THOUGHTS ABOUT MUSIC

Evening Star, Issue 23701, 8 October 1940, Page 3

THOUGHTS ABOUT MUSIC

[By L.D.A.] Music gives toue to the universe; wings to the mind; (light to tho imagination; a charm to sadness; gaiety and life to everything.—Plato. During tho past week I have read yet another book by Dame Ethel Smytb, Britain’s one and only woman composer. As a result the main conclusion reached is that 1 firmly believe this lady to be the finest literary stylist of her sex since George Eliot. 1 know very little about Dame Ethel’s music, so will say nothing until better informed. But of her genius for the written word there can be no question whatever. Again I deeply lament the fact that her books have only recently come under my notice. To say 1 have been enthralled by them is a very mild statement. If Dame Ethel had chosen literature as a career instead of music 1 verily think we might have found in her a female Thackeray. In the book just read there are heaps of subjects 1 mightcomment upon, but 1 have selected the most appropriate to the moment for today’s text; it’s title is ‘ Germany After the War ’ —meaning, of course, the war of 1914-18.

Let mo say at once that notwithstanding Dame Ethel Smyth’s versatility and immense powers, the gift of prophecy has not been vouchsafed to her ; accurate prediction does not come within the scope of her vast ability. This will be made manifest when I quote her ideas of Germany’s future, written in 1928 only 12 years ago, be it noted, when there was absolutely no sign (at least on the surface) of the Germany that, a decade later, was ready to ravage the world. I wish I had space to cite all Dame Ethel’s remarks. Unfortunately, the -severest condensation is necessary, so just the gist of her article can bo given. She says; ‘ In the last days of July, 1922, I returned to Germany, not having set foot there since 1914. In Munich 1 proposed to hear fine music, and in Salzburg to play a modest part in an international chamber music festival. Both in Austria and Germany I had many old friends, so there seemed to be some chance of learning the real truth concerning general conditions in those countries, and I thought it possible that a record of my impressions might interest others.”

What follows shows unmistakably that at that period Dame'Ethel had a sneaking sympathy for Germany’s sufferings during tho last war and that she shared the opinion held by Dean Inge and not a few other misinformed persons regarding Germany’s war guilt. No doubt Dame IJthel has had her eyes well opened by the happenings of 1939-40. But her record goes to show how cunningly the Germans were able to conceal their true mentality even from one who had lived long in their country and who knew their language like a native.

If I say,” writes Dame Ethel, “ that with the pound sterling at over 4,000 marks instead of 20, one feels miserable, guilty, and helplessly ashamed, shall J. be told this is morbid, that Germany has brought her fate upon herself, and so on? One remembers that Lusitania and other similar incidents . . . but I also remembered that in war time facts and lies are inextricably mixed. S recalled what had been said by Dean Inge—viz.: ‘ While the war lasted wo blamed Germany, but the German people honestly believed England, France and Russia to be the criminals. Now to most of us it seems that we were all stark mad together ’

. . . We must leave to Time tho task of disentangling tho truth.” Well, Dame Ethel probably recognises now that Time has done a good job.

“ One German friend told me an interesting bit of gossip—that the old Emperor of Austria tried hard to negotiate a separate peace with Britain and France, hut the Gormans held him in too tight a grip. ‘ You moan tho German Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm?’ I asked. ‘No, no/ lie said, ‘the Kaiser was dead against the wav from tho beginning, but at last, overborne by the military clique, he washed his hands of the matter, registered a final protest, and departed for his 1914 summer cruise in the North Sea.’ My informant added Jus conviction that if England had been firmer and more explicit regarding her alliance with France there would have been no war in 1914, because German statesmen had always relied upon British neutrality remaining as constant as in 1870-71.” There may he some truth in this surmise, but we are all, nevertheless, convinced that sooner or later Germany would have found some pretext for a quarrel with Britain.

Dame Ethel Ims something to say regarding the state of music in Gex - - many in 1922. “ The cruellest result of the war is the apparently inevitable destruction of a musical civilisation it has taken Germany centuries to build up, and of which all other nations were beneficiaries. . . . No German opera can affox-d now to pay first-class artists, nor maintain the tradition of perfection, including limitless rehearsal, which bygone giants—Bniow, Richter, Mottl, etc.—established. And as a musician I feel that scarcely any tragedy of the war exceeds this. Yet, even'as I write, I do not quite despair of the future. Better tiines must dawn, sooner or later, for to the Germans no trouble, no expense can be excessive where music is concerned. This is certain, just as certain as that England will never spend a penny on music. . . . One curious aftermath of tluy war J. noticed—a decided waning of Wagner’s hold over German audiences. In my own mind 1 have no doubt that presently Wagner will be found to be a product of that abandonment of selfrestraint, that ruthless disregard of the limits of possible achievement, that self-assertion and megalomania, in short, which led through Pan-German-ism to the temporary ruin of Europe.” If I had not already set down Dame Ethel as a poor prophet, the foregoing might have demonstrated very remarkable powers of prediction when we are told that Hitler is u Wagner fanatic. “ Ruthless disregard of the limits of possible achievement ” is distinctly good. » * * * We now come to the extract which completely spoils Dame Ethel’s chances of renown as a foreteller of future ■events. It requires little comment from me:— “ When I first went to Leipzig, as a girl, to study music, six years had elapsed since the close of Germany’s IS7O war with France. In 1924 f visited the same country six years after Germany’s defeat in a far more terrible war. I found much change since 1922. In less than two years the enormous recuperative power of the Germans had

brought things surprisingly near to normality. The chief conclusion that forced itself upon me was that this people had learned the uses of adversity. (Oh, yeah!) Certain traits that formerly got on one’s nerves, such as the Prussian military mania, seemed to his disappeared.” (Sez.you!) “Personally, I am an absolute believer in tho change of heart. . . . To-day we are all in a chastened mood, and no one cares to pontificate about the future. . . , But I have one firm belief—namely, that whatever Germany may have lost in 1914-18. her future will bo even greater than her past.”

What a rude shock recent events must have given Dame Ethel Smyth!