On Conducting | Page 7

of their
successors, the parvenus without authority--pianoforte pedagogues
patronized by ladies in waiting, etc., etc. Virtuosi soon came to play a
role in the orchestra akin to that of the prima donna on the stage. The
elegant conductors of the day chose to associate and ally themselves
with the virtuosi, and this arrangement might have acted very
satisfactorily if the conductors had really understood the true spirit of
German music.
It is important to point out in this connection that conductors are
indebted to the theatres for their posts, and even for the existence of
their orchestra. The greater part of their professional work consists in
rehearsing and conducting operas. They ought, therefore, to have made
it their business to understand the theatre--the opera--and to make
themselves masters of the proper application of music to dramatic art,
in something like the manner in which an astronomer applies
mathematics to astronomy. Had they understood dramatic singing and
dramatic expression they might have applied such knowledge to the
execution of modern instrumental music.
A long time ago I derived much instruction as to the tempo and the
proper execution of Beethoven's music from the clearly accentuated
and expressive singing of that great artist, Frau Schroder-Devrient. I
have since found it impossible, for example, to permit the touching
cadence of the Oboe in the first movement of the C minor Symphony--
[Figure: music example]
to be played in the customary timid and embarrassed way; indeed,
starting from the insight I had gained into the proper execution of this
cadence, I also found and felt the true significance and expression due
to the sustained fermata of the first violins
[Figure: musical example (a single note, a G atop the treble clef, with a
fermata)] [Footnote: Ante, bar 21.]
in the corresponding place, and from the touching emotional
impressions I got by means of these two seemingly so insignificant
details I gained a new point of view, from which the entire movement
appeared in a clearer and warmer light.

Leaving this for the present, I am content to point out that a conductor
might exercise great influence upon the higher musical culture with
regard to execution, if he properly understood his position in relation to
dramatic art, to which, in fact, he is indebted for his post and his
dignity. But our conductors are accustomed to look upon the opera as
an irksome daily task (for which, on the other hand, the deplorable
condition of that genre of art at German theatres furnishes reason
enough); they consider that the sole source of honour lies in the concert
rooms from which they started and from which they were called; for, as
I have said above, wherever the managers of a theatre happen to covet a
musician of reputation for Capellmeister, they think themselves obliged
to get him from some place other than a theatre.
Now to estimate the value of a quondam conductor of concerts and of
choral societies at a theatre, it is advisable to pay him a visit at home,
i.e., in the concert-room, from which he derives his reputation as a
"solid" German musician. Let us observe him as a conductor of
orchestral concerts. Looking back upon my earliest youth I remember
to have had unpleasant impressions from performances of classical
orchestral music. At the piano or whilst reading a score, certain things
appeared animated and expressive, whereas, at a performance, they
could hardly be recognised, and failed to attract attention. I was puzzled
by the apparent flabbiness of Mozartian Melody (Cantilena) which I
had been taught to regard as so delicately expressive. Later in life I
discovered the reasons for this, and I have discussed them in my report
on a "German music school to be established at Munich," [Footnote:
"Bericht ueber eine in Munchen zu errichtende deutsche Musikschule"
(1865). See Appendix A.] to which I beg to refer readers who may be
interested in the subject. Assuredly, the reasons lie in the want of a
proper Conservatorium of German music--a Conservatory, in the
strictest sense of the word, in which the traditions of the CLASSICAL
MASTERS' OWN style of execution are preserved in practice--which,
of course, would imply that the masters should, once at least, have had
a chance personally to supervise performances of their works in such a
place. Unfortunately German culture has missed all such opportunities;
and if we now wish to become acquainted with the spirit of a classical
composer's music, we must rely on this or that conductor, and upon his
notion of what may, or may not, be the proper tempo and style of

execution.
In the days of my youth, orchestral pieces at the celebrated Leipzig
Gewandhaus Concerts were not conducted at all; they were simply
played through under the leadership of Conzertmeister [Footnote: i.e.,
the leader