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Mahler's Sketches for a Tenth SymphonyAuthor(s): M. du Pré CooperSource: The Musical Times, Vol. 73, No. 1078 (Dec. 1, 1932), pp. 1083-1085Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/919429Accessed: 28/07/2010 14:59

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THE MUSICAL TIMES-DECEMBER 1 1932HE MUSICAL TIMES-DECEMBER 1 1932

of chorales, especially the ' Passion ' Chorale; theSanctus and Hosanna from the B minor Mass;the more dramatic choruses from the ' St. Matthew'and 'St. John' Passions, especially the 'Crucify'settings, and from the latter the chorus known as

'Come, follow';the slow movement of the

E major Concerto for violin; the C major andD minor original hymns; some of the choralepreludes, especially that one known as ' LiebsterJesu, wi sind hier,' of which a famous singer oncesaid to me, ' I would choose that tune to die to ';the ' Nun Danket' Cantata (No. 192); the Largofrom the F minor Clavier Concerto. What amagnificent array of music, and yet how poor forthis especial master Play them yourself, anddiscover the romantic composer, Bach.

Explain these by numbers: explain these bytwo and 2, underlined a hundred times. Whenyou've reduced them to mathematical formulas,then explain why we all go back to them, why theydo (or do not) fall into place in musical history;and finally, go through all the Church Cantatasand explain them according to trigonometry,finishing up with odd things like the F majorToccata and the Chromatic Fantasia, the ' Peasant'Cantata, and the 'Christmas' Oratorio, not tomention the slow movement of the BrandenburgConcerto No. 5, for clavier, flute, and violin.Explain the B minor Mass by the astronomy ofJeans. If you could, I should understand cosinefor the first time.

It is far easier to say that the ' Art of Fugue ' isan academic exercise than to realise it as a greatwork of art. But the difficult job is to reduceBach to numbers when

youconsider all he has

written and all that has been written after him.With the whole wealth of subsequent music at mydisposal, I still find myself going back to certainfundamental and indomitable thoughts (bothaesthetic and technical) which Bach gave us. Thepublic likes this music for its own sake-for itsmusic, and not its mathematics. If Bach becameas unpopular to-morrow as he was before Mendels-sohn and Barnby, Parry and Whittaker andTerry, among others, showed his music to us, Ishould still find the Gesellschaft volumes a sourceof perennial joy.

For the public the choral works and the Branden-burg Concertos are the closest ties between them andBach. I do not think that the idiom (or fact) offugues will ever blind the public to the beauties of theB minor Mass or the two Passions. I doubt if thesixth Brandenburg-the one for violas-will soundless fine in the public's ear for Mr. Turner's railings.

The trumpet will not lessen its acoustic splendourin the fourth Brandenburg; the Pastoral Sym-phony in the 'Christmas'Oratorio will not appearless tender or less appropriate to the Nativity;Bach's musical grip on the Christian religion and hisexpression of it will not weaken, either musicallyor religiously, because someone thinks that thepresent vogue for Bach 'makes people feelintelligent.' I doubt if people ever really con-

sciouslyfeel

intelligent-Iknow that the last

thingBach does is to make me feel intelligent. I amappalled at my ignorance as it stands naked beforehis colossal technique, but I am always entrancedby his 'musical offering '-in his own phrase.When I cease to see music in Bach I may perhapssee mathematics in his fugues. Until then I amcontent to accept the music.

of chorales, especially the ' Passion ' Chorale; theSanctus and Hosanna from the B minor Mass;the more dramatic choruses from the ' St. Matthew'and 'St. John' Passions, especially the 'Crucify'settings, and from the latter the chorus known as

'Come, follow';the slow movement of the

E major Concerto for violin; the C major andD minor original hymns; some of the choralepreludes, especially that one known as ' LiebsterJesu, wi sind hier,' of which a famous singer oncesaid to me, ' I would choose that tune to die to ';the ' Nun Danket' Cantata (No. 192); the Largofrom the F minor Clavier Concerto. What amagnificent array of music, and yet how poor forthis especial master Play them yourself, anddiscover the romantic composer, Bach.

Explain these by numbers: explain these bytwo and 2, underlined a hundred times. Whenyou've reduced them to mathematical formulas,then explain why we all go back to them, why theydo (or do not) fall into place in musical history;and finally, go through all the Church Cantatasand explain them according to trigonometry,finishing up with odd things like the F majorToccata and the Chromatic Fantasia, the ' Peasant'Cantata, and the 'Christmas' Oratorio, not tomention the slow movement of the BrandenburgConcerto No. 5, for clavier, flute, and violin.Explain the B minor Mass by the astronomy ofJeans. If you could, I should understand cosinefor the first time.

It is far easier to say that the ' Art of Fugue ' isan academic exercise than to realise it as a greatwork of art. But the difficult job is to reduceBach to numbers when

youconsider all he has

written and all that has been written after him.With the whole wealth of subsequent music at mydisposal, I still find myself going back to certainfundamental and indomitable thoughts (bothaesthetic and technical) which Bach gave us. Thepublic likes this music for its own sake-for itsmusic, and not its mathematics. If Bach becameas unpopular to-morrow as he was before Mendels-sohn and Barnby, Parry and Whittaker andTerry, among others, showed his music to us, Ishould still find the Gesellschaft volumes a sourceof perennial joy.

For the public the choral works and the Branden-burg Concertos are the closest ties between them andBach. I do not think that the idiom (or fact) offugues will ever blind the public to the beauties of theB minor Mass or the two Passions. I doubt if thesixth Brandenburg-the one for violas-will soundless fine in the public's ear for Mr. Turner's railings.

The trumpet will not lessen its acoustic splendourin the fourth Brandenburg; the Pastoral Sym-phony in the 'Christmas'Oratorio will not appearless tender or less appropriate to the Nativity;Bach's musical grip on the Christian religion and hisexpression of it will not weaken, either musicallyor religiously, because someone thinks that thepresent vogue for Bach 'makes people feelintelligent.' I doubt if people ever really con-

sciouslyfeel

intelligent-Iknow that the last

thingBach does is to make me feel intelligent. I amappalled at my ignorance as it stands naked beforehis colossal technique, but I am always entrancedby his 'musical offering '-in his own phrase.When I cease to see music in Bach I may perhapssee mathematics in his fugues. Until then I amcontent to accept the music.

Alas for the poor word 'romantic '-one is tiedto a series of miscellaneous meanings which includeColeridge and Strauss, Shelley and Joseph Marx,Wagner and Dowson Bach was no such romantic-his emotions were felt inwardly but only ex-

pressed outwardly througha severer form than we

use to-day. Yet in face of all, I say that Bach wasa great romantic composer, and one whose worksare more difficult to prove dull than interesting.

Not that I take Mr. Turner's article entirelyseriously, any more than he seems to himself. Heis turning the wheel of argument in an effort toprove that Bach turned the wheel of music. ButI am grateful to him for giving me the chance ofasserting the positive. Such chances are rare.The newspapers frequently tell one how great aman was when (and because) he is dead; howseldom they do so when (and because) he is aliveSo I finally assert that Bach was first of all anattractive and a human composer, one especiallydeserving of contemporary praise, not only for thefundamental music he gave us but also for hisbareness and austerity, his essential instinct fordesign, his movement, his colour, his harmony,his lack of trivial ornament. If you give me aformula of figures to disprove that, I shall ask youto study his works first and then see what groundsfor argument are left to you.

MAHLER'S SKETCHES FOR A TENTHSYMPHONY

The most interesting concerts of the Viennesewinter season seem likely to escape public noticealmost

entirely.There are the usual series of

Philharmonic concerts, several choral concerts,and a fair number of the unfortunate 'Inter-national Celebrities.' At these concerts the pro-grammes generally consist of Beethoven, RichardStrauss, Bruckner, occasionally Mozart, Haydn,Tchaikovsky, Mahler, or Liszt, and-rarest of all-Bach. Vienna is emphatically a town devotedto 19th-century music: the 20th century raises asmile at best, often a hiss.

In opposition to this, during the next few monthsa concert is to be given every Tuesday, in thesmallest concert-hall at Vienna, at which Scherchen(who is here giving, amongst other things, a con-ductors' course) will produce two or three works notincluded in the Viennese repertory, and of greatinterest to musicians. The orchestra is collectedlargely from among young musicians with noregular employment; and the concerts aremusicians' concerts-that is to say, there is anopen effort to make the works performedintelligible and not merely pleasing. At the firstconcert, for instance, only one work was per-formed-the Adagio from Mahler's tenth Sym-phony, left in sketches at his death. But it wasplayed twice, with a ten minutes' interval betweenthe two performances, so that the audience wentaway with a really clear idea of the work.

These sketches for a tenth Symphony were made

byMahler

duringthe last

yearof his

life,when he

knew that he had only a few months to live; theywere published, in only a facsimile edition, twelveyears after his death-that is, in 1923. Hiswidow, in a short Preface to the edition, says:' The underlying feeling of the tenth Symphony isconsciousness of approaching death, a conscious-ness which brought agony with it, but also aroused

Alas for the poor word 'romantic '-one is tiedto a series of miscellaneous meanings which includeColeridge and Strauss, Shelley and Joseph Marx,Wagner and Dowson Bach was no such romantic-his emotions were felt inwardly but only ex-

pressed outwardly througha severer form than we

use to-day. Yet in face of all, I say that Bach wasa great romantic composer, and one whose worksare more difficult to prove dull than interesting.

Not that I take Mr. Turner's article entirelyseriously, any more than he seems to himself. Heis turning the wheel of argument in an effort toprove that Bach turned the wheel of music. ButI am grateful to him for giving me the chance ofasserting the positive. Such chances are rare.The newspapers frequently tell one how great aman was when (and because) he is dead; howseldom they do so when (and because) he is aliveSo I finally assert that Bach was first of all anattractive and a human composer, one especiallydeserving of contemporary praise, not only for thefundamental music he gave us but also for hisbareness and austerity, his essential instinct fordesign, his movement, his colour, his harmony,his lack of trivial ornament. If you give me aformula of figures to disprove that, I shall ask youto study his works first and then see what groundsfor argument are left to you.

MAHLER'S SKETCHES FOR A TENTHSYMPHONY

The most interesting concerts of the Viennesewinter season seem likely to escape public noticealmost

entirely.There are the usual series of

Philharmonic concerts, several choral concerts,and a fair number of the unfortunate 'Inter-national Celebrities.' At these concerts the pro-grammes generally consist of Beethoven, RichardStrauss, Bruckner, occasionally Mozart, Haydn,Tchaikovsky, Mahler, or Liszt, and-rarest of all-Bach. Vienna is emphatically a town devotedto 19th-century music: the 20th century raises asmile at best, often a hiss.

In opposition to this, during the next few monthsa concert is to be given every Tuesday, in thesmallest concert-hall at Vienna, at which Scherchen(who is here giving, amongst other things, a con-ductors' course) will produce two or three works notincluded in the Viennese repertory, and of greatinterest to musicians. The orchestra is collectedlargely from among young musicians with noregular employment; and the concerts aremusicians' concerts-that is to say, there is anopen effort to make the works performedintelligible and not merely pleasing. At the firstconcert, for instance, only one work was per-formed-the Adagio from Mahler's tenth Sym-phony, left in sketches at his death. But it wasplayed twice, with a ten minutes' interval betweenthe two performances, so that the audience wentaway with a really clear idea of the work.

These sketches for a tenth Symphony were made

byMahler

duringthe last

yearof his

life,when he

knew that he had only a few months to live; theywere published, in only a facsimile edition, twelveyears after his death-that is, in 1923. Hiswidow, in a short Preface to the edition, says:' The underlying feeling of the tenth Symphony isconsciousness of approaching death, a conscious-ness which brought agony with it, but also aroused

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THE MUSICAL TIMES-DECEMBER 1 1932

defiance.'* The score is covered with despairing cries: 'My God, my God, why hast Thou forsakenme ? ' 'Annihilate me, so that I forget my existence, that I may cease to be, that I . ... ,' and(untranslatable) 'Wahnsinn, fass mich an, verfluchten ' Sketches exist for all four movements,including a Scherzo with the sub-title ' Purgatorio.'

The Adagio given by Scherchen is a long movement, entirely dominated by two themes, whichare varied and

developedwith a

magnificent displayof musical

imagination.The movement

opens with a long pianissimo solo for the viola:

C#Yual,i. rrI#. . J ?r IIT. coii

w#h / j j j I r C I It r . ri FO"m

which leads straight to the main theme:

Trombs. , fBasses J -'Tj

^^tl ^-j j F ? ?

( ### WXf xJ -^ a<

w.I,,*Pi -Wr ,

_: etc..1s

This is repeated almost at once in the form of an inversion:Ex.3

(~1:w~S~F~ E

(?T"' r LvLL-I-J I r etc.

T- " l I

which displays some of the potentialities of the original. A series of sequences leads at once tothe second theme of the movement, in the minor:

rEx.4gr vF e 0 # "<

m:~ .. r, r e~ 1"F

#.

#s metc.

and after this has been stated we have before uspractically the whole thematic material of themovement. There is another, shorter, solo for theviola, and both the main themes follow as before,but more highly ornamented, as in a variation-form. A 'cello solo introduces the next variations,which are almost exclusively concerned with thesecond (F sharp minor) theme: a pp passage forthe strings introduces a slowly-rising climax which

is followed by a gradual descent again, with whichthe movement ends.It is interesting to compare this movement with

the 'last period' works of Beethoven, leavingaside judgments of merit and merely comparing

the two styles and the deeper differences theybetoken. If we take the last movement ofBeethoven's Op. 111 C minor Pianoforte Sonata,as typical of his last manner, we should findinteresting features in common between it and theMahler Adagio and even more interesting differ-ences. The most noticeable feature of both worksis that they are both in variation form*: eachis, in part, a creative meditation on some given

idea. In Beethoven's case the original themedevelops, very quickly, innumerable cognate butdefinitely new ideas: he makes, as it were, hisfirst thought produce more and more until, fromthe one original seed, he has peopled a whole

* 'Das Grundgefiihl der Zehnter Sinfonie ist Todesgewissheit, * In neither work is this stated explicitly, Beethoven calling his

Todesleid, Todeshohn.' movement merely 'Arietta.'

WftV# # gX ^ \:

1084

C)

I

I, 1 .. o ,I A A

.. j a ho.

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THE MUSICAL TIMES-DECEMBER 1 1932HE MUSICAL TIMES-DECEMBER 1 1932

world. Mahler, on the other hand, preserves hisoriginal idea more closely and views it from everypossible angle. The second, F sharp minor, themeis but the obtuse side of the first in the major.The whole relationship is kept very close, so thatalthough the work is on a

largescale and in a

grandiose manner-fundamentally unimportantfacts conditioned by the generation in whichMahler grew up-the world it creates is anintimate, intensely subjective world, whereasBeethoven's creative power could only expressitself in a complete universe of its own. Thewords of a French critic* writing of the first move-ment of the Op. 131, C sharp minor, String Quartetare applicable to the Arietta of Op. 111 as well:'C'est l'elevation de l'ame pleine de noblessed'un homme douloureusement eprouve, hors dela nuit de la plus irremediable melancolie, versl'humeur virile, la force joyeuse, l'action, lecombat, la victoire remportee sur les demons

ennemis, sur le destin-vers l'intime reconcilia-tion.' Both the Beethoven and the Mahler are,in fact, the expression of a great man's attitudetowards a death he knows to be imminent. Thelast words of the de Marliave quotation describeexactly the atmosphere of the Mahler Adagio-'vers l'intime reconciliation.' There may bedefiance in the rest of the symphony: but in theAdagio there is only agonised and passionateacceptance. Beethoven's refusal to accept deathas anything but a stimulus to the creation ofgreater worlds, in which death plays no part, ismagnificent, with a quite superhuman magnifi-cence. Mahler shows the ordinary human being's

deepestand most

dignified meetingof

death,expressed in a passionate language which, howeverwithdrawn from the everyday intercourse of men,is entirely human.

The programme of the next concert of theseries is Sch6nberg's ' Verklarte Nacht,' Stravin-sky's Wind Octet, and Mozart's Romance andVariations. M. DU PRE COOPER.

Just over a hundred years have elapsed since thefirm of Rushworth & Dreaper was established atLiverpool, and its destinies have since been controlledby direct descendants of the founders. During thepast month Mr. James Rushworth, son of the presentchairman, Mr. William Rushworth, has joined thefirm, thus representing the fourth generation. Thehouse of Rushworth & Dreaper, which employs a staffof over three hundred, is the centre of a great deal ofLiverpool's musical life, many organizations of diversetypes making it their headquarters. Mention shouldbe made, too, of the Rushworth & Dreaper PermanentCollection of Antique Musical Instruments-a museumwhose fame extends far beyond this country.

The annual General Meeting of the Society of WomenMusicians was held on November 12, and was wellattended. The following elections were made:president, Madame Elsie Home; vice-president andchairman, Miss Katherine Eggar; hon. secretary,Madame Cappiani; hon. treasurer, Miss Eleanor Shaw;council (new members), Lady McEwen, Teresa delRiego, Imogen Holst, Olive Byrne, Dorothy Jones.The meeting was followed by an interesting addressfrom the retiring president, Mrs. Cecil Harcourt(Evelyn Suart), who also gave a short and brilliantpianoforte recital.

*Joseph de Marliave, 'Les Quatuors de Beethoven,' p. 318.

world. Mahler, on the other hand, preserves hisoriginal idea more closely and views it from everypossible angle. The second, F sharp minor, themeis but the obtuse side of the first in the major.The whole relationship is kept very close, so thatalthough the work is on a

largescale and in a

grandiose manner-fundamentally unimportantfacts conditioned by the generation in whichMahler grew up-the world it creates is anintimate, intensely subjective world, whereasBeethoven's creative power could only expressitself in a complete universe of its own. Thewords of a French critic* writing of the first move-ment of the Op. 131, C sharp minor, String Quartetare applicable to the Arietta of Op. 111 as well:'C'est l'elevation de l'ame pleine de noblessed'un homme douloureusement eprouve, hors dela nuit de la plus irremediable melancolie, versl'humeur virile, la force joyeuse, l'action, lecombat, la victoire remportee sur les demons

ennemis, sur le destin-vers l'intime reconcilia-tion.' Both the Beethoven and the Mahler are,in fact, the expression of a great man's attitudetowards a death he knows to be imminent. Thelast words of the de Marliave quotation describeexactly the atmosphere of the Mahler Adagio-'vers l'intime reconciliation.' There may bedefiance in the rest of the symphony: but in theAdagio there is only agonised and passionateacceptance. Beethoven's refusal to accept deathas anything but a stimulus to the creation ofgreater worlds, in which death plays no part, ismagnificent, with a quite superhuman magnifi-cence. Mahler shows the ordinary human being's

deepestand most

dignified meetingof

death,expressed in a passionate language which, howeverwithdrawn from the everyday intercourse of men,is entirely human.

The programme of the next concert of theseries is Sch6nberg's ' Verklarte Nacht,' Stravin-sky's Wind Octet, and Mozart's Romance andVariations. M. DU PRE COOPER.

Just over a hundred years have elapsed since thefirm of Rushworth & Dreaper was established atLiverpool, and its destinies have since been controlledby direct descendants of the founders. During thepast month Mr. James Rushworth, son of the presentchairman, Mr. William Rushworth, has joined thefirm, thus representing the fourth generation. Thehouse of Rushworth & Dreaper, which employs a staffof over three hundred, is the centre of a great deal ofLiverpool's musical life, many organizations of diversetypes making it their headquarters. Mention shouldbe made, too, of the Rushworth & Dreaper PermanentCollection of Antique Musical Instruments-a museumwhose fame extends far beyond this country.

The annual General Meeting of the Society of WomenMusicians was held on November 12, and was wellattended. The following elections were made:president, Madame Elsie Home; vice-president andchairman, Miss Katherine Eggar; hon. secretary,Madame Cappiani; hon. treasurer, Miss Eleanor Shaw;council (new members), Lady McEwen, Teresa delRiego, Imogen Holst, Olive Byrne, Dorothy Jones.The meeting was followed by an interesting addressfrom the retiring president, Mrs. Cecil Harcourt(Evelyn Suart), who also gave a short and brilliantpianoforte recital.

*Joseph de Marliave, 'Les Quatuors de Beethoven,' p. 318.

nDuoic n the Joreign PresA JUBILEE NUMBER

The October Musik is a special number markingthe start of this periodical's twenty-fifth year of

publication (it first appeared in October, 1901, butwas discontinued from 1915 to 1922). Excerptsfrom early numbers are given. Among them isthe following story told by Moriz Rosenthal:

'In 1885 or thereabouts, I attended a recep-tion of the Vienna Tonkiinstlerverein. Liszt,Brahms, and Rubinstein were there. A famousand beautiful Russian lady pianist was theretoo, and it occurred to her to obtain from eachof them a lock of hair by way of memento.Brandishing a pair of scissors she went up toRubinstein and proferred her request. He (whohad already shown, with his opera " Nero," howfundamentally meek his nature was) resignedlydelivered

his head unto her hands. Then sheturned to Liszt, who, adroitly dodging thescissors by bowing very low, replied: Samsonand Delilah But have no fear, Madam: I shallnot shake the pillars of your connubial bliss."Nonplussed but still hopeful, the lady turned toBrahms. He warded off the attack with hishand, which encountered the scissors, and wascut. After a moment of painful silence Gutmann,the publisher, saved the situation by brisklyseizing a glass of water, collecting in it a fewdrops of Brahms's blood, and pathetically ex-claiming: " Whosoever drinks of this willunderstand Hanslick's sayings "'

ON PLAYING THE HARPSICHORD

In the same issue, Macario Kastner writes:'The programmes of too many harpsichord

recitals are made up of compositions belongingto the " precieux " class. Few include Bach'sChromatic Fantasy or Goldberg Variations, orother big works, whose playing requires not onlytechnique and a sense of style, but also physicalenergy and a well-developed constructive capa-city. Contrary to a widespread belief, varietyof tone can be achieved on the harpsichord byappropriate changes of touch. The proper wayto play is to hover over the keys. The finger-tips attack, the shoulders provide the power,the whole of the arms must remain

loose andsupple. Registration should be partly a matterof historical knowledge, and partly determinedby a sense of artistic fitness. Bach, had heplayed pieces by Byrd, would certainly not haveused 8-ft. stops throughout, but treated eachvariation on its own merits.'

TWO CASES OF 'SUBJECTIVE' HEARINGIn the Revue Musicale Belge (October 5), Ernest

Closson describes two cases, the second of which isparticularly interesting in conjunction with AlbertWellek's remarks on certain peculiarities of themusical ear (see Musical Times, October, 1932,pp. 904, 905):

(a.)'Mr. X., whenever his brain is

congested,distinctly " hears " a musical note-always thesame-the F sharp a minor third below the A ofthe tuning-fork. It is likely that there is in hisear a fibre exactly attuned to the correspondingfrequency (731'5 vibrations per second) whichorganic conditions stimulate exactly as an actualsound would.

nDuoic n the Joreign PresA JUBILEE NUMBER

The October Musik is a special number markingthe start of this periodical's twenty-fifth year of

publication (it first appeared in October, 1901, butwas discontinued from 1915 to 1922). Excerptsfrom early numbers are given. Among them isthe following story told by Moriz Rosenthal:

'In 1885 or thereabouts, I attended a recep-tion of the Vienna Tonkiinstlerverein. Liszt,Brahms, and Rubinstein were there. A famousand beautiful Russian lady pianist was theretoo, and it occurred to her to obtain from eachof them a lock of hair by way of memento.Brandishing a pair of scissors she went up toRubinstein and proferred her request. He (whohad already shown, with his opera " Nero," howfundamentally meek his nature was) resignedlydelivered

his head unto her hands. Then sheturned to Liszt, who, adroitly dodging thescissors by bowing very low, replied: Samsonand Delilah But have no fear, Madam: I shallnot shake the pillars of your connubial bliss."Nonplussed but still hopeful, the lady turned toBrahms. He warded off the attack with hishand, which encountered the scissors, and wascut. After a moment of painful silence Gutmann,the publisher, saved the situation by brisklyseizing a glass of water, collecting in it a fewdrops of Brahms's blood, and pathetically ex-claiming: " Whosoever drinks of this willunderstand Hanslick's sayings "'

ON PLAYING THE HARPSICHORD

In the same issue, Macario Kastner writes:'The programmes of too many harpsichord

recitals are made up of compositions belongingto the " precieux " class. Few include Bach'sChromatic Fantasy or Goldberg Variations, orother big works, whose playing requires not onlytechnique and a sense of style, but also physicalenergy and a well-developed constructive capa-city. Contrary to a widespread belief, varietyof tone can be achieved on the harpsichord byappropriate changes of touch. The proper wayto play is to hover over the keys. The finger-tips attack, the shoulders provide the power,the whole of the arms must remain

loose andsupple. Registration should be partly a matterof historical knowledge, and partly determinedby a sense of artistic fitness. Bach, had heplayed pieces by Byrd, would certainly not haveused 8-ft. stops throughout, but treated eachvariation on its own merits.'

TWO CASES OF 'SUBJECTIVE' HEARINGIn the Revue Musicale Belge (October 5), Ernest

Closson describes two cases, the second of which isparticularly interesting in conjunction with AlbertWellek's remarks on certain peculiarities of themusical ear (see Musical Times, October, 1932,pp. 904, 905):

(a.)'Mr. X., whenever his brain is

congested,distinctly " hears " a musical note-always thesame-the F sharp a minor third below the A ofthe tuning-fork. It is likely that there is in hisear a fibre exactly attuned to the correspondingfrequency (731'5 vibrations per second) whichorganic conditions stimulate exactly as an actualsound would.

1085085