On this page
-
Text (2)
-
October 28, 1854.] THE LEADER. 1027
-
THE ROMANTIC SCHOOL OE MUSIC I.ISZT OS M...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
W2sr3j& 3§ Sk'sfis'.&.'S? 332a Hi. Ss^ V...
bottom of his heart he still had a triumph left—the girl had made his accuser faithless . u John , " said Mr . Jarrett , "before he moved to receive his visitor , " Mr . Dutton will call to-morrow , with his lawyer , if he likes , to dissolve the partnership and wind up the accounts . " Dutton took his hat , and went out of the room . ' I remember once , " said Jarrett , laying his hand on Smith ' s sTioulder , *' nay , much oftener than once , stealing money out of my mother ' s till—and my mother , John , was a poor wo man , who pinched herself to educate me . " " But , sir , " said Smith in the same low voice , his face showing the respect tie felt for the generosity of the man , —and Jarrett piqued himself on manliness in ail things— " you were a boy , quite a boy . " " Not so very young , either ; but I was a naughty boy , John . However , « ome of us , poor devils , never grow to be men . He is my mistake . Never mind ; Mrs . Jarrett is waiting all this while for your fair Italian , and her story . "
Dutton still lingered in the outermost office , partly braving any desire of Jarrett ' s to take summary proceedings , partly eager to learn what be could . He could , however , hear Jarrett going out by the private way ; and at the < 1 oot he saw the chief partner hand the young lady into Mrs . Jarrett ' s -carriage , and drive off with her , while Smith followed into a cab that stood behind laden with luggage . Dutton hurried off to give the district registrar notice of his own marriage with Amy as soon as possible .
October 28, 1854.] The Leader. 1027
October 28 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 1027
The Romantic School Oe Music I.Iszt Os M...
THE ROMANTIC SCHOOL OE MUSIC I . ISZT OS MEIEREEBR WAGNER . "Weimar , Oct . 1 . It has been my duty and my pleasure several times in this journal to raise my voice against Meyerbeer and his school ; which may have something to -do . with the selection of the subject fox the third letter . I am . glad to have ( Liszt fighting in the same ranks , although he fights under another standard . My opinion has always been that Meyerbeer ' s unmistakable ability and knowledge of . theatrical effect have given his works a popularity which fora
tipae may cast , m , the shade the mu sic of far deeper and more enduring character , just as the popularity of a Dumas may for a time eclipse Kacine . ; fout ^ whatever we may think of Meyerbeer ' s theatrical talent , his musical ¦ geniuses of quite a secondary order . Instead of Music he has striven for Situation ; instead of Poetry , Effect . To bring stage pomp , splendour , dance , and the clang of tumultuous , orchestras , as a substitution for passionate and melodic expression , was an innovation indeed * but no real reform . The primary aim of the musical Art was . given up in favour-of . a secondary and accessory aim of stage effect .
Such , briefly , was the point of view taken . In Liszt ' s criticism I find perfect agreement with these ideas , except ; that he regards Meyerbeer ' s inmovation as a real reform , a transition from a worn-out form of Art to a © ewer and grander ibrm . Rossini-r—il maestro di color die sonno— -the greatest dramatic genius , as I conceive , who ever used Music as a form of expression , Liszt regards as the culmination of that style which aimed at Feeling above all things , carelesa of dramatic propriety , careless of character , truth , or couleur locale . Meyerbeer , on the other hand , is regardless of . the mere melodic delight , and thinks mainly of Effect . Let . us see how Liszt esta- * blishes this by an historical survey of the development of modern . Opera . He very properly brings into its deserved prominence the part which the libretto plays in Opera . Thus , ho says , among all the libretto-writers of the last century , the one who won a lasting celebrity was Metastasio , He was the poetjpar excellence of that Italian opera of which we may take Hasse
as the most typical representative . Though not so fertile as some other ¦ composers of his time , Hasse produced more than fifty operas , which will not appear surprising if wo reflect that , in that day every musical author held it quite natural to compose several operas to the same text , and vice versoi . This fact is a significant proof of the then existing indifference to effects which are appropriate to specific situations ; for these are not transferable , whereas the same feeling may be expressed in a hundred ways , and It is easy to adapt a new melody to words , or new words to a melody , if both the one and the other simply express joy , sorrow , or love in general , and if no great weight is laid on declamation and prosody , which are the sole indissoluble bond between words and musical expression . Thus , during the ( first epoch of the Opera , the expression of feeling was the dominant tendency . In the beginning of the present century the society whose favourite
poet was Metastasio , and whose favourite musician was llasso , had disappeared . New , social conditions demanded a new form of art . Already , in Don Giovanni and II Flaulo Magico , new elements are observable ; tragio horror alternates with comedy , evidently for the sake of avoiding the unijfbrmity of the sentimental fustian and bombast which were then inseparable from the opera seria . The signal onco given , everything was sought that could introduce variety into the libretto , and the distinction between the opera seria and the opera bujfa was obliterated in favour of the opera mezzo carat-4 ere . Antiquity , the middle ages , romances , the poetical incidents of modern history , even anecdotes , were ransacked for themes that admitted of amplifications , variations , and accessories ; and this was done without any system , ¦ as in the case of transitional ! works , which , while they depart from the old
form , do not fully boar the stamp of tho now . When Scribe wrote Robert Ze Diable it was evident that oven in tho lifetime of Rossini , the most illustrious master of tho old school , a new period in tho conceptions of- operaeubjects had thoroughly set in . Rossim had more than parried the effect of Auber ' a Afasanielh by producing William Tell , but when Robert appeared lie left Paris , conscious that tho school , of which ho was the head , had received a . blow which sooner or later must be fatal . The expression of feeling in arias , duettos , and finales , which called forth no pregnant dramatio -crisis , ceased to bo tho basis of an opera . Tho demand was for situations . This element waa not entirely novel ; instinctively it had already been striven for . Tho inauguration of a now period in tho opera through Scribe ' s Robert and Meyerbeer s musical conception of it , presented nothing unheard of , or unprecedented . In art , as in nature , no sneoios stands in isolation—it ia alwayw united by intermediate links with species of a different ov oven
opposite form . There had been the hell-flames in Don Giovanni , the explosion of the fleet in Cortez , the hammer and anvil chorus in Alcidoi ; the burning Vesuvius and the tumultuous scenes in Masaniello , the popular insurrection and the glowing Alps in William Tell , the terrors of the Wolf Ravine ia Der Freischutz . But Scribe surpassed all , making that a main object which had previously been only an accessory . Splendour of decoration , profusion , of scenic arrangement , marvellous ballets , supernatural machinery , in short , spectacular magnificence , ceased to be adjuncts and became an integral element , an organic part of every operatic work , since they were essential to the interest and artistic effect of the situations . Simultaneously arose the necessity for developing new resources in the orchestra and chorus , if they were not to be annihilated or reduced to the second rank by scenic splendour . From this time it was an absolute requisite in every opera that there should be some grand spectacle in the most thrilling moment , as a sort of
climax to the sitliatinns _ T'llP . flanpn r \ f tlio nTiantnmo in A ?/ i / .. ovy -nr ^ c n ,. * . climax to the situations . The dance of the phantoms in Roberl -was succeeded by the crowd of horses in . La Juive . and this again by the fabulous wonders of the Juif Errant and IS Enfant Prodigue , till at last it seems as if the force of decoration can no further go . Scribe , like a man of talent as he is , did not use half measures ; he laid hold on situations wherever he could find them , and being in no dread of absurdity , he won the game . His name will be inseparable from the second period of the opera , less fertile than the first , but more important from the intrinsic value of its productions . The school of which Metastasio was the chief poet , was adapted to a period and to courts in which effeminate , insipid refinement reigned ; Scribe , on the contrary , belongs to an epoch in ivhich-exaggeration was tie order of the day . Romanticism was then in full bloom , and French poetry was still under the influence of Byron and Hoffman . The public , accustomed to horrors , could hardly be made to shudder by the most startling contrasts
.. Victor Hugo created chaste courtesans , devoted mothers , and artistic poisoners , in one and the same person ; Nodier paraded with his Jean Sbogar ; beautiful countesses arid duchesses were enamoured of the heroes in Eugene Sue's Salamander \ and gave their approval to Dofval , in Dumas' Antony . Extravagance-was asked for at any price . Hatred and love , terrific dangers and ineffable bliss , the brightest light and the darkest shade were placed in juxtaposition . Scribe crowned all in his Robert by making Satan himself a tender father . It would be difficult now to bring forward such a sentimental devil , but at the time when Robert appeared it was precisely this extravagance which made its fortune . The different relation which the libretto bears to the music in the first and second periods of the opera is strongly indicated by the fact that though Eossini applied himself to the creation of nearly forty operas , no one cares to know the author on any one of his librettos , whereas the name of Scribe is indissolubly bound to that of Meyerbeer 1 . In that form of the opera which they have jointly brought to its culminating point , they have made love merely an episode , if
order to step out of the harrow circle of simple , individual feeling , and to multiply dramatic motives which may give rise to an abundance of striking situations . Simple melody is superseded by combinations of musical effect , the expression of feeling -has given way to situation . These must be had at whatever cost , and it must be , admitted that in pursuit of them the interest and the truthful presentation of character are often left unregarded , though not so entirely as critics are now wont to allege . It is true enough that the character of Robert has no sort of self-subsistence , that Isabella is but a voice , Bertram falsely drawn , and the Prophet erroneously conceived , Bertha a nullity , and Fides a failure ; but on the other hand , Alice—the pure , pioua country maiden , who rescues the son of her benefactress from hellish snares , not out of egotistic love , but out of divine compassion and child-like obedience—and Marcel , who presents the same kind of self-devotion in a severer form , are true characters and noble creations . And if Scribe is to be reproached for his love of situations , he knows how to select impressive ones , witness the fourth act of the Huguenots .
It is undeniable that Scribe and Meyerbeer have made a great step towards the complete union of musical and poetical requirements on the stage , towards the conversion of the opera into a real musical drama . They have given a necessary prelude to the position maintained by the new operatic school , namely—that the moment is come in which tho poetry of opera-texts should have move elements of tho tragedy and recited drama than hitherto ; that all the splendours of scenery can bo applied to heighten the interest of situations without sacrificing the indispensable poetical features of the , drama . Tho first period of the opera , of which Rossini is tho greatest representative , liad for its aim the expression of feeling ; the second period , represented by Meyerbeer , has striven after situations and musical effects ; the third period , inaugurated by the operas of Wagner , seeks to ally situations with character . Wagner saw that in striving for
situations tho operatic author was m danger 01 neglecting tragical requisites and beauties ; whereas the presentation of characters and their mutual relations necessarily evolved situations . Ho does not , like Scribe , combine situations as external events ; he makes them spring out of the passions which heave in tho bosom of man , out of the impulBCS which detorrnino the nature of his joys and griefs- In the first scene of TannhaUscr , it is the will of man which , inasmuch as he breaks loose from one feeling and submits to tho sway of another , suffices to call forth the marvellous situation . Tho school of Wagner is at present too young for any opinion to bo pronounced on its futuTe destiny , on tho excellences which constitute its greatness , or the faults which will ultimately bring about ita decline . For Art never
stands still , but lives under successive forms as under so many tent /* , which are pitched and taken down again on the path to tho Ideal . IJut oveu now , at tho very riae of this school , there ia ground for maintaining that it haa become impossible any longer to create and carry out enduring works on the model of Scribe and Meyerbeer . The presentation of character , that first condition of perfection in tragedy , will henceforth bo n necessity for tho musical drama also . And this element makes t . ho regeneration and creation of a declamatory stylo indispensablu . Character maiufewts itself on tho atngo by words as well as notions , ' hunco Wntfiiur lay « so much stress on tho intrinsic beauty of tho operatic pooin . Gliick lout to dramatic ^ music all the lustre , nmiosty , and weight of tho declamatory stylo , while Piccini hold to the old faith , the main article of which was , that melodic expression euHiced
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 28, 1854, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28101854/page/19/
-