The Public, the Critic, and the Native Composer Author(S): Ernest Newman Source: the Musical Times, Vol

The Public, the Critic, and the Native Composer Author(s): Ernest Newman Source: The Musical Times, Vol. 56, No. 865 (Mar. 1, 1915), pp. 142-144 Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/909511 Accessed: 18-01-2016 13:37 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/ info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Musical Times Publications Ltd. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Musical Times. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 129.96.252.188 on Mon, 18 Jan 2016 13:37:12 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 142 THE MUSICAL TIMES.-MARCH I, 1915. 'Appalachia,' 1903. Tone-poem for orchestraand final regardsthe public and the criticsthe case is clear. Producedat the Lower RhineFestival chorus. in 1905; The public is an utterlyinsoluble problem. The firstperformed in London, 1907. more I have to do with the less I flatter 'Sea-Drift,' 1904. For baritonesolo, chorusand orchestra. it, myself Produced at Tonkiinstlerfestat Essen in 1906 ; firstthat I understand it. I used to think I could performedin Englandat the SheffieldFestival of I9O8. explain whyit showed a likingfor this composer Part-songs:'Midsummer song' mixedvoices. and not for it one kind of 'On Ddu' that, why preterred Craig mixe voices. music to and so on. I have 'Wanderer'ssong' (male} voices). another, given up 'A Mass of Life,' 1905. AfterNietzsche's 'Thus spake these futilespeculations; now I simplyaccept the Zarathustra:'For soli,chorus and orchestra. First given facts. But this much is certain, that the public in itsentirety in Londonunder Beecham in 1909. makes no more mistakes with to of regard foreign 'Songs sunset,'19o6. For baritonesolo, soprano solo, music than it does with to Native chorusand orchestra. Wordsby Ernest Dowson. regard English. 'Brigg Fair,' 1907. English Rhapsodyfor full orchestra.composers complain thatwe English are too ready Firstperformed in London, 19o8. to listento anythingthat comes fromabroad, and - forfull orchestra. 'In a summergarden,' 19o8. Tone-poem too little inclined to listen to music by an A Dance Rhapsodyfor full orchestra, I9o9. It is one of the that Three Verlaine Englishman. things everyone Songs, 1893-I910. it is so to 'Fennimore and Gerda,' I9Io, 1911, 1912. Lyric-Drama says, because easy say it; but I doubt takenfrom J. P. Jacobsen'snovel, 'Niels Lyhne.' whetherthere is much truthin it. A concertof ' and The Song of the High Hills,' 191-I12. For orchestra works by unknownEnglish composerswould only chorus. as the Irishman an 'An For baritonesolo, chorus and orchestra.attract, might say, emptyhall; Arabesk,'1912. but a concert of works Two Tone-poemsfor small orchestra, 1912-13 : by unknownGerman or 'On hearingthe first cuckoo in Spring.' French composers would not draw any larger 'Summer-nighton the River.' audience. It makes one sad to see Queen's Hall North-Country Sketches, 1913-14. one-thirdfull when Mr. Ronald a concert Songs: only gives 'Chanson d'Automne' (Paul Verlaine), devoted to Elgar's music; but I can remember 'The Nightingalehas a lyreof gold' (Henley). the time when it was hard to get an audience for 'Black Roses' (fromthe Swedishof Josefson). Richard Straussin London. Almost everyforeign 'I Brasil' (Fiona McLleod). now in has had to wait P. composer popular England 'Spring' (J. Jacobsen). a or shortertime beforethe took him 'Requiem,' 19I4. For solo voices, choir, and orchestra. longer public (Not yetpublished.) to its heart. The reason forthe ultimate success Sonata for violin and pianoforte, 1905. Revised, 1915. of these people is probablythat behind themwas the general public opinion of the world, which sooner or later makes its impressionon the British THE PUBLIC, THE CRITIC, AND THE public. Our nativecomposers suffer from the lack NATIVE COMPOSER. of thismotive force at theirbacks. It is not that the British undue deference to Con- ERNEST NEWMAN. public pays BY tinentalopinion merelybecause it is Continental; Although'A Native Composer' must be feeling but thatit has an intuition-and a perfectlysound rathersore afterthe belabouring he has had from one-that a person cannot become a world- Mr. Gilbert Webb and 'A Critic,'I cannot resist figurein music withoutthere being somethingin the impulse to launch just one more thwackat his him; and thatsomething the Britishpublic is willing, pate. He bewails the sad lot of himselfand his as a rule,to sample,without at all committingitself kind. It seems that nobody loves them; and in advance to likingit. This explainswhy a certain 'A Native Composer' has tried to discover the number of people in England will go to hear a reason for this lack of affection. Three sorts of new work by Strauss or Debussy or Puccini or people, it seems,are at fault-the public,the critics, Stravinskyor Scriabin, while very few of them and the publishers; which is very much as if a will go to hear a new work by John Brown or convictshould tell us thathe was reallyan excellent William Robinson. But for the undistinguished fellow and most unjustly convicted, everybody crowd of foreign composers the British public being on his side duringthe trialexcept the judge, really displays no more enthusiasm than for the the police, the jury,the counsel forthe prosecution, undistinguishedcrowd of English composers. 'It and the spectators in the court. 'A Native cannot be denied,' says ' A Native Composer,' that Composer' paints a pathetic picture of hundreds the very sound of " New Symphonyby Johannes of Englishmen putting endless notes upon Schmidt" would have fallen pleasingly and unresistingpaper, and everynow and then asking appealingly on the ears of the average English themselves sadly whether,after all, it is worth concert-goer,and would have been a "draw," while. I am not in the least unsympatheticto while if it had been writtenby John Smith, it these worthypeople, but there is an aspect of the could hardly have been considered a business question thatnaturally they could not be expected proposition.' I ventureto deny this point-blank; to see, yet that needs to be exposed in a high and every conductor and concert promoter in light,for it explains whythings are just as theyare the countrywill agree withme. I do not say that with the Native Composer. With his complaint a New Symphonyby John Smith would 'draw,' against the publishersI have nothingto do. As but I am pusitive that a New Symphony by a matter of fact I think too much music is Johannes Schmidt would not. If 'A Native published; there is certainly more bad music Composer' thinks I am wrong,I invite him to published than good in any country. But as back his fancy,so to speak. Let him induce, say, This content downloaded from 129.96.252.188 on Mon, 18 Jan 2016 13:37:12 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE MUSICAL TIMES.-MARcH I, 1915. 143 Mr. Percy Harrison to put down a new symphonythe doings of the ordinary run of musicians. by-I will not say an unknown Johannes That the experienced critic does not become Schmidt, but a well-known Schmidt such as wildly enthusiastic over a new work by Sibelius or Max Reger, or an unknownor almost John Smith is easily intelligible; how can unknownsymphony by a known Schmidt,such as he be expected to feel wild enthusiasm except one of Bruckner'sor one of Mahler's,or the fourthfor somethingquite out of the common? There of Brahms-for his next orchestralconcert, on the is an enormousquantity of greatmusic in existence condition that ' A Native Composer' will com- bynow, and the criticcarries most of it in his head ; pensate him for any loss he may incur. If any new work he hears has of necessityto bear Mr. Harrison were to take 'A Native Composer' comparison with the music he already knows. seriously, I do not think the latter would have How can it stand thatcomparison unless it itselfis much money leftfor his summerholiday this year. great, and how much of the new music that is No, the public is shy not merelyof unfamiliarproduced in any countryin a given year deserves British music but of all unfamiliarmusic. This that title? The vast bulk of thenew music we hear shyness we can at any rate understand. The is bound, in the nature of things,to be merely average man goes to a concert to enjoy himself. derivative; and the firstthing that strikesthe old He is not at all certainof enjoyinghimself when he hand in connectionwith it is its lack of originality. learns that a quarteror a thirdof thewhole concert And if it is so unoriginal,why in the name of is to be given up to music by someone whose name commonsense should it be noticed at all in the conveys nothingto him. Can it be wondered at papers? Let me speak a plain word to the native that he saves his half-crownor half-guineafor a composer,young or old. He exaggerateshis gifts concert of familiarthings, on which,he feels, his and overestimateshis importancein the universal money is less likely to be thrown away? The scheme. Tens of thousands of people nowadays cautionhe exercisesis simplya formof the caution can write quite good music; to do so really shown by everyprospective purchaser of an untried indicates no more abilitythan is shown every day article.

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