Mu sic
SCHUBERT.
IT is already evident that the Schubert centenary is being observed with more discrimination than was shown during
the Beethoven celebrations last year. On that occasion, concert promoters and recitalists seemed to be obsessed with the idea of performing every single work that Beethoven had ever written. Poor works were produced with as much enthusiasm as if they had been masterpieces. Clearly, this was a mistaken policy, for it took no account of after- effects. Before the end of spring last year, critics and audiences began to complain that they were hearing too much Beethoven. They soon discovered that they were
being grossly overfed. Now that we are wise after the event, we see that this intensive culture of Beethoven's music did not effect many conversions. Those for whom Beethoven was a god continued to worship ; those who professed themselves unbelievers gloried the more in their unbelief. In all centenary observances it is necessary to guard against blind adulation on the one hand and insolence on the other. The aim should be merely a just valuation of the subject's position and achievement ; for if there is any misrepresentation as to the height of his attainment, then, just as surely as darkness follows the light, there will follow a time when his works will fall into neglect. History is full of warning examples.
Contemporary habits of mind were truly reflected in the recently announced scheme, which offered a prize for the best completion of the " Unfinished " Symphony. For- tunately, the opinion of the music public—or, rather, of its representatives—was strong enough to compel its with- drawal. Had the scheme gone through, any future historian would have been justified in assuming that the popularizing of Schubert in 1928 was an artificial product of early twentieth- century commercialism. But the scheme has been modified, and a prize of £2,000 has been awarded to the Swedish com- poser Kurt Atterberg for a symphony " dedicated to Schubert's memory on the occasion of his centenary." It is difficult to understand how this work was chosen from over five hundred works sent in from twenty-six countries. Of course, it is not necessary for a work of this kind to be " Schubertian " in any way, but we are justified in looking for a point of contact somewhere. I have played the records over several times (four Columbia records in album, 26s.), and have failed to discover the slightest connexion between this music and the event for which it has been singled out. Perhaps the judges adopted the law of opposites, in which case they have been singularly successful, for the loud, hearty, athletic music of Atterberg's symphony is an almost painful contrast to Schubert's wistful expression.
More worthy of the occasion is the literature which has been published during the last few weeks. There is not space enough here to give a detailed account of each work, but one is especially notable by reason of its original criticism and serious zeal. This is Richard Capell's Schubert's Songs (Benn, 15s.). Actually this is the first book in English on this subject. It is obviously the outcome, not merely of a publisher's request, but of years of diligent study. The Plan of the book is admirable. After important essays on the-subjects of the composer's sentiment, poets, and style, the songs are taken in chronological order and submitted to careful analysis. The book is an admirable example of what centenary enthusiasm should be, a mingling of honesty and reverence.
Mr. Newman Flower's book, Franz Schubert, the Man and his Circle (Cassell, 15s.), lacks a little of this reverence, although it is as honest as a coin from the Mint. I do not mean to infer that the author has undertaken his task lightly, but that, in his attempt to create a vivid image of the Schubert circle, he has slightly overdone the picturesque ; but his method of omitting musical criticism has the great advantage of helping us to concentrate upon Schubert as a living person in relation to his friends. Quite reasonably this work can be compared with a film which has been pre- pared to depict the life of the composer. Indeed, some of the sentences are not unlike captions.
Karl Kobald's biography, Franz Schubert and his Times (Knopf, 21s.), which now appears in an English translation by Beatrice Marshall, is valuable chiefly because of the chapter called " The Vienna of Biedermeier,"- in which the life and the art of the period are fully discussed. It is only fair to state, however, that as a study of Schubert's character it has been eclipsed by the more recent work of Herr Stefan. Sehubert's letters have been translated into English by Venetia Savile (Faber and Gwyer, 6s.). Four letters have been added to the original edition, but they cannot be said to be very important. To this volume Ernest NeWman contributes a stimulating foreword, in which he discerns in the life of Schubert a dividing line coinciding with the illness of 1823 ; and this brings me to a mildly controversial point. It is always to be noted that whenever an occasion to be celebrated by new publications, the writers seek out a problem with which to contend ; and when there is no real problem they create an imaginary one, in their anxiety to prove that the labourer is worthy of his hire. If ever there was a composer whose life could be written without any reference to psychological subtleties, without any inter- ruption for the discussion of a weighty problem, that com- poser was Schubert. Of course, there is always the question as to where he obtained money for food at certain periods in his life, but that question is not as urgent for us as it was for him. The question out of which the centenary books and writings have made most capital is that of Schubert's illness. It seems to me that this is rather a doubtful way of honouring his memory. There are those who welcome a discussion of the question as being healthy-minded, honest and refreshing. There is no reason why we should grudge them this particular form of refreshment, and there is also no reason why we should not prefer to be refreshed in other ways if we are temperamentally unable to take pleasure in post-mortems. For my part, I think a detailed discussion of Schubert's illness at this present time is unsuitable, and I base my objections, not upon sentimental but upon aesthetic grounds. In certain quarters the nature of Schubert's illness has been so strongly insisted upon that the fact has assumed an exaggerated importance. It is not fanciful to look upon a centenary celebration as a work of art in itself. If it is to be that, we must aim at those qualities of balance and proportion which are the conditions of such a creation. There must be no distortion, no detail must he lifted above its relative importance. The exaggeration of a single fact in Schubert's medical history has already resulted in a certain amount of misunderstanding ; it has even led a few well- meaning champions to come forward and defend his morals and to emphasize the fact (which, incidentally, is supported by Kobald) that Schober's influence upon Schubert was never anything but wholesome. This may or may not have been so ; but the point is hardly as important as the champions and the cynics have tried to make out. Our present purpose should be to see Schubert's life and work as a whole, and, in the light of a hundred years of human experience, to formulate our belief in his genius and to declare it with an eye for truth.
BASIL MAINE.
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