FOOTNOTES:
[31] “American History and Encyclopedia of Music,” volume on Foreign Music, p. 206.
[32] We leave out of account his “Falstaff.”
[33] See [Appendix E].
CHAPTER VII.
Germany (1800-1913).
The world today is still perceiving in Germany’s Music, the intensity of Germany’s emotions, as aroused during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth centuries.
Let us see if Germany’s tragic emotionalism has produced its likeness in Music, thus wisely furnishing an outlet for revolutionary energy, and at the same time wielding a powerful and tranquillizing wand over a growing restlessness of spirit. Let us see whether the great tragic depths of emotional life through which Germany has passed, during at least two-thirds of the Nineteenth century, support our thesis by having resulted in the creation of a deep and tragic Music, with revolutionary harmony at its summit.
Ludwig von Beethoven’s genius was such as greatly to influence the entire Nineteenth century Music. He reigned supreme in the symphony and sonata fields, where dignified composition found its most fitting musical forms. The public was, at the close of the Eighteenth century, actively supporting its own musical market through publishing houses and public concerts, so that the exclusive patronage of the nobility could be largely dispensed with by composers, to their own infinite advantage, by making possible a wider psychic expression in their works, and in the production of Music of more pronounced national color. Pensions were still granted to noted composers, but these did not fetter them as completely as they had formerly done. That Germany, at that time, could produce a character so simple and noble, as was manifested by Beethoven’s life, suggests the religious stimuli which acted upon his parents. All of his early works exhibit this chaste adherence to the established ideals in Music. Beautiful depths are revealed everywhere, and a solemn earnestness pervades his lightest productions. We love and revere Beethoven, unconsciously feeling some strong, pure and noble influence which was awakening in the German mind.[34]
The early years of the Nineteenth century brought, with their political disturbance, a taste for the old knightly ballads. These were, with the “Lieder,” which so closely pictured the newly rising fearlessness of the people, beautifully expressed in the genius of Franz Schubert. At this time the social position of the nobility was as insecure as was the political peace of all Europe. The rise of the people’s voice was shown in the importance given to the “folk-song.” Great emphasis was now laid upon the texts of these songs themselves, thus again subjecting Music to poetry, the people’s speech, as opposed to what was the rule in the Eighteenth century, when texts meant nothing to the empty-headed aristocracy, and sensuous tones and bewildering technique held sway. Yet rhythm still remains marked, and the tunes are still full of sentimental suggestion. Song is not the vehicle of intense emotion, and indeed at this period, emotion had not yet reached a point of intensity in German economic life. The great emotional possibilities of Germany were still subdued by petty powers, and the “Lied” sufficiently expressed the social pressure of the time, when the people did not care much who ruled them, so long as there was enough to eat, and so long as good beer accompanied their merriment. Tragedy was in action, but had not yet dug her claws into the depths of German emotion. It was not the time for deep dramatic opera. The prevailing taste craved the romantic quality suggested by war heroes of the Napoleonic type. Napoleon’s almost unvarying triumph embellished his reputation with god-like, impossible attributes. Finally his romantic sway and sad end awakened echoes of ancient chivalry in the thoughts woven about his name. As a matter of fact, Schubert’s works were not published before 1821, because the German musician was still dominated by the Italian school. The disturbed period before this date was unproductive of nationalism in any form. The mental color of 1821 was essentially lyrical, and Schubert’s songs struck the right note in public feeling from this date on. New forms were arising on every hand. Classic themes had had their day. Schiller and Goethe had inspired art and literature with new ideals. Carl von Weber exhibited new methods in his epoch marking German opera “Der Freischutz,” in 1821. This opera sounded the death knell of the reign of Italian Music in Germany. In this work von Weber dared to picture the real life of the German people, and to give the folk-song a prominent position, though he weakened the presentation by the introduction of supernatural effects.
Note the public mind in this success! Germany wanted its own texts, its own life, its own style represented in the Music it was to enjoy. When had the Germans ever dared to show so strange a tendency before? Then came the “heroic” opera with its silly plot, sustained musical invention, new method of treating the recitative as part of the melody, and greater richness of orchestral effects, in which one sees the first touches of real dramatic instrumental treatment. Von Weber was the flag-pole for the banner of Wagner, and his genius is a true reflection of Germany’s social pressure. Up to 1859 Spohr exerted a serious and dignified influence upon the violin art of Germany, but his heavier works did not reach the importance of von Weber’s, which had truly illustrated the mental tendency of the time. In works of great beauty and merit Kreutzer, Lortzing and Nicolai represented different phases of this social mind.