QlorngU HmoerBttg ffiibtarg BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF-THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF HENRY W. SAGE 1691 ML munaM '""'•* '-'"'"''^ ,,,'l'us'c and musicians, 3 1924 017 725 742 The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924017725742 MUSIC AND MUSICIANS ALBERT LAVIGNAC Professor of Harmony m the Paris Conservatory Mitb 94 illustrations and 510 examples in musical notation TRANSLATED BY WILLIAM MARCHANT Translator of Chevrillon's "In India,^^ Basin's "Italians of To-day," etc, EDITED, WITH ADDITIONS ON MUSIC /N AMERICA BY H. E. KREHBIEL Author of "How to Listen to Music," etc., etc NEW YORK HENRY. HOLT AND COMPANY 18991 Copyright, iSgg, BY HENRY HOLT & CO. r. H. GILSON COMPANY PRINTERS AND BOOKBINDEK' BOSTON, U. 5. A. PREFACE. This work has the twofold aim of presenting, in the most condensed form possible, well-defined notions concerning the things which must form the substratum of ever}' musician's serious studies, and of interesting all those who cultivate or love the musical art in whatever degree by xmveiling to them its machinery and its methods, many of which are but little known to even the most enlightened public. It is, then, at once a guide for the student musician, who will find here laid out a plan for the direction of his labours — more abstruse and more complex than is generally believed — and a popular treatise on Music for the use of the general reader, the intelligent and curious amateur. The former will find information here as to the nature and importance of the studies through which his path lies, in the pursuit of his proposed aim, and an indication of the works of instruction that will be most useful to him in every branch of the musical art, — for this book has not in itself, a didactic character. The lover of Music will, however, learn from it the elements of our special technology, which may interest him, and will find here, also, much information, of a nature sometimes to surprise him, and often to gratify his legitimate and sympa- thetic curiosity. Such are the reasons which have decided me to publish this work. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1.— A Stttdt of Mosioal Somro. Pages A.— Prodnction of Sound . . . . 1 B.— TransmisBion of Sound hj the Atmosplieie 27 0.— Psrception of Sound 37 £■— Belations of Saocessive Sounds; Tonality 43 . Pages £■ — Eolations of Simultaneous. Sounds 54 F.— Acoustic Qualities of Halls ■ . 58 Qt. — Belations lietween Acoustics and Kliythm 63 Chapteb II.— The Matebials of Sound. .—Of Instrumentation . . . . Human Voice Organ HanuDnium or GaNnet Organ . Flute Piccolo Piccolo Flutes in E flat and inF Flageolet Oboe Cor Anglais Oboe d'Amore Bassoon Double Bassoon Sarrusopbone Gomemuse, Biniou, etc. . . . Clarinet Alto Clarinet, or Basset-Horn . Bass Clarinet Small Clarinets Saxopbone Horn Cor k Pistons, or Cbromatic Horn Cor de Cbasse (Hunting-Hom) . Trumpet Trompette 4. Pistons, or Cbro- matic Trumpet Comet jb Pistons Trombone with Slides .... Trombone k Pistons .... Opbicleide Tuba, or Bass Tuba Viollitt Viola (Tenor Vlolitt, Alto or QnUte) 67 100 100 101 102 102 103 103 104 105 109 110 110 111 113 117 117 118 120 121 122 126 126 127 128 Violoncello 139 Double-Bass (Contrar-Bass) . . 140 Viola d'Amore 142 Harp 143 Guitar 147 Mandolin 147 Piano 148 Cembalo, or Zimbalon .... 151 Kettle-Drums 153 Carillon (Glockenspiel) ... 155 Typophoue 155 Celesta 156 Xylophone 157 Bells 157 Bass Drum - 159 Cymbals 160 Side Drum (Tambour) ■ ... 160 Triangle 160 Tambourin 161 Tambourine (Tambour de Basque) 161 Tomtom, or Gong 162 Castanets 162 Crotala (Clappers) 162 -Of Orchestration 163 Classification of Instruments . 165 The String-Band 168 The Wood-Winds 171 The Brass-Winds and Kettle- Drums ,173 Mingling of Groups . . .174 Compass of the Classic Orches- tra 177 Instruments of Later Use . . 178 GolouriBgofthe'Orchestlra . .181 ■StudyofOrchBStraitlbii ... 185 VI TABLE OF CONTENTS. Chaptek III.— Grammab of Mdsic. Pages A.— The Harmonic System .... 189 Consonant Chords 190 Dissonant Chords 197 Beduplications and Suppres- sions 208 Figuring of Chords ... . 215 Positions ; 220 General Rules of Harmonisa- tion 223 Melodic Motions 223 Harmonic Motion 224 Octaves and Fifths Forbidden . 226 Direct Octaves and Fifths . . 227 False Eelation 230 Change of Position .... 234 Tendency Chords 236 Kules of Harmonisation pecu- liar to Dissonant Chords . . 237 Natural Besolution 237' Non-Eesolution 239 Exceptional Kesolution . . . 239 Preparation 242 Four Groups of Fundamental Chords 244 Suspension 246 Preparation of the Suspension, 247 ' Inferior Suspension .... 251 Double Suspension 252 Exceptional Besolution of Sus- pension 252 Alteration 253 Double and Triple Alteration . 257 Appoggiatura . . . Double Appoggiatura Passing-Note . . . Broderie .... Double Broderie . Echapp^e . . . Anticipation . . . Harmonic Phrase Members of Phrase . Period Musical Discourse, or Piece Cadence .... Perfect Cadence . Plagal Cadence . . Imperfect Cadence . Interrupted Cadence .... 270 Broken Cadence 270 Formula of Cadence . . . 271 Sequence 274 Unitonic Sequence 274 Modulatory Sequence .... 276 Symmetry of Sequences ... 276 Modulation .279 . 258 . 259 . 260 . 261 . 262 263 . 263 , 266 266 267 Pages Belated Tonalities '279 Modulation into Bemote Keys . 282 Change of Mode 282 Equivocal Chord 282 Enharmonic Change . . 283 Intermediate Tonalities . . . 283 Avoided Cadence . . . 285 Pedals (Organ-Points) .... 289 Double Pedals . . . .291 Study of Harmony 292 — Counterpoint 293 Simple Counterpoint in Two Parts 296 First Species 296 Second Species . . 298 Third Species . . 299 Fourth Species . . .299 Fifth Species 300 Simple Counterpqint in Three Parts .... .301 First Species . . . 301 Second Species . . .MB Third Species . . . 303 Fourth Species . . .305 Fifth Species 306 Simple Counterpoint in Four Parts , ... 307 First Species . . 307 Second Species . . . 307 Third Species . . 307 Fourth Species . , .309 Fifth Species 311 Simple Counterpoint in Eight Parts 313 Counterpoint with Double Chorus 316 . 317 . 319 . 320 1 . 321 . 325 . 326 . 327 . 327 . 328 . 330 . 331 . 331 . 332 C— Of the Fnene 333 Double Counterpoint Triple Counterpoint Quadruple Counterpoint . . Invertible Counterpoint i Tenths and Twelfths . Imitations Invertible Imitations . Perpetual Canon ... Irregular Imitations . . . Imitation by Contrary Motion Imitation by Diminution . . Imitation by Augmentation Betrograde Imitation . . . Study of Counterpoint . . OfthoFugne Plan of the Fugue 335 Special Bules of the Answer Types of the Fugue .... Compositions in Fugal Style TABLE OF CONTENTS. Vll Chapter IV.— Esthetics. Pages Musical Esthetics 341 Ai — Of Composition Analysis of Musical Forms . . 345 Tlie Sonata 345 Allegro of Sonata 346 Andante or Adagio . . . 348 Finale 349 Kondo ... 349 Intermezzo .... . 351 Irregular Sonatas 351 Symphony 351 Minuet and Scherzo .... 350 Concerto 352 Plan of Concerto 354 Symphonies Concertantes . . 356 Overtures 356 Dance Forms 357 Pages Invention of New Forms . . . 359 Study of Composition .... 359 The Wagnerian Keform . . .362 Characteristics of Tonalities . 865 Practical Exercises in Composi- tion 368 Application of the Laws of Har- mony 309 Foreign and Ancient Tonalities, 370 National French Style .... 372 B.— Of Improvisation 373 Necessity of Plan ... .374 Study of Improvisation . 375 Diflculty of Criticism .... 376 Musical Evolution 378 The Beautiful In Music ... 380 Chapter V. — History of the Art of Music. A,— The Ancients Assyrians and Egyptians . . . Hebrews . . . . ' Greeks Hindus Persians Chinese Komans Church Music Antiphonary of S. Gregory . , B— The Primitives Neumes .... Early Notation . . . , Diaphony . . . . . , I>escant . . . . Plain-Chant . Mysteries . . M6n^strandie Medieval Musical Instruments, Mutations Faux-Bourdon Protestant Choral ... Notation Figured Bass . . 382 383 383 384 386 386 386 383 387 388 389 389 392 393 394 395 396 397 397 398 400 401 404 405 The Madrigal . . .406 The Monody .... .407 Opera 407 Musical Instruments of the Six- teenth Century 412 0. — Qennan Classic School .... 414 (1660 to 1885 approximately) !)• — Qerman Romantic School ... 423 (1780 to the present time) E,— Italian Classic School .... 434 (1649 to 1868 approximately) £■ — Italian Bomantio Scbool . . . 441 (1797 to the present time) &.— French Classic School ... 450 (1683 to 1885 approximately) H, — French Bomantio School . • • (1775 to the present time) I. — Contempoiaiies 468 K.— The Enssian School 476 (1804 to the present time) Music in America 486 Present Condition of the Musi- cal Art 491 The Musical Career 492 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Pages Figs. 1, 2, 3. Oscillations of tlie Pen- dulum 3 4, 5, 6. Vibrations of a String . 4 7. Monochord 6 8, 9, 10, 11, 13. Nodes and Ven- tral Segments ... 7, 8, 9, 11 12. Kider 10 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. Vibra^ tions in Pipes . . . .16, 17, 19 21, 22. Eeeds 21 23, 24, 25. Tuning-Fork . . 23, 24 26. Transmission of Vibrations, 27 27. Eefraction of Sound , 31 28. Besonator 36 29. Transverse Section of tlie Ear 38 30. Ossicula Auditus '. . . . 39 31. Section of the Middle and Inner Ear 40 32. Eeflection of Sound ... 61 33. The Pulmonary Apparatus, 74 34. Vertical Section of the Larynx 75 35. The Vocal Apparatus . 76 36. Organ (proposed) of S. Peter's at Home ... 78 37. Keyboards in the Organ of S. Eustacbe .... 86 38. Keyboards at S. Sulpice . 88 39. Pan's Pipes 93 40. Bagpipe 94 41. Cheng, or Chinese Organ . 94 42. Harmonium 95 43. Flute 99 44. Piccolo 99 45. Oboe 100 46. Cor Anglais 101 47. Oboe d'Amore 102 48. Bassoon 103 49. Sarrusophone 104 50. Highland Bagpipe . . . 105 51. Musette 106 52. Clarinet 107 53. Basset-Horn 110 54. 65. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. Pages Bass Clarinet Ill Saxophones 112 Horn 113 Cor a Pistons 117 Cor de Chasse 118 Trumpet 119 Trompette i Pistons . . . 120 Cornet k Pistons .... 121 Trombone 122 Trombone 4, Pistons ... 125 OpMcleide -120 Bass Tuba 127 Alto Saxhorn . , 128 Violin 129 Bavanastron (Chinese vio- lin) 137 Viola 138 Violoncello 139 Doable Bass 141 Viola d'Amore 143 Harp 144 Guitar 147 Mandolin 148 Grand Piano 149 Upright Piano 150 Piano with Pedal Key- board 151 Hungarifin Cembalo . , .151 Kettle-Drums 153 Ancient Chime of Bells . 154 Carillon without Clavier . 155 Carillon with Clavier . . 155 Celesta 156 Xylophone 157 Bell 168 Bass Drum 159 Cymbals 160 Side Drum 160 Triangle . , 161 Tambourin Provencal . . 161 Tambourine 162 Tomtom, or Chinese Gong, 163 Balalaika .482 tMI MUSIC AND MUSICIANS. CHAPTEE I. A STUDY OF MUSICAL SOUND. A. — Production of the Sound. All natural phenomena are produced by vibrations. Sound, like light and heat, is nothing more than a phe- nomenon of vibration. According to the latest researches, sound vibrations — that is to say, vibrations perceived by the ear, audible vibrations — have a rapidity which ranges from 16 to 36,600 per second. ITeat vibrations begin at 134 tpllions (134,000,000,000,- 000) per second; and liff ht vihrsitions — those perceived by the eye, visible — at 483 trillions. The following table shows the vibrations of the ether producing the seven colours of the rainbow, the gamut of colours : Reel . Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Violet 483,000,000,000,000 513,000,000,000,000 543,000,000,000,000 576,000,000,000,000 030,000,000,000,000 669,000,000,000,000 708,000,000,000,000 More rapid still are chemical vibrations, which are alto- gether beyond the reach of any of our senses ; these are 2 A STUDY OF MUSICAL SOUND. shown only by certain reactions, as of prepared photo- graphic plates. Vibrations of this order have the extraor- dinary rapidity of 1017 trillions to the second, or even, according to some scientists, of 1429 trillions. I give these figures, — of which the mind can form no conception, — not for the purpose of astonishing the reader, but in this way to lead him to regard as nothing extraor- dinary the vastly inferior figures representing the vibra- tions called sonorous, which are the slowest of all that the senses take cognisance of. It is with these only that we shall be concerned in this volume, and not, even, with all of these, for the limit of the ear's appreciation of sounds having musical character (a limit which varies, indeed, in different individuals) rarely extends' beyond a minimum of 16 and a maximum of 4138 vibrations to the second, which are respectively the rates of vibration of the lowest tone of the great organ (a pipe of thirty-two feet) and the highest note of the piccolo. Within these limits lies the domain of sounds purely musical; having thus indicated it, I shall henceforward confine myself strictly to it. In respect to acoustics also, we shall have to examine only the sound phenomena which are directly of interest to the musician, namely : 1. The production of sound ; 2. Its transmission through the air ; 3. Its perception by the ear ; 4. Its combinations, successive or simultaneous, — scales, intervals, chords, consonances, and dissonances ; 5. The acoustic properties of halls ; 6. The relations between acoustics and musical rhythm. We will begin by seeking to obtain a perfectly clear idea of a vibration. For this purpose we can do nothing better than examine attentively the way in which a pendulum oscillates. From a string just a metre in length, suspend a weight, having securely fixed the other end of the string; PRODUCTION OF THE SOUND. 3 this makes a pendulum which will answer our purpose (Pig. 1). In a state of rest, it hangs vertically; it is a i Fig. 1. Fig. 2. plumb line. Draw it aside and its weight will cause it to fall back again; this is a simple oscillation (Fig. 2). But our pendulum does not stop here ; its motion continuing, it goes beyond its position of equilibrium, and then again falls back to it; this is a double oscillation (Fig. 3). And these movements back and forth will continue, so long as the impulse lasts which has been given to it. The oscillations of a pendulum have this remarkable characteristic, that they are strictly isochronous ; that is to say, they have all the same duration. According to the greater or less force of the original impulse the extent of the oscillations will vary, but their rapidity will remain the same; they will gradually die out, growing shorter and shorter, but from the first oscillation to the last, even to those so slight as to be imperceptible to the eye, each will occupy exactly a second of time ; and this because the Slip- posed pendulum is a metre in length.^ If it were four 1 The exact length of a pendulum marking a second of time is, in Paris, 0.994 ; at the pole, it would need to be 0.996 ; at the equator, 0.991. [A metre = 3.28 feet ; i.e. about 3 feet, 3 inches. Tb.] 4 A STUDY OF MUSICAL SOUND. metres long, each oscillation -would require two seconds ; on the other hand, it would make two oscillations to the second if it were reduced to one-fourth its present length, namely, to 25 centimetres.i Now these oscillations are vibrations. They produce no soimd, because a pendulum is not a sonorous body, and especially because their motion is much too slow. It is this very slowness, however, which enables us to see them, and to study theiii with the eye. We can now, by analogy, easily understand how sound vibrations — that is to say, sounds — are produced. Instead of the pendulum we shall take a long piece of string, and fix it at * * both ends without ■■^'s- *■ stretching it too much. 12 lu its position of equi- librium, it represents a straight line (Fig. 4). Draw it aside from this position and its elasticity will cause it to return ; this is a simple vibration (Fig. 5). But it does not stop here; it goes beyond in the opposite direction, and then returns to its equilibrium again ; this is a double vibration (Fig. 6). And this movement to and fro will continue so long as there remains a trace of the impulse which was given to it. The vibrations of the string have this in common with the oscillations of the pendulum, that they ?-?^ also are isochronous, ^-rttl- k\ each occupying exactly ^ — — I I the same length of * * time; and that they '^' grow less and less in amplitude for the same reasons ; and that their rapidity is determined by the length of the vibrating body, although in a different ratio. A string of 1 The numbei- of osci nations is inversely proportional to the square of the length 0/ a pendulum. VIBRATIONS OF STRINGS. 5 double length gives vibrations of half the rapidity, and in- versely; and with increased or diminished tension, the same rule applies. Now, for the moment, let us suppose that, either by shortening the cord, or by increasing its tension, we bring it to make 16 vibrations to the second ; ^ these movements will have become too rapid to be detected separately by the eye, the string now appearing as a transparent spindle. Now, however, begins the phenomenon of sound; the ear perceives, though indistinctl;^, the lowest note in the musi- cal scale. Straining the cord tighter, we shall find the sound becoming higher, by insensible gradations. Finally, — to carry out the hypothesis, — if we suppose that we could, without breaking the string, increase its tension in- definitely, we should obtain sounds higher and higher in pitch, but still retaining their musical character, up to the point where the string gave 4224 vibrations to the second, which is the limit of WMsical sounds appreciable hy the huTnan ear. Beyond this point (that is to say, with a tension still increased) we should cause the string to produce sounds of extreme shrillness, sharp, piercing, hissing, painful to hear, and entirely destitute of musical character. And, finally, could we pass the degree of tension necessary to give 36,- 600 vibrations to the second, the string would no doubt go on vibrating, but we should no longer hear itj for at that point the auditory power of the ear ceases completely. To study more closely the vibrations of strings, we will now have recourse to an instrument well known to all scientists, and known for a very long time, since its in- vention is attributed to Pythagoras. This instrument is called the moiiochord, and consists of a long, narrow wooden box, upon which is stretched a string or wire, either by means of two pegs, or of one peg and a [1 Following the French method, the author regards as one vibration, the movement which he has called UTie vibration simple, that is, the movement to or fro ; in America, as in England and Germany, it is the movement tn and fro, which makes the vibration. The latter method is adopted in translation. Tb.] 6 A STTTDT OF MUSICAL SOUND. weight. The string passes over two bridges, a metre apart ; underneath it is inscribed upon the box the division of this metre into centimetres and millimetres. A movable bridge may be added, by which can be limited at will the portion of string which we desire to use (Fig 7). The following are a few of the experiments that may be made with this useful and simple apparatus, to be found in every physical laboratory. The string being suitably stretched, we cause it to vibrate by drawing a bow across, by plucking it with the finger, or by striking it. The sound emitted is produced by the vibrations of the string in its entire length, namely, a metre. Now, if we place the movable bridge exactly in the middle, and excite either half of the string, the sound produced will be precisely an octave higher than that produced by the whole length. This proves that the number of vibrations of strings is inversely proportional to their length. If we now remove this string and substitute another, of Fig. 7. equal length, of the same material, but of tivice the diameter, and give it the same tension as the former had, we shall find it sound an octave lower than the other. This shows that the numher of vibrations of strings is in inverse ratio to their diameters. Experimenting successively with two wires of the same length, the same diameter, subject to the same tension, but made of metals differing in dmxlty, it will appear that the CANONS OF THE STRETCHED STRWO. 7 number of vibrations of strings is inversely proportional to the square root of their density. Finally, by varying the stretching -weight, it will be shown that the number of vibrations of strings is directly proportional to the square root of their stretching weights. These four fundamental laws, a thorough knowledge of which is indispensable to makers of musical instruments, may be thus summed up for the use of musicians : The longer, thicker, heavier, and slacker a string is, the slower are its vibrations ; hence, the deeper is its tone. The shorter, finer, lighter, and tenser it is, the more rapid its vibrations ; hence, the higher is its tone. The sound produced by a string vibrating in its entire length, is its fundamental or natural tone. It can, how- ever, produce many other sounds at the same time, sub- dividing as it vibrates ; these are called harmonics, also over-tones (German, Ohertone), partial sounds, and con- comitant sounds. To study these, we again have recourse to the monochord. By means of its pegs we bring the string to the pitch of gx_,_ , which requires 129.3 vibrations a second. Touched near the middle with the bow, it vibrates,. appearing as a transparent spindle, which may be thus represented (Fig. 8) : and emits its fundamental, which we already know. At the two fixed extremities of the string, the motion is neces- sarily nil. These are its nodes, and the vibrating portion of the cord is called its ventral segment. With a finger of the left hand, or with the feather end of a quill, touch the centre of the string very lightly, just enough to prevent the ventral segment from forming ; then draw a bow across at the 25th centimetre ; a new motionless 8 A STUDY OF MUSICAL SOUND. point will have formed under the touch, a node, and the string will vibrate in two ventral segments (Pig- 9)- Each of these will be but half of the string, hence will pro- duce twice as many vibrations (258.7 a second), and will emit a sound an octave higher than its fundamental, namely, i — ; — : this is called the second harmonic.^ In the same way, touch the string at the 33d centimetre ; draw the bow across at the middle point of the string, the 60th centimetre, and we have the third harmonic or partial m tone A) » — ■ The number of vibrations is now 387.5 a second, and the string will have assumed this form (Fig. 10) : rig. 10. ' . We may now observe that besides the node formed by the touch of the finger or the feather at the 33d centimetre, a second node has formed spontaneously at the '''66th cen- timetre. This fact is verified by drawing the bow across at the 16th, 50th, and 82d centimetres, which are, ap- proximately, the middle points of three ventral segments : the third harmonic will be distinctly heard at each. But if we draw the bow across at the 66th centimetre, which is a node, — a motionless point, — there will be no soimd. Touching the string at the 25th centimetre, and drawing the bow across the 12th, 37th, 62d, or 87th, all of which 1 A different system of numbering calls the fundamental, zero, and its octave the first harmonic; but since the fundamental gives really only a part of the' sound called by its name, which sound is completed by the higher tones,— the Obertime,— it seems logical to call it the first harmonic or partial tone; this method, moreover, is convenient for mathematical uses, and is the one adopted by the great physicists of the present time. HARMONICS. are middle points of ventral segments, you will have the fourth harmonic p|5=gz= which has 517.25 vibrations, and the string will have the form shown in (Fig. 11) ; here two nodes have formed spontaneously. V V V Fig. 11. In this way are easily produced upon the monoehord ( es- pecially if a fine string is used) the first ten harmonics ; the table given below represents them with the fundamental C. The line of figures just below the staff (50, etc.) indicates in centimetres the point of the string to be touched or stopped for the production of each harmonic ; and in the third row of figures (at right angles to the staff) we have what is called for convenience the vibration number of each. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 .cs. 10 ^.''^ < ^ ^' 33.3 25 20 16.6 14.2 12.5 11 lOcen 00 ,50 o t^ lo 00 r-l iO t^ -"■ OS (M »— t 00 IN 00 CO CD o to t~~ o 1-- en co o .-1 Theoretically, the series -of harmonics may be regarded as infinite, since a string can be indefinitely subdivided, but the first ten are sufficient for the purposes of this book. \ The series gives occasion for the following remarks, which should receive careful attention : 1. The harmonics are numbered in accordance with the number of vibrating segments (called also ventral segments and loops). 2. The nodes are always one more in number than the loops (counting the two fixed ends of the string as nodes). 3. The /MWf^amewtoZ, vibrating with one loop, is the first harmonic of the tone. 4. Taken in their numerical order the harmonics are 10 A STUDY OF MUSICAL SOUND. constantly nearer and nearer together, the successive inter- vals being an octave, a fifth, a fourth, third, second. 5. The first, second, fourth, and eighth harmonics have the ratio of octaves. (If the series were continued it would be the same with the sixteenth, the thirty-second, sixty- fourth, and so on.) The same relation of octaves occurs between the third and sixth, and the fifth and tenth. 6. The ratio of vibrations for two sounds in the relation of octaves is as 1:2 of perfect fifths, as 2:3 of perfect fourths, as of major thirds, as- of major seconds, as 8:9 lit 7. The vibration number of any harmonic is obtained by multiplying the number indicating its place (1, 2, 3, and so on) by the vibration number of the fundamental. This subdivision of the string which produces the upper harmonics, — i. e., all the harmonics with the ex- ception of the first, the fundamental, — which we have now explained theoretically, can be shown visibly with the monochord! Place at different points on the string little "riders" of thin paper (Fig. 12), and repeat the preceding experiments. Those which have been placed on the nodes will remain undisturbed when the bow is drawn across the string, while those upon the ventral segments will be violently agitated or thrown off. For example, to demonstrate the formation of the fourth harmonic, place riders of white paper at or near the middle of the four ventral segments (which will be, approximately, at the 12th, 37th, 62d, and 87th centimetres) and three of coloured paper, at the 26th, 60th, and 75th centimetres. Touch the string at the 25th centimetre, draw the bow across the string near its end, and at the moment the sound ^'~'~ is heard you will see the four white riders thrown off, while the three coloured ones remain undisturbed. The eighth harmonic unseats eight riders placed on the PARTIAL VtBRATIOKS. U middle point of the vibrating segments, and will respect seven others placed on the nodes. We shall have frequent occasion to recur to the mono- chord for other and more delicate experiments. What we have studied thus far is the mode of vibration of strings in their entire length, and -when divided into sections by the light touch of the finger or a feather. In the first case there is emitted a single tone, called the fundamental, whose loudness is in proportion to the ampli- tude of its vibrations, and whose pitch depends upon the length, thickness, tension, and density of the string ; and in the second case (when subdivided) there are produced other sounds, its harmonics, consisting of vibrations from twice to ten times more rapid, and rising correspondingly in pitch. We have now, however, to take into account the fact that a string never does vibrate simply as a whole, but that to this vibration as a whole, partial vibrations are always added in varying numbers. It is even probable that the par- tial vibrations are the first in order of time, and that it is their sum which produces the general vibration of which alone we have a. clear perception. That is to say, we never hear an absolutely pure tone,^ but always one accompanied in greater or less degree by certain of its harmonics. The ear does not always distinguish the partial tones, both from lack of practice and because the attention is not called to them ; but there is no doubt that they are there, however difficult it may be to recognise them in any direct way. Listening attentively, however, the experienced ear can distinguish those of the partial tones which are not octaves of the fundamental (a relation causing them to blend too closely with it), — for instance, in the note [ 5^»-- , the 12 A STUDY OF MUSICAL SOUND. harmonics of the unequal numbers 3, 5, 7 The piano and harmonium are particularly well suited for this experiment. One should strike, very softly, the har- monic whose presence it is desired to prove, in order to have the tone clearly in the mind ; then, after it has entirely died away,, strike vigorously the fundamental, and listen long, for it is often just at the moment when the first tone is about to cease that the overtones become distinguishable. Another method is this : produce a nodal point on the monochord, as before, either with the finger, or the feather of a quill, or a small camel's hair pencil, so as to obtain by plucking the string, one of the partial tones; continue plucking the string, at the same time gradually diminish- ing the light touch which has caused the node to form, and the fundamental will by degrees become audible. As you reduce the touch more and more, the fundamental will assume predominance, while still you will not have lost the idea of the overtone, even at the moment when the string has been entirely left free. The same experiment can be made with the string of a piano or a 'cello; here the point to be stopped must be ascertained by measurement, taking the whole length of the string, and dividing it by three, five, or seven, according to the overtone you may desire to obtain. Later, in speaking of resonators and of sympathetic vibrations, other experiments will be described which show the complexity of vibrations. At present, however, we shall merely say that this indisputable fact can be as clearly demonstrated to the senses as its mathematical theory is proved to the mind. We now come, and as a direct sequence from what has. just been said, to an explanation of one of the things most interesting to musicians, namely, the cause of timbre, or quality of sound. It being understood that the loudness of a sound depends upon the amplitude of the vibrations, and the, pitch of it TIMBRE. 13 upon their number, the question as to what it is that pro- duces differences of timbre long remained unanswered. The answer is, that it is the shape of the vibrations ; or, to express the idea in other words, it is the presence of various har- monics produced simultaneously with the fundamental tone. And an idea may be formed of the infinite variety pos- sible in timbre, when it is remembered that the slightest difference in the manner of causing the string to vibrate, or in the exact point where the impact is made, is enough to cause or to prevent the formation of this or that partial tone. For example, a string made to vibrate near its middle point can have neither its second harmonic, the octave, nor any harmonic of the even numbers, because these all require a node at the middle point of the string ; and a vibrating segment has been produced there. In the same way, by exciting the string at a point one-third or two-thirds of its length, the third, sixth, and ninth overtones are sup- pressed, which leaves an evident preponderance to the others. Evidently it favours the production of harmonics to excite the string near one of its fixed extremities. The material of the hammer which strikes and the rapidity of its stroke, the tension of the bow and the manner in which it was resined, the smoothness or roughness of the finger which plucks the cord, are all causes which modify the form of the vibration. Besides this, it is a fact that the higher overtones are more readily produced where the string is long and fine. Thus we have enumerated the principal conditions which produce variations in the qual- ity of tones, their timbre, in all cases where the sounds are produced from strings. Now a sound fails to produce an agreeable impression, regarded musically, unless it has a suitable timbre, colour, and character resulting from the presence of some of its harmonics. A theoretically pure tone would be insipid, lacking in timbre. What is called a rich, warm sound, whether of a voice or instrument, is one which is accompanied, naturally, by a certain number of overtones which we do not distinctly 14 A STUDY OF MtlSICAL SOUND. perceive, but from -which the tone receives its characteristic colour. Strings, however, are not the only sources of sound at the command of the musician; and we have yet to examine two other modes of producing it, namely, by pipes, and by plates or membranes. The selection of strings for consideration first was not made at random, for only strings admit of visible and tan- gible experiment. Having obtained some knowledge as to the production of the sound in their case, we can more readily understand the manner in which it is formed in pipes. Here, also, vibrations are isochronous ; they vary in rapidity according to the length of the pipe ; they are sub- divided, as in the case of strings, producing harmonics. Here, also, are nodes and vibrating segments ; here pitch, loudness, and timbre, depend upon the rapidity, amplitude, and form of the vibrations. The resemblance, therefore, is very close between the phenomena with which we have just been occupied and those which we are now to examine ; but the laws are not absolutely the same in the two cases. And first, we have to notice that the sonorous body, which, in the former case, was the string, palpable and visi- ble, is now something invisible and intangible, namely, the air, — the column of air, contained inside the pipe, whose metal, wood, or other material has no oflce whatever, except that of determining the form and dimensions of this mass of air imprisoned within it, which is itself, and itself alone, the vibrating body. The recognition of this fact is of the highest importance in understanding the subject ; it has been but recently dem- onstrated, and many musicians, even among those who play on wind-instruments, have great diflGiculty in accepting it. But it is certain that four pipes, — one of boxwood, one of ebony, a third of brass, a fourth of porcelain or of any material whatsoever, if they have exactly the same length, diameter, degree of interior polish and of resistance, and in every respect, are exactly alike, will produce sounds which TBE NATURE OF PIPE SOUNDS. 16 have no difference whatever, in pitch, loudness, or timbre. The material of the pipe has no influence upon the vibrar tions ; its dimensions are everything, for the pipe itself has no shai'e in the production of the sound. Two famous instrument-makers, Sai at Paris and Mahillon at Brussels, for the purpose of demonstrating this fact, have constructed, the one brass clarinets, the other a trumpet of wood. But not even this has been enough to eradicate the false ideas entertained upon this point by many musicians. More recently, a well-known scientist and a designer, Eeghizzo and Columbo, working together at Milan, have built an organ whose pipes are made of paste- board. I myself possess several Alpine horns, which are made of rolled birch-bark, and a kind of shepherd's horn, of Finnish origin, which is of wood and souhds exactly like a trumpet or some other of the brass wind-instruments. An even stronger proof is this, that in certain organ-stops, for motives of economy, it is usual to make the lower pipes of wood, while the middle and higher pipes of the same register are of metal, without producing any appreciable difference in timbre. We must, therefore, accustom ourselves to the idea that in wind-instruments the only sonorous body is the air which they contain. A pipe may be open at one end only, or, at both ends, and the column of air within it behaves differently in the two cases. We shall accordingly examine them separately. We will begin with tubes open at the ends, as being the simpler form. Tubes of this kind are called open pipes. Here, by an inversion of what we have observed in the case of a string, the single vibration, — that which produces the fundamental tone, — has a node midway in the tube, and a vibrating segment at each end. A little reflection shows the natural reason of this. What is- it that causes sound vibrations in the pipe ? A light, regular breath directed across one end, as when one whistles with a key ; this breath, striking against the sides of the tube causes the flutter of air from which the vibrations begin ; naturally 16 A STUDY OF MUSICAL SOUND. \ . they would be most vigorous at the place where the breath- ing produces them, that is to say, at the extremity of the tube. This gives the middle of a vibrating segment, the point of strongest vibration, and the node, forming spon- taneously in the middle of the pipe, divides the vibrating column of air into two half-segments whose sum is equal to the one vibrating segment of the string, emitting its fundamental tone (Mg. 14). The string is set in vibra- tion in the middle to produce its fundamental, but the pipe, at one end ; hence the difference in form of the vibrations, to which is due, as we know, the difference in quality of sound. This is no mere hypothesis, but a fact, susceptible of demonstrar tion. Take a glass tube, or an organ-pipe of which one side is glass, and let down into it by a string a thin membrane stretched over a hoop, and covered with a thin layer of sand. Set in vibration the air within the pipe ; if the hoop hangs just at the middle of the pipe the sand will remain undisturbed, showing a node at this point; if you now let the hoop down to the lower end of the pipe or draw it up to the top, you will see the sand set in violent motion, proving the presence of energetic vibrations in certain parts of the column of air and repose in another part, as was shown in the case of strings by the little riders on the monochord. By blowing a little harder, the column of air can be divided further, so that there will be two nodes, a ventral segment between them, and the two half -segments at the ends (Fig. 15), and this will produce the second harmonic. Blowing harder still the whole series of overtones can be obtained, the vibrating mass of air dividing still further, and the rapidity of vibrations proportionally increasing. Pig. 14. Fig. 15. STOPPED AND OPEN PIPES. 17 The longer the pipe, the deeper is its tone ; doubling its length you have a note an octave lower ; which proves that here, as in the case of strings, the number of vibrations is inversely proportional to the length of the vibratinff body. To examine stopped pipes (those of which one end is closed) we may take the open pipe just now used and close it with a cork at one end. Pushing the cork no iytHihei than the middle of the tube, we have now, with a difference in the quality of the sound, the same note that we had from the pipe open at both ends. From this we can infer the behaviour of the air; at the point where the impulse was given, that is to say, at the open end, there is the point of strongest vibration, and the closed extremity corresponds to a node, the same which be- fore was half-way in the open pipe (Fig. 16). The stopped pipe behaves like the half of an open pipe. The experiment shows that at the bottom of the tube is always a nodal jJoint, and its top, the centre of a ventral segment. Hence, if we blow more strongly, in order to cause the stopped pipe to produce harmonics, the simplest form of division for the column of air is that represented in Fig. 17. Here are three vibrating half-seg- ments, and the sound produced is tbe third harmonic. Forcing the breath still more, there being always a node at one end of the pipe and a vibrating segment at the other, the column of air must divide as shown in Fig. 18, with three nodes, four ventral points, and five Kg. 17. Fig. 18. 18 A STUDY OF MUSICAL SOUND. vibrating half-segments. The sound produced will be the fifth harmonic. It is evident, therefore, that a stopped pipe cannot pro- duce the second harmonic, or the fourth, or indeed any of the harmonics of the equal numbers, which require the presence of a node midway in the column of air. While, therefore, an open pij^e can produce all the partial sounds in the natural order of their succession, the stopped pipe gives only those of the unequal numbers.^ b^. i^ -^ = ^ 1 23466789 10 Harmonics of an open pipe 1.314 metres in length, giving 128 vibrations for its fundamental tone'. 1 *^ 3 5 7 Hfirmoiiics of n. closed pipe 0.657 in length, giving the same number of vibrations. In the preceding- figures representing pipes complete accuracy has been sacrificed to clearness,, and we should be possessed of an erroneous idea if we did not examine more in detail the condition of the air inside the sonorous tube. It does not vibrate transversely, like strings, — as our illustrations seem to indicate, — but longitudinally. The vibrations here consist in consecutive pulsations, whence result alternate condensations and rarefactions of each portion of the mass of air. The first molecules of air set in motion fall upon those adjacent, to which they com- municate their motion, with slightly lessened force; the next act in the same way upon their neighbours, and so on, the longitudinal oscillation diminishing constantly in ampli- tude as far as the nodal point, where we may regard it as nil. But here, where there is no motion, the density is greatest, the air being strongly compressed, and this compression becomes, in its turn, by reason of the elasticity of the air, 1 This is the principle of construction of the clarinet, one of the finest instru- ments of the orchestra. AIR VJBBATION IN TUBES. 19 Fig. 10. Open pipe. Stopped pipe. the cause of a like pulsation impressed upon the contiguous portion of air. If the air contained in pipes could be seen, if it were coloured, this is the aspect it would present in open and in closed tubes, of the same dimensions, producing tlieir fundamental tone, as each pulsation began (Fig. 19). The distance between the orifice O and the node ]^ being twice as great in the stopped as in the open pipe, it produces but half as many- vibrations as the other, and its tone is an octave lower. In the same way we can imagine the condition of the air as each harmonic is produced, bearing in mind that where the harmonic requires a node, the air is compressed between the vibrating portions which act upon ■ it from each side, and in each ventral segment, the air, which moves to and fro, creating the vibration and deter- mining its period, is extremely dilated. In Fig. 20, we see the same pipes producing their third harmonic. And here again we see that the stopped pipe behaves like a half of an open pipe. It must do this; hence, it produces only half the possible number of harmonics, and, if we call the fundamental tone the first, there will be the third, fifth, and so on. These facts can be verified ex- perimentally by making a minute orifice in the side of a tube, exactly at a ventral point ; whether it be an open or a closed tube, the sound will leap at once to that one of its harmonics corresponding to the division' thus set up. Oijen pipe. Stopped pipe. 20 ^ STUDY OF MUSICAL SOUND. Thus, in an open tube, if the minute hole ^ be pierced in the centre, this aperture, establishing communication be- tween the central point and the external air, will render impossible, at this point, the compression of air which forms the node ; this node being indispensable for the for- mation of the fundamental sound and of the harmonics numbered three, five, etc., this pipe remains capable of pro- ducing only the second, fourth, sixth, etc. Likewise, in a stopped tube, if the puncture be made at a point one-third, one-fifth, or one-seventh of the whole length, the third, fifth, or seventh harmonic can be pro- duced, but not the fundamental tone, which requires the column of air undivided. We have now to consider the different methods by which tubes can be made to produce vibrations. The vibration of strings may be produced by plucking, by bowing, or by striking with a hammer. The vibration of the air in tubes is produced in two ways : by the brush- ing of a current of air over an orifice, or by the play of a reed. Without this brushing of the current of air, there would be nothing to cause vibration. In the case of strings, instead of a bow, use an ivory b&ton, polished, scraped, ab- solutely smooth ; you may draw it back and forth indefi- nitely without the slightest sound resulting. But the horse-hair bow, rough to begin with, is further roughened with resin ; it thus grip's the string and induces vibration. Similarly, a current of air passing evenly over the mouth of a pipe, meeting no obstacle, will incite no vibration in the column of air within it ; it is necessary that the current be vibrating, so that the pipe may choose from this vibration impulses corresponding to one of its own vibration-periods. The reed is a little supple tongue of wood or metal, fitted to the opening of a pipe, so that no air can penetrate into the pipe without disturbing its equilibrium, and producing vibrations more or less rapid, according to its length, 1 This hole must he very minute, or it will merely have the eifect of shorten- ing the tube, and giving it a higher fundamental tone. FREE AND STRIKING RSBhS. 21 width, and thickness. Of itself, it emits only a dull, almost imperceptible soimd ; it is not the sonorous body, but only a contrivance for setting in vibration the sonorous body, which is the column of air contained in the pipe. We have to distinguish between the striking reed, which entirely closes the wind-passage, and beats against the sides of it at each pulsation, adding to the musical tone a disagreeable noise ; and the free reed which has been described above, and is represented (Fig. 21), in section and in perspective. Fig. 21. A common straw, six or eight inches long, with a little tongue cut in it about an inch distant from a node (Fig. 22), will emit^ a musical sound, and may be regarded as the Fig. 22. simplest and most rudimentary type of the free reed. The human larynx is the perfect model for this type, the voice being nothing else than a marvellous reed instrument, whose perfections no maker has ever attained. [1 "The most simple example of this is the common whistle. A thin, flat cur- rent of air is caused to impinge on a sharp knife-edge, which cuts it in two, the effect being to set up a sort of iluttering, or beating action, and so to put the air in regular vibration, producing a musical note. In most cases this apparatus forms the foot of a pipe, and the sharp cutting edge is so placed that part of the air enters the tube, setting the whole column it contains into vibration, and so producing a powerful tone." Pole's Philosophy of Music. London, 1879. " According to a more recent theory advocated especially by M. Cavaill6-Coll, Herr Schneebeli, and Mr. Hermann Smith, the vibrations excited in the aeriai column are produced by the sheet or blade of air issuing from the slit acting as a reed. Cavaill6-Coll styles this air-blade a free aerial reed (miche libre aerienne) ; Herr Schneebeli calls it a iMftlamelle, an aerial lamina ; while Mr. Smith denom- inates it an ' aSro-plastio reed,' or simply an 'air-reed.' Novel as it may 22 A STUDY OP MUSICAL SOUND. Lastly, it should be noted that in the brass wind- instruments the player's lips act as a double reed, their pressure against the cap of the mouthpiece modifying their tension, which in its turn, determines the mode of subdivi- sion of the column of air. In oboes and bassoons the air penetrates the tube by passing between two reeds which strike against each other, and are pressed by the player's lips. Later on we shall recur to these variovis applications of the reed principle. Membranes, or pieces of parchment stretched in a circular form, emit sounds which are higher in proportion as their tension is greater, and their size smaller. I do not think that the exact laws of their vibrations have. ever been dis- covered, nor would they concern us greatly, for the tones of instruments thus made are always confused and indistinct, and rather approaching the quality of noise than of music. We ought to make an exception, however, in favour of kettle-drums, which can really be tuned by means of numer- ous screws placed around their rims. The only peculiarity of these instruments which we must here note (because later on we shall make use of it), is that a membrane is capable of producing, simultaneously or successively, many different sounds, more or less true or false, and often of great volume. Something like this is also the case with metallic -plates, although the sounds they prodiice are generally more dis- tinct ; their fundamental tone is generally accompanied by harmonics, which are very high and are discordant with appear, this view seems to have a solid foundation in fact, and the many and ingenious experiments made in support of tlie theory, are apparently Inexplioa^ hie on any other assumption. According to Mr. Smith, the air-reed on issuing from the slit does not strike the edge of the lip, as the old theory maintains, but passes very near its outer surface. Like a metal reed, -whose action we shall study presently, the air-reed oscillates backwards and forwards, and generates in the air-<;olumn within the pipe the alternate condensations and rarefactions which are essential to the production of a musical note. Judging by the experi- ments appealed to in corroboration of it, — time forbids our discussing them here, — it would appear that the new theory is virtually established, and on a basis that is imassailable. As a working hypothesis, I think we are justified in regarding it as the more probable of the two theories which now generally pre- vail." Zahm's Sound and Music. Chicago, 1892. Tr.] METALLIC RODS. TUNINO-FOBKS. 23 eacli other, from which results a special timbre which the listener may, or may not, enjoy. In general terms we may say that the vibrations of such plates are in direct ratio to their thickness, and in inverse ratio to their surface. The vibrations of metallic rods or Hades are more inter- esting, for they, in many cases, emit perfectly defined musi- cal sounds. Whether struck by a hammer or set in vibration by the use of a bow, a rod varies its pitch in inverse ratio to the square of its length : thus, supposing that the C rgg — =^- of 517 vibrations is produced by a rod eighteen centimetres in length, another rod of the same metal, the same thickness, but of only half the length, that is to say, nine centimetres, will give, not the octave above — which would be the case if rods obeyed the laws which govern strings — but a tone two octaves higher, the C of 2069 vibrations. Of course the thickness of a rod must have its effect : in this case we may consider the number of vibrations to be in direct ratio to the thickness of the vibrating body. The most important use of the principle of vibrating rods is in the tuning-fork, an instrument of but one note, practically invariable, which is employed to tune together the different instruments of an orchestra. Theoretically, the tuning-fork is a steel rod, fixed in the middle, where, consequently, the nodal point is formed, and free at both ends. Its simplest mode of vibration (Fig. 23) N Fig. 23. represents a node in the middle, a half ventral segment at each end, its fundamental tone being produced by the two vibrating half -segments. (The analogy between the rod and the open pipe is remarkable.) Fig. 24 will make it clear how this rod can be bent and brought into its usual prong shape without afEecting its system of vibrations. 24 A STUDY OF MUSICAL SOUND. A tuning-fork will write out its own history of vibra- tions; we need only attach to one of the prongs the point of a needle or steel pen, fixing it with a drop of wax; then having set the tuning-fork in vibra- tion, draw this metal point gently over a piece of smoked glass. The line that it traces will not be straight but wavy; it is in fact a written record of the sound vibrations (Fig. 25). By reason of the laws which govern vibrating rods, the larger and coarser a tuning-fork, the deeper its note; hence, to raise its pitch, we have only to file down its prongs in length, and to lower it, reduce them in thickness. For physical experiments, tuning-forks are made of all sizes and every variety of pitch. But the standard of pitch for orchestras and instrument makers is far from being -the same in all countries ; in Prance L Pig. 24. Kg. 2S. since 1859 the A of 435 vibrations has been ofBcially adopted as the standard (diapason normal'), and all the calculations in this book have been made according to it. All musical instruments obey the laws which we have now investigated, and the following classification will show to which law each instrument is subject : Strings played with a Ijow . r VioUn. J Viola. I Violoncello. L Double-bass. CLASSIFICATION. 25 Strings plucked by the hand Strings struck by a hammer Open pipes . . . Stopped pipes Open reed-pipes Closed reed pipes . Open pipes with double reed Opens pipes with mouthpiece (lips serving as reeds) Harp. Guitar. Mandolin. ( Pianoforte. ( Dulcimer, f Flageolet. < Flute. I- Piccolo. ( Pan-pipes ( ( often also with open pipes). Saxophone. Clarinet. Basset horn or alto clarinet. Bass clarinet. Human voice. Oboe. English horn. Bassoon. Double bassoon. Sarrusophone. Horn. Trumpet. Trombone. Tuba. Ophicleide. Clarion. Cornet. Bugle. The organ has all varieties of pipes, open and stopped, with and without reeds. Bods or blades Plates Membranes . Tuning-fork. Carillon, Glockenspiel. Harmonica. Xylophone. Music-box. Triangle. (Cymbals. Castanets. Tam-tam or gong. Bells. r Kettle-drums. J Tambourine. j Side drum. L Bass drum. 26 A STUDY OF MUSICAL SOUND. To wliatever category it belongs, each one of these instru- ments occupies a certain place in the general musical scale. Below is given a complete table of the vibration numbers for all the C's in the musical scale ; also that for all the notes in the middle octave, the one containing the A of the tuning-fork. These figures being known, it is easy to obtain, by multiplication or division, the number of vibra^ . tions in any note ; these are the row of figures placed between the two staves. Above are given, in feet, accord- ing to the usage of organ manufacturers, the length of the open pipe corresponding to each C. The small figures placed below each C are those by which physicists are accustomed to designate the octaves. 32 ft. 16 ft. 8 ft. 4 ft. 2 ft. i ^i^^ -^ -f: 16.1 32..3 64.6 129.3 258.6 274 290.2 307.5 325.7 345.2 Ij-in. Sin. 8ve 365.7 387.5 410.5 435 460.8 488.2 517.21034.5 2069 4138 By the use of this table, readers wishing to study special works belonging to the different technical schools, will be able to grasp the relative pitch, notwithstanding the differ- ent nomenclatures adopted by physicists, musicians, and instrument-makers. 27 B. — Transmission of Sound by the Atmosphere. Around the point where sound is produced by one or other of the processes we have just described, the molecules of air are displaced, and are forced to move to and fro, in a manner exactly similar to the movements of the vibrating body itself ; in these movements they strike against contigu- ous molecules, obliging them also to vibrate, and in their turn to transmit the impulse ; and so on. Thus sound is propa- gated, and not in the air only, but in gaseous, liquid, or solid mediums, which are all, like air, composed of molecules. It is very important to understand that it is not the air itself which is disturbed and moved from point to point ; if it were so, souads^Tvould cause currents of air, and the neighbourhoodr of Sinusical instrument might be dangerous to persons liable to colds in the head. Each molecule does no more than reproduce exactly the movement of the vibrating body which caused the first impulse, and it returns to repose after having communicated this movement to its neighbours, which, in their turn repeat the process. This constitutes molecular motion. To understand this transmission let us make the follow- ing experiment : we will take half a dozen checkers and set them in a row touching each other ; draw back the first one, and then very gently impel it against its neighbour ; the movement will be transmitted along the line until the last in the row, having no other beyond upon which to expend its force, will go off a few inches more or less according to the strength of the impulse given to the first one. The others will not ha^e stirred appreciably ; they will only each have made the very slight movement necessary to pass on the impulse. The experiment is still better, made with billiard balls, but ■^®"^" either gives us a very correct idea of the action of molecules. 28 A. STUDY OF MUSICAL SOUND. We may remark in passing that light and heat vibrations to which reference was made in the beginning of this work, are transmitted in the same way, with this difference, that the latter are atomic vibratory phenomena, while sound vibrations are molecular ; atoms are the final constituent elements of matter, molecules are agglomerations of atoms ; and it is evident that vibrations which are numbered by trillions must affect portions of matter incomparably more minute than those which give musical vibrations. Sound waves, corresponding to the vibrations which caused them are, like the vibrations themselves, composed of alternate compressions and expansions of air. When the first molecule strikes the second, th'ere is a compression ; when it returns to its point of repose, while the second goes towards the third, the first and second part, and. expansion results, while at the same time a new compression is pro- duced between the second and the third; and so on. These pulsations therefore propagate the sound through the air without the air itself being displaced ; and as each process is but the imitation ad infinitum of the original oscillation of the vibrating body, its pitch and timbre are carried in all directions. But of course all these transmissions can- not be made without molecular friction, gradually reducing the amplitude of the vibrations until they become imper- ceptible and finally extinct, the volume of sound becoming correspondingly diminished and finally disappearing. We shall shortly see the laws, which are very simple, by which this decrease of sound takes place, but first we shall find a new comparison — opportune, nay almost in- dispensable. When a stone is thrown into the water, there forms at once around the spot where the stone falls, a sort of liquid ridge, constituting the first wave ; to this soon succeeds a second, wider, but strictly concentric ; then a third, then a multitude of others, forming a vast halo around the central point. All these rings are circular waves. If, instead of one stone, two or more are thrown in, some distance apart, their waves will be seen to meet, to cross, to pass over each SOUND WAVES. 29 other, but never to blend ; a steamboat passes, producing furrows or undulations of a diiferent kind; there is a rainfall on the water, each drop disturbing the surface of the water — still the eye can follow out these various crossing and recrossing undulatory movements, each pur- suing its regular course without interfering or being con- founded with any other. Reaching the shore they are thrown back, as rays of light are reflected from a mirror, and resume, though enfeebled by the shock, their now re- versed course undisturbed by newly formed circles on their way towards the shore. In mechanics, this is called the superposition of petty movements. When two or more systems of waves meet each other, the pulsations add themselves algebraically ; but the alternating series of condensations and rarefactions is transmitted faithfully from molecule to molecule, until the original force is entirely exhausted. Thus instruction can be gained by throwing stones into the water ; thus, also, we can imagine the atmosphere of a concert hall, furrowed in every direction by regular waves which meet and intersect each other in all possible ways, without any one of them losing, from all these contacts, its own individuality. But there is this difference, that the sound waves give rise to combinations much more complicated than the sup- erficial liquid waves of which we have just spoken. The , shock caused by a body falling into the water manifests itself to the eye only where the air and water meet, and the undulations to which it gives rise all move in the same horizontal plane; for this reason we have called them circular waves. But sound waves produced in the midst of the atmosphere extend symmetrically in every direction, upwards and downwards no less than to right and left, entirely surrounding the sonorous body from which they emanate ; that is to say, they are spherical. The loss of force is, therefore, in direct ratio to the square of the dis- tance which separates the hearer from the first cause of the sound ; or, to put it in other terms, the loudness of a sound 30 ^ STUDY OF MUSICAL SOUND. decreases in proportion to the mass of air acted upon by its vibrations. In the open air, in calm weather, a sound heard at a distance of two metres is of one-fourth the intensity it would be if one had the instrument at his ear ; at three metres it is one-ninth ; at four metres, one-sixteenth ; and so on. ( This is demonstrated mathematically ; but, as a matter of fact, it is evident that some sounds carry much further than others, which must result from the presence of high overtones, rendering the timbre piercing.) If, in any way, the lateral diffusion of the sound waves can be avoided, the range of the sound can be very greatly increased ; the celebrated physicist, Biot, tells us that in speaking in an ordinary tone through a succession of empty water-pipes of the city of Paris, his voice could be heard at the distance of more than a kilometre. M. Eegnault found that the sound waves extended further in large pipes than in small ones, showing that part of the force was wasted on the sides of the pipe. Using a gramme of powder, a pistol-shot can be heard at 1159 metres in a pipe whose diameter is 0.108 metres; in a pipe of 0.300, its sound reaches a listener at the distance of 3810 metres; and if the pipe be 1.100 metres in diam- eter, the same sound can be heard 9540 metres. On this principle speaking-tubes are constructed. But there are other ways of giving direction to sound waves. Eays of sound, like rays of light, have the prop- , erty of being reflected and refracted ; the wall behind an orchestra and the arch of the ceiling above it are really mirrors for sound, which is reflected from a polished sur- face exactly as light is, and like light, has an angle of re- flection equal to the angle of incidence. The feeblest sound of a tuning-fork, or even the ticking of a watch, placed at one focus of an elliptic reflector, converges towards the other focus, where it is distinctly heard. Instead of the elliptic reflector, use one of parabolic form, and all the rays will be sent back in parallel lines following the axis of the parabola. A sound also may KEFLECTION AND REFRACTION. 31 receive many successive reflections from walls suitably con- structed, acting upon it as a series of mirrors acts upon rays of light. To this property is due the production of echoes, of which we shall speak later, and also the rolling of thunder, or at least in great part; in this latter case the clouds furnish reflecting surfaces. Sound can, likewise, be refracted, in traversing media of unequal density, and although this property has never as yet received any artistic application, it may be easily demonstrated, as follows : at a few inches' distance from a tuning-fork in a state of vibration, suspend a balloon of gold-beater's skin, filled with carbonic acid gas, which is denser than the air ; then, holding a funnel at your ear, as an ear- trumpet, move away grad- ually to a distance of four or five feet, keeping the Yi„ 27. ^ balloon between your ear and the tuning-fork (Fig. 27). You will soon find the point at which the sound of the tuning-fork reaches its maximum of intensity. Then, if a watch be substituted for the timing-fork, you will hear its ticking as plainly as if it were close to your ear, and you will recognise the fact that the balloon has made the rays of sound converge just as a lens collects rays of light. This effect is due to the differences in elasticity and density between carbonic acid gas and atmospheric air. The refraction of the rays is due to the lessened speed of their motion through the denser medium contained in the balloon. The greater the elasticity as compared with the density, the greater is the speed of transmission. In iron, this rapidity is of about 5127 metres ; in lead, 1228 ; in fibres of acacia, 4714 ; in those of the pine, 3322 ; in sea water, 1453 ; in fresh water, 1436 ; in rectified alcohol, 1453 ; in hydro- 32 A STUDY OF MUSICAL SOUND. gen, 1269; in carbonic acid, 261. (At the searshore, in calm weather, a bather who is near a pier, can hear three times any violent noise on shore, like the firing of a gun : once by leaning his head against the side of the pier, a second time by putting his head under water, and a third time through the air.) The figures given above are only approximate, and vary quite perceptibly according to the temperature. In the atmosphere, with which alone we are at present concerned,' the exact rapidity of sound motion is 332.8 metres a second when the centigrade thermometer marks zero^ [32° Tahr.] and it increases at the rate of about 60 centimetres to each degree centigrade of heat. It would seem there is here a contradiction, for as the temperature rises the air expands, and the speed should diminish, whereas it increases-; this, however, is because the rarefaction is accompanied by a large increase in elasticity, the importance of which must not be overlooked in considering the transmission of vibrar tions. Experimentally and mathematically, the following law has been established: the rapidity of sound in its passage through the air is directly proportional to the square root of the elasticity, and inversely proportional to the square root of the density : an entire absence of density would involve the suppression of all elasticity, that is to say, sound cannot be propagated in a vacuum. One of the simplest experiments in physics is that of a bell, moved by clockwork, vibrating silently in an exhausted receiver ; the air being removed, there are no molecules to transmit vibrations. Each tone has its own number of vibrations per second ; but all tones are transmitted by the air with an equal rapidity, of 340 metres in a temperature of 15° C [58 1-2° Eahr. ] The distance through which the sound passes during one vibration of the sonorous body is called a wave-length. X The transmission of sound through solid walls should always he considered in the construction of buildings destined for music, like opera-houses, and concert-halls. 2 For Paris this is exact at a harometrioal pressure of 760 millimetres. RESONANCE. 33 If there were but one vibration to a second, the wave- length would be 340 metres ; with two vibrations, it is 170 metres ; the standard tuning-fork of 435 vibrations gives a wave-length of f JJ = 0.780; which means that the wave has gone a distance of 78 centimetres when the prongs of the tuning-fotk have made one vibration. The wave-length varies necessarily with the speed of transmission through different media. When the tone is produced by the column of air con- tained in a pipe, it is easy to understand how all the sur- rounding air can "be set in vibration by the quite large bulk of the sonorous body. But it is not the same with strings ; the very small surface of a string can displace but very few of the adjacent molecules, and communicates to them oscillations that are very feeble and musically insuffi- cient. Here art utilises a phenomenon of the highest inter- est, which is called resonance. Certain substances, notably wood, enter into vibration with extreme facility ; of it are made boxes and tables, over which strings are strained ; by the points of attach- ment, and especially by means of the bridge, vibrations are transmitted to the table, which, with its large surface, com- municates them forcibly to the surrounding air. Besonance is manifested not only when the sonorous body is directly in contact with the reinforcing organ, but in a multitude of other cases, of which a few will suggest the. rest. A 'cello or a guitar hanging oh the wall of a room, will vibrate strongly, without being touched, if a voice of fine quality emits, at some little distance from it, a tone corresponding to one of its strings, or, even, having merely an affinity with it through the overtones. Open the lid of a piano, press the pedal that raises the dampers, and lean- ing over the strings vocalise with energy the chord !fi) -. ^^" '^'^ °^ some other ; you will at once hear those strings whose period of vibration is identical with that of the notes you have sung reproduce the same chord. 34 -^ STUnr OF MUSICAL SOUND. Take two tuning-forks that are in unison, and both mounted on sounding-boards; cause one of the two to vibrate by drawing a bow across it, and its mate, even at some dis- tance, will vibrate untouched. The air will have trans- mitted its vibration to the mass of air contained in the sounding-board of the second tuning-fork, and this air will have vibrated forcibly enough to move the heavy bent bar of steel. Take one of the timing-forks off from its board, and, striking it with a hard body, set it in vibration : hold- ing it in the hand, you can scarcely hear its sound ; bring it near any vase or pipe, thirty-nine centimetres in height, and the soimd will be considerably reinforced, because a pipe of that length is exactly in unison with an A oi 435 vibrations. ^ In this case it is the column of air which is set in motion by the vibrations pf the prongs of the tuning- fork. With two pianos standing side by side, press the pedal of one, and play a scale on the other ; you will have a horrible jumble of sound. I once had a small petroleum lamp which would never allow me to play on the piano the march in Tannhduser. As soon as I reached the chord B, D|, r|, in the trumpet-call, at the beginning. iih. X 3^=S=ti= it went out, w » » w I i j i~^ *~T " as if by magic. It is evident that this chord corre- sponded to the modes of division in the glass chimney, and threw the air contained in it into such a flutter that the ilame was blown out. I was obliged to submit to this ; and when I wished to play the march, I had to use another lamp. Every person must have noticed that certain bodies which are not musical instruments, notably candle stick sconces and the pendants of chandeliers, will vibrate un- seasonably imder the influence of certain notes, while other notes will not disturb them at all. All these manifestations are referable to one and the same cause, sympathetic vibra- tion. Small and feeble as are the air-waves, they are able, acting together, and by reason of their perfect regularity, to 1 This tube could be made of pasteboard, or even of strong paper. SYMPATHETIC VIBRATIONS. 35 set in motion bodies relatively heavy, on this condition, the only, but also the indispensable one, — that these bodies can mate with them, that is to say, conform to their period of vibration. Such is the phenomenon of resonance. An inexperienced person, endeavouring to ring the great bell of a church, will probably expend much unnecessary strength ; while a little choir-boy, wise from experience, instinctively pulls the rope down with a kind of cadence, according to a regular rhythm, waiting patiently until these feeble oscillations add themselves together and set the great mass in motion. It is thus that the alternate con- densations and rarefactions of the sound-waves succeed, with their persistent isoehronism, in compelling bodies often very massive to submit to their influence. "We will now return to the monoohord, and this time will give it two strings, tuned in unison, which will afford us opportunity, by several pleasing experiments, for further study of this interesting phenomenon of sympathetic vibrar tions. We will arrange, as before, three white riders at the points twenty-five, fifty, and seventy-five centimetres, and four others of some coloured paper in the intervening spaces, upon one only of the two strings, which, then, we shall not touch again. Now pluck the other string, at one of the points, 12.5, 37.6, 62.5, or 87.5, while touching it at twenty-five or at seventy-five, so that it shall produce ihe fourth harmonic ; whereupon the coloured riders on the first string are thrown off. Touch the string at fifty, pluck it at twenty-five, or at seventy-five, and the first string will lose its remaining riders with the exception of the middle one. Finally draw the bow over the second string at its middle point, and this last one will finally be unseated. Remembering the theory of the vibrating segments, the nodes and loops, we find that the second string imposed upon its neighbour not merely the obligation to vibrate, but to vibrate precisely like itself, even adopting the same mode of subdivision. Replacing the riders on the first string, we will lower by 36 A STUDY OF MUSICAL SOUND. a little, a semi-tone merely, the pitch of the second string ; the first will now be undisturbed, the two strings being no longer in unison. If we now lower the pitch of the second string until it is a perfect fifth below the first, and cause it to emit its sixth overtone, by touching it at one of its sixths (16.5, for example), the coloured riders of the first string will be much agitated, for the sixth harmonic of the second string will now be in unison with the fourth harmonic of the first : 12 3 4 unison. First string. { [^^^-g§^^=^^^^^^ ^^ 5th i 3 4 5 -.6 ■I , __ Second string. 1 1 Q- - =g:^ These experiments can be varied indefinitely, and the phenomenon that they exhibit is of capital importance in the study of musical acoustics, as will be shown a few pages further on. Membranes, which, as has already been said, vibrate without emitting a perfectly definite note, have, for this very reason, the property of entering into sympathetic vibrations under the influence of an infinity of different sounds, while fine sand spread upon their surface reveals its slightest movement. For this reason they were the object of profound study on the part of the celebrated Helmholtz. For analysis of sound, however, specially of timbre, nothing equals, in precision and in simplicity, the resonators in- vented by this eminent scien- tist. They are hollow spheres of glass or of brass, their dimension being so calculated as to furnish a given sound. They have two orifices, the ^"'ms^ larger intended to communicate with the surrounding air, the smaller, funnfel-shaped, to be introduced into the ear (Fig. 28). SELMnOLTZ'S RESONATORS. 37 The air within the sphere vibrates through sympathy ■whenever the sound proper to the resonator is part of the compound sound whose analysis is desired. It thus pro- duces to the ear a 'sort of musical humming which is so strong as almost entirely to efface the fundamental tone by the predominance given to the particular overtone thus isolated and reinforced. With a resonator having the pitch of E ^. ' , this sound $ is clearly detected, even by quite an unpracticed ear, "'P the second overtone of [i^ T'^ -> as the third overtone of Ct) *" „ . ^(*;) -jL =— , as the fourth overtone of :iE and so on, perhaps even, with careful attention, as the Resonators are a kind of isolators, which aid in fixing the attention upon some one of the constituent elements of a compound sound, and in disengaging this overtone from the sonorous mass which we are accustomed to consider as the simple sound. With a series of these instruments we can verify, experi- mentally and indisputably, the theoretical statements which have been made in the preceding pages ; namely, that open pipes possess all the harmonics, that stopped pipes have only the overtones of unequal number, that strings never emit sounds strictly simple ; many other things, also, can be established, into the details of which I cannot enter here without exceeding the scope of a purely musical work. C. — Perception of Sound. Aided by the knowledge we possess as to the nature of sound, its constituent elements, its mode of propagation in elastic media, the properties of membranes and resonators. 38 A STUDY OF MUSICAL SOUND. and sympathetic vibrations, we can now understand the mechanism of the act of hearing, — the mysterious action of the ear. But first, it is necessary to examine the anatomical structure of that organ. Inner ear. Middle ear. External ear. Fig. 29.— TKASSVJiitSJi Sectios of the Eak. External ear: P, pinna; 0, auditory canal; T, tympanic membrane. Middle ear: T, tympanic membrane ; CO, ossicula auditus ; O, oval window ; K, round window. Inner ear : Y, vestibule ; CA, Cochlea ; CSC, semi-circular canals ; N, acoustic nerve ; TE, Eustachian tube. The visible part, the external ear, is that of least im- portance : it consists of the auricle which acts as an ear trumpet, and of the auditory tube, partly cartilaginous, partly bony, which ends at the tympanic membrane. Behind this membrane is the middle ear, a cavity, which may be compared to a drum, having foiir openings ; the largest of these is closed by the tympanic membrane, whose outer side is in communication, through the auditory chan- nel, with the external air ; in the bony wall of the opposite side is the "round window" and just above it the "oval window," both closed by very thin and very elastic mem- branes ; the fourth opening, the only one which is not ANATOMY OF THE EAR. $Q entirely closed, is the Eustachian tube, a sort of conical duct, connecting the middle ear with the pharynx; this tube opens in the act of swallowing. Inside this drum, a curious series of little bones stretches across be- tween the tympanic membrane and the oval window (Pig. 30) ; these are four Fie '30 ^ number, and are named in accordance OssicuLA AuDiTus. with thcir forms : the malleus (hammer), s, stapes ; o, os orbi- which is attached by its handle to the M maiieiM.' ^^"^ ' tympanic membrane ; second, the incus (anvil), connected by a joint with the hammer ; third, a little bone almost round, which is called the OS orbicularej and, lastly, the stapes (stirrup), the bottom of which almost entirely covers the oval window, only a narrow rim of the membrane being left uncovered. By the round and the oval windows the middle ear con- nects with the inner ear. This is the marvellous labyrinth, a cavity in the hardest part of the cranium, the petrous bone, which is entirely filled with an aqueous liquid. The labyrinth consists of the vestibule, in direct communication with the oval window, the cochlea, a cartilaginous organ shaped like a snail-shell, and three semi-circular canals.-' In the peculiar liquid which the cavity contains, floats a kind of membranous sac, attached to the bony walls only by blood vessels and by bundles of nervous fibres which tra- verse the liquid (Fig. 31). Both in the vestibule and in the cochlea, the microscope shows a multitude of little hairs or filaments, which are nothing else than prolongations or ramifications of the ex- tremities of the acoustic nerve or of its appendixes; these minute organs bear the name of their discoverers : those of the vestibule are the bristles of Sehultze; those of the cochlea are Corti's fibres, of which 3000 have been counted. 1 These semi-circular canals, although making part of the ear, do not seem to be solely useful in the act of hearing. They are ..the special organs of a sense not as yet catalogued, the sense of equilibrium,, of vert^t^iity . When one of these is accidentally destroyed, the man or the animal can '^o longer stand or walk straight, hut staggers as if intoxicated. \J 40 A STUDY OF MUSICAL SOUND. Such, briefly (perhaps too briefly) described, is the in- strument. We will now examine its action.' A vibration reaches the external ear ; it produces, in the auditory tube, a condensation, followed by a rarefaction. CSC C— ■tE Fig. 31.— Section of the Middle ajso Inner Eab. C, auditory canal (the pinna is omitted) ; T, tympanic membrane ; CO, ossicular auditus ; O, oval window ; E, round window ; CA, cochlea ; CSC, semi-circular canals ; TE, Eustachian tube. The tympanic menabrane is first driven in, then drawn out- wards (we should here remember that membranes respond to vibrations of every kind) ; by the chain of little bones, the tremor traverses the middle ear and is communicated to the membrane of the oval window. The liquid of the inner ear vibrates, and stimulates the vibration of the fibres 1 [The following is a more minute description of the inner ear, from Tyndall'g Sound, pages 369, 370. " Behind the bony partition, and between it and the brain, we have the extraor- dinary organ called the labyrinth, tilled with water, over the lining membrane of which are distributed the terminal fibres of the auditory nerve. When the tympanic membrane receives a shock, it is transmitted through the series of bones above referred to, being concentrated on the membrane against which the THE PHY8I0L00T OF HEARING. 41 that it surrounds ; but only those respond whose period of vibration corresponds to the fundamental sound or to one of its overtones, for each fibre has its own pitch. The bristles of Schultze and the fibres of Corti constitute a microscopic, -yet giant, stringed instriunent of which each string vibrates sympathetically with a certain sound, and transmits the sound-impression to the brain, by the acoustic nerve, of which it is the ramification. Having thus broadly sketched the general scheme of the auditory apparatus, it is fitting to take up, more in detail, each one of its organs, were it only to make clear that each has its special function, that there is not one too many, and also to make clear the simplicity that there really is in all this apparent complexity." What is the purpose of the Eustachian tube ? At each base of tlie stirrup bone is fixed. Tlie membrane transfers the sboclc to tlie water of the labyrinth, which, in its turn, transfers it to the nerves. *' The transmission, however, is not direct. At a certain place witliin the labyrinth exceedingly fine elastic bristles, terminating in sharp points, grow up between the terminal nerve-fibres. These bristles, discovered by Max Schultze, are eminently calculated to sympathise with such vibrations of the water as cor- respond to their proper periods. Thrown thus into vibration, the bristles stir the nerve-fibres which lie between their roots. At another place in the labyrinth we have little crystalline particles caUed otolithes — the H'drste/,ne of the Grermans — imbedded among the nervous filaments, which, when they vibrate, exert an intermittent pressure upon the adjacent nerve-fibres. The otolithes probably serve a different purpose from that of the bristles of Schultze. They are fitted by their weight to accept and prolong the vibrations of evanescent sounds, which might otherwise escape attention, while the bristles of Schultze, because of their extreme lightness, would instantly yield up an evanescent motion. They are, on the other hand, eminently fitted for the transmission of continuous vibrations. "Finally, there is in the labyrinth, an organ, discovered by the Marchese Corti, which is to all appearance a musical instrument, with its chords so stretched as to accept vibrations of ditf erent periods and transmit them to the nerve filaments which traverse the organ. Within the ears of men, and without their knowledge or contrivance, this lute of three thousand strings (according to Kiilliker, this is the number of fibres in Corti's organ) has existed for ages, ac- cepting the music of the outer world, and rendering it fit for reception by the brain. £ach musical tremor wliich falls upon this organ selects from the stretched fibres the one appropriate to its own pitch, and throws it into unisonant vibration. And thus, no matter how complicated the motion of the external air may be, these microscopic strings can analyse it and reveal the constituents of which it is composed. Surely, inability to feel the stupendous wonder of what is here revealed, would imply incompleteness of mind ; and surely, those who practically ignore or fear them, must be ignorant of the ennobling influence which such discoveries may be made to exercise upon both the emotions and the understanding of man." Tk.] 42 A STUDY OF MUSICAL SOUND. movement of swallowing, it opens, and in this way it enables the air contained in the middle ear to remain in equilibrium of pressure with the external air ; without this perfect and constant equilibrium, the tympanic membrane would not be in good condition to receive vibrations. This is so true that when it happens by accident, as, for instance, in sneezing, that the air becomes compressed in the drum of the ear, the membrane is for the moment forced outwards, there is a buzzing sound and a temporary deafness, which disappears at the first natural swallowing. The membrane of the oval window, situated between a liquid body and a gaseous body, is less easily set in vibra- tion than the tympanic membrane ; hence, the utility of the chain of little bones, which, stretched between the two membranes, delivers a blow upon the inner, the membrane of the oval window; it is noteworthy that the point of attachment of the hammer-bone upon the tympanic mem- brane is exactly at its centre, its point of greatest vibration. Perhaps, in the absence of these bones, the sound could be transmitted by the air contained in the drum of the ear, but it would certainly be much more feeble in comparison ; for, by the chain of little bones, the tympanic membrane is in close connection with the membrane of the oval window. We have now to consider the object of the round window. To understand this, we must consider that, in the act of hearing, the liquid of the inner ear, influenced by the vibrating air contained in the auditory tube, is constantly in a state of mplecular condensation or rarefaction ; if the wall surrounding it were inflexible at every point, there would be either a rupture of this wall or there would be an end to vibration, for without elasticity vibration cannot take place. In order, therefore, that the liquid mass may oscillate synchronously with the membrane which incites its vibration, it must have somewhere another elastic surface which will yield under pressure. This it has in the round window, placed between the middle and the inner ear. The number of fibres constituting what has been called the sympathetic harp of the inner ear may seem incredibly CAPACITY OF THE EAR. 43 great ; but as many as 3000 have been counted under the microscope, and it is certain there are even more. But assume that this is the whole number. Helmholtz very acutely remarks, on this subject, that if we estimate at 200 the variety of non-musical sounds of which the pitch is only imperfectly deiined, there remain 2800 fibres for the seven octaves of musical instruments, that is 400 to each octave, 33 1-2 to each semi-tone, which is enough to account for the perception by the ear of fractions of semi-tones, to the extent to which we know that this perception actually does take place. Tn respect to the transmission of the sound-impression to the brain by the auditory nerve, we have no more cause to wonder than we have in an infinity of analogous physio- logical phenomena. The network of nerves in the human body has been often compared to a system of electric wires ; and this comparison seems to be most appropriate. In the wires circulates one and the same fluid, which we call electricity ; it is the same fluid, whether the wires con- vey power or transmit language or carry light in every direction. This depends on the different apparatus em- ployed. Likewise the nerves of the body, conductors of the nervous fluid, according to the different organs, carry to the brain — their central station — sensations of taste, smell, touch, sight, and hearing. But a wonder indeed is this, — although science explains it, — namely, the marvel- lous faculty of the human ear to decompose and analyse with entire precision the extremely complicated movements of vibrating air, having to work upon so very small a portion of air as that which comes in contact with the drum of the ear. It is, however, in this way that the phenomena of hearing are produced. D, Relations of Successive Sounds. Tonality. It being admitted that the ear perceives clearly sounds varying in rapidity from 16 to 4224 vibrations to the 44 A STUDY OF MUSICAL SOUND. second, we must now recognise the fact that the number of the sounds really produced ietwmn these two limits cannot be expressed by any figure. The finer the ear, the better con- stituted, the more experienced, the better able it will be to divide and subdivide this range, to grasp and to take ac- count of the very slightest differences; accordingly the estimate of the degree of sensibility of the auditory nerve for differences of pitch varies extraordinarily with different authors. In the noise made by the wind in a chimney on a windy day, or, as it blows through the reeds, the sound rises and falls, changing incessantly from one pitch to another ; now in this infinite variety of pitch, no degree can possibly fix the attention and become a point of comparison. No ear is capable of perceiving in such a succession af_ sounds, changing every instant, a precise degree of pirch. This is the " raw material " of music. / While poetry finds its material ready made in the words of a language, and painting in the hues of nature, and sculpture and architecture in animal and vegetable forms, music, in every civilisation, has been obliged to create its own alphabet, by choosing out of the infinity of sounds a certain number, fixed and definite, to serve as starting points for its combinations of more or less scientific or artistic merit. It is, therefore, perfectly natural that — ■ according to the epochs, the degrees of civilisation of dif- ferent peoples, their tastes, barbaric or refined, the climates and the temperatures in which they live — a great number of different scales should have been established, and should continue to this day. This subject will be treated in a later chapter on the history of music, and I shall speak of it by anticipation only so far as to say that there is one singular fact, invariable in all countries where there is a germ of music however rudimentary, namely, the presence in every scale of the octave, the fifth, and the fourth. The reason is easily found and is conclusive, being de- rived from the simplest laws of acoustics. Excluding from the consideration timbre, with which we CONSECUTIVE FIFTBS. 45 are not concerned here, any sound finds its counterpart in another sound in unison ; this is the ratio of one to one. Here we have the embryo of music ; thus reduced to a single note, it would be too monotonous to excite enthusi- asm in the multitude. Elements of variety must therefore be sought in other tones, but in such as shall have manifest affinities with the original tone. If a man's voice sings a C p9^^^^ and another man wishes to do likewise, he will sing the same note ; but if it is a woman's voice that seeks to imitate the pitch, this note being too low for her, she will sing what is most like it, = an octave higher; mathematically and find the C this is in the ratio of one to two. After the ratio 1 to 2, the simplest would evidently be that of 2 to 3. Now, in the series of harmonics this ratio, it will be remembered, represents the perfect fifth. Some years ago being at Mont San Michel at Easter, I heard the peasants sing, without any accompaniment, the familiar sequence : filii et filiae ; the bass voices chanted in deep tones : 2^ : the voices of the women and fi - li-i et fi li-ae children accompanied them an octave higher : r ^ffv^-r r^3^^ ^^S^d^^^ ; while the old women, and *^ io fl - li - i et fi - li-ae the boys whose voices were changing, finding one register too low and the other too high for them, struck bravely in be- tween, making fifths with the bass voices and fourths with the trebles : () fi - li ear, was atrocious : i^=. The result, to my et fi 46 A STUDY OF MUSICAL SOUND. In the Middle Ages, it would have appeared satisfactory and correct. It is derived, indeed, from a perfectly true and natural law : after the ratio 1 to 2, which is the octave, the simplest ratios are those of 2 to 3, which is the 8ve 5th 4th ^ 3 4 fifth, and 3 to 4, which is the fourth, and the peasants in question acted in a logical, though primitive, manner. We must, therefore, first of all admit and comprehend that both mathematically and physiologically, there exists a great analogy among the sounds which are an octave, a fifth, and a fourth apart, a resemblance so great that the uncultivated ear can, and readily does, take one for the other. is, first, C ^fcifl=, The sound most resembling C $ and then, G -^ _g_ ; hence a person of but slight musical experience may, up to a certain point, confuse these three sounds, and the mathematical theory furnishes a very natu- ral excuse for this error by demonstrating that the ratios between these sounds are the simplest that can be. We need only refer to the scale of harmonics mathematically established and verified by experiment upon the mono- chord, to prove this : fa 2 . — T> -g- 8ve 5th — IS — 2 J —&-~~ 4th These three intervals, the octave, the fifth, and the fourth, have been, therefore, in all countries, as I have already said, the basis of every rudimentary scale, — the first to be discovered, even without seeking for them, iu DEVELOPMENT OF A SCALE. 47 the mere attempt to imitate a primitive sound, — and, con- sequently, the first to be associated and conlbined in various ways because they were the easiest to grasp and to com- pare one with another. This being well established, we will place these three intervals above the same note (which we will call C always, for convenience in reasoning) and it will become very 4th 5th 8ve $ easy, without the use of any other theories than those with which we are already familiar, to explain the formation of the diatonic scale, major and minor, and then, by extension, the formation of the chromatic scale. We have now three sounds bound by unquestionable kinship : C, F, and G ; emitted with some force by a voice of good quality, or by a powerful instrument, they develop with themselves, in some degree, their overtones, of which every ear, even though untrained, will have a more or less conscious perception. This is a matter of demonstration. It is therefore among these overtones, or harmonics, that the musician will be led to seek his new elements. And he will find them there, or rather, to speak more accuiutely, there he has found them, without being obliged to carry his search beyond the fifth harmonic of each of the three principal sounds, D, F, G ; and without other guide than the natural resonance of sonorous bodies. The natural overtones of C are : 12 3 4 5 as we have demonstrated, and those of F and of G are necessarily : 48 i A STUDY OF MUSICAL SOUND. 12 3 4 5 and and these three groups taken together furnish ample material for the major scale : The C occurs four times in the three groups ; The D occurs once ; The E occurs once ; The F occurs twice ; The Gr occurs four times ; The A occurs once ; The B occurs once ; and it is to be 'observed that each note is represented more or less frequently, according to its relative importance in the scale, as will be shown later, when we examine the theory of harmony. The major diatonic scale may be considered, then, as a rational product of the resonance of sonorous bodies, having for origin a single note which is the base of the system, but we must also recognise the fact that it is a product, which has been moulded hy human agency, and shaped, as to its definitive form, by human genius, in accordance with human tastes and aptitudes. We do not intend to say that this system has been organ- ised by mathematicians, or in obedience to their formulas ; it has been created empirically, by musicians, without other guide than their own instinct, leading them to choose notes whose relations seemed to them agreeable ; but the theory of acoustics comes in to explain in what way their artistic feeling was unconsciously guided, and proves that the result of their attempts, of their blind groping for centuries, constitutes a normal system, admirably in accordance with the severest logic. There are many ways of stating the numerical relations of the notes of the scale. I will give the one that seems to me simplest. RELATIONSHIPS IN THE SCALE. 49 Let us first take up the series of partial-tones, carrying it further now than we did before, namely, to the fifteenth har- monic ; the table here presented must contain at least once every one of the intervals to be measured. It is as follows : 7tll 3d 2d =2 «a 1'-^ fl-«=- & Bth ''^^ s "'^ tr 1 2^3 T 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 -r- 4tll • Sve Now the major scale is formed of seven notes, I X ;^E^ :i r;^ ^ ^ g— , plus the octave : =^= . and it is the relations among these notes that we desire to demonstrate. The first two (C-D) form what musicians call a major second ; a little interval is found in the series of harmonics, between the eighth and ninth notes (C-D). If it be remembered that the harmonics are so numbered that these numbers express exactly the ratio of their vibration- number to that of the fundamental tone, and consequently, also, of the overtones to each other, it will be readily per- ceived that while C (8) makes eight vibrations, D (9) is making nine ; hence, while C is making one, D makes one plus an eighth ; that is to say, §. The relation between these two notes then, or any notes that form a major second, is expressed by |. The same reasoning applies to all the intervals ; we will now abridge it. The major third (C-E, first and third degrees of the scale) is represented in the series of harmonics by the num- bers 4 and 5, which is to say that while C is produced by four vibrations, E requires five ; if we ajjppose C made but one (I) E then would make J + i=fij Tlie relation^ therefore represents the major third. ^ The third and fourth harmnnics (G-C) give us an instance of a perfect fourth, and teach us that this interval 50 4 STUDY OF MUSICAL SOUND. is formed by two tones in the relation of 3 to 4 ; it is the same, of course, for any other perfect fourth, and the one between the first and the fourth note of the scale (C-F) will be expressed by the fraction ^. The perfect fifth (C-G, first and fifth degrees of the scale) is represented in the scale of harmonics by the notes numbered 2 and 3 ; its ratio, then, is |. The third and fifth notes (G-E) give us a major sixth; the ratio of the major sixth in the scale between the first degree and the sixth (C-A) is consequently ^. Finally, and it is to include this that we have extended the series of harmonics from the eighth to the fifteenth, comes the major seventh (C-B), the same presented in the scale between the first and the seventh notes, whose ratio is expressed by -y-. The octave given by the first and second notes is formed, as we have seen long since, by two tones, of which one pro- duces one vibration while the other is producing two : f = 2. We will now sum up these results in a table : Musical Intervals Major scale : Ratios of the vibration-numbers ; These ratios can just as well be represented in whole numbers, multiplying them all by twenty-four, which is the least common multiple of the denominators 2, 3, 4, 8; we thus obtain the ratio of vibrations for each note of a perfectly true major scale : c D B F i P5 P4 M3 m6 sr m3 M6 w ■= M2 m7 / +4 -m- M7 m2 I have added to this table, so that it may contain all the intervals of the major scale, the relations J^^^ J^''-, and -j-|-, corresponding to the intervals of the minor seventh, the major seventh, and the minor second, which have been previously determined. It is easy to verify their exactness by continuing the series of harmonics as far as the sixteenth ; 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 On the other hand, I have omitted the relations ^ and -IjJ^, which represent varieties of tone greater or less than that of the tempered scale, which is invari- Thisj in my opinion, is the simplest and most accurate method of measuring the degree of consonance or dissonance between two sounds. 1 P sj^ifies perfect ; M, major ; m, minor ; /, diminished ; + , augmented. CHORDS. 57 Though I have established in the beginning the fact that there is no sharply drawn line between consonances and dissonances, regarded from the purely physical point of yiew, and that the question is merely what the ear will tolerate, what degree of harshness it will consent to endure, I have, nevertheless, — as I shall be obliged later, in speak- ing of harmony, to employ the classification adopted in music, — indicated, in the table given above, by means of a dotted line, the limit which is generally admitted. What I have said of compound sounds and tTieir inter- vals applies necessarily to chords, which are merely groups of intervals. The nearer the chord is to the absolute purity of unison, the stronger the impression of consonance. Take the tone 1, accompany it by its harmonics, 13, 14, 15, which are very remote : It is evidently a discord. On the other hand, choose and consort with it its nearest overtones, those which have the simplest ratio with it, and the chord will be essentially consonant : This constitutes the perfect chord. In A is a succession of the first six harmonics, the most perfect consonants ; in B, they are heard simultaneously ; in C, the three repetitions are left out, one G and two Cs ; in D, they are grouped in the simplest manner, and present among themselves the ratios f , I, f . 68 A STUDY OF MUSICAL SOUND. But if we venture further, and add the 7th partial tone, Bt?, we come into the region of dissonance : , Gongonaut chord. Dissonajit chord. because of the ratios |, and J^ (E-Bt> and C-Bb) which are too remote from theoretic purity, and produce on the ear a slight sensation of harshness, perhaps by causing a vibration of nerve-fibres that are too near together and interfere as they move. Helmholtz has developed, on this subject, quite a differ- ent theory, which is admirably ingenious, based on resultant sounds, but has the defect of not being quite in agreement with musical feeling. I therefore give my adherence to the one explained above, at the same time advising the reader to study also that of Helmholtz, most interesting in its subtlety and — even though not fully satisfying to the artistic sense — containing demerits useful as guides to sincere seekers after truth. F. — Acoustic Qualities of Halls. That branch of acoustic science which is least developed, notwithstanding the great interest which it presents, is undoubtedly the one treating of the acoustic properties of halls, — a subject very closely allied to architecture. We have long been in possession of the facts in the case, but no one has yet been able to construct with certainty, on mathematical principles, a hall whose acoustic properties were perfect. Not long since, one of our most famous architects, having a theatre to build in Paris, made the tour of Europe to RESONANCE IN BALLS. 59 study in every country the acoustic conditions of theatres thought to have best fulfilled these unknown laws ; notwith- standing all his fidelity, the result was in no way remark- able, — from this point of view, I mean to say. The same architect, employed in a restoration of the hall of the Conservatory, which is an acoustic marvel, though no man can say exactly why, dared not displace the partition of a box, add drapery, or make the slightest modification, in the well-founded fear that he might impair this unexplained perfection. In building a concert hall or theatre, two perils must be specially guarded against : too great or too little reso- nance ; generally the architect falls into -the second of the two. A hall is, in its nature, a closed place, where the sound- waves are not propagated as freely as in the open air, in concentric zones, but must encounter every possible reflec- tion, from partitions, walls, floor, ceiling. Nor is the complication ended here, for, according to their substance, the material of which they are made, — stone, more or less hard, woods of divers kinds, — and the hangings with which they are covered, the walls offer different degrees of resist- ance, and also of conductivity, producing most unexpected effects. More than this: a hall whose resonance is too great when it is empty, becomes satisfactory when filled with an audience, whose garments deaden the sound as carpets or drapery might do. The worst of all faults for a hall, where destined for music or the voice, is to give echoes. Now it is almost as much beyond our power to avoid an echo as it is to produce one. I have read somewhere the story of an Englishman who, finding in some foreign country a house in which there was a remarkable echo, bought the house, numbered the stones, caused the building to be transported piecemeal to England, and there had it rebuilt on his estate, — the identi- cal house. But the echo was no longer in it; as a matter of course, the Englishman blew his brains out. Whether it be true or not, this story is quite probable. There are a 60 A STUDY OP MUSICAL SOUND. multitude of famous echoes ; some are natural, produced in valleys or caves, where they have been discovered ; others are made by the hand of man, in buildings, but involun- tarily ; they have been explained minutely, but no man has ever succeeded in copying them. The famous hall of the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers in Paris presents only phenomena of sonority reinforced by the reflection of sound-waves from surfaces whose curve has been planned for that effect, as can be done in optics for combinations of mirrors ; these are not echoes, in the true sense of the word. The foyer of the old opera house in Berlin, which was built in 1743, and was destroyed by fire a century later, presented a like phenomenon. What we know with certainty, or with a very close ap- proach to certainty, on the subject is this : sound is reflected from any surface, as light is from a polished surface, and according to the same law (the angle of incidence and the angle of reflection are equal) ; it moves at the rate of 340 metres a second ; on the other hand, we can scarcely utter more than ten syllables, or ten distinct musical sounds, in a second, that is to say, a syllable in the tenth of a second ; during this period the sound has gone 34 metres ; if it meets at that distance a reflecting surface it returns, with the same velocity, that is to say, in another tenth of a second, and we perceive it as an echo. An echo, then, requires a distance of 34 metres, and with this, there can be only one syllable or one sound repeated ; for two sounds, the distance must be doubled. This is frequently the case among the mountains. At a distance of less than 34 metres, if there is no echo well marked as such, distinctly repeating articulations, there may be reverberations, quite as disagreeable ; that is to say, a kind of incomplete echo, too short, in which the reflected soimd is sent back so quickly that it blends with the direct sound, appearing to prolong and reinforce it with a disagreeable and wearisome humming. Cathedral vaulted roofs almost always produce echoes and reverberations REFLECTION OF SOUND RAYS. 61 wMch are not without a certain majesty, but often render spoken words unintelligible and destroy the effect of all musical combinations. There are but very few large churches that can be considered really good for music ; for this reason it has been usual to avoid, in compositions des- tined for the church, any rapid successions of sounds, which would increase the chances of confusion at the same time that they destroyed the character of solemnity. It is well known that rigidity of walls is not an indis- pensable condition for the production of echoes ; at sea, a sail swollen by the wind ; in the open country, a screen of trees and even low lying clouds are frequent causes of this phenomenon. Also it is well known that plane surfaces cause the sound-rays to diverge, scatter them apart; that parabolic surfaces render the rays parallel ; and that elliptic surfaces cause them to converge towards one focus (fig. 32), from fs_I Fig. 32. Plaub Subface. Parabolic Kefleotob. Elliptic Ebflectob. S. Soand-prodnoing object. Eays emitted. Rays reflected. which we infer that the elliptic form should be avoided for ceilings as well as walls, since it would be advantageous only for the one spectator placed exactly at the focus. It is known that the nature of the wall is a matter of impor- tance, since sound rebounds and is reinforced from elastic surfaces. It is known that bare walls are much more res- onant than those hung with drapery. A few other things 62 A STUDY OF MUSICAL SOUND. are also kn9Wii; but that which no man knows is how practical advantage may be derived from this knowledge. The ancients, whose theatres and amphitheatres were open to the sky, doubtless lost, in this way, a vast number of vibrations, but, on the other haqd, they had no cause to dread reverberations from ceilings: hence, all their efforts were with the aim of reinforcing the sound, so that the actor's voice, notwithstanding its loss in the open air, should reach with sufiicient power the highest rows of seats. The Greeks, whose amphitheatres accommodated many thousand spectators, employed for this purpose a method which Vitruvius describes at some length : they placed in niches made under the benches great bells of brass or of terra cotta, of a pitch carefully adjusted to reinforce certain sounds. These bells were especially in use at Corinth, whence they were brought home to Eome by Mummius, after his victory in 145 B. C. Shall we not say that these Greeks had discovered reso- nators ? The famous organ-maker, Cavaille-CoU, a great acous- tician, has employed in the contrary intention, namely, to diminish a too great resonance, the following curious method, which I describe in accordance with notes which he has kindly given me. Threads of common knitting cot- ton are stretched, with very slight tension, across the hall, half-way up the walls, parallel to the floor, forming a sort of network against which the sound-waves break, some- what as waves of the sea break against the piles or other obstacles, relatively very feeble, which are opposed to them for the defence of threatened coasts. These threads, being so fine and of the same colour as the walls and placed so high, are invisible, and the improvement they make in the acoustic quality of the hall is the more mysterious because the cause is not observable. No known law regulates the number or arrangement of these threads, and they are placed in such a way as successive trials show to be best. This plan seems to have been invented in Great Britain, where Mr. Eobert 8. Greeg has employed it successfully in ACOUSTICS AMD RHYTHM. 63 correcting the disagreeable reverberatioti of sound in the new cathedral of S. Finn Barr (Cork), whose nave is very high. It has also been put in practice in the Palace of Industry in Amsterdam, where the acoustic conditions were faulty and it was feared the effect of the organ would be always confused and veiled by the unfortunate reverbera- tion. " Threads of common cotton, quite fine and nearly unelastic, were stretched in different directions across the upper part of the hall. As these threads were placed, it was perfectly evident that the resonance diminished. The impression produced from the first was that of a sprt of tranquillity established in the atmosphere, and accidental noises, occurring while the work was going on, were evi- dently less and more isolated than heretofore. Trials made with an orchestra, first in the empty hall, then in many concerts with varied programmes, confirmed this first result in a manner so evident as to strike not only the audience but also the performers, who perceived, with surprise, that they now heard themselves much more distinctly than they had done before." * With a success more or less noteworthy, but never with complete failure of result, the same system has been tried in Paris, in the church of Notre-Dame des Champs, in the hall of the Trocadero, and, more recently, in the hall of the Society of Horticulture. G. — Relations between Acoustics and Rhythm. Certain halls, then, being more or less unsuited, by echoes or reverberations, for musical use, it is also to be noted that this fault increases in proportion to the rapidity with which sounds are produced. In a place having too great resonance, chords isolated, or separated by sufficient length of silence, may have a harmonious and imposing reverbera- tion, while a succession of sounds with shorter intervals between, will end in being a horrible confusion, each sound 1 C. M. Philbert, VOrgm! rlupalais de V Industrie d' Amsterdam ; 1876. 64 A STUDY OF MUSICAL SOUND. being mingled with its predecessors and then with those that follow it. This fact — which, by the way, explains why public speakers, and especially preachers, utter their words slowly, separating even syllables from each other, to lessen the chance of confusion between the emitted and the reflected sounds — enables us to show the connection between the three principal qualities of sound due to acoustic laws, namely, loudness, intch, and timbre, on the one side, and on the other, duration, a fourth quality, which seems arbitrary, abandoned to the caprice of the composer or the performer, but subject in reality also to certain natural laws, — those, namely, of rhythm, which are but little known or studied. The origin of the feeling for rhythm has been sought in the successive steps made in walking, in the pulsations of the heart, in the sounds of respiration, and, more mathematically, in the invariably isochronous oscillations of a pendulum. Walking gives the simplest idea of the binary division. A person awake breathes regularly, in double measure ; but in sleep the inspiration is twice as long as the expiration, which gives the ternary division, making triple measure. The metronome, an instrument measuring musical rhythm as the monochord measures vibrations, is really a clock which marks the fractions of a minute, as the pendulum would do if its length could be varied at will. Ifow observe that it was in the movements of the pendulum that vibration was most simply demonstrated.^ Thus we are brought back, by this excursion into the domain of rhythm, exactly to the point from which we set out in our researches into acoustic phenomena having musical character. Whatever its origin may be, it is certain that the senti- ment of the division of time into equal parts is natural to us — within narrow limits, however, since we jjerceive with precision and certainty only these two simple modes of division, namely, by twos and by threes, the binary division and the ternary division. It is true, indeed, that we recog- nise the equality in duration of eight or of sixteen sounds 1 Pages. MUSIC AND MATHEMATICS. 65 emitted successively, but this is by means of the uncon- scious mental operation 16-i-2-i-2-i-2 = 2. And in nine we recognise in the same way three times three. The proof of this is that we do not recognise the number with the same facility, in groups formed of ten, of fifteen, or of seventeen soimds. To have a clear perception of the division of time, we must bring it down to one or other of the two points of comparison : f or ^, which are the bases of the rhythmic system no less than of the harmonic. The combinations which are derived from these two modes of division are almost inexhaustible, and we by no means employ them all ; with the Arabs and other Orientals, who have no idea of the use of simultaneous sounds, rhythm has acquired a much greater importance and an altogether ■greater development, for this is their only means of enrich- ing an accompaniment.' This is not the point where, according to the order of arrangement adopted for this little work, a study of rhythm has its place ; I speak of it here ' only to call the reader's attention to the remarkable fact that all the con- stituent elements of the musical art are connected with mathematics, or properly speaking, are derived therefrom. Is it for this reason that, in general, scientific men, mathe- maticians, physicists, physiologists, are passionate lovers of music ? However this may be, the converse of it (as they would say) is not true, for it is rare, unfortiinately rare, to see a musician take pleasure in the study of the positive sciences, even so far as to seek in them the first cause of natural phenomena which are of everyday familiarity to him. This, however, is true, that in music, numbers and re- lations of numbers are not everything. I must express the hope that no one will suppose that I have aspired to present in these few pages, a treatise upon 1 A singular fact is that they call it the harmony, which must, of course, be understood to mean the accompaniment. 66 ^ STUDY OF MUSICAL SOUND. acoustics. I have merely wislieid to demonstrate that those who are interested in the musical art can find a real pleasure in the scientific analysis of the raw materials oi this art; if I have succeeded in opening to them new horizons, my end is attained, and I have only to point oul to them certain of the books in which they may make a serious study,of acoustics, works from which I have drawn most of my material : Helmholtz, On the Sensations of Tone. ( New York, Longmans. ) Tyndall, Sound. ( New York, Appleton. ) Zahm, Sound and Music. ( Chicago, McClurg. ) Eadau, VAcoustique. (Paris, Hachette, 1870.) Mahillon, £Uments d^acoustique. (Bruxelles, 1874.) G. Kastnbk, la Harpe d^Eole et la musique cosmique. ■ (Paris, 1856.) I shall proceed in the same way in the chapters tc follow, making no attempt to have them take the place of Treatises on Instrumentation, or Courses of Harmonj? and of Fugue ; they will not assume to teach Compositioii or the History of Music ; but merely to diffuse among the musical public true and definite ideas upon each 6ne oi these branches of artistic erudition, of a nature to interesi amateurs and persons of intelligent curiosity, as well as to guide young students in the direction of their work. CHAPTEE II. THE MATERIALS OF SOUND. A. — Of Instrumentation. SOUNDS WHICH CONSTITUTE THE MATERIAL ELEMENT OF MUSIC. The sounds ■which form the musical material can be pro- duced only by three classes of instruments : Wind-instruments, Stringed Instruments, Instruments of Percussion, the human .voice being considered as belonging in the first class, of which it is the highest type. The knowledge of these different instruments, that is to say, of the compass, particular timbre, construction, and mechanism of each, constitutes the science called Instrumentation,^ the term Orchestration being specially applicable to the art of grouping, managing, and combining them, using them as a painter uses the colours on his palette. ) We shall therefore examine them, one by one, beginning 1 Kuowledge of instruments ; application of their indiridual qualities to the translation and interpretation of the musical idea. 68 TBE MATERIALS OF SOUND. with the human voice, which, later, will often be of use to us for purposes of comparison. The best way of getting an idea of the mechanism of an instrument which one does not play is by a careful reading of a well-written Method ; accordingly, we shall append to a description of the principal instruments the names of several of the most valued Methods for each. THE HUMAN VOICE. Every person has a voice of some kind, good or bad, strong or weak, of wide range or of narrow, true or false, — commonly true and of small compass, — but some- thing that can be called a " voice," that is to say, the power of producing sounds having musical character. The male voice in temperate climates is generally a baritone, the female (and also the voice of c hildren) a mezzo-sop rano; and it is rare to find a person aphonous, incapable of utter- ing, according to age and sex, one or other of the two fol- lowing series of sounds : „„ ^ - ; Contralto in Eb ; Tenor in Bb ; Barytone in El? ; Bass in Bb. JFig. 55. — Saxophones. Soprano. Alto. Tenor. Bass. Length, 15 3-4 in. Length, 2 ft. 7 1-2 in. Length, 3 ft. 9 in. All have the same fingering ; from the lowest, note of the bass saxophone in Bb to the highest of the sopranino in E|7, there is this enormous range : 1::^ Methods : Kokken, Klos4, Mayear, G. Paris. WIND INSTRUMENTS OF BRASS. 113 Family of the Beass-Winds. HORN. Tlie simple horn consists of a tube bent into a spiral (for convenience in holding), comparatively narrow near the mouthpiece, and gradually enlarging to the bell; it is therefore a conical pipe. There is no hole pierced in it ; accordingly the column of air contained vibrates in its whole length. It has no reed, but a simple mouthpiece, and the lips of the performer serve as reeds. It is there- fore, in acoustic principle, and also in appearance, the simplest of instruments ; but it is not the easier to handle on that account. Fig. 56. — Horn. Length, 22 3A inches. According to the length of the tube, a horn is in C, D, El?, etc., which means that its fundamental tone, the tone emitted by the tube when its column of air vibrates undi- vided, is C, or D, or Eb, etc. By a slight modification in the pressure of the lips on the mouthpiece the performer causes the column of air to divide into two, three, four, up to fifteen or sixteen vibrat- ing segments, and thus to produce all the harmonics of its fundamental. The natural scale of the horn is then, theo- 114 THE MATEBrALS OF HOUND. retically, the series of harmoiiics to which so frequent reference has already been made. But the dimensions of the pipe render the emission of the fundamental sound very doubtful and of a weak, indeterminate character : it is, therefore, never used, and the lowest note a horn gives is in reality its second harmonic. Below is given the scale, or as is sometimes said quite improperly, the gamut of the C horn, whose (impractica- ble) fundamental is low C 3t=r, with the actual pitch of each sound as heard : 8ve And it is written thus : m b.p. a.!=- ^ '-5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 a 3 * This gives occasion for two interesting remarks : 1. It is usual, I do not know why, to write always the lowest note (and only that one) in the key of F, while the others are written in the key of G, but an octave above the actual sound, as is usual for tenor voices. 2. The tones 7, 11, 13, and 14, are not absolutely true ; the two B flats are sensibly too low ; this fault is reduced in playing with some force, *but remains very conspicuous in soft effects, where they should be employed only as passing notes, or else alone, without any harmony ; as to the PJI (11), it is quite as much like F natural as F sharp, for which reason, in special works, it is regarded as an F which is too high. All these sounds require to be corrected by the skill of the performer ; in their natural state they would be discordant with the other elements of the orches- tra, and even alone they surprise the ear unpleasantlj' ; they are never employed except with a slight alteration TBH FMENCII IIOEN. 11£J made by partly closing the bell with the hand, thus lower- ing them and at the same time dulling the timbre. They belong therefore in the category of stopped sounds, as con- trasted with natural, or open sounds. The same procedure can be applied to all the other notes of the natural scale, and by this artifice the horn obtains for itself a sort of artificial chromatic gamut, where the open notes alone are brilliant and energetic, while the closed notes are more and more vague and timid as the bell is more nearly closed. In the following example these inequalities are repre- sented by difference of values ; the whole notes sound clearly, the half notes are dull, the quarter notes still more so. Natural 2 Harmonics. 11 12 13 14 15 16 ( Certain shades of detail useful only to the player are omitted here.) The difRculty of playing complicated or rapid passages with means of execution so delicate, has led the makers of every date to construct instruments of many keys, or, which amounts to the same thing, to construct movable pieces of tubing, called crooks, which, inserted in the length, alter the pitch, according as they are longer or shorter. In this way the mute fundamental is varied, and all its harmonics with it. There are crooks for all the keys, but the following are those used by the classic mas- ters; in the table are given the actual sounds produced and their notation ; if to those be added the closed sounds, which are the same as for the horn in C, we shall have the whole number of notes accessible to these instruments with their degree of vigour or of attenuation. 116 THE MA TX: RIALS OF SOUND. Notation. Effect produced, ^. Jm-:^ bw- \i .r>M fl a mS'-^- — = ^%^ S»§»^- c ^^^fe^?^^^ .b*^-^-. ^*b«B-^ P^^ iSmCBl??; E P5 i^^^^^^^.li; =^^^^^ j*^^ -ete: -rirjJti^ ^^^^^^=: The timbre of the horn may be utilised in many ways, but great skill is necessary to use it to advantage. It is by turns heroic or rustic, savage or exquisitely poetic ; and it is perhaps in the expression of tenderness and emotion that it best develops its mysterious qualities. In melodic formulas which require force and rapidity, the open notes are alone sure to be successful. The closed notes must be uttered guardedly, and are never very loud. Their production is facilitated by having them follow an adjacent open sound. Methods : Dauprat, Gallay, Domnich, Meifred, Richard Hof- mann ( Ger.). VALVE AND HUNTING B'OBNS. HJ COR A PISTONS, OB CHROMATIC HORN. If we suppose the ordinary horn to have many crooks permanently attached, and the performer to be able to pass from one to the other merely by pressing the finger on one, two, or three pistons, we shall have some idea of the con- struction and advantages of this- instrument. A cor k pistons in F (the key most used) can produce with equal facility the seven series of harmonics be- longing to com- mon horns in F, E, El?, D, Db, C, and B; thus it has from to "g|^ ( actual notesT, a complete chromatic ^'^- l^e„-gr2'2\-r"™"- scale of three octaves and six notes, many of which are obtained by many fingerings, a very important advantage, and besides this, the faculty of transforming each one of these sounds into a closed sound, just as an ordinary horn would do. With all these incomparable merits it is not equally appreciated by all composers ; by some the common horn is preferred, from the point of view of timbre, of poetical quality ; this perhaps is due to the fact that performers, once in possession of this perfected implement, too gen- erally abandon early procedures and the use of closed soimds, which by their very vagueness communicated to the primitive instrument a sort of timidity which was not without its charm. Methods : Meifred, Gounod, Garigue, G. Paris. COR DE CHASSE. (hUXTING-HORN. ) This is a simple harmonic horn in D, without pistons or crooks, perhaps less carefully made than the others, but in 118 TEE MATERIALS OF SOUND. all points similar to them. Most blowers of the hunting- horn are unaware, however, that their instrument can pro- duce naturally a B flat (which sounds C) and is the Fig. 58.— COE DE Chasse. Length, 23 1-2 in. seventh harmonic ; as' also they have no idea of using the hand to produce closed sounds. The only notes employed for fanfares are these : written thus: i I have an idea that this instrument has never figured in orchestra except in Mehul's overture to Le jeune Henri, where, with its noisy rendering of a well-known fanfare, it produces one of the most picturesque and captivating effects. TRUMPET. This fine instrument tends, alas ! to disappear from the orchestra, where its place is invaded by the chromatic trumpet, or, still more unfortunately, by the cornet k pis- tons, the type of triviality ; now the simple trumpet is, on the contrary, the especially stately and heraldic instrument. To describe it in brief, We may say it is the soprano of the horn : it has nearly the same harmonic scale, but moves in a region at once higher and more restricted ; it differs from the horn farther in that it produces only the open TBE TRUMPET. 119 sounds ; closed souads are unknown to it, and if attempted would produce only an unpleasant effect. Like the horn, the trumpet is a transposing instrument ; Fig 59.^ Trumpet. Length, 22 1-2 in. it has a number of crooks or lengthening pieces ; those of C, D, E ilat, E, F, G, B flat, B, are the most used. The following scales show the notes of value in each of these keys : Effect produced. Notation. f=—^^J^ J^£ ' fesE =SS=»- E5^ ^^sfe^E^^ Bti^== i^^E^E^E^E^ ?P^ E«i3t^«-^ ■zz B 120 THE MATERIALS OF SOUND. It must always be remembered that here, as in the case of the horn, the seventh and eleventh harmonics (Bl? and !F|f of the notation) are only approximately true, and also, that they cannot be corrected by the partial closing of the bell. It is, therefore, wise to avoid them. However, the most classic masters have often used this false Fjf as an F natural, trusting, without doubt, to the skill of the per- former to conceal the fault. Of great agility, the trumpet is admirably suited to rapid iigures, arpeggios, especially to repetitions of notes. Besides noisy fanfares and strident calls, it is able to pro- duce, in piano or pianissimo, effects either fantastic or of extreme sweetness. Methods: Dauverni, Bichard Hofmann (Ger. and Eng.), F. L. Schubert (Ger.). TBOMPETTB A PISTONS, OE CHROMATIC TRUMPET. The trompette a pistons is to the ordinary trumpet as the chromatic horn to the simple horn : the transformation is Fig. 60. — Tkompetth X Pistons. I.ength, 22 1-2 in. the same. It has crooks like the simple trumpet, and it embraces the written compass of ^= to =: ':, chromatic- ally, of course. It is written like the ordinary trumpet of the same key. As in the case of the horn, the timbre of the instrument THE CORNET. 121 seems to have been slightly modified by the addition of the pistons; it is less brilliant, a little more pasty (^empdte), but these defects, not very conspicuous, and perhaps to be easily remedied, are largely compensated by facility and sureness of execution, and still more, by the richness and extends of the scale. Methods : Dauvernd, Guilbaut, G. Paris. OOKNET A PISTONS. The instrument requiring least study; also the most Fig. 61. —Cornet a Pistons. Lengtb, 13 3-4 in. commonplace of instruments. Its very short tube allows it to produce only the lower harmonics, from the 2d to the 8th at most, and its timbre is entirely lacking in dignity and distinction. Its chief merit is an astonishing facility of utterance ; it triumphs in the execution of repeated notes, trills, rapid passages of every kind, even chromatic, and it sings with ease every kind of melody, at the same time giving to all its own common and trivial character; on occasion it assumes to imitate the horn and the trumpet, the heroic instruments; but this imitation is often a cari- cature. This instrument is the gamin de Paris of the orchestra,^ more at home in dance-halls and caf^-concerts 1 In the chapter on Orchestration, there will he explained some good uses of the cornet k pistons in association with other brass instruments. 122 THE MATERIALS OP SOUND. than in grand opera or symphonies, whence it would be well that it should disappear. The cornet a piston in B flat, the most readily used, has for its actual compass, chro- matically, the interval from _ b-g- eg:) = to = ^zn A m which is naturally written a tone higher, as shown by the notes in brackets. It is made in other keys, especially in A, but the cornet in B\f is the type of the instru- ment, the great soloist in popular fanfares and in military music. Methods : Forestier, Arban (also in English), G^rin, Guilbaut (elementary). TROMBONE WITH SLIDES. There are three varieties of the instrument, the alto, the tenor, and the bass trombone ; each is written in the proper key of the voice whose name it bears ( Cg, C^, F^ ). Trombones differ from other brass-winds in that they are not transposing, but render the note as it is written. Below is represented the range of each, chromatically : Alto: Tenor: Bass: ^m with its translation into the more familiar clefs. The TROMBONES. 123 principle of construction which gives this extensive com- pass will now be explained, taking the tenor trombone as a type ; the others have the same effects, the one being a fourth higher, the other a fourth lower. The slide being entirely closed, that is to say, the tube reduced to its shortest dimension, the instrument produces (modifying, as with the horn, the breath and the pressure of the lips) the harmonics of ^^E=l from the second to the eighth: ^^ i -i w=4s^ ; this is called the first 2 3 4 B 6 7 8 position. By pulling out the slide a little, which increases the length of the tube, we have the second position ; the funda^ mental is now : i§=EEE, and its harmonics are : a Si^'B 6 7 8 A further extension gives the third position, producing the harmonics : " 9^77^ =^ -tffsr =fc _l,g,i)^ , whose funda- mental would be : ^ And so on, at each new extension of the slide ; the funda- mental being lowered, the whole series of harmonics is low- ered also. The fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh positions give the following tones : Fourth: Tiftli tJ -=r '^ 124 TBE MATERIALS OF SOUND. Bring these notes together in order, and yovi have the complete chromatic scale of the tenor trombone. Skilful performers are able to produce, iu the treble, the ninth and tenth harmonics, thus enriching the instrument with two ^^^^ hard and frail in timbre ; and in the more notes bass, the fundamentals of the first two or three positions, ;iE====E- but these are exceptional cases, and, unless with a special effect to produce, it is better not to use them. The same is true of the lower notes of the bass trombone ; for, this instrument being very fatiguing to play, even by persons of the strongest lungs, a second tenor trombone often is used in its place, which, of course, cannot produce these notes. When the three trombones play together, which is usually the case, it is more convenient to unite them on a single stave, in the key of one of them; instead of i 3tq= EfiE ^^ §§E =t=t which takes much space, it is simpler to write ^id^^ or §113 ^ =t==l= The timbre of the trombone is in its nature majestic and imposing. It is sufficiently powerful to dominate a whole orchestra ; it produces, above' all, the impression of power, a power superhuman. In fortissimi there is no instru- ment more stately, noble, imposing, but it can also become terrible, or rather terrific, if the composer has so decreed ; in pianissimi, it is mournful and full of dismay, or it may have the serenity of the organ ; it can also, according TSE VALVE TROMBONE. 125 to the shades of meaning, become fierce or satanic, but still •with undiminished grandeur and majesty. It is a superb instrument of lofty dramatic power, ■which should be reserved for great occasions when, properly introduced, its effect is overwhelming. It is a matter of good taste, by reason of the solemnity of its char- acter as well as to diminish the dif- ficulty of execution, not to commit to this instrument too rapid figures — unless, indeed, the passages are formed of notes belonging to the same position ; it would be almost a lack of re- spect. But in a moder- ate movement it can make the needed evo- lutions with much ease. Methods : Beer and Dieppo, Chlodomir, G. Paris. In English, Otto Langley, "Tutor for Slide Trombone." TROMBONE X PISTONS. This is a tenor trom- bone having instead of the slide a system of pistons, like those of the horn and cornet, — which renders it much more manageable. It is used as an or- ,. , .^, Fig. 63.— TsoMBONE A Pistons. dmary trombone, with Length, '25 1-2 in. this diiference, how- ever, that there can be assigned to it much more rapid \ss^ 126 Tim MATSEIALS OF SOUJUTD. designs ; moreover, it goes a semi-tone lower, to Et> ^ Pig. 64. — QPHICtEIDE. Length, 3 ft. 7 in. Methobs : Guilbaut, Comette. Very rarely an orchestra has alto and bass trombones a pistons; but usually three tenor trombones take the three parts. Methods : Carnaud, Chlodo- mir, G. Parks. OPHICLIIipE. Although it has a few higher notes, the practical range of this instrument must be limited thus: ^ with all the chromatic degrees. Its tone is rude and coarse ; it has little suppleness, and it lacks in precision of tune. The ophicleide tends to dis- appear from the orchestra, where it reinforced the third trombone or sometimes took its place, and instead, we have the tuba, an instrument vastly its superior. It is written in the F clef like the bass trombone. The ophicleide^ is derived from the serpent, which anciently accompanied the plain song in the churches, and is still to be found in the provinces. 1 Etymology: Keyed serpent. THE BASS OF THE BUASS-WlNLS. 127 TUBA, OR BASS TUBA. A brass instrument of the sax-horn family, passages are not required from it, the ^' tuba may be employed in this range : If too rapid ^ # having pistons it possesses all the chromatic degrees ; but it is better to abstain from the highest notes and from the whole low- est octave. Its timbre is vigorous, very solemn, mysterious, and lugubrious in pianissi- mi, and in all circumstances furnishes a su- perb bass to the brass-winds. It is the only representative, in the orchestra, of the group of the sax-horns, whose numerous varieties figure in military bands. I will enumerate them and indicate the really available compass of each. Fig. 65. —Bass Tuba. Length, 3 ft. 3 In. Small saxhorn in E|7 ( or small hugle^. 128 THE MATERIALS OF SOUND, Soprano saxhorn in b6 j- jfr y ^ ( or eoprano bugle). F vl) / ^ — Alto saxhorn in Eb H ^f— ^ ( or alto bugle ). I "^ fsr Tenor saxhorn in Bb (or tenor or barytone bugle). Bass saxhorn in Bb (or bass tuba). ^1 m^ ^ Bass saxhorn in Eb ( or bombardon ). Jlca. 9- . y ■ =52= Contrabass saxhorn in Bb I f y . '7'^' ( or contrabass tuba). X "^ X j ' Mg. 6G.— Alto Saxhoen. Length, 15 34 in. Methods for Saxhorns or Key-eugle: Arban, Chlodomir, Fessy and Arban, Forestier, Guilbaut, Sax (Saxhorns and Saxotrombas), G. Partis. Family of Stringed Instkumbnts Played with THE Bow. violin. This is without question the king of the orchestra. No instrument can compare with it, either in richness of THE VIOLIN. 129 tuned thus : timbre, or variety of intensity, or rapidity of articulation ; still more extraordinary is the almost living responsiveness of the string vibrating directly under the finger which presses it. It shares with the human voice the inestimable advantage of being able to vary infinitely the absolute pitch of sounds, and with the organ, the power of prolong- ing them indefinitely. These incomparable qualities belong also, it is true, to the other instruments of this family (the viola, violoncello, and double- bass) ; but in the violin only do they find their maximum of intensity. All that it has, however, is but four catgut strings, stretched by means of common wooden pegs and Isti 2d 3d 4th the fourth string being covered with wire to make it heavier.^ When these strings vibrate in their entire length under the bow, — as "open strings," that is to say, — only these four notes are produced ; but if the vibrating portion be short- ened by the pressure of a finger of the left hand, there can be obtained a continuous succession of tones, passing through all the degrees of the scale, diatonic, chromatic, or en- harmonic, and all the most delicate subdivisions of these tones up to the very highest notes, without other limit than that assigned by the personal skill of the performer. Of fixed notes, invar- iably true When the instrument is in perfect tune, there are, but those of the four open strings ; all the other notes niust be made by the player himself, and he can vary them infi- 1 The name chanterelle is given to the first, or highest, string. Fig. 67. — Violin. Length, 23 1-2 in. Length of bow, 29 1-2 in. 130 THE MATERIALS OF SOUND. nitely. In a ■word, the violinist has the privilege of play- ing out of tune, — a privilege which he sometimes abuses, but one which, rightly used, constitutes an inexhaustible wealth of varying intonations, a power of expression and of communicative emotion which is entirely without equal. The violin truly sings; it laughs also, and weeps, and screams ; it lacks only articulate speech to equal the human voice, and it has a compass far greater than that of the voice. The bow, rubbed with rosin, grips the string, either with up or down movement (to which correspond signs of notation, „ or ,_, for the down-bow, a or v for the up),i and determines thus with admirable feeling the shades, the punctuations of the musical discourse; on it depend, also, in great part, the variations of timbre ; the bow determines the vibration, rules its intensity, and modifies its timbre, while the left hand, as we have seen, determines the pitch. In addition to these ordinary or natural tones, of which we have now been speaking, the violin is capable of pro- ducing harmonics, which are peculiarly sweet and celestial in character, somewhat resembling the timbre of the flute, or the head-notes of the human voice, and having a fair degree of loudness.^ To produce these tones, the player no longer presses the string to shorten its vibrating length ; he touches it only, at certain points,^ just enough to destroy the natural sound, and the harmonic is then produced in abso- lute purity. The natural harmonics are those of the four open strings : .m.. IP - Aw" — ft\^?s A/W w f^m~ (In the written music they are indicated by a small zero above the note : — j— g= . ) Artificial harmonics, however, 1 French terms : tirez^ draw , poussez, push. 2 These have been called flageolet-tones. 8 Its natural divisions, the half, third, fourth, and so on. See pp. 7-9 VIOLIN EFFECTS. 131 can be produced by pressing with one finger to determine a fundamental, then touching with another to sub-divide the result— I ^- vibrating portion [^~ by-. To do this requires much touched— *J & I held— r skill ; it is not within the power of every player, and the composer himself not a violinist should use it with the greatest discretion. If, ceasing to use the bow, the player plucks the string with his finger {pizzicato) he obtains a dry, rapid sound, never loud, having a resemblance, though the sound is duller, to that of the stringed instruments which are always played in this manner (the guitar and mandolin). The use of the pizzicato is limited, but it adds to the resources of the instrument. To indicate the close of the passage, the composer introduces the words : col' arco, " with the bow." Finally, the violin, although essentially a melodic instru- ment, principally destined to the production of phrases having a vocal character, is capable, under certain condi- tions, of making two sounds heard at once, or even arpeg- gios composed of three or four sounds almost simultaneous ; this is the limit of its polyphonic capabilities, which are to it only an accessory of secondary importance. I must not forget the sordino or mute. This is an appli- ance of metal, or other material, which, being clipped on to the bridge, impedes in a degree the transmission of the vibrations of the strings to the sound-board, that is to say, the body of the violin, an admirable resonator,' of which the energy is thus reduced. The use of the mute is called for by the words con sordino, or avec sourdine; and its cessation, by senna sordino or sans sourdine. A rest of a few seconds is suifi- cient for this manipulation. By the simplicity and the suppleness of its organs, by the richness and variety of their effects, also by its slender size and light weight, and still more by its freedom from 1 See page 36. 132 THE MATERIALS OF SOVND. all mechanism interposed between the resonant string and the player's will, the violin is certainly the most docile of instruments, the one which permits the fullest development of virtuosity. It will not be expected that we should give here the fingering of the violin, or any sketch, however rapid, of the innumerable formulas that are familiar to it. These are matters for Violin Methods, and Treatises on Instrumenta- tion. All that can be done here is to indicate what should be considered as impossible for the violin, or so dif&cult that it is wise not to require it, at least in orchestral music, for, since Paganini, to the violinist virtuoso nothing is impossible. In the orchestra, then, it is wise not to exceed, as the high t limit, the A :^=, and this gives, indeed, a fine range i Where the pizzicato is used, a good effect cannot be antic- ipated from notes above C or D, "/^- - ; they become far too dry and snapping. The natural harmonics are the only ones that can be safely used, and these only in a moderate movement ; for any further use of them, the composer must himself be a player, either of the violin or of some other stringed instru- ment. The same is true as to double stopping, and of course, with greater reason, as to frij/le and quadruple ; these can be safely used, especially in rapid movements, only by a person who iinderstands the fingering of the instrument. Unless, then, the composer is himself somewhat of a violin- ist, he should avoid writing the intervals enumerated below : 1. All those in which both notes are below D p^ _ , as, -f for instance, :^ , — | — i^ ' which are absolutely imprac- S^¥:^:S#r^ DOUBLE STOPPING AND CHORDS 133 ticable, for the simple reason that the two notes composing them belong to the one bass string G, which can produce them only successively; 2. Seconds higher than :^~^—;. 3. Thirds above pga=;c=, and also these Fffi— j-bj -^— ,^. CSIZ CS3Z — « — » jz — p — which are not free from difficulty ; 4. Fourths above 5. Fifths above ': ; 6. Sixths above i; 7. Sevenths above P It; 8. Octaves above =, and also these, ^ ;E=, which are diflB.cult of execution. z!m-> FbS— I — r Beyond the octave, any interval which has not an open .«- =1= string for its bass note, like -^— w =, must be consid- ered impracticable, or at least dangerous of execution. For chords of three and of four notes, which, on account of the convexity of the bridge, can be emitted only by an arpeggio more or less rapid, the most convenient are natur- ally those which contain open strings, as I I J I J -J- etc.; outside of this it is wise to write only chords disposed in mixed fifths and sixths, such as b--5l:SSt I b-TF f ■ Sevenths can be employed also, thus disposed upon the \ but it is upper three strings, from F=»=^=^= to w^ -Op.— IP— rarely except in accompaniments or, on the other hand, in solos (two cases exactly the opposite of each other) that there is occasion to employ frequently two, three, or 134 THE MATERIALS OF SOUND. four strings. The violin is pre-eminently a melodic instru- ment, — the splendid, sparkling soprano of the stringed tribe, the richest in varied effects, the most agile, the most expressive, and the most impassioned of orchestral elements. All tonalities are within its reach, but it is more at ease in the frequent use of the open strings. Consequently the most convenient keys, as well as the most musical, ate those which contain few alterations ; at the same time, such is the extreme skill of violinists at the present day, that this scarcely requires to be considered except in rapid movements. There is no other instrument a thorough knowledge of which is so useful to any one wishing to work intelligently in instrumentation. Every composer who seeks to write well for the orchestra must have had a violin" in his hands, were it but for a few months, and no treatise upon instru- mentation, however perfect it may be, can replace the prac- tical ideas thus obtainable. The origin of the violin and of the other instruments of the family at whose head it stands, must be sought in India. In the time of Eavana, king of Ceylon, who lived about five thousand years before Christ, the ravanastron ^ was invented, which seems to be the most ancient type of instruments played with the bow. (It is still found in its primitive form in the hands of the poor Buddhist monks belonging to the mendicant orders. ) This rudimentary instrument had, in fact, all the constituent elements of the violin — the catgut strings, the bridge, the resonant box, the neck, the pegs ; also the bow, — whose development we shall examine later. Its earliest improvement upon the ravanastron was the omerti, which served as model for the kemangh-a-goua of the Arabs and Persians, and later, for their rehah. It is not difftcult fo trace the arrival of the rebab in Europe, during the Middle Ages, and the derivation from it, successively, of instruments which figure in all the museums, — the 1 See pp. 136, 137. PAMOliS ViOLtN MAKERS. 135 rubebe, rebelle, rebec, rebeochino, whose names alone would suflftee, in the absence of historic documents, to establish the affiliation. Then came the great epoch of the Italian lutherie, creating the definitive types which the makers of our day strive to imitate ; its most illustrious representatives are, in order of date ' : Gasparo da Salo Paolo Maggini Andrea Amati Geronimo Amati Antonio Amatio Nicolo Amati Geronimo Amati Andrea Guarnerius Joseph Guarnerius (del Gesk) !Francesco Ruggieri . Peter Guarnerius of Cremona Vincenzo Ruggieri . . . Giambattista Ruggieri . Pietro Ruggieri .... Peter Guarnerius of "Venice Ant. Stkadivaeics ... . Carlo Bergonzi . . . Michel-Angelo Bergonzi . Lorenzo Guadagnini . . Giambattista Guadagnini . Carlo Landolfi (Landolphus) Birth. Period of work. Death. circ. 1560 1610 circ. 1590 1640 1520 1580 ? 1 1638 Eire. 1550 1635 1596 1684 1649 1672 1650 1695 1683 1745 1670 17m 1690 1725 1700 17S0 1700 1725 1700 1720 17Z5 1740 1644 1737 1725 1750 1725 1750 1695 1740 1765 1785 1750 1760 Then followed the Tyrolese school, derived from the- Italian : Birth. Period of work. Death. Jacob Stainer 1620 1670 Matthias Albani 1621 1673 Matthias Albani the younger . 1702 1709 Matthias Klotz . 1670 1696 Sebastian Klotz and his brothers, sons of Matthias, etc. (The most celebrated names are in italics.) Guarnerius, Stradivarius, and Stainer were pupils oi Nicolas Amati. 1 These dates are not given as in every case strictly exact hut as approxi- mately BO. When the dates of birth and death are not to be obtained, the period of production of each axtisulutkier is given. 136 THE MATERIALS OF SOUND. The elder Albani was the pupil of Stainer, as also was Klotz. Many pupils of Stradivarius spread abroad through Europe the traditions of the Italian hUkerle ; of these/ the most famous are ; Period of work. Place of work. MMard 16S0 1720 Lorraine Decombre 1700 17S6 Belgium Fr. Lupot 1726 1750 Stuttgart Jean Vuillaume .... 1700 1740 Mireoourt It is useless to speak of contemporary luthiers whose merits are well known. The primitive bow of the ravanastron resembled that now used by the Arabs and the Tunisians, and also that employed by the Chinese/ races to whom progress is almost unknown, among whom traditions are perpetuated in- definitely. A piece of bamboo forms the stick ; at the heel this bam- boo is pierced with a hole through which is passed a mesh of hair secured by a knot ; at the other extremity of the stick a little cleft is made, and here the other end of the lock of hair is fixed, again by a knot ; in this way the stick is curved, whence its name, a bow. Although somewhat improved in Arabia, this implement remained a very rude one until the twelfth century when, losing its curve, it became almost straight ; and, finally, it received a slight curve inwards, was grooved, and acquired the form familiar to us at the present day, nearly the op- posite of that which it at first had. The principal artists who have contributed to this curious 1 I had the opportunity of hearing the Marquis Tseng, Chinese ambassador in Paris, on a ravanastron or Chinese violin, which belongs to me (Fig. 68). The instrument has this peculiarity, that the bow remains constantly entangled, interlaced, as it were, in the two strings, which are tuned in fifths, but upon which the bow plays alternately, according as it is moved forwards or back. Saint-Saens heard it to satiety in China ; he even essayed, unsuccessfully, to play it, and considers it as having a charm " essentially Chinese," but to which one becomes habituated. " It is sometimes atrocious, it is not discos-daiit," he wrote to me on the subject. THE VIOLIN BOW. 13T transformation are: Corelli (born about 1653), Vivaldi (about 1700), Tartini (1692) ; finally, Tourte, a French- man (1747-1835), who brought the violin-bow to its present perfection. He determined its length (75 cent, for the vio- lin, 74 for the viola, 72 for the 'cello); he established the fact that Brazil-wood (until then solely employed in dyeing) was the best material to use ; he de- termined the exact curve which gives it its admirable lightness, balance, suppleness, and energy ; finally, he invented a method of keeping the hairs flat like a ribbon, by pinching them at the nut with a ferule, thus materi- ally increasing the volume of sound and the force of expres- sion. Others regard the violin as derived from the Breton crouth (crwth), the rote and the Ir/ra being intermediate stages ; but as nothing proves that the crouth is not itself derived from the Indian ravanastron, this opinion does not invalidate what we have already said as to the orign of this king of in- struments ; its Indian germ may have been transported into various civilisations developing simultaneously in each ; but it remains incontestable that in Italy it attained its com- plete development, and that this occurred in the sixteenth century, since which time nothing more has been added to it, and no change in it has been made. Methods: Baillot, ^^V Art du violon," Baillot, Rode and Kreuizer, Fig. 68. Eavanastron or CHlXJi.SE ^']OLI^. Length, 27 1-2 in. 138 TSB MATERIALS OF SOUND. Mazas, Jean Comte, Biriot, Alart, DauM, etc. In English : "Violin Methods": Chas. de B6riot, Ch. Dancla; "Violin Schools ": J. B. Lo- der, F. David, Louis Schiibert, Singer and Seifritz, L. Spohr. "The Technics of Violin Playing," Karl Courvoisier. VIOLA (teNOB violin, ALTO OK QUINTE). The viola may be considered as a large violin tuned a fifth lower, or as a small violoncello tuned an octave higher, which explains its French names : it is the lower fifth (quinte) of the violin, or the high octave (alto) of the 'cello : m The extended description that has been given of the violin will render it unnecessary to enter into equally minute detail as to the other instruments of the same family. The viola, resembling the vio- lin in its construction, is played in the same way, though requiring, owing to its larger size, a some- what wider separation of the fin- gers of the left hand ; every skil- ful violinist can, in a few weeks, acquire the ability to play it fair- ly well ; but the true virtuoso of the viola must study his instru- ment long and carefully. By re- ferring to the pages on the violin and reading the examples a fifth lower, it will be easily seen what can and what cannot be done with the viola. But an important difference to be noted is in the charac- ter of the timbre ; by as much as the violin is biting, inci- sive, masterful, the viola is humble, wan, sad, morose ; accordingly, besides using it to fill the harmony, composers Fig. 69. — Viola. Lengtli, 26 in. Length of bow, 28in. VIOLA AND VIOLONCELLO. 139 take advantage of these qualities to obtain expressions of melancholy and resignation, for which the instrument is in- comparable, its range of sentiment running from sad reverie to agonised pathos. Although the viola is written normally in the C-clef, on the third line, the G, or violin-clef, is occasionally employed for its highest notes ; the total range of this instrument, as em- ployed in the orchestra, is »g^ therefore thus limited : Wa 1^ y^ , though, in fact, " ' " in skilful hands, it can go much higher. By reason of its functions in the orchestra, occupying the centre of the harmony, the use of double and triple stopping is very frequent in accompaniments. (There is no special Method for the viola, its fingering and its handling being mani- festly the same as for the violin. ) VIOLONCELLO. The 'cello or basso (bass- viol) is the only instrument which, on account of its com- pass, gives occasion for the use of three clefs : the bass- clef, the tenor-clef, and, rare- ly, the treble-clef. This is the range Fig. 70.— Violoncello. Length, 3 tt. 10 in. Lengtli of bow, 28 in. can be used in the orchestra ; but the virtuoso can prolong it indefinitely in upper notes, either natural sounds or har- monics, as is the case with all bowed instruments. 140 THE MATERIALS OF SOUND. It is thus tuned : St=^=- ^ ~ , an octave below the viola, a twelfth below the violin. It is rare, except in solos, that double, triple, or quadru- ple stops are used upon the 'cello; in this case, while refer- ring to what has been set forth as regards the violin, and transposing the examples a twelfth lower, it must be borne in mind that the instrument is far less docile, and that in consequence of the wide separation of the different notes (about double that of the violin) the best chords are those which consist most largely of open strings. The effect must not be overworked. On the other hand, the harmonics are very effective and are easily produced, the strings being so fine and so long. The functions of the 'cello in the orchestra are manifold ; usually it gives, reinforced by the double-bass, the bass of the harmony ; this is its natural place. But sometimes the singing part is committed to it, when — losing its auster- ity — it becomes a ravishing instrumental tenor, of pure, warm timbre, ecstatic or passionate, but always distin- guished and captivating. Its rapid and light utterance, the frequent passage from natural sounds to harmonics, im- itating the alternations of chest and head notes, complete its resemblance to the human voice. Moreover, the violoncello, though moving in another region and awaking other sensations, possesses a richness of varied tones almost as extensive as that of the violin ; and its ;pissicati are better, less dry, than those of the violin. Methods : Baudiot, Bomberg, Chevillard, Rabaud. In English : Fries and Suck, F. A. Kummer, C. Schroeder, Josef Werner. DOUBLE-BASS (cONTRA-BASs). The double-bass differs from the violin in its tuning, which is in fourths : ^^ , — = , and it occupies the "=?" zz: zn -^ — '^" lowest step of the orchestral scale. Accordingly, to avoid THE DOUBLE BASS. 141 the constant use of leger-lines, it is written an octave above ^= 1 the real sonnd, thus : [^ ^ ^=::^- The range of the double-bass in the orchestra comprises eighteen degrees : [)■ / — — Its almost constant r51e in the orchestra is to reinforce and re- double the 'cellos, or, at least, the bass of the harmony ; notwith- standing the great size of the in- strument, and the long distance over which the left hand must travel from one note to another, the double-bass player is able to execute either in connected or in detached tones, pas- sages of some rapidity, if they are not too com- plicated. Its tremolo produces excellent drar matic effects, and its pizzicato is fuller and richer in tone than that of any other instru- ment. Double notes are almost unknown 1 The same device, inversely, is used in the notation of the piccolo.. 2 There have been made, and are still sometimes to be met with, double-hasses with three strings which only go as low as G, and are tuned in fifths : Uke the one represented in the Illus- tration. Fig. 71.- Length, 6 ft. 6 in. ■ DoubijT5 Bass, Length of bow, 23 1-2 in. 142 THE matehials of sound. to it, and would be moreover as difficult as they are useless and injurious in this region of the scale where it is not desirable to heap notes together, but, on the con- trary, to separate them. The harmonics would be easy for the double-bass, but have been used only rarely up to the present time. Many of the classic masters, notably Gluck, Haydn, Mo- zart, and even Beethoven, have written scores for the double-bass, descending as low as C S i^=:^ (written note). What shall we infer from this? That in their lifetime and in Germany, the double-bass was tuned differently from what it now is ? This can hardly be, for no author men- tions the. fact. Shall we believe in any general and per- sistent negligence on their part? This is still more improb- able. This question is one to which I can offer no answer. Methods : Verrimst, Labro, Govffi, Botteslni. In English : C. Bottesini, John M. Flockton; German: Franz Simandl. VIOLA d'amobe. This is a curious and interesting instrument, chiefly be- cause it is the only one in which a systematic use is made of sympathetic vibratidns.^ It has seven catgut strings tuned ;=|ss= Fi^ in the perfect chord of D-major : and imder these strings there are seven metal ones, giving the same sounds, but out of reach of the bow, and vibrating spontaneously under the influence of the upper strings.'' Its timbre is strangely poetic ; but the sympathetic rein- forcement being produced only upon the notes of the per- fect D chord, and, besides, the fingering being very pecul- iar (on account of the manner in which it is tuned), it is one of the most imperfect of instruments ; its orchestral use 1 See pp. 33-5. 2 Tlie illustration on tlie next page is on a very mueli larger scale than in the case of the other stringed instruments, in order to show the interesting details of the construction of the viola d'amore, notahly the sympathetic strings and the double row of pegs is required. riOLA D'AMOHE AND HARP. 143 is so restricted that I can mention only a single instance of this, namely, in the first act of "Les Huguenots," where, indeed, its place is generally filled with- out detriment by the . first solo viola.' It is chiefly in a small hall, in con- certs of chamber-mu- sic, that its peculiar charm can be appre- ciated, but it cannot hold the attention long without becom- ing wearisome. Family of Stkixged Ixstru- MENTs Played by Plucking. HAKP. It is clear from many ancient bas-re- liefs that the primi- tive idea of the harp dates at least from the Egyptians of over six thousand years ago ! The ear- ly harp had from four to eleven or twelve strings, and, in some cases, the Fig. 72. — Viola D'Amore. (Mus6e du Conservatoire, No. 157.) Length, 30 in. ■ 1 [CM. Loeffler has composed a symphonic poem, " The Death of Tintagiles '' in which two violes d'amour are employed obligato with the orchestra. Ed,] 144 THE MATERIALS OF SOUND. elegant form which now characterizes this graceful instru- ment. Then it appears among the Hebrews ; then, in all the great civilisations, constantly gaining in size, but still Kg. 73. — HABP. Height, 5 ft. 8 in. without mechanism of any kind. Now it was precisely the adaptation of an entirely peculiar and very ingenious mechanism, — a mechanism whose first sketch belongs to MECHANISM OF THE HAHP. 14g Nadermana (1773-1835), and whose final improvement is due to the famous maker, Sebastian &ard, — which has given citizenship to the harp in the modern orchestra, where, employed appropriately and with discretion it pro- duces effects, now seraphic, now stately, and always of the greatest sweetness. (Fig. 73.) The following is the curious principle of construction of the double-action ifcrard harp, ," the only one that is now in use : Its forty-six strings are tuned to give the diatonic scale of Cb major. Sva lower Seven pedals surround its base, and can be depressed and fixed at two different notches. If one of these pedals is fixed at its first notch, all the strings Fb are simultaneously shortened by so much of the length as corresponds to a semi-tone, that is to say, the Fb becomes Ft[, and we have the key of Gb major ; a second pedal acts in the same way on the Cb which becomes Ctf, producing the key of Db major ; and so on, by lowering the other pedals to their first notch, there are further obtained the keys of Ab, Eb, Bb, F and C, all major. Returning now to the first pedal, that of F, we lower it to the second notch ; all the F strings are raised another semi-tone, becoming sharped, whence we have the key of G ; continuing with the other pedals, each time we get a new major key. So that when the seven pedals are all fixed at their second notch, the instrument originally in Cb is now in Cj} major. The pecidiarity of this mechanism will be remarked. Let us now see what results as to the writing of music for the harp. First it appears that the chromatic genre is that which suits it least, and the chromatic scales are completely pro- 146 THIS MATERIALS OF SOUND. hibited to it except in extremely slo-r movemeiits since every chromatic note requires the shifting of a pedal ; moreover, the effect is bad. rurther, it is seen that the minor scale presents, though to a less extent, a similar difficulty, by reason of the variable character of the sixth and seventh degrees, which causes it to share in the chromatic character. Finally, it appears that rapid modulations, especially into remote keys, are dangerous, since they can only be obtained by altering the position of the pedals, which re- requires time, since they must be moved consecutively. The most musical keys for the harp are those which con- tain the greatest number of flats, since these use the strings in their greatest length. The major keys are preferable because the instrument is thus tuned. Chords, struck at once or in arpeggio, scales, and diatonic phrases in octaves, thirds, and sixths are the effects most familiar to the harp. The strings are so near each other that the hand can stretch the interval of a tenth as easily as an octave on the piano ;■ but in chords only four notes should be required of each hand, since harpists as a rule do not use the fourth finger. Trills and repeated notes are not very successful in effect. Like the instruments played with a bow, the harp has harmonic sounds ; touching the string midway, with the outside of the hand, which leaves the fingers free for play- ing, the second partial tone (the octave of the fundamental) is obtained, a note of exquisite sweetness especially in the middle register of the instrument; the right hand can render but one harmonic at a time, the left hand two, and in a moderate tempo ; they are not loud, and can be utilized only in piano or pianissimo passages. Their notation is very simple; it consists in writing the desired sound an octave lower and with a zero (0) above it. Notation =E=|g:=. Effect produced F ^ ^ — j— . GUITAR AND MANDOLIN. 147 Making allowance for the peculiarities we have here noted, and although the two instruments are developed from principles differing in toto, we may consider the music of the harp to be written very nearly like that of the piano ; the same clefs are used, and the same system of notation, but the execution is entirely difPerent. Methods: Labarre, Nadermann, Prumier, Bochsa. In English: Nadermann, Bochsa, Oberthiir. This is not, properly speaking, an orchestral instrument, although it has sometimes been em- ployed as such with a picturesque in- tention ; in Spain and Italy it often accompanies the voice, and, in famil- iar music, is not without a certain poetic quality. Its tuning suggests that of the lute, from which it is de- rived : it is written an octave above and in the G clef. Methods: CaruUi, Oatayes, Cottin. In English: Bayer, Caracassi. MANDOLIN. Of this instrument there are many kinds. The one generally used has eight strings in pairs, tuned like those whence results a similar fingering; but it will not do to go higher than E of the violin : Pig. 74. — GuiTAB. I/ength, 36 1-2 In. .P The strings of the mandolin are not plucked by the fin- ger directly, like those of the guitar and harp, but with a little quill, or a shell plectrum. The strings are doubled to 148 THE MATERIALS OF SOUND. obviate the feebleness of the sound, but especially to allow of a very rapid tremolo, which the player substitutes for sustained notes ; it is an effect peculiar to this instru- ment, and one of which the auditor soon tires. Methods: Cerclier, Cottin, Pietrapertosa, de Sivry, F. de Cristofaro, Patierno. In Eng- lish: Pietrapertosa, Brunzoli, Gargiolo. Family of Instruments with Strings Struck. PIANO. Though the piano is, above all, an au- tonomous instrument, it is enough that it has been used by Berlioz in "Lelio" ; by Saint-Saens in his marvellous Sym- phony, op. 78 ; by Vincent d'Indy in his "Chant de la Cloche," and by other com- posers less eminent, to give it rank hence- forth among instruments which can, at least exceptionally, make part of the orchestra. There is nothing to prove that it will not take its place here eventually, for it pro- duces effects new and individual which can be obtained from no other musical instrument. The Hungarians have the cembalo in their national orchestra which is a piano minus the key-board; and the ancient Italian, German, and Trench composers employed its ancestor, the harpsichord,^ in their scores and as the accompaniment of recitatives, where it was written in figured bass. In the church, — whence it is excluded only by a sort of prejudice, — associated with the organ, and played with dis- cretion, it assumes a character quite as religious as the harp ; and while it cannot be substituted in all cases for the latter, which has peculiar effects and specially hieratic 1 Clavircembalo (cembalo witli a key-board). Kg. 75. — Mandolih. Length, 23 1-2 in. THE PIANOFORTE. 149 appearance, it is capable, nevertheless, of combinations en- tirely personal to itself. Thus Gounod often employed it. To describe the piano seems to be needless ; let me say, however, in the rather improbable case that this volume might drop upon some other planet than our own, that it is Fig. 76. — Grand Piano. liCngth, variable ; key-board, 4 ft. 3 in. an instrument having metal strings which are struck by the hand, and a key-board with the chromatic extent of seven 8va octaves, from ^ ^*o^ :;, being the largest of all musi- 8va cal instruments, except the organ. This ex-tent, already 150 THE MATERIALS OF SOUND. enormous, will probably be still further increased, for the piano has been increasing steadily up to the present time, the earliest instruments having the compass of the harpsi- chord, about five octaves, while the pianos of today usually extend to the C of 4138 vibrations. It is true that these extremely high notes have a pitch nearly inappreciable. There has been sometimes attached to the piano a pedal Kg. 77. — trpRTGHT Piano. Height, variable ; key-board, 4 ft. 3 in. key-board which enriches it with special effects, but neces- sarily deprives the player of the use of the ordinary pedals of the instrument. Methods : Adam, Bertini, Le Carpentier, Leduc, Lemoine, Kalk- brenner, Zimmermann, Le Couppey, Anthiome, Beconibes, Kijhler, etc. De Biriot pkre et fils, " la Clef du piano" ("to teach singers to accompany themselves). £aj)i.97iac, "I'Eoole de la p^dale." Falken- berg, "les P^dales du piano." In English : E. Pauer, " The Pianoforte ; " London, 1877. T. R. Prentice, "The Musician;" London, 1883. Seinrieh Germer, THE HUNGARIAN DULCIMER. 151 "Theoretico-Practioal Elementary Pianoforte School"; William Mason, "Pianoforte Technics" ; CaH Tausig, "Daily Studies." Kg. 78. — PrANO -WITH Pedai, Kkv- board. Height of pedal-box, 11 in. CEMBALO OR ZIMBALON. This curious instrument which gives a quite peculiar tang to Hungarian and Tsigane orchestras, is composed of •Fig. 79.— HuNGABiAif Cembalo. (Miis^e du ConserTatoire, No. 311.) Breadth, 4 ft. 5 1-2 in. a trapezoidal sound-board, across -which are stretched strong metal strings (from three to five for each note) by means 152 TBS MATERIALS OF SOUND. of pegs like those of the piano. The strings vibrate under the percussion of two supple hammers which the player manages skilfully with both hands. It is tuned in the most extraordinary manner,' the strings of the lower register vibrating in their full length, while the others are divided by a bridge, or by two or three bridges, so as to produce many different tones. The whole i^*°p range is four octaves, from iSl to 25=? sometimes more. and the most rapid and complicated passages can be ren- dered by this instrument; if double strings are used the time must be slower, for only one note can be struck at once, by each hand. It is not without interest to observe that the very name 1 Tuning of tile Hungarian cembalo : High.— 5 strings to a note 1. . . Gfi B, . a 2 C, Cfe. 3. . . Ft* A, Dl, t^jS^o Si S---^4 G D. 6 Dfe, t, = - Si 5^ 7 Et AJt,. ■=" !»! '-"I Ti Si^- ^ °* '^'^^ « ^ © * -^ a 5 S 10 Ba ^ S S „- .§ S a _ 11 ■. . CJ^ n-6. g>o.g|.;3:g |«| 13 C,... ..F3. Si^lg- 1|S 14 !..A,. I§ E;.&i ll 17 A3 D,. 18 G2. 19 G3 20 FJj. Medidm. — 4 strings f^ a note . . . . . 21 Fj. 22 E2. 23 D«2. 24 Dj. 25 CJj. 26 Cj. Low. — 3 striTCps to o mofe 27 Bj. 28 Afc. 29 A,. 30 Qti- 31 Gi. 32 FJ,. 33 F,. KETTLE-DRUMS. 153 of this instrument proves its relationship to the clavi- cembalo, or cembalo with clavier, that is to say, the clavecin, the harpsichord, •which is the ancestor of the modern piano. The origin of the cembalo is very ancient and probably oriental. Family of Instruments of Percussion Having Definite Pitch. kettle-drums. Among the numerous percussion instruments in which the resonant body is a stretched skin, the kettle-drum is the only one whose pitch is definite. Fig. so. — Kettle - drums. Diameters, 23 in. and 30 in. A kettle-drum is a great hemispheric basin of copper, a sort of cauldron, covered with calfskin strained so tight as to give musical vibrations. A ring- of metal moved by screws which are turned by a key, regulates the tension of this membrane, and causes it to produce sounds which are clearly different in pitch; the intonation can be varied about a fifth. It is usual to have- two drums of unequal size,.sometimBs 164 THE MATERIALS OF SOUND. three, rarely more than that.' The tor.es that they can produce are comprised be- tween #^= and §f5^, that is to say, one complete oc- tave. When there is a pair of kettle-drums, as is usual, they are generally tuned in fifths or in fourths, furnish- ing the tonic and the domi- nant of the key of the com- position, the larger drum emitting, naturally, the lower note between ^ — anri^; and Fig. 81.— Ancient Chime of Beli.s (Mus^e du Conservatoire, No. 737.) the smaller drum, the higher one between S^g g-"^^" ; while if there is a third, it gives a note between the two. The drums will be tuned, of course, within these liniits, according to the wish of the composer. The kettle-drum is availa- ble for all rhythmical figures, even the most rapid ; the roll is indicated by tr. (for tremolo). It has also the entire range of shading from the faintest pianissim,o to the noisiest fortissimo. If it is desired to vary the pitch of the kettle-drums dur- ing the performance of a movement, time enough for doing this must be given ; there will be written in the score : change to D, or to Bb, F, etc. Methods: Kastner, de Sivry. 1 ["In order to obtain a* certain number of chords in three, four, and five parts, more or less doubled, and, moreover, a striking effect of very close rolls, I have employed in my grand Kequiem Mass eight pairs of drums, tuned in dilFerent ways, and ten drummers." Berlioz. Tr.] OTHER INSTRUMENTS OF PERCUSSION. 165 CARILLON. GLOCKENSPIEL. A series of small bars of steel or bronze, so placed that they can be struck by a small hammer, and tuned either diatonically or chromatically, makes an elementary carillon. Kg. 82. — Cakillon without Claviek. Width, 12 in. By adapting a key-board to a carillon, we obtain an in- strument more convenient for use ; and, besides, this admits Fig. 83. — Cakillon with Claviee. Widtli, 15 3-4 in. of chords, arpeggios, trills, and all the rapid passages which would be impossible to the simple carillon. These instruments may have any desired range ; this de- pends merely on the number alid dimensions of the strips of metal. TYPOPHONE. A series of tuning-forks, generally having a compass of four octaves, having a manual, and a mechanism of ha,m- mers, producing by percussion crystalline sounds of ideal 156 THM MATERIALS OF SOUND. clearness and purity ; this instrument, invented by Mustel, or better still, the CELESTA, of the same maker, is advantageously substituted for all the old carillons ; in the celesta, the resonant body is a bar 1 , 1 1, 111. iiR^noS^ — H v '1 1 ^ i I I . m Kg. 84 — Celesta. Height, 2 tt. 11 1 2 in. of steel, loaded at each extremity with a little block of brass soldered to the bar ; this is its form I the timbre is that of a tuning-fork, more energetic however, btit of less prolonged duration. The instrument as now made has a compass of five octaves, its lowest note being the Cg ; it also has dampers and a soft pedal, like the piano. XYLOPHONE AND SELLS. 157 XYLOPHONE. The early forms of this instrument are found among many quite barbarous tribes, among the Malagasy, for in- Fig. 85. — XVLoruoNE. Width, 27 1-2 in. stance, who call it mogologondo, — in Central Africa, and elsewhere. In France, it is called .claquebois, and in Ger- many, Holzharmonica. It consists of a series of strips of wood, of length and thickness either calculated or found by actual experiment to produce various notes of a scale ; the strips, more or less in number, are supported in a way to isolate them, either on straws or threads of silk, and they are struck with two little mallets. The dry, flat tone of the xylophone can find use (to a very limited extent) only in imitative, descriptive, or gro- tesque music. Method (in English) : Fischer. There can be nothing more false than the saying : "Who hears a bell hears one sound only," for of all sound-producing agents the bell is perhaps the one which develops the greatest number of partial tones, often discordant even, which sometimes causes a difficulty in discovering which is its fundamental tone, regarded musically. 158 THE MATERIALS OF SOUND. The larger and heavier the bell, and the denser the metal of which it is made, so much the deeper is the sound which Kg. 86.— Bell. it produces ; to produce the C of the bass clef ^^5^, a bell must weigh about twenty-two and a half tons ; for the C -»- an octave higher §!== not quite three tons will be needed, according to this law : The vibrations of bells are in inverse ratio to the cube root of their weight ; now, good bell-metal costing about thirty-six cents a pound, the larger of these TBE BASS DRUM. 159 two bells -woiild. cost (in round numbers) $18,000, and the smaller, $2,400. The largest bell in the world, that of the Kremlin, which has never been hung, weighs a little over 247 tons.* In the theatre, a church bell is usually imitated by a heavy bronze bell struck by a hammer, or else by steel bars, which are cheaper and are perfectly sufficient to produce, in-doors, the effect of the real bell vibrating in the open air, on the top of its tower. Family of Insteuments of Percussion without Pitch. bass drum. The bass drum, struck with a padded stick, is the more sonorous, the larger it is. It takes part only in noisy. Fig. 87.— BASS Drum. Diameter, about 2 ft. 7 in. 1 The great beU of Notre Dame de Paris weighs ba t 16,00 kilos ; and produces a tone a little higher than the D of the bass clef f5S= (16.192 kilos). It re- quires eight men to ring it. 160 THE MATERIALS OF SOUND. rhytlimic effects, where it is frequently associated with the cymbals, the same player causing both instruments to sound, one with each hand, which, in general, is easily done. Employed alone, the bass drum imitates cannon-firing; in tremolo, beaten with two drumsticks, it represents thunder ; and in the pian- issimo, it produces effects not destitute of solemnity. Method (in English) : Sousa. CYMBALS Are often employed simul- taneously with the bass drum. This combination may serve in the great, noisy fortissimi, where it marks, not without brutality, the accented part of the bar. The cymbals are thin plates, of a composition of copper and tin, round in form, and slightly concave at the centre. They are clashed together, producing various effects. ^igii^ ^ They furnish mere rhythmic forms; when not damped, their vibration lasts a long time. SIDE DRUM (tambour). This is the military drum, and is used in all rhythmic figures by means of alternate or simultaneous beating with its two drumsticks. Fig. 88. — Cymbals. Diameter, 13 1-2 in. Fig. 89. — Side Dkum. Diameter, about 15 1-2 in. Methods (in English): Chaine, Fischer, Sousa. TRIANGLE. A cylindrical steel bar, bent into an equilateral triangle. TAMBOUBIN AND TAMBOURINE. 161 It is struck with a small bar of the same metal. The sound is crystalline, and can vary from the lightest pianissimo to fortissimo. The pitch is in- definite, so that it can be em- ployed in all keys and with all chords. The most complicated rhythms are within its reach, and also the trill or tremolo. Fig. 90. — Triangle. Height, about 8 in. TAMBOURIN. Though this instrument is in use in the middle and south of France and the Basque country, it must not be confused with the tambour de basque (tambourine) hereafter to be described. This is a long and slender drum, which is beaten with one stick; it produces therefore only isolated sounds which have a certain rhythm, but never a tremolo or roll. The player will often strike his tambourin with the left hand while with the right he plays a fife or flute. TAMBOURINE (tAMBOUE DB BASQUE). This is a wooden ring, over which parchment is stretched and around which are hung little disks of metal Fig. 91.— Tambourin Provencal. (Mus^e (lu Conservatoire, No. 701.) Length, 26 in. 162 THE MATERIALS OF SOUND. in pairs, "jingles," or very small -bells ; it has two kinds of sound, that of the membrane struck with a sharp blow of the knuckles, that of the little cymbals when the tambourine is shaken ; sometimes these two effects are united. Furthermore, by drawing the finger in a certain way over the parch- ment, a sort of roll is produced which, mingling with the metallic sounds of the little bells and jingles, makes a very characteristic effect. This instrument is popular in Spain and Italy. TOMTOM OE GONG. Fig. 92. Tambourine. Diameter, about 12 in. The most vigor6us and violent of the percussion instriiments. It is appropriate only in scenes of terror, and always has that effect, whether the blow, struck upon it with a mallet covered with felt or rags, is heavy or light. The instrument consists of a disk of bronze, of peculiar composition and temper, the secret of which is known only to the Chinese. The gong is made in a great variety of sizes, of which one of the largest is represented. (Fig. 93. ) CASTANETS. Two wooden shells, united by a string, clicking against each other in the hollow of the hand, — these are castanets. Their action is purely rhythmic ; their only use is in dance- music having a Spanish character. Methods (in English) : Fischer, Salino. OKOTALA (CLAPPEBS). These were metallic castanets, usually, but sometimes of wood, or even shells, whose clicking together was much appreciated by the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Latins. The metallic crotala must have produced an effect like that of very small cymbals. OUCHES TRA TION. 163 Such are, I believe, very nearly all the musical instru- ments now at our command and usually to be found in orchestral scores. ri belong to the domain of harmony if written vertically, whether on one stave or on several staves. (In composition, especially in in- strumental composition, it often hap- pens that the notes composing a chord are emitted not together but successively, and the chord is said to be broken or arpeggio'd. From the theoretic point of view, however, they should be regarded as simultaneous. ) In the present division of our subject, we have, therefore, (excepting some references to melodic contours) to consider only the simulta- neous combination of sounds which are called chords. The simultaneous sounding Of two notes does not consti- tute a chord. It is not enough ; it is nothing more than a harmonic interval, an uncompleted chord, imperfect, lacking one of its elements. The true chord is composed of three, four, or five notes.^ The primitive or fundamental chord, also called the triad, is formed by superposed thirds ; the origin of this chord is easily discovered in the phenomenon of the reso- nance of sonorous bodies, already examined thoroughly 1 [Hauptmann finely elaborates the distinction between melody and harmony. Melody conTeys an idea of motion ; harmony, of rest. Melody must go on, or cease to be melody ; harmonyHhough stationary, contains a complete musical idea. Progressions in harmony are a succession of distinct ideas ; in melody, the idea as a whole develops by the succession of tones. Tr.] 2 Certain chords, indeed, consist of six. See p. 307. 190 THE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. in Chapter I.,^ to which we shall have occasion to refer later. vT s- ^ Harmonics. •' 1234667 89 10 Chords of g notes. The first harmonics (namely the 4th, 6th, and 6th) furnish the triad or perfect chord ; by adding to it the 7th harmonic, we obtain a chord of four notes, called the chord of the seventh; and, lastly, the 9th harmonic,^ added to the preceding, produces the chord of five sounds which is known as the chord of the ninth. The triads are the only consonant chords. With them this study will begin. CONSONANT CHOKDS. The most characteristic type is the perfect major chord, composed of a major third and a perfect fifth : This combination of intervals occurring, in the major mode, upon the 1st, 4th, and 6th degrees (root-notes), and, in the minor, on the 6th and 6th, the major triad can occupy these various positions, and no other : '9' \i d <=> Major mode. -*>v-g— ^- ~^^ Minor mode. I ^J ZSSL IV V V VI By lowering its third, we have the minor triad (an arti- ficial product) formed with a minor third and a perfect fifth. ^Major. Minor. Perfect chords. 4 1 Page 9. 2 The 8th (C) would he used twice with 1, 2, and 4. The 10th (E) would be twice used witli 5. Tliese are not taken into the account, CONSONANT CHORDS. 191 These two intervals being found together only, in the major mt>de, on the 2d, 3d, and 6th degrees, and only, in the minor mode, on the 1st and 4th, it follows that upon these degrees only can the perfect minor chord be built. Major mode. Minor mode. -e- -3— -f^— -A^ ■'**— -^ — ^5- -is- -&_ ^=^ II III ^ — •- ^ s>- ■^t^^— -*■ — ^- I IV If now we lower the fifth of the minor triad, we have a chord of the diminished fifth (a diminished triad) which is a still more artificial product, containing a minor third and a diminished fifth. Perfect major. Perf ect minor. Of diminisl ied fifth. Chords. This chord can be built, in the diatonic scale, only upon the 7th degree in the major, and on the 2d and 7th in the minor, which limits it to the following positions : „ s Major mode. VII Minor mode. "*)■ « ^r-TO-^-*^-— II VII Each degree of a scale, whether major or minor, can therefore receive, without the intervention of notes foreign to the key, a chord of three notes, a triad, in its fundamen- tal position : Perfect major chord. Perfect minor chord. Chord of the diminished 5th. Major scale. •- I II III IV V VI vn 192- THE GRAMMAR OF JitUSIC. Perfect major chord. Perfect minor chord. Chord o£ diminished 5th. Minor scale. I II III IV V VI VII except tTie 3d. degree of the minor mode (marked with a star) on which can be erected only a chord of the augmented fifth, ^I^Z , whose inutility most theorists admit. It is besides too harsh to the ear to be admitted into 'the family of the consonant chords ; the chord of the diminished fifth even can be received only by a kind of tolerance (with the object of rendering the system more homogeneous by build- ing upon each degree of the major scale a chord of three notes), for its characteristic note, the diminished fifth, is itself discordant.^ It is understood then that there are three chords of three tones, consonant chords, triads, formed in their fundamen- tal position by two superposed thirds, and these are : the perfect major chord, the perfect m,inor chord, and the chord of the diminished fifth. Each of these chords belongs ex- clusively to certain degrees of each mode, outside of which it cannot be used. Both chords and intervals are capable of inversion ; an interval can have but one inversion, and a chord can have as many inversions as it contains distinct intervals. A triad, then, is susceptible of two inversions. These are obtained by setting its lowest note an octave higher : 1 We should remember that the chord of the diminished fifth has only been admitted with reluctance. Inverted it contains the alarming triton^.^ once abso- lutely prohibited, and in mediseval times called diaholna im musica. (See Chap. v.). INVERSIONS OF CHOIWS. 193 Fundamental cbord. 1st inversion. 2d inversion. The first inversion of a triad is called a chord of tUe sixth, from the name of the interval which it introduces into the system; its second, a chord nf tli.e fourth and sixth (4-6), for a like reason. Each of these must be examined sepa- rately, beginning with the iirst. The first inversion of the perfect major chord is formed of a minor third and a minor sixth, two minor intervals, which is not surprising when we reflect that inversion reverses the relation of an interval. Perfect major chord. Cliord of sixtli. In the same way the inversion of the perfect minor chord gives only major intervals, a third and a sixth. Perfect minor chord. Chord of sixth. The first inversion of the chord of the diminished fifth gives a minor third and a major sixth, the notes of this forming between themselves, within the chord, the interval of the augmented fourth, which is the inversion of the diminished fifth. Chord of dim. 6th. Chord of 6th (augm. 4th). The origin of these chords indicates the place they can occupy in the scale. They are derived from the fundar mental chords ; they have as their bass the thirds of those chords ; they are formed by the same tones differently grouped, inverted ; they must stand on the degree which forms an interval of a third with the one on which their fundamental chord stands. Hence we can build on each degree of the major or minor scale, a chord of the sixth, the first inversion of the fundamental chords : 194 THE GEAMMAB OF MUSIC. Derived from major. Derived from minor. Derived from diminished 5tli. Basses of chords of 6th. Fundamental chords. Major Scale. Derived from major. Derived from minor. Derived from diminished 5th. Basses of chords of 6th. Fundamental chords. Minor scale. §^ III IV V VI VII I II M m m M M m 5d -• — « — - • I II III IV V VI VII ^s^ III IV V VI VII I II M 5d * m M M 5d I II III IV V VI VII except on the fifth degree of the minor mode, to which would correspond the inversion of the (unused) chord of the augmented fifth ^^^^^E- We will now examine second inversions. That of the perfect major chord contains a perfect fourth and a major sixth. Perfect major chord. Chord of 6tli. Chord of 4 -6. That which is derived from the perfect minor cliord SECOND INVMBSIONS. 195 differs only in having a minor sixth instead of a major, and the fourth remains perfect, Perfect minor chord. Chord of 6th. Chord of 4- 6. while in the second inversion of the chord of the dimin- ished fifth is found its inversion, the augmented fourth, accondpanied by a major sixth. Chord of dim. Bth. Chord of 6th. (Angm. 4th.) Hence this last is usually designated by the special name, chord of the augmented fourth and sixth. Every fundamental chord admitting of a second inver- sion, as it does of a first, simply by changing the position of the tones which compose it, it is plain, that on every degree of the diatonic scale can be erected a chord of 4^6 in either mode, by using as bass the fifth of the fundamen- tal chord, which is also the third in chords of the sixth, the first inversion. This is shown in the table annexed, where each degree of the scales, major and minor, is shown having its chord of 4-6 : ^ - g- -^ Derived from major. Derived from minor. Derived from dim. 5th. Basses of chords of 4- 6. Basses of 1st inversions. Fundamental chords. Major scale. I II III IV V YI VII 196 THE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC, Derived from major. Derived from minor. Derived from dim. 5tli. Basses of cliords of 4 - 6. Basses of 1st inversions. Fundamental cliords. Minor scale. Ill IV ^ in 5d * m M M 6d 1^ I II in IV 'V VI VII except the seventh degree of the minor, where now occurs the gap already mentioned, which renders if" incapable of carrying a chord of 4-6, which would be a diminished fourth and sixth. The entire system of the consonant chords, which, for the sake of clearness, we have thus studied, chord by chord, is now summed up and represented in the following tables, in the two modes : Ist and 2cl inversions. Major mode. Fundamental chords. Majors. ...T. .M. . .• : M. . .. M. . .': -3 Minors. .'.m . . .'. m . . .• '. : ....'. m. .. ; -3 Of dim. 5th. : ; 1 ....;..... .■ '.dS. . . .-1 Ist and 2d inversions. Minor Mode. Fundamental cliords. Majors. Minors. Of dim. 5th. MSSONANT CHORDS. 197 We see that it is directly derived from the system of tonality, of which it is, to speak more truly, the extension, the necessary consequence. . The same is true 0,s to the system of DISSONANT CHOEDS which we shall now examine and shall find to be of equal simplicity. A third and a fifth,that is to say, two superposed thirds, built upon any degree of the scale, have given us chords of three sounds, consonant chords, in their fundamental posi- tion. If we build upon these musical constructions by the addition of another third (a higher note, of course) we shall obtain, upon each degree, a new chord formed of four tones, a chord of the seventh, also in its fundamental position, differing from the consonant chord upon the same degree only by this third third, which has been added to it, forming a seventh with the root-note, and bringing into the chord the dissonant element which characterises it. ConBonant chord. Chord of 7tli (dissonance). Thus are constituted, always without the use of tones foreign to the diatonic scale, the chords of the major seventh, which, in the major scale, are built upon the first and fourth degrees, and in the minor upon the sixth only. Major mode. -^ S =2 ^- I VI ?-■ Minor mode. ^ sp- _^ — => — e_ VI and are composed of a major third, a perfect fifth, and a major seventh. The chords of the minor seventh, which are only minor triads, surmounted by a third third, forming with the root an interval of a minor seventh, are built, in the major, on the 2d, 3d, and 6th degrees and, in the minor, upon the 4th only. 198 THM GliAMMAB OF MVSIC. Major mode. II III Minor mode. ^ =»= IV If to a perfect major chord we add a minor seventh, we have the chord of the dominant seventh, so called because it can only be built upon the fifth or dominant degree of either mode. Major mode. r-T^ — -^ — &- —^ C3 — V Minor mode. V The chord of the dominant seventh is the most frequently used of any chords of the seventh ; it is the least dissonant, being formed by a union of the harmonics 4, b, 6, and 7, while all the other chords of the seventh contain tones foreign to the harmonics of their root. If, finally, to a chord of the diminished fifth be added a seventh, two different chords are obtained according as this seventh is minor or diminished. If minor, the following group is formed : ^^ — g= , which is called the seventh chord of the leading tone, on the sev- enth degree of the major scale, ^ , ,. ^ fi Major scale. [i^i _j^^_ _g ■r r — ^ ^ ^^ — __ and the minor seventh and diminished fifth, when it is built on the second degree of the minor scale : Minor scale. pgi= 1 _ ^^ .^ zz agzrjgEJ^ II Diminished, it forms the ehord of the diminished seventh : .km- S -S-, which can be formed only on the seventh degree in the minor mode : CSORDS OF THE S:S:V£!NTS. 199 Minor scale. ^i==zz ^ VII There is, then, a chord of the seventh, a dissonant chord of four notes, which can be erected on each of the degrees of the major or minor scale, excepting always the inevita- ble gap on the third degree in the minor. Hence, the major scale has : 1 chord of the dominant seventh. 2 chords of the major seventh. 3 chords of the minor seventh. 1 chord of the seventh on the leading tone. Total: 7, one to each degree. The minor scale has : 1 chord of the dominant seventh. 1 chord of the major seventh. 1 chord of the minor seventh. 1 chord of the minor seventh and dim. fifth. 1 chord of the diminished seventh. Total: 5, but all differ entA This is shown in the following table : Dominant 7tli. Major 7th. Minor 7tli. 7th on the leading tone. Major scale. Corresponding consonant chords. M ID m M M m 6d 1 The last major and the last minor in these lists of chords may also be con- sidered, when they are built on the seventh degree, as chorda of the ninth de- prived of their root-tone. See p. 206. 200 THE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. Dominant 7tli. Major 7tll. Minor 7th, Minor 7tli and dim. 5tli. Diminished 7th. Minor scale. Corresponding consonant chords. ^ m 5d * m M M 5d The perfect correlation between the chords of the seventh and the fundamental consonant chords from which they are derived is noticeable. Also it will be remarked that the absence of a chord of three notes on the third degree of the minor scale results indirectly in preventing the formation of a chord of the seventh on the first degree also, since it would have within it an interval of the augmented fifth, which, harmonically considered, cannot make part of a chord. ^^ From this it must not be inferred that every combination containing an augmented fifth is absolutely inadmissible ; this would be a grave error. Combinations of this kind are in frequent and excellent use, and will be explained in their appropriate place. ^ But it is suitable, for purposes 1 Page 253. iNVEBStom OF SEVENTH CffORDS. 201 of pure classification, to omit them in the enumeration of chords properly so-called, for they have not this character, and call for the application of special rules. It is simply a question of nomenclature. Chords of the seventh, containing four tones, are suscep- tible of three inversions. i =^r^'^=^^^^^^ Fundatnentalchord. 1st inversion. 2d inversion. 3d inversion. The first inversion of each is composed of a third, a fifth, and a sixth, whose character diifers according to the com- position of the fundamental chord. It is called in general terms a chord of 6-5, with the specification, when it occurs, that the fifth is diminished, or that the sixth occupies the seventh degree of the scale, the leading tone. The table shows these chords, with their names, the in- dication of the degree on which they can be built, and that of the fundamental chord from which they are derived. The bass of the first inversions is of course the third from that of the fundamental chords. Dim. 5th and 6tli. Sth and 6th. Sth and subtouio 6th. Basses of 1st inversion. Ill IV V VI VII I II 7 7 Fundamental chords. ^M 7m 7m 7M Of dom. 7m of sens. Major scale. I II m IV V VI VII 202 thj^ grammar of music. Dim. 5tli and 6tli. 5t]i and Gtb. Dim. 5th and 6th on the leading tone. Basses of let inr. Fundamental chords. Minor scale. Ill IV V VI VII * 7m 6d * 7 7mofdom. 7M 7d I U III IV V VI VII The second inversion contains a third, a fourth, and a sixth, in various relations. In general, it is called the chord of 4-3, because it is the only one containing these two intervals, the third and fourth, which form between them the dissonance of a second. At the same time this inversion is specially designated, whenever among the intervals composing it there is any characteristic one. Thus it may be called : Sixth on the leading tone, tritone ' lulth major third; tritone with minor thii-d ; augmented fourth and sixth ; being in each case, however, nothing more than the second inversion of a chord of the seventh. These various designations have the effect of characterising it better, and, as a matter of fact, determine precisely the situation that a chord occupies in the scale. The following table presents all the chords of the seventh in their second inversion. Here their bass-note forms a fifth with the bass of the fundamental chord. 1 Old appellation of the augmented fourth, ■htWoIi contains three whole tones. CHORDS OF THE SECOND. 20.'? Gth on tlie leading tone. 3d and 4th. Tritone with major 3d. of 2d inversions. V VI vn I II III IV 7th on the dom, leading aamentai chords. M7th m7th m7th M7th 7th m7th tone Major scale. — ■ • — — • — m '-^ I u m IV V VI VII 6th on the leading tone. 3d and 4th. Tritone with minor 3d. Aug. 4th and 6th. Basses of 2d inversions. Fundamental chords. Minor scale. Ill IV V VI VII I II m 7th dom. « dim.6th * tn7th 7th M7thdim.7th II III IV The third inversions compose the family of chords of the second, whose bass is the seventh in relation to the funda- mental chord. According to circumstances these are called the second on the leading tone, the augmented second, chord of the tritone, showing their composition — or their place, which amounts ' to the same thing, since, each degree being differently constituted, by knowing the formative elements you can find the degree, and vice versa. 204 THE GRAMMAR OF MTlSIC. ( This is not absolutely -without exception, since certain chords can be built on two or three different degrees ; but, as we shall see later, no confusion results from it.) The third inversions are represented in the following table, with indication of the special name of each, in the major and minor : Tritone. Second. 2d on the leading tone. Basses of 3d inversions. vii I ii HI IV V vi 7th on the dom. leading Fundamental chords. M 7th m 7th m 7th M 7th 7th in7th tone. Major scale. Second. Augmented second. ^B—- Basses of 3d inversions, Fundamental chords. Minor scale. VII I II III IV V VI m 7th dom. dim. « dim. 6th * m7th 7th M7th 7th II HI IV VI VII As I have already done in the case of consonant chords,^ I will give a synoptic table for the system of chords of the seventh, taking each mode separately. 1 Page 196. TABLE OF SEVENTH CBOBDS. 20S ■S 355 i Sh t- t- t- o ° S 5^ .S .3 4a c ^ ^ ca § ^ jj a a' jj 43 4a -W 4^ 4^ t™ t- t- t- lO ^ 1 a ss a « 55 I 206 THE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. In order to complete our knowledge of chords; we have now only to examine the dissonant chords of five tones, or chords of the ninth; this will be speedily done, for they are but two in number, built upon the same degree, which shows, of course,- that they belong to different modes. If we add to a chord of the dominant seventh a higher third, which must of necessity be major or minor according to the mode, we shall obtain either the major chord of the dominant ninth, or the minor chord of the dominant ninth. Bominant 7th. Major 7tli. Minor 7th (dissonances.) This chord contains two dissonances, the seventh and the niiith.^ Majqr mode. ^ t I 11 III IV V VI VII Minor mode. ^^^- — ^^^ I "II III IV V VI VII Inversions of these chords are so infrequent that I merely mention them ; the fourth is even impracticable, a ninth exceeding the octave, which is the limit of inversions. The chords of the dominant seventh, of the seventh of the leading tone, of the diminished seventh, of the major and minor dominant ninth, which constitute, as we shall see later, a special group (that of natural dissonant har- monyy present aii interesting peculiarity. They can all receive the tonic as bass, helow their normal bass, and in this new form they assume new aspects, without, however, ceasing to be the same chords that they were before. Take a chord of the dominant seventh, §§=§=, a chord of 1 By omitting the bass of a chord of the ninth, we have a chord of the seventh of the leading tone, or of the diminished seventh. See p. 199, note. 2 Page 242. SUR-TOmC CHORDS. 207 -1"- the leading tone seventh, f^ § = , a chord of the diminished 1^ seventh, ^=8= , a chord of the major ninth, ^^p, a chord of the minor ninth, §S=1e I give them all as bass the tonic C, common to them all, and you have the family of chords called sur-tonie. (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (a) Chord of the snr-tonic dominant 7th. (6) Chord of the sur-tonic 7th of the leading tone. (c) Chord of the sur-toniodimiuished 7th. (rf) Chord of the snr-tonic major dominant 9th, which combines the chords a and b ; called also by some authors chord of the tonic 11th. (e) Chord of the sur-tonic minor dominant 9th, which combines the chords a and d ', called also chord of the tonic 13th. The first three are composed of five tones ; the latter two, of six ; none of them can be inverted ; for, in displacing the bass note, this would deprive them of their special charac- ter as sur-tonic chords. This is the entire list of chords, and there are no others ; but these can undergo transformations of a nature to ren- der them almost unrecognisable to the unpractised eye. Some of these transformations will now be explained, — those, namely, which are connected with the doubling or with the omission of certain notes, and with the divers positions of the chords. Others can not be explained till later, after an examination of the laws which govern the associations of chords. A succession of chords can be written in three, four, five, six parts, or more, according to the number of voices at command. (In musical language, the word voice is often used as a synonyme ioT part.^) However, as many chords^ 1 [" The practice cannot he recommended." Baker. Tk.] 2 All the dissonant chords. 208 THE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. could never be fully presented -witli three parts only, and as, on the other hand, there are but a few which require five voices,^ it has become the general custom to write in four parts, and it is thus that most of the harmonic exer- cises are presented in all good schools. The consonant chords containing but three notes, it be- comes necessary (to give employment to the four parts) to double one of their constituent notes. The choice of the tone to be doubled is not a matter of indifference; it is important that the note should be, in itself and in its position, the most important of the chord, so that the equilibrium is not disturbed, but the added pre- dominance will only further accentuate the tonal meaning. The best notes to be doubled are necessarily the first, fourth, and fifth degree : the tonic, subdominant, and domi- nant, that is to say, the tonic notes, the generators of the scale, called also by some authors, the good notes. In addition to these, it would rarely be injurious to double the fundamental of a chord, because its importance is so great. The notes less useful for doubling are, as a rule, the modal notes (with some exceptions) f but the note which must never be doubled in any case is that of the seventh degree, the leading tone, as this would involve grave faults of harmonisation.^ These general rules are too vague; they will now be made more definite by examining the chords in succession. In the perfect major or minor chord, the best note to double is the bass, first, as being the fundamental ; and then, because these chords have their most frequent and most logical use upon the tonal notes. Perfect chords . with double bass. 1 The two chords of the ninth and the snr-tonic chords. 2 Seepage 223. DOUBLING INTERVALS. 209 Also, their third may be doubled, and this is often par- ticularly successful in chords built on the sixth degree, because then the doubled note is the tonic. Perfect cliords with doubled third. The doubling of the fifth is rarely productive of good effect ; at the same time this cannot be absolutely prohibited especially where the fifth is a tonal note. Perfect chords with doubled fifth. §^^ tonic §tE ^ The doubling of the bass is so much more advantageous than that of any other that frequently, instead of doubling a third or a fifth, it is better to triple the bass (the fifth then being omitted) : Perfect chords with tripled bass. this is, moreover, conformable to the natural order, since, in the series of ten harmonies, the fundamental tone, the generator occurs four times, while the third and fifth each occur but twice. ^- fl i ^ E^ (I cannot refrain from calling attention again to the many instructive facts of various kinds that can be derived from this simple series of over-tones). Each one of these reduplications, which are in fact only 210 THE GBAMMAB OF MUSIC. remforeements of some one of the constituent elements of the chord, has its own peculiar character. By doubling the bass the chord becomes stronger, more sonorous, more vigorous ; its fundamental note is thus accentuated, and the effect of the whole chord rendered rich and energetic. By doubling the third the modal char- acter of the chord is emphasised and — except upon the sixth degree, where the note doubled is the tonic — the feel- ing of tonality is weakened ; it gives chords that are sweet and smooth, but not forcible or brilliant when compared to those with doubled bass.. On the contrary, the reduplica- tion of the fifth produces harshness, a sort of disagreeable hoarseness, and for this reason should be used as rarely as possible. One needs only to play the three following chords, on a harmonium, or on a piano that is in perfect tune, to perceive these divers characters : f P The first chord is rich and well-balanced ; the second is comparatively feeble, soft ; the third, in comparison, is hard and harsh. If they are changed from major to minor by substituting Eb for E, the impression remains the same. In the chords of the diminished fifth it is impossible to double the fifth, on account of its tendency in resolution, which would inevitably occasion faults of harmonisation.^ There remain, therefore, only the third and the bass sus- ceptible of reduplication, and of these, the bass must be avoided as much as possible when 'it chances to be the leading tone, because of its tendencp, which we shall speak of later. ^ Hence, in the chord of the diminished fifth of the seventh degree, major or minor, we double, by preference, the third ; yCmiseoiiiive octaves j seep. 226. 2 Page 236. DOUBLING IN CHORDS OF THE SIXTH. 211 in that of the second degree, of the minor mode, the bass. (third) (third) Chords of the diminished fifth ■with third or basB doubled. ^ n •mnn ^]^=i CVOKHQ. A mm. vn =H^=^E==E VII -^ — 'g^ The same reasons which make a reduplication useful or the reverse in a chord in its fundamental position applying equally to its inversions, we shall be able to dismiss the latter with fewer details. For chords of the sixth, derived from perfect chords, the order of preference is as follows : sixth, third, bass. For the same class of chords derived from the chord of the diminished fifth on the seventh degree : third, or bass ; for that on the second degree : sixth, or bass. ( third ) (sixth) (hags) (third) (hass) (sixth.) (bass) Various doublings of chords of the sixth. Fundamental chords. Perf , maj. ch. Perf . min. ch. vn VII II Chords of dim. 5th. The doubling of the bass being here always the most faulty, it is advisable to use it as rarely as possible, and, especially, to avoid placing it in the highest voice, where it would be too conspicuous. It produces there a hollow and ill-balanced sound, not unlike that of a cracked vase. 1 ^^1 fJI^ bad ^^^m :jSr admissible 212 THE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. There are certain exceptions to this rule, which will be indicated when we study the connection of chords,^ to be made use of, however, but sparingly. We may mention here that it is quite permissible to double the bass of a chord of the sixth on the fourth de- gree, and this even in the first part, because in this case it reinforces the subdominant, which is a tonal note. We will now consider the second inversions. In 6-4 chords, inversions of perfect chords, the best notes to double are the bass or the fourth. In chords of the augmented fourth and sixth, a distinction must be made between those having for their fundamental the chord of the diminished fifth on the seventh degree of both modes, which have but one useful reduplication, that of the sixth, and those originating in the chord of the second degree of the minor mode, which contain two notes that can be doubled, i'he fourth and the sixth. (bass) (4th) Various doublings of chords of 4-6. Fundamental chords. t^^^ (6th) (4th) (6th) ^1 ■?r3 -^ ss— w^- -==^ Cmaj. Amin. Amin. m^ S ife- Peri. maj. ch. Perf . min. ch. Ch. of dim. 5th. It is well to notice that these reduplications are rigor- ously logical : all of them reinforce one of the tonal notes, or else the fundamental of the chord, which is in conformity with the principle previously enunciated ; with the one exception starred in the preceding table where, since neither the bass nor its fourth could be doubled, on account of their tendencies in resolution, the only note remaining, the sixth, must be the one doubled, which here is on the second degree of the scale, a degree in some sense neutral, neither 1 See p. 223, DOXIBLINa IN DISSONANT CJIOEDS. 213 tonal nor modal, hence the least important and least char- acteristic of all. In dissonant chords, which consist of four notes, in writing in four parts one note cannot be doubled unless another is omitted. This is never to be done except in the fundamental chords, and not even in all of them. (Inver- sions are always used complete, otherwise it would be impossible to recognise them.) The only note that can be doubled here is the bass, with omission of the fifth. This is very common in chords of the dominant seventh, of the major seventh, of the minor seventh, of the minor seventh and diminished fifth ; more rarely in the chord of the seventh on the leading-tone, and never in that of the diminished seventh. Doubled bass and omitted 5th. Complete chords. Doubled bass and omitted 5th. Complete chords. min. 7th and dim. 5th min. dom. maj. dim. 7th 7th 7th 7th. In writing in four parts, if we use chords of the ninth with their five notes, one of these must be omitted, and this is always their fifth, on the second degree of the scale. Omission of the 5tli, Complete chords • in five parts. major 9th. min. 9th. 214 TEE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. In the sur-tonic chords, which contain five or six notes, any reduplication would be manifestly impossible ; the notes less important are omitted. +7 1= b-^- ^4 -& — ^'&— FS= IT +7 6 +7 6 be 6 +7 6 Sur-tonic chords, complete, and with the omiBsions. It is to be noted that the omissions usually affect the second degree ; that is to say, the note least important either as to modality or tonality. It is evident that the principle in itself is very simple : for notes to be doubled must be selected those of chief importance in the key or in the chord ; tonal notes or the fimdamental (that is to say, the bass of the chord in its fundamental position). Tor notes to be omitted, on the contrary, those of the least importance, or those least char- acteristic in the chord : a chord of the ninth if the ninth were omitted would become a chord of the seventh ; a chord of the seventh, losing its seventh, would be nothing but a triad. I chord of 9th. chord of 7th. perf . chord. Reduplication, therefore, can affect only a note of prime importance ; omission, on the contrary, can be made only of an imimportant note, one easily imagined, guessed at, by the hearer. All these chords, whether fundamental, inverted, com- plete, incomplete, having a note doubled or a note omitted, may have a great variety of positions ; that is to say, the notes of which they are composed may change place, at the pleasure of the composer, always excepting the bass note, which must retain its position, or there would be not merely a change of position, but an inversion. Here is a perfect chord : |i FIGURED BASS. 216 However we may arrange its notes, double one of them, omit one, transport them to any octave, I ^E^B^^^^ c ^ £ g it never ceases to be the perfect major chord of C. But if its bass be moved, and we have this : or this : ^ for instance, it is now something else ; the chord changes its character and its name ; it becomes one of its own inver- sions, and must be figured differently. This leads me to explain what is meant in harmony by the figuring of chords. It is a system of abbreviations, itself very incomplete, which consists in writing in notes only the bass, and representing the other tones by figures or conventional signs. In general use from the end of the sixteenth century to the beginning of the eighteenth, it is not improbable that it was invented by Vincent Galilei, father of the cele- brated Galileo, who lived about 1650, and was a composer. After being long used to note, with deplorable insufficiency, entire scores, as in the time of Eameau, who believed that he had brought it to perfection, the figured bass was re- tained in the Italian school for the accompaniment of reci- tatives, consisting at that time almost exclusively of solid chords. At the present day it is scarcely known except to students of harmony, to whom it renders real service as a kind of shorthand, and especially in musical analysis. The system is as follows : 216 THJS GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. Every figure placed above a bass-note represents, first, the interval numerically corresponding, and then, the chord of which it necessarily -makes a part, the other notes being understood. An accidental, placed at the left of a figure, acts upon it as upon a note. Standing alone, it indicates an altered third. A crossed figure indicates a diminished interval.' A little cross^ preceding the figure designates the leading tone. Alone, it applies to the third. A dash after a figure, over two or more consecutive notes, indicates that the tone must be prolonged. The zero, employed alone, indicates silence ; ^ associated with the other figures, it indi- cates the omission of a note of the chord. The simplest possible figuring is used, which is logical, since this is de- signed to be a kind of abbreviated writing, a harmonic stenography, so far as it goes. Now the perfect chord is figured by a s, a 5, or an 8. (Some writers do not figure it at all, which is simpler.) With an altered third, the sign of alteration is enough, the perfect fifth is understood, as well as the reduplication if there is one. Meaning of figures. The figuring with 5 is most common. Some authors re- serve the 3 for the minor chord. The chord of the sixth is figured by a 6. If the sixth is augmented, an accidental is placed at the left ; if it is the third that is augmented, the accidental is placed alone be- neath the 6. 1 [Indicates in England and Germany an augmented interval. Ed.] 2 [Not used in England. Ed.] 8 [Not used in England. Ed.] FIGUBATION OF CHORDS. 217 The chord of the fourth and sixth is figured | : The chord of the diminished fifth is distinguished from the perfect chords by its crossed b ( if ) ; but its inversions are figured in the same way as the preceding, . ^S« J6 6 feB^ ■without any possibility of mistake ; first, because the de- grees on which they stand indicate their nature and origin, and, secondly, because the sharps or flats show clearly, if there is need, the intervals which compose them. The chord of the dominant seventh is figured J, which indicates that its third is the leading tone ; its inversions : § diminished fifth and sixth ; +6, sixth on the leading tone ; +4, tritone : Here there is no need for sharps or flats, each chord hav- ing its figures and characteristic signs. The chords of the seventh on the leading tone, and of the minor seventh and diminished fifth, formed of the intervals mentioned, are both figured I ; their inversions are for the first: ^^, fifth and sixth on the leading tone ; +|, tritone with major third ; "'■|, second on the leading tone : 218 'THE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. for the second inversions : |, fifth and sixth ; \, third and augmented fourth ; 2, second : The chord of the diminished seventh is figured 7 ; and its inversions : +§, diminished fifth and sixth on the leading tone ; +*, tritone with minor third; +2, augmented second: ^^^^ +6 +4 +2 ^^^^m. -w- When there is occasion for it, accidentals are added: In the absence of any accidental, a figure is always understood to represent a note on the staff without sharp or flat. Chords of the seventh, both major and minor, are figured by a 7, a figuring unmistakable as is that of the per- fect chords, — an accidental placed either before the 7, or imder it for the third, making known the nature of these intervals, where it is necessary to do so ; the fifth always remains perfect, which dispenses with figuring ; their in- versions : |, fifth and sixth; |, third and fourth ; 2, second : I ^^m il^i =^^^m P" ' 6 6 4 There is but one chord which permits absolute symmetry, this is ? (the diminished seventhy formed of three minor thirds superposed. (It is also strictly symmetrical if the •) min. 3d. order of these notes be inverted, produc- j mm. . ^ ^ chord of the augmented second in _5_»2 ) mm. 3d. ° •' pt^=^:z an open position, instead of the fundar 7 mental, in a .close one. We have then the superposition of three major sixths. ) The further we depart from complete symmetry, the less satisfactory is the position ; at the same time, groupings like the following are still very acceptable : : 4th « ) g,^ g ) 4th :=.^=) 3d :g=) 3d =z=( ''*'' 3=) 3d g ) 4th 5th — / ""■ ^^ \ I 10th 7 \ 6 3d 4 The fault most to be avoided is that of crowding the lower notes and scattering the higher ; positions like the following are the worst, the most ill-balanced of all : 1 In future, chords will often he designated by their figuring, both for brevity and also to familiarise the reader with this system which is ingenious and often useful to the composer. PART WRITING. 221 I fcT nth M^ ^ ) 3d lltli f) 3d ;) eth =g=) 3d 17th =) 3d In choral music the greatest effects of strength are pro- duced by grouping the tones in compact masses ; and a rich, full sonority by symmetrical, spaced positions. Position close, energetic. Position open, more gentle. Now, in harmony, we are supposed to write always for voices. The four theoretic voices, or parts, are limited to the following average range : ^ b*. Soprano. Contralto. Tenor. iBt part.' 2d part.' And the extreme tones, indicated by the black notes, should be used very circumspectly, the composer keeping as far as possible in the middle register of each voice. Moreover, the parts should remain in their normal order, relatively to each other, so that no one should cross into its neighbour's domain ; this is prohibited in elementary har- mony, and is permissible only when it has the effect of giving a more elegant progression to the voices, or bringing into relief an interesting melodic design. It is likewise forbidden that any two parts should meet 222 THE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. upon the same note, when unison would result, unless, however, by this unison, which is only feebleness, faults of a graver nature are avoided; in pure theory, the parts should no more be mixed than be allowed to cross ; each should hold its place : the soprano and the bass being the exterior, the contralto and the tenor, the interior parts. When there is an inequality, the greater intervals should be taken by the lower voices, and the less, by the higher (as in the series of the harmonics, — always the natural model), otherwise the sonority will either be dull and heavy, or else crude and harsh, and it may even have both faults at once, as in the fourth of the preceding examples. Cer- tain other considerations must also be taken into account in selecting positions. Thus we should always, by prefer- ence, place in the highest part, which is the most conspicu- ous, one of the best notes of the chord : in certain chords this is imperative even : the major seventh, the minor seventh, and the leading tone seventh chords hardly allow the soprano to take any other than the third or the seventh ; and their third inversions, — chords of the second, — any other than the second or the fourth. In chords of the fifth and sixth on the leading tone, of the tritone with the major third, or of the major dominant ninth, the dis- agreeable friction of seconds should be avoided by placing certain notes in the relation of sevenths. 3d 7th 2d 4th ,7th 7th B,7th 1/ Oi %) 7 7 2 2 +6 6 +4 3 9 7 + Thus we have viewed chords in their individual charac- ter, — chords in repose, to speak technically. But the most interesting part in the study of harmony consists in the movement of these chords, in methods of linking them, of connecting them together, of grouping them to form phrases, sentences, and finally whole musical compositions. Techni- INTEBVALLIC PROGRESSION IN HARMONY. 223 eally this is harmonisation fully -written out in distinction to that indicated merely by a system of figuring. The rules of harmonisation are those which concern the linking together of chords. GENERAL RULES OF HARMONISATION. I. Any melodic interval diificult to sing or disagreeable to hear is forbidden; there are, then, only the following allowed : The chromatic semitone; Major and minor seconds; Major and minor thirds; The perfect fourth; The perfect fifth; The minor sixth; The perfect octave; and exceptionally, the augmented second, in the minor mode, ascending only, and on condition that it be followed by the tonic. In general terms, the smaller intervals are the best. (Some authors tolerate the skip of the major sixth, especially ascending.) Good. Ifaturally, all compound intervals are forbidden, 224 THE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. Moreover, there must not be a seventh or a ninth in three notes, when these notes move iii the same direction, unless the middle note is on a degree of the scale immediately preceding or following that of one of the outer notes. Good. Bad. i ^ I r ^-Vt: th l_p- Another melodic contour to be avoided is the augmented fourth in three notes in the same direction, ascending or descending, always with this exception : the augmented fourth in three notes ceases to be incorrect if the last note of the group, being the highest, then goes a diatonic semi- tone higher, or, if the last note, being the lowest, then descends a diatonic semitone ; in a word, if this last note, whatever it is, obeys its leading tendency.^ Good. Aug. 4tli II. Several melodic motions, taking place simulta- neously, constitute the harmonic motion, which is direct or similar, when all the parts move in the same direction, ascending or descending. The direct motion is not graceful, and, moreover, often occasions other faults ; it should, then, be rarely used ; in four parts it should be considered as totally prohibited, unless one of the parts proceeds chromatically, which, as a melodic motion, may be considered almost nul, since there is no change in the name of the note. 1 The leading tone should ascend f the subdominant, descend. MELODIC MOVEMENTS. 225 in 2 parts. In 3 parts. in 4 parts. Also direct motion is tolerated when it ends on the fourth degree on which is a chord of the sixth. CM. A m. Contrary motion occurs when parts move in opposite directions, some rising while others fall. 1^ ^i«. •gTi - ^-^ n - SS^B Contrary motion. 66 65 556 6 4 in 2 parts. in 3 parts. ^ in 4 parts. This movement is excellent : it should be sought and fre- quently employed. Better , still is the oblique motion, where one part, or more than one, remains stationary, while the others rise or fall. When there is opportunity for choice, this should be pre- ferred to the contrary motion. 226 TEE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. In short, there is nothing absolutely forbidden except the direct motion of the four parts, and even this has the exceptions indicated. III. When two parts proceed by direct harmonic motion, it is very bad and strictly forbidden that they should appear in two consecutive perfect fifths or two perfect octaves. If, in two consecutive fifths, the first is dimin- ished, the prohibition still remains ; but if it be the second which is diminished, the impression produced is no longer disagreeable, and consequently this motion is allowed. In the case of the octaves there is no exception. Consecutive fifths forDldden. Allowed. Ckmsecutive octaves forbidden. Simultaneous. consecutive octaves and fifths forbidden. Two successive fifths are extremely harsh. Two octaves give a feeling of harmonic poverty, naturally enough, since thus the number of parts is reduced, the two voices being each other's double. The harshness of fifths is less easily explained.! But it is a fact not to be denied, and they must be absolutely avoided. 1 If tbe octave is tbe second harmonic, tlie fifth, is the third. A succession of fifths is, then, almost as poor as a succession of octaves. Moreover, it is PROHIBITED PROGSESSIONS. 227 IV. A like prohibition is in force when the parts pro- gress by contrary motion, — a unison or a fifteenth succeed- ing an octave, a twelfth succeeding a fifth, or vice versa, being as displeasing in its effect as two consecutive octaves or fifths. The following forms of harmonisation, and all presenting the same faults, are, then, prohibited. Octaves OTfifths in contrary motion forbidden. trSJ i S^^iift 6 V. The harshness of fifths and the poverty of consecu- tive octaves, pounded in direct motion, are also perceptible, even when these intervals are separated by several notes, except in excessively slow movements. Arrangements like the following, therefore, must be rejected as faulty: Separated octaves OTfifths forbidden. There is required an intermediate chord between the two octaves or the two fifths in order that they may cease to be disagreeable ; and here figuring, for the first time, becomes for us a convenient means of analysis. Of the two exam- harsh to the ear, because it involves the idea of two parts moving in different tonalities : Key of G. Key of C. ?:*: -^ It would seem that the same censure might apply to a succession of fourths, ' but this is only in part true, that is to say, in respect to harshness ; the fourth not being a harmonic of its fundamental, the impression of poverty is less ; hence, the successive fourths are more admissible, though they are not to be especially desired. We must, in fact, consider the absolute prohibition of consecutive octaves or 228 THE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. pies following, whicli. are almost identical, the first is bad, containing two octaves; the .second is good, because these same two octaves are separated not by a note merely but by an intermediate chord, which effaces the feeling of the first octave before the second makes itself heard. 1^^ The same is to be said of the fifths, which are faulty in the first example, but are not so in the second, $ ITT because a foreign chord interposes. This rule is modified when the octaves or fifths occur upon the up-beat, where necessarily they have less impor- tance; but the true purist will avoid them, as we shall see later, in the section on Counterpoint. fifths, in modern composition, as the remnant of a violent reaction against early attempts at harmonisation of a very awkward character, in which nothing was used but fourths, fifths, and octaves, which to us at the present day Seems both feeble and harsh, — intolerable, in a word. The great modern composers do not hesitate, when it is needful in order to obtain a fine effect, to free themselves from this rule, whose rigour is indispensa- ble only for the student, — a remark which would be entirely out of place in a work exclusively didactic. It is undoubtedly true that a single fifth, emitted with a certain force, pro- duces, alone, an impression of harshness, and that this disagreeable effect is increased when other fifths follow it ; but I am convinced that the complete pro- hibition of two fifths, especially if separated by several notes, will be considered in the future as an exaggeration of the purism of our epoch. Composers wiU find ways of using them to advantage, and will derive from them new effects. EXCEPTIONS TO THE RULE. 229 E^eS Tolerated,! Ijut to be avoided. P J. ^ 1 The only case where consecutive fifths separated by a single note are fully permitted, and even upon the down- beat, is when they are syncopated, as in the following example : I :^— r=3^ r^^^^r^ B I ■J- i Simple as this rule is, there seems to be great difficulty in its application, for very capable students, who are well advanced, are seen often to fall into this very serious fault of musical grammar which, from the beginning, has been pointed out to them as something specially to be avoided. VI. Another objectionable movement of parts which must be avoided is that produced by hidden octaves, or fifths. The following is an example: Bidden Octaves OT fifths forbidden. $ 8ve -'^^^- 8ve ^ 53 j^^ ^ 5th 5tli ^ 8ve and the prohibition may be thus stated : when two parts progress by direct harmonic motion, they must not end in an octave or a fifth. To speak exactly, this rule, in all its rigour, affects only the first and fourth parts, losing much of its importance when one of the inner parts is concerned. Furthermore, it has a number of exceptions, which may be easily defined. 1 It is important to observe the difference between that which, though an ' exception, is said to be good and that which is only tolerated. 230 TBS GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. The hidden octaves are permissible, and even commend- able, whenever the highest part ascends a diatonic semi- tone: h The hidden fifths are excellent when the bass ends on the tonic or the dominant, while the higher part progresses by similar motion an interval of a major or minor second. They are also very tolerable when they occur between fimdamental chord and one of its inversions, as : When the inner parts are considered, there is occasion for more subtle distinctions, which cannot be discussed here. VII. We have now to describe a class of faults in har- mony altogether different from those previously mentioned. We are no longer to consider two contiguous notes belong- ing to the same part, as in melodic motions, nor two simul- taneous notes, like those produced by the octaves or fifths; we have now the case of two notes belonging to different parts, and to consecutive chords. (Two notes forming any fALSE EELATtONS. 231 melodic motion are written on the same stave, horizontally : ; two notes forming a harmonic interval are placed in notation one above the other, vertically : ; those constituting false relations, with which we are now to be concerned, are situated obliquely towards each other, on a diagonal : \ or / . ) The chromatic false relation forms an interval of a chro- matic semitone between any two parts : False chromatic relations forbidden. It is the most disagreeable thing possible to hear and, moreover, extremely difficult to sing, for persons having a correct ear. Evidently, then, it should be avoided. The same is true of the false relation of the octave, which is only the reproduction, at the distance of an octave, or of more than one, always on a diagonal line, of the chromatic false relation. of octaves forbidden. This also is forbidden because it produces to the auditor an impression of intolerable harshness, and also is extremely difBcult of execution. A single case authorises the use of notes thus placed : this is when one of the parts, between which the false relation is produced, is itself proceeding, melodically, by chromatic motion. In this case the harshness, if it be not entirely relieved, is so reduced that it becomes unimportant ; and the difficulty of execution has entirely vanished, a 232 TME GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. melodic motion of a chromatic semitone, ascending or descending, being a very natural and easy motion, 'because it is so small. The following are examples where the false relation, either chromatic or of the octave, entirely ceases to he faulty, and for the reason just given : Indeed a. progression of this kind should be considered as of superior advantage, since there are employed only very slight melodic motions which have just been men- tioned as specially commendable.' VIII. Although less disagreeable than the preceding, the false relation of the tritone, :S Ig^ gE , should as a rule be avoided. This is the relation between two notes succes- sively emitted by two different parts, forming the interval of the augmented fourth ; it is especially poor between the extreme parts (the soprano and the bass) and in progres- sions of the fundamental chords of the fifth and fourth degrees. The most objectionable instance of this is the following : It may be tolerated in the inner parts, where often it is even inevitable, and admitted without hesitation between the second and sixth degrees of the minor mode, for here it has no unpleasant effect. 1 Page 223. 2 It is a singular fact that these same chords, when inverted, produce an excellent e£fect. SADLY MSPOSSD CHORDS. 233 V[ vt Certain theorists prohibit this false relation only when it is produced by the succession of two major thirds, belonging one to the fourth, the other to the fifth degree, as: i psi — y- — ~' n~" ^izn We shall recur to this subject ^ ^ a l — =— 7 +4 7 +4 But there can never be, here, the exceptional resolution, properly so-called, for this is an exception made to the nor- mal motion of one of the notes of the tendency consonance, which itself is not contained in chords of the major and minor seventh. In linking two chords of the seventh, by motion of a descending fifth or an ascending fourth in the bass, in one or other of these chords, the fifth must be omitted, and re- placed by doubling the bass note : 7 7 7 + 242 THE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. other-wise, the laws of preparation! and of resolution could not be obeyed without introducing consecutive octaves or fifths in four-part harmony. Tor the two chords to be complete, there must be em- ployed five voices or parts. XIV. Another law governs the connection of dissonant chords : this is the preparation of the dissonance, by letting it be heard previously and in the same part, in the chord which precedes. The object of this is to diminish the harshness of the discord, accustoming the ear to the note which is to become dissonant, by presenting it, at first, as a consonance. Preg^ji^ss. resolved. -tzr- S i In earlier times, preparation was regarded as obligatory for every dissonance. Not until the close of the sixteenth century a bold innovator, Monteverde^, who has had a great share in musical evolution, ventured to attack directly, with-_ out preparation, the dissonances contained in chords of the dominant seventh, the leading-tone seventh, the diminished seventh, and even of the dominant ninth, thus forming from these chords (which are all furnished by the harmonies) a special family,^ intermediate between the consonant chords, and the true dissonant chords, — called, of late, natural dissonant harmony. This mixed group, if I may so call it, obeys the special laws of the dissonant chords as to resolution, but is excused 1 See sec. XIV., later. 2 See chap. V. It is probable that Monteverde himself had no idea of the immense scope of his discovery. PREPARATION. 243 from preparation, and is thus associated, on the other hand, with the consonant chords. Such is the theory at present accepted as authoritative; but I ought to add that its strictness is more and more re- laxed every day, and that there are many composers of the modern school who have no hesitation in attacking disso- nances of all kinds without preparation. The reader will now understand why I did not venture to fix in the chapter on Acoustics ^ any precise limit be- tween dissonances and consonances ; this is a question of usage and habit, of what the ear will tolerate, of what it is accustomed to; and this has varied, varies now, and will continue to vary, in accordance with the individual tenden- cies of composers and also with the degree of harshness which the musical education of listeners will lead them more and more to endure. It is already easy to foresee that in a future not far distant the preparation of disso- nances will fall into desuetude, and subsist only as an archaism. At present and in the schools, in the study of harmony, it still remains obligatory for the more dissonant chords, namely, those of the major and minor seventh, and of the minor seventh and diminished fifth, which in certain trear tises are called chords with prolongation (^accords aveo pro- longation'), and in others are classed as artificial dissonant harmony. Both terms are equally justified by the preced- ing explanations. XV. It is evident that all the rules relative to prepa- ration or resolution of dissonant chords in their fundamental position (which, for the sake of brevity, I have used as my only examples) apply equally to inversions of these chords. The notes change place with each other, but each note pre- serves the same tendencies, the same amount of dissonance, and should be treated in the same manner. When all the above rules are well understood and strictly 1 Page 55. 244 THE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. applied, which is not always very easily done, the harmon- isation is pure and correct, the musical effect satisfactory to the ear. To impress these rules still further upon the reader's mind, I have prepared the following table, which seems to me to sum them up. I here consider the fundamental chords as divided into four groups : The first, at the foot of the list, contains only the perfect major chord, the harmonic triad, the consonant chord par excellence . The second contains the perfect minor chord and the chord of the diminished fifth, which are only convention- ally consonant, the latter having relationship to the disso- nant chords by the presence of the diminished fifth, which in the consonant chords is a tendency consonance, and in the dissonant, a dissonance. The third group includes chords forming natural disso- nant harmony, — the result, direct or indirect, of the natu- ral phenomena of musical sound, and requiring resolution (according to the principles above stated) of part only of their notes. The fourth, lastly, contains really dissonant chords, which must have not only resolution, but also preparation. In white notes I indicate the chords of the major scale; in black, those of the minor; so that the two modalities shall be made apparent, and that the table may show at a glance all the elements of the present harmonic system. Beading upwards on this table, it will be seen how chords, at first consonant, free in all their motions, lose this free- dom more and more by the addition of dissonances, which all demand resolution, while some, still further, require preparation. (The resolution is shown by a line following the note, the preparation by a slur preceding it. The dotted lines designate the notes having a tendency character. ) TABLE OF RESOLUTIONS. 245 II III IV VI VII Dissonant chords, ai-tiflcisu or by prolongation, (requiring preparation of the dissonance audits resolution.) 3 Natural dissonant chords (requiring the resolution of the notes by required progression). Consonant chords, artificial or by ■ convention. Natural consonant chords. Major mode Minor mode f Minor 7th and dim. 6th. $ Minor 7th, Major 7th ' Major and minor dominant 9ths. Subtonic 7th. Dim. 7th. 3j1: $ ^ m ~^. P ^ Dominant 7th Chord of dim. 6th. Perfect minor ch. ! Perfect major ch. (white), (black). ; $ P 909 7 7 + + -J^l 5 ' P ^^^ $ « =*? =3; i 3- ^ B bs ^; :S5 ^^S -^- EE A =1= The only chords omitted in this condensed table are the sur-tonie chords, explained on p. 207, which are subject to the same laws as are the chords from which they are de- rived. !N'o preparation is demanded for them, because they belong to natural dissonant harmony; but they require resolution, in accordance with the principles governing all the chords of that group. 246 THE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. We will now resume, at the point where we left off/ our study of the modifications which a chord can receive without losing its individuality. We shall find that there are several of these yet to be examined. One or more of the constituent notes of a chord may be held back, go that it is not sounded till after the others ; this is called a suspension. Every suspension must be pre- pared and resolved by conjunct motion, a diatonic tone or semitone. The suspension may be from above or from below, resolving upwards or downwards. The former is much more in use, and is much more classic than the latter. Suspensions from above. • ^ d=^^ y=d^ +6 \S^^ The most elementary logic would suggest that dissonant notes — themselves requiring preparation, like the seventh in the chords by prolongation — could not in any case be suspended, for they cannot be at once retarded and ad- vanced. Usually, therefore, in a chord of any kind, it is a note making consonance with the fundamental that receives suspension. The prevailing character of this musical device is ampli- tude, majesty; this character becomes the more evident where the movement is itself broad and tranquil ; but it is adapted to all movements, giving them a certain degree of severity, even of rigidity, more valued formerly than at present, and, where it occurs in works of a generally modern character, having an archaic air. 1 Page 222. SUSPENSIONS. 247 It would not be possible to enumerate bere all the varieties of suspensions, nor would it be useful to do so. The point of importance is to show their essence, their principle, and especially to avoid confusion between the suspension (retard) and the prolongation, which at first sight seem alike, both requiring preparation and resolution. A very slight examination, however, will show the differ- ence between the two. The prolongation creates a new chord, of which it is the characteristic element, the seventh, having its personality and its individual existence ; on the other hand, the suspension is only a note foreign to the chord, requiring preparation because it generally introduces a dissonance, and destined shortly to disappear, giving place to the real note, whose advance it had momentarily suspended, hence its name. I would not wish to fall into the same na'ivet^yf ith. the author of a dictionary which I possess, where exactly these words occur : " Violin, a small violoncello. (See Violoncello.) "Violoncello, a large violin. (See Violin.)" But, reserving to myself the right later to say that an appoggiatura is merely a suspension without preparation, I can give no better definition of the suspension, than to call it a prepared appoggiatura. These two things explain each other. In fact, something is occurring now, in relation to sus- pensions, which resembles what took place when, three hundred years ago, Monteverde enfranchised certain chords of the seventh from the formality of preparation. More and more composers are attacking dissonances ' directly, under the name of appoggiaturas. From the point of view of classic harmony, every sus- pension should be prepared ; and, indeed, there is no such thing as an unprepared suspension. I will mention here only those which are in current use, indicating their re- spective peculiarities. In the consonant chords, any note of the triad can be suspended. 248 THE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. -J^ J-J (eqni- 6 vocal.) This last one is less' used, because it maybe confused with a chord of the sixth, as the figuring shows very clearly.^ In the inversions these same suspensions become, in the chord of the sixth : , Suspension of the bass douWed. and in the chord of | : (equi- 6 Tocal.) 4 (equi- Tocal.) 1 I give examples only in the perfect major chord j the use of suspensions is the same in the minor chords and in those of the diminished iifth. SUSPENSIONS. 249 Those which, are equivocal (indicated by the double figuring) are much less employed. In the suspension must be distinguished : 1. The preparation ; 2. The suspension itself ; 3. The resolution. The preparation miist be at least as long as the suspen- sion, else there would be an unequal syncope (the first part shorter than the second), which is absolutely pro- hibited in exercises of harmony. The suspension must be on the down-beat. The note of resolution must in no case and in no part be doubled by direct movement ; from this there would result, by reason of the attention which the suspension attracts to that note, concealed octaves of the worst kind, extremely disagreeable in effect. DouUing by direct motion of the resolution. It is Ulogical, while a note is held back, that it should be heard in another part. This is always more or less harsh. 250 THE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. Some authors permit this license by way of exception, especially on the tonal notes and when the suspension is in the highest part, as in the preceding example; but it is purer harmony without this, and it is in general easily to be avoided. In all dissonant chords, the notes forming consonance with the fundamental can be suspended. On page 248, I have presented a table of suspensions possible in inversions of the consonant chords ; here I will simplify by giving only examples in the fundamental posi- tion ; it will be easy to find those of the inverted chords by interchanging the order of the notes. In the chord of the dominant seventh : Suspension of the 3d. i^t 7 — ^ Suspension 5 of tlieSth. 4 + Suspension, of the bass doubled. J J-'^J- In the seventh chord on the leading-tone, or of the dim- inished seventh : ^-^f^^-^ 1-^ ^ =^ SuBpenBion i of the 3d. / 1 3 L-a— 3 Suspension of the fifth. M sJ- 6 $ 7 3 -J^^ 6 $ SUSPENSIONS. 251 likewise in their inversions, and in many others that can easily be imagined. To give briefly the characteristics of a suspension, we may say that it should form a prepared dissonance of the seventh or of the second, with another note of the chord ; that it should occur on a comparatively accented part of the measure; and that it should be resolved descending diatonically. Except in the direction of the resolution, the inferior suspension is the same ; of this I will give soifle examples, though its use is rare, and in general, not classic : Lower suspension of the bass doubled or of the bass. Lower suspension of the 3d in the chord of the dominiant 7th. isttrg The only case where a suspension from below is really in current use, is as a double suspension in the chord of the sixth. This arrangement is called by some authors the adding of a fifth. While the seventh, prepared, descends to the sixth, the fifth, also prepared, ascends to the same degree, and thus forms a suspension from below. Double suspension ascending and descending. Here we have two suspensions of the sixth, one from below, or ascending, and one from above. 252 TEE GEAMMAB OF MUSIC. The example is singular; in general, when two sus- pensions are simultaneous, they are parallel. The follow- Lng are double suspensions in the more usual form : Double suspension of the toird and of the bass doubled. E^#^^ The double suspension is very useful ; it has no special rules other than those applying to single suspensions. A suspension can be resolved into a chord other than that of which it holds back a note; in other words, the chord can change at the very moment of resolution, if the new chord contain the note required for this resolution. Modulating resolutions of the suspension. -J^J- -J^yUJ- +4 ^ "IP" 7 6 This is a sort of exceptional resolution, usually modu- latory, in which, however, the suspension itself follows its normal motion. I have thus, I believe, said all on the subject of suspen- sions, for which the limited extent of this work affords space. In making use of this harmonic artifice, it must not be forgotten that the note called a suspension is itself foreign to the chord, and cannot separate two octaves or two fifths ; one should, therefore, omit it from consideration, and ex- amine whether without it the chord connection is according to rule ; if it is not so, the fault is the same with the sus- pension as without it. Passages like the following are very disagreeable to hear, and should be carefully avoided : ALTERATIONS. 263 The same examples are given below with the suspension omitted ; the octaves or fifths then appear distinctly. In certain cases the presence of the suspension author- ises an irregular and unusual motion of the leading note; it descends a third, either to avoid the greater disadvantage of making the suspension heard with the suspended note, or that the chord of resolution be complete, as in the follow- ing example : or, still further, itself serving as preparation for the sus- pended note, it loses at this moment its attractive tendency, which would cause it to ascend, and obeys only the law of the natural resolution of the suspension : These irregularities, which are perfectly classic, are stated in all treatises on harmony. More modem than the suspension, the alteration modifies the chord less profoundly. First, it is employed generally 254 THE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. in the unaccented, or comparatively unaccented, part of the measure; then, it is usually preceded by the real note, which causes the hearer to have had in advance a percep- tion of the chord in its normal condition. It is the melodic introduction of the chromatic element in a harmony -which remains fundamentally diatonic; it is the partition of the space of a tone into its two semitones by a note foreign to the key, without any slightest idea of modulation or change of key being implied by this note, which preserves the character of a passing-note. This definition is long, but it will save further explanations. Whenever between two consecutive notes there is a melo- dic interval of a major second, ^ — of a whole tone, that is to say, — there is opportunity to introduce an alteration, either ascending or descending; but it is very far from being equally good and agreeable on all degrees, with all chords and in all circumstances. In contrast with the suspension, which is noble and solemn in its essence, the alteration is petty, affected, effeminate; the combinations in which its use is excessive become insincere and pretentious, lacking in frankness; the- descending alteration specially has a mor- bid character, which is a reason for using it only when the intention is evident. As in the case of suspensions, I will mention here only the most usual alterations. I omit also all explana- tion of details, the figuring being suflB.cient to show plainly the nature of each alteration, as well as the chord to which it applies. 6 J6 ^ ^J ^-=1^ E^ =F=¥ b5 «8 ^ 1 Defective melodic movements, tolerated by reason of the impossibility of malcing a less faulty harmonization. TABLE OF ALTERATIONS. J )J -^- ^ ..( 1) 255 $ ESE =Sfc -#- ^^^ Jt6 31E ^ ^^■- m t^ — p-»= H-T^^ -— « 1 \' 6 jt6 4 1 —3= 7 6 JtB 6 8 J8 2 - i^ 1^ 1 See foot-note on page 254. 256 THE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. rf=:y=d=H — ^ : ^d=^ r— = -g . I'^ 3 tJ 'sr 6 be 44 4S 6 -??=^; — 3 ■ t — g J — S^ e 4 e be +4 3 — -S— — = :-*«_i. -|-«^ ^ ^_!g_ 6 6— 5— •as- « ?T3 6 4— 3 — -(as "-.s, U r » t6 — »:= t nH= =^^ — F""'^ 1 1 — (S- — — h --J- — b» 7^ 6 — 4 2- — t:^(s 6 ?= 6 +— 5 B E^f^ «4: _J.L \) 65 Alteration may occur in more than one part simultane- ously, making double and triple alterations : -^^ I— ^J- It is also possible to use at once suspensions and alter- ations, and from this result very numerous and varied combinations : which I can here only mention briefly. Finally, new effects, often unforeseen and of great rich- ness spring from the direct attack of the altered chord, an entirely modern procedure, which will be used to the best advantage by those who have the most faithfully abstained from it in pursuing their technical studies, where all theo- rists condemn it, or at least strictly limit its use. Thus is 258 TBE GBAMMAR OF MUSIC. explained the triad on the mediant of the minor mode,i omitted from our tables ; it must be analysed as an altered chord directly attacked and obeying the law of resolution of ascending alterations, which fact withdraws it- from the class of consonant chords, which are chords of repose, where each part can move freely. It is sometimes called the chord of the augmented fifth. We have already considered notes foreign to the chord, suspensions, — also, notes foreign to the hey, alterations; we now come to notes foreign to the harmony : these are passing-notes, appoggiaturas, anticipations, hroderies, in a word, all the ornaments which are purely melodic and have really no share in the harmonisation. These, however, must be understood, were it only in order to eliminate them in the harmonic analysis. We will begin with the appoggiatura, whose definition will be readily understood ; as we have already said, it is "a suspension without preparation."^ It is commonly placed on the accented part of the bar, as "its etymology' indicates, or, at least, on a part which could receive the ac- cent ;* it may be inferior or superior, and correspondingly is resolved either ascending or descending to a note of the chord ; if inferior, it is usually a diatonic semitone from the principal note ; if superior, it may be a tone or a semi- tone from it. Sometimes the two kinds are united, forming the double appoggiatura. The following are examples of single and double appog- giaturas : Simple appoggiaturas, lower aBd higher. 1 Pp.- 191, 192, 194, 195, 196, 205. 2 Page 247. 8 Italian, appoggiare, to lean or rest upon. 4 otherwise dispoeed, it is called a weak appoggiatura. * 5 Melodic ornaments are not figured. " The dash hefore the figure indicates that the chord is emitted on the pre- .ceding note. APPOGGIATUBAS. AA AA AA AA AA 269 Double appoggiaturas. A A A A There may also be two simultaneous appoggiaturas in two different parts; this corresponds to the double sus- pension, except in having no preparation. Simultaneous appoggiaturas. By reason of its melodic character, the appoggiatura, like the other ornaments, is most frequently used in the highest voice. This, however, is not an absolute rule ; it can very well be placed elsewhere. other appoggiaturas. The reader has already an idea as to the passing^ote,i from the mention which has been previously made of it, in explaining the interchange of notes. It may be diatonic or chromatic, ascending or descending; also there may be several passing-notes, one after another. Two notes at the distance of a minor second do Hot ad- mit the use of this ornament ; but, if they are separated by a tone, there can be introduced between them a chromatic 1 Page 235. 260 THE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. note, either ascending or descending, which may be called either an alteration or a passing-note: ^^ ^ Between two notes separated by a third, there is room for a diatonic passing-note, or for two (or three) passing- notes of the chromatic scale ; 1^ t= p. p ^m i^ -^=^ p p p ^^Si p p p -!*-^-»-S t=^E^ If the two notes are separated by an interval of a fourth, there can be two passing-notes, if diatonic ; or four, if accidentals are introduced. Naturally, there is no objection to simultaneous passing- notes in different parts : Passing-notes in several parts. Same example with omission of passing-notes : J. J J. i-j^ ORi^AMMirTS. 261 Passing-notes generally occur at the thesis, or unaccented part of the bar. The hroderle, or return dissonance, is kindred to the passing-note, from which it differs in that, instead of going on, it returns upon the principal note whence it came. It participates also, in some degree, in the character of the appoggiatura, although it occupies an unaccented portion of the bar ; like the appoggiatura, if superior, it may be a tone or a semitone distant from the principal note, it may be diatonic or chromatic; but if inferior, is usually, according to modern feeling, at the distance of a semitone. Broderies. The old composers were very willing to place the brode- rie, when inferior, at the distance of a semitone : which is not without a certain charm. It may be placed in any one of the parts, or simultane- ously in two, or even in more. Double or j triple broderies* ^^^^^m fr=r llSi^aS^SSBE^?^ ^i=i=t g^^ ^^^^ m^m ^=?p= This group of notes can be analysed (especially in a 262 THE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. rapid movement) either as a result of four simultaneous broderies, or as an individual chord, as is shown by the two figurings : $ gEE This ornament may be applied to any note whatever, whether it is a constituent note of the chord, a suspension, an alteration, or even a passing-note or an appoggiatura. Suspension, alteration, passing-note, and appoggiatura with broderies. Also, with a broderie in one part, another part may receive an alteration, a suspension, or any other harmonic or melodic device. Also, there are double broderies, an inferior and a superior together, much resembling the double appoggia- tura, with the difference that while the latter are in the accented, the former are in the unaccented portion of the bar. Double broderies. f =ss= m Double appoggiaturas. f m It is not usual to double a note having a broderie, unless it be either the tonic or the dominant. Passing-notes and single or double broderies are orna- ments frequent in classic works. The same is true as to the following, which should, however, be employed more carefully in pure scholastic style. ANTiCtPATtONS. 263 If from a broderie tie return-note, the repetition of the initial note, is taketi away, what remains is the echappee. Broderies. Echapp6es. ^^ ^ The echappee is, therefore, a curtailed broderie, with elision of the return-note, which remains as something implied ; it can occur only in a very unaccented part of the bar or of the beat, and always in conjunct diatonic connection with the principal note, which precedes it and of which it is the ornament. Also in the unaccented part is placed the anticipation, which as its name indicates is a note emitted in advance of the chord to which it belongs. It may be direct or indirect ; this requires explanation. What is called direct anticipation is the emission in advance of the same note which is about to appear, in the same part, in the following chord, thus : ^ dir. ant. When, on the contrary, the note borrowed from the chord that follows does not remain, when the chord ap- pears, in the part where it was anticipated, this is an in- direct anticipation. ind. ant. ind. ant. 1 This is also called port de voix. 264 THE GRAMMAR OF MVStC. Direct or indirect, the anticipation is employed by pref- erence in the first part, and in short notes ; if too long, and thus assuming too great importance, it becomes pre- tentious and affected. It is allowable to anticipate simul- taneously two parts, three, or even four, — that is to say, the entire chord. In many cases, the indirect anticipation can, without any ill result, be identified with the echappee, from which it differs only in this, that it makes an integral part of the chord that follows. Whatever may be the melodic notes, — appoggiaturas, passing-notes, broderies, echappees, or anticipations, — they must not serve to mask faults in harmonisation ; it must always be possible, eliding them and replacing them by the real notes of which they are only the ornamentation, to reveal a harmonic framework of irreproachable con- struction. The same is true, in instrumental composition, in regard to figures of any kind, diatonic or chromatic runs, chords broken or arpeggiated, intermingling of notes foreign to the harmony and hence invested with a purely orna- mental character, even though they be long continued. All these are powerless to. disguise a defective harmonisation, for when the notes of purely melodic character are omitted, there still remain the consecutive fifths or octaves, the false relations, etc., as is shown in the following examples, whose faults at once appear when these examples are played on the piano, or still better, are sung by four voices.^ 1- The same is true as to most of the examples given. MELODIC ORNAMEl^TS. 26K Even more objectionable is it where the ornamental notes form, among themselves or in connection with the essential notes, defective groupings, as the following : Under this head there are, however, some few and rare exceptions, in respect to which composers, even the best, are not agreed, and for whose application good taste and the artistic instinct, strengthened by observation and the frequent reading of classical works, are the only guides. 266 THE GRAMMAR OF MttSld. They must be considered as dangerous licenses, or at least as unsafe, and to be avoided by the student if he values purity of style. By the intermingling of all these various artifices, by their association and combination among themselves in a thousand different ways, according to different plans of grouping, there results a veritable musical kaleidoscope of infinite variety, which constitutes the inexhaustible wealth of modern harmony. Notwithstanding the cen- turies that have elapsed since music was first written it is certain — however Surprising this may appear to the unlearned — that all the formulas, simultaneous or suc- cessive, of which the seven notes and the seven signs of time-value are capable, with their numerous modifications, are still very far from being exhausted, and that there are many forms yet to be created, to be discovered. It is with this material, then, that we construct harmonic phrases, having a complete and well-defined meaning, even in the absence of any melodic idea. Certain characteristic parts of these phrases have received special designations, which it is important to know, so that one can understand and analyse musical discourse, and also be able to recog- nise those cases where the rules now given must be applied in all their rigour, and those other cases where they may admit of certain modifications. A harmonic phrase consists of a number of chords in logical sequence, ending with a cadence ; a phrase may be separated into several parts, which are its members, each ending in a cadence of some kind. A number of associated phrases make a period, and then, a complete musical dis- course, a piece, whose conclusion must also be a cadence, but ' in this case, only of the kind that is called a perfect cadence. Here we see the importance of cadences, which are evi- dently one of those characteristic parts requiring special examination and study. The cadence (from the Latin cadere, to fall) is the fall, the close, the ending, of every musical phrase or of its CADENCES. THE PERFECT CADENCE. 267 members. Comparing the harmonic phrase with the gram- matical, the chords are its words, and every cadence will be, as it were, followed by a punctuation mark, which it very distinctly suggests. There are many kinds of cadences; two of them only have a truly conclusive force, — the perfect or authentic cadence, which corresponds to the period, and the plagal cadence, which may be likened to the exclamation point.i The half cadence suggests an interrogation point or a colon : it calls for something more, and although logically terminating a series of chords constituting a phrase, it never gives an idea of completion, but the reverse. The comma and the semicolon are well represented by the interrupted cadence, and the broken cadence suggests the idea of a parenthesis. We shall better understand these resemblances as we study the subject further. It is the motion of the bass at the moment when the phrase ends, which determines the character of the cadence. In the perfect cadence, the bass rises from the dominant to the tonic. The meaning • here is the affirmative, conclusive. We may note that the perfect cadence is formed by the two principal generator-chords of the key, those of the sixth and fourth degrees. If they should be preceded by the chord of the fourth degree (which is done in what are called formulas of cadences, as we shall shortly see), it would be only the more fully conclusive, 1 It wiU be seen later (in Chapter Y.) that the plagal cadence is nothing else than the terminal, perfect cadence in the ancient plagal modes, where the fourth degree was the dominant. 268 THJEl GRAMMAR OF MVSIC. -9- „ -^ *=^ f^^ s- ^=^-s=\ ES? p=_ =^_«- :*^ izi 6 B 7 + 5 5 it 7 + 6 IV V IV V each note of the gamut being then represented in this group of chords exactly according to its relative impor- tance : The tonic three times; The dominant three times; The subdominant twice, or three times (according as the chord 6 or the cliord 7 is used); The mediant, siibmediant, and leading-tone, each once; The supertonic once, or not at all. Hence results the special and particularly satisfactory character of the perfect cadence ; in a sense it sums every- thing up and makes a final conclusion, after giving for a last time the whole of the notes composing the gamut (its relative importance also being preserved to each note), ■with a chord itself formed of the purest and most natural tones of the scale, its best consonances, its first and simplest harmonics, — in short, with the perfect chord. It therefore justifies well its name of the perfect ca- dence ; and if we should examine in the same way the other cadences, we should see that the impression each one pro- duces on us can be equally well analysed, and results simply from the manner in which the notes of the cadence are put together. But this is a digression. To return to the perfect car dence, we conclude by saying that it is formed by two fun- damental chords, one of the fifth degree, the other of the first, and that the motion of the bass may be, indifferently, ascending or descending ; and with this we have all that we need to know about it. Another cadence of a conclusive character, because also ending upon the tonic, is the plagal cadence. Here the PLAOAL AND HALF CADENCE. 269 bass moves, ascending or descending, from the fourth to the first degree, each of which bears a perfect chord. IV I IV I It has, to modern taste, a sense rather less afB.rmative than the preceding, because it does not contain the leading- tone, which the ear is accustomed to require as guide to the tonic. Accordingly, in music of the present day, it is rarely employed except at the very end of a composition, or at least, of a long period, and preceded by the perfect cadence, whose meaning it serves to complete and aifirm. It is principally in sacred music, where the style is broad and stately, that its use is retained as a sort of super-com- pletion of the musical meaning. It is like a seal in ad- dition to a signature. If we invert the order of the chords of the perfect cadence, and, instead of dominant-tonic, we say tonic- dominant, naturally the meaning is also inverted and the afiirmative becomes the interrogative. This occurs in the half or imperfect cadence (cadence a la dominante'), of which the following is the classic form : But here the second chord, which has the stress, is alone important ; the one preceding it can be any other than the tonic chord, without this cadence losing its proper character. 270 THE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. The only essential thing is that the pause, the close of the phrase, should be on the chord of the dominant, which contains the leading-note ; and it is this leading-note, re- maining suspended, awaiting and asking for its -hasmon-' isation, which produces the interrogative sense character- istic of the half cadence. The interrupted cadence is an unexpected progression, which avoids some regular cadence, of which it seems to be the fragment ; the bass stops on its way towards the tonic : The sense is neither aflB.rmative nor interrogative, but simply suspensive. The interrupted cadence is possible only within a phrase ; it can never be the close of a composition, or of a period, or even of a whole phrase ; it is nothing more than a comma. Every other motion of the bass from the dominant to any degree whatsoever of the scale which is capable of receiving a perfect chord, but specially to the sixth, is characterised as a broken cadence. This cadence can have INTERRUPTED AND BROKEN CADENCE. 271 five different forms, of which three are major aii4 two minor. Those given below in black notes are rarely used. ^^^i^i^^ V II V IV V V IV y m V ¥H- TS ^- The meaning of this cadence (which may be compared to the semicolon) is generally considered as an unexpected breaking off of the musical phrase, hence its, name.' It is also a half -cadence. > (There is still another, the avoided cadence, wllich is a product of the exceptional resolution ; it will be defined under Modulation. ^) t-, 2^ 'S'-i By the formula of the cadence is vmderstood a group of chords preceding it, and giving some hint of it. These formulas are infinitely various. I will indicate here — and only for the purpose of making clear the meaning of the word — some of the simplest and most commonly used of these formulas, adapting them successively to each one of the cadences above described ; but it should be under- stood that this term formula, which will soon become obsolete, is applied to every group of chords so combined as to conduct the phrase to its fall, and to end necessarily in a cadence of some kind. Each school, each composer, has a certain number of favourite formulas. Formula of perfect cadence. ife^i 6 E^ ^ 1 In German It is called a deceptive cadence. 2 Page 285. 272 THE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. Formula o£ imperfect cadence, Formula of broken cadence Formula of plagal cadence, preceded, aecording to custom, by a perfect cadence. ( The same formulas may be read in the minor, by supposing three flats in the signature, and an accidental $ at all the Bs.) In every cadence ■whose first chord contains the leading- note or the subdominant, the attractive tendency of these notes acquires greater strength than anywhere else, and the author can avoid giving them their proper resolution only in the somewhat unusual case of his proposing to lessen or enfeeble the special character of the cadence ; a perfect cadence thus harmonised loses all its force: QADENnAL FORMULAS, 273 It must be noted, then, that the need of resolution in notes having an obligatory motion is specially insistant in these cases. In cadences and their formulas, a unison on the domi- nant, between the tenor and the bass, is permissible, pro- vided it is brought in by a contrary or oblique motion : also is tolerated a unison on the tonic when produced by contrary progressions : lastly, there is further permissible even the Hidden octave descending to the first degree, the highest part proceeding by conjimct degrees : in this latter case, which, however, it is much better to avoid, the bass of the final chord is tripled, and the fifth omitted. The plagal cadence authorises a unison, by oblique pro- gression, between the tenor and bass, in its final chord. 274 TUE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. ^ The characteristic bass movements which, placed at the end of a phrase, constitute a cadence, do not produce the same impression if they are employed elsewhere ; thus, in the following example .there is a half -cadence at A, and a perfect cadence at B, while the fragments a and b, though formed of the same chords and the same notes, neither seem to be nor really are cadences. Likewise at c, the notes do not constitute a broken cadence, because it is not the end of a phrase. A harmonic procedure, much in use in the strict style, consists in regarding a little group of chords as a model, and repeating it several times, the repetitions ascending or descending by equal intervals. The repetitions are pro- gressions, and the whole is a sequence. Ascending and descending sequence. I Model prog. prog. prog. prog. prog. prog. prog. 1 2 3 4 12 3 |Model.| It is apparent that the same model according to its pro- gressions being spaced by one degree or by two or three degrees, and being of an ascending or of a descending character, can give rise to very diverse sequences. Thus the following, for example,F 9' J — combinations : , can produce these PEOGMHSSIONS. Model. prog. 1 prog. 2 f 1 in r - 275 and many others, — in very great number indeed, since not only can the chords be changed, but they can be modified in all the different ways by retardations and alterations of both kinds, and there can be introduced into them all 276 THE GMAMMAB OF MUSIC. the melodic artifices which have been already described, appoggiaturas, passing-notes, broderies, anticipations, etc. Thus far, I have spoken only of unitonic sequences, non-modulatory, — that is to say, of sequences in which, from one end to the other, there are used only the chords of a single tonality. But there are others which are called modulatory se- quences, and the better to show the difference between the two classes I will here convert all the unitonic sequences of the preceding example into modulatory sequences, — although there will result from this transformation certain manifest errors, to which I will at once advert. Model. prog.2 6 etc. CM 1 BM ' 4Af- LICsmES. Model prog^ 1 prog. 2 277 CM- GM DM- It will have surprised the reader to meet frequently, in the preceding examples, certain forbidden melodic motions' and various false relations.'' These licenses are 'permitted in sequences, for two reasons : first, it is impossible to avoid them without impairing the characteristic symmetry of the sequence ; and, second, in this special case there is no dis- agreeable effect nor any difficulty of execution. Also is tolerated the direct harmonic progression of the four parts. In writing a sequence it is, first of all, important to con- struct its model correctly, and then to take care that its first progression is faultless. After that there is only a mechanical transposition. But when the sequence ends it is important that its last chord should be connected with the chord that follows, in strict conformity to rules, the few licenses authorised for the sequence having no longer their raison d'etre. Before quitting this subject we must observe that se- quences are not all equally symmetrical. Absolute in the modulatory sequences, symmetry is only relative in the unitonic, as any one may satisfy himself by examining closely the structure of the same sequence as represented in the two preceding tables. The unitonic sequence com- posed from the seven tones belonging to one key has each 1 Page 223. 2 Page 230. 278 TBE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. of its progressions on a different degree ; and as there are no two degrees formed from the same intervals, there can be only an approach to symmetry either in the horizontal relations of the notes (their melodic motions) or their vertical relations (the chords). I reproduce here example a, of the unitonic sequences (page 275) : 4J Let us now measure the vertical dimensions. The first chord of the model is a chord of the sixth, an inversion of the perfect major triad ; in the first progression it is de- rived from the minor chord, and in the second, from a chord of the diminished fifth. The second chord of the model, the perfect major chord, becomes minor in the two following progressions, and is only restored to the major key in the third progression, to the F, the subdominant. Similar irregularities occur in the horizontal proportions; I have indicated some of these in the example itself. There is a symmetry to the eye, and also so far as the names of the intervals are concerned, but it does not extend to the characteristics which are its true measure. We will now examine example a of the modulatory sequences (page 276) : 4tll J 4tll J Here, on the contrary, the symmetry is exact ; model and progressions are all formed in the same way, from a chord of the sixth of major origin, and from a perfect major chord in its fundamental position ; the melodic movements MODULATIONS. 27^9 of one group are similar to those of the other groups ; no difference can be found between the successive progressions, except that at each one the keynote is displaced with all its train, which ma^es it possible to preserve absolute symmetry, each note keeping its rank and functions in the scale. The same thing occurs in all the modulatory sequences. To sum up what has been said, the unitonic sequence is a journey within the limits of a given tonality ; the modu- latory sequence is a journey through several tonalities which are more or less remote from each other. The system of sequences is a procedure now somewhat antiquated, rococo ; the modern school disdains it more and more, and considers a somewhat prolonged sequence as a Rosalia} However, this study of sequences and their modulatory properties makes a natural transition to the subject of modulations, since sequences have now given us a first method of modulating. Modulation occurs whenever, omitting one note, or more than one, from the ruling key, we substitute a note, or notes, bearing the same name, but belonging to another tonality, that is to say, chromatically altered. For example, being in C major, for the F, substitute Fjt, and the key is changed to Gr major. Being now in G major, flat the B and E, and you have the key of G minor. This is the entire mechanism of modulation, in principle extremely simple, but in practice, one may run against un- expected complications. We must first observe that the best modulations, best because simplest and most natural, are those which take place between related tonalities, — those, namely, which 1 The term " Rosalia " is supposed to have been derived from an Italian folk- gong beginning " Rosalia* mia cara," which is built upon such a principle of repetition as the author describes. The Germans use the term Jioaatia and also Schnsterfieck, i.e., cobbler's patch. [Three repetitions of a sequential model were called Riverenze, and more than three was thought bad by the eighteenth century " theorleians." Ed.] 280 THE GRAMMAE of MUSIC. dijffer from eaeli other only by a single sign of alteration in the key signature. These modulations are always effected by the simplest and most rapid means, which is plain when we remember that but a single note is affected in establishing the new scale. The characteristic note which brings in these modula- tions is always, or almost always, either the leading-note or the subdominant of the new key.' Its simple introduc- tion, as one of the constituent elements of a chord, dis- places in the mind the idea of the note of the same name belonging to the key we leave, a note with which it must be in chromatic relation : and by this substitution modula- tion is effected. In modulating from a minor key to its relative major, it is, on the contrary, the omission of the alteration of the leading-note which brings in the change. (See the sixth of the following examples. ) This succinct theory of the modulation into neighboring tonalities is clearly demonstrated in the examples given below. I have presented each modulation under two forms : the first using only the consonant chords, that the framework may be apparent ; the second, with other chords and various artifices of ornament. In both, one may discern the role of the characteristic note, this differentiating note which seems in a certain sense to prick you into the new key. From C major into A minor. CharacteriBtic note Gf 7tli degree of A minor. 1 It is to be observed that these two notes form together the attractive con- sonance of the diminished fifth, and, in a sense, designate -the seventh degree to which they belong in the two modes. MODULATIONS. 281 From C major into G major. Characteristic note r I 7tb degree of G major. From C major into F major. Cliaracteristic note B b 4tli degree of P major. From, C major into E miTwr. Characteristic note D % 7th decree of E minor. m- ^ From C major into D minor. ^<:= :g= +2 ^ <=-r^ i- -^ 1 II =F- Characteristic note C t 7th degree of D minor. / r^— From Ami nor into 7»M ijor. j 6 6 5 ■SI- _ r ■9^ +4 rs> 1 6 GharacteriBtic note Gj); omitted 7tli degree of A minor (initial tone.) From A minor into E minor. Characteristic noteDe 7th degree of E mmdr. 282 THE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. From A mirwr into D minor zA :q:=«='- m Characteristic note 0% 7th degree of D minor. I ^ ^ From A minor into G major. 6 .6 ^iE CharacteriBtic noteFJ), 7th degree of G major. i ^ From A minor into F major. d: i^ EfegE Characteristic note B b 4th degree of F major. Modulation into remote keys is effected by three means, namely, change of mode, the equivocal chord, and the en- harmonic change. A change of mode is to pass from major to minor, or vice versa, without changing the keynote ; a siniple chro- matic modification of the third, and it is done : c c A A Ma^. mvn. min. Maj. The distance crossed by this change- of mode is that of three alterations in either direction : C major, ; C minor, 3 flats ; A minor, ; A major, 3 sharps. The system of the equivocal chord is rather more subtle. Suppose that we are in the key of C ; we play the perfect ENHARMONIC CHANGES. 283 chord of the first degree ; then, remembering that this chord is identical with the chord on the fifth degree in F minor, we accept the idea that the bass note is no longer a tonic, but is a dominant ; and the modulation is made. (equiv.) 1st degree. 5tli degree fromC.Maj. toJF.min. Here our path lies through four alterations, since in F minor there are four flats.' The enharmonic change is, in a sense, an extension of the preceding. Disregarding the orthography of the chord as it is written, and considering only the actual sounds according to temperament,^ we can often be transported to a very remote key. (enharm.) CMaj. FtMaj. In this example, the enharmonic change from F to E| takes us at one step across six alterations. These are the rapid procedures, but we may also reach the same point by short successive stages, gaining one alteration at each step, that is to say, touching the inter- mediate tonalities which are nearly related among them- selves, 1 The system of the equirooal chord is based, manifestly, on the fact that one chord may belong to several gamuts, occupying different degrees in each. 2 See p. 54. 284 THE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. (3b) Example of C minor into D major. C2b) (ID) (0) _(ljt) s^I^LI^^SeS^ ^-^i (2Jt) EP^3? sm- mi i^^i Cmin. JBbM. Dm. 'cm. EM. DM. or finally, skilfully combine these different procedures to obtain a more unexpected or a more interesting result. Example of G major into Bb minor. Change of intermed. mode. tone. enh, equiv. enh. change of mode. B b+6 b5 +6 t +4 6 "^(+|)b6 6 '^\ bs Another example, from A minor into Eo major. intermed. intermed. intermed. tone. enh. tone. tone. change of mode. D G G E JBlB A min. E min. Sa mm. min.i MOiJ. min. or min. Cadence ■ Maj. It is apparent that the resources in modulation are absolutely unliniited ; the examples which we have given are among the most hackneyed. Certain chords are especially apt for modulation. Such are the chords of ^^ whose mere succession in a motion of descending fifth or ascending fourth (an exceptional re- solution) leads from one dominant to another through the whole cycle of tonalities, AVOIDED CADENCES. 28§ leaving the final chord at liberty to be of the major or of the minor mode. By means of this series, wjiich is simply a long modu- latory sequence, one could modulate from any tone to any other, on the sole condition of choosing as point of departure the dominant of the initial tonality, and as point of arrival that of the tonality into which one pro- poses to go ; also, it is possible to establish other similar series by means of inversions : but it is evident how puerile such a procedure is. I have described it here only to have the opportunity to present the javoided cadence , which I proposed to describe under the head of modulations. This cadence is formed by any two consecutive chords taken from the preceding series, that is to say, two chords of the dominant seventh, at the distance of a fifth from each other ; there is then a dis- placement of the dominant, whence results, besides a cadence, a modulation, a change of the tonic. V V V V from C to F from D to F 286 TRE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. -The following is the simplest form of an avoided cadence : $ -4- avoided C. perfect C. =^=^=1; =§^s= P^I^=S 7 + V V from F. With it is given a like formula of the perfect cadence ; it will be observed that the two differ only by a single chord, or rather, a single note, the one which causes the modular tion to the subdominant, and is produced by the exceptional resolution^ of the leading-note of the first chord of J. Other chords very well adapted to modulations are chords of 7, which alone have this peculiarity : all the inversions and the fundamental chord are homophonio among, them- selves in all their notes / it is evident how* well adapted these are to enharmonic modulations. And an excessive use has been made of them. Upon an instrument having fixed tones, a key-board instrument, for example, these four chords which represent, however, four different states of the diminished seventh, are played on the same keys. Profiting by this complete homophony, one can, by means of a single chord, modulate into all the keiys. For example : . Z> min. DmOQ. B min. BmoQ. 1 See p. 239, r^ ^^ r-IS — exception. 1-« 1 -hr= H 1^^ 3. F. 4 2 — f-}H— 1~ ^^"- 1 1 -A- Hz — '^ — '^ »- ^— ^^^ PT^ ^ f^ --= :-=?— m^ — H-=^ f- |- -h =Mi=t -t fz:'^ piS> [-^ i-^^- .,_ There is also a combination of the second and third species, writing one part in half-notes and one in quarter, ■which does not call for distinctly new rules. Each voice remains subject to its normal progression, to its special principles, but with less rigour than heretofore ; octaves and fifths are tolerated in the unaccented part of the measure; there even is permitted unison in whole notes, if in the two lower parts. r-P=^^ ^^ '■s=i^ ,^=p^ i" C.F.- '^^^^^^^m =i= §i$z Fourth Species. Syncopated. Here, by special tolerance, the fourth may be attacked directly, in the unaccented part of the bar, provided it becomes the preparation for another fourth in the down- beat of the next bar, which is correctly resolved; hence, the bass note cannot change during this time.' Also, it is allowable to use aggregations of four notes which are really chords of the seventh, but on condition that this 1 See p. 305, rule 1. 310 TBE GBAMMAM OF MUSIC. seventh results from syncopation, and that its resolution is possible in the following note : E$EE R i^ c. p. fe exception. * m §-^i$= r IS exception. E=^z Finally, three species may be alternated : one part in half-notes, one in quarter- notes, one in syncopations, the whole upon the cantus firmus which remains in whole notes, so that, in reality, the first four species I are all represented here. All the tolerances previously indicated may be utilised here, but the student should remember always that per- fection would be to dispense with these. » iir= p¥^^^^^^m ^ EEEE fcfc § I W^: W^ 355^ C. F. ^ SIMPLE COUNTERPOINT IN FOUR PARTS. 311 m ^m ^m ^ ^ Fifth Species. Florid counterpoint. Here, of course, there can be one, two, or three florid parts, the plain song remaining, without change, in whole notes. All the preceding rules should be observed, that is to say, each part must be considered subject, in each of its notes, to the species which momentarily rules it, both in its individual motions as well as in its relations with other parts, and only in case of necessity should the following privileges and exceptions be admitted. (Florid in one part.) — t-7h ,rj l/TJ '' \1 f »- -^— ;—»—»■- f-ff-l- ^"^^n-^r^ =p4^-^p- :^p:_f-^ t-*!t_ ^ih-tzt^p: rtS 1 p«^ dS r*'' 1 , _<= , - r!p-- --3 C.F. o:. vii — = -^^'— =^ ^ :^= h 312 TBE GRAMMAR OF MVStC. fee ^ m W m i ESE (Florid in two parts.) ^ jzzzfzr p ^ ^E^ P ^=p=r ^^ (g I jr r-^^-^ c. p. ^^^^ ^ ^ ^^^^ g=g i^ ^^m ^ =t=tt ^^^ §i- SIMPLE COUNTERPOINT IN FOUR PARTS. 313 {Florid in three parts.) O. F. t^ j- f j- f '—f^ ^^§^^^18 n^rr i [ fe ^^ ^^E^^ ig^a It appears useless to describe in detail the rules of simple counterpoint in five, six, seven, or eight parts, for the reason that these rules can be inferred from those already given and their modifications. It will suffice' to say that the fundamental principles remain always the same as in counterpoint in two parts, the tolerances becoming broader as the number of voices increases, which has already been noted. There is not and cannot be a strictly rigorous counter- point except with a very limited number of voices, for the rigidity of rules must necessarily be lessened as the number of voices simultaneously employed grows larger, for this brings in inevitable complications, while, at the same time, it constitutes the interesting side of this kind of work. Thus, in eight parts, in florid counterpoint, are permitted the following : 314 THE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC 1. Octaves or fifths, between unaccented parts of the measure, and even on the down-beat, if they occur by con- trary motion. 2. Those produced by the motion of syncope, on the accented parts of bars, and even on the unaccented by contrary motion. 3. Two octaves (or unison and octave), even in whole notes, between the two lower parts, and by contrary motion. 4. Unison, except by direct motion. 5. Crossing of parts, except in the first and last measures. 6. Repetition of notes, in a part that is written in whole notes. 7. The discreet use of rests. 8. In case of need (but this is very hazardous) the meeting of a suspension and its note of resolution, etc. With all these licenses it is still very difficult to write correct single counterpoint in eight parts, for there remain forbidden : 1. Octaves or fifths, between accented parts of the bar and by direct motion. 2. Those caused by syncopation and occurring on the up-beat, except by contrary motion. 3. Direct octaves or fifths between two outside parts. 4. The use of more than three consecutive thirds or sixths. 5. Repetition of notes, except of whole notes, etc. It should also be said that the use of counterpoint in more than four or five parts has always been rare, and. becomes more and more infrequent; it requires a great effort of combination, and the musical result obtained is very rarely in proportion to the amount of skill expended. It is, in fact, scarcely practised except in the schools, and there merely as an exercise giving facility, and passing directly from the first to the fifth species. I shall not occupy further time in presenting all these various species. The following is, however, an example, which I believe to be nearly correct, of florid counterpoint in eight voices, the cantus firmus being in the bass : SIMPLE COUNTERPOINT IN EIGHT PABTS. 315 ■m—m- 1==FI=I= fefc g^^ :^ ^-rirf :N^ :*- 7tf — '■ ^"^" ^ ^: ^^ i ^)t=^— fe= fe^ fe^^^ E^ ^ ^ ^ ■^ ^ 516 THE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. The parts enter successively, so as to present a tissue growing constantly thicker (and, also, thus showing them- selves more distinctly in their individual character), up to the moment when the actual eight voices are together and unite to produce the effect of the whole. Here it becomes difficult to preserve to each an inde- pendent progression, and to avoid conflicts among them ; it is, however, possible, — for the great masters have done it, and admirable examples are not lacking of this marvel of combination. An altogether peculiar species must be described here ; it is the counterpoint with double chorus, one of the most attractive. The eight parts are so arranged as to form two distinct choruses ; each of these must produce, as far as may be, a complete whole, sufficient in itself, without, however, any one of its parts interfering with any part in the other =^ ■»-fg I T P-rg-v ^^ ^ w =5?^_f-^« :j==:t =P: T^ m^^ m at-fe^ ^i ^ ^ ^ =(=t3= ^ ^EE :*t DOUBLE COUNTERPOINT. 317 chorus. It is often interesting to make the two choruses answer each other, which authorises a more free use of rests than in counterpoint of any other kind. Many great works of distinguished contrapuntists have been written on this plan, notably the famous oratorio of Sebastian Bach, The Passion according to S. Matthew, which has for accompaniment two distinct orchestras, while at times a choral forming a ninth part hovers over the whole, as shown in the illustration on page 316: The reader who has gone over the preceding pages and has read the examples, will, I think, be no longer in danger of the mistake which, in the minds of many, represents counterpoint as a sort of corollary to modern harmony, but will clearly perceive that the two are entirely distinct technics. The difference will become still more apparent in DOUBLE COUNTERPOINT. This counterpoint at first sight resembles florid counter- point in two parts and is subject to the same rules ; but, in addition, — and this makes its peculiarity, — it must be so constructed that the parts cau be inverted, that is inter- changed, taking the first for second, and the second for first, without any special incorrectness, whence arises the necessity for new and peculiar rules. This change of place must be borne in mind in composition, and whatever would become faulty by the new ordering must be avoided. I will here describe double counterpoint in the octave, which is the simplest and, also, the most important form. The fifth here must be guarded against because, in the inversion, it will be a fourth; it must therefore be treated as a dissonance, that is, prepared and resolved. The dissonance of the ninth, which, in simple counterpoint, may be only the suspension of the doubled bass, becomes impracticable, since from it would result a seventh re- quiring resolution in the bass, which is inadmissible. 318 THE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. Observe now, in detail, how each interval must be used so that the result is capable of reversal at the octave : 1. Unison is allowable only in the first or last measures or upon the up-beat or the weak part of the down-beat. 2. The second, as a passing-note or, prepared and re- solved, as a suspension in the bass. 3. The third, not more than three times in succession ; it would have an effect of poverty. 4. The fourth, as a passing-note or as a suspension. 6. The fifth, like the fourth. 6. The sixth, like the third. 7. The seventh, like the second, — that is to say, as a passing-note or as a suspension prepared and resolved. 8. The octave, as seldom as possible, except at the be- ginning and end. 9. The- ninth, solely as a passing-note or broderie. The other rules remain in force ; no crossing of parts, no consecutive octaves or fiiths, and as much variety as possible in meloiiic contours and groups of values. . JL — 1-»- =p: -f— -^- p^= f= ^^ \^wtr'= — -^ ^m^ :bfc=b==- -1 : h'—" *¥Jftr?ti-}-»— »- -i-=? — -^ d-n "^ — ^ — r= P= =pr. T*^'^ =F=t* z*= L|^_l_ dbzq H — -1— -\~-— ^=ii*rF+^-r= --T^^ -.-,»- Fr"r -^ ^ -0~ ^^^ -^ j^)t_ci:^i — J — L_f4__j — 1 — 1_ h IMH'fffi"^' — — »- T— T^ — (=— t — f^ -m- ^ - -|«»- -1 ^ »l ■ - F=t ~r^ rfccd ;^= -■.-S S-p. =*_«= Et --*^ ^^^^^lg Here, be- tween the two male voices, and the two female. This is childish. There really is, therefore, no triple or quadruple counter- point worthy of the name but that in the octave. IMITATION. In concluding this rapid survey of a style so rich in combinations, and of such vitality that it even now vivifies our great modern works, we have to examine, lastly, the counterpoint in imitation, which offers to the composer infinite and peculiarly fascinating resources. It has already been said that there are imitations of many different species ; we will now examine these one by one, with a few words of explanation and some examples, to show the character of each. Imita,tion, properly so called, consists in the musical act of any one part reproducing more or less faithfully the melodic design which another part has previously uttered. When this reproduction is exact, when the spaces of tones and diatonic or chromatic semitones of the model part are represented in the imitating part by spaces identically similar, — when, in a word, there is a perfect resemblance in the contours of the two, the imitation is said to be regular or canonical.' We may remark at once that this 1 Some authors say canstramed imitation ; and call the irregular imitation free. This Is only a verbal question. 326 THE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. absolutely perfect imitation can occur only at the unison, the octave, or the fifth.' It is subject to all the laws of the simple florid counterpoint of the fifth species. {In the octave.) A ^ =!=i: =f=:S!: i m :rt- -&EEEE asE^^ gEE^EEfe i^ --P= _ =!•? ^ 1 — *- -4-- r — ^ — coda. ~^- — C3— - q: j -f=^= — 1 — =^ ■^ -^ -- ^t= -4— -t 1- U (In t he fifth.) A -t- i-G-f^^-i- V^ M Y^^^^^^^. ^^4f-^=a^ To render it invertible, there must be applied to it, further, the rules of double counterpoint. -S-- -^.Ip-i*-,.. :3=I==C: :^»-j — ^H — ^-»-^ ft* f^ ^lii =^ coda. i^ S==^-,. ^P =±=ti; 1 The regulojr imitation in tlio fifth, either superior or inferior, can he made, of course, only hy altering the seventh degree or subdominant of the imitating part ; this is, actually, a transposition, and the two parts move in two keys, different, though nearly related. If this detail he neglected, there can he an imitation in the fifth, hut it will no longer he regular. IMITATION. 327 It is not difficult thus to combine regular imitations in three or four parts. Where they are of some extent, they take the name of canon, which is particularly appropriate when they are so cojiceived that a perpetual repetition permits each part to come in anew. The following is a correct example of the perpetual canon : ■» A -B-%. i ? I rrT =N I D.C. At any other interval than these, only irregular imitations can be formed, owing to the conformation of the gamut and the distribution of tones and semitones. Here the resem- blance is less complete ; a tone may correspond to a semi- tone, a third, major in the model, may be minor in the imitation, etc. ; hut the general aspect is the same, as well as the rhythmic disposition, which is sometimes suf- ficient. r tSW-- --^^ The irregular imitation may also be written in double counterpoint, and it then becomes invertible. 328 TEE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. B — — =^ Inversion. A ^lEfEE^Et S^ ;/VV\w w t fe ' -f=Y==r~P=^= A/VVvw * ^^^^^^^ E =t=F =CFz:t In all the species of imitation, the part which furnishes the model is called the antecedent, and those which repeat the melodic design are consequents. The antecedent may be in any part, and it may begin with the tonic, the dominant, or the mediant. Continual repetitions of the same notes should be avoided, also repetitions of similar groups, and only a guarded use should be made of rests and crossings of parts. The only modulations permitted are those into related tones. All the Ailes of florid counterpoint remain in force. IMITATION BY CONTBAKY MOTION. To compose an imitation of this kind, there must be opposed to the gamut in which the antecedent is written, a second gamut moving in the opposite direction, whence the notes for the consequent are to be taken. Scale of the antecedent. Scale of the consequent. The four notes I^^F? 13 4 5 are rendered in the consequent thus : EffiE^ their numerical order being reversed. of the antecedent 13 4 5 =t ^ i IMITATION BY CONTRARY MOTION. 329 A --ZS. i-^pr BEPEg^EB^E^-^^^^ =4W= K mF^^-f^^^^=r^;£i^i^ r s£^ R fegFF=Fr=fNf=^^^ coda 1 Imitation by con- trary motion can also be obtained by con- trasting the two follow- ing scales : n ::. ^ Scale of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 the consequent. ^ =^ = — =^— e — „ — — which give as an answer to: notes : §^^^ the always in virtue of the nu- merical order remaining the same in the two reverse series. A It is to be observed j that in neither of these two systems is the place of the semi- tones taken into ac- count ; hence they are suited either to a major or its relative minor; but they furnish only irregular imitations. If it is desired to obtain a regular imitation hy contrary 330 TBB GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. motion, there is this combination, where the tones and semitones agree exactly : ' Major mode. m $ -^—JS- 2 3 5 6 7 8 Minor mode.l P I 12345678 By means of these scales, absolutely correct and faithful imitations in contrary motion are written ; which, if long enough, may be called inverted canons. ^^^ *E£3!E ^^ — i-- =F=e =: -^ ^ -«>- n i; T_ L coda -1— -1— —— t i— -H-- =P -r+- -■^ But little need be said as to the other kinds of imita- tions, whose names carry with them their explanation. In the imitation by diminution, the consequent employs time-values less than those of the antecedent, always, of course, observing the rhythmic proportions : 1 This minor scale is theoretically pare, without admission of any alteration. DIMINUTION AND AUGMENTATION. 331 ^ JigEE W 1.=tt i^EEE=! ^EE^3^^^. ^ \ r rn»- 1 —ZD rf? — ?is — 1 rr-' — i — — r- -r 1 +^ — ^ -— 1 P^ ■ — ' — ^- H 1 -1 1 — 1 ft coda m^ rr -^*-■l K _ap ..= The contrary is true of the imitation by augmentation ; A — — ■ ^— -^ but this gives no occasion for new rules ; it is a matter of sagacity and ability on the composer's part. Retrograde imitation (canon cancrisans) consists in taking the last note of the antecedent as the initial note of the consequent, and thus going backwards to the ante- cedent's first note, which becomes the consequent's last, no modification being made in the time-values. This is no more difficult than the preceding species. 332 TMB OBAMMAR OF MUSIC. All these various imitations can be "written in three, four, five, or more voices ; they can be combined among them- selves, and they thus offer resources both interesting and unexpected; it will occur even that the consequent may become so different from the antecedent as to be unrecog- nisable except to the experienced ear. Observe, for example, a regular retrograde imitatio7i by contrary motion and by diminution, r4 - -i^-tTirrr— B ^-3 — -■ J_J__|. — Largamente. U-4 H- : H- ^ B- ■fUr .-H- :-H.^:^--_ 1 [P ' 1 ^^^ 1^ ^ =t=^ htt! f coda whose interest certainly would escape any person not on the look-out for it; for, although presented here entirely unconcealed, and with letters indicating its antecedent and consequent, it must be very closely examined before the combination can be detected. I would suggest the experi- ment. Such is, with all the apparent complication which its real simplicity allows, the mechanism of counterpoint. Nothing can be clearer than its theory ; but difficulties in execution arise at every step, the application of certain FUGUE. ' 333 rules sometimes giving rise to different interpretations, and consequently to discussions between the most skilful con- trapuntists. In certain ancient treatises are found precepts more absolute ; in others, more recent, are modifications, con- cessions to modern taste ; the counterpoint here described is the severe, as it was practised by the old masters, only set free from the mediaeval tonalities of which we shall have occasion to speak later. Counterpoint might be defined as the art of juggling with notes ; in fact, it will be observed that all combina- tions which can occur to the imagination of the Tnodern com,poser belong of necessity to one of these five species; and that they always are (whatever be the supplementary licenses which one designs to allow himself) a fragment of counterpoint simple, double, triple, or quadruple, or an imitation, or some other artifice foreseen by the laws of the science. This is so true that no musician, how- ever inexperienced, can design a melody, however insig- nificant, and apply to it an elementary accompaniment, without writing counterpoint, unawares, — as M. Jourdain talked prose ; the question will be whether this prose con- forms to the laws of grammar, syntax, logic, and rhetoric ; and this is why the composer is obliged — if he cares that his style be pure and his musical language correct — to possess a thorough knowledge of the rules of counterpoint. C— Of the Fugue. The fugue is the highest form of composition in counter- point. All the species which have been described in the preceding section are used in it, and furthermore, the com- position itself is required to have a certain form, a certain order in the modulations, a special build, from which there is no departure without infringing upon the laws ruling this form of musical composition, — a form generally con- sidered dry, but in which a student will take the greatest .334 THE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. interest, as soon as he penetrates the inmost details of its structure. Inspiration, as we understand it in these days, there is none ; neither to the heart nor to the senses does the fugue address itself but to the mind only, by the ingenuity of its procedures and the inexhaustible variety of its combinations. A line fugue can certainly, it is true, evoke an idea of the grand, the monumental, by its strong construction, its unity, and the harmonious proportions of its lines. Another fugue will appear subtle and ingenious, by the pertinency, or by the unexpectedness, presiding over the working up of its various artifices. But no other emotions are to be sought from it; the pleasure which it offers is purely intellectual, unimpassioned and without enthusiasm ; we admire calmly, — reason and the spirit of analysis being called in. It is an edifice of sound, it is musical archi- tecture ; and that which renders supremely interesting the study of the fugue, now a thing of the past, is the knowl- edge that its solid framework is still the same on which are built the masterpieces of the present day, — a truth which will be better and more thoroughly demonstrated a little later, in the chapter where modern composition is treated of. We will now first examine what constitutes a fugue. A fugue is a musical composition entirely conceived in counterpoint, where evetything is attached, directly or in- directly, to an initial motif, the subject ; hence the unity of the work; variety is obtained by modulations and various combinations in canon or in imitation. The voices seem constantly flying from or pursuing each other, and this appears in the etymology of the name, fuga (flight).^ The constructive elements indispensable in every true fugue are: (1) the subject, or princijjal theme; (2) the answer, at the fifth, subject to special rules ;^ (3) the 1 [ The fugue is a comparatively modern development of what is now called canon, and the latter was called fuga in the 16th century, the modern fugue development not existing till much later. Fugue in our modern sense has hardly been known more than 200 years, while its parent, the so-called " canon," has at least 600 years behind it. Ed.] 2 See p. 336. FUOUE. 335 counter-subject, or counter-subjects combined in double counterpoint with the subject; (4) the stretto (an Italian word signifying "narrow," "drawn together"), in which the subject and the answer are brought as close together as possible for the sake of heightening the interest. Accessory elements are: (1) episodes drawn from the subject or counter-subject, and serving for transitions ; (2) the pedal, either tonic or dominant, to strengthen the tonality at the moment of conclusion. It is at once apparent how all the details are united to the subject, and derived from it. But to see how these different elements may be utilised, we must examine closely the general plan of a composition of this kind. PLAN OF THE FUGUE. First comes the exposition, which consists in the enuncia- tion of the subject and the answer, given twice in alterna- tion, and, as far as possible, in different parts.^ Thus, where there are four parts, each one begins either with the subject or the answer ; then it is used to accompany the new entrances, by means of the counter-subject, or simply by completing the harmony. In this latter case it is called the part ad libitum (which does not prevent its being indirectly derived from the subject, for it is made expressly to serve as the latter's accompaniment). Immediately after this, preceded by a brief digression or episode, comes the counter-exposition, a sort of reflected exposition, in which the answer is heard first, and then the subject,^ each once only, and accompanied by the counter- subject. Here, the composer, to avoid monotony, should be careful not to place each one of these elements in the same 1* Fugues are written in from two to eight parts. The school-fugue is gener- ally in four parts, which favours the distrihution of the subjects and answers in the exposition. 2 Bepetition might be avoided by sometimes calling the subject the ante- cedent, proposition, or guide, and the counter-subject, the consequent; but it is better to employ constantly the usual name. The reader should, however, know that the other words are often employed. 336 THE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. part which enunciated it in the exposition ; inversions and reversals are always possible, since the subject and counter- subject are in double counterpoint. Frequently the counter-exposition is omitted, and after the first episode a modulation is made into the related key, and the subject and its answer and their inseparable accom- paniment of the counter-subject are again presented ; this is always the first modulation. After this, the tonality being well established, the com- poser makes excursions among the related keys,' by episodes becoming constantly more and more important, drawn from fragments of the subject or counter-subject, treated as imitation or as canons, utilising the various resources of counterpoint,^ and combining the selection of tonalities in such a way as to end upon the dominant of the principal key. Then, a distinct cadence may occur, emphasised even by a pedal of the dominant ; this, however, is not necessary, and the stretto may immediately begin, which is the most interesting part of the fugue. Here, the subject and the answer must crowd upon each other, overlap in a way, and with increasing vehemence, 'if the nature of the subject permit ; this is the pursuit, which grows eager and pressing ; the episodes themselves partici- pate in the action, and admit only of crowded imitations. Often there are several stretti, but every fugue requires at least one, which must be both harmonious and interesting. After the stretto, which admits of but little modulation, and where, in any case, the subject and its answer are always in the principal key, comes the conclusion. Here we have the pedal, generally in the bass, its logical position, which repeats once more the subject, .answer, and counter- subject, usually in stretto, and then follows the final cadence, perfect or plagal. OF THE ANSWER. We have said that the answer is subject to certain spe- cial rules : these will now be explained. 1 See p. 279. 2 Subject, by augmentation^ by diminution, or inverted; the same as to the counter-subjects. FUGUE. 337 It must be said that there are two principal kinds of fugues : the real fugue, much the more ancient but less interesting ; and the tonal fugue, based on the principle of tonality, which is the fugue of Bach and Handel, of Men- delssohn and Cherubini, ^ — the great fugue. In the real fugue, of which we shall not speak further, the answer is merely a copy of the subject, transposed a fifth higher (or a fourth lower), whence results a perpetual canon, more or less rigorous, more or less free, often inter- mittent, which was the first to be called fugue. Quite different is the answer in the tonal fugue. Here the scale is regarded as divided into two unequal parts, the dominant at the point between the two : T D T 1 -1 1 y 5=4-^-^^^:^'-=5== the principle is to answer the tonic by the dominant, and the dominant by the tonic ; thus . Subject. Answer. "•' m T» TV "»! Subject. Answer. The imitation is not exact, for the answer to a fifth is by a fourth, or conversely ; but it is only thus that the answer is truly regular, according to the immutable laws of the tonal fugue.^ The following are examples of easy subjects, with their correct answers. 1 This is not to say that these composers never wrote real fugues. 2 [ In England, real fugue simply means that the answer requires no alter- ation, and tonal fugue means that it does. The two kinds are otherwise just the same. Ed.^ 338 THE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. ^^^^m^ -^ — i-"^^- implied harmony. at After this required change, which is called a mutation, the answer faithfully reproduces the subject, thus differing from it only by its head; this suffices, however, to dis- tinguish them from each other, which was not the case in the real fugue.^ Moreover, it is understood that if the subject begin in C to end in G, for instance, the answer must begin in G- and end in C, Subject. in G' Answer. .'Su—ts,- ^^^ :=S==t:=|: i=3r*r» ^ in C— whence results a sort of endless excursion back and forth between two tonalities, at the distance of a fifth from each other, characteristic of the tonal fugue. It is needless to add that upon the subject depends the answer, and that a subject of a real fugue is not treated as a subject in a tonal fugue. 1 This mutation of the subject and answer often involves a mutation of the counter-subject. FVGUE. 339 In respect to the counter-subject, it is essential in com- posing it, to make it as different from the subject as possible, both in the rhythm and in the melodic contour. Since all the episodes and all the combinations must be drawn from these two elements, it is by making them dif- ferent from each other that the largest range for variety can be obtained. The obligation to write in double count- erpoint, invertible, attains, though in another way, the same end, since it permits the parts to be inverted, arid thus appear under new and varied aspects. Two or even three counter-subjects may be employed, in that case combined with the subject in triple or quadruple counterpoint. Then the composition is sometimes called a fugue with three or with four subjects ; but this designa- tion is improper, a fugue having never more thah the single principal theme. Beside the real fugue and the tonal fugue, which are the two pure and classic types of the form, there are a quantity of others, more or less fanciful, such as the free fugue, the imitative fugue, the irregular fugue, whose names clearly suggest their nature. There is not space for us to describe these. Notwithstanding the overture to the Magic Flute, and thB finale of Falstaff, and a few other exceptional compo- sitions, the fugue is not an operatic form : it can never be dramatic. Its home is the church ; there, with the organ for auxiliary, it attains the summum of majesty. In the oratorio and in every composition of a religious character, nothing can fill its place. This is not true as to compositions in the fugal style, or simply in counterpoint, which find their place everywhere. In studies of harmony, which are nothing else than first steps in the art of composition, great use is made of the procedures and artifices of counterpoint, such as imitation, double counterpoint and invertible imitation, but with less severity and the admission of chords of modern creation, — iridescent melodic contours. 340 THE GRAMMAR OF MUSIC. In. every work of strong construction may be found at least vestiges of the general plan of the fugue, where this plan itself is not the foundation of the work ; moreover, certain developments can acquire their true interest only by borrowing from this style ; and it is perhaps in the lyric drama of our time that may be found its most strik- ing as well as most unforeseen application. Such is the r61e of the fugue and of counterpoint in the artistic evolu- tion of music, which I hope soon to be able clearly to demonstrate. The principal works to be consulted on Counterpoint and Fugue are those of : Fiix (1660), Marpukg, Albbechtsbbrger, Chercbini, F^Tis and Bazin. Also I would mention the Traiti de Contrepoint of E. Fr. Richter (French of Sandr^) where the Church Tones and the style of Protestant Chorals are carefully studied. Some fugues of Bach annotated with indication of subjects, counter-subjects, episodes, etc. , are published by Le Couppey. The reading of these is instructive. In English: translations of Eichter's works. HuLLAH, J. P., Grammar of Counterpoint, 1876. liocKSTRO, W. S., Rules of Counterpoint, 1881. Bridge, J. F., Counterpoint, 1880; Double Counterpoint, 1881. HiLEs, H., Part-Writing, or Modern Counterpoint, 1884. August Haupt, Theory of Counterpoint, Fugue, and Double Counterpoint, translated by H. Clareijoe Eddy. E. Prout, Fugue, Counterpoint, Strict and Free, and Double Coun- terpoint and Canon. CHAPTER IV. ESTHETICS. The human being comes into relations with the outside world by the agency of the senses. Among these, two are specially elaborated and have, so to speak, long range — sight and hearing. It is to these two only that the manifesta- tions of art are addressed : to the sight, painting, sculpture, and architecture ; to the hearing, music and poetry, which in the beginning were closely united and formed but one and the same art, then separated, — the one, by the aid of words to give exact form to thought; the other, to express with incomparable force the state of the soul. For this is the role of music : it depicts or it induces a state of the soul, without determining its causes; while poetry, the sister art, using articulate language, explains this state and comments upon it, like the explanations below a drawing. In truth they are each other's complement, and notwith- standing their occasional separations they tend always to re-union; for it is only by association that they can attain their highest intensity and penetrating power, still further augmented in the opera and the modern lyric drama by the scenery ( in which painting, sculpture, and architecture are included, and with costume and ballet appeal to the eye). Here then, all the arts are united, converging towards the general effect ; but if of these there is one which, left to its own resources, can transport us into an atmosphere purely ideal and intellectual, without doubt that one is music. We may say then, that, related though it is to physics and physiology, which are only its means of production, transmission, or perception; bound though 342 E8TEETICS. it is to mathematics, which moreover rules the universe, music is the least material, the most ethereal of all the arts. The plastic arts, sculpture and painting, represent to us natural objects with which we are familiar, — men and women, everything belonging to the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, every description of scene, historic, mythological, or purely imaginary, but in definite form; poetry addresses us in complete discourse, it gives language to its personages, a distinct individuality manifested in action; here again there is the visible channel by which influence reaches the mind. Much more mysterious is the action of music : sounds and time-values, sometimes even silence, — these are its sole means of action upon the human mind and with these it must awaken emotion.^ Considered alone, that is to say, deprived of all aid and free of any collaboration, doubtless the highest form of music is the Symphony. Here everything springs from the musician's brain ; his imagination creates the leading idea and the secondary motives, with their developments, modulations, varieties of rhythm, the colouring of orches- tration, without guidance or support from a sister art ; and this complete emotional whole which he has translated into musical vibrations goes its way, across the molecules of air, to induce in the sensitive listener a condition of the sold analogous to that which presided over the creation of the work. Is there anything much more minute than a vibration of ether ? Is there anything grander than the emotion produced by a fine symphony ? The dispro- portion between the initial cause and the result obtained is very impressive, and gives truly a lofty idea of the power of art. It is easy to understand the very strong desire which ardent natures feel in their turn to create works as grand and stirring as those which have filled them with passion- ate admiration. For this, it is not enough to understand ^ We make no account of the kind of music called descriptive^ whicli does its part by imitation of natural sounds, the wind, the roll of thwnder, the cries of animals ; this is artistic childishness. COMPOSITION. 343 how tones are produced, multiplied, combined, — which, as we have said, is the grammar. Quite another order of studies is requisite, and this it is not easy to define; for it differs essentially with each person's nature and character. Let us attempt, however, to see how one may become a composer, or at least, may seek to become so; for to succeed is not within the reach of every man. A. — Of Composition. Though treatises upon musical composition are not unknown in catalogues, no man has ever written a work which teaches how to compose good music. A work of that kind, if such there were,, might be abridged into two words : have genius. With genius alone, it is possible to create grand and beautiful works ; instances of this are not unknown ; but how long and painful is the labour ! The true condition for the production of healthy, robust works is to be able to unite with genius the treasures of acquired talent, of technic, and of erudition.^ If the reader will take the trouble to make some brief investigations, he will very soon become convinced that all the great masters who have done honour to the art of music are, above all, great thinkers, very learned in their own technic, but also very thoroughly versed in scientific or literary studies; philosophers of a high rank; in short, men who have something to say or to teach, new thoughts or grand emotions to communicate. Genius is to art what the soul is to the body, the non- material principle which gives it life and governs it. This is genius, which study can sometimes contribute to develop, but can never create in the individual who is not endowed with it by nature ; it is without doubt a natural 1 A definition by Gounod, whicli 1 believe has never before been in print : " Genius is a tumultuous river always likely to overflow its banks ; talent builds quays for it." 344 ESTHETICS. gift, this faculty of conceiving and creating new forms which have the power of producing feeling in other minds. We shall never have classes in inspiration ; and still, inspi- ration is contagious in a certain measure, and to frequent the society of men of genius, of great artists, is at least to favour its development if the germ exists latent in the soul. On the other hand, talent is never inborn, but is acquired only by study, with the aid of time. The musician who has talent but lacks the spark of genius, may write well, may even attain a certain nobility of style, especially if he pos- sesses the faculties of observation and assimilation ; but he is evidently* dependent upon his predecessors and employs only their procedures. If he attempt anything original, it appears at once that he is doing this by an effort, not spontaneously. Talent is the necessary outfit for genius ; the better the tools are, the more thoroughly genius can trust itself to them, and the more unhampered are its manifestations. The man of genius is in advance of his time ; he breaks out the path in which later those will walk who have admired him or, perhaps unconsciously, have felt his in- fluence. For this reason he is rarely understood at first ; he speaks a new language, we may say unknown by the public, to whom are addressed finally the manifestations of art; but once this same public has learned through him — more or less willingly, more or less rapidly- — the new speech, it readily understands the men who follow this master, gleaning in his fields, exploiting what he has discovered. Hence the great successes of estimable artists of second rank, while the true genius is most frequently misunderstood in his time. Nor is this true in music only. Since, then, genius is not taught, and scarcely can be defined, it is useless to speak longer about it ; on the other hand, we can study the means of acquiring talent ; these means are chiefly observation and practice. By observation is meant the intelligent study, by hear- ing, reading and analysis, of the great works of different, epochs and of all the schools. This analysis must occupy FORMS. 345 itself first and chiefly with the general form of the work, its plan and its proportions, then with the conduct of the modulations, finally with the minute details peculiar to each maste?. The restricted scope of this work does not permit me to multiply examples. I will give, however, a few instances of this analysis, selecting them among the best-known works, which every student can easily procure. By form, I mean the general plan of a work, the great out- lines of its architecture, omitting the details of its working out, which belong to the domain of harmony or of counter- point. The form thus regarded is the great framework, the musical skeleton ; and if I insist upon this definition, it is because I believe it indispensable for the comprehen- sion of what is to follow. Just as the form of a sonnet may be described thus : " Two quatrains, followed by two triplets," which in no way decides the length of the lines and leaves a good deal of freedom in the arrangment of the rhyme, so musical forms have their elasticity, and no more determine the number of bars than the number of notes. We speak here only of the general and comparative dimensions of a musical discourse, whose scheme we are now examining. The principal important typical form of instrumental music is the Sonata. This is generally a work written for one instrument ; when composed for two instruments, it is called a duo; for three, a trio; for four, a quartet; for five, six, seven, eight, nine, a quintet, sextet, septet, octet, nonet; but the general form remains the same. The Sonata for an orchestra is a Symphony, and when one instrument has solos, accompanied by the orchestra, the composition is called a Concerto.''- Because of its import- ance we shall now describe the Sonata form in all its purity as it has been bequeathed to us by the classic composers. The Sonata is a succession of movements of different characters, destined to be heard consecutively : the first 1 In the Concerto, the form is a little modified, as will be shown later, but it is still the Sonata form. 346 ESTHETICS. and last must be in the same key,^ the other movements in related tones, or in those so selected that the change of key will not offend the ear. livery Sonata regularly constructed^ contains a first movement called the Allegro ; a slow movement, the Andante or Adagio ; and an animated Finale. Between the first and second movements, or between the second and third may be introduced a short piece — a Minuet, Scherzo, or Intermezzo. Such is the general scheme. The first movement, the foundation of the Sonata, is required to have a certain construction which is its char- acteristic. It is made up out of two themes, two musical ideas : the first subject, and another phrase, generally of a graceful melodic nature, called the second subject or " char- acter phrase." It is divided into two parts : the first must begin in the principal key, and end in the key of the domi- nant; (if the principal key is minor, the first part may end in the relative major) ; the second part brings about a return to the principal key. We will now examine the first part. After the theme has been announced and the principal tonality well es- tablished, a short episodes leads to a cadence upon the dominant ; by the device of equivocal chords, this dominant is considered as a tonic, and in this new key (the key of the dominant), which will persist till the end of the part, is presented the second theme ; a new episode and a short coda follow, and this part is ended. The classic usage is to repeat it, probably that the listener may thoroughly grasp the two principal themes and lodge them in his memory. We now come to the second part. This may begin in many ways. Here the composer is at liberty to give the freest scope to his imagination, and venture into remote 1 If the first movement is minor, the second may be in the major of the same key ; hut the converse of this is not allowable. 2 The purest classic authors have written irregular Sonatas. 8 Tliis word has the same meaning here as in the fugue. THE SONATA FORM. 347 Ixmalities, bat without forgetting that the subject must be brought in again and presented a second time, just as it was before, in the same key, and ending in the same cadence upon the dominant ; here, however, there is no change of tonality, the dominant remains the dominant, and it is in the principal key, not again to be abandoned, that the second theme makes its second appearance. Then follow another episode, having only very brief modulations or not any at all, a coda strongly affirming the tonality, and the final conclusion, the peroration. The following is the plan of an Allegro from a Sonata by C. P. E. Bach, who is considered as the creator i of the type ; this Sonata is dated 1775. First part. — Principal theme 8 bars . . A major. — Episode 4 bars . . — — Cadence on- the dominant ... — — 2d theme . . 4 bars . . Fl major. — Episode 22 bars . . — (Passing modulations B major, A minor, D major, E minor.) — Coda 4 bars . . — Second part. — Developments of the first theme . 39 bars . . M major. (Passing modulations into FJt minor, Cjt minor, GJt minor, D minor, B major, GJt major, CJ minor.) — Repetition of the principal theme . 8 bars . . A major. — Episode 4 bars . — — Cadence on the dominant ... ^ — — 2d theme 4 bars . . — — Episode 20 bars . . — (Passing modulations in E major, D minor, G major, A minor. ) — Coda 4 bars . . — Total: 121 bars. 1 I say creator, as moulder of the type whioli has heoorae classic, and not as inventor o£ the Sonata, which was invented by no one person, but took form by degrees under the efforts and innovations of many generations of composers. Long before C. P. E. Bach, the Italians had the Sonata da Chiesa, the Church Sonata, which opened with a largo and almost always ended with a fugue ; they had also the Sonata di Came!ra,,Ciia,mb«e Sonata, which consisted of a prelude 348 SS TEE TICS. This is the plan of an Allegro, in its native — one might almost say, its naive — simplicity. The purity of its outlines is especially admirable and also the fine skill of the mod- ulations which, while bringing variety, surround like an escort the principal key, never going far away from it and thus contributing to strengthen the sentiment of tonality. It is also to be observed that this plan is not without some resemblance to the opening of a tonal fugue, where the subject moves from the tonic to the dominant, as here in the first part, while the answer, represented by the second part, returns from the dominant to the tonic. The use of episodes and the selection of keys which are touched upon in these digressions — for the most part minor, to give more relief to the themes — furnish further points of resemblance. Numerous modifications of detail can be introduced into this plan without altering 'its principal lines. Two very often employed, and very advantageously by the composers who followed Bach, are given below : 1. A substitution for the cadence on the dominant and the equivocal construction which is its somewhat awk- ward result, of a cadence on the dominant of the hey of the dominant, the key towards which we are moving ; 2. Attack of the second part in a remote tonality, which causes surprise and marks still more clearly the division of the movement. Other modifications have been devised and many others might be thought of, without, however, touching the great xmderlying principle : tonic-dominant, dominant-tonic, ex- cept in the ease where, a Sonata being in the minor mode, it may be preferred to end the first part in the relative major, the nearest key of all. But this is a very rare case. The Andante has a less clearly defined form. It is per- haps a mere Romance with its setting ; it may be a theme and many little dancing tunes, minuets, jigs, pavanes, and the like. Besides, not only had Sebastian Baxjh written many Sonatas, hut I know one by Domen- ico Scarlatti, dated 1726, which is identical in form with the one analysed here. I have indicated the number of bars only in order to give an approximate idea of the importance given to each tonality ; this is necessarily very variable. ANDANTE AND FINALE. 349 ■with variations, as Mozart and Haydn often made it ; and then there are the great Andantes of Beethoven, great Eomances with many varied strophes, when each repetition of the theme is more and more richly ornamented ; of this we have a model in the Sonatas, op. 22, and op. 31 (in G), in the Septuor, and in many Symphonies ; finally, it may be nothing more than a simple introduction, longer or shorter, preceding the finale and connected with it. For the Finale, the usual form is that of the Rondo, which may be thus conceived : a principal theme presented three, four, or even five times, more or less adorned or varied, each repetition being separated from the preceding one by an episode, the whole ending with a coda, making the con- clusion. The musical form, the Rondo, is derived from the poeti- cal form, the Rondeau, in which a first verse forming a sort of refrain is repeated at regular intervals. The first Rondos were undoubtedly the musical setting of Eon- deaux ; ^ then this plan became introduced and acclimated into the instrumental style. The following is an analysis of a finale in the rondo form ; this is Weber's Perpetual Motion, the finale of his Sonata, op. 24. We notice here, as in every well-constructed work, the preponderance of, the principal key, and the care with which the author has avoided repetition in his mod- ulations, except for very short periods. Principal theme (1) .... 15 bars C major. 1st episode 34 bars — (Tonalities touched: C minor, A minor, D minor.) Principal theme (2) .... 15 bars — 2d episode 68 bars — Modulations distinctly established into G major. and E minor. Principal theme (3) .... 15 bars major. 3d episode 105 bars — (Tonalities touched: C minor, A minor, D minor.) Distinct modulations into F minor. 1 [It is, however, a fact that ancient Hymn tunes are found in this form, which were certainly not " the musical setting of Itondeaux." Ed.J 350 ESTHETICS. Then into As major. Then into . . . . • C minor. Principal theme (4) . . . . 8 bars (shortened) . . C major. 4th episode 55 bars ....'.. — (Passing modulations into A major, D minor, A minor, F major, A minor, D minor, E minor, then by a chromatic series of 7 chords, C minor, A n^nor, D minor, C minor, etc.) Principal theme (5) . . . . 6 bars (shortened) . . C major. Coda, non-modulatory ... 10 bars — Total: 331 bars. Haydn and Mozart have often given the example of finales not shaped as Rondos, but in the form of the first allegro, from which they then differ only by the gay and sportive character of the principal theme. The little accessory pieces, the Minuet and Scherzo, have also their classic form, -which is the same for both. They differ in character and movement, the Minuet being always in 3. time, and having the ceremonious grace of the dance which it represents ; the Scherzo (from the Italian scher- zare, to joke) is light and sportive. It may be in 2-time or 3-time, but always in lively movement. Their plan is most simple. A first part, very brief, end- ing either in the principal key or in that of the dominant, or else" in the relative, so as to be taken up again ; and a second part, often rather longer and finishing invariably in the principal key, form the bulk of the Minuet or Scherzo. Then comes the Trio,i built in the same way as the Minuet, with two repetitions also, — the Trio being in the same key, or in a related key, or in some other which was well- 1 I feel bound to point out the origin of tlie word Trio, concerning which musical writers have been much puzzled. In many of the KeBponsoria of Palestrina and Vittoria (xvi. century), written in four or five real parts, the middle part or versct is given to three voices only, often with this note : verset in trio. A like arrangement is found in the Kyrie or the Credo in masses by the same masters or others of that epoch, with the evident intention of giving more richness to the effect of the whole ; later it was introduced into instrumental pieces, dance-music, and the name IVio remained attached to the middle portion of these little pieces, even when it was no longer justified by the number of instruments or of voices employed. [ J. S. Bach has also used the term in clavier music, and it is noticeable that the piece is always in Three Parts where this name is used. £d.] IRREGULAR SONATAS. 351 suited ; for after the Trio, the Minuet came again, but this time without repetitions. All this is a matter of tradition. Exceptionally, there are sometimes two Trios, separated by a return of the Minuet. In this case it is usual to write each in a different key. Also there may be a Coda. The Intermezzo has no determinate form. These little pieces are hors d'aeuvre of the Sonata. They fill a part like that of the ballet in an opera; they are a moment's diversion, after which the action goes on. I believe that Haydn and Boccherini were the first to introduce the Minuet, and Beethoven produced the first Scherzo; the Intermezzo is of more recent date. There are many irregular Sonatas, in which the author strays from the classic plan while still preserving its spirit. Examples of this are the Sonata in C^ minor, op. 27, one of the grandest conceptions of Beethoven's genius, which begins by an Adagio, followed by a very short Scherzo, the Finale taking the form of a first Allegro ; also by Bee- thoven, the Sonata in At?, op. 26, of which the first move- ment is an Andante with variations ; the Sonata, op. 7, of Mendelssohn, whose four parts are connected without a break, the Finale ending by a recall of the beginning of the Allegro, like a snake biting its tail; Schumann's famous Quintet, whose peroration is a fugue in which the principal theme of the Allegro has the part of the subject, and. that of the Finale, of counter-subject. There are many others among the great compositions, but they must all be regarded as exceptional, or, properly speaking, as works of free fancy conceived in a style resembling the Sonata, only bearing its name, however, for lack of any more accurate designation. I have already said that all the great works of chamber music, from the Duo to the Nonetto, disclose the same plan. In the Symphony it remains unchanged, but in larger proportions. The episodes are developed at greater length, the modulations are sometimes bolder ; but the general con- duct of the musical discourse, and the grand divisions re- 352 ESTHETICS. main the same. Who has not observed, moreover, that the great Sonatas of Beethoven, his Trios, give the impression of real Symphonies without an orchestra, whose missing instrumentation can be conjectured as in a faithful tran- scription ? The only frequent addition to the Symphony is that of an Introduction in a slow tempo, serving as prelude to the first movement, then taken up at once, as in the Pathetic Sonata of Beethoven, which thenceforward follows its regular com'se. The Andante, the Scherzo or the Minuet, and the Finale, conform to the plans we have already described. We now come to the Concerto. Here the identity of design is a little more difficult to recognise, without, however, being doubtful on that account. The Allegro de Concerto, instead of being divided like that of the Sonata into two parts, of which the first is repeated, is divided into three soli, each preceded by a tutti, necessary to give the solo-player rest, to allow him to see that his in- strument is in tune, if it be a violin or a 'cello ; or, if he plays a wind instrument, to give him time to shake out the moisture condensed in the tubes, — a proceeding not elegant, but unavoidable. The first solo is like the first part of the Sonata, announ- cing the theme in the principal key, then going on towards the dominant to give the second theme, and concluding in the same key. The second solo corresponds to the beginning of the sec- ond part; it consists in modulated developments drawn from the two themes, in ingenious passages, unforeseen combinations often foreign to the subject, surprises, and the like. The third solo corresponds to the remainder of the second part from the reappearance of the first theme to the coda finale. Towards the close of this last solo, or separated from it by a short tutti, is a pause on the dominant, indi- cated by a hold. At this place, the performer, if he be an improvisatore as well, is at liberty to introduce a cadenza THE CONCERTO. 353 of his owii,i which may vary from a few passages showing his skill as a player, to a developed paraphrase of the whole Concerto. (The cadenza is an undoubted vestige of the traditions of the Italian school, where all vocal solos terminate thus.) The cadenza ended, the orchestra re- sumes and concludes. The proportional length of the tutti has never been set- tled. In certain Concertos, the first tutti, preceding the entrance of the solo-performer, has almost the importance and the form of the first part of a Symphony f in others, it is but a few measures, as if merely to call attention and impose silence; lastly, it is sometimes totally omitted, and the virtuoso attacks, alone and at once, the first solo. Of the Andante, nothing need be said ; it is the same as that of the Sonata. (The Concerto does not include the Minuet; some modern attempts have been made to introduce the Scherzo.) The Finale is generally conceived in the Eondo form, but always varied with tutti, whose utility is not merely to give the solo-performer a few minutes of rest, but also, by silencing for a short time the timbre of his instrument, to give interest to its return. Like the Allegro, the Finale may contain a cadenza, in- tended to display the skill of the virtuoso. Not to linger upon a description which is already long, I have thought it better to give entire, and with some de- tails, the plan of a famous Concerto, showing its propor- tions; this will also aid the reader to comprehend fully what is included in the analysis of a work from the point of view of its architecture, and I shall have no need to re- turn to this subject again in speaking of other forms of com- position. Observe therefore the construction of Beethoven's Third Concerto in C minor (op. 37) for piano and orches- tra. In the first movement, the sobriety of the modula- tions must be admired. The music is altogether in C, major 1 Frequently the author, distrustful, takes the precaution to write the ca^ denza himself. 2 As in the Concerto analysed on the next page. 364 ESTHETICS. or minor, in E flat, a related key; or in G minor, the key of the dominant; other tonalities are merely touched in passing; hence, the general effect is grand and imposing. ALLEGRO. 1st Tutu. Principal key C minor. 1st tlieme .... 16 bars — Episode .... .33 bars — 1st Solo. M Tutti. M Solo. 3d Tutti. 3d Solo. 4th Tutti. 12 bars Eb 8 bars C 35 bars . C major, then 8 bars C 19 bars 38 bars 16 bars Eit 19 bars 2d theme . . . 2d theme . . . Episode . . . Coda .... 1st theme . Episode . . . 2d theme . . . Episode . . . Coda 28 bars Episode .... 7 bars Modul. to the dom. 16 bars G Various developm'ts 60 bars Transient modulations in IT minor, Dt major, C minor (principal key), BB minor, and return into C Eepetit'n of 1st theme 8 bars of orch. . . major, major, minor, minor. major. Episode 2d theme 2d theme Episode Coda . With cadence on the dominant Cadenza ad libitum. 23 bars C 8 bars 8 bars of orch. . . 19.bars 28 bars minor, major. 13 bars Final peroration 27 bars G minor. LARGO. Principal key E major. Solo. Theme .... 12 bars — Tutti. Theme .... 12 bars — Solo in dialogue with the orchestra and ending on key of ... 14 bars B major. — Trans, modulations in G major, A minor, E minor .... 14 bars — Repetition of theme 12 bars E major. with modulated variations Tutti. Theme resumed . . 8 bars — Coda. Concertante ... 17 bars — RONDO. Principal key C minor. BEETUOVEN'S THIRD CONCERTO. 355 Solo. Theme (1) ... 8 bars C minor. — Short episode . . 18 bars — — Theme (2) . . . 6 bars _ Tutti. Repetit'n of theme 23 bars — Solo. 2d episode ... 71 bars — Dialogue with orchestra and modul. into . E\> major. then direct return into C minor. — Theme (3) ... 32 bars — (With cadenza ad lib. inserted.) Tutti. Theme resumed . . 23 bars — 3d episode . . . 109 bars Ab major Solo. Continuation of episode with mod. in F minor (fugal) in E major, and return to principal key C minor. — Theme (4) . . . 8 bars — Tutti. Theme resumed . 13 bars ... — Solo. 4th episode ... 88 bars — — with predominance of key of . . . . C vuijor. — Very brief modulations in Db major, Eb minor, and return to the dominant . . — — Presto JincUe ... 50 bars — Tutti. Presto finale ... 6 bars — The choice for the Largo of the remote tone E major is evidently designed to cause a strong diversion and rest the ear from keys which, already largely employed in the Alle- gro, are to reappear in the hnale : this is a very frequent procedure. The first movement is in |, the second in |, the last in I ; it is advantageous to seek variety thus in the rhythms. Also should be observed, in the plan of the Rondo, the excellent proportion of the episodes, and the opportuneness of the modulations. The first episode, which is short, and, as it were, enclosed in the principal theme, remains in the initial key, which it helps to establish; the second, longer, goes on to the relative major key; the third, very largely developed, brings in for the first time the key of A flat, which, though related, has not been employed in the Alle- gro, and seems to have been reserved to produce variety here; then certain distant modulations are allowed; and the fourth and last, near the close of the movement, strengthens the tonal meaning by scarcely leaving at all the 356 ESTHETICS. key of C major. Beethoven, moreover, is of those who love to afSrm the tonality with energy at the moment of conclu- sion, — the finale of the Kfth Symphony ends with one per- fect chord repeated through twenty-nine bars, preceded by six perfect cadences, and by fifteen other measures on the perfect chord of C major. More frequently still than in the Symphony and the So- nata, it happens that the composer writing a Concerto makes sacrifices to virtuoso display, and adopts a free form, departing from the traditional plan in order to bring out the qualities of the solo instrument or of the player; this is a matter of course. The two Concertos of Mendelssohn for the piano, the same composer's Concerto for the violin, the ConcertstiXck of Weber, are remarkable examples of exceptional forms. When the role of the orchestra has such importance that the solo instrument is no longer pre- ponderant, appellations like this appear: Concerto-Sympho- nique or, even, Symphony with Viola solo, like the Harold of Berlioz, etc. Also there have been written Symphonies Conoertantes for two instruments with orchestral accom- paniment; there is even by Beethoven a triple Concerto for piano, violin, and violoncello (op. 66), which is never played, I know not why, for it is a very remarkable work. These are hybrid styles, connecting links, so to speak, be- tween the Concerto and the Symphony, which as such are very interesting to study. I hkve gone into such detail in respect to the form of the Sonata and kindred compositions, because of its prepon- derance in all the instrumental domain, from the mere solo for the harpsichord, piano, or violin, up to the complete development of the symphonic forces; but this type, im- portant though it is, is not the only one that the student should know. Another orchestral form is that of the Overture, which also it will be useful to analyse, although it is now but sel- dom employed (it would not do to take as a type the Over- ture of the Magic Flute which is an admirable sympho- nic Allegro in fugal style). OVERTURE AND DANCE FORMS. 857 The Overture is midway between pure symphonic art aiid musical dramatic art, and derived from both. Its object, usually, is to prepare the spectator for the emotions of the drama which is about to be performed in his presence, by placing him in the mood most suited to receive the impression vividly. Hence it is very often con- structed out of the material of the work itself, or filled with allusions to its principal themes; sometimes, indeed, it be- comes a yevitahle Fantasia upon the opera or opera-comique to which it serves as instrumental prologue. Its form can- not be -fixed in advance, since it especially is modelled in accordance with the scenario of which it is but the prelude and commentary. It is also needful to study the form of the operatic Aria at different epochs, although it is in the modern current no longer to write in this particular form. The Aria may have one movement or more ; and many examples may be found in the famous scores which are vastly simpler to analyse than Sonatas and Symphonies. Also one must ex- amine the construction of grand Finales of acts, and ensemble pieces in the various schools ; they are more complicated and the differences are greater, but really require only time and some degree of a spirit of observation. It is well to know the manner and characteristic rhythm of the old dance-music, that one may not make such absurd blunders about them as, for instance, a valse in four-four time would be, or a march prestissimo. The following are some of these dance forms : In duple time there are : '" The Gavotte (f ), in a moderate tempo ; it has two sec- tions and a trio, like a minuet, and each phrase begins with the up beat ; the trio is quite frequently treated like a mu- sette, or piece for the bagpipe. ( See later. ) The Tamhourin (f ), a very lively movement ; it is divided into sections of 4, 8, 12, or 16 bars each, as a rule commencing with the up beat ; the rhythm of the bass imi- tates a tambourine. 358 ESTHETICS. The Jiff (Gigue) (|), very lively; the strains are of eight bars. The Sicilienne (|), moderate; each beat is generally in this rhythm ,^73"^. The Auvergnaise Bourree, the Kigadoon ; its general plan is like that of the tambourin, but with different scan- sion ; each member of the phrase begins on the weak part of the up beat. T\i6 Allemande (| or j), a lively rhythm, but a little heavy. In triple time : The Minuet, described in the Sonata form. The Galliard ( Gagliarda), gay and spirited,- though not rapid. The Polonaise, stately and elegant, having this peculiar- ity, that each phrase and member of a phrase ends on one of the up beats.^ The Chaconne (Ciaocona), very rhythmic and not very rapid ; it is a long series of variations, forming as it were, couplets. ■ The Saraband, slower than the minuet. The Courante, slower than the saraband, notwithstanding its name. Hhei J?aspy (^Passepied,Passa}-m,esao),'^ still more lively than the galliard ; the sections beginning on the up beat. Either double or triple measure : • The Passacaille (PassacaffUo), much resembling the chaconne, but with slower tempo. The Pavan, a stately dance of Italian origin.^ The Musette, whose bass is a pedal point single or double, but constant, like the drone of the instrument whence its 1 The TorcWiglit Dances of Meyerbeer are admirable instances of modern Polonaises. They are marches in triple rhythm. [But not in triple time. Mili- tary marches are frequently in J^- time, viz., triple rhythm, but quadruple time. Ed.] 2 ["The old English writers call it passa^measure, passing-measure, or simply, measure. It was a favourite dance in the time of Queen Elizabeth." Stainer and Barrett. Tr.] 3 [The original 16th and 17th century Pavan was always in duple time. Ed. J KNOWLEDGE OF FORMS. 36^ name ; when it is introduced as a trio in a gavotte, it is nec- essarily in duple time ; etc., etc. Many I omit; indeed it would be impossible to mention all. I do not think there are any dance-forms in quadruple time, which seems reserved for marches ; on the other hand, solemn or religious marches have often been written in triple measure, and it is worth noting that the slow move- ment gains a special dignity from the fact that the stress comes alternately on the right and the left foot, as in the polonaise. It must not be inferred from what has now been said, that every composition should as a matter of course be run in a known and adopted mould. Far from this, the com- poser remains at liberty to create new forms, and, as a mat- ter of fact, good or bad he does create, every day ; this is one of his functions, one of his duties. When they are good, these forms make themselves a place and remain, as new types, a lasting addition to the domain of art. The student composer must be ever on the watch, for everywhere he will find something to learn, to store up for future use ; but his investigations must be methodical, saga- cious, prudent, or he will find his judgment, his artistic sense, false, whence would result the irreparable loss of his own originality. One of the shoals most dangerous is the premature study of the great works of the modern ultra-romantic school (Berlioz, Wagner), a study towards which the young stu- dent is attracted as the moth to the fatal candle. These works must be known and admired, without doubt ; but by premature study I mean that which is made before the stu- dent has obtained a thorough knowledge of the works and the principles of the classic school. Before he has done this, the neophyte is not in a condition to comprehend that which intuition already leads him to admire. Ignorant of the old forms, which he has never thought of analysing, he comes to regard as exempt from all plan, form, or logical structure, the works which — without being able to grasp their principles of construction, not knowing even 360 ESTHETICS. that they have any — he proposes to take for his models, making disorder, henceforth, his own easy law. Having begun in this way, he will never become aware that these new forms, which are so seductive to him, are only trans- formations of earlier forms, that they also have their raison d'etre, their logic, and conceal under extravagant and falla- cious externals, a solidly built skeleton wherein resides their vitality, their true strength. The external appearances change, the basis remains the same. This, however, is not understood by the young mu- sician who reads these more recent works with feverish ardour, and, so to speak, intoxicates himself with them, not having as yet developed in himself a spirit of analysis by study of the earlier works, whose plan is more visible, more easily grasped. Those, only, who have been nourished upon the classics of their own time, can become, in their turn, the classics of the future, if so be that they have in them the spark of genius, the creative faculty, without which, whatever they do, they will never be more than musicians of talent, having a right to appreciation as such, but to nothing beyond. There is not the slightest reason to fear that a thorough study of the classics will stifle inspiration, will restrict it by superannuated forms ; examples in multitude prove the contrary. Berlioz, who could not feel Wagner — which lack of ap- preciation the latter repaid in kind — had a real worship for Gluck and was proud to say that he had made G-luck his model. In turn, Wagner, indifferent towards Berlioz, was a fervent admirer of the author of Armida. Was there anything in common between Wagner and Berlioz? It would seem that each must have regarded the work of Grluck from a different point of view, since, equally admir- ing and enthusiastic, they carried out his ideas to results so divergent. Two painters, working side by side, see nature in different ways and produce entirely different landscapes. Eossini, as I have said elsewhere, studied harmony by STTIDT OF THE CLASSICS. 361 writing out the scores of Haydn's quartets, of which he had only the separate parts ; but it is not to be supposed that he did this as a copyist might do it. I have heard him fre- quently tell the story of this -work: he first copied the part of first violin, or of 'cello, of a complete movement, and racked his ingenuity to conjecture how the three other parts were probably built : then he placed these three parts before him and copied them simultaneously, measure by measure, thus seeing the work constructed under his eyes. Was it not, with admirable models, the very same system of harmonic reconstruction which is practised at the present day in our Conservatories, under the name of partimenti, basses or chants donnes ? Was it not, also, from the point of view of composition, a marvellous process of analysis ? Eossini, like Gounod, had a passionate admiration, a cult, for Mozart; yet the two men were most unlike, which proves, once more, that study does not involve imitation, and that young composers may analyse the processes of the old masters without fear of losing their own originality, if any they have. No men among the present leaders of the French school have carried farther the study of the classics than Saint- Saens and Massenet; but has any abatement resulted in their originality ? By no means. They no more resemble each other than they do their models ; but both are strong composers, because they have built upon ground of whose solidity they had first thoroughly assured themselves. Thus the complete musicians work, the men to whose genius are added talent and erudition. There comes a time, however, when it is a duty to read the boldest works of the day ; for the composer must be fa- miliar with everything, and whatever may be his own pref- erences, he is not at liberty to remain ignorant as to, the methods of any great school ; indeed it is often by borrow- ing from musical literatures the most opposed to each other that he will finally form his personal style. When the mo- ment has come, it is well to approach the Eomantic School through those of its representatives who still offer marked 362 ESTHETICS. points of contact with the great classics, and to take first the simplest of their works. If the young composer is a pianist, which it is well that he should be, he will advan- tageously begin with Chopin ; then might follow Schumann, especially the Scenes of Childhood, the little collections of Album Leaves, the Carnival, and not till after these, the great chamber music, the Symphonies, and lastly Paradise and the Peri. When the student reaches Wagner and Berlioz, — after whom there will be no further occasion to follow any defi- nite order, — a good precaution is to undertake the system- atic reading of one or the other, separately, following, at least very nearly, the chronological order of their pro- ductions,^ to see the process of formation of their style, and to compel one's own mind to pass through the same phases with the master's. In the case of Wagner, especially, the works in his first manner should be studied first, — Bienzi, The Flying Dutchman, Tannhauser, Lohengrin, before tak- ing up Tristan, The Mastersingers, the Tetralogy, and Parsifal, — which not every musical brain, even the best organised, is capable of grasping. To hear these great works performed, whose orchestration and stage-setting are so intimately connected with the com- position properly so called, is of prime importance. Also they should be heard in favourable conditions and in their entirety, which is not easy for every one. Only after this amount of experience will the neophyte be able intelligently and without presumption to express his preference for the maintenance of the earlier dramatic forms, or for the seasonableness of the Wagnerian reform, whose leading characteristics are as follows : 1. the inti- mate union of the scenic action and the musical woof; 2, the continuity of successive scenes ; 3, the systematic em- ploy of the Leitm,otiv symbolic of a personage (or an ob- ject), of a state of mind, of a fact, of an action, whose invariable hieroglyphic, so to say, it becomes. 1 There is great profit in reading in this way the sonatas, the symphonies, and the quartets of Beethoven, who, in his third style is more truly romantic than classic. (See chap. Y.) WAONEB^S PBEDeCESSORS. 363 I say with intention, "the sjstema,tic employ," not inven- tion; for it does not seem to me proven that Wagner really invented this procedure, of the highest expressive power and of an incomparable luminous intensity. Examples of it are seen of an earlier' date. Is not the story of the Dream (in the Frophete) based upon a marvellous orchestral allu- sion to the Consecration Scene ? Does not the whole score of Struensee teem, from the very beginning of the overture, with the most moving repetitions of an admirable sym- phonic phrase, which, after being carried through all the groups of the orchestra, finds its explanation and its raison d'etre only at the very close of the work, in the scene of the Benediction ? If Struensee or the Prophete had been writ- ten this year it would be said that Meyerbeer had adopted the new formula; why, then, not attribute to him the honour of having a share in its development ? And he is certainly not alone. Were not overtures constructed by the use of the chief motifs of the work really a sort of presentation of personages and characters and principal situations ? In the domain of symphony, where it personifies an idea not yet defined, but a fixed idea, nevertheless, there are numerous anterior applications of this system, notably in the works of Mendelssohn, Schubert, Schumann, and also of Beetho- ven. Is not the finale of the Quartet in F major, op. 135, with its curious epigraph :i "Der schwergefasste Ent- Muss es sein Allegro. ^^^^r^f'-—^-i=--:^E=:ti^ ^EE^^l^^ Es muss sein ! Es muss sein 12 schluss" quite as much a typical motif as it is a procedure of imitation by contrary motion ? In this way we may go back to the true origin of the system, finding it, at last, in the fugue. 1 "The dlfflcultly-taken Eesolution." 2 "Must it be? It must be! It must be!" 364 ESTHETICS. These Leitmotive, in their curious entanglements and their very interesting transformations, are treated by Wagner and his disciples — withal) the resources of modern art added — ex- actly as the subject and eounter-subjeet of a fugue are treated ; instead of giving them these purely technical names, there is attributed to each one a conventional and philosophic sigjtiificance, which determines its use in this or that part of the work, at this or that moment; but, with that excep- tion only, they are worked out on the same principles, though modernised, which were employed in the ancient counterpoint. The only difference is that to their form is attached the definite and invariable idea of one of the heroes (in one instance, a bird, the Swan), or of an action, as the Supper, — or of a character, as the goodness of Sachs, — which allows them to be, notwithstanding the purely apparent complication of their combinations, actual clues guiding the experienced listener through the intricar cies of the drama and rendering it extraordinarily clear. In this philosophic systematisation resides (so far as the Leitmotiv is concerned) the invention of Wagner, due in the first instance to Bach and the great classicists. Much more important, and very much more personal, is that other part of the Wagnerian reform, which, abandoning the early division into detached movements, each forming a complete whole and often quite independent one of an- other, substitutes for it a division into scenes, borrowed from the drama, the cohesion of these scenes being further augmented and strengthened by the iminterrupted sym- phonic action, which follows the dramatic step by step, ex- plains it, and comments upon it. This is truly an invention of genius, for there is no similar attempt of earlier date : the vast conception sprung, as a whole, from the brain of Wag- ner. Whether it forms a school, or will remain an isolated fact, — which, notwithstanding some recent applications of it, only the future can determine, — it must be saluted with the respect due to the very highest manifestations of the human intellect. After having studied Wagner and Berlioz, and having CHARACTERISTICS OF KJSYS. 365 made sure that he well understands their two languages, so different one from the other, the student may then follow his inclination as to reading. He may even read very poor works, to have examples also of what he must not do. But he must not dread plunging again and again into the read- ing of the classic composers, for it is always there that the great instruction is to be found and the living germ of the future school. Before finishing these exercises of analysis, I have to mention a fact singular enough to surprise and strongly attract the attention of observing minds ; it is that, not- withstanding the uniformity inherent in our system of tem- perament, each key, major or minor, has peculiar character- istics. It was not by chance that Beethoven selected the key of E flat for the Heroic Symphony, and that of F for the Pastoral; it was in obedience to that mysterious law which assigns to each key a peculiar aspect, a special colour. I do not assume to say that each key can express only the sentiments which I attribute to it ; but merely that here it excels, it has its mastery, that its aptitude for their ex- pression is peculiar. Each person will regard this aspect according to his own personal temperament ; to characterise it in any absolute way would probably be going too far ; but, to my own mind, these are the preponderating shades of the different keys, major or minor : Cjt Major: ? B" Major: pastoral, rustic. FS Major: rugged. Bb Major: noble and elegant, B Major: energetic. graceful. E Major: radiant, warm, joy- Eb Major: sonorous, vigorous, ous. chivalrous. A Major: frank, sonorous. Ab Major: gentle, caressing, or D Major: gay, brilliant, alert. pompous. G Major: rural, merry. Db Major: charming, suave, pla- C Major: simple, naive, frank, cid. , or flat and com- Gb Major: gentle and calm. monplace. Cl? Major: ? 366 ESTHETICS. At Minor : ? D Minor: serious, concentrated. DjJ Minor: ? G Minor; melancholy, shy. Gt Minor: very sombre. C Minor: gloomy, dramatic, Cit Minor: brutal; sinister, or violent. vei-y sombre. F Minor: morose, surly, or Ft Minor: rough, or light, aerial. energetic. B Minor: savage or sombre, Bb Minor: funereal or myster- but vigorous. ious. E Minor: sad, agitated. El? Minor: profoundly sad. A Minor: simple, naive, sad, Al? Minor: doleful, anxious. rustic. Gevaert, in the first edition of his treatise on orchestra- tion,^ has given a similar table ; I have not consulted it, but it has many points of similarity with the above. If this curious fact were true only in relation to orches- tral music, we should unhesitatingly account for it by the structure and fingering of the different instruments, the keys more or less sharped or flatted suiting each in dif- ferent degrees ; but where this thing becomes really mar- vellous is when it no less clearly appears in piano and organ music, and even in choral music, where it would seem that the tonalities must resemble each other exactly, being all mere transpositions of each other. But, if you play in C the Berceuse of Chopin, which is written in D flat, its beautiful poetic sonority would become crude and flat, almost common. In the same way, the Funeral March of the Sonata, op. 26, of Beethoven, which is originally in A flat minor, loses much of its dolefulness when it is transposed into A minor.' It is impossible to say why this is so ; but the fact remains. From it results the necessity of attaching impor- tance in the first place to the selection of the principal key and making a choice in accordance with the general char- acter of the proposed work ; later, like considerations will influence the direction of the modulations, so that every episode may have its appropriate colouring. At the same time, this is not the only guide to follow, for the composer 1 [ Berlioz ( Instrumentation ) also gives a table ot characteristics of the keys. Ed.] 2 Ghent, 1863 ; p. 189. s As it is in a well-known collection : Six Valses et ume Marchefunibre. THOUGHT AND PRACTICE. 367 should never lose sight of the logic of musical architecture resulting from the relationship of tones, as established so magnificently by the grand structure of the fugue. I have said that the composer should never lose sight of this model of solid construction, and not that he must invariably con- form to it ; indeed there are occasions when he should in- tentionally desert it, — in a mad scene, for instance, where the wandering of the mind would be best depicted by the incoherence of tonalities the most dissimilar, combinations the most strange ; or, in representing violent and opposing passions, passing from love to hate, from the mystic to the grotesque. But then it is genius itself, and not the coolly considered plan, which will require those bold and striking infractions of rules which will suitably represent excep- tional situations and psychological conditions. Nor is this all. The special teehnic must also have its influence upon the choice of the tonality, the individual character of the instrument or instruments for which one writes, the compass of the voice or voices to which such or such a design is to be entrusted, whose character may be changed completely according to the region, treble, alto, or bass, — brilliant, dull, or feeble, — of the interpreting agent, which also has its own colouring, peculiar to itself.' Plainly, then, this is a question of by no means second- ary importance, and merits the most careful attention. In reading a work for analytical purposes, it is wise to take great care to understand the reasons which influenced the author's choice of this or that key, either for thfe eiv semble, or for the various episodes. We must know how to read before we can think of learn- ing to write. If one knows a language thoroughly, he not only speaks it, reads it, and writes it, but he also thinks in it with no more effort than in his native tongue, and even dreams in it, which proves how natural, easy, and uncon- scious is his use of it. Thus the musician ought to sur- prise himself thinking and dreaming in music ; unsolicited 1 Seepage 181. 368 ESTHETICS. ihythms and contours present themselves, groups of chords, modulations, captivating sonorities come into his mind, they take possession of it ; he has only to put them on paper, and the creative work is done. It is by this sign, this obsession of the mind, that he may know if he is mature enough, sufficiently developed, to undertake with some chance of success, the practical study of composition, a study as full of charm to him who has the creative faculty, as it is arid and discouraging to the poor fellow who has deceived himself as to his vocation, a case, alas ! only too frequent. The complement of analytical observation is practice, that is, the attempt to compose, oneself, — conforming strictly to the plan drawn from the composition analysed, seeking also to resemble it in the nature of the ideas, with- out puerile imitation, — another piece, having the same form, that is to say, able, if in its turn analysed, to receive the same technical description. In practising this exercise, there is no occasion to seek for originality of ideas, but rather to give them a general resemblance to the manner of the author whose style and procedures are to be assimilated; but, also, the student must by no means think that • he has produced a work of art ; this is nothing more than a task, a study. After having many times practised this double exercise of dissection and reconstruction, one may go on to other studi"es in the same general direction : take a theme of 8, 12, or 16 measures from an author, with or without its har- mony, and develop it, afterwards comparing the obtained result with the original work ; or, take a poetic text which some author has already used, and treat it after his method, always for the sake of the subsequent comparison of the two, which constitutes the lesson, etc. Practice like this makes both the hand and the mind supple, and if there are those to whom it is not necessary, there cannot but be many who will gladly avail themselves of these suggestions. LICENSES IN SABMONY.- 359 The student may, also, after having selected a theme which will serve the purpose, set himself the task of treat- ing it in diverse styles and in different forms, varying it, transforming it, disguising it, to the point that it becomes unrecognisable. Excellent examples of diversions of this kind are given by Beethoven in the finale of his Ninth Symphony ; by Schumann in his Etudes Symphoniques ; by Bizet in the overture to VArUsienne (which is an over- ture in the form of an air with variations) ; and, most of all, by Wagner, in his latest works ; also in Manon and in Esclarmonde, where Massenet has so well exploited — with- out doing it intentionally, and above all, while remaining sincere, extremely individual, and entirely French — the Germanic procedure of typical motifs; also, in the Ascanio of Saint-Saens. One of the things which young composers sometimes rather foolishly find embarrassing, is the application to composition of the rules of harmony. It is, however, the simplest thing in the world, harmony being only a branch of composition. I begin by saying that these rules are all to be observed; not one can be omitted. But there is one which may be modified, the one concerning consecutive octaves, and these are the modifi- cations : 1. It is allowed to double in octaves, in order to strengthen it, any part, or to triple or quadruple it, provided it be made perfectly clear that this is done with intention; that is to say, that it is not, for example, a doubling of two or three notes, which would be merely a blunder, but of the whole of a melodic contour which it is desired to strengthen, to bring out in relief. 2. It is always allowed to double in octaves the principal melodic part — even for no more than two notes — by any of the other parts (especially when there is a vocal or in- strumental solo), provided this does not form octaves with the bass. To this we may add that it is always permitted, from the 370 ESTHETICS. point of view of analysis, to suppose tliat the harmonic parts are divided or united, so that a sequence of chords, beginning in two parts, may, by the division of a part or of more than one, become successively in three or four parts, then in five or more, and inversely ; and it will be easy to see that the composer is not restrained, hampered, but rather is aided and guided by the laws of harmony and counterpoint, which are really very elastic for him who well understands them and has assimilated them. The one essential thing is that it should be always pos- sible to analyse the harmony and find its plan correct, the slight modifications mentioned above being allowed, as ab- solutely indispensable for the orchestration. Another subject of surprise to beginners in the art of composition is that there could possibly be, that there have been, and that there still are, scales differently constituted from our European scales ; the modes of the plain chant, the ancient Greek totalities, the Oriental scales, the five- note scales of the Bretons, Scotch, Chinese, etc. There are, however, in spoken language, things analo- gous, and quite as extraordinary, which appear to us so natural that we give them no attention. Thus, in French there are five vowels and two diph- thongs : a, e, i, o, u, ou, eu, which are seven distinct sounds ; but our neighbours the Italians, of Latin origin like our- selves, have never thought of using the sounds u and eu, which their vocal organs could pronounce as well as ours do, and limit themselves (except in certain dialects) to the five sounds : a, e, i, o, ou (writing this last u). The same is true of the Spaniards. Inversely, alone in Europe the French use the nasal vowels: an, en, in, on un ; the e mute is also peculiar to the French language, while the Slav languages possess varieties of soimds so foreign to our ears that it would be impossible to represent them here, even employing figured pronunciation. How many different shades, under the influence of differ- ent accents, the French letter e may take, and in English SCALES AND LANGUAGE. 371 the letter a, without any modifying sign at all, purely as a matter of custom ! These delicate gradations in spoken sound are even much more subtle in Chinese and Japanese languages which, accordingly, serve much better than the European in playing upon words. An a or e a little more open in sound or a little closer, and the meaning of a word, or indeed of a whole sentence, is quite altered. These are surely differences more minute than the quarter-tones which certain theorists find in the music of the Eastern peoples.^ Let us examine the consonants. The English soft th and the Spanish c (ceta) are almost alike to a French ear; they are formed by putting the tongue between the teeth, and are not unlike what is called in French, sezaiement ; this is a kind of lisp, which we do without very willingly, con- sidering it as a defect. The modern Greek contains this sound, and writes it th. The German hard ch is almost equivalent to the Spanish jota, which is written j ; this is a gutteral sound imknowu to the French language. In France, the Tourangeau rolls his r's, the man of the South burrs. I limit these comparisons to languages of which the reader will have some idea ; but it is clear from what has been said that the innumerable tongues spoken in the vari- ous regions of the world contain vowel and consonant sounds which any human lips could utter, after more or less prolonged study, but of which the need is not felt by our- selves, which we do not employ, of which we have not even an idea. The proof, if one were needed, is that there is not in the world any single alphabet capable of writing satisfactorily, even by the use of phonetics, all the words of every living language ; and the same remark applies also to many of the dead languages. The gamut of spoken sounds varies, then, with the epoch and the country. The same is true of the dialects of music. Each civilisation has adopted a scale or more than one, constituted, according to its degree of advancement, more . 1 These so-called quarter-tones arise simply from the imperfections of instru- ments, or from a peculiar drawl, a kind of mewing, in singing. 372 ESTHETICS. or less arbitrarily or scientifically, outside of which every- thing is thought barbaric or abnormal. But this is not true. There are other modes besides our scales — the major, the minor in its two forms, and the chromatic made enharmonic by our system of temperament. All the old modes subsist because they have been used and have had their logical raison d'etre, and all the foreign modes should be known and studied. ^ And it may be that in a return to the use of these manifold melodic tonalities, with their inexhaustible wealth of expression and picturesqueness, combined and revivified by the ad- mirable technic of the present day, and embellished and adorned with the treasures of an ever-improving orchestra- tion,- lies the near future of musical evolution. I cannot conclude this section without exhorting the young composers of Prance to take care, above all things, to preserve to French art the characteristic qualities which have always been its glory, conspicous in all the great epochs, namely, clearness, elegance, and sincerity of expres- sion. This is the only way for them to be natural, and to succeed in creating a style and personality of their own ; for whenever they wander from the inherent traditions of the race, from the genius of the language and from the true spirit of the country, they become only awkward imitators and plagiarists ; they remind one of men speaking with difficulty and with a ridiculous accent some foreign tongue. Wagner — not to be suspected of any special affection tow-ards us — wrote as follows : ^ "I perceive in the French admirable skill in giving exact and elegant form to life and art ; I have already said, on the other hand, that the Ger- mans, when they seek this perfection of forms, seem to me heavy and incapable." Other qualities they have, which, in us, would be faults ; let us not seek to acquire these, but devote ourselves to the cultivation of oui' own. ■* We sliall have occasion to describe some of these in speaking of the history of Music, Chap. V. 2 Ijetter to M. Monod, director of th^ Eei'iie histarkfoe, Oct. 25, 1876, IMPROVISATION. 373 Verdi gives us the finest example of a straightforward development of genius, constantly improving, from Nabu- codonosor and Ernaiil up to Falstaff, without the slightest deviation, without borrowing anything from foreign schools, always remaining himself, always frankly Italian. These are topics for serious meditation for all young men who have the noble ambition of adding their stone to the edifice of musical art ; for the admiration, however ardent, of the masterpieces of a foreign musical literature, must never become so exclusive and absorbing as to destroy those precious qualities of charm, simplicity, and distinction, which are the appanage of our national style. B. — Of Improvisation. Improvisation is a composition which is instantaneous and leaves no trace of itself except in the memory. Here we find ourselves confronted by those two great factors, genius and talent, which we need not again define or compare. But in improvisation, even more than in written composition, is felt the importance of a logical plan guiding the inspiration, keeping it within the limits of musical good sense, and preventing it from going astray in aimless wanderings. The only instruments truly adapted to improvisation are the autonomous, those forming, each in itself, a complete whole : in the first rank, the organ ; after this, the piano and the harmonium; instruments with key-boards, in a word. It is possible, certainly, to improvise on the harp and the guitar, because these instruments can suffice alone ; but it is scarcely practical. With the other instruments, strings, wood, or brass, and also with the human voice, there can be improvised only passages of virtuosity, cadenzas, more or less developed; this is not true improvisation as we have defined it. The perfect type of the successful impro- visator is the organist, when he has under his hand a fine instrument which he knows how to use to its full range. 374 ESTHETICS. Then, improvisation is one of the highest musical pleasures ; but it requires, besides complete technical skill and a fertile imagination always at command, much coolness, readiness, courage, and prompt decision, qualities difficult to find united, which is the reason that gr6at improvisators are rare. Except for very brief pieces, like short preludes, the musician should never attempt an improvisation without a plan determined, or at least projected, both as to the general scope of the movement and the tonalities to be used, with the degree of importance of each. This plan may be varied to any extent, but it must have been formed, and the improvisator must always remember whence he came and whither he is going, leaving nothing to chance or the mechanical habit of the fingers. It will frequently happen that, led away by his imagination or by some lucky find, he will for the moment desert his plan, but without forgetting it and tending always to come back to it again. Also, he must never lose sight of the principal theme or the secondary themes upon which his improvisation is built, drawing from fragments of them the developments of which they are capable, making these fragments the subjects of the principal episodes, or of many new and unexpected divertimenti, and seeking constantly to create variety in unity ; for the final impression which a beautiful improvisation should leave upon the mind is that of a work matured at length, strongly built, and written out at leisure. Such also it should appear when, by a system of musical stenography (which is yet to be invented), by Carpentier's melograph or Edison's phonograph, we shall be able to note it on the wing, that we may examine it in detail and with deliberation. A test of the improvisator is the fugue. We hasten to say that it would not be reasonable to require one as elaborate, as rich in ingenious combinations as if it were coolly studied and written out; frequently it will be a free fugue, in which, however, there will be the general form, and all the characteristic constituent elements of this kind of composition. In all other forms of musical composi- IMPR VISA TION. 37S tion, on the contrary J^ the man of genius may find himself freer when unhampered by the limitations and delays of writing. This, notably, was the case with BeethoYen, Mozart, Hummel, Mendelssohn, whose improvisations, it is said, were superior to their written works. The exigences of the Roman Catholic ritual require the organist of the great organ to improvise almost constantly as he follows the service ; consequently it is among the organists of our time that the greatest impro- visators are to be sought; and this constant practice, developing spontaneity in them, gives to their written works generally a special freedom. To become an improvisator, one must first of all under- stand thoroughly the art of composition, must be a skilled virtuoso upon his instrument so that he is unhampered by any difficulty of execution, and must have the natural gift of a fertile imagination. AH this being so, it remains to acquire experience. For this purpose it is well to practise daily, but not for a very long time at first ; select a theme, write it out, with or without its harmony, and place it before you on your musiestand, deciding, according to its character and rhythm, in what form it shall be developed, whether as a Preliide, the Allegro of a Sonata, an Offertory, a Minuet an Aria with variations, a Einale, a March, etc. A rapid analysis is made to see what are the fragments available for episodes and digressions, then fling yourself boldly into your work. An improvisator must habituate himself to avoid hesitation, even when he has lost his way, and to return as quickly as possible to the great lines of the plan on which he has decided. Later he will not need to write oiit the theme, his memory will furnish it. Those persons, therefore, who suppose that the im- provisator abandons himself uncontrolled to the chances of inspiration, that he rushes headlong into the unknown, have the falsest notion of his art that it is possible to hold, and the most unworthy, also. The great improvisator is, on the contrary, the most sagacious, well-balanced, level-headed of musicians ; these conditions are indispensable. 876 ESTHETICS. I do not say that it never happens even to him, having attained the very height of virtuosity, to feel at times as if he were obeying the mere caprice of his mind ; but his mind has come into such training that he could not, if he -would, let himself be carried beyond the limits of good sense, and his very jfingers would refuse to execute combinations which sound logic could not sanction. In the case of a few rare individuals the faculty of improvisation is native, intuitive, existing in the absence of all technical knowledge ; these are phenomenal cases, to be explained perhaps by the theory of anterior existence, — they are prodigies like the natural calculators, Jacques Inaudi or Vito Mangiamele. Even these musicians would do well to acquire some ideas of harmony and counterpoint that they might avoid errors otherwise than by the mere spirit of imitation or by routine. To listen frequently to able improvisators, to attend their performances or the services of the Roman Catholic Church, would help much to develop the numerous qualities required for the exercise of this grand art ; and also, the reading, the analysis, criticism, and repeated hearing of strongly thought- out works of all periods and all schools. Let it be said at this point that usually opinions are too hastily formed in respect to any great musical production. I do not think there lives the musician capable of deter- mining on a single hearing the exact value of a work in whose production months, or even years, have been spent. Newspaper critics are forced, by the requirements of the public, to perform constantly this presumptuous tonr de force. The man who required forty-eight hours for reflec- tion, or a second hearing, would be regarded as incapable of rendering a judgment, or, at least, of doing his work in time. Hence we often see these critics obliged (according to the individual temperament of the man) either to modify an opinion expressed until it is almost unrecognis- able, or else to persist obstinately in an error of judgment, lest he should seem to vacillate. CRITICISM. 377 When Faust was first performed, a very famous critic of that day asserted that nothing in it would live except the Valse and the Soldiers' Chorus ; later, another, of equal renown, accepted in Tannhauser only the March ( because he already knew it) and the Romance of the Star. Errors like these are repeated continually, because an opinion must be formed on the instant; I do not refer at all to questions of prejudice, of partiality, or of bad faith, which have no connection with the subject. Before forming an opinion of a work it is indispensable to feel sure that one has completely understood it. So long as anything remains obscure, one should feel that possibly there may be beauty here accessible to a mind other- wise moulded than his own. It is fair to say of a thing that it is hackneyed, unsuited to a situation or a character, badly harmonised, badly orchestrated, and so on ; for this opinion implies that the thing has been understood, or at least that the critic believes himself to have under- stood it. But it is imjust to say : " This is poor, for I do not understand it at all ; I don't know what it means ; consequently, it is worthless." And besides, it is not necessary — far from it — that a thing should be understood by every one before it can truly be called beautiful. I enter a lecture room wliere an orator is making an address in German which seems to fill his audience with enthusiasm ; I listen with all my ears, but his address says nothing to me. Am I justified on this account in saying that his hearers are all deceived and that the address has no merit ? By no means, the fact is merely that I have the misfortune not to understand German. If in this same hall it happened — most unfortunately for the lecturer — that all the audience were like myself, that all were ignorant of the German language except one man, that man alone would be the judge, and alone would have the right to say whether the address were good or bad. It is the same in regard to music. Only he who is familiar with a given musical language can be permitted 378 ESTHETIOS. to say whether a work conceived in that manner, that style, has or has not real value; outside of this condition he can say but one thing, whether it pleases him or not, which is an altogether different matter. Auber and Felieien David did not understand Wagner and Berlioz, nor did these latter understand each other; every man of the four spoke a different language. Here a very natural objection presents itself. Music, it will be said, is, after all, addressed to the public ; and if the public cannot understand it — ? Granted ; but the manifestations of the highest art are addressed to an enlightened public, to that which has ob- tained by a certain amount of study the power to under- stand this special literature, and alone can fully enjoy it. Tor others, there is easy music, — that of the operetta and the cafe concert. Certain superficial critics like to complain periodically that music seems to have become, in our days, a science based upon figures, mathematics, mental processes, and in this they think they see the negation of pure art, of in- spiration. They prove in this way but one thing, — that they do not know the history of the art of which they con- stitute themselves defenders. In the time of Bach and of Handel, as also in the Middle Ages, when discant and counterpoint were the only music of any importance, music was an art vastly more mathematical than at present; it addressed itself to the mind, not to the senses, and could scarcely be understood except by those who had made it a study. Now, most if not all of the procedures employed by living masters are borrowed from that great period ; and borrowed is not even the correct word; it is a lawful inheritance which they have received from their predecessors, and they use it, accommodating it to the taste of the day, that is to say, obeying their own personal sentiment and feeling the influence of the artistic current around them, as well as the general movement of modern ideas. Thus PROGRESS AND CHANGE. 379 it has always been and always must be. The grandest musical genius can create nothing without having a point of support in the works of his predecessors ; for in music, as in every other thing, every man is some one's son. This is evolution. To some, who liken artistic evolution to the changes in fashion, art seems to turn in a circle, passing successively through similar periods. To others, music appears to advance perpetually, rising to greater heights in every age. Both conceptions seem to me false or incomplete taken alone, and give me, on the other hand, an impression of truth if united into one formula. To my mind, the progress of art through the ages may be represented by an ascending spiral which at each turn passes the same points of a vertical plane, but at different heights, forever drawing nearer to a point situated in the infinite, which is the ideal. It is the same spiral advance as that which leads the sun, with his train of planets revolving about him, while about them revolve their satel- lites, towards a point in the constellation Hercules, seem- ingly forever receding as he approaches, as the ideal for- ever recedes before the efforts of art. Another subject of perpetual recriminations is the con- stant increase of sonority, an inevitable result of the progress of orchestration. It is certain that we no longer have the orchestra of Lully, nor even that of Boieldieu. Berton saluted Rossini "il signor Vacarmini!" Eossini himself considered the works of the German school of his time as little else than noise. What would he say now, poor fellow ? Since that time, sonority has still further increased; there is much complaint, it is considered excessive; but we reconcile ourselves to it, and probably it will be further still increased. From the purely symphonic point of view, this is no dis- advantage. It is only in the musical drama that it might be feared the voices of the singers could not rise above the tumult, if it should please the composer to unleash at the 380 ESTBETIOS. wrong time his instrumental pack; but this will never happen to a man of talent and of experience in the art of orchestration, an art comparatively young but extremely progressive ; and this fear is purely chimerical. At the present time, in opera, the interest is divided between the stage and the orchestra nearly equally, leaning rather to the side of the symphony, contrary to what was the preference in the first half of the century. A rapid glance at some points in the history of music will suffice to prove to us that the ideal has varied widely in different times and countries ; that at present it is far from being everywhere the same, and that it is certain still further to vary in the future. On the other hand it ap- pears to be indisputable that what is beautiful today cannot cease to be beautiful tomorrow, and that latitudes can make no difference here. The beautiful is unchangeable, it is eternal, it is world-wide : what varies is our manner of looking at it. What, then, is the beautiful in music? So many definitions have been attempted that I scarcely venture to propose mine ; it would be this : The beautiful in music consists in a fortunate harmony of proportions, and also in the penetrating intensity of the emotions it communicates. These two conditions seem to me indispensable, and are each other's complement; I do not know a masterpiece worthy of the name which does not unite the two. It must, above all, stir, excite the soul, that is to say, awaken or depict emotion ; also, it must bear calm analysis ; only thus can it call out an admiration at once enthusiastic and rational — which means an admiration that will be lasting. One may up to a certain point love music without under- standing it, and even without seeking to understand it. In this case it is merely a gratification of the senses, a social diversion ; music then becomes what is called an accomp- lishment, essentially frivolous and superficial. But one cannot understand it without loving it ; for the mere analysis of the emotions it arouses in us and of the MUSICAL BEAUTY. 381 procedures by which these emotions are produced, becomes a source of intellectual pleasures, pure and infinite, unknown to those who have not made it the object of special study, and for whom true music, the music of musicians, will remain always a sealed book. OHAPTEE T. HISTORY OF THE ART OF MUSIC. A. — The Ancients. To sing is as natural for the human being as to speak ; it therefore seems probable that the earliest men were the earliest singers. Certain cries — of calling, of joy, of grief especially — have an evident musical character, and are susceptible of notation. The vocal manifestation, then, must necessarily and everywhere, in prehistoric times, have pi'eceded all instrumental beginnings, even the most rudimentary. Furthermore we may naturally suppose that in the be- ginning of every civilisation, the first instrument invented — or it would be better to say, discovered — must have been the simplest of all, something which mere chance brought to hand. And this was the fact ; everywhere the reed, the flute made of a reed, was the first musical implement ; the idea of blowing into it to clear it was very natural, and this was all that was necessary to produce a first instrumental sound. The model of rhythm is furnished by certain natural movements, the alternate step, the beating of the heart, the throbbing of the temples ; by respiration which, binary when one is awake, becomes ternary in sleep ; by the regu- lar gait of the horse, the trot and the pace in duple time, the gallop in triple. Such are the points of departure which nature offers. In its origins, music seems to have developed more slowly and with greater difficulty than any of the other arts, which ANCIENT MUSIC. 383 less subtle and ethereal, responded to more urgent needs. Moreover, its beginnings are lost to us in thick darkness by the absence of written documents. In scarcely any other way than from the old bas-reliefs and fresco-paintings, or from papyrus-rolls, do we know that music was in very high honour among the Assyrians and the ancient Egyptians. By means of these we know the names and forms of their instruments which were numerous and well-made, but we have no idea as to the music thus produced. They had fine harps, with from three to twenty-two strings, perhaps more ; lyres and guitars, with three and four strings, which they called tamhourah ; many percussion-instrumeijits of all forms and sizes, — sistra, bells, crotala, cymbals, single and double flutes, etc. Thus we see that the three great fami- lies of musical instruments, string, wind, and percussion, were already represented (but they had not made the dis- covery of the bow) ; and still, we are reduced to the barest conjectures as to the character of the music, sacred and profane, which was produced. From this very remote antiquity nothing is discovered which gives any reason to suppose that the writing of music was known, either to the Egyptians, the Chaldeans, or the Syrians ; and this is true, also, of the Hebrews, for the Talmud, which mentions everything, would not have failed to describe a procedure, however primitive in form, by which the chants of the ritual could be preserved intact. But the Talmud is silent on this subject, whence we con- clude with something like certainty that in those remote ages, musical airs, probably of the most rudimentary kind, were handed down by oral tradition only, as is today the case with the Arabs and other oriental nations, even those quite advanced in civilisation. (The Rabbinical notes are nothing more than neumes,^ entirely indefinite, of which the key is lost, and hence their interpretation very doubtful. ) We know, however, that music was extremely important among the Jews, especially in their religious ceremonies, I See Neumes, p. 389, 384 SISTOBT OF THE ART OF MUSIC. for the Bible speaks of this constantly. Their instruments were evidently the same as those of the Egyptians, and rhythm must have been the chief point in their music, judging by their many percussion-instruments, and also by their uncommon taste for dancing. If we may believe Josephus, Solomon had made, for the dedication of the temple, two hundred thousand trumpets and forty thousand other instruments in gold or silver, to accompany the Psalms of David. I have not been able to verify this statement, but, even if it be exaggerated, it gives reason to believe that music, in Biblical times, was no secondary accessory. In war, the Jews used only trumpets, some straight, others curved. It is odd to think that among the Greeks, at a time when poetry, painting, sculpture and architecture had attained the greatest heights, music was still in its infancy. They knew neither harmony nor even melody, as we conceive it ; all musical interest for them consisted in rhythmic com- binations and the union of these with prosody ; music was the humble slave of poetry ; it was rather a sort of rhythmed and droning diction, which must have gone well with the immobility of the tragic mask. As to instruments, their only use was to guide and sustain the voice of the de- claimer, to give him the pitch, and to accentuate the rhythmic forms. In Greece, music was never separated from poetry, and usually it was accompanied by dancing ; in truth, the three arts united actually made but one, and that one had great expressive force. The personages of the chorus sang the rhythmic words, and danced as they sang ; and it was this union which the Greeks called music, the Art of the Muses. It always seems marvellous that a people who had double flutes, double trumpets, harps and lyres of many strings, never thought of producing two sounds at the same time, that they never, by accident, discovered harmony, having in other directions an artistic feeling so highly developed. Numerous controversies on this subject have sprung up. But no text makes mention of any Greek use of simul- THE GBEEK MODES. 385 taneous sounds, and (whieli is even a stronger proof) J;he Orientals of today, though they arlso have instruments capable of producing chords, and, through contact with European civilisation, have the example of our system, always cling to their purely melodic and rhythmic music. It must, therefore, be admitted that the Greeks practised homophony alone, which sufficed for their needs ; and this gives yet another proof that the fact is not always the probable thing. It is from the writings of the philosophers, Pythagoras (540 B. C), Plato (430 B. C), Aristotle and Aristoxenes (IV. Cent. B. C), that we gain some vague idea of what Greek music must have been ; it is certain that they knew the semi-tone, the tone, some say the quarter-tone, and they had the three systems, diatonic, chromatic, and enharmonic. The extent of their general scale was about three octaves, corresponding to the limits of the human voice. They had numerous modes, each constituting a different scale, which they divided into two parts, and of which the denomina- tions and even the number vary according to different authors ; the following is the list according to Alypios (IV. Cent. A. D.). I Hypo-Dorian. Hypo-Ionian. Hypo-Phirygian. Hypo-^olian. Hypo-Lydian. ' Dorian. r Hyper-Dorian. a ■3 " Ionian. _• Hyper-Ionian. Plirygian. "be. Hyper-Plirygian 1 ^olian. i^ Hyper-^olian. Lydian. ^ Hyper- Lydian. We also know the names of the strings of the lyre ; the following series corresponds to the descending scale : E. Nete. j D. Paranete. I Second Tetrachord. C. Trite. . B. Paramese. J A. Mese (central tone). G. Lichanos. F. Parhypate. E. Hypate. Z>. Proslambanomenos. Added string. • First Tetrachord. 386 HISTORY OF THE ART OF MUSIC. For sol-faing they employed the syllables, te, ta, te, to, applied equally in all the tetrachords. In conclusion, the Greeks possessed a very complicated system of notation, formed by means of the letters of their alphabet, modified, inverted, etc., and varying for vocal or instrumental music. In this form have come down to us a few rare hymns or fragments, whose translation, in the present state of our knowledge on the subject, is unfor- tunately very uncertain. It was not, however, in Greece, but in India that the idea of defining sounds by writing, had its origin. The Hindus designated the notes of the gamut by Sanskrit characters, and appear also to have known how to indicate time-values ; but the interpretation of these signs is so vague that we can only say that there was a system, of which the present inhabitants of India have preserved nothing, not even the recollection. The Persians, who called music " the science of circles," invented a sort of staff of nine lines, each of a different colour, in which one cannot but find a certain resemblance to our own, although ours is not derived from it. As long ago as 2700 B. C, the Chinese represented the notes of their gamut — which appears vastly more complex than it really is — by ideographic signs resembling those of their language, and these they still have in use at the present day. The Japanese, the Tonkinese, and the Annanites have had systems of the same kind, but have gradually aban- doned them under the influence of European culture. To return to the Greeks, it is absolutely certain that, before the time of Pythagoras, they had begun to employ the letters of th.e alphabet to designate musical sounds, and we know almost exactly the signs by which they repre- sented, with comparative precision, values and rests, which were, as with us, in double or triple time, while China and Japan have known no other than the double time. Imitating the Greeks, the Romans adopted first, in writing music, the first fifteen letters of their alphabet. INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. 387 Originally the Latin music could not have differed mate- rially from the Greek, which was its direct ancestor ; there were the same scales, the same use of the lyre, the cithara, and the percussion-instruments, especially after the conquest of Greece. The flute and the trumpet were the favourites, but Nero, and other emperors after his time were pleased to sing, accompanying themselves upon the Etruscan lyre. Two new instruments, no less different in character than they have been in destiny,- yet founded on the same prin- ciple, of the air-reservoir, date from this epoch : the bagpipe and the organ. The former remained the popular instru- ment in Scotland, Brittany, and Italy, under various names ; while the organ, according to contorniate medallions' pre- served in the Bibliotheque Rationale and in many other museums, very early had its dozen pipes. It has increased remarkably since then ; but the germ is there. Ctesibius ( 146 B. C. ) is supposed to have been the inventor ; perhaps, however, the first idea was Greek. But an important event was about to take place, which was destined completely to overthrow the old systems and open to art a new road which it has followed definitely up to the present time ; I refer to the advent of Christianity. For dying Paganism, the plastic arts had sufficed, with the poetry that likened its gods to men. To dawning Christianity which, elevating the soul, freed it from material dross and opened to it infinite horizons, a new art was necessary, more powerful, more independent, above all, more penetrating ; an art which, disdaining to depict or to represent objects or deeds, was capable of acting directly upon the soul, isolating it, making it captive, producing emotion unaided ; an art no longer to be the slave of poetry, but its equal and its master, raising it to heights hitherto unknown and inaccessible, in the domain of the pure ideal, into which words cannot enter, for which they are insuiBcient. 1 These are bronze medals peculiar in tlie fact that they are encircled by a deep groove (contorniate). They were never used as coin, but were struck in commeraoriition of historic events. 388 HISTORY OF THE ART OF MUSIC. Under the influence of this mighty afflatus, from its shapeless, earlier attempts came forth slowly and painfully the still primitive and uncertain art of the Middle Ages, which was destined to pass through numerous changes be- fore itself giving rise to the modern art. During the first eight centuries of the Christian era, the church chant remains exclusively homophonous. The most ancient Christian chants are those of the Psalms, which belonged to the Hebrew cult, and a few Greek or Latin melodies. S. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (340-397), pre- served four of the Greek modes, which later were called " the authentic modes," and attached his name to a first reform of the melodic liturgy, which he frees from super- fluous ornament, retaining in it a rhythmic feeling of which the tradition is lost. Later, Gregory the Great (540-604), proceeding to a new reform, excluded from the ritual certain chants which seemed to him unworthy, admitted, besides the four modes of S. Ambrose, four other modes, which take the name "plagal" or "collateral," and made the collection called the Antiphonary of St. Gregory, which is still in use, with, however, numerous modifications, in the Roman Catholic churches. From this time, the church-modes are eight in number ; the authentic modes have their dominant on the fifth degree, the plagal on the fourth. Agreement of the old Greek modes with the Church modes. GREEK MODES. CHURCH MODES. Dorian. Hypodorian or SBolian. Phrygian. Hypophry- gian. P Tonic. Dominant. ;::^::22i! m p T D, i^^ 1st tone, (authen.) 2nd tone, (plag.) 3d tone, (authen.) 4th tone, (plag.) MEDIEVAL MODES. 389 eSEEK MODES. Lydian, Hypolydian or Ionian. Tonic. Dominant. T D,, ., ^===^^S^ CHURCH MOD£S. 5th tone, (autben.) Bfh tone, (plag.) Mixolydian. $ rp-»- Hypomixoly- dian. *^= 7th tone .(authen .) 8th tone, (plag.) It was, also, during the pontificate of S. Gregory, to ■whom personally some authors attribute this reform, that the Romans reduced their notation to the first seven letters, which are also applied to the seven notes of the modern nomenclature : A B C D E F G A fact whose extreme interest will be apparent to every- one is, that these designations have been preserved intact across the centuries, that they are still employed in Ger- many and in England, and that we shall, later, find here the point of departure and explanation of the system of clefs as now in force ; and the letters which are today over the strings of the piano are the last vestige of these dead civilisations. B. — The Primitives. Then followed, to last through the larger part of the mediaeval period, an odd system, now incomprehensible, consisting of signs, a kind of hieroglyphics or abbrevia- tions, which were called neumes, derived, doubtless, from the rabbinical notes, and having only a purely conventional meaning. The neumes did not indicate precise sounds on distinct degrees, but groups of sounds, not unlike the signs of the turn and the trill (svs and /vv) in modern notation; of these there were a latge number. I have coimted forty 390 HISTORY OF THE ART OF MUSIC. in an old MS. The most eminent scholars in music have sought to decipher them, but not a man has been able to give them a satisfactory translation ; the individual mean- ing of each is fairly well understood, but nothing, indicates the connection among them or the point of departure of the tonality. The Carthusians themselves, who have preserved intact, by tradition, the plain-chant of the eleventh century, were able to give me the translation of a few signs only ; but it seemed to me interesting to record this, here. The follow- ing table, prepared in accordance with the information given at the monastery of La Chartreuse, by one of the fathers who is very learned in liturgic music, contains : 1. The name of the neumatic sign ; 2. The sign itself in the forms of the XI., XIII., and XIV. centuries ; 3. Its signification ; 4. Its translation into the characters of the plain-ohant ; 5. Its translation into the notation now employed. The sounds not being fixed, but only indicating the vocal contour, I use no clefs and could not use any, since all these signs represent only kinds of vocal exercises, vocal feats, inflexions of all kinds, applied to a liturgic chant transmitted from age to age by oral tradition. (The chant of the Carthusians differs considerably from the usual church chant.) " Most of the neumatic signs are modified to indicate intervals and durations of the sounds they represent ; they are also surmounted by certain letters indicating the tempo they should have ; all these things, it must be confessed, render their reading very difficult, and have become at the present day a source of discussions and of varying interpretations among authors. " ... It was not until the tenth century that the practice began of writing the neumes at different heights above the text, to indicate their respective places in the scale. When Guido Aretino invented the staf£,i he had at first no other idea than that of applying it to the neumatic signs in order to render it easier to read them." Thus wrote the Rev. Father Charles Marie, a former 1 We shall soon see that this is a mistake. A TAHLE OF NEUM^. 391 bo bo S s V a 3 " 3 S Ik a O OH 392 HlSTOBT OF TBB ART OP MtTSlC. prior of the Grande-Chartreuse, in a work now very rare : Methode de plain-chant selon les usages oartusiens. Of all the systems of notation known, this was certainly the most incomplete as well as the most barbaric up to the time when some one formed the idea of enriching it with a horizontal line, usually in colour, red or yellow, represent- ing a given tone, above which or below which were placed the neumes, at distances greater or less which approximately represented the intervals. In this single line we see the germ of the staff. Prom these two elements, the names of notes designated in Greek or Roman letters and the line necessary to render intelligible the mediaeval neumes, was destined by degrees to emerge the whole present system. The manifest advantage of the one indicating line which made it possible for the neumatic signs to indicate intervals with some degree of precision, naturally suggested the idea that this precision and this advantage might be increased by using two lines; and, in fact, with two lines, widely spaced, it became possible to give a fairly satisfactory graphic representation of a scale of nine notes, more than was needed for the notation of church hymns. /\. .— ,Ac- To determine the absolute height of the notes, there was placed at the beginning of each line one of the first seven letters of the alphabet, which gave a name to the sign placed on this line, whence, by comparison, the other signs received names. These were our clefs. This road once open, there was no reason why the staff should not receive a third line, and then a fourth, which MEDIEVAL MUSIC. 393 happened, to the great benefit of the clearness of the -writ- ing ; on the other hand, the utility of the neumes, which represented, it will be remembered, groups of sounds and melodic formulas or ornaments, rather than the idea of one definite note, disappeared, in the adoption of a more precise and logical system; accordingly, they were gradually abandoned, and instead were used characters either square or lozenge shaped, ■ ♦, which are the real first notes. These prolonged attempts to establish a complete notation show plainly enough how great was the interest attaching to the musical movement of the day, which had its centre in Eome. In 754, Pepin le Bref brought to the Abbey of Saint Medard two cantors, whom the Pope (Stephen II.) had given him to teach the Abbey choir. Not long after, in 784, Charlemagne, visiting Rome, took with him his own ordinary cantors, who were much scoffed at by their Roman brethren for their voices " like bulls." He obtained from Adrian I. some of the papal cantors to instruct his own. It is well known that Charlemagne founded two great schools of music, — one at Metz, the other at Soissons. It was not, however, imtil near the ninth century that the first attempt was made at harmony (?) to place one note above another, but alas ! in the relation of fourth, or of fifth. This barbaric and primitive system, described and. put in practice notably by the monk Hucbald of Saint- Amand (an enthusiastic musician, evidently) was called diaphony or organum, ; in our time the word cacophony would seem more appropriate. We can see in it only an error which retarded the evolution of music by something like five centuries. Accompaniments for the Gregorian plain-chant were written in two, three, four, and even five voices, — ^long series of fourths and fifths, without any fear of distorting its character and rhythm, for the diaphony was almost without tempo. This continued till the thirteenth century, when the melodic sense appeared to progress more rapidly than the harmonic, though the diaphony was transforming itself 394 HISTORY OF THE ART OF MUSlO. into a system less brutal, the descant, which was nothing else than a first essay at counterpoint in two parts. At this time lived : ^ Adam de la Hale (about 1240), called the Hunchback of Arras. Songs, motets, of a style still showing traces of diaphony, although with progress. The Jeu de Robin et de Marion, which may be considered as the earliest type of the comic opera, was performed at the court of Naples, in 1285. He appears to have been the first to employ the conso- nance of the third and its inversion the sixth, which brought into the descant a sweetness hitherto unknown ; he also essayed timidly the use of the perfect chord, but without entirely abandoning the system of consecU.tive fourths and fifths. It was, however, an immense step. Earlier than he came : Gnido d'Arezzo (XI.' Cent.), born at Arezzo (Tuscany). A Benedictine monk in the Abbey of Pomposa, about the year 1023 ; a learned musician, and especially occupied In teaching the liturgic chant. There is, perhaps, no erroneous opinion more wide-spread than that which attributed to him the invention of the system of notation, as though he had conceived it as a whole and realised it all at once. We have seen that the system grew up gradually, very slowly, in accordance with the unequally growing and very diverse needs of musical civilisation. The truth is that he was struck with the dififtculty that his pupils, monks like himself, sometimes even prelates, had in grasping and retaining the sound and also the relar tions of the notes, and devised for their use a pedagogic method which comes under the head of mnemonics. He 1 There are names of masters, ancient and modern, of theorists, composers virtuosi, makers of instruments, that every musician ought to know because of the important services they have rendered to art, or of the splendour of their works, or, again, on account of their present conspicuousness. These persons will have special, hut necessarily brief, mention, with an enumeration of their titles to the axlmiratlon, esteem, or gratitude of musicians. GUIDO'S HYMN. 395 selected a chant familiar to them all, or at least easily to be learned, in -which each line begins with a different note and a different syllable,, so that when this chant with its words was fixed in the memory, the position of each note was fixed also. It was the hymn to S. John (which I reproduce here from an old MS. belonging to the chapter of the Cathedral of Sens,'' with a translation into modern notation) that he employed. Ut queant laxis Re bris -r •—'-^ tu o-rum Mi ra ges-to-rum Fa -mu-li $ -ragons de 1 Hilars, lea Pecheurs de Gatane, and Lara. Litolff (Henry Charles), [1818-1891]. Born in London. His father was French, liis mother Englisli. In artistic temperament, he was not unlike Liszt. A great pianist virtuoso, fiery, impassioned, like Liszt a composer of the Romantic school, he unfortunately differed from the Abb^ in the matter of success, of which he had very little, and perhaps also, he differed in possessing a less elevated tone. He wrote for the theatre, the orchestra and the piano ; we may mention his concertos and symphonies; the overture of the Giron- dins ; Hiloise et AMlard, operetta; la Belle au Bois dormant, pantomime; VEscadron volant de la reine, op&'a-comique. Lacombe (Louis), [1818-1884]. Born at Bourges. By his true name, Louis Brouillon, he was a pupil of Zimmer- mann, Czerny, and Barbereau. He is less than unappreciated, he is unknown, notwithstanding the unquestionable merit of his works, among which should at least be remembered: les Harmonies de la nature, VOndine et le Pecheur ; two dramatic symphonies, Man^ fred and Arva; an op^ra-oomique, la Madone; and Winkelried, a posthumous work. Some piano music of his lias alone been suc- cessful, and even this success was quite ephemeral. Offenbach (Jacques), [1819-1880]. Born at Cologne. Creator of the genus operetta, which resembles the op^ra^com- ique and the Italian op^ra-buffa, his scores are full of talent and merriment, but sometimes lacking in distinction: OrpMe aux Enters, la Belle HeUne, les Deux Aveugles, la Chanson de Fortunio, CHARLES GOUNOD. 463 etc. A musician by instinct and without musical education, he never succeeded in any higlier kind of music; although at times, as in les Contes d' Hoffmann, he attempted it. He is, however, one of the most entertaining artists that ever lived. And now we come to a very grand figure of the French School, a master whom each should salute with uncovered head. I refer to : Gounod (Charles), [1818-1893]. Bom in Paris. Pupil of Hal^vy, Lesueur, and Pagr, he obtained the grand prix de Rome in 1839. His career is too recent in men's memories for me to need to sketch it here. I will only give a list, nearly chronological, of his principal works: SapAo, grand opera (ISol); la Nomie sanglanle; le Midecin malgri lui, op^ra-comiijue; Fausl; la Coiombe; PhiU- mon et Baucis ; la Heine de Saha ; Mireille ; Romio et Juliette ; Polijeucte ; Cinq-Mars ; the music for two dramas, les Deux, Reines of Lejoiir^, and the' Jeanne d^Arc of Barbier; then, in another style, many masses, some for full orchestra; much church music, two symphonies, four collections of twenty songs each, which have become almost popular; a charming little poem, Biondina; the oratorio of Tobie ; the fine lament, Gallia; Ridemytion , Mors et Vita ; a number of songs with English or Italian words, and even piano music and a method for the cor-^pistons. Like Mozart, whom he adored, his last work was a Requiem. He died suddenly while playing it to his family and some friends. This great genius, who was also a philosopher and a man of profound learning, will retain the place which he has valiantly won in the history of F-rench music, to whose progress he has so greatly contributed, and of which he will remain one of the great glories. His nature, at once mystical and ardent, opened to art paths new, unexplored, and most fruitful, — followed out in our day by many, and destined long to affect the entire French School. The funeral of Gounod, member of the Institute, grand officer of the Legion of Honour, was at the State's expense, and marked by great official display, — ■ a just tribute to his merit. Franok (Cfear), [1822-1890]. Born at Li6ge. Pupil of Zimmermann for the piano, and of Lebome in counter- point, in the Conservatory of Paris, where he was later, from 1872 to 1891, professor of the class in organ music. The following is a list of the principal works of this great musi- cian, who trained numerous and enthusiastic students, and may be considered as distinctly the foimder of a school: 464 SISTOBY OF THE ART OF MUSIC. Euth, Biblical eclogue; Redemption, a symphonic poem; Rebecca; lea Beatitudes, oratorio; les Folides; masses, offertories, organ music, etc. Belgium claims the honour of his birth; he is the descendant of Bach by his scientific knowledge, of Gluck by his power of lofty expression, and of the German Romanticists by his harmonic methods; while he is French in the clearness, purity, and sim- plicity of work. Moreover, as an individual characteristic, he has a nobility, an elegance of form, an incomparable sweetness, which render the work of tliis great master imperishable. He was also a wonderful improvisator. MasBe (Victor), [1822-1884]. Born at Lorient. Pupil of Zimmermann and Hal6vy, grand prix de Rome in 1844; his principal works were: la Chanteuse voiUe, les Noces de Jean- nette, GalatMe, la Fiancee du Diable, Miss Fauvette, les Saisons, la Beine Topaze, la Fee Carabosse, la Mule de Pedro, Fior d'Aliza, Paul et Virginie. He taught composition at the Conservatory from 1866 till his death; also from 1866 he was a member of the Institute. Gevaert (Frangois-Auguste), [1828]. Born at Huysse (Flanders). A musician of profound learning, author of numerous and remarkable works of instruction: TraiUs d'' instrumentation, Cours methodique d^ orchestration, Sistoire et TMorie de la musique de I'antiquite. Since 1872 he has been director of the Conservatory at Brussels. Principal works: le Billet de Marguerite, les Lavandiires de San- tarem, op6ras-comiques; Quentin Durward, lyric drama; le Diable au moulin, le Chateau-Trompette, le Capitaine Henriot (1864); les Deux Amours; choruses, religious music, a cantata on a Flemish theme, Jacques Arteveld, etc. Lalo (Bdouard), [1830-1892]. Born at Lille. Began by writing chamber music and two symphonies, which attracted but little attention; then an opera in three acts, Fiesque, which has been much talked of, but has never been performed; then a Symphonie espagnole, for violin and orchestra, which, per- formed by Sarasate, obtained a very great success; then a Rap- sodie norwegienne, a Concerto pour piano, Namouna, a ballet; much admired songs, a remarkable Divertissement for the orches- tra, etc. ; but it was only in his old age, or nearly so, that he had at last the satisfaction of seeing his Roi d' Ys, written long before, put upon the stage of the Op6ra-Comique. DeUbes (L6o), [1836-1891]. Born at Saint^Germain-du-Val (Sarthe). A musician essentially elegant, author of ravishing ballets, he FnENCH ROMANTIC COMPOSERS. 465 was at first a choir-boy at the Madeleine in 1848, then pupil of Le Couppey, Bazin, and Adam, at the Conservatory. Endowed with great facility of writing, he produced rapidly many short works which cannot here he enumerated, but made a brilliant success by his ballet, La Source (1866), written in collab- oration with a young Russian musician, M. Minkous. From that time his career was established. He produced successively: VEeossais de Chatou; la, Cour du roi Pitavd; the ballet Coppelia (a gem of orchestration); le Roi Va dtt, op6ra-comique; Sylvia, a ballet; then Jean de Nivelle, Lakmi, Kassya, of which he witnessed the first performance only. The style of Delibes is always elegant, distinguished, charming. He is the direct successor of Harold and of Ad. Adam, but with more verve and orchestral knowledge, and a prodigious facility of musical invention. In 1881 he was appointed professor of composition at the Con- servatory, and held this oflfice until his death. Member of the Institute in 1885. Guiraud (Ernest), [1837-1892]. Bom in New Orleans (Louisiana). Pupil of Marmontel, Barbereau, and Hal6vy, he obtained, in 1859, by unanimous vote, and at his first competition, the grand prix de Rome, which, by an occurrence unique in the history of this prize, his father had obtained, also, thirty-two years before, in 1827. This distinguished musician, whose manner so well represented the merits of the French School — raciness, fire, elegance, and clearness — but whose career was too quickly ended, left but a limited number of works, all very personal and characteristic: Sylvie (1864), En Prison, le Kobold, Gretna-Green (ballet), Madame Turlupin, Piccolino. Besides his dramatic compositions, Suites d'orckestre, of which one has for finale the famous Camaval, which is also in the Piccolino; and an interesting little TraiU d'' orchestration which was one of the last things he wrote. Member of the Institute, elected but a few months before his death in 1891. The French Eomantic School reached one of its highest points in the personality of the famous and so keenly- regretted Bizet (Georges), [1838-1875]. Bom in Paris. Pupil of Zimmermann in harmony, of Marmontel for the piano, and of HaMvy in fugue and composition; grand prix de Rome in 1857. 466 BISTORT OF THE ART OF MUSIC. This remarkable musician, whose name is today one of the most famous in the history of the French School, although he died at the age of thirty-seven, was one of the first in France to recog- nise the genius of Wagner, and to seek to assimulate his methods; this is apparent in most of his works, of which the following is a nearly complete list: les Picheurs de perles (1867), la Jolie Fille de Perth, DjamUeh, V Arlisienne, and Carmen (1875), the two latter really masterpieces. Besides dramatic compositions, we may mention the beautiful overture of Patrie, a charming collection of twenty songs, and a few piano pieces. His style, clear and melodious, remains truly French in its elegance and purity of lines. Only in the general plan and the employ of Leitmotive are recognisable those Wagnerian tendencies which he loudly proclaimed at a time when to do this required no little courage. Chahrier (Emmanuel), [1841-1894]. Born at Ambert. After having, at his father's wish, studied law in Paris and received his degree at the age of twenty, he was for some years attached to the Ministry of the Interior. This implies that his studies in music were those of an amateur. So far as is known he had but one teacher, Aristide Hignard, who himself had obtained, in 1850, for the second time, a second prix de Rome, — a modest and very distinguished' musician. Chabrier's first work was an opera-bouffe in three acts, VEtoile (1877); then followed V Education Manqu^e, one act (not orches- trated); then Dix pieces pittoresques, for the piano (1881); and Trois Valses romantiques for two pianos (1883); in the same year le Credo d' Amour, for the voice, and the famous Eapsodie Espaha, for the grand orchestra, which called attention to him. Then appeared in succession; la Sulamite (1885); Habanera, for the piano (1885); G«)e»KZoK?ie,' grand opera, two acts (1886); Chanson pour Jeanne, a song (1886); le Roi Malgr4 lui, op^ra-comique, three acts (1887); Joyeuse Marche, for orchestra (1890); Vile heureuse, Toutes lesfleurs, les Cigales,'la Villanelle des petits can- ards, la Ballade des gros dindons, la Pastorale des cochons roses, piano and voice (1890); the Bourr^e fantastique for the piano, and lastly, A la musique, chorus for female voices (1891). I believe this list is complete. Godard (Benjamin), [1849-1895]. Born in Paris. Pupil of Hammer for the violin, and of Reber in harmony. A nmsiciau of rare merit who repeatedly gave evidence of real genius, yet never was able to produce a true masterpiece, perhaps because his work was too hasty and his brain too crowded with FRENCH ROMANTIC SCHOOL. 467 ideas. He did not mature his compositions, giving tliem to the public just as they were first written, without change or addition. Hence the inequality of his production, subordinated to the moment's inspiration, each being in the condition in which it was at first thrown off. His principal work is le Tasse, by which he made himself known, obtaining, in 1878, at the age of twenty-eight, the prize of the City of Paris; then came Jocelyn, le Dante, Pedro de Zalamea, les Guelfes, concerning which the last word has not yet been said. At the time of his death he had finished, but not entirely orches- trated, the score of la Vivanditre, destined for the Op6ra-Comique. The first performance of this composition took place in 1895, shortly after his death, the orchestration having been completed by Vidal. . He also wrote remarkable orchestral works: la Symphonie gothique, la Symphonie orientale, la Symphonie Ugendaire, la Sym- phonie-ballet, les Seines poUiques, two Concertos, one for violin, and one for piano; mucli chamber masAc of great interest; songs, and an astonishing quantity of piano music. This enumeration, with all its faults, has brought us, step by step, into the heart of the modern school, so that, the history of music being thus made by the history of musicians, we shall have no occasion to define present tendencies. Also, on the subject of actual contemporaries, the reader will permit me an extremely moderate expression of opin- ion. Without this reserve I should risk falling into many serious mistakes, which later I should be the first to de- plore. In my judgment, it is only when an artist has fin- ished his career, that we can — taking into consideration his entire work, seeing to what height he has been able to rise — cautiously allow ourselves to assign to him some sort of definite rank in the musical hierarchy. Also I should fear to be infiuenced by considerations of personal sympathies, taking from the needed independence of judgment; and, most of all, I desire not to place myself in the attitude of the critic, for which I do not feel myself fitted. Conse- quently, from this time forward, the reader will find, with rare exception, nothing more than names and dates and definite facts. 468 SISTOBT OF THE AST OF MUSIC. I. — Contemporaries. A school wliich can liave had the grief of losing in less than twenty years, these six men : Gounod, Thomas, Franck, Lalo, Delibes, and Bizet, — -certainly gives no evidence of a period of decline. The brilliant series continues in our day, and the French school may be justly proud to count in its ranks such names as these: Eeyer, Saint-Sagns, Massenet, Paladilhe, Theodore Dubois, members of the Institute; Victorin Joncieres, Widor, Weckerlin, Alph. Duvernoy, Pugno, Lepot-Delahaye, Diaz, Vincent d'Indy,' Faure, S. Rousseau, Boellmann, Messager, Bruneau, Will- iam Chaumet, A. Coquard, Chausson, Missa, de BoisdefEre, Albert Cahen, Canoby, Gouvy, de la Tombelle, Ch. Rene, Chapuis, Mme. la Comtesse de Grandval, Mile.. Augusta Holmes, Mile. Chaminade, — whose names have figured on the play-bills of the Opera and the OperarComique, or on the programmes of the great symphonic concerts ; and these also who have been pointed out to the attention of the pub- lic by the premier grand prix de Rome; Boulanger, Gas- tinel, Deffes, Ad. Barthe, Bourgault-Ducoudray, Lenepveu, Pessard, Ch. Lefebvre, Mareohal, Salvayre, Paul Puget, the brothers Hillemacher, Andr^ Wormser, Veronge de la Nux, Georges Hiie, Pierne, Marty, Vidal, Xavier Leroux, Char- pentier, Erlanger, and others. Some of these have already taken rank, and others are becoming masters in their turn. With them the honour of the flag rests, and they will know how to defend it. While a certain number of light and graceful composers, — Lecocq, Audran, Jonas, Planquette, Serpette, Banes, Vas- seur, Varney, Victor Roger, cultivate, under the designa^ tion of operetta, a pleasing kind of music, much resembling what used to be the op^ra-comique, we have also, pledged to the consecrated style, great improvisators, — Th. Dubois, Widor, Guilmant, Gigout, Boellmann, Fissot, Pugno, Dallier, Sergent, Loret, Samuel Rousseau, Pierne, Galeotti, and others. FRENCH CONTEMPORARIES. 469 Besides the preceding names, we must mention further, among those who seem to have devoted themselves specially to the symphonic order of music, or else to chamber music : Ch. Dancla, Sauzay, Mathias, Garcin, G. Pfeiffer, Taudou, E. Bernard, Thome, de Maupeou, Claudius Blanc, Paul Lacombe, Perilhou, Chevillard, Dohnetsch; and then pianists of the highest rank, at once professors and com- posers: first, Marmontel, who may well be called the father of the present generation of pianists, (for all or nearly all, from Plants to Delafosse, Jides Cohen, Wieni- awski, Diemer, Fissot, Alph. Duvernoy, Lack, Thome, Wormser, Galeotti, as well as Bizet, Paladilhe, Th. Dubois, Guiraud, Delahaye, Bourgeois, Bellaigue, Pierne, Ch. Rene, make part of the legion of his disciples), Eavina, Ch. Delioux, Mathias, Ch. de Beriot, Alph. Duvernoy, Dela- borde, Georges Pfeiffer, Diemer, Fissot, Pugno, of whom the larger niunber have been or are professors at the Con- servatory, and are very often applauded, either as compos- ers or performers, at the great symphonic concerts ; Colo- mer, Th. Lack, Thome, Wormser, Adolphe David, Antoijin Marmontel fils, and the brilliant group of young pianist virtuosi: J. Phillippe, Falcke, Falkenberg, Delafosse, Eis- ler, and these two admirable artists, Mme. de Serres (Caro- line Eemaury), and Francis Plante, who, as amateurs, are sometimes heard at concerts for charitable objects; and among instrumentalists, great artists, such as Sarasate, Marsick, Eemy, Nadaud, Berthelier, Paul Viardot, Lar- forge, van Woefelghem, Delsart, Loys, Eabaud, Cabaissol, Cros-Saint-Ange, Hasselmans, Taffanel, Hennebains, Gillet, Turban, Garigue, Br^mond, and others. It is manifestly impossible for me to mention them all, this book not being a directory, or a biographical diction- ary. I only seek to give, by names chosen among those that are best known, the musical physiognomy of our time, as I have done that of past epochs, superficially. The best traditions of the lyric stage are preserved and transmitted by singers who will remain famous: Gilbert Duprez, Faure, Mme. Viardot, Mme. Carvalho, and Mm?. Krauss. 470 HISTORY OF THE AST OP MUSIC. We now come to the present members of the Section of Music of the Institute : Beyer (Ernest), [1823]. Born at Marseilles. The most important works of Eeyer are, in the order of their production: le Silam (1850), Maitre Wolfram, Sacountala, ballet, la Statue, Erostrate, Sigurd, Salammbd, all works of wide scope, of lofty ana imposing style, stamped with a sincere and worthy artistic conviction, and hearing on every page the author's sign manual. His only instructor seems to have been Mme. Farrenc, his aunt,i a great musician who never received the appreciation she deserved, and whose works are at this day totally forgotten; she left, how- ever, a good immber of important compositions, symphonic or instrumental, especially chamber music, and it is easy to imder- Btand that she was capable of conducting a musical education of the very highest order. At the same time there is nothing of her strictly classical man- ner in the style of her distinguished pupil and nephew, who seemed rather to attach himself to the school of Berlioz, his friend and intimate, and the object of his very high admiration. Member of the Institute in 1846. Massenet (Jules), [1842]. Born at Montaud (Loire). This indefatigable and fruitful composer, one of the most bril- liant and many-sided members of the French school, obtained the grand prix de Rome in 1863, in the class of Ambroise Thomas, after being the pupil of Eeber in harmony.' Since that time he has composed an astonishing series of well- known works, of which I will name only the more conspicuous, following always their chronological order:, Don Cisar de Bazan, op6ra-comique, three acts (1872); Marie Magdeleine, sacred drama, (1873); Les Erynnies (for the tragedy of Leconte de Lisle), 1873; Eve, myst^e (1875); Le Roi de Lahore, grand opera, five acts (1877); La Vierge (1880); Hirodiade, grand opera, three acts (1881); MJWAn, op6ra-comique, five acts (1884); Le Cid, grand opera, four acts (1885); Esclarmonde, op^ra roman- esque, four acts (1889); Le Mage, grand opera, five acts (1891); Werther, lyric drama, four acts (1892); Thais, com^die lyrique, three acts (1894); Le Portrait de'Manon (1894); La Navarraise (1894); Sapho (1897). Besides these dramatic works, seven orchestral suites, Biblis, Narcisse (for soli, choruses, and orchestra), many collections of songs, almost all famous: Fobnes d'amour, d'Avril, du Souvenir, 1 Mme. Farreno was professor of the piano at the Conservatory from 1842 to 1872. FRENCn COMPOSERS OF TODAY. 471 i''Octobre, Pastoral, d^Hiver, and an infinity of other pretty or beautiful tilings. He was appointed professor of composition at the Conservatory and member of the Institute during the same year, 1878. Saint-Saena (Camille), [1835]. Bom in Paris. Had for masters Stamaty for the piano, Maleden and Hal6vy in harmony and composition, and Benoist for the organ. His first successes were as pianist, and he then rapidly acquired a high reputation as an organist. He is especially a wonderful and incomparable improvisator. He writes vrith equal facility music of all kinds; I will enumerate here only his most celebrated works: Chamber music: two Trios, a Quatuor, a (^ivtette, a S^tuor (with trumpet); symphonic works: three Symphonies, of which the third, in C minor, is perhaps the finest masterpiece of orches- tration that was ever written; four Pohmes symphoniques : le Eouet d'Omphale, Phaeton, la Danse macabre, la Jeunesse d'Hercule; Marche Mralque in memory of Henri Regnault (written during the siege of Paris and at first called la Diliwance) ; five Concertos for the piano, three Concertos for the violin, one Concerto for the violoncello; Tarenielle for flute, clarinet, and orchestra; Suite algirienne. In church music: Messe de Requiem, Messe solennelle, Aveverum, chorus for four voices; psalm Cceli enarrant. In the oratorio or cantata style: Oratorio de Noil, les Noces de Promith4e (for the exposition of 1867); le Deluge, la Lyre et la Barpe. Finally, for the stage: la Princesse Jaune (1872); Samson et Salila (1876); le Timbre d' Argent (ISn); Mienne Marcel (1879); Henry VIII. (1883); Proserpine (1887); Ascdnio (1890); PhrynA (1893); Dijanire (drama) (1898). Also an immense quantity of pieces for one piano or two pianos, and collections of songs. His facility in writing is marvellous. He has been a member of the Institute since 1881. Paladilhe (Emile), [1844]. Born near Montpellier. Grand prix de Kome at the age of sixteen (in 1860), an unparal- leled occurrence. As instructors he had, first, his father and dom S^bastien Boixet, organist of the cathedral of Montpellier, and then, at the Conservatory, Marmontel, Benoist, and Hal^vy. His compositions are chiefly these: one mass with orchestra, two symphonies; le Passant, one act (1872); V Amour africain, two acts (1875); Suzanne, three acts (1879); Diana, three acts (1885); Patrie five acts (1886); les Saintes Maries de laMer, sacred legend mfour parts; and a hundred Melodies. Also should be added, 472 BISTORT OF THE ART OF MUSIC. Vanina, four acts, a work entirely completed, but as yet unpub- lished. Member of tbe Institute in 1892. The directorship of the Conservatoire remained vacant for nearly three months after the death of M. Thomas, ■within which time it was offered to Massenet and Saint- Sa6ns, and declined by both. Finally in May, 1896, Francois Clement Theodore Dubois was appointed to the post. M. Dubois was born Aug. 24, 1837 at Eosney. He received instruc- tion as a lad at Eheims and then became a pupil of the Conserva- tory. Marmontel taught him pianoforte, Bazin harmony, Berioist organ, and Ambroise Thomas fugue and composition. He won the prix de Rome in 1861, and after his return from Italy, four years later, he was appointed choir-master at the church of Ste. Clotilde. For this church he wrote the oratorio Les Sept Paroles du Christ, one of his finest works. He became professor of harmony at the Conservatory in 1871 and six years later Saint-Saens's successor as organist at the Madeleine. Among his most important works after Les Sept Paroles du Christ is another oratorio, Paradis perdu, with which foe won a prize at a musical competition instituted by the city of Paris in 1878. For the stage he has written la Ouzla de Vimir (1875), ie Pain Us (1879), La Farandole (ballet, 1883), and Aben Samet (1884). He has also composed much for orches- tra and choir, being inclined strongly toward the serious forms. And lastly I feel that I must mention here, although he does not wear the coat with green palms, but because he has shared with two members of the Illustre Socidte (Mas- senet and Th. Dubois) the honor and the heavy responsi- bility of instruction in composition at the Conservatory : Lenepveu (Charles), [1840]. Born at Rouen. Pupil of Savard in solfeggio and in harmony, of Ambroise Thomas and Chauvet in fugue, counterpoint, and composition; premier prix de Rome in 1865. Professor of harmony at the Conservatory in 1881, and professor of Composition in 1893. Principal works: le Florewtin, op^ra-comique, three acts, written in 1868, performed in Paris. in 1874; Velleda, opera, four acts (London, Covent Garden, 1882, with Adelina Patti in the chief r61e); Jeanne d^Arc, lyric dTama (Rouen, 1886); Iphiginie, grand lyric scene; Meditation, soli, choruses, orchestra (Soci6t6 des con- SINGERS, PROFESSORS, AND PERFORMERS. 473 certs, 1886); Hymne furtM)re et triomphcU (Rouen, 1892); Messe de Requiem, a fine Laudate, aud many M6lodies or Sc^es Lyriques, some of which have a well-merited popularity. Such are some of the conspicuous personalities of the present French school, in the vitality of which we may have a just confidence. It would be supremely unjust not to recall the names of some, at least, among the more prominent virtuosi who were the interpreters of the great French masters of our century, and of whom many were themselves composers of talent; also, names of eminent theoricians or professors, whom we have mentioned from time to time,' in speaking of pupils of theirs, who in turn became masters. This will be done as briefly as possible, deploring inevitable omissions. Konrrit (Adolphe), [1802-1839]. Born at Montpellier. One of the celebrated opera tenors, he studied with Garcia, keeping the secret from his father, Louis Nourrit, who was himself a tenor at the Op^ra hut had decided that his son should follow a mercantile career. For five years the father and son, who resem- bled each other so much as to occasion mistakes as to identity, played together in the same rdles; after the retirement of the elder Nourrit, Adolphe for more than ten years was the leading tenor of the Op^ra, and created the first rOles in all the great works of Auber, Meyerbeer, Rossini, and HaWvy. He died by his own hand at Naples in a moment of despair at the slight enfeeblement of his vocal powers. Boger (Gustave), [1815-1879]. Bom at Saint-Denis. One of the most charming of French tenors; his d^but, in 1838, was made in Hal6vy's I' Eclair ; he then passed rapidly on to the Op^ra, where, in 1849, he created the ProphMe. His career was brilliant but short. An accident received while hunting, com- pelled the amputation of his right arm. A vain attempt was made to supply an artificial arm, but he was obliged to relinquish the stage and devote himself to teaching. Made professor of singing at the Conservatory in 1863, he trained many brilliant pupils. Kalkbrenner (Fr^d.-Guill.), [1784^1849]. Born at Cassel. Was at first the pupil of his father, himself a composer and writer, and then of Ad. Adam for the piano, and of Catel in harmony. His gi'eat successes as a performer, both in France and Ger- 474 HISTORY OF THE ART OF MUSIC. many, did not lead him to neglect composition, and we have numerous works of his for the piano, either alone or accompanied by other instruments. Ritter (Theodore), [1836-1888]. Born in Paris. A remarkable virtuoso, as interesting in his rendering of the classics as he was brilliant in the performance of his own worlcs. Kreutzer (Rodolphe), [1766-18.31]. Born at Versailles. A famous virtuoso; from childhood a prot6g6 of Marie Antoi- nette. He was appointed professor of the violin at the Conserva- tory, almost at the foundation of that establishment; then con- ductor of the orchestra at the Op^ra in 1817. Beethoven dedicated to him one of his most remarkable sonatas for piano and violin. He himself composed a great deal of music and even operas. Baillot [1771-1842]. Born at Passy, near Paris. One of the great French violinists; must be regarded as the creator of the present school of violinists. His reputation was European; and he was as remarkable in chamber music as in pieces of pure virtuosity. He left a large number of compositions which are little known at the present day; also a Method, VArt du ViQlon, the most dis- tinguished work that has ever been written on the subject. Rode [1774-1830]. Born at Bordeaux. There have been published ten famous concertos of his and some chamber music. He was a great virtuoso, successful in all the principal cities of Europe; the First Consul attached him to his household orchestra as violin soloist; he was a pupil of Viotti. Beriot (Ch.-Auguste de), [1802-1870]. Born in Louvain. A remarkable virtuoso and a composer for the violin. A fine MUhode de Violon, seven Concertos, arias, fantasias in great num- ber on the most notable operas of his time, Etudes, and Sonatas for piano and violin, etc.. He was the husband of Mme. Malibran, the famous singer. Servais [1807-1866]. Born at Hal. One of the most remarkable of violoncello virtuosi. After a long series of triumphs, he died in 1848; professor at the Conserva- tory of Brussels, where his eldest son has succeeded him. He wrote Concertos, Etudes, and Fantaisies for the violoncello. Alard (Delphin), [1815-1888]. Bom at Bayonne. A pupil of Habeneck for the violin, of F6tis in composition. SINGERS, PROFESSORS, AND PERPORMEUS. 475 Numerous works for the violin: Fantaisies, Methods, works of instruction, Etudes. He was professor at the Conservatory from 1843 to 1875. Leonard [1819-1890]. Born at Bellaire (Belgium). A famous Belgian violinist, and professor at the Conservatory of Brussels. He had immense success throughout Europe, especially in Paris, where he died; he was a pupil of Habeneck. Vieuxtemps [1820-1881]. Born at Verviers. Received a few lessons on the violin from Ch. de B&'iot, and in composition from Reicha. He made repeated tours in Europe, exciting admiration everywhere, both by liis talent as a performer and his merit as a composer. His Concertos, his EUgie, liis Polonaise, and others of his works, were long in the repertory of every violinist. During this period of French art, the organ school is brilliantly represented : Lefebure-W«y [1817-1870]. Born in Paris. Pupil of Zimmermann for the piano, of Berton, Adam, and Hal^vy in composition, of Benoist and S^jan for the organ; he was, above all, a remarkable improvisator, full of charm and flavour, and not without science; he had successively the great organ at Saint-Roch, the Madeleine, and Saint-Sulpice. He also composed much for the organ and the orchestra, as well as for the piano and the harmonium; his works are in a pleasing and elegant style. Lemmeus (1823-1881). Born at Antwerp. The most distinguished of Belgian organists, professor of the organ at the Conservatory of Brussels. He wrote much for his instrument and the church; he also trained many and remarkable pupils. Lastly, we should mention among those who, while them- selves composers, were especially distinguished by their works on instruction or by the influence which their ideas have had upon the development of art, a certain number of great theorists and professors. To do this, we must go back to the beginning of the eighteenth century, the epoch of the absurd querelle des bouffons. Among the writers and disputants who threw themselves into this conflict figures in the foremost rank the author of the Confessions, 476 mSTOBY OF THM ART OF MUSIC. whose musical career is all that "we shall mention in this place : KousBeau (Jean-Jacques), [1712-1778]. Bom in Greneva. A musician without elemeutaiy miisical instruction, a feeble reader, most deficient as a harmonist, he had the gift of melody; and this is the only thing to admire in his compositions, which were few in number. I can scarcely mention anything except le Deoin du milage. His first intermeddling in musical affairs took place in 1742, when be made a proposition to the Academic des Sciences to adopt a new system of musical writing, in which figures should be used Instead of notes. This change, without the least utility, seemed to hijn useful solely because his ignorance was such that he did not grasp the ingenious simplicity of the system of notation, and saw nothing in it but futile complications. La-ter, about 1750, he was employed by Diderot and d'Alembert in tjae preparation of the articles on Music for the Encyclop^die, which is to be regretted, for they contain numerous errors, and are not on a level with the other parts of this great work. Fetis (Frangois-Joseph), [1784-1871]. Born at Mons. Pupil of Rey and of Catel in harmony, and of Boi'eldieu on the piano, at the Conservatory of Paris. Although he composed much, it is specially by his writings on music that he remains famous. His Biographie universelle des musiciens has been of use in the preparation of this work.i It is particularly valuable in furnishing dates and facts; its opinions are open to disciission. He was professor of composition at the Conservatory from 1821 to 1833, at which latter date he accepted the direction of the Con- servatory at Brussels. K. — The Russian School. While we have felt at liberty, by reason of their afftn- ities, and for the sake of simplifying, to fuse together the Belgian and French schools ; while we have left in the shade the Spanish school, which, to say the truth, really does not exist; and have neglected a few English com- 1 As also the Swpplhnent to the Biographie, published in 1880 by the eminent critic and bibliophile, Arthur Pougin. THE RUSSIAN SGSOOL. 477 posers, little known in France, and to be considered rather as isolated instances ^ than as members of a school ; we are obliged to proceed differently in the case of the school now to be considered, which presents a distinct character, re- sulting from the nature of its origin, and could not be classed with any other. The Russian school is still young ; it has not yet had a century of existence, and from its birth, so to speak, it was in possession of the mighty technic created by centuries of effort by the three great European schools, with their immense modern resources and their powerful orchestration. Moreover, its masters are not, in general at least, — as they are in France, Germany, and Italy, — true profes- sionals; Russian musicians are usually learned and scientific men, and men of rank and social prestige, who begin as amateurs and then are drawn in to the artistic whirl ; this being with us a very rare (though when it does occur it is often a fortunate) occurrence. It is easily understood that men of a high intellectual level, well informed as to all that is done elsewhere in music, and, on the other hand, possessing a literature, religion, and manners which differ notably from those of Central Europe, must have created a national art of quite peculiar character, and -much more precocious than the arts with whose genesis and very slow development we have now been occupied. The people's song has always been known in Russia, since, as we have already said, song is as natural as speech to the men of every land ; and there, as elsewhere, it has acquired, by the force of things, and outside of any inten- tional artistic interference, a character peculiar to itself. Hence, the Slavic melodies or melopees, without author, true songs of the people ; hence, also, the typio side, now rough, now full of languor, of the Russian music, which makes its principal charm, — its true picturesque origi- nality. As to procedures of execution, of writing, they cannot be different from those we have already examined; 1 Palfe (1808), Macfarren (1813), Wallace (1814), and more recently, Mackenzie. 478 HI8T0BT OF THE ABT OF MUSIC. for, if they were, the Russian school -would be behind the rest, which it is not. It has taken rank among distinct schools, and though lacking a past, it appears to have a future clearly before it. This is proven by the merit of its representatives, of ■whom some leading individuals ■will no^w be mentioned, in their rank of date. Let it be well understood there are no Russian classics to be looked for ; the school begins in the midst of Roman- ticism ; and up to the time of Glinka, the true father of this youthful school, Russia was tributary in the matter of music to Italy and to Prance. Glinka (Michel), [1804-1857]. Bom at Nowospask (government of Smolensk). After receiving at the Seminary of the Nobles a solid literary and scientific training, he studied the piano with Field and Ch. Mayer, harmony with Dehn, a German (who had also Anton and Nicolas Rubinstein as pupils, and thus had an important share in the development of Russian musical art) ; and for singing and the violin, Glinka had an Italian master. In both meanings of the word, he is first among. Russian musi- cians. His best kno^wn work is A Life for the Czar (1836), but his talent shows its fullest blossoming in Buslan and Ludmilla. Also there is a Jota Aragonesa and A Night in Madrid, souvenirs of a journey in Spain, and built on Spanish motifs; Kamarinskaia, composed on Russian popular airs, etc. His works are rich in harmony, skilfully orchestrated for the period, and his frequent and systematic use of popular motifs happily accentuates the local colour and the essentially national character. In addition to music, Glinka studied with great interest geography and natural history. Dargomizsky [1813-1867]. Bom in a village in the government of Toula. Principal works: la Eoussalka, Esmeralda, The Triumph of Bacchiis (opera-ballet), piano pieces, dances, songs, etc., and The Stone Guest, posthumous, whose orchestration was completed by Rimsky-Korsakow. He is regarded- in Russia as the head of a school. In France he is nearly unknown, and I regret to speak of him only from report. His family -were rich, and he had received a general training and education of the most careful description, THE RUSSIAN SCHOOL. 479 Subinstein (Anton ) , [1 829-1 894] . Born at Wechwotynez (Moldavia) . Among the theatrical works of this composer and pianist, I may mention: DimitrUDonskot (1852), Tom the Fool, The Revenge, The Hunters of Siberia, The Children of the Heath, Feramors, The De- mon, The Maccabres, Nero, Kalachnikoff, the Merchant of Moscow, The Vine (ballet in three acts). The Parrot, Among Robbers, Sulamite, Moses (1894), two oratorios. The Tower of Babel and Paradise Lost, the great Oceaji Symphony and sixteen other works of the kind which place him in the front rank of symphonists. Grand and beautiful worlis of chamber music, vocal melodies, and concertos. His teachers were Villoing at Moscow, for the piano, and Dehn at Berlin, in composition. The advice of Liszt was not without effect in his development. The most inspired as well as the most wonderful and profound of modem pianists, Rubinstein belongs, by the character of his vii-tuosity, to the great German school, and reminds one of Bee- tlioven, to whom he liad some slight personal resemblance. He is a colossal artist, a genius of the broadest wing, but perhaps more Russian by birth than by artistic tendencies. Since 1802, he had been director of the Conservatory of Saint Petersburg, of which he was, also, the founder. He had a yoiiuger brother : Rubinstein (Nicolas), [1835-1881]. Bom in Moscow. Received nearly the same musical education as his brother, with the same masters, and appeared in his youth to have more facility than the elder (according to Anton himself), but his too short career was less brilliant on the whole. Although practising composition very creditably, he gave himself up to teaching while still very young, and this finally absorbed him completely, notwithstanding his great .success in Russia as a virtuoso. Unlike his brother he travelled but little in foreign countries; but Paris knew him as conductor, pianist, and composer in 1878, when he was conductor of the Russian concerts at the exposition. In 1859 he established symphonic concerts in Moscow, and in 1864 a conservatory. Borodine [1834-1887]. Born in Saint Petersburg. Has left two symphonies, full of interest, ori^nality, and ele- gance, richly orchestrated; also an opera. Prince Igor, a posthu- mous work, flinished by Rimsky-Korsakow and Giazounow, 480 histout of the art of music. Cui (Cfear), [1835]. Born at Wilna. Many operas: The Prisoner of the Caucasus, William Batcliff, Angelo, The Flibustier; much piano music and songs in ^reat number, all in a very original and personal style, energetic and extremely distinguislied. With Rubinstein and Tschaitowsky, he makes the third in the list of Russian musicians who are well-known in France. A remarkable peculiarity is that his songs are really models of IVench prosody. He holds the rank of General in the army, and is professor of the art of fortification in the Military School of Artillery and Engineering in Saint Petersburg. Balakireff (Mily Alexflivitch), [1836]. Born at Nijni-Novgorod. A direct successor to Glinka, with the same love of using national popular songs. Principal works: Overture on Russian Themes; a Thousand Tears, a sort of cantata or ode-symphony, written and performed in 1862, on occasion of the thousandth anniversary of the founding of the Russian empire; Overture and Entr''actes for King Lear; Islamey, an original fantasia for the piano, etc. Even more, perhaps, than Glinka, he is the apostle of patriotic Russian music, but he came later, was only a disciple of the elder composer, and Glinka remains the unquestioned flle-leader of the Russian school. Balakireff has written nothing for the stage. MouBSorgBky [1839-1881]. Born at Toropetz. A charming and fruitful melodist, who makes up for a lack of skill in harmonisation by a daring, which is sometimes of doubtful taste; has produced songs, piano music in small amount, and an opera, Boris Godounoff. Tschaikowsky (Pierre), [1840-1893]. Born at Voltkinsk, province of Viatka. A composer whose works number at least 280 it is said, and among them six operas: Voyevode, Wakula the Smith, Jeanne d'Arc, Mazeppa, Eugene Oneguine, les Caprices d^OkscLne. Many symphonic works, Russian masses; also chamber music, quartets, trios, concertos, etc. Before seriously entering upon the study of music, under the direction of Rubinstein and Zaremba, he completed his studies in law, and was three years under-secretary in the ministry of justice. He was nearly twenty-one before he entered on his musical career. THE RUSSIAN SCHOOL. 481 Kimsky-Korsakow [1844]. Born at Tichwine. The Maiden of Psikow, The May Night, Snegourotchka, a fantas- tic opera, many remarkable symphonies, Sadko, Antar^ etc. He is a naval officer, and at the present time leader of all the marine bands of the Bussian Empire. Glazounow (Alexandre), [1865]. Born in Saint Petersburg. Pupil of Rimsky-Korsakow. While quite young, he produced many remarkable symphonies, of which the first, written in 1885, is called Stenka Eazine, very interesting in its orchestration; then. The Sea, The Forest, and much chamber music. I do not think that, up to the present time, he has attempted opera, but he assisted Rimsky-Korsakow in completing the Prince Igor by Borodine. He is considered by many the most brilliant representative of the young Russian school, in its latest form. In conclusion, I mention this fact, that the author of the Russian Hymn is an army ofl&cer. General Lvoff, who has also written an opera, Undine. Russian virtuosi are known and admired in France. We have only to remember the successes, past or present, of Jean and Edouard de Eeszke at the Opera, of Mme. Essi- pofE, of the pianists, Sapelnikoff, Paderewsky, the brothers Wieniawsky, of the young violinist Petchnikoff, of Davi- doff and Brandoukoff, 'cellists, as also the performances of the strange choir of Wladimir Slaviansky D'Agrenef, and the little orchestra of balalaikists ^ of B. Andreef. Religious music in Russia merits attention, and differs totally from our own ; it is composed entirely of unaccom- panied choruses, of rapid chanting, a sort of mysterious whispering, which has a strange fascination. We would earnestly recommend the reader to visit some- times, at hours of service, the Greek church of the rue Daru, and take note of the curious arrangement of voices : the men sing in four parts; the boy-voices double them, an octave higher ; and the contrabass voices, an exclusive 1 The balalaika is the common Kussian guitar ; it is triangular in form, and 9 three strings are tuned in different peculiar effects, often very pleasing. its three strings are tuned in different keys, sj rr^— which permit^ 482 HISTOBY OF THE ART OF MUSIC. product of the Slav races, strengthen the bass, an octave lower." From this results a diffuse sonority, perfectly- equal, much resembling an organ with stops of eight and 94. Bat.alatka. Height, about 2 feet. four feet in the m.anual and sixteen feet in the pedal ; so much so that many persons suppose there is a concealed BOOKS OF IIISTOHY AND REFERENCE. 483 organ. A detail to be noted is that the contra-bass voices which go down to the Afe below the staff, reserve these solemn notes for the great ceremonies ! Contr. The Officiant. Contra-basses "^?' (vocal). •- ~^^t=f^ m^^ PRINCIPAL WOKKS TO BE CONSULTED FOB THE HISTORY OF MUSIC. In French: F^nx Clement, Histoire de la musique ; 1885. H. Lavoix fils, Histoire de la musique. — Histoire de la musique frangaise. Abth. Coqttaed, De la musique en France; 1891. Lauke Coli/In, Histoire abr6g(e de la musique; 1884. Kastnbk, Parimiologie musicale. Mathts-Lusst, Histoire de la notation. — Le Rythme musical. Clement, Dictionnaire lyrique; 1869. F^Tis, Histoire generale de la musique; 1876. — Biographie des musiciens ; 1865. PouGiN, SuppUmemt au pricident ; 1880. 484 HISTORY OF TME ART OF MUSIC. Gevaert, Histoire et TMorie de la musique grecque ; 1881. CocssEMAKEK, Histoire de Vharmonie au moyen age; 1842. — L^ Art harmonique aux xw et xiw si^cles ; 1865. — Drames liturgiques au moyen Age; 1852. DiNACx, Trouv&res, Jongleurs et Minestrels; 1843. Lavoix fils, Histoire de V instrumentation. Brenbt, Histoire de la symphonie; 1882. Chouquet, Histoire de la musique dramatique en France; 1873. PocGiN, les Vrais Criateurs deVopirafrangais; 1881. Berlioz, Voyage musical en Allemagne ; 1850. Lavoix et Lemaire, Histoire du chant. Adam, Souvenirs d'un musicien; 1857. — • Derniers Souvenirs d^un musiciem, ; 1859. Bertrand, les Nationalitis musicales ; 1872. BouRDELOTj Histoire de la musique; 1743. Castil-Blaze, Dictionnaire de musique moderne; 1828. F. Clement, Histoire de la musique religieuse; 1866. Gevaert, les Origines dU chant liturgique; 1890. DoM JuMiLHAC, Art et Science du plain-chant. Tardip, Essai sur les neumes. Kastner, la Banse des morts ; 1852. Thoinot-Arbeau, OrcMsographie. J. TiERsoT, Histoire de la chanson populaire en France; 1889. Lajarte, les Curiositis de VOpira; 1883. SotiBiES ET Malherbe, Histoirc de V Opira-Comique ; 1887. Soubies, Soixante-sept ans d, V Opira en une page ; 1893. — Soixante-neuf ans it V Op&ra^Comique en deux pages; 1894. Lassaeathie, Histoire du Conservatoire; 1860. M^eeaux, les Clavecinistes ; 1867. Mersenne (Le Pfere), V Harmonie universelle ; 1636. Brenet, Histoire de la symphonie; 1882. Elwart, la SociM4 des concerts; 1860. — Les Concerts populaires ; 1864. Deldevbz, la SocUti des concerts; 1887. Bellaigue, Un SiMle de musique frangaise; 1887. — If Annie musioale; 1886, 1887, 1880, etc. Clement et Larousse, Dictionnaire lyrique des Operas. C. Saint-Saens, Harmonie et Milodie ; 1885. PouGiN, Dictionnaire historique et pittoresque du theatre. Rubinstein, la Musique et ses reprisentants ; 1892. Weckerlin, Musiciana. — Nouveavx Musiciana. — La Chanson populaire en France. Soubies, Pricis de Vhistoire de la musique russe ; 1893. Berlioz, les Grotesques de la musique. — Les Soiries de Vorchestre. BOOKS Op HISTORY AND REFEREJfCE. 485 Prom the foregoing works I have taken needed material, and in them the reader will find much more extended details, as well as in the innumerable biographies of cele- brated musicians, of which I cannot even give a list here. In German 1; Ambros, August Wilhelm, Geschichte der Musik. Brendel, Fkanz, Geschichte der Musik. In English: Henderson, W. J., The Story of Music. Hunt, H. G., Concise History of Music. , Langhans, W., The History of Music in Twelve Lectures, trans, by J. H. Cornell. Naumann, Emil, The History of Music, trans, by F. Praeger. RocKSTROf, W. S., General History of Music. Hogarth, Geo., Memoirs of the Opera. Hopkins and IliMBAni.T, The Organ : Its History and Construction. Mathews, W. S. B., A Hundred Years of Music in America. RiMBAULT, E. F., The Pianoforte: Its Origin, Progress, and Con- struction. Shedlock, J. S., T%e Pianoforte Sonata : Its Origin and Develop- ment. Weitzmann, C. F., History of Pianoforte Playing and Pianoforte Literature. Hope, Robert Charles, MedicBval Mxisic. Stainer, John, The Music of the Bible. Chappell, William, Old English Popular Mu^ic. Engel, Carl, An Introduction to the Study of National Music. Wallaschek, R., Primitive Music. Ambros, a. "W. , The Boundaries of Music and Poetry. Berlioz, Hector, Selections and translations made by William F. Apthorp. Wagner, Richard, Art Life and Theories. Selections and trans- lations by Edward L. Burlingame. Hanslick, Edward, The Beautiful in Music, trans, by Gustav Cohen. Grove, Sir George, Beethoven and His Nine Symphonies. Streatfield, R. A., The Opera. Edwards, H. Sutherland, History of the Opera. Grove, Sir George, Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Macfarben, Musical History. 1 The German and English lists hare been added by the ,Ajnerican editor. 486 SIHTORY Of THE ART OF MUSIC. Music in America. The musical composers of America are unable as yet to point to a distinctive element in their miisie as segregating it from the mass of good music the world over. No claim has been made by them, or by any discriminating critic for them, that they have created what may be called a national school in the sense that school means a distinctive style of expression. The characteristics of the French school rests upon its attention to the rules of French prosody and def- erence to declamation — in short on a recognition of the values and rights of the French language. This element surely entities' it to be called national, but it also limits the music which from this point of view is to be looked upon as distinctively French to that which is joined with words — chiefly the opera. Recognition of this principle furnishes all the justification that there is for calling Gluck a French composer. In the purely instrumental branch of the art the French composers are eclectics, who have assimilated what seemed good to them from all the schools of Europe. They furnish in this respect a parallel to the composers who have grown up in America, who stand as yet in marked contrast with the composers of Russia, Bohemia, and the Norse countries, in that they have not made essential elements out of the rhythmical and melodic peculiarities which distinguish their Folk- songs and dances from those of the other peoples of the world. The way to the utilisation by the Americans of such elements (as well as of others for which the mass of the people have shown a predilection, as evidenced by the popularity of the songs of the day) has recently been pointed out, however, and it is not presumptuous to say that an American school of matter as well as manner may invite attention early in the twentieth century. At present we can only direct attention to some of the men of American birth who have carried highest and most valiantly the banner of music, as the term is imderstood MUSIC IN AMERICA. 487 among the peoples of Europe. The education of these men for the greater part has been conducted along German lines. Many American virtuosi have studied in Paris, but Ameri- can composers, as a rule, have studied in the conservatories of Leipsic, Munich, and Berlin, if they have studied abroad at all. The result has been that the ideals of Germany have prevailed amongst the composers themselves, just as German tastes have been cultivated among the American people who do not make, but only listen to music. (Of course here, reference can only go to that element of the people which supports the musical art — not to the vulgar mass which confounds the emanations of the so-called music-hall with music. With them, this book has nothing to do). This statement, however, should be read in a liberal spirit: The cultivation of orchestral and choral music (to which departments we look for the manifestation of its highest forms) has grown with particular luxuriance within the last three decades. In the programmes of the concerts of magnitude given in the chief cities of the coimtry, there do not appear signs of a desire to favour any one school at the expense of another. Not Paris, not Vienna, not London, nor any of the capitals of Germany can show such early and zealous cultivation of the French and Russian symphonists as New York;- but the great masters of the symphony and its allied forms have been Germans, from the father of the symphony, Haydn, down to Brahms, and it was as inevitable as it was natural that the patrons of the large orchestral organisations which have had their homes in New York, Boston, and latterly Chi- cago, and thence have carried the musical evangel through the length and breadth of the country, should know more of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubejt, Schumann, Men- delssohn, and Brahms, than of any single master of any of the other schools. Until the last decade of the century was reached, the reverse of this was tru6 of the opera ; but opera is an exotic in America, while the symphony and oratorio are become strong native growths. We see in the careers of the most notable composers of 488 HISTORY OF THE ART OF MXlSlQ. America that they have in a manner kept pace with the changing ideals of Germany. He who may be styled the dean of the faculty by virtue of the length and dignity of his career, and the opportunities for influence which his position as Professor of Music in Harvard University has brought him, is John Enowles Faine, born in Portland, Me., on Jan. 9, 1839. His early studies were carried on in his native home, but in 1858 he went to Berlin where he remained three years devoting himself to the study of the organ and composition. He aimed to Ijecome an organ virtuoso, but probably realised soon after his return that the organist is of necessity a sedentary individual, and was willing a year after his return from Berlin to settle down at Cambridge as instructor in music at Harvard. In 1876 a professorship was cre- ated for him, and he has been the incumbent of the chair ever since, the meaning of the professol-ship of music being that the art has been put upon a level with philosophy, science, and classical pliilology. When Mr. Paine came from Europe he was an unyield- ing adherent of classical ideas, and these he exemplified in his earlier compositions, an oratorio entitled St. Peter, and a mass in D; but a liberalising process set in a few years later and bore fruit first in his second symphony entitled Spring, a symphonic poem on Shakespeare's Tempest, and best of all, in the incidental music to the CEdipus Tyrannus of Sophocles, which he composed for a performance of the tragedy by students of Harvard University in the spring of 1881. He has written other choral works in the large forms since, but, this remains his masterpiece. A composer, the lines of whose career began like Mr. Paine' s and for long ran parallel, saving the fact that he never became associated with an institution of classical learning, is Dudley Buck, born in Hartford, Conn., on March 10, 1839, who went from Trinity College in his native town to study music at the Leipsic Conservatory imder Hauptmann, Richter, Kietz, Moscheles, and Plaidy. In Dresden he also perfected himself in organ playing under Johann Gottlob Schneider, one of the last of the old-school German organists. Like Mr. Paine he began his professional career as a concert organist, but soon found that the field was not wide enough to keep him occupied. So, after sojourns in Chicago and Boston, he came to New York as assistant conductor of Mr. Theodore Thomas's orchestra, and in 1876 took up his residence in Brooklyn, where he has since lived, caring for American OomposhrS. 48& the music of a church, teaching, and composing. The works which have made him most widely known are his contributions to the Protestant church services and his organ compositions, but he has also written cantatas for men's and mixed voices, one comic and one grand opera, overtures, a symphony, and two choral works of the large dimensions of an oratorio, one, a setting of scenes from Longfellow's Golden Legend and of Edwin Arnold's Light of Asia. Mr. Buck's leaning is toward a blending of the learned forms with the easily comprehended, which circumstance has given his music great vogue with church choirs. A composer whose work, before he became professor of music at Yale University, was in the direction of Mr. Buck's, though inspired by greater ambition and newer knowledge, is Horatio W. Parker, a pupil first of his mother, then of (Jeorge W. Chadwick and Stephen A. Emery, and finally of the professors of the Munich Conservatory. Mr. Parker was bom in Auburn- dale, Mass., on Sept. 15, 1863. He has also been associated with the music of the church ever since his return from foreign studies, and his masterpiece, though he has written chamber music, orchestral music, and secular cantatas also, is the oratorio Mora Novissima, which is surely one of the finest products of American composition. In Mr. Chadwick, already mentioned as one of the teachers of Mr. Parker, there is noticeable a tendency which promises to dis- close something idiomatic which, if pursued, will eventually give characteristic colour to the American school. At present the fruits of this tendency are not obvious enough to excite special comment, though they are noticeable in a symphony in E and a quartet for strings in E minor, which are among the latest of his compositions. Mr. Chadwick was born on Nov. 13, 1854, at Lowell, Mass. He studied at home and in Boston, then gave in- struction in a small college town in Michigan, Olivet, and thus earned the money which carried him to Germany in 1877. Two years he spent with Reinecke and Jadassohn in Leipsic, and one with Kheinberger in Munich. His thoughts turned to American subjects even while he was a student, and he introduced himself as a composer, in Boston in 1880, by conducting a performance of his overture Rip Van Winkle, which he had vreitten while studymg at Leipsic His most important works since, exclusive of those already mentioned, are two overtures respectively entitled Thalia ^d Melpomene, his second symphony in B flat (the one in F is his third) the Columbian ode, written for the dedication of the. World's 490 mSTOEY OF THE ART OF MVSIG. Fair in 1893, a dramatic cantata, The Lily Nymph, and Phoenix expirans, a setting for solos, chorus, orcliestra, and organ of a mediaeval hymn. A composer whose entire training, literary and artistic, was gained in the United States, and who has taken his place in the front rank, is Arthur Foote, born March 5, 1853, in Salem, Mass. He is a graduate of Harvard University, and his studies in harmony, coun- terpoint, and composition were made partly under Prof. Paine and partly without help except the books. His songs appear oftenest of all his compositions on American programmes, but he has written also for chamber music, for orchestra, an overture, two suites, a symphonic prologue, Francesca da Rimini, and three works for chorus and orchestra. The extreme romantic tendency is not found in the com- positions of any of the men thus far enumerated. For that we have been obliged to wait for two young composers, who have been closely identified in manner of thought and in the source of their inspirations. They' are Edward Alexander UacDowell and 6. Templeton Strong. The former is professor of music in Columbia University, New York City; the latter has spent all of his professional life in Germany and Switzerland. Both were born in New York City, Mr. Mac- Dowell on Dec. 18, 1861, and Mr. Strong on May 26, 1856. Mr. MacDowell studied at the Paris Conservatory from 1876 to 1879 under Marmontel and Savard, and thence went to Germany where he fell completely under the influence of Joachim Eaff. He is a believer in idealised programme music, and indulges in none of the crasser materialistic methods which mark the music of his col- league, such as the symphony, Sintram, the fiftieth of Mr. Strong's numbered work, which is dedicated to Mr. MacDowell. Mr. Strong has a graciously poetic fancy and a refined sense of orches- tral colours, qualifications wliich are eloquently published in his symphonic poems, Hamlet, Ophelia, and Lancelot and Elaine, as well as in his orchestral suite in A minor, op. 42. In a second orchestral suite he has paid tribute to the movement toward nationalism by making use of themes drawn from songs of Ameri- can Indians, but in a manner characterized by great freedom. In this he may be said to have done in a most dignified, elevated, and refined manner, what Louis Moreau Gottschalk (born in New Orleans in 1829, died in 1869) did for salon purposes when he utilised negro and West Indian dances, and what Dr. Dvofik PRESENT STATE OF THE ART. 491 urged upon the young American composers, both by precept and example (symphony "From the New World," quartet, op. 96, quin- tet, op. 97). There are many other native American composers who deserve mention, but it has been thought wisest to confine the detailed list to those who are most widely recognised as representative men. In a supplementary list of names merely, there should appear those of Frank van der Stucken, Arthur Bird, Henry Holden Huss, Edgar Still- man Kelley, W. W. Gilchrist, Arthur Whiting, George E. Whiting, and George F. Bristow. Finally it ought to be noted that though scarcely more than half a dozen Ameri- can composers have achieved fame abroad, all Europe has resounded for a generation with the names of her singers, of whom it will suffice to mention Emma Albani, Clara Louise Kellogg, Annie Louise Gary, Minnie Hauk, Emma Thursby, Antoinette Sterling, Lillian Nordica, Marie van Zandt, Emma Nevada, Emma Abbott, Emma Eames, Sibyl Sanderson, and Ella Russell. Not to revert again to France, which has everything to hope from her young generation of composers, — without going further with the history of the Russian school, ex- cept to add to the name already mentioned that of Arensky, a young musician of brilliant promise, — we see the foreign musical nations well armed for the peaceful contests of the future. Belgium may join to the already famous names of Gevaert and Peter Benoit, those of Mathieu and Gilson; Germany can bring forward, as followers of Brahms, Max Bruch, who seems to be its present leader, Goldmark, Ignace Brlill, and Humperdinck; Norway has Grieg and Svendsen ; i lastly, Italy is brilliantly represented by Sgam- bati, a great composer and remarkable symphonist, whose works are, unfortunately, not generally known in France ; Boito, the librettist of Verdi's latest operas, who is himself the admirable composer of Mefistofele; Mascagni, whose X [And Christian "Sinding, who is likely to tnrii out greater than his col- leagues mentioned by our author.] 492 HISTORY OF THE ART OF MUSIC. Cavalleria Busticana is well known in Paris; Puccini, Leoncavallo, Pranchetti, Tasca, and Spiro Samara, the latter a Greek, and, I think, for a time, pupil of Delibes. I do not believe that in any age or country has been gathered a group of artists of so much talent, — taking into account the number of individuals, as well as their per- sonal merit — as that which "we see around us at the pres- ent time. This is in part due no doubt to the extreme diffusion of musical education in our day; and, for the same reason, never before havfe artists been in the presence of a public so enlightened and so able to comprehend them. And therefore, notwithstanding the great and splendid examples we have of men of genius attaining the height of honours, of brilliant musicians whose labours are crowned with success; notwithstanding the charm and fascination which music possesses for noble minds, — it is wise to dis- suade young men without fortune from entering upon this career, if they regard it merely as a comparatively easy way to earn their bread and are not drawn to it by attraction that it is impossible to resist. Quite on the contrary, this career is most ungrateful and perfidious, and the facts as to musicians, not destitute of merit, who drag out a miserable existence, who literally suffer with hunger, are truly heart- breaking. When one has been for twenty-five years pro- fessor in that great artist-manufactory which is called the Conservatory of Paris; when one has seen with his own eyes the frightful number of students who have fallen to the level of the bal public and the cafe concert, from hav- ing misunderstood or overestimated their abilities; when one knows how many there are who live by infrequent lessons at twenty sous the ticket where there is one who will ever see his name on a play -bill, it becomes a duty to warn the rash aspirant, seeking to enter on this path of danger, without having the stamp of genius on his brow. I am asked, how shall any one know whether or not he lias genius. The reply is simple. CONCLUSION. 493 He ■will not know, for no man can understand himself — whatever may be said to the contrary. Genius is without self -consciousness. He will not say: "I have in me the making of a great musician ; " for this would be a sign, — alas! far too frequent — of presumption merely. He will not have in view celebrity, — scarcely the desire for ap- plause, — never the idea of lucre. No; he will almost always be modest, often very timid, timorous even. But he will be cuirassed with triple brass ; and advice the most dis- couraging, the most alarming (like mine, for example), will have no effect at all upon him ; will not disturb his inward • certainty; will not make any change in his line of conduct; for genius is indomitable. Such a man as this will go straight on, turning a deaf ear to all the advice that mis- taken well-wishers offer, to deter him; he will go forward against wind and tide; he will suffer, if need be, all priva- tions, indifferent to all solicitudes as to the material life ; he will courageously undergo checks and mortifications; he will struggle against persecutions, prejudices, and the spirit of clique, — having always for his sole aim, not fame, which must come unsought and later; not success, which is ephemeral ; not fortune, which is despicable ; but only his personal Ideal, — that which sums up for him according to his own conception, the beautiful ; and after the beaiitiful, — the most beautiful! Genius is a fate; and no human power could have stayed the step of great, poor Mozart, in the glorious path which was to bring his body to a paupet's grave, and his fame to immortality. INDEX. Payes Abbott, Emma 491 Acad^mie Royale de Musique { ^^oj"*^ Acoustics, Musical 1 Adam, Adolphe . . . 15U, 484, 459 Adam de la Hale . . . 394, 397 Agnesi 447 Agrenef, Wladimir Slaviawky . . 481 Agujari, Lucrezia (La liastar- della) 74, 443 Alart . . 138 Albani, Emma 491 Albaui, Matthias 133 Alboni, Marietta .... 72, 73, 445 Albrecbtsberger 422 Allegri 403 Allegro 346-8 AUemande . 358 Almeuraeder, Cbas 103 Alterations 263-8 Alto (viola) 138, 139 Alypios . . 385 Amati 135,403 Ambros, Aug. Wilhelm .... 485 Ambrose, Saint .... . 388 American composers . . . 487-91 American School, the 486 Anatomy of the ear . . . 38-43 Anatomy of the eye 185 Anatomy of the larynx .... 76 Andante 348, 349 Andref, B 481 Annamites 386 Anthiome 150 Anticipation 263, 264 Antiphonary 388 Appoggiatura 258, 259 Apthorp, W. F 485 Arabs 383 Arban 122, 128 Arcadelt • 401 Archer, Frederic 98 Archimedes 92 Arensky 491 Arezzo, Guido d' (Aretino) \ ^^' ^i Pages Aristotle 335 Aristoxenes 385 Assyrians 383 Auber, Daniel-Pranjois-Bsprit . . 457 Audran 46g Authentic Modes 388 Bach, Oarl, Ph. Emmanuel { i^J^^'ils Bach, Joluinii Ambrosius .... 415 Bach, Johann Christian .... 416 Bach, Johann Se- {l^.'^^l "^^J^'^' hsisHsin i"**^ note, 350 note, bastian . . . j 364,378,414,415 Bach, Wilhelm Priedemann . . . 415 Bagpipe . . . .93, 104, 105, 387, 398 Baillot 137, 474 Balakireff, M. A 480 Balalaika 481 note Balfe 477 note Banderali 447 Ban^s 468 Bannister, H. C 188 note Barbereau .... ... 51 Barker 90 Barrett, W. A 187 Bass, Figured 215, 403 Basset Horn 109, 110 Bassoon . . . , 102, 103, 183 Bassoon, Double 103 Bastardella, La 74, 445 Bataille 77 Baudiot 140 Bayer 147 Bazin, Fr 293, 340 Beautiful, the, in music .... 380 B^dos de Celles, Uom 93 Beer 103, 109, 125 Beethoven fl*^' 1^' ""' "«' ^' Ludwia van 351, 353, 356, 362 note, ■ J-'"»^ig ™" ( 363, 365, 369, 376, 484, 485 Behnke, Emil *. . 77 Bel Canto, il 443 Bells 157-9 and note, 398 Bellaigue . 469, 484 Bellini, Vincenzio 442 Benoit, Peter 491 495 496 INDEX. Pages Bergonzi 135 B^riot, Charles de . . . 138, 150, 469 BerUoz,Hector{»«;«^;JB^;3|6,^, Bernard, E 469 Berr, Friedrich 433 Bertlielier ... . . . 4g9' Bertini 150 Bertrand . 484 Bill5anl>-Vauclielet, Mile 73 Biniou 105 Biot 30 Bird, Arthur 491 Bizet, Georges .... 369, 469, 465 Blanc, Claudius 469 Boooherini 351, 437 Boehsa 147 Boehm, Theobald .... 99, 434 Boellmann 468 Boleldieu 379,456 Boisdeflre, de 468 Bolto 491 Bombardo 398 Bordogni 447 Borghi-Mamo, Mme 446 Borodine 479 Bottesini 142, 449 Bouffons, Guerre des' . . . . 450,451 Boulanger 468 Bourdelot 484 Bourgeau-Ducoudray 468 Bourgeois 469 Bourr^e 358 Bow . . . '. .... 136,137 Brahms 430, 431 Brandoulfoff 481 Brass-Winds 173, 174 Br^mond 469 Brenet 484 Bridge, J. F 340 Bristles, Schultze's, 39, 40 and note, 41 Bristow, Geo. F 491 Brod 101 Broderie 261,262 BroeckhoTen 293 Browne, Lennox 77 Bruoh, Max 491 Brull, Ignace 491 Bruneau 468 Brunzola 148 Buccina 398 Buck, Dudley 488 Billow. Hans von 428 Burlingame, B. L 485 Buxtehude 410 Cabassol 469 Cadence 266 Paget Cadence, perfect . . . 267, 268, 274 Cadence, plagal . . . 268, 269, 273 Cadence, half or imperfect, 269, 270, 274 Cadence, interrupted 270 Cadence, broken 270, 271 Cadence, formula of the . . . 271-3 Cadence, avoided 285 Cadenza .... 352, 353 and note CatEaretti 444 Cahen, Albert 468 Cambert 407 Campra 4fl8 Canals, semi-circular, of ) „„ , . . the ekr , . . . . \^ ""^ note Canoby 468 Canon 327, 330, 334 note Cantits Jlrmus 295 Garacassi 147 Carafa 439 Career, musical, the 492 Carillon ' 155,398 CarisBimi 407 Carnaud 126 Carthusian Plain-Chant .... 390 CaruUi 147 Carvalho-Miolan, Mme 469 Cary, Annie Louise 491 Castanets 162, 179, 398 Castex, Dr 77 Castil-Blaze 484 Catalanl, Mme 446 CavailW-Coll .... 21 note, 62, 93 Cavaliere, Emilio del 403 Celesta 156 Cembalo, Hungarian . 151-3 and note Cerclier 148 Chabrier, Emmanuel 466 ChaconTie 358 Chadwiok, George W. . . . 293,489 Chaine 160 Chaldeans 383 Chaluraeau 398 Chaminade, Mme. de 468 Change of Position 234 CliantereUe 150 Chappell, Wm 485 Chapuis . . ~ 468 Charpentier 409, 468 Chartreuse, La 390 Chaumet, W 468 Chausson 468 Cheng (Chinese organ) 93 Oherubinl 76, 337, 340, 455 Chevillard 140,469 Chevrette K)8 Chinese 93,370,385 Chladni 433 Chorus, added to an Orchestra . . 180 INDEX. 497 Pages Choice of Tonalities 365 Chopin, FrM^ric-Franools, j *|^ ^^ Choral, the Protestant . 340, 401, 402 Chords 54-8, 189, 190 Chords, consonant . . . 190-97 Chords, dissonant . . . . 197-207 (Saccona 358 Oimarosa 438 Cinti-Damoreau, Mme. . . . 77 Clappers 161 Ctaguebois 157 Clarinet .... 18 note, 105-10, 182 Clarinet, Alto (Basset Horn) . 109, 110 Clarion 107 note, 182 Classification of Instruments I i^'%i Classification of Voices . . . 69-71 Classics, French 450-56 Classics, German . . . 414-22 Classics, Italian 434-^1 Clavi-Cembalo 148 note Clemens non Papa 403 CWment, F«ix 483, 484 Olodomir 125, 126, 128 Cochlea 39 Cohen, Gustav 485 Cohen, Jules 469 Cokken 103 Collin, Laure 483 Colomer 469 Colouring of the Orchestra . . 181-5 Columho 17 Comma 53 and notes Compass of Orchestral Instruments 177 Compass of Orchestral Voices . 69, 74 Composition, exercises in . . 368, 369 Comte, Jean 138 Concerto, the . . 345 and note, 352-6 Consonance, the ideal 54 Contemporaries 468 Coquard, Arthur 468,483 Corder, F 187 CoreUi 410 ComeU, J. H 187 Comet k pistons 121, 122 Cornette 126 Corti's Fibres . . . 39-41 and note Cottin 147,148 Cotmter^Exposition (fugue) ... 335 Counterpoint 293-338 Counterpoint, simple, in two parts j gQj Cotinterpoint, simple, in three parts 301-7 Counterpoint, simple, in four parts 307-13 Counterpoint, simple, in five, ) sjqit six, seven, and eight parts . J Pages Counterpoint, simple, with double 316, 317 317-19 319, 320 320, 321 . 321-5 [ 296, 301, 307 chorus Counterpoint, double . Counterpoint, triple . Counterpoint, quadruple Counterpoint, invertible Counterpoint of the first \ , ''Secies °' '':'!^}^S,m. 308 Counterpoint of the third 1 ^ ^, ^^ Counterpoint of the ) gq,