Fine Art in Romantic Literature [pp. 52-66]

Fine Art in Romantic Literature.
ury, and as little in the palaces of Roman
pride. A Greek of the age of Pericles would
have turned with scorn or ridicule from Titian's Assumption, would have condemned as
barbarous the Ecce Homo, and would have
censured the Santa Notte of Correggio for
its unaccountable light and shade. But
Painting, being essentially a Romantic Art,
though originating in antiquity, must obtain
its justification and its praise from those
among whom it has flourished, and whose
life it has faithfully reflected.
The chief distinction between Greek and
modern Music is, that the former was purely melodic, while the latter, without excluding melody, is also harmonic. At all events
it is safe to affirm that the harmonies admitted by the Greeks were of the most simple
character, such as occur, for example, when
the same part is sung by men and women
at the interval of an octave from each
other. The hymn, the chorus, and the ode
were chanted in a solemn and stately reci tative, with or without the accompaniment
of instrumental music. The lyre and the
flute, or the typical forms of string and wind
instruments, were employed, but their use
was chiefly restricted to the accompaniment
of the voice. A general conception of the
nature of ancient music is no doubt afforded
by the Gregorian chant, and the ecclesiasti cal music into which the latter enters as a
constituent. Confined to religious ceremo nial and occasions of festal pomp, it never
laid aside its dignity, simplicity, and serious ness, except when religion became revelry,
and festivity degenerated into Bacchanalian
license. Glees and catches would have been
scouted as trivial and profane, and as an
undue concession to private conviviality.
The piercing, agitated cry of the violin, its
wail, mournful and sweet as of an imprisoned
dryad, its maniac ravings and shuddering
laughter, even the rapturous joy which mur murs through its strings like the resonant
wind of evening through the branches of a
pine-wood-these would have disturbed the
Grecian placidity and equipoise, and hence
would have been deemed intolerable. The
Greek pantheon enshrined no St. Cecilia,
for the Greek spirit had never been penetrated with the need for organ music, for
those buoyant impulses of canorous sound,
which, like elastic pinions, are capable of
wafting the listener toward celestial spheres.
Except for such instances as the trumpetcall to battle, instrumental music was not
dissociated in antiquity from the human
voice. The sonata and the symphony had
not been dreamed of. Since polyphonic
music had not been invented, choruses in
the modern sense were impossible, and for
the same reason there was nothing correspondent to our orchestral playing among
the Greeks and Romans. These considerations at once exclude the opera and the oratorio from the circle of ancient musical compositions. Thus it will be perceived that
the unity in variety which is exemplified in
Gothic architecture, and which is the un questioned norm of all the esemplastic arts,
must not be looked for in classical music.
And it must further be evident that harmo ny, the reconciliation of disparates, can nev er be possible until there is an evolution of
individuality. The violin, the trombone,
the clarinet, and the bassoon must each have
its distinct and well-defined timbre, or there
can be no orchestral unison. In like man ner, choral harmony results from the four fold division of bass, tenor, alto, and treble,
each with its own proper function and sever al office. Concord, in other words, exists
only in virtue of differentiation. This was
clearly seen by Milton, who was no less mu sician than poet, and who has embodied
his harmonical theory in the poem, "At a
Solemn Music":
"And to our high-raised phantasy present
That undisturbed song of pure concent,
Aye sung before the sapphire-colored throne
To IHim that sits thereon,
With saintly shout and solemn jubilee;
Where the bright Seraphim in burning row
Their loud uplifted angel-trumpets blow,
And the Cherubic host in thousand quires
Touch their immortal harps of golden wires,
With those just Spirits that wear victorious palms,
Hymns devout and holy psalms
Singing everlastingly:
That we on Earth with undiscording voice
May rightly answer that melodious noise."
1885.]
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