Various

(From La Revue Musicale.)

A Treatise on Melody, independent of its connection with Harmony; with a Supplement on the Art of accompanying Melody with Harmony where the former is predominant; the whole supported by the best Models of Melody. By ANTHONY REICHA, Member of the Legion of Honour, and Professor of Composition in the Conservatory of Music. Second Edition. Paris, 1832. In two volumes quarto.

IN the preface to this work, M. Reicha expresses himself thus—“During several ages a great number of treatises have been written on harmony, and not one on melody.” Further on he says, “Several authors of merit have indeed spoken in their various works on the subject of melody, but it has only been with reference to its general effects. In Germany, Italy, England, and especially in France, remarks, more or less important, more or less instructive, and often more or less ingenious, have been published on the subject; but what has been the result of these remarks on the musical art? Why have they been of so little profit to it? Because vague reasonings, unsupported by demonstrative proofs, however ingenious, however instructive they may be, having very little internal evidence, are susceptible of being combated and refuted by other reasonings, and consequently remain without effect. It is with music as with geometry; in the one you must prove every point by musical examples, as in the other by geometrical figures. In both you must proceed regularly, from consequence to consequence, and establish a system so solid, that no reasoning whatever can shake it. It is in this point of view that I say nothing has yet been published respecting melody; all the remarks which have been made on the subject united would not furnish matter for a real treatise on melody. I found myself in my researches, therefore, entirely abandoned to myself; and if unwittingly I have, on some occasions, followed the paths of those who have written on melody before me, it will be an immediate emanation of my own system, and in that case it would be unjust to make it a matter of reproach.

“It will be seen in the course of this treatise that the musical period has a real existence. This period has remained a secret even to the present time, no one has ever proved or defined it indubitably, and even when it has been spoken of, it has been only too much confounded with the phrases and melodic members which are in fact only its decisions. This is the reason it played so unhappy a part in the famous contest between the Piccinists and the Gluckists.

“Musical rhythm, the knowledge of which is so important, not only in music, but in lyric poetry, for similar reasons, has shared the same fate.”

I have extended my quotation to this length, only that the object M. Reicha proposes to achieve by his book, and the circumstances under which he wrote it may be well understood. Not only has he felt the utility of a systematic treatise on melody, but the necessity of it has appeared to him so pressing, that he has persuaded himself there existed no previous work on the subject. Though he is mistaken in this respect, it is a point which should be borne in mind, in order that he may be allowed all the merit of his own ideas.

I have said that M. Reicha is in error when he says, that no work especially on the subject of melody existed before his own. In fact, setting, aside entirely the excellent discourse of Doni “on the Perfection of Melody,” which will be found in the second volume of his musical works; and the work of Nichellman, (published at Ratisbon in 1752,) Die Melodie nach ihren Wesen sowohl als nach ihren Eigenschaften, (Melody considered in its Nature and Qualities,) the first part of the great work of Riepel, published at Frankfort and Leipsic, in 1757, and entitled AnfangsgrÜnde zur Musikalischen Setzkunst, (Elements of Musical Composition,) is a complete treatise on the Melodic Rhythm; and the second part of the same work, Grundregeln zur Tonordnung, (Fundamental rules of the System of Tones, &c.,) contains a very good theory of modulation. The two last volumes of Koch’s Essay towards an Introduction to Composition contain also an excellent treatise on melody, considered in various ways. The second volume treats on the creation and forms of melodic passages, on modulation, on the varieties of times, &c. The third and last volume is divided under the following heads: 1. Of Rhythm. 2. Of the Ornaments of Melody, and the manner of varying their forms. 3. On the Melodic Period.

We have likewise seen that, when writing his book, M. Reicha believed also that there was no especial work on particular rhythm, that is to say, on measure in music and poetry, except the general treatises on melody: he did not know, therefore, the work of Augustan Pisa, entitled Battuta della Musica Dichiarata; nor that of P. Sacchi, Della Divisione del Tempo nella Musica, nell ballo e nella Poesia, of which the work of Bonesi, entitled “A Treatise on Measure, or the Division of Time in Music and Poetry,” is in some respects only a translation. In examining the work of M. Reicha, therefore, we must not lose sight of the consideration that he has not used other books to assist the construction of his own; it is to his own individual ideas and thoughts alone that we are introduced, and we most allow him the merit he deserves on that score, even if he is sometimes mistaken.

Another consideration must also be kept in mind when examining the work of M. Reicha, and that is, that he has intentionally treated of melody alone, laying aside all consideration of its connection with harmony. By fixing these bounds to his work he has, doubtlessly, renounced the analyzing some points of high interest; for in the present state of the art, melody derives as much effect from the harmony which accompanies it as from its own resources; the modulation, the expression of a phrase, often depends upon it; but M. Reicha has said in his preface that he has determined to treat only of the material, or, if the epithet may be permitted, palpable parts of melody; that is to say, of the form of its periods and its phraseology. It is doubtless the same reason which has prevented him from discussing the poetry of melody, or the influence of rhythm on melodic expression. A complete treatise on melody would embrace all these points; but again, it is to be remembered that such a treatise was not what the author proposed to write.

M. Reicha seems to have an idea that, in order to justify the writing a treatise on melody, it is requisite to anticipate and answer beforehand all the objections which would be made against such a book. It is not from forethought that M. Reicha has anticipated these objections; I have frequently heard them from the mouths of professors themselves. There seems a general persuasion that the best melodies are the produce of a blind instinct, a mere uninstructed animal genius, and people are not aware that the best-organized composer, the man most endowed by nature with the faculty of creating, does not at first know what to do with his own ideas; that he is incapable of himself alone conceiving the mechanism of rhythm, that of modulation, or the magic effect of reducing his thoughts to order. All these things are learned: some learn them from books, some from the instructions of a professor, and some again from their own experience. Hence it arises, that the first essays of a man of genius, if he has had no preliminary education, are as defective in melodic invention as in any other point. The only difference between the man of genius and the ordinary musician is, that in the productions of the former a certain air of novelty and vigour is generally to be detected rising above the faults with which it is surrounded, and giving promise of what the writer will be when he has acquired experience. The requisites indispensable to melody are symmetry in the rhythm of the phrases, symmetry in the number of bars, and regularity of modulation, that is, an easy and pleasant arrangement in the succession of the notes; these things are first learned, then become habitual, and, finally, present themselves without our having the labour of thinking of them.

It is erroneous to suppose that there are so many obstacles as some conceive, in the way of a spontaneous production of ideas, for rhythm, number, and modulation are faculties so inseparable from a well-instructed musician, that he obeys them as by instinct, without ever remarking it, while he is solely occupied by the graceful, energetic, gay, or passionate character with which he wishes to invest his melody. How many other more real obstacles is the composer obliged to combat with and surmount in the arrangement of his ideas! If he writes to words in the dramatic style, the arrangement of the verse, the prosody, the rapidity of the action, and many other difficulties, restrain him much more; yet the man of genius always ends with triumph.

Composers themselves cannot understand by what mysterious agency they are endowed thus with the faculty of invention, the power of keeping up their warmth of feeling and their enthusiasm; of investing themselves with a passion, in the midst of no many obstacles; of retaining their independent power of choosing subjects, and working upon them with equal dexterity, as if there were nothing in the way. I have heard persons who disapprove of writing on melody, say, that supposing a good work could be produced on such a subject, no one is competent to the task but a composer celebrated himself for his happy invention of melodies, such as Mozart or Rossini. This appears to me to be a manifest error. The man of genius, who is constantly occupied by new productions, has not time to analyse the mechanism of his own works; he has no doubt that he himself understands what he knows, and he has no faith in things which are to be learned; no man can be more unfit to become a teacher. The power of analysis is a very rare gift of nature, and not necessarily connected with or produced by any of the other faculties of the mind.

After giving some preliminary notions on the most important objects of music, M. Reicha passes to the definition of melodic designs, of cadences, of rhythm, and the construction of the period. He then develops all those points in separate articles, entitled—1. Of periods consisting of one member only. 2. On periods consisting of two members. 3. On the complement (filling up) of the bar after the completion of a melodic phrase. 4. On measures understood, not expressed in the rhythm. 5. On the melodic echo. 6. On the difference of rhythms in relation to the quantity of bars. 7. On periods consisting of two members. 8. Of Organ points, &c. 9. On the conducting of melody. 10. On periods consisting of more than two members. 11. On the connection of periods. 12. On melodies consisting of two periods. 13. On melodies with three principal periods. 14. General observations on the form, outline, and dimensions of melodic phrases. 15. Remarks on airs of declamation and concerted pieces. 16. On the different characters of melody. 17. Observations on the unity and variety of melody. 18. On the style of delivering and of ornamenting melody. 19. Observations on national airs. 20. On the methods of developing a subject. 21. On the methods of studying and practising the writing of melody. 22. Plan of a programme of a course of study for composition. 23. Last remarks on rhythm. 24. (Supplement.) On the art of accompanying melody with harmony where the former is predominant.

FETIS.