Inglis Collection of printed music > Printed text > Scottish musical magazine

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THE SCOTTISH MUSICAL MAGAZINE.
uses, in fact its every aspect that is capable of
treatment in some way or another, by the great
religious teachers of the nation. Then one has
only to think of the vast organised musical re-
sources of the Church corporate. There is not a
church or meeting-house in the country which
does not possess a choir of one kind or another,
and there are few nowadays which has not some
kind of instrumental music at its command as
well. The value of so vast a congeries of execu-
tive bodies and instruments for illustrative and
educative purposes is utterly inestimable. And
what applies to the Church and its various sub-
sidiary organisations, applies of course, with
equal or greater force, to every educative or
recreative body in the country. Every possible
body or individual interested in Music should be
persuaded or coerced into lending all the aid that
lies within their power to give, for the primary
purpose of a " Music Week " is to bring Music
for that period at least, into the lives of every
living person in the community. There ought to
be concerts, community singing, and individual
Music-making everywhere. Of course every week
should be a " Music Week " ; at the present
time it is not, but, candidly speaking, the very
laudable effort which the Scottish Music Masters'
Association propose to make this month, is the
thin end of the wedge, and our sincerest wish is
that they may ultimately succeed in driving it
home to its utmost possible extent.
NEW LIGHT UPON SCHUMANN.
While one keeps agitating for greater facilities
for musical exposition, for more educational en-
dowments and opportunities on behalf of the Art,
and while efforts of every kind continue to be
made for the purpose of increasing its popularity
and general acceptance, there is scarcely a week
— certainly not a month — in any given year, dur-
ing which at least one important book upon Music
or a Musical subject is not published. Such a
fact, we may say in passing, surely proves most
conclusively that the efforts referred to are not
being made in vain, for publishers as a class are
very astute persons, and the least of all business
people to be actuated in the performance of their
particular functions by any motive other than
a tolerably certain pecuniary return. Again,
while we may assert that each month
sees the birth of at least one work of
musical importance, it is not often that
a book of such super-importance as the latest
work to appear in " Dent's International Library
of Books on Music," edited by Dr. A. Eaglefield-
Hull, that entitled Robert Schumann by the late
Professor Frederick Niecks, edited by his widow,
Mrs Christina Niecks. We have no hesitation in
saying that this is the most significant and im-
portant work upon a musical subject that has
appeared in English for years. The kernel of the
volume originally appeared as a series of articles
in an English musical magazine under the title
of " Supplementary and Corrective to the Bio-
graphy of Robert Schumann," and that title
sufficiently demonstrates the essential importance
of the work. Robert Schumann, as a composer,
easily ranks amongst the world's greatest dozen,
but he takes even higher rank as an original
thinker, innovator, and art critic. If he was not
the actual founder of Romanticism in Music,
Schumann at all events gave it a fresh and
original urge, and pointed its way to the logical
culmination of the romantic spirit in the works
of Liszt and Wagner. His relations with Liszt
were always of the friendliest character, and one
feels glad that he did not live long enough to
know anything of the absurd discord that arose
between his widow, who was carried away much,
we believe, against her personal predelections, by
her friendship for the vain and priggish violinist
Joachim and the equally gross and autocratic
Brahms, and the Liszt and Wagner school. The
importance of Schumann's inspirations, aspira-
tions, tendencies of thought and methods of work,
will thus be apparent to all, and if these facts
are to be of any value to future generations, it
is supremely necessary that their accuracy should
be unimpeachable, and that the facts should be
as full and complete as possible. This constitutes
the supreme value of Professor Niecks' " Supple-
mentary and Corrective " therefore, that he has
gone into the matter in the nick of time, and has
placed many points and aspects upon a plane of
certainty, and has given them authoritative
record. It was the late professor's original in-
tention to write an entirely new Biography of
Schumann, but other work continuously pre-
vented the effectuation of the project until it was
too late. He then inaugurated the series of
articles, but even these he was unable to round
off and finish in the way he had intended to do.
But it had been his wish that, in any event, Mrs
Niecks should have revised the text of the
articles, and she was therefore thoroughly con-
versant with all his intentions in the matter, and
she was thus able to give full effect to his desires
in preparing the volume for the press. She has,
as we have shown, produced a most entrancing
volume in the most capable manner possible.
The book is published, as we have already indi-
cated, by Messrs J. M. Dent & Sons, Ltd., Lon-
don, price 10/6 net, and it is the one book on
music published during the present year at least,
that no musical library can afford to ignore.