^^f^>3li#l^t.. C^ft^ (|0rttcll lUttioerattg ffiibtarg Jtltata. Ntm fork BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF HENRY W. SAGE 1691 University Library ML eo.sesMb/ Miscellaneous studies in the history of 3 1924 022 242 188 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924022242188 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF MUSIC THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DAIXAS ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO.. LrarrED LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. TORONTO MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF MUSIC BY O. G. SONNECK THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1921 W All rights reserved \ PBINTBD IN THE UNITED STATES OF AUEBICA CoPTBiaHT, 1921, Bt the maomillan company. Set up and electrotyped. Published Angust, 1921. Press o£ 7. J. Little & Ives Oompany New York, U. S. A. PREFATORY NOTE Uwi-iKE my book "Suum cuique" this collection is de- voted almost exclusively to historical studies. The one essay that is not mainly historical has been included for the purpose of showing why it is still impossible in America to attempt historical research work of the kind that attracted me, in any but exceedingly few of our most famous libraries. This lack of essential study material, whether antiquarian or modem, whether literature or scores, has been keenly felt even by those students of musical history who specialize in subjects of a more gen- eral local, biographical or evolutional interest. It indi- cates a sad state of affairs and explains why American contributions to musical history of more than "popular" and limited pedagogical value are so scanty ; why, in com- parison with Europe, those engaged here in scholarly re- search or codification of research are so few and why these few men and women have such a disheartening outlet for their life-work. Most of the essays in this volume were prepared from material available at the Library of Congress. Indeed, it is safe to say that whatever their intrinsic historical value may be, they could have been written nowhere in America except in Washington. They owe their origin mostly to minor historical problems that confronted me in my con- structive work as Chief of the Music Division of the Library of Congress from 1902 to 1917. The essays are reprinted here, by permission, prac- tically as they appeared in various magazines at the time of writing. I have not attempted to incorporate the sub- sequent "finds" of other historians. Happily they were PREFATORY NOTE so few and affected my views so little as to justify publica- tion of these essays in their original form without "re- scoring." The expert will know anyhow where to look for controversial and more or less supplemental literature. For instance, those interested in the history of the pasticcio will turn to the writings of Lionel de la Laurencie for certain additional data. As in the case of my books published by G. Schirmer, Inc., I am indebted to Dr. Theodore Baker for seeing this volume through the press. I am also indebted to him for having relieved me of the necessity of translating the first of the essays into English, and especially am I under obligations to him for his remarkably able transla- tion of the rather diffictdt early Italian text of II Lasca's Descrizione. 0. Q. SONNBCK. CONTENTS PAQE The New Mise en Scene of Mozakt's Don Giovanni AT Munich 1 Eaely American Operas 16 Liszt's Huldigdngs-Marsch and Weimabs Volkslied 93 Ciampi's "Bertoldo, Bertoldino e Caoasenno" and Favart's ''Ninette 1 la cour." A Contribution TO THE History of Pasticcio Ill The First Edition of "Hail, Columbia!" . . . 180 GUILLAUME LeKEU 190 "Caractaous" Not Arne's Caractacus .... 241 A Description of Alessandro Striggio and Fran- cesco Corteccia's Intermedi "Psyche and Amor," 1565 269 Music in Our Libraries 287 A Preface 296 The History of Music in America. A Few Sug- gestions 324 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF MUSIC THE NEW MISE EN SCENE OF MOZAET'S DON GIOVANNI AT MUNICH (Originally ■written in German; published in an Italian translation by Luigi Torchi in the Bivista Musicale Italiaim, 1896.) When tardy Spring at last arrives in Munich, only to throw herself with unseenxly haste into the arms of Sum- mer; when "Sezession" and "Glas-Palast" ^ reopen their doors; — then one may rest assured that Ernst Possart will also do his part to make the summer season interest- ing both for natives and foreigners. Nor, in truth, is this brought about solely for artistic reasons. The position of Intendant in Munich necessitates an extraordinary heed- lulness for the main chance, the more so because, since the death of the genial Ludwig II, conditions less favorable for art have supervened. But so long as a satisfactory compromise between the two contrasting points of view is achieved, there is no need of overexciting oneself. Such achievement has nearly always been the good fortune, the secret, the desert, of Possart He began with the remarkable Wagner Cycles, followed next year by a pro- duction of The Marriage of Figaro absolutely finished in style, and this year, as the event of the season, a revival of Don Oiova/mii. > Art exbibltionB, the latter being the more conservative. 1 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES The tribute of admiration and love which the whole world now pays to Mozart's masterwork, was by no means so universal at the outset. During his lifetime Mozart was more highly esteemed, by many, as a virtuoso than as a composer, and precisely his most soulfelt work, Don Giovanni, at first met more than once with inappreciative opposition. For example, Salieri's showy operas suited the Viennese far better than works by the German master. But both were outrivaled in favor by Dittersdorf. It is a most remarkable fact that the opera Figaro's Hochzeit by this latter popular master drove Mozart's Don Oiovanni off the boards in Briinn. And again, when Gazzaniga's Don Giovanni was presented at the Haymarket Theatre in London in 1794, and the conductor, Federici, interwove numbers of his own and by Sarti and Guglielmi in the action, Da Ponte — at that time the official poet of that theatre — succeeded in having only the "Oatalogo" Aria from Mozart's opera inserted. Whereas, in 1857, the Florentines considered his opera to be "worthless, hyper- borean music," and hissed it off the stage, Berlinese critical opinion in 1790 was totally at variance with them : "In his Dan Jvun Mozart attempted to write something extraordinary, inimitably grand; this much is certain — it is something extraordinary, but not inimitably grand! Caprice, whimsey, pride, but not the heart, presided over Don Jtian's creation!" and more nonsense of like sort. This foolish uncomprehension, which Don Giovarmi met with in still other places, would seem to prove how slight was Mozart's recognition as an opera-composer. And this, in turn, was not the least factor in determining the fate of the work. We do know what arbitrary treatment theatre-directors accord even to admirable, impeccable operas. They warp and wrest the dramatic construction wherever and however they list. Mozart's masterpiece was not spared this or- deal. On the contrary, it suffered more than any other at the hands of expert bunglers. The master himself was DON GIOVANNI AT MUNICH obliged to inaugurate this evil custom. The rivalries sub- sisting between the Viennese singers of both sexes influ- enced him — as is shown in his diary — to insert the so- called "bookbinder" aria, "Ein Band der Freundschaft," for Don Octavio, for Zerlina and Leporello the duet "Bei diesen kleinen Handchen," and for Elvira the aria "Mich verlasst der Undankbare." He did so with a heavy heart ; but what did or do the virtuosos care whether the action drags, or the characters are ill dravsra, or an art-work is stultified in any way, if only their voices are effectively shown off ? And liberties were soon taken with the very name of the opera. The title "II Dissolute punito," or "II Don Giovanni," was quickly turned into "Don Juan," "Don Jean," "Der Herr Johann." The first-night play- bill at Innsbruck announces (1800) "Don Juan oder das steinerne Gastmahl" ; the one at Laibach (Camiola) has even (1815) "Don Juan's Abenteuer in Spanien oder das steinerne Gastmahl." And the title in the translation by the Dessau Musikdirektor Neefe is equally good: "Der bestrafte WoUiistling oder der Krug geht solange zu Wasser bis er bricht." After the custom then prevailing, Neefe also Germanized the cast of characters ; Don Giovanni becomes "der Herr von Schwankereich," Zerlina, "Roschen," Octavio is transformed into "der Herr von Frischblut," and Leporello into "Fickfack," etc. To be sure, these are mere trivalities, but they are charac- teristic of the manner in which matters of prime impor- tance were treated. When, for instance, on the play- bills and librettos the title read, instead of da Ponte's "dramma giocoso" (i. e., jovial comedy; — Mozart's diary even calls the work an opera buffa), as years went on, "tragi-comic," "tragic," then "romantic," and finally "grand" opera, this arbitrary generic terminology in itself proves how totally the work was misapprehended. A grand opera requires, first and foremost, imposing choral masses ; and so these were actually introduced, like the celebrated Liberty Chorus in the finale of the first act, the unison MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES atretta, and others. In the original score there is no hint of all this. The stirring "Viva la liberta" is sung by a solo-quintet, led by Don Giovanni. It would certainly be tasteless and out of keeping to alhvr a rout of peasants, made tipsy in a nobleman's house, to sing a liberty chorus at the reception of noble guests. The unison chorus is also a graft, as remarked above, for the entire passage is con- ceived simply as an ensemble of the seven principal char- acters. In the original the chorus plays, withal, a very subordinate part; there are only two places where it par- ticipates in the action — in Scene 7 of Act I with the re- frain "la la la la," and in the first finale. From these disfigurements one may easily imagine how the whole book gradually became transformed. I do not so especially refer to the translations themselves; they were, from the start, inexact and lacking in taste, like almost all translations of opera-books. — Mozart appears to have had a premonition of this, for, according to trust- worthy tradition, Mozart's son possessed a free, but felicitous, translation written by his father's own hand. But, unfortunately, it is preserved only in fragmentary form. — Not the translations are meant, but something dif- ferent. The moment that the (sung) secco recitatives were changed, in the German representations, into spoken dia- logue, the "revisers" and "adapters" had every oppor- tunity to compress or expand these passages. Rochlitz, for instance, whose "arrangement" is still adopted in many quarters, found it necessary to enliven da Ponte's flow of ideas. He inserted grandiloquent phrases, gave the char- acters a different complexion, and even treated portions of the dialogue in the style of Schiller's "Eauber." This prodiices a very comical effect in the rococo environment. But the most wildly willful deeds were done by an adapter — probably Spiess — ^when he cold-bloodedly injected three personages into the action — a constable, a hermit, and a tradesman. All three — according to Freisauff — ^had DON GIOVANNI AT MUNICH scenes together with Don Giovanni. "These scenes, fol- lowing the taste of the times, remind one forcibly of the puppet-show and the harlequinades which were in high favor with the Vienna populace, and whose only aim was evidently to amuse said populace with coarse and stupid jokes." The scene with the tradesman, placed before the last finale, maintained itself on most stages until about 1830; Don Giovanni, instead of paying his due notes, bums them up and has the tradesman thrown out by his lackeys. The scene with the hermit — ^before the scene in the churchyard — ^was performed seldomer; its dull point consisted in the twisting of the hermit's words by Leporello. Don Giovanni asks the hermit, "What do you live on?" — Hermit: "On roots (Wurzeln) and herbs (Krautem)." — Leporello: "What? The fellow eats in- fantry (Fussvolk) and cavalry (Eeiter) ?" — The above- mentioned writer rightly follows this with the observation, "These three scenes could have been fathered only by the grotesquely perverted Viennese taste of that period. They sufficiently demonstrate how little appreciation was then to be found of the wonderful beauties contained in Mo- zart's masterwork." Foreign countries had less to suffer from such mutila- tions, for the simple reason that performances in Italian were commoner there than in Germany. And one may readily imagine that now, in Germany, earnest protests against this outrage made themselves heard. The first step was the rehabilitation of the original score. This was done here and there already in the first half of the nineteenth century. For similar reasons a nimiber of more conscientious and exact translations were made later, like those by Viol, Bitter, Gugler, Grandaur, Wolzogen, Kalbeck, Vaupel, and others. In 1883 there was even a meeting of a committee of German theatre-directors, under the chairmanship of Intendant-General von Perfall, whose aim was to reach an agreement concerning the text of MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Don Criovamm. Their efforts were fruitless, "for to-day nearly every considerable theatre has its own arrangement of Don Oiovanm." Professional experts, more especially Gugler, gradually turned their attention to an examination of the musical side. They compared the modem growths with the parent stock — ^the altered scores with the original score in the possession of Mme. Viardot-Garcia and with almost equally reliable copies from the eighteenth century. The- atre directors, in so far as they were still possessed of an artistic conscience, utilized all the results thus arrived at and organized adequate representations of the mutilated work. In a word, the last decades finally aroused them- selves to do justice to Mozart and da Ponte. Ernst Possart, for his part, expressed the views which guided him in this affair both in a speech and a pamphlet of similar content. This little essay is well worth reading, even though not wholly free from errors, and though the historical material placed at his disposal by professionals may not always have been rightly understood. It was his purpose, "to explain how important and desirable it ap- pears to base the project for a revival of the opera on the original text and the original score." Furthermore, he wished "to convince his readers, that with regard to the dimensions of the auditorium, the strength of the orchestra, and the musical and poetical elements in their entirety, the first representations in Prague, which took place in October, 1787, under the master's personal direction, ought to serve as a model ; and that the advanced modem tech- nique of the stage should be employed only in connection with the external equipment, i. e., the scenic decorations and the costumes." This idea is not novel, but it is correct. When Don Giovamd, by Mozart, is set before us, what we want is Mozart's own, and not an arbitrary substitute concocted by some stage-manager or conductor. But between theory and practice there is a long step to be taken. DON GIOVANNI AT MUNICH As Don Oiovanm was, from the outset, intended for Prague; as da Ponte wrote the poem in Italian and the German Mozart composed it for Italian performers, taking into consideration the constitution of the orchestra and the size of the theatre, with which he was familiar; moreover, as the intellectual horizon of present-day audi- ences, the taste and the whole trend of our time, in brief, the entire milieu is fundamentally different from that of the late eighteenth century, etc., we are confronted by irreconcilable antagonisms. Whoever should succeed in suitably combining the great- est number of the elements originally given in a stylisti- cally finished representation, would, to be sure, come near- est to a solution of the problem. The actors themselves are irrevocably lost to us ; what is left is only the original Italian libretto, the original score, and — the theatre in Prague. An artistic, con- scientious production based on these three would assuredly afford the acme of artistic enjoyment. In fact, this has already been attempted. By the Prague Conservatory on May the 12th, 1842, in the Landsidndisches Theater and in the Italian language, the opera Don Giovanni was "pre- sented precisely as Mozart had composed it, in Prague, for the Italian opera of his time." However, the repre- sentation seems to have been not "precisely" so. For the play-bill announces "Don Juan," and "grand opera," besides other caprices. After all, Prague is far away ; so what shall other cities do? They can have recourse only to the libretto and the score. Even so, it would be a sheer impossibility to let a German company sing in Italian. Our throats and ears would energetically protest against it. Such, indeed, was the experience of Possart the consistent, when he made the attempt on beginning rehearsals for the new produc- tion. So nothing remained but the score and the stage- directions. MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Now, it is understood that parts of the original score are missing. Furthermore, there are cuts in it, made by Mozart from necessity rather than choice. Besides, it is by no means proved that the employment of trombones in the Churchyard Duet and the Descent into Hell is owing to their introduction by an alien hand. It may be assumed with equal probability that Mozart was induced to make changes because the trombone players in Prague found the passages beyond their powers. So in this particular we also encounter difficulties. And then, if Mozart had to hear how (with few excep- tions) our contemporary singers mishandle the Italian style of the eighteenth century, he would stop his ears. Contrary opinions are likewise held concerning the numerical strength of the orchestra. It varies with the size of the hall in which it plays. A large auditorium requires a large orchestra, diminishing with the size of the hall. That Possart chose the cozy Residenztheater for the Don Giovanni evenings this season, is a point deserving the heartiest praise. The modem circus-halls with their swollen orchestras spell ruin for all delicate effects. To squeeze some eighty players into the orchestra of the Eesidenztheater would, of course, be a crude and per- verse procedure. Mozart's orchestra, much more than that of our time, played the part of an accompaniment, and only seldom outrivals the voices in importance. But it does appear overdone and pedantic that Possart should have copied the strength of the Prague orchestra in 1787 — ^twenty-six pieces. Mozart appreciated the good will and efficient work of these men to the full; he even left a testimonial to the orchestra in his translation, where he renders Don Giovanni's query, "Che ti par del bel con- certo ?" and the response, "E conforme al vostro merto," as follows: "Don Giovanni: Herrlich spielen diese Leute! Leporello: Es sind Prager Musikanten." "These men play finely."— "They are musicians from Prague." DON GIOVANNI AT MUNICH This was certainly an amiable compliment. But it is evident from his letters that he longed for Vienna and its more opulent resources ; for the Prague opera orchestra was, even in contemporary estimation, a very small one. The characteristic color of Mozart's instrumentation would not be vitiated in the least if the Munich Intendant chose to augment his orchestra by eight or ten string-players. Even then the strings would number only twenty-two, against twelve wind-instruments and a drummer. The Introduction, and the Descent into Hell, would gain decidedly thereby, and the rest would lose nothing. It follows from the above, that we in Germany have nothing else to cling to for the institution of stylistically correct performances but the original musical score and the stage-directions. Everything beside is subject to limitations. To begin with, in making a German version of the libretto we encounter the old difficulty — a literal translation, if we would have it prosodic, is an absolute impossibility. In such cases, liberties are permitted, but these, in any event, must conform exactly to the sense of the original. It cannot be denied that this desideratum has been attained, on the whole, by the new translation (founded on Grandaur's) made with solicitous devotion by Hermann Levi. Yet even in this one, as in all the rest, we miss the requisite consistency. The so-called "popular" passages have not been thoroughly revised. We refer to those passages whose wording, however perverted or inexact, is held to be sanctioned by tradition. As long as the "champagne" nonsense is done away vnth, why not the following: Beich mir die Hand, mein Leben, etc. — The La ei darem la mono, etc., of the original bears a different meaning in connection with the context. And the wording of the lines at the very beginning, Keine Rvh' bei Tag und Nacht, etc. (Notte e giomo faticar, etc.), might be sup- pressed, although the poetic motif is, at bottom, better than da Ponte's own. 10 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES It was to be expected that Possart would elaborate the scenic side of the production with great refinement. In such matters he is regarded as a master. To be sure, it did not go off without certain daring details of perform- ance. Although he, after Don Giovanni's descent into hell, let the palace crash into peals of thunder (as in Le Prophete), and thereupon brought on the original second finale (dragged to light by Possart for the occa- sion, and so dreadfully conventional and insipid that one would rather not see it) — although Possart let this finale take its course on the ruins of the palace, it shall not be reckoned among the "daring details." For this specimen of bad taste was happily discarded after three perform- ances. The propitiatory and, as observed above, artis- tically depressing close now proceeds according to the di- rections in the libretto — ^without change of scene, without theatrical humbug. What I mean will be found in the answers to the questions. When and where does the action take place ? They are exceedingly important, for on them the choice of costumes and decorations depends. Both poem and music are conceived in the rococo style. But where the librettist's work is merely skillful routine, that of the composer discovers infinite depth. It goes so deep that the contrasts between the characters and the situations often seem too abruptly depicted, giving. rise at times to a sense of uneasiness. Contrasted with the smooth verses, Mozart's music is far too soulfelt, far too daemonic, to insure an harmonious reaction for his Don Giovanni. In truth, between poem and music there yawns an unbridgeable chasm. While Mozart, too, is of the rococo period as regards his means of expression, his inspiration spurns the environment of a predetermined epoch. His Don Giovanni fits as admirably into the fifteenth century as the eighteenth, or any succeeding time. This aloofness from time and space is the distin- guishing mark of a genial, immortal work. Otherwise the poem. In contrast with Mozart's music, DON GIOVANNI AT MUNICff 11 it may not be transplanted from the rococo soil. Da Ponte neither intended an excursion into history, nor sought to create the illusion of some imaginary time. In his poem lives the spirit of the waning eighteenth century — of the years before the French Revolution, Loose living prevailed, not because it afforded real pleasure, but only to deaden the dread of a frightful con- vulsion. The cry, "Apres nous le deluge!" rose ever louder and more importunately, the nearer it was felt to approach. There was a revel in refined sensuality for the same reason that a murderer feels himself irresistibly drawn to the scene of his deed. In stage-performances a partiality was shown for reflecting the spirit of the times, whose weaknesses were parodied or scourged with ironic and sarcastic scorn, dallied and toyed with. And this same period was on an equally familiar footing with the most heedless materialism and with the mysteries of the spirit-world. A subject-matter like that oi Don Giovanni was capable of producing a tremendous effect. This was rightly sensed by more than one librettist. The year 1787 alone beheld the birth of four operas founded on that fable. (1) The one-act Don Giovanni by Gazzaniga (Venice) ; (2) the two-act II Nuovo Comiitato di Pietra (The New Guest of Stone) by F. Gardi (Venice) ; (3) the one-act farce II Conviiato di Pietra, by Fabrizj (Eome) ; and (4) Mozart's Don Giovanni. In all four lives the spirit of the eighteenth century. Possart very clearly recognized this spirit, and had designs for all the characters made in rococo style for the rehearsals. But then he immediately changed his mind. "The monstrous, barrel-like hoopskirts of the ladies and the towering powdered perruques made a grotesque im- pression even in the sketches, while on the stage they would materially interfere with grace and plasticity of motion, and would impose most irksome restraints on outbursts of passion." He finally decided, like the or- ganizers of the production at Prague in 1842, on laying 12 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES the scene in seventeenth-century Spain, which had been left unscathed by the reactionary counteivreformation. True, this was a liberty, but it afforded an acceptable means of escape from the difficulty. That century offers, in some details, an analogy to the eighteenth : "Here, too, the nobleman is no longer the standard-bearer of the nation, but only the member of a caste devoted to un- bridled self-indulgence." And so Possart chose the cos- tumes of the seventeenth century. — "And the magnificent tableaux furnished by seventeenth-century Seville, provide an harmonious background for these costumes." However, Possart had a certain right to lay the scene in Seville. The libretto itself designates the scene of the action only as "a city in Spain." Furthermore, Gardi's Convitato di Fietra likewise plays in Seville. But then, the. specific selection of this city, or the selection of any specific city, is somewhat hazardous. By Chrysander's investigations ("Vierteljahrsschrift fiir Musikwissenschaft," Vol. IV) it has been definitely established that da Ponte and Mozart were acquainted with the Don Oiovanm of the poet Bertati and the com- poser Gazzaniga, and made use of it. Mozart's borrowings are negligible, whereas da Ponte's utilization of Bertati must be branded as a barefaced plagiarism. Of course, such poetic motives are to be excepted as are part and parcel of the subject-matter of Don Oiovanm, foremostly the detail of the Guest of Stone. These are self-evidently the common property of all versions. But most of the others, and even the smallest and apparently most in- significant incidents, were similarly employed by da Ponte, and by them we most clearly perceive the extent of his borrowings. The fact that certain characters, like that of Donna Anna, are not delineated like those in the model, does not redeem da Ponte from the charge of plagiarism. Much must necessarily be different in the construction of a one-act play from that of a drama in two acts. Besides the happy conceits in this revised version would seem to DON GIOVANNI AT MUNICH 13 have come from Mozart. Da Ponte himself was mani- festly troubled by a bad conscience. In his Memoirs he evades the issue of plagiarism — ^which a moment's com- parison with Bertati convincingly proves — with the slip- pery facility of an eel ; — ^he makes no mention of it whatr ever. Ernst Possart is thoroughly familiar with these mat- ters ; he discusses them pertinently in his essay. He also appears to have familiarized himself with Bertati's book. For the detail of letting Donna Elvira (a lady of Burgos, deserted by Don Giovanni, as da Ponte, following the text of his model, remarks) enter "in a litter, with travel- ling impedimenta, followed by servants," though not found in da Ponte's version, is clearly set down in Scenes 4 and 5 of Bertati's. This renders it the more remarkable that Possart did not adopt the latter poet's stage-direction, first brought into general notice by da Ponte; — the scene is laid in a small town in Aragon. Observe the difference; Burgos is situated in Old Castile, that is, in northerly Spain, and Seville and Andalusia in the south, while Aragon lies next to France. The character of the scenery would assuredly have been altered, more particularly be- cause the assertion that the Don-Giovanni legend is indis- solubly bound up with Seville cannot be regarded as wholly well founded. After all, these strictures are of slight moment ; indeed, they are quite overborne by the praise extorted by the masterstroke of this season's production — ^the utilization of Lautenschlager's revolving stage. This invention consists • — ^to employ Possart's own very skillful description — in superimposing on the bare stage floor a gigantic turntable. Upon the front half (or on a third or a quarter, or less, according to scenic requirements) is placed the first "set" of the piece to be played. The second "set," for the time being invisible from the auditorium, is put in position back to back with the first, on the rear side of the turn- table. When the first scene is over, a motor revolves the 14 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES turntable so that the second "set" or scene replaces the first. This latter is thereupon replaced by Scene 3, so that when Scene 2 is finished the revolution of the turn- table presents Scene 3 to the audience; and so forth. These changes take place — of course with lights down on the stage and in the auditorium — ^before the eyes of the spectators. And this change of scene, which was accom- panied by some noise in the first representations, besides proceeding slowly, is now accomplished almost noiselessly and with extreme rapidity. When the scene shifts fre- quently, as in Don Giovanni, the practical effect of this clever invention is positively astounding. In theatrical technics it unquestionably has a great future before it. iN'either is it bereft of artistic advantages: "We are no longer limited to the four-cornered stage-setting with its obligatory straight lines of decorations; diagonal settings of picturesque effect will be evolved to delight the eye. The dead uniformity of square rooms and halls will be suppressed. The street scenes cut short by a flat back drop will make way for well-composed and original pic- tures, and where formerly only painted canvases could be employed, which were swiftly hoisted or lowered, we can now make use of firmly set, plastic decorative objects which materially enhance the naturalness of scenic effects." Furthermore, the work of the Munich artists as a whole, with their carefully considered and spirited conception, being far and away beyond the ordinary, one cannot take it amiss that Herr Possart views the crovraing feat of this season with very peculiar satisfaction — ^his revival of Don Giovanni with revised book and music and new scenic decorations. It was in Munich that Don Giovanni was most despite- fuUy used. In 1791 its performance was forbidden by a narrow-minded board of censors "als argerlich fiir allezeit" (as scandalous, and for all time), and was per- mitted only on "most gracious special command." This year Don Giovanni celebrates its most brilliant representa- DON GIOVANNI AT MUNICH 15 tion — in Munich. Though even now it was not a wholly finished performance, this was owing less to a lack of good intention than to the weakness of certain isolated factors and to the impracticahle character of the entire problem. We could acclaim Possart's success with joyful hearts — ^likewise the fact that Angelo Neumann has en- gaged the singers, the conductor, the revolving stage, the costumes, decorations, etc., i. e., the entire equipment, for the coming seasons in Paris and London — ^were there not a menace of serious dangers. Among the amazing contrasts in the musical life of Munich is the circumstance, that while Possart succeeds admirably with the revival of the works of earlier times, he is most unfortunate in his choice of new works. Not one of the novelties which he has brought out possesses genuine vitality. If only the Intendant's ambition is not diverted into an historic mania ! If he only does not overwork his unrivalled spe- cialty, the revival of early works in stylistic perfection, to the disadvantage of struggling and unrecognized talents ! It is, of a surety, a difficult and honorable task to organize flawless productions of our classics, but far more difficult and honorable to recognize rising composers in their as yet unprinted scores, and to become their cham- pion. Not until Possart has demonstrated that he com- bines this latter ability with the former, will he fulfill the highly responsible dual duty of a Munich Intendant in a worthy and absolutely commendable manner. (^Translated hy Theodore Baker.) EAELY AMEEICAE" OPEEAS (Sammelbande der I. M. G., 1904-5) This monograph deals with. English operas written dur- ing the eighteenth century by Americans, native or nat- uralized, in what are to-day the United States. Though Italian and French operas were introduced in the United States previously to the nineteenth centui*y, a fact widely unknown, they exercised hardly any influence on our early operatic productions. These were imitations, as was our entire musical life, of English models. Generally speaking, the history of English opera is a history of ballad operas, as in the broad sense of t^e term even Stanford's "Shamus O'Brien" belongs to this category. The efforts at musical dramas in which every word is sung, remained sporadic in Great Britain, espe- cially after the tyrannical establishment of Italian opera. Whether the critical opposition was artificial or whether such real operas were foreign to the English character, would be out of place to decide here. At any rate, the attempts were sporadic and moreover professedly in the Italian manner, whereas the ballad operas were innumer- able and professedly English in character. The theory that they developed out of the masques might be disputed, but they certainly originated quite independently from Italian influences, and it is erroneous to date their begin- nings from the Beggar's Opera. Whatever might be said to the contrary, the famous "Newgate pastoral" was among other things a veiled pro- test against Italian opera, and its novelty consisted mainly 16 EARLY AMERICAN OPERAS 17 in the employment of popular ballads, new and old, tliat is to say, more in appearance than in character. This, together with its political allusions and its literary clever- ness, made the Beggar's Opera a formidable rival of the emasculated Italian operas, and encouraged British com- posers to continue their struggle for English opera. Very soon, however, the popular ballads gave way to original music, a fact which certainly goes far to prove that Dr. Pepusch's setting was considered a polemical experiment, if not the caprice of an antiquarian. The literature of eighteenth-century ballad operas is abundantly rich, but it shows few stylistic variations. The differences between the older and newer works result from changes in literary and musical taste and from the greater or lesser talents of their authors. The main ob- jection to the genre ever has been that the ballad operas are merely plays interspersed with music. The dramatic development is carried on in the spoken dialogue and the composer seldom found an opportunity to call the dra- matic possibilities of his art into action, his collaboration being limited to lyrical effusions in soli or ensembles. In fact, a good many ballad operas would gain in interest if the music, however charming it might be, were not allowed to interrupt the plot. It is frequently difficult to see when a play stops to be a play interspersed with music and when it becomes a ballad opera. The distinction lies more or less a priori in the title chosen by the authors. For this reason the body of my essay wiU contain only works entitled operas, musical entertainments, etc., whereas the plays interspersed with music will be enumerated in an appendix, as also the "speaking" pantomimes, which often came nearer being operas than the ballad operas them- selves.^ If English composers did not care or did not dare to ' Thla Appendix bas not here been reprinted from the "Sammelbinde." I may add tbat tbe whole subject of earljr American operatic music should be studied in conjunction with my books, "Early Opera In America," "Early Concert-Life in America" and "Bibliography of Early Secular American Music." ' 18 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES improve the genre stylistically, very mucli less the Colo- nials. They pinned their faith on their models and imi- tated them without the slightest effort to infuse new blood into their productions. In America the libretto remained of vastly greater importance than the music — to such an ex- tent that the composer is hardly ever mentioned, unless in the theatrical advertisements. Quite in keeping with this fact is the other, that the librettos were often printed, whereas the music was not. Exceedingly few detached pieces were issued and of these I doubt whether more than a dozen or so have been preserved. This I beg to keep in mind if the data furnished in the following pages are more of a literary and chronological character than musical and if the reader, as would be natural, looks for musical illustrations. JAMES BALPH's "fashionable LADY," 1Y30 Among the victims of the "Dunciad" was one James Ealph, and to this day his literary reputation has fared ill through Pope's satire. As a member of the "Grub-street" fraternity Ealph certainly deserved his fate, for he was as unscrupulous as Pietro Aretino and ever willing to sell his pen to the highest bidder. But if the politicians took pains to secure or silence his opinion, the man must have been possessed of literary abilities. Indeed, Ralph's writings do not lack ideas, brilliancy, or forcefulness, and his "History of England during the Peigns of King William, Queen Ann and George I." is said to be a re- markable work. It was Palph's misfortune that he tried to say clever things at any cost, and this journalistic ten- dency renders his writings unreadable to-day. James Ealph died at Chiswick (England) on January 24, 1762, But where was he bom? Benjamin Franklin narrates in his autobiography that he made the acquain- tance of Ealph at Philadelphia, where he was "clerk to a merchant." The two young men soon became friends EARLY AMERICAN OPERAS 19 and in 1724 together sailed for England to try their luck in London. According to Franklin, Ralph deserted wife and children. Consequently, he must have been born about 1700 ; but where ? To this question there seems to be no definite answer. The authorities merely claim that he was born "probably" in Pennsylvania.^ If they were more positive, then the honor of being the first opera, or rather opera libretto, written by an American bom in what are to-day the IJnited States, would undoubtedly belong to a performance of James Ralph. I allude to The Fashionable Lady; or Harlequin's Opera. In the Manner of a Rehearsal. As it is Perform'd at the Theatre in Goodman's Fields. Written by Mr. Ralph. [Ornament.] London. Printed for J. Watts, at the Printing Office in Wild Court near Lincolns-Inn Fields. MDCOXXX. [Price 1 s. 6d.]2 The opera is preceded by an adulatory dedication "To His Grace the Duke of Manchester," signed "J. Ealph" (3 pp.), by a table of the songs (2 pp.) and by the dramaiis personce with the original cast (1 p.). Men Mr. BaUad Mr. Penkethman Mr. Meanwell Mr. W. Giffard Mr. Modely Mr. Bullock Mr. Drama Mr. Lacey Mr. Merit Mr. W. Williams Mr. Smooth Mrs. Thomas Captain Hackum Mr. Huddy Mr. Whim Mr. Smith Mr. Trifle Mr. Collet Voice, Harlequin's Man Mr. Bardin. > For an excellent sketch of Ralph's subsequent career see Stephens' National Biography, where, however, Ralph's operatic career was over- » 8° 94 pp Library of Congress, Brown University, Peabody Institute, Baltimore, New York Public Library (3 copies, as the assistant librarian Mr Paltsits had the kindness to inform me. He also notified me that one of the copies has two pages of advertisements following the text. The latest date mentioned on this list of books published is January 16, 1729/30). The wording of the title renders it clear that the publication took place simul- taneously with the performances of The Fashionable Lady, that is, in April, 1730. 20 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Women Mrs. Foible Mrs. Sprightly Prattle Mrs. Mountford Mrs. Giffard Mrs. Palmer. Mutes Harlequin Scaramouch Pierot Punch Pantaloon Colombine. Mr. Bumey, jun. Sir Peevish-Terrible, the Critick, Poets, Sailors, Gods, Goddesses, Witches, Dragons, Devils, etc. That there must be some connection between The Fash- ionable Lady and the Beggar's Opera is evident; but though Ealph's work is enumerated in Grove's dictionary among the imitations of Gay-Pepusch's masterpiece, this is only partly correct As in the Beggar's Opera, the dialogue is spoken and the songs are set to popular airs and ballads. But it certainly was not Ealph's serious intention to imitate the Beggar's Opera. On the contrary, he had in view to ridicule ballad operas with an occasional attack on the stilted Italian operas. He says in the dedi- cation : I must confess it appears no great compliment to present Your Grace with a Play, which has not the Sanction of either of the establish'd Theatres, to recommend it. If this is not convincing, the following remarks, I hope, will prove my theory. In the first edition of the "Dunciad" Pope did not men- tion our author by name. Nevertheless Balph attacked, in a coarse parody of the Dunciad, entitled "Sawney," Pope, Swift and Oay. In the same year, 1728, he pub- lished under the pseudonym of "A. Primcock" EARLY AMERICAN OPERAS 21 The Taste of the Town, or a Guide to all publick Diversions. viz. I. Of Muaick, Operas and Plays. Their Original, Prog- ress and Improvement . . . n. Of Poetry, Sacred and Profane. m. Of Dancing, Religious and Dramatical. IV. Of the Mimes, Pantomimes and Choruses of the Ancients . . . V. Of Audiences . . . VI. Of Masquerades . . . Vn. Of the Athletic Sports of the Ancients . . . The Taste of the Town, though somewhat different in scope, would be a worthy pendant to Marcello's Teatro alia moda, had not Balph's ambition to be a "Wit" led him to caricature his own style. Still, the book is exceed- ingly interesting. It is a grotesque, almost clownish, forerunner of "Oper und Drama" and certainly deserved not to be overlooked as it has been by the historians of opera and of English opera in particular. This by the way; with reference to my theme, Balph leaves no doubt as to his aversion to ballad operas, though he does not fully agree with the champions of Italian opera. Two characteristic quotations will render this clear. He says (on p. 11) : After the Restoration, we had at different Times several Entertainments, which were then stiled Drammatick Operas; which were indeed regular Stage plays larded with Pieces of occasional Musick, vocal and instrumental, proper to the Fable, and introduced either in the Beginning, Middle or End of an Act, by single Voices, two or three Part Songs, and Chorus: These were likewise embellished with Scenes, Machines, French Dancing Masters, long Trains, and Plumes of Feathers . . . This I look upon as the second age of Operas, as we then stiled them; but I absolutely deny them that Title; that Term imply- ing a regular compleat musical Entertainment, which they never could arrive at, till th^ entirely came into a finished Italian Plan ; nor do we bestow the name of Opera on any Dramma, but those where every Word is sung. and on p. 16 : 22 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES The Beggar's Opera by robbing the Performers at Pye-corner, Fleet-ditch, Moorfields (and other Stations of this Metropolis, famed for travelling Sounds) of their undoubted Properties, has reinstated them in Wealth and Grandeur; and what shock'd most Ears, and set most Teeth on Edge, at turning the Corner of a Street, for half a Moment; when thrown into a regular Entertainment, charms for Hours. I must own they never appear'd to that Advantage in any musical Light as this Opera of the Beggars; Their rags of Poetry and Scraps of Musich joining so naturally, that in what- ever View we consider it as to Character or Circumstance, its Title is the most apropos Thought on Earth. If Ralph entertained hopes of injuring the Beggar's Opera with his parody, he failed, hut he certainly suc- ceeded in making his Harle'ydn's Opera more grotesque than a "Medley of fools at a Masquerade." Though a real plot is missing, a thread clearly runs through all the cha- otic nonsense: Drama versus ballad opera. Mr. Ballad wants only "Highwaymen and Whores, Beggars and Rus- ticks . . . they raise the loud laugh"; and Mr. Drama remarks at the end of the play : . . . every little Creature now, who has ever scribbled a popu- lar Ballad, or an amorous Song, thinks himself capable of writing English Opera and charming the politest Audience. Harlequin, in the few scenes he appears with his man "Voice," has nothing to do but to dance and play the fooling fool. He takes a special fancy to Captain Hackum, and is finally imprisoned by Sir Peevish Ter- rible, the Critic. Mrs. Foible with Mr. Merit and the rest, too, do not act, but talk fashion and nonsense, and their eccentricities are exposed by Messrs. Ballad, Modely, Meanwell and Drama. At times The Fashionable Lady reads as if three plays were printed in one. An effect results, as intended by Ealph, of absolute nonsense. The idea is carried out with considerable wit. The dialogue is very fluent, even bril- liant, but at the same time so coarse and obscene that the play would be impossible on the modem stage. Compared EAELY AMEEICAN OPEEAS 23 with The Fashionable Lady, the Beggar's Opera is a model of decency. It was consistent with the fundamental idea of Ealph's parody that none but popular ballads, such as "A cobbler there was" or "An old Woman poor and blind," were used to lard the play. The entire work contains sixty-eight "Airs," the first act 22, the second 22 and the third 24, all tunes being notated in the text. Beyond this and the fact that The Fashionable Lady was "performed at the Theatre in Goodman's Fields," I have been unable to col- lect musical data. In particular, I do not know whom Ralph engaged to write the accompaniments to the tunes. ^ "The Fashionable Lady" was performed for the first time on April 2, 1730, and acted nine times.^ Surely, a short career if we remember the persistency with which other harlequinades appealed to the public taste. And in this connection the opinion might be ventured that "The Fashionable Lady" was not quite original with Ralph. Possibly he took the idea, if not from French and Italian sources, from the anonymous Harlequin Hydaspes : or, the Greshamite. A Mock Opera As it is performed at the Theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields. London: Printed and Sold by J. Eoberts in Warwick Lane. MDCCXIX (Price one Shimng).^ 1767 On April 6-13, 1767, appeared in the "Pennsylvania Chronicle," Philadelphia, the following advertisement : By Authority. By the American Company at the New Theatre in Southwark on Monday next, being the 20th of April, will be presented a new Comic Opera called The Disappointment, or, the Force of Credulity. I More data probably may be obtained in sources not available at tbe Library of Congress. ' Compare "Some Account of the English Stage," v. 3, p. 277. I am indebted to Mr. Paltsits for having directed my attention to this book. » Copies of this libretto are at the New York Public Library and the Library of Congress. 24 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES But the play was withdrawn in a hurry, the manager laconically informing the public in the "Pennsylvania Gazette" for Wednesday, April 16th, that The disappointment (that was advertised for Monday) as it contains personal xefleetions, is unfit for the stage. Evidently, the parties reflected on had brought pressure to bear on Mr. Douglass, who could not afford to lose the good will of influential people in a city where opposition to the theatre just then was very strong. However, those whose curiosity had been aroused by the withdrawal had ample and speedy opportunity for enjoying the personal reflections, as the opera was advertised in the "Pennsyl- vania Chronicle," Monday, April 20-27, as: Just published and to be sold at Samuel Taylor's Bookbinder, at the Corner of Market and Water Streets, Price One Shilling and Sixpence . . . That the libretto was not issued by the Philadelphia press appears from the title-page : The Disappointment: or, the Force of Credulity. A new American Comic Opera of two Acts. By Andrew Barton, Esq. [verses.] New York: Printed in the Year M,DCC,LXVII.i Until James Ralph is positively proven not to have been bom in America, The Disappointment will have to be con- sidered the first American opera. If I devote a detailed description and discussion to the work it is on account of its unique position in the history of American music. The preface, important for several reasons, reads: The Author's Preface To The PuUic. The following local piece, intitled The Disappointment, or the Force of Creehility was originally wrote for my own, and the I Collation: 12mo. ; t. p. r. bl. ; pret. pp. [Ill] -IV; prol. ; dramatis personae V-VIII ; text 9-56 ; epilogue [57]-58 ; errata p. 58. Boston Public Library ; Library of Congress ; Library Company, Pbiladelpbia ; Pennsylvania Historical Society. According to George Seilbamer'a monu- mental "History ot the American Theatre trom 1749 to 1797", 3 yoU. New York, 1896, the book recently sold at auction tor $13. It should bring more than that. EARLY AMERICAN OPERAS 25 amusement of a few particular friends, who (unknown to me) were pleased to signify their approbation of it, in such a man- ner, that it soon engrossed the chief part of the conversation of all ranks of people; who expressed their desire to hear it and have it published. — ^IJnder these circumstances I was greatly at a loss how to proceed, I did not choose (as I saw no merit in it) to expose it to the criticism of criticks, to put it in the power of gentlemen skill'd in scholastic knowledge, to ridicule my ignorance, or condescend to the entreaties of those, who I thought had no more sense than myself, and who might (per- haps) have made it better than it really is. Conscious therefore of my own inability, I determined to excuse myself to all, and in this determination I persisted for some time, but at last, for my own safety, was obliged to capitulate and surrender on the following stipulations; First, the infrequency of dramatic com- positions in America ; Secondly, the torrent of solicitations from all quarters ; Thirdly, the necessity of contributing to the enter- tainment of the city; Fourthly and lastly, to put a stop (if possible) to the foolish and pernicious practice of searching after supposed hidden treasure. These terms, hard as they are, I have with reluctance been forced to submit to, I am therefore obliged in vindication of my . conduct to assure the public that the story is founded on matter of fact, transacted near the city, not long since, and recent in the memory of thousands; for the truth of which assertion I appeal to numbers of my fellow citizens. But in order to give strangers, and those unacquainted with the story some idea of it, the following short history is thought necessary. — The scheme was planned by four humorous gentlemen. Hum, Parchment, Quadrant, and Rattletrap, to divert themselves and friends, and try what lengths of credulity and the love of money would carry men. In order to put their scheme into execution, they fram'd a plausible, well connected story of hidden treasure; and to gloss the matter, adapted sundry papers to their purpose, and pitch'd upon two suitable old fellows, Washball and Raccoon (as principal dupes) with others to try the success of their scheme; which had the desired effect! — The moral: the folly of an over credulity, and desire of money, and how apt men are (especially old men) to be unwarily drawn into schemes where there is but the least shadow of gain; and concludes with these observations, that mankind ought to be contented with their respective stations to follow their vocations with honesty and industry — ^the only sure way to gain riches. I do not figure to myseK the least advantage accruing from it, but the inward satisfaction of contributing my mite to stop the 26 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES current of such foUy. Such as it is, I submit to the public for their sanction or condemnation, and if any merit should appear in the performance, I shall not vainly attribute it to myself but give the credit of it to mere chance. I am the Public's most obedient, most devoted and most faithful humble Servant Andrew Barton. The prologue flows in very much the same vein as the preface. But if the author claims that in The Disappoint- ment "Our artless muse hath made her first essay", I fear modem historians will not agree with him, any more than Mr. Douglass did with the last lines of the prologue: The subject's suited to our present times. No person's touch'd, altho' she lash their crimes. Nor gall or copp'ras tincture her design, But gay good humor breathe in eVry line; If you condemn her — she for censure stands ; But if applaud — ^then thund'ring clap your hands. However thinly the personal reflections might have been veiled, we feel inclined to side with the author and to admit that his work breathes none but gay good humor through the medium of the Dramatis Personae Men Hum Humorists Parchment " Quadrant " Eattletrap, a supposed Conjurer Raccoon, an old Debauchee Washball, an avaricious old Baroer Dupes Trushoop, a Cooper " M'Snip, a Taylor " Meanwell, a Gentleman, in love with Washball's Niece Topinlift, a Sailor Spitfire, an Assistant to Rattletrap. ^ EARLY AMEBICAN OPERAS 27 Women Moll Placket, a Woman of the Town, in keeping by Raccoon Mrs. Trushoop, Wife to Trushoop Miss Lucy, Washball's Niece, in love with Meanwell Collector, Blackbeard's Ghost, Taylors, Servants, etc. If these names are ludicrous, very much more so the plot.^ When the curtain rises Hum, Parchment and Quadrant are discovered seated around a table in a tavern, where they are drinking and discussing their theme. Rac- coon, who "if he smells money, as great a coward as they say he is," will "venture to the gates of hell for it," is expected. Hum announces that he has contrived matters so that Raccoon shall make the discovery himself. Quad- rant informs the others that he has drawn in both Trushoop and M'Snip. With his share of the treasures, Quadrant says, Trushoop "talks of building a chapel at his own expense and employing a score of priests to keep up a continual rotation of prayers for the repose of the souls of those poor fellows who buried it" As for M'Snip, he "intends to knock off business, go home to England and purchase a title." Mr. Parchment prepared the papers, which were duly enclosed in a letter to Mr. Hum, purporting to come from his sister in England. One of these papers, that "looks as if it had been preserVd in the temple of Apollo or in the tower of Babel," contains the "draught of the place where the treasure lies: together with the memorandum signed by all present at the time it was deposited." Quad- rant thinks this droll enough and — ^we are in a comic opera — expresses his sentiments in a Song: Air I I am a brisk young lively lass In all the town there's none like you, When you're on mischief bent, sirs ; • Mr. Sellhamer's analysis of the plot (op. cit. v. I, pp. 180-4) being so witty and clear, I availed myselt ot It except where I considered correctlona and additions necessary. 28 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES With pen and ink, one well can write. What you do both invent, sirs, etc. Hattletrap, whom Quadrant found "poreing over the canto of Hudibras and Sydrophel in order to furnish him- self with a set of hard words, which added to his knowl- edge in the mathematicks, will sufficiently gratify him for a modem conjurer," enters singing Air II The Bloom of May Behold you my magic phiz. How solemn and grave I look ; Here, here, my good friends, here is My brass bound magical book, etc. His idea is to have a fifth person to act as a "demi-devil or familiar spirit," and Hum proposes "an old artillery ... a snug dry dog" of his acquaintance. When Eaccoon enters, Hum steps out for a moment, dropping the papers. Raccoon picks them up, looks over them and crams them into his bosom. Hum returns la- menting the loss of his papers and declaring that the drawer must have picked his pocket. The poor servant is roughly handled and searched. At the beginning of this scene Washball, Trushoop and M'Snip enter. Finally Raccoon gives up the papers on condition that Hum lets him in for a share. Parchment pretends to know noth- ing of the papers, and declares that if they contain any scheme, plot, combination, rout, riot or unlawful assembly — in fine anything against his most sacred Majesty, George II., etc., etc. — ^he'U at once to the Attorney General and lodge an information against every man in the com- pany and hang every mother's son of them. Parchment is finally convinced and then wishes he had been in such a plot twenty years ago. Hum pretends to have received a letter from his "loving sister-in-law in England (who is heir to the famous Capt. EARLY AMERICAN OPERAS 29 Blackteard) inclosing sundry papers, such as plans, draughts and memorandums, of a great quantity of treas- ure, that was buried by the pirates." Parchment reads the particular account of the treasure : Imprimis, in golden candlesticks, chalises, and crucifixes; 30 000 Portugal pieces; 20 000 Spanish pistoles; 470 000 pis- tereens ; 73 bars of gold ; a small box of diamonds ; 60 000 pieces of eight ; and 150 pounds of weight of gold dust. This remarkable instrument is signed by Edward Teach, alias Blackbeard, captain ; Moses Brimstone, first lieuten- ant ; Judas Guzzlefire, gunner, and Jeffery Eatdevil, cook, "By my saul," cries M'Snip, 'TU away we all me dranken joomeymen and kick the shapboard oot a the wandow." 'TU shave no more," exclaims Washball, — "no, not I — ^I'll keep my hands out of the suds." "Dis will make me cut de figure in life," says Raccoon, "and appear in de world de proper importance ; and den I'll do some- ting for my poor ting," alias his mistress Moll Placket. The conspirators obtain two pistoles each from the dupes and the scene ends with a solo by Parchment : Air III How blessed has my time been. Now let us join hands and unite in this cause; 'Tis glorious gold, that shall gain us applause: How blest now are we, with such treasure in store. We'll clothe all the naked, and feed all the poor. We'll clothe, etc. In the second scene of the first act Trushoop finds him- self locked out by his wife. The old reprobate, Eaccoon, in the third carries a spit, pick-axe, and spade into Moll Placket's home and puts them under the bed. Moll calls him her "dear cooney" and he not only tells his "pet" and "dear ting" all about the treasure but promises her 500 a year for pin money when it is obtainable. Both have a song in this scene. 30 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Baccoon: Air rV Yankee Doodle O I how joyful shall I be When I get de money, I will bring it all to dee ; O ! my diddling honey I etc. (Exit, singing the chorus, Yankee Doodle, etc.) Moll: Air V Shambuy Tho' I hate the old wretch, full as bad as Jack-Ketch, My necessities tell me to please him ; I will ogle and whine, till I make the gold mine : For that's the best method to ease him, etc. The fourth is a street scene where Hum, Rattletrap and Quadrant agree to assemble their dupes at the town tavern. In the fifth, M'Snip, after turning his journeymen out of the shop, sings with a Scotch accent Air VI The bonny Broom I'se cut out political claith, To patch and mend the state ; My bodkin and my thamble beith. Combine to make me great, etc. Follows a love-scene between Lucy and Meanwell. Lucy tells her lover that her uncle Washball has ordered her to discard him, and promised her a marriage portion of 10,000 if she marries agreeably to his wishes. Of course this scene gives occasion to a duet. Air VII My fond Shepherds, etc. Meanwell My dear Lucy; you ravish my heart, I am blest with such language as this; EABLY AMiiiRlCAN OPERAS 31 To my arms then, oh, come, we'll ne'er part And let's mutually seal with a kiss. Lucy Ten thousand sweet kiss as I'd give, 1 be you but contented with me. Then for you my dear Meanwell I'll live. And as happy as constant I'll be. As always in comic opera, Wasliball makes his appear- ance at the most inopportune moment and the love-scene ends like all such love-scenes — Meanwell is put out of the house. The seventh scene discovers the humorists and dupes at the tavern discussing the details of their plan. In one point they all agree, that "the greatest exertion of . . . courage will be necessary," as they "have to engage vnth principalities and powers of darkness, with invisibles and demons, more powerful than the united legions of the most invincible monarchs on earth." But they become quite merry in prospect of the treasure and do a good deal of drinking, singing and boasting. M'Snip has Air VIII Over the hills and far away. This money makes the coward brave. And freedom gives to ev'ry slave; My gude brod-sword I'll soon display. And drive those warlocks far away. And drive those warlocks, etc. And drive those warlocks, etc. My gude brod-sword I'll soon display. And drive those warlocks far away. After "canoe" has been chosen as watchword, Trushoop sings : Air IX Chiling o Guirey By shaint Patrick, dear honeys, no longer let's stay But take laave together, and bundle away. To the plashe under ground, where the treasure's expos'd 32 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES And bring that to light, which shall ne'er be disclosed; And when we have got it, my jewels, o honel For keeping it snug, — arra! let us alone, We'U sing whillalew, at the sight of the paK, And as for the sharing, laave that to myself. Sing laral lal, etc. The act ends with a drinkiiig song by Rattletrap : Air X The Jolly Toper The merchant roams from clime to climes Kegardless of his pleasure; To hardships and fatigue resigns. When in pursuit of treasure. And, a digging, etc. (fhey drink and fill.) The second act opens with a broad, coarse scene that would be inadmissable nowadays between Topinlift, the sailor, and Moll Placket, in which Topinlift sings (Air XI) : "JN"o girl with Placket can compare" to the tune of I^ancy Dawson. Shortly afterwards Raccoon comes for his spit, pick-axe and spade. Topinlift conceals himself under the bed where the implements were placed, but to prevent Raccoon from going there Moll pretends that she is about to raise a familiar spirit, and the sailor makes his escape as a ghost, knocking Raccoon over as he rushes out. Raccoon when recovering from his shock thinks "he look like de sailor," finds his tools, and walks out with Air XII The lass of Patie's mill. Oh! when I get de welt, dat's bur^d by de mill; Insur'd long-life and helt, and pleasure at my will. What store of gold I'll bring my lovely pet to dee. Den none but my poor ting shaU share de same wid me. Moll, after his departure, adds some peculiar reflections of her own, partly in a monologue and partly in EARLY AMERICAN OPERAS 33 Air XIII Black joke and band so white Sure gold is the f ewel, that kindles the fire, And serves for to fan up a woman's desire, To a fumbling fool, that's decrepid and old, etc. The next scene is the "Place of Action, near the Stone Bridge." Rattletrap, dressed in his magic habit, when all are assembled "draws the magic circle and pronounces words of incantation: Diapaculum interravo, testicu- lum stravaganza." The digging proceeds under similar incantations and astrological reflections of a most gro- tesque character ; the convulsions of nature are rather un- usual, and finally the ghost of the pirate appears and spits fire. Trushoop says the spook "looks like no slouch of a fellow" ; Washball, thoroughly frightened, prays Mea culpa, and Eaccoon, who now wishes he had lived a better life, asks him to pray in English, saying "dese spirits don't understand de Latin.' The ghost resists the search for the treasure, but in vain, and when the chest is finally secured Rattletrap jubilantly breaks forth into Air XIV Granby Tho' my art some despise, I appear to your eyes, For a proof of my magical knowledge; Tho' the wisdom of schools, damn our art and our tools. We can laugh at the fools of the college. Chorus : We can, etc. The second scene takes place in a room in Washball's house, where Lucy and Meanwell decide to elope. But though "the precious moments are swiftly passing" they find time to sing a duet : Air XV Kitty the Nonpareille Lucy : My throbbing heart must now give way To love, to honor, and obey. 34 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Lo! Hymen's torch is lighted. Lol Hymen's, etc. My heart ! my all ! — I do resign, Ol Meanwell! — Mean well !— I'll be thine^ In wedlock's band united! In wedlock's, etc. Meanwell : Of Venus' charms, let poets write I Diana chaste, or, Juno bright I Of Kitty, Doll, or, Susey I Of Kitty, etc. The charms of all, are center'd here. In Lucy! — charming Lucy dear! Haste! haste! my lovely Lucy! Haste, etc. The third scene is a street-scene in front of the collector's house and begins with a monologue of Washball which leaves no doubt as to his being "an avaricious old barber." It begins: I can't bear the toughts of dividing, not I . . . charity begins at home and he must be the greatest fool on earth that cheats himself. . . . I'll go and inform the collector ; then I shall have one half to myself, the other will go to the king. This he does in the fourth scene. The fifth opens in a room in Washball's house and discovers M'Snip, Trus- hoop and Raccoon, sitting on the chest, and old Gabriel, Washball's servant, standing by. When Washball enters with the collector. Hum takes the latter aside and tells him of the "scheme of diversion" whereupon the collector on some pretense retires. The chest is now opened and, of course, contains nothing but stones. The dupes look at one another confused, it dawning upon them that they have been fooled, and the "humorists" laugh and run off the stage. Poor Trushoop is the first to remember that he is the duped hero in a comic opera and he bewails his fate in EARLY AMERICAN OPERAS 35 Air XVI The Milking Pail. (To be sung slow and with an Irish accent.) Arra what a fool was I ; by my showl ! I think I'll cry. When I spake of all thish, it encreases my blish; I wiU kill me bafare I die, etc. But on the whole he takes it good-naturedly and begins to enjoy the joke as much as the humorists. The piece ought to end with the opening of the chest, but it cannot, for Lucy and Meanwell have eloped and are to be forgiven by Washball. They receive his blessing, after which he takes occasion to sing the doleful Air XVII Ah I who is me, poor Walley ery'd. Ah ! who is me, poor wretched I, With broken heart and downcast eyes; To ease my mind where shall I fly ? A prey to knaves poor Washball dies. Let future generations take Example by my dismal fall. Nor gods of gold, nor idols make. To shun the fate of poor Washball. He is full of resignation, invites the dupes for dinner, tells old Gabriel to call in the neighbors, to bring his fiddle and play for a dance. He also requests Lucy and Mean- well to give them a song, which they do with Air XVni JoUy Bacchanalian. Meanwell; Banish sorrow, welcome joy Banish care and be at rest, Of a bad bargain make the best. Banish care, etc. Lucy : Eoom for joy, how blest am I Virgins all, example take; Virtue love, for virtue's sake. 36 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Constant be as turtle dove. Let your theme be virtuous love. Constant be, etc. Enter Gabriel with his fiddle and the neighbors. They strike up a country dance called "Excuse me" and the whole ends with an epilogue in which Hum sings some popular refrains like: Down Derry Derry down, tantara- rara, tol de rol, lol de rol loddy — and in which all the characters, including Moll Placket and Topinlift, make their final bow to the audience. Mr. Seilhamer claims The Disappointment to be "with- out merit as a dramatic composition" (op. cit. I, 184), but I disagree with him. I fear the coarseness of the play prevented him from being just. No doubt The Dis- appointment contains scenes which would to-day be quite unfit for public performance, but it must be added that this indecency is that of naive brutality and not of a morbid suggestiveness, as in so many plays of our fin de Steele decadents. Should these scenes undergo a skillful operation, a per- formance of The Disappointment would prove that it does contain a good deal of merit as a dramatic composition. To-day the personal reflections would neither make a per- formance impossible, nor would they — as a species of pub- lished gossip — ^facilitate a success of the work. It would have to stand on its intrinsic merits. The fundamental idea is excellent and well adapted to dramatic treatment. The characters are cleverly con- trasted, and the different dialects, not being used to exag- geration, give a delightful flavor to the whole. The dia- logue is exceedingly fluent, and the plot is well developed. It falls short only on account of the conventional finale of the play, which was caused by the preceding love-scenes between Lucy and Meanwell, and they, too, conventional. The author possessed a surprisingly keen eye for what is effective on the stage. This, combined with much natural wit and humor, makes many scenes "irresistibly comic," as EAELY AMERICAN OPERAS 37 even Mr. Seilhamer had to admit. Take, for instance, the scene in which the poor devil of a waiter is accused of theft, abused and maltreated, the real culprit, that rascal Raccoon, not making the slightest effort to interfere, but quietly and as if unconcerned waiting for the storm to pass. Here are unusual opportunities for a clever come- dian! But even this scene is surpassed in theatrical clairvoy- ance, brilliancy and wit by the one at the place of action. It is masterly with all its fantastic and burlesque drollery. It is within the limits of dramatic probability and worthy of the pen of famous playwrights. All in all, The Disap- pointment deserves more attention than has been paid to it, and the fate of the farce vividly recalls that of Otto Niebergall's brilliant but also unduly neglected "Tat- terich." Turning to The Disappointment as a comic opera, we readily classify it as a ballad opera. Evidently the Beg- gar's Opera, then immensely enjoyed in the Colonies, was taken as a model. With this difference, however, that the American work is not overloaded with ballads, there being only eighteen of them in the opera. The introduc- tion of Yankee Doodle is especially noteworthy, being probably the earliest reference to the tune in American literature, and liable to overthrow certain theories as to its history in the Colonies. That the airs have a right of dramatic existence cannot reasonably be maintained, but this ever has been and ever will be the weak point in ballad operas, Singspiele, vaudevilles and the like. The attempts at ensembles and choruses are exceedingly few and feeble. To improvise or to write "accompaniments" for "The Disappointment" cannot have been a very inter- esting task, and we hardly regret not to know the name of the musician whose duty it was to do so. Thirty years after the first, a second edition of the opera, protected by copyright, appeared at Philadelphia under the title: 38 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES The Disappointment, or, the Force of Credulity. A new comic opera in three acts. By Andrew Barton, Esq. Second Edition, revised and corrected with large additions by the Author, [verses.] Philadelphia. Printed for and sold by Francis Shallus, No. 40, Vinestreet. 1796.i The preface and prologue show but unimportant altera- tions, whereas the expansion of the opera into three acts called for considerable changes. It is hardly necessary to dwell on them in detail. A rapid survey will be suf- ficient. In the first place the dramatis personae have increased. Instead of four dupes we notice five, M'Snip having been superseded by "Buckram, a Taylor" and "Trowell, a Plaisterer," "Perrance, Servant to Trushoop," is also new. Furthermore we make the acquaintance of "Mrs. Trowell, Wife to Trowell" and "Dolly, Servant to Mrs. Trushoop." The first scene opens as in the edition of 1767, but the dialogue is now preceded by a drinking song by Parchment : Song I Come now, my boys, let's jovial be. The cash we'll soon disclose; And spurn at sneaking poverty, Tho' Gorgons dire! oppose. In the middle of the scene Trushoop now addresses Wash- ball with a very lengthy Song IV You seem in a flutter And pray what's the matter, etc. We further notice that all allusions to the government in Parchment's monologue have been revised. Instead of "His most sacred Majesty, George the Second" we now read "illustrious President of the United States." In the • 12°. 94 p. Boston Public Library ; Brown Univ. ; Mass. Hist. Soc. ; New York PubUc Library ; Library of Congress ; Pennsylvania Hist. Soc. ; Britlsb Museum, etc. EARLY AMERICAN OPERAS 39 third scene we witness Mrs. Trushoop's efforts to starve her husband into fidelity. Then follows the burlesque and coarse meeting between Moll Placket, Topinlift and Rac- coon. In the fifth scene Mrs. Tmshoop repents her treat- ment of Mr. Trushoop and endeavors to reconcile him by ordering Dolly to take the two market baskets, and go down into the cellar, and fetch up everything there for master to eat and drink. In the following scene Dolly and Ferrance, as servants probably will do in all eternity, laugh at their master and mistress, and the scene ends in harmony between Mr. and Mrs. Trushoop. The second act discovers Mrs. Trowell at work in her parlor. Mrs. Trushoop enters and we soon become famil- iar with her family troubles : that Mr. Trushoop has be- come a Free Mason, that he spends more time at the Lodge than at home, that she revenges herself by almost starving him to death, and that "he ought to be sent to the Bastille and Burttong-bay in the bargain." The moment she is at the height of her rage Mrs. Trowell mentions the "mistery" and how she "wheedled, coaxed, fonded, hugg'd, squeez'd, caress'd and kiss'd her husband" till she got the whole secret of the buried treasure out of him. The change that overcomes Mrs. Trushoop's sentiments for her now "dare Trushoop" is highly comical and she hastens away to "make it up with him." What was the seventh scene of the first act in the edition of 1767 now follows with slight alterations as the second of the second act, and the play proceeds on the same lines as the original until the "Place of action" is reached, which has become the opening scene of the third act. The last scenes have remained intact as far as the plot is con- cerned. Finally, instead of an ensemble-epilogue, we no- tice one in the form of a monologue, without being told by whom it shall be spoken. It "shews" the moral lessons contained in the opera and ends rather proudly thus: 40 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Condemn or not — ^we satisfaction feel, In thinking, we have caus'd a reforma,tion. Amongst the dupes of this our congregation. Owing to the expansion of the play, of course, the nu- merical order of the "Songs," as they are now called, has not remained the same. If I further remark that the names of the tunes have been dropped, that the lan- guage is less coarse, that the changes in literary taste, political and social conditions between 1767 and 1796 were taken into consideration, I believe I have mentioned all tbat is necessary to indicate the difference between the two editions. If the author felt satisfied with his revi- sion, not so the historian. While The Disappointment in its original form had been considered unfit for the stage on account of its personal reflections, it became impossible for performance in 1796 for very much stronger reasons: the expansion and revision weakened the plot, diluted the witty dialogue, and robbed the "opera" of its genuine and forceful, though brutal, spontaneity. So -far The Disappointment calls not for much critical acumen. However, the opera comes in for a full share of the mystery that surrounds the beginnings of art in the United States. We need but take an interest in the person of Andrew Barton, Esq., to be confronted with a threat- ening question mark. "Evidently," says Mr. Seilhamer, "the name of Andrew Barton, Esq., on the title page is an assumed one, and in the Kidgway Library ^ copy the name of Colonel Thomas Forrest, of Germantown, is written in ink as the author." ^ A startling statement; the more so as it is not at all self- evident why the not very uncommon name of Barton should be a pseudonym. Had Mr. Seilhamer written "be- cause" instead of "and" he would, at least, not have dis- missed his readers without a reason for his theory. As the statement stands, his "evidently" appears merely to >A branch of tbe Library Company of Pblladelpbia. » Op. cit. I, 178. EARLY AMERICAN OPERAS 41 be an argument a posteriori. The fact is, that Mr. Seil- hamer, like Messrs. Durang, Ford, Tyler and other his- torians, based the theory more or less on a few delightful passages in Watson's "Annals of Philadelphia." Had they informed us that they failed to find the name of Andrew Barton either in the Barton genealogies or in the city directories of Philadelphia and New York published before 1797, and that "in most of the English chronicles under the year 1511" the story is to be found of how Lord Charles Howard captured Sir Andrew Barton, "a Scotish rover on the sea" — ^we should be prone to abide by their decision.^ Under the circumstances, however, a reexami- nation of their mutual source is advisable. Mr. Watson had this to say :^ Colonel Thomas Forrest, who died in 1828, at the age of 83, had been in his early days a youth of much frolic and fun, always well disposed to give time and application toward a joke. He found much to amuse himself in the credulity of some of the German families. I have heard him relate some of his anecdotes of the prestigious kind with much humor. When he was about 21 years of age, a tailor who was measuring him for a suit of clothes, happened to say, "Ah, Thomas, if you and I could only find some of the money of the sea robbers (the pirates), we might drive our coach for life!" The sincerity and simplicity with which he uttered this, caught the attention of young Forrest, and when he went home he began to devise some scheme to be amused with his credulity and superstition. There was a prevailing belief that the pirates had hidden many sums of money and much of treasure about the banks of the Delaware. Forrest got an old parchment, on which he wrote the dying statement of John Hendricks, executed at Tyburn for piracy, in which he stated that he had deposited a chest and pot of money at Cooper's Point in the Jerseys. This parch- ment he smoked and gave it the appearance of antiquity; and caUing on his German tailor, he told him he had found it among his father's papers, who had got it in England from the prisoner, whom he visited in prison. This he showed to the tailor as a precious paper which he could by no means lend out his hands. This operated the desired effect. 1 See the splendid ballad of Sir Andrew Barton In "A select collection of English songs," Liondon, X783. » Op. clt. v. I, pp. 268-70. 42 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Soon after the tailor called on Forrest with one Ambruster, a printer, whom he introduced as capable of "printing any spirit out of hell," by his knowledge of the black art. He asked to show him the parchment; he was delighted with it, and confi- dently said he could conjure Hendricks to give up the money. A time was appointed to meet in an upper room of a public house in Philadelphia, by night, and the innkeeper was let into the secret by Forrest. By the night appointed, they had pre- pared a closet, a communication with a room above their sitting room, so as to lower down by a pulley, the invoked ghost, who was represented by a young man entirely sewed up in a close white dress on which were printed black-eyed sockets, mouth, and bare ribs with dashes of black between them, the outside and inside of the legs and thighs blackened, so as to make white bones conspicuous there. About twelve persons met in all, seated around a table. Ambruster shofled and dealt out cards, on which were inscribed the names of the new Testament saints, telling them he should bring Hendricks to encompass the table, visible or invisible he could not tell. At the words "John Hendricks, du verfluchter, cum heraus," the pulley was heard to reel, the closet door to fly open, and John Hendricks with ghastly appearance to stand forth. The whole were dismayed and fled, save Forrest, the brave. After this, Ambruster, on whom they all depended, declared that he had by spells got permission to take up the money. A day was therefore ap- pointed to visit the Jersey shore and to dig there by night. The parchment said it lay there between two great stones. Forrest, therefore, prepared two black men to be entirely naked except white petticoat breeches, and these were to jump each on the stone whenever they came to the pot, which had been previously put there. These frightened oS the company for a little. When they next essayed they were assailed by cats tied two and two, to whose tails were spiral papers of gunpowder, which illu- minated and whizzed, while the cats whawled. The pot was at length got up, and brought in great triumph to Philadelphia wharf: but oh, sad disaster! while helping it out of the boat, Forrest, who managed it, and was handing it up to the tailor, trod upon the gunnel and filled the boat, and holding on to the pot dragged the tailor into the river — it was lost! For years afterwards they reproached Forrest for that loss, and declared he had got the chest himself and was enriched thereby. He favored the conceit, until at last they actually sued him on a writ of treasure trove; but their lawyer was persuaded to give it up as idle. Some years afterwards Mr. Forrest wrote a very EARLY AMERICAN OPERAS 43 humorous play (whicli I have seen printed),^ which contained many incidents of this kind of superstition. It gave such offense to the parties represented, that it could not be exhibited on the stage. I remember some lines in it, for it had much of broken English and German English verses, to wit: My dearest wife, in all my life Ich neber was so frighten'd, De spirit come and I did run, 'Twas juste like tunder mit lightning. A pretty story, but does it go to prove the authorship of Colonel Thomas Forrest or De Forest, as he is some- times called, of "The Disappointment" ? ^ If the Colonel wrote the libretto, so full of personal re- flections as to be unfit for the stage, why should its plot differ so widely from Mr. Watson's anecdote, particularly as the incidents of the latter would lend themselves easily and without many alterations, even as to the name of the pirate, for the plot of a farce ? Then again, Mr. Watson says that Thomas Forrest fooled the tailor "when he was about 21 years of age" and that he wrote the play "some years afterwards." How is this? The Colonel died in 1828 at the age of 83. Consequently he was bom in 1745. Adding to this date 21 years we gain the year 1766. The Disappointment was 'published ( ! !) only one year later, in April, 1767. — I confess, a strange contradic- tion ! But this is not all. Says Mr. Watson : "I remem- ber some lines. My dearest wife, in all my life Ich neber was so frighten'd, De spirit come and I did run, 'Twas juste like tunder mit lightning. He must have had a peculiar memory, for these lines ap- pear in neither edition of The Disappointment. ' A copy is now in tlie Atlienseum, called "The Disappointment, or Force of Credulity, 2d edition, 1796." (This is Watson's Footnote.) " I lay no stress on the suspicious footnote : the second edition is men- tioned, but not the first ! 44 MIS CELLANEOUS STUDIES The inference is plain. It would be incompatible with historical reasoning to accept Forrest's traditional author- ship unchallenged. But Mr. Seilhamer claims that "in the Eidgway Library copy the name of Colonel Thomas Forrest, of Germantown, is written in ink as the author." This is a fact. We indeed read, following the verses on the title-page, the ink memorandum "by Col. Thomas Forrest of Germantown." As this gentleman became a colonel in the later part of the War for Independence, the memorandum cannot have been added until, let us say, about 1779 — ^twelve years after the book was published. It might just as well have been added many years later, perhaps by somebody who read Watson's Annals! Furthermore, is it not strange that, though a second edition of the opera ap- peared after thirty years, no other and more convincing allusions to Forrest's authorship should have been pre- served, not to mention the fact that this gentleman did not himself come forward with such a claim when secrecy was no longer a virtue ? But let us examine the Kidgway copy more closely! It is full of manuscript corrections and additions, such as only the author himself can have made. Now the handwriting of these corrections differs from that of the memorandum on the title-page. Consequently it was not Thomas Forrest who attributed the book to himself in after years, and therefore the ink memorandum is by no means authoritative. Finally, how if the half faded aign^ that follows this ink memorandum, should have been in- tended as a question mark, as it looked to me when I examined the copy Mr. Seilhamer mentions ? This historian ends his chapter on "The Disappoint- ment" with the words : "there is no reason to doubt, . . . that the author was Colonel Forrest." We are obliged to contradict him. It seems to me that there are reasons enough to doubt that gentleman's authorship. In fact, Thomas Forrest is not the only competitor for the possible EAKLY AMERICAN OPERAS 45 pseudonym of Andrew Barton, Esq. ; and Mr. Seilhamer, like others, though predisposed in favor of the Colonel, was cautious enough to mention that "hj some" (who?) the authorship of the opera was attributed to Joseph Leacock, who was a jeweler and a silversmith in Phila- delphia at the time, and by others to John Leacock, "who became Coroner after the Eevolution." We may dispose of Joseph, by saying that he seems to have been among the dead when, in 1796, the second edi- tion of The Disappointment, revised and corrected by the author, was issued. On the other hand, Coroner John Leacock figures in the Philadelphia directories even later. If Andrew Barton, Esq., is to be considered a pseu- donym, it seems to me that John Leacock, claimed also (by Mr. Hildeburn) to have written the tragi-comedy of "The Fall of British Tyranny," should not be cast aside so cheerfully in favor of Thomas Forrest. However, the simplest and most satisfactory theory will be to attribute The Disappointment to the pen of one Andrew Barton, Esq., until this name has convincingly been proved to be a pseudonym. 1780-1790 1781 : The Temple of Minerva. 1782 : The Blockheads. 1787 : May Day in Town. 1790 : The Reconciliation. After the publication of The Disappointment in 1767 we do not come across American operas until the war for Independence drew to its end.^ In my monograph on Francis Hopkinson ^ as the first native American poet- composer I described at some length his Temple of Minerva, performed in 1781, and it is hardly necessary to repeat here the history of this curious "Oratorial en- tertainment," as the newspapers called it. It was a politi- ' In 1778 was published at Philadelphia the comic opera "The Political Duenna," but as this piece was not written by an American, it is unneces- sary to describe it. ' Extracts wert, published in Sammelbande V, p. 119-154. The book itself was published in 1905 under the title of "Francis Hopkinson and James Lyon." 46 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES cal, allegorical, semi-operatic sketch in two scenes, in which the Genius of America, the Genius of France, the High- priest of Minerva and the Goddess herself unite in saying and singing pleasant things of the French-American alli- ance. I also stated that it ended with the usual glorifica- tion of George Washington, that Hopkinson's music is not extant, and that the Temple of Minerva made part of a concert given on the 11th of Decemher, 1781, by the minister of France in honor of "his excellency general Washington and his lady, the lady of general Greene, and a very polite circle of gentlemen and ladies." In the following year a mysterious work left the press, entitled : The Blockheads, or, Fortunate Contractor. An opera in two acts. As it was performed at New York. New York printed. London, reprinted for S. Kearsley, 1782. I have not seen the libretto and can only say that Mr. Wegelin ^ attributes it to the pen of Mrs. Mercy Warren, the author of two other political plays. The Blockheads is said to have been written as a counterfarce to General Burgoyne's Blockade of Boston, performed by his mili- tary Thespians in January, 1776, at Boston.^ Somewhat firmer ground is gained with Eoyall Tyler's "May Day in Town, or New York in an Uproar." This "comic opera in 2 acts (never performed), written by the author of 'The Contrast' . . . The Music compiled from the most eminent Masters. With an Overture and Accompaniments. The Songs of the Opera to be sold on the Evening of Per- formance." was advertised in the "New York Daily Advertiser," May 17, 1787, for performance on the following evening. It was given for the benefit of the much admired actor Thomas Wignell, who in 1793 with Alexander Reinagle became manager of the "New Theatre" at Philadelphia. ^ Oscar Wegelin : Early American Plays, 1714 — 1830. Dunlap Society publications. New series. No. 10. New York, 1900. ' Seilhamer, op. cit. II, 20. EAELY AMERICAN OPERAS 47 The opera seems not to have been received favorably, for only one performance is on record. Mr. Seilhamer (II, 215) ably calls it "a skit on -what has lasted in !N'ew York to our day — ^the much dreaded May-movings." By whom the music was compiled from the most eminent masters I have been unable to ascertain. A very much more pretentious opera was Peter Mar- koe's "Reconciliation." The libretto was advertised as "this day . . . published" in the "Federal Gazette," Philadelphia, on May 24, 1790. The title reads: The Reconciliation; or the Triumpli of Nature. A comic opera, in two acts by Peter Markoe. [verses.] Philadelphia : Printed and sold by Prichard & Hall, in Market Street between Front and Second streets, MDCCXO.^ As was the case with Andrew Barton's Disappointment, Peter Markoe's opera was accepted by the manager of the American Company but not performed. Of this the au- thor informs us with some bitterness in the dedication "To his Excellency Thomas Mifflin, Esq., President of the State of Pennsylvania; and to the Honorable Thomas M'Kean, Esq., Chief Justice of the said State; this Comic Opera ap- proved of by them in their official Capacity according to Law; but withdrawn from the Managers of the Theater, after it had remained in their hands more than four Months; is . . . inscribed . . ." The author also relieved us of the necessity of investi- gating the source of his plot. He remarks in the preface : A revisal and correction of "Erastus," literally translated by a native of Germany, lately arrived in Pennsylvania, gave rise to the following piece. The happy simplicity of the German original, written in one act by the celebrated Gesner, [sicj suggested an enlargement of the plan. A new character is added, songs are introduced, and the dialogue so modeled, as to be rendered (it is presumed) pleasing to an American ear. Those who understand the Ger- > 8vo. ; pp. Ill ded. ; V-VI pret. ; VIII Dram. pers. ; 9-48. Text. Brown Univ. ; Library of Congress ; Library Company of Philadelphia. 48 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES man and the English languages will, on comparing the two pieces, readily perceive the difference between them . . . Though this task of comparison would be simple, I prefer to avail myself of the "impartial review" of Mar- koe's ^ libretto, as it appeared in the "Universal Asylum," Philadelphia, July, 1790 (pp. 46-47). Being practically the earliest critical analysis of an American opera, a lit- eral quotation cannot fail to arouse some interest. It reads : The Reconciliation: or the Triumph of Nature: a comic opera, in two Acts. By Peter Markoe. Published in Phila- delphia. This little performance is founded on Erastus, a dramatic piece in one act, written by Gessner. The plan is said to be enlarged, so as to differ considerably from the German pro- duction. The plot is perfectly simple. Wilson by marrying Amelia has displeased his father. Neglected by him, and for- saken by his friends, he retired from the world, into an obscure retreat, with his wife and son, a man and maid-servant. Here they remained twelve years struggling with all the evils of poverty, but supporting themselves under their afflictions with the consciousness of innocence. Old Wilson, during a violent illness, became sensible of his unjust and cruel treatment of his children, and determined to find them out. While passing over the mountains, with this intent he is met by honest Simon, Wilson's servant, who, not knowing him, obliges him to deliver him half of his money, conceiving it more consistent with jus- tice to rob a man of superfluous wealth, than to suffer a family to starve. The money he offers to Wilson, and tells him that he received it for him from an unknown friend. But the inco- herence of his tale leads Wilson to suspect the truth of it and he at length makes a confession of the robbery. Wilson con- vinces him of the iniquity of his conduct, and obliges him to set out to find the man whom he has robbed, and to restore the money to him. As he is preparing to do this old Wilson enters to enquire the road, and upon seeing Simon is much alarmed. But his fears are soon removed by Wilson's assurances. By means of a letter the old man drops from his pocket, Simon ' Peter Markoe was born In Santa Cruz (St. Croix) In 1735 and died at Philadelphia in 1792. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin ; read law In London and settled In Philadelphia In 1783. His "MiSQellaneous Poems" were printed in 1787. EARLY AMERICAN OPERAS 49 discovers him to be his master's father; a reconciliation takes place, and all parties are happy. Such a story appears calculated for the pathetic, rather than the humorous. Accordingly we find the farmer abounding, and the latter very scantily dispersed. The sentiments are in general fine. The moral inculcated throughout the whole is a confi- dence in the ways of Providence, and an adherence to probity and rectitude. The characters are uniformly supported. Wilson is an amiable virtuous man, who in the midst of his afflictions and concern for his wife and child, and all the distresses which have been heaped upon him, suffers not his integrity to be lessened. Amelia is an admirable pattern of conjugal affection, and firm reliance upoij the justice of Heaven. This gives to her, in the greatest misfortunes, a tranquillity of soul, with which she endeavours to inspire her husband ; nor are her attempts fruitless. Their son William, unconnected with the world, talks with the most childish simplicity, at the same time manifesting a virtuous charitable disposition. Simon is a faithful, affection- ate servant, who prefers the service of his old master, to a more profitable place, and retires with him into the mountains. He is made sometimes to utter sentiments which seem superior to the station in which he is placed. Debby is an honest, plain woman. She and her Simon have some little quarrels, but all matters are at last composed between them. — Old Wilson mani- fests sincere contrition for his harsh conduct towards his son. The songs are in general good. Some of them appear to us to possess real excellence; particularly the 2d, 3d, 6th and 7th. What effect this piece would have upon the stage we cannot say. It appears to us, however, that the want of humour, of variety in the dialogue, and the length of some of the solilo- quies, render it less fit for the stage than for the closet. There is no occasion to disagree with the confrere of olden times except where he touches the musical side of the Reconciliation. If the impartial reviewer attributes real excellence to the songs mentioned — de gustiius non est disputandam. For instance, Wilson sings: Air II Tune, The Birks of Indermay. Why sleeps the thunder in the skies, When guilty men to grandeur rise? — • 50 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Or why should innocence bewail Distress, in bleak misfortune's vale? Just are the dark decrees of heaven, Since short the date to either given. Vice earns unnecessary dread and shame. While endless joys are virtue's claim. These may be good ethics hut they are poor musical lyrics. Such stilted poetry may do in the philosophical abortions of Wagnerian epigones, but certainly not in com- ic ballad operas. Especially not if they be fashioned after those of the older type, that is, those in which the songs are sung to popular tunes. Of the seven "airs" used as solos or duets and which precede the finale the first is the least objectionable from the standpoint of ballad opera, though certainly not from that of poetry. It runs thus to the tune of "My Jockey is the blythest lad" : How happy once were Debby's days I Ah I days of sweet content I The hearth rejoic'd her with its blaze The jack alertly went. Since Simon leaves his love to weep No comfort can she know; The jack eternally may sleep ; And Debby's cake is dough, etc. Still it cannot he denied that Peter Markoe possessed a faint conception of operatic effect. He concludes his opera after the reconciliation has taken place with what we may call a feeble attempt at a finale : Duet. Tune, Guardian Angels, etc. Wilson. Nature I to thy throne thus bending Hear a son — Amelia. A daughter too! EARLY AMERICAN OPERAS 51 Both. Grief no more our bosoms rending. Brighter prospects now we view. Wilson. Let him. Heaven ! thy favours share. Amelia. Make him thy peculiar care I Both. And in Death's awful hour On him the blessings pour. Who thus preserves a faithful pair. William. Tune, The Babes in the Wood. Dear Grand-papa! indeed, indeed I I love you passing well. To you with joy I'll sing and read. And pretty stories tell. I mean to copy all your ways, Instructed by mamma ; That wond'ring crouds the youth may praise Who loves his Grand-papa. Deborah. Tune, Good morning to your Night-cap. If she may be so bold. Sir, Poor Debby takes upon her. Although you are not old. Sir, To tend and nurse your honor. With happy art I'll play my part. With soup and sago cheer your heart; For you I'll pray. And bid each day Good morning to your night-cap. Simon. Tune, the same as the last. Since now our cares are over I sue for Debby's favor; 52 MISCELLAIJEOUS STUDIES No more I'll play the rover But stick to her for ever. To you — and you My thanks are due; Tour worship claims my service too. For you I'U pray, And bid each day. Good morning to your night-cap. Wilson, senior. Tune, How happy a life does a miller possess. Affection I continue to warm ev'ry breast; Henceforth I shall hail thee the welcome guest. To nature if just, we most evils deiy; It charms us on earth and conducts to the sky. If fond of our friends and our kindred we prove. Our country may safely depend on our love. Then may true affection each bosom possess ! 'Tis the parent of union ; the source of success I Chorus. If fond of our friends and kindred we prove, etc. Evidently Peter Markoe's libretto wa3 considered quite an achievement in some quarters, for not only did the Universal Asylum review the opera "impartialy," but it published in June, 1790, in addition to the words of two airs both words and music of Air VI to the tune of "In Infamy" (Wilson. Act II, Scene 5). This interest taken by the editor in Peter Markoe should be appreciated, as it enables us to submit at last, if nothing better, at least an excerpt from the operatic literature of the United States during the eighteenth century.^ It is the following : Air in the Meconciliation; A Comic Opera, by Peter Markoe. ^To avoid confusion I remark that the 'Reconsallatlon' (sic) The Words by a Gentleman of Philadelphia. Muslo by J. Gebot, In the first number of Young's Voeal and Instrumental Miscellany has nothing to do with the opera as performed. Gehot, the violinist, member of the "opera house, Hanover square," London, did not come to the United States before 1792, and the collection mentioned was published in 1793. EAELY AMERICAN OPERAS 53 / Truth, from thy radiant throne look down On man's be - w3 - der'd ^ m ,>lr- J^^ * - J '^=S= Teach us, how -e'er mis -for - tune frown. That race; want^b... no dis - grace, That want is lone is woe. To smile at weak dis - tress. The Pow'r who man af-flicts, be -low. Is prompt a - bove to ■ f m = :g:z 1 1^ I I ; H^r-f- PE 54 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES 1793-1794. 1793: Oapoeehio and Dorinna; Needs must; Old woman of eighty-three; 1794 Tammany. Until the last decade of the eighteenth century Hal- lam and Henry's "American Company" controlled theatrical matters entirely in our country. Being with- out serious competitors, this company deteriorated about 1790. Finally it was dissolved. This dissolution marked a new era in our theatrical life. A rivalry sprang up between Hallam and Henry, and Thomas Wignell and Alexander Eeinagle, to import English actors and singers of high standing. Henry reorganized his com- pany under the name of the "Old American Company," with headquarters at New York; Wignell and Eeinagle selected Philadelphia, where in 1793 they built the Chest- nut Street Theatre, for many years the wonder of the United States. Though the two companies were about equally matched as to histrionic and musical talent, they differed in one respect. Without neglecting opera the Old American Company took more to drama, whereas Wignell and Eeinagle decided to lay stress on opera. This rivalry of the two companies filled our operatic life with new blood. By far the majority of popular English operas received a hearing in our country and often in a manner to command respect. The weak spot in the performances of former years had been the orchestra. Here, too, a remarkable change took place after the conclusion of the War for Independence. To the many adventurous persons who flocked to the new- bom United States musicians contributed a proportionate EAELY AMERICAN OPEEAS 55 percentage. Though these musical emigrauta did not, as a rule, represent the highest order of their profession, yet not a few, like Alexander Keinagle, William Brown, Ben- jamin Carr, Raynor Taylor, James Hewitt and others, were able men. Furthermore, when the revolutions in France and the West Indies broke out, the number of skillful musicians was increased by many who sought refuge in the United States. They added to the English and German a distinctly French element, represented by such artists as Gehot and Victor Pelissier. While this in- flux of musical talent was due mostly to political causes, the above-mentioned progress in theatrical matters con- tributed towards the improvement of our orchestras, as the managers of the rival companies took pains to enlarge and improve their "bands." Ready to pay good salaries, they had little difficulty in securing musicians who, with justifiable pride, would advertise upon their arrival in the New World that they had played, for instance, under Haydn. As a matter of course, all this had its effect on the lit- erature of American opera. Musicians, even the mean- est, will insist on reaching for the laurels of composers, and whether the managers needed new accompaniments to older works or new settings to accepted operatic novelties, they could now count upon their own forces to supply the demand. For a while the activity in these spheres of "Kapellmeister^Musik" assumed, relatively speaking, formidable proportions until suddenly checked by various obstacles. For the years 1Y91 to 1793 I am not aware of any work to be called an American opera as defined in the introduction. True, Raynor Taylor ^ advertised * Taylor, Raynor, born [1747] In England, died at Philadelphia, Aug. 17, 1825. — ^According to John R. Parker (Musical Biography, Boston, 1825, pp. 179-180) Taylor entered, at an early age, the king's singing school as one of the boys ol the Chapel Royal. After leaving the school, he was tor many years established at Chelmesford, Essex county, as organist and teacher. Prom there he was called to be the composer and director of the music to the Sadler's Wells Theater. Taylor was a ballad composer of standing before he, in Oct., 1792, appeared in Baltimore as "Music Pro- 56 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES for performance at Annapolis on January 20, 1Y93/ his Mock Italian Opera, called Capocchio and Dormna . . . Dressed in Character . . . Consisting of Recitative, Airs and Duets . . . the -whole of the music original and composed by Mr. Taylor. but this vaudeville-parody, like his "comic burletta never performed, called Old Woman of eighty- three" announced for performance ibidem, on February 28,^ can- not be considered as operas. The nearest approach to this kind of entertainment in 1793 was a musical trifle, called "Needs Must, or the Ballad Singers." It had its first performance at New York on December 23d and served as a vehicle for the reappearance of the popular Mrs. Pow- nall who, having broken her leg during the first few weeks of the season, when she again came before the public was still on crutches.* For "Needs Must" Mrs. Anne Julia Hatton, a sister of Mrs. Siddons, and wife of Wm. Hatton, a musical instrument maier at New York, fur- nished the plot, which was slight, and wrote one of the songs. The whole of the dialogue was the work of Mrs. Pownall. The only example of the songs in "Needs Must" that has come down to us is the following : feasor. Organist and Teacher of Music In general, lately arrived from London." He was appointed in the same year organist at St. Anne's in Annapolis, but receiving no fixed salary he preferred to settle in Philadel- phia. Here be was for many years organist at St. Peter's and, in 1820, influential in founding the Musical Fund Society. His compositions are numerous, and mostly of a secular character. As a specialty be cultivated burlesque olios or "extravaganzas" which came dangerously near being music-hall skits. He strikingly illustrates the fact that the American public of the eighteenth century was not horrified by secular tendencies in an organist, outside of the church walls. Besides Taylor it was B. Carr and Alexander Reinagle who worked most for the progress of music at Philadelphia about 1800. He was famous for bis improvisations. His more important works were never published. > "Maryland Gazette," January 14, 1793. '"Maryland Gazette," Feb. 21. ' Mrs. Pownall, who arrived in the United States during the winter of 1793-4, was identical with the celebrated Mrs. Wrighten. Comp. Seil- bamer, v. Ill ; for the remarks on Needs Must, see this author or his source, Dunlap'B History of the American Theatre. EARLY AMERICAN OPERAS 57 To her enraptured fancy flies Whose image fills the heart ; Swells on the beam of her dear eyes Whose smiles ecstatic joy impart, etc. More important as an attempt at opera was Mrs. Hatton's "Tammany, or the Indian Chief." ^ A serious opera, "the music composed by James Hewitt," ^ and first performed at the John Street Theatre, New Tork, on March 3, 1794. The performance was thus advertised in the "New York Daily Advertiser" for the same day : This evening . . . An opera (a new piece) never before per- formed, written by a lady of this city, called Tammany, or the Indian Chief. The Prologue by Mr. Hodgkinson The Epilogue by Mr. Martin. The overture and accompaniments composed by Mr. Hewitt with new scenery, dresses and decorations.* In Act 3rd a Procession, by the Company. And an Italian Dance, by Messrs. Durang and Miller. Soon after her arrival at New York during the winter of 1793—94: Mrs. Hatton began to wield her pen as the bard of American Democracy. Party spirit ran high in those years, the Federalists and Anti-Federalists opposing each other with the same fervor as Eepublicans and Dem- ocrats of to-day. Mrs. Hatton catered to the Anti-Federal- ists, whose "platform" among other political issues strongly ' Comp. Wegelin, op. clt. ' Hewitt, James, violinist, composer, music puWislier. — Came to New York in 1792 witli Gehot, Bergman, Young and Pliilips as "Prolessors of music, from the operaliouse, Hanoversquare, and profeBsional concerts under the direction of Haydn, Pleyel, etc. London." Hewitt managed excellent "Subscription Concerts" at New York during the following year and was very active as virtuoso and "leader of the band" of the Old Americans. He held an undisputed position as leading musician of New York, and his social standing was excellent. In 1797 or late in 1796 he seems to have purchased the New York branch of B. Carr's Musical Reposi- tory. Though he can be traced back to 1794 as publisher it was not until 1798 that he became important in that capacity. Hewitt's career extends far into the nineteenth century. He was born in 1770 and died in 1827. Quite a number of his compositions are extant, scattered in our libraries, though mostly his less important works. ' The new scenery was painted by Charles Ciceri, and (to use the words of Dunlap) "they were gaudy and unnatural, but had a brilliancy of colour- ing, red and yellow being abundant." 58 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES favored the French revolution. The Tammany Society, then almost as powerful as it is now, belonged to the same party. Under the circumstances Mrs. Hatton could easily win the far-reacliing protection of the society for an opera based on the legend of its patron. She hesitated not to do so, and, as a matter of course, the opera was praised by the Anti-Federalists and condemned by their political opponents. For instance, when the work was revived in the following year, the critic of the "New York Magazine" indignantly queried on March 13th : Wty is that -wretclied thing Tammany again brought for- ward? Messrs. Hallam and Henry, we are told, used to excuse themselves for getting it up, by saying that it was sent them by the Tammany Society, and that they were afraid of dis- obliging so respectable a body of critics, who, having appointed a committee to report on the merits of this piece, had deter- mined it to be one of the finest things of its kind ever seen. The opera actually seems to have been received with "un- bounded applause" on the first night, but even the report of this success in the "Daily Advertiser" did not pass un- challenged, and William Dunlap, he too a Federalist, with evident satisfaction quotes in his History of the American Theatre several sarcastic communications to that paper. He calls Tammany "literally a melange of bombast" and finally remarks : ... a more severe and well written communication takes notice of the ruse made use of to collect an audience for the support of the piece by circulating a report that a party had been made up to hiss it; and goes on to describe the audience assembled as made up of "the poorer class of mechanics and clerks" and of bankrupts who ought to be content with the mischief they had already done, and who might be much better employed than in disturbing a theatre. The disturbance alluded to was an attack upon James Hewitt, the leader in the orchestra, for not being ready with a popular air when called upon. From all this it might be seen that Tammany was not treated with indifference. However, the interest did not jiiAitLi AMjciitiuAiN OrERAS 59 last, as is the case witli most plays applauded for roasona not artistic The opera enjoyed three performances at New Tork and two at Philadelphia in 1794, one upon its revival at New Tork in 1Y95, and one at Boston in 1796, where the eminent singer and actor John Hodgkinson se- lected it for his benefit performance.^ It would be an easy task for us later-day critics, not hampered by the political jealousies of yore, to disclose the real merits of the case by an examination of the book and the music. But neither seems to have been pub- lished. Only "books with the words of the songs" were "sold at the doors" at the second and third performances,^ and nothing appears to have become of the Proposals for printing by Subscription, the Overture with the Songs, Choruses, etc., etc., to Tammany as composed and adapted to the Pianoforte by Mr. Hewitt. The price to subscribers 12 s. each copy, 4 s. to be paid at the time of subscribing, and one dollar on delivery of the book, to non-subscribers it will be two dollars. Subscriptions received by James Harrison, No. 108 Maiden-lane.' By reading the prologue, the cast, and "The Songs of Tammany, or the Indian Chief. A Serious Opera. By Ann Julia Hatton. To be bad at the Printing Office of John Harrison, No. 3 Peck Slip and of Mr. Faulkner at the Box Office of the Theatre (Price One Shilling) 1794." * we may, at least, gain a vague idea of the plot. The prologue was written by a young poet named Rich- ard Bingham Davis, and published in a volume of his poems at New York in 1807. It reads in part as follows : Secure the Indian roved his native soil. Secure enjoy'd the produce of his toil, 1 Comp. the lists of productions lor these years in Seilbamer and In my book "Early Opera In America." „ „ ,. r t^ ,.kh- ' Comp, "Dally Advertiser" for March 5 and 7. On March 5 the public was also "respectfully acquainted that two of the Songs will be omitted as unnecessary to the conduct or Interest of the piece." • Comp. "New York Daily Advertiser" for March 29, 1794. •Collation: 12mo. 16 pp. New York Historical Society; 2 copies, one lacking title-page. 60 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Nor knew, nor feared a haugHty master's poVr To force his labors, or his gains devour. And when the slaves of Europe here unfurl'd The bloody standard of their servile world. When heaven, to curse them more, first deign'd to bless Their base attempts with undeserved success. He knew the sweets of liberty to prize. And lost on earth he sought her in the skies ; Scorned life divested of its noblest good. And seal'd the cause of freedom with his blood. Manifestly tlie historically correct but poetically absurd lines present the plot in an etbno-ethical nutshell. After this prelude came the fugue, with the following subjects: Tammany Mr. Hodgkinson Columbus Mr. Hallam Perez Mr. King Ferdinand Mr. Martin Wegaw Mr. Prigmore Indian Dancers Mr. Durang, Mr. Miller Manana Mrs. Hodgkinson ZuUa Mrs. Hamilton' Reading between the lines of the "Songs" we observe this : Tammany and Manana are in love ; Ferdinand tries to separate them and finally carries Manana off by force. Tammany comes to her rescue, but the Spaniards bum him up in his cabin with his beloved squaw. Truly, a serious opera, but not enough so to exclude the comic element, which is represented by Wegaw. Beyond this nothing definite appears between the lines of the songs. The musical structure is simple and was evidently made to order for Mrs. Hodgkinson, as Manana sings most of the airs. The first act contained four, and all for Manana. There seems to have followed an ensemble scene in which the refrain of a chorus of Indians is taken up first by Zulla, then by Manana, with an additional monologue. The act ends with the same refrain. The second act contains an 1 Cast copied from Seilbamer, y. Ill, p. 84. EARLY AMERICAN OPEBAS 61 Air for Wegaw, a Song for Ferdinand, two more airs for Manana and a final chorus. In the third act Tammany at last, in Air I, shows his power of song. Manana fol- lows with two airs, and the act ends with a regular oper- atic finale. It consists of a duet between Tammany and Manana before they are burned up in their cabin, and a chorus of "Indian Priests." After the catastrophe is reached, follows a chorus of "Indians and Spaniards" in praise of "valiant, good and brave" Tammany, and a chorus of women in praise of "chaste" Manana. The whole ends with a chorus drawing the moral facit. A few examples may show that Mrs. Hatton possessed some power of characterization and that her songs called for an operatic setting very much more than those of Peter Markoe. For instance, after Ferdinand carries Manana off Tammany sings : Fury swells my aching soul. Boils and maddens in my veins; Fierce contending passions roll Where Manana's image reigns. Hark ! her shrill cries thro' the dark woods resound I She struggles in lust's cruel arms, My bleeding bosom, my ears how they wound And fill ev'ry pulse with alarms. Come, revenge! my spirit inspire. Breathe on my soul thy frantic fire. O'er each nerve thy impulse roll. Breathe thy spirit on my soul, etc. Quite different from these somewhat bombastic strains is Wegaw's hymn in praise of the "fir&-water: For deep cups of this liquor I swear. Have made foolish Wegaw quite wise; And faith now, I can tell to a hair What's doing above in the skies. The sun is a deep thinking fellow. He drys up the dews of the night, Lest old father Time should get mellow. And so become slow in his flight. 62 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES The moon she looks drinking, 'tis plain. She governs the tides of each flood, And oft takes a sip from the main; You may know hy her changeable mood. Thou dear tippling orb give me drink. Large lakes full of glorious rum. My head turns, I'm swimming I think. Sweet Ehemal Why look you so glum? This is really not bad for a drinking song, and we only hope that Mrs. Hatton herself enjoyed the charms of Bacchus in a more womanly manner. To these specimens, though they are sufficient to illus- trate Mrs. Hatton's art, I add the duet between Tammany and Manana for a particular reason: Tammany. Altered from the old Indian Song. The sun sets in night and the stars shun the day But glory unfading can never decay, You white men deceivers your smiles are in vain; The son of Alkmoonac, shall ne'er wear your chain. Manana To the land where our fathers are gone we will go. Where grief never enters but pleasures still flow. Death comes like a friend: he relieves us from pain, Thy children, Alkmoonac, shall ne'er wear theix chain. Both Farewell then ye woods which have witness'd our flame, Let time on his wings bear our record of fame. Together we die for our spirits disdain, Ye white children of Europe your rankling chain. The reason for quoting this certainly not very poetical duet is this. In Royall Tyler's comedy, "The Contrast," published at Philadelphia in 1790, Maria sings almost identical words in the second scene of the first act. Had they been original with Tyler, Mrs. Hatton certainly would not have remarked "altered from the old Indian song." This remark of hers was evidently overlooked 63 by the Dunlap Society when it reprinted "The Contrast" in 1887 together with "Alkmoonok. The Death Song of the Cherokee Indians" by way of illustration. The curious little piece deserves a second reprint in this mon- ograph on early American operas, as there can be no doubt that the air had also been used in Mrs. Hatton's opera. ALKM00N0K.1 The Death Song of the Cherokee Indians. New York. Printed & sold by G. Gilfert. No. 177 Broadway. Likewise to be had at P. A. Von Hagen, Musicstore No. 3 Comhill, Boston. The Sun sets at night and the Stan shun the day; But Glo - ly re-mains when the light fades a-way. Be - gin, ye tor- > Mr. Thomas McKee says on p. X of the Introduction to the reprint : "The Ulustration to the song of Alkmoonok, is from music published con- temporaneously with the play. This song had long the popularity of a national air and was familiar in every drawing room in the early part of the century." — But the New York directories render it impossible that the song was published contemporaneously with the play (1790), for GUfert's address above given appears only between the years 1798—1801. Further- more, P. A. Von Hagen resided, according to the Boston directories, at No. 3 Cornhill, Boston, not earlier than 1800 (or possibly 1799, as a directory for this year was not issued). Therefore, the date of publication was probably 1800. 64 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES mentors, your threats are in vain. For the Son of Alkmoo-nok shall nev - er complain. 1795-1796 1795: Sicilian Eomanoe; 1796: Edwin and Angelina.* The Eecruit; The Archers; In 1794 Mrs. Siddon's Sicilian Eomance with William Reeve's music was received with great favor at London. Always eager to acquaint their public with successful nov- elties, Messrs. Wignell and Reinagle introduced the work to Philadelphians on May 6, 1795. As a rule Alexander Eeinagle ^ contented himself witji writing new accompani- * The "Little Yankee Sailor" of 1795 was a "musical farce" with music borrowed from Shield, Hook, Dibdin, Taylor, etc. ' Reinagle, Alexander. Pianict, theatrical manager, composer. — Accord- ing to John R. Parker (Buterpiad, 1822), Reinagle was born [1756] in Portsmouth, England, and commenced his early career in Scotland, where he received instruction in both the theory and practice of music from Raynor Taylor. He came to New York in 1786, calling himself "Member of the Society of Musicians in London." His proposals to settle in New York not meeting with sufficient encouragement, he went to Philadelphia after giving proof of his abilities to the New Yorkers in an excellent con- cert. In Philadelphia his talents were readily appreciated, and he became music teacher in the best families. He conducted and performed in numer- ous concerts, besides presiding at the harpsichord in opera, in several cities, especially in Baltimore, before he and Wignell founded the New Theatre at Philadelphia in 1793. This enterprise was in every respect remarkable, but too great a preference was given to opera, and the com- mercial success was not in keeping with the artistic. Reinagle developed an astonishing activity as composer and arranger during these years. He died at Baltimore on September 21, 1809. "During the latter years of his lite, be was ardently engaged in composing music to parts of Milton's Paradise Lost, which he did not live to complete. It was intended to be EARLY AMERICAN OPERAS 65 ments and occasionally a new overture to such importa- tions, but in this case he reset the entire libretto for rea- sons unknown to us. The "Daily American Advertiser" announced on May 5, 1795, that for Mrs. Morris.'s ben- efit would be given on the following evening: ... a Musical Dramatic Tale, in 2 acts, called The Sicilian Romance, or, the Apparition of the Cliffs. Now performing at Covent Garden in London with unbounded applause. The music composed by Mr. Eeinagle. Merely alluding to an unimportant "Musical Inter- lude" called "The Recruit" and performed at Charleston, S. C, in 1796, the book of which was written by the actor John D. TurnbuU, we now have to concentrate our atten- tion on two operas, whose librettos were both published in 1796: The Archers, frequently but erroneously called the first American opera, and Edwin and Angelina. The book to The Archers was written by William Dun- lap,^ and the music by Benjamin Carr.^ The opera was advertised for first performance at the John Street Theatre, performed In the oratorio style, except that instead o( recitatives, the best speakers were to be engaged in reciting the intermediate passages." [Parker.] The L. ol C. possesses some really fine sonatas of his in auto- graph. 'Dunlap, William, 1766-1839. The well-known painter (pupil of Benjamin West), playwright (70 original plays and translations), theatrical manager, historian, founder and vice-president of the National Academy of Design, etc. ^ Carr, Benjamin, [1769]— 1831. This prolific composer was a member of the London "Concert of Antient Music" before he, in 1793, emigrated to the United States. He is first mentioned in the Philadelphia papers of the same year as partner of "B. Carr & Co., music printers and importers." When opening a branch of his "Musical Repository" at New York in 1794 he probably removed his residence from Philadelphia to New York. Late In 1798 or early in 1797 he seems to have sold the New York branch to James Hewitt. — Carr was a favorite of the American public as a ballad singer, and tried the operatic stage with some success. But his career as organist, pianist, concert manager, publisher and composer was of by far greater importance for the development of musical life in Philadelphia. In fact, he is equaled by very few in that respect. — His compositions, both sacred and secular, are very numerous, but scattered. The New York Public Library, for instance, possesses a miscellaneous collection of sacred music in Carr's handwriting and full of original compositions by him, a fact that has escaped attention. Carr tried almost every branch of com- position with success. He was a thoroughly trained musician of the old school. His works are distinguished by a pleasing softness of lines. He also wrote a few theoretical treatises. — The Musical Fund Society, of which he was a founder (1820), erected a monument to bis memory after his death in Philadelphia on May 24, 1831. 66 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES New York, in the "American Daily Advertiser," 1796, April 16th, as follows : On Monday Evening the 18tli of April will be presented a new Dramatic Piece, in 3 Acts, called The Archers, Founded on the story of William Tell. Interspersed with Songs, Choruses, etc. . . . The opera was repeated "by particular Desire and the last time of performing it this Season" on April 22nd,^ and revived on November 25th, 1796, for one performance.^ During the following year it was twice given at Boston, the second time with an advertisement to the effect that it had been performed in New York "several nights, with unbounded applause." ^ The Archers then seems to have fallen into oblivion. For want of other contemporaneous criticisms I quote what Dunlap had to say on his own behalf in the American Theatre (1832, pp. 147, 149) : The story of William Tell and the struggle for Helvetic liberty was . . . moulded into dramatic form . . . and with songs, choruses, etc., was called an opera . . . Mr. Carr, for whom the principal singing part was allotted, composed the music. Comic parts were introduced with some effect. Schiller's play on the same subject did not then exist . . . The writer of the American play gave it a very bad title, "The Archers." . . . On the 18th of April, 1796, the opera of The Archexs was performed for the first time, and received with great applause. The music by Carr was pleasing and well got up; Hodgkinson and Mrs. Melmoth were forcible in TeU and wife. The comic parts told well with Hallam and Mrs. Hodgkinson, although Conrad ought to have been given to Jefferson. The piece was repeatedly played, and was printed immediately. The title-page reads : The Archers or Mountaineers of Switzerland; an opera, in three acts as performed by the Old American Company, in New ' Comp. "American Daily Advertiser," April 22, 1796. ' Comp. "American Minerva," November 25, 1796. Tliis third perform- ance escaped Mr. Seilliamer's attention, and it must be said tbat his antag- onism to William Dunlap induced him to treat of The Archers too super- ficially. " Comp. "Columbian Centinel," Boston, October 7, 1797. EAELY AMERICAN OPERAS 67 York. To which is subjoined a brief historical account of Switzerland, from the dissolution of the Roman Empire to the final establishment of the Helvetic Confederacy by the battle of Sempach. New York. Printed by T. & J. Sword, No. 99 Pearl Street— 1796—1 The history of the libretto is thus given in the preface : In the summer of the year 1794, a dramatic performance, published in London, was left with me, called Helvetic Liberty. I was requested to adapt it to our stage. After several perusals I gave it up, as incorrigible; but pleased with the subject, I recurred to the history of Switzerland, and composed the piece now presented to the public. Any person, who has the curiosity to compare the two pieces, will observe that I have adopted three of the imaginary char- acters, from Helvetic Liberty, — ^the Burgomaster, Lieutenant, and Ehodolpha: I believe they are, however, strictly my own. The other similarities are the necessary consequences of being both founded on the same historic fact. . . . The principal liberty taken with history is, that I have con- centrated some of the actions of these heroic mountaineers; making time submit to the laws of the Drama. But the reader will not have that sublime pleasure invaded, which is felt in the contemplation of virtuous characters; Tell, Furst, Melchthal, Staffach, and Winkelried, are not the children of poetic fiction. . . . New York, April 10th, 1796. W. Dunlap. After the prologue ("We tell a tale of Liberty to-night , . ,") follow the Characters. William Tell, Burgher of Altdorf, Canton 1 ^j, Hodgtingon of Uri J Walter Furst, of Uri Mr. Johnson Werner Staffach, of Schwyz Mr. Hallam, jun. Arnold Melchthal, of Unterwalden Mr. Tyler Gesler, Austrian Governor of Uri Mr. Cleveland Lieutenant to Gesler Mr. Jefferson Burgomaster of Altdorf Mr. Prigmore Conrad, a seller of wooden ware in Altdorf Mr. Hallam Leopold, Duke of Austria Mr. King 'Collation: 8vo. pref. pp. (V)-VI ; prol. (VII)-VIII; text 78 pp. : hlBt. account pp. 81—94 (1). Boston Public Library ; Brown UniverBity; Library ot Congress ; Library Company of Philadelphia ; New York His- torical Society ; New York Public Library ; Pennsylvania Historical Society. 68 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Bowmen Messrs. Lee, Durang, etc. Pikemen Messrs. Munto, Tomkins, etc. Burghers Messrs. Des Moulins, Wools, etc. Portia, Tell's -wife Mrs. Melmoth Ehodolpha, Walter burst's Ij^.^^ Broadhurst daughter J Cecily, a basket woman Mrs. Hodgkinson Boy, Tell's son Miss Harding -««• -J j; TT • f Madame Gardie, Madame Val, Maidens of Tin -[^.^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^ Scene lies in the City of Altdorf and its Environs. Time, part of two days. A fair example of the strength and high standard of the Old American Company! Having the right of priority over Schiller's Wilhelm Tell, The Archers shall be treated here with especial con- sideration. A synopsis "will also help to disclose the dif- ferences in plot, spirit and genre hetvs^een the work of the so-called Father of the American Stage and the German master-poet. The first scene of the first act "shows" a Street in Altdorf. Enter Cecily crying "Baskets for Sale" or rather soliciting trade with a song. She is met by "Conrad with a Jackass loaded with "Wooden Bowls, Dishes, Ladles, etc." Conrad is a jolly sort of fellow from beginning to end of the opera, as may be seen from his entrance-song : Here are bowls by the dozen, and spoons by the gross, And a ladle or two in the bargain I'll toss. Here are ladles for soup and ladles for pap. To feed little Cob as he lies in your lap. By, by, by, by. Come, buy . . . etc. In the following dialogue we hear of the troubles of the peasantry and of their preparations for overthrowing Ges- ler's tyrannical government. But the couple is not very much interested in politics and prefers to make love in a duet. Their happiness comes to a sudden end "when EARLY AMERICAN OPERAS 69 enter Lieutenant and Guard, Drums, etc. Some pressed men bound — Citizens following — Conrad attempts to steal oil" but is seized by the guards and made a prisoner. Tbis calls for a Trio between Conrad, Cecily and the Lieutenant. The latter is anything but "honest and sound at the heart," as Cecily sings of her Conrad, for his en- treaties are cynically outspoken. In the second scene we discover William Tell adjusting his arms, "his little son trying to draw his sword." They are joined by Portia, and in a highly patriotic dialogue we are informed in detail of Gesler's violations of char- tered rights. Finally we are entertained with a song by Tell, the following lines of which -will prove him to have been a greater marksman than Dunlap a poet. Forever lives the patriot's fame. Forever useful is his name. Inspiring virtuous deeds. How glorious 'tis in spite of time In spite of death, to live sublime; While age to age succeeds. The scene shifts and "bowmen are discovered preparing their arms by the Side of a Piece of Water ; on the other Side of which is seen the sublime Hills, hanging Eocks, and various appropriate Beauties of the Lake of Uri." After a chorus by the bowmen, enter Walter Furst and Arnold Melchthal. Horns sound at a distance, are rec- ognized as those of Schwyz and answered by the bow- men of Uri with the "song of Uri." Enter Werner Staf- fach at the head of warriors. They march down the stage and range opposite (we are in opera) the bowmen of Uri, singing To the war horn's loud and solemn blast, Floating on the affrighted air, Obedient Schweitzers hither haste. The fight with IJri's sons to share. Of course, the "Euetli Schwur" follows, Dunlap spelling the word Oruti, and it is here where he "concentrated 70 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES some of the action of these heroic mountaineera" by avail- ing himself of Arnold Winkelried and the Battle of Sem- pach — an anachronism of eighty years, to make "time submit to the laws of the Drama." The operatic illusion becomes complete when "enter Ehodolpha, equip'd as a Huntress." She requests and receives her father's permission to fight with the men for the liberty of her country. The act could end here to the satisfaction of everybody, but a finale is needed. It is furnished by Melchthal and Ehodolpha in a duet and by the "Chorus of the whole." The second act opens "in front of the castle of Altdorf. A pole is seen with a Hat on it. Enter Lieutenant with Gruards, among whom is Conrad, armed as a Cuirassier, his Armour much too large for him and apparently very heavy." The Lieutenant leads him to a spot near the castle, with orders to force every passer-by to bow to the governor's hat. Exit Lieutenant after a clever duet with Conrad, who continues his buffooneries. He not even in- terrupts them when Gesler and Lieutenant enter with deep- laid plans against the burghers of Altdorf in general and "saucy Tell" in particular. Having informed the au- dience of their intention to hang Tell, they leave, where- upon enters Ehodolpha. We are now entertained with a rather burlesque episode between her and Conrad. The play again becomes serious for a while after the appear- ance of the burgomaster, who bows to the hat. A skill- fully contrasted dialogue follows between him "traitor I no, no, . . . one of Switzerland's best friends" (as he calls himself) and Ehodolpha. Finally, aiming at the burgomaster with her weapon, she forces him to kneel down and bow to her, "the representative of Liberty." From a melodramatic standpoint this is very effective and would please an American audience to-day as much as it probably did one hundred years ago. The scene, however, EAELY AMERICAN OPEEAS 71 is weakened by a rather tawdry song of Ehodolpha and by additional buffooneries of Conrad. The next scene carries us to the town-hall of Altdorf. Its interest is concentrated in a fine monologue of Tell, who incites his fellow-citizens to speedy action. He is surprised and disarmed, whereupon we are carried back to the castle, the pole, etc., and — Conrad in Morpheus' arms. Enter Burgomaster, Tell, and Lieutenant. Traitor and patriot are contrasted in a pathetic manner, but the effect is destroyed by what follows: a low-comedy scene between Conrad and Cecily. For instance, Cecily sings a song, tickling at its refrains her sleeping lover's nose. Finally, Conrad "gets out of the cuirass and dresses up Cecily." The fourth scene carries us to the governor's palace, where Gesler gives orders to execute Tell immediately, though Portia pathetically cries for mercy. The news that the Austrians "have stop'd ; amaz'd" and that Leopold of Austria has taken supreme command, forces Gesler to defer the execution. He resolves to free Tell under the condition that "he must somewhat do to please us." Of course, we now expect to be witnesses of how Tell shoots the apple from his son's head. Strange to say, Dunlap contents himself with merely letting Gesler stipulate this feat as the conditio sine qvxi non, and with contrasting Gesler's devilishly cruel designs with Portia's pathetic outcries. The next scene shows "the Mountains, a Waterfall and a distant View of a part of the Lake." Enter Walter, then Melchthal and bowmen, rejoicing in the news of the emperor's death. After a rather bombaatic song of Melch- thal, those present are joined by Werner, Rhodolpha, pike- men, and maidens bringing the belated news that "Gesler hath seiz'd on Tell, and threatens death." All this occa- sions a trio between Ehodolpha, Melchthal and first bowman "altered from Goldsmith" : 72 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Dear is the homely cot, and dear the shed To which the soul conforms ; And dear to us the hill, whose snow-crowned head Uplifts us to the storms, etc. With the quoted lines as chorus-refrain, the curtain falls, the interruption of the apple-scene being an obvious techni- cal blunder. Its development is taken up in the first scene of the third act, on lines and at times in words almost literally the same as in Schiller's drama. The second scene pre- sents "The mountains. Violent Storm, Wind, Rain and Thunder." After the storm has abated, enter Melchthal with this song: Hark! from the mountain's awful head. To stranger's hearts inspiring dread. The genius of our hiUs in thunder speaks ! Switzers, to arms ! to arms ! arise ! To arias ! each hollow cave replies To arms ! to arms ! from every echo breaks. Then enters Ehodolpha, followed by her female archers. We listen to a song by her and are then notified by Werner Staffach — ^how weak is this all compared with the corresponding scenes in Schiller — : the tyrant Gesler's slain 'Twas Tell that slew him — ^here upon the lake. Hardly has he narrated how Tell escaped, when the hero arrives. He is greeted with : Song Ehodolpha He comes I he comes ! the victor comes. Who conquers in his country's cause, etc. Chorus He comes ! he comes I etc. EARLY AMERICAN OPERAS 73 Arnold Not so the bloodstain'd tero, lie Who murders but to gain a name, etc. Chorus He comes ! etc. Tell is chosen commander in chief. He distributes his orders. Exeunt all except Khodolpha and Arnold, who remain true to the traditions of opera by singing a duet before hastening away. The third scene is of an essentially comic character. It plays in the Castle of Altdorf, where Conrad is tried as a deserter. But he seems to know that nothing will hap- pen to him, for he is extremely merry, though the guards prepare to shoot him. They are prevented from doing so by Khodolpha and her Amazons, who have attacked and stormed the castle (as Melchthal has the kindness to in- form the public). After some funny lines by Conrad and a song by Cecily, the scene closes with a glee between Khodolpha, Arnold and Cecily. Scenes fourth and fifth represent the finale of the work on "the Field of Battle, surrounded by Mountains." It is a regular stage skirmish void of dramatic interest. Leo- pold is slain by Tell, Conrad has a few jokes in store, and with much noise of sounding horns and trumpets "an almost bloodless victory" is won by the Swiss. Tell ad- vances and delivers a patriotic speech with a song: When heaven pours blessings all around O I May mankind be grateful found, etc. Arnold Melchthal follows with Te youths, to Melchthal look and learn ; — It's blest reward to see Virtue earn, etc. Khodolpha with If foreign foes our land invade. Like me, may each undaunted maid A patriot heart display, etc. 74 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Cecily with Now war is o'er, and Conrad mine, I'll make my baskets, neat and fine, etc. Chorus of the whole: When heaven pours blessings all around, etc. and curtain. Necessarily, the American and German plays have much in common, "being both founded on the same historic fact," as Dunlap puts it in his preface. That Schiller's drama surpasses The Archers in dramatic logic, vigor, purity of style and poetic beauty goes without saying, for Dunlap was not a master-poet, but merely a dramati- cally gifted stage-manager. However, it would be unjust to deny The Archers some forcible monologues and skill- fully contrasted scenes in which the mongrel form of opera is well kept in mind. It would also be unjust to condemn Dunlap wherever his version differs from Schiller's, merely because it differs. We generally grow so familiar with the structure of a masterpiece that a different version appears to be a failure, though it may possess its inde- pendent merits. For instance, no esthetic objection can be raised against Dunlap's endeavors to picture Tell as an active "politician" or to keep Tell's wife more in the foreground than Schiller did. Dunlap falls short less in such details than in his arid lyrics and in the general aspect of the play. The Tell story is bound to be the theme for a serious drama, and no theme is less appropriate for a comic opera, as the story contains no comic elements whatever. If, there- fore, an author stoops to make of it a comic opera, he ■will be forced to use violence. This Dunlap has done, and this combination of heterogenous elements has been futile, the more so as the comic scenes decidedly smack of low comedy. At times Conrad and not Tell seems to be the hero. In fact, The Archers could greatly be improved if X ■X a ■J? tf !2. c^ y. p Hr *^ £; <. ^ EARLY AMERICAN OPERAS 75 Conrad and Cecily were omitted. Of course, then the main reason for calling the work a comic opera would disappear and the part which music has in the play would be further reduced. Perhaps it would have been better to omit music entirely, with the exception of some patriotic choruses and the storm music between scenes 1 and 2 of the third act, since nearly all the songs, duets and trios are wholly un- dramatic. They retard the solution of the problem and contain but repetitions of the contents of the spoken mono- logues and dialogues in the form of musical lyrics. Still, we must not censure Dunlap too severely. Others, and greater than he, sinned against good taste by forcing serious themes into the straitjacket of comic opera. This had to be pointed out, as the origin of the pecu- liarly spectacular and nonsensical character of the Ameri- can (so-called) comic operas of to-day — veritable operet- tinaccias, to murder the Italian language — must partly be traced back to the beginnings of operatic life in America. The remark will go a good way towards a reasonable ex- planation of why so far the birth of genuine American opera has been so tardy, for American comic opera is, at its best, a deeply rooted national evil. Of Carr's music to Dunlap's Archers hardly anything can be said, as it seems to be lost. However, I was fortu- nate enough to discover, in No. 7 of Carr's Musical Miscel- lany, the number having been copyrighted in 1813, a Rondo from the Overture to the opera of the Archers or Mountaineers of Switzerland and composed by B. Carr. Ar- ranged for the Piano Forte. A reprint of this extremely scarce piece^ will be found in the Sammelbande, 1904-05. That it in no way pre- > The only copy I personally knew ol at the time of writing this essay was In the possession ot the Hopkinson family of Philadelphia. Since then I acquired a copy for the Library of Congress and also of the song "Why, Huntress, Why" (in B. Carr's "Musical Journal," ca. 1800), a facsimile of which was first published in my book "Early Opera In America," G. Schir- mer, 1915. Both the New York Public Library and the Library of Congress possess this rare piece. 76 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES sents an overture programmatic of the Tell idea will be seen at the first glance. It is a simple rondo, the themes of which may or may not have been used in the opera. If the songs, etc., were as dainty as this rondo, we surely must regret their loss. Edwin and Angelina. Allusion was made to the prevailing idea that The Arch- ers was the first American opera. It was not, for at least Edwin and Angelina, or the Banditti, an opera, in three acts. New York. Printed by T. & J. Swords, No. 99 Pearlstreet. 1797. possesses the claim of priority.^ The libretto was written by Elihu Hubbard Smith, a physician, graduate of Yale, who was bom at Litchfield, Conn., in 1771 and died of yellow fever at New York in 1798. The preface, as all good prefaces should, gives the history of this opera, and a strange history it is. . . . The principal scenes of the following Drama were com- posed in March, 1791, as an exercise to beguile the weariness of a short period of involuntary leisure; and without any view to theatrical representation. From that time, till the month of October, 1793, they lay neglected, and almost forgotten. An accident then bringing them to recollection, several short scenes were added, agreeable to my original design; and the whole adapted to the Stage. The piece was presented to the then Managers of the Old American Company, for their accept- ance, the December following ; but the peculiar situation of the theatre prevented any attention to this application, till June, 1794; when on a change in the management, it was accepted. An interval of six months, and a further acquaintance with the Stage, had convinced me that the piece might undergo altera- tions, with advantage. These were undertaken, immediately: the loss of a comic character, which was now rejected, was sup- plied by two new additional scenes ; additional songs were com- > Collation : 8vo. t. p. V. bl. ; p. (3) ded. signed E. H. Smith "To Reuben and Abigail Smith, Connecticut. My Dear Parents . . ." ; pp. (5)-6 pref . ; p. 7 dramatis personae ; pp. 8-72 text. — Boston Public Library ; Brown University; Library Company of Philadelphia; Massachusetts His- torical Society ; New York Historical Society. EARLY AMERICAN OPERAS 77 posed; and a Drama of two acts, in prose, was converted into the Opera, in its present form, in the course of the succeeding month. The inherent defects of the plan were such as could not be remedied, without bestowing on the subject a degree of attention incompatible with professional engagements; and, which I, therefore thought myself justified in withholding. But should this performance meet the same generous indulgence, in private, with which it was received in public, I shall neither attempt to disarm Criticism of her severity, nor be ashamed of this feeble effort to contribute to the rational amusement of my fellow-citizens. New York, Feb. 15, 1797. P.S. It may not be improper to observe (though the reader can scarcely be supposed uninformed, in this particular) that the first, second, third, fifth, and sixth songs, in the third act of the following Drama, are from Goldsmith; and all except the first, from the Ballad of "Edwin and Angelina." I have taken the liberty to make a slight alteration in the second, to accommodate it more perfectly to my purpose; and it will be obvious that, in the principal scene between Edwin and An- gelina, I have availed myself of the sentiments, and, as far as possible, of the very expressions of the Author. The performance alluded to took place at New York on December 19, 1796. The work was advertised in the "American Minerva" for the same day as: "never performed . . . With songs, partly from Goldsmith, partly original. Music by Pelissier." ^ From the libretto the cast appears to have been this: Sifrid Mr. Hodgkinson Edwin Mr. Tylor Ethelbert Mr. Martin Walter Mr. Crosby Edred Mr. Munto Houg Mr. Miller Banditti Angelina Mrs . Hodgkinsoi ' Pelissier, Victor, performer on the French horn and composer. — First mentioned on Phlladelpia concert programs in 1792 as "first French horn of the Theatre in Cape Frangois." After residing in Philadelphia for one year he moved to New York as principal hornplayer in the orchestra of the Old American Company. His name is frequently met with on New York concert programs, and most of the arrangements and compositions for the Old American Company were written either by him or James Hewitt. Pelissier resided in New York for many years. 78 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES If Victor Pelissier's music, which seems not to be ex- tant/ was aa defective as Elihu Hubbard Smith's libretto, the managers were justified in according Edwin and Ange- lina but one performance. The "scene lies in a forest, in the northern extremity of England, and in a Cavern, and the entrance of a Hermitage, in the Forest. Time, that of the Kepresenta- tion." Earl Ethelbert, wealthy, and reputed generous, and Sifrid, of noble birth but poor, were born in the same city. While young. Distinction proud was neither known nor felt: But Ethelbert, arrived to manhood, grew vain, debauch'd, Selfish and mercenary, false and cruel. After the death of his father, Ethelbert took possession of the estate and ... in place exalted, he no more. His former friend recogniz'd. Sifrid, deeply wounded, left him and became tenant to a neighboring lord. There he saw, loved and was loved by Emma, the daughter of a simple husbandman like him- self. Ethelbert strove to gain, betray and corrupt Emma ; and, as she was constant, finally with armed force At night, he bore her captive to his tower. In vain; she remained "inflexible to faithlessness or shame." Ethelbert then imprisoned Sifrid and caused a report to be spread that he had died, hoping "by long attention to o'ercome her hate." Several years pass. Sifrid forces his escape and flees. Convinced that the worst has happened and that the earl killed Emma, he ' Since writing this study, I acquired for tlie Library of Congress Pelis- sier's "Columbian Melodies. A monthly publication consisting of a variety of songs and pieces for the pianoforte composed by Victor Pelissier," Phila- delphia, 1811. This extremely rare collection contains "Few are the Joys" and "The Bird when summer" from his "Edwin and Angelina." EARLY AMEKICAN OPERAS 79 becomes an outlaw and finally chieftain of bandits. But Emma is still alive and still loves Sifrid. In the mean- time, Ethelbert "sinks a slave" of Angelina's beauty. She is also loved by Edwin, a poor knight. Angelina loves not Ethelbert but Edwin, though for a while her affection is subdued by "arrogance of wealth" and "false pride oi birth." Edwin, "murdered" by her disdain, flees and becomes a hermit in the same forest where Sifrid is chieftain of bandits. Angelina, tortured by remorse, seeks to find Edwin. Ethelbert follows her to the forest, but again she rejects his love. In this very moment they are attacked by the bandits. Angelina escapes, but Ethelbert is captured. On recognizing him, Sifrid at first contemplates cruel re- venge. He abandons all bloodthirsty designs after hearing from Ethelbert that Emma is still living and still true to his memory. The band then receives orders to scour the forest through for Angelina, who has found shelter in Edwin's hermitage. At first the lovers do not recognize each other. After some tearful scenes they do and em- brace in perfect harmony. Alas ! Sifrid, Ethelbert, and the robbers rush into the hut. Ethelbert is naturally very much surprised and be- wildered to find Angelina in a hermit's arms, and com- mands him to release her, which Edwin, of course, refuses to do. Provoked by his firmness Ethelbert exclaims: I would not harm that reverend form, or dash, Against the earth, thy sacred heart; But, wert thou young, thy life should answer me. For thy insolence, old man. Whereupon Edwin throws off his disguise and draws his sword. Ethelbert (in great surprise): Edwin! Edwin (fiercely advancing): Edwin, Lordl Ethelbert (with great emotion) : The saviour of my lifel The murderer of my love! 80 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES The scene ends in happiness, after an explanation how, when and where Edwin saved Ethelbert's life. But some diflBculties remain to be removed. Sifrid is anxious to hasten back to Emma. His words to the bandits My friends ! Hear all, To my fond arms, Earl Ethelbert restores The woman of my love; unto my care My fields paternal, and my earliest home are met with au outburst of indignation by these gentle- men, who are not very anxious to reform. Gradually, however, their hearts soften, and the finale brings universal happiness and perfect harmony. This plot, though simple, is full of improbabilities. And these improbabilities render the developments com- plicated, as the author has not carried out the dramatic idea with sufficient clearness and logic. It is, for instance, illogical that Ethelbert should recognize Edwin and not vice versa as well, which would have saved the public a good deal of guesswork and surprise, greater than that of Ethelbert on recognizing Edwin. In fact, the main defect of the play lies in the by far too many surprises that are sprung on the audience*, The language is "exalted" and "sublime" as in so many efforts of this era of "Sturm und Drang," Ossian, and "Die Rauber." The characters with their mixture of hyper-romantic sentimentality and stage villainry prob- ably appealed to the public of those days, but they are woefully schematic. To dwell on Edwin and Angelina as an "opera" is hardly necessary after the confessions of the author in his preface. It is suiEcient to state that the leading men and leading ladies all come in for their share of the dozen lyrics which protract the dramatic agony, and that the whole winds up in an elaborate but commonplace finale. EARLY AMERICAN OPERAS 81 1797-1800 1797: Ariadne Abandoned; The Iron Chest; The Adopted Child; The Savoyard; The Launch. 1798: The Purse; Ameri- cania and Elutheria. 1799: Sterne's Maria; Fourth of July; Rudolph. 1800: Castle of Otranto; Robin Hood; The Spanish Castle; The Wild-goose Chase. In 1797 a form of operatic entertainment was intro- duced in ^ew York for which I believe the Americans to be peculiarly gifted: the melodrama. On April 22nd, the much admired Mrs. Melmoth advertised for her benefit on Wednesday the 26th in the New York Daily Adver- tiser : The evening's entertainment will conclude with a piece, in one act, never performed in America, called Ariadne Abandoned By Theseus, in The Isle of Naxos. Between the difFerent passages spoken by the actors, will be Full Orchestra Music, expressive of each situation and passion. The music composed and managed by Pelissier. This advertisement is about all I have been able to find regarding Ariadne Abandoned. It probably waa an imi- tation of Benda's work, but neither this nor how the public received the melodrama, could I ascertain. At any rate, when John Hodgkinson invaded Boston during the same year, Ariadne was performed there on July 31st as a "Tragic Piece in one act" and again with Pelissier's music. ^ The next American opera carries us to Baltimore, where on June 2, 1797,^ was to be performed ... a favorite new play, interspersed with songs, called The Iron Chest. Written by George Colman, the younger, founded on the cele- brated novel of Caleb Williams, and performed at the theatres in London, with unbounded applause. The music and accompaniments by Mr. K. Taylor. • Comp. "Columbian Centinel," July 29, 1797. » Comp. "Federal Gazette," June 2, 1797. 82 MI SCELLANEOUS STUDIES In England this Play, interspersed with songs, was styled an opera. It had its first performance as such with Ste- phen Storace's music in London in 1796, and it is for this reason that I included The Iron Chest with Reinagle's music in the body of my monograph instead of in the appendix.^ Our managers have ever been eager to import the suc- cessful London novelties. A case in point is Samuel Birch's Adopted Child. First performed with Thomas Atwood's music at Drury Lane in 1795, it was introduced to a New York audience as early as May, 1796, and continued to meet with the applause of different American audiences. As a rule it was given with Atwood's music, but in Boston, for some reason or other, the managers of the Haymarket Theatre decided to perform "for the last time," on June 5, 1797,2 "The Musical Drama of the Adopted Child" with "the music entirely new and composed by Mr. V. Hagen." ' Though an advertisement to that effect escaped my at- tention, it is almost safe to say that the preceding perform- ances, too, were given with Van Hagen's setting. When the first took place I do not know; certainly between January and the middle of March, 1797, since the second > To repeat It, the appendix is not here reprinted Irom the "Sammel- bande." ' Comp. "Columbian Centlnel," June 3, 1797. ■ This Mr. V. Hagen probably was P. A. Van Hagen, senior ; organist, violinist, composer. — P. A. Van Hagen, jun., came to Charleston, S. C, in 1774. He called himself in advertisements "Organist and Director of the City's Concert in Rotterdam. Lately arrived from London," and gave lessons on the organ, harpsichord, pianoforte, violin, violoncello, and viola. He was probably identical with the violinist of the same name who appeared at New York in 1789, having changed the "jun." into "sen." in distinction from his son P. A. Van Hagen. In the following year he called himself "Organist, Carilloneur, and Director of the City Concert, at Zutphen." During the following years he resided in New York, from 1793-1796 as principal arranger of the Old City Concerts. After his removal to Boston, during the fall of 1796, J. C. Moller became his suc- cessor. At Boston Van Hagen was for a while leader in the New Theatre orchestra. In his advertisements as music teacher he did not fail to call himself "Organist in four of the principal churches in Holland" with an "experience during 27 years as an Instructor." With his son he seems to have opened a music-store in 1798, but the firm probably was dissolved late in the same year or early in the next. Of his year of death I am not certain ; possibly he died about 1800. EARLY AMERICAN OPERAS 83 was advertised for March 15tli. I have still less informa- tion to offer as regards a musical farce, performed at Wignell and Eeinagle's theatre in Philadelphia on July 12, 1797. I glean from a theatrical advertisement in Porcupine's Gazette for the same day the following title and cast: ... a musical farce, in two acts (never performed) called The Savoyard; or the Repentant Seducer. (The music composed by Mr. Reinagle.) Jacques Mr. Moreton Belton Mr. Fox Front Mr. Harwood Simond Mr. Warren Father Bertrand Mr. L'Estrange Benjamin Master H. Warrell Banditti Messrs. Francis, Warrell and Blissett Countess Mrs. Francis Nanette Mrs. Oldmixon Claudine Mrs. Warrell The plays written during the years immediately fol- lowing the War for Independence frequently had a pa- triotic or political hackground. Though their literary merit was very douhtful, their success with the public was assured if they employed sufficient bombast, stage-battles and patriotic tableaux to appeal to the pride of our new- bom nation. To this category belonged John Hodgkin- son's "The Launch, or. Huzza for the Constitution." Again we are indebted to the old newspapers for the few items relating to this piece. The first was a preliminary "puff" published in the "Columbian Centinel," Boston, on Wednesday, September 13, 1797. Theatrical We hear that Mr. Hodgkinson has written a musical Drama, entitled "The Launch," in celebration of the naval fete of Wednesday next; — on which evening it will be performed, con- cluding with a splendid representation of the frigate Constitu- tion breasting the curled surge. The piece is said to contain a great diversity of national 84 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES character, and incidental Song. The idea is novel — the occa- sion happy. On the day of the first performance the same paper went into further particulars concerning the Musical Piece, in one act, never yet performed, called The Launch; or Huzza for the Constitution. Written by John Hodgkinson. The whole will conclude with a striking Repre- sentation of Launching the New Frigate Constitution. Boats passing and repassing on the Water. View of the River of Charlestown, and the neighboring country — taken directly from Jefiry and Russel's Wharf. The scenery principally executed by Mr. Jefferson. Ned Grog Mr. Hodgkinson Constant Mr. Tyler Old Lexington Mr. Johnson Old Bunker Mr. Munto Jack Hawlyard (with a hornpipe) Mr. Jefferson Tom Bowling Mr. Lee Sam Forecastle Mr. Leonard Irishman Mr. Fawcatt Scotchman Mr. Miller and Nathan Mr. Martia Mrs. Lexington Mr. Brett and Mary Miss Brett Readers familiar with American history will notice patriotic allusions even in the nomenclature of this spec- tacular piece so generously called a "musical drama" in the "Columbian Centinel." As far as the music is con- cerned the "great variety of incidental song" stamped The Launch an operatic pasticcio, sine© we read in the adver- tisement of the fourth performance on November 21, 1797: The Musick selected from the best Composers, with new Orchestra parts by Pelisier. During the years 1798 and 1799 surprisingly few operas were written in the United States and these few would hardly deserve more than a passing account even if we were in a position to offer a minute description of them. EABLY AMERICAN OPERAS 85 In his monograph on early American plays Mr. Wegelin mentions : American Tars (The Purse). Played in the Park Theatre, New York, January 29, 1Y98. Mr. Wegelin has not given the title quite correctly, as it should he "The Purse, or, American Tars," and a perusal of the "City Gazette" of Charleston, S. C, would have con- vinced him that the piece was given there under that title a year earlier than in New York, on February 8, 1Y97. It evidently was an Americanized version of Wil- liam Reeve's opera "The Purse, or, the Benevolent Tars" (libretto by Cross), which was introduced in the United States in 1795 with great success. But if such versions in usum delphini were to be enumerated, I fear Mr. Wegelin' s list would have to be considered very incomplete, as few English plays and operas of the day were not subjected to similar mutilations to suit the American public. On the other hand, a work escaped Mr. Wegelin's at- tention that certainly should have found a place in his monograph. It was performed on February, 1798, at Charleston, S. C, and called a new Musical and Allegorical Masque, never yet printed or performed, entitled Americania and Elutheria; or, a new Tale of the Genii. Neither the author nor the composer are mentioned in the "City Gazette" from which I gleaned the title, but a sketch of the plot is printed, preceded by the following cast : Jelemmo and Arianthus, Great winged Spirits, attendants on Americania Mr. Cleveland and Mr. Downie OfFa, Chief of the AUeganian Satyri Mr. Jones Musidorus, the AUeganian Hermit, the only Mortal in the Masque Mr. Whitlock 86 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Horbla, Chief of the Dancing Spirits Damonello, Lucifero, Horren- dum, and ZulpLo, Dancing Satyrs Americania, Genius of Amer- ica, a great Spirit, residing since the creation on the summit of the AUegani Vesperia, a winged Spirit, chief attendant on Ameri- cania Hybla, chief of the Hemma- driads or Wood Nymphs, and principal Dancer Tintoretto, Luciabella, Ju- beraia, Ariella and Tempe, dancing Nymphs Elutheria, Goddess of Liberty, who flies to the arms of Americania for protection Mr. Placide Messrs. Hughes, Tubbs, J. Jones and M'Kenzie Mrs. Cleveland Mrs. Tubbs Mrs. Placide Mrs. Hughes, Mrs. Edgar, Miss Arnold, etc. Mrs. Whitlock. Sketch of the Plot Hybla, a Mountain Nymph, desirous to see a mortal, implores Offa, a Satyr, to procure that pleasure. Offa deludes an old Hermit up to the Summit of the Allegani Mountain, to a great Eock, inhabited by Genii or Aerial Spirits, the chief of whom, called Americania, understanding that the old Hermit is ignorant of the American Revolution, commands her domes- tics to perform an Allegorical Masque for his Information. In Act first — A grand Dance of Nymphs and Satyrs, who will form a group of the most whimsical kind. In Act second — ^A meeting taken place between Elutheria, the Goddess of Liberty, and Americania, who descend on Clouds on opposite sides. A Pas de Deux, between the Satyr Horbla and the Nymph Hybla. The whole to conclude with a General Dance of the Nymphs and Satyrs, a Pas de Deux, by a young Master and Lady; and a Pas de Trois, by Mrs. Placide, Mr. Placide and Mr. Tubbs. Turning to the year 1799, at least three works are on rec- ord that may be called American operas. In the first place : EARLY AMERICAN OPERAS 87 An opera, in 2 acts, never performed here, called Sterne's Maria, or, the Vintage. , In the course of the opera the following new scenery will be displayed. Opening scene — A Sunsetting, with a representation of the vineyards of France, and the man- ner of gathering in the Vintage. Entrance to a Erench inn. Concluding Scene — ^Landscape and rising Sun. This was the advertisement of the first performance on Jan. 14, 1799, as it appeared in the "New York Daily Ad- vertiser" for Jan. 12th.^ The book came from the fertile pen of William Dunlap, and as the author has a few lines to say on his play in the History of the American Theatre (pp. 259-260), they may follow for want of other infor- mation : On the 14th of January, 1799, the manager of the New York theatre brought out an opera written by himself, founded on the story of Maris, and called "Sterne's Maria, or the Vintage." The music was composed by Victor Pelessier, and the piece pleased and was pleasing, but not sufficiently attractive or popular to keep the stage after the original performers in it were removed by those fluctuations common in theatrical estab- lishments. Sterne's Maria was thus cast : Sir Henry Metland, Mr. Hallam, junr. ; Yorick, Mr. Cooper; Pierre (an old man, father of Maria), Mr. Hogg; Henry (Maria's lover), Mr. Tyler; La Fleur, Mr. Jefferson; Landlords, Feasants, etc. Maria, Miss E. Westray; Nanette, Mrs. Oldmixon; Lilla, Mrs. Seymour. It is not necessary to observe to those acquainted with any part of American theatrical history, that the music of the piece was confined to Messrs. Tyler and Jefferson among the males. The females were all singers; Mrs. Oldmixon the superior. The opening chorus in the vineyard at sunset, and preparations for the peasant's dance. Sterne's words were kept for Yorick, with little variation, and the story of Maria told in his language. La Fleur is the lover of Nanette, and gives . . , account of taking leave of his drum and his military life. Again it was Victor Pelissier who furnished the music to a "musical drama," which, by the way, further illus- > Mr. Wegelin incorreotly gives January 11th as the date of pertormance. 88 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES trates how spectacular theatricals were gradually encroach- ing upon legitimate drama on the American stage. ^ At the Park Theatre in New York was performed on July 4, 1799, as appears from the "Daily Advertiser," a splendid, allegorical, musical Drama, never exhibited, called: The Fourth of July; or, Temple of American Independence. In which will be displayed (among other scenery, professedly intended to exceed any exhibition yet presented by the Theatre) a view of the lower part of Broadway, Battery, Harbor, and Shipping taken on the spot. After the shipping shall have saluted, a military Procession in perspective will take place, consisting of all the uniform Companies of the City, Horse, Artillery and Infantry in their respective plans, according to the order of the March. The whole to conclude with an inside view of the Temple of Independence as exhibited on the Birthday of Gen. Washing- ton. Scenery and Machinery by Mr. Ciceri — Music by Mr. Pelessier. In addition, a melodrama should be mentioned for the year 1799, of which I found neither the date of first performance nor the name of the composer. It was writ- ten by the actor John D. Tumbull, and Mr. Wegelin gives the title of the libretto that appeared, he says, in several editions as follows: Rudolph; or the Robbers of Calabria. A Melodrama in three Acts, as performed at the Boston Theatre. 18mo., pp. 141. Boston 1Y99. If we except the "celebrated Musical Komance" of the Castle of Atranto. Altered from the Sicilian Eomance. Music and Accompaniments by Pelissier. as first performed on November 7, 1800, at New York, and The much admired Comic Opera of Robin Hood, or Sherwood Forest. Compressed in two Acts . . . The Music composed by Mr. Hewitt. ' In PeUssler's "Columbian Melodies," 1811, will be found bis settings of "I laugh, I sing," "Hope, gentle hope," and "Ab ! wby on Quebec's bloody plain" for "Sterne's Maria." A copy ot tbis extremely rare col- lection is in the Library of Congress. KAKLY AMERICAN OPERAS 89 as performed for the first time, also at New York, on December 24, 1800, the few novelties at the close of the eighteenth century were due to William Dunlap's pen. Says the author in his History of the American Theatre : On the 5tli of December [1800] an opera, the music put to- gether by James Hewitt, and the dialogue by the manager, was performed, not approved of, repeated once, and forgotten. It was called the "Knight of the Guadalquivir." Dunlap, when compiling his history, undoubtedly relied to a great extent upon his memory, and it is not surprising that he should have forgotten the original title of one of his numerous plays in which he himself did not discover literary merits. The "New York Daily Advertiser" thus advertised on December 5th the first performance of the opera with an abundant display of dons and senoritas in the cast and the inevitable Irishman in their midst: ... a Comic Opera (never performed here), called The Spanish Castle, or, the Knight of the Guadalquivir. With new scenery and Dresses never before exhibited. Characters. Montalvan Mr. Fennel Sebastian Mr. Hallam Algiziras Mr. Martin Florenzo Mr. Fox Juan Mr. Hallam, jun, Anselmo Mr. Tyler Manuel Mr. Powell Hugo Mr. Crosby Pedro Mr. Hogg Pero Mr. Jefferson O'Tipple Mr. Hodgkinson Officers, Soldiers, etc., by Gentlemen of the Company. Women Olivia Mrs. Hodgkinson Heneriea Miss Brett Lisetta Miss Harding The Music by Mr. Hewitt. 90 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES William Dunlap fared somewhat tetter with a libretto that was only to a limited extent his own, being hardly more than a translation of a farce by Kotzebue, the idol of the theatre-going public of those days. Again we must refer to Dunlap's own words (op. cit., pp. 272, 275) : In August, 1799, the yellow fever again appeared in Xew York. The manager of the theatre [Dunlap himself] resided at Perth Amboy, his native place, and was employed in trans- lating Kotzebue's comedy of "False Shame" and turning the farce of "Der Wildfang" into an opera, which he called the "Wild-goose Chase," a title which some wiseacres thought was intended as a translation of the German appellation. ... As translated and metamorphosed into an opera . . . the Wild- goose Chase was performed on the 24th of January, and con- tinued a favorite as long as Hodgkinson continued to play the young baron. Strange to say, Dunlap had his version of the "Wild- fang" printed, not as an opera libretto, but as The Wild-Goose Chase. A Play in four Acts; with Songs, from the German of Augustus von Kotzebue; with Notes, marking the Variations from the Original. The "play," as preserved (for instance) at the Boston and New York Public Libraries, informs us that the music was "composed by Mr. Hewitt," a fact easily to be verified from other sources, and in the notes (pp. 100-104) we read that all the songs . . . are added by the translator . . . This was about the only "metamorphosis" to warrant of- fering The Wild-Goose Chase to the public as a "comic opera in four acts," as it was called in a favorable criti- cism under date of January 24th, 1800, in the February issue of the Monthly Magazine and American Review. Notwithstanding public approval of the modified ver- sion of Kotzebue's play, Dunlap must have altered The Wild-Goose Chase immediately after the first performance, for it was advertised in the "New York Daily Advertiser" EARLY AMERICAN OPERAS 91 for performance on February 19th as "a comic opera, in three acts." But Dunlap was still unsatisfied, for when the next winter season opened, it was given on December 19th, 1800, as "the much admired Comic Opera of tbe Wild Goose Chase. Compressed in two Acts . . ." In the meantime James Hewitt seems to have published the music (though I have been unable to find a copy), since Joseph Carr, when announcing in the "New York Daily Advertiser," February 3, 1800, his intention to pub- lish "The Musical Journal," concluded the advertisement with the notice: Next week, will be published, by J. Hewitt, the favorite songs in the Wild Goose Chase, as performed at the Theatre with great applause. In this survey of early American operas — sit venia verba — I possibly have omitted a few, owing to the diffi- culty of access to the sources of information, to which I reckon in the very first place the scattered files of our early newspapers. Nothing substantially new, however, I believe, would be added even under more favorable conditions. Early American opera was an offspring of English ballad opera and hardly contained any promises for a truly national art. The nineteenth century has by no means improved the outlook. During its first quarter the melo- drama thrived simultaneously with the senile ballad op- eras. Then the definite importation of Italian opera inspired a few composers to bloodless imitations of Kos- sini, Donizetti, Verdi, etc. Meyerbeer, Gounod, and finally Wagner, stood godfathers to the more modem American attempts at opera, and to-day we are as far from American opera of artistic importance as we ever have been. Not that our composers lack the power to write dramatic music, but our operatic life has been trimmed into a hot-house product. The one Metropolitan Opera 92 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES House of New York supplies the whole country with opera, if we except the French company at New Orleans, the heroic struggle of Mr. Henry W. Savage for opera sung in English, and minor enterprises. Under these circum- stances there is neither place nor time for the production of American operas, and our composers have almost stopped trying their hands at this sadly neglected branch of our art. The struggle against the apathy of the public, eternally in love with flimsy operettas, commonly called here comic operas (shades of Figaro!), and on the other hand against the commercial cowardice and avarice of the managers, seems hopeless. Whether or no a change for the better will take place, cannot be foretold. If not, then the task of the future historian of American opera will not be enviable, for he will have very little to say. LISZT'S HULDIGUNGS-MAESCH AND WEIMAES VOLKSLIED (Written 1914; published in The Musical Quarterly, 1918) Recently I had occasion to consult the following entry in the thematic catalogue of Franz Liszt's works : Huldigungs-Marseh (componirt zur Huldigungsfeier (28. August 1853) S. K. H. des Grosalierzogs Carl Alexander v. Sachsen-Weimar.) Berlin, Bote & Bock. TJebertragung : Fuer Pfte zu 2 Haenden vom Componisten. Berlin, Bote & Bock. AUegio risoluto Tromp. The natural inferences from this entry would be that the march was originally composed for orchestra and that it subsequently was arranged for pianoforte by the composer. These inferences seem to be borne out by Lina Eamann in her Liszt biography (vol. II, p. 229) : .... (Komp. 1853) Huldigungs-Marsch'^ fuer grosses Or- chester zur Huldigungsfeier (am 28. Aug. 1853) des Gross- herzogs Carl Alexander v. Sachsen- Weimar (Komp. 1857) Weimars Volkslied^ (gedichtet von Peter Cornelius), dem feinsinnig ein Motiv aus dem Huldigungs-Marsch. zu Grunde liegt, fuer vierstimmigen Maennerchor in Ausgaben mit Orchester, mit Klavierbegleitung, fuej gemischten Cbor, fuer Kinderchor zu Sehulzwecken, fuer Klavier, etc. ' Bdirt Partitur 1858, Bote & Bock, Berlin. Edlrt Klavierausgabe vom Komponisten, 1863. ' Edirt In alien Ausgaben 1858, Bote, T. F. A. Kuebn, Weimar. 93 94 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Why my sudden interest in the "Huldigungs-Marsch," one of Liszt's innumerable and forgotten minor composi- tions, little known even to the faithful of his own genera- tion ? I am free to confess that I had never heard of it, until I proceeded to consult the thematic catalogue, Ea- mann's biography and sundry other books for the purpose of identifying the manuscript of a "Marsch" scored for military band and bearing, on a fly-leaf preceding the first page of the score (23 p. fol.), this statement by A. W. Gottschalg, the distinguished organist and pupil of Liszt : Festmarseh v. Dr. Tranz Liszt (fuer Militaermusik von EafF), N. B. Dieser Marsch wurde spaeter als "Huldigungs-Marsch" benutzt; dem Grossherzog Carl Alexander gewidmet. Weimars Volkslied v. Liszt wnrde zum Trio benutzt. Das vorliegende Autograph ist von Joachim Eafi. Of this unpublished band score ^ absolutely no mention is made in either the thematic catalogue of Liszt's works, or in Ramann's biography of Liszt, or in Schaefer's "Ohronologisch-systematisches Yerzeichnis der Werke Joachim EaflFs." Comparison between the band score of this "Marsch" and the orchestra score of the "Huldigungs-Marsch" pub- lished by Bote & Bock immediately established the fact that one march must have been derived from the other. True, the trios have nothing in common, but both marches begin (the thematic catalogue quotes merely the intro- ductory fanfare) : After sixteen bars the marches part company struc- turally, the one for band being still more noisy and less plastic than the one for orchestra. ' Now in possession of tbe Library of Congress. LISZT'S HULDIGUNGS-MARSCH 95 The question arises, to which of the two marches belongs the priority ? Gottschalg claims that the manuscript band march was utilized later for the "Huldigungs-Marsch," whereas the thematic catalogue and Lina Kamann would have us believe that the "Huldigungs-Marsch" was com- posed in 1853. Furthermore, Gottschalg claims that Liszt used his "Weimars Volkslied" as Trio for the "Huldi- gungs-Marsch," whereas Lina Kamann tells us that the trio of the march was used for "Weimars Volkslied." Finally, Gottschalg's statement would seem to imply that Liszt composed the "Festmarsch" for orchestra. This, then, would mean that the orchestral score of the "Huldi- gungs-Marsch" is merely to a large extent a revised version of the "Festmarsch" with "Weimars Volkslied" as substi- tute for the original Trio. In the following pages an attempt is made to reconcile these statements with the help of Liszt's correspondence, published by Breitkopf & Hartel. Incidentally, it will be seen that Eamann's dates of publication, so far as they concern the "Huldigungs-Marsch," are incorrect. Of course, Liszt's greatness as a composer is not affected by these inconsequential chronological notes, but biographical accuracy is better than biographical inaccuracy and, in- deed, one never can tell just when or how chronological facts have a bearing on the history of a great composer's artistic evolution. Grand Duke Carl Friedrich of Saxe-Weimar, who had dravsm Franz Liszt to his court in 1842 and thus had shed new glory on Weimar, died on July 8, 1863, and Carl Alexander ascended the throne. Immediately the prepa- rations for the "Huldigungs" festivities on August 28 began and Liszt had occasion to write to Princess Witt- genstein on July 18, 1853, after a reception at court, as follows : 96 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES The company retired at 10 o'clock. Wishing me good-night, Monseigneur asked me to compose a march for his Installation- Huldigung on August 28th. I shall begin to-morrow; and, returning home in the carriage with the Prussian Lieutengnt Colonel Hiller von Gaertringen, I believe I have found a fairly suitable motive which it is only necessary to develop further. In his letter of July 22, 1853, to the Princess, Liszt again refers to the March in these words : I finished yesterday my March for August 28th. It has more than 200 measures in 4 time and I seem to have succeeded fairly well. The leader of the military band will arrange it for his men and Raff will instrumentate it for the theatre orchestra. I have written it out merely for piano with but a few indica- tions for the entry of the instruments. It is twice as long as Mendelssohn's march in the Sommernachtsiraum — I believe that it will produce a fairly good effect. Shortly afterwards Liszt took the waters at Teplitz, fully intending to be present at Weimar during the coro- nation festivities on August 28, for which he had also composed a "Domine salvum fac," but on August 25 he informed the Grand Duke that it would be impossible for him to return for the solemn occasion. In the meantime, Liszt had written about the march to Joachim Raff, whose services from 1849 to 1857 as Liszt's amanuensis went far beyond suggestions as to "Horn- verdopplungen und desgl." as Goellerich in his long-dis- tance reminiscences of Liszt (1908) would have us believe in a gossipy report of a conversation with Liszt in 1884. We know from the correspondence between Raff and Liszt published by Raff's widow in "Die Musik" (1902) that Raff furnished the original instrumentation of Liszt's "Heroide funebre," reinstrumentated as the "Goethe Marsch," and not only assisted Liszt in the instrumenta- tion of other works, but occasionally took a hand in the com- position itself. That Liszt later, when his skill in orches- tration had become equal to that of Raff, deviated from the jointly prepared scores, may be mentioned in passing, because that fact is not so well known. LISZT'S HULDIGUNGS-MARSCH 97 It is in the correspondence alluded to that we find under date of August 5, 1853: Do not forget to give Ludwig the score of the March so that the parts may be copied in time; and please do not send me a mere hrouillon of the instrumentation of the "Domine." . . . I send you herewith a few lines for Count Beust. Call on him either in the afternoon at Ettersburg or, more conveniently, in Weimar. It would be best to reach an agreement with him as to the performance of your Te Deum and of my Ilarch verbally and directly. There can not be the slightest difficulty, but should one be discovered on purpose, Count Beust has authority to remove it. And again on August 24, 1853 : Several rencontres at Teplitz which might influence my future forbid my presence at Weimar on August 28th, contrary to my original plans. I regret that I shall not hear your Te Deum and I entrust entirely to your friendly care any performance of my March and Domine Salvum. Pray recommend me to Montag and his two military band- corps, which will have to occupy themselves with my things — and please take care that they are not played in sloppy fashion. Liszt was spared this danger, for the simple reason that the march was not performed. We know this from the correspondence between him and Grand Duke Carl Alex- ander, published by La Mara in 1909. Says the Grand Duke in his letter from Ettersburg, September 18, 1853, after some flattering remarks about "le produit incompa- rable de votre genie" : For fear of irritating my grieving mother by music in the castle I suppressed your march. I am obliged to you just the same and am still anxious to hear it. I hope and trust that I may soon have the opportunity. Did such an occasion present itself ? I find no allusion to a performance in Liszt's letters. Indeed, this march of 1853 does not appear to be mentioned again in his cor- respondence except in a letter to Hans von Biilow of April 26, 1857: 98 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES I welcome the opportunity for fulfilling my promise to Mr. Bock [of the firm of Bote & Bock, Berlin] ; and I thank you for having pointed it out to me. Until now, I confess, I have not succeeded in discovering among my manuscripts anything suit- able for him . . . ; but if Mr. Bock has a little patience I shall send him in July a March analogous [to the march "Vom Fels zum Meer"]. I would request him to publish it hrilliantly, for it is a march which I composed for the Huldigungs-Feier of our Grand Duke. It will figure here on the program of the jubilee festivities for Charles August (September 3d). I should appreciate it if the arrangement for piano, about six or seven pages in print, appeared by then. I gladly make a present of the little opus to Bock. What deductions are to be derived from these letters for our present purpose? In the first place, that Liszt, by command of the Grand Duke, composed and finished a march for the "HuldigungSrFeier" of August 28, 1853. Secondly, that he composed the march for piano with some orchestral indications. This, then, was the original ver- sion of the march, and it is quite clear that Liszt's loosely used words "arrangement for the piano" in his letter to Biilow are misleading. Not the piano version, but the version for military band, is to be looked upon as an ar- rangement. I say on purpose, the version for military band, because the second letter to Raff and the Grand Duke's letter to Liszt seem to compel the interpretation that a change in Liszt's plans had taken place. Apparently he dispensed with an arrangement for orchestra to be made by Eaff, in favor of a band arrangement only. If Gottschalg was at all a judge of Eaff's handwriting (and under the circumstances he must have been quite familiar with Eaff's chirography), it would follow that Eaff was entrusted with this band arrangement. Furthermore, it is quite clear that this band arrange- ment was not performed on August 28, 1853, also that it has remained unpublished. It is equally clear that Liszt did not bestow a specific title on this march. He simply calls it "Marsch" and not once "Huldigungs-Marsch." LISZT'S HULDIGUNGS-MARSCH 99 In other words, the entry under "Huldigungs-Marsch" in the thematic catalogue is misleading. As to the original version for piano, that, too, obviously was still unpublished in April, 1857, when Liszt thought of having it used by Bote & Bock. Curiously enough, though Liszt was willing to make a present of the original piano version to the publishers, nothing came of the affair. No such march was published in 1857. Indeed, this particular "Marsch" does not appear ever to have been published. More than this, though Liszt told Billow that the "Marsch" would be performed at Weimar during the Grand Duke Carl August centenary festivities in September, 1857, it was not then performed. Or, to be more exact, the march was performed in the original version of 1853, which was still the only version in existence in April, 1857. With this assertion we have reached the second stage of the genesis of the troublesome "Huldigungs-Marsch." What had happened to induce Liszt to suddenly abandon hia plan of April, 1857 ? Again his correspondence sheds light on the subject. The following letter from Grand Duke Carl Alexander to Liszt, written in Wilhelmthal, July 11, 1857, gives the key to the pui;zle: I wish to inform you of a desire, my very dear, [ !] the realiza- tion of which I have much at heart, and which I entrust to your friendship and talent. Neither my country nor my house pos- sesses a national hymn. On every occasion we find ourselves thrown back on the eternal God save the Queen, I beg of you to replace it by another hymn to emanate from your talent and to embody for present and future generations your own cachet of those elevated qualities with which God has endowed you. It is my desire that the festivities of September inaugurate this hymn. It must be something between a prayer and a VolhsUed, serious rather than gay, neither too long nor too shorfr^perfect. You alone can create it. Hence it is to you that I address myself. The Grand Duke, in his somewhat Teutonic French, was ordering a national hymn for Weimar from his court- conductor, very much as he would have ordered a new 100 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES overcoat from his court-tailor. Liszt was too much of a diplomat to dive into his task without further consulta- tion of the Grand Duke. Asked to whose poetry he would give preference, Carl Alexander replied on July 14, 1857, that he saw no reason for not asking "des accords a la lyre de M. Hoffmann" (von Taller sleben). At the same time he suggested unearthing from the theatre archives the text of the song often used on patriotic occasions during his father's reign and composed by the then court-conductor Johann Nepomuk Hummel. The comical side of this phase of the matter is that Liszt from the beginning had Hoffmann von Fallersleben in mind as the prospective poet of Weimar's prospective national hymn, and that in his subtle diplomatic way he was coaxing the Grand Duke into uttering a preference exactly for Hoffmann von Fal- lersleben, who, it will be remembered, was the author of "Deutschland, Deutschland iiber alles." (By the way, any one who takes the trouble to read the poem will see that, contrary to popular belief, "Deutschland, Deutsch- land iiber alles" is not an "offensive" but a "defensive" poem, substantially a plea for political German unity only.) Yet, when Liszt had accomplished his purpose, he did not compose Hoffmann von Fallersleben's poem after all, but one by Peter Cornelius. In a letter to his brother Carl from Weimar, August 3, 1857, Cornelius tells us how this change of front came about : Liszt wanted a kind of God save the King for our reigning house and applied for it to Hoffmann von Fallersleben. But he delivered unto his hands an icy-cold, official nomenclature of Goethe, Schiller; Charles August and Liszt were not satisfied with that sort of thing. He thought that perhaps I could do better, and so I sent him yesterday the inclosed poem to Aix-la- Chapelle, where he is taking the Kur. I wrote the song as much from my heart as I could without hypocrisy or Loy- alitatschwindel — ^to show Liszt that I complied with his wish with respect. Well, if he likes it and composes it, I shall have innumerable opponents, and the whole horde of know-betters (who have neither heart nor song in their make-up to turn out LISZT'S HULDIGUNGS-MARSCH 101 a poem of that type) will sail into me. Now please, my dear, worthy, erudite boy, roast my poem over the coals so that I may polish and improve it before venturing before the public, and can laugh at whatever the envious breed may say. One begins to suspect that Gottsclialg was correct in stating that "Weimars Volkslied," composed by Liszt par ordre de Mufti, was used by him for the trio of his "Huldigungs-Marsch." However, the following excerpts from Lisiit's correspondence will prove that Gottschalg was mistaken. First we have Liszt's letter written from Aachen, July 23, 185Y, to Princess Wittgenstein, and it will be noticed that Liszt then still had Hoffmann von Fallersleben in mind for the poetry of Weimar's national hymn: This evening I shall begin to instrumentate the Goethe and Grand Duke marches which are to serve as entr'actes for Dingelstedt's Festspiel on September 4th. Magnolet perhaps can prevail on Hoffmann to send me a text for the hymn. In- vite Hoffmann for lunch — ^the wine of Champagne will make his Germanic lyre foam. One day later he writes to the Princess: I am very busily at work on my marches, which I hope to finish in about a week. And again one day later : The whole afternoon was spent on retouching my marches, which have produced a tiniamarre in my head. Alas, my good, my only and adored "Tintamarre" is far away! I advance more slowly than I anticipated with this business of my marches, though I am at it tenaciously. Perhaps they will suc- ceed aU the better for it. On July 29 he informs the Princess : My marches are almost finished. They take up more than twenty pages of my score-paper of thirty staves, each more than 200 measures in length. The Goethe march has 250 measures with the repeat. You will be satisfied, I hope. 102 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES And on July 31, with a sigli of relief: This march business is practically transacted and Sunday I shall begin to instrumentate the Test prelude. Without comment I pass on to his letter of August 5, 1857, to the Princess: Cornelius' verses [he means, of course, "Weimars Volkslied"] are to me what March is in Lent or rather the sun in summer. The choral melody of my march adapts itself to them miracu- lously well. Two birds with one stone ... I am about to put my hymn on paper and I shall make a gift of the manuscript to Cornelius. In the meantime thank him for having re- sponded to my wishes so well. The stanza Moge Segen dir entsprossen Aus vereinten Sarkophagen, Wo unsterbliche Genossen Diadem und Lorbeer tragen! is admirable. From his next letter, that of August 8, 1857, we learn nothing new, hut its contents will help to flavor an other- wise dry narrative: All day yesterday Cornelius' verses laid siege to me. Impos- sible to rid myself of them either at dinner or at the theatre. Magnolet and Miss Anderson . . . would have died laughing, had they seen me light my cigar etui instead of the cigar and put claret into my coffee instead of sugar. But at last I have cleared my mind as to what to do, and I fancy that it will be something magnificent. To-day and to-morrow will be devoted to the task, for while preserving the popular character of the melody (to be sung unisono without alterations throughout the five stanzas), I shall vary noticeably the orchestral accompani- ment — which will call for 8 or 9 pages of orchestral score. However, the prospect of seeing you again in a few days stimu- lates me, and I hope to finish the hymn by to-morrow evening or the day after. Finally, we have Liszt's letter of August 10, 1857, to the Princess, still from Aix-la-Chapelle : LISZT'S HULDIGUNGS-MAESCH 103 I required twelve pages of full orchestral score for the Vollcslied of Cornelius — ^but I hope that the poet will be just as pleased with the composer as he is with the poet, and they will hug each other joyfully. I worked at it all day yesterday, from 7 o'clock in the morning until 9 o'clock in the evening, and again this morning. I shall now arrange it for performance either by a chorus or a male quartet with accompaniment of some brass instruments — ^work enough for four or five hours more. At least one deduction from all these letters is self- evident; Liszt approached the task of giving to Weimar a national hymn through the medium of Peter Cornelius' verses with sincere enthusiasm. But also this further deduction is self-evident, that he did not compose new music for "Weimars Volkslied." He killed two birds with one stone by utilizing — as Lina Ramann correctly stated — ^the trio of the festival march composed in honor of the Grand Duke. This fact finds its corroboration in a letter written on August 12, 1857, to another friend. Says Liszt: I believe I have succeeded well with the composition, and the motif choral of my march for the Grand Duke has done excellent service as support ("point d'appui") for this Volkslied. With considerable satisfaction he reported to the same friend from Weimar on August 31, 1857, when writing of the rehearsals of the approaching festivities : The Volkslied of Cornelius met with a complete success at court and in town. It must have been quite a shock to Liszt that the final reception of "Weimars Volkslied," on which he had spent so much energy and enthusiasm, was followed by some severe criticism. The nature of this criticism appears from a curious letter written by Liszt to the Grand Duke on December 30, 1857: You know that this Volkslied has been reproached for not being volkstuemlich enough. Without doubt I might reply that 104 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES the appeal of both poetry and music is to a cultured nation and ■ that the object of this Volkslied is precisely to glorify the culture of Weimar traditions ; nevertheless, I shall not allow my unpopularity to seek shelter behind an act of respectful loyalty to your august house, unless . . . your Royal Highness finds that I was somewhat justified in raising the tone of my song and that it should be heard in public, though some persons might not see their habitual taste reflected in it. In fairness to the critics of "Weimars Volkslied" I add that in after-years Liszt himself took a calmer and more critical view of the merits of this composition as a national hymn. Do not let us modulate too much into minor, not even in Weimar's Volhslied. As for you, remain what you are, an exemplar of nohlesse, very major. he writes self-ironically from Budapest on January 25, 1881, in one of his touching, friendly, and fatherly letters to Billow. Every reader of the letters quoted above must gain the impression that Liszt, under considerable difficulties, had given birth to an absolutely new march for the Grand Duke! Without further knowledge of the real facts one could easily reach the conclusion that the "Huldigungs- Marsch" (incorrectly dated 1853 in the Thematic Cata- logue) is totally different from the march alluded to in Liszt's letters of August, 1857. Liszt helped to pave the way for this possible confusion, by not once mentioning the title he was about to bestow on the march for the fes- tivities in September, 1857. Yet, as was pointed out at the beginning of this article, the march for August 28, 1853, and the march for September 4, 1857, represent merely two different versions of the same piece. Liszt, with all his show of white fever-heat of creation, simply retouched and orchestrated his untitled and unpublished pianoforte march of 1853, suppressed the original trio and substituted a new trio with "motif choral." There LISZT'S HULDIGUNGS-MARSCH 105 was nothing either thematically or constructively really new about this march of 1857, later published and known as the "Huldigungs-Marsch," except its trio, and Liszt killed two birds with one stone by utilizing this trio for "Weimars Volkslied." In the published version this trio is repeated for the final climax of the "Huldigungs-Marsch." Whether or no this was an afterthought, I cannot tell. Just how Liszt used the melody of the trio as "point d'appui" for "Weimars Volkslied" may be seen by comparing the beau- tifully harmonized melody as here quoted with the melody in the first edition of "Weimars Volkslied" in the version for a cappella male chorus: etc. Tenore. Basse. 1. Strophe Frisch und kraftig Von der Wart-burg Zin - nen nie - der weht ein 106 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES j !4f^^^^ = ^ ^^,==6= ^"g: 5^^ Hauch und wird zu Klan - gen, hallt von Ilm und Saa - le ®^ wie - der hell in fro - hen Fast - ge - san - gen. Und vom ^ ^^= =pt4: 3=3 ^ u =t ,mf Land, wo sie er - schallten tont's in al - le Welt hin-aus: ! 1 ! J_ And these slight alterations not only weakened the mel- ody but caused Liszt inadvertently to smoke leather in- stead of tobacco. This is the genesis of the "Huldigungs-Marsch," so far as I was able to discover. In passing, it may be mentioned that it attracted little or no attention in the musical press of the time. Not even Franz Brendel thought it worth while to devote a few words to it in his report of the September, 185Y, festivities at Weimar in the "Neue Zeitschrift fiir Musik," the only organ on which Liszt could count for a haK-way decent and fair consideration of his importance as a composer. Incredible as it may seem, in those days even Liszt's LISZT'S HTJLDIGUNGS-MARSCH 107 publishers did not devote nearly as much space to adver- tisements of his works, as they did to a lot of worse than mediocre rubbish. Perhaps Liszt's hostility to the boost- ing of his works by commercial means had something to do with this attitude. Liszt was so busy championing the prospects of a host of other composers, that he neglected his own. His proud motto was, "Ich kann warten." Perhaps he would still be waiting for recognition of his greatness as a composer — in his best works he certainly did attain greatness — ^had it not been for Biilow and the band of the faithful who proclaimed and preached the art of their idol, with a good deal of fanatic noise, it is true, but also with that intuitive enthusiasm and willingness of sacrifice against which the counter-currents of radical opposition and even silent indifference became powerless in the long run. But back to the "Huldigungs-Marsch" ! If its history as a composition is now tolerably clear, not so its biblio- graphic history. Lina Eamann, it will be remembered, claims that the "Partitur^' was published by Bote & Bock in 1858 and the "Klavierausgabe vom Komponisten" by the same publishers in 1863. Both dates are wrong, Ramann committing a bibliographic salto mortale. The facts are that Bote & Bock announced the publication of the "Huldigungs-Marsch" "pour piano" in their "Neue Berliner Musik-Zeitung" on February 17, 1858 — of course, in its revised and final version of 1857, not in the orijginal version of 1853 — and the publication of the "Orchester- Partitur" not until April 18, 1860! Thereby hangs a ludricous episode, the humor of which the reader will enjoy without unnecessary comment. Hardly had the publication of the march been announced by the publishers, when Hans v. Biilow, who was looking after Liszt's interests, wrote to him from Berlin on Feb- ruary 28, 1858: Are you very much displeased with the physiognomy of the 108 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES "Huldigungs-Marsch" as published by Bock ? This is the second issue. The first was so disgraceful that I protested energetically. I am at dagger's point with him as with Schlesinger. Double profit, as you once remarked. No further allusion of consequence to the "Huldigungs- Marsch" transpired in the correspondence between Billow and Liszt until October 16, 1859, when Biilow, comment- ing on the publishers' "hesitation to publish anything ex- cept profitable compositions by Meyerbeer and Offenbach !" wrote, Here is a copy of the letter which I saw myself obliged to send him in the matter of the Huldigungs-Marsch. Fortunately for posterity this letter has been included in the fascinating collection of Billow's letters published by his widow (Vol. Ill, p. 269-270) and though rather long I quote it here in full as an illustration of the spirit in which Biilow was fighting the battle of his revered father-in-law and master. The letter is addressed to Gus- tav Bock, and reads : It is a very irksome task to have to write the following lines, since possibly their contents may discommode you and since, in view of your personal friendliness toward me, it would have been very desirable to spare me the regret at annoying you. About a year ago you applied to me for a manuscript of my dear father-in-law Dr. Franz Liszt. I sent you a manu- script, called "Huldigungs-Marsch," in orchestral score and in a version for piano, and you accepted it. An honorarium was not stipulated, but the condition was attached to the right of publication that simultaneously with the piano version (play- able as a solo piece for piano) the orchestra score should be engraved and published. The piano piece was issued, but circumstances of various kinds — taken into reasonable consideration both by me. Dr. Liszt's agent, and the composer himself — ^prevented you from carrying out your plan to fulfill the above condition. Perhaps your admirably versatile activity caused the little matter to be forgotten; perhaps I have to censure myself for not having always pressed the demand of my father-in-law for publication of the score; perhaps, indeed, there is a misunder- LISZT'S HULDIGUNGS-MARSCH 109 standingv-that I at the time failed to make said condition absolutely clear to you. I am led to this last explanation by the answer reported to me by Musikdirektor Truhn, who con- veyed to you my query about the date of publication of said score. You rejected the friendly suggestion for pecuniary rea- sons and declared your refusal to publish at all the score of the Huldigungs-Marseh by Liszt. Far be it from me to address to you, my very dear Sir and friend, any reproach; I assume the burden of the matter and complete responsibility to the extent of formulating for myself this obligation : to have said Huldigungs-Marseh by Franz Liszt engraved immediately in orchestral score at my own expense. Inasmuch as the piano score of said work was published by your house, I have now the honor to solicit your assistance in my effort to live up to my obligations and to spare me humilia- tion by my father-in-law. I adjoin the request that you inform me at your earliest convenience of the probable cost of publica- tion — an advance inquiry to be pardoned on the grounds that I do not belong to the class of rentiers. Characteristic as is this letter of Billow's razor-like sarcasm concealed in a mouchoir of aristocratic politeness, Liszt's reply of October 19, 1859, is equally characteristic of this truly wonderful man, a gentleman horn if there ever was one : While regretting that I occasioned your disagreeable task of writing an explanatory letter to Mr. B., I could not help enjoy- ing the reading of this little epistolary masterpiece, which would merit being printed at the head of the score of the Huldigungs- Marseh. However the little affair may end, please, I insist, avoid a falling out with B. on account of his editorial proceed- ings. Tell me simply his answer, and we shall take counsel for the best. On the same day Biilow could report progress, which was to he foreseen either pro or contra after a letter such as his to Mr. Bock. Just what the latter replied, I am not in a position to know, but Biilow wrote to Liszt: Here is Bock's reply to my recent letter. It was followed immediately by the engraver's visit, who wished to consult me about size, etc., of the plates. I have accepted the Leipzig 110 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES edition of Glinka's works as the model. In tliree weeks the whole thing will be a matter of the past. This prophecy was premature, for, as I said above, the orchestral score of the "Huldigungs^Marsch" did not appear on the market until April, 1860. CIAMPI'S "BEETOLDO, BERTOLDINO E CACA- SENNO" AND FAVAET'S "NINETTE 1 LA COIJE" A Contribution to the Histoby of Pasticcio (Sammelbande der I. M. G., 1911) The late W. S. Eockstro contributed a two-column article on "pasticcio" to Grove's Dictionary whick is a curious mixture of fact and fancy. Still, the article, though necessarily brief, is about the most comprehensive we possess on a musical genre which flourishes, as the edi- tor of the New Grove happily adds, through the medium of the "ephemeral musical comedies of our own day," at least in England and America. It is surely not a survival of the fittest, but at any rate the survival of a practice once universal, indeed so universal that further histories of opera are in danger of being inadequate, unless some historian imposes on himself the task of first giving us an adequate history of pasticcio. This task will be dif- ficult and laborious, but it will also be intensely interesting to him as a mere piece of research, and by the very oddity of the subject a refreshing incident to historical literature. Eockstro defines "pasticcio, literally a pie" as "a species of Lyric Drama composed of airs, duets and other move- ments, selected from different operas and grouped together not in accordance with their original intention, but in such a manner as to provide a mixed audience with the greatest possible number of favorite airs in succession," and his definition is satisfactory for ordinary purposes, though any one who has occupied himself with pasticcios will miss the finer lines of distinction which so often compel us not to dispose of an apparently very simple 111 112 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES matter by such a sweepingly one-sided definition. How- ever, it is easily seen that a pasticcio may he made up either from different works by one composer only, or from the works by two or more composers, and the more com- posers involved, the more pronounced the pasticcio char- acter becomes. The first kind is not of much consequence in the history of pasticcio as a genre, and. furthermore Eockstro's definition would not pass muster very long if every opera in which a composer deliberately used ma- terial from earlier operas, were called a pasticcio. For the history of opera the second kind of pasticcio offers hardly any historical nuts to crack, if the juxtaposition of two or more composers in one and the same opera was contemplated from the beginning as a mere matter of collaboration. Rockstro, citing the case of Mattel (first act), Bononcini (second act), and Haendel (third act), of Muzio Scevola 1721, as "perhaps the most notable pasticcio on record," bestows altogether too much attention on such collaborations, which one would almost be justified in not calling pasticcios at all. At any rate, such col- laborations have never been very frequent, comparatively speaking, and in the history of pasticcio as a genre affect- ing the history of operatic life, they will be found to be more or less a negligible quantity. Eeally characteristic of the genre and puzzling are only those pasticcios which were an opportunistic afterthought, a mixture of heteroge- neous ingredients, an operatic pie, made up of airs from different works by different composers, composed at dif- ferent times for different cities; and most pasticcios are of this description. If one now considers that such con- coctions, more frequently than not, retained the title of one of the operas which contributed to the mixture, that no reference was made to the other culinary ingredients, and that gradually the practice of thus mixing operas grew to extraordinary proportions, it is clear that a his- tory of pasticcio is inevitable for an absolutely clear his- tory of opera and operatic life in olden times. "BERTOLDO" AND "NINETTE A LA COUE" 113 This study is intended as a concrete illustration of the thesis, and an opera has been selected which in its day was second to none in popularity and which gave birth to a respectable number of imitations, such as Favart's "Ninette a la Cour," 1755, and Killer's "Lottchen am Hofe," 1767 — namely, Ciampi's "Bertoldo, Bertoldino e Cacasenno," or, as subsequently better known, "Bertoldo in (alia) corte." The lexicographers have been quite pro- fuse in recording performances of this opera. Thus we find Venice 1747, Piacenza 1750, Paris 1753, Milan 1750, Venice 1749, Verona 1750, Piacenza 1747, Brunswick 1750, Bologna 1750, etc. It would be sheer waste of time to prove or disprove the correctness of these dates, some of which are simply impossible. They merely serve here to show what an area Ciampi's opera is reputed to have covered, and for a biographical notice of Vincenzo Le- grenzio Ciampi (bom at Piacenza in 1719) I simply refer to the short article in Grove, which is decidedly the best, whereas that in Eitner is about the worst imaginable. Ciampi is not of sufficient importance to the history of opera as an art-form that men with the tastes of Dent, Abort or Heuss should devote themselves to an investiga- tion of his career or art (nor is he statistically interesting enough to arouse the bee-like industry of men like Piovano or Wotquenne) ; and perhaps for my purposes it is quite sufficient to quote Bumey's several remarks on Ciampi in order to reach an adequate estimate of the merits of the man whom recent research (by William Barclay Squire) has almost with certainty established as the composer of at least one musical gem, "Tre giomi son che Nina," usually attributed to Pergolesi. Ciampi, in the course of his wanderings, came to London with a company of Italian singers and is said to have produced his operas there in person until at least 1762. So Burney, if anybody, had ample occasion to become familiar with Ciampi as a composer. He says in hi^ History (IV, 477) under 1762 ; 114 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Tke comic operas this spring were Bertoldo by Ciampi, with Le nozze di Dorina, and La famiglia by Cocchi. Bertoldo had been performed in 1751 or 1752, when Laschi, Pertici and Guadagni were here. The two first airs in the second collection that were now sung by Paganini, are gay and pleasing. Fel- ton's ground was introduced, at this time, in the opera of Bertoldo, by Eberardi, but was become too common and vulgar for an opera audience, though sung by a favorite performer. And on p. 459 : The productions of Ciampi strike me now as they did near forty years ago. They are not without merit; he had fire and abilities, but there seems something wanting, or redundant in all his compositions. I never saw one that quite satisfied me, and yet there are good passages in many of them. And finally on p. 463: The Didone of Ciampi [1754] is the most agreeable of all this composer's serious operas that were performed on our stage, here he is more frequently new, as well as graceful, than formerly. As stated above, it is not worth while to attempt an elaborate analysis of such dates on the history of Ciampi's Bertoldo as are to be found in the many books of refer- ence, more or less inbred. Only this much deserves to be stated here, that not one of them, except Towers in his opera dictionary, mentions the original title of Ciampi's libretto correctly, and Towers, when mentioning it, does not connect Ciampi's name with it. This original title was "Bertoldo, Bertoldino e Cacasenno" and not "Ber- toldo" or "Bertoldo in corte" or "Bertoldo alia corte." The oversight is easily explained by a reference to Wiel's "I teatri musicali Veneziani," 1897, who enters under 1749 : Bertoldo, Bertoldino e Cacasenno. Drama eomico per musica, in 3 atti. Poesia Carlo Goldoni. Musica ( ?) or again by a reference to Spinelli's Bibliographia Gol- doniana, 1884: "BERTOLDO" AND "NINETTE A LA CO UB" 115 Bertoldo, Bertoldino e Cacasenno di Polisseno Fegejo [Ar- cadian name of Goldoni] da rappresentarsi nel Teatro Giu- stiniani di S. Moise il carnovale dell'anno 1Y49. Venezia, Fenzo, 1749. p. 60. or finally to Salvioli's Bibliografia universale del Teatro drammatico Italian©, 1903 : Bertoldo, Bertoldino e Cacasenno. Dramma giocoso per musica. Poesia di Polisseno Fegejo (Carlo Goldoni). — Musica di diversi autori. — Da rappresentarsi nel Teatro Giustiniani di S. Moise il carnovale deU' anno 1749. — ^Venezia, Fenzo, 1749, in-8°. Questa e probabilmente la prima rappresentazione del melo- dramma goldoniano. . . . Lo stesso. Musica di Francesco Ciampi. — ^Eapp. nel Teatro Ducale di Milano I'anno 1750. £ noto che i Ciampi, maestri di musica, sono due: Francesco e Vincenzo Legrenzio, per di piii contemporanei. Musicarono ambidue lo stesso dramma del Goldoni ? Non avendo sott'occhio i libretti, non possiamo dirlo. Certo, nelle varie bibliografie e nei cataloghi troviamo riportati I'uno e I'altro nome. Musica di Francesco, dice il Eicci, la rappresentazione di Bologna (T. Formagliari) del 1750. Musica di Vincenzo, dice il Die, Lyrique, una rappresentazione di Piacenza verso il 1750 ( ?), e nel catalogo N. 39 del Liepmannssohn e indicato un libretto con questo titolo e con musica di Vincenzo Ciampi stampato a Brunswich nel 1750 (teste italiano e tedesco). Non sappiamo poi comprendere da dove il Riemann (Opem Handbuch, 759) abbia tratto I'indicazione di una musica di Vincenzo Legrenzio Ciampi sul Bertoldo fatta a Venezia nel 1747! A Verona nel Nuovo Teatro dietro alia Eena fu data una rappresentazione del Bertoldo di Goldoni ma ignoriamo con quale musica. This nai've accumulation of data is rather badly digested. Not that I deny that Francesco Ciampi, too, may have composed Goldoni's libretto, but there is absolutely no evidence for it and this particular setting of Goldoni's libretto which puzzled Salvioli is so certainly not by Fran- cesco as anything can be certain in this world. "Musi- carono ambidue lo stesso dramma del Goldoni ?" Salvioli's own answer is of some importance for the present purpose : "Non avendo sott'occhio i libretti." Consequently his entry of Goldoni's libretto was not based on personal ob- 116 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES servation, but was derived from some ■umnentioned source or, as it looks to me, was compiled from several and more or less inaccurate sources. On tlie other hand, Wiel com- piled his great work generally with the librettos before him; and the cast, which he mentions according to his industrious rule, corresponds with that in the Venice, 1749 libretto in the Albert Schatz collection at the Library of Congress, and since his entry in no detail conflicts with this libretto, it follows that he used a copy of the same edition. This agrees with Spinelli's entry except as to the words "di Polisseno Fegejo," which do not appear on our title-page ; but Spinelli does not claim to have actually copied his title from a libretto which contains these words, and they may or may not be an editorial addition by him- self or his source. This is more than probable, since his collation (Venezia, Fenzo, 1749, 60 p.) agrees with that of our libretto. Therefore, in the absence of further proof to the contrary, it is fairly safe to assume that the follow- ing represents the original edition of Goldoni's famous libretto, which the poet, to anticipate, does not mention at all in his memoirs : Bertoldo, Bertoldino e Cacasenno, dramma comico per musiea da rappresentarsi nel Teatro Giustiniano di S. Moise il carno- vale dell'anno 1749. (Venezia, Modesto Fenzo, 1749. 60 p. 14.5 cm.) The libretto is in three acts, contains a preface and the cast, but neither Goldoni nor the composer is mentioned by name, hence, of course, Wiel's query "Musiea ?" In the absence of any composer's name in the Venice, 1749 libretto — a practice of omission so exasperatingly frequent in old librettos — we would presumably be forced to concede that perhaps Ciampi did not compose the music for "Bertoldo, Bertoldino e Cacasenno," Venice, 1749, but shortly afterwards composed an opera really called from the beginning "Bertoldo in (or alia) corte." For- tunately, such methodical skepticism is out of place. The "BERTOLDO" AND "NINETTE A LA COUR'I 117 Library of Congress happens to possess tlie following librettos, all, regardless of minor differences (two of them even down to the preface), identical with the "Bertoldo, Bertcldino e Cacasenno" libretto of 1749 and all mention- ing mncenzo Legrenzio Ciampi as the composer of the music. These are : Bertoldo, Dramma comico per musica da rappresentarsi nel Teatro Nuovo di Argentina (Argentina [Strassburg] Heitz, 1Y51). 46 p. 15 cm. Then Bertoldo in corte, Dramma glocoso per musica da rap- presentarsi nel Teatro Bonacossi da S. Stefano il camovale del- I'anno 1755 . . . (Ferrara, Gina. Einaldi, n. d. 48 p. 14.5 em.). And Bertoldo, Bertoldino e Cacasenno. Dramma giocosa [I] per musica da rappresentarsi nel Nuovo Teatro dell'Opera-Panto- mima di Bronsevico (n. i., [1750?] 147 p. 18.5 cm.). In the last the German title "Bertoldus, Bertoldinus und Cacasennus" and text face the Italian and the libretto is clearly identical with the one mentioned by Salvioli as having been listed in Liepmannssohn's catalogue No. 39 ; indeed, Mr. Schatz may have bought this very copy. At any rate, it is a rather peculiar coincidence that one of the librettos which caused Salvioli to be puzzled, should turn out to be the very one which proves beyond doubt that Vincenzo Legrenzio Ciampi was actually known about 1750 as the composer of Goldoni's "Bertoldo, Bertoldino e Cacasenno." Hereafter, therefore, his opera should be entered in histories and opera dictionaries under its origi- nal title with cross reference to its later and better known title ! "Whether or not Salvioli'a "musica di diversi autori" is correct — leaving it still open to what extent it is correct — ^will depend entirely on the interpretation of the perti- nent last paragraph in Goldoni's preface, which is now quoted in full: 118 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Amico Lettore. Bertoldo, Bertoldino, e Cacasenno, sono tre personaggi, che hanno meritate le rime de' piu celebri poeti italiani, gli quali in 20 bellissimi Canti hanno di questi tre successivi eroi formato si puo dire, un poema. Cio m'indusse a considerarli degni di comparir suUe scene, por far mostra, se non dei loro f ati, almeno dei loro respettivi caratteri; cioe Bertoldo veccliio astute, malizioso, e mordace: Bertoldino sciocco e goffo, ma fornito pero di contadinesca malizia, facendolo io vedere, non ragazzo, come ando la prima volta alia corte, ma in eta virile, ed am- mogliato, dicendo di lui I'autore del Canto decimo nono alia trigesima settima ottava. Da che moglie si prese e fatto accortej e Cacasenno in aria affatto di semplice, e bacellone. Per unir insieme questi tre soggetti, mi conviene fare una spezie di anacronismo, rispetto a Bertoldo, che non era vivo al tempo di Cacasenno per queUo si leggi nel teste di Giulio Cesare Croce, ma spero mi sara perdonato dal benigno lettore, come fu tollerato quelle di Enea con Didone inventato con felicita da Virgilio, e seguitato con tanto applause dal eelebre Metastasio. Io ho concepito il desiderio di porre in Teatro tutta la famiglia delli Berteldi, onde ho con essi introdetta la Menghina, moglie di Bertoldino, avendo lasciata in pace la veneranda Marcolfa, perche niuna delle signore donne avrebbe avuto piacere di avere un si fatto nome, e di far la parte della nonna di Cacasenno. Per salvar I'unita del luogo, fingesi che il re Alboino coHa regina Ipsicratea sua consorte sia paasato a villeggiare sul sue real palazzo di Bertagnana, territorio Veronese, e patria delli Berteldi, come ei legge nel Canto primo, ottava 19 dell'opera riferita. L'unita del tempo e osservata, mentre nel giro di 24 ore puo succedere quante nella favela si rappresenta. L'azione consiste nell'arrivo delli Bertoldi al Palazzo del Ke, e nel retomo aU'albergo lore. L'amore del re per Menghina e I'episodie, che li fa andare alia corte; le gelosie della regina e di Aurelia sua cognata, e I'episodie, che li fa temare alia campagna. Le burle, i travestimenti, e le scioccherie di Cacasenno sono invenzieni per far ridere, che e I'unico oggette di simili com- ponimenti. Non mi sono pero servito delle inezie, e puerilita descritte di Bertoldino, dal Croce, e di Cacasenno dal Scaligeri, sembrandomi quelle poco addattate alia proprieta del Teatro, ma ne ho ritrovate dell'altre, ricavate dal teste della mia testa, "BERTOLDO" AND "NINETTE A LA COUR" 119 le quali se non piaceranno non sara colpa degli eroici protago- nisti, ma del poeta. A proposito del poeta, fa egli sua protesta, che le frasi, e le parole poetiche non hanno a che fare col cuore Cristiano; e che, se ha fatto un cattivo libro, in dieci giomi, non I'ha saputo far meglio. Circa le arie, aleune sono figlie legitime, e naturali del libro, alcune addottate, altre spurie, ed altre adulterine per commodo, e compiacimento de virtuosi, onde ec. In this preface, Goldoni has not mentioned his whole list of characters. It follows here with the original cast as performed at Venice in 1749. Ipsicratea Eegina Alboino Ee suo marito Aurelia Sorella del Ee Erminio suo Sposo Lisaura figlia del Ee e della Eegina Menghina moglie di Bertol- dino Bertoldo . , Bertoldino Cacasenno La Sig. Livia Segantini La Sig. Anna Bastiglia La Sig. Eedegonda Travaglia La Sig. Cattarina Baratti La Sig. Bassani d'anni 8 La Sig. Maria Angiola Paga- nini II Sig. Carlo Paganini n Sig. Erancesco Carrattoli II Sig. Giuseppe Cosmi If at Brunswick the king Alboino has become "II Conte della Eocca, ricco gentil uomo," and the queen Ipsicratea "la contessa Albina, sua moglie," these are, as will be shown, comparatively insignificant modifications, but with all the liberties taken in the replicas treated in this essay, the Brunswick, Strassburg and Ferrara librettos are with- out any doubt based on Goldoni's libretto of 1749, and though many changes were made in detail, the dramatic motive remained absolutely and most of the plot practically the same. Does the same remark apply to the replica performed at Paris at the Academic royale de musique on November 9, 1753, with partly the same singers (Anna Tonelli, Pietro Manelli, Giuseppe Cosmi, Francesco Guer- rieri) — one of them, indeed, having participated in the 120 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES original Venetian production, as at Strassburg in 1751 ? Though the Paris libretto is not accessible to me, the ques- tion is easily answered, because Durey de Noinville in his "Histoire du Theatre de I'Academie royale de musique en France" (2"" ed. 1757, v. 1, pp. 316-318) practically al- lows us to dispense with the libretto by saying: Bertoldo in corte. Bertolde a la Cour. Intermede en deux actes, represente le vendredi 9 novembre 1753. Acteurs. Armire, veuve du roi Alboin, amante d'Emile Emile, successeur d' Alboin. . . Bertolde Bertolin, fils de Bertolde Babet, f emme de Bertolin .... Sans-souci, fils de Bertolin & de Babet la demoiselle Lepri. le sieur Guerrieri. le sieur Manelli. le sieur Cosimi. la Dlle Anne Tonelli. la demoiselle Catherine To- nelli. La musique est du sieur Vincent Ciampi, a laquelle on a ajoute plusieurs ariettes de differens maitrea. La scene est dans un village du territoire de Verona oii etoit un chateau du Eoi Alboin. Bertolde est un paysan qu'Emile fait venir a la cour avec sa famille; ce prince aime Armire, & il en est tendrement aime; mais lorsqu'il a vu la charmante Babet il en devient eperdue- ment amoureux ; quelque attention qu'il ait de cacher son amour a la princesse, elle s'en apergoit & lui en fait de tendres re- proches, il s'en defend le mieux qu'il pent, mais les yeux d'une amante penetrent aisement les sentiments du coeur de I'objet qu'elle aime. Bertolin est aussi jaloux de sa femme, & il trouve tres-mauvais que le prince veuille lui en couter, il a beau lui faire donner de meme qu'a Bertolde de riches habits & de I'argent, & leur procurer toutes sortes d'agrements, ils preferent le sejour tranquille de leur hameau a toute la pompe & a la magnificence de la cour d'Emile & ils le prient de les renvoyer dans leur cabanner, ce prince faisant un effort sur lui-meme, renonce a son amour, renvoye Bertolde & sa famille dans leur village, & epouse Armire. Le poeme est assez bien eerit, mais on n'a pu en suivre le slyle, scene per scene: I'action offre d'ailleurs beaucoup de jeu "BERTOLDO" AND "NINETTE A LA COUR" 121 de theatre; presque toutes les ariettas sont d'une grande. beaute, & I'intermede en g&ieral a ete tres-bien execute, & bien suivi jusqu'au 12 fevrier 1754 que les musiciens Italiens ont donne les Voyageurs dont nous allons rapporter I'extrait. If we substitute "Bertoldino" for "Bertolin," "Men- ghina" for "Babet," "Caoasenno" for "San*-Souci," "Ipsicratea" for "Armire," if we give Emile and Bertbolde their Italian equivalents, and if we bring Alboino back to life, we have a synopsis of the original Goldoni libretto, which fits it like a glove. But how strange a version wherein the "BoufFons" killed off Alboino and made Emilio, his erstwhile brother-in-law and rather shameless purveyor of amorous pleasures, successor, not only to his throne but to the love of his faithful wife. Verily, habent fata sua lihelli. However, the probabilities are, that not one in a thousand knew what odd change of worldly conditions and relationship had befallen the char- acters in Goldoni's libretto, and even had this been known, it certainly would not have affected the fortunes of Ciampi's opera at Paris, of which Clement and de Laporte in their "Anecdotes Dramatiques," 1755, say, thus corrobo- rating Durey de Noinville's estimate: La musique de cet intermede est peut-etre la plus brillante, en ce genre, qu'on ait encore entendue a theatre. Bertholde a la Cour, dans sa nouveaute, attiroit a I'Opera un tres-grand concours. Les BoufFons, dont le depart etoit arrete, donnoient cette piece pour leurs adieux ; comme elle plut presque egalement aux amateurs des deux genres de musique, la ville jugea a propos de les retenir encore jusqu'a Paques . . . It will have been noticed, that both, the king Alboino and Erminia, are in Goldoni's original Bertoldo, Bertol- dino e Cacasenno what the Germans call "HosenroUen." Such a proceeding was not at all original with Goldoni, but perhaps the idea is not too far-fetched that he, whose fund of fun was inexhaustible, wished to administer a witty rebuke to the castrati nuisance of heroic opera. Be this as it may, it certainly must have been ludicrous 122 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES to hear a petticoat king make violent love to a peasant woman, and a queen indulge in fits of jealousy towards a king whose voice alone was sufficient to betray the equality of his sex with her own. This grotesque effect was height- ened by the fact that Erminio, too, the king's confidential aide de camp in his amorous escapades, was a woman, and still more whimsical was the idea of making this royal couple the parents of an eight year old child. Goldoni had obviously introduced Lisaura for a funny scene between her and Cacasenno. Neither she nor "Aurelia" contribute anything substantial to the plot and it is therefore not surprising that other theatres simply dropped these characters. At any rate, this is true of the performances at Brunswick, Strassburg and Ferrara as represented by the librettos here discussed. The elimi- nation of these characters helped to concentrate the interest on the main dramatic motive: The futile attempt of the amorous king to replace Bertoldino in the affections of Menghina. Of course, the whole idea is farcical and far- cically treated, but then, Goldoni's farces are not intended as problem plays which respect the brutal logic of daily life. I do not believe anybody in the audience thought that Menghina, in real life, would have returned from such a court in her status qua. Everybody, I presume, went home perfectly satisfied as long as the poet did not carry his reckless flirtation with "the unpardonable sin" too far. He could, with impunity, build his first two acts dangerously near the slippery edge of gross suggestiveness, provided he frustrated the design of the "villain" and in the third act returned to the accepted standards of pro- priety. He could, with impunity, play havoc with the most sacred sentiments of his audience, provided he did so with genius, did not expect the audience to take his poetic escapades too seriously and, as it were, made them see themselves in the mirror held up to their own frailties and weaknesses, their faces beaming with innocent pleas- ure and laughter. This was true not only of Goldoni "BERTOLDO" AND "NINETTE A LA COUR" 123 and the Venetians of his time, it is true of playwrights and audiences of our own time, though perhaps with this difference, that nowadays the suggestiveness of low comedy partakes too much of the raffinemerd of drapery and is not naively frank enough to be harmless. A meagre plot without much psychological development, like that of Gol- doni's "Bertoldo, Bertoldino and Cacasenno," would to-day be considered too primitively silly with its gay-hearted, unveiled attempt to amuse the audience at any cost, in fact unfit for the stage everywhere except perhaps in Italy and especially in Venice, where the Goldonian spirit is still tenaciously alive in the people. If, as was stated above, other theatres dropped the char- acters of "Lisaura" and "Aurelia" for the obvious purpose of dramatic concentration, they somewhat spoiled Goldoni's libretto, because the slender plot really required much embroidery in order at least to look substantial. The annihilation of two members of the dramatic family prob- ably was defended on the practical grounds of overpopu- lation, but this argument cannot apply to the alterations which a detailed comparison of the four librettos discloses. These alterations, or differences, between the four librettos, will catch the eye best in tabular form. The first lines of each scene are given with the first line of each aria in italics on a separate line, the words of scenes which are identical with those in the 1Y49 libretto are not repeated. Where only one line without italics ap- pears, it means that the scene in question contains no aria. Of course, where the line reserved for the opening of a scene is occupied by a word in italics, it means that the scene begins with an aria. 124 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES 10 .- S '^ S -S § e -j^-g m tS te; ■:, ^ S « N Ph II /^ II /-s on 35 o OS ■* ftf tH m 1^ s »^ s rH S^jS o »o n p S-" M el's e: h ■ ■ '^ O cq -- -^ 'v^ ffi eo "BERTOLDO" AND "NINETTE A LA COUR" 125 ^ ^ c§ II pS II •rH ^ o g .1 CO g 2 g .§ 2 ^ U 00 K in s " =* 2 •«■"•§ s Wq t* gwrS**^ glD-^'e gjaW 9-3-2 S . 2 a ^ K fl ^ _, ^1 H o : "BEETOLDO" AND "NINETTE A LA COUR", . 127 Q 5 II II * o 5 © .® «:> " 3«es.||M'§>n§E> © c^ 2 to fi ** II II p f^ ll^ci S tS Oh bellal oh disinvolta I Maledetti quan- ti sieti Quanto e pazzo cestui 1 8e di me gelosa Deh placate lo sdegno Ah che nel dirle addio 1 CO 128 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES 3 p » § 3 " , rH ©J CO „ f^ A «■■ tg 1-1 l-3'£.! i 5" ^" 1 i 2 i »-^" 1 *- t- ^'3 S S ffl o h O G> II II II O (=i CO o> O tA (m' iH tH iH 00 t 60 N .S i-i §'-2 «> « o? a> •-• 2 « S ^ a g"" 1 1 ais-s-s ^ g^s^ , II ^ E-. 1 t: od a> o * ~ rH l> I-I S'^"^:! «- ^" ^" lis! N^ &:§j§; ^ ,M ^-i.^^ : '-" ^ .3 s^ o ^^ S'* 1 O P^ II 00 ai II II O C( n 1 i CD •* III »4 m ^ o ^ .t5 o ? c 1 08 -^ Qi •— ' s2 * s£ o O ® « C3 O OQ O H 65 O 1^ !> oi O tH 2 eo ^ T-l T-t rH "BERTOLDO" AND "NINETTE A LA COUR", 129 '3 I ^^|-^« ^ -S lis >■ 5Q 11 V ^ QQ QQ 9 3 « O eo t>- Ct5 - ^ CQ 03 lO 5" 130 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES ^ OS S « a w -^ >• ta II o ft^ ^ S 1 "s, !^ e lO 60 tt o IS ^1 -S --"■^ iH 11 -5 .a h « o So H ^ II II t> cgPH OS Q -T oS 1. 4, it -§1 s| •^ -pi S ^Bh cai^^TS O 60+5 55 ». g-fl ■»• oq CO -IjH UJ CO (SPfiSfe Si^-S I'd s-P &■•' oS-«bD g-«oi, ■a i;.^ fS o s "" g ^11 2: n o u O (Si «> SI ■♦a *** g P< 8^ oi « t- Qt "Sl-I bo tr- Pt CO a II el ^11 s « ^ O.Bq l3 o Eo >■ la c3 o K OS '2: 13 QQ 00 8 a- IS a ~ ,2 &' I OS/-S I p I §3 arg §.s a~; S fi lin ;^ c^ HA 132 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES So many librettos, so many versions! The alterations evidently go far beyond condensations necessitated by the elimination of "Lisaura" and "Aurelia." Granted that the plot has practically remained the same in all four librettos, yet the changes by way of omission or substi- tution of arias are so nimaerous that the Strassburg, Brunswick and Ferrara librettos must be called adultera- tions of Goldoni's original "Bertoldo, Bertoldino e Caca- senno." And these are only three out of many that were published for performance of Ciampi's popular op- era ! I should have liked to add an analysis of the libretto as used at London, but unfortunately, it is not available at the Library of Congress. Still, the conjecture is per- fectly sound that the liberties taken with Goldoni's origi- nal were very considerable. I base this conjecture on an analysis of The Favourite Songs in the Opera call'd Bertoldo by Sign. Oiampi. London. Printed for I. Walsh (n. d. 1. p. L, 20 p. fol.). The volimie contains six arias (incl. duets) in skeleton score, all bearing Ciampi's name and the names of the singers, viz. : Nos. 2 and 6 sung by Guadagni, 'No. 3 by Ninetta de Roserman, ISTos. 4 and 5 by Signora Mellini and No. 1 as duet by her and Guadagni. Each aria is headed "Aria nel Bertoldo," meaning of course, Bertoldo as performed at London, but only the first. Ca-ra, seituilmio be-ne Ca - ro f ra dol - ci pene (Duet.) appears in the original Bertoldo libretto in act II, so. 16. As to the»other five : "BERTOLDO" AND "NINETTE A LA COUR" 133 Giu-ra il guer-rier tal vol-ta, il guer-rier tal vol - ta tJS,™. . -^ if AI por-to bra-ma -to del ven-toa se - con-da le, Deh they do not even appear listed and certainly not under Goldoni in Wotquenne's most useful though not exhaustive "Zeno, Metastasio and Goldoni, Alphabetisches Verzeichnia der Stiicke in Versen aus ihren dramatischen Werken." l&ov are they to be found in the Strassburg, Brunswick and Ferrara librettos. Here then are five versions of the same opera and all five distinctly and remarkably dif- ferent ! ! In the "Favourite Songs" the five arias which are neither in the four librettos here analyzed nor listed in Wotquenne, all bear Ciampi's name as composer, and we may therefore take it for granted that they were really composed by him. Immediately the question arises, were they interpolated in the London "Bertoldo" from his other operas, or were they composed for the occasion? I leave the question open, as an exhaustive answer is neither possible for me nor within the scope of this essay. The probabilities are that the correct answer will lie half-way between the two 134 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES possibilities. On the other hand, it is possible, without much effort, to trace with the help of Wotquenne's Yer- zeichnis, at least a few of the arias of the Strassburg, Brunswick and Ferrara librettos which do not appear in Goldoni's "Bertoldo, Bertoldino and Cacasenno" libretto of 1749. Thus "La donna onorata" (Brunswick, Strassburg) is from Gol- doni's 'Taese Cuccagna" "Se vi guardo ben" (Strassburg) is from Goldoni's "I tre Gobbi" "Contro 11 destin che freme" (Ferrara) is from Metastasio's "Antigono" "Se al labbro suo non crede" (Ferrara) is from Goldoni's "Talismano" "Una donna come me" (Ferrara) is from Goldoni's "Hondo deUa luna" "Semplicetta Tortorella" (Ferrara) is from Metastasio's "Demetrio." Again the question arises, were these interpolations in the Strassburg, Brunswick and Ferrara librettos se- lected from operas by Ciampi, or were they selected from the works of other composers ? The bibliographical sources for Ciampi's activity, at least so far as accessible to me, are so hopelessly inadequate that I can only state that Ciampi is known to have composed, of the librettos alluded to, Goldoni's "I tre Gobbi" and Metastasio's "Antigono." Therefore the conjecture is at least permissible that in Strassburg "Se vi guardo ben" was selected from Ciampi's "I tre Gobbi" and in Ferrara "Contro il destin che freme" from his setting of Metastasio's "Antigono." Incidentally Wotquenne's Verzeichnis reveals the fact that "Ah che nel dirli addio" in Goldoni's "Bertoldo, Bertoldino e Cacasenno" libretto of 1749 is a parody of "Ah che nel dirti addio" in Metastasio's "Issipile." Im- mediately now the final paragraph in Goldoni's preface is remembered. Circa le arie, alcune sono figlie legitime, e natural! del libro, "BERTOLDO" AND "NINETTE A LA COUR" 135 alcune addotate, altre spurie, ed altre adulterine per commodo, e compiacimento de" virtuosi, onde ec. Clearly, Goldoni meant what he said, and though perhaps at this late date the exact percentage of the "alcune" may not he determined, there can be no doubt that Goldoni borrowed freely "dal testo della testa" of other poets, otherwise he would hardly have considered it advisable to take the reader into his confidence. Did Ciampi, one is now justified in asking, compose these borrowings anew, or did he utilize for them the original settings of other com- posers ? The question, I fear, will have to remain open, since Ciampi's score of 1Y49 is not known to have been preserved. At any rate, not even the original "Bertoldo" libretto was wholly original, and it partook noticeably of the character of a "parody" as well as of a "pasticcio." Presumably the "parody" feature did not grow in the replicas, whereas it was shown above that the "pasticcio" feature of both text and music in their lyrical parts ex- panded considerably. For instance, of the twenty-five arias sung at Ferrara, only eight appear among the thirty- three sung at Venice in 1749 ! How utterly misleading therefore would the statement in the Ferrara libretto of 1755 "La musica e del Sig. Vincenzo Ciampi" be to him, who would attempt a study of Ciampi's opera from the Ferrara libretto alone (or score, if preserved) ! This concrete example surely illustrates the necessity of caution in basing historical estimates of old Italian operas on one libretto or on one score. Just as likely as not the historian will be criticizing pro or contra a com- poser who is not at all responsible for the aria examined. But, it might be said, Ciampi's "Bertoldo" is an excep- tional example of the mania of interpolation ; and though perhaps the practice was in force as regards lesser lights, the warning to be cautious does not apply to the men of genius who pushed the art-form of opera forward, and whose master-works surely were not subjected to mutila- tion. Against all arguments of this kind I simply refer 136 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES to the preface of Fortunato Chelleri's "Temistocle" (Pa- dova, 1721), libretto by Apostolo Zeno: H presente Temistocle e un' azzione scenica fatta in Vienna . . . I'anno 1701 [music by Ziani] . . . Questo adunque essen- dosi dovuto accommodarsi rappresentabile nel Teatro Obizzi di Padova, e stato soggetto alia dura necessita di aggiunte di nuove scene, cambiamenti di arie, ed acrescimenti di mutazioni. Destino al quale ogni Drama vien sottoposto, dopo la sua prima compwrso che egli fa sw i Teatri. . . . [This particular Temistocle is a scenic play written in "Vienna in the year 1701 (music by Ziani). Consequently, this piece having to be adapted for successful representation at the Obizzi theatre in Padua, was constrained by stern necessity to submit to the addition of new scenes, changes in the arias, and new developments in the changes of scene. A fate to which every dramu is subjected after the first appearance it makes on the sta^e.'] Though by no means the only one I found in my libretto studies, this is perhaps the most explicit admission of a pernicious practice which had grown into a deliberate sys- tem since the beginning of opera, for all students of the origin of opera will remember, how even in "La DafnQ," in "Euridice" and in "II Kapimento di Oefalo" traces of the "pasticcio" tendency are recorded. I do not mean the more or less legitimate practice of composers of bor- rowing, as for instance Handel so often did, from their own, older works material for new works, but the practice of tearing one composer's opera asunder and patching it together again with substitute arias from other operas, either by the same composer, or more often from operas of other composers, thereby causing an incongruity of style which throws a very peculiar side-light on the operatic life of olden times. I know very well that this is still done occasionally to-day, especially in ephemeral musical farces, and just as in former times as a matter of expediency; but that this expediency still has the force of a system, may fairly be doubted. Granted that the system eixisted, what is its explana- "BERTOLDO" AND "NINETTE A LA COUR"' 137 tion ? If we except tlie quite excusable desire of managers to replace weak or unsuccessful arias of the original score by better or more successful substitutes, purely (as Gol- doni so nicely puts it) the "commodo e compiacimento de' virtuosi." Of late years (see for instance Wiel) there have been efforts to minimize the importance of this subserviency to the singers, and the object of this historical flank- movement has been to defeat by all possible means the doctrine that Italian opera of the eighteenth century was fast losing its right to be called dramma per musica, I have never taken much stock in this doctrine, because con- temporary evidence overwhelmingly proves that the poets and the composers were in deadly earnest about the es- thetic necessity that opera should be dramatic, notwith- standing the often indifferent attitude of (at least the fashionable part of) the public. One need but refer to Bumey to notice that mere voice and vocal technique were not considered sufficient in a singer to fill his part, unless merely a lyric part, by those who frequented opera not only as a social function. Emphasis is laid time and again in contemporary sources on the singer's ability or nonabil- ity to act his part in accordance with its dramatic contents and to underscore them by "divisions" of his own inven- tion. Whether or not the modem conception of how the dramatic unity between words and music best be observed and into what form the whole should be cast in order to make of opera truly a musical drama, tallies with the dramaturgic ideas of by-gone times, is a totally different question. We have seen Meyerbeer vilified beyond the bounds of propriety, yet I believe that even he was sincerely striving after musical dra/ma, and his contemporaries be- lieved him to have accomplished his purpose. From the beginning of opera the watch-word has been dramma per musica, and I do not believe that Wagner was one particle more in earnest about this knotty problem than his prede- cessors who left their mark on the history of opera in the 138 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES . , seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The difference of opinion has never resulted from the "what to do," hut from the "how to do it." Then as now, many composers had no business writing operas, because they lacked the dramatic instinct ; and then as now such com- posers were in the majority. Furthermore, then as now, many composers would compose into the hands of an ap- plauding multitude and place the gratitude of singers for "thankful" parts above the esthetic demands of opera as an art-form. Then as now, many composers were simply not able to avoid the beaten path and to evade what had become inevitably stale by unimproved repetition; but, I believe, it is foolish to judge the constructive minority by the inert and, to a certain extent, destructive majority. Having thus expressed my firm conviction that opera was never intended by real opera composers otherwise than as a sincere effort at the solution of the perplexing problem of musical drama, and that it is therefore eo ipso a psy- chological absurdity to think that Italian opera of the eighteenth century was not intended to be dramatic, I nevertheless take issue with what I called above a recent historical flank-movement. The history of opera and the history of operatic life are, if not absolutely, at any rate largely, two totally different things. A composer might set out with the best and clearest of intentions to write a perfect opera, and yet his efforts might come to grief through the conditions under which his work was to be performed. In Italy very much more than in any other country the system of scnttura exists and existed. Under this system the impresario wielded an influence, against the possible evil result of which the composer was powerless. He was simply a cog in the complicated wheel of conditions. Impresarios ever have been essentially men of business! It is their business to fill the house, by pleasing the public. If they can do so by upholding strictly the pure interests of art, they will surely do so, but if the preservation of artistic ideals means the depletion of their purse, they will "BERTOLDO" AND "NINETTE A LA COUR" 139 surely let the artistic ideal go to the wall, unless they are fascinated by the prospect of bankruptcy. At the bottom of the history of operatic life is this purely commercial problem, and at every turn one will find that it has affected the history of opera as an art-form. No false esthetic sentimentality, no hypocritical contempt for the plain facts of daily life should blind even an historian against actual conditions, against the fact that opera is not merely a mat- ter of art, but, as part of the history of operatic life, largely a matter of art-economics, and I venture to say that with- out this admission, perhaps mortifying for the lover of art, the history of opera will never be properly understood. These remarks seem distant from the main theme. They are not so by any means. Under the system of scritturcb the composer was engaged to compose a certain libretto for performance at a certain theatre. Maybe, as sometimes occurred, he had the choice between several librtttos, yet, unless he declined to compose any of them, one he had to compose, whether he liked the libretto or not. Even if it suited his temperament and his individ- uality immensely, he was not at liberty to compose freely without further practical considerations. The public taste, the public demands at Venice differed from those at Naples, those at Naples from those at Turin, those at Turin from those at Rome, and so on. The composer was supposed to adjust himself to the taste of the city for which he received the scrittura^ and as ample experi- ence of many years had taught impresarios and composers just where the dividing lines of taste lay (generally a mat- ter of traditional usage more than any real difference in ability to appreciate inspired music), this task was perhaps not difficult and not even irksome, since the librettos were miodeled on the basis of these experiences. But this mat- ter of local taste brought with it perplexing problems, when operas that had been successful, for instance, at Florence were imported to Naples. Immediately the im- presario became, as it were, a tailor who, as best he could 140 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES with the help of the accredited theatre poet and composer, endeavored to give to a garment of Florentine style a more Neapolitan cut. Frequently the impresario makes no mention in the lihretto of this procedure; but frequently he does, either in those curious, longwinded, adulatory dedications to some potentate or person of rank, or in a notice to his "amico lettore." In every such case, of course, the people amongst whom the impresario has cast his lot are made to feel that they, and they only, possess the key to the secrets of beauty. I have come across more than one libretto in which some impudent flatterer of an impresario would justify his amputations of the original with the remark that the "barbarous" taste of Florence necessitated a thorough revision of the opera before he could bring himself to inflict it on the so highly cultivated and perfect taste of Neapolitans; and vice versa. Perusing, as I have done lately, many hundreds of old librettos, one comes to the conclusion that the more insis- tent an impresario is on the demands of local taste, the more he has deviated from the original. The differences of local taste surely existed, and had their basis partly in a difference of climatic temperament, partly in traditions of local usage, like the indifference towards choruses or a fondness for incidental ballets or the craze for sensational scenic effects, and so on; but, just as certainly, the in- sistence on the demands of superior local taste was merely a cloak to hide the state of the impresario's purse. And exactly here enter the singers who, in the complicated structure of opera, stood just as much above the impresario as he stood above the composer and the librettist in mould- ing the destinies of opera. If a composer received the scrittura, he generally knew exactly what the cast, as en- gaged by the impresario, could accomplish. In a way this knowledge strengthened his hand, because he would skill- fully remain within the vocal or emotional limitations of the singers for whom he composed the parts, and he would not risk flights of fancy on which the singers oould not "BERTOLDO" AND "NINETTE A LA COUR" 141 accompany him "without inviting fiasco, due to an all too obvious contrast between intention and results. If it so happened that the composer had at his disposal a great cast, he would naturally be stirred to supreme efforts and, if it was in him, could attempt extraordinary things, thus carrying opera a little further in its development. On the other hand, the system weakened the composer's position, because it frequently prevented him from giving his abso- lutely best. Furthermore, tradition had rigidly fixed the relative importance of the several parts that were sup- posed to make up a well constructed libretto. It was, for instance, part of his business to observe strictly the rule that the part of the "seconda donna" should not be more effective than that of the "prima donna assoluta." To cope beforehand with the problem of rivalry and jealousy amongst the singers, was by no means the least difficult part of an opera composer's technique, a problem which a modem composer need fear not nearly as much. Marcello in his "Teatro alia moda" has so cleverly and convincingly shed the brilliant light of his satire on this whole rigid system with its many channels of corruption, silliness, laziness and stagnation, that I need not dwell on it here at all. The composer simply had to wind his tortuous way to success, handicapped at every turn by a code of conduct set up before him by those on whom, in the last analysis, the success of every opera depends — ^namely, the singers. In brief, he lived in an atmosphere of compro- mise, in which only the mere routiniers could breathe freely. And if this atmosphere of compromise hung like a cloud over a scrittura,, how much more over a replica, over which the composer as a rule had no control what- ever ! The modem composer, as a rule, writes for a nor- mal but imaginary cast, i. e., endows the characters of his opera with music that primarily fits the characters and is not beyond the capabilities of the forces of not a particular, but any theatre, that might accept the opera for performance. The composers of Ciampi's time very 142 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES often worked for a concrete cast, which might or might not be normal. Hence, they wrote music primarily to fit the personal vocal or other characteristics of certain singers who were to interpret certain parts. If the composer suc- ceeded in this to the singer's satisfaction, quite naturally the singer would consider such parts as a kind of personal artistic property, hut quite as naturally singers who were merely called upon to interpret such parts in a replica, felt that the part was not really their own, that they wore, as it were, second-hand clothes, and that they were placed at a great disadvantage unless the music happened to fit their own vocal and other characteristics. Since the scrit- tura system, so to speak, conceded a partrowner'ship in an opera to the singers, it was one of the logical consequences of the system that in replicas, too, the music had to be ad- justed to the cast. An impresario, therefore, would not and could not under this system, with its many ramifica- tions into the whole "Opem-Betrieb," have any scruples against modifying and altering a score and its libretto in order either to cover up the defects of his company or to display its strength to full advantage. The easiest way to do this was exactly to substitute for unsuitable numbers such that either had already made a reputation for his singers or, being newly composed for them, in the same manner as a theatre-tailor would take their measure for cos- tumes, were likely to fit them and thereby please not only the singers but the public. Inevitably, therefore, the whole system led to pasticcio, and the more frankly a theat- rical enterprise based its appeal to the public on the draw- ing power of "stars" rather than on the operas themselves, the more openly the pasticcio feature would be developed in all its phases. Nor does it require much acuteness to see that an impresario will have to lean heavily on the sensational excellence of voices per se beyond the artistic virtuosity of the happy possessors of these voices, where the language of opera is not that of the audience. In our own times, New York has been the paramount "BERTOLDO" AND "NINETTE A LA COUR" 143 example for this axiom ; in Ciampi's time, and long after, it was London, and London in this respect still forms a twin-city with New York. It is therefore not at all sur- prising that in Ciampi's time the principle of pasticcio was in fullest bloom at London and there flourished with all the exuberance of an exotic plant. There its last consequences were reached by constructing whole operas around some particularly showy pieces in which the great operatic stars of the time took a personal interest. It was at London that Walsh flooded the market with "Le delizie delle opere." His, Bremner's and the "Favourite Songs" published by others run into the hundreds of volimies, and it is perfectly safe to say that they were not less the "favourite songs" of the singers than they were of the opera-going public. To say that every opera then given at London was a pasticcio, would be entirely too sweeping a statement, but how powerful a feature of operatic life at London the pasticcio had become Burney's history alone would prove abundantly. Very few Italian operas of the time — and London heard a great variety of the best of them and, of course, practically all in Italian — ^were given there, just as in Italy, Germany, Spain, or Portugal, without some more or less apparent modifications of the original score, or of the libretto; and, if we may trust the innumerable "Favourite Songs" publications, their majority partook remarkably of the pasticcio practice. The title and the dramatic body of the original would gen- erally be retained, but, "per compiacimento de' virtuosi," the arias would be taken from anywhere and everywhere, and to such a degree as to make retrospective analysis impossible. Thus, in a standard libretto by Metastasio, he might have to share honors with Zeno, Goldoni, Stam- piglia, Eossi and other librettists and Gluck, Ciampi, Galuppi, Cocchi, Jommelli, Latilla, Handel and several more might be pasted together for one and the same opera. It is easy for us to condemn such a barbarous practice, but condemnation does not explain the cause, and it is the 144 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES historian's business to find the cause before he condemns, lest he place the blame where it does not belong. A history of the pasticcio has yet to be written, and until it is written the history of eighteenth-century opera can never be made sufficiently clear in some of its most baf- fling aspects. The task will not be an easy one, but it will be a fascinating study in manners and customs, and once written, I believe, we shall find that Peri's bitter- sweet complaint in his "Euridice" preface, Non dimeno Giulio Caccini (detto Romano) il cui sommo valore e noto al mondo, fece I'arie d'Euridice, & alcune del Pastor . . ., [etc.] E questo, perche dovevano esser cantate da persone dependenti da lui, le quali Arie si leggono nella sua composta . . . leads in a fairly straight direction and on a gradually broadening path to the foot-note of sweeping condemnation in Goldoni's Memoirs (I quote from the French ed. of 1787, V. 3, p. 363) : Les opera-comiques de M. Goldoni ont parcouru plusieurs endroits de I'ltalie. L'on y a fait partout des changements au gre des acteurs & des compositeurs de musique. Les imprimeurs les ont pris ou ils ont pu les trouver, & il en a tres peu qui ressemblent aux originaux. If Ciampi's "Bertoldo, Bertoldino e Oacasenno" is con- spicuous in the history of the Italian pasticcio, it also holds a prominent place in the history of that peculiarly French type of pasticcio, the parodie, and therewith be- comes closely connected with the formative period of operorcomique. The history of serious — ^what an English-speaking pub- lic delights in labeling "grand" — French opera cannot exactly be called fascinating. The evolutional route is too straight and the subservience to the ballet too obvious. "BERTOLDO" AND "NINETTE A LA COUR". 145 Quite different the evolution of French operorcomique (and comic opera), than which there is no more fascinat- ing chapter in the history of music, fascinating hecause it developed so intermittently hy waj of curious obstacles, inoculations and odd evolutional phases. To go into de- tails here cannot be my purpose. It will be sufficient to recall to the reader's mind just a few of the points of interest that make up the historical landscape. Thus he will remember how Moliere at the "Oomedie frangaise" came pretty near finding his way from "Comedies-ballets" to "comedies-operas" ; how Lully, jealous of the privileges of the Academic royale de Musique, interfered, and how thus French opera-comique received a first check. Then the Comediens Italiens for the first time lost their oppor- tunity, and instead of profiting by Moliere's formative suggestions, they ran more and more to Harlequinades and burlesques with a strong leaning towards real "parodies en vaudevilles" (Font), filled with a curious mixture of vaudevilles, parodies, airs from "grand" operas by LuUy and others, and airs made to order. They were suppressed in 1697 on account of the "salete" of their productions. Enters, after a series of complications, "Le Theatre de la Foire," with the ludicrous historical ecrir teaux episode. In his "Histoire du Theatre de I'Opera- Comique," Paris, 1769 (t. I., p. 5-7) Desboulmiers has so successfully and neatly described the share of the "Theatre de la Foire" in the subsequent development, that it will be better to quote than to parody him. He says: . . . je me contenterai de dire que le Theatre de la Foire a commence par des farces que les danseurs de corde melaient a leurs exercices, ainsi que le pratiquent encore Nicolet & les autres qui, avec plus de gout & d'intelligence, viendraient a bout de la ressusciter. On joua ensuite des fragments de vieilles pieces italiennes au grand mecontement ' des Comediens Frangais qui firent defendre aux Forains de donner aucune Comedie par dialogue ni par monologue : ceux-ci eurent recoups aux ecriteaux que chaque acteur presentait d'abord aux yeux des spectateurs ; mais comme la grosseur qu'il f allait necessaire- 146 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES ment donner aux caracteres, les rendait embarrassans sur la scene, ont prit le parti de les fairs descendre du ceintre. L'orquestre jouait I'air, & le spectateur chantait lui-meme les couplets qui etaient presentes. Les acteurs imaginerent avec raison qu'ils acquereraient plus de grace, chantes par eux- meines; ils traiterent avec 1' Opera [I'Academie royale de musique] qui, en vertu de aes privileges, leur accorda la per- mission de chanter. Le Sage, Fuzelier & d'Orneval com- poserent aussitot des pieces purement en vaudevilles, & le spectacle prit de ce moment le nom d'Opera comique. On mele peu-a pres de la prose ou des vers avec les couplets pour mieux les lier ensemble ou pour se dispenser d'en faire de trop commens; car alors il n'en etait pas ainsi qu'a present, on pensait qu'il etait necessaire de mettre dans chaque de I'esprit ou du sentiment. Telles furent toujours les pieces de I'Opera comique, jusqu'a ce qu'il ait succombe sous I'effort de ses ennemis, apres en avoir toujour ete persecute. The last sentence refers to Monnet's reformatory but ill-fated management, 1743—1745. He was too successful for the Comedie Frangaise, ever watchful of her own prerogatives and interests. The Comedie obtained an injunction against the Theatre de la Foire to the effect that the spoken work in whatever form was there forbid- den. This forced the management and its playwright collaborators, principally Favart, to fall back in 1744 and 1745 on the older form of "comedie toute en vaudevilles" and finally, though the manager of the Aoademie de mu- sique used his influence to save the undertaking with Favart as accredited playwright and regisseur, it was suppressed in 1745. Parfaict took his preface almost verbatim from the preface of Le Sage & d'Omeval's famous libretto collection "Le Theatre de la Foire, ou I'Opera-Comique," 1737, and a foot-note to the first ecriteaux libretto tells us how the amusing subterfuge was accomplished: Les ecriteaux 4toient une espece de cartouche de toile roulee sur un baton, & dans lequel etait ecrit en gros caractere le couplet, avec le nom du personnage qui aurait du le chanter. "BERTOLDO" AND "NINETTE A LA COUR" 147 L'eciriteau descendoit du ceintre, & etoit porte par deux enfans habillez en amours, qui le tenoient en support. Les enfans suspendus en I'air par le moyen des eontrepoids, derouloient I'ecriteau; I'orchestre joiioit aussitot I'air du couplet, & donnoit le ton aux spectateurs, qui chantoient eux-memes ce qu'ils voyoient ecrit, pendant que les acteurs y accommodoient leurs gestes. Le Sage and d'Omeval's collection is arranged chrono- logically, so that it is easy to study the structural and other developments of the librettos. They themselves have divided this development into three stages, by first giving, as they put it, "trois par ecriteaux," then "celles qui sont en purs vaudevilles chantez par les acteurs & enfin les pieces qui sont melees de prose." For chronological reasons two men did not receive in the "Theatre de la Foire" collection of 1Y37 the credit which is due to them historically as the heirs and successors of Le Sage, Fuzelier and d'Orneval. The one was Pannard, who brought a little more morality into the plays — and that had become quite necessary; the other, young Favart, whose refined esprit became necessary to keep the whole genre from degeneration. What went without saying in Le Sage and d'Omeval's time, at least requires an explanatory hint in our o\m. and that is, that many of the works performed at the Theatres Forains were bona fide parodies not merely of the plays given at the Comedie Frangaise, but of the operas and ballets at the Academie royale de musique. Thus, for instance, Favart's "Harmonide" 1739 (one act in vaudevilles varied with prose dialogue) is a parodie of Eoyer's heroic ballet Zaide; and Favart, Laujon and Parvi's "Theses" (1Y45, one act entirely "en vaudevilles") a parody of LuUy's opera Thesee, which had just been revived. As to the music, for a long time Gilliers was the accredited composer and arranger of the company, whose duty it was to arrange and instrumentate the vaudevilles, to compose not only the ballet airs, but generally also the last vaudeville, a function in which no less a master than 148 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Rameau at times participated, who indeed at one time was the conductor! In the meantime (since 1716) the Comediens Italiens had again appeared on the field. We possess an excellent collection of their repertory in the "Nouveau Theatre Italien," 1753 (a pendant to Gherardi's collection of the old Comediens Italiens), and the preface to the first vol- ume contains a fairly satisfactory historical survey of the new company's accomplishments. Then, we are told, they at first performed only Italian pieces in Italian, but, as might have been expected, the public gradually ceased to encourage the undertaking exactly for this reason. To regain their patronage the Comediens adopted the plan of distributing the argument of the plots together with the cast. This plan they followed up with "le canevas italien & frangais" scene by scene, so that "il n'y manquoit que la forme du dialogue," and then by the complete comedies of which the French translations were printed facing the original Italian, a practice, by the way, necessarily in vogue wherever Italian operas were or are sung in lan- guages other than that of the audience. At last, having learned the French language, the Comediens Italiens began to add performances in French, either translations of Italian works or French works written for them. Not being able to subsist on pure comedy, and not being al- lowed to compete with the Comedie frangaise, much less with the Academie royale de musique, quite automatically the Comediens Italiens were forced to intersperse their comedies with ballet divertissements and the inevitable vaudevilles, but towards 1750 the musical features become quite noticeably less prominent. Even with these musical admixtures, their comedies would not have kept the Come- diens Italiens above water, and they were even prudent enough to lay special stress on parodies with or without music. Says the "Calendrier des Theatres," 1751: L'usage oil I'on etait autrefois de faire les parodies de toutes "BERTOLDO" AND "NINETTE A LA COUR" 149 les tragedies ou des operas nouveaux etait encore pour eux d'une grande ressource: le public qui avait verse des larmes a Ines de Castro venait en foule les essuyer chez Agnss de Chailloi, et I'on venait rire au MoMvais menage de ce qu'on avait pleure chez Herode et Mariannine. After all, the parodies were only more or less clever arrangements and travesties without much opportunity for composers of operatic talent to do original work, and therefore sterile, so far as the art-form of opera is con- cerned; and the comedies en vaudevilles, either entirely so or in prose mixed with such, were but a species of hailad opera. Consequently, though perhaps they were cleverer and more developed than the English ballad operas, their possibilities would very soon have been exhausted after so many years of inbreeding. However, it is futile to discuss what might have happened. The fact is that the somewhat barren field was irrigated from a different source, and it is therefore impossible to separate this in- flux of fresh suggestions from the problem. On October 4, 1746, the Comedie italienne produced Pergolesi's "La Serva Padrona," of course in Italian; the reception, though warm, was not such as to encourage the Comediens to familiarize Paris with a genre of which the city was just as ignorant as of serious Italian opera. The novelty wore off without causing much comment and it was not until Grimm's "Lettre sur Omphale" on the revival of Destouches' Omphale in 1752 at the Academie that the clouds of esthetic discussion began to gather on the musical horizon of Paris. The storm broke when the Academie engaged Bambini's opera huffa troupe for performance of comic Italian operas as intermedes or after-pieces. Strange to say, now the very same "Serva Padrona" with which Bambini opened his season on August 1, 1752, and which in 1746 had caused no excitement whatever, led to the famous Guerre des Boujfons with its avalanche of pamphlets written either for Italian against French music 150 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES or for Frencli music against Italian, and the fury of excitement had not quite spent itself when the Bouffons found it advisable to quit Paris in March, 1754. Font has neatly summed up (p. 263 of his book on Favart) the results of this storm in a teapot by saying : EUe avait jete une semence qui allait germer dans un sol bien prepare a la recevoir; le fruit devait etre une renaissance qui transfigure le genre de la comedie musicale et crea I'opera comique. Oette renovation se fit par degres, d'abord on traduisit en fran^ais les intermedes italiens, puis on imita leur musique, enfin, on rivalisa avec I'etranger par des qualites originales et frangaises. And speaking of Favart's share in this development. Font states that he started out on March 6, 1753, with a translation of Doletti's "Griooatore" ; then, on August 14, 1754, he tried Bauran's translation of "La Serva Padrona" on a public which by this time was in the midst of the ludicrous esthetic battle. "On avait," says he, "une nou- velle preuve que la langue frangaise pouvait se marier aux chants italiens." Be this as it may, Favart finally got away from mere translations and, continues Font (p. 265): D'abord il employa la musique de tel d'entre eux a des paroles nouvelles et pour une comedie originale: telle est "Ninette a la cowr ou Le Caprice amov/reuaf' . . . puis il cessa de leurs emprunter des airs, chargea des musiciens d'en composer dans le gout italien, et mela aux ariettes a I'italienne les meilleurs de vaudevilles: dans ce genre est ecrite la petite piece ^"Armette et Luhin," melee d'ariettes et de vaudevilles (5 fgvrier 1762). From this last quotation it becomes quite clear that Favart was not an innovator or even capable of grasping the point at issue without compromises between the inevi- tably new and the inevitably antiquated. Favart, at his best, was an opportunist, and Dauvergne and Vade, whom Monnet in 1753 engaged to compose and write "Les troc- queurs" in French (though still with due respect for "BERTOLDO" AND "NINETTE A LA COUR" 151 their Italian models), were far in advance of him as fathers of the French opera-comique. This Font neither affirms nor denies, but at least he is impartial enough to attribute Favart's "Ninette a la oour" to "ces curieuses pieces de transition." On the other hand. Petit de JuUeville in the appendix "La comedie-vaudeville ou opera-comique" to the vast "Histoire de la langue et de la litterature frangaise" (v. 6) exaggerates considerably when he calls Favart le premier, qui mele aux vaudevilles des ariettes parodiees, c'est-a-dire des airs nouveaux empruntes aux pieces italiennes. but we may gladly accept his authoritative estimate that Le modele du genre est le Caprice amoureux ou Ninette a la cour: le ton s'y eleve, 1' esprit abonde avec la satire piquante de la cour, et une aimable fantaisie, et les couplets legers et fretiUants. With this estimate and with Font's "tel d'entre eux" we are brought back again to Ciampi, who perhaps was not gifted enough to compose a masterpiece himself, but who at least was destined to stimulate the writing of a literary masterpiece. However, before it is shown just how he stood sponsor to Favart, it is necessary to gain the proper distance from that double-headed term parodie so often used in these pages. Though a fine line of distinction divides the two, we, of this age, ordinarily treat parody and travesty as equiva- lents, and for all ordinary purposes we are justified in so doing. At any rate, we should not hesitate to accept the definition of "La Grande Encyclopedie" : Parodie. Imitation burlesque d'une ceuvre serieuse. Not SO simple and not so emphatic about the burlesque characteristics is the definition in Diderot's Encyclopedie (1774) : On peut reduire toutes les especes de parodies a deux especes 152 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES gen€rales, I'une qu'on peut appeller parodie simple & narra- tive; I'autre parodie dramatique. . . Quant a la maniere de pc/rodier, il f aut que I'imitation soit fidele, la plaisanterie bonne, viva & courte, & Ton y doit eviter I'esprit d'aigreur, la bassesse d'expression & I'obscenite. Of musical parodies not a word in Diderot, and yet the operatic woods were full of them in his time, before his time, and ever after. Still, the musical parodies which most readily come to one's mind, generally were or are parodies in the sense of burlesque imitations of both the text and the music of an opera, and such reminiscences would lead us widely astray should we apply them to the musical parodies of Favart's time. Undoubtedly most of the parodies given at the Theatre de la Foire and at the Comedie italienne were burlesque imitations of serious works, but they generally were real parodies only with reference to their texts. In other words, it was not so customary, aa the term pcurodie would lead us to suspect, also to make a travesty of the music. Very much more often than not, the original music was transplanted more or less notatim, into the parody of the text without an attempt to imitate, for instance, Lully's musical character- istics and mannerisms in a burlesque manner. It is for this reason that I have called the term parodie a double- headed term. To-day it is generally used, if applied to music, in the strict sense of burlesque imitation, but in Favart's time it was generally used in a totally different sense, indeed, vnthout burlesque tendencies, in a merely derived sense, as defined in the "Nouveau Larousse," Pwrodier un air. Composer sur cet air des paroles autres que les paroles connues. and in this sense the term is still used in France side by side with the other, original sense, thus occasionally caus- ing confusion in a foreigner's mind. Pointed as is the definition in the Nouveau Larousse, it lacks all the esthetic and historical suggestiveness and "BERTOLDO" AND "NINETTE A LA COUR" 153 surprising inclusiveness of older definitions. For in- stance, of that in Framery, Ginguene and de Momigny's "Encyclopedie methodique," Paris, 1818: Parodier. C'est faire des paroles sur un air donne, ou sur un morceau de musique quel qu'il soit. La parodie demande un poete qui sente bien la musique, ou qui soit guide par un musicien. II faut de la flexibilite dans le talent du poete qui parodie, ee qui tient a une abondance d'idees et de mots dont il pent disposer a son gre. On devroit avoir un certain nombre de poetes distingues pour cet emploi, qui, comme I'a tres-bien dit le celebre Gretry, seroient d'une tres grande utilite pour embellir de I'expression de la poesie les meilleurs compositions instrumentales qui peuvent se preter a ce perfectionnement. La parodie serviroit a les faire comprendre a ceux auxquels il faut une traduction, dans leur langue, pour connoitre la vraie expression d'un morceau de musique. (De Momigny.) Equally interesting is Castil-Blaze's attitude towards the practice of parody. He says in his "De I'opera en France" (1820), in the chapter "Des traductions, parodies et centons" (the latter the equivalent of pasticcios) : Parodier, c'est ajuster au chant de nouvelles paroles dont le sens n'a souvent pas le moindre rapport avec celles qu'il avait d'abord; il suffit que le parodiste se conforme au caractere des morceaux de musique, & s' applique surtout a calquer son dessin sur celui du musicien, pour qu'il y ait une parf aite concordance dans les images. Castil-Blaze adds some really keen esthetic remarks on the practice and then plunges against the parodies into a propaganda for translations. Of course, being respon- sible for translations (?) of operas by Mozart, Rossini and others, he is axguing for himself and, needless to say, carries his point to his own satisfaction, but it is quite significant that a Frenchman should find it necessary to champion the cause of translations — significant, because to this day France prefers to limit herself more or less to the Frendi operatic repertory rather than to build up, 154 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES after the German fashion, a wide cosmopolitan repertory by way of translations. Both de Momigny and Castil-Blaze expressed their views of parodies at a time when this genre had become less and less of an esthetic actuality. Quite different at the time of the "Guerre des Bouffons." Then the genre, already indispensable to theatrical life, seemed to open itself to future possibilities full of esthetic vitality and educational values, such as de Momigny alludes to in the definition just quoted. But exactly because the genre was then or had become a problematic actuality, it is not surprising that about 1750 the partisans of parody were carried away by its assumed possibilities as a characteristically French contribution to the esthetics, not only of opera, but of music in general. Of course, Rousseau with his bull- headed contention in the "Lettre sur la musique frangoise," 1753, that Les Frangois n'ont point de musique et n'en peuvent avoir; ou que si jamais ils en ont une, ce •Sera tant pis pour eux. far from showing the optimism of the parodists, attacks them savagely in the footnote that closes his "Lettre" : Je n'appelle , pas avoir une musique que d'emprunter celle d'une autre langue pour tacher de I'appliquer a la sienne, & i'aimerois mieux que nous gardassions notre maussade & ridi- cule chant, que d'associer encore plus ridiculement la melodie italienne a la langue frangoise. Ce degoutant assemblage, qui peut-etre fera desormais I'etude de nos musicians, est trop monstrueux pour etre admis & le caractere de notre langue ne s'y pretera jamais. Undoubtedly Rousseau's position would have been un- assailable if the problem merely turned on the issue whether or not the parody with its mixture of heterogeneous elements could be esthetically as satisfactory as Italian music set to Italian texts; but that was not the problem, and others saw more clearly where Rousseau, blinded by his preconceived theories against French music, was fight "BERTOLDO" AND "NINETTE A LA COUR" 155 ing windmills. As I see it, what really interested those who gave diiFerentiating thought to the matter was the same question that interested Castil-Blaze, namely: is it more satisfactory to produce an opera written in a foreign tongue in a more or less literal translation which only rarely will preserve the racial or national flavor and the poetic charm of the original, or is it more satisfactory to use a parody, i. e., a text which, while expressing the sentiments of the music faithfully, is written anew around the music in a language whose spirit and characteristics will immediately appeal to the audience ? Seen in this light, the problem of parody is by no means disposed of by ill-tempered or hasty epithets like monstros- ity, hybrid form, etc., and these epithets gain force only from the fact that the parodists, not having their problem quite in hand or being unduly and irresistibly under the in- fluences of the tendencies of their time, undermined the es- thetic possibilities of pure parodie by an adulteration with the esthetic impossibilities of pasticcio, as will presently be seen in the case of "Ninette a la cour." For us it is easy to see the source of their error, but it should be kept in mind that they had grown up with the comedies en vavde- villes, a genre which, in the last analysis, just like that of the ballad opera, is a species of pasticcio, and it is but logical that they could not of a sudden outgrow the genre. How differently some of Rousseau's contemporaries felt from him on the subject of parody cannot be better illus- trated than by the article on "Ninette a la cour" in Par- faict's "Diotionnaire des theatres de Paris," 1756 (t. 7, p. 425-42) : C'est une nouveaute veritablement digne de ce titro qu'on prodigue tous lea jours a des ouvrages dont la forme meme n'est pas nouvelle. Si I'auteur du grossier Bertolde de I'Opera [Goldonil] avoit eu plus de delicatesse, il auroit imagine quelque chose d'approchant de Ninette a la cour; si Pergolesi vivoit encore, il feroit expres de la musique sur des paroles Frangoises plus digues de I'exercer que les paroles italiennes de la 8erva padrona, & ne soffriroit pas qu'elles fussent dehonoreea 156 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES par de la musique bien inferieure a la sienne & qui ennuyeroit Bouvent, si elle n'etoit dans la bouche de Madame Favart & du Sieur Eochard . . . A I'egard de la maniere dont le Caprice Amoureux est rep- resente, ce Moliere, ce juge severe & attentif, a qui le defaut de verite deplaisoit autant dans les acteurs que dans les auteurs de son temps — ne trouveroit pas Ninette indigne de ses eloges. De tous ceux qu'a obtenus dans cette occasion-ci M. Favajt, le plus flatteur pour lui-meme & pour notre nation, c'est celui qu'on n'a pu lui refuser d'avoir prouve que la musique italienne peut s'allier a des paroles Frangoises, puis qu'il a reussi a allier des paroles frangoises, aussi ingenieusement que naturellement ecrites, avec de la musique italienne. II resulte de la que les sons n'ayent point de patrie, & I'idiome faisant la seule dis- tinction reelle entre les deux musiques, celle de musique fran- goise & de musique italienne tombe absoluement, & que quand meme on voudroit supposer plus de talens aux compositeurs italiens qu'aux notres, supposition de la verite de laquelle nous sommes bien eloignes de convenir, rien n'empecberoit que I'emulation de nos musiciens ne nous mit en etat dans peu d'annees, d'enlever la palme aux Italiens en ce genre, comme en presque tous les autres. Favart's "Le Caprice amoureux ou Ninette a la cour" waa not the first parody which Ciampi's "Bertoldo in corte" brought to life at Paris. His opera with the inter- polation of ariettes by other masters, as was said at the beginning of this study, was first performed at the Academie royale de musique in 1753. Parfaict, stating that it was given as after-piece to Eousseau's "Le Devin du village," dates the performance November 22, 1753, but Durey de Noinville, it will be remembered, has No- vember 9, and our modem historians still disagree on the exact date, Chouquet siding with Parfaict and Castil- Blaze with Durey de Noinville. However, all sources agree that the opera scored an emphatic success and that it was largely instrumental in keeping the Bouffons at Paris until Easter, 1754. Just previous to their departure appeared at the Opera- Comique (the Theatre de la Foire) : "BERTOLDO" AND "NINETTE A LA COUR" 157 Bertholde a le ville. Opera-comique, en un acte. Eepre- sente pour la premiere fois sur le Theatre de la Foire S. Germain le 9 mars 1754. These data are taken from the anonymous libretto (55 p.) as published by the widow Duchesne in 1766 with the "Airs de Bertholde" on p. 31-55 of the libretto. The score, as published by De la Chevardiere without date (1 p. 1., 39 p.), adds no further clew. Indeed, it omits the date of performance, and on this as on the authorship of the libretto the authorities disagree. Parfaict, for in- stance, says "par Messieurs ***** Vade, Anseaume & Hautemer, represente le samedi 9 mars 1754" and adds "Paris Duchesne." (Since the 7th vol. of his "Diction- naire" was published in 1756, clearly the libretto men- tioned by him is much earlier than that at the Library of Congress.) Clement et de Laporte in their "Anec- dotes dramatiques," 1775 agree with Parfaict as to the year of performance but do not specify the date and mention "I'abbe de Lattaignan & Anseaume, & le M. de S. pour les ariettes," as the literary and musical authors. De Leris in his "Dictionnaire portatif des Theatres" also names de Lattaignan and Anseaume as authors and the marquis Lasalle d'Offemont (the "M. de S." of CI. & de Lap.), but he dates the first performance as March 8, 1754. If we turn to modem books of reference, we find inter alia that Clement & Larousse's opera dictionary attributes the text to Anseaume alone, whereas Wotquenne in the Brussels catalogue (I, 382) follows de Leris, or Clement and de Laporte, but both authorities fix the date of first performance as March 9, 1754. It is therefore presum- ably safe to accept this date, and unsafe to attribute the text definitely either to Anseaume alone or to the teams de Lattaignan and Anseaume, or Vade, Anseaume and Hautemer. By a more satisfactory consensus of opinion the marquis Lasalle d'Offemont is credited with the ar- rangement of the music for this, it seems, only slightly 158 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES successful first French parody of Ciampi's once so popular opera, and those interested in the career of this titled amateur will find half a column under Lasalle d'Offemont (1734-1818) in Fetis. Of "Bertoldo, Bertoldino e Cacasenno" nothing was left in this parody except the essence of the plot, and the whole is carried on by only four characters : Bertholde, paysan des envirojis de Paris. M. Dorimon, traitant. Mile. Oatin, Lisette, jeune paysanne. Of course, Dorimon has designs on Lisette, who inno- cently accepts his invitation to reside at his hotel on con- dition that Bertholde, her sweetheart, be made secretary to Dorimon. Inasmuch as Dorimon is made to believe that Bertholde is her brother, he accedes to this ludicrous stipulation, but the trio overlooked Mile. Catin. The result of it all is, that Lisette turns in disgust from Dori- mon, and Mile. Catin, wounded in her pride as mistress, easts Dorimon out of her sphere of interest, quite satisfied that at least half a dcaen noblemen will be only too glad to take Dorimon's place. This harmless yet not too insipid story is constructed on the lines of the older comedie toute en vaudevilles, that is, the dialogue is not spoken, but carried on by means of the music of vaudevilles, and it is easily seen how this procedure, by the incongruity of airs and words and the resulting associations in the mind of the audience, could be made quite witty. For instance, Mile. Catin in her rage sings to the air "L'amour n'est pas un jeu" some lines which end Vous le savez, pour une actrice, Changement n'est qu'un jeu. It goes without saying that the vaudevilles were not used merely for the argumentative part of the libretto, "BPRTOLDO" AND "NINETTE A LA COUR" 159 but also for the lyrical, and, in addition, this contained six Ariettes.^ Lasalle d'Offemont's share in the parody was therefore twofold; first, he had to select a sufficient number of familiar vaudevilles called airs and to arrange their accompaniment, and secondly to select and arrange the music of suitable arias {ariettes) from popular operas. Just how he did this and how, in fact, a comedie toute en vaudevilles looked, will best be understood from a first- line or thematic analysis of his operatic trifle. The words in italics represent the titles of the vaudevilles. To the musical themes has been added the source of selection, which is not given in the libretto or in the score, but was traced for the Brussels Catalogue by Mr. Wotquenne. His statement, however, that the parody contains "sept mor- ceaux" is slightly misleading. At any rate, the libretto contains only six ariettes and Wotquenne's fifth "Les grandeurs, les honneurs-Adapte sur le menuet d'Exaudet" while appearing in the printed score as Les grandeurs, les honneurs, figures in the libretto not as an ariette, but as the vaude- ville "Nous sommes precepteurs d' amour," BERTHOLDE 1 LA VILLE Air. Scene 1. Rossignol, ton chard est heau: Morbleu que voila que c'est beau. Du Jumi en has: Qu'on est heureux. Helas! la pauvre file: Ah, ma pauvre Lisette. Pelsamhleu Monsiewr le cure: Eh oui-da Monsieur le Galant. 2. Mon pere aussi ma mere: Mais j'appergois Lisette. Non, non, Colette n'est point trompeuse: Non, non, Lisette n'est pas legere. De la coupe enchantee: Quand tu me fis de si ten- dres promesses. >It may be mentioned that Rousseau In his "Lettre" waxes quite sar- castic over the custom of dubbing vaudevilles "Airs," and real ' Airs" (Arias) ariettes. 160 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Ariette premiere. Quand le ha-aard en-sem - ble, les ras-sem-ble (= "Quando s'incontrano, Ciampi's B., B. e C.) Si des galans de la ville : Des beaux messieurs de la viUe. Ton petit minois sans defwvbt: Ma chere enfant, la clef des coeurs. Des sabotiers italiens: Ne suis-je done pas fiUe d'honneur ? Ariette seconde. Tel qu'un pe - tit oi - seau = Amore e fatto come un uccellatore, from Oocchi's La Maseherata.) Des fraises : Jure done que I'on rompra. 3. N'y a pas de mal a Qa: Ah le temeraire. Laire la, laire lanlaire: Quoi! c'est ton frere, mon enfant ? Des billets doux: Pour Secretaire je le prends. Dans le fond d^une ecurie: Plutot, si c'est votre envie. Ma raison s'en va beau train: Soit, par ce moyen. Pour la haronne: Avec mon frere j'y peux rester arec plaisir. Paris est au Roi: Mon cher, en ce cas. 4. Ah qu'il y va gaiment: Pour son rival il est galant. C'est une excuse: De le tromper, j'ai du regret. 5. Ton humeur est Catherine: Parlez done. Mademoi- selle. Du cap de Bonne-Esperance: Ma fureur est sans egale. Sans le savoir: Paites-vous done au moins connoitre. Menuet de Grandval: Voyez-vous la sainte mitouche. (This was used as early as 1716 in the so-called opera-comique of "Arlequin traitant.") Mariez, mariez-moi : Je n'ai point I'esprit jaloux. On n'aime point dans nos forets: Moi me marierl Ah vraiment. "BERTOLDO" AND "NINETTE A LA COUR" 161 Vous m'entendez hien: Comment, les filles parmi vous. Est-ce que ga ce demande: D'un engagement serieux nous evitons la gene. Nous jouissons dans nos hameaux: Pour sortir de I'obscurite. Ariette troisi^me. cceur en vain mur - mil • (not found by Wotquenne.) Allez, Lison, ne craignez rien: Je reconnois votre candeur. 6. De I'amour tout suhit les loix: Que de gens on voit a Paris. Nous autres hons villageois : Je puis done en liberte. Ah man Dieul que de jolies files: Mais quelle est cette jolie fenune. Madame, en verite: Votre habit est du dernier beau. Cotnm' 'Id qu'esi fait: Monsieur sans paroitre in- civile. Tout roule aujourd'hui dans le tnonde: C'est q'ue j'ai vu certaine Belle. 7. Jupin de grand matin: Mon frere, des ce jour. Entre I'amour et la raison : II se declare mon amant. Petits moutons, gardez la plaine: Est-ce pas interet qu'on aime. Je me ris de qui fait le hrave: Si I'on m'aimoit, comme on vous aime. Non, je ne serai pas : Lison, vous me fuyez. 8. Babet, que t'es gentille: Oui, je t'offre ma main. Ah, Phaeton: Ah Dorimon, est-il possible. Ariette quatri&me. A tant de charmes, Ren- dez les ar - mes (not found by Wotquenne.) La fontaine de jouvence: Les beaux sentiments qu'elle etale. J 6 n'saurois: Oui, c'est vous seule que j'aime. Les filles de Montpellier: Et toi, mon cher 6cuyer. 162 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Noiis somnies precepteurs d' amour: Les grandeurs, Les honneurs. La fortune. (See above.) Yous qui vous mocquez par vos ris: Osez a mes yeux la prier. De la bisogne: AUons done mon bel ecuyer. Laire Id, laire lanlaire : Je ferois volontiers cela. J'entends, le souper qui m' attend: Comment? Demandez a Lisette. Ma raison s'en va heau train: Ton amanti ah, qu'as- tu dit? Ariette cinqui^me. jt *t m Dieux ! quel paix de ma ten-dres - se (=Maledetti quanti siete, from Ciampi'a B., B. e C.) L'amour n'est pas un jeu: He bien, done. Monsieur Dorimon. Bouchez, Najades: L'un d'un cote, 1' autre de I'autre. Le ciel va rendre k mes vceux (= A riveder ritomo, from Ciampi's B., B. e C.) Decidedly more developed, more pretentious and in every respect more important was Favart's parody, com- monly known since early times as "Ninette a la cour." But this is really a sub-title, an alternative title, as appears conclusively from Clement et de Laporte, Parfaict, and other contemporary sources. The real title appears on the title-page of the libretto with cast by Duchesne of Paris in 1759 (86 p. ; in the Library of Congress) : Le caprice amoureux ou Ninette a la cour, comedie en deux actes, melee d'ariettes, parodiees de Bertolde a la cour par Monsieur Favart. Eepresentee pour la premiere fois par les Comediens italiens ordinaires du Eoi, le mercredi 12 mars \ "BERTOLDO" AND "NINETTE A LA COUR" 163 1756 et ci-devant en trois actes le 12 fevrier 1755. Nouvelle Edition corrigge & conforme a la representation. Besides containing tlie correct title, the libretto gives practically all tlie chronological, etc., data that one cares to have. A copy of the original three-act version has not come to my notice, but at least I can refer those interested to Parfaict's statement in 1756 that a libretto of the three-act version had been published at Paris by Delormel & Prault fils, and Parfaict's enthusiastic review of "Ninette a la cour" quoted above serves the purpose sufficiently of showing with what delight Favart's exceedingly clever parody had been acclaimed upon its appearance at the Comedie italienne. Yet Favart reduced the piece from three to two acts, and the current theory (not shared by me) is, that he felt the comedy to be too long. As will be seen, Ciampi's music was allowed to grace Favart's Ninette only to an almost negligible degree. Quite different Goldoni's text. Favart parodied it as closely as one possibly could without furnishing a trans- lation. The term which one so often meets on German librettos, "frei bearbeitet," would here be fully applicable, so much so indeed, that a synopsis of Favart's plot becomes unnecessary. This will appear without further proof by quoting the list of characters with the cast of 1756 : Astolphe, roi de Lombardie M. Bochard. Fabrice, confident d' Astolphe iM. Desbrosses. i^milie, comtesse, amante d' Astolphe MUe. Catinon. Ninette, villageoisei .Mme. Favart. Colas, viUageois M. Chanville. Dorine, Suivanta Mile. Astrandi. Clarice, " Mile. Desglands. Obviously, all the essential characters in Goldoni's libretto, at least so far as they deal with Menghina's and Bertoldino's career at court, are here represented. Not only this, but Favart parodied closely the construction of 164 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES the plot and did not forget to utilize tkat farcical scene in Goldoni where the ever-serviceable trick of extinguish- ing the candles serves to introduce a niunber of (easily imagined) ludicrous quid pro quos. However, in my opin- ion, Favart turned here the harmless though frank drollery of Goldoni into a scene which would to-day hurt the sen- sibilities of many. Ninette extinguishes the candles and pushes the neglected countess £milie towards her faithless lover Astolphe, who, believing her to be his intended prey, Ninette, makes violent love to her, a proceeding which Ninette encourages by guiding him on over the shoulders of fimilie. Nothing new in opera, of course, and perhaps very funny, but somewhat disgusting, because fimilie is made a tool and an object of charity in a manner mortify- ing to every refined and faithful woman. Ninette re- lights the candles, she and Colas fairly burst with laughter, Astolphe changes from disappointed rage to an unconvino- ingly sudden repentance, and the hapless fimilie, as faithful women so often do in mediocre French comedies and comedies in the French taste, by order of the play- wright meekly subdues her pride and practically accepts Astolphe out of the hands of Ninette, as if a lover had a perfect right to maltreat his bride in whatsoever manner he pleases. Font, in his book on Favart, calls this a "situation plaisante," and brushes aside all objection with the glib remark, "Astolphe, en homme d'esprit, obtient son pardon d'fimilie." Still, I suppose, such things should be interpreted histor- ically or racially ; and there can be no doubt that "Ninette a la cour," aside from such matters of racial or changed taste, is a very clever piece of play-writing and fully de- serves its literary reputation. Certainly, Favart's parody is so typically French that it simply could not fail to please the public and presumably very much more so than if, as would have happened in the case of a translation, even a free translation, the peculiarly Italian flavor of Goldoni's original had been preserved. Menghina above "BERTOLDO" AND "NINETTE A LA COUR"i 165 all, this naive and somewhat primitive but shrewd and quick-witted Italian peasant woman, has become in Fa- vart's hands a typically Parisian villcCgeoise, equally quick- witted but no longer naive or primitive. Far from it, she has been turned into a very dexterous type of stage coquette, and if all ends well, I wonder if tibere did not pass through Favart's mind, nevertheless, those slightly similar interviews between Mme. Favart and the Marechal de Saxe which form such a sad chapter in the life of the Favarts and which, so Font olauns, did not end so happily for the then "iTinette." However, if Gounod's Marguerite is a strikingly French edition of Goethe's Gretchen, not less so is Favart's Ninette of Goldoni's Menghina, and for exactly the same reasons. Just how the three-act version of "Ninette a la cour" differed from the two-act version (title quoted above) only the comparison of the respective librettos could disclose. Unfortunately, the Library of Congress does not possess the libretto of the three-act version, which appears to be exceedingly rare, and whose title perhaps reads as entered in Parfaict: Caprice (le) Amoureux, ou, Ninette a la cour, comedie fran- Qoise au theatre Italian, parodiee de I'intermede Italien intitule Bertholde a la cour, trois actes en vers libres, meles d'ariettes, aussi parodiees de celles de cet intennede, & autres representes au theatre de I'Opera. Le Caprice amoureux est de M. Favart & a ete donne pour la premiere fois le mercredi 12 fevrier 1755. Paris, Delormel & Prault fils. The same comparison might be made from the score, but the three-act version is not knoAvn to exist in score. Mr. Wotquenne, under No. 2025 of the Brussels catalogue, is inclined to suspect that such a score was printed. He says: n'ayant pu rencontrer un exemplaire de la partition de la parodie en trois actes, nous ne pduvons affirmer qu'elle ait ete publiee, mais il y a grande apparence qnQ cette queation doit 166 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES etre tranchee affirmativement, car I'editeur Desoeur, de Liege, toujours a I'affut des nouveautes du jour, a fait paraitre vers 1755 un recueil des airs detaches de Bertholde a la villa Isio] en trois actes. Wotquenne then proceeds to analyze the publication. I fear that the eminent Belgian bibliographer will not suc- ceed in proving the existence of the three^act score in this direction, because the Library of Congress acquired from the Weckerlin collection a publication -with Parisian im- print so identical in all other respects with Desoeur's that his gives the impression of a pirated edition, or, to put it more mildly, of a mere reprint. The three volumes (44, 42, 44 p.) are bound in with a copy of the "L'annee musicale," 1755-1756, and the title-page reads: Ariettes de Ninette a la cour. Parodie de Bertholde, acte premier [ — acte 3*™«] A Paris, Aux spectacles et aux adresses oxdinaires. Grave par M^Ue Vendome. If one compares this publication, or that of Desoeur, with the libretto of the two-act version and with the score of the two-act version, one is led to believe that the con- traction into two acts did not change the body of the dialogue substantially, but was brought about more or less by a mere rearrangement of the scenes into two instead of three acts and the suppression and also the addition of several ariettes. Of this score the Library of Congress possesses two copies, both alike as to contents, but slightly difFerent bibliographically, inasmuch as the second lacks the words "Imprime par Toumelle" on the title-page and on its verso contains a very much more extensive catalogue of De la Chevardiere's publications, thus proving its later date. The title-page of the score reads : Ninette a la cour. Parodie de Bertholde a la viUe, comedie en deux actes, meles d'ariettes par M' Favart. Eepresente sur le theatre de la Comedie italienne (Paris, De la Chevardiere [n. d.], 1 p. 1., 73, 76 p. fol.) "BERTOLDO" AND "NINETTE A LA COUR" 167 The title-page describes adequately the genre of the score. It is indeed a mere comedy with incidental arias (the embryo of operorcomique) and structurally calls for no further comment than that all the arias begin without recitatives. The orchestration, just like that of Lasalle d'Offemont's parody, is not clearly indicated. Nor was this customary in such skeleton or compressed scores ; but from occasional hints, at least flutes, horns and oboes must have been employed in "Ninette a la cour" besides the strings. Still, these hints are not sufficient to throw full light on the question of how the Italian originals fared at the hands of the parodists — an interesting question, but not within the scope of this essay. At the end of the libretto of the two-act version, 1756, Duchesne printed a "Table des ariettes de Ninette a la cour, gravees en quatre [!] parties." Duchesne did not print the music, but refers to the engraved score (De la Chevardiere's publication?) by a foot-note: Les ariettes marquees dans la table par una S, ne se chantent point a la representation, mais se trouvent gravees dans la musique. The table is here reprinted, substituting * for the S : Premiere partie. page 1. Travaillons de bon courage 2 2. Fillettes, n'allez jamais seulettes 3 3. Que le nom de Ninon 4 4. Oui, je I'aime pour jamais 5 5. Agite par la fierte 8 6. Tin doux penchant 11 7. Tout va vous rendre aimable 13 8. Tu nous perdras, Colas 18 *9. En tourbillon, un papillon 23 10. Ahi, ahi, il m'a fait grand mal 30 11. Je renonce au village 33 12. Auroit-on cru eela d'elle 39 168 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Seconde partie. 13. Ah! quelle gesne 2 14. Ah! comme me yoila 4 15. Donnez-moi deux cceurs 6 16. Yiens, espoir eachanteur 9 17. Dans nos prairies 12 *18. Au sein des allarmes 15 19. Le nocher loin du village 20 20. Maudite race 24 *21. Qu'il a de gentillesse 28 22. Une dame yous enflame 33 Troisieme partie. *23. Je veux tirer vengeance 2 *24. Assise sur le bord d'une onde 5 *25. Non, non, je n'ai peur 9 26. Oil Ninette est-elle? 13 *27. Quatuor 14 28. Je sens, par la morguenne 33 29. La conr n'est qu'un esclavage 38 30. Ariette oubliee du premier acte 42 (He means : "Je vois du plus beau jour," which should have been printed aa the sixth ariette.) Quatrieme partie. 31. Comme la cloche du village 1 32. Contents je chante 8 33. Quelle aisance ! 10 34. Ariette de I'echo ["Ce coeur qu'il possede"] ... 14 35. Quatuor : Touts mon ame 17 How does this table agree with the "Ariettes de Ninette a la Cour. Parodie de Bertholde. Acte premier [ — 3*™"]," as printed at Paris and reprinted by Desoeur of Liege ? "BERTOLDO" AND "NINETTE A LA COUR" 169 Act 1. page Tra-Taillons, tra-vail-ions de boncou-ra - ge ■p IF ■ M r \T • f r 1^ r "&" C Fil-let - tea fol-liet - tea ii'al-l€s ja-mais seu-let-tei Que le nom de Ni - non t - da • te Oui, . . je I'ai - me pour ja • mais A-gi-t€ par Ia6er-t4 TJn douz pen - chant m'en - trat • ne Tout ya V0U8 ren-dre hom-ma - ge Tu nous per-dras, Co - las, ne aouf - fle pas U 13 18 80 AM! Ahil il m'a fait grand mal 170 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Co - las, je re - non-ce au vil - la - ge ■m- -m. -g:. ,^ 1^ l^^lig— i g-p- — ^ fr^T~[\ — r" Au- rolt • on cru ce - la d'el - le Act II. Ah com - me me yoi - li 33 Don - nez- moi deux cceurs Dan3 nos prai - ri - es tou-jours fleu - ri - es 12 (Not mentioned by Wotquenne as in Deaoeur, presiuuBbly over- looked.) ^ . ^ J J-,^ J^J^,:g^jL Au sein des at - lar - mes Le no • cher loin du ri - va - ge 15 20 "BERTOLDO" AND "NINETTE A LA COUR" 171 •21 •23 Qu'il a de gen - til - les - se U - ne da - me vous in - flam-me f Act III. 24 28 33 2 Je veux ti - rer ven - geance (According to Wotquenne this melody is the same as "Quelle est cette tristesse" in Sody's parody of Rinaldo da Capua's "La donna superba," Paris, 1752.) As • si - se BUT les bords d'u-ne on - de pu- re Non, non, je n'ai point peur Oh Ninette est-el -le? en vain je I'ap-pd-le Suis-je en -core un-e trai-tres - se? Je sens par la mor - guen - ne 13 14 m MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Ls cour n'estqu'unes-da-VB • ge 42 Je you du plus beau jour (Printed in v. 3, p. 42-44 as omitted by mistake in its proper place as sixth ariette of the first act.) To facilitate comparison, asterisks (needless to say, no such marks appear in the three-act "Ariettes") have been prefixed in this thematic list to those themes which in the two-act libretto were designated as suppressed in the per- formanca This comparison proves that Duchesne's table and the contents of the three volumes of detached ariettes, even down to the pagination and the omission of what should have been the sixth ariette from its proper place, tally throughout, Duchesne's quatrieme partie excepted. This does not appear at all in our (clearly complete and perfect) copy of the "Ariettes," nor evidently in Desoeur's publication of these ariettes as analyzed by Wotquenne. The pagination given by Duchesne makes it unmistak- ably clear that he refers to the Paris edition of the "Ari- ettes" and not to a published score, and thereby a biblio- graphical fact, perhaps hitherto unnoticed, comes to light, namely, that a fourth part was issued as a supplement and this supplement must have been issued after the reduc- tion of "Ninette a la cour" by Favart into two acts, be- cause the ariettes of the qiuitrieme partie are to be found in this two-act version only. Nos. 31, 32 there appear as belonging to act I, sc. 1 ; No. 33 to act II, 8, No. 34 to act II, 18, and No. 35 to act II, 19. Just why No. 32 ("Con- tente je chante") should have been printed as a separate ariette is puzzling, since it is identical with the second ari- "BERTOLDO" AND "NINETTE A LA COUR" 173 ette, "Fillettes, n'allez," and indeed the words "Contents je chante" form the second couplet of the so-called No. 32. By referring to the score of the two-act version we are enabled to supply the themes of the other supplementary ariettes: 31.E^ — t* — *»— ' Com'la do - che du vil - la — 1»- ■ge Ce ccBur qu'il po - s& • de c& - de, J ci • de. Tou - te mon a - me pour toi s'en - fla - me Further comparison proves that musically the indications in the two-act libretto agree absolutely with the two-act score, even down to the fact that No. 19 of the thematic list of the three-act version "Le nocher loin du rivage" appears, both in the libretto and in the score, not in the middle of the second act as in the "Ariettes" but as the last ariette in this act. Consequently, Nos. 20 to 29 helped originally to form the third act. Furthermore, since Nos. 31 to 35 do not seem to have belonged to the third-act version, but were added, and, as, therefore, the re- duction to two acts resulted in a net reduction of two ariettes only, the current theory that Favart reduced his parody because it was too long, is weakened consider- ably. It now appears more likely that the alteration was made simply because Favart believed two ax;ts, arranged as indicated, to be more effective than three. 174 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES The impression will have heen gained that the libretto and the score coincida This impression is generally cor- rect, yet differences between the texts are noticeable that deserve to be pointed out to those who might have occasion to study "Ninette a la cour" for one reason or another. Disregarding such slight verbal differences as in act I, 4 (Astolphe), " Je n'ose I'aborder" (libretto) as against "EUe se parle" (score), the omission from the score in the same scene (Astolphe) of "Helas ! quelqu'un qui vous adore," the words of Colas ending the seventh scene of the score " Je suis petrifie" are the opening words of the ninth scene of the libretto, and in the latter the ariette No. 11 forms the eighth scene, whereas in the score it belongs to the seventh, a different numbering of the scenes thereby re- sulting. In the second act, the dialogue of scene 3 is, towards the end, very much shorter in the score than in the libretto; the fourth scene opens slightly differently, and the ariette No. 16 of the libretto forms scene 6, where- as in the score it forms part of scene 5, with corresponding differences in the continuation of the act. It should also be noticed that the score does not contain the music of the "Divertissement" which in the libretto is announced to follow the final quartet "Toute mon ame"; but to omit such ballet music from the scores was then more or less customary. It contained, as appears from the indications in the libretto, the ariette numbered 29 in the thematic list. In the Brussels catalogue M. Wotquenne set himself the task of tracing the musical sources of several parodies which resulted from the Guerre des Bouffons. That he was not able completely to excavate their musical founda- tions is not at all surprising, and it certainly required ex- traordinary patience and true bibliographical instinct to accomplish what he did. As to "Ninette a la cour" he traced the following: "BERTOLDO" AND "NINETTE A LA COUR" 175 Act I. Comme la cloche du village = Quando senti la campagna, from Latilla's "La finta cameriera." Oui, je I'aime pour jamais = Zerbinetti d' oggidi, from Selletti's "Cinese rimpatriatro," Paris, June 19, 1753. Je vois du plus beau jour = Amore e fatto come un uccelletto, from Cocchi's "La mascberata." Un doux penchant m'entraine = Per pieta, bell'idol mio, from Yinci's "L'Artaserse." Tout va vous rendre hommage = lo sono una donzella, from Selletti's "Cinese rimpatriato." Tu nous perdras, Colas = Quando s'incontrano, from Ciampi's "Bertoldo alia corte." Ahi! ahi! il m'a fait grand mal ^ Ahil Ahi! no'l faro piii, from Ciampi's "Bertoldo alia corte." Aurait-on cru cela d'elle = "Maledetti quanto siete," from Ciampi's "Bertoldo alia corte." Act II. Ahi quelle gene! = Mi sta d'incanto, from Selletti's "Cinese rimpatriato." Viens, espoir enchanteur = Spera forse anch'un di, from Do- letti's "Giocatore," Paris, 1752. Quelle aisance, quelle grace! = Con occhiate e con inchini, from Jommelli's "II Paratajo." Une dame vous enflamme = Sei compito e sei bellino, from Selletti's "Cinese rimpatriato." Le nocher loin du rivage = V6 solcando un mar crudele, from Vinci's "L'Artaserse." Ce coeur qu'il possede, cede = Se giammai de speco I'eco, from Pergolesi's "Maestro di musica." Toute mon ame = O dell' Egitto, final chorus in Einaldo da Capua's "La Zingara" ; the same as and probably borrowed from "Dea delle selve"; Act I, No. 3, Hasse's "Leucippo." Since those ariettes which Wotquenne could not trace were also parodied from Italian operas, "l^inette a la cour" presented itaeH as a neat little anthology from the repertory of the Bouffons, and if there ever was a pasticcio, Favart's "Ninette a la cour" certainly is a shining example of the genre as practised in France. Ciampi, however, did 176 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES not fare very well in this anthology, and if it should de- velop that neither the three ariettes traced to "Bertoldo alia corte," given at Paris as a pasticcio, nor any of the ariettes not yet traced, were by Ciampi, we should have the curi- ous spectacle that a parodie-pasticcio could sail under a composer's colors without being at all recruited from his opera ! Wotquenne does not inform us of his method of tracing the ariettes, and, to be frank, it is a mystery to me how he traced the three ariettes to Ciampi's "Ber- toldo alia corte," since the score of this opera does not exist, and since the three ariettes do not appear among the six arias bearing Ciampi's name in Walsh's "Favourite songs in . . . Bertoldo." However, Wotquenne is not in the habit of making claims without substance, and we are therefore justified in accepting his statements. What then is the net result ? Five of the arias in Walsh were interpolations for London and, as was shown, did not belong to the original version of Goldoni's "Bertoldo, Bertoldino e Cacasenno." Only the first, the duet "Cara sei tu," can be traced with certainty to the original libretto. In addition, we have the three ariettes "Quando s'incon- trano," "Ahi ! Ahi ! no'l faro piii," and "Maledetti quanto siete," parodied according to Wotquenne from Ciampi's opera and therefore, probably, though not necessarily, by Ciampi himself. To these must be added the ariette sioneme in Lasalle d'Offemont's operatic skit, parodied from "A riveder ritorno" in the original Bertoldo libretto. At best, then, five arias out of the original thirty-three have so far been traced to Ciampi. Surely a very meagre crop for any attempt to reconstruct the score of an opera once so popular as Ciampi's "Bertoldo, Bertoldino e Caca- senno" ! It remains to fix, if possible, the responsibility for the musical arrangement of "Ninette a la cour." Favart pos- sessed a keen ear for music. He is even known to have composed some airs. That he and his equally musical wife supervised the selection of ariettes for "Ninette" "BERTOLDO" AND "NINETTE A LA COUE" 177 and made suggestion^ goes without comment, but Favart hardly possessed the necessary technical training to put these selections into orchestral shape, etc., for performance. One naturally turns to Font's book on Favart for explicit information on this point, and finds : (p. 270.) Le napolitain Duni, I'ami de Pergolese, retoucha cette partition de Ciampi ; il ecrivait pendant longtemps des airs a I'italienne pour les paroles frangaises des livrets de Favart et d'Anseaume. Par la simplicite, par la naivete de ses melodies, il travailla a I'education du public. II habitua les oreiUes h. gouter et a exiger la sincerite de I'inspiration. Ses airs, si peu frangais, preparerent les voies aux partitions si frangaises de Gretry. In the "Chronologie des pieces de Favart" Font adds to this or rather modifies it by saying (p. 346) : Mme. Favart a choisi les airs de I'original, Duni a retouche et arrange la musique. Font does not mention his authority for these claims, which are not corroborated by any of the contemporary sources mentioned in these pages! As far as Duni is concerned, it looks to me as if Font in turn merely re- touched the current statements of lexicographers. Says, for instance, Fetis in the Biographie universelle under Duni: Apres avoir visite Genes, il fut charge [no date given] d'enseigner la musique a la fille de I'infant de Panne. La cour de ce prince etant presque toute frangaise, Duni se hasarda a ecrire quelques petits operas dans cette langue. Son coup d'essai fut la Ninette a la cour de Favart; le succes fut si grand, qu'on lui envoya la Cherch&use d^esprit et le Peintre amoureux de son modele. En 1757 il revint a Paris . . . Of course, Fetis' article on Duni was used, copied and parodied by all subsequent lexicographers, and thus we find Duni as composer of "Mnette a la cour" in Riemann, Mendel-Eeissmann, Towers, Eitner, Grove, Clement et Larousse, etc. Such a claim is absurd on the face of it and should be eixpurgated from all future reference books. 178 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Font was more careful, and merely insists that Duni retouched and a/rranged the score of this parodie-pastiocio, but even this claim calls for close scrutiny. Unfortunately, Duni's biography is not at all clear, and even Fetis' short article is subject to revision. The point at issue simply depends on the year of Duni's arrival at Parma. Fetis does not mention the date. Mendel-Reiss- mann give the impossible 1746, and Grove 1755, but no variance of opinion appears on the year 1757 as that of Duni's arrival at Paris, when his "Le Peintre amoureux" was performed, presumably translated from his "Pittore inaxaorato." If Grove is correct, then Duni's collaboration with Favart is hardly credible, since "Ninette a la cour" was performed as early as February 12, 1755, and Duni is not known to have been in Paris late in 1754. Riemann says that "Ninette a la cour" was performed at Parma a/nd Paris in 1755. If this is correct, then the Parma per- formance of necessity was merely a replica of the one at Paris, and in that case, of course, Duni may have re- touched the score for Parma; but our last court of appeal is Paolo Emilio Ferrari's "Spettacoli Drammatico- musicali e coreografici in Parma," 1884, and in this vo- luminous work Duni is first mentioned as in Parma for the winter of 1754-55 with his "Olimpiade" and for 1756-57 with a "La buona figliuola." Of other operas by Duni in 1755 and particularly of "Ninette a la cour" not a word, and moreover the supposedly predominant French taste at Parma about 1755 is a myth, since only two or three French works appear to have been performed then under Du Tillet's management. The conclusion, it seems to me, is practically safe that Duni had nothing whatsoever to do with Favart's "Ninette a la cour" of 1755, and a collaboration of his with Favart is possible only for the two-act version of the parody, if, as Font claims in one place, the revival took place in 1758, a supposition which is promptly confuted by the "BERTOLDO" AND "NINETTE A LA COUR" 179 solid fact that the two-act version was first performed in 1756, If therefore Duni drops out, it still remains an open question, who assisted Favart and his wife in keeping Ciampi's name, though only fragments of his opera, before the public. THE FIRST EDITION OF "HAIL, COLUMBIA!" (The "Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography," 1916.) In the April, 1910, number of the "Pennsylvania Mag- azine of History and Biography," Mr. Charles Henry Hart had an article called "Hail Columbia and its First Publication. A critical inquiry." It was, followed in the January, 1912, number by a supplemental note, headed "The First Edition of Hail Columbia." Mr. Hart's critical inquiry was prompted by the state- ment in my essay on the history of "Hail Columbia" that "no copy of this original edition of 'Hail Columbia' has come to light," i. e., of the edition advertised in "Porcu- pine's Gazette," Philadelphia, Friday, April 27, 1798, as to be published on the following Monday, April 30, at B. Carr's Musical Eepository, "ornamented with a very elegant Portrait of the President." John Adams was then President and quite naturally I inferred that Carr was to publish the "New Federal Song," as Joseph Hopkinson's text of "Hail Columbia" adapted to Philip Phile's President's March originally was called, with the portrait of John Adams. Mr. Hart, however, adduced strong evidence that it was Carr who, though without his imprint, published "The Favorite New Federal Song Adapted to the President's March" not with the portrait of John Adams but with an oval, profile to left, bust portrait by an unknown etcher after Joseph Wright, with inscription on ribbon beneath bust, "G. Washington." The portrait is not engraved on the plate, but is a separate print mounted in the blank centre-space 180 FIRST EDITION OF "HAIL, COLUMBIA" 181 of the title and above the curved and engraved quotation of the first line of fourth stanza in Joseph Hopkinson's poem, "Behold the Chief who now Commands." Mr. Hart also drew attention to the fact that the same portrait (of course, without the quotation) had been used in December, 1797, for "The Battle of Trenton, A Sonata," and was used again in 1798 for the song "New Yankee Doodle," both pieces issued with the joint imprint of J. Hewitt, New York, and B. Carr, Philadelphia. Mr. Hart held that the edition of the "New Federal Song" with the Washington portrait and the quotation was the first and earlier than one with engraved American eagle in place of mounted portrait and quotation, which edition Mr. Louis C. Elson, the owner of a supposedly unique copy, in turn had claimed to be the first edition of "Hail Columbia." To Mr. Hart's findings I wish to add some remarks which occurred to me after the Library of Congress, too, had acquired a copy of the American eagle issue. Mr. Hart identified the oval portrait used as number 157 in his Catalogue of the Engraved Portraits of Wash- ington. Inasmuch as this number 157 shows "overhead, to left, a female Victory. . . . On extreme left, a whole- length figure of Goddess of Liberty. ... At base, drum with Eagle . . ." the oval portrait must have been secured by utilizing the whole print number 157 only in part. That this was the procedure appears from the same por- trait as mounted on our copy of "New Yankee Doodle" : it plainly shows traces of the paraphernalia enumerated above. Comparison of our American eagle issue with the prac- tically exact-size facsimile of the portrait issue of "The Favorite New Federal Song" in Mr. Hart's article disr closes further facts. 1. The music plates used in both issues are identical in every respect, inclusive of distance-measurements of the lettering in the title, but exclusive of course of the Ameri- can eagle. With this exception, the copies of the song 182 MISCELLANEUUS STUDIES extant represent impressions from the same plates. 2. When mounting the oval portrait in the blank space left between the words "New/Song" and "Adapted/Presi- dent's" and above the words "Behold the Chief," etc., in the title it became necessary to let the portrait protrude as much as one centimeter on the music sheet beyond the impression of the upper margin of the music plate. (This is the simple explanation of a puzzle which will mystify all who fail — as I did for some time — ^to notice that the impression of the upper plate margin is visible even in Mr. Hart's facsimile. Unless one notices this marginal im- pression one may easily be led to argue that the distance- measurements in the title in both issues of the song are different, that two different plates were used and that therefore the two issues represent two different editions.) 3. Examination of our copy of the issue of "The Favor- it* New Federal Song," with the engraved American eagle with clouds broken by sunrays in the background, by Prof. Kich. A. Eice of the Prints Division of the Library of Congress, convinced him that the American eagle, etc., was engraved after the surrounding words had been engraved, principally for the reason that a few of the cloud lines clearly run through the line of flourish of the word "Adapted" in the title. This in itseK, of course, does not argue that the American eagle was added to the plate later for a second issue of the song, but it does argue this: if the American eagle had been engraved on the plate at the time the song was first published — ^thereby establishing the issue with the American eagle as the first and earlier than the one with the Washington portrait — then its later erasure from the plat© to make place in a later issue for a substituted mounted portrait of George Washington would have left visible traces even in a fac- simile. Since no such traces appear. Prof. Eice agrees with me that the American eagle did not originally form part of the plate, that the space was left vacant, and that the American eagle was added noticeably later, carefully FIRST EDITION OF "HAIL, COLUMBIA" 183 utilizing the available space for the design, but with the lapstis stili noted above. Against all this might be adduced the fact that Oarr advertised the piece in "Porcupine's Gazette" for Friday, April 27, 1798, as "On Monday afternoon will be pub- lished," and in "Claypoole's American Daily Advertiser" for Wednesday, May 2, 1798, as "just published" ". . . ornamented vsdth a very elegant portrait of the President." The President was then John Adams. This fact would call for his portrait, not that of George Washington. No copy of "The Favorite New Federal Song" with the por- trait of John Adams has come to light, whereas Mr. Hart has shown that the song exists with the portrait of George Washington mounted above the engraved words "Behold the chief who now commands." This is a quotation from the fourth and last stanza of Joseph Hopkinson's poem, and the stanza runs : Behold the Chief who now commands Once more to serve his country stands The rock on which the storm will beat The rock on which the storm will beat But arm'd in virtue firm and true His hopes are fix'd on HeaVn and you When hope was sinking in dismay And clouds obscur'd Columbia's day His steady mind from changes free Eesolved on Death or Liberty Finn, United, let us be, etc. Lines second to end would have no meaning unless they refer to George Washington. They would seem to imply that also the first line refers to George Washington. Now, in April and May, 1798, President John Adams was ex officio the Commander-in-Chief of the American forces, not George Washington. The latter was not nominated Commander-in-Chief by John Adams until July 2, 1798. (The nomination was confirmed by the Senate on July 3.) Consequently, so the argument would probably continue, 184 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES July 2 or 3, 1798, would be the earliest possible date of issue of "The Favorite New Federal Song" with the words "Behold the Chief who now commands" joined to a por- trait of George Washington. And this is about as far as an attempted argument in favor of the priority of the American eagle issue as the first issue of "Hail Columbia" would get in this direction. It is blocked by the fact that Joseph Hopkinson wrote the line "Behold the Chief," etc., in April, 1798, when it could have applied only to John Adams; and by the counter-argument that, for the reasons stated above, the issue without the American eagle is prior to one with the eagle. Therefore, the argument would prove only that the issue with the portrait of George Washington was not published before July 3, 1798, that the issue with the American eagle instead of the portrait was published still later, and that — inasmuch as the song was published by May 2, 1798, vdth "a very elegant portrait of the Presi- dent" — both these issues were preceded hy one with the portrait of John Adams, of which issue no copy has come to light! Into this curious dilemma those are driven who, like Mr. Hart^ interpret the line "Behold the Chief who now commands" as addressed by Joseph Hopkinson to George Washington. By this anachronistic interpretation Mr. Hart and others are ungracious enough to credit Judge Hopkinson with a rather poor knowledge of the Constitu- tional prerogatives of the Presidents of the United States. However, Mr. Hart is mistaken if he seems to think that the first two lines of the fourth stanza are applicable to George Washington only. His quotation Behold the Chief, who now Commands Once more to serve his country stands without the third ("The rook on which the storm will beat") is faulty and forced ; it leaves the third line dropped off in mid-air. Furthermore, we know from contemporary FIRST EDITION OP "HAIL, COLUMBIA", 185 evidence — "Aurora," April 27, 1798 — ^that the Anti-Fed- eralists looked on tie song (which Joseph Hopknison had intended as a non-partisan song) as "the vilest adulation to the anglo-monarchical party and the two Presidents," i. e., the only two our country had so far had, George Washington and John Adams. Now Hopkinson's first two stanzas ("Hail Columhia — Chappy land" and "Im- mortal patriots, rise once more") are wholly impersonal. The third ("Sound, sound the trump of Fame / Let Washington's great name") deals with the first President. That leaves only the fourth stanza for John Adams, if the impression of vilest adulation of two Presidents could he created. It is but necessary to read this extract from an editorial report in "Porcupine's Gazette," April 28, 1798, on the political enthusiasm created by Mr. Fox's singing of "Hail Columbia" on April 27, at the New Theatre as it had been on occasion of the premiere of the song on April 25, and to combine with it the editorial political remarks about the President's recent letter to Congress, to know that indeed at least the first line of the fourth stanza was considered a direct reference to John Adams: "but no sooner were the words Behold the Chief who now commands pronounced, than the house shook to its very centre; the song and the whole were drowned in the enthusiastic peals of applause, and were obliged to stop and begin again and again, in order to gain a hearing." That Joseph Hopkinson referred with that line to the only "Chief" of whom he could possibly say in April, 1798, "who now cormnands," namely John Adams, must be clear from all this internal and external evidence. But Gilbert Fox, to whose lot it fell to "create" (as the French would say) "Hail Columbia" on April 25, 1798, must also have been the first interpreter to query the address of all the other lines in the last stanza. Did they, too, refer to John Adams, or do they, with the second line, 186 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES "Once more to serve his Country stands," suddenly turn back to George Washington, just as if the author in his flights of fancy had tried in vain to emerge for more than a few seconds from under the shadow of the first Presi- dent? Hopkinson's commas in his autograph text at the Penn- sylvania Historical Society afford us little help: Behold the Chief, -who now commands. Once more to serve his country stands. The rock on which the Storm will beat. "Porcupine's Gazette," the first newspaper to print the poem (in the issue for April 28, 1798) improved on this feeble interpimctuation, though not settling the case of Adams versus Washington : Behold the Chief who now commands. Once more to serve his country, stands The Eock on which the Storm will beat. I realize that the normal interpretation of lines sec- ond and third, especially with Porcupine's interpunctua- tion, would be "George Washington, who stands ready once more to serve his country as the rock," etc. Yet I believe that it is not the interpretation desired by Joseph Hop- kinson. I suspect that it is merely the case of a very minor poet endeavoring to cram t«o much historical and patriotic symbolism into a few lines without the power of unequivocal, contrasting statement. It is inconceivable that a man like Joseph Hopkinson can have referred to any but the actual President as "the Chief who now commands." It is equally inconceiv- able that, after having devoted one whole stanza, the third, to George Washington, he should have turned by way of poetic contrast to John Adams only to the extent of one line and have succumbed to "Washington's great name" again for the rest of the poem. Hence, we may feel morally certain that the plan of his whole last stanza was FIRST EDITION OF "HAIL, COLUMBIA" 187 a reference to President John Adams. This conclusion in nowise interferes with the fact that the plan miscarried by way of misleading phraseology, mixed metaphors, etc., with the result that without further analysis and with- out remembering the constitutional prerogatives of a President, in matters military, almost any reader would see in the fourth stanza a direct reference to George Wash- ington. Perhaps Hopkinson's idea was (with a modi- cimi of that poetic license which disregards chronology) to symbolize in the abstract and impersonally the Presi- dent of the United States as ready to serve his country again as the rock, etc. Perhaps unconsciously he voiced an anticipation that John Adams would step aside in favor of George Washington as the Commander-in-Chief of our military forces. Perhaps the association of "The President's March" with its memories of George Wash- ington exercised too much pressure on his mind. What- ever the cause, the threads of our poet's imagination be- came twisted, and by using the words "once more to serve his country" he inevitably switched the attention of the reader from the de facto "Chief" John Adams to George Washington. And Benjamin Carr, the first publisher of "The Favor- ite New Federal Song" that within a few days became knovsm as "Hail Columbia" ? Who can tell why a music publisher (of the eighteenth century, of course) did this or that? When he advertised the song Avith a portrait of the President, he knew full well that John Adams was the President and not George Washington. But perhaps no suitable engraved portrait of John Adams was avail- able for his purposes ; perhaps he really held the erroneous belief (pardonable enough in a music publisher compara- tively "lately from London") that George Washington was still the Comjnander-in-Chief of the American forces and ready to serve his country against France as he had against England; perhaps it was a better business propo- sition after all to twist the facts a little and to sell the 188 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES song with a picture of George Washington rather than that of John Adams; perhaps — ^but enough of conjectures. The unalterable fact is, whatever its explanation, that B. Carr published "The Favorite New Federal Song" with a portrait of George Washington and the quotation, "Be- hold the Chief who now commands." To sum up, the history of the first edition of "Hail Columbia" would appear to be this: Joseph Hopkinson wrote it in April, 1798, as a non-partisan song for the benefit of Gilbert Fox, who sang it at the New Theatre, Philadelphia, for the first time on April 25, 1798. It was advertised as to be published on April 30, 1798, and on May 2, 1798, was advertised as published in Phil- adelphia, at the Musical Kepository of B. Carr. It was published, though without Carr's imprint, as "The favorite new Federal Song Adapted to the President's March," composed by Philip Phile. The engraver of the music plates so spaced the title as to leave space in the centre for the insertion of "a very elegant portrait of the Presi- dent" as advertised by Carr. Instead of John Adams' portrait, however, a profile to left, bust portrait of George Washington engraved after Joseph Wright appears to have been used. It was mounted above the engraved quotation from Hopkinson's text, "Behold the Chief who now commands." Either because his supply of prints was not equal to the demand for the "favorite" song or because he vsdshed to rectify his mistake in calling Washington the "Chief" or because of some other reason B. Carr ap- pears to have substituted some time later (probably in 1798) on the same plate, for the mounted portrait of George Washington and the quotation from Hopkinson's text, the design of an American eagle with American shield in beak and clouds in the background broken by sunrays neatly engraved in the available space in the cen- tre of the title. This, then, would be the second issue of the first edition; whereas the issue with the Wash- ington portrait would be the first issue of the first edition, FIRST EDITION OF "HAIL, COLUMBIA" 189 unless, after aU, a genvme copy of "The favorit& new Federal Song" should he discovered not with George Washington's portrait but with that of John Adams, as Carr's advertisements would imply. In that case the issue with Adams' portrait would be the first and its date would be April 30 or May 1, 1798. The issue with George Washington's portrait would then be the second and the line "Behold the Chief who now commands" would point to July 3, 1798, the date of Washington's appointment as Commander-in-Chief in the threatened war with France, as the earliest date of publication and the issue with the substituted American eagle would be the third, though probably still of the year 1798. GUILLAUME LEKEF (1870-1894) (Written 1916; published in the "Musical Quarterly," 1919) Enfin, ce pauvre Ouillaume Lekeu, temperament qiuisi genial, mats mort a vingt-quatre ans avant d'avoir pu se mamf ester d'une maniere complete. (Vincent d'Indy in his chapter on the "artistic family" of "pere Tranck.") To die at the age of twenty-four and to leave a perma- nent mark in the Book of Art, of itself bespeaks genius. That is precisely the sad but proud record of Guillaume Lekeu. His case is more tragic than that of Schubert or Pergolesi. They, too, died young, but not before Nature permitted them to shower on us the fruit of ripened genius. Fate treated Lekeu more cruelly : his life-thread was cut before he could possibly refine all the crudities of youth in the crucible of a mature mind. It would be futile to deny this, and no friend of Lekeu's art has yet failed to acknowledge that occasional "ecriture inegale" in his music on which Henri Maubel in his "Prefaces pour des musiciens" dwells feelingly and understandingly. Yet no friend of Lekeu's art — and my own efforts in his behalf first took concrete form about as long ago as 1905 — need apologize for his public espousal of an artist admit- tedly immature, for Lekeu's immaturity is more acceptable by far than the maturity of those unfortunate artists who long outlive their over-ripe productions. If Guil- laume Lekeu did not live long enough to earn the full title of genius and master, his are at least the credentials of one almost a genius and almost a master. They have 190 GUILLATJME LEKEU Wl been honored as such by more critics than any other artist of so premature a death, I believe, has ever inspired to encomia, not to mention exponents of his art among con- ductors and performers. If men like d'Indy, Closson, Maubel, Pujo, Sere, de Stoecklin, Destranges, Tissier, Gauthier-Villars, Diikas, Vallas, Lyr, Debussy, Hale did not disdain to lay wreaths of laurel on the tomb of Guil- laume Lekeu, the humble musie-lover, if thrilled by Lekeu's music as those men were, need not take seriously pro- fessional myopes whom Lekeu's youth misleads into dis- respectful remarks about his music. Claude Debussy, who had introduced Lekeu's "Unfin- ished Quartet for piano and strings" to a Parisian public on February 1, 1896, under the auspices of the Societe nationale (since 1871 so valiant a herald of new talent), in his contribution to Landormy's enquete on the present state of music in France ("Eevue bleue," 1904) wrote: "Cesar Franck is not French, he is a Belgian. Yes, there is a Belgian school. Next to Franck, Lekeu is one of its most remarkable representatives, this Lekeu, the only musician to my knowledge whom Beethoven really inspired." The same year that Debussy made this startling state- ment — ^to be more specific, on Nov. 16, 1904 — the Hoff- mann Quartet with Miss Alice Cummings introduced the "Unfinished Quartet" to Boston. It elicited from the critic of the "Boston Journal" the terse comment : Everywhere it breathes genius and causes regret for the un- timely death of its creator at 24. This was as close a replica of the usual French com- ment on Lekeu's art as one could desire. Philip Hale, so brilliant and able a champion of modem French music in those and earlier years and ever since, shared, of course, 1^ MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES his colleague's opinion. He remarked in the "Boston Herald": Lekeu's voice was his o-wn. His music is not like that of other men; he thought in his own way and his emotional elo- quence in this quartet is genuine and convincing. . . . Such music does not suffer when played after a noble work by Beethoven, but it makes a work like that of Dvorak's which fol- lowed unendurable. In fact, if I am not very much mistaken, it was Philip Hale v^hose voice was first raised in America in behalf of Lekeu with that authority and power which compels lazy ears to listen attentively. At any rate, as early as the year 1900, when Lekeu was still practically unknown in America, Philip Hale in his and L. 0. Elson'a remark- ably up-to-date new series of "Famous Composers and Their Works," included this striking critical estimate of Lekeu based on Ernest Olosson's biographical sketch in "Le Gxiide Musical," 1895 : Lekeu was distinctively of the young French school, and his music shows all the good qualities and all the faults of that school: independence of form, predominance of the idea, a gift of perhaps too refined tone color, fastidiousness in style, exces- sive boldness in harmony. But it should not be forgotten that the young composer was intoxicated with his freedom from pedagogism and fixed and fired with a ferocious hate of all applauded commonplaces and vulgarity. Chiefly remarkable in his writing are inexhaustible richness of invention, the very melodic character of his inspiration, and the fiery spontaneily and the peculiar intensity of individual feeling. His musical sentiment is characterized by tenderness, compassion and a premonition of death. Still more critically concentrated, I think, is the opin- ion of Marcel Orban, who edited a few of Lekeu's letters for the "Courrier Musical" in 1910 : If sometimes the tumultuous current of his ideas interferes with the neatness of the total ensemble, an extremely rare, a unique quality — the power to move — ^makes us forget imperfec- GinLLAUME LEKEU 193 tions •which result from a magnificent superabundance of ideas, and silences criticism. Curiously enough, while Mr. Hale in 1904 so emphati- cally favored Lekeu's imfinished Quartet, the Boston correspondent of the German musical magazine "Die Musik," himself a German, was utterly nonplussed. So were most of the German critics when Stavenhagen and Berber played Lekeu's Violin Sonata about that time at Munich, Berlin, Leipzig. "Unclear," "vague," "amateur^ ish," "sterile," these were some of the unfriendly epithets hurled at the sonata in addition to "immature." In good faith, of course, and without any intentional chauvinism. However, it would lead entirely too far, though it would be easy, to, account for this strange exhibition of a mis- applied nationalism which appraises the intrinsic value of a foreign work of art according to the presence or ab- sence of the influence of one's own national art thereon and is responsible for the frequent undervaluation of Cesar Franck in Germany just as much as for that of Johannes Brahms in Franca Other quotations might have been adduced as testi- monials to Lekeu's talent or genius, whatever term one prefers; the above owe their selection in part to special reasons. They embody both a misconception and a con- tradiction which, unchallenged, might confuse the stu- dent of Lekeu and obscure the appreciation of his racial individuality. The contradiction lies in this — ^that Philip Hale (and others) unreservedly group him with "the young French school," whereas Debussy (seconded by Jean Hure and other French nationalists) emphatically considers him a Belgian, not a Frenchman, and sees in him one of the most remarkable representatives of the Belgian school, next to Cesar Franck. Debussy's sharp distinction wiU startle those whom wisdom or convenience has led to affix the same national label to Franck, Lekeu, d'Indy, Chausson, Debussy, Kavel, e tutti quanti. It will not startle those whose ears never quite could accept the 194 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES doctrine that Franck's music sounds wholly Latin, much less wholly French. 'Now Debussy, whom no one will ac- cuse of underestimating Franck's greatness as composer as he did that of Wagner, though he really owes very much more to Wagner than to Franck, cannot very well be ac- cused of establishing a difference between tweedledum and tweedledee, inasmuch as the Belgians themselves will have none of the customary critical melting-pot and take a similar separatist view. The very fact that Lekeu, after the disappointing study of certain cantatas by Paul Gil- son and Edgar Tinel, could exclainj in one of his letters: "Is a Belgian school of composers merely an illusion and a snare?" proves that the Belgians take the existence of a distinctively Belgian school for granted. Now Lekeu confesses his inability quite to follow Tinel be- cause the text of his cantata is in Flemish, of which lan- guage he understands not a word ! Wherewith the geneal- ogists of music face the discomforting fact that the Bel- gian nation is a combination but not an amalgamation of two racial groups, different in language, temperament and consequently in artu Paradoxical as it may appear, if there is one Belgian school of music, there must of racial necessity be two. The whole matter has been summed up very neatly for those who are at all capable of reforming their opinions, by Mr. Eene Lyr in his chapter on Belgian music in Lavignac's remarkable "Encyclopedie de la mu- sique du Conservatoire" (1914). Without the contribur tions of our mMsicians, surely French music would not he what it is, he avers (quite correctly) and on this claim in behalf of Belgian music in general he superimposes the clear-cut distinction between a Flemish-Belgian school (Germanic) and a Walloon-Belgian school (Gallic-Latin), the one differing essentially from the modem French, the other from the modem German. Thus he presents Blocks and Benoit as Belgian composers of Flemish characteris- tics, Cesar Franck and Lekeu as Belgian composers of Walloon characteristics. (In Franck's case, moreover, GUILLAUME LEKEU 195 he records a German substratum, by reason of descent. Hence, a recent American program annotator was wiser than his smiling readers suspected when he compounded Cesar Franok into "a French composer, Belgian by birth, but of German stock"). Only if one takes into due ac- count this belief and pride of Belgians in a dual Belgian school, can one fully comprehend the significance of the comment of Lekeu's biographer Tissier on the impression created by his premature death: "The blow was crush- ingly cruel to all, for in Lekeu the qualities of heart and character reached up to his genius as an artist." The personality of their young friend endeared him to men like Ysaye, Crickboom, Voncken, Kefer, but their jubi- lation over every new sign of progress in his art, their love and admiration for him and their public espousal of his works, struck a deeper source than his sympathetic qualities of heart and character; they had seen in Guil- laume Lekeu a young compatriot so richly endowed with promise that their fervent hope for an eventual successor to Cesar Franck had come to be centered in him. * * * Premonition of death was at one time supposed to have inspired Brahms' "Vier emste Gesange" as well as Tschai- kowsky's "Symphonic pathetique." It did in neither case, and it did not in the case of Lekeu's "Unfinished Quartet for piano and strings." Mr. Hale simply voices a cur- rent tradition which Alexandre Tissier in his authorita- tive pamphlet on Guillaume Lekeu (Verviers, 1906) took pains to shatter by declaring that "contrary to what often has been said, Lekeu never ceased to be of a gay, jolly, exuberant, enthusiastic disposition and never at any time had a premonition of his premature death." Indeed, such a premonition of death would have been a rather protracted affair, of several years' standing, since the same element of sombreness, if not of piercing lament, pervades all of 196 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Lekeu's works and not only his "Unfinislied Quartet." ^ Apparently Lekeu's frequent and characteristic "wail" was a matter of temperament with him. For that reason he might have developed into a kind of Leopardi of musical art without in the slightest letting this very same "wail" disturb or perturb his daily life as a mere human being. And if Tissier's statement is not accepted as binding, then we possess in its support a long series of letters written by Lekeu to his parents and Louis Kefer during the years 1889—1893 and published with a prefatory note by Paul de Stoecklin in the "Courrier Musical" of 1906. There is in these letters not the slightest trace of an abnormally gloomy disposition or view of life, much less of a premonition of, death. They are the letters of a "serious young gentleman" of extraordinary mental equip- ment, who enjoyed life, held his chosen art sacred and sought to live up to his motto, "Everybody works, and that is decidedly the only way to arrive at happiness." I quite agree with Marcel Orban, who ridicules the presentir ment of death idea which people love to ascribe to great men, and says that Lekeu was thinking of life only, with the gayety and exuberance of his age, with enthusiasm, with an ardent desire for instruction and the creation of beautiful things. His mental evolution was simply more rapid than in ordinary mortals, and that accounts for a seriousness of mind not often met with in artists so young. It accounts also, I think, for that remarkable self-critical attitude assumed by Lekeu toward his works as soon as the first flush of satisfaction with a piece of work well done had passed. Pride in his own accomplishment is notice- able, of course, but it seldom partook of that youthful naive, overweening self-esteem on which most of us have reason to look back with amusement and which most of us coupled with (in retrospect) amusing annihilation df composers against whom we conceived for this or that ' Lekeu's art reminds me of Dante's lines In the "Purgatory" : A place tbere is below not sad with torments, But darkness only, where the lamen- tations Have not the sound ol wailing, but ol sighs. GUILLAUME LEKEU 197 reason an esthetic grudga Lekeu had his antipathies, too — ^for example, he took an impulsive dislike to Ma- gnard, sneered at the "nullities" of Ambroise Thomas, ex- pressed disgust with Bruneau after he had succumbed to the pernicious influence of Zola, waxed sarcastic over the preferment of Massenet and his "Esclarmonde" to Cesar Franck, felt his heart "frozen and bleeding" over a situation such as retarded the publication of Franck's scores, and elicited from the great master at sixty this pathetic excuse for his publishers : "If I perchance should become celebrated" ; — ^but his remarks on younger contem- porary composers reveal a decided aptitude for benevolent critical neutrality and a judgment as weU-balanced and clairvoyant as if it had been written to-day, not more than twenty years ago. But more important for the pres- ent purpose than Lekeu's characterization of certain works by d'Indy, Faure, Charpentier, Chausson, Bordea and others is his artistic credo on the one hand and his con- ception of the essence of music on the other, since they open for us the road to a readier appreciation and easier grasp of Lekeu's art and aims. The pertinent observa- tions to be culled from his letters to Louis Kefer will speak for themselves, I think, without further comment on my part: To Louis Kefer, December 16, 1889. [Cesar Franck's Eedemption.] This is absolutely a colossal masterwork. ... It -is for me (Wagner's works always aside, it goes without saying) the work of purest genius in sacred music since the D minor mass of the God Beethoven. ... [When reading a trio by Kefer] I have observed there again a psychological phenomenon which I often felt: revery pro- ceeding from mild and serene joy leads to melancho^^ and thence irresistibly to the idea of God. To Louis Kefer, January 18, 1890. . . . Later I may be able to answer your recent question: What does Franck think of program music? I have not yet discussed this matter with him ; yet, on the basis of his habitual attitude, I consider myself safe in telling you that his opinion 198 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES of this problem (at bottom easier than it looks) coincides ■with that of Beethoven. . . . Mehr Ausdruch der Empfindung ah Tonmalerei. To Louis Kefer, February 1, 1890. I have asked Franck at last for his opinion on program music and here is his answer : Whether music be descriptive, that is, busies itself with awakening the idea of something material, or whether music confines itself simply to a translation of a purely internal and exclusively psychological state of mind, matters not! It is merely necessary that a work be musical and above everything else emotional. I do not know what you think of this opinion, which I con- sider reasonable enough; but to be perfectly candid, I do not believe that master Franck has weighed this problem often or carefully, a problem which to my way of thinking led Berlioz astray, though its solution presents no forbidding difficulties. However, I should always prefer the last page of the Quintet, the first Trio, the Symphoruy, the Quatuor of Franck to his Djirms, notwithstanding the fact that the expressiveness of that piece, within its limits, is wonderfully musical. To his mother, March 1, 1890. [On hearing "le 15^ quatuor du Dieu" Beethoven (Op. 132) on which he subsequently wrote a brief expository essay, re- printed in the "Courrier Musical," 1906.] I am still trembling with the fever produced in me by that work; my impression certainly was the same as that of a blind man cured of cataract by a skillful operation. To hia musical deities Beethoven, Wagner, Franck, here revealed, we must not fail to add Bach, an hour with whose "Well-tempered Clavichord," for instance, he did not hesitate at Bayreuth to prefer to a reception at "Wahn- fried" ! Guillaume Lekeu was bom at Heusy near Verviers on January 20, 1870. His parents moved to Poitiers (France) in 1879. There he entered the Lyoee. Always one of the first in hia class, he developed an aptitude for scientific GUILLAUME LEKEU 199 knowledge so pronounced and an interest in literature ancient and modem and tke plastic arts so keen that he could not fail to impress his friends with his remarkable intellectual endowment. He graduated in 1888, entered the university at Paris and in due course took his bache^ lor's degree in philosophy before switching entirely to music as a profession. We have Tissier's testimony that Lekeu's musical talent hardly revealed itself before his fourteenth year. He played violin a little and amused himself with the banali- ties of the day — ^when some pieces of Beethoven accom- panied by a friend gave the first real impetus to his musical evolution. This was in 1885, On the strength of a few pianoforte and solfeggio lessons he then spent four years in assiduous study of Beethoven, Bach, Wagner, particu- larly of Beethoven, whose quartets he is said to have car- ried with him constantly. At Paris he had the good fortune to be thrown together with the many intellectual notables who gathered at Stephane MaUarme's receptions. Equally stimulating was his friendship with Gabriel Seaillea and Theodore de Wyzewa. It was the latter who dissuaded Lekeu from . entering the Paris Conservatoire and induced him to begin his professional musical studies under Gaston Vallin, a former prix de Borne. When Lekeu finished his harmony course under Vallin in less than three months, his friends bethought themselves of Cesar Franck as the only master capable of controlling effectively Lekeu's incredibly rapid development They effected an introduction through the good ofiBces of M. Head, a mutual friend. At first Franck is said to have demurred, but from the moment that he accepted Lekeu as pupil he appears to have taken a fatherly interest in his musical welfare. Tissier and with him de Stoecklin claim that Lekeu had only about twenty lessons from Franck at the rate of two lessons a week. I doubt that even a Cesar Franck could have imparted to so talented a pupil the mysteries of the most complicated types of 200 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES counterpoint in twenty lessons. Lekeu's letters prove that to be a legend, for he began his studies under Franck some time in 1889 (probably in early fall) and continued them until a very few days before Franck's death on Nov. 8, 1890. His progress, as under Vallin, was ex- ceedingly rapid, and Franck apparently did not believe in applying the professional speed-limit. Lekeu, in his letters to Louis Kefer, the director of the conservatory at Verviers, has given us a vivid description of Franck's method. He taught him counterpoint orally, without the aid of a text-book, for the simple reason that he consid- ered all text-books deplorable. Basing the counterpoint studies principally on themes of sacred music such as the Stahai Mater, or the Dies irae, he demanded that the contrapuntal embroidery 1. sound well {i.e., be musical), 2. above all else be expressive. He believed that only in this way could the studies be in- fused with life, and that otherwise they would be mere documents of extreme dryness. His principal aim (as throughout his career as teacher) was to stimulate the productive imagination of the pupil, first by guiding him into every nook of the workdiop of a Bach or Beethoven and secondly by urging him on to unconventional musical utterance of his own. "That marches as on wheels," he would exclaim, and would encourage Lekeu to write from lesson to lesson as much as he possibly could, with the result that three or four days later the fascinated pupil would submit ten or twelve pages of music for ex- amination by a master than whom there was no greater teacher in all Europe ! Franck wished to reach the study of fugue as rapidly as possible, so that it might run parallel to a study of counterpoint in its more complicated aspects. And Lekeu perceived the rationale of his procedure as early as Nov. 19, 1889, when he wrote to Kefer: GUILLAUME LEKEU 201 I have finished my studies in three-part counterpoint . . . This kind of thing is not exactly amusing, but I feel that it gives to my musical pen an incredible fluency, and I attend to it seriously. And as Lekeu descended deeper and deeper into the in- tricacies of counterpoint the more affectionate the rela- tions between the two grew, the master spending with open hand in valuable advice from the treasure-house of his experience as a composer, the pupil seeking it with open heart and reverential respect for his teacher's genius. Then Cesar Franck died in November, 1890. We know from Lekeu's letter to Kefer on April 15, 1891, how com- pletely Franck's death stunned him : In December [sic.l] the death of my "cher Maitre." When, at the beginning of the new year, I saw myself freed from my extravagant occupation [he had substituted in the fall of 1890 as a teacher of Greek], when I could set myself to work again, I succeeded only in writing horrors without name, which I have grouped under the title of a Trio for piano, violin and violon- cello. I was completely bewildered; I passed four or five days a week smoking and watching the implacable rain pour down and telling myself how wise it would be to jump out of the window. But, since verily there are other things to do than to watch the downpour, I forced myself, as best I could, to do regular work. I plunged back into counterpoint, double chorus and fugue, and that sort of thing now marches cahincaha. . . . Also, Vincent d'Indy, whose acquaintance I was fortunate enough to make, urges me in the friendliest spirit to work a lot. At every meeting he asks me if I have something new to show him. Thus I do not despair of being seized again by that fever for work which held me captive all last year. It was indeed fortunate for Lekeu (and for us) that Vincent d'Indy, artistically pere Franck's greatest son, stepped into the breach to act, as it were, as step-father to the oi^han and as the pilot without whom, perhaps, after all, Lekeu would have drifted on tbe rocks. Needless to say, Lekeu fully appreciated at their true value the emi- 202 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES nent qualities of Vincent d'lndy as a teacher of compo- sition. And when the time had come to put his talents and his technique to an actual concrete test, he followed Vincent d'Indy's advice to compete, nothwithstanding his extreme youth, for the Belgian Rome prize in 1891, though it pre- vented him, very much to his regret, from journeying to Bayreuth. Victor in the preliminary test for admission (counterpoint and fugue) his cantata received but the second-second prize. Utterly disgusted with the verdict of the jury, Lekeu forthwith renounced all ambition for further trial of strength in similar competitions, without, however, decrying the benefit of self-assurance to be de- rived from such contests. The next two years and a half were devoted to work incessant and fruitful, with no bio- graphical incidents worth recording here, except perhaps his trip to Aix-la-Chapelle in October, 1892, to hear Schu- mann's Parodies und Peri. "A sublime work of incom- parable poetry" as he calls it in a letter of October 28, 1892, from Heusy to his mother, which contains this ob- servation : But what an astonishing thing the German public is I While fully appreciating and loving this or that interpreter, it does not tender them a personal ovation ; all applause is delayed until after the last note of the work and then is intended for everybody, for choristers, orchestra, conductor, soloists, but above all for the memory of Robert Schumann. From the start it is not a question of the singer, but of the work and its beauty. Just the reverse of the French and Belgian practice. It explains in good measure the depth of thought in German musical -works ; the composer knows that he will always have a "listening" audience. What perpetual encouragement! To know that one will be judged on the merit of one's case 1 In the fall of 1893, just when he began to enjoy full control of his powers and shortly after the first performance of his Fantaisie symphomque on two folk-songs of Anjou at Venders under his own direction, he showed the initial signs of his lingering illness, contracted, it was diagnosed, from contaminated sherbet. Surrounded by his family GUILLAUME LEKEU 203 Guillaiime Lekeu died of typhoid fever on January 21, 1894, at Angers. On April 29 his friends organized a concert in honor of his memory so that the public might share their conviction of the great loss sustained by the world of music. The concert took place at Paris, at the Salle d'Harcourt, under the direction of Vincent d'Indy and with the cooperation of Mme. Deschamps- Jehin, Eugene Ysaye and A. Pierret. The program con- sisted of Lekeu's song "Sur une tombe," a scene from his ill-starred cantata "Andromede," his Violin sonata and his Fantaisie symphonique just mentioned. * * * Lekeu's best-known works found their way into the concert-hall rapidly, but only gradually to the printing- press after Vincent d'Indy had sifted the manuscripts and prepared them for publication. Presumably that ex- plains the surprise expressed by some critics at the light bagage left by the young composer. This impression was faulty. A glance over the list of his works printed by his principal publisher, E. Baudoux & C*® (now Eouart, LeroUe & C'®) of Paris on the cover of Lekeu's Violin Sonata, or into the bibliography appended by Octave Sere to his chapter on Lekeu in his valuable book on "Musiciens frangais d'aujourd'hui" (1911), leads to a totally different conclusion. Here it is, with a few added or corrected dates: Pianoforte: Tempo di Mazurka (comp. about 1887, Poitiers, Alb. Alliaume). Trois pieces: 1. Chansonnette sans paroles. 2. Valse oublie. 3. Danse joyeuse (comp. 1891; Liege, Veuve L. Muraille, 189-). Sonata (comp. April, 1891; Baudoux, 1900). Songs: La fenetre de la maison patemelle (A. de Lamartine; comp. 1887. Unpublished). Chanson de Mai (comp. 1891; Jean Lekeu; Baudoux, 1900). Trois poemes (Guillaume Lekeu) : 1. Sur une tombe. 2. 204 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Hondo. 3. Nocturne (comp. 1892; Baudoux, 1894. The "Noc- turne" exists also witli string orchestra accompaniment by Lekeu himself). Melodie — ^L'ombre plus dense (G. Lekeu; comp. 1893. Liege, Veuve L. Muraille). Les Pavots (A. de Lamartine; Eouart-LeroUe, 1909). Chamber music: Adagio pour deux violons et piano (1888; unpublished). Senate pour piano et violon (comp. 1892; Baudoux, 1894 or 1895 ; ^ a transcription for piano and violoncello by Eonchini published by Rouart, Lerolle et Cie, 1912). Trio pour piano, violon et violoncelle (1891; Rouart-Lerolle, 1908). Senate pour piano et violoncelle (unfinished; prepared by V. d'Indy for publication by Eouart-Lerolle, 1910, but apparently not yet published). Quatuor pour piano, violon, alto et violoncelle (comp. 1893, unfinished; prepared by V. d'Indy for publication by Baudoux, 1896). Orchestra: Premiere etude symphonique: Chard de triom- phale delivrance {1889), Eouart-Lerolle, 190- ; score en location. Deuxieme etude symphonique: 1. 8ur Hamlet (unpublished). 2. Stur le second Faust (Goethe; comp. 1890; Eouart-Lerolle, 190- ; score en location). Adagio pour quatuor d'orchestre. Op. 3 (comp. 1891?; Eouart- Lerolle, 1908). Poeme pour violon et orchestre (unfinished and unpublished). :fipithalame pour quintette a cordes, trois trombones et orgue (about 1891; unpublished). Introduction et Adagio pour orchestre d'harmonie avec tuba solo oblige (1891; unpublished). Probably identical with: Concerto for tuba and orchestra. Manuscript said to be lost; unpublished. Pantaisie symphonique sur detix airs populaires anjevins (comp. 1891-1892, Eouart-Lerolle, 1909; also 4 hd. arr. publ.). Operas and choral works: Barberine (A. de Musset; 1889; sketches; unpublished). Les Burgraves (V. Hugo; fragments; unpublished). Chant lyrique pour choeur et orchestre (1891; unpublished). ' S6t6 gives 1899, but tbat is impossible, since H. Closson in the Guide Musical, April 12, 1895, tuentloDs among the works so tar published by Baudoux Lekeu's Violin Sonata, with allegorical title-page figure bj Carlos Schwabe, "k la m^moire de notre Guillaume." GXJILLAUME LEKEU 205 Andromede, iweme lyrique et symplioiiique pour soli, ctceurs et orchestre (Jules SauTeniere; comp. 1891; vocal score, Liege, Veuve L. Muraille). Baudoux's list is even more extensive than this aa re- gards unpublished songs, pianoforte and chamber-music; it reaches the formidable total of about sixty compositions finished or unfinished or existing merely in the form of sketches. And all this in less than seven years; and his weighty works in barely four and a half ! What renders this record of industry still more amazing is the fact that sickness and other circumstances would force upon Lekeu a cessation or retardation of work for weeks and even months at a time, or when, during the last three months of 1890, he substituted for a friend as teacher of Greek, Latin, etc. Furthermore, it appears from his letters that he was not or at least did not consider himself a rapid worker. An amusing illustration of this fact he has re- corded for us in a letter to Kefer, June 15, 1891. Com- menting on his diffidence to enter the prix de Borne con- test because of the short time (three days) allotted to the candidates for the fugue in four parts and chorus with orchestra in the preliminary test, he writes : I have never been able to write a fugue in less than six days. As for the chorus with orchestra, I have tried to compose one in as short a time as possible, with the result that it took me eight days. Brief as was Guillaume Lekeu's career and restricted the number of his works available -for performance, his posi- tion in the history of modem music — ^music of yesterday if confronted with Schonberg or Scriabin, but modem nev- ertheless — is prominent enough to warrant as comprehen- sive a presentation of biographical data as is possible or as space will permit. For that purpose Lekeu's letters published by Mr. de Stoecklin in the "Courrier Musical" (1906) and repeatedly quoted in the preceding pages, are 206 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES biographical documents of prime importance. So far as I know, these letters have not been accessible heretofore in English, and to students and admirers of Lekeu the translated extracts forming the major part of this essay will therefore, I hope, be welcome, grouped somewhat differently from the original publication in order to accord with chronology as nearly as possible. They not only af- ford a clear view of Lekeu's character and of biographi- cal episodes, but they disclose the genesis of some of his best and most ambitious works, whether actually completed or not. Mr. de Stoecklin published the letters with numer- ous elisions. This perhaps accounts for the absence of reference or for the meagreness of reference to certain works, as for instance the Violoncello sonata, the Piano- forte sonata, the Faniaisie symphonique on two folk-songs of Anjou. It is more than probable that these gaps would be filled by a publication of Lekeu's other correspondence not yet accessible in print. One would wish to know more about the genesis of these works, as also of the Chant lyrique for chorus and orchestra (the score has been permitted to rest unpublished in the archives of the Societe royale d'fimulation of Verviers after the first — and last — performance of the work at a concert of this so- ciety on December 3, 1891, had met with an "enormous success" according to Marcel Orban) or of the Concerto for tvba and orchestra. This odd concerto, according to the same authority, has remained absolutely unknown to the public, though it contains "wonderful things." To make matters worse, a certain Mr. Faniel, for whom it was composed, claims to have lost the precious manuscript. That the letters do not mention Lekeu's pianoforte pieces need not be regretted: few critics would hesitate to throw them out of court. Division of opinion about Lekeu's songs is more probable, yet again few critics would care to go as far as Destranges and Closson in their praise. My own estimate is this : Lekeu, like Beethoven, does not appear always to have been quite at ease when GUILLAUME LEKEU 207 writing for the voice. I doubt that he would have become a great master of the Lied. For instance, his "Chanson de Mai" (June 23, 1891) to words by his brother Jean is not very valuable; a certain youthful swing and ten- derness cannot be denied to this spring-song, but it is not original and its profile is marred by the excessive employ- ment of pot-boiler chords of the ninth. The simple, not- tumesque "Melodie" to Lekeu's own words stands higher. If the poet perhaps was inspired in his apostrophe to "this night of December" by memories of Poe's "Ulalume," the musician vividly, at least in the middle section, recalls Beethoven. On the title-page this song is called "(Euvre posthume, 1893," whereas Lekeu's most important songs, the cycle of his own "Poemes : Sur une tombe — ^Rondo — Nocturne," are dated 1892. (They were actually finished in December of that year. Without these dates every one would claim for these songs a wide step forward!) Fa- mous as these songs are said to have become in France and Belgium, they do not impress me as deeply as does Lekeu's chamber music, mainly because they are not es- sentially vocal in style. The voice-part is not treated badly, on the contrary, but it is not independent enough of the piano-part Indeed, the songs almost gain if ar- ranged as pieces for the piano with Lekeu's own poems as mottos instead of the lines by Lamartine, Verlaine, Hugo, that are prefixed as such. When the voice does not travel wnisono with the piano, the separation follows declamatory more than stylistic reasons. Apart from such more or less technical objections, the Poemes in all fairness demand serious interest and respect. They strive toward that freedom of musical speech which is so characteristic of latter-day songs and which will con- jure the censure of incoherence the moment the voice- part is severed and studied away from its twin, the piano- part. Though the "Eondo" is full of esprit, almost catchy, "Sur une tombe" and the "Nocturne" lent them- selves best to Lekeu's introspective, brooding manner, a 208 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES conclusion verified by the fact that the young composer took pains to provide his favorite, the "Nocturne," also with an accompaniment transcribed for orchestra, which is said to be impressively beautiful. The three songs are very difficult of interpretation, and this difficulty will al- ways stand between them, the singer and the public. But thoughtfully interpreted they must conquer every sensitive connoisseur of song. Yet he would find that the impres- sion created does not result wholly from the music : Lekeu, the poet, deserves his share of approval, since his exqui- sitely impressionistic free verse leads the composer with- out effort to interesting rhythmical experiments and to melodic curves of extraordinary breadth. As a specimen of Lekeu's poetic gifts, his "Nocturne" (a landscape seen with the eyes of the soul, as it has been called) may follow here: Des pres lontains d'azur sombre oii fleurissent les etoiles, descend, lente et pre- cieuse, la caresse d'un long voile d'argent pali dans le velours de I'ombre. Aux branches des bouleaux, des soxbiers et des pins, la tenture suspend ses long plis de mystere ou dort le sommeil des chemins et I'oublieuse paix de reve et de la terre. L'air frais et pur, dans les feuiUes, Laisse mourir un lent soupir Si doux qu'il semble le desire Des defuntes vierges aimees Cherchant I'invisible joyau Que va bergant pres du ruisseau La chanson murmurante et douce De I'onde rieuse en la mousse From distant meadows of sombre blue, where the stars flower, descends slowly and ex- quisitely the caress of a long silvery veil, pale in velvet shadows. From the branches of birches, sorbs, and pines the drapery suspends its long mys- terious folds, where rest in slumbea* the paths and the for- getful peace of dreams and of the earth. The fresh and pure air lets die in the leaves a slow sigh so sweet that it resembles the desires of maidens once loved, now dead, but still in search of the invisible jewel that luUs asleep in the moss near the rivulet the murmuring, lovely song of its smiling ripples. GUILLAUME LEKEU 209 La lune resplendit comme The moon is resplendent une agraffe d'or I et parf umant like a golden locket ; and waft- la plaine heureuse, la bruyere ing delicious odors through, s'endort dans I'ombre lumi- the happy plains, the heath neuse. is lulled asleep in the il- lumined shadows. In July and August, 1889, Lekeu, in company with his friends de Wyzewa and Query, made a musical pilgrim- age to Germany, visiting Munich, Frankfort, Nuremberg and especially Bayreuth. Even to-day his letters home make good Wagnerian reading and will revive memories of similar Wagnerian impressions in those of us who in those days, too, had their first full taste of the magician of Bayreuth. For instance, on August 1 he wrote from Munich : The day before yesterday I saw at the Munich opera an im- mense masterpiece : The Flying Dutchman of Wagner. Simply prodigious ! And the performance ! Yes, Germany is a country in every way more than extraordinary. ... It is a powerful and admirable work proceeding without intermission from Fidelia. What wiU it be at Bayreuth ? And on August 12 from Bayreuth, after having heard Tristan, the Meistersinger and Parsifal: , . . Wagner can absolutely not be understood from the piano ; to hear or rather to see one of his dramas is to enter an entirely new world of which until now I had no conception. One cries almost all the time: Parsifal has made me passion- ately religious and I feel a smothering longing to go to Mass (for that is the only thing resembling Wagner's superhuman revery). And to think that I am to hear again Tristan and after that the Meistersinger. From these quotations one might infer that Lekeu did not begin to sketch his opera "Barberine" until after he had come under the spell of Bayreuth. Yet his letter to Kefer of November 19, 1889, undermines this inference: 210 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES My humble felicitations [on the success of Kefer's symphony] may appeal to you like mustard after supper, and yet, my dear Sir, I beg of you to accept them and to believe in their sin- cerity. My uncle recently informed me of the kind interest with which you spoke of me. I hardly know how to thank you for this new sign of affection and I cannot find suitable words to thank you for your request of a musical work through my uncle. I should very much like to be at your service, but I really cannot as yet. Please listen instead, my dear Sir, to this recital of events. . . . Since May I am working on a scenic study in three characters (I omit three others, as they are of no importance for the sense of the work) : a study after Alfred de Musset's charming comedy, Barberine. My score will have two acts; I hope to finish in one or two months (let us say by January 1) the first act. Though not completely. I sketch the music on three, four, five or even eight and ten staves, multiplying the instrumental indications, but the orchestral score has not even been started, very much less the arrangement for piano, the very thought of which makes my hair stand on end. So you see that I have at least a year of work ahead of me, and serious work at that, before I shall reach the end of my little drama. So far I need not complain about myself. Indeed, I confess quite frankly that I have realized my intentions fairly well. Without false illusions, however, about the value of this first work for the stage, since I feel only too well how the master of Bayreuth rests with all his formidable weight on my thoughts; after all, I merely sought to follow him, to be straightforward and accurate in the declamation, expressive and musical in the instrumentation, and furthermore scenic. Now to-day a friend of mine, an actor at the Odeon, asures me that Mme. Lardin, sister of de Musset, would never permit the performance of the work (if by some lucky chance that opportunity should arise) nor the performance of excerpts at a concert. It would seem that she rejects absolutely all the numerous requests for per- mission to adapt musically her brother's dramas and comedies. ... At any rate, if an orchestra is willing, I can always at my expense and unhindered by Mme. Lardin have the purely sym- phonic parts of my work played. But I find only two excerpts fit for concert performance and the first will lose much, I fear, away from the stage : a fragment of the second scene of the first act and the prelude for the second. My first act will have no prelude; I thought this best, since the principal character does not appear until the second act. ___^ GUILLAUME LE KEU 211 The prelude, then, is reserved for this entry in the second act; it will depict the loveliness of Barberine, her goodness of heart, her love and her devotion to her husband. This is a fine program, to be sure, but ... I have not yet written a note of it. Without doubt (since four fifths of the first act are finished) I may avail myself of several of the motives as a foundation for this symphonic piece. Still, I shall require two or three other motives. Because useless for the first act, I have reserved them exclusively for the second; the business, then, remains of putting all these themes in order for a concise piece of orchestral music. I propose to put my hand to this prelude the moment the end of the second act is in sight. As soon as it is finished I shall show it to my master Franck and it vsdll give me a real pleasure to send you the score. . . I have also an introduction to La Coupe et les levres in my head, but that is practically only in the state of a mere project. To Refer, Paris, Dec. 16, 1889. . . . Recently I wrote to you about my "future" scenic essay, Barberine. I have abandoned it. For this very intime drama I composed a Prelude. I showed it to Franck; it pleased him very much and he did not withhold his compliments (far from it!). Yet he advised me against writing for orchestra too soon. I shall follow his advice. Nevertheless, the orchestration of this Prelude is entirely sketched ; nothing remains to be done except to transcribe it in score. The same applies to a symphonic study in form of a Chant de triomphale delivrance which I finished about a month ago on four or five staves surcharged with instru- mental indications. These two pieces and my fugue, there you have a list of my works since October. The above refereiice to his "first symphonic study" called Chant de triomphale delivrance disposes of the as- sertion by Tissier, de Stoecklin (who edited the letters ! ) and others that the work was first performed tinder Kefer in 1889, before Lekeu "had received a single lesson in composition." That is at best a doubtful compliment. We must not forget that in November Lekeu had already developed the habit of taking his oracle in counterpoint, Cesar Franck, into his compositional confidence, and cer- tainly not witiiout profit. As a matter of fact, the Chant de triomphale delivrance was not performed by Kefer, to 212 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES whom it is dedicated, at a concert of tlie Verviers conserva- tory until April 13, 1890. The history of this perform- ance is sufficiently outlined for biographical purposes in the following three letters: To Refer, Paris, January 18, 1890. . . . You will receive with this mail a manuscript which with- out doubt will impress you as being unreasonably long. Excuse me, its length and my boldness in dedicating to you my first work for orchestra. But I believed that this dedication was yours of right because of all the kindness you have shown me and because, of all the things that I have concocted so far, it is the only one that satisfies me. I have worked on it since November. The last five or six pages of the score I attacked six or seven times. I finally saved only the version which appeared to me to be the most concise and precise. , . Tell me frankly what you think of it, for I am very young, and at twenty one hardly ever has the good fortune to meet so devoted a friend as you : in other words, it would not pain me in the slightest, not even after the happy news from you, if I had to wait some time, even some years, before appearing in public. Above all I must ripen. March, 1890, to his mother, I heard yesterday the first rehearsal of my Mude sym/phornque. On the whole, I was satisfied. It sounds well ; it is an orchestra a la Beethoven and Kefer has again told me, warmly pressing my hands, that the fugue is "prodigieusement charpentiee." However, I shall make a few little changes, not melodic or harmonic, but orchestral. Yesterday's rehearsal took place under particularly disadvantageous conditions. For an hour and three quarters Kefer had kept the musicians busy rehears- ing his symphony; tired, they were about to leave the hall, when Kefer called them back and requested them to try over a work by one of their compatriots. They went about it sawing and blowing as best they knew how, but the horns and trom- bones, not knowing the work at all, missed many entries. When they ha.d finished they began to applaud and I had to rise (I was seated hidden in a corner of the hall) and bow my acknowl- edgments right and left; after which I had to shake hands for five or six minutes. All that will make you laugh, and yesterday I felt like doing Ukewise. The main point, however, is, it is good music and feasible. GUILLAUME LEKEU 213 At the next concert a piece (Again!) by Voss' if ant will be performed. This little piece (which you -will certainly hear) is a honne blague invented by me and Massau [violoncellist, pro- fessor at the Conservatory of Verviers]. First a violin and violoncello take their place at their desks, all others remaining vacant. They wait a little while for the others, who do not appear, and then play a motive of "Cram- pignon" (first the violin ; then the violoncello takes it up, accom- panied by the violin in imitative counterpoint). While they are playing, an alto arrives, sits down and takes up the motive. And during all the succeeding entries (in a goose-march, as it were) of the string instruments, a little fugue is rolled off without interruption. Then comes an oboe: he wants to take up the theme, but bizarre chords impose silence on him after two futile attempts. In the meantime a clarinet has entered and chants a melody, calm and interpretative of the pleasure one feels when making music with friends. This melody is treated in an adagio of five or six lines. Then the horn and bassoons take part in the sport; the volume of soimd increases; finally the violins intone victoriously the chant of the clarinet and at the same time the basses, doubled by the bassoon, take up the theme of crampignon which served as subject for the fugue. (Just as in the Master- singers.) You see, my dear Mother, one can write blagues [hoaxes] in music as well as in literature. But I have tried to make this caprice amusing and yet very musical. I believe it will sound marvelously well. Almost all the successive entries are amus- ing and unexpected; especially a fortissimo entry of the double- bass solo. I have not been able to identify this reversed shadow of Haydn's "Abschieds-Symphonie" in Baudoux's list of Lekeu's works. Perhaps the score has disappeared. That would be regrettable, for an opportunity to hear Lekeu's whimsical piece ought to prove most entertaining on a suit- able occasion. Indeed, just for the fun of it — and we need a little more fun in music — one might wish to see Lekeu's hlcugue and Haydn's blague put in juxtaposition on a program. Again it is a letter to Kefer which acquaints us with the conception and genesis of one of Lekeu's "serious" 214 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES and ambitious works, nothing less than a triptych, however incongruous. He writes from Paris, on May 22, 1890 : ... I have undertaken une grosse machine in three parts for orchestra (and male chorus in the third). I shall tell you below of the subject and the plan. Here, first of all, my reasons for hoping to hear this work at an early date. M. Voncken [violinist, professor at the Verviers conservatory] has requested of me for the annual concert de l':6niulation a work for or- chestra and chorus. Furthermore, recently I was introduced to M. Louis de Eomain, who with Jules Bordier is in charge of the artistic enterprise of the concerts at Angers. This gentle- man treated me charmingly and asked me to let him have in August, when he next visits Paris, the score of a symphonic piece. I have set myself the task of finishing for his purpose and by that date the first part of my Poeme. Here is the point of this heavy job : I should like to make a Musical Study after Shakespeare's Hamlet. The first part has for a motto "To die — to sleep; — To sleep! perchance to dream. . . " You see that this is precisely Hamlet's character. But this character, I feel neither old nor strong enough to adequately depict : that task requires a Beethoven ! But at least I can attempt to illustrate musically some principal traits of the character: the thirst of death, the march of his mind toward this idea: seeing first in Death a deliverance and then fear of finding beyond the grave painful surprises; his hatred, thereupon, of all the rank evil which surroimds him (his coun- selors, his mother, his step-father). Thus I am also led to reveal the honesty of this extraordinary soul, his profound love of the good, his eternal attachment to his father. — ^Tou see that this is not a small affair. Many things will still have to be considered and translated, for the complexity of this character (so astonishingly one, after all) is truly crushing. Well! I have resolutely set my hand to the task! Even before leaving for Verviers I was spending much thought on it. I have finished the first part. Now I must prepare the en- trance of the themes of hate and combine them symphonically with the motives of the Invocation of Death. The second part will have as epigraph: "Bos Ewig-weibliche zieht uns hinan" (the last words of the second Eaust) : the con- solation that Death will not perhaps procure and which the troubled soul asks for Love. But there again, complete decep- tion; and the themes of grief return still more certain of their victory. GUILLAUME LEKEU 215 The third part will have as epigraph: "0 proud Death! What feast is tovxwd in thine eternal cell, That thou so many princes, at a shot. So hloodily hast struck?" This is the definitive triumph of Grief. — There is one thing against which I must guard myself: to want to narrate in music concrete facts (pro- gram music), for instance, the apparition of the ghost and other hetises. Under no circumstances do I wish to attempt rewriting in music Shakespeare's drama. My desire is merely to essay a translation into music of some of my impressions gained from the frequent reading of Hamlet. For example, the third part will not be a funeral march (Berlioz has made one on this sub- ject), but a piece of music (in very moderate tempo) into which I shall try to put utmost sorrow, deriving it nominally from the Invocation of Death and the heinous imprecations of the first part. Was "Hamlet" performed at Angers in 1890? Prob- ably letters of Lekeu not yet published would answer that question. Those edited by Stoecklin (with elisions) do not. Yet one feels inclined to deduce an affirmative answer from the tenor of Lekeu' s letter to Kefer on April 15, 1891, the one informing his friend of the depressed state of mind in which the death of bis "cher maitre^' Franck bad left bim : "At Angers [the letter was written in Paris, apparently after a return from Angers] I heard a good rehearsal of a little orchestral piece which I composed last summer (the second part of an iStude symphonique in three parts) [obviously the "Faust" movement], and as it did not sound disagreeable, I took a little courage. . . I shall revise completely, I might say re-compose, the first part of this my second symphonic study, for when I set about writing the third part, the first impressed me as being more nulle than the collected works of Ambroise Thomas. That be did not carry out this plan, is a further deduc- tion from bis letter to Kefer. At any rate, it would offer a plausible explanation of the fact that the "Hamlet" (and also the third) movement remained unpublished, whereas the score of the second, the Faust movement, seems to have been printed, though, in keeping with that 216 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES regrettable practice of French and Italian publishers, en location only. "Horrors without name, which I have grouped under the title of a Trio for piano, violin and violoncello." With these not very flattering remarks Lekeu in his letter to Kefer of April 15, 1891, would seem to refer to the least known (and least coherent) of his chamber music works, finished early in 1891 after he had recovered from the blow dealt him by Franck's death, but commenced early in 1890, and apparently, after the completion of the first movement, laid aside in favor of his grosse mor chine in three parts. I say on purpose "would seem to refer," because the letters quoted below in which other references to the Trio occur contain a contradiction. In one of them he mentions a trio for piano, violin and alto (underscoring the word alto), which leads us almost to suspect that Lekeu at that time was actually working on two different trios, one for the customary combination of piano, violin and violoncello, the other for the rather un- usual combination just mentioned ! The earliest allusion to a trio I find in Lekeu's letter to Kefer from Paris, February 1, 1890: I just left my admired master, Tranck, who for half an hour bombarded me with compliments on the first four pages (all I have written in a month) of a Trio for piano, violin and violon- cello. — ^Bnt enough of this. On April 26, 1890, Lekeu then informs Kefer that Cesar Franck is quite satisfied with what I have shown him of the Trio on which I am busy. He warmly encouraged me to persevere in this heavy and irksome task. Hence, I have thrown myself into it with refreshed strength. It is in his letter to Kefer of May 22, 1890, that the alto is mentioned instead of the violoncello. In these words: GUILLAUME LEKE U 217 I work mucli. I do not mean counterpoint ; one has to submit to these annoying but indispensable scholasticisms I I have finished the first movement of a Trio for piano, violin and alto. The adagio will have been written (at least I hope so) in one or two months. I showed the work to father Franck, who is very much satisfied with it. In fact, I expect to dedicate it to him (which is but natural). Between these letters falls one written from Heusy on March 1, 1890, to his mother, which affords a further valuable clew to Lekeu's type of mind as a composer. (After all, he was a "programmatic" composer and not a formalist.) The letter runs: The last piece of my Trio is definitely attacked: two pages are written. The rest simmers feverishly in my head. Here is what I should like to express in this first movement. I have all the themes : 1". Introduction: Grief, a ray of hope, fugitive, too short, brusquely driven off by the sombre reverie which, alone, expands and prevails. 2". Allegro molto : The sorrow of melancholy ; always to be in battle with matter and with the memories of victory over matter I temporary and torturing. Grief reappears; cries of hate resound and the malediction has plain sailing. The violin issues an appeal of despair : who will deliver me from this tor- ture? The hellish ritomelle answers; the violoncelle [sici] unites with the violin to proclaim anew the supplication; once more the ritornelle replies. A contest ensues, desperate, between the two ideas. (Here is where I have stopped.) The plan of the rest is as follows: The contest seems to come to an end. Is it to be the end of the suffering? The melody of Hope of the Introduction reappears. But brusquely Grief, as if irritated by this consoling cahn, takes possession of her empire. The cries of hate become more numerous, the fugue in its winding course sweeps them away. Melancholy, too, in an attempt to rend the clouds, is driven off; expelled also all hope; and in impotent lassitude the first section ends as if proclaiming in darkest silence the triumph of Evil. But, dear Mother, rest assured that the other sections correct the first, and the finale wiU be the luminous development of Goodness, if I am at all able to cope with that task worthily. I am satisfied with what I have done so far. With patient 218 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES travail I hope to reach the end of this work, which I feel to be so beautiful, above all so expressive, and I compel myself to put my whole being into it. Let us hope that you may hear it within a year. On April 15, 1891, Lekeu had occasion to thank Kefer for his willingness to lend the string section of his or- chestra for the performance of a little piece composed for the approaching marriage of his friend, A. Guignard. It was his unpublished Epithalame: "This ensemble of strings, trombone and organ ought not, I think, to sound full of holes." April, 1891, is also the date affixed to the printed score of his "Senate pour piano," yet I can find no mention of this work in the letters published by de Stoecklin. Unfortunately so, for it might have helped to check up Marcel Orban's statement: A Suite for piano was published after his death under the title of Sonata. He did not consider it more than a study in com- position; but it is a study of real beauty. The fugue remains a monumental example of the genre. That Lekeu in letters not yet published speaks of this sonata is clear, since Orban quotes a line from one of these (without further data) to the effect that "This pas- sage I should not to-day write again, but the fugue is bien." In the absence of documentary evidence, I hesitate to accept Orban's story. The reverse process would have been more plausible : to change the title of sonata to that of suite, as the following little expose will illustrate. Lekeu prefixed these verses by George Vanor to the work as a motto (serviceable for a suite as much as for a sonata) : Comme une mere veille aupres de son enfant, Elle a berce de ses chansons ma male fievre. La bonne fee, elle a ranime de sa levre Ma levre, et rafraichi pour moi, I'air etouflFant. The music is in keeping with these verses, although it is GUILLAUME LEKEU 219 Hiusio "witli a motto rather than "programmatic" music in the routine sense. The "male fievre" and the "air etouf- fant" predominate, hut since one has to li^e up to one's motto, the "bonne fee" ultimately comes into her own. It is music as from another world, undisturbed by market noise or by witty fashionable gossip. Immature and youthfully crude in spots, to be sure, but like MacDowell's first suite, an astonishing example of adolescent genius. It is unlike MacDowell's suite, however, in its almost ascetic avoidance of brilliant hues, albeit full of color other- wise. The sonata inherited its gait from Bach, its mys- ticism from Franck and its profile (as seen through a veil) from Wagner. Academicians among critics will deny to the work its title of sonata. Not without cause, for at best Lekeu wrote a sonata in the original sense of a piece to be played on an instrument, and certainly not a sonata in the modern sense of the term : the first and last of the five movements excepted — practically a prelude and an epilogue — the composer revels in a series of strictly contrapuntal fugal movements with just a trace of the so-called sonata-form ! Combine this fact with the fin de siecle harmonic boldness of the work and its somewhat morbid program, and an im- pression is produced as if Sweelinck or some other fore- runner of Bach had returned to earth, had listened to our modern ways of making music, and had retired to some organ-loft to improvise an organ phantasy in the "modern" style. Not without clinging to the idea of thematic unity (so characteristic of archaic suites and sonatas), for Lekeu in this "study in composition," too, as in his other chamber- music and in the footsteps of his master, Cesar Franck, dedicated himseK wholeheartedly to a revival of that maxim of composition. The nobly harmonized prelude gives the mood of the entire sonata : climaxes interrupted by mystic echoes from the beyond, produced by the simple device of a change in pedals, and at the end a simple motif obviously announc- 220 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES ing the chanson of the good fairy. With slight altera- tions the main theme of the prelude reappears immediately after the prelude as a fugue theme. A bona fide four- part fugue seems to follow, but the movement impresses me more like a fugato variation of the prelude, the prelude theme, the chanson motif, with the mystic harmonic in- terruptions and syncopations playing the same role here as there. In working all this out as if in a choral phan- tasy for organ, the chanson motif is used partly in canonic imitation for the preparation of a mighty climax, after which the main theme reenters majestically with a kind of basso ostinato leading to the end in almost literal repe- tition of the closing bars of the prelude. To the student of composition this movement is particularly interesting, for the apparent experiment in utilizing fugato as a tech- nical contrivance, while adhering svh rosa to the sonata- form. The third movement, with the chanson motif again as ethereal thematic adjunct, is also a fugato movement in which the first theme seems to have germinated from the basso ostinato of the second movement. The fourth move- ment in very much slower tempo shows the same contrapun- tal style and the same thematic material, though it is varied to fit the story of the movement : a feverish starting up as if haunted by tender calls, a sinking back into despair after a tremendous struggle, yet now with rays of hope breaking through darkness. Obviously, the composer is preparing us for the poetic essence of his motto; and in- deed, from the last movement, the epilogue, the "suffocating atmosphere" has been dispelled. The thematic material is the same as in the fourth movement, but the underlying mood is more joyful, and, though passionate, calm with the calmness of the soul after a conflagration. Unfor- tunately, the idea of this epilogue is better than the music, which is somewhat banal. Whatever one chooses to call Lekeu's "Senate pour piano" — a sonata, a suite, a theme vrith variations, an organ fever-phantasy transcribed for the pianoforte — ^it GUILLAUME LEKEU 221 is on the whole a noble work of youthful genius reaching with outstretched arms for ideals peculiarly his own. But like so much of Schumann's music, it seems to have been sung to the composer's own soul or to a few intimates, and not to a listening crowd. With all its thundering climaxes the sonata is music for the chamber, not for the concert-hall, and it is perhaps impressive rather than ef- fective. For that reason all but a few independent con- cert-pianists will naturally hesitate to introduce Lekeu's sonata to our audiences, so accustomed to the sterility of "effective" pianists' programs. In the middle of June, 1891, Lekeu informed his friend Kefer that he had accepted Vincent d'Indy's advice to embark on the adventure of trying to capture the Belgian prix de Borne: I obey Mm and so also satisfy my parents, who at present dream of nothing but to see one of these days this supreme and governmental prize allotted to me. However, I must confess candidly how disagreeable it would be not to be admitted to the final test; and yet from a strictly materialistic standpoint (I mean the time for jotting down the notes) I dread the preliminary more than the final competition. For the latter they accord us 27 days en loge, whereas for the preliminary test we have but 72 hours — 3 days for the composi- tion of the four-part fugue and the complete score of the chorus with orchestra. I have never been able to make a fugue in less than six days and, as regards the chorus with orchestra, when I tried to com- pose one in as short a time as possible, it took me 8 days. . . However, if I can finish these two affairs in three days and the jury then pronounces them too bad for my admission to the final competition, I shall be vexed indeed. . . This letter was followed by one en loge to his mother in the first flush of victory, half an hour after Gevaert on July 25, 1891, had pronounced him "premier admissible" for the flnal test. As Lekeu was the youngest competitor, it had fallen to his lot to draw a fugue theme from the urn. The theme drawn was of the poorest, and so unfit 222 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES for vocal treatment that Gevaert immediately charged the competitors to use it for organ and string quartet accom- paniment. Lekeu felt satisfied with his "sane, sonorous" chorus and attributed his preliminary victory to his care- ful instrumentation ("one is not a pupil of d'Indy just for nothing"). His fugue horrified him as "raw as iron and void of all musical interest." He did not hesitate to say so afterwards to fimile Matthieu of the jury, who replied with Gallic esprit: "Well, Monsieur Lekeu, you see that our opinion was quite different from yours." The letter continued : I might now perhaps by sawing wood like a deaf man unhook a second honorable mention, but I hope that my two old friends [his parents] wiU not get a swoUen head and figure out that the premier admissible thereby becomes first in the real compe- tition. To write and finish such a complicated cantata as demanded here one needs an experience and a flow of ideas which one cannot have at 21 years. Perhaps in two years I could win the second prize and in four the first. However, that is a beautiful dream and nothing else. In his letter to Kefer of July 30 he voiced similar senti- ments : Tou appear to think that I shall split the drum with the first blow. At 21 one does not triumph so easily, particularly not in competition with chaps of 26, 28, and 29 years, of whom one, M. Paul Lebrun, harmony professor at the conservatory of Gand, already twice has carried off the first second prize. . . The prize will go to him who is the first to complete the sketch of his cantata and who has more time than the others to instru- mentate with care. This rapidity of workmanship I am far from possessing. Shall I ever have it? ... To be perfectly frank, I attach little importance to that bizarre faculty of completing a work of art in quick-step, and I consider it rather strange that precisely that faculty is asked of the future musician. AH this in order to tell you that perhaps by sawing wood conscientiously I may gather in the Rome prize in four years. Here I play the role of an amateur rather than of a competitor, and though I am not lying exactly on a bed of roses, my life GUILLAUME LEKEU 223 is not altogether disagreeable. Our subject is Andromede [the text was by Jules Sauveniere] and is burdened with three situations : 1. Ethiopia is devastated by a monster: religious scene for the purpose of asking Ammon if a sacrifice can free the country. The god answers that it is necessary to sacrifice the princess Andromeda by chaining her to a rock. Object: to reduce the affront to the Nereides whom Andromeda conquered in a beauty contest. The people seize the virgin without listening to her supplications. 2. Andromeda alone, her grief; the Nereides, playing on the waves, taunt her without pity. 3. Perseus (who, without doubt, was promenading in those parts) frees Andromeda; they marry, the people (who have turned their coat . . . why?) yell to Hymen. . . Hopes that they will have lots of children. Harps, etc. . . My work progresses without foolish haste or exasperating slowness. To-morrow I shall have finished the first scene (the longest of the three by far). It comprises a good old religious march. Scene of invocation, the Devil incarnate and his en- tourage. I see clearly that in 21 days, when I shall leave here, I shall be completely wiped out physically. Also, I have abandoned entirely my original intention of forcing a hearing of my cantata on the jury at the piano, with chorus and soloists. . . To Refer, August 10, 1891. . . . my cantata is completely composed and even the orches- tration is well advanced: the seventy-fifth page of score begins to look black. To-morrow at noon without doubt, I shall be through with the first half of the text. The second, I hope, wiU progress with the same rapidity. In other words, my cantata will be finished on time between now and August twentieth unless I fall sick. But that is im- possible, because I have felt marvelously well since my entry en loge. Of the result of this contest I have not the slightest idea. Yet I can promise you that the orchestration will be good from the first to the last note. I have worked a lot during the last year and a half; I had the good luck of hearing music of mine at Angers and I begin to feel a sure hand in the poly- phonic treatment of the orchestra. Having finished the composition of the cantata in advance of the date I had fixed for myself, I shall be able to devote more time to the instrumentation. . , 224 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Is it good? Or ia it not? Who knows? It is done and settled: voild the main point, finish the job at whatever cost. Such a cantata never is good from beginning to end; even the best show numerous defects. Now one lacks the time to retouch these dark spots, and for that reason this competition business is diametrically opposed to artistic work, sincere and comfort- ing. On certain days (yesterday for example) I feel satisfied with my work. Eveiything looks solidly constructed ; of a good, expressive musical cohesion of parts, the whole ensemble dramatic and above all sincere. In brief, I am satisfied with myself. On other days (this afternoon for example) everything looks like a failure and then I pass hours not exactly gay. This evening my spirits are higher again. I heard fragments of cantatas of two of my competitors. Verily, without wishing to be conceited, I may afSrm that my own work is better than what they played to me; for truly and without doubt their productions are but vast exercises. . . powdered over with Wagnerian reminiscences; not one cry of expression, not one gripping chord, nothing of those things that come from and go to the heart. Of such things, possibly only one or two occur in my own cantata, but at least I have the certain consolation to have felt and written in spots something sane, honest and human. But this certainty perhaps (indeed probably) will be but a doubt in the minds of the jury, and I have not much hope of getting any- thing out of this business. Possibly the extreme care bestowed on the orchestration will gain me a second honorable mention. But I had better not count on that. . . But when this clairvoyant auto-propliecy actually came true, did Lekeu break forth into a chant de triomphah delivrance? Far from it! He proved that after all he could not only be a "serious young gentleman," but also at times a foolish young gentleman like the rest of us. The contrast in tone between the last letter quoted and the following to Kef er, end of August, is really amusing : Since Sunday I have passed horrible days, and still more horrible nights. And this because of a foolish, senseless, wild and perhaps unpardonable step. But you know me and you can see me when I heard the name of S . . . come before mine. A foolish rage seized me, my teeth chattered and (so I was told afterwards) I had the expres- sion of a maniac. Without realizing what I was doing, I re- GUILLAUME LEKETT 225 fused to enter the jury's room. The next day I was still so much in the grip of this atrocious impression that I wrote a note of protest to the Independance Beige which had published the verdict without mentioning my refusal. He then felt utterly crushed by his acts of "childish folly," but by the middle of September, it appears from a letter to Vincent d'Indy, he had calmed himself suf- ficiently to reach the conclusion that, everything consid- ered, he had acted wisely ! Commenting on the fact that Oscar Roels' cantata, "a very interesting composition, of exquisite charm and of absolutely extraordinary formal perfection," was thrown out of court, he leaves no doubt that his dream of winning the coveted Eome prize in four years had completely vanished and that he had thrown behind him any design of further competition: The Home competition is not at all what I believed it to be and I do not even feel justified in feeling proud of my victory in the preliminary contest. With one exception I had to do only with old conservatory pillars, who do not know even the most elementary part of their craft and have absolutely no ideas in their heads. However, the contest was not between them personally, but between the Belgian conservatories. I have seen the six works submitted to the jury. Four of them do not exist by reason of absence of every emotion and because of poverty of harmonic invention. As for polyphony, a dead letter for these people; they hardly know it by name. . . As for myself, I had the rare good chance of being moved by .my subject and of having felt during the 25 days en loge better disposed for work than ever. I have composed the first work with which I really have felt satisfied. Most certainly I shall have to concede numerous weak spots, but I may say to you as to my best and most sincere friend, that I have written pages of music worthy of a pupil of Franck and in which an impartial musician must recognize immediately that I have listened to your counsel with attention. I had not a single vote for the first prize. Without hesitation the jury disregarded me, and M. Lebrun of Gand received the prize with four against three votes for M. Smalders of Liege, who received five votes against two for the second prize. Boels received nothing; he was put out of court without cere- mony. And without doubt the same fate would have been in 226 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES store for me, had I not studied your scores (the Scene Cevenole and Wallenstein) ; but the jury apparently feared that I might get my work performed, and therefore offered me the second- second prize. The cause of my and Eoels' downfall is the same old jealousy of musical academies of modem music; but for me the case became more complicated on account of the fact that my whole education was received at Paris and outside of any conservatory. Parts of Lekeu's luckless "Andromede" were performed a few months after his refusal of the second-second prize at a "Concert des XX" at Brussels ; the whole work then on March 27, 1892, at the conservatory of Verviers under the ever loyal Louis Kefer. The reception accorded was indeed different from that by the prize jury, and this difference — it goes without saying — is strikingly reflected by the following letters written to his father. February 27, 1892. I must tell you about the concert of the XX at which a part of my Andromede was played. To put it briefly, it had a big success. In the first place, the performance was ideal. All the instrumentalists had become passionately fond of this music and reproduced it down to my very last intentions. After the last note, the applause exploded in the whole large hall. Mile, de Haene stepped forward to bow to the public, but when she left the stage, the applause continued to increase; all the musicians tapped on their instruments and from every part of the hall came shouts "composer, composer." I had to show my- self and the tapping became louder. When I sought to retire, the musicians would not let me and I had to bow my acknowl- edgments again to the public. And when at last I could reach the foyer, while Orickboom, Gillet, etc., were surrounding and hugging me, I still heard the audience applaud. To be perfectly candid, that number on the program interested the public most; I am immensely pleased with the reception, since I was just a little nervous about a public so different from that at Verviers. But what filled me with more joy than anything else, beside d'Indy's praise, was Ysaye's conduct toward me. At the end of the concert he mounted the platform and took me, figuratively speaking, into his arms by saying aloud that my Andromede was the work of an a/rtisi and of a great musician and that he had never before listened to a work by so young a man wise and GUILLAUME LEKEU 227 impassioned at the same time. . . An hour later I was at the Conservatory. . . Tsaye when introducing me to his pupils began by bombarding me with compliments, for instance: "Here is a pupil of Father Franck; alone of composers of to- day, he composes music which is not an imitation of Wagner — whom he knows by heart." Then he asked me if I had composed chamber-music. When I answered in the negative, he asked me to let him have all the chamber-music which I might write in the future. He assured me of a performance on every suitable occasion, and more particularly he asked me to start ofi with a Sonata for violin and pianoforte. Well, I call that a soft snap, to hear one's self played by Ysaye! . . . To-day at 11 o'clock (from 11 to 2) the first general rehearsal. Last Thursday evening I had heard the orchestra rehearsal with chorus and soloists. I had been quite satisfied from beginning to end; without any weak spots it sounded excellent, but to-day still better. The horribly difficult choruses go as if sewed to- gether, the attacks are firm and all nuances duly carried out. They sound splendidly; in the first part as if smitten with affliction, lugubrious, then tragic and wild; in the second part they overflow with life, with abandon, triumphant sonority; one really feels that the world has been saved for ever; "that radi- ates," as Kefer said. The orchestra, on the other hand, marches like one man, disclosing the most secret sentiments of Andromeda, of Perseus, and the crowd surrounding them. Above all, it sounds intense. Throughout one feels the influence of the old man Cesar Franck more than that of Wagner; hardly at all, or not at all, that of d'Indy : his orchestra has an entirely different sound. I am happy beyond words, because I appear to be able to adore the work of my master and most loyal friend without imitating him in the slightest. Perhaps one day I shall be able to do as well as he, though in a totally different genre of sonority. Without humbug, this work is very much more solid than the Chant lyrique. That work stiU gave me somewhat the impres- sion of a very lucky accident. But Andromede is the work of a manipulator of orchestra and chorus very sure of his craft. One feels that I can draw adequate effects from the orchestra whenever I shall wish. I feel myself in possession of a solid brain — ^I know my business. Now back to work! In 1904 Andromede was again performed at Brussels, conducted by Huberti, a member of the prix de Borne 228 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES jury. According to Marcel Orban, the public gave it a demonstrative reception, thus flaying the stupidity or par- tiality of the jury in 1891. This may be true, but if Orban sees in Lekeu's Andromede "melodic invention of incredible richness, the ■whole work astonishing in mastery of craft and expression," I feel inclined to argue that the success was not wholly due to esthetic but partly to the political reasons advanced by Orban, and that he greatly exaggerates the merits of the work. Of course, I have not heard it in its orchestral garb, on which Lekeu bestowed such care, and I realize that it is easy to do an injustice to modem works seen through the medium of a vocal score only, but even a vocal score will show "incredible rich- ness of melodic invention, etc." — provided it really is to be found. Exactly that I am inclined to deny. Andromede is in Lekeu's typical manner, but notwithstanding this transparent individuality, the cantata lacks a convincing character. Mainly becaxise the two principals, Andromeda and Perseus, do not stand out iu proper musical relief, though Andromeda's lament is impressive enough. On the whole, they betray that lifeless stiffness and strained vitality in their utterances which one would be surprised not to find in prix de Borne cantatas or in similar prize- bouquets of artificial flowers. The first part of the Can- tata is decidedly better than the second. It is logical, organic, full of vigor and color ; in short, it illustrates again the curious fact that composers often bestow more inspira- tion and sympathy on monsters, ghosts, goblins than on their victims. Had the second part maintained the level of the first, Andromede might be called an effective work in spite of Andromeda, but unfortunately it is incoherent, bombastic, and runs from bad to worse, ending with a rather empty and insipid outburst of joy. This weakness of the second part in my opinion will defeat further attempts to win a permanent place for Lekeu's cantata in the concert-hall. With all its undeniable merits, Lekeu's Andromede is not a great work of art, though, of course, GUILLAUME LEKEU 229 very much better than many a choral work which con- ductors persist in inflicting upon the dear public's ears. There is in these letters but the one brief allusion to the Fantaisie symphonique sur deiuc airs popidaires wnr gevins quoted below under date of IN'ovember 2, 1892. Yet, with the violin sonata and the unfinished quartet, it forms the trio of Lekeu's works that has carried his name and fame farthest. The last page of the original score reproduced in facsimile, in Octave Sere's book, shows the dates "Mai, 1891, 28 Mai, 1892." In other words, Lekeu began work on this phantasy before his painful ex- perience en loge, and did not finish it until shortly before the violin sonata occupied his mind. The first perform- ance of the work with orchestra appears to have been delayed until October 21, 1893, at Verviers under Lekeu's own direction. After that Vincent d'Indy, Chevillard, Colonne and other French and Belgian conductors stood sponsors for the work, until, so we are told by several French authors, it has become fairly fixed in the French and Belgian repertoires. One handicap to a more rapid circulation must be seen in the tardy publication of the full score — ^not until 1909. In America the Fantaisie appears not to have attracted the attention it deserves. Properly placed on a program, the score cannot fail to release that spontaneous applause with which it has been greeted elsewhere. I^or is that hard to explain. As Lekeu justly remarked after the Verviers performance in a letter quoted by Orban, "the orchestra purls with enthu- siasm and sonority. There are in the piece certain trom- bones fairly Jerichotiens." Furthermore, by virtue of the fact that he based the Fantaisie on two captivating folk-songs of Anjou (the first of an infecting jollity), the work is bathed in sunshine far more than any of his other works. Unfortunately, Lekeu's programmatic note prefaced to Samazeuilh's not very happy arrangement of the score for four hands has been omitted from the published full score. This omission places conductor and 230 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES audience at a decided disadvantage, since it robs them of the key to the structure of the work. Until I discov- ered that discrepancy between full score and arrangement, I was puzzled by the hesitatioii of a very distinguished American conductor (who estimates Lekeu's talent at its true value and considers Lekeu's Adagio pour quaiuor d'orchestre on Georges Vanor's line, "Les fleurs pales du souvenir," very beautiful— and it is a gem, as Vincent d'Indy first proved to Parisians), to perform the Fantaisie on the ground that "it is good in spots, but is very detached and to my mind ill-formed." I cannot but question the soundness of this stricture if the score be examined and tested in public with the indis- pensable aid of Lekeu's programmatic key: Note de I'auteur. A la tombee du soir, les couples enlaces bondissent et tour- billonnent; c'est le bal de l"'Assemblee" et la danse toujours s'accelere aux crix joyeux des gars, aux rires eperdus des filles rouges de plaisir, pendant qu'eclat, dominant la fete et sa folic, la voix souveraine de I'Eternel Amour. . . Yers la plaine, oil I'ombre s'approfondit, paisible et mys- terieuse, I'Amant a entraine I'Amante. . . II resiste a la voix aimee qui lui demande de retoumer a la danse, et, rieuse, par les champs silencieux, va repetant les rondes toujours plus lointaines; il sait implorer et dire sa tendresse. Dans le decor d'une nuit d'ete lumineuse, etoilee et pleine du parfum de la terre endormie, la scene amoureuse deroule sa passion grandissante, et les amants s'eloignent au frais murmure de la riviere qu'argente le clair de lune. For one thing we should feel thankful to the jury of 1891 : their verdict aroused a storm of protest among Lekeu's friends, of whom Eugene Ysaye was the greatest, and so indirectly gave birth to Lekeu's violin sonata, "a masterwork which for breadth of ideas and melodic inspi- ration need not fear comparison with pere Franck's vio- lin sonata." Praise higher thaji this is impossible. Whether or not he indorses fully these words of Destranges GUILLAUME LEKEU 231 in his "Consonances et Dissonances" (1906), every un- biased critic will have to admit that of violin sonatas composed since Brahms and Franck, Lekeu's is inferior to none. Since Eugene Ysaye, to whom, of course, it is dedicated, launched the work, it has steered a triumphal course throughout the musical world and is to-day, or ought to be, in the repertoire of every violinist capable of playing and understanding it and not addicted to atrophy of taste and ambition. Commissioned, we have seen, by Ysaye in February, 1892, the Violin sonata was not finished until some time in the fall of 1892, as appears from the context of the following two letters, the first written by Lekeu to his mother, the second to his father : IFall 1892-1 ... I shall see Kefer at Verviers and I shall acquaint him with my Sonata for piano and violin which I (in parenthesis) finished copying to-day. I merely have to extract the violin part and shall then definitely be rid of that big job. I now commence to bother my head with new things: simultaneously germs of themes for Paysages d'Ardennes [where he had been with Kefer] and the Conquete du honheur. . . and bits of verse, rimed or not, for this last-mentioned work. Let us hope that something good wiU come of all this. Fortunately I have advanced since July last, for I already see how I could have improved upon what I did in my sonata (this is a sure and mathematic means for observing progress in one's ideas: to feel the weakness of what one has done and to reason it out). This does not mean that I shall rewrite this or that passage in my sonata ; no, the true way of correcting a work is to write one better. To his father, Heusy, November 2, 1892. At Brussels yesterday morning I was put into a cheerful mood by the exhibition of enthusiasm and friendship which Ysaye, etc., have shown me. If I arrive at composing the Quartet which Ysaye demands of me, Maus is fully inclined to give at Brussels (at the XX) what he calls (be it understood!) a iSeance Lefcew ! ! ! 1 1 I 1 at which one shall hear the Sonata for violin and piano, the Quartet, and my three songs impatiently awaited by two or three singers of Brussels. 232 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Perhaps even my Fantasy on two Angevin airs wiU receive a hearing in the transcription for piano 4 hands which Monday morning at Sethe's excited unbelievable transports of en- thusiasm. Saturday evening, Ysaye played my sonata at his home. According to all present (pupils and friends who hear him con- stantly) Ysaye surpassed himself. In Crickboom's opinion, it is this sonata which Ysaye inter- prets with a maximum of style, either of passionate abandon or of absolute calm, as is, for example, so necessary in the second movement. Lekeu's violin sonata (in G minor) was first played in public by Eugene Ysaye, to whom it is dedicated, but the exact date is unknown to me. At Paris it was brought out by Paul Viardot and Bertha Demanton in 1899 ; at Boston in 1902 by Karel Ondricek and Alice Cummings. Essen- tially different from the pianoforte sonata, the violin sonata, too, cannot deny its descent (for instance melodi- cally) from Cesar Franck. Though much maturer than the pianoforte sonata, it- does not lack the flavor of a study in composition, since certain experiments in thematic de- velopments and form seem to have occupied Lekeu's mind when composing the sonata. Instead of dissecting, doub- ling, telescoping, breaking up his themes and juggling with their component parts — a procedure so unendurable in the imitators of Beethoven and Brahms — Lekeu pre- ferred to leave his themes more or less intact and sought to make the thematic narrative more convincing by repe- tition of important phrases at different pitches. We know this procedure of sequence from Liszt's symphonic poems. Those who criticize Liszt for following it will also condemn Lekeu. Yet the principle of sequence as a lever for development of motive power is perfectly sound in itself. The artistic test lies merely in its application. If Liszt, the pioneer, applied the principle of sequential leverage still somewhat crudely and primitively, that does not necessarily bar later composers from succeeding where he at times failed. If then Lekeu in his violin sonata, as GUILLAUME LEKEU 233 also in his imfinished quartet, is seen after a few bars to have no intention to indulge in the traditional thematic contortion and anatomical dissection, he has a divine right as an artist to choose his own method of expression. If we are anxious for critical battle, the only fair thing to do is to follow the artist, meet him on his own ground and challenge the solution of his self-imposed problem. Hence, it is one thing to criticize Lekeu for having adopted in his violin sonata the principle of sequence at all, quite another to insist — and correctly so — that he failed to solve his problem completely, since there still adheres to the re- sult an element of experiment : unfortunately, Lekeu's the- matic blocks are not so skillfully cemented as always to hide the crevices, which is the main danger a composer faces in that process. However, between this admission and the verdict of incoherence occasionally rendered against Lekeu's sonata there lies a wide gulf. Moreover, the charge of incoherence will be put across the path of every artist who dares to break with formal traditions, and need not be taken seriously. While the Lekeu "sigh," or "wail," is not whoUy absent from the sonata, it bubbles over with the freshness and joyousness of youth, though of youth meditative, not flip- pant. In the second of the three movements, by way of contrast, sadder chords are touched; and also by way of contrast to the second movement, which the composer wished played with utmost cabn, the two outer move- ments revel in bold, biting dissonances. No poetic pro- gram or motto prefaces the score. This fact at least per- mits the inference that the composer had no imderlying poetic idea in mind when he composed his violin sonata as a modem of moderns and not as a student of archaic forms, as in the pianoforte sonata. Furthermore, the themes of the violin sonata show a remarkable lung ca- pacity. They possess a breadth which is just as char- acteristic of Lekeu as are for instance choppy themes of the later violin sonatas of Emil Sjogren. On the other 234 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES hand, Lekeu's themes in this sonata cannot be claimed to be very original; but what they lack in this respect is atoned for by their clear, bold curve, their intensity, their driving power and their inherent fitness for application of the ideas of thematic unity. The dullest ear cannot fail to notice that the opening theme of the sonata domi- nates the whole work. Indeed, even the secondary themes of the first movement seem to render homage to the main theme, and we notice how a phrase of merely incidental appearance, that helps to build the bridge for the second theme, assumes vital importance in the third movement. In this last movement Lekeu either blends with surpassing contrapuntal skill the several themes of the sonata or he increases the rhythmical interest by their bold juxtapo- sition. To these devices Lekeu obviously owes the irresis- tible swing and the necessary accumulation of expansive force for the almost spectacular end of the last movement. In my opinion, however, its artistic beauty is somewhat marred by the amalgamation into one theme of a distinctly Russian dance motif and an upstarting chromatic phrase somewhat in the style of the later Wagner or Eichard Strauss. The second movement is a revery. It opens in the usual % rhythm, is written in the simple ABA form with section B in the "character of a folk-song," and gains additional charm by having reminiscences of the first movement dreamily interwoven in its texture. The Quatuor tmicheve for piano and strings was first performed at Brussels, Salle Ravenstein, on October 23, 1894, by the quartet of Crickboom, Angenot, P. Miry and Gillet, with the assistance of Miss Louisa Merck at the piano. Inasmuch as its composition was not prompted by a premonition of death, but was bestellte Arbeit by Eugene Ysaye, it goes without saying that it was dedicated to him. Presumably and precisely because this work was commissioned by his great compatriot, Lekeu took such infinite pains with it : in little less than a year he finished but little more than the first movement GUILLAUME LEKE U 235 One studies this priceless torso of what probably would have become the longest quartet on record and marvels at Lekeu's wealth of inspiration, his emotional intensity and the ingenuity and madness of his methods. No es- tablished pattern seems to fit the first movement; at any rate, the classic quartet form is adhered to only as if in a frame. To be sure, we hear two predominant themes, they change place in the tonal structure and all that sort of thing, but Lekeu does not stop there. At times his bridge-work assumes prime thematic importance, or he gives free flight to his fancy in improvising on his main theme before he rushes into the working-out section. Fur- thermore, we have not one peroration only, but several, and all this thematic strife is repeatedly interrupted, as it were, by an armistice. It follows readily that by thus interrupt- ing the climax — and the working-out idea is inherently the embodiment of climaxes — Lekeu obtains a cragged, hence bolder and more effective curve. One begins to suspect that formal considerations alone did not prompt these interruptions. The whole movement is to be played throughout "Dans un emportement douloureux. (Tres anime)." This indication is prefixed to a short intro- duction full of Lekeu "sighs," and this introduction re- appears in the thematic woof toward the end of the move- ment. Furthermore, this phrase "lent et passione" played by the first violin solo precedes the second movement. It will not be found in the first movement, nor does it reap- pear in the second movement so far as completed. Yet this phrase must have had some function. And this phrase was not a new one ! Lekeu simply quoted himself : it is the chanson motif of tlie bonne fee that pla7S so important and poetic a role in his pianoforte sonata. ^6 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Studying the movement minutely many years ago, I reached the conclusion, as would every other student, that all these curious details of form could be imderstood and appreciated only (with corresponding profit for performer and audience) on the assumption that the structure of the movement followed an underlying poetic idea which was withheld from the published score or was not known. It is with a certain satisfaction, therefore, that I later found Lekeu's letters quoted below to bear out my as- sumption fully. I do not mean, so much his letter to Crickboom, in which he says, "I have essayed a translation into music of the last eruption of Mount ./Etna" — ^that may or may not have been a jocular remark not to be interpreted literally, but the letter of February 7, 1893, to his mother, in which he calls the first part of his quartet an "expres- sive chaos" and the "frame of an entire poem of the heart, where a thousand sentiments clash, where cries of suffering yield to long appeals to happiness, where there is strife and insinuation of caresses, seeking to calm sombre thoughts, where cries of love follow blackest despair in the effort to conquer it, and on the other hand eternal grief endeavors to crush the joy of life." What role the second and third movements were to play in this poem of the heart, unfortunately we are not told. Hence, I must content myself with the dry state- ment that the second movement is not as nervous, impetu- ous or despairing as the first, but like most slow move- ments of sonatas and symphonies presents itself as a song without words written in simple ABA form. In ite first part, perhaps influenced by Tschaikowsky, it soon develops into a genuine Lekeu. But, alas, just when the young master in a beautiful interlude for the pianoforte was preparing to pour out his. very soul in adoration of Beauty, death checked his hand and the movement comes to a sudden halt with a painful anti-climax. Vincent d'Indy, when he revised and prepared the manuscript for publication, reverently contented himself with bringing GUILLAUME LEKEU 237 this stump of a severed piece of music to a playable end. No doubt there are those who will decry in Lekeu's quartet the absence of a "true" chamber-music style, will denounce it as "too orchestral," and so forth, but such pedantic or shallow objections really ought to be muttered under the breath, if at all, in view of the amazing con- trapuntal resourcefulness and display of tone^color with which Lekeu gave life to the ensemble of the individual instruments. That does not mean that the quartet is so perfect as to defy criticism, but I think that legitimate criticism will have to steer clear of such cliches as "too orchestral" and will have to content itself with observing, for instance, that Lekeu might better have avoided a too frequent unison of the violoncello with the piano bass and, on ^e other hand, a too frequent display of the violoncello in its upper registers. Lekeu's letters to Matbieu Crickboom record for us the time of practically the last stroke of his pen given by Lekeu to his marvelously beautiful swan-song. He wrote in August, 1893 : . . . The first movement of my first Qnatuor for piano and strings — ^not an indication that a second one will emerge later — is finished since July 16, 1893, six P. M. The peroration, in which I have essayed a translation into music of the last erup- tion of Mount ^tna, is just barely playable. Nevertheless, it appears very logical to me. I am now ruminating the second movement, which, I feel, will be very superior to the first, while I am recopying conscientiously what I have done since December. I have become scared, in recopying my infernal Quartet, at the quantity of sharps and flats with which it is bristling. How, if I suppressed them altogether? And in a letter from Angers, September 20, 1893: The first half of the second movement of my first Quatuor for piano and strings is confectionnee : weight 1463 grains. We are equally well informed of the inception of the work and its slow progress from letters written, the first 238 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES to Kefer, the others to his "chere petite maman," with which this essay fittingly may end without further com- ment: ITo Refer.'] Angers, Decemher SI, 1892. Since I left you I put the finishing touches to my Trois poemes pour chant (Soprano and piano), and I have begun work on my quartet for piano and strings. The first movement is started, but gives me a dog's pain. I tremble when the idea forces itself upon me that if I wish to adhere strictly to my plan, the second and third movements will be still more difficult to write. I do not believe that I can possibly get through by March and so satisfy Tsaye and Maus. [To his mother.] February 7, 189S. My brain is in a turmoil ; my work progresses extraordinarily. I have a thousand things to write, I am actually loaded down and I walk the streets as one with hallucinations. After a good many days of reflection, of criticism, of despair even, I saw day before yesterday a long passage of the first part of my quartet sketch itself, and since then an incredible fever of work has seized me. Unfortunately, for there is an unfortunately, I am just as full of distress as of happiness. For the reason that what I am doing is so distant from what has become customary in chamber- music that I fear to appear to my friends and interpreters (for the public, of course, I care not) as one tainted with the most extraordinary madness. And yet, everything duly considered, I must walk a straight path and write what I feel without paying attention to others. Instead of having, as is the sacred habit, a piece rolling on a single sentiment, mood, color, line, the first part of my quartet is for me the frame of an entire poem of the heart, where a thousand sentiments clash, where cries of suffering yield to long appeals to happiness, where there is strife and insinuation of caresses, seeking to calm sombre thoughts, where cries of love follow blackest despair in the effort to conquer it, and, on the other hand, eternal grief endeavors to crush the joy of Life. Joys of childhood, visions of dawn and of Spring, the melan- choly of fall and tears; and I do not shrink from piercing cries of pain, put into my music with aU my might, with my whole soul. But this expressive chaos must also be harmonious, and at GUILLAUME LEKEU 239 the moment when I write the loveliest phrase, I must foresee the development of grief which is to foUow. Hence, this is not merely a terribly difficult work to write on account of the transi- tions of mood, but murderous for any attempt to grasp its total structure. However, come what may, I labor and want to carry this "work" to a successful end. Already I can affirm that in com- parison with what I am now writing, my violin sonata is a mere trifle, worth two sous. And that makes me fear a little the day when Ysaye and his friends will read my Quartet for the first time. But what's the difference! If they do not understand it, so much the worse for me. Above all, I want to write down what passes in me without ulterior thoughts. February 22, 189S. . . . You can hear me, from morning to evening, making an infernal noise on my unfortunate Erard, for I strive with all my might to finish at Angers the first movement of the Quartet. Let us hope that it is not a crazy dream. What in this business supports me and at the same time fills me with despair is that I feel clearly how with my plan of moods a true artist could compose a masterwork: one of those unforgettable machines which send shivers up and down the spine, which grip you amidst tremblings of admiration, leave you breathless, ex- hausted, ravished, enchanted, all in one. I am playing for a big stake. If what I am doing is good, if my interpreters (for I work only for them and myself), if Ysaye, Van Hout, Jacob and my dear Mathieu Crickboom com- prehend my work, that will give me courage vertiginous and as soon as possible I shall install myseK in the Paysage d' Ardennes or the Legends etemelle, or take up any other of a dozen or fifteen projected works (yes, O Lord, not less than that; I drew up a list just for the sake of curiosity), and I can say that I wrote a beautiful work, unless . . . ere nom de chien, my pro- fession is after all not a soft snap! However, just at present, I have the courage of a devil and I could apply the admirable verses of Baudelaire to Theodore de BanviUe, then at the be- ginning of his career, to myself. You do not know them, these verses. Head and re-read this magical French: Vous avez empoigne les crins de la Deesse Avec un tel poignet, qu'on vous eut pris a voir Et cet air de maitrise et ce beau nonchaloir Pour un ruffian terrassant sa maitresse. 240 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES April SO, 189S. . . . Last evening I recommenced work on my Quartet, which slumbered for almost three weeks. Good news! So far every- thing in it appears to me to sound well and full of expression. It is, I believe, of much more solid workmanship than the violin sonata. Verily, if I can carry to a successful end this big, very big job, it ought to become a beautiful work. All my melodies are laid out. To-morrow I shall embark on the perora- tion section, which will bring about the return of the principal theme, enlarged, stronger, and still more beautiful. For a piece of music should grow while expanding. All this, of course, with regard to the first movement. The second and third will give me less trouble, I hope . . . More and more clearly I see and feel that I need your presence for my complete happiness. The future absolutely must reunite us and I wish that my life might end as it began, in the cradle of your love. See how tender I become; it is the best proof that I am well prepared to resume my work. Allans, dear, adored mother; courage, perfect health and then tell yourself often, always, that your Sidoiim is and always will be he whom you so well know. That is my pledge for life. To you I owe everything. "CARAOTAOUS" NOT AENE'S CARAOTACUS (Sammelbande der I. M. G., 1911) Several years ago the Library of Congress acquired an anonymous score entitled "Caractacus," whicli I, as others had done before me, attributed to Thomas Augustine Arne. Later we instructed our agent to locate for us, if possible, a copy of Bishop's "Caractacus." A few months ago he reported a copy at a reasonable figure, and we promptly ordered it. Of course, I was delighted, but my amusement and disappointment may be imagined when this long- looked-for copy turned out to be merely another copy of the anonymous "Caractacus." The dealer himself must have had his misgivings, because (with the slang motto in mind, "pay your money and take your choice"), he had written in pencil on a fly-leaf this legend: "Bishop (H. E.) London (1806)— Bach (J. Chr.) London 1Y67." E'ow Bach's "Carattaco" was a bona fide Italian opera and has as much to do with this anonymous English "Caractacus" as Bishop's "Grand ballet of Caractacus," performed at Drury Lane on April 22, 1808 — in other words, absolutely nothing. I could but meekly put this canard down as a second copy of "Caractacus." In so doing I examined the volume more closely than I had done before, and my observations developed into rather unexpected conclusions. The anonymous "Caractacus" contains 2 p. 1., 4, 76 p. fol., no imprint and no real title-page, merely the orna- mental, calligraphical title. On the second preliminary leaf appears an imdated and unsigned dedication. Then 241 242 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES come four pages of "General instructions for the perform- ance of tte music of Caractacus." After these follows the score, paged 2—76, the first page being blank. The collation of the second copy — 2 p. 1,, 6, 76, 3, 1 p. fol. — showed that it was not really a duplicate. Nor could it belong to a later edition or issue, because the pages common to both (i. e., everything that appears in the first copy) bear the watermark 1794. The two addi- tional pages of the preface and the three additional pages, or the one page mentioned in the collation of the second copy, are merely supplements, and the whole simply repre- sents a copy of the original issue of "Caractacus" with sup- plements for insertion ! As these supplements are printed on the same kind of paper, on plates of the same size as those of the body of the volume, and are printed or engraved in the same style, it stands to reason that the supplements cannot have been issued long after the body of the voluma That the supplements were really intended for inser- tion into copies of the original and only edition, and that a separate issue of the body of the work did not accompany these additions, appears further from the facts that the bindings and the leather title labels on the front cover are absolutely the same in both our copies, that the uncut margins of the supplements protrude beyond the margin of the binding and that, as stated above, the watermark throughout the two bound volumes is 1794. On the other hand, the watermark of the first two supplements is 1796, that of the third 1797. As pp. 5—6 of the preface have been added "General instructions for the performance of this music with respect to quickness and slowness," with "Additional general instructions for the instrumental music." The second supplement, headed "Corrections," contains three num- bered pages of score marked "iN'o. 5." as substitute for the original iNo. 5 and (with the watermark 1797), headed "Corrections," the (one-page) third supplement contains "CARACTACUS" NOT ARNE'S CA RACTACUS 243 a substitute for tlie original No. 14. That tkis third sup- plement was in turn an afterthought, appears conclusively from the remark engraved on the lower margin of the plate of p. 3 of the substituted No. 5, "At the beginning of the symphony No. 26 ... " Nor did the unlooked-for attractions of this second copy, a veritable bargain, stop here. It contains numerous manuscript corrections, not only of obvious misprints, but significant changes of rhythm, harmony, accompani- ment, time-signatures, expression-marks, instxumentation, words and even punctuation in the dedication. For instance, in the substituted number 14, "Andantino" is changed to "Spiritoso"; Nos. 5 and 14 are crossed out in the original with the remark "see the correction" ; and as to the instrumentation of No. 29 it is remarked: "This Symphony had perhaps better be performed by the Clari- nets, Bassoons, and Serpent only ; one of the Bassoons to play the Tenor part." All corrections and changes are accompanied by marginal cross marks and the great major- ity of the numbers is preceded by the indication "This." Finally, the anonymous dedication is headed "To the Eev. W. Mason." All these corrections and revisions are of such a nature as to force the conjecture on us that they were made by the person most concerned, naanely, the composer, with the object either simply to dedicate to the Eev. W. Mason, the undisputed author of the "libretto" an absolutely correct and final copy of the anonymous volume with its supplements, or to prepare the score for performance or for the printer for a new edition. The second possibility is improbable, because even the composer, preparing the score for performance, would hardly have troubled him- self with the correction of the punctuation in the dedica- tion; and the third possibility is not very much more probable, as the composer had just gone to the trouble of issuing supplements. This much, I believe, may be con- ceded: nobody except the composer would have dedicated 244' MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES this particular and peculiar copy to the poet during the lifetime of the composer. With such a minute examination the bibliographer's interest in the volume would ordinarily stop, but now the musical historian's interest is awakened. Upon turning the leaves of this curious work he reads this engraved dedication : Sir: As the contents of the following pages took their rise from your work, it is but just that I should dedicate to you what you are in some measure the Author of. I have in them endeavoured to restore to Music its ancient and long neglected office of hand- maid to Poetry. Poetry is the language of enthusiasm and passion. Music the suitable enunciation of that language: while therefore the latter subordinately cooperates with the former, it acts in its proper sphere; but when, quitting this dependent situation, it arrogates to itself independence of, nay dominion over, its powerful directress ; it loses sight of the end of its nature and becomes justly reprehensible. Whether this offspring of my labours may be considered alto- gether as a suitable enunciation of the lyric poetry of Caractor cus, I know not: perhaps it does not entirely correspond to what might be produced by a continually spontaneous exertion of energetic Fancy: but not being always able to do what we would, we must sometimes be satisfied with doing what we can; such as it is, however, I hope it will be found not entirely im- worthy of the origrinal : whatever are its merits or its faults, to a considerable share of the former I consider you to be justly intitled, the latter I must as justly take entirely upon myself, I am Sir with the respect due to your age and character the Author. The esthetic creed of our anonymous can hardly be called sound, hut it surely is radical and, though by no means absolutely new, this doctrine of music as the "handmaid to poetry" had not often been expressed with such one-sided matter of fact boldness. One begins to suspect that the author had been infected by the melo- "CARACTACUS" NOT ARNE'S CARACTACUS 245 dramatio-progranmiatic bacillus of Rousseau's and Benda's era, and is no longer taken by surprise when reading under the head of "General instructions for the performance of the music of Caractacus" : The design of this Music is to represent, by corresponding Sounds and Ehythms, the Ideas expressed, and those alluded to, in the Drama, principally in its lyric parts: the former is attempted to be done by the Yocal; the latter by the Instru- mental Music. The Vocal Music professes to represent the Expressions and the Metre of the Lyric Poetry: for the former purpose I have endeavoured to accommodate the Melody and Harmony to the general sense of the phrase, yet so as to express also particular emphatical words: — ^for the latter I have, 1st. in general measured every syllable by one note of nearly corresponding length — 2dly. I have marked the accented syllable by the Down- strike, leaving the tmaccented ones to the TJpstrike — 3dly. I have marked the end of every line with a short rest, unless where the sense requires a longer one. The Instrumental Music professes to represent that to which the Drama in different parts refers, viz. Symphonies, or that which may be expressed by Symphonies: the words therefore which precede or follow will often sufficiently point out the nature of each: but as there is no such guide for the Overture and some others, and as several of the rest are very generally referred to, I shall subjoin a particular explanation of such as I think require it. The Overture consists of two parts: the first (No. 1) is in- tended to represent the Spirits of Snowdon lamenting the approaching fall of Mona: the second, (No. la) the souls of the departed Druids, personified by the Harp, interceding to avert the impending danger; the first continuation of No. 1 a re- luctant denial of their request: the continuation of No. la. a second attempt of the Druids to avert the danger: the second continuation of No. 1 which concludes the Overture, a reluctant but final denial. The Symphony, No. 2 is intended as an introduction of the Druids in a manner suitable to their character: the first four Bars are more particularly meant to regulate their steps : each interval between note and note in the Base Cliff to be one step. The remainder of the Symphony may either mark the progress of the procession, (in which case there will be two steps for every Bar), or it may be played the Druids standing still. 246 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Then follow brief explanations of tlie other thirty-four numbers of the score. Their quotation would serve no useful purpose, except the instructions for 'So. 26, which are amazingly pretentious: From the bar where the Bassoons enter, to the end of No. 26 I have endeavoured to represent by the notes allotted to that instrument, the act of dying of a man such as alluded to in the words ; the upper part, which may be considered as a continua- tion of the Symphony, being intended to soothe him in his last moments. Having now, at the end of 26. breathed his last, hia Spirit is endeavoured to be represented, in the first 26a. as "stealing from the earth," and beginning to approach a Chorus of blessed Spirits, represented as at a distance by the first 26b. — The Spirit continuing to raise itself from the Earth in the second 26a. The Chorus is heard a little nearer in the second 26b. — the Spirit continuing to raise itself in the third 26a. at length approaches the Chorus, which now breaks out in full Symphony in the third 26b. — ^the fourth 26a. is intended as a still nearer approach to, and final junction with, the chorus in the fourth 26b. which is then supposed gradually to recede from the audience, until lost "in the bright fount of day." All this sounds promising, once one has become accus- tomed to the antiquated phraseology, and one certainly feels the presence of an ambitious man. He seems to stand above his subject, he seems to have calculated nicely the exact effect of his ideas and to be unwilling to leave the desired results to mere chance. One wonders by what novel or at least unusual and bold means he accomplishes his purpose. Turning to his "General instructions for the performance of the instrumental music," the first disap- pointment awaits us. He simply says : "The band should be large" and "There must be three Trombones for the symphonies of the last act." Two more instructions fol- low, but they are so insignificant as not to deserve quota- tion. Nor are the two "additional general instructions" of much consequence, though the remark "By hoses in the symphonies I mean Double Bases and Violoncellos; by base Double Bases alone," at least is a helpful clew to the user of the score. "CARACTACUS" NOT AENE'S CARACTACUS 247 The author calls for a large band. This is the instru- mental apparatus which he employs: String quintet, 2 flut^, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, serpent, harp, organ, kettle-drum. Save for the absence of oboes and horns, such an orchestra would, historically speaking, be quite capable of uncommonly expressive effects, but this rather modem apparatus is never employed m toto in "Caractacus." Generally the string quintet • only bears the burden of the message. In several numbers the harp only is active, in a few it is combined with the string quintet or, as in No. 1, it forms part of this odd combination, flutes, bassoons cmd harp. In l^o. 8 the author even perpetrates the combination bassoons and harp without any further support. As to the organ, where it is employed, it meekly plays in unison with the basses. In No. 31 the instrumentation is clarinets, trumpets and bassoons; in the final symphonies, where the composer's insistance on three trombones leads us to expect massive orchestration, we are greeted by trombones and harp only and, indeed, the nearest approach to a band, much less a large band, is in the (original) No. 29 vdth its clarinets, violins, tenors (violas), bassoons, violoncellos, double basses and serpent At the very best one can concede that the composer deliberately discarded the orchestra of his time and sought to replace it by unusual instrumental combinations. Whether or no he succeeded with his esthetic experiments, will appear later ; but first we must quote from the "Gen- eral instructions for the performance of vocal music" so much as is necessary for the purpose of this article : The voices for -which the above music is composed are Base and Tenor; either single, in Unison, or in parts: it is single only in the Arch-Druid's musical part, in the answers of Cad- -waU and Brennus, and in the words, "Mona on Snowdon calls," to be pronounced by one of the Chorus : The rest is sometimes in Unison, sometimes in two, three, or four parts; all equally intended for the whole Chorus. — To ascertain, with certainty, the exact proportion of each kind of Voice, is, at present, impos- 248 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES sible; but I tMnk that six Bases and six Tenors, or, if it be thougbt ■worth while, twelve Bases and twelve Tenors . . . will sufficiently produce tiie effect intended . . . From lie Composer's "General instructions . . . with respect to quickness and slowness" I shall quote only two as typical : No. 1, which is in common Time and marked Largo, may be played at the rate of one bar to five seconds . . . No. 9, which is likewise in % marked "Spiritoso," may be played at the rate of one bar and one third of a bar to three seconds • . . This, then, is the literary preface to a score which is commonly attributed to Thomas Augustine Ame. For instance, such an eminent authority as William Barclay Squire had this to say of the anonymous "Caractacus" in his Ame article, written many years ago for the "National Biography" : The latter work [Caractacus] was published in 1775, with a preface and introduction in which Ame shows a curious insight into the relationship between dramatic poetry and music. He expresses opinions on the subject, the truth of which, though couched in the stilted language of the period, is only beginning to be recognized at the present day. The overture to the same work is a singular attempt at program music, and the minute directions as to the constitution of the orchestra and manner of performance almost forestall the similar annotations to be found in the works of Hector Berlioz. During the latter years of Ame's life he achieved but few successes. Another authority, Mr. J. S. Shedlock, holds practically the same view in an attractive article on "Dr. Ame's Caractacus" in the "Musical Times," February, 1899, pp. 88—89 ; and, of course, the new Grove follows suit. It may seem foolhardy to question the authority of these two scholars in such purely English matters, and yet I have come to have the gravest doubts about Ame's authorship, doubts that for me amount to the certainty that Ame is not the author. It might be suggested that a comparison between this "Caractacus" and Ame's autograph score "CARACTACUS" NOT ARNE'S CARACTACUS 249 would immediately settle the question of his authorship, but unfortunately the score is believed to have been destroyed in the conflagration of Covent Garden in 1808 (see "iNational Biography"). The title of the first edition of William Mason's "Carac- tacus" reads: Caractacus, a dramatic poem: written on the model of the ancient Greek tragedy. By the author of EKrida. London, J. Knapton . . . and E. and J. Dodsley, 1759. The poem met with such success that a second edition was published in the same year, a third at Dublin in 1764, a foxirth at York in 1YY4; and it was translated into French, Italian, even Latin and Greek. Such was the popularity of a poet of whom a little more than a hundred years later the "National Biography" remarks : Mason was a man of considerable abilities and cultivated taste, who naturally mistook himself for a poet. He accepted the critical canons of his day, taking Gray and Hurd for his authorities, and his serious attempts at poetry are rather vapid performances, to which his attempt to assimilate Gray's style gives an air of affectation. Mason's "Caractacus" is, as the title says, a dramatic poem, not a dramatic play. It is written on the model of the ancient Greek tragedy in so far only as the poet has indulged in "Odes," and introduces the "Chorus" as one of the Persons of the Drama Aulus Didius, The Roman General Vellinu8|gjj^g of Gartismandua Chorus of Druids and Bards Evelina, Daughter to Caractacus Arviragus, Son to Caractacus 250 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Scene, Mona The dramatic part of the Chorus is supposed to be spoken by the Chief Druid, the lyrical part sung by the Bards Beyond this, music had no voice in "Oaractacus," nor did tiie poet consider it necessary to tell us where in a "Chorus" or a "Semichorus" the "dramatic," i. e., the spoken part, ends and the "lyrical," the sung part, begins. The Chief Druid is never introduced by name or rather by title, and even the "Odes" are anonymous — their lines are given to nobody in particular, so far as I can see, but that they were to be spoken, not sung, is obvious. Thus, without acta and scenes or clearly defined stage business, the poem in its original form could not possibly have been performed as a play, nor, to be just, was this the intention of the author; but he, too, aspired to theatrical laurels, and the result was a dramatized version of "Caractacus." In 1Y72 Colman had dramatized, without the poet's con- sent, Mason's "Elfrida," constructed on similar lines to "Caractacus," and Colman performed it at Covent Gar- den. Presumably this high-handed procedure opened Mason's eyes to the theatrical possibilities of "Caracta- cus," and he set himself the task in 1776 of altering his dramatic poem for the stage. He fully realized the diffi- culties of this task and particularly of a proper union of poetry and music. Quite accidentally, I ran across contemporary testimony to this effect. Antonio Peretti in his libretto for Angelo Catelani's "Carattaco" (1841) speaks of a letter from Algarotti to Agostino Paradisi, in which Algarotti says that Mason informed him how he found una difficolta insormontabile a potersi mettere il suo Carat- taco sulle scene per I'abbondanza dei cori che di necessita esigono di essere aceompagnati della musica, la quale a' suoi tempi non la credevi egli capace di rivertire degnamente una poesia grave e dignitosa. Furthermore, in a letter to Thomas Harris, manager of "CARACTACUS" NOT ARNE'S CARACTACU^ 251 Covent Garden, partly quoted by Mr. Shedlock in the "Musical Times" article, Mason, though having curtailed his dramatic poem, fancied "it may still be too long for rep- resentation." "If therefore," he continues, "upon rehearsal witli the music, you should find this to be the case, I will send you a second copy, in which several other lines and passages shall be marked with inverted commas, which you may either omit, or retain, as shall then seem expe- dient." Mr. Shedlock, always, believing Ame to be the anonymous composer of "Caractacus," adds: The poet, therefore, looked upon the musician as an ally> as one who was trying to strengthen his drama. Quite naturally so; but that Mason's letter, at least so far as quoted by Mr. Shedlock, contains any allusion to melodramatic, programmatic music, I, at least, fail to see. Whatever Mason may have thought of Colman's drama- tization of "Elfrida" — presumably not overly much, as he himself redramatized it in 1779 — ^he cannot have had serious scruples about collaborating with the composer who had set the "Elfrida" choruses in 1772, namely, Thomas Augustine Ame, one of whose very last musical works for the stage was exactly the incidental music to Mason's "Caractacus." The first performance took place at Covent Garden on December 6, 1776 (not Dec. 1, 1776, as in the "National Biography" under Mason), and Genest ("Some Account of the English Stage") records fourteen performances of the play, as also a revival on Oct. 22, 1778. The "National Biography" (under Mason) says that the success of both "Elfrida" and "Caractacus" was "very moderate," but this statement is not quite in har- mony with contemporary criticism. At any rate, the editor of "Caractacus" in Bell's "British Theatre" (v. 31, 1796) remarks: The commendation bestowed on Elfrida and Caractacus in their original form, have been seconded by an equal degree of 252 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES applause since they were adapted to the stage. The first is per- haps the most finished, the second the most striking perform- ance, and Mr. Shedlock's quotation from the IN'ew Morning Post, or General Advertizer, December 7, 1776, further shows that Mason and Ame's joint labors had been appreciated. The town is congratulated "on the acquisition of so fine an entertainment" as "Caractacus," "where poetry and music unite their fascinating powers." Quite an extensive review, with synopsis of the plot and compliments to the cast, I found in the London Chronicle, Dec. 7—10, 1776, wherein is said: The performers did great justice to their respective charac- ters . . . Dr. Ame's music is certainly good, and the choruses are correct in point of harmony, and fine through all the accompanyments. The three following Airs gave great satisfaction to the Audience : Air. Mr. Leoni and Mrs. Earrell. Welcome! welcome! gentle train Mona hails ye to her plain ! Here your genial dews dispense. Dews of peace and innocence I Air. Mr. Leoni. Change! my harp, O change thy measures I Cull, from thy mellifluous treasures. Notes that steal on even feet; Ever slow, yet never pausing, Mixt with many a warble sweet. In a ling'ring cadence closing. Air. Mr. Leoni. Badiant ruler of the day. Pause upon thy orb sublime I Bid this awful moment stay. Bind it on the brow of time! While Mona's trembling echoes sigh To strains that thrill when heroes die I "CARACTACUS" NOT ARNE'S CARACTACUS 253 The British Museum possesses "The lyrical part of the drama of Caractacus, etc., 1776"; hut the fact that ita "Caractacus, a dramatic poem . . . altered for theatrical representation," bears the date of imprint 1777, might lead to a belief that the whole play was actually not pub- lished before 1777. That the publication really took place simultaneously with the production, appears from the following advertisement in the London Chronicle, Dec. 7-10, 1776 : This Day was published, price 6d. The lyrical part of the drama of Caractacus, as altered by the author, and as spoken and sung at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden. The music by Dr. Arne. Printed for E. Horsfield . . . and J. Dodsley . . . and sold by J. Wilkie . . . Where may be had, price Is. 6d. the whole dramatic Poem, as altered by the Author. Curiously enough, the dramatized version of "Carac- tacus" was not incorporated in Mason's collected works, which every library possesses in one edition or another. As the publications of 1776 are extremely rare, a compari- son between the dramatic poem and the drama "Carac- tacus" would have been attended by unusual obstacles, but, fortunately, John Bell included in his most useful collection "The British Theatre," in v. 31 (London, Printed for George Cawthom 1796. front., 106 p.), not the dramatic poem, but the five-act drama, though it is still called "Caractacus. A dramatic Poem. Adapted for theatrical Eepresentation, as performed at the Theatre- Royal, Oovent Garden . . ." The speaking characters have remained the same as in the original poem, but we now notice Persons of the Chorus Modred, the Chief Druid Mr. Aickin Mador, the Chief Bard Mr. Hull Second Bard Mr. Leoni Third Bard Mrs. Kennedy Fourth Bard Mr. Eeinhold 254 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Scene, the consecrated Grove in the Island of Mona, now Anglesea. Those parts of the Odes which are distin^ished by double inverted commas are meant to be performed musically; the rest to be recited by the Chief Bard. The parts omitted in the Eep- resentation are distinguished by single inverted commas only. Since Modred and Mador appear among "the persons of the Chorus," it might be surmised that they are singing characters. Such is not the case. Both are speaking char- acters j indeed, Modred has become one of the main con- stituents of the plot. The music is entrusted entirely to a Chorus, which still occasionally has a collective voice in the proceedings, and to the second, third and fourth bards as soloists. Mason's main difficulty in adapting "Caractacus" for the stage had not been the breaking up of the monologues and dialogues of Caractacus, Evelina, etc., into acts and scenes, which was easy enough, but to vitalize for theatrical purpose his "Chorus" and "Semi- chorus," modeled, though poorly enough, after the "ancient Greek tragedy." Genest quite correctly summed up the difference between the dramatic poem of 1759 and the play of 1776 by saying : Modred spoke a great deal of what in the first edition is attributed to the Chorus. To my knowledge, Ame's actual cooperation with Mason has not heretofore been the subject of an article, and it will therefore be interesting to see just to what extent and in what manner Ame was called upon to exercise his powers as composer. That incidentally the following remarks will strengthen the object of this essay, goes, of course, without saying. Eepeatedly the direction "Symphony" is printed, but never except in scenes when the "Persons of the Chorus" appear and only at the end of the play was Ame invited to employ an independent piece of music, where he fur- "CARACTACUS" NOT AENE'S CABACTACUS 255 nished "A Dead March : during which Caractacus, Evelina and Elidurus are led oflF by Romans." Nor did the Chorus, though present in almost every scene, assume other functions than those of a silent mob, except in the six scenes planned entirely or in part for musical treatment. In these scenes Modred or Mador, or both, speak more or less, whereas the three other Bards sing Airs, and the generally silent mob joins in choruses. Of ensembles there are only two, a "Duet by the second and third Bard" ("Welcome, welcome, gentle train") scene 6, act I, and a trio of Bards second, third and fourth ("Eadiant Euler: hear us call") in scene 6, act V. Thus, Ame's collabora- tion was neither very extensive nor diflScult. On the whole, it must be said, this dramatized version of "Caractacus," far from being modeled after the Greek drama, is a strange and hybrid mixture of spoken drama and opera. Quotations from three of the six musical scenes will render this perfectly clear, if the note following the "Persons of the Chorus" be kept in mind — ^that the parts distinguished by double inverted commas were to be "per- formed musically," the rest to be "recited." I select first the fourth scene from the first act. The Chorus, preceded by Modred, the chief Druid, descend to a solemn Symphony. Modred Sleep and silence reign around; Not a night breeze wakes to blow; Circle, sons, this holy ground; Circle close, in triple row: Chorus Druid, at thy dread command. When thou wav'st thy potent wand. See, we pace this holy ground With solemn footsteps soft and slow. While sleep and silence reign around. And not a night breeze wakes to blow. 256 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Modred 'Tis well. And now, if mask'd in vapours drear, Any malign or earth-born spirit dare To hover round this sacred space. Haste with light spells the murky foe to chace. Chorus Lift your boughs of vervain blue. Dipt in cold September dew; And dash the moisture, chaste and clear. O'er the ground, and thro' the air. Modred Now the place is purg'd and pure. {A short Symphony) Brethren ! say, for this high hour Are the milk white steers prepared ? Whose necks the rude yoke never scar'd. To the furrow yet unbroke ? For such must bleed beneath yon oak. Chorus Druid, these, in order meet. Are all prepar'd. Modred But tell me yet, CadwaUl did thy step profound Dive into the cavern deep, etc., etc. Second Bard Druid, these, in order meet. Are all prepar'd. Modred But tell me yet. From the grot of charms and spells. Where our matron sister dwells, etc., etc. "CARACTACUS" NOT ARNE'S CARACTACUS 257 Third Bard 'Druid, these, in order meet, Are all prepar'd. Modred Then all's complete. (Symphony repeated) And now let nine of the selected band, "Whose greener years befit such station best, With wary circuit pace around the grove, etc., etc. The Ode in scene 4, act IV, shows this disposition : Mador Hark! (Symphony behind the scenes) Hark I (Symphony louder) Hark! (Full symphony) Hark I heard ye not yon footsteps dread, That shook the earth with thund'ring tread? 'Twas Death, etc., etc. I mount, your Champion and your God, etc. Full Chorus 'He mounts, our Champion and our God. His proud steeds neigh beneath the thong; Hark 1 to his wheels of brass, that rattle loud ! Hark I to his clarion shrill, that brays the woods among. (Here one of the Druids blows the sacred trumpet.) Mador Tear not now the fever's fire, Fear not now the death-bed groan, etc., etc. (Four nine-line stanzas!) Swiftly the soul of British flame, etc., etc. Full Chorus The godlike soul of British flame Animates some kindred frame, 258 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Swiftly to life and ligit triumphant flies, Exults again in martial ecstasies. Again for freedom fights, again for freedom dies! While this is practically a Chorus Ode, the Ode in scene 4, act II (after a monologue by Modred) is one for the soloists only. Air Second Bard Hail! thou harp of Phrygian frame 1 In years of yore that Camher bore From Troy's sepulchral flame: With ancient Brute, to Britain's shore The mighty minstrel came. Recitative Accompanied Fourth Bard Sublime upon thy burnish'd prow. He bade thy manly words to flow: Air Britain heard the descant bold, She flung her white arms o'er the sea ; Proud in her leafy bosom to enfold The freight of harmony. Mador Mute 'till then was ev'ry plain. Save where the flood o'er mountains rude Tumbled his tide amain; etc., etc. Second Bard Change! my harp, oh change thy measures. Cull, from thy mellifluous treasures Notes that steal on even feet. Ever slow, yet never pausing, Mixt with many a warble sweet. In a ling'ring cadence closing. "CARACTACUS" NOT AENE'S CARACTACUS 259 Mador Now the pleas'd poVr sinks gently down the skiea. And seals with hand of down the Druids' slumb'ring eyes, etc., etc. After this long monologue, which is interrupted three times by a "symphony," the Third Bard sings : Wake, my lire! thy softest numbers. Such as nurse ecstatic slumbers. Sweet as tranquil virtue feels When the toil of life is ending, While from the earth the spirit steals And on new-born plumes ascending, Hastens to lave in the bright fount of day. Till Destiny prepare a shrine of purer clay. Modred (waking, speaks). It may not be. Avaunt, terrific axe! etc., etc. It will be admitted that the construction of such simple scenes did not even require considerable constructive tech- nical skill, much less involve the solution of difficult esthetic problems such as really might induce once in fifty years an experienced composer to put on paper such elabo- rate instructions as are found in the anonymous "Caracta- cus" score. Be this as it may, this much is clear, if the anonymous "Caractacus" was by Ame and was used at Covent Garden on December 6, 1776, it must agree abso- lutely with the "libretto" and its demands. Accordingly, I now return to the anonymous (corrected) "Caractacus" score. It so happens that I open the score at the end, where one expects to find the "Dead March" called for by the libretto. Instead, one finds a four-part chorus without even an instrumental postlude ! We turn to the first of the musical scenes quoted above, and the eye is greeted by this : 260 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES No. 2. Ortaie. TutH forte. lit Tioliu. Tenor. Tutti un poeo piano. Htrp and in onisonwith tht npper parts. Bues. Tutti piano. W^f f r ■c?pr ^ "CAEACTACUS" NOT ARNE'S CARACTACUS 261 Oram. Sleep and ai- lence reign around Not a night breeze wakes to blow. =1=1 Cir - de, sons, this ho - ly ground. Cir - cle close in trip - le row. Druid, at thy dread conunand.When thou wav'st thy potent wand, ! K^j III 1 I ! I AA_J. . ,, f r' 1 ^ ^ ^^-.-^^^^.^.^^ i m Wff ) f! \ ^f \ i'i- i ^=fi=pf=Ht^ See, we pace this holy ground With solemn footsteps soft and slow,^?^^ sleep and si-lence reign a-round. And not a night breeze wakes to blow. 262 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES "Tis well! And now, if mask'd in va- pours drear. A - ny ma-lign or earth-born spi - rit dare To ho - ver round this con - se - era- ted space.Haste with light spells the murky foe to chace. No. 6. Andaniino, Uiual pitch. Bases and Organ in inison ititli them. Crescendo un K»5h 1 1 — H 1- poco. i 1 j J' r J J J 1 1 1 1 J I T~^ 1- ^-^ J ■' A- ■J-J-^-f- '^ " •> ^ -J J ^ * ■ " ^ ^ "CABACTACUS" NOT ARNE'S CARACTACUS 263 Dimitmendo. Now the mutter'd spell hath pow'r ! and so forth. The "solemn symphony" of the libretto indeed opens the scene, and the choruses are in their proper places, but note the discrepancy between Modred's lines in the libretto and in the score. There they are "recited," here they are "performed musically" ; in fact, repeatedly in the course of the score Modred sings, though his part in the libretto is plainly a speaking part. Still, Arne may have had a special dispensation from the poet to treat music thus as the handmaid to poetry. I therefore proceed to the second scene quoted, the Ode in scene 4, act II. After twenty-five bars of preluding by the harp the chorus falls in with Andantino. J J-,-^- J > Hail ! thou harp of Phrygian frame ! and after a short instrumental interlude the chorus con- tinues with 264 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES and the chorus still continues with Such discrepancies cannot be explained away by any argu- ment of musical expediency. Mador is supposed to speak the words "Mute 'till then was ev'ry plain," and here they appear in a four-part chorus which also comprises the texts which in the libretto distinctly figure as "Airs" for two different soloists, one, moreover, preceded by a "Recita- tive accompanied." And that there be no misunderstand- ing of the anonymous Caractacus composer in this connec- tion, I again quote from p. 3 of his General Instructions: The Voices for which the above Music is composed are Base and Tenor; either single, in Unison, or in parts: it is single only in the Arch-Druid's musical part, in the answers of Cad- wall and Brennus, and in the words, "Mona on Snowdon calls," to be pronounced by one of the Chorus: The rest is sometimes in Unison, sometimes in two, three, or four parts; all equally intended for the whole Chorus. If we finally compare the Ode in scene 4, act IV, with the music of No. 29 in the score, the discrepancies crowd each other so, that one does not know where to begin. The Ode is supposed to begin with a "Symphony behind the Scenes" becoming louder until we have a "full" sym- phony. In the score, "Clarinets, Violins, Viola, Bassoons, Bases and Serpent" start in "tutti forte" and remain so without modification, and this notwithstanding the fact that the composer was elsewhere profuse in the demand for "piano," "forte," "un poco forte," "diminuendo," "crescendo un poco," "fortissimo," "tutti diminuendo al pianissimo," and other such dynamic shadings — indeed, "CARACTACUS" NOT AENE'S CARACTACUS 265 so profuse, that the score might well attract the attention of a historian of musical dynamics. Furthermore, Mador's spoken words are again sung in four-part, chorus, which makes it utterly impossible for a full chorus, as demanded by the libretto, to take up his words as a chorus refrain; and finally, where one of the Druids is to blow the sacred trumpet, the clarinets, trumpets and bassoons perform this pleasant duty ! A comparison of the play with the score still further strengthens the inevitable conclusion: The music of this anonymous "Caractacus" cannot possibly have been used for the production of Masons play at Covent Garden on December 6, 1776, and after. Consequently, the score cannot possibly be identical with Ame's score as then played and sung. Only one possibility remains, in view of the claim that this anonymous "Caractacus" is by Ame and that it was published in 1775 : perhaps Ame composed the score as published, but utterly revised it for theatrical production. I shall now proceed to show how very improbable such a possibility is. In the first place, why such a futile and useless attempt at mystery at the end of a distinguished career ? — futile and useless, because a composer of Arne's talent and individuality could not, for any length of time, have hidden his authorship. And what sense would there have been in keeping "Caractacus" anonymous in view of the fact that the music for Mason's pendant to this work, "Elfrida," had been published with Ame's name as com- poser! Furthermore, the anonymous authoi^ ends his dedication with the phrase "with the respect due to your age & character." Even a broad-minded Catholic might avail himself of a polite reference to the clerical "charac- ter" of the Protestant clergyman Mason, but I doubt very much that Ame (1710-1778) would address a phrase like "with due respect due to your age" to Mason (I724r- 1797), who was by fourteen years his junior and in 1775 surely was not yet an aged man. It stands to reason that 266 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES the phrase would more likely have been addressed by a com- paratively young man to Mason in his old age. Moreover, the anonymous author, on p. 3 of his instructions, says in italics: "If this should ever be performed." What an absurd doubt in the mind of a man of Arne's calibre and fame! G-ranted that towards the end of his career his successes became fewer, Ame never found much difficulty in obtaining performances, and he surely never was per- sona non grata to the extent of being justified in using such an ominous "if." All this is circumstantial, external evidence against Ame's authorship. We have more direct internal evidence in the fact that the composer of "Artaxerxes," of "Kule Britannia," of the "As you like it" music, of so many charming songs and pieces, cannot possibly have composed such poor music as has been quoted above, even in his weak- est moments. Imagine the man who, almost alone of English composers of that age, withstood the aggression of Handel's hypnotizing influence, guilty of such dry, stiff and uninspired stuff, which is by no means the worst in the anonymous "Caractacus." Dr. Cummings has recently told us (in the "Sanmaelbande") that Ame, too, rarely employed the full orchestra of his time and pre- ferred unconventional instrumental combinations, with an apparent predilection for the horns; but imagine Arne experimenting, absolutely without horns, so childishly and unskillfuUy with the bassoon and harp, etc., as was shown above of the composer of the anonymous "Caractacus." If this score cannot possibly be Ame's work, what remains of the tradition? The unsupported statement that the score was published in 1775 ! Just when this date was introduced into historical literature, I am unable to say. At any rate, it does not yet appear in the Ame article by Mr, William H. Husk in the first edition of Grove, 1879. On the other hand. Busby, whose "Anec- dotes" (1825) the "National Biography" enumerates among the sources for Ame's life, distinctly says (v. 2, "CARACTACUS" NOT ABNE'S CABACTACUS 267 p. 62) that the "music of Caractacus was never printed." No modem historian will rely hlindly on statements by Busby, but his denial of publication becomes significant in this connection. I may add that I have looked in vain for contemporary evidence for the date 1775 in the form of newspaper advertisements in the London Daily Advertiser and in the London Chronicle. The absence of documentary evidence of any kind will force us to rely on conjecture, if we wish to date the anony- mous "Caractacus." One point is clear : The text of the score, as comparison will prove, contains nothing — ^slight verbal changes excepted — ^that does not appear in the dram- atized version; whereas it contains lines which will not be found in Mason's "Caractacus" as originally published. Furthermore, the instructions on pp. 1-2 of the "General Instructions" on how "to regulate the steps of the Druids circling the holy ground," the reference on p. 3 to "Modred's speech" (also not mentioned at all in the origi- nal version), and the reference on p. 4 to "the fourth Scene of the Second Act," leave no doubt that our author, no matter how unskillful he was and how readily he dis- obeyed the libretto (four-part choruses, when Airs should have come from his pen!), composed his music with the dramatized version of the poem at hand. This dramatized version did not appear in print until December, 1776. Consequently, if our anonymous published, and (let us assume) composed this score in 1775, he cannot have done so without having had access to or a copy of Mason's manuscript in 1775 at the latest. This, however, is practically impossible, for the simple reason that, as we have seen. Mason, when corresponding with the Covent Garden manager about the performance of his "Carac- tacus," had not yet put the finishing touches to the manu- script, and he is not known by any of his biographers to have undertaken the dramatization of his "dramatic poem" before 1776. And now the watermarks 1794, 1796, 1797 in the paper of the score and its supplements which caused 268 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES me to investigate this whole matter of "Oaractacus," assume the importance of clews in a positive and safe direc- tion ! In the ahsence of any evidence for an earlier date, the only plausible explanation of these watermarks would be, that the score was published not earlier than 1794, and two of the supplements not earlier than 1796. That the third supplement was published not later than about April 7, 1797, may be surmised from the fact that Mason died on this day and that the author of the anonymous "Oaractacus" must naturally have believed Mason to be still alive when he dedicated to him that peculiar revised and annotated copy of his work which is now in the Library of Congress. In closing, I may be permitted to quote a few lines of a letter which I received, after completion of this article, from Mr. Squire under date of October 17, 1910, in answer to my request for information on the date 1775. Just having recovered from a severe operation, Mr. Squire was unable to comply with my request, but he wrote: Cummings had already drawn my attention to the probability that the anonymous music was not Ame's, but he did not know about the watermarks, which are certainly strong evidence against Ame's authorship. The music, too, seems hardly pos- sible by him — ^but whose can it be I Well, I think that the employment of the organ and the serpent point in the direction of some English organist, whose skill, experience and talent as a composer did not measure up to his ambition, his interest in esthetics, and his imbalanced doctrine of music as the handmaid to poetry. A DESCEIPTION OF ALESSANDRO STRIGGIO AND FRANCESCO CORTECCIA'S INTERMEDI "PSYCHE AND AMOR," 1565 (The "Musical Antiquary," October, 1911) The origin of opera remained an open problem for many years, because historical attention was concentrated too exclusively on the experiments of Count Bardi's Neo- Hellenic laboratory. Gradually historians persuaded themselves that the whole chromatic movement, the long established practice of interspersing plays with music, the revival of lyric monody, the well-developed intermedi, the various ballet entertainments, and so forth, might have an evolutional bearing on the origin of opera. More and more information of this kind accumulated, and an ava- lanche of essays was heaped on us when Angelo Solerti, coming from literary history, diverted part of his energy into the channels of musical history. This whole move- ment may be summed up in the paradoxical title which Remain RoUand gave to a brilliant essay in his Musiciens d'autrefois (1909) : 'L'Opera avant I'opera.' There is some danger at the present time that we may be led to an underestimation of the efforts of the Florentine Camerata. They sought Greek drama and found opera. And whether or not they, consciously or unconsciously, utilized the txa- ditional or progressive elements of their time, no historical subtleties will ever succeed in proving that opera really existed before the Florentine Camerata stumbled on it. All the undercurrents of their time might have been con- verging towards opera, yet of themselves they would not 269 270 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES have led to opera without the new and distinguishing ele^ ment of dramatic musical speech. If that be clearly kept in mind, then a conclusion which Solerti reached in his essay "Precedenti del melodramma" (R. M. It, 1903, p. 470) still retains its proper signifi- cance : "dalla tragedia, dalla f avola pastorale e dagli inter- medi proviene I'opera seria; dalla commedia dell'arte I'opera buffa ; dalle mascherate e dagli intennedi le veglie e i balletti." It will be noticed that here the intermedio contributes to two kinds of theatrical performances with music, but it will also be noticed that one kind is not mentioned : the pantomime. Perhaps Solerti, following our rather loose terminology in such matters, includes pantomime in ballet, but, as a matter of historical and esthetic fact, ballet and pantomime are no more synonymous than are opera and ballet. True, from the beginning the various species of musical theatrical performances had certain features in common, but it will not do to throw them all into a com- mon historical melting-pot. An opera may contain a ballet, and a ballet operatic arias; still, the lines of dis- tinction are easily discernible. On the other hand, I admit, the distinction between a ballet and a pantomime is difficult of definition for us modems, but it exists, as everybody will testify who has waded through thousands of old-time librettos. A pantomime may contain a good deal of dancing and a good deal of singing (the "speaking pantomime"), and still the pantomime, if representative of its genre, is not a ballet, much less an opera. It may be likened, notwithstanding such ingredients, to living pic- tures, moving or not, the appreciation and imderstanding of which depend on ready symbolical association and ready solution of allegorical puzzles. Exactly because the ballet, from mere danced symbolical action, developed almost into a danced pantomime, it becomes difficult to keep the two apart for historical purposes. We have been so much fascinated by the history of THE INTERMEDI "PSYCHE AND AMOU" 271 opera, that we have quite overlooked the possibilities of evolutional histories of the other genres, the ballet and the pantomime. Existing books notwithstanding, they remaia to be written, and it is imperative also for problems connected with the history of opera that they be written soon with acumen and patient research: particularly a history of musical pantomime during the latter part of the sixteenth century. I^Tot xmtil then, perhaps, will the obscure points in the origin of opera proper quite disap- pear, so far, at least, as the relationsbip between the intermedi and the first opera is concerned. The first operas dealt, like most of the intermedi, with mythological subjects, but they dealt with them as plays and as such bore their message to the audience through the words of the libretto and a more or less developed psycbological plot. While a familiarity with Greek mythology was help- ful for the a.ppreciation of the first operas and increased their enjoyment, it was, strictly speaking, not necessary. The intermedi, on the other hand, dealt with mythological episodes not as vehicles for dramas, but for allegories. Their puzzles were not dramatic. In other words, for a ready understanding of the innumerable and often involved allegorical and external symbolical allusions to Greek mythology in the 'intermedi an intimate familiarity with the details of Greek mythology was absolutely indis- pensable — a familiarity, indeed, which would be quite beyond our mixed modem audiences, but for which the aristocratic audiences of the Renaissance period were abundantly trained. To come to the real point of these introductory remarks, the intermedi were pantomimes. While they had some features in common with the first operas and perhaps even affected their origin, their real importance, beyond their own historical significance, attaches not so much to the history of opera as to that of pantomime. Indeed, it looks to me as if Oaccini'a II Bapimento di Gefalo was much more closely related to the intermedi than his or 272 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Peri's Euridice or their respective settings of Dafne. This is, of course, a thesis, not necessarily a new thesis, yet one not generally accepted and not acceptable until a discriminating, exhaustive history of Renaissance panto- mime has proved its correctness. However, whether this thesis be correct or not, the problem of the origin of opera will not find a perfect solu- tion until, on the basis of literary history, the musical his- tory of the intermedi has ^.dvanced far beyond its present, more statistical and chronological than evolutional stage. Solerti and others have repeatedly referred to Ubaldo Angeli's Notizie per la storia del Teatro a Firenze nel secolo XVI, specialmente circa gli mtermezzi (Modena, 1891), in which, with one exception, all important inter- medi down to 1569 are mentioned. Unfortunately, this book has not been accessible to me, but if it enumerates not less than fifty works before 1569, and if we consider that the genre continued to flourish for decades, surely Angeli's book offers food for thought to us musical his- torians. The conclusion is inevitable — and how inevitable even a rapid glance into Creizenach's history of the drama will prove — ^that the intermedio with its musical ingre- dients was a fully developed form of art, long before opera came into existence. That it was largely pantomimical, allegorical, and that it was undermining the interest in drama, for this we have abundant esthetic contemporary testimony. It is not surprising that reference is made in recent historical literature to this encroachm.ent upon comedy and tragedy, and a quotation of the poet Antonio Francesco Grazzini's (called II Lasca) madrigal, "La Oommedia che si duel degli Intermezzi," is made to do useful service, but it is amazing how very little compara- tive research has been centered on the intermedio for purposes of musical history. Certainly, only such com- parative research can fully establish the extent and scope of the participation of musical art in these entertainments. THE INTEEMEDI "PSYCHE AND AMOE" 273 In what the intermedio technique of a Corteccia or a Striggio consisted cannot surely be fully revealed except by exhaustive comparison. In other words, a history of the musical form of the intermedio is badly needed, a history which would treat methodically of m.onody as employed therein, of the part the chorus played, of how solo voices and chorus alternated or were combined, how their numerical proportions were balanced, how instru- mental music was employed either for purely instrumen- tal purposes or for those of accompaniment, how this accompaniment differed if used for solo voices or for ensemble scenes, how the composers utilized their orches- tral resources for purposes of variety, of color, of deliber- ate grouping and differentiation. That much information of this kind is to be found in our books, I know very well, but it is more or less disconnected, not methodical, and it is based principally on the later intermedin particularly Malvezzi's and others' celebrated irdermedi of 1589 at Morence, published 1591. And even they were not pene- tratingly treated before Goldschmidt in his splendid essays on early opera brought some analytical-synthetic order out of chaos. For the earlier period, we have practically not got beyond Kiesewetter, who in his SchicTcsale und Be- scJiaffenheit des weltlichen Oesanges (1841) dealt in a cursory way with the irdermedi composed in 1539 by Corteccia, Festa and others for the marriage of Oosimo de' Medici and Leonora of Toledo, those composed (1565) by Corteccia and Striggio for the marriage of Francesco de' Medici and Giovanna of Austria, and finally those of 1589. Not even Eolland, in his book on opera before Lully and Scarlatti, considered it worth while to let an investigation of his own supersede that of Kiesewetter. Indeed, if we add Leichtentritt's translation, in his revised edition of Ambros's fourth volume (1909), of Baldinucci's description of the festivities of 1569 (correctly as on p. 245, not 1565, as incorrectly on p. 265) with Striggio's 274 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES unfortunately lost intermedio music for the comedy of 'U andco fido, we have nearly reached the end of accessible historical resources. It may be that not many descriptions of the numerous intermedio entertainments exist which would enlighten us musical historians as to the part music played, thereby consoling us somewhat for the loss of most of the music; but that would be the very reason why the few should be made fully available. Of what earthly use, for instance, can it have been to those who followed Kiesewetter with- out (retracing his steps, that he, in commenting on the (first only of the) intermedi of 1565, naively gives this inven- tory: Die Instrumente, welclie Terschiedentlicli zur Begleitimg der Gesange, oder zu Zwischenspielea verwendet wurdeii, sind bei jeder Nummer genannt. Sie waren schon damals sehr zaMreich : 2 Gravieembali, 4 violoni, 1 leuto mezzano, 1 cornetto muto (?)> 4 Tromboni, 2 Elauti diritti, 4 Traversi, 1 Leuto grosso, 1 Sotto Basso di Viola, 1 Sopran di Viola, 4 Leuti, 1 Viola d'areo, 1 Lirone, 1 Traverso Contralto, 1 Elauto grande Tenore, 1 Trom- bone Basso, 5 Storte, 1 Stortina, 2 Oometti ordinarii, 1 Cornetto grosso, 1 Dolzaina, 1 Lira, 1 Eibecchino, 2 Tamburi. Probably because of Kiesewetter's hurried and slight- ing comment, later historians did not consider it worth while to bestow attention on the intermedi of 1565 which drew their inspiration from Apuleius's tale of Cupid and Psyche, yet their published description turns out to be, at least musically, one of the most instructive we possess. The complete reprint as it follows here will surely further a more correct understanding of the art-form of the inter- medio in all its aspects, and, if nothing else, at least prove that we may yet hope to rediscover the music, generally considered not published, since the remark on p. 18 of the Description makes it clear that Corteccia's and Striggio's music was in press in 1565^. Kiesewetter quoted Giunti's fourth Isic'] edition, of 1566, entitled: THE INTERMEDI "PSYCHE AND AMORi' 275 Descrizione dell'Apparato della Commedia ed Intennedil d'essa, fatta in Firenze il Giomo di S. Stefano I'anno 1565. The copy from which I quote is that printed with and attached to the Library of Congress copy of La Cofanaria. Commedia di Francesco d'Ambra. Con gl'In- termedij di Giovambattista Cini. Eecitata nelle Nozze del lUustrissimo S. Principe Don Francesco de' Medici, & della Sereniss. Eegina Giouanna d'Austria. Di nTovo ristampata. In Firenze, per Filippo Givnti. MDXcni.' The comedy ia evidently a reprint of the original edition, since Alessandro Oeccherelli's prefatory dedication with its reference to the "eccellente Musica" is still dated "Di Firenze il di 15. di Gennaio 1565" ; bn± that the Descri- zionei de GV Intermedii as edited by II Lasca — ^the same II Lasca who had a playwright's grievance against the whole genre — ^goes far beyond the description originally published, will immediately become clear. ' Tbls la the same edition which G. Giannini used for his quotations iPropugnatore, 1893, pp. 251-3) from the DeacrizUme, In hla esaay Origini del dramma musicale. It la a splendid easay, but to my way of thinlcing Glannlnl lays too much atreaa on the origin of opera from the intermedia. Beaidea the Desorixione dell' Apparato, II Laaca laaued a Descrizione degl'In- termedU in 1566, which ia practically identical with the edition of 1593: but its text ia rather better, and II Lasca's Dedication is different. The text of 1593 has, however, been consistently retained here. With a slightly dilferent orthography it may also be found in Vol. V of "11 Teatro Comico Florentine, " 1750, where it follows the reprint of "La Cofanaria." In "The Musical Antiquary" I reprinted the original Italian without a translation. Here I have dispensed with the original in favor of a translation by Dr. Theodore Baker. The Arabic figures refer to the pages of the original to facilitate compariaon. 276 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES DESCEIPTION/ OF THE INTEEMEDH/ EEPRESENTED/ WITH THE COMEDY/ At the Nuptials of His Most Illustrious and Ex-/cellent High- ness the Prince of/Florence, and of Siena. IN FLOEENCE,/ By Filippo Gidnti./ hdxcih TO HIS MOST ILLUSTEIOUS/AND EXCELLENT/ HIGHNESS D. FEANCESOO/ MEDICI Prince of Florence, and of Siena,/ AND TO THE MOST SEEENE, and noble Queen Giovanna of Austria/ my most exalted Lieges. The Intermedii which were produced with the Comedy at your Most Eegal Nuptials having been published in haste by other persons and, consequently, with insufficient care, and based on a simple description supplied to you before the representation by the author at the instance of His Highness to promote His more pleasurable appreciation of the same : — ^induced by Him and by you to make up for the apparent lack of care, I have undertaken to extend them considerably and to reduce them to the form hereinafter to be seen. And to present them as something belonging to and made for you. Grant them,/ therefore, a gracious reception, inasmuch as th^ were prepared by the Author with singular devotion, and are presented by me with flU reverence, in the hope that they may meet with your favour in some small degree. Tour most hiunble and obedient servant, II Lasoa'. ALL ihe Intermedii — ^which, for the sake of greater per- spicuity, are not intermingled here with the Comedy — ^were taken from the story of Cupid and Psyche, so pleasingly related by Apuleius in his romance, "The Golden Ass"; and we pro- ceeded by selecting the parts which appeared to be the leading ones, and fitting them to the Comedy with all the skill at our command, with the intention of making it appear as if that which is enacted by the Gods in the fable of the Intermedii, is likewise enacted — as it were, under constraint of a higher power — by the mortals in the Comedy. THE INTEEMEDI "PSYCHE AND AMOR"^ 277 Accordingly, a brief space after the descent of the curtains which conceal from the eyes of the Spectators the Perspective of the concave Heavens of the opening scene, there is seen to appear a second, most ingeniously contrived Heaven wherefrom, little by little, a Cloud is perceived approaching, in which there is set with singular ingenuity a gilded & gem-encrusted Car, recognized as that of Venus, because it is seen to be drawn by two snow-white Swans, and in which, as Mistress and charioteer, is most majestically seated that loveliest of Goddesses, entirely nude, engarlanded with roses and immortelles and, reins in hand, adorned with the beautiful girdle called Oestus by the ancients. In her train follow the three Graces, likewise recognizable by appearing wholly nude/ by their brilliantly blond tresses falling free over their shoulders, but still more by the manner in which they hold each other's hands. And the four Horse with wings in exact resemblance of butter- flies, distinguished according to the four seasons, as follows : The first with flowers in her headdress and in her shoon, and with robes of changing colour in imitation of Spring blooms. The second, Summer with her garland, and with shoon bedecked with lavender, and with a yellow robe betokening maturity of the grain. The Third for Autumn, crowned and shod with apples, with ivy, and with vineleaves, and with a russet robe indicating similarly their maturity. And the last for Winter with a Turquoise robe all beflecked with snowflakes, and also wearing shoon, and with tresses all behung with hailstones and icicles. All these were to be seen as in the train of Venus, and as following the Car and seated in channful grouping on the afore- mentioned cloud, the which, descending little by little, seemed to leave behind it in Heaven Jove, Juno, Saturn, Mars, Mercury, and the other Gods, from whose midst was nevertheless heard to issue a Harmony passing sweet, seemingly a thiag divine rather than human, while the entire great, dark Hall was filled with the sweetest and most precious odours. At the same time there was seen at one extremity of the perspective, as though walking on the earth, Cupid approaching/ with wings and quite nude as he is described by the Poets, in whose company were seen his four principal passions, as described, whence flow; all the difficulties that so frequently dis- turb his Kingdom; as follows: Hope, all clad in green, with a spray of Sowers in her hair. 278 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Tear, recognizable by tbe Hares in ber beaddreas, and on her shoon, and by Ler pale robe. Joy, ia a robe of -white and orange mth a tbousand other beautiful colours, and with a flowering branch of borage in her tresses. And Sorrow, all in black, and with erery symbol of grief, and weeping. Of whom, in the guise of servants. Some bore the Bow, Others the Quiver, and the Arrows, Others the insidious Nets & Others the Torch, from which was seen issuing inextinguish- able flame. All these having come near to the car, which in the meantime had reached the ground, halted, while the Horse and the Graces slowly descended from the Cloud and, gathering around Venus, who had risen to her feet and gracefully turned about, seconded her in singing the first two stanzas of the following ballatetta; The Horse continually holding astrain the circumstanding gar- lands composed of thousands of divers flowerets ; aU which hav- ing been carried out, & all returned to their places, the Cloud, the Car, & the Swans were seen to return little by little into the Heavens whence they had arrived and which then closed in a moment without/ a vestige remaining to show where the Cloud and so many other things had entered or whither they had betaken themselves. In the meantime Cupid, crossing the Stage with his com- panions, who seconded him in a sort, proceeded to the last stanza of the BaUata, the while he let fly numerous arrows into the crowd of onlookers, whence it might be gathered that the Lovers, moved thereby to the following discourses, originated the ensu- ing Comedy. Venus To me, so quite neglected and alone, No longer vows nor altars now are raised. But unto Psyche aU devoted, To her are given — she usurps them. So if thou e'er didst love me, or still love me. Take up thine arms, my son. And all this rabble fire With vilest love of mortal man. Cupid Then, JMother, let us go : who gives me the Bow, The arrows who ? that I, With courage mounting high, All hearts may conquer, bind, pierce, & inflame. THE INTERMEDI "PSYCHE AND AMOE" 279 9 The first Act being finished — following, as will always be the case, the introductory fable — there is seen issuing, from one of the four passageways left between the scenes for the use of the actors, a tiny Cupid gracefully bearing in one arm the counter- feit presentment of a swan, whereto is most skillfully attached a bass viol of no great size, from which latter, with a willow wand held in the other hand and concealing the Bow fixed be- neath it, he, as it were with playful art, drew sweet sounds. When he had reached his predetermined station, there were seen approaching by the four passageways, and at the same time, the f oUowing : Zephyr, the wind of love, all in blue, and recognizable by Ms wings, and his flower-crowned youthful head and smiling coun- tenance, and by his robe and shoon all woven with Flowers, and with his lap full of the same, tossing them in great profusion among the bystanders. And Musick, likewise readily to be recognized by the harmonic band which she wore on her head, and by her rich robe all be- strewn with her various instruments, and with divers charts whereon were inscribed all the notes and all the measures of the same, and by the large and handsome bass Lyre, on which she played while advancing. Prom the other two passageways appeared, on the one hand. Pleasure, and on the other. Laughter, in the guise of two tiny Cupids. Behind these, and ere they had arrived at their proper sta- 10 tions, there were seen to enter all at the same time/ four more Cupids, who advanced playing on four profusely ornamented lutes; and after them four others, two with apples in their hands and disporting together, and two who with bows and arrows were shooting at each other with a certain affectionate grace. All these, now formed into a choir, most sweetly sang and played the following madrigal: Oh, we have seen the new, sublime miracle, But who doth live, that doth believe on it ? That Cupid, taking arms 'gainst love, Should fall a victim to himself, and Psyche 2 Therefore to Psyche be awarded The palm for loveliness and worth By every other beauty : withal that from the fear Her Prisoner inspires, she still is grieving. But let us follovr on the way we started: 280 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Come, Pleasure, come too. Laughter, Come, sweet Harmony of Paradise, Let us allay the torments that she feels With strains of musick soft, that soothes and heals. While Cupid is bent on another task, namely, the inflaming of human, hearts, it appears at the end of the second Act as though the floor of the stage -were rising up into seven small Hillocks; whence were seen to issue gradually, at first seven, and then seven other Deceptions. These were readily to be 31 recognized as such, because every one/ wore as a headdress, each in a different and graceful attitude, a Wolf, forming indeed a pleasing and diverting spectacle for the audience; having, furthermore, their busts aU. mottled and spotted in the sem- blance of Leopards, & the rest of the body, and the legs and tails in the guise of serpents. Some held in their hands Nets, Others Pishhooks, & Others having Paws with Claws, beneath aU of which were concealed small Comets. And when those who had sung at first, had then sung and played the following Madrigal, they took their most orderly departure by the four passageways on the Stage. If Cupid, bound and vanquished, has lEorgot His Bow, and blazing torch, A fresh desire to mystify his Mother Now spurs him ; and if Psyche plays him false. And if the impious and faithless pair Of envious sisters, fraud and foul deceit, Think only this : Who is there in the World To-day, who would withhold from Us the Kingdom? Therefore let aU the wise enjoy the fruits Of fraud; and if some -other hope they cherish. Soon indeed that hope shall perish. Offense resulting, from the Deceptions, and dissensions with a thousand other ills from the offense, after the third Act, in- stead of the seven Hillocks which had been seen to appear 12 upon the Stage in the second Intermedio,/ now engulphed as it were in the Ground, there came to view seven small Craters, whence issued at first a dark smoke, followed gradually by Discord, symbol in hand, as the leader, recognized by her arms, and motley and disordered raiment, and disheveled locks. Anger, likewise recognizable, besides by her ^rms, by shoon in the guise of paws, and by a Bear's head in place of a helmet, from out of which issued smoke and flame. THE nSTTERMEDI "PSYCHE AND AMOR" 283! 'AJid Cruelty -with, a scythe an ter hand, known hy her hehnet in the shape of a Tiger's head, and by shoon resembling the feet of a Crocodile. And Eapine "with Priining-hook in hand, and -with the rapacious Bird on her helmet, and with feet like Eagle's claws. And Vendetta, with a bloodstained comet in hand, with shoon and helmet aU fashioned of Yipers. And two Anthropophagi, or Laestrygones, whichever one may please to name them, who, blowing two trombones in the form of ordinary trumpets, seemed as though th^ would excite the spectators to combat. Each one of whom was placed between two Furies provided with Drums having iron drumsticks, and with divers arms, beneath the which were hidden divers instruments. The aforesaid Turies were identified by the wounds where- with their entire bodies were covered, out of which it seemed as if flames of fire were issuing, by the snakes wherewith they were engirdled, and by the broken chains hanging from their legs/ and arms, and by the fire issuing from their headgear: — all of whom together sang and played the following Madrigal while executing, in the excitement of combattants, a new and extravagant Moresca, at the end of which, rushing hither and thither across the stage as if in confusion, they fled in simu- lated terror from the gaze of the spectators. Elee in blind haste, ye vile Deceptions ; in the World to-day are known Anger alone, and Madness ; ye bold and tricksy sprites. Approach to prove your valour, Por as, if by this light Love now doth Languish, We are not willed that theirs shall be the Xingdom. TFp, then I Let every dauntless heart Beat high : and let our warlike song Be War, war I and our only cry be Arms, arms I Jn sequel to the Fourth Act the wretched Psyche, given over to desperation, provides the theme for the fifth Litermedio; she is seen — after having been sent by Venus, as the fable hath it, to the Infernal Proserpine — approaching by one of the passageways in deepest dejection, accompanied by malign Jealousy all pallid and doleful, recognizable like the others who follow by her four heads and her Turquoise robe aU bestrewn with ^es, and ears. By Envy, likewise known by the Snakes y/inoh she is de- vouring. 282 MISCELLANEOUS' STUDIES By Brooding, or Care, or Solicitude, however/ one may choose to call her, known by the Eaven which she wears on her head, and by the Vulture preying on her vitals. And by Scorn, or Disdain (to apply the feminine name^), who reveals her identity by the Owl she wears on her head, and by her iU made, ill fitting and disordered raiment. Now, when these four, while beating her and urging her on, were arrived at the intended spot, the Earth suddenly opened with fire and smoke, wherefrom were marvelously seen to appear four Serpents, the which they seized, however they sought to prevent, and., lashing them right and left with the thorny rods they held in their hands, under which were hidden, four little bows, they finally seemed to disappear into the en- sanguined gorge, and immediately there was heard issuing from the interiors (Psyche singing the ensuing Madrigal) a mourn- ful, yet wondrous suave and sweet harmony, for that within the Serpents there had been set with singular ingenuity four bass Viols, & she then sang, with such sweetness that one saw the tears drawn from the eyes of more than one. When this was ended, each one taking her serpent on her shoulder, there was seen — to the no small affright of the watch- ing ladies — a great opening in the groTjnd, whence issued smoke and a vast and continuous flame; & in a moment one beheld the three heads and heard the fearsome baying of the infernal Cerberus, to whom Psyche is seen to toss one of the/ two cakes she held in her hand; and soon thereafter there is seen to appear, with divers Monsters, Charon with his Skiff, into which the despairful Psyche, entering, was borne offensive and dis- pleasurable company by her four aforesaid harassers. ried is my every hope. And fled nevermore to return : Only thou, who destroyest All my peace : who sendest to remain Envy, Jealousy, Care, and Scorn, With me within the fliTn Inferno, Where lives eternally my torment sore. The entire sixth and last Intermedio was joyous; for when the Comedy was flnished, there was seen to rise all at once out of the flooring of the stage a small, verdant Mount all adorned with Laurels and divers flowers, the which, bearing on its summit the winged Horse Pegasus, was directly perceived to be Mount Helicon, whence little by little was seen descending '■In Italian. — ^Ed. THE INTERMEDI "PSYCHE AND AMOR" 283 that chaimful band, already described, of Cupids, and Zephyr, and Music, and Cupid, and Psyche held by the hand and all joyous and in festal mood, now that she had returned safe from the Inferno, and through the intercession of Jove, moved by the prayers of her Husband, Cupid, had won pardon and grace from the offended Yenus, as may be read more in detail in the fable, and with these was Pan, and nine other Satyrs with divers Pastoral instruments in their hands, under which various 16 other musical instruments were concealed,/ all of whom, de- scending from the aforesaid Mount, conducted with them Hymen, The God of Nuptials, and playing and singing in hia praise, as in the following canzonets, executing during the second a new & most vivacious dance, they formed a graceful close to the festival. Prom beautiful Mount Helicon Behold god Hymen, who descends And straightway lights the torch, and crowns himself. iWith Marjoram he crowns himself. Odorous and sweet. And all gray care from Earth he banishes. So, Psyche, banish thou, too. Thy keen and cruel sorrow. Give joy alone a welcome in thy breast. Cupid within his breast \ Then gives thee happy refuge. Consoles thee with a thousand sweet attentions. "No less may Jove console thee For thy past weeping, But welcome thee to Heaven with smiles and songs. Canzonei the Second Hymen therefor© calls to one and all: Hymen, fuH of charm and fair bedight : Ah, how glad and fair a day Hymen bringeth back with thee. 1^ Hymen heareth for his goddess, Por his very soul, Giovanna, How from either bank of broad Rhine Sounds sweet musick on and on. And no less on sparkling Amo Per th' illustrious, well-beloved. Kind Prancesco, all are thronging There to sing the praise of Hymen. Hymen, etc. 284 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Gladsome Plora, happy Amo, Himible Amo, kindly Plara: Ah, what happier lot was ever Seen of men, or ever heard of? rortunate and favoured country. Land so near and dear to Heaven, Unto whom so rare a blessing From benignant Hymen floweth. Hymen, etc. Then bring Laurels, Palms & olives. Crowns & Scepters now, and Kingdoms Tor these twain thrice happy souls. Thine be only Flora's portion. May whate'er is vile, unworthy. Hold aloof; may true Peace only, And Delight, & Springtime flourish Everlastingly vnthin thee. Hymen, etc. 18 For the Satisfaction of curious Musicians, should these lucubrations fall into the hands of any such, we shall add that as the Hall, besides being marvelously beautiful, was of a singular magnitude and altitude, and perhaps the greatest of which we have knowledge to-day, it was necessary to make the Concerts of Musick very full, and therefore The first, from which emanated that exceeding sweet harmony in the open Heavens, was formed By four double Gravicembalos By four Bowed Viols By two Trombones By two Tenor Flutes By one soft-toned Cornet (Corneto muto) By one Cross-flute And by two Lutes Which, the Musick (now in press) being placed, as wiU be seen, with the most admirable discretion, allowed due space for the descent of the Car, and for the Horse, and for the Graces, that betook themselves to their assigned stations. The Musick for the first two stanzas of the Ballata of Venus was in eight parts : only sung on the stage by voices, and accom- panied behind the scenes, a feat of singular difficulty, calling for ingenuity, THE INTEEMEDI "PSYCHE AND AMOE" 285 19 By two Gravieembalos By four Bass Viols By one Medium Lute (Leuto Mezano) By one soft-toned Comet By one Trombone And by two direct Tlutes (Elauti diretti) Then the last stanza of Cupid was likewise sung by voices throughout in five parts, on the stage, and accompanied behind the scenes By two Gravieembalos By one large Lute By one deep bass Viol adjoined to the parts By one soprano Viol, also adjoined By one Flute, similarly adjoined By four Cross-flutes And by one Trombone. And this was in the first Intermedio. The second was in four parts sang on the stage by four voices, and played By four Lutes By one Bow- Viol And by one bass Lyre Aid off-stage By three Gravieembalos By one large Lute By one soprano Viol By one alto Cross-flute By one large Tenor Elute/ 10 By one bass Trombone And by one soft-toned Cornet, which played a Fifth addi- tional soprano part. The third Intermedio was played in six parts and sung all on the stage, viz. : By five Serpents By one soft-toned Comet And by eight voices, doubling the sopranos and basses. The Musiek of the Fourth was also similarly sung in six parts and played throughout on the stage, doubling all the parts in the voices, and adding thereto Two Trombones One tenor Oboe (una Dolzaina) 286 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Two ordinary Comets One large Comet And two Drums. In the fifth, in five parts, one solo soprano voice was accom- panied on the stage By four bass Yiols And behind the scenes By one bass Lyre And by four Trombones. 21 The last was in four parts allegrissimo, and most fully/ quad- TupHng all the voices. And adding thereto Two soft-toned Comets Two Trombones One tenor Oboe One small Serpent One bass Lyre One Lyre One small Eibeo And two Lujes Playing in the first Canzonetta, and aU. singing. In the second, where they danced, the lines were sung by only eight voices, and the Lyre and bass Lyre played, but in the re- frain, refreshing as it were the spirits of the auditors, all were heard joyously singing and playing together with a certain renewed delight. The arrangement and the words of the Intermedii were by M'Cesser) Gio. Battista Cini, and they were staged under his supervision, as well as the Comedy, and all the rest appurtenant to the same. The machinery for drawing aside the Heavens and operating the traps in the flooring according to the directions of Messer Giovan' Battista was the work of Bernardo Timante, the imaginative Painter, and in no little favour with his most Illustrious and Excellent Highness, our Lord the Prince. 22 Messer Alessandro Strigio wrote the Musick for the/ Eirst, the Second, and the Fifth Intermedios. That for the Third, the Fourth, and the last was furnished by Messer Francesco Corteeeia, Maestro di Cappella to their most Illuatrious Excel- lencies, THE END (The "Description" translated ty Theodore Baker.) MIJSIO IN OUE LrBEAEHg ("The Art World," 1917)1 Poets and other generous soula have extolleii tte ichiarms of music Tintil the emotional superiority of musio over other arts has become a dogma too venerable for doubt. Possibly the emotional appeal of music is more intense than that of other arts, but the account is squared by several obstructions in the path of that appeal. Chief among these (with all the inherent consequences) is the inordinately complex and costly apparatus required for performance of musical works in the larger forms, such as symphonies, oratorios, operas. The composer faces a second disadvantage in the necessity of recording hia thoughts with the help of symbols which can. reach the sense appealed to, the ear, only by way of another sense, the eye. Furthermore, comparatively few music-lovera possess the imagination or the training to transform such visual impressions into the corresponding aural impres- sions. The accomplishment of "reading the score" of a modem opera, for instance, is an accomplishment indeed, iand of truly deterring difficulty. Tet on this very accom- plishment of those interested in him every composer sooner or later depends for his intercourse with contemporaries or posterity whenever the performer, the intermediary be- tween composer and public, chooses not to perform a com- poser's works. A minimum of reflection will show how under the cir- cumstances, without the hospitality of libraries, composers are in danger of being shut off from posterity. But there Ma musical thoughts lie practically biiried alive, encap- 287 " " 288 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES Billed in books of mute liieroglypliics. It is the best tbe .•world can ofFer bim until that time when we shall have pot merely musical libraries but "museums" of music, where in sundry feasible ways thei public appeal of works of musical art will be madei to endure, in effect similar to the permanent and ever-direct appeal of paintings, sculp- tures, etc., in museums of the Fine Arts. A fantastic dream? Not at all; but my present purpose does not permit of unfolding my ideas on this solvable problem of art-conservation and presentatioii. If works of musical art, then, must fall back gradually on the hospitality of libraries— ^from the very nature of music virtually the hospitality of a mausoleum — ^has the best been made of the situation? Hardly. Musical libraries that are reasonably representative of the mighty growth of musical culture in our country, culture that springs from tender but healthy roots two hundred years old, are too few and far between to suggest a different answer. Perhaps the librarian profession still hesitates to recognize in music intellectual elements not less worthy of attention than genealogy or fiction. Perhaps we suffer from a dearth of expert musical librarians whose authority might compel a more hospitable attitude of mind. Per- haps musicians and music-lovers in musical communities are still too indifferent, or too unaware of their power of concerted action to have the rights of music as a cultural and therewith civic factor more adequately respected in libraries. Perhaps American libraries are richer in good will than in funds; perhaps the cost of music, compara- tively much greater than that of literature, works as a handicap. Whatever the reason or reasons, the fact remains that music is deplorably underfed in the great majority of our libraries. Otherwise cities like !New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, San Fran- eisco, Minneapolis and half a dozen others of our musical icentreS would not lag so far behind Boston in the posses- eion. of a mxmicipal musical library of which all citizens MUSIC IN OUR LIBRARIES 289 may ieel proud. THey would not be able to emulate cer- tain unique features of the late Mv. Allen A. Brown's munificent gift to the city of Boston, but if tbey had started in time and had persevered, they would now, as they ought, possess musical collections fairly equal Jo his in extent and merit. In any ambitious community a library without tbe com- plete works of Shakespeare, Goethe, Dickens, Ibsen, Moliere, Balzac, Dante, Longfellow, Poe — or without vari- ous serial works published to embrace a comprehensive selection of representative and historically important liter- ary masterpieces, such as Johnson's 75-volume edition of English writers, would very properly invite scornful criti- cisnu Apply a similar test with reference to the great masters of music. Does your local library contain the more or less complete editions of the works of Palestrina, Orlando di Lasso, Bach, Handel, Purcell, Rameau, Gretry, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Berlioz, Liszt, Wagner, Verdi? Does it contain such historical publications as the Denkmdler der Tonkunst in Austria and Germany, the Paleographie musicale, Les Archives de Maitres d& I'Orgue, L'wrle musicale in Italict, Les maitres musiciens de la Renaissance frangaise, the series of volumes of the Musical Antiquarian Society or the other similar undertakings designed to res- cue from oblivion and to revive, at least for the student, masters of the past ? If by way of excuse the answer be that there is no demand in a particular, supposedly musical community for such publications; that too much of the music is of "purely antiquarian interest" and of too little "musical interest to modem ears," then my counter-argu- ment is : first, that the community is not yet as musically cultured as it thinks it is, or ought to be; second, that the tendency to appoint prevalent fashion or taste a compla- cent judge of art-values of the past is damnable and is more likely than not to lead to a conservatism hostile toward pioneers of the future; third, that "purely anti- 1^0 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES 'quarian interest" is not more of a crime and not less of a virtue in music than in other fields of human endeavor represented for that very reason in libraries. My fourth is, that much, very much music pleasing to the modem ear is already too dead even for antiquarian interest, hence might be denied asylum in libraries on special prin- ciples ; my fifth, that a librarian ought not to content him- self with giving to the public what it happens to want, but ought to help create! a demand for what the public needs; my sixth, that no self-respecting library can afford to be without certain cultural documents, whether they be con- sulted frequently or seldom. Do you ask for more ? then my seventh: that the needs of one solitary scholarly spe- cialist should weigh with librarians just as heavily as the wants of a hundred "general" and generally superficial and unproductive readers. After all, it is not the frequency of use that counts, but the use to which a book is put. A costly and rare book consulted only once in ten years, but then by a man of far-reaching research or codification of research, has justi- fied its acquisition just as much as an inexpensive, com- monplace book consulted every day for mere receptive information. If the absence of works of "antiquarian" or "modem" interest be explained on the grounds of expensiveness, the explanation will carry weight. For it is a regrettable fact that chamber music, orchestra music, opera scores and so forth entail an expenditure which acts as a barrier to the comprehensive acquisition of meritorious music. And when the prices of foreign works of musical art are Americanized, a librarian may well despair of his ability to satisfy the needs of a musical community. When scores of the type mentioned above run in cost anywhere from four to two hundred and fifty dollars, the difficulty of assembling a representative collection of music becomes obvious, not to mention a moderate indulgence in biblio- graphical rarities or in autograph scores. MUSIC IN OUR LIBRARIES 291 On the other hand, however, by no means all desirable and necessary music is beyond reach of even poor institu- tions. In every country music publishers have sought to meet the situation by issuing the standard works by stand- ard composers for a moderate price. By surveying such editions any librarian with a modicinn of expert knowledge may assemble a collection of indispensable works of musi- cal art and of books on music. Indeed, respectable pub- lishers have tried to facilitate his task by forming for him just such collections at a price which, of course, keeps pace with the character, extent and scope of the purchases en bloc suggested. Strange to say, either for lack of confi- dence in the interested disinterestedness of publishers — or for lack of interest or knowledge or ability to resist the temptation of wasting one's meagre funds on favored com- posers and alluringly advertised expensive publications — or for other reasons, it would appear that the movement has not been an unqualified success. True, many small libraries have embraced the opportunities offered, but just as many have neglected them, with the result that the number of reasonably well-equipped public musical libra- ries seems to be abnormally small in our country. There is something fundamentally wrong somewhere in the situation if, for instance, a prominent publisher could sell to private music-lovers many thousand single volumes, but to public libraries only about fifty complete sets of a remarkable publication (now nearing the hundredth vol- ume) which will form a comprehensive musician's library in itself, costs less than two dollars a volume, and for merit belongs to that type and class of publication which ought to be not in fifty, but in a thousand public libraries. Precisely sudi serial publications, in a way encyclopedic publications, ought to form the basis of every public col- lection. It is the centre from which the concentric method of library development can best find its outward impetus; and no other method, provided it be not employed too rigidly or pedantically, will produce equally satisfactory 292 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES results. Without it the collections will soon become unbal- anced ; they will suffer from obesity here and from anemia there. Nor is this all. Such publications, planned as libraries within libraries, lend themselves to bibliograph- ical treatment for reference purposes more readily and more fruitfully than collections formed by picking out this or that work from catalogues. And paradoxical as it may sound, small libraries, with contents of such publications analytically catalogued, will often be in a better position to supply a sudden demand for specimens of work by an out-of-the-way composer than large libraries with an oper- ating force too small or administrative machinery unsuited for proper analysis of collective publications. Occasionally I have been asked to estimate the annual outlay necessary to form a good musical working library satisfactory to readers esthetically and historically as well as pedagogically inclined. The question is a rather dangerous one to answer, because such estimates are hardly ever better than guesses or expressions of personal judgment not necessarily in harmony with that of colleagues. Having thus invited criticism of my estimates, I would say that an annual appropriation of three hundred dollars for the purchase of good music and good books on music is the minimum expenditure from which to expect results of substantial benefit to even small musical communities. This estimate applies merely to reference libraries, not to circulating libraries with branch offices. Moreover, it takes into account only the acquisition of printed music and does not concern itself with a collection of talking-machine records or player-piano rolls, so useful and desirable for purposes of vulgarisation, as the French would say. The larger a community is, or the more it bubbles over with musical activities, the more inadequate such a small annual appropriation as the above naturally becomes. If we pass on to our musical centres, or would-be musical centres, even one thousand dollars will prove insufficient if music MUSIC IN OUR LIBRARIES 293 really is meant to find a place in the public library in keeping with the community'a interest in music In my humble opinion the public libraries in cities like those mentioned above would deserve no ordre pour le merite for exceptional services rendered, if their aimual appropriation for music and books on music reached or exceeded two thousand dollars. They would really be doing their duty only (and not more) toward music and its devotees by spending that sum every year. Even so, they would soon discover that the intelligent annual expen- diture of two thousand dollars will not nowadays cover the field of legitimate ambition and that their musical collection will retain at that rate the characteristics of a good "working library" on a fairly large scale, but will never develop into a really first-class library of interna- tional importance for antiquarian research or the study of modem music. These estimates will come as a shodc to hard-pressed librarians and library trustees. I tender my sympathy; yet I must adhere to my estimates, since they are based on our experiences at the Library of Congress. There we have spent each year since 1902 vastly more than two thou- sand dollars on music and books on music. In fact, in one year necessity or opportunity, as one might prefer to call it, compelled us to spend not very far from ten times that amount. Nor do the more than 80,000 "pieces" (so-called in bibliographical jargon) purchased since 1902 — and representing about one-tenth only of the entire collection • — ^tell the whole story. The other nine-tenths consist of the American musical copyright deposits that have accu- mulated since about 1820 and the European deposits since 1891. Blessed are they who do not come into contact with the bulk of this music; but of the about 25,000 publica- tions drawn from the Copyright Office at the Library of Congress into its Music Division every year, perhaps one- fifth is music which any library might care to purchase if it could afford it. If one considers that these 5000 294 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES publications include hundreds of scores of expensive chamber and orchestra music, and opera scores by com- posers of standing or promise, the estimate of a market value of five thousand dollars certainly must be conceded to be very conservative. With such a steady influx of material by way of copy- right deposits or purchase (not to mention valuable gifts of autograph compositions by American composers) the collections in the custody of the Music Division of the Library of Congress in their totality cannot help surpass- ing not only in quantity (mere numerical superiority would be of little moment) but in quality and scope all other American collections by far and, within certain limits, rivaling and even excelling the foremost collections abroad. But this is not the deduction from the above ex- cursion into statistics here intended. The plea is for a very much more enlightened, for a very much less philistine and stingy consideration of musical art in American libraries. Perhaps the financial burden suggested will be borne more cheerfully and more willingly if it be consid- ered that even the unprecedented financial support that music finds in the Library of Congress does not by any manner of means put us in possession of "all the music published in the world," as vocal Baedekers have it on sight-seeing automobiles. We do not harbor the ambition to suffer from such a horrible affliction. The few library experts who really know how much or how little music cast in certain forms of art is preserved in famous libraries, also know the difiSculty of assembling enough of the entire literature to form a collection of preeminent importance and usefulness. The Library of Congress may have reason to believe that it now houses collections of operatic music, orchestral music, chamber music, books on music old and new, and so forth, second to none for purposes of serious art-study ; that it can now place on exhibition an accumulation of musical rarities sufficient to force the blush of emotion in MUSIC IN OUR LIBBABIES 295 even the most blase of connoisseurs ; but no more than any other library can it claim completeness for special fields. While it may claim absolute superiority in some respects over all other institutions, on the other hand it must acknowledge an inferiority in other respects to certain institutions abroad that is pathetic; for instance, in the matter of autograph scores of great masters or of codices illustrating medieval music. Their cost and scarcity simply prohibit any attempt at rivalry. Hence it was the part of easy wisdom to curb ambition where ambition would have been ludicrous. Which is a convenient way of insisting that even the Library of Congress is too poor for rendering a national service musically on a scale befitting the Il^ational library of the United States. Advisedly I say "a national service," because many visitors still entertain the strange belief that the Library of Congress is a local institution for the exclusive benefit of Washington ! In that case its musical collections would have become by this time a grotesque anomaly. A PREFACE This preface was written in December, 1915, when I had practically completed the manuscript of a "Catalogue of Full Scores of Dramatic Music" at the Libraiy of Congress. Publi- cation of that work, which may easily run to a thousand pages, was delayed because I wished to enter and analyze certain important scores recently purchased abroad but not deliverable on account of the war. By the time I resigned as Chief of the Music Division of the Library of Congress — in August, 1917 — publication of such an extensive work by the Library of Con- gress had become an inopportune expenditure. With the return of normal conditions I hope that it may still be my privilege to see through the press (with the few necessary additions) a cata- logue which bids fair to be helpful not only to librarians, bibliographers and collectors, but also to the student of operatic history in a manner similar to my "Catalogue of Opera Librettos published before 1800." It so happened that the preface came to the notice of scholars interested in the subject, and they urged me to publish the preface in advance of the whole work because, in their opinion, it sheds light on certain bibliographical and historical problems, neglected or misunderstood even by many historical writers not really familiar with the world's available, or rather non-avail- able, operatic literature. Incidentally the contention was that it would do no harm and might do some good if the American student of operatic history were stimulated by way of a more attractive route than a government publication to make a pilgrimage to tibe Library of Congress and revel there in operatic treasures available nowhere else in such bewildering, though nicely ordered, profusion. Not being averse to doing a very unconventional thing occasionally, I accepted the suggestion, but not without first having obtained the permission of my friend and former chef, Herbert Putnam, Librarian of Congress. Op late years considerable research has been devoted to the forerunners of opera — "I'opera avant I'opera," to 296 A PREFACE 297 quote Homain Holland's mot. It may be doubted that further research can now add much to our knowledge of the musico-dramatic elements in the Sucre representaziord, Maggij Canti camascialeschi, dramatic madrigal cantatas, favole pastorali, and other typesi of spoken drama with incidental music, intermedi, allegorical and mythological pageants, pantomimes, ballets, and other forms of art, spectacular or not, running counter or parallel to or inter- secting the first tender roots of opera proper. But it may also be doubted that this historical movement has brought to light in recent years much that is essentially new. Its main importance would seem to consist in the final harvest and sifting of data for the rather old chapter on how, towards the end of the sixteenth century, the soil was pre- pared for the germination of opera, a vague term used then as now to label a very definite thing. To accept the doctrine of "I'opera avant I'opera" literally, leads to his- torical nonsense. It is one thing to reduce the novelty of the hellenistic experiments started in the musico-dramatic laboratory of Count Bardi's Florentine camerata (ca. 1580 to 1590) to a reasonable minimum; quite another to deny or, with historical sophistry, to underestimate the novelty, a mistake which at any rate Angelo Solerti, the greatest of scholars who have investigated the origin of opera, did not permit himself to make. Presumably Vincenzo Galilei, Emilio de' Cavalieri, Ottavio Rinuccini, Jacopo Corsi, Count Bardi, Jacopo Peri, Giulio Oaccini and their comrades in esthetic arms were just as conversant with the music of their time, including "I'opera avant I'opera," as we are. Presumably, also, they knew just as well as their somewhat later cham- pion, Giov. Batt. Doni, that "at all times it was customary to join to dramatic action some kind of cantilena, either in the form of intermedi between acts or merely within an act when something suitable occurred in the represented subject," but "one should know that such melodies are very different from those of our time composed in the generally 298 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES so-called recitatiye style . . , and that they have nothing in common with good and true music for the theatre." This is but one of the clear-cut critical opinions of the time which saw in Emilio de' Cavalieri's pastoral scenes "II Satiro" and "La disperazione di Fileno" (1590) and (more elaborate) "II Giuoco della cieca" (Florence, Octo- ber 29, 1595), then in Corsi's and Peri's "Dafne" (1595 or 1597), and finally in Cavalieri's "Rappresentazione di anima et di corpo" (Eome, February, 1600) and in Peri's and Caccini's settings of "L'Euridiee" (Florence, October 6, 1600) the dawn of a new art. The ideas of these com- posers soon found an echo in the mind and heart of great masters like Marco da Gagliano and Claudio Monteverdi, and before long quite a literature had grown up in eloquent testimony to the novelty of their "nuove musiche." Dis- count the excesses of partisan propaganda and the naive notion — not shared by Peri — that these pastoral dramas in music constituted at last a rediscovery of Greek drama, enough remains to compel acquiescence in the contempo- rary verdict that the novelty of opera was revolutionary, not merely "evolutional" or reminiscent of earlier attempts in the same direction and of the same kind. Indeed, the very fact that Ingegneri and other keen minds of the age, in Florence, Ferrara and elsewhere, busied themselves with the problem how music should be set to the words of a drama to form real musico-dramatio speech, would tend to support Doni's contention that the usual music in dramatic performances was considered as of a different type. And well it might, for it was different in character from that evolved by Emilio de' Cavalieri, Peri and Caccini after persistent experiments. It was lyrical and melodic or chanting rather than dramatic and parlandOj and remained so, to judge from the few extant specimens, notwithstanding the probability that many a composer instinctively or intentionally would seek to invent musical phrases in keeping with the dramatic sense of the words. In opera neither the musical setting of an A PREFACE 299 entire text nor monody itself constituted the real novelty (they had existed for centuries) but a far-reaching new technique of monody for purposes of dramatic recitative — as Angelo Grillo (1608) formulated it, "un cantar senza canto, un cantar recitative." The idea was, in supposed imitation of the Greeks, to so adjust musical values of pitch, intervals, rhythm, accent, emphasis, melodic phrase and design to the psychological and poetic values of the text of the drama that the result would be a musical speech, not less natural than that of the spoken word and not detrimental to the values of the text, but moulding its sub- tle or obvious meaning in clearer relief, framed by sugges- tive harmonization and appropriate instrumental accom- paniment. "Absolute" music played no part in this scheme of things ; the composer stood at the command of the drama- tist, and gladly sacrificed his freedom as a musician to render homage to the dramatist So completely did, for instance, Peri succeed in thus subordinating music to drama that the structural weak- nesses in Rinuccini's text are amusingly and distressingly mirrored in his music ; much of the monotony in his recita- tive is to be credited to the poet. On the other hand, so thoughtfully and skillfully does he put the structural resources of music at the disposal of Einuccini, that one is tempted to smile at those who perceive in these earliest recitatives but infantile awkwardness and primitive stammering. Primitive they are, as is all really new art, and if they often sound awkward in modem interpretation it is largely because we have only lately rediscovered some of the secrets of their proper performance. And if Peri's contemporaries be taken to task for insisting on the new- ness of this art of "un cantar recitativo" because this or that modem historian fails to hear characteristic diiferences be- tween this and other, also earlier, types of monody, the argument is not exactly sound. It suifers from the same anachronistic perspective as that which would deny to the polyphonists of the age a difference in atmosphere 300 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES between their sacred and secular music simply because many of us to-day hear none. The truth cf the matter is, that in all ages sacred and secular music sprout from a common ground ; to the ear of contemporaries character- istic differences between the two stand out much more clearly than to later generations, for the same reason that different objects will melt more and more into a common background the farther from them our point of view recedes. For music-lovers of three hundred years hence the differences in expression between our own secular and sacred music will have become just as elusive as are for us the differences in expression between a sacred and secular madrigal of Palestrina. The members of the Florentine camerata and their fol- lowers had ushered in a new type of art indeed with their experiments in musico-dramatic speech. That it was im- perfect detracts nothing from the novelty of the underlying principle. Nor that it required the general musical genius of a Monteverdi to perfect it into something vital, nor that recitative fairly soon became conventional and more or less sterile, nor that within fifty years strict recitative found itself woven into the fabric of opera together with free melody, with polyphony and all other resources of music, just as Emilio de' Cavalieri, the real father of opera, seems to have foreseen. At first glance such historical considerations would appear to overstep the boundaries of the legitimate prof es sional interest of a librarian. They do, if he is content to act as a guardian of books, a recorder of bibliographic details, a servant of readers ; they do not, if a larger view of the public's needs embraces the function, circumstances permitting, of developing the collections entrusted to his care organically, and not haphazard. A special collection requires a definite radius of action with a definite point of departure, and both are determined by specialized historical considerations. In the case of opera, then, the librarian will have to choose between opera A PREFACE 301 and "I'opera avant I'opera." In the Library of Congress, for the reasons stated above, the choice has been opera as dating from about the year 1600, This does not mean that "I'opera avant I'opera," so far as the music is extant and accessible to collectors, has escaped attention, but it does not form part of our collection of opera proper. When the problem becomes one of dramatic music, i. e., music for works acted on the scenic stage, in general, as represented by this catalogue, then of course the forerunners of opera must be comprised in the plan of organic development. But even then a limited radius of action, if only for pur- poses of a workable classification, is preferable to one unlimited. Thus "I'opera avant I'opera" would form (and forms) part of our collections as here represented only if its bearing on modern opera, ballet, opera-ballet, incidental nausic for plays, was felt to be direct instead of indirect, problematical or too remote. Thus moralities^ sacre representazioni, miracle plays, dramatic madrigal cantatas and the like are excluded from tliis Catalogue but, of course, the "Balet comique de la royne" (1581; publ. 1582) is included, as would be the intermedii of Alessandro Striggio and others, and as might be Germi's music for Poliziano's "Orfeo" (1471), if they were extant or acces- sible. This last condition leads to a consideration more prac- tical than theoretical or historical. What is the situation confronting the collector of opera ? Organic development of a special collection obviously does not mean to collect indiscriminately every available work, but for purposes of illustration be it assumed that an enthusiast with ample funds bad ventured on the enterprise of collecting as many operas as possible regardless of any intrinsic value, artistic, historical, bibliographical, or other. He would encounter obstacles not ordinarily suspected even by historians, critics, or librarians, and known in their full extent only to a few disillusioned collectors and bibliographers. More than thirty-five thousand operas of every descrip- 302 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES tion have been performed since about the year 1600. This estimate does not account for the thousands of ballets, etc., performed since then, nor for the thousands of operas that never reached the footlights of a theatre. All these works. — ^perhaps a total not far from fifty thousand — ^must once have existed in the composer's original manuscript score. Most of them have been swept into the debris of time ; perhaps not more than five thousand full orchestral scores of different operas, etc, have been preserved, inclu- sive of those not in the composer's own but in some copy- ist's manuscript score. (A sufficient warning, it would seem, for composers to bequeath their manuscript scores to libraries, if they care to see them reasonably protected against utter disappearance.) As might be expected, these manuscript scores are scat- tered through the libraries and opera archives of Europe in a very limited number of copies. Indeed, the majority of the works thus represented exist but in one, two or three copies. Furthermore, they are by no means evenly dis- tributed. Certain libraries, particularly those at Brussels, Naples, Parma, Modena, Berlin, Paris, London, Vienna, practically have a monopoly of the works of certain com- posers, and at the same time lack manuscript scores of certain other composers who are just as important. This decentralization of extant operatic literature naturally militates against the comprehensive study of operatic history in any one city, while it may facilitate the special- ist's study of a given composer. Thus the total of perhaps five thousand different manuscript scores becomes in gen- eral effect still more feeble than in fact it is. From the standpoint of the collector these library copies, of course, do not exist. Unless he gain permission to have tran- scripts made of them for his own or his institution's use, he is dependent on the relatively few manuscript scores that find their way to the market, where other bidders may successfully block his ambitions. How ungently time has dealt with manuscript opera A PREFACE 303 scores might be illustrated interestingly by a mimber of examples. Here it will suffice to offer one striking illus- tration with a reason. In his able essay on "Ensembles and Finales in 18th century Italian Operas" Edward J. Dent says : "Considering the popularity of comic operas in the first half of the 18th century, the number of works that have survived is small, but we must remember that they were regarded even then as trivial, and in most cases were of purely local interest. More- over, it was seldom that a more widespread celebrity was con- ferred upon them by any singer of European fame." Dr. Dent then proceeds "to make out a chronological list of such scores as are now available for study." His list of comic operas runs from 1718 to 1760 ; it tests the fifteen European libraries where such scores are pre- served; the census is startling in its negative results: only thirty operas hy ten, composers! If we turn to published operas, etc., we must distinguish between full orchestral scores and vocal scores with arranged pianoforte accompaniment* The latter are a relatively modem form of publication ; generally speaking, they date in any noticeable number from about 1750. Before that time scores, if printed or engraved at all, would be published either in full or in compressed orches- tral score, preferably the latter, since then as now a pub- lisher would prefer that form of publication which would ensure the widest circulation. As the orchestra employed by composers increased in volume, the possibilities of com- promise between a full and a compressed or skeleton orchestral score became fewer and fewer. The latter, for reasons of popularization, rapidly were superseded by scores in which the complicated orchestral accompaniment was frankly arranged for pianoforte only. The number of operas thus published in vocal score with pianoforte accompaniment increased enormously; whereas, not only because of the by far greater coat of publication, but because very few persons can possibly be expected to read 304 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES a complicated modern orchestral score, the niunber of published full scores correspondingly decreased. Of course, stage success or at least expectation thereof remains to this day, as a rule, the premise of publication of even vocal scores, but in this arranged form presumably about ten thousand operas, etc., are available, the great majority published since the end of the eighteenth century. (This estimate is based on the fact that the Library of Congress possesses at least seven thousand vocal scores.) With reference to operas, etc., published in full orches- tral score the situation is entirely diiferent. Probably not more than twelve hundred works, if that many, have been published in the composer's original full orchestral score, or, as was the rule in earlier times, in compressed orchestral score! At that, this meagre total is reached only after inclusion of the scores of older masters pub- lished within recent years in historical editions! It is exceeded by a few hundred, if, as in this catalogue, the "Favourite Songs" in full or compressed score with which principally Walsh and Bremner of London flooded the market in the eighteenth century are taken into consid- eration. The above estimate will sound incredible to those who are not really familiar with the subject. Here, then, is corroborative evidence. The following list represents all the Italian operas, etc., published in full or compressed score in Italy and elsewhere from 1600 to about 1815. The list may show a few gaps, but it surely is not far from complete. (The works with asterisk are in the Library of Congress in the original editions, those with double asterisk we have either in transcript or in modem editions.) A PREFACE 305 OPERAS, ETC., IN ITALIAN PUBLISHED IN FULL OR COMPRESSED SCORE FROM 1600 TO CA. 1815 (Orazio Vecchi's "L'Amfipamaso," 1597, and similar dramatic madrigal cantatas by Banchieri, Torelli, etc., not here entered. 8ee Vecchi's "L'Amfipamaso" in the Cata- logue.) **C. Malvezzi, L. Marenzio, E. de' Cavalieri, etc. : Intermedi et concerti fatti per la commedia rappresentata in Firenze. . . . [La pazzia, 1589.] Venetia, Vincenti, 1591 (Part-books) **E. de' Cavalieri: "Eappresentazione di anima et di corpo," Roma, Mutii, 1600 (L. of C. has also the 1912 facsimile) **G. Caccini: "L'Euridice," Firenze, Marescotti, 1600 (1601) ** , Venetia, Vincenti, 1615 **J. Peri : "L'Euridice." Fiorenza, Marescotti, 1600 (1601) ** , Venetia, Raverii, 1608 *G. Caccini: "II rapimento di Cefalo." (Allegorical ballet.) Only fragments were printed on pp. 19-24 of his "Nuove musiche," Firenze, Marescotti, 1601 (1602) **A. Agazzari: "Eumelio," Venetia, Amadino, 1606 **C. Monteverdi : "L'Orfeo," Venetia, Amadino, 1609 ** , Venetia, Amadino, 1615 *Marco da Gagliano : "La Dafne," Firenze, Marescotti G. Giacobbi: "Dramatodia overo Canti rappresentativi sopra 'L' Aurora ingannata,'" Venetia, Vincenti, 1608 (Intermedi) D. Belli: "Orfeo dolente," Venetia, Amadino, 1616 (In- termedi; in parts, not in score) G. B. Boschetti: "Strali d'amore," Venetia, Vincenti, 1618 (Intermedi) **S. Landi: "La morte d'Orfeo," Venetia, Magni, 1619 *F. Vitali : "L'Aretusa," Eoma, Soldi, 1620 ** "Intermedi per la commedia de gl'Accademici Inco- stanti" ["La finta Mora"], Firenze, Cecconcelli, 1622 **r. Caccini: "La liberazione di Euggero dall'isola d'Alcina," Firenze, Cecconcelli, 1625 *D. Mazzocchi: "La Catena d'Adone," Venetia, Vincenti [1626] Marco da Gagliano : "La Flora," Firenze, Pignoni, 1628 **G. Comachioli d'Ascoli: "Diana schnernita," Eoma, Eo- bletti, 1629 306 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES *S. Landi: "II S. Alessio," Eoma, Masotti, 1634 (one issue ■with plates, the other without) *M. Eossi : "Erminia sul Giordano," Eoma, Masotti, 1637 **0. Monteverdi : "II ballo delle ingrate." (In his "Madrigali guerrieri, et amorosi," 1638) ** "II combattimento di Tancisdi e Clorinda." (In his "Madrigali guerrieri, et amorosi," 1638) **L. Yittori da Spoleti : "La Galatea," Eoma, Bianchi, 1639 *M. Marazzoli : "La vita humana, overo II trionfo della pieta," Eoma, Mascardi, 1658 G. A. Bontempi : "Paride," Dresda, Berger, 1662 *Doletti: "Les ariettes du Joueur," Paris, M« Boivm, [etc], [1Y52 ?] (Same as "II Giocatore" by Orlandini or Vinci) *G. B. Pergolesi: "La serva padrona," Paris, Aux addresses ordinaires [1Y52 or 1753] * , Londra, Bremner, 1777 "Le maitre de musique" (= II maestro di musica), Paris, Boivin [1753] "Tracollo," Paris, Aux addresses ordinaires [1753] *Einaldo di Capua: "La Bohemienne," Paris, Aux addresses ordinaires [1753] (Same as his "La Zingara") Maria Antonia Walpurgis, of Saxony: "II trionfo deU:. fedelta," Lipsia, Breitkopf, 1756 * "Talestri, regina delle Amazzoni," Lipsia, -Breitkopf, 1765 *G. Sarti : "Giro riconosciuto," Copenhagen, n.publ. [1756] *C. "W. V. Gluck : "Orfeo ed Euridice," Parigi, Duchesne, 1764 * "Alceste," Vienna, Trattnern, 1769 * 'Taride ed Elena," Vienna, Trattnern, 1770 *G. F. Handel: "Acis and Galatea," masque, London, W. Eandall [1770?] A. Tozzi: "H Einaldo," Venezia, n.publ. [1775] *F. G. Bertoni: "Orfeo," Venezia, Alessandri e Scattaglia [1776] *G. Sarti: "Giulio Sabino," Vienna, n.publ. [1781] G. Millico : "La pieta d'amore," Napoli, Porcelli, 1782 N. Jommelli: "L'Olimpiade," Stuttgard, L'imprimerie de I'Academie Caroline, 1783 *A. Salieri: "La grotta di Trofonio," Vienna, Artaria [1785] *J. F. Eeichardt: "Brenno," Berlin, L'Autore [1789] *G. P. Handel: "Agrippina" and "Teseo" [Dr. Arnold's his- torical ed., London, 1789-1797] *J. Haydn. "Orfeo e Euridice." Lipsia, Breitkopf e Hartel [ca. 1806] (Contains only eleven numbers) A PREFACE 307 *W. A. Mozart: "II dissoluto punito ossia II Don Giovanni," Lipsia, Breitkopf & Hartel [1801] *D. Cimarosa: "L'Impresario in angustie," Paris, Sieber [1802] (Secco recitatives replaced by Prencb spoken dialogue; Italian text added to the French in the arias) *G. Paisiello : "La pazza per amore," Paris, Pleyel [1802] *'W. A. Mozart: "Idomeneo, re di Greta," Bonn, N. Simrock Ipa. 1805] *Y. Fioravanti: "I virtuosi ambulanti," Parigi, M™« Duhan & Cie. [180Y] *W. A. Mozart: "La clemenza di Tito," Leipzig, Breitkopf & Hartel [1809] * "Cosi fan tutte," Leipzig, Breitkopf & Hartel [1810] * "II flauto magico," Bonn, N. Simrock ^ca. 1810] * "Le nozze di Figaro," Bonn, N. Simrock [181-?] *D. Cimarosa: "II matrimonio segreto," Paris, Imbault [1813?] * "Gli Orazi e i Curiazi," Paris, Imbault [1813] *G. Weigl: "II ritomo d'Astrea," Milano, Ricordi, 1816 (Publ. by Gaetano Melzi) Barely sixty operas published among the thousands performed ; and not a single opera by Cavalli, Cesti, Luigi Rossi, Legrenzi, Scarlatti, Caldara, Conti, Leo, Bononcini, Hasse, Piccinni, and other masters of early Italian opera ! Handel is represented only in a post-mortem edition. To be sure, his operas were published during his lifetime, but practically with omission of all recitative,^ in which he so often excelled as a dramatic composer. As to Hasse, he had prepared his scores for publication, but the bombard- ment of Dresden in 1760 and the consequent destruction of the manuscripts put an end to his plans. Possibly the enterprise would have miscarried anyhow, as did Jom- melli's plan of publishing his Stuttgart operas by subscrip- tion, since only his "L'Olimpiade" (1783) was able to reach the public. The list also reveals the fact that Italian publishers showed unqualified reluctance to engage in the publication of Italian opera scores from about the time that opera ' The Library of CongresB possesses practically u complete file ol such editions. 308 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES ventured forth from the courts and appealed to the public in general. This reluctance lasted until the end of the nineteenth century! Indeed, it persists to-day. Though the firms that now hold the destiny of Italian opera in the hollow of their hands not infrequently print full scores of the operas under their control, they do not publish them, i. e., they will loan or perhaps sell them to the thea- tre performing the work, but they dislike to sell them to private or public libraries. In effect, the scores remain just as scarce or unavailable as in the days when the vast majority of Italian operas, including even those by com- posers like Bellini, Donizetti, Eossini, Verdi, existed in manuscript copies only, made either by some in- dividual copyist (by authority or surreptitiously) or in the copisteria of an opera-producing firm of publish- ers. The question of exercise of control and of self-protection against piracy helps in part to explain the paucity of Italian opera scores printed or published in Italy during the last two hundred and fifty years. But there are other reasons for this paucity, which is the more noticeable because of the few scores by Peri, Oaccini, Paisiello, Rossini, published after 1860 by Guidi of Florence, the pioneer publisher of orchestral scores in pocket editions. Before the advent of the Eicordis, Italy could not boast much progressiveness, organization and enterprise in the music-publishing business. Then again the very fertility of Italian composers, some with a hundred or more operas to their credit, militated against publication of their works. To this must be added the instability of the works themselves, the pasticcio tendency inflicting alterations on them in their course from one theatre to the other — obvi- ously not an element of attractiveness for publishers. But, whatever the reasons and explanations may be, the fact stands out that it is an impossibility to study the development of Italian opera since 1650 by way of pub- lished full scores ; and of those actually available, most left A PRErACE 309 German and French presses, not Italian, before the recent (by no means comprehensive) enterprise of the house of Kicordi to do justice to the towering genius of Giuseppe Verdi in their memorial edition of his operas. No more striking contrast can be imagined than between this state of affairs and that prevailing in France. True, French publishers, in common with their Italian and with certain German colleagues, print but rarely sell their scores to the public. True also, that nearly a century elapsed before the publication of the "Balet Comique de la royne" in 1582 was followed by the publication of an- other musico-dramatic score; but, on the one hand, the anti-public "en location" system mentioned is a com- paratively recent French practice, and on the other, when Christophe Ballard did in 1671 begin the pub- lication of full scores of operas, he set an example unhesitatingly followed ever since by French music pub- lishers. Thus it is entirely feasible to-day to study the devel- opment of French dramatic music comprehensively and with but few serious gaps. This statement requires modi- fication only with reference to the (as a rule hopelessly mediocre) ballets proper in the repertoire of the Paris Opera, numbering, imtil the publication of Lajaxte's fine catalogue of the "Bibliotheque musicale du Theatre de I'Opera" in 1876, about one hundred and ten. Most of these remained in manuscript, but also — principally preserved in the elder Philidor's collection of transcripts — ^the characteristically French "Ballets de cour" of Louis XIV, including even those by LuUy. That is regret- table, for in the opinion of competent judges LuUy's genius as displayed in his court ballets — ^how they evoke the memory of Moliere ! — fully matches that in his many operas, all of which were published by Ballard. If we except one or two modern full scores of his ballets, the statement in the "fitat des opera en musique par Mon- 310 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES sieur de LuUy" in the "Fragments de Monsieur Lully" (Paris, Ballard, 1702) that none of his twenty-three bal- lets had been published, is still true to-day. Yet there must have been a demand for them, since "Foucault, Marchand" advertised in Lacoste's "Aricie," 1697, "les anciens ballets de M. de Lully en six volumes in folio ecrits a la main." A further modification of the above statement is perhaps also applicable to the period just prior to Gluck, when the fortunes of the "Academie royale de musique" were at a rather low ebb, and to the first years of the French Kevolution (which is easily under- stood) ; but on the whole French opera and particularly opera comique in full score has fared wonderfully well at the hands of French music publishers. With the exception of Russia, Germany and England, other countries are a negligible quantity in this connection, though even America has a few printed scores to its credit, as this catalogue shows. In Russia the enlightened and patriotic liberality of publishers has placed freely at the public's disposal a considerable number of Russian operas, from Glinka to Rimsky-Korsakow. Germany stands somewhere between Italy and France in the matter under discussion. The first periods of Ger- man opera, i. e., including Hiller's "Singspiele" and Benda's melodramas, are barren of published full scores, for even the great Reinhard Keiser had to content himself with a few selections of arias. Vocal scores became fairly numerous in print, but the honor of being the first full- fledged orchestral score of a German grand opera would seem to belong to Holzbauer's "Giinther von Schwarz- burg," performed 1777 but not published until ca. 1783. For almost a century German music publishers then con- tented themselves with the issue of vocal scores, and their efforts to publish full scores of successful German operas remained rather sporadic, if we except Mozart, Weber, Beethoven and Wagner. For instance, Marschner, Spohr and Lortzing had to wait until the firm of Peters in Leip- A PREFACE 311 zig honored their memory by the publication of a few representative scores. Since then the spell has been broken and the younger generations of German opera com- posers have often had the satisfaction of seeing their op- eras in print and, until very recently, available to the purchasing public, even though their stage life has fre- quently been short. In the musical life of Great Britain English opera has been the Cinderella for a good many years. It is there- fore not surprising that full scores of English operas have received but scant courtesy at the hands of publishers. The case of Arthur Sullivan is one in point. Had he labored in France, the scores of all his delightful operas would be available in print, instead of as now two or three, including "Amor an Bord," a German version of "H.M.S. Pinafore." Sometimes one cannot help think- ing that English opera might have fared better, had Handel and Mendelssohn exercised a less compelling in- fluence on the musical life of England. However, with the passing of Matthew Locke and Henry Purcell the for- tunes of grand opera in English by Englishmen fell, and therewith disappeared automatically the incentive to pub- lish full scores of operas, mere selections of arias in more or less compressed scores or vocal scores finding favor with the publishers. The very thing that is characteris- tic of opera, the recitative,, is held to have been abhorred in England on the stage; and it is very instructive to find that, contrary to current belief, the recitatives were not printed in the full score of Dr. Ame's otherwise suc- cessful "Artaxerxes" (1762). In other words, the one element that made his attempt to transplant Metastasio to the English stage so bold — English recitative instead of spoken dialogue — ^was suppressed in the published score of "Artaxerxes." But general deductions from this rather startling fact should be avoided, for Ame's two-act pastoral opera "Thomas and Sally" called throughout for recitatives in- 312 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES stead of spoken dialogue (as in opera comique), and the compressed full score was published in 1761 with all the recitatives. In fact, the same observation applies to William Boyce's two-act pastoral operas "The Chaplet," published in 1749 or 1750, and "The Shepherd's Lottery," published in 1751. Decidedly more frequent than the publication of full scores of English operas was the publi- cation of English masques during the first half of the eigh- teenth century. Does not this fact perhaps have its value as a hint in the right direction, whenever the stale prob- lem whether or not dramatic music to English words is foreign to British instinct, taste and genius, arises for discussion ? This survey of actual conditions, of difficulties in the path of the collector of operas, will facilitate a fair and intelligent judgment on the unrivaled resources of the Library of Congress in this particular field. The his- torian may point to the absence of this or that published and historically important score, as for instance Nessler's musically unimportant "Trompeter von Sakkingen," and the bibliophile may miss a copy of some coveted edition, as for instance one of the fifteen autolithographic copies is- sued of the first edition of Wagner's "Fliegender Hol- lander," but both will remember that our collection is com- paratively very young. While the Library of Congress has been favored in a good many instances by unusual luck, some scores which are to be found in other, older music collections have stubbornly refused to turn up in the market during the last fifteen years. Other and normally rarer scores would be offered at a reasonable price, but our competitor's distance from them would be shorter and his purse longer than ours. Then again certain very rare scores, like Peri's "Euridice," could have been ac- quired, but at a price so prohibitive that we preferred to content ourselves with a transcript; or scores by im- portant composers were held by the family and were not accessible. Also certain publishers persisted in their tra- A PREFACE 313 ditional policy of refusal to sell their scores, even if printed, or they attached conditions of sale so irritatingly beyond the customary obligations of a publisher's "Kevers" that dignity forbade further negotiations. Moreover, cer- tain scores have become indeed introuvahles, though for many years collectors and second-hand dealers have en- deavored to ferret them out. It would be expecting too much of the Library of Congress to succeed where they failed. Finally, a grim consolation attaches to the fact that of certain published opera scores only one copy is knovsm to exist. For example, the score of Landi's "La morte d'Orfeo" at the British Museum would appear to be unique: as long as no second copy finds its way into another library, the Library of Congress as a collector derives a certain (negative) satisfaction from the exist- ence of such scores, without being troubled by memories of the fable of the sour grapes. After all is said, the Library of Congress aims less at an unbroken series of operatic rarities than at a repre- sentation of available scores comprehensive enough to lay bare the development of dramatic music at all periods and in all countries. Though "special" in fact, our collection of full opera scores is "general" in principle. Viewed from this angle, the statement that only about ten per cent, of the published scores of operas, etc., are not represented in our collection takes on its proper sig- nificance. Perhaps the estimate is not absolutely accu- rate, but it cannot be far from correct, since it is based on a final list of desiderata, of scores not in our collections but known to exist. Indeed, the author of this catalogue himself did not quite realize the strength given by him to the collection by organic development until he had com- piled said list. Then it was found, for instance, that the Library of Congress possesses all of LuUy's published operas except his "Pourceaugnac," 1715. lifot less of a surprise was the discovery that of Ballard's list of sixty-five "Operas modemes" advertised by him as pub- 314 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES lished from Lully's death to 1721, we possess all but five. Studying Lajarte's catalogue of 1876 it was further found incidentally that of the works in the repertoire of the "Academie nationale de musique" (the Paris Opera) un- til then, the Library of Congress had accumulated ninety published scores more than were (in printed copies) then in the archives of that world-renowned institution, thus putting before the American student of French grand opera, until 1876 more than two hundred seventy of the about three hundred published full scores in a repertoire of about four hundred and eighty-four operas. And since attention was drawn above to Mr. Dent's census of only thirty preserved scores of Italian comic opera from 1718 to 1760, it may not be improper to remark here that the Library of Congress possesses, by way of transcript, twenty of these thirty scores; the Koyal Conservatory at ITaples comes next with ten, the British Museum with five, and other famous libraries with less than five out of the thirty. This last remark leads conveniently to a brief consid- eration of our manuscript scores. Though the market be favorable, it is obviously impossible to overcome the natural obstacles in the way of collecting manuscript scores by direct purchase. The Library of Congress would al- ways remain under a heavy handicap as against certain older national or governmental libraries in Europe which have received by transfer or contain eo ipso the manuscript scores of operas performed in that particular city at that particular court through the centuries, and have been fur- ther enriched by purchase and generous bequests by the crown or public-spirited citizens. Such collections may but seldom be well balanced from the standpoint of a librarian; from his point of view quite naturally they will show an array of too many scores by one composer and of too few by another, equally important; but each and all of such collections, formed more by accident than by design, will contain many a score that is indispensable A PREFACE 315 in any collection formed in the interest of the student of operatic history. As a rule, such manuscript scores are utterly out of reach, so far as the second-hand market is concerned; hence their acquisition must be accomplished differently. The only feasible methods are to acquire the scores in transcript or in photographic facsimile. Ac- cordingly, the details of a project were worked out for the acquisition of a large number of important operas by these methods. The project in its final form enjoyed the benefit of Geheimrat Prof. Dr. Hermann Kretzschmar's authoritative suggestions, and the majority of European librarians who were approached in the matter put their treasures at the service of the Library of Congress in a scholarly spirit. It soon developed that photographic fac- similes would practically have to be excluded from the project; inexpensive as some of the photographic proc- esses now are, the administrative machinery to avail our- selves of these processes simultaneously in half a dozen countries on a large scale proved to be inadequate. Of course, a photographic facsimile of an old score has on the whole decidedly more advantages than disadvantages for the purpose of historical study. The chief advantage is accuracy of reproduction, and no set of rules prescribed to a corps of transcribers for guidance nor any amount of carefulness on the part of the expert transcriber will remove the certainty of errors in copies made by hand and .pen. As our transcribers are musicians, the errors in the music itself may safely be said to be comparatively few (in excess of those made in the score by the original transcriber of the composer's autograph score with its own errors), but some of the errors made by the transcribers in their frantic efforts to wrestle with the often barely legible foreign text are ludicrous in the extreme. It goes without saying that our transcripts, made by the hundreds, do not lay claim to that scientific accuracy which one expects of a special transcript by a musicologist for publication in the "Denkmaler." All we claim is, that 316 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES our transcript project has made about five hundred se- lected rare old operas available in America, and that our transcripts are sufficiently accurate for study by scholars with an eye trained to detect obvious errors. As is easily understood from the survey of conditions, the majority of operas selected for transcript are Italian operas. Now, many of these are known to exist only in Italian libraries — and the reluctance of Italian librarians to grant permission for the copying of such scores has been proverbial. In fact, the reluctance goes so far as often to amount to an unqualified refusal, an attitude, it is but just to remark, not shared by librarians recently ap- pointed. Here, then, was a seemingly unsurmountable obstacle to the complete realization of the transcript pro- ject. However, when the author had the honor to represent the United States Government at the International Musi- cal Congress at Eome in 1911, his mission comprised instructions to interest our Ambassador in obtaining per- mission to transcribe scores preserved in libraries under the direct control of- the Italian government. Mr. Leish- mann took the matter up and succeeded in obtaining this permission, but unfortunately too late for action by the author while in Italy. Then difficulties of a different kind arose, and to our regret the transcript project, so far as Italian libraries are concerned, is still practically in the preparatory stage. Fortunately hundreds of historically important Italian operas of olden times could be and were transcribed for the Library of Congress in London, Vienna, Berlin, Paris, Brussels, Dresden and elsewhere. All told, our collection represents not far from three thousand musico-dramatic works in "full" scores, printed or manuscript, and inclusive, of course, of operas, etc., contained in such historical publications as the several "Denkmaler" or the editions of the complete works of Mozart, Gretry, Kameau, Purcell, etc., or similar under- takings acquired by the Library of Congress by subscrip- tion and as a matter of general policy. In 1902, when the A PREFACE 317 Music Division was reorganized by me, the collection con- sisted of only about sixty full scores deposited for copy- right. When at that time the author's plans for a sys- tematic development of the resources of the Music Division were carried into effect, opera received a considerable share of attention in preference to other special collections since developed or yet to be developed at the proper time ; first, for reasons of administrative sxpediency; second, because the peculiar condition of opera in the United States seemed to demand that a centre of reference and research be created for the students of opera and its history. Comparatively few seventeenth and early eighteenth century published scores conform to a literal interpreta- tion of the term "full orchestral score." Not unlike the scores of secco recitatives printed with their mere figured basses for accompaniment by the harpsichord and some other supporting bass instrument, they often present a mere outline of orchestral forces employed (with their plucked instruments so different in basic color effect from the modem orchestra), or they compress the orchestral accompaniment into a small compass, or they so adjust to it the technique of the harpsichord, the harmonic back- bone of the orchestra, that one might almost speak of vocal scores with accompaniment of harpsichord and obbligato instruments. Still, the differences between the various types of compressed orchestral score and their logical offspring, the vocal score with orchestral accompaniment arranged solely for the pianoforte, are generally charac- teristic enough to show the dividing line. It has there- fore become customary among librarians to so stretch the term "full orchestral score" as to permit the inclusion of compressed scores. Nevertheless, occasionally the line has to be drawn somewhere against skeleton scores, and it will hardly cause criticism, if such publications as G. E. P. Arkwright's "Old English edition" of Campion's "Masque for Lord Hayes' marriage" (1607), or John Stafford Smith's reprint in "Musica Antiqua" of G, Mason 318 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES and J. Earsden's music for the Brougham Castle masque of 1617, will not be found here. This catalogue also stretches definitions in another di- rection: not only entire full scores are represented, hut published excerpts in full score, like the large "Favourite Songs" output of London publishers, and unpublished excerpts in full score like those in our important Martorell Collection of favorite old arias. Exclusion of such ex- cerpts vFould have barred reference to many an old opera score not preserved in any but this incomplete form. Quotations in full score (for purposes of illustration) contained in biographies and histories should not be looked for in this catalogue, unless they be excerpts in full score and complete in themselves. The fact that most of such printed full score excerpts from the old operas will be found here, offers no guarantee that all will be found. Their entry was a matter of expediency, not of principle, and was prompted largely by a desire to guide students to historical specimens available to them perhaps only in books that should be in every well conducted library. A systematic and exhaustive effort to gather references to such historical material may properly be reserved as part of a much needed work in imitation of Eitner's now antiquated but still very useful "Verzeichniss neuer Aus- gaben alter Musikwerke aus der friihesten Zeit bis zum Jahre 1800." In passing, principally Gevaert's "Les Gloires de I'ltalie" may be recommended as a splendid but neglected collection of excerpts from eighteenth cen- tury operas with pianoforte accompaniment. The principle of admitting "Favourite Songs" and the like is not new with the present catalogue. It found its expression in our "Catalogue of Full Scores of Dramatic Music" published in 1908, as did certain other practices of the Music Division, now fairly well known to the pro- fessional world. But while both catalogues have essential features in common, principally as to the method of en- try, the catalogue of 1908 was merely a tentative fore- A PREFACE 319 runner of this, and is totally superseded by it. Whoever goes to the trouble of comparing the two will find so many new features, and the old so developed, that it would really be absurd to call the present catalogue a "revised and enlarged edition" of that of 1908. In fact^ it is in most respects a new book, and where it differs from the old its preparation was governed largely by the principles prevailing in my "Catalogue of Opera Librettos," in conjunction with which it should be used for operas before 1800. To dwell on these principles here at length, is therefore superfluous. Suffice it to remark that analytical work has been restricted in the main to operas of the pasticcio age. This analytical work has been carried far in the entries of the "Favourite Songs" literature, as in operas represented by that type of publication the pasticcio craze was most virulent. And a craze it was, brought about by peculiar operatic condi- tions in London, since Burney lists certainly not less than one hundred and fifty Italian works which plainly were compiled and performed in London from the beginning of the eighteenth century up to about 1775 along pasticcio lines. Perhaps it was unnecessary to de- vote such an amount of labor for the purposes of a cata- logue to tracing the ingredients of such ephemeral pasticcios; but inasmuch as the Library of Congress pos- sesses the great majority of such publications, and since such musico-chemical analysis, as one might call it, has its fascinations and would have had to be done some day, the author succumbed to the temptation of doing it at this time. Analysis practically stopped with the more mod- em operas, because it would have led to research quite out of proportion to obtainable results. Furthermore, so far as pasticcio elements are concerned, there is this vital difference between operas performed before and after about 1780. In the latter a composer simply continues the old practice of occasionally utilizing material from pre- vious works of his own ; whereas in the former, if in the 320 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES nature of replicas, heterogeneous elements from different operas not only by one composer but by several composers were mixed without warning in one opera that continued to travel under the name of the composer of the original production. To us this practice may seem very strange, but it really is far from mysterious if one keeps in mind that the "star" shone more brilliantly than the composer in the public's eye and that the interpolated arias were often familiar favorites of the public. Needless to say, such "anonymous" pasticcios differ greatly from those raised to a distinct, though esthetically objectionable, type of art by openly assigning the several acts to different com- posers, as in the case of "Muzio Scevola," or individual scenes to a host of cooperative composers, as in the case of certain French operas of the Mehul, Boieldieu, Catel and Cherubini era. If, then, a library possesses a manuscript score of an old opera vpithout clear proof (as for instance in the case of transcripts from authentic autograph scores) that it represents the original version of the work, a reasonable effort to establish, by textual comparison, the character of the score as either original or an altered version be- comes almost a duty. It is precisely in such special tech- nical work that the librarian acts as a scout for the his- torian. It will be noticed that dates of publication have been added comparatively seldom to the imprint when the dates of publication or IT. S. copyright do not appear in the score, and this is true of most scores printed since about 1750. This absence of dates of publication from music has been a source of complaint from Bumey to Kretzsch- mar, and also a source of confusion from which only the music publishers can possibly have profited. Amongst librarians, dealers, etc., the custom grew up to take the date of performance, so often mentioned at any rate in French scores, as the date of publication without further scruple. In the majority of cases the custom did not A PREFACE 321 and does not lead to serious errors of judgment, but in a noticeable minority it is open to censure. In many instances the date of performance simply cannot have been the date of publication. A closer scrutiny of the publisher's plate-numbers, a comparison of them with the actual imprint on the title-pages, the observation that "A. P. D. E." would hardly appear on works published during the French Kevolution, somewhere in the volume the composer's lists of works inclusive of such performed after the date of performance mentioned in the title, the advertisement by the publisher of works not then as yet issued, these and many other criteria and tricks of biblio- graphic technique would and should have established the impossibility of the assumed date of publication. In other words, the custom mentioned is fairly dangerous. For this reason it has not been followed in the present cata- logue. Here the rule has been to let the date of publica- tion be inferred from the date of performance, whether mentioned in the volume itself or added in a note, without actually identifying the two. The date has been added (within brackets, of course) to the imprint only when available clews, criteria, and standard books of biblio- graphic reference, pointed to it with reasonable safety. Also, for British publications, the dates in the British Museum Catalogue were frequently accepted on the strength of Mr. William Barclay Squire's authority. No consistent effort has been made to state the process by which the score was printed, whether from engraved copper plates, from pewter plates, from the stone, from movable type or by sundry new electrotype and other processes. Except for certain few cases in which they are necessary, such distinctions contribute little to the identification of scores. Similarly, titles and emoluments of composers given on the title-page or the names of the persons to whom the score was dedicated were copied only if that appeared advisable for reasons of bibliographic distinction. 322 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES As in the Libretto catalogue, prefaces and other intro- ductory matter in the old scores have been quoted more or less fully, but now and then considerations of space interfered with this practice. In such cases a reference to such easily accessible compilations of "sources" as So- lerti's "Le origini del melodramma" has been substituted. In fact, since the historian may prefer to turn to these books, the usefulness of such quotations in a catalogue may be disputed by some. Other users of the catalogue may feel inclined to think differently of the matter, es- pecially if they prefer consultation of one book to con- sultation of two books; and for the benefit of these the practice of quotation was intended. Besides, the quo- tations will be as oases in a desert; the searcher after bibliographical and historical data is not always averse to finding a few "readable" pages in a catalogue, and those are extremely few who can appreciate a lucid catalogue entry as something more than a dry statement of facts, as something to which real brainwork often must be applied tenaciously. 'No such apology, if apology it be, is required for the many purely bibliographical investigations and "articles" scattered through this work. They are not presumed to be final, for with every day's accumulation of experience the lesson has been brought home the more forcefully to the author that infallibility may be possible in other branches of learning, but certainly not in bibliography, where the pit- falls are many and the few avenues of escape so frequently blocked by unsuspected obstacles. Hence, every bit of information added to the common stock or brought to- gether for handy reference cannot fail to be greeted with satisfaction by all whose profession, trade or hobby is likely to bring them into contact with a catalogue descrip- tive of a collection of operas such as ours. The author's regret is that considerations of space, time and cost did not permit him to go more deeply into these incidental bibliographic features of the catalogue than to reduce the A PREFACE 323 necessity of further research by other bibliographers and historians to a minimum. Moreover, it became a physical impossibility to incorporate evenly all improvements of the original plan that suggested themselves during the years of collecting and cataloguing since 1908. THE HISTORY OF MUSIC IN AMERICA A Few Suggestions ("Proceedings of the Music Teachers' National Associa- tion," 1916) The title of this address is ambiguous, yet it was not chosen hastily. It may mean the history of music in America, but it also may have the narrower meaning of the history of music in America. I propose to steer my course between the two. More or less in circles that may cause wonder at the pilot. Nevertheless, the main drift of his thoughts will, I trust, be discernible from beginning to end, and will leave the impression, as it were, of a rondo with two interdependent themes. Within the last eight years* at least three general his- tories of music in America have been published. A com- parative study would readily disclose a family resemblance between the three as to contents, method of procedure and balance of interest. The authors themselves would hardly claim their books to be works of research in the stricter sense. All three are compilations — no opprobrium at- taching to this term — somewhat in the sense that Nau- mann's "History of Music" was a compilation. All three have their merits and demerits. All three are useful general surveys of general conditions and all three are weakest perhaps in their bibliographic data. I shall not criticize the fact that the lists of biblio- graphic references include titles with next to no bearing on the subject, but I must criticize the absence of books, 324 THE HISTORY OF MUSIC IN AMERICA 325 monographs, articles that do bear fruitfully thereon. Perhaps this absence was merely an oversight, but it is possible that the authors failed to acquaint themselves with their existence. From a more or less careful perusal of the contents of the three books, I am rather inclined to take the less charitable view of the matter. Let us suppose that a reader has derived all possible positive benefit from the study of these books, and that his historical curiosity has been aroused to the extent of desir- ing to go a little deeper into special phases of musical development in America. For instance, of church music. He turns to one of us librarians and we consult the index together. Our first shock comes when we notice the ab- sence of a reference to Waldo S. Pratt's carefully studious series of articles in the "Christian Union" (Nov. and Dec., 1888) on "Church music as it is." The omission of such a historical tool sets us thinking. Its author's name suggests by way of mental association the Proceedings of the M. T. N. A. Of the three books only one, and that incorrectly, refers at all to this remarkable set of vol- umes. Once we discover that omission, we are not aston- ished to find that one of the books does not even mention the M. T. N. A. in its historical survey of musical edu- cation in America, and the two others in a very superficial way only. That the set of Proceedings, at least as far as they contain articles on the present or past status of music in America — and they certainly do — ^were not con- sulted by the authors, now almost goes without saying. Otherwise, it could not have happened, for instance, that all three books, when dealing with the library situation (only two of them condescending to do so at all), consis- tently ignore the existence of the music collections of the Library of Congress, unquestionably by far the most im- portant musical library in the country. As to the articles on music in America in the publications of the Interna- tional Musical Society, they, too, have escaped the attention of our authors. A goodly number of other omissions 326 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES could be mentioned under challenge, but the above will serve as a warning not to issue that challenge.^ Whatever the explanation of such historical negligence, any critic would be justified in repeating (with cert,ain modifications) to-day what I wrote in the first volume of the Proceedings and Papers of the Bibliographical So- ciety of America, 1904—05, in an essay on "the Bibliogra- phy of American Music" : But the blankest spot in the bibliography of American music has not yet been touched, and it is only with a keen sense of humiliation that I, as an American writer on the musical life of America, lead you for a moment into this "darkest Africa." What I mean is simply this: We do not even possess a bibli- ography of books and articles on the musical history of our country. Still worse, with exception of certain subjects . . . , not a single, separate branch of the literature relating to our own musical history has been accorded conscientious bibli- ographical treatment. In vain will you look for a half-way complete list of contributions towards the history of American opera, American oratorios, American national music, American musical instruction, American musical societies, and the efFort to locate a comprehensive or even fragmentary list of bio- bibliographical sketches of individual American musicians will be just as futile. Yet we continue to write histories of music in America, though we know, or at least should know, that bibliography is the backbone of history. Bibliographical work is fascinating for him who hap- pens to be afflicted with the disease ; it is stupid work in the eyes of him who is not; but it becomes useful work in the eyes of even the scofPers if circumstances compel them to depend upon a piece of bibliographic work well dona So I suggest now as then that some one with a thirst for titles (and the necessary capacity) have pity on those who write histories of music in America and de- vote himself to the irksome but useful task of preparing a bibliography of the literature on music in America. ' Of course, the "American Supplement" to Grove's Dictionary, edited by Pratt and Boyd, 1920, is not one of the three works here criticized so severely. THE HISTORY OF MUSIC IN AMERICA 327 It is a task such as I would propose for a graduation theme in a college or a library school. The wonder is that none of these institutions seem to have given to this subject any serious attention, though it lies so close to our doors and cries out for a less amateurish treatment than heretofore. Such a thesis would involve historical research, in the sense of a compound of investigation and codification. But patient research is exactly what the rising generation of American writers on music does not appear to relish. They are carrying too readily the technique of journalism into the writing of historical hooks, where it does not belong. Indeed, I contend that the older generation of our writers on music shows more power of research and more willingness to be slaves of research for the time being than they, and began to do so at a time when the facilities for historical research in our country were still more limited than now. There are notable exceptions, of course, but on the whole, books entaiKng the drudgery of historical research and not merely that of compilation are written in America by a well-known circle of older men who do not seem to have many successors. It will be objected that one of the main reasons for this condition is that the older men with well-known names have a kind of monopoly on that type of books, and that the publishers' doors would be closed to younger, unknown men. That is probably true to a certain extent. Never- theless, the objection is not altogether sound. The man with the fatal gift of research and the ambition to do research work does not give much thought to the ultimate consumers uniil his work is finished. He sees a historical problem (I allude more especially now to antiquarian subjects) and he sets out to solve it in the spirit of "daa Ding an sich." A mature, sophisticated man, weighed down by the problems of daily life, may shrink from the monotonous, boresome, slow, grinding, unremunerative labor of an ex- tensive piece of research, but a young man never, pro- 328 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES vided he really possesses the interests and instincts of a scholar. He may be impatient of results, but he will be patient in labor. He may need encouragement because of discouraging features of the work itself, but the pros- pective indifference of publishers and magazine editors will not enter into his scheme of life sufficiently to deter him from further research. He may and will and ought to carry the fruits of his labor to market in expectation of a fair exchange of values which will provide him with the necessities and luxuries of life, but he will not submit to a dictation of the terms under which he is willing to labor for others as well as for himself in search of facts, effects and causes^ by commercialism, that hideous curse of our age. And by commercialism I mean in this con- nection the creed of those who prostitute commerce, delib- erately turn the tena.ple of art into a bucket-shop of art and let every stroke of their pen be governed by thei desire to do profitable! work instead of good work. Those writers on music who hypocritically hide the shortcomings of scholarly ambition and tendencies behind the broad backs of the wicked publishers and editors, may safely be left to their own devices. They will always represent a negligible quantity, whether conditions can be improved or not by mere discussion of the real reasons why only a few isolated men and women are doing his- torical research work in music in that scholarly spirit which so many others are displaying in musical psychol- ogy, acoustics and so forth. In the first place, Americans do not so eagerly and consistently view life from the historical point of view as do the French, the Germans, the Italians. Our pro- fessional historians are many, true, but they do not com- mand the same respect with the people at large as do their coUeagueS abroad. Americans do not as yet and as a rule, possess the passion to put wprld events under the his- torical microscope as do the Europeans. We are not, generally speaking, a people of a historical bent of mind THE HISTORY OF MUSIC IN AMERICA 329 as they are. Indeed, the American policy of education would seem to be tending in the other direction if it be true that in many of our schools the study of history is not obligatory. To this add in our special field of musi- cal history the fact that practically no provision is made anywhere for training professional historians of music as we do historians of other factors of civilization and culture. There haa been no demand for them. The few men who did take up the history of music as their main profession are mostly seK-made historians with limited radius of academic action and scant opportunity for producing a crop of disciples. Should a demand for professional historians suddenly arise (which is not likely to happen), it would be diffi- cult to supply it because so eixceedingly few libraries are equipped for musical research work even of an elementary, non-antiquarian, contemporary kind. How many libraries are there in which a student could formulate a really com- prehensive historical estimate of, let us say, the roots, growth and ramification of the art of Horatio Parker and base it on the scores and not merely on books and articles already written? (This condition of affairs, by the way, will not be remedied until the musicians and music lovers revolt against it.) In such libraries, how- ever, as are fairly equipped for research work of a modest kind, American library policy often stands in the way of real research work. The American librarian takes a paternal or maternal interest in his or her clients. He seeks to remove even the pebbles out of their path to the catalogue and the shelves, which is as it should be as re- gards the general reader, but when it comes to the novice in research work, the practice is not altogether wholesome. It has a tendency to leave his research-muscles undevel- oped, a tendency to spare him the trouble of digging through the literature and finding or not finding by his own efforts what he needs. Not that I decry guidance in proper methods of research, but I hold to the view that 330 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES once that method has been pointed out a maximum of independent research will, other things being equal, lead to a maximum of results. Now, there are cases on record in which a candidate for academic honors with the consent of his professor requested a librarian to furnish a list of references to the books which he might need for his thesis. In my humble opinion neither professor nor candidate knew what scholarship means. At any rate, they made the fatal blunder of deluding themselves into the belief that one can do research work on the principle of "Let George do it" In anticipation of the customary objec- tion I contend that no one has yet become a respectable historian without having wasted much precious time on bibliographical research, if it really be a waste of time to consult literature not perhaps immediately applicable but containing suggestions for later and other use. A further, and probably the most important reason for the scarcity of serious effort in behalf of history of music In America lies In that history itself. Our musical past, excepting the immediate past, lies In low-lands. No peaks commanding a far view of our country's domain in the world of music attract the esthetic wanderer. Our share in the glories of the past is negligible. There is little room for historical hero-worship or for the demon- stration of vital riparian rights along the broad stream of musical evolution. In consequence whereof the Amer- ican is not tempted as Is the European to abandon the pursuit of happiness as a chirper of song in favor of the more altruistic and sensible task of recording his country's heroic deeds and of singing the praise of artistic fore- bears greater than he can ever be. Indeed, in that respect the American does not feel himself as an American at all, but as a European; or, if you prefer, musically his country Interests him and exists for him only in so far as it has participated and is participating In the council of nations governing the world of music. The proof of this we see in the fact that he has been singularly silent THE HISTORY OF MUSIC IN AMERICA 331 on hia domestic historical affairs, but has on frequent occa- sions paid a thoughtful and searching tribute to those masters and to such historical problems as belong to and affect the "whole world of music. If such contributions but rarely partake of an anti- quarian research character, and are mostly confined to contemporary music, contemporary in the broader sense of music forming our daily musical diet, that is but nat- ural. The musical past of Europe absorbs the interest of the American musician in so far only as it wedges itself into the present and future problems of musical life in America. Chief of these is the problem of educat- ing a musical people, such as ours is, to become an artistio people and the correlated problem of fighting for his place in the sun as an artist and of making his voice as an artist heard in the international ensemble of contending voices. For him the age is still primarily one of action, perhaps of introspection, certainly not yet of retrospection : We are still unripe for an American Eomain EoUand. If the vision of history were restricted by the esthetic horizon, historians of music in America would be in a sad plight. Fortunately, another factor presents claims on our attention. Curiosity is the mother of all knowl- edge, curiosity from its crudest to its most refined forma. The historical instinct, too, is one of curiosity. History but records the inquiry of the curious into the facts of the past and their logic of friction or mutual support. This type of refined curiosity ia sufficient unto itself with- out the alluvium, of esthetic, ethical, didactic or other mental deposits. Hence, the would-be historian need not feel apologetic at all if his curiosity move him to lift the veil of otherwise merited oblivion from facta that the his- torically non-inclined sneer at as being dry-as-dust and of no value for the furtherance of present musical art. The historian and the esthetician simply work in different mediums which may or may not converge. And speaking entirely for myself, I do think that to roam through 332 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES tlie cemeteries of nmsic not infrequently has more charma than to visit the noisy market-places of venders of sham art. Also, I cannot help thinking that the excavation of some forgotten fact of musical history,- trivial in itself perhaps, bears at least as much on theJ art ef music as ■would the snapshot of a charming primadonna brushing the teeth of her pet monkey. I have not yet seen quite so original a publicity picture as that, but I have seen many others almost as musical. As a historian I do not resent them, for I know that they help to make our modem musical newa-magazines what they are. Without these the future historian would miss not only a handy mirror of public taste but a very valuable source of information about the events of the day. Eco- nomic conditions have become so complex that an artist or teacher who wishes to reach a wide public must advertise his wares somehow. He needs publicity of some kind and it is one of the legitimate functions of the news-maga- zines to afford him that publicity by dwelling on his per- sonal traits, the events of his life, his theories of art, and what not. All that makes for valuable biographical data, and incidentally for history, often sound, often unsound if it be allowed not to square with the actual facts. How- ever, the historian, viewing things from an impersonal distance, will not be fooled so easily that he cannot deter- mine (generally from the astonishingly unoriginal and monotonously stereotyped pattern of publicity matter) where the effort to present real personal or institutional history ceases and the effort to help musicians or institu- tions in their business by exaggerated coloring of the facta begins. As long as the ethics of journalism are preserved and advertising or self-advertising is done within the pro- prieties of good taste, no one can resent publicity in what- ever form. What I personally do resent is this, that such magazines — as they should in the interest of their readers — frequently open their own columns to more or less valu- able historical articles including such of an antiquarian THE HISTORY OF MUSIC HT AMERICA 333 kind, and then poke fun at outsiders because they devote themselves to historical subjects without "news" value in the ordinary sense. The editor who indulges in that kind of criticism underestimates the intellectual and cultural horizon of educated American musicians and is rendering a very poor service to music in America. And when his attacks become unfair and vicious, he seems to forget to reckon vdth posterity. He may be able to blacken the reputation of a man and injure him grievously for the time being ; nevertheless, the historian will have tibe last say in the matter, for his books and his estimates of men and times will be consulted long after the public will have ceased to take an interest in any particular magazine or its editor. Furthermore, a singular little fact ought not to he, for- gotten by those who do not possess the historical instinct and yet presume to sit in judgment over what is and what is not fit for historical treatment: quite often an estheti- cally, artistically noteworthy occurrence or development does not excite the interest of the historian, whereas one of esthetic or artistic dullness does, just as beautiful scenery often fascinates the painter for purposes of a picture very much less than a tumble-down, dirty old shanty on which Light is improvising a rhapsody in col- ors. Finally, the historical instinct (and frequently more so than the artistic instinct) draws nourishment from the most mysteriously complex of human characteristics, which is as natural as it ia artificial, as superficial as it is deep-rooted, as harmful as it is beneficial. I mean pa- triotism. He is a sad failure as a genealogist who blushes with shame and mortification because he has traced his ancestor in the role of a goat-herder instead of that of a son-in-law of Charlemagne. Just so he is a sad failure as a historian who turns his back on the humble musical origin and growth of his own country and disdains to busy himself therewith for that reason. On the contrary, dulce et decorum pro patria mori, if I may liken to suicide 334 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES the perfectly natural and laudable desire to investigate the musically humble past of our country. After this someiwhat oblique metaphor, my utterances will no longer appear cryptic. I was simply leading up to a plea in accordance with the hidden meaning of the sub-title of my address — ^to the suggestion that the history of music in .America is not at all uninteresting or unworthy of serious consideration by the modem American musi- cian of scholarly interests, if only it be approached in the proper spirit and from the proper angle: from that of research for the sake of research, unaffected by fore- thought esthetic or mercenary. Perhaps this suggestion will not fall on deaf ears, coming as it does from one of those who may be conceded to have done their share in that detached spirit. It does not, however, embrace the plea that persons insufficiently trained for research work make historical problems of music in Am erica the playground of their patriotic hys- teria. (Of that kind of amateurish sport we have had by far too much, and it has helped to discredit the legiti- mate interest in such problems.) Nor is meant by re- search work the industry of rival editors who survey pres- ent musical activities in certain localities and inevitably shed glory on their own set of subscribers and advertisers. Such articles undoubtedly will be helpful in the future for local history, since the combination of two and two of rival brands will at least produce the sum of three. Eeal research is more neutral, more impartial, more disin- terested — in brief, more scientific. That implies a scien- tific method and the appreciation of the fact that a mere chronological string of dates or names does not constitute history. They are merely the bricks with which the his- torical edifice is reared. In other words, the historian is not a bricklayer, but an architect, though often he will have to act in both capacities. The plea then is to apply to the investigation of our musical past, no matter how humble it may be, more of that scientific method and THE HISTORY OF MUSIC IN AMERICA 335 technique, more of that historical analysis and synthesis which still (in a degree) distinguish the best of our his- torians from the best in Europe. The place to foster all this is not really within the province of conservatories, be they private or collegiate. Their function is to train musicians who shall possess also requisite knowledge of the history of their art. They are not the place to train historians with the requisite knowledge of music. Once this fundamental idea is grasped, it will become obvious that historical training for research work must be under- taken by the universities very much in the same manner as we see it done in certain countries of Europe. And very much with the same object in view, too; namely, that the graduates of such courses march into the world of music not as "musicians" but as professional historical investigators, as professional teachers of musical history or as critics who realize that at any time their critical estimates may need a background of historical reasoning. Initial steps toward this goal have been taken, to be sure, but they are too tentative and too few. The move- ment is as yet sporadic, not general. That ultimately it will become general, is my firm conviction. The devel- opment is likely to come about, as most reforms do in our country, either with exasperating slowness or with a rush. When it does come about, studies in the history of music in America ought not to be neglected. In the mean- time individual pioneer effort, as heretofore, will have to tap the mine of subjects, though, of course, the yield can- not possibly compare with that by historical laboratories in the form of seminaries when they shall form part of our academic institutions. About individual cooperation in the shape of a historical association, as might be advocated, I personally have my doubts. The practical obstacles are too numerous. There is a surfeit of associations anyhow in our country, a veritable craze for founding societies and burying them almost as fast as they are bom. For in this respect we Americana resemble the Germans: if 336 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES four of them assemble, they will found five societies. The result is generally attrition by jealous rivalry. The diffident -will ask: Are there subjects enough to make this plea for an extensive and intensive study of the history of music in America more substantial and solid than so many other pleas which have turned out to be mere soap-bubbles of specialists? I had occasion to ask myself the same question when I surveyed "The musi- cal life of America from the standpoint of musical topog- raphy" under this title for the Congress of the Interna- tional Musical Society at Vienna, in 1909. My survey of the psychological and economic foundations of music in America included an analysis of the chief historical contributions. It was prefaced by this general remark: The literature on music in America is fairly voluminous and is constantly growing, but the books and articles deal more with the history of music and musicians in America than with the history of America's musical life. For example, the scientific historical study and comparison of the German, English, Italian, etc., influence would immediately be paralyzed from a lack of such literature as can be taken seriously. Opportunities are not much better for reading up on a scientific, useful treat- ment of the historical vicissitudes of single masters in America (such as Haydn, or Wagner), or of the development of music in the various states and cities, of church music, chamber music, orchestral music, choral music, opera, music in our colleges, the music trades, the manufacture of instruments, the music- publishing industry, musical societies and organizations, municipal and governmental interest in and subvention of music, folk-music and a host of other subjects. Even exhaustive biographic and bibliographic literature is not impressive in quantity. Whoever seeks scientific information in any of the fields enumerated must laboriously dig it out from books and sporadic articles in magazines innumerable, not to mention newspapers in which often our best writers on music have buried their investigations alive. Moreover, a good part of all this literature does not possess the character of original research (QueUenforschung). To be sure, since 1909, a number of permanently valu- able books on several of the subjects enumerated above THE HISTORY OF MUSIC IN AMERICA 337 have appeared, but otherwise the diagnosis of poverty is just as correct to-day as it was then. At any rate, my chart of subjects not yet treated scientifically or not at all, presents a nucleus of subjects (selected at random) that will help to answer diffident questioners. Many more could have been added from the common fund of our per- sonal experiences, for no thoughtful American musician is living whom life, travel, profession have not somehow and some time brought into contact with phenomena in our musical life which excited his curiosity. Frequently only history can give a key to the puzzle; and in such cases the "musician" will naturally turn to the historian, just as the latter will go to the musician for explanation of some technical puzzle in music. Just a few illustra- tions from my own experience in elucidation of this point and also as proof of the contention that our musical past embodies countless themes which are interesting from the point of view peculiar to the historian. It is perhaps the penalty of a musician who has specialized along these lines and in whose custody the vast output of American music publishers was placed that he should stumble right and left on, exactly such subjects which others would nat- urally fail to notice. Take "Dixie." I have reason to believe that research in the history of the song will bring to light information which probably will not alter the main history of the song, but will at least throw interesting side-lights thereon. — Or a totally different subject: Horatio Parker speaks in the volume on the Yale pageant recently published of a Beethoven society that flourished at Yale generations ago. I happen to know that it was called "Beethoven Glee Club." Mr. Parker's reference reminded me imme- diately of certain other Beethoven societies existing in the first half of the nineteenth century. Would it not be worth while to study the reasons why just Beethoven was selected as the titular hero of such societies ? Did they or did they not cultivate his music ? And, in general, when 338 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES and where did the Beethoven cult in our country originate and how did it spread? The book on the Yale pageant with its chapter on music at Yale vividly brought back to my mind the studies I made many years ago on music in our colleges during the eighteenth century. My plan was to combine those studies with others on our early music trades, music pub- lishers, music instruction and so forth, for a companion volume to my books on our Early Concert Life and our Early Opera. The plan has been frustrated, but, at any rate, I know positively that those subjects are full of in- terest not only to the investigator but to the reader. Es- pecially that on music in our colleges. And if research covered this particular subject through the nineteenth century, a really fascinating book could be produced. My studies in our early musical life took a direction toward the secular phases because these had been neglected in favor of our early sacred music. Yet even in that field very much remains to be done to establish proper his- torical perspective. The subject will always retain the flavor of that oddity which appeals to those who do not really have a historical mind. But as a matter of fact the problems involved are fairly complex and not at a:ll so odd if care be taken to check up historically, let us say, early American psalmody, with the similar move- ment in England. Nor did sacred music in our country consist merely of an imitation, for the worse or better, of English psahnodists like Tans'ur. The Germans, the Swedes, the Dutch and others made their contributions, and a historian might well afford to look broadly and deeply into all this instead of gazing contentedly through a 'New England church window. If New England has its William Billings, Pennsylvania has its Conrad Beissel and his brother and sister mystics at Ephrata. A volume has been devoted to their music by Sachse, but it was not given to him to solve all the inherent puzzles. Again, who has not heard of the Shakers ? But does any histori- THE HISTORY OF MUSIC IN AMERICA 339 cal treatise exist on their music? Possibly so, but cer- tainly in tliat case it is not generally known. As to the music of tbe Catholic church, its history in our country is practically a sealed book. In these days of revival of the traditional chant I might, as a reference librarian, be asked any day questions like these: To what extent did liturgical uniformity prevail in the music of the Catho- lic churches in America seventy years ago? How about boy choirs ? When were voices first raised in our country — and by whom — ^to restore Gregorian chant to its tra- ditional purity? Who were the chief American cham- pions of Dom Pothier and his collaborators at Solesmes? Was early Catholic music in our country adulterated by Protestant ingredients? — I should not know what to an- swer offhand, but for a reply to the last question at least I should refer the inquisitor to certain articles by Mon- signor Henry. Whoever has had to occupy himself with our recent histories of music in America, will have noticed the scant courtesy shown to the first half of the nineteenth century. By paraphrased repetition of what Eitter, Matthews and others knew and by utilization of a few recent mono- graphs on special subjects, the fact is more or less cleverly concealed that we know comparatively little about the his- torical currents and under-currents of that period. Certain phenomena like Lowell Mason's activity or Garcia's im- portation of Italian opera, or the Handel and Haydn So- ciety, stand out prominently, surrounded by the names of sundry pioneers in the realm of higher art ; but a cross- section of our historical knowledge of that period would reveal a rather brittle surface. I, for one, cannot rid myself of the impression that the history of our musical life after 1850 with its phenomeually rapid development still hangs in the air. It will continue to do so until some intrepid historian of uncommon constructive gifts will devote several years of steady comprehensive research ex- clusively to the earlier half-century. Incidentally, this 340 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES picture of evolutional continuity in our musical life from Colonial to Cubist times will be welcome for this reason : it may give us that assurance of stock whicb looks upon accomplishment as something so natural that one need make no noise about it. As a result it may serve to check those who teach the American music lover the manners of parvenus ill-bred enough to bray loudly and publicly of their sudden riches. I also believe that our historians will be able to trace the roots of much that is still objeo- tionable in our musical life to that very period when solid accomplishment, crude experimentation and shrewd char- latanry seem to have crisscrossed at every turn. What a contrast., for instance, between such a sterling musician as Benjamin Carr, who carried the traditions of the eighteenth century far into the first half of the nineteenth, and Anthony Philip Heinrich ! If Benjamin Carr fully merits a biographical monograph, not less so, though for other reasons, our Bohemian adventurer, known to your grandfathers as "Father Heinrich," In no country except ours with its socially still very crude democracy could such a musician have led the weird life he did, a life as fit for a fantastic historical novel as was that of Abt Vogler. But it must not be imagined that Anthony Philip Heinrich was a faker. After one of his returns to Europe he almost wrested from no less a composer than Franz Lachner the prize for a symphony. Was it perhaps his symphony "To the spirit of Beethoven," one of about sev- enty works ranging from a mere song to "grand" ora- torios which he listed in 1845 under the title of "Presen- tazioni musicali from a Bohemian in America," and which often employ an orchestra approaching that of Eichard Strauss? Knowing such facts, one hesitates to laugh at the antics of the composer of "The dawning of music in Kentucky," "The Western Minstrel," and other such works with their bombastic, charlatanic phraseology, and their, of course, by now antiquated music, though an Eng- lish critic recently declared it not inferior to Bishop's. THE HISTORY OF MUSIC IN AMERICA 341 Whatever the merits of Heinrich's music, his first men- tioned volume is at any rate the bulkiest and most ambi- tious venture in music publishing in America up to that time (1820) and for a good many years later.^ Observations like these forced themselves lately on me at the Library of Congress, where we had begun to cata- logue the sheet music deposited for copyright in America between 1820 and 1860. More and more I received the impression that the first half of the nineteenth century and no longer the eighteenth century is the mysterious period in our musical past and, apart from its total preg- nant importance for the future, so full of historical trifles that it is a veritable source for the historical short story. What led in those days, for instance, music publishers of secular music to copyright rather sparingly their sheet music, whereas every compiler of hymn-books rushed to cover, to an extent that in certain Districts musical copy- rights were out of all proportion to other publications? Does the history of copyright in America ofFer an ex- planation — perhaps the fact that for half a century the word "music" did not figure in our copyright laws, that music publishers had merely their choice between "a book" and "a print," and did not find sufficient protection be- hind these two categories ? Again, what accounts for the evident craze for dance-music in the forties? Valses, polkas, redovas, galops by the hundred almost every year, such worthies as John Conrad Viereck, Charles Grobe, and others supplying the demand with rapid pen. The phenomenon offers no puzzle, once one discovers in it a refiex of Lanner and Strauss and the fascinating Fanny Elsler. But the public was rapidly acquiring a taste for Italian operas also, particularly (it seems) those by Doni- zetti and Verdi, surpassed only by its interest in the ever fresh "Bohemian Girl" ; and our publishers were not ' By an extraordinary stroke of good fortune recently the "musical estate" of Anthony Philip Helnrich passed into the possession of the Library of Congress: it comprises many of his most ambitious works in the original manuscript ! 342 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES slow to cater to both tastes simultaneously by issuing galops, etc, based on favorite operatic airs and choruses. But they also took into account the fact that just then negro minstrel music of the Christy type "was rapidly forg- ing ahead in public favor, that the sentimental parlor- ballad, whose chief exponent Foster was to be, had taken hold of our people, and that then as in all times music was a ready vehicle for the expression of patriotic or political sentiments. How original a study could be made of the musical tributes paid to political and military not- ables or to the Presidents of our country! The music seldom amounts to much artistically, but at least it mir- rors the political or patriotic sympathies of each period, as for instance, when the Whig party with Henry Clay for some reason appear to have been extremely popular with our musicians, or when the Mexican War broke out. And what is true of that war, is a hundred times true of our Civil War. A musical historian studying its vast song-literature could throw side-lights on the passions aroused by that mighty strife which would add color to general political history. But not merely the historian of American music, the historian of American caricature as well. For there are hidden in the mass of thousands and thousands of pieces and songs of that period caricatures and cartoons of not less bitter or pathetic a character than those issued through other channels. That fact is not known to musicians, but it is coming to be known to print collectors. Such a piece of music may not be worth ten cents to-day to a collector of music, but it may be worth several dollars to a collector of prints on account of its historical title-page. If this is narrowing musical history down to a very narrow front, I can only repeat that the interests of a his- torian of music and musical life are not and ought not to remain confined to matters of musical esthetics or tech- nique. If we can but seldom take pride in such music as music, then at least let us rejoice in the fact that quite THE HISTORY OF MUSIC IN AMERICA 343 often its pictorial title-pages — a fashion probably im- ported from France — give esthetic satisfaction or afford instructive glimpses into olden times. Once famous steamships pass before our eyes, gorgeous uniforms galore attract the attention, as do exquisite views of historic American buildings, or romantic (and more or less artis- tic) landscapes or scenes illustrating social life, or gro- tesque cartoons of negro minstrels, or many a portrait not only of celebrated musicians, but of statesmen and gen- erals, including one of Henry Clay that is a veritable gem of portraiture. These are but a few of the suggestions for study that I might offer. They will suffice, since it cannot be my irrational intention to draw up an inventory of every con- ceivable subject, from a history of "the wreckage in the wake of musical journalism in America" to a history of the weird proposals to improve our musical notation or of the movement for a national conservatory, or of the propaganda for more "Americanism" in our musical life, or of musical unionism and its effects, or of music's func- tion in Washington's social life, or of the American tem- perance song, or of the American impresario in his unique twin capacity of pioneer and peddler, and so forth. My object could only be to suggest that he who seeks inter- esting subjects (many of them peculiar to our country) will find them as have others, whose ideas of history- writing were blessed with unconventionality and were stimulated by the truism that the general historian, and be he a walking encyclopedia, can never dispense with the explorations of the specialist. Generally speakng, then, the subjects available are just as numerous as are States and cities (musical or not) or individuals who in their day or way contributed their share (or not) in winning for our country the position which it holds in the world of music to-day. The endless variety of subjects will keep pace with our growth as a musical nation and with the endless variety of tastes and preferences of investigators, 344 MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES whether the subject chosen taxes their power of research for a week, a month, a year or ten years. Ample work for all of us lies on the surface or deep under the surface. No subject can be patented or copyrighted. Not one of us has a monopoly on any given subject, and least of all a man who, like myself, has wandered off into other fields and feels as if, by offering these few suggestions, he were reading a valedictory.