the freedom of genius. His dazzling precocity—witness theMid-
summer Night’s DreamOverture, composed while he was in his
seventeenth year—and a great popular success were surely not
the best stimuli to make him delve into the depths of his imag-
ination. Undoubtedly he did a valuable service, in his day, in
uniting the leading tendencies of the two schools: the exuberant
fancy of the Romantic, and the reserve and finish of the Clas-
sic. He has been aptly called a “Romanticist with a classical
equipment.” If any appraisement be necessary to the detriment
of one or the other, it must be conceded that Schumann was
the greater genius. A just estimate of Mendelssohn’s work is
difficult, for his career was so meteoric and in his life he was
so overvalued that now, with the opposite swing of the pendu-
lum, he is as often underrated. He was assuredly a great artist,
for what he had to say was beautifully expressed; the question
hinges on the actual worth of the message. With perfect finish
there often goes a lack of power and objective energy; some-
what the same difference that we feel between skillful gardening
and the free vitality of Nature. Although Mendelssohn’s mu-
sic delights and charms there is a prevailing lack of that deep
emotion which alone can move the soul. And yet a composer
whom Wagner called “the greatest of landscape painters” and
whose best works have stood the test of time can by no means
be scorned. His descriptive Overtures for orchestra: theHe-
brides, theMidsummer Night’s Dreamand theFair Melusine;
hisVariations Sérieusesfor Pianoforte and some of theSongs
without Words[205] contain a genuinely poetic message, flaw-
lessly expressed. As for the pianoforte music, when theSongs
without Wordsare called “hackneyed” we must remember that
only compositions of truly popular appeal ever have sufficient
vogue to warrant the application of this opprobrious term. In
the pianoforteScherzosand in theRondo Capriccioso in E ma-
jorthere is without doubt a vitality and a play of fancy easier to
criticize than to create. The prevalent mood in Mendelssohn’s
music is one of sunny-hearted lightness and emotional satisfac-
tion; and if this be a one-sided presentation of life, it is no more
so, as Pratt well says in hisHistory of Music, than the picture
of gloom and sorrow which certain other composers continually
emphasize. The fact that his descriptive Overtures, just men-
tioned, have been surpassed—owing to the recent expansion in
orchestral possibilities of tone-color—must not blind us to the
beauty of their content, or make us forget the impetus they have
ann
(Ann)
#1