saysHarmonie et Melodieby Saint-Saëns, Chapters I and II.]
Some insight, however, may be gained into the nature of music
by a clear recognition of what it isnot, and by a comparison
with the more definite and familiar arts. Music consists of the
intangible and elusive factors of rhythm and sound; in this way
differing fundamentally from the concrete static arts such as
architecture, sculpture and painting. Furthermore, instrumen-
tal music,i.e., music freed from a dependence on words, is not
an exact language like prose and poetry. It speaks to our feel-
ings and imaginations, as it were by suggestion; reaching for
this very reason depths of our being quite beyond the power of
mere words. No one can define rhythm except by saying that
rhythm, in the sense of motion, is the fundamental fact in the
universe and in all life, both physical and human. Everything
in the heavens above and in the earth beneath is in ceaseless
motion and change; nothing remains the same for two consec-
utive seconds. Even the component parts of material—such as
stone and wood, which we ordinarily speak of as concrete and
stationary—are whirling about with ceaseless energy, and often
in perfect rhythm. Thus we see how natural and vital is the art
of music, for it is inseparably connected with life itself.
As for the other factor, sound is one of the most elemental and
mysterious of all physical phenomena.[2] When the air is set in
motion by the vibration of certain bodies of wood, metal and
other material, we know that sound waves, striking upon the
tympanum of the ear, penetrate to the brain and imagination.
Sound is a reciprocal phenomenon; for, even if there were sys-
tematic activity of vibrating bodies, there could be no sound
without some one to hear it.[3] Good musicians are known for
their power of keen and discriminating hearing; and the ear,[4]
as Saint-Saëns says, is the sole avenue of approach to the mu-
sical sense. The first ambition for one who would appreciate
music should be to cultivate this power of hearing. It is quite
possible to be stone-deaf outwardly and yet hear most beauti-
ful sounds within the brain. This was approximately the case
with Beethoven after his thirtieth year. On the other hand,
many people have a perfect outward apparatus for hearing but
nothing is registered within.
[Footnote 2: See Chapter II of Gurney’sPower of Sound, a book
remarkable for its insight.]