Music in Nineteenth-Century Britain, Volume III: Thinking about Music

527 Pages·2022·4.21 MB·English

by  Rosemary Golding

MUSIC IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY
BRITAIN

M USIC IN NINETEENTH-
CENTURY BRITAIN
Edited by Rosemary Golding
Volume III
Thinking about Music
First published 2023
by Routledge
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B ritish Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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I SBN: 978-0-367-43527-1 (set)
e ISBN: 978-1-003-00387-8 (set)
I SBN: 978-0-367-43532-5 (volume III)
e ISBN: 978-1-003-00390-8 (volume III)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003003908
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CONTENTS
Introduction 1
PART 1
Music Criticism 25
1 Anon. [Richard Mackenzie Bacon], ‘Plan of the Work’ and
‘First Lines of Vocal Criticism’ (1818) 27
2 Adelos, ‘Amateur Criticism’ (1824) 38
3 Charles Kensington Salaman, ‘On Musical Criticism’ (1875) 44
4 Edmund Gurney, ‘Musical Criticism’ (1880) 58
5 John Stainer, ‘The Principles of Musical Criticism’ (1881) 73
6 Frederick J. Crowest, ‘Musical Criticism’ (1881) 89
7 C.V. Stanford, ‘Some Aspects of Musical Criticism in
England’ (1894) 101
8 John F. Runciman, ‘Musical Criticism and the Critics’, and
‘The Gentle Art of Musical Criticism’ (1894 and 1895) 107
9 Ernest Newman, ‘Introduction’ in G luck and the Opera:
A Study in Musical History (1895) 134
1 0 Edward Baughan, ‘The Futility of Criticism’ (1897) 143
v
CONTENTS
11 Hermann Klein, Thirty Years of Musical Life in London,
1870–1900 (1903) 149
1 2 Henry Davison, Music during the Victorian Era. From
Mendelssohn to Wagner: Memoirs of J.W. Davison (1912) 156
PART 2
Listening to Music 165
13 W.H. [William Henry], ‘Cursory Remarks on Music, Especially
on the Sources of the Pleasure Which It Communicates’ (1817) 167
14 William Crotch, ‘On the Present State of the Public Taste
of this Nation’ (1831) 179
15 William Gardiner, ‘On the Faculties of the Ear’ (1832) 184
16 Charles H. Purday, ‘Letter to the Editor’ (1836) 190
17 Vernon, ‘The Influence of Music on the Public’ (1852) 193
18 M. [J.B. Macdonnell], ‘Classical Music and British Musical Taste’ 197
19 H.R. Haweis, ‘The Listener’ and ‘Planes of Emotion’ (1871) 206
20 Edmund Gurney, ‘The Two Ways of Hearing Music’ (1880) 211
21 John Stainer, M usic in Its Relation to the Intellect and the
Emotions (1892) 219
22 W.H. Hadow, ‘Faculties of Appreciation’ (1895) 228
23 H. Hayes Newington, ‘Some Mental Aspects of Music’ (1897) 240
PART 3
Music Education 257
24 Anne Gunn, ‘Preface’ in A n Introduction to Music (1803) 259
25 Vetus [Richard Mackenzie Bacon], ‘On the Objects
of Musical Education’ (1818) 264
vi
CONTENTS
26 F.W.H. [F.W. Horncastle], ‘Plan for the Formation
of an English Conservatorio’ (1822) 270
27 Anon., ‘Musical Tuition’ (1824) 275
28 Eleanor Geary, Musical Education; with Practical
Observations on the Art of Piano-Forte Playing (1841) 279
29 Olivia Dussek Buckley, Musical Truths; or, an Analysis of
Music (1843) 285
3 0 Joseph Mainzer, M usic and Education (1848) 294
3 1 John Hullah, Music as an Element of Education (1854) 302
32 Duke of Edinburgh, Duke of Albany and Prince Christian,
Music in England, and The Proposed Royal College of Music:
Three Addresses (1882) 316
33 John Evans and W.G. McNaught, ‘Order and Manner of
Teaching’ (1888) 332
3 4 Bettina Walker, M y Musical Experiences (1890) 340
3 5 C.F. Abdy Williams, ‘Development of the Modern Requirements
for Musical Degrees’ (1893) 347
3 6 Anon., ‘Mr. J. Spencer Curwen on the Tonic Sol-Fa
Notation’ (1895) 352
3 7 Charles Hallé, ‘The Royal Manchester College of Music’
(1895) 357
PART 4
Theory and Philosophy 367
38 George Farquhar Graham, ‘Essay’ in A n Account of the
First Edinburgh Musical Festival (1816) 369
39 William Kitchiner, O bservations on Vocal Music (1821) 377
vii
CONTENTS
40 Anon. [Elizabeth Eastlake], ‘Music’ (1848) 383
4 1 H.S. [Herbert Spencer], ‘The Origin and Function of Music’
(1857) 395
4 2 Henry Wylde, ‘Music in Its Art-Mission’ (1867) 412
4 3 Henry C. Lunn, ‘Descriptive Music’ (1868) 422
4 4 Edmund Gurney, ‘On Some Disputed Points in Music’ (1876) 428
4 5 H.R. Haweis, ‘The Rationale of Music’ (1884) 451
4 6 Richard Wallaschek and James McKeen Cattell, ‘On the
Origin of Music’ (1891) 462
4 7 C. Hubert H. Parry, ‘Preliminaries’ In The Art of Music (1893) 476
4 8 Ebenezer Prout, ‘The Relation of Musical Theory to
Practice’ (1895) 486
4 9 Samuel Coleridge Taylor, ‘On Music’ (1905) 496
Index 499
viii
I NTRODUCTION
The intellectual life of music, musicians and the music business in nineteenth-
century Britain has received significant attention in recent years, as scholars turn
from the economic and social history of music to its frameworks and supporting
structures.1 Yet the spheres of music education, appreciation, taste, perception
and audience behaviour were also of particular interest to many writers during the
nineteenth century. As we’ve already seen in Volume 2, music’s potential power to
influence for good or ill also proved part of its fascination for authors.
P art of the crisis over the dearth of English, or British, success in musical com-
position or performance was associated with the perceived poor taste of publics
and audiences: a preference for low-status, popular idioms, foreign ‘stars’ rather
than serious, home-grown talent, and engagement of the emotions rather than
intellectual understanding. From the middle of the century, the threat of the ‘new
German school’ characterised by Wagner along with Liszt and others was set
against the more conservative and academic styles of the British composers and
the legacy of Mendelssohn. Furthermore, the century saw numerous periodicals,
societies and other innovations aimed at securing improvements in musical taste,
ability and understanding among both musical amateurs and the wider population.
As Leanne Langley notes, ‘it was in the nineteenth century that the English began
“journalizing” about everything, including music.’2
A s the chapters in Paul Watt, Sarah Collins and Michael Allis’s T he Oxford
Handbook of Music and Intellectual Culture in the Nineteenth Century attest,
the intellectual branch of musical culture goes well beyond the four themes
selected here. Music, its meaning, social impact and philosophical status were
discussed and considered in texts and practices from poetry, fiction and other
literature, to scientific, political and religious tracts, from museums and experi-
ments to institutions, societies and organisations. Many of these are linked to
other sections of this collection. The perceived moral, religious and medical
powers of music, for example, are examined in Volume 2, while considerations
of music’s national identity, the history of music and the development of the
canon are among the topics in Volume 4. The question of whether music is to be
considered as primarily emotional or intellectual, which formed an important
part of the debates in many documents in Volume 2, returns within documents
DOI: 10.4324/9781003003908-1 1