Henry Edward Krehbiel

“ But French music as represented by Gounod and Massenet is ingenuous also in its persistent pursuit of beauty. The northern ideal of strength before beauty, or truth before convention, is not for the French, with their devotion to elegance of utterance, and this fact has saved their lyric stage from the deplorable tendency exhibited by the most notable, and probably greatest, German composer since Wagner, namely, Richard Strauss (strous) . ”

“ Many music students, however, find much to interest them in his work, and declare that Richard Strauss will come into his own in future years. His operas, for other reasons than their music, are not likely to be set in the regular repertoire of an opera season. His songs and tone poems, however, are already an accepted part of concert programs. In richness of orchestration, tremendous climaxes, vivid flashes of color, and frequent outbursts of dramatic power, there is nothing in modern music to place beside the tone poems of Richard Strauss. ”

“ To the celebration of such things and to the promotion of his material interests he is prostituting the finest musical gifts possessed by any composer known to the present day.
Not all the men who deserve to be called makers of modern opera have been mentioned as yet. There are Frenchmen whose works have shown more vitality than those of Charpentier and Debussy, though these two, representing a more individual tendency, are generally singled out for comment when the talk is of latter-day men. ”

“ These two and a few other compositions are known chiefly to music lovers, and they uphold the reputation that Humperdinck obtained by his “Hänsel und Gretel.”
The fairy opera, “Hänsel und Gretel,” is known the world over, and well beloved wherever it is heard. Its success was phenomenal from the start, the story of the opera being captivating, and the music likewise. It came at a time when the attention of the operatic world was absorbed with some of the successors of the well known Italian school, prominently Mascagni and Leoncavallo. ”

“ According to the celebrated composer Saint-Saëns, it is in these two oratorios that Gounod’s genius rose highest. Gounod’s life was spent for the most part in or near Paris, and it was in that city that most of his great works were first produced. He was a man of great energy, a constant worker, both in musical composition and in writing. He died at St. Cloud, October 18, 1893, leaving an influence on French music that will probably never be dimmed. ”

“ It required courage to go to the opera house with a new work on Manon. Massenet’s “Manon” was known throughout the operatic world, where it had been made successful by the brilliant performances of Jean de Reszke and Sibyl Sanderson. But Puccini’s “Manon” is of stronger stuff, and it holds its place today against the other. ”

“ MAKERS OF MODERN OPERA
Engelbert Humperdinck SIX
Few composers have so suddenly sprung into fame and favor as Engelbert Humperdinck. He was born at Sigburg, Germany, in September, 1854. His musical education began in Cologne Conservatory under Hiller, and was continued in Munich under Lachner. The prizes that he won at the conservatory enabled him to go to Italy, where he met Richard Wagner at Naples, who recognized his ability and showed him many favors. Wagner took Humperdinck with him to Bayreuth and made an assistant of him. ”

“ The greater charm which “Aïda” exerts now is due as much to the advanced ideals of the public, which Wagner was largely instrumental in creating, as to the refined and deepened sense of dramatic propriety and beauty which Verdi discloses in its melody, harmony, and instrumentation. ”

“ Composer of Pelléas et Mélisande.
THE INFLUENCE OF WAGNER
French, German, Italian, Russian, and English composers have for half a century been under the domination of Wagner’s influence. In France and Italy he put a new spirit into opera; but the composers did not attempt to follow him slavishly in both practice and precept. In Germany, on the other hand, many of his disciples made the attempt and failed. Two only have created living works—Engelbert Humperdinck (hoom ́-per-dingk) and Richard Strauss. ”

“ It established Verdi’s reputation for all time as a composer of music drama as his earliest works had shown his skill in tuneful opera. The music score of “Falstaff” is as free and untrammeled as the work of any modern composer, even Richard Wagner himself. ”

“ VERDI · MASSENET · PUCCINI · STRAUSS · GOUNOD · HUMPERDINCK
The form of entertainment called opera had its origin a little more than three centuries ago in an effort made by a company of scholars and musical amateurs in Florence to rescue music from the artificiality into which the composers, who were all churchmen, had forced it. ”

“ It has been produced a number of times, and holds an important place in the operatic repertoire. It is not, however, generally reckoned in popularity with “La Bohème” and “Madame Butterfly.” These two charming works are masterpieces of art and sentiment. ”

“ Nor is Electra’s bestial ferocity, as pictured by Hoffmansthal and Strauss, likely soon to find favor among the French. Thus much must be said in favor of the artistic tendency of a people who are still willing to hark back to a miracle-tale like that of “Our Lady’s Juggler,” or to a legend like that of “The Patient Grizel,” for operatic material.
MASSENET IN HIS STUDIO IN 1891
Between Gounod and Massenet there stands at least one French dramatic composer who accomplished much, but promised more in respect of the development of the lyric drama. ”

“ Notwithstanding that he was thus hewing to a line drawn by another, the opera has a melodic fluency and freshness which have scarcely a parallel in modern opera. A later work “Königskinder” (Royal Children) , though full of beauty, lacks the spontaneity and charm of its predecessor largely because its book is stilted in language, its symbolism too much in evidence and not sufficiently sympathetic, and its construction faulty.
RICHARD STRAUSS
RICHARD STRAUSS
Richard Strauss reflects the tendency of the times away from all ideal things. ”

“ His ideals when he wrote “Oberto” in 1839 were those of his immediate predecessors, Bellini (bel-lee ́-nee) and Donizetti (don-nee-dzet ́-tee) ; but his voice was ruder,—so rude, indeed, as to lead Rossini (ros-see ́-nee) to describe him as a “musician with a helmet.” ”