Musical Myths and Facts Volume I Part 15

A writer on musical history must above all be a musician of practical experience--an accomplished executant on at least one instrument, so that he is enabled to familiarize himself with the compositions of different masters more thoroughly than could otherwise be possible; and a composer in order to form a correct judgment of the compositions of others. The opinion about Handel or Bach of a writer who is but imperfectly practised in counterpoint, and who is incompetent to produce correctly a fugue or other intricate composition constructed according to fixed rules, is not likely to prove of use to the student of musical history. Burney possessed many of the qualities requisite for a musical historian. He was a professional musician systematically trained in the art, and an intelligent inquirer without pedantry or prejudice.

Moreover, he had the moral courage to rescind an opinion when he discovered that it was erroneous. For instance, respecting an opinion which he formerly held on German music, he candidly avows ('History of Music' Vol. IV., p. 606), "It was inconsiderately inserted in the first edition of my 'German Tour' before I was able to examine the truth....

So far, therefore from letting a second-hand prejudice warp my judgment, or influence my opinions in writing my General History, I have long been keeping double guard over my pen and my principles."

The most valuable literary productions are generally to be found among the investigations which are confined to a certain branch of the art.

The works which pretend to embrace its whole science are often but mere compilations by writers who, like Bottom the weaver, want to act not only Pyramus, but at the same time also Thisbe and the lion.[42]

With the objectionable curiosities in musical literature might also be cla.s.sed certain compilations which contain acute observations interspersed with silly remarks. In the preface the author states that he considers it an agreeable duty to acknowledge his obligations to other writers; but, as he does not indicate in the course of the book the sources from which he has drawn, most readers remain ignorant of the fact that the acute observations ought properly to have been given in inverted commas.

Equally objectionable are certain productions bearing on the aesthetics of music, in which the author shows with high-flown words that he is himself not quite clear about what he propounds. It certainly seems odd that just such worthless productions are often prefaced with the remark that the subject of the book has never been properly treated before, whereas there are generally much better works on the same subject well known to musicians.

Here also may certain puffing publications be alluded to, which resemble the literary productions of quack doctors. Some are curious, however objectionable they may be. We have guides professing to teach how to become a brilliant player without the trouble of practising an instrument; how to compose fine music with the aid of dice instead of musical knowledge; how to sing in chorus without having a voice; and suchlike tempting propositions.

Nor must the fanciful schemes for reform relating to the theory of music, to musical notation, to the construction of instruments, etc., be left unnoticed. Some of these are very extravagant, while others have proved to be of greater practical utility than was expected. s.p.a.ce can only be afforded here for three curious examples of proposed innovations, two of which shall be selected from English publications of this description.

'An Essay to the Advancement of Musick, by casting away the Perplexity of different Cliffs, and uniting all Sort of Musick,--Lute, Viol, Violin, Organ, Harpsechord, Voice, etc.--in one Universal Character;' by Thomas Salmon, London, 1672.

'A New System of Music, both theoretical and practical, and yet not mathematical; written in a manner entirely new; that's to say, in a Style plane and intelligible; and calculated to render the Art more Charming, the Teaching not only less tedious, but more profitable, and the Learning easier by three Quarters. All which is done by tearing off the Veil that has for so many ages hung before that n.o.ble Science;' by John Francis De La Fond, London, 1725.--The author proposes to abolish the clefs entirely, as he finds them only troublesome.

Wilhelm Kuhnau published in Berlin, in the year 1810, a book ent.i.tled "Die Blinden Tonkunstler," which contains the biographies of seventy blind musicians. The author discards all the foreign words used in German music, and subst.i.tutes for them German words of his own coining.

For Kapellmeister he proposes 'Tonmeister;' for Clarinette, 'Gellflote;'

for Harmonika, 'Hauchspiel;' and so on. He, however, does not stand alone as such a whimsical innovator. Beethoven, ten years later, coined the word 'Hammer-Klavier' for Pianoforte, and used it on the t.i.tle-page of his large sonata in B flat major, Op. 106.

As specimens of Lampoons may be mentioned:--Joel Collier's 'Musical Travels through England,' London, 1774, written in ridicule of Dr.

Charles Burney; and L. Rellstab's 'Henriette, oder die schone Sangerin,'

Leipzig, 1826, which caricatures certain admirers of the celebrated songstress and estimable lady, Henriette Sontag, in Berlin. These musical enthusiasts included several n.o.blemen of the highest position, and a foreign amba.s.sador at the Prussian Court, who were described under fict.i.tious names so as to be easily recognised. The scandalous gossip thereby occasioned induced the government to confiscate the obnoxious though witty book, and to condemn Rellstab to be imprisoned three months in the fortress of Spandau. The punishment of the author, of course, greatly increased the popularity of the book. Being forbidden by high authority, it was read everywhere,--even aloud to circles of guests in the coffee-rooms and wine-houses of Berlin,--until curiosity was satisfied.

As regards musical novels, those which may be called curious are mostly so on account of their eccentricities and improbabilities. Some interesting exceptions could, however, be pointed out. The heroes of the novels are not unfrequently drawn from life, inasmuch as they represent certain celebrated musicians.

E. T. A. Hoffmann, the spirited and highly imaginative novelist, has taken, it is generally believed, the eccentric musician Louis Bohner as a model for his famous 'Kapellmeister Kreisler.' After having travelled for several years through Germany, and performed his own compositions in concerts at different courts, Louis Bohner, more estimable as an artist than otherwise, retired to his native village in Thuringia, where he died in great poverty. His concerto in D major for the pianoforte, Op.

8, which was published about ten years before Weber composed 'Der Freischutz,' contains the following pa.s.sage--

[Music]

in which may be recognised the melody of Agatha's grand Scena. Besides this, there occur in Bohner's concerto some other slight resemblances with phrases in 'Der Freischutz.' It is said that on a certain occasion Bohner played the concerto in the presence of Weber. The resemblances are not very striking, and may be accidental. Their discovery, however, did not fail to cause some contributions to our literary curiosities.

The journals of musicians travelling in distant parts of the world often contain, as might be expected, interesting observations about music, which are not likely to be found in the journals of other travellers. If not particularly instructive, they are at least often amusing to musicians who prefer to read something about their art more novel and refres.h.i.+ng than they are likely to find in their treatises on thorough-ba.s.s. A. Anton, a German by birth, who was band-master in the Bengal army, published, after his return to the Fatherland, some unpretending extracts from his journal, under the t.i.tle 'Von Darmstadt nach Ostindien; Erlebnisse und Abenteuer eines Musikers auf der Reise durch Arabien nach Lah.o.r.e. Die denkwurdigen Ereignisse der letzten Jahre nach seinem Tagebuch wahrheitsgetreu geschildert.' ('From Darmstadt to the East Indies; Life and Adventures of a Musician during his journey through Arabia to Lah.o.r.e. The memorable occurrences of the last years truthfully depicted from his journal;' Darmstadt, 1860.)

M. Hauser, an accomplished violinist, has given an account of his travels round the world, in a series of letters published with the t.i.tle: 'Aus dem Wanderbuche eines osterreichischen Virtuosen; Briefe aus Californien, Sudamerika, und Australien.' ('From the Journal of Travels of an Austrian Virtuoso; Letters from California, South America, and Australia;' Leipzig, 1859.) Hauser's grand show-piece was evidently a sort of descriptive composition of his own, called 'The little Bird in the Tree,' in which he cleverly imitated the chirping of the tiny feathered songster. Whether he imitated it by bowing above or below the bridge, he does not state. In Tahiti he played it with success to queen Pomare; and at the gold-fields he charmed the diggers with it to such a degree, that they rewarded him with pinches of gold-dust and nuggets fresh from the soil. Having himself become thoroughly tired of 'The little Bird in the Tree,' although it was his own composition, and wis.h.i.+ng to treat the people with some really good music, he ventured, at a concert in a town of the Isthmus of Panama, to play Beethoven's famous violin concerto. His audience were at first puzzled, not knowing what to make of the music; soon, however, silence changed into general conversation about the news of the town and suchlike topics. In order to gain a hearing and money, there was no choice for the _virtuoso_ but to resort to 'The little Bird in the Tree.' With this conviction he laid aside the cla.s.sical music, determining at the same time to enjoy it all the more heartily at home after having made his fortune. His jottings contain interesting statements concerning the cultivation of music in the various countries which he visited.

A journal of a vagabond musician may, perhaps, be thought to possess but little attraction. If, however, the vagabond musician is an intelligent man who has had the advantage of a University education, his observations may be much more interesting than those of a fas.h.i.+onable _virtuoso_ who moves in the highest circles of society, but whose knowledge is almost entirely confined to his profession. Ernst Kratz was such a man. He published his journal in two volumes ent.i.tled 'Kunstreise durch Nord-Deutschland' ('Rambles of an Artist through North Germany;'

Sonderburg, 1822). This strange journal, which the author brought out at his own expense, is mentioned neither by Fetis nor Forkel. Probably it never became known through the usual channel of the book trade. It will be the last of the productions noticed in the present survey of literary curiosities; but, considering that it is as scarce as it is singular, an account of it more detailed than has been given of the extraordinary publications previously noticed may interest the musical reader.

Ernst Kratz was a Prussian, born during the second half of the last century. His diary commences with an account of his unsuccessful attempts, in the year 1813, to obtain a commission in the Prussian army against the French. He had then just left the University of Halle. Why he should have wished to give up his profession as a lawyer, does not transpire; perhaps his overflowing energy, and his love of adventure, made the quiet and regular life of a peaceable citizen appear to him but a miserable existence. Though of a generous disposition, he was evidently a self-willed and quarrelsome man, not likely to follow submissively the dictates of others, who perhaps might be his superiors in position, but his inferiors in talent and knowledge. Having a fine ba.s.s voice, and some skill in playing the pianoforte and the violin, it occurred to him, during a visit to a wealthy brother-in-law residing in a small town in the province of Brandenburg, to organise a concert for the benefit of the wounded soldiers disabled in the war with Napoleon I.

The zeal with which he engaged in the praiseworthy scheme secured him the co-operation of the musical dilettanti among the n.o.bility and gentry of the town and its neighbourhood. The concert proved a decided success, and, to the gratification of all there was a good round sum of money to be handed over to the fund for the wounded soldiers.

The result of his first attempt induced Kratz to give similar concerts in different provincial towns for the same charitable purpose. The preparations caused him endless trouble, as he generally had to practise beforehand with each of the amateur singers, his or her part alone, to enable them to perform with tolerable correctness. The result was sometimes unsatisfactory, not only musically, but also financially, as the unavoidable expenses almost swallowed up the receipts. Meanwhile Kratz received from the Princess Wilhelm of Prussia, the patroness of the Society for the Relief of the Wounded Soldiers, the t.i.tle of 'Kammersanger,' in acknowledgment of his benevolent exertions. The honour conferred upon him increased his fondness for a rambling life, while it was of little or no use to him in gaining the means of subsistence.

Soon he traversed large districts of Central and Northern Germany, giving concerts, with which he combined declamatory performances.

Experience taught him to restrict his visits almost entirely to small towns and watering-places, where his expenses were small, and where he had no rivalry to fear. During these wanderings he occasionally met with a clergyman, a doctor, or a lawyer, with whom he had studied in Halle; and the hospitable manner in which most of his former acquaintances received him, suggests that they must have had pleasant recollections of his companions.h.i.+p.

He seldom omits to record in his journal the number of visitors to his concert; its proceeds and expenses; with other little business details.

These memoranda he intersperses with various observations, of which the following is a specimen:--

"I may take this opportunity to confute the erroneous opinion, entertained by many, that a clever music-director can hear every false tone which occurs in the orchestra. This may be possible if there is only one instrument for each part, but not otherwise; and also not when the orchestra is playing _forte_. The music-director Turk, in Halle, known as a great theorician and as a good composer, usually had at his winter concerts the a.s.sistance of some students, as they occasioned him no expense and rendered his orchestra more complete. I offered to a.s.sist as a violin player; but, as the number of violinists was sufficient, while there was only one tenor player, he appointed me to the tenor.

This I rather liked, since as the performances consisted chiefly of operatic music and oratorios, it enabled me to follow cursorily the words with the music. Without an acquaintance with the words, the music of the songs is hardly comprehensible. My colleague did the same. Not unfrequently we became so much absorbed in this pursuit that we played wrong,--nay, we lost our part,--without Turk perceiving it. On the other hand, it occurred not seldom that he cried out to us: "_Die Pratschel!_"[43] when we played correctly. This is easily explicable.

If, for instance, five soprano singers execute in unison a pa.s.sage rather rapidly, and one of them introduces a wrong tone not very loud, the best music-director will not perceive it; still less when the mistake occurs in the middle parts where the other parts cover the false tone. Of course, it is different if the tone is long sustained and sung loud."

When Kratz has made himself rather ridiculous, he can philosophize about the occurrence so that it appears to him very interesting. Take, for instance, his account of a rehearsal in which he ventured to play a violin concerto beyond his power:--

"When the orchestra had played the introductory Tutti, and I had to begin the Solo,--suddenly it becomes misty before my eyes, my whole body trembles, I cannot see the notes clearly, cannot command my fingers, cannot manage the bow. We begin again, and a third time; but it is not much better, although we make some progress. By degrees I become more collected; still my playing remains a wretched attempt to the end, provoking the suppressed and loud laughter of the musicians. None of the somewhat difficult pa.s.sages, which I knew by heart, could I play. I am not a _virtuoso_ on the violin; but if one has attained a certain dexterity, one must be able to play those pieces which one has properly learnt. Thus this rehearsal enriched my psychology, inasmuch as it served me as an example for the proposition:--It is very difficult, if not impossible, to appear in later years before the public in a capacity in which one has not appeared in early youth. The fear for the teacher suppresses in youth the shyness for the public, and accustoms us to resist it, and not allow it to become an obstacle. The fear for the teacher is a support which later we miss, while the shyness which overcomes us is all the stronger since we have learnt the value of the opinion which formerly concentrated only in the teacher, and with which we were well acquainted beforehand. While as a singer and a declamator I feel the most at my ease when I appear before a large audience, at the rehearsal, in the presence of an orchestra only, I could not play a violin concerto, merely because the former I have done in public from early youth, and this never before."

The proceeds of his concerts he divided into two equal portions, one of which he regularly forwarded after the concert to the relief fund for the wounded soldiers, retaining the other half to defray his travelling expenses. But his concerts were often so thinly attended that they realized no proceeds to divide, and hardly sufficient means for his subsistence. He feared to come into suspicion of having appropriated to himself more than his due; and he felt vexed at the implications which he sometimes thought he detected in the remarks of strangers, intimating that the wounded soldiers were of more use to him than he to them.

Reduced to this extremity, Kratz resolved to trouble himself no further about the wounded soldiers, and henceforth to give his musical-declamatory entertainments for his own benefit. And with this step begins a new epoch in his life, in which he depicts himself in his journal as a genuine vagabond musician. After two years' rambles, he writes:--"I must mention that my purse is at present in a very low condition. This is something very common to all travelling artists with or without reputation, and does not happen now for the first time to me.

In Silesia and other provinces I had already experienced the same trouble. Considering the peculiar nature of my vocation, I never expected from the very outset of my rambles that I should gain much money. That I have not suffered more frequently, is owing to my very moderate habits, and also to the circ.u.mstance that my strong physical condition enables me to brave any adversities. Whenever my endeavours to obtain an audience in a town failed, I at once submitted myself to restrictions and deprivations. I should not even now think this worth mentioning, did it not show how greatly I had to suffer on account of the musical festival at Frankenhausen. In fact, it was owing to this that I became for the first time quite dest.i.tute." This happened in 1815. The musical festival in Frankenhausen was under the management of music-director G. F. Bischoff. A new cantata by Spohr, performed in the presence of the composer, who afterwards played a violin concerto, const.i.tuted its princ.i.p.al attraction. It speaks much for the love of music in Kratz that, notwithstanding his miserable circ.u.mstances, he carried out his intention of attending the festival. His request for permission to a.s.sist in the orchestra, or in the chorus, met with a refusal on the pretext that it came too late, all the places being filled. Disappointed, he bent his steps to Heringen, a neighbouring small town, with the intention of giving a musical-declamatory entertainment which might help him to some food, and to the price of a ticket of admission to the concert in Frankenhausen. His struggles he faithfully records thus:--

"In Ashausen, a village three-quarters of an hour's walk from Heringen, I went into the inn for the night. It was Sunday. The room below was full. I heard music in the upper room; went up stairs, and found there was dancing going on. I watched the dancers for a long time. Then, merely for my love of music, I placed myself among the musicians and played occasionally with them. When they thus recognised me as a musician, they treated me--but, unfortunately, with spirits. However, sometimes bread and b.u.t.ter, and oftener cake, was handed to them, of which I was likewise asked to partake; and this suited me better. After the dancing was over, several peasants gathered round the new musician, and I played to them dance-tunes on the violin, which they liked better than the tunes of their own band. I took up a horn, having learnt the instrument formerly, and blew them a piece or two. They now wanted to treat me with spirits, which I however felt obliged to decline, although it was fine liqueur; for I am no spirit-drinker. The cake, unhappily, was consumed. I now learnt that they were celebrating the baptism of a child. I only wished they might continue the whole night, as it would save me the expense of a bed. However, about three o'clock in the morning the last of the company departed, and I had to go down into the public room, where I threw myself on a bench to avoid paying for a bed.

Nevertheless, the unreasonable host demanded that I should pay him for having slept in his house; but this I did not, because I had only two groschen[44] in my possession, and could not entirely divest myself of cash. I therefore paid him only a half groschen for a cup of coffee in the morning."

Arrived, on Monday, at Heringen: "In the afternoon I happen to pa.s.s the church, which is open. I enter and sit down, tarrying near to my Only Friend. There I remain alone for a long time, occupied with my reflections; for, I stand so alone in the world.--In the evening the decisive hour approaches; the concert at Frankenhausen is at stake, and--Behold! I have an audience of nineteen persons, few expenses, the host of the Town-Hall means it well with me, and Frankenhausen is safe!"

Kratz shows himself always to the greatest advantage when he is very badly off. As soon as he gains a little money, he generally becomes quarrelsome. It would only be painful to trace his ups and downs,--the former occurring but occasionally, and being but slight,--until his arrival in Ca.s.sel. In this town the manager of the theatre, perhaps in an unguarded moment of compa.s.sion, gives him hope of an engagement as singer. The music-director Guhr holds out the same encouragement, amounting almost to a promise. They afterwards find that their intention cannot possibly be carried out. Kratz, greatly disappointed, brings an action against them for breach of promise. Other persons become implicated in this formidable law-suit, which is carried on for about two years. During all the time Kratz makes constant pedestrian tours into the country, giving musical-declamatory entertainments in the small towns and villages, living on the plainest of fare and sleeping upon straw. When he has sc.r.a.ped together a few thalers, he returns to Ca.s.sel to hand them over to his lawyer. One cannot but admire his energy; if he had employed only half of it in a n.o.ble cause, he might have done much good. He lost his law-suit and left Ca.s.sel.

On New Year's Eve, 1816, we find him in full-dress at a ball given by a former fellow-student, now a person of high position in Quedlinburg, who has taken him for a week into his house, and has dressed him up. The next day, Kratz reflects upon the event, in his journal, thus:--

"January 1st, 1817. Every thing changes in life. The deadening winter is followed by the reviving spring; out of the moistened eye beams again the sun-ray of joy. The first day of the last year found me in the hut of a peasant, sleeping on a couch of straw, and my rest unpleasantly disturbed by the firing of volleys by the peasant lads; the first day of this year finds me awake in a brilliantly-lighted saloon, where I am surrounded by varicoloured figures moving in the brightness of light, where the sound of music floats agreeably about my ears, while I am blissfully waltzing round with the most charming girl in the room."

Unfortunately for Kratz, this blissful state was of but short duration.

Soon we find him again as before in his "Rambles of an Artist," except that he now moves gradually to the North, until he reaches Hamburg, which he enters, and where we lose sight of him.

In the present survey several books have been mentioned which possess but little value. Still, they deserve a place among the fanciful, paradoxical, extravagant, and quaint publications relating to the art of music. Some more might have been cited; but the list is probably large enough to convince the lover of music that we are by no means in want of curiosities in our musical literature.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[37] 'Hinterla.s.sene Schriften von C. M. von Weber. Zweite Ausgabe, Leipzig, 1850.' Vol. II., P. 14.

[38] 'Geschichte der Oper in Berlin, von L. Schneider. Berlin, 1850,' P.

240.

[39] 'Universal-Lexicon der Tonkunst. Stuttgardt, 1835.'

[40] Rochlitz wrote this in the year 1828. See 'Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung,' Jahrgang x.x.x, P. 489.

[41] 'Louis Spohr's Selbstbiographie. Ca.s.sel, 1861.' Vol. II., P. 404.

[42] A Midsummer-Night's Dream, Act I., Scene 2.

[43] The Tenor (Italian, _Viola di braccio_) is called in German _Bratsche_, corrupted here into _Pratschel_.