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
Opus 37 contains two concert etudes, both superb works. The first,
"Exaltation," is very original, though neither the beginning nor the
ending is particularly striking. The music between, however, has a
fervor that justifies the title. This etude is, like those of Chopin,
at the same time a technical study and a mood. The second, a
"Lamentation," begins with a most sonorous downward harmony, with
rushes up from the bass like the lessening onsets of a retreating
tide. Throughout, the harmonies and emotions are remarkably profound
and the climaxes wild. I should call it one of the best modern piano
compositions.
Twelve "Fantasy Pieces" are included in opus 38. They are short
tone-poems. The second, "Sylvan Spirits," is fascinating, and "Pretty
Marie" has an irresistibly gay melody. He has dedicated the six songs
of opus 6 to Robert Franz. These are written in a close unarpeggiated
style chiefly, but they are very interesting in their pregnant
simplicity. In two cases they are even impressive: the well-known
lyric, "Im Rhein, im heiligen Strome," and "Meeresstille." Opus 12 is
a notable group of three songs: "Mists" is superbly harmonious. Opus
25 includes "Ask Thou Not the Heather Gray," a rhapsody of the utmost
ingenuity in melody and accompaniment. It has a catching blissfulness
and a verve that make it one of the best American songs. Opus 28 is a
book called "Among Flowers." The music is in every case good, and
especially satisfactory in its emancipation from the Teutonism of
Foerster's earlier songs. The song "Among the Roses" has a beautiful
poem, which deserves the superb music. It ends hauntingly with an
unresolved major ninth chord on the dominant of the dominant. So the
frenzy of "In Blossom Time" is emotion of a human, rather than a
botanical sort. "The Cradle Song" adapts the Siegfried Idyl, and the
"Old Proverb" is rollicking. The two songs of opus 34 are fitted with
words by Byron. The three songs of opus 44 also make use of this poet,
now so little in vogue with composers. There are three songs in opus
42: a pathetic "Little Wild Rose," and "By the Seaside," which is full
of solemnity. "The Shepherd's Lament" is one of his best lyrics, with
a strange accompaniment containing an inverted pedal-point in octaves.
There are also several part songs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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