Modern music and musicians : [Encyclopedic] . half moon large and low ;And the startled little waves that leapIn fiery ringlets from their sleep,As I gain the cove with pushing prow,And quench its speed i the slushy sand. Then a mile of warm, sea-scented beach; Three fields to cross till a farm appears; A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch And blue spurt of a lighted match, And a voice less loud, through its joys and fears, Than the two hearts beating each to each. Here is a picture every line of which con-tains an image set forth so forcefully and 279 280 JOHANNES BRAHMS directly that t
Modern music and musicians : [Encyclopedic] . half moon large and low ;And the startled little waves that leapIn fiery ringlets from their sleep,As I gain the cove with pushing prow,And quench its speed i the slushy sand. Then a mile of warm, sea-scented beach; Three fields to cross till a farm appears; A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch And blue spurt of a lighted match, And a voice less loud, through its joys and fears, Than the two hearts beating each to each. Here is a picture every line of which con-tains an image set forth so forcefully and 279 280 JOHANNES BRAHMS directly that the whole exquisite scene stands own style, but a departure which leaves Ten- absolutely firm and distinct before the words which paint it are chosen fortheir strength and fitness; but try to readthem aloud and their dissonance is almostimpossible. Observe the alliterations be- nyson, as Brahms leaves Chopin, in anotherquarter of the sphere. Compare the lines, A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratchAnd blue spurt of a lightedmatch,. HOUSE IN HAMBURG WHERF. BRAHMS WAS BORN tween pushing prow, quench its speed11 slushy sand, tap at the jsane, quicksharp scratch,* and the ending with the un-musical rhyme between sea-scented beach and each to each, which last, by the by,happens to correspond with, Da sind zwei Herzen in Liebe vereint,Und halten sich seelig umfangen. The suggestive tone painting is strong, in-deed,,and Norse, and precisely in Brahmss with two of Tennysons, for instance: And drowned in yonder living blue,The lark becomes a sightless song. In these examples the two ps in tap atthe pane correspond to Tennysons ds in drowned in yonder, and the ss in sharpscratch with those in Tennysons sightlesssong; but in the one case the result is ca-cophony, in the other euphony. An intermezzoby Brahms and a prelude by Chopin pre- JOHANNES BRAHMS 281 sent a precisely similar contrast. Brahmsmanages his progressions and dissonances inthe style of Browning, Tennyson in that
Size: 1351px × 1849px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidmode, booksubjectmusicians
