SCHUBERT.
In the present day, when all musicians, from the purveyor of the opéra bouffe to the composer of sacred music, rival each other in attempting the style which has immortalized Schubert, the time appears opportune for studying the works of the principal melodists. In default of other merit, we may at least lay claim to that of novelty—if, indeed, novelty can have any value when every one is making it his boast. Even Scudo,[160] the only writer who has devoted a few pages to Romance music, has contrived not to say a word about Schubert and the German masters, although, on the other hand, he has thought well to enumerate productions that have fallen into permanent oblivion.
Every people has its popular songs, its religious hymns and canticles, its ballads and romances; but of all these, three principal streams are easily distinguishable—three great melodic currents, from which flow all the rest. These are, firstly, the German Lied, to which belong all the Scandinavian, Hungarian, and Sclavonic ballads; then the Italian canzona, the primitive type of the music of Southern Europe, and which has apparently some affinity with the seguidilla, the bolero, the jota, and malagueña of Spain—picturesque romances, on which is perceptible, in some indescribable manner, an Arabic impress; and, lastly, as the centre of the intermediate current, the French chanson, which, though less profound than
the German Lied, is nevertheless more true and more emotional than the brilliant vocalizations of Italy and Spain.
How different have the destinies of these three currents proved! Whilst the German stream has flowed on from age to age, enriched in its course by genius and learning, in Italy and France the melodic current, being isolated, has been gradually dwindling to a mere thread, at last disappearing altogether. Not that the French chanson was by any means without its characteristic merit; a charming simplicity, a gentle melancholy, marked its earliest beginnings, and it preserved these characters from the old melodies of Thibaut de Champagne and the noëls of the middle ages to the chansons of eighteenth century. But after this development of a too prolonged infancy it found an inglorious end at the hands of the vulgar songmakers of the nineteenth century. The simplicity of the past now became insipidity, and the Amédée of Beauplan and the productions of Loïsa Puget obtained a success at which future times will stand amazed.
The destiny of the Italian canzona was the same. Its palmy days were those of its infancy, and the innumerable romances which are now to be heard, from the Gulf of Genoa to the Lido, and from the Alps to the Bay of Naples, weary the ear of the wondering traveller. Fertile in its barcarolles of Viva la Francia, Viva Garibaldi, Santa Lucia, Italy has no need to envy
France her Beauplan and Mlle. L. Puget.
But whilst the romance and the canzona were thus dwindling away, the Lied was mounting to a marvellous height. “The combined work of the greatest poets—of Klopstock, Schiller, and Goethe—and of the greatest musicians—Haydn, Mozart, Gluck, Beethoven, Weber, etc.”[161] —it followed, step by step, the progress of the art, and, assimilating to itself each fresh conquest of musical science, it acquired, as years went on, increasing richness of harmony and power of rhythm.
It is this style only which merits a careful study. Leaving, therefore, to the learned the care of drawing from oblivion those rare French and Italian songs which are worthy to be rescued, we proceed at once to the consideration of the German Lied, and, without seeking into its beginnings or following its development, we will take it at its apogee—namely, when it attained, with Schubert, that perfection of beauty which cannot be surpassed.
Schubert is essentially a lyric genius. Great developments are foreign to his nature; with a few touches he traces the ideal which has appeared to him, but these few strokes suffice to produce a work of imperishable beauty.