OF MUSIC FAST AND PRESENT.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20334, 5 September 1931, Page 13

OF MUSIC FAST AND PRESENT.

[ (srBOIAXLT WRITTEX JTO* OTI KRESS.) , • [By Stead.] 1 As I have repeatedly pointed ou doubtless the most fruitful subject nc " agitating musical discussions and co ! troversies, is to be found in the pi sent position of the art and its pre poets for the near future. Under tl title, "Music Come to Earth," Profe sor Weissmann. one of the most di tinguished German writers or music In provided an illuminating book analysii iho problem in all its phases, and I his assertive and often epigrammat style, has made his deductions all tl more striking Although the origin edition was published tour years ag nothing has occurred during the interv to change his views or mine. The tran lation is by Eric Blom. As lack of space prohibits anythiti in the shape of lengthy extracts, I shn confine myself to quoting short, pitli sentences from 'the various chapters. I a foreword he sums up "by way of e: planation'' what evidently is the lo« cal conclusion of his study, . th; "Music's Coming Down to Earth" nee not be its ruin; but its conformanc with our new world of machinery cai not but change its very core. The lirst chapter named "Man" an Machine" lays a foundation with tl slogan "Mind devised the machim now the machine fetters and drive man." "Richard Wagner's romantii ism had broken, or completed, tt breaking, of the people's will-power b refining their senses. He makes Waj ner responsible for dividing German in particular by his extreme romantii ism into two camps. Germany wt then regarded as the land of mush Every other German had to become musician or was sent to an academy His love of music was never questioned his ability never doubted. Sentimoi tality is one of the forces of habit. N such spur to tho cultivation of musi could have been in operation, had i not been for the piano. Hero was mechanism yielding its secrets even t the indifferently gifted. In reality th piano is a machine. The performer' ambition to inspirit the machine wa all the greater. No doubt compositio at the pin no is- an inferior kind c creation. But no less a musician tha Chopin drew tho essential nutrimen for his magie art from tho keyboard The human voice was necessarily undei valued and subordinated as the ndvc eato of tho sexual. The voice, in fact could not maintain itself against a orchestra influenced by feeling an nerves. . T t had 'ts sphere in Italia: opera. Paradoxical as it may seen tho love of music did harm to th craft, and to music itself. The unro mantic timos we now live in had nl ready begun before the war. The; made the artist's concentration a rar thing. As if the effects of tho war wcr not enough, there came psycho-analysii Hera again romanticism is exposed Often false and in many ways dan gerous interpretations of it attack th very roots of artistic conception. At Ui piano man still wrestled with tho mn chine. Deprived of its soul, convertei into an instrument of percussion, i proves that "music has come down b earth." Thj second chapter, "Sport versu Music," explains itself. The dethrone ment of mind and sensibility is to b< completed through the agency, of Bport by the exaltation of physical culture The Anglo-Saxon ideal of intensive almost exclusive, physical culture t about to become that of other nations But it originated in England am America, whore life predominates ovei art. The musician was ever conspicu '©us for the neglect of the body. 0: tho nervous excitability of the 19tl century the artists of tho Renaissanci know nothing. But it was only fron Mozart onwards that this sensitivenesi began to* show. Then came Beethoven Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn Weber, and Chopin in the progressiv* refinement of the musical senses, creating nervous music. Tho vigorous Verdi's music alone remains as th< great finale of operatic Italianism, th< Coda of which is Puccini. Sport aims at hardening will-power; music tend! to break it. Sport, by steeling it, robs or tries to rob music. The Gormanj of the immediate past seemed to suffei from militarism inimical to art. A new ideal of beauty proves mightiei than all that opposes it. Thrdugh the deviation of woman into sport the change has become decisive, for the maintenance of music as an active art depended upon her. Her preference for physical culture must of necessity weaken this interest in public 'performances. It is useless > to revolt against these inevitable events, and the truth is that art is not yet overthrown by its loss of romanticism. A well-known student of the subject asserts that folk-song in its origin was tho song of the' labourer. Man now looks for a new kind of self-expression. The primitivenoss of modern dancing appears to confirm it. Fox-trot, in the form of jazz strives, it seems, to set sport .to music. Dancing as a sport is now with us. Of jazz we think it embodies by nature the highest degree of sensibility. Being the product of the coloured people of America, it was at once caught in the clutches of American civilisation with an exercise of seigniorial rights. With an almost

gymnastic regularity it marches on at the same pace. The businesslike look of the partners in jazz is frequently observed. Rhythm, the expression of the will, is regarded as the fertilising element in music. But with the advantage of intelligibility it has become a danger. Wind and percussion, with the saxophone, serve it slavishly; it is the short cut for the unmusical, who suddenly feel able to dance —Charleston, Black Bottom, or whatever else of the kind. The sport of open-air dancing is one of the healthiest pursuits for people desiring relief from though't. In the fourth chapter, "The New Tonal Experience" is discussed. It says: Sport begins-to influence musical sound. The jazz player grows into an acrobat; his body taking part in the [ astonishing feats .he performs with lips and hands. The saxophone covering soprano, alto, and baritone registers is the most startling novelty for production. The piano supports it in the bass, but leaves the right hand scope for extravagances. String players lead but a modest existence in this orchestral body. All this has given a new tonal experience. _ The saxophone as melodic leader effects that, and dispenses not only sound but mixtures of sounds. Wavering between mawkishness, mirth, and self-derision, it characterises the jazz combination as a whole. The jazz player now sees all dancing move to his measure. (I have copied, not long ago, a'statement that 100,000 saxophones are annually manufactured in the U.S.A.) Chapter 5 is styled, "The Diary of Tristnnesque Eroticism," referring to Wagner's opera "Tristan and Isolde." the most intense and overpowering love story translated into harmony, and for 50 years a potent miracle on the opera stage. The Tristanesque frenzy is produced by separation from the beloved. To surpass it seems impossible, it dominated the world. It wrought a change in the prima donna, too.. Free to impulse formerly, with Isolde she was turned into a pathetic heroine of repressed eroticism. The distance between man and woman" has been reduced to a minimum by their freer intercourse. The solemnity of love as glorified in

"Tristan"' and many other works is dealt, its death-blow by psycho-analysis. The review will be completed ,in my next article.