Franz did not endeavor to reproduce visible things in his pianoforte parts, and the voice in his songs often is declamatory, merging into melody only in the more deeply emotional passages. He is a reflective rather than a dramatic composer, disliked opera, and himself said that any one who had penetrated deeply into his songs well knew that the dramatic element was not to 241 be found in them, nor was it intended to be. Composers, however, have many theories regarding their music which, in practice, come to naught; and whether Franz thought his songs dramatic or not, the fact remains that when Lilli Lehmann sang his “Im Herbst” it was as thrillingly dramatic as anything could be.
Self-Critical.
Franz was extremely self-critical. He kept his productions in his desk for years, working over them again and again, until in many cases the song in its final shape bore slight resemblance to what it had been at first. He declared his Opus 1 to be no worse than his latest work, because it had been composed with equal care and had had the benefit of his ripening judgment and experience. He admired Wagner and dedicated one of his song volumes to him; but when some critics fancied that they discovered Wagnerian traits in several songs in his last collection, Op. 51-52, he was able to prove that these very songs were among the first he had written, and were published so late in his career simply because he had kept them back for revision.
His physical disabilities were pitiable. When he was about thirty-three years old and shortly after his marriage, he was standing in the Halle railway station when a locomotive close by sounded its shrill whistle. The effect upon him was like the piercing of his ears. For several days afterward he heard nothing but confused buzzing, and from that time on his hearing became worse and worse, until finally his ears pained 242 him even when he composed. In 1876 he became totally deaf, and a few years later his right arm was paralyzed from shoulder to thumb. He was a poor man, and right at the worst time in his life, when he was totally deaf, a small pension which he had received from the Bach Society was taken away from him. But his admirers, many of them Americans, came to his rescue and raised a fund for his support.
Among his finest songs are “Widmung,” “Leise Zieht durch mein Gemuht,” “Bitte,” “Die Lotos Blume,” “Es Ragt der Alte Eborus,” “Meerfahrt,” “Das is ein Brausen und Heulen,” “Ich Hab’ in Deinem Auge,” “Ich Will meine seele Taugen,” and “Es Hat’ Die Rose sich Beklagt.”
Brahms a Thinker in Music.
Brahms was a profound thinker in music—not a philosopher, but a reflective poet, whose musicianship, however, was so great that he cared too little for the practical side of his art as compared with the theoretical. If what he wrote looked all right on paper he was indifferent as to whether it sounded right or not; consequently, if he started out with a certain rhythmical figuration or a certain scheme of harmonic progression, he carried it through rigidly to its logical conclusion, utterly oblivious to, or at least utterly regardless of, any tonal blemishes that might result, although by slightly altering his scheme here and there he might have obviated these. This is the reason why some people find passages in his music which to them sound repellant. But those who have not allowed this 243 aspect of Brahms’s work to prejudice them and have familiarized themselves with his music, well know that he is one of the loftiest souls that ever put pen to staff. He never is drastic, never sensational, never superficial; and the climaxes of his songs, as in his other music, are produced not by great outbursts of sound, but by sudden modulations or change of rhythm, which give a wonderful “lift” to voice and accompaniment.
Among his best known songs (and each of these is a masterpiece) are: “Wie Bist du meine Königin,” “Ruhe, Süss Liebschen,” “Von ewiger Liebe,” “Wiegenlied,” “Minnelied,” “Feldeinsamkeit,” “Wie Melodien zeiht es mir,” “Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer,” “Meine Lieder,” “Wir wandelten, wir Swei, zusammen.”
One of the most impassioned modern lyrical outbursts is Jensen’s setting of Heine’s “Lehn deine Wang’ an Meine Wang’,” and his “Frühlingsnacht” also is a very beautiful song, although the popularity of Schumann’s setting of the same poem has cast it unduly into the shade. Rubinstein will be found considerably less prolix in his songs than in his music in other branches, and those which he wrote to the Persian poems of Von Bodenstedt (“Mirza Schaffy”) are fascinating in their Oriental coloring. The “Asra,” and “Yellow Rolls at my Feet,” (Gold Rollt mir zu Füssen) are among the best known of these; while “Es blink’t der Thau,” “Du Bist wie eine Blume,” and “Der Traum” are among Rubinstein’s songs which are or should be in the repertoire of every singer. Tschaikowsky and 244 Dvorak are not noteworthy as song writers, but the former’s setting of “Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt” and the latter’s “Gypsy Songs” are highly successful.