A SHORT HISTORY OF

RUSSI AN MUSICBY ARTHUR POUG IN

TR A NS LAT E D B Y

LAWRENCE HAWARD

LONDON

C HAT T O 8§ W I NDU S

1 9 15

AUTHOR’

S PREFACE

THE extrao rdin arily rapid development o f theRussian school o f m usic has been preoccupying the world o f art f o r something like thirtyfive years, and has now engaged the interestand attention o f the whole of Europe . Previousto this , it was a matter of common knowledgethat a great composer, of the name of Glinka ,had been born in Russia , and that he had lefthis country two superb works : A Life f ortbe Tsar and Rourslan and Ludmz

’

lla . The

names o f two o r three other composers,such

as Serov and Dargom ijsky, were also known ;but it was not realised at that time that musichad taken such deep root in the country .

Fo r us Frenchmen in particular the splendidRussian concerts organised at Paris by NicholasRubinstein fo r the Exhibition o f 1878 were arevelation ; they made us acquainted withartists whose names we hardly knew and o f

whose works we were completely ignorant.v

AUTHOR’S PREFACE

From that day the young Russian school hasworked with eager activity and has forged ahead .

It has n o t merely asserted with regularity andincreasing emphasis it s existence and progressat home ; it has also Spread abroad, moving inGermany mainly in the direction of dramatic,and in France of symphonic , music . The

result is that the names of the musicians b elonging to the school have been popularized onall sides , while their works have becomefamiliar to everyone who cares to busyhimself with matters of outstanding artisticimportance .

It is not easy, however , to give a histo rical sketch o f Russian music when o n e

travels outside the limits of the work of theselater composers . The brilliant school o f to

day,with it s strong personality, has not sprung

in a moment from Nature’s womb , and itis interestin g to see through what tentativestruggles it has had to pass before it couldactually come to birth . But it is just herethat diffi culties commence . Those who wouldlike to undertake such a piece o f research areprevented from getting to the original sourcesby general ignorance o f the language . I believetoo that even in Russia there is nothin g which

v1

AUTHOR’S PREFACE

could strictly be called a history of Russianmusic . At the most a certain amount o f work—a good deal, in point o f fact— has been doneo n particular chapters o f history

,and o n some

o f the more o r less contemporary musicianswho occupy an important place in it . I maken o pretence therefore, as may be imagined, o fgoing so far as to trace a history o f Russian musicin the followin g pages . My task is , I consider,far more modest . As the title 1 I have given toit indicates, it is merely an essay : something inthe nature o f a series o f notes fo r the historywhich still has to be written, accompanied bypurely personal impressions . The sole aim o f

these notes and impressions is to make knownin France the importance o f the musical movement that has been going o n in Russia duringthe last fif ty years . However incomplete mywork may be

,I h0pe that the perusal o f it will

be o f service to those who want to keep abreasto f whatever deals with the progress o f musicin the diff erent countries o f Europe . I off ermy apologies in advance for such gaps anddefects as I am aware it is bound to contain .

E rre z’

Hz'

ston’

gue sur la Musz'

yn a en Russia.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

The o rigin s o f Russ ian mus ic.— Fo lk—so ngs.— Church

mus ic. Berezo vsky, B o rtn ian sky, The ImperialChapel

CHAPTER I I

Russian d ilettan tism in the eighteen th cen tury. Ro ya lpatro n s o f mus ic — I talian an d Fren ch Opera at St.Petersburg.

— The first t im id attempts at opera in

the Russian to n gue

CHAPTER I I I

A natio nal compo ser : Michae lGlin ka , the real foun dero f Russian opera .

— His life an d wo rks — A s ef ortlze Tsar, a patrio t ic o pera.

—Rousslafl and Lud

mz’

lla .-Glin ka’s claim to fam e

CHAPTER IV

Two fo rerun n ers o f the “ Young Russ ian Scho o lAlexan der Dargom ij sky, A lexan der Serov

CHAPTER V

Two independen t compo sers : An to n Rub in stein , PeterIlich Tchaikovsky

1X

PAGE

CONTENTS

CHAPTER VI

The Young Russian Scho o l César Cui,'Balakirev,

B o rod in,Mousso rgsky, Rim sky-Ko rsako v

CHAPTER VI I

Russian compo sers o f the later gen erat io n . The irwo rks, ten den cies, and act ivity

CHAPTER VI I I

A gen eral view o f the presen t state o f music in Russia.

-Musical critics and histo rian s — Distin guisheds in gers an d in strumen talists — The teachin g o f

mus ic — The Co n servato ires.— Co n clus io n

INDEX

PAGE

A SHORT HI STORY OF

RU SS I AN MU S I C

CHAPTER I

The o rigins o f Russ ian muSic.— Fo lk-so n gs .

— Churchmus ic. B erez o vsky , B o rtn iansky, The Imperia lChape l.

THE real origins o f Russian music must b e 't

looked for in music written for the Church}and in folk-song . This has been shown by oneo f the most learned Russian writers on music

,

Yo ury Arnold, in a book published in hisnative tongue . Further light was thrown byhim o n this question in two publicationswritten in German and issued at Leipzig whilehe was editor of the Neue Zeitscbrzf t f u

‘

rMw ile,the paper which was formally founded bySchumann an d eventually became the organo f the Wagnerian party . The first o f these publicat io n s was called Die Ton/tum ): in Russland

bis z ur Einf ubrung des abm dld ndiscben Mm ileandNotemystems

1 (Leipz ig, 1867) the second,1 Mus ic in Russ ia bef o re the in tro duct io n o f the

Western scale an d n o tat io n .

A SHORT HISTORY OF

which consisted of a series of eight articles thatappeared in the paper I have just mentioned,was entitled Die En twickelung def m ssiscben

Na tion aloperl Arnold himself

,who died in

1 898 , at the age of 87 , was professor of musicaltheory at the Conservatoire at Moscow and ofmusical history at the University of that town .

He published , amongst other things , a Theoryof Jl/[usioal Production , a biography of Liszt ,and some interesting Memoirs .

Russian folk- song, with its peculiar flavour ‘

and it s originality of harmony, rhythm , andmelody

,has been skilfully borrowed and’

turned to account by every Russian composersince Glinka , which is one reason why thefmusic of the present day has so much individuality . Ano ther Russian author , HermannLaroche , has described it s qualities not onlywith Skill, but with the sort of pride that isentirely legitimate . This is how he Speaksof those strange and characteristic popularairs The melody moves in a piquant

, um

foreseen way with fantastic leaps and boundsand graceful, decorative outlines The harmony is based on a System of transparent clearness with plagal and phrygian cadences thatseem to open up distant horizons to the mind .

The rhythm has a careless,leisurely stride

,and

allows various kinds of movement to unfold1 The d evelo pm en t o f Russ ian n at io n a l o p era .

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RUSSIAN MUSIC

with the capriciousness o f unchartered liberty .

In all this yo u have a picture of the Russianpeople . You see

, reflected as it were in someunknown world in little, the Russian with hischaracteristically free and easy ways,his clear,sober mind, his need o f elbow-room

,and his

antipathy fo r being shackled with any kindo f constraint . In short

,if you consider the

luxuriant way in which our music flourishes,

springing, as it does , with inexhaustible variety,Spontaneo usly from the soil

,and compare it

with the sterility o f o ur plastic and represen

tative arts, you will realise the depths of ourpr ivate, intimate life and the richly lyricalgifts of our nation , which have lain concealedbeneath the poverty and uncouthness of theearlier forms of art . I grant, if you like, thatnature in Russia is far from picturesque

,that

our costumes are abominable, that our entiremethod of life escapes the painter’s brush andthe sculptor’s chisel . I grant all that, as I say .

On the other hand,our folk—song is so profound

in its appeal,it is so enchantingly varied and so

perfectly new in its form,that we can look to

the future with complete confidence and facewith assurance the artistic destiny of ourcountry . Our national songs are a true guarantee o f the worth o f Russian music, and arequite suff icient evidence o f o ur aptitude forart . But this is n o t the only proof we have.

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A SHORT H ISTORY OF

We can boast with pride of a great Russianmusician who was nourished o n our popularsongs and preserved their character in im

perishable works,and by that means was able

to depict with in imitable art the minutestidiosyncrasies o f the Russian people . Thisgreat musician and master was Michael Ivano vich Glinka .” 1

Another Russian author, César Cui, who ,although a soldier

,is also a composer, has

written o f the folk-songs from the technicalpoint of view as follows Russian folk-songsare usually written within a very restrictedcompass , and only rarely move beyond theinterval of a fifth or a sixth . The older the.song the narrower is the range of its compassuThe theme is always short , sometimes extending no farther than two bars, but these twobars are repeated as often as the exigencies o fthe text demand .

The folk-songs are sung either by a singlevoice o r by a chorus . In the latter case asingle voice leads o ff with the subj ect

,and then

the chorus takes it up . The harmonisation o f

these tunes is traditional and extremelyoriginal . The diff erent voices o f the chorusapproach each other until they form a unison

,

or else separate into chords (only the chords1 Herman n Laro che Glin ka an d the part he played in

theHistory of Music.

4

RUSSIAN MUSIC

are often n o t filled in), and, generally speaking, a melody treated polyphonically ends in aun l so n .

The songs for a single voice are frequentlyaccompanied o n a tiny Stringed instrumentcalled a balala'ika —a kind of guitar with atriangular belly, the strings of which are eitherplucked or set Vibrating by a glissando . As tothe songs for chorus , they are rarely providedwith an accompaniment ; when they do haveo n e , it is played on a sort of oboe which usesthe melody as the basis of a number o f contrapuntal improvisations which are, no doubt, notmuch in accordance with the Strict rules o f

music , but are exceedingly picturesque .Russian folk- songs may be classified in the

following way as singing games, or songs sungo n feast days to the accompaniment of different games and dances ; songs f or special ocea

sion s, of which the weddin g song is the mostpopular type ; street songs, o r serenades forchorus o f a j ovial or burlesque character songs

of the bonrlaks,’ or of the barge—haulers and

songs f or a single voice of every sort and kind .

I have already said a few words incidentally o n the intrinsic worth of these Russiansongs from the aesthetic and artistic point o fview

,and I / can n o t help insisting o n it . It

really is impossible to estimate their valuewhen you consider their variety, the expressive

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A SHORT HISTORY OF

ness of the feelings they contain, and the richness and originality o f their themes . Some ofthem are marked by masculine energy, bysavage

, unrestrained vehemence, or , again, bycalm , maj estic dignity . Others are gracefuland attractive

,and charm us by their careless

.

gaiety . Many are Stamped with a profoundmelan choly you feel the grief in them struggling to expand, the resigned subm issmn to

“acruel and rigorous fate . Some have their.origin in the clear

, untroubled pools of poetry ,and move in a serene, ideal , lyric world under afair—weather Sky these are they that Show us

noble natures and the hearts of lovers . Othersagain

,with SlOW and stately measure, Speak

with the voice of pomp and circumstance .

” 1

Russian folk- songs,which are interesting from

all points of view,and are a source of justifiable

pride to the Russians, were naturally bound toform the subject of much valuable research .

A number of collections of these songs havebeen published by some very distinguishedmusical scholars, who have discovered theauthentic versions, transcribed them with themost scrupulous care

,and harmonised them

with such Skill and tact that their characterist ic style and colour have been faithfully preserved . The oldest o f these collections is thato f Fratch , a well—known musician of P rague .

César Cui : La Musique en Russia.

6

RUSSIAN MUS IC

It contains as many as 149 songs, and was

published f o r the first time in 1 790 a secondedition of it in two volumes appeared in 1 8 15 .

This is the collection from which Beethoven?took the Russian themes which he used inthe quartets dedicated to Count Raz oum o vsky.

‘

The composer Balakirev produced in 1 866 acollection of forty songs

,an d another o f 100

has been formed by Rimsky-Korsakov . I cannot mention every publication o i this sortthat we owe to Kashin

,Shishkin

, Klutcharo v,de Santis , Fam in tz in , Villeb o is , Proko un in ,

Bernard, Melgoun o v, and others .

My excellent and regretted colleague, Gustave Bertrand , who died young , once gavesome delightful specimens of Russian folk- songsin two articles in the Cbron ique musicale forOctober 1 and November 1 , 1873 . In discussing the methods of performing the singinggames mentioned above by César Cui, he gavethe following interesting details The perf o rm an ce of these Russian village Singinggames is unfailingly picturesque, sometimeseven somewhat scenic . The chorus , arrangedin a circle

,plays the part of narrator and com

m en tat o r like the chorus in the dramas andc omedies o f antiquity . In the middle of thecircle are two or more peasants o f either sex ,whose business it is to represent the charactersin the story— the couple in love, the husband

A SHORT HISTORY OF

and wife,the mother and daughter, the wicked

stepmother,and so forth each peasant havmg

to dance or act while Singing the scrap ofdialogue allotted to him o r her, as the casemay be . Sometimes the chorus Sings cont in uously ; in other Singing games there is akind of leader

, who recites the tale, while thechorus merely repeats at the end of eachstrophe

,or adds on it s own account , an ex

clamatory remark or perhaps some brief reflexio n . There is no rigorous code , of course,for all this, but the moment there is any indication o i action or of dialogue, the performanceo f the singing game becomes partially scenic .

”

Just as much care has been given by theleaders of the young Russian school to thestudy of church music, which , with folk-song,has been o n e of the primary elements in theconstitution o f their modern music . AS faras that goes , the two elements are readilyfused o n e finds

,for instance

,in a very large

number of national folk-songs the form andtonality of ancient Greek music . We have iton the authority of Hermann Laroche that themusic of the people falls into o n e of three catego ries the dorian mode (the scale of E withoutaccidentals), the aeolian or hypo-dorian mode(the scale of A minor without the leading note),or the hypo-phrygian (the key of G without theF sharp).

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A SHORT HISTORY” OF

o f to—day is the direct lineal descendant . Welearn from this that ever Since the fifteenthcentury the court at Moscow maintained achurch choir

,and that in the following century,

in the reign of Ivan the Terrible (who, by theway, was a composer himself, and is supposedto have written at least one hymn tune), thl schoir had some good material in it . “ Atfirst ,” according to Platon de Waxel, it onlycontained some thirty singers , but at the b eginning o f the seventeenth century this numberwas doubled . The whole body of them neversang at once . They were divided into severaldiff erent choirs

,each contain ing from twelve t o

eighteen voices,who officiated in the different

churches belonging to the court . Tw o of thesechoirs were attached to the person of the sovereign . The Tsar Alexis

, who ,like his so n , Peter

the Great , was fond of singing in church , summoued some musicians from Kiev, who introduced modern notation into his chapel . Vocalmusic in eight, twelve, and even twenty- fourparts soon had such a success that the courtSingers began to give performances outsidethe palace . They learned a number of Polishhymns, which were translated into Russian bythe celebrated Simeon de Polotsk and set tomusic by the singer Vasily Titov ; they alsosang music written by Polish composers .

Under Peter the Great, a number of choirs10

RUSSIAN MUSIC

attached to the private chapels of memberso f the Imperial family were broken up , and o n

the death o f that famous monarch his own

special choir o f more than twenty voices,

which accompanied him in his travels andcampaigns, was likewise suppressed . At thispoint the researches of Dmitri Raz oum o vskybreak o ff , but it is nevertheless known thatthe choirs o f court singers continued to existduring succeeding reigns . The celebratedAlexis Raz o um ovsky was a member of theImperial Chapel in the days of the EmpressAnne, quitting it in 1757 to enter that of theGrand-Duchess Elizabeth Petrovna . It seemsthat at this period the Imperial Chapel wasalready in possession of its present organisation,while actually being the outcome of the Chapelo f the Tsars of Moscow .

” 1

My readers will be familiar with the immense reputation of the choir of the Imperial.Chapel

,the Singers in which have voices of

an exceptional character and unusually widérange

,and are carefully selected from amongst

the peasants in Ukraine, the province famed;f o r it s beautiful voices . Adolphe Adam , theFrench composer, has left us his enthusiastictestimony to the eff ect left o n him by thesev oices and by the vocal technique o f the singers

1 j ourn al de Sain t-P élersbourg, July 23-August 4 ,

1 88 1 .

I I

A SHORT H ISTORY OF

on an occasion when he was admitted to hearthe chapel choir during a stay he made at St .Petersburg in 1 840 : Church music,

”says

Adam, is superior to any other kind of musm

in Russia , because it alone is typical, and 1s notan imitation of the music of other nations,

!at any rate as far as the execution is concerned .

The Greek rite allows of no kind of instrumentin the church . The singers of the ImperialChapel never sing any other music than thatof the church services

,and they have couse

quently acquired an extraordinary facility forsinging unaccompanied with a justness o f mtonation of which one can have no idea . But

what gives their performances the sense ofpeculiar strangeness is the character o f thebass voices, which extend from low A (threelines beneath the bass Stave) to middle C ,

and produce an incredible effect by doublingthe ordinary basses at the interval of an octavebelow them . These living double bassesnever cease to be singers singing in chorus ;their voices , if heard separately, would beintolerably heavy ; when they are heard inthe mass the effect is admirable . The firsttime I heard this Splendid chapel choir I wasstirred with such emotion as I had never feltbefore . From the very first bars o f the pieceI began to shed tears ; then , when the musicquickened up and the thundering voices

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RUSSIAN MUS IC

launched the whole artillery of their lungs, Ifound myself trembling and covered with acold sweat . The most tremendous orchestrain the world could never give rise to thiscurious sensation, which was entirely differentfrom any that I had supposed it possible formusic to convey . The tenor voices are farfrom being as perfect as the bass , but arenevertheless very satisfactory . The sopranosare vigorous, and there are some pretty children’s voices amongst the soloists . Inshort, the Imperial Chap el is a unique 1ust i

tut io n .

” 1

Adam does not in the least exaggerate whenhe describes the impression produced by theseSingers

,for Berlioz, who also had an o ppo r

tun ity of hearing them at St . Petersburg,writes o f them as follows Since the ritualo f the Greek branch of the Christian religionforbids the use in church of musical in struments

,or even o f the organ, the Russian Church

choirs always sing unaccompanied The

singers of the Imperial choir wished to avoidhaving a conductor to beat time for them ,

andhave managed to dispense with o n eu

Her Imperial Highness the Grand Duchesso f Leuchtenberg, having one day at St . Petersburg honoured me with an invitation to

hear a mass sung specially for my benefit in1 Fran ce musicale, Jul y 1 840.

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A SHORT HISTORY OF

the chapel o f the palace, I was able to apprec1ate the astonishin g assurance with which thesingers , when thus left to themselves, passsuddenly from o n e key to another, or from aslow movement to a quick, and to admire theimperturbable ensemble with which they S lugeven the recitatives and the unbarred musICfor the psalms . The twenty-four singers ,clothed

,in rich vestments, were arrangednn

two equal groups, which stood on either Sideo f the altar facing each other . The bassesoccupied the places farthest from the centre,before them were the tenors

,and in front o f

these came the boys— the trebles and altos .They remained perfectly motionless and silentwith their eyes on the ground, waiting for themoment to begin Singing then

,at the signal,

which was taken,no doubt

,from o n e of the

leaders (though it was impossible to detectthat anyone gave them the note or indicatedthe pace), they intoned one o f the biggest o fBo rtn ian sky

’s motets for eight voices . Out

o f the web of harmonies formed by the in credibly intricate interlacing o f the parts rose sighsand vague murmurs such as one sometimeshears in dreams . From time to tim e camesounds so in tense that they resembled humancries which tortured the mind with the weighto f sudden Oppression and almost made theheart stop beating . Then the whole thing

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RUSSIAN MUSIC

quieted down , diminishing with divinely slowgradations t o a mere breath

, as though achoir of angels were leaving the earth andgradually losing itself in the uttermost heightsof heaven . It was a piece of good fortunethat the Grand Duchess did not speak to methat day, for , in the state I was left in at theend of the ceremony , I should probably haveappeared to her highly ridiculous .

” 1

One o f those who had most to do with theperfecting o f this chapel choir was the celebrat ed composer Dmitri Spen ovich Bortn ian sky, who was born in 175 1 at Glouko v ,

in the department o f Tchern igo v, and diedon September 28 (October 1 825 . Itwould

,however, be unjust not to mention

before him another very remarkable musician,Maxim So z o n t ovich Berezovsky , who was afew years his senior

,and

,like him

, was one ofthe fathers of Russian church music . Bornin the Ukraine about 174 5, Berezovsky was atan early age admitted t o the Imperial Chapel

,

where his beautiful voice and his gift for composition attracted the notice o f the EmpressCatherine II

, who had him sent,at her expense

,

to Italy to finish the musical studies he hadbegun at the ecclesiastical academy at Kiev .

In this way he went to Bologna , where he t esided several years , and acquired, under the

1 Les Soirées de l’

Orchestre , No . 2 1 .

I S

A SHORT HISTORY OF

admirable tuition of the famous PadreMartin b

a great facility in writing . On his return toRussia he produced a considerable number

_

0f

compositions for the Church, which were dlstinguished by feeling and formal elegance,and busied himself with reforms which

.

heconsidered essential to introduce in the Singing of Gracco-Russian Church music . Weare told

,however

,that his eff orts in this direc

tion were met by countless obstacles , and thathe was bitterly disappointed in consequence .It may have been this disappointment whlchdrove him to commit suicide in 1777, when hewas barely thirty—two years old . One cannotbe sure of this . What o n e can say with certainty is that Berezovsky is nowadays conSidered one of the greatest composers of sacred imusic his country has produced .

In discussing the vocal music of the GraccoRussian Church

,one ought not, I think, to

pass over in Silence the name of St . John o f

Damascus, a well-known member of a religiousorder who lived during the seventh and eighthcenturies

,and was looked upon as the reformer

and systematiser of this music . It is to himthat we owe a large number of the hymns andtunes used in the church service

,andhismemory

is on this account held sacred in Russia . Fétis

speaks o f him as follows : The lives of thesaints of the Greek Church, and the maj ority

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A SHORT HISTORY OF

musician should remain unfinished, and $613?him to rej oin his master at Venice . Bortn 1

an sky Stayed some time in this town, and then,o n the advice o f Galuppi himself, wen t

’

to

study at Bologna, Rome, and Naples . Duringhis lengthy sojourn in Italy, which

O

Iasted aslong as eleven years , he began to write a co nsiderable number o f compositions in theItalian form and style, which in cluded churchmusic

,sonatas f o r the harpsichord, and vari

ous miscellaneous pieces .l In 1779 Bortn-i

an sky returned to Russia , where he was soonappointed director o f the choir, which receivedthe title o f The Imperial Chapel ” only in1796 . He continued t o keep his post untilhis death— that is to say, for very nearly halfa century ; and it was during this time thathe acquired the reputation which is rightlyattached to his name . In everythingthat he had produced up till his return toRussia ,” says Fét is, he was inspired by theItalian music o f his day ; it was only at St .Petersburg that his genius was revealed in itsessential originality . The choir which he wassummoned to direct had been organised duringthe reign o f the Tsar Alexis Mikhailovich, butalthough it had been in existence fo r some

1 He even had an o pera , Quin ta F abio , staged at

Mo dena, Decem ber 26 , 1778. (See Cromlsten‘

a a'

ez‘

Teatn"

d z‘

Modem , by Alessan dro Gan d in i Mo dena, 1873 , 3 vo ls.,16m .) This fact has n ever been n o t iced befo re.

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RUSSIAN MUSIC

time, the quality o f the singers’ voices and thefinish of their technique left much to be des ired . Bo rtn ian sky sent for singers from theUkrain e and various provinces o f the empire

,

choosing the best voices , an d gradually trainingthem until they acquired a perfection o f executio n which had n o t been dreamed o f beforehis time . Thanks to this admirable

_

artist,the Russian Imperial Chapel reached the degree o f excellence which all foreign musiciansadmire so much t o -day . It was fo r this ‘

l n

comparable choir that he composed settings infour and eight parts o f forty-five cOmplete

psalms , which are marked by strong characterand striking originality . He was also theauthor o f a Greek mass in three parts andnumerous miscellaneous pieces .” 1 This ac

count may be supplemented by what OctaveFouque says o f Bo rtn ian sky in his interestingnotice o f Glinka . Amongst his works is tobe found

,besides a mass and some psalms , a

suite o f pieces called Songs of the Seraphim,

which,with their glowing serenity and their

clear an d tranquil grandeur , are really worthy o ftheir title . On October 1 1 , 1901 , St .Pet ersburgcelebrated with pomp the l 5o th anniversaryo f this fin e musician, whom his fellow-countrymen have christened the Russian Palestrina .Such is the great musician to whom the Im

1 Fétis : B iog raphies un z’

verselle a'es Musz

'

a'

en s .

I 9

A SHORT HISTORY OF

perialChapel owes its reorganisation, its development, and that perfection in performancewhlchis unrivalled in any other country ; such thecomposer who by his works has carried Russ1anchurch music to its highest pitch o f splendour .The successor o f Bo rtn ian sky in the Imperi alChapel was Theodore Lvov, a very d l St ln

guished dilettante and the father o f GeneralAlexis Lvov, who succeeded his father inthe post . Alexis was a violin ist o f exceptionalvirtuosity

,and a noteworthy composer o f

church music as well as o f several operas , buthe is chiefly famous for being the author o fthe Russian National Anthem , which is so

justly popular to -day . Later on I shall havesomething more to say of this interestingmusician . Theodore’s name was omitted byFétis in his B iographie un io erselle des Musi

ciens, and also by me in the supplementwhich I wrote for that work . I do n o t thinkthat, as a matter o f fact , he is mentioned inany biographical dictionary published out

side Russia . This able amateur, who diedDecember 14 , 1836, wrote a preface fo r thesecond edition o f Fratch’s famous collectiono f Russian folk-songs , in which he veryrightly brings o ut the indisputable affinitiesbetween Russian folk-music an d

,Greek music.J\

1 should like to draw attention t o On e othermusician, who lived at the same tim e as Bort

20

RUSSIAN MUSICn ian sky and seems to me to deserve mention .

I mean the composer Degtiarev, who was bornat Bo rysov in 1766 and died in 18 13 . Atthe age o f six he showed so much dispositionfo r music , and had such an attractive voice, thatCount Sheremetiev, whose serf he was , becameinterested in him, admitted him to his choir,and eventually sent him to study at the University o f Moscow. There he went o n Workingat music till he left fo r St . Petersburg, where hebecame a pupil o f Sarti . Some writers havefelt justified in asserting tha t he travelled inItaly with Sarti . But if Degtiarev did actuallygo to Italy, it was certainly n o t in companywith his master, for Sarti never saw his owncountry again after he had once settled downin Russia . From St . Petersburg Degtiarev

returned to his native town, was placed byCount Sheremetiev at the head o f the chapelwhich he had j oined as a child, and then cefo rward wrote a large amount o f interesting churchmusic f o r it . One o f the most important andremarkable o f his works is a big secular oratoriocall ed The Deliverance of Russia in 1 61 2 , whichis said to have been translated in to Italian an d

performed in several countries .

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C APTER II

Russ ian d ilettan tism in the e ighteen th cen tury. Ro yalpatro n s o f mus ic.

— I talian an d Fren ch opera at St

Petersburg — " The first tim id attempts at opera m the

Russ ian to ngue .

OU R musical life in France began more thantwo centuries ago . The real foundation o f

o ur opera goes back to the year 167 1 . Les

Trogneurs, the work which is rightly co n sid

ered the first typical manifestation of the art o fopéra

-comiqn e, was performed at the o ld OpéraComique de la Foire in 1753 , and from thattime onwards we have seen an uninterruptedsuccession both of strong and o f attractivecomposers , who have held high the banner o fnational music , and have never let it drop . Itmust be admitted,however, that it is only forthe last hundred years— that is t o say , s ince thecreation of the Conservatoire in 1794— that wehave possessed a school o f music in the realsense of the word : by which I mean

,a group of

mus icians united by the same ideals,moving

towards the same goal, professing the sameprinciples , and giving musical proof o f a veryreal and accentuated nationalism— proof

,in

22

RUSSIAN MUSIC

other words , if n o t o f the understanding o fmusic , at leas t o f a quite special manifestationo f it . It will be sufficient t o recall in thisconnection the names o f Berton, Lesueur ,Méhul

,Boieldieu ,Catel, Nicolo,Herold, Auber,Adam , Halevy, &c This amounts to sayingthat our music is entirely Fren ch, as far as

C

Style ,colour

,and character are _co_ncerned, - an

_

dg

that

it resembles—

neifher German m usic n dr Italian .

These two schools also had their own character sharply marked and defined

,their own

kind of originality,and what o n e might call

their autonomy . The great and powerfulGerman school

,full o f vitality and poetry

,

devo‘ted itself mainly to symphonic mus icand the oratorio ; the exquisitely delicateschool o f Italy, making up with its enchanting airs and graces for what it lacked in depth,was occupied more especially with the theatre,though by no means neglecting music for theChurch . Up till modern times , then, therewere these three flourishing and quite distinct mus ical schools— the German, the Italian,and the French

,the French being the youngest

and the last to arrive on the scene .Things have altered nowadays . The Ger

man school s ince the death o f Weber ,Mendelssohn, and Schumann has disappeared, leavingbehind it nothing but a colossus , whose geniusis as uneven as it is powerful— I mean, the com

23

A SHORT HISTORY OF

poser of Lohengrin andDer Ring clesNihelungc’fla

and he t o o is n ow dead . Besides , it would bea truism t o insist that a single musician, however great his worth, cannot by himself alonerepresent a school . Well, who are the successo rs o f Richard Wagner 3 Fo r my part,I do not know . I only see , scattered througho ut Germany, some three or four more o r

less distinguished musicians Carl Goldmark,Richard Strauss , Humperdinck, who are surelypowerless to renew the exploits of their predecesso rs . Their very names grow strangelypale at the recollection of those giants J . S .

Bach, Handel, Haydn, G luck, Mozart, andBeethoven .

Now look at Italy, famous for it s long rollof glorious composers P alestrina , Scarlatti,Pergolesi, Porpora , P iccini, Sarti, An fo ssi, Guglielm i

, P aisiello, Cimarosa . The Italian schoolsurren dered its last breath with the music o f

Rossini, Bellini, and Donizetti .In Italy, too, a strong and brilliant genius ,

with a steady fount o f inspiration,was found in

the composer of those moving works Rigoletto ,Aida , and the RequiemMass . But it was precisely because he was a genius that his presencealone was sufficient to Show up the feeblenessof all that was going on around him . In pointo f fact , Verdi remains a glorious exception inthe country of Palestrina, just as Wagner re

24

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A SHORT HISTORY OF

without hesitating o r groping it s way, and Inless than twenty-five years was spreading overthe whole o f Europe and doing pro digl es Ofvalour .Nevertheless, this was obviously not a C3 5 6

o f spontaneous generation . In art , more thananything else, incubation takes time . But theRussians started with a considerable advan

tage . They were able to profit by the labourso f their predecessors in Germany , Italy, andFrance

,and t o appropriate without prelim

in ary eff orts a technique which lay ready forthem to use but had taken others whole centut ies t o develop . In this way they werespared that long, slow, experimental periodthat always precedes the formation o f art thatis healthy and matured . On the other hand,as they had lived fo r a long time by themselvesin retreat

,and had n o t been mixed in the great

intellectual movement which has gone o n

stirring Europe ever since the Renaissance,they worked in s ilence and reserved themselves ,as it were

,f o r the day when they Should at last

feel sure and confident of the forces they hadbeen secretly accumulating . Then they burstforth and appeared before the world not onlywith the prestige of surprise , but with theadvantage of having , with comparative ease ,gained experience which had cost their predecesso rs endless toil and trouble . If o n e

26

RUSSIAN MUSIC

remembers the striking originality and theindividual taste which they showed in handling an art to which they contributed a newand unexpected note ; and if o n e thinks o f thevery great facility in their work which in telligent and persevering study had enabled themt o acquire, there will be n o difficulty in understanding the success with which they weregreeted the moment they gave serious evidenceo f their gifts .Besides which, the Russians have a very deepand natural love o f music . The proof lies intheir vocal music and in those highly colouredfolk- songs o f which I have had occasion to

Speak. These illustrate the Russians’ innatetalent f o r origin al composition, at any rate inthis branch of music . With the advance o f

their civilisation this talent o f theirs wasbound to be shown o n a higher and more complet ely artistic plane . All it needed was en

co uragemen t , even if it were indirect . This itobtained ; music during the last century and ahalf having been cultivated and protected byall the sovereigns who have succeeded to thethrone o f Russia . The Empress Anne, theEmpress Elizabeth, the Empress Catherine,and the Tsars Paul I and Alexander I , to mention no others , did all they possibly could t ospread a taste fo r music

,and also the practice

o f it, throughout their realm . To this -end they27

A SHORT HISTORY OF

summoned the most celebrated composersfrom abroad

,including Galuppi, Martini (LO

Spagnuolo), P aisiello, Sarti, Cimarosa, B01ld1eu,

and St eib elt , to direct the opera, t o conduct the choir o f the Chapel, and t o o rgan lse

the Privy Music o f the sovereign . They also ‘

attracted, by the off er of high salaries , thegreatest singers and the most famous virtuos1in the world . In this way they stimulated thelove of music in a nation which was naturallygifted in this respect ; and at the same time ‘they made musical education easy, and provided 1the material means that were necessary forsecuring performances . This they did so suc

cessfully that , after a century o f eff ort , Russianmusic came triumphant o ut of the bonds o f

infancy, and the country was startled by the lsudden appearance o f a work which is looked !upon as a masterpiece . I refer to G linka’3 5famous Opera, A Life f or the Tsar , the firstSplendid indication that Russian national musicwas emancipated .

The history of Russian musical culture init s early, amateur days is pretty well known iftaken as a whole, but it s details are still exceedingly obscure, at any rate for us foreigners .

Russia began her musical education withItalian Opera , for which French opera waseventually substituted . It was , in fact , owingto the example set by foreign composers that

28

RUSSIAN MUSIC

Russian musicians after some attempts (whichwere timid rather than numerous) took stocko f themselves , and were able, a hundred yearslater, to launch boldly out into music as acareer and t o give proofs o f their abilities .

Documents referring t o this period are, however, rare , and precise information is difficultt o obtain, more especially fo r anyone n o t ac

quain ted with the language . Even Russianworks published in Russia are, I fancy, somewhat incomplete ih the material they embrace .Some o f those which are n o t specially co n

cerned with music are little more than repertories o f works of all sorts which were given inthe theatres o f St . Petersburg and Moscow .

Here is a list o f some of them an anonymousDramatic Dictionary, published in 1787, re

published in 1881 The Foundation of the

Russian Theatre, by A . Karabanov, 1 819 ;

Annals of the Russian Theatre, by P . Arapov,186 1 (this is a repertory which goes down t othe year 1825) Chron icles of the Tbe

'

atre in.

St .

Petersburg, by A . Wolff , 1 877, 2 vols . (this is acontinuation o f the preceding work, and stopsat the end o f the reign o f the EmperorNicolas)A Historical Glan ce at the Russian Opera , byV

. Morkov, 1862 ; The Russian Theatre at St .

P etersburg and at Moscow, 1749—74 , by M .

Lo nguin ov, 1873 A History’

of the Opera

seen throughits best I n terpreters, byM. K ., 187429

A SHORT HISTORY OF

A Glan ce at theHistory of Music in Russiafromthe poin t of view of Culture and Man n ers, byVladimir Mikhn evitch, St . Petersburg, 1 879 ;

to which should be added a work published inFrench by César Cui La Masigne en Russie

(Paris , Fischb acher, a work referringespecially to the period o f his contemporari es(and having in this respect some of the attraet iven ess o f a pamphlet), but also containingsome valuable information as to the past . Ishall return t o this later .— We shall have to b econtent, then, with an almost superficial surveyof the chapter dealing with the early history o fmusic written fo r the theatre in Russia .

The first organised body o f musicians seemst o have been formed at St . Petersburg in thetime o f Peter the Great , and with the help o f

Duke Charles-Ulrich o f Holstein-Gottorp , hisfuture son-in -law . This was a small concertorchestra , comprising a harpsichord, a fewviolins , a viol d’amore, a tenor viol, a Violoncello, a double bass , two flutes , two oboes,two horns , two trumpets , and kettle-drums .

They played instrumental works by variousGerman and Italian composers Teleman,Keiser, Hein ichen , Schulz , Fuchs , Corelli,Tartini, Po rfo ra, and so o n . All the execu

tants were German . The Empress Catherinecontinued these traditions , but it is not untilwe come t o the Empress Ann Ivanovna that

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RUSSIAN MUSIC

we find the first attempt to give Italian operaat St . Petersburg . This princess sent o n e o f

her musician s to Italy t o recruit and bringback an operatic company, which arrived inRussia in 1735 with the Neapolitan composerFrancesco Araja at its head . He was engagedas organist o f the Imperial Chapel

,and lived

t o carry out the duties attached t o the post f o rnearly thirty years . The company comprised,amongst other musicians, the following P ietroMorigi (Soprano), Filippo G iorgi and Cricchi(tenors), Girolamo Bo n and Mmes . Past o rlaP iantanida, Catarina G iorgi, and Rosina Bo n .

Several instrumental virtuosi, including theviolinists Piantanida and Domenico Dall’

Oglio , the Violoncellist Giuseppe Dall’

Oglio

(Dom en ico’s brother), and others, were brought

with these singers from Italy . Antonio PeresNotti, a scenic artist, accompanied them ;

also Gib elli, a machinist , Fusano, a balletmaster

,and some dancers, male an d female,

including Fusan o ’s wife, G iulia .

Ahiatare, the first I talian Opera written byAraja fo r St . Petersburg, was staged in 1737,during the festivities given to celebrate theEmpress’s birthday . I t was sung by Morigi,G iorgi, Cricchi, Mlle . Mass ari, and Mme .

G iorgi, and was a great success . As early asJ anuary o f the following year Araja produceda second work, Semiramide (with the principal

31

A SHORT HISTORY OF

part taken by Mm e . Piantanida), which wasequally successful . He followed it up W l

’

th

several others in succession, amongst thembeing Scipione, Arsace, Selen ca, B ellerof on te, andAlessandro nell

’I ndie .

Italian Opera continued to enj oy a successduring the twenty years s ince Araja had beenin control o f it , when Elizabeth P etrovna , whohad mounted the throne, conceived the planin 1755, of creating a Russian opera . It wasdifficult t o carry out at the moment , but inspite of obstacles means were eventually foundo f getting together a company o f Russ iansingers (some of whom were o f very inferiorquality), and Araja was given instructions toset t o music for them a Russ ian libretto,Cephalus and Procris, l

with which he had beenprovided by the poet Soum arakov . The workwas given during the Lent carnival, and wassung by G avrilo Martsenko vich, Nicolas Klutat ev, Stepan Rashevsky, Stepan Eustatiev,and Mlle . Beligradsky, who was the daughtero f a celebrated lute-player

,and was barely

.

fourteen years o ld . This was the first attemptat Opera written and sung in Russian . Whatever the result , the preliminary effort had beenmade, and although there was little in thenature of a success f o r a long time

,at any rate

the foundations of Russian Opera had beenlaid . I talian Opera undoubtedly took the

32

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collected round her several foreign composers ,who , s imultaneously o r successively, had anumber o f works staged which they hadwritten expressly for the Italian opera . Firsto f all there was G aluppi , who only remained ashort time

,but scored a great success Wi th

his Didon e ahhandonata and also produced his Re pastore ( 1767) and I figen ia inTauride Then came Traet ta withL

’I soladisabitata ( 1 a n ewOlimpiade( 1770)and An tigon e Traet t a was succeededby the celebrated Paisiello, who remainedlonger than the others , Staying almost ten yearsin Russia between 1776 and 1785 . Besideswriting several cantatas and other things o f

less importance, P aisiello composed for theCourt of St . P etersburg ten operas

,which rank

amongst the best ofhiswo rks : La Sero a padron e,I lMatrimon io inaspettatoJ l B arbiere di Siviglia ,I Filosofi imaginari, La Fin ta Aman te (writtenf o r the meeting o f the Empress Catherine andthe Emperor Joseph II at Mohilov), l l Mondo

della Luna , Niteti, Lucinda ed Armidoro, Alcide

al bivio , and Achille in Sciro . All these workso f Paisiello roused the keenest enthusiasmamongst Russian lovers o f music

,and put the

crown o n his career .If what Fét is says is correct

, Paisiello probably felt t o a certain extent the influence ofthe Russian national character . We may also

34

RUSSIAN MUSIC

suppose, o n the other hand, that Russian musician s may have taken advantage o f the style o fhis compositions . This is what Fét is says whend iscussing l l Re Teodoro, the Opera Buff a whichPaisiello wrote and had Staged inVienna , wherehe had stopped o n his way home from Russiato Italy At the very moment when thisfine , imaginative work was conceived, therumour get about at Rome that Paisiello wasshowing traces o f the influence o f the coldNorth . The source o f this rumour is to befound in the scores o f l l B arbiere di Sio iglia ,

I Filosofi immagin ari, and I lMondo della Luna ,which , when they were transplanted to Italy ,did n o t seem to be characterised by the charmthat is' t o be found in the composer’s earlierworks . Aff ected as he had been by the No r

thern taste for something more robust thana series o f airs

,which was all that the Italians

cared fo r, he had increased the amount o f

concerted music in his scores , and had inserteda number o f , Structural devices and technicaleff ects , the value o f which was n o t by anymeans appreciated by his fellow-countrymen .

“

Paisiello had hardly left St . Petersburg whenSarti

, Cherub in i’s master, was summoned to

take up the duties o f director o f the ImperialChapel . Sarti began by writing a Psalm anda Te Deum ,

with Russian text , and then had anItalian opera entitled Armida e Rinaldo pro

35

A SHORT HISTORY OF

duced in 1786 . He subsequently composed aRussian opera

, The Glory of the North. Aboutthe same time he was instructed by the

O

Em

press Catherine to organise a Conservatoir e atKaterin o slav

,modelled on the Conservatoires in

I taly . The sovereign was so pleased With thepupils o f this school, when they gave a p o n certbefore her in 1795, that she raised Sarti t o therank o f a noble, and presented him with a co nsiderab le amount o f landed property in ordert o keep him definitely fixed in Russia . DuringSarti’s long stay in St . Petersburg, Martini , thecomposer of La Cosa rara , was invited to takeover the direction o f the Italian opera , andwrote for it an Opera Buff a , G li Sposi in con

trasto . After him came Cimarosa— Cimarosathe magician, o n e might call him— who was

summoned to St . Petersburg in his capacity o fcomposer, and produced three strikingly suc

cessful Operas— Cleopatra , La Vergine del Sale,and Atene edifica ta . He is also said to havewritten, within the space o f three years , as

many as five hundred di ff erent pieces fo ruse at Court and fo r members o f the nobility .

Russian society was very much addicted toI talian performances , even in the reign of theEmpress Elizabeth , who , according t o thelegend, mercilessly imposed a fine o f fiftyroubles o n any of her guests who were unablet o take part in a Court entertainment . Under

36

RUSSIAN MUSIC

the Empress Catherine I I this taste developedinto a kind o f frenzy . Indeed

,it is quite easy

t o understand how, with the composers I havementioned and the Operaswhich they produced,the means o f getting the works performedsho uld have been gradually improved , untilthey had reached a high standard o f perfection .

Well-known singers and famous virtuosi, suchas Marchesi, Bruni, Millico , Puttini, Salet ti, laTodi, la Po z zi,la Gabrielli, and many others ,had been attracted by high salaries to St.P etersburg to interpret thes e works particularcare had been taken in recruiting the orchestraand choruses ; technical study had little by littleacquired more importance, and the ensemble

had at all points become commensurate withthe eff orts required of each o n e individually .

Now,what was gained from the point o f view o f

technique by the I talian opera was naturallygained to a like extent by the Russian . Be

s ides which, the public was being educated,the taste fo r music was gradually spreading ,and the progress o f music as an art imperceptibly began t o be felt .In addition to all this , the Empress Cath

erine, f o r all her love o f Italian opera, did n o t i

neglect o r forget the Russian. She even went lso far as t o encourage the eff orts which werebeginning to be made tentatively in that direction by writing herself the texts o f five operas j

37

A SHORT HISTORY OF

in Russian . The music of one o f these operascalled Fedon l 1 was written by a Russian com

poser,Fomin

, who was the author o f severalother works , TheMerchan ts

’Court, TheFortune

Teller, Annette, The Paladin , Good-Man Kaz a

metoo ich, and, above all, The Miller, an opera

comique, which was given o n January 20, 1779,and made his name extremely popular . Men

tion must be made o f a few other Russiancomposers who had Operas produced about thesame time as Fom in , n amely : Matin sky,Bo ulan ,

then a little later, Volkov, Alab iev, and thebrothers Titov . These operas were, however,mere preliminary attempts , which were stillsomewhat timid, and up t o a point must beregarded as exceptional . The time was n o t yetripe, and indeed many years had to elapse beforethe world was to see a really national musicSpring into being and flourish in the sun .

In 1803, when the Tsar Alexander I was o nthe throne, Italian Opera was supplanted atSt . Petersburg by French opera . Boildieu

,who

had been summoned to Russia by the Emperor,Spent eight years there, during which timehe produced nine operas , which were speciallywritten for the Court , and had a great success .These Were Aline, reine de Golconde, Amour

’

ci

1 This o pera was revived at Mo scow in 1896, after m o re

than a hun dred years, at the commem o ratio n o f the cen

tenary o f the death o f the famous Empress .

38

RUSSIAN MUSICmystere,Ahderkan ,Un Tour de rouhrette,La jeuneFemme eolére, Télémagne, Le: Voiturer uerréer,LaDame invisible, and Rien de trap. This doesn o t include the fresh choruses fo r Racine’sAthalie, which he followed the example of somany others in setting to music . Boildieu returned t o France in 181 1 and was succeededby Steib elt , who wrote two French operas ,Cen tlrz

'

llon and Sargines .

During all this time Russian opera , but fo rcertain exceptions which I have mentioned,was still almost entirely in the hands o f

foreigners . Numerous Russian works werewritten by Italian composers , such as Solivathe elder, Sapienza, and above all, CatterinoCavos , who has often erroneously been takenf o r a Russian

,because, although by birth and

origin a Venetian, he spent forty-two years o fhis life in Russia . This composer was born atVenice in 1775, and as a child was almost aninfant prodigy

,fo r at the age o f twelve he

wrote a cantata in honour o f Leopold II ,Emperor o f Austria , and when fourteen yearso ld was organist at the Church o f St . Mark.He settled down in Russia in 1798, and diedat St . Petersburg on April 28, afterhaving held an exceptionally important musical post in that town .

Although a foreigner,Cavos has claims o f his

own to be mentioned in a history o f Russian39

A SHORT HISTORY OF

music . Having been appointed to the post o fmusical director and conductor o f the Imperialtheatres in St . Petersburg

,he wrote sixteen

operas fo r them, as well as six ballets and the

incidental music fo r as many plays . I t is ratherremarkable that the subj ect o f o n e o f his

operas , I van Sousan in , was precisely the same asthat of Glinka’s opera , A Life f or the Tsar,which forms the real point o f departure o f

Russian nationalmusic,an d is the first and moststriking manifestation o f its character . Thefollowing are the titles o f most o f his otherworks : TheRuins of B abylon , The Phcen ix ,Elija

’s

P ower, The I nvisible Prince, The Twelve Hours’

Reign , The Stranger, Love’s Coach, FreshTrouble,

The Cossack Poet, The Three Hunchbacks, TheDaughter of the Danube, The Fugitive. Allthese works are written t o a Russian text .Cavos also wrote a French opera

, The ThreeSultan as . César Cui , who, as a critic

,can

hardly be called indulgent , appraises the partCavos played in musical history in the followingterms His operas are couched in a broaderstyle than those o f his predecessors

,and are

richer both in melody and in instrumentationthey show an obvious intention to assimilateRussian characteristics , but they are n evertheless fundamentally Italian . Several o f Cavos’soperas were very successful, and remained inthe repertory for some years at the beginning

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A SHORT HISTORY OF

instruments in such a way as t o obtain the

eff ects essentially required by dralzn at lc

music . He was , in fact, a distingulshed

amateur rather than a musician in the realsense of the word . Nevertheless , his Askolcl

’s

Tomb enj oyed popul arity fo r a long t1me,and I am n o t sure that it is n o t even nowoccasionally given . Amongst his other operaswere The Quaran tine, The I mportunate Man ,

Stan islas, Tbe Olcl Sorceress, Grandmama’s

Parrots, The Sbepbercless , and Gromoto’

z‘

. Hewas born in 1799 ; he held the post ofInspector o f Theatres in Moscow, and diedin November 1 862 .

César Cui writes o f Versto vsky as followsHis operas might better be called vaudevilles.And so , in spite o f his gifts as a writer ofmelodies

,and in spite o f the popularity which

many o f them (more especially those in hisoperaAskolcl ’sTomb)at tain ed ,Verstovsky cannotbe regarded as o n e o f the founders o f Russianopera . His music undoubtedly has a certainRussian character about it, but at the sametime it is far from being what we mean byOperatic music . I t contains n o trace o f therich contrasts , the dramatic outbursts , and theorchestral colouring which we t o -day considernecess ary : all of which qualities demand notmerely a supple, vigorous talent, but alsoprofound knowledge of technique .”

4 2

nati ons o f Europe .

CHAPTER III

A natio na l compo ser : Michael Glin ka, the real fo un der o f

Russ ian o pera.— His l ife an d wo rks — A Lifi: f or the

Tsar , a patrio tic opera.— Rouss lan and Ludrm

'

llca

Glinka’

s claim to fame.

MICHAEL IVANOVICH GLINKA, who , even afterthe lapse o f half a century , is still regarded as

Russia’s greatest composer —in fact , as Russ ia’scomposer par excellence— belonged to a noblefamily o f wealthy landed proprietors who livedin the village of No vo spa’

ssko'

i (in the government o f Smolensk), wh1ch belonged t o hisfather , a retired army captain . He was bornin this vill age o n May 20 (June 1 804 , anddied in Berlin, when he was still young , o n

February 3 1857 . At an early age heshowed very strong tastes and an unusualaptitude for music , which his family did n o t

attempt t o oppose . He was endowed with asomewhat mystical temperament , and in hisMemoirs he tells how, as a child, he was filledwith poetic enthusiasm by the services in thechurch at Novo spassko i o n great occasions

,

and how he was enchanted more especially4-4

RUSSIAN MUSIC

by the sound o f bells . To such an extentwas this the case , that he used to spend hoursat a time imitating their peculiar resonanceby beating with all his might on copper bowls .

These Memoirs , written by Glinka in Russian,were published after his death by his s ister ,Mm e . Shestakov, who devoted herself t o hismemory with the enthus iasm o f a real disciple .

They first of all appeared in o n e -o f the important reviews at St . Petersburg, and then avery limited edition was printed o ff separately .

So uvo rin , the publisher, brought out a complete edition in 1896 , which also includedGlinka

’s correspondence .

While still a child he found a more sub

stan tial way o f satisfying his appetite formusic than by means o f these makeshift bells .

One o f his French b iographers,'

Octave Fouque,tells the storyAbout this time Glinka’s father was some

what embarrassed financially, so that the display o f luxury which habitually characterisedthe -daily life o f the great landed proprietorsin Russia was n o t in evidence at No vo spasskor.

But Madame Glinka had a brother who wasb etter o ff , and who counted amongst his otherprivileges that o f being able t o

.

keep up aprivate orchestra . When the Glinka’s entertain ed , they used t o ask their relation to sendthem some instrumentalists , who either played

4 5

A SHORT HISTORY OF

dance music for the company o r else gave aregular concert . One evening the mus iciansplayed a quartet by Crusel for clarinet, violin,viola

,and Violoncello Little Michael, who

was then ten years o ld , was extraordinarilystruck by hearing them . Fo r two days hecould think o f nothing else . He was wraptup entirely in his memories o f this poeticalcombination o f instruments , living in a kindo f ecstatic dream

,and only giving the vaguest

attention to his lessons . His drawing—masternoticed his abstraction and reproved his pupilfor his passion for music , which he hadended by guessing . What can you expect the boy replied ; my whole soul isin music

His uncle’s orchestra was the means o f

giving the youthful Glinka the keenest pleasu1 e . At supper time an Octet would beheard, playing original Russian tunes , the 1nstrumen ts consisting o f two flutes

, two clarinets , two horns, and two bassoons . The softlyveiled, sonorous harmonies and the very melancho ly of the tunes themselves , induced anintensely poetical mood . In a few years

,when

Glinka had become a man and was about totake up musical composition as a career

,he was

t o recall these national airs in which his childho od had been gently cradled . He wished t obecome, an d he was to become, the founder

46

RUSSIAN MUSIC

o f a n ew school having its roots deep ly embedded in Russian soil .” 1

Glinka was thirteen years o f age when hisfather placed him in a school at St . Petersburg,which was connected with a Teaching Institute recently founded for the children o f thenobility . He made good progress with hisstudies , more particul arly in the matter o f

languages, acquiring a knowledge o f Latin,French, German, English, and P ersian, withthe natural facility fo r foreign tonguesRussians possess . But these studies did n o t

prevent him from practising the art which hecherished above everything else . He workedhard at the pianoforte and violin, an d especiallythe pianoforte, f o r which he . had lessons fromJohnField and CarlMayer. Later o n he studiedharmony under Dehn in Berlin . We shall seeto what a degree his love of music was carried,and how intelligently he fostered it . He wasbarely twenty when, finding himself somewhatout o f sorts , he departed o n a j ourney to theCaucasus , to take

'

the waters . His health wasin fact precarious

,and he was an invalid all

his life . As soon as the cure was completedhe returned to his father’s house at No'vospasskoi . He tells us in his Memoirs what hismusical occupations were at this time

The over-intensity o f the nervous stimulusOctave Fouque : Michel I van ovz

’

tc/t Glinka.

4-7

A SHORT HISTORY OF

produced by the action o f the sulphurouswaters , combined with the multitude o f n ew

impressions crowding o n my brain, set fire tomy imagination . I took up the study o f musicagain with renewed enthusiasm . Twice aweek we were at home t o o ur friends , and theorchestra was engaged t o play . I go t up theseentertainments in the following way . Firsto f all

,I made all the players , with the excep

tion o f the most efficient, rehearse their partsseparately

,until there was not a single fault

o r doubt about any note . This enabled met o make a very thorough study o f the greatmaster’s methods o f orchestration . Then,with my violin in my hand, I conducted, myself, and noted the general eff ect of the perfo rm an ce . When it went well

,I used to step

back several paces and hear how it soundedat a distance . These are the principle pieceswhich formed the repertory . To take theovertures first, we had . Méclee L

’Hotellerie

portugaise, Lodois/ea , Fan ts/ea , LesDeux 7ournéesby Cherubini (the first two being myfavourites);yoseph, Le Trésor supposé, L

’I rato

,by Méhul ;

Don Giovann i, Die Zaubery‘l

'

ote, La Clemenz a di

Tito, Le Noz z e cli Figaro by Mozart Léon ore

(the o n e in E maj or) by Beethoven ; then forsymphonies we had Mozart’s in G minor

,

Haydn’s in B flat , and Beethoven’s in D maj or .Rossini’s overtures were n o t yet being played .

”

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A SHORT HISTORY OF

(the story goes) on account o f his advancedpolitical Opinions, and travelled through Germany, England, and France ; giving concerts onall sides, which he conducted himself, and inwhich he endeavoured t o popularise Russianmusic , more particularly Glinka’s and his own .

Finding himself in P aris in 186 1 , he attendedsome o f the first o f the Popular Concertsfounded by Pasdeloup , and had a share intheir success , and when, in 1 865, he wasallowed t o return t o Russia , he took them asa model fo r the concerts of classical musicwhich he organised at Moscow in the hall ofthe Riding School, where yo u could obtainseats for twenty kopeks .

1P rince George

Galits in was known as a composer o f two

Masses , two Fantasias for orchestra , numeroussongs and dances , two books of Method forSingers , and so forth.

‘

He died o n September1872 .

Count Michael Yo urievich Vielho rsky , whowas born o n October 3 1 , 1787 , and died onSeptember 9, 1 856, was also a remarkableamateur musician, and was a pupil o f Kiesewetter, who formed a friendship with Beetho ven . He was the heart and soul of theamateur concerts o f St. Petersburg

,and he

and his brother, Count Matthew Vielho rsky,an exceptionally talented violoncellist

,also

1 About sevenpence .

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RUSSIAN MUSIC

conducted concerts o f sacred music . He wasfairly prolific as a composer

,writing

,amongst

other things , a symphony,a string quartet

,

unaccompanied choral works,some songs

(which are still popular), and an opera , TheGipsies, after the poem by P oushkin ,

which hewas prevented by death from finishing .

To return t o G linka, another interestingpassage in his Memoirs will show us what hewas doing at this time, and what an amounto f energy he had

“ Towards the end o f August , 1829, hesays , the idea occurred t o G alitsin, Tolstoy,some other young men, and myself, o f givinga public serenade o n the water . We hired acouple o f boats, which we illuminated withVenetian lanterns the organisers o f the fateembarked in o n e

, the trumpeters o f the regiment o f the Household Cavalry in the other .On the prow o f the first boat was a pianoforte

,

with the help o f which I accompanied andconducted the singers . I remember the ad

mirable effect in the songs made by Tolstoy’stenor voice . The chorus from Bo ildieu

’s

Dame blanche, Sonnez , sonnez ,’ went particularly well . After each song a flourish o f

trumpets sounded from the second boat .Trumpets with keys and valves had n o t beeninvented by then, and the ear had n o t t o

endure the harsh discordant sounds with51

A SHORT HISTORY OF

which it is harassed nowadays . A mazurkaby Count Michael Yo urievich Vielho rsky,

written specially for trumpets , made a verystrong impression on me . In later years Iwrote the Slavsia 1 in A Life f or the Tsar, Withthe old-fashioned trumpets in my mind, andif an orchestra could be formed similar inconstitution to the o n e which took part inour serenades

,I am convinced thatfzthe finale

would have a far finer eff ect .Our serenade was mentioned in the news

paper L’Abeille clu Norcl, which encouraged us

t o make further eff o rts . We soon gave a perfo rm an ce to Prince Ko tchoub ey, pres ident ofthe Imperial Council . There were sixteen of usyoungsters , our company including Bashoutsky,Sterich, and Pro tasso v, and we had an o r

chestra, withMayer at the pianoforte . Dressedup as a woman, I played the part o f DonnaAnna in a translation o f Mozart’s Don Gio

van n i then I improvised at the keyboard .

We gave another performance at thepalace o f Tsarko e- Selo . A serenade o f minewas sung, and also some couplets with choruswhich I had composed t o verses by Galitsin .

Ivanov sang the couplets the choruses wereentrusted to the singers of the Imperial Chapel

,

t o which Ivanov himself belonged .

From there we went t o the house o f1 So ng o f Glo ry.

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RUSSIAN MUSIC

Princess Stroganov at Marino, in the government o f Great Novgorod, at a distance o f

n early two hundred miles from St . Petersburg .

There I played Figaro in l l B arbiere cli

Siviglia

But this life o f simple musical enjoymentcould n o t last for long . Glinka felt it himself,and considered that he ought to work moreseriously . He thereupon proposed t o travel

in Italy in order to get into touch with musicalmovements in that country . His father wasat first Opposed t o this plan, but he eventuallygave his consent . So , in the spring o f 1830,o r, t o be precise , o n April 25, G linka set o ut ,in company with his friend Ivanov, t o take thewaters in Germany, and from there to crossover into Italy .

Ivanov was the Russian singer who madesuch a reputation in Italy as an Italian singer,and became the friend o f Rossini . He madehis first appearance at Paris in 1833, and theRevue Musicale for October 5, 1833, containedthe following notice of that event The

Emperor o f Russia has a Chapel Choir composed entirely o f bass voices . One of the youngmen in it

,having attracted attention by his

exceptional musical gifts , was sent at the sovereign’s expense t o Naples , in order t o perfecthis singing . He actually settled down t o

work,was coached by a celebrated singer ,

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A SHORT HISTORY OF

and made rapid progress . But everythinghe saw and heard gave him so pronounced ataste fo r Italian methods that he resolvednever to return to his own country in theNorth . The directors of the Théat re-Italien,who were passing through Naples , heard himsing

,engaged him

,and took him back with

them to Paris . This bass singer of the Russian Imperial Chapel is n ow the tenor Ivanov,whose pure, fresh voice made such a sensation on Tuesday in the Theatre- Italien .

” Itneed scarcely be remarked that Ivanov neverhad a bass vo ice ,

_

an d that he was a tenor all

his life . But what is noteworthy is that theTsar Nicholas was apparently very vexed atthe singer not returning to Russia when hisleave of absence had expired . Ivanov, moreover, never went back there, and when he hadcome to the end o f his career as a singer, heretired quietly to Bologna , where he died o n

July 7 , 1880 . He was born at Poltava in 1809 .

Glinka and Ivanov, then, arrived at Milan,where Glinka remained a year and took lesso nsfrom Basili, the Director of the Conservatoirein the town. He frequented the theatres

,he

was present at the first performance of Bellini’s Son nambula , he made musical friends ,and he even composed and published somepianoforte pieces , which were merely arrangements and fantasias on themes by Rossini

,

54

RUSSIAN MUSICDoniz etti, and Bellini . After this he went t ospend several months at Naples , then he t e

turned t o Mil an, and finally he left in 1832fo r Berlin . I t is rather interesting to notethat the idea which was t o lead him to fame— the idea o f writing Russian music

first occurred t o him while he was living inItaly . He tells us so in his Memoirs Ast o my attempts at composition at this time

,

I look upon them as having been somewhat unfortunate . I was able t o take a sensible enoughview o f mywo rk in this directio n ,but everythingwhich I wrote t o please my friends at Milan,and which G iovanni Ricordi most obliginglypublished, merely served to prove to me thatI had not yet found my direction

,and that I

should never succeed in writing in the Italianstyle with any conviction. Home—sickness led

me little by little to write Russian music.

”

From this day forward he was never t o abandonthe idea .

At Berlin Glinka f o r several months hadlessons from Dehn, an excellent theorist , whoas keeper of the musical section o f the RoyalLibrary, and a contributor to the Leipz igerMusikalische Zeitung. He learnt from himhow t o write fugues and development sections ,which did not prevent him from composinga few pieces and from thinking perpetually ofhis plan o f creating a Russian musical style .

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A SHORT HISTORY OF

This, in his own words , haunted his mind .

One can see how it did from a fragment o fa letter addressed at this period to one o f h1sfriends in St . PetersburgI shall not be here for any length o f t1me.

I am longing for the moment t o come whenI can shake yo u by the hand . I have a planin my head— an idea . It isn’t perhaps themoment for making a clean breast o f it.Perhaps

,I may be afraid

,if I say what it is, of

seeing incredulity stamped on your face .Shall I tell yo u everything P Well, Ihave a notion that I too might be able to giveo ur stage a work on a large scale It is notgoing to be a masterpiece— I am the first toadmit that— but on the whole it won’t be sobad ! What do you say t o that The essentialis to make a good choice o f subj ect . I n anycase, it will be thoroughly Russ ian . Nat on lythe subject, but the music too , is to be RussianI wan t my beloved fellow-coun trymen to feelthoroughly at home when theyhear it, and I don

’twant foreigners to take me fo r a braggart whohas presumed to deck himself o ut , like the j ay,in someone else’s finery . I begin t o realisethat I may lose you by unduly prolonging adescription o f something which still lies in thewomb of the future . Who knows

,too

,whether

I shall find I have sufficient strength and abilityto carry out what I have vowed t o do

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A SHORT HISTORY OF

The circle o f New poets was filled with en

thusiasm f o r this talented, vigorous , youngmusician

, who had resolved to shake o ff theyo ke o f the foreigner, in order that he toomight consecrate an altar to his country .

” 1

It will be remembered that Glinka used thewords It is essential to make a good choiceo f subj ect .” To write music with a nationalcharacter, a national subj ect was requiredfi

Jouko vsky suggested that of I van Sousan in ,which recalls one of the darkest and mostdramatic episodes in the history o f the strugglebetween Russia and Poland, at a time whenPoland was all-powerful . G linka at once re

alised what he might make o f this fine story.

The epoch was 16 13 . The Poles , after thedeath of the Tsar Boris Go doun o v , had invaded the Russian Empire and had advancedas far as Moscow . The whole Russian nation,seeing the danger it ran o f losing its indepen den ce, rallied round the young MichaelFederovich Romanov , who had just beenelected Tsar . The Poles , so the story runs ,had laid a plot to carry Off the person of theyouthful sovereign, and some o f their leaders ,being ignorant o f his whereabouts

,turned to

a peasant, Ivan Sousan in ,and concealing

their identity, ordered him to take them intothe presence o f his master . Ivan suspected

1 Octave Fo uque Mic/tel I van ovz'

tclt Glin ka .

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RUSSIAN MUSIC

treachery, and bravely sacrificed his own lifeto save his sovereign and his country . Hepretended t o be ready to obey

,and having

meanwhile sent his adopted so n Vanya to

warn the Ts ar o f the danger threatening him,

he drew o ff the Poles into the depths o f analmost impenetrable forest

,from which they

were unable t o find any way out . Then,when the enemy discovered that they had beentricked, the unhappy Ivan was put to death,falling an obscure but heroic victim of hisdevotion .

Glinka was struck by the grandeur andpathos o f this story

,and above all by the

Opportunities fo r local national colour whichit wo uld provide o n the stage . He alsorapidly calculated what he could do with itfrom the musical point of view. He drew upwith his own hand a sketch o f the plot

,and

when he had reduced it to order, he askedBaron Rozen t o write the libretto for him .

The baron was secretary to the Tsarevichand

,although German was his native tongue,

he readily consented to collaborate . It isquite easy t o see how such a subj ect , when itwas skilfully prepared for the stage and sup

plem en t ed by characteristic incidents (such as

the brilliant scene in the Polish camp whichmakes the second act, and the splendidly diguified conclusion showing the solemn entry o f the

S9

A SHORT HISTORY OF

Tsar into his capital), was just such a o n e as

to heighten the inspiration of the composerand to rouse the enthusiasm o f a public fo rwhich

,as everyone knows , patriotism

.

1S n o t

a mere word . Besides , the strong 1n t erest

of the dramatic action, the intrinsic value ofthe music , the splendid and original staging,the entirely n ew style of the work regardedas a whole— all this combined t o bring abouta huge triumph for A Life f or the Tsar (asthe opera was eventually called), when it wasput o n for the first time in the ImperialTheatre of St . Petersburg o n November 27(December 1836 . The cast included thefamous singer Petrov (Sousan in) ; Mlle . Vorob ieva (Vanya), who was subsequently replacedby Mm e . Petrovna ; Mm e. Stepanova (Antomida) ; and the French tenor Charpentier(Sabin in).In spite o f the astonishment and the ho s

t ility of a few,who were bewildered by the

new style of the work, A Life f or the Tsar wasextraordinarily successful from the beginning

,

and it became a really national event . No tthat the work is entirely revolutionary incharacter o r completely original . As a matterof fact, it is somewhat composite

,which is

not astonishing , when one remembers , o n

the one hand, that it is Glin ka’s first production for the stage (and for a first work it

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RUSSIAN MUSIC

shows amaz ing sureness o f hand), and, o n theother, that it was written after his returnfrom his long tour in Italy

,in the heyday o f

Bellini and Donizetti’s popularity,and at a

time when the vogue o f Ross ini,both in Italy

and in every other country, was at its height.

It is not surpris ing, then, that traces ofI talian phraseology, which is precisely whatG linka wished to avoid

,are to be found

in spite o f the composer, as it were— o n morethan one page of the very closely packed scoreo f A Life f or the Tsar . This is more speciallythe case in the trio o f the first act , which,incidentally

,is very attractive ; the principle

phrase,which is announced by the tenor,

being taken up first by the soprano and thenby the bass . Undeniabl e Italian influence isalso t o be found in the concerted quartet inthe third act

,which is enchantingly beautiful

and is constructed on splendidly broad lines .

But the essential originality underlying boththe thought and the phraseology comes outin other parts of the score

,where one can

enj oy the very,individual flavour of Glin ka’s

style . It is to be found, fo r instance, 1n thepretty

,graceful chorus for female vol ees

with which the first act opens in the Vigorousand passionate duet in the third act betweenSousan in and Vanya in Sousan in

’s first scene

with the Po les ,whichglowswith really dramatic6 1

A SHORT HISTORY OF

imagination ; in a charming chorus o f younggirls , in five time , which ends s trangely on thedominant ; and, above all , in the admirablescene of the forest

,which is the real climax

of the Opera . In this scene, Sousan in , with apresentiment that he will be put t o death bythe Poles whom he has tricked, recalls hispast

,and dreams o f the beloved beings whom

he is voluntarily leaving in sacrific in g his lifefor king and country . The whole o f thislong monologue (an unspeakably sad pieceof melodic writing) is exceedingly beautifuland moving, and strikes a note o f true inspiration . Indeed, it is animated with anobility o f thought and an intensity o f emo

tion such as could only spring from the soulo f a great musician . This magnificent episodb

‘

leaves a deep and poignant impression,and it”

is j ust here that the music becomes strildnglyfresh and individual in character

,introducing

new and unforeseen rhythms,in both five

and seven time, which, like some o f theharmonies , take the listener by surprise andfall on the ear with a curious yet powerfuleff ect . A case in point occurs in the epi

logue where the Tsar makes his entry intoMoscow— a scene conceived with a breadthand splendour that are really epic .

Mention must also be made o f the occasionaluse o f Russian folk-songs , which are skilft

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RUSSIAN MUSIC

introduced and ably treated,and give a quite

peculiar c olour and stamp t o the whole work.This device , which was o f Glinka

’s own in

ven tio n , has constantly been resorted to bysubsequent compo sers . of the thingswhich gives modern Russian music its char;acter and individuality

,and helps to diff er

en t iat e it from the music o f other schools.In short

,if the score o f A Life f or the Tsar is

n o t perhaps an actual masterpiece, we mustadmit that

,taken as a whole, with the tend

en cies it shows , the style which it partiallyestablishes and the actual intrinsic value ofthe music , it has t o rank as a work of the veryfirst order . Here , moreover, is the Opinion o f

o n e o f Glinka’s compatriots , César Cui, o n

fmire subj ect ; it is to be found in his book,La Musique en Russie

The music o f A Lifef or the Tsar is entirelyimbued with the national feeling o f Russiaand Poland . In the whole opera there ishardly a single phrase which has more affinitywith the mus ic of Western Europe than withthat o f the Slavs . The only completelyparallel case o f strong national traits , treatedo n the highest possible artistic plane, is t o befound

,in my Opinion, inDerFreischutz . Glinka,

however,only availed himself o f a very limited

number o f folk-tunes t o indicate the essentiallyRussian character o f his music : so fertile a

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A SHORT HISTORY OF

writer o f tunes , as he was , had no need to lookfor his ideas anywhere beyond himself. Hisown tunes , like the harmonies which he putsto them

,are strongly stamped with the

Russian character . The Polish local colouris reproduced less faithfully and by moreobj ective and superficial means . Glinka oh

tains it by the use of the strongly markedrhythms of the polonaise and the mazurka,which are heard as soon as the Poles appear onthe scene . The method is easy and showy, andmay satisfy a n o t very exacting listener, but itis not sufficient in the dramatic episodes . Onemay quite well be a Pole without constantlyhumming mazurkas and polonaises .

In this work, where inspiration and t echn ical skill go closely hand in hand, Glinka hascreated a completely equipped Russian schoolo f Opera . A Life f or the Tsar was bornin full armour, like Minerva, and its authorfrom the very first moment found a placeamongst the greates t composers . Can a musiciam set out on his career more brilliantly thanthis If Meyerbeer had been really introducedto the public by Robert le diable, the entry tohis career could n o t have made more eff ectthan Glinka’s . In fact , are there many Operasin which , the exigencies o f dramatic action andlocal colour being strictly observed

, o n e can

count as many as five-and-twenty first-rate64

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A SHORT HISTORY OF

This remark only partially reassured m e,.

an d

I remained a prey to the keenes t anxiety .

But the entry of Mlle . Vo ro b ieva cleared awayall my doubts . The song o f the orphan b oy,the duet between him and Ivan, and thescene in G maj or went o ff admirably .

In the fourth act , the chorus representingthe Poles fell upon Petrov with so much goodwill that his shirt was torn and he had t o defend himself in earnest . As t o the epiloguethe grandeur o f the spectacle , the view o f theKremlin

,the crowd of actors , the massing of

the groups , the animation of the stage, filledme with admiration . Mlle .Vo ro b ievawas ad

mirable in the trio with chorus , as she was,in fact

,from beginning to end in her part .”

The success of A Life f or the Tsar was striking and indisputable . However, like all workswhich are in radical contrast with the hum-

p

drum taste o f the public , it did not fail tostir up unfavourable criticism when it made !it s appearance . The fact is stated by Russianwriters themselves . M . P laton deWaxel wro te f

as follows o n the subj ectA Life f or the Tsar has suff ered the same

fate as every other work which marks a rapidmovement in advance and opens up freshhorizons it has not been understood andaccepted all at once . The greater number ofobj ections were directed precisely against what

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constitutes the chief merit o f the work— itsprofound originality combined with its respectf o r the traditional forms of opera . Some calledit wretched, vulgar stuff others found faultwith it fo r n o t having broken away entirely fromthe traditions o fWestern music

,as though there

could be two kinds o f musical grammar and twomethods o f estimating the ae sthetic value ofmusical proportion and form . One thing cannotbe gainsaid, and that is, that while confininghimself within the limits o f these traditions ,G linka has succeeded in giving his music apre

—eminently Russian stamp , and has managedt o take his inspiration from folk-songs andthe Spirit which they breathe, without actuallyquoting the tunes o r descending from the levelo f the highest planes o f his art . The transplanting o f national tendencies into the sphereo f music , which Glinka was o n e o f the firstt o accomplish, is o n e o f the triumphs of o urcentury .

”

In any case,Whatever the critics may have

said, the public made n o mistake about it.In a very short while A Life f or the Tsar

went o n its brilliant and glorious career,acclaimed and winning victories on all sides .

To such an extent was this the case, that onDecember 5 1879, the 500th performancewas given at St . Petersburg, and seven yearslater, o n November 27 (December 1886,

67

A SHORT HISTORY OF

the opera celebrated its fiftieth birthdaywith its 577th performance . For this occasion the work was specially remounted, thescenery was entirely n ew , and even theleast important characters were taken bysingers o f the first rank, like M . Stravinsky,who played the small part o f the chief ofthe Polish legion , and M . Mikha1lov, whoagreed to undertake the solo in the introtory chorus . The four prin cipal arts

So usan in , Sab in in ,Vanya, and Antoni

were in the hands o f Mm . Ko riakin

Vassiliev and Mmes . Lavrovsky andlovsky . The p erformance was a kind of so 3

national fest ival, and it had its counterpartin the provinces , where A Life f or the Tsar waigiven in every Russian town which possessedan opera-house . At Moscow it wasplayed simultaneously in two theatres . Finally

,1

mention must be made o f two occasional publicatio n s an interesting History of

‘A Life f or

the Tsar,’ by P . Weim arn

, who subsequentlywrote a biographyofGlinka (published in 1and a very vivid pamphlet byVladimir Stassov,which contains portraits o f Glinka and hissister , Mm e . Ludmilla Shestakov, whosename is closely bound up with his reputation,and also an illustration o f the fstatue o f thecomposer at Smolensk .

A year before the publication o f the pamph68

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let, the town o f Smolensk,close to his native

Village, had put up this statue to Glinka . Itserection was mainly due t o the energy o f thatfine character, Mm e . Shestakov, who did everything she could, after his death, to perpetuatehis name. With the help o f a devoted friend,M . vo n Engelhardt, she undertook a completeedition o f his works , including the full scoreo f the two Operas, and saw it through the press .Fo r the erection o f the statue, she had thesympathetic and active assistance o f PrinceGeorge Obolensky

,a Marshal belonging to the

nobility o f Smolensk ; and she was also helpedby several o f the gentry of the same province,as well as by Anton Rubinstein, who contributed

, out o f his own purse, a portion o f thesum required fo r the completion o f this int eresting and, what might really be called,national undertaking . To raise the funds ,Rubinstein gave a concert which broughtin 5000 roubles .

1

A Lifef or the Tsar has been given in Germanat Hanover under Hans vo n Biilow, in Czechat Prague under B alakirev, in Italian at Milanand London , and finally in French : first atNice and then at Paris at the Nouveau Theatreo n October 1 896, thoughhere ,unfortunately,the musical condition s were deplorably bad .

0

Just after A Life f or the Tsar had made 1ts

£5306

A SHORT HISTORY o r

appearance, Glinka was appointed Cho ral

Director o f the Imperial Chapel (n o t o rgamSt ,as it has been erroneously stated). TheodorLvov, the organist o f the Chapel, died o n

December 14 , 1 836 , and his so n , Alexis Ly ov,the future composer o f the Russian n at1o n al

anthem, succeeded to his post . His appoint

ment and Glinka’s date from January 1 and2 , 1 837 . Acting in his new capacity, Glinkasoon had to undertake a j ourney to Finlandand Little Russia, to look fo r singers for theChapel Choir

,the membership o f which was

being reorganised . This did not prevent himfrom thinking o f a new work and from gettingto work on it fairly quickly . Acting o n theadvice of Prince Shako vsky, a popular dramaticauthor of that time , he took as his subj ect one o fthe early poems ofPoushkin , Rousslan and Lud

milla , and begged the great writer himself toprepare him a libretto on the basis o f his poem .

Po ushkin promised to do so , when his tragicdeath suddenly put an end t o the project .Poushkin ,

it may be remembered, was mor

tally wounded by a pistol shot in a duel at theage o f thirty—seven . He had married a youngwoman who was as famous fo r her beauty as

he was for his brains . Unfortunately he wasnot only j ealous but, owing to the Africanblood which he had in his veins , he was subjectto very violent fits o f temper . He was mis

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guided enough t o listen to an infamous storywhich insinuated that unwelcome attentionshad been paid t o his wife by her own brotherin -law, Baron Georges d’

An thés, a youngFrench oflicer, serving as lieutenant in theEmpress’s body-guard, and brought up as theadopted so n o f B aron de Heckeren ,

the Amb assado r o f the Netherlands in St . Petersburg,who subsequently became a senator o f theFrench Empire . Po ushkin sent the Barond’An thés so insulting a letter that the inevitable outcome was a duel , and a very seriouso n e . The pistol was the weapon decidedupon, and the duel the kind in which theadversaries choose their own time to fire . M .

d’An th

‘

es was the first to shoot , and his bulletwounded Po ushkin mortally, without kill inghim o n the spot . When he rushed anxiouslytowards the wounded poet, the latter , grosslyreviling him t o his face, shouted to him to st0pit was his turn t o fire, and he intended to makeuse of his right t o do so . M . d

’An thes went

b ack t o his place, and Poushkin , who waslying exhausted o n the ground and losing hisblood

,slowly aimed and fired . With cruel

joy he saw his adversary fall and thought hehad killed him . M . d’An thes was , however,only wounded. As to Poushkin , he sufferedhorrible pain for four days and then exp1red,

after having at least the consolation o f kn owmg7 1

A SHORT HISTORY OF

that those whom he had believed guilty wereundoubtedly innocent . B aron d’

An thés wascourt-martialled and condemned to be degraded from the ranks as well as deprived o f

the right to hold a title . This sentence received the approbation of the Emperor, butin view Of the fact that he was n o t a Russ1ansubj ect (having been born in France, andhaving only taken refuge in Russia after beingcompromised in the case o f the Duchesse deBerry when she was arrested at Nantes), hewas conducted by an officer to the frontier,and after having had his commission takenfrom him

, was expelled from Russian soil .Baron d ’

An thes of Heckeren survived somesixty years after these events had taken place,dying in November 1895 .

Po ushkin , then, being dead, Glinka had to

set about some other method for obtaining alibretto from Rousslan and Ludmilla, whichis just a fairy-story, by itself rather commonplace, but converted by Poushkin ’

s literaryskill and brilliant imagination into a tinymiracle of grace and delicacy . So he askedo n e of his friends , Bakhtourin , to draw up asketch of the opera o n the lines he wanted

,

which Bakht ourin proceeded to do (so we aretold in theMemoirs), in the space o f a quartero f an hour . But the sketch, as o n e mayreadily imagine, was not entirely satisfactory,

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criticism . On the other hand, if we look at itfrom another point o f view, we shall find thatthere is plenty of variety in it, and that eachscene, taken by itself, seems t o invite musmaltreatment . Glinka could not have donebetter than to hit o n a poem so much inkeeping with his own peculiar talent, whichwas very pliable and well adapted fo r thetreatment o f descriptive scenes . We haveseen that Glinka was dramatic almost in hisown despite, owing to his being gifted withmental vigour and Spontaneity, and that hewas , above all, a musician, looking o n opera asan opportunity fo r writing good music o f as

varied a kind as possible . It is hardly sur

prising, therefore, that he should have beencontent t o accept the text o f Rousslan , which,with its strange mixture o f varicoloured scenes

,

reminds one o f a sort o f ! conjuror’s kaleidoscope, and that he should even have put some ofthe very best o f himself into it . Indeed

,while

Poushkin has given his poem an air o f moralfreedom and irresponsibility, Glinka, on theother hand, has taken his task seriously , and hastreated it throughout with the deepest feeling .

”

In the Opinion of the great maj ority o f Russian critics and musicians , the score o f Rousslariis superior as a whole t o that of A Life f or theTsar . In the matter o f colour

,moreover

,it

is very diff erent. Whereas in the earlier worli;74

RUSSIAN MUSICG linka contrasted and opposed the Russianand the Polish nationality, in Rousslan heaimed at brilliant Orien tal eff ects , and madetwo o f the characters— Prince Ratmir andChern om o r, the magician— stand out stronglyin this respect . It goes without saying,o f course, that Russian characteristics playa large part in the course of the work

,as

o n e may see by looking at the first and fifthacts , which are animated, vigorous , and highlycoloured . Here , t o o , Glinka utilised someo f the essential features o f folk-song . The

theme, fo r instance, o f Ratm ir

’s splendid

recitative in the third act , and the two dancetunes in the lez ghinka in the fourth , are o f

Tartar origin ; the theme o f Finn’s ballad isthat o f a genuine Finnish folk-song ; and theexquisite chorus o f Harmonious Flowersis based o n a Persian air . It was on his travelsin Finl and, when he was driving o n e day withsome friends to visit the Falls of Imatra, thatGlinka heard a postilion singing the song,which he took down and made into a hauntingballad . The theme o f the chorus o f Harmonious Flowers was given him by the Secretaryo f the Persian Embassy at St . Petersburg .

These folk—songs are handled with greatskill, and the development o f the themes isstrikingly rich and individual : so much so ,

in fact , that in this case the composer’s treat

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A SHORT HISTORY OF

ment of his material is superior t o the materialitself. Besides , Glinka has taken care t o drawtypes and to diff erentiate all the charactersby a musical style and phraseology suited t oeach . Ratm ir, the Oriental prince, is givenamorous

, can tabile melodies ; the o ld sorcerer(a Finn, like all sorcerers in Russian legends)has a ballad, the theme o f which was pickedup during an excursion to the shores o f

the Baltic ; Chern om o r, the Caliban of theBlack Sea , is designated by a strange eff ectof orchestration which exactly depicts hisdense brain and heavy, stupid, clumsy wayo f thinking . Some scenes— the first , fo r instance, and the last— have very strongly markedRussian features . To the two sympatheticcharacters , Rousslan and Ludmilla , G linka hasallotted a number o f beautiful, broadly designedmelodies , which are developed freely andwithout leanings towards the methods o f anyparticular school .” l Finally

,the rich and

exuberant melodic invention, the original andvaried orchestration, the fresh, piquant harmonies which sometimes borrow a strangecolouring from certain Oriental scales , allcontribute to make the score of Rousslan and

Ludmilla a work of genius of the first rank .

César Cui writes of it : We were merelyinterpreters o f the language of Truth when we

Octave Fouque : Mic/tel I van ovitch Glinka .

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RUSSIAN MUSIC

spoke o f the high value o f A Lif e f or the Tsar.I t would be equally truthful of us t o assert ;that the music o f Rousslan has even greateriworth . A Lif e f or the Tsar is a work o f youthias well as o f genius ; Rousslan is the product o f a mature talent that has reached thefinal stages o f its development . Regarded as

absolute music, Rousslan is a work of the firstrank from this point o f view it will bear comparison with the great Operatic masterpieces .

In it G linka has marked out n ew paths andOpened up horizons undreamed of before histime .” 1

Notwithstanding, when the Opera firstappeared o n November 27 (December1 84 2 , it did n o t win the success it deserved .

It was t o o new in style, and t o o complex to begrasped and appreciated by the public at thevery first . I think, however, that the coldnesso f it s receptionhas been somewhat exaggerated .

Fo r if the first performance did,undoubtedly

,

n o t pass o ff very well, owing to a tiresomebut accidental circumstance— namely, the indisposition o f a popular singer who had animportant part and the substitution at thelast moment o f a feeble one in her place- itis nevertheless a fact that Rousslan was givenon as many as thirty—two occasions duringthe first season ; which is n o t what I should

1 La Musz'

gue en Russie.

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A SHORT HISTORY OF

call being received with cold water . The

work was very much discussed, it is true , andsome o f the criticisms were unfair . But

between that and a complete failure there isa vast deal of diff erence . On this very point,moreover

,I have come across , in an article in

the 7ourn al de Sain t-P e’

tersbourg, some interesting details , the veracity o f which can hardlybe impugned

“ If one is t o believe M . Youry Arnold(in his Memoirs) the work was badly played atthe opening performances . Cavos , the Chapelorganist , had died two years before , and hadbeen replaced by Charles Albrecht , a pedanticGerman conductor , who, like his orchestra,took exceptions t o some discourteous remarkswhich were published by Bulgarin in hispaper

, L’Abeille du Nord , and were attributed

to Glinka himself . Owing t o the ill-humour ofthe players the rehearsals went badly

,and it

was only at the third performance that thingsbegan t o go smoothly, though even thenneither players nor singers (with the exceptiono f the two Pet ro vs) could make head or tailo f the style o f the music .

Speaking generally, o n e may say that therewas Open opposition to the opera

,even be

fore the first performance, o n the part o f somevery distinguished amateurs . Count MichaelVielho rsky , the famous patron o f music and

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the author o f songs that are still remembered,

spoke continuously o f what he called thisfailure o f an opera ,’ and was more particularlycontemptuous o f the fifth act

,in which Glinka

allowed him t o make numerous cuts .’ Otherswere made both before and after the firstnight, and this helped to make the plot o f theopera still more obscure .

The accounts which have survived o f thisfirst night are n o t always in entire agreementwith each other . G lin ka in hisMemoirs saysthat the first two acts did not make such abad impression, and that it was only when thethird act was reached that the public began toshow that it was bored . The Count left thetheatre during the fifth act, and at the fall ofthe curtain there were even some hisses , whichcame mostly from the stage and orchestra

,

mingled with calls for the author. M.

Youry Arnold, on the other hand, declares thatthe signs o f approval were numerous andsustained

,and that, generally speaking, the

work obtained something more than a merecourtesy success .

What really did spoil the performance wasthe illnes s o f Mm e . Vo rob ieva-P etrova, theadmirable contralto o f the Russian operahouse

, who was the original Vanya in A Lifef orthe Tsar fo r, at the last moment, she had tohand over her part t o her namesake, Mme .

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A SHORT HISTORY OF

Petrova,a beginner

,who from that day was

never heard o f again . Much, to o , was expectedfrom the waltz in the third act which was torouse the bulk o f the public ,but it was preciselythis number which was less successful than anyother . It was only at the third performancethat the celebrated singer was able t o appear,and immediately the whole o f the Orientalscene in the third act made a great sensation ;so much so that , for seventeen performancesrunning (three being given a week),b o th authorand singer had t o appear each time t o acknowledge the applause .

The work was played thirty—two times,right into Lent . This indicates that it wasbecoming more and more of a success indeed

,

it was even caricatured at the Russian Theatre .

During the two following seasons it was puton for another twenty performances , andRousslan only dis appeared from the bills whenthe Russian opera ifself was transferred toMoscow, on the arrival of the Italian troupewith Rubini at its head .

” 1

I t is only right to say that it was not reallyuntil after Glinka’s death that Rousslan was

at last appreciated at it s proper value . It sawthe light again at St . Petersburg, at theTheatre-Cirque in 1 859, after being left on

1

j ourn al de Saz'

n t-P e'

tersbourg , November 27 (December1892.

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The great musicians o f the time, Meyerbeer,Liszt

,and Berlioz, testified to their admiration

fo r Glinka . When he paid his first visit t oParis in 1844 , with the purpose o f making hismusic known there

,he read in the Revue et

Gaz ette Musicale for August 25 M . Glinka,the most celebrated o f Russian composers , andthe author o f several Operas which have beengiven with brilliant success in St . Petersburg,has just arrived in P aris , where he means tospend the winter . We hope he will write andwork for the Opéra Comique .” He foundBerlioz there just when he was holding aseries o f orchestral and choral concerts in theCircus o f the Champs-Elysees . Berlioz paidhis Russian colleague the graceful complimento f putting several o f his works into the programmes. Glinka himself gave a concert inthe Salle Herz, and Berlioz, wishing t o makeit an Opportunity o f introducing him to his

readers in the 7ournal des Déba ts, wrote himthe following letter

MY DEAR Si R, -To perform your music andto tell numbers o f people that it is fresh, alive,charming, vivacious , and original is n o t enough ;I must give myself the pleasure o f writing afew columns about it . I feel the necessity allthe more as it is my duty t o do so .

Have I n o t t o keep the public in touch with82

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whatever is most remarkable, in the way o f

music , going o n in Paris Be good / enough,then, t o give me a few notes about yourself,your early studies, the musical institutions o f

Russia, and your compositions . By studyingyour score with your help (in order to obtaina less imperfect knowledge of it), I may be ablet o turn o ut something to lerable , and to givethe readers o f the Déba ts an approximate ideao f the pre-eminent position you occupy .

I am fearfully bothered with these infernalconcerts , the conceited airs the mus iciansgive themselves , and so on ; but I shall certain ly find time to write an article on a subj ecto f this sort . I t is n o t often that I have anything so interesting to write about .

H . BERLIOZ.

One may be allowed to add that it was notoften that Berlioz made himself so agreeable . Anyhow,

o n e cannot doubt his sincerityo u this occasion, fo r he kept his word andpublished an extremely flattering article onhis colleague in the 7ournal des Débats forApril 16, 1 845 . He began by recounting how,

years before, in 1831 , he had met Glinka atRome

,and how at o n e o f Horace Vernet’s at

homes (Vernet being then Director o f theAcadémie de France) he had heard severalRussian songs o f his delightfully sung by

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A SHORT HISTORY OF

Ivanov . These songs ,” he said, struck mevery much by the character o f their melodicoutline

,which was most attractive and quite

diff erent from anything I had ever heardbefore .

” He went on to speak of A Lifef or theTsar and then of Rousslan an d Ludmilla, andexpressed his opinion of the composer’s capacity in the following termsM . de Glinka has presented the Russian

stage with a second Opera , Rousslan and Lud

milla,the subj ect o f which is taken from a

poem by Poushkin . This work is fantastic incharacter and half Oriental, as though it hadbeen written under the double inspiration ofHoffmann and the Thousand and One Nights .

It is so diff erent from A Life f or the Tsar thatit might almost be the work of another composer . The author’s talent seems riper andmore powerful . There can be no doubt thatRousslan is a step in advance, and marks a newphase in Glinka’s musical development .In his first Opera one feels , above all things ,

the influence of Italy coming through thetunes , which are stamped with a fresh

,true

,

national colouring ; in the second opera,on

the other hand, with it s importan t orchestralpart , its beautiful harmonic web and it s

skilful scoring, one feels the predominatinginfluence of Germany . Amongst the first musician s to do striking justice t o the beauties

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RUSSIAN MUSICo f the new score must be mentioned Liszt andHen selt , who have transcribed and writtenvariations o n some of the most brilliant themes .Glinka

’s talent is essentially supple and varied .

His style has the rare advantage o f being ablet o adapt itself, at the desire of the composer,t o the exigences and character o f the subj ecttreated. Glinka can be simple and even naivewithout ever condescending to employ a vulgarphrase . His melodies take unexpected turns

,

and are built on periods which charm by theirvery strangeness . He is a great harmonist, anduses the instruments with a care and an ac

quaintance with their most intimate resources,which make his orchestra one of the most noveland vivacious modern orchestras that one canhear . The public appeared to be entirely ofthis Opinion at the concert given by M .

de Glinka in the Salle Herz last Thursday .

The indisposition of Mme . Soloviev, a St .Petersburg singer who has taken the principalparts in the composer’s operas , prevented us

from hearing the vocal numbers announcedin the programme ; but his Scherzo in theform o f a waltz and his Cracovienne wereloudly applauded by a brilliant audience .

The Scherzo quite carries you away ; i t i s

full o f wayward rhythms which are extremelypiquant ; it is really new, and it is developedin an unusually able way. It is more especially

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A SHORT HISTORY OF

the o rigin ality‘

o f the melodic style t o whichthe Cracovienne and the March owe theirsuccess . This distinction is a rare o n e, andwhen a composer has , in addition , a distinguished harmonic style and the gift o f

beautifully free, clear, and coloured orchest rat io n ,

he has an undoubted right to claima place amongst the first - rate composers o f hisday . The author o f Rousslan is o n e o f thosewho has such a right .Berlioz’s opinion of Glinka is undoubtedly

interesting and deserves to be quoted . The

excellent account of Glinka’s concert,given

by Maurice Bourges in the Revue et Gaz ette

Musicale for April 20, 184 5, also makes interesting reading .

I will not expatiate any more o n the lastyears o f the composer’s life, o n his newj ourneys to France and Spain, o r o n his lastcompositions which, incidentally, were notwritten for the theatre . If I have alreadydwelt at such length o n him, it is because thecoming o f Glinka marks a red- letter day in thehistory o f Russ ian music , and is the point o fdeparture o f a new era it is because his nameis a kind of symbol, and also because thisadmirable musician is rightly considered inhis own country (and ought to be everywhere else) as the founder and creator o f

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RUSSIAN MUSIC

claim special attention and a place o f hisown .

Yes , Glinka is certainly the head o f a schooland the pioneer o f modern music in Russia .But his work was n o t all written for the stage

,

and it would be unfair t o forget that, apartfrom the theat re,his compositions are numerousand varied . One may quite well have a poorOpinion of the writings o f his extreme youththose which preceded his first return t o

Russia in 1 834 ; we have seen that he heldthem fairly cheap himself . But from thismoment onwards his compos itions deserveserious attention . They include num eroussongs with French o r Russian words t o thenumber o f about eighty, many o f which areexquisitely beautiful, being sometimes prof o un dly sentimental, sometimes almost sensual;also the music f o r Kouko ln ik’s play, PrinceKholmsky, a Tarantell a f o r orchestra, andKaraminskaya, an exquisite symphonic fragment

,full o f originality . Then there are the

other symphonic works brought back fromSpain

,namely : the 7 ota Aragonese and the

beautiful Spanish overture called A Summer

Night a t Madrid, as well as a few pianoforteand other miscellaneous pieces . Amongstthese I will single out f o r mention a Polonaisewith chorus ; a Waltz and Polonaise (in Emaj or) fo r orchestra aTarantella for orchestra

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A SHORT HISTORY OF

with chorus and dances ; a Solemn Polonaise,written expressly for the coronation o f theEmperor Alexander I I ; a Hymn o f theCherubs ; a Tarantella (in A minor) forpianoforte ; and finally

, some choruses forwomen’s voices , written for the pupils o f

the convent of Smolna and the CatherineInstitute .It must be added that if A Life f or the Tsar

is largely,o n account o f it s subj ect, Glinka

’s

essentially popular opera , Rousslan and Lud

milla o n the other hand remains,fo r many o f

Glinka’s fellow—countrymen, the most com

plete , striking,and lofty manifestation o f his

noble genius . This beautiful work at last putan end to the doubts and the hard words itwas subj ect t o in it s early days, and n ow it hastaken its rightful place in the forefront o f therepertory o f Russian Opera— a place which isdue to its inherent brill iance and beauty andwhich no o n e would dream of disputing . It isabove all in Rousslan that Glinka has escapedfrom the traditions of Western music, has displayed all his originality and power, and hascompletely expressed his own personality. A

Life f or the Tsar gave promise o f a splendidseason t o come ; Rousslan and Ludmilla is

the ripe,luscious fruit itself .

It is always interesting to know the man inthe musician ; so I will borrow this character

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avoiding scents and smells , more especiallycamphor

,which he looked upon as a poison.

Spices and aromatic articles were bani shedfrom the table at least he imagined they were .As a matter of fact , the cook did not hesitatet o use them in the dishes which she sent upfor family consumption . One dayGlinka founda leaf o f bay in his soup . Pu tting it o n tothe edge of his plate li e remarked ° ‘ I dislike bay leaves

,either o n my head o r in the

soup?”

We saw earlier in this chapter that Glinkadied at Berlin, where he had resided about ayear . In November 1900 homage was paidto his memory in that capital, and the TsarNicholas II took a suitable part in the aff air,as a letter sent from Berlin to a Paris papert ells us :

“Thanks t o the mun ificen ce o f the

Emperor Nicholas II , we have for several dayspossessed a G linkaMuseum . The owner of thehouse in the Fran zOsischestrasse , in which theauthor o f A Life f or the Tsar lived in 1856 anddied o n February 1 3, 1857 , had the propertyrebuilt, and the Emperor Nicholas I I off ered topresent a fine monument in honour of Glinkat o the splendid new house . The monumentconsists o f a bust o f the composer

,flanked by

two figures representing Rousslan and Ludmilla

,the two heroes of Glinka’s famous

second Opera ; the whole thing being sur

90

Two m emorial tablets , o n e in German,in Russian

,recall life and death the

composer .”

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CHAPTER IV

Two fo rerun n ers o f the“Youn g Russian Scho o l” Alexander

Dargom ij sky, Alexan der Serov .

A YOUNG RUSSIAN SCHOOL exists, the members of which have very considerable talent ;they are not , however , distinguished by modesty, and they have been ready enough toconfer o n themselves the hall-mark o f in falli

b ility. This young school was initiated byBalakirev, César Cui , Rimsky-Korsakov, Bo rodin and Moussorgsky, all o f whom are deadto-day , except César Cui, who became theirliterary champion, and undertook to spreadtheir gospel and propagate their doctrines withhis pen . The members o f the Russian schoolhave this much in common with the youngWagnerian school in France and Belgium , thatthey thoroughly despise everything which liesoutside their own rigid principles , and haveonly the

fl

co n so latio n o f Scorn to off er t o anyonethinking o r acting diff erently from themselves .We shall see with what patronising assumptiono f superiority César Cui Speaks o f fine an d

noble musicians like Rubinstein and Tchai92

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point o f view of capacity, are Dargom i j sky andAlexander Serov .

Alexander Sergeivich Dargom ijsky was bornin a village in the government of Toula o n

February 2 , 18 1 3, and he died at St . Petersburgon January 17 , 1 868 . Beginning his career byfollowing to some extent in the paths of Glinka ,he enjoyed the same advan ta es as that com:poser he was borm-t-ha

'

S to say , of a familyo f rich landed proprietors , and was luckyenough t o meet with no opposition t o his

desires o n the part of his relations , so that hewas able to devote himself freely t o cultivatingthe art he loved . Fétis , who knew him perso n ally, has left us the following interestinginformation about his youth and childhood

Dargom ijsky was five years o ld when hefirst began to speak ; up till then his parentsbelieved that he would be a mute . Fromhis infancy he Showed a decided taste f o r art

,

more particularly for the Stage . He made withhis own hands tiny marionette theatres

,for

which he composed vaudevilles o f a sort . Atseven years old he was given a teacher o f thepianoforte with whom he had incessant disputes , because he was more busy composingsonatinas and rondos than studying the mechan ism o f the instrument . A few years laterhe took up the violin, and learned t o play on itsufficiently well t o make a passable second in a

94

RUSSIAN MUSICstring quartet . From this time he looked o n

music from a diff erent angle,and began to

understand it s significance as an art . Whenhe was between fifteen and sixteen he wroteseveral concerted duets f o r pianoforte andviolin as well as some quartets . Soon afterwards , his parents realised what his true vocation was , and entrusted his musical educationt o Scho b erlechn er, a distinguished pianist andcomposer , who gave him his first notions o f

harmony and counterpoint . On reaching hiseighteenth year in 1 83 1 , Dargom ijsky becamea Civil Servant by entering theMinistry o f theImperial Household

,but he was not prevented

by these duties from continuing to study music .When he was only twenty years old he had areputatio n in social circles for his skill at thepianoforte . AS he could read even the mostdifficult mus ic at sight he was very much indemand as an accompanist by the best s ingers ,both amateur and professional . While en

gaged in this occupation he acquired a knowledge o f the voice, and turned with enthusiasmto vocal and dramatic music , for which he hadt o sacrifice his instrumental studies . It wasat this time that he wrote an immense quantityo f songs , cantatas, and concerted pieces , withaccompaniment f o r pianoforte o r for stringquartet .

”

We can see from this what Dargom ij sky’s

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early youth was like . It might be summed upby saying that iip till then he was little morethan a distinguished amateur , though n o doubthis aspirations led him higher . Soo

'

n, however,he made the acquaintance of Glinka , with whomhe became friends . It may, indeed, have beendue to this friendship that he thought of writing

,like him

,for the theatre . In order the

better to follow his inclinations , and with aView to finishing his musical education, whichhe realised to be incomplete , he gave up hispost in the Government office and devotedseveral years to the close study of theoreticaltreatises and t o carefully reading the scores ofthe most famous composers . When he feltsure o f himself he set to work t o write anopera

,choosing a particularly dramatic subj ect

,

namely : Lucrecia B orgia . But he had hardlybegun his score when he abandoned the subj ectto turn to another poem by Victor Hugo,written expressly for the operatic stage Irefer to Esmeralda , which the illustrious authorhad based on his admirable Story o f NotreDame de P aris .

”

It was in compliance with the wish of Mlle .Louise Bertin , who was the daughter o f theeditor of Le yourn al des Déba ts, that VictorHugo decided to write this libretto

,though the

task was somewhat distasteful . The work wasgiven at the Opera House o n November 14 ,

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addressed toLa Gaz etteMusicale in December1844 :

“ I can give you information With regardto M . A . Dargom ijsky ,

a young composer o fnoble family

,who has done me the honour o f

paying me a visit on his way through Brussels ,and is now in Paris . He is a distinguishedpianist , and he has published in St . Petersburga number of vocal and instrumental compositions which have been a brilliant success . But

I have been more particularly interested, orperhaps I Should say, I have been profoundlyastonished at an Opera which he has composedo n a poem by M . Victor Hugo . What Struckme about the score , on the merits o f . which

M . Dargom ijsky wished to have my opinion,was its originality , it s energy o f conception(which did n o t ,however ,mean absence of grace),its melodic Style, its piquant harmonies andskilful modulations , and finally , the very re

markable instinct which it showed fo r comb ining voices and orchestra . If Russia’s musicaleducation in the future can only be conductedby a few lovers of the art with as much realtalent as this young noble possesses

,I have no

doubt that we shall soon see her music aliveand flourishing, and bearing fruit in dependen tly o f the help o f others .

”

As a matter of fact , Esmeralda is a youthfulwork o f composite Style , and is to a certain

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extent conceived o n the model o f the FrenchOperas of Meyerbeer and

,above all

,of those o f

Halevy , by whose genius Dargom ijsky is saidt o have been Strongly attracted . There ishardly a trace of originality in this first worko f his ; certain pages o f it , however , are veryvivid and happily contrived

,

'

as for instance,the curious and picturesque episode of theprocession of the Pape des fous . One mayalso notice the remarkable skill which Dargom i j sky showed even at this time in his methodo f writing for the voices , though he was n u

fortunately n o t able , for all that Fetis may say,to apply it in writing for the orchestra . But Imust repeat this was only a youthful work, inwhich the personality of the composer had nothad time t o make itself felt .Dargom i j sky had barely finished his Esme

ralda when he began t o write a wo rk on asmaller scale . This was The Triumph ofB acchus, a kind of cantata , the subj ect o f

which was taken from P oushkin . But thistime he met with a point-blank refusal on thepart o f the theatre managers , and it was notuntil a few months before his death— in 1 867,

to be precise— that he had the satisfaction ofseeing a public performance o f this small worko f his at Moscow . Somewhat discouraged, n odoubt , he thereupon composed, during aperiod which covered several years , some

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undred songs,airs

,and duets , which were

ub lished through various houses in St . Petersrg. Some o f these songs , which are interg owing to their mood and their strikingdic character

,became popular and un

ad more influence than his operawinning Dargom i j sky a reputation as aung man .

He did not,however, give up writing for

the theatre . But to mark his return to it , hewanted to be inspired by a national subj ect ;and this he found once more in the richrepertory of Poushkin ,

from whom he tookthis time the enchanting legend o f The

Roussalha (The Water Sprite). The poemhappened to be in dialogue form , and was cutup into sections in a way which was conven ien t and eff ective from a theatrical pointof view

,so that Dargom ijsky, in adapting it

for the stage , merely had to put a few touchesto it , and was ab le to utilise Poushkin

’s

Splendid verse with its rich imagery practicallythe whole time . Some Slight cuts only had tobe made in the text every now and then, and atthe same time choruses and dances were addedin order t o make the stage spectacle morecomplete . The Roussallea ,

”says César Cui,

combines dramatic feeling with fantasticcolouring . The subject , whether regarded as

a whole o r in detail, is admirably suited to

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ws traces either of the genial inspiration o r

rit

e)

striking originality o f the operas o f G linka ,I t is almost as popular as they are . From thepoint o f view of dramatic sentiment it is s incere and often exalted, and the declamatoryrecitative is truth itself ; in the solos , duets ,trios , and fin ales , the composer has followedthe traditional forms o f French and Italianoperas . The Style is both conscientious andingenious ; if it som etimes recalls the teaching o f the classrooms , you feel at any rate;that the classroom is a good one and throughall of the writing the personal temperament ofthe composer as well as the atmosphere ofRussia constantly penetrates . In a word

,it

is an admirable opera .

”

On the other hand, César Cui blames thecomposer precisely because, “ like all his predecesso rs , he has written airs , duets , trios , andconcerted numbers ,

” which, he thinks , showshis inferiority .

”The members o f the Young

Russian School resemble Wagner , whose do ctrines they nevertheless warmly repudiate, inclaiming t o eliminate from all operatic worksanything in the nature of an air , a set passage,or a song : anything, in Short , which can beconsidered a definite entity with a charactero f its own and can be det ached from the resto f the score . They must have recitative, morerecitative, and still more recitative Outside

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that there can be no operatic music , in theiropinion , and art relapses into barbarism . Thisis how César Cui speaks o f the score of TheRoussal/ea

On the dramatic side Dargom ijsky reachesa very high level in several of the scenes .

Looked at from this point of view themusic of the opera falls into two sub

divisions : the recitative in the strict senseof the term , and the separate numbers , as

the detached songs are usually called . Dargom ijsky

’s recitative is equal to the best that has

ever been written . Yo u may look in vain fo rcommonplaces or for the tiresome , co nven

t io n al phrases that can easily be improvisedby any hack writer . Dargom ijsky was en

dowed with the very special gift of knowinghow t o fit -each period or sentence with themusical phrase best adapted to it , and how

"

t o

discover a melodic style suited t o each character . With him all the words of the text andall the details o f the drama seem to be o f apiece with the mus ic . One may presume thatnone o f these melodic recitatives , none o f

these phrases which are so truthfully accen tuated

, will be touched by time or oblivion, fortruth does not grow o ld .

” 1

We see from this to what enthusiasm the

writer was roused by the recitatives in The1 La Masign e en Russie.

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Roussalka . If we are to take his word fo r it,it was precisely these recitatives that constituted the point o f departure of the YoungRussian School, and gave the signal for itsp reconceived doctrines , so far as dramaticmusic is concerned . So that in this respectthe name o f Dargomijsky and the part heplayed acquired exceptional importance, o n

which due stress must be laid .

This is not yet the momen t fo r going intothe history o f this school, though we shallarrive at it before long . The last work o f

Dargom ijsky, however, leads us at this pointto skirt the edge o f the subject . In this work,The Stone Guest, the composer pushed his useo f recitative to its logical extreme he used it,that is to say, to the exclusion of everythingelse, and so won the hearty admiration o f theyoung composers , who were dreaming o f aradical transformation of opera . We cometo the keystone o f the n ew school o f RussianOpera ,” to quote César Cui once more, “ inDargomijsky

’

s last work, The Stone Guest .

We have already seen, in our analysis ofThe Roussalha , with what truth Dargomijskymanages to portray dramatic Situations . Iorder to attain his end , he had even then brokewith the customary formulas , and had beguto attach very great importance t o

recitative. A group o f composers104

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the aid o f flattery and cajolery, in winninghim over to their side ; and then, by makinghim believe that there was n o salvation formusic except in emphasizing the methods hehad employed with wise moderation in TheRoussallea , they forced him to exaggerate thesemethods and t o push them t o their extremelimit . Dargom ij sky , believing, in fact, thathe had become the prophet o f a new religiono f music

,let himself be persuaded, and ended

by yielding to the ideas with which they wereobsessed . He was , moreover, weary, feeble,and ill at this period, and suff ered cruelly froman aneurism that caused his death n o t verylong afterwards ; which helps to account forhis n o t being able , when writing The StoneGuest, to recapture the free and glowinginspiration which had made the success o f

the preceding opera . Besides , anyone caneasily understand that the eff ort o f imaginationneeded for writing a score entirely in recitative (however melod ious it may be) is lessthan is required from a composer , who hast o give his mind to showing that he is capableo f really mus ical ideas . Finally

,the poem o f

The Stone Guest, which Dargomijsky had goneonce more to Poushkin to obtain

,had been

conceived with a view t o the theatrical and notthe operatic stage it was , consequently, muchto o developed fo r opera . The composer, by

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refusin g to make any kind o f selection fromhis material o r t o cut any o f the verses , wasthereby condemned t o be deprived in his turno f all Opportunity o f development

,and was

obliged to confine himself rigidly to the recitative which was so insidiously recommendedto his attention .

Dargom i j sky was , as I have already remarked,ill to begin with , when he began to set to worko n the score o f The Stone Guest . He had nottime t o put the finishing touches t o it, anddied before the whole could be completed .

Two o f his disciples agreed to round ito ff César Cui undertaking to write theconclusion o f a scene that had been onlypartially finished

,while Rimsky-Korsakov

orchestrated the whole . The opera was notproduced until the month o f February 1 872,fo ur years after the death o f the composer .It is hardly necessary to add that the subj ect

o f The Ston e Guest is the same as that of DonGiovan n i : the title sufficiently indicates it ;but Poushkin treated it in his own fashion,making appreciable alterations in the story .

As to Dargom ijsky, it goes without saying, Isuppose, that he had n o intention o f comparinghimself with Moz art o r o f trying to competewith that masterpiece o f his . He wished, assomeone said, n o t t o do better, which was amatter o f some difficulty, but t o do diff erently .

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The enterprise was , however, a dangerouso n e and, whatever the adherents o f the youngschool may have found to say about it, it didnot lead to very happy results . The Stone

Guest was received respectfully but coldly bythe public

,and

, as a matter o f fact , it wasnever really a success . I t s partial admirerscon sole themselves by asserting that the publicis n o t capable of understanding works o f thatsort and that kind o f beauty . The burden o ftheir complaint is familiar and the line o f

argument convenient . I t is the way o f thosewho do not manage t o please the crowd to

blame the crowd’s stupidity . We need n o t

labour the point .To sum up , then : Dargom i j sky

’s stage

career, though it can scarcely be consideredfertile

,seeing that it comprises only three works ,

has the peculiarity of presenting three distinctphases . In Esmeralda, the first of theseworks

,the composer borrows his style from the

formal and conventional operas then in voguein Europe . In The Roussalka, the second o f

the three , h‘

e endeavours , sometimes successfully, to walk in the footsteps o f his fellowcountryman Glinka , and the music takes o n apronouncedly Russian character . Finally, inThe Stone Guest he boldly repudiates his firsttwo manners t o adopt a third which onlyleads him t o moderately good results . In a

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to the very active , or perhaps I should sayturbulent

,part which he has played in the

musical movement o f the last century . Hismusic cannot be called first - rate, though itwould be doing him an injustice n o t to recognise it s worth . But , having a speculativemind of a high order with a special biastowards criticism and being essentially com

bative by temperament , he took part withpassionate enthusiasm , and almost with fren zy,in all the quarrels and controversies thatraged from day t o day round musical topics .

This enthusiasm of his , which he brought tobear on all subj ects

,and more particularly o n

music,won him without doubt a higher

reputation than he could ever have acquiredby his compositions alone . He was a pract ised writer , and a caustic critic ; he had ahigh reputation in debate

,he was indefatigable

in the lecture-room, and he was always readyfor any cause to step into the breach and usehis weapons alike in attack o r in defence .

He inevitably drew attention t o himself ina variety o f ways , and , in short

,he has earned

a special place apart in the history o f the startling mus ical movement which has taken placein Russia during the course o f the last sixtyyears .

Alexander Nicho laevich Serov was the sono f a barrister, and was born at St . Petersburg

I I O

RUSSIAN MUSICo n j anuary 1 1 1 820 . From his earliestyouth he showed signs o f unusual intelligenceand talent in a great variety o f lines . He tookup natural history ; he learned foreign languages with astonishing ease

,Speaking not

only Latin and Russian,but French, English,

and Italian fluently ; he had a pronouncedtaste for the theatre

,he studied design , and

above all, he adored music . He was taughtthe rudiments of the pianoforte by an elderlyspinster , a relative of his , but he had no musicaleducation in the strict sense of the term . Oneo f his fellow-countrymen who became hisfriend after having been the object o f his

criticism , W . vo n Lenz, the author of thefamous book B eethoven and Hi: Three Styles,writes as follows in the course o f a rapid studydevoted to SerovIn 1 834 Serov

’s father sent the boy to the

School o f Jurisprudence at St . Petersburg .

He left it in with a second prize and atonce entered the Government service in theSenate . When he was at the School of j urisprudence he took lessons o n the Violoncellofrom Carl Schub erth, but he did not keep itup . Schub erth and the elderly spinster atthe piano : those were the only teachers heever had ; everything else he picked up fo rhimself . The moment he had left the school,Serov spent his days over books o f musical

I I I

A SHORT HISTORY OF

theory o f all ages and in all languages , fromBach, Kirnb erger, Alb rechtsb erger, Fiirck,Catel

,and Marx downwards ; and he would

write o ut f o r his own use his criticism of thesewriters who , to his mind, did not go farenough and were n o t suffi ciently philosophicalfor his tastes . He was a prey to the idea o festablishing a theory o f music which shouldbe s impler and based on surer ground thanany theory o f theirs . The further he advancedon this immense task, the more he neglected hisGovernment work . He was transferred to theCrimea

,where he was given the post of vice

president of a court o f justice .

‘ I used towrite little fugues,’ he told me , during theproceedings in court— nice little fugues . Oneday when the case before us was the theft ofa horse , they wanted t o have my opinion ; Ireplied that I hadn’t been listening to a singleword and moved the adj ournment . I wasthen at work o n my first opera , A Night inMay. I’ve burnt it it was dreadful stuffSerov gave up his career at the bar , to thegreat despair of his father

,and returned to

St . Petersburg, Where we come across himperforming the duties o f a newspaper censorwith an exceedin gly modest incomeThe thoroughly practical way in whichSerov studied musical theory all by himself

1 Le Guide musica l (o f Brusse ls), No vember 1 , 1877.

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refute the ideas spread by his fellow—countryman

,Oulibishev , in his work entitled B eethoven ,Hi: Critic: and Hi: Ann otatorr. Then heproduced an important pamphlet in whichhe combated the theories launched by hisother compatriot , W . von Lenz, in his bookB eethoven and Hi: Three Styles . All this wasundertaken t o do greater glory t o Beethoven’slater manner . Besides this , Serov also collab o rated with several other Russian newspapers

,contributed a considerable number o f

critical articles to the French 7oarnal ole

Sain t—Péterrhoarg, and from 1 856 to 1 860 was

o n e of the principal editors , if not the actualmanager

,o f a periodical called The Theatrical

and Marit al Review. At the same time heput his gifts as a speaker at the service o f theart he loved . It came about in this way thatduring the course of the winters o f 1 858 and1859 he gave a series o f ten lectures in oneo f the rooms of the University on the theoryo f music treated from historical and aestheticpoints of view . He continued his lectures inthe spring of 1 864 , the subj ect this time beingopera . In 1 865 he gave six more o n the samesubject in the Conservatoire at Moscow,

andfinally

,in January 1 870 ,

he gave yet anotherseries of six, in the Artists’ Club in St . Petersburg, on the study o f the development ofopera .

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As a critic Serov was neither patient n o rindulgent . He was very positive in his ideas

,

though he sometimes contradicted himself,

being by nature quarrelsome and inclinedto be inconsistent he did not spare his wordsand he was always ready to hit out at others

,

regardl ess of being hit in return ; the result o fwhich was that he was involved in disputesWith his colleagues throughout his life . Thereis n o t a single Russian writer o n music , wroteGustave Bertrand from St . Petersburg

,with

whom Serov has n o t been engaged in violentpolemics constantly degenerating into abuse .One may be allowed to suppose that badtemper alone was not responsible, and that theWhole thing was to some extent deliberate .It is not the first time that one has seen youngpeople at the outset o f their career breakingWindows to attract public attention ; biggermen than Serov had done the same . Weber

,

when he was a critic , gave the composer o f theChoral Symphony a thorough shaking before hehimself composed Der Freirehz’ttz . Schumannto o pulled down the temples o f his

G

an cesto rs,

h0ping thereby to raise the foundations of hisown chapel . Wagner carried the gift forlyrical invective to a stage bordering o n

delirium . Serov looked upon himself n o tmerely as the best, but as the only, Russiancritic . He stirred up all his colleagues in

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opposition against him , he passed the mostcontemptuous judgment o n every musicalauthority of Europe and, like the modernGermans , he crushed, or at any rate imaginedhe had crushed, the composer o f Robert le

Diable and Le: Huguen o t: by calling him a meremountebank and speaking of his operas as somany flashes in the pan .

” 1

The odd thing is that Serov, as I have alreadysaid, belied and contradicted himself withimperturbable coolness and self—assurance . Totake an example : in 1 856 he wrote quiteopenly in the Thea trical and Mu: ical Courier

(a paper which was founded and edited byMaurice Rappaport), that Lisz t and the otherdisciples o f Wagner were talking nonsensewhen they declared their hero’s operas to bemasterpieces . They are laboured works ,”he remarked, produced by a dilettante , whocertainly has plenty o f talent but was no doubtunable to finish his studies . The general impression given by Wagner’s compositions isone of unbearable tedium .

” He also said thatthe melodic element in his works was veryfeeble,” and that the greater part o f his musicwas merely tiresome droning

,

” grafted o n t o

unpleasantly novel harmonies and pretentiousorchestration in the manner of Meyerbeer o rB erlioz . Well, in the issue o f the same paper

1 Le Nerd, November 24 , 1874 .

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Followin g the example of Wagner , who_

was

n ow his favourite model , he determined“

to

write his own words as well as the music o fthe opera he had in his head, and he at onceset to work to do so . Nevertheless he did notdraw up the outlines o f the play by himselfalone

,but obtained the assistance of an Italian

poet . He then wrote the verse, which inseveral places was touched up and occasionally rewritten by the poet Maiko v, author o f

Two De: tin ie: , Savonarola , and Conf e: : ion : ofthe Queen , amongst other things . When hepublished the libretto o f j udith, Serov veryscrupulously marked Maikov

’s verses with

inverted commas after thanking him for hishelp in the preface . Finally he settled downto work at the music . Being n o doubt moreinfluential, and having better luck than Dar

gom l j sky had in his day, he was fortunateenough to get his work accepted, as soon as itwas finished, by the management o f the RussianOpera House, where 7udithwas produced forthe first time in May 1863, with Sario t t i andMm e . B ianchi in the two principal parts .

Serov’s style in f udith,” s ays César Cui

,recalls that of Wagner in his Lohengrinperiod .

” And again : Serov, when writinghis first Opera , had Wagner as closely as posisible in view as a model, although he did notentirely sacrifice the independence of the voice

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part t o the orchestra, as the German composer

does . That method would never suit aRussian composer, and Serov himself considered it a mistake .

”The score of 7uclith

considered as a whole is very uneven,and

contains brilliant, highly- coloured passagesside by side with Others of very little interest .Nevertheless , if one remembers that it is thecomposer’s first work, and above all his firstwork for the stage

,one may well be surprised

at the boldness and assurance of the writing .

Indeed, I do not think it would be easy t o

find another case of a composer showing quitesuch skill at the outset o f his musical career .If the score of f udith is frequently open toadverse criticism , o n e can at least point to acertain number o f passages which deservepraise . In the first act

,for instance, which is

picturesque , though it is somewhat lacking inide as , there is a striking prayer in the second,there is a long monologue for Judith which isreally beautiful

,but it is followed, un fo r

tun ately, by some scenes which , with their.heavy

,clumsy recitatives , can barely be called

interesting . Then in the third act there isthe exceedingly powerful and eff ective sym

phonic episode o f the Triumphal March Of

Holofernes,as well as the delightful double

chorus o f female slaves with it s curiouslybroken rhythms

,and some gracefully turned

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dances . Here again we unfortunately meetwith long melodic recitatives without anyparticular point or interest , which enfeeblethe action until we come t o the last chorus .The fourth act gives us a fine air for Judith,some dance tunes

,several o f which are accom

pan ied by voices and are perhaps still moreattractive than those in the preceding act,and a wild

,virile song for Holofernes— a kind

o f war song, full o f character , written t o thefollowing words “ We march in the scorching desert ; the breath we breathe is fire ; ahorse stumbles, a camel sinks to die ; theheroes alone advance to the heart o f the desert .A town , all gold, appears o n the blue horiz onan army bars our passage thither . To armsThere are lovely women in yonder town thatis paved with gold . Let us break the foebeneath the heels o f o ur horses , and then inthe city we shall lay us down t o sleep likekings .

”There is n o t much to be said about

the rest o f the Opera .Taking it all round, yudith, though musicallyonly of secondary importance, was an interesting venture , coming from a composer whowas making his first appearance o n the stage .Fo r this reason it was received

,if n o t exactly

with enthusiasm, at any rate with attentionand sympathy . We have seen that Serov hadconceived it when he was under the influence

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The work, which he was already meditating,he lost no time in composing . It was stagedin November 1 865, only two and a half yearsafter 7udith, and in the same theatre . The newopera was also in five acts and was calledRogneda . He went for his subject to Russianhistory, o r rather to a dim and somewhatconfused episode o f Russian history, occurringat a time when the people were bein g convertedto Christianity . He was once more his own

poet,and wrote the text o f the play himself,

as he did for 7udith.

The main task which Serov is said to haveset himself in Rogneda was t o contrast thepagan and the Christian elements . It isindeed on the constant opposition of these twoelements that the composer has concentratedall his skill, and above all it is on this that theeff ects aimed at in the music chiefly depend .

One o f my French fellow-critics has written ofthe work and its tendencies in the followingterms

“ In the opera Rogneda we have noticed acurious contrast of diff erent styles which arelinked together by sheer force of will but arenot blended . When the composer has toexpress the restless passion of Rogn eda andRuald , the tortuous methods of Wagner predominate . When he wishes to portray on thestage the amusements o f a primitive court

,he

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at once adopts a very simple harmonic stylewith clear melodies and square-cut rhythms .

Every time the Christian element is introducedwe have a very close imitation of the broadstyle characteristic o f Church music a certainaff ectation of archaism is to be noticed insome o f the religious passages and the popularscenes ; then everything becomes simple andunaff ected once more in the songs of thewomen of the terem . One may urge thatthese diff erent styles are imposed too abruptlyon various sections Of the Opera

,and ye t one

hardly thinks of complaining of the discrepan cies, because each shade is always usedfor a particular purpose . The constant process of letting the music evolve naturally fromthe drama itself gives the work it s unity of inspiration . That is , in fact , the ideal at whichevery operatic composer ought t o aim, only, alleffort and feeling o f premeditation must beavoided . Now,

when one listens to the Rogneda ,o n e feels that one is in the presence of a workwhich bears the mark of undoubted inspiration but still more of deliberate endeavour . Atleast that is the general impression it gives .” 1

One other point to notice in the score ofRogneda is the simultaneous employment ofcertain themes of a really Russian character

1 Gustave Bertrand Les Na tionalit‘e: musicales e’tua

’iee:

dan s le drame ly rique

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with the partial introduction o f harmonies ,recalling the Gregorian and folksong modes o fancient music . By this means Serov hasobtained some curious eff ects . It should bestated in addition that Rogneda had a farwarmer welcome from the public than 7udith.

The work made something o f a s ensationso much so , in fact , that the emperor showedhis desire to recompen s e the composer forhis eff orts

,and to reward him for his success

by making him an annual grant from thePrivy Purse o f 1 200 roubles .

1 The o n e hundred and fiftieth performance o f Rogneda wasgiven in September 1 898 at the MaryinskyTheatre at St . Petersburg, withMM. Jakovlev,Ershov, and Maib o ro da, and Mmes . Kamenskaya and Go rlenko -Dolina in the principalparts . This shows that Serov’s works continn e to be given in our time, though they arefar from obtaining the success o f the twooperas o f Glinka .Serov wrote another opera , V.ray

'

ia Sila

(Malign Force, o r The Power of Evil), in fouracts , the material o f which he took from a

comedy by Ostrovsky . He had n o t time, however , to see the staging o f the work, whichwas only produced after his death . In itsform it showed affinities , up t o a certain point,with the tendencies o f the Young Russian

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brilliant, but much less distinguished than

Glinka’s ; incidentally it was enriched with

some touches m characteristic o f thelife of the people . in addition t o this wecredit him with numerous attempts tocapture truth of express ion both in form andspirit (Wagner being taken as the model fo r7uclith, while The P ower of Evil followed as

closely as possible in the wake o f the newRussian school), we shall realise that his workdeserves consideration, and that amongst composers of the second rank he has taken and willmaintain an honourable place in the historyo f the development o f Russian Opera .

” 1

Apart from the theatre Serov only wrote aStabat Mater and an Ave Maria for sopranoand orchestra . There are also a few fragmentsof an earlier opera than yudith which was

abandoned soon after it had been begun andwas never completed . It only remains to addthat he died suddenly at St . Petersburg o n

January 20 (February 1 871 .

Before concluding the first section o f thisbook I should like to say a few words abouttwo composers who ought n o t t o be passedover in silence , although one o f them was notactually a Russian, but only lived and died inthe country o f his adoption . This was Dii tsch,o f whom César Cui writes as follows

1 Le Musique en Russie.

1 26

RUSSIAN MUSICDutsch was a native o f Copenhagen

,but

he made Russia his adopted country,coming

to live in St . Petersburg in and dyingthere in He had at one time been apupil o f Mendelssohn at the Leipzig Conservat o ire . All through a life of hard workhe only met with sorrow and vexation

, dis

appointment and bad luck . To earn a livinghe was obliged to conduct a military band

, o r

sometimes an orchestra in a public park . The

necessity of constantly moving from place toplace and o f undertaking more work than hehad strength for , and finally the s truggle withpoverty itself, combined to hamper the develo Pm en t of his career as a composer , and atthe same time, by shattering his health

,

hastened his death . In 1 860 the public ofSt . P etersburg was introduced t o his OperaThe Croa tian Girl, which ran for seven perf o rm an ces . It may be that that cannot beconsidered a real theatrical failure : operaswhich have to be dropped without hope o f

revival are not played more than three times .

Still,it must be admitted that it was not a

success , and this is all the more to be regrettedas the Opera shows s igns o f remarkable ability .

In point of fact,one can say that Dut sch is

often wanting. in originality and mus ical1 As a matter o f fact he did n o t d ie at St

:Petersburg, as

César Cui suppo ses, but at Frankfo rt-on -Mame .

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character . As far as it s form is concernedThe Croatian Girl follows fairly closely thegenerally accepted models ; in some passagesit is easy to recognise the influence o f Meyerbeer

,in others that o f Mendelssohn, and

several o f the themes are borrowed from theHungarian rhapsodies o f Liszt . But in Spiteo f these reminiscences o n e cannot shut one’seyes t o its good qualities— t o the vigour andvitality which run through the entire score

,

its good taste, the healthy view of art controlling ir, and it s bright and attractiveorchestration . Dutsch

’s gifts are certainly

n o t o f the kind to set him o n a lofty pedestal ;his opera did nothing f o r the growth of lyr icaldrama . But to persist in ignoring this charming work is t o write oneself a partisan

,for if

it did not deserve t o be despised by thepublic, it deserves still less to be ostraciz ed bymusicians .”

The other composer I wanted t o speak o f

had no influence o n the history and progressof Russian music but was none the lessfamous , and deserves to be specially mentio n ed as the author of the music o f the RussianNational Anthem . I refer

,o f course, to

General Lvov and his well-known hymn,God

save the Tsar, which circumstances have latelymade so popular in France .Alexis Feodo rovich Lvov was born o n

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was given at St . P etersburg ; B ianca e Gual

tiero, an Italian opera , which was also givenat St . Petersburg, when the singers wereRubini

, Tamburin i, and Mme . Viardo t ; Un

din e, a fairy opera in three acts with Germantext

,which was played at Vienna in

and The Art Needlewornan , in o n e act withRussian text, produced at St . Petersburg .

He also composed a Stabat Mater six psalmsand twenty- eight separate sacred songs ,written to be sung by members o f the ChapelChoir during service ; three fantasi as for violinand orchestra with chorus , o n e o f which wasbuilt up o n Russian soldiers’ songs ; and aco nsiderable number o f vocal and instrumentalworks o f less importance . He also published,in eleven quarto volumes , an immense collection of old chants f o r all sections o f theservice of the Greek Church

,harmoniz ed in

four parts,with Russian text .

But the one thing which, above all others ,made Lvov’s name popular throughout thewhole of Russia was the Russian NationalAnthem fo r which he composed the music .

In his Memoirs he tells the story o f its

inception in the following wordsI n 1 833 I accompanied the Emperor

Nicholas during his travels in Prussia andAustria . When we had returned to Russia Iwas informed by Count vo n Benkendorf that

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the Sovereign regretted that we Russians hadn o national anthem o f our own , and that, as hewas tired o f the English tune which had filledthe gap f o r so many long years , he wished met o see whether I could not compose a Russianhymn .

The problem appeared to me an extremelydifficult and serious one . When I recalled theimposing British National Anthem , God save

the King, the very original French o n e, andthe really touching Aust rian hymn, I felt andappreciated the necessity of writing somethingbig, strong, and moving ; something nationalthat should resound through a church as wellas through the ranks o f the army ; somethingthat could be taken up by a huge multitudean d be within the reach of every man, fromthe dunce t o the scholar . The idea absorbedme

,but I was worried by the conditions thus

imposed on the work with which I had beencommissioned .

One evening as I was returning homevery late

,I thought out and wrote down in

a few minutes the tune o f the hymn . The

next day I called o n Joukovsky, to ask himto write the words ; but he was no musician,and had much trouble to adapt them to theminor cadence o f the fir st section of themelody .

At last I was able to announce the com

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pletio n of the hymn to Count vo n Benkendorf .The Emperor wished t o hear it , and came onNovember 23 to the chapel o f the court choir,accompanied by the Empress and the GrandDuke Michael . I had collected the wholebody o f choristers together and reinforcedthem with two orchestras .

The Sovereign asked f o r the hymn to berepeated several times , expressed a wish to

hear it sung without accompaniment , and thenhad it played first of all by each orchestraseparately and finally by all the executantstogether . His Maj esty turned t o me and saidin French : Why

,it

’s superb ! ’ and then and

there gave instructions t o Count von Benkendorf to inform the Minister o f War that thehymn was adopted f o r the army . The orderto this effect was issued on December 4 , 1833 .

The first public performance o f the hymn waso n December 1 1 , 1 833, at the Grand Theatrein Moscow . The Emperor seemed t o wantto submit my work t o the judgment o f theMoscow public . On December 25 the hymnresounded through the rooms of the WinterPalace o n the occasion o f the blessing o f thecolours .

As a proof o f his satisfaction the Sovereigngraciously presented me with a gold snuff -boxstudded with diamonds

,and in addition gave

orders that the words Go d save the Tsar132

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thusiastically o f Lvov’s talent as a violin ist .

Berlioz t o o , who was not naturally much givent o praise

,has given him the following very

sympathetic lines,m which he brings out the

variety of his musical giftsMost musical amateurs who care about

quartet playing and the great violinists o f

Europe are acquainted with this eminentmusician, who is a virtuoso as well as a composer . His skill o n the violin is remarkable,and his last composition, which I heard inSt . Petersburg four years ago

— the operaUndin e— the libretto of which has just beentranslated into French by M . de SaintGeorges , contains beauties o f the highestorder

,and' is fresh and alive with all the charm

of originality and youth . Since he has beenin control o f the choir o f the Imperial Chapelhe has n o t only followed in the footsteps ofhis predecessors by obtaining a perfect execution he has also given his att ention toincreas ing the choir’s repertory, which isalready a large o n e , both by composing pieceso f Church music and by undertaking usefuland scholarly investigations into the musicalarchives o f the Russian Church . Thanks tothese researches he has made several discoverieswhich are valuable fo r the history o f ! music .”

The quotation is from NO. 21 o f Le: Soirées

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may also b e read in the Revue et Gaz etteMusica le fo r October 1 1 , 1 840, over the somewhat unexpected signature o i Richard Wagner .It is , of course, t o his hymn, which is really

noble, imposing, and maj estic in charac ter ,that Lvov owes his undisputed popularity .

There can be no question o f his talent , but Iadmit he did not make any particular contribut io n t o the progress of music in Russia .

Russian music , as we have seen, owes itsemancipation to Glinka ; Dargom1j sky, bycarrying o n the labours o f this great innovator,helped t o establish it when it was once free ;and even Serov was not without some influence on the trend o f ideas in the direction o f

a national school . We are n ow about to enteron a period which is more or less contemporarywith o ur own . On the o n e side we shall findRubinstein and Tchaikovsky, whose alert int elligen ce told them not to break completelyand for ever with the traditions o f the West ,the educational experience o f which theyfully appreciated ; o n the other we shall seethe members o f the Young Russian School,who were no doubt a trifle to o arrogant andhad somewhat t o o high a sense o f their ownvalue

,but at the same time obviously pos

sessed original gifts . It was these young menwho , with the help o f concessions which circum stan ces and the public compelled them t o

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they pale before the powerful, original, andexuberant temperament of the great musicianswhose deaths in the nineties plunged Russiainto national mourning . Both were naturallyendowed with unusual capacities , and bothproduced work with inexhaustible ardour .They left their mark on all branches of music— operas

,ballets, symphonies , quartets, songs

and works fo r solo instruments o n a large scale—and they took up each branch in turn withthe same facility an d the same success . Theyseem, indeed, to have enlarged the bOun ds o f

human activity ; and if their compositions areuneven they are so numerous and varied andso remarkable when taken as a whole, that oneis ready to forgive certain weakn esses in themfor their usually happy inspiration

,which de

serves the recognition and admiration of all

who really care fo r what is beautiful and noblein music . I call both of them I n depen d

ents because, in contrast to the members ofthe so -called Young School of Russians

,

”

they did not trouble themselves overmuch.withpreconceived theo riesithey avoided small sectsand miniature shr ines, they always refused toenrol themselves under a banner

,and trusting

to their own powers , preferred simply tolight the way and t o march straight ahead downthe road which was t o lead them to glory andrenown . Let us take the elder of the two first .

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Anton Rubinstein was n o t on ly a first -ratecomposer, he was also indisputably one of thegreat est and most extrao rdinary v1rtuo so s o f 1

the century . I seem t o see him still as he wassome thirty years ago , when he came to playfo r the last time in France . He had the bodyo f a Hercules, with a solid frame, huge, deveIOped chest, and broad, powerful shoulders .

His head was square,without either beard or

moustache, the forehead was high and prominent , the hair thick and black ; the nose wasstrong, the mouth sensual, and the eyes, whichwere sunk in their orbits, had a look which,though piercing, seemed a little vague and undecided . In short , his aspect was that o f atypical Slav with good-nature stamped on hisfeatures . Such was the outward appearanceo f this incomparable pianist, who astonishedthe o ld and the n ew worlds : and was part icularly appreciated

‘ in Paris, to which he wasalways glad t o return, as he felt that he wasthoroughly understood there and justly ad

mired . As t o his playing, it was simply prodigious in its virtuosity ; it connoted gifts o fthe most varied order and embraced the mostcontrad ictory qualities, combining grace andvigour

,delicacy and power ; it was supreme

in all thin gs, it was adapted to all styles, andit aff orded his listeners moments o f unforgettable emotion . Rubinstein appropriately varied

‘

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his methods with eachAcompo ser, in order t obring out the essential characteristics whichhe understood so wonderfully ; but whetherhe played Beethoven o r Weber, Schubert orMendelssohn, Field or Hummel, Schumann orMo scheles, Lisz t o r Chopin, there was alwaysthe same perfection, the same pre-eminenttechnique for he always kept before him thesame ideals’

aas to what really constitut ed in

telligen t and poetical interpretation .

This great genius , thanks to his proud en

durance and superb vitality, continued fornearly fifty years to charm and delight hiscontemporaries, winning admiration in all

latitudes, as he visited one country after another . I t would, indeed, be diff icult to pointto a single country in EurOpe through whichhe did not pass, or t o a single capital in thisOld world of ours (I am not counting the New)where his magical fingers

.

did n o t wake theechoes of a piano, to the intense j oy o f all whowere able to hear him . He travelled fromPoland to Germany, from Germany to Holland,from Holl and to Belgium, from Belgium toFrance, and thence to Switzerland, Italy,Austria, Hungary, Denmark, Sweden and England ; and finally, he crossed the Atlantic andmade even the citizens of the United Statesand of Canada marvel at him . He was alwaystriumphant, and was as sure of his public as

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seven concerts at Leipzig, and then, travellingacross Germany

,he arrived in P aris , where he

repeated each concert as he had done in Russia,playing o n these occasions f o r the Associationdes artistes musiciens . The concerts were subsequently given ( always in the same order) inBrussels , Vienna, Berlin , Dresden, London,Manchester , Liverpool, and Odessa . I n aword

,Rubinstein during this Homeric nine

months’tour gave o n ehun dred andfive concerts ,in the course o f which he played by heart atleast fifteen times some two hundred and fortypieces , o r in other words about three thousandsix hundred separate items , without includingthe en core: which he was asked for by an insatiable public and never refused . It may beadded that o f §the which these concerts brought in , nearly J£4000 was distributedduring the tour by Rubinstein in the causeof charity .

This indefatigable traveller , thi s in compar-e/

able virtuoso who was so prodigal o f his gif tslfound time t o compose a doz en operas , fiveB iblical dramas (o r dramatic oratorios), aballet , several scen as fo r voice and orchestra,concertos and sonatas f o r pian oforte

,violin

,

and Violoncello, numerous trios , quartets , and‘

quintets , six symphonies , some overtures and,

miscellaneous compositions on a large scalef o r orches tra, as well as almost two hundred

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songs and ballads f o r on e o r two voices toRussian, French, o r German words , and manyother works which I shall n o t enumerate . Fo r

five years he was Principal o f the Conservatoireat St . Petersburg

,which he had founded and

organised in 1 862 in the teeth o f many obstacles ,and where he succeeded in collecting o n thestaff such teachers as Henri Wien iawski,Dreyscho ck, Davidov , Auer , Leschetizky, andZ aremba . He also became Director of thePhilharmonic Concerts and Choral Society inVienna , from which he returned t o take up hisduties again at the Conservatoire in St . Petersburg ; and he founded the famous RussianMusical Society, which has it s correspondingbranches in all the large towns o f the empire .

Of this Society he was both the chief conductorand o n e o f the five directors , the others beingCount Vielho rsky, Ko logrivov, Kanshin, andStassov . Moreover , he was f o r over thirty yearsvirtually at the head o f the musical movementin Russ ia

,which has since become so intensely

interesting . There are some who appear t o bespecially favoured o f the gods t o be able toretain their efficiency until they reach theend o f their labours .

Anton Rubinstein was born o n November16 at Vekvo tin ez , a village in the

1 This date , which is o ft en given inexact l y, is takenf rom the compo ser

’s cert ificate o f baptism .

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governmen t o f Kherson in New Russia . Hisfather

, who was a manufacturer , left the villagesoon after the birth o f his so n to establishhimself near Moscow,

where he set up afac tory for lead pencils . His mother , who wasa good musician and played the piano well,noticing that the child always remained at hers ide , alert and attentive, when She practised,gave him his first lessons at an early age . But

the little crea ture was so highly developed andmade such rapid progress that she soon had tofind him another tutor , and handed him over toAlexander Villo in s , an excellent teacher andauthor o f a highly esteemedMethod, who tooka liking to the boy and arranged for him t o givehis first concert at Moscow on July 1 1

,1839,

before he was quite ten years old . The Mo s

cow paper , Gala tea (n ow defunct), mentionswhat Rubinstein played at this first concert o fhis . There was an Allegro from a concerto byHummel

,in which he was accompanied by the

orchestra , and also an Andante byThalberg, andfour small pieces by Field, Liszt , and Hen selt .

Two years afterwards , in 1 840 , Villo in s beingobliged to make a j ourney t o P aris, asked leave,which he obtained

,t o take his pupil with him .

On their arrival there he brought him out at aconcert where the little prodigy performed avariety o f works by Bach, Beethoven, Hummel,Chopin

,and Liszt . Liszt , who was present,

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cadero during the Paris Exhibition o f 1878,Nicholas Rubinstein was chosen t o come andconduct three concerts of Russian music .

The programmes were so skilfully put togetherand the works sounded so well under his admirable direction that public curiosity was notsatisfied until a fourth concert had been arranged . Nicho las’s success as a conductor wasnot belied when it was his turn t o appear inthe capacity of pianist

,and he was greeted

with tumults o f applause after he had given amasterly rendering of Tchaikovsky

’s splendid

pianoforte concerto in B flat minor and aValse-Caprice by his brother Anton .

When Anton returned to Moscow after histour with Villo in s

,Mm e . Rubinstein made up

her mind t o go t o Germany with her two sons ,who , in Spite o f their youthful years , evinceda desire to study composition . At Berlin she

obtained an introduction toMeyerbeer,and on

his advice sent them to the celebrated teacherDehn, whose pupils they became for two years .We will pass over some o f the ensuing yearst o find Rubinstein once more in Russia

,to

which he returned in 184 8 . He settled downat St . P etersburg, n ow that his father wasdead, and there he gave pianoforte lessons .

He had by that time written a considerableamount , and he gave several concerts to makethese compositions known . Eventually in

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1852 his first opera, Dmitri B anshoi, was produced , an d was n o t only well received but alsowo n him the valuable protection o f the GrandDuchess Helena . This good and intelligentprincess foresaw what a future the young musie ian had before him

,and invited him t o pass

his summers at her palace at Kam en o io strov ,where he could work undisturbed . Rubinstein needed n o pressing, and it was whilehe was there that he wrote, at the instigationo f his patroness, three o n e-act Operas Revenge,The Seven Siberian Hun ters, and Tom the Fool,each o f which was intended t o be a picture o fthe manners and customs in a diff erent parto f Russia . Of these three works only the lastwas produced at the time o f it s composition(May and it met with but a moderatesuccess . The Seven Siberian Hun terswas playedat the Grand Ducal Theatre at Weimar in1 854 . The G erman t ranslation of the librettowas undertaken by that admirable musician,Peter Cornelius , the composer o f the two successful operas Der Cid and Der B arbier von

Bagdad, and the score was published n o t longago in Germany . The other Operas mentionedabove, including Dmitri B anshoi, n o longerexist , having been destroyed in the fire at theCircus Theatre .Meanwhile Rubinstein’s gifts developed t o

such a remarkable extent that som e o f his

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fellow-countrymen planned t o procure him themeans f o r undertaking a long tour with a viewt o his perfecting himself still further and making a reputation abroad. The Grand DuchessHelena and the Counts Vielho rsky gave himthe requisite help

,and at the beginning o f 1857

Rubinstein left Russia . First o f all he went toP aris , where he made a striking impressionfrom the moment o f his very first concert .He gave three altogether , which were a greatsuccess , and enabled him t o bring forwardseveral o f his more important compositions .These included the string quartet in E minorwith its delightful

,muted slow movement ;

the masterly and vigorous sonata for pianoforte and violin (Op . the concertoin G major

,which is an original work, full of

lovely tunes and fresh harmonies ; severalminor compositions

,amongst which were a

Courante , a Nocturne, a Barcan o lle , and aValse ; and finally

,the symphony in B flat,

which made less impression than the compositions fo r pianoforte . The whole thing wasa great success fo r Rubinstein as a composerand as a pianist . I may add that the Revue etGaz ette Musicale, after characterising the concerto in the above terms

,went o n t o say

The orchestration is brilliant and showy,but f o r all its richness it never stifles thethemes , and when it has stated an argument,

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were j ealous o f him,t o b e both a master and a

model. He had wo n his reputation by mainforce

,his skill as a virtuoso was undisputed,

his influence on musicians and the public wasimmense, and if one has to admit that as acomposer he was sometimes wild and that his

writ ings are uneven and Open to criticism, itis none the less true that he has produced someremarkable and often magnificent work in avariety of branches, and that his capacity forproduction was prodigious . Fertil ity

,as every

o n e is aware, is a sign of power,and is the

special mark o f healthy,vigorous temperaments .

Rubinstein, however, had enemies, or at any‘

rate determined adversaries in Russia itself,who , so far from acknowledging his superio rityj,seemed to kick against the pricks and alwaySopposed him with an energy worthy of a bettercause . These were the members o f the Youn

gRussian School whom I have already ment io n ed as being irreconcil able, vain and proud ,as wishing completely t o revolutionise music,admitting nothing to be go o dwhich didn o t comefrom their side, and refusing to recognise anymusician who had the audacity to refuse t o bowthe knee to them and submit t o their domination . This Young School was n o t afraido f making itself ridiculous by pushing its loveof paradox to the extreme o f denying Rubinstein his musical nationality . Let it not be

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thought that I am joking or exaggerating .

Here are César Cui’s actual words,which he

has n o t hesitated to print : “ I t would be agrave mistake to look on Rubinstein as a Russian composer ; he is simply a Russian whocomposes [is it not a delightful distinctionhis music has aflin ity rather with Germanmusic, and even when he wishes to treatRussian themes the spirit and feeling of Russiafail him .

” It was when he wasdiscussingRubinStein’s Russian symphony (his op . 107) inthe pamphlet La Musique en Russie that CésarCui, the Christopher Columbus o f a new worldo f music, hit on this admirable and laughablediscovery .

So that , just because Rubinstein would notmeekly consent to follow the advice of thesegentlemen

,because he refused to break entirely

with the hitherto accepted doctrines and conSidered that one could still write good musicby sticking to the old-established theories , heis t o be put outside the pale and treated as astranger and intruder in his own countryAnd what is to happen then Are we to suppress the name o i Rubinstein and blot it outfrom the history of Russian music simply t o

please his detractors Surely this is pushingmatters a little far , a little beyond the boundso f common sense .Moreover, the opinions about Rubinstein,

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expressed at various times in various countries,are often so strange and so at variance, that hewas amused himself, and used to criticise hiscritics in his turn . In o n e of his letters to afriend he says with some humour The

Jews consider me a Christian, the Christians aJew ; the Classics call me a Wagnerian, theWagnerians a Classic ; the Russians say I ama German, the Germans say I am a Russian .

”

And all because he was Simply an Independent,and did not profess adherence to any schoolCésar Cui generously devotes seventy- two

pages o f his pamphlet to an analysis of thecompositions o f Dargomijsky, Serov, and hisfriends , the members o f the Young RussianSchool, and gives himself barely eight in whichto formulate hastily all he can find to say aboutthose two admirable musicians— Rubinsteinand Tchaikovsky . He was obliged to mentionthem

,their reputation forbidding him to pass

over them in Silence ; but I should like todraw attention to the easy offhand way withwhich he deals with them when he does mention them . He begins by reproaching themwith that very fertility which contributed totheir greatness, as though fertility were acrime . From earliest childhood

,

” he says,Rubinstein began to compose music of all

sorts with astonishing facility . In this respecthe is the real child of the century— the century

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innovations ; he does his best t o treat anygiven situation o n the stage , but he does notcare t o employ an y other means than those ofhis predecessors . So far as dramatic music isconcerned he has moved neither backwards norforwards , and seems rather t o have taken as

his motto the happy mean .

’

Rubinstein’s orchestration is perfectly balan ced and sounds well ; but it contains fewtraces o f the experiments in n ew and piquantefforts and ingenious combinations o f in

st rum en t s which are so prominent in the workso f contemporary composers . Rubinstein hasshown o n several occasions that he is nostranger t o what is being done in this way,but he does n o t appear t o take any interestin it .

If we had t o characterise Rubinstein’smusic in general terms , we should say,

that itruns from the fountainhead without check orhindrance, that it is n o t wanting in warmth( though this warmth is sometimes artificial andmelodramatic), that it has breadth, but thatit is also too drawn o ut , and that o n the wholeit shows too many signs o f the hurried, uncritical work o i the improvisor . We shouldadd that there is a frequent absence of poetryand depth in it

,but there are plenty o f common

places , and that therein lies it s principal weakness . The beauties , when they do o ccur in

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his works , are almost hidden by the obviousthat hundred-headed hydra whi ch the musicianin the audience finally uses up his energy intrying t o resist .”One can see how very unjust this is , and howunder the handful o f flowers , scattered in thosehoneyed phrases, there lurks a nice little clustero f thorns . But it cannot make us alter o urOpinion o r force us t o ignore Rubinstein’s realworth as a composer . Whatever o n e may sayabout Rubinstein n o t being altogether happyin the theatre, the fact remains that some ofhis Operas were strikingly and justifiably successful. And what composer is there who hasmet with nothing but triumphsAmongst his most successful Operas should

be mentioned Die Kinder der Haide ( to aGerman text), which was very well receivedall over Germany ; The Demon , which had avery brilliant career

,and was given several

hundreds o f times at St . P etersburg and Mo s

cow ; Die Makkabaer, which , like Die Kinderder Haide, was written t o a German text andmade a sensation in Germany ; and Nero ,which was picturesque and powerful in stylean d grandiose in conception . It is quite truethat Rubinstein retains the habitual Operaticframework, and that is precisely what annoysCésar Cui

, who is a violent and exactingrefo rmer : he writes choruses , airs, and co n

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A SHORT HISTORY OF

certed movements,and he does not lose him

self in the endl ess meanderings o f melodicrecitative

,

” which is calculated t o send somepeople to sleep . But if his works are alive andfull o f feeling, if they carry the listener withthem and rouse in his breast the sensationsand emotions he asks for

,have they not at

tain ed the end at which every work o f artshould aim

,and ought they not therefore t o

be well received 3 I do not m ean of course , toimply by this that Rubinstein has writtennothing but masterpieces for the stage . Someof his works are quite justly accused o f beingtiresomely long-winded, o f having much t o o

heavy a framework,and o f being t o o thickly

and closely orchestrated . It is neverthelessthe fact that , when he was inspired by hissubj ect , as he was in The Demon ,Nero , and DieMakkabaer, his operas are worthy o f thehighest praise . It may be quite true

, as CésarCui maintains

,that the tendency o f Rubin

stein’s writing for the stage frequently re

sembles that o f the German school ( thoughnot o f Wagner , whom he always Opposed) ;but for all that, he is even in this domain aremarkable and exceptional composer .I append a list of his dramatic works

1 . Dmitri B an shoi, pro duced at St . Petersburg, 1 852.

2 . Tom the Foo l, in o n e act , pro duced at St. Petersburg,May 1 853 . 3 . Revenge, in o n e act (n ever perfo rmed).

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Ra'

ubern, ope

’

ra-eorn z'

gue in o n e act, pro duced at Hambourg, 1 883 . 1 3 . D er P apagei, ope

'

ra-eomigue in o n e

act, pro duced at Hambourg, 1 884 . 1 4 . Moses, aB ibl ical o pera in e ight scen es, to a German text byMo sen thal, pro duced at R iga, March 1894 . 1 5. Chris

tus, a B ibl ical o pera in a pro logue an d seven parts, toa German text by Bulthaupt , pro duced at Bremen , May2 5, 1 895. To these must b e added a bal let in threeacts, D ie Rebe (

“ The given at B erl in ; two

dramatic o rato rio s D as Verloren e P aradies (“ P aradise

given at the Ko n igsberg festival, May 1 863 ;an d D er Thurm zu B abel (

“ The Tower ofgiven under the compo ser

’s d irectio n , May 20, 1 872 , at

the Rhen ish festival at Dusseld o rf ; and fin ally threedramatic scen as fo r vo ice an d o rchestra— Hagar in the

D esert, l i ecuba , an d Songs and Requiem f or Mgn on ,a huge compo sitio n to Go ethe’s wo rds from WilhelmMeister, which was sung at Vien n a in April 1872 , byKrukl, an d Mmes. Messn ick and Passy-Co rnet.

One of Rubinstein’s bitterest disappointments was that although he adored France hewas never able to have one of his operas performed at Paris . His Nero was given atAntwerp and at Rome in French, but he wasfar from resting content with that . He wouldhave liked, above all, to present t o the publicof Paris Die Makkabaer, o r Le: Macchabée: (togive it it s French title), for he considered thisone of his best works . A short while beforehis sudden death, he addressed the followingletter t o the French editor of his score

,on

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when she made her first appearance at theOpera-Comique

MY DEAR FRIEND,— I read in the papers

that the Opera-Comique is at this momentthe possessor o f o n e o f the most beautiful contralto voices that have ever been heard : ImeanMlle . Deln a’s . Could you ask this youngsinger if she would be so kind as to look at thepart of Leah in Les Macchabe

'

es ? I t mightperhaps in terest her, and in that case she couldpersuade her manager t o produce the Opera t oenable her t o create the part at Paris. I canguarantee its success if it is properly performed.

I should so like to see a work o f m ine, andabove all Les Macchabées, produced at Paris .Is it really impossible for me to see it putbefore your public I really cannot understand the boycotting I have to submit to as acomposer, seeing that all my aspirations tendtowards this town of Paris, more especially, Irepeat

,when it is a question o f LesMacchabées.

Well,well I must have patience, I

suppose. Perhaps it will all be diff erent afterI am dead — Yours ever,

ANTON RUB INSTEIN.

Will it all really be diff erent, now that Rubinstein is no longer here Shall we see , I wonder ,Nero o r Le: Macchabée: given one day in ParisRubinstein’s work for the stage, however,

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may in one sense be said only to constitute thesmallest part o f his enormous output . Let us

take the orchestral music first There are sixsymphonies, the Ocean ” and the Dra

matic ” symphony being two of them aConcert Overture the overture to An tony and

Cleopa tra the so -called Eroica fantasiaand two characteristic pieces, each of themadmirable in it s way : Don Quix ote and I vanthe Terrible. It was apropos of the fifth sym

phony (known as the Russian symphony)and of some other wo rks in which Rubinsteinhas utilised Russian tunes , that César Cui wrotein an offhand way Of all his music , this isessentially the least successful.” He adds :Al though he is a Russian by birth , and hasdone much for the development o f music inRussia

,Rubinstein is a German composer, and

is the direct successor o f Mendelssohn . Hetreats Russian tunes in a German fashion,which makes a very inartistic combination .

He has grasped the exterior aspect of theRussian tunes : that is to say, certain cadencesthat they have and also their melodic contoursbut he has not understood their spirit . Heremains untouched by the poetry, thedeep and tranquil beauty of our nationalsongs .” Well , I agree Rubinstein is nodoubt musically less completely Russian thansome o f his colleagues, who in other respects

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rhythms, and generally by exuberant energy.

It is essentially original, and even if one canpoint to certain faults and can sometimesreproach the composer for being t o o lon '

winded (this was Rubinstein’s besetting sin

g

b,one cannot deny the brilliancy of the writin gand it s nobility .

As for the music f o r pianoforte solo, whcomprises as many as two hundred and thireight pieces , it undoubtedly places Rubinstein inthe front rank of Russian composers . Whereasthe orchestral music , for all its fine co n ceptions and flashes o f genius , was uneven andsometimes over—diff use, the music for pianoforte is noticeable for it s abundance of melody,its variety o f form

, its grace and warmth, andfinally for its assertion o f the composer’s vigoro us personality . The majority o f the sonatasare full o f beauties

,and there are many de

lightful pieces in such collections as the Soiréesde St . Pe

’

tersbourg, the Miscellan ies, and theAlbum de Peterhof . His waltzes , barcarolles ,tarantelles , and songs without words are oftenextremely charming, and they serve t o illustrate the composer’s adaptable and fertile imagin at io n ; the preludes and fugues , thoughpossibly a little too free in form

,are hardly less

interesting and the B al costumef o r pianoforteduet is so famous that I do n o t need to praiseit here .

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I have t o return for a moment to César Cuithis time to point out the curious fact that inhis pamphlet , which is called Music in Russia

,

and ought at least to justify it s title,not a single

word is said about Rubinstein’s pianofortemusic , though that o f some more or less obscurecomposers is complacently alluded t o . Anyoneunacquainted with the subj ect might read thepamphlet without being in the least aware thatRubinstein composed for the pianoforte .

I cannot pass on without referring to thevocal mus ic o f which Rubinstein wrote suchquantities . There are the delightful Mélodie}Persan es, which have a very original characterthe attractive collection o f duets

,most o f

which the composer wrote expressly forMeyerbeer’s daughters and the long series o f songsfor o n e o r two voices , which are very popularin Germany, and are beginning t o be known inFrance . Amongst these last some tiny masterpieces are t o be found .

To sum up Rubinstein may justly be accused o f having produced with t o o muchfeverish haste

,and o f not having left himself

time to give his works as much pruning andpolishing as he Should have done every nowand again

, t o o ,he lapses into writing which

is clumsy and is not characterized by purity o fstyle ; and he was sometimes rather to o readyt o be content with the first idea that came

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into his head . But these defects were morethan counterbalanced by some Splendid qualities . He had ample inspiration and a wide ,expansive temperament which made it possiblefor him t o take up all branches o f composition,if not exactly with equal success , at least withan amount o f capacity which always proved himto be an original composer endowed wi th un

common vigour . His music is undoubtedlyalive

,picturesque

,and full o f warmth and

movement,and in moments of inspiration it

carries the listener along in it s train and rouseshim t o a high pitch o f enthusiasm It isequally the case that for forty years and moreRubinstein stood in the breach whether asvirtuoso

,teacher

,conductor, o r composer ; that

he was an example to others in stimulating themusical movement in his country in the wides tdirections and that he rendered striking services t o Russian music , f o r it was very largelydue t o his courage and energetic action thatit became known abroad and was able to takea place commensurate with its ambitions . Itis for all these reasons and more especially

,it

should be remembered , for the last , thatRubinstein holds a peculiar and very important position in the history o f Russian music .

This , however , is the man whose worthas a composer some o f his compatriots arewilling to despise, treating him as they do

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which they strive to conceal under the cloakof nationalism or under the label of then ew school .’ I do n o t know if anything is t ocome of all this in the future . I am not without hope , partly because the originality o f

Russian music , as shown in its melodies andrhythms , should bring about a kind of fertilisation o f music in general ( a fertilisation whichwill also be effected

,I believe , by oriental

music), and partly because the great talent o fsome of the representatives o f this RussianSchool is indisputable .

”

Now that Rubinstein is no longer alive— hedied at his villa in Peterhof on November 20

,

1 894— and now that his reputation can no

longer throw into the Shade those who wereindignant at it, perhaps hatred and envy willdie down ; perhaps his enemies will cease toinjure him in order at last to render him thejustice which -is his due . However

,even if

they do not lay down their arms we need notfear that they will hurt his reputation, for,after all, they represent no one but themselvesthat is to say, a musical coterie pure andsimple . Rubinstein’s country

,which judges

men by their works , and troubles little aboutpetty j ealousies and private prejudice

,has been

fair to him on the whole, and for a long timepast has relegated much partial criticism to itsproper place . It has honoured the great musi

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cian in a fitting way,and has already raised a

statue to his memory in the enclosure o f theConservatoire at St . Petersburg

,which owes

its existence to him . The following accountwill show what touching homage was paid toRubinstein o n the occasion o f its unveiling.

The ceremony took place on November 29,1902, when there was a grand concert with aprogramme naturally confined to his compositions . This was foll owed two days later by asecond concert, at which The Tower of Babelwas given with the help of the pupils of thetwo Conservatoires o f St . Petersburg and Mo s

cow . To illustrate the imposing and, at thesame time

,aff ecting character o f this musical

ceremony,I cannot do better than quot e some

passages from an interesting letter which waswritten to me that very same evening by oneo f my friends at St . PetersburgKnowing

,as I do, your admiration for

Rubinstein,I want to tell you about the

beautiful ceremony which has just taken placein his honour at St . Petersburg . The daybefore yesterday they inaugurated a marblestatue o f him at the Conservatoire, the work ofthe clever sculptor Bern stamm , who is wellknown in Paris, and to-day a large crowd hasgreeted a whole concert of his compositionswith frenz ied applause . The programme wasmade up of the orchestral humoreske Don

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A SHORT HISTORY OF

Quixote,the overture to An tony and Cleopa tra ,

and the Biblical opera The Tower of B abel,which were admirably given, under the dircetion of Safonov

,the eminent director of the

Moscow Conservatoire, by the combined o r

chestras and choruses of o ur two great Conservat o ires , the total number of executantsbeing five hundred and fifty . The most touching aspect of this huge manifestation was theway in which the pupils of two establishments fraternised together in their desire tocommemorate the noble founder of our musicaleducation . Two hundred and sixty- threepupils, of both sexes, from the Conservatoireo f Moscow arrived at St . Petersburg at 6 o’clockyesterday morning , and went straight from theStation to the Church of St . Alexander Nevskyto pay homage to Rubinstein’s tomb . Fromthere they proceeded to the Conservatoire,where they were entertained . This morningthey j oined their comrades from St . Petersburgfor the final rehearsal of The Tower of B abel,which went with a freshness and vigour whichwere quite juvenile . Their enthusiasm at theend of the concert , when Safonov and thesoloists were called to take their applause

,was

a pleasure to see . The three Jewish choruses(three marvels , as you well know) were sungwith superb assurance, and the great chorusat the end was also given in a masterly fashion .

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of all there are the biographies in Russian byBaskin (Moscow,

Jurgenson, N. Lissov

sky (St . Petersburg, and Do n Men quez

(Odessa, 1 889) then there are the composer’s

own Memoirs, which appeared in Russian in1889, in English in 1890, and in German in1893 . The numbers of the 7 ournal de Sain tP e

'

tersbourg for April 5 and July 1 1 , 1889, andfor January 2, 1892, Should also be referred to.Finally

,the following works may be mentioned

An ton Rubinstein , by A . van Halten (Utrecht1 886) An ton Rubinstein , biographischer Abriss,by B . Vogel (Leipz ig, 1 888) An ton Rubinstein

,

A B iographical Sketch, by A. MacArthur

(Edinburgh, 1 889) An ton Rubinstein , ein

Kun stlerleben , by E. Zabel (Leipz ig, 1892)An toine Rubinstein , by Albert Soubies (Paris,1894) and there is a curious and interestingpamphlet by Rubinstein himself

,Music and

Musician s : Discussions on Musical Ma tters, ofwhich there is a French translation by MichelDelimes (Paris, Heugel,The determined opponents o f Rubinsteinembraced in a common dislike another grea tmusician, Tchaikovsky , who was his pupil, andwho, like him , ventured to follow his ownpath freely instead o f swearing allegiance toany school or coterie . This independentattitude drew down on him the same disdainful sarcasms as were launched at Rubin

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stein ; but he, too, paid little attention t o

them , preferring to think only o f the art heloved, the public he respected, and the gloryhe hoped t o win .

Peter I lich Tchaikovsky was born o n April25 (May 1 840, at Vo t in sk in the governmento f Viatka . He came of a good stock

, his

father being a mining engineer,while his

mother belonged t o an o ld French family ofthe name of Assier

,who came to Russia as

refugees and settled there after the revocationo f the Edict o f Nantes . Tchaikovsky was notintend-cd f o r a musical career

, as Rubinsteinwas , though he is said to have begun to Showa very decided taste f o r music at the earlyage o f four . When quite a child he was givena music-mistress t o teach him the pianoforte

,

but she was more or less incompetent,being

only a serf who had received her freedom .

His musical studies at that time were , indeed ,quite superficial . His father meant him totake up the law

,and sent him , when he was

barely ten years o ld , t o the school of jurisprudence at St . Petersburg . One can easilyrealise that in such an atmosphere he had nochance of devoting himself at all seriously t othe art which he loved and was one day toadorn . He stayed at the school nine years ,and it was n o t till he had nearly come t o theend o f his time there that his father allowed

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the b oy, no doubt as a reward, to take pianoforte lessons with an excellent teacher namedRudolphe Kundinger . It was only then thathe began to study music thoroughly, and itwas also at this time that his taste for itasserted itself really strongly .

However,he had no sooner quitted the

School o f Jurisprudence than he obtained aclerkship in the Ministry of Justice, where hehad to remain as long as three years . But his

administrative duties did not take up his timeso much as to prevent him from continuinghis enthusiastic pursuit o f the musical education he had already begun . He soon became aclever pianist

,but he was t o o ambitious t o be

content with that ; he was well aware thato n e cannot be a musician, in the real sense o fthe word

,unless o n e is familiar with the

theory of music . Just at this moment NicolasZaremba, a famous teacher, who also had somereputation as a composer , opened a course o nharmony and composition at St . Petersburg .

Tchaikovsky j oined his class , worked hard init

,and distinguished himself by making rapid

progress . This was at the beginning o f 1861 .

The following year he had advanced so far”

with his studies that he was able t o gainadmission to the Conservatoire which Rubinistein had founded at St . Petersburg

,and

without giving up his classes under Zaremba172

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at the head o f o n e o f his composition classes.The young musician accepted o n the spot ,and for eleven years he carried out the dutiesattached t o the post , which did not preventhim from making several tours abroad , moreparticularly in Germany and France, with aview t o improving his knowledge and familiarising himself with the music that was goingon in the rest of Europe .

At the same time he gave himself up withenthusiasm to composition, and began t o giveindications of that extraordinary fertility o f

his which was brought to bear o n each branchof composition in turn, and made César Cuiremark that “ Tchaikovsky would have had abrilliant career if he had only been a severercritic of himself, and had thought out morelogically the direction he felt himself takingand the system o n which he wanted to write .This reproach is not altogether unwarranted .

The most impartial critic may, indeed , accuseTchaikovsky o f not having always been sufficien t ly fastidious in his choice o f ideas

,and o f

not having polished and refined them o r givensufli cien t thought to their setting when theywere once adopted . Bu t before making acriticism o f this sort account would have t obe taken (as is by no means invariably done)of the composer

’s temperament

,and of the

nature o f his own particular gifts and qualities .

l 74

RUSSIAN MUSICHow many o f all those who are marked out f o ra musical career diff er from each other in theirmethods of composition ' One

,in the fever

o f production and the ceaseless business ofcreation, will write swiftly. and

,for fear lest

his inspiration should run dry at the source,will n o t have patience to wait until histhoughts have assumed a severe and chastenedaspect ; another , less ready-witted and lessfertile in imagination

,will see them from the

first dressed in more elaborate and elegantattire , and will spend time in adorning themand making them more decorative still .Boileau’s maxim

Take up yo ur wo rk a hundred times amainTo po l ish an d repo lish it again

does not apply t o all musicians , whose temperam en t s , as I have said, must vary andmust therefore involve diff erent methods o f

working . Nature shows us dark and fair, leanand well- favoured, nervous and phlegmaticalike . To wish to apply t o one and all thesame standard and the same method o f

criticism is simply stupid and unfair .To return to Tchaikovsky if his work wasnot always o n the same level and betrays certain weaknesses , it was because his hand wasless quick than his brain , and because his ideascame so close o n each other’s heels that he

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could n o t always wait t o link them and co

ordinate them into a perfectly harmoniouswhole . But when the inspiration and theworking o ut kept pace together and combinedt o serve his needs, the results obtained wereadmirable . One has only t o look, f o r example ,at the Splendid pianoforte concerto in B flatminor

, the Valse the ValseScherzo (Op . and the delicious SongswithoutWords in F minor and F major (op . 5 andOp . which Rubinstein included in theprogramme of his famous historical concertso r

,again, at the Serenade Mélancolique f o r

violin which Sarasat e played all over Europe,the sextet for strings

,known as the Floren

tine sextet, and the symphonic fantasia ,The Tempest, which is n o doubt unequal , buthas power , breadth, and feeling . Mentionshould also be made o f the beautiful variations on an original theme (Op . Whichwas a particular favourite o f Hans vo n Bulow,

o f the Scherzo a la Russe (0p . whichRubinstein often played, and o f the series o f

three pieces (Op . 2) published under the titleo f Souven ir de Hapsa l . After looking at allthis can one dispute that Tchaikovsky was aSplendid musician, splendidly inspiredSome critics upbraid him f o r producing so

much . One might as well complain o f abeautiful tree for bearing t o o much fruit .

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f o r I am not compiling a catalogue , and I cann o t enumerate everything . But this is quiteenough t o make the mind reel .Everything is , naturally , n o t o f the sameinterest . One must pick and choose amongstso many works of different sorts , especiallyamongst those belonging to the earlier part o fhis career

,which only give a partial idea o f

his gifts . Tchaikovsky ,in fact, took some

time t o throw o ff outside influences and t o

assert those personal characteristics o f his ownwhich afterwards came out so brill iantly . Oneo f his works— the pianoforte concerto in G ,

for instance,which I have just mentioned

would seem t o be directly inspired by remin iscen ces o f Schumann ; another , o r perhapsI should say many others , will Show theinfluence o f Liszt , who appears t o have left avivid impression o n his imagination . It wasonly when Tchaikovsky was somewhere aboutforty years o ld that he really became himselfand acquired a mastery o f his own resourcesand powers of self-expression . This seems tome to apply above all t o his relations with thetheatre .

The theatre is the ultimate aim o f com

posers in Russia , as it is o f those in Franceand Ital . The striking successes whichTchaikovsky wo n in the realm o f symphonic .

music did n o t prevent him from trying his “

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hand as an operatic composer . He had n o

cause t o regret his venture,f o r if he was not

always lucky, it cannot be said that he alwayshad reason to complain .

The following is a list o f his works fo rthe stage

1 . The Voyevode, pro duced at Mo scow, 1 869 . 2 .

Un din e, 1 869 (destro yed by the compo ser

3 . Mus ic to Ostro vsky’

s fairy play Sn iegourochha (TheSn ow-Maiden ), pro duced at Mo scow,

1 873 . 4 . The

Oprichn ih, pro duced at Mo scow, May 1874 . 5 . Vahoulathe Smith, in four acts, to a text by Po lo n sky based o n

Go go l’s fantast ic sto ry Christmas E ve pro duced at the

Maryin sky Theatre , St. Petersburg, December 6, 1 876 .

6 . TheMaid of Orlean s (l oan of Arc), in fo ur acts andsix scen es, pro duced at St. Petersburg, February 1 88 1 .

7 . E ugen e On iegin , in three acts and seven scen es,

foun ded o n Po ushkin’s n o ve l in verse, pro duced at

Mo scow, 1 88 1 . 8 . Ma zeppa, in three acts, pro duced at

Mo scow, 1 884 . 9 . Oxan a’s Cap rice, also kn own as

Cherevicheh (The Little Shoes), a n ew versio n o f Vahoula

the Smith, in four acts ; pro duced at Mo scow, January27, 1 887 . 10. The E n chan tress, in four acts, pro ducedat the Maryin sky Theatre, St. Petersburg, Octo ber1 887 . 1 1 . The Queen of Spades (P ique-D ame), in three

acts, to a text by the compo ser’s brother, Modeste

Tchaiko vsky, based o n a tale by Poushkin pro duced

at the Maryin sky Theatre, St . Petersburg, December1 890 . 1 2 . l olan the, in o n e act, pro duced after the com

po ser’s death at St. Petersburg, December 1 893 . The

o peraMan dragora , whichwas taken up an d rel inquishedabout 1 870, survives o n ly in a

“ Cho rus o f In sects.

”

Then there are the three Bal lets : The Swan Lahe, inthree acts, pro duced at Mo scow, 1876 ; The S leepingB eaubr, in three acts and a pro logue, pro duced at St.

I 79

A SHORT HISTORY OFPetersburg, January 1 890 ; an d Nut-Cracker, in two

acts, pro duced in 1 892 . The po pular Casse-Noisette

suite is based o n material from this last bal let. I havebeen given to un derstan d that Tchaikovsky also wroterecitatives fo r the Ital ian versio n o f Auber’s D omin o

Nair when it was given at St . Petersburg.

Of these operas , Vakoula the Smith andMaz eppa were, n o doubt

,somewha t nu

fortunate, although Vakoula had wo n a priz ein an open competition . But The ehn ik

was favourably received The Queenthe second act o f which has some remarkablethings in it, has remained in the repertoryever since it appeared ; and Eugen e On ieginand The Maid of Orleans have both met withstriking success . The first act o f The Maid

of Orleans is quite first rate,and Eugene

Oniegin was so popular both in Moscow andSt . Petersburg that ten years ago it had beengiven over a hundred times in St . Petersburgalone and thus put the crown o n the composer s career . The success , t o o , o f theballet, The Sleeping B eauty, which containssome charming music, has been complete .We had an opportunity in France, a few

years ago , o f j udging o f Tchaikovsky as anOperatic composer, thanks to the excellentcompany of Russian singers who gave perf o rman ces of Eugen e On iegin and The Queenof Spades . After hearing them we couldrealise what very striking gifts he undoubtedly

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his compatriots,and indeed in his own music

apart from the theatre ; but it is solid andwell put together , and it sounds admirable .There is warmth, to o , in the dialogue, and,taking things all round, o n e feels that Tchaiko vsky was familiar with the theatre and thetheatrical point o f view .

I have already referred t o the charmingballet , The Sleeping B eauty. Apart from theball ets proper , several o f his operas containvery graceful and very original dance music .

In The Sn ow—Maiden , f o r instance , there is theclowns’ dance, and in Eugene On iegin the lovelypolonaise and the waltz with chorus ; there is aRussian dance in The Voyevode, and a Hopak

( the Cossack dance) in Maz eppa , and so o n .

Tchaikovsky could hardly help writing successful ballet music , fo r as a sympho n i

writer he had the highest abilities . He could\be both impressive and brilliant

,and he

showed marvellous skill in his handl ing o f thecomponent parts o f the orchestra t o obtaineff ects o f colour . He was skilful and subtlein his use o f harmony, and was able t o clothehis ideas richly ; sometimes , indeed, he didit t o o richly and elaborately

, so that therewas some risk o f the material disappearingfrom view under the embroidery . When hewas inspired, the results were o f the happiest,as I have remarked ; what he lacked was a

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RUSSIAN MUSICsense o f balance and proportion

,and there was

t o o little restraint in the development sec

tions, which are often over long and elaborate .

But his orchestration was lavish,brilliant

,

and varied , and he go t curious effects fromsome o f his combinations

,which were as novel

as they were unexpected . As a single illustrat io n one might take the interesting andoriginal finale o f the second symphony ; butthere are numerous orchestral works of hiswhich prove what peculiar skill he had inthis direction .

His chamber music is n o t free from faultsit is uneven in value and is somewhat prolixat the same time it con tains much that isinteresting . The two lovely slow movementso f the first two string quartets in D and Fare perhaps worthy o f special mention . The

pianoforte trio, inscribed to the memory ofNicholas Rubinstein, is brilliant and full o fpicturesque colouring, though it is too long .

I t seems t o me that the Florentinesextet

,which I have referred to above, is the

best thing that he has written in this category .

In any case , it was not in chamber music thatTchaikovsky showed his best qualities o r re

vealed his own character . His chamber workswere f o r the most part written in the earlypart o f his career , when he was still feelingthe influence o f Liszt and his school ; it was

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only later that he acquired complete possession o f his own musical personality .

Where Tchaikovsky becomes really personaland most indisputably himself is in the intimatelittle pieces f o r pianoforte, several o f whichare exquisite, and above all in the delicioussongs, which are steeped in poetical feelingand in a mood o f melancholy sometimes so

intense that it borders o n the dramatic . Ihave already mentioned some o f the graceful,delicately written pianoforte pieces ; and ast o the songs, which are set sometimes to

Russian, sometimes t o French words , they are,f o r the most part , written with warmth, andoften strike a note o f pathos that is as nobleas it is inspired . There are more than ahundred o f these songs , many o f which havebecome popular with French singers owingt o their touching simplicity and emotionalsincerity . I cannot mention all those whichare worth Special attention, but I cannot refrain from mentioning at least one o r two ,like Déception , which is profoundly gloomy, 01Oh qui bru

‘

la d’amour, which is intensely

passionate ; 01 , again, the poignant Leslarmes, the curious L’

Automne, and the originalChanson de la bohe

’

mien ne ; then there areN’

accuse pas mon caeur , Touj ours h toi, P ourquoitan t de plain tes, 7

’étais une petite herbe des

champs, and 0 dan ce soufi'

ran ee .

1 84.

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o ld, was still at the height o fifa musical career

marked by high ideals and a prolific output .The loss of Tchaikovsky is almost as muchfelt by Russia as the loss o f Poushkin o r o f

Lermontov .

”

It goes without saying that much has beenwritten about Tchaikovsky since his death .

First o f all , his Musical Remin iscen ces werepublished

,which consisted mainly o f a series

of articles contributed by him t o variousnewspapers . Then Laroche issued a biographical sketch o f the composer, and Kashkinwrote at length about him in his Remin iscen ces .

Finally, Modeste Tchaikovsky, the composer

’s

brother and collaborator,undertook a very

complete biography, based chiefly o n thevoluminous correspondence

,which contains

much that is particularly interesting forFrench readers amongst other things some individual and sympathetic criticism o n Delibes,B izet,Massenet , Saint—Saens , and other Frenchcomposers

,whom he greatly admired . The

Russian edit ion was published in threevolumes by Jurgenson, Moscow,

1900- 2

,a

German edition being issued simultaneously ;and an English edition, translated and editedwith a preface by Rosa Newm arch, was published in one volume by John Lane, Londonand New York, 1906 . I must n o t omit tomention the following, which have appeared

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outside Russia : Peter Tchaikovsky, by IwanKnorr (Berlin, Peter Tchaikovsky, amonograph by Karl Hruby (Leipz ig,Tchaikovsky, His Life and Works, by RosaNewm arch (London, 1900, reissued London,1907) and an excellent No tice sur la symphon ie

pathétique de P . Tchaikovsky, by CharlesMalherbe (Paris,I t was fo r those , who throughout their liveshad combated Rubinstein and Tchaikovsky ,

t o endeavour t o replace them,and t o pave

the way for their successors in the field . Itis n ow time that I should deal with thesecomposers , and, in truth, this will n o t be theleast agreeable part o f the task I have setbefore myself ; for , apart from the leaderso f the “ Young School,” who are by n ow

almost all dead , we shall find ourselves in thepresence o f a group o f men who are reallyyoung, hardy and adventurous , who writewith conviction, are naturally if ted , and seemsufficiently strong to bear a oft the bannero f Russian music .

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CHAPTER VI

The “Young Russian Scho o l ” César Cui, Balak irev,Bo ro d in , Mousso rgsky, Rimsky-Ko rsakov

WE have now come to the little group o f

distinguished but exclusive composers, whoundertook with absolutely uncompromisingzeal as radical a reform o f opera in Russiaas Richard Wagner promoted in Germany,although they emphatically denied their intention of following in the mistaken path ofthe composer of Lohengrin and Der Ring desNibelungen . In the eyes o f these reformers

,

who are apparently characterized by in fallib ility and a confidence nothing can shake, nogood operas had been written between the

death of Gluck and their own time . Meyerbeer , although his great dramatic gifts couldnot be completely ignored, was only quite asecond rate composer, while the French schoolpractically did not exist

,seeing that Mo n sign y,

Gretry, Mehul, Boieldieu, Herold , Auber , andHalevy were barely worth mentioning ; andas to Italian opera , they were roused tounmeasured fury by it and considered i t s most

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theywere j oined by Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin,and Moussorgsky ; and thus a little circle wasformed of friends who were drawn togetherby a common enthusiasm for music . Theseinformal meetings of theirs gave rise fromthat time onwards to most interesting and instructive debates , which ranged conscientiouslyover the whole of the then- existing literature o fmusic . Criticism had a wide field to itself .Questions of musical aesthetics were discussed,personal points of view were exchanged,workswere keenly analysed, plans for the futurewere laid and

,in short , a thousand topics that

enliven the mind, develop the taste , and keepthe musical sense alive , formed the substanceof their talk. In this way the little brotherhood ended by acquiring fixed convictions andby forming criteria , which they applied to anumber o f questions in the realm of art thatfrequently lay far outside the current ideas o fthe public and the press . While each memberof the group retained his ow n characteristicsand capacity, an ideal common to them all soonbegan to be sharply defined

,and an eff ort was

made to imprint it on their compositions .

”

We have seen the point from which theystarted we shall now proceed t o consider theend which they pursued . This

,as I have

already remarked, was the reform of opera .So far as symphonic music was concerned

,

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o ur young revolutionaries thought,perhaps

rightly, that everything had been accomplishedand satisfactorily accomplished t o o , by Beethoven , Schumann, Lisz t , and Berlioz . I findI am obliged at this point to make a somewhatlengthy quotation my only regret is that I amunable, in view o f the limited scope o f thisessay, to extend it further . There is n o needf o r me to insist on the interesting nature o f thematter discussed in the following lines

Towards the end o f the eighteenth centuryGluck undertook, with all the weight o f hisauthority, t o restore opera to it s rightful andoriginal position, to bring it back into the pathsof expression, and above all to establish itfirmly on a basis of dramatic truth . So longas he was alive, his high ideal seemed to beattained and consecrated by the striking successo f his own works . But after his death thesefine

,simple traditions melted away one by one

,

and Rossini did his best, save in Guillaume Tellalone

,to reduce Opera to the condition o f being

mere concert music embellished with sceneryand costumes ; while he absolutely sacrificedtruth of expression t o bril liant vocal displaydistributed indiscriminately between all thecharacters : to the young cavalier o f Seville ,the Moor o f Venice, and the Hebrew prophet,alike. A reaction, however, came about . I twas first felt when it crept in with the cautious ,

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incomplete half—measures o f Weber, Meyerbeer

, Glinka (in A Life f or the Tsar), andDargom ijsky (in The Roussa lka). Then therewas a sudden change of front ending in radicalreforms to which Wagner (in the Nibelungencycle) devoted all his energy . I t was at this '

point that the Russian composers o f the newschool

,who had

,however

,as we shall see later

,

very few points of contact with the greatGerman reformer , made their entry o n thescene with all the courage of unshakable co nvictio n .

The n ew school in Russia tried t o insist oncertain principles o f the highest importance

,

one of the chief of which was as followsOpera tic music ought always to have an in trinsic

value, as absolute music, apart f rom the“

tex t.

This principle has t o o long been neglected ;even in o ur time it is not by any means strictlyobserved .

1 When composers were mainlyoccupied with pure melody and with writinga voice part to suit the virtuosity o f singers(which are the infallible roads to success),commonplaces of the most astounding andingenuous kind found their justification andpassed muster without diffi culty . What wouldhave been rightly rej ected as intolerable in apiece of symphonic music was quite naturally

I The phrase seem s to me, however, to b e m erely whato ne may call a truism .

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there are of insignificant and commonplacerubbishOne finds a large number o f composers who

are not I talians doing almost precisely the samething . They . over-write and they think toomuch about the irresistible attraction o f thescenery

,the help they will get from the

technique of the executants , and .the pleasurethey can always count on giving in the scenes‘where the ballet is introduced .

1 Would n o t

even Meyerbeer , who i s one o f the greatest ofoperatic writers

,gain a great deal if the

princesses and queens in his operas with all !their flOrid runs were suppressed

The n ew Russian school looks at the question from an entirely diff erent point o f view.

According to it s principles, nothing Ought tostand l n the way of Operatic music being itselftrue and beautif ul music. The most seductivemeans at music’s disposal— the charm o f

harmony,the science of counterpoint

,orches

t rat io n .with its colour and polyphony— ought ,all equally, t o be pressed into service . But theapplication of this principle may perhaps n o tappe ar to be very practical. It may seem as

1 This is clearly a hit at Fren ch compo sers, whom the

writer could hard ly specify m o re precise ly, see ing that hewas addressing Fren ch readers. So much the wo rse fo r

La Muette tie P or ti'

cz , La j mve, F aust, Romeo et j uliette,Carmen

,Ham let, Le Ro i de Laho re, S igurd, &c.,

who are

d irectly a im ed at here .

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though a moment o f repose here and there f o rthe introduction o f a commonplace passage

,

varying in length according t o circumstanceswould be much appreciated by the audience ,who would thus be saved the fatigue o f havingto keep their attention too closely fixed on themusic . No t at all ' The Russian schoolscorns t o take advantage o f such schemes

,

‘

however attractive they may look,and refuses

to make any such concessions . In this matternothing will induce it to change it s point o fview . I t will march quietly and proudlytowards the ideal to which it is summonedtowards the living fount of intelligence

,

honesty,and eternal poetry— without troubling

‘

it s head about future failure or success .”The young Russian school, then, reverts ,according t o César Cui , to the old-fashionedformula o f Art f o r Art’s sake ,”with contemptfor the public as their motto . The formulawas once in favour with our Romantic school ,but it has long since been abandoned, as it s

inanity has been sufficiently recognised . Moreover

,seeing that it is generally the public for

whom art,in the last resort, is produced, o n e

may be permitted t o inquire , in the face ofsuch proud claims

,what the ultimate aim

pursued may be . But,I repeat, it is easy

enough to j eer at what has been done, wheno n e does n o t come o n the scene oneself until

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after two o r three centuries of varied effort andaccomplishment

,when one can take advantage

of the accumulated results o f long experience,and has not to grope one’s way ahead; seeingthat the path has already been levelled by thegreat mass of one’s predecessors . This is precisely the situation in which the new Russianschool found itself. All it had t o do was togather the fruits that Others had had so muchtrouble t o raise from the soil . When it affirmsin peremptory tones that it has monopolisedthe conscience o f artists (which amounts tosaying that all goods produced elsewhere arestamped with downright and deliberate dishonesty)— when the new school does that, itruns the risk n o t only o f having the laughagainst itself, but also of alienat ing the sym

pathy of all save a few second-rate individuals,

whose sympathy is not of much account .All this

,however

,does not in any way

detract from the very real and active ability o fthe members o f the little brotherhood

,o f whom

the most prominent in the eyes o f the world isundoubtedly Rimsky-Korsakov

,and the most

turbulent César Cui, while Balakirev stands atthe actual head of the school. Since Cui hasalways made himself the spokesman o f theband : s ince it has been through him thatthe public has been made aware o f the

theories and ambitions of this noisy little196

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composed the mus ic (and quite good music itis, t o o) o f a number o f songs ; he publishe d aRésumé of theHistory of Fren chLiterature andalthough his resources were modest, he left areputable library behind; -him and a collectiono f coins . His French animation, his gaiety, andhis wit made his company very much soughtafter . Cui’s mother, Julie Gusevitch, whobelonged to the lesser nobility o f Lithuania,was a woman o f angelic goodness, full o f selfdenial and living only f o r her childrens To

her they owe n o t only their physical existenceb ut also their sense o f moral values .” 1

César Antonovich Cui , who was born atVilna o n January 18, 1 835, entered o n amilitary career at an early age . After havingmade excellent progress in his

,studies at the

Vilna High School, he entered the School ofMilitaryEngineering at St . Petersburg . At thepresent t ime he hold s the rank o f maj or-generaland until quite recentlywasAssistant-Profe ssoro f Fo rtificatio n s in the three Mil itary Academies o f the town— the Staff College an d theSchools o f Military Engineering and Artillery.Amongst his pupils have been the presentEmperor, seven grand dukes, an d the famousGeneral Skobelev, the hero o f the RussoTurkish war. As a writer o n military subj ects

1 Cesar Cui, a crit ica l sketch by the Com tesse de MercyArgen teau. (Paris, Fischbacher,

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he is the author o f an Abridged History ofPermanen t Fortifica tion , a Manual of FlyingFortification , and several other works o f lessimportance .Given a career of this sort and the results it

led to, Cui must have had a profound andSincere love o f

_music to take it up simultaneously, especially as it involved a busy and polem ical life which, after all, was not withoutan interest o f it s own . Although music is notactually Cui’s profession , seeing that he n ever

tried to live on it,he studied and practised it

with sufficient thoroughness t o just ify his

considering himself a professional musician andnot an amateur . But for this very reason hemust n o t be astonished at being judged somewhat severely both as critic an d composer .Cui began t o work at music with two obscure

teachers named . Hermann and Dio . The

better part of his musical education he owedto the well—kn own . Polish composer StanislasMo n iuszko the rest he picked up for himselfby .his own exertions . He was barely twentytwo when in 1857 he wrote his first operaThe Prisoner in the

'

Caucasus, which was notproduced until 1883, twenty—six years after itwas composed. The text was taken from anearly

,

poem by Po ushkin and t‘he wo rk wasoriginally in two acts . I t was only much later,when there was a question o f putting it on the

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stage, that Cui added a third act, which wasinserted between the two already written andthereby became Act ii . When one considerswhat the ideas were which were simmering atthat time in the composer’s head, one canunderstand that therewas an appreciable in co ngruity in style between the new addition andthe two earlier acts, in Spite o f the fact thatthe whole score was considerably remodelled.

The Prisoner in the Caucasus met with a coldreception and was only given a few performan ces . It was produced in a French translation in the Theatre Royal at Liege with acertain amount of success on January 1 3, 1886.

But although this was the first work Cuiwrote with a view to the stage

,it did n o t mark

his first appearance in the theatre,for , some

time before this , he had had two other worksproduced . One was William Ra tclifi,

anopera in three acts, which was written to thetext o f Henri Heine’s tragedy in a translationby Plestcheiev and was produced on February26, 1 869. The other was d ngelo, which was infour acts and was an adaptation by Bo uren inof Victor Hugo’s play . This was producedon January 13, 1876. The reception o f thesetwo works by the public was lukewarm .

William Ratclifi"ran fo r eight performances and

little more was heard of it till it was-revived in1900 at Moscow. Angelo had n o better luck,

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and re roaches Rubinstein and Tchaikovsky soseverely fo r their lack o f nationality, shouldo f all people choose the subj ects of his operasoutside Russia . While his fellow-musicianswere making use of the poems of theircountrymen, Poushkin , Lermontov, Gogol, o rOstrovsky, Cui took his texts solely 1 fromforeign writers. For William Ratclifi he wentto Hein e, f o r Angelo to Victor Hugo Le

Flibustier, which he wrote specially fo r France ,he took from Jean Richepin ; The Saracen ,which was given in 1899 at the Court Theatreat St. Petersburg, was founded o n Dumas

’s

play Charles VI I chez ses grands Vassaux , andMademoiselle Fifi, which appeared in 1904 ,was taken from a tale by Maupassant .We have already seen (and have been told by

Chi himself) what the ambitious programmewas which the members of the young Russianschool had drawn up we have seen that theyaimed at nothing less than the radical reformo f opera . To set about it , they adopted thefamous system of melodic recitative, Cui

’saccount o f which we have quoted when dealingwith Dargomij sky ; they also absolutely fo rbade any repetition o f the words, and , finally,they insisted o n having no duets

,trios

, o r any

1 Except tho se o f A Feast in Time of P lague (Mo scow,an d

_

The Captain’s Daughter (St. Petersburg,bo th o f which are from Poushkin .

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kind o f concerted movement and,above all

,

n o numbers written in a definite and predetermined form . This doctrine o f theirshas much in common wi th that of Wagner,although Cui f o r his part vigorously refutes theimputatio n o f any kind o f resemblance to thecomposer of Parsif al . Nevertheless he madeconsiderable use of the vaunted method ofmelodic recitative (which I S not always so verymelodic) in his score of Angelo, and again in LeFlzbustier but i n spite of i t the former was nota success and the latter, which was produced atthe Opéra Comique o n January 22, 1 894 , was sodull that it only ran fo r four nights.

Moreover César Cui, who has his own inveterate dislikes, professes t o feel an entire andprofound contempt for the race of librettists .I certainly do n o t propose to absolve the wholelo t o f them of their sins , but I do think thatsome poetic texts o f operas are n o t to be despised and that theymust have had some kindo f share in inspiring their composers . .I

might mention in this . connection, didipus a t

Colonos, La 7uive, Les Huguenots, Le Prophete,Lucia di Lammermoor , and Aida . But Cui isabsolutely rigid and will n o t listen to reason onthis subj ect . What he in sists on above everything is the necessity o f havin g fine verset o set . In this . he is making a m istake, fo r itis clear that a pathetic or powerful.situation,

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even when put into poor verse, will be o f moreuse t o an operatic composer and will have moreefiect o n the public than any amount o f

melodious verse clothing action which isweak and inconsistent . Anyhow, let us see

what he does . He takes Le Flibustier, a charming comedy in verse by Richepin , but with asubj ect that is unsu ited t o music because itis almost entirely wantin g in movement a ndaction

,everythin g taking place by means o f

conversation and exchange o f ideas betweenthe various characters . He puts thi s comedyo n his piano and proceeds to set it tomusic , straight through from end to end.But the verse happens t o be alexandrinethat is to say, the type o f verse the mosthostile t o music . What does that matter ?The composer goes grimly on to the end o f

his task, and with his passion fo r melodicrecitative writes three acis o f recitative andcalls it an Opera You should ask the audiencewhat they make o f i t all and what they thinko f Cui’s theories Still , there are o n e o r two

attractive passages in the musical version o f

Le Flibustier as , for instance, Janik’s charm

ing song in the first act, Jacquemin’s story o f

the battle and, more especially, the Angelus f o r

two female voices, which is a really delightfulpiece o f melodious w riting with an exquisiteaccompaniment . But three acts o f recitative ,

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and gives a feeling of incoherence and shapelessness ; the harmonization is uncommonlyaudacious and ruthl essly breaks the rules o f

musical syntax. I t is hardly necessary, perhaps

,t o add that the musicians who make up

this group speak with lofty disdain o f theo ld composers who are the chief glories o f ourart and that some o f them already considerWagner old-fashioned .

”1

This is probably the best place to illustrateCui’s personal feelings towards Wagner . Wehave noted in the earlier part o f this chapterhis general attitude towards such composersas Meyerbeer, Ro ssini, and Donizetti . I saynothing of the French school, which, as I havealready mentioned

,does n o t exist in the eyes of

this savage iconoclast o r is no doubt consideredbyhim to be o f t o o little importance t o deserveany mention . But what is interesting is toknow the opinion the Russian musical reformerhad o f the German reformer whose tendencymight at first sight be supposed t o be onsimilar lin es t o his own . We will see what Cuithought o f Wagner by quoting t o beginwith thispungent criticism of his works in generalWagner’s Operas ,” he writes

,are a

tremendous mystificat io n t o which he himselffell a victim ; fo r there is every reason tosuppose that he mistook his meaningless noisesfor -real music

,and his tedious phrases for

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heavenly melody, believing each o f his notest o be worth it s weight in gold . I should liketo save my fellow-countrymen from thedangerous contagion of Wagnerian decadence .

The man who likes his empty music has ceasedto like real music the man who cares for hisoperas is bound t o consider Glinka a composero f vaudevilles . In fact

,the desire to discover

something deep where there is really nothingwhatever can only have alarming consequencesand drive people to madness . I say this in allseriousness and can quote examples of whatI mean . Joseph Rubinstein, the accompanist,went mad on the occasion o f the first performance o f The Ring at Bayreuth, and one cannotdoubt that Wagner’s music must have hadsomething to do with the death of his royalfriend . So that I trust that I may end mydays without boring my readers any more bydissertations on Wagner’s music

,and I trust

equally that he will refrain from boring me anymore with his unmusical operas .

So much for his general Opinion . To comet o details

,let us see what he thinks o f Die

Walkure . After having analysed it at length,he says I have very carefully examined n o t

only every oasis but even the smallest thicketsthat are t o be found in this sandy waste o f anopera

,and

, as you see, I have found littleenough

,when yo u consider that the entertain

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ment lasts from eight o’clock until midnight .The complete absence o f music in DieWalku

'

re

weighs o n us and induces a state o f tediumwhich it is useless t o fight against .”

Siegfried,” he writes

,contains a series o f

interesting scenes which,however

,produce a

confused impression,because they change to o

quickly,are without definite form

,and do

not hang together . Each scene encroaches onthe next and hides the o n e before . As tolyrical or dramatic episodes designed to stirthe deeper feelings , they are f ew and farbetween and they can hardly be called successful . Siegfried appeals strongly t o

. theintellect, not much to the ear, land still !lesst o the emotions .”

I will finish with a sentence o n Tristan und

I solde,which may well make French Wagner

ians’ hair stand o n end, though Cui actuallypreferred it to The Ring and called it theleast unbearable o f Wagner’s operasIf one was t o make a door grate o n its hingesfor three and a half hours (the time takenby a performance of Tristan) and was to listento its grating with the same devout concem

‘

t rat io n as is given t o Wagner’s opera,o n e

would get the_

_

sam e impression and the samenervous stimulus .

”

I have borrowed the passages quoted abovefrom an interesting essay byM .Michel Delin es,

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7ean Richepin , all of which contain interestingnumbers . In the collection Douz e Mélodiesone might single o ut for mention Je vousaimais

,

” “ Te souvient—il encore ?” “ Ma

mignonne in the Poémes de 7ean Richepinthree equally good songs are Les DeuxMén étriers ” and

,above all

,Les So n gean ts and

Les Petiots .

”They are n o t always simple

they are sometimes elaborate and even overelaborate but they contain happy ideas whichare both picturesque and original .Moreover, Cui has written a great deal, notonly for the voice but for orchestra and alsofor the pianoforte and the other instruments .Fo r orchestra there are, amongst other things,a Marche Solennelle ; a Petite Suite and threeothers

,and some Circassian Dances which in

rhythm and orchestral colouring are veryoriginal . For the pianoforte there are

,

amongst other things , a suite,dedicated to

Liszt ; four pieces , dedicated to Leschetizky ;three waltzes

,dedicated to Sophie Menter ;

two polonaises,dedicated to Anton Rubin

stein ; three impromptus, dedicated to Hansvo n Biilow ; two sets of twelve and sixminiatures ; a Valse Bluette ; a Valse Caprice

,dedicated to Annette Essipov, and a

Scherz ando Giocoso . For voice there are,

besides the songs , anAveMaria for solo voicesand female choruswith harmonium , and several

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sets of unaccompanied choruses , some of which ,like “ Le reveil des oiseaux

,

” “ La Vie,

” andNocturne ,” are very attractive . Then thereare a Suite Concertante for violin and orchestra ;two pieces for Violoncello and orchestra andnumerous small in st rum en talwo rks ; and I mustnot omit t o mention an Opera-Comique

, TheMandarin

’s Son

, which I fancy has only beenproduced privately. Cui also published in 1 896a Study o f Russ ian Song, written in Russian.

After having spoken o f César Cui, it is onlynatural that we should turn our attention tohis friend Balakirev, who, as we have seen, wasthe companion o f his youth and shared withhim the honour of being the leader and inSpirer o f the famous Coterie,” which wascalled by its partisans The Cohort ,” and inRussia Went under the name o f Kouchka .

Mily Alexeivich Balakirev, who was born atNijny-Novgorod on January 2 , 1 837 , is said tohave owed the bett er part of his early musicaleducation to a famous compatriot AlexanderOulib ishev, a diplomat who had served hiscountry with distinction while at the sametime giving serious attention t o music . To

him we owe two important works on Mozartand Beethoven, which are worth reading attent ively even if o n e disagrees with their pointo f view. Af ter having retired into privatelife

, Oulibishev settled down on his estate at2 1 1

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Ni j ny-Novgorod, where Balakirev, o n his re

turn from the University of Kazan at whichhe had been studying, had the benefit of histeaching and advice . Balakirev, who had analert mind and was accustomed ’to go his ownway without being too dependent intellectuallyon others , no doubt turned his relations withOulib ishev to account in so far as techniquerather than musical msthet ics was concerned .

Even so, Oulib ishev could not have had much

influence o n Balakirev’s temperament and o n

that strong individuality of his which eventually made itself felt in the clear—cut , narrowtheories that he was t o propagate and soobstinately defend .

He was barely twenty years old when hewent to St . Petersburg, where he took up hisabode for the purpose o f devoting himselfentirely t o the serious study o f music . Itwas there that he made the acquaintance ofGlinka, who showed himself very friendly towards him

,and his intimacy with Cui dated

from that time . He and Cui worked togetherat music , and from their daily discuss ion of it sproblems ensued that body o f doctrines ando f singularly uncompromising principles whichboth men soon endeavoured to disseminate asmuch by precept as by persuasion .

B alakirev was, moreover , endowed with re

markable energy and vitality . He became a212

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oriental phantasia for pianoforte , and severalmaz urkas and miscellaneous pieces for the sameinstrument

,as well as a se t of folk- tunes

arranged for four hands ; and finally, somethirty songs with a marked individuality oftheir own . That is all .Fertility is clearly not one of Balakirev’

s dis

t inguishin g characteristics , and it will benoticed that he did not come into contactwith the theatre except more or less accidentally with his music for King Lear , which isquite interesting in its way. He did

,however,

begin an opera which was called The GoldenB ird, but for some reason, of which I am notaware , he abandoned it . In France we arehardly in a position t o j udge of Balakirev as acomposer , seeing that he is practically uh

known except by his symphonic poem Tamara ,about which opinion is very much divided

,

some ranking it extravagantly high, whileothers unduly depreciate it ; in any case , theperformance of this much discussed work ato ur orchestral concerts has produced resultswhich are little more than negative .

Balakirev was skilful at arrangements andmade good pianoforte transcriptions o f Glinka’s7 ota Aragonese, o f Berlioz

’s overtures La fuiteen Egypte and Harold on I talie ( the latter forfour hands) and of o n e of Beethoven

’s stringquartets , this being f o r two pianofortes . As

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f o r the interesting collection o f forty folksongs , the following analysis and appreciationo f the volume was written by his friend , CésarCui, who is prepared t o rank Balakirev as thechief Russian composer ; which seems perhapsexcessive when one remembers Rubinstein,Tchaikovsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov .

“The

collection is a very remarkable one,

” he writes ,and of all those that have hitherto beenmade , it is indisputably the best . It onlycontains forty songs

,but they have all been

very carefully chosen, and all are correctlynoted down and skilfully harmonized . Frombeginning to end the pianoforte accompan i

ment keeps its essentially Russian character ,and is so varied and so perfectly adapted to thediff erent tunes in the volume that each ofthese songs , taken separately, in its miniaturefame

,is in itself a real work of art . This

method of treating national folk- tunes hasfound imitators , amongst whom may be ment io n ed Proko un in and, above all, RimskyKorsakov

,whose collection of a hundred

Russian folk- songs has recently been published 1

at St . Petersburg .

”

I will quote,by way of illustration, Cui’s

general summing-up on his friend’s musical

gifts and personalityBalakirev

,who is in the front rank of1 This was in 1876.

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A SHORT HISTORY OF

composers (and is a very severe critic o f his ownworks), is thoroughly acquainted as a scholarwith the whole o f musical literature, ancientand modern ; but he IS first and foremost a symphonic writer . As far as vocal music is co ncerned he has only written twenty 1 songs,which have broad, s imple melodies with graceful accompaniments

,and are often character

iz ed by vehemence and passion . Lyrical feeling predominates in them , for they are thespontaneous expression, in terms of lovelymusic, of the impulse o f the heart . In formBalakirev

’s songs are the link between those

o f Glinka and Dargom ijsky on the one handand those of later composers on the other .

It does not appear to me , however , thatBalakirev, in s i te of the esteem in which heis rightly hel

s

dPoccupies a place in Russian

music quite commensurate with such highpraise . But I may be mistaken about this .

Le t us n ow come to Borodin, who, as we haveseen, was cons idered practically the leader ofthe Young School and the most gifted membero f the whole group .

Alexander Po rphyrievich Borodin was bornat St . Petersburg on November 1 2 , 1 834 .

On his father’s s ide ,” writes one o f his b iographers , he was descended from the royal

1 A bo ok o f ten so ngs publ ished subsequen tly brings thenum ber up to thirty .

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pianoforte o r the Violoncello part at privateconcerts of chamber-mus ic .

He nevertheless began to compose at anearly age

,evidently by instinct . He was only

thirteen years old when he wrote a concertofor flute and pianoforte , and after that a triofor two violins and Violoncello on a theme inRobert le Diable, and a little later a scherzo inB minor for pianoforte and string sextet noneof which has been published . It was mainlyfrom the year 1 862 onwards that he began t ogive himself seriously t o composition . He wasat that time one of the group o f which theother members were Balakirev, Cui, andMoussorgsky

,and it was under the influence

of the doctrines held by his friends that hismusical nationalism began to assert itself . Hisfirst symphony in E flat was mainly writtenabout then, though it was only finished somefive years later in 1 867 This work was produced with a certain amount of success underBalakirev at a concert on January 4 , 1 869,given by the Russian Musical Society . Eu

co uraged by the result , Borodin thereuponmeditated composing an Opera

,and began to

set to music a play by Mey called The Tsar’s

B etrothed . But it was not long before he gaveup working at it, though it was by that timefairly well advanced, and he then produced acertain number of songs , one after another :

2 18

RUSSIAN MUSICThe Sea ,” The Sleeping Beauty ( a ballad

o f which the pianoforte accompaniment hasbeen admirably orchestrated by RimskyKorsakov), Dissonance ,” The Queen of theOcean,” An “Old Song, and My Song isBitter .

”

Hermann Laroche , who was at that timemusical critic o f the Golos

,when writing in his

paper o f “The Sleeping Beauty

,

” gave hisOpinion o f Borodin’s songs in the followingterms

The greater part o f the song The Sleeping Beauty ’

is written directed to be sungpian issimo . The composer

,no doubt

,uses

only a small volume of tone because he isdiscreet and has pity o n his audience unless ,indeed, it is that he is ashamed, like a manspeaking in low tones o f what he dares notmention aloud . Moreover, o n e might say thatin all his works he endeavours to give thelistener some kind of unpleasant sensation .

The title of one o f his songs , Dissonance,

’

seems t o be his motto . He always has t o

introduce a dissonance somewhere,and often

several , and it sometimes happens , as it doesin this song

,that the music consists of nothing

else . Only once does he appear to have hadanother aim , and that is in the string quartet .One day

,remembering the amount o f caco

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in self- justificat io n My Song is B itter .’

This mood of penitence , however , soon passedand led to nothing

,f o r last autumn he pub

lished through Bessel three new songs whichare infested with the same poison . It maysound unlikely, but it is none the less indisputab le , that this determined enemy of musicis not lacking in ability for side by side withthe unhealthy

, shapeless , and extravagantmus ic which is scattered about his works,o n e may sometimes find passages which harm o n ically are very rich . It is just possible ,after all

,that this tendency towards the ugly

may be contrary to his innate instinct andmay only be the bitter fruit o f inadequatemusical education . Whatever grain of truththis criticism contains , its unfairness andexaggeration are obvious .

It was about the time when these songswere written that Borodin thought he saw hisopportunity of appearing as an operatic com

poser,under somewhat unusual conditions too .

Etienne Gedeo n ov , who was Director of theOpera and was himself a well-known dramaticauthor , had written the libretto of a fantasticballet-opera Mlada , which was to admit ofsumptuous accessories . Having written it hebegan to make preparations for staging it

,and

proposed t o have the music for it composedby the four champions o f the new school,

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which was roughly sketched but not scored,) itwas Rimsky-Korsakov once more who undertook to finish and orchestrate this finale , andhad it performed and published in this versi onof his .

In spite o f everything, Borodin felt himse lfdrawn towards the theatre . The proof is thatafter his abortive work on The Tsar’s B etrothedand the disappointment of Mlada, he almostimmediately decided

,whilst writing a second

symphony in B minor ( a very remarkable workin many ways

,full o f vitality and colour), to

settle down to work again at an opera . Thisopera was Prin ce I gor, which was left n u

finished and was only produced af ter his death .

His friend , Vladimir Stassov , who became hisbiographer

,furnished him with the scenario

o f a libretto which he thereupon remodelledand provided with words .

The name of Stassov should not be passedover in silence now that we are dealing with theGroup of Five . He deserves a word or two ifonly because he used his pen o n their behalfagain and again with savage and uncompromising zeal . He was Director of the departmento f fine arts at the Imperial Public Library ofSt . Petersburg, and chief editor of the paperThe New Times ; and amongst his writingsare a monograph on Glinka ( 1886) and a lifeo f Borodin Stassov endeavoured to

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RUSSIAN MUSICspread and to give his sanction to the doctrineso f the young Russian school

,and took every 0p

po rtun ity of extolling them . He did this witha kind of frenzied energy, without any regard,let alone indulgence , for those who did n o t

share his views . He was violently bellicose andheadstrong in his essentially polemical writings , and as his statements were as exaggeratedin manner as in matter he obtained a quitespecial reputation as a critic . To his booko n Borodin, moreover , we owe an interestingFrench volume by Alfred Hab e t s : AlexandreB orodin , d

’apres la biographie et la correspond

an ce publie'

es par M . Vladimir Stassov (Paris ,Fischbacher

, Habet’s book appeared

in an English version as B orodin and Lisz t,by Alfred Habets, transla ted with a Pref ace byRosa Newmarch (London Digby, Long 8c Co .

,

Stassov died at St . Petersburg inNovember 1906, at the age of eighty- two .

The subj ect o f Prin ce I gor, which recalls alegendary epoch in Russian history

, was takenfrom a national poem

,The Epic of I gor

’s Army.

The author of this epic (whose identity is stillin dispute) described the principal episodes inan expedition of Russian princes against thePolovtsy, a nomad tribe o f similar origin t o theTurks , who had invaded the Russian dominionstowards the middle of the twelfth century .

In his admirable book o n the Russian Novel223

A SHORT HISTORY OF

Melchior de Vogue writes as follows of thisheroic saga :Rising above the popular poetry o f the

M iddle Ages we see an ancient literary monument— the prototype of all the others of thattime— The Story of I gor s Army. This epicsymbolises and celebrates the Russians’ strugglewith the Polovtsy, the pagan hordes o f thesouth—east , just as the Song of Roland celebratesthat of the French with the Moors . The

anonymous poet who sings of Igor is just alittle later than o ur Théroulde , and can dis

pute his claim t o a share o f the heritage ofHomer .”

This subject , which was very dear to theheart o f a Russian audience , was unfortunatelytreated in a somewhat clumsy fashion whichdid not bring out it s dramatic possibilitieso n the stage . However , its heroic and picturesque incidents aff orded the composer anopportunity of using brilliant colours andstriking contrasts and , above all , of giving aprofoundly national character to his work .

But at this point Borodin’s musical temperament brought him into conflict with thetheories of his friends o f the Invincible B and .

We have proof of this in his very interestingcorrespondence , which not only gives us

information about his ideas on music , but alsoshows the man himself in a most favourable

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din,I should add

, was one o f the most ardentadvocates of the admission of women t o

higher education, and with Professor Rudn ievand Mm e . Tarn ovskaya founded the School o fMedicine for Women at St . Petersburg, wherehe taught chemistry from 1 872 onwards andactively identified himself with its interestsuntil the day of his death .

But to return to the want o f agreement, towhich I have referred, between Borodin’stheories as to what should constitute operaticmusic and the theories of his friends . I willquote his correspondence once more . It isto be noticed,” he writes , that in so far asmusic for the theatre is concerned

,I have

always been in Opposition to the maj ority o f .

my friends . Recitative is neither in mynature nor in my character . I manage tohandle it fairly well, if I am to believe some o fmy critics ; nevertheless I am far more at

tracted by melody and cantilena . I am moreand more drawn to definite , concrete forms .

”

This is quite categorical, and is a very longcry from the doctrines extolled by César Cui .The score , then , of Prin ce I gor, so far frombeing conceived in the form o f Dargo m ij sky

’s

Store Guest, which Cui so much admired, is cutup into clearly defined sections : that is tosay into airs, cavatinas , duets , trios , and so

forth . This , of course , does not detract from226

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its strongly national character any more thanit does in the case of A Ltf e f or the Tm r .

It is a little difficult, however , to form aperfectly exact estimate o f Borod in’s gifts asan operatic composer from Prin ce I gor alone ,because the score was far from completeWhen the composer died

,and

, as I have alreadyexplained, it had to be revised and finished byRimsky-Korsakov, with the co —operation of hispupil Glaz o un o v ,

who was then one of themost promis ing o f the younger Russian writers .

Borodin had only written the music of theprologue and the two first acts in their entirety .

With the help of his sketches Rimsky—Korsakovwas able to revise part of the second act andput together the whole of the fourth, whileGlaz o un ov wrote out the overture frommemory (having often heard Borodin play it)and scored it , along with the entire third act ,

including the magnificent Po lo vt sian marchwith which it opens . In any case one canpoint to many beautiful passages in thesections which we owe to Borodin aloneamongst others , to Vladimir

’s lovely cavatina ,

t o a duet that is quiet yet pass ionate in character

,and t o several eff ective choruses that

o f the young Po lovtsian girls , for instance ,which is exceedingly graceful , or that o f thepeasants , which is sung unaccompanied

,or

again the o n e beginning Descends des c1eux227

A SHORT HISTORY OF

bleus , which is an exquisite thing . But aboveall

, o n e must rank on the s ame high level theballet music with chorus , which 13 entirely n ewin manner and strikingly Eastern in character .These charming and brilliant dance tunes arerich in colour and varied movement , and areexceedingly original both in melody andrhythm . The orchestration to o , in which thepercussion instruments are given an unusuallyimportant part to play , is astonishingly vividand picturesque the kettle-drum ,

side-drum,

bass-drum, cymbals , triangle , and tambourine

being used both singly and in combination .

It goes without saying that all the rest of theinstruments take part in this gay and riotousorgy o f sound

,the eff ect of which is quite

enchanting, as the whole thing is done withexquisite skill and tact .The music o f Prin ce I gor is undoubtedlyvery Russian in character, and it is this nationalflavour in the music that has kept the workin the repertory, in spite of the weakness of thelibretto, for not many years ago it was revivedwith great success at St . Petersburg, and sincethen it has been given both in Paris and inLondon . Borodin, feeling this no doubthimself, said : Prin ce I gor is essentially anational opera, which can only be of interestto us Russians, who like t o refresh our patrio tism at the fountain-head of our history

,

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the theatre at St . Petersburg o n the occasiono f the Emperor Alexander I l ’s silver jubilee,when there was to be a series representingdiff erent episodes in Russian history . The

composer himself wrote o ut the followingprogramme for it

“ In the silence Of the sandy steppes o f

Central Asia resounds the Opening burden o f

a quiet Russ ian folk—song . The melancholysound of an Eastern melody and the approaching steps of horses and camels are also heard.

A caravan, accompanied by Russian soldiers,crosses the wide expanse o f desert and co n

t inues it s long j ourney without fear , trustingconfidently to the protection of its mil itary escort . The caravan winds on and o n , the nativesong and that of the Russians blending harm o n iously and being audible across the waste ,until at last they die away in the distance .

”

Borodin, indeed , distinctly occupies a prominent place l n the history o f modern Russianmusic . Without exaggerating his importance,o n e can say that he provides a personal noteand

,above all

,one which is characteristic of

his country and his race . As a musician hehad a complex, subtle mind in his harmonieshe was delicate, refined and bold, and was notafraid to assault the ears o f the audiences of hisday ; he was a skilful contrapuntist ; and hehandled the orchestra with distinction . His

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weakness , such as it was , lay in a certain absenceo f unity in conception and in a lack

,which is

occasionally noticeable , o f calmness and sim

pll city in all the nervous vigour he has at command .

In addition t o the works which I havealready mentioned there are two beautifulstring quartets : one in A major

,on a theme

from the finale of Beethoven’s quartet of 1 30 ,

and one in D major,with an exceptionally

attractive and original third movement, en

titled Nocturne ” as well as two movementscontributed to string quartets written in collab o rat io n with others . Then there is the unfinished third symphony

,which was completed

byGlaz oun o v a scherzo for orchestra severalvocal works , which include songs and a hum o rous Sérenade de quatre galan t: d une dame

f o r male-voice quartet ; and finally a PetiteSuite for pianoforte solo and three movementscontributed t o Yke Pam pbm rer— the set Of

twenty—four variations and fourteen tiny pieceso n what is known inGermanyas the “Co telet tenPolka ,

” and in England as the Chopsticks .

”

Borodin’s death was almost tragic . It wasthe last day o f the carnival o f 1887, and he hadinvited a number of friends t o an eveningparty at his house . He was busy entertainingthem with his usual sunny hospitality, andbeing in high Spirits he did not wait t o be

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asked to take part in the dancing . He alsosang and played over to his guests fragmentso f the third symphony on the pianoforte .Then

,just as he had entered o n an animated

conversation, he was suddenly seen t o turnpale , stagger , and fall backwards before anybody had time to prevent him . They hurriedlygathered round him

,picked him up and

he was dead .

If Borodin can be called a master Of technique one cannot say the same o f Moussorgsky,that strange , incomplete composer, musicallyonly half-educated, who was clumsy in theexpression of his ideas from sheer lack ofknowledge , but was endowed with a singularlyrich melodic sense , and was profoundly originalwith a striking individuality o f his own .

Modeste Petrovich Moussorgsky was bornat Karevo, in the government Of Pskov , onMarch 28, 1 839 . He studied music fromearly childhood, and when quite young wasgiven lessons by a pianist of the name Of Herke,who is said to have been an excellent teacher .But his independence Of character and hisversatility prevented him from submitting tothe discipline and rules o f an art which

,after

all,has to be respected if o n e is going to

practise it seriously . Moussorgsky evidentlyhad a profound contempt for rules or disciplineo f any sort .

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employment for good, and resigned his postin in order to accompany the famoussinger Mm e . Leonova o n a long musical tourin Southern Russia and the East . Mousso rgsky

’s health was by this time undermined

by poverty,illness , an d

'

debauch, and onMarch 28, 188 1 , this extraordinary man withhis keen intelligence and strong instinct formusic , died whilst still in the flower of hisyouth

,on the very day on which he was to

cross the threshold o f his forty-third year .It goes without saying that throughout thisadventurous and desultory career,Moussorgskywas continuously occupied with music . Whenquite a young man he was brought by “ accidentinto contact with Borodin . He met himagain not long afterwards and, like him,

became a member of the Coterie o f Five ,o f which Cui and Balakirev were the originalfounders . But whatever society he belongedt o , he always remained essentially an Independent . I f he has a place apart from theRussian composers Of his time , as we are toldthat he had ; if in his isolation he escapedfrom all other influences and displayed audacityo f every sort ; it was

'

n o t so much because hehad a specially artistic temperament

,as that

,

by continuing deliberately to ignore the principles and even what may be called the orthography Of music, he became unconscious of the

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liberties he was taking an d simply put downhis ideas as they entered his head

,without

troublin g to give them any particular kind Ofform . In this respect o n e might compare theproductions o f Moussorgsky to those o f someo f o ur latter—day poets . Still

,there is n o

denying the superb flashes o f genius in thecase o f the Russian composer whose songs ,however strange and shapeless they may seem ,

Often have an expressiveness and a dramaticintensity the force Of which must be universallyrecognized . It would be rank injustice t o

pretend that when Moussorgsky spoke he hadnothing to say ; the misfortune was that hewas t o o often content t o stammer .Strictly speaking, Moussorgsky was not a

musician he was what Berlioz has been sometimes called— a poet using musical material ;only in this case the distinction was more acute,seeing that the musical material was singularly limited . His education was so in com

plete that he did not know how to set downhis ideas in a way t o do them justice , or evenhow t o give shape to a s imple melody for thevoice . His songs are mere sketches ; theyhave n o logical development , and as often asn o t they come inexplicably t o a sudden stopbefore they have barely begun . On the otherhand the musical ideas have a strongly originalflavour o f their own , and frequently show an

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exquisite feeling for poetry and an astonishin gly powerful sense of drama ; they areindeed real heart—cries o f moving and Oftentragic intensity .

I spoke just now o f Mousso rgsky’s in depen

dence,and of the various shifts to which he

was put by his diff iculty in expressing histhoughts . This can be illustrated by thefirst of the Nursery set , in which the time ischanged (from 7—4. to 3—4 , 5—4 , 6—4 , and so o n)no less than twenty-seven times in fifty—threebars . What rhythmical sense can that make

,

or what musical figure can you get from itAnd as far as rhythm goes Moussorgsky hadtrouble t o write correctly . For instance , inthe original edition of this song the fortyfourth bar is in 6—4 time (which is only anexpansion o f 6—8) and consists of a crochet , acrotchet rest, a minim rest and a minim ,

asthough it were in 3— 2 time . There are manyother similar mistakes .What am I to say about his pianofortemusic f' Can o n e really give it the name ofmusic ? I pick up the collection o f piecescalled P ictures in an Exhibition , and endeavourt o understand them,

but without success . Themusic has not sense , shape , o r colour ; onecannot make head or tail of it . The notesseem to be written deliberately without anykind Of coherent plan or sequence

,just as they

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has been done by an enthusiastic biographero f Moussorgsky, P ierre d

’Alheim , who cann ot

find abuse enough for those who are unwillingt o kneel, like him,

before the genius . Thiswriter excuse s Mousso rgsky

’s mistakes in the

following words He did not want toincrease his means o f expression ; he simplytried to translate into sound the soul’s crieswhich struck upon his ears from without o r

rose from within himself . In very truth hetrampled on the rules and crushed the life outOf them by the sheer weight of his thought .”That may be . Nevertheless , if someone wishest o trample underfoot the laws o f a languagein such a way as not only to be excused buteven to win admiration

,he must kn ow the

laws first and also the language he wants touse . This is what the great composersRameau, Beethoven, Wagner , for instancetook care to do . As t o Moussorgsky

,he was

ignorant of the language of music, and themistakes he made are not the mistakes of geniusbut o f ignorance . If you want to write verseand have no knowledge Of orthography

,syntax

,

o r metre , you will not be able to produce anything better than a literary monstrosity

,how

ever much poetry you may have in you . This

1 A m o re recen t Fren ch biography is that o f M. D.

Calvo co ressi in the series Les Maitres de la Musz'

gue (Paris,Alcan , 2n d cd ., 19 1

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was the position Moussorgsky was in . Heknew nothing Of musical orthography o r syntax,and consequently could only produce workswhich were wanting in form and finish .

I once wrote in a s imilar strain to one of myfriends in St . Petersburg, telling him exactlywhat I thought o f Moussorgsky, and sayingthat in my opinion he was musically illiterate .

He replied as followsWhat yo u say ofMoussorgsky could not be

fairer,and it explains why he is unrecognizable

in the posthumous works which have beencorrected and revised by Rimsky—Korsakov, inwhom the sense o f form is very strong . Thishas happened in the case o f ANight on the B areMoun tain , Khouanrtchina , and the choral works .

Rimsky has also just rearranged his Opera B orisGodoun ov, and this new version is t o be giventhis winter by a company o f amateurs . ( Itwas actually produced in DecemberSome have spoken o f the popular character o fthis composer’s music , but anyone who hasclose ly looked into the matter knows that n o ta single musical thought of Moussorgsky hasbecome o r can become part of the people’sheritage

,and that when his ideas clarify them

selves and begin to look attractive, it is becausethey are drawn f rom the people’s muse itself o rhave been inspired by the essentially Russianstyle o f Glinka . Everything is strange and

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formless except what has been tidied up andstraightened out by Rimsky-Korsakov .

”

There is no doubt that Mousso rgslgf wasexceptionally gifted, and he might have ac

quired a great reputation in his lifetime hadhe only consented to work and familiarize himself with the practice Of his art . The constantinterest which Rimsky-Korsakov showed inhim would Obviously not have been addressedt o a man of merely ordinary intellectual gifts ;moreover one can see that Moussorgsky had apoet’s mind . But he was too much inclinedto suppose that imagination alone is suff icientfor a poet

,and besides bein g blindly confident

in himself,he was too contemptuous of tech

nique and of all who took the trouble toacqu1re 1t .

In illustration of this I quote the followingwords attributed to him by his biographerPierre d’Alheim , who thought , I suppose,that he was doing a service to the memoryo f his hero by thus exposing his criticalfacul ties . The context is Saint-Saen s’s Dante

Macabre :

What is M . Saint—Saén s’s practice ? Hetakes down a tiny miniature from the wall,and puts it into an enormous frame . He getshold o f a few trivial ideas and then drownsthem in a gulf of orchestration . He calls thataDant eMacabre. M . Saint-Saens has thought

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B and . Nevertheless this is how Cui expressedhimself on the subject of Moussorgsky, whilehe was still living too

“This highly gifted composer appears at

times , however odd it may seem to say so , notto be altogether musical, or , at any rate, nott o belong to the category of sensitive musicalbeings . In fact

,very wide gaps are to be

found in him, side by s ide with a number o f

fine qualities . Symphonic form is altogetheralien t o M oussorgsky, who is not at all at homein working o ut o r developing a musical situation . His modulations are too free

,and

sometimes one might say that they only proceed o n the lines o f pure chance . When heharmonizes a melody

,he cannot give the re

quisite continuity to the laying o ut of the parts ,and these parts , as he writes them ,

often lookquite impossible and unnatural

,and produce

harmonies which only fall to pieces , andchords which are intolerably harsh . The

critical instinct and the sense o f beauty werenot always revealed to his understanding, andhis gifts assume a character of astoundingwildness , which brooks no kind o f restraint .And yet all these impetuous digressions andextravagant outbursts are the signs of anabundant and vigorous vitality, and giveMoussorgsky an entirely o

’riginal charactero f his own . It would be diff icult to state

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a compo ser’s technical ignorance more preciselyIn point o f fact, Mousso rgsky

’s music was

only fit f o r public performance,as I have said

,

after a friendly and experienced hand hadtaken the trouble t o revise and correct it .In 1866 he wrote the symphonic work

,A Night

on the B areMoun tain,mentioned above

,which

was performed at St . Petersburg for the firsttime in 1886 (that is five years after hisdeath), when Rimsky—Korsakov had re-orchestrated it . It was about the same time that hetook in hand the first dramatic work which hecompleted o n a large scale

,writing the text as

well as the music for it . This was B ari:Godoun ov, a five-act opera , the subject of whichwas suggested to him by his friend ProfessorNikolsky and was based o n a tragedy byPo ushkin . He had originally begun to com

pose an opera, Salammbo, founded on Flaubert’s

novel ; but he never finished it, and instead,used up various portions o f it in B oris Godoun ouand several o f his other works . When B oriswas given for the first time in the Maryin skyTheatre at St . Petersburg in 1 874 , it was notsuccessful because

,from the musical point o f

View,it was n o t really presentable . It was

only in 1896, fifteen years after the death o f

the composer,that it became popular, when

Rimsky had revised and rearranged the score,243

A SHORT HISTORY OF

which Moussorgsky, with his vanity andignorance

, was quite incapable o f writing in theshape m which we have 1t to-day .

I should n o t like it to be thought that insaying this I wish t o deny the importance o fMoussorgsky as a musical personality . I donot mean to do anything o f the sort , but thefact has to be stated that none of his compositio n s of any importance were able to wintheir way until Rimsky Korsakov had had ahand in them . This is not only the case withB ari: Godounw ' the same thing happenedwithhis other big five—act Opera

, Khouanrtchtna,of which he wrote both text and music (basingthe text o n material supplied by Stassov), andalso with A Night on the B are Moun tain . IfRimsky went to this trouble, it was because hefelt and knew that this extremely uneducatedmusician was a genius who often had wonderfulflights o f inspiration . My readers will grantthen, I hope, that in writing as I do aboutMoussorgsky I am not trying to be anythingbut fair towards him , and that when I saythat the score o f B oris Godoun ou (which issaturated with intense and characteristic Russian feeling) is very unequal, that does nothinder me from maintaining that it is stampedwith the hall-mark of re ally great work

,and that

some portions o f it are exceptionally beautiful .If we take the score as it stands now after

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Moussorgsky I S well aware he was incapable o fwriting in that way .

In B oris Godoun ov,then, we are co nfronted

with a very interesting work, but one of whichwe must not exaggerate the importance ; aboveall we need not hail it as an absolute master

piece

, as some insist o n doing . Let us giveit the high and honourable place that isdue t o it without attempting to ideceiveourselves .

Moussorgsky, as I have said, wrote anotheropera

,Khouanrtchin a . He did not live to

complete it , but Rimsky-Korsakov took it inhand and orchestrated it . Some popular perfo rm an ces were given in February 1886 by theMusical and Dramatic Club of St . Petersburgit was then played at Kiev 1n October 1892and at a private theatre at St . Petersburg ayear later and i t has recently been revived andplayed in Paris and London . Though lesspopular than B oris Godoun ou the music of it issimpler and more lyrical, and more allied to thatof conventional Opera . In spite Of the clum siness of the libretto, due t o radical alterationsmade at the last minute by the composerwhen he felt his health giving way

,it is not so

episodic as the earlier opera but the religiousand political factions o f Russia in the sevent een th century, which form its subj ect , aff ordless interesting material to a western audience

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than the stirring story o f the unhappy TsarBoris .

Amongst other works of Moussorgsky whichought to be mentioned are a symphonic Intermezzo (which, o f course , had to be rescored byRimsky-Korsakov before it couldbe performed),the choral Defeat of Sen nacherib and ff orhua ,the Picture; in an Exhibition

,and several small

detached pieces for pianoforte ; and also thegroups o f songs

,Without Sunshine

,

”The

Nursery ,” Songs and Dances of Death, anda number o f single songs to words by Po ushkin ,

Goethe , Heine , Nekrasso v,Alexis Tolstoy,

Shevshen ko , Ko lst o v ,Mey, Go len ishtiev

Ko ut ouz ov, and Moussorgsky himself . I haveSpoken o f the intensely poetical and dramaticcharacter o f some o f these songs ; there areothers (such as “The Peepshow ” and The

Seminarist which are extraordinarily satiricaland comic in sentiment . Finally I shouldadd that Moussorgsky sketched the music fora single act Of Mlada ( the composite operawhich I mentioned when dealing with Borodin),and that he left fragments of two unfinishedoperas

,Marriage and The Fair a t Sorochin rk,

both based on comedy subjects by Gogol .We now come to the composer who wascertainly the most prominent in the littlegroup of reformers

,and who without doubt

had the highest reputation of any musician in247

A SHORT HISTORY OF

Russia since the death o f Rubinstein an d

Tchaikovsky . I mean, o f course , Rimsky-Ko rsakov (n ow dead himself), whose works seem

'

to me the loftiest and most original in all themodern Russian school .Nicholas An dreivich Rimsky-Korsakov wasborn atTikvin

,in the government o f Novgorod,

on March 18, 1844 . He was a hard-workingand prolific compo ser,who se inspiration did notperhaps always keep pace with his output , butat any rate being exceedingly gifted and havingreceived a sound musical education

,he pro0

duced work o f every sort and kind— dramatic,symphonic, instrumental, vocal and choral .Like so many o f his contemporaries

,he had

first begun to study music as an amateur, andit was only after he had been through thepreliminary stages of a naval oflicer’s careerthat he threw up his post , while still quiteyoung

,in order to devote himself whole

heartedly t o the indulgence o f his taste formusic .

It may be taken for granted that RimskyKorsakov had even under these conditionsacquired, as I have said

,a sound training in

music , seeing that he was invited in 187 1 ,when he was only twenty-seven years old, totake charge of a class for composition andorchestration at the Conservatoire in St . Petersburg . As he was younger than any o f the

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replied Rimsky,

“ I’ve had enough o f recitative . I can’t stand any more o f it !

” Andthere you have César Cui buried with hisprecious system alongside o f him .

In 1 873 Rimsky Korsakov made his firstappearance as an operatic composer at theMaryin sky Theatre at St . Petersburg, withThe Maid of Pskov, a work in four acts , thesubject o f which was taken from a play by thepoet Mey. Although this was his first originalwork f o r the stage

,his name was already asso

ciat ed with it , f o r o n February 28 of the previon s year Dargom ijsky

’s unfinished opera , The

Stone Guest, was produced at the same theatre ,after being scored by Rimsky with the skill thatalways characterized his handling of theorchestra . In The Maid of Pshou he madeskilful use for the first time o f several Russianpopul ar tunes— amongst others of a delightfulmelody which comes from the district o f

Arz am o s and is t o be found as number twentyseven in Balakirev’s collection Of folk- songs .This is introduced into the Opening sceneo f the opera . Otherwise the score is notparticularly interesting, the recitative beingsomewhat dry and the harmoniz ation toocrude t o be generally acceptable . The workwas given sixteen times , and was then droppedaltogether from the repertory until i t reappeared m a revised and considerably improved

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version in April 1895 at the Pan aevsky Theatreunder the auspices o f a private musical societyat St . Petersburg . In it s new form it wastaken up by the Imperial Opera houses atMoscow and St . Petersburg, and un der thename o f I van the Terrible was recently givenin Paris and London with Shaliapin in thetitle-rOle when its picturesque qualities and(its powerful dramatic character were highlyappreciated .

Eight years passed without anything byRimsky-Korsakov being produced in thetheatre . He was engaged at the time o n

other works o f which I shall have to speak latero n amongst other things on a string quartet ,which wo n him an honourable mention in acompetition organized by the Russian ImperialMusical Society . He also published aboutthis time an excellent collection o f a hundredRussian folk-songs, which he had collected andharmonized himself . Then o n January 20

,

1880 , he had his second Opera , A Night inMay,given at the Maryin sky Theatre . In thisthree-act work

,the subj ect o f which was

taken from a very popular tale , half-farce halffantasy, by Nicholas Gogol, the composerstruck a new note o f humour and liveliness ;the melodic vein to o was freer and moreabundant than in The Maid of Prleou. The

first act was graceful and melancholy in251

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character, while the second was exuberantly

comic and whimsical . The third was n u

doubtedly of inferior quality ; it was also t o olong

,and was only noteworthy for a very

attractive Slumber-song . Nevertheless theOpera as a whole was well received, and it wasadmirably played by Mmes . Bichourin , Slavinaand Vielin skaya, and Mm . Stravinsky , Lodi,Ende , Melnikov and Sobolev . A Night inMay was successfully revived in October 1894.at the Mikhailovsky Theatre , and four yearslater was given at Moscow .

Only two years separate the production ofA Night in May from another work which isperhaps the best he ever wrote for the stage .This was The Sn ow-Maiden afantastic opera in four acts and a prologue

,

based on a play by Ostrovsky, fo r which Tchaikovsky , it will be remembered, had writtenincidental music some twelve years previously .

The fairy and legendary side o f the libretto,

in which humour and poetry constantly alternate , was precisely o f a kind to set free theinspiration Of the composer ; the result is ascore

,exquisitely fresh and youthful in feeling,

with an originality Of mood as well as o f form,

and a picturesqueness which is not merelyromantic but is strongly Russian in character .In fact , taken as a whole , The Sn ow-Maiden isentrancingly beautiful its only fault, such as it

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diated the system o f maintaining the absolutecontinuity of the musical thread . The scoreo f The Sn ow-Maiden is made up entirely o f

separate numbers which are united by recitat ives in accordance with the traditional formo f European opera .The score o f Mlada has perhaps morebreadth . This is the fairy ballet-opera in fouracts f o r which Gedeo n ov had written thelibretto

,with the idea of having it set to music

by four diff erent composers . The scheme , asreaders o f the section o f this chapter devotedt o Borodin will remember , came to nothing .

In the end Rimsky-Korsakov composed thewhole Of the music , and the work was given atthe Maryin sky Theatre in November 1892 .

The subj ect, which was essentially national,and was partly historical, partly legendary,dealt with an epoch preceding the introductiono f Christianity t o the Slavonic peoples , andgave a picture of the life o f the ancient Slavs onthe shores o f the Baltic . The work is complex,but very interesting from the musical point ofview

,and some o f the sections— more especi

ally the lovely choruses and ballet-tunes— areexceedingly attractive . The opera taken as awhole is pleasing, picturesque, and poetical ;it contains a fund o f graceful melody, andin the matter of modulations it shows thehand o f a master . Fo r my own part I have

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obtained keen delight from reading the score,which is original both in form and idea

,and I

regret that I have t o record that o n the stageit has had practically n o success at all .We now come to Christmas Eve

,a fantastic

opera in four acts and nine scenes,which

was produced at the Maryin sky Theatre o n

December 10, 1 895 . This time the composerwrote his own libretto

,going for his material

t o a popular short story by Gogol, calledChristmas Eve ,” which had already beenused for three other Operas . The first o f

these was Tchaikovsky’s Valeoula the Smith (o r

Oxana’s Caprice), which was given at the same

theatre in 1876 ; the second, by Soloviev, hadsome success at a private theatre ; the third,se t to the dialect o f little-Russia by Lissenko ,Obtained a certain popularity at Kiev and atKharkov, and for several years a version o f

this , with the music re-adapted by a littleRussian company t o a fairy pantomime ( alsobased o n Gogol), was played with success atSt . Petersburg . The score Of Christmas Evecontains some Of Rimsky-Ko rsakov

’s best work.

It does not suff er from the tendency t o longwindedness which occasionally detracts fromthe value o f his other operas ; o n the otherhand

,there is a certain lack o f freedom and

spontaneity in the character o f its melodies .The ideas are mostly short, and often seem to

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need developing . Moreover the composerin this work returned for the moment t o thetiresome principles so often referred t o inthis chapter , and in his desire to keep steadfastly o ff the track o f traditional o pera and toapply himself assiduously t o obtaining co n

tin uity in the musical thread, allowed thewriting at times to become unnecessarilypacked and loaded . But all the symphonic parto f the opera

,which belongs to the fantastic

side o f the subject,is treated in a masterly way

and is as attractive as it is original . Apartfrom that , several o f the separate numbers areworth mentioning amongst others, two charming songs for tenor an d two cavatinas forsoprano

,one o f which is couched in an aff ect

ing mood of melancholy . Christmas Eve, thecast for which included Mmes . Mravin a,Kamensky and Yo un o ssova, and Mm . Yershov

,Stravinsky , Ko riakin , Ougrin ovich and

Chouprin n ikov , was very favourably receivedby the public .

After Chris tmas Eve, which was , as I havesaid, given at St . Petersburg, Rimsky-Korsakovhad two important works produced at Moscow.

The first o f these was Sad/ea (January 6,a legendary opera in seven scenes the secondwas The Tale of Tsar Sa ltan (November 10,

the subj ect o f which was taken from apoem by Poushkin , who furnished m aterial fo r

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at subtlety o f rhythm and minute varieties o fcolour ; but rather with a broad eye fo r scenicand dramatic eff ect which has made the scoringrich and always appropriate t o the situation,and at the same time has left it sensitive and freefrom over-elaboration . The strings , and moreespecially the violins , have a prominent partallotted t o them , the eff ect of which comes outfully in performance , and as I say they arehandled with a fine sense o f richness andsonority . This is not the place t o analyse indetail a work of this sort o n e can only pointto a few separate numbers, such as the brilliantoverture , the splendid choruses , and the lovelyballet tunes , as being worthy o f special attention .

We have not yet done with Rimsky-Korsako v

’s Operatic output, and several other works

have to be mentioned . First of all there isMoz art and Salieri, a small o n e-act Opera , whichis a musical setting Of the entire text o f a poemby Poushkin dealing with the supposed poisonin g o f the composer of Don Giovan n i. Thiswas produced by the Private Opera Companyat Moscow in 1898, and since then has beengiven at o n e o f the court entertainments atthe Hermitage and also at other theatres .The score is a little gem , and was a greatsuccess, n o t only for the composer but alsof o r the great bass singer Shaliapin , who

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created the part o f Salieri . Then a yelater the same Operatic company produceB oyarinya Vera Sheloga , another one-act Operwhich was written to precede The Maid

Pskov.

After this came Seruilia,a work in five act

which seems t o have been quite a failure wheit was produced at St . Petersburg in 190

In this the composer returned t o the mistakemethods dear t o the Heap , and more part iclarly t o César Cui, and wrote the whole thirentirely in recitative

, which the public appaently found a little too tough fo r digest ioIt may perhaps have been somewhat discocerted by the subject as well ; for Rim sk

Korsakov deserted fo r once the nationthemes , o n which he had hitherto alwa

‘

drawn, and took as his material fo r this n e

work a gloomy episode in the historyreligious persecution under Nero . He 1

turned,however

, t o Russian popular legerf o r his next Opera , Kastchez the I mmortc

which was given in January 1903 at the So lo don iko v Theatre atMoscow by the Private OpeCompany . Three other operas remain to Imentioned : Pan Voyeuoda, which deals wiPolish life in the seventeenth century, and wproduced at the theatre o f the Co n servat o iat St . Petersburg in October 1904 ; The Tcof the I nuisible City of Kitez and the Maid.

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Fco ronia , which was given at the Maryin skyTheatre at St . Petersburg in February 1907 ;and The Golden Cock, which was forbidden bythe Censor to be played during the composer’slifetime

,and was only produced after his death

at the Private Theatre inMoscow in December1909 . It was also given in 19 14 in Paris andLondon in a version arranged by Mm . Diaghilev and Fokin, in which the singers sangtheir parts s itting in tiers round the stage ,while the action was mimed by the memberso f the ballet .But the theatre , in spite o f the number of

works which Rimsky—Korsakov wrote fo r it ,was far from absorbing all his energies . Itwas mainly as a symphonic writer that he firstbecame known t o his fellow-countrymen, andhe won his early reputation on the stren gthof his instrumental compositions . The worksof his which fall under this heading are considerab le from the point o f view both ofnum ber and importance . First o f all there arethree symphonies , the third o f which ( inC minor) was written in 1873 and revised in1 884 , while the second, which has the sub -titleAn tar, shows that special and characteristicpreoccupation with the picturesque whichseems t o be an inherent feature o f RimskyKo rsako v

’s gifts as a composer . It is in fact

a symphonic poem written t o a psychological260

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the scale o n which they are written, an d has tobe repeated too often .

“ The second part, ‘ The P leasures of Revenge

,

’is full o f crude and savage energy which

finds forcible utterance in the musical ideas aswell as in the o rchestration . The third part,The Pleasures o f Power,’ consists o f a splendidOriental march, decked out with arabesqueswhich are as attractive as they are novel . The

last part, The Ple asures o f Love ,’which is the

culmination o f the whole work,consists of a

powerful representation in music of the poetryo f passion . It only remains to add that , inorder to render the local colour still morestriking

,Rimsky-Korsakov makes use o f three

real Arab melodies, and that the theme associated with Antar himself returns in all fourparts , in spite o f their very diverse character,which gives the symphony great unity .

”

Here we see the composer borrowing Wagner’s favourite device, only transferring it tothe domain o f purely instrumental music .

But Wagner’s operatic music t o o is main lyinstrumental music if you come to thinko f it .To the three symphonies must be addeda Sinfonietta o n Russian themes , in A minoran overture o n Russian themes, in D major ;another overture

, La Paque russe,o n Russian

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a Capriccio espagnol and finally, two sym

phonic poems, Sad/ea and Scheheraz ade (thelatter based o n The Arabian Nights), and aCon te f éerique f o r orchestra .Several o f these works are known in France

from having been given. at our big orchestralconcerts . The Capriccio espagn ol is a pictureo n realistic lines, somewhat crude in tone butvery interesting, and sometimes very piquant inits orchestration, with riotous combinations oftints that produce quite extraordinary e ff ects .However, I prefer Scheherez ade, which seemsto me a most remarkable work . It is reallyan orchestral suite, divided by the composerinto four sections , each with a diff erent titleThe Sea and Sinbad’s Vessel,” The Story

o f the Calender-Prince ,” “The Young Prince

and Princess,” and The Festiva l at Bagdad .

”

Each o f these four sections has a definite and “

distinct character o f its own; and each showsstriking gifts of invention, while the work as

a whole is very original and is enhanced bythe novel eff ects o f delicate and sparklingorchestration which are the hall—mark o f thecomposer . It is , in fact, n o t only picturesquemusic o f a high order, but also exceedinglyinteresting music . It has become familiaro f late years in Paris and London owing toits production as a ballet by M . Diaghilev’scompany .

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In Sad/t o the composer’s skil l in scoring ispushed to its utmost verge . Here t o o is areal orgy of strange and unfamiliar sounds ;a weird medley of instrumental noises o f anastonishing intensity o f colour . It is notalways pleasing . The ear would like occasionalmoments of quiet and repose , and there areunfortunately signs o f undue straining afterharmonic eff ects , and above all o f a tiresomeand somewhat to o apparent desire to surpriseand disturb the listener . It sounds rather asif it had been done mainly to astonish people .In spite o f all this , however , there is so muchwarmth and vitality in this uncanny music,that one cannot help being amazed at it andadmiring the extraordinary virtuosity o f acomposer, who has such striking effects as

these at hi s command .

It is to be observed that in all this , thecharacteristics o f Russian music with its

colour and it s strongly personal note play alarge part 1n the conceptions o f the composer

,

who has gone to refresh his ideas at the wellnigh inexhaustible founts o f Russian folkmusic . Otherwise (and apart from his dramaticmusic) one might say that Rimsky—Korsakov, inso far as the vexed question o f the descriptivep o ss1b 111t 1es o f music is concerned

, has, likem os t other Russ1an musicians, been muchunder the influence of Liszt and Berlioz, which

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dedicated t o the memory o f Lisz t . It isworthy o f being associated with that noblename

,fo r both in conception and presentation

it stands o n a really high level, and is calculatedin every way to add t o Rimsky-Ko rsakov

’s

reputation .

This does n o t exhaust the list of RimskyKo rsakov

’s compositions . One o f his merits ,

and n o t the least o f them , was that immensecapacity fo r production which is characteristicof strong men— the capacity with whichCésar Cui found fault so bitterly in the case o fRubinstein and Tchaikovsky, and on which herightly congratulated his companion and friend .

Rimsky also wrote amongst other things aconsiderable number of very individual songsa cantata Suitez ianha f o r soprano

,tenor

,

chorus and orchestra ; several unaccompaniedchoruses for male and f o r female voices, andothers for mixed voices with orchestral o r

pianoforte accompan iment ; a serenade forviolin and pianoforte , and a concert fantasiao n Russian themes f o r violin and orchestra .In the maj ority o f his works o f whatever kindRimsky-Korsakov has drawn largely from therich and inexhaustibly varied store o f Russianfolk-songs and national tunes , with which hewas as well acquainted as anyone

,from the

fact of having himself collected a large numbero f them . And even when he did n o t actually

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quote them, he was influenced so much bythem and was so steeped in their idiom

,that

his music acquired a special character,un like

anyone else’s , which gave it quite an individualflavour o f its own . In this respect he followed the traditions o f Glinka, and vigorouslypursued the tracks Opened o ut by the gre atnationalist composer .In fact , after the death o f his two famous

predecessors , Rubinstein and Tchaikovsky ,Rimsky-Korsakov found himself virtuallyat the head o f the musical movement inRussia . And this was due not only to then umber and importance o f his compositions ,but also t o the work done by him as a teacherand t o the high position he occupied as Pro

fo ssor at the Conservatoire at St . Petersburg .

In 1896 he celebrated the twenty-fif th an n iver

sary o f his appointment, and during thatquarter o f a cen tury many pupils passedthrough his hands

, who have since becomefamous . These include such names as Gla

z o un ov, Arensky, Liadov , Ippolitov—Ivanov,Wiht o l and Gretchan in ov . He died o n June22, 1908 . His widow (néeNadejdaNico laievn aPourgo ld), who survives him , has publishedan interesting volume o f his Memoirsunder the title My Musical Life. She is anexcellent musician herself, and in her youthwas a pupil o f Dargo n

é

ij sky, under whom she

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worked hard . She is known as a composerby a pianoforte sonata and a fantasia fo rorchestra on the subject o f a short story byGogol, St . 7 ohn

’s Eve, and she has also made

several transcriptions of orchestral pieces fo rpianoforte duet .I have now done what I can to introduce

my readers to the founders and early leaderso f the Russian school— the men who by meansof their music and their writings, and also Imay add by their over-statements

,have called

attention to the school and helped to give itimportance . I propose to bring this essay toa conclusion by considering their pupils andsuccessors . I cannot deal with them indetail . I shall try rather to take a rapidsurvey of the more modern Russian composersand musicians

,and to give as impartial a view

as I can of the general condition o f music inthe country .

I should like , however , before I finish thischapter

,to mention the name of a distinguished

musician who, although he is not actuallyRussian by birth, deserves to be spoken o f herebecause he has lived in Russia fo r over fiftyyears and has rendered important services tothe cause of modern music in which he hasplayed a considerable part . I mean EdwardNapravnik

,the admirable conductor at the

Maryin skyTheatre in St . Petersburg; who was268

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Napravnik has reached and retained his un iqueSt .

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CHAPTER VI I

Russ ian compo sers o f the later gen eratio n . Theirwo rks, ten den cies, an d act ivity .

DURING the last thirty years there has grf

dixnup , in the wake o f the early founders o f theRussian school o f music , a whole generation o fcomposers who have shown themselves readyt o reap the harvest sown by their predecessorsan d willing to maintain the reputation o f theschool untarnished . They may have been alittle vague, a little onesided, perhaps, as tothe direction in which they should move .Some were inclined t o listen to those whoadvised them t o take a hard and fast, un compromising line others were more sensible andrealised that it served no purpose to breakabruptly with the sane , established traditionso f music in the West . But all alike workedhard

,with the fixed determination o f seeing

that the splendid movement, which had donesuch credit t o the country and had rousedboth the attention and astonishment o f musicalEurope, should n o t be allowed to be undermined . Many o f these composers, and espe

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cially the younger men, have proved to beendowed with unusual vitality and have at

tracted notice owing to the number and importance of the works which they have produced.

The first o f the younger generation of composers to be mentioned is Alexander Glaz oun ov , the favourite pupil o f Rimsky-Korsakov .

He was the so n o f a bookseller,and was born

at St . Petersburg o n August 10, 1865 .

he was nine years old he took his first pianoforte lessons from a teacher of the name o f

Elenko vsky, under whom he began to familiarisé:himself with musical theory ; and in 1879 hewas put under Rimsky-Korsakov

, who madehim work at fugal counterpoint and in strumentation . He now progressed so rapidly thatfour years afterwards , when he was barelyeighteen, he made his first public appearancewith his symphony No . 1

, which was such apronounced success that he decided to devotehis future unreservedly to the career o f music .He felt , however, that the symphony neededre-scoring, and in the following year, when hewas touring in Germany, he had it performeda second time , at Weimar, at o n e o f the concerts Of the Allgemeine Deutsche Musikverein.

Lisz t, who was present at the concert, cameup to the young composer , shook him vigorously by the hand, and warmly congratulatedhim . Encour aged by his success , Glaz oun ov

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A SHORT HISTORY OFstring quartet various can tatas an d a Hymn to P oushkinfo r female vo ices ; two p ian o fo rte so n atas and a co n

sid erab le n umber o f so ngs , p ian o fo rte p ieces, an d duetsfo r v io l in , vio la, Vio lo nce llo , o r ho rn with pian o forteaccompan imen t .

In all this there is naturally both goodgrain and chaff ; everythin g is n o t o f equalvalue . But apart from the fact that severalo f the works are on a h igh level o f interest,their number and importance imply an nu

usual temperament and imaginative power .Moreover , Glaz oun ov is conspicuous for hisskilful techn ique he may, indeed, be said tohave learned all there is to be learnt aboutcounterpoint , and he orchestrates with strikingsuccess and ease . His music was at firstsomewhat crabbed and thick

,and also rather

confused, but later on it became lighter andcleaner as the composer improved in hismethods o f expression and became more soberin his point of view . In his early days hewas inclined to follow the steep paths he hadseen Balakirev and César Cui pursue, butnowadays , although he has lost little of hisRussian temperament , he would ran ge himselfrather with Tchaikovsky in his later phases .What he is still lacking in is clearness and simplicity ; he is fond of being complicated, andperhaps the reason why. his pianoforte musicis inf erior to his orchestral is that he tries to

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get to o much out o f the instrument . But hehas plenty o f ideas and keen imagination

,and

is likely t o be regarded as o n e o f the chieffigures o f the modern school . It is a matterf o r surprise that a composer with as much talentand temperament as he possesses should nothave thought o f trying his hand at the theatreexcept in the direction of ballet . Three Of hisworks— Raymonda , Les Saisons, and Ruses

d’amour— come into this category,and all have

been given at St . Petersburg . In these balletshe has given evidence of that striking skill inorchestration which, f o r those who know himonly in the concert room, can best be illustratedby the sixth symphony

,and more particularly

by its remarkably interesting finale .A composer who has had an equally suc

cessful career is Anton Stepan ovich Arensky ,who was born at Nijny—Novgo ro d o n August 1 1 ,186 1 . He was the so n o f a doctor

,and at a

very early age gave indications o f his obsessionfor music, fo r when he was barely nine yearso ld and still ignorant o f all the rules he tookit into his head t o write an instrumentalquartet . He was sent to school at St . Petersburg, and from there he passed into theConservatoire

,where he was a pupil first of

all o f Johansen the Director , who was a Daneby birth, and then o f Rimsky-Korsakov . Heleft the Conservatoire with the gold medal

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for composition,and at once courted publicity

with a symphony and a pianoforte concerto,both of which were given with success at St .Petersburg and Moscow . He was thereuponmade Professor of counterpoint at the MoscowConservatoire , the Director of which at thatperiod was Safonov, the admirable conductorand pianist of the classical school, to whom Ishall have to return later . From that timeonwards he wrote a great deal Of music ofvarying degrees of merit

,and won a reputation

more especially at Moscow, where he had anOpera , A Dream on the Volga (founded on asubj ect by Ostrovsky, previously used byTchaikovsky for The Voyeuode), produced in1892 , and another less important work in 1 894 .

This was Raphael, a small one-act opera, whichwas written fo r the Congress of RussianArtists . A third Opera

,Nal and Damayan ti ,

was produced in 1897 as well as a ballet, ANight in Egypt, from which he arranged aninteresting orchestral suite . His compositionsalso include a second symphony, an admirablepianoforte trio

,Op . 32 , (dedicated to the violon

cellist Charles Davidov), which is written inan interesting as well as a skilful way

,and has

a delightful scherz o ; a pianoforte quintet ;two string quartets ; a fantasia o n Russiansongs for pianoforte and orchestra ; threesuites for the pianoforte , a number o f attractive

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p icture o n Lettish folk-tunes, and a DramaticOverture which is specially interesting ; anotherimportant work is a ballad for voice , chorus,and orchestra

,called The B ard of B euerin .

Then, besides having written a string quartetand edited a collection of ten Lettish folk-songs ,hehas composed a well-written sonata for pianoforte

, a dozen preludes and a fairly large numberof characteristic pieces for the same instrument ;he is also the author o f a handful of songs toRussian and German words, and a few smallworks for violin o r Violoncello with pianoforteaccompanimen t .These three composers

, Glaz oun ov, Arensky,and Wihto l

,were brought up on the principles

o f the Group of Five and the nationalistic teaching o f Rimsky-Korsakov at St . Petersburg, butdiscarded them to a considerable extent inlater years

,when they came more or less under

the influence of Tchaikovsky,whose eclectic

principles were taught at the musical headquarters o f Moscow . In both phases theyendeavoured to find individual expression fortheir musical personality . There is anotherfairly large group of composers who remainedfaithful to the Nat io n alistic principles andshow talent in what they have written, thoughmany o f them are wanting in originality . Thisgroup comprises the names of Liadov , Stcherb at chev, Sokolov, Alpheraky , Felix and Sigis

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mond Blumenfeld, Kopylov, An tipo v, Estafiev,Gro dsky, Gretchan in ov

,Scriabin

, Liapo un ov,and Evald . I propose now to pass each o f

these composers in brief review .

Anatol Co n stan t in ovich Liadov, who wasborn in St . Petersburg on May 1 2

,1855, and,

like Arensky and Wiht o l, was a pupil ofJohansen and Rimsky—Korsakov

, has a considerable output to his credit

,but most of his

compositions are on a small scale . Amongthe more important orchestral works are anearly scherzo and a mazurka ( the latter withthe title Rustic Scene : near an apolonaise in memory o f Poushkin ,

anotherpolonaise written for the unveiling of astatue t o Rubinstein , and a brilliant orchestralscherzo, B aba Taga . His choral works includea Hymn to Rubinstein ( t o which, as well as

t o the polonaise , reference has been made inthe chapter on Rubinstein), and a setting o f

the last scene of Schiller’s B raut n on Messina

and f o r the pianoforte there are a number o fslight pieces , amongst which are some charming Arabesques and an attractive set ofB irioulki ( the Russian Spilli/eins). Liadov alsowrote some choruses and songs , and editedfor the Geographical Society several volumesof Russian folk-songs, three Of which are forchildren . He is an interesting composer , whowrites with real distinction, and he now holds a

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professorial chair at the Conservatoire in St .Petersburg .

Nicholas Vladim irovich Stcherb atchev , whowas born on August 27, 1853, has written evenless for orchestra than Liadov has a serenadeand two Idylls comprising, I fancy, all that hehas done in this direction ; but he has com

posed numerous pianoforte pieces , (amongstwhich I should mention a delightful series ofshort pieces

, Féeries et Pan tomimes), as well assongs to texts in Russian and German byAlexis Tolstoy an d Heine .

Nicholas Alexan drovich Sokolov, who wasborn on March 26 , 1 858, was a pupil ofRimsky-Korsakov at the Conservatoire in St .Petersburg, and has held the posts of ProfessorOf Harmony there and at the Chapel of theImperial Choir . He has written a good manyinteresting compo sit io n s,which include a ballet,The Wild Swans, 2 Don yuan after AlexisTolstoy’s dramatic poem ,

as well as an elegyfor orchestra and two serenades for strings ;also three string quartets , a variety o f worksfor violin and Violoncello with pianoforte ac

compan im en t , numerous choruses both foraccompanied and unaccompanied voices

,and

single songs .

Achille Alpheraky, who was born o n July 3,1866, has written some dozen pianoforte pieces,and this is his sole contribution to instrumental

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lific composer , having written not only songsto words by Lermontov, P oushkin , Polonsky,Alexis Tolstoy and Byron, and an Allegro deCon cert for pianoforte and orchestra, but alsoa string quartet and a number of small pianoforte pieces , including two Suites P olonaises, anEtude de Con cert, ten Momen ts lyriques, and so

o n . All this , while not without an interestof it s own , is somewhat monotonous and islacking in character .Bo leslas Gro dsky , who was born on October

29, 1865, has published over fifty works,

amongst which are several unaccompaniedchoruses , a few pianoforte pieces and somecharacteristic pieces for violin and Violoncellowith pianoforte accompaniment .Alexander Tikho n ovich Gretchan in ov , who

was born in Moscow o n October 1 3 , 1866,studied the pianoforte at the Conservatoirethere under Safonov and then went to workat composition under Rimsky-Korsakov at theConservatoire at St . Petersburg, which he leftwith high distinctions in 1 893 . He has writtentwo symphonies , some attractive un accom

pan ied choruses and sacred works , and anumber of very expressive songs which showseveral points of aflin ity with Schubert ; as

well as two string quartets , various pieces forpianoforte , incidental music to several plays

,

and a lyrical opera , Dobryn ia Nihitich, on a282

RUSSIAN MUSIC

national subj ect, which was produced withsuccess in St . Petersburg in 1903 .

Alexander Nicho laevich Scriabin, who wasborn on January 6 , 1872 , was n o t only an except io n allygifted pianist— hewas a pupil of Safonovat the Conservatoire at Moscow

,and in later

years became himself a Professor of pianoforteat that institution— but was also a very interesting composer who showed signs of promise inthis direction in his early days . He wrotethree symphonies (the third called The Divin eP oem), two other orchestral works , The Poemof Ecstasy and P rometheus : The P oem of Fire,a pianoforte concerto

,a reverie for orchestra ,

ten pianoforte sonatas and numerous preludes ,mazurkas

, studies and poems for pianoforte .

In the early works the composer’s style remindso n e frequently Of Chopin ; in the poems , inPrometheus, and in his other later works whichhave provoked much discussion, Scriabin evolveda n ew idiom based on a harmonic system o f

his own to express the mystical programmeunderlying his music . A colour scheme , controlled by a key-board , is intended to synchroniz e with the music in Prometheus, and in hislast work it is said that perfumes, too , are t oplay a part . He died o n April 27 , 19 15 .

Sergius Michaelovich Liapo un ov ,who is also

distinguished both as a pianist and as thecomposer o f a number o f interesting works ,

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was born at Zaro slav o n November 30, 1859 .

He received his early musical education at theImperial School o f Music at Nijny-Novgorodand completed it at the Conservatoire atMoscow ; he then went to St . Petersburg,where he came into close contact with B alakirev, by whom he was much influenced, andfrom 1894 till 1902 he was assistant Directoro f the Imperial Chapel . The most importanto f his compositions are a pianoforte concerto,a symphonic poem, Hashish

,a very interesting

and attractive rhapsody in three sections forpianoforte and orchestra

,a symphony

,and a

Solemn Overture o n a Russian theme . Inaddition to this there are numerous studiesand mazurkas

,as well as a ballade , a polonaise

and so forth for pianoforte solo, which showthe influence of Liszt and Balakirev , and avaluable collection of 265 folk- songs edited andpublished by Liapoun ov for the GeographicalSociety in 1899 .

Victor Ewald, who was born on November27, 1860, is a well-known violoncellist who haswritten a quartet and quintet for strings andthree pieces for Violoncello with pianoforteaccompaniment . I should also add to thislist the names of Pom az an sky , who has writtensongs and other small works , and Paul IvanovichBlaram b erg, a pupil of Balakirev, who wasborn on September 14 , 184 1 , and wrote amongst

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raliz at io n on the modern Russian school, whichI once heard expressed by a colleague o f minewho is a good judge and is well up in hissubject . I was struck both by the precisionand the fairness o f his opinion which he gaveme in the following words

The greater number o f the more modernRussian composers seem to be under the influen ce o f Liszt and Berlioz . They are preoccupied not so much with beauty of form as

with the search for the picturesque . In thisway they end by being content with cheapeff ects bordering on the tricks of pure virtuo sity, which are to be met with even in thebest pages of Liszt . Their compositions oftenhave elements o f looseness and disproportionabout them

,and they are characterized by

constant repetitions which give them an airo f improvisation . At the same time theycontain many striking qualities . When thesemusicians have made the round of the Romantics, they will come back to the Classics , toB ach, Mozart , Beethoven and Mendelssohn,and then they may give us some masterpieces .The Russian school dates from yesterday.

Young people always prefer Lucan to Virgil ;it is only when they have reached maturitythat scholars can discern, appreciate , and lovereal beauty .

” It would be diflicult to put thecase more deftly and eloquently .

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The composers whose names and works Ihave mentioned above form a close and ardentgroup , whose obj ect and desire , above all things ,are to emphasize the national characteristicso f modern Russian music . If they have sometimes shown a rather childish contempt f o rwhat was done before them and

,like children

,

have rej ected the results of previous experience,

they are united by a common stock o f theoriesand precepts which constitutes the drivingforce that impels them towards the end theyhave in view . That is the source of their vitality

,

and it is precisely this common stock of theoriesand preceptswhich justifies the title of school

”

being applied to them . It is, o f course, inevitable that some should have shown themselves too rigid in their application of certainprinciples

,and that others should have ex

aggerated them ; and some have naturallylost their way at times . But all have beenanimated with the sacred flame

,and all have

had that pure , unquenchable faith in the result ,which assures success in the long run . Morethan o n e, no doubt, has rested by the wayside orhas crept o n a broken wing, for all were notequally gifted

,and the weaker have naturally

seen themselves passed on the road by thestronger . But their work, taken as a whole,is bearing fruit

,and the strong and valiant

Russian school o f to—day provides us with287

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an earnest o f what the future has in storefor us .I should add that good wishes and good

fortune are on its side . Besides having moralencouragement

,which indeed has never been

wanting,the Russian school found help of a

very eff icacious and practical kind in the person of a wealthy business man who became itsMaecenas

,and who was deterred by no ques

tions of expense from advertising his protégéto the world . This was Mitro phan e PetrovichBelaiev ,

the timber merchant, who was born in

1 836 , and in 1885 founded the publishing housein Leipzig

,on which he spent vast sums of

money in printing and propagating under thebest possible conditions the compositions ofthe younger Russian composers of the day.

During twenty years Belaiev published, in hissumptuous and tasteful edition, some sevenhundred works, not counting arrangementsand since his death in 1904 the publicationshave been continued . He also founded theRussian Symphony Concerts , at which theworks he published were performed, as well asthe Quartet Evenings in St . Petersburg, whichbecame a centre for a whole group of composers and players and it was he who financedthe concerts o f Russian music which weregiven at the Trocadero during the Parisexhibition o f 1889 . Am I not right in saying

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success, was o n e of these amateurs , and was

descended from an ancient family whose headis said to have been a brave soldier and afriend o f Peter the Great . Besides writing thisopera he published an interesting collection ofRussian folk-songs . About this time too onecomes across the names of several composerswhose works were produced in the theatre .

There was Kashperov who, after having hadtwo Operas , Maria Tudor and Rien z i, given inItaly

,returned to Russia , when his Tempest

was produced at St . Petersburg in 1 867 , andwas made a Professor at the Conservatoire atMoscow,

where he died in 1 894 . Then therewas Santis , a well-known pianist and a pupilo f Hen selt , whose four-act Opera 7ermah wasgiven at St . Petersburg in 1 874 . There wasalso San t is’s able pupil, Alexander Fam in t sinor Fam it sin (born at Kaluga o n November 5,1 84 1 died at St . Petersburg on June 29,who was composer , critic , and Professor ofMusical History at the Conservatoire at St .Petersburg, where his operas , Sardan apalusand Uriel Acosta

,were given in 1875 and 1883 .

He also wrote a Russian rhapsody for violinand orchestra and two string quartets, and,like his teacher , edited some Russian folk-songs .Mm e . Valentine Serov, the widow of thecomposer

,herself a clever musician

,also wrote

an opera on the same subject and with the290

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same title , Uriel Acosta,which was given with

some success at the Court Theatre at Moscowin April 1885 .

The celebrated violon cellist , Charles Davidov(born at Goldingen on March 17 , 1 838 ; diedat Moscow on February 26, who had aEuropean reputation as a player, did not writefor the theatre , but was a voluminous composerin other directions . Besides numerous works forhis own instrument he wrote some orchestralsuites , several pianoforte quartets and quintets ,some pieces fo r pianoforte solo and a numbero f expressive songs which have kept theirpopularity . At the St . Petersburg Conservatoire Davidov was

, first of all, Professor ofMusical History, then Professor of the violoncello, and eventually the very successfulDirector . Besides this he was Director of theRussian Imperial Society o f Music at St .Petersburg . He also showed remarkable giftsas a conductor , and for many years he gave anumber Of very successful and popular chamberconcerts with Leopold Auer the violinist andthe pianist Theodore Leschetizky . Lescherizky, though not a Russian (for he was borno f Polish parents at Vienna in lived fornearly thirty years in St . Petersburg, where hetook a prominent part in the musical life ofthe place n o t only as a virtuoso and a composer but also as a teacher . One of the most

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gifted o f his many pupils during his stay inRussia (where he is remembered to-day as aneminent and hard-working musician)wasMme .

An nette Essipov , who acquired a reputation asa pianist all over Europe, and became herself aProfessor at the St . Petersburg Conservatoire .

In 1878 Leschetizky returned to Vienna , wherehe has lived ever since , and where he hasturned out numbers of well-known players

,

including the most famous pianist of ourtime

,Ignaz Paderewsky, who has had such

a prodigiously successful career .To return to the Russian school of composers .

,Amongst those whose works have been

produced in the theatre in more recent daysI may mention first the name of NicholasSoloviev

, who was born at Petrozavodsk onApril 27, 1846 . He was Professor o f theoryan d musical history at the St . PetersburgConservatoire (where, as a student , he wasa pupil of Zaremba , and gained the GrandPrix

_ for composition with a cantata , TheDeath of Samson), and was also musical criticfor one of the leading newspapers . He madehis name as a composer , first of all, with anoverture on a Russian theme and a symphonicpoem

, Russians and Mongols . He then wrotetwo Operas Vahoula , (based o n Go go l

’s story

o f Christmas Eve, which Tchaikovsky,Rimsky

Korsakov and several other composers utiliz ed),292

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A SHORT HISTORY OF

n ified style,but it was heavy in form and had

not very much charact er . Four years later ao n e- act opera , The Vengean ce of Cupid, wasproduced . Tan eiev is also the author o f avery useful book on counterpoint .M ichael Ippolitov-Ivanov

,who was born o n

November 19, 1 859, is a distinguished composer who has written several symphonicworks, including an overture on a Russiantheme

,a Sinfonietta, a charming Suite Cau

c-asien n e, and twelve characteristic picturesfor chorus and orchestra , as well as somechamber music , several groups of songs, andabook o n The National Songs of Georgia (inthe Caucasus). He has also composed fourb peras : Ruth, produced in 1887 at Tiflis,where at that time he was Director o f theSchool of Music Asra , produced at Tiflis in1890 ; Assya , produced at Moscow in 1900,and Goz e el Uma, a four-act Opera which wassuccessfully brought out at the Russian Operaat St . Petersburg in 19 10 . Originally a pupilo f Rimsky—Korsakov at St . Petersburg, heseems to have felt the influence o f Tchaikovsky

’s second manner, and, like Sergius

Tan eiev, is what is known in Russia as anOccidental ” composer, as distinguishedfrom a Nationalist ” that is to say

,his

music is not stamped with a character that isessentially Russian except in the earlier works

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written under Rim sky’s influen Ce . In 1893

he became a Professor at the Moscow Conservato ire and succeeded Safonov in theDirectorship o f that Institution in 1906, andsince 1899 he has been Conductor o f theMoscow Private Opera . When the presentTsar came t o the throne Ippolitov—Ivanov wascommissioned to write the off icial CoronationCantata, which was performed with greatpomp and ceremony in the Cathedral .Michael Michaelo vich Ivanov , who was bornin 1 850 , has the same surname as the precedingcomposer but is not related to him . He ishimself a composer and a critic on the NewTimes,

1 for in Russia as in France musiciansare bitten with the irresistible desire o f writing criticism as well as music . His compositions

, which are numerous, include a ballet inthree acts

, The Vestal Virgin three operas,Prin cess Zabava , The Festival at P otiomhin , andAn Old Story, all given at St . Petersburg ; asymphony

, A Night in May Savonarola, asymphonic prologue ; a triumphal overture ;three . orchestral suites ; incidental music toMedea a violin concerto, a Requiem, an AveMaria , and various songs . He was also commissio n ed by the municipality o f St . Petersburg towrite the cantata for the festival comm emo

rat ing the bicentenary o f the capital .1 Novoe Vremya .

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Boris Sheel (or Victinghov , to give him hisreal name), was an amateur who was veryactive as a composer and tried to make himselftalked about b ut his works , though numerous,do not rise above the level o f a decent mediocrity. Three operas of his have been performed : The Demon Tamara

and Don 7uan and two ballets : The Tulip ofHaarlem and Cinderella Healso wrote another opera, 7udith, (which hasnever been given), an oratorio, 7 ohn of Damascus

a symphonic poem , The Foun tain of B ahtchisara i , an d other works . He died m 1902 .

Jules Bleichm an n , who was born in 1868

and died at St . Petersburg in 1910, wasanother amateur

, who composed a Suite deB allet for orchestra , and a considerable numbero f songs and pianoforte pieces . In 1 896 heconducted in person a new sacred work forsolo voices

, chorus , and orchestra on a largerscale , called Sain t Sebastian , which was criti

cised with some severity ; and his opera ,La Prin cesse loin tain e, based o n EdmondRo stan d

’s play o f that name , was produced

m 1900 .

George Kaz atchenko , who was born o n

August 2 1,1 858 , an d was at one time a pupil

o f Johansen and Rimsky-Korsakov at theConservatoire at St . Petersburg, is more to bereckoned with than either . o i the last two

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A SHORT HISTORY OF

pupil o f Tan eiev and Arensky . He won the

gold medal for composition in 1 892 , andalmost immediately undertook an extensivetour across Russia as a pianist , on his returnfrom which he devoted himself ass iduously towriting works of his own . Since then he hasfrequently appeared both in Russ ia and abroadas a pianist

,he has held various posts as

conductor,and he has produced numerous

compositions of interest and distinction . Theseinclude two symphonies ; a fantasia , The

Roch, for orchestra ; three pianoforte co n

certos ; a pianoforte trio (written in memoryo f Tchaikovsky) ; a sonata for pianoforteand Violoncello ; two suites f o r two pianofortes ; several sets o f short pieces and preludes for pianoforte solo

,amongst the latter

being the famous prelude in C sharp minor ;some songs ; a cantata

, Spring, and finally acharming one- act Opera

, Ale/co, which was

written o n a subj ect taken from Poushkin’s

poem , The Gipsies, and was produced inMoscow in 1893 .

Another interesting pupil o f Tan eiev and oflppolito-v- Ivanov at theMoscow Conservatoire

,

where,like Rachmaninov

,he won the gold

medal for composition,is Reinhold Gl-iere,

who was born at Kiev on December 30, 1 874 .

His works include several attractive chamberworks ( two string quartets

,a quintet

,and an

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o ctet) an early symphony ; a later symphony,I lia Mourometz , written to a programme witha national legendary subj ect ; and a skilfullyorchestrated symphonic poem, The Sirens, inwhich modern French influences are to betraced . He is a musician whose career willbe Watched with interest .A composer who writes easily and freshlyis Shen ck, the author o f a symphony

, ThePhan toms

, two Operettas , Phryn e’ and Hadj i

Mourad, and an attractive ballet, B lue—B eard,which was given at St . Petersburg in 1896 .

And here I may mention the n ame o f thecomposer, Krotkov, whose Italian opera , Fiorefa tale, was produced in 1886 and was followedin 1892 by a o n e- act opera, The Poet, whichwas given in St . Petersburg .

More important than either o f these two isAr sene Nicho laevich Korestchenko , who was ,

apupil o f Tan eiev and Arensky at the MoscowConservatoire

,where he is no w himself a

professor . His orchestral works , which arenumerous

,include a lyric symphony ; and

besides these there is a considerable amounto f vocal and instrumental music ; also a ballet ,The Magic Mirror, and four operas, two ofo f them being in one act namely, The Palaceof I ce, which was played at Moscow inDecember 1900 ,

and The Feast during the

P lague, after a poem by Poushkin , which was299

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produced at the Court Theatre at Moscow inJanuary 1902 .

I must also draw attention to an independent and apparently anarchical composer ,Vladimir Ivanovich Reb ikov , who was born atKro sn oyarsk in Siberia in 1 866, and studiedmusic in Berlin and Vienna . He claims thathe has thrown o ff every kind o f influence, sothat he may the more easily follow the pathhe has chosen for himself . According to abiographer : He wishes t o free music fromthe trammels Of definite form and tonality inorder that it may be the faithful echo of allthe impressions o f the soul and of the senses .

Reb ikov has published several sets o f mélomimiques ,” psychological sketches,” and m iscellan eous pieces fo r pianoforte with such titlesas Silhouettes,

”P armi Eux,

” “ Dans leurpays

,

” and also a descriptive legend, The Taleof the Prin cess and the King of the Frogs . Hehas also written some songs , and am ongst hisworks for the stage are a one-act psychological opera, The Christmas Tree, which wasproduced at Moscow in 1903, and a latero n e called Thea .

I ought perhaps to give passing mention toMlle . Kashpero v , the niece of the composerwhose name occurs earlier in this chapter .She was a skilful pianist who had temperament both as virtuoso and as composer

,and

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His other works include an orchestral suite ,two symphonic sketches (o n e called The

Nymphs, the other The Cedar and the Palm),some songs and pianoforte pieces and in

ciden tal music t o Alexis Tolstoy’s play,Tsar B oris . He was making preparations forproducing his first opera , The 1

”ear 1 81 2 ,

when death cut short his labours in January1901 .

Amongst the composers who are still quiteyoung must be classed Igor Stravinsky, so n Of

the well-known singer . He was born in 1 882

at Oranienbaum, a village near St . Petersburg,and was a pupil o f Rimsky-Korsakov . Hisearly compositions include a symphony, somesongs , a set of four studies for pianoforte

,a

Scherz o Fan tastique and a symphonic fantasia,

Firewor/es (both f o r orchestra). His laterworks

,which have made him famous

,are the

three extraordinarily brilliant,vivacious and

picturesquely scored ballets , The Fire-B ird

P etroushlea and The Crown ing ofSpring (191 3) and the opera, based on HansAndersen’s fairy- tale

,The Nightingale, which

was produced in London in 19 14 .

Then there are o n e or two operatic composers whose names are barely known outsideRussia . Hardenwald , for instance , whose P owerof Love, founded on a story by To urgen iev,was produced at Kharkov in 1 895 Pachulsky,

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whose Valerie, (also founded o n a story byTourgen iev), was given in 1896 at Kiev,where he is Director o f the Conservatoire ;Prin ce Troubetskoy, whose Melusin e was produced at Mo scow in 1 895 and Blarem berg, towhom I have already referred as the author offive Operas . The following works may also bementioned here Love Triumphan t, by Gartevel (Moscow, 1895) The Foun tain of Flowers,by Alexander Fedorov, based o n a tale byPoushkin (Ekaterinoslav, 1896) The Miracleof Roses, by Peter Sheerck (St . Petersburg,

Miranda, by Kasanli (St . Petersburg,

1910) The Siege of Dubn o, by Sokalsky and,

finally, a tiny Opera, Love’s Revenge, by

Alexander Tan eiev ( a nephew o f SergiusTan eiev), who was a friend of Balakirev andRimsky-Korsakov, and has continued to writemusic in spite of the heavy duties of stateinvolved in his having become chief chancello r . This Opera was produced before theCourt at the Hermitage Theatre in March1 . O2 .9Leopold Godowsky, the distinguished pianist

who was born at Wilna in Russian Poland onFebruary 13 , 1870, deserves mention for havingmade some interesting contributions ( includinga sonata

, studies o n ; Chopin’s Etudes, and

original studies) to the literature o f thepianoforte ; and his accomplished fellow

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artist, Vassily Sapelln ikov , has published afew pleasing t rifles for the same instrument .It may be added that Hermann L aroche , thewell-known critic

,wrote some songs and some

very uneven incidental music to Alfred deMusset’s Carmosine ; that a clever amateur,Sergius Youferov , composed several sets ofsongs and some attractive pianoforte pieces ;and that Hlavatch, the conductor of thesummer orchestral concerts in St . Petersburg,has had several small symphonic works performed . Another conductor who has com

posed o n a larger scale 13 Nicholas Tcherepnin(born who was a pupil of Rimsky K— o r

sakov,and has become known outside Russia

for his two charming ballets, Le Pavillon

d’Armide and Narcisse.

I will now conclude this chapter witha list of composers who cannot be treatedin detail, but deserve to be recorded inany account of the later phases o f Russianmusic . These are :Lissenko (born who was a pupil ofRimsky-Korsakov and has written severaloperas Catoire (born who is of Frenchparentage ( and betrays it in his music), buttook lessons of Liadov in St . Petersburg andnow lives in Moscow ; .Dlo ussky, who haswritten songs and, in conjunction withWeran i,an Operetta, Madame Sans-Gene Toushm a

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wrote various songs and pianoforte pieces as

was performed at St . Petersburg .

306

CHAPTER VI II

A gen era l v iew o f the presen t state o f mus ic in Russia.

Musical critics an d histo rian s.—D istin guished s ingers

an d in strum en talists.—The teaching o f mus ic.

— TheCo n servato ires.

—Con clus io n .

FROM what I have said in the precedingchapter it should be possible t o gain somenotion o f the strength and vitality of themusical movement going o n at the presentmoment in Russia

,which, as I have said

at the beginning o f this essay, is the onlycountry besides France possessing a reallynational school . This movement has occurredin the domain o f theory as well as of actualpractice, thanks t o the publication o f a numbero f critical an d historical works , many of whichare o f interest and importance . These publications have unf ortunately been somewhatsporadic

,and they do not supplement each

other t o any great extent, so that the whole o fthem if collected woul d n o t give a very accurate

general survey o f the present state o f music

in Russia o r o f its origins and development ,nevertheless they indicate, more especially o f

late years , an intellectual activity that is307

A SHORT HISTORY OF

altogether praiseworthy and deserving o f en

co uragemen t . Amongst the many works whichhave been published I will single out formention the following

R . P. Dm itri Raz oum ovsky : Russian ChurchMusic ,Yo ury Arn o ld : Memoirs and m isce llan eo us articles ;Prin ce N icho las Yo ussipo v : History of Music in

Russia, Histo rical and an aly tical Mon ograph on the

Vio lin ; Perepelitsin : D iction ary of Music, I llustrated

I fistory of Music in Russia , I llustrated Historica l Albumof Music ; Alexan der Fam in tsm : On the Structure and

Melodies of Russian Fo lh-son vgs, TheMusical Season , The

An cien t Sca le of I n do Chin ese Music an d zts appearancein Russian Folh—song , The Mummers in Russia Alexander Oulib ishev : Lif e of Moz ar t

, Lif e of B eethoven ;Wilhem vo n Len z : B eethoven and his three Man n ers ;

P lato n de Waxel B iography of Glinha , several impo rtan t wo rks o u Russ ian an d Po rtuguese mus ic, and

critical wo rk in the Fren chj ourn a l de Sain t-Petersb urgexten d ing o ver a perio d o f seven teen years ; AlexanderRo ub ets B iographical D iction ary of Russian Musician s,o f which there were two ed itio n s ; Michael Petoukho vSystematised Catalogue of theMuseum of Musical I n stru

men ts in the Con servato ire at St . P etersburg, Russian

P opular Musical I n strumen ts in the Museum of the Conservato ire ; César Cui : Music in Russia (published inFren ch as La Musique en Russie), E ssay on the Developmen t of Russian Song ; Sacchetti : I f istory of Music,The Region of Musical Aesthetics, A Ii istorical Chresto

mathy of Music,Manua l of Musical Theory ; P. Weimarn

Lif e of Glin ka ; Vlad im ir Michn evich : Short I f istorj 'of Music in Russia ; Miro po lsky : Musical E ducation ofthe P eop le in Russia a nd Western E urope Vlad imirStasso v : Lif e of B erodz

'

n , Lif e of Glin ka ; Twen ty -fiveYears of Russian Music ; P. A . Po elchau : A Study of

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there was Mm e . Scho b erlechn er, who was aRussian and you know how fine a tenorIvanov was . Mm e . Vo ro b ieva-Petrova, thecontralto who created the part of Vanya

.

inA Life f or the Tsar, had an exceptional voice ,and so had Mme . Lavrovsky, while Mme .

Leonova was, above all things , a temperamental singer . Petrov, the bass, was an ac

complished artist ; Melnikov, the baritone,had a prodigious voice but not very muchtaste , and the same may be said of the tenorNikolsky ; Korsov and Stravinsky, both goodactors as well as singers , had perhaps morestyle than method . Fign er, the tenor, nowsinging, has more taste than voice so havethe baritones Prian ishn iko v and Tartakov . As

a matter o f fact, the best singing in Russia isto be heard at the Italian Opera House, whichceased to be a State Opera in 1885, but wassubsequen tly reorganized and carried on as aprivate concern without a subsidy . A Russiansinger who has become famous in Italian partsis Mm e . Boulychev ; and Mm e . Litvin n e , asyou know from having heard her in Paris , isextraordinarily fine in Wagner . A charmingand gifted tenor is So bin ov and Shaliapin ,

thebass, though he took time to shape , ranksto-day

,both for his singing and his acting,

amongst the world’s greatest operatic artists,

one o f his chief triumphs being the double310

RUSSIAN MUSICrOle Of Mephistopheles in Gounod’s andBo it o

’

s operas .”From this letter one can gather some ideaOf the condition o f things . I shall confinemyself therefore simply t o recording names Of”

a certain number o f singers who have occupiedo r still occupy a more o r less important position in Russian opera . Amongst the tenorsare Setov , Orlov, Ende, Kom isarjevsky, Michaelov , Preo brajen sky, and Yershov the baritones include Artem ovsky, Khoklov, and Yakovlev, and the basses Vassiliev, Ko riakin ,

Chernov,

and Sario t t i. Amongst the women singers areSemenova , Mravin a, Sio n it zkaya, Plato n ova,Pavlovskaya, Raab , Leschetizky-Friedeb o urg,Ko tchetova, Bicho urin , Kartsev-Pan aiev, Slavina

,Kro ut ikova, Adelaide Bo lska and Zvia

guina . Another great singer o f the past— shedied in 1896— was DaryaMichaelovn aLeonova ,who created the title-réle in Serov’s opera ,Rogneda , and was greatly admired by Meyerbeer . Elizabeth Lavro vsky, who left the stageo n her marriage with Prince Tsertelev , enj oyedan almost equally high reputation ; like Raaband Bichourin (who died in she was apupil Of Nissen-Salom an , the splendid Swedishsinger who was the star o f the Italian Opera atSt . Petersburg some fifty years ago . Yetanother famous singer o f those days was OssimPetrov, the Sousan in in A Life f or the Tsar,

31 1

A SHORT HlSTORY OF

who died in 1878 . A later Operatic singer , whowas famous for her superb singin g and actingand had a large share in introducing Frenchmusic to Russian audiences , was Marie deGo rlenko -Dolina . Amongst more recent concert singers who deserve mention are Mmes .Akt z ery, Olenin d

’Alheim

,and Jereb t z ova.

As to the Opera-houses in Russia : thereare , first o f all , the State-supported theatresthe Maryin sky Theatre at St . Petersburg, andthe Grand Theatre , Moscow ; then at bothSt . Petersburg and Moscow there are thePopularTheatres where nationalOperas, mainly,are given at cheap prices . Moscow also hasZim in

’s Private Opera Company (which has

succeeded Mam an t ov’s), and there is a similar

institution in St . Petersburg ; and numerousother Operatic organisations have been established in various parts ‘Of the country . Manycon cert societies , too, are now active both inthe capitals and the provinces . Referenceshave been made in previous chapters t o theImperial RussianMusical Society ; but it standsby no means alone in providing orchestral andchoral music . Fo r there are the PhilharmonicSociety’s concerts , Belaiev

’

8 Russian Symphonyconcerts and those conducted by Silo ti, Vassilenko and Kussevit sky ; and a number o f

popular orchestral concerts are given in St .Petersburg and other centres . There are also

3 1 2

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A SHORT HISTORY OF

called, for he was a very distinguished player,and then that of Leopold Auer, the brilliantsolo -violinist t o the Court , and Professor atthe Conservatoire at St . Petersburg, thoughhe is really a Hungarian by birth and is onlya naturalized Russian . After these two comeBrodsky, Petchn ikov (a pupil Of Joachim) andhis wife, Ko lakovsky , Grego ro vich, Barciewicz ,Elman andZimbalist . The famous violoncell istDavidov, who died before his time, acquired aEuropean reputation, and his favourite pupil,Verjb ilovich, who played with Auer in thequartet concerts organized by the ImperialRussian Musical Society, has also becomefamous . And I must not omit to mention thenames o f Zabel, the distinguished harpist whohas added to the literature o f his instrument,an d Of Kussevitsky , who is at the same time afine player on the double-bass and a goodconductor .But neither Kussevitsky nor Rimsky-Korsa

kov , nor Glaz o un o v, nor Davidov (the nephewof the violoncellist), nor Ippolitov- Ivanov has ,I thi nk, proved superior as a conductor to thetwo Rubinsteins . Safonov alone possesses thetrue qualifications Of a great conductor . Hehas a perfect understanding o f the style andsignificance o f the music which he interprets,and he knows exactly how to control andregulate his own movements ; in his beat he

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combines vigour with clearness, and he is suppleWhile Obtaining the finest precision in detail .The whole impression he conveys is one ofcomplete homogeneity and unity . I need notrefer again to Napravn ik after what I havealready said o f him at the end Of Chapter VI

,

and I will n o t do more than mention thenames of Galkin and Erdm an sdo erfer

, who weretwo other conductors . Arensky also secureda reputation for his conducting of the MoscowChoral Society and the Choir of the ImperialChapel, that wonderful body of singers o f

which a critic said n o t long ago“ I hardly

venture to speak o f that incomparable choir,which has not its like in all the world it ispositively sublime and superhuman it can

command every shade o f feeling and rise tothe dizz iest heights .I must also just mention Theodore Becker

and Arkan ghelsky , who deserved their repu’t

tions as conductors Of choirs , bein g consideredin Russia superior even to Dmitri Slavian skyd’Agren ev, who nevertheless made a jsuccessfultour all over Europe at the head o f a cleverand experienced company o f singers . His

success was due partly to the delicate colouring o f the music which was sung, partlyto the beautiful details o f the performance ,and partly also t o the fact that d’

Agren ev

and his choir appeared in the curious and315

A SHORT HISTORY OF

picturesque Russian costumes Of the six

teen th century . An article in a number ofthe I n clependan ce B elge, referring to the co n

certs given in Paris in 1887 by thesemusicians , contains the following facts aboutd’Agren ev

He was originally a student at the University o f Moscow and then a soldier, but ashe could not res ist his leanings towards amusical career , he left the army, to studymusic in France and Italy . He obtained anappointment at the Court of Naples , and wasthen engaged at Berlin, and eventually at St .Petersburg . He gave up the theatre, however,in order t o make researches into Russian music,which was beginning t o attract him . Hetravelled in all the Slav countries, and in thisway collected about a thousand Russian andSlavonic poems and tunes

,a hundred of which

were epic songs in honour o f the primitiveheroes o f the Slavs . He then set about publishin g these folk- songs, which he harmonizedappropriately and had performed in public, andhe also organized a choir to spread a knowledgeo f them in other countries . He accomplishedsomething which was really patriotic and atthe same time very important musically, forit amounted to rediscovering the origins ofRussian music and Opening up t o moderncomposers the sources in which they need to

3 16

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A SHORT HISTORY OF

fi ek, as it is o n e o f the most flourishing institut l o n s o f its sort and is organized o n

thoroughly practical lin es .

In Russ ia there is separation between Schooland State . Neither at St . Petersburg n o r atMoscow,

n o r at Warsaw,n o r at Kiev can you

read in letters o f gold o n a backgroun d o f

green marble I mperia l Conservatoire of Music,

n o r will you find the national flag floatin gabove the portals . There is nothin g Officialabout the Conservatoires , as there is at P aris ,where the Director, the committ ee o f administrat io n ,

the professors and their staff , are all

really State functionaries , depending o n Ministerial nomin ation and receivin g their salarieso ut Of the national budget There IS , however,an Imperial Society ofMu3 1c under the patronage o f a Grand duke o r duchess , with it s headquarters at St . Petersburg, which undertakesthe charge o f musical in terests throughoutthe whole coun try and makes grants t o theschools in important centres such as St .Petersburg, Moscow, Warsaw, Kiev, Helsin gfors

,Tiflis

,and so forth . These schools and

ins titutions are quite free and independento f governm ent control ; they retain theirpurely private character

,they dispose o f their

revenue in their own way, and they perpetuatetheir cons titution themselves .

Thus the Con servatoire at Moscow,which

3 1 8

RUSS IAN MUSICis subsidiz ed both by the town and by theImpen al Society, recently borrowed an enormous sum of money to enable it to completethe splendid new building where it will takeup its quarters next year .‘ The constructiono f the whole Of this block has been carriedout Without the troublesome necessity o f sub

mitting t o any kind of Oflicial intervention .

Before ten years have elapsed the loan willhave been repaid, thanks t o the resources o f

the institution, which include income frominvestments , donations , receipts from concerts, and the fees paid f o r board and lodgingby the 460 pupils who attend the classes .I was told last year by Professor Johansen

,

the ‘Director o f the Conservatoire at St .Petersburg, that there is no country in Europevshere private enterprise has more scope thanin Russia . The Moscow Conservatoire is astrikin g case in point . How long will it be inFrance before the recommendations of GeorgesBerger in his financial report on the Fine Artsare carried into eff ect When will it be underst o o d that the library at the P aris Co nservat o ire can no longer contain it s books , northe museum its collection o f musical in struments When will it be realiz ed that in our

1 This was written in 1900. The.

Co n servato ire was inaugurated in 190 1 . The Tsar

.

co n tributed towardsits co n structio n , an d So lo do vm ko v, a wealthy busmess man

,

3 I 9

A SHORT HISTORY OF

dilapidated and confined classrooms,the

professors are obliged at regular intervals tost0p lecturing, in order to have the WindowsOpened and some fresh air let in, preferringto risk bronchitis rather than be asphyxiatedAtMoscow

,Safonov, the Director , noticed

o n e day that the constant increase in thenumber of students was making it impossibleto continue to do work in the old classrooms .Owing t o the trombone class , for instance,(which could be heard from a distance), therewas n o means o f duplicating the harmony class

,

which had outgrown its requirements,and

meanwhile the singing teachers, ea perated

by the practising o f trumpets in the nextroom

,were threatening t o resign . Safonov

,

without making a fuss,and at the same time

without any hesitation, went straight Ofl tofind an architect and discuss site

,plans

,and

estimates . Six months later the stone-masonswere at work

,and in two years’ time a superb

building was Opened with a concert-hall capable o f seating an audience of two thousand.

This huge hall, containing a fine Cavaille-Collorgan

,

ll is 185 feet long, 65 feet wide , and 52 feethigh .

“The staff of the Moscow Conservatoire isless numerous than ours , and consists ofbarely forty professors , fo r in Russia a pro

1 A g ift from the banker, Van Der W ies.320

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A SHORT HISTORY OF

acquainted ; sometimes t o let our young composers hear their own works and judge themselves o f the progress or the mistakes which theyare making ; sometimes , again , to accompanythe solo singers and instrumentalists . Besideswhich I surrender my stick from time to timeto a few of the ablest of the young people

,and

I let these fledgelin gs try their hand at conducting .

’

“ To hear their own works and to try theirhand at things is just what the students o f ourConservatoire have been clamouring fo r yearsto be allowed to do . We have to teach thesepoor youn g things the subtle

,impalpable art

o f combining sounds so as t o make music, andwe try to do it by methods o f persuasion, bydrawing comparisons

,by reasoning with them

o n paper . The whole elaborate system ofauditory sensations can only be analysed bythem with their eyes . Yo u might just as wellgive lessons in water—colour to an Institutionof the Blind .

En semble classes for orchestra , chorus, andchamber music , which are practical lectures onthe application o f the higher grades o f study,are absolutely necessary fo r anyone who wantst o know his business thoroughly, whether heis to be a composer o r a conductor . AtMoscow, Berlin, Vienna, Leipzig, Brussels andother places you will find them . In other

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Conservatoires all over the world every time apupil in the composition class produces asymphonic work which the professor thinksgood enough, the parts are copied and theorchestra plays it . What better lesson couldyou possibly have then than that of experi

ence The other day Safonov let me hear anexercise in simple counterpoint and a quiterespectable fugue which the chorus was working at ; that was the distinction awarded tothe winners o f the two first prizes in theclass .

Another interesting article from the offic ialregulations at theMoscow Conservatoire runsEvery year the pupils o f the operatic classhave t o learn at least three entire Operas .

Once a year there is a public performance,

with scenery and costumes .

’ Here is a list ofsome Of the operas performed : Ficlelio, Cosi

f an tutte, Matrimon io Segreto (Cimarosa), LeNaz z e di Figaro , Freischutz , I phige

’

n ie en Tau

ride, Wafien schmidt (Lo rt z ing), Eugene On iegin

(Tchaikovsky),Ruth( Ippolitov-Ivanov),Raphael(Arensky). The public performances havehitherto been held in the huge State Operahouse

,but when the new concert-room at

the Conservatoire is ready, they will he heldthere . There , too , the splendid fortnightlyconcerts of the Imperial Musical Society willbe given instead o f

,as at present, in the

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A SHORT HISTORY OF

elegant room at the Club of the Nobility.

These concerts, t o o , are conducted by Safonov

with his profound sense of style and hissuperbly authoritative readings .

”

It is perhaps to this extremely practicaleducation that young Russian composers owetheir love o f the orchestra and their precociousskill in scoring. When they come before thepublic they have already acquired some sort ofsymphonic experience

,due to the excellent

system of training which unfortunately 1s un

known with us , and they are already familiarwith the special characteristics and uses ofeach instrument in the orchestra . They aren o longer walking with their eyes shut ; theyalready have a very good notion o f what theyare doing .

Moreover, if orchestral music is held inSpecial honour in Russia , as it Obviously isfrom what I have stated, chamber music in theshape o f the string quartet and its derivatives,is cultivated with equal ardour so that

,with

Opera as well, Russia possesses the three mainbranches of the highest forms of music .

To sum up . The musical movement in’

Russia covers a complete field ; the composerskeep it going with astonishing zeal and en

thusiasm ; the interpreters are there , thanksto the thorough training of the Conservatoires !

and the public is ready to learn and t o be?324

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INDEX

ADAM, Ado lphe , o n The Russ ian Imperia l Chapel , 1 1

d’

Agren ev , Dmitri S lavianSky. 3 1 5

Akim en ko , Feo do r , 305Alab i ev , 38

Albrecht , Charles , 78A len ev , 305Alexan der I , Tsar, supp o rtsmusic in Russia , 27

d’

A lheim , P 1erre , 238

Alpheraky ,Achille , 280

Amani , 305An n a Ivan ovn a , Empress ,supp o rts Ita lian Opera. mRuss ia , 31

An t1p0v , Co n stan t in e , 28 1Araj a , Fran ceso , in Russ ia ,

3 1—33Aren sk y, An to n Stepan o vrch,

27 5—277 3 1 5

Arkan ghelsky , 31 5m o ld , Y oury ,

2 h1sto rica1

an d critica l wri t in gs , 1,2 ,

308

Art5 1b ouchev , 305Asan chevsky , 2 89Auer , Leopo ld , 29 1 , 3 1 4BALAK IREV,

Mily A lex eiw ch,

2 1 1- 2 1 6 ; compo sit io n s , 2 1 3f o lk -so ngs , 2 1 5Ban d , The I n v mcib le , see

Group o f FiveBarian sky,

Ado lphe , 305

J

CATHARINE I I , Empress : hero perat1c libretti , 37 Rus

sian musrc in her re ign , 33Cato ire , 304Cavo s , Catterin o , 39 , 78

327

Becker, Theo do re , 3 1 5B elaiev , Mitrophan e P etro

v1eh, 288

Berez o vsk y, Maxim So z o nto vich, 1 5Berlio z , Hecto r, relatio n s withGlin ka , 82—86 o n theRussian Imperia l Chape l,1 1 o n Lvo v , 1 34Bertran d , Gustave , o n Rus

s ian f o lk -so ngs , 7 o n TheRoussalka , 10 1 o n Sero v

B laram b erg, Paul Ivan o vich284

B leichm an n , Jules , 296Blum en feld , Fehx , 28 1

S igism o n d , 2 8 1o ieldieu, in Russ ia , 38Bo ro d in , Alexan der P o rphyrievich, 2 16—2 32 P ri n ce

I go r , 223—229 o ther com

po s1ti0n s , 2 1 8—22 1 229- 2 3 1

B o rtn ian sky , Dm i tri Spen ov ich , 1 5—20 compo sitio n sI 9Bo ulan , 38

B o ulychev , Mm e , 3 10Brassin , Lo uis 205

INDEXCheshikin , 309Church-m usic , Russian , 1 f f .

co ll ect l o n s o f , 9Cimaro sa , 1n Russia , 36

Co n servatou e : at Katerin o

slav , 36 ; at Mo scow , 1 4 5,

3 1 7— 32 3 at St . P eters

burg ,1 4 3 , 3 1 7 . Other co n

servat01res , 3 1 7Co n us , see K o n ius

Co ten e o f Five ,see Group o f

F1v e

Cu1, César, 197—2 1 1 operas ,

199—203 ; o ther compo s1

t io n s , 209—2 1 1 criti calwrit in gs , 209 , 308 op1n io n

o n z— Balak irev , 2 1 5 ; Cavo s ,4 0 ; Dargo rm 1sky

’

s Rous

salka ,1 00

,103 , an d The

S to n e Quest, 104 Dutsch,

1 27 f o lk -so n gs (Russian ),4 Ghn ka

’

s A L if e f o r theTsar , 6 3 , an d Rousslan an d

Ludm illa , 7 3 , 76 Gro upo f Five ,

1 89— 19 5 Mous

so rgsky ,24 2 Rub in stem ,

1 5 1— 1 55, 160 ; Sero v , 1 1 8 ,1 25 Verstovsky , 4 2

Wagn er, 206—208

DARGOMI J SKY , Alexan derSerge1v1ch, 94— 109 E sme

ralda , 96—99 2 The Rous

salka ,100- 104 The S to n e

Quest, 1 04— 108 o ther comp o s iti o n s , 96 , 99 ,

109Davidov, Charles , 29 1Degn arev ,

2 1

Deli n es , Michel , 208Dem idov, 305Dloussky , 304Do n aouro v , 305Diitsch,

1 2 7

ELI ZAB ETH P ETROVNA , Empress , patrom

’

z es Opera m

Russian , 32

Erdman sdo rf er, 3 1 5E ssipov ,

An n ette , 29 2

Estafiev ,2 8 1

Ewald , V1eto r, 284FAMINTS IN,

Alexan der, 290,

308

Famitsin ,see Farn in tsin

Fedo rov ,Alexan der , 303

Fetis , o n B ortn iansky ,19 o n

Dargom ij sky , 9 8 o n Lvov,1 29 ; o n St . Jo hn o f Da

m ascus , 16 o n the 1n

fluen ce o f Russian musico n P a is iello , 34

Fign er, 3 10

Fin de1sen , Nicho las , 309Fo do r , Jo sephin e , 309Fo lk -so n gs , Russian , 1 fi .

co llectio n s edited byd

’

Agren ev , 3 16 Ba lak irev,2 1 5 Liado v , 2 79 Lia

poun ov , 284 ; Fratch, 7 ;R im sk y-K o rsako v , 2 1 5,2 5 1 Villebo is , 290. Otherco llect1on s , 7 . See a lso

308F0m m, 38Fouque , Octave , o n B o rtnian sky ,

1 9 o n Gl mka , 4 5Fren ch music : in Russ1a , 8

infiuen ceo n mo dern Ru5 31an

compo sers , 285, 2 86 , 299 ,

304 , 305 co n tras ted Wl thGerman an d Italian ,

22—25

GALITS IN , P rin ce George , 4 9P rin ceN1cho las , 289

Galk l n , 3 1 5Galupp1, m Russia ,

1 7 , 34Gartevel , 303German musm l n Russia ,

30 , 33 degen erate sin ceWagn er , 2 3 1nfluen ce o n

m o dern Russian comp o sers ,1 5 1 . 1 7 8 , 277 . 2 85. 305

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INDEXLiadov , An ato l Co n stan ti

n o vrch,169 ,

2 79Liapoun ov , Sergius Michae l

o vich ,2 3 3

Lishin , Grego ry , 30 1Lissen k o , 304Litvm n e ,

Mm e , 3 10

Lvo v,Alex is Feo d o ro vich ,

70,1 28— 1 35 God S ave the

Tsar,1 30

— 1 33 o ther compo sit io n s , 1 29Theo do re , 20 . 70,

129

MALI SHEVSKY, W . , 305

Man fredm i , i n Russia , 33Mart in i (LO Spagnuo lo ), inRussia , 36

Matin sky , 3 8

Medtn er, Ni cho las , 305Meln ik o v, 3 10Mercy-Argen teau, Com tesse

d e , 1 98

Michn evrch, Vladim ir, 308Miropo lsky , 308

Mousso rgsk y , Mo deste P etrov1ch, 232

—24 7 ; o n Sain tSaen s , 24 0 B oris Go

d oun ou, 24 3- 2 4 6 Khovan

steki’

n a , 24 6 o ther o p eras ,24 3 , 24 7 o ther comp o sit io n s , 2 36 , 24 3 , 24 7

NAPRAVN IK , Edward , 26 8Niko lsk y, 3 10ODVERSKY ,

P rin ce ,289

Op era ,Russian crit ical an d

histo ri cal wo rk s o n, 29

the first to a Russian li b

retto , 32 ea rly sp ecim en s

to Russ1an librett i , 38 ;written by German com

po sers , 3 3 , an d by Ita liancomp o sers , 32 , 33 , 36 , 4 0

Op era-houses ,

in Russia , 3 1 2

Oulib ishev ,Alexan der, 308

P ACHU LSKY , 303P ais iell o , in Russia , 34 ; influ

en ced by Russian music, 35Paris , Russian co n certs in , v,Paul I , Tsar, supp o rts mus ic

i n Russia , 27P erep elitsin , 308

P etoukho v , Michael , 308P etro v , Ossim , 60, 3 10 , 3 1 1P ian ists o f the Russia nscho o l, 3 1 3

P o elchau , P . A . , 308

P omaz an sky ,2 84

P ourgo ld , Nadej da Nico la ievn a , see Mm e . RimskyK o rsak o v

P oushkin , death o f , 70 ; librett i based o n his p lays ,

P owerful Group ,see Group

o f FiveFratch, co llect io n o f Russianfo lk -so n gs , 7

P rian ishn ikov , 3 10

RACHMAN INOV ,SergiusVassi

1iev 10h, 29 7Raz oum ovsky,

Alex is (s inger),1 1

Co un t An dreas (Beetho ven ’

s patro n ), 7 , 289P . Dm itri (P ro fesso r), 9 ,

308

Reb iko v ,Vladimir Ivan o v ich,300

R im sk y-K o rsak ov , Nicho lasAn dreivich,

24 8-26 7 ; M e

m o zrs , 267 ; The Maid ofP skov,

2 50 A Night inMay ,

2 5 1 The S n ow

Maiden , 2 52 M lada , 2 54 ;Chri stmas Eve

, 2 55 ; The

Tsar’

s B etrothed , 2 57 M o

z art an d Saherz , 258

Servzlza , 259 o ther operas,33°

INDEX2 56 2 59 , 260 ; o ther compOSiti o n s , 260—266 hi s

‘pup i ls , 26 7

l sky-K o rsako v ,Mm e . (n éeP o urgo ld ), 26 7

Roub ets , Alexan der , 308R o ya l patro n s o f musicin Russia in the e ighteen thcen tury , 2 7

Rubin stein , An to n ,1 37

1 70 o n the youn ger Russ ian compo sers ,

16 5 M e

m o zrs , 1 70 ; Muszc an d

Muszczan s , 1 70 his o p eras ,14 7- 1 59 ; o t her comp o si

ti o n s , 1 4 8 , 160— 16 3Nicho las , 14 5

SACCHETTI , 308Safo n o v , 3 1 3 , 3 1 4 , 320-32 3St . Jo hn o f Damascus , 1 6

Sain t -Saen s ,Mousso rgsk y o n24 0

San ti s , 290

Sap ellnikov ,Vassily , 304

Sart i , in Russia , 3 5Scho b erlechn er , Mme , 3 ro

Scriabin ,Alexan der Nicho

laevich, 283Sero v , Alexan der Nicho laev ich , 1 1 0—126 cri t ica lwri tin gs , 1 1 3

— 1 1 7 j ud i th,

1 1 7— 1 2 1 Rogn eda ,

1 22

124 ; The P ower of Evil ,1 24 ,

293 o ther compo s itio n s , 1 26

Mm e . Valen tin e ,290

Sha liapin , 3 1 0

Sheel , Bo ris , see Victin gho vSheerck ,

P eter , 302

Shen ck ,299

Shestako v, Mm e .

s ister). 4 5. 69 ,89

Shtchurovsky , 305

S in gers o f the Russ ian scho o l ,309

—31 2

(Glinka’

s

So b in ov, 3 10

Sokalsky , 303So ko lov , Nicho las Alexand ro vich, 2 80

So loviev, Ni cho las , 29 2Spen d iarov ,

A ., 305

Sta rsov, 305

Stassov,Vladim ir, 222 , 308

Stcherb atchev , Ni cho las Vlad im iro vich,

2 80

Steib elt in Russ ia , 39Stein berg, Max im ilian , 305Sto lyp in , 305Stravm sky , Fedo r (sin ger), 3 1 oIgo r (compo ser), 302TANAI EV ,

A lexan der,303Sergius Ivan ovich, 293

Tartak o v, 3 10Tcha iko vsk y , Mo deste 1 79 ,

1 86

P eter Ilich , 1 37 , 1 7 1— 1 87 ;M em ozrs 1 86 ; hi s operas ,1 79— 1 8 1 ballets , 1 82

o ther compo sitio n s, 1 7 3 ,

Tcherepn in , Nicho las , 304Tito v, the bro thers (com

po sers), 38Vassi ly (Sin ger), 10

To ughmalo v , 304Traetta ,

in Russia , 34Troub etsko y ,

P rin ce , 303

VASS ILENKO, 305 , 3 12

Verj b ilovich, 3 14Versto vsky , 4 1

Victin gho v ,Baro n , 289 ,

296

Vielho rsky , Coun t MathewCoun t Michael Y ourievrch, 50 ,

2 89Villebo is , 2 89Vio lin ists o f the Russianscho o l, 3 13

INDEXVo lk o n sky, Prin ce Grego ry ,Vo lk o v, 38Vo ro b ieva-P etrova , 60, 66 ,

79 , 3 1°

WAGNE R , R ichard : Serov o n ,

1 1 6—12 1 Cesar Cui o n,

206—208

W axel , P laton de , 308 o n

the Mo scow Court chorr , roW eim arn , P . , 308W eran i, 304Wido r , Charles Marie , letter

o n the Co n servato ire o f

Mo scow, 31 7—324

W ihto l , Jo seph , 277Wran gel, Baron Vassily de ,306

Y OUFEROV , Sergais , 304Y oussipo v , P rin ce Nicho las ,

Prin ted by BALLAN'rvNE , HANSON Co .

Edinburgh Lo ndon

ZAB EL, 3 14

Zaremba , Nicho las , 1 72 ,I 73

21m in , Private Op era

pan y, 3 12Zo lo tarev, 305Zybm . 305

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THE L ITTLE TOWN S O F

FLANDERSA B o ok o f Wo o dcuts by ALBERT DELSTANCHE

With a Prefato ry Letter from EMILE VERHAERENThis editio n ,with the plates prin ted from the o rigin al wo o dblo cks , an d the text set in Flo ren ce Type, will be lim itedto 500 numbered copies, 100 o f which will b e sign ed byM. Delstanche . The un sign ed co p ies, Demy 4 to , boundin bo ards , will b e so ld at 125 . 6d . net. The sign edcopies, boun d in parchmen t wi th silk ties, at £ 1 1 5 . n et.

THIS bo ok is in tended as a tribute to the beauty o f tho se o ld

town s o f Be lgium n ow ravaged an d laid waste . Malin es,Dixmude, Ypres , Fum es, Termo nde , an d Lo uvain live again andfo r ever in these beautiful wo odcuts ; whi le the Prefato ry Letterfrom M. Em ile Verhaeren sums up in wo rds o f gen ius the in spiratio n under which the Artist has laboured . The sho rt n o tes by theArtist in co rpo rate , to o , som e o f the m o st to uchingly appro priateverses to be foun d in modern Belgian Po etry.

IN THE ENEMY’

S COUNTRYBEING THE DIARY OF A LITTLE TOURIN GERMANY AND ELSEWHERE

DURING THE F IRST DAYS OF THE WAR

By MARY HOUGHTONWith an In tro duction by EDWARD GARNETT

Crown 8vo , clo th, g ilt top, 59 . net

RS. HOUGHTON and her husband le ft Flo ren ce at the end

o f July, 19 14 , fo r a little mo to r tour in Germany. Theywere in Austria when the first rumours o f War began to run

through Euro pe, an d had arrived in Mun ich by the fatal sth o f

August. The latter part o f the bo ok deals with life in Switz erlandand Italy during the en d o f August an d September. The book isen tertain ing throughout , whi le it is in dispen sable to any reader whowan ts a fresh an d first-han d impressio n o f the four coun triesAustria , Germany , Switz erlan d, and Italy— at the beginn ing o f the

Great War.

Mrs. I—I oughto n has been well advised in publishin g her charm ingdiary , fo r she man ages in the brightest way to g ive a really valuable

picture.— A thenwum .

MY MARCH TO TIMBUCTOO

By GENERAL JOFFRE

With a Biographical Sketch by ERNEST DIMNET

Crown 8vc, clo th, as. net

THE perso n ality o f the great Gen eralissimo who is guiding the

fo rces o f the Allies in Fran ce is so little kn own in thiscoun try that an y reco rd o f his past career must b e o f extrao rdin aryvalue. My March to Timbucto o is the full and o fficial accoun to f an expedit io n un dertaken by Gen eral- then Co lo n el— I o ttre toassert French influen ce at Timbucto o an d o ther co n tiguous districtso n the Niger. The in terest o f the bo ok is also much enhan ced bythe Biographical Sketch which has been co n tributed by the Abbe’Dimnet, autho r o f “ Fran ce Herself Again .

”

The language o f the n arrative Is as plain and pithy as Caesar’s ;yet in a word o r two he gets a.wo rld o f descriptio n out o f a single dro po f ink .

— Mam z'

7zg P ost.

A D I PLOMAT’

S MEMO IROF 1 8 7 0

BE ING AN ACCOUNT OF A BALLOON ESCAP E FROM THE S IEGE OFPARIS AND A POLIT ICAL MISS ION TO LONDON AND V IENNA

By FREDER IC REITLINGERPrivate Secre tary to M. Jules Fay re, head o f the Natio n al Defence

Governmen t o f 1870

Translated from the Fren ch by HENRY REITLINGERCrown 8vc, clo th, 25 . n et

THIS is a page o f real histo ry. The reader is shown the m ethodso f . D ip lomacy , an d learns how great statesm en talk an d act

in the in terviews that m ould the destin ies o f n atio n s. M. Rei t

linger’s co llo quies with Lo rd Granville an d.

with Gladsto n e are

n arrated in exten so, an d much n ew light 15 thrown upo n the

relatio n s o f the European Powers at that perio d. A great deal o fwhat was then said is also extrao rdinarily relevan t to the presen t

situatio n , while the sto ry o f the Autho r’s ballo o n escape from Paris

is o n e o f m o st thrilling in terest.This is a mo st in terestin g bo ok , and will b e o f use to histo rian s o f

the future .— P al l Mall Gazette.

TH E LETT E R S O F

F Y O D O R D O S T O E V SK Y

WITH RECOLLECTIONS BY HI S FRIENDS

Tran slated by ETHEL COLBURN MAYNE

W ith 16 Illustratio ns, demy 8vc, buckram, 7s . 6d. net

HE in terest which has recen tly been aro used in Do sto evsky bythe publicatio n o f a standard tran slatio n o f his principal n ovels

has caused many readers to acquain t themselves Wi th the strange

facts o f his remarkable life . This is the first tran slation o f his

letters which are charged with human and literary in terest.The letters are as in timate a revela tio n o f a great man

'

s characteran d soul as any vo lume o f le tters that has ever appeared . Am o ng thebo oks o f the seaso n thlS assuredly 15 o n e that n o lover o f great literature should miss.

— Daz ly News.

TH E THR E E GREAT

RUSSIAN NOVELISTS

TOLSTOY TURGENEV DOSTOEVSKY

By EDWARD GARNETT

Crown 8vo , clo th, 65 . net

MR. GARNETT, who perhaps is better qual ified for the taskthan any o ther Englishman , essays the analysis and com

pariso n o f the three Russian n ovelists who rise high above the irfellow-coun trymen , an d , in the opin io n o f many able critics , aboveall rivals, o f whatever coun try. Mr. Garn ett

’s criticism should be

o f immediate and lasting value, fo r it is sane, autho ritative , anddistinguished.

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FRANCE HERSELF AGA IN

By the Abbé ERNEST DIMNET

Demy 8vo , buckram , 165 . net

THE Abbé Ern est Dimn et, already well kn own in Englan d fo rhis pro foundly natural use o f a fo re ign lan guage an d fo r the

subtlety o f his critical sympathy, has written this an alytical studyo f the fo rces at wo rk in Fran ce during the last fifty o r sixty yearswith the aim o f showing how deep and how vital is the n ew

stren gth o f the Republic. Lucid, witty, an d n o t less learn ed thanCatho lic, the Abbé Dimn et is Well qualified thus to reveal thepsycho logy o f a n atio n .

An in sight in to Fren ch life , man n ers , an d literature which fiftyo ther bo o ks would n o t have provided."— Ewm’

ng S tan dard.

THE BOOK O F

TH E BAYEU X TAP E STRYBy HILAIRE BELLOC

With 76 facsim ile Co loured Illustratio n s after the o rigina l TapestryRoyal 8vo , clo th, 105 . 6d . net

HIS bo ok illustrates in 76 co loured pan els the en tire length o fthe famous Tapestry, which is pro bably the m o st wo n derful

wo rk o f its k in d in existen ce. Mr. Bello c , besides his detailedhisto rical In troductio n , provides a run n in g commen tary o n each o fthe pan els which are so arranged as to preserve the effect o f the

famo us o riginal. Thus, fo r the first time , the Tapestry has beenused as a legitimate illustratio n to the sto ry o f the Co n quest o fEnglan d by William o f No rman dy an d the bo ok , while appealingbo th to the archaeo lo gist an d the gen eral lover o f art , o ffers at the

sam e time a m o st fascin ating in tro duction to o n e o f the most

stirring periods o f English Histo ry .Everyo n e who po ssesses the historic sen se Wi ll b e grateful to Mr

Bello c fo r this adm irable presen tmen t. — Evm z‘

ng S tan dard .

MY DAYS OF ADVENTUREBy ERNEST ALFRED VIZETELLY

(Le Pe tit Homme Rouge)

Demy 8vo , clo th, gilt top, 78. 6d. net

MR. VIZETELLY was in Paris during the first fifty days o f theGerman siege, and he was in touch with the prin cipal

po litician s by whom the Seco n d Empire was overthrown . At theage o f seven teen , during the Franco -Prussian War

,he was writing

war letters fo r two English papers. He has n o t o n ly recapturedhere the o ld excitemen t o f con tempo rary affairs, but he has givenhis wo rk histo rical value as well.

0

Certain ly Le Petit Homme Rouge had a thrilling youth. Mr.

Viz etelly has the gift o f exceptio nally lucid narrative. His boo kdis tin ct histo rica l value and human in terest." —P a ll Ma ll Gaz ette.

M Y A D V E N T U R E S

I N TH E COMMUN E

By ERNEST ALFRED VIZETELLY

(Le P etit Homme Rouge)

W ith numerous Illustration s . Demy 8v0, clo th, 12s . 6d . n et

IN every essen tial respect this bo ok is complete in itself, but it alsofo rms a sequel to the autho r’s previous vo lume, My Days o f

Adven ture.

”I n his n ew wo rk he passes to the war

’

s terribleafterm ath, and recoun ts in detail the dramatic sto ry o f the greatestRebellio n kn own to Euro pean histo ry during the last hundredyears.A mass o f informatio n which can no t easily b e f ound in such read

able fo rm elsewhere. At the tim e o f which he writes, Mr. Viz etellywas youn g and full o f energy, an d he saw everything that was to besee n , watching a go od deal o f street fighting. His mem o irs , therefo re ,co n tain the material fo r history. -A themz um.