The scherzo of the Fourth (Romantic) Symphony may also be cited as a movement full of character, and while good, is pleasing even in the popular sense of that word. Music such as this, indeed, justifies the bringing forward of Bruckner’s name, and renders it difficult to acquiesce in some of the severe judgments which have been passed on his works. For example, when a new Symphony of Bruckner’s was performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Society some few years ago, Dr. Edward Hanslick, the well-known critic, said, in his notice printed in the Neue Freie Presse, that he had left the concert-room before the performance began, because he did not wish to witness the desecration of the hall! And in his notice of a New York concert, in which Mr. Theodore Thomas conducted Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony, Mr. H.E. Krehbiel, the musical critic of The Tribune, says:—“As an instance of what the intellect can do in music it is perhaps as startling and interesting as anything that the century has produced. But as a musical composition it is nine-tenths cold intellectuality and one-tenth beauty. It is polyphony gone mad. If one wants originality, here it is in abundance. There is nothing under the heaven, or on the earth, or in the waters under the earth like unto this symphony. Those who think the thematic work in Tristan and The Ring complex and laboured, should hear this symphony, if for no other reason than to see how, in comparison with it, Wagner’s is a complete exemplification of good music as defined by Galuppi in a conversation with Dr. Burney one hundred and sixteen years ago: ‘Beauty, clearness, and good modulation.’ Every element of symphonic writing which Herr Bruckner uses he uses in a manner which stamps a unique character on the work. But it is only unique, not beautiful.”

And after discussing several technical points in the work, Mr. Krehbiel adds that, all the same, it is not wise or just to condemn an art-work like this in so superficial and flippant manner as nearly all the New York newspapers have done; “but bearing in mind a score of marvellous things in the symphony, notably several moments that approach grandeur in the slow movement, and remembering that that is not always the highest type of beauty which is obvious at a glance, we are yet constrained to say that for the present the work is a failure. It may be beautiful in twenty-five years; it is not beautiful now.”

Weingartner’s Opinion

In the article by Herr Felix Weingartner, on the post-Beethoven symphonists, which was previously mentioned, we find the following opinion of Bruckner and his works:—“In these last ten years has been often mentioned a powerful rival of Brahms, born in that artist’s second fatherland, in that city of Vienna which seems to be the city of the symphony.[40] Though much older than Brahms, Anton Bruckner, recently deceased, only became universally known even later than him.... His was a musical talent veritably rich. For that reason one would be almost tempted to compare him to his great compatriot Schubert, if only he had created works perfect enough to be considered really masterly. But it was not so.... I was once asked my opinion of the rivalry of Bruckner and Brahms. I replied, ‘I should like nature to give us a musician uniting in himself the qualities of the two composers, the immense imagination of Bruckner with the knowledge of Brahms. From such a combination would arise an artistic figure of the highest possible value.’”

CHAPTER X.

CHAMBER MUSIC OF RECENT TIMES.

Trio by E. Schütt — Trio by Kirchner — Raff’s C minor Trio — Balfe’s Trio in A major — Trio: C. Hubert Parry — Trio: Bargiel — Sterndale Bennett’s Trio, op. 26 — Trio, D minor: F.E. Bache — Trio, E flat: Nawratil — Trio: Goetz — Trio: Schmidt — Other Trios — String Trios — Quartett: Mackenzie — E flat Quartett: Rheinberger — Quartett: W. Rabl — Quartett: Prout — Quartett: Verdi — Quartett: Onslow — Quartett: W.H. Veit — Unusual combinations.

Here we must notice a few chamber compositions, chosen chiefly from the works of musicians of our own or of recent times. No special method of selection is followed, nor must the list be regarded as at all an exhaustive one. Only what is thought may prove acceptable and useful to earnest amateurs is mentioned.

Trio by E. Schütt

A Trio, Walzer Märchen, op. 54, for piano, violin, and ’cello, by Edward Schütt, consists of three delightful musical stories, told in waltz rhythm, without a trace of monotony, which might easily arise under such conditions. Schütt, their composer, lives in Vienna, where he has conducted the Akademischer Wagnerverein. He has written a number of works, and among them is a Piano Trio in C minor, which has met with much approval.