Modern Musical Drift

Previous
W. J. Henderson

PARSIFALIA I. A PURE FOOL IN THE NEW WORLD

DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN I. A FUTILE GOD AND A POTENT DEVIL

ISOLDE'S SERVING-WOMAN

RICHARD STRAUSS I. THE HISTORICAL SURVEY

AUX ITALIENS I. ITALIAN OPERA OF TO-DAY

THE ORATORIO OF TO-DAY

Modern Musical Drift

Modern Musical Drift

By
W. J. Henderson
Author of "The Story of Music," "Preludes and
Studies," etc., etc.

Longmans, Green, and Co.

91 and 93 Fifth Avenue, New York
London and Bombay
1904

Copyright, 1904,
By Longmans, Green, and Co.

All rights reserved

THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A.

TO MY FRIEND AND COLLEAGUE,
JAMES HUNEKER.

Dear James:

Beside the ebon Styx
The brood harmonious wanders slow.
A backward gaze on earth they fix,
And ask, "Where doth dear Music go?"
I fancy Palestrina stares,
And good Scarlatti gasps for breath,
While Handel, with his figured airs,
Bemoans poor Music's early death.
Old Haydn shakes his long peruke,
And Mozart wags his pendant cue,
As both record their soft rebuke:
"What is it that these moderns do?"
Alone in all that troubled throng
One moves with calm, unruffled brow;
For still Sebastian's voice is strong
To say, "'Twas I who taught them how."
So when the storms discordant brew,
You smile at me across the house;
For well you know there's nothing new,
Not even (pardon!) in your Strauss.
Except, perhaps, a fine disguise
Of leading motives, wood and strings,
Which make a score look wondrous wise,
And seem to mean to many things.
So weave your fancies; I'll weave mine;
And let them wander, dark or bright.
The Lords of Art have graven fine;
Perchance we both discern aright.

W. J. H.
August, 1904.

CONTENTS

    Page
  PARSIFALIA 1
I. A Pure Fool in the New World 1
II. Ethics and Æsthetics 13
III. The National Religious Drama 27
  DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN 39
I. A Futile God and a Potent Devil 39
II. The Woman and the Serpent 55
III. Back-worlds Gods and Over-Woman 69
  ISOLDE'S SERVING-WOMAN 85
  RICHARD STRAUSS 98
I. The Historical Survey 98
II. The Æsthetic View 121
III. What does It All Mean? 139
IV. Strauss and the Song Writers 156
  AUX ITALIENS 168
I. Italian Opera of To-day 168
II. The Classic of the Unprogressive 185
  THE ORATORIO OF TO-DAY 195
  NOTE 211

Modern Musical Drift

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Clyx.com


Top of Page
Top of Page