Arthur Elson

“ In Germany, in the Netherlands, in Austria, even in Russia, constant triumphs awaited them. There were a few exceptions, chief among them being Vienna, the city where Mozart struggled so long in vain, and where Gluck was unable to produce more than a passing impression by his great operatic reforms. But nearly all the places they visited offered admiration and incense to the faithful pair of artists. Through Schumann's genius, that of his wife was influenced, and Clara Schumann became far greater than Clara Wieck had ever been. She became a true priestess of art. ”

“ From the time when she was only a year old, she began to amaze her family and their friends by the most astonishing musical feats. She proved herself possessed of absolute pitch; she memorized dozens of tunes; she listened for hours at a time to violin music, while pieces in minor keys caused her such grief that they were employed by her parents in place of punishments. At the age of two she was given a photographic sitting, and at the critical moment she electrified the group about her by suddenly singing Handel's "See, the conquering hero comes." ”

“ She was born at Paris in 1861, of a family that was well endowed with musical taste. In childhood, she made the piano her favourite companion, and while other girls were devoted to their dolls, she would try to express in tones the simple emotions that moved her. There are some gifted mortals who can think in music, whose joys and sorrows translate themselves naturally into melody. ”

“ In the fourth movement, the young man has slain his love in a fit of jealousy, and is on his way to execution. Very powerful music expresses the fatal march, interrupted every now and then by the surging footsteps of the crowd. At its close, the hero ascends the scaffold; amid a hush, the tender love theme reappears, but is obliterated by a sudden crash of the full orchestra, and all is still. Berlioz, however, does not let his hero rest in the grave, but adds a fifth movement to show him in the infernal regions. ”

“ Among the women who have influenced music without actually creating it, none have had greater chances to use their power than the wives of the famous composers. Often they have been endowed with no inconsiderable musical genius themselves, but have sacrificed their claim to renown upon the altar of domestic duty. ”

“ Even among the early English minstrels, who devoted their powers to the milder art of love-songs and Christmas carols, no women are to be found. The wandering life of these bards and singers was too rude at first to admit of participation by the gentler sex, and it was only under more stable conditions of civilization that woman at last gained the opportunity of showing and developing her talents. ”

“ Marie Antoinette was herself a composer, and no doubt Gluck's early tuition was responsible for her musical attainments. Hers was not the rank nor the period in which a woman could attempt to work in the larger forms, but her songs were eminently successful. One of those, since made familiar by a more modern setting, is reproduced for the benefit of the reader. Its grace and charm will speak for themselves.
With Haydn and Mozart ranking among the married men, the next tonal master who claims attention is the great Beethoven. ”

“ It is fair to class Sappho as a musician, for in ancient Greece poetry and music were inseparable. Of her poems, which filled nine books, only a few fragments remain, of which the most important is a splendid ode to Aphrodite. At Mytilene she appears to have gathered about her a large and elegant circle of young women, who were her pupils in poetry, music, and personal cultivation. Her influence must have been widespread, for the list of her disciples includes names from all parts of Greece. ”

“ We have not the muscle and strength that men have to resist fatigue. We do things, but we pay the penalty of nervous strain. When people say that women are equal to men, I always feel that physically they are not fitted to run the same race. If they accomplish things, they pay up for it. It is sad, but it is true." Yet probably few of the noted women composers will subscribe to this opinion.
As yet there has been no woman composer of the very first rank, comparable to the tonal giants among men. ”

“ A skilful violinist, he understood the piano also, and gave his daughter lessons from her seventh year on. Driven from the country by civil war, he determined to have Teresa turn her musical talents to account.
As an eight-year-old prodigy, she met with an enthusiastic reception in New York, where she aroused the interest and became the pupil of Louis Gottschalk. At twelve she was taken to Paris, where she absorbed the traditions of Chopin from his pupils. There, too, she played for Liszt, who grew deeply interested in her, and wished her for a pupil. ”

“ Francesca Caccini was an exponent of the first growth of opera. After her comes a gap, and we find no women at work during the time of Scarlatti, for example, and few in the era when the early conventional opera saw its palmy days in the hands of Cimarosa and his compeers. A number flourished at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and now that Italy is experiencing a musical regeneration, the women are still present in the field. ”

“ Still longer is the list of women who have worked wholly in the shorter forms. Yet the absence of ambitious work must not be taken to indicate a lack of musical genius, for many of England's best known musical women rest their fame upon a few short pieces. There is a vast difference between good music and great music, and a song of real worth often outlasts an ambitious but overswollen symphony that is laid on the shelf after one hearing.144
In the field of violin music, there are many women deserving mention. ”

“ The career of Sappho is made more wonderful by the fact that woman's work in ancient Greece was supposed to consist only of family duties. She taught her sons in childhood until they were sent to their regular masters, and she guided her daughters and set them an example in doing household duties. According to Pericles, that woman was most to be prized of whom no one spoke, either in praise or blame. Because of Sappho's prominence and social activity, but more especially because of the ardent character of some of her poems, her good name has been assailed by many modern critics. ”

“ In the instrumental field, we find the lyre of less importance, but the flute (a term that included reed instruments also) was constantly used in ceremonial and sacrificial music. Trumpets were in use at all triumphal processions, while in the days of the empire the well-known but problematical water-organ became popular. Although the Roman domestic conditions admitted of more freedom than those of Greece, it is doubtful if the women took any important part in performance or composition of music. There are no great poetesses on the Roman roll of honour, while there are many on that of Greece. ”

“ The Church of Rome, though admitting no women to a share in performing its services, has yet made a woman the patron saint of music. The religions of antiquity have paid even more homage to the weaker sex in the matter, as the multitude of musical nymphs and fostering goddesses will show. ”

“ Among women composers of successful masses may be reckoned Mrs. Beach, Mme. Grandval, Mary Carmichael, and Maude Valerie White. In other directions women have more than held their own, and their work shows excellence, in quality as well as quantity, in cantatas, string quartettes,239 and other chamber music, violin sonatas, and even in large concertos. The list of women who have written piano music and songs extends to ample proportions.
Who is the greatest woman composer? It is hard to say, for not all have worked in the same direction. ”

“ In all his activity he was never too busy to save some time for the family circle, where, in later life, he would take the viola part in the concerted music that cheered his domestic hearth. It is sad to think of the poor wife's fate in contrast with so much family happiness. After Bach's death, in 1750, she struggled bravely to support her children, but became gradually poorer, and was forced to end her days in an almshouse, and be buried in a pauper's grave.71
Less happy than Bach in his married life was Franz Josef Haydn. ”

“ Few men of to-day are successful in the largest forms, and the demand for short works in literature seems to have aroused a similar feeling in the musical world. Yet we may only be passing through a period of temporary eclipse, for already the new note of triumph sounds loud and clear from Russia. It may well be that in a more inspired epoch than the immediate present, woman will rise to a higher level than she has already reached. ”

“ The music of Japan, though built on the chromatic scale, was much the same as that of China. Actors and musicians command hardly more respect in the island than on the Continent. Women play a negative part in both countries, if we except the Geishas, who entertain in the tea-houses. But Japan has made such rapid strides in civilization recently that it may not be impossible for woman to develop the activity that she has already shown in Western lands. ”

“ In Egypt the caste of professional musicians was not held in any respect, and the art was often merely an added accomplishment to enhance the value of slaves. So, too, in Greece, the practice of music was given over to the Hetæræ, or courtesans. That these women were at times able to win a high position is amply proven by the case of Aspasia. A native of Miletus, she came to live in Athens, and there gained the affections of the great leader Pericles, not more by her beauty than by her high mental accomplishments. ”

“ Eleanor Smith is another song writer who believes that children should be given the best of music, and not allowed to listen wholly to the popular rag-time tunes of the day. Her position as music teacher in the Cook County Normal School has enabled her to put her ideas in practice, and her songs for boys are delightful bits of worthy music. She, too, has done more ambitious work, such as a Rossetti Christmas Carol, the contralto solo, "The Quest," eight settings of Stevenson's poems, the Wedding Music for eight voices, piano, and organ, and a cantata, "The Golden Asp." ”

“ One of the most notable female figures in German music was Maria Theresa von Paradies. Born at Vienna in 1759, she met with an accident when three years old, and became blind for life. Even with this drawback, however, her musical aptitude was so great that her parents were justified in letting her begin regular studies and procuring the best teachers for her. At the age of eleven she appeared in public, singing the soprano part of Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, and playing her own accompaniment157 on the organ. This interested the Empress Maria Theresa, who procured the best of teachers for her. ”

“ Célanie Carissan has produced the operetta, "La Jeunesse d'Haydn," and the oratorio, "Rebecca," besides other choral works and many songs and piano pieces.
The roll of operatic composers in France is long and honourable. Just as England seems the home of cantatas, and Germany of orchestral work, so France is especially devoted to opera, and her women have held their own well in this field. As far back as the seventeenth century, Elizabeth Claude de la Guerre upheld the glory of her sex by playing and improvising in a masterly fashion. ”

“ The average sweet girl graduate of the conservatories, who is made up chiefly of sentiment, and hates mathematics, will hardly make a very deep mark in any art. But there are many who do earnest work, and who lead lives of activity and production that afford them equal rank with the men in this respect. Augusta Holmes may be cited in illustration.
It is often claimed that women study music merely as an accomplishment, with the object of pleasing friends and relatives by their performances. ”

“ The music is of choice quality throughout, according to the criticism of Richard Pohl, and the dramatic climax is excellently worked up by the fact that each successive number is purposely made more effective than the one preceding it. The same power and beauty of expression shows itself in her later songs, written mostly for the poems of Bodenstedt. These are in many cases well able to stand the test of comparison with the best of the German Lieder. A number of pieces for 'cello and piano are of equal value, as are also her violin works. ”

“ Her fame as a classical pianist was soon established, and her excellent work in editing the sonatas of Beethoven and Mozart bore added testimony to her musical knowledge. Her compositions include a piano trio, three violin sonatas, a suite and other pieces for piano, and a number of songs. Her clear style and thorough musicianship have given these works more than a passing value, and she is reckoned to-day as one of England's leading women composers.
Still more numerous than the violin composers are the women who have shown their ability merely in the form of a few piano pieces. ”

“ He would pass the winter in his castle, training himself in feats of arms and in musical composition. At the advent of spring, he would issue forth, followed by a train of Jongleurs singing his songs, and proceed through field and wood to the nearest castle. Here in the evening a great feast would be arranged, with the Jongleurs in a special minstrels' gallery. Next day there would be music on the ramparts, or in fair weather brocade carpets would be spread in the meadows, and knights and ladies would listen to more songs. ”

“ In the traditions of ancient Egypt, music is entirely under the patronage of male gods. Thoth, the Egyptian Hermes, invented the lyre by striking the tendons of a dead tortoise, which had dried and stretched in the shell. Osiris, too, the chief of the Egyptian gods, protected the art, although Strabo17 says music was not allowed in his temple at Abydos. While travelling in Ethiopia, the story runs, Osiris met a troupe of revelling satyrs, and, being fond of singing, he admitted them to his train of musicians. ”

“ In Italy, Eva dell' Aqua and Gilda Ruta seem leaders, while Carlotta Ferrari must be included in the front rank. In older times, too, Francesca Caccini must not be forgotten. Elfrida Andrée, of Sweden, is another composer of high rank. But when all is said and done, it seems at present as if the palm must be awarded to France, with Augusta Holmes and Cécile Chaminade as rival claimants.
Bearing in mind the fact that woman's greatest activity has been limited to the most recent period, it may be well to inquire what the present tendencies are in the world of music. ”

“ If music is to be regarded as one of the feminine accomplishments, why should this debar the more earnest students from doing more earnest work? The very fact that all cultivated women are expected to know something of music236 ought to result in a better chance for the discovery of woman's talent in composition.
But there are some, even among the women composers themselves, who admit that in many cases the matter of sex is a drawback. Liza Lehmann speaks in very definite terms on this subject. ”

“ For many years she made this her chief work, but at last her innate love for the piano brought her back to it. In 1885 she was forced to exert her talents in still another direction,—that of conducting. Being given the task of creating a national opera company in Caracas, she engaged her artists in America and Italy, and took them to her native city only to find the revolutionists in the most bitter and active opposition against all government enterprises. ”

“ Sweden can boast of several women composers, of whom at least two are really famous. Among those working in the smaller forms is Caia Aarup, now residing in America. She is the author of a number of pleasing songs and piano compositions. Amanda Maier, known also under her married name of Röntgen, has composed many worthy pieces for the violin, among them being a sonata and an interesting set of Swedish Dances. Another violin composer is Miss Lago, who has published songs and piano pieces as well as violin works, and has won a prize at Copenhagen with a piano cantata. ”