Music in the Romantic Era by Alfred EinsteinReview by: Donald Jay GroutJournal of the American Musicological Society, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Spring, 1948), pp. 40-42Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the American Musicological SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/829665 .

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40 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY

recognized by his contemporaries. To re- call that Schubert's life was short - he was only thirty-two when he died - and that he was an exponent of a wholly new variety - the typical German Lied began with him - is to appreciate the clear-sighted, in- dependent judgment of Schubert's friends. Among the new documents bearing on Schubert's life, the most important come from the diaries of the brothers Fritz and Franz von Hartmann, published here for the first time. Also added are the many explanatory paragraphs, giving accurate, detailed accounts of the personalities, places, and conditions mentioned in the documents; these will undoubtedly prove welcome and useful. A few relatively trivial notes have been omitted as unim- portant. A "Summary Comparison" (Ap- pendix IX) gives a full account of the dif- ferences between the two editions.

Of the several appendices and indexes, some will facilitate the location of docu- ments and passages bearing on particular works and events; others aim to give more detailed information. The first (" Iconog- raphy ") lists the authentic portraits and descriptions of Schubert's appearance by contemporaries. The third (" Schubert's Income ") will prove serviceable to the reader interested in economic conditions; Deutsch not only reports the actualamounts, but translates them into the values of our own time. Further appendices give the dates of the first performances and of the original editions; there are references to the pages on which particular works of Schubert are discussed; and there is of course a general index.

If a second edition is to appear, there are two minor changes that this reviewer would like to see made. The general index would be more useful if it were expanded by the addition of further subjects; to give only one example, an entry under "Let- ters" would be most helpful. Then one would like to know where the originals of the various documents can be consulted. There is in the preface a summary refer- ence to the archives and libraries that have been drawn upon. But if a scholar wishes to consult a particular document, perhaps now in private hands, he may have diffi- culty in tracing it.

A special asset of the Reader is the ex- cellent translation - Eric Blom has even succeeded in reproducing some of the flavor of the Viennese literary style. Readers accustomed to the German texts and titles will be satisfied to find the original word- ing given in brackets. The admirable ar-

rangement of the text, which shows care- ful planning by publisher and author, makes the Reader a truly readable book, and the wisely chosen illustrations, pic- tures, and maps bring the documents to life.

KATHI MEYER-BAER, New Rochelle, N. Y.

Alfred Einstein. Music in the Roman- tic Era. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1947. xii, 371 pp., illus.

WHEN Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach in 1765 brought out the first edition of his father's Four-Part Chorales he wrote in a foreword that the composer stood "in no need of my commendation. The world has become accustomed to have nothing but master- pieces from him." Much the same feeling prevails with regard to any new book by Alfred Einstein. Few musicologists of this or any other generation have explored with such insight so many different epochs of music history, and none enjoys a higher reputation among scholars. When from such an authority we have a new work on Romantic music, for which a need has long been apparent, our anticipation is high indeed. Perhaps it is due to this un- usually heightened expectation that one's total impression of Music in the Romantic Era is disappointing. Could it be that some- thing of the feeling of "lateness" and ex- haustion which, according to Einstein, characterizes much of Romantic music, has infected its historian? The period is in some ways the most difficult era in musicology for a twentieth-century scholar. We stand to the Romantics, as Thomas Mann has said, in the position of a son toward his father: sensitive to his faults, often desir- ous of casting off his influence, yet bound to him by a hundred subtle ties of loyalty and affection; consequently - and the more conscientious the historian the sharper the dilemma - we are constantly on guard against either too great adulation on the one hand or unjust faultfinding on the other, and we never quite attain the ideal combi- nation of enthusiasm and detached judg- ment that is needed for the freest historical writing. It may be that the only way to write about Romantic music is in the same spirit of enthusiasm and fierce partisanship, whether for or against, that animated most of the Romantics themselves. Such writing, of course, will not do for us today; and

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REVIEWS 41

yet - to be completely judicial about Ro- mantic music is to miss something of the essence of that music. Not that Einstein lacks enthusiasm (read, for example, his chapters on Schubert, Rossini, Verdi, Of- fenbach, and the church music of Bruckner), but his enthusiasm seems greatest for just those qualities in the music of the nineteenth century that are usually regarded as least Romantic, while he is most judicial toward those composers who are most representa- tive of -the typical and extreme romantic traits. An admirable example of scrupu- lous dealing is afforded by the thirty pages devoted to Wagner; yet how much more vivid and carefree are the shorter sections about Bizet, Donizetti, and Verdi! No doubt all this reflects the present general estimate of comparative values in the Ro- mantic period; but does it faithfully re- flect the Romantic period itself?

Music in the Romantic Era professes not to be a history of music in the usual sense but rather a "history of musical thought" in the Romantic period. This distinction is used as a justification for not including musical examples - an omission actually justified in any case on the ground that it is almost impossible to illustrate Romantic music adequately in short excerpts, and that most of the scores are comparatively easy of access. However, Einstein's further assumption that most of this music is widely known and frequently heard seems a little too optimistic. For himself, and for Ger- mans of his generation, this may be true; but how many Americans have had oppor- tunity to hear performances of such works as Schumann's and Liszt's oratorios, or Bruckner's Masses and Te Deum? It is always a little startling even to this middle- aged reviewer to realize to what an extent Debussy has replaced Chopin as the com- mon fodder of young pianists. Romantic music is still the mainstay of our concert programs, but it is less so now than twenty years ago and is becoming less and less so every year. Moreover, regardless of pur- pose, it does not seem that the writing of any special kind of music history should justify a constant, and apparently inten- tional, avoidance of any coming to real grips with the substance of the music it- self. Is it really out of order to expect somewhere in a scholarly work on Roman- tic music some specific analysis, in precise technical terms, of just those factors- rhythmic, harmonic, melodic, or other - that make Romantic music different from music of any other period, that give it its specific Romantic flavor? Unquestionably

Einstein knows what these things are, and by omitting to mention them he pays his readers the compliment of assuming that their knowledge is equal to his own. It is a high compliment, but one that some of us would willingly forego. There are other curious omissions of detail: why, for example, in the section entitled "Mendels- sohn's Piano Compositions," is there no mention of the Variations serieuses, Opus 54, surely one of the composer's most impor- tant works in this medium? What about Mendelssohn's Organ Sonatas and Brahms's Chorale Preludes? If the Vier ernste Ge- sange are worthy of mention even though falling outside the chronological limits of the book, surely the same may be thought of the even more Romantic (be- cause purely instrumental) Chorale Pre- lude "O Welt ich muss dich lassen."

As a matter of opinion, probably some readers will disagree with the author's low estimate of Liszt as a song composer (p. 195); and perhaps few will be able to fol- low him in finding anything "sinister" in the comic opera music of Rossini (p. 263).

The most interesting portion of this book is the first seven chapters, which are grouped under the heading "Antecedents, Concepts, and Ideals." Here the author makes a valuable contribution towards a general view of the central position of music (especially instrumental music) among the Romantic arts and enumerates several principles which seem to prevail in the total historical picture of this period. Among these principles the most stressed, and most frequently recalled throughout the book, is that stated at the beginning of the last chapter in the following words: " Romanticism in music - and not merely in music- has appeared to us as two op- posite poles, the opposites being united in a great, broadly flowing movement" (p. 356). There can be no doubt that such "polar opposition" or "polar unity" is common in the nineteenth century; but it may be debated whether it is any more striking then than in some other periods, for example the sixteenth century with its contrasts between national and international styles, folklike and learned compositions, conservatism and revolution, overt and concealed meaning, objectivity and mys- ticism. Perhaps the essential clue to the peculiar character of the nineteenth cen- tury is that here alone "these contrasts or apparent contradictions are found ... also within the character of the individual per- sonalities themselves" (p. 6). Einstein's whole treatment of such general topics is

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42 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY

most stimulating. Both here and in the more strictly historical sections, more- over, his wide acquaintance with the lit- erature of the Romantic period and his sensitiveness to literary values are of im- portance. Among the discussions of indi- vidual composers and trends are found many gems of insight. Let us quote only two by way of illustration: "Is it not sig- nificant that the model of Paganini had more influence on the piano than on the violin?" (p. 199); again, on the rise of national styles: "The impetus and value of the nationalistic trend, though not its dis- tinction, depended in each instance upon the appearance of an outstanding person- ality" (p. 322). In fact, it seems to us that the strength of Music in the Romantic Era lies largely in such aperfus and in its contribution towards a systematic philoso- phy of the musical history of the Romantic period.

The book is one of the six volumes in the Norton History of Music series. The contents are divided as follows: Part I - "Antecedents, Concepts, and Ideals," seven chapters, 72 pages; Part II - " The History," ten chapters, 260 pages; Part III-"The Philosophy," two chapters, 24 pages. There are no bibliographies; the index lists only names of persons.

DONALD JAY GROUT, Cornell University.

Joseph Hutter. Hudebni ndstroje. Prague: Frantisek Novak, I945. I74 pp., 48 plates. NAZISM and the war have left their mark on musicology in Czechoslovakia. Vladi- mir Helfert, of the University of Brunn, was executed by the Germans. Gustav Becking, Ordinarius at the German Uni- versity, was shot by the underground on the day of the Russian entry into Prague. Zdenek Nejedl), the former Ordinarius at the Czech University, spent the war years in Russia. Since Nejedl)'s appointment as Minister for Culture and Education, the destinies of Czech musicology have lain exclusively in the hands of Joseph Hutter, himself imprisoned by the Germans for more than a year. In 1945, with the dis- solution of the German University in Prague, the rich holdings of the German Institute were transferred to the Czech University, whose music department has thus become one of the best equipped on

the continent. As its Professor of Musi- cology, Hutter is today his subject's ac- knowledged spokesman in Czechoslovakia.

Hutter tells us that his book was ready for publication as early as 1943, but that as a result of his imprisonment it could not appear until 1945. Its contents, he says, remain unchanged.

From the first, Hutter has devoted him- self to the investigation of the musical his- tory of his native land- years ago, as a pioneer, he opened up the study of the characteristics of the Czech neumes. Thus his present book, designed primarily to meet a practical need and addressed to the general reader (it is accordingly dedicated to the players of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra), is based chiefly upon the col- lections of musical instruments and works of art in the Czech museums and libraries. In general it rests upon the researches of Sachs, Hornbostel, Mahillon, and Gevaert, and on those of U'ik, whose classification of instruments it adopts. In the historical section Hutter prefers to cite the Czech literature, for example Janovka's Clavis ad thesaurum magnae artis musicae (170 ) and Johann Jakob Ryba's Musiklebre (1817); at the same time he is careful to give his special studies in the history of the Czech national instruments a solid foundation by referring also to books whose application is more general (Virdung, Harsd6rffer, Jean Rousseau, and others). On the an- thropological side Hutter likewise relies largely upon Czechs, among them Stocky, Absolon, Czizek, Niederle, and Zibrt. The general plan seems to have been suggested by that of the Sachs Reallexikon. The book begins with an account of the instruments of prehistoric times; this is followed by sec- tions on the instruments of the Middle Ages and of the modern period. These larger sections break up in turn into discussions of special topics: "On Songs of Faith and Chivalry," "On Church and Court Festivals," " Music Indoors and Outdoors," "Music in the Great Towns," "At the Chateau and in the Palace." To enumer- ate these headings is to indicate the socio- logical tendencies of Hutter's book.

By far the most interesting side of this admirable popularization is the collection of plates, in which the Slavic contribution is well reflected, particularly for the Gothic period, as in the harp, psaltery, fiddle, and cither from the Passional of I320 in the Kunhuty Abbey, or in the Veleslav Bible of 1340, with its magnificent miniatures and its numerous representations of psalteries, rottas, horns, and trumpets. Likewise of

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