MUSICIANS OF TO-DAY.*
Y. ROMAIN ROLLAND is known to many English readers as the author of lean Christopher he is less well known as a dis- tinguished musical critic and biographer, and we are glad to welcome an excellent translation of the studies of modern composers which were collected and published in 1908. The date is important, for a good deal of fresh material has in the interval become available for those who aim at a critical estimate of the works or personalities of the composers concerned. For example, the Autobiography and the Wesendonct correspondence have thrown a flood of light on the character of Wagner in general, and the genesis of Tristan tend Isoide in particular. Again, the study of Strauss was written as far back as 1899, before the appearanoe of Elektra, Balonte, or the Resenkaeatier. And lastly, the essay on Berlioz, though severe in dealing with certain aspects of his character, shows no signs of the wave of reaction which has marked recent French criticism of that much-discussed figure, and which seeks to prove that the "Berlioz legend" was created and fostered by Berlioz himself. But while these facts need to be taken into con- sideration. they do not detract from the interest of these pages. On the contrary, they lend them an additional value in virtue of the remarkable prescience which If. Rolland displays in
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discussing the tendencies of modern German music. As readers of Teen Christophe do not need to be reminded, M. Rolland is not merely an enthuelastie admirer of the classical German masters, but no living French writer has shown greater sympathy with, or appreciation of, the aims and achievements of recent or contemporary German composers. For him Tristan "towers like a mountain above all other love poems, as Wagner above all other artists of his century." Writing in 1905, lie said: I have never bothered myself in art with questions of nationality. I have not even concealed my preference for German music; and I consider, even to-day, that Richard Strauss is the foremost /nosier', composer in Europe." Yet even as far back as 1899 he showed something like clairvoyance in his misgivings as to certain aspects of Strauss's genius. For instance, after a long and even enthu- siastic description of Heldenieben, he indulges in a comparison of Stmues's hero-worship with that of Beethoven's Eroiea. After noting traces of Beethoven's influence in the ideas of Strauss, he continues .:— " But the heroes of the two composers are very different: Beethoven's hero is more classical and more rebellions; and Strauss's hero is more concerned with the exterior world and hie enemies, his conquests are achieved with greater difficulty, and his triumph is wilder in consequence. if that good Oulibieheff pretends to nee the burning of Moscow in a discord in the first Heroic, what would he find heret What scenes of burning towns, what battlefields I Besides that there is cutting scorn and a mischievous laughter in Heicienlebea that is never heard in Beethoven. There la, in fact, little kindness in Strauss's work; it is the work of a disdainful hero."
Even more remarkable is the concluding passage of the essay, which we offer no excuse for quoting. Turning once more to the hero as depicted in Heldenteten, If. Rolland observes :— " He is en idealist with unbounded faith in the power of the mind and the liberating virtue of art. This idealism is at first religious, as in Tod and Verklervng, and tender and compassionate as a woman, and full of youthful illusions, as be G-untraot. Then it becomes vexed and indignant with the baseness of the world and the difficulties it encounters. its scorn increases, and becomes sarcastic (Till Ettlenspiestel); it is exasperated with years of con- flict, and, in increasing bitterness, develops into a contemptuous heroism. How Strauss's laugh whips andetings us in Zerothestre ! How his will bruises and outs no in Heidenteben I Now that be has peeved his power by victory, his pride known no limit ; he is elated and is unable to see that his lefty visions have become realities. But the people whose spirit he reflects see it. Thera are germs of morbidity in Germany to-day, a frenzy of pride, a belief in self, and a scorn for others that recalls, France in the seventeenth century. 'Dam Deutschen 'chart din Well' Germany possesses the world') calmly say tha prints displayed in the shop windows in Berlin. But when one arrives at this point the mind becomes delirious. All genius is raving mad if it comes to that ; but Beethoven's madness concentrated itself in himself, and imagined things for his own enjoyment. The genius of many contemporary German artists is an aggressive thing, and is characterised by its destructive antagonism. The idealist who possesses the world' is liable to dizziness. He was made to rule over an interior world. The splendour of the exterior images that he in celled upon to govern dazzles him ; and, like Cassar, ho goes astray. Germany had hardly attained the position of empire of the world when she found Nietzsche's voice and theta the deluded artiste of the Dautechos Theater and the Recession. Now there is the grandiose music of Richard Strauss."
Another paper of great interest at the present moment is that on " French and German Music," suggested by the first Musical Festival of Aleace-Lorraine, held at Stmasherg in May, 1901. Here If. Rolland notices "the astonishing fact" that at this German Festival it was a Frenchman, Cdsar Franck, who " represented not only serious music moulded in a classical form, but a religious spirit and the spirit of the Gospels. The characters of two nations have been reversed. The Germane have so changed that they are only able to appreciate this seriousness and religions faith with difficulty." A. French friend of his who eat next him at the performance of Lee Beatitudes observed: " There is no doubt our music is beginning to bore the Germane," and M. Rolland adds his own comment "It was only the other day that German music enjoyed the privilege of boring us in France." But, as be goes on to observe, " the Germane of to-day hare but little in common with the Germans of yesterday." Though they applaud Wagner and encore Brahma. they are " in their hearts not only frivolous, but sentimental and gross." Again, "the most striking thing about this public is their omit of power since Wagner's death," while " the most remarkable thing of all is that German artiste arc gradually losing the power of understanding their own splendid classics, and, in particular, Beethoven," He comments severely on a " neurastcenie"
rendering of Beethoven's Choral Symphony, and goes on: "No; we can no longer hear Beethoven and Mozart in Germany to-day, we can only hear Mahler and Strauss." He found the music of the Symphonic Domestica admirable, but thought the programme boldly defied reason, and even good taste. Hence his conclusion
"German music in general is showing some grave symptoms. I will not dwell on its neurasthenia, for it is passing through a crisis which will teach it wisdom ; but I fear, nevertheless, that this excessive nervous excitement will be followed by torpor. What is really disquieting is that, in spite of all the talent that still abounds, Germany is fast losing her chief musical endowments. Her melodic charm has nearly disappeared. One could search the music of Strauss, Mahler, or Hugo Wolf, without finding a melody of any real value, or of any true originality, outside its application to a text, or a literary idea, and its harmonic development. And besides that, German music is daily losing its intimate spirit; there are still traces of this spirit in Wolf, thanks to his excep- tionally unhappy life; but there is very little of it in Mahler, in spite of all his efforts to concentrate his mind on himself ; and there is hardly any at all in Strauss, although he is the most interesting of the three composers. German musicians have no longer any depth. I have said that I attribute this fact to the detestable influence of the theatre, to which nearly all these artists are attached as Kapeilmeister, or directors of opera. To this day they owe the melodramatic character of their music, even though it is on the surface only—musio written for show, and aiming chiefly at effect. More baneful even than the influence of the theatre is the influence of success. Those musicians have nowadays too many facilities for having their music played. A work is played almost before it is finished, and the musician has no time to live with his work in solitude and silence. Besides this, the works of the chief German musicians are supported by tremendous booming of some kind or another by their ffiusiVeste, by their critics, their press, and their 'Musical Guides' (Musa. fares), which are apologetic explanations of their works, scattered abroad in millions to set the fashion for the sheeplike public. And with all this a musician grows soon contented with himself, and comes to believe any favourable opinion about his work. What a difference from Beethoven, who, all his life, was hammering out the same subjects, and putting his melodies on the anvil twenty times before they reached their final form. That is where Mahler is so lacking. His subjects are a rather vulgarised edition of some of Beethoven's ideas in their unfinished sMge. But Mahler gots no further than the rough sketch. And, lastly, I want to speak of the greatest danger of all that menaces music in Germany ; there is too much music in Germany. This is not a paradox. There is no worse misfortune for art than a superabundance of it The music. is drowning the musicians. Festival succeeds festival: the day after the Strasburg festival there was to be a Bach festival at Eisenach ; and then, at the end of the week, a Beethoven festival at Bonn. Such a plethora of concerts, theatres, choral societies, and chamber-music societies, absorbs the whole life of the musician. When has he time to be alone to listen to the music that sings within him P This senseless flood of music invades the sanctuaries of his soul, weakens its power, and destroys its sacred solitude and the treasures of its thought. You must not think that this excess of music existed in the old days in Germany. In the time of the great classic masters, Germany had hardly any institutions for the giving of regular concerts, and choral performances were hardly known. In the Vienna of Mozart and Beethoven there was only a single associa- tion that gave concerto, and no Chorveraine at all, and it was the same with other towns in Germany. Does the wonderful spread of musical culture in Germany during the last century correspond with its artistic creation P I do not think so; and one feels the inequality between the two more every day. Do you remember .Ioethe's ballad of Der Zauberlehrting (L'Apprenti Harder) which Dukes so cleverly made into music ? There, in the absence of his master, an apprentice set working some magic spells, and so opened sluice-gates that no one could shut ; and the house was flooded. This is what Germany has done. She has let loose a flood of music, and is about to be drowned in it."
There are many other passages in the book which call for comment or criticism, for M. Rolland is not without his prejudices and limitations. But we have preferred to confine our attention to those opinions and estimates which recent events have invested with a peculiar interest. For the rest, whether they agree with or dissent from him, all music. lovers will find much that is stimulating and suggestive in If. Holland's essays.
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