(Hans Huber: born in SchÖnewerd, Switzerland, June 28, 1852; now living in BÂle)

SYMPHONY No. 2, in E MINOR: Op. 115

This symphony was written in eulogy of the Swiss painter Arnold BÖcklin (born in BÂle, October 16, 1827; died in San Domenico, near Florence, January 16, 1901), and in glorification of his highly imaginative and individual art. The original intention of the composer, it is said, was to name his score a "BÖcklin" symphony, and to give to various portions of the music the titles of certain of BÖcklin's best-known canvases. This plan was, however, not adhered to, and now only the last movement—the finale—is avowedly an endeavor to compose a tonal commentary on various paintings by the Swiss artist. There is, therefore, no authorization for an attempt to find definite translations of BÖcklin into tone anywhere save in the concluding movement; yet it may be worth mentioning that the first movement is said to have been suggested by BÖcklin's picture, "Sieh, es lacht die Au" ("See, the Meadow Laughs"), which pictures two young girls in a meadow plucking flowers, while others stand about in various postures, one playing a lute[66]; that the second movement, the Scherzo—in a Dionysiac mood of revelry—is said to suggest the play of fauns and satyrs of the kind that BÖcklin loved to paint; and that the third movement hints at moods inspired by his "Sacred Grove," "Hymn of Spring," and "Venus Anadyomene."

The Finale is in form a theme with variations, and each variation is named after a picture by BÖcklin. I quote Mr. Philip Hale's concise and vivid characterizations of the different sections and the subjects which inspired them:

"I. THE SILENCE OF THE OCEAN
(In the museum at Bern)

"Adagio molto, E major, 8-8. A dark woman—woman only to the waist—of unearthly beauty lies on a lonely rock far out at sea. Three sea-birds listen with her. A strange sea-creature, with man's face, is stretched beneath the wave. His eyes are without speculation. His tail floats above the surface, and is brushed by the woman's hair.

"II. PROMETHEUS CHAINED
(1882; owned by Arnhold of Berlin)

"The god-defying hero, a giant in form, is bound on the summit of Caucasus, which rises abruptly from the foaming sea. Allegro molto, 4-4. The theme is taken from the first movement.... The wild orchestra surges until the end comes, in six syncopated blows, in extreme fortissimo.

"III. THE FLUTING NYMPH
(1881; owned by von Heyl of Darmstadt)

"Allegretto grazioso, E major, 3-4. A flute solo that, in alternation with the clarinet, leads into the familiar theme, in its first transformation, of the first movement.

"IV. THE NIGHT
(Painted before 1888, and owned by Henneberg of Zurich)

"Adagio ma non troppo, D-flat major, 3-4. A woman draped in black, but with a shoulder exposed, floats over a peaceful land, and slowly drops poppy-heads from a cornucopia. The melody is played by the violoncellos. Harp, bassoons, double bassoons, violas, and double-basses accompany.

"Va. SPORT OF THE WAVES
(1883; in the New Pinakothek, Munich)

"Quasi presto, E minor, 2-4, 3-4. Water-men and water-women frolic in the waves. One woman gayly dives. Another, frightened, is laughed at by a bearded and rubicund old fellow, whose head is wreathed with pond-lilies. A caprice for the wood-wind. In the section 2-4 the violins continue the melody, while violin and viola solos ornament, and harp and triangle add color.

"Vb. THE HERMIT FIDDLING BEFORE THE STATUE OF THE MADONNA
(Painted after 1882; in the National Gallery, Berlin)

"Molto moderato, E major, 3-4. An aged man in his cell plays with bowed head before the Madonna, while little angels listen. The strings are hushed. Organ relieved here and there by flutes, oboes, clarinets.

"VI. THE ELYSIAN FIELDS
(1878; in the National Gallery, Berlin)

"Allegretto tranquillo, G major, 6-8. One of BÖcklin's most celebrated paintings. A landscape of diversified and wondrous beauty, with mermaids, swans, a fair woman on the back of a centaur crossing a stream, a group in the distance around an altar. Long-sustained trombone chords furnish the harmonic foundation. The melody, of a soft and lightly flowing dance character, is maintained by the wood-wind and violins, and a horn reminds one of an expressive theme in the first movement.

"VII. THE DAWN OF LOVE
(1868; owned by von Heyl of Darmstadt)

"Andante molto espressivo ed appassionato, E major, 3-4. Nymphs and young loves in a smiling and watered landscape. The passionate melody is given to the strings. Wood-wind and horns take part in this as well as in the accompaniment. A short and vigorous crescendo leads to the last variation.

"VIII. BACCHANALE
(Owned by Knorr of Munich)

"Tempo di valse, ma quasi presto, E major, 3-4. Men and women are rioting about a tavern near Rome. Some, overcome by wine, sprawl on the ground. The theme is developed in waltz form. A rapid violin passage leads to the close, maestoso ma non troppo. The organ joins the orchestra in thundering out the chief theme."

A graphic suggestion of that which Huber has sought to express in his music is conveyed by this felicitous comment on the art and temperament of BÖcklin, written by Mr. Christian Brinton:

"Arnold BÖcklin was able to develop a national art, an art specifically Germanic, because he had the magic to impose his dream upon his fellow-countrymen, and because that dream was the reflex, the embodiment, of all the ineffable nostalgia of his race, not alone for the cream-white villas of Italy, the fountains and the cypresses, but for the gleaming marbles and golden myths of Greece. His art is merely another version of that Sehnsucht which finds voice in the ballads of Goethe, the prose fancies of Heine, or the chiselled periods of Winckelmann. Once again it is the German viewing Greece through Renaissance eyes. The special form under which BÖcklin's appeal was made implied a reincarnation, under actual conditions, of the classic spirit. He realized from the outset that the one way to treat such themes was to retouch them with modern poetry and modern passion. Pan, Diana, Prometheus, monsters of the deep and grotesques of the forest, were made vital and convincing.... The persuasive charm of his classic scenes is chiefly due to the anti-classic and often frankly humorous, Dionysian manner in which they are presented.... The formula of BÖcklin's art consists in peopling sea or sky, shore or wood, with creatures of tradition or of sheer imagination. Its animus is a pantheistische Naturpoesie, illustrating the kinship of man and nature, a conception both Hellenic and Germanic, which arose from a blending of that which his spirit caught at in the world about him and that which came through the gates of fancy and of fable...."