mi Cornell University Library ML 1429.E49 The history of German song an account of 3 1924 022 330 579 BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF 1S9X A^llZ:^:^ ^^/.^/.M.. ms Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924022330579 THE HISTOEY 0? MMM gOl AN ACCOUNT OF THE Progress of Vocal Composition IN GERlVtANY FROM THE TIME OF THE MINNESINGERS TO THE PRESENT AGE, WITH SKETCHES OF THE LIVES OF THE LEADING GERMAN COMPOSERS. LOUIS C. ELSON. BOSTON: New England Conservatory of Music. 1888. s Copyright, 1888, — BY — New England Conservatory of Music. TO THE LAST OF THE GREAT TRIUMVIRATE OF GERMAN 'SONfi COMPbSERS, with the highest admiration for his. gejuus, this work is respectfully dedicated by The Author. CONTBNTS. Chapter. ' 'i ( i" -^ • r Page, I. Jongleurs and Minnesingers i II. Customs, Manners, and Instruments of the Minnesingers 8 III. Famous Minnesingers and their works . 17 IV. The Mastersingers 26 V. The Folk-song . 33 VI. The Ancient Instrumental Forms ... 42 VII. The Influence of the Reformation ... 50 VIII. The Music of the Reformation .... 56 IX. German Music after Luther's Death . . 62 X. The Rise of Secular and Operatic Music . 70 XI. The Rise and Fall of German Opera . . 79 XII. Handel and Mattheson 87 XIII. Johann Sebastian Bach ...... 97 XIV. The Sons of Bach 107 XV. Odes and Juvenile Songs of the i8th Century 118 XVI. Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven .... 128 XVII. The Influence of the German poets . . 137 'XVill. Franz Schubert 146 XIX. The works of Schubert 157 XX. Robert Schumann i66 XXI. Schumann as Composer and Critic . . . 179 XXII. Robert Franz 188 XXIII. The Songs of Robert Franz 197 XXIV. Mendelssohn and others 205 XXV. Wagner and the German Opera . . . 215 XXVI. The Reforms of Wagner 224 The claims of Germany in the domain of instramental music, have been so thoroughly and universally recog- nized, that the labors of her composers in the field of vocal music have been somewhat over-shadowed by them. Without in the least detracting from the great achievements of Italian masters in vocal work, I have endeavored in these pages to set forth what the Germans have accomplished in the same branch, and, as German song has closely intertwined itself with all Teutonic musical life, I venture to hope that this volume may become a condensed record of the general reforms and raprovements which have taken place in musical art throughout Germany, from the earliest historical times. Louis C. Elson. THE HISTORY Of GERMAN SONG. I. JONGLEURS AND MINNESINGERS. The history of the vocal music of Germany is, in some respects, a peculiar one, and full of interest ; for it extends back, almost in an unbroken line, for over six hundred years. The songs of Italy, at least so far as regards secular music, sprang into promi- ■ nence in the great epoch which gave birth to the Italian opera, about the year 1600: the songs of France sprang up sporadically, with this or that revo- lution or war; but in no country have the ancient beginnings of vocal composition been so carefully garnered up as in Germany, and in no land have the old works so practical a significance. The reason of this is not far to seek. In the first place, the German in all times has been a singer, and his songs have always been interwoven in his daily life. Secondly, while in other countries the popular and classical schools of composition were kept sepa- 2 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG rate and had nothing in common, in Germany, after the eleventh century, no such distinction was made, but the music which sprang from the people was used by the most learned composers, and the skilful works of the higher school were accepted and cherished by the people. So inherentj^was'this instinct of pop- ular song that the system of congregational hymns was flourishing in Germany even in the Catholic days preceding the Reformation. The sturdy root from which the German song had its rise must be sought for in the Minnesingers, those ancient minstrels who, noble by birth, took up the cause of music in a most inspired manner, and sang of love [Minne) and of the beauties of nature in a strain which bears comparison even with the works of our own times. Contemporary with the Trouba- dours and the Trouvferes of France, they were yet much broader in thought and deeper in poetic feeling and expression. The Troubadours sang only the ten- der strains of amatory passion, the Trouv^re was the media^val novelist and playwright, but the Minne- singer was both of these in one, and, like the ancient Greek tragic poets, was both his own librettist and composer. Before the rise of the Minnesinger, music had but a 'single recognized mission, — the service of religion. It is true that there were secular songs in existence, and also secular musicians ; but the latter were held in very slight esteem, and belonged to a HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 3 very low caste. They were called Jongleurs, or jing- lers, and the modem word " juggler " takes its rise from their title ; for they were travelling vagrants, who were ready to sing or play at any gathering, able to perform tricks of sleight of hand, and often eking out their slender income by exhibiting bears, monkeys, or other animals. The term " Joculator," or " Fun- maker," which was also applied to these wandering minstrels, shows that they were only clowns and jesters. But they were not only the musicians of the rustics, for as early as the eighth century we find writers savagely denouncing them, and reproving the nobility with giving money and entertainment to such strolling vagabonds. Poor wandering sons of the Muses ! While the monastic musician taught his art in honored ease, they sang their love songs and gave their carols to a world which only tolerated them because they were ^musing. They were at times even under the ban of the law, for edicts were issued by which they couM be imprisoned for no offence save that thgy were " travelling " musicians and va- grants. This condition of secular music existed from the beginning of the eighth nearly to the end of the eleventh century. Now came the first great epoch in the music of Germany, and the IVIinnesinger gave to secular music a dignity which had previously been denied it. It is probable that the Troubadours of France gave rise to the movement, but it is certain 4 HISTORY OP GERMAN SOMG that the plant found firmer growth and better nurture on German soil. The Minnesingers must not, however, be regarded merely as an offshoot of the Troubadours. Like the latter, they were noblemen, but, recognizing the fact that art knows no rank, they admitted persons of meaner estate to their numbers, if they gave evidence ' of musical genius. The Troubadour was often merely a composer, not a player or singer, and, as a conse- quence, frequently employed his humbler brother, the Jongleur, to play and sing his compositions. With the Minnesinger, this was not the case : he did not intrust flie performance of his works to a second party, but cherished ability of execution equally with fertility of invention. As a consequence, contests of singers, such as Wagner has pictured in his Tann- hduser, sometimes occurred, the greatest of these taking place on the Wartburg, A.D. 1207. In France there was a wide gap between the work of the noble musician and the sengs of the people ; but in Germany, already in these early days, the spirit of the folk-song was present in the compositions of this aristocratic order of musicians. The songs of the Troubadour were amatory : those of the Minnesinger were chivalric. The Troubadour praised the eyes, the hair, the lips, the form, of his chosen one : the Minne- singer praised the sweetness, the grace, the modesty, the tenderness, of the entire sex. The one was HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 5 concrete, the other abstract. The melodies of the Minnesingers were far difEerent from the modern idea of a secular lyric. They resembled the chorale or the Gregorian chants somewhat, although at times one can find a dash and swinging rhythm in them, which suggest untrammelled spirits seeking a freer expres- sion in music. Some of these, if properly harmonized and accompanied, would sound very agreeable, even to modern ears ; but it must be borne in mind that the songs were not to be judged purely as music. In the time of the Minnesingers, poetry and music were indissolubly wedded; and the words could not be judged apart from the tune, nor the tune from the words. We give, on page 6, an example of one of the Minnesongs, which was written in praise of Rudolph of Hapsburg, about the year 1287.* ' The melody is- so simple and symmetrical that it is easily accompanied with modern harmony, although, probably, it had but the crudest instrumental support originally. The playful and sudden turn of the poem, from deep homage to reproach for stinginess, at the end, is a touch worthy of Heine himself, and is much in the vein of that poet. In speaking of this part of our subject, we must add that direct pay was seldom given to the noble singers; but costly presents of cloaks, armor, horses, etc., were often received by them. ' * The notation of the manuscript is in the square notes of the time of Franco of Cologne. It has been modernized by Ambros, Geschkhte dtr Musik. vol. ii.. P. 2;3. HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG le y-Jir rrr ir r r ffl [ King Ku-dolph tru - ly prais - es God, With [ King Ru-dolph judg - es just [and true, And :i=P= ^ ^ *r=t H«Tr^ JE^ZHE IZ I I L fer-vor all un - dy-ing, King Rudolph is a hates all fraud and ly - ing, King Kudolph is a m ru-ler great of lof - ty fame and pow - er. ) he -ro too, of knights the ve - ry flow - er. \ ■ f" ! » ft »-i -F King Rudolph hon - ors wo - men too, Who ^iE^ e j^rTrf=?F#-r?=ff s homage are de-serv-ing, And un - to God his -»— .1*- ^Be _sz ^ pray'rs ascend With comstant faith unswerving, King '^r=''=^=r'-'~^^"~rF'r=f=-^ M?! 1 — 1 — 1 ^ — 1 — ^-M — L_J_ Rudolph is a worthy king. All praise to him be 1^-^-0-^ r r fir r r brought, He likes to hear the mas-ters play and HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG f The language in which their poems were written was the Swabian dialect, to-day a little-esteemed branch of the German tongue. It 'is odd to find complaints, even at the remote epoch of the rise of the Minne- singers, of the decline of musii: ; but these complaints have existed in all ages of the world. The Chinese, five hundred years ago, lamented the decline of their music ; the Greek philosophers bemoaned the fact that enervating melodies had driven out true art ; Mar- cello, in 1704, wrote, "Music is declining"; Rameau, in 1760, exclaimed, "Music is lost"; to-day, we are told that the modern school has given music its death- blow. Therefore, we are not greatly astonished to find Henry of Veldig, at the close of the twelfth cen- tury, plaintively saying that the art of love-singijig (for the word " Minne '' meant the homage of love) was passing away, and are not even surprised to find the greatest of the Minnesingers coming on the scene some time after his death. ir. CUSTOMS, MANNERS, AND INSTRUMENTS OF THE MINNE- SINGERS. To UNDERSTAND fully the musical and poetic epi- demic which raged in Germany from about the years 1 1 50 to 1300 A.D., it is well to study somewhat the daily life of the singers themselves. Their songs were sometimes rather above the comprehension of some of the rough nobility. Nevertheless, they sang on be- cause of the spirit that was in them. A beautiful pre- sentation of this feeling is left to us in one of the songs of Conrad of Wiirzburg, which we give in Tay- lor's translation : — *' UawiUing stays the throng To hear the minstrel's song ; Yet cease I not to sing, Though small the praise it bring. E'en if on desert waste My lonely lot were cast, Unto my hatp, the same. My numbers I would frame ; Though never ear were found To hear the lonely sound. Still should it echo round. As the lone nicrhtinvala HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG .9 • Her tuneful strain sings on To her sweet self alone, Whiling away the hour. Deep in her leafy bcwer. Where, night by night, she loves Her music to prolong, And makes the hills and groves S,e-echo to her song.'* This is a far nobler sentiment and truer appreciation of the scope of music than the remark of that would-be musician, the Emperor Nero, who said that " music un- heard was valueless." Naturally, however, such noble singers gradually- elevated' the standard of manners and morals. They were, in fact, the censors of that time, and fiercely sat- irized and condemned the faults of their epoch. In France the Troubadours, in Germany the Minne- singers, wrote books of etiquette both for ladies and gentlemen. Custom and the elegance of the courtly singers and knights gradually introduced a code of be- havior which would astonish those who imagine those times as wholly barbarous. Here are a few points regarding ladies' demeanor: A lady ought not to march about with long and heavy strides ; she ought not to swing her arms nor gesticulate vehemently with them ; her glance modestly sinking to earth, not gaz- ing around. Her mantle drawn around her to conceal her, she shall walk quietly about, lifting her dress somewhat, that it does not become dirty. To address 10 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG a stranger first was a great breach of etiquette ; also, to sit cross-legged. Even' to loolc at a stranger was forbidden by these stringent moralists (whose theory often went much beyond actual practice); but, if the man spoke to them, they might reply, courteously and not at much length. " Taspeak with mouth fall whfle you eat Is not considered very neat," says one of the old guides to behavior ; and we must certainly agree with it. ** A maid may speak with gentle mien, But not too loud or bold, I ween," says the same authority. If a man came suddenly into a room where ladies were assembled, these were to arise, greet him cour- teously, and then resume their seats. The education of these ladies whom the Minne- ' singers celebrated in their poems was also a very good one. Naturally, cooking and sewing were the prosaic foundation, but surgery and medicine were also added ; and the wounded knight always found a ready physi- cian in the ladies of any castle where he might take refuge. Spite of all this gentleness, — of theory, — there was a certain amount of physical force in the actions of both men and women of the aristocracy of tlie time. A box on the ear, a thorough beating of an awkward servant, male or female, was thought nothing of. HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG II For example, two noble sisters, disputing as to whether Lancelot is a knight or a merchant, the elder gives the - younger so strong a box on the ear that the blood flows from her nose and mouth ; and such arguments were not very uncommon. It is certain that all the aristocracy of that time were cleanly, and that the bath was constantly used. It may also interest our fairer readers to know that the heroines of the songs of these early ages sometimes wore false hair. The aristocratic recreation of the epoch was chess, played nearly in the same man- ner as to-day. Naturally, feasting was one of the great delights of the Minnesingers ; and, at such feasts, music always played an important part. Sometimes, one singer would start a song; and all would join in the refrain. On such occasions, ladies also would occasionally allow their voices to be heard both in chorus and in solo. The dance was at all times a welcome relaxation, but there was a wide distinction between the dances of the peasantry and those of the aristocracy. The "Hopaldei," or "Hop-up," belonged to the former class, and is well described by its name. Skirts flew high, and heads often knocked together with violence, during this rough capering. The " Reihen," or " row,'' was, on the contrary, a sedate and not ungraceful per- formance. The knights and ladies, in a long row, fol- 12 HISTORV OF GERMAN SONG lowed their leader, and with dainty steps and pleasing gestures imitated each motion of the lady or knight at the head of the column. As they danced, they sang. Sometimes, the leader sang the melody; while the whole company of dancers gave the refrain. Some- times, the chorus sang all the time. IVIany were the ballads which the Minnesingers composed for such occasions. The orchestra was crude enough at these dances. Sometimes, it was a few fiddlers only. Some- times, a combination of drums, trumpets, fiddles, harps, and rotas, gave instrumental support to the song. The rota was not — as might be imagined from its name — a hurdy-gurdy, but a primitive zither with many strings, and played like a guitar. It was called rota, because of its round, wheel-like shape. The fiddles were also uncouth instruments, when compared with the violins of the last century and this. Nevertheless, they play an important part in the music of the Middle Ages. The fiddle certainly has an antiquity of at least eight hundred years; and the fiddles of the twelfth century were bowed almost exactly as those of to-day, even if their shape was somewhat different. They possessed from two to four strings, which (as is the case to-day) were tuned in fifths. In Germany, as many of our readers know, instrumental music received its greatest impetus through the custom of each prince supporting a Kapelle, or private orchestra. The origin of this custom dates back to these early days, and began with HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 1 3 the maintenance of bands of such fiddlers at different castles, to play for dancing. The Nibelungenlied alludes to such a band of twenty-four fiddlers, richly dressed. The playing was of the most violent descrip- tion. At the peasants' dances, the fiddlers played until the strings or even the bow broke ; and, even, at the castle dances, the bowing was fierce and vehement, so that we have descriptions in the minnesongs of the fury and prowess of this or that celebrated fiddler. Of course, the Minnesingers were the greatest musi- cians of their time, in Germany; but it must not be supposed that music was confined wholly to them. Music was then, as now, considered a necessary part of a good education. Every youth or maiden was expected to learn singing, and to be able to play upon at least one instrument ; and often, after a banquet, these high-born amateurs were expected to delight the guests by a display of their abilities. Of the instruments of the time of the Minnesingers, full accounts are left. We have already spoken of the rota and the fiddle. They also possessed the harp, first with twelve, but in the fourteenth century^already possessing twenty-five strings. There were many different varieties of harps as well as guitars. One instrument, somewhat akin to the hurdy-gurdy, was called the organistrum. It was a large fiddle, to which a wheel with a handle was attached. This wheel was rubbed with rosin, and served instead of a bow to t'le instrument. ' ' 14 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG Many varieties of flutes were used, possessing from tliree to eiglit finger-holes. The chalumeau, or shep- herd's pipe, and also some sorts of a bagpipe were in use. F^tis imagines, also, that they possessed an oboe, which is more than probable, since instraments of the double reed family have existed in many por- tions of the world even since 'early Egyptian days. Horns were unquestionably used, especially in giving hunting and military signals. Whether the instrument called the busine was the predecessor of the trombone (German, Posaune) or of the bassoon may be con- sidered a moot point ; yet the weight of evidence goes to show that it was a brass or, at least, a metal instru- ment. Portable organs existed ; and the larger organs had already become celebrated, probably coming origi- nally from the East.* Drums were used freely by the musicians of the Middle Ages, and also bells, tambourines, and other percussive instruments. The cymbals used at this epoch were afterward forgotten, and reintroduced from the East only during the last century. It is not astonishing to find Eastern" and Southern instruments used in these early days, for it must be remembered that the constant pilgrimages and crusades made the mediaeval knight better ac- quainted with these countries than the Meistersingers *Zn the ancient days, and especially in the first century, Alexandria sent many organs to Rome. It is possible that the art of orgar-bui'ding, lost to Europe, may have been retained in less dvilized countries through the Middle Ages. HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG IJ were at a later date. Just as, to-day, the fashionable amateur is certain to study pianoforte, so the dilettanti of those times only studied the stringed instruments ; but, naturally, every hunting nobleman was able to perform upon the horn. The songs which the young singers learned to give at banquet or other festivities were generally tales set to music. It is an important fact that the true ballad, — or musical story, — which afterward had such popularity in England, Scotland, and Wales, is of Teutonic origin. The cultivated Greeks in ancient times had not perfected or even greatly used this form. In Oriental countries, the love of fiction or legend (supplied in our times by the novelist) was pandered to by the professional story-teller, who recited his numbers in prose.. In ancient Germany and Scandi- navia, however, the saga, or tale, became a poem, and was sung; and this laste, coming down Ihrcugli many centuries, was in full bloom in the time of the Minne- singers. Sometimes the travelling musicians (alluded toin our first chapter) made a pretty penny by singing just such songs ; and a fine tale of a popular hero, well sung, was sure to reap a great reward, the guests at times becoming so enthusiastic that they would un- buckle, their rich mantles and give them to the singer. Tales of the Holy Land, of Turk and Saracen, and foreign customs were not lacking ; for did not many a pilgrim come by the castles, and was not each such l6 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG pious traveller made welcome with zealous hospitality ? But the tales of these wanderers of the Middle Ages were in plain, unvarnished prose ; and they have there- fore nothing to do with Our subject. The tales with music were true legendary ballads, and give the his- tory of Charlemagne or. the deeds of Siegfried, the Teuton's delight, in heroic style. That the songs were not without musical form, even in the modern sense, may be judged by the example of music already given, which contains the germ of the minuet shape which has so largely influenced our own music. III. FAMOUS MINNESINGERS AND THEIR WORKS. Wolfram of Eschenbach, living during the last half of the twelfth century and the beginning of the thirteenth, was, perhaps, the most remarkable of the band of poet musicians of his epoch. He was one of the participants in the remarkable contest of Minne- singers which took place at Wartburg, in 1207. He was youngest son of a Swiss nobleman, and was the beau ideal oi the school of wandering minstrel knights. Not only do his works survive him, but his contempo- raries are full of praise of his nature/and capabihties; yet he was not so accomplished a musician as some of them, and songs were by no means his strongest point. Historical romance, on the. other hand, seems to have best fitted his muse ; and the larger part of the Helden- buch, or book of heroes, is attributed to his pen. He was as bold as he was talented ; and, in fact, all these early musical aristocrats were well skilled in feats ^of strength and arms. The following verse, from one of the oldest songs of Scandinavian origin (preceding even the time of 1 8 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG our Minnesingers), may show what accomplishments were held in esteem : — " Eight things I know : at games to play ; To carve with skill ; in war to go ; Through rising waves, I swim away ; I ride with ease ; the spear I throw; Across the ice, on skates, I glide ; And I can row 'gainst any tide.'* Royalty was among the Minnesingers as it -was among the Troubadours of France. The latter pos- sessed Richard I., Alfonso X., and others; while the former enrolled Kaiser Heinrich, the son of Frederic Barbarossa, among their ranks. Ulrich of Lichtenstein not only leaves to us some good specimens of the minnesong, but in his life gives an odd. example of the calm manner in which the Min- nesinger dedicated himself to some particular dame, whatever circumstances stood in the way. He existed in the middle of the thirteenth century. Petrarch never followed his Laura with more constant affection and versification than this knight did his unresponsive mistress. One warms toward this chivalric and per- sistent lover, until the lady begins to relent ; and we learn, almost by way of parenthesis, that the noble Ulrich has a wife and good-sized ■ family already. He leaves a full record of himself in a romance, or metrical essay, entitled Frauendienst, which may be trans- lated ladies' service or homage. In apologizing for HISTORY OF GKRMAN SONG I9 the seeming egotism which causes him to spealc so much of himself, he says : " My lady wished it so ; and what she wishes, that must 1 do. The book belongs to all worthy ladies." Walther von der Vogelweide was also one of the great Minnesingers of his time, which was previous to that of the last-named knight, he having died about the year 1240. He is the heroic and warlike singer of the early epoch ; and it was fitting that he should be so, for he served under many banners. His life was that of the true knight-errant ; and he seems to have often wandered about on horseback, carrying along only his sword, fiddle, and harp. His patriotism was great, and he bursts into praise whenever he speaks of his own country. He says of himself that he has wandered through France, Austria, and Hungary, and seen many people and customs ; but " German men have finest breeding. And German women angels are." In his later years, he undertook the greatest journey of that age. He became a Crusader, and went to ths Holy Land; and some of his songs remain, .±,t^ records of the life and manners of the Crusades. The most tender picture of all that the Minnesingers have left us, is this wanderer, after roaming over al- most the entire world (as far as it was then known), returning, an old man, to his native province. His longing for the days gone by is as pathetic as if it 20 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG were written by any modern poet, and we believe that the poem to which he tHen gave utterance will recall the thoughts of some of our own celebrated poets to the minds of our readers. We attempt a free translation of it : — Oh, where have fied the pleasant hours ? Is all this real, or but a dream? The place that had such mystic powers All changed and altered now doth seem. Yes : it was sleep. I slept, and dreamed; And things have changed, while I slept on. The faces that once on me beamed, Ah ! tell me whither they have gone,— My young companions, old and gray ; The fields and woods are not the same ; The stream flows on, no longer gay. Alas !^ that such change ever came I The very ones with whom I played Salute me now with manner cold. A few years all this change have made, The very earth seems growing old. This plaintive sorrow of A.D. 1235 is, unfortunately, just as real in the nineteenth century, and will be in all centuries to come. The minstrel died soon after, and was buried in Wurzburg. His name of " Vogel- weide," or Birdmeadow, may have come from his fond- ness of bird-catching; and a legend relates that he left orders to have birds fed daily over his grave. His coat-of-arms also contains a picture of two birds in a cage. It will be seen, by what has already been de- HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG ~ 21 scribed, that the Minnesingers tuned their lyres to other subjects besides that of love, although the latter - was their chief theme, and was even personified by a goddess, Frau Minne, a much purer one than the Venus of the Greeks. In the union of music and poetry, however, the old Germans were unconsciously copying the Hellenic idea. Two species of their love songs must be alluded to. These were the " Dance Songs " and the " Watch Songs." We have already spoken of the style of the dances ; and it only remains to add that the Minne- singers loved a gay and genial vein of expression, and frequently introduced a Tanzweise in more serious works, to lighten the general effect. Ulrich of Licht- enstein, for example, having lost his fortune, begins a lament, but suddenly adds, — " My lady, though, she smiled on me,*' and breaks forth in a dance rhythm. The " Watch Songs " were ballads in which the sen- tinel of the lady's castle was introduced as a character. Sometimes, the singer pleads with him to relax his vigilance, and allow him to slip in and see his lady fair. Sometimes, the watchman is a friend, who, hav- ing admitted the knight in secret, sings words of cau- tion and warning, heralding, perhaps, the approach of dawn or of the lady's husband or guardian. At times. 22 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG the watchman sings to the lady, announcing that her knight is near. Two specimens may suffice of these songs, a single verse of each giving sufficient clew to their general scope : * — " I heard, before the dawn of day, The watchman loud proclaim : * If any knightly lover stay In secret with his dame, Take heed: the sun will soon appear. Then fly, ye knights, your ladies dear. Fly ere the daylight dawn.* " The second begins as follows : — " The sun no more is gleaming ; The moon its light is bringing ; The night has come, with dreaming ; The nightingale is winging, And sweetly soft is singing. Then sang the watchman, low : * If any knight be sighing, For lover's meeting trying, He shall not have denying. Unto her let him go.' " In closing our chapters relative to the Minnesingers, we must of course speak of that great historical event which occurred at the very climax of this musical period, the Singers' War, or the contest of the Minne- singers at the Wartburg, about 1207. There is some * The first is taken from Taylor's Z<2yj of the Minnesingers. The second we have translated from Gorres's collection. HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 23 doubt as to whether such a contest really took place at all, in consequence o£ the large amounj of fiction with which the succeeding poets have embellished it. It is, however, certain that Hermann, the munificent Landgrave of Thuringia, drew to his court a large number of Minnesingers, who prized his princely hos- pitalities so highly that they even left the Suabian dialect, in which their songs had before that been composed, and wrote in the Thuringian, thus begin- ning the separation which took place between the High German and Low German literature of the latter part of the Middle Ages. That competitions took . place at his court is more than probable, and was quite in keeping with the customs of the time. It must be remembered that France enjoyed similar con- tests among the Troubadours, in which discussions concerning some point of homage to ladies took place, and which were called " Courts of Love." It is not un- likely that the War of the Wartburg was an occasion of this order, and Wagner has followed out this idea in his opera of Tannhduser. But the poems relating to the combat became hyperbolical in such a large degree that ^ome commentators have — we think, un- justly — relegated the entire combat to the domain of mythology. The following is one of these florid accounts : — , Henry, the virtuous clerk, Walther von der Vogel- weide, Bitterolf, Reinmar, Von Ofterdingen, and Wolf- 24 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG ram von Eschenbach were the participants ; and the Landgrave and. others were to be the judges. The prize was to be adjudged to the best singer and composer, and the worst was to be at once taken out and hung. [This latter feature at once proves the version to belong to later and more brutal times.] Henry of Ofterdingen was the best; but his rivals conspired that he should be judged the worst, and he was given over to the hangman, but escaped by force, and fled to Austria in search of the great enchanter, Klingsor, who, on hearing him, commended his singing, and proposed to go back with him for another com- petition. The two passed their time very pleasantly together; but finally, by his magic, Klingsor had them both transported in a night to the palace in Thuringia. Here Klingsor entered into competitive singing with Wolfram von Eschenbach, without, however, gaining any superiority, after which he substituted one of the evil spirits at his command in his place. Wolfram was equal to the emergency, and began to sing a song about the holy sacraments, which at once sent the disgusted imp flying. But, in the evening, the magi- cian won the contest by introducing the topic of astrology ; and Wolfram was entirely discomfited. Klingsor left the hall loaded with presents, and de- parted the next day. What wonder if, amid such tales as these, the entire story should be doubted.' Nevertheless, as we have HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 2$ already seen, there was a substratum of truth in it all; and after one subtracts Klingsor, his imps, and the hangman, there still remains the fact that at the court of Thuringia was the climax of that poetic and noble epoch of German chivalry represented by the works and lives of the Mimiesingers. 1V„ THE MASTERSINGERS. With the passing away of the Minnesingers, the German song fell upon evil days. The nobility aban- doned their interest in the art of poetry and composi- tion, and the burghers entered the field. For nearly three centuries, a lower order of composition, a weaker vein of music, ruled in Germany. It is difficult to assign an exact epoch to the change. The Master- singers claim Wolfram of Eschenbach and Walther von der Vogelweide as the founders of their order; while, on the other hand,, Frauenlob * is reckoned by some historians as a Mastersinger, and by others as the last of the Minnesingers. There is some truth in both theories, for he existed between the two epochs. His death at Mainz, in 131 8, marks the end of the loftiest poetical epoch of the Middle Ages. The women of the time were not ungrateful to the poet who had spent his life in praising their sex ; and we read that his body was borne to the grave by women only, attended by a large procession of weeping *This singer's name was Heory of Meissen; but his constant homage to women won him the title of " Frauenlob," or " Women's-praise." HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 2^ females, who threw roses into the grave and poured libations of wine into it until it overflowed. After this, the German Muse fell into a prolonged sleep. It was quite natural that, as the Mastersingers , had not the high poetic thoughts of their predeces- sors, the Minnesingers, they should try to elevate form above inspiration. Their entire attention seemed given to the invention of new metres and shapes. The era at which the Mastersingers arose may bs set as early as the_ beginning of the fourteenth century. They at once began forming themselves into societies, guilds, and corporations, bound by various whimsical laws, and consenting to many formalities of construction and rhythm in poetry an^ music, which clearly marked the absence of a true understanding of the subject. There were at first still a few bold spirits remaining who chose to take the freer methods and life of the Minnesingers ; but these soon gave way to the organ- ized pressure of the Mastersingers, and very soon all German song composition was bound hand and foot. With the Meister, the spirit of competition became inuch more keen than it had been in the Minnesing- ing days.' The knightly musicians were satisfied with the mere work of art creation, or, at the most, with the applause of a chosen dame. Their coarser-grained successors desired that the whole world should echo the plaudits, and that their excellence should be formally acknowledged. 28 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG The contests of the Meistersingers were always given with great pompand circumstance. Wagner, in his opera, the Meistersingers of Nuremberg, has repro- duced the festivity of such an occasion with much fidelity ; and it may not be generally known that even the names of his characters are exact, since Hans Sachs, Veit Ppgner, Sixtus Beckraesser, and others, are chronicled among the twelve great masters in Nuremberg in 1550. There are many points of resem- blance between the ceremonials of the Mastersingers and the Masons of modern times. There were even degrees among the former, and the title "master" meant that one had risen by attainments from the humbler rank of apprentice. The regular meetings of the guild generally took place on the afternoons of Sundays or of holidays, as the singers worked at their trades on other days. At the large competitions, the following rules were observed : Behind a green curtain of silk sat four Merker, or critics, whose business it was to viratch the singer and mark down any mistakes which he made. Each of these critics had a special department. One was to judge of the language and grammar of the singer. In later years, this Merker had before him an open copy of Luther's translation of the Bible, as the best standard of the German tongue. Another was to watch the contents of the songrand see if it contained worthy and learned thoughts. Another was to observe the construction and metre of the verse, HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 29 and see if it conformed to the Meistersinger rules. The other was to watch the music, and see if it was properly composed and performed. Regarding the last two critics, we may add that their task was a most im- portant one. The versification of the singers was often very complex, and each metre had given to it a name taken from heraldry or from war. Thus, one reads in the early chronicles of the " shield," the " sword," the " thrust," the " parry " of a song. To invent a new mode of versification was the singer's greatest glory ; and, if it were accepted by the judges, he was allowed to give it a name. In this manner arose the "rose- mary," the "flowery-paradise," the "fresh," the "yel- low," the ■"blue," the "frog," and the "mirror" modes. Some verses even exist with one hundred and twenty-two rhymed lines in each. Our readers can imagine how much of inspiration there could have been in such a mechanical jingle. As to the music, the singer was left somewhat more free. It was set down to his credit, if he invented his own song; but he was allowed to take his tunes ready- made, if he wished. And for this purpose there were several " official melodies " furnished by the society, to any of which he might set his poem. The singer sat upon a raised stool while performing ; and every adjunct of the scene gave it a pedagogic character, not unlike a college examination. The chief faults were enumerated in the laws of the society. There were 30 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG thirty-two of these. 'The following are a few of them : The singer was forbidden to employ sentences which nobody could understand, — a wise rule where there was so much of pedantry. ITe was also forbidden to use words which had no meaning. He was not allowed to make gestures or grimaces. Indistinctness of pronunciation was a fault ; singing off the pitch was reckoned a great fault ; and over-embelh'shme'nt, strange to say, was also a fault, and produced " black marks." The prize given to the winner was some- times a crown, but more usually a scarf or long chain and a medalf The second prize was a wreath.- The subjects of the songs at the "free singings" were left to the singer, and on such occasions any might partici- pate ; but, at the great competitions, none but members could take part, and the subjects (after the Reforma- tion) were to be taken wholly from I'hc Scriptures. A singer who had won a ]:i"ize was at ohce accorded the rank of RTcister ; and, at the next competition, he was entitled to a seat among Ihc judges. At the great competitions, the singer was compelled to know his song by heart, as no book or prompting was allowed him. If he strayed altogether from the tune, the judges at once ordered him to stop. . Only one important poet was produced- by the Mas- tersingers during the centuries of their existence. This was Hans Sachs, born at Nuremberg in 1494. He studied at the free school in his city, and- says' HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 3 1 of himself that he was not thoroughly educated. His father was a tailor; and Hans, at the age of fifteen, also took up a trade, that of shoemaking. At this tinie, a friend of the family, a weaver named Nunnen- beck, taught the youth the principles which governed Mastersinging ; and, after he had gone through the customary Wanderjahre, he settled at Nuremberg again, and was admitted with honor into the society of singers. Probably no poet achieved more honor dur- ing his lifetime than the humble cobbler-rhymester of Nuremberg. He died in 1576, leaving behind him three enormous folios of printed works ; but even these do not give all his literary labors, for he wrote over six thousand pieces, some of them long plays of seven acts each. The reason that Sachs won so much more fame than his brother singers is that he alone was genuine; for, spite of his observance of the pedantic rules of his time, he did not permit them to stifle his own hearty, good-humored nature. There is a bonhomie in his works which even to-day makes them pleasant reading, and forces the reader to join in the evident enjoyment of the poet in relating his tale. The last vestiges of the Mastersingers did not dis- appear until this century, when. In 1839, the last four of the Ulm Meistersingers turned over their records, banners, etc., to the singing society of that town, thus completing the existence of the guild which had 32 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG existed since the Middle Ages. It was a typical act, for out of the Mastersingers' guild has grown the German Maennerchor. Gregarious singing is not less existent among the Teutonic people than it was in the early times of Frauenlob or Sachs : it has only changed its form. In leaving this branch of our subject, we present a specimen of the Scriptural introduction to one of the old competitive songs. ^- -^ X ik d2. I g— ^ £ F— gj — ^ 32; ^ ±: ^ Gen e sis at nine and twen - ty, doth — ^- :S=^:: :^= -:^ i^P^ . your rays dance in glee ! And ^^^^m w g=fV^ f^ r fcr ^ ^bf p ^=^j^^^^i^ ^ shine us two to - geth - - - er, to - geth - er, Wlio ^Wii^i ^^^S=^ m M • — ah -t J J JJlJ JJ HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 41 dim. side by side would be, Who side by side would be. dim. VI. THE INSTRUMENTAL FORMS. Although our subject is the vocal music of Ger- many, it is impossible to examine the songs of the different epochs without studying the instrumental forms which often gave rise to them. The dances especially are so interwoven with singing that the two arts seem to belong to each other in the folk- music. The most ancient dances of Germany were of two kinds, those which belonged to the court and aristocracy, and those which were the delight of the burghers and the peasantry. The former were always slow and stately, and involved no indecorous gesture or action : the latter were wild, jumping, and full of activity. This broad division ' of dancing is by no means solely the property of the Germans : it has probably been in existence in all ages. We have already alluded to the difference of courtly and' popu- lar dances in the time of the Minnesingers, but we can go back even to ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt for similar distinctions.* The ancient dances of cere- *For excellent details regarding the epochs of the dance, we refer the reader to Czerwinski's History of ike Dance, HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 43 mony (as, for example, those mentioned in the Script- ures) were probably not even marching, but a merely pantomimic action. That many of the Greek dances did not involve motions of the feet is proved by the descriptions of the actions of the tragic choruses, left in many of the works of contemporary writers, while Lucian* proves conclusively that the great Roman dancers were pantomimists, and did not caper about, but relied wholly upon gesture and movement of the hands. In later times, we find the court dances more allied to gesture than to caperings, although the body was no longer kept stationary, but moved gracefully about in time with the rhythm. Such dances as the Passacaglia, the Chaconne, the Pavane, the Minuet, represented the loftier side of the saltatory art in Southern and Central Europe in the past; while the Gigue, the Hornpipe, the Bourrde, or the Musette represented the heartier rustic side. In Germany, the courtly dances were often combined with song; and the knight would take a lady by the hand, and, singing and stepping gracefully to the rhythm of the lute, the pair would move slowly to and fro.' Sometimes, the gentleman was allowed two partners in such a dance. These were called the "stepped dances," and the name itself proves the difference from the modern society dances. On the other hand, the people's dancing was ruder arid wilder. It was divided into two kinds, the " circling " and the " springing " dance. *"De Saltatione." 44 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG The former was the more reputable of the two, and could not have been very different from the old English Maypole dance ; but the springing dance, of which the Hopaldei, spoken of in Chapter II., was the pre- decessor, was a very rough exercise ; and the throwing down of the female participants was not infrequent, and often occasioned the calling out of the city guards to preserve order, and only too frequently the dance would end in a bloody fight. Singing was combined also with these uncouth merrymakings, and many a folksong owes its origin to some satirical verses sung on these occasions to the dance tune. Of the instru- ments which accompanied these dances, the drum was the most prized; but it was soon taken from the dances of the lower classes, and allowed only to the gather- ings of the nobility. The trumpet and drum during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were deemed to be the only two instruments which a gentleman might delight in and even perform upon. Many were the laws regulating the use of these two instruments. It was regarded as an especial token of graciousness when, in 1426, the Emperor Sigismund permitted the city of Augsburg to establish a band of taumpeters. Trumpeters and drummers were under the immediate jurisdiction of their prince, and had many privileges and were highly honored. In 1623 and in 1630, decrees were issued fixing their station and defining their rights. One of the most curious of the laws regarding HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 45 drummers, and one which shows how highly . the instrnment was regarded, existed in Saxony at the beginning of this century. Drums were forbidden to be used at any dance or ball, unless some person oi noble rank or academical degree were present. This relic of the legislation of the Middle Ages did not cause any serious inconvenience, for it was very easy to obtain the attendance of some penniless professor, and with him the desired drums. The kings of Poland kept twelve court trumpeters and two drummers. Space forbids giving the various laws which sur- rounded the two arts, a full collection of which may be found in a curious work, entitled Introduction to the Heroic Musical Trumpeter's and Drummer'' s Art (Anleitung zur heroisch-musikalischen Trompeter und Pauker Kunst), by J. E. Altenburg;* but the fact may be regarded as entirely established that, while the harp and fiddle were the instruments used by the nobility up to the fifteenth century, the trumpet aiid drum took the lead in aristocratic circles thereafter. City bands existed at a very early epoch in Germany. The most ancient bands were those formed by the princes, for the amusement of their own courts ; and sometimes these would be allowed to play for the gen- *The writer of the work was himself a member of the honorable Guild of Trumpeters and Drummers, and states that many of the nobility studied this "knightly art." The Duke of Weimar presented himself as a trumpeter in 1734, and after an examination as to his musical ability was admitted a member, by a committee of some forty drummers and trumneters. 46 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG eral public, in the streets or public squares of the towns. With the rise of the burghers and of the free cities, the people had their own bands, which were heard on all occasions of great festivity. These bands often contained pipers ; and the bagpipe was very popular in Germany in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries. Albrecht Diirer has left drawings of these ancient musicians, which prove the bagpipes to have been about the same as those used in Scotland. It was natural that the strong rhythm of the bagpipe should influence the dance, and that the rhythm of the dance should influence the folksong; for in all popular music, since the days when the Script- ural characters clapped their hands in time with their singing, strongly marked rhythm has been a leading element. Although it is not our purpose to trace instrumental form per se in this chapter, we may here remark that many modem orchestral forms have their origin in these primitive dances. The genealogy is somewhat as follows : first, the dances were used as instru- mental pieces by the lutenists ; then, the composers found that, by combining a stately dance with one of the livelier sort, they heightened the effect of both ; then, the suite (originally, suite de pilces) took its rise and combined several of the dances in a long orches^ tral work, in one key throughout ; and from the con- trasted movements of the suite, not from the vague HISTORY OF GERMAN SONO 47 y sliape of the old suonata, came the modern sym- phony, sonata, string quartet, concerto, etc. Almost all our drawing-room music is written in a form de- rived from the combination of two of the old dances, with a repeat of the first one after the second. The subjects of the songs which were combined with the dances were various, but naturally never very sad or plaintive. Spring songs are numerous, legends some- times appear, and love is a never-ending theme. Often these songs are given as a conversation between two persons, and there is reason to believe that th€se were sung as duets. The following is the first verse of such a dance-song : — " I came before my darling's bower One evening 'mid the gloaming, I spoke to her with passion's power, 'Alas I I late am coming ; But Jet me not here pleading stay, But give me cordial greeting, And let me in to thee, I pray.' ' Oh, teasing youth, I must say nay, We shall not have a meeting j So chase your thoughts of love away, For you my heart's not beating.' " Sometimes the effect was heightened, and a contrasted form attained, by changing the rhythm of dance and song with each voice. The beginning of the male part of the above is given thus : — * •Reissmann, Geschkhte der deustchtn Musik. 43 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG m -M—m- — tr- I came be -fore my darling's bow'r one -l«-»- ie=?zzat m eve ning 'mid the gloam ing The female part changes thus : — ?=:^- :^= .t^ ws P=t: rti Oh cease, teas-ing youtli, I must say :^: -i)-- ?2= zt ^-»: Wo sliall not have a meet The first division would be called the Vortanz, or opening dance, the second the "after dance" {Nach- taitz), and between the two a considerable pause was made, while the dancers stood still. The first division was dignified and stately, but the second was wild and somewhat indelicate for a court dance. This corahination of two different forms was much in favor at, the end of the sixteenth century, and its contrasts undoubtedly led to the more developed contrasts of the suite. But it was not to the dance forms that German song owed its chief charm: its earnestness and dignity HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 49 came from a much higher source ; and all the passion of the Minnesingers, the pedantry of the Master-' singers, the zeal of the Marienlieder, and the jollity of the dance songs might have been unavailing to give to Germany a lasting repertoire of vocal music, had not the seeds and fruit been cherished in a movement which called forth all the enthusiasm of the German nation, — a movement which, entirely religious, yet called upon music to aid it in a powerful manner, unknown since the -days of Ambrose, Gregory, and the early Church. VII. THE INFLUENCE OF THE REFORMATION. - In all times of great religious excitement, music lias been an important factor in strengthening zeal or assisting devotion. Julian, the Apostate, ascribed the decline of pagan rites in Rome to the fact that the Christians had elevating music in their service, while the Roman heathen had not. In the introduction of Christianity into the northern nations, music always became the valued handmaid of religion. It is not, surprising, therefore, to find music performing its highest mission during the white heat of the religious struggle of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, 'and Martin Luther, a skilled musician and lover of music, fostering the art with a care which had its root not only in policy, but in personal taste as well. But even Luther, in striving to employ the art jn the cause of religion, scarcely could have known how much influence he was exerting upon the German song of centuries later. History must deny to Luther the composition of many of the tunes which have been ascribed to him;* * One by one, these songs have been traced to other sources. Even " A Strong Castle " is now ascribed to Franc. " HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 5 1 but, in elevating the art to its great position in tlie Reformation, in causing the best composers to set the loftiest religious thoughts to singable music, in being the presiding genius over the music of lijs time, his work is immeasurably great. " I am not ashamed to say," he once said, " that, next to the study of divinity, I hold music to be the noblest of occupations." He was himself a good singer, and loved each evening, kfter supper, to join in part-singing, at which he is said to have been very expert. We have already declared our opinion that, when a nation possesses great poets, good composers are sure to follow; and a repertoire .of songs is thus certain to arise. Luther served music most directly in this manner ; for his poems intended for sacred music were of the loftiest character, and may, without irreverence, be compared to the dignity of the Scriptures. We have seen how, with the iVIeistersingers, Luther became the standard of pure German diction. Not less direct was the influence which caused the folk-song to be incorporated into the chorale of the Reformation, and not only gave it new dignity and power, but caused it to be preserved intact through coming ages. It was the perception of the true musician which caused Luther to use popular melodies as the basis of many of his chorales. Two facts, however, should be remembered in this -connec- tion; firstly, the folk-song of those days (even the love song) was of a very stately and dignified cast 52 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG (see selection in Chapter V.); and, secondly, the chorale was freer and bolder in the sixteenth century than in later times. One of the commonest errors of the musician of to-day is to imagine that the rigid schcjol of Congregational singing comes to us through Luther and the chorale, whereas it has its root rather in the Genevan school; — that of Calvin, — which was so zealously taken up by the English Puritans and Scotch Covenanters, and through these influences afterward became acclimatized in America. The use of popular music in religious rites was nevertheless not original with Luther. Even in Scriptural times, , this custom seems to have existed. Miriam's " Song of Triumph " must Have been set to an Egyptian popular melody, to have been so entirely impromptu ; and the early Christians in Rome did not disdain to use any popular melody, save those associated with the pagan rites or theatre, in their love feasts. Luther certainly used no half-measures in selecting his songs. Soldiers' songs, sailors' songs, the melo- dies of the streets, were all taken, and pressed into the service of the Church. Before they were sung in religious service, however, they were purged from every element of triviality. They were set to dignified and musicianly counterpoint, under the direction of the great reformer, by the greatest composers availa- ble ; and they were furnished with new words, some- times by Luther himself. HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG S3 " He was a Little Scholar who went to School," " I heard a Dame complaining," "All my Thoughts are with thee," and " I had a Stately Sweetheart " can be mentioned as songs which gave rise to great chorales. Baeh's lofty chorale, " O Sacred Head now wounded," shows us that the ancient folk-song was not out of place as a religious selection; for this noble tune was originally a love song. During Luther's life- time, many collections of hymns, derived from such popular sources, were published. One such collec- tion bears the title "Soldiers', Sailors', and Miners' Songs, and other Low Street Songs, altered to the Service of God." Although the chorale soon became the characteristic musical expression of Protestant worship, it was not desired at first by Luther. The reformer desired to keep for the new church a ritual very much akin to the musical service of the Catholic Church, — the mass, — but to have it rendered in Ger- man instead of in Latin. The beginnings of Protes- tantism were far less radical than many imagine. In Germany this effort to retain the mass, in England a desire to hold to the prayers to the saints, prove that the religion and customs of centuries were not lightly over- thrown. Luther's early singing in Eisenach had been in the ecclesiastical school of the mass; and, in 1526, he wrote, " Let the use of the Latin mass remain free to the young, so that the Latin tongue in which so many good songs are found shall not become unfamiliar." 54 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG In writing of the different modes of conducting wor- ship, Luther held that, in the earnest meetings of the truly faithful, but little music was necessary ; all should be regulated by the Bible, prayer, and Christian love. Luther was far from desiring to give an authoritative, formal church service to the Protestants. On the con- trary, the changes which he made at different times clearly show that much was experimental, and that scarcely anything was to be regarded as entirely arbi- trary. In the beginning, almost all the points of the mass were retained. The Kyrie became, " Lord, have mercy upon us " ; the Gloria, " Allein Gott in der Hoh' sei ehr" ; the Credo, " Wir glauben all' an einen Gott " ; the Benedictus, " Gott sei gelobet und bene- deiet " : and the Agnus Dei, " O Lamm Gottes un- schuldig." But the beginning even of this close imita- tion of the Catholic service was always a congrega- tional hymn, — a chorale or German psalm. This whole service could, in case of need, be given without employing a choir, as each number was suited to con- gregational singing ; yet it must not be supposed that Luther was arrayed against choir-singing, the exact contrary is. the case, and he more than once entered vehement protests against the disbanding of choirs. He desired choir-singing in the service, not only be- cause he loved the art of music, but because he be- lieved that a good choir would be a guide and model for the congregation in - matters belonging to church HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG SS music. Of all the composers of his time, Luther ranked Josquin des Pres as highest. Naturally, many of the very best were in the service of the Catholic Church ; jpvit their music could be adapted, or translated and used in the German Protestant churches, whether they would or not. Yet even this was scarcely neces- sary; for, although the Protestant Church had not yet evolved its great tone masters, Bach and Handel, yet all Germany was awake in the new cause, and every literary mind wrought out a hymn, and every composer a tune, as the most worthy offering to the Church. The number of the chorales of the first century of the Reformation is colossal. VIII. THE MUSIC OF THE REFORMATION. Henry Isaac was not far behind even Josquin des Pres in placing religious music on a firmer footing. The Evangelical Church owes to him the melody, " Nun ruhen alle Walder " (" Now all the Woods are resting "), which he originally wrote as a secular song. But the pupil of Isaac, Ludwig Senfl, was Luther's avowed favorite. One evening, after singing a motette by this composer (for he always had music in .the evening in his home), Luther said : " If I were to tear myself to pieces, I could not write a work like this. But then, he could not expound a psalm as I can. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are manifold and various, just as there are various organs in a body. But no one is contented with his own gifts, and we are never quite satisfied with what God has allotted us.'' Luther wrote a letter to Senfl in 1530, and the commentators have endeav- ored to place the latter among the Protestant com- posers, because of this. It is scarcely necessary to say that this is not satisfactorily proven ; add the fact that Senfl was in a public position in the most catholic coprt of Munich proves that his works were adapted, and not written, for the Protestant Church. HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 57 The same was trae of many of the other composers whose names appear in the music of the Reformation. Heinrich Fink, Thomas Stoltzer, Stephen Mahn, Mar- tin Agricola, Benedict Ducis, George Rhaw, and even Orlando di Lasso existed in the time of Luther's activity ; while, in Venice, Adrian Willaert directed in the cathedral of St. Mark's, and taught many German disciples. Most important, however, in their influence upon the music of the Reformation were Conrad Rupf and Johann Walther, who worked with Luther in his great task of founding a music worthy of the great new Church which had arisen. Rupf was Kapellmeister to a Protestant prince, the Elector of .Saxony. Walther was in the service of Frederic the Wise at Torgau, as chief -singer, and subsequently also entered the service of the elector. He was one of the earliest of the skilled musicians who devoted their lives to the service of the Protestant Church. His Geystlich Gesangk Buchleyn was one of the earliest Protestant hymn- books. Walther gives many details of his life with Euther in Wittenberg, in 1524, during the time -they worked on the above-mentioned hymnal. He states that Luther set tunes to several of the Gospels and Epistles, playing the melodies as he invented them on the flute, while he -(Walther) noted them down. The great epoch in the music of the Reformation was the year 1524, for the publication of Protestant hymn-books began at that time. It is difficult to ascer- 58 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG tain with certainty which was the very first collection of Protestant hymns published. The honor has been claimed for a book called the Enchiridion, published by Luther at Erfurt in 1524; but it is possible that the ctiUection published at Wittenberg by the reformer, in the same year, may have been compiled earlier. The only copy of the first-named work in existence was destroyed by the German bombardment of Strass- burg during the recent Franco-Prussian war, which burnt the town library where it was preserved. The Protestant hymn-books, however, were not the oldest in Germany ; for there was a Catholic one dated 1517, containing seventy-four tunes, some of which were composed especially for the collection, while others were older melodies. Unquestionably, the older cho- rales of the Hussites exerted a great influence upon the music of Luther's days ; for they were carefully pre- served and honored by the reformer, and incorporated in his hymnals. The Enchiridion, already mentioned, contains two. The Protestant hymns found the most ardent wel- come in Germany. Their music was lofty, and wedded to noble words. They were not too difficult for the people to sing; and the people therefore sang them with an enthusiasm that proved how well music, prop- erly directed, was serving the cause of religion. Many who were not followers of Luther yet sang these hymns, until the fires of sectional strife blazed up too HISTORY OF -GERMAN SONG 59 hotly for such a thing to be done with safety. Luther aided the progress of these hymns by giving more and more of the vocal service into the hands of the congre- gations ; yet, as we have before stated, he never cast his influence against choir singing. The latter, how- ever, was to pave the way for more perfect congrega- tional singing. Latin was the rock against which hith- erto the cause of popular singing in the service had split. In the Latin mass (apart from the Marienlieder before spoken of), the congregation generally could only grasp the repeated phrase of the opening number ; and the " Kyrie Eleison, Christe Eleison,'' was sung in season and out of season. With Luther's music, all was changed. He said, " I wish, after the example of the prophets and ancient Fathers of the Church, to make German psalms for the people ; that is to say, sacred hymns, so that the word of God may dwell among the people by means of song also.'' If ever a wish was accomplished, this one was. The songs were taught in all the schools. The Wanderbursch sang them on his way. The besieged or persecuted Protes- tant found comfort even in the midst of his affliction in these songs. " Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott " be- came really " a strong castle " to those who sang it. It was the battle-cry as well as the shelter of the Reformation. Yet the root of even this grand melody is to be found in the Roman Catholic chants which Luther had sung in his youth. Herr Kostlin, in a 6o HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG recent treatise,* easily proves that the music is not original, but that is little ; it needed the fire and majesty of the words to give it meaning and life. The tune was the body, the hymn the soul. It was an applica- tion of Wagner's formula, " Music is the handmaid of poetry," three centuries before the operatic reformer had used it, and on a grander scale. In closing our sketch of the music of this epoch, we may add, as items of interest, that Luther possessed a bass or baritone voice, and was a good player upon the flute and the lute. In -addition to his practical work above described, he wrote a -treatise in praise of music, and also the following poem in praise of the art, which we translate from the German, preserving as far as possible the odd vein of the original : — DAME MUSICA.t Of all earth's joy and pleasure Not one has greater bliss to measure Than that which lies in fine singing Or when tender tones are ringing. There can be no guilt or care Where the youths are singing fair. No envy, scorn, or hate bides long ; And sorrow flies off at the song. And avarice and malice, too, Along with grief, they hide from view. * Luther ah der Vater des evangelischen Kirchengesanges^ t This poem has so seldom been even spoken of m the biographies of Luther that we deem it necessary to state that not the slightest doubt can be cast upon its authenticity. It first appeared in a little book in praise of music,.entitled Lob und Preis der Vdblichen Kunsi Musica^ by H. Johan, HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 6 1 And all is well the heart within, For such a joy is not a sin. God even takes delight in this ; And for each mortal 'tis great bliss. Since Satan's work it hinders oft, The tone which rises sweet and soft. This well is seen in David's song Which did King Saul his life prolong With tender lays and harp's sweet tone, Else sure the king no peace had known. And by sweet music hearts are stirred To listen to God's Holy Word. Eliseus this secret knew, And played the harp with rapture, too, I love the sweet time^of the year. When all the birds are singing clear, Then.heaven and earth are-full of glee. And many songs are borne to me. The nightingale with tender voice Makes all the pleasant woods rejoice. Her song can every l^osom stir, And many thanks we give to her ; But greater thanks to God be said ; For he this songster fine has made, To be a model from above To all the souls that music love. Of God she sings the wondrous pr^se Through all the nights and all the days. To Him, too, would my song ascend, And thank him ever without end. D. Martin Luther. Walter, Wittenberg, 1538, with "a poetical introduction by Doctor Lu- ther." It was repubiibhed in a periodical in Halberstadt in 1789, and thence reproduced (by Dr. J. A. G. Steuber) in the Allgemeine musika- lische ZeituTigi June 19, 1811, whence we have made the translation. IX. GERMAN MUSIC AFTER LUTHEr'S DEATH. Luther's ideas had been too thoroughly promul- gated to allow of any lapse of his musical plans after his death. Indeed, it became a labor of love, during the latter part of the sixteenth century, for every fairly educated Protestant to add at least one to the already long list of chorales. The music of the German Church which Luther had brought into existence only found culmination in the works of Bach two centuries later. Yet a vehement struggle ensued ere this climax was reached. Renewed strength to Catholicity and schisms in the Protestant ranks immediately followed the death of the reformer ; and the atmosphere of sec- tional hatred and of distrust was not one in which the fine arts could thrive. One result, however, followed this, which was eventually beneficial. Secular music began to receive more attention on all sides, and flour- ished as never before. A most important change in the treatment of chorales took place at the end of the sixteenth century. In Luther's time, it was customary to give the melody of the chorale to the tenor voice, and to allow the upper voices to carry a discant or HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 6? counterpoint to it. Lucas Osiander, in 1586, made the decisive ciiange of giving tiie melody to tlie liighest voices, and defends this on the ground of suitability for public use. He says : " I know well that hitherto composers have led the chorale in the tenor. If one does this, however, then the melody is not well recog- nized among the voices. Therefore, I have given the melody to the discant, that it shall be easily known, and that every layman may sing along." Hans Leo Hassler (born 1564), a most celebrated composer of that time, gave his adhesion to the new system, which soon revolutionized chorale singing. We must again mention here that the Calvinistic music of the Protestant Church, although accepting this reform, did it from no definite art principle. The entire spirit of the songs inaugurated by John Calvin was opposed to the brighter, florid style of the Luther- ans. The Calvinists accepted music only as a neces- sary adjunct of divine worship, and did not desire that it should be in itself enjoyed. They pushed to a severe extreme the doctrine that the truest music for church use was that which attracted the least notice ; and, as the Catholics had a brilliant and artistic musi- cal service (which, as we have seen, Luther in some degree copied), they made their psalms most rigid and austere, giving rise to the square-cut, formal hymn tunes whose origin many to-day mistakenly attribute to Luther. 64 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG It would be unnecessary prolixity, in so short a his- tory as this, to speak of the numerous composers who arose at this time in sacred and secular music ; yet we must name one of the greatest, whose influenc-e upon both schools was very marked. This was John Eccard, who won renown both as singer and composer, his practical abilities in the former art making all his works especially smooth, flowing, and successful. Naturally, with the rise of German sacred song, the art of organ-playing received a very decided impetus. It must, however, not be forgotten that almost all instrumental performance at this epoch was but a sup- port of singing; and even organ-playing had not yet become an independent species of music. The most striking proof of the low position occupied by this and much other instrumental music is found in the awkward fingering which was used by even the most advanced performers. The compass of the key-board of the clavicembalo or spinet (the piano of those days) was but four octaves, ^nd that of the organ still less. ^A most extraordinary system was used in the lower octave of the organ, where the notes were not placed in their natural order, and some were omitted alto- gether. The notes of this octave were the following : C, F-sharp, D, G, E, G-sharp, and A, in the order named ; and this nonsensical set received the name of the "short octave." We can discover no plausible reason for such a curious custom, but the omission HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 65 o( notes may have occurred because of the fact that but few different keys were used in composition before Bach's time. Although Adrian Willaert had (about the year 1550) discovered the principle of the tem- pered scale, yet the scale of nature was persistently clung to by many, causing distant modulations to be practically impossible, and forcing composers to use very few keys, and those closely related to C, in their instrumental works or those instrumentally accom- panied. Only with Bach's Well-tempered Clavichord was the equality of all keys thoroughly established. The fingering of the works was such that no great virtuosity could by any possibility have been attained. One would naturally imagine that, with a key-board under the hand, a natural fingering would result almost spontaneously. Such was by no means the case with our forefathers in the sixteenth and seventeenth cen- turies. The scale of C major was played with the second and third fingers only, both ascending and de- scending. Only, upon the highest note the fourth finger was allowed, thus : — «J -9- ' ^ 8333343a8!3 3 8 f^P- a 3 3 3 In the above, we have given the German fingering, and have, for the sake of simplicity, used the G-cIef, 66 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG although the use of this clef did not become general until the eighteenth century. It will be noticed that, in the above system of fingering, — if it can be called such, — the thumb and little finger are not used at all. These fingers were very sparingly used, even in intervals. Thirds were struck with the second and fourth fingers, fourths, fifths, and sixths with the second and fifth, and only larger intervals with the thumb and fifth finger. One cause of this fingering is easily discovered. The key- board of the organ was so high, or the organist's seat so low, that he could not easily reach the keys with the comparatively short thumb and little finger. It must also be remembered that' down to about the year 1480 the organ had no fingering whatever, but the keys, from three to six inches wide, were struck by the player with clenched fist, while, even after this epoch, the keys were made about one-third wider than at present, causing the fingering, at best, to be very different from the modern system. Yet even these explanations do not account for the application of such a system to the smaller-keyed clavicembalo or spinet, nor for the fact that it was preserved for over one hundred and fifty years, only going out of use about the year 1730. Nor does it account for the fact that very little importance was attached to the finger- ing in any case. The student was allowed in those days to take any fingers which seemed most con- HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 67 venient to him. In 1619, Praetorius says, " Many- have a fashion to despise some organists who use this or that system of fingering, which, to my mind, is not worth the trouble of speaking about ; for a person can run up or down with his fore, middle, or hind finger, — yes, and help with his nose if he wants to, so long as he- brings everything fine, exact, and pleas- ant to the ear." In the early part of the eighteenth century, the C scale was fingered thus : — $ ^ f * • f 343434 '3 33333„ 3 o and, in the left hand, tlius:- m -»-# ^ jtrft 48348Siai23433434 It would be difficult to conjecture what idea gave rise to such an order. It is to Bach that the world is indebted to the first practical system of fingering ; for he brought the thumb and little finger into as con- stant use as the other digits, and founded the method of fingering which has been in use, with slight modifi- cations, ever since. But sufiicient has been said to convince the most sceptical that brilliant playing was not possible in the epoch of which we write. 68 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG The other instruments used in the accompaniment of song are worthy of some description. The clavi- chord was the predecessor of the piano, and was held by the old musicians as an excellent medium to begin the practice of organ with. It was nearer to the idea of the piano than the clavicembalo, with which it is often confounded. The latter gave a twang to the wire, which could not be increased or diminished in power nor changed in expression. Its music has been wittily defined by a commentator as " a scratch with a tone at the end of it." The clavichord, on the con- trary, did not twang the wire, but gently pressed it; and this pressure could be regulated by the skill of the performer, so that tones of more or less softness could be produced, although no great degree of loud- ness was possible upon the instrument; Instruments of the violin family existed in eveii greater variety than to-day; while flutes, oboes, bassoons, trumpets, and drums were used in profusion. The clarinet, how- ever, had not yet been perfected. But the most important instrument of the epoch was the lute, which stood in relation to the home music of the seventeenth century very much as the piano does to that of the nineteenth. There were many varieties of lutes, of which the theorbo was the largest. In shape somewhat like a guitar, the lute differed from this instrument in having twenty-four strings, of which ten were never to be Stopped, but HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 69 were always played as open strings, and therefore had to be tuned over each time that a new key was used. It was this constant necessity of retuning which drove the lute out of use. Mattheson, the contempo- rary of Handel, wittily estimates that, if a lutenist lived up to the age of eighty, he had spent sixty years in tuning his instrument. The lute was sweeter toned than the guitar, and was equally adapted for accom- panying song or for purely instrumental passages. Its tone was not unlike that of the zither. The rise of the more easily tuned guitar, and the perfecting of the various keyed instruments, drove the lute into oblivion. Yet it died hard ; for we find Bach writing for it, and, even in the time of Mozart, composers for the instru- ment existed, and the lute still furnished the iiiusic of many a German household. ' X. THE RISE OF SECULAR AND OPERATIC MUSIC IN GERMANY. Already in these early days, Germany had shown a greater tendency toward instrumental music than any other nation ; and this taste caused the Germans to be recognized as the leaders in lute, clavichord, and other instrumental branches of composition. This leadership Germany has never lost ; for, after the race of lute-players had become nearly extinct, the clavi- chord compositions of Bach took the leading place in instrumental music, only to be followed in turn by the sonata and symphonic forms of Haydn, their develop- ment by Mozart and Beethoven, and finally by the romantic efforts of the moderns, but, in one form or another, since the sixteenth century, Germany has been pre-eminently the land of instrumental composi- tion. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, it is said that Germany possessed nearly fifty different varieties of musical instruments; and, one hundred years later, the historian Prsetorius describes more than one hundred kinds, all of which he declares to be in general use. Nevertheless, singing was not neg- lected because of this overwhelming fondness for HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 71 instrumental music, but was somewhat ipfluenced thereby. Solo singing, for example, was made but little of in many countries ; but in Germany, where the lute furnished such excellent support for the voice, the songs for a single voice soon reached a very large number. It was customary in such songs not to write the various harmonies in full, but merely to give a fig- ured bass, which any musician of the time was required to be able to render at sight into appropriate harmo- nies. We subjoin an exatnple of this kind of work, taken from a collection published in the early part of the eighteenth century. SMOKING -TOBACCO AND. SNUFF. Song. :ft ^i F~~F :J^ ¥ ^ 1st. V. What de-light To bac - co - smok-ing, 2d. V. SnufE is best * 'Tis great - er treas ure. Cembalo. Biljmj -^=ir± ^ ■P — P- r~9. Pleas - ure e - ver 'tis pro - vok - ing. Gives the nose se - re - ner pleas -ure, 6 6 6 6 .6 ^^ 72 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG Yes No for me to - bac - CO 'tis bliss e-nough.^^_ e - quals snuff. After different praises of their favorite modes of using tlie weed, tlie two singers give a duet, which we have not space to reproduce, since our only objtect is to examine the style of notation of these songs. The birth of a great school of vocal composition — the operatic — on the other side of the Alps was not without its effect upon the songs of Germany ; but, even before the importation of Italian opera, the Germans possessed a sort of musical-dramatic entertainment, as also did the Italians before^he invention of the true opera. The following is the title of one of these early works : " A beautiful singing-play of three bad wives, whom neither. God nor their husbands can satisfy. To be exhibited by six persons." This was printed in Nuremberg, in 1618. Naturally, such broad touches were intended for the general public ; while the aristocracy had more refined spectacles, in which music bore a prominent part. As early as 1628, the Italian opera had made its entrance into Germany. In fact, the wonderful new HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 73 school, which combined in itself all the beauty of poe- try, the power of music, the charms of painting, and the luxury of princes, spread at once among the aris- tocracy of every land. England and France, as well as Germany, at once cherished the new entertainment which had arisen from the good taste of a few culti- vated Florentine noblemen, gentlemen of excellent culture, but by no means astounding musicians. It was the Italian opera of Daphne by Rinuccini, which had the honor of first represe'nting the new school in Germany. The following was the plot of the work, and will suffice to show how different was the construction of a libretto at that time from the present. Ovid entered first to speak the prologue, as it was often customary to bring in the: shade of some Grecian poet to announce the play. It must be borne in mind that the opera owed its inception to- an effort to bring back the mousike of the ancient Greeks. Npw enter three shepherds, complaining of the frightful dragon who has laid the country waste, and now lies gorged with blood in the neighboring wood. Echo now enters as a consoling nymph. Echo was frequently personi- fied in the early Italian operas, taking a part not unlike that of some of the choruses of Euripides. Apollo enters, and changes the character of the scene by announcing that he has killed the dragon, on which, with a concerted musical expression of thanks by the shepherds, the act closes. The second act begins 74 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG with a conversation between Cupid, Venus, and Apollo The last-named satirizes Cupid's little bow and arrows, and tells him that he will never kill a dragon with these. Cupid swears revenge, and the chorus of shep- herds closes the act with a praise of love. The third act shows that Cupid has taken his revenge. Apollo is deeply in love with Daphne, but all his sighs are in vain. She avoids him, in spite of his protestations that he is a god ; and the obliging shepherds again bring the act to a close with a chorus in praise of love. In the fourth act, Cupid and Venus have a dialogue ; and, again, the persistent shepherds sirig further praises of love, this time adding the ichthyological fact that, not a fish in the sea but is moved by love, and the agricultural information that even the herbs of the field are obliged to yield to the softening influences of the tender pas- sion. This closes the act. Now comes the fifth act, which closes the lengthy story. Apollo is again seen chasing Daphne. The latter in despair calls upon her father, the river god, Peneus, to help her, and is changed into a laurel tree, which moves Apollo to a prolix complaint, in which he finally resolves to cause the laurel tree to be honored forever; and, with a dance of nymphs and shepherds around the tree, the opera ends. A very different plot from Meyerbeer's Huguenots or Rossini's William Tell, although it must be confessed that many of the modern Italian operas are scarcely less weak in their librettos than this earliest nf oneras. HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 75 Often, at the close of such an opera, an epilogue was spoken, complimentary to the princes in whose honor the entertainment was given ; and these were generally compared to the heroes of the play. There were no large vocal forms used in these early operas, and even the aria came into existence nearly a generation later. In a work such as the one above described there would be short, interchanging melo- dies, and probably a single chorus to each act, to bring matters to a dignified conclusion. The acts them- selves must have been extremely short; but probably the " waits " between them were long, since many prep- arations had to be made for grand scenic and mechan- ical effects, many of which would be considered won- derful even in our day. And now, for a long time, Italian vocal music was the only secular music cared for at courts and in aris- tocratic circles, even in Germany. Vast sums were expended in importing Italian singers, and every Ger- man court made it a point of pride to possess an Ital- ian leader and a company of Italian singers. For a long time, opera in Germany was only an abject copy- ing of the Italian school ; and, had it rested with the courts alone, it might have gone on thus forever, for there was no desire to build up an independent, a na- tional school, — only a longing to hear gentle southern cadences, " of linkdd sweetness long drawn out," on the part of the princes of all the German States. J 6 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG To the city of Hamburg is due the honor of first having changed this state of affairs j for in that city, on the 2d of January, 1678, the first original Ger- man opera was given. It was almost exactly a half century since the Italian opera had made its entrance into the country, and about eighty years after the com- position of the first Italian opera. The opera was not given iox the entertainment of a prince, but under the auspices of a number of sturdy and wealthy burghers. The work was a semi-religious one, and was' entitled Adam and Eve, words by Richter, music by J. Thiele, and the dances arranged by M. de la Feuillade. The stage, at the beginning of this work, represented chaos, which was gradually divided by the four ele- ments, who sang melodious phrases alternately during the partition. Fire brought the prologue to an end by asking the indulgence of the gentry for the new play which was to follow. It may be remarked in this con- nection that many things occurred, even in the sacred operas of the ancient days, which seem intensely ludi- crous to modern taste ; but it is doubtful whether it was the intention of the writers to introduce a playful element into serious operas. The first act of the first of German operas began with what must have been a startling mechanical effect. Lucifer is cast from heaven into the abyss, by angels ; and then the Deity descended, and created Adam and Eve. In the sec- ond act, Lucifer was seen storming about in the infer- HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 77 nal regions, and calling his legions together. Finally, Sodi, the imp of secrecy, was despatched, in the shape of a serpent, to charm Eve. The triumphant success of the scheme led to a number of choruses of infernal imps, after which the succeeding acts took place in heaven, and dealt largely with promises of the re- demption. But, at the close, Adam and Eve were pict- ured as cast out of paradise, and, after bewailing their sin, being consoled by the appearance of the Saviour, who promised to lift off the punishment. Naturally, such a plot gave ample opportunities for the display of rich scenery and magnificent stage effects. Although we should hesitate to hazard any guesses about the costumes in so strange a plot as that of Adam and Eve before the fall, yet, as there was not much flagrant indelicacy on the stage at the time, we cai^ hazard the conjecture that the appearance of the hero and heroine must have" been startlingly incongruous. It will scarcely be necessary to speak of the operas which immediately followed. In all of them there were paradoxical situations and odd incongruities, as well as the quaintest mixture of gods, goddesses, personi- fied elements, and pagan and Christian heroes and saints in the most startling juxtaposition. In .7>4i? Birth of Christ (1681), not only a host of Scriptural characters appear, but Apollo and the priestess Pythia, furious at the downfall of Paganism. In Cain and Adel (i68g), the four winds hold a conference, and de- 78 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG cide to rage forever against the race of the murderer. In The Maccabean Mother and her Seven Sons, the apostate Jew Javan appears, and eats pork sausage and ham every moment, and praises their taste to his ortho- dox brethren. Everything in the German opera, at first, was rude, uncultured, and even coarse, — vastly different from the elegant entertainment which became perinanent in Italy. But, in a short time, Germany found a national composer (as France had already done in LuUy), who was to advance her opera to a position of indepen- dence. This composer was Reinhard Keiser. XI. THE RISE AND FALL OF GERMAN OPERA. Reinhard Keiser was born near Leipzig, in 1673, and was one of those natural talents who achieve many things in art without great effort. Such talents, however, seldom leave a very permanent impression in lasting reforms of any kind. Beethoven, who worked and toiled and polished and refined until the most humble themes became pregnant with a meaning be- fore unknown, was perhaps one of the best proofs of the truth of Carlyle's saying, — " Genius is only the capacity for taking pains.'' Keiser was of a vastly dif- ferent stamp. Lindner calls him the Mozart of the first period of German music, and it is certain that he possessed some of the fertility of invention and melodic grace which afterward shone in the Salzburg., musician ; but he became spoiled by success, and often aimed for immediate recognition rather than perma- nent worth. Nevertheless, it needed such a man to combat the ultra Italian taste which dominated Ger- many. His fertility was something astonishing. Al- most without effort, he poured forth opera after opera, until the number reached to nearly one hundred and 8o HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG twenty, most of them of great length, some containing as many as fifty airs, with a goodly admixture of duets, recitatives, instrumental interludes, and choruses. As was the case with the Italian opera, the recitatives took the place of spoken dialogue, the latter being ad-, milted only in the comic operas of that time. Keiser's power may be estimated by the fact that he alone anjl sirigle-handed was able to turn the tide which from Italy had rolled over Germany. His operas were not cnly performed at Hamburg, but spread at once through Germany, and finally reached even Paris. The Hamburg operatic stage was to Germany, at this epocli, what the Parisian stage afterward became to France ; and it was this fact which drew Keiser from Leipzig, thither. He had, in his earliest youth, won recognition in Leipzig as a wonderful musician, and was soon called to Wolfenbiittel as operatic composer. There, at the age of nineteen, he brought forth two cjx-ras, which won immediate success ; and this deter- mined him to attempt a career in Hamburg. In 1694, lie made his appearance there with his opera of Ba- siUus. Keiser seems to have written somewhat like the French composers of that day. His forms were small, and he aimed at prettiness rather than depth. He seems to have been a light-hearted, merry wight, ij.rning from music to dissipation very easily, careless about improving his style in composition, dressing fop- i ishly, keeping richly liveried sei-vants, and' generally HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 8 1 desirous of playing the fine gentleman. It was the nature of a man of the world (of that time) rather than that of tlie earnest musician; but imder it all was the wonderful gift of melodic thought, in the fecundity of which he can only be likened to a Haydn, a Mozart, or a Schubert. We can easily imagine the superiority with which he looked down upon other and better mu- sicians of his time, who were generally plodding, labo- rious, pedantic, ill-dressed, and poor. He attempted everything with careless indifference. One day, it would be a sacred anthem ; the next, an indecent mu- sical farce, sometimes so out of bounds that the Sen- ate was obliged to prohibit the performance. The comical operas and musical farces of that time. were a very strange olla podrida. Noise, noise, and noise seems to have been the chief delight of the public and the main desire of tlie composer. Battles took place, with constant discharges cf musketry and cannon. Fireworks and explosions were introduced, sometimes even to the danger of audience and edifice. Fairies, demons, dragons, etc., were forever in action. Camels, monkeys, and even wild beasts, were often upon the stage. What wonder that, with such debasement of art, the Hamburg opera went down almost as speedily as it had arisen ! But, if its splendor was short-lived, at least it served a great purpose during its career ; for it proved to the German people that they could origi- nate their own secular music, and need not depend 82 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG upon foreign works, even in opera. It must, however, be remembered that, even in the palmy days of the Hamburg school, the level of the Italian opera was not reached. • In every opera of the German school at this epoch, a comical character was demanded. It mattered not that the opera was upon a lofty subject or that it dealt even with holy personages. If the clown was lacking, so was the public. The managers were obliged to yield to the pressure ; and comical servants, tinkers, tailors, and cobblers were the main- stay of many an operatic performance in Hamburg, while the worthy burghers never tired of laughing at the mishaps of some unfortunate Jew on the stage. Another strange illustration of the unformed and uncouth taste of the times is found in the fact that these operas were often a mixture of various lan- guages. This absurd custom had its origin in the fact that foreign singers would often interpolate a song in their native tongue ; and, finally, this incongruity was not only looked upon as unimportant, but even re- garded as giving an additional charm. Naturally Keiser yielded to every temptation to make his work more fascinating to the paying public; and, in 1707, we find him composing The Carnival of Venice, a musical farce in four languages, — Italian, French, Higli German, and Low German, or plaifdeuisch. But poor Keiser fell upon on evil times at last, foi-he had to compete with a true genius. His flashing me- HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 83 teor was all very well in its way, but it faded wofully in the rays of a sun which had arisen. Handel had come upon the scene, and even the frivolous public of Hamburg could not fail to see the difference between the earnest works of the new composer and the pretty songs of their whilom favorite. Handel entered Rei- ser's orchestra in a manner that did not awaken the suspicion of the composer and director to the fact that he was nurturing a genius who would grow and de- stroy him ; for the unknown violinist pretended to be. something of an ignoramus, and displayed no especial musical talent, until one fine day, Keiser being obliged to hide temporarily from his creditors, the young violin- ist, Handel, took his place as conductor at the harpsi- chord,*. and led so well that he remained there. Kei- ser made many efforts to retain his hold on the public, but with little effect. In 1728, he became cantor at the cathedral, and turned his attention to sacred music, not without some success. His capacity to fall on his feet after any catastrophe cannot be doubted; for he succeeded, even after Handel had become known, in receiving great honors from foreign courts,t in marrying the daughter of a prominent Hamburg citizen, and in pushing yet a few more •Almost all conducting in the last century was done by giving out the time from harpsichord or organ. The fashion of leading an orchestra with a b^ton, although known in Italy in the seventeenth century, took no permanent root anywhere until this present century. t He was appointed Kapellmeister to the King of Denmark, and Hred in Copenhagen some yean. 84 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG operas (in mixed languages) upon the public. The last of these was Circe, composed in 1734. After that, he disappeared from the scene, and died in 1739, scarcely regretted by the people who.had once idolized him. Summing up his talent, one must say that he was just the man to combat the Italian influence in Ger- many; for he was able to fight the invader with his own weapons, having a fund of melody which even the Italian composers might envy. He was not the only light of this peculiar period of German opera. Han- del could have given back to it all its old splendor, and have advanced it to a higher plane ; but he soon de- parted for Italy. Mattheson did great service to the German school; but his lajjor was not confined to opera alone, and the influence exerted by the two friends (for Mattheson and Handel were boon com- panions) seems important enough to be treated of in special detail in our next chapter. Therefore, we pass to the last of the great composers of the Hamburg school, George Philip Telemann. He was born in 1681, in the city of Magdeburg, and received no regu- lar musical instruction ; but, by zealously studying the scores of the old French composers, he gradually be- came able to compose. Meanwhile, he also kept on in a scientific course of education. Although he won honor in the latter, his excellence as an organist and his abilities as a composer soon were recognized ; and, HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 85 by \arious lucrative appointments, he was forced en- tirely into a musical career. In 1721, after holding several important positions, we find him director of the principal church in Hamburg and cantor at the Johan- neum, both of which posts he held until his death. He was much influenced by the French school of com- position, both on account of his early studies and because of a long visit made to Paris in 1737. His compositions were innumerable. His contrapuntal skill was marvellous, and Handel says of him that he could write an eight-voiced motet as easily as one would write a letter. But this was a fatal facility. It has been said of Dean Swift that he could mould language so easily that he could write beautiful verses to -a broomstick. In the same manner, Telemann grew in- different in his choice of subjects, and once said that "a good composer should be able to set an advertise- ment to music," evidently caring little for poetry in art, and, contrary" to the modern principles, imagining that the music of a composition was more important than the words. Naturally, he became a conventional composer; and, although his contemporaries ranked him among the greatest composers of his time, pos- terity has not re-echoed the opinion, and it seems pass- ing strange to us that the world should at any time have ranked such a man above John Sebastian Bach. He wrote some forty operas, but long outlived the ex- istence of the German opera as a public performance. 86 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG He died in 1767; while the Hamburg opera vanished in 1738, after an existence of sixty years. Two hundred and forty-six difEerent operas had been produced in that time. German opera entirely disap- peared with the performance of a work entitled Ata- lanta in Dantzig, in 1741, which was the last German operatic effort of the early epoch. An Italian opera troupe, under Angelo Mingotti, came to Hamburg ; and thenceforth, for a couple of generations, the Italian school rfiled here, as it did all over Germany. But the history of the Hamburg opera is intere.sting as show- ing the conflict of two schools of composition ; and, even if .the greater' overcame the weaker, we know that this first flash of German opera was not in vain, for its result was not altogether barren. The seed lay dor- mant for half a century, and then brought forth a golden and beautiful harvest. XII. HANDEL AND MATTHESON. Were one speaking of the general compositions of Handel,* it would be an absurdity to couple his great name with that, of Mattheson ; but we are only con- cerned with the short part of his career which was de- voted to German opera and song, and during this epoch he was thrown almost constantly with the latter, either as friend or rival. Therefore, our history will be more succinct if we speak of them together. There were points of vmity, yet also great contrasts, between the two men. They were of nearly the same age. Both were composers beginning their career together, and both finished their careers well-to-do and highly respected men. Yet the end was attained by vastly different means. Handel, irascible, irregular in habit and nature, careless in very much that he undertook, was yet a genius : Mattheson, careful, shrewd, and cal- culating, regular as a railway time-table, was a martinet in music, and came very near being what the Germans *The spelling o£ the name of this composer became metamorphnsec into Handel in England. Haendel or HSndel is the German spelling. HSbidel at first spelled his name Hendel in England, to give a phonetic idea of its pronunciation. 88 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG expressively call a Philister. Handel's genius shone forth even in his youngest years, and the. solid training he received from Zachau in Halle made him almost as learned as he was spontaneous in invention. The death of his father brought him to Hamburg to earn a subsistence for himself and his mother ; and he at once made the acquaintance of Mattheson, who was then tenor singer and composer at the opera, under the direction of Reinhard Keiser. This was in 1.703 ; and, during the three years (Mattheson erroneously says it was five or six years) which Handel spent in Hamburg, the two young men were the closest of Companions. Mattheson was twenty-two, Handel eighteen. Matthe- son had a firm position, and was already known as a rising man, while Handel, in order to get along peaceably in the orchestra where he was engaged as violinist, pretended to be a dull clod of a musician, able to play his part, but utterly without ambition be- yond that. The acquaintance between the two began at the organ of the Church of St. Mary Magdalen, and was at once of benefit to Handel ; for Mattheson took him to his father's house, and introduced him in many families, besides taking him to the opera, theatres, and concerts of Hamburg. Mattheson kept the secret of his musical powers well guarded, while Handel enacted the part of half-witted second violinist in the opera"; but when the opportunity came, and the latter took the posi- tion of leader of the orchestra, as described in the last HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 89 chapter, the relations between our two young men became more strained and less natural, for Matthesoa was both jealous and conceited, and Handel was by no means of a yielding disposition, and kept all the advantages he could attain. Mattheson says of Han- del at this time : " He composed very long, long airs, and almost endless cantatas, which, although the har- monious treatment was perfect, nevertheless had not the requisite fitness ; nor did they exhibit the proper taste. However, the high school of the opera soon put him upon the right track. He was great- upon the organ, greater even than Kuhnau, in fugues and coun- terpoint, especially in extemporizing " (this greatness Handel had all his life, and many traditions regarding his performance exist in England even to this day). " However, he knew very little of melody until he had to do with the Hamburg opera. On the other hand, Kuhnau's pieces were all extremely melodious, and suited for the voice, even those arranged for playing. In the preceding century, scarcely any one thought of melody : all aimed merely at harmony." ' In reading this criticism by a contemporary, it must be borne in mind that Mattheson wrote it at a much later epoch, when Handel had become world-famous, and when he was most thoroughly jealous of his ex-com- panion's great reputation. In fact, all that Mattheson wrote — and he wielded a versatile and bitter pen — seems to have been partially inspired by a desire t« 90 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG vaunt his own musical capacity at the expense of his contemporaries. Most amusing is the account of the two friends going to Lubeck in August, 1703, to see whether one of them could become successor to the organist's position held by Buxtehude, who had an- nounced his intention of retiring. To their amaze- ment, they found that the veteran had made one con- dition imperative upon the applicants : the successful contestant, like a fortunate prince in a fairy tale, was to marry his daughter. To this arrangement they both emphatically objected, and returned to Hamburg with- out competing, although another musician, Johann Chris- tian S chief erdecker, was found more pliable, and won both the position and the lady soon after. It proves conclusively that Mattheson did not care to measure himself against Handel's skill on the instrument that, when the contest was abandoned, they agreed that during the remainder of their stay in Liibeck Handel should play only on the organ and Mattheson only upon the harpsichord. In the year 1704, the friendship of the pair sufEered a violent rupture. Handel's claim to be allowed to continue first harpsichord of the Hamburg operatic orchestra had given rise to some disputes among the musicians, and there was a degree of especial touchi- ness and obstinacy in the young leader regarding this point. Mattheson was at the opera in the double capacity of composer and singer; and it was custom- HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 9 1 ary to allow him to direct his own operas, when he was not occupied as a singer upon the stage. Handel, however, did not follow Reiser's courtesy in this mat- ter ; and, when at the performance of Cleopatra, on the night of the 5th of December, 1 704, after the deal5i of Antony and the conclusion of his part, the tenor composer came into the orchestra to direct the re- mainder of the opera, he calmly ignored him, and retained his place at the harpsichord. It was a rather ungrateful return for Mattheson's civilities, and he naturally felt indignant. When Handel was leaving the opera house, he was given a solid box on th<; ear by his irate companion. Both drew their swords, and a duel followed, in which both showed considerable courage ; and Handel would probably have been killed but for a brass button which turned the poir-t of ijis adversary's sword. The quarrel soon blew over, however ; and HanJel not only remained at the leader's post, but became composer for the company as well. His first opera was written toward the end of this year, and was pro- duced Jan. 8, 1705. It was entitled Almira: and, tc show how the composer's style had changed frorj *ht "long, long airs," with "little of melody,'" .''/-.ch Mattheson (above) charges him with composi^)^' on his arrival in Hamburg, we produce one selection from this first opera of the great composer. It is probable that study of the pretty airs of Reinhard Keiser 92 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG had influenced him somewhat. Our readers will read- ily see that the following dance from the early opera led to a song in a much later opera (Rinaldo *), which has become famous the world over as " Lascia ch' io pianga." SARABANDE. From "Almira." ^ Tz) a f^ m -^-* r^ y # ■ l^ e^^^ eJ Fine. m Ei 5 * Rinaldo was one of Handel's earliest operas in England. It was produced six years after his first opera, Almira. HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 93 i ii \f f r V. F ^^^^^^ j-y * tL b fg fg X ^ f -s>- 15: S ^P= ^^ l^E^ ^e^ -«:ift SE ^3=^ z>.c. ^1 This is but one instance out of many illustrating Handel's method of robbing Peter to pay Paul. He took freely from the melodies of his earlier works and incorporated them in his later operas and in his great oratorios, the best of which were only begun late in life. He even took the melodies of other composers without giving credit, and used them as his own ; but it must be confessed that in every such case the 94 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG plagiarism is pardonable, for the thoughts are treated in such a manner as to make them seem altogether different and infinitely grander than before. Let our readers play the above Sarabande and then perfoFm ■' Lascia ch' io pianga " (generally entitled, " Leave me in anguish," or " O Lord, correct me," in the English adaptations), and they will at once perceive the full force of this statement. Handel produced other operas for the Hamburg stage, — Nero, produced Feb. 25, 1705, undef his own direction, and some time later Florindo and Daphne. In 1706, Handel left Germany for Italy, and had no further connection with the Hamburg stage nor any direct influence on the German vocal music thereafter. 1 1 is life was given to promoting Italian opera in England, and, finally, to establishing the great oratorios which have become the heritage not of a nation, but of the entire' world. His further progress, therefore, needs no de- tailed analysis here, especially since his one German oratorio. The Passion, composed in Hanover between 1716 and 1718, is of little woith compared with the great works which closed his career. Mattheson's subsequent career 'blended music and politics in a very strange but pecuniarily successful manner. He* be- came an attache of the English embassy in Saxony, and held many important State offices thereafter. He was an accomplished man of the world, rather foppish (Reiser gave him the nickname of the " white cravat "), HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 95 very systematical, and his merits attracted the atten- tion of Sir John Wych, the British ambassador, who made him music teacher and tutor to his son, in place of Handel, who was discharged after having given a few lessons. Soon afterward, the post of private sec- retary was added to his- duties; and the foundation of a fortune was laid. The modern commentators have scarcely done full justice to Mattheson. They call him a coxcomb, a conceited pedant, charlatan, and many other not very complimentary appellations ; and, when one views the complacent, smirking self-conceit which stands out in every other sentence of his liter- ary works, it is difficult not to join in the chorus. But Mattheson must be credited with being an indefatigable worker, and with continuing in music even after all necessity for his doing so had passed, — evidently, therefore, purely from a love of the art. He was troubled with deafness from his twenty-fourth year until his death, at the age of eighty-three ; and he was no Beethoven. His life was comfortable and respectable from beginning to end, and he had none of those fiery trials which refine the gold of the artist. He was a worthy Christian, and every day read a portion of the Scriptures, and, "when the St. Michael's Church was burnt down, contributed some forty thousand marks for a new organ, paid the money in advance, and intends to do more in different ways," as he himself informs us. He was a musical prodigy 96 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG in his youth. He first appeared as a singer, with the Hamburg troupe, in female characters, but, after his voice changed, became one of the chief tenors. He was not without personal courage, as his duel with Handel proves. His music was dry and mediocre; but his writings were very readable, generally witty and sarcastic, yet not always reliable. Nevertheless, his sharp pen made him feared by many of his con- temporaries, who had not the ability to contend with him in literary strife, even if they were better musi- cians. His writings have, even to-day, considerable value, as they give insight into the state of music in the eighteenth century, and reflect something of the taste of the epoch. That he thought his own works excellent and believed in them is evident from the fact that he composed his own funeral anthem, which was duly sung after his death, and is said to have been fully as dreary as any of his preceding compositions. XIII. JOHN SEBASTIAN BACH. — HIS LIFE. From the time of Luther down to the beginning of the present century, no man exerted so powerful an influence upon German song as John Sebastian Bach, although his vocal work lay almost entirely in the direc- tion of church music. In speaking of this contra- puntal giant, it seems alihost impossible to avoid both comparisons and contrasts with that other great mas- ter who also won his triumplis in sacred music, and whose life seems curiously held up by fate in juxta- positipn with the gentle career of the subject of this chapter. Bach and Handel were born within but a few days of each other, Bach being born on the 2ist of March, 1685, and Handel twenty-six days earlier, on the 23d of February ; bpth German, both making their own way against difficulties, and both stricken with blindness in their later days ; both, also, achieving the highest triumphs in ecclesiastical music. What wonder, then, that the world glibly says " Bach and Handel," or "Handel and Bach," and superficially imagines them the twin representatives of an epoch which was un- doubtedly full of ingenious music, but which has be- gS HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG come rather musty to modern taste ! Never was a mistake more pronounced or more unjust. They are not mates : they are opposites. Having given the above points of resemblance, we can only speak there- after of dissimilarity, of contrast, and of opposition of school and of nature. Bach was kind, benevolent, and in family relation a veritable patriarch. His life was spent in quiet dignity and labor ; and while fame came upon him unavoidably, because of his great at- tainments, he never sought for it, and never knew the worldly ways by which it could be used for his own advancement. He was courteous even to musicians who were far beneath him in ability, receiving even the conceited Hurlebusch (a clavicinist of very slight ability and ihagnified self-importance) with civility and kindliness ; while toward the greatest artists he dis- played a reverence that proved how far removed was jealousy from so noble a nature. It is not our intention to belittle the genius which gave to the world a "Messiah," a "Judas Macca- baeus," or an "Israel in Egypt"; but the senseless combination of the two masters on a plane of equality deserves rebuke in very definite terms. Personally, then, Handel was entirely the opposite of Bach. Iras- cible, impetuous, and arbitrary, domestic life had no charms for him; and he never married, but lived a contentious and excited life, amid the constant sinu- osities of court intrigue and operatic cabal. Dignity HISTORY OF GtRMAN SONG 99 was not in him, and his vehement bursts of passion and his enormous appetite led to more than one epi- gram and caricature in that age of lampooning. Han- del roundlj' abused inferior musicians, and had but little patience with any who did not accord him a lead- ing place in the musical world ; while as to equals (or superiors), — there was but one, — when Bach sought to meet him, he made not the slightest effort to have an interview, and, owing to his own course of action, the two never met. Vet, even at that time, none could have known better the worth of the quiet Leipzig com- poser, whom the world at large had- not yet fairly recog- nized. Handel was charitable, but it was generally in a conspicuous and public manner ; and, while Handel died wealthy. Bach died so poor that the family was obliged to break up at his decease, to avoid starvation. His wife died ten years later in the almshouse. Bach was precluded by religious scruples from attempting the school in which Handel passed the greater number of his years, — the composition of opera. In short. Bach worked consistently, thoroughly, devotedly, all his life at a style of composition which Handel only took up steadily after he had become a man of declin- ing years. That Handel worked with all the fire and impetuosity of genius, the works of the later period emphatically prove; yet he naturally could not attain the ease and perfection of form of the man whose entire existence had been spent in producing religious works of large form. 100 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG It is in just this direction that the relative value of the two composers has been . miscalculated. Bach, because of the care with which he perfected'his forms and the symmetry with which he invested all his woric, ■ becomes daily more useful to the thorough musical student. In instrumental work, especially, he was the superior of Handel ; for, where the latter would brill- iantly and rapidly dash off an interesting suite or a fugue. Bach, in a quiet and persistent way, would study the principles underlying instrumental music, and would fit his pieces practically to illustrate some peda- gogic or acoustical, point, and thus give them a value for all time. The fugues of the Well-tempered Clavi- chord, for example, are not only most interesting e.x- amples of this school of composition, but fixed the equality of the keys for all time.* Bach could never have written an oratorio in three weeks (Handel com- posed the opera of Rinaldo in fourteen days, and the Messiah in twenty-four), but he could stubbornly pur- sue an idea in musical form or theory until it had yielded up its every secret to him, and, therefore, his researches are more valuable to the modern musical world than those of any of the older composers. The mere statement of some of his labors would seem to prove this. He was a great composer in every field *The tempering of the scale, as will be seen, did not originate with Bach ; but he was the first practically to introduce it, by thus proving the equality of all the keys. Before this time, only three or four keys were used in composition. HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG lOI except the operatic. He established the fugue (as Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven afterward established the symphony) ; he fixed the form of the suite ; he es- tablished the use of all the keys, practically introduc- ing the tempered scale, which had been promulgated by Willaert centuries before; he first established a proper fingering for pianoforte, or clavichord, music ; he was a superb organist, and an equally great clavichord player; he was a violinist of thorough technical knowl- edge; he understood the construction of the organ; he invented a new violin, — the viola pomposa, — stand- ing between viola and violoncello, and gave many im- provements to the clavichord ; he was an engraver of music, and from necessity engraved and printed many of his compositions and theoretical works. Thus, it will be seen that, while Handel's influence, upon the student especially, has grown weaker since his death, Bach's has grown and is growing continually stronger; and, even in this homophonic age, his polyphony is an inspiration to the musician and a guide to the pupil. The life of this man remains one of the purest and most dignified in the pages of musical biography. His mother died while he was yet a child ; and the death of his father (court and town musician at Eisenach) soon after, in 1695, left Bach an orphan at ten years of age. He had come of a very musical stock. In Ger- many, at that time, there were many families where the art and profession of music had descended from father 102 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONO to son for generations ; but in no family had this con- tinued so long and brought forth such great results as in that of the Bachs. Beginning with Veit Bach, born somewhere between 1550 and 1560, and who was chased from Germany to Hungary and back again, because of his Protestant belief, the family pro- duced musician after musician, reaching its climax in John Sebastian Bach, yet giving forth musical gen- iuses still later in his sons, and then becoming extin- guished in his solitary musical grandson, Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst Bach, pianist, violinist, and com- poser, who died as late as 1846. The orphan boy, in 1695, was obliged to live with his brother, John Chris- topher Bach, an organist at Orduff in Weimar, and from him received the first regular training in the art which he was soon to adorn. His brother must have been a hard and stern man ; for we read of Bach's eagerness to possess certain musical manuscripts in his library, of stealthy copyings on moonlight nights, — for he had no candle, — of the final completion of the treasured transcriptions, and of the rough confisca- tion of the hard-earned prize, on its discovery. As with Schubert, a fine soprano voice lifted the boy somewhat above the bitterness of extreme poverty; and a choir position in Luneberg enabled him for three years to pursue his musical studies under a little more favorable conditions. At the end of that time, his voice changed ; but he was now a good n usician, HISTORY OP GERMAN SOMG I63 capable of attaining other positions, and in 1703 he left Luneberg and went to Weimar, where he obtained an engagement as violinist in the duke's band. The following year, he became organist of the new church at Arnstadt, a position much more to his liking, since he always exhibited the greatest fondness for this instrument, as giving freest scope to his flow of ideas. His reputation began to grow rapidly; and the chpice of many positions was soon open to him, and in 1707 we find him settled as organist at Mulhausen, where he married a distant relative of the same family name, who subsequently bore him seven children. She died in 1720 very unexpectedly, her husband making a short tour, leaving her in good health, and finding her buried on his return. He again married a year and a half later, his second wife being a fine soprano singer, who bore him thirteen children. Thus, this patriarch had twenty children, some of whom were geniuses, and one was an idiot. The second wife was a cultivated musical nature, and a noble helpmate to her hi(sband in his career. It is an indelible stain upon the city of Leipzig that, after the death of the great master, she was suffered to die a pauper. Thp children by the first marriage, however, seem to have .been the true in- heritors of their father's, genius ; for among these were Wilhelra Friedemann ^nd Carl Philip Emanuel Bach. To return to our young artist's career. In 1714, he was appointed director of the court concerts at 104 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG Weimar, and, from this time, his reputation was firmly established; yet, either because he was not worldly- wise or because he lacked influential protectors, he seems to have been unsuccessful in his application for several musical posts in this part of his career.* In 1 717, before the King of Saxony, Bach proved himself so much the superior of Marchand, the French vir- tuoso, that the latter ran away rather than hazard a formal contest, to which he was challenged. Subse- quently, Bach became Kapellmeister to Prince Leo- pold of Anhalt-Kothen, and for six years continued in this post, which seems to have been 6ne of the pleasantest. The most important event of Bach's career took place in 1723, when he was appointed "Cantor "and musical director of the Thomas-Schule in Leipzig, a post which he held until his death. He received honorary titles and distinctions from many noblemen subsequently, but none of these brought any money with them; and, spite of his great reputation, Bach's income was always a modest one, especially when we think of the family which he had to support. In 1747 occurred Bach's famous visit to Berlin. His second son, Carl Philip Emanuel, had been appointed cham- ber musician to Frederic the great; and this celebrated monarch frequently expressed the wish to him that * He certainly failed, both in Hamburg and Halle, and in both cases inferior organists received the appointment HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG I05 his talented father should pay a visit to him at Pots- dam. After repeated invitations, Bach set out upon the journey, and upon arriving at the palace was shown every honor. Many are the accounts which survive of the wonderful exhibitions of power which Bach gave on this occasion, such as extemporizing a fugue on a subject wliich the king gave him, and finally improvising even a fugue in six voices. It was Bach's last journey. He was in feeble health, and the ex- citement must have been too much for his frame. His eyes, which had always troubled him,* now began to fail altogether. Two attempts at restoring his sight not only failed, but reduced him to total blindness. A six months' illness followed, when his sight suddenly returned, but the emotions caused by this were so violent that he became delirious, had a fit of apoplexy, and suddenly expired at half-past eight on the evening of the 28th of July, 1750. The family dispersed after his death, some of them being reduced in later years to extreme poverty. Bach's career was a model of a pure, innocent, and exemplary life. Modest in the highest degree, he was frequently pushed aside by artists greatly inferior to himself. He was not a milksop, either ; for, in direct- ing music, he would maintain a firmness which could not be overborne, and would fight valiantly for an *Some biographies ascribe this to the mooDlight copying of his brother's manuscripts, but he had used them mercilessly in other studies as well. 106 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG artistic point, where a personal matter would be al- lowed to pass uncontested. He was a model father, carefully educating his large family, and giving them moral guidance. He was deeply, but not ostentatiously religious. He might have made a fortune, had he turned his talents into the operatic channel, the most profitable at that day ; but his conscientious scruples forbade. Although never possessed of a large income, he had enough for his simple tastes. His life was tranquil ; and its only troubles were those which natu- rally would come in the domestic circle, — the death of wife, of many of his children, the idiocy of his son David and his death at the age of fourteen. Such were the simple afflictions which came upon him before his final blindness and illness, and these were met with a fortitude born of religious faith. To him more than to any other great musician may be applied Gray's lines : — " Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife His sober wishes never learned to stray ; Along the cool sequestered vale oMife, He kept the noiseless tenor of his way," XIV. THE SONS OF SEBASTIAN BACH. Bach's influence upon music by no means ended with his death ; for, while Handel left no direct fol- lowers in his school, Bach left not only the numerous family spoken of in our last chapter, — ranging in intel- lect from idiocy to genius, several of whom he had carefully instructed in all the details of his art, — but also many pupils, who became the disciples of their master's system and spread it abroad. If Bach's man- tle did not descend to any one follower, at least there were many after his death who could truthfully claim to possess a portion of it ; and some of them (notably his third son, Karl Philip Emanuel Bach) were honored by the world in a higher degree than their father and preceptor. The fame of the followers, however, was evanescent ; and the world gradually came to recognize the value of the stream (or Bach) at its fountain-head. It is singular, also, that the stream which seemed so broad in the middle of the last century should have abruptly vanished in this. A single grandson, a tal- ented musician, Frederic William Ernst Bach, dying in 1843, brought the musical line of the Bachs, the glory Io8 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG of centuries, to a close. Nevertheless, before this took place, the influence of Bach's descendants was considerable, and especially interesting in this, — that it marked the transition from one art epoch to another, from polyphony to homophciriy, from counterpoint to harmony. Such great epochs are rare in the history of art, — epochs in which the entire musical taste of the world underwent a change. Such an era was it when the Flemish school of composers, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, changed the music of Europe from the simple unison progressions or the empty fifths and fourths of Hucbald to the intricate but interesting contrapuntal forms which found culmina- tion in the wonderful works of Palestrina, and, in a more modern sense, in the oratorios and cantatas of Bach. Such an era it was, also, when the intricacies of the sixteenth century composers were met by the melodic and emotional amateurs who in Florence, just before the year 1600, evolved Italian opera. Equally marked was the change which took place between the years 1750 and 1775, when intellectuality in instrumental music began to yield to emotional power ; and in the change some of the sons of Bach were important factors. The eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, was both a genius and a scamp. Inheriting his father's musical powers, had he but pos- sessed with them his parent's sobriety, steadiness of purpose, and artistic zeal, he might have furnished an HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG I09 instance, found very seldom in music, — as with Ales- sandro and Domenico Scarlatti, for example, — of father and son being almost equally gifted. Wilhelm Friede- mann Bach was horn in 1 710 at Weimar. His father always had for him an especial affection, and seems to have bestowed the greatest care upon the cultivation of those musical talents which the boy possessed in a remarkable degree. The boy, on his part, learned easily, too easily, and became without effort a master of clavichord and organ ; the most difficult contra- puntal studies had no terrors for him. The six sonatas for two pianos (with pedal obligato), which his father wrote for him during his twelfth year, prove how tech- nically advanced he must have been. He received instruction upon the violin from Graun, and became a superb player upon this instrument also. He is said to have been the greatest organist of his time, and also in his musical improvisations he was unrivalled. As a mathematician, he was also regarded as a marvel. Philip Emanuel Bach could well say of him, " He could fill our father's place better than all the rest of us put together." And all these noble gifts and enor- mous talents led but to poverty and a miserable death. He attained the position of organist in Dresden in 1733, and later a similar post in Halle. In the latter city, he wrote more than thirty cantatas in the vein of his father. He had, however, fallen on evil tin es. Already the taste of the public had begun to turn away no HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG from the severe school of contrapuntal work, and all his abilities were regarded by the inhabitants of Halle withmore of wonder than of true appreciation. This in turn made him opinionated and pedantic. A love of drink made him less careful than ever. Fits of ab- straction made him unreliable, even in the service of the church. In the midst of all this, he must needs marry; and his vices and weaknesses carried their blight into other lives. He soon lost his position in Halle, and never found another permanent one. Never did so great an artist sink so low. From day to day, the family suffered either from hunger or from the drunken abuse of its reckless head. He sold his father's manuscripts, with utter disregard of the value of the legacy over which he had charge ; while, on the other hand, his brother, Philip Emanuel, carefully pre- served and catalogued his share, and transmitted them to posterity. Pecuniary help was given from his fam- ily, but the erring brother was irreclaimable. By play- ing violin at taverns and with street bands, an unstable existence was eked out. Occasionally, if he could be brought into condition for it, a concert was given, and on these occasions his slumbering talent would some- times burst forth with unexpected and dazzling brill- iancy. He moved about from town to town with the erratic impulses of a gypsy, and deeper and deeper he sank, with an utter carelessness of duty that was most pitiable to contemplate. In one thing only was he HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG III Steadfast: he would not attempt to alter his style of composition to suit the changing taste. This man, seemingly without honor of any kind, seemed to make it a point of honor to sustain unaltered the old poly- phonic vein which had been his father's glory. It was a genius of a great school born a trifle too late. He died a very pauper the first of July, 1 784. Of totally different mould was the third son,* Karl Philip Emanuel Bach, whose fame, during his lifetime at east, was above that of any member of the entire Bach family. He was born March 14, 1 714, in Wei- mar. He studied philosophy and law in different schools and universities ; but the musical training he had received from his father (he says of himself, " In composition and clavichord-playing, I have never had any teacher but my father ") soon bore the noblest fruit. It is, however, not quite true that he studied music only as a recreation in his youth. He himself states that all his desires were early trained in the direction of music as a life-work, and that all else was merely a secondary object to him. He attained a high position even from the beginning of his career ; and, at thirty-two years of age, we find him appointed pianist (or clavicembalist) to Frederic the Great, in Berlin, where it was his duty to accompany the king, who was a passionate flute-player, in his various solos upon that instrument. Philip Emanuel Bach was not * The second son died in infancy. 112 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG greatly inferior to his brother WilRelm Friedemann in talent, and he was infinitely his superior in keen- ness of insight, in tact, and in practicality. He saw intuitively that the old clavichord was changing its character, and that a new style of music must be evolved for it. In his pioneer efforts in this direction, and in his establishing the principles of scale-finger- ing for the first time, he made a higher technical plane of work possible, and fairly won the title of "the father of modern pianoforte playing." The first systematic efforts toward the melodic and homophonic school of composition (outside of mere dance forms) are also found in his works ; and the rondo in his hands became a real musical form, and not a series of monotonous repetitions. Although his chief reforms were in the direction of clavichord music, yet his influence upon the German song was not much less marked. The ode, which was the chief musical expression of poetry outside of opera, had sapped the life out of German vocal music, as we shall see in the next chapter ; and almost all the songs which were not portions of larger works were without stamina, weak in their accompaniments and colorless in their melody. A close wedding of music and words was never attempted. Philip Emanuel Bach, if he had not the depth of genius which his father possessed, had at least that useful quality, good taste, and saw at once that a closer union must HISTORV OF GERMAN SONG 1 13 be effected. While other composers of this epoch held any words to be good enough for musical setting, he acted up to his own maxim, — that, if the composer is not moved with his subject, he loses the power of moving others, — arid sought out better poems and set them to more expressive music than his contempo- raries did. His first great step in this direction was inspired by the religious training which he had re- ceived from his high-minded father during childhood, and which seems to have taken much deeper root in his nature than in that of his dissipated elder brother. When Gellert, in 1757, brought forth his collection of Religious Odes and Songs, Philip Eman- uel Bach at once set them to worthy music ; and, while the previous song accompaniments , had been of a most meagre character, he gave to these a dignified support in the instrumental portion, thus bringing forth the germ of developed accompaniment, which in later years was the foundation o£ the German Lied. In whatever branch of "musical composition this great talent worked, he always avoided the temptation to yield to displays of mere virtuosity. In his piano methods, in his sacred works, in his songs, the funda- mental principle was always insisted upon, — that true feeling and emotion, not mere display, were the factors from which music was to draw its power; and in this, also, he was a most healthful influence against the tendency of his times, which, having lost the taste for 114 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG the intricate meaning of his father's music, had not yet achieved the melodic beauty and simple sym- mttry of Haydn or Mozart. In this, he was, if not the founder of the classical epoch of homophony, at least the pioneer who best prepared the way for it. Yet, although religious subjects seem to have attracted him most in his vocal work, he by no means neglected the secular song, and set nearly one hundred poems of this character, of widely differing scope. He did not, however, give birth to the true German Lied, as we know it to-day, but, as Bitter well says,* produced works which were like fragrant flowers, blooming upon the edge of the grave toward which the contrapuntal music was going. At fifty-four years of age, on account of the Seven Years' War, he left Berlin, and went to Hamburg, where a wider sphere was opened to him. The great Frederic had scarcely appreciated the value of this artist, and afforded him few opportunities to do more than play spinet or clavichord accompaniments to his flute solos, while he seemed to value Ouantz and Graun in a much greater degree, — a fact which cer- tainly, as regards the first of the two last named, proves that the royal flutist dabbled much more in music than his abilities warranted. Philip Emanuel Bach's work in Hamburg was much more varied and extended than it had been in Berlin, and his reputation chiefly rests *DU S'okne Sebastian BachSt p. 27. HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG IIS upon the works which he composed in ,that city. He is most frequently called the "Hamburg" Bach. He died in 1788, full of years and of honors. Were this work intended to deal with instrumental music in detail, much more would need to be said of this great man. His method for clavichord or piano has not yet lost its importance, and has influenced in a greater or less degree all the treatises on piano-playing which have followed it. His instrumental compositions, even while upholding the traditions of the old school, be- tray a romantic style which belongs to the new. His symmetrical forms were faithfully studied by Haydn, and unquestionably helped that great master in his efforts to establish the form which we now know as the sonata, but which in preceding times had been a varying and indefinable composition. Therefore, without being a great genius, Philip Emanuel Bach did as solid work in . the advancement of music as some of those whom the world places in the leading ranks of fame. The other brothers did not achieve nearly so much, nor was their work so original. Johann Christian Bach, the eleventh son of the great Bach, is known as the Milan or London Bach, because his life was chiefly spent in these two cities. He was the opposite of the two brothers of whom we have already spoken. Light-hearted, gay, and a man of the world, he soon formed connection with Italian singers, and gave himself up to the light, frivolous, but Il6 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG tuneful Italian Vein then in vogue. He was the suc- cessor of Handel in London, the queen's music teacher, praised by the poets and petted by the society of his day. He earned a very large income, but managed to spend it all, and more, and died deeply in debt; but his wife received a royal pension, which protected her from want. He cared not at all for the traditions of his art, as is proven by his answer to the friend who spoke to him of his brother Philip Emanuel Bach and his abil- ity: "My brother lives to compose, while I compose to live ! " and the reply to this brother himself, who wrote, " Don't become childish," to which the response was, " If I stammer, the children will understand me better." He was, however, dissatisfied with his own work; for sometimes he would say after some thought- ful improvisation at the piano, "This is the way I would play — if I dared ! " John Christoph Frederic Bach was born in 1732, and at twenty-four years of age became music director of Count Schaumburg at Biickeburg, which position he contentedly held until his death at the age of sixty-three, and was an industrious composer in. all branches of music; his son was the last musical descendant of the great musical family. If he did not attain to the great talents of some of his brothers, at least he seems to have been the heir of his father's sweet, contented, and pious disposition ; and this placed him higher upon the scroll of happiness than upon that of fame. HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG II7 As the Bach family died out after a period of splen- did achievements, so gradually also decayed the school with which the Bach name is associated. Its works will always remain a keen enjoyment to the thoughtful musician and a valuable study to all. who practise our art, but it will never be imitated by moderns any more , than the lofty tragedies of Racine or the grand epics of Milton will be copied by creators in literature. It is a noble legacy ; and the world, even at this late day, does not fully appreciate how much it owes to the labors of John Sebastian Bach, his numerous disciples, and his four differently endowed and strangely dissim- ilar musical sons. XV. ODES, ARIAS, AND JUVENILE SONGS OF THE EIGH- TEENTH CENTURY. The eighteenth century was by no means a pleasant or prosperous period in German vocal music. The attempt to establish German opera had proved futile, and Italy held undisputed sway in all the realm of vocal music. Naturally, therefore, the grand aria form which originated in that country was reproduced in Germany. It generally had the following shape : — 1. An instrumental introduction (often called "Sym- phony " *). 2. The principal theme or melody, with a modula- tion into the dominant, or, if the work was minor, into the relative major. 3. A return, with variations and embellishments, to the key of the tonic. 4. A short instrumental postlude. *The word "Symphony" before Haydn's time had a very vague meaning. It was applied to preludes, interludes, and postludes; and it will be found with this significance attached to the "Pastoral Sym- phonies" in Bach*s Christmas Oratorio and Handel's Messiah. Since Haydn's time, it has a definite meaning, signifying a sonata for orchestra, generally in four movements. HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG II9 This was the first section, which was strongly con- trasted with a second section formed as follows : — 1. A short and quiet instrumental introduction. 2. A gentle and simple melody, generally cantabile, in a related key. 3. Again a postlude (sometimes omitted). After this came a repeat of the entire first section, sometimes unaltered, in which case the words Da capo (first used in music in 1696) were written, at other times made more florid and intricate, in which case, of course, the melody was written out in full. This form, under one name or another, had, with slight deviations, become the most used shape of the world in both vocal and instrumental composition, and our musical readers can discern its influence in alnjost all drawing-room morceaux of to-day. It was not bad in itself, for it admitted of some well-drawn contrasts of key and style ; but it led gradually to a putting of the cart be- fore the horse, a fitting of the shape of the poem to the pre-ordained shape of the music. This domination of the art of poetry by music (in the conjunction of the two) would not have existed had Germany possessed any great lyric poets at this epoch. Whenever great poets arise, they wield a direct influence upon the song forms of their nation, and great song composers al- ways follow in their wake. But Germany had no poets of eminence who cared to work in the smaller forms. Lessing and Schiller both sought to charm or instruct 120 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG in the larger forms only ; and a host of poetasters who wrote short poems for music, to order, only made mat- ters worse by impressing the doctrine, practically, that any poems would do for musical treatment, — that the charm of a song lay in the music only. These latter-day laborers on Parnassus gave rise to the " ode,'' which was very different from the "aria" above described, being only a poem set to a tune, which was repeated as many times as there were verses. Sometimes these jinglirig works had as many as fifteen or twenty verses; and, although the sentiment of the poetry might change as much as it pleased, the music remained fixed and immutable in its dreary round. The accompaniment was generally figured in thorough-bass, only the funda- mental notes being given; for then, far more than now, every musician was supposed to be able to read ordinary thorough-bass figuration at sight. Toward the close of the century, however, a simple " harp " (or broken chord) accompaniment came into use. The thought that it was the mission of the accompaniment to do something more than accompany the voice had not yet arisen. Yet there were remonstrances raised occasionally against this inartistic treatment of song forms. Mat- theson raised his voice against this crude style of work, and demanded that composers should unite poetry and music more closely ; but the call was more theoretical than practical, for there was really nothing HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 121 to unite. Dull words and dull music could not result in a very brilliant marriage. If the melody was tune- ful and singable, if the poem was metrical and scanned properly, the mission of both was held to be fulfilled. If in the aria music ruled over poetry, in the ode the latter took revenge, for the poem was allowed to take the lead, and no one dreamed of .intensifying, it or heightening its effect by any especial tone colors or progressions. What these poems were may be guessed at from their titles. Odes to Death, to Friendship, to Resignation, to Hope, to Despair, to Night, to Morning, and to a thousand other topics which the boarding-school miss now treats of in her graduation essay, were then poured forth with a ped- antry that seemed to be inexhaustible. The writer has in his possession a volume containing odes to White, Black, Green, Yellow, Violet, Blue, Gray, and Lavender, some of which are treated of to the extent of twelve verses each, the tunes having rarely more than sixteen bars, which are repeated over and over until the essay is done. The ingenuity of the poetaster was worthy of a better cause ; but, naturally, the musi- cian could draw no inspiration from such a barren soil. A bacchanalian song in which all the verses bore a kindred sentiment might suit to such treatment, and therefore we find the students' songs among the most effective of this epoch. The dreariness even extended into the domain of children's songs. Juvenile songs 122 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG may be said to have had their beginning in the last century ; for, before that time, the songs of Germany were chiefly cast in the sacred mould, and in the fiery days of the Reformation the songs of the adults were held to be equally proper ior their progeny. In an- cient days, children's music, although existing, was never dignified into an especial branch of composition. In the days of the most ancient Romans, the praises of Romulus and Remus were chanted by children in public on festive occasions ; but, when one remembers the severity of Roman school training, one rather doubts if the children were especially festive on these occasions. In the early days of the Christian Church, children's music was held to be a valuable adjunct of the religious service, and led to the turning of the orphan . asylums, for which the Christians were so famous, into incipient conservatories, in which chil- dren were taught hymns. When we recall the fact that the switch of St. Gregory is still exhibited in Italy, and that he was a music teacher in these asy- lums in the sixth century, we can readily surmise that many a juvenile howl was intermingled with the music, and that all was not always pure harmony. Neverthe- less, the result must have been successful even in the earliest days, for we find the wise Emperor Julian, whom history delights in branding as " the apostate," trying to build up the ancient Roman rites by calling in the aid of children and youth in the musical services HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG I23 by founding a conservatory in Alexandria, where they might be appropriately trained. The scheme was only thwarted by his untimely death. Guido of Arezzo also, in the eleventh century, trained children in the way they should go, musically, by teaching a simple method of vocal sight-reading, and to that end invent- ing those vocal syllables which have come down to us, almost without a change, from the dark ages, But none of these epochs can properly be given as having originated children's music. ' They taught chil- dren music, to be sure ; but it was labor, unremitting and constant, that they demanded. The music was to please, not the young singers, but more critical ears, and to form a part in a service and pageant made for adults. In the eighteenth century, however, the idea arose of systematically writing music to please chil- dren, of bringing the joys of our art to even the youngest, in order that they might grow up with a spontaneous love for the art. It does not seem to us that the plan was very clearly followed ; for the dismal odes to " Death " and to "Piety" which we find in the earliest collection of children's songs could scarcely awaken childish glee of a very exuberant sort, how- ever edifying they may have been. Nevertheless, the plant, although unpromising, bore very good fruit. AH the kindergarten music of the world, and all the noble efforts of the best German composers (such as Reinecke, Schumann, Taubert, Kullak, etc) to educate 124 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG a true taste in children by accustoming them to proper musical forms and worthy harmonie during early years, sprang from these crude beginnings of the eigh- teenth century. We may complain that juvenile music of such a sort has not yet been estimated at its true value in America ; that our composers still feel it be- neath their dignity to try to minister to the young tastes that must be fed in the simpler forms ; that, when music books are made for children among us, they consist of musical "baby-talk" which any well- regulated child would resent. But we are dealing with the eighteenth century, not with the faults of the nine- teenth. Among the first collections of juvenile songs ever published was that of Johann A. Hiller. Many were the morals inculcated in the songs. For example, one would not consider the following a very cheering or appropriate theme for children to-day : — TO DEATH. Old men have perished Who were not cherished, For whom no lofty nature griered. When in death they were lying, Men said, but without sighing, " Quite long^enough, for sure, they've lived." Be my endeavor To fail thus never. If I die young, let some be grieved. Let good deeds never fail me. Let pious men bewail me. And say, " Oh, had he longer lived 1 " HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 1 25 This poem, by Weisse, is one of the collection ; but, fortunately, not all were tuned to such a doleful key, and in some matters Hiller seems to have had at least a theoretical idea of the exigencies of the case. For example, he states in his preface : " Songs for chil- dren must be very easy : they must be flowing, natural, free from pedantry [ungekunsteli\ and of limited com- pass, not to exceed the strength of the children. Be- sides this, there should be something genial and attrac- tive about them, that they may be easily caught up and retained in the mind. The peculiarity of all good songs, that the melody shall closely follow the expres- sion of the words, must not be neglected even in these works." How little these admirable theories were followed out is self-evident, but, at least, Hiller was wise in mak- ing the accompaniments mnsical,; and he excuses him- self for this by saying that, as children learn to sing much more easily than to play, he has made the accom- paniment for older and more practised hands, while the melodies are simple enough to fit to youthful singers, although the compiler and composer disclaims, the intention of writing only for the youngest children, but claims that many of his songs will suit children of a larger growth. In any case, we can commend Hiller for having kept a certain dignity in the treatment of his subject, which not all of his followers achieved, as, for example, J. F. Reichardt, who in his collection of 126 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG children's songs published in 1781, begins with the fol- lowing twaddle : — TO CHILDHOOD. My intention in the publishing o£ these songs, dear chil- dren, is to cheer you up, that you shall endeavor to learn to sing clearly and well. But, before one gives one's self trouble about any matter, one desires to know of what use it is ! Is it not so, tny 1 )ves .' See, then, I will explain it to you at once, how use- ful and agreeable it is to sing clearly and correctly. Often in church you are disturbed by the totally false and ill-sounding screaming of children, and even by older people ; and you look round, and sometimes even laugh. Are you not worried by this, and troubled in your own sing ng because of it, my dears ? There is much more of the same style of infantile jingle; but, fortunately, the songs are somewhat better than the nauseating preface. It is noticeable that many of these composers did not make any great distinction between the children's song and the folk-song. It is only another instance of .the vast and wide-spreading influence of the folk-song. Not only children's music took root in it, but also the chorale, and finally the perfect flower of German vocal music, — the Lied. The eighteenth century, however, was not very pro- lific in folk-songs until toward its very close. The composers had all become more or less artificial. It HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG \2^ was a transition epoch, as a whole. Spite of Bach and his sons, counterpoint had lost its hold upon the pop- ular taste, and the true melodic grace of Haydij and Mozart had not yet been spread abroad. The pedantic complexities of the poets had crushed out what little individuality there might have been in the music. Ger- many stood far behind France and Italy and even Eng- land in song forms at this time, and the third quarter of the last century is as uninspiring a portion of musi- cal history in Germany as one can possibly imagine. It was, however, the dark hour before dawn. The glories of the contrapuntal epoch had departed, but a bright day of other musical achievements was to begin. A whole host of great song composers were soon to arise and lift the standard of German song from the dust where it had been trailing, and bear it in the very front of the army of musical progress. XVI. HAYDN, MOZART, AND BEETHOVEN. These three names represent the rise, progress, and culmination of the sonata form in instrumental music, exactly as the names of Schubert, Schumann, and Franz represent the same conditions in the history of the German Lied. It will scarcely be necessary, in a work of this character, to enter into the details of their lives ; and even their influence upon German song can- not be collectively estimated in a single chapter. To Haydn is due the credit of first making the ac- companiment an important factor in the musical pict- ure in German song. Gluck had, to be sure, already pointed the way in opera, and had conveyed emotions of graphic force entirely by the orchestral support of the voice. Such a touch was it when Orestes, having murdered his mother, and racked by conflicting emo- tions, exclaimed, "At last, peace enters in my soul," while the violas went on muttering and groaning, prov- ing to the poetic auditor that the wicked one had but mistaken exhaustion for peace. Such a master stroke was it also in the opera of Orpheus, when that hero approached the gates of Hades, and, as the chorus an- HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 129 nounced the approach of a mortal, the contrabasses, by fierce, upward swoops, imitated the hoarse barking of the dread guardian of the gates of the infernal regions, the three-headed dog, " Cerberus, cruel monster, fierce and strange." Such a sense of the importance of accompaniment was it which led Gluck to support the solos of Orpheus with harp, although that instrument before Erard's great improvements (made, in i8io) was one of the crudest that could be imagined, and almost diatonic in character. All these great reforms are due to Gluck, but it was Haydn who introduced them into German vocal music; and they attained their culmination, so far as the last century is concerned, in the Creation (first produced in 1 798), the accompaniments of which are a constant succession of tone pictures from begin- ning to end. As examples taken merely at haphazard, we may mention the surging of the waves at " Rolling in foaming billows," the tranquil flow of the brook at "Softly purling, flows on," the winding passages at " In serpent error, rivers flow," the groans of the con- trabassoon at " By heavy beasts the ground is trod " ; a hundred other equally realistic passages could be cited. It was the beginning of a new school. The value of a developed accompaniment had been recog- nized, and the road was open toward the ideal of the German Lied, a well-rounded picture in both vocal and instrumental tones. 130 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG Haycjn did yet more : he led the way toward German national music. In this, again, we find him not en- tirely an originator, but a great developer of the thoughts of others. As he drew the idea of his ac- companiments from Gluck, and found the germ of sonata form in Philip Emanuel Bach, so he received his grandest vocal inspiration, as portrayed in a single short work, from England. During his stay in Lon- don, he had observed the deep emotion caused among Englishmen by the performance of their national an- them, the g eatest that the world possesses. It made a profound impression upon him, and he determined, upon his return to his country, to make a similar gift to his . native land. A hymn, written by Haschka, somewhat altered subsequently, served him for inspira- tion, and the first great German national song — "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser" (God save the emperor) — was composed amid the stirring events which followed t e French Revolution, and which plunged Austria into a succession of sanguinary wars. It was first sung on the emperor's birthday, Feb. 12, 1797, and spread like wildfire. The kinship with " God save the King " can- not be questioned, and the work suggests the English anthem strained through a German mind. It was Haydn's favorite work. Not only did he make it the nucleus of a set of masterly variations in one of his most famous quartets, but almost his last musical act was connected with it. On May 26, 1809, as he lay on HISTOR,Y OF GERMAN SONG I3I his death-bed, he called his servants around him, and, having been carried to the piano, played this hymn three times over with great solemnity. He died five days after, — May 31, 1809. JVIozart's influence was exerted chiefly in the direc- tion of operatic music, and in this he made a distinct advance over all his predecessors. Naturally, he fol- lowed the course laid open by Gluck's works ; but he went far beyond that master in giving meaning to ac- companiment and melody both. Over and above this, he was a composer who knew most thoroughly the ca- pabilities of the voice ; his works, therefore, are as singable as any in' the Italian school. He was always ready to accept the suggestions of singers, and fit any aria that he had composed to their voice and style. His accompaniments were full of dramatic effect, so that even the effects of the Leit-motif, which many imagine to have arisen with Wagner, may be found in his works. Such an intricate orchestral combination, for example, as is introduced at tht f/iaie of the first act of Don Gio- vanni was unheard of in opera before his time. In this wonderful movement, we have a simultaneous combination of 3-4, 3-8, and 4-4 rhythms, which even Berlioz, with all his striving for complex rhythms, could not equal. Mozart leaned chiefly to the Italian school in his vocal works (since that school has ever been the most singable), but the influence of Gluck is marked in his works, and his latest operas, particularly the 132 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG Magic Flute, are in an individual manner which is en- tirely his own, and which may be called the very be- ginning of true German opera. Such arias as those of Sarastro, full of dignity and solemnity, and those of Papageno, with their Geikuthlichkeit and heartiness, are Teutonic to the backbone. It is not strange that the latter have been sung by the people to such an extent as to become actual folk-songs. Mozart could have been a great power in the direction of elevating the German folk-song; but the truth must be spoken that he cared very little for the worth of the words which he set to music, and in some few cases his subjects were beyond the line of decency. His single songs, when in the popular vein, seldom aspired to anything higher than Viennese couplets. Mozart, viewed purely from the vocal side, deserves the higli praise of having been the first (and perhaps the only) German who thoroughly combined dramatic effect with a true vocal treatment of his voices. We shall find that later German com- posers have surpassed him in dramatic power, but it is doubtful if any have equalled him in the singable char- acter of his operatic arias. Before dismissing this great name from our his- tory, it may be proper to rebuke those biographies which, for romantic reasons, throw a haze of mystery around his death. It is undoubtedly true that, just before his final illness, a stranger came to him, with some degree of secrecy, for a requiem ; that, after some HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG I33 time, Mozart became imbued with the idea that the re- quiem would be his own, and that it eventually became so. But the records of disease contain many a case where the imagination, working upon an enfeebled frame, has succeeded in fulfilling a preconceived idea. Some of the biographies end their account of Mozart's life with a delineation of the death-bed scene where the Requiem was sung, as if it were the fulfilment of a strange prophecy, without adding the prosaic fact that the stranger subsequently took the requiem he had ordered and paid for it. The mystery unravels itself still more when we learn that the stranger was Leutgeb, the steward of Count Walsegg, who had it performed in 1793 in memory of his wife. The secrecy attending its purchase is easily understood, when it is discovered that the count before the performance cop- ied out all the score, and marked it "composed by Count Walsegg " ! The act of this noble plagiarist led to many doubts as to the Requiem being a true compo- sition of Mozart, doubts which were happily set at rest by the eventual discovery of original parts of the score.* Beethoven, the greatest name in all musical history, does not require much space in this. For, firstly, his life is well known in its important details to every mu- sical reader; and, secondly, he has exerted no very *It is well known that some portion of the work was filled in after Mozart's death by Siissniaver his Dupil. 134 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG great influence on German vocal music. Beethoven's greatest works are in the classical instrumental forms ; and, beside these, his vocal compositions grow compar alively weak. It is singular that his eulogists do not more frankly admit this fact. Just as all persons think unconsciously in some language, great composers re- ceive their musical thoughts through the medium of some instrument or voice. Schumann thought piano, Schubert thought voice, Beethoven thought orchestra. Not any musical idea came to Beethoven through the imagination of a human voice : every thought came clad in an orchestral garb. It was this self-acknowl- edged fact which made the master's piano sonatas broader than the instrument for which they were com- posed. It is this which suits the works composed for the tiny instruments of the beginning of the century so admirably to the concert grands of to-day, and makes them easily susceptible of orchestration ; but it was this, also, which made his vocacl works at times entirely unvocal, and deprived the great musical thoughts pre- sented by Beethoven in his oratorio of The Mount of Olives, his great Mass in C, and the choral finale of the Ninth Symphony, of real and lasting influence among singers. A clarinet can give a high note or a series of them without its quality in subsequent" pas- sages being impaired ; it is about as easy for a con- trabassoon to give its deepest C as its deepest D ; but the voice is a living thing, and may not be treated in HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG ' I3S' ■iiis manner. When Beethoven in the Ninth Sym- phony gave a theme upon instruments and allowed voices to develop and vary it, he reversed the order of things ; and, although the idea of combining voice aid orchestra in symphony was a lofty one,* which Liszt and Berlioz have copied to advantage, although the manner in which the work is carried over a bridge of contrabasses from the instrumental ' to the vocal portion is superb, and although the thoughts them- selves are of the most glorious order, the vocal parts remain unsatisfactory, because unsingable. And this would be the case still, even if a transposition of a semitone downward were to restore our high modern pitch to the lower diapason of the composer's time. Fidelia, however, in its second act, and in the chorus of its first act, brought an intensity to the oper- atic stage which was unknown before ; and, had not Rossini's baleful genius held the advance of opera in check for two generations, it might have led directly to that modern German opera, which, scarcely less defiant of vocal traditions, yet holds the world en- thralled by the depth of its thought, the glow of its orchestration, and the wonderful interweaving of its accompaniments. In, the field of pure song, Beethoven made one re- form which was important. Struck with the weakness * Particularly in tlie presentation of Beethoven's clierished f avcy, the Millennium, as pictured in Schiller's " Ode to Joy." 136 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG of the repeating ode, mentioned in a previous chapter, yet not wishing to set the form aside, he used it with characteristic variations of accompaniment at eacli rep- etition. A model of this strophe form is to be found in the immortal cyclus, " An die feme Geliebte " (" To the distant Loved One ") ; and in Adelaide we see the true development of accompaniment combined with dramatic expression. In the folk-song, Beethoven at tempted various manners, but effected little. His Scotch folk-songs scarcely reproduced the Gaelic flavor, and his few attempts at the humorous folk-song were puerile compared with any of his other works. He was too lofty in ideal and aspiration to be able to descend to and sympathize with the people's life ; and his deafness and sensitive nature precluded this, even had he wished it. In a word, then, Beethoven gave great and noble orchestral thoughts in the language of song, and in so far assisted the dramatic school. He did not found it, for that had been done by Cluck ; but he spoke through it — sometimes with utter disregard of singers' larynxes — in a more earnest and intense way than had up to his time been deemed possible. XVII. THE INFLUENCE OF THE GERMAN POETS ON MUSIC. German songs languished under the barrenness of German poetasters during the larger part of the eigh- teenth century. Schiller had made his great successes in large epic and in narrative poems ; and, although they were suited to cantata treatment only, the pov- erty of the poetic field led composers occasionally to set even these as songs. Thus, Schubert made a song nearly thirty pages in .length out of one of Schil- ler's most graphic poems, " The Diver " ; and the most effective setting of any of this poet's works in song form was made some years afterwards by the same composer, — the "Gruppe aus dem Tartarus." But Schiller's poems were far too ponderous for any song composer to use. They lacked direct force and con- densation ; they were filled with vivid contrast, and were dramatic in construction, but they had the fault that they left little for the composer to add. The ideal poem for musical setting, especially^ in Lied form, is 138 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG one which gives an impression only, rather than one which supplies ^11 details, and Goethe was the first of the German poets to understand this need and taste- fully to fill it. His " Erl-King " is a fine example of the new departure. In this, an entire tragedy is told almost wholly in dialogue. The ride through the night, the appearance of the Erl-King, the coaxing of the child, its fright and resistance, the father's half- hearted reassurances, and the final seizure of the soul of the child by violence, are all depicted, yet not in a manner to preclude music adding something to the partnership. The fierce gusts of wind, the gentle, en ticing tones of the Erl-King, the wild homeward gallop, the shriek of the child, all these are only suggested by the poetry ; but they are pictured in the music. Not only Schubert, but CarL Loewe, was inspired by this poem to a great musical production. " Meeresstille und GlUckliche Fahrt " is another poem by Goethe which has borne great results in music. In two stanzas, the poet pictures a scene akin to that given by Coleridge in portraying a lifeless sea in i^ The Ancient Mariner." It may be of interest to place the two passages side by* side. Coleridge : — # " Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt dovn, *Twas sad as sad could be ; And we did speak only to bleak The alence of the sea. HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 1 39 '* Day after day, day after day. We stuckf nor breath nor motiooi As idle as a painted ship Upon a painted ocean.'' Goethe: — " Tiefe Stille herrscht im Wasser, Ohne Regung ruh't das Meer. Und bekummert sieht der SchifEer Glatte FlSche rings umher. " Keine Luft von keiner Seite, Todesstille fiirchteriich ; In der ungeheuerern Weite Reget keine Welle sich,'' Which may be translated as follows : — "Deepest silence rules the waters, Without motion rests the sea. And the troubled sailor gazeth On the flat monotony. " Not a wavelet e'en is stirring, Not a breeze doth lift its breath. O'er the whole wide, vast horizon Broods a stillness as of death." After this picture, Goethe makes a vivid contrast by picturing the springing up of a prosperous breeze, the hoisting of sails, and the speedy attainment of the de- sired haven. Such concise descriptions could not but cause a mu^ sical response in the minds of composers, and we find the above poem awakening a whole series of musical representations, of which the three best are Beethoven's vocal setting (chorus), Schubert's song (solo), and Men- I40 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG delssoha's overture (instrumental). Thus, we see one poem exerting an influence in three different depart- ments of music. One of the strangest misnomers in all music has occurred with Mendelssohn's overture on the above subject. The English have translated it " A Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage," which leaves each auditor under the impression that a thoroughly joyous picture is -being prfesented, while the words " Becalmed at Sea, and Prosperous Voyage," would present the tremendous contrast as the poet intended it Spite of Goethe's success in the short lyric form, of which he may almost be said to be the German founder, his greatest influence upon music (not, how- ever, upon the Lied) was exerted through an extended and philosophical po&m^ Faust. Never in the history of literature has a subject been so vaistly and variously treated by composers as this great work. Gounod, in his favorite opera,* has developed the amatory side only, and has properly brought melodic power to bear on the treatment of the section he has chosen to illustrate, in which Marguerite is a more prominent figure than Faust. Schumann has treated it in the ethical manner most consonant with the entire subject, and best reflects the Goethe ideal. Berlioz has- seized upon fragments of the work, placed them together in most vivid contrasts, and brought forth its sensational characteristics, although his remodel- * Gounod's Faust is generally called Margaretke in Germany. HISTOP.y OF GERMAN SONG I4I liug of the work has banished the poet's intentions in many places. Wagner has been moved by it to write his grandest purely instrumental work, — the Faust Overture. Liszt has taken the philosophical, lyric, and religious touches, and brought them to a deeper meaning by instrumental music, — in a sym- phony. Boito has been, moved to Grand Opera. In fact, the list is endless. Here, then, we have an exam- ple of a poet's thought awakening many of the great- est workers in a kindred art into activity; and we see in how many directions music and poetry unite. Yet there was an element in Goethe's Faust which was absent from the great works of Schiller or Lessing. The short lyric form which they discarded was intro- duced by Goethe profusely into this large work. The song of the rat, of the flea, the serenade, the King of Thule, " My Heart is heavy," and others, prove that Goethe knew the value of this condensed form; and these poems have been treated independently in music by many v^o have not essayed setting the entire work. Goethe's poems at once drew composers away from the rigid "grand aria" form, and from the monotonous " strophe " construction. Durchcomponirung (compo- sition in which the music did not repeat with each verse, but had a changing character throughout) took the place of these inanities, and music was at once wedded more closely to poetry. 142 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG It is not within our province here to follow in detail the life of Goethe ; yet it may be stated as a strange fact that, spite of the great influence that he exerted on music and the various musicians that he was thrown in contact with, his love for the art was not a strong or lofty one, nor could he appreciate the life-work of the composers. Mendelssohn was his friend rather because he was of a wealthy, influential, and cultured family than because of his musical abilities. He treated Beethoven shabbily ; and, when Schubert sent him his setting of the " Erl-King," he took no notice of it, nor did he hear it sung at all until after the com- poser's short life was ended. He never assisted the career of any musician, and seemed to regard them all as unpractical beings and undesirable companions. After Goethe, who may be styled the Jupiter of German poetry, there came a poet who was less phil- osophical and more human, less polished, but more passionate, less broad and majestic, but even more epigrammatic and concise. This was Heinrich Heine. Naturally, Heine wielded a yet greater influence upon the Lied than Goethe ; and, in fact, no composer ever did such noble service to this form of music by his tones as Heine did by his poems. Heine himself says of Goethe's poems that they were like the statues in the Louvre, — of wonderful beauty, but cold and life- less. Certainly, his own poems are pregnant with human passion, ardor, hope, exaltation, and despair. A recent HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG I43 authority,* takii^g Challier's voluminous catalogue of songs as a basis, made a calculation of the musical' popularity of different German poets by the number' of times their most popular lyrics had been set' 16' music. The result was overwhelmingly in favor of" Heine. Schiller was scarcely represented; while the comparison between Goethe and Heine can best be judged by the following list of seven popular poems, the figures representing the number of different musi- cal settings each poem has received : — Goethe : " Der du yon dem Himmel bist,'' 50 ; " Ue- ber alien Gipfeln ist Ruh'," 56; "Kennst du clas Land?" 65. Heine: " Ein Fichtenbaum steht einsam," 74; "Ich hab' im Traura geweint," 81 ; " Leise zieht durch mein Gemiifh," 85; "Du bist wie eine Blume," 167. There were many influences which made Heine's poetry very intense. His religious struggle, swerving from Judaism to Christianity, first lealning toward one and then the other, yet not finding complete repose in either; his severe illness, by which he became semi- paralytic during the latter part of his life ; his dissatis- faction with German conservatism and the phlegmatic nature of his compatriots, — in every direction, his was an unsatisfied, yearning, longing existence; and this he reflected, m all its phases, in his poems. Such a nat- ure must be ranked as inferior to Goethe ; yet it offered more to the most emotional of arts, music. If Goethe •The Reichenberger Zeitung, 144 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG was a philosopher, a cahn reasoner, and above all na- tional prejudice or enthusiasm,* Heine was an impres- sionist, an enthusiast, and even a partisan. Naturally, the poems of this child of impulse are full of the most sudden changes, the oddest surprises ; and these could be splendidly reflected in tones. If Goethe was able to give a powerful picture in a short poem, Heine was able to suggest a whofe life history in a stanza or two. For example, the following short poem contains the essential points of hundreds of novels which run to octavo size in expressing their emotions and inci- dents : — " A youth he loves a maiden, Another she doth prefer ; But this one has chosen another, And given his heart to her. "And when the maiden knows it. She takes, in anger deep, The first man in her pathway, And leaves the youth to weep. " It is an old, old story, Yet it is ever new ; And he to whom it happens. His heart-strings rend in two.*' Heine's influence, although spread among many com- posers, yet exerted its chief power upon one alone ; but that one was the greatest of all the German Lied com- * Goethe has been reproached with never having helped his country with truly national poetry ; but he felt that he belonged not to a nation , but to the world. HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 145 posers. Schubert died before Heine's works had be- come world-famous; yet the few that he did set to music — "Am Meer," "Die Stadt," "Das Fischer- madchen," etc. — prove that lie could have caught the composer's feelings in all their intensity and power. In setting Heine, he showed a tendency to change from the objective to the subjective school (as in " Am Meer " and " Ihr Bild "), so thoroughly did he sense the best mode of treatment for the most of these poems ; but it was Schumann who brought the full glory of the musical side of Heine's poems to the hearts of the world. The works, as we shall see later, appealed to his own life-story, and his own passions coalesced at white heat with the intensity of the poet. In the union of Heine's poetry and Schumann's music, the German Lied reached its climax, and the sister arts were de- monstrated to be true equals and companions. XVIII. THE LIFE OF FRANZ SCHUBERT. Three names stand forth in musi al history as the great founders of the German Lied, — Schubert, Schu- mann, and Franz; but, strictly speaking, it was Schu- bert who was the pioneer and actual founder, the other two being the improvers and perfecters of the school. Schumann has won a leading rank in many fields of music ; but Schubert and Franz owe their great reputa- tion to their songs, spite of the instrumental works of the former and the retouching of old masters by the latter. Schubert was the most spontaneous composer that ever existed. If there ev«r existed a natural mu- sician it was he. Liszt said of him that he was the most poetic of all musicians. An inspired nature and a good voice were probably all the gifts that Providence allowed him ; for his child- hood was one that had little pleasure, his manhood was passed in the midst of pitiful privations, and his death occurred long before the world at large recog- nized his genius. Franz Peter Schubert was born in a suburb of Vienna, Jan. 31, 1797, and was the son of a poor HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 1 4/ school-teacher, who imitated Bach in two respects, the possession of piety and of children. Of the latter he, had nineteen. The father endeavored to educate his children as best he could ; and the boy Franz received, in addition to a school education, a training on the violin from his father and on the piano from his elder brother, Ignaz. Evincing a great taste for music, he was placed under Michael Holzer, the choir-master of the parish, who gave him a general musical education ; but he soon outstripped even this master. Nature had not been prodigal to the boy. He was not only poor and one among many brethren, but he was ugly in appearance and very near-sighted. But the fact that he was endowed with a sweet voice and musical taste made his childhood pleasanter than it otherwise could have been. A friendship with a cabinet-maker, who frequently repaired piano-cases, gave him an occa- sional chance to play upon a better piano than the one he was obliged to use in his humble home ; and his entrance into the village choir gave him a little well- earned pre-eminence, and led to higher things. At eleven, he was leading soprano (treble) in the choir, playing violin solos as they occurred in the service and occupying his spare time at home in composi- tion. A little before. his twelfth birthday, these tal- ents secured him entrance to the Imperial Convict* * It is a strange error that some English biographers speak of Schu- bert's entering a convict school, without further explanation. 148 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG or school for the training of singers for the imperial court. Here he soon silenced those who were disposed to laugh at his uncouth manners by his musical supe- riority. An orchestra was formed by the older stu- dents ; and, spite of Schubert's youth, he was admitted to membership. He also had a constant fever of com- position, limited only by his inability to buy music paper. In the Convict^ Schubert enjoyed in some de- gree the instruction of Salieri ; but the master seems to have taken no especial interest in his pupil, and to have given but a little desultory advice. Had any one at this time given the lad thorough instruction in counterpoint, Schubert might have achieved great deeds in the instrumental forms. As it was, he only arranged to take a course in counterpoint just before his death. There were rigors enough attached to the life at the school, — a cold practice-room in winter, little food, long intervals between meals, and rather strict discipline. There is a pitiful letter existing from Schubert to his favorite brother, Ferdinand (Nov. 24, 1812), in which he begs for a few pennies to buy food and music paper, and quotes Scripture to enforce his petition. At this time, Mozart was his favorite com- poser ; and Beethoven seemed to make him impatient because of his eccentricities. At a later epoch, he learned to give Beethoven his full due, and fairly idol- ized his works. In 1 81 3, change of voice took place with the youth : HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 1 49 i/id, Wj'jiM^h he would have been permitted to con- Haut fiT » while in the school, he decided to leave, and pr«pa/£ /umself for teaching in his father's school, — c&t iru'Ji any love of pedagogics, but because he might thr.s escape the conscription, which, forcing him into militdry service, would mar all his musical studies. Uutil the end of the year 1816, he continued in the thankless position of village schoolmaster, often allow- ing his impatience to find vent in corporal punishment of his unfortunate pupils. He poured forth, mean- while, an uninterrupted stream of compositions. The chief fault of the early works was that they were too long and often too much in the blood-and-thunder vein ; but now they took a finer shape, and the " Erl- King," the "Songs of Mignon," a couple of Masses of, much worth (in G and B-flat) prove that the composer was beginning to master his powers. The numerous compositions were written without reference to pub- lication, simply because the spirit moved him. Many of them were pledged by him for petty debts, and have been irrevocably lost. One opera was rescued from the Hiittenbrenner family, (where it had been put in pawn for a debt), with the first act entirely gone, it having been used, page by page, to light the fire with by the servant. If Schubert composed easily, he also forgot his works as easily. Many are the anecdotes which clus- ter around his compositions, which prove both facts. 150 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG Once, on hearing a song which he had written for the tenor VogI a few days before, he praised it heartily, and demanded to know who had composed it. An- other time, he finished a song (" Die Forelle," " The Trout") late in the evening, and in haste seized the sand to' strew over the writing, which was not dry. Alas ! the ink-bottle was the one he reached ; and in a moment he had poured its contents over his work. On another occasion, returning from an early walk in the suburbs of Vienna with some friends, the party turned aside in one of the beer gardens along the road, to take their breakfast. On the table was a volume of translations of the poems of Shakspere. Schubert seized upon it, and according to his habit began hur- riedly turning the leaves. All at once he stopped, and, after reading a moment, burst out with, " Oh, if I only had music paper here, I have a melody in mind that would just suit this poem ! " One of the friends at once took the bill of fare, and carefully ruled it off into staves. Schubert took his pencil, and, amid the clat- ter and confusion of a busy restaurant on a Sunday morning, wrote " Hark ! h3,rk ! the Lark, at Heaven's Gate sings," in less than twenty minutes.* Schubert's life now took a pleasanter direction, be- cause a new friend and admirer. Von Schober, who had *Some writers have stated that the famous "Serenade" was thus composed. This is untrue. The facts are as above. The confusion has arisen from the fact that " Hark ! the Lark,*' is also a serenade ; i.e., an auiade, or morning serenade. HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 151 a fairly lined purse, came to his rescue, and bore him away from school-teaching, insisting that he should live with him in Vienna, and devote himself entirely to com- position. This was an existence entirely in accord with his tastes ; and he now began to compose with fervor, and also to enjoy himself heartily with the circle of friends which he and Von Schober soon drew around them. Spite of the many privations of Schubert's life, — poverty was never very far from the door, — it would be wrong to imagine that his was a wholly unhappy career. Almost the contrary is true. He had the merry, hearty, Viennese nature, an inordinate share of Bohemianism, and enjoyed himself royally when in the company of friends of his own kind. He could not bear the upper classes, they seemed unnatural to him, and he naturally gravitated toward those in lower sta- tion. One thing, however, he demanded : his boon companions must be something more than mere jolly natures ; they must be artists in some direction, — poets, painters, musicians, or the like. His first ques- tion, on a new friend being introduced into the circle of which he was the acknowledged chief, was, " K^nn er was? "("Can he do anything ?") and from this he soon received the nickname of "Kanevas," which, with the other nicknames Of "the tyrant" (in allusion to his imperious authority with all his friends) and " Bertl," show how pleasant a bond the friendships must have 152 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG • * ^ •« • s. .« ^ -, been. A friendship with the tenor Vogl was a very useful as well as agreeable one. Vogl's knowledge of literature led him to give Schubert some excellent ad- vice regarding the choice of subjects for songs ; and he also took Schubert, subsequently, on some vacation tours, which were the happiest events in the com- poser's life. But he did not have the courage to first introduce his works to the public. That honor belongs to another tenor, Franz Jager, who sang " The Shep- herd's Plaint" ("Schafer's Klagelied") in a concert, where it made an instantaneous and complete success, it being the first work of the composer ever heard by the Viennese public. Schubert was the most im- pecunious of all the composers, — which is saying much, — and his circumstances prevented his seeking his fortunes about the world. Had he gone to Eng- land, his whole career might have been different ; for the English, although not classed as a great musical nation, have been in many respects a very apprecia- tive one, and their' appreciation has generally been shown in the substantial form of bank-notes instead of the more ethereal fame upon which Germany has fed some of its famishing composers. As it was, Schubert was never beyond the Austrian dominions. A couple of trips to. Hungary and three journeys to Upper Austria compose his trdKrels. The first journey to Hungary was made in 1818. Schubert had been so warmly recommended to Count HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG 153 Jolm Esterhazy that he was offered the position of music-teacher to his two daughters, at his chiteau at Zelesz. This change was an important one for Schu- bert, since it brought him in contact with the Hunga- rian music, and influenced some of his later works. It was also pleasant in another way. The count had a good bass voice, the countess and har daughters were good altos and soprano, and a visitor to the family, Baron Schonstein, had a charming and expressive tenor voice. All loved Schubert's songs ; and he not only had the pleasure of frequently hearing them well sung, especially by the baron, but could at times essay the performance of rather ambitious larger works. Nevertheless, he did not feel at home in his new sur- roundings, and gravitated gradually down to the soci- ety of the servants, accepting that low caste to which musicians in Europe were so readily relegated at the beginning of this century. He was too thoroughly Viennese to be happy away from the city and his cir- cle of friends. He grew heartily homesick. An unfort- unate tenderness for Caroline Esterhazy made him yet more unhappy, for of course he dared not speak it; but once, when she asked him why he had never dedi- cated anything to her, he blurted out : " For what pur- pose ? It is all dedicated to you without that." The end of the year found him back in Vienna with his old friends, and the next year brought him the first of the upper Austrian trips with Vogl. A mere glorious 154 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG time than our composer had it would be impossible to imagine. He was among just the hearty middle class whose company suited him the best, and they all ap- preciated him to the fullest extent. He composed but little during this happy epoch. The return to Vienna brought the circle together again; and many are the incidents recorded of the " Schubertiades," as the gatherings were called. It was an absolute brother- hood, a veritable artistic commune. All were poor, therefore all goods were held in common. Did one achieve the dignity of anew coat, any of the set, (whom it fitted) might wear it when there was a necessity for making a good appearance. Hats, neckties, boots, were never considered as individual property. One of the friends being without a pipe, or the means to buy one, yet possessing some tobacco, took Schubert's wooden spectacle case, bored a hole in it, and, inserting a straw, was soon puffing away in contentment. The seasons of prosperity were equally abused by all. When Schu- bert once sold a large number of songs, although a period of famine had just been bravely passed through by the company, he insisted on buying tickets to Paga- nini's concert (at five gulden each) and giving them a musical feast with his money. The next day the famine was resumed. With such irregular habits, one could easily foretell the end. The candle was burning at both ends fu- riously ; and, with the excitement of composition and HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG the lack of needed repose, everything was tending to shorten the great composer's life. It is impossible, however, not to pity and even to love him. His nature was so tejider with those whom he loved, especially with his brother Ferdinand, and he-was so guileless in all the affairs of men that one sympathizes even while condemning. The publisher Diabelli managed to take advantage of his innocence, and buy a vast num- ber of his most successful songs for eight hundred florins. '■ The Wanderer " alone, which was one of these, brought the publisher over thirty thousand florins. It was impossible to help such a nature. No previous engagements could take him from the circle of friends, when he was enjoying himself. Periods of pleasure were followed by periods of intensest gloom. All his applications for positions of permanency were in vain, and sometimes he even lost what little chance there might have been by ill-timed temper or severity. Again (in 1824) he went into Hungary with his aris- tocratic patron, and again the composer's heart turned back to his beloved Vienna. After the return, another vacation trip with Vogl followed, in 1825 ; and this was as pleasant as the first one, but the return to Vienna brought more poverty than ever. At Beethoven's funeral, in 1827, he was one of the prominent mourn- ers, but little thought how soon he was to follow. In this year also came the last gleam of sunshine in the short life. A journey to Gratz with Jenger, the pia- 156 HISTORY OF^ GERMAN SONG nist, was full of delight, but was all too brief. Again, in Vienna, the load of poverty and debt was momenta- rily lightened by a most successful concert of his own compositions ; but he was unfitted to keep money, and it flew away with wings, the flight being materially hastened by the demands of his creditors. The final illness set in very suddenly (of its details and progress we have elsewhere spoken.*);, and on the 19th of No- vember, 1828, the weary striving was at an end. Grill- parzer's epitaph on Schubert's grave epitomizes his fate better than any words of" ours could do. It reads : — " The tone art buried here A rich possession and yet greater hopes." To which we may add a single line, which has been applied to another genius, who, like Schubert, was wild, irregular, loving, democratic, and sincere, — Robert Burns : — "The light which led astray was light from heaven.'' *Lasi Hours of Great Combers, by L. C. Elson* XIX. THE WORKS OF SCHUBERT. The great masters in music have all, with the single exception of Chopin, achieved their reputation in va- rious fields of composition ; and mass and symphony, sonata and string quartet, opera and oratorio, were in- termingled in their labors. Schubert also worked in all these different schools (except the last named), but his success varied widely in them. It may be sum- marily stated that his real influence was exerted only on vocal music, and beside his vocal works his instru- mental compositions pale. This statement is not invali- dated by the fact that he has added at least one master- piece and part of another ( the " Unfinished Symphony " ) to the symphonic repertoire, and that his string quartets are most enchanting in their contents. The sonata form, in which all the great instrumental works of Schubert's time were written, is not to be mastered without fluency in the art of counterpoint; and this, unfortunately, Schubert had not. He himself felt the lack of it, and shortly before his death arranged for a contrapuntal course with Sechter, the most celebrated 1^6 HISTORY OF GLR.MAN SONG teacher in Vienna. The smaller forms, and especially the vocal forms, demand less of skill, and rely rather upon the poetic and imaginative qualities of the com- poser for their effect, than upon learning. The har- monic rather than the contrapuntal structure is pres- ent, even in Schubert's symphonies. The charm of even the greatest of his instrumental works is in the melodies themselves, in their contrasts, and not in their interweaving. Something was gained by Schubert's sojourn in Hungary; the Magyar music often comes into promi- nence in his string quartets, his piano works, and his symphonies. The great Sypiphony in C major, for example, is so thoroughly in this vein that it has been thought by some commentators to picture gypsy life in Hungary. The songs, however (of which Schubert composed more than six hundred), are of infinite variety; and even Beethoven, on his death-bed,recognized the divine fire in them. The prolixity which is a defect in the in- strumental works of Schubert, and the incessant repeti- tions of which he seemed never to weary, are gener- ally absent from the songs. His earliest vocal works have more than a reasonable length, and a decided leaning toward sensational effects ; but these flaws are not apparent, even after his sixteenth year, save in his operas, and even here they are rather the result of the unfortunate librettos which he was obliged to HJSTOKY OF GERMAN SONG 1 59 choose, because of his inability to secure better, than of any blood-and-thunder tendency of the composer. He was unable to seek out great dramatists, and could not, like Meyerbeer, purchase the services of a Scribe to assist him. Let any one examine the conglomera- tion of daggers, poison, tyrants, and persecuted in- nocence of the opera Rosamunde, and he will readily see why Schubert's operas have failed. Even the old axiom, "That which is too foolish to be spoken may be sung," has its limits ; and these were passed in Mademoiselle von Chezy's sentimentalities as gushed forth in her operatic plots. The songs, however, had not these defects ; for here Schubert was able to choose from a circle of poets, almost all personal friends, that would have inspired a composer of far less ability than his own. Von Schober, Miiller, and Mayrhofer vied in writing verses for their prolific art-brother ; and Vogl, although not able to originate verses, had the requisite culture to guide Schubert in the choice of the best poems of Goethe and other German writers. Before this time, he had en- deavored to set some of Schiller's poems to music, undaunted by the length even of the most extended. We have already alluded to the fact that these were far better suited to cantata than to Lied, and Schu- bert's efforts in this direction brought forth little of permanent worth. Goethe's innovations in poetic forrp probably first I Go HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG gave rise to Schubert's departure from the old strophe style. Heine, also, exerted some influence upon our composer, but his greatest poems were written after Schubert's brief career had ended, and therefore one can only surmise what great heights he might have attained in setting such a powerful cyclus of poems as "Poet's Love" { Dichterliebe ) or "A Tragedy" {Trag'ddie). As it was, however, Schubert was the first musician to raalie thorough use of the cyclus form. The cyclus in vocal music may be compared to the suite, or even the symphony, in the instrumental field. In the latter, each movement is complete in itself, yet forms a part of a larger whole, just as Thorwaldsen's bas-relief, "Winter," a completed subject in itself, forms only a link in the set which is entitled " The Seasons." In the same manner, the single song of the cyclus seems to be a unit; yet its enhancement by con- trast and juxtaposition with other songs makes the per- fection of a still larger form. Schubert's great cyclus was " The Miller's Pretty Daughter " * (" Die Schone Miillerin " ), which has all the requisites of dramatic unity, artistic contrast, and sustained interest. In the first number, " Das Wandern " ( "Wandering "), we find tlie miller's apprentice tired of his surrouhdings, and learning to love a roving life from the restless rushing of the brook. From even the first sopg, the brook fdrms a fundamental feature of the work, and its undertone is heard in almost every number in the set. In this son;;. * Words by William Miiller. HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG l6l its voice ( in the accompaniment ) is bold, impetuous, and confident, as if counselling the young hero . to go forth and give battle to the world. In the next song, we find the youth on his wanderings. Again there is a mur- muring brook in the accompaniment, for he has dis- covered a half-hidden stream which purls and coaxes him to follow. The youth and the gently rippling accom- paniment vanish in the distance, but in the succeeding song we find that the brook has led him to a secluded mill and a beautiful maiden. The murmuring waters are still his companion, for he confides his love to the brook ; and, when his happiness 'is sealed by the sweet confession of returned affection, the lovers sit in happy tranquillity on its banks. Alas ! the happiness of the youth is. brief, for, in a rollicking, swaggering move- ment, a hunter appears in the dell, and at once induces the faithless one to transfer her changeable heart. Jealousy, pride, and despair follow in swift succes- sion ; and finally, in the bosom of the stream, the un- happy boy seeks eternal repose, while as ^finale to the set, the loving waters sing his lullaby. The brook and the mill-wheel have mingled their tones through the set, very much in the same manner as z. Leitmotif Ti^ya.^ through a Wagnerian opera; and it is astonishing to note in how many different emotions Schubert has pictured the sequestered stream. The voice of the waves seems always to have had a great at- traction for him, judging by the many songs in which r62 HISTORY OF GERMAN SONG it appears. In the " Fisliermaiden," for example, the tender poem by Heine has a light, barcarolle-like accom- paniment. In the song entitled " Auf dem Wasser zu singen " ("To be sung on the Waters"), the waves seem to dance and glance in voice and accompaniment alilce ; and in "Die Stadt " (" The City ") the steady plash of the oar of the boatman and the gray stillness of the waters at eventide are pictured with graphic power by a constantly recurring brolcen chord. One fact, however, in this connection, may be remarlted : Schubert's water-pictures may be bright, as in " To be sung on the Waters," or gloomy, as in " The City " ; they may be enticing, as in " Wohin," or they may be y-earning, as in " Das Meer," — but they are never tem- pestuous. Schubert ha4 seen the Danube,, and had sailed on the Austrian and Hungarian Ial