Musical Portraits : Interpretations of Twenty Modern ComposersRosenfeld, Paul
History
Musical Portraits : Interpretations of Twenty Modern Composers
Rosenfeld, Paul
Composers; Music -- 19th century -- History and criticism; Music -- 20th century -- History and criticism
No doubt, you loved your native land. But your patriotism recalls
dangerously the restaurant Magyar, the fiddler in the frogged coat. You
draw from your violin passionate laments. In a sort of ecstasy you
celebrate Hungaria. Then, smiling brilliantly, you pass the hat.
Once, only, your eye did not wander liquidly to the gallery. Once, only,
your workmanship was not marred by schemes for titillating effects, for
sensational contrasts, for grandiose and bombastic expression. Once,
only, you were completely the artist, impregnating your work with a
fine glow of life, making it deeply dignified and impassioned, sincere
and firm, profoundly moving. For you, too, there was the cardinal
exception. For you there was the "Faust Symphony." The work is romantic
music, the music of the Byronic school _par excellence_. Here, too, is
the brooding and revolt, the satanic cynicism, the expert's language.
But here the miracle has taken place, and your music, generally so loose
and shallow and theatrical, has the point, the intensity, the
significance that it seems everywhere else to lack. Here, for once, is a
work of yours that moves by its own initiative, that has an independent
and marvelous life, that is brilliant and yet substantial. Here you have
materialized yourself. We believe in your Faust as we believe neither in
your Tasso nor in your Mazeppa nor in your Orpheus. For he utters your
own romantic brooding in touching and impressive terms. In the theme
that conjures up before us "Faust in ritterlicher Hofkleidung des
Mittelalters," you have expressed your own seigneurial pride and
daintiness. Goethe must have tapped with his tragedy, his characters,
some vein long choked in you. In each of the three movements, the Faust,
the Marguerite and the Mephisto, you make your best music. There is real
drama in the first. There is a warm, fragrant hush in the second.
Perhaps Gretchen plucks her daisy a little too thoroughly. But there is
a rare sensitiveness and delicacy of feeling in her music. It is all in
pastels. There is something very youthful and warm in it that perhaps no
other composition of yours displays, as though in composing it you had
recaptured pristine emotions long since spoiled.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account