Scandinavian music, ethnologically considered, would comprise that of the three related nations, the Swedes, the Danes and the Norwegians; some would include even the Finns, with their eloquent spokesman Sibelius. Although the Danes have considerable folk-music, and as a people love music, they have produced no composer of distinction save Niels Gade (1817-1890), who was so encrusted with German habits of thought that his music is neither one thing or the other—certainly it is not characteristically Danish. The best known of the Swedish composers is Sjögren from whom we have some poetic songs. He also attempted the larger instrumental forms but without notable success.
Scandinavian music, as far as the outside world is concerned, practically centres about the Norwegian composer Grieg[332] (1843-1907) just as its dramatic art centres about Ibsen. The names, however, of four other Norwegian composers deserve mention: the pioneers Kjerulf (1815-1868) noted for his melodious songs; Svendsen (1840-1911) endowed with a fine sense for orchestral color; and Nordraak (1842-1866) the first self-conscious representative of the Norwegian spirit: a talented musician who exerted a marked influence upon Grieg—his promise cut short by an early death. In modern times the mantle of Grieg has fallen upon Sinding (1856-still living) whose songs and poetic pieces for the pianoforte have become household favorites. In Norwegian music we find the exuberant rhythmic vitality typical of a people living in the bold and highly colored scenery of that sun-lit land.[333] Grieg, a born lyric poet saturated with folk-music, has embodied this spirit in his works. His fame rests upon his songs and descriptive pianoforte pieces; though in his Pianoforte Concerto, in his Peer Gynt Suite, in the Violin Sonatas and String Quartet he proved that he was not lacking in power to handle larger forms. But most of his work is in miniature—the expression, like the music of Schubert and Chopin,[334] of moods short and intense. While Grieg's music is patterned upon Norwegian folk-dances and folk-melodies it is something far more. He has evoked from the characteristics of his native land a bold, original harmony and a power of color and description thoroughly his own. He might say with de Musset "Mon verre n'est pas grand, mais je bois dans mon verre." In his music we feel the sparkling sunshine and the breezes of the North. In fact, Grieg was the first popular impressionist and for his influence in humanizing music and freeing it from academic routine his fame will endure. We have cited in the Supplement (Nos. 68, 69) one of his most original songs—the melody of which was used also for the work Im Frühling for string orchestra—and a pianoforte piece which illustrates his rhythmic life and also in certain measures that melodic line typical of all Norwegian music: the descent from the leading tone, i.e., G, F-sharp, D.
For a complete appreciation therefore of national music, we must always take into consideration the traits and environment of the people from which it sprung. Music, to be sure, is a universal language, but each nation has used this language in its own way. The most striking fact in present-day music is the variety gained from a free expression of nationalism[335] without infringing upon universality of appeal.
CHAPTER XX
THE VARIED TENDENCIES OF MODERN MUSIC
MODERN music—broadly speaking, music since the beginning of the twentieth century—is certainly manifesting the characteristics which the preceding survey has shown to be inherent in its nature: that is, it has grown by a course of free experimentation, it is the youngest of the arts, and it is a human language as well as a fine art. Hence we find that modern composers are making daring experiments in dissonance, in rhythmic variety, in subtle blends of color and, above all, in the treatment of the orchestra. In comparison with achievements in the other arts music often seems in its infancy; being limited by no practical or utilitarian considerations, and employing the boundless possibilities of sound and rhythm, there is so much still before it. The truth contained in the saying, that music is the youngest as well as the oldest of the arts, becomes more apparent year by year; for although a work which originally had imaginative life can never die, yet many former works have passed out of recognition simply because they have been superseded by more inspired ones, composed since their day. We can no longer listen with whole-hearted enthusiasm to many of the older symphonies, songs and pianoforte pieces, because Brahms, Franck, Debussy and d'Indy have given us better ones.
These experiments, just referred to, have been particularly notable on the part of two composers of the neo-Russian group, Stravinsky and Scryabin. Stravinsky,[336] in his brilliant pantomime ballets, L'Oiseau du Feu, Petroushka, and Le Sacre du Printemps, has proved incontestably that he is a genius—it being of the essence of genius to create something absolutely new. These works, in their expressive melody, harmonic originality and picturesque orchestration, have widened the bounds of musical characterization. Scryabin[337] (1871-1915) is noted for his esoteric harmonic scheme, shown in a series of pianoforte preludes, sonatas and, above all, in his orchestral works, the Divine Poem, the Poem of Ecstacy and Prometheus or Poem of Fire. The effect of Scryabin's harmonies is one of great power, and, as previously said of Debussy in his earlier days, his imagination has undoubtedly heard sounds hitherto unrealized. The sensational style of Prometheus is augmented by the use of a color machine which flashes upon a screen hues supposed to supplement the various moods of the music. How many of these experiments will be incorporated into the accepted idiom of music, time alone will tell; but they prove conclusively that modern music is thoroughly awake and is proving true to that spirit of freedom which is the breath of its being.
Music is, furthermore, not only a fine art in which have worked and are working some of the best intellects of our race, but is inevitably becoming a universal language. We see this clearly in the rapid growth of music among peoples and nations which, comparatively a short time ago, were thought to be quite outside the pale of modern artistic development. No longer is music confined exclusively to the Italians, French and Germans. A national spokesman for the Finns is the gifted Sibelius, the composer of five symphonies, several Symphonic poems, numerous songs and pianoforte pieces; his second Symphony in E minor being a work of haunting beauty, and the Fourth noted for its bold use of the dissonant element. The Roumanians have come to the fore in Enesco, who has written several characteristic works for orchestra. The Spaniards are endeavoring to restore their former glories—for we must not forget that, in past centuries, the Spanish composers Morales and Vittoria ranked with the great painters which that nation has produced. Three Spanish composers, indeed, are worthy of distinct recognition: Albeniz for his pianoforte pieces, tangos, malagueñas, etc., in which there is such a fascinating treatment of national dance rhythms; Granados,[338] with several operas to his credit, and Laparra, the composer of a fantastic suite recently played by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Spanish rhythms, melodies and local color have been frequently incorporated in the works of other composers, e.g., by Bizet in Carmen, by Debussy in Ibéria, and in the pianoforte piece Soirée dans Granade, by Chabrier in España, by Lalo in several works, and by the Russians, Glinka and Rimsky-Korsakoff, in brilliant orchestral works. The Spanish influence,[339] in fact, may be called one of the most potent in modern music.