BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME 
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 THE GIFT OF 
 
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 MUSIC 
 
Cornell University Library 
 410.M143B21 
 
 George A exander Macfarren :hls life wo 
 
 3 1924 022 235 091 
 
The original of tliis book is in 
 tlie Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924022235091 
 
GEORGE ALEXANDER MACFARREN 
 
GlEOEGE ALEXANDEK MACFAEKEN 
 
 HIS LIFE, WOEKS, AND INFLUENCE 
 
 BT 
 
 HENRY C. gANISTER 
 
 PEOFESSOR OF HABMOlfT AHD COMPOSITION AT THB BOTAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC, 
 
 THE aUILDHALL SCHOOL OF MUSIC, AHD THE BOYAL MOEMAL 
 
 OOIiBGE AND ACADEMY OF MUSIC FOB THE BLIHD 
 
 LONDON 
 
 GEOEGE BELL AOT) SONS, TOEK STEEET 
 
 COVENT GARDEN 
 
 1891 
 
 T 
 

 CarSWIOK press :— C WHITTINaHAM AND CO., TOOKS COURT, 
 CHUrCERY LANE. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 " Wenn du willst in Frieden eingehn, 
 Wenn du ledig -willst der Pein gehn, 
 
 Spricht Ben Kab, 
 So sei jeder Grossere dir era Vater, 
 So sei jeder Mittlere dir ein Bruder, 
 So sei jeder Kleinere dir ein Kind. 
 Du verehre deinen Vater, . 
 Halt'in Ehren deinen Bruder, 
 Zartlich liebe du dein Kind." 
 
 THIS Arabic saying so aptly describes the spirit of 
 the life recorded in the following pages that it 
 may fitly introduce any prefatory remarks. The social 
 side of George Alexander Macfarren's character was 
 so marked by the reverence due to those around him 
 according to their relative ages and positions, — "every 
 greater one ... a father, every equal one a brother, 
 every lesser one a child,^' — and kept him, as an artist, 
 so free from petty jealousy, so ready with sympathetic 
 help for those struggling, as a teacher so kind and 
 patient, and tinged his whole life with such humility, 
 and such consideration for others, — that those who 
 knew him beat, knowing his manifold attainments, 
 achievements, and powers, as well as these personal 
 and social qualities, cannot separate the two aspects 
 of his individuality, but delight to remember his 
 reverence for father, honour for brother, and tender 
 
vi PREFACE. 
 
 love for child, as having combined with his artistry 
 to render him so revered, honoured, and loved as a 
 friend. 
 
 Those who knew him but a little, without sympathy 
 if without antagonism, have often judged him to be 
 simply a somewhat hard, pedantic, even perverse 
 theorist; and such will be little prepared for such 
 claims on his behalf being placed in the forefront as 
 those with which these remarks are opened. The 
 perusal of this volume may dissipate, to some extent, 
 the mistaken impressions that have prevailed in the 
 minds of many. 
 
 At a dinner given by the Liverpool Musical Pro- 
 fessors to Sir George A. Macfarren, July 28th, 1884, 
 on occasion of his distributing the certificates to the 
 successful candidates at the Local Examination in con- 
 nection with the Royal Academy of Music, he, replying 
 to an address, said that 
 
 " he had had a long Ufa, and it had not been without its 
 vicissitudes, for he could look back to the time of rejected 
 operas sent back without the seal being broken ; but he 
 had worked hard, not for the sake of work, but for the love 
 of the work, and if, possibly, by his example, he had been 
 the means of encouraging others to strive in a like maimer, 
 then, indeed, he would have accomplished something tan- 
 gible for music.'" 
 
 This long life of hard work, and of vicissitudes, — 
 not only such as fall to the lot of earnest strivers gene- 
 rally, but, in addition, the terrible deprivation which 
 would have at once dismayed and bafiSed an ordinary 
 aspirant, but which drew forth from Macfarren such 
 persistent determination, and which he never suffered 
 to deprive him of energy, or to stay his undaunted 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 efforts, — this life is here traced ; so that, according to 
 his own expressed desire, his example may stimulate 
 others who have similar aims, and their own difficul- 
 ties : surely, not such difficulties as those which he so 
 manfully overcame. The obstinacy, and dogged dog- 
 matism, with which some have credited him, may here 
 appear in its more admirable aspect of unswerving 
 consistency, and high-minded perseverance. On his 
 sixty- third birthday, March 3rd, 1876, he wrote to 
 Mr. T. J. Dndeney : " Nine apprenticeships have 
 taught me more and more love for art, more and more 
 indifference to disappointment, more and more sym- 
 pathy with fellow climbers up the hill whose prospect 
 ever widens.'' Nearly two more apprenticeship terms 
 did he serve without any sign appearing of these high 
 qualities becoming less and less powerful factors in 
 the high sustainment of his stainless artistic career. 
 Let not the lesson be lost, the example be unobserved, 
 by those yet in their earlier apprenticeship stage-! 
 
 In his earlier days he fell into one of the Hampstead 
 ponds : finding himself in the water, he struck out 
 like a dog, learned to swim, and saved himself. That 
 was his way of attacking difficulties all through life, 
 enjoined upon others, and exemplified by himself. He 
 would say, " the difficulty conquered, the acquisition 
 of power abides." 
 
 Obstinate ! Well, a ground-bass is a basso-ostmato ; 
 but what beautiful things Purcell, Handel, Bach, could 
 build on such a bass ! And so, a man who, unlike the 
 crowd, thinks for himself, will act for himself, and will 
 not easily be persuaded to move again with the throng. 
 Macfarren was such a one : and he was branded as 
 obstinate. It was sometimes a pity, as when, in the 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 early days of his failing sight, not enduring to have a 
 guide, he rushed on, and struck against a tree in the 
 Park, a broken nose being the result. As one who 
 knew him well writes : "Not many of his friends will 
 forget that stooping figure, in his blindly rushing walk 
 along the London streets, his little guide-boy strain- 
 ing to keep pace with the master's eagerness." The 
 eagerness remained, though he was compelled to yield 
 and have the guide. 
 
 Again : a friend writes : — 
 
 " One criticism he was proof against : nothing that I 
 could say would induce him to alter. I mean, his extraor- 
 dinary division of syllables in his later vocal compositions. 
 I tried precedent, the printer's habit; I tried quizzing. 
 No ! he had never heard of Eobson, and ' Villikins and his 
 Dinah,' so it was of no use. He insisted on ' wee-ping,' 
 ' wal-king,' till I feared to worry him more. His idea was 
 that singers are so apt to pronounce the later consonant in 
 a syllable before the note is over,^ that he would do his 
 best to prevent such an error by putting off the consonant 
 to the end of the note, joining it to the next syllable. He 
 had been assured by good singerS and teachers that it was 
 a wise precaution, and he would abide by it." 
 
 Enough, however, of this. The record is here given 
 of a wonderful career of achievements for a blind man : 
 a life of marvellous mental activity, productiveness, 
 and influence, for any man. 
 
 A word or two as to the plan of the work. 
 
 This being a record, less of incident than of thought, 
 utterance, and influence, no apologetic plea is needed 
 for the somewhat copious extracts from Macfarren's 
 
 1 See p. 369. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 writings on music, by which he speaks for himself : 
 writings, some of which are quite inaccessible, and 
 others practically so, being buried in old numbers of 
 periodicals, or casual numbers of those more recently 
 issued, and almost certain to be overlooked by the 
 majority of those desiring to know of his opinions on 
 the multifarious subjects about which he wrote. 
 
 Moreover, for similar reasons, a strictly chrono- 
 logical arrangement has been discarded, it having been 
 thought better to focus, so far as possible, the light 
 from his clear intellect, and, therefore, to bring together 
 utterances and writings of different times and cir- 
 cumstances, showing the consistency in most cases, in 
 others the progressiveness, of his mind. A glance at 
 the headings of the chapters will suflSciently indicate 
 this plan. 
 
 For invaluable aid rendered to me in the preparation 
 of this Memoir, by the loan of letters, manuscripts, 
 programmes, etc., the furnishing of remiiiiscences, the 
 verification of dates, and in various other ways, I 
 tender my most sincere thanks to Lady Macfarren, 
 Lady Thompson, Miss Macfarren, Miss Macirone, 
 Miss Oliveria . Prescott, Madame Lemmens- Sherring- 
 ton, Mademoiselle Gabrielle Yaillant, Mr. H. O. 
 Anderton, Mr. Edwin Barnes, Mr. J. E. Sterndale- 
 Bennett, Mr. G. J. Bennett, Mr. Windeyer Clark, 
 Mr. Gerard F. Cobb, Mr. J. S. Ourwen, Mr. F. W. 
 Davenport, Mr. T. J. Dudeney, Sir George Grove, Mr. 
 Henry Holmes, Dr. B. J. Hopkins, Mr. Ernest Kiver, 
 Mr. T. B. Knott, Mr. John Macfarren, Mr. Walter 
 Macfarren, Mr. Charles Stewart Maopherson, Mr. 
 Ridley Prentice, and the Rev. H. M. de St. Croix. 
 That there are not more imperfections than I fear may 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 be detected in the work, results largely from the hearty 
 sympathy and ungrudging assistance so readily, and in 
 many cases repeatedly, accorded me in this endeavour 
 worthily to represent the unique personality and artistic 
 course of one with whom I was more or less acquainted 
 and personally associated for nearly half a century. 
 
 H. 0. B. 
 
 London, November, 1890. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter I. „_„ 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Early Life. 1813—1829 1 
 
 Chaptee II. 
 Studentship at the Royal Academy of Music. 1829—1836 . 19 
 
 Chapter III. 
 Early Dramatic Compositions. Sojourn in the Isle of Man . 
 
 1831—1840 34 
 
 Chapter IV. 
 Personal Acquaintance with Macfarren. Some of his Early 
 Compositions. His Opinion of Dussek. His First 
 Critical Article. Introduction to Mendelssohn. Views 
 on Rhythm. 1838—1842, etc 61 
 
 Chapter V. 
 Symphony in C Sharp Minor. Macfarren and Davison's 
 Concerts. Quintet in G Minor. Trio in E Minor, and 
 other works. 1842—1844 87 
 
 Chapter VI. 
 Macfarren's Theoretical Views and Writings. Dr. Day's 
 
 Theory. 1838, etc. 105 
 
 Chapter VII. 
 Macfarren and English Music. Collaboration with Mr. 
 William ChappeU. Cornhill Article. Lectures on our 
 National Music. Musical Antiquarian Society. 0|>inions 
 on Orlando Gibbons, Henry Purcell, and others. Glees 
 and Part-Songs. 1838, 1840, 1868, etc. 135 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter VIII. page 
 
 The Handel Society. Maofarren's Visit to New York. 
 Editions of " Belshazzar," "Judas Maccabeus," and 
 "Jephtha." Views on Editing. Articles on the 
 "Messiah." Marriage. "Antigone" Performances. 
 Articles on Mendelssohn's " (Edipus in Colonos " Music. 
 1843—1855 170 
 
 Chapter IX. 
 Operas, Cantatas, etc. "Don Quixote," 1846; "King 
 Charles II.," 1849; "The Sleeper Awakened," 1850; 
 "Allan of Aberfeldy," 1851; "Quartet in G Minor," 
 1852; "Lenora," 1853; "Hamlet Overture," 1856; 
 "May Day," 1857; "Christmas," "Robin Hood"; 
 Entire Failure of Sight, and Commencement of Dicta- 
 tion, 1860; " Freya's Gift," "Jessy Lea," 1863 ; "The 
 Soldier's Legacy," "She Stoops to Conquer," " Hel- 
 vpllyn," 1864 ; " Songs in a Cornfield," 1868 ; " Outward 
 Bound," 1872 ; " The Lady of the Lake," 1877 ; " Kenil- 
 worth,"1880. . . . ' 189 
 
 Chapter X. 
 Macfarren's Critical Opinions. Articles on Mendelssohn, 
 Mozart, Beethoven's Symphonies, " Ruins of Athens," 
 " Fidelio," and " Mass in D.°' Remarks on Pedal-points. 
 Opinions concerning Haydn, Chopin, Cherubini, Auber. 
 Airs with Variations. 1849—1854, etc 208 
 
 Chapter XI. 
 Macfarren as a Lecturer. Lectures on Sonata Structure, the 
 Lyrical Drama, Sacred and Secular Art, and Church 
 Music. Papers on Recitative, Church of England Music, 
 Gregorianism, Oratorio in Church, Rossini's Mass, 
 Mozart's Requiem, Wagner, Organ, Pitch. Composi- 
 tions : Overture to "Don Carlos," Festival Overture, 
 Symphonies in D major and E minor. Flute Concerto, 
 Violin Concerto, Organ Works, Church Music, Sonatas 
 for Pianoforte, and Pianoforte and Violin, Concertina, 
 etc. 1851—1879 235 
 
CONTENTS- 
 
 Chapter XII. page 
 
 Macfarren and the Tonic Sol-Fa System. His Openness to 
 Conviction. His Utterances concerning Bach. Biogra- 
 phies. Additional Accompaniments. 1857 — 1882 . . 271 
 
 Chapter XiII. 
 Macfarren's Oratorios: St. John the Baptist, 1873; The 
 Resurrection, 1875; Joseph, 1877; King David, 1883; 
 St. George's Te Deum, 1884. Method of Composing and 
 Dictating. Philharmonic Analytical Programmes. 1869 
 —1880 292 
 
 Chapter XIV. 
 Principalship of the Royal Academy of Music. Professorship 
 in the University of Cambridge : Lectures. University 
 Degrees. Knighthood. "Ajax" Music. Tercentenary 
 Anthem. Macfarren as Teacher and Examiner. 1875 — 
 1887 316 
 
 Chaptj;r XV. 
 " Encyclopsedia Britannica" Article: "Musical History." 
 Addresses and Articles on " Correct Musical Taste," In- 
 strumentation, Form, Acoustical Discovery, Eistedd- 
 fodau. Part-singing, Pitch, etc.- 1878—1885 357 
 
 Chapter XVI. 
 Macfarren's " Counterpoint.'' Utterances on Diaphony, Con- 
 secutive 5ths, Mendelssohn's Fugue in F minor, etc. 
 1879—1882 373 
 
 Chapter XVII. 
 Presentation at the Royal Academy. Various Compositionb. 
 Speeches. Failing Health. Last Days, and Death. 
 Memorial Service. Tributes to Macfarren's Memory. 
 Miscellaneous Personal Details. Abiding influence. 
 1883—1887 389 
 
 Index ^i-' 
 
LIFE OF SIR G. A. MACFARREN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Eaely Life. 1813—1829. 
 
 IT is not easy to realize that George Alexander 
 Macfarren, whom so many have known in his 
 relation to all the activities of the musical life of our 
 day^ was born only four years after the death of 
 Haydn, — "the Father of the Symphony," — and the 
 birth of Mendelssohn, both of which events occurred 
 in the year 1809. The year of Macfarren's birth, 
 1813, was that of the establishment of the now time- 
 honoured Philharmonic Society, for which Salomon's 
 Concerts, and Haydn's visits to this country in con- 
 nection therewith, had prepared the way. Music, in 
 its grandest form, the orchestral, seemed then to be 
 making a .fresh start. Though Beethoven was then 
 forty-three years of age, many of his greatest works 
 were not written ; and of those then in existence, few, 
 probably, were at all familiar in this country; his 
 pianoforte works least of all. Spohr was then a young 
 man of twenty-nine, unknown here : Weber, two years 
 younger. Mozart's " Le Nozze di Figar6 " had been 
 heard in London for the first time in the previous 
 year, 1812 : " Don Giovanni" was not produced here 
 
 B 
 
 t^ 
 
UARLY LIFE. 
 
 till several years later, — 1817, There was musical 
 activity, however, of a certain kind. The Concerts of 
 Antient Music, whose rule was not to perform any 
 music composed within twenty years, were going on. 
 The Caecilian Society was giving Oratorio perfor- 
 mances in the City. The Madrigal Society and the 
 Catch Club pursued their several courses, devoting 
 themselves to the cultivation of concerted vocal music. 
 Muzio Clementi, termed the " Father of modern 
 Pianoforte Music," and Johann Baptiste Cramer, were 
 resident in London, exerting a wholesome influence 
 on pianoforte music and its performance. Dussek had 
 died in 1812. Among eminent musicians then living 
 in Europe may be mentioned Viotti, Salieri, Zingarelli, 
 Cherubini, Paganini, Eossini (whose opera " Tan- 
 credi" was produced at Venice in 1813), Mehul, 
 Ignace Pleyel, Steibelt, Boildieu, Onslow, Auber, 
 Hummel, F6tis, Schubert, Herold, Mayseder, Meyer- 
 beer, and many others. In England there were also 
 Bishop, Attwood, Shield, Crotch, etc. 
 
 Such were the musical surroundings into which the 
 subject of our memoir was born, at 24, Villiers Street, 
 Strand, on the 2nd of March, 1813, the day being 
 Shrove Tuesday ; so that, as it is related, he would 
 sometimes say, playfully, that in most years he had 
 two birthdays. 
 
 His father was George Macfarren, described trust- 
 worthily as " dancing-master, dramatic author, and 
 journalist," a native of London, as were his immediate 
 progenitors, " passionately fond of music, and himself 
 a fair' violinist." For him, his son George Alexander 
 ever entertained most affectionate reverence ; and, as 
 recently as January 1877, wrote a memorial sketch of 
 
EARLY LIFE. 
 
 him which is charming in its manifestation of filial 
 feeling. It would have been most consonant with his 
 feelings that the memory should be preserved by 
 reference to that sketch. He begins — writing to his 
 friend J. W. Davison, who then edited the " Musical 
 World/' in the pages of which the sketch appeared — 
 
 " Mt deae Editob and Old Pbiend, — ^You ask me 
 to write of my father, and my pride in the subject is equal 
 to my diffidence of ability to treat it. Truly the space 
 before me and the time to fill it are insufficient for justice 
 to the memory of him to whom I owe, not life alone, but 
 impetus to art, and the first and best guidance in its 
 pursuit. Tet, however briefly, those who knew him may 
 be pleased to be reminded of himself and his doings ; those 
 who knew him not may still accept some words of reverence 
 and love for one not without influence beyond his imme- 
 diate circle. From 1788 to 1843 his life was of almost 
 ceaseless activity. In early childhood he showed a talent 
 for versification, to which a far higher definition would not 
 be misapplied ; and some stanzas, dated on his thirteenth 
 birthday, evince depth of thought and power of words 
 betokening ripest years. While a schoolboy he wrote a 
 tragedy, which was acted by his mates, with the assistance 
 of young Edmund Kean, then known by the name of 
 Carey, with the sanction of the afterwards famous actor, 
 Listen, usher at that time in Archbishop Tenison's school 
 —the scene of the performance. My father played on 
 bowed instruments so well as to sustain either of the parts 
 in a violin quartet. He had some facility on the piano- 
 forte, on which and on the fiddle, he was my first in- 
 structor. Would he had had an apter pupil ! He composed 
 songs of merit, and many country dance tunes that had 
 great popularity. One of the latter, which may now some- 
 times be heard on street organs — " Off she goes " — has 
 been claimed as a national Irish melody ; and this says 
 more for the merit of the tune than the acumen of the 
 editor. Music would have been his profession, had he not 
 met with a fashionable teacher of daixcing — ^Bishop by 
 name — who offered to make him a ' gentleman instead of a 
 
EAULY LIFE. 
 
 fiddler,' and, accordingly, took him as an apprentice. Here 
 was a disparity between name and nature, the calling and 
 the called ; and, I earnestly believe, here was a consequent 
 loss to music. Quick in conception and sanguine in enter- 
 prise, he promptly formed the plan of a work or of an 
 action, and eagerly pursued it. So, when eighteen, he 
 quitted his parental home, rented a spacious room, and 
 opened a school for dancing. The theatre was the natural 
 home of his diverse talent and the chief arena of its 
 varied exercise. His first public dramatic production was 
 almost extemporized, and acted for the benefit of his then 
 intimate friend, Harley, in 1818, at the English Opera 
 House. Many of his other pieces were also written at a 
 sitting, of which perhaps the most remarkable instance 
 was the ' Emblematical Tribute ' on the occasion of the 
 Queen's marriage. He suggested the first idea of this to 
 the management of Drury Lane Theatre on the Thursday 
 night previous to the ceremony. The idea was applauded, 
 but its accomplishment pronounced impossible. The pro- 
 nunciation was confuted ; for by a strong power of mag- 
 netism, he infused his own ardour into every functionary 
 of the establishment. The book was written, the music 
 composed, the scenes were painted, the dresses stitched, 
 the whole was rehearsed, and the masque presented to the 
 public at the free performance on the royal wedding night, 
 the Monday next following the primary conception.^ Then, 
 as ever, the word impossible had no meaning for him ; and 
 to all with whom he worked, his example made ' will ' and 
 ' can ' identical. Those only may be named here among 
 his dramatic pieces which made the strongest mark at the 
 moment. ' The Horatii and Curiatii ' was written for the- 
 appearance at the Coburg Theatre — then (how times have 
 changed !) a place of high esteem and elegant resort — of 
 Booth, who had been a rival of Kean, and was the father 
 of the future presidenticide. ' Sir Peter Pry,' which had 
 great success at the same theatre, has been accredited as 
 the foundation of a more popular comedy, whose inquisi- 
 tive hero is named after another apostle. ' If the Cap fit 
 ye, wear it,' had also good fortune, being acted throughout. 
 
 See Chapter III. 
 
-EARLY LIFE. 
 
 the country under the name of ' The Student,' and repro- 
 duced at the Haymarket as 'Latin, Love, and War.' 
 ' Edward the Black Prince,' and, soon afterwards, ' Guy 
 Fawkes,' were talks of the town, and are stiU theatrical 
 celebrities. ' Winning a Hushand,' a protean piece, was 
 written for the favourite actress Mrs. W. Barrymore, and 
 has had hundreds of representations by her and by others. 
 My father's, first acknowledged essay — he had contributed 
 scenes or songs to many pieces by otter authors— on the 
 classic boards of Drury, was the ballad opera of ' Malvina,' 
 the merit of which raised it into an importance far above 
 what was intended ia the original commission. Then he 
 wrote ' Oberon,' which helped to familiarize the town with 
 the incidents of Wieland's poem, the groundwork of the 
 opera by Weber, at that time in preparation at Covent 
 Garden ; ' and the task was undertaken within a month of 
 the first representation. His version of ' Gil Bias,' or 
 rather of the first adventures of Le Sage's hero, long out- 
 lived its Drury Lane production. Elliston had acquired 
 great confidence in my father's power during the last year 
 of his Drury Lane experience, and, on abdicating the 
 sovereignty which had been held by Garrick and Sheridan, 
 sought his aid in his new enterprise at the Surrey. The 
 facile author being prostrated by a premonition of the 
 malady to which he succumbed sixteen years later, the 
 veteran new manager was brought to his bedside. ' I open 
 this day fortnight,' said Elliston, ' and must have a piece 
 from you ; ' the piece was written and acted. The most 
 notable of his productions at the Surrey was the ' March of 
 Intellect,' a protean piece for the display of the versatile 
 talent of little Burke, the child prodigy, who acted, and 
 sang, and danced, and played on the violin, and spoke 
 Irish with a ' brogue so rich that you might cut it with a 
 knife.' 
 
 " 1 must hurry on to the works wherein I myself had the 
 priceless advantage of his co-operation. There are three 
 
 ^ " The year 1826 is memorable in the annals of music, for it is 
 thatjn which Carl Maria von Weber produced his last great opera, 
 ' Oberon,' on the English stage — ^the deathless work of a dying 
 man. " — BecoUections and Beflections, 3. R. Planch6, p. 74. 
 
EARLY LIFE. 
 
 operas that have never seen the light, one of them having- 
 heen accepted at three several theatres, all of vrhich closed 
 in bankruptcy before the intended representation. These, 
 with his prompting of what to think, write, and avoid, 
 made me an apprenticeship of which I, and none but I, 
 can feel the inestimable value. There was the ' Devil's 
 Opera,' another case of warfare against time, waged in the 
 bright glowing season of the Queen's Coronation, when my 
 father used to work on his libretto till the first peep of 
 those inspiring summer mornings, and then awaken the 
 composer to travail on the music in the stilly hours before 
 heat came into the day, bustle into the streets, and out- 
 door occupation into the writer's necessities.^ 
 
 Lastly, there was ' Don Quixote,' of which but a portion 
 of the music came to his knowledge. This was designed 
 for several different productions, its cast of characters 
 changed for every such purposed occasion, and its com- 
 position only completed nearly three years after his death, 
 when it was really to be represented. 
 
 It is now time to speak of his management of the theatre 
 in Tottenham Street,.to which, in honour of King William's 
 consort, he gave the name of the Queen's Theatre. There 
 he ruled from February 1831 till June 1832 — or would 
 have ruled, had not the despot, Fortune, governed him, 
 distorted his designs, and frustrated his principles and 
 plans. He began with Handel's ' Acis and Galatea,' to 
 which Cipriani Potter wrote additional orchestration for 
 him, and its performance was indeed an event in musical 
 London. ' The legitimate drama,' a term now of the past, 
 was then unallowed in any but the ' patent theatres,' and 
 thus the performances at the Queen's were restricted to 
 plays written for the purpose. In the production of these, 
 regard was first given to the naturalness of the scene, in 
 respect to stage arrangements, grouping of persons and 
 objects, furniture and other accessories, all, in fact, that 
 distinguishes the theatrical presentations of nowadays 
 from the conventionalism of elder times, when a green 
 baize covered the front of the stage, as if to put it in 
 mourning, during tragedies, and when the most sump- 
 
 See Chapter III. 
 
EARLY LIFE. 
 
 tuously decorated chamber had but as many chairs as the 
 dramatic action demanded to be sat upon. Once, for the 
 rising of the mist, the artifice of slaked lime, which of late 
 has been re-appropriated with world renown, was employed 
 with magical effect. Elliston, one of the latest representa- 
 tives of the drama's so-called ' palmy days,' and himself at the 
 time a rival manager, declared that such perfect pictures as 
 he saw at the Queen's had never been put upon the stage. 
 My father's aptitude for painting, of which som^e specimens 
 are extant, doubtless helped him to conceive and to put in 
 practice these effects. His musicianship materially en- 
 hanced his literary skill in the writing of words to music, 
 one of the hardest tasks of authorship, one in which success 
 is rare as it is difficult, and one in which he was always 
 singularly happy — witness the poem to Henry Smart's 
 beautiful song of ' Estelle,' and some of those, such as a 
 ' Legend of the Avon,' to some of the first of W. Chappell's 
 resuscitations of Old English Ditties. The latest thing that 
 occupied my father was the editorship of ' The Musical 
 World' journal, and you know who, at his death, suc- 
 ceeded him. Tou remember the kindly and encouraging 
 feeling that characterized his administration, how he 
 always sought for merit, and did his utmost to bring it to 
 the front, how he would screen defect, and how ill-will was 
 in him an incapacity. Tou remember his keen perception 
 of the beautiful, and the charming English in which this 
 was set forth. His sunny temper was vexed by many a 
 trouble, but never wholly darkened ; and it had the power 
 of light as well as warmth on all who came within its 
 radiance, to draw out their brightest colours, as well as 
 to nourish their minds and hearts. Such was George 
 Macfarren. 
 
 G.A. M." 
 
 To the interesting sketch from which these extracts 
 are taken, the editor appended the following post- 
 script ; — 
 
 " We remember all this — and more. G-eorge Macfarren 
 was one of those born to govern men, not by harsh 
 despotism, but by courtesy and kindness. E\ren when, as 
 
EARLY LIFE. 
 
 it might happen at times, you were not entirely of his 
 opinion, you generally found him right at the end. And 
 then, his reasons were urged with a gentleness which, 
 more than his logical acumen and knowledge of human 
 nature — both remarkable— went far to convince you, even 
 when most perverse and self-willed. We were all young 
 then, and trust we are wiser now. It is only when our 
 elders are gone, that we are willing to confess how much 
 we owe to them. 
 
 J. W. D." 
 
 In some reminiscences of early family history which 
 George Alexander sketched, he relates, in connection 
 with the incidents at Archbishop Tenison's school : — 
 
 " At the school in Castle Street my father made the 
 acqiiaintance of G-eorge Jackson, and was thus introduced 
 to the family of my mother, Greorge's younger sister." 
 
 Also that he became engaged to Susan Jackson, 
 '' who was by a year his elder, . . . but who died of 
 consumption in 1806." 
 
 "That my father found consolation in the love of her 
 sister is a psychological problem not to be discussed. He 
 did so, and they were married in August 1808. Elizabeth 
 Jackson was born 20th January, 1792, and it was from her, 
 though there be no Mac in her name, that I drew my 
 veritable Scottish descent. Her father, John, came in early 
 manhood from Glasgow to London to seek occupation as a 
 bookbinder. John Jackson must have been skilled in his 
 craft, and frugal, for after a few years he purchased a 
 house, 24, Villiers Street, wherein I was born. . . . Another 
 friend of my father, Alexander Henning, a Scot, a navy 
 lieutenant, and afterwards a most successful captain of an 
 Indiaman, had promised to be my godfather, but was 
 absent on a voyage when the christening was to be per- 
 formed : the office was however filled by proxy, and I was 
 to have been named solely after him, but that on the way 
 to the church my grandmother insisted that her son's 
 child should be called G-eorge, and you see the con- 
 
EARLY LIFE. 
 
 sequence. . . . My entrance on tlie scene expanded the 
 little family beyond the capacity of the native home, and 
 removal to Kemp Row, Chelsea, was the necessary conse- 
 quence. There my father exercised his natural aptitude 
 for painting, producing in oil portraits of several of his 
 friends, and a view from the window of his study. On an 
 evening he was playing with me before the fire, and with 
 a spring I fell from his knee, face upward, under the 
 grate, when he held his extended hand over my face to 
 protect it from the falling cinders while he called for 
 someone to draw me from under his protection ; and this 
 was one of the many instances of his presence of mind and 
 recklessness of evil for the sake of others. . . . My own 
 earliest recollection is of the first anniversary of the Battle 
 of Waterloo, 18th June, 1816, the occasion of the opening 
 of Waterloo Bridge by the Prince Eegent, after which state 
 ceremony the public was allowed to cross freely the master- 
 piece of Bonnie, and I was taken in the throng to a com- 
 memorative fair held in the fields then open between the 
 river and the New Cut." 
 
 Macfarren relates that, in 1816, certain circum- 
 stances occasioned a visit of his father to Paris, and 
 that 
 
 " Foreign travel was so different an affair in 1816 from 
 what we now know it to be, that, as a preliminary to his 
 journey, my father made his will and gave it into the 
 keeping of my mother, together with an excellent water- 
 colour portrait of himself, the two to ensure her welfare 
 and his memory, should he never recross the Channel. As 
 a point of professional duty, he took lessons of one of the 
 chief dancing masters in the French capital, returmng 
 fresh from which, he imported into England the quadrille, 
 a dance previouslv unknown here, save in its English 
 prototype 'The Hay' with some of the concomitant 
 figures, and the first set of quadrilles ever printed in 
 London was music of my father's composition with de- 
 tailed description of the dances.^ 
 
 1 See, however. Grove's Dictionary, sub verha. 
 
10 EARLY LIFE. 
 
 " In the January of 1819 I was taken for the first time 
 to a theatre, namely the Olympic, where was played a 
 pantomime on the story of ' Eed Eiding Hood,' of which 
 Planch^ was the author ; and this I regard as the founda- 
 tion of my lasting love for dramatic entertainment,^ which 
 was doubtless nourished, by my interest in my father's after 
 pursuits, but must have been to a great extent intuitive." 
 
 George Alexander was delicate in health from his 
 childhood, needing constant medical attention. Not- 
 withstanding this, however, he was sent, when little 
 more than seven years of age, to the school kept by 
 Dr. Nicholas, at Ealing, in which his father had for 
 many years taught dancing ; "a. school which numbered 
 at different times amongst its distinguished alumni the 
 present Cardinal Newman and Professor Huxley." For 
 school-life, however, with its roughness and discipline, 
 he was little fitted with his tender constitution; and 
 his time at Ealing was, on his own subsequent testi- 
 mony, singularly wretched. In the family record he 
 says : — 
 
 "In August, 1820, I was committed to the care and 
 culture of Ealing School, an establishment that then 
 numbered 365 pupils. My being there ought to have been 
 the most propitious fact for my comfort and education, 
 because my father attended the school twice weekly to 
 teach, and often took me forth to walk when his lessons 
 were over ; because his singularly intimate friend Heslop 
 was one of the chief masters, whose very dear wife took 
 special care of me, and because Huxley, the philosopher's 
 father, was another principal master, was a familiar of our 
 family, and showed me many a kindness. Notwithstanding 
 all these seeming sources of welfare, I was more miserable 
 at school than words can tell. I was sickly, having, in the 
 course of my three years' sojourn, to be brought home on 
 account of inflammation of the lungs, having an excep- 
 tionally bad attack of mumps, and having much the fate 
 
EARLY LIFE. 11 
 
 of a fag to a bigger boy in my class, though fagging was 
 no part of the school discipline. Among other tyrannies 
 that he exercised, one only is not to be regretted ; namely, 
 that he compelled me to tell him tales throughout the 
 play hours, which sharpened my memory for all I had 
 read, and my wits for all I could invent. In August 1823, 
 after my periodical return to school, my sight began to 
 fail, so I was taken home for medical treatment." 
 
 Those who, in his manhood, enjoyed his friendship, 
 will readily believe that a nature so sensitive to kind- 
 ness and sympathy would ill brook the lack of it which 
 probably characterized school-life in those days, before 
 the more humanizing influences and healthier tone, 
 brought about by Dr. Arnold, and other educational 
 reformers, prevailed. Of this sensitiveness and affec- 
 tionate disposition, as well as of the conscientiousness 
 which marked him through life, prompting him. to a 
 ready acknowledgment of faults and errors, there is 
 evidence, at this early age, in his letters from school 
 to his mother. The following is an extract from one 
 of these. 
 
 " Sunday, May 19th, 1822. 
 
 "Mt dear Mothee, 
 
 " As I have a little time I can tell you my thoughts, 
 and what I really have thought ever since Easter. 
 
 " I have prayed always that I might be good, both night 
 and morning, but I could not. However, the next time I 
 come home I will try to fulfil my promises better. 
 
 " I know how very naughty I was the two last times I 
 was at home, and the only thing that keeps me up now is, 
 that' I know you have foi-given me and that I will try to 
 do better another time. I will try to leave of£ my nasty 
 naughty airs, my wicked ill temper and ill humour, and in 
 fact, instead of being naughty and wicked as I was when 
 I was at home, I will be quite the contrary a very good 
 boy." 
 
12 EARLY LIFE. 
 
 And in the following we get a glimpse of the 
 methodical habit, and disposition for thoroughness in 
 work, which were such distinguishing traits in his after 
 years : as well, it may be said, as of his self-reliance. 
 
 "Friday, Avgwst 2nA., 1822. 
 
 " Mt vekt deak Mother, 
 
 " You may perhaps think it odd my writing to you so 
 soon but I write to you to inform you that I intend after 
 this — and now I don't tell you a story when I declare 
 upon my word and honor that I will keep my promise. 
 
 " I intend to leave off all my impudence airs ill-temper 
 naughtiness and wickedness and be so good that you will 
 think it is some one else and indeed I will be as good as it 
 is possible for a boy of my age to be. 
 
 "If you please mother will you hold up your finger 
 always after this as you promised to do last holidays but 
 only did the first week or two, when you see me going into 
 an ill temper and that will keep me out of it. — Now I will 
 give you a list of what I intend to do hereafter. 
 
 "1. I keep an account of what I spend every day and 
 when I come home to show it to you and ask you w[h]ether 
 you think it reasonable or no. 
 
 " 2. I intend to fag always as hard as ever I can and try 
 to get my lessons perfect so as to get praise even at school. 
 
 " 3. I intend always to keep the 5th commandment and 
 always to mind what you and father say to me. 
 
 " 4. To be kind and good-natured to my two sisters and 
 my brother and try to niake John a better boy. 
 
 "5. I intend to honour you and all who know me so as 
 to make myself generally beloved by all [who] know me. 
 
 " And now mother if you will hold up your finger when- 
 ever you see me getting into an ill humour I think I shall 
 be a very good boy indeed. 
 I am 
 
 My very dear Mother 
 
 Your affectionate loving and 
 dutiful Son 
 
 a. A. M." 
 
EARLY LIFE. 13 
 
 The affectionate spirit which these letters breathe 
 distinguished Macfarren all through life ; though not 
 always discerned by those but slightly acquainted 
 with him, especially if themselves of shallow sym- 
 pathies. 
 
 While yet at Ealing his sight began to fail, and it 
 became necessary that he should use a powerful 
 magnifying glass : also that he should be furnished 
 with a large-type Testament, to enable him to join in 
 class-reading. This, however, was but the prelude to 
 his entire withdrawal from the school, in order that he 
 might be under oculistic care and home-management. 
 Under the advice and treatment of the then eminent 
 oculist, Mr. Alexander, the boy was brought into 
 such a condition of health that his very life seemed 
 threatened ; and, at the instance of the family medical 
 attendant, the specialistic treatment was stopped, and 
 he was removed to a school at Lancing, quite as much 
 for his health's sake as for his education. He was 
 accompanied by his younger brother John; and, with 
 much enjoyment, remained at Lancing for eighteen 
 months. 
 
 He records, in his " Family EecoUections," that 
 " the judgment of Lawrence, and afterwards that of 
 Tyrell, were taken upon my eyes, which were both to 
 the effect that the disease was beyond the reach of 
 medical treatment, and that the strengthening of my 
 general health would be the likeliest of means to 
 restore my sight. Notably, from when my eyes first 
 failed, the sickly weakness of my constitution was 
 changed for the average health which, with rare and 
 brief casual exceptions, I have since enjoyed." 
 
 During his stay at Lancing, some hope concerning 
 
14 EARLY LIFE. 
 
 his sight seems to have arisen ; as, in a letter written 
 in 1825j he refers to " improvement in my unfortunate 
 oculars." In the "Recollections" he speaks of a 
 " good Mrs* Blunden " of Worthing, with whom the 
 family had lodged, " and who lightened the hardships 
 of our school-life — school-life is the very hardest ship 
 that sails the ocean of existence — by having us both 
 on occasional visits." 
 
 During this period the predilection for dramatic 
 performance previously referred to, and afterwards so 
 fully developed, further manifested itself; he himself 
 writing little school tragedies, constructing little 
 stages, painting the scenes, and joining with his 
 schoolfellows in acting the dramas. 
 
 Another letter evinces the thoughtfulness and 
 reasoning habit, expressed in quaint phraseology, 
 which were prominent 'in later years. 
 
 "Lancing Academy, May 19th, 1825. 
 " Mt deae Pathee, , 
 
 *' I feel rather surprised at not having heard from you 
 before this, but, as mother says ' a letter hom.e and an 
 answer back makes a good hole in one and fourpence ' and 
 as Poor Richard says in his Almanac ' a penny saved is a 
 penny earnt,' so it does not matter much but that you are 
 all well (as I trust you are) for as ' two heads are better 
 than one ' so one penny is better than none, but as I have 
 heard from you but once since my uncle left us I should 
 like to hear as soon as possible." .... 
 
 It was probably after leaving Lancing that, his 
 sight continuing to fail, various oculists were con- 
 sulted, and experimented upon him ; but all in vaii; ; 
 the failure was never effectually arrested, but in- 
 creased until its final culmination in later years. 
 
EARLY LIFE. 15 
 
 It will readily be understood that this imperfection 
 of sight had hindered the lad to some extent in book 
 studies; though he alludes, in his letters, to his 
 geographical studies, and only mentions the want of 
 an Atlas for himself as the hindrance to his finding 
 the places well, not referring to any difficulty of sight. 
 But it seems probable that at this age the eager thirst 
 for knowledge, and desire to master any subject that 
 he took in hand, which characterized him through life, 
 were in operation, and led him, notwithstanding 
 obstacles, to obtain the rudiments of a fair general 
 education. History and biography were favourite 
 subjects of study with him ; and, besides the dramatic 
 or theatrical amusements already mentioned, gar- 
 dening was an occupation in which he took great 
 pleasure. 
 
 But he was being appealed to by another art, not 
 immediately necessitating sight for its enjoyment. 
 As has already been stated, George Macfarren senior 
 was a passionate lover of music, and a fair adept in 
 it; and there were home performances of chamber 
 music, vocal and instrumental, which awakened the 
 interest of the boy. His father instructed him in the 
 elements of the art ; and his progress was such as to 
 encourage the determination to train him for its 
 pursuit. At the age of fourteen he was placed under 
 the tuition of Charles Lucas, then (1827) a student in 
 the recently instituted Eoyal Academy of Music. He 
 writes v " Before quitting 1827 I may note that on its 
 8th of March I had my first lesson of Charles Lucas, 
 and so formally entered my musical apprenticeship." 
 Lucas was about five years the senior of his pupil, 
 liavino- been born at Salisbury, July 28th, 1808. 
 
16 EARLY LIFE. 
 
 After having been chorister in the cathedral, under 
 Arthur Thomas Corfe, from his seventh to his fifteenth 
 year, he entered the Academy, and, though he com- 
 menced his career therein by taking singing as his 
 principal study, subsequently changed his course, and 
 turned his attention to the violoncello, which he 
 studied under the famous performer, Eobert Lindley. 
 He also pursued theoretical studies under Mr. Lord 
 and Dr. Crotch. He became a distinguished musician, 
 not only as an excellent violoncellist, but by reason of 
 varied attainments. He was conductor of the orchestra 
 and choir of the Academy, from 1832 ; organist of 
 Hanover Chapel, Eegent Street, from 1839, for a 
 number of years, a select body of Academy students 
 forming the choir, for full choral service ; and, in 1859, 
 succeeded Cipriani Potter as Principal of the Academy, 
 holding that position, in conjuactiou with that of con- 
 ductor, until his retirement in 1866. He was also 
 composer of an opera, " The Eegicide," symphonies, 
 anthems, and other works. Under this versatile 
 musician, then, however, only in his own pupilage, 
 Macfarren was placed for the serious study of music ; 
 remaining with him till the teacher recommended his 
 transference to the Royal Academy, which step was 
 taken in 1829, one year before the termination of 
 Lucas's studentship in the institution : therefore, the 
 teacher and the pupil were for one year fellow-students 
 in the Academy, of which they were both destined to 
 be ornaments and Principals in later years. Long 
 afterwards, Macfarren, in the " Imperial Dictionary of 
 Biography," to which he contributed a number of 
 articles, thus writes of his old teacher and fellow- 
 student : — 
 
EARLY LIFE. 17 
 
 " Lucas' qualifications for his important position as 
 Principal of the Academy consist in his very extensive 
 theoretical and practical knowledge of music. A sound 
 harmonist, a good executant, having familiarity with the 
 mechanism of almost every instrument, being greatly 
 experienced in public performance of music of every 
 school and style,] he is a skilful teacher and an able 
 director." 
 
 Concerning the period of Macfarren's pupilage 
 under Lucas, prior to his Academy studentship, he 
 relates an early effort, made in the year 1828 :^ 
 
 " In my father's wish to stimulate my exertions, he 
 obtained the promise from Blewitt that the band of the 
 Surrey Theatre should try an Overture of mine if I wrote 
 one, so I made an attempt, in the absence of Lucas for the 
 summer holiday of 1828, being .... little fitted for so 
 high a flight. ... I was to some, though a very small 
 extent, prepared for the undertaking, by a translation of 
 the theoretical book of Priedrich Schneider that had been 
 given me by T. Cooke, which comprised a statement of the 
 compass of each instrument. When my master came back, 
 I displayed, with great exultation, the score of an Overture 
 in Gr, and was desperately disappointed with his condemna- 
 tion of the plan, his detection of much faulty harmony, his 
 assurance of the impracticability of many passages, though 
 lying between the lowest and highest notes of the instru- 
 ments to which they were assigned, and his declaration 
 that the whole was entirely unfit for performance. He 
 was certainly right, but this made the matter all the 
 unpleasanter for me. StUl I was urged to write, and to 
 help me my father made several poems which I' had to 
 set to music." 
 
 Of Jonas Blewitt, alluded to above, Macfarreu 
 writes : — 
 
 " He was one of those so-called natural musicians, who 
 do everything easily and nothing well, in the art to which 
 they are supposed to have a calling. He invented musical 
 
 c 
 
18 eauly life. 
 
 games that sent large companies into fits of laughter ; and 
 he composed comic songs, which he sang with like result." 
 
 We have now reached that stage in the career of 
 the subject of our memoir which concerns his public 
 course — his first connection with the Royal Academy 
 of Music ; a connection continuing, with brief inter- 
 ruptions, hereafter to be recorded, till the close of his 
 life ; his last occupation, half an hour before he passed 
 away, being the dictation of a letter concerning the 
 business of the Institution in which he was reared, 
 which he served so faithfully, and loved so well. His 
 admission as a student, he himself characterizes as the 
 fulfilment of his " highest ambition " at the time. 
 
CHAPTER 11. 
 
 Studentship at the Royal Academy op Music. 
 1829—1836. 
 
 WHEN Macfarren entered the Royal Academy of 
 Music as a student, in 1829, that Institution 
 had been established about seven years ; if, indeed, it 
 may be said to have been then " established " at all, 
 seeing that it was undergoing much adverse criticism, 
 and, moreover, was by no means on a stable basis, 
 either financially or musically. There had been little 
 eicperience by which to profit, little to indicate the 
 best methods of procedure, and, moreover, the manage- 
 ment, or direction, was bureaucratic, amateur, and, 
 there can be little doubt, mistaken. Founded by John 
 Fane, Lord Burghersh, afterwards sixth Earl of 
 Westmoreland, it was, at the. time of which we are 
 speaking, under the Principalship of Dr. Crotch, who, 
 remarkable in his boyhood for precocious musical 
 capacity, seems to have well represented, in his man- 
 hood, when he was Professor of Music in the XJniver- 
 sity of Oxford, the then existing state of musical 
 learning in England. He was fortunate in having, 
 as one of his professorial gtafl', Cipriani Pottery pianist 
 and composer, who, as he told me, used to have friendly 
 disputes with Domenico Crivelli, the singing professor. 
 
-20 STUDENTSHIP AT THE 
 
 as to which of them actually gave the first lesson in 
 the Academy. Potter was, as he continued for years 
 to be, abreast of the time in practical musical know- 
 ledge and attainment, having studied under Thomas 
 Attwood, who had been Mozart's pupil, under Woelfl, 
 and, to some extent, under Beethoven, so far as 
 counsel and some criticism of his doings may be 
 reckoned ; and, moreover, by continental travel, and 
 intercourse with distinguished musicians abroad, he 
 had enlarged his acquaintance with the then modern 
 developments of the Art, beyond the insularity which 
 seems to have characterized and narrowed the per- 
 ceptions and attainments of English musicians of the 
 time. All this, together with his geniality of dis- 
 position, admirably fitted him for the work of guiding 
 young musicians in their studies, which fell to his 
 share both as teacher in, and subsequently, in succes- 
 sion to Dr. Crotch, as Principal of our Royal and 
 National Institution. 
 
 Macfarren always entertained grateful and reveren- 
 tial remembrance of Cipriani Potter, his teachings, his 
 compositions, and his inusicianship in general : " that 
 distinguished teacher,'' he termed him. Long after- 
 wards, on January 7th, 1884, he delivered an appre- 
 ciative address upon his life and work at the Musical 
 Association. It was my wish to be present, partly 
 because, in the conversation after the address, it would 
 have been congenial to my feelings to offer a few 
 reminiscences of my old master. Illness, however, 
 prevented me from attending, and I wrote to Mac- 
 farren explaining the cause of my absence, which it 
 would indeed have been a grief to find ascribed to any 
 indifference to the ever green memory of one to whom 
 
MOYAL ACADHMV OF MUSIC. 21 
 
 I, in common with many, owed so much. My 
 explanatory letter drew from Macfarren the following 
 characteristic reply : — 
 
 " Mt deab Banistee, — It would indeed have been a 
 pleasure to have had the interesting additions you might 
 liave made to the too little I could say of our dear friend 
 Potter, and I regret as much the loss of these as the illness 
 that prevented your presence at the meeting. I deplore 
 that the Master is at present less represented in his own 
 worts than in those of his pupils ; and that persons who 
 knew not himself have now small chance of knowing his 
 merit, and on this account it behoves us who retain vivid 
 recollections of his working and its worth to do all we may 
 to impress our memory on the consciousness of others," 
 
 I am therefore acting in harmony with the injunc- 
 tions of him who is the subject of this memoir, and 
 illustrating his character, as well as doing that which 
 is so consonant with my own pleasant recollections, 
 when I thus dwell somewhat upon the admirable 
 influence and notable personality of one to whom so 
 many English musicians were indebted — Cipriani 
 Potter. 
 
 In the address to the Musical Association, after 
 recounting that Potter had studied under Thomas 
 Attwood, Dr. Crotch, and Joseph Woelfl, Macfarren 
 proceeds : — 
 
 " Potter used to speak of him [Woelfl] with profound 
 admiration, and to ascribe to him the principles of plan of 
 which he himself became a teacher, and to him also those 
 principles of pianoforte playing which he himself advanced. 
 It is important to observe that in these two particulars of 
 pianoforte playing and composition, Potter has had a most 
 marked influence on the musical development of the present 
 age ; and since Woelfl died before Potter was twenty years 
 old, it must have been very largely owipg to his own reflec- 
 
22 STUDENTSHIP AT THE 
 
 tions that that style of pianoforte playing was matured, 
 and to his own particular genius for the instrument, that 
 we may ascribe what may, I think, fairly he designated as 
 an English school of pianism. There must he present 
 here, not only the chairman,' who, like me, may boast him- 
 self in some particulars as the pupil of our friend Cipriani 
 Potter, but some too, who, if not his pupils, are certainly 
 his grand-pupils, and great-grand-pupils, who represent in 
 the second and third generation the excellence of theTiews 
 which were first promulgated by him, and have been dis- 
 seminated from time to time to the lasting advantage of 
 music in England. 
 
 " Let us now review the work of Potter as a teacher of 
 composition. Tou have heard what kind of music pre- 
 vailed in England before his influence changed the direc- 
 tion of study' and the emulation of students. I believe it 
 to have been he who first promulgated the principles of 
 plan. ' Plan ' was the word he iised, a most significant 
 and completely comprehensive word, to represent the 
 principles of design in musical art. It is now customary 
 to speak of the same thing under the name of ' form ; ' 
 but form can only be used in a metaphoric sense, since it 
 applies to tangible and visible objects, and unless we count 
 the remarkable form which the waves of sound take, there 
 is no form, truly speaking, in music ; it is only metaphori- 
 cally we can speak of musical form by analogy with the 
 forms employed in other arts. But decidedly there is a 
 plan in the arrangement of ideas, in the conduct of keys, 
 in the juxtaposition of one musical phrase with another, 
 the distribution of rhythm, and the whole musical struc- 
 ture. So I think the term ' plan,' which he was wont to 
 use among his pupils, is the best that can be applied to 
 what it distinctly defines ; it makes music really into an 
 art instead of an accident. As to the unrelated arrange- 
 ment of thoughts which appears in the glee compositions, 
 and in the bald writing of the previous time, whatever 
 pleasantry of phrase, whatever momentary happiness of 
 effect from the combination of voices or instruments, there 
 
 » Mr. C. E. Stephens. 
 
ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC. 23 
 
 is no continuity in such, compositions. But Potter showed 
 his pupils the art of continuity in the development of 
 musical ideas — ^the structure of complete compositions. I 
 believe that this was not known in England before his 
 time, or, if known, it was certainly unpractised. His 
 method of explaining this was so clear, so charming, so 
 interesting to all who heard him, that the application of 
 his principles became not only the study but the delight 
 of those who had the advantage of hearing them; and 
 this advantage has been disseminated by his pupils until 
 now, when, I believe, the structure of the sonata is very 
 generally understood, and, in many instances, very happily 
 practised. His views on instrumentation were as impor- 
 tant as on managing ideas. He had a great knowledge of 
 instruments, a happy way of writing passages appropriate 
 to each, and a very great facility, also, in arranging their 
 combination. His scores were always clear, and he showed 
 his pupils how to produce such clearness. He was not 
 unused to teU us that it would take a person thirty years 
 to learn how to fill a score, and then his education began, 
 because it would take him thirty years more to learn to 
 take out the surplus instrimients." 
 
 In the " Imperial Dictionary of Biography " Mac- 
 farren wrote : — 
 
 " Potter's music is characterized by perspicuity of form, 
 contrapuntal clearness, ingenious orchestration, and appro- 
 priateness to the instruments for which it is written. . . , 
 Potter has had a most important influence on the progress 
 of the pianoforte in England, many of the most distin- 
 guished players and teachers having been formed by him ; 
 and his excellent system being thus so widely diffused, he 
 may truly be said to have established a school of playing. 
 The effect of his teaching is still more valuable in the 
 department of composition; he was the first in this 
 country to elucidate the principles of musical construction, 
 and since his appearance as a teacher, the productions of 
 our composers have assumed a higher character in respect 
 of purpose and development than ever before belonged to 
 
24 STUDENTSHIP AT THE 
 
 English, music. It will thus be seen that he has accom- 
 plished more than any other musician for the advancement 
 of his art among us; his good influence is already felt 
 throughout the land in the labours of the pupils of his 
 pupils, and a large proportion of the best esteemed artists 
 of the day have received their training personally from 
 him." 
 
 To resume our narrative/ however, and to revert to 
 the Royal Academy of Music. During the first 
 thirty-two years of its existence, and, therefore, 
 when Macfarren commenced his studentship therein, 
 students were lodged and boarded within its walls. 
 Macfarren, however, was never an in-student, but 
 continued to reside at home. He found, already 
 studying in the Academy, William Sterndale Bennett, 
 who had been brought thither three years previously, 
 when a lad of ten, from Cambridge, where he was 
 discovered as a chorister in King's College Chapel. 
 Among Macfarren's fellow-atudents, during the seven 
 years of his studentship, were Henry Michael Angelo 
 (commonly called Grattan) Cooke, William Henry 
 Holmes, etc. 
 
 Macfarren was placed under Thomas Haydon — a 
 painstaking teacher — in the first instance, as his 
 instructor in pianoforte playing ; subsequently under 
 William Henry Holmes, and, still later, under Potter. 
 He was also assigned the trombone as a second study, 
 
 under Smithies, " because " — to quote his own 
 
 words in later years — " of the custom, then impera-, 
 tive, but now grievously disregarded, for every male 
 student to have the valuable experience of orchestral 
 practice." He continued for some time under his 
 former instructor in harmony, Charles Lucas, after- 
 
ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC. 25 
 
 wards being tranaferred to Potter for the study of 
 composition. 
 
 Cipriani Potter told me that Sterndale Bennett 
 never went through a course of contrapuntal study; 
 and as Macfarren was his fellow- student at the 
 Academy, perhaps he likewise did not at first study 
 counterpoint, unless Lucas had previously commenced 
 to teach it to him. I am led to conclude that, at that 
 period, the importance of that branch of study was 
 hardly recognized by the authorities of the Institu- 
 tion ; although, subsequently, when I was a student, 
 it was part of the regular curriculum for those who 
 aspired to become composers. Even then, however, 
 it was understood that it needed not to be included in 
 the course of study of the female pupils. I suppose 
 that, at the earlier time, it was not customary in 
 England for musical students to learn much more 
 than the nature and treatment of chords, as then 
 classified, with just the elementary principles or rules, 
 mainly prohibitory, of part-writing. This my impres- 
 sion as to the then state of theoretical musical educa- 
 tion in this country seems borne out by the fact that 
 when, a little earlier. Potter went to Beethoven, with 
 the view of studying under him, the counsel of the great 
 man to the young one was ''you must study counter- 
 point." And yet Potter had enjoyed such oppor- 
 tunities as were then available in England for musical 
 study as it was then understood and prescribed. 
 
 Some notion of the state of theoretical knowledge 
 and education at the time of Macfarren's studentship 
 may be formed by examination of Dr. Crotch's theo- 
 retical treatises as representing the kind of instruction 
 given by him to Lucas and others, and passed on by 
 
26 STUDENTSHIP AT THE 
 
 them. The matter is of interest, in our present narra- 
 tire, because of the wide departure afterwards made 
 by Macfarren in his theoretical views and teachings. 
 
 J)t. Crotch's method, however, with his pupils, was 
 to give them a theme to vary, contrapuntally, in free 
 fashion ; though there had been some course of more 
 strict counterpoint exercises to precede that freer 
 work, Macfarren, however, declined to be removed 
 to Dr. Crotch's care, preferring to remain under the 
 tuition of Lucas. Those who remember the latter 
 will readily believe that no undisciplined freedom 
 would be permitted to his pupils. 
 
 But, whatever the theories enunciated by Crotch, 
 and accepted as more or less authoritative at the time, 
 his actual class-teaching seems to have been of a 
 somewhat free-and-easy kind. The boys would come 
 in, with little or no work prepared, and coax him to 
 play Handel's choruses to them instead of giving them 
 a lesson, which he readily did. 
 
 It seems probable, however, that Cipriani Potter, 
 after his continental experience, and the advice given 
 him by Beethoven, would, in his position at the Royal 
 Academy, insist on the importance of contrapuntal 
 training. Be that as it may, there is evidence of 
 Macfarren having submitted to such a course, either 
 under Lucas or with Potter, or else of his own judg- 
 ment, there being extant books of exercises in 
 counterpoint written by him. Preference seems to 
 have been divided, at that time, between the contra- 
 puntal treatises of Cherubini- and of Albrechtsberger ; 
 the latter ultimately receiving the official endorse- 
 ment of the Academy authorities, and for long con- 
 tinuing to be the recognized class-book in the Institu- 
 
ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC. 27 
 
 tion. No modern Eriglisli (untranslated) book on the 
 subject seems to have been in use, though small 
 books, such as Hamilton's " Catechisms," etc., after- 
 wards appeared. 
 
 The difference between the teachings of all these 
 books, and those of Macfarren in his after years will 
 come to be considered subsequently. 
 
 , Under Potter's tuition he made such great advance- 
 ment in composition that a Symphony in C by him 
 was considered worthy of performance at an Academy 
 concert in September, 1830. 
 
 In recording the performance of this, his first 
 Symphony, Macfarren says : — 
 
 " My father's description of the event in a letter to my 
 mother, who was at Margate, shows him to have been 
 more anxious over and delighted at it than an ordinary 
 man would have been at a success of which himself was 
 the hero." 
 
 The following is an extract from the letter referred 
 to : — 
 
 "The Duke of Cambridge and many distinguished 
 persons were present — the Symphony went off admirably, 
 far exceeding my sanguine foreknowledge of it. At the 
 conclusion the Duke inquired which was Macfarren, Lord 
 Burghersh called him forward— the Duke took his hand, 
 and in a loud tone of approbation said, 'Macfarren, I 
 congratulate you and your master on this performance ; it 
 does you infinite credit and I am greatly pleased.' 
 
 " The company, consisting of about 200, seemed to join 
 in the praise most heartily by an additional round of 
 applause ; since then 1 have received so many congratula- 
 tions from Mr. Attwood, Dr. Crotch, Lucas, Hamilton, Sir 
 George Clerk, Potter, and others, that I begin to think 
 a fond father's notions are not all illusive, that our boy is 
 
28 STUDENTSHIP AT THE 
 
 in head what we have fondly found him in heart, and that 
 we ought to be proud of him." 
 
 Yet another Symphony, in D minor, was produced 
 at an Academy concert, December 3rd, 1831. At 
 another concert of the Institution, June 26th, 1833, 
 an Overture was performed, subject not stated ; Mac- 
 farren having been awarded, two days previously, a 
 bronze medal for improvement in pianoforte playing, 
 as well as for composition. On May 24th, 1834, an 
 Incantation and Elfin Chorus were produced. 
 
 In this same year, October 27th, one of his most 
 important early works was produced as the initial 
 piece at the first concert of a most useful society, then 
 recently founded, the Society of British Musicians. 
 This composition was the Symphony in F minor, and 
 Macfarren himself directed its performance. Con- 
 cerning this performance the " Athenaeum " of Novem- 
 ber 2nd thus wrote : — 
 
 " We were pleased and interested with Mr. Macfarren' s 
 Symphony — both from the youth of the composer, and the 
 enthusiasm and originality discernible throughout his work 
 — it gives good promise of excellence; the trio of the 
 minuet in particular struck us as full of fine bold fancy, 
 and the conclusion to the finale was at once clever and 
 animating. We are not, at this instant, able to remember 
 any work of similar length from the pen of a native writer 
 which has given us so much pleasure." 
 
 The trio here alluded to is for horns obbligati, with 
 interruptions by the full orchestra. The " conclusion 
 to the finale " is a coda in fugal style. The whole 
 Symphony is marked by the freshness and vigour of 
 youth, ably and soundly trained in the study of the 
 best models. 
 
nOYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC. 29 
 
 A further notice appeared, later on, of this same 
 Symphony, on its publication as a pianoforte duet:— 
 
 " It bears the transformation well, and is, as it was with 
 the full orchestra, an effective and interesting piece of 
 music. We Uke the slow movement least ; it is overloaded, 
 and the melody wants freshness. We have been much 
 pleased, in examining this composition, to find our fi^rst 
 judgment of its merits so well borne out." 
 
 It is regrettable that even this arrangement is now 
 difficult to obtain. 
 
 At another concert by the British Society, Decem- 
 ber 8th of the same year, a Cavatina by Macfarren 
 was produced. More important, however, was the 
 performance, by W. H. Holmes, at the Society^s 
 concert on November 2nd, 1835, of a Pianoforte Con- 
 certo in C minor by Macfarren, which the " Athenaeum " 
 characterized as ''careful and clever writing — very 
 neatly performed." 
 
 It is probable that the Overture performed at the 
 Academy concert in June, 1833, was the same that 
 was included in a concert given by Paganini, the 
 extraordinary violinist, on the 17 th of July in the 
 same year, in Drury Lane Theatre — an inclusion which 
 indicates that attention was already being aroused by 
 the young composer's manifest talent, outside the 
 Academy circle. The programme simply announces 
 it as " Grand Overture (MS.), Macfarren," It was 
 probably one in B, which was played more than once 
 at Academy concerts. 
 
 To the Academy studentship period also belongs 
 an Overture to the " Merchant of Venice," which was 
 performed by the Society of British Musicians, and 
 
30 STUDENTSHIP AT THE 
 
 which, in its pianoforte duet arrangement, was thus 
 noticed in the " Athengeum," August 22nd, 1835 : — 
 
 " The name, we fancy, is merely one of convenance, for 
 we find little of the story in the composition — but, setting 
 this aside, we were pleased with it when we heard it at the 
 concerts of the British Musicians : it is written in a sound, 
 nervous style, with due attention to contrast in orchestral 
 effects; and we rejoice to see the practice of such com- 
 positions gaining ground, (though but by inches) in Eng- 
 land. We want, however, more freshness of melody from 
 Mr. Macfarren; our remarks will equally apply to his 
 ' Switzer's Welcome,' a vocal round, and ' The Wanderer 
 who out-toils the Sun,' a cavatina for a soprano voice, both 
 of which were likewise performed at the concerts we have 
 just mentioned ; and to his three songs, ' I am free ! ' ' Give 
 me eyes that ne'er look sad,' and ' Say, wonld you curb the 
 butterfly ? ' from the farce of ' I and My Double ; ' we like 
 the second of these best." 
 
 The farce alluded to was by John Oxenford. 
 
 Macfarren, as well as many other rising composers, 
 William Sterndale Bennett, Charles Edward Horsley, 
 Thomas MoUeson Mudie, Henry Westrop, Edward 
 Perry, not forgetting Macfarren's own brother, still 
 among us, Mr. Walter Cecil Macfarren, owed much 
 to the opportunities for publicity, aa well as of hearing 
 their orchestral works, to this excellent Society, 
 which, however, from causes which this is not the 
 place to discuss, was dissolved in 1865. At a con- 
 vivial meeting of its members, November 24th, 1842, 
 Macfarren, called upon to respond to the toast, " the 
 composers of the Society," said that " whatever 
 position he now held in the musical world, and what- 
 ever good luck he had encountered throughout his 
 not unfortunate career as an artist, were wholly and 
 
ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC. 31 
 
 unequivocally owing to the Society of British Musi- 
 cians." Making all allowance for the pardonable 
 exaggeration stimulated by the surroundings of the 
 moment, there is no doubt of the sincerity of his 
 expressions of indebtedness, nor of the general truth 
 of the statement, with regard to himself and others. 
 
 A somewhat unique product of the Academy student 
 period of his life was the writing, in conjunction with 
 his fellow-student, William Sterndale Bennett, a move- 
 ment of a Pianoforte Concerto, the MS. score of which 
 is now in the possession of Mr. James Sterndale- 
 Bennett, by whose kindness I have been permitted to 
 examine it, and am able to trace the several portions 
 of the movement to their respective authorships. 
 
 The movement was performed by its composers at 
 the Academy; but the difficulty of performance on 
 the part of Macfarren, owing to his defective eye- 
 sight, probably led to the abandonment of the original 
 design to complete the Concerto. This, moreover, 
 was the last occasion on which he essayed even a 
 semi-public performance on his instrument; hence- 
 forth his career was that of a composer, and — as the 
 sequel will show — a theorist and instructor, in various 
 ways. 
 
 In the family record several times alluded to, 
 Macfarren thus writes concerning his distinguished 
 fellow-student : — 
 
 " With regard to Sterndale Bennett, my father had a 
 kind of jealousy, always considering him as a rival to me, 
 and neither having, nor seeking, a knowledge of his 
 remarkable power and truly exceptional merit._ In 1834 
 Bennett lent me the manuscript of his Capriccio in D 
 minor, which some time afterwards appeared as his first 
 
32 STUDENTSHIP AT THE 
 
 publication. I liked the piece greatly, and practised it 
 assiduously on the pianoforte. One phrase prevails 
 throughout the whole, the accent, if not the intervals, of 
 which is constantly repeated; my father shared not my 
 admiration, and, in order to exorcise this, which he con- 
 sidered to be an evil spirit that possessed me, he argued 
 that, even were the phrase as interesting as I protested it 
 to be, its manifold iteration failed to constitute an attrac- 
 tive work, and he said further that whatever the merit of 
 the first line of ' Paradise Lost,' its ceaseless repetition 
 throughout the twelve books of the poem would have been 
 intolerable. This line — 
 
 ' Of man's first disobedience and the fruit ' — 
 
 happens to fit the notes of Bennett's phrase, and the 
 derisive comparison was enhanced by his singing the 
 syllables and the notes again and again transposed, now 
 higher, now lower, till the patience of hearers was ex- 
 hausted, but the judgment of his antagonist was un- 
 changed." 
 
 An interesting reminiscence of his earnestness as a 
 student; and of his determination, not only to over- 
 come, but to turn to good account, difficulties that 
 would have baffled many less indefatigable workers, is 
 furnished by the method in which, as he himself would 
 relate, he studied the instrumentation of the great 
 masters. Orchestral scores being rare and expensive 
 in those his young days, he set himself to compile 
 them from the band parts, beginning at the bass ; and.- 
 he used to describe " the growing interest with which 
 he would watch the growing score, wondering what 
 was going to be above the last line written ; and then, 
 as he got higher, at last the key to it all appeared, 
 perhaps in the 'hautboys' (as he always insisted on 
 calling them) or flutes." Students nowadays, with 
 
ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC. 33 
 
 ft 
 
 Peters" and " Litolff" editions at so low a price, 
 have undoubtedly greater facilities for learning ; but 
 they lose the zest of curiosity which such a course as 
 that just described would furnish. The speculation 
 must have been delightfully exciting. 
 
 Macfarren's studentship in the Academy terminated 
 in the year 1836, having extended over a period of 
 more than six years. Some of his work during that 
 period, but not connected with the Institution, as well 
 as that following shortly afterwards, will more properly 
 be recorded in the next chapter. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Early Dramatic Compositions. Sojourn in the Isle 
 OF Man. 1831—1840. 
 
 AS has been intimatedj Macfarren wrote other 
 works during the period of his Academy student- 
 ship besides those already referred to — works specially 
 called forth in connection with his father's theatrical 
 activities, and collateral circumstances. To these, 
 therefore, it is now necessary to revert. Writing 
 about his father, he says : — 
 
 " The desire for theatrical management became again 
 rampant towards the close of 1830, when J. K. Chapm.an 
 was managing the theatre in Tottenham Street, and my 
 father made an offer to the proprietor which seemed so far 
 acceptable that the tenant was dislodged in his favour. 
 His notion was to make opportunity to exercise his own 
 power as a dramatist, to give me practice as a composer, 
 and to form a school for my brother John as a scene- 
 painter when he should be old enough to enter it. So 
 m^uch for private interest, while in public announcements 
 he professed a purpose of instituting a theatrical establish- 
 ment with higher aims than those of any existing minor 
 theatre — the title by which those were designated which 
 possessed not a patent, and they were restricted to have no 
 performances of what was styled the legitimate drama — 
 and he trusted thus to attract the best of middle class 
 society, and indeed to raise the character of the drama, 
 which, then, was at a sadly low standard. He changed the 
 
QUEEN'S THEATRE. 35 
 
 name of the place to the ' Queen's Theatre,' in honour of 
 William the Fourth's consort, whose accession, after a 
 very long period without a female bj the sovereign's side, 
 excited great public rejoicing. A house in a back street 
 was added to the theatre, the auditorium was reconstructed, 
 having the names of the Muses in as many panels on the 
 box fronts, and the busts of poets displayed on brackets. 
 Stanfield paiuted an act drop and presented it ' as a 
 token of friendship ' to the manager ; Winston accepted 
 the post of acting manager, which was the fact that gave 
 great reUabiUty to the scheme. Leitch, newly come from 
 Glasgow, paiated a scene on probation, and on its success 
 was engaged as painter to the establishment. It seems to 
 have been a fault in the design under which the new 
 venture was to be conducted, that several distinct com- 
 panies for opera, for melodrama, and for farce were 
 enlisted, which induced a heavy salary list, and, still 
 worse, so generalized the entertainment, that no special 
 attraction could ever prevail. To stamp the musical 
 character of the undertaking, advertisement was promi- 
 nently made that the building had been formerly the 
 ' King's Ancient Concert Eoom ; ' and to keep this in 
 countenance, the theatre opened with an adaptation by 
 my father of ' Acis and Galatea.' Its being an adaptation 
 was in accordance with the use of the time in regard to 
 musical works, which were never given on the English 
 stage completely. Two comic characters were accordingly 
 introduced, as also Ulysses, with two companions; the 
 part of Damon was omitted, as al^o the incident of the 
 metamorphosis of Acis, with the song that describes it, and 
 several pieces of music (Handel's, it is true) were inter- 
 polated. Spoken dialogue was inserted. Only by strong 
 persuasion could the adapter be induced not to re-write 
 the text of the songs, and he condensed the title into 
 ' Galatea,' with the excision of her lover's name. Having 
 regard to Mozart's additional accompaniments to ^Mes- 
 siah,' my father supposed new instrumentation indispen- 
 sable for the present work ; so, unaware that Mozart had 
 also wrought upon it, he applied to Miozart's pupil, Attwood, 
 to write parts for extra wind instruments, who, declining 
 the task, recommended Cipriani Potter, and he was therie- 
 
36 QUEEN'S THEATRE. 
 
 fore requested, and undertook to make the required 
 additions. . . . By my father's persuasive command I 
 wrote an Overture in D, which was played on the first 
 night. . . . The season was, as a whole, disastrously un- 
 successful : it exhausted the savings of my father's whole 
 career. . . . The theatre was closed for the summer. His 
 health was shaken, ... so he went, with me as com- 
 panion, to spend some weeks at a lodging .... in 
 Pickering Terrace, Paddington, which was then as seques- 
 tered as if it had been 100 miles from town, King 
 William's coronation was to be in September, and all the 
 theatres were to be opened free at the expense of govern- 
 ment on the night. Of great importance, therefore, was 
 to re-organize all arrangements so as to open again the 
 'Queen's' timely for the festivity, in order to secure the 
 receipts for one full house, and in hope to inaugurate 
 better fortune. A new, less costly, and less diverse 
 company was engaged; the band was reduced, and in 
 every department expense was lessened ; but as the 
 expenses, so the income; and the weekly payments were 
 impossible to meet." 
 
 After recounting the struggles that followed, he 
 continues : — 
 
 "An offer of an engagement with certain payment at 
 the ' Surrey ' tempted [my father] to quit Tottenham Street 
 at Christmas, where he left a pleasant memory with us all, 
 and he was succeeded in his stage-managership by Hooper, 
 light comedian." 
 
 It would seem, however, that the responsibility of 
 lesseeship still burdened him. 
 
 "All England, and London not the least, being in 
 feverish excitement about the Eeform Bill, my father 
 wrote and brought out a Christmas pantomime called 
 ' Harlequin Eeformer,' in which everything was reformed 
 but the fortunes of the theatre. Edward Wright, the low- 
 comedian, made his first entry on the stage at the ' Queen's,' 
 
SOJOURN IN THE ISLE OF MAN. 37 
 
 ■with an old stager, Mrs. Hooper, in ' The Maid of Switzer- 
 land,' a piece for which I wrote music ; that I should do 
 so having been the condition of its acceptance in January, 
 1832." 
 
 Later on, in 1834 probably, the father, then in 
 Milan with his daughter Sophy, who went thither for 
 singing study, wrote the libretto of an opera, " Carac- 
 tacus," on purpose for George to set to music, and a 
 large portion was set by him, but the book was 
 rejected by T. J. Serle, censor of plays, and stage 
 manager to S. J. Arnold, of the English Opera 
 House (now the Lyceum) , " on the ground of its 
 historical inaccuracy." 
 
 Disappointments and vicissitudes continued to 
 pursue the luckless manager and author, culminating 
 in an unsuccessful attempt at managership at the 
 Gravesend Theatre, in 1836, the year in which, as we 
 have seen, G. A. Macfarren's studentship at the 
 Academy terminated; and, on account of the un- 
 promising condition of affairs, he, with characteristic 
 and self-denying vigour and integrity of purpose, 
 determined to become a mainstay of the family instead 
 of a burden. In pursuance of this determination, he 
 severed himself from his Academy associations, and 
 other artistic and professional surroundings, with the 
 ambitions and hopes which they might well inspire in 
 a young and ardent nature, and accepted an engage- 
 ment to teach in a large school in the Isle of Man. 
 The principal opportunity that he there found of 
 exercising his artistic powers was furnished by an old 
 naval lieutenant, who used to play on the double-bass 
 the pedal part of Bach's Organ Fugues, Macfarren 
 playing that for the manuals on the pianoforte!. More- 
 
38 RETURN TO LONDON. 
 
 over, while in this voluntary exile, he received from 
 his father the book of " Craso the Forlorn/-' a serious 
 opera in one act, for him to set to music, which he 
 began to do, in the intervals of school teaching. Of 
 this effort, further mention will be made shortly. 
 
 As an instance of that command of resources, be 
 they extended, limited, or unusual, which indicates 
 thorough training, and of which, it may be mentioned, 
 in passing, the list of Mozart^s compositions affords 
 such various examples, the closing incident in Mac- 
 farren's Isle of Man career should here be related. It 
 illustrates, moreover, both (as happily expressed by 
 Mdlle. Gabrielle Vaillant) his " power of adapting 
 himself to his surroundings, and his amiability in never 
 refusing a request made earnestly." Before leaving 
 the island, he was asked to write an overture for his 
 farewell concert, which would bring into requisition 
 all the amateur performers in the place. On inquiry, 
 he found that the available instruments with their 
 players consisted of a few violins, one violoncello, 
 sixteen (?) flutes, one clarinet: voila tout! For this 
 singularly ill-balanced band, nevertheless, he wrote 
 the overture, and it was performed to the general 
 satisfaction — probably to the special satisfaction of 
 the performers. This was in 1837, in which year he 
 relinquished his engagement in the island, where 
 there was so little that could be congenial to his 
 artistic feelings and aspirations, and returned to Lon- 
 don. He was shortly afterwards appointed Professor 
 of Harmony and Composition at his Alma Mater, thd 
 Eoyal Academy of Music. 
 
 It was during the latter part of his studentship at 
 the Academy, or more probably immediately after its 
 
OVERTURE TO " CHEVY CHASE." 39 
 
 termination in 1836, that he composed an Overture 
 which has enjoyed continued reputation, and gained 
 at the time, and subsequently, distinguished success, 
 that entitled " Chevy Chase." It was written as the 
 prelude to a piece with that title by J. R. Planche, 
 which was produced on Easter Monday at Drury 
 Lane Theatre, when under the management of Alfred 
 Bunn, " Tom Cooke " being the director of the music. 
 Some incidental music being required for it, and Tom 
 Cooke not being ready even a week beforehand, he 
 asked Macfarren, who had previously written for him" 
 a march, a chorus, and various other pieces, to write 
 some; promising, moreover, that if an overture was 
 provided, as well as the incidental music, the young, 
 composer's name should appear in the bills. Not- 
 withstanding the short notice, Macfarren, nothing 
 daunted, and with self-reliance as a quick worker, 
 undertook to provide all that was asked for. The 
 incidental music consisted of a hunting chorus, a 
 chorus of nuns, and possibly more. But in the Over- 
 ture he determined to introduce the old English tune, 
 " Chevy Chase," which, however, he did not know, 
 or at least in connection with its name. He em- 
 ployed, I believe, his younger brother John to hunt it 
 up for him, his own time being very fully occupied 
 with the other music, as well as with teaching. On 
 the Friday preceding the Easter Monday, the tune 
 was discovered, and proved to be an old acquaintance. 
 Macfarren sat down and wrote the Overture in that 
 one night, so as to have it ready for copyists on Satur- 
 day morning. It was ready for rehearsal ; but, when 
 the composer went to the theatre, he found that in 
 the bills the music was stated to be "composed. 
 
40 OVERTURE TO "CHEVY CHASE." 
 
 selected, and arranged by Mr. T. Cooke/' Bunn 
 ignored Macfarren's claims, and simply threw all the 
 responsibility on Cooke ; in consequence of which the 
 aggrieved composer took his score away, indignant at 
 such a breach of faith. The whole incident illustrates 
 Macfarren's determination, his capacity for quick work- 
 ing, and his independence of character. 
 
 Probably Tom Cooke was little, if at all, blame- 
 worthily responsible for this contretemps; certainly 
 Macfarren retained no grudge against him, writing, in 
 after years, respecting circumstances in his father's 
 career : — 
 
 "Intimacy with Cooke began from this occasion, and 
 my father had many a pleasure in assisting his composer- 
 friend with verses, and experienced many a pleasantry 
 froni him, by no means the least of which were the kind- 
 nesses shown to me when I was enough advanced to profit 
 by them." 
 
 The Overture, however, was not to be lost to the 
 world. Six weeks later, January 7th (?), 1838, it was 
 performed with success at a concert of the Society of 
 British Musicians, being conducted by J. W. Davison, 
 the composer being then in the Isle of Man.^ And 
 not only did it become an accepted Concert-overture 
 in this country, but it was the first work by which 
 Macfarren was made known in Germany. In 1843, 
 Mendelssohn wrote to Macfarren about it ; though, by 
 a mistake of memory, he referred to it as " Rob Roy." 
 It was performed, under Mendelssohn's direction, at 
 one of the Gewandhaus Concerts ; and, in a letter 
 
 ' It was encored on that occasion of its first performance, as well 
 as at its subsequent production at a Philharmonic Concert. 
 
LETTER FROM MENDELSSOHN. 41 
 
 dated November 20th, 1843, the groat composer wrote 
 to Macfarren : — 
 
 " I must tell you that your overture went very well, and 
 was most cordially and unanimously received by the public ; 
 that the amateurs hailed it as a work which promised them 
 a great many treats to come, and which gave them such a 
 treat already ui itself ; that the orchestra played it with 
 true delight and enthusiasm ; in short, that it is sure to be 
 a favourite with all of them. I rehearsed and conducted 
 it with the greatest care, but now I am going to Berlin, 
 and shall not have the pleasure of introducing some of 
 your other compositions to the public this winter ; but I 
 left the whole of your music with the concert directors, 
 who -will forward it back to you after the end of the season, 
 and have promised me they will bring out at least one of 
 your other works, if not several, in the course of this 
 winter ; most probably it will be the Symphony. G-od 
 bless you, my dear Sir ; yes, God bless you from all my 
 heart, and be as happy in your life and in your art as I 
 shall always wish you to be. 
 
 " Very truly yours, 
 
 "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdt." 
 
 We now revert to the year 1837, in which Mac- 
 farren returned to London from the Isle of Man. 
 
 Daring the twenty-four years that had elapsed 
 since the time when our record began, music had 
 made great strides, both in this country and abroad ; 
 and the influences at work — the musical surroundings 
 amid which Macfarren now fairly started a metropolitan 
 and public career — demand notice. 
 
 The repertoire of music had been enriched, during 
 these years, by the production of some of Beethoven's 
 finest works— notably, the 7th Symphony (1813), first 
 performed in England at a Philharmonic Concert, 
 1817 J the 8th, and the 9th (Choral), expressly written 
 
42 ADVANCJEB STATE OF MUSIC. 
 
 for the Philharmonic Society, and performed at the 
 concert, March 21st, 1826 ; the Overture to " Fidelio " 
 in E (1814), first performed in England, as well as that 
 to " Coriolanus," by the Philharmonic Society, in 
 1817; Mass in D (1822, not performed in this country, 
 however, till 1846) ; " Ruins of Athens '•* Overture, 
 Op. 124 ; and several of his Sonatas, Quartets, and 
 other works. Moreover, his "Eroica " Symphony had 
 been heard for the first time in England in 1814; his 
 C minor Symphony also in 1816 ; Pianoforte Concertos 
 in 1822, 1824, 1825; Violin Concerto, 1832,— all for 
 the first time in England, and at concerts by the Phil- 
 harmonic Society. At these concerts, moreover, had 
 been produced, for ihe first time in England, Cheru- 
 bini''s " Anacreon " Overture, conducted by the com- 
 poser (1815); Hummel's Septet (1818) ; the Dramatic 
 Concerto for Violin by Spohr, who made his first visit 
 to this country in 1820, and played the Concerto him- 
 self, besides conducting his Symphony No. 2, com- 
 posed for the Society, and producing his Nonet; other 
 works of his being subsequently produced, viz.. Over- 
 ture in P (1821); Overture, " Jessonda " (1826); 
 Symphony in E flat (1828) ; Double Quartet (1829) ; 
 Overture to "Alchymist" (1831); "Weihe der Tone" 
 (1835); also Concertos and other works by Moscheles, 
 who made his first appearance in this country in 1821, 
 and whose long residence exerted so healthy an influ- 
 ence upon pianoforte playing among us, as well as 
 upon music generally; Concertos by Hummel, who 
 first appeared here in 1831; many works by Men- 
 delssohn (who first came to England in 1829, and in 
 that year played Beethoven's Concerto in E flat, its 
 first production here, at a concert by Drouet, the 
 
ADVANCED STATE OF MUSIC. -13 
 
 flautist), the worts first produced in this country by 
 the Philharmonic Society alone being his C minor 
 Symphony (1829) ; Overture to " Midsummer Night's 
 Dream " (1830) ; Overture, " Isles of Pingal," and 
 Concerto in G minor (1832) ; Italian Symphony and 
 " Trumpet'' Overture (1833) ; " Melusina'' Overture, 
 and Scena, " Infelice" (1834) ; "Calm Sea and Pros- 
 perous Voyage" Overture (1836). Bennett's Concertos, 
 in D minor (1836, when he made his first appearance 
 at the Philharmonic), and C minor (1836) ; and his 
 " Naiades " Overture (1837), had also been produced. 
 Such a record as this, by no means complete, will show 
 what a difierent musical atmosphere now prevailed 
 from that which characterized the period of Mac- 
 farren's birth. To the enrichment of the Art by all 
 these great works, and the powerful influence of the 
 frequent visits of Spohr and Mendelssohn, not to 
 mention that of Weber, must be added the foundation 
 and growth of the Eoyal Academy of Music, and the 
 healthy teaching therein given ; and many other cir- 
 cumstances not to be here detailed. 
 
 Into all this full tide of musical activity and ad- 
 vancement, Macfarren was fully equipped to enter, 
 with all the eagerness of an observant and receptive 
 mind, well-trained, and ready for work in the diversi- 
 fied ways that opened out to an energetic nature and 
 resolute will. He had studied well ; but his student- 
 ship did not cease with the termination of his academic 
 career — he was a diligent student and learner to the 
 very end of his life. 
 
 Of the opera commenced during his sojourn in the 
 Isle of Man, Macfarren writes : — 
 
 " [My father] extended ' Craso the Forlorn ' into two 
 
44 EARLY DRAMATIC COMPOSITIONS. 
 
 acts, regarding the operas of Mozart, Beethoven, and 
 Rossini as the standard of plan and limit of extent for 
 the construction of a lyrical drama, but having long 
 finales and other pieces of concerted music wherein the 
 principal action was embodied, interspersing these, accord- 
 ing to English use, with spoken prose, instead of the 
 recitative of the Italian lyrical drama. In its amplified 
 proportions the opera is called ' El MaleChor,' and I spent 
 the end of the year [1837] and much of 1838 in setting it 
 to music. His suggestions throughout the work as to the 
 laying out of the longer numbers, the declamation, and 
 the general expression of the words, and in the charac- 
 terization of the persons, were a priceless schooling in 
 dramatic composition. At the close of the two winter 
 theatres, some members of the company of each united in 
 a kind of joint-stock arrangement to open the English 
 Opera House [now the Lyceum Theatre] for the summer, 
 and to divide the receipts pro rata. T. Cooke was the 
 musical director, and Peake was the acting manager, 
 treasurer, and literary arbiter. To these two our new 
 opera was submitted, who respectively approved of its 
 music and libretto, and accepted it for production. I know 
 not whether my joy was greater that this my third attempt 
 at operatic composition was to come to a hearing, or that 
 my father's manifold disappointments were now to be re- 
 versed. The greater a joy, the severer may be its mis- 
 carriage, as was proved in this instance, for when the 
 company came to be practically organized, it was found to 
 comprise no baritone singer to whom the principal part 
 could be allotted, and hence our card palace fell to the 
 ground with all the picture sides downwards. To trace 
 the history of ' El Malechor ' to its close, let me say here, 
 that Bunn accepted the opera for production at Drury 
 Lane, in 1839, but his management collapsed before the 
 work was put in rehearsal ; in 1840, when John Barnett 
 and his non-relation Morris Barnett opened the St. James's 
 as an opera house, they accepted our piece, but their reign 
 ended on the first Saturday, so this third acceptance was 
 dishonoured; when Balfe opened the English Opera House 
 at Easter in the same year, he selected our piece to succeed 
 his own ' Keolanthe,' and now it was positively put in re- 
 
"JSZ MALECHOR." 45 
 
 hearsal, and foretold in the play-bills — nay, Henry Phillips, 
 who was to have sung the principal part, which is that of 
 a maniac, made an appointment to visit Bedlam to select 
 a subject for study among the patients, on which to found 
 his personation ; but now the season came to an untimely 
 end — the manager became bankrupt and went abroad, and 
 the opera had its ante-natal death, verifying too truly its 
 title of the ' Evil-Worker,' thus bringing disappointment 
 to everyone concerned with it. Some years later, Staudigl 
 took a fancy to the song of ' The Wrecker's Life,' and sang 
 it publicly, which is the only fragment of the opera that 
 has ever been heard," ^ 
 
 ' Balfe, as his biographer informs us, " actually assumed the 
 cares of management, and voluntarily faced the multitudinous 
 responsibilities of an impresario, who undertakes to satisfy the 
 fickle public, and a list of fashionable and exacting subscribers 
 into the bargain. This piece of complicated folly Balfe perpetrated 
 in the year 1841, when as lessee of the English Opera House he 
 commenced, amidst a multitude of favoiirable auguries, and under 
 the most august patronage, the young Queen herself having en- 
 
 faged a box for the season, the essay of establishing a National 
 in^ish Opera. The prospectus announced a new romantic opera 
 by Balfe himself, entitled ' Keolanthe ' ; but that the field was to 
 be open freely and fearle,ssly to all comers, was abundantly apparent 
 by the statement that George [Alex.] Macfarren, John Barnett, 
 Edward [James] Loder, and others were engaged in the preparation 
 of works which would follow in due succession. . . . For the space 
 of a year or more before Balfe's attempt to establish something 
 permanent in the shape of a National English Opera, there had 
 been no inconsiderable agitation carried on through the press, 
 among the musical profession and a certain number of persons 
 who put themselves forward under various signatures as patrons 
 and well-wishers of musical art in this country, with the same 
 object in view. . . . Letters appealed signed by some of the lead- 
 ing names of the day in connection with the subject, supporting or 
 throwing cold water on the scheme. Among the latter was ranged 
 the even then high-standing name of George [A.] Macfarren, whose 
 publicly expressed persuasion was that English musicians would 
 have no chance of attracting notice and patronage in their own 
 country, unless they formed a colony in some foreign city, and, by 
 publishing and performing their works there, obtained that stamp 
 of approval from European criticism and success, under the war- 
 ranty of which alone they would be accepted as deserving attention 
 at home. This sounded at the time, no doubt, as a very harsh and 
 exaggerated satire on England's mistrust of her native talent, but 
 the whole history of the movement and the fate of our leading 
 musicians have proved, what all who knew Macfarren were fully 
 
46 EARLY DRAMATIC COMPOSITIONS. 
 
 The opera opens with a spirited Overture in D 
 minor, six-four time. The introduction to the first 
 act consists firstly of a chorus and dance of villagers 
 celebrating the conclusion of the vintage, then of 
 various vocal pieces, with resumptions of the dance, 
 etc. This is followed by a duettino, a scene and 
 chorus, a duet termed an " Enigma," the words 
 commencing — 
 
 " O say, what's that which shines most bright, 
 
 Of solid worth, yet frail and light, 
 
 Most yielding, soft, yet hard to be controlled. 
 
 Most dearly bought when most pursued. 
 
 Most rarely caught, yet even then. 
 
 Most difficult to hold?" 
 
 the answer to which is " quicksilver; " and the second 
 stanza has a similar multiform inquiry, with the 
 answer — " a donkey." Then comes the capital song 
 alluded to by Macfarren, "The Wrecker's Life." 
 A " Storm Scene " follows, and then the finale to the 
 first act. The second act opens with a round and 
 chorus, to which succeed a series of vocal pieces, and 
 a not very long finale, — eighteen numbers in all.^ 
 
 We now arrive at an important event in our com- 
 poser's career, — one which seemed as though it would 
 
 aware of, that he had a very old head on young shoulders. Un- 
 
 fracious as the words seemed at the time, they have been fullv 
 orne out down to very recent times. Nevertheless, it was not 
 then, nor is it now, any reason for not trying to instill a deeper 
 interest and a stronger faith into the public mind and feeling in 
 the cause of an English school of music. It is the business of those 
 concerned to go on trying until they have succeeded in' making a 
 better position for themselves and their cause, etc "— Kennev's 
 JI/cmo«Vo/£a?/e, pp. 139, 143. Jvenneys 
 
 ' "The cut of an English opera is certainly very different from 
 a German one. The English is more a drama with songs etc " 
 — Letter of Weber to J. R. Planch^. ' 
 
" THE DEVILS OPERA." 47 
 
 prove the " tide . . . which, taken at the flood," 
 would " lead on to fortune." This was the actual 
 production, not, as has been seen, of " El Malechor," 
 but of an entirely new and rapidly produced opera, 
 bearing the infelicitous title, because of its infelicitous 
 subject, " The Devil's Opera," which had the result of 
 bringing Macfarren's name and abilities before the 
 public more prominently and favourably than any pre- 
 vious work. The circumstances of its incubation are so 
 graphically described by himself, that the account is 
 best given in his own words, following on the account 
 above given of " El Malechor " : — 
 
 " I will now return to 1838. Peake, [acting manager of 
 the English Opera Company,] knowing of my father's life- 
 long dramatic successes, promised that if he would submit 
 a plot of which the former could approve, he should be 
 trusted to put it into diction without further scrutiny, and 
 under assurance of its adoption, provided that Cooke gave 
 a favourable verdict of the music. On the strength of the 
 impracticable ' Malechor,' Cooke gave a similar guarantee 
 to me, with a like provision as to Peake and the plot. 
 Cuttiug to pieces had no more effect on my father's 
 vitality than on that of an eel, so he accepted the con- 
 ditions, and imdertook the construction of a piece with 
 parts for the persons who had positively embarked in the 
 scheme — Miss Eainforth, Mrs. Seguin, and Miss Poole ; 
 Eraser and Burnett, tenors ; Seguin and S. Jones, basses ; 
 and most particularly Wieland, the pantomimist, who was 
 notable for his diabolical and zoological impersonations. 
 On a radiant Sunday, June 3, my father and I walked up 
 and down Alfred Place for several hours, conjecturing 
 incidents, and welding them into a story, in all of which 
 the devil was necessarily conspicuous. Peake thought 
 highly of the program,^ and the librettist set ho2Jefully 
 io work. This was the process of gestation : he wrote at 
 
 > See Chap. VII. 
 
48 EARLY DRAMATIC COMPOSITIONS. 
 
 his text from bed-time till daylight, and then betook him 
 to rest, first awakening me, who pursued my cogitations in 
 those early summer mornings. When life was astir in the 
 streets, I went on my ordinary avocations, and three or 
 four times a week John Hullah came to our lodgings to 
 try over the music that had been written since his last 
 visit. The English Opera House did not succeed. The 
 company was compounded of singers and actors, each of 
 whom regarded the unattractiveness of the other party as 
 the cause of failure. Money was not fluent, small dividends 
 were paid, and general anarchy was consequent. The 
 finished libretto of ' The Devil's Opera ' was delivered while 
 the music was still in progress ; the parts were copied and 
 handed to the persons for whom they were designed ; and 
 each of these, ignorant of the context, took no interest in 
 the detached speeches assigned to him, especially Wieland, 
 who, though the principal personage, was to be mute 
 throughout, and whose whole part, therefore, was com- 
 prised on a single leaf, came up to us one nioming on the 
 stage, protesting that he had nothing to do in the piece, 
 and he therefore declined to do it. Ever irresistibly per- 
 suasive, my father induced him , to come and hear the 
 music. He was patiently attentive until the scene of his 
 own entrance, and this interested him so much, that he 
 pushed aside the table, and went through the action 
 experimentally, in which he succeeded so well to his own 
 satisfaction, that he admitted the eloquence of this part 
 without words. He had to act a monkey in the after- 
 piece, and was therefore obliged to leave us. My father 
 and John presently followed him, while I went to an 
 Academy ball. When I returned at 3 o'clock, they 
 started up to greet me ; they had found the whole com- 
 munity of the theatre in a state of fever at Wieland' s 
 report, and it was decided with acclamations that t;he 
 piece should be read on the morrow (the reading of a 
 piece to the actors concerned was always preliminary to 
 its otherwise preparation), and forthwith put in rehearsal. 
 Everybody but S. Jones was pleased with his or her own 
 part, and this worthy had a conviction as deep as his own 
 voice that he was a neglected genius who was maliciously 
 frustrated of every opportunity. From that occasion till 
 
''THE DEVirS OPERA" 49 
 
 the closing of the theatre, I attended a rehearsal every 
 day, the necessity for which eternal preparation is thus 
 explainable. Mapleson, the copyist (father of the ItaUan 
 Opera adventurer), refused to continue the transcription 
 of the music, until paid for writing the first two scenes — 
 an impracticable event, under the state of the treasury. 
 Practice was thus delayed till arrangements could be 
 made with Goodwin that he should copy the parts on 
 risk, and be paid a nightly guinea for their use throughout 
 the run of the opera. When the study was nearly com- 
 pleted, the choristers, discontented with their quota, de- 
 manded payment in full, which being impossible, they 
 deserted. New delay was until a new chorus could be 
 enticed into the scheme, with whom the task of teaching 
 had to begin afresh. At length, Monday, Angust 13th, 
 was fixed for a first performance. On the 12th the over- 
 ture was finished, and given over to the mercies of the 
 copyist as we went down to a night rehearsal, which was 
 the last, in order that the singers might not be fatigued 
 on the morning before the evening of performance. I 
 depended greatly on Cooke, (my father's friend of 
 twelve years, and my own, on all occasions when he could 
 serve me,) for support as leader of the band. On the 
 morning I learned of his serious illness, by which he was 
 confined to bed for many weeks. When I entered the 
 orchestra to conduct the opera, the subaltern violinist who 
 was emergently promoted to leadership, and who had 
 primed himself with stimulants for his new and nervous 
 position, begged me to let the overture be slow, or he 
 would not be able to see, much less to play the notes — 
 which prayer so moved my spleen, that I took the pre- 
 viously untried music at fullest speed, and the consequent 
 spirit may have compensated for the inaccuracy of the 
 rendering. On the next morning when all met to ex- 
 change congratulations, the Seguins announced that they 
 had signed to start for America in a fortnight ; so others 
 had to be found to take their places. George Lejeune (the 
 son of our Queen's Theatre friend) and Priscilla Horton 
 were the philosopher's stones of the occasion, on whose 
 account rehearsals had to be renewed. Scarcely were 
 they launched in their parts, than Eainforth took a 
 
50 i:arly dramatic compositions. 
 
 country engagement for certain pay ; so Horton was pro- 
 moted to her part, and Mrs. Serle was her successor in 
 that of Mrs. Seguin. Anon Burnett was struck hoarse, so 
 further rehearsal was needed with his substitute, Mears 
 by name. On one night Wieland met with a violent hurt 
 that disabled him, so a deputy devil had to be practised for 
 the following evening ; and on the very last night but one of 
 the season, Eraser had a quarrel with the stage manager, 
 who so disfigured him by a blow in the eye that he could 
 not show himself for a week. Should then the theatre be 
 closed at once? No! Shrival, a tenor still unknown to 
 fame, who was yearning for Opportunity to woo that fickle 
 mistress, volunteered to fill Fraser's part, if I would teach 
 him the notes. We went home accordingly and practised 
 all night, and so on till noon, when we met the band for 
 the latest, last rehearsal. . . . Notwithstanding the success 
 of ' The Devil's Opera,' no music-seller would undertake 
 the publication of the music, until F. Hill, the flutist in 
 the band of the theatre, proposed that his father, a double- 
 bass player, who had a long-established music shop in 
 Regent Street, should print the most applauded numbers, 
 and pay me a royalty upon them ; he, the son, deploring 
 that what was well received in performance should be 
 inaccessible in print, and the firm having no funds where- 
 with to pay a sum for the copyright, and he also having 
 the friendly feeling of a fellow- student, which he was 
 willing to gratify when it interfered not with his own 
 interest. ... In the summer of 1839, another joint-stock 
 company, of which Balfe was then chairman, had posses- 
 sion of the English Opera House. Like their predecessors, 
 they failed to draw large audiences, which prompted some 
 of the wisest among them to propose the reproduction of 
 the piece which had brought success to last year's under- 
 taking, and accordingly ' The Devil's Opera ' was given 
 again, with as much applause as before, and played for twelve 
 more successive nights. The good effect of this elicited a 
 proposal from the management for another work from the 
 same hands, and accordingly ' Don Quixote ' was planned 
 and begun, but the season collapsed while the composition 
 of the first finale was in progress. The subject was chosen 
 in deference to Eraser's constant complaint that tenors were 
 
" THE DEVIL'S OPERA." 51 
 
 always doomed to maudlin sentimentality, and supposition 
 was that he might distinguish himself in heroic representa- 
 tion as the Don. Also in the first design Balfe was to be 
 fitted with Basilius, and Miss Eainforth with Quiteria. 
 
 " In 1840, when, as already said, Balfe managed the 
 theatre on his own account, and when ' El Malechor ' was 
 in preparation, the composition of ' Don Quixote ' was 
 resumed, with the alteration for a contralto of what had 
 been written for a soprano part to suit Miss Edwards, who, 
 however, came not then forward, but appeared some years 
 later at Her Majesty's, and was for a while notable as 
 Mademoiselle Eavanti. The work was again laid aside 
 tUl 1845, when it was once more resumed, but musically 
 quite reconstructed to fit the part of Basilius for Allen's 
 high tenor voice, and that of Don Quixote for LefQer's 
 baritone ; and in this shape it was offered to Maddox for 
 the Princess's, who did not accept it, and finally it was 
 produced under Bunn at Drury Lane, February 3rd, 1846, 
 with Miss Rainforth, for whom the original music was 
 restored, AUen as Basilius, and Weiss as Don Quixote ; it 
 being the first dramatic piece by my, father which was 
 performed since his death." 
 
 This extract anticipates the production of " Don 
 Quixote/' which will be subsequently referred to ; but 
 it has been thought better to give the extract entire, 
 as it is involved with the account of "The Devil's 
 Opera." 
 
 The rapid production of "The Devil's Opera," 
 " begun, rehearsed, and finally brought out within a 
 month," was no solitary instance of extraordinary 
 energy on the part of the composer, nor was it mani- 
 fested under favourable circumstances of leisure, but 
 while engaged in professional toil of uncongenial 
 kind. An incident took place which may illustrate 
 the unflagging industry that always characterized 
 him. He was at this time residing in North Ores- 
 
52 EARLY DRAMATIC COMPOSITIONS. 
 
 cent, and had a pupil at Wimbledon Park. There 
 were then no such facilities of transit as those which we 
 now enjoy, nor were fares so low as to be of small 
 consideration to a struggling young professor, whose 
 terms were unavoidably not high. The coach fare 
 was high, and, moreover, the coach only made the 
 journey twice a day, at times that would not fit the 
 appointment. On one of the days fixed for a rehearsal 
 of the opera at noon, the conscientious teacher rose 
 before dawn, walked to Wimbledon, and, his lesson 
 over, started on foot to return in all haste to town. 
 The heat of the sun was overpowering j and, as he 
 passed over Putney Bridge, he hailed a man in a cart 
 which had just overtaken him, and asked if he would 
 kindly give him "a lift." The reply was a brutal 
 Volley of oaths, and the carter drove on : the musician 
 walked. "However," said the professor, in relating 
 the incident, " I reached the Opera House in time for 
 the rehearsal which I was to conduct." The fee for 
 the lesson was seven shillings and sixpence ! 
 
 At the production of " The Devil's Opera," in 1838, 
 the resources of the establishment, both orchestral and 
 choral, being very limited, several of Macfarren's old 
 fellow- students, including William Dorrell, the (hap- 
 pily) still living and respected professor of the piano- 
 forte, augmented those resources, during the first 
 week of its run of fifty or sixty nights, by playing in 
 the band gratuitously. 
 
 It was during the run of this successful opera that 
 Macfarren's acquaintance commenced with Benedict, 
 then recently settled in this country, who came behind 
 the scenes to compliment the composer. 
 
 The Overture to " The Devil's Opera " is in per- 
 
''THE DEVIL'S OPERA." 53 
 
 fectly regular form, almost Mozartean, indeed, with 
 first and second subjects, and the usual " free fantasia " 
 development, recapitulation, and animated coda. Prior 
 to the second subject, a figure is introduced indi- 
 cating the entry of the malevolent being from whom 
 the opera takes its name, and so used, at appropriate 
 situations, in the course of the work. (Would that 
 his approach were always thus announced, to warn 
 tempted souls of their danger !) The introduction 
 to the first act is a Fair scene at St. Mark's, including 
 a chorus of traders, a monfrina (national dance of the 
 Venetian peasantry), which two, in two-four and six- 
 eight time respectively, are, in the climax, brought 
 together, etc. The trio for female voices, " Good 
 night I" opens in canonic (or round) form, after the 
 manner of the opening quartet in " Fidelio," and is 
 full of alternate tenderness and humour. The vocal 
 solos, etc., are natural and graceful, with little or nothing 
 to call for any criticism on the ground of bizarrerie. 
 
 " To recount the plot of the piece," said the " Musical 
 World," August 16th, 1838, "would be to go through the 
 juggleries of a pantomime. It is intended, we are told, to 
 satirize the mania, caught from mystic Germany, for the 
 improbable and supernatural. But the satire is either 
 very covert, or so transparent, as to cheat the eyes. The 
 same doubtful character pervades the mu^ic of the opera. 
 The composer seems to have hesitated as to whether he 
 should incline to the huffo or the serio style, in his accom- 
 paniments to the pranks of II Biavoletto. Hence arise want 
 of unity, and defective keeping." 
 
 Later on, the same periodical wrote :— 
 
 " Mr. Macfarren appears to us to be far from an ordiilary 
 dramatic composer. He is well versed in effects, and shows 
 
54 EARLY DRAMATIC COMPOSITIONS. 
 
 a fondness for surprising chords, which, though they at 
 first appear questionable, generally yield to examination." 
 " There is altogether more novelty and talent in ' The 
 Devil's Opera' than in any native dramatic work that has 
 come under our notice." 
 
 " The Athenseum " of August 18th, after severely 
 and contemptuously condemning the libretto, pro- 
 ceeds : — 
 
 " It is useless to spealr further of the book : — the music, 
 which is by Mr. Gr. A. Macfarren, offering us something 
 better to descant on. Though evidently requiring the cor- 
 rector's pen, here to prune, there to work out — it gives fair 
 indications of a sprightliness and vein of melody which 
 may be turned to account in future comic operas. Mr. 
 Macfarren is ambitious of success on the grandest possible 
 scale ; he has worked throughout, not merely as if he were 
 sure of finding a first-rate orchestra corps and chorus to 
 execute his compositions, but as if he possessed sufiicient 
 grasp to find them all in due employment ; — hence, 
 complicated finales — wearisome incantation scenes — over- 
 scored airs, &c. — to all these we preferred the trio for the 
 three ladies, in which Miss Poole deserved the highest 
 praise for her neat and intelligible enunciation of English 
 words, set nearly as rapidly as the Italian ones in Piora- 
 vanti's 'Amor, perche mi pizzicM?' It gives us pleasure 
 also to praise the lively drinking duet between Mr. Burnett 
 and Mr. Seguin, etc." 
 
 Some of this criticism may be accepted with re- 
 serve, when it is remembered that, not very long prior 
 to this same period, in a prominent musical periodical, 
 since described as " the best musical periodical ever 
 published in England," " The Harmonicon," the pro- 
 nouncement was given that Beethoven^s " Pastoral 
 Symphony" : — " only wants abridgment, particularly 
 in the andante, to make it welcome to all lovers 
 
EMBLEMATICAL TRIBUTE. 55 
 
 of grand orchestral performances. . . . Why, for the 
 purpose of rendering it popular, it should not be 
 shortened, we cannot divine." And again : — " The 
 almost interminable Symphony of Beethoven in A has 
 one redeeming movement, that in A minor, which 
 cannot be too highly praised ... it may be compared 
 to a pleasant member of a disagreeable family, etc." 
 " The first movement [of Beethoven's Symphony in F] 
 is exceedingly bizarre and anything but agreeable " ! 
 
 A jubilee performance of "The Devil's Opera" was 
 given at Taunton by the Philharmonic Association, 
 under the zealous direction of Mr. T. J. Dudeney, at 
 the Taunton College of Music, on the 13th of August, 
 1888. The performance was successful, although the 
 libretto was, as in the first instance, condemned, and 
 some of the music was, by provincial critics, esteemed 
 out of date. 
 
 ' Although not in immediate chronological sequence 
 virith that which has just been related, the following 
 account, from Macfarren's pen, of one of his rapidly- 
 produced compositions for the theatre may be appro- 
 priately introduced here : — 
 
 " The Queen was to be married on Tebruary 10th, 1840. 
 On the 6th, remarkably proximate to the coming event, my 
 father conceived the thought of celebrating the wedding, 
 and hastened to put his conception into being by calling on 
 Hammond, the manager of Drury Lane, with a proposal to 
 write an appropriate Masque for performance on the occa- 
 sion. The lessee applauded the proposal, but declared the 
 impossibility of carrying it into effect within the limited 
 time, alleging that Planch^ and Bishop were known to have 
 been occupied for several weeks on a similar work for 
 Covent Garden which was not yet ready. My father urged 
 that the slow motion of the planets controlled not the 
 
56 EABLY DRAMATIC COMPOSITIONS. 
 
 velocity of a comet ; and straightway proved the practica- 
 bility of his project by having a committee called of Mar- 
 shall, the scene painter, with the maker of costumes, the 
 property maker, and other functionaries, whose activity 
 would be needed were the work to be undertaken. He set 
 forth his design so plausibly and persuasively that each 
 person believed himself capable of the share in the work 
 proposed for him , and each one promised accordingly. 
 ' But who will write the book ? ' said Hammond. ' I will,' 
 said the proposer. ' And who will write the music ? ' ' My 
 son.' Thereupon the idea was accepted, and at 10 on that 
 Thursday night my father came to tell me for the first 
 time of the design, and of the part in its fulfilment which 
 he had insured for me. Never strongly self-reliant, my 
 doubt of my capability was made certain to me by my 
 necessity to leave home at 7 a.m. on the morrow for 
 a day's teaching in the country, whence I should not return 
 till evening. I was bound, however, to go to him on my 
 way home, and this I did with conviction confirmed that 
 the task was wholly beyond me. I found him with the 
 libretto of 'The Emblematical Tribute' finished. He had 
 been to the theatre in the early morning with a working 
 plot for each member of the last night's committee, accord- 
 ing to which they all entered on their duties. I went home 
 desperate, and very soon fell asleep over the perusal of the 
 verses. Saturday morning found me no more hopeful of 
 my powers, so I went to him, insisting that I should be 
 exempted from certain miscarriage. Deaf to my protest, he 
 took me first to Hammond, as an assurance of my readiness 
 and wUlingness, and next to my lodgings, where he re- 
 mained by my side throughout that day and night, and 
 Sunday and its night, suggesting, encouraging, approving 
 and correcting, until 8 a.m. on Monday, when the last 
 sheet of my score was given to the copyist, who had come 
 every four hours in the interim for fresh relays of manu- 
 script. If fast mean rapid, we both must have slept very 
 fast for the next hour ; we were wakened to a hasty break- 
 fast, and then hurried to the theatre for the 10 o'clock 
 rehearsal. The public were to be admitted freely to the 
 evening' s perform ance, as provided by government liberality, 
 and tickets for the same were issued at the box ofiice in 
 
EMBLEMATICAL TRIBUTE. 57 
 
 the morning. Many thousands of persons more than the 
 house would hold applied for these, and the adjacent streets 
 were thronged with clamouring crowds. At each of the 
 approaches an emissary was appointed, who knew the looks 
 of those who were connected with the theatre, one of whom 
 met us and directed our way to the back of the house, where 
 an iron railing had been withdrawn and a ladder placed, 
 which reached by the green-room window, and through the 
 aperture, and up the ladder everybody concerned made 
 entrance. A roll-call ensued, to which we all answered, 
 and then, the ladder being removed, Hammond addressed 
 us thus : ' Tou cannot jump out of window, the front of 
 the house is locked, and 20,000 persons are storming at the 
 stage-door, so to leave the theatre is impossible, and you 
 must therefore rehearse the piece again and again till it 
 goes.' Under this compulsion the work began, and was 
 continued till late in the afternoon, and when my father 
 and John (who had been at work in the painting room) 
 and I sallied out, I did indeed feel that the task was ended. 
 ' Certainly not,' said my imperturbable father ; ' you must 
 now go and sell the copyright,' and thrusting me into a 
 cab, ordered the driver to proceed to Bond Street. AU 
 shops were closed by virtue of the holiday, and I was driven 
 from one to another without finding its owner, tUl I went 
 to that of Lavenu, a former fellow-student, a violoncello 
 player and composer, who exceptionally dwelt on the pre- 
 mises, and by fortunate accident was at home. He agreed 
 to give 25 guineas for the right of printing, and fulfilled 
 his agreement, though he only published two numbers, 
 whereas Hammond, who had engaged to pay 50 for the 
 acting right, became bankrupt, and paid nothing. The 
 piece occupied 45 miuutes, throughout which the music was 
 uninterrupted, and it was played for a fortnight. The 
 Covent G-arden piece did not appear till after ours was laid 
 to rest, and then it had no longer a career than its precursor 
 had enjoyed." 
 
 The Overture to " Eomeo and Juliet/' belongs to 
 this period of Macfarren's productive activity, having 
 been composed, probably, about the year 183.6, and 
 
58 EARLY DRAMATIC COMPOSITIONS. 
 
 performed at a Concert of the Society of British 
 Musicians, either at the close of that year, or at the 
 commencement of 1837. It seems not to have been 
 so successful at its first production as it subsequently 
 became ; but it was reproduced by the same Society 
 in 1838, and pronounced "highly honourable to the 
 British School of instrumental music." In 1840, it 
 appeared as a pianoforte duet, dedicated to Sterndale 
 Bennett, and was declared to be an " exquisite com- 
 position, deserving European celebrity." It subse- 
 quently became the acknowledged precursor of the 
 play, when put upon the stage. At the performances 
 of "llomeo and Juliet " at the Haymarket Theatre, 
 about forty years since, when the Misses Cushman 
 impersonated the lovers, this Overture was so used; 
 and those ladies took it to America and elsewhere, 
 for a like purpose. When the Overture was per- 
 formed at a concert at the Hanover Square Eooms, 
 November 21st, 1842, it was spoken of, by a critic of 
 the time, as " a noble piece of dramatic art . . . by 
 ... an Englishman, and, tJiough an Englishman, 
 one of the most accomplished musicians in Europe." 
 The composer's synopsis of the intent and purpose of 
 the work is as follows : — 
 
 " The following points of the play suggested this Over- 
 ture: — The Montagues and Capulets — the Nurse — the 
 Lovers and their passion — Mercutio — the Feud — the In- 
 terdiction — Mercutio wounded — the entombment of Juliet 
 — Eomeo at the Grave — the catastrophe." 
 
 The "Atlas " of November 27th, thus spoke of the 
 same performance : — 
 
OVERTVRE TO ''ROMEO AND JVLIET." C9 
 
 " Mr. Macfarren's Overture is one of those ,deep in- 
 spirations that cannot be imexceptionally sympathised 
 "with on a first or even a second hearing. "When we heard 
 it four or five years since, we confess it puzzled us to 
 define our own impressions as to its merits. We had a 
 vague feeling of grandeur, mingled with floating strains 
 of beautiful melody, indefinite notions of startling pro- 
 gressions, fine and novel harmonies, and noble orchestral 
 effects — but altogether it was a semi-confusion which 
 disturbed our brain with a sort of ollapodrida of pleasure 
 and pain, that for the life of us we could not make in- 
 telligible. At each successive hearing, however, this 
 mystic indefinity resolved itself more and more clearly, 
 and last Monday — whether from its admirable perfor- 
 mance, united to the co-enthusiasm of the audience and 
 the members of the orchestra, or whether our duLaess has 
 been favoured by some unseen power with total and 
 unsophisticated illumination-^Mr. Macfarren's Overture 
 emerged from its quondam obscurity, and fairly dazzled 
 our senses with excess of light. Our present notion 
 (now unalterable, because born of experience) is, that 
 it is assuredly, in all respects — as a picturesque poem 
 — as a philosophical development of profound passion 
 — as a splendid specimen of orchestral writing — or as 
 a simple piece of music — one of the most remarkable 
 productions of modern art in any country; and we fear- 
 lessly predict the near approach of the time when no 
 other opinion will obtain with competent musicians in 
 respect of it;" 
 
 This verdict was so far fulfilled thatj notwith- 
 standing the withdrawal of the work from public 
 performance by the composer, during the latter 
 years of his life, it was included in the programme 
 of the Philharmonic Society's Concert, April 19th, 
 1888. 
 
 Mention may also be made of a much earlier 
 Shakespearian Overture, " The Merchant of Venice," 
 
60 EARLY DRAMATIC COMPOSITIONS. 
 
 ■which was composed, perhaps, daring his Academy 
 Student days, and performed both at Academy 
 and British Concerts. A duet arrangement of it 
 is " gratefully dedicated to his Master, Cipriani 
 Potter." 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Peksonal Acquaintance with Macpaeren. Some op 
 HIS Early Compositions. His Opinion op Dussek. 
 His First Critical Article. Introddction to 
 Mendelssohn. Views on Ehtthm. 1838 — 1842, etc. 
 
 MY own earliest recollections of the subject of 
 this memoir extend to about the year 1838 
 or 1839, when he used frequently to visit my father, 
 doubtless in connection with the progress and publi- 
 cation of some compositions for the violoncello with 
 pianoforte which my father, a violoncellist in full 
 practice, had commissioned him to write. My father 
 was somewhat discerning in the matter of rising talent, 
 and was also conscientiously sensible of the responsi- 
 bility to recognize and encourage it, so far as in him 
 lay, as various young artists would have testified, most 
 readily. I do not know what the honorarium was for the 
 works supplied by Macfarrenj not large, probably. But, 
 many years afterwards, he related to me, when speak- 
 ing of the trait in my father's character to which I 
 have alluded, how proudly he went home with the 
 thought that, at last, he had a commission to write 
 something for publication ! This, as we have already 
 seen, was not the occasion of first publication of any 
 composition of his, but, he told me, was the first 
 commission that he received from a publisher, my 
 father, however, only publishing in a private way. 
 
62 ACQUAINTANCE WITH MACFARREN. 
 
 without any warehouse, but at his own residence, 
 works adapted for use in his own particular branch of 
 the profession. The compositions supplied by Mac- 
 farren, were Three Eondos, " dedicated to his friend 
 H. J. Banister," and Twelve Ariettes, with Pianoforte 
 accompaniment — charmingly spontaneous effusions, as 
 I used to think in my youth, when I accompanied my 
 father in them.^ I find the following notice of the 
 Ariettes in a short-lived periodical of a much later 
 date than that of their publication. The passage that 
 I have italicized is amusing enough as implying that 
 unelaborated purity and fresh simplicity are not 
 " marks of the musician " ; — 
 
 " Twelve Ariettas for the Violoncello, with, an accompani- 
 ment for the Piano-forte, by Gr. Alexander Macfarren, bear 
 evidence of being an early work, though replete with the 
 prettiest thoughts conceivable. These twelve ariettas are 
 all very short and simple melodies--- as fresh as violets just 
 gathered, and as unpretending as young girls before they 
 have been introduced into that gallery of pictures — that 
 receptacle for strange noises — that stronghold of hoUow- 
 ness and impudent pretension — the world. They are, 
 indeed, very innocent, and very charming moreover ; — few 
 marhs of the musician characterize their progress, but the 
 feeling of the poet and enthusiast accompanies them Ohrough- 
 out. For an evening's quiet amusement, between an 
 amateur of the violoncello and an amateur of the piano, we 
 could recommend nothing more fitting than these unobtru- 
 sive ariettas." — Musical Examiner, Nov. 11, 1843. 
 
 Macfarren himself, in his turn, was, always ready to 
 help on young aspirants. Not very long after the period 
 JQst referred to, he kindly offered to lend me some of 
 Diissek's Sonatas, as being good material for reading 
 
 ' These early, fresh compositions are now published by Messrs. 
 Keith, Prowse, and Co. 
 
ACQUAINTANCE WITH MACFARREN. 63 
 
 at sight, as well as for regular practice ; and I well 
 remember calling for them, when he lodged in Alfred 
 Place, Bedford Square, that he made inquiries about 
 my musical studies, and appointed a day for me to go 
 and play to him, which I nervously did, and received 
 valuable suggestions from him. It is with pleasure 
 and pardonable self-congratulation that I also think 
 of the many occasions in after years when he esteemed 
 me not unworthy to be his fellow- worker, in examina- 
 tions, and in other departments ; and in various ways 
 recognized my professional, artistic, and literary work. 
 Thus, for instance, when, years afterwards, I sent 
 to him my " Lectures on Musical Analysis," and, 
 about a month later on, my " Musical Art and Study," 
 both published in the summer of 1887, I received 
 from him this very friendly letter : — 
 
 "7, Hamilton Terrace, N.W. 
 " June 12th. 
 " Mt deae Banistee, 
 
 "I waited to gain some insight into your Lectures 
 before I would thank you for the gift of the book ; and 
 now here is your ' Art and Study,' which claims also my 
 acknowledgment. Of the first I can say that it meets 
 what you know I consider to be an important requirement, 
 and I think meets it in such a way as to render it clear 
 to everybody. I am glad that you allude to me as a 
 fellow-worker on the same subject, and I am sure that the 
 more of us give our best energies to its exposition, the 
 more will it gain the respect it deserves, since each of us 
 helps to confirm what may be stated by his friends. I 
 doubt not that the second book has a like claim to regard, 
 • tout I cannot just yet make its acquaintance. 
 
 " With best wishes for their wide circulation, I am 
 " Tours faithfully, 
 
 "G. A. Macfaeeen." 
 ■"H. C. Banister, Esq." 
 
64 HIS OPINION OF DVSSEK. 
 
 Though out of chronological order, I may yet be 
 allowed to insert here another letter, bearing upon the 
 same subject, which the Professor wrote to me soon 
 after my reading, at the Musical Association, a paper 
 on " Some of the Underlying Principles of Structure 
 in Musical Composition," May 2nd, 1881 : — 
 
 "7, Hamilton Terrace, N.W. 
 
 " 9<A September. ' 
 
 "Mt dear Banister, 
 
 " The volume of ' The Musical Association ' has enabled 
 me to hear your paper from print, the public reading of 
 which I was unable to attend. It pleases me very greatl)% 
 and I wish it may have many readers, for the sake of the 
 good efEect it is capable of producing. I concur fully id 
 your views, and these are so happily expressed as to make 
 them interesting even to readers who have small knowledge 
 on the subject. Let me then thank you for casting a bright 
 light on an important matter. 
 
 " Yours with friendly regards, 
 . " G. A. Macfarren." 
 
 Having mentioned his recommendation, and loan 
 to me, — a great boon I found it ! — of Dussek's 
 Sonatas, I may here quote his opinion of that neg- 
 lected composer, whose title to be called a genius 
 has even been denied by a recent critic. Macfarren's 
 opinion is thus expressed in the " Imperial Dictionary 
 of Biography " : — 
 
 " The immense amount of Dussek's compositions for the 
 pianoforte have by no means equal merit ; many of them 
 were written for the mere object of sale, still more for the 
 purpose of tuition, and some with the design of executive 
 display. Of those which were produced, however, in the 
 true spirit of art, expressing the composer's feelings in his 
 own unrestrained ideas, there exist quite enough to stamp 
 him one of the first composers for his instrument ; and 
 
HIS OPINION OF DUSSEK. 65 
 
 while tliese are indispensable in the complete library of the 
 pianist, they are above value to the student in the develop- 
 ment of his mechanism and the formation of his style. A 
 strong characteristic of the composer is his almost redun- 
 dant profusion of ideas ; but his rich fecundity of invention 
 is greatly counterbalanced by diffuseness of design, result- 
 ing from the want of that power of condensation, by means 
 of which greater interest is often given to less beautiful 
 matter. Excess of modulation is no equivalent for con- 
 trapuntal fluency, and thus the works of this master would 
 form a bad model for one who possessed not his exquisite 
 sentiment and his exhaustless treasures of melody. Some 
 of the best of his works are the Concerto in Gr minor, the 
 Sonatas dedicated to Haydn, the Quintet, the Quartet, and, 
 above all, the Sonatas entitled ' The Invocation,' ' The 
 Farewell,' ' Plus Ultra,' and ' The Harmonic Elegy.' " 
 
 In an analysis of the above-mentioned Quintet, 
 written for the programme of Mr. "Walter Macfarren's 
 third concert, June 11th, 1861, the Professor remarks, 
 respecting Dussek's settlement in this country, in 
 1789 :— 
 
 " Here his remarkable merits found prompt apprecia- 
 tion, dementi had prepared the world to comprehend a 
 talent of the highest order, exercised, creatively and prac- 
 tically, in the development of the resources of the then 
 new instrument, the pianoforte ; and Dussek's genius 
 enabled him to surpass the utmost effect his predecessor 
 had produced, by the melodious sweetness of his phrase- 
 ology, and the mellow fulness of his tone, both of which 
 qualities of composition, and performance, he superadded 
 to the other charms of dementi's music, and playing. . . . 
 The deep feeling that characterizes his music, expressed in 
 the tender passion of his melody, and the glowing richness 
 of his harmony, entitles him to be ranked very high among 
 the composers for his instrument ; and when we turn to 
 his works from those of his best esteemed successors, we 
 trace in them, not only the origin of many of the most 
 beautiful efEects with which later writers have been accre- 
 
66 HIS FIRST CRITICAL ARTICLE. 
 
 dited, but some of the identical ideas by whicli these very 
 writers have made their way into popularity ; and we may 
 thus truly consider that pianists, as well as the pianoforte, 
 are deeply indebted for much of the esteem they enjoy, to 
 the genius of Johann Ludwig Dussek." 
 
 As an instance of the identity of idea here alleged, 
 Macfarren compares the last movement of this Quintet 
 with the " beautifully impressive theme upon which " 
 Chopin's 15th Nocturne " is entirely constructed ; " 
 which comparison pianists can themselves easily in- 
 stitute; unless, indeed, their library lacks a copy of 
 Dussek's Quintet. 
 
 Mendelssohn's Symphony in A minor was first 
 performed in this country at the Philharmonic Concertj 
 June 13th, 1842 ; and in the " Musical World" of the 
 16th of the same month the following article by Mac- 
 farren appeared ; probably the first of the kind from 
 his pen, and therefore of special interest : — 
 
 " There is a sense of exultation in an artist who witnesses 
 the glorification of his art. From this feeling there must 
 have been many a one proud of being a musician who, was 
 present at the first performance of Mendelssohn's new 
 symphony — a work to raise the author to the highest 
 pinnacle of musical repute — ^to raise the art which it adorns 
 and honours — ^and to raise the present generation in the 
 chronicles of intellectual progress, as being contemporary 
 with such an author, coeval with such a work. It is this 
 pride at being, how unworthy soever, a fellow- worshipper 
 with Mendelssohn of the same Goddess, that gives me 
 confidence to approach him, the high priest in her temple, 
 with a tribute to his excellence in the avowal of the feelings 
 which his work has given me ; and, besides the pleasure 
 that there is in being the voice of a manifold opinion, I feel 
 a satisfaction in thus breaking through our country's 
 custom of anonymous criticism, from supposing that, years 
 hence, when the present occasion shall be quite forgotten, 
 
HIS FIRST CRITICAL ARTICLE. 67 
 
 when this new star in the firmament of genius shall be no 
 longer contemplated as an individual shining, but massed 
 in men's consideration among the galaxy of splendour 
 which illuminates the world, which quickens our purest 
 feelings, and which gives to everyone that loves his art, 
 or hopes to be an artist, the moth-Uke emulation to exalt 
 himself into the sphere of radiance, and flutter in the light 
 which may destroy him — ^when it shall be that this work, 
 then no more a new one, is, and cannot be remembered to 
 have not heen ; I may look out this record of my first 
 impressions, and feel gratified in secret to be reminded I 
 was one of those who could and did at first appreciate this 
 wondrous work ; who saw and felt the light when new and 
 strange, which shall be then familiar. If Mendelssohn — 
 (1 cannot call a being whom Genius makes impersonal, and 
 whom superiority to all cotemporary association raises 
 above society, by the conventional appellatives which living 
 men use to each other) — ^if Mendelssohn should see this 
 paper, which the common course of things may easily bring 
 before him, he will, I hope, forgive this ostentation of a 
 capacity to feel his merit, for the sake of the sincerity 
 which induces it. 
 
 " The symphony is, as usual, in four movements, with 
 this peculiarity, the author means that each should join the 
 next, without a stop between them, an arrangement which, 
 in this case, has a grand effect, as giving a continuance, a 
 oneness to the train of thought that makes us feel it to be 
 more a whole than four parts disconnected ; but it is an 
 arrangement that must not be taken as a precedent, for no 
 music of less interest than this, and this is of the utmost 
 possible, could hold unbroken the attention for so long a 
 time; and it is to be considered as an instance of the 
 confidence of genius, which has an innate knowledge of its 
 powers like the secret self-esteem of virtue, that Men- 
 delssohn could dare to write a composition of such magni- 
 tude with the intention that his hearers should not have a 
 breathing-place of silence to refresh their minds in the 
 great mental task of listening to it. The movements are 
 described as follows ; and I shall attempt, in speaking of 
 them, to give a short analysis of their beauties, for which 
 I claim indulgence, since, besides my own incompetence to 
 
68 HIS FIRST CRITICAL ARTICLE. 
 
 do such beauties justice, I have the difficulty to contend 
 ■with of the inadequacy of language to convey musical 
 ideas. 
 
 " Intboduzione ED Allegro Appassionato. 
 
 " Scherzo. 
 
 "Adagio Cantabile. 
 
 " Allegro Guerriero e Pinale. 
 " The introduction (in A minor, three-four time) is unlike 
 any other I can recollect in this respect — that it opens with 
 a clearly-defined, distinct, and continuous melody ; whereas 
 the general character of such a movement is vague, abrupt, 
 and fragmentary. This melody, which is intensely pas- 
 sionate, and is, to me, beyond all things expressive of a 
 sense of loneliness, is heightened in its efEect by the fresh- 
 ness of the harmony and the peculiarity of the instrumen- 
 tation. The combination of two tenors with bassoons and 
 oboes has a strange and new efEect, which is extremely 
 beautiful. There is in the second bar a chord of the 6th 
 upon G natural, which always recurs with the recurrence 
 of the phrase, that, though it offend a prejudice of mine 
 that the 7th of the scale in diatonic harmony should un- 
 exceptionably be major, I cannot but feel to be in this place 
 unquestionably beautiful ; and, further on, there is an 
 unexpected chord of C, which is to me a very heaven of 
 tenderness. This melody is followed by a streaming, 
 breathing, half watery, half airy, and all imaginative pas- 
 sage for the violins, which seems so excellently charac- 
 teristic of the instrument, as though it had been made 
 alone to play this passage; and this undulates through 
 various modulations, accompanied occasionally by a frag- 
 ment of the subject, and diversified by the crescendo and 
 dimintoendo of the full orchestra, until in the key of B flat 
 there is a 6th on D, in which the violins and flutes remain 
 alone upon the F above the lines, where they seem like 
 a lover looking lingeringly into nothing for the eyes which 
 meet him not ; and the violins leave this F in an arpeggio of 
 the chord, but yet the flutes remain, as though the one 
 thought would endure, however the mind wished to wander 
 from it; and then, vnth a heartbroken disappointment, 
 the original melody, in the original key, appears to say, 
 in its sudden recurrence, 'Yes, I have looked in vain!' 
 
HIS FIKST CRITICAL ARTICLE. 69 
 
 The irLtroduction ends with a half-close on E ; and the 
 allegro (in A minor, six-eight time) begins like an assu- 
 rance bursting on expectancy. The subject of this move- 
 ment is a complete and satisfactory song, more lengthened, 
 more entirely a song, than usually the subjects of first 
 movements have been made ; and there is no second sub- 
 ject, but only various modifications of this one ceaseless, 
 burning, continual, and continuous idea — it is a thought, 
 or, better say, a consciousness of love, for ever restless and 
 for ever passionate, and, with its simplicity and yet its 
 ardour, it takes possession of the centre of one's heart, like 
 that intensest poetry which makes one feel it says our 
 feelings, utters our own thoughts, and can create, as well 
 as speak, those thoughts and feelings. This melody is 
 given to the violin and clarionet in octaves — a combination 
 of a most singularly new and beautiful effect — and here I 
 almost use a mispression, for the two instruments do not 
 join to make one sound, as in some combinations of wind 
 instruments upon the same passage, where a new tone is 
 formed of both, but like neither. Here is distinctly heard 
 that two separate things express the same idea, as though 
 one thought were sympathized by two congenial minds, 
 but modified in each by the peculiar temperament of either; 
 the one, perhaps, more fervent, but the other far more 
 delicate, seeming to wish it were the other's true reflection 
 — so the precise acuteness of the streaming violins is mir- 
 rored in the more indefinite, more gentle, and more tender 
 breathing of the clarionet. In this melody there is a sus- 
 pended 7th upon r, which skips to C, and then returns 
 to D, its resolution, that has an effect exquisitely beautiful, 
 which, like all the highest things in art, arises from its 
 gre^t simplicity. The subject is followed by a spirited 
 tutti, which ends abruptly with a half-close on B, and is 
 interrupted by a reminiscence of the subject in E minor. 
 There then comes a sort of ritornella, growing from, or 
 an appendix to, the first idea, and this finishes the first 
 part, which is repeated. The second part begins with a 
 most daring, powerful, and unlooked-for start in C sharp 
 minor; and a train of modulation follows, ending in C 
 natural minor, that is one of the most striking and original 
 passages, as to the harmony, the phraseology, and the 
 
70 HIS FIRST CRITICAL ARTICLE. 
 
 instrumentation, that I ever heard. The second part is 
 full of the most masterly treatment of the subject ; and 
 immediately preceding the return to the original key, there 
 is a sort of episode in E major, still growing out of the 
 first thought, and built upon it, that forms a wonderful 
 relief to the prevalence of minor keys throughout. At the 
 repetition of the subject there is a new efEect, and a new 
 character given to it, by the addition of a counterpoint, or, 
 rather, counter- subject, for it is not less a song than the 
 original theme on the violoncello, that may be likened to a 
 mutual confidante of the two separated minds of my former 
 analogy, that gives an extra beauty to both and takes its 
 own, although it robs not them, from either. There is a 
 coda, beginning somethiag like the second part, starting 
 abruptly in F sharp minor, as that does in C sharp, and 
 then having something like the same treatment of the same 
 phrase ; and there is the ritornella, with which the first 
 part ended, and there is a passage of semitones, that is 
 one of the most furious bursts of passionate excitement in 
 the whole scope of music. Then there is a strange passage 
 of wind instruments, partly in semitones, which has a 
 mystical efEect, almost unearthly ; and then there is a short 
 return to the slow introduction, that seems to me again to 
 say, ' Ah, yes ! I am alone ! ' and then, with a few broken 
 chords, that seem to feel, but hardly say ' Alone ! ' this won- 
 drous movement closes. 
 
 " The Scherzo (in F, two-four time) begins upon the 
 previous movement like the inhalation, after a long-breathed 
 sigh — the inflation and invigoration of the lungs with the 
 pure joyous breath of life, after they have exhaled all but 
 vitality itself. This movement is of the character we are 
 used to call Mendelssohnish, because, I think, Mendelssohn 
 first introduced it with most admirable effect in many of his 
 works ; I mean that character of restlessness displayed in 
 the almost ceaseless motion of semiquavers, such as in his 
 ' Midsummer Night's Dream,' the Scherzo ra his Otetto, 
 and in many other instances. It opens with a chord of F, 
 protracted for some bars, which, from its relation to the key 
 of A minor, in which the previous movement closed, has 
 an efEect of vagueness and anxiety that is dispelled by the 
 determinate chord of C, which, as the unequivocal domi- 
 
HIS FIRST CRITICAL ARTICLE. 71 
 
 nant of tlie new key, defines this teautiful uncertainty, 
 and the movement then proceeds like regular but rapid 
 breathing. The subject is very marked and characteristic; 
 it is first given concisely by the clarionet, and is afterwards 
 prolonged by various instruments until it is taken up with 
 all the satisfaction of a joyous self-content by the full 
 orchestra. A second subject in C major is peculiarly 
 quaint, and has a manner of effrontery that is charming ; 
 this is continued through various relative modulations, in 
 the course of which the chattering of the wind instruments 
 have a very prominent and naive effect. The first part ends 
 in C, and the second opens with a portion of the subject 
 in the original key, which comes out with a kingly swagger 
 on the violoncello : after a long stop upon a fundamental 
 7th on F, there is a brilliant burst upon a chord of D, 
 and then the two subjects are worked and interwoven with 
 the utmost skill and ingenuity, and with no less character 
 and effect. The return to P major, which is with the 
 second subject, is very novel, is sudden and unlooked-for. 
 The Coda introduces a new phrase of irresistible piquancy 
 and simplicity, and there is a most effective example of 
 the rising of a fundamental 7th on the tonic to a major 
 3rd on the dominant, which proves, by the very frequen: 
 repetition of the passage, how Mendelssohn must like, or 
 rather love, this beautiful but most unusual resolution 
 of this chord. This movement closes quietly, like the 
 natural languishing which follows preternatural excite- 
 ment. 
 
 " The slow movement (in A major) opens abruptly, but 
 still connectedly with what has just concluded, on a 6th 
 upon F natural, which sinks into a chord of E, and sounds 
 to me as though a sudden earthquake rent the joyous feeling 
 which had filled a loving bosom, and in the chasm which it 
 made, revealed the depths of fathomless despair. But then 
 we find this momentary anguish is no other than the 
 fear that it must cease, which is the tremulous brink of 
 happiness, the incertitude that makes delight an ecstasy, 
 which refines mere joy to transport ; for, after what may 
 be supposed a prelude, or what in a song we should call 
 the symphony, there comes a stream of broad, grand 
 flowing melody, so full of lovely tenderness, so replete with 
 
72 HIS FIRST CRITICAL ARTICLE. 
 
 passion, and so fervent in the heartfulness of its expres- 
 sion, that it seems to say all that words, or looks, or 
 pressure of the hand could ever signify — almost all heart 
 could ever feel. This is another instance of the exquisite 
 use of the singing powers of the violins, -which float through 
 the pizzicato accompaniment ' like the voice of one beloved 
 singing to you when alone.' There is one point in this 
 most heavenly melody where it rises from A in a chord 
 of the diminished 7th on D sharp to a sforzando on G 
 sharp, in a four-two upon D natural, which is to me the 
 utmost possible of passionate expression. There is then 
 an episode in A minor given to wind instruments, which 
 is, I think, the least striking subject in the symphony, and 
 which comes with all the cold reserve of prudence inter- 
 ruptiQg the pure confidence of virgin love. But this is 
 qualified by a repetition of a portion of the first subject in 
 E major, which breaks ia on an inversion of the major 
 9th on B with such a lovingness as quite atones for all 
 the previous seeming of indifference. There is a short 
 second part which leads to the return of the subject in A, 
 which now assumes a greater force, a deeper intensity 
 from the different instrumentation, the melody being 
 given to the most passionate of instruments, the violon- 
 cello, and from some other varieties in the treatment. 
 The former episode recurs now in D minor ; and the 
 portion of the subject is repeated as before, now in A 
 major, and the movement finishes with all the calmness 
 of a satisfied desire, but such an intellectual psyehean 
 appetite which * grows by what it feeds on,' and is most 
 contented when it still desires. 
 
 " The last movement (in A minor, common time) bursts 
 in convulsively on this repose, as though the self-reproach 
 of one who feels himself unworthily beloved, and half 
 despairs, half burns with the ambition to become one day 
 deserving. There is a striking wildness in the subject, 
 another character, and not less a true one of the violins 
 which play it, and there is a feeling of a jpesolution in the 
 long continued accompaniment of crotchets, which seem 
 like the united fire of a patriot and fervour of a lover. 
 The second subject in E minor is more simple, and yet 
 not less ardent, the great excitement beiag still main- 
 
HIS FISST CRITICAL ARTICLE. 73 
 
 tained by the reiteration of a B, which forms a sort of 
 drone, and by keeping off the keynote in the bass until 
 the very end of the phrase, creates a vagueness powerfully 
 exciting. And then the basses have to play a G- three 
 times — and then — O, what a burst of powerful and grand 
 determination! — the full orchestra has to play the six- 
 four on that note, and to make a brief and infinitely 
 brilliant transition into C major, with the effect of 
 thunder. This is, like all the others, a movement in two 
 parts, the first part ending in E minor. The second part 
 perhaps, for those who are not carried quite beyond them- 
 selves by the strong and impulsive feeling that pervades 
 it, may want relief, if not repose ; but even for such, if 
 they can understand, although they may not feel the 
 music, there is a masterly musicianship in the treatment 
 of the subject, which must be interesting. After the 
 return to the original key, the second subject, much cur- 
 tailed and without the glorious burst into the major key 
 of the sixth of the scale, which- in the first part has an 
 effect so grand and so majestic, is repeated in A minor, 
 and is followed by a coda, which sinks into a repose like 
 the exhaustion of an overwrought imagination — a heart 
 that has been stimulated by excess of passion, seeming to 
 beat its few last broken throbs before it breaks for ever. 
 But then a new light bursts upon the mind, new oil is 
 poured upon the flame, a rock is shifted from its base, 
 and a world of waters is let loose upon the cataract. A 
 new subject with a quite new feeling in A major, and in 
 six-eight time, bursts like an eye-beam on the darkened 
 heart, and says, in signs unquestionable and irrevocable, 
 ' Yes, ever yes,' to all that undefinable craving to which 
 the wildest brain upon the pinnacle of its enthusiasm dare 
 not, cannot give utterance. It is a joyous exultation, far 
 beyond Hope's uttermost excitement — it is the elation of 
 an author when he feels he has achieved a work that will 
 immortalize him in its immortality — it is the pang of 
 pleasure which a lover feels at knowing that his passion- 
 dream is realized. This brief epilogue to the whole 
 symphony remains throughout in the same key, and is 
 mostly to be remarked upon for the breadth, clearness, 
 energy, and passion of its phrases, and the expressive 
 
74 HIS FIRST CRITICAL ARTICLE. 
 
 brilliancy of its instrumentation, which, seeming at first 
 most forcible, yet gathers, gathers, gathers force until the 
 end. A long passage of the violins in octaves is almost 
 overpowering, and — but I scorn to dwell on technicalities 
 in speating of what is so great in its effects as to blind 
 us to the means by which they are produced. 
 
 "And this i« the Symphony in A minor of Felix 
 Mendelssohn Bartholdy ; at least, this is an attempt to 
 tell the impression, which, after three times hearing it, — 
 at the trial, the rehearsal, and the concert, — it has left on 
 me. I am aware that there may be to some an air of 
 ostentation, even of bombast, in this vociferation of my 
 feelings on this subject. Some, perhaps, ma,y understand 
 them, and all should take my protestation of sincerity for 
 a guarantee of what I mean. To me the symphony is, on 
 the whole, the most pathetic composition of the kind, and 
 of the length, I ever heard ; and by pathetic, I must not 
 be thought to mean that morbid melancholy quality which 
 some critics, but few poets, would set up as the essential 
 of subUmity : by pathetic, let be understood to signify 
 that deep, intense, and soulful feeling which dives down 
 to the bottom of the human heart, and there enthrones 
 itself the emperor of passion. And these are words, 
 how vague and how inadequate to tell the thoughts which 
 prompt them. But when the time shall come, which 
 cannot be remote, when all the world shall own this 
 generation has added one to the great Trinity of Grenius 
 that has stood alone in instrumental music, I shall exult 
 to have been one who could appreciate the merit, and has, 
 however worthless, paid his tribute of acknowledgment to 
 the original identity of style, the grandeur of conception, 
 and the powers of development which this symphony 
 displays, and which, in aftermen's esteem, shall place as 
 equals, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Mendelssohn. 
 
 " Gr. A. Macpaeeen." 
 " 14, North Crescent, Bedford Square, 
 "UthJune, 1842." 
 
 At the time when this was written Macfarren had 
 not arrived at that estimate of Mendelssohn's character 
 
HIS FIRST CRITICAL ARTICLE. 75 
 
 which he long afterwards expressed : " The foible of 
 his character was his thirst for good opinion, which 
 led him indiscriminately to conciliate everyone whose 
 judgment could receive attention; thus his testi- 
 monials are of little credit, and his complimentary 
 letters are not always utterances of his true opinion/' ^ 
 Of the disinterested sincerity of the ardent critic's 
 enthusiastic efiusion there is no reason whatever to 
 doubt. The diction of the exordium may be florid or 
 ornate — a foreshadowing of the metaphorical style 
 which often characterized the writer's later style in 
 his literary productions ; but there i^ nothing fulsome 
 in the adulation : aU is the outcome of genuine artistic 
 perception and delight, such as many of us felt, at that 
 period, at the rising of the " new star in the firmament 
 of genius." It is pleasant — now that Macfarren's 
 prophetic words have been fulfilled, and that star is 
 " massed in the galaxy of splendour," and the Sym- 
 phony can hardly " be remembered to have not been " 
 — to look back to those early performances, and to feel 
 some sympathetic rekindling of that early enthusiasm 
 and delight ! 
 
 The love of analogies, which is perceptible in this 
 early^ analysis, is a prominent feature in his subsequent 
 writings : " like a lover looking lingeringly, etc.," 
 " like an assurance bursting on expectancy," " a con- 
 sciousness of love, etc.," " like that intensest poetry, 
 etc." j these and other comparisons one finds matched 
 or paralleled in such sentences as this, on a passage in 
 Beethoven's Seventh Symphony : — 
 
 " Can you picture one who has long lain in a hopeful 
 ' " Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography." 
 
76 HIS FIRST CRITICAL ARTICLE. 
 
 dream, who yearns for happiness he has never known and 
 so cannot define, awakening to learn that his dreaming is 
 fulfilled, and to find the fact wholly unlike, yet a thousand- 
 fold lovelier than his expectation ? Such a picture is 
 realized in the remarkable passage before us ; a traveller 
 who dreams of the home he is approachiag, and wakes to 
 find caressing friends around- him looking the welcome of 
 affection ; an artist who dreams of the completion of his 
 work, and wakes to witness its admiring reception by an 
 appreciating public. Fancies such as these are quickly 
 prompted by the exquisite passage to which I refer ; but 
 no thought of tangible form can represent its loveliness, 
 no verbal language can translate its expression." ' 
 
 It is interesting to compare this early analysis of 
 the A minor Symphony with that of later yearSj 
 written for the Philharmonic Society's programmes. 
 After quoting Mendelssohn's printed direction as to 
 the " separate movements following one another imme- 
 diately, and not being divided by the customary inter- 
 ruptions," and commenting on similar instances, our 
 annotator proceeds : — 
 
 " From very early in his career it seems to have been an 
 aim of Mendelssohn to give unity to the several portions 
 of a large instrumental work, sometimes by the connection 
 of two or more of the movements — as in the case under 
 notice, sometimes by the allusion in a later movement to 
 themes which have appeared in an earlier — as in the 
 Quartets in A minor and E flat, and in the Octet. Opinions 
 may vary as to how this purpose may best be fulfilled, nay, 
 as to its desirability in any form ; but it is due to an artist 
 to respect his own purpose iu the presentation of his works, 
 and thus to play the present Symphony as he intended. 
 There can be no question as to the grandeur of the idea of 
 one long enchainment of thoughts that bear all upon each 
 other and combine to make a single, though widespread 
 impression upon the mind ; in the work of an indifEereilt 
 
 ' " Six Lectures on Harmony," p. 148. 
 
HIS FIRST CRITICAL ARTICLE. 77 
 
 composer an audience may welcome the customary breaks 
 as a relief, but in the music before us the effect of each 
 successiye movement is enhanced by its connection with 
 the preceding, and the impression of each gathers force 
 from the context, while we, the audience, grow more and 
 more susceptible of its effect, and become enabled to 
 regard the work as a whole rather than as four collected 
 portions." 
 
 Then follow some historical and biographical details, 
 especially bearing upon the Scottish origin of the work, 
 and recording its first performance in London, above 
 referred to ; eliciting from Macfarren the exclamation, 
 " Happy are they who recollect an occasion of such 
 infinite interest in the history of our art ! " He then 
 relates how, at that first performance, after Beet- 
 hoven's " pre-eminently beautiful " Overture to 
 '' Coriolan " had been played and encored : — 
 
 " Then came the Scottish Symphony, and this was re- 
 ceived with acclamations, drowning in many places the 
 music itself," the hearty delight in which these plaudits 
 testified ; the Scherzo was especially greeted and its repe- 
 tition insisted upon, in spite of the composer's fidelity to 
 his own design, who had proceeded far into the Adagio 
 through the deafening applause of the audience, and 
 reluctantly broke off the unheard flow of its delicious 
 strains to recommence the previous movement." 
 
 A graphic little bit of musical history, by an ear- 
 witness ! The analysis proper then commences : — 
 
 " The Symphony begins with a far more clearly defined 
 melody than is often to be found in the introductory move- 
 ment of a composition of the proportions of the present. 
 It is succeeded by a passage of rare intensity for the 
 violins alone, which is continued through a repetition of 
 the opening melody. 
 
78 HIS FIRST CRITICAL ARTICLE. 
 
 " The chief subject of the Allegro, to which the fore- 
 going leads, derives a peculiar effect from its duplication 
 by the clarionet in the octave below the notes of the violin, 
 which seems like a reflection of the principal or substantial 
 sounds iu notes of more dehcate or ethereal nature. A 
 very gradual drawing together of the time prepares the 
 hearer for the first entry of the entire orchestra, and for 
 the ' assai agitato ' which marks the exciting character of 
 what ensues. The first theme is ingeniously appropriated 
 as a counterpoint to the second subject, and brads it in 
 particular unity with the general expression. This is 
 analogous to Haydn's frequent wont to reproduce a first 
 melody with modification in the position and in the key 
 usually assigned to the second subject, which brLags into 
 direct comparison the musical composition with a literary 
 essay, wherein one theme or argument is the always 
 prevaihng matter in discussion." 
 
 This is a happier exposition of the case than the 
 bald statement in the earlier analysis that " there is 
 no second subject." In place of the earlier account 
 of the opening of the second part, we have : — 
 
 " The course of modulation which signalizes the begin- 
 ning of the Second Part produces a most remarkable and 
 individual effect; here is not the place to discuss the 
 theoretical phenomena which might account for this, but 
 attention may be directed to it and to the total revulsion 
 of feeling wrought by it. The extraordinary orchestration 
 conduces as much as the tonal progressions to the effect, 
 strange almost to terrible, before us. The continuance of 
 the Second Part loses all appearance of scholarship in its 
 most imaginative development of the chief ideas already set 
 forth. The recurrence of the first subject is rendered un- 
 usually interesting by the counter-melody, assigned to the 
 violoncello, which is grafted upon it ; a most happy example 
 of a happy device, which was first applied by Mendelssohn 
 to the enrichment of this always attractive incident in the 
 design of a movement. A corresponding modulation to 
 that which opens the Second Part begins the Coda ; and 
 
HIS FIRST CRITICAL ARTICLE. 79 
 
 this portion of the Allegro presents an unanticipated idea 
 in the fiercely rushing chromatic passages that work the 
 whole to its highest point of excitement." • 
 
 It is not necessary to reproduce the whole of this 
 more recent analysis; the above extracts sufficiently 
 exhibiting the maturer style, if not the riper musician- 
 ship of the writer, as compared with the earlier. In 
 the annotations on the Scherzo, instead of " kingly 
 swagger," we find : " the rough, burly tone' given to 
 the first theme when a portion of it is allotted to the 
 violoncellos, the weird sound it assumes when played 
 on the low notes of the clarionet," etc. The subject 
 of the Adagio is characterized as a " delicious song 
 which once to have heard is a lasting delight." And 
 the whole article terminates with the record, possibly, 
 of a personally received testimony : — 
 
 " Mendelssohn said that he felt in this Coda [to the last 
 movement] that the task of years was accomplished ; and 
 that he was happy, if not proud, in the completion of his 
 labour." 
 
 It will be observed that in neither of these articles 
 is there any attempt to indicate any connection of the 
 ideas of the Symphony with impressions received 
 by the composer in his visit to Scotland. At the 
 time that the first article was written probably the 
 work had not been named the " Scotch Symphony," 
 and the history of the work, in its origins and prompt- 
 ings, was known to few. 
 
 The first of these articles was written during the 
 period when Macfarren's father edited the " Musical 
 "World," concerning which the following occurs in the 
 " Family Recollections " : — 
 
80 INTRODUCTION TO MENDELSSOHN. 
 
 " It was about this period [1840], sooner or later, that 
 Frederick Davison, of the firm of Gray and Davison [not 
 related to J. W. Davison], engaged my father at a small 
 weekly stipend to succeed Henry Smart as editor of the 
 ' Musical World,' the journal originated in 1836 by Novello 
 and Co. Ever in earnest in what he undertook, my father 
 threw his best energies into the fulfilment of his nBw office, 
 and did all that a generous sympathy with struggling 
 artists could suggest to make the paper popular. Some of 
 his leading articles are delightful essays on musical gene- 
 ralities ; his personal notices are always tender, and con- 
 stantly encouraging ; he forbore from distinctly technical 
 criticism, in which indispensable department he engaged 
 Alfred Day, until he could no longer bear with the laconical 
 bitterness of this reviewer of new music, and he then 
 enlisted the services of J. W. Davison, whose reckless 
 flippancy as little satisfied him." 
 
 It appears to have been just after the appearance of 
 the first analytical article — probably as its result — '■ 
 that Macfarren made personal acquaintance with Men- 
 delssohn ; the only record of his first interview being 
 a hasty note to his family : — 
 
 " Dear eveetbodt, 
 " Mendelssohn behaved to me like an Angel. G. A. M. 
 June 27th, 1842." 
 
 The great man was ready to discern a kindred spirit ; 
 and would not fail to appreciate, as time went on, the 
 thoroughness and purity of Macfarren's artistic nature. 
 Although there does not seem to have been the 
 brotherly intimacy between the twomen which subsisted 
 from very early manhood between Sterndale-Bennett 
 and Mendelssohn, yet the artistic friendship was 
 entire, as several letters attest. I have heard Mac- 
 farren say that no pianoforte playing ever gave him 
 
INTRODUCTION TO MENDELSSOHN. 81 
 
 so mucli pleasure as that of Mendelssohn. There was 
 no sympathy, I believe, on the part of Mendelssohn, 
 with Macfarren's theoretical views ; perhaps it would 
 be more just to say, his theorizing habit of mind. 
 The whole thing was distasteful to him. When I 
 related to Macfarren the anecdote of Mendelssohn's 
 reply to an inquirer as to the root of the first chord in 
 the "Wedding March," — "I don't know,, and don't 
 care," — ^he said : " I never heard that story, but I can 
 quite believe it, for Mendelssohn had such a dislike to 
 all theorizing." Macfarren's theoretical system — to 
 be hereafter referred to — may have led him to write 
 unusual chords and progressions ; certainly it led him 
 to use unusual notation. Mendelssohn did not argue 
 these matters with him, it may well be believed ; but, 
 when playing from Macfarren'a manuscript, would, on 
 coming to such cases, cry out, in that quick way 
 which is not to be forgotten by those who once heatd 
 it : "Mac, Mac, do you mean this ?" On an affirma- 
 tive answer being given, he would simply say, " Very 
 well, all right, go on," to the rest of the performers. 
 
 Owing to circumstances that cannot here be re- 
 corded in detail, Mendelssohn's Second Symphony, 
 known as No. 4, in A major, was not published until 
 some time after the composer's death, and then, in the 
 first instance, only in the form of a Pianoforte Duet — 
 the arrangement being Mendelssohn's own, however. 
 In the "Musical World" of October 9th, 1852, Mac- 
 farren wrote an article on the Symphony as presented 
 in this arrangement. It may be interesting, even at 
 this period of our narrative, to insert some extracts 
 from this article, still further rendering comparison 
 practicable between the earlier and the more mature 
 
 G 
 
82 MENDELSSOHN'S SECOND SYMPHONY. 
 
 styles of the critic. After mucli preliminary matter, 
 suggested by the late publication of the work, and 
 some comparison with the earlier Symphony, No. 1, in 
 C minor, he proceeds : — 
 
 " However e'qual may be the merits of the two Sym- 
 phonies in A major and A minor, their character is widely 
 different as the different distribution of such general cha- 
 racteristics as establish the identity of the composer's style 
 can render them. Such is the distinction that may truly 
 be made between the bright, sunny, laughing freshness of 
 the earlier work [in A major], and the more intense and 
 passionate fervour that so eminently marks the later com- 
 position [in A minor], and these varieties of character 
 involve a very important difference in the plan upon which 
 the several movements are constructed. . . . As to the 
 impressions of Italy embodied in the Symphony in A major, 
 speculation may be more or less presumptuous ; but as 
 every sensitive hearer will speculate upon the expression 
 conveyed in music of so exciting a character, . . . inter- 
 preting the intentions of the composer by the index of his 
 own emotions while hearing the performance, it cannot be 
 arrogant to offer what speculations suggest themselves, as 
 an indication rather of how much than of what may be 
 found of secondary interest in this highly poetical work of 
 art by such as willingly seek it. 
 
 " To speak most succinctly of general impressions rather 
 than of particular emotions, let us suppose that the first 
 movement realizes the influence upon an ardent mind of 
 the clear, translucent air, the genial climate, the deep, deep 
 blue above, the endless green below, in which the golden 
 gleam of the exhilarant sunshine is blent with the intense 
 hue of the unfathomable heaven, the spontaneity of life 
 around, and the restlessness of emotion within that cha- 
 racterize the land formed by nature for the garden of 
 poetry, whence the spoiled child has strayed in weariness 
 of the too great luxuriance in which it has been indulged, 
 to wander back, how rarely, from the distant home of its 
 adoption, and find its powersand its perceptions quickened 
 by its native associations. 
 
MENDELSSOHN'S SECOND SYMPHONY. 83 
 
 "Let us suppose that the earnest and most original 
 Andante portrays the feelings awakened by the mighty 
 ruins of Eoman splendour, the statues, the palaces, the 
 temples, and the colossal Colosseum, ghosts of a greatness 
 that is gone, monuments of an immortal age, enduring 
 ■witnesses in their mouldering decay of the lasting influence 
 upon all time to come of the eternal power of mind 
 through which at first they were, which now through them 
 is perpetually regenerated in all who see in them and feel, 
 who read in them and understand the sublime lesson for 
 "the sempernatal future of the never-dying past ; and that 
 the lovely episodical melody embodies the perhaps less 
 ■awful bu't not less solemn sentiment that must be awakened 
 in witnessing the new life springing from the old decay, 
 the perennial flowers and verdure, ever young, mocking 
 while they decorate the falling ruins thai have seen them 
 bloom, and seen them fade, and seen them bloom and fade 
 again through a long, long race of centuries, typifying the 
 eternal identity of the spirit of good and beauty, the soul 
 of poetry, amid the temporal variations of its manifesta- 
 tion which, while they seem to pass away, are bom anew 
 in the new forms they suggest by the new powers they 
 stimulate in the mind of man." 
 
 This poetic interpretation of the movement in 
 question is in strong contrast to the popular " Pilgrim's 
 March" view ; and, I must aver, more sympathetically 
 expresses my own long-entertained feeling, which has 
 always somewhat revolted from the generally accepted 
 notion. The other movements are dealt with in 
 similar poetical manner, and then the more technical 
 analysis is entered upon. In the analysis of the 
 Andante con moto, the foUo^wing occurs, which will be 
 of interest to those who have studied under Mac- 
 farren, been examined by him, or conversed with him 
 on rhythm and barring : — 
 
 " Then comes the most lovely episodical melody in 
 
84 MENDELSSOHN'S SECOND SYMPHONY. 
 
 A major, in which is to be noticed a curious caprice in the 
 rhythmical arrangement-^namely, that the accent of the 
 whole is against the measure ; in explanation of this may 
 be adduced the subsequent repetition of the same melody 
 in the key of D major, when the barring is according to 
 accepted rule, with the natural rhythmical division of the 
 phrases." 
 
 This summary of the last movement is also most 
 interesting : — 
 
 " The final Presto is certainly the most entirely indi- 
 vidual portion of the work, albeit not one of the movements 
 has a prototype in the writings of any other master. It 
 is an imitation of the Saltarello, a national dance of the 
 south of Italy, which differs from its twin sister, the Taran- 
 tella in having a crotchet at the beginning of each bar of 
 six-eight measure (instead of six quavers in the bar, as in 
 the dance more familiar in this country), the marked 
 accent of which accommodates a jumping step in the dance 
 itself, whence it derives its name. The ceaseless continuity 
 of the motion, and with it the excitement of this movement, 
 is beyond praise. The plan of the whole is somewhat 
 singular, and admits of longer discussion than our present 
 space will admit. SufEice it to state briefly that the first 
 part is regular, like that of a first movement ; that at the 
 close of this the subject re-commencing in the original key, 
 after the maimer of many of the last movements of Mozart 
 and Beethoven, which very shortly diverges into the elabo- 
 rations of the second part ; that these are enriched, as in 
 the first movement of the present work, by the introduc- 
 tion of a new episodical subject, which appears first in the 
 key of G minor ; and finally, that the composer is so carried 
 away by the development of this idea, in conjunction with 
 the chief subject of the movement, that he foregoes the 
 formality of the recapitulation of the first part, and makes 
 no recurrence to the many admirable points which, in the 
 key of E minor constitute the second subject, but instead, 
 prolongs the working of the second part into a most 
 exciting and highly wrought Coda." 
 
 It may here be stated that Macfarren preferred to 
 
REMARKS ON RHYTHM. 85 
 
 consider all the themes appearing in one key as con- 
 stituting the different sections of one subject — first or 
 second — rather than as different, or tributary, or sub- 
 ordinate subjects. This was evidenced in various 
 examination questions, prepared, or given viva voce, 
 by him. 
 
 From internal evidence, as well as from knowledge 
 of Macfarren's views on the subject, I judge that the 
 following remarks upon Rhythm, occurring in a review 
 of some compositions by an estimable English musi- 
 cian, were written by him, and will help to illustrate 
 the remark, in the above article, on the alleged 
 rhythmical " caprice " in Mendelssohn's slow move- 
 ment : — 
 
 " A rule of rhythm, little understood by some musicians 
 and totally ignored by others, prompts a remark . . . which 
 must be taken as it is meant — namely, in no captious 
 spirit, but in the hope to elucidate, it may be, a matter 
 that is of more importance than many writers suppose. A 
 rhythmical period should close on the first note of a bar, 
 unless the penultimate harmony be superseded, when the 
 final note is delayed till the second of the bar. There are 
 a very few exceptions from this otherwise universal law, 
 and they, rightly regarded, all tend to confirm, nay, to 
 illustrate, the principle involved. The works of ancient 
 and modern German, Italian, French, and English writers 
 furnish exemplifications of what is here enunciated ; there 
 also are many instances, it must be admitted, of the dis- 
 regard of the rule by the best writers ; still, the short- 
 comings of a saint are no warrant for the peccadilloes of 
 one who has not the screen of boundless charity for his 
 sins, and a great man's error justifies not the wilful wan- 
 dering of a writer who has less claim to critical deference. 
 Now, as the close of a phrase is required by rule to fall on 
 the beginning of a bar, the opening of the same phrase 
 must be so placed as to accommodate the requirement, and 
 this seems to compel that the division of the bars through- 
 
REMARKS ON RHYTHM. 
 
 out the phrase be counted backwards from the final note, 
 when the fragment of a bar which remains after such division 
 must initiate the melody. . . . The rule applies throughout 
 a composition, and not merely to the concluding cadence, 
 and the extension of some period by half a bar, in order 
 to bring about the nominally correct termination, is the 
 worst evil of an unclear perception of the law, since one 
 cannot hear bar lines, nor tell, by listening, where they are 
 drawn, but one may be fully aware of a haK-bar too much 
 or too little in a phrase. The subject needs a far longer 
 disquisition to make it thoroughly intelligible than is here 
 offered, and which goes as far as would here be seemly. 
 It is one of sufficient importance, however, to deserve the 
 attention of critics and composers, and if it has not been 
 often advanced, there is the more reason for touching on 
 it, though lightly, at present." 
 
 I have heard Macfarren say that even Schumann is 
 not guiltless of the device of " the extension ... to 
 bring about the nominally correct termination," above 
 spoken of. At the same time, Macfarren said — " I 
 have undergone a good deal of bullying " for insisting 
 on this principle. He once remarked to me that, 
 judged by this lavf, the whole slow movement of 
 Mozart's wonderful C minor Sonata is wrongly 
 barred. ' 
 
 And yet the final Cadence, as well as others, in 
 Macfarren's Song, "True Love," ends at the half- bar, 
 thus : — 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Symphony in C Sharp Minor. Macparken and 
 Davison's Concerts. Quintet lis G- Minor. Trio 
 IN E Minor, and other works. 1842 — 1844. 
 
 ABOUT the year 1842, one of the finest of the 
 instrumental works of Macfarren was completed : 
 the Symphony in the very unusual key, for the 
 orchestra, — sharp minor ; which was published 
 as a pianoforte duet, arranged by the composer, and 
 dedicated to Mendelssohn. Concerning it, Mendels- 
 sohn wrote, in a letter to Macfarren, dated " Leipzig, 
 2nd April, 1843 " : — 
 
 . ..." I tried to bring out the Symphony in one of our 
 last [Gewandhaus'\ Concerts, but as I suspected when I 
 first wrote to you, there was some opposition from the 
 Directors, merely because there had been four new 
 Symphonies in the course of the last two months, and 
 they did so much that I was obliged to postpone it until 
 the beginning of the next season, although it was half 
 copied already. I am sorry you feel disappointed by the 
 delay, but it was not iu my power to help it. Meanwhile 
 I must repeat what I said in my first letter — if you , had 
 an Overture I am sure it would be a better beginning for 
 this public and these Concerts, than a Symphony. Ask 
 Bennett, who knows the place, and will certainly concur in 
 this opinion. And if you could accordingly let us have an 
 Overture before the Symphony, I am sure the last would 
 be much better understood and received by the public, even 
 
SYMPHONY IN C SHARP MINOR. 
 
 if there had not been such a quantity of new native Synj- 
 l^honies beforehand, as there has been this year." 
 
 Then follows the mistaken request for an Overture 
 to " Eob Roy," which Mendelssohn thought he had 
 seen, but which was that to " Chevy Chase." ^ And 
 Mendelssohn continues : — 
 
 " As for those good friends of yours who think, as you 
 say, that English music is a thing which cannot be en- 
 dured in Germany, and that a work of yours would be 
 here like an apparition of two moons, — pray ask them to 
 wait a few months, before they repeat an opinion equally 
 creditable to us and to you, or pray tell them in my name 
 that they are sadly mistaken, and that the event will soon 
 prove them to be so." 
 
 " The event " of the performance of " Chevy 
 Chase" Overture may have partly proved this mis- 
 take ; but the Symphony seems never to have been 
 performed at Leipzig. Nor was it acknowledged in 
 our own country until the year 1845, when, on the 
 9th of June, it was performed at a Philharmonic 
 Concert, under the conductorship of Moschelesj when, 
 however, the performance was discreditably indifferent, 
 and the reception, by the more conservative portion of 
 the (at that time) very conservative audience, worse 
 than apathetic : ill-mannered and hostile. 
 
 In the "Musical World" of March 17th, 1842, 
 the duet arrangement of the Symphony was thus 
 noticed : — 
 
 " A careful perusal of this work has brought with it 
 the conviction that, despite its occasional inequalities of 
 style, despite the few reminiscences of the works of the 
 
 ' See page 33. 
 
SYMPHONY IN C SHARP MINOIt. 89 
 
 great masters which it contains, it is beyond comparison 
 the most complete and finished composition that has pro- 
 ceeded from the pen of Mr. Macfarren. The first Allegro 
 is of a perverse, gloomy, and desponding character. An 
 abrupt and rugged phrase, or fraction of a phrase, some- 
 what after the manner of the C minor Symphony of Beet- 
 hoven, commences and gives the prevailing feeling to the 
 movement. The progress of this portion of the Symphony 
 is uninlpeded by a single weakness. Anything, however, 
 rather than an emotion of happiness is engendered by its 
 performance ; a thorough sentiment of despair pervades 
 the whole, but since the aid of mawkishness is never once 
 resorted to, the judgment is unoffended, although the 
 heart is made to weep. It seems the prevailing custom 
 among the best modern composers, to exert the wonders of 
 their art in inciting the saddest possible current of ideas 
 in the mind of the hearer ; — as witness the symphonies 
 and overtures of Spohr, Mendelssohn, and Sterndale 
 Bennett, after hearing any one of which we feel infinitely 
 more inclined to walk straight into a river and drown our- 
 selves than to exclaim, with an ecstasy of delight, ' How 
 divine an art is music ! ' Mr. Macfarren, in- most of his 
 works, has fallen, into the same notion, and usually regales 
 us with a dose of the dreariest melancholy. . . . There are 
 so many noble points in this first Allegro of Mr. Mac- 
 farren's symphony that we find it impossible to enumerate 
 them in detail, and must therefore content ourselves with 
 referring our readers to the text ; doubtless they will not 
 less vividly appreciate than ourselves the striking points to 
 which we have thus cursorily alluded. The Andante Can- 
 tabile in E major, though possessing a rich vein of melody, 
 and abounding in fine points, is less to our taste than the 
 preceding — ^being materially less original, and containing 
 constant indications of the peculiar feeling of Mendelssohn 
 and Beethoven. Of the minuet and trio we shall decline to 
 give an opinion, until a hearing of the composer's inten- 
 tions, as delivered by an orchestra, shall make us enabled 
 to judge of them with fairness. They depend evidently so 
 much on instrumental aid for their proper effect, that such 
 a hearing is absolutely requisite for their right compre- 
 hension ; — but when that is to be — Heaven or the Philhar- 
 
90 SYMPHONY IN C SHARP MINOR. 
 
 monic can alone inform us ; let us hope it may be ere 
 long. Perhaps the triumph of the entire Symphony is 
 achieved by the finale, which is indubitably a noble piece 
 of impetuous daring. The subject, however, is not alto- 
 gether original, since it recalls very vividly a passage in 
 one of the finales of " Don Juan ; " but the management of 
 the materials is masterly in the extreme, and confirms us 
 in an opinion which the first movement half engendered, 
 — viz., that this is the best Symphony we have seen from 
 the hands of a British composer. We have not leisure to 
 individualize beauties, or we could fill columns of our 
 journal. Suffice it to say, that as one concentrated and 
 single effort it is fully entitled to a place amongst the 
 happiest inspirations of the acknowledged great masters ; 
 and would do honour to any existing author." 
 
 It is difEcult to reconcile the appreciative intelli- 
 gence that is manifested by this article with the 
 strange feeling expressed with regard to the sadden- 
 ing effect of the symphonies of Mendelssohn, Spohr 
 and Bennett. Moreover, Mendelssohn's symphonies 
 were hardly before the world at that time; and only 
 an early symphony or two of Bennett's had been 
 produced. It is not improbable, however, that a 
 certain influence from the reading of Shelley may 
 have tinged Macfarren's mind, and tended to give 
 some character to his writings such as that which 
 is here animadverted on. 
 
 In the " Musical Examiner," August 19th, 1843, 
 appeared this extract from a letter from H. W. Ernst, 
 dated Paris^ August 13th, 1843 : — 
 
 " Mon cher [Davison ?]. Voici quelques mots pour 
 
 vous dire que je suis arrive en bonne sante et qu'a peine 
 Un peu repose je suis alle porter a Heller les melodies 
 anglaises que vous m'avez donnees. Le soir il a joue avec 
 Halle la Symphonie de Macfarren a 4 mains, et il a ^te 
 
SYMPHONY IN C SHARP MINOR. 91 
 
 e'merveill^, et v^ritablement etonne de n'avoir jamais 
 entendu parler de lui. II met cette symphonie bien au 
 dessus de celle de Mendelssohn. II a voulu ajouter lui 
 meme quelques lignes pour exprimer son admiration. 
 Halle et moi nous avons eu beaucoup de plaisir encore a 
 I'entendre une seconde fois ; . . . Mille choses a Macfarren 
 et remerciments de la part de Heller, de Halle, et de moi, 
 de la jouissance qu'il nous a cause par sa sympbonie. 
 Heller, sans lui en faire une reprocbe, a regrette que le 
 motif du premier morceau ressemble, un pen, la sym- 
 phonie en trt de Beethoven." 
 
 And in the same number of the periodical this 
 notice occurs : — 
 
 " The Symphony of Mr. Macfarren, though by no means 
 free from fault, is decidedly the completest, and the most 
 striking, as well as the most ambitious work that has 
 proceeded from his pen. The subject of the first move- 
 ment reminds us, by its abrupt and unmelodie character, 
 of Beethoven's C minor, and further on, immediately pre- 
 ceding the first regular forte, there is another reminiscence 
 (if we may so term it) of the Symphony in T major by the 
 same composer. The movement as a whole, is, never- 
 theless, in our judgment, exceedingly fine, and there are 
 points in it of which no composer need be ashamed ; let 
 us instance the introduction of the second subject — the 
 forte immediately succeeding — the return to the original 
 motivo — the happy management of the singing phrase, 
 re-introduced in the minor tonic — and the noble diatonic 
 passage in contrary motion towards the close. The slow 
 movement, in E major, is full of melody, and deliciously 
 treated, but is less original, reminding us here of Men- 
 delssohn, there of Beethoven, and seldom of Macfarren 
 himself — consequently it has considerably inferior interest 
 for us. The minuet, in A flat major, is simple and 
 imposing, and the trio as fanciful and fantastic as well 
 may be. The grand feature of the work, however, is the 
 finale, the merits of which we can scarcely exaggerate, 
 when we place it by the side of that of Mendelssohn's 
 
92 
 
 SYMPHONY IN C SHARP MINOR. 
 
 Otetto. The subject, nevertlieless, is not original, but 
 may be found (or something very nearly resembling it) in 
 the first finale of "Don Juan" — but the entire course of 
 the movement, the headlong rushing of the incessant 
 stream of semiquavers, the unusual key, the grand effect 
 after grand effect coming out with unabated vigour — and 
 the overpowering energy of the coda, beginning with a 
 
 Allegro con brio. 
 
 
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 tUh^- 
 
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 masterly enharmonic modulation from the chord of the 
 9th on Gr sharp, to that of the four-two on A flat, and 
 dashing on impetuously to the conclusion — one and all 
 of them leave us no time for consideration ; the acknow- 
 ledgment that genius is at work is wrung from us whether 
 we will or not, be we prejudiced or impartial ; that genius 
 is at work and employing all its strength, is mentally 
 assented to, as the irresistible torrent of the musician's 
 passionate eloquence is poured out, eflEortless and unim- 
 peded by lack of power. This movement alone would 
 
LETTERS FROM MENDELSSOHN. 93 
 
 prove Mr. Macfarren to be a composer of very high 
 pretensions, and we care not who knows that it is our 
 opinion, for we are not ashamed of it." 
 
 The Symphony opens as above : the musical reader 
 can therefrom judge for himself as to the alleged 
 suggestion of the C minor Symphony of Beethoven. 
 
 Facilities for the production of large works by 
 English composers were not then as numerous as 
 now ; or this work could hardly have been " shelved " 
 and lain unrecognized, uncalled for, all these years. 
 
 The following letter from Mendelssohn to Mac- 
 farren bears date about the time of the dedication of 
 this Symphony, though not referring immediately to 
 it: — 
 
 "London, \Qth July, 1842. 
 " Mt Dear Sie, 
 
 " I hoped to come to you and I hoped to see you once 
 more here and have been disappointed in both ; to-morrow 
 I must leave England again. I wanted to thank you in 
 person for your very, very kind letter, and for the pleasure 
 you gave me by sending me the Album in which I could 
 inscribe myself amongst the number of your friends. I 
 send it back to you with these lines and hope my little 
 song will sometimes remind you of me and ask you not to 
 forget one who vrill always be with the greatest esteem and 
 the best vdshes 
 
 " Tours very truly, 
 
 "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdt." 
 
 And the following, of a later date, does refer to the 
 ultimate return of the Symphony, without having 
 been performed at Leipzig : — 
 
 "1, Hobart Place, Eaton Square, 
 "20th May, 1844. 
 
 " Dear Sir, 
 " I receive just now your very kind note and thank you 
 
94 INTIMACY WITH DAVISON. 
 
 very much for it, and hasten to tell you that I am sure 
 they will send in the Leipzic parcel the score of your 
 Symphony as well as the other music. They asked me 
 when I was there last whether they could keep some of 
 the music for next winter, and I said that at any rate, as 
 they had had it now so long they were to send everything 
 back to you at present, and might make their arrange- 
 ments hereafter. So I am sure you will receive everything 
 very soon ; of all the rest of your letter I hope to speak to 
 you to-morrow at length." 
 
 Mention has been made of Macfarren's intimacy 
 with James William Davison^ whose name, indeed, 
 was so often coupled with his own, in ordinary 
 parlance, during the earlier years of his professional 
 career. Concerning this intimacy, he writes : — 
 
 " As to Davison ; my most intimate friendship with him 
 ■began .... through my borrowing from one to whom 
 he had lent it, a copy of ' Queen Mab.' Prom the first, 
 and always, my father distrusted him, and though circum- 
 stances and I brought them much together, though he 
 perceived, and frankly owned, the special abilities of my 
 loved companion, he was never without apprehension that 
 this friend was an evil genius to me." 
 
 How far the paternal solicitude was justified may 
 partly be determined by the fact that, as is hinted 
 above, the friendship partly originated in a common 
 admiration of Shelley : not, it is believed, merely an 
 admiration of his poetic genius, but a fervent sympathy 
 with, — almost worship of — his personality, his opinions 
 on religion, and his daring, defiant independence of 
 life. Probably the religious, or anti-religious, utter- 
 ances and position of the poet did not so much alarm 
 the senior Macfarren, — though his son writes that 
 " though never a scofier, he was as a boy not ortho - 
 
INTIMACY WITH DAVISON. 95 
 
 dox : " and tbia non-orthodoxy probably characterized 
 also his manhood, — but the extravagances, moral and 
 otherwise, which seemed to attach to the school of 
 Shelley-devotees may well have occasioned him some 
 concern. G. A. Macfarren, J. W. Davison, and some 
 other ardent young men, seem to have been drawn 
 together by their common tastes, and to have mani- 
 fested a certain amiable eccentricity, such as the for- 
 swearing of animal food, the pursuit of universal 
 knowledge, and so on. This vegetarian diet probably 
 injured the constitution of Macfarren, who was never 
 robust. It has been related that he was once " the 
 embarrassed recipient of a salmon which no one 
 would take off his hands." What young man, with 
 any aspiration, any romance, any inborn energy, has 
 not formed resolutions, conceived more or less wild 
 plans, of individuality in living, especially, moreover, 
 when the tender passion has kindled irrepressible 
 emotional longings, which the stern realities of life, 
 the sobering influences of maturer life, and the reason- 
 able gratification of natural longings, have sufficed to 
 moderate ; but which have imparted zest and interest 
 to the period of early struggle ? 
 
 Years afterwards, Macfarren wrote thus concerning 
 his friend Davison (with whom, however, he was by 
 no means so intimate, latterly, as in early life) ; after 
 speaking of his Sonata and lighter pieces for the 
 pianoforte: — 
 
 " His esteem as a composer more justly rests upon his 
 songs, many of whicli — the series entitled ' Vocal Illustra- 
 tions of Shelley," especially — are marked by an originality 
 of thought, a command of technicalities, and a depth of 
 feeling which attest no less his musicianship than his 
 
MACFARREN ON DAVISON. 
 
 poetical perception. His very extensive literary attain- 
 ments and his love of music combined to induce an in- 
 clination to writing on this art, and lie was for several 
 years an occasional contributor to various journals in 
 London. In 1842, and the following year, he published 
 the ' Musical Examiner,' a weekly periodical, of which he 
 was the sole author. In 1843, on the death of Mr. Mac- 
 farren [the father of Gr. A. M.], he became the proprietor 
 of the ' Musical World.' ... In 1846 he was appointed 
 musical critic on the ' Times ' newspaper, and it is in the 
 fulfilment of this office that his best claims to qonsidera- 
 tion are founded. . . . With a large amount of technical 
 knowledge, a considerable artistic experience, and with a 
 genuine love for the theme, Mr. Davison entered upon this 
 task in a spirit that had never before been brought to bear 
 upon it. The field in which he exercises his pre-eminent 
 qualifications is so extensive as to give him an almost 
 unlimited influence ; his eloquent writing has Hot only 
 raised the standard of our musical literature immeasurably 
 above its previous level, but has formed one, by no means 
 the least important, of the many powerful means which 
 have induced the prodigious progress of music Hin this 
 country. There are certainly men who mean well to 
 music, and who differ from the opinions he expresses; but 
 this is not always a testimoijfy against the truth of his 
 judgments, and never against their sincerity. There never 
 was a censor who was infallible, and it is one of the 
 specialities of art-judgment that it depends on the taste, 
 no less than the erudition of the critic. It is by the 
 general tendency of his writings and by their efi'ect, and 
 not by the particular discussion of accidental works, that 
 their high value is to be appreciated ; and this wiU be best 
 proved by a comparison of the past and present state of 
 music in England. During his literary avocations he has 
 still pursued his originp,l profession ; and in his teaching 
 of Miss Arabella Groddard he has evinced his rare ability 
 as a master of the pianoforte." — " Imperial Dictionary of 
 Universal Biography." 
 
 The musical public are sufficiently acquainted with 
 
CONCERTS WITH DAVISON. 97 
 
 the subsequent career of this distinguished criticj to 
 render its farther record here quite unnecessary. His 
 association with Macfarren in concert-giving will be 
 related further on. 
 
 In the year 1843, at a concert by the Society of 
 British Musicians, a String Quartet in A, by Macfarren, 
 was performed by Messrs. J. H. B. Dando (still living, 
 1890), J. W. Thirlwall, Willy, and my father, H. J. 
 Banister ; and this was declared to be " one of the best 
 works that have proceeded from his pen. The first 
 movement is sublime — the scherzo strikingly fanciful 
 and original — the andante pretty and melodious — the 
 finale irresistibly exciting. The style is perfectly in- 
 dividual — Macfarren all over — as any one acquainted 
 with the music of this clever composer must imme- 
 diately admit." ^ It was again performed at a morning 
 performance by the same Society, to which Spohr was 
 invited, July 20th of the same year. 
 
 On the 4th of the same month, a song by Mac- 
 farren, "L'ultime parole d'amour," was sung by Signer 
 Giubilei at a matinee given in the Hanover Square 
 Rooms by the precocious and — alas ! — short-lived 
 young pianist, Charles Filtsch. 
 
 In the same year, Macfarren joined this intimate 
 friend, J. W. Davison, in giving a series of three 
 Chamber Concerts, at Messrs. Chappell's Rooms, in 
 New Bond Street, during the months of March and 
 April J the first taking place on the 9th of March. 
 The programmes both of this series, and a second 
 series in 1844, were largely made up of works by the 
 two concert-givers ; which, unreasonably enough, 
 caused some animadversion, whereas justifiable self- 
 
 " Musical Examiner," Jan. 7th, 1843. 
 H 
 
98 DEATH OF MACFARREN, SENIOR. 
 
 assertion, and publicity, not money-making, were, not 
 unavowedly, the very objects in view. Macfarren's 
 Pianoforte Sonatas in E flat and A major were per- 
 formed by W. H. Holmes; and his highly intellectual 
 and interesting series, of four songs to words from 
 Lane's translation of the " Arabian Nights' Enter- 
 tainments " were also first sung, by Miss Marshall 
 and Miss Dolby. Another most interesting incident, 
 however, was the first performance in this country of 
 Mendelssohn's Trio in D minor, by Sterndale Bennett, 
 Henry G. Blagrove, and Charles Lucas. These songs, 
 from the " Story of Alee and Shems en Nahar," are en- 
 titled respectively — "The Transport of a Bedaweeyeh," 
 a plaintive song in A minor ; " Many a one laugheth 
 at my tears," in G major, full of gentle pathos ; " Se- 
 paration," in D minor, full of hushed passion ; and 
 " Many a one hath invited me to love," no less 
 interesting, with more florid accompaniment. They 
 were termed "exquisite gushes of the misery and 
 despondency of love," — " nothing superior to them in 
 the whole range of German song-writing : " " Men- 
 delssohn himself would not have treated the burning 
 words which the music illustrates with more intensity, 
 pathos, and elegance." ^ 
 
 Just after the last of these concerts, Macfarren 
 sustained the severe loss of his father, who died in 
 Castle Street, Leicester Square, April 24th, 1843, in 
 his fifty-fifth year. Besides the grief at the severance, 
 on natural grounds, this was a great blow to our com- 
 poser, as his father had been his valued literary eol- 
 lahorateiir for years, and Macfarren had now to seek 
 literary aid elsewhere. He was fortunate, as will be 
 ' "Morning Herald." 
 
SECOND SERIES OF CONCERTS. 99 
 
 seerij in securing that of the late John Oxen- 
 ford. 
 
 The attendance at the first series of concerts being 
 very encouraging, a second series, in the following 
 year, was held in the poncert-room in the rear of the 
 Princess's Theatre ; the first taking place on the 26th 
 of April, 1844, and being signalized by the first public 
 performance of one of the most esteemed of Macfarren's 
 Chamber compositions, the fine Quintet in G minor for 
 pianoforte, violin, viola, violoncello, and double-bass ; 
 the performers being Messrs. William Dorrell, Goffrie, 
 Henry Hill, Lucas, and Charles Severn. The Quartet 
 in A was also performed ; and H. E. Allen sang Mac- 
 farren's aria, " Ah ! non lasciarmi no." -The Quintet 
 was written expressly on commission for an enthu- 
 siastic amateur contrabassist, George Perkins, Esq., 
 recently [1889] deceased. When the composer took 
 the work to his patron, the sum agreed upon was 
 Q^eerfully paid; but the remark was made that he 
 doubted whether any double-bass player could execute 
 the difficult part assigned to the instrument in the 
 Quintet. Respecting the origin of this work, Mr. 
 P. W. Davenport has written the following interesting 
 particulars, preceding an exhaustive analysis : — 
 
 " Like many other works that have achieved distinction 
 or popularity, the above owes its origin to an accident. 
 During the rehearsal of another work by our composer, a 
 gentleman was introduced to the company by a mutual 
 friend, Mr. Brinley Richards, who, besides being an enthu- 
 siastic amateur, had acquired some skill as a player on the 
 double-bass. The immediate business of the moment was 
 thus interrupted, somewhat to the annoyance of those con- 
 cerned in it. Shortly after taking- his leave, feeling perhaps 
 that he could gracefully make amends, and pay a com ph.- 
 
100 QUINTET IN G MINOR. 
 
 ment into tlie bargain, the visitor commissioned Sir George 
 Macfarren to write a composition for the chamber, which 
 should include among the instruments in the score that 
 upon which he himself was in the habit of performing. 
 The present work was the result, and was written in the 
 course of the last three Sundays of December, 1843. The 
 kindly-disposed patron of our art himself, maybe from a 
 feeling of modesty, never played the part that was written 
 for him ; but his name will be always associated with the 
 work, through his kindly instigation of it, and its dedica- 
 tion to him on the title-page. The first performance took 
 place early in the following year (1844), at a concert given, 
 by the composer and Mr. J. W. Davison, in London, and 
 since that date it has been frequently included in metro- 
 politan and provincial programmes. On one occasion, 
 Madame Arabella Goddard and Signer Bottesini played 
 the pianoforte and double bass parts, and on another, in 
 the rooms of the composer in Berners Street, Mendelssohn, 
 with his usual insight and facility, astonished the company 
 by his marvellous reading of it from the MS. score." 
 
 At the second concert of this.seriesj May 17thj, 
 1844, the new work was the " Romance and Allegro 
 con fuoco " in B minor, for pianoforte, violin, and 
 violoncello, composed expressly for Madame Duloken, 
 and played by her, B. W. Thomas (known as " Taffy 
 Thomas"), and Lucas, The plan of the work, con- 
 sisting of only two movements, was suggested by 
 Madame Dulcken herself; and she had, indeed, pre- 
 viously played it at a Chamber Concert of her own, 
 earlier in this same year. It was published in the 
 following year. 
 
 On this occasion also, the (at that time) somewhat 
 bold experiment was made of performing Beethoven's 
 C sharp minor posthumous Quartet, the first violin 
 part being taken by H. W, Brnst. I remember the 
 occasion well, having sat by Dr. Day, and been some- 
 
TRIO IN E MINOR. 101 
 
 what astomshed to hear him express his non-relish of 
 the Quartet. 
 
 Mendelssohn was present ; and the six songs just 
 dedicated by him to Miss Dolby were sung by her 
 and Miss Marshall, in alternation ; the latter evincing 
 considerable nervousness, partly, I believe, on account 
 of some physical disability for the particular task 
 assigned to her, and additionally on account of the 
 presence of the composer. 
 
 The Trio referred to above was somewhat strangely 
 neglected for a number of years — strangely, not only 
 because of the interest of the music, but also because, 
 being comparatively short, it was available for per- 
 formance on occasions when a longer work was 
 undesirable — which was Madame Dolcken's inten- 
 tion. The credit of reviving the work belongs 
 to Mr. Ernest Kiver, who played it at his con- 
 cert, April 27th, 1887, in presence of the com- 
 poser, who sat by me on the occasion. Macfarren's 
 account of the work is given in a letter to Mr. Kiver, 
 March 25th : — 
 
 "The plan of the Trio was suggested by Madame 
 Dulcken, the once deservedly popular pianiste, and the 
 work was first played by her at one of her chamber con- 
 certs in the spring of 1844 ; it was printed in 1845." 
 
 It is both just and pleasurable to insert, in addition, 
 the following letter to Mr. Kiver, furnishing, moreover, 
 an instance of the kind appreciativeness which Mac- 
 farren was so ready to express towards rising artists, 
 and his sense of any attention or honour paid to him- 
 self — an appreciativeness which continued to the end ; 
 for this letter was among the latest of many such which 
 
102 LETTER FROM MENDELSSOHN. 
 
 lie wrotej bearing date less than six months before his 
 death : — 
 
 "7, Hamilton Terrace, N.W. 
 "May nth, 1S81. 
 " Mt deae Kivee, 
 " I have been remiss in not sooner telling you, as I have 
 all along wished for time to do, that I was greatly pleased 
 with your performance at your concert, and I now thank 
 you for the pains you spent upon my old Trio, and for the 
 capital result. I earnestly wish that this occasion may 
 help with others in which your merit has been evinced to 
 establish you in your profession, and I shall be very glad 
 if you will ever give me opportunity to further your 
 interests. 
 
 " You must not forget your promise to lend me your 
 copy of the Trio, for the sake of the corrections, but this 
 may be kept at any time most convenient to you, since the 
 faults that have been accepted for forty years, cannot do 
 much more mischief in a week or two. 
 
 " Tours with kind regards and best wishes, 
 
 " Gr. A. Macfabeen." 
 
 At the third concert, W. H. Holmes was to hkve 
 played Macfarren's Second Solo Sonata, "Ma Cousine," 
 in A major ; but illness prevented him from doing so. 
 Macfarren requested Mendelssohn to play it, as he was 
 to play his Trio in D minor, but received the following 
 letter of apology ; — 
 
 "4, Hobart Place, Eaton Square. 
 " June 6th, 1844. 
 " Mt deae Sie, 
 
 " I need not tell you with how great a pleasure I would 
 have played your Sonata to-morrow, if I possibly could — 
 for I hope you know this. And you also know that it is 
 with true and sincere regret that I must say I am not 
 able to undertake the task which you propose me. During 
 the bustle of the last weeks I have not yet been able to 
 become acquainted with your Sonata; the whole of this 
 
JOSEPH JOACHIM. 103 
 
 day and of to-morrow morning is taken up with different 
 musical and unmusical engagements, and accordingly I 
 would hardly have an hour till to-morrow night to play 
 your Sonata over. This I cannot think sufficient, and I 
 would not be able to do it justice in my own eyes. Do not 
 misunderstand me and take this for false modesty ; I know 
 very well that I should be able to-morrow to play it 
 through without stopping, and perhaps without wrong 
 notes ; but I attach too much importance to any public 
 performance to believe that sufficient, and unless I am 
 myself thoroughly acquainted with a composition of such 
 importance and compass, I would never venture to play it 
 in public. Once more I need not tell you how much I 
 regret it, for you must know it very well. 
 
 "Mr. Davison told me the Concert was now to begin with 
 my Trio [in D minor : Op. 49] : I shall therefore be punctually 
 with you to-morrow evening at half -past eight. I beg you 
 will arrange about having a good piano of Erard's at the 
 room ; they know there already which I like best. 
 "Always very sincerely yours, 
 
 "Felix Mendelssohn Babtholdt." 
 
 Mendelssohn was joined, at this performance, by 
 Joseph Joachim and Hausmann. During this year, 
 Joachim, then a lad, received composition lessons from 
 Macfarren, to whom, as I have heard him say, he was 
 indebted for his first instructions in the art of writing- 
 for an orchestra. His visit to this country, in that 
 year, created a great sensation ; and his performances 
 at Macfarren and Davison's concerts formed an attrac- 
 tive feature. 
 
 At this third concert. Miss Rainforth sang a 
 " Spinnelied " from "Faust," by Macfarren, described 
 as of " tristful quaintness, a melody which follows with 
 true sentiment the varied passion of the poetry, in all 
 respects worthy to be its companion." 
 
 Another fine song of Macfarren's, belonging to 
 
104 "O WORLD! O LIFE! O TIME!" 
 
 this period, is the rhapsody, " world! life ! 
 time ! " which the " Atlas " newspaper declared to 
 be— 
 
 " Altogether one of the most remarkable songs we have 
 seen. Prom its opening amid the profoundest despondency, 
 through all its varying shades of sentiment, down to the chill- 
 ing and hopeless gloom of its close, it is filled with testimonies 
 to the intellectuality of the true musician's art. Music must 
 needs be metaphysical that follows up, seizes on, and incor- 
 porates itself with the thoughts of such a poet as Shelley ; 
 yet all this does this song in perfection. But few things 
 in modern song-writing will bear comparison with the ex- 
 pression of the half-stifled hope in the line, 'When will return 
 the glory of your prime ? ' by the grand and unexpected 
 modulation to D major; or the rendering of the withering 
 self -reply, ' No more ! no more ! ' increasing in fervour with 
 every repetition, until the climax of mental suffering seems 
 attained in the unisonous passage that regains the tonic, 
 and, in its course, involves that acutest of the musician's 
 expressions of pain, the ascent of the diminished fourth. 
 An enharmonic transition now conducts to a reposeful and 
 lovely melody in D flat major, to the words, ' Out of the 
 day and night a joy has taken flight.' This is interrupted 
 by a recurrence of the poet's thoughts to their gloomy 
 outset, and the musician, faithful to every turn of feeling 
 he essays to depict, parallelizes this' relinquishment of 
 fancied happiness, and by a most masterly manoeuvre of 
 harmony reverts to the stern severity of his first tonic, 
 r sharp minor, and to his rendering of the poet's 'No more, 
 O never more ! ' but, in this case, expanded over the entire 
 surface of his last page, and wrought to its close with a 
 chilling power of effect, of which we scarcely know a com- 
 parable instance. On the whole, we do not hesitate to 
 pronounce this one of the most extraordinary songs in any 
 language." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Macfaeken's Theoretical Views and Whitings. 
 De. Day's Theoey. 1838, etc. 
 
 SOME time prior to the year 1838, Macfarren first 
 became acquainted with Dr. Alfred Day,^ homoeo- 
 pathic physician- [1810-1849] : an acquaintanceship 
 which in that year " ripened into intimacy .'' This 
 intimacy had such momentous results with regard to 
 his own theoretical views, and, by consequence, his 
 attitude towards previous and contemporary systems 
 of harmony, as well, it must surely be said, upon 
 his own composition ; and moreover, his name became 
 so identified with the system which he, against his 
 predilections, was compelled to adopt, espouse, and 
 defend, so as to render him its apostle and champion, 
 that it becomes necessary to treat of the whole sub- 
 ject at some length. It has been customary to regard 
 Macfarren as dogmatically obstinate, especially be- 
 cause of the persistency with which he enunciated 
 and upheld his theoretical opinions. But this will 
 ever be the fate of men who think out & subject 
 thoroughly, and, having thought to a definite con- 
 clusion, enunciate that definite conclusion without 
 hesitation, reserve, or concession. And especially 
 
 ^ See chapter iii. page 80. 
 
106 ALFRED BAY. 
 
 unyielding will such a man be, when the very preci- 
 sion and persuadedness of his views result from his 
 having arrived at them by himself yielding, not- 
 withstanding old-standing prejudices. There is, un- 
 doubtedly, a tone of finality, as of " one having 
 authority," about Macfarren^s theoretical writings; 
 and tha^ is justly to be characterized as dogmatic. But 
 Macfarren's contention would have been that, in in- 
 structing learners, it is the teacher's function to lay 
 down the law, to enunciate the truth, and that with- 
 out wavering. Macfarren himself was "fully persuaded 
 in his own mind " : it is not fair to characterize that 
 persuasion as prejudice, when it was the issue -of 
 painstaking consideration. Prejudice is judgment that 
 precedes evidence. Conviction is judgment after 
 weighing evidence. 
 
 Macfarren himself writes, concerning Alfred Day: — 
 
 "His early predilection for music was opposed by hjs 
 father, who devoted him to the profession of medicine. 
 He studied in the s3hools of London and Paris, obtained 
 his diploma at Heidelberg, and practised in London as a 
 homoeopathist. His father's hindrance of his pursuit of 
 music prevented his acquiring any practical facility in the 
 art, but could not check his interest in it, and he indulged 
 accordingly in theoretical investigation. His only instructor 
 was W. H. Kearns ; but his familiar intercourse with 
 several of the most talented musicians of his own age gave 
 him constant opportunity of study. He conceived a theory 
 of harmony that justifies, upon fundamental principles, 
 many of the beautiful exceptions from conventional rules 
 that adorn the works of the great composers. He spent 
 several years in maturing his system, and gave it to the 
 world in his ' Treatise on Harmony,' in 1845. The lucid 
 distinction between the laws of the ancient, or strict", or dia- 
 tonic school, and those of the modern, or free, or chromatic ; 
 the regular and comprehensive manner in which these are 
 
CONFERENCES WITH Dli. DAY. 107 
 
 severally defined; and the original and coherent explanation 
 of the specialities of chromatic harmony — are all novelties 
 in this very remarkable work, which, on that account, have 
 been barriers to its immediate acceptation. But the clear- 
 ness with which this system unfolds the subject, is such as 
 to give at once greater confidence and greater scope to the 
 student than any theoretical work in existence ; and its 
 value is acknowledged by those who have carefully and 
 candidly studied its principles. The peculiarity of mind 
 which led him to reject established codes, both iu medicine 
 and in music, led him also to observe every other object 
 from a novel aspect ; and his singular genius amused itself 
 in devising improvements in many mechanical inventions, 
 few of which, however, with all the ingenuity they evince, 
 have come into use." (" Imperial Dictionary of Universal 
 Biography.") 
 
 In agreement with one remark in the above extract 
 was an observation made by Macfarren to myself, in 
 conversation about the theory : " Think how much 
 you will enlarge your power and freedom in your own 
 writing by remembering that these various resolutions 
 are within your scope " — referring to the chromatic 
 resolutions of the minor 9th, etc. 
 
 About the period above specified, Macfarren 
 used to go over to Brixton to spend as many even- 
 ings as he could spare with Dr. Alfred Day, for the 
 discussion of his views on Harmony, The history 
 of those conferences is thus briefly related by Mac- 
 farren himself: — " He [Alfred Day] then propounded 
 to me his theory of harmony, which I combated point 
 by point, as each, point differed from views I had 
 hitherto learned, and every opposing argument suc- 
 cessively fell under the convincing weight of his novel 
 principles." Thus, Macfarren^s views were revolu- 
 tionized; and that, as has been already hinted, by 
 
108 BAY'S TREATISE ON HARMONY. 
 
 yielding his old prejudices or views. He goes on to 
 relate how he persuaded Day to commit his views to 
 paper, which was reluctantly, slowly, and with great 
 difficulty accomplished ; the amateur author reading 
 the chapters to his professional friend as the work 
 proceeded, for the benefit of such practical advice as 
 one actually engaged in teaching might fairly be pre- 
 sumed to be able to offer. At length, in 1845, Day's 
 " Treatise on Harmony " was published ; and to the 
 preface was appended a letter of recommendation, or 
 rather of acquiescence, from Macfarren, in which he 
 makes the acknowledgment : — 
 
 " I am happy to own that in becoming acquainted with 
 your principles, I found my ideas of the resources of Har- 
 mony greatly to expand ; and my facility and confidence in 
 the practical application of them is now much greater than 
 I believe it could possibly be, had I not the advantage of 
 the peculiar view of the subject which is opened by your 
 new System; — above all, I am gratified by it, insomuch as 
 I find in it an explanation of and a rule for many of the 
 greatest beauties of the best masters, which formerly ap- 
 peared to violate all the rules of music, and which were 
 sanctioned as the unaccountable aberrations of genius, but 
 which could only be imitated to be plagiarized. In the 
 second place, since I have become familiar with your 
 System, feeling as I have done that it was true, and that 
 as Truth is single, so none but yours could be true, I have 
 taught upon it, and have found it most easily compre- 
 hended by pupils who had no foreknowledge of the subject ; 
 and by those who have come to me with a small acquain- 
 tance with other works, it has been admitted to explain 
 many points of Harmony, which had been to them before 
 quite unintelligible. It is a Theory, in my opinion, of 
 peculiar advantage to the student, as comprising the laws 
 of counterpoint with all those of the chromatic or free 
 style ; and, for the first time to my knowledge, distinguish- 
 ing between these very dissimilar schools of harmony." 
 
MACFARREN AND THE DAY THEORY. 109 
 
 The letter from whicli the above is an extract is 
 dated "73, Berners Street, July 12th, 1845," the house 
 being at the corner of Oxford Street. Some friends 
 wondered at a musician, — especially a composer, — 
 choosing to reside in so crowded a thoroughfare. 
 Macfarren's explanation was that he could sooner 
 accustom himself to write against the wholly un- 
 musical noise of cart-wheels, than against that of the 
 barrel-organs and brass bands which infest so-called 
 " quiet streets." I was a frequent visitor to that 
 house during the residence of the Macfarren family 
 therein. 
 
 With reference to the remark in this letter about 
 "the peculiar view of the subject which is opened by 
 your new System," it is curious to remember how 
 often Macfarren would, so to speak, ignore the fact 
 of any peculiarity or novelty about the "view" or 
 " System " which he advocated. When he was 
 examining one of the elementary classes at the Royal 
 Academy of Music, the Sub- Professor who had charge 
 of the class interposed, after one of the questions, — 
 " Will you mind asking according to the more usual 
 view and terminology ? " — to which the immediate 
 rejoinder came, — "You are the first that ever intimated 
 that there was anything unusual in my view of the 
 subject ; " although the phraseology was undeniably 
 the outcome of the particular theory held by the 
 questioner. And, on another occasion, when he asked 
 a young lady-student the notation of the chromatic 
 scale, — one of the salient points in which the Day 
 theory differs from ordinary usage, — she began her 
 reply, less warily than truly, "Well, there are two 
 different ways in which it is noted," — and then began 
 
no UNCOMPROMISING VIEWS. 
 
 by giving the " Day " notation ; upon which Macfarren 
 abruptly stopped her, saying, — " I know of no other 
 way, and advise you to keep to that " : ignoring the 
 undeniable fact that, right or wrong, another notation 
 is (to put it mildly) , frequent in the works of acknow- 
 ledged composers, as well as in books of instruction. 
 
 In saying " Truth is single, so none but [your 
 system] could be true," Macfarren perhaps hardly 
 attached sufficient weight to the axiom — " Truth is 
 many-sided ; " although that axiom may often be used 
 to cover laxity, neology, or latitudinarianism. But he 
 held by that principle, commencing the preface to his 
 " Eudiments " with the sentence, " This book pre- 
 sents the truth, and nothing but the truth, though 
 not the whole truth, on the boundless subject of which 
 it treats." And again, in the concluding lecture of 
 his " Six Lectures on Harmony," he re-asseverates : — 
 
 " Truth is single. This Spenser has pointedly symbolized 
 in naming his heroine, who is the personification of verity. 
 A notable evidence, then, of the truth of Alfred Day's 
 theory of harmony, is that perfect unity prevails through- 
 out it ; and in this respect it differs from every other of 
 the many I have studied." 
 
 And, in the introductory lecture : — ■ 
 
 '' I am indeed so thoroughly convinced of the truth of 
 Day's theory, and I have derived such infinite advantage 
 from its knowledge in my own practical musicianship, that 
 I should be dishonest to myself and to my hearers were I 
 to pretend to teach any other." 
 
 And in his "Musical History," page 136, he 
 states : — 
 
 " As a summary of all the precept and example that has 
 
BE-ITERATION OF VIEWS. Ill 
 
 been cited in the survey of the centuries, let the writer 
 state his convictions on musical theory, which are, that the 
 " Treatise on Harmony " by Alfred Day comprehends 
 whatever is practically available, and reconciles the pre- 
 viously apparent discrepancies between principle and use. 
 
 The author now cited was the first to classify the 
 
 ancient, strict, uniform, diatonic, contrapuntal style, apart 
 from the modern, free, exceptive, chromatic, massive style, 
 to separate the principles that guide the one, from the laws 
 that control the other, and to place a subject that is at 
 once sublime and beautiful in a light of unfailing clear- 
 ness. He showed that one or another beautiful chord and 
 the progressions thence were not capricious violations of 
 rule, permissible to genius though unallowable to ordinary 
 writers ; he showed that such things were acceptable, not 
 only because great masters had written them, and so small 
 writers might repeat the trespass; he proved this by 
 demonstrating the self-perfection of the ancient canon, and 
 the also perfect modern system that rests on a basis totally 
 distinct from that of the other." 
 
 Yet once more, Macfarren concludes the Introduc- 
 tion to his " Eighty Musical Sentences " thus : — 
 
 " The author is happy to issue this publication as a con- 
 fession of musical faith, avowing implicit belief in the 
 harmonic theory on which it is based, and thorough con- 
 viction that the theory accounts for everything that is 
 beautiful, and guards against what is unsatisfactory in 
 musical combination and progression." 
 
 These last extracts, moreover, re-assert and em- 
 phasize his averment in the above letter to Day con- 
 cerning the light thrown by the theory on the practice 
 of the best masters ; always a strong contention in its 
 favour, urged by its upholders. An incident may 
 here be related,, however, illustrating Macfarren's 
 " singular openness to conviction,'^ so justly a(;know- 
 ledged by the pupil who furnishes it, and in whose 
 
1 1 2 OPENNESS TO CON VICT I ON. 
 
 words I give it. " Owing to his refusal to accept as 
 valid the explanation I offered according to Day of 
 certain chromatic chords which I contended were in 
 the key, and his admission of a, chord which he frankly 
 admitted he could not account for hy Day's theory, 
 saying, ' Here I must oivn Bay hrealis down,' 1, in con- 
 junction with another, prepared an extremely revolu- 
 tionary ' extension ' of Day^s theory, which I took an 
 opportunity of submitting to him privately. He heard 
 me with the utmost patience, and refused to give an 
 opinion on the matter, but, reserving judgment, took 
 more than a week to consider it ; and when he found 
 himself compelled to dissent, did so with the utmost 
 courtesy and consideration ; and that, though he had 
 been wedded to a theory for half a century." 
 
 It must have been soon after the publication, in 
 1845, of Day's "Treatise," which was "received 
 worse than coldly by the heads of the musical profes- 
 sion " — " was denounced by the chief musicians in 
 London, and a single believer [Macfarren himself] 
 for some time alone maintained and taught its 
 enlightened views," — that the attention of the 
 " authorities " at the Royal Academy was inevitably 
 directed to the fact that Macfarren was teaching his 
 classes "new-fangled notions," — unorthodox here- 
 sies, and using a new book. Quite justifiably, the 
 matter was duly inquired into : nothing peremptory, 
 inconsiderate, or disregardful of one whose musician- 
 ship was so deservedly recognised, and who was so 
 highly esteemed personally, was to be looked for from 
 such men as the then Principal, Cipriani Potter ; but 
 Macfarren was invited to discuss the questions in 
 dispute, with the other harmony professors of the insti- 
 
HESIGNS academy professorship. 113 
 
 tution. A meeting was held — a " round-table " 
 conference — at whichj besides the Principal, Sterndale 
 Bennett, Sir Henry R, Bishop, John Goss, and 
 Charles Lucas were present; and a lively discussion 
 ensued. Macfarren was probably better equipped for 
 dialectics than his opponents, from his own experi- 
 ence in his original antagonism to Day. He was 
 outweighed, outnumbered, but not, as he believed, 
 outwitted ; and, refusing to succumb by teaching 
 contrary to his convictions, felt bound in honesty to 
 resign his appointment — much, to the regret, doubtless, 
 of his colleagues. But he never wavered — was no 
 time-server, but bided his time, which came later on. 
 Before long, better counsels prevailed; not the 
 acceptance of Day's theory, but the wise persuasion 
 that it was better to have a musician of unquestioned 
 competence and power to teach that which he believed 
 from his own out-thinking, than that any old traditions 
 should be so stereotyped in an educational system or 
 curriculum as to bar all free thought, and to alienate 
 from the institution one whose worth was so fully 
 recognized. In 1851 Macfarren resumed his profes- 
 sional work at the Royal Academy at the instance of 
 Cipriani Potter, his own old teacher, who said to him, 
 " Come back and teach anything you please." 
 
 In the "Musical World," March IGth, 1849, an 
 article on Day's theory, expository and defensive, 
 appeared, signed " M.," and bearing internal evidence 
 of being written by Macfarren. 
 
 As time went on the system gained adherents, even 
 amidst the strenuous opposition which it still encoun- 
 tered. One of its most determined opponents even 
 said to me, concerning Day's book, " If you read it, 
 
 I 
 
114 "RUDIMENTS OF HARMONY." 
 
 you will find that it will set you thinking about com- 
 binations and progressions which you have not been 
 accustomed to consider, and will be suggestive, and 
 enlarge your views," or words to that effect. At all 
 events, Macfarren continued to gain respect for his 
 sturdy independence ; and the numerous pupils indoc- 
 trinated by him were an attached band of devotees. 
 But an impression prevailed, I think, that the new 
 doctrines were as obscure and difficult of apprehen- 
 sion as they were doubtful ; at all events. Day's own 
 book was so considered. Accordingly, Macfarren was 
 urged to embody the principles that he was teaching 
 in such a form as to render them available for tuition. 
 Day's book was a " treatise " — an exposition, and that, 
 moreover, in apologetic or even polemic manner, of 
 an unfamiliar theory, and, not including any exer- 
 cises, was wholly unadapted for teaching purposes. 
 Therefore, in compliance with the desire so expressed, 
 Macfarren prepared his "Eudiments of Harmony," 
 which was published in 1860. His aim was to pro- 
 vide " a book of less extent and smaller price than 
 Day's ' Treatise,' wherein rules should be stated, but no 
 arguments given for their support, wherein the points 
 of least frequent application should be omitted, and 
 wherein a series of illustrative exercises should be 
 included for practical service to the student." This 
 book, therefore, instead of being a treatise, is a class- 
 book or lesson-book. And this should in fairness 
 be borne in mind as accounting for the uncompro- 
 misingly dogmatic tone of the book, which appears in 
 the already- quoted first sentence of its preface. Mac- 
 farren's purpose was didactic, not polemic. He was, 
 at the time of its preparation, reinstated as a professor 
 
"RUDIMENTS OF HARMONY." 115 
 
 at the Eoyal Academy; the weight of his opinions 
 was acknowledged, even though those opinions were 
 dissented from ; he was tacitly regarded as one who 
 had a right to be an epoch-maker, and there was now 
 no doubt that his book, and the system on which it 
 was founded, had to be reckoned with in theoretical 
 education. 
 
 In the " Rudiments," however, Macfarren departed 
 from the new method introduced by Day of figuring 
 basses, "for the sake of avoiding a possible, if only 
 imaginary, obstacle to the acceptance of ^' his theory 
 of harmony. This departure, however, was not to be 
 *' interpreted as an admission of its impracticability, 
 but as a concession to established habit, if not to pre- 
 judice.'' Macfarren was accustomed to designate as 
 "misleading" the method of figuring ordinarily 
 adopted in " Thorough-bass." That which he advo- 
 cated was the figuring from the root of the chord, 
 with alphabetical indications as to which position or 
 inversion was used. 
 
 The disciplinarian character of his mind was evinced 
 in this book by the framing of rules and exceptions in 
 abundance, requiring considerable exercise of discern- 
 ing memory on the part of the student, little 
 discretionary latitude being allowed him. This method 
 of teaching was characteristic of Macfarren, I think, 
 aU along his professional course. Pupils of a restive, 
 erratic, or independent temperament chafed somewhat 
 under the almost numberless restrictions which, as it 
 seemed to them, curbed them on every hand. Some 
 pupils, indeed, did more than chafe; or rather, 
 escaped from the chafing by defiance, not disrespect- 
 ful or mutinous, but self-assertive; they struck for 
 
116 LECTURES AT ROYAL INSTITUTION. 
 
 liberty. This was especially the case when they began 
 to compose, or, perhaps, later on than at the beginning, 
 saying, "I like this, and mean to have it so." All 
 teachers are familiar with this class of " free-lances ; " 
 perhaps Macfarren's rigidity was somewhat likely to 
 rouse a little of such a spirit where it was latent. But 
 it is impossible not to admire the ingenuity with 
 which Macfarren's rules, and even more his exceptions, 
 were devised and framed to meet, as it would seem, 
 every case likely to arise. In a subsequent edition of 
 the " Rudiments,^' a fresh batch of exceptions was 
 added in the form of an appendix, 
 
 A further opportunity was accorded to Macfarren 
 of enunciating and enforcing his theoretical views by 
 the invitation given him, in 1867, to deliver a course 
 of " Six Lectures on Harmony " at the Eoyal Institu- 
 tion of Great Britain — an invitation which was mainly 
 due to the good offices of his " early friend," the 
 esteemed professor, Mr. G. A. Osborne. 
 
 Macfarren was waiting in a music- warehouse in Bond 
 Street, when Mr. Osborne came in ; and, conversation 
 turning upon these theoretical matters, Macfarren exr 
 pressed his desire to lecture, in exposition of his views, 
 at the Royal Institution. He was unaware that his 
 old friend had any influence in the matter ; but such 
 was the case, and Mr. Osborne, finding that Macfarren 
 was remaining some time in that meeting-place, asked 
 him not to leave till his return, and hastened to the 
 Royal Institution and had an interview with Dr. Bence 
 Jones, the secretary. Returning to Bond Street, he 
 was able to say, " Macfarren, your lectures will be 
 welcome; terms will be satisfactory, and there will be 
 prospect of the lectures being published." Macfarren 
 
DAY AND MENDELSSOHN. 117 
 
 told me that he would never again go through the 
 anxiety of bringing lectures within exact compass of 
 time, to be indicated relentlessly by a clock-bell, at the 
 sound of which the audience were all to rise and 
 depart, regardless of the finish or non-finish of the 
 lecture. 
 
 These lectures when published were characterized 
 by a writer who was opposed to the theory therein 
 expounded, as forming, nevertheless, " one of the most 
 interesting volumes ever written on musical theory.-"' 
 In them Macfarren was not the rule-maker, but the 
 expounder and the illustrator, and was apologetic by 
 means of exposition and illustration. He availed him- 
 self of the opportunity to justify his contention that, 
 all along, the works of the great Masters exemplified 
 the principles of which he had been the unflinching 
 advocate ; that however " new in theory ,'' as Day had 
 observed, these principles were " old in practice ; " 
 that by them "many discrepancies of principle and 
 practice were reconciled between the writings of pro- 
 found teachers and the works of the great Masters.-" 
 
 One great Master, indeed. Dr. Day sought to enlist 
 as an adherent — Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, He 
 prevailed on Macfarren to arrange a meeting with the 
 Master, that he might have an opportunity of ex- 
 pounding the theory, and indoctrinating Mendelssohn 
 therewith. The meeting took place at Macfarren's 
 residence ; but, he told me, before Dr. Day had pro- 
 ceeded, far with his argumentative exposition, the face 
 of Mendelssohn assumed an expression so suggestive 
 of his having taken a dose of nauseous medicine, that, 
 to avoid a scene, Macfarren was compelled to bring 
 the discussion to an. abrupt, if not untimely) end. His 
 
118 MACFARREN EDITS DATS BOOK. 
 
 explanation was that Mendelssohn was so opposed to 
 theorizing about the beautiful art which he so en- 
 riched by his productions, not that he rejected Dr. 
 Day^s theories in themselves. Anyhow, Day had 
 evidently reckoned — not, indeed, without his host — 
 but without calculating the temper of his host's dis- 
 tinguished guest. As Macfarren remarks, in his 
 biographical sketch in the " Imperial Dictionary of 
 Biography " : " [Mendelssohn] had the strongest 
 aversion to pedantry, and detested theoretical discus- 
 sions, as being the cause, if not the result, of pedantic 
 feeling." 
 
 In 1885, Day's original " Treatise " being out of 
 print, — forty years after its publication ! — it was 
 deemed desirable to issue a new edition. Naturally, 
 Macfarren was engaged to supervise this re- issue; 
 and the second edition was published with an interest- 
 ing preface by the editor, giving an account of its 
 original production, a summary of the theory itself, 
 some reply to objections, and a statement as to wherein 
 the second edition was different from the first, and on 
 what authority the alterations were made. With on© 
 exception, these alterations might be said to be made 
 on Day's own authority, inasmuch as he had given 
 Macfarren an interleaved copy of the original book, 
 with the request that he would make memoranda of 
 such modifications, in phraseology or otherwise, as 
 " daily observation of the working of the system," in 
 actual teaching, might suggest as desirable. This 
 Macfarren did, and discussed all his suggestions with 
 Day, with the result that they were all accepted fully 
 by him, till his death in 1849. Such modifications as 
 occurred to Macfarren subsequently, as the result of. 
 
MACFAUREN'S EDITION OF DAY. 119 
 
 or during, thirty-six years' experience, were given in 
 an appendix ; those approved by Day were incor- 
 porated in the text. The one exception above referred 
 to consisted in the omission of an intermediate chapter 
 between the first and second parts of Day's book, on 
 " Diatonic Free Music," which Macfarren considered 
 " redundant if not confusing." While he fully en- 
 dorsed, and considered an important speciality, as one 
 of the foundations of Day's system — 
 
 " the very broad, but not universally recognized distinc- 
 tions between the ancient, strict, uniform, diatonic, arti- 
 ficial, or contrapuntal style of harmony, comprised in what 
 may be called archaic art in music ; and the modem, free, 
 exceptive, chromatic, natural, massive, or harmonic style of 
 harmony, comprised in the Hving art of our own times ; " 
 yet he acknowledged that " the twilight between the pre- 
 valence of the ancient and modern styles in music has so 
 many examples of each, the strict and the free so con- 
 tinually overlap each other in the music produced through- 
 out what may be assumed as the transition period, that to 
 date the dawning of the one or the setting of the other 
 is impossible." 
 
 The present being a biographical, not a theoretical 
 or polemical work, any full exposition of, or argument 
 concerning, the system of harmony espoused by the 
 subject of this memoir, and so staunchly and ably 
 advocated by him, so that his name has become inse- 
 parably identified with it, would be out of place. The 
 broad distinction between the diatonic and chromatic 
 styles, just adverted to, lay at its threshold; and with 
 that distinction, a separate set of rules for each style. 
 In connection with the chromatic style, the initial 
 novelty was that which was termed by Macfarren 
 " Alfred Day's beautiful theory, which identifies with 
 
UO POINTS OF DAY'S THEORY. 
 
 every key the twelve notes of its ctromatic scale, and 
 proves that, as concords or as discords, they are all 
 essential to the tonality/' And, as a corollary of this 
 theory, the notation of the chromatic scale referred to 
 above, founded on the combined major and minor 
 scales on the tonic. And, still further, in connection 
 with this recognition of the notes of the chromatic 
 scale as integral to the key, was the recognition of 
 fundamental chromatic chords — the roots assigned for 
 fundamental discords being the dominant, the tonic, 
 and the supertonic. Many and various additional 
 collateral differences of view, usage, and notation 
 were connected with and resultant from these essential 
 points, to illustrate which would require much music 
 type and much space for explanation. Even the 
 summary given, without music type, in Macfarren's 
 "Six Lectures'' (p. 214 et seq.), occupies a few pages; 
 as does a similar summary in his " Musical History " 
 (p. 136 et seq.). Another summary, with music type, 
 is given in my "Text-book of Music," Appendix I. 
 (later editions) . Some of the salient practical issues, 
 patent to observation, either in progression or in ex- 
 pression, notational or verbal, are sketched in some 
 remarks which I made when addressing the students 
 of the Eoyal Academy of Music, in November, 1887, 
 shortly after they had been bereaved of their Principal, 
 which I venture, therefore, to insert in this place, as 
 bearing on the subject in hand. 
 
 "I think it only right and fair, both for your own sakes, 
 and for his memory's sake, to try briefly to summarize the 
 points in theory, and theoretical explanation and nomen- 
 clature, for which you are indebted to him, or to the so- 
 calle:! ' Day theory,' as expounded by him ; in other words. 
 
ADDIiJESS TO ACADEMY STUDENTS. 121 
 
 what changes or differences, in the way of looking at 
 matters theoretical, and expressing them, have been brought 
 about by the diffusion of, and insistence on, the teaching 
 in question. To some of you, probably to most of you, it 
 has been a surprise, an astonishment, to hear that there 
 ever was a time in the history of this, our valued Academy, 
 when such an incident could occur as the almost compul- 
 sory resignation of your revered theoretical guide. Professor 
 —but then plain Mr. Maefarren — on account of alleged 
 errors in bis views of harmony and methods of teaching. 
 But so it was ; in Music, as in other things, all along the 
 line, it has been that the radicalism of yesterday becomes 
 the conservatism of to-day, the heresy of the past the 
 orthodoxy of the present. Only so recently as about twenty 
 years ago, when Sterndale Bennett was appointed Principal 
 of this Institution, he, talking with me about my own 
 teaching here, expressed virtually his hope that I should 
 not be adopting the very terminology which is now familiar 
 to you as household words. Had you, at that time, and 
 from that time further back, studied here, you would have 
 been taught that the inter-diatonic notes of the Chromatic 
 Scale were simply ornamental inflexions of the diatonic 
 notes ; whereas now, with a different notation, you learn 
 to regard them as integers of the key. Tou owe that to 
 Maefarren, or to Dr. Day through him. Therefore to him 
 you also owe it that you include, under the general heading 
 of Chromatic Chords, all those chords which, while having 
 accidentals, do not effect modulation, and are regarded, 
 ■therefore, as appertaining to the key ; part of its furniture, 
 the resources which it furnishes. Tou owe it, therefore, to 
 him, that instead of regarding these chords as chromatic 
 alterations of diatonic chords — which you would have been 
 taught twenty years ago — you refer them all to certain 
 fundamentals, as, so to speak, chords in their own right ; 
 dissonant chords being referred either to the Dominant, 
 the Tonic, or the Supertonic, as the root. Even in the case 
 of a chord of, as was thought, such a decidedly chromatic- 
 alteration aspect as the Augmented 6th, in either of its 
 three forms, Italian, French, or German, instead of so re- 
 garding it, as would have been taught of old, you owe it to 
 Maefarren that you account for it as proceeding from two 
 
122 MACFARREN'S TECHNICALITIES. 
 
 roots : the supertonic aad the dominant, if occurring on 
 the minor 6th of the scale ; the dominant and tonic, if upon 
 the minor 2nd of the scale. Tou owe it to him that the 
 chord of the minor 6th on the subdominant, instead of 
 being regarded as a fancy softening of the diatonic chord, 
 with the fancy name of the Neapolitan 6th, is regarded as 
 the inversion of the legitimate chord on the minor 2nd of 
 the chromatic scale. You owe it to him that the chords 
 of the 11th and of the 13th are to be regarded as fun- 
 damental discords ; and that as a corollary, for example, 
 the chord of the f on the subdominant is not, as formerly, 
 to be most unsatisfactorily accounted for, if account it can 
 be called, as the added &th, but as the 2nd available inver- 
 sion of the chord of the 11th. All this, and much more, 
 is entirely the outcome of his teaching, together with various 
 terms which are not by any means inseparable from the 
 theories. I have thought it instructive for you "thus to 
 know the extent of the metamorphosis which has been 
 effected in this department, through the authoritative 
 inculcation by our late Principal of those theories which 
 alone, as it seemed to him, were satisfactorily consistent." 
 
 To this enumeration may be added the adoption of 
 the terms, " 1st inversion," " 2nd inversion," " last 
 inversion," respectively ; of the suspended 9th, or of the 
 suspended 4th, according to v^hether the 3rd or 6th of 
 the chord, or the suspension itself, be in the bass; 
 whereas it is only when in the bass that the suspen- 
 sion is inverted, if the term " invert " is to be used in 
 its proper sense of change of position, or " turning 
 upside down." The principle involved in Macfarren's 
 (or Day's) phraseology — namely, that the suspension 
 is the same whichever position of the chord be taken — 
 is of course not only sound, but most important and 
 simple, and no exception can be taken to his remarks 
 on that head in Appendix M to Day's " Treatise." But 
 it remains true, nevertheless, that the suspension itself 
 
MACFARREtrS TECHNICALITIES. 12S 
 
 is not inverted when it remains in an upper part. 
 Another peculiarity of terminology is that of the 
 application of the term "Passing-note" to a note 
 which, though a tone or a semitone below or above 
 an essential note, is approached by skip — such a note 
 as is usually known as an auxiliary note, or appoggia- 
 tura, or acciaccatura. I once spoke to Macfarren 
 about this point, urging that " Passing-note " meant a, 
 note taken in passing from one note to another, and, 
 therefore, was an inappropriate term for a note taken by 
 skip. His reply was, " You are quite right, logically ^ 
 but is it not desirable, aa much as possible, to avoid 
 multiplication of technicalities, and, therefore, to bring 
 all these unessential notes under one general term ? " 
 In the same conversation, I instanced my elucidation 
 of that exceptional treatment of Passimg-notes (known 
 as Changing-notes) by skip of a 3rd, in my " Text- 
 book of Music" (p. 108), taken from Chopin's Study 
 in C sharp minor, to wich he replied, " Yea, that is 
 excellent." Indeed, he was always moat ready to 
 accord praise, and, it may be added, to acknowledge 
 indebtedness. Again and again did he disclaim all 
 credit for the theories which he so chivalrously 
 defended. "My late friend, Alfred Day, communi- 
 cated to me his very original and very perspicuous 
 theory of Harmony, by means of which many obscuri- 
 ties in the subject were cleared that my previous- 
 anxious study had vainly sought to penetrate," &c. 
 (" Six Lectures," p. 2). " Emphatically I disclaim 
 any merit of authorship, but I trust that I am doing 
 the best I may to disseminate a system which, if true> 
 as I believe it to be, must in course of time supersede 
 all other theories of harmony" (Preface to second 
 
124 "EIGHTY MUSICAL SENTENCES." 
 
 edition of Day's " Treatise") . In telling the Academy- 
 students that they owed the various changes enume- 
 rated to Macfarren, I by no means lost sight of the 
 advocacy by Sir F. Gore Ouseley of some at least of 
 the same theories — an advocacy, however, subsequent 
 to that maintained by Macfarren in the face of so 
 much opposition. Macfarren once said to me, " This 
 double-root theory of the Augmented 6th Ouseley has 
 obtained so much credit for, he got it all from Day." 
 Yet one more book in illustration and "wider 
 exemplification of the views in " the " Lectures " than 
 they could contain, did Macfarren prepare, at the 
 suggestion of the Rev. John Curwen, a highly- 
 esteemed dissetiting minister, who was honoured as 
 the "founder" of the "Tonic Sol-fa" system of teaching 
 music, but who " professed to have derived it from 
 Sarah Glover of Norwich, whose method he but modi- 
 fied and expanded."^ The system itself Macfarren 
 opposed, as will be subsequently related ; although, in 
 his preface to the second edition of Day's " Treatise," 
 he gives credit for the adoption, though incompletely, 
 in its notation, of Day's " method of figuring the bass 
 to denote the chords that accompany it." But he 
 complied with Mr. Curwen's request, and in 1867 wrote 
 (though they were not issued till 1875), "Eighty 
 Musical Sentences to illustrate Chromatic Chords," 
 acknowledging the " happy definition " of the " con- 
 cise strains" therein contained to be due to Mr. 
 Curwen. In the preface, while he asserts that it 
 would have been easy to cite, from the works of the 
 great Masters, "instances of every chord and every 
 progression herein exemplified," yet, as these cita- 
 * Macfarren 's "Musical History," p. 135. 
 
''EIGHTY MUSICAL SENTENCES." 125 
 
 tions would have been " so surrounded by other 
 matter that their distinction would have been trouble- 
 some for a learner," he states that it was considered 
 best to frame "these original Sentences, which, in 
 systematic order, display the entire subject." 
 
 Apart from the light which these " Sentences " 
 ostensibly throw on the theory advocated, an^ the 
 confirmation which it is alleged that they afford to it, 
 they are in themselves interesting, although one 
 critic afl&rmed that some of them " will, in the nota- 
 tion he has employed, present the theory of Alfred 
 Day in its most repulsive aspect to the great majority 
 of musical theorists and musicians in this country and 
 abroad."^ But this dictum did not apply to the 
 music, but, as it would seem, to the notation. With 
 regard to this very matter of notation, however, 
 Macfarren did make concessions, both to expediency 
 — ^in order to avoid contradiction of accidentals — and 
 to popular usage. Eyen this, however, not being 
 a necessity in Tonic Sol-fa notation, in which, as well as 
 in the Staff notation, these " Sentences " were printed, 
 and the Tonic Sol-fa edition having the Staff notation 
 on the opposite page, we find the letter to Mr. Curwen, 
 from which the following is an extract : — 
 
 "Calais, August 11, 1878. 
 " Mt deab Mb. Cttewen, 
 
 * * * * ' * * 
 
 "It occurs to me that, in the Sol-fa version of the 
 ' Sentences ' (where no accidentals are used, and contra- 
 diction signs are therefore unneeded), it may be well to 
 write the true names of the supertonic minor 9th and the 
 dominant minor 13th (Mi flat in "both: cases), rather than 
 
 1 "Musical Standard," Jan. 1, 1876. 
 
126 EXPEDIENT FALSE NOTATION. 
 
 disguise them in the false notation expediently employed 
 by many composers. The side by side appearance of the 
 two notations will show the student how expediency trifles 
 with truth, and I think prove an useful lesson. If you 
 approve of this, I will insert a paragraph on the subject in 
 the preface. 
 
 " Tours, with kind regards, 
 
 " Gr. A. Macfaeeen." 
 
 This suggestion was acted upon. Indeedj Mac- 
 farren acknowledged the expedie7iey — mainly with 
 reference to economy of accidentals — of occasional 
 false notation in some cases, and the fact of its fre- 
 quent use, whether from expediency, real or supposed, 
 or from carelessness, or from mistaken theory, in the 
 writings of acknowledged composers. But, while 
 enunciating that "the chromatic scale of any major or 
 minor key consists of the seven noftes of its major 
 diatonic scale, with the three that are altered from 
 these in the signature of the minor form of the key, 
 and the minor 2nd between the tonic and supertonic, 
 and the augmented 4th between the subdominant and 
 dominant" (Preface to "Eighty Sentences"), he 
 also, in the " Rudiments," says, " Composers of all 
 schools agree in writing the augmented 4th from the 
 key-note" (not the diminished 5th), and the minor 
 7th from the key-note (not the augmented 6th) . 
 
 I once pointed out to him, however, that, besides 
 other musicians, two whose musicianship he would 
 not dispute did, as a matter of fact, rightly or 
 wrongly, write the chromatic scale, in ascending, 
 with the chromatically raised 6th, and, in descending, 
 with the lowered 5th — namely, Sterndale Bennett, in 
 his " Scales and Intervals for Pianoforte Students," 
 and John Goss, in his " Introduction to Harmony and 
 
MACFARREN AND OPPONENTS. 127 
 
 Thorough Bass." His reply was, " Well, you surprise 
 me ! It only shows how careful one must be in making 
 general statements of that kind." 
 
 The following short letter to the Eev. John Curwen 
 concerning the system of figuring basses, may fitly be 
 
 inserted here : — 
 
 "7, Hamilton Terrace, N.W. 
 " July 9.th [1^6^ tl 
 " Mt dear Sir, 
 " Many thanks for the copy of your journal with the 
 kind notice of my ' Lectures.' Should you again write 
 about figured basses, you may perhaps like to allude to 
 Day's system, which, so far as I can gather, accords with 
 your own views, and which I found practically excellent, 
 though I was compelled to discontinue its use. 
 " 1 am yours faithfully, 
 
 "G. A. Macfareen." 
 
 Macfarren could say smart — not to call them severe 
 — things concerning opponents and their arguments ; 
 such, for instance, as this, anent the chord of the 
 13th :— 
 
 "^ome opponents of these views have thought to over- 
 turn them by humorously defining, the chord of the 13th 
 as a combination of the entire seven notes of the scale — an 
 incongruous abomination such as no ear could tolerate. 
 The joke is well sounding; it is so probably because of its 
 hoUowness. The stringent rule against the simultaneous 
 striking of a dissonance with the note of its resolution 
 precludes .... either the 5th or 7th when the 13th 
 is superadded. . . . For all that may be said by scoffers, 
 however, there are instances of the effective employment of 
 the chord in its entirety." ' 
 
 More in the way of banter, to avert an inopportune 
 argument, was his answer to Dr. Gauntlett, who, meet- 
 
 ' "Six Lectures," p. 174 
 
128 SPEECH AT MUSICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 ing him in a music-warehouse, accosted him with — 
 " Ah ! Macfarren, I have read your book, and I don^t 
 agree with you at all." " Indeed ! " was the reply ; 
 " no more does Christmas, pudding ! " 
 
 He was not solicitous of controversy ; partly, per- 
 haps, from estimating some of his antagonists as not 
 wholly " worthy of his steel," not having pondered 
 the whole subject as he had ; partly because it took 
 him some little time to formulate his rebutting argu-, 
 ments. 
 
 When, however, Mr. Gerard F. Cobb, at the Musical 
 Association, read, June 2nd, 1884, a most elaborately 
 argued paper " On Certain Principles of Musical Ex- 
 position," in which, among other matters, he opposed 
 the views held by Macfarren, the chairman (Major 
 Crawford), in inviting discussion, said, " 1 hope Sir 
 George Macfarren will favour us with his views ; " 
 whereupon the Professor commenced by saying : — 
 
 " Am I to suppose, by this invitation, that I am put 
 upon my trial, and that I am to be confronted in disputa- 
 tion with a lecturer whose eloquence, whose learning, whose 
 reading of all the writers for and against the subject he 
 has discussed is manifest, and who has shown authority 
 for everything he has said ? If that is to be the case, I 
 feel myself at a serious disadvantage in having no imme- 
 diate preparation, either to receive the attack or rebut it. 
 I most thoroughly respect the care which has been be- 
 stowed, and the argument which has been brought forward, 
 but yet I am imable to accept it."" 
 
 He proceeded to deal, unpreparedly and partially, with 
 some of the arguments advanced by Mr. Cobb, which 
 it would be necessary to reproduce here, in order to 
 render the reply appreciable. One or two sentences, 
 
SPEECH AT MUSICAL ASSOCIATION. 129 
 
 however, are worthy of being quoted, apart from their 
 immediate occasion : — 
 
 " As to the effect of heats [in nature], and whether we 
 listen to them or count them, I heheve we no more do so 
 than the person who contemplates a picture counts the rays 
 that combine to make a single colour ; but that the more 
 or less distinctness of beats has an important effect on 
 musical sound is manifest in the particular force that is 
 given to a discordant harmony when two instruments of 
 the same quality, such as two horns, two clarinets, or two 
 hautboys, have to sound the interval of a second. The 
 amount of tone that reaches the audience in that case is 
 far greater than when one horn sounds one note, and one 
 clarinet sounds the other, in this conjunct relationship.^ 
 I think the effect of this great discordance, springing from 
 beats or otherwise, is important to the composer as direct- 
 ing him to lay out the position of the notes so as to produce 
 the greatest power. . . . 
 
 " The theory which my late friend Alfred Day enunciated 
 to the world [is] that .... the tonic, the dominant, and 
 the supertonic yield combinations [in harmonics] which 
 are available in musical composition ; and that accounts 
 for the progressions which some composers had, with beau- 
 tiful effect, employed, as directed by their own intuition of 
 beauty, before theory traced a line by which they might 
 proceed. I think Day's view is so far satisfactory that it 
 explains many passages previously inexplicable by the 
 theories at that time in credit, and includes in its explana- 
 tion everything with which my musical reading has yet 
 made me acquainted." 
 
 The argument of Mr. Cobb's paper having tended 
 to the basis of music being psychical rather than 
 physical, the Professor immediately proceeds : — 
 
 " However, the discussion is not as to the merit of this 
 one theorist, but as to the whole principle of music resting 
 
 ' See page 69. 
 K 
 
130 SPEECH AT MUSICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 upon any theory, of its springing from natural laws, or of 
 its being empirically originated at the caprice of human 
 fancy. "We are to refer to psychic principles rather than 
 to physics for our art; that is, to make art arbitrary, 
 accidental, and wiKul ; and the artist is to plunge into a 
 vast ocean of experiment, with no chart to direct his course, 
 and nothing to aid him to distinguish between the proprie- 
 ties or the improprieties of his proceedings. Surely, upon 
 these grounds, nothing could be too gross for acceptance : 
 nothing could justify objection if we were to be guided by 
 impressions. It would thus depend wholly and only upon 
 the amount of cultivation in a particular state of society as 
 to what is to be tolerated and admired, and what is to be 
 excluded. I believe that it is essential to musical art, as 
 much as to the other artistic applications of natural prin- 
 ciples, that we should work upon a grammar, that we should 
 believe in propriety and impropriety. The fact that music 
 has differed in different ages and in different nations seems 
 to me to accord with ethnology ; that the whole habits of 
 different populations and different times vary from those 
 of other times, and that each race has its own moral code, 
 as much as it has its own art code. We experiment forward 
 and forward until we find the explanation of the principles 
 upon which art is founded, and by which it is to be guided. 
 I think it would be dangerous to art of any kind to trust 
 it wholly to impression and to habit, unless the habit itself 
 were to be directed by some ruling principle." 
 
 He concluded this striking example of his powers 
 of rapid formulating and unpremeditated speaking by 
 saying :— 
 
 " I believe, had I been able to take notes of what has 
 been said, and had time for deliberation, I might meet 
 some of Mr. Cobb's eloquent arguments. If I say so little, 
 you must not attribute it to the want of material, but to 
 the impossibility I have had of preparing what might be 
 to say, and of arranging it categorically in order of reply. 
 I must offer my tribute of sincere admiration to the speaker 
 for the paper he has given us, and for the grounds he lays 
 
AVERSION TO THEORETICAL WRITING. 131 
 
 open ; and I shall most certainly in private, if not at this 
 meeting, when I have had the opportunity of inspecting the 
 arguments in the printed records, discuss more fully than 
 I have now the points in question." 
 
 The promise of these concluding words, however, 
 was never fulfilled, either in private or "in public. In- 
 deed, I believe that this was the last public utterance 
 of an apologetic or polemical kind that proceeded from 
 the distinguished theorist. 
 
 !N"ot only was he somewhat averse to controversy — ■ 
 some would say, because of dictatorial dogmatism, but 
 not those who knew him best — he was averse to 
 theoretical writing, even of an educational kind. This 
 accounts for his not having enriched the student's 
 library with any treatise on Fugue or on Instrumenta- 
 tion ; on both of which subjects, the latter especially, 
 his teaching, in permanent and accessible form, would 
 have been invaluable. He was repeatedly urged to 
 write such treatises, but either declined or postponed 
 the tasks ; and musical literature is, therefore, the 
 poorer. 
 
 It is not to be urged that Macfarren's own compo- 
 sitions owed their originality, style, individuality, or 
 whatever else it may be termed, to the theoretical 
 yiewa which he advocated so strongly and unwaver- 
 ingly; but it is at once interesting to trace, and 
 undeniable, that those views had their influence in 
 shaping his manner of thought and methods of har- 
 monic procedure. With some composers, the effori. 
 to avoid the commonplace, as the substitute for and 
 semblance of being original— the result generally being 
 eccentricity, hizarrerie — is very observable. In Mac- 
 farren no such absurdity,; or. pettiness, or unnatural- 
 
132 THEORIES AND COMPOSITIONS. 
 
 ness can be traced; far too really thoughtful, earnest, 
 and solid was he to have recourse to, or to have need 
 of, such superficiality. But there is a very observable 
 indication, in many — in most, perhaps — of his larger 
 works, of a consciousness of having a mission to de- 
 monstratively and practically defend and illustrate, by 
 persistent presentation, combinations, progressions, 
 and, it may be added, notations, which, as it seemed 
 to him, he had, if not rescued from oblivion, far less 
 invented, yet shown in their right light as normal 
 rather than exceptional. He disclaimed any credit 
 for originality in the views that he propounded with 
 so much vigour, assigning all such credit to Dr. Day. 
 But he emphatically contended that any seeming 
 novelty was not in the musical practice, but in the 
 theoretical assignment and explanation of that which 
 seemed new, and that his " endeavour [was] to ... . 
 remove discrepancies between the laws of early theorists 
 and the practice of modern composers " (Preface to 
 " Rudiments ") . Nevertheless, as has just been ad- 
 vanced, there is evident in his compositions a tendency 
 to bring to the front that which had been in the back- 
 ground, and to erect the exceptional into a precedent. 
 And this, moreover, not only in these less familiar 
 combinations. For instance, taking as his precedent 
 the rare progression in the opening of Mozart's "Jupi- 
 ter" Symphony, bars 7 and 8 — one of those flashes 
 of genius which cannot be reproduced — Macfarren 
 based upon it, though not avowedly, the axiom that 
 two ^ chords in succession are of good effect, when the 
 first chord is the second inversion of the dominant 
 chord, and the second that of the sub-dominant 
 (" Eudiments," chap. iv. 31). 
 
THEORIES AND RULES. 133 
 
 And it was surely an inverted logic by which Mac- 
 farren sometimes sought to establish a theory: the 
 deducing the theory from a rule, instead of founding 
 the rule upon the theory. But this seemed the pro- 
 cess by which, for example, he accounted the chord of 
 the 7th on the 5th of the scale, when followed by a 
 common chord on the submediant, as a first inversion 
 (without the root) of the chord of the 9th on the 
 mediant, not as a true dominant 7th ; because, for- 
 sooth, of a rule previously laid down, that " a diatonic 
 chord of the 7 th must be resolved upon a chord the 
 root of which is a 4th above the root of the discord ; " 
 although exceptions were allowed even to this rule — 
 seemingly, however, as afterthoughts. (Compare 
 "Rudiments of Harmony," sect. 2, chap. xi. ; sect. 11, 
 Appendix M.) 
 
 In conversation on disputed points, I have more 
 than once known him tell some funny story, ostensibly 
 to illustrate the point that he was seeking to enforce ; 
 but I observed on these occasions that the argument 
 was by no means the strongest, though I will not 
 insinuate that his intention knowingly was thus to 
 cover a vulnerable point. 
 
 But, after all abatement has been made, it remains 
 impossible to exaggerate the impo^'tant service ren- 
 dered to musical studentship by the persistence of 
 Macfarren in endeavouring to establish a definite and 
 a founded theory of harmony, instead of leaving the 
 whole matter a mere collection of arbitrary or 
 empirical rules. Consideration has been . rendered 
 compulsory in this country, and the very diversity of 
 views propounded in this, which some consider a tran- 
 sition era, result not a little from the activity of 
 
134 MACFABREN'S INFLUENCE. 
 
 thought quickejied by his resolute contention for that 
 •which seemed to him logical. No man who has 
 helped to bring this about must be considered a 
 pedant or an obstructive; whatever difference of 
 opinion may prevail with regard to his theories, the 
 student world, and the musical community generally, 
 owe much to his labours in the cause of- consistency 
 and reason in the region of musical theory. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Macpaeken and English Music. Collaboration with 
 Mr. William Chappell. Cornhill Article. Lec- 
 tures on oub National Music. Musical Anti- 
 quarian Society. Opinions on Orlando Gibbons, 
 Henry Purcell, and others. Glees and Part- 
 SoNGS. 1838, 1840, 1868, etc, 
 
 IN the year 1838 the late Mr. William Chappell, 
 P.S.A., published the first part of a work which 
 he had been preparing, entitled, "A Collection of 
 National English Airs, consisting of Ancient Songs, 
 Ballads, and Dance Tunes, interspersed with Remarks 
 and Anecdote, and preceded by an Essay on English 
 Minstrelsy. The Airs harmonized for the Pianoforte, 
 by W. Crotch, Mus. Doc, G. Alex. Macfarren, and J. 
 Augustine Wade, Edited by W. Chappell," The 
 songs in this collection were assigned to Macfarren, 
 Of the other arrangements, those of Dr. Crotch were 
 found incongruously scholastic, and those of Wade 
 as much too trivial ; and ultimately the whole of the 
 musical portion of the succeeding parts of the work 
 was entrusted to Macfarren, An enlarged edition of 
 this work was published, after about fourteen years 
 had exhausted the first issue, under the title of 
 " Popular Music of the Olden Time," with " the whole 
 of the Airs harmonized by G. A. Macfarren;" and, in 
 
136 MR. WILLIAM CHAPPELL'S LABOURS. 
 
 a subsequent edition, tbe title was : " The Ballad 
 Literature and Popular Music of the Olden Time ; " 
 Mr. Chappell, in referring to the first edition, in the 
 Introduction, recording his obligation to Macfarren 
 " for having volunteered to rearrange the airs which 
 were to be taken from my former collection, as well as 
 to harmonize the new upon a simple and consistent 
 plan throughout. In my former work, some had too 
 much harmony, and others even too little, or such as 
 was not in accordance with the spirit of the words. 
 The musician will best understand the amount of 
 thought required to find characteristic harmonies to 
 melodies of irregular construction, and how much a 
 simple air will sometimes gain by being well fitted.'" 
 
 Concerning these labours of Mr. Ghappell, Mac- 
 farren writes, in his " Family Eecollections " : — 
 
 " For a year or two before and after 1840 William Chap- 
 pell was busy in collecting and publishing his first edition 
 of ' Ancient English Ballads,' and directly afterwards the 
 separate collection of some of these with pianoforte accom- 
 paniment, and, to the tunes of which the original poems 
 were lost or unavailable, new verses had to be written, the 
 task being entrusted to my father at the remuneration of 
 a guinea apiece. True to our family motto, ' Libertas et 
 natute solum,' he was a thorough patriot, and this charac- 
 ter had impelled him to some of his early poems during the 
 war with Bonaparte, had given enthusiasm to his writing 
 of ' Edward the Black Prince ' and ' Guy Fawkes,' and had 
 prompted the subject of the never-acted opera of ' Carac- 
 tacus.' Hence he took particular interest in this nationalis- 
 tic task, which he accomplished with proportionate felicity. 
 Chappell's researches had been induced by the taunts of a 
 Scottish shopman of his father, who, exulting in the 
 popularity of many spurious and some real Scottish melo- 
 dies, asserted that England possessed no tunes of her own. 
 This taunt, and Chappell's action upon it, gave a bias to 
 
MACFARREN'S ENGLISH PROCLIVITIES. 137 
 
 his whole career, the main pleasure of his life having been 
 to seek for vindication of the tuneful ability of our southern 
 compatriots." 
 
 No less than to his father must such a task as this 
 have been eminently consonant with G. A. Macfarren's 
 English proclivities. All through his life he mani- 
 fested a liking for English subjects, a desire to uphold 
 the claims of English music, to defend it from asper- 
 sion, and rescue it from neglect ; not only writing, 
 later on than the period at which we have arrived, on 
 the evil effects of the Italian language, but also, in the 
 "^Cornhill Magazine," of September, 1868, on the 
 almost proverbial saying among English people, " The 
 English are not a musical people." Commencing 
 with the remark — " One of our humourists has said 
 that a quotation is never so apt as when it is misap- 
 plied ; so I trust to provd the perfect aptitude of the 
 quotation from common prejudice which heads these 
 remai-ks, by showing its utter misapplication " — he 
 proceeds to reprehend the pandering, by English 
 musicians, — 
 
 "to the prevalent folly, by assuming foreign names or 
 affecting foreign titles. It is their fashion, indeed, as if 
 they would wholly expatriate music from the land, to give 
 a foreign termination to words used in connection with 
 music ; thus the list of pieces to be performed in a concert 
 is styled by them a programme ; whereas good writers of 
 our language, who apply the term to other than musical 
 uses, speU it as they spell all words derived from the same 
 Greek root." 
 
 After referring to the analogous words, " anagram," 
 " diagram," " epigram," " monogram," " telegram," 
 he continues : — 
 
138 ARTICLE IN "COBNHILL MAGAZINE." 
 
 " I am told, however, that we have taten the idea of 
 concert bills, and, consequently, the word which defines 
 them, from the French ; and that is why we spell it not, as 
 we spell all like derivatives, program. Granting, for 
 courtesy's sake, the questionable proposition, I cannot 
 admit the consequence. We took India, or a large part of 
 it, from the French, but we call it not L'Inde. The same 
 is the case with other British possessions, territorial and 
 technical ; but it is rarely, save in matters musical, that 
 the Galilean orthography marks the English adoption. 
 We take, indeed, enmii from the French, literally and con- 
 stitutionally ; but it will be well if in print, as in person, 
 we avail ourselves as little as possible of this French 
 quality. The prejudice against which English musician- 
 ship has to contend springs from domestic mistrust, more 
 than from foreign depreciation, of our native capacity to 
 love and practise the art. It dates, at earliest, within these 
 last hundred and fifty years, to prove which I will adduce 
 some pertinent facts from all periods of English history." 
 
 In some MS. fragments labelled " Cuts from Corn- 
 hill " there are some additional remarks upon the 
 subject of English terminology, reference being made 
 to — 
 
 " Men of letters, whose erudition, if not their nationalism, 
 should have kept them aloof from such popular error, 
 have ignored the genuine English origin of some of our 
 most truly English words in connection with music, 
 and sought to trace them to foreign derivation. For 
 instance, John Wilson Croker, De Quincey, and even Dr. 
 Trench, whose high authority gives weight to the fallacy, 
 drew the name of our old English Country Dance from the 
 French Contredanse, whereas Framery, in the ' Encyclo- 
 pedie Methodique,' reverses the etymology, and refers the 
 dance as well as its name to English origin. Moreover, 
 the earliest French dictionaries wherein the term Contre- 
 danse occurs are of centuries later date than the practice of 
 the dance, among gentle and simple, in this country ; what 
 is now called Quadrille being our old Square dance for 
 
ARTICLE IN ''CORNHILL MAGAZINE:' 1S9 
 
 eight, as distinguished from a round dance, and that (still 
 in favourite use) danced long ways for as many as will, and 
 the figure defined of yore as dancing the hay." ' 
 
 In pursuance of his contention, he gives anecdotal 
 quotation from an old chronicle of the eleventh cen- 
 tury, of singing " in harmony of three parts," which 
 latter — 
 
 " the chronicle especially states, was according to the 
 custom of the race that then peopled our eastern counties. 
 Here is distinct evidence, which might easily be developed 
 into far greater amplitude, that harmony, the art of 
 musical combination, which is the basis of all musical 
 construction, was known and practised and enjoyed here 
 some hundreds of years before the greatly vaunted Eoman 
 School appropriated the art of descant or counterpoint, 
 which art the Church indeed derived from the unschooled 
 practice of our Northern Italy. In the latter part of the 
 twelfth century, this practice of polyphony was certainly 
 current as much among the people of Wales as among 
 those of the north-east of our island ; and there is good 
 ground to assume that harmony must have been commonly 
 familiar in England when those stalwart Danes, the 
 Vikings of the sea and lords of the shell, masters alike of 
 sword and song, first set foot upon our shores." 
 
 In refutation of the pretence that " all historical 
 allusions to the musical proclivities of our country- 
 men refer at best to their relish for simple tunes and 
 their preference for the vulgarest," Macfarren con- 
 tends not only that " by intuition and by cultivation 
 the English were for long in advance of Continental 
 nations in the province of harmony ,'' but also that 
 they were " before the rest of the world in contra- 
 puntal elaborations;" in support of which contention 
 he adduces — 
 
 ' See p. 9. 
 
140 ARTICLE IN "CORNHILL MAGAZINE: 
 
 " the Six-men's Song — ' Sumer is icumen in' — as a testi- 
 mony of the state of music here at a period when there is 
 no sign of its equal advancement in any other land. The 
 date of the MS. of this remarkable specimen of scholarship, 
 and, I will aver, of such melodious fluency as critics call 
 inspiration, was long disputed ; but I believe that the best 
 judges now agree in assigning it, from internal and col- 
 lateral evidence, to 1250.^ Now, to speak technically — and 
 I must be technical to be true — this piece is a canon for 
 four in one in the unison, with a foot or burden, also of - 
 canonic construction, for yet two more voices ; and as such, 
 while some grammatical irregularities cannot be denied in 
 it, it presents an amount of twofold complication that is 
 wonderful for its age, and remarkable for any age." 
 
 Hazarding the conjecture that, as — 
 
 " It is not to be supposed that in those remote times, 
 any more than at present, six singers were always at hand 
 for the performance of a piece of such extensive require- 
 ments, .... the likelihood of the case would furnish 
 ample evidence of this canon having been sung, as very fre- 
 quently were the catches of more recent days, by a single 
 voice, either with or without instrumental accompaniment ; 
 and thus it is to be classed among our national melodies -"'-^ 
 
 Macfarren proceeds — 
 
 "Every city had, of old, its band of musicians. We 
 moderns have still our Waits, whose assumed denomina- 
 tion is their excuse for disturbing our sleep on winter 
 nights, and appealing for Christmas-boxes on St. Stephen's 
 morning. Their braying upon cornets and ophicleides of 
 Italian opera airs and Christy Minstrel melodies is the 
 melancholy remnant — alas, how tattered and woebegone ! 
 — of the ancient city custom for the waites, or watch, to 
 
 ' This is a somewhat later date than that assigned by Sir F. 
 Madden and other authorities. — H. C. B. 
 
 ^ In Chappell's "Ballad Literature and Popular Music," etc., 
 p. 24, the tune is printed, with accompaniment for pianoforte by 
 Macfarren. 
 
ARTICLE IN "CORNHILL MAGAZINE." 141 
 
 pass on their rounds with harmonious piping, or with the 
 sweet sound of song breathing a benison on the sleepers. 
 Not only in the royal court, but in the house of every 
 nobleman and gentleman, there was, down to the Stuart 
 times, an -appointed band of musicians, whose functions 
 were to compose and to perform for the diversion of their 
 lord and his guests. The small potentates of Germany 
 have adopted this practice, each of whom maintains his 
 Kapellmeister with an ample artist band ; and it is not the 
 only practice of bur forefathers for the honour and pro- 
 motion of music which has been adopted in the Father- 
 land from the precedent of the Mother- country. Finan- 
 cialists represent that the pecuniary means of our present 
 nobility surpass those of their ancestors, and exceed those 
 of the small German potentates ; thus it seems that, in 
 respect to the support of musical art, the more the means 
 the less the meaning." 
 
 He draws further illustrations and evidences of the 
 indigenous love and early practice of music in Eng- 
 land from the part-music in the Fairfax MS. ; the pub- 
 lication in separate vocal parts of a collection of con- 
 certed pieces by various composers as early as 1560 ; 
 the dialogue plan of Thomas Morley's "Plain and 
 Easy Introduction to Practical Music," 1597 ; the 
 record of Eound and Catch singing among " the 
 people," — 
 
 " when Sir John Norman, in 1453, first broke through the 
 primal custom of a land procession along the strand of the 
 river and through the village of Charing to take his oaths 
 at Westminster as Lord Mayor of London, the Thames 
 watermen [having] their roundel to celebrate his honouring 
 their element with his civic pageant, — 'Eow the boat, 
 Norman,' [being] sung on stream and on shore by any 
 three men of the water, or of the land, who met in good 
 fellowship from that time forward;" — 
 
 from the existence, " in cBivalric times," of " the 
 
142 ARTICLE IN "CORNHILL MAGAZINE." 
 
 order of minstrels," with "its Eex Minstrallorum," 
 the " institutions for the care and culture of the art in 
 England," the recognition in England only of " the 
 culture of music in its universities of learning, Alfred 
 [haying] instituted a musical professorship in his 
 foundation of the University of Oxford in 866," and 
 from other facts. He deals with the false allegation 
 "that the decadence of music in this. country is due 
 to the Puritan influence," urging that "it is under 
 the Commonwealth that several facts have date which 
 bear strongly upon the development at least of the 
 secular branch of the art;" the first fact that he 
 adduces being the publication by Playford, in 1651, of-— 
 
 " the ' Dancing Master,' which is the earliest printed col- 
 lection of our dance tunes, with descriptions of the figures ; 
 a work of infinite importance, since we owe to it the pre- 
 servation of many of the m.ost beautiful airs of our songs 
 in those of- the dances that are named after them. Hence 
 it is clear that there was dancing to very pretty tunes in 
 the days of the Eoundheads." 
 
 He also mentions the issue by the same publisher, 
 in 1652, of 
 
 " ' Select Ayres and Dialogues,' which collection of vocal 
 music, by various composers, comprises the first two pieces 
 to which the definition ' G-lee' was ever applied." 
 
 Another fact adduced is that " In 1656, at Rutland 
 House, in Aldersgate Street, Sir William Davenant 
 gave the first public performance of an English opera," 
 it being — 
 
 "equally remarkable, since quite as important, that the 
 character of lanthe in this opera ['The Siege of Ehodes'] 
 was sustained by Mrs. Henry Colman, who was the first 
 female that ever performed in public in this country. We 
 owe, then, to Puritan timesthe perpetuation of our oldest 
 
ARTICLE IN ''CORNHILL MAGAZINE." 143 
 
 national melodies, and the origination of our glee, our 
 opera, and our pleasurable privilege of hearing female 
 singers." 
 
 He then passes in rapid review the musical tenden- 
 cies of the Protector himself, the institution by 
 Charles II. of " four-and-twenty fiddlers," the emi- 
 nent native musicians of the period, such as 
 
 " Henry Lawes, whose exquisite powers of musical ex- 
 pression and declamation are eulogized by Milton and 
 Waller ; " . . . "Matthew Locke, who, though the music be lost 
 which he composed for 'Macbeth,' and though the m.usic in 
 ''Macbeth ' be not his which is commonly accredited to him, 
 wrote the opera of ' Psyche ' prior to Lully's of the same 
 name, wrote other works for the stage, wrote for the 
 Romanist Church as organist to the Queen, wrote vocal 
 and instrumental music for the Chamber, and wrote glees 
 for the people ;"..." Pelham Humphreys, whom Pepys 
 describes as ' keeping time to the music ' (or, in modern 
 phrase, conducting) at Whitehall in the year when, at the 
 age of nineteen, he wrote the music for Drydei's spoliation 
 of the ' Tempest,' and therein proved that the lyrical art 
 of the age was superior to the poetical ;"..." Henry 
 Purcell, who was the greatest musician of his own age, 
 and who, in his wonderful insight into the latest modern 
 resources of harmony, and his delicate application of the 
 powers of melodic expression, as far exceeded the past as 
 he anticipated the future of his art." ^ 
 
 ' " Purcell and his two colossal successors, Handel and J. S. Bach, 
 wrote every combination of musical notes that down to our latest 
 times has ever been employed with good effect ; and the more the 
 works of these masters are studied the more they are found to fore- 
 shadow the supposed novelties in harmony employed by subsequent 
 artists. . . . Purcell's voluminous and superb works for the church, 
 his many compositions for the theatre, his countless convivial pieces, 
 and his far less numerous instrumental writings are now but little 
 known, and the ignorance of the age is its loss. They have a wealth 
 of expression that cannot be too highly esteemed, and a fluency of 
 melody that proves the perfect ease of their production. The idiom 
 of the age in which they were written is perhaps a partial barrier to 
 their present acceptance," etc.— Macfarren's "Musical History," 
 pp. 73, 74. , . 
 
144 ARTICLE IN " CORNHILL MAGAZINES 
 
 And then Macfarren proceeds to inveigh against 
 that which he considered to be the " first shock " 
 which "the musical faith of England" received — a 
 faith "which the asperity of the Protectorate could 
 not crushj and the frivolity of the Eestoration could 
 not dissipate." This was "in Queen Anne's reign" : — 
 
 "It was during her sovereignty that the first experiment 
 of Italian opera was made in this country ; and it is to its 
 subsequent establishment as one of the institutions of the 
 metropolis, and the gross afEectation which this bred and 
 nourished, that the degradation of art is wholly to be 
 ascribed." 
 
 This is urged and illustrated with considerable elabora- 
 tion and persuasive eloquence. The founding and pro- 
 ceedings of the Madrigal Society, the Noblemen and 
 Gentlemen's Catch Club, the Glee Club, and the Concen- 
 tores Sodales, are chronicled; animadversion upon the 
 glee is incidentally made ; musicians " whose talent 
 brightened the early years of the present century " — 
 notably Sir H. E. Bishop — are referred to. The 
 Philharmonic Society, the Society of British Musicians, 
 the labours of John Hullah, and the Tonic Sol- Fa 
 Association, receive their meed of acknowledgment, 
 and this interesting paper concludes with the expres- 
 sion of hope that, obstacles being removed, — 
 
 " the people will become regenerate, when the love and 
 the talent natural to them will find free scope, when we 
 shall no longer allow, and foreigners will no longer acquiesce 
 in, the prejudice that ' the English are not a musical 
 people.' " 
 
 This copious, but yet insufficient, summary of the 
 article in which Macfarren's pronouncements upon the 
 subject are so emphatically given, makes a long digres- 
 
LECTURES ON OUR NATIONAL MUSIC. 145 
 
 sion; but it has its fit place here, as affording evidence 
 of his power of marshalling facts and arguments, of 
 his incisive mode of utterance, and of the deep interest 
 that he took in the patriotic aspects of his art : an 
 interest, doubtless, intensified by the researches with 
 which he became acquainted, and in which he engaged, 
 during his collaboration with Mr. William Chappell. 
 Much of the lore connected with that work may have 
 been brought to the surface by Mr. Chappell ; but the 
 musical discrimination evinced in the above-sum- 
 marized paper, and found also, together with much 
 technical information, in Mr. Chappell's pages, are 
 doubtless Macfarren's own. 
 
 In connection with this same subject of our national 
 music, Macfarren delivered a course of four lectures 
 on the " ^National Music of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, 
 and England,'' at the London Institution, in January 
 and February, 1870. The Syllabus of this course 
 indicates the thoroughness of research, thought, and 
 arrangement with which the lectures were prepared, 
 and is therefore here inserted. 
 
 "LECTUEE I. — Thuesdat, Jantuiry 6th. 
 " lEELAND. 
 "Illustrated by 
 "Miss Annie- Sinclair and Miss Emma Poebes, 
 " Mr. WiLBTE CoopEE and Mr. J. Gr. Patet. 
 "National Music. — Its more permanent nature in Northern 
 than in Southern countries. Is it an index of the charac- 
 ter of the people ? Is it a clue to their ethnology ? The 
 Seoti invaded Ireland and conquered the Hibernii in the 
 third century, and they called the land Scotia, which name 
 it retained till the eleventh century. Migrating from the 
 North East, they probably came originally through Scythia 
 
146 LONDON INSTITUTION LECTURES 
 
 from the soutt. Sculpture of a harp constructed like those 
 of Egypt and Assyria, on a monument of the eighth cen- 
 tury, at UUard, in Kilkenny. Importation of the Irish 
 harp into Italy mentioned by Dante in the thirteenth and 
 referred to by Vincenzo Galileo in the sixteenth century. 
 The so-called ' Scotch scale ' of five notes (the pentatonic 
 scale of C. Engel), probably in use among ancient, and 
 certainly among modern, oriental nations, as also in Mexico 
 and Peru at the time of their discovery. Antiquity and 
 universality cf the bagpipe ; representation of one found 
 in the ruins of Tarsus, dating two centuries b.c. The scale 
 of this instrument. Appropriation of the Gregorian scales 
 to secular melody. The English practice of singing songs 
 with a foot, undersong, or burden, possibly imported into 
 Northumberland in the sixth century by the monks of 
 Bangor, or Benchor, in Down. The Hindoo ' bard^hi ' or 
 ' bhat,' perhaps the origin of the title and function of the 
 Bard. Irish bards. Spenser's account of their character 
 and habits. Their race continued in the harpers of later 
 date. John and Harry Scott, famous in the time of Queen 
 Elizabeth. Turlogh O'Carolan, famous in the time of Queen 
 Anne. His reception by Irish gentry. Endeavours to pre- 
 serve the use of the Irish harp. Last meeting of harpers, 
 in 1792, at Belfast. Preservation of the Irish melodies. 
 Bunting's publications in 1796, 1809, and 1840. Moore's 
 Poems — 1st series, from 1807 to 1815 ; 2nd series, 1834. 
 Irish society and Dr. Petrie. The Plaxsaraidh or Planxty. 
 The Clan March corrupted into the Jig. Appropriation of 
 English dance tunes by Irish editors. Appropriation of 
 English tunes to Irish party songs." 
 
 "LECTURE II.— TnrESDAT, January 12th. 
 
 " SCOTLAND. 
 
 "Illustrated by 
 
 " Miss Annie Sinclair and Miss Julia Elton, 
 
 " Mr. WiLBTE CooPEE and Mr. Theodore Distin. 
 
 "Dr. Johnson's estimateof the modern Scotchmen. Cairbar 
 
 Eiada led a colony of Scots from Ireland into Argyleshire, 
 
ON OUR NATIONAL MUSIC, 147 
 
 which was named Dalraida after him, a,d. 503. These 
 were called the ' Scots in Briton.' They imported their 
 music, musical instruments, and musical officers or bards. 
 Their constant warfare with the northern or southern Picts, 
 or Pechs, until their amalgamation with this people under 
 Kenneth II. in 843. The Saxon race first settled in Scot- 
 land under Malcolm Canmore, 1058. Engagement of 
 English pipers and other musicians to play at the Scotch 
 court in the fifteenth century. Evil influence of the Refor- 
 mation upon music in Scotland. Magisterial prohibitions. 
 Scotch music not known in England until the time of 
 Charles II. The Scotch songs in Playford's Choice Ayres 
 are by English poets and composers. Forbes' Cantus 
 Caledoniensis, 1662, the first publication of secular music 
 in Scotland, consists of English compositions. Allan 
 Eamsay's Tea-Table Miscellany, 1724, W. Thompson's 
 Orpheus Caledonius, 1725, and Oswald's collection, all 
 printed in London, contain English songs. Burns wrote 
 poems for Johnson's Museum, 1787, and G-. Thompson's 
 collection, 1793. Engagement of distinguished German 
 musicians to write accompaniments to the tunes for the 
 latter work. Forgeries of Ossianic poems by McPherson, 
 and of Nithsdale ballads by Cunningham. Jacobite relics. 
 G-reat fashion for Scotch tunes in England. Consequent 
 imitation of their style by Janaes Hook and other com- 
 posers. Appropriation of English tunes, and alteration of 
 English poems into the Scotch dialect. The so-called 
 ' Scotch snap,' introduced into Scotland by Gipsy fiddlers. 
 The reel (hreol or reol) of Danish, if not Anglo-Saxon 
 origin. The strathspey." 
 
 " LECTURE III.— Thuesdat, January 27th. 
 
 "WALES. 
 
 " Illustrated by 
 
 "Miss EoBEKTiNE Hendeeson and Miss Emma Foebes. 
 
 " Mr. WiLBYE CooPEE and Mr. "Winn. 
 
 " Duties, privileges, and indemnifications of the Welsh 
 Bards. GryfEydd engaged Irish bards to improve and 
 
148 LONDON INSTITUTION LECTURES 
 
 regulate the music in Wales, 1078. Ordinances then esta- 
 bUshed, and specimens of music of the period, are preserved 
 in a MS. of the time of Charles I., the notation in which 
 cannot now be deciphered. Institution of the Eisteddfod, 
 ' Allm-harach ' (foreign strain), the second of the twenty- 
 four Welsh musical terms. No remnant of the pentatonic 
 scale, the scale of the bagpipe, the Gregorian scales, the 
 predominance of the sixth note of the key, the minor seventh 
 of the key, or any other tonal peculiarity in popular tunes 
 now claimed as Welsh. The harp and bagpipe were common 
 to Wales and the three sister nations ; the crwth resembles 
 in name the Irish word ' cruit,' for a harp, and the instru- 
 ment is a. supposed link between that and the Anglo-Saxon 
 fithl, fiddle, viol, or violin. Skill in performance upon the 
 harp, and the possession of one, essential to a Welsh gen- 
 tleman. Tradition an uncertain authority. Tunes of 
 English origin. Honourable pride of the Welsh in the 
 nationality and antiquity of their music, and their estimable 
 endeavours of the last century and a-balf to collect and 
 preserve it. ' Ancient British Music,' collected by Parry 
 and Williams, 1 742 ; ' British Harmony,' collected by Parry, 
 of Euabon, 1781; 'Welsh Bards,' collected by Jones, 1784; 
 collections by John Parry, Miss M. J. Williams, and John 
 Thomas, in the present century. Lady Greenly' s prize for 
 a collection of Welsh tunes, 1838. Brinley Eichards' efforts 
 to revive the use of the triple harp. Lady Llano ver's prize 
 for performance upon it, 1869." 
 
 "LECTUEE IV.— Thuesdat, February Zrd. 
 
 " ENGLAND. 
 
 " Illustrated by 
 
 "Miss Annie Sinclair and Madame Patet-Whttock, 
 
 " Mr. WiLBTE CooPEE and Mr. J. G. Patet. 
 " All the national elements compounded in the present 
 Englishman, save perhaps the Norman, have been musically 
 notable. Love of secular music by the early clergy. Aid- 
 helm's politic use of it in the seventh century. Edgar's 
 law against priestly indulgence in it, A.n. 960. Constant 
 
ON OUR NATIONAL MUSIC. 149 
 
 appropriation of secular tunes to cliurch use, from the days 
 of William I. to our own. The mauy instruments in early 
 use in England. Caxton's edition of Chaucer, with pic- 
 ture of the miller playing on a bagpipe. This instrument 
 common to many countries. The recorder, or English 
 flute. The 'como inglese' or 'cor anglais' of .present use. 
 The ' chaine anglaise,'. identical with the ' hay,' as is the 
 ' contra -danse ' with the ' country dance.' Bounds, horn- 
 pipes, and other popular dance tunes. Common practice 
 of singing catches. Narrative ballads of the minstrels; 
 the extended application of this form by the people. Evil 
 influence of Puritanism upon music counteracted by the 
 steadfast feeling of the opposite party. Music declined in 
 England from, the permanent establishment of the Italian 
 Opera under George I. Indifference of the modern English 
 to their own music. Popular music of the olden time 
 collected by Chappell. ' G-od save the Queen,' originally 
 English, now the national tune of many countries ; its 
 contended authorship." 
 
 In the pages of the " Musical Times " for July and 
 following months of the same year, appeared a series 
 of articles with the same title as that of these lectures, 
 and evidently being substantially identical with them. 
 Some extracts may be given here. 
 
 Commencing with the ejaculation, ''Alas ! for the 
 eosmopolite, whose citizenship is so universal, that he 
 has no special aflfection for the soil that gave him 
 birth," Macfarren proceeds : — 
 
 " The term ' national music ' needs definition, and 
 needs this all the more because it has been often and 
 variously defined. It is not here to increase its vagueness 
 by adding to its limitation ; but it may be as well to state 
 what it is here meant to signify, in order that its use may 
 be here understood. A melody is national when it has 
 been commonly sung by a people through several genera- 
 tions, and sung because it naturally expressed the people's 
 
150 NATIONAL MUSIC. 
 
 feelings, not because of its artistic merit. Every melody 
 must have had a composer, and that composer must have 
 been a technically trained musician. Let me not take from 
 Mr. Chappell the merit of first putting forward this view, 
 biat do what I may to confirm the view and support its 
 
 upholder Whether this musician was taught in 
 
 modern schools, whether a harper — of the race now dying 
 out in Wales, and dead for seventy years at least in Ire- 
 land — whether as a minstrel, whether as a bard, matters 
 not or matters little ; he must have learned the rules of 
 art according to some principle, or he can never have pro- 
 duced anything original, if even he can have reconstructed 
 
 into good shape anything familiar In almost all 
 
 instances, the name of a true composer of a national tune 
 is forgotten ; exceptionally it may be preserved, if not 
 generally remembered. The tune is not divested of its 
 characteristics, loses not hold upon popular feeling, ceases 
 not to be national, if its composer's name be brought to 
 light after people, from mother to babe, from father to 
 son, have sung or whistled it by the life-long. Thus 
 Dibdin, or Gary, or Carolan, or Purcell, or John or Harry 
 Scott, or who you will, may have made a tune ; it is the 
 people who, by finding in it the idiom which gives truest 
 utterance to their own emotions, by adopting and handing 
 
 it from one generation to another, have made it 
 
 national." 
 
 He considers that " musical evidence/' in addition 
 to that derived from other sources, points to the 
 migration of the Irish " from very far in the south- 
 east." The fact that the pentatonic scale — "the 
 diatonic scale of modern music with its 4th and 7th 
 degrees omitted — having, that is, no interval of a 
 semitone, but that of a minor third below its 1st and 
 above its 3rd degree" — which is proved "to have 
 been the scale of the ancient Egyptians and Assy- 
 rians," and "is now in theoretical and practical use 
 among Eastern nations, especially the Chinese,"— 
 
IRISH MUSIC. 151 
 
 a 
 
 " point to the source of the scale, and of the people 
 who brought it into Ireland," and indicate that " the 
 Irish seem to be the eldest in musical claims to consi- 
 deration" of "the members of our national family." 
 He thinks this to be further indicated by " a sculptured 
 monument at UUard, in Kilkenny, which cannot have 
 been erected later fhan the eighth century," and which 
 " comprises a representation of a man playing on 
 harp, identical in form with those painted in the temples 
 of Egyptian Thebes, and differing from the modern 
 harp in having no fore-pillar." Further evidence in 
 the same direction, " feeble, taken alone," but still 
 worth consideration, is the use by the Irish of the 
 bagpipes, which are of proved antiquity. 
 
 After alluding to the importation of the Gregorian 
 scales into Ireland, he continues : — 
 
 "It is probably to one of these Church modes, the 
 jEolian, that we may refer the frequent prominence of the 
 6th degriee of the scale, and sometimes the conclusion on 
 this note, in one class of Irish tunes. Possibly the bag- 
 pipes may have been constructed with regard to this very 
 mode ; but it is more credible that their peculiar scale origi- 
 nated in the same source as the Gregorian system itself." 
 
 This source, in Macfai'ren's opinion, was pagan. He 
 continues : — 
 
 " Last of all, when the principles of modem music took 
 root in Ireland, the diatonic scale flourished as their 
 natural blossom. It seems to have been rather as a settler 
 than as a native, however ; since, for very long, the con- 
 servative spirit, and the desire to perpetuate their na- 
 tionality, seem to have prompted musicians to adhere to 
 the pentatonic, the bagpipe, or the Gregorian scales in the 
 composition of their melodies ; nay, even now, when a writer 
 wishes to be characteristic of the Irish — to put, as it were. 
 
152 IRISH MELODIES. 
 
 a brogue into his song — he has recourse to one of these 
 scales, and his music has of consequence the true national 
 savour." 
 
 After reference to " the practice in Ireland, as well 
 as in Wales, and in the North and East of England, 
 of accompanying a song with a foot, or under-song, or 
 burden, that was sustained by another singer," and 
 the fact, therefore, vouched for by Giraldus, "that 
 harmony was an essential element of our national 
 music seven hundred years ago," — even six centuries 
 earlier, according to Bunting ; — the practice of singing 
 in parts by monks, at the place " named after the 
 singers, Benchor, Anglice White Choir, now corrupted 
 into Bangor — and other interesting facts, " the Bardic 
 institution" is treated of; and then, the collection and 
 transcription of the harpers' melodies by " Bunting, a 
 professional musician trained on modern principles." 
 
 "At three wide intervals he printed the result of his 
 researches. The merit of Irish melodies as a class was 
 perceived, and fashion adopted what then came forth as a 
 discovery. An Irish music-seller, in London, projected the 
 publication of a series of his native airs with new English 
 poetry. He hesitated for some time as to who should 
 share the responsibility of interpreting in verse the passion 
 of the tunes : and he determined to confide it solely to 
 Moore, who was thus associated with Irish melodies, and 
 who is consequently believed by many uninquiring persons, 
 who are misled by equivocal title-pages, to be the com- 
 poser of the tunes. Moore's collection is by no means 
 exhaustive, though it contains several airs, some avowedly 
 and some not, that are of unquestionably English origin. 
 Its success, however, more than its incompleteness, has 
 induced other writers to follow in his steps, and the name 
 of Irish melody has become an almost certain passport to 
 popular favour. 
 
 " A vast majority, if not the total of the best-esteemed 
 
SCOTCH MUSIC. 153 
 
 tunes can te fairly proved to be of modern origin in compari- 
 son -witli the early date to which the foregoing remarks might 
 suggest their ascription. It may be more than doubted 
 whether any true favourites can be older than a couple of 
 hundred years ; and it cannot be denied that, in many, if 
 not all cases, what sounds old and Irish in them is due, as 
 has already been hinted, to imitation." 
 
 People do not care to have their favourite predilec- 
 tions or prejudices disturbed; and it is probable that 
 the belief in "Irish melodies" will continue to be 
 cherished, notwithstanding these ruthless facts and 
 arguments. 
 
 An arrangement by Macfarren of " Moore's Irish 
 Melodies" was published in 1859. 
 
 Proceeding to the consideration of Scotch music, 
 it is shown that, whereas — 
 
 " The Scots themselves are immigrants in the land of 
 their pride, having migrated from the north-east early in 
 the third century, ' invaded Ireland, conquered the early 
 settlers, made themselves masters of the soil, and called 
 the land Scotia . . . they [subsequently] carried into Bri- 
 tain their language, their pentatonic scale, their harp, and 
 their bagpipes ; and hence the difficult distinction between 
 the music of the original nation and that of her ofEshoot. 
 Herein is the explanation ... of how the scale of five 
 notes comes to be called the ' Scotch scale.' " 
 
 The repressive tendency of the Reformation in 
 North Britain, as most pernicious to music, is dwelt 
 upon. 
 
 " Art withers without cultivation, and it could not but 
 be that, under the circumstances, music fell soundly to 
 sleep, if not died out in the North ; and by natural conse- 
 quence, the Scotch appear to have been indifferent to their 
 own tuneful wealth, if not unaware of its existence, until 
 
154 ORIGIN OF SCOTCH MELODIES. 
 
 advised of it from England, which advice vras of ques- 
 tionable authenticity." 
 
 The undoubted English origin of many so-called 
 Scotch melodies is shown; the inexplicableness of 
 " the strong Southern predilection for the name (ob- 
 serve it is but the name) of Scotch music." The term 
 " Scottish" was in the time of Charles II, — 
 
 " Substituted for Northern as a definition of rustic 
 ditties : the Scots in Britain afterwards toot a hint from 
 their brethren of the south, and accepted the term when- 
 ever it was offered them ; but they regarded the word less 
 as the distinction of a particidar class of poetry and music 
 than as an assertion of nationality, and they assumed 
 every piece that was described as Scottish to have been 
 produced in the Land of Cakes, and they claimed it accord- 
 ingly as national property." 
 
 Macfarren adduces various considerations " to show 
 that the broad assertion is not unauthorized " of " the 
 Southern, if not London origin of many of the so- 
 called Scotch tunes now in highest favour." 
 
 " One peculiarity in Scotch music had no origin in Ire- 
 land, and is to be found in no tunes of English origin save 
 those written in imitation of the supposed Scotch character. 
 This is what we call the snap, the lengthening the time of a 
 second note at the cost of the one before it, the placing a 
 semiquaver before a dotted quaver. This is, to say the best 
 of it, a vulgarism in vocal music which leads to the undue 
 prolongation of unaccented syllables ; and such prolonga- 
 tion would warrant the assumption that English is a bad 
 language for singing, if the language were at fault because 
 it was mispronounced. The snap, however, gives emphasis 
 and consequent spirit to dance tunes, and is an element of 
 good effect when well applied. The snap appears not in 
 any tunes that make any pretension to antiquity." 
 
WELSH MELODIES. 155 
 
 After some remarks upon the Clan Marches — 
 " some of the most genuine products of our Northern 
 soil/' he continues : — 
 
 "Lastly, it is to speak of the Eeel. Well, this owes 
 nothing to Scotland but its preservation. When folks 
 here used to dance ' The Hay,' in the days of good Queen 
 Bess, they performed the identical figure of the Eeel. . 
 An earlier form of the word is Ehay, which brings us back 
 to Anglo-Saxon days. A Danish form of the word — Hreol 
 or E«ol — belongs to the same period. ... A hke dance is 
 now practised by the peasantry in Denmark, and one 
 favourite Danish tune for it — research is not easy on the 
 subject — is all but identical vrith a Scotch tune for a Scotch 
 Eeel." 
 
 In the same cogent manner j giving evidence of no 
 little research and thought, doubtless in connection 
 with his work in association with Mr. Chappell, Mac- 
 farren discusses Welsh music, asserting that "the 
 assumed Welsh melodies " — for he does not deny their 
 national origin, though it may be questionable — 
 
 " That are best known have none of the tonal charac- 
 teristics that distinguish those of other districts. The 
 structure of some shows them to have been composed for 
 
 the harp These have not the wild and fervid passion 
 
 of the best of those of Ireland, nor the strongly-defined 
 rhythm and accent marked almost to vulgarity of those 
 given to Scotland and readily enough claimed by her, 
 but they have a sweetly tender grace that is undeniably 
 channing, and evinces a beautiful musical feeling in those 
 who made them, whether in times remote from or near to 
 our own." 
 
 Passing to the general subject of our national music, 
 Macfarren avers that — 
 
 " It is- now manifest that the Anglo-Saxons cultivated 
 
156 SECULAR MUSIC OF ENGLAND. 
 
 music to a very Mgli degree ; that the Anglo-Danes, who 
 commingled with them, fed their stream of song with 
 kindred waters ; and that this country was immensely in 
 advance of the South of Europe in the popular disposition 
 for, and the scholastic development of the art. The 
 Normans set their foot upon everything that was national 
 when they took possession here; but though they trampled 
 upon, they could not crush the love of music that was 
 innate in the race. This was left for the House of Hanover 
 to accomplish with the Italian Opera for its Nasmyth 
 Hammer; but though this destructive engine bruised, and 
 contused, and dislocated, and fractured, and mangled in 
 every way the body, the spirit is immortal, and begins 
 again to take corporate shape among us. . . . Indepen- 
 dently of those [tunes] which may have been wafted hence 
 into Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, the tunes of unequivocal 
 Anglican origin are more numerous, and are more various 
 in character, than are those of other districts, while their 
 merit entitles them to a proud place beside the others. 
 As an united nation, we subjects of British rule are sin- 
 gularly wealthy in native melodies ; and it should give 
 confidence to artists of the highest aspirations, that they 
 have been born where such tunes as ours have been pro- 
 duced and loved." 
 
 Three lectures on the " Secular Music of England " 
 were given by Macfarren before the Literary and Philo- 
 sophical Society^ Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in January, 
 1871, which seem to have embraced similar material 
 to that just recorded. 
 
 In the article, alluded to above, in the " Musical 
 Times " of March 1st, 1869, on " The Italian Lan- 
 guage : its evil influence upon Music," Macfarren's 
 contention is that " the Italian language has been, 
 and is, a most baneful influence to music, aSecting 
 its production, its performance, and its effect." This 
 threefold contention he seeks to sustain, firstly, 
 by- 
 
HANDEL'S ITALIAN OPERAS. 157 
 
 " The notable case of Handel's operas. These are cast in 
 a form that limited the workings of the mighty genius of 
 the master, and allowed no play to its higher attributes : 
 . . . being without choruses, . . . and, therefore, presenting 
 ... no field for the exercise of his boundless contrapuntal 
 resources : . . . consisting exclusively, or nearly so, of airs 
 that embody no dramatic action, and in many instances, 
 constructed with the object rather of executive display than 
 of poetical expression, his operas gave the rarest oppor- 
 tunity for that wonderful power of characterization, and 
 that unsurpassable felicity of verbal declaration which 
 particularly make his personages and the words they utter 
 to live before the hearers. Based upon subjects that are 
 entirely unsympathetic to our times, and constructed upon 
 principles that are totally uncongenial to our stage, his 
 operas will never, and can never, be performed again : . . . 
 and a large mass of the labours of one of the greatest, and, 
 perhaps, the very grandest of musicians, wrought at a 
 period of life when men's abilities are at the strongest, are 
 obsolete and virtually lost to the world for ever. . . . Now, 
 Handel wrote his operas in subservience to a fashion which 
 set in but two or three years before his first coming to this 
 country : a fashion for affecting to believe that the Italian 
 language was better fitted than any other for the purposes 
 of music, and for affecting to admire performances in the 
 Italian tongue above any in the vernacular of the nation. 
 This fashion was founded, as many fashions are, upon 
 falsehood. To wit: the first and highest element in vocal 
 music is the general expression and minute declamation 
 of the words. This element is a nullity with an audience 
 by whom the words to which music is set are not familiarly 
 and habitually spoken, and thus, and only thus, fully 
 understood; and no language is, therefore, so good for the 
 most important of all musical purposes as the native lan- 
 guage of the people before whom it is performed. It was, 
 then, to this gross falsehood of fashion, this lie against all 
 sense and reason, this perfidy against pure art and undis- 
 torted nature, Handel sacrificed the best years of his 
 manhood." 
 
 After noting how Handel, at the solicitation of 
 
158 EVIL INFLUENCE ON MUSIC OF 
 
 Aaron Hill, whose letter is given, dated December 5th, 
 1732, "first produced before the public his composi- 
 tions to English words, ' Esther ' and ' Acis and 
 Galatea,' " Macfarren concludes this portion of his 
 argument by saying : — 
 
 " The practical answer to this letter is the series of 
 English oratorios and secular cantatas through which the 
 name and the genius of Handel are universally known." 
 
 The next instance cited is that of Mozart, as — 
 
 " Most anxiously desiring to set music to his own G-erman 
 language. . , . Had his natural wish more frequently been 
 gratified, had his more important and more regularly 
 formed works been set to the words of his native speech, 
 they perhaps could not have been better — it is impossible 
 to suppose that the music of Mozart could have been better 
 than it is^but they certainly would have been better 
 understood, and might, doubtless, have been produced with 
 greater pleasure to their author." 
 
 After instancing Weber, whose " best eflTorts were 
 sorely hindered, if they could not be frustrated, by 
 the ever poisonous working' of the Italian' predilec- 
 tions of his time,'' Macfarren proceeds to consider 
 " the influence of this language upon the performance 
 of works which have been written in spite and through 
 the midst of its antagonism " : — 
 
 " First, then, as regards the singers. The majority of 
 those who now-a-days present themselves at the Italian 
 theatres in London are Germans, or Swedish, or Trench, 
 or American, or English, or in some other way foreign to 
 the manner born of the text they have to enunciate. . , , 
 The greater number of the vocalists, and nearly all of the 
 best of them, who sing in Italian to London hearers, have 
 the embarrassment, and make the consequent shortcomings 
 
THE ITALIAN LANGUAGE. 159 
 
 of contending with an acquired, and therefore to them -un- 
 natural, language. To judge from the practice of a large 
 number of these, and of nearly all the private singers who 
 study under the best esteemed Italian teachers, it would 
 be fair and right to denounce the Italian language as 
 eminently, nay, pre-eminently, bad for music ; and this 
 because it appears to induce a habit of false musical 
 phrasing, and of violating one of the most obvious and 
 simple laws of musical expression. Every one knows, for 
 instance, that the note following an appoggiatwa should 
 be unaccented, and that the whole stress of the phrase 
 should be thrown upon the leading [leaning ?] note itself ; 
 but English vocalists, who sing Italian, commonly give 
 emphasis to a final, instead of a penultimate note, and 
 strongly accentuate the second instead of the first syllable 
 of such words as ' mio,' ' padre,' ' core ; ' if, in cases like 
 the last, they do not substitute an ' a ' for the ' e,' in order, 
 apparently, to give extra force to their false rendering of 
 the musical requirements." 
 
 Macfarren proceeds with '^grounds of complaint^ in 
 operatic Italianization, still more cogent than have yet 
 been set forth ; ^' these being the blunders of "the 
 wordmongers — higher definition may not be applied to 
 them — to whom the most delicate and most difficult 
 task of translation is for the most part confided," 
 e.g. :— 
 
 " They not only place syllables of different vowel sounds 
 to emphatic notes from those to which these notes were 
 set, and so materially affect the mechanism of vocal pro- 
 duction, but they vary the construction of their sentences 
 so as to distort either the verbal sense or the musical 
 phrasing, and they not rarely substitute other and even 
 contrary meaning for those to which music of pointed sig- 
 nificance and careful expression has been written." 
 
 Examples of such perversities are given, from 
 Beethoven's " Fidelio,'' And the paper concludes 
 with a — 
 
160 ITALIAN OPS R AS. 
 
 " Proposition that rising vocalists waste not their best 
 years and their test energies in the study of music and 
 words that can he of no possible avail to them for technical 
 training or popular advancement, but that they devote 
 themselves to the practice of works in the language which 
 it is their duty to ennoble, by freeing it from the vulgarisms 
 of mispronunciation, and which they will find, and may 
 prove to be, better susceptible of musical expression than 
 any which is not next to intuitive in themselves and their 
 hearers." 
 
 In agreement with the opinions so trenchantly enun- 
 ciated, he elsewhere speaks of Italian operas composed 
 for England as " that apparent hotbed of non-success," 
 after having traced the succession of a number of such 
 works which have failed to retain any hold upon public 
 estimation, notwithstanding the exceptionally adven- 
 titious circumstances under which they have been pro- 
 duced. Macfarren lived to witness the reaction set in 
 which he probably anticipated, though not in the form 
 which he would have expected or desired : the fashion 
 — who will yet say whether it is more ? — of acceptance 
 of, and admiration for, the newer school of music- 
 drama brought into vogue, so far as modern usage is 
 concerned, by Wagner. Not — be it observed — opera 
 in our vernacular ; though even of that there have 
 been notable symptoms of revival, both in production 
 and in public interest. 
 
 It may not be out of place to insert here some 
 observations occurring in an article on " Choral Sing- 
 ing,^' contributed by Macfarren to the first number of 
 the "Part-Song Magazine" (May, 1868), in which, 
 after enumerating " faults most common to untutored 
 singers, and most needful to be overcome," he con- 
 cludes as follows : — 
 
ORLANDO GIBBONS. 161 
 
 " It is needful to ignore utterly the foolish fallacy that the 
 English language is not good for music. This is disproved 
 by the example of our best solo singers, who show our 
 vernacular to be as apt as any for vocalization, and a 
 better medium than some languages for expressive decla- 
 mation. English is only unmusical when it is mispro- 
 nounced. When the language escapes this ill-treatment, 
 every unprejudiced person must feel that we need not to 
 sing in a tongue which is unintelligible to our hearers in 
 order to make our performance interesting." 
 
 In conversation with myself, Macfarren animad- 
 verted on the practice of accenting the final syllable in 
 " toward/' even when separated from the first syllable, 
 as in the locution " to-us-ward." 
 
 In the " Cornhill" article, reference is made to 
 Orlando Gibbons and Parcell. It may be interesting 
 here to quote his remarks on the former of these from 
 Chappell's " Popular Music of the Olden Time ": — 
 
 " The fantasies of Orlando Gibbons are most admirable 
 specimens of pure part- writing in the strict contrapuntal 
 style ; the announcement of the several points, and the suc- 
 cessive answers and close elaboration of these, the freedom 
 of the melody of each part, and the independence of each 
 other, are the manifest result of great scholastic acquire- 
 ment, and consequent technical facility. Their form, like 
 that of the madrigals and other vocal compositions of the 
 period, consists of the successive introduction of several 
 points or subjects, each of which is fully developed before 
 the entry of that which succeeds it. The earlier fantasies 
 in the set are more closely and extensively elaborated, 
 and written in stricter accordance with the Gregorian 
 modes than those towards the close of the collection, which, 
 from their comparatively rhythmical character and greater 
 freedom of modulation, may even be supposed to have 
 been aimed at popular effect: They would, it is true, be 
 little congenial to modern ears, but this is because of the 
 strangeness to us of the crude tonal system that prevailed 
 
 M 
 
162 HENRY PVRCELL. 
 
 at the time, and upon which they are constructed. The 
 peculiarities that result from it are the peculiarities of the 
 age, and were common to all the best writers of the school 
 in this and every other country. Judged by the only true 
 standard of criticism — judged merely as what they were 
 designed to be — they must be pronounced excellent proofs 
 of the musical erudition, the ingenious contrivance, and 
 the fluent invention of the composer." ^ 
 
 In the discussion that ensued after the reading of an 
 admirable paper on " Henry Purcell and his Family/' 
 by Mr. W. H. CummingSj at the Musical Association, 
 December 4thj 1876, Macfarren said that — 
 
 " he considered it a matter of very great consequence that 
 Purcell's merits should be known and acknowledged. 
 English music had long been under a stigma from which 
 he believed the present time was freeing it, for people 
 were now beginning to admit that Englishmen could not 
 only admire the music of others, but that there had been 
 some amongst them who could add to the treasures of 
 musical art. If one could suppose a persoli to be born at 
 Christmas at the North Pole who never saw the sun, it 
 would be to him a vain expectation that there could ever 
 be daylight, and if we were born in this country with the 
 idea that there never had been good English musicians, 
 it would be almost a hopeless aspiration to dream of be- 
 coming so. . But now that it could be proved that before 
 the darkness set in there was such a light as Purcell, it 
 might perhaps be an encouragement to aim at the new 
 dawning. He was convinced that Purcell was a very 
 remarkable genius, and the more remarkable because of 
 the hard circumstances by which he was surrounded. Mr. 
 Cummings had perhaps done one little injustice to English 
 music, at and before Purcell's time, when he said that the 
 faculty of melody was not possessed by previous musicians. 
 He could not but think of the beautiful songs of Henry 
 Lawes, which were gems of melody, and of those of his 
 
 ' "Popular Music of the Olden Time," p. 470. 
 
PURCJEZrS MUSIC. 163 
 
 brother William. Henry Lawes might have known 
 Purcell, but he was his elder ; and going still farther back, 
 there were part-songs to be sung by a solo voice when the 
 other three were not there, some of which were more 
 remarkable for the melody than for the harmony. One in 
 particular was scarcely known in its original form, namely, 
 Ford's ' Since first I saw youx face,' which was tuneful 
 enough for any country, Then, again, there were the 
 songs of John Dowland, which contain most acceptable 
 melodies, and many of them had had great popularity, as, 
 for instance, ' Now, oh, now, we needs must part.' Eefe- 
 rence might also be made to the long string of national 
 melodies, which in number and variety would hold their 
 own with the national music of any other country ; how- 
 ever, the great merit of Purcell was not in being the first 
 of our countrymen to write tunes, because others had done 
 that before him, but in his harmonies, many of which the 
 speaker considered prodigious, as being really in anticipa- 
 tion of the harmonic progressions of modern times, and 
 showed him to have had a complete insight into the beau- 
 tiful, and to have felt the principles of harmonic construc- 
 tion and harmonic derivation in a manner which he could 
 only have done by possessing the most keen sensitiveness 
 to musical propriety. It was a great glory, not to our 
 country only, but to the art of music, that at this early 
 period, preceding the works of Handel and Bach, there 
 was a man writing music which amazed one even now with 
 its beauty and its likeness to modem compositions. Many 
 instances of what seemed to be deep research into the 
 acoustical derivation of chords appear in Purcell, and 
 showed him to be a most original thinker ; and ialthough 
 he made some experiments which were not so successful, 
 there was a character of beauty in his music which justified 
 the highest admiration. There was, however, one quality 
 in Purcell more remarkable than his beautiful melodies or 
 his wonderful anticipation of modern harmony, and that 
 was his very grand power of musical declamation and 
 strong dramatic feeling. The form of operas in his days 
 very narrowly restricted his dr3.jiiatic,powers, it being then 
 the habit to construct dramas for speaking, in accordance 
 with the prejudice set forth' by Dry den, that it was incom- 
 
164 MUSICAL ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY. 
 
 patible with dramatic action to have persons sing their 
 words, and that the music of the stage should for the most 
 part he restricted either to supernatural beings or to 
 madmen. Pm'cell had such strong dramatic feeling as 
 would have made him a great master in this kind of music, 
 had dramas then been constructed to give him such an 
 opportunity. Nothing could be more picturesque than 
 the frost scene in 'King Arthur,' and nothing could be 
 more expressive than the pathetic music in several of his 
 pieces. For instajice, in the two great scenes in his opera 
 of 'Don Quixote,' one the song of Cardenio when he is 
 mad, and thinks of Lucinda's eyes as the only light that 
 can warm him in his coldness, and the other the soprano 
 scene, ' Prom rosy bowers.' It was very pleasing to think 
 that there had been such a great, pre-eminent English 
 musician, and they could not be too grateful to Mr. 
 Cummings for having given them so much information 
 about him." 
 
 In the year 1840j the Musical Antiquarian Society 
 was instituted, with the laudable object of rescuing 
 from oblivion English music of the highest character, 
 either existing in manuscript only, or very scarce, and 
 therefore costly ; by printing and publishing such 
 works under competent editorship. At that time, 
 Purcell's " King Arthur," "Dido and ^neas," "The 
 Libertine," " Timon of Athens," and several of his 
 " Odes " existed only in manuscript. Only six of the 
 "Madrigals" by Wilbye were purchasable. Many 
 other valuable works were out of all ordinary reach, 
 such as many by Tallis, Orlando Gibbons, Dowland, 
 William Byrde, Weelkes, Henry Lawes, etc. The 
 Council of the Society, on its formation, consisted of 
 W. Sterndale Bennett, Henry E. Bishop, W. Chappell, 
 George Hogarth, E. J. Hopkins, W. Horsley, G. A. 
 Macfarren, T. 01iphant,E. F.Eimbault (Secretary), Sir 
 G. Smart, Professor Edward Taylor, and James Turle. 
 
MACFARREN EDITS "DIDO AND MNEAS." 165 
 
 To Macfarren was allotted tte editorship of Parcell's 
 "Dido and ^neas." In the introduction (or preface) 
 to this edition, he writes, with characteristic evince- 
 ment of his interest in dramatic performance : — 
 
 " Considering it essential to the full appreciation of the 
 dramatic feeling which pervades the music of ' Dido and 
 ^neas,' that the reader should be able to comprehend at 
 one view the incidents and conduct of the story, I have 
 thought it desirable to prefix the drama. Unable to meet 
 with any copy separate from the music, and the MS. scores 
 to which I have had access presenting but the mere words 
 and the names of the characters who sing them, I have 
 ventured to make such divisions of the acts as were sug- 
 gested to me by apparent musical climaxes and by the 
 progress of the plot ; also to introduce the descriptions of 
 the scenes and other stage directions which seemed to be 
 needful for the right understanding of the whole." 
 
 He added marks of expression, of which there were 
 very few in the MS. He also compressed the score 
 for the pianoforte, both of " Dido " and of Purcell's 
 " Bonduca," filling up also the figured bass. It is 
 now known, however, that the copy of " Dido and 
 .iEneas " which he used was imperfect : additional 
 pieces have since been discovered, and are included in 
 Mr. W. H. Cummings' beautiful edition issued by the 
 Purcell Society. Still, Macfarren's edition is a stand- 
 ing evidence of his industrious research. 
 
 The Council of the Musical Antiquarian Society 
 decided that no pianoforte compression should accom- 
 pany the works issued by them ; but the publishers, 
 Messrs. Chappell and Co., determined on a separate 
 issue of such compression, the preparation of which 
 was undertaken by Macfarren — the works so arranged 
 by him being the " Fantasies in three parts, composed 
 
166 THE GLEE. 
 
 for Viols by Orlando Gibbons " (previously alluded 
 to) ; the whole Book of Psalms with their wonted 
 tunes in four parts, as published by Thomas Bste, 
 1592; the first set of songs by John Dowland; "King 
 Arthur^' and "Bonduca," by Purcell, etc. 
 
 The Musical Antiquarian Society had, unhappily, a 
 too brief career of only seven years. 
 
 As has been said, Macfarren in his " Cornhill " 
 article animadverted upon the Glee, saying : — 
 
 " Upon the whole, although the Glee be admitted as a 
 class of composition essentially English, it is a class in 
 which we poor, self-denying English have not great occa- 
 sion for pride, since, as a class, the excellent pieces which 
 form the minority of its instances are too exceptional to 
 give it specific dignity." 
 
 Similarly, in his lecture on Cipriani Potter, before 
 the Musical Association ^ : — 
 
 "We must, in order to judge of the merit of Potter as 
 a teacher of composition, consider what was the state of 
 music at the time when he came upon the world; The 
 music in England then of the highest esteem was that 
 which has the merit of being peculiarly English — namely, 
 the Glee; and Webbe and Dr. Callcott were the most 
 highly honoured classicists of this school, a species of com- 
 position in which there is no development at all, in which 
 an idea is presented, and before it is entirely complete, 
 there is some change of tempo, some change of measure, 
 and a new idea is started. The grand masterpiece, as it 
 is generally considered, of Glee writing — ' When winds 
 breathe soft ' — is cut up into as many fragments as entitle 
 it to be called a musical mosaic. Continuity seems to 
 have been outside the thoughts, as well as outside the 
 capability of the writers of the period." 
 
 ' See page 21. 
 
' WHEN WINDS BREATHE SOFT." 167 
 
 This animadversion has, in its turn, been animad- 
 verted upon by an intelligent and enthusiastic writer, 
 who says : — < 
 
 " One of the worthiest native musicians of the present 
 day has asserted that the best of the EngUsh Glees are 
 only 'musical mosaics,' and he has singled this work 
 ['When winds breathe soft'] for his special animadver- 
 sion. He quotes it as an example to prove his statement 
 that continuity of treatment was not only outside the 
 power, but was also outside the thought, of the English 
 musicians of the last century. This is unfortunately an 
 iU-advised statement, which must have been made in an 
 unhappy mood. The whole glee is constructed upon one 
 continuous idea, and is no more a piece of ' musical mosaic' 
 than the statue of the Apollo Belvidere can be said to be 
 the true effigy of Darwin's progenitor, of the human race. 
 Mr. David Baptie is right when ... he calls this glee 
 'the noblest production of its composer, a truly grand 
 conception.' " 
 
 Then follows an analysis of the Glee, terminating 
 with the statement that — 
 
 " the imity of the whole design, the relation each part or 
 movement bears to the other, is a most striking instance 
 of the continuity of the idea entered upon ia the opening 
 phrase, and developed to the greatest possible extent in a 
 work of its character. It therefore offers a complete 
 refutation of the mistake made by the learned musician 
 alluded to." ' 
 
 Whether the refutation be so complete as this writer 
 alleges, may be left to competent judgment ; but 
 assuredly Macfarren did not " mistake " by overlook- 
 ing the points of design indicated. He was speaking 
 
 1 English Glees and Part-Songs. An Inquiry into their Historical 
 Development. W. A. Barrett. London, 1886. Pp. 226-228. 
 
168 MACFARREN'S CONVIVIAL OLEES. 
 
 of a different order of plan : that of one movement, witli 
 contrasted subjects, conjointly or otherwise worked ; 
 and lie did not recognize this element of continuity in 
 the Glees to which he alluded. Much more might 
 now be advanced, were this a controversial work. 
 Enough that Macfarren^s dicta upon this, as well as 
 upon other subjects, did not pass unchallenged; the 
 very formidableness of his opposition being so far 
 recognized as to arouse, not unfrequently, something 
 almost approaching to rancour in the contention to 
 which it gave rise. It must not be supposed that the 
 characterization is intended to apply to the very 
 respectful antagonism above cited. 
 
 Notwithstanding his strictures on English Glees, or 
 at least on the weak style and structure characterizing 
 them, Macfarren himself wrote several such composi- 
 tions. There is a set of Six Convivial Glees, illustra- 
 tive of the history of England, for three men's voices, 
 published in 1842, the words by his father, viz. — 
 " King Canute " (also published as a song) , " William 
 Eufus," " Fair Eosamond," " Queen Bess," " Oliver 
 Cromwell," " Sir Hugh Middleton." With the ex- 
 ception of " William Eufus," the words of all have 
 some reference to conviviality, being designed for the 
 use of Glee Clubs, and such gatherings, in which habit 
 of that kind was associated with music. Another 
 Glee, for the same voices, was " Hail to the Chief ! " 
 words also being by George Macfarren, sen. All of 
 these are fresh, and with defined structure, principally 
 of episodical kind. The " Musical World " of January 
 6th, 1842, reviewing "Oliver Cromwell," says: — 
 " Since the glees of Mr. Bishop, none have afforded 
 us so much pleasure as those of Mr. Macfarren. There 
 
MACFARREN'S '-SHAKESPEARE SONGS." 169 
 
 is a humour in them which sorts mightily with our 
 temperament." Concerning these Glees, Macfarren 
 thus writeSj after recording the publication of the 
 " DeviFs Opera " by Hill ^ :— 
 
 " Thus brought into close connection with the house, I 
 was soon asked to write a Grlee that would be available for 
 singing at the supper houses which were numerous in the 
 vicinity of the theatres ; and for this my father furnished 
 me with the verses of ' King Canute.' I was lucky in my 
 setting of them, and the notes with the words were 
 so successful as well to have reimbursed the publishers 
 for the three guineas they had paid for the twofold copy- 
 right. The sale of this Grlee, however, led to our engage- 
 ment for five others to constitute a series, on the same 
 terms, which, as times went, we felt to be a miniature 
 fortune. They are all humorous relations of English his- 
 torical incidents, and the verses of some of them are at 
 least as full of poitit as are those of the first ; but, by a 
 caprice of luck as unaccountable as are most of the freaks 
 of that wayward deity, no one but 'King Canute' has ever 
 had acceptance." , 
 
 Besides these, Macfarren produced " Shakespeare 
 Songs for four voices" (1860-64), and" a host of 
 similar compositions, both for mixed and for equal 
 voices, which are for the most part sufficiently well 
 known to render their enumeration here unnecessary. 
 
 ' See page 50. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The Handel Society. Macfaeeen's Visit to New 
 YoEK. Editions of " Belshazzae," "Judas Mac- 
 cabeus," AND " Jephtha." Views on Editing. 
 Aeticles on the " Messiah." Maekiage. '' Anti- 
 gone " Peepoemances. Aeticles on Mendelssohn's 
 " CBdipus in Colonos" Music. 1843—1855. 
 
 PRIOR to the death of George Macfarren, sen., in 
 April, 1843, he had made a suggestion to his son 
 which was willingly acted on : that of the formation 
 of a society for the publication of a complete edition 
 of Handel's works, under competent editorship — a 
 scheme which it was supposed would be hailed with 
 acclamation and meet with abundant support in the 
 land of Handel's adoption, and in which those works 
 were held in such high esteem. As was the case 
 with the Musical Antiquarian Society, however, the 
 expectations of its promoters were not fully realized ; 
 the Handel Society, instituted in 1843, having an 
 existence of only a few years. Macfarren, however, 
 acted upon his father's suggestion — the father, indeed, 
 being present at the first meeting convened for the 
 formation of the Society, and with the co-operation of 
 R. Addison (Treasurer), W. Sterndale Bennett, Sir 
 
HANBEL SOCIETY. VISITS NEW YORK. 171 
 
 H. E. Bishop, Dr. Crotch, J. W. Davison, E. J. 
 Hopkins, I. Moscheles, T. M. Mudie, G. F. Eimbault, 
 Sir George Smart, and Henry Smart, G. A. Macfarren 
 as Secretary, issued the Prospectus, from 73, Berners 
 Street, June 16, 1843. Into the work of the Society, 
 which commenced with 1,000 members, but was dis- 
 solved in January, 1848, through lack of support, this 
 is not the place to enter, beyond recording that for it 
 Macfarren edited " Belshazzar," " Judas Maccabeus," 
 and " Jephtha." With his sadly imperfect eyesight, 
 such work must have been exacting and laborious. 
 He had very conscientious ideas as to the nature, 
 responsibility, and duties of editorship, and it was 
 indicative of the artistic aims which always animated 
 him, that he entered with painstaking energy into 
 comparatively unprofitable work of this or any other 
 kind, which tended towards the highest advancement 
 of the art to which he had devoted himself. 
 
 His sight continuing to fail increasingly, he was 
 allured by the accounts which he received of the skill 
 and success of an oculist in New York ; and, in the 
 fond hope of obtaining some benefit from the much- 
 vaunted treatment, was induced in 1847 to proceed 
 to that city and place himself under the lauded prac- 
 titioner. The hope was vain : although the oculist 
 from time to time pronounced, as the result of diag- 
 nosis, that there was improvement, the poor patient 
 had to reply, — "I only know that I can't see any 
 better." Even at this time, however, Macfarren was 
 able to write, with the help of a powerful magnifying 
 glass, the use of which, indeed, he did not relinquish 
 until about twelve years later. The blindness did 
 not become total till about 1865. It is hardly to be 
 
172 "KINO CHARLES 11." 
 
 wondered at that, under the depressing circumstances 
 of his visit to America, the period of eighteen months' 
 sojourn there was not remarkable or prolific in an 
 artistic way. He found the sea-voyages insufferably 
 tedious, although he seems not to have been wholly 
 idle even with his pen while on his way to the United 
 States. A "Vocal Duet, words by W. A. Hammond, 
 bears date "British Channel, 10 August, 47." The 
 stanzas commence : — 
 
 " Let us haste to the river, whose tremulous breast 
 Is a bed where the calm face of heaven might rest ; 
 As we float o'er the stream in its mantle of blue, 
 We fancy it heaven it mirrors so true." 
 
 At the end of the manuscript, Macfarren writes : — 
 
 " Dear Mr. Hammond, had you had half so much of the 
 water when you wrote these words as I have had now, you 
 would have told a very different story. However poetical, 
 they are strictly romantic, in Dr. Johnson's full meaning of 
 the word. — Tours very truly, G. A. Macfarren." 
 
 During his stay in New York, however, he com- 
 pleted another opera, " Charles the Second " (of which 
 more anon), forwarding the numbers to England, sheet 
 by sheet. He corresponded about musical matters 
 with his intimate friend, the late Henry Gattie, 
 violinist, a man of great intelligence beyond the 
 domain of his art, with whom at that time I was in 
 very frequent intercourse, and from whom I received 
 intelligence when he heard from Macfarren. One 
 matter of his solicitude, about which he begged intel- 
 ligence from Gattie, was the progress, artistically, of 
 his youngest brother, Walter Cecil, now so well 
 
EDITION OF '' BELSHAZZAR:' 173 
 
 knowiij but then in the early days of his professional 
 career. 
 
 Another incident of his sojourn in New York was a 
 performance, at a concert given by Henri Herz and 
 Camillo Sivori, of Macfarren's " Chevy Chase " over- 
 ture, the composer conducting, Sivori playing first 
 violin, Bottesini the double-bass, Herz the drums, 
 and J. L. Hatton the triangle ! All this was so 
 announced ! 
 
 This digression respecting the visit to New York 
 will explain the dating thence of the preface to " Bel- 
 shazzar," to Macfarren's edition of which we now 
 revert. 
 
 In that preface to the first part of " Belshazzar," 
 dated November 1, 1847 — after giving various histo- 
 rical particulars concerning the Oratorio — he states 
 that it was his 
 
 " object to follow the manuscript of Hands as cloaely as 
 possible ;" upon which authority he was " enabled to make 
 many important corrections of the score, as it has appeared 
 in the old printed copies, sometimes in single notes, some- 
 times in the accentuation of words, and sometimes in the 
 restoration of passages, which have hitherto been always 
 omitted." 
 
 He further states that the 
 
 " edition contains several entire pieces which have never 
 before been printed, .... and several resettings of pieces 
 already known;" 
 
 all these being derived from Handel's manuscript in 
 the Library of Buckingham Palace. These are pointed 
 out in detail; and it is also stated that, in certain 
 places, — 
 
174 EDITION OF "JUDAS MACCABEUS." 
 
 "there are [in the MS.] several erasures, sometimes of 
 single bars, sometimes of two, three, or four bars together, 
 and these furnish a most interesting illustration of Handel's 
 method of composition, in the circumstance of the voice 
 and the bass-parts being written continuously throughout 
 the whole movement, and the violin and viola-parts not 
 being fiUed up in the erased bars, thus showing that it was 
 the custom of the composer to make first a skeleton of his 
 Bcore, which he corrected and completed afterwards, etc." 
 
 And Macfarren goes on to speak of one place in 
 which he has seen, it fit and necessary, for the sake of 
 performance, to fill in this " skeleton," as he believed 
 Handel would have done. Various minor correc- 
 tions, also, he specifies ; and then speaks of the organ 
 part which he supplied, following the example of 
 Mendelssohn in his edition of " Israel in Egypt " for 
 the same society. 
 
 These few particulars give some indication of the 
 painstaking care with which Macfarren performed his 
 task ; and the same care is manifested in his edition of 
 " Judas Maccabeus," in the preface to which, dated 
 London, March, 1855, occur the following characteris- 
 tic remarks : — 
 
 "It is important to notice that in all Handel's manu- 
 scripts the figuring of the, bass is extremely incomplete. 
 In the old printed copies this deficiency, if deficiency it be, 
 is most profusely made up, though not unexceptionably 
 in accordance with the harmony. The very unsatisfactory 
 system of musical shorthand, that goes by the most inex- 
 pressive name of 'thorough bass,' is now for practical 
 purposes as good as obsolete, and any one who can compre- 
 hend a figured bass, can as easily read the notes of the 
 score, and where these complete not the harmony, supply 
 from the indication they afford what others may be neces- 
 sary." 
 
ORGAN PART IN ORATORIOS. 175 
 
 To this edition of " Judas Maccabeus " Macfarren 
 did not supply an organ part, nor to " Jephtha," pub- 
 lished in 1858. The reason of this is not stated ; it 
 was probably by direction of the council. Macfarren, 
 in the preface to " Judas," deplores 
 
 "the custom . . . that prevailed in Handel's time, of 
 leaving the organ part to the discretion of the performer, 
 ■with the indefinite guide only of the figured bass. It is 
 not alone that the effect of the chords greatly depends 
 upon the position ia -which they may be distributed ; but 
 in the solo pieces, not merely the filling up of the harmony 
 was left to the knowledge and invention of the organist, even 
 the form or figure of the accompaniment, in fact, the con- 
 struction of an independent counterpoint, rested entirely 
 upon the ability of this most responsible interpreter of the 
 composer's meaning." 
 
 In the preface to " Jephtha," Macfarren again 
 refers to this subject ; as also to " the extremely 
 scarce, and, so to speak, fitful figuring in the com- 
 poser's score," as " characteristic of him, and of his 
 mode of writing." 
 
 In the concluding paper of a series on the "Messiah," 
 in the " Musical World," March and April, 1849, he 
 also remarks on the same subject : — 
 
 " It is always a matter of lament that it was Handel's 
 custom , as that of his age, to leave the organ part, which 
 sustained the chief accompaniment of his solo pieces, to 
 the improvisation of the performer, giving only the vague 
 indication of a figured bass to direct the organist as to the 
 harmony — without implying in any manner the position in 
 which the chords are to be dispersed, upon which very 
 much, if not the whole of their effect depends; nor, what 
 is still more important, suggesting the form or figure of 
 the accompaniment. The traditional mode of performing 
 these organ accompaniments having been, to a great extent, 
 
176 MACFARREN ON EDITING. 
 
 lost, and the organists of our day having, for the most 
 part, a discreet hesitation to venture their extemporaneities 
 upon such everlasting themes, the custom generally prevails 
 now of omitting the organ in such pieces altogether ; and 
 hence the miserably weak and meagre effect of those many 
 songs, of which we hear nothing but the outline in the 
 voice and the bass parts, with an occasional point of imita- 
 tion, and sometimes a symphony for the violin. In the 
 case of the ' Messiah,' the great composer has a powerful 
 advantage in the effect of his creation on a modern audience, 
 from the labours of an equally great commentator, in the 
 additional parts Mozart has added to the original score, 
 the purport of which is to fill up the blank places, and to 
 supply in the orchestra such effects as Handel himself 
 would have produced in accompanying his own work on 
 the organ. Without Mozart's masterly additions, a per- 
 formance of this oratorio must then always be regarded as 
 incomplete." 
 
 I remember Macfarren conversing with me about 
 the admirable way in which Henry Smart, for the 
 Handel Society, edited Handel's " Chamber Duets," 
 filling up the figured bass part for the pianoforte — 
 " counterpointing " the accompaniment ; saying how 
 much his opinion of Smart's musicianship was thereby 
 raised. 
 
 Macfarren's views on editing, to which allusion has 
 been made, are presented in an article by him of much 
 later date, in which he specifies "three orders of 
 editorship " : — 
 
 " One takes upon himself the duty of purifying the text 
 of an inaccessible author. . . . An editor of this class needs 
 to exercise his discretion, when there is the choice of two 
 authorities of nearly equal value ; for instance, there may 
 be the autograph of a work and a printed copy of the first 
 edition of the same. In many cases the reliability of the 
 former is indisputable ; but in others, it may often happen 
 
MACFARREN ON EDITING. 177 
 
 that a composer has improved ■upon his first intentions, 
 either from the experience of performance, from a recon- 
 sideration of a phrase, or from any other cause. He will 
 then naturally alter the parts from which his piece is to be 
 played, or he will alter the proof sheets if it is to he 
 printed ; but he will rarely run home from a rehearsal or 
 a printing-office to correct his original MS. When this 
 happens, of necessity a copy of the first edition is a better 
 guide for the editor, than is even the handwriting of the 
 composer." 
 
 Macfarren cites an instance from "Israel in Egypt," 
 which Mendelssohn edited for the Handel Society : — 
 
 " Throughout the Chorus, ' And with the blast of thy 
 nostrils,' Handel wrote the often repeated phrase, ' the 
 waters were gathered,' with the word ' we-re ' in two syllables, 
 having four separate quavers for ' wa-ters we-re ; ' but 
 printed it, as we all know, with two joined quavers for the 
 first syllable, and one quaver each for the other two." 
 
 The Council of the Society, in opposition to Men- 
 delssohn, determined to adhere to the printed version. 
 
 " Another order of editorship engages itself with ex- 
 pounding, so to speak, the original, and by the substitution 
 perhaps of one word or note for another, or by the change 
 of punctuation, to make clear the sense of phrases which 
 has been left doubtful by the author. To this order belong 
 the countless array of Shakespearian commentators. . . . 
 The punctuation of music consists in the slurs to indicate 
 the phrasing, which supply the place of the commas, semi- 
 colons, and the like, of literature, which are almost as 
 essential to the sense as the very words they divide and 
 congregate. It is in this matter of slurring or phrasing 
 that the works of many musicians, even among the most 
 eminent, are sadly defective. . ; . Some editors, of the 
 order in present consideration, stretch their duty to its 
 very verge, if not break it by excess of tension ; which are 
 they who not only indicate how many notes are to be given 
 
 N 
 
178 MACFARREN ON EDITING. 
 
 in one breath, or in one bow, or without raising the fingers 
 from the key-board, but mark what notes are to be played 
 loudly and what softly, what are to be detached and what 
 conjoined, and thus give often a meaning to a phrase 
 which is apart from the composer's intention, and is some- 
 times opposed to the natural tendency of the phrase itself. 
 This kind of thing is admissible in performance, where the 
 personality of the player may give interest to his erratic 
 construction of a composer's meaning ; but it should not 
 be perpetuated in print, unless accompanied with a com- 
 plete description of what was originally written, and of 
 what has been altered from, and what added to the author's 
 text. . . . An edition of the pianoforte works of Beethoven, 
 now in the course of issue in G-ermany, carries this assumed 
 prerogative of an editor to an extent happily extraordinary, 
 and extraordinary let us hope it may long continue. In 
 this, with most reckless disregard of evidence, the editors, 
 and one in particular, assume to have a kind of second 
 sight of the author's meaning, and by the guidance of this 
 preternatural light, they take upon themselves to set aside 
 what Beethoven wrote and printed, and they supersede 
 this in many passages by substitutions of their own, which 
 materially change the character and alter the effect of what 
 commonplace folks blindly believe must have been in- 
 tended by the master — poor commonplace folks ! who 
 have but the indisputable notes of the original, the general 
 manner of the author, a comprehension of the theoretical 
 and practical state of art in his time, and a reverence for a 
 great man's meaning, and his individual way of expressing 
 it, to guide them. . . . The German edition must be a 
 curiosity from which reason and feeling will revolt. 
 
 * ^ ^ ^ ^ 
 
 " Our third order of editorship assumes the right and 
 presumes the capability to add to the works of great 
 ' musicians in order to fit them for present use. In letters 
 the same was done by John Dryden, by Nahum Tate, and 
 by David G-arrick, with regard to the plays of Shakespeare, 
 and a pretty business they made of their changements. 
 , . , Perhaps one of the greatest evils that have ever been 
 done in music, is the reinstrumentation by Mozart of 
 Handel's ' Messiah ; ' and the avil lies in the fact that the 
 
ARTICLES ON THE " MESSTAW 179 
 
 score is -written with such consummate artistry as to rival 
 the beauty of the original matter, that it is hence inse- 
 parable (save in those pieces in which, from the first, 
 Mozart's additions - have been unused) from Handel's 
 groundwork, in public j)erformances. Because of its in- 
 finite merit, Mozart's orchestration is now indispensable ; 
 and because of its indispensability, any one now regards it 
 as a precedent, and takes hcenee from its example, to invest 
 other works of Handel with ' additional accompaniments.' 
 Unhappily, or happily, as the case may be, everybody who 
 paints Handel with the "vivid colours of the modern 
 orchestra is not Mozart. If he were, and were always at 
 his best, then should we become strangers to the effects 
 intended by the mighty one of Halle, the stern grandeur 
 and the special sweetness of the Saxon giant would have 
 no existence, and the delicious haze of sunset glories, that 
 hangs as a kind of veil between the ancient style of - music 
 and the modem, would hide from view the most salient 
 features of the master's individuality." 
 
 In the four articles on Handel's " Messiah," in the 
 " Musical Worldj'' to which allusion has been made, 
 Macfarren contends that^- 
 
 " Handel, by reason of his greatness, must be esteemed 
 an original genius ; but his originality is to be regarded in 
 respect to the excellence of his works, which had never 
 previously been approached and can never be surpassed, 
 rather than with reference to the unlikeness of his style to 
 that of his predecessors, and more especially of his cotem- 
 poraries." 
 
 After some reasons for this verdict, he continues 
 that — 
 
 " The originality, the true dignity of Handel's genius, is 
 to be seen in the exquisite beauty of many of his melodies, 
 . . , , that beauty which proves the true consanguinity of 
 genius in all schools ; that beauty which, indeed, is not of an 
 age, but for all time, and which makes it seem possible that 
 ' Love in her eyes sits playing,' ' When I seek from Love's 
 
180 HANDEL'S GENIUS. 
 
 sickness to fly,' ' Nel cor piu,' ' My mother bids me bind 
 my hair,' ' Voi che sapete,' ' Zennst du das Land,' ' Eose 
 softly blooming,' ' Assisa a pie d'un saliee,' and many of 
 the ' Songs without words ' for the pianoforte, might all 
 have been thought by one mind, and written by one person. 
 It is to be seen in the wonderful points of harmony which 
 he somewhat rarely, but never inappropriately, and never 
 without prodigious effect, employs, that quite transcend his 
 age, and but for their perfect fitness to the situations 
 where he introduces them, might seem to be taken from 
 the most ultra-modern compositions of the present day ; 
 such, to give a single but most striking example, as the 
 great point on the words, ' Still as a stone,' in ' Israel in 
 Egypt,' where the bass descends to G- sharp, and the first 
 inversion of the chord of the major ninth on E has an 
 effect that no words can describe ; it is to be seen in the truly 
 beautiful, because beautifully truthful, and therefore also 
 intensely poetical expression, not of words, but of senti- 
 ments, feelings, passions, with which his works abound ; 
 it is to be seen in his wonderful command over all the 
 resources of counterpoint, his complete mastery over which 
 intricate art makes his most elaborate and complicated 
 fugues appear to have been written with as much ease and 
 fluency as they are grand and natural in their effect ; it is 
 to be seen in his lofty, noble, almost divine conceptions of the 
 greatest and grandest subjects, and it is this last, perhaps, 
 more than all the other evidences of his greatness, but 
 decidedly in conjunction with them all, that marks him 
 unapproachable in what is his own peculiar excellence, and 
 has made, in the minds of all who know and appreciate his 
 power, the word Handelian to be a synonym for sublimity," 
 
 With characteristic courage, Macfarren, in the 
 course of these analytical articles, animadverts most 
 vehemently upon the song " The Trumpet shall 
 sound," one of the most " popular " in the Oratorio, 
 on. account of those very qualities about it which he 
 considers incongruous with the solemnity of the 
 subject. 
 
« THE TRUMPET SHALL SOUND." 181 
 
 " The recitative, ' For behold I tell you a mystery,' is a 
 broad Ipiece of declamation ; but the air which it intro- 
 duces we cannot — with all the reverence with which the 
 composer everywhere, and especially in this wort, im- 
 presses us — we cannot — after the most careful study of the 
 piece we are presuming to censure — we cannot but consider 
 to be a complete misconception. 'The Trumpet shall 
 sound, and the dead shall be raised,' appears to be a 
 passage as suggestive as any in the oratorio, and one 
 peculiarly likely to have called out the noblest powers of 
 Handel's genius. What a truly sublime image does it 
 raise, even without the strong aid of musical enforcement, 
 of the awful sounding of an overwhelming tone that bursts 
 the bonds of death, and calls together from the widest 
 range of space, from the remotest depths of time, all that 
 have lived to live again! — tearing the till then impene- 
 trable curtain froin eternity, it discloses the everlasting 
 Now, the vast understanding of Divinity, the last sense 
 new created, and merges is, and was, and is to be, in the 
 mighty consciousness of the infinite and the true; and 
 how particularly does it strike us, first, that such an image, 
 even one so superhuman, was quite within the province, 
 and possibly within the power of the composer of the 
 ' Messiah ' to embody ; and secondly, that it was for him, 
 and for none other, to essay the human expression of so 
 divine a subject. This is a rude presentation of the rude pre- 
 sentiment we feel of what was the glorious scope open to the 
 musician who should exercise his art and his genius upon 
 the composition of this passage ; and we cannot but feel, 
 and feeling cannot but regret, that the trivial — for so, com- 
 pared with the theme, we must regard it — the trivial song 
 before us, and the trifling conventionalities of the common- 
 place trumpet accompaniment must wholly disappoint all 
 those who know the powers of Handel, and appreciate the 
 unequalled susceptibility of the subject, of what they have 
 a right to expect from his treatment of it. The tremendous 
 summons of the last trumpet is reduced to the display of 
 the executive excellence of a tolerably skilled solo player, 
 and the thrilling annunciation of the destiny of all mor- 
 tality rendered by the unmeaning divisions of an expres- 
 sionless bravura. Yes, indeed, this song must be felt to 
 
182 MACFAEREN'S MARRIAGE. 
 
 be a misconception, and it is the more conspicuous, and the 
 more to be regretted, because, as such, it is the only failure 
 in a work that would otherwise defy all question of its 
 propriety." 
 
 On September 27, 1844, Macfarren was married at 
 Marylebone Church to Clarina Thalia Andrae, a native 
 of Lubeck, well known as Natalia Macfarren, by her 
 translations and adaptations of opera libretti, words of 
 Mendelssohn's songs, etc., as well as for her ability as 
 a teacher of singing. I believe it is an open secret 
 that certain musical souvenirs known as " Six Eo- 
 mances," were written for her, being originally super- 
 scribed, " To Thalia." As issue of this marriage, a 
 daughter survives him, now Mrs. F. W. .Davenport, 
 for whom, I believe it is also an open secret, he 
 wrote the quaint little instruction-book for the piano- 
 forte, entitled, " Little Clarina's Lesson Book," which, 
 though published, has not, so far as I am aware, 
 obtained general acceptance. 
 
 In the year 1845, when Laurent was manager of 
 Covent Garden Theatre, he determined to bring out 
 the " Antigone " of Sophocles, with Mendelssohn's 
 music ; and Macfarren having been engaged as musical 
 director to the theatre, it became his onerous, respon- 
 sible, and difficult duty to conduct itj difficult, be- 
 cause of the structure of the work, consisting not 
 merely of choruses, some of .them double choruses, 
 but also of spoken recitation accompanied by the 
 orchestra, necessitating on Macfarren's part complete 
 familiarity with the words as well as the music. For, 
 on account of his greatly impaired sight, he was under 
 the necessity of committing the whole to memory, and 
 of conducting from memory; a marvellous feat, but 
 
'■■ANTIGONE" PERFORMANCES. IS3 
 
 not by any means the only feat of memory which has 
 to be recounted concerning him. Mendelssohn was 
 much gratified on hearing of the arrangement, and 
 wrote to Macfarren as follows : — 
 
 " Frankfurt, 8 December, 1844. 
 " Mt deae Sib, 
 
 . . . . . "Have many thanks for the interest you take 
 in bringing out my music to the ' Antigone ' choruses ; I 
 am very glad it is in your hands, because it wants a musi- 
 cian like you to make.it go as intended — quite as a subor- 
 dinate part of the whole, as a mere link in the chain of the 
 poem, and yet perfectly clear and independent in itself." 
 
 Then follow minute directions respecting the cho- 
 ruses, especially the choral recitatives, the action, etc., 
 followed by, " Pray excuse this long analysis ; but you 
 would have it ! " 
 
 Yes, Macfarren " would have it;" he always would 
 have everything accessible that tended towards the 
 thoroughness of performance of any task undertaken 
 by him. No wonder that the enterprise was perfectly 
 successful, and the piece ran thirty nights, only 
 stopping with the termination of the season^ as is 
 recorded by Karl Mendelssohn Bartholdy, son of the 
 great composer, who speaks of Sterndale Bennett and 
 Macfarren as " English artists of congenial mind with 
 ' [his father's] own.^' 
 
 As illustrating Macfarren's presence of mind and 
 promptitude, an incident may be here related which 
 he told to a pupil years afterwards. At one of the 
 performances of the " Antigone," there was a point 
 where the chorus were to walk on to the stage singing. 
 The orchestra were playing their part in front, and the 
 chorus marched in from the back, having begun their 
 
184 "ANTIGONE" PERFORMANCES. 
 
 song oat of time. Macfarren detected what was 
 wrong— shouted to his band behind him, " Cut out 
 half a bar ! " and thus a fiasco was averted, without 
 the audience being aware of its imminence. 
 
 In connection with these performances of "Antigone," 
 there is a charming little letter to that accomplished 
 musician Miss Kate Loder, now Lady Thompson, which, 
 though having no bearing on music, is so charac- 
 teristic at once of Macfarren's affectionate feelings 
 towards his artistic associates, and of his graceful 
 dexterity in delicate expression, that it may be given 
 here ; — 
 
 " Wednesday. 
 "Mt own Thalia's deae Kitty, 
 
 "We shall get a box to-morrow night for • Antigone' 
 in hopes that you will go with Thalia ; and we shall ask 
 my mother to take care of you — please be here at 6. 
 
 " My wife sends her best love ; and as all her love is 
 mine, you may conclude if you please that in hers she 
 sends mine also. 
 
 " Sincerely yours, 
 
 " Gr. A. Macfaeeen." 
 
 Lady Thompson retains a pleasant memory of the 
 occasion, which young enthusiasm for Mendelssohn's 
 music, enjoyed under such auspices, rendered specially 
 delightful. 
 
 In a series of articles upon Mendelssohn's subse- 
 quently composed music to the " Qildipus in Colonos," 
 in the "Musical World,'' January 7th, 1854, and 
 following numbers, Macfarren advances the opinion 
 that : — 
 
 " The element of the Chorus, which, in spite of the 
 advocacy of Schiller, remains to the present appreciation 
 an incongruity in the Greek drama, is here much more 
 essential to the whole than in the tragedy of ' Antigone ; ' 
 
"ANTIGONE" AND " (EDIPUS." 185 
 
 since, besides the several Odes which carry on the progress 
 of the action, eulogizing the state, and moralizing upon 
 such conditions of humanity as the incidents present, this 
 impersonal personality sustains a very considerable por- 
 tion of the dialogue with the principal characters, and 
 thus becomes a party in many of the most impassioned 
 scenes of the play." 
 
 Concerning these two works, Maofarren wrote, in 
 the " Imperial Dictionary of Biography " : — 
 
 " Some English classica.1 scholars ' have violently depre- 
 ciated this remarkable composition ['Antigone'], regarding 
 it from a totally false point of view ; it outlives their un- 
 disceming censure, and, with its companion work, the 
 ' (Edipus in Colonos,' written under the same circumstances 
 in 1845, proves the poetical vigour of Mendelssohn's power 
 of conception in a wholly untrodden field, and his capability 
 of appropriating the resources of bis art to a previously 
 untried subject." 
 
 Referring to the fact that Mendelssohn composed 
 this music, as well as that for " Antigone/' etc., at 
 the command of the King of Prussia, he rejoices both 
 " in the genius that could elicit and so worthily obey 
 such a command," and in " the enlightened liberality 
 of the monarch.'" 
 
 " Prussia proved herself worthy of a great artist by the 
 confidence reposed in Mendelssohn, and the homage paid 
 to his talent. Of what is England worthy ? . . . Possibly 
 we have no Mendelssohn — certainly we have no King of 
 Prussia. ... So long as it is the policy of our government, 
 personally and officially, to furnish themes for the writers 
 of leading articles in newspapers, and inflammatory excite- 
 ment to their readers, while it neglects that most important 
 mediuni of moral discipline, intellectual cultivation — so 
 long wiU politics be the amusement of the people, art their 
 handiwork, their furniture, their hard livelihood in pursuit, 
 and, at best, their paper-hanging in its attainment. So 
 
 ' De Qnincey, etc. 
 
186 "ANTIGONE" AND " CEDIPUS." 
 
 long as the beautiful is but a business, and the stimulant 
 of genius but a shop account of loss and profit, and tha 
 inconsequent example of the great works that have been 
 produced under other auspices, must we bear the stigma 
 the rest of the world has placed upon us, of being an un- 
 musical nation. In Prussia, it is otherwise ; and of that 
 state of things Mendelssohn's ' (Edipus ' is among the 
 results of which we share the advantage." 
 
 Macfarren said in my hearing — " I cannot under- 
 stand politics." Continuing the article^ he says : — 
 
 " The form of the Greek drama affords a novel and a. 
 very wide scope for the exercise of the musician's art; but,, 
 at the same time, the details of its construction fetter him 
 with uncommon and embarrassing difficulties. 
 
 " It was not new in the revival of the tragedies of 
 Sophocles upon the German stage, to blend spoken decla- 
 mation with Lastrumental accompaniment. The biographersi 
 of Mozart describe, as one of his first important dramatic- 
 successes, his music to ' Mithridates,' which consisted 
 entirely of orchestral accompaniments to the dialogue, in 
 the style of recitative ; and this, it seems, was a form of 
 composition much esteemed at that period. The choral 
 responses to the speeches of the characters constitute a new 
 element, in the treatment of which ' Antigone ' has proved 
 the greatness of Mendelssohn's power ; and the present- 
 work, as it contains more of such scenes, and of a more 
 complicated and extensive character, has more severely 
 tested this power, and thus still more successfully estab- 
 lished it. The difficulty of execution presented by the 
 intermixture of speaking and singing, and by the reduc- 
 tion of spoken declamation to the restrictions of musical 
 rhythm, while impeding the realization of the composea"'* 
 effects, detracts nothing from his merit in producing it ; 
 and the feeling of every one who has witnessed the com- 
 petent performance of ' Antigone ' is, that the effect thus 
 attained is of the most powerfully exciting character that 
 the dramatic musical art can attain. 
 
 " The first difficulty, I may say danger, of this class of 
 writing exists in the necessity of reaching the pinnacle 
 
(EDIPUSr 187 
 
 whicli lies between dulness on its more cautious and gradual 
 ascent, and absurdity on the precipitous and sunny side of 
 its declivity, and thus to elevate without exaggerating 
 the dramatic situation. This demands the profoundest 
 artistry, and the highest natural qualifications in the com- 
 poser. The next difficulty or danger belongs to the fasci- 
 nation of continuous action, which impels the embodiment 
 of line after line, phrase after phrase, in fresh ideas ; in 
 which uninterrupted succession, so attractive to the musi- 
 cian, he is liable to abandon that unity which is indispensable 
 to the gratification of the hearer. 
 
 " It is especially to be admired in the work under con- 
 sideration, that in these declamatory scenes, while the 
 expression of the general sentiment and the enunciation of 
 particular words form the chief purport of the musician, 
 and the chief medium of his impression upon an audience, 
 the principles of construction are so ingeniously, and so 
 successfully brought to bear upon the treatment, even of 
 the most impetuous, broken, and seemingly irregular 
 passages, as to render each scene a model of symmetry. 
 Thus we have all the excitement of an unpremeditated 
 passionate impulse, refined and beautified by the agency of 
 artistic design. Such a handling of the subject is especially 
 appropriate in a composition illustrative of a work of Greek 
 art, the elements of which in all its branches of manifesta- 
 tion were artificial, refinement being the necessity, and 
 nature the germ from which her inventions had to be 
 ripened. It is eminently to the purpose that the unities 
 of our own art should be scrupulously maintained, when it 
 is brought into connection with another in which the laws 
 of unity were despotic. 
 
 "We must now consider another department of the work, 
 and the difficulties that beset its treatment — viz., the 
 adaptation of music to the Odes. The obvious purpose of 
 this important feature in the design of the G-reek drama 
 was to afford intervals of repose during the progress of the 
 action, which would else have been too violent and exciting 
 to come within the rule of gradual undulation, which, as 
 the principle of ideal beauty, was imperative in ancient 
 art. . . . Further ; the absence of metaphor is a studied 
 characteristic of the dialogue of the Greek drama; and the 
 
188 " (EDIPUSr 
 
 employment of this graceful figure of rhetoric, and charm- 
 ing poetical medium, was confined to the Odes, which, by 
 contrast no less than bv sympathy, were made to soften 
 while they heightened the effect, and promoted the de- 
 velopment of the action. As, then, the musical treatment 
 of the dialogue is intended to enforce the excitement of the 
 dramatic action, so the musical rendering of the episodes 
 is designed to soften the reliefs of the points of repose with 
 which it is interspersed. Again, as in the accompanied 
 dialogue there is little or no scope for rhythmical regu- 
 larity, so in the Odes we have the contrast of continuous 
 movement and unbroken melody, which is the metaphor 
 of music. The composer's obstacle in treating these has 
 been the enormous number of words, and the necessity of 
 comprising them within such limits as the exigencies of 
 the stage and the impatience, most natural to their situa- 
 tion, of a theatrical audience impose. Each Ode has words 
 enough to form the text of an Oratorio ; and yet the 
 minutes, the seconds, of the duration of each must be 
 counted. The difficulty of constructing rhythmical melodies 
 and symmetrical compositions, without repeating words and 
 recurring to passages, may be easily conceived ; and it is 
 obvious that such repetitions and recurrences would 
 lengthen the music far beyond all practical availability. 
 This difficulty having been mastered completely and suc- 
 cessfully by Mendelssohn betokens the most consummate 
 judgment and the greatest fluency; and a musical interest 
 is produced which eminently fulfils the requirements of the 
 situation." 
 
 The thorough comprehension of the artistic re- 
 quirements — the rationale — of such compositions, here 
 evinced, amply accounts for the successful accomplish- 
 ment by Macfarren of his task in directing the 
 " Antigone " performances, although, from causes 
 beyond his immediate control, there were casualties at 
 first which afforded opportunity for cynical criticism 
 in certain quarters. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Operas, Cantatas, etc. " Don Quixote," 1846 ; " King 
 Chables II.,'' 1849; "The Sleeper Awakened," 
 1850; "Allan OF Aberpeldt," 1851 ; "Quartet in 
 G MINOR," 1852; "Lenora," 1853; "Hamlet Over- 
 ture," 1856 ; " Mat Day," 1857 ; " Christmas," 
 " Robin Hood ; " Entire Failure of Sight, and 
 Commencement op Dictation, 1860; "Preta's Gift," 
 " Jessy Lea," 1863 ; " The Soldier's Legacy," " She 
 Stoops to Conquer," " Helvellyn," 1864 ; " Songs 
 IN A Cornfield," 1868 ; " Outward Bound," 1872 ; 
 "The Lady of the Lake," 1877; " Kentlworth," 
 1880. 
 
 n^HE first inception of Macfarren's opera, "Don 
 -L Quixote," the resumption of its composition, its 
 reconstruction, and its subsequent rejection by Maddox, 
 have been recorded in Chapter III. With respect to 
 the resumption of the composition, with a view to its 
 production under Balfe's management, it was related 
 by Macfarren's intimate friend, Mr. G. A. Osborne, in 
 an entertaining paper of "Musical Coincidences and 
 Reminiscences," read by him at the Musical Associa- 
 tion, April 2nd, 1888, that : — 
 
 " Balfe was always anxious for the establishment of a 
 permanent English Opera in London, and, among other 
 composers, he invite'd the co-operation of Macfarren, the 
 
190 BALFES SCHEME. 
 
 present Principal of the Eoyal Academy of Music. He 
 was anxious to show that British musicians deserved some 
 of the patronage lavished on foreign artists. ' Don Quixote,' 
 by Macfarren, was put in rehearsal; but owing to the 
 theatre being closed for want of funds, it was not produced 
 till five years later. On this subject I will read you a 
 letter from Macfarren : — 
 
 " ' 15, Hanover Cottages. 
 " ' Mt dear Osboenb, 
 
 " ' Let me give you the first intelligence that the attempt 
 to establish the National Opera Company has failed. You 
 will in a few days receive the report of the Committee. 
 " ' Sincerely yours, 
 
 " ' G. A. Macfaeeen.' " 
 
 One of Balfe's biographers, more at length, records 
 that in 1841, engaging 'the English Opera House — 
 now the Lyceum: Theatre — 
 
 "Balfe thought to create a national opera by inviting all 
 the known English opera writers to compose works, and 
 thus to show the pubUc that there were as good musicians 
 among the natives of the country worthy of support as the 
 foreigner, upon whom was lavished all the praise, and who 
 also «btained the greater share of recognition, Barnett, 
 Eooke, Lover, and Macfarren were invited to co-operate. 
 Lover had written a comic operetta called ' Paddy Whack 
 in Italia,' which Balfe produced. Macfarren had been 
 invited by Balfe to compose an opera on the subject of 
 ' Don Quixote.' This was placed in rehearsal, and would have 
 been brought out but for the untimely end of the scheme," 
 
 through the defection of certain members of the 
 company. 
 
 "Pive years later, Balfe, knowing the excellent qualities 
 of the work, recommended it for production at Drury Lane, 
 which recommendation was accepted, and the opera was 
 •performed successfully. , - . 
 
 " Balfe thought when he started his ill-fated venture 
 
"DON QUIXOTE." 191 
 
 that he had the help of enough composers to enable him 
 to continue his scheme. The only one who had foresight 
 and wisdom enough to help and actively to encourage it 
 ■was Greorge Alexander Macfarren. The other composers 
 of the period gave only a half-hearted assistance. The 
 time for the recognition of English art as an actuality was 
 not come." ' 
 
 The work was notj however, to be lost to the musical 
 world. As has been already briefly recorded in Mac- 
 farren's own words (p. 51), the opera was brought out 
 at Drury Lane, under Bunn's management, February 
 3rd, 1846; and " Balfe . . . was present at the first 
 performance " of the " fine opera . . . the theme of 
 which he had suggested." ^ The cast was as follows, 
 Edward J. Loder conducting : — 
 
 Quiteria . . 
 Camacho . . 
 Sancho . . 
 Don Quixote 
 Eovedos . . 
 BasUius . . 
 
 Miss Eainforth. 
 Mr. D. W. King. 
 Mr. Stretton. 
 Mr. W. H. "Weiss. 
 Mr. S. Jones. 
 Mr. Allen. 
 
 The libretto, by the composer's father, was founded 
 on the same " adventure," or episode, as that which 
 furnished the text of Mendelssohn's early opera, " The 
 Marriage of Camacho." Just before its production, 
 Mendelssohn wrote to Macfarren, in 1845 : — " Many 
 good wishes for your opera ; may it succeed and give 
 you and your friends many happy hours in '46, '56, and 
 so on." Indeed, it is stated that Mendelssohn, when 
 in England, once said : " Your best composer is un- 
 
 1 "Balfe; his Life and Work; t>y W. A. Barrett. London. 
 1882." 
 
 2 Ibid., p. 176. 
 
192 "DON QUIXOTE." 
 
 known — Macfarren ; " — not said, however, in any way 
 to imply the ignoring of Sterndale Bennett. 
 
 One of the songs in " Don Quixote " was more or 
 less known several years before the completion and 
 production of the entire opera, viz., " Ah, why do we 
 love ? " which has for long been a favourite in our 
 concert- rooms ; and concerning which the " Musical 
 World " of March 26th, 1840, wrote :— 
 
 " It is one of the most perfect songs of its class we have 
 ever seen. It sparkles all over with freshness and beauty 
 — from the beginning to the end it would be difficult 
 to point out a bar which does not contain some racy 
 piece of thought, or some unlooked-for turn of expres- 
 sion." 
 
 A chorus in the opera, " The rights of hospitality," 
 is in the form of the Spanish dance, the Seguidilla. 
 
 The " Atlas " contained the following summary of 
 the work : — 
 
 • "From Mr. Maefavren's known independence of thought, 
 and inflexible adhesion to his own standard of excellence, 
 it was at once to be predicated that no vision of popularity 
 would tempt him to wilfully indite rubbish for encore's 
 sake, to descend to a maudlin prettiness at the expense of 
 dramatic truth, — in fine, to lend his pen to a single bar not 
 authorized by his judgment. If the public was to have 
 music light, airy, and captivating at first sight, it must 
 spring naturally from the situations of his lihretto — where 
 these led him, thither and nowhere else, would he go. 
 And exactly thus has it proved with his ' Don Quixote.' 
 It has been the experiment of a thoroughly right thinker 
 — novel from seven years' disuse — but, we rejoice to say, it 
 has completely succeeded. The public not only listened 
 attentively, but received with delight the volume of beau- 
 tiful things this opera contains, and the result must have 
 been as gratifying to the composer, as it undoubtedly was 
 to every musician of true and liberal feeling in the theatre. 
 
''DON QUIXOTE." 193 
 
 " Never was success more thoroughly deserved, because 
 never has it been more honestly and artistically achieved. 
 To speak of ' Don Quixote ' as a ' fine opera,' conveys no 
 impression of its peculiar excellences, nor of the almost 
 innumerable points of musicianship by which it is so widely 
 distinguished from the merely, and designedly, popular 
 works of the day. The exquisite unity, consistence, and 
 purity of its style, its perfect dramatic expression, its great 
 development of fresh and unworn thought, its masterly 
 instances of constructive power — of which we may quote, 
 by way of example, the &rst finale, as quite equal in sym- 
 metrical form and continuity of interest to any similar 
 achievement of modem times — and the vigour and musician- 
 like certainty with which all its materials are vitalized in 
 the orchestra, are all matters that substantiate it as the 
 work of a greatly accompHsh%d artist. And this not the 
 less that it makes no pretension to what is ordinarily and 
 vulgarly deemed 'grandeur.' The drama demands pre- 
 cisely that length and breadth of style adopted for it, and no 
 other; and this truthfulness and consistency of musical ren- 
 dering is one of its most notable charms. Not only is this 
 life-like integrity of manner at once apparent on the general 
 aspect of the work, but it even grows brighter and more vivid 
 as we question it in detail. Take, for example, the quaint 
 and admirable conception of Don Quixote's isolated posture 
 among the other characters of the drama — the. enthusiastic 
 dreamer of bygone ages surrounded by the bustling denizens 
 of the living world of fact — how simply and forcibly ex- 
 pressed by assigning to the pseudo-knight a style of music 
 as far separated by its antiquity from that pervading all 
 the other portions of the score, as were the chivalrous pro- 
 vocatives of the Don's madness from the age in which 
 Cervantes made him Hve ! In this general estimation of 
 ibhe opera we may seem to have been speaking very big 
 words about what may, to some, appear a small matter. 
 Nevertheless we have a stout faith in our perfect ability to 
 justify them when we come to discuss ' Don Quixote ' in 
 detail — which, as it may lead us into considerable length, 
 we must defer until next week. Meanwhile we earnestly 
 counsel all music-loving people who have not heard ' Don 
 Quixote ' to hear it ; and those who have heard it we as 
 
 o 
 
194 W. H. W£:iSS. 
 
 strenuously advise to hear it again — ^it vdll improve vfon- 
 derfully -with acquaintance." 
 
 In a touching and appreciative obituary notice of 
 W. H. Weiss, who died, greatly regretted, in 1867, 
 Maofarren, after recounting various operatic parts in 
 which Weiss had distinguished himself, in operas by 
 Balfe, Benedict, etc., continues : — 
 
 " For my own part, I shall not forget the thankful plea- 
 sure I felt in witnessing Weiss's chivalric magniloquence 
 in Don Quixote ; his seamanly roughness, authoritative 
 loyalty, and burly embarrassment in Captain Copp ; nor 
 his jovial impersonation of a thorough old English gentle- 
 man in Squire Hardcastle. -And I shall ever acknowledge 
 that, in these capital assumptions, he gave to my airy 
 nothings truly a local habitation and a name." ' 
 
 The second and third characters referred to are in 
 subsequent operas of Macfarren's. It is pleasant to 
 insert the above, as illustrative of his generous and 
 grateful disposition. 
 
 The published pianoforte score of the opera is 
 inscribed : — 
 
 To the memory of 
 
 Mt Pathbk 
 
 This Opera is dedicated as a 
 
 Tribute of Affection. 
 
 In the year 1859 — thirteen years after the successful 
 production of this opera — the "New York Musical 
 Review and Gazette^' amusingly and patronizingly 
 said : " Mr. Macfarren, an excellent English musician, 
 has written an overture, ' Don Quixote/ We should 
 
 ' " Choir," Nov. 30th, 1867. 
 
''KING CHARLES II." 195 
 
 tiiink the subject rather too much for Mr. Macfarren" ! 
 To which the " Musical World " replied : — 
 
 " Whether the subject be ' too much ' or too little for 
 Mr. Macfarren, our contemporary may, perhaps, not object 
 to be informed that the overture in question is the prelude 
 to an opera of the same name, produced at Drury Lane 
 Theatre ia 1846, and justly regarded as one of the best 
 English dramatic compositions extant." 
 
 Although Maddox rejected "Don Quixote" in 
 1845, yet, such was its success, that Macfarren's next 
 operatic production, "King Charles 11.,^' was brought 
 out by him at the Princess's Theatre, October 27th, 
 1849 ; the work having been composed during Mao- 
 farren's disappointing sojourn -in New York, during 
 the years 1847 and 1848, and sent over to this country, 
 in portions, as it progressed. The libretto was by 
 Desmond Eyan. The success of this opera was un- 
 equivocal : it had a run of the greater part of two 
 seasons. The cast included Miss Louisa Pyne (now 
 Madame Bodda), Madame (now Lady) Macfarren, 
 Madame Weiss, Messrs. W. Harrison, Weiss, and 
 H. Corri. It was the occasion of Madame Macfarren's 
 debut on the stage, she taking the part of the Page ; 
 and her modest intelligence was the subject of favour- 
 able remark. The composer, through infirmity of 
 sight, was not able to conduct the performances ; but 
 this responsible task was ably accomplished by his 
 sympathetic brother-musician, the late Edward James 
 Loder. 
 
 Of " King Charles II." such opinions were expressed 
 as that it was — 
 
 " the best that Mr. Macfarren has written. The melodies 
 
196 "THE SLEEPER AWAKENED." 
 
 are more varied and plentiful, the design of the concerted 
 pieces larger, their development more masterly, and the 
 general tone of the work more dramatic and effective than 
 in his i^revions essays. There is also (as in 'Don Quixote,' 
 but even still more remarkably,) a fine individuality pre- 
 served in each of the separate characters, amidst an evident 
 unity of purpose. The style, moreover, is so decided, that 
 not one of the pieces, long or short, but would, by anyone 
 acquainted with Mr. Macfarren's manner of writing, be at 
 once laid to his account." " In all there were nine encores, 
 more than half the pieces in the opera." " It is the finest 
 and most complete operatic work of a native musician ever 
 produced on the stage." " Mr. Macfarren's greatest, and 
 most simple and unaffected music is comprised in 'K. 
 Charles II.' " " The madrigal, ' Maidens, would ye 'scape 
 undoing,' is worthy of a place beside the finest madrigals 
 of "Wilbye and the other worthies of the Elizabethan age." 
 " As regards the completeness of the work, we do not re- 
 collect anything comparable to it on the English stage for 
 a long time; there is in it no crudeness of style — no 
 vagueness of purpose. You perceive in every passage the 
 mind of the master directing itself to a definite point, and 
 achieving its object with the greatest possible ease." 
 
 The first of a notable series of Cantatas by Mac- 
 farren, " The Sleeper Awakened," termed a Sere- 
 nata, words by John Oxenford, was performed at 
 the National Concerts, Her Majesty^s Theatre, in 
 1850, the parts being sustained by Mr. F. Bodda 
 (Haroon Alraschid) , Mr. Sims Reeves (Abou Hassan) , 
 and Madlle. Angri (Zuleika) . It contains, among 
 other noteworthy numbers, a Canon for three voices, 
 "Good Night"; a Vocal Rondo (Zuleika), "Gone, 
 he's gone"; a Ballet, consisting of (a) Arab War- 
 Dance, (6) Shawl Dance, (c) BaUabile ; a Finale, in- 
 cluding a March, a Vocal Rondo (Zuleika), "The 
 cloud that o'er our peaceful days." Even the "Athe- 
 naeum," at that time not too favourably inclined. 
 
QUARTET i2V G MINOR. 197 
 
 declared that the " Stage Music " was " very cleverly 
 constructed ; " and that, in the Turkish March and 
 Chorus, the local colour " so happily used by Weber 
 in ' Oberon ' is fairly matched in its pure and clear 
 nationality " : adding, however, that there were " some 
 instances of discord which the most defying disciple of 
 Dr. Day's system could hardly defend or recommend, — 
 with such intolerable and gratuitous harshness do 
 they strike the ear." 
 
 The published vocal score is dedicated to Mr. 
 Walter Broadwood. 
 
 Amidst the labours of these large works, more- 
 over, Macfarren found time and energy to write, in 
 1852, a Quartet in G minor for stringed instruments, 
 expressly for the Quartet Association, at whose second 
 concert, in May of that year, it was performed by 
 Messrs. Sainton, Cooper, Hill, and Piatti, and, accord- 
 ing to the " Times," exhibited " throughout the hand 
 of an experienced master." Notwithstanding the 
 number of such works in the department of Chamber 
 Music that emanated from him, however, yet when, 
 years afterwards, I asked him, on behalf of the 
 Musical Artists' Society, to allow some such work to 
 be performed at one of their concerts, he at first 
 hesitated, then said that he would consider which 
 work to send, and ultimately wrote saying that he 
 found that he had nothing that he would like to be 
 played. This was certainly from no ill-will to the 
 Society, of which he was a Vice-President, and in 
 which he evinced considerable interest. 
 
 In 1851, when Drury Lane Theatre was under the 
 management of Bunn, Macfarren wrote for produc- 
 tion there an opera to a libretto by John Oxenford, 
 
198 "ALLAN OF ABERFELDY." " KE NIL WORTH." 
 
 ■which was intended to follow Balfe's " Sicilian Bride." 
 The title was " Allan of Aberfeldy ; " and there were 
 strong parts for tenor, soprano, and contralto, which 
 were to be sung respectively by Mr. Sims Reeves, 
 Miss Rainforth, and Miss Priscilla Horton (now Mrs. 
 German Reed). The opera was on the point of being 
 put in rehearsal, when, from causes not here to be 
 entered into, Bunn became a bankrupt, and the season 
 was brought to an abrupt close. " Allan of Aber-! 
 feldy " never saw the light. 
 
 Another opera which has never been produced is 
 to, an Italian libretto, on the subject of KenUworth, 
 composed many years later, probably in 1880, ex- 
 pressly for the eminent vocalist Madame Albani ; but, 
 from some unavoidable circumstances, it was not pro- 
 duced on the occasion for which it was intended, and 
 never performed, with the exception of the overture, 
 which was played at a concert of the Philharmonic 
 Society in 1887, and supposed by some to be an early 
 work, or else the prelude to an unfinished opera. 
 " Kenil worth " contained a ballet of four contrasted 
 dances, instead of a Scotch masque, originally planned. 
 
 Macfarren's cantata " Lenora,'' a musical setting 
 of Biirger's ballad, the English version by John Oxen- 
 ford, was produced at the sixth concert of the Har- 
 monic Union, Exeter Hall, April 25th, 1853, only 
 having once previously been publicly performed at a 
 concert by the students of the Royal Academy of 
 Music (which I remember), not very well, and, there- 
 fore, with but small success. Though the performance 
 by the Harmonic Union appears to have been by no 
 means efficient, it was so far adequate as to enable a 
 more distinct judgment to be formed of it, and it 
 
"ZENORA." "HAMLET" OVERTURE. 199 
 
 was declared to indic&te "a very high order of 
 dramatic feeling/' The principal solo singers were 
 Miss Louisa PjnOj Madame Maofarren, and Herr 
 Staudigl ; the conductor, Mr. Benedict. The work 
 consists of an orchestral introduction, leading into a 
 contralto recitative, nine other vocal numbers, and a 
 Notturno. 
 
 In 1856, his Overture to " Hamlet " was produced 
 at the New Philharmonic Society's Concert, April 
 23rd. The analysis, presumably by the composer 
 himself, in the programme is as follows : — 
 
 " This Overture was suggested by the following points 
 in the tragedy: — Hamlet's melancholy — aggravated by the 
 frivolities of the court — yielding to his love of OpheHa — 
 his foreboding of the purpose of the ghost's visitation — the 
 ghost's appearance to him — he addresses it — the spirit of 
 the murdered king reveals the secret of his death and 
 exhorts his son to avenge him — -he adjures his companions 
 not to relate what they have seen, and the ghost, invisible, 
 calls upon them to swear — this awful scene is opposed by 
 the revelry of the court — in the midst of this, the ghost's 
 revelation is ever present to Hamlet— it distracts him from 
 his love of Ophelia — the scene with her in the gallery — the 
 play-scene, where his melancholy is disguised under the 
 pretence of riotous gaiety — the scene with the queen in the 
 closet, where, urged by the same intention that prepared 
 him for the ghost's disclosure, he presses upon her the 
 subject of his melancholy — the frivolity of the court agaiu 
 obtrudes itself upon him — he leaves for England, thinking 
 of Ophelia and of the ghost— he returns, remembering- her 
 love, to learn of her madness and her death — this excites 
 him for the present time to action — in the midst of his 
 phrensy he remembers the ghost's exhortation — the cause 
 of his melancholy, which has always made him a passive 
 reflector, is now his motive for desperate action — the last 
 scene, where he dies, knowing the ghost's admonition to be 
 fulfilled." 
 
200 "MAY DAY." ''CHRISTMAS." 
 
 One of the most popular of Macfarren^s works, the 
 cantata " May Day," was brought out at the Bradford 
 Festival, 1857, under the conductorship of Costa, 
 Madame Lemmens- Sherrington being the principal 
 vocalist. In that portion of it termed "The Revels," 
 the old English dance-tune, the " Staines Morris," is 
 introduced, for the Ottavino. The whole work is 
 most exhilarating, and is one of the few works of 
 Macfarren's of which the full score is published (by 
 Novello, Ewer, and Co.). 
 
 In the year 1860, May 9th, the fine cantata, again 
 on a characteristically English subject, " Christmas," 
 was first produced by the Musical Society of London, 
 under the conductorship of Alfred Mellon, the soloists 
 being Mesdames Lemmens- Sherrington and Sainton- 
 Dolby. Having been present on the occasion, I re- 
 member that, with some excellent musicians, the work 
 obtained rather a succes d'estime, though no one could 
 resist the speaking efiect of the beautiful song with 
 chorus concerning King Alfred, or the pretty duet, 
 " Little Children ; " and there has, subsequently, been 
 no backwardness in awarding the whole cantata higli 
 praise. The " Musical World," at the time, declared 
 that " on the whole it may be unhesitatingly stated 
 that no English musician, from the time of Purcell to 
 the present epoch, has written anything in its way 
 more genuine and masterly." 
 
 " Robin Hood " was produced at Her Majesty's 
 Theatre, when under the management of B. T. Smith, 
 October 11th, 1860; the cast including Madame 
 Lemmens-Sherrington, Madame Lemaire, Mr. Sims 
 Reeves, Mr. Santley, Mr. George Honey, Mr. Bartle- 
 man, Mr. J. E. Patey, and Mr. Parkinson; conduc- 
 
"ROBIN HOOD." 201 
 
 tor, Mr. Charles Hall^. The overture was encored. 
 It was declared that " Mr. Macfarren has done his 
 very best : . . . the championship of the English 
 School, until abetter opera than 'Robin Hood' is 
 produced, must remain in possession of its composer." 
 It was pronounced " the greatest work that has been 
 produced for the English musical stage since the days 
 of Purcell." 
 
 Mr. Sims Reeves, in his life of himself, says : 
 " Macfarren composed the principal part in what is 
 now generally recognized as that master's best opera 
 for myself." The "Musical World" recorded that: — 
 
 " As regards Mr. Macfarren's new opera, a greater and 
 more legitimate success than that achieved by the work 
 we never witnessed. The crowd was immense, the excite- 
 ment unusual, and expectation on tiptoe. . . . The cast of 
 the parts presented an unusual attraction in itself. Mr. 
 Sims Reeves . . . was to play the principal character; and 
 Madame Lemmens-Shenington, who has never appeared 
 on the stage at all, was to make her debut. Mr. Santley, 
 too, and Mr. George Honey, from the Royal English Opera, 
 were both included in the cast." 
 
 Among the popular pieces in this opera were the 
 well-known songs, " My own, my guiding star," and 
 " True love." The delivery by Mr. Sims Reeves of 
 " Thy gentle voice would lead me on," " The grasp- 
 ing, rasping Norman race," and the patriotic song, 
 "Englishmen by birth are free," are said to have been 
 " the talk of the town." " The first Act is more or 
 less introductory, the second contains the greenwood 
 revel and the scene at Nottingham fair, and the third 
 the prison scene and the outlaw's pardon." The 
 success was so g^reat that a punster said " it was less 
 
202 FAILURE OF SIGHT. 
 
 Robin Hood than robbin' Harrison," who, with Miss 
 Pyne, was then performing opera at Covent Garden. 
 
 During the composition of this opera, Macfarren's 
 sight so completely failed that he was compelled finally 
 to relinquish the use of the pen, and, thenceforth, to 
 depend wholly on the services of amanuenses, to whom 
 he dictated every note : a very simple statement, and 
 as pathetic as it is simple. But it marks almost a new 
 era, almost a turning-point, as some would think, in 
 his career of mental activity. It was no turning- 
 point, however, with him : he still went right on. An 
 obstacle, a difficulty, was not a stumbling-block to 
 him; not the occasion for giving up, or turning aside; 
 but for the calling into exercise renewed determina- 
 tion, energy, contrivance. Those who have any know- 
 ledge of the process of musical composition, and of the 
 complications of a full- score, for orchestra and voices, 
 will best appreciate the Herculean achievements of 
 Macfarren in producing, subsequently to this period, 
 such a succession of large, elaborate works ; and 
 those who know the lighter effusions of his imagina- 
 tion may well wonder that such freshness should cha- 
 racterize compositions dictated under conditions that 
 would seem so depressing, even paralyzing, to the 
 artistic faculties. But Macfarren seems never, from 
 this time, to have abated "one jot of heart or hope, but 
 steered right onward." Amongthosewho loyallyandin- 
 telligently served him in the capacity of musical amanu- 
 enses, may be mentioned the now well-known professor. 
 Miss Olara A. Macirone ; ' that highly promising young 
 
 ' For an interesting and touching sketch of Macfarren, and his 
 method of working, see an admirable paper, by this excellent 
 musician, in the "Argosy " for January, 1888. 
 
AMANUENSES. " FREYA'S GIFT." 203 
 
 musician (for some time my own pupil), Frederick 
 Barnes, whose early death was so much deplored ; Miss 
 Oliveria Prescott, who assisted her revered professor 
 with an affection only equalled by its efficiency, and 
 Mr. Windeyer Clark, who was acting in this capacity, 
 faithfiilly, during the later years of Macfarren's life. 
 When, later on, Macfarren's duties were, so to speak, 
 threefold, having to do with the University of Cam- 
 bridge, the Royal Academy of Music, and his own 
 productions (or private correspondence), the papers 
 concerning these were separately " pigeon-holed,'' 
 and, colloquially if not by inscription, playfully labelled 
 respectively, " Cam.," "R. A. M.," and " G. A. M.;" 
 and he would say to young Barnes, on his entry, 
 " Well, I think we will take ' C. A. M.' (or whichever 
 budget he selected) this morning." 
 
 " Robin Hood " was reproduced by Pyne and Har- 
 rison at Covent Garden in 1861, with Madame 
 Gaerrabella, Messrs. Henry Haigh, Santley, Patey, 
 George Honey, in the cast, and Mellon as conductor. 
 The opera was revived in the year 1889 at the Prin- 
 cess's Theatre, under the management of Mr. Turner. 
 
 " Freya's Gift, an Allegorical Masque, in honour of 
 the marriage of His Royal Highness the Prince of 
 Wales," was composed by Macfarren, and performed 
 at the Royal English Opera, Covent Garden, March 
 10th, 1863 ; the words being by John Oxenford. 
 After a short introduction, a Chorus in B flat, " By a 
 heavy mist is the land oppress'd," is sung behind the 
 scenes. This is immediately followed by an entire 
 change of key, the " catch phrase," if it may be so 
 termed, of the termination of the chorus forming the 
 opening of a 8eena in E major, " Preya the harbinger 
 
204 "SHE STOOPS TO CONQUEB," ETC. 
 
 of bliss is here." After a ballad, " When those you 
 love/' Revels follow : chorus, " Arouse thee, merrie 
 England " ; Hymn— (Danish National Tune) " With 
 shouts of welcome " — Freya interpolating our national 
 anthem, and the two melodies being afterwards 
 brought together. 
 
 In this same year, Mr. and Mrs. German Reed started 
 a series of performances under the designation of 
 " Opera di Camera ; " and for these, Macfarren, being 
 commissioned to write, supplied a charming little work, 
 " Jessy Lea,'' which was produced in October, and in 
 which Miss Edith Wynne made her first appearance 
 on the lyric stage. So decided was the success of this 
 operetta that another was commissioned for the follow- 
 ing year; and " The Soldier's Legacy," libretto by John 
 Oxenford, was the result. The scheme does not appear 
 to have proved a success, notwithstanding the merit 
 and favourable reception of these, and works by other 
 composers written for the purpose. 
 
 In the year 1863, during the management of the 
 Royal English Opera at Covent Garden by Pyne and 
 Harrison, Macfarren was commissioned by them to 
 compose an opera ; and the work produced, February 
 11th, 1864, was "She Stoops to Conquer," the libretto 
 being furnished by Edward Fitzball. The conductor 
 was Alfred Mellon ; the cast included the two lessees, 
 Weiss, Corri, and George Perren. This opera, which 
 contains, according to competent judgment, some of 
 Macfarren's most tuneful music, was very successful. 
 As Harrison's vocal powers were, by that time, on the 
 wane, but his acting powers had greatly improved, the 
 principal singing part was assigned to Perren (as 
 Hastings), and the acting part to Harrison (as Mar- 
 
"HELV£:LLYN." ''THE LADY OF THE LAKE." 205 
 
 low) J with little sustained music, and that rarely going 
 above D ; but this part he represented admirably. 
 
 Later, in 1864, when Covent Garden Theatre was 
 in the hands of the English Opera Company, in suc- 
 cession to Pyne and Harrison, a grand opera of Mac- 
 farren's, in four acts, " Helvellyn," was produced, the 
 libretto being by his almost constant collaborator, John 
 Oxenford. The cast included Mesdames Lemmens- 
 Sherrington and Parepa, Messrs. Henry Haigh and 
 Alberto Lawrence, etc. A very fine orchestra was led 
 by Mr. Oarrodus, and conducted by Alfred Mellon. The 
 introductory prelude was termed an " Illustrated Over- 
 ture," the chorus singing behind the scenes, during 
 its continuance, a maledictory theme, recurring in the 
 opera, " Curse on the head that the evil planned." 
 An important feature was to have been the lime- 
 lighted tableau shown in the course of this overture, 
 illustrating the progress of the story. This, for 
 reasons of economy and convenience, was, however, 
 abandoned for a drop-scene, which had in its centre a 
 scenic representation of the murder by fire referred 
 to in the malediction. This opera ran about eighteen 
 or twenty nights. 
 
 The next work of the series that we are iiow con- 
 sidering is "The Lady of the Lake," concerning which 
 Macfarren himself, in the programme of the Glasgow 
 Choral Union, wrote : — 
 
 " The cantata of ' The Lady of the Lake ' was composed, 
 at the request of the Glasgow Musical restival Executive 
 Committee, expressly for performance at the opening of 
 the New Halls in Glasgow. The commission was proposed 
 at the beginning of 1874 ; much time was spent in the selec- 
 tion of the subject, more in the adaptation of the poem to 
 lyrical purposes, and the composition was completed in 
 
206 MACFARREN'S INDUSTRY. 
 
 Januaxy, 1876, timely for the proposed Festival of that 
 year. 
 
 " Oct., 1877. " G. A. Maofareen." 
 
 The adaptation of the text was the work of Natalia 
 Macfarren ; and the published vocal score is " dedi- 
 cated in friendly remembrance to Thomas Logai* 
 Stillie," at whose suggestion the work was under- 
 taken. 
 
 On the production of this cantata, a critic wrote : — 
 
 " The amotmt of work which Dr. Macfarren has got 
 through lately is sim^ply am.azing. Three oratorios and a 
 cantata, in four years, would not have been thought much 
 of in Handel's time, when the old Halle master could 
 manufacture a grand oratorio in less than a month, and 
 never seemed so happy as when composing— inventing or 
 borrowing his materials as the occasion demanded. But 
 the scores of Handel's oratorios are in a very skeleton con- 
 dition ; and even if we were to accept as a fact that in 
 three weeks or a month the old musician could have filled 
 in the score completely, we have to confront the altered state 
 of the orchestra since then, with the immense importance 
 that now attaches to instrumentation. It is double diffi- 
 culty, as well as double labour, when every single note has 
 to be dictated — not written in manu propria, — it will be 
 easily seen how the progress of composition is retarded. 
 Hence we consider that, in having brought out three 
 oratorios and a cantata in four years, at the same time 
 attending to his manifold duties in Tenterden Street and 
 at Cambridge University, Dr. Macfarren has achieved a 
 notable feat. Another thing to take into consideration, if 
 excusing circumstances are needed, is, that Dr. Macfarren 
 is now working hard at an age when most men consider 
 themselves entitled to retire from worldly labours, and 
 enjoy in seclusion the short span which mortality permits 
 them upon this sublunary sphere. Tour true artist, how- 
 ever, never grows old and never wearies of his task ; and 
 never was there truer artist than Greorge Alexander Macr 
 farren." 
 
''SONGS IN A CORNFIELD," ETC. 207 
 
 This extract, thougli appropriately introduced 
 here, anticipates certain events to be subsequently 
 chronicled. 
 
 A little cantata for female voices, with pianoforte 
 accompaniment, " Songs in a Cornfield," the words 
 by Christina Roasetti, performed for the first time 
 in 1868, by Mr. Henry Leslie's Choir; and a cantata, 
 " Outward Bound," the words by John Oxenford, 
 composed for, and performed at the Norwich Festival, 
 1872, are, with one addition to be mentioned later 
 on, the only works remaining to complete this enume- 
 ration of Macfarren's works of this class — operas 
 and cantatas — besides those specified in a previous 
 chapter. The larger cantatas are characterized, as 
 much as the operas, by the dramatic element, and 
 the local colour associated therewith. 
 
 It is worthy of record that Macfarren, in a biogra- 
 phical notice of John Barnett, gave his opinion with 
 characteristic generosity and non-jealousy, that " The 
 Mountain Sylph," by that composer, " opened a new 
 era for music in this country " — doubtless meaning, 
 specially, dramatic music. This clever musician has 
 died while these pages have been passing through 
 the press. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 Macfareen's Critical Opinions. Aeticles on Men- 
 delssohn, MozAET, Beethoven's Symphonies, " Ruins 
 of Athens," " Fidelio," and " Mass in D." Re- 
 MAEKS ON Pedal-points. Opinions conceenino 
 Haydn, Chopin, Cheeubini, Aubee. Airs with 
 Vaeiations. 1849 — 1854, etc. 
 
 DURING the whole of the long period of his pro- 
 ductivity as a composer, Macfarren was keenly 
 observant, and, it may truly be added, constantly 
 studious of all that was passing in the domain of music, 
 and of the tendencies of thought and feeling therein ; 
 staunchly conservative of all sound principles ; eagerly 
 receptive of all that was new and good. He was 
 "ever learning;" but, unlike those who were re- 
 proached for their lack of earnestness, was always 
 " coming to the knowledge of the truth," — more 
 truth, — expanding his grasp of the past and present 
 of the beautiful art which absorbed his attention; 
 and being possessed of unquestionable literary ability — 
 although his diction was sometimes involved, and, as 
 some would judge, disfigured by certain peculiarities 
 of form and expression — ^he gave forth the results of 
 his thinking and learning, from time to time, in 
 lectures and papers, of great interest, on music and 
 
ARTICLES ON MENDELSSOHN. 209 
 
 musical matters from some of which copious extracts 
 have already been made. Notwithstanding the in- 
 volvement to which reference has been made, there 
 was such unmistakable decision of opinion, the out- 
 come of such clearly reasoned thought and thorough- 
 ness of investigation, that even those who were not 
 able to coincide with all his conclusions and pronounce- 
 ments were unable to entirely evade their force. He 
 was felt to be a power in our midst, doing much to- 
 wards the shaping and directing of critical thought 
 concerning music, especially among the rising genera- 
 tion of musical students ; this thought being, as may 
 reasonably be concluded, not a little tinctured by his 
 special theoretical views. 
 
 In January, 1849, when the whole musical world 
 were still mourning the irreparable loss they had 
 sustained by the death of Mendelssohn in November, 
 1847, a series of articles on that great composer, from 
 Macfarren's pen, appeared in the " Musical World." 
 The opening sentence of the first article, January 20th, 
 somewhat involved, it must be confessed, or, at all 
 events, long-drawn, may be given entire : — 
 
 "Felix Mendelssohn Babtholdt may justly be re- 
 garded as one of those very few among mankind whose 
 genius at once separates them from, by its exalting them 
 above the world around them, and unites them to, by its 
 sympathizing with, that world which it extends from the 
 limited circle of private personal knowledge to the bound- 
 less inclusion of all educated men, in all places and in all 
 time ; as one of those men, whose intellectual superiority, 
 while it distinguishes them from the narrow sphere of 
 their own social connections, identifies them with that 
 broad universe of all human intelligence which ever and 
 evervwhere acknowledges the impersonal presence of a 
 master mind, in the infiuence it produces." 
 
 p 
 
210 MENDELSSOHN'S ORIGINALITY. 
 
 After alluding to the then recent death of the great 
 Master, he proceeds : — 
 
 "We own in him the true associate of Bach, Handel, 
 Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. His claims to this 
 eminence lie in the purely classical character of all his 
 "writing, by which is to be understood not merely cold 
 correctness, but irresistible beauty in the highest style of 
 musical expression ; and in the striking originality that so 
 obviously manifests itself in all his works as to give them 
 an individuality which, it is not too much to say, is not to 
 be found in the music of any of the great composers with 
 whose names he is here classed, and which, devoid of 
 mannerism, can hardly be attributed to the collected 
 vrorks of any other musician." 
 
 This dictum is somewhat startling, especially in 
 these later days when it is the fashion to decry Men- 
 delssohn ; and, moreover, considering that even those 
 who entertain the highest estimation of his works 
 hardly care to deny that the individuality is not 
 wholly unmarked by mannerism. -Macfarren admits 
 that— • 
 
 ^'this assertion is so strong, and includes so much be- 
 yond the immediate subject of the present remarks, that 
 it may require some explanation to justify it ; and as this 
 individuality forms a most important characteristic of 
 Mendelssohn's genius, it may not be superfluous to enter 
 somewhat at length into its discussion. Let it, then, be 
 first understood what is here meant by originality in music. 
 This will be best proved by a negative: namely, that a 
 composer is by no means to be charged with a want of 
 ■originality who may have written a phrase that is more or 
 less like, or even identical with, some phrase that has been 
 written by another. Of such accidental coincidences ex- 
 amples are innumerable in the works of the most esteemed 
 masters." 
 
STYLE AND ORIGINALITY. 211 
 
 Many examples are adduced from various com- 
 posers. 
 
 " Style may be said to consist rather in general charac- 
 teristics than in particular ideas; in a composer's habits 
 of thought, and the forms of construction and elaboration 
 in which such thought is developed, than in any pecuUar, 
 perhaps exceptional, passage. It is the unlikeness of the 
 style of an author to any archetype that constitutes his 
 originality, and not the resemblance of any one or more of 
 his phrases, however originally treated, to some phrase 
 previously known, that constitutes his want of it. There 
 may not exist a parallel passage in the works of two 
 authors ; and yet what is seen to constitute the style of 
 both may be so similar as to deprive him who wrote second 
 of a claim to originality, at least to such originality as will 
 distinguish his music from all that preceded it. Thus we 
 find the colossal masses of elaboration, in which the genius 
 of Bach declares itself to the wondering student of the pre- 
 sent day, are composed in the form, and made up of the 
 passages which were conventional in his time. The same 
 thing is noticeable in the works of Handel. ... In Haydn, 
 again, we find the phraseology of his age . . . by degrees 
 he modified his form, until in his later quartets and sym- 
 phonies he produced what the adoption of all his great, 
 successors, and the opinion of all the world, prove to be 
 the perfect model of instrumental composition, which, as 
 there wiU always be the example, not only of his own 
 orchestral and chamber works, but also of those no less 
 imperishable of Mozart, Beethoven, Spohr, and Men- 
 delssohn, cannot but remain, like the division into five acts, 
 and the other accepted rules of construction in dramatic 
 poetrv, the approved form and classical model of iastrn- 
 mentai music. Mozart, vrith all his excelling beauty, 
 walked but in the footsteps of Haydn ; he may indeed be 
 said to have overtaken his illustrious friend, who was both 
 his predecessor and his follower; for though Haydn 
 founded the form of instrumental composition that is now 
 universally recognized as the classical, and so set Mozart 
 the great' example, he himseK wrote all his best works 
 
212 ORIGINALITY IN MUSIC. 
 
 after Mozart had shown him of what extreme beauty that 
 form was capable. . . . Beethoven ... so completely 
 adopted the style of Mozart, that his compositions for the 
 first third of his career may be mistaken for productions of 
 that great original. ... In what critics designate the 
 second and third periods of the expansion of Beethoven's 
 genius, there is a striking breaking away from this style 
 of his predecessors and of his early self. . . . After enlarg- 
 ing so much upon the want of originality, in a certain 
 sense, of these great masters — a proposition offered, how- 
 ever, with the most enthusiastic admiration for the genius 
 of each, and the most unqualified delight in the creations 
 of all — it is necessary, for the entire explanation of what 
 is meant by the rare characteristic here attributed to Men- 
 delssohn, to adduce some instances of musical composers 
 that have also possessed it. Before all, then, must be 
 mentioned Purcell, who, as being the first to break through 
 the purely scholastic trammels of the ancient diatonic 
 school, to enter upon the exhaustless field of the beautiful 
 that lies open to the modern musician in the inexhaustible 
 resources of chromatic harmony, and as the first to apply 
 musical sounds to the poetical expression of words, and to 
 the delineation of the wildest and the gentlest of the 
 passions, is to be considered the most truly original com- 
 poser the world has known. It must be granted, indeed, 
 that his speculations, as they must be esteemed, in the- 
 previously unattempted combinations of chromatic har- 
 mony, are occasionally failures, producing effects equally 
 harsh, unsatisfactory, and inexplicable ; and that his ex- 
 pression sometimes degenerates into word-painting; but 
 with all the experience that has intervened, the same things 
 are to be remarked in the most approved writers that have 
 rucceeded him ; and that his genius was not always at its 
 happiest, detracts not from the infinite honour that is due 
 to him for the many exquisite beauties he has left us, and 
 for the incalculable services he rendered to his art by the 
 new direction he gave to its cultivation. Let us next in- 
 stance Weber, whose peculiarity of phraseology, singular 
 application of certain harmonies, and novel conduct of his 
 dramatic pieces, decidedly constitute a style— one that 
 cannot be imitated (since all who have attempted its 
 
MENDELSSOHN'S CHARACTERISTICS. 213 
 
 adoption have fallen into the most vapid musical bathos), 
 and one that was in no respect anticipated. Most fasci- 
 nating has proved this Weberish style, no less to the 
 public than to the host of composers who have failed in 
 the attempt to write in it ; but, in spite of its irresistible 
 charms, an investigation of all its peculiarities could lead 
 only to the conclusion, that however teeming with origi- 
 nality, it is greatly wanting in what may purely be termed 
 classicality. 
 
 " This long digression is important to the subject, inso- 
 much as it goes to explain the application of a term which 
 is meant to convey the chief idea of Mendelssohn's ex- 
 cellence, and as it may serve to illustrate the position that 
 this composer takes in relation to those who have pre- 
 ceded him." 
 
 The interest of these remarks fully condones the 
 length of the " digression." But the writer proceeds 
 to expatiate upon the originality of Mendelssohn, as 
 evinced (a) in his phraseology ; (6) his " frequent in- 
 troduction of the combinations, or, more particularly, 
 the progressions, of Bach and his era, as the basis and 
 accompaniment of his own original phraseology, or of 
 less individual modern passages" — which characteristic 
 might by some be thought rather to resemble the 
 use made of existing idioms attributed to other writers 
 in the earlier part of the paper ; and (c) — 
 
 " More striking in itself, and far more important to the 
 art, is his resolution of certain chromatic discords upon a 
 principle occasionally hinted at in the middle and later 
 works of Beethoven, but never carried to such an extent 
 as it is by Mendelssohn in his earlier works ; such, for 
 instance, as the chord of the minor ninth on the tonic to 
 the chord of the seventh on the dominant, with the pro- 
 gressions of the intervals of the seventh and ninth of the 
 first chord to the third and fifth of the second, and many 
 others which it would be here tedious to describe. There 
 
214 MENDELSSOHN'S CHARACTERISTICS. 
 
 is the more merit in these innovations — discoveries they 
 would be better named — on account of their being in 
 direct violation of all pre-existing rules of harmony ; and 
 they evince the greatness of his genius as a philosopher 
 no less than as a musician, by showing him capable of 
 penetrating, through the obscurity and prejudice of the 
 schools, to the truth of nature, and by his most successful 
 practice to lay the foundation of a theory, which in intelli- 
 gence, in usefulness, in comprehension, and in what con- 
 stitutes true philosophy, surpasses all that had ever before 
 been advanced in musical and (so far as connected with 
 music) acoustical science — a theory which translates the 
 province of music from art to nature, and so dignifies its 
 investigation, in the scale of human study and research, 
 from the learning by rote of the arbitrary trammels of by- 
 gone times and schools, to the examination and compre- 
 hension of a subject, the principles of which are as deeply 
 rooted as those of perspective or light itself." 
 
 It need hardly be said that Macfarren has here 
 seized an opportunity to vaunt the "Day theory." 
 Mendelssohn's " great originality of construction " is 
 the next characteristic dealt with, which — 
 
 " while he preserves the general outline, or certainly its 
 chief features, to which . . . allusion has already been 
 made, manifests itself in the novelty of detail, with which 
 this classical outline is filled up." 
 
 The originality of his scherzi, of his poetical over- 
 tures, of his oratorios, "in the generally more 
 dramatic character they possess than the previous 
 works of that class/' etc., are then enlarged upon. 
 Also, the condensation of the conventional form, in his 
 Concertos. And the "Midsummer Night's Dream" 
 overture is characterized as "an example of originality " 
 which " must always be a perfect marvel of the human 
 mind." 
 
MENDELSSOHN'S ORIGINALITY. 215 
 
 " A careful examination of all its features, and a com- 
 parison of them with all that had previously existed ia the 
 writings of other composers, must establish the conviction 
 that there is more that is new in this one work than in 
 any other one that has ever been produced." 
 
 This is dilated upon, with reference to — 
 
 "idea, character, phrase, harmony, construction, instru- 
 mentation, and every particular of outline and detail for 
 which his style is remarkable." 
 
 It is well to remember that these opinions were 
 formed when the novelty and originality were truly 
 fresh, before the style had become familiar, and before 
 that familiarity had induced depreciation by shallow 
 critics. Mendelssohn's works are afterwards grouped 
 and characterized ; and, in conclusion, it is admitted 
 that — 
 
 " his melodies are often more fragmentary than con- 
 tinuous — that his compositions abound more in detached, 
 though beautiful, phrases, than in streaming, unbroken, 
 and unquestionable tune ; and it is no less true that he is 
 g'eneraUy less successful in the composition of slow move- 
 ments than in those of a more exciting and animated 
 character ; but, true as are both these propositions, there 
 are so many brilliant exceptions to each as to make it a 
 matter of question with his enthusiastic admirers whether 
 the peculiarities referred to, were not points of design 
 with him, rather than evidence of inability to avoid 
 them." 
 
 I remember that when the Purcell Society was 
 formed, for the purpose of issuing a complete edition 
 of that master's works, Macfarren said to me, " You 
 must expect to find in them many things quite op- 
 posed to all our present views of harmony." 
 
 Macfarren was no mere impressionist : the verdicts 
 
216 ARTICLES ON MENDELSSOHN. 
 
 that he pronounced were opinions thought out, and 
 the result of conviction. It was no Mendelssohn 
 "fever," such as was epidemic in musical circles 
 during the few years succeeding the great man's 
 death, that prompted him to write as he did in this 
 article, and in others later on. In 1851, December 
 6th, he wrote an interesting review of Mendelssohn's 
 pianoforte duet, "Allegro Brillante." In the 
 "Musical World,'' August 28th, 1852, he wrote a 
 highly appreciative article on the then just published 
 fragment of " Lorely," Mendelssohn's projected opera. 
 In the same periodical, October 23rd of the same 
 year, he also wrote on the fragments from " Christus." 
 His analysis, October 9th, of the " Italian Symphony " 
 has already been referred to (page 81). In January, 
 1853, appeared in the same periodical an earnest 
 appeal, signed by him, to the trustees of Mendelssohn's 
 unpublished works, urging their immediate publica- 
 tion. On April 30th appeared an analysis of Men- 
 delssohn's posthumous Quartet in F minor: enthu- 
 siastic, but reasoned out. In that same periodical, 
 in January, 1854, as has been already recorded in 
 Chapter VIII., he wrote elaborately on the music to 
 " (Edipus in Oolonos " ; and, again, a brief review of 
 one book of the " Songs without Words," December 
 16th of the same year. A much later article on Men- 
 delssohn's Prelude and Fugue in F minor will be noticed 
 in another connection. An analysis of " St, Paul " 
 proceeded from Macfarren's pen, and appeared in the 
 "Musical World," July 30th and following numbers ; 
 and, in the "Musical Times," January, 1873, an 
 article entitled " St. Paul at St. Paul's," to which, 
 also, reference will be made later on. 
 
MACFARREN'S OPINIONS. 217 
 
 The eflfect upon many of the glitter, or highly- 
 wrought effectiveness — shall the term " many-noted- 
 ness " be used ? — and the more varied harmonies and 
 demonstrativeness of a certain kind — one must avoid 
 the term " sensationalism " — of modern music, espe- 
 cially from Mendelssohn till the present time, ex- 
 pressing as it does that indefinable sentiment which 
 goes by the name of "the spirit of the age," is to 
 cast into the shade, as puerile, effete, " periwiggish," 
 the works of the older masters, such as Haydn and 
 Mozart. There was, during the early years of Mac- 
 farren's career, a Spohr "craze" among the younger 
 musicians, which, in its turn, made way for a Men- 
 delssohn craze ; which, again, gave place to a Schu- 
 mann craze; and so on. Young musicians cannot 
 resist the fascinations of novelty ; nor need they, if 
 they will only separate accidents from essentials, and 
 recognize the true and beautiful in its old as well as 
 in its newer garb. But this requires balance of mind, 
 thoughtful discrimination, possessed by few in the 
 student-stage of their career. Even Macfarren, while 
 under Cipriani Potter's care, said to him, " Don't 
 you think. Sir, that Mozart is sometimes a little 
 puerile ? " But then he had that discriminating 
 balance of mind which soon righted himj and, as 
 time went on, his practical recantation was entire, 
 and, in his later days particularly, he never tired of 
 expatiating upon Mozart's greatness. But it was not 
 only in his later days ; in the very same year, 1849, 
 in which the enthusiastic articles upon his friend 
 Mendelssohn appeared, he also wrote, during the 
 month of February, a series of articles upon Mozart 
 and his works. It may be opportune and interesting 
 
218 MOZART'S CONCERTOS. 
 
 ta quote the following remarks concerning certain 
 neglected masterpieces : — 
 
 " To Mozart's Concertos for the pianoforte too higli praise 
 cannot be awarded. They were an immense advance upon 
 all that had been written or were written about the same 
 period; and the best of them, for they are very numerous, 
 and of various degrees of merit, rank with the noblest 
 works of the class that have been since produced. . . . 
 The Concerto in D minor of Mozart, and that in C major, 
 have never been surpassed for symmetry of design and 
 beauty of phraseology ; they abound also in most effective 
 combinations of the orchestra with the principal instru- 
 ment ; but this merit, it must be admitted, has been greatly 
 extended in some more recent compositions of the same 
 class, since the resources of the orchestra, from the increased 
 excellence of the performers, have been more at the com- 
 mand of the composer ; still, though less frequent, Mozart's 
 mixture of the pianoforte with the orchestra is, in many 
 instances, in these concertos, not less beautiful and in- 
 genious than the happiest results of modern research. 
 • " The pianist must, however, bear in mind one curious, it 
 may be justly said unfortunate, evidence of the custom of 
 the time in which they were written,; viz., that the piano- 
 forte part, as handed down to us, presents a mere skeleton 
 of the composer's intentions, to be filled up throughout, 
 according to the discretion and ability of the performer, 
 leaving to him the opportunity of the cadence for the 
 greatest display of his inventive ingenuity and executive 
 agihty. Unhappily for the worthy rendering of these 
 great works before a modern audience, some excellent 
 players of our time have little discretion, and some less 
 ability, to dilate upon and embody the outline which such 
 music presents ; it must, therefore, be always matter of 
 regret in reference to these works — as to the songs and 
 choruses of Handel and his contemporaries, of which the 
 organ or cembalo part was always left to the improvisation 
 of the accompanist — that the author did not make a de- 
 finite record of the effects and passages he intended. Cer- 
 tainly, when Mozart himself played these concertos, it 
 
CONCERTO FORM. "IDOMENEO:' 219 
 
 must have been a matter of great interest to compare the 
 different readings of the same work which he would give 
 at different performances." ' 
 
 Macfarren might well have included the minor 
 Concerto of Mozart in his special mention. Would 
 that, by any means, the attention of pianists might 
 be drawn to all these beautiful works ! 
 
 He remarked to me once how much he disliked 
 the conventional "cut" of a concerto on, for instance, 
 the plan of Hummel, who was Mozart's pupil; in 
 which, at certain understood places, one always felt 
 inclined to say, " Now for the Solo ! " The feeling 
 is one which all who have listened to many composi- 
 tions of that class and period will readily recognize. 
 Those who have watched the progress of matters are 
 aware that this form has become pretty well obsolete ; 
 especially since Mendelssohn compressed the concerto 
 first-movement. Concertos of the old type — three solos 
 in the first movement, with introductory and inter- 
 vening tuttis — are not now written. Weber, however, 
 seems to have initiated the reform by his " Concert- 
 Stiick." 
 
 Of " Idomeneo," Macfarren remarks : — 
 
 " This Opera is interesting in the history of the art as 
 being the earliest example of what may be esteemed the 
 modern school of instrumentation, distinguished from that 
 which preceded it by the general difference in the relative 
 treatment of the wind and stringed instruments — employ- 
 ing the former, not merely to contrast or to strengthen the 
 latter, but to relieve, and colour, and qualify their effect, 
 by occasionally sustaining the harmony while they move 
 
 ' Mozart never played these concertos twice alike. This fact I 
 had, and so had Macifarren, from our teacher, Cipriani Potter, on 
 the authority of Attwood, who was Mozart's pupil. — H. C: B. 
 
220 MOZARTS OPERAS, ETC. 
 
 in some figure or passage, and to produce all the varieties 
 which they who are accustomed' to hear and analyze or- 
 chestral combinations will understand better from their 
 own recollection than from any verbal description, and 
 which they who are not so accustomed will not be likely 
 to understand from any description whatever. 
 
 " It must be granted that similar effects of orchestration 
 are to be occasionally found in the works of earlier masters 
 — as in the chorus, ' He sent a thick darkness,' in Han- 
 del's ' Israel in Egypt ; ' in the second part of the song, 
 'Eevenge, Timotheus cries,' in the 'Alexander's Feast' of 
 the same composer ; in the chorus of Furies with Orestes 
 in prison, and in the grand declamatory scene in which 
 Orestes adjures Py lades to leave him to the sacrifice, in 
 the ' Iphigenie en Tauride ' of Grluck ; and in many other 
 isolated instances which it would be superfluous here to 
 adduce. Enough has been cited to prove that Mozart did 
 not originate what everyone must allow he systematized 
 and brought to a perfection, which, however it may be 
 varied, all the ingenuity and research of modern times 
 cannot surpass." 
 
 After remarks upon "Die Entfiihrung aus dam 
 Serail " and " Le N"ozze di Figaro/' there follows a 
 lengthy analysis of " Don Giovanni," " the opera which 
 is received by all the world as the greatest production 
 of the lyric stage, the work which gives the brightest 
 lustre to its author's crown of glory." " Cosi fan 
 Tutte," "La Clemenza di Tito,'' and "Die Zauber- 
 flote " are passed in rapid review ; and " the chief cha- 
 racteristics of Mozart's style " are thus enumerated : — 
 
 " First, his frequent peculiarity of rhythm, a trait more 
 observable in his music than in that of any other com- 
 poser, and which makes his metre — often unusual, though 
 always quite regular — unquestionably his own ; ^ second, 
 the particular form of his melodic phrases, and the infinite 
 
 ' See, however, the closing remarks of Chapter IV. 
 
ENTHUSIASM FOR MOZART. 221 
 
 continuousness of his melodies ; third, his familiar fluency 
 in all the resources of contrapuntal contrivance ; fourth, 
 his wonderful symmetry and perfection of construction, 
 which, cultivated in his instrumental works, has had the 
 most valuable and manifest influence upon his vocal com- 
 positions, even in situations where the dramatic action 
 would have seduced other composers into the fantasia style 
 of writing, and which makes every movement he has 
 written a model for the musical student; and, last, the 
 wonderful truthfulness of his dramatic delineations." 
 
 The conclusion which Macfarren thinks justified by 
 the summ.ary is " that the greatest musician who has 
 delighted and enriched the world is Wolfgang 
 Amadeus Mozaet." 
 
 Concerning this enthusiasm for Mozart, one of his 
 esteemed amanuenses writes : — 
 
 " Mozart was his idol in a musical way. Some friend 
 sent him a postcard, begging him to say whether of the 
 two, Mozart or Beethoven, he thought the greater com- 
 poser. 'Mozart,' he wrote, without the slightest hesitation 
 
 saying afterwards to me : ' Beethoven was sometimes 
 
 weak, Mozart never.' Ton know how chary he was of 
 admitting a doubtful passage to be good, hecauge so and so 
 wrote it. Bach, Handel, all were admitted to be human 
 and liable to error— or, perhaps it was ' the strong feeling 
 for the individual parts, in the older writers, made them 
 overlook the ill efEect of the combination ; ' perhaps it was 
 ' we love his music, notwithstanding the ill effect of some 
 passages, but that does not make us like what is not good.' 
 ' Follow his good example, but not his bad.' But when 
 Mozart was in question it was another thing. I remember 
 a pair of 4ths from the bass in a symphony coming to 
 notice. ' I have always bid you guard against the ill effect of 
 such, but when I come across it here, I frankly must confess 
 I like it — Mozart must have known how to introduce it.' 
 The rugged nature would bend before no man but Mozart, 
 and to him he gave implicit trust." 
 
222 MACFARREN ON BEETHOVEN. 
 
 But let no one think that this high estimation of 
 Mozart implied any depreciation of other composers. 
 Although he admitted that "Beethoven was some- 
 times weak " — and who shall gainsay it ? — although, 
 perhaps, it will not be so general to add, " Mozart — 
 never ! " — yet no one could hold Beethoven in higher 
 absolute estimation than Macfarren, though the com- 
 parative estimate might be questioned ; especially by 
 the less thoughtful, who do not consider the historical 
 or chronological bearings of the matter, and the in- 
 debtedness of the later to the earlier composer, as 
 affecting the question of originality. In the analytical 
 programme of the Philharmonic Society's Concert, 
 July 11th, 1870, "in honour of" the centenary of 
 Beethoven's birth, Macfarren wrote : — 
 
 " Who shall say how much of the vast changes in the 
 inward constitution and outward acceptance of musical art, 
 which have been wrought within this period [of a hundred 
 years] , are due to the creations and influence of his won- 
 derful genius ! " 
 
 And, in the comments upon the first Symphony, 
 with which the concert opened, he wrote : — 
 
 " The present work shows the composer still under the 
 influence of Mozart, who was nine years dead, and of 
 Haydn, who was living and writing; but he was influenced 
 as a plant is by the sunshine, to display its own virtues 
 rather than to mirror the light which quickens them. His 
 strength was his own, the example of those two earlier 
 maturities was its nourishment. The style is masterly in 
 its freedom and clearness, in breadth of thought and bold- 
 ness of statement ; and the orchestration proves a know- 
 ledge of the capabilities and characters of instruments, 
 and a judgment in their combination, that could only 
 result from strong intuition directed by careful observance, 
 
BEETHOVEN'S FOURTH SYMPHONY. 223 
 
 in one who had Beethoven's small experience — two Con- 
 certos are the only pieces for the orchestra he had then 
 [1800] written." 
 
 In the same year, 1849, as that in which the articles 
 on Mendelssohn and those on Mozart appeared, Mac- 
 farren also commenced a series on Beethoven's Sym- 
 phonies. And here it may be remarked that, so far 
 as this country was concerned, he was, so to speak, 
 first in the field in this analytical work. There were 
 no models on which to construct such analyses, nor 
 did he need any. They are the products of his own 
 thoughtful and cultured appreciativeness, informed 
 by ample theoretical knowledge, and expressed with 
 great felicity of language, and often aptness of me- 
 tapho"r. As an illustration of his discrimination and 
 courage in the expression of his critical opinions, 
 take the following concerning the Adagio of the 
 fourth Symphony : — 
 
 " This Adagio is in the form of a two-part movement ; 
 but instead of the free fantasia, consisting in the working 
 of the principal subjects, such as usually opens the Second 
 Part of a movement thus constructed, we have an imme- 
 diate return to the chief subject in the original key ; and, 
 after this, a short digression, previous to the recapitulation 
 of the rest of the First Part." 
 
 After an interesting analysis of the movement up to 
 the end of the First Part, he proceeds : — 
 
 " The dominant 7th on B flat brings us at once back 
 to the original key, and thus, introduced by the one bar 
 that always precedes it, we have an immediate return to 
 the subject. The original beautiful melody is this time 
 no less beautifully varied ; and here is one of the very, 
 very rare instances in all music where the variation of a 
 
224 BEETHOVEN'S FOURTH SYMPHONY. 
 
 melody is indeed an embellishment ; such truly is this, 
 every excellence of the original being now excelled, the 
 colouring of the whole heightened, intensified, but not 
 exaggerated. We now come to "the digression to which I 
 have alluded, as forming so important a feature in the 
 plan of the movement. Our introductory bar, instead of 
 bringing in a repetition of the subject with varied instru- 
 mentation, introduces a portion only of the subject for the 
 whole orchestra, in the key of E fl.at minor. There is some- 
 thing, to me, extremely unsatisfactory in this passage, as 
 our great author has given it to us ; the alternate tonic and 
 dominant pedal assigned to the horns, trumpets, and drums, 
 identifies the whole with the key of E flat minor, while the 
 harmony assigned to the rest of the orchestra is, after the 
 first chord, unquestionably in the key of Gr flat major, and 
 we have thus an effect of false relation, that, to my sense, 
 is the remotest from beautiful." 
 
 Tutti. 
 
 t=M^ 
 
 Oorni, Trmnbe e Timp. 
 
 .The theoretical student will perceive that the objec- 
 tion here urged lies against the " arbitrary " minor scale 
 over the two pedal notes. Macfarren follows up his 
 particular animadversion by the enunciation of a 
 general principle ; respecting which, it is only fair to 
 state that it has been objected to by some musicians 
 since his pronouncement : — 
 
 " There is one law with respect to pedals that is univer- 
 sally received, in so far as no theorist has ever disputed it 
 and no composer of recognized merit has ever disregarded 
 it ; this is, that the pedal note must be either the tonic or 
 the dominant of whatever key may prevail at the time such 
 pedal is employed. It is here confidently stated that no 
 eminent composer has ever disregarded this law, because. 
 
PEDALS AND CHROMATIC CHORDS. 225 
 
 although there may perhaps be found . . . instances of its 
 partial violation, in all such cases, . . . though there may 
 occur harmonies that are foreign to the key, and therefore 
 harsh from their inaccordance with the pedal note, such 
 pedal note has always that relationship to what precedes 
 or follows the passage as must make it either the tonic or 
 the dominant of the key that principally prevails . This 
 may well be coupled with another important rule in music, 
 namely, that the test of whether a chromatic harmony 
 belong to ^ny particular key is the possibility of its being 
 taken upon a pedal note which is either the tonic or the 
 dominant of such key, to make which test unequivocally 
 satisfactory, it is necessary to play the root of the chromatic 
 chord below the pedal note, which can be borne with any 
 combination, chromatic or diatonic, that is proper to the 
 key of the said pedal, but which is intolerable with any 
 chord that is not deducible from and assignable to such 
 tonic. I know of but one exception to this general prin- 
 ciple, which is that, upon a dominant pedal, the fundamental 
 chromatic harmonies derivable from the major sixth of the 
 key can be employed, provided such be followed by the 
 common chord of the second of the scale : . . . the grounds 
 of this single exception are, I think, wholly satisfactory, 
 and, rather than otherwise, corroborative of the principle, 
 if not of the law." 
 
 Macfarren " would often quote Beethoven's habit to 
 write what came into his mind, and then cut out what 
 was not wanted " : a process of excision and self- 
 discipline to which student-composers are often sub- 
 jected by judicious teachers ; and maturer composers 
 not infrequently determine on similar " cutting." 
 Macfarren was no exception with himself and with his 
 pupils. In some oases, however, he was more con- 
 demnatory still : banning a whole work, even by a 
 great man. Thus, in the " Musical World," Novem- 
 ber 13th and 20th, 1852, appeared two articles by him 
 on Beethoven^s music to the drama or masque, " The 
 
 Q 
 
226 "RUINS OF ATHENS." 
 
 Euins of Athens," then just issued with an English 
 version for the first time. He pronounces " the merit 
 of the music " to be " very unequal." 
 
 " There are some pieces in the work that add a radiance 
 to the brightest glory with ■which the immortal composer 
 is crowned ; there are others that bear no indication of the' 
 liand of Beethoven, but only his name on the title page. 
 ... It is little to be wondered at that our Philharmonic 
 Society [as previously related in the article] esteemed the 
 Overture unworthy the name of Beethoven, and therefore 
 unavailable for performance at their concerts, since the 
 most impartial examination of the composition must 
 always lead to a confirmation of this decision. ... It is, 
 on the other hand, matter of very considerable marvel that 
 Beethoven, who was most jealous of his reputation, should 
 at three different periods have submitted so weat a pro- 
 duction to the public. The inequality of the works of a 
 great master is the fact that proves him to be such, or at 
 least, that distinguishes what, for want of another term, 
 must still be called by the conventional name of divine 
 inspiration from what we know to be mere mechanical 
 facility. The satisfaction of an author with his work at 
 the period of its composition, when his imagination is still 
 glowing with the ardour of intention, which is at the time 
 impossible to distinguish from the fervour of the creative 
 power, is a circumstance so natural that there can scarcely 
 exist one who has written, much or little, but must have 
 proved it in his proper experience. . . . Hence it is quite 
 accountable that Beethoven should have given this over- 
 ture out for performance on the occasion for which it was 
 composed. . . . The intoxication of -mental procreation is, 
 however, but an ephemeral rapture, and the glow of our 
 whole being that illuminates the birth of a new idea, is 
 itself extinguished in the moment of our giving such idea 
 to the world, then enthusiasm, the butterfly, that has 
 sprung from study, the chrysalis, flies into the flame of 
 which her bright colours and her flickering wings are the 
 incarnation, the mind renews itself, and judgment, the 
 worm, rises from the ashes of the faded fantasy to toil, 
 
"RUINS OF ATHENS." 227 
 
 and travail, and foredo the futile fabrications whereof its 
 parent was the vain glory. Hence, we mu§t always 
 wonder that Beethoven, whose tempered judgment should 
 have been profound as his excited genius was brilliant, 
 should on reviewing his overture after the lapse of years, 
 have so little seen that it was so little worth as to have 
 again sent it forth into the world, and again hazarded his 
 reputation, and so have abrogated his self-respect, upon its 
 merits. Beethoven, than whom no one can have been 
 more scrupulously jealous of the dignity of art, and of his 
 own true rank as an artist." 
 
 Proceeding with the other pieces, Macfarren says 
 of the opening " very beautiful duet/' that it — 
 
 " Grives scope for the warmest, the sincerest expressions 
 of imqualified admiration. . . . Every phrase of this ex- 
 quisite little movement calls forth an exclamation of 
 deHght." 
 
 Of the Chorus of Dervishes : — 
 
 " Music presents nothing more strikingly characteristic 
 than the uncouth melody that marks this truly extra- 
 ordinary composition, and even this is more powerfully 
 coloured by the perfectly original and quite individual 
 accompaniment that is maintained throughout." 
 
 The other movements are then commented on : the 
 Turkish March, "vividly picturesque and truly 
 dramatic : " — 
 
 " A technical point that will always be prominent in its 
 effect is the anticipation of the key of B flat, with the fuU 
 force of the orchestra, at each recurrence to the subject 
 after the momentary digression to Gr major ; and whoever 
 hears the movement with attention, or examines it with 
 care, will find still much more matter to repay his pains." 
 
 The Triumphal March and Chorus, "Twine ye a 
 
228 "BUINS OF ATHENS." HAYDN. 
 
 Garland/' " becomes mouthy, inflated, and bathetic," 
 because : — 
 
 " Here we pass from the true poetry of life to the bom- 
 bast of allegory. . . . The Chorus, ''Susceptible Hearts,' 
 is a most lovely stream of song. . . . The remaining 
 pieces .... carry out the feeling, or if you will, the want 
 of it, that is embodied in the overture and the opening 
 chorus. . . . Such is the 'Euins of Athens,' a work 
 written to be ephemeral, but presenting, (besides those 
 four pieces, . . . which wiU live so long as the name of 
 Beethoven is known,) this lasting moral to the world, 
 namely, that no greatness is immaculate, since even Beet- 
 hoven, at a period when his imagination was in the exercise 
 of its utmost vigour, was capable of the production of such 
 music, as, but for his name, would now be utterly un- 
 worthy of the pains that may be spent in censuring it." 
 
 Macfarren also wrote an exhautive series of articles 
 on " Fidelio," in the " Musical World," May 24th, 
 et seq,, 1851, which, in substance, formed the Preface 
 to an edition of that Opera. Also, an analysis of 
 Beethoven's Mass in D, for the Sacred Harmonic 
 Society, in 1854. 
 
 It would hardly be fair to say that Macfarren de- 
 preciated "Papa" Haydn; but he often referred to 
 the obligations of the patriarch to Mozart, whom he 
 both preceded and outlived. Perhaps the following 
 extract from the analytical programme of the Sixth 
 Concert of the Quartet Association, June 30th, 
 1852, will exhibit his views with regard to the old 
 Master : — 
 
 " Somewhat too much credit is given to Haydn for 
 having founded the form of composition which universally 
 prevails ia the classical style of music, and until the inno- 
 vations of the ultra-modem school, was adopted also in the 
 
HAYDN AND THE SYMPHONY. 229 
 
 lighter class of writing. The form to which I allude, con- 
 sisting, namely, of a first part that comprises a leading 
 idea in one 'key, and a secondary idea in the fifth or some 
 other close relative of such key, and a second part that 
 comprises the development of the ideas already announced, 
 and the recapitulation of the first part with the second 
 idea now in the original key of the movement. This form, 
 I say, is to be traced in many of the instrumental com- 
 positions of Bach, and of Handel, and of Scarlatti, and 
 other writers of the same epoch, and it is therefore 
 obviously not to be ascribed to Haydn as its originator. 
 The chief quality of this great master that entitles him to 
 be reverenced as the Father of the Symphony, is his 
 employment of a more definite, because more rhythmical, 
 style of melody to fill up this form, than appears in the 
 works of earlier writers, and giving to it thus an interest 
 and indeed an expression that it never before possessed. 
 Among the first Quartets of Haydn there are several 
 entire compositions in which this form does not appear, 
 and we find only a large number of small movements, 
 Minuets, and other dances, and < the like, containing some 
 graceful thoughts, it is true, but written in the most 
 puerile style of simplicity. We are to observe from this, 
 that our composer was at the commencement of his career, 
 behind the age in which he wrote, and that gradually, as 
 his powers developed themselves, and as probably, the ex- 
 ecutants and the audience for whom he wrote, advanced 
 in capacity and comprehension, his style assumed more 
 dignity, his ideas more importance, and his character as a 
 musician, that stamp which no change of fashion can 
 efface. It was then that Haydn reduced the Symphony (I 
 speak of the class of composition under the general title of 
 the most important work that belongs to it) to its present 
 generally average complement of four movements, from 
 which complement there are very many exceptions, in a 
 few cases to increase, and more frequently to diminish it, 
 but which is established as affording scope to the com- 
 poser for the necessary and sufficient variety of ideas and 
 treatment. It appears that the style of Haydn was greatly 
 modified by the stimulant, if not the genius of Mozart ; 
 since his best works, and most especially his best instru- 
 
230 MACFAEREN'S JUDGMENTS. 
 
 mental works, were produced after that most brilliant 
 glory had dawned and even set upon the earth, for it will 
 be remembered that, though following in the footsteps of 
 Haydn as a composer, Mozart preceded him to the grave 
 by many years, having in the course of his brief career 
 produced those masterpieces which, as they have never 
 yet been equalled, we may fairly presume, are not likely to 
 be surpassed. Hence, then, though in the works of Haydn 
 we see the Symphony in all its various stages of develop- 
 ment (saving only some especial modifications that Beet- 
 hoven and later writers have introduced) he neither origi- 
 nated it, nor perfected it to that degree which it attained 
 in his own time ; and yet the lasting thanks of the world 
 of art are due to him, for having produced so many works 
 of real interest in this class, as to make it the true standard 
 of classical composition, and the consequent subject of 
 emulation to all who follow." 
 
 These remarks may supplement those above quoted 
 earlier in the chapter, p. 211. 
 
 Macfarren, like some other musicians who, possess- 
 ing sound knowledge, and definite theoretical prin- 
 ciples, rightly bring these to bear upon their judg- 
 ments concerning music, and are therefore credited 
 with pedantic prejudice, and dry insensibility to 
 natural charm and spontaneous freshness, if it bear 
 not the test of grammatical examination, was never- 
 theless as susceptible of impression by genuinely in- 
 spired, if not soundly constructed music, as those who 
 vaunt their unprejudiced openness to such influence. 
 He has, indeed, said to me, that it were well if much, 
 if not all, that Chopin wrote, had never been pro- 
 duced. He then spoke as a theorist, with due solici- 
 tude for the healthy current of thought and feeling 
 among the younger generation of musicians. But 
 yet, concerning the same composer, he has written; — 
 
CHOPIN, CLEMENTl, CHERUBINI. 231 
 
 "With, no command of the principles of construction, he 
 made his lengthened pieces incoherent, and even his lightest 
 productions give occasion to question the soundness of his 
 grammatical knowledge. The singular heauty, and the 
 constant individuality of his ideas, however ; his exquisite 
 feeling for harmonic combination and progression, which 
 led to his hahitual employment of resources most rarely 
 used by others ; his unreserved application of exceptional 
 forms of passing-notes, and his perfect and peculiar grace- 
 fulness of phraseology — give a charm to his music which 
 is irresistibly fascinating. His mazurkas are unique in the 
 range of musical composition, and they are as full of cha- 
 racter, national colouring, sentiment, humour, and technical 
 peculiarity, as they are insusceptible of imitation." 
 
 On the other hand, of a widely different composer, 
 most rigid in style, he wrote : — 
 
 " dementi was a master of all the resources of counter- 
 point, with a complete grasp of the powers of modern 
 harmony ; and, besides the depth of character resulting 
 from this knowledge, his music is distiuguished by energy, 
 fire, and intense passion ; tenderness and melodious grace, 
 however, the qualities one would most expect in the writings 
 for his instrument, of an artist whose playing was especially 
 signalized by these points of style, are rarely to be found 
 in his compositions." 
 
 Years after the above was written, Macfarren said 
 to me : " There is one composer I cannot stand — 
 that is Clementi : queer counterpoint, awkward modula- 
 tion, etc.," making exception in favour of the Sonata in 
 B minor, however — which, Gattie once (previously) 
 told me, Macfarren considered one of the finest Sonatas 
 ever vmtten. Another expression of his opinion con- 
 cerning Clementi has been quoted, p. 65. 
 
 Of Cherubini he v^ote in laudatory terms, in the 
 " Imperial Dictionary of Biography " (from which the 
 
232 LES DEUX JOURNEES. AUBER. 
 
 last two extracts are taken) ; as, for instance, in the 
 following : — 
 
 " ' Les Deux Journ^es ' : — though forgotten in Prance, 
 this beautiful opera is still, like several others of its author, 
 a standard work at the principal Grerman theatres, where, 
 under the name of ' Der Wassertrager,' it ranks high in 
 popular esteem and critical approval. In England, little 
 is known of it besides the overture ; but this, by the power 
 of its ideas, their admirable development, the peculiarity of 
 its form and the vigour and brilliancy of its orchestration, 
 gives Cherubini a foremost rank among musicians, in the 
 estimation of all who set the highest value on the greatest 
 order of artistic productions." 
 
 Macfarren's breadth of appreciative power may be 
 illustrated by yet another critical estimate concerning 
 a composer with whom it might have been supposed 
 that one so severe, even (as some thought) to pedantry, 
 would have little sympathy. Speaking of Auber's 
 " La Muette de Portici," which Macfarren charac- 
 terizes as " his unquestionable masterpiece,^' which 
 " met with the brilliant success it eminently merits,'' 
 he goes on to say : — 
 
 " Critics have in vain sought to detract frOm the credit . 
 of this success, by ascribing it to the dramatic interest of 
 the libretto, and to the sympathy with the story of the 
 political feeling of the time ; but the eminently dramatic 
 music, which certainly could only have been written to 
 illustrate powerful dramatic situations, gives vitality to 
 these situations, such as no form of words could impart ; 
 and the revolutionary spirit of the time could neither have 
 made a bad opera successful, nor maintained the entire 
 work upon the stage of every country, and its countless 
 melodies in universal popularity all over the world, for all 
 these years after the political agitation that was then 
 ripening had come to its crisis, subsided, and been followed 
 
AUBER. VARIATIONS. 233 
 
 by another, still more violent, whicli also now belongs to 
 the past." 
 
 But, later on, the discriminating critic thus pro- 
 ceeds : — 
 
 "Auber, with all his success and with all his merit, cannot 
 be classed as a great musician, which is because of a want of 
 profundity in all his works that must result from his tem- 
 perament as a man, not from his defective qualification as 
 an artist. His genius is especially dramatic, and it is in 
 the most exciting situations, . . . that it asserts itself to 
 the best advantage ; but he has also an infinite power of 
 vivacity, as is amply proved in ' Fra Diavolo,' ' Le Domino 
 Noir,' and many other of his comic operas. His melodies, 
 of which he has produced more than perhaps any composer 
 that ever existed, are irresistibly striking, essentially indi- 
 vidual, piquant, pretty, tender, but rarely, if ever, pathetic, 
 and never grand ; the feeling they embody is intense, but 
 never deep. His habit of making repeated rhythmical 
 closes, instead of giving continuous development to an 
 idea, imparts an air of triviality to his longer pieces, that 
 nothing but their ceaseless fluency and constant animation 
 could counterbalance. His instrumentation, the colouring 
 ,of music, is perhaps that branch of the art in which he is 
 most consummately a master; brilliant, sparkling, rich, 
 and clear to transparency; his method of treating the 
 orchestra alone is sufficient to make him a valuable 
 study." 
 
 Macfarren had little liking for " Variations " on a 
 Theme. He was, of course, quite sensible and appre- 
 ciative of the ingenuity, contrapuntal resource, and 
 fancy, which might be, and often are, evinced in their 
 construction; and spoke to me of the attractiveness of 
 Haydn's " Variations " in F minor, and Schubert's 
 " Impromptu " in B flat, which, as musicians know, is 
 simply an air with variations. But he said to me that. 
 
234 VARIATIONS. 
 
 while he could understand the interest to a composer 
 of writing variations, and to a performer of playing 
 them, it was, to him, so tiresome to know that, all 
 along, the same progressions, and the same closes, at 
 the same places, were always to be expected. These 
 remarks were made to me during performances of the 
 two pieces above-mentioned. I venture to think that 
 the attractiveness of that by Haydn lies in the nmve 
 beauty of the Theme ; and that the " Impromptu " by 
 Schubert would hardly have been selected by Mac- 
 farren as a specially notable specimen of variation 
 writing, though he seemed to rate it more highly than 
 I did. Macfarren himself wrote a set of "Varia- 
 tions " on a Dutch melody; being the number entitled 
 " Holland," in a series of Pianoforte pieces bearing 
 the general title " Le Voyageur,^' which were pub- 
 lished by Duff and Hodgson. But this set of varia- 
 tions was doubtless written to order, for a consideration; 
 not from artistic promptings. 
 
 This series of quotations will help to give a compre- 
 hensive view of Macfarren's principles and methods of 
 judgment, and susceptibility of impression, which are 
 further illustrated in other contexts. It may be left 
 to the reader to estimate the soundness or otherwise 
 of an opinion once expressed in my hearing by one 
 who knew him well : — " Macfarren is an uncommonly 
 bad judge of music ! " 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Macfaeeen as a Lectuebe. Lectuees on Sonata 
 Steuctttee, the Lteical Deama, Saceed and Sbculae 
 Aet, and Ghuech Music. Papbes on Recitative, 
 CHtTECH OF England Music, Geeqoeianism, Oeatoeio 
 IN Chuech, Rossini's Mass, Mozaet's Requiem, 
 Wagnee, Oesan, Pitch. Compositions : Oveetuee 
 TO " Don Caelos," Festival Oveetuee, Symphonies 
 
 IN D MAJOE AND B MINOE, PlUTE CoNCBETO, ViOLIN 
 
 CoNCEBTO, Oegan Wokks, Chuech Music, Sonatas 
 
 FOE PlANOFOETB, AND PlANOFOETE AND ViOLIN, CoN- 
 CEETINA, ETC. 1854 1879. 
 
 M 
 
 UCH allusion has been made to Macfarren's 
 lectures. He became prominent as a lecturer 
 and public speaker during the last twenty-five years 
 of his life. His first lecture, or one of the first given 
 by him, was delivered to the students of the Royal 
 Academy of Music, about the year 1860, during the 
 Principalship of Charles Lucas, who invited several 
 professors of the institution to lecture on subjects 
 germane to the branches of musical study which they 
 had in charge :' one on the Violin being delivered by 
 Mr. H. G. Blagrove, one on Singing by Mr. P. R. 
 Cox, another on Notation by Mr. H. C. Lunn, one on 
 Harmonics by Mr. Lucas. Macfarren's was on the 
 Structure of a Sonata, though that may not have 
 
236 MACFARREN AS A LECTURER. 
 
 been its precise title. The substance of it doubtless 
 appears in the little hroehure on that subject published 
 by Messrs. Eudall, Eose, and Carte ; originally as an 
 appendix to a sonata by him for flute and pianoforte, 
 in No. 5 of the " Journal of the London Society of 
 Amateur Flute Players." 
 
 At about the same period, when Macfarren was on 
 a visit at Radley College, together with his brother, 
 Mr. Walter Macfarren, the suggestion was made that 
 it would be very interesting if he would address the 
 students ; and he at once assented, and with little pre- 
 meditation delivered an analytical lecture to the 
 assembled students and teachers, the late Sir F. A. Gore- 
 Ouseley being also present, upon Beethoven^s Sonaia, 
 Op. 22, with illustration on the pianoforte by his 
 brother. 
 
 Shortly afterwards, he delivered a similar lecture at 
 Blackheath, on three of Beethoven's Sonatas for Piano- 
 forte and Violin, the illustrations being performed by 
 Mr. Walter Macfarren and Monsieur Sainton. From 
 that time to the close of his career, his appearances as 
 a lecturer were somewhat frequent. Not only did he 
 deliver the course on Harmony, already recorded, at 
 the Royal Institution, and later on, his various courses, 
 in his Professorial capacity, in the University of Cam- 
 bridge, and as Principal of the Eoyal Academy of 
 Music, re-delivering his Cambridge lectures to the 
 students, besides addressing the students and pro- 
 fessors at the commencement of each abademical year ; 
 but also several courses at the London Institution, 
 and the College of Organists, and single lectures in 
 various localities, metropolitan and provincial. Some 
 of these lectures were prepared at considerable length. 
 
MACFABREN AS A LECTURER. 237 
 
 and with verbal detail, by dictation, and must have been 
 more or less fully and accurately committed to memory 
 — his memory, ao minute and so comprehensive. This 
 may partly account for his frequent hesitancy, as though 
 endeavouring to recall an expression with exactitude; 
 although it may also be surmised that the inability, at 
 the moment, to determine upon a word — the most 
 fitting for the purpose — might equally account for 
 this hesitancy, which was occasionally somewhat pain- 
 ful. But many of the lectures — probably most of 
 them — were dictated in the form of more or less 
 copious notes, so as to get the subject in order before 
 his own mind, and to serve for reference in case of re- 
 delivery. When it is remembered that it was a blind 
 man lecturing, — not haranguing, but setting forth 
 facta, dates, names on the one hand ; or theoretical 
 principles, analyses, illustrated by examples, on the 
 other, — ^it is all the more to wonder that his fluency 
 and accuracy — this latter, indeed, seldom if ever fail- 
 ing — were such as they were. In later years, at all 
 events, it was his custom to sit while lecturing ; and 
 he would rest his face on one hand, thus sometimes 
 slightly intercepting the outflow of his voice, in itself 
 not strong, latterly ; and, forgetting that he was 
 speaking in a comparatively large room, would " chat " 
 rather than " orate ; " these habits interfering much 
 with his audibility. But, at his best, it was interest- 
 ing to listen to him, beyond the interest of the matter 
 itself, because of the emotional sincerity with which 
 he delivered himself of his views of the Art that he 
 loved so well, especially, also, when he was addressing 
 sympathetic and reverential students, whom he also 
 loved so well. He said to me that he liked address- 
 
238 THE LYRICAL DRAMA. 
 
 ing the academicians annually, because it seemed the 
 one way open to him — that of sight being denied to 
 him — of being brought into personal intercourse with 
 them : he might have said " en rapport ; " but he did 
 not use a French term when one in English was avail- 
 able : he believed in his own language, like a true 
 Englishman, as we have already seen. And no small 
 command of it had he, and extensive acquaintance 
 with its resources : sometimes peculiarly felicitous 
 in his choice of terms ; though addicted much to 
 rather involved, inverted, not to say long-winded, 
 structure of his sentences, as well as some mannerisms, 
 such as beginning fresh divisions with — " It is now 
 to speak of,'' etc. 
 
 In the year 1867, in which the six lectures on 
 Harmony were delivered, he also gave, during March, 
 an important course of four lectures on the " Origin 
 and Development of the Lyrical Drama," at the 
 London Institution, of which the syllabus, as in a 
 former instance, wiU give the best account. 
 
 "LECTTJRE I. 
 
 " Illustrated by 
 " Miss EoBEETiNE Hbndebson and Mr Wilbte Coopee. 
 
 " The Greek Drama. — Chanted declamation, engrafted 
 upon the Dithyrambic and other Hymns, was essentially 
 lyrical. It was a religious institution, and therefore opposed 
 by the Christians. The mediseval drama was also a reh- 
 gious institution, being a form, of instruction in morals and 
 in sacred history employed by the Church ; and the drama 
 of the first Eeformers, especially that instituted by Calvin 
 at G-eneva, had the same tendency. The songs or ballads 
 of the people, the music of which was identical with that 
 of their dances, were always distinct from the music of the 
 
THE LYRICAL DRAMA. 239 
 
 Churcli, although they were only appropriated, as a hasis 
 of contrapuntal elaboration, to ecclesiastical use. The first 
 secular dramas were interspersed with music ; ' Le jeu de 
 Eobin et de Marion,' by Adam de la Hale, 1240 — 1287, 
 and ' Orfeo,' by Angelo Poliziano, 1483. The foundation 
 of the Oratorio by Animuccia, 1556, analogous to that of 
 the Greek drama. Many of the plays of Shakespeare and 
 his predecessors and contemporaries include songs tha^ 
 were popular before the plays were written. The imme- 
 diate effect of the Eicnaissance upon music was the inven- 
 tion of recitative, to emulate the declamation of the Greeks. 
 This was apphed to dramatic purposes in the Oratorio of 
 EmiHo del Cavaliere, 1600, and in the Operas of this com- 
 poser, Giulio Caccini, Jacopo Peri, and Claudio Monte- 
 verde, 1590 — 1607. These were the first dramas set 
 throughout to music. Signification of the term ' Opera.' — 
 The court masques of James I. and Charles I. were set to 
 recitative by Laniere and Ferabosco. The court ballets of 
 Louis the XIV. were composed in the same style by LuUy. 
 Milton's ' Comus,' with incidental music by Henry Lawes, 
 1634; Aria parlante or a,rioso. LuUy followed MaiUy and 
 Cambert in the composition of French Operas, which con- 
 sisted of recitative, airs, and choruses, and always included 
 dancing; 'Psyche,' 1678; couplets. The ' Siege of Ehodes,' 
 the first English Opera, with Mrs. Colman, the first female 
 that appeared on the Enghsh stage, was brought out under 
 the sanction of Cromwell, 1646. Henry Purcell's first 
 Opera, 'Dido and ^neas,' 1680, consisted of recitative, 
 songs, and choruses; subsequently he wrote incidental 
 music for spoken dramas. Appropriation of scholastic 
 forms to dramatic use. Cantata, an alternation of recita- 
 tive and air." 
 
 "LECTUEE II. 
 
 " Illustrated by 
 
 " Madame Louisa Vinnibtg, Mr. Wilbye Coopee, and 
 
 Mr. J. G. Patet. 
 
 " Advance of the Opera in Italy. — It was imported into 
 Germany, with ' Daphne,' by Schultz, 1627 ; but scarcely 
 
240 THE LYRICAL DRAMA. 
 
 adopted there until the time of Kaiser, 1692. — Male 
 Sopranos. — ^Formal character of the aria. — Accompanied 
 recitative first written by Vinci. — Conventional construc- 
 tion of the Opera. — The same libretti repeatedly set to 
 music by different, and even by the same Composers. — The 
 Italian Operas of Handel, consisting of recitative and airs, 
 represent the smaller forms of the Lyrical Drama of the 
 day ; his English Oratorios (except those set to Scriptural 
 texts) having the addition of choruses to the other two 
 elements, represent the grander form. — Distinction between 
 the Grrand Opera, the Opera Comique,- and the Vaudeville. 
 — ' The Beggar's Opera,' and the many pieces produced in 
 consequence of its popularity. — Arne's English imitation 
 of the Italian Operas of his time, 1762. — Piccini aban- 
 doned the prescribed form of the aria ; success of ' La 
 buona Eigliuola,' 1760. — Griuck's design to reform Dramatic 
 Music by mating it a vehicle for declamation instead of 
 for vocal display, 1764, was a renewal of the purpose of 
 the inventors of recitative. — -His appropriation of dancing, 
 that was indispensable in. French Grand Operas. — Eivalry 
 of the Italian and German styles." 
 
 "LECTURE III. 
 
 " Illustrated by 
 
 " Miss Banks, Mdlle. Chakliee, and Miss Julia Elton, 
 
 " Mr. WiLBTE CooPEK, Mr. R. Wilkinson, and 
 
 Mr. J. G. Patet. 
 
 " The embodiment of dramatic action in concerted music 
 originated by Logroscino, 1747; advanced by Piccini; per- 
 fected by Mozart in his great finales. — This exalts the 
 Opera, insomuch as music is an expression of character 
 and sentiment, above every other form of vocal composi- 
 tion. — Melo-drama or accompanied speaking. — Beethoven's 
 ' Pidelio ' the completest Opera. — Rossini's innovations ; 
 his influence on the music of his day ; ' Otello ' the first 
 Italian Opera accompanied throughout by the orchestra. — 
 Bishop's Operas, spoken dramas with incidental music ; 
 English dramatic music in his time; the glee. — The appro- 
 
THE LYRICAL DRAMA. 241 
 
 priation of national character to dramatic purposes by 
 Mozart, extended by Weber in ' Preciosa,' ' Der Preischiitz,' 
 and ' Oberon.' — He first incorporated the aria in the action 
 of the scene, this being an expansion of Gluck's principle. 
 — The romantic Opera. — The Overture originated by Lully ; 
 perfected by Mozart; ideaUsed by Beethoven; popularised 
 by Weber. — Spohr's 'Jessonda' th^ first German Opera set 
 throughout to music." 
 
 "LECTUEE IV. 
 
 " Illustrated by 
 
 " Miss Edith Wynne and Miss Julia Elton. 
 
 " Mr. T. Whifpin and Mr. J. Gr. Patbt. 
 
 " The illustration of Pantomime by music, first essayea 
 by Mouret for the ' nuits blanches ' of the Duchesse du 
 Maine in ' Les Horaces,' in 1680, vfas incorporated in the 
 Opera by Weber in ' Sylvana,' and by Auber in 'Masaniello.' 
 This work was the first of the class of historico-romantic 
 Operas. — Resumption of the composition of Operas, pro- 
 perly so-called, in English, 1834 ; E. J. Loder ; John 
 Barnett ; Balfe and the ballad ; Benedict ; Wallace. — 
 Mendelssohn's music for the revived tragedies of Sophocles 
 no restoration of the character of Greek music, but a new 
 form of composition which had been incompletely antici- 
 pated in the tragedies of Eacine. — Paramount importance 
 of a good dramatic story for operatic purposes. — All the 
 best opera books, save those written for the French stage, 
 have been adaptations of previously successful dramatic 
 pieces. — Secondary, but yet high importance of the poetry 
 of an Opera. — Consideration of the views of Eichard 
 Wagner. — Pernicious influence of the Italian language on 
 the development of dramatic music ; first shaken off in 
 France, next in Germany, and now in Eussia ; but England 
 stiU suffers from its bane, and suffers worse than any other 
 country has suffered, since the fashion for hearing Operas 
 in a tongue that cannot be pronounced by the majority of 
 the singers, nor understood by the majority of the audience, 
 not only impedes the progress of indigenous productive 
 
 B 
 
242 ACCOMPANIMENT OF RECITATIVE. 
 
 and executive talent, but compels the distortion of the 
 German and French works which constitute the staple 
 performances of our lyrical theatres." 
 
 In the year 1880 Macfarren gave a lecture on the 
 same subject before the Musical Association. 
 
 On one subject touched on in the first of these 
 lectures, he wrote at length, in the " Musical Times," 
 of December, 1872, that of " The Accompaniment of 
 Recitative," advancing the statement that i — 
 
 " The broad distinction between ancient and modern in 
 music dates from the invention of recitative in the last 
 decade of the sixteenth century. Then, an association of 
 Florentine nobles and gentlemen undertook the interesting 
 experiment of restoring to the art of song the character- 
 istics that had marked it in the Grecian age, as opposed to 
 the qualities to which the music of the period was limited. 
 These qualities were rhythmical tune, exemplified in the 
 songs and dances of the people, and the imitations of these 
 by schooled artists ; and contrapuntal elaboration, exem- 
 plified in the motets or moving parts, and anthems or 
 counter-themes, constructed upon ecclesiastical or secular 
 melodies for church use, and in the madrigals of the musi- 
 cians. In neither of these was there scope for free decla- 
 mation, nor for any but the most general expression of 
 words, which, in classic times, had been the m.ain if not the 
 sole object of vocal music. The idea was then conceived of 
 
 recitative The experiment was so entirely successful 
 
 that the new style of declamatory music not only took a 
 place beside the rigidly ruled art of the period, but has, to 
 a great extent, superseded it, and importantly modified the 
 materials and the structure of subsequent composition. 
 
 " To secure the perfect freedom of the singer in his 
 declamation, to hasten or retard the words as he might be 
 impelled by the passion they embodied, it was essential that 
 the accompaniment should be of such a nature as might 
 in no respect restrict his performance in the matter of mea- 
 sure, while it might fully guide and support him in the 
 matter of intonation. Accordingly, it was confined usually 
 
ACCOMPANIMENT OF RECITATIVE. 243 
 
 to a single instrument, in most cases the theorbo or large 
 lute ; and this, in the earliest instances, was played by the 
 singer himself, whose fingers were moved by the same im- 
 pulse that directed his vocal utterance." 
 
 After tracing the custom of sustaining the harmony 
 " by the band during the vocal declamation : " that of 
 accompanying the recitative "on some equivalent to 
 the pianoforte/' " with also a bowed instrument . . . 
 to support the bass notes, because of the little reso- 
 nance of the keyed string instruments of the time ;" he 
 goes on to record that : — 
 
 " Near the end of the seventeenth century Vinci was the 
 first to write what in England is called " Accompanied Re- 
 citative ' . . . reserved for dramatic passages, while he re- 
 tained for ordinary colloquy and narration what the Italians 
 name ' Eecitativo Parlante.' The distinction is, that in the 
 latter the instruments just named were used, and in the 
 former the full orchestra. 
 
 " Let it not be supposed that the practice ever was, in 
 colloquial recitative, to sustain the chords on any instru- 
 ment from semibreve to semibreve, as they were habitually 
 written . . . ; these extensive notes imply the prevalence 
 but not the sustenance of the same harmony, which har- 
 mony was and is to be repeated according to the punctua- 
 tion of the words, whenever their sense indicates a breath- 
 ing place for the singer." 
 
 After various historical details concerning the growth 
 of recitative, he goes on to trace the rise and preva- 
 lence of the custom of accompanying colloquial recita- 
 tive mainly by the violoncello, to the displacement of 
 the pianoforte; animadverts upon the undesirable- 
 ness of that method, and urges that — 
 
 " According to the size and uses of the building, and the 
 gaiety or gravity of the subject, the pianoforte or the organ 
 ought to be the accompanying instrument in colloquial re- 
 
244 ACCOMPANIMENT OF RECITATIVE. 
 
 citative. Let it be hoped that before long its restitution 
 may be universal, when the richer tone and the fuller re- 
 sonance of the Pianoforte than of the ancient Harpsi- 
 chord, especially in the lower range of its compass, will 
 render the bowed basses entirely dispensable." 
 
 He instances occasionsj then recent^ of the experi- 
 ment (if such it may be termed) being successfully 
 made under Herr Otto Goldschmidtj Sir Sterndale 
 Bennettj and Mr. Joseph Barnby, in Handel's 
 " L' Allegro " and Bach's " Passion." 
 
 It will not be inopportune to insert here some re- 
 marks on this same subject occurring in the Preface to 
 Macfarren's "Analysis of Haydn's ' Creation,' " written 
 for the Sacred Harmonic Society, dated Febrnary, 
 1854: — 
 
 " One might discuss at some length the setting of most 
 of the Scriptural passages, surely the most important por- 
 tions of the text, in the unimportant form of unaccom- 
 panied Recitative ; but that the present purpose is to con- 
 sider how the subject is, not how it might have been, 
 treated. As, however, there is so much of this form of Eeci- 
 tative without orchestra in the Oratorio, it is desirable to 
 offer some remarks upon the manner in which it is in 
 England, and on that in which it should be accompanied. 
 The custom was, I am told, introduced by Mr. Lindley, and 
 confirmed by Signor Dragonetti, of accompanying this style 
 of Eecitative with the solo violoncello and double bass; 
 and, to those who play the violoncello and double bass, this ' 
 custom may be sufficiently amusing ; to those, however, who 
 require the fulfilment of a composer's intention, and to 
 those, less scrupulous, who look for musical effect, the said 
 custom has nothing to recommend, nor even to justify it — 
 it is peculiar to this country, and it is a peculiarity upon 
 which we have no cause to plume ourselves. The proper way 
 of performuig this style of Eecitative — the way that is still 
 practised out of England — is for the harmony to be played 
 upon the organ or upon the pianoforte ; in witness whereof. 
 
ACCOMPANIMENT OF RECITATIVE. 245 
 
 let me recur to the occasional direction, Senza Cembalo, 
 that we find in composers' scores (since there could be no 
 occasion to direct that a particular passage should be played 
 without the pianoforte, if it were not the general custom 
 for the pianoforte to be played) ; the constant announce- 
 ment in our old programmes that he, who is now called the 
 Conductor, would preside ' at the organ or pianoforte ; ' 
 the recollection of every one of some forty or fifty years' 
 familiarity with musical performances ; and the daily ex- 
 perience of any one who hears the execution of these Eeci- 
 tatives in Italy or Germany. I can only suggest to an 
 audience, that they imagine the effect of complete and sus- 
 tained harmony in these accompaniments, and, if their 
 imagination be lively, they may form some idea of the effect 
 intended.' 
 
 In the Preface to the " Performing Edition of the 
 Messiah/' an important work undertaken by Mac- 
 farren, he remarks : — 
 
 " Composers of this class of music, till far later than 
 Handel's time, meant not that the harmony should be sus- 
 tained as semibreves or minims, though they wrote such 
 notes for the bass, but intended that a chord should prevail 
 for the length of the written notes, and be repeated or not, 
 according to the punctuation of the voice part, or accord- 
 ing to the singer's need of support. Neither meant they 
 that the chord should be struck with the final note of a 
 phrase whereon the harmony changes, as is often the habit 
 of inexperienced accompanists to do, by which the enuncia- 
 tion of the last word is rendered indistinct ; the chords 
 should be played after, rather than with, the voice at the 
 conclusion, and before the voice at the commencement of 
 a sentence." 
 
 THs is exemplified in the notation in the edition 
 itself, as well as in a similar edition of Haydn's " Crea- 
 tion/' in the Preface to which he remarks to the same 
 effect : — 
 
 " The chords were to be played after the vocal closes, ex- 
 
246 LODER, WAGNER. 
 
 cepting only if the harmony changed in the course of a 
 phrase, and the singer was to recommence after the chord 
 had been sounded, and thus the edges of the enunciation 
 were not to be blunted by the striking of the instruments 
 together with the vocal utterance." 
 
 With reference to one item in the syllabus of the 
 Fourth Lecture, some remarks of Macfarren's may be 
 relevantly quoted from the programme of Mr. Walter 
 Macfarren^s Third Concert of Pianoforte Music, June 
 11th, 1861, which may be taken in connection with 
 those on John Barnett, at the close of Chapter X. 
 
 "Mr. Loder's Opera of 'Nourjahad,' produced in 1834, 
 was the inaugural work of the institution of modern EngUsh 
 Opera ; and is therefore remembered with gratification by 
 all who take interest in the progress among us of dramatic 
 music. His 'Francis the First' was brought out jn 1838, 
 and his ' Night Dancers,' the most successful, and there- 
 fore the best known, and in many respects the best of his 
 operas, was first played in 1846. ' Puck ' and ' Eaymond 
 and Agnes ' are further examples of his labours in the same 
 branch of art." 
 
 Macfarren's non-acceptance of the theories of Eichard 
 Wagner, and of much of his Music-Drama composition, 
 is well-known ; and was, at times, so vehemently as- 
 serted as to lay him open to charges of prejudice, non- 
 progressiveness, and even inability to comprehend the 
 advanced thought of the time. He remarked to me: — 
 " I know that they think me a rabid old Tory." But 
 he was not insensible to excellence or beauty of any 
 kind, and discriminated in his judgment even of that 
 which he could not wholly accept. Thus, in a notice 
 of the Prelude to " Lohengrin," in the Programme of 
 the British Orchestral Society^s second Concert, 
 December 19, 1872, he remarks: — 
 
SACRED ANT) SECULAR ART. 247 
 
 " It may be regarded rather as a study of orchestral 
 effect than as a composition. Its entire plan consists of 
 three presentations of this one theme, [quoted] .... 
 Every recurrence of the theme introduces it with some 
 novelty of treatment, consisting not merely in a varied 
 distribution of the instruments, but in the engrafting of 
 new passages upon the original, which are remarkable for 
 their skilful contrivance as much as for their good efiect. 
 In its orchestration, this piece commands respect for the 
 knowledge of the capabilities and the relative qualities of 
 the several instruments, and for the careful thoughts in 
 its appliance, that are evinced in every combination ; just 
 as a painting is to be esteemed for its colouring, apart 
 from its drawing and its composition, is this Prelude to be 
 considered for its instrumental effect, wherein a special 
 but unquestionable quality of imagination is displayed." 
 
 Macfarren delivered four lectures on " Sacred and 
 Secular Art, as exemplified in Music," at the London 
 Institution, in February and March, 1869. " Taking 
 his stand on the principle that all the fine arts have a 
 twofold application to Sacred and Secular subjects, he 
 proceeded to define and exemplify these distinctions 
 under the several heads of music for worship — music 
 for illustrating characters and incidents in sacred 
 story, and moral and religious sentiments — music for 
 depicting the passions and personalities of men — and 
 music for stimulating our emotions and developing 
 our faculties in the circle of home." In the first 
 lecture, on Church Music, he contended that : — 
 
 " The first music employed in. our Reformed Church was 
 an adaptation, or in some instances, perhaps, an imitation 
 of the Plain Song of Roman use to the text of the Enghsh 
 Liturgy, by John Merbeck. The people's love of musical 
 combination prompted the construction of more or less 
 florid counterpoint upon these ancient Church tunes, and 
 manv musicians won distinction by their ingenious efforts 
 
248 SACRED AND SECULAR ART. 
 
 in this class of composition, whose names are now known 
 only to the antiquary, because the style in which they wrote, 
 with the themes they elaborated, has become obsolete." 
 
 Tallis, Byrd, and others, being instanced, who : — 
 
 "Made original settings of the Canticles, Creed, and 
 other invariable portions of the service, which have the 
 technical peculiarities of their age, but are equally remark- 
 able for the solemn simplicity of their treatment of the 
 text. The fugitives from Mary's persecution imported, on 
 their return from Frankfort and G-eneva the practice of 
 Hymn-singing, which spread so rapidly among their 
 countrymen, that it was authoritatively ' permitted ' in 
 public worship by EUzabeth's Injunction of 1559. A 
 collection of tunes, fitted to the entire book of Psalms, was 
 consequently printed iu 1563, the custom having been at 
 first for congregations to sing these without harmony ; but 
 in the next year, the same were reprinted in harmony of 
 four parts by several composers. In this and all elabora- 
 tions of Psalmody for congregational use, of this period, 
 the tune, or Plain Song, or Church Part, is set for the 
 tenor voice. It is only assigned to the cantus, or highest 
 part in the harmony, in arrangements for domestic use. 
 The substitution of the word ' Anthem ' for ' Hymn,' and 
 its definition as ' a little thing in metre,' in a later Prayer 
 Book of Elizabeth, imply that the first Ajithems were 
 harmonized Psalm-tunes, and the earliest original com- 
 positions described as Anthems are so simple in form as 
 almost to belong to the same class. . . . Church Music, 
 after the Restoration, gives noble signs of the advance of 
 art, and of the illustrious brightness of EngUsh genius, 
 [but] all branches of Church music, like every other 
 department of the art in England, degenerated under the 
 influence of our German rulers, or at least, from the date 
 of their accession." 
 
 The second lecture was on " The Opera ; " and the 
 Lecturer contended that : — 
 
 " In the boundless range it affords for the portrayal of 
 every phase of character, and the opportunity for bringing 
 
SACRED AND SECULAR ART. 249 
 
 these into contrast and combination, the Opera may be 
 regarded as the highest class of composition." 
 
 "II Don Giovanni" waa selected for illustrative 
 
 The third lecture was on " The Oratorio." After 
 historical allusion to its origin, he advanced that " the 
 Oratorio is of two kinds — the didactic or narrative, 
 and the dramatic ; " the former being exemplified in 
 the periodical recitation of the story of the Passion in 
 the Roman Church, in Bach's setting of the account 
 by Matthew of the Passion — that of John not being 
 alluded to, apparently being then unknown to the 
 lecturer — in Handel's " Messiah," and in Men- 
 delssohn's " St. Paul : " the latter (the dramatic) being 
 exemplified firstly by " La Rappresentazione di Anima 
 e di Corpo," by Cavalieri (1600), and, subsequently, 
 by nearly all the Oratorios of Handel and the Italian 
 composers of his and a far later time. Handel's 
 " Jephtha " was selected as an instance of the 
 dramatic Oratorio ; and Mendelssohn's " Lobgesang" 
 of the didactic. Macfarren admits that " Mendelssohn, 
 in a letter, denies the classification of this work as an 
 Oratorio because it is not dramatic;" but contends 
 that he " must have done so without considering the 
 wide use of the term." 
 
 The concluding lecture was on Chamber music; 
 the Piigue, the Suite de Pieces, the Symphony or 
 Sonata: conciser forms employed in instrumental 
 music of the present day, the Song without words, 
 being discussed ; compositions exclusively for the 
 Orchestra being described by analogy with their cor- 
 responding types in music for the Chamber. 
 
250 CHURCH MUSIC. 
 
 He prefaced the first lecture by saying that : — 
 
 " The people of this coimtry are more interested in the 
 art apphances of the Enghsh Church than in those of any 
 other devotional institution ; " and, therefore, the lecture 
 ■was " limited to the classification of our national ecclesi- 
 astical music, and a brief sketch of its historical develop- 
 ment." 
 
 In pursuance of this purpose, he took much the 
 same line as in an earlier lecture, on " the Music of 
 the Church of England," delivered at the Royal 
 Institution, April 20th, 1866, in which he premised 
 that : — 
 
 "The objects of Church music are: 1st, passively to 
 stimulate the hearer to the highest emotions : 2nd, actively 
 to engage the worshipper in the most powerful expression 
 of such emotions : " 
 
 and then proceeded : — 
 
 "A secondary, and not unworthy object of Church 
 music has been, from the days of S. Aldhelm, Abbot of 
 Malmesbury, a.d., 700, or earlier, to the present time, to 
 form an attraction for the laity to enter the sacred 
 building, etc." 
 
 After a historical glance at "the importation of 
 masic into the Western Church by St. Ambrose," he 
 contends that " certainly the music that was sung was 
 that of the Greek Theatre ; " the proofs being : — 
 
 " First, that the musical scale was divided, by the ancient 
 Jews, and the nations among whom they sojourned, into 
 smaller intervals than those of the G-reek diatonic genus, 
 whereas the Ambrosian Chant exactly accords with this 
 genus ; second, that the four modes employed bv St.' 
 
CHURCH MUSIC. 251 
 
 Ambrose — ^the Dorian, the Phrygian, the Lydian, and the 
 Mixo-Lydian — are identical with the G-reek modes so named, 
 and are applied, in ecclesiastical use, each to the expression 
 of the same sentiment as in the G-reek Theatre. St. 
 Ambrose was an innovator in incorporating music in the 
 service of the Church ; and he appropriated the pagan 
 music which was accessible to his congregation, and indeed 
 familiar." 
 
 Macfarren incurred some obloquy in certain circles 
 for his outspoken views on this matter; but he never 
 flinched from the position here taken up. 
 
 He next notices the labours of St. Gregory in 
 " adding four additional modes of the Greeks to those 
 of Ambrose, and perpetuating his revised and extended 
 system by inventing a method of notation ; " and the 
 introduction, several centuries later, of harmony, "in 
 the form of extempore descant upon the Gregorian 
 Chant ; and long after this, the rules of written 
 Counterpoint were instituted." 
 
 Following upon this introductory survey, "the 
 adoption of music in the English Church at the Re- 
 formation, in the first instance, direct from the Church 
 of Rome," is recorded, the labours of John Merbeok, 
 Tallis, and others, being referred to ; then the singing 
 of Hymns, of the metrical versions of the Psalms, 
 etc. Of the various derivations of the word : — 
 
 " ' Anthem,' — substituted for Hymn in the later Prayer 
 Book of Elizabeth, that is to be preferred which assigns its 
 origin to Antithema, implying that it first denoted free 
 counterpoint agaiQst a given theme — the harmony to the 
 Psalm-tune — analogous to Motet, the Motettm or moving 
 part against the Gantus Fermus of the Roman Church. 
 Several illustrations of this definition prove the concise 
 character originally purposed for the Anthem, and point 
 
252 ENGLISH CHURCH MUSIC. 
 
 to the dereliction from this in the lengthy and com- 
 pUcated compositions of later times." 
 
 This latter pronouncement may be recommended to 
 all whom it may concern : as may also that which 
 succeeds : — though the persons herewith concerned 
 are not those concerned in the last. 
 
 " The corruption of English Church Music has its root 
 in the retention of the precentorship as a priestly office at 
 the time of the Eeformation, the period at which the study 
 of Music, like all other civil studies, first became common 
 among the laity. The effect of this first great fundamen- 
 tal evil was not felt till much later ; but there can be now 
 no question of the impropriety of committing the entire 
 control of the singers, the choice of the music, and every 
 arrangement and responsibility of this highly important 
 element of the Church Service to an officer who is not com- 
 pulsorily acquainted with music. That some few precen- 
 tors have a knowledge of the subject which it is their duty 
 to direct only aggravates the ill-working of the system, 
 since it gives countenance to the very many more who are 
 equally ignorant, and either indifferent or prejudiced. 
 The contributions to Psalmody by persons of little musical 
 education, or with none, began early in the last century, 
 and have tended seriously to vulgarise and emasctdate this 
 noble branch of Church Music. The misappropriation of 
 the Glee style of writing to church composition has done 
 equally much to deteriorate the music special to the cathe- 
 dral. The admission of Solo Anthems has tended to make 
 the church an arena for the display of the singers, and for 
 the indulgence of the audience, who have attended service 
 more for the amusement of criticism than for the edifica- 
 tion of prayer. The adaptation of irrelevant words to 
 music from the florid Masses of composers of later times, 
 from Oratorios, and from instrumental works, has perverted 
 the composer's designed expression, which is the highest 
 quality in music, and has thus degraded the Art and its 
 influences. The introduction of compositions by clerical 
 amateurs or their friends, whose social position has com- 
 
i:nolish church music, choral. 253 
 
 manded attention to their productions, has often made the 
 church a medium for the gratification of vanity, at the ex- 
 pense of genuine artistry. The attempt to revive the use 
 in the church of the Greek system of music, (which Am- 
 brose introduced and Gregory continued, because there 
 was then none other accessible), produces, if not an affec- 
 tation of sanctity, at least a pedantic assumption of anti- 
 quarianism that is as remote from devotion." 
 
 This distribution of censure pretty well all round 
 deriyes its severity from its justice ; and it is easier 
 to evade its bard bits by asking whether Macfarren 
 was specially qualified to pronounce judgment in this 
 matter, seeing that he was not an habitual church 
 attendant, — or by some other tu quoque retorts, — than 
 to rebut the terse sentences by denial or argument. 
 Much of that which has been quoted applies equally 
 to Noncomformist practices in the matter of Psalmody 
 and congregational anthem-singing. But the criti- 
 cisms and principles themselves are sound, and worthy 
 of consideration by very many concerned, whether in 
 the Established Church or in the Free Churches. 
 
 In a review which bears internal evidence of being 
 Macfarren^s, he makes some observations which were 
 very timely when written, and, even now, are not un- 
 timely in their reproduction : — 
 
 "A choral is, to the best of our belief, a hymn-tune sung by 
 the people in chorus in the service of the Lutheran Church. 
 Chorals are for the most part, old, and they are also, for 
 the most part, each associated with its own poem. It has 
 been common for the musicians of North Germany, almost 
 from the date of the Eeformation, to employ the choral 
 tunes as themes for elaboration in their vocal, as much as 
 instrumental works. Some of the oldest and best of them 
 are thus introduced by Mendelssohn in his ' St. Paul,' and 
 their insertion is justified, and their interest induced in 
 
254 CHORAL. 
 
 the situation of their occurrence, by the German people's 
 intimacy with them in connection with the words to which 
 they have habitually sung them, every man from childhood 
 onwards. Wlien this oratorio was imported into England, 
 folks thought it necessary to preserve the definition of the 
 Chorals, since they were unlike in character, form, and 
 extent, to any pieces in oratorios with which the English 
 public was familiar ; and to secure the G-erman pronuncia- 
 tion of the word with the accent on the final syllable, an 
 ' e ' was added at the end, which must have been meant to 
 be mute. The public, however, misunderstood the ortho- 
 epic intention of the English editors, read the extended 
 word. Chorale, as a tri-syllable, and took to pronouncing 
 its new and peculiarly English addition as they do in 
 ' Charley.' Since Mendelssohn's first oratorio, his 'Hymn 
 of Praise ' and his Organ Sonatas, in which some specimens 
 of the old Choral appear to have helped to make their 
 definition in its English three-syllable form familiar, and 
 this familiarity is strongly confirmed by the knowledge, 
 recently becoming general, of Bach's 'Music of the Passion,' 
 wherein examples abound of the ancient Lutheran Choral 
 tune. Respect for these works, and for others from the 
 same source, has, we may suppose, been the prompting to 
 some of our best English composers to emulate the pre- 
 cedent of the great Germans ; and they have incorporated 
 in like manner, in some of their extensive works, pieces 
 that might serve for hymn-tunes, and these they anoma- 
 lously entitle ' Chorale(y)s,' unmindful that they are not 
 venerable tunes of Lutheran use, that they are not old 
 hymn-tunes at all, that they can never call to remembrance 
 particular poems, since they have never been associated 
 with any words whatever, and seeming to forget that the 
 said melodies are their own, the said composers' original 
 productions. Now, if such misuse of the term chorale (y) 
 is not an affectation, it is surely a mistake ; since the word 
 so applied is a misnomer. We earnestly suggest, then, to 
 our native musicians of experience and credit to discontinue 
 the example to their younger brethren of a misuse which 
 savours so strongly of affectation as to imbue those who 
 practise it with its odour. Hymn-tune is a good enough 
 term, and hymn, without tune, is a better ; moreover they 
 
ORGAN IN CHURCH. CHURCH MOBES. 255 
 
 have both been English since further back than it is easy 
 to trace their use ; and we urge that either of these would 
 be appropriate to the pieces that writers of latest times 
 have taken to calling Chorale(y)s." 
 
 In reply to an inquiry, the nature of which may be 
 surmised, Macfarren addressed the following to Mr. 
 Gilbert Scott, in the year 1879 : — 
 
 " On the question proposed to me, I think that if the 
 object be to lead congregational singiug, or, more properly 
 expressed, to drown the inaccuracies of unskilled vocalists, 
 a large, coarse-toned organ may be highly desirable. If 
 the object be to produce the effect of musical beauty, by 
 judicious accompaniment of a trained choir, then an organ 
 of moderate power, but of good tone, and with full pedal 
 compass, is very greatly to be preferred to a larger and 
 louder instrument, which no player with a real feeling for 
 his task would use at the full for such a purpose. If a 
 sum of money be contributed for musical ends in any 
 church, I beheve it would be far better applied ia some 
 investment that would yield an annual fund to be spent 
 upon choir- training than on the increase of an organ, inas- 
 much as it would lead to the efficient performance of 
 admirable compositions, and the taste of hearers as well as 
 executants would thereby be exalted. This opinion, beiag 
 framed more upon general principles than upon experience 
 in church music, is offered with diffidence, but I beheve it 
 would have the concurrence of persons better versed in this 
 particular branch of the subject than myself." 
 
 Macfarren's account of, and views about the Eccle- 
 siastical Modes are succinctly stated in his analysis, 
 written in the programme of the second performance 
 of the Quartet Association, May 12th, 1852, of the 
 third movement of Beethoven's Quartet in A minor. 
 Op. 132 ; the movement in question being indicated 
 by Beethoven as ' vn, modo Liddco ' — in the Lydian 
 
256 ECCLESIASTICAL MODES. 
 
 Mode. The analyst avails himself of the opportunity 
 
 to say : — 
 
 " It is now-a-days no novelty to speak of the Gregorian 
 Tones and the Ecclesiastical Modes. Many, however, who 
 may have been in the very midst of the contest that has for 
 some while prevailed upon this subject, may be unaware of 
 the musical grounds upon which all persons of cultivated 
 taste, or even of common sense, must, when they become 
 acquainted with the principle, denounce the restoration of 
 Grregorianism as an act of the most absurd, and either 
 wilful or ignorant barbarity. It would, of course, be wholly 
 out of place to enter here upon any lengthened discussion 
 of this curious point of musical antiquity. But it is indis- 
 pensable to the understanding of the present Adagio, that 
 I should advance a few of the principles of the style of 
 music which it emulates ; and this I shall do as succinctly 
 as possible. 
 
 St. Gregory, and St. Ambrose before him, knew nothing 
 of the inflection of notes by sharps and flats. They had 
 the notes of our present scale of C and none other. They 
 foimd, however, that from many causes, of which, probably, 
 monotony was not the least important, it was impossible to 
 restrict themselves exclusively to the key of C, as we now 
 understand it, and therefore employed the several Modes of 
 the .more ancient Greek diatonic music, rejecting the chro- 
 matic and the enharmonic systems that were in use with 
 the heathen musicians. These Modes, bearing still the 
 original Greek names, are on the six first notes of our scale 
 of C, each being treated as a tonic or key-note, in so far as 
 that a composition begins and ends upon it ; but having, 
 as I have said, no sharps and flats — this Lydian Mode, in 
 which this movement is written — said to be the most gentle 
 and plaintive in character, whence the line of the poet — 
 
 " Softly sweet in Lydian measure " — 
 
 answers to what would be our key of F without a B flat, 
 the unsatisfactory, not to say disagreeable, effect of which 
 savage artifice is, at least, strange and uncouth, and 
 irreconcilable to ears accustomed to the modern scale of 
 nature. It is not to be wondered that the fashionable 
 
ORATORIOS IN CHURCH. 257 
 
 dilettanti, and the astute critics of the Olympic G-ames, 
 thought so favourably of the sweetness of the Lydian Mode, 
 as -we find expressed by Milton, who in this is the representa- 
 tive of a host of classic authorities, since, whatever be the 
 effect of this upon us, who have very different associations 
 to direct our judgment, it is the very perfection of propriety, 
 when compared to that of the keys of D and A and E 
 without sharps, which were, to express different sentiments, 
 equally in use, not only among the Greeks, but, until some 
 two or three centuries ago, in the Christian Church, from 
 which they have been gradually banished — as from secular 
 music also — ^by the gradual advance of the art, and indeed 
 of the science of music." 
 
 The views of Macfarren on Church Music, as thus 
 enunciated, were by no means unchallenged, how- 
 ever; but were the occasion of a correspondence, 
 perhaps not wholly free from acrimony, in the " Choir " 
 of September 21st, October 5th, 19th, and November 
 2nd, 1867 ; — the discussion being opened by Rev. 
 S. S. Greatheedj calling forth a reply from Macfarren, 
 a rejoinder from Rev. S. S. Greatheed, with an article 
 by James Finn on the " Origin of Gregorian Music,'' 
 and a final reply from Macfarren. 
 
 With reference to the introduction of Oratorios in, 
 Chv/rch, is to be recorded that Macfarren wrote an 
 article in the "Musical Times" for March 1872; 
 commencing : — 
 
 "What is an oratorio? Originally, a musical compo- 
 sition to be performed in the oratory. 
 
 " What is an oratory ? A place set apart for prayer in a 
 private dwelling; a portion of a church appropriated to 
 special uses — such as that of the meetings instituted in 
 Rome by S. Philippe Neri, where oratorios were performed, 
 which took their defining, title from that of the place 
 wherein they were heard. 
 
258 ORATORIOS IN CHURCH. 
 
 "What is a cturch? 'The Lord's house;' a building 
 dedicated to public worship and to religious edification. 
 
 Since some churches include an oratory, and since the 
 oratory gave rise and definition to the oratorio, it is at 
 least anomalous that certain well-meaning and thoughtful 
 persons should publicly protest against the performance of 
 oratorios in ecclesiastical buildings. The history of the 
 development of this grand class of musical composition, 
 and of its influence, furnishes argument against the pro- 
 test ; let me glance at the history and hint at the argument." 
 
 The historical sketch is copious, including not only 
 the origination of the Oratorio, and its two forms, but 
 passing in review its secularizing in Italy, till it be- 
 came distinctly an Opera upon a Biblical subject : its 
 introduction into Germany in the time of Luther, 
 who 
 
 " Aimed to conserve and perpetuate all that he deemed 
 good and pure in Eoman use ; hence many choral tunes of 
 Eoman origin are associated with his name; hence, too, 
 the recital of the story of the Passion at Eastertide, with 
 aU possible earnestness, solemnity, and vitality of effect :" 
 
 The music for these recitals by Handel " the name 
 dearest to us all," and by other composers : " the 
 culmination of this gradual ascent in character and in 
 importance of the Oratorio for Holy Week ... in 
 Bach's setting of two, if not three, of the Biblical 
 versions of the Passion," — the " Matthew Passion " 
 of Bach being pronounced " the Author's master- 
 piece " : the introduction of the Oratorio into England 
 by Handel, in 1720, by the performance of his 
 " Esther " : the Lent performances in Covent Garden 
 Theatre : the performance of the " Mfjssiah," first 
 in Dublin, then in London, March 23rd, 1743 : and he 
 continues : — 
 
"THE MESSIAH." 259 
 
 " This oratorio lias done and still does far more than 
 any other, more even than any work of other arts, more I 
 believe than any literary essays or spoken discourses, to 
 popularise throughout England the Scripture texts which 
 most strongly bear upon the Christian story ; and it has 
 thus been of infinite consequence in the dissemination of 
 Christian lore, in making familiar to every one, of every 
 rank and station, of every sect, of every degree of educa- 
 tion and ignorance, the revered words whereon is based 
 the whole of the Church's teaching. Aversion was so 
 strong, however, from the supposed profanation of this 
 holiest of themes, that it was deemed indecorous to an- 
 nounce the work by the title to which it had been written, 
 .... and it was accordingly advertised as 'A Sacred 
 Oratorio,' a name that Sandel reserved for this one work 
 alone. In spite of this evasion, the repugnance of the 
 London world was so strong against the public presenta- 
 tion of the ' Messiah,' that though its name was withheld, 
 its success was indifferent. It was heard but thrice, and 
 that coldly, in the year of its production, and once in 
 1745 ; then it lay by for four years, and was brought 
 forward again as the ' Messiah,' in 1749, but with no 
 happier result. In 1750, when the composer opened the 
 organ he had presented to the chapel of the PovrndUng 
 Hospital, the ' Messiah ' was reproduced in that buildiag, 
 when, for the first time, it was felt to be in its natural and 
 legitimate home. All prejudice against it was dispelled, 
 crowds thronged to witness its performance, and from 
 that notable 1st of May, aU England has acknowledged the 
 equal importance to Christianity and to art of this glorious 
 monument to its author's genius. Now, when we hear the 
 ' Messiah ' texts, as they occur incidentally in the Daily 
 Service, they fall upon our ear as quotations from the 
 oratorio ; for all that is most significant has been so 
 happily chosen, and has been so effectively brought together 
 in this work, that it is a complete epitome of the subject, 
 and we hear the sacred words in association with notes of 
 Handel so frequently, that it is aU but impossible to part 
 either from other, in our recollection, or in the impression 
 they make." 
 
260 FESTIVAL OF THE THREE CHOIRS. 
 
 This is all eloquently stated^ as is much more in 
 this paper ; for instance, at the " Festival of the 
 three Choirs" — Worcester, Hereford, and Gloucester, 
 in the cathedrals of which cities, — alternately, — 
 
 " Thousands of persons are yearly brought together to 
 witness the performance of the noblest works in sacred 
 art, on a grander scale, and with a nearer approach to 
 perfection, than is elsewhere to be heard, save under ex- 
 ceptional, and somewhat analogous circumstances. The 
 grandeur of the works themselves, and of their presenta- 
 tion is enormously enhanced by the site where they take 
 place ; the , gorgeous effect of sound within those superb 
 buildings, the associations wherewith they are invested, 
 and the scene they present, all swell the solemnity of the 
 occasion and aid in the impression of the hour, and its 
 lasting influence. People receive thus the highest moral 
 education in the refinement of their taste, and the nurture 
 of their intellect, and the highest religious education in the 
 implanting in their hearts of the Church's principles with 
 such healthful adjuncts that they may not easily be eradi- 
 cated. I have met with devout men and trivial, learned 
 and uninstructed, some who have sought edification and 
 some mere amusement, who have all concurred in the 
 admission that they have been far more deeply impressed 
 by oratorios when they have heard them in these holy 
 piles than on any other occasion, and a deep impression is 
 the seed of an ever-green memory." 
 
 The beauty of this last axiomatic clause will at 
 once strike the reader. 
 
 After alluding to the Commemoration of Handel in 
 Westminster Abbey, and the Festival in the same 
 building in 1834, he proceeds to the then repent per- 
 formance therein, on Maunday Thursday, of Baches 
 Matthew Passion- Music, which he reverts to "with 
 an intense feeling of gratitude." 
 
 "The 'Passion' of Sebastian Bach has no element of 
 
FUTURE OF ENGLISH MUSIC 261 
 
 popular effect, makes no appeal to vulgar appreciation, 
 but aims ever at the most exalted expression of the purest 
 ideas, and aims not in vain. In that vast area, one felt by 
 sympathy — and sympathy's language is the universal silent 
 speech that can never be misinterpreted — that a single 
 emotion conjoined the thousands of hearts which beat there 
 as with one pulse, and that aU were for the time translated 
 out of their ordinary selves into a nobler state of being." 
 
 There is much more to the same purpose ; and the 
 paper concludes with an earnest peroration : — 
 
 " I believe in a great future for English Music ; I think 
 that the Church may be its field; and I know that, except 
 the opportunities be greatly widened for oratorio perfor- 
 mances, there can be no use for the grandest class of 
 musical works, nor fair scope for the exercise of musical 
 genius in their composition. It would be a mighty and a 
 glorious task for those who are to come, were they to be 
 called upon to supplement the repertory of masterpieces to 
 which allusion has been made, and to be assured that 
 kindred excellence to these would be a guarantee for the 
 presentation of such newly created works on the occasions 
 to which they were appropriate. These works would have 
 a preference over productions of elder times in their being 
 written in the technical idiom of the age in which they 
 were produced, and in the expressing the feelings of that 
 age, and of the generation to which they were addressed. 
 To men who love their art, to men who love their religion, 
 to men who love their country, this should not be a trifling 
 argujnent ; let me hope at least that it may weigh with 
 others which have been adduced in the consideration of 
 persons who examine the important question as to the 
 propriety of the presentation of Oratorios in Church." 
 
 It is impossible, or at all events would be out of 
 place here to discuss the questions, ecclesiastical, 
 religious, and other, which are involved in the subject 
 of this paper. It is here quoted copiously in order to 
 supplement the views advanced by Macfarren in his 
 
262 ROSSINI'S MESSE SOLENNELLE. 
 
 Lecture on the Music of the Church of England ; and 
 the concluding paragraph may, in some sense, sup- 
 plement his views, elsewhere presented in this volume, 
 as to English Music generally, and its prospects. He 
 again urged his views on the subject of Oratorios in 
 Church, in an article in the "Musical Times," January, 
 1873, forecasting the performance of Mendelssohn's 
 " St. Paul," or a selection therefrom, in St. Paul's 
 Cathedral, on the 25th of that month. 
 
 Mention may appropriately be made here of an 
 elaborate criticism which Macfarren wrote, in the 
 " Musical Times," of May and June, 1869, of Eossini's 
 then recently published " Messe Solennelle : " con- 
 cerning which, among other depreciatory comments, 
 he says :— 
 
 " Among audiences, they who make the boarding-school 
 distinction between singing and music, loving sound for 
 its physical beauty, rather than for its intellectual influ- 
 ence, for its effect upon the senses more than for its 
 embodiment of sense, will be enraptured with this com- 
 position, which is from end to end a course of vocalization — 
 pure singing for the sake of vocal display ; devoid entirely 
 of the encumbrance of declamation and expression ; inter- 
 rupted only with such demonstrations of supposed learning 
 as will afford convenient moments of repoSe to the hearers 
 who may talk, during which, of the exquisite performance 
 of the last solo piece, and think the chorus then proceeding 
 too profound for their comprehension." 
 
 Reference has been made to Macfarren's incidental 
 animadversion upon the Qlee, — a specially English 
 form of composition. More general assent will be 
 given to his animadversion upon the importation of 
 the Glee style into the music of the Church. Perhaps 
 it would now be more exact to characterize such im- 
 
MACFABREN'S CHURCH MUSIC, ETC. 263 
 
 portation as the Part-song style. But, as we have 
 ah-eady seen, Maofarren has elsewhere expressed him- 
 self strongly upon the fragmentary character of English 
 Glees, even those which were at one time in great 
 vogue. 
 
 Although Maofarren was not a church-goer, he 
 himself contributed not a little to Church Music ; 
 Services, Anthems, Introits (a complete series, adapted 
 to the Festivals of the Church of England, the words 
 selected by Dr. B. G. Monk) , Psalm-tunes, and Chants. 
 His Oratorios will be subsequently spoken of. 
 
 Indeed, in conjunction with his work as an analyst 
 and critic, his work as a producer of music continued 
 with little or no intermission. During the period of 
 lecturing and article- writing, dealt with in this and 
 the preceding chapters, Macfarren produced not only, 
 as we have seen, several dramatic works, but also the 
 Quartet in G minor, which was so favourably received 
 at its first performance,^ that it was repeated during 
 the same season, " by particular desire.'' The slow 
 movement is described by one who has heard it as " a 
 lovely little song." The programme gives the subjects 
 of this movement as follows : — 
 
 AndaiUe quasi AUegretto. 
 
 ' See p. 197. 
 
264 DON CARLOS AND FESTIVAL OVERTURES. 
 
 The programme in whicli the first performance forms 
 an item contains also the above-quoted , remarks on 
 the Gregorian modes. 
 
 In 1856, when Sterndale Bennett was appointed 
 Conductor of the Philharmonic Society's Concerts, he 
 expressed a wish that, at the first performance directed 
 by him, a work by his old fellow-student should be 
 played ; and Macfarren selected an overture written 
 by him some years previously, that to Schiller's " Don 
 Carlos ; " which, indeed, had been tried by the Society 
 of British Musicians, under the conduotorship of Mr. 
 Walter Macfarren, during the composer's absence in 
 America, and subsequently performed at one of John 
 HuUah's concerts at St. Martin's Hall, and again at a 
 New Philharmonic concert. 
 
 A " Festival Overture" was composed for and per- 
 formed at the Liverpool Festival, 1874 ; but, accord- 
 ing to contemporary account, that performance was 
 not satisfactory, the audience were inattentive, and 
 success consequently not great, although Macfarren's 
 name was in the ascendant, as a result of the recent 
 production of " St. John the Baptist." The " Festival 
 Overture " was, however, repeated, with better success; 
 at one of the Novello Concerts at the B,oyal Albert 
 Hall, under the directorship of Mr. Barnby ; at one of 
 Mr. Henry Leslie's Concerts ; at a Royal Academy 
 Concert ; and at a Concert by the British Orchestral 
 Society, April 7th, 1875. One very agreeable subject 
 is as follows : — •- 
 
SYMPHONIES AND CONCERTOS. 
 
 265 
 
 At the British Orchestral Societyj also, in 1874, 
 March 26th, under the conductorship of Mr. George 
 Mount, was produced Macfarren's Symphony in B 
 minor, composed for the occasion; the sixth or seventh 
 of his Symphonies ; which was again performed by the 
 Philharmonic Society in 1879. A Symphony in D 
 was composed at an earlier period for the Amateur 
 Musical Society, conducted by Mr. Henry Leslie. 
 Nor must a Flute Concerto, composed for Mr. Rad- 
 cliffe, and a Violin Concerto, in G minor, composed 
 for Herr Ludwig Straus, be overlooked : the latter 
 was first played by Herr Straus, at a Philharmonic 
 Concert, May 12th, 1873 ; and again. May 28th, 1877. 
 
 Concerning the 13 minor Symphony, a critic wrote : — 
 
 "Our distingTiished musician earns his greatest triumphs 
 at a period in life when mental activity might be considered 
 to be on the wane. . . : Mr. Macfarren's Symphony is 
 ambitious and imposing; it possesses undoubted grandeur, 
 both in the original conception and the method of its 
 treatment ; it is elaborated, as only a master hand could 
 have worked it out, and it possesses those abstract 
 principles which bespeak the nature of its ideas as not 
 
266 
 
 SYMPHONY IN E MINOR. 
 
 lying merely upon the surface, but penetrating to 'stUly 
 depths ' unfathomahle save by the expert. . . . There 
 is something in the . conception of Mr. Macfarren's work 
 which is almost terrible in its intensity ; the opening phrase, 
 like the curse in ' Rigoletto,' interrupts the serenity of the 
 lighter portions, and interposes a direful obstacle which 
 nothing can surmount. Throughout the Symphony this 
 haunting phrase occurs, like the ever-active sword of 
 Damocles, ' Swift to strike, if not to kill.' Any such 
 element as ' prettiaess ' in such a work as this would be 
 out of place : the first movement is restless, agitated, and 
 mournful; the second (serenade, ajidcMife), though melo- 
 dious in character, cannot escape the iafluence of destiny 
 as embodied in the phrase to which we have alluded ; the 
 third. Gavotte : musette : Gavotte da capo, with coda (in 
 place of the usual scherzo), is perhaps the lightest section 
 of a serious work; but the final allegro is, despite the 
 flowing nature of its themes, as sorrowful and as agitated 
 as the opening movement. Taken all in. all the Symphony 
 in E minor represents the nature of a ' man of sorrow, and 
 acquainted with grief more than anything else; its episodes 
 are futile to contend against the overwhelming mournful- 
 ness of the subjects, and the Symphony runs its course in 
 an atmosphere of sadness and regret. The quiet and 
 meditative beauties of various isolated portions we cannot 
 here deal with." 
 
 The Serenade was pronounced by another critic " a 
 charming song throughout." 
 
 The " direful obstacle " theme of the opening 
 movement is : — 
 
 Among smaller works, of which Macfarren was 
 continually issuing examples, may be mentioned two 
 
ORGAN COMPOSITIONS, ETC. 267 
 
 Romances, not published together, for Concertina and 
 Pianoforte, written for Mr. Richard Blagrove, about 
 1856 and 1859 respectively. Also two songs with 
 Pianoforte and Clarinet (or Harmonium) obbUgato 
 accompaniment. That admirable artist, Mr. Henry 
 Lazarus, asked- him to write a song with accompani- 
 ment for his instrument : " A widow bird,'' to words 
 by Shelley, was the result. But the eminent clari- 
 nettist was not satisfied without a more gay song to 
 follow ; and " Pack clouds away," words by Thomas 
 Hey wood, followed. To this mention of some of the 
 compositions of this period must be added two Sonatas 
 for Pianoforte and Violin, in A and C respectively; one 
 being dedicated to his brother Walter. And, further, he 
 contributed a Sonata for the Organ to the " Organist's 
 Quarterly Journal of Original Compositions ; " con- 
 cerning which a critic wrote : — 
 
 " Mr. Macfarren's Sonata is a piece of some pretension, 
 and by no means easy to play. We must say that we 
 think it a very grand and striking composition. It is 
 surprising that the composer, who is no performer himself, 
 should have so completely hit ofE the character and capa- 
 bilities of the instrument for which he was writing. But 
 true genius can accomplish anything." 
 
 Other works written for the Organ were a " Re- 
 ligious March " in B flat, with a Trio (or Alternativo) 
 in which the Old Hundredth is treated contrapuntaUy, 
 the Pedal part being partly in Canon with the 
 Melody : an " Andante in G : " " Secular March " in 
 A : and " Variations on the tune ' Windsor,' " the 
 last variation being fugal. 
 
 He also lent his name as editor, — doubtless doing 
 more than this, however, — to " The Mother's Book 
 
268 MADRIGALS. MOZART'S REQUIEM, ETC. 
 
 of Song : two-part Songs for little singers, on the 
 Kindergarten School system. Music by Lady 
 Baker." 
 
 Macfarren himself published " Three Madrigals " 
 to the words of Nursery Rhymes : — " Sing a Song of 
 Sixpence : " " Girls and Boys come ont to play : " 
 " The Man of Edmonton : " the first having been 
 written for HullaVs " Part- Music : " but these were by 
 no means for "Kindergarten," or even for juvenile use. 
 
 And, ever interested in all musical questions, and 
 especially any concerning Mozart, he wrote a some- 
 what detailed letter to Dr. Pole, in connection with 
 that geutleman^s interesting and exhaustive researches 
 about the matter, giving emphatic expression of his 
 opinion that the Requiem was entirely the composi- 
 tion of Mozart, though the orchestration indicates 
 another hand in some places ; giving this opinion on 
 intrinsic, not extrinsic evidence. 
 
 In June, 1859, the Council of the Society of Arts 
 appointed a Committee " to consider the present state 
 of musical pitch in England : " the musical profession 
 being represented by Professor W. Sterndale Bennett, 
 Sir George Smart, Benedict, H. G. Blagrove, Godfrey, 
 Otto Goldschmidt, Goss, J. H. Griesbach, Halle, 
 Harper, W. Hawes, Hobbs, E. J. Hopkins, C. E. 
 Horsley, Hullah, H. C. Lunn, G. A. Macfarren, Alfred 
 Mellon, A. Nicholson, Cipriani Potter, J. Turle, J. 
 R. Tutton, and Waddell, besides many scientifid 
 authorities, and others. After the presentation of the 
 report of this Committee, Macfarren wrote in the 
 "Choir," March 29th, April 3rd, and April 17th, 
 1869, a short smes of articles on the subject, com- 
 mencing : — 
 
ARTICLES ON MUSICAL PITCH. 269 
 
 "Acuteness is brilliancy! Altitude is brightness!! 
 There never was a greater fallacy in the whole history of 
 error. The heavens have forbidden it ever since the crea- 
 tion, and have made their protest manifest to man ever 
 since he was inspired to calculate the distances and to 
 analyse the composition of the stars. Tet, while astro- 
 nomers and other men of science reverentially profess the 
 opposite conviction, it is possible, strangely possible, and 
 not only possible, but true, that some musicians assert the 
 mistake and maintain it as steadfastly as if it were Grospel. 
 Unhappily, some of them stand in high and authoritative 
 places, and have thus the power of enforcing their false 
 creed, to the destruction of voices, to the deterioration of 
 instruments, and to the injury of music. Hence the pre- 
 sent superiority of the musical pitch of England over that 
 of all other countries — ^most inferior superiority, when 
 sound is higher than sense, and intonation is higher than 
 reason. 
 
 " The analogy is perfect between sound and hght in 
 respect to quality, and nothing but quality being the 
 cause of its more or less brightness of character. This 
 same quaUty results wholly from the peculiar constitution 
 of the sound-giving or light-giving body. Thus it is not 
 the proximity or remoteness of the orbs of heaven, not 
 even their relative magnitude, that induces the greater or 
 less intensity of their light, which is entirely a consequence 
 of the proportions and combinations of their chemical ele- 
 ments. Thus also, it is not the acuteness or gravity of a 
 musical sound, nor even its loudness or softness, that in- 
 duces the greater or less brilliancy of tone, which in like 
 manner is entirely a consequence of the peculiar structure 
 of the natural or artificial organ by which it is produced. 
 Every one knows that the tone of a Straduarius violin is 
 more brilliant and that of an Amati sweeter than the 
 other ; that the tone of an oboe is m6re piercing than that 
 of a clarionet; that the tone of a trumpet, when played 
 pianissimo, ih brighter than that of a flute ; etc." 
 
 The whole matter is then cogently argued, with 
 regard to instruments and voices. 
 
270 GREEK MELODIES. 
 
 ■ For the first volume of the late Mr. W. Chappell's 
 " History of Music," Macfarren harmonized two 
 Greek melodies, with reference to which the " Musical 
 World," August 22nd, 1874, remarked : — 
 
 " To the question whether the G-reeks were acquainted 
 with harmony, Mr. Chappell answers positively in the 
 affirmative ; while to Dr. Bumey's assertion that such 
 Grreek melodies as have come down to us cannot be har- 
 monized, he replies by handing the said melodies to Mr. 
 Gr. A. Macfarren, who forthwith harmonizes them." 
 
 The " Musical Times," October, 1874, said : 
 
 "It may, however, be fairly questioned whether the 
 
 result is Greek Music By making such tunes 
 
 form part of a modern tissue of harmonies, they become 
 an essentially modem piece of music." 
 
 Some idea may be formed, even from the record 
 given in this chapter, of the intense, unwearied and 
 diversified activity of Macfarren's mind, always clear 
 and thorough, whatever the subject of its energies. 
 
CHAPTER XII.. 
 
 Macpaeeen and the Tonic Sol-Fa System. His 
 Openness to Conviction. His Utterances 
 
 CONCEENING BaCH. BiOGEAPHIES. ADDITIONAL 
 
 Accompaniments. 1857-1882. 
 
 A NOTEWORTHY chapter in Macfarren's attitude, 
 opinions and utterances, is that concerning the 
 Tonic Sol-Fa method of teaching music (especially 
 singing), with its special nomenclature and notation, 
 together with the theory of music and tonality upon 
 which it is founded. That his antagonism thereto 
 was entirely conscientious, against his personal 
 feelings, but in the interests of truth as he conceived 
 it, cannot be questioned; inasmuch as, judging by 
 results, — surely no mean test — he, in the first instance, 
 gave a favourable verdict respecting the system ; and, 
 all along, he was on most friendly terms with its pro- 
 moters. Rev. John Curwen and his son, Mr. J. Spen- 
 cer Curwen, the latter of whom studied with the Pro- 
 fessor at the Academy, and was, most deservedly, 
 held in high esteem by him. That Macfarren should, 
 like many professors, oppose any system which, using 
 new terms and adopting new methods, seemed to re- 
 flect on the established notation, and to delay, instead 
 of facilitating, its acquisition, was not surprising. 
 Such opposition has been encountered by all reforms. 
 
272 TONIC SOL-FA. 
 
 alleged or fallacious, when first advanced : whether 
 from inertness or from prejudice. But Macfarren's 
 opposition was distinctly theoretical, which was, to 
 some, all the more surprising, as it seemed to many 
 of the advocates of Tonic Sol- Fa that it had a theo- 
 retical basis very much in agreement with the views 
 of tonality espoused by Macfarren himself; and that 
 he might rather have been expected to give it his 
 consistent support. But I have heard him say — not, 
 as it seemed to me, with his usual acuteness — " Tonic 
 Sol- Pa is a singular misnomer for the system, inasmuch 
 as the Tonic is movable : and instead of 8'ol they say 
 Soh, and Fah instead of Fa." If this utterance were 
 to be taken as the almost epigrammatic summing up 
 of the objections to the system, its designation, or 
 its nomenclature, the matter might well be left un- 
 noticed : so little force does there seem in such a pre- 
 sentation of the case. But it was not so : Macfarren 
 objected on harmonic grounds. In a letter to the 
 Eev. John Curwen, dated October 25th, 1868, the 
 following remarks occur : — 
 
 "I earnestly wish . ... all possible success to any 
 system that may extend the practical knowledge of music. 
 
 " I wish I could communicate to you my conviction of 
 the identity of the key of C in its major and minor forms; 
 and of its total distinction from the key of E flat, for 
 which I will offer you some new arguments when you 
 come. I am certain that this modification of your system 
 would immensely augment its usefulness by facilitating 
 the perception of true tone relationship. Remember that 
 P flat, Gr flat, and C flat, which are peculiar to the key of 
 E flat, can have no existence in the key of C ; while E, F 
 sharp, and B, are totally foreign to the key of E flat. Be- 
 sides which, the temperament is different of every chord in 
 the two keys." 
 
TONIC SOL-FA^ 273 
 
 It would be beyond our province to expound the 
 acoustical principles here referred to, or to uphold or 
 combat the inferences therefrom deduced. 
 
 His first acquaintance with the practical results of 
 the system appears to have been made at a Concert by 
 the Paris Prize Choir, July 26th, 1867, when his own 
 Part-Song, " Harvest Home," was sung, and, by its 
 admirable rendering, aroused such enthusiastic ap- 
 plause that Macfarren was compelled to address the 
 company, and delivered the following characteristic 
 speech, which, dealing with other matters than the 
 merits of the system, is here given in extenso : — 
 
 " Pray allow me to thank you for the very high gratifica- 
 tion you have given me in this most flattering performance 
 of one of my songs.. Allow me to offer my congratulations 
 on the success of the choir on another ground. It has long 
 been the custom to ignore abroad and at home the musical 
 capacities of the English people. I am very proud to find 
 that our musicaHty has been so ably vindicated, and that 
 not by practised artists of great repute, but by members of 
 the community at large, who have not shown mere indi- 
 vidual talent, but the general talent of the English people. 
 I feel sure that the singing to-night must have satisfied 
 everybody of English capability. It is, of course, very grati- 
 fying to me that one of the pieces selected by the choir in 
 the recent competition was one of my own ; but while I have 
 a personal pride in this, it is also with national pride that 
 I congratulate them upon their success. I feel certain that, 
 whatever the merits of the Tonic Sol-fa system — and until 
 to-night I have had no opportimity of judging — a system 
 which can produce such good results must be a good 
 system." 
 
 And in the " Cornhill Magazine " for September of 
 the following year, 1868,^ he wrote as follows : — 
 
 ' See pp. 137-144. 
 T 
 
274 TONIC SOL-FA. 
 
 " One more institution demands mention because it begins 
 to command a very wide respect. This is the Tonic Sol-fa. 
 Association, which, however peculiar its instructional means, 
 has manifestly the effect of disseminating musical know- 
 ledge among the masses — an effect mainly due to the zealous 
 activity of its leaders. Let me adduce, with thankful plea- 
 sure, a fact that is more than a year old in evidence of the 
 useful working of these friends of art. At a multitudinous 
 assembly of the disciples of this singular system, a piece of ■ 
 music which had been composed for the occasion, and had 
 not until then been seen by any human eyes save those of 
 the writer and the printers, was handed forth to the mem- 
 bers of the chorus there present, and then, before an audience 
 furnished at the same time with copies to test the accuracy 
 of the performance, forty-five hundred singers sang it at 
 first sight in a manner to fulfil the highest requirements of 
 the severest judges." 
 
 Notwithstanding all this, however, and the fact that 
 an Anthem composed by Macfarren himself as a sight- 
 test was sung satisfactorily, — though three Anthems 
 had to be written before one was easy enough for the 
 immediate purpose, — he ultimately assumed an atti- 
 tude of determined hostility to the system, so much so 
 that, in March, 1882, he addressed the following letter 
 to the Right Hon. A. J. Mundella, M.P., Vice-Presi- 
 dent of the Council, with reference to the proposal to 
 recognize the system : — 
 
 "7, Hamilton Terrace, N.W. 
 
 " SiK, 
 
 " I am told it is contemplated by the Council of Educa- 
 tion to authorize the use of the so-called Tonic Sol-fa System 
 of musical notation in elementary schools throughout the 
 country ; and as I think strongly on this subject, I trust 
 you will allow me to ofier my carefully-formed opinion for 
 your consideration. I think the system to be bad, because 
 it hinders the acquisition of a sense of pitch, which is a 
 most valuable quality for musicians ; because it confounds 
 
TONIC SOL-FA. 275 
 
 the characteristics of keys, which have distinctly different 
 harmonic derivation ; and because many of its signs are so 
 vague that persons familiar with the system often mistake 
 them. I think it to be inconvenient, because it can only 
 apply to music up to a very definite limit ; because persons 
 who have learnt from this system have greater difficulty to 
 acquire the ordinary technicalities of music than those who 
 begin to study the art from the standard notation ; and be- 
 cause persons who read only from this system are unable 
 to participate in musical performances with those who read 
 from the usual alphabet. I think the adoption of the 
 system unjust, since imposing on the poor an expenditure 
 of timie and money which they can never turn to any practical 
 account, and placing them at a disadvantage with the rich, 
 who are able to read musical publications of all countries, 
 whereas the use of this exceptional notation is confined to 
 a sect in England and some of its colonies alone. 
 " I have the honour to be. Sir, 
 
 " Faithfully yours, 
 
 " Gr. A. MAOrAEEEN." 
 
 It is only fair to record — and Macfarren vfould have 
 cheerfully accorded such fairness— that these objections 
 were met by the counterpleas that, not only would "the 
 vast majority of those who have been reached by the 
 Tonic Sol-fa System have had no instruction at all but 
 for the efforts of its missionaries/' but that " the ear- 
 training, which is so distinctive a feature of Tonic Sol- 
 fa teaching, must and does sharpen the perception of 
 absolute pitch when attention is particularly directed 
 to it ; " that Macfarren himself had testified to the ad- 
 mirable success in reading and singing at sight by 
 Tonic Sol-faists in his " Cornhill Magazine " article ; 
 that such authority as that of Mr. Sedley Taylor, member 
 of the Board of Musical Studies in Cambridge Univer- 
 sity was to be quoted on the opposite side, and so on. 
 This is not the place to pursue the controversy, espe- 
 
276 TONIC SOL-FA. 
 
 cially as the opposition to the system is no longer so 
 formidable. Mr. A. J. Ellis, F.E.S., translator of 
 Helmholtz's " Sensations of Tone/^ wrote : — 
 
 " Professor Macfarren has deserved so well of music 
 that everyone must regret his having placed himself in 
 such pronounced antagonism to a method of teaching which 
 has done and is doiag so much' to diffuse a practical know- 
 ledge of the art of singing, and a more than merely ele- 
 mentary scientific knowledge of music among classes who 
 
 were never reached by any other method The glory 
 
 of the Tonic Sol-fa method is that it does its utmost to 
 give the sense of relative pitch, which, with due deference 
 to Professor Macfarren, I consider a much more " valuable 
 quality for musicians" than a sense of absolute pitch, which 
 can only exist in relation to a tempered scale, etc. ... I 
 submit that the first assertion of Professor Macfarren falls 
 to the ground." 
 
 And by the same writer, and others, not specially 
 identified with the Tonic Sol-fa movement, the other 
 contentions were rebutted. The following remarks 
 appeared in the "Tonic Sol-fa Reporter," January, 
 1888, and are interesting in other ways than as re- 
 ferring to the controversy ; — 
 
 " What was the reason for Macfarren's hostility to the 
 Tonic Sol-fa system ? In his harmonic thought he was a 
 strong Tonicist, if we may coin a word. He stood alone 
 among harmony teachers in requiring pupils to mark the 
 roots of all the chords they wrote in two-part harmony. 
 His system of chord derivation is based on key ; he con- 
 sidered the whence and where of a combination, not merely 
 its intervals. We have heard him speak of figured bass 
 as an ' exploded fallacy ' ; he was constantly falling foul of 
 it in his teaching, because of its tendency to mislead 
 pupils. Yet he never adopted any other 'system, even 
 though his friend Day had left a tonic nomenclature of 
 
TONIC SOL-FA. 277 
 
 chords rea<Jy to his hand. For the reform of that bundle 
 of inconsistencies, an orchestral score, he cared not at all. 
 We have heard him laiigh over the curious usage by which 
 the horns, when they pass down into the bass clef, are 
 written an octave lower than they are when in the treble 
 clef. But, he added, 'these absurdities are for us to 
 accept ; we cannot mend them.' Thus he was, in music, 
 an ultra-conservative, and towards our notation he observed 
 the same attitude. Having once examined some Tonic 
 Sol-fa papers in which the candidates had in their hurry 
 omitted a few octave marks, he formed the impression 
 that the Tonic Sol-fa notation was inaccurate and uncer- 
 tain, an impression that he repeated in speech and in print 
 ever after. One would fancy that a sightless man would 
 be indifferent to notation. On the contrary, as his pupils 
 so well IcQOw, notation was Macfarren's hobby. Whenever, 
 in playing over an exercise or composition, they came to a 
 chromatic note that was susceptible of two interpretations, 
 he would stop and ask how they had written it, and express 
 great satisfaction if the notation fitted in with his theory 
 of harmonics. 
 
 The reason why Macf arren so often declared his opinions 
 against Tonic Sol-fa, was that he was so strongly con 
 scientious. Personally, he was a most tender-hearted 
 man ; he answered everybody who wrote to him ; and was 
 the most graceful maker of compliments that ever existed. 
 But he had a most exalted sense of duty, and could not 
 even be silent about what he considered error. With all 
 his objections to Tonic Sol-fa, he was careful to be just, 
 and he wrote in 1884 to the Burslem Tonic Sol-fa Choi^ 
 that their singing was the best of any heard during the 
 Eisteddfod week. In almost every letter he addressed to 
 the present vmter he took occasion, when the immediate 
 purpose of the letter was fulfilled. (1) to reiterate his 
 views against Tonic Sol-fa, and (2) to add that these 
 views made not the slightest difference to the regard 
 and esteem which — etc.,' etc. Such a man was naturally 
 very lovable, and the world is richer for his sterling 
 worth." 
 
 In confirmation of the allusions at the close of the 
 
278 LETTERS TO MR. CURWEN. 
 
 above article^ these two letters to Mr. J. S. Ourwen 
 are very pleasant to read : — 
 
 " 7, Hamilton Terrace, N.W. 
 "May 9th, 1882. 
 " Mt deae Ctjbwen, 
 
 "I am told by Mr. Wrigley of your forbearing allusion, 
 at Manchester, to my letter. Eegard for your father and 
 yourself, and respect for the zealous Tvork of your colleagues, 
 makes me regret that I cannot approve your system ; but 
 while obliged to oppose it, I must feel personal esteem for 
 yourself, and I am indeed gratified to find, as I have 
 always believed, that you entertain like sentiments for me. 
 " Tours with friendly regards, 
 
 " Gr. A. Macfabeen." 
 
 " October, 1885. 
 
 " Mr DEAR CtTEWEN, 
 
 " I accept with pleasure the kind offer of your dedica- 
 tion, because the offer and its acceptance will testify to 
 the world that though, from a sense of duty, I must 
 occasionally appear as your opponent, I entertain a high 
 personal regard for you which you do not reject. I shall 
 be most interested in your new book when it appears." 
 
 Of " gracefully made compliments " may be in- 
 stanced the expression, in a congratulatory marriage 
 letter, written, unavoidably, after the " honeymoon," 
 of the wish that "though the moon was over, the 
 honey might remain ! " 
 
 On another subject, of vast musical interest, Mac- 
 farren has been charged with a change of opinion ; no 
 necessary discredit to any man. It has been sagaci- 
 ously said that no man need be ashamed to own that 
 he has been in the' wrong; it is simply to say that he 
 is wiser to-day than he was yesterday. And Mac- 
 farren had no stupid reserve in this matter ; his was 
 a constantly growing mind, accumulating knowledge, 
 
MACFARREN ON BACH. 279 
 
 enlarging its scope and comprehension. And the 
 subject now referred to, and his progressive, rather 
 than contradictory, attitudes towards it, furnish a 
 signal instance of this openness to conviction. It is 
 the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. At one time 
 Macfarren seems to have been but little in advance of 
 other untravelled English Musicians in acquaintance 
 with, and consequent estimate of, the music of the 
 matchless old Cantor. When the first volume of the 
 Leipsic Bach Society reached this country, in 1853, 
 he wrote a series of articles concerning it, in the 
 " Musical World," commencing, "Bach is at present 
 a mystery in England.". And then, after alluding to 
 " the forty-eight Preludes and Fugues, the ' Art of 
 Tugue,' and a few of the Pedal Fugues," as " the 
 emulation of organists and the wonder of harmonists," 
 and referring to the very few other works by the 
 Master that were then known in England, he con- 
 tinues : — 
 
 "Beyond this, we know that Mendelssohn reverenced 
 him ; that all the world acknowledges his exceUence, — it is 
 not so certain that all the world understands what all the 
 world acknowledges; — that he is said to have written 
 much more than any one ever heard; that his music is 
 remarkable for the profoundity of its contrapuntal elabor- 
 ation, for the ceaselessness of its continuity, for the strict- 
 ness of its part-writing, for the occasional most modern 
 and wonderfully beautiful application of some of the ex- 
 tremest chromatic harmonies, for the intolerable harshness 
 of some of its progressions of passing notes, for the 
 frequency of its false relations, for the absence of rhythm, 
 and for the abimdant employment of the ancient Corales, 
 or hymn tunes, of the Lutheran Church, as themes for the 
 various exercise of his powers; that the founder of his 
 house was a Hungarian miller and baker ; that he com- 
 
280 BACH'S CHURCH CANTATAS. 
 
 menced the study of his art at seven years of age ; that he 
 defeated Marchand, a celebrated organist, in a trial upon 
 their instruments; that Frederic the Great dismissed a 
 court to receive the first visit of the notable contrapuntist 
 at Potsdam, wrote him the subject for a Fugue, which he 
 improvised ; that he wrote a Fugue upon the four letters 
 of his own name ; and that he had twenty children, sons 
 and daughters. Knowing all this, we must still admit 
 that Bach is at present a mystery in England — a mystery 
 which the publications of the Bach Society in Leipsic will 
 enable us to solve," etc. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to remind the reader of the 
 date at which the above remarks were written, and 
 of the vast change which these thirty-seven years have 
 wrought, by the progressive "solution" of the 
 " mystery." ' The first volume of the Society's publi- 
 cations contained ten Church Cantatas. After re- 
 marks upon the obsolete instruments comprised in 
 the scores, and the impracticability of much that is 
 allotted to certain instruments and voices, as, well as 
 the " somewhat extraordinary arrangement of instru- 
 ments"; Macfarren proceeds (speaking of the first 
 Cantata, for Annunciation Day, on Corale " Wie 
 schon leuchtet der Morgenstem ") : — 
 
 " It is a conspicuous characteristic of this work, in com- 
 mon with much of the music for full orchestra of Handel, 
 that, both as regards counterpoint and instrumentation, 
 .... each of the parts appears to be written rather with 
 a design to make it independently and individually inter- 
 esting, than with a comprehensive view to the general 
 effect ; thus, we have some of the most irregular and other- 
 wise unaccountable progressions between two or more of 
 the parts, .... [instance given] .... and an utter dis- 
 regard of clearness, which modem experience regards as 
 the highest quality in orchestral writing ; but we have not, 
 in common with Handel, the immensely broad, the truly 
 
BACH'S CHURCH CANTATAS. 281 
 
 colossal ideas which manifest themselveB through all the 
 entanglement of pedantic and useless elaboration, and 
 which make the name of the great author of the ' Messiah' 
 a synonym for sublimity ; nor those occasional extremely 
 judicious dispositions of the parts which anticipate the 
 utmost that has been attained in modern times. One 
 might suppose that the habit in composition of the period 
 when this music was produced, must have been to form 
 some general but not very definite purpose as to a pro- 
 gression of harmony, and then to write all the several 
 parts, each without especial reference to the others, the 
 whole process being more or less analogous to the system 
 of Gothic architecture, in which every particular detail is 
 the subject of especial design. In the case of Handel, the 
 analogy may be continued to the massive grandeur of the 
 general effect ; in the case of Bach, I greatly question if 
 this would be reahzed. 
 
 Throughout the present work, there is more aim at ex- 
 pression than in anything else of the author, with which 
 I have been previously acquainted. There is also an 
 obviously- recognizable form in each of the movements, 
 although this is for the most part somewhat monotonous, 
 and there is, especially in the Arias, a decided, definite, 
 rhythmical phraseology. The art of imitation, I mean the 
 responsive taking up of some particular point from part to 
 part of the score, is so evidently familiar, so obviously 
 natural to the composer, that he plays at elaboration like 
 a game, and treats the most complicate artifices of the 
 musician's repertory as toys invented but to be trifled with. 
 The power of continuity also, the most difficult and the 
 most estimable attainment of the practised artist, is mani- 
 fested throughout with the most effortless and natural 
 fluency. Upon the whole, the work may be candidly con- 
 sidered as a model to the student of what to avoid, while 
 the accomplished musician may learn from it more that 
 will enrich his utmost acquirements, and enable him to 
 embellish his best ideas, than will ten times repay him for 
 the careful study of the score, — I say careful study, be- 
 cause I am certain that except the utmost care be 
 exerted to discern between the good and the evil, and 
 some considerable knowledge brought to bear, to direct 
 
282 BACH'S CHURCH CANTATAS. 
 
 this discernment, the result of a perusal of such a com- 
 position, influenced by such a reverence for the author as 
 "would induce, and therefore accompany it, the result of 
 such a perusal would be most unquestionable." 
 
 In these more recent days of a certain dilettante 
 Bach-worship, such criticism as this, coming from 
 Macfarren, may awaken surprise. Again, let it be 
 remembered that even this criticism was at that time 
 in advance of the prevailing appreciation of Bach in 
 this country ; and, in addition, that even Macfarren 
 himself seems to have extended his acceptance, as he 
 enlarged his acquaintance with Bach's works of the 
 kind, in the course of time ; and, to some extent, to 
 have modified his impressions, although the dis- 
 crimination evinced in this courageous animadversion 
 was never laid aside. In further remarks upon the 
 first movement of this Cantata, he continues: — 
 
 " The chief objection to it, — I feel the delicate ground 
 upon which I tread, in stating objections to the work of 
 one who is universally, most zealously (it may be in some 
 cases blindly) reverenced, but I will have the one great 
 merit of sincerity, whatever be the deficiency of these 
 remarks, and I can have no such veneration for the re- 
 verence of others as to make me disguise my true opinion 
 of the object of their reverence, — the chief objection to 
 this movement is the intolerable harshness of many of the 
 progressions produced by a particular system of passing 
 notes, which Beethoven has adopted in some of his last 
 works (for example, in the first movement of the grand 
 Quartet in B flat), but which even the emulation, the 
 strongest approval of such a master, cannot justify. No, 
 until it can be maintained that consecutive fourths, and 
 consecutive sevenths, and consecutive seconds in the same 
 parts are euphonious and agreeable, nor Bach, nor Beetho- 
 ven, nor the reverence of all the world, shall induce me to 
 admit that they are allowable in harmony, or make me 
 
BACH'S CHURCH CANTATAS. 283 
 
 admire the passages in which they occur. As for such 
 obscurity as is produced by one instrument playing the 
 scale of P major, while another plays the scale of D minor,' 
 or such confusion as is created by passages of passing notes 
 being accompanied by passages in arpeggio in the same 
 measure, these are faults that have come down to the 
 writers of our own day, not, I believe, because they are not 
 considered to be faults, but because of the occasional 
 difficulty of avoiding them ; — it is much, very much to be 
 regretted, that those who judge by precedent and not by 
 principle, should have such a precedent as Bach for such 
 derelictions." 
 
 The series of articles concludes : — 
 
 " The publications of the Bach Society in Leipsic are an 
 interesting, perhaps a valuable study for the accomphshed 
 musician, but a most dangerous one for the reverential 
 student," 
 
 After his animadversions on the "jules broken/' 
 "principles violated," apd "intolerable things in- 
 troduced" in the volume, it is curious to recall, as I 
 do, the remark once made to me by a musician, that 
 he knew of no composer who Had written more ugly 
 music than Macfarren himself; and it was not un- 
 frequently referred to his " principles " in harmony 
 that he had done so. See, also, the remarks quoted 
 from the "Athenaeum," p. 197. 
 
 Shortly before the appearance of these articles, 
 when those who were responsible in the matter of the 
 publication of the posthumous compositions. of Men- 
 delssohn were generally thought to be too reticent, 
 Macfarren wrote a strong article on the subject in the 
 " Musical World," concluding :.— 
 
 ' See p, 224. 
 
284 BACH'S PASSION-MUSIC. 
 
 " I call upon the parties, be they whom they may, that 
 hold this trust, in the name of the musical public of 
 England, to leave the music of Bach — ^which will not 
 become any older or more- obsolete for remaining a few 
 years longer in obscurity, — .... and to give us, incon- 
 tinent, all that they possess of -what we at least esteem 
 treasure above price," etc. 
 
 As time went on, however, more and more of Bach's 
 music was introduced to this country (even as much 
 was unearthed in Germany) ; mainly through the 
 labours of Sterndale Bennett, who founded the Bach 
 Society here, which did much useful work, and then 
 was dissolved. The Motets, the Matthew " Passion- 
 Music,'' and other works, were performed and pub- 
 lished : it became the fashion to accept Bach's Music. 
 Macfarren had the same opportunities as others of 
 enlarging his acquaintance with, and of revising, if 
 not recanting, his expressed opinions. Always open 
 to conviction, always ready to learn, and eager to 
 become acquainted with fine music, he, in no dilettante 
 spirit, but from artistic receptiveness, made himself 
 intimate with these — ^so to speak — " new " works, as 
 they were brought forward, and, one who knew him 
 well has said to me, — "like the good, honest fellow that 
 he was," was not tardy in rendering all homage, as he 
 became, with increasing intelligence, acquainted with 
 the discovered treasures. In February, 1870, in the 
 " Musical Times," he wrote a series of articles on the 
 Matthew " Passion-Music," in which he avows : — 
 
 "It is strange, even to wonderful, that the matchless 
 productions of the greatest master of coimterpoint should 
 have remained a secret . in the land of his birth, and the 
 locality of his activity, for as long again as the whole term 
 of his life, after death had closed his labours It is 
 
BACH'S PASSION-MUSIC. 285 
 
 less remarkable that the fame, the works, nay, the name 
 of Bach, reached not this country. So little did English- 
 men guess at the radiance which would beam from the 
 countenance of the then ' veiled prophet,' that the pon- 
 derous Bumey, who devoted four massive volumes to 
 general musical history, and one to his researches in Ger- 
 many, Bumey, who was personally famiUar with Carl 
 Phillip Emanuel, the most fortunate son of Bach, dismissed 
 the man, the musician, the master, whose now acknow- 
 ledged greatness is the glory of art and of mankind, in a 
 single paragraph ; and this may be regarded as evidence 
 of how little people here knew, how little people here cared, 
 about Bach and his works at the close of the last century. 
 .... Bach was assumed to be a profound scholar, and his 
 works within reach were regarded as scholastic exercises, 
 while the character,, the variety, and above all, the wondrous 
 expression that specially distinguish them, were to the 
 generality, scarcely more than to the student, impercep- 
 tible. He was supposed, and commonly said to be, a 
 writer of fugues, but of nothing else ; and this brief sum 
 of his capabilities included no acknowledgment of the 
 interest, far beyond the elaboration, that he, of all men, 
 imparted to the fugal form. To this very day the preju- 
 dicial influence of that false estimate clogs our compre- 
 hension of the genius of Bach, and the merit of his music ; 
 and, in spite of growing familiarity with the beauties of 
 his suites, and eotmtless other lighter writings, the habit 
 here is to fancy thatBach is fully represented in his fugues, 
 to regard these but from one narrow aspect, and to expect 
 fugalism in every fresh specimen with which we meet, of 
 his innumerable productions. 
 
 " Who looks for this characteristic of the master ia his 
 music of the ' Passion ' will look vainly ; and if he be not 
 disappointed at the absence of the fugal element through, 
 out the work, he will be surprised at the poetical beauty of 
 its declamation, the continuity of its melodies, and their 
 truthfulness to the subject they aim to express, at the' 
 choral effects, as fine as they are unfamiliar, and at the 
 loving tenderness and intense religious feeling that infuse 
 the whole. The work is indeed a contrapuntal marvel, 
 albeit the device of imitation is almost totally unemployed 
 
286 BACH'S PASSION-MUSIC, ETC. 
 
 in it, from first to last. The appliance of the art of counter- 
 point to the multiplication of melodic interest is shown in 
 the complexity of the writing, and this evidences an un- 
 paralleled freedom, which is not more subject for astonish- 
 ment than for admiration. 
 
 ***** 
 
 "There is, perhaps, no musical composition extant wherein 
 is embodied so thoroughly as in the present the implicit 
 faith — at once childlike and mature in its simplicity and 
 its depth — of a devout member of the Christian Church. 
 This is said with a full knowledge of Handel's ' Messiah,' 
 of the sublime conception it presents, and of the pre- 
 eminent artistry it evinces. The two works, however, are 
 as different in character as they are unlike in form, and 
 they are as distinct in the nature and means of their ex- 
 pression as the two masters who wrote them were in the 
 constitution of their minds and the habit of their lives. 
 It is not here to compare these masterpieces ; and allusion 
 is only made to the English Oratorio in deference to the 
 just position it holds as an illustration of religious feeling 
 in this country. The music set to St. Matthew's history 
 of the Passion is essentially an unveiling of the personal 
 feelings of the composer, his vivid sense of the truth of the 
 incidents it depicts, and his loving devotion to the divine 
 sufferer, whose relation to himself is shown to be regarded 
 as of the closest intimacy. It relates the facts with the 
 vivacity of an eye-witness, or one, at least, who witnesses 
 them by the second sight of firm belief ; and it comments 
 upon them with the affection of a participator in the benefits 
 which have resulted from them, and who feels that his 
 special welfare is due to their enactment." 
 
 Later on, when an English edition of Bach's 
 Christmas Oratorio was published, Macfarren prefaced 
 an analytical account of it in the " Musical Times," 
 January, 1874, by avowing : — 
 
 " Grlad tidings to the world of art are the announcement 
 of this great work in an English garb. The successful 
 production of the Matthew Passion of the same master 
 
BACH'S CHRISTMAS ORATORIO, ETC. 287 
 
 tas made his immortal name familiar to thousands, who, 
 if they had previously heard it, regarded it in the false 
 light of misconception, helieving Bach to be the writer of 
 scholastic exercises only, which, because they were wontedly 
 misrepresented in performance, were supposed to be arid 
 and expressionless. The public hearing of the music of 
 the Passion .... has convinced, not only those musicians 
 who were formerly unbelievers, but the great mass of the 
 English people, that there was a power cotemporary with 
 the all-accepted Handel, whose influence, though it dawn 
 upon us far later, will affect us as deeply and, in course of 
 
 time, it is to be expected as universally, as his The 
 
 world must be the better and the wiser for familiarity with 
 this noble music." 
 
 This genuine appreciation, howeverj — more enthu- 
 siastic because the result of greater familiarity, more 
 extended knowledge, than he possessed at first, — never 
 interfered with his discriminating judgment. Sixteen 
 years later on, at the Musical Association, in an address 
 on Handel and Bach (when it was my privilege to 
 occupy the chair) , he said : — 
 
 " With Bach, there was such an exuberance of :elabora- 
 tion, that, save in. a few instances, one cannot, without a 
 large amount of intimacy, comprehend the full meaning of 
 the author. Bach had especially the principles of counter- 
 point at heart in the development of manifold melodies ; 
 but in the entanglement of his melodies there cannot be a 
 question that he introduced often such progressions be- 
 tween parts as are acceptable only because they are Bach's, 
 but would be condemned in the writing of any man who 
 placed not side by side with them such incidents of abso- 
 lute brilliancy as dazzle our senses, and make us incapable 
 of perceiving the xmbeautifid passages. From time to 
 time, since musical laws were first inaugurated, there has 
 been forbidden the progression of two parts in perfect 
 intervals, on6 with another, from fifth to fifth, from eighth 
 to eighth, and fourth to fourth. Prom eighth to eighth 
 
288 . BACH'S FAULTS AND BEAUTIES. 
 
 one will not find in Bach's music, but fifths and fourtlis 
 are not of seldom occurrence, and still worse, and still 
 more often, one finds that his parts proceed in seconds or 
 in sevenths, progressions so hideous that the early law- 
 j^ivers never deemed necessary to prohibit them, believing, 
 one may conjecture, that nobody could be seduced to write 
 what would be repugnant to himself and to .everybody else 
 to hear. Will you think from this that I disparage the 
 master? Will you think from this that I slight the genius 
 of the man who, more than any else, proved the capabilities 
 of counterpoint, proved the boundless resources of funda- 
 mental harmony ? Oh, no ! Let me not so misrepresent 
 the feeling that I have at heart. We should do injustice 
 to even this great master, if blindly (or may I say deafly?) 
 we accepted everything he wrote as a model for our imita- 
 tion.. It is only by dissecting the music, and observing 
 what is to be avoided, that we may learn what is to be 
 imitated. To reproduce his beauties is beyond our power, 
 to avoid his faults is within the reach of everyone, and we 
 pay him the greatest homage when we distinguish what is 
 excellent from what is evitable." 
 
 To the same effect are. his remarks in the "Dic- 
 tionary of Universal Biography/^ many years pre- 
 viously : — 
 
 " He was, perhaps, the most severely conscientious artist 
 that ever devoted himself to music; he deemed that to 
 compromise his art would be to compromise himself, and 
 that to lend himself to anything which did not, to the utmost 
 of his power tend to exalt it, was in the last degree unworthy 
 of him and of music. He was the greatest contrapuntist 
 that has been, and is especially remarkable for the strict 
 integrity of his part- writing, the complexity of which, we 
 must own, often prevents the broad and massive effect that 
 greatly distinguishes the music of Handel from his ; his 
 very extensive employment of jjassing notes induces many 
 harshnesses which will not bear analysis ; and his principle 
 of making each part in his score an independent melody, 
 is often carried out at the^ cost of euphony and the clear-. 
 
" CONSORTS" OF INSTRUMENTS. 289 
 
 ness of the whole. These peculiarities were the result of 
 his never-ending, 'study ; his wonderful power of expres- 
 sion evinced in his free movements, in his great choral 
 works, particularly in his famous ' Passions-Musik,' is 
 the manifestation of his transcendent genius. As he de- 
 spised popular applause, so hie music is Httle open to 
 popular appreciation, and it is, and always wiU be, 
 much more interesting and much more satisfactory to 
 those who participate in its performance, than to any 
 passive listener ; his music is, beyond that of any other 
 composer, difficult of comprehension, but its measureless 
 beauties will ever repay the pains of the student who 
 unravels them." 
 
 Mr. Prout read a most interesting paper on the 
 "Orchestras of Bach and Handel" before the Musical 
 Association, December 7th, 1886; after which Mac- 
 farren made some remarks, the following being instruc- 
 tive and felicitous : — 
 
 " Further, to speak of the groups of instruments which 
 characterize so very much the scoring of Bach, one may 
 adduce the custom, in this country, in earlier times, of 
 assorting the viols together, hautboys together, and shawms 
 together, and a collection of one class of instruments was 
 called a ' consort.' Thus, there might be a consort of viols, 
 or a consort of hautboys, and at that time it was rare, but 
 not entirely unknown, to have a mixture of one consort with 
 another consort, and there is a passage of Lord Bacon's 
 which refers to the mixture of »ne consort with another 
 consort, and then it had the name of ' broken music' A 
 pretty appheation of this term occurs in the play of ' Henry 
 V.,' when the king is courting Princess Katharine, and she 
 makes very sad havoc of the English pronunciation. The 
 king says, ' Sweet Katharine, your speech is broken music, 
 for your voice is music, but your EngHsh is broken.' With 
 reference to the variety of instruments employed by Bach, 
 I can very often conjecture that some persons in Ms band 
 must have had the ability to play on more than one instru- 
 
 u 
 
290 BIOGRAPHIES. MACFARREN'S MEMORY. 
 
 ment, and occasionally left this to go to that. It seems to 
 me extremely probable that such use continued far beyond 
 his time. For example.Icannotsupposeit possible that three 
 trombone players would be engaged to play in the ' Messiah,' 
 when Mozart wrote his orchestration, and have parts to 
 play only in the introductory movement in the overture, and 
 in the two small quartets in the last act, which are always 
 sung without any accompaniment. There must have been 
 either some different duty for them in other portions of 
 the work, or there must have been some tradition of 
 these instruments to duplicate the choral voice parts, 
 and I thruk it is a very possible thing that in Bach's 
 time his horn players or trumpet players, who had no 
 parts perhaps in but a single number in a long work, 
 would play violins throughout the rest of the perfor- 
 
 Quotations have been made from the " Dictionary of 
 Universal Biography," for which work, in 1857 and 
 following years, Macfarren wrote a number of highly 
 interesting articles concerning musicians. Moreover, 
 at the time of the first Handel Festival at the Crystal 
 Palace, in 1859, the centenary of Handel's death, 
 Macfarren was engaged by the publisher of the 
 Dictionary to prepare a biography of Handel, in 
 pamphlet form, for sale at the festival. The MS. 
 of this biography miscarried in transit by post, and, 
 in order that the publication should be ready in 
 time for the festival, Macfarren dictated it from 
 memory ; and, on the subsequent recovery of the 
 original MS., it was found, by comparison, that 
 the differences between the two versions were few 
 and slight — another instance of his marvellously 
 accurate memory ! 
 
 It may here be recorded that he wrote, on a 
 special commission, for transmission to New York, 
 
ADDITIONAL ACCOMrANIMENTS. 291 
 
 additional accompaniments and an organ part to 
 "Israel in Egypt;" and for another occasion, parts 
 for four horns (Mozart having only two) for the 
 " Messiah ; " also an organ part to Bach's " Mag- 
 nificat." 
 
 Macfarren's acquaintance with Shakespeare was very 
 intimate, enabling him to make apt references such as 
 the one above qaoted. Indeed, his literary knowledge 
 generally was somewhat extensive : remarkable, indeed, 
 for a blind man. Of Browning's works, he said to a 
 pupil, a young man : " When you are older, and able 
 to read onwards more than two lines, you will find 
 more interest than you can now feel in his writings." 
 One of the last general conversations that 1 had with 
 Macfarren was about Mr. Swinburne's poems, which 
 I told him about ; he agreeing with me with regard 
 to their wonderful word-power. Writing to Mr. T. 
 J. Dudeney, acknowledging a double gift, — a copy 
 of Aytoun's " Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers " and 
 some violets, he characteristically remarks : — 
 
 "The noble Cavaliers of Aytoun's painting set grand 
 example of steadfastness to a purpose : the bunch of sweet 
 violets verify your words on the sweets of spring time, and 
 attest the good wishes of one who has all their modesty." 
 
 To the same, acknowledging a copy of Tennyson's 
 poems : — 
 
 " The mind that studies his beautiful writing must be 
 enriched, and thus I shall gain strength and pleasure from 
 your gift." 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Macsaeebn's Oeatokios : St. John the Baptist, 1873 ; 
 The Restteeection, 1875; Joseph, 1877; King 
 David, 1883; St. Geoege's Te Deum, 1884. Method 
 OP Composing and Dictating. Philhaemonic Ana- 
 lytical Peogeammes, 1869-1880. 
 
 IN the year 1870 Macfarren renewed his youth and 
 made a new departure by commencing the compo- 
 sition of the first of the series of works by which, per- 
 haps, apart from his theoretical and critical writings, 
 he is best known to the general public and the pre- 
 sent generation, and by which his name as a composer 
 is most likely to go down to posterity — -namely, his 
 Oratorios. Notwithstanding the masterly critical 
 and historical articles that had proceeded from his 
 comprehensively embraceful mind on the Oratorios of 
 the great Masters, as well as on Church music ag an 
 allied subject, his antecedents as a composer would 
 probably have scarcely prepared, or at least suggested 
 this as the line in which his unquestioned powers 
 would find their ultimate development or achieve 
 their most enduring triumphs. Indeed, he himself, as 
 will be seen, felt this, more or less. But he was 
 artistically prepared to devote himself energetically, 
 earnestly, and reverently, to any lofty subject on which 
 his thoughts were cast, and the result was seen in 
 
"ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST." 293 
 
 the unequivocal, though not uniform, success of the 
 great works of which " St. John the Baptist " was 
 the first. 
 
 The oratorio, " St. John the Baptist," of which the 
 " book " was compiled by Dr. B. G. Monk, was origi- 
 nally intended for the Festival of the Three Choirs at 
 Gloucester, and was completed in time for performance 
 thereat, in 1872 ; but, from causes redounding to the 
 composer's honour, it was not then produced. Difii- 
 culty was raised, moreover, at Gloucester, to the per- 
 formance in the cathedral of the florid and blatantly 
 secular song of the daughter of Herodias, " I rejoice 
 in my youth." The honour of the first production 
 of this oratorio is due to the committee of the Bristol 
 Festival, who brought it out in October, 1873. 
 
 The choir at Bristol was trained, with great credit 
 to himself, by the late Alfred Stone (1841-78) . The 
 conductor at the festival was Mr. Charles Halle, 
 and the principal singers were Mesdames Lemmens- 
 Sherrington and Patey, and Messrs. Edward Lloyd 
 and Santley. The success was immediate and incon- 
 trovertible. At the outsetj the dramatic feeling and 
 masterful construction of the overture were apparent, 
 with its trumpet call to represent the " Sohar " sum- 
 mons, and its avoidance of a perfect cadence till the 
 . end, indicating the long expectancy concerning unful- 
 filled prophecy, until the " voice of one crying in the 
 wilderness" proclaimed "The kingdom of heaven is 
 at hand." And not only was this dramatic feeling, 
 together with local colouring, sustained throughout, 
 but innumerable details, some of them too minute to 
 be observable by the superficial, or without repeated 
 hearings or close examination of the score, but never- 
 
294 ",52'. JOHN THE BAPTIST." 
 
 theless combinedly maintaining the unity of the work, 
 evidenced the highest order of cultivated musicianship ; 
 of which, however, all who knew Macfarren were fully 
 aware, even without this newest manifestation of his 
 artistry. The oratorio was soon performed in London 
 and elsewhere ; and, on its first performance in Exeter 
 Hall by the Sacred Harmonic Society, in March, 
 1874, it was declared by an intelligent critic : — 
 
 " Never was success more promptly or more universally 
 acknowledged than that which has bestowed upon Mr. 
 Macfarren the priceless laurel leaf of a great composer. 
 Not a voice has been raised to dispute it, even am.id the 
 clashing opinions and conflicting tastes pre-eminently dis- 
 tinctive of the musical world. Such agreement is wonder- 
 ful, and more convincingly than any argument or analysis 
 proves that in ' St. John the Baptist ' we have a creation 
 of genius." ' 
 
 And the same critic, probably, wrote in the 
 " Musical Times " of November in the same year, 
 after the oratorio had been performed at the Leeds 
 Festival : — 
 
 " It is a really great thing, this English oratorio ; one, of 
 which we have all a right to be proud ; one that will be 
 handed down among the heirlooms of the nation. Speak- 
 ing thus positively of the future is not rash, because con- 
 noisseurs on the one part, and the general pubUc on the 
 other, unite to acclaim ' St. John the Baptist ; ' and such 
 unanimity has a sjoecial significance, as showing that Mr. 
 Macfarren, while labouring in the highest sphere of music, 
 has exerted a power over feelings shared by all. ' St. John 
 the Baptist ' is a work of consummate skill, but it is also 
 an epic, to the numbers of which every heart vibrates. 
 Things of this sort do not easily die." 
 
 Immediately after the performance of the oratorio 
 ' " Daily Telegraph." 
 
ALLEGED PLAGIARISM FROM WAGNER. 295 
 
 at Bristol, so great was the sensation produoedj that 
 the committee, feeling justly proud of the lustre shed 
 upon the festival by its being the occasion of the 
 introduction of so fine a work, held an impromptu 
 meeting in an ante-room, and, among themselves, 
 without drawing upon the festival funds, subscribed 
 one hundred guineas, which sum was then presented to 
 the composer, in recognition of their obligations. 
 
 Shortly afterwards his brother professors at the 
 Royal Academy of Music, " all proud of him," presented 
 him with an address on vellum, with their signatures, 
 the speech on the occasion being made by Sir W. 
 Sterndale Bennett. 
 
 With regard to one of the most esteemed numbers 
 in this oratorio, the following statement by Miss 
 Prescott will be read with interest : — 
 
 "Another memory lies upon m.e like a conscience. About 
 his ' St. John the Baptist ' there had been some repetition 
 of the assertion that the setting of the words, ' This is my 
 beloved Son,' was borrowed from the passage in ' Lohen- 
 grin,' at the descent of the Grrail. I asked him about it, 
 for it troubled me, as I dare say some others of his friends 
 have been troubled. He said, ' I don't know why Wagner 
 should have the monopoly of the harmonies of the violin 
 — ^for that is the chief resemblance. But as to my borrow- 
 ing from him, that was impossible : my first possibility of 
 hearing "Lohengrin" was when it was first done in London 
 in such a year (I forget the year), and by that time "St. 
 John " was completed, rejected, and put away in brown 
 paper on the shelf, some time before its first performance. 
 That number, " This is my beloved Son," was the first one 
 of the oratorio that I wrote.' I think he added, ' It was 
 the suggestion or origin of the whole composition.' I 
 asked him if I might put this account in a little book I 
 was then writing, at a point where I considered it might 
 appropriately come in. No ; he would not allow it. ' Not 
 
296 WAGNER AND LISZT. 
 
 now ; when I am dead and gone, you may say as much as 
 you like.' I little thought that in a year or two more he 
 would be ' dead and gone,' as he said, and I free to say as 
 much as I had opportunity for. I am not surprised at a 
 resemblance taking hold of people when they. considered 
 the almost horror of Wagner's music that the old Professor 
 had. Then the strange coincidence of poetic idea : the 
 descent of the Holy Grhost in the one — of the Holy Grail 
 in the other. But I can't help feeling the extraordinary 
 difference ; the complicated harmonies of Wagner's, and 
 the simple diatonic chords of the Englishman's music, 
 coupled with the pure quality of the chorus — all women's 
 voices." 
 
 In connection with this Wagner reference may be 
 given a quotation from a letter, which refers to a 
 former communication, oral or verbal) to Mr. T. J. 
 Dudeney of Taunton, though not referring to the 
 oratorio : — 
 
 " Much thinking upon your Historical Concerts brings 
 me to withdraw the advice I gave you that pieces by 
 Wagner and Liszt should be included in the series. These 
 writers are working a great evil upon music — the first, 
 most anomalously, by reason of the true beauties that are 
 entangled in his vices. To bring them into notice is to 
 applaud their pretensions, and though your censure or 
 mine, be it pronounced in blame or praise, can have no 
 force against the torrent voice of their upholders, our duty 
 is indeed not to swell their chorus by the whisper of 
 implied assent. A lecturer once expounded at length and 
 with reason what was bad in a piece of music, which was 
 then performed to exemplify his remarks, and the audience 
 encored it with rapture — nay, even spoke with particular 
 pleasure of one point that had been held up for their 
 detestation. This proves the futility of teaching as opposed 
 to the power of appetite. Were you to preach temperance 
 at a gin-shop door, and let your congregation taste the 
 poison sold therein, that they might know its vUeness, 
 they would come out drunkards. Tou must represent the 
 
MACFARREN'S GRATITUDE. 297 
 
 art of now by music of Brahms, perhaps of Bruch, or even 
 of G-ounod, but not by the good pieces of men whose habit 
 is ill and whose gleams of light are but misleading." 
 
 One of Macfarren^s pupils wrote a critical notice of 
 " St, John the Baptist " in a periodical^ and this drew 
 from him the following letter — an instance of his 
 tender friendship and humility, as addressed to a 
 pupil : — 
 
 " Mt dear , 
 
 " I have always avoided acknowledging newspaper 
 notices of my doings in public, under the idea that the 
 writers fulfilled a public duty in stating their good or ill 
 opinions of what was offered to their judgment, and that 
 the subject of their remarks had no right to comment upon 
 the fulfilment of such duty. The strong personal feeUng 
 which peers through every line of your beautifully written, 
 most flattering, and most affectionate article on ' St. John 
 the Baptist,' compels me to break my rule, and to assure 
 you that, however little the work merits the opinions you 
 eloquently express, the composer of the work will treasure 
 the affectionate regard thus expressed as one of the richest 
 earnings of his professional life. I know not how much 
 my pleasant intercourse with you may have had to do with 
 the formation of your critical power, but, so far as myself 
 have not influenced it, I am indeed proud of your review 
 of my work, and am impelled by it to try again to accom- 
 plish something that may be worthy of some of what you 
 say. I thank you most heartily, and am your sincere 
 friend, " Gr. A. Macfaeben." 
 
 The reception given to " St. John the Baptist " so 
 re-awakened and extended Macfarren's reputation, 
 that he was recognized yet more widely than hereto- 
 fore as the foremost representative of English music ; 
 and he was commissioned to compose an oratorio for 
 the Birmingham Festival of 1876. The work pro- 
 
298 " THE RESURRECTION." 
 
 duced was " The Resurrection." This was reflective 
 rather than dramatic, with a large preponderance of 
 recitative, and by no means appealed so directly to a 
 general audience. It met with, at best, a success of 
 respect, rather than of sympathetic appreciation, on 
 the part of the press no less than that of the public ; 
 notwithstanding the advantageous circumstances under 
 which it was produced. The conductor was Mr. 
 Walter Macfarren, to whom it was dedicated, and the 
 principal vocalists were Mesdames Lemm ens- Sherring- 
 ton and Patey, and Messrs. Lloyd and Santley. One 
 circumstance, however, militated considerably against 
 its effect, namely, that by some strange misunder- 
 standing, not necessary to explain here, the pitch of 
 the organ had been lowered, and did not coincide 
 with that of the orchestra ; and, as the part of Mr. 
 Santley as narrator, when speaking for the Saviour, 
 was accompanied by the organ only, the effect of the 
 changed pitch was bewildering and depressing. The 
 composer's own epitome of the oratorio is interest- 
 ing: — 
 
 " The book shows its own argument and the method 
 wherein this is treated. The latter differs from that of the 
 early Church, preserved by Luther and exemplified by 
 Bach, in having the speeches of the personages sung by 
 him who also narrates the action ; in having the texts of 
 the reflective passages selected from Holy Writ ; and in 
 having original tunes to the hymns. This last is necessi- 
 tated by the old practice in England of making Psalm 
 tunes to metres, not to words, and thus having no tune 
 and poem identified with each other. One of the rare 
 exceptions is in the 100th Psalm, and this tune is used as 
 the finale because old versions disperse the sense of the 
 first prose verse, and neglect the emphatic accentuation of 
 a primitive and much-liked reading of the tune, a new 
 
''THE RESURRECTION." 299 
 
 version of the first verse of the Psalm is fitted thereto. 
 The musician's beautiful resource, which dates from ' Cosi 
 fan tutte,' in the opera so named, and ' Er ist verstummet ' 
 in ' Fidelio,' at least, not to name the mad scenes in a host 
 of Italian operas (the resource of alluding in an after 
 situation to a phrase which illustrates an earlier, and so 
 associating the two as in one thought, or showing the 
 bearing of each upon the other) is freely employed. Thus 
 when ' the disciples went away again,' the phrase ' Even 
 our faith,' from the preceding chorus, is meant to show the 
 bent of their thoughts on the road to their own homes. 
 ' He is the resurrection ' is quoted in subsequent places to 
 which it is supposed to be pertinent. So are ' They have 
 taken away the Lord,' ' Now is our salvation nearer,' ' Eor 
 fear of the Jews,' ' Peace be unto you,' Thomas's ' Except 
 I shall see,' ' Blessed are they that have not seen,' &c. 
 The overture is suggested by, but pretends not to depict, 
 the two preceding chapters of St. John's Gospel — at least, 
 this portion of the narrative was evidently in the mind of 
 the composer." ' 
 
 Macfarren's disappointment at the non-success of 
 " The Resurrection " was keen and abiding. He again 
 and again spoke of " my failure in ' The Resurrection."^ 
 Some of his friends say that he loved it more than 
 others of his works, " as a mother loves her sickly 
 child ; " others think that " he loved it with justice, 
 as a beautiful work, cast more in the Bach model." 
 To Mr. T. J. Dudeney, who was engaged, in 1880, in 
 rehearsing " St. John the Baptist " with a zealous 
 local society, he wrote : — 
 
 " You undertake a troublesome task in ' St. John ' — difii- 
 cult, I will not call it to you, for you know not the word. 
 Some of these days your thoughts perhaps may turn to my 
 still-born Easter Oratorio, which will then indeed have a 
 resurrection." 
 
 Much more gratifying is it to record the success, a 
 
300 " JOSEPH:' 
 
 year later, of his oratorio •" Joseph," composed for the 
 Leeds Festival, 1877, and produced thereat, September 
 21st, 1877, under the conductorship of the composer's 
 brother, Mr. Walter Macfarren, that production being 
 pronounced "a, memorable event in the history of 
 music/' A contemporary critic wrote : — 
 
 " Professor Macfarren is not a Handel or a Mendelssohn, 
 nor does he slavishly imitate them or confine himself to any 
 particular school of writing. He is simply Macfarren, a 
 name hereafter to be honoured in musical history, and to 
 make the Professor's chair at Cambridge memorable for 
 the two great musicians who have held it in succession. It 
 will be remembered that at the last Festival the Professor 
 had a place with ' St. John the Baptist.' This work de- 
 lighted all who heard it, especially those who appreciate 
 learned writing. The oratorio yesterday perhaps appeals 
 to wider sympathies with its beautiful melodies and colour. 
 At any rate, whether the work is heard many a time again, 
 or is forgotten (a very unlikely and unreasonable event), 
 the performance yesterday will mark the present Festival 
 as an important event in the history of music. . . . The 
 work is dedicated thus : — ' In remembrance of happy hours 
 spent in its inscription, this Oratorio is dedicated to my 
 pupil, friend, and amanuensis, Oliveria Louisa Prescott.' 
 The work is great in design and execution, and seemed to 
 demand from the audience a front rank in the greatest 
 musical compositions, or rejection as an over-reaching am- 
 bition. The challenge was accepted by the audience, and 
 at the close the answer might have been heard in the streets 
 outside, as cheer followed upon cheer. . . . Throughout 
 the oratorio. Dr. Macfarren has been (with one or two ex- 
 ceptions) above all things original. He tells the beautiful 
 story of Joseph's life ... in the most dramatic musical 
 language. Every phrase must have been the result of in- 
 tense care and study, arising from a fine artistic. sense, an 
 appreciation of sacred words which would have distin- 
 guished the Professor as a theologian of matured expe- 
 rience. From the first bar to the last the work is a sur- 
 
"JOSEPH." 301 
 
 prise — a wonder to those who thought that Music had said 
 all she had to say, and that no resources of novelty were 
 left open. ... It was a great work, grandly performed, 
 and listened to with eager interest until the last bar. Then 
 followed a scene never to be forgotten. There was a per- 
 sistent roar until the blind Professor was led into the 
 orchestra, and the cheering was renewed again and again. 
 No need, Professor, to be so overcome with emotion ! This 
 is but the first instalment of the tribute of praise which 
 the lovers of the true and good in Art shall pay you in the 
 time to come as you take your just place with the worthies 
 whose names are remembered when the wearers of crowns 
 are forgotten and dynasties have crumbled to dust." ' 
 
 Against this verdictj which has not been in any im- 
 portant way contravenedj may be cited, in all fairness, 
 that of another critic : — 
 
 " ' Joseph ' may be a great work, but it is distinctly not 
 a pleasing one . . . dry, if not pedantic." ^ 
 
 On the other hand, again, the compospr's old fellow- 
 student and friend, the late W. H. Holmes, went to 
 Leeds on purpose to hear the work, and has thus 
 cheerily recorded his impressions in his " Notes 
 upon Notes " : — 
 
 " I was in the country in a moment, among the shep- 
 herds, &c., in the overture to ' Joseph.' And what beau- 
 tiful pictures Professor Macfarren has presented us with, 
 in his (to my mind) greatest work, ' Joseph.' The glowing 
 sun, in thefirst chorus, so bright and brilliant and glorious. 
 How one felt the Hght ! What ' music painting ! ' Then 
 the relation of the dream, with its lovely soul-haunting 
 melody, when one does feel literally to be among the 
 
 1 " Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. 
 
 2 " Monthly Musical Record," Oct. 1, 1877. 
 
302 "JOSEPH." 
 
 sheaves. Theii the ' hatred scene,' so full of 'bad passion.' 
 Then the glorious march and chorus of the Ishmaelites, 
 with their spices and myrrh, so original, almost taking one 
 into another country ; this chorus, with its skilful instru- 
 mentation, must, I think, become very popular. . . . And 
 now, in the really serious parts of the oratorio, how our 
 friend, the learned Professor, has risen with his work. One 
 of the greatest contrapuntists, and such a complete master 
 of instrumentation, he knows when to use his great powers 
 — often, I believe, rising to the sublime, and, indeed, be- 
 coming an eloquent preacher in his work. Happy com- 
 poser ! To illustrate such subjects must be good for the 
 composer, and to those who intelligently listen. Such music 
 leads us to think of the far better world. The call for the 
 composer at the end was overpowering to all. I believe 
 there were many moist eyes. Outside the hall a big Tork- 
 shireman (one of the Ishmaelites) said to me, ' Heigh, but 
 he's a fine fellow.' I then said I had known Professor 
 Macfarren from his boyhood. Ton should have seen the 
 measurement he took of me after that ; and I feel sure he 
 regretted not having any Yorkshire pudding to ofier me." 
 
 In 1881 Macfarren seems to have been cogitating 
 concerning another oratorio^ though then occupied 
 with other work — perhaps with the " Ajax " music, to 
 be hereafter mentioned. He said one day to his in- 
 defatigable friend, Miss Prescott, " It is an inspiration 
 to find a subject fit for musical treatment, of any kind." 
 She suggested one, and hoped to find words for him. 
 He himself pencilled a letter to her on the subject — 
 an occasional feat, to intimate friends, when no amanu- 
 ensis was at hand — as follows : — 
 
 " Bennett's birthday, 1881. — My dearest Oliveria — 
 I believe in you implicitly, else should I be hopeless of 
 your valued proposal to find an oratorio theme in • the 
 divine St. John, and even in your hands I more wish for 
 than expect success. Your intention is however an en- 
 
SUBJECT FOR A NEW ORATORIO. 303 
 
 couragement. With this earnest of good will to begin, I 
 am certain to plant my endeavours in a very hotbed of pro- 
 pagation." 
 
 After the suggestion had taken somewhat unwieldy 
 shape, he again wrote : — 
 
 " G-ood Fi-iday, '81. — A thousand thanks and a thank 
 for your interesting budget, which T have heard with 
 eagerness, but cannot yet digest. I will hear it again and 
 again, and in seeking to master all its meaning, hope to do 
 justice to the high subject, and to your conception of its 
 treatment." 
 
 After long thinking, he judged the subject impos- 
 sible, and gave it up as not dramatic. Then Miss 
 Prescott's query, or remonstrance, in return, was 
 answered by this highly interesting letter : — 
 
 "7, Hamilton Terrace. 
 "nth April. 
 "Mt deae Oliveeia, 
 
 " ' Why must every Oratorio be dramatic ? ' My failure 
 in ' The Eesurreetion ' proves that, whatever the case with 
 other writers, my possibility of success is in a dram^atic 
 form. ' What is " Israel " and the " Messiah " ? ' ' Israel ' 
 is a narrative, but of most dramatic character ; as it has 
 no persons, however, the story is all told by chorus ; and 
 no succession of choruses to such extent, save only this, 
 can ever be written again, or would ever be accepted-^even 
 this succession was imreceived for a hundred years — ^the 
 world was coaxed to hear it by the insertion of irrelevant 
 songs, and the perception of its immensity was due to the 
 imperative power of Handel's name. ' Messiah ' is dra- 
 matic, for though its personages are not named, all its 
 strongest passages are personal ; and were they not so, the 
 unique importance of the subject, and the unique mastery 
 of its treatment secure it attention that would be denied to 
 a lesser theme or a small writer. ' The Last Judgment' is. 
 
304 ORATORIO SUBJECTS. 
 
 save one scene, not dramatic, and it has succeeded, but this 
 was when Spohr was new here, and when his peculiarities 
 made an almost madness among musicians.^ ' Lazarus ' 
 has been treated by Barnett, and it would be most grace- 
 less to tread on the heels of a friend. 
 
 " Palm Sunday is in ' The Light of the World,' compari- 
 son with which would be as undesirable as with the work 
 last named. 
 
 " ' The Mount of Olives ' has been handled by Beet- 
 hoven. 
 
 " The trial might indeed be made highly effective, as 
 Mendelssohn has proved in ' Christus ; ' but this, which 
 furnishes the only text that could be impressively ren- 
 dered, you would dismiss in an instrumental movement 
 that could represent nothing, and would iaterest nobody. 
 
 " ' The Crucifixion ' has been used by Spohr less well 
 than his other theme, and when his great esteem had set. 
 The confiding of the Mother to St. John's care is the only 
 one point in the whole plan that introduces the personality 
 of the hero, and this would lose all its point through 
 English repugnance to the impersonation of the Saviour. 
 To narrate the incident would assimilate it to those in ' The 
 Eesurrection,' and though Santley sang them perfectly, 
 professional critics, and the public by their dictation, have 
 denounced those scenes to be ' undramatic,' as if this were 
 the worst stain that could be put on them. This, and the 
 trial scene are given by Bach ; if they are to be treated in 
 his wise, nothing so good as his can be done ; if dramati- 
 cally, the chief person may not appear ; if narratively, all 
 interest will drop out of them. 
 
 " Tour 2nd Act is the ' Last Judgment ; ' the condi- 
 tions to which this work owes its success cannot extend to 
 another. 
 
 " The objections I have stated, my dear Oliveria, are all 
 as nothing, compared with the enormous one, that St. John 
 appears but once in the whole. He wrote the history, in- 
 deed, he commented thereon, and he dreamed the dream, 
 but these facts would not warrant the entitling of the work 
 with his name. To call it ' Oliveria ' would be as pertinent, 
 
 ' See p. 217. 
 
ORATORIO BOOKS. 305 
 
 though not so attractive, but then not so disappointing, 
 since not prompting false expectancy. 
 
 " I hate sayiag all this to you who have shown so much 
 love for me and for your subject in the task you undertook. 
 You write diffidently of your own power to make musical 
 rendering of the theme, but I most confidently counsel you 
 not to contemplate such an exercise of your talent, for I am 
 certain, firstly, that it would not reveal the best of your 
 powers ; secondly, that general hearers would not give you 
 credit for the good you did. I thank you endlessly, but 
 must seek still for the needful matter. 
 
 " Now let me wish you a happy Easter, full enjoyment of 
 this most beautiful day, and a more worthy receiver of your 
 next good offices. 
 
 " Affectionately yours, 
 
 "Gr. A. Macpaeeen." 
 
 This letter was followed by yet another letter, pro- 
 bably in reply to farther representation, — hardly re- 
 monstrances, — on Miss Prescott's part : — 
 
 " 7, Hamilton Terrace, 
 "Wth April. 
 
 "More thanks, my dear Oliveria, and more regrets. 
 The more I consider your subject, the more I find it, for 
 me, impracticable. You say St. John may be left out of 
 the title; he does not appear, and cannot, in the whole 
 book ; thus we only amuse ourselves by associating it with 
 him, who, if influential as others would be in its arrange- 
 ment, would be all impersonal in its structure. You cite 
 'The Woman of Samaria,' which is to my appreciation 
 completely what a book should not be ; its wants are that 
 all interest is taken out of the person of our Lord, by the 
 vague confusion between what He says, and what is said of 
 Him, and that the reflective passages so interrupt and over- 
 weight the narrative, as to annul its iaterest. The subter- 
 fuge in ' The Light of the World ' of prefixitig ' solo ' to all 
 the passages for the centre figure, rather acknowledges the 
 difficulty than meets it. Your book would best be named 
 also ' The Light of the World,' but it would be less avail- 
 
306 "KING DAVID." 
 
 able for my use thaii its predecessor, because the strongest 
 points of the action are not in it appropriated, and because 
 the second act has no action at all. If I am ever to do 
 anything with it, it must be after manifold discussion, 
 careful perusal, and long pondering, all of which I may give 
 to it after the fulfilment of the present commission,— give 
 to it with regard to a post future work to which I shall not 
 be committed, but may construct as legacy to my posthu- 
 mous reputation. Now I must confess that I have lighted 
 on another theme, and, since my last letter, have made 
 some advance in its distribution, namely. King David, be- 
 ginning in Zitlag, and selecting from the subsequent 
 history. I fcaow me to be the unfittest person to treat a 
 scripture subject that ever undertook the task ; I can only 
 justify me to myself by the absence of any other task ; you 
 despise critics, I acknowledge but one, namely, myself, 
 and if his approval be wanting, my attempts will be futile, 
 and my presumption in treading on sanctified ground will 
 be many times magnified. All this seems ungrateful for 
 the pains you have spent, but only seems, for I assure you, 
 I esteem most highly the interest you take in my doing, 
 and the help you give to its accomplishment, for it is help 
 that you have proved to me my inability to work on the 
 very greatest subject. 
 
 " Yours with endless thanks, 
 
 " G-. A. Maceaeeen." 
 
 The narrative of King David above alluded to was, 
 -as is well known, adopted by Macfarren, and was the 
 subject of his fourth and last Oratorio, composed for 
 the Leeds Festival, 1883. The passages forming the 
 dramatic story itself were selected by himself, with 
 Miss Macfarren's aid. Those interspersed as reflec- 
 tive were chosen by Miss Prescott; "that is/' she 
 relates — 
 
 " He would tell me, ' I want words for a chorus, or solo, 
 at this point in the narration, something to this efEect,' 
 and he would give some expression of thought ; I would 
 hunt up various texts or combinations with something of 
 
"KINO DAVID." 307 
 
 the meaning, and he chose that which seemed most to his 
 taste ; sometimes, may he, a dozen texts were rejected in 
 this way, from his severe, ahnost fastidious feeling of what 
 was fitting, hoth to the place in the song, and to be united 
 to music. 
 
 " I remember bringing him among others the text, 'Not 
 every one that saith Tinto me. Lord, Lord, is fit to enter 
 the kingdom of heaven.' I forget the point it was in- 
 tended for, but it seemed to me appropriate. His verdict 
 at once was, ' It is very difficult to make clear any quoted 
 words,' alluding to 'Lord, Lord.' Again, I brought the 
 text, ' There is joy in the presence of the angels of God,' 
 etc. He objected, 'This has been set by Sir Arthur 
 SuUivan in a prominent place in his oratorio — it is inviting 
 comparison, or almost stealing his thoughts.' That objec- 
 tion was removed by going to another Gospel for the same 
 thought in different words. It now stands, ' Joy shall be 
 in heaven,' etc. 
 
 "Another point gave me a good deal of trouble, — the 
 chorus after David's fall. The beauty of the accompanied 
 recitative which relates the double sin, marks the beauty 
 of the old composer's nature. They say no man can create 
 an artistic work that is greater than himself. Macfarren 
 disputed this assertion, for he said the oratorio ' Messiah' 
 was greater than Handel himself. Surely the reserve, the 
 gentleness, the fire, and the terrible denunciation in this 
 music, tell their story, the story of a good man's horror 
 at the vile deeds of his hero ; while his human sympathy 
 and tenderness could feel the undercurrent, 'faithful in 
 unfaithfulness,' which gained forgiveness in the after life 
 of David, and won Solomon his position as king and 
 ancestor of the Messiah. I brought many words for this 
 after-chorus ; the texts I could find were not personal 
 enough : he wanted something that should draw thoughts 
 round to present time. His feeling was that in an oratorio, 
 unlike an opera, the chorus (and some of the solos, as 
 choragus) take the place of Greek chorus, and thus some- 
 times act as persons in the drama, — sometimes as narrator, 
 sometimes as leaders of the audience's thoughts. In this 
 way he justified the use of a prayer from a modern liturgy. 
 It is not, as a lecturer said at the Musical Association, 
 
308 "KING DAVID." 
 
 that ' we are in Judea, and straightway transported into 
 an English church,' but rather, we are in England at this 
 present time, and witnessing by our minds' ears the drama 
 of past times. What more fit, and naturally artistic, than 
 that we of the audience should feel the terror of the evil 
 deed, and that we are human, and may fall into the same. 
 ' Eemember not. Lord, owr offences, but help us, lest we 
 also fall like this man David.' 
 
 " I do not remember whether it has been written any- 
 where, but Macfarren's feeling as to the course of the 
 book of ' King David ' was strong ; in this way, — the first 
 part, beginning with the greatness, works up to the Jewish 
 idea — judgment. The second part, with all the terrible 
 consequences, — quarrels and sins among his people and his 
 sons, — -works up to the Christian idea — mercy. Thus the 
 closing words of the first part ' are, ' Vengeance is miae, 
 saith the Lord, I will repay.' 'The Lord shall destroy 
 them in His displeasure ; He shall consume them.' Then 
 the terrified hush ; as he said, ' the greatest terror is silent, 
 and we can only express silence in music by hushed 
 sounds.' (A critic said, without the least appreciation of 
 this idea, ' What nonsense to put a pianissimo in such a 
 place ! ') The closing words of the second part, on the 
 contrary, are, ' Joy shall be in heaven over otie sinner that 
 repenteth.' 
 
 " At one point in the work, he said he was at a loss how 
 to set about composition. It was the parable of Nathan 
 about the little ewe lamb, ' There were two men in one 
 city.' I went home, and thought how to help him. The 
 words took root in my own mind and grew up into a 
 ballad-like song, founded on the idea of the old minstrel 
 or bard declamation in rhythm, with slight orchestral 
 accompaniment. I took it to him ; at least it might set 
 his thoughts a-going, I thought. No doubt it did, for, 
 though he complained to me after hearing it, ' Now I have 
 a greater difficulty before me ; I have not only to do some- 
 thing worthy of the place, but something that shall be 
 different to yours,' he soon produced something. Certainly, 
 it was about as different to mine as could be imagined ; 
 though still I feel he had the idea of a ballad-declaimer in 
 his mind." 
 
''KINO DAVID." 309 
 
 As illustrative of Macfarren's readiness to accept 
 criticism. Miss Prescott relates : — 
 
 "I was present at the rehearsal of 'King David' in 
 London, before its performance at Leeds; and between the 
 morning and afternoon work, the conductor, passing by me 
 as I sat, reniarked ' I wonder where the old man gets such 
 beautiful ideas.' I believe I answered, ' Out of his heart,' 
 for that was my conviction at the time. However, the next 
 remark was, ' That chorus is too long ; it ought to be cut ; 
 it spoils the oratorio.' I treasured up the criticism, for I 
 knew Gr. A. M. respected the opinion and valued the kind- 
 ness of his conductor. As soon as I could, I took the pair of 
 remarks home, both sugar and salt, to its proper owner. No 
 doubt he smiled at the sugar, for he had a sweet tooth, not- 
 withstanding all the bitter he had had in his time, perhaps 
 because of it ; but when I went on to the advice, he asked 
 eagerly, ' Where, where ? ' and thought over it deeply. By 
 the next rehearsal the cut was made. 
 
 " His acceptance of criticism sometimes took the form of 
 humour. When 'King David' had been performed, a critic 
 remarked it was very daring of any composer to set the 
 words, 'Woe, woe, woe,' as he did in one of the songs. 
 When Gr. A. M. heard it, he only smiled, and capped 
 it : 'I remember when " Ajax " was done at one of the 
 London theatres, it was remarked by some wag that Ajax 
 cried out " Wo, wo, wo," till there wasn't a cab-horse that 
 would budge out of the rank.' 
 
 " The second perfoj-mance of that oratorio was a curious 
 illustration of the questionable truth of some criticisms on 
 his work. Some one had said what nonsense it was to make 
 the chorus repeat the word 'Absolom, Absolom, Absolom;' 
 tossing a single word about hither and thither from voice 
 to voice was ' foolish, nonsensical rubbish,' etc. After the 
 first part of the oratorio was done, there went cries from 
 all parts of the hall, ' Macfarren, Macfarren ; ' hither and 
 thither the single word was ' tossed about ' among the 
 friendly audience, just as in the chorus so blamed. It is 
 said, also, that fugues are dull, uninteresting to any but 
 dry, -learned musicians, and incapable of any poetic expres- 
 
310 "KING DAVID." "ST. GEORGE'S TE DEUM." 
 
 sioD. However, the fugue ' Thy Seed shall be great,' 
 worked up the audience and chorus to a great pitch of ex- 
 citement." 
 
 The Overture to " King David " was written before 
 the rest of the Oratorio, a horn-passage in it, which may- 
 be termed the " shepherd-boy theme," being intro- 
 duced in the course of the work. The " coronation 
 theme," to the words " I will give no slumber," now 
 in the Oratorio, is the second version that was written. 
 The words, "The thing which David had done" are 
 set to an old Church Tone. The Final Chorus is the 
 only one of which Macfarren made sketches before 
 completing it, so far as his amanuensis, Mr. Windeyer 
 Clark, remembers. 
 
 At the first performance of this Oratorio, Macfarren 
 was sitting in a convenient, unobserved position, 
 within hearing of the conductor. When the audience 
 interrupted the immediate succession of the numbers, 
 especially in one place, by applause, Macfarren became 
 vexedly excited, and in audible whisper cried out, 
 " Go on, go on," preferring the continuity to the ex- 
 pressed approval. The conductor on this occasion 
 was Sir Arthur Sullivan ; the soloists were Mesdames 
 Albani, Edith Wynne, and Patey, and Messrs. Lloyd, 
 Santley, and Poli. 
 
 The remaining work of this class to be here men- 
 tioned, though not an Oratorio, is the " St. George's 
 Te Deum," composed for the opening of the London 
 International and Universal Exhibition, at the Crystal 
 Palace, 1884, and performed, on the Handel Orchestra, 
 April 23rd. The circumstances of the occasion neces- 
 sitated, or at least led to, a remarkable construction : 
 two military bands — the Grenadier Guards and Scots 
 
MACFARREN'S METHOD OF WORK. 311 
 
 Guards — being employed, in addition to the ordinary- 
 orchestral band, chorus, and solo voices j the principal 
 vocalists being Mesdames Albani and Patey, and Mr. 
 Santley. The first number was a Prelude, termed 
 " The Gathering of the Nations," in which were intro- 
 duced the Austrian and Russian National Hymns, 
 Danish National Airs, " Die Wacht am Rhein," the 
 " Marsellaise," " Rule Britannia," and " Universal 
 Hymn." In the last chorus, "God Save the Queen " 
 was assigned to the military bands, while a fugue on 
 a totally distinct subject was performed simultaneously 
 by the voices and orchestral band : altogether a marvel 
 of complication to be dictated by a blind man ! The 
 work was treated with small consideration by the 
 musical critics, as a pompous piece d'oeeasion; but is 
 worthy of more respect than might be supposed, espe- 
 cially in the alternative form which the score supplies, 
 relieved of the meretricious, or, at least, circumstantial 
 accessories. 
 
 It may be interesting to give some account of Mac- 
 farren's method of procedure in the composition and 
 dictation of his large works, such as the Oratorios 
 which have been enumerated in this chapter ; several 
 of which, it may be premised, were transcribed from 
 his already prepared and well-stocked brain, early in 
 the mornings, before breakfast, so as to secure non-in- 
 terruption and non-interference with the professional 
 business which pressed heavily upon him. 
 
 Assuming, then, that he himself was, in the main, 
 prepared with his ideas, on the arrival of his amanu- 
 ensis he would — for instance, in the case of a chorus — 
 dictate the voice parts first of all, probably of one page, 
 each part separately, not bar by bar, but the whole 
 
312 METHOD OF WORKINO. 
 
 page ; and then add the instrumental parts, most usu- 
 ally dictating the first violin part before the other 
 parts. In the case of a choral fugue, he would dic- 
 tate the subject first of all, and then say, " Now let us 
 get a counterpoint to this," which, it need not be said 
 to musical adepts, would have to be double — that is, 
 invertible, adapted to accompany the subject either 
 above or below it. And then, the subject, answer, 
 and double-counterpoint being written, the remainder 
 of the exposition would be completed ; this term being 
 applied to the first series of entries of subject and 
 answer in all the parts. In this exposition, his 
 favourite method, in Oratorios, was to accompany the 
 voices with the organ only ; following a precedent to 
 which he referred in an analysis of Handel's " Israel 
 in Egypt":— 
 
 " In this [' Egypt was glad '] and several subsequent 
 movements of the same character, the voices are at first 
 accompanied with the organ only, the string and brass in- 
 struments being introduced considerably later to enforce 
 some new entry of the subject, which has an admirable 
 effect, not merely of giving prominence to an important 
 point, but of giving colour and variety to the tone of the 
 whole chorus." 
 
 Did all inspiration evaporate, meanwhile, and the 
 whole work become one of mere music-making, with- 
 out free play for the imagination ? It might seem in- 
 evitably so ; many think that it was so, and that they 
 can detect a certain " angularity " in the larger works 
 produced in Macfarren's later years, attributable partly 
 to this method of production, partly to the theoretical 
 or grammatical habit of hia mind. His valued aman- 
 
DICTATION AND INSPIRATION. 313 
 
 uensis, however, previously quoted, says, with respect 
 to the alleged hindering of inspiration : — 
 
 " I think not : in one way it aided it, for it compelled 
 him to concentration of thought ; for the separate move- 
 ment, at all events, if not more, was necessarily complete 
 before a note was written. Thus, one of his . most beauti- 
 ful songs, ' Love is strong as death,' in ' Joseph,' was 
 written in this manner. When I went to him one morning 
 to write what might be ready, he said, ' I thought of this 
 song as I was coming home in the cab from the concert 
 last night, and finding a fire waiting for me at home to sit 
 out, I finished it ' (all in his mind, you must remember). 
 Some one has said that hearing music is not conducive to 
 much composition. Eatthng over the London streets in a 
 four-wheeled cab might be thought not apposite for com- 
 position, and very different to the cosy studies and com- 
 fortable chairs, pink satiu suits, etc., of some writers. But 
 there is quiet even in the midst of noise, and to him the 
 mere cessation of business was the signal for musical 
 thought, and he had no outside visions to disturb his con- 
 centration of that thought. However, thus was the song 
 ready in his mind, waiting for me to write it down. He 
 wotdd sit at the little old square piano in his den, I by his 
 side, so that I could aid my ears by a glance at his fingers, — 
 paper of twenty-four lines and a favourite ink-pot on the 
 piano comer. In this song there are four horns. 'We 
 will write them first, for they have most to play, and will 
 want the longest bars.' I believe he dictated them in C, 
 the key in which they were to be written. This, and other 
 habits he had, shows that he had the score before his 
 mind's eye as it ought to be written. The four horns 
 written for one page only, and the bar lines drawn up and 
 down the rest of the score; the rest of the instruments 
 were filled in for the page, the highest first, and so down- 
 wards to the bass. The symphony written line by hne, 
 the voice part (words and music) was indicated, because 
 that would take the most space. Then the accompaniment 
 for that was begun at the top hne, and so downwards, line 
 by line. When I turned over for a new page, ' Where did 
 
314 MACFARREN'S PATIENCE AND MEMORY. 
 
 we leave off ? ' would be the question ; but before I could 
 refer back, ' Oh, I remember,' and he would play the next 
 bar. Sometimes the voice part would be written for the 
 whole, or a large part of the song — specially this would be 
 the case in choral works, — or in a choral fugue, where the 
 voice parts and words were very much involved. Once 
 only I remember making a pencil ' sketch,' as he called it, 
 of a composition ; that was the overture to ' Joseph ' ; but I 
 believe it was as much out of consideration for my inex- 
 perience, as for any wish to help his own work of com- 
 position ; the ostensible reason being that he might forget 
 the course of the work in the delay of writing score. I 
 have been told he sometimes forgot a composed work be- . 
 fore he had opportunity to get it written. In my own 
 work with him, I only recollect one slight forgetfulaess ; 
 that was a counterpoint he had worked out for a bass part 
 to some chorus. When I went to write, he had forgotten 
 it, much to his distress, and he was obliged to think it out 
 again, bar by bar, as I sat writing. I remember now the 
 warm thanks he gave me for what he called my wonderful 
 patience in writing while he was repairing his error, and 
 ' wasting my time,' as he called it. As a fact, the error was 
 a far greater pain to himself than to me, for it was a real 
 trial to him. I have been told he was impatient with his 
 writers ; I always found the impatience was at what he 
 considered his own slowness, not mine, though I was slow 
 enough. 
 
 " Never but once have I heard a word of complaint, of 
 fretfulness from him at his blindness — that was only two 
 months before he died, when he must have been suffering 
 keenly from his extreme weak state and effort to keep up. 
 He wrote, urging me, ' Write music, write ; you have not 
 the necessity of waiting for other hands ; you need scarcely 
 even memory for your writing.' 
 
 " lUness did not make him forget his composed work. 
 One day he broke off in the midst of dictating to me, 
 feeling very ill, and he remained iU the rest of the day : 
 before I left the house, however, an arrangement was 
 made that I was to come the next day ; then the move- 
 ment was finished that had been broken off the day 
 before." 
 
PHILHARMONIC PROGRAMMES. 315 
 
 During all this productive period of Maofarren's 
 active mind, he had also other work, of most exacting 
 kind. Prom 1869 to 1880 inclusivOj he was retained 
 as annotator of the Philharmonic Sooiety, the analy- 
 tical programmes supplied by him being of great and 
 permanent interest. One analysis, of singularly 
 sympathetic appreoiativeness, may be specially men- 
 tioned in this chapter, that of Brahms' "German 
 Requiem," in the programme of the concert, April 6th, 
 1876. This interesting analysis has been published 
 separately. He reproached himself, however, for 
 writing analytical programmes ; but for what reason, 
 does not seem to have been stated by him. 
 
 Other labours of the learned musician during this 
 period have yet to be recorded. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Peincipalship of the Royal Academy of Mtjsic. 
 Peofessoeship in the Univeesity of Cambeidge: 
 Lectuees. Univeesity Degeees. Knighthood. 
 "Ajax" Music. Teecentenaey Anthem. Macfaeeen 
 as Teachek and Examinee. 1875 — 1887. 
 
 ON the 1st of February, 1875, the world of Music 
 sustained an irreparable loss by the death, after a 
 short illness, of Sir William Sterndale Bennett. With 
 characteristic promptitude, on receiving intimation of 
 the deplored event, Macfarren, as one of the committee 
 of the Royal Academy of Music, directed that a meet- 
 ing of that body should be instantly summoned, so that 
 fitting steps might be taken to indicate the esteem in 
 which their deceased chairman and principal was held, 
 and to determine on the course to be taken for the 
 future management of the institution. Not only was 
 the Academy largely represented at, and concerned 
 with, the funeral of the lamented musician, whose 
 genius had shed upon it such lustre, but, without hesi- 
 tation, Macfarren was looked to as his proper suc- 
 cessor, by reason of his consummate musicianship, 
 long and intimate association with the institution in 
 all its vicissitudes, and sterling mental and moral 
 
R.A.M. PRINCIPALSHIP. BENNETT "IDYLL." 317 
 
 qualifications ; and, with the expectant assent of the 
 entire professoriate, he was appointed to the respon- 
 sible and onerous office of principal, which, with most 
 important and salutary results, he held until his 
 death. 
 
 Shortly afterwards, he delivered a lecture upon the 
 life and works of Sterndale Bennett, at St. John's 
 Wood. And, in the same year, by request of the 
 Philharmonic Society, he composed an "Idyll" in 
 memory of Bennett, which was performed at the final 
 Concert of the 63rd season, July 6th, 1875 ; the ana- 
 lytical programme by himself giving this account of 
 the work : — 
 
 " Allegro tranquillo, 0. — Andante, I, ' God is a Spirit.' — 
 Maestoso, C — (B flat). 
 
 "The following are the points in the musician's cha- 
 racter and career that have been foremost in the recollec- 
 tion of his friend. His inborn genius ; his early orphan- 
 hood ; the expansion of his powers imder kindly nurture ; 
 his entry on the active life of the metropolis; his trans- 
 plantation to a foreign land, where the musical uses and 
 the social surroundings were a new soil and climate for the 
 cultivation of his artistry-; the ripening of his strength 
 under these influences ; his scholastic ofS.ces in England, 
 with their duties ; the resumed exercise of his productive 
 abUity; his later visit to Germany, when some of his 
 artist friends were no more ; his gently falling into the 
 everlastiag sleep ; the triumphant homage to his manes, 
 when the heart of England beat with pride in her honoured 
 son ; the feeling of the mourners that himself was present 
 among them when his own strain was sung ; and the glori- 
 fication of art, in men's acknowledgment of her represen- 
 tative." 
 
 Some months later, in writing to Mr. T. J. Dudeney, 
 
318 LETTERS TO MR. DUDENEY. 
 
 he again makes graceful allusion to the departed musi- 
 cian, in a letter which explains itself : — 
 
 "Nov. 30, 1875. 
 " Mt deak Sib, 
 
 " The White and the wind and the cold to-day remind 
 me of your pretty setting of Miss Ingelow's poem, and of 
 my remissness in not sooner acknowledging the copy. Let 
 me thank you for it now. I thank you too, and the mem- 
 bers of your Society, as a friend of Sir Sterndale Bennett, 
 for the Concert you have given in his memory. Such an 
 artist as he dies but to his friends when he leaves this 
 life ; to the world he still lives in his works, and they do 
 themselves as much honour as him in keeping green his 
 memory who study and hear these. 
 
 " I am very truly yours, 
 
 " G-. A. Macpaeeen." 
 
 And to the same effect, later on, he wrote : — 
 
 " Exceat Farm, 
 
 " Seaford, Sussex, 
 
 "9th August, 1880. 
 " Mt deae Mb. Dtjdenet, 
 
 " I learn with pleasure that the Washford Musical 
 Society has been giving concerts of Bennett's music, and 
 I congratulate you, as the director and representative 
 of that admirable institution, on the success of these 
 performances. A few such workers with such material 
 would soon Anglicize our musical faith, and, in teaching 
 us to believe in one another, strengthen our reliance on 
 ourselves and trust in the public." 
 
 Shortly before the date of this last letter, the Society 
 referred to forwarded the following resolution, passed 
 at the General Meeting : — 
 
 " That considering the pleasure and profit the members 
 have derived from their study of some of Dr. GT. A. Mac- 
 farren's music, and in acknowledgment of the kind advice 
 
CAMBRIDGE PROFESSORSHIP. 319 
 
 lie has given respecting the formation of their new society, 
 the warmest thanks of the members be due to him, and 
 they also respectfully wish him many happy returns of 
 this his birthday." 
 
 It is pleasurable in a high degree to record that, 
 through the enthusiastic appreciation of the works and 
 character of Macfarren, evinced by Mr. Dudeney, the 
 Taunton Philharmonic Association was founded, in his 
 honour, March 2nd, 1875. Macfarren wrote with re- 
 gard to this and other efforts : — 
 
 " It is one thing to produce music, but quite another to 
 have such a partisan as you, who not only gives credit for 
 one's intentions, but infuses his own great interest in the 
 subject into a large circle of surrounders. ... As much as 
 on my own account I thank you for the partisanship of 
 Enghsh music, nay, of music altogether, which you are 
 
 fulfilhng If others worked as you do in musical 
 
 promulgation, they would effect more than is in the power 
 of princes to advance the study and love of art." 
 
 Another important office became vacant by the death 
 of Sterndale Bennett, — that of Professor of Music in 
 the University of Cambridge. Immediately after 
 Bennett^s funeral, an informal conference was held be- 
 tween a few influential gentlemen connected with the 
 University, to which Macfarren was invited ; and, 
 from that moment, he consenting to stand for the 
 appointment, his election was well-nigh a foregone 
 conclusion. Efforts of an interested kind were indeed 
 made to depreciate his qualification for the duties, on 
 account of his blindness ; but this allegation of unfit- 
 ness was rebutted by a letter in the " Times," signed 
 by Herr Joachim, Costa, and other influential and 
 competent musicians, in which facts were stated re- 
 
320 CAMBRIDGE PROFESSORSHIP. 
 
 specting his marvellous and undaunted vanquishment 
 of obstacles whicli would have unnerved and inca- 
 pacitated most men. The issue could hardly be un- 
 certain ; every other candidate ultimately, though not 
 all promptly, retired ; and on March 16th Macfarren 
 was elected in this instance also as successor to his old 
 fellow- student, in the arduous, honourable, and re- 
 sponsible duties attached to the Chair of Music in the 
 University. In his letter of application he said : — 
 
 "In the event of your conferring upon me the great 
 honour of appointing me your Professor, I should regard 
 the office not only as an honour but as a trust, and would 
 endeavour to the best of my power to advance the study of 
 Music in the University. I should hope to do this not 
 only by fulfilling the office of Examiner for Musical De- 
 grees, but by delivering Lectures such as I hope might 
 prove useful to resident musical students." 
 
 Prior to the election, it had been determined that, 
 in place of a stipend of £100 to the Professor of 
 Music, and certain fees from successful candidates for 
 degrees, as heretofore, the stipend should in future be 
 £200, and "that the Professor be not authorized to re- 
 ceive any fees from persons performing exercises or 
 being examined for degrees in Music" This change 
 was welcome to Macfarren, relieving him from all sus- 
 picion of interested motives in passing candidates. 
 And, whereas the delivery of Lectures on Music was 
 not previously obligatory on the Professor, it was 
 enacted " that the Professor be required to give a 
 course of not less than four Lectures in Music annu- 
 ally in the University," etc. 
 
 In the following April, the Senate passed the 
 " Grace " " that the degree of Doctor of Music be 
 
PRESENTATION FOR MUS. DOC. DEGREE. 321 
 
 conferred on Greorge Alexander Maotiarren " ; and on 
 the occaaion of his being presented for that degree, the 
 Pablio Orator, Mr. R. C. Jelf, delivered the following 
 speech : — 
 
 "Musicae apud nos regendae clarum praesse virum 
 Academiae quantum intersit, neminem vestrum opinor 
 ignorare. Si enim ilia vetus artium coniunctio et societas 
 quam finxit Natura, usus corroboravit ac fecit strictiorem, 
 nuUo tempore nullo loco dissolvi potest, nos certe, qui 
 litteris studemus G-raecis et Latiuis, qui nihil liberalis 
 disciplinae vel apud nos peregrinari credimus vel hiac 
 patimur exulare, miisicen ia sede hand infima debemus 
 collocare. Testimonio sunt veteres, sive philosophos, sive 
 poetas, sive eloquentiae artifices respecitis, quae videretur 
 antiquitus esse musices cum ceteris humanioris scientise 
 partibus necessitudo. Summam eruditionem ut auctor est 
 Tullius, Graeci sitam censebant ia nervorum vocumque 
 cantibus ; quos, ut Epaminondas excoluit, ita Themisto- 
 cles quod declinaret habitus est indoctior. Quid vero 
 dicit Marcus Fabiiis Quiatilianus ? Omnium ait in litteris 
 studiorum, Timagene docente, antiquissimam exstitisse 
 musicen ; qua imbutus Pythagoras atque eius discipuli 
 opinionem vulgaverunt, mundum ipum ea rations esse 
 compositum quam postea sit lyra imitata. Scimus Pla- 
 tonem, quom in aliis quibusdam tum praecipue in Timaeo, 
 ne inteUigi quidem posse nisi ab iio qui banc quoque 
 partem humanitatis dihgenter perceperint : neque f rustra 
 Plato civiH viro, quem ttoXitikov vocat, necessariam musicen 
 creditit. Immo Lycurgus, duriosimarum auctor legum, 
 musices studium probavit : musicae subjectam esse gram- 
 maticen putavit et Archytas et Aristoxenos ; neque cum 
 EupoUs Hyperbole demagogo irridere volnit, aliam existi- 
 mavit graviorem contumeliam quam ut eum innueret 
 musicen nescire. 
 
 " Nostis, academici, vetus illud in G-raecia proyerbium : 
 77? XavQavovartc fiovaiKtit ovliia\6yoi : quo illi quidem sig- 
 nificabant, animi dotes, si non proferas, perinde esse 
 quasi non habeas. Quod tamen nobis propriomagis sensu 
 accipere licet, musicen rati eo magistruic academiae pro- 
 
 T 
 
322 PUBLIC ORATOR'S SPEECH. 
 
 futuram quo a viro doceatur clariore. Magna desideria 
 magnas expetunt consolationes : amisimus insignem vi- 
 rum ; "" insignem in eius locum esse sufEectum nunc merito 
 nobis gratulamur. Cuius tot opera, tot laudes percensere 
 neque nostra facile possit oratio neque ipsius verecundia 
 patiatur : immo est vir eiusmodi quern qui nominat laudat. 
 Duco ad vos Musicae Professorem, Georgium Alexandrum 
 Macfarren." 
 
 (Free Translation.) 
 
 " Tou are none of you, I think, ignorant how greatly it 
 concerns the TJni-yersity that a distinguished man should 
 preside over musical matters amongst us. For if that 
 ancient alliance and union of arts, which Nature formed 
 and use has confirmed and made more strict, cannot at 
 any time or in any place be dissolved, then most assuredly 
 we who study Grreet and Latin literature, and who do not 
 consider foreign among' us, or allow to be driven hence, any 
 form of liberal learning, ought to place music in by no 
 means the lowest position. For whether you regard philo- 
 sophers, poets, or the masters of eloquence, the ancients 
 testify how close a connexion there was held to be of old 
 between music and all other kinds of polite learning. The 
 G-reeks, as Cicero tells us, considered that the highest 
 erudition was found in vocal and instrumental music ; 
 which Epamiaondas cultivated, but Themistocles refused, 
 and was therefore considered the more ignorant. What 
 again does Marcus Pabius Quintilianus say ? He says 
 that, according to Timagenes, music is the most ancient of 
 all studies. Fully convinced of this, Pythagoras and his 
 disciples spread the opinion that the world itself was made 
 by that method and in that proportion which the lyre 
 afterwards imitated. Plato, we know, in various works, 
 but especially in the Timseus, could not even be under- 
 stood except by those who had carefully studied this 
 branch of learning. Nor is it for nothing that Plato 
 asserts music to be necessary for the man of his republic 
 whom he calls irokiriKov. Nay more, Lycurgus, who 
 framed laws of such extraordinary severity, approved of 
 
 ' Sir W. Sterndale Bennett. 
 
MUS. DOC. OXON. AND DUBLIN. 323 
 
 the study of music. Archytas too, and Aristoxenus, con- 
 sidered that grammar was subject to music ; and when 
 Eupolis used to deride Hyperbolus the demagogue, he 
 thought there was no greater insult than to point to his 
 ignorance of music. 
 
 " Tou know the old Greek proverb : ' Hidden music is of 
 no account '; by which they signified that mental gifts, 
 if not brought forth, were as though non-existent. "We 
 may apply this to ourselves in a peculiarly appropriate 
 sense, considering that the more eminent the man who 
 teaches, the more beneficial will the art of music be to 
 the University. Great losses require great consolation ; 
 we have lost a distinguished man ; we now congratulate 
 ourselves that a distinguished man has been appointed to 
 fill his place. We cannot in this speech enumerate his 
 many works, his many merits ; nor would his modesty 
 suffer us to do so ; suffice it to say that he is a man whom 
 to name is to praise. 
 
 " I present to you the Professor of Music, George 
 Alexander Macfarren." 
 
 In 1876 the University of Oxford also conferred 
 upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Music ; 
 and, in 1887, the like distinction was accorded him by 
 the University of Dublin. 
 
 On May 25th Professor Macfarren was granted the 
 use of the Senate House for his Inaugural Lecture, 
 which he delivered before a distinguished audience, 
 ladies being admitted ; and he began by remarking 
 that — 
 
 " He wished to own publicly his sense of the importance 
 of the office which gave him the privilege of addressing 
 that audience that afternoon, an importance which was 
 greatly exalted by the artistic abilities of his distinguished 
 predecessor, whose genius was as a star which shines upon 
 the art he cultivated, the country he honoured, and the 
 offices he administered. He wished to offer the tribute of 
 respect to Sir Stemdale Bennett of one who was his school- 
 
324 INAUGURAL LECTURE AT CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 fellow and fellow-labourer, however humble, in the work 
 which filled and glorified his life. Bennett, while yet a 
 student, working the exercises set him by his teachers, 
 attained an excellence in pianoforte playing peculiarly his 
 own, and produced some of those compositions for which 
 he would always be best esteemed. The University of 
 Cambridge had a right to expect very much from all 
 functionaries attached to it, but he feared the expectations 
 would be especially great from the successor of this great 
 musician. He (Dr. Macfarren) was not unmiadful of 
 Professor Walmisley, who was distinguished for scholastic 
 abilities as well as his musical attainments ; nor of 
 Maurice Greene, whose contributions to ecclesiastical 
 music were among the greatest treasures of the Church 
 of England, and whose instrumental pieces, though less 
 known, were of. a very high order as works of art ; Stag- 
 gins, Whitfield, Hague, or Randall. They were men who 
 did good honest work, and he would be fortunate who 
 could walk in their footsteps, and gather flowers by the 
 wayside. In the dawn of time truth and beauty were 
 inseparably wedded, ' Spirit of one spirit, and flesh of one 
 flesh,' and as years rolled on, they had three daughters — 
 music, poetry, and painting. These were the arts. The 
 art of form and the art of letters had many able expositors. 
 The art of tone was less generally comprehended, but he 
 looked forward with hope to the time when he might be 
 instrumental in some degree in further extending it. The 
 classic Greeks, who were the filter through which the 
 draughts of Egyptian science have reached our lips, taught 
 that music purified the heart by refining the intellect, and 
 exalted the feelings by reflecting them in ideal forms. 
 What Plato and Aristotle enunciated, Cicero endorsed. In 
 another age, Confucius insisted that the practice of music 
 would be of the highest moral and intellectual advantage ; 
 and, to come to our own race, Luther held that the study 
 of music was next in importance after theology. These 
 ancients, however, among whom he Lacluded Luther, could 
 have had but a prophetic gleam of music, as we know it. 
 To them it was an exalted declamation ; to us it is an 
 embodiment of feeliag, for which words can find no 
 utterance ; means of expression which no language can 
 
INAUGURAL LECTURE. 325 
 
 compass. It was a vulgar fashion — all fashions are vulgar 
 which step aside from nature — that decried the capacity of 
 English people for music. He had not then time to refute 
 this fallacy. He must ask them to accept his statement 
 until opportunity for proof offered itself. In early days 
 England stood weU forward among European nations in 
 respect to her musical abilities. In the beginning of the 
 eleventh century, she was in advance of the whole of the 
 south of Europe ; and was noted by foreigners, who them- 
 selves boasted a love of music, for her attainments in the 
 art ; and, from that time downwards, many of the greatest 
 lights that shone in English history in the departments of 
 art had been directed to the illumination of the subject of 
 music. There was no time now to trace the course of the 
 musical history of this country: but he felt so strongly 
 that the future would come out of what had been in the 
 past, that he believed it would be an encouragement to 
 everybody who strove for the advancement of musical art 
 to know, that whatever might be done in the future would 
 be but a revival, a restoration of the old state of things in 
 England." 
 
 He proceeded with historical references such as 
 have appeared in lectures and papers already quoted, 
 to the effect of the Reformation on Church Musicj etc.; 
 the works of Tallis and Byrd ; Madrigals, Italian and 
 English ; the choir singing Luca Marenzio's " Lady, 
 see on every side,'' and John Benet's " Come, Shep- 
 herds, follow me," the lecturer pointing out their 
 rhythmical peculiarities. 
 
 "Up to Benet's time (1599) bar lines had not been 
 invented to divide music into proper measures. Still, it 
 was necessary that the performers should know whether 
 they were to sing with an accentuation of two or three ; 
 and thus the accentuation became distinguished by 
 ' perfect time,' and ' imperfect time.' ' Imperfect time ' 
 was when the long notes were divided into two, and 
 'perfect time' was when they were divided into three. 
 
326 INAUGURAL LECTURE. 
 
 They justified the term ' perfect time ' on the ground that 
 the Trinity was three and perfect. It was the practice in 
 those days to introduce more frequently than was now 
 done, an intermixture of ' perfect ' and ' imperfect' time '; 
 and his audience would notice the happy effect which 
 Benet produced by a change from ' imperfect ' into ' perfect 
 time,' which gave to certain words the particular character 
 they seemed to express. Beautiful as was Marenzio's 
 madrigal, Benet's would bear to stand before it." 
 
 After referring to the period of the Commonwealth, 
 he proceeded to consider the life of Henry Purcell, 
 who stood pre-eminently forward in the history of 
 music. 
 
 " He was bom in 1658, lived from the time of the Resto- 
 ration, through the reign of James II., up to William, and 
 died in 1695. There was a prodigious advance in the 
 power of expression of his music from the time of Benet. 
 Besides the sesthetic beauty of his music, its technical 
 merit was very important in the history of art, for in his 
 music were anticipated all the most extreme chromatic 
 combinations that signaUzed the music of the present 
 time. Many of the contrapuntal forms, which have now 
 gone out of use, were practised by him with wonderful 
 success. One anthem of his composition was set to some 
 words of the Litany, and the treatment of these words 
 gave every expression its fullest meaning. It commenced 
 with a most humble deprecation, ' Eemember not. Lord, 
 our offences ' ; it gathered strength when it said, ' Nor 
 the offences of our forefathers ' ; and then, as if in despair, 
 there was the cry, ' Neither take thou vengeance of our 
 sins.' The whole was tempered with the seeming hope of 
 mercy, ' Spare us, good Lord ' ; then with most touch- 
 ing tenderness we have, ' Spare Thy people, whom Thou 
 hast redeemed with Thy most precious blood ' ; and again, 
 ' Be not angry with us for ever.' [The choir here sang the 
 anthem referred to.] It was a remarkable fact that, with 
 the accession of sovereigns in England who could not speak 
 our language, and, therefore, could not take an interest in 
 its expression, music went into disesteem, and painting 
 
INAUGURAL LECTURE. 327 
 
 rose into favour. While the art of painting could show 
 the names of Hogarth, Eieynolds, G-ainsborough, etc., there 
 was a corresponding blank in the chronicles of the sister 
 art. It would be among the glories of the times of Queen 
 Victoria, that, under her administration, the old musical 
 feeling of former centuries had been revived. It was, 
 indeed, with immense interest that he compared the pre- 
 sent with the past condition of music in this country. In 
 the Plantagenet days people sang canons and catches, and 
 delighted one another by such efforts. In the time of 
 Elizabeth, the competency of farm labourers and artisans 
 for service was made dependent on their musical qualifica- 
 tion. In the time of Charles II. domestic servants were 
 refused employment because they could not sing their 
 parts in domestic music. In these days it was not domestic 
 servants, artisans, labourers, or the uncultivated people, 
 but the students of a great University who devoted thought 
 and time to the cultivation of music. The organ recital 
 which he had heard in Trinity Chapel, and the concert of 
 last week, were performances such as few artists, even in 
 his young days, could have accomplished. It was quite 
 evident that music here was not a piece of school work, 
 but a work of love among the persons who attained to 
 such merit. Their merit had its influence, their example 
 had its force, but this influence and example would not 
 stay in Cambridge. Every one who learned to love music 
 in Cambridge would carry that love into his own home, 
 which would be as a centre, diffusing its warmth and light 
 on all its surroundings ; and when once the love of the 
 art which in former days prevailed among the untutored 
 common people, shone down upon them from above, with 
 the extra radiation which must spring from the culture 
 and refinement of the mind, he could not but believe that 
 the musical character of England would be greatly exalted. 
 He looked forward with fervent hope to the future of 
 music in this coim.try, when the stigmas which we our- 
 selves had taught foreigners to cast upon us for our lack 
 of musical culture would be wiped out, and we could show 
 them we could do something more for music than paying 
 for its performance. He particularly wished to urge upon 
 those who had the musical art at heart to carry their pur- 
 
328 LECTURES AT CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 suit, of it into its teclmical merits. Music was of count- 
 less value, but it was of still greater value when the prin- 
 ciples upon which it was constructed were apprehended. 
 To hear or practise music, without a knowledge of the 
 principles upon which it was formed, was very much like 
 going to the performance of a play in an unknovsTi lan- 
 guage, when one could admire the gesticulation of the 
 actor, but, not knowing the meaning of the words, could 
 do but scant justice to the theme. He was glad that the 
 technical principles of music were studied here ; but wished 
 they were studied more ; and he was even vain enough to 
 wish that, as a knowledge of music was advancing among 
 us, the authorities of the University might in time con- 
 sider it to be desirable to make it one of the subjects of 
 special examination. The monuments of the past were as 
 a beacon to the future, but the doings of the present would 
 come stiU more warmly home to their hearts, by showing 
 the position of the art as practised among themselves, and 
 he would, therefore, close his remarks by offering an 
 extract from the Cantata of the ' May Queen,' by his dear 
 and honoured friend, the greatest English musician of the 
 present period. Sir William Sterndale Bennett, a cantata 
 which, produced at the Leeds Festival in 1858, was cha- 
 racteristic of the season, the country, and the composer. 
 May his memory be as green and balmy as his song ! " 
 
 The courses of lectures, four in each course, delivered 
 in Cambridge University by Macfarren in his profes- 
 sorial capacity, were as follows : — 1876, on " Form or 
 Design in Musical Composition " ; 1877, on " The 
 Musical Scales of different ages and nations" ; 1878, 
 on " Counterpoint " ; 1879, on " Beethoven's ' Eroica ' 
 Symphony " ; 1880, on "The Growth of the Overture"; 
 1881, on " Beethoven's Choral Symphony " ; 1882, on 
 "Bach's ' Well- tempered Clavier' " ; 1883, on " Bach's 
 24 Preludes and Fugues " (the sequel to the " Well- 
 tempered Clavier ") ; 1884, on " Mozart's early Sym- 
 phonies" ; 1885, on " Mozart's latest Symphonies " ; 
 
LECTURES AT CAMBRIDGE. 329 
 
 1886, a first course on "Beethoven's Pianoforte 
 Sonatas " ; 1887, a second course on " Beethoven's 
 Pianoforte Sonatas." 
 
 Several of these courses were re-delivered at the 
 Royal Academy of Music ; those on " Bach's Preludes 
 and Fugues," to the College of Organists; that on 
 " The Growth of the Overture," to the students of the 
 Royal Normal CoUege and Academy of Music for the 
 BKnd, Upper Norwood ; an institution in which, for 
 obvious reasons, Macfarren felt special interest. 
 
 The lectures on " Form or Design " were partly 
 historical, tracing the development of tonality from 
 the old Modes, the origin of Fugue in connection with 
 the Authentic and Plagal Modes, Descant, Counter- 
 point ; the Symphonic or Sonata forms, the Rondo, etc. 
 
 The lectures on " Counterpoint " were embodied in 
 his book on that subject, to be referred to later on. 
 
 Macfarren objected to the term " the 48 " as 
 applied to Bach's Preludes and Fugues, because the 
 first 24, entitled by Bach " Das Wohltemperirte 
 Elavier," were published long before the second set of 
 24, which were not so termed, and which represent the 
 later development of the composer's mind. 
 
 To give an epitome of any of these courses of lec- 
 tures is quite impracticable in these pages, requiring 
 much space and copious musical examples, which 
 were played on the pianoforte by various students, 
 principally from the Royal Academy, when the lec- 
 tures were delivered.' 
 
 In the lectures on the " Well- tempered Clavier," he 
 
 remarks : — 
 
 " When we come to the closest study of this very great 
 master, I must caution you that there are some slight 
 
330 "THE WELL-TE3IPEREB CLAVIER." 
 
 points that are not things for approbation, still less for 
 carrying into practice. To us humble persons who possess 
 not the excellences which appear in Bach — when we see 
 what to our shallow minds appear to be spots in his great 
 distant splendour — let it teach us modesty if we find in 
 one of the greatest men who worked in the art of music 
 that there are some things we cannot account for, and let 
 us know that we also are liable to error. Therefore we 
 must still be the more cautious, the more circumspect, the 
 more careful, to avoid committing errors, since we can by 
 no means flatter ourselves that we shall surround our 
 shortcomings with such a brilliant display of beauty as 
 shall atone for the inaccuracies we may have com- 
 mitted.'" 
 
 But such candid discrimination implies no depre- 
 ciation, or lack of appreciation, of the great master. 
 
 In commenting upon the first Prelude, Macfarren 
 does not neglect an opportunity for illustrating the 
 means furnished by the theory of harmony held by 
 him for accounting for apparently exceptional, and to 
 some unexplainable, progressions. Thus, on bars 
 20-22 he remarks : — 
 
 "G-reat beauty is in the interrupted resolution of the 
 dominant seventh in the key of T, where the B (leading- 
 note) is retained — fulfilling thus the conditions of a pre- 
 pared discord, in becoming the seventh of P, but having 
 exceptional treatment in proceeding to E fiat, accompanied 
 by F sharp, portions of the chromatic chord of the super- 
 tonic minor ninth, and so giving to the preceding harmony, 
 with F natural in the bass, a claim to be regarded as the 
 
 13 
 
 n * 
 
 third inversion of the chord of g of G-, whose root, third, 
 
 7 
 and fifth, are omitted." 
 
 ' See p. 278, et seq. 
 
FALSE RELATION. 
 
 331 
 
 ^ ^iyw*> 
 
 
 
 W=^ 
 
 ' -8- ' 
 
 
 
 — a — 
 
 ■— j^, — ' 
 
 He proceeds : — 
 
 " In the next incident for present notice is an infraction 
 of one of the most rigid laws. But when we have learned 
 aU the rules, and are able to apply them, there still is the 
 fact that art is free ; that it is within the possibility of 
 great minds even to conceive, and accomplish, beautiful 
 effects that supersede rules. Do not suppose from this that 
 inexperienced persons are to abrogate laws and take prin- 
 ciples into their own hands. Let us still believe that our 
 duty is to learn all that the wisdom of our predecessors has 
 taught ; and, when we have attained mastery of the whole 
 code of musical precepts, it is at our own risk we sweep 
 these long-established laws on one side. Tou have heard 
 of the inflexible rules against false relation — namely, the 
 having a sharp note in one part of the harmony, together 
 with or directly after a natural note of the same name in 
 another part ; notes are related to each other in so far as 
 they belong to one common key, and this discrepancy of 
 sharp and natural implies that the two parts are in diffe- 
 rent keys, and therefore stand in false relation. Detach 
 from the rest of the harmony the P sharp and A flat 
 in the bass of the following, with the A natural and F 
 natural of the upper part, and observe the almost un- 
 bearable effect. Play, however, the two chords as they 
 
 Arpegsio. 
 
 are printed, with a change, from loud to soft in passin 
 
332 FUGUE SUBJECT AND ANSWER. 
 
 from one to the next, and I think that in the breach of 
 this rule against false relation is the means of beauty 
 which is else tmattainable, though beauty that cannot be 
 reproduced save by quoting the passage before us, which 
 is but a delicate definition of plagiarism." ^ 
 
 It is almost to be wondered at that Macfarren did 
 not, here, adduce his own cherished (though by others 
 disputed) theory of a supertonic root for fundamental 
 discords as applying to the first of these chords, which, 
 being followed by the dominant minor ninth in the 
 same key, relieves the succession of any charge of imply- 
 ing two keys. He goes on to relate, with reprobation, 
 the interpolation of a second inversion of the chord 
 of C minor between the two chords, by the editor 
 Schwenke ; and then reprobates the " superadding a 
 cantilena " to this Prelude by " a distinguished musi- 
 cian,^' and suggests " that our cotemporary would 
 have exercised his genius to better purpose had he 
 written a piece entirely his own, than in embroidering 
 a new fancy upon the complete imagining of another 
 writer." 
 
 In proceeding to analyze the Fugue, Macfarren 
 once for all defines the principle governing the rela- 
 tion of subject and answer : — 
 
 " We must refer to a primitive phase of music for one 
 of the main elements of the fugue — relation of the subject 
 to the answer. Greek music consisted of melody alone, of 
 which there were two chief forms : the authentic, wherein 
 the dominant — or rather predominant — note stood at the 
 interval of a fifth above the final ; and the plagal, wherein 
 the dominant stood at a fourth below the final. If, in the 
 
 ' See Maefarren's "Rudiments," p. 12. 
 
FUGUE ANSWERS. 
 
 333 
 
 brief melody that constitutes the subject of a fugue, the 
 dominant be a conspicuous note, the subject is authentic 
 or plagal according to whether that note stand above or 
 below the tonic ; and, whichever of these be the melodic 
 form of the subject, the answer has the other form, re- 
 versing the interval between tonic and dominant : the 
 fugue is then defined as tonal. If, however, the dominant 
 be not a conspicuous note, in the subject, then the answer 
 is the precise transposition of the same melody into the 
 key at a fifth above or a fourth below the primary key ; the 
 fugue is then defined as real, for the subject is then repro- 
 duced in its reality instead of being modified to meet the 
 changed tonal relationship of the answer." 
 
 In connection with this matter of Fugue subject and 
 answer, a letter to a pupil (in answer to inquiries) may 
 interest students ; and possibly occasion some little 
 surprise or discussion with regard to the first example. 
 
 " The answer I propose gives always tonic for dominant 
 with reference to implied harmonies, as much as to 
 melodv. 
 
 ' ^ T^f 
 
 ^M^ 
 
 r^^^fe 
 
 -fb-i^i-r ■■ 
 
 -fiir^- 1 — \ — r^ ^ ^ — 1 
 
 ■■ 1 H 
 
 — 1 i 1 i' ^ ^-i«H 1 H 
 
 gi^i"' J A—*-^ 
 
 ^=b=t=^ 
 
 * J l?J 
 
 ■^^^H^— « 
 
 " Mozart answers the third of the dominant by the third 
 of the tonic, and then proceeds to the subdominant in the 
 new key." 
 
334 BACH'S FUGUE No. 3. 
 
 With reference to the Fugue in C sharp major. 
 No. 3, Macfarren remarks : — 
 
 " Both subject and answer exemplify the ancient use of 
 diatonic passing-notes as opposed to the modern employ- 
 ment of the chromatic element for notes that are foreign 
 to the harmony. Ears habituated only to the latter expect, 
 and are scarcely satisfied without, a semitone instead of a 
 tone below the G- sharp in the first group of semiquavers 
 of the subject, and below the D sharp in the correspond- 
 
 ing place in the answer. Whereas, formerly, long after 
 chromatic harmonies were in use, only the notes of the 
 diatonic scale were written as passing-notes ; at present, 
 it is not uncommon to write a semitone below any harmony 
 note upon which such passing-note has to resolve, and it is 
 all but imperative when the said harmony note is the root 
 or fifth of the prevailing chord. The chord of C sharp is 
 implied, and is naturally supposed to prevail throughout 
 the first bar of the ujiaccompanied melody, and even to 
 continue for a crotchet's length into the ensuing bar; 
 hence, the listener regards the G sharp as the fifth of the 
 implied chord, and if with small experience out of the 
 idiom of to-day, craves P double sharp as the third note of 
 the turn. There may be more grace, and more seeming 
 finish in the use of this minute interval in our phraseology, 
 but it is bought at the price of simplicity, and of dignity, 
 too, in passages to which such expression is pertinent. It 
 is not here to discuss the more or less merit of either 
 idiom, but to note the distinction, and to be assured that the 
 chromatic note in this position would be an anachi-onism, 
 and quite incompatible with the melodic principle in force 
 when the theme was written." 
 
 Soon after his appointment to the profeasorshipj he 
 wrote an article in the " Musical World," January 1st, 
 
SCHOLASTIC HONOURS. 335 
 
 1876, on " Scholastic Honours " ; urging that these 
 were not to be understood as asserting the genius of 
 the recipients. 
 
 " A diploma testifies to the knowledge of its holder ; his 
 power to apply this knowledge challenges a Uroader and 
 far different judgment. 
 
 " Whatever is fuHy known is always at command. The 
 value of acquirements consists in their instantaneous ap- 
 plicability. No surrounding circumstances or embarrassing 
 witnesses should be able to dislodge from the mind facts 
 of which it is entirely certain. . . . The frequent reply of 
 a learner, that he understands such or such a thing but 
 cannot explain it, comprises in the latter half a denial of 
 the former, since whatever is clear to our understanding, 
 must be ready for our definition." 
 
 Then follow remarks on the " requisite proof ... of 
 a candidate's desert." The article concludes : — 
 
 "As to the professor with whom Ues the approval or 
 the veto, let it be hoped that he may have a full sense of 
 his grave responsibility, a certainty that his own period 
 for self-improvement is of hfe-long extent, a ceaseless 
 endeavour to advance his own erudition, and an inflexible 
 wiU to render justice to them who may submit to the 
 authority which is confided to him." 
 
 Many years before his entrance upon his duties at 
 Cambridge, Macfarren had written strongly on the 
 subject of University Professors of Music, in the 
 " Musical World,'' of March 29th, 1856, just after the 
 election of Bennett to the Cambridge Chair of Music, 
 on the one hand, and on the other, the passing of 
 some new and very important statutes with reference 
 to music at Oxford. He urged, as ''part of the 
 original design of the institution of the Music School 
 
336 CAMBRIDGE PBOFJESSOMSHIP. 
 
 in Oxford," by King Alfred, " the inclusion of music 
 in the educational course of the University " : and 
 commended the recent statutes, viz., " the establish- 
 ment of a practical school of music in the University " : 
 " that any candidate for a degree must attest the 
 genuineness of his exercise by words and signature ; 
 that he must pass an examination before a board of 
 three competent judges," such examination including 
 the -writing of canons, fugues, etc., in the presence of 
 the examiners ; and that " the incumbent of the 
 musical chair must give public lectures in the course 
 of every University term " : also, the raising of the 
 professor's stipend. 
 
 When he himself succeeded his friend at Cambridge, 
 he was consistently true to his earlier avowed views. 
 He did not, indeed, found a music school in the 
 University. With regard to the stipend of the pro- 
 fessor, there was an alteration effected, already re- 
 ferred to, rendering him, most desirably, quite inde- 
 pendent of the fees paid by candidates for degrees ; 
 and leaving him free in the matter of examinations. 
 A "Board of Musical Studies" was constituted in 
 1877 ; and, as it was determined that a literary or 
 arts test should be established, to which candidates 
 must submit in order to pass a musical examination, 
 it was proposed by the Syndicate that the examinations 
 should be conducted "by the Professor, assisted by 
 two or more examiners nominated annually by the 
 Board .... and elected by the Senate, of whom 
 one at least shall be a member of the Senate, or a 
 Mus. Doc. of the University." Against this proposal 
 Macfarren protested, though without avail, in the 
 following letter to the Vice- Chancellor : — 
 
LETTER TO VICE-CHANCELLOR. 337 
 
 "7, Hamilton Terrace, 
 "London, N.W. 
 
 " Mt dear Me. Vice-Chancellor, 
 
 " Not in the hope of changing the views of the gentle- 
 men I have met on the Syndicate, but to justify my dissent 
 from one expression in the report, I must trouble you with 
 my reasons, which are the result of many years' reflection, 
 and of frequent consultation with musicians. I venture 
 to wish for the omission of the words ' a member of the 
 Senate or,' because I am firmly convinced that it is more 
 than desirable — it is necessary for the honour of the 
 University and the welfare of music — ^for every person 
 who officiates in the musical examinations to be a musician 
 of proved competency. The words against which I offer a 
 protest, open the possibility, however improbable, of the 
 appointment, as examiner, of some physicist, or other man 
 of extraneous learning, to be subject to whose inquisition 
 would be painful to any one whose life and best energies 
 had be^n devoted to the widely comprehensive study of 
 music. The distinction between non-professional and pro- 
 fessional followers of an art, are very fine, but most 
 obvious ; no book-learning, but the constant habit of pro- 
 ducing, can alone make an artist, and the constant habit 
 of tuition can alone make a teacher. This is because the 
 daily observing of faults in others sharpens perception of 
 right and wrong ; and the daily working of art problems 
 is the sole experience of the means of avoiding error. . As 
 little would I trust the life of a friend to a physician 
 whose knowledge was acquired wholly outside the medical 
 profession, as I would a score to an examiner whose 
 musicianship was not his all-absorbing occupation. The 
 case is different, certainly, in theology, and perhaps in 
 law, where the subject is finite and changeless, from what 
 it is in those studies which are constantly enriched by 
 additions whose truth can but be tested by the continual 
 habit of practical application. To enlarge upon the uses 
 of other institutions than Cambridge might be personal, 
 and would thus be untimely, and far from my purpose ; 
 but I am bound to state the deep-rooted belief that, to 
 make the Cambridge musical degrees most highly respected, 
 musicians must be assured against the participation of 
 
338 MACFARREN AS EXAMINER. 
 
 amateurs in the investigating of their professional preten- 
 sions. My sincerity may, I trust, serve as apology, if need 
 be, for any warmth of expression in the above, which I 
 must ask you, if you please, to submit to the Council, to- 
 gether with the Syndicate's report. 
 
 " I am, my dear Mr. Vice- Chancellor, 
 " Faithfully yours, 
 
 " G. A. Macfabken. 
 " The Eev. the Vice-Chancelloe." 
 
 At a meeting of the Senate, May 19th, 1877, this 
 letter, in connection with the report of the Syndicate, 
 was discussed ; and, the subject of "Acoustics having 
 been recommended, in addition to Harmony and 
 Counterpoint, that recommendation was supported, 
 and, together with that support, the objections of the 
 Professor to the above-mentioned clause were com- 
 bated by Mr. Sedley Taylor and Mr. Gerard P. Cobb; 
 and the report was adopted. I look back with 
 pleasure and pride to the opportunities which I 
 enjoyed, during certain years, of serving with Pro- 
 fessor Macfarren both as an examiner for the Mus. 
 Bac. degree, and on the Board of Musical Studies. 
 
 Although, as an examiner, it has been supposed 
 that Macfarren was somewhat pedantic, requiring 
 compliance with rules, especially of his own framing, 
 rather than manifestation of musical aptitude, on the 
 part of examinees, yet he was, in reality, very clearly 
 discriminative as to the nature and purport of 
 theoretical examinations. He used to say, " I have 
 tried both ; I have been a candidate, and I have been 
 an examiner, and I know which is the easier." But 
 there is no record of his being a " candidate " for 
 such examinations as those which he conducted. 
 
 He determined to inaugurate his entrance upon 
 
DOCTORS "HONORIS CAUSA." 339 
 
 office at Cambridge by creating, several eminent 
 musicians Doctors of Music, honoris causa; and he 
 named for this purpose Johannes BrahmSj Joseph 
 Joachim, and Sir John Goss. The first named, how- 
 ever, declined or was prevented from coming to this 
 country ; and, as the degree could not be conferred 
 in his absence, only the other two musicians received 
 the distinction, on March 8th, 1877. The other re- 
 cipients of the degree, honoris causa, during Mac- 
 farren's term of office, were Sir Arthur Sullivan and 
 Mr. Hubert Parry. 
 
 Speaking of his, to some eyes, unprepossessing 
 appearance, but, to those knowing him, "his grand 
 forehead," one pupil writes : — 
 
 "It was in the Senate-house at Cambridge that I 
 realized this, as I saw him standing in his simple black 
 gown, the centre of a crowd of men and gay dresses, in 
 the fine old haU with its dark oak fittings. The light 
 streamed from the large windows upon him, and singled 
 out from among them aU his veiled eyes and large brow. 
 It seemed to point him out — the man who had more than 
 most men of pain to bear — and yet worked harder, and 
 thought deeper, and sympathized more keenly than most 
 men. We who loved him thought him almost beautifid 
 at such moments; we read the sympathy in his heart, 
 through the pity of our own. On that occasion he had to 
 go through the ceremony of presenting some Bachelors of 
 Music to the Vice-Chancellor, to receive their degrees. 
 There were some five or six of them clustering round him; 
 each one was to take hold of his hand — a finger for each 
 was scarcely enough. But he himself must be led, as he 
 led them forward: it seemed a miniature of his life- — a 
 leader led, as he was all his life, and therein was his 
 unique influence." 
 
 In the year 1878, on May 23rd, the University of 
 
340 PRESENTATION FOR M.A. DEGREE. 
 
 Cambridge conferred upon him the honorary degree of 
 Master of Artsj on which occasion the following 
 speech was delivered by the Public Orator, Dr. J. E, 
 Sandys : — 
 
 "Dignissime domine, domine Procancellai'ie, et tota 
 Academia : 
 
 " Quod anni proximi illo die augurabamur, quo in hac 
 ipsa dome Orpheum nostrum reducem salutavimus, illud 
 hodie optimis auspiciis ratum esse vehementer gaudemus. 
 Studiis musicis in nostra Academia melius ordinandis 
 novum septemvirorum collegium eonstituistis : ad summos 
 in musica honores aditum nemini nisi per scientiarum 
 portam patere voluistis ; musicae ipsi, quae antiquitus 
 inter septem illas liberales artes erat numerata, novam 
 lauream baccalaureatus in artibus concessistis ; denique 
 tunc virum, tribus abhinc annis non Regiae mode Acade- 
 miae Musicae praepositum sed in nostra quoque Academia 
 et Professorem et Doctorem in musica creatum, senatui 
 nostro placuit magistratu in artibus ornare, senatorum 
 nostrorum in numerum asciscere. 
 
 " Tanti viri insignia merita in legibus illis quae musieam 
 moderantur explicandis et ad certam normam revocandis, 
 non nostrae laudis indigent. Audivistis etiam ipsi carmina 
 ilia nostratium, huius viri arte eoncinentium vocibus 
 accommodata ; quis ' alaudae cantum ' ilium non meminit? 
 quis ' Orphei citharam ' non recordatur ? quis alia carmina 
 nostri Shakesperii ? Cui non, inter aetatis nostrae, nostrae 
 Academiae Musas moranti, redeunt in mentem huius 
 ingenio musicis modis donati lyrici illi versus poetae 
 laureati, Aluredi Tennyson, necnon viri desideratissimi, 
 CaroU Kingsley? procul auribus excipio, nisi fallor, 
 bucinarum longius et longius resonantium concentum; 
 videor mihi audire trans maris frementis aestum, trans 
 arenas murmurantes, planctum puellae nequiquam vocantis. 
 Maias Kalendas (Floralia ilia nostra) quas nuper praeteri- 
 vimus, inter huius viri laudes (hoc praesertim die quo 
 Floralia aguntur) nemo praeteribit; illud certe carminis 
 argumentum (ne maiora commemorem) commune habet 
 cum illo viro, cuius memoriam colit, cuius exemplar aemu- 
 
PUBLIC ORATOR'S SPEECH. 341 
 
 latur, decessore suo, Wilelmo Sterndale Bennett. Neqne 
 vero neglegenda est nobis nympha ilia Caledonici lacns, 
 quae cum huius Mnsa consociata ad extremum Britanniae 
 terminum, 'vel occidentis usque ad ultimum sinum,' 
 nuperrime penetravit; utque postremo argumenta magis 
 sacra attingamus, non ignota est vobis huius arte celebrata 
 ' vox ilia in deserto elamantis.' 
 
 "O utinam bodie inter banc audientium frequentiam 
 kuius consessus dignitatem pulchritudinemque bis oeubs 
 contemplari contingeret : atqui donum illnd commune lucis 
 ereptum donis rarioribus Musa ipsa suo vati compensare 
 est conata, cui (velut olim Miltono nostro) sub ipsa quasi 
 ' caelestium alarum umbra ' tenebris ex ipsis clarius elucet 
 ingeni lumen. Yenit rursus in memoriam vates ille de 
 quo ipsius Homeri versus inter ultima nostri vatis 
 praeconiai vestro (si placet) praeconi nunc iterum laudare 
 liceat : — 
 
 Krjpvi, eyyvBev ^Xdev ayuiv ipirjpov aoiSov, 
 
 Tov TTEpl jxow' E<pi\r)(Tc, SlSov S'ayadov re (caKoi/ re 
 
 'o<^da.\/J.wv fiev afiepae SiSov S'riSeiav aoiSriv. 
 
 " Duco ad vos G-eorgium Alexandrum Macfarren." 
 
 (JVee Translation.) 
 " Most worthy Vice-Chancellor and all this University : 
 " We rejoice to see fulfilled to-day under the happiest 
 auspices what we foretold last year when we welcomed our 
 returning Orpheus. Ton have appointed a new Board of 
 seven members for the better arranging of musical studies 
 in our University ; you have determined to allow no ap- 
 proach to the highest musical honours except through the 
 gate of science ; you have granted to Music itself, which 
 was of old reckoned among the seven liberal arts, the new 
 laurel of a bachelorship in arts ; and lastly, it has pleased 
 the Senate to adorn with a Mastership in Arts and to admit 
 into the ranks of our Senators him who three years ago 
 was appointed Principal of the Eoyal Academy of Music, 
 and also Doctor and Professor of Music in our University. 
 " The distinguished skUl of so great a man in explaining 
 and reducing to a settled rule the laws which regulate 
 
342 PUBLIC ORATOR'S SPEECH. 
 
 music do not need our praise. Tou have yourselves heard 
 those songs of our land which have been set to vocal har- 
 mony by his art. Who does not remember his ' Song of 
 the lark ' ? Who does not call to mind ' Orpheus with 
 his lute,' and the other songs of our Shakespeare ? Who, 
 thinking of the Muses of our own age, of our own University, 
 does not remember the lyrics of the poet-laureate, Alfred 
 Tennyson, and of the greatly regretted Charles Kingsley, 
 that have been graced by his skill. Far away too, unless 
 I am mistaken, I find the harmony of trumpets sound 
 more and more distantly. Across the roaring sea, over 
 the murmuring sand, I seem to hear the complaint 
 of a maiden who calls in vain. Nor can we omit May 
 Day, which we have but lately passed, from among so 
 much deserving praise, especially when May is observed ; 
 a title too (not to mention greater matters) recalling one 
 whose memory he cherishes, and whose example he emu- 
 lates, his predecessor, William Sterndale Bennett. Nor, 
 again, must we neglect that Lady of the Caledonian lake, 
 who, in union with his Muse, has quite recently penetrated 
 to the extremity of Britain, ' even to the farthest western 
 bay.' And lastly, to approach more sacred matters, it 
 cannot be unknown to you that ' the voice of one crying 
 in the wilderness ' has also been celebrated by his art. 
 Oh ! would that among this crowded audience his eyes 
 could see the worth and beauty of this gathering : but the 
 Muse has attempted to compensate her prophet for the 
 loss of the common gift of light by gifts far rarer. For in 
 him (as before in our Milton), under the very ' shadow of 
 celestial wings ' as it were, the light of intellect shines out 
 more clearly from the darkness. Again recurs to our mind 
 that seer, about whom your herald may perhaps be allowed 
 to quote Homer's verses, as the last word of introduction 
 for our seer • 
 
 ' And now the herald came, leading with care 
 The tuneful bard ; dear to the Muse was he. 
 Who yet appointed hiih both good and ill ! 
 Took from him sight, but gave him strains divine. ' " 
 
 W. COWPEE. 
 
 In virtue of this degree, he might have become a 
 
MACFARREN OFFERED KNIGHTHOOD. 343 
 
 member of the Senate, provided he kept three terms 
 by residence in Cambridge; but this his London 
 duties never permitted him to do. 
 
 In the early part of May, 1883, Macfarren received 
 from Mr. Gladstone a communication proposing, on 
 behalf of Her Majesty, that he " should receive the 
 honour of knighthood, in recognition of [his] distin- 
 guished talents as a composer and of the services which 
 [he had] rendered to the promotion of the art of Music 
 generally in this country." Macfarren was no courtier, 
 and shrank from honours and publicity which were not 
 associated with that esteem of his professional brethren 
 which he did really value. There were circumstantial 
 reasons, at the time, moreover, which rendered the pro- 
 posal exceedingly distasteful to him. His answer was : — 
 
 " In reply to your favour of the 3rd inst, let me declare 
 my full sense of the honour you propose in my reception of 
 the dignity of knighthood from Her Majesty, and allow 
 me to acknowledge also the gratifying terms in which your 
 proposal is made. While holding the profoundest respect 
 for the Queen, I still feel myself unable to accept the pro- 
 posed distinction ; and you wiU greatly increase my obli- 
 gation to yourself if you will believe that I say this in 
 all loyalty, and if you will avert the supposition that I 
 slight a gracious intention." 
 
 Through misunderstandings, announcements, and 
 counter-announcements respecting the alleged accep- 
 tance and non-acceptance of the distinction were pub- 
 licly made; and Macfarren felt himself awkwardly 
 placed and embarrassed. In reply to a letter from 
 him to Mr. Gladstone, he was assured, without any 
 wish to fetter his discretion, " that the acceptance of 
 the proposed honour would be generally appreciated 
 
344 KNIGHTHOOD. " AJAX" MUSIC. 
 
 and approved " ; and that his declining of the offer 
 " would create considerable disappointment in many 
 circles." Various friends represented to Macfarren 
 the duty that he owed to the profession in the matter ; 
 and in the end he yielded ; saying in a final letter to 
 Mr. Gladstone : — 
 
 " I own that after your kind words .... I cannot still 
 feel myself unable to accept the proffered honour from Her 
 Majesty. My expressed inability was on personal grounds, 
 with which I need not trouble you, and these must give 
 way to the wishes of others. I shall therefore be obliged 
 if you will cancel my letter of the 4th inst., if you will 
 forgive the delay I have occasioned you, and if you will 
 please to receive my acceptance of the intended honour." 
 
 A well-known musician wrote to MacfarreUj prior 
 to the announcement of this changed purpose, con- 
 gratulating him on his decision, saying, " Ton are a 
 trump." Macfarren had to write and disillusionize 
 him, saying, " Your trump has been taken by the 
 Queen." 
 
 Macfarren hardly forgave himself for his changed 
 decision ; and used to beg his friends not to address 
 him by his " titular prefix " ; though he liked to be 
 termed " Professor," as indicating an artistically won 
 distinction. 
 
 In November and December, 1882, four perfor- 
 mances of Sophocles' " Ajax," in the original language, 
 were given in St. Andrew's Hall, Cambridge, with 
 music by Macfarren. The bills supplied the follow- 
 ing particulars : — 
 
 "The iacidental music, written by Professor Macfabeen, 
 is produced under the direction of C. V. Stanfoed, M.A., 
 Trinity College. The scenery and proscenium painted by 
 
''AJAX" MUSIC. 345 
 
 Mr. John O'Connor, from original authorities. The 
 stage-management, costumes, and properties, have been 
 entrusted to Charles Waldstein, M.A., King's College. 
 The chorus trained by E. S. Thompson, M.A., Christ's 
 College, and C. V. Stanford, M.A., Trinity College. The 
 dresses, armour, etc., by MM. Vincent Barthb and 
 Labhabt, of London." 
 
 The difficulties of adapting music to the Greek 
 drama were considerable; there were restrictions of 
 compass and difficulty, in the chorus of male voices, 
 and difficulties in the accentuation. The orchestra 
 consisted of one flute, two clarinets, one bassoon, two 
 horns, trumpet, drums, and harp, besides the usual 
 stringed instruments. 
 
 The success of Macfarren in the music was acknow- 
 ledged ; " all the more so," said the " Musical Times," 
 
 " that he did not affect the archaic, or any special tone- 
 colouring, and wisely made the music subordinate to the 
 main object — the dramatic representation of the play in 
 the original language. Under those circumstances, the 
 choruses did not sound differently — nor was there any 
 reason that they should — ^from any chorus in unison in 
 English Opera; except that in many respects the music 
 was more carefully and intelligently given by the Cam- 
 bridge undergraduates than it would be by a common stage 
 chorus. The orchestration was simple and effective, and 
 all the more pleasurable that it. did not remind us of 
 Mendelssohn, whose setting of the 'Antigone' and the 
 ' (Edipus at Colonos ' might have invited imitation. Dr. 
 Macfarren seems to have trusted to his own genius and 
 sympathies, and to have employed a vacation in writing 
 the music to ' Ajax ' 3,8 a piece de circonstance, without 
 intention of affecting the modem-antique, or of making 
 any permanent addition to the musical classics. What Dr. 
 Macfarren can do in the way of tone-colouring, we have 
 heard in the chorus of Ishmaelites in unison, in his oratorio 
 ' Joseph.' Apart from the Oriental character of the instru- 
 
346 R. A. M. PRINCIPALS HIP. 
 
 mental accompaniment to that chorus, the subject, whether 
 accidentally or no, is a remarkable example of the G-reek 
 Phrygian mode ; and from its commencing in, as it were, 
 the octave mode D, and ending on B flat, the inversion of 
 the final, it remains an historical and theoretical curiosity. 
 There was little in the ' Ajax ' to remind us of anything 
 so interesting ; but the mellowness of the music was a 
 pleasing feature in these days of tortuous phrasing, even 
 if the ' melos ' were more redolent of the London foot- 
 lights of some years ago than of the Athenian stage." 
 
 Notwithstanding this account, there is, in the 
 " Ajax " music, one chorus (No. 3) in the Phrygian 
 mode. 
 
 This music was again performed at a concert in 
 Queen's College, Cambridge, May 18thj 1883. 
 
 In 1884, for the celebration of the tercentenary of 
 the foundation of Immanuel College, June 19th, 
 Macfari-en composed an anthem for male voices, " We 
 have heard with our ears." 
 
 Though not connected with his Cambridge work, 
 yet to this period belong the setting of the songs in 
 Mr. Lewis Morris's " Gwen," a set of six being pub- 
 lished by Messrs. Stanley Lucas, Weber, and Co. 
 Another setting than that published of the " Eose " 
 song was written. 
 
 At the Royal Academy of Music, Macfarren's prin- 
 cipalship was signalized, not only by the delivery of 
 an annual address at the commencement of each year's 
 work, as already recorded (p. 236), but by a very 
 large amount of personal attention to the details of 
 the work of the institution, the interests of indi- 
 vidual students, the wishes of the professors, etc. 
 Moreover, the fortnightly meetings of professors and 
 students were founded by him : these being, in fact. 
 
WORK AT R.A.M. 347 
 
 though not in title, semi-public chamber concerts, at 
 which the students, before they essayed the more 
 public appearance at the concerts, might acquire con- 
 fidence by performing in the presence of academicians 
 and their friends, within the walls of the institution. 
 The social meetings of the professors, likewise, were 
 originated during Macfarren's principalship ; but have, 
 virtually, been merged in the meetings of the R, A. M. 
 Club, since established. To the examination work of 
 the Academy Macfarren devoted special attention ; 
 both to the annual examinations of the students, and 
 to the local and metropolitan examinations for those 
 not studying in the institution, both these classes of 
 examination having been established under his auspices. 
 In connection with all these, not only did he write all 
 the papers for the theoretical examinations, but also 
 prepared " Seventy Questions on the Elements of 
 Music," with a view to the assistance of examiners 
 and the uniformity of examinations. During the 
 whole period of his principalship, he was the always 
 accessible friend and adviser of students and profes- 
 sors alike : ready of resource in all emergencies, in all 
 difficulties requiring adjustment. He was the staunch 
 upholder of the independence of the Academy as 
 against all schemes for amalgamation with recently 
 established schools, such as would destroy its prestige 
 and usefulness. This reference must here be made, 
 without any reawakening of controversies which have 
 slumbered for some time. The testimony of Mac- 
 farren's successor in office to the admirable develop- 
 ment of the educational working of the Academy under 
 his management was as unstinted as it was just. 
 
 At the time of the controversy above alluded to. 
 
348 ARTICLE ON R. A. M. 
 
 Macfarren contributed an article on the Royal Academy 
 of Music to the " Nineteenth Century " for August, 
 1882j tracing the history, struggles, and desert of 
 public confidence and State support of the institution, 
 as that which originally, and, according to its means 
 and opportunities, efficiently and successfully, had 
 fostered native talent, and promoted sound musical 
 education in this country. A long letter on the same 
 subject was printed, and extensively circulated, ad- 
 dressed to Mr. Wrigley, of Manchester, formerly a 
 student in the Academy. To another provincial pro- 
 fessor who, though not educated in the Academy, en- 
 tertained good-will towards it, and towards its distin- 
 guished principal, and who therefore hesitated whether 
 to accept an invitation and appointment to act as Local 
 Examiner for the Royal College of Music, Macfarren 
 wrote : — 
 
 " Tou are one of several persons who have referred to 
 me on their invitation to examine for the proposed Eoyal 
 College, and, while I feel the great courtesy of this refer- 
 ence, and perceive iu it a regard for the true interest of 
 music, I answer you as them, that the Royal Academy will 
 not allow its friends to make sacrifices on its account, and 
 as it might compromise your professional standing were 
 you to refuse the invitation from your Municipality, this 
 would be a sacrifice that could not be accepted. The case 
 is otherwise as to the canvassing for subscriptions in sup- 
 port of a schem.e which, being founded on fallacy, can have 
 no good result, and which appears to be aimed directly 
 agaiast the Academy. I shall have great pleasure in pro- 
 posing you as Local Examiuer, in which I shaU be 
 strengthened if you will tell me whether, besides your 
 services to persons wishing to enter the Academy, you 
 may be likely to obtaiu 12 candidates for the Local 
 Examination of the Spring of 1884." 
 
MACFARREN AS TEACHER. 349 
 
 To speak of Macfarren as a teacher, it ig surely 
 needless to say anything of his artistic and profes- 
 sional equipment, with such encyclopaedic knowledge, 
 and abundant experience. But of the hold that he 
 possessed on his pupils' confidence and esteem, and of 
 the manifestation of his personal character in connec- 
 tion with his intercourse with them, a little may be re- 
 corded. One pupil says : " I never knew a kinder 
 or more sympathetic man than the late Professor ; he 
 was always extremely kind to all his pupils, and in my 
 own particular case he was the best and truest friend I 
 ever had." There would be no lack of assent to this 
 verdict, and self-appropriation of these grateful words, 
 among other pupils. To this particular pupil he wrote, 
 after a success : — 
 
 " Gro on, my good fellow, as you have sped ever since I 
 first knew you, and you may count on sooner or later suc- 
 cess, and on what is better, self-content at having done 
 your best to deserve it, and you will cause me ever-grow- 
 ing happiness at having had a share in helping your 
 studies. — Tours affectionately, G-. A. M." 
 
 Such genuine, hearty identification of himself with 
 his pupils' welfare could not fail to enlist trust and 
 love. 
 
 Of the counsel that he gave to students under his 
 care, these extracts from letters may serve as sam- 
 ples : — , 
 
 " You must not deplore as you do the burning of your 
 music. You speak of having lost your facility— surely 
 this is a slip ; the value of an exercise is in its worldng, 
 which accomplished, the consequent facility remains, and 
 the paper which led to its attainment is for the future use- 
 
350 , MACFARBEN AS TEACHEB. 
 
 less. Better men and musicians than you or I have volun- 
 tarily burned reams of exercises, but maintained the fluency 
 gained by their means. Thin gs of larger extent which, while 
 they were a-making, the writers have hoped the world migh't 
 regard as works, have proved to be but exercises and been 
 destroyed to make room for others when the authors have 
 felt they could shew what profit to their powers had re- 
 sulted from the composition. Many a painter has painted 
 out a picture that he might produce another on the same 
 canvas, and has rejoiced more in his improvement than 
 lamented his loss. Is there such a great difference between 
 what is done with the will and what is done against it, that 
 we should bewail the one and effect the other either to 
 clear a space or prevent the issue of posthumous attempts 
 that our own judgment would not sanction ? 
 
 " I cannot suppose the time you have spent in studies 
 other than musical will be fruitless to you as a musician. 
 I should be proud indeed had I read all the writers you 
 name, and I am sure from the inkling I have of them I 
 might then be able to think deeper and express me more 
 clearly in notes or in words." 
 
 '' I think you have not considered (because its use -occurs 
 more than once in your Canons) the bad effect of the aug- 
 mented 4th ia melody, or of the two notes of this interval 
 in consecutive chords. I wish you would consider the 
 matter. Tour Canons are most ingenious, some of them 
 must have cost immense pains, but this will be repaid by 
 the fluency which must be its. result. Such work is valu- 
 able, not for the effect it will produce on the hearer, but 
 for that upon the writer which is its natural consequence. 
 
 " More attractive to others are of course the Anthem 
 and Organ pieces. Among these I met an old friend in 
 the Air with Variations. Let me counsel you to exercise 
 your talent, as far as time and inclination may permit, in 
 this class of writing. Fancy needs practice as much as 
 Eeason, and one can only acquire the art of freely express- 
 ing one's thoughts by frequently experimenting in it. We 
 must not think however that all we write in a publishable 
 form is available for printing, and that either for our 
 credit or money profit all should go before the world, or 
 
CLASS WORK AT R. A. M. 351 
 
 that we are slighted if much of it be unaccepted. Re- 
 member that Mendelssohn's first published Symphony was 
 the thirteenth he wrote, and believe that every worker in 
 Art produces very many things of which the world never 
 has knowledge. An occasional bonus for a copyright is a 
 pleasant enough accident in a composer's career, but none 
 of us may count on music writing as a means of liveli- 
 hood." 
 
 " If you still contemplate an University 
 
 degree, take warmest encouragement as to your hkelihood 
 of musical success, but forget not that a musician is an 
 artist and not a schoolman only, and that a work of art 
 must rather shew the application of scholarship than the 
 process of its acquisition. The great men whose works we 
 best love have all wrought as you have been working, but 
 interchangeably with their exercises, strictly so called, they 
 have constantly produced matter of lighter character which 
 in its kind has also been valuable exercise, and to such tasks, 
 and to the pleasure they certainly bring one, I heartily com- 
 mend you." 
 
 / A class scene at the Royal Academy is thus des- 
 cribed by a former pupil, in the " Tonic Sol- Fa 
 Reporter " : — 
 
 " The six or eight members of the class show varying 
 talent, and are at every stage of theory work. While one 
 is having his lesson, the others stand about within sight 
 or hearing ; they can ask questions as well as hear the 
 remarks made by Sir George upon their companion's work. 
 Sometimes he calls upon them to point out the mistakes 
 in it. Thus all sorts of points crop up, and the conversa- 
 tion is most improving. Sir G-eorge unfolds his wonderful 
 stores of musical eruption ; his detailed acquaintance with 
 all the great scores ; the boimdless scope of his observa- 
 tion of classical forms ; his familiarity with the capabilities 
 and proper use of every orchestral instrument. The men 
 who enjoy the class and succeed in it are the men who 
 work. The indolent men — clever players, perhaps, who do 
 
352 CLASS WORK AT R. A. M. 
 
 not like theory, and are seldom in the mood for composi- 
 tion — are evidently a trouble to Sir George. He talks to 
 them with the patience and kindness which in him are 
 never disturbed, and there is the earnestness of affection 
 in his words. He stimidates them by telling of the hard 
 discipline which all great composers have undergone, and 
 of the absolute necessity of study to the musician. Sir 
 George has, however, a cure for idleness, which is, perhaps, 
 more efficacious than even these tenderly worded remon- 
 strances. All readers of his ' Lectiires on Harmony ' know 
 the fascination which the manifold enharmonic resolutions 
 of the chords of the ninth and thirteenth have for him. 
 If a student has brought no work, he will probably ask 
 him to play a set of these resolutions extempore, or, failing 
 that, he will ask him to manufacture sequences at the key- 
 board. Now the kind of student who scamps his exercises 
 has an intense dislike to this sort of work, and it is probable 
 that the fear of it has a wholesomely bracing effect upon 
 several members of the class. It is interesting to note, as 
 the lessons proceed, that Sir George's knowledge of abso- 
 lute pitch is perfect. Strike a note at any part of the 
 key-board, and he knows its name ; strike a chord, and his 
 ear discriminates its constituent notes. Earely, indeed, 
 does a consecutive fifth or octave escape his attentive ears 
 as he sits, with head bent, watching with clear mind's eye 
 the progression of the parts. In the case of six or eight 
 part writing, he will sometimes say, ' I must ask you to 
 play that slowly, as I must confess it needs a little atten- 
 tion,' but that is aU. In examining an orchestral score, he 
 asks a few questions as to the apportionment of the tone 
 among the various instruments, and in a few minutes 
 ' sees ' the whole thing clearly, and begins to criticize." 
 
 Another pupil, writing of these class-meetings, 
 exclaiims : — 
 
 " Oh, the pathos of that scene ! The blind man sitting 
 in reach of the key-board, his head hanging down in the 
 manner so well known, and his face illuminated by the 
 look of attention, patiently listening and marvellously 
 piecing together our work, often so poor and dull ! " 
 
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. 853 
 
 Still more detailed and pathetically interesting, as 
 portraying his character in some touching aspects, is 
 this, from another pupil : — 
 
 " I first met him when I went to him as a pupil on the 
 19th September, 1871. That day week, the 26th, his 
 mother died. I rememher going to the Academy for my 
 expected second lesson, finding him absent without the 
 cause being known, and hearing the dictum from the 
 governess — ' It must be something very important that 
 keeps him, for he never breaks an engagement.' In 1878, 
 when I had become intimate, he wrote me, dated Sep- 
 tember 26th, ' This day seven years I missed your second 
 lesson.' Thus he cherished the memory of those who had 
 gone before him. Seven years more, and when the day 
 came round, I reminded him of 'the day he missed my 
 second lesson.' He thariked me, saying, ' How often it is, 
 when one friend is taken away from our hves, another 
 comes in to fill up the place, or, rather, to make up for the 
 loss.' Then he remained silently thinking for some 
 moments, after a manner he had when deeply touched ; as 
 on the two occasions in his addresses to the Academy, 
 when referring to the death of a professor or student in the 
 previous vacation, he asked for silent meditation for a few 
 moments. (1878 and 1887.) Days of that kind were a 
 sort of saint's day to him, and he kept them holy — not 
 hoHdays, with a little i, for idleness, but holy — to cherish 
 the memory of great and good ones. Part of this senti- 
 ment was shown in his habit of dating letters by some 
 favourite's birthday : often have I had a letter dated 
 ' Mozart's birthday,' ' Shelley's birthday,' ' Bennett's 
 birthday ' — just as some people will date their letters by a 
 saint's day. 
 
 " That first meeting struck the key-note of a friendship 
 that lasted ever afterwards : the same note was in many 
 friendships with him. His great power of helping us, and 
 his great need of help himself, was the link between us 
 and him. There was the half-hour's work with him — • 
 playing my very faulty accompaniments to him — his ear 
 bent towards the key-board as I played, and explained 
 
 A A 
 
354 PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. 
 
 what could not te played : then his dictum — ' Don't alter 
 these ; that will be distressing to you, as they are finished ; 
 but begin to write something for an exercise ; that you 
 will not mind altering.' Then there were more explana- 
 tions as to the beginning of the Sonata movement which I 
 ■was to do : so he showed his sympathy with my composer's 
 feelings, inexperienced though I was, and his power to 
 help me. 
 
 " Now came the other side. After other pupils' work was 
 examined, and lessons were over, he got up to leave ; shy, 
 and not knowing what to do, we watched him ; but once 
 was enough — once to watch him seek laboriously, by touch, 
 for the thing that we could see — was to realize the painful 
 darkness of his life, and from that grew the mental resolve 
 never to let him grope again, if we were there to guide : 
 the bond of mutual help and sympathy was sealed in this 
 way. . . . 
 
 "Not only music brought out the sympathy. Once I 
 spoke of a friend whose struggle for subsistence I could 
 then only help by kind words. He encouraged me, saying, 
 words were worth a great deal : he remembered a time 
 when the one who should have been his greatest helper had 
 nothing but words of encouragement in his power, and 
 they were of great help to him. 
 
 " He would always encourage, by quoting his own 
 struggles, and thus draw us into the mystic brotherhood — 
 make us feel we were of the same kind as he, and worthy 
 of his consideration as much as the biggest: if he could 
 do it, of course we could. The same was in his teaching. 
 Many times when he has advised an alteration, he would 
 add : ' When I was told to put something in, I always 
 tried to make it as different as possible to what I was 
 told'; and what he had done before us, he thought we 
 could do after him. There lay a secret of his teaching 
 power. I don't think he ever forgot his own past diffi- 
 culties, and that his pupils were going through the same 
 struggles — whether in learning or in life. Some teachers 
 work as if they thought their pupils knew as much as they 
 did. G. A. M. would say, ' If you knew as much as I do, 
 you would not come to me to teach you.' GreneraUy it 
 was when we had said we did not know how to do such and 
 
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. 355 
 
 such a thing. ' Of course not ; if you knew all about 
 music, you would not come to the Academy to learn it.' 
 
 " Another secret of his teaching power was his patience 
 and attention to the smallest things and people. How he 
 would go over and over the difficult point, putting it now 
 this way, now that, till he got a point of view from which 
 we could perceive it and assimilate it. I can see him now, 
 stretching across from his seat beside one at the piano to 
 demonstrate some idea on the key-board. Perhaps it would 
 be the course of some discord, perhaps a suggestion for 
 carrying out some passage in a symphony movement of 
 our own, perhaps an illustration of such a passage by 
 quotation from Beethoven or Mozart. How he would cry 
 out at his bad playing — ' Can't I find some right notes ? 
 Now, this is the way, or this, how does it go on ? this is 
 it,' all the time he was playing." 
 
 The same affectionate pupil records : — 
 
 " He used to say, somewhat bitterly, it was a mistake to 
 fancy that blind people were quicker iu their other senses. 
 He could not hear better than other people, he would say. 
 Certainly he was somethiag deaf in the latter years, and 
 required one to speak clearly ; but of quickness of hearing, 
 intelligence of hearing, he had no lack. His power of 
 singling out one voice part from another, of analyzing 
 chords as the music was in course, of recognizing one 
 voice from another in speech, or knowing the direction of 
 the voice, was very great. Often in class one pupil would 
 change position ; the next remark ot answer made, he would 
 turn to the new direction : ' Oh, you are there, are you ? ' 
 would come with his return answer. His touch, too, was 
 very fine, as one expects from a sightless man. I well 
 remember giving him a snowdrop one day to feel. He 
 held it by the stem with one hand, while with the tips of 
 the fingers of the other hand he felt the blossom. ' How 
 lightly it hangs,' he said, ' and there is a tender fragrance 
 in it.' It was a quick perception which could notice the 
 scent of a snowdrop." 
 
356 HUMOUR IN TEACHING. 
 
 Another devoted student refers to another trait in 
 Macfarren's teaching : — 
 
 "His lessons were often tinged with a kind of humorous 
 or racy strain. The — as he thought — intemperate use of 
 extreme discords generally called forth an inquiry if all 
 that was done here, what was going to happen when the 
 hero was going to shoot himself, the heroine was tearing 
 her hair, and all the tragic horrors were heaped up at 
 once? If a pupil said some harshness to which he objected 
 was ' only for a moment,' he rejoined, 'Oh, you don't mind 
 a hansom cab going over your toes, if it goes quickly, 
 then.' He had an odd way of calling a passage 'Ucentious,' 
 as if it were a moral obliquity. Vague tonaHty he thought 
 ' an excellent representation of London fog.' A succession 
 of diminished sevenths was 'whining,' and ' like the wind ia 
 the chimney.' He never could bear ' the hideous interval ' 
 of the diminished third, saying, 'Do it three times in a life- 
 time, and never let the present be one.' " 
 
 His humour was not confined to his pupils, however. 
 About his own appearance in his robes as Doctor of 
 Music, — which some are vain of, — he would say that 
 he was made to look " like first cousin to the Knave of 
 Hearts " ! And he made the slyly sarcastic remark 
 
 " that Henry Viii. studied music was essential to his 
 youthful preparation for the Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 It was then essential for the Primate, as for all Church 
 ministers under him, thoroughly to understand music; 
 whereas it now suffices that the Archbishop of Canterbury 
 confers musical degrees." 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 "Encyclopedia Beitannica" Aeticle : "Musical His- 
 
 TOET." AdDEESSES AND AeTICLES ON " CoEBECT 
 
 Musical Taste," Insteumentation, Poem, Acous- 
 tical DiscovEET, Eisteddpodau, Paet- singing,, 
 Pitch, etc. 1878—1885. 
 
 DURING the period of his holding these two 
 honourable offices, at Cambridge and at the 
 Academy, involving the performance of multifarious 
 duties, not only did Macfarren produce the important 
 works enumerated in Chapter XIII., but also prepared 
 the article " Music " for the 9th edition of the " En- 
 cyclopaedia Britannica " ; afterwards republished as a 
 volume, entitled "Musical History briefly narrated 
 and technically discussed, with a Roll of the Names 
 of Musicians and the times and places of their births 
 and deaths " (Edinburgh, 1885) : a most charmingly 
 readable book. 
 
 And he acted as examiner, or adjudicator, for 
 various schools or colleges, and in various competi- 
 tions ; and in these capacities, as well as in that of 
 president or vice-president of societies, he availed him- 
 self of any opportunities that presented themselves 
 to address those concerned, and to enunciate sound 
 and useful principles concerning Music and its study. 
 
358 THE ENGLISH A MUSICAL PEOPLE. 
 
 Thus, on distributing the prizes to successful pupils at 
 the Beckenham School of Music, March, 1886, he 
 took the opportunity to reiterate his oft-repeated 
 'contention that it is 
 
 " a fallacy to suppose that the English nation has no 
 aptitude for music ; and that so far from the Puritans 
 having (as has been alleged) blotted music out of the 
 national disposition, they caused a counteraction which 
 brought into effect several of the most important incidents 
 in the musical history of this country. ... It was in the 
 time of the Commonwealth that the first representation 
 was made for any native musical competition : . . . that 
 there was published for the first time a collection of 
 national melodies which stamped our native musical feel- 
 ing as of the very highest : . . . that (by the express licence 
 of Cromwell) the first opera was performed in England, 
 which was several years before the performance of an 
 opera in Germany : . . . that the first lady ever appeared 
 in a public performance in this country. . . . The Puritans 
 not only did not prevent the Cavaliers from exercising 
 their musicianship, but they by Cromwell's own act gave 
 them public encouragement. The great interruption to 
 our musical character was due to the Hanoverian acces- 
 sion. . . . But there is rising now a strong and healthy 
 counteraction. The people themselves are now asserting 
 their love for music, and the evidences [he] had heard 
 there that night showed [him] that the true seed of music 
 is taking root in the public heart, and the fruit of this 
 seed wiU not only do honour to the present time, but 
 will stimulate us to stiU further exertions in the time to 
 come. Music has a power of expression beyond that of 
 ■the other arts. For example, a beautiful picture will 
 convey a thought or the impulse of a moment ; but music 
 afEords means to convey the development of a change of 
 ideas," etc. 
 
 On a similar occasion, addressing the students of 
 Aske's School for Girls, Hatcham, Miss Macirone 
 
LOVE: DUTY: MUSIC. 359 
 
 being the head music-mistress, in December, 1877, 
 he said : — 
 
 "G-ive me leave to say a few words to you on the subject 
 of the beautiful art it is the happiness of my life to culti- 
 vate. Let one of these words be Love, and another Duty. 
 Love is not a compelled duty, but the magnetism of the 
 mind ; and to the subject we love, we owe the duty of 
 advanciag it to the utmost. Love will give heart and life, 
 and promote the work ; and Duty will shrink from no toil, 
 and endure no imperfection. I have been shocked to hear 
 music called an amusement. Music in olden times held a 
 prominent place in England ; and, if since then it has 
 suffered neglect, it has of late years resumed its position, 
 and has won the consideration of the greatest educational 
 institutions of this country. . . . It has been the habit to 
 call England an unmusical country ; and yet this is the 
 only country in which University degrees are given to 
 music. We have here Doctors and Bachelors of Music, 
 and this country is the only one which acknowledges 
 music amongst the scholastic faculties. Let this, there- 
 fore, bear me out when I say that the study of music is 
 not an amtisement. 
 
 " Music is to be distinguished by the fact that our 
 musical sounds are the result of the rhythmic movements 
 of the air, and in the largest sense the old theory of the 
 ' music of the spheres ' is the application of this scientific 
 fact to the movements of the planets of the universe ; it is 
 a product of the grand laws of rhythmic motion, which 
 distinguish musical sounds in opposition to accidental 
 ones, and attention to the rhythmical divisions of the notes 
 is a matter of great importance," etc. 
 
 He examined, annually, the music pupils at the St. 
 John's Wood Blind School. 
 
 As another contribution to the dissemination of 
 sound views of music among non-professional students, 
 he wrote an article in the " Girl's Own Magazine," 
 on " What is correct Musical Taste ? " in which. 
 
360 MUSICAL TASTE. VALVE-INSTRUMENTS. 
 
 enunciating that " taste is the power to perceive the 
 beautiful/' he asserts that " the unjust use of the 
 word ' classical ' makes the word a scarecrow to many 
 a music lover. Whether a crow or a linnet, he may 
 be frightened by it from fields of beauty where blos- 
 soms flourish whose scent and colour may enrich him 
 who perceives them, while their perception im- 
 poverishes not the flowers " : and goes on, defining 
 the word as applied to things " classed together " by 
 reason of their enduring beauty : encouraging a "fami- 
 liarity " with them which does not " breed contempt," 
 giving "fitness" for designed purpose as one standard 
 for taste : decrying misapplication, exaggeration, 
 afiectation, interest in mere manipulative agility, etc. 
 When presiding at the Musical Association, on 
 occasion of the reading of a valuable paper by Mr. 
 Prout, " On the Growth of the Modern Orchestra 
 during the past Century," January 6th, 1879, Mac- 
 farren, in reply to a question as to the use of valve- 
 trumpets in the orchestra, said : — 
 
 " No doubt this was an important subject. In the first 
 place, he believed tho valve itself deteriorated the tone of 
 the natural instrument, for he had heard the same player 
 play successively on a hand-horn and a valve-horn, and it 
 appeared to him that the tone of the latter was far inferior. 
 That, however, was of secondary importance; the signi- 
 ficant thing was, that by the use of these valves you 
 obtained the entire chromatic scale, and by this enrich- 
 ment impoverished the orchestra in a lamentable degree. 
 The orchestra was distinguished from the pianoforte by 
 the variety of tones and the prodigious power of colouring 
 which this placed in the hands of the composer. The use 
 of early times, to have complete bands or ' consorts ' of 
 one kind of instrument, had now given way to the blending 
 of many qualities of tone one with another. Even this 
 
VALVE-HORNS AND TRUMPETS. 361 
 
 was anticipated in. early times, when the expression ' broken 
 music ' implied the mixiag of several ' consorts,' such as 
 hautboys and viols, and viols or shawms. There were 
 great beauties in the combination, and still more in the 
 contrast of these several qualities of tone. In the scores 
 of Mozart, Beethoven, Weber, and Spohr, it would be 
 found that when trumpets, drums, and horns were used, 
 they gave a characteristic mark to the chords and keys in 
 which they appeared, and when the music modulated from 
 those keys, you either lost those sounds altogether, or else 
 the instruments were employed on peculiar notes of peculiar 
 chords, and thus gave a totally different character to the 
 extraneous keys to that of the normal keys in which the 
 pieces were set ; or else when, as in the ' Dona Nobis' of the 
 Mass in D of Beethoven, the piece being in D, the trumpets 
 were pitched in B flat, a totally exceptional effect was pro- 
 duced from the introduction of instruments which were not 
 employed in the normal key. The same was the case with 
 the horns and trumpets in the slow movement in the C 
 minor Symphony. The movement being in A flat, when they 
 came in C, it was a totally new sound, and produced an effect 
 which might be compared with that of the present gather- 
 ing sitting in that room with the gaslight, and the roof 
 being suddenly thrown open, and the sun streaming in. 
 On the other hand, when these instruments were employed 
 which gave the chromatic scale, the composers who used 
 them were tempted to apply them to any loud chord that 
 was wanted; when they were not used in the degraded 
 sense in which waltz writers used them to play the prin- 
 cipal melodies, in order to force out, by manifold duplica- 
 tion of notes through the foggy mass of multitudinous 
 instrumentation, a rampant vulgar tone upon the other- 
 wise imperceptive organs of the hearers. This vulgar use, 
 such as was commonly heard in entr'actes in theatres, was 
 a thing quite apart from the beautiful delicacy, from the 
 exquisite feeling, from the heavenly perfection of sound, 
 which you found ia those compositions which had been so 
 well described and so warmly eulogized that evening. This 
 employment of valve instruments tended to reduce the 
 orchestra to the level of the pianoforte, which had the 
 power of piano axidi forte, but could only have one quality 
 
362 SLIDE-TRUMPETS. 
 
 of tone, that quality being only variable by the aid of a 
 different touch. They knew that one player would pro- 
 duce a different effect from another on the same pianoforte, 
 but it would sound a pianoforte all the way through ; and 
 the orchestra, with the scarce notes of the incomplete wind 
 instruments, was a far richer power in the composer's 
 hands, than when there was the terrible temptation of 
 writing for cornets like violins, or for horns like violon- 
 cellos. There was another instrument besides, which was 
 played mostly in England, for which he believed Mendel- 
 ssohn intended such a passage as that at the end of the 
 overture to ' Kuy Bias ' — a slide-trumpet. A slide did 
 not deteriorate the effect of the instrument as the valve 
 did, just in the same way as a valve-trom.bone was infe- 
 rior to a slide-trombone. He would earnestly caution 
 young writers to confine themselves to such trumpets as 
 Beethoven would employ." 
 
 A pupil records, as a signal instance of the Pro- 
 fessor's fair-mindednesSj an incident which bears on 
 the above subject : — 
 
 " He was speaking about the trumpet to one of the 
 others, and I struck in in defence of the slide-trumpet, 
 and we had quite an argument, though it was not the first 
 on the subject. ... I saying that a temperate writer would 
 have sufficient control to deny himself trumpets in chro- 
 matic passages, extraneous modulation, and so on, in order 
 to secure the freshness of special effects if they were wanted ; 
 whereas in other styles he will have the, notes for use if 
 wanted; that he could get all the effects that Mozart, 
 Beethoven, etc., got with them, by ignoring, for the time, 
 the slide, and yet get many more when he wanted them. 
 That was the drift : however, the point is that Macfarren 
 at last, to me, a pupil, in the presence of a class, said, 
 ' Well, I break down ! ' This, of course, drew forth apolo- 
 gies, and he went on to modify his meaning ; but I think 
 few men would have had the strength of mind to say such 
 a thing." 
 
 The same pupil says : — 
 
MUSICAL FORM. 363 
 
 " What I remember chiefly of his instrumentation was 
 his dislike of what he thought the modern vice of too much 
 sostenuto bass, his constant recommendation of plenty of 
 unison, and saving a typical tone-colour for prominent keys 
 and passages." 
 
 He wrote an Instruction Book for the Clarinet, in 
 the popular series published by Messrs. Chappell 
 and Co. 
 
 After the reading of a paper by Mr. C. B. Stephens 
 on " Form in Musical Composition," at the Musical 
 Association, June 2nd, 1879, Macfarren, being in the 
 chair, made the following remarks : — 
 
 " The growth of music to its present consistency was but 
 recent, and compared with other arts was entirely new ; 
 but still we might look back two hundred years, and see 
 already the seed from which modern music had grown. 
 The natural law of harmonics, which showed in succession 
 the natural production of sounds, was the basis upon which 
 musical form rested. The most important harmonic after 
 the generator was the fifth, and thus the chord of the fifth 
 was the most important chord, after the chord of the key- 
 note. The key of the dominant in like manner was the 
 most important after the primary key, and their relation- 
 ships were founded upon harmonic necessity — a necessity 
 because these harmonic sounds were natural existences 
 which, when brought into art use, were only more strongly 
 defined than they are in the slighter and shghter vibra- 
 tions that are induced whenever a primary note is sounded. 
 When compositions were more concise than at present, this 
 key of the dominant made ample contrast to the primary 
 key of the piece ; but now that movements were more pro- 
 longed, another equally certain harmonic relationship, 
 though further advanced in the harmonic series, that of 
 
 the third, was called into play The thing which 
 
 most obviously struck the listener was the recurrence of 
 phrases, but in his opinion they were of secondary import 
 compared to the distribution and arrangement of keys. 
 
364 MUSICAL FORM. HARMONIC DISCOVERY. 
 
 Tonality should be regarded as furnishing the real sub- 
 stance of musical structure ; and if one were to compare 
 such a structure with an architectural edifice, the height, 
 the breadth, and the material of the building were repre- 
 sented by keys, while the pillars, the carvings, the statuary, 
 and the ornamentation, which more quickly struck the super- 
 ficial observation, were the themes. The course which had 
 been so clearly mapped out by Mr. Stephens of the several 
 portions of a symphonic movement, constituted a form as 
 variable as was the human countenance ; and when the 
 outcry arose that musical form had been exhausted by the 
 great masters, and that some new principles must be sought, 
 it would be as well to say that the sculptor must seek some 
 other form than the human face and the human figure. 
 Eveiy man who looked into the face of a friend knew it 
 from every other face ; and coincidences were so wonder- 
 fully few as to be the subject of comedy, where two persons 
 were so perfectly alike that one could be mistaken for the 
 other. With inconceivable smallness of difference in tech- 
 nical detail, complete variety of effect, of difference of idea, 
 might be expressed in music." 
 
 At the Musical Association, Feb, 6, 1882, after a 
 paper by Rev. Sir F. A. Gore Ouseley (President), 
 " On Some Italian and Spanish Treatises on Music of 
 the Seventeenth Century,'' Macfarren said : — 
 
 " I consider it a high privilege to have the opportunity 
 of joining voice with so eminent an authority on these 
 highly important and interesting matters. I can, I think, 
 fortunately throw a gleam of light on the most interesting 
 point of our distinguished President's discourse, which I 
 must refer to the lantern from which I received it, namely, 
 Mr. William Chappell, that is, the discovery — for one can 
 hardly call it an invention, since it is the probing of one of 
 the phenomena of nature, and that phenomenon of all 
 others which establishes music as one of the natural 
 sciences, as well as one of the most beautiful arts — the 
 phenomenon of the chord of the dominant seventh 
 
HARMONICS. DOMINANT SEVENTH. 365 
 
 " So far as I can learn in the Matory of science, no dis- 
 covery has ever been onefold ; it has always been the case 
 that several explorers in about the same period have divined 
 the same fact, and, whether simultaneously or in immediate 
 succession, they have brought it to light ; and their almost 
 contemporaneous fortune in lighting upon such wonders, 
 serves not so much to make antagonism between them as 
 to give confirmation in the works of one, of the views of the 
 former. Another thing which is of great importance, which 
 belongs also to the seventeenth century — I .think the date 
 was 1676 — is that two Oxford scholars, without communi- 
 cation with each other, lighted on that grand fact which 
 explains this chord of the dominant seventh, and translates 
 it from a piece of empiricism into the really natural fact 
 and wonderful phenomenon that we find it. One was 
 William Noble, of Merton College, and the other was 
 Thomas Pigot, of Wadham College. They discovered 
 that one sound generated others, and that the successively 
 generated sounds built up the very chord of the dominant 
 seventh ; and the fact that the notes of this chord are thus 
 generated is the solution of the contradictory effect of this 
 to the rules of the earlier contrapuntists — that no discord 
 could be tolerated except its harshness were mollified by 
 preparation. As the seventh note is generated harmoni- 
 cally by the fundamental sound, it is truly prepared in 
 nature, and our articulating this note in performance by 
 voice or instrument is only making a little stronger that 
 sound which already exists where the generator is given to 
 produce it. Evidently the true basis of the harmonic 
 theory of the present period is that this is a natural and 
 not an artificial combination of sounds ; and I think it is a 
 great glory to our country that that discovery was made 
 here, and was made all but simultaneously by two persons 
 who were resident iti the same locality, and not in commu- 
 nication with each other. It is one of the many glories of 
 the University of which our President is the shining orna- 
 ment of musical light at the present moment, that the dis- 
 covery was made in Oxford." 
 
 On various occasions Macfarren acted as one of 
 
366 THE EISTEDDFOD. 
 
 the adjudicators at the Bisteddfodau, and took the 
 opportunity to give counsel together with criticism. 
 
 In a letter to Mr. John Thomas (Pencerdd Gwalia) j 
 anent the Birkenhead Eisteddfod, 1878j Macfarren 
 thus expresses himself concerning 
 
 " the real merits of the festival, and the true good it is 
 likely to effect. The Eisteddfod as an institution is a 
 vast moral power, inasmuch as morals are influenced by 
 intellect, and as intellect is approachable .from the two 
 sides of instruction and amusement. It is an incentive to 
 cultivate the whole sisterhood of the fine arts, — music, 
 letters, and painting under its various aspects of the flat 
 and the round. Inquiry into natural sciences, and appli- 
 cation of the knowledge so obtained, is not only prompted 
 but induced. The investigation of history is stimulated, 
 and the emulation is encouraged of the honoured deeds of 
 the past by the nurture of the sense of patriotism. Copious 
 statistics, which I have had opportunity to examine, prove 
 that the estabUshment of choral societies throughout the 
 country has always been coincident with the diminution of 
 vice in the district, — that vice which is the greatest stain 
 upon our national character, the vice of drunkenness. The 
 choral class-room supplants the tavern, and familiarity 
 with works of art, which brings insight into the principles 
 of their construction, refines the mind, and through this 
 channel reaches the heart of men whose predecessors gave 
 way to the most sensual excesses. Not alone they who 
 sing are enriched by the treasures of song ; they who Hsten 
 participate the profit of this spiritual wealth, and the feel- 
 ing of thankfulness for pleasure received is in itself a good 
 that is quite worth the pains of promoting. It is not for 
 me to intrude speculations on the study of subjects that 
 are beyond my own province, but it is obvious that the 
 many means of education on the one hand and entertain- 
 ment on the other, if more hmited in their exercise, since 
 engaging individuals instead of multitudes, must operate 
 in the same direction as music, so widely as they reach, with 
 a like effect. . . . The value of the language of the district 
 
THE EISTEDDFOD. 367 
 
 was largely discussed at the meetings, and has been much 
 commented upon, and greatly disputed in reference to the 
 late occasion. Together with this, national egotism has 
 been a lively topic for censure. This word censure is here 
 used in its restricted or slang meaning of hlame, and not in 
 its full or true meaning of judgment. Pride of country is 
 the noblest of self-esteem, and is distinct whoUy from per- 
 sonal vanity ; the one prompts actions for self-glorification, 
 the other stimulates endeavour for the nation's honour. . . . 
 Our mother's tongue is the mother's milk of feeling ; he 
 who can forget the words in which he has first heard of 
 love, and first owned its force, must have a heart to let, 
 within which love will not occupy the unfurnished apart- 
 ments. Philologists aver that knowledge of one language 
 is strengthened by insight into another, and that those 
 tongues speak the most purely which have acquired the 
 language of parlance by what may be called artificial 
 rather than natural means, that is, in the schoolroom and 
 not in the. nursery. The exercise of the intellect in any of 
 its functions gives greater power to them all. • Let, then, 
 the Cymri keep their Cambrian speech, but let them learn 
 the language of their compatriot, Shakspere : his burning 
 thoughts are a lamp, a sun, to illuminate mankind ; but 
 these thoughts are disguised if translated into other sylla- 
 bles, and it is due to his greatness, it is due to our own, 
 that every native of the land which bore the author of 
 " Cymbeline " and " King Lear " worships this greatest of 
 heroes by reading and speaking and understanding the 
 very words he wrote." 
 
 In a long letter which Macfarren, as senior adjudi- 
 cator, at the Eisteddfod at Cardiff, 1883, addressed 
 to the choirs, with the wish that his opinion "may 
 serve a cause which commands the support of every 
 musician," he remarks : — 
 
 " The point most to blame in some of the performances 
 was a tendency to force the voices, especially among the 
 boy singers. That boys may sing with beautiful effect is 
 
368 FAULTS IN SINGING. 
 
 proved daily in our cathedral services, but this effect is 
 produced by an easy emission of tone, without tightening 
 of the throat. The breath should be impelled from the 
 diaphragm, and never influenced by the rising of the 
 shoulders. Disregard of these principles, by female and 
 male adults as much as by boys, induces hardness of tone 
 to the extent of harshness, and causes the rising of the 
 pitch, which, in some instances at Cardiff, proceeded into 
 strange keys, and rendered the singing impossible to in- 
 strumental accompaniment. Noise is not power, and the 
 best quality attained is with the least physical exertion. 
 The fault I have named, and certainly not an incorrect 
 kuowledge of the music, was the cause of the singing being 
 out of tune on the occasion. By musicianly phrasing I 
 mean the taking of breath at the natural reading places in 
 the musical sentences, analogous to observing the punctua- 
 tion of words, the giving more or less emphasis to words 
 according to their significance in the musical sense. By 
 just variety of power I mean regard to the directions for 
 loudness and softness, and the gradations between the 
 extremes, avoiding to sink in pitch with the diminution of 
 tone, and beginning every phrase with distinct firmness, 
 whether it be soft or loud. I cannot too strongly set 
 forth my admiration of non-professional musicians such as 
 you, for the ability they have acquired under obvious 
 disadvantage, and for their influence upon those who were 
 fortunate enough to have the benefit of their direction 
 elsewhere, as well as in Cardiff. I have witnessed such 
 proofs of musical aptitude as make me proud of my fellow- 
 countrymen, for so I must and will consider you to be, 
 though my lot be' cast on the other side of the mountains 
 that surround, but cannot cut off the Cymric race, and 
 will never part them from the sympathy of music lovers 
 who claim Britain as their native land." 
 
 Macfarren's decision of character was illustrated at 
 this Eisteddfod by his admonishing a fussy speaker, 
 who interrupted the proceedings (a choir competition), 
 to desist ; and, the admonition taking no effect, even 
 after " Choir No, 5 " had been called on, he shouted. 
 
ARTICLE ON CHORAL SINGING. 369 
 
 in louder voice, "Unless the competition goes on, 
 the adjudicators will retire in a body." 
 
 In the first number of the " Part-Song Magazine," 
 May, 1868, an article by Macfarren on " Choral 
 Singing " appeared, in which he enumerates as 
 
 "faults most common to untutored singers, and most 
 needful to be overcome : — 1. Permitting the musical sound 
 to fade away before the completion of a phrase where 
 there is no requirement for this in the expression of the 
 passage. ... 2. Prematurely pronouncing the final con- 
 sonant of a syllable, which should only be articulated at 
 the expiration of a note, instead of continuing the vowel 
 sound throughout the full value of the time. ... 3. 
 Singing upon L, M, or N, as final letters. ... 4. Failing 
 to articulate final consonants. ... 5. Anticipating the 
 sound of the second vowel in a diphthong, as in ' ne-ar ' 
 ' fe-flw ' de-ar,' or in ' da-y,' ' aa,-y,' ' ma.-id,' ' rema-iw ' (mis- 
 pronounced, ' da-ee,' etc.). . . . The same fault is made 
 with those letters which, though written singly, comprise 
 two vowel sounds, as I or T, which are composed of the 
 sounds ' ah ' and ' ee '; and 0, which is often incorrectly 
 
 pronounced ' hobe ') ; 
 (mispronounced ' chaid') [surely this fault must be sim- 
 ply the result of a cold in the head !]. 7. Omitting N in 
 words ending with ' ing.' ... 8. Falsely accentuating 
 unaccented final syllables as in ' ]it-tle,' ' pret-%,' etc. 9. 
 Sliding up to a note which is approached by leap, instead 
 of attacking it without any preliminary sound to the same 
 syllable. 10. Disregarding a dot after a note, or a quaver 
 when tied to a preceding minim. ... 11. A tendency to 
 retard the time. . . ." etc. 
 
 In July, 1885, Macfarren wrote an " interesting 
 and learned paper " — as it was characterized — for the 
 Musical Congress at Antwerp, on " Musical Pitch,"" 
 
 B B 
 
370 ANTWERP ARTICLE ON MUSICAL PITCH. 
 
 ■which was read in September. He referred to its 
 constant rise from the earliest period to the present 
 time : the influence of this " on musical composition, 
 vocal performance, instrumental performance, and 
 instrumental structure" : its difierence in diflferent 
 countries : the important faculty, " almost admitting " 
 of being termed a " sixth sense,^^ of " associating par- 
 ticular sounds with particular names " : the "analogy 
 between sound and colour": the definition of the 
 former being " less easily but not less accurately 
 demonstrable " than that of the latter : the changed 
 effect of musical compositions through change of 
 pitch : with regard to vocalists, " The riddle of 
 OEdipus may be thus paraphrased : What animal 
 ranges in the clouds in the morning, and on the 
 earth in the evening ? Solution : a singer " : reference 
 being made to the early and later years of " this 
 animal": the discrepancy of opinion on the matter 
 among players on bowed instruments, some averring 
 " that the tone of their instruments is attenuated by 
 the elevation of pitch ; others, that their instruments 
 gain in brilliancy thereby : the practical identity of the 
 B flat clarinet of 1812 with the A clarinet of the 
 present day, and the consequent difference of quality 
 of tone from that intended in the music written for 
 the instrument of that period : the importance of uni- 
 formity : the appointment of a committee in London 
 to take steps to secure that result, Macfarren being 
 chairman." (See page 269.) 
 
 Almost coincidently, however, with the delivery of 
 this address, a communication was received from the 
 Commander-in-Chief, stating that, " owing to financial 
 and other diflBculties . . . too great to be overcome. 
 
CHARACTER OF KEYS. 371 
 
 his Royal Highness was unable to support the adop- 
 tion of the Standard Musical Pitch " ; and as its 
 adoption in the bands of the army was essential to the 
 scheme, that scheme had to be abandoned. 
 
 Mr. A. J. Ellis, in his translation of Helmholtz's 
 " Sensations of Tone/' p. 550, thus refers to some 
 utterances by Macfarren on this subject : — 
 
 " In the discussion of my paper ' On the measurement 
 and settlement of Musical Pitch ' (' Journal of the Society 
 of Arts,' 25 May, 1877, p. 686), Prof, (now Sir George) 
 Macfarren, Principal of the Royal Academy of Music, 
 spoke of ' the difficulty of representing the compositions 
 of different eras, which had been written for different 
 standards of pitch,' and added, ' it was a marvellous fact, 
 that, while the pitch was felt to be changed, the impres- 
 sion of the character of the teys seemed to remain with 
 reference to the nominal key, not to the number of vibra- 
 tions of each particular note. Thus the key of D at the 
 present day represented the same effect as was produced 
 by the same key according to one's earliest recollections ; 
 it did not sound like the key of E I? although it might be 
 of the same pitch. If Mozart's Symphony in C were to 
 be played a semitone lower, to bring it to the original 
 pitch, it would not sound at aU the same. How far this 
 result was subjective — ^how much depended on the imagina- 
 tion of- the hearer, and how much on the physical facts- 
 was a deep, perhaps an insoluble question ; but it was one 
 which really ought to be considered.' " 
 
 These extracts must be accepted as specimens of 
 Macfarren's extensive acquaintance with, and readi- 
 ness to expatiate with more or less premeditation on, 
 the various matters connected with music which have 
 at times claimed the attention of the musical com- 
 munity. In this connection also may be mentioned 
 papers by him in periodicals on "Unity in Dis- 
 
372 VARIOUS COMPOSITIONS, ETC. 
 
 crepancy," on " Musical Criticism/' on Mendelssolin's 
 "Athalie," etc.; also analyses of pianoforte works, 
 prefixed to a series edited by him for a London firm, 
 entitled " Macfarren's Universal Library of Pianoforte 
 Music." 
 
 It is difficult to assign the dates and order of pub- 
 lication of many of his compositions. He says, in a 
 letter to Mr. Dudeney, "There was no Opus No. 
 fixed to anything of mine but the three or four works 
 printed in Leipsic by Kistner and by Breitkopf and 
 Hartel." Among works not hitherto mentioned there 
 are a Trio in A for Flute, Violoncello and Pianoforte ; 
 Three Trifles for Flute and Pianoforte ; Recitative and 
 Air for the same instruments ; Andante and Allegro, 
 also for the same ; a Concerto for the Concertina; and, 
 for the Organ, Larghetto in A minor. Andante con 
 moto in B flat, and Larghetto espressivo in G minor ; 
 also the following Anthems : " A day in Thy courts," 
 " God said, Behold I have given," " Hear me when 
 I call," " Hosanna to the Son of David," " Holy 
 Ghost, into our minds," " The Lord is King," " The 
 Lord is my Shepherd," "We give Thee thanks," 
 "Wherewithal shall a young man," "Blessed be the 
 poor," " When saw we Thee," "Praised be the Lord," 
 " Great and marvellous," " Remember, Lord," 
 " The law of the Lord," " The Lord hath been mind- 
 ful," " We wait for Thy lovingkindness," " When 
 all things were in quiet silence," " This day is born." 
 Also, several Two-part Anthems, besides a " Choral 
 Service in B flat," a "Morning, Communion, and 
 Evening Service in G (unison)," " Cantate Domino 
 and Deus Misereatur " in G, and a similar work in F. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Macpaeeen's " Counterpoint." Utterances on Dia- 
 PHONT, Consecutive 5ths, Mendelssohn's Fugue 
 IN F MINOE, ETC. 1879 — 1882. 
 
 IWTACFARRBN'S book, " Counterpoint : a Course 
 •^'-*- of Study" (1879), is in no sense a theoretical 
 manifesto; it is purely educational and disciplinary, 
 " edited for the Syndics of the University Press," 
 and designed entirely for the use of students, having 
 their needs always in view. Therefore, its various 
 rules, directive and prohibitive, must be understood 
 as indicating, not entirely what is good or bad in 
 music, but what is desirable or undesirable for students 
 to do in their course of training. And at the outset, 
 therefore, as the sure foundation, he bases all upon 
 Counterpoint in the strict style ; holding strongly to 
 the necessity of a course of exercises under its rigid 
 restrictions, prior to any venture in the region of Free 
 Counterpoint until freedom has been attained within 
 the narrower limits. Moreover, he rightly charac- 
 terizes as " dissolute " any lazy, trifling evasions of 
 strict rules, any availment of licenses, until every 
 eflfbrt has been made to comply mth stem rules. 
 
 The work may therefore be said to be a mamfesto, 
 though not theoretical, but educational : a timely 
 warning against certain tendencies which the writer 
 
374 "COUNTERPOINT." 
 
 discerned, and which he sought, in the interests of 
 soundness and thoroughness, to check ; for which 
 effort he was by some regarded, and by one termed, 
 "an obstructive/'^ And he himself says, in the 
 Preface to " Musical History " : — 
 
 "He [the author] claims to be a conservative, in the 
 sense in which the first music schools in Italy were, and 
 those in some other Continental States are named, as 
 striving to conserve the pure and beautiful; he claims 
 to be a radical, since seeking the root of truth and foimd- 
 ing his convictions accordingly ; but he disclaims to be an 
 eclectic, because, believing with Rossini that there are only 
 two classes of music, the good and the bad, he elects the 
 former in all its manifestations." 
 
 The distinguishing severities in the book that may 
 be noticed are : (a) the avoidance of modulation, except 
 in the examples of Double Counterpoint; even pro- 
 gression, or diversion, to the so-called relative major 
 or minor, being tabooed as " most to be shunned " ; 
 the very terms being " denounced as misleading, and 
 consequently dangerous to the composer " : (b) the use 
 of only one harmony in each bar of contrapuntal exer- 
 cises. " Contrary to the method of some teachers," 
 Macfarren recommends students " to work each Species 
 of Counterpoint successively in two, in three, in four, 
 and perhaps in five parts, before entering on the 
 practice of a next Species." This plan I had myself 
 recommended and adopted years previous to the pub- 
 lication of Macfarren's " Counterpoint." ^ It is pos- 
 sible that I may have heard of Macfarren's practice in 
 
 ' See p. 246. 
 
 2 See "Text-Book of Music," H. C. Banister. Preface to 1st 
 edition, 1872. See also my " Musical Art and Study " ■ paper on 
 " Some Methods of Musical Study," p. 34 
 
BI APHONY. PERFECT INTERVALS. 375 
 
 this matter, though I am not conscious of having 
 borrowed the idea. 
 
 In the introductory chapter, Macfarren advances 
 the " conjecture " that Diaphony, instead of having 
 been, as " alleged .... the singing of one melody by 
 two voices, or choirs of voices, at the interval of a 
 4th, or a 5th, or an 8th asunder, .... may have 
 meant alternation or response, and that the parts which, 
 in ancient copies, stand one over another at the in- 
 terval of a 5th, a 4th, or an 8th, were sung in suc- 
 cession and not together, their pi-esentation in writing 
 having no analogy to the modern idea of a score." 
 He admits that " this is but a conjecture, whose proof 
 must rest with the antiquary,'^ which, " if . . . . ad- 
 missible, .... will point to diaphony as the germ of 
 the fugue." Consistently with this conjecture, he 
 remarks, in his "Musical History" (p. 27), that the 
 term " diaphony (through the sounds) ," is " at least as 
 appropriate to the successive as to the simultaneous 
 singing of a melody at the interval of a 5th above or 
 below." 
 
 In the chapter on Intervals, he remarks, in a foot- 
 note, that — 
 
 " It is strangely remarkable, that, though men of science 
 and musicians have spent elaborate attention upon other 
 philosophical points, which may or may not link acoustical 
 science to musical art, not one has openly discussed the 
 phenomena that separate the 1st [Macfarren's term for 
 the unison] and the 5th, the 8th and the 4th, in character, 
 efEect, and treatment, from all other intervals. This is not 
 the place to enlarge upon the very important subject, but 
 the present opportunity may be utilized to suggest its 
 scientific consideration, and to state a belief that any facts 
 bearing upon it, which may be brought to light, will be of 
 the highest possible interest and commensurate value." 
 
376 CONSECUTIVE FIFTHS. 
 
 It is carrying out the spirit of this remark to give 
 additional currency to the suggestion by its insertion 
 in these pages. 
 
 In the chapter on Scales, Modes, and Keys, there is 
 an interesting compendium of information respecting 
 the growth of the Scale, the Greek Modes, the 
 Church Modes, etc. 
 
 In the chapter on Progression of Parts, after giving 
 the rule against consecutive 5ths, he adds this foot- 
 note : — 
 
 " The reason of the bad effect of this progression has not 
 been proved, but a speculation respecting it has the sanc- 
 tion of some thoughtful musicians. It rests on the fact 
 that the ear adjusts the fallacy of temperament; and 
 receives what stand for musical intervals on our keyed 
 instruments, as though they were truthfully tuned ; and 
 thus, though we have but one C or D, etc., to represent 
 the modification of the note so named in all the keys to 
 which it belongs, the note produces a separate effect upon 
 the hearer in each key-relationship in which it may be 
 involved, so that D sounds as if it were a major tone from 
 C if used in the key of C, but sounds as a minor tone from 
 C if used in the distiuctly different key of A miuor, while 
 a pianoforte or flute gives but one sound each for C and D. 
 A perfect 5th, more than any other single interval, suggests 
 the complete idea of a key ; so, to proceed from one per- 
 fect 5th (whose intonation should be peculiar to one key) 
 to another perfect 5th (whose intonation should be pecuUar 
 to another key) impHes precipitation from one key to 
 another without passing through the harmonic channels 
 that naturally connect the two. The 5th E, for instance, 
 should have 81 vibrations against 27 in the key of A, and 
 but 80 against 27 in the key of C ; we have but one A and 
 one E on keyed instruments to serve for both keys, and 
 yet we suppose the 5th to be perfect whenever we hear it ; 
 and so, possibly, our shock at approaching this 6th from 
 A, after a 5th peculiar to the key of C, results from the 
 
CONSECUTIVE fTHS. HIDDEN 6THS, ETC. 377 
 
 discrepancy that shoiild exist between the two presenta- 
 tions of the chord which are characteristic of the two keys. 
 This speculation is corroborated by the good efEect of con- 
 secutive 5ths between those notes of the key of which, in 
 truthful intonation, the 5ths are precisely perfect — a good, 
 nay, beautiful effect; however, whose application is hmited 
 to the modern, free, or chromatic style of music, and is 
 wholly unavailable in Diatonic Contrapuntal writing." 
 
 In a review, evidently by Macfarren, of a certain 
 Anthem, he writes : — 
 
 " We protest against the consecutive 7ths . . . . ; how 
 strange it is that composers who would shrink with horror 
 from writing the 5ths in succession in the same two parts, 
 as from a foulest sia, write the infinitely worse sounding 
 progression of two 7ths in cold blood, as if it were quite a 
 matter of indifference, and nobody's heels would suffer 
 from such treading on, or ears from such torture." 
 
 These remarks on consecutive perfect intervals are, 
 at all events, logically plausible. But, in reference to 
 the closely allied rule, which he enforces, against similar 
 motion to a perfect interval in the " outside parts " 
 (generally called the extreme parts) — such joint pro- 
 gfression often being termed hidden or covered con- 
 secutives, but, by him, an exposed 5th, etc. — he inserts 
 the remark, which seems to indicate a failure to under- 
 stand the sense in which, rightly or wrongly, the term 
 is used, — in fact, altering the term : " By strange 
 contradiction, it is not uncommon to use the term 
 'hidden' instead [of exposed], as 'hidden 5th,' 
 ' hidden 8th,' etc. j but a note can only be hidden 
 by others sounded at once above and below it." Now, 
 it is not desired here to advocate the use of the term 
 objected to ; but Macfarren misrepresents it : the 
 
378 MACF ARBEIT S PROHIBITIONS. 
 
 objectionable progression is not called, in any book 
 that I know, nor is the one 8th or 6th approached in 
 the objectionable manner, a hidden 8th or 5th ; but 
 the manner of progressing to it being considered to 
 cover a 5 th or 8ve, which is hidden by not being 
 sounded, the whole effect is supposed to hide that 
 which, if sounded, would constitute hidden fifths or 
 octaves, hidden consecutives . The use of the singular 
 or of the plural term makes all the difference in the 
 meaning and consistency of it.^ It is not .a term 
 worth fighting for; but let it be rightly stated; not 
 mis-stated, and then opposed. But I have heard 
 Macfarren say, with almost angry vehemence, " No ! 
 it is an exposed 5th." 
 
 So far as I am aware, Macfarren is the only writer 
 who forbids, apart from the false relation of the tritono, 
 in two-part counterpoint, all expanding from a 3rd to 
 a perfect 5th. 
 
 Treating of successions of harmonies, Macfarren 
 forbids, in the major key, the following of the common 
 chord of the supertonic by the chord of the key-note, 
 " unless both chords be in the first inversion " ; but 
 adding that " the same effect is not produced by a 
 progression from the chord of the submediant to that 
 of the dominant — also a minor and a major chord in 
 consecution." To this he appends a foot-note : " A 
 reason for the difference may be that, from the super- 
 tonic to the key-note is the interval of a major tone, 
 but from the submediant to the dominant is the 
 interval of a minor tone." This may hardly seem 
 sufficient justification of the prohibition ; but, rather, 
 
 1 See " Text-Book," H. C. B., pp. 50, 51. 
 
MAJOR AND MINOR TONES, ETC. 379 
 
 an explanation that requires explaining. There is 
 a somewhat more ample statement on the subject in 
 his " Musical History," where, after speaking of the 
 conflict between the followers of Pythagoras and those 
 of Aristoxenus, the latter having " discovered the 
 difference between the major and minor tones, the 
 first having the ratio f , and the second having that 
 of ~^" Macfarren continues (p. 12) : — 
 
 " Subsequent theorists disputed whether the major or 
 the minor tone should be above the other, and it was 
 Claudius Ptolemy (c. 150 a.d.) who enunciated that the 
 major tone should be below the minor, which is the prin- 
 ciple that directs the intonation of our present scale. This 
 intonation may account for the difference between the 
 effect in proceeding from the minor chord of the super- 
 tonic to the major chord of the tonic, and the effect in 
 proceeding from the minor chord of the submediant to the 
 major chord of the dominant, of which the latter, at the 
 interval of a minor tone, is acceptable, and the former, at 
 the interval of a major tone, is repugnant to cultivated 
 ears." 
 
 It may be said here that Macfarren has deftly 
 written some of his Ganti Fermi in such wise as to be 
 quite workable according to his strictest rules, and to 
 exemplify their application; but that observance of 
 some of these rules is well nigh impracticable, in some 
 of the Species, with many Oanti Fermi not written for 
 such special purpose. Teachers and students will find 
 this out by experiment. This is not the place to 
 enlarge upon or exemplify the statement. Nor must 
 the consideration of disputed points be here entered 
 on : such as the singularly illogical foot-note, p. 29, 
 which does not touch the point at issue ; the prohibi- 
 tion of a passing-note occurring simultaneously with 
 
380 IMPORTANT PRINCIPLES. 
 
 the striking of an arpeggio note with which it is dis- 
 sonant (§§ 54, 243) — which, however, is an excellent 
 disciplinary restriction for students; some of the 
 restrictions as to cadences, such as § 109, etc. More 
 pleasant is it to notice the emphasizing of the impor- 
 tance of right treatment of passing-notes {§ 148) ; the 
 detailed painstaking in regulating the combination 
 both of two or more moving Counterpoints of the 
 same species (chaps, x., xi., xii., xiii.), and of com- 
 bined species (chap, xiv.), to which little attention is 
 paid, for the help of students, in other books on 
 Counterpoint; the exposure of the fallacious preten- 
 tiousness of much so-called multi part writing (§ 275); 
 the suggestive chapter on Oounterpoint in the Modern 
 Free Style, and other matters in this highly useful 
 work, which has been called a classic; and, un- 
 doubtedly, is the book which, because founded on 
 definite principles, and not empirical or arbitrary, as 
 so many works on the subject are, takes the highest 
 rank among English treatises, even if its rules and 
 explanations meet not with entire acceptance. Like 
 his other books, it is a practical protest against " slip- 
 shod" looseness and inde'finiteness in study and in 
 practice. Whether the authority be recognized or 
 not, there is no mistaking what is forbidden and what 
 is allowed, what is rigorous and what is undesirable. 
 The modem spirit is restive, if not lawless, but the 
 wise student will not ''ignore or forget," to use 
 Macfarren^s own words, 
 
 " that discipline is the best warrant of liberty, that he 
 alone can successfully evade rules who is fully capable of 
 obeying them, and that the ancient principles of Counter- 
 poiut apply — ^if practically enlarged in their application — 
 
JDIAPHONY AND CONSECUTIVE FIFTHS. 381 
 
 most stringently to the structure of music in the idiom of 
 the present day." 
 
 Mr. Prout, in his recently published work, 
 "Counterpoint, Strict and Free," speaking of the 
 necessity, "if Counterpoint is to be of real use to the 
 student, to make it conform strictly to the require- 
 ments of modern tonality," continues : — 
 
 " To the late Sir G-eorge Macfarren is due the credit of 
 being the first to recognize this important fact; unfor- 
 timately his treatise on Counterpoint, excellent as it is in 
 this respect, contains so many of its writer's peculiar ideas, 
 and prohibits so much that other theorists allow, that the 
 beginner who studies the subject under its guidance is 
 hampered and harassed by needless restrictions, until 
 really musical writing becomes all but impossible, and his 
 exercises sink to the level of mere mathematical problems. 
 All honour, nevertheless, to Macfarren for first enforcing 
 the principle that modem tonality should be the basis of 
 strict Counterpoint ! " 
 
 A most remarkable instance of recondite extem- 
 poraneous speaking is furnished in Macfarren's re- 
 marks after an ingenious paper had been read by Dr. 
 Gladstone, on " Consecutive 5ths," at the Musical 
 Association, March 6th, 1882 : — 
 
 " I should like to venture a speculation on the subject 
 of diaphony. I thoroughly agree with Mr. Sedley Taylor, 
 and anybody else who has in any shape the same feeling, 
 that consecutive fifths are particularly ugly, and that our 
 dislike to them is not merely from the habit of artificially 
 trained ears, but from something in the natural fact itself 
 which makes them repugnant to nature. It is repugnant 
 to U8 at the present time, and not in this room alone, not 
 in this country, but throughout all the civilized world 
 wherever music is studied, and wherever it has resolved 
 
382 ANTIPHONY. 
 
 itself into a language, instead of the barbarous jargon of 
 savages ; everybody shrinks from the sound of consecutive 
 fifths. I cannot suppose that, as long as the organs of 
 hearing have been the same, persons can have experienced 
 pleasure many hundreds of years ago, in progressions 
 ■which are entirely offensive to us who hear them now; 
 that the same acoustical properties, whatever ttey may be, 
 which make them offensive in the nineteenth century could 
 have been absent in the tenth century ; and that progres- 
 sions which through these, as yet undiscovered, properties 
 are cacophonous to us, can have been acceptable to the 
 persons who heard them : and I think it is at least worthy 
 of consideration, whether in those written examples which 
 come before us, and are quoted now and then in print, it 
 may not have been intended that the parts should be sung 
 alternately, and not together. The Greek term ' antiphony ' 
 means, of course, the sounding of notes at once, and 
 Aristotle expressly forbids, as far as I can understand him 
 from a good translation, antiphony in the fourth or fifth, 
 but says that antiphony in the eighth is permissible, and 
 produces a good effect, namely, that when boys and men 
 sing the same tune, one is obviously an octave above the 
 other, and the effect is satisfactory, but that this singiug 
 of the same melody is not allowed in the interval of the 
 fifth or the fourth. This was then offensive to the classic 
 Greeks, and can it be possible that in the dark ages a 
 different constitution of human organs can have prevailed, 
 and have made that which was formerly, and is now, offen- 
 sive, agreeable to the listeners ? And as our predecessor, 
 whom patriotically we must honour, John of Dunstable, 
 said, they were too beautiful ; too much beauty could not 
 be permitted, therefore a succession of these delights was 
 overpowering to the human sense. In the church, on the 
 other hand, antiphony does not mean singing in combina- 
 tion, but singing in alternation, and in that sense I appre- 
 hend the diaphony of the dark ages in music must have 
 been intended, and that as the parts were written a fifth 
 asunder, one or the other might be sung by a body of 
 voices in one key, and then the other part be sung in 
 response by another body of voices. It appears to me 
 that such was the original form of the composition of a 
 
CONSECUTIVE FIFTHS AND OCTAVES. 383 
 
 fugue — that one side of the choir would sing a passage, 
 say, in the key of P, and that the other side would respond 
 to it, say, in the key of C ; then the first choir would con- 
 tinue a counterpoint or descant during the performance of 
 the second choir, and the second choir would return the 
 compliment when the canto fermo returned to the original 
 singers ; and so, out of that diaphony, our fugue has been 
 developed. Now the bad effect of octaves seems to me to 
 have a very obvious interpretation — namely, that by making 
 two notes particularly prominent, the rest of the score is 
 enfeebled, and that thus the balance of harmony is entirely 
 thwarted. The effect is excellent, of coiirse, for an entire 
 phrase of melody to be sung or played in octaves, whether 
 it be to give promiaence to a bass or higher melody. 
 Equivalent to that same effect is the subordinating of an 
 accompaniment to a vocal part. The voice part is intended 
 to be much more forcible than the accompaniment. 
 Whether this is to be so enforced by throwing stronger 
 power into the vocal delivery of the phrase, or whether by 
 playing the passage on two different instruments in 
 octaves, or on a pianoforte duplicating the passage 
 throughout, it is only making that one entire phrase 
 paramount in importance over the accompaniment. But 
 when a passage of harmony in any number of parts has 
 two notes made so yery much more prominent than the 
 rest, as is the case in the duplication of those two at the 
 expense of the others, the other portion of the harmony is 
 enfeebled, and the bala,nce is destroyed. I think, with 
 reference to some of the examples we have heard, that from 
 the overture of Mozart, and the sonata of Beethoven, and 
 those two from the oratorio ' St. Paul,' they must be over- 
 sights of the composers. I cannot suppose for an instant 
 that the authors intended to write any one of the examples. 
 In the case of Beethoven's sonata and Mozart's overture, 
 the effect is so transient that it leaves little impression ; 
 but in the case of the ' St. Paul ' choruses, I must own 
 they have checked the pleasure the music has given me. 
 I have noted them in public performance for the first time, 
 not from exploring on paper, as having been conspicuous — 
 not for beauty. There are several things which distinguish 
 perfect fifths from major and minor intervals; and it is of 
 
384 PERFECT AND IMPERFECT INTERVALS. 
 
 great importance to teachers and to learners to observe 
 these distinctions. Perfect intervals have two notes of the 
 same quality, whereas a major interval may have both 
 natural, or natural and sharp, or flat and natural. Perfect 
 intervals, when inverted, produce again perfect intervals, 
 whereas if we invert a major, we produce a minor ; if you 
 extend a perfect interval by a semitone, you change it from 
 a concord to a discord, whereas if you extend a minor 
 interval, you have a major, and if it is a discord in the 
 first rastance,. so it is in the second, if a concord in the 
 first instance, so it is in the second. Then there is this 
 matter of the consecution of perfect intervals being offen- 
 sive, whether to cultivated or to barbarous ears, whereas 
 the succession of sixths and of thirds is accepted as agree- 
 able and euphonious by everybody. Then, again, taking 
 two notes in the fundamental harmonies, we have, in the 
 chord of the dominant seventh, a perfect fifth from the 
 root to its fifth, and we have a diminished fifth from the 
 third to the seventh. The imperfect interval requires that 
 both its notes shall have a defined progression under the 
 term 'resolution,' whereas there is an entire freedom in 
 the two notes of the perfect interval. We do not stop 
 there. In the earliest forms of melody, before harmony 
 was discovered, much more before it was regulated, there 
 seems always to have been some instinct in men's nainds 
 to characterize these intervals of the fifth and fourth. 
 The authentic and plagal modes dependent on melodic 
 forms lying within the interval of the fifth for the con- 
 spicuous notes, or the interval of the fourth, were pre- 
 scribed by Greet rule for melodic arrangement ; and that 
 which prevailed in Greece was received in the church, and 
 forms one of the particular distinctions in the regulation 
 of fugal construction as to the subject and answer. Often 
 and often have I thought it would require the entire know- 
 ledge of a physicist to be able to probe this subject to its 
 foundation ; and it would be, I think, of very great interest 
 to musicians, and possibly of value to the art of music, 
 if this subject could be scientifically investigated. But 
 the nearest approximation to a solution that I have made 
 is the fact, first of all, that consecutive fifths imply con- 
 secutive keys, and a very ill effect is produced by the want 
 
TEMPERAMENT, ROOTS, RELATED KEYS. 385 
 
 of some intervening harmony -whicli shall lead by natural 
 gradation from the one key to the other. That, on a 
 tempered pianoforte, no key is in tune, we all admit in 
 theory ; but I am certain the human ear exercises a power 
 of adjusting the sounds which are produced, and of 
 accepting tempered sounds for the true sounds that they 
 are intended to signify. This might be proved, even by 
 examples upon a tempered pianoforte, from the very dif- 
 ferent effect that the same notes produce when played 
 with a different context. So I believe that if one hears 
 the chord of C, followed by the chord of D, although both 
 C and D harmonies are imperfect in pianoforte tuning, we 
 have an impression of those two keys of C and D, and we 
 want some chord which shall lead by natural course from 
 the first to the second. Now certain fifths are decidedly 
 in tune in the same key, such as the fifth of the tonic and 
 the fifth of the dominant, and the progression of one of 
 these to the other has not the bad effect which other pro- 
 gressions of fifths have. Also the fifth of the tonic and 
 the subdominant may be used, as in the Pastoral Symphony 
 of Beethoven, with beautiful effect. By an extraordinary- 
 coincidence the same notes occur in the first chorus of 
 Weber's 'Oberon,' and I think with the same happy 
 
 effect I think the subdominant is a diatonic root 
 
 in any key, but its influence ceases when, passing upward, 
 the tonic is reached, and then a new derivation of the notes 
 is to be considered. That tonic stands as the natural 
 resting-place between the subdominant and the dominant, 
 and to proceed from the fifth below the tonic to the fifth 
 above the tonic, without the intervention of the tonic itself 
 between, I think, takes us by the boldest, and roughest, 
 and rudest plunge from one key to another. Now, whether 
 we are to foUow Helmholtz's theory, and derive the minor 
 key from the major third below its tonic, and suppose that 
 C minor is derived from the key of A flat, coimting C as 
 the fifth harmonic, and, to pursue that theory further, to 
 derive the beautiful chromatic chord, the minor second of 
 the key, from the fifth still below that A flat, and so to 
 bring into consideration the subdominant with reference 
 to the key-note ; or whether we are to take those two notes, 
 D flat the ninth of the tonic, and A flat the ninth of the 
 
 C C 
 
386 ALLOWABLJE CONSECUTIVE FIFTHS. 
 
 dominant ; wherever the dominant and the tonic are in 
 time, their respective ninths must be in tune also ; and 
 again, wherever — referring to the other theory — the third 
 below the key-note is perfectly in time, the perfect fifth 
 below that must be true in the same manner. Thus, I 
 think, is to be accounted for the fact that the progression 
 of fifths by semitones produces the good effect that we 
 sometimes hear. Thus, in the Violoncello Sonata of Beet- 
 hoven in F, there is an example of the two open strings of 
 the violoncello sustaiaed for some time (,C and Gr), and 
 then a progression to D flat and A flat. With regard to 
 what Dr. Gladstone exemplifled, of the resolution of the 
 chord called the German sixth, I thiak it is from diffidence 
 rather than from real repugnance to the effect, that persons 
 have shrunk from resolving the fifth from the bass A flat 
 to the fifth from the bass Gr, while there is F sharp pro- 
 ceeding to G in another part. I think many ingenious 
 devices that one finds in melodic progression to elude those 
 two fifths, are rather from diffidence to avoid breaking an 
 established canon, than from shrinking from the bad effect 
 which the progression involves. I think that is not a case 
 of bad effect any more than the case of proceeding from 
 the subdominant to the tonic, or the dominant to the tonic 
 by consecutive fifths, or the iastance of the violoncello 
 sonata of which I was just speaking. These are, however, 
 only speculations, but they are not accidental — they are 
 the result of deliberation — and if persons who have the 
 means, from a knowledge of physics, [will] pursue the 
 subject further home, and work to a real explanation of 
 what are these mysterious and yet beautiful elements at 
 the command of musicians, it wiU be, I think, of very 
 great service." 
 
 In an analytical notice of Mendelssohn's Prelude 
 and Fugue in F minor, Macfarren remarks : — 
 
 " The art of counterpoint — that is, of combining two or 
 more independent melodies, while maintaining an indi- 
 vidual interest in each — is especially exemplified in the 
 composition of the Fugue, throughout which one subject is 
 
FUGUE WRITING. 387 
 
 always paramount, its variety of effect being entirely de- 
 pendent on the diversity of tte several counter-melodies 
 that, at different periods, accompany this one principal 
 theme. No one, since Mozart, has heen so completely suc- 
 cessful as Mendelssohn ia fugal composition ; and the work 
 [under notice] contaius ample justification of this well- 
 considered remark. ... A fugue is wont to be considered 
 as a certainly dull, perhaps ingenious, exercise of scholastic 
 pedantry; and such, truly enough, it is often its ill fortime 
 to be ; but a fugue is also, though it may be less fre- 
 quently, a medium of the manifestation of one of the ■ 
 greatest qualities of genius — the power, namely, of making 
 restrictions conducive to the best effects ; and such it has 
 eminently proved to be in the instance before us, where the 
 v?ild passionate outbreak from the pathetic despondency of 
 the prelude which it embodies, acquires an increased inten- 
 sity at every fresh entry of the subject, and at each reap- 
 pearance of the several fragments of this, until the original 
 expression obtains such an accumulation of power as it 
 could derive from no other process of development." 
 
 Macfarren could be playful, even about such a 
 matter as fugue. As far back as November 27th, 
 1843, at a meeting held at 3, Eeppel Street (Mr. G. F. 
 Flowers', Mus. Bac), for the formation of a "Con- 
 trapuntists' Society," it was proposed that the exer- 
 cise, to qualify for admittance, should be "an Alia 
 Gapella Fugue, in not less than four parts — the length 
 of which shall not be less than eighty bars — the sub- 
 ject of which shall consist of at least three, and at most 
 four bars; and, moreover, shall be always heard, in 
 one or other of the parts, entire and unmutilated." 
 It was arranged " that a meeting of candidates take 
 place this day six weeks (Monday, January 7th, 1844) " 
 . . . ; and the fourth resolution, proposed by Mr. J. W. 
 Davison, and seconded by Mr. G. A. Macfarren, was, 
 " That any professor bringing with him, at that meet- 
 
388 LIGHT VOCAL WORKS. 
 
 ing, a fugue of his own composition, written according 
 to the resolution which involves the test of admission, 
 shall be a member of the Contrapuntists' Society/' 
 Macfarren, in seconding the resolution, said, " As I 
 understand the matter, anyone who can write such a 
 fugue is to pay a guinea ! " He hated mere pedantry, 
 though often considered a pedant. He delighted in 
 the production of tuneful, light compositions, scholarly 
 in their finish, though unscholastic in their structure, 
 such as his innumerable Part-songs ; e.g., six to 
 Kingsley's words, " The Sands of Dee," etc. : six to 
 Herrick's words, " Bright Tulips," etc. : six Open- 
 air Songs, book 4 of ''Polyhymnia": Shakespeare 
 Songs : several for Men's Voices, " The Arrow and 
 the Song," " Speed the Plough," " A Legend of the 
 Avon," besides the Convivial Glees already referred 
 to : several for Female Voices, " Te spotted Snakes," 
 "TheTrouibadour," etc.: "The bird^s that had left 
 their nests " (Chaucer) : " Ye little birds that sit and 
 sing": "Colin and his Phillida" (Madrigal), and 
 many others : also about twenty-five two-part songs, 
 such as " Two Merry Gipsies," " The Fairies' Tryste," 
 both so popular at one time ; and single songs almost 
 innumerable, among these being " Lyrics," twelve 
 or more in number : the songs included in " The 
 British Vocal Album " : " Songs of the Night "Watches " 
 (three) : " Idylls of the King " (four) : etc., etc. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Peesbntatioii at the Royal Academy. Various 
 Compositions. Speeches. Failing Health. Last 
 Days, and Death. Memoeial Seevice. Tributes 
 TO Macfaeeen's Memoey. Miscellaneous Personal 
 Details. Abiding Influence. 1883 — 1887. 
 
 AS Macfarren advanced in years, the admiration of 
 his life-long consistency and persevering courage, 
 of his great attainments and commanding mental 
 power, no less than of his unfailing kindness, and esti- 
 mable qualities, which was felt by his professional 
 brethren, sought expression; and it was determined 
 that a purse substantially filled should be presented to 
 him on, or as near as possible to, his seventieth birth- 
 day. Well was the secret kept from him, the matter ' 
 not being made the subject of any advertisement or 
 printed document ; and very little, if any, written cor- 
 respondence taking place in connection with the pro- 
 ject. The response was well-nigh world-wide; and 
 the Professor was invited, on a day well remembered 
 by those present, in March, 1883, to come into the 
 concert-room of the Royal Academy, to receive the 
 congratulations of a few friends ; he merely expecting 
 verbal congratulations on his reaching that which is 
 spoken of as the " allotted term of human life." But 
 
390 PRESENTATION OF TESTIMONIAL. 
 
 the attendance was overflowing of professors, pupils, 
 and friends, who greeted him, when led in by Mr. 
 Walter Macfarren, with a ringing cheer that seemed 
 to stagger him. 
 
 His surprise may be imagined when Sir Julius 
 Benedict, another veteran, after an appropriate speech, 
 presented to him, in the name of those present, and 
 many unavoidably absent, a cheque for 800 guineas. 
 The surprise, and the long-continued applause when 
 Sir George rose to acknowledge the testimonial, over- 
 came him, and for some little time checked his power 
 of utterance. Thanking, first of all. Sir Julius for his 
 share in the proceedings, he proceeded to speak of 
 himself and his age; saying, among other things, 
 " Having travelled the natural course of human life, I 
 do not feel old, and can only hope that when I have no 
 longer strength to perform the duties which have been 
 to me a loving labour, I may still have the strength to 
 resign.^^ 
 
 Speeches by Canon Duckworth, Mr. Eandegger, 
 Mr. Byers, and Mr. Walter Macfarren, followed, and 
 this historical meeting broke up. The Misses Maci- 
 rone, who knew him well, were alone with him in his 
 study the day after, when the sightless eyes shed tears 
 at the loved remembrance of so much affection. 
 
 But he went on working just as ever : composing, 
 lecturing, teaching, directing. 
 
 Among his later compositions mention may be made 
 of an Andante and Rondo for the unusual combination 
 of instruments, organ and violin, written specially 
 for his pupil and amanuensis, Mr. Windeyer Clark, 
 and published in Dr. Spark's " Quarterly Journal," 
 No. 76. And, in the " Girls' Own P^per," for 
 
VIOLIN ROMANCES AND SONATA. 391 
 
 November, 1886, appeared a " Romance" for violin and 
 pianoforte, afterwards included as No. 1 in a set of five, 
 which were written for Mdlle. Gabrielle Vaillant, and 
 were engraved and prepared for publication just before 
 the composer's death, but not issued till after that la- 
 mented event. With reference to these, the following 
 letters to the estimable violinist will be read with 
 interest : — 
 
 " 7, Hamilton Terrace, N.W. 
 "Dec. 24, '86. 
 "Mt deab Gabrielle, 
 
 " In the summer I was asked to make a violin piece 
 for publication, and I thought of you over the making ; 
 and I found the thought so pleasant that I continued the 
 current through the hoUday weeks. This caused me a 
 singing in the head until I could exorcise the ghost by the 
 process of transcription, which was not until lately, although 
 prior to your pretty offer to come and write the new Sonata. 
 The four afterthoughts are then yours by natural right, if 
 you will accept them, because they are all about you, and 
 Christmas is timely for offering them. If you will accept 
 them, you shall have No. 1 in print when I can get a copy. 
 We shall have time I trust for the Sonata when we have 
 laid our dissipations to sleep ; and so your ears and fingers 
 will be as much employed on your next visit as were your 
 eyes and lips when you last came. 
 
 " Affectionately yours, 
 
 "G-. A. Macfakeen." 
 
 The Sonata above referred to was for pianoforte and 
 violin, in B minor, dated June 27th, 1887, and exists 
 only in MS. 
 
 " 7, Hamilton Terrace, N.W. 
 " nth February. 
 
 [1887?] 
 "Mt dear Gabeielle, 
 
 " What a perfect interval are you that keep your per- 
 fection from whichever side one measures you ! If you 
 
392 LETTERS TO MADLLE. VAILLANT 
 
 play, it is delightful, so i£ you send lilies, and so likewise 
 if you say pretty things, which have infinite charm, what- 
 ever their subject. Tou pretend that my Quintet ' gave 
 your friends pleasure, and you know that this resulted 
 from the merit of the playing. To feel oneself in the com- 
 pany of that brave and hale and most musical old Sir 
 Frederick HaUiday was indeed a treat, and to find age and 
 youth blending to give unity of effect to what they ex- 
 pressed, seemed almost preternatural in the unity of spirit 
 that bound you all. Whatever joy you had in the per- 
 formance — and to do a kind and clever thing is ever joyous 
 to the doer — I had five times the pleasure of any one of 
 you, since mine was drawn from the efforts of you all. 
 
 " Tour Hlies bring the South of France into the heart of 
 Maida Vale. 
 
 " I thank you for the naming of the Eomances, and if 
 you play them to your friends as you did to me, the friends 
 must be hard of hearing not to be charmed. I have no 
 present notion of printing other of the pieces than the 
 first, but if occasion arise, will borrow the rest from you 
 and have them copied. , 
 
 " Tours afEectionately, 
 
 "G. A. Macfaeeest." 
 
 Yet another letter to the same ; 
 
 "12 July, '87. 
 
 "Mt DEAE GtABBIELLE, 
 
 "I was indeed sorry to miss your concert, but my ex- 
 amination ended not till half-past five, when of course 
 your performance must have been over. I rejoice to have 
 learned that the music went well, and that many persons 
 were sensible enough, and had sufficient mastery of their 
 time, to go and hear it. I thank you for having the Quintet, 
 for the pains spent on it, and for the good rendering which 
 was the result of it. Further thanks I would send for the 
 new gift of roses that has come to-night. Tou are indeed 
 the fairy of private life, dispensing flowers and love where- 
 
 ever you pass 
 
 " Affectionately yours, 
 
 " a. A. M." 
 ' See p. 99. 
 
LATER COMPOSITIONS. 393 
 
 During the latter years of his life, moreover, he 
 composed several Sonatas, both for pianoforte alone, 
 and with violin, one of the latter being dedicated to 
 his brother Walter. He also wrote a second Cantata 
 for Female Voices, " Around the hearth," which was 
 performed by the Academy students at a concert 
 shortly before his death. He delighted to " make 
 music" as his great resource, during his vacation- 
 time, which was never " vacant" time with him. One 
 of his Sonatas for Pianoforte, that in G minor, being 
 the third that was published, was written, a consider- 
 able time before his death, for his pupil, the distin- 
 guished pianist. Miss Agnes Zimmerman. His very 
 latest compositions were a setting of SheUey's " Lines 
 on a faded Violet"; and a theme in F minor for 
 Miss Dora Bright, to which she wrote some thoughtful 
 Variations for Two Pianofortes. The same promising 
 musician performed his last Pianoforte Sonata at a 
 private gathering on the composer's birthday, 1887. 
 
 At the distribution of certificates to successful can- 
 didates at the Local Examinations in connection with 
 the Royal Academy, in Liverpool, July 28th, 1884, 
 after some remarks of a temporary character, he spoke 
 on the subject of music at large : — 
 
 "This is a subject which particularly offers itseK to 
 examination by persons who make a life study of its 
 principles. I may refer to some very admirable words of 
 the Mayor of Manchester bearing on this head. In the 
 other subjects of study — mathematical, classical language, 
 or what not — every person may be able, with careful 
 inspection, to note the capabilities of students. It is a 
 very natural, perhaps a very happy fact— but in some 
 respects a somewhat unfortunate one^that friends have 
 peculiar estimates of the merits of their own connections ; 
 
394 SPEECH AT LIVERPOOL. 
 
 and it is a very hard thing for parents and guardians, and 
 sisters and cousias, to believe that she or he who plays for 
 their entertainment is anything but a mistress of the 
 subject in which she presents herself, or a master, as the 
 ease may be. But as a knowledge of the fine arts can 
 only be attained through a life study — to prove the real 
 capacity of a musician or painter, the examination must 
 be made by a specialist. I believe it does not need a 
 master of arts to be able to prove that twice two makes 
 four, or that the deduction of two from four leaves two 
 behind. In this respect, as I have said before, it needs a 
 specialist to see that the education is progressing in the 
 right direction in other subjects, but in the fine arts it 
 does, I assure you, need the test of a professional examina- 
 tion to satisfy the wishes of the friends of musicians that 
 the progress of persons in whom they are interested is 
 such as deserves the success it has met with on this occa- 
 sion. Music is of very early date in the history of the 
 world, but in the sense in which we know and enjoy it, it 
 is a comparatively very recent institution. I have strong 
 reasons to think that music rests on scientific bases, that 
 it is not the accidental arrangement of sound formed by 
 the almost capricious exercise even of the most powerful 
 genius, but that it rests upon natural principles which are 
 subject to the laws of the universe as much as the other 
 sciences which daily and hourly are adding to the vast 
 amount of knowledge of mankind. I believe that, with 
 this consideration, we may regard music in other than the 
 light of an amusement. Many persons talk of the 
 pleasantry of a musical performance, but it is to be con- 
 sidered that to produce a musical performance many and 
 many scientifi.c facts must be accumulated : the acoustical 
 science, which gives us the very sounds of music ; the 
 science of harmony, which teaches us to combine them ; 
 the wonderful science which has been from time to time 
 applied to the fabrication of musical instruments; and 
 then those interesting forms of art which are developed in 
 gaining the mastery of those instruments, and acquiring 
 the ability to draw from stretched strings and open tubes, 
 and from that highest of all instruments, the human voice, 
 those sounds which give what is called amusement, and 
 
WESTMINSTER ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY. 395 
 
 ■what is often felt as delight. When we consider that the 
 principle of sound itself — the principle which distinguishes 
 musical sound from vague noises — ^that this fact of periodic 
 vibration is the very same principle that keeps the planets 
 in their orbits and enables them to make the circuit of the 
 universe, and is also that which induces the stirring of 
 the wind, which, falling upon our auditory organs, gives 
 us the pleasure of hearing continuous sounds — we shall 
 see that in this respect our art has a claim to the highest 
 regard as philosophical fact. When we look still further 
 to the lately-proved phenomena that the forms which are 
 made by aerial vibration are identical with some of the 
 primitive forms of shells and plants, and we, by coUation 
 of these two phenomena, find that the circumstances which 
 have put substantial creation into the forms in which 
 we behold and teach the facts of the world in which we 
 stand, are the same influences and powers which produce 
 musical sounds, we must feel that we are going in the 
 footsteps of creation by turning those musical sounds to 
 art account." 
 
 Macfarren thus showed that he could still think and 
 speak vigorously. Certainly not less interesting, with 
 its antiquarian lore, and personal references, was his 
 speech at the banquet celebrating the second anni- 
 versary of the Westminster Orchestral Society, of 
 which he was a Vice-President, March 25th, 1887 : — 
 
 "It is a peculiar privilege which is accorded to me to 
 speak in acknowledgment of the toast of ' The Westminster 
 Orchestral [Society.' I have to thank the Society, firstly, 
 for the good it has been sowing in promoting the welfare 
 and the culture of music in Westminster, and, secondly, I 
 have to thank the Society, personally, for having conferred 
 upon me what I feel is a great dignity — that of the title of 
 Vice-President — the first function in connection with which 
 post being the present responsive speech. I feel much the 
 value of such an institution as this. Westminster is a 
 city and liberty of very old standing, and its musical 
 
396 MUSIC IN WESTMINSTER. 
 
 importance is a matter of peculiar afEection. In the im- 
 portant function of organist of Westminster Abbey some 
 of the most distinguished musicians have had an oppor- 
 tunity of displaying their prowess. Christopher Gibbons, 
 a son of the greater Orlando, was organist of Westminster 
 Abbey, and Purcell, the brightest of them all, was bom in 
 Westminster, was bred in Westminster, and, as organist 
 at the Abbey, had the opportunity of producing some of 
 the most remarkable and admirable of his great works. 
 (Cheers.) Then again, there was Dr. Croft, who, what- 
 ever the nature of his larger compositions, is well known 
 in every parish and town in this country as the composer 
 of the famous tune to the 104th Psalm. Later than that 
 was Dr. Cooke, whose name stands very high in musical 
 annals, and who owes to Westminster, and Westminster 
 owes to him, mutual fame. But the City and Liberty of 
 Westminster is not confined to the precincts of the Abbey 
 and the parish church of St. Margaret. The first public 
 performance of music that took place in this country was 
 a performance of the oratorio of "Esther" ia a public- 
 house now called the Griffin, in the locality of Villiers Street 
 (York Buildings), a site to which I owe my nativity. The 
 success of that performance induced Handel to reproduce 
 his work, which had been written for the Duke of Chandos, 
 at what was then the King's Theatre in the Hay market ; 
 and although the Italian Opera may to some extent have 
 clouded the progress of English music, the King's Theatre 
 was really the nucleus of music in the metropolis for 150 
 years, and that is within range of this City of Westminster. 
 The time has gone by when Westminster was comprised 
 in the Isle of Thornage — taking its name from the thorny 
 nature of the ground, and its insular character; the river 
 Longditch, which bounded it on one side, entering the 
 Thames somewhere about the locality of the modem Nor- 
 thumberland Avenue, having to turn a water-mill at what 
 is now St. Martin's Lane. As was the case in all great 
 cities of England, Westminster was provided with a safe- 
 guard in the city waits, or watchmen, who used to parade 
 the streets, playing on the hautboy. King Charles the 
 First granted a peculiar charter to this company of waits, 
 which remained in operation as late as the year 1820. It 
 
MUSIC IN WESTMINSTER. 397 
 
 is curious, indeed, that the king, who did so valuable a 
 service as to assist the hautboy players in Westminster, 
 should, in that very locality, have been considered too 
 tall, and have been shortened to the dimensions of popular 
 esteem by having his head taken ofE. Sudi, however, was 
 his fate. 
 
 " Let us now leave the great men of Westminster, and 
 the important locality which has given birth to some of 
 them, to consider the musical condition of the community 
 in Westminster. There has been for some few, but only 
 recent years, an Abbey Glee Club, which in the depart- 
 ment of vocal music has doubtless exercised very good 
 influence among its members. But its members are 
 limited. This new Orchestral Society, which has reached 
 the second year of its existence, aims to gather into its 
 fold any and every Westminsterian who has a love for 
 music, and a desire to indulge his love therein. The 
 Westminster Orchestral Society has been cradled in a firm 
 which shall be nameless — but which all here well know 
 and recognize. Two years ago, a knot of about a dozen 
 members congregated together for the practice of orchestral 
 music, and with the utmost liberality of spirit — not wishing 
 to confine or concentrate whatever good they might be 
 able to accomplish within their own special circle — insti- 
 tuted the Westminster Orchestral Society, and it is a great 
 pleasure to me to know that many students of the Koyal 
 Academy have had the gratification and felt the advantage 
 of co-operating with the original circle from which the 
 Society sprang. These have been joined by amateurs of 
 the City and Liberty of Westminster, and it is fair to 
 believe that the Society, which is still in its infancy, will 
 expand, and from the excellent beginning it has made, 
 wiU grow into an institution of great importance in the 
 subsequent history of our art. 
 
 " Nothing in the world is so remarkable for its power of 
 unification as is the phenomenon of music. In its per- 
 formance is pleasure which no Ustener can comprehend ; 
 to take part in the interpretation of musical works pro- 
 duces a pecuhar satisfaction and delight, which one must 
 experience to know how to enjoy and appreciate. It is an 
 acknowledged fact in science, that our coal, in rendering the 
 
398 MR. MACPHERSON. PHENOMENA OF MUSIC. 
 
 heat which emanates from its combustion, but gives to the 
 world again the warmth which it drew from the sunshine 
 when growing as ferns upon the earth. I would not com- 
 pare musicians nominally with coal. But the musical 
 composer draws in his warmth, and gives it out again in 
 the performance in the enthusiasm which it generates. 
 
 " I must not close my remarks upon the Westminster 
 Orchestral Society without an allusion to its Conductor. 
 Mr. Charles Stewart Macpherson was a student of the 
 EiOyal Academy of Music. He entered under circum- 
 stances of peculiar honour in gaining a scholarship at a 
 very arduous competition. In the course of his student- 
 ship he gained every distinction that could be conferred 
 on a student, and with as much credit to the Academy as 
 to himself. ■ Many of the performances that have been 
 brought before the public here attest to his efficiency for 
 the post which has been entrusted to him, and the fact 
 that he and the members of the Orchestral Society have 
 mutual confidence in each other, will enable them to do 
 credit to each other's exertions. 
 
 " The phenomena of music have often been described. 
 They are eloquently exemplified in the colossal perform- 
 ances which have taken place at the Crystal Palace. One 
 sees the beat of the conductor some seconds of time 
 previous to hearing the sound of the voices, and four or 
 five thousand executants with one accord utter the same 
 thought of the same great composer. Now, in no other 
 instance than music is that possible. I have stood beside 
 one on the slope of a hill who noticed the march of a com- 
 pany of infantry, and observed that when the right foot of 
 the first soldier went down, the left foot of the last touched 
 the ground. Therefore, you see that from person to person, 
 in an infinitesimal period of time, the pace has been slacker, 
 until there was this difference between the first and the 
 last man who marched. But musicians instantaneously 
 and at once join in the utterance of the one word which 
 joins all their hearts and all their feehngs. May there be 
 throughout the world among lovers of music the same 
 unanimity of feeling, not only in the Westminster Orches- 
 tral Sbciety, but among the whole community of musicians ; 
 and may the excellent work which has been begun by this 
 
FAILING HEALTH. 399 
 
 Society extend its influence and gather votaries from all 
 parts of Westminster, and even from all quarters of the 
 metropolis ! " 
 
 He accepted the Presidentship of the Sunday 
 Society, in the latter years of his life. 
 
 Notwithstanding, however, all the determination 
 to work, and the still manifest mental vigour, Macfar- 
 ren's friends could not fail to observe the unmistakable 
 signs of physical decline, as evidenced by cough, weak- 
 ened voice, less upright gait, and other symptoms of 
 advanced age. At the dinner of the Academy Pro- 
 fessors, in July, 1887, in acknowledging the toast of 
 his health, he begged his friends that, should they 
 observe that health failing so as to render his perform- 
 ance of his duties inefficient, they would intimate the 
 fact to him. Inefficiency, however, was not that 
 which was in the minds of those present with regard 
 to the indefatigable worker presiding over them. 
 They were as glad to see him back among them, after 
 the Vacation, as he was to welcome them, when, on 
 the 24th of September, he delivered His annual inau- 
 gural address ; commencing by a touching tribute to 
 the memory of Francis Ralph, a violin professor, who 
 had passed away, amid general regret, on the 8th of 
 that month. A most thoughtful address followed, 
 dealing with the necessity of a life's devotion to art, 
 the career of a student, the pursuit of truth, and other 
 pertinent matters; ending: — 
 
 " In this large Universe we have the songs of the night- 
 ingale and the songs of the lark, but do they more ascend 
 to the skies than the song of the sparrow ? No. Believe 
 me, that in working with the idea that your progress is 
 your prize, you do justice to yourselves, you may do credit 
 
400 THE LAST SPEECH. THE LAST WALK. 
 
 to the Academy, you may do honour to your country, and 
 you will glorify the art of music. I wish you a successful 
 course of study in the coming year." (Warm applause.) 
 
 The last warm applause from his beloved academi- 
 cians ! The last earnest counsel to them from his 
 revered lips ! 
 
 A month later, I received the following letter from 
 Lady Macfarren (with an invitation card for " at 
 home" evenings): — 
 
 " 7, Hamilton Terrace. 
 " October 2ith. 
 " Deae Mr. Banistee, 
 " I fear that the Professor may not be able to go out 
 much during the winter months, and so I hope his friends 
 will kindly call on him, and make him some pleasant 
 hours. 
 
 "The evenings are intended to be entirely informal, 
 and I trust we may have sometimes the pleasure of seeing 
 you " 
 
 Most gladly did I (as, I doubt not, many others) 
 accept this invitation, and look forward to " pleasant 
 hours " for myself, in conjunction with solace to the 
 Nestor among musicians. Alas ! 
 
 On Sunday, October 30th, though weak, and far 
 from well, he went out with his attendant to pay a 
 visit to his brother John. Lady Macfarren urged 
 upon him the necessity of riding the greater part, at 
 least, of the distance, to which admonition he seemed 
 to give heedful assent. He walked some distance, 
 however, though compelled, most unusually, to slacken 
 his pace, checking his companion, and saying " My 
 dear boy, I am afraid that I cannot walk quite so 
 fast." The lad observed that the Professor leaned 
 forward considerably ; and, at last, almost doubling, 
 
STILL HQPEFUL. 401 
 
 fell. A cab was procured, in which he proceeded to 
 his brother's house, Rochester Square; during the 
 ride, however, giving evidence of suffering from the 
 effects of the fall. After resting at the house, he was 
 taken home, very prostrate ; though he, and those 
 around him, hoped that he would soon rally. On the 
 Monday, however, he was quite unable to leave home ; 
 and, indeed, was not able to proceed with work that 
 he had planned for the early morning. He put out, 
 ready for completing, papers for an approaching 
 Cambridge University Examination ; and sent round 
 to his amanuensis, Mr. Windeyer Clark, asking him 
 to come in the afternoon to finish them, not doubting, 
 apparently, that he himself would be well enough to 
 attend to them. He dictated the following letter to 
 his valued assistant at the Royal Academy of Music, 
 Mr. T. B. Knott :— 
 
 " Oct. 31, 1887. 
 " Mt deae Knott, 
 
 " I have a sprain which renders walking impossible, 
 and movement of any kind extremely painful. Hence I 
 cannot be with you to-day, and shall be glad i£ you will 
 tell this to those who have appointments to meet me. 
 
 " Please also to send cards to [here follow several names 
 of pupils], saying that I will make up Wednesday's lesson 
 on the first Saturday when I am well enough. ... If you 
 pass here on the way home to-night, I shall be glad of 
 your calling to tell me whether there be any news. But 
 you must not do this at an inconvenience. 
 
 " Tours with best regards, 
 
 " G-. A. Macfakeen." 
 
 Considerate of others to the very last ! as the con- 
 cluding sentence shows. 
 
 DD 
 
402 DEATH. 
 
 Alas ! there were to be no more invaluable lessons; 
 no Saturday " well enough/^ 
 
 Mr. Gill, the then Secretary of the Academy, had 
 an interview with him, and received the dictation, 
 from a perfectly clear brain, of one or two somewhat 
 complicated letters. His brother Walter, also, con- 
 versed with him. Neither of them apprehended an 
 imminent end. But as Lady Macfarren and a faithful 
 attendant who was attached to her master were, shortly 
 afterwards, applying some remedial alleviative, his 
 head sank gently, and, at about three o^clock, he 
 passed away ! 
 
 Tributes to his memory, for the most part render- 
 ing more or less adequate acknowledgment of his 
 great and diverse merits, were abundant. A requi- 
 sition, signed by a number of distinguished musicians, 
 by the Earl of Aberdeen, the Marquis of Lorne, and 
 others, was presented to the Very Rev, the Dean of 
 Westminster, representing that his interment in the 
 Abbey " would be a fitting tribute to this gifted 
 English musician ; and on more public grounds a just 
 recognition of the art of which he was so distinguished 
 a member." The reply of the Dean was that " such a 
 course was impossible, from the fact that there was no 
 available space in Westminster Abbey; but, as he 
 was anxious to do honour to the art of music, he would 
 be pleased to hold a Memorial Service there on the 
 day of the funeral, at three o'clock.''' Accordingly, 
 the interment took place at Hampstead Cemetery, on 
 November 5th. Besides the family of the deceased, 
 the Directors and Committee of Management of the 
 Eoyal Academy of Music, the staff of that institution, 
 ■deputations from the College of Organists, the Phil- 
 
FUNERAL. MEMORIAL SERVICE. 403 
 
 harmonic Society, the Royal Society of Musicians of 
 Great Britain, the Sacred Harmonic Society, the Royal 
 College of Music, the Guildhall School of Music, the 
 Musical Artists' Society, the National Society of Pro- 
 fessional Musicians, the Liverpool Musical Club, the 
 Liverpool Sunday Society, the Derby School of Music, 
 the Westminster Orchestral Society, and a large num- 
 ber of private carriages, formed the procession. The 
 service at the grave was conducted by the Rev. Canon 
 Duckworth, assisted by the Rev. W. Sterndale Steg- 
 gall. The pall-bearers were Dr. B. G. Monk, Messrs. 
 G. T. Rose, P. Sainton, Gerard P. Cobb, G. A. Osborne, 
 W. Dorrell, J. F. H. Read, J.P., and H. R. Eyers. 
 The inscription on the coffin was — • 
 
 " GEOEGB ALEXANDEE MACPAEBEN, 
 
 BOEN 2nd maech, 1813, 
 
 DIED 31ST OCTOBEE, 1887." 
 
 A wreath of violets was laid, specially prepared by ' 
 a lady who had been tenderly interested in him latterly, 
 which, by Lady Macfarren's special desire, was desig- 
 nated "A Crown of Humility " ; appropriately testify- 
 ing to his character. Many other floral tokens were 
 sent by numerous friends and societies. 
 
 At the Memorial Service in the Abbey, the music 
 performed consisted of Sir G. A. Macfarren's Obse- 
 quial March ("Ajax"), his anthem, " The Lord is my 
 Shepherd,'^ the " Nunc Dimittis " from his Service m 
 B flat. Sir John Goss's " Brother, thou art gone before 
 ua," and the hymn, " Now the labourer's task is o'er." 
 
 Before pronouncing the Benediction, Dean Bradley 
 said that 
 
404 DEAN BRADLEY'S ADDRESS, ETC. 
 
 " they had arranged the service that day in order to show 
 their sympathy for those who met there in sorrow, and to 
 show their honour for him whose loss they all deplored. 
 There were some present who had only just left the grave- 
 side of one who, from early youth to old age of a long and 
 honoured life, had devoted all his talents to the study and 
 to the furtherance of that great Art whose mysterious 
 power over the human soul was so great, but which he (the 
 Dean) need not dweU on. Their departed friend had achieved 
 much, as they well knew, and he had followed steadily a 
 high ideal. They remembered him with gratitude at an 
 hour like that. He had set them all an example, not only of 
 kindness and of gentleness, but of industry and perseverance 
 in the use which he had made of the great talents which 
 God had lent him, and in the heroic manner in which he 
 met one of the very worst of all deprivations and trials. 
 They also thought of him as a leader in that Art to which 
 all who worshipped in that edifice were so deeply indebted. 
 They reverenced him as a brother, in the true sense of the 
 word, of the many masters of music who lay in the 
 Abbey." 
 
 The " Dead March " in " Saul " was performed by 
 Dr. Bridge at the conclusion of the service. 
 
 At a Memorial Service^ held on January 29th, 1888, 
 at the Oratory, Brompton, the musical portion being 
 under the able direction of Mr. Thomas Wingham, 
 Macfarren's Trio in B, ^ Andante and Eondo, violin 
 and organ, ^ and several vocal pieces from " St. John 
 the Baptist" and " Joseph," were performed by Master 
 Hawkins and Messrs. Russon, Pearson, Musgrove 
 Tufnail, Kiver, Szczepanowski, D^Bvry, and White- 
 house. 
 
 An organ piece was composed in his memory by 
 Dr. C. W. Pearce. 
 
 At the rehearsal of the Westminster Orchestral 
 
 ' See p. 100. 2 See p. 390. 
 
MR. C. S. MACPHEBSON'S ABDRESS. 405 
 
 Society, November 2nd, the proceedings, " in conse- 
 quence of the death of Sir G. A. Macfarren," were of a 
 special character. The Secretary of the Council an- 
 nounced, so soon as the members had assembled, that 
 the proceedings would be as follows : — 
 
 Overture . . "In Memoriam " . . Sullivan. 
 
 Short Address by the Conductor. 
 "Dead March "in "Saul" .... Handel. 
 
 Sir Arthur Sullivan's overture having been played, 
 Mr. Charles Stewart Macpherson said : — 
 
 "We meet to-night drawn in sympathy one towards 
 another by the consciousness of a common loss. Since 
 our last, coming together, the world is the poorer by the 
 death of a great and good man, Sir G-eorge Alexander Mac- 
 farren, our revered vice-president, who breathed his last at 
 three o'clock on Monday afternoon. He had won the re- 
 spect and admiration of all by his marvellous capacities as 
 a musician and didactic writer, by his vast knowledge, and 
 by his most extraordinary versatility. Tet more than this, 
 he had endeared himself both by word and deed to an im- 
 mense circle of devoted friends and disciples, among whom 
 I count myself as one of the most attached. No one who 
 came into contact with the deceased gentleman felt other- 
 wise than impressed by'his charm of manner, and by that 
 indescribable faculty, peculiarly his own, of making one 
 immediately regard him as a friend ; but it was reserved 
 for his pupils and his most intimate acquaintances to ex- 
 perience to the full that large-hearted kindness and un- 
 selfish regard for the welfare of others, which were Sir 
 George's chief characteristics. Needless is it to say that 
 the Westminster Orchestral Society has indeed lost a true 
 and staunch supporter, and more than one of its members 
 a dear, personal friend. Sad is it to think that the beloved 
 voice, recently heard on the platform of the Eoyal Academy 
 of Music, sympathizing so touchingly with the sorrows of 
 
406 H. a banisti:r's address. 
 
 another bereaved family, should now be silent for ever, and 
 that those lips which have so often uttered words of affec- 
 tionate encoura,gement to many a youthful and aspiring 
 musician, should now be cold and lifeless. Such, however, 
 is the sad fate we have to lament ; and I now beg you for 
 a moment's silence ere we proceed to the remainder of our 
 evening's duties." 
 
 After a short pause, the " Dead March " was per- 
 formed, and the members, before separating, gazed at 
 the handsome wreath to be sent that evening, in the 
 name of the Society, to the house of the departed 
 Professor. 
 
 Within a few days of the death of the Professor, I 
 was honoured by a request from the College of Organ- 
 ists, of which he had only recently been elected Pre- 
 sident for the year, to deliver an address to its mem- 
 bers on his life and work. With this request I felt 
 bound to comply, and in the following month read, to 
 a large and sympathetic gathering, including many 
 who did not belong to the College, a paper, which was 
 received with the interest inspired by the subject. With 
 some variations, to suit changed surroundings and 
 listeners, I, by special request, re-read this paper, sub- 
 sequently, before the Streatham Choral Society, the 
 Musical Association, the Royal Academy of Music,' 
 and the Royal Normal College and Academy of Music 
 for the Blind. 
 
 At the Royal College of Music an extra concert was 
 given in his memory, November 10th, when his String 
 Quartet in G (MS., 1878), Quintet in G minor ^ (piano 
 and strings), and the two songs, "A vridow bird " and 
 "Pack clouds away"' (but with violin obbligatoinstead 
 
 1 See p. 120. ' See p. 99. ^ See p. 267. 
 
MACFARREN'S WIDE INFLUENCE. 407 
 
 of clarinet), were performed, as well as Beethoven's 
 Quartet in F minor (Op. 95). 
 
 Little remains to be said in addition to the detailed 
 account that has been given in these pages of the 
 diversified and multifarious labours of the hard-work- 
 ing, high-minded musician whose career has been 
 traced. All has not been recorded, indeed, concern- 
 ing his works. A very large number of compositions, 
 both printed and in manuscript, of all kinds, have not 
 been mentioned. It is not pretended that these were 
 of equal interest. Even with the acknowledgment of 
 his great merits which was, on various occasions, 
 rendered, and which, in his later years, few indeed 
 would have withheld, it can hardly be said that Mac- 
 farren reaped the personal reward of his unweariedly 
 staunch advocacy of English music. The day of its 
 more general recognition seems to have dawned just 
 as his day was declining. But all these his labours, 
 and his earnestness respecting theoretical study, must 
 continue to bear fruit, in spite of all cavils, or non- 
 recognition of the source of the influences which are 
 now working. A vocalist writes : " I do not believe 
 the dear old man's influence was, or ever will be, 
 thoroughly appreciated. To see that patient, concen- 
 trated face, was a lesson in itself." A pupil writes : 
 " Some writer in a newspaper seems to hint that he 
 was too much addicted to the love of fugue, and was 
 too learned, to have done much to raise music in 
 England ! " A strange combination of superficiality 
 and misapprehension, surely! "I believe nobody 
 knows the vast progress made in music in England 
 during late years, simply owing to his steady, quiet, 
 and earnest influence." 
 
408 UNDA UNTEDNESS. 
 
 Miscellaneous incidents, from various sources, may- 
 be mentioned that illustrate different points in his 
 character. 
 
 As illustrating his undauntedness : he would not 
 begin a work that he did not feel able to finish ; and, 
 having begun it, he would complete it, whether with 
 prospect of performance or publication, or not. This 
 was an article of artistic faith with him: he would 
 say to his pupils: ''The French say it is the first 
 step which costs, but I am sure it is the last step 
 which pays." He would also say that, although it 
 was ill waiting for a posthumous fame, it was yet a 
 duty to one's own talents to leave works in a complete 
 state. So, everything of his was completed, not re- 
 linquished, though with no immediate prospect but to 
 put it away. This was the case with " Kenilworth," 
 even when he knew that it was not to be performed 
 during the season for which it was commissioned.* 
 He took minute pains with it. He availed himself 
 gladly of the opportunity of an interview with three 
 ladies who were familiar with Cumnor Place, the form 
 of the house, the lie of the passages, etc., that being 
 the scene of a good deal of the Opera; and he was 
 pleased to accept a model of part of the house, that he 
 might feel over the form of it. Though merely a 
 cardboard box or two, cut up and sewn together, he 
 treasured it in his little study, because " given in 
 kindness " : " such things he valued ; they must be 
 taken care of." " He was not afraid of undertaking 
 this Opera in Italian, for he always thought that the 
 best language for singing," notwithstanding all that 
 he had written about its " evil influence " : " English 
 ' See p. 198. 
 
MEMORY. SENSITIVENESS. AFFECTION. 409 
 
 came next, — very close behind Italian; German and 
 French, a long way behind/' 
 
 Although the "books" of his Operas and Oratorios 
 are, rightly, ascribed to John Oxenford, etc., yet the 
 construction was in most cases — probably in aU, 
 except those written by his father — Macfarren's own : 
 the lyrics, etc., of the Operas, and the selection of the 
 illustrative and reflective passages in the Oratorios, 
 being the work of those whose names are attached to 
 the respective libretti. 
 
 His memory and his sense of locality seem to have 
 gone hand in hand. When in Swanage, walking 
 with a pupil, he knew, notwithstanding his blindness, 
 how they were proceeding, and pointed out Corfe 
 Castle, at one place ; and, at another, said, " Now, 
 look on your left, and you will see the house occupied 
 by John Wesley." 
 
 He was hurt by even a kindly intentioned advantage 
 being taken of his blindness ; as when a gentleman 
 called on him to inquire various particulars, and seek 
 advice, respecting candidateship for a Cambridge 
 degree ; and, thinking that he had occupied the Pro- 
 fessor's valuable time, left a fee on the table. When 
 Macfarren discovered it, he was sorely offended. 
 
 Family affection was a strong trait in his character, 
 with all the tenderness therein involved. One best 
 qualified to attest this tells how, when a little grand- 
 daughter was staying in his house, 
 
 "he used to arrange special times for her to read her 
 History (a baby affair), and other tasks, to him ; she lying 
 on a sofa because of weakness, he sitting by her side, ex- 
 plaining and enlarging on the text. Nothing ever seemed 
 small or unimportant to him : he had the happy gift of 
 
410 INTEREST IN THE PEOPLE. 
 
 raising all things into an intellectual atmosphere, where 
 the appearances of life range themselves in unfading 
 types." 
 
 It is hoped that the insertion of the following letter 
 may be accepted on account of the artistic friendliness 
 which it evinces, rather than as an intrusion of 
 personal vanity: let it rather be charitably called 
 pardonable pride. The letter has reference to the 
 biographer's "Fantasia tanto patetica quanto appas- 
 sionata/' for the pianoforte, dedicated to Professor 
 Macfarren. 
 
 " 7, Hamilton Terrace, N.W. 
 "QthFeb. 
 " Mt dbae Banistbe, 
 
 " I could not fitly thank you for your Fantasia till I had 
 heard it, and I could not hear it till to-day. The publica- 
 tion of such a work is most highly to your credit, express- 
 ing, as the music does, the best aspirations of an artist, 
 and taking no aim at pecuniary profit, or popularity. I 
 feel its dedication to be the greatest compliment you could 
 pay me, and I can but wish the circulation of the piece 
 may help to make known our friendly relationship. 
 " Tours with kind regards, 
 
 " G-. A. Macfareen." 
 
 He was interested in the culture, and even in the 
 amusement of a less exalted, if not debasing, kind, of 
 the people at large. He related to a highly esteemed 
 professor how a wealthy man had engaged Drury 
 Lane Theatre, on two occasions, for the purpose of 
 giving free entry to a mass of poor persons of 
 all ages to witness the pantomime. " Oh ! that I 
 might have been there to see," he said, with great 
 emotion. 
 
 Some poor pupils at a benevolent institution, to 
 
HUMILITY, ETC. 411 
 
 whom lie had shown kindness, desirons of expressing 
 their gratitude, subscribed to present him with a 
 ticket for a musical performance of special interest to 
 himself. The admission was to an upper gallery, 
 where they themselves also sat. Though persuaded 
 to go to the higher priced seats, where he might 
 have had the entree, he insisted on going into the 
 same place as the humble, well-meaning friends who 
 had testified their regard. In small incidents such 
 as these, he ever exhibited the delicate feeling and 
 true humility which so constantly characterized him. 
 
 No peroration of panegyric seems necessary to this 
 memoir. Macfarren's position as a composer, time 
 must determine. "The old order changeth," and 
 there is much in current musical thought which is 
 transitional if not revolutionary. But of Macfarren's 
 wide-reaching influence, by his earnest thinking, and 
 persistent teaching, spoken and written, there can be 
 little question among unprejudiced observers. While 
 the marvellous attainments, memory, and achieve- 
 ments, under such depressing circumstances, and in 
 the face of such apparently unconquerable obstacles, 
 must surely command the lasting admiration of all 
 who can appreciate stedfast energy and undaunted 
 determination, affording an example such as may well 
 furnish encouragement and stimulus to all aspiring 
 students, who can hardly be weighted as he was, who, 
 nevertheless, so succeeded in leaving his mark upon 
 Musical Art. 
 
 No more fitting conclusion to this record can be 
 made than these touching words by his intimate and 
 appreciative friend and pupil, who has already been so 
 frequently and freely referred to :— 
 
412 CONCLUSION. 
 
 " A few years ago we used to hear from his critics, even 
 among his friends, — ' a master of musical resources,' — ' the 
 first contrapuntist in Europe,' — ' his strength is in dramatic 
 writing,' etc., etc. Now that he is gone, we hear hushed 
 whispers of the tenderness and pathos of his music. One 
 says, ' Nothing more lovely than his anthem, " The Lord is 
 my Shepherd" ' ; another speaks of the tender beauty of 
 an introit, 'When all things were in quiet silence ' ; others 
 mention the pathos of a melody written for a pupil to set 
 with variations, a touching song, 'I arise to seek the 
 light.' Not till his death comes to open their eyes to it, 
 do men see what his nearest and dearest have long seen — 
 that his finest characteristic was the tenderness of his 
 heart, the depth and strength of his feeling, the quickness 
 and sincerity of his sympathy ; for all of this comes out in 
 his music. We who knew him closest feel how much his 
 great sorrow — those fifty years of first twilight, and then 
 total darkness — made his character what it was ; that he 
 could never have been the man he was, the friend he was, 
 nor the artist he was, without it. Doubtless the story of 
 that half -century of effort to live usefully and bravely 
 under what would have been to most men a crushing 
 weight, and the culminating ten months' struggle for life 
 and duty, has shown what otherwise men could not know. 
 All now can realize what he felt, when he wrote all that is 
 touching in his music, and the verdict comes to all hearts, 
 ' He felt this, and we can feel with him.' " 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Accenting, 161. 
 Accompaniments, additional, 
 
 290. 
 Address to Maofarren, 295. 
 , Advance of music by 1837, 
 
 41. 
 " Acis and Galatea," 6, 35. 
 ^oHan mode, 151. 
 Alboui, Madame, 310. 
 Amanuenses, Macfarren's, 202, 
 
 203. 
 Ambrosian chant, 250. 
 Analytical programmes, 315. 
 Angri, Madlle., 196. 
 Anthem, 248, 251. 
 Antient Concerts, 2. 
 "Antigone," 182. 
 Antiphony, 382. 
 " Argosy," 202 n. 
 " Athenaeum," 28, 29, 30, 54, 
 
 196. 
 " Atlas," 58, 104, 192. 
 Auber, 232, 233. 
 Authentic and Flagal modes, 
 
 384. 
 
 Bach, Christmas Oratorio, 286; 
 church cantatas, 280; in- 
 strumentation, 289 ; Mac- 
 farren on, 211, 279 ; Passion 
 Music, 258, 260, 284 ; pre- 
 ludes and fugues, 329, et seq. . 
 
 Bacon, Lord, 289. 
 
 Bagpipes, 151. 
 
 Balfe, 44, 50, 61 ; and English 
 opera, 189, et seq^. 
 
 Banister, H. C, address by. 
 120, 406; Fantasia, 410 
 " Musical Analysis," 63 
 " Musical Art and Study,' 
 63, 374, 378 n. ; " Text-Book 
 of Music," 120, 123, 374 n. ; 
 "Underlying Principles of 
 Structure," 64. 
 
 Banister, H. J., 61, et seq. 
 
 Bar-lines, 325. 
 
 Barnes, F. E., 203. 
 
 Barnett, John, 207. 
 
 Barrett, W. A., quoted, 167, 
 191. 
 
 Barring (see Bar-lines), 83, 85. 
 
 Barrymore, Mrs., 5. 
 
 Bartleman, 200. 
 
 Beethoven, advice to Potter, 
 25 ; " Harmonioon " on, 55 ; 
 Macfarren on, 75, 212, 272 ; 
 Mass in D, 228; quartets, 
 100, 255 ; self-criticism, 225 ; 
 symphonies, 222, 223, 386. 
 
 Benedict, 52, 199, 390. 
 
 Bennett, W. S., 24, 25, 31, 
 295, 316, 317,318, 328; Idyll 
 on, by G. A. M., 317; 
 " Woman of Samaria," 305. 
 
 Biographies by Macfarren, 290. 
 
 Blewitt, 17. 
 
 Bodda, F., 196. 
 Bottesini, 173. 
 
414 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Brahms' Bequiem, 315. 
 Bright, Miss Dora, 393. 
 Browning, Macfarren on, 291. 
 Bunn, Al&ed, 197. 
 Bunting, 152. 
 
 Cambridge, Duke of (late), 27. 
 
 Cambridge University Pro- 
 fessorship, 319, et seq. 
 
 Carrodus, 205. 
 
 Catch Club, 2. 
 
 Cavaliers (Aytoun's "Lays "), 
 291. 
 
 Ceoilian Society, 2. 
 
 Ohanging-notes, 123. 
 
 Chappell, W., Macfarren's col- 
 laboration with, 135, etc, ; 
 " History of Music," 270 ; re- 
 ferred to by Macfarren, 364. 
 
 Cherubini, Macfarren on, 231. 
 
 Chopin, Macfarren on, 230, 
 231. 
 
 Choral, 253. 
 
 Choral singing, 160, 867, 369. 
 
 Chromatic scale, 126. 
 
 Church modes, 151 ; music, 
 247, 250, 257, 261, 263, 372. 
 
 Clarke, Windeyer, 203, 390, 
 401. 
 
 Clementi, 2 ; Macfarren on, 
 231 
 
 Cobb,' Gerard F., 128. 
 
 Concerto form, Macfarren on, 
 219. 
 
 Concerts, Macfarren and 
 Davison, 97, 99.' 
 
 Consecutive 5ths, 376, 381, et 
 seq. ; allowable, 385, 386 ; 
 7ths, 377 ; 8ves, 383. 
 
 Consecutives, hidden, 377, et 
 seq. 
 
 Consorts of instruments, 289. 
 
 Contrapuntists' Society, 387. 
 
 Controversy, Macfarren and, 
 128. 
 
 Cooke, Tom, 17, 39, 40, 44, 47. 
 
 Cooper, H. C, 197. 
 
 " Cornhill Magazine " quoted, 
 
 274, 
 Corri, H. 195, 204. 
 Costa, 200. 
 Counterpoint at B. A. M., 24- 
 
 26 ; Macfarren on, 373, 386, 
 
 et seq'. 
 Cramer, J. B., 2. 
 Crotch, 19, 25, ei seq. 
 Cummings, W. H. (Puroell), 
 
 162, 165. 
 Curwen, Eev. J., 124, 125, 127, 
 
 272 ; J. S., 278. 
 
 " Daily Telegraph " quoted, 
 
 294. 
 Davison, J. W., 3, 8, 40, 80, 
 
 Day,' Dr. Alfred, 80, 100, 105, 
 et seq. ; theory of harmony, 
 105,119, etseq.; Treatise, 2nd 
 edition (Macfarren), 118. 
 
 Dean of Westminster, me- 
 morial to, 402 ; address, 
 404. 
 
 Diaphony, 375, 381, ei seq. 
 . " Dictionary of Biography, 
 Universal," 288. 
 
 Doctors of Music, feoTCons cwusa, 
 339. 
 
 Dolby, Miss, 101. 
 
 Dominant 7th, 365. 
 
 " Don Giovanni," 1, 220. 
 
 Dorrell, W., 52. 
 
 Dowland, 168, 166. 
 
 Dudeney, T. J., 55, 291, 296, 
 299, 318, 819. 
 
 Dulcken, Madame, 100. 
 
 Dussek, 2, 64, et seq. 
 
 Ecclesiastical modes, 255, 256. 
 
 Editing, 176. 
 
 Eisteddfodau, 277, 366, et seq. 
 
 Ellis, A. J., quoted, 276, 371. 
 
 EUiston, 5. 
 
 " Encyclop. Britannica," 357. 
 
 English language, 408, 409 ; 
 
INDEX. 
 
 415 
 
 musio and people, 148, 155, 
 261, 325, 327, 368; Opera 
 Company, 47 ; Eoyal, Opera 
 Company, 205. 
 
 Ernst, H. W., 90, 100. 
 
 Este, Thomas, 166. 
 
 False relation, 831. 
 
 Festival, Bradford, 200 ; Nor- 
 ■wioh, 207; of Three Choirs, 
 260. 
 
 " Pidelio," 228. 
 
 " Figaro," 1. 
 
 Figured bass, 115, 127. 
 
 Fitzball, E., 204. 
 
 FoU, 310. 
 
 Ford, Thomas, 163. 
 
 Form, musical, 363, et seg. 
 
 Fugue expositions, Macfar- 
 ren's 312 ; subject and an- 
 swer, 332, 333; writing, 
 386, et seq. 
 
 Gattie, H., 172. 
 Gauntlett, Dr., 127. 
 German 6th, 386. 
 Gladstone, Dr., on consecutive 
 
 5ths, 383, 386. 
 Glasgow Choral Union, 205. 
 Glee, 166, 262. 
 Gibbons, Orlando, 161, 165. 
 Greek drama, Macfarren on, 
 
 186; melodies, 270. 
 Gregorian chant, 251 ; scales, 
 
 151. 
 Guerrabella, Madame, 203. 
 
 Haigh, Henry, 203, 205, 
 Halle, Charles, 200. 
 • Handel, " Belshazzar," 171, 
 
 173 ; chamber duets, 176 ; 
 
 " Israel in Egypt," 177, 308, 
 
 312 ; " Jephtha," 171 ; 
 
 " Judas Maccabeus," 174 ; 
 
 Maofarren's Life of, 290 ; 
 
 "Messiah," 175, 179, 258, 
 
 259 ; method of composition. 
 
 174, 175 ; operas, 157 ; 
 
 Society, 170; syllabification, 
 
 177. 
 Hanoverian accession, 156, 
 
 358. 
 " Harmonicon," 64. 
 Harmonics, 363, et seq. 
 Harmonic Union, 198. 
 Harrison, W., 195, 204. 
 Hatton, J. L., 173. 
 Hay (dance), 9, 155. 
 Haydn, 24 ; Macfarren on, 
 
 211, 228, et seq. 
 HeUer, 91. 
 Hehnholtz on minor scale, 
 
 363, et seq. 
 Herz, 173. 
 Hidden 5ths and 8ves, 377, 
 
 878. 
 Hill, Henry, 197. 
 Holmes, W. H., 24, 29. 
 Honey, George, 200, 203. 
 
 " Idomeneo," 219. 
 " Imperial IDictionary of Bio- 
 graphy," 118. 
 Instrumentation, 363. 
 Intervals, perfect, 375. 
 Irish music, 45, 150. 
 
 Joachim, 103. 
 
 Kean, Edmund, 3. 
 Kiver, Ernest, 101. 
 
 Lawes, Henry, 162. 
 Lawrence, Alberto, 205. 
 Lemaire, Madame, 200. 
 Lemmens - Sherrington, 200, 
 
 205. 
 Liszt, Macfarren on, 296. 
 Lloyd, Edward, 310. 
 Loder, E. J., 191, 195, 246. 
 Loder, Kate (Lady Thompson), 
 
 184. 
 " Lohengrin," 247, 
 Lucas, Charles, 16, et seq. 
 
416 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Macfarren, G. A., birth, 2 ; i 
 early studies, 15; commences 
 study of music, 15 ; enters 
 E. A. M., 16 ; first attempt 
 at overture, 17 ; study of 
 scores, 32 ; sojourn in Isle of 
 Man, 37 ; return to London 
 and appointment as Profes- 
 sor B. A. M., 38 ; faUure of 
 sight, 13, 171, 202 ; resigns 
 at E. A. M., 113 ; reinstate 
 ment, 113; visits New York 
 171 ; raarriage, 182 ; ap 
 pointed Principal E. A. M. 
 317 ; elected Professor in 
 Cambridge University, 320 
 Doctor of Music, Cantab, 
 320; Oxon., 323; Dublin, 
 323; M.A. Cantab., 340 
 knighted, 343 - 4 ; testi 
 monial presented, 389, 390 
 last walk, 400 ; death, 402 
 interment, 402 ; memorial 
 services, etc., 403, 404 
 characteristics of his mind. 
 etc., 208, 353, 410; compli- 
 ment maker, 278 ; consoien 
 tiousnesB,277; conservatism, 
 277, 374 ; as controversialist, 
 128 ; decision and deter- 
 mination, 202, 316, 368, 408 
 dogmatism (alleged), 105 
 111; enthusiasm for Mozart. 
 221; exammer,109,338,357 
 humility, 411 ; humour, 356, 
 387 ; industry, 206, 390 ; in- 
 fluence, 407; inspiration, 312: 
 judgments, 230, 234 ; lectu- 
 rer, 237 ; literary knowledge, 
 291 ; locality (sense of), 409 
 memory, 314, 409 ; method 
 of working, 311, 313; non- 
 pedantry, 388 ; opinions, 
 215, 278; opponents, 127; 
 personal appearance, 339 ; 
 plagiarism from Wagner 
 (alleged), 295 ; prolific, 407; 
 
 rules, 378-9 ; sensitiveness, 
 409 ; teacher, 115, 349, 354, 
 355 ; technical terms, 122. 
 Books : Clarinet Instruction 
 Book, 363 ; Counterpoint, 
 373; Eighty Musical Sen- 
 tences, 111, 124 ; Handel 
 {Lifeof),290; Little Clarina's 
 First Lesson- book, 182 ; Mu- 
 ' sicalHiBtory,110,357; Eudi- 
 mentsof Harmony, 110, 114; 
 Six Lectures on Harmony, 
 116 ; Structure of Sonata, 
 236. Articles, Addresses, 
 Lectwres : Analytical Pro- 
 grammes, 255, 315 ; Athalie, 
 371 ; Bach's Christmas Ora- 
 torio, 286 ; Church Cantatas, 
 280; Passion Music, 268, 
 284 ; Preludes and Fugues, 
 328, etc. ; Beethoven's 
 Sonata's, 329 ; Mass in D, 
 228 ; Symphonies, 222, 328, 
 385 ; Bennett, 318 ; Cham- 
 ber Music, 249; Church. 
 Music, 247; Church of Eng-' 
 land Music, 250 ; Consorts, 
 289 ; Counterpoint, 328 ; 
 Day Theory, 113 ; " Encyc. 
 Brit.," 357 ; English People 
 ("Comhill"), 137; Form, 
 328, 363 ; Growth of Over- 
 ture, 328-9 ; Harmonics, 363 ; 
 Instrumentation, 289 ; Ita- 
 lian Language, 156 ; Keys, 
 371, 385; Liverpool, 399; 
 Lyrical Drama, 328 ; Men- 
 delssohn, 209, 216; "Mes- 
 siah," 175, 179, 258-9; Mo- 
 zart, 217; Concertos, 218 ; 
 Mozart's Symphonies, 328 ; 
 Musical Criticism, 372 ; 
 Musical Phenomena, 398; 
 Musical Study,* 359 ; Musi- 
 cal Taste, 359 ; National 
 Music, 145, 149; (Edipus, 
 184 ; Opera, 248 ; Oratorio, 
 
INDEX. 
 
 417 
 
 249, 257 ; Oratorio Subjects, 
 302; Paris Choir, 273 ; Pedal 
 Basses, 224 ; Perfect and Im- 
 perfectIiitervalB,883; Pitch, 
 268, 369; PuroeU, 162; 
 Becitative Accompanimeiit, 
 242 ; Boots of Chords, 385 ; 
 Eoyal Academy of Music, 
 348 ; Sacred and Secular Art, 
 247; Scholastic Honours, 
 335 ; Singing (faults in), 
 158, 367 ; Slide-trumpet, 
 362 ; Students counselled, 
 (last address), 399 ; Tem- 
 perament, 385 ; I Unity in 
 Discrepancy, 372 ; Univer- 
 sity Professors, 355 ; Valve 
 Instruments, 360 ; West- 
 minster Orchestral Society, 
 395. Gonvpositwns : " Ah I 
 non lasciarmi no," 99; "Ah! 
 why do we love?" 192 ; Ajax, 
 344 ; Allan of Aberfeldy, 198 ; 
 Anthems, 372 ; Tercen- 
 tenary Anthem, 346; Ara- 
 bian nights songs, 98; 
 Ariettes for Violoncello, 62. 
 Oomtatas : Around the 
 Hearth, 393 ; Christmas, 
 200; Freya's Gift, 203; 
 Lady of the Lake, 205 ; 
 Lenora, 198; May-day, 200; 
 OutwardBonnd, 207; Sleeper 
 Awakened, 196 ; Songs in a 
 Cornfield, 207. Concertos, 
 29, 31, 266, 372 ; Concertina 
 Bomances, 267; Emblema- 
 tical Tribute, 55; Mute 
 compositions, 236, 372; Glees 
 and Part Songs, 168, 388 ; 
 Idyll on Bennett, 317 ; later 
 compositions, 393 ; Love is 
 strong as death (Joseph), 
 313; L'ultime parole, 97; 
 Madrigals to Nursery 
 Ehymes, 268; Maid of 
 Switzerland, 87. Operas: 
 
 Allan of Aberfeldy, 198 j 
 Oaractaous,37; Crasothefor- 
 lorn {see El Malechor); 
 Devil's Opera, 47, et seq. ; 
 Jubilee performance, 55 ; 
 Don Quixote, 6, 51, 189; 
 El .Malechor, 44; Evil 
 worker (see El Malechor) ; 
 Helvellyn, 205 ; Kenilworth, 
 198, 408 ; King Charles the 
 Second, 172, 195 ; Eobin 
 Hood, 200, 203 ; She stoops 
 to Conquer, 204 ; Operra dn, 
 Game/ra, Jessy Lea, Soldier's 
 Legacy, 204; "O World! O 
 Life! O Time! "104. Orato- 
 rios: 292 ; King David, 306 ; 
 Joseph, 300, 802; The 
 Eesurrection, 298, 299 ; St. 
 JohntheBaptist,293. Organ 
 compositions, 267, 390. 
 Overtwres : at Paganini's con- 
 cert, 29 ; Chevy Chase, 39, 
 88; Don Carlos, 264; Festi- 
 val, 264; Hamlet, 199; 
 Merchant of Venice, 29 ; 
 Borneo and Juliet, 57. Quar- 
 tets, 97, 197, 268, 406 ; Quin- 
 tet in G minor, 99, 392, 406 ; 
 Eondos for Violoncello, 62 ; 
 Shakespeare Songs, 169, 
 388 ; Sonatas, 98, 102, 267, 
 891 ; Songs with Clarinet, 
 267; Spinnelied, 103; St. 
 George's Te Deum, 310. 
 8ymphomes: in C, 27 ; in C 
 sharp minor, 87, et seq. s in 
 D, 265; in D minor, 28; in 
 E minor, 265 ; in F minor, 
 28. Trios, Pianoforte, etc., 
 100, 372, 404; Variations, 
 234 ; Violin Bomances and 
 Sonata, 391. EMions : Bel- 
 shazzar, 171, 173 ; Creation, 
 245 ; Day's Treatise, 118 ; 
 Jephtha, 175; Judas Mac- 
 cabeus, 174 ; Moore's Irish 
 
 n « 
 
418 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Melodies, 153 ; Musical 
 Antiquarian Society's pub- 
 lioations, 165 ; Universal 
 Library of Pianoforte Music, 
 372. Letters : to H. 0. B., 
 21, 63, 64, 410; Eev. J. 
 Curwen, 125, 127, 272; J. 
 S. Curwen, 278; Dudeney, 
 T. J., 291, 296, 299, 818, 
 319; Gladstone, 343, 344; 
 Kiver, 102; Knott, 401; 
 Loder, Kate, 184 ; Mao- 
 farren, G-., 14 ; Macfarren, 
 Mrs., 11, 12 ; Mundella, 
 274; Presoott, Miss, 302, 
 303 ; VaiUant, MdUe., 391, 
 392 ; Vice-chancellor, 337. 
 Macfarren, G. (sen.), 2, 27, 31, 
 34, 98, 170. 
 
 Madame (Lady), 195, 
 
 199, 206. 
 
 Walter 0., 172, 298, 300. 
 
 Macirone, Miss, 202. 
 Macpberson, C. S., 398, 405. 
 Maddox, 195. 
 Madrigal Society, 2. 
 MeUon, Alfred, 200, 203, 204, 
 
 205. 
 Moore's Irish Melodies, 152, 
 
 153. 
 Musical Antiquarian Society, 
 
 164. 
 Musical Association, 128, 162, 
 
 287, 289. 
 Musical Society of London, 
 
 200. 
 Mendelssohn and Dr. Day, 
 117; letters from, 41, 93, 
 102, 183; on Macfarren, 
 191 ; Trio in D minor, 98, 
 102 ; Symphony in A major, 
 81 ; Symphony in A minor, 
 76. 
 Mozart, additional accompani- 
 ments to "Messiah," 176, 
 178 ; characterized, 211, 
 220; instrumentation, 219 ; 
 
 Operas, 158 ; Eequiem, 268. 
 " Musical Examiner," 96. 
 " Musical Times " quoted, 149, 
 
 284, 286, 294, 345. 
 " Musical World," 3, 53,79,88, 
 
 96, 200, 201, 209, 217, 223, 
 
 279, 283, 334, 335. 
 
 National Concerts, 196. 
 — — Music, 145, ei seq. 
 
 Opera, attempt to estab- 
 
 hsh, 45. 
 Notation, 125, 126. 
 
 Organ, Macfarren on its use, 
 
 255. 
 Originality, Macfarren on, 
 
 210, et seq. 
 Osborne, G. A., 116. 
 Ouseley, 124, 189, 364. 
 Oxenford, John, 196, 197, 198, 
 
 200, 203, 204, 207. 
 
 Parepa, 205. 
 Parlanson, 200. 
 Passing-notes, 123, 334. 
 Patey, Madame, BIO. 
 
 J. B., 200, 203. 
 
 Pearoe, Dr. C. W., 404. 
 Perren, George, 204. 
 Philharmonic Society, 1, 40. 
 
 41, et seq., 88. 
 Piatti, 197. 
 Pole, Dr., 268. 
 Potter, Cipriani, 6, 19, et seq,, 
 
 35, 112, 166. 
 Prescott, Miss Oliveria, 203, 
 
 306, 809 ; reminiscences 
 
 by, 296. 
 Prout on Bach and Handel, 
 
 289 ; on Macfarren's " Coun- 
 terpoint," 381. 
 PureeU, 162, 165, 166,212, 215, 
 
 326. 
 Pyne, Louisa, 195, 199. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 419 
 
 Pyne and Harrison, 202, 203, 
 204. 
 
 Quadrille, 9. 
 
 Quartet Association, 197. 
 
 Queen's Theatre, 34. 
 
 Eeel, 155. 
 
 Eeeves, Sims, 196, 200, 201. 
 
 Keformation, influence on 
 music, 153. 
 
 Ehythm, 83, 85, 86. 
 
 Eossetti, Christina, 207. 
 
 Eecitative, 242, et seq. 
 
 Eossini, 2 ; " Messe Solenn- 
 eUe," 262. 
 
 Eoyal Academy of Music, 15, 
 19, 24, 26, 38, 112, 120. 
 
 Eoyal College of Music (Me- 
 morial Concert), 406. 
 
 Eoyal English Opera, 203, 204. 
 
 "Euins of Athens," 226. 
 
 Eyan, Desmond, 195. 
 
 Sainton, P., 197. 
 Sainton-Dolby, Madame, 200. 
 Saltarello, 84. 
 Santley, 200, 203, 310. 
 Scotch music, 146, 153. 
 Shakespeare quoted, 289. 
 Shelley, influence, 94. 
 Singers' faults, 158, 367. 
 Sivori, 173. 
 Slide-trumpet, 362. 
 Smart, Henry, 7, 176. 
 Snap, 154. 
 Society of British Musicians, 
 
 28, 29, 80. 
 Spohr, 97 ; " Last Judgment," 
 
 303. 
 Staudigl, 45, 199. 
 Stillie, T. L., 206. 
 Style, 211. 
 
 Subjects, Macfarren on, 85. 
 Sullivan, 309, 310. 
 Sunday Society, 399. 
 Suspensions, 122. 
 
 Taunton Philharmonic Asso- 
 ciation, 319. 
 Taylor, Sedley, on Tonic Sol- 
 
 Fa, 276. 
 Temperament, 385. 
 Tennyson, 291. 
 Thirteenth, chord of, 127. 
 Thompson, Lady, 184. 
 Thorough bass (see Figured 
 
 bass, 174. 
 Time, perfect and imperfect, 
 
 325. 
 " Times " quoted, 197. 
 Tones, major and minor, 378, 
 
 379 
 Tonic' Sol-Fa, 124, 125, 127, 
 
 271; "Eeporter"quoted,276, 
 
 351. 
 Trumpets, slide, 362. 
 
 Universal Library of Piano- 
 forte Music, 872. 
 
 University Professors, Mac- 
 farren on, 335. 
 
 Vaillant, Mademoiselle Gabri- 
 
 eUe, 891, 392, 
 Valve instruments, 860, et seq. 
 Variations, Macfarren on, 233. 
 
 Wagner, Macfarren on, 160, 
 246, 296. 
 
 Washford Musical Society, 818. 
 
 Webbe, " When winds breathe 
 soft," 166, et seq. 
 
 Weber, letter from, quoted, 
 46 n. ; Macfarren on, 212 ; 
 " Oberon," 385. 
 
 Weiss, 194, 195, 204. 
 
 Welsh Music, 147, 155. 
 
 Westminster Orchestral So- 
 ciety, 895, et seq., 404, et seq. 
 
 Woelfl, 21. 
 
 Wright, Edward, 36. 
 
 Wynne, Edith, 204, 310. 
 
 Zimmerman, Agnes, 893. 
 
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 ment, bringing the work down to 1883. 2 vols., 55. each. 
 
 " The mass of information which it contains, especially as regards a number of 
 authors, more or less obscure, is simply astonishing." — Spectator. 
 
 LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS. 
 
New and cheaper re-issue in fortnightly volumes 
 2S. dd. each {^formerly 5^.). 
 
 The Aldine Edition 
 
 OF THE 
 
 British Poets. 
 
 The Editors of the various Authors in this Series have in all 
 cases endeavoured to make the collections of Poems as complete 
 as possible, and in many instances copyright Poems are to be 
 found in these Editions which are not in any other. The 
 volumes are carefully edited, in most cases with Notes and 
 a Memoir. A steel Engraving also is added in all cases where 
 an authentic Portrait is accessible. The volumes are printed on 
 toned paper at the Chiswick Press, in fcap. 8vo. size, and 
 tastefiilly bound in cloth by Messrs. Bum and Co. 
 
 The volumes will be issued in the 
 following order: — 
 
 1. BLAKE. With a Memoir by W. M. Rossetti, 
 
 and Portrait. Sept. i. 
 
 2. KEATS. With a Memoir by the late Lord 
 
 Houghton, and Portrait. Sept. 15. 
 
 3. CAMPBELL. Edited by his Son-in-law, the 
 
 Rev. A. W. Hill. With Memoir by W. Allingham, 
 and Portrait. Oct. I. 
 
 4 and 5. COLERIDGE. With Introduction and 
 Notes by T. Ashe, B.A., St. John's College, Cam- 
 bridge. With Portrait and an Engraving of Greta Hall. 
 2 yois. Oct. IS, and Nov. 1. 
 
 6 and 7. CHATTERTON. Edited by Rev. W. W. 
 
 Skeat, M.A. Including the acknowledged Poems and 
 Satires,' the Rowley Poems, with an Essay proving 
 their authorship, a Memoir of the Poet, and Selections 
 from his Prose Writings. 2 vols. Nov. 15, and Dec. i. 
 
8. VAUGHAN. Sacred Poems and Pious Ejacu- 
 
 lations. With Memoir by Rev. H. Lyte. Dec. 15. 
 
 9. ROGERS. With Memoir by Edward Bell, 
 
 M.A., and Portrait. Jan. 1. 
 
 10. RALEIGH AND WOTTON. With Selections 
 
 from the Writings of other COURTLY POETS from 
 1540 to 1650. Edited by Ven. Archd. Hannah, 
 D.C.L. With Portrait of Raleigh. Jan. 15. 
 
 11. HERBERT. Edited, with Memoir, by Rev. 
 
 A. B. Grosart, and Portrait. Feb. 2. 
 
 12. GRAY. With Life, additional Notes, and Biblio- 
 
 graphy by J. Bradshaw, M.A., LL.D,, and Portrait. 
 
 Feb. i6. 
 
 13. GOLDSMITH. With Life, additional Notes, and 
 
 Bibliography by J. Bradshaw, M.A., LL.D., and 
 Portrait. March 2. 
 
 Other volutnes will be announced shortly. 
 
 ' ' ' This excellent edition of the English classics, with their 
 complete texts and scholarly introductions, are something very 
 different from the cheap volumes of extracts which are just now 
 
 so much too common We have nothing but praise for 
 
 this new re-issue of the Aldine Poets, on the whole, as regards 
 form and outward appearance, to say nothing of intrinsic attrac- 
 tions." — St. James's Gazette. 
 
 " An excellent series. Small, handy, and complete. " — 
 Saturday Review. 
 
 " The strong and handsome binding of this series deserves a 
 word of commendation." — Guardian. 
 
 London: GEORGE BELL AND SONS. 
 
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