Modern music and musicians : [Encyclopedic] . tradiction ? In a way as ingenious as it is simple. Yes, they say,11 music has a right to be descriptive, but only on the stage. Miserablesophism ! On the contrary, thanks to scenic representation, to the stagesetting, and so on, the theater is the very place where music can -withoutgreat sacrifice be entirely devoted to the expression of sentiment. Whatbecomes of the overtures and the fragments of Wagners works when theyare performed in the concert-hall, if they are not descriptive instrumentalmusic, otherwise called program music ? What, then, is
Modern music and musicians : [Encyclopedic] . tradiction ? In a way as ingenious as it is simple. Yes, they say,11 music has a right to be descriptive, but only on the stage. Miserablesophism ! On the contrary, thanks to scenic representation, to the stagesetting, and so on, the theater is the very place where music can -withoutgreat sacrifice be entirely devoted to the expression of sentiment. Whatbecomes of the overtures and the fragments of Wagners works when theyare performed in the concert-hall, if they are not descriptive instrumentalmusic, otherwise called program music ? What, then, is the prelude tothe third act of Tannhauser, which claims to relate all that takesplace in the entr* acte, to give a history of the pilgrimage to Rome and ofthe malediction of the Pope? And what signifies the deference shown 239 240 FRANZ LISZT by Wagnerians to the works of Berlioz, who did not write a note of puremusic? Enough has been said on this subject. The spectacle of in-gratitude and dishonesty is too disheartening to dwell upon DUCAL SUMMER RESIDENCE WHERE LISZT WAS OFTEN A GUEST. Let us rather ascend the luminous summits of the works of the mas-ter, regretfully passing by many compositions of great interest, such asthe marches, choruses, the Prometheus,1 etc., in order to contemplate thegreat religious compositions into which he has poured his purest genius—the Masses, the Psalms, the Christus, and the Legend of In these serene regions the pianist disappears. A strongtendency to mysticism, which shows itself from time to time in his com-positions, finds here its place and its entire development. It is presenteven in the piano pieces, where it produces sometimes a strange effect, asin Les Jeux dEau de la Ville dEste, in which harmless cascades be-come finally the Fountain of Life, the Fountain of Grace, supported byscriptural quotations. To the surprise of many, Liszt has made use of the voice with con-summate art, and he has studied Latin prosody
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidmode, booksubjectmusicians
