New York is often accused of being peculiarly non-representative of typical American life. The accusation is, in a measure, just and holds good in its application to musical conditions. As the metropolis, where, without doubt, more music than anywhere else in the country is heard, New York lacks a local life of its own; there is no feeling of neighborly companionship among its art workers, and in consequence there hardly exists that which we could term a New York 'group' of composers in the sense to which the term is applied to Boston's community of music-makers. New York claims as citizens many of America's best known composers, but they figure too little in the musical life of the city and are the objects of too little local pride.
An exception to this, however, is found in the case of Arthur Whiting, whose concerts bring him often into public view and whose local reputation as a pianist is undoubtedly far greater than his recognition as a composer. Deserving of the latter, however—and that by reason of a very serious and notable achievement in creative fields—Arthur Whiting must be counted as one of the real ornaments of America's list of composers. Mr. Whiting's well-known Brahms enthusiasm and his activities as a producer of Brahms' works bring upon him the suspicion of being a thorough-going Brahmsite, even in his own compositions; a suspicion, however, not well founded, for Mr. Whiting is quite free from the Brahms influence. That he is ofttimes prone to intellectuality, and too rarely gives himself up to the spontaneous and expressively beautiful, is perhaps a more just accusation, but the statement that Mr. Whiting is an artist of deep sincerity, of high ideals, and of thorough equipment must remain unchallenged.
Mr. Whiting's recent work has been almost exclusively in the smaller forms. He has, however, in the past written several larger works, the best known of which is his Fantasie for piano and orchestra. This work, recently revived at a concert given by the American Academy, has a rhythmic energy that makes it 'American' in the best sense—a genuine and spontaneous expression of the national nervously intense temperament. For the most part, however, the orchestra has seemed to have but small inspiration to offer to him and his sober formal sense and his own distinctions of style lead him more naturally to the piano, the vocal quartet, and to other chamber music combinations as his medium of expression.
Henry Holden Huss is principally known through his successful handling of the larger forms and he can point with just pride to the real success which has been that of his piano concerto in D minor, his violin concerto, and his sonata for violin and piano. These, as well as a sonata for violoncello and piano, have all found acceptance with a number of the best living interpretive musicians, who have given Huss a very wide hearing.
Mr. Huss acknowledges himself a thorough-going Wagnerite and confesses to coming largely under the influence of his works, but the bulk of his writings shows other influences, notably in the strong sense of the classic cyclical form, which Mr. Huss handles with an excellent mastery and in which he proves himself an artist of great resource and equipment. Another favorite form with Huss is the extended aria with orchestra, and in this form he has written several of his best works. Among these may be mentioned 'Cleopatra's Death' for soprano, 'Nocturne' for the same voice, 'The Seven Ages of Man' for baritone, 'Home They Brought Her Warrior Dead' for alto, and 'After Sorrow's Night' for soprano. In the last-named work Mr. Huss has employed a harmonic scheme which in its modern freedom represents his most advanced development.
IV
At the head of the list of America's lyricists there stands a name perhaps more illustrious than any other which she boasts—that of Ethelbert Nevin. To speak critically of the art of Nevin is a delicate and a difficult task. Its nature does not invite critical examination or demand extended analysis. Nevin's music, in its absence of decided intellectual qualities, presents no striking originalities of style, but remains throughout the simply spontaneous and unaffected utterance of a real and deeply musical nature. It possesses, nevertheless, a strongly individual style (often becoming, we must confess, a mannerism) and an irresistible charm. Moreover, the wide appeal which it has made must be sufficient proof of the real vitality that underlies the seemingly slight psysiognomy of this delicate lyricism. To the aspiring mind, in the presence of an expression so genuine, there must come a strong regret that with such poetical tenderness and grace there should not have been a vein of greater virility to have sounded a deeper note; one that would have played a more important part in the upbuilding of our national art. Despite the fact that the natural flow of Nevin's lyricism beguiled him continually along the lines of least resistance, his life's record was that of a very hard-working and conscientious artist.
Nevin was born near Pittsburgh in 1862. He had the advantage of early musical studies at home and abroad during a European sojourn of his family and he commenced his professional studies in 1881 under B. J. Lang and Stephen Emery in Boston. In 1884 he went to Berlin, where he worked diligently at his piano studies under Karl Klindworth. Returning home, two years later, he settled at Boston and taught, concertized, and followed more zealously his increasing inclination for composition. In 1891, after the publication of some of the songs and piano pieces which have since become so generally popular, Nevin's fame rapidly increased and he was able to indulge his taste for the roving life which he followed during the last ten years of his life, living at Paris, Berlin, Florence, Algiers, and elsewhere, with intervening visits to America, where he was heard in concerts of his own works. In the fall of 1900 Nevin settled at New Haven, where he died suddenly in February, 1901.
The list of Nevin's works comprises almost exclusively short songs and piano compositions. Exceptions to this are several choruses, two pieces for violin and piano, and a posthumously published cantata. That Nevin had larger ambitions in his later life is shown from certain of his letters and the sketches of larger works which he left unfinished. But as the result of his early habits of composition, of the too easy flow of his melody, and perhaps also of his too early successes he was kept within the confines of those miniature and delicate forms which he made his own domain. The characteristics of Nevin's music, as displayed in these works, are, first, a melodic sense which, though lacking in variety because of decided mannerisms that control it, is full of graceful charm and genuine lyrical quality; second, a harmonic sense ever more limited in its scope but of natural and moving expressiveness. Into the naïve fabric of this the composer contrived to instil a flavor which, if not decidedly original, had a strongly individual feeling.
The first of Nevin's works to reach any popularity was 'A Sketch Book,' published in 1888. Several of its numbers are still reckoned among the most popular of Nevin's works. This was followed by several similar albums of songs and piano pieces until 1891, when, in a book of piano pieces entitled 'Water Scenes,' he published what was to be a piece of world-wide popularity, 'Narcissus.' 'A Book of Songs' (1893) contains the best of Nevin's vocal works. Regarded as a whole, they lack a uniformity of style and despite Mr. Thompson's assertion[88] that Nevin felt but slightly the influences of other composers, these songs show decided traces of the stamp which the study of other writers put upon his work. Chopin is perhaps the prevailing influence that shows itself. Some of the songs of this group mark Nevin's nearest approach to a dramatic style. In parts of number seven of this group, entitled Nocturne, there is a considerable sweep of fiery strength, and the two entitled 'Orsola's Song' and 'In the Night' exhibit a virile content rarely present in Nevin's work. We need not speak of the more popular songs of Nevin, such as 'The Rosary,' 'Little Boy Blue,' ''Twas April,' and 'Mighty Lak' a Rose.' Their appeal lies largely in the sentimental though genuinely tender and deep touch of pathos which they contain.