An American ultra-modernist of extensive attainments, but whose work has as yet come very little into public attention, is T. Carl Whitmer. In an age when sensationalism and sensuousness have predominated in the taste of the musical world it is not surprising to find but slight public progress being made by a composer whose whole tendency is in the direction of a highly clarified spirituality, as is the case with this composer. Whitmer has a spiritual kinship with that small group of composers (Arthur Shepherd in America, Hans Pfitzner in Germany, and d'Indy in France may be included in it) who, however different they may be in musical individuality, unite in banishing utterly from music not only the vulgar but also even the more distinguished aspects of the sensuously sweet, which chiefly and most quickly (except for the rhythmic element) recommends music to the multitude the world over. Whitmer's music is psychologically subtle and spiritually rarefied; in color it corresponds to the violet end of the spectrum. It shuns realistic and elemental qualities and seeks an ethereal expression which gives it not infrequently a sense of over-earthliness. Its salient characteristics are well represented in a soprano song, 'The Fog Maiden,' an achievement of extraordinary originality and distinction of mood. Among the composer's many other songs are the scintillating and crisp 'My Lord Comes Riding,' the poignantly expressive 'Song from the Gardener's Lodge,' the sanely ultra-modern 'Just To-night,' 'Song from Pippa Passes,' 'My Star,' 'Ah! Love, but a Day,' 'Cloud and Wind,' 'Nausicaa,' 'Willowwood,' 'Ballad of Trees and the Master,' 'I Will Twine the Violet,' 'Christmas Carol,' and 'Our Birth Is but a Sleep.' Whitmer's manuscripts include no less surprising an offering than six 'Mysteries,' or spiritual music-dramas, 'The Creation,' 'The Covenant,' 'The Nativity,' 'The Temptation,' 'Mary Magdalene,' and 'The Passion,' upon which works the composer has published a little essay entitled 'Concerning a National Spiritual Drama.' For chorus with orchestra is an 'Elegiac Rhapsody,' and for orchestra alone a set of 'Miniatures,' originally for piano, of which 'Sunrise' is the most important. There are an 'Athenian' sonata for violin and piano, various organ works, anthems, and women's choruses, and a number of 'Symbolisms'—readings of original texts with piano accompaniment.
IV
William Henry Humiston has not given out a large quantity of work, but all that he has done bears the stamp of a genuine personality and indicates a composer of rich and sincere musical feeling. One may go further and say that Humiston is animated by the spirit of nobility of the old classicists from Bach down, and shares their passion for cleanness and clarity of expression. In his eschewing of the more fashionable ultra-modern idiom of the day there is neither a pose of 'back to Mozart' nor a sense of incapacity or unwillingness to join the chase. Merely he goes his own way and takes his own time about it, and the result is music that is worth hearing and that takes strong hold of the affections. In 'Iphigenia before the Sacrifice at Aulis' (poem by Sara King Wiley), a dramatic scene for soprano, chorus, and orchestra, Humiston has produced a work of great dignity, fervor, and beauty. His themes are few and trenchant, each an authentic creative idea, and he has admirably, in his music, contrasted the dramatic motives of the poem. His well-known 'Southern Fantasy,' for orchestra—the quiet Americanism of which makes it possible to include him in the present chapter—is based on three principal themes of negro character, and in general strikes the more sombre note of negro psychology, though a lively dance appears in the middle, later to be combined, with contrapuntal wit, with one of the other themes. It is a work of true beauty and reveals Humiston's mastery of orchestration. A suite for violin and orchestra is virtually, in its three movements, built out of a single theme, which the composer finally fugues for a climax. The work is no less beautiful than clever and, like the compositions already mentioned, is bound to take a high place in the final accounting of American music. There is also an overture to 'Twelfth Night,' written for Maude Adams. Among Humiston's songs are: 'Song of Evening' and 'Song of a Young Girl' (both Sara King Wiley), 'Yo te amo' (Rosalie Jonas), 'Beauty's Daughters' (Byron), and 'Thou Beauteous Spring' (Kern).
A personality of unusual vigor and distinction of character is that of John Powell, who has rather suddenly come into notice through a number of large-dimensioned works of interesting content. Disregarding from the outset the classical thematic styles, the composer yet retains the cyclical forms, almost recklessly surcharging them with an Americanism of the boldest sort. This Americanism derives from the folk-songs and folk-music generally of the south-eastern part of the United States and from Virginia in particular. He easily brushes aside at a stroke the critical objections of the past decade to the modern harmonization of these folk-tunes. Through all his work is an unusual, an almost singular, opulence of impulse, of inspiration—the composer has an amazing amount to say and the notes tumble over themselves in his eagerness for expression. 'Sonata Virginianesque' (opus 7), for violin and piano, is in three movements, 'In the Quarters,' 'In the Woods,' and 'At the Big House,' and is based on negro motives and old reel tunes. There are three piano sonatas, Psychologique (opus 15), Noble (opus 21), and Teutonica (opus 24). The first treats of the human soul-struggle under the text 'The wages of sin is death.' The Sonata Noble is strongly Virginian and volkstümlich. The 'Teutonica' is an expression of the Teutonic psychology and is a kind of symphony for piano, in the form of an allegro sostenuto (sonata form), and a set of variations which comprise the elements of several movements. Opus 13 is a piano concerto in B minor and opus 23 is a violin concerto largely based on Virginian folk-tunes. The string quartet (opus 19) is strongly American, even in its finale, which is a tarentella. The piano suite 'In the South' (opus 16) includes 'Humming Birds,' a remarkable combination of realistic tone-painting and musical structure, a splendidly sombre 'Negro Elegy' and a big and virile 'Pioneer Dance,' on a melody of 'Crocker' fiddle-tune type. Another piano suite, 'At the Fair' (opus 22), gives us a classic on the notorious 'Hoochee-Coochee' dance; 'Clowns,' with peculiar harmonic and melodic kinks; 'Banjo-picker,' a remarkable art-expression of the typical banjo tune, and other movements. Beyond these are 'Variations and Double Fugue' (opus 20), for piano, on a theme of F. C. Hahr, a work of American characteristics, and 'Three Songs' (opus 18).
Blair Fairchild is one of the American composers who have preferred to live chiefly abroad, a sin for which the penalty is to be little known at home. Fairchild was heard in New York in the season of 1913-1914 with his choral and orchestral work 'From the Song of Songs,' which was performed at a concert of the Modern Music Society. It is a work of excellent musicianship, though singularly apart from the chief elements of modern French advance for a composer who is so much at home in Paris. The tonally 'non-committal' chord of the augmented fifth is occasionally employed, but otherwise the scheme is distinctly Germanic, though without violent modernity. The most memorable phrase of the work is a little a cappella section at the words 'I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,' which in its simple lyricism contrasts well with the more elaborate context. The choral writing is excellently managed. A companion work in the same form is 'David's Lament.' Fairchild has produced several chamber music works, a string quintet (opus 20), a Concerto de Chambre (opus 26), for violin, piano, and string quartet, and a trio for piano, violin, and 'cello (opus 24), all maintaining his high standard of musicianship. For orchestra there is a pair of sketches, 'Tamineh,' after a Persian legend, containing Songe d'amour and Paysage, the score being dedicated to Florent Schmitt. There are also 'Six Psalms' for chorus (a cappella) and soli.
Maurice Arnold is a member of the group of Americans who came under the influence of Dvořák during the latter's stay in America, and he has lent his striking gifts to the cause of the romantic-nationalistic movement. His Symphony in F Minor, produced under his own leadership in Berlin in 1907, called forth warm praise from the German press, which found it a vigorous and poetic work, and in certain of its aspects boldly American. The directness and warmth of Arnold's melodic inspiration is equally manifest in the Sonata in B Minor for violin and piano. The main theme of the first movement is a rhythmically sparkling melody showing negro characteristics, although the composer achieves his effects of negro musical color without the employment of actual folk-tunes. The second movement attains a high level of beauty and intimate poetic appeal, and the last movement, in the character of a jig, is virile. Arnold's cyclical works are not highly involved thematically, though formally well-balanced; their strength lies in their admirable lyrical qualities. The very pleasing 'Plantation Dances' for orchestra have been heard in many places, but a 'Dramatic Overture' remains almost unknown. Other works are a cantata, 'The Wild Chase,' various piano exotics, including a Danse de la Midway Plaisance, a Turkish march, and a Caprice Espagnole, a number of songs, and two comic operas.
The work of Henry Schoenefeld bears a certain relation to that of Arnold in that both composers felt the influence of what Rupert Hughes has termed the 'Dvořákian invasion,' although Schoenefeld, like other Americans, had essayed the field of negro music before that historic event. The most significant and representative published work of the composer is the 'Sonata (quasi fantasia) for Violin and Piano' (opus 53), which won the prize offered by Henri Marteau in 1899. Schoenefeld's better known works comprise a suite for strings (opus 15), an overture, 'In the Sunny South,' and a festival overture, 'The American Flag,' all of which have been described by Hughes, as well as a 'Rural Symphony,' which won a National Conservatory prize. An ode for male chorus, solo and orchestra, Die drei Indianer, a 'Reverie' for string orchestra, harp, and organ, and two impromptus for string orchestra, Valse Noble and 'Meditation,' are among the composer's later works, and there are many small piano compositions.
The last ten years of the composer's life have been devoted to a study of Indian music and themes, which have served as the inspiration of his recent compositions. He has composed a pantomime-ballet, 'Wachicanta,' founded on an Indian legend, the music of which idealizes Indian life, retaining the barbaric color. This ballet, in the opinion of Ruth St. Denis, the dancer, is the first adaptation of an Indian theme to the modern ballet form by an American composer.
Still later, and of greater magnitude, is Mr. Schoenefeld's opera in three acts and four scenes, based on a libretto in English, which portrays a tragedy of Indian life in Florida. The structure is modern, and the composer's purpose again to idealize his Indian material. Mr. Schoenefeld is of the belief that Indian folk-lore and tradition constitute the most poetic and essentially American musical material available. Mr. Schoenefeld was born in Hughestown in 1857.