Contemporary American Composers - free ebook by Rupert Hughes

ILLUSTRATED

logo Boston L.C. Page and Company (Incorporated) 1900 Copyright, 1900 By L.C. Page &amp; Company (INCORPORATED) All rights reserved Colonial Press Electrotyped and Printed by C.H. Simonds &amp; Co. Boston, U.S.A. frontispiece Edward MacDowell....

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FOREWORD.

One day there came into Robert Schumann's ken the work of a young fellow named Brahms, and the master cried aloud in the wilderness, "Behold, the new Messiah of music!" Many have refused to accept Brahms at this rating, and I confess to being one of the unregenerate, but the spirit that kept Schumann's heart open to the appeal of any stranger, that led him into instant enthusiasms of which he was neither afraid nor ashamed, enthusiasms in which the whole world has generally followed his leading—

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CHAPTER I.

Coddling is no longer the chief need of the American composer. While he still wants encouragement in his good tendencies,—much more encouragement than he gets, too,—he is now strong enough to profit by the discouragement of his evil tendencies. In other words, the American composer is ready for criticism. The first and most vital flaw of which his work will be accused is the lack of national ism. This I should like to combat after the sophistic fashion of Zeno,—showing, first, why we lack that d

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CHAPTER II.

Autograph of Edward MacDowell The matter of precedence in creative art is as hopeless of solution as it is unimportant. And yet it seems appropriate to say, in writing of E. A. MacDowell, that an almost unanimous vote would grant him rank as the greatest of American composers, while not a few ballots would indicate him as the best of living music writers. But this, to repeat, is not vital, the main thing being that MacDowell has a distinct and impressive individuality, and uses his profound scho

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CLAIR DE LUNE.

Copyright, 1889, Arthur P. Schmidt. But MacDowell did not reach his freedom without a struggle against academia. His opus 10 is a piano suite published at the age of twenty-two, and opus 14 is another; both contain such obsolescences as a presto, fugue, scherzino, and the like. But for all the classic garb, the hands are the hands of Esau. In one of the pieces there is even a motto tucked, "All hope leave ye behind who enter here!" Can he have referred to the limbo of classicism? It is a far cry

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CHAPTER III.

Autograph of John Knowles Paine There is one thing better than modernity,—it is immortality. So while I am a most ardent devotee of modern movements, because they are at worst experiments, and motion is necessary to life, I fail to see why it is necessary in picking up something new always to drop something old, as if one were an awkward, butter-fingered parcel-carrier. If a composer writes empty stuff in the latest styles, he is one degree better than the purveyor of trite stuff in the old styl

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A LOVE SONG.

A FRAGMENT. There is much contrast between the light ness of his book, "Songs for the Children," and his ponderous setting of Kipling's "Recessional." The treatment of Paul Laurence Dunbar's "Southern Lullaby" is unusual, and the songs, "My Ladye" and "The Ideal," both in MS., are noteworthy. Gilchrist has written a vast amount of religious music, including several "Te Deums," of which the one in C and that in A flat are the best, to my thinking. He has written little for the piano except a seri

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I

Copyright, 1892, by Arthur P. Schmidt. O love and joy are for a day, Then tears and sorrow after, O love is for a summer's day, And then farewell to laughter. If love and joy are for a day And then farewell to laughter, To live with love give me one day Though tears forever after. His principal works, besides those mentioned, may be catalogued (I am unable to do more than catalogue most of them, having seen only one of them, "The Lily Nymph," performed, and having read the score of only the "Mel

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IT WAS A LOVER AND HIS LASS.

His greatest work is undoubtedly his symphonic prologue to Dante's story of "Francesca da Rimini," for full orchestra. Without being informed upon the subject, I fancy a certain programmism in the prologue that is not indicated in the quotation at the beginning of the work: "Nessun maggior dolore, Che ricordarsi del tempo felice Nella miseria." The prologue, however, seems to me to contain more than the psychological content of these lines from the fifth canto of the "Inferno." The slow introduc

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CHAPTER IV.

Art does not prosper as hermit. Of course, every great creator has a certain aloofness of soul, and an inner isolation; but he must at times submit his work to the comparison of his fellow artists; he must profit by their discoveries as well as their errors; he must grow overheated in those passionate musical arguments that never convince any one out of his former belief, and serve salutarily to raise the temper, cultivate caloric, and deepen convictions previously held; he must exchange critici

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Idylle.

For the voice, Whiting has written little. Church music interests him greatly, and he has written various anthems, a morning and evening service, which keeps largely to the traditional colors of the Episcopal ecclesiastical manner, yet manages to be fervent without being theatrical. A trio, a violin sonata, and a piano quintette, a suite for strings, and a concert overture for orchestra complete the list of his writings. On the occasion of a performance of Whiting's "Fantasy," Philip Hale thus p

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Spring.

A FRAGMENT. But Smith's most individual work is his set of songs for children, which are much compared, and favorably, with Reinecke's work along the same lines. These are veritable masterpieces of their sort, and they are mainly grouped into opus 12, called "Twenty-five Song Vignettes." So well are they written that they are a safe guide, and worthy that supreme trust, the first formation of a child's taste. Even dissonances are used, sparingly but bravely enough to give an idea of the differen

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When Love is gone.

To the stencil-plate chivalry of the lyrics of the ubiquitous F.E. Weatherby and John Oxenford, the song-status of England can blame a deal of its stagnation. It is not often that these word-wringers have enticed American composers. One of the few victims is John Hyatt Brewer, who was born in Brooklyn, in 1856, and has lived there ever since. Brewer made his début as a six-year-old singer, and sang till his fourteenth year. A year later he was an organist in Brooklyn, where he has held various p

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Song from Omar Khayyám.

One of the most prominent figures in American musical history has been Dr. William Mason. He was born in Boston, January 24, 1829, and was the son of Lowell Mason, that pioneer in American composition. Dr. William Mason studied in Boston, and in Germany under Moscheles, Hauptmann, Richter, and Liszt. His success in concerts abroad and here gave prestige to his philosophy of technic, and his books on method have taken the very highest rank. His pedagogical attainments have overshadowed his compos

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HYMN OF PAN.

Bullard was born at Boston, in 1864. He studied chemistry at first, but the claims of music on his interest were too great, and in 1888 he went to Munich, where he studied with Josef Rheinberger. After four years of European life he returned to Boston, where he has taught harmony and counterpoint along rather original lines. He is a writer with ideas and resources that give promise of a large future. His scholarship has not led him away from individuality. He is especially likely to give unexpec

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Peace.

Copyright, 1900, by H.B. Stevens Co. International copyright secured. Used by permission of H.B. Stevens Co., Boston, owners of the copyright. 'Tis not in seeking, 'Tis not in endless striving, Thy quest is found: Thy quest is found. Be still and listen; Be still and drink the quiet of all around Not for thy crying, Not for thy loud beseeching, Will peace draw near: Will peace draw near: Rest with palms folded, Rest with thine eyelids fallen Lo! peace is here. One of the best-esteemed musicians

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Montezuma, Act III, Introduction

In the first act Guatemozin, who has been exiled by Montezuma, appears disguised as an ancient minstrel and sings prophetically of the coming of a god of peace and love to supplant the terrible idol that demands human sacrifice. This superbly written aria provokes from the terrified idolaters a chorus of fear and reproach that is strongly effective. The next act begins with an elaborate aria followed by a love duet of much beauty. A heavily scored priests' march is one of the chief numbers, and

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IDYLLE.

Sherwood's sixth opus is made up of a brace of mazurkas. The former, in C minor, contains some of his best work. It is original and moody, and ends strongly. The second, in A major, is still better. It not only keeps up a high standard throughout, but shows occasional touches of the most fascinating art. A scherzo (op. 7) cracks a few good jokes, but is mostly elaboration. Opus 8 is a fiery romanza appassionata. Opus 9 is a Scherzo-Caprice. This is probably his best work. It is dedicated to Lisz

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Arabesque.

Copyright, 1889, by O. Ditson &amp; Co. What might be called a professorial simplicity is seen in many of Smith's songs. The almost unadorned, strictly essential beauty of his melodies and accompaniments is neither neglect nor cheapness; it is restraint to the point of classicism, and romanticism all the intenser for repression. Take, for example, that perfect song, "If I but Knew," which would be one of a score of the world's best short songs, to my thinking. Note the open fifths, horrifyin

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III.

Copyright, 1897, by Wm. Schuyler. There was, before me, Mile upon mile of snow, ice, burning sand. And yet I could look beyond all this, To a place of infinite beauty; And I could see the loveliness of her Who walked in the shade of the trees. When I gazed, All was lost But this place of beauty and her When I gazed, And in my gazing, desired Then came again Mile upon mile, Of snow, ice, burning sand, burning sand. FROM WM. SCHUYLER'S "BLACK RIDERS." Schuyler was born in St. Louis, May 4, 1855, a

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CHAPTER V.

This is not the place to take up cudgels for a contest on the problem of woman's right to respect in the creative arts. There are some, it is true, who deny fervently that the feminine half of mankind ever has or can or ever will do original and important work there. If you press them too hard they will take refuge up this tree, that all women who ever have had success have been actually mannish of mind,—a dodge in question-begging that is one of the most ingenious ever devised; a piece of mascu

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PHANTOMS.

Horace, you know, promises to write so that any one will think him easy to equal, though much sweat will be shed in the effort. It is the transparency of her studiousness, and the conspicuous labor in polishing off effects and mining opportunity to the core, that chiefly mars the work of Mrs. Beach, in my opinion. One or two of the little pieces that make up the half-dozen of the "Children's Carnival" are among her best work, for the very cheery ease of their look. "Pantalon," "Harlequin," "Colu

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GHOSTS.

Out in the misty moonlight, the first snow flakes I see, As they frolic among the leafless boughs of the apple tree. Faintly they seem to whisper, as round the boughs they wing; "We are the ghosts of the flowers who died in the early spring, Who died in the early spring." Her opus 32 is made up of two songs, both full of fire and originality. Opus 33 is a captivating "Spring Idyl" for the piano, for which she has also written a "Revery," of which the exquisiteness of sleep is the theme. The musi

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CHAPTER VI.

Ours is so young, and so cosmopolite, a country, that our art shows the same brevity of lineage as our society. Immigration has played a large part in the musical life of the United States, as it has in the make-up of the population; and yet for all the multiplexity of his ancestry, the American citizen has been assimilated into a distinctive individuality that has all the traits of his different forbears, and is yet not closely like any of them. So, American music, taking its scale and most of

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POSTLUDE.

In the ninth century Iceland was the musical center of the world; students went there from all Europe as to an artistic Mecca. Iceland has long lost her musical crown. And Welsh music in its turn has ceased to be the chief on earth. Russia is sending up a strong and growing harmony marred with much discord. Some visionaries look to her for the new song. But I do not hesitate to match against the serfs of the steppes the high-hearted, electric-minded free people of our prairies; and to prophesy t

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