Contemporary American Composers: Being a Study of the Music of This Country, Its Present; Conditions and Its Future, with Critical Estimates and; Biographies of the Principal Living Composers; and an; Abundance of Portraits, Fac-simile Musical Autographs, and; CompositionsHughes, Rupert
History
Contemporary American Composers: Being a Study of the Music of This Country, Its Present; Conditions and Its Future, with Critical Estimates and; Biographies of the Principal Living Composers; and an; Abundance of Portraits, Fac-simile Musical Autographs, and; Compositions
Hughes, Rupert
Composers -- United States -- Biography; Music -- United States -- History and criticism
Van der Stucken's music to "The Tempest" (op. 8) is published in three
forms. Besides the orchestral score, there is an arrangement for piano
solo, by A. Siloti, of the "Dance of the Gnomes," "Dance of the
Nymphs," and "Dance of the Reapers," the first and third being
especially well transcribed. For four hands, Hans Sitt has arranged
these three dances, as well as a short but rich "Exorcism," some
splendid melodramatic music, and the rattling grotesque, "The
Hound-chase after Caliban." All these pieces are finely imagined and
artistically handled.
For piano solo, there is a group of three Miniatures (op. 7). The
first is an Albumblatt of curious dun colors; the second is a
Capriccietto, a strange whim; the third is a beautiful bit called "May
Blossom."
[Music:
Der Stunde sei geflucht,
wo ich dein Herz gesucht,
wenn in dir diese Liebe
statt milder Freudentriebe
soll tragen herbe Frucht!
Gesegnet ist die Stunde,
sprach sie mit suessem Munde,
mir ist kein Leid geschehn
den Himmel fuehl' ich stehn
in meines Herzens Grunde.
That hour with curse be fraught,
In which thy heart I sought,
If I, in love bestowing,
Instead of gladness knowing,
A bitter grief have bought:
"My soul that hour e'er blesses,"
A rosy mouth confesses,
"Thy love is all I crave,
Then heav'n itself I have
Within my heart's recesses."
Copyright, 1892, by Friedrich Luckhardt, Berlin.
By permission of Luckhardt & Belder, New York.
FRAGMENT OF MR. VAN DER STUCKEN'S "DIE STUNDE SEI GESEGNET."]
Of Van der Stucken's songs I have seen two groups, the first a setting
of five love lyrics by Rueckert. None of these are over two pages long,
except the last. They are written in the best modern _Lied_ style, and
are quite unhackneyed. It is always the unexpected that happens,
though this unexpected thing almost always proves to be a right thing.
Without any sense of strain or bombast he reaches superb climaxes;
without eccentricity he is individual; and his songs are truly
interpreters of the words they express. Of these five, "Wann die Rosen
aufgeblueht" is a wonderfully fine and fiery work; "Die Stunde sei
gesegnet" has one of the most beautiful endings imaginable; "Mir ist,
nun ich die habe" has a deep significance in much simplicity, and its
ending, by breaking the rule against consecutive octaves, attains, as
rule-breakings have an unpleasant habit of doing, an excellent effect.
"Liebste, nur dich seh'n" is a passionate lyric; and "Wenn die
Voeglein sich gepaart" is florid and trilly, but legitimately so; it
should find much concert use. These songs, indeed, are all more than
melodies; they are expressions.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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