Symphonies and Their Meaning Part 11

Feeling with Tschaikowsky was frenzy, violent pa.s.sion, so that with all abandon there is a touch of the mechanical in his method. Emotion as the content of highest art must be of greater depth and more quiet flow. And it is part or a counterpart of an hysterical manner that it reacts to a cold and impa.s.sive mood,--such as we feel in the Andante of the Fourth Symphony.

The final quality for symphonic art is, after all, less the chance flash of inspiration than a big view, a broad sympathy, a deep well of feeling that comes only with great character.

Nay, there is a kind of peril in the symphony for the poet of uncertain balance from the betrayal of his own temper despite his formal plan.

Through all the triumph of a climax as in the first movement of the Fourth Symphony, we may feel a subliminal sadness that proves how subtle is the expression in music of the subjective mood. There is revealed not the feeling the poet is conscious of, but, below this, his present self, and in the whole series of his works, his own personal mettle. What the poet tries to say is very different from what he does say. In a symphony, as in many a frolic, the tinge of latent melancholy will appear.

_SYMPHONY NO. 4_

Reverting to a great and fascinating question as to the content of art, we may wonder whether this is not the real tragic symphony of Tschaikowsky, in the true heroic sense, in a view where the highest tragedy is not measured by the wildest lament. There may be a stronger sounding of lower depths with a firmer touch (with less of a conscious kind of abandon),--whence the recoil to serene cheer will be the greater.

There is surely a magnificent aspiration in the first Allegro, a profound knell of destiny and a rare ring of triumph. Underlying all is the legend of trumpets, _Andante sostenuto_ (3/4), with a dim touch

[Music: _Andante sostenuto_ (Horns and ba.s.soons doubled in 8va.)]

of tragedy. Opposite in feeling is the descending motive of strings, _Moderato con anima_ (9/8). First gently expressive, it soon rises in pa.s.sion (the original

[Music: _Moderato con anima_ _in movimento di valse_ (Strings and one horn, the melody doubled below)]

motto always sounding) to a climax whence an ascending motive, in lowest ba.s.ses, entering in manner of fugue, holds a significant balance with the former. Each in turn rears a climax for the other's

[Music: (Horns doubled below) (Cellos and ba.s.soons)]

entrance; the first, lamenting, leads to the soothing hope of the second that, in the very pa.s.sion of its refrain, loses a.s.surance and ends in a tragic burst.

Suddenly a very new kind of solace appears _Dolce grazioso_, in a phrase of the clarinet that leads to a duet of wood and _cantabile_ strings, impersonal almost in the sweetness of its flowing song.

[Music: _Moderato a.s.sai_ (Oboe doubled in flute) (Strings)]

In such an episode we have a new Tschaikowsky,--no longer the subjective poet, but the painter with a certain Oriental luxuriance and grace. It is interesting to study the secret of this effect. The preluding strain lowers the tension of the storm of feeling and brings us to the att.i.tude of the mere observer. The "movement of waltz" now has a new meaning, as of an apparition in gently gliding dance. The step is just sustained in leisurely strings. Above is the simple melodic trip of clarinet, where a final run is echoed throughout the voices of the wood; a slower moving strain in low cellos suggests the real song that presently begins, while high in the wood the lighter tune continues. The ripples still keep spreading throughout the voices, at the end of a line. The tunes then change places, the slower singing above.

With all the beauty, there is the sense of shadowy picture,--a certain complete absence of pa.s.sion. Now the lower phrase appears in two companion voices (of strings), a hymnal kind of duet,--_ben sostenuto il tempo precedente_. Here, very softly in the same timid pace, enters a chorus, on high, of the old sighing motive. Each melody breaks upon the other and

[Music: _Bel sostenuto il tempo (moderato)_ (Strings) (Woodwind doubled above) (Kettle-drums)]

ceases, with equal abruptness. There is no blending, in the constant alternation, until the earlier (lamenting) motive conquers and rises to a new height where a culminating chorale sounds a big triumph, while the sighing phrase merely spurs a new verse of a.s.surance.

[Music: (Strings and flutes) (Doubled above and below)]

A completing touch lies in the answering phrase of the chorale, where the answer of original motto is transformed into a masterful ring of cheer and confidence.

As is the way with symphonies, it must all be sung and striven over again to make doubly sure. Only there is never the same depth of lament after the triumph. In a later verse is an augmented song of the answer of trumpet legend, in duet of thirds, in slow, serene pace, while the old lament sounds below in tranquil echoes and united strains. Before the end, _molto piu vivace_, the answer rings in new joyous rhythm.

Somewhat the reverse of the first movement, in the second the emotional phase grows slowly from the nave melody of the beginning. Against the main melody that begins in oboe solo (with _pizzicato_ strings), _semplice ma grazioso_, plays later a rising

[Music: _Andantino in modo di canzone_ (Clarinet with lower 8ve.) (Cello) _Grazioso_ (Ba.s.soons, with _pizz._ ba.s.ses)]

counter-theme that may recall an older strain. The second melody, in Greek mode, still does not depart

[Music: (Strings, wood and horns)]

from the nave mood, or lack of mood. A certain modern trait is in this work, when the feeling vents and wastes itself and yields to an impa.s.sive recoil, more coldly impersonal than the severest cla.s.sic.

A sigh at the end of the second theme is a first faint reminder of the original lament. Of it is fas.h.i.+oned the third theme. A succeeding climax strongly

[Music: _Piu mosso_ (Clarinet doubled below in ba.s.soons) (Strings)]

brings back the subjective hue of the earlier symphony. A counter-theme, of the text of the second melody of Allegro,--now one above, now the other--is a final stroke. Even the shaking of the trumpet figure is there at the height, in all the bra.s.s. Yet as a whole the first melody prevails, with abundant variation of runs in the wood against the song of the strings.

The Scherzo seems a masterly bit of humor, impish, if you will, yet on the verge always of tenderness. The first part is never-failing in the flash and sparkle of its play, all in _pizzicato_ strings, with a wonderful daemonic quality of the mere instrumental effect. Somewhat suddenly the oboe holds a long note and

[Music: _Pizzicato ostinato_ _Scherzo Allegro_ (Strings) (_Pizzicato sempre_)]

then, with the ba.s.soons, has a tune that is almost sentimental. But presently the clarinets make mocking

[Music: (Oboes and ba.s.soons)]

retorts. Here, in striking scene, all the bra.s.s (but the tuba) very softly blow the first melody with eccentric halts, in just half the old pace except when they take us by surprise. The clarinet breaks in with the sentimental tune in faster time while the bra.s.s all the while are playing as before. There are all kinds of pranks, often at the same time. The piccolo, in highest treble, inverts the second melody, in impertinent drollery. The bra.s.s has still newer surprises. Perhaps the best of the fooling is where strings below and woodwind above share the melody between them, each taking two notes at a time.

The first of the Finale is pure fanfare, as if to let loose the steeds of war; still it recurs as leading idea. There is a kind of sonorous terror, increased by the insistent, regular notes of the bra.s.s, the spirited pace of the motive of strings,--the barbaric ring we often hear in Slav music. At the height

[Music: _Allegro con fuoco_ (Wood doubled above and below) (Violins) (_Pizz._ strings)]

the savage yields to a more human vein of joyousness, though at the end it rushes the more wildly into a

[Music: _Tutti_ (Doubled above and below)]

series of shrieks of trebles with tramping of ba.s.ses. The real battle begins almost with a lull, the mere sound of the second tune in the reeds with light strum of strings and triangle. As the theme is redoubled (in thirds of the wood), the sweep of strings of the first motive is added, with chords of horns. A rising figure is now opposed to the descent of the second melody, with shaking of woodwind that brings back the old trumpet legend. Here the storm grows apace, with increasing tumult of entering hostile strains, the main song now ringing in low bra.s.s.

In various versions and changes we seem to see earlier themes briefly reappearing. Indeed there is a striking kins.h.i.+p of themes throughout, not so much in outline as in the air and mood of the tunes. This seems to be proven by actual outer resemblance when the motives are developed.

Here in a quiet spot--though the battle has clearly not ceased--is the answer of old trumpet motto, that pervaded the first Allegro. There is a strong feeling of the Scherzo here in the _pizzicato_ answers of strings. The second theme of the Andante is recalled, too, in the strokes of the second of the Finale. In the thick of the fray is a wonderful maze of versions of the theme, diminished and augmented at the same time with the original pace. Yet it is all a clear flow of melody and rich harmony. The four beats of quarter notes, in the lengthened theme, come as high point like the figure of the leader in battle. A later play of changes is like the sport of the Scherzo. This insensibly leads to the figure of the fanfare, whence the earlier song returns with the great joyous march.

The final height of climax is distinguished by a stentorian, fugal blast of the theme in the ba.s.s, the higher breaking in on the lower, while other voices are raging on the quicker phrases. It is brought to a dramatic halt by the original prelude of trumpet legend, in all its fulness. Though the march-song recurs, the close is in the ruder humor of the main themes.

_THE "MANFRED" SYMPHONY_

Schumann and Tschaikowsky are the two most eminent composers who gave tonal utterance to the sombre romance of Byron's dramatic poem.[A] It is interesting to remember that Byron expressly demanded the a.s.sistance of music for the work. If we wish to catch the exact effect that is sought in the original conception, Schumann's setting is the nearest approach.

It is still debated whether a scenic representation is more impressive, or a simple reading, reinforced by the music.

[Footnote A: Prefixed are the familiar lines:

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."]

Tschaikowsky's setting is a "symphony in four pictures, or scenes (_en quatre tableaux_), after Byron's dramatic poem." In the general design and spirit there is much of the feeling of Berlioz's "Fantastic"

Symphony, though the manner of the music shows no resemblance whatever.

There is much more likeness to Liszt's "Faust" Symphony, in that the pervading recurrence of themes suggests symbolic labels. Moreover, in the very character of many of the motives, there is here a striking line of descent.

_Lento lugubre_, the first scene or picture, begins with a theme in ba.s.ses of reeds: