerei 83
Romance in F Sharp 86
Cradle Song in E Flat 88
Vogel als Prophet (Bird as Prophet) 90
SCHUBERT, FRANZ PETER:
March Militaire 201
Minuet in B Minor 224
SCHUBERT- LISZT :
Soiree de Vienne, No. 6 93
Serenade 99
Du bist die Ruh 100
SCHYTTE, LUDVIG:
At Evening. 120
Forest Elves 121
Berceuse (Cradle Song) 122
Across the Steppes 123
Allegro from Sonata, Op. 53 124
SHERWOOD, W. H. : Minuet 227
SINDING, CH. : Rustle of Spring 145
TSCHAIKOWSKY, PETER!
Doumka 149
Troika en Traineaux 150
VERDI-LISZT: Rigoletto Fantasie 102
WAGNER, RICHARD: Bridal March from "Lohengrin" , 195
WAGNER-LISZT: Abend Stern 101
WEI<Y, LEFEBURE: Titania 174
Alphabetical Index
PAGE
Across the Steppes. Schytte 123
^Eolienne. Edw, Baxter Perry 159
Andante Favori. Beethoven 29
Andante Spianato and Polonaise, Op. 22. Chopin 210
Allegro from Sonata, Op. 53. Schytte 124
Arabesque. Schumann 78
Around the Maypole: Rustic Dance. Fred. L. Morey. . . . 170
At Evening. Schytte 120
At the Spinning Wheel, Op. 85. Godard 108
Au Matin. Godard 107
Aufschwung. Schumann 65
Aus Schoner Zeit. Heinrich Hofmann 176
Autumn Reverie. Edw. Baxter Perry 161
Baba Yaga, Capriccioso. LeRoy B. Campbell 154
Ballade of Last Island. Edw. Baxter Perry 163
Barcarolle. Nevin 128
Berceuse (Cradle Song). Schytte 122
Bridal March from " Lohengrin." Wagner 195
Carnaval. Schumann 47
Cavalier Fantastique. Godard 108
Consolation No. 6. Liszt 97
Consolation. Mendelssohn 42
Cradle Song in E Flat. Schumann 88
Cracovienne. Paderewski 152
Dance of the Elves. Sapellnikoff 143
Danse Ecossaise. Baker 173
Dead March from " Saul." Handel 196
Des Abends. Schumann 67
Doumka. Tschaikowsky 149
Dragon Fly. Nevin 129
Jensen 142
233
234 Alphabetical Index
Du bist die Ruh. Schubert-Liszt 100
Duetto (il). Mendelssohn 43
Eclogue in G Flat. Raff 139
Ende vom Lied. Schumann 73
Evening (Des Abends). Schumann 67
Evening Star (Tannhauser). Wagner- Liszt 101
Forest Elves. Schytte 121
Fantasy Pieces, Opus 12. Schumann 64
Funeral March. Chopin 199
Gavotte Imperial in A Minor. Morey 167
Gipsy Rondo. Haydn 25
Grillen. Schumann 72
Harmonious Blacksmith. Handel 22
Hieland Laddie, A. Fred. L. Morey 168
Hunting Song. Mendelssohn 36
In My Neighbor's Garden. Nevin 130
Jumping Rope. Edw. Baxter Perry 171
Largo in G. Handel 22
Liebes Traum No. 3. Liszt 96
L'Indienne. Godard 110
Lorelei, Die. Edw. Baxter Perry 157
Loure in G. Bach 24
Love Dream (Liebes Traum). Liszt 96
Love Song. Nevin 130
Marche Militaire. Schubert 201
Melodic. D' Albert 134
Mermaid's Song, The. Edw. Baxter Perry 171
Military Polonaise, Op. 40, No. 1. Chopin 208
Minuet. Boccherini 224
Minuet from Sonata, Op. 7. Grieg 22/
Minuet. Paderewski 225
Minuet in B Minor. Schubert 224
Minuet. Sherwood 227
Music Box, The. Liebich 174
Alphabetical Index 235
PAGE
Nachstiick in F Major. Schumann 81
Narcissus. Nevin 127
Night Has A Thousand Eyes, The. Ferdinand Dewey 141
Nocturne. J. M. Blose 155
Novelletten. Schumann 74
Pan's Flute. Godard 116
Polonaise Militaire, Op. 40, No. 1 208
Polonaise in C Minor, Op. 40, No. 2. Chopin 208
Polonaise in C Sharp Minor. Chopin 209
Polonaise, Op. 26, No. 2. Chopin 210
Polonaise in E Major. Franz Liszt 212
Polonaise. E. A. MacDowell 214
Portent, The. Edw. Baxter Perry 160
Prelude in E Minor. Mendelssohn 44
Prelude, Op. 3, No. 2. Rachmaninoff 133
Rakoczy March. Franz Liszt 202
Rigoletto Fantasie. Verdi-Liszt 102
Romance in F Sharp. Schumann 86
Rondo Capriccioso. Mendelssohn 44
Rustle of Spring. Ch. Sinding 145
Second Mazurka. Godard 105
Serenade. Schubert-Liszt 99
Soaring (Aufschwung). Schumann 65
Soiree de Vienne No. 6. Schubert-Liszt 93
Sonata in C Major, Op. 1 12. Mozart 27
Song of the Kankakee. Morey 167
Song Without Words, Op. 53, No. 2. Mendelssohn 40
Spinning Song. Mendelssohn 35
Spring Song. Mendelssohn 34
Thou Art the Rest. Schubert-Liszt 100
Titania. Wely 174
Traumerei, The. Schumann 83
Traumeswirren. Schumann 69
Trilby. Godard 112
Troika en Traineaux. Tschaikowsky 150
Undine. Ferdinand Dewey 172
236 Alphabetical Index
PAGE
Venetian Gondola Song, Op. 30, No. 6. Mendelssohn 38
Vogel als Prophet (Bird as Prophet). Schumann 90
Warum. Schumann 70
Wedding Day. Grieg 147
Wedding March. Mendelssohn 193
Whims (Grillen). Schumann 72
Why (Warum). Schumann 70
Will O ' the Wisp. Jensen 177
Will O ' the Wisp. Jungmann 177
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