Professor Niecks on Melodrama Author(s): Frederick Niecks Source: The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular, Vol. 42, No. 696 (Feb. 1, 1901), pp. 96-97 Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3366388 . Accessed: 21/12/2014 00:58

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g6 THE MUSICAL TIMES.-FEBRUARY I, I901. of any service is, of course, always undesirable. musical society as well as choir inspectorand con- But it is permissible to remind our young and ductor to the Church Choral Association for the enthusiastic present-day cathedral organists that the Archdeaconryof Coventry. In I898 he became rich store of music left to us by our old English church organistand masterof the choristersof Canterbury composers should not be passed by, even on Festival Cathedral,in succession to Dr. W. H. Longhurst, occasions. We made a similar remark in recording who has seen no less than seventy years' active a festival service at a northern cathedral, and its musical service in that fine old sanctuary. Mr. iteration, while made in all friendliness, seems to us Perrin who is a Fellow of the Royal College of to be justifiable. English church music is our own Organists, has composed 'church music, songs, peculiar possession a glorious heritage which should pianofortemusic, &c.' Like other young men who be reverently preserved. hold the position of ' chief musician' in so many The remaining features of the new century's day Englishcathedrals at the presenttime, he is full of services included (in the afternoon) Sir George energy and is alive to the responsibilitiesof his Martin's bright festal service in A and the Hallelujah importaxltoffice. chorus of Handel and (in the evening) a perform- ance of ' The Messiah' (Part I.), held in the Nave in the presence of a congregation of some 3,ooo PROFESSORNIECKS ON MELODRAMA. people. At both these last - named services the THEEdinburgh Professor, always on the look out for somethingfresh and instructivein the way of ' a dainty-dish' to set before his students, chose the subject of Melodramafor the second of his Four Historical Concerts,given in the University Music Class Room,on DecemberI9. The eruditeoccupant Ofthe Reid Chairspake thus in the ' Preface' to his interestingprogramme: Melodrama meant originally Musical Drama, either in the sense of Opera or of Spoken Drama interspersed with Music. In the last quarterof the eighteenthcentury the word began to be used in the specialised sense of Spoken Drama accompaniedby InstrumentalMusic, and has since been appliedto recitationof any kindaccom- paniedby instrumentalmusic-to long and shortpassages in operasand cantatas,to epic and lyrical poems, to prose tales, &c. Although, no doubt, instrumentalmusic was thus employedin the spoken dramain earliertimes, even in antiquity,Jean JacquesRousseau has beencredited with the inventionof Melodrama,and it mustbe allowedthat he originateda particularkind, the lyrico-dramaticscene, and gave the impulseto the artisticcultivation of an interesting formof mixedart which, if previouslypractised, had gone out of fashion,and been forgotten. Rousseau wrote the words of his Pygmalion in the sixties. It is a lyric scene in prose,intended to be recited and acted in costumeon a properlyequipped stage, with instrumentalmusic accom- panying,not the words,but the actor's pantomimeduring the pauses between the words. The first performanceof (Ftom a Photograph by Mr. H. . Whitlock,New Street, Bstmingham ) this work took place at Lyons in I770, the first Paris perforn.ancein I775. The musicused on these occasions with the exception of two pieces by Rousseau, was by \ < HoraceCoignet, a Lyons amateur. The new ge1lrebecame at once very popular,especially in Germany. Several French and German composers followed Coignet in composingmusic to Pygmalion,and ll t L3:9 new libretti were written and set to music. The most l i^Jv prolificand successful of the manymelodramatic composers strings (led by Mr. Gann) and wood-windof Mr. who then arose was George Benda, musical conductor Perrin'sown orchestra, aided by the RoyalEngineers' (CXellmeister)of the Duke of Gotha. The most famous band, lent their valuable assistance. The musical of his melodramas,Ariadne in Naxos, will be performed excellence of the three services was worthy of the (with two short cuts) to-night. Mozart was so delighted remarkableoccasion. with this anid another of Benda's works,Medea, that in Mr. Harry Crane Perrin, organist of Canterbury travelling he carried the scores about with him; and Cathedral (whose portrait we give), was born at conceived so high an idea of the genre that he occupied Wellingborough,August I9, I865. He studied himselfwith the compositionof a melodrama,Semiranis. under Sir Robert Stewart and took his degree of What has becomeof it is unknown. Except in his serious Bachelor in Music at Dublin in I890. His organ appointments have been St. Columba's College operetta,Zaide, he does not in any of his operasresort to Rathfarnham,I886; St John's Church, Lowestoft the melodramatictreatment. (wherehe conductedthe local choral society), I888; The interest taken by the public in the new art form and St. Michael'sChurch, Coventry, I892. At the lasted about a quarterof a century. But while the culti- lastwnamedplace he was conductorof the Coventry vation of the melodramaas an independentform was of

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Sun, 21 Dec 2014 00:58:46 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions s . r r * * r t Brandes, after Gerstenberg's cantata A riadwte.

THE MUSICAL TIMES. FEBRUARYI, I90I. 97

short duration, its introduction into operas and plays saved there was, besides Pygmalion, Galatea, who, however, had it from oblivion. To give a few instances-Beethoven in only a few words to pronounce; and Ariad1zein Naxoswas Fidelio, Weber in Der Freischiitz and Preciosa,Marschner called a duodrama, although there were, besides Ariadne in Der Va11ltyr and Ha1IsHeili1Zg, Mendelssohn in X and Theseus, an Oread, who had little, and some Greeks, Midsllmn2erNight's Dreavl, and Schumann in Manfred . But who had nothing to say. about the middle of the nineteenth century composers bevan again to cultivate the melodramatic form independently. Here ls the programmt It will suffice to mention here Schumann, Liszt, Grieg, GEORGBENDA (I72I-95): Mackenzie, and Richard Strauss. ANackenziecannot be Ariadne in Naxos, duodrama, the words by J. C. named wlthout mentsonlng nls Iellcltous utlllsatlon OI tne . . v melodramatic form in his cantata, The Dreas7zof bal. (Flrst performance ln r774.) The aim of the melodramatic treatment is to emphasise ROBERTSCHUMANN (I8IO-56): 0p. II5. what the words express and to supply what they only Mawlfred,a dramatic poem in three acts, by Byron, ' . wlth music by R. S. (Composed in I848 and I849.) imply or hint at- music being superior to speech sn ' . . (a.) Calhng of the Witch of the Alps. emotional expression, and also able to add descrlptlve (b.) Invocation of Astarte. touches. As a rule, the most important part of melo- (c.) Manfred's Address to Astarte. dramatic music is heard in the pauses of the recitation ' ROBERTSCHUMANN: OP. I 2o. dur1ngthe speaklng the mus1c1S elther sllent or subordlnate, The Fugitives, by Shelley. consisting oftenest only of a few sustained harmonies. FRANZLISZT (I8II 86): The procedures of composers differ, however, in this Leonore, ballad by G. A. Burger, translated by F. respect very considerably. To show how much they Corder. sometimesdiffer,Massenet's operaManotl maybeinstanced, EDVARDHAGERUP GRIEG (b I843) OP 42 where the continuous music accompanying the purely Bergliot,apoembyBjornstjerne Bjornson,translated conversational spoken dialogue is neutral with regard to by F. Corder. expression, and serves only to bridge over the musical RICHARDSTRAUSS (b. I864): Op. 38. silences that otherwise would arise between the lyrical and E1X0chArden, by Tennyson, Part II. dramatic portions of the work- This, howeverZ is melo- X A. C. MACKENZIE(b. I847) dramatic treatment only in form, not in spirit. ! QueenMab, by Tom Hood. These remarks would be incomplete without an indi- yabberwocky,by Lewis Carroll. cation of the principal defects of the genre-namely, that the speaking voice and the music do not blend, and that The recitations were given by Mrs. Tobias Matthay melodramaticmusicisathingofformallyundeelopedand (Jessie Kennedy), Mr. Cuthbert Whitemore accom- unconnected patches and snatches. panying her on the pianoforte. These were interspersed with some violoncello pieces played In concluslon it should yet be stated that in connection * * * s ^ bv Mr. Dand Mlllar Crale. accoml ranted bv Mr. A. withthe melodrama the terms Monodrama and Duodrama Scott Jupp. The music students at Edinburgh were frequently used in the olden time. In the monodrama University are to be congratulated on their Professor therewas only one chief actor,in the duodrama therewere and the excellent fare he provides for their two. Thus Pygmalionwas called a monodrama, although delectation.

LA CONTREDANSE.

DESPITE the eminentauthority of M. Littre to the dated I683. It occurs in one of the manuscripts contrary,there can be little doubt that the French of the Music School at Oxford (MS. Mus. Sch. c 94) contredansewas an adaptationof the Englishcountry and is written in tablature for a guitar of five strings, dance. In England the country dance was well tuned- known at least as early as I579, when Mr.E. K., in his notes to Spenser's ' Shepherd's Calendar,'ex- t: o & o 'J 0 plained' haydeguies'as meaning 'a countrydaunce or rownd'; and in I597, Thomas Morley, in his ' Introduction,'speaks familiarly of 'our countrey or to corresponding intervals. This, at least, is the daunce' and ' the English countrydaunce.' tuning given in the manuscript, but the music seems In France,on the other hand,there is no trace of to require that the D string should be tuned an the contredansetill quite late in the seventeenth octave higher. Here is the tablature with a tran- century. The earliest example that I know is scription in staffnotation (transposed a ISfthhigher):- I l.rl I 1. rl i 1.1s1 l d. d b a a b d a d d * d b la b b a b CONTREDANCE a a a a f * a a a n I683 3 c a _ d . 1 d a d a d *t

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