; w ־־ : introduction . ,, To the Ninth Subscription Concert / Dr. Else Lewertoff. . The three composers ,of to-night’s programme. althougl^׳!almost contemporaries, are 'representative■of completely different musical trends. These dissimilarities are alsô' dite, between Cherubini and Berlioz for. instance, to distinct “human’ differences between them. The Italian master spent the greater part,of his life in the trench capital as Director of the Paris “Conservatoire*^^ at which thè- young Berlio¿'’Studied — and .,as one of the most admireê composers of opera of his time. His compositions were strongly influenced by the French tradition and thus he found a happy synthesis between the graceful lightness of .the: Italian style of opera and the French,’ deepened by the School of Cluck. Cherubini was an Old.man when the star of Berlioz rose. In 1840 the friends of Berlioz attempted to drive: Cherubini out of ״his: office as Director of the Conservatoire. They intended' to put in ■his place the opera-conductor Habeneck so that the musical'management of opera would be left free for Berlioz. The. octogenarian master, however, learnt of the intrigue and.kept his post with unabated energy.. “Tell Mr. Habeneck I am not dead yet" he is said to have: remarked. This affffair ¡who less typical of Berlioz than it is of Che- rubini. Although the young composer was his own cleverest propagandist and always had a small but fanatically devoted following, yet he never managed to obtain a post which for any length, of time satisfied his artistic aspirations and this in spite of his life being so rich in dramatic changes of destiny. His was by far the greatest musical talent of his time in France. He w$s an extraordinary conductor. His gifts as a writer were such that they alone would.have been sufficient to stamp him as an .outstanding personality. And to all this was added the gift of being a firstrrate “publicity. man.” He^nderstood as few others how to keep the public interested through his personal affairs and their theatrical background. Nearly all his concerts were marked by some sensation or other. But finally he always destroyed his well-laid plans by some impulsive action and in the end he never managed to exploit his successes. ־ This combination of sharp intellect and an ever-simmering and 11011- quiescent imagination is as characteristic of the artist as of the man. Berlioz's music was'the medium for the depicton of Jiis own passions and visions. ■: Thus in order to convey ' more explicity his ideas ' and emotions he elabóratela new means of expression'.and can be called the founder of modern programme-music. In the arrangement and development of his, symphonies which are divided into single movements, Berlioz hardly deviates from the classical scheme. But by the. introduction of the “leit motif,” the ;“■idée fixe” which is inspired by some experience outside the realm of music and which runs through the whole work uniting the'various parts, he builds ’the bridge to the symphonic poem, the new form which was to find its first master in Liszt. The North-German composer, Johannes ;Brahms, exactly thirty years younger than Berlioz, is the absolute antithesis of the French master. Like the latter, Brahms is the artistic descendent of Beethoven whom he ever regarded as an unattainable ideal. While the romanticist Berlioz, inspired by 'a ׳ new ideal of art, is driven to break'up the inherited ■forms Brahms, who detested all external display, remained opposed to programme-music all his life. His four symphonies develop; exclusively by their deeply romantic content of ideas, the line of the classical symphony. Together; they form a single gigantic work which in its impregnable fastness conceals a world of sentiment which proves that what matters in the end is whether the cbmpôser has something to express or,not. If this is Sb, then the actual• expression, programme or “absolute” music, matters ..no;|j..
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