MUSICAL COURIER
38
April 2 6, 1923
some curious features, and the most curious (and most convincing) of all is the element of syncopation, an element which, as we all know, has forced itself more and more upon English song as composers have approached nearer and nearer, unconsciously, to the proper syllable value of the words.
Such development, it may be said in passing, is the foundation of American rag-time. But there is no rag-time in these Sonneck songs, nor anything suggestive of it beyond the constant breaking up of the bars into irregular beats, and the tying over of sustained notes across the bar-lines. Vocally speaking, the words or syllables upon which the singer would inevitably rest, where the tendency would be to draw out the tone, Mr. Sonneck has extended and made a real part of the melody, so that there can be no possible excuse on the part of the singer to make further retards. These time-extensions have then been filled in with irregular recurring notes in the accompaniment, which gives the impression of a regular rhythm, although the rhythm is altogether irregular, and of regular phrase lengths, although the phrases are of all sorts of irregular lengths. More curious still is the fact that there is an impression of sustained melody in spite of all these irregularities.
One thing remains to be examined: the beauty of the musical content. In other words, are these good songs or are they not? Well, in the opinion of this reviewer they most decidedly are good songs, surprisingly so considering the small extent of Mr. Sonneck’s published works. One would think that a musician endowed with ideas of such real beauty would occupy himself more with this branch of endeavor, would' produce more. However that may be, Mr. Sonneck has produced something very notably worth while in these six short songs, and the reviewer permits himself the pious wish that he will give us more of the same sort, and that other composers will take to heart his studies and give the proper setting of the words of their songs as much thought as the music.
{,White-Smith Music Publishing Co., Boston)
A Cry at Dawn
By Charles Wakefield Cadman
A new song by so great a song writer as Cadman is always an event, and especially so when he turns out so beautiful a thing as this which lies before us now. A Cry at Dawn, to words by Nelle Richmond Eberhart, is a work that will add to Cadman’s repute as a producer of lovely melody, unaffected, impressive, dignified. This is not a difficult work. It is within reach of the amateur, as the most successful songs of the great classic writers have nearly always been, and even the accompaniment, although scholarly in its harmonic and contrapuntal developments, is easy to play. This is the sort of song that makes us all proud of Cadman. It will doubtless be one of his most popular numbers.
(/. & W. Chester, Ltd., London)
Dance of the Wild Men
By Roy E. Agnew
Ha! Ha! Ornstein gone one better, or one worse, however you may feel about it! Yet it is rather amazing. Does Roy Agnew not know his follow-modernist’s Wild Men’s Dance, now ten years old? If not why not? If so, how has he the nerve to write another piece with the same name ? And why, may we also be permitted to ask, do we reviewers in 1923 receive a work that was published in 1921 ? Is it because these futuristic monstrosities have no wings, and cannot fly but must crawl, that it takes them so long to get here? And, likewise, since we are asking questions, what kind of a piano is needed to play the final chord which is marked ffffff?
(Oliver Ditson Co., Boston)
Two Russian Folk Songs Arranged for Piano
By Chares Fonteyn Manney
These are the Dubinushka, and the very familiar Volga Boatmen’s Song arranged in a very simple manner evidently with a view to putting them within reach of students. They will be liked, especially the Boat Song, since Chaliapin has popularized it.
(G. Schirmer, Inc., New York)
Nocturne
By Pearl G. Curran
A pleasing ballad likely to become popular. It is dedicated to John Charles Thomas and it could not have a better introduction to the public.
{Arthur P. Schmidt, Boston)
Three Songs
By Lewis M. Isaacs
These are entitled: Life and Love, She Sauntered by the Swinging Sea, The Dawning Days. They are simple, unpretentious ballads of a popular sort and should make many friends. The composer is a well known “booster” for American music and it is a real pleasure to commend these graceful offerings from his pen.
(The John Church Company, Cincinnati)
Southern Sketches
By Arthur Nevin
This is a set of free fantasies for the piano in easy, flowing style, which will be found of real value as teaching pieces and favorites in the parlor. Nothing complex about them. They are just delightful dreams of pleasant days past and to come. The piano technic is extremely flowing and well-constructed, masterly in every way, and very carefully edited. The titles are: ’Neath the Magnolias, Sun Glaze on the River, At Twilight, Jus’ Strummin’, and Sunset on the Mississippi.
Middleton Reengaged for Pacific Coast Tour
Arthur Middleton has been reengaged for a Pacific Coast tour next season under the direction of Jessica Colbert, of San Francisco. He will make numerous appearances in California and neighboring States, beginning after the first of the year, although the exact time has not been set as yet due to the many demands for the artist’s services in the East.
One of the forthcoming festival dates booked for the baritone is on May 7 in New Britain, Conn., when he will sing The Elijah, with the Choral Society of that city.
Only there can one appraise his ability to manage his players, to get what he wants, to impose his will upon others.
There are, indeed, few conductors who possess all of the necessary attributes of this complex calling. A knowledge of music is far from being sufficient, a knowledge of the orchestra, of the instruments, of the beats, of all the technical details, will be useless unless one has the personality to control the hundred men who have to be brought to do their best, and unless one has, too, the personality to sway an audience.
MUSIC
{Composers' Music Corporation, New York)
Six Studies in Song, Op. 19
By O. G. Sonneck
What is a study in song? The question is a natural one, for this puzzling title evidently introduces a new conception into the making of vocal works. A glance at the songs themselves makes it evident that these studies jn song are not song studies, vocalizes. They are, in fact, just the opposite of vocalizes. There is in them none of that vapid, meaningless emptiness that seems to be the very essence of the vocalize and its blood brother, the bel canto._
But this does not answer our question: what is a study in song? What had Mr. Sonneck in mind when he wrote these beautiful studies—if studies they are—and why did he attach that title to them?
The answer is not far to seek if one makes a comparison of these songs with the traditional setting of poetry to music. And it will be useful in this review to make such a comparison, not only because it will illuminate Mr. Son-neck’s object, but also because it will aid, perhaps, in a small way, in the educational work that he has thus undertaken.
Songs, as we know them, might be divided into two, or perhaps three, classes: in the first class the composer writes something for the smooth, melifluous and luscious voice, sacrificing to it not only the words themselves but also the very sentiment that the words convey—this is the old Italian style; in the second class the composer strives musically to express the general sentiment of the text, but gives little heed to the exigencies of word-accent—this is the German “Lieder” type and all that has grown out of it; in the third class the composer begins with the accompaniment, which is actually not an accompaniment but a soft of limping piano composition which more or less expresses the sentiment of the poem, and to which the voice part is attached in such a manner that in most cases it cannot by any stretch of the imagination be called a melody at all—thus the modernists.
Evidently all three types of song are equally defective,, and what the majority of singers does with them renders them more so. In the first class the singer makes of his voice a mere instrument, like a violin. Pronunciation is of no consequence, and it would, in fact, be ridiculous if the words, with their repetitions and their false accents could be understood. In the second class the singer has his choice of two evils; he either recites the words properly and sacrifices the music, or he sings the music properly and sacrifices the words. And the defects of the third class, that of the moderns, are still more glaring, for, in spite of all that may be argued to the contrary, the mind of the listener follows the vocal line, and this vocal line being a meaningless succession of notes, confusion, or, worse still, boredom, results.
Mr. Sonneck appears to have come to the conclusion that there might be a solution to this vocal problem—that it might be possible to write a melody exactly adjusted to the word-accent, so that neither the word-accent nor the musical line need be sacrificed, and so, too, that the singer need not destroy the proper interpretation of the music with those endless ritards, rubatos and accelerandos which seem to be the backbone of vocal interpretation.
This Mr. Sonneck has accomplished by writing the retards, rubatos and accelerandos into the music, making them an integral part of the melodic line. The result presents
REVIEWS AND NEW MUSIC
BOOKS
{Maurice Senart, Paris)
L’Esthetique de L’Orgue
By Jean Hure
This is a very interesting, instructive and exhaustive work on the organ, over 200 pages, 10mo., and the author has collected together an amazing lot of information about organs, old and new, their building and playing, and certain details and suggestions as to interpretation, registration and like problems. Those who read French will certainly enjoy and profit by this book.
Some of the views expressed are curious. Regarding the clarinet stop Mr. Hure says that it has “perhaps more charm than the clarinet of the orchestra.” It has always seemed to the writer that every effort being made to produce a perfect orchestral clarinet effect on the organ was so far without success. He says further that it is possible to imitate perfectly the oboe and bassoon of the orchestra, “but this ‘coquetterie’ is not necessary.”
On the subject of expression Mr. Hure has some definite and original ideas. He states that it is an error to suppose that musical expression consists solely of dynamic nuance, “forte,” "piano,” “crescendo,” etc. “That is, in fact, the most unrefined, vulgar form of it.” But the phrase and the punctuation are just as important.
The difficult subject of rubato, subject of so much controversy, he interprets as a sort of rag-time rhythm. That is, in a passage of two half-notes he adds to the first half a sixty-fourth note and shortens the second half to the same extent.
Of our American electric actions Mr. Hure has nothing good to say, but finds that they give to the touch a certain flatness or mexpressiveness which does not permit the player to express his individuality. He does, however, give, in a footnote, an opinion directly opposed to this by no less a master than Bonnet, who writes an extended appreciation of American organ actions. (It is amusing in this regard to note that Mr. Hure claims that most of these improvements were invented in France, contrary to which Mr. Bonnet speaks of the “astonishing results” obtained by our principal manufacturers “after years of patient research and scientific experiment.”)
But if a few of these curiously doubtful statements are selected for comment, it is not with the purpose of giving the impression that this book has not its excellence. It has. It is a masterly and complete exposition of all sorts of things pertaining to organ building, organ history and organ playing. An American translation with added American data would be a welcome addition to our organ literature.
L’Art du Chef d’Orchestre
By Lazare Saminski
Translated into French by Boris de Schloezer from the Russian. Privately printed.
It is a pity that this little pamphlet of twenty pages is not issued in English and made available for the English reading public, only a small percentage of which—alas!— reads French. Mr. Saminski, a Russian composer, pupil of Rimsky-Korsakoff, writes partly from his own experience as a conductor, partly from observation and partly in the way of a commentary upon other works on this subject, those by Berlioz, Wagner and Weingartner.
Mr. Saminski calls attention to the fact that there is no feature of musical production in which reigns more confusion, more vague understanding, than this matter of conducting. And, he adds* to appreciate fully and to judge properly of a conductor one must see him at rehearsal.
PATTERSON
A.
U
Teacher of Voice
Concert—Opera—Oratorio
Instruction by Special Appointment During Summer Months
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