CHAPTER VI.
SCHUBERT AND MENDELSSOHN.
FRANZ PETER SCHUBERT.
Born January 31, 1797, at Lichtenthal, near Vienna.
Died November 19, 1828, at Vienna.
Franz Peter Schubert, the great song-writer, was born, the son of a parish schoolmaster, at Lichtenthal, near Vienna. The family was musical, and the father and a few of his friends used to hold quartet parties every Sunday afternoon, at which the works for string quartet then current were played, also compositions by Haydn and other good composers. The boy very early showed such talent that his father taught him the violin, and occasionally allowed him to take part with the rest. He had a beautiful soprano voice, which, attracting the attention of the director of the music at St. Stephen's Cathedral, secured him admission to the choir and to the Imperial Convict, or school for educating the choristers for the Court-chapel, where, besides the usual branches of education, he was taught music thoroughly. This continued until his voice broke, whereupon he was turned out to shift for himself. For the three years next following he assisted his father in the school, teaching the lowest class in it, and proved himself, it is pretty certain, a very indifferent teacher. Later he resigned this position, and struggled on during his short life mainly by the assistance of friends, one of whom saw to it that the indefatigable composer was supplied with music paper; another shared his room with him, etc. Between 1818 and 1824 he spent his summers at the Hungarian estate of the great Prince Esterhazy, teaching the daughters music and arranging music for the household. Here many of his works were written. In Vienna he had an orchestra of school-boys for quite a long time, which probably played his works occasionally, as well as those of composers of less complicated works.
Franz Schubert, Felix Mendelssohn
Schubert began to compose in earnest very early, and by the time he was twenty years of age he had written about 400 of his songs. His works comprise a volume of pianoforte sonatas, several volumes of light works for piano, about 600 songs, nine symphonies, of which two are among the greatest we have, one opera, several masses, and a large number of compositions for chamber music.
FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY.
Born February 3, 1809, at Hamburg.
Died November 4, 1847, at Leipsic.
He was the nephew of the celebrated Jewish philosopher and reformer, Moses Mendelssohn, and a son of the well-known banker, Abraham Mendelssohn.
The family was Israelitish, but Felix Mendelssohn was brought up a Lutheran. The boy was of a very amiable and thoughtful disposition, and was well instructed in music from his earliest years, his principal teacher having been the celebrated theorist, Zelter. His first appearance in concert was made at the age of nine, in the piano part of a trio by Wolf. A year later he appeared as a singer. His acquaintance with the orchestra commenced very early. There was a small orchestra which met at his father's house on Sunday afternoons, and by this means the compositions of the boy were tried and he himself acquired his experience as a director. His activity as a composer commenced about 1820. In this year he wrote a violin sonata and two clavier sonatas, a little cantata, and an operetta. In 1821 Zelter brought him to the great poet Goethe, who heard his music and conversed with the lad with great interest. The friendship with Goethe continued for many years. In one of his letters Mendelssohn tells of having visited the poet and having had a long conversation with him, in which the poet had given an account of Hegel's lectures on esthetics, which Mendelssohn had heard that winter in Berlin, and in which Goethe was very much interested on account of the novelty of the ideas presented. The first of the important compositions of Mendelssohn to be published and played was the overture to the "Midsummer Night's Dream," which was written in 1826 and played immediately. He seems to have worked this out upon the piano, improvising it piece by piece as he became excited in reading Shakspere's comedy. This overture is of most complete mastery in its working out and of thorough originality, and scarcely anything of his later works surpasses it in merit as a finished composition for orchestra.
It was largely through Mendelssohn's influence that the "St. Matthew Passion" of Bach was brought out and given entire in Berlin, in 1829, just one hundred years after its first production in Leipsic. Mendelssohn was the conductor, and it was given in the Sing-Akademie. This was the work of a boy of twenty. Nothing could speak more plainly of the authority which his genius gave him than that he should conceive and bring to completion an undertaking of this magnitude in a city like Berlin at so early an age. He made many journeys for pleasure and instruction. Full accounts of these will be found in his charming letters, which are among the most delightful contributions of this kind that any literary man or artist has left. During one of these journeys he visited the Hebrides, and afterward produced his overture called "Fingal's Cave," as a memory of that visit.
Mendelssohn attained great celebrity as a pianist and organist, the latter mainly by his improvisations, although he has the credit of having been one of the first to play Bach's fugues in England. The late August Haupt, however, told one of his pupils that Mendelssohn, in his time, never had an adequate pedal technic but played upon a sort of hit-or-miss principle, which generally succeeded from his thorough grasp of the music. He early produced his concerto for pianoforte in G minor, and played it at many musical festivals. He was in great demand as a director for festivals in Germany and also in England. He became director of the Gewandhaus concerts at Leipsic in 1835, and in 1843, with very distinguished artist associates, he founded the Conservatory of Music at Leipsic, which, under his management, became so celebrated. Mendelssohn produced works in almost every department of musical composition, a great variety of chamber music, symphonies, overtures, one opera, and a very large collection of music for the piano-forte and organ. Probably his fame will last longer through the influence of three works—viz., the "Midsummer Night's Dream" overture, which opened the new world of the romantic; the oratorio of "Elijah," which is in very many respects one of the most beautiful ever written, just as it is also fortunate in the selection of subjects and of the episodes for treatment; and the "Songs Without Words" for the pianoforte, which, while not of remarkable depth, are very beautiful and poetic compositions of such quality as to awaken in the musical world a new appetite and a new appreciation of an instrument which has now become the most universal in use.
All the works of Mendelssohn are distinguished for clearness of form, elegance of sentiment, and delicate fancy. They are more feminine than masculine, although at times he has a great deal of strength. His pianoforte writing is not so well suited to the instrument as that of some other composers, such as Chopin and Liszt, and his concertos, although very popular, are not ranked among the master works of this form of composition. Of all the pianoforte music which he produced, the "Rondo Capriccioso" is the one which most completely represents the characteristic range of his imagination.
The two composers for the present chapter have distinguished themselves in almost every walk of composition. Schubert left a large quantity of manuscript, most of it unheard until after his death, consisting of about 700 songs, nine symphonies, various pieces of chamber music, pianoforte sonatas, dances, marches, overtures, one opera, and many miscellaneous compositions. In every department of this vast activity there are a few works which stand out as masterpieces. To begin at the top, his "Unfinished Symphony" and the great Symphony in C are in the very first line of orchestral masterpieces, standing well up alongside the greatest of Beethoven, and with an originality of style and beauty wholly independent of the overshadowing Beethoven, who was, just at the moment of their composition, engaged in his last works, including the immortal Ninth Symphony.
Nevertheless, while Schubert was great in all musical directions, he marked an epoch in one direction, and therefore has a fame peculiarly his own. As a songwriter he was one of the greatest the world has ever known. His fame in this department rests upon two wholly different considerations, the union of which in the same composer forms the epoch-marking peculiarity already mentioned. As a melodist he stands in a rank by himself. His melodies move easily, now within the diatonic mode, and now in the chromatic, but generally, within the limits of each period, in the diatonic mode. The melodies are flexible, well balanced, very singable, and natural. Each comes up, lives its day, and dies away into silence, like a lovely flower unfolding from its own germ in the moment of the year when the sunshine and the showers have brought the time for its appearing. In this case the predisposing external cause leading to the appearance of one of these melodies is found in the poem chosen for text. Whatever Schubert read, if it interested him, immediately called up within him a melodic form. These melodies not only differ from one another by degrees of indescribably delicate gradation, but each as it comes proves itself adapted to the text which gave it birth. These lovely melodies, moreover, are supported by pianoforte accompaniments which at times rise to a co-ordinate rank with the melody itself as part of the expression of the poem. Sometimes the so-called accompaniment is itself almost the main thing. Such cases are found in "The Erl King," "To Be Sung on the Waters," and "Gretchen at the Spinning-wheel." At other times the accompaniment is as simple as the melody, and serves no other purpose than that of supporting the voice. A typical case of this kind is found in "Hedge Roses," and in "Hark! Hark! the Lark." It is another peculiarity of Schubert that, beginning with an entirely simple melody, he sometimes digresses to a remote key, within which for a moment he goes quite as simply, only to return again immediately to the main key. The "Hark! Hark! the Lark" is a case of this kind. (Note the transition to G-flat in the ninth measure.)
The universal type of Schubert's music is the melodic. This we find in the pianoforte sonatas quite as plainly as in the songs themselves. In the minuet and march on the present program the melodic ideas are the main thing. Charmingly naïve are the little waltzes upon the present list. Beautifully simple, delightfully symmetrical, their simplicity relieved by short modulations into neighboring keys, it is not possible to find elsewhere compositions so short, so simple, and yet so beautiful. In spite of their brevity and simplicity, the student will find them worth knowing thoroughly. It is also an excellent exercise for the student to learn some of these by heart and to play them in several different keys.
As an illustration of Schubert's cleverness in treating the pianoforte, which is already sufficiently evident in the dramatic accompaniments of his larger songs, before mentioned, attention is called to the Impromptu in B-flat—the air and variations known as "The Fair Rosamunde," the title due to the appearance of this melody in his opera of "Rosamunde." At least three of these variations display great finesse in treating the pianoforte. The first needs to be done with the utmost delicacy and lightness, the melody suggested rather than brought out. The third has a new rhythm and a melodic secondary figure in the left-hand part, which, taken with the treatment of the variation in the right-hand part, gives this piece a wholly new content and effect. The fourth, again, is equally novel and equally significant for the pianoforte. The remaining variations are of little importance, although, as a matter of course, all are to be played.
Mendelssohn as pianoforte composer represents two very important and characteristic moods—the scherzo and the song without words. It is probable that by the good fortune of the latter name for his collections of little piano pieces Mendelssohn rendered the musical world a greater service than he did even by the elegant quality of his compositions themselves. It was the happy thought of the title which at once puts the listener upon the right track, and disposes him to try to discover what the words of the unworded songs ought to be. It was a fortunate guess rather than a something thought out by reason, and if he had been pressed to assign a reason for including some of these pieces under the name, he would probably have been driven to confess that they were so included because he did not know what else they were.
The "Songs Without Words" embody many types, the most important being the true cantabile—pieces in which there is a flowing lyric melody with a soft accompaniment. These pieces are in effect nothing else than "nocturnes," quite after the manner of Chopin, only less elaborate in treatment and less extended. Among the best types of this class are to be mentioned the first, the two folk-songs in the program following, and the duetto. In all these the connected legato of the melody is of the first importance; and, second, the proper sinking and swelling of the melody in the true manner of impassioned singing. The accompaniment follows closely and shares in the fluctuations of intensity and mood.
Another type of these pieces is illustrated by the eighth, in B-flat minor. This piece, which has the speed and restless movement of a scherzo, has also the true Mendelssohnian flavor of sweet melancholy. It goes at great speed, and often the melody is suggested by an accent rather than fully expressed. Such cases are found in measures 3 and 4, and elsewhere. In these instances there is a fragment of melody in the middle voice.
Somewhat between the cantabile type and the scherzo is to be mentioned the "Table Song," No. 28, in G. This is like a part-song of light and pleasant yet somewhat sentimental character, suitable to be sung at table.
As a composer for voice, Mendelssohn attained a very high rank, producing melodies of great sweetness (yet often also of inherent coldness) and very singable. One of the most beautiful examples of this kind is found in the "O for the Wings of a Dove," first sung as soprano solo and then later for chorus, in his setting of a psalm. Another well-known example for alto is the "O Rest in the Lord." The latter melody derives additional beauty from the contrast it makes with the rather dramatic place in the oratorio where it occurs. Further illustrations of Mendelssohn's powers in this direction may be taken from the list above, which there is not time at present to discuss more fully.
The part-songs of Mendelssohn for mixed voices deserve to be more frequently sung. They are extremely beautiful and delightfully written for the voices. While of moderate difficulty, they belong among the very best of part-songs for unaccompanied mixed voices. The omission of the accompaniment is of very great importance, as these pieces are strictly written in such a manner that the voices have the complete ideas, both melody and harmony, and when given independent of accompaniment it is possible to obtain a purer intonation and better sympathy.
The present program permits a somewhat greater latitude of arrangement of parts than those of the preceding chapters. The works do not contrast with each other exactly as was sought in previous programs, but rather form phases of lyric melody, to be sung in such order and combination as best suits the performers, taking care however, that an agreeable succession of keys is generally observed.
PROGRAM.
Schubert: Waltzes.
Minuet, opus 79.
March, from four-hand collection.
"Fair Rosamunde and Variations."
Songs: "Hedge Roses."
"Wanderer."
"Hark! Hark! the Lark."
"Gretchen."
"Frühlingsglaube."
Mendelssohn: Songs Without Words. The first.
"Hunting Song," No. 3.
"Folk-song," No. 4.
"Gondellied," No. 6.
B-flat minor, No. 8.
"Table Song," No. 28.
Duetto, No. 18.
Overture to "Midsummer Night's Dream"; four hands.
"O rest in the Lord."
"If with all your hearts."
"It is enough."
Scene from "Elijah," "Lord God of Abraham," etc.
"Hunting Song," ) part-songs
"Farewell to the Forest,"; )