Stories of Symphonic Music / A Guide to the Meaning of Important Symphonies, Overtures, and Tone-poems from Beethoven to the Present Day

SPOHR

Lawrence Gilman

(Louis Spohr: born in Braunschweig, Germany, April 5, 1784; died in Cassel, November 22, 1859)

SYMPHONY No. 4, "THE CONSECRATION OF SOUND":[140] Op. 86

1. RIGID SILENCE OF NATURE BEFORE THE CREATION OF TONE

(Largo)

ACTIVE LIFE AFTER THE SAME. SOUNDS OF NATURE.
TURMOIL OF THE ELEMENTS

(Allegro)

2. CRADLE SONG. DANCE. SERENADE

(Andantino)

3. WAR MUSIC. GOING OFF TO BATTLE. FEELINGS OF THOSE LEFT BEHIND.
RETURN OF THE VICTORS.
PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING

(Tempo di marcia)

4. FUNERAL MUSIC

(Larghetto)

CONSOLATION IN TEARS

(Allegretto)

Die Weihe der TÖne, composed in 1832, is founded on a poem of the same title by Karl Pfeiffer. In a letter dated October 9, 1832, Spohr wrote: "I have ... lately completed a grand instrumental composition, a fourth symphony, which differs greatly in form from the preceding ones. It is a musical composition inspired by a poem of Karl Pfeiffer's—Die Weihe der TÖne—which must be printed or recited aloud before it [the symphony] is performed. In the very first part my task was to construct a harmonious whole out of the sounds of nature. This, as indeed the whole work, was a highly attractive programme [Schumann afterwards described it as 'eulogizing music with music']."

Pfeiffer's poem is as follows, divided in accordance with its relation to the four movements of the symphony:

[I. RIGID SILENCE OF NATURE BEFORE THE CREATION OF TONE: Largo.
ACTIVE LIFE AFTER THE SAME. SOUNDS OF NATURE.
TURMOIL OF THE ELEMENTS: Allegro]
"Solitary lay the fields in the flower-splendor of spring; amid the silent forms wandered Man through the night, following only his wild impulse, not the mild footprints of the heart; Love found no tones, Nature no language.
"Then eternal Kindness wished to announce itself, and breathed Sound into the breast of Man! And it let Love find a language that penetrated to its heart and made it happy. The nightingale greets him with tones of love, the forest rustles forth harmonies to him, the Zephyr's murmur fills his breast with longing, the brook's waves whisper him to rest. Then, at the tones' sacred wafting, the spirit, freed from every earthly bond, soars triumphant to the heights of Heaven, and greets the fair fatherland of dreams."
[II. CRADLE SONG. DANCE. SERENADE: Andantino]
"Holy tones, sounds of peace from the unknown world! Ye are given to us as faithful companions 'mid life's joy and sternness! At the child's first griefs on its faithful mother's breast, ye already penetrate the little heart, and turn the grief to gladness. Ye also invite all-puissantly to the merry dance of Youth, and the dark cares are hushed when the jubilant dance rings out. The clouds have flown swiftly from the brow, the befogged spirit grows serene, and, borne lightly on sounding billows, the winged foot hovers on its way.
"In the secret husk of night ye sound from the youth's mouth; ye bear tidings of the plenitude of his love to the beloved one. Holy tones! Sounds of love! Your magic power softens the loved heart's sternness, and the youth's complaint is still."
[III. WAR MUSIC. GOING OFF TO BATTLE. FEELINGS OF THOSE LEFT BEHIND.
RETURN OF THE VICTORS. PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING: Tempo di marcia]
"But ye call also with the power of inspiration to the mÊlÉe of battles, teaching the youth to despise life when the trumpet calls to the fight. Cares and fear and dangers vanish behind the triumphant tones, and the fiery glance darts forward, to bind the brow with bloody laurels.
"But, when ye have begun boldly and wildly with the call to fight and the battle-song, then, when the victory is won, ye beckon backward with gentle sounds of peace. Then ye bear, on the pinions of devotion, the heart aloft to the eternal God, and the victors' joyous chorus teaches us to give thanks to the God of Battles."
[IV. FUNERAL MUSIC: Larghetto.
CONSOLATION IN TEARS: Allegretto]
"Holy tones, your peace still follows the tired one down, when he, parted from the world, has sunk silently into his grave. Ye whisper granting of prayers to the dumb yearning of his loves, and to the tearless ye give tears, to the departed everlasting rest.
"Holy tones, are ye fair dreams from the unknown fatherland? Are ye children of those blessed spaces, sent to us as messengers of peace? O never leave me, sweet tones! May I fancy myself in your home, and not think of the fetters that hold me fast!"[141]

FOOTNOTES:

[140] This is the version of Die Weihe der TÖne by which the symphony is generally known in America and England. It has also been called "The Power of Sound." A more precise translation is "The Consecration of Tones." The symphony has this sub-title: "A Characteristic Tone-Painting in the Form of a Symphony, after a Poem by Karl Pfeiffer."

[141] Translated by Mr. W. F. Apthorp.

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