W.E.A. ADDRESS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LI, Issue 197, 22 July 1931, Page 8

W.E.A. ADDRESS

MUSICAL APPRECIATION. Mr J. Holmes Runnicles gave a most interesting talk last evening to the W.E.A. on “Musical Appreciation,” ilustrated by the playing on a gramaphone of Beethoven s Trio in B Flat. He first compared the appreciation of a composition to riding in a luxurious, motor car. One could give one s self up entirely to the joy of movement and the comfort —mere emotional apreciation—or one could consider the development of the motor car to ita present perfection, and, if one knew anvthfng of its construction, the perfection of its running. It was the same with music. “Emotional appreciation alone is possible, but intellectual appreciation is only possible when one understands something or its history and construction. Masic is first or all rhvthm, which pervades the whole universe, but is most activelv seen in music: then melody, then harmony, which is much later than either or the others historically. There are two phases. First there is the traditional. This is very ancient and ail savages have a rhythm which sounds like mere ‘noise’ to us. Humming follows and then ‘plirases,’ expressed first with the feet and later with the voice as accompaniment, and we have ‘folk music, which is now an entirely finished product with no further development possible. The second phase, composed music, began as far back as the time of Nebuchadnezzar, when the first attempts at a scale were made. In Europe the first steps were made about the ninth century, when there existed an organ with six huge keys that had to be struck with the fist. In the 'eleventh century Guido of Arezzo, a teacher in a singing school in Rome, evolved a system of notation which had only one line, with notes on it, above and below, and six of these he named from the first syllables of the lines of a Latin hymn, the sounds of these syllables following his sequence. Thus we have the beginning of our sol-fa scale. Now the lengths of notes were noted, four of them, and the coming of the troubadours developed this still further until in the fourteenth century the Belgian School of Polyphonic— I ‘many voiced’— music begins. It is the sixteenth century that music really begins, and in England we have Therbecke, Byrd, apd Dr John Bull, followed by the madrigal school. At the same time in Italy Palestrina perfected the polyphonic music. Opera and oratorio, both founded on the Greek play form, began this century too. In the next century came the great master Bach, who began on the lines of harmony, and anticipated every so-called innovation that has since been tried. He took the chords already found by Palestrina and tho contrapuntists, and made new rules for himself, and finally put music into its second period. Until now there had been no instrumental music written for notes outside the human voice range, but now Philip Emmanuel Bach, Hozart and Haydn, and finally Beethoven, perfected and finished the sonata form. There has been nothing done on these lines since Wagner found new groups of chords. And some day there will arise another genius who will perfect and finalise the experiments of to-day and give us a third period.” Mr Runnicles then explained the construction of a single melody and of, the sonata form. “First comes Jhe exposition, the introduction of two subjects, each twice given; then the development, which consists of fragments of each subject interwoven and welded. Beethoven is the greatest of the composers at this phase of the composition in his ability to make it interesting. The movement finishes with part of the first subject in a different key. These ‘movements’ are based on the old suites of dances in being slow or quick by turns.” After playing the Trio in B Flat with an occasional explanatory remark to illustrate this construction, Mr Runnicles pointed out that it needs a trained ear to pick out the various instruments and fragments of subjects, and people who say they “don’t like classical music,” are in the rather primitive stage of appreciating merely melody and rhythm, to which they can whistle and stamp. He then came to the uses of .modern mechanical music, especially in places like New Zealand, where one so rarely has the opportunity of hearing a symphony orchestra. - But he compared turning on a beautiful piece of music and using it as a cover for conversation to owning a wonderful piece of old tapestry and using it as a doormat. • A discussion followed, and Mr Runnicles was heartily thanked for a very interesting lecture.