ABSTRACT
Music is in the melting-pot, we are told nowadays. Was there ever a time when this could not be said ? The great upheavals associated with the names of Monteverdi or Wagner may be perhaps considered to have been exceptional; twenty years ago, say both revolutionaries and reactionaries, there was peace and tranquillity, steady progress and obedience to sound tradition. Yet a reference to Dr. W. H. Hadow’s “ Studies in Modern Music ” (second series, 1895) will show us that in those days it was necessary to make an elaborate apologia for the audacities and originalities of Dvorak, a composer who appears now to be remembered only by an occasional amateur performance of his chamber-music. If we are conscious of a state of flux at this moment, the cause is to be sought elsewhere. The real change that has taken place in the last twenty years is the enormous development of musical intelligence in this country. The general public is more interested in music ; it is even beginning to be interested in its young English composers. This interest has to some extent raised the standard of their work. Twenty years ago the young English composer was an obedient and industrious lad who thought it the highest of compliments when his teacher in a moment of cordiality said that his work quite suggested Parry or Stanford ; and far away in the distant heavens shone the star Brahms, whom all were told to worship, though none could ever hope to imitate him. The young composer of to-day seems much more determined to be himself and himself only : if he is told that his works have a flavour of Vaughan Williams or Delins he feels quite rightly that that is not what he is aiming at, however deeply he may admire either musician. His teachers are consequently beginning to find out that the old methods of teaching composition will not last much longer, and the problem of finding new methods is an extremely difficult one.
