II
Apart from the general assimilation of the innovating features due to Wagner and Liszt, the most striking factor in musical evolution of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries has been the rise of nationalistic schools of composition. These have deliberately cultivated the use of native folk-song and dance-rhythms, and in the case of operas and symphonic poems have frequently drawn upon national legend for subjects. One of the earliest of these groups was the Bohemian, whose leader, Smetana, already mentioned in connection with the symphonic poem, chamber and piano music, also won a distinguished place by his vivacious comic opera 'The Bartered Bride,' known abroad chiefly by its inimitable overture. If Dvořák promised to be a worthy disciple of a greatly talented pioneer, his abilities were diffused by falling a victim to commissions from English choral societies, and in endeavoring to emulate Brahms. In reality he was most significant when unconscious, as in the Slavic Dances and his naïve and charming Suite, op. 39, although his symphony 'From the New World' and certain chamber works based upon negro themes are as enduring as anything he composed. Hampered by a truly Schubertian lack of self-criticism, his path toward oblivion has been hastened by this fatal defect, although his national flavor and piquant orchestral color deserve a juster fate.
In the Scandinavian countries Grieg, and, to a lesser degree, Nordraak, as well as Svendsen and Sinding tempered nationality with German culture. Grieg, the more dominant personality, was a born poet, and imparted a truly national fervor to his songs and piano pieces. In the sonata form he was pathetically inept, despite the former popularity of his chamber works and piano concerto. Certain mannerisms in abuse of sequence, and a too persistent cultivation of small forms, have caused his works to lose ground rapidly; nevertheless Grieg has given a poetic and nationalistic savor to his best music that makes it impossible to overlook its value.
A coterie of accomplished and versatile musicians which yields to none for intrinsic charm, vitality, and poetic spontaneity is that of the so-called Neo-Russians, self-styled 'the Invincible Band.' Resenting Rubinstein's almost total surrender to Teutonic standards, and scorning Tschaikowsky as representing a pitiable compromise between Russian and German standpoints, they revolted against conventional technique with as great pertinacity as did Galileo, Peri, Caccini, and Monteverdi in the late sixteenth century. Their æsthetic foster-father, Balakireff, for a time dominated the studies and even supervised the composition of the members—Borodine, Cui, Moussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakoff. Ultimately, each followed his own path, though not without a certain community of ideal. Aiming to continue the work of Glinka and Dargomijsky, both in opera and instrumental music, they wished to use folk-songs for themes and to utilize national legends or fairy stories. But they could not resist the alien form of the symphonic poem, and with it the orchestra of Liszt, and, while they opposed the Wagnerian dramatic forms, one at least, Rimsky-Korsakoff, could not withstand the palpable advantages of the Wagnerian orchestra. Their works combined the elements of western and oriental Russia, adhered largely to folk-song or elements of its style, and in the opera embodied folk-dances, semi-Pagan worship and ceremonial with striking nationalistic effect. Many of their orchestral pieces have taken place in the international repertory of orchestras; of the operas a smaller number have penetrated to European theatres. While the nationalistic operas of Rimsky-Korsakoff are little known beyond Russia, they show his talent in a broadly humanistic and epic standpoint, hardly hinted at in his orchestral works. Moussorgsky's Boris Godounoff, one of the finest operas since Wagner, claims attention from the fact that it attains dramatic vitality from a standpoint diametrically opposed to Wagner. The influence of Boris Godounoff is palpable as forming the subtle dramatic idiom of Pelléas et Mélisande.
Glazounoff, Taneieff, and Glière represent the cosmopolitan element among Russian composers of to-day. Of these Glazounoff is the most notable. His early symphonic poem, Stenka Razine, gave promise of an original and brilliant career, but instead he has become steadily more reactionary. Among his eight symphonies there is scarcely one that is preëminent from beginning to end. His ballets, Raymonda, 'The Seasons,' and 'Love's Ruses,' have been surpassed by younger men. His violin concerto is among his most able works. A master of technique and structure and a remarkably erudite figure, his lack of progressiveness has been against him. A younger composer, Tcherepnine, is known for his skillful ballets, 'Narcissus,' 'Pan and Echo,' and 'The Pavilion of Armida,' which incline, nevertheless, towards the conventional. Rachmaninoff is also of reactionary tendencies, although his piano concertos and his fine symphonic poem, 'The Isle of the Dead,' have shown his distinction.
The rise of the modern French school, largely owing to a patriotic reaction after the Franco-Prussian war and the liberal policies of the National Society, has brought about one of the most fertile movements in modern music. The transition from the operas of Gounod, Thomas, Bizet, and the early Massenet to those of Chabrier, Lalo, d'Indy, Bruneau, Charpentier, Debussy, Dukas, Ravel, and Fauré is remarkable for its concentrated progress in dramatic truthfulness. Similarly, beginning with the eclectic and facile Saint-Saëns, the more romantic and fearless Lalo, and the mystic Franck, through the audacious Chabrier and the suave and poetic Fauré, including the serious and devoted followers of Franck, d'Indy, Duparc, de Castillon, Chausson, and Lekeu, the versatile Dukas, to the epoch-making Debussy with the younger men like Ravel, Schmitt and Roussel, French instrumental music has developed, on the one hand, a fervently classic spirit despite its modernism and, on the other, an impressionistic exoticism which is without parallel in modern music. Aside from a vitally new harmonic idiom, which in Debussy reaches its greatest originality despite d'Indy, Fauré, and the later developments of Ravel, the attainment of racially distinct dramatic style in such works as Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande, Dukas' Ariane et Barbe-bleue, Ravel's L'Heure espagnole, and Fauré's Pénélope is one of the crowning achievements of this group. Furthermore, following the examples of the younger Russians, the ballets of Jeux and Khamma by Debussy, La Péri by Dukas, La Tragédie de Salomé by Florent Schmitt, Le Festin de l'Arraignée by Roussel, Orphée by Roger-Ducasse, and, most significant of all, Daphnis et Chloé by Maurice Ravel, have given a remarkable impetus to a genuine choreographic revival.
There has been no nationalistic development in England comparable to that in other countries, although there has been no lack of serious and sustained effort to be both modern and individual. The most important of British composers is undoubtedly Elgar, who has attained something like independence with his brilliant and well-made orchestral works, and more especially for his oratorio 'The Dream of Gerontius.' If Elgar only carried on further a systematized use of the leading motive as suggested by Liszt in his oratorios, it was done with a dramatic resource and eloquence which made the method his own. Bantock, gifted with an orchestral perception above the average, showing a natural aptitude for exoticism, achieved a successful fusion of eclectic elements with individuality in his three-part setting of the Rubaîyat of Omar Khayyám. Other choral works and orchestral pieces have met with a more uncertain reception. William Wallace has been conspicuous for his imaginative symphonic poems, and the insight of his essays on music. Frederick Delius, partly German, has maintained a personal and somewhat detached individuality in orchestral, choral and dramatic works of distinctive value. Josef Holbrooke has been mentioned already for his unusual mastery of orchestral technique, and his courageous and ambitious attempts in opera. Many younger composers are striving to be personal and independent, though involuntarily affected by one or another of existent currents in modern music. Of these Cyril Scott attempts a praiseworthy modernistic and impressionistic sentiment, in which he leans heavily on Debussy's harmonic innovations. Thus, while English composers have been active, they have fallen to the ready temptations of eclecticism, a growing force in music of to-day, and in consequence their art has not the same measure of nationalistic import as in Russia, France, and Germany.