Orchestration and Common Sense

Author(s): A. J. B. Hutchings
Reviewed work(s):
Source: The Musical Times, Vol. 72, No. 1066 (Dec. 1, 1931), pp. 1081-1085
Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.
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 THE MUSICAL TIMES-DECEMBER 1 1931 1081

VIII.
CHAPTER the fact of there being so many lines of experi-
QUARTER-TONES ment, each demanding of the listener an attitude
To divide the semitone into halves is the most which may falsify his perception of the others.
obvious way of extending our means. It offers
the possibility of expansion in any or all of the CHAPTERIX.
three directions in which (as has been pointed CONCLUSION
out) expansion is possible. Quarter-tones can And will this progress in discord go on for
enrich the established language by adding ever ? Will it be checked on attaining a state
additional chords and by offering rich garnitures which definitely is painful ? Could there be,
of new passing-notes. Quarter-tones can supply indeed, such a state: one to which the ear-
a new language (any number of them) by membrane could not possibly be adjusted ?
providing an enlarged alphabet from which to I should say, while making one important
choose our modes, in which new modes one reservation, that there is not; I should say that,
might stick to such chords as are already given a limited quantity of notes and sufficient
familiar, or employ novelties. And quarter- time for their combinations to be familiarized,
tones, again, can in various ways require of us the ear would be able to accept anything--apart
new powers of listening. from excessive loudness, which is capable of
This last demand becomes immediately altogether destroying the power of hearing.
apparent, and in a way that scintillates with I can conceive that in the future we might not
instruction. On first hearing quarter-tones it is be appalled, or even rendered uneasy, by any
impossible not to regard them as ordinary notes combination of the twelve semitones. But we
out of tune. So fundamental is the law that should then have lost one of our chief means of
every new sensation shall be apprehended only checking values, as well as of provoking sensa-
in relation to sensations already familiar, that tion. We should find a greater difficulty in
only by an effort can one accept them for what delving to the idea which is beyond the
they are meant to be. Being already so mourn- language and far, far surpasses it in importance.
fully acquainted with well-intentioned failures Be sure, though, that if that time arrives, there
in intonation, one is loth to believe that these will be quarter-tones to fill the gap; and as
are evilly-planned successes. Only by persuasion (here comes in my reservation)-as there are
can we be induced to make the effort to realise limitless ways of dividing the octave, there will
the queer fish as personal entities, and even then always remain means to provoke the Greybeards
at first it will have to be in this fashion : ' Here and to exhilarate the Beardless. And if, in
is a semitone, only rather less,' or ' Here is a time, a limit to the expansion of the vocabulary
minor common chord even more minor.' is accepted equably by all, it will be only
There are, nevertheless, great possibilities in because some other aspect, such as rhythm, will
this medium. In my own limited experiments thrust forward to supply the needed bone of
with two pianofortes suitably tuned, I found contention. There being, in art, no such
much charm in progressions based on a scale of reality as ultimate truth or beauty, in the search
eight notes evenly spaced out three-quarters of for the ideality which must replace it (and
a tone apart. The century-long dominance of which is better, for reality represents attainment
the pianoforte has paved the way by insisting and subsequent stagnation) there must ever be
on the already-false division of the octave into some medium of experiment, offering the
equal semitones; on the other hand, that possibilities of choice, of acceptance and
dominance would not countenance methods rejection, of momentary rest and of renewed
demanding so cumbrous and so expensive a journeying.
keyed instrument. Strings and voices possess
more power of dealing with the situation, and ORCHESTRATION AND COMMON SENSE
should the pianoforte lose pre-eminence as the BY A. J. B. HUTCHINGS
utility instrument, quarter-tone systems of In their method of instrumentation there is a
harmony would have a better chance. But little difference between J. Bach and J. Payne.
they would entail more careful listening than is Consider for a moment la m6thode Payne. A new
at present in fashion. fox-trot, having been tried over on the pianoforte,
Having briefly examined three of the most is to be arranged for the band. Procedure follows
impelling of the musical trends in contemporary a fairly stereotyped plan. The main bulk of the
use, all in the stage of blossom, we should be music is given to the main family of instruments-
able to formulate our answer to the second the saxophones-and any extras, from fiddle to
query already twice propounded: How far does xylophone, are simply treated as such; their
the new language now on trial fulfil the need for presence does not involve any serious re-scoring.
such a language ? For myself, I would say that Jack, or whoever does this work for him, does not
there are more than one of these languages which claim to overcome those problems of orchestration
which confront the symphonist-the balancing of
are capable, if developed with sufficient gradua- tone, the
approximation of various shades of
tion, of fulfilling such need as now exists, and colour, the judgment of effects. What he does claim
of the greater need that may come about in the is that, since he himself can play most of the instru-
future; but that there is an intense danger in ments in his band, he has first-hand knowledge

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1082 THE MUSICAL TIMES-DECEMBER 1 1931

of the compass and aptitude of each, and can The popular habit of crooning praise for the
so arrange the distribution of parts among them orchestration of a work merely on account of the
that each does a fair share of the evening's work. number of instruments used is to some extent
This is precisely Bach's claim. When he scores a justified, since any composer who has written
suite for a grand function at which he will be successfully for a very large orchestra has overcome
provided with ' star' soloists (perhaps trumpet or the great problems. It does not follow, however,
oboe players), he treats these parts orchestrally as that the use of a limited orchestra always shows a
extras; no doubt a contrapuntal extra is less desire to avoid them. Debussy and Ravel have
extraneous than a mere melodic or harmonic given as much forethought to some of their works
' double,' but the score, with its main string parts, for small orchestra as many composers give to a
has much the same appearance on a gala night as full symphony. Again, there is nothing to admire
during the slack season. Bach has something more in megalomania itself. Actually there is more
in common with the dance-band arranger, since the consummate mastery of the art of scoring in ' Les
antithetical nature of his texture ensures no call Troyens ' than in the ' Te Deum '; the best of
for jealousy among the parts, solo or otherwise. Strauss lies outside ' Heldenleben,' and personally
To come straight to the point of this rather I see more craftsmanship in the little willow-
forced comparison; it is quite unreasonable to pattern section of the ' Song of the Earth ' than in
dignify this sort of work by the title ' orchestra- the whole of that monstrous ' Eighth.'
tion.' The men themselves would be the last to It is the writing for wood-wind, I think, that
do so. A witty divine once declared that his affords the best criterion of a man's scoring.
brothers of the pulpit had managed to attach a Strauss and Mahler between them, both in
symbolic meaning to every person and thing following and in deviating from the practices of
mentioned in the parable of the Good Samaritan, Wagner and Tchaikovsky, have produced an
except the ass. Musical people are apt to indulge entirely new attitude towards this department of
a similar habit. For instance, at a recent their craft. It is my purpose to try to show what
Courtauld-Sargent concert there was a product all great advantages the modern student has over his
hot from the Hindemith factory-no fiddles, no predecessors, who knew but little of one of these
violas, no main brass, plenty tuba natheless, and craftsmen and nothing of the other. At risk of
a solo viola by way of contrast to the quasi-solo seeming garrulous, I should like to relate my
tuba. As the evasive would say, I quite enjoyed personal mistakes in this matter, largely due to my
the work without taking it too seriously. At least amateurish reliance on text-books. During the
it was jolly. What annoyed me was my neigh- spring clean, I turned out a number of the earlier
bour's remark, 'Marvellous orchestration.' Now, symphonic works of A. J. B. Hutchings. (Quite a
how could the orchestration have been either mar- private collection of rarities, and likely always to
vellous or damnable ? There was no orchestration. remain so.) The composer's first acquaintance
As in the case of Bach and Payne, there was just a with great music was made upon the organ stool.
distribution of work among a limited number of I find, as I look at his writing for the wood-wind,
instruments-that is, mere instrumentation. that these instruments are treated either with
The matter is almost an ethical one. There can trepidation, taking little solo parts in turns (after
be no virtue unless there has been something over- a dose of cautions from Prout), or else as a sort of
come or sacrificed. Similarly there is no cause Choir manual on to which the music jumps en bloc
even to mention the orchestration unless the com- in four- or five-part harmony, just to give other
poser has successfully tackled the great problems things a rest. The fact is that he did not really
mentioned above, and the texture of Hindemith's know what to do with this section of the orchestra,
viola concerto does not demand any such tackling. since he was labouring under the mistaken but still
The fact that Hindemith limited the number of his widely accepted notion that the wood-wind
instruments seems to indicate very clearly that he constitute a ' family.' They do not.
did not want to be bothered with even the smallest Like the British Constitution, and many other
presentation of the great problems. By turning things which run smoothly in practice, the
away a queue of instrumental colours demanding orchestra is a case-made affair, not an organized
employment as justification for their mention on homogeneity launched out all hot from a master
the score-paper, Hindemith avoided a waste of time brain. The wind especially developed here a
on matters lying outside the actual manufacture of little and there a little to meet the ambitions of
musical texture. Every article which has appeared composers. But two centuries of inurement to the
so far concerning this composer seeks to impress the sound of a wood-wind tutti have coarsened our ears
reader with his immense output and widespread and made us accept the idea of a' family.' Let the
activities. I am sorely tempted to quote a reader cast his mind back to his childhood, or at
proverbial expression which describes the thoughts least to his first acquaintance with orchestral
of a busy fellow. Though our modern Stanfords playing. Does he not remember to have wondered
cannot poise the pencil over a laden Hindemith why nobody else thought the wood-wind out of
score, exclaiming' Let a little air in ! ' it is doubtful tune ? I cannot explain Mozart's reason for
whether the rate of output would be so prodigious omitting the clarinet from his scores so often, but
if it had always to cater for the full orchestra I do know that he had a sensitive ear. Perhaps his
-in other words, if the music called for real only equal in this respect was Debussy, who, even
orchestration. when writing for a fairly full orchestra, as in the
'
Consider, on the other hand, Mahler's wonderful Images,' sedulously avoided wood-wind mis-
achievement in the 'Wayfaring Songs'; he not alliances. (Perhaps that is the wrong way to put
only manages to accompany the singer with a large it, for Debussy's scoring is anything but negative.)
orchestra, suggesting neither competition nor On the other extreme is Brahms, a text- book
smudginess, but he also keeps the orchestral theorist's hero, whose symphonies, however great
texture itself clear, interesting, and independent. the music may be intrinsically, often leave the

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 THE MUSICAL TIMES-DECEMBER
feeling that they have been previously scored for
two pianofortes. Oh for a respite from the heavy
double-basses ! Oh to be rid of the muzzy husking
of the wood !
Brahms was unfortunate. By his day the
orchestra had just got to that size at which it was
necessary to use the full number of wood-wind to
which we are now accustomed for ordinary pur-
poses, but they were still regarded as so many
voice-parts. Tchaikovsky was one of the first to
begin writing the clarinet parts high up, and to
regard the oboe largely as a solo instrument (or as
the one to which the prominent part should be
given). The example quoted here shows his clever
judgment of the effects of crossing parts:
Symphony No. 5.
^U
Ob.a
I I
TCHAIKOVSKY
~'- .z z'1 - I
Cl. in A.
Fg. & Cor.
Ex. 1
- Incidentally, whenever an instrument produces a
Strngs. II
^ Strings.
(^ - T
' can be used ' effectively' in broken or arpeggiated
Examples of high clarinet parts are to be found
frequently in the scores of Wagner. There are
plenty extended over so short a work as the
' Siegfried Idyll' for instance. Strauss has actually
pronounced upon the matter. As for the oboe, in
spite of tradition and text-book, it is almost as
much a solo instrument as is the cor anglais. It
may not offend in polyphonic or contrapuntal
writing, but it is a mistake to regard it as the alto
part in vertical texture. I can recall the out-of-
tune effect produced by Toscanini during his
recent visit, while showing off his absurdly
exaggerated pianissimi. Now Bach's music does
not call for the dramatic pianissimo, and, since it is
usually on the contrapuntal move forward, it does
not matter when the oboe is scored together with
its very unfriendly neighbours the flute and the
clarinet. It is noteworthy, however, that Bach
himself prefers to use two oboes, not a flute and an
oboe, when he is merely writing a figure which helps
to fill in the harmonic background for the voice, as
in 'Although mine eyes with tears o'erflow,' from
the 'St. Matthew' Passion. Of course, the oboe
blends satisfactorily with the bassoon, because the
bassoon is simply a bass oboe, and in any case
seems to blend satisfactorily with most things. In
the Schubert symphonies, bassoon and horn get on
excellently together in place after place.
As a work of reference, the text-book on or-
chestration is almost indispensable to the musician,
but as a manual it is definitely misleading, however
profusely it may be illustrated. What the text-
book calls a ' good example' of the use of this or
that instrument is often merely a prominent
example, which teaches nothing about the art of
scoring. For instance, I believe every text-book,
in its hunt for a ' good example' of the use of the
clarinet, has lighted on this passage:
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1 1931 1083
Ex. 2
Overtlre, ' Oberon.' WEBER
, Cl. Solo (transposed)
t r I J. 1 It J III
!
&C.
Strings. 0-- _
\
/h# I: ^ ^ -e> _
.
What does the student learn from this ? Just two
things, namely, that it is a tune, and that it is
played by the clarinet. He would have learnt just
as much about orchestration had the tune been
given to the cor anglais. And oh, how the
text-books cling to their traditional legends!
Who has not heard of a lovely fabled land way
down in the depths of the clarinet, yclept
' chalumeau ' ?
Happy he who would explore this
country and write it on his paper! Strange that it
should have struck me that' chal ' is a particularly
evil noise, whereas the upper flute-like register of
the clarinet (for which any fool can write) seems to
have a very sweet tone and also possesses the
remarkable ability to combine unobtrusively with
almost anything else in the wood-wind section.
snarling noise (e.g., French church organ at usual
fortissimo) someone is sure to describe it as ' rich.'
Rich it is. So is feeding-time in the lion house.
There is another legend about the clarinet; it
chords as an accompaniment to a melody. There
are 'happy' examples from Auber, Spohr, Rossini,
and Meyerbeer. Since we are playing at snobbery,
we would like to know the exact meaning of 'happy.'
I have certainly heard very cheerful brass bands
faisant Alberti, with clarinets I suppose, but such
is the number of types of clarinet used by brass
bands, some of them doing the full work of the
strings in an ordinary orchestra, that I am usually
forced to give up detective work, especially in the
open air ! But surely this usage is condemned for
the serious orchestrator if he remembers the
original purpose of the Alberti bass-to sustain
chords on instruments, such as harpsichords, which
possessed little sustaining power in themselves.
If the repetition of the harmony is wanted to make
the metrical warp and woof more definite or more
compact, why not repeat the whole chord en bloc
in a cheek-flapping sort of way, as in the Allegretto
of Beethoven's 'Eighth' or the prelude to Act 3
of ' Lohengrin ' ?
And if scoring for the wood-wind is such a
ticklish matter, how careful should composers be
when they introduce the organ into their scores
with the wind! Here is another case in which
custom has blunted our sensitiveness, and we are
afraid to be thought petulantly contra mundum.
How often, when the local choral society is having
a grand shout, with the organ supporting the
limited orchestra, one finds that the ' dead' tone
of this instrument (however excellent in itself)
blends badly with the wood-wind! Perhaps some
readers will remember having their ears tortured
at last year's 'Proms' by Dupr6's rather dismal
Organ Symphony. Such experiences do not seem
to have annoyed either the text-book writers or
that very nebulous committee, 'the masters,'
whose scores show a masterly disregard of the
 1084 THE MUSICAL TIMES-DECEMBER 1 1931

nicety. In the last few bars of a broad chorus of are mutually obvious, so that the musician must
the Mendelssohn type, a glorious Pelion on Ossa go to the later quartets to find him at his best,
effect is made by the organ entry. But why keep unfettered by the reiterated tonic-dominant
the wood-wind whining away at their horrible high harmony.
pressure ? I was recently ridiculed, by one To see an extreme case of non-obvious or-
privileged to do so, for believing my long ears when chestration, we have only to consider the much-
this matter was in question. 'My dear ass, since criticised arrangement by Sch6nberg for a large
they have paid for an orchestra, they must have a modem orchestra of Bach's 'St. Anne' prelude and
decent tutti. Besides, wherever did you hear that fugue. Sch6nberg, the last man to be dubbed
funny idea before ?' That is always the un- 'text-book,' shows all those faults that beset the
answerable-no precedent. But I thought I had theorist. Determined that, whatever else might
one after all. I blurted out ' Brahms's Requiem,' be said about the scoring, nobody should find even
just as a shot in the dark. Actually I was the suggestion of organ registration alla C6sar
disappointed. What I was sure of, however, was Franck symphony, he fires off a broad type of fugue
that this great work contained a most carefully (first section of fugue) with a trivial interplay of
and beautifully written organ part, to which no wood-wind. There was more exposed than the
text-book had directed the student's attention. fugue: there was a perverted mentality. Since
Before reading Mr. Farmer's articles on this section 2 of the fugue is obviously a drop on to
subject, commencing in the May issue of the the Choir manual in phrases just long enough for
Musical Times, how many organists were aware calm wood-wind blowing, Sch6nberg must give it
that Brahms also wrote eleven excellent chorale to the strings, with laboured bowing. In fact, the
preludes (indeed they are among his finest works) ? only part of this theorist's dream that gave quite
They are hardly ever played, evidently because it a thrill was the obvious entry of the subject of
is too much trouble to read an occasional C clef in section 3 with a full blast of trombone. There
order to extract a piece of great music.* are unfortunately even organists who are ashamed
But do not let it be thought that this article is a of the one thing that their instrument alone can do,
cheap sneer at the text-books-of which there are that is, deal classically with the great flat tone-
still very few, for the plain reason that they are masses which are the glory of classical writing.
only compiled after a lifetime's experience and These gentlemen think it artistic to play fugal
hard work. I have particularly an affection for entries on solo stops; they cannot help, later on,
Ebenezer Prout, B.A. Lond., &c. With what joining them but badly to the main texture, thus
delightful modesty he apologises for including an robbing the music of architectural beauty. Neither
example 'from the author's own essays in this do pianists always flatter our intelligence with
direction,' having found difficulty in finding one their thumped answers and middle entries.
elsewhere. To be frank, these few tit-bits quoted Mr. Newman's plea that ' Sch6nberg evidently
from his own work set me wondering whether he loves his Bach' has nothing to do with the case.
was just a great theorist; some of them look Curiously enough, the most disquieting impression
remarkably like good stuff. If ever I am rich and which the scoring gives is exactly that incessant
influential, I shall revive a Prout symphony. I am viscous fluffiness, due to continual thick writing for
sure that it will be interesting. But what a lot the the wood-wind, which was mentioned as a fault of
old fellow knew! the adherent to text-books. Those readers who
Moreover, the text-books are right in teaching were treated, a few 'Prom.' seasons ago, to
the precept ' Summa ars est celare artem,' or ' the Sch6nberg's ' arrangement' of two chorale preludes
best orchestration is that which conceals the fact from the' Orgelbiichlein,' will perhaps recollect their
that there has been any scoring.' At first this disappointment at the entire lack of clarity due to
doctrine may seem reactionary, but it will be seen exactly the same huskiness. I was only one of
to apply to the best modern music as well as to the three organists who went that evening, when these
classics. Surely the best orchestration is that efforts were perpetrated in London for the first and
which is obvious, not in any smug sense of the evidently the last time, eager to hear what each one
word but according to its literal meaning-ob viam of us had planned to do ourselves some day when
=' in the way, going out half-way to meet the com- our ambitions were realised. None of my ambitions
poser's ideas.' Thus, by the term 'obvious or- was forestalled by Sch6nberg, but many have been
chestration ' we should mean not only such things forestalled, nay, eclipsed, by one Stokowski-a mere
as the distant trumpet in 'Leonora,' the soaring conductor, unpretentious to creative genius-who
strings in Delius's ' Song of the High Hills,' or the has made a most popular gramophone record of
thunder effects on the timpani in Berlioz's flap- what has always been a favourite in the privileged
doodle symphony, but every work which hides the society which holds the secret of the chorale pre-
fact that there has been any actual scoring, making ludes; I refer to ' I call upon Thee, Jesus,' played
the listener feel that idea and orchestration are of by the Philadelphia Orchestra. Like the D minor
simultaneous birth. Yet this text-book precept Toccata with fugue (from the same source, arranged
seems to demand some modification. Although by the same person) this is largely a string affair;
Mozart will demonstrate a hundred and one things what more natural than that diapason tone, the
'apt for strings' without ever seeming to have foundation of organ music, should be transcribed
intended so doing, and though so obvious a work for strings, the foundation of the orchestra, by long
as the B minor of Schubert shows, on detailed association ? This last phrase is purposely printed
examination, the utmost care in the gauging of in italics, since it may explain a multitude of things.
effect, yet it is at once the great merit and also the It is only correspondents of the Radio Times who
slight limitation of Beethoven's far more clever still cling to the idea that music should always be
symphonic writing that his ideas and orchestration objectively beautiful, and that instruments should
* Even this obstacle is removed in
John E. West's Edition,
always be entrusted with music traditionally and
published by Novello.-EDITOR. naturally suited to their characters. By all means

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 THE MUSICAL TIMES-DECEMBER 1 1931
let the tuba have the melody, accompanied by
fiddle pizzicato, provided such instrumentation be
obvious to the ideas. Stokowski's arrangements
are to be praised, as are the Beecham additions to
various Handel scores, not because they are what
the original composers did, or would have done,
but because they bring out the ideas and beauties
of the works to the best advantage (oh, this
journalese !). In other words, because the or-
chestration is obvious. I know many unmusical
people who have been converted to Bach on hearing
these Philadelphia records alone.
Finally, here is the defence of Franck's or-
chestration, which I have been longing to make
for some time. Franck's best thoughts were
conceived in terms of organ, and he did rightly in
making the orchestration obvious to those ideas,
even at risk of reproducing organ idiom. (I fully
realise that Franck did not stop for one moment to
consider the matter.) By all means reproach
Franck for the limitation of his ideas, but do not,
as many have done, blame the orchestration. It
is to be noticed that during the scoring of the
Symphonic Variations, when his mind was set
to remember that he was dealing almost contin-
uously with a percussion instrument, the temptation
to let the harmony slither, and to ' draw' instru-
ments on and off like stops, did not assail him.
Consequently the Variations, although orchestrated
quite as obviously as the symphony, suggest
nothing of organ registration; indeed, their scoring
is as clear as anything written for pianoforte and
orchestra by such people as Saint-Saens and Faure,
to whose work Franck's' shows some minor
similarities.
It seems an impertinence to mention Franck's
name in the same sentence with the others. He
will yet come into his own as the greatest artist of
Gallic origin, if the untidiest craftsman of the
19th century; that is why, for all its imperfections,
I prefer the Symphony to the Variations. I would
not have it altered one jot or tittle; ' le style c'est
l'homme,' and when the orchestration is obvious to
it, then the orchestration is the man. The man in
Franck is the only thing worth knowing; the
musician has his defects, but the man rings
gloriously true. Forgive the platitudes; I do
wish all musicians would realise that sincerity is of
first importance, and alone makes the artist.
Men-ideas-orchestration-harmony-texture.
Musical journalists have a stupid habit of separating
things which simply do not exist separately. How
foolish to set out to write an article on or-
chestration !
THIS BUSINESS OF EXTREMISM
BY A CANDID CUSTOMER
It is a business: that is the only word for it:
And like other businesses, it depends on advertising
and propaganda. Now the propaganda for
modern music (by which I mean both the good and
the bad) has been ludicrously poor, as any
thoughtful advertising man would tell you. To
make a business of extremism alone was, in the
first place, a strategical error from which all the
music round and about the fringes of modernity
has suffered, the best with the less good. Whoever
heard a propagandist, for instance, carefully
separating his goods into qualities, and recom-
mending them only according to their values ?
What is the attitude of our greatest business house,
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1085
the B.B.C. ? Does it publish articles and have
talks that attempt to do for modern music what
thousands of musicians (aided by the quality of the
goods themselves) have been doing for the older
music, these hundred years ? It does not. Why
not ? Well, perhaps I may quote one of my friends
who, I take it, feels that he is in a stake-holding
position; for his own work, in another branch of
expression, does not break away from the past. I
had been urging that the B.B.C., and all who
sincerely want to give modern music the best
chance, should come out into the open, and tell
everybody in understandable ways about the value
and importance of the music of to-day. He replies:
' Do you think it was possible to tell the public of
Beethoven's day the value and importance of him
and his tribe ? You can only finally and purpose-
fully analyse the value and importance of music
when the composer's day, surely, is past ? '
That seems to me a confession of impotence. In
the first place, the people of Beethoven's day didn't
need telling in words: the music did the trick at
once-as it still does for us. In the second place,
I cannot see why one should not be able to sum up
pretty well the music of any day, whilst one is
living with it. My friend, for instance, goes on to
say: ' Particularly, I feel, is this true [he means
the inability to sum up the present now] when the
very tempo of life has changed unrecognisably,
and when music, which is bound to reflect that
tempo. is itself rather breathlessly new.' But if
we are to keep our feet on a path of reality surely
we must know where we are going-and know it
simply because we want to go somewhere in
particular ? If we don't want to go anywhere with
an object, and never get anywhere, can we expect
others to go along with us ? Because, remember,
we none of us have much time to spend in this
world. There is such a multitude of music to be
enjoyed that we have only time for the best: and
our complaint (one of many grumbles) is that the
propagandists won't say which they think the best,
and which the poor stuff. And if they won't say
because they can't, how are we going to trust their
judgment about any of it ? In the event, we trust
our own: and what that judgment is, there is no
need for me to labour. One of your correspondents,
a rather violent one, I thought, last month cursed
the extremists (I am using the common word,
without harsh intent). He seems to have spent
part of his life in trying to get them to ' come out
into the open.' But why should they, if my friend's
reasoning is right ? They are modest violets,
apparently. If so, someone has done them no
service.by naming them for gaudier flowers.
The trouble about extremism, as about most of
the post-war social inventions, is that its advocates
want to have it both ways. They want to be anti-
this and that, and still be loved. They want to
make sounds that the bulk of educated musicians
find ugly, and have them described as beautiful;
or if they do not want that, they are not pleased to
hear another label applied. Again, one way or the
other: either it is ugly, or it is beautiful. There
are degrees, and ugliness can have so potent a
purpose that it may, in its proper setting, signify
greatly; but not ugliness long-continued and
unrelieved.
As to competence: there we have to struggle
with those who don't know whether music is
well-made or not, and don't care. Take the