TWELVE BEST TUNES

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 26, 30 December 1925, Page 11

TWELVE BEST TUNES

A TREMENDOUS TASK. The twelve best tunes! It is a tremendous undertaking. One .might in merely considering possibilities and weighing claims. A tune is one thing; a melody or melodic phrase is another (says Hugh Arthur Scott in John o’ London’s Weekly). I arry has distinguished between the two things very clearly, pointing out tnat tunes are for the most part constructively complete, having a definite beginning and a definite end, whereas melody is more indefinite in structure and need not be a distinct and complete artistic whole. Confining oneself to tunes proper, therefore, in this sense, is it possible , J!®* ou ,t 12 and pronounce them definitely the best? I am afraid it is quite impossible. Not only would no two musicians agree, probably, upon any given selection, but it is next to impossible, I find, to make any final and exclusive selection oneself. to choose 50 or 100 would be difficult enough—but 121 I'or tunes in the strict sense occur comparatively seldom in classical mu-

®jc. Wonderful melodies and noble tnemes are there in plenty, as we all Know, but not often sguare-cut tunes. J-ct nearly all the great masters have pioduced such things upon occasions, and most of the finest examples in existence will probably, be found to have come from them. Is it Bach? His famous air for the u string, as it is usually known —from one of the suites—could hardly be omitted from any list. Is it Handel? •tiis Ombra mai fu” (the world-famous largo) has claims equally obvious. A no less enviable choice is surely It luck s “Che faro.” Mozart, that master of melody in the wider senso, produced lovely tunes also in abundance. One lias only to mention his "ij B y erurn i” or “Voi che sapete,” or . Batti, batti,” or a dozen others, to justify the statement. And so, too, with most of the others. Haydn, for instance, was responsible for ono at least of the very greatest tunes ever written—namely, the gorgeous melody (founded originally on a Czech folk-song) which is now known to everyone as the Austrian National Anthem.

llien, in tho case of Beethoven, one , thinks at once, of course, of tho wonderful theme from tho last movement of the Ninth Symphony—truly a great tune, not seductive, or cajitivating, f perhaps, in the more obvious way, but j . sublime in its simplicity’, its severity, its inevitability—a tune built to endure for ever. Or from the same hend there is the noble theme from tho slow movement of the “Emperor” Concerto —to name no other instances. I Schubert in turn offers a bewildering choice. Let us set down for him! as one of his loveliest inspirations, as far as strict tune goes, the exquisito theme of tho Andante in tho A Minor Quartette —a tune which he evidently ; thought highly of himself, since he l uses it again in his “Bosamundo” bal-j let music. j Chopin, though he conceived some of the divinest melodies in existence, i did not deal much in four-square tunes. He himself considered the most beautiful melody he ever wrote was that of tho Etudo in E Major (Op. ' 10). Others have cast their votes for tho second tlvemo of the O Major Nocturne (Op. 37). But neither of these can be classed as tunes for our present purpose. From Mendelssohn one might take the exquisite theme upon which the j slow movement of the violin concerto is based; though that, again, is per- ’ haps more melody than tune proper.; Schumann in turn is full of rich melody if the freer type, though in his case also actual “straight” tunes are ,

not very numerous, even m Ins songs. And much the same applies to Brahms. Of all his themes and melodies I can think of none which could fairly claim inclusion in a list of best tunes. So also with Wagner. His scores are packed with' wonderful melody, but actual tunes of tho sort hero in view are rare. Even tho Prize Song from “Die Meistersinger” hardly answers to tho formula. “O Star of Eve,” from “Tannhauser,” and Senta’s Ballad, from “The Flying Dutchman,” are nearer the mark, but neither can bo reckoned among his greatest inspirations. Dvorak was another great j melodist, but here again definite tunes ; aro not very numerous, though his well-known Humoresque is an exception to this rule which might be considered by some to have claims. And tho like applies to Tscliaikovsky. His many fine mefodies aro usually of the “free” type, but there is a magnificent tune —founded on a folk- j song—in his great pianoforte trio

(theme of the Variations) which would take a good deal of beating. As for later and still' living tunemakers, perhaps our own admirable Elgar has produced as fine a one as any in his famous “Land of Hope and Glory” melody—a genuine tune if ever_ there was one, and one which is destined now to last at least as long as the British Empire. And this suggests the claims of other fine “national” and patriotic airs. One (the great Austrian Hymn) has been referred to already. The Marsellaise is, of course, another with high claims; and so, too, is our own National Anthem. Some may not agree here, but to my mind the latter is emphatically, all associations apart, one of the real great tunes of the world. And so, too, thought Beethoven who, it may bo recalled, made it the theme of a set of variations, and observed that the English did not realise what a treasure they possessed in this fine air. Then, of course, there are all the innumerable great folk-tunes also to be considered; and hymn tunes and chorales would need serious consideration.