Why has the world been so slow in recognizing that Chopin stands in the very front rank of creative musicians?Had he, like Richard Wagner, attacked everybody, right and left, who stood in the way of the general recognition of his genius, his cause would have doubtless assumed greater prominence in the eyes of the public." There is hardly a composer concerning whom so many erroneous notions are current as concerning Chopin. One of the most absurd of the misconceptions is that Chopin's genius was born in full armor, and that it did not pass through several stages of development, like that of other composers. Chopin did display remarkable originality at the very beginning, but the apparent maturity of his first published works is due to the fact that he destroyed his earliest efforts and disowned those works which are known as posthumous, and which may have created confusion in some minds by having received a higher "opus" number than his last works. Another misconception regarding Chopin is that his latest works are morbid and unintelligible. The same charge was brought by philistines against the best works of Beethoven, Schumann, and Wagner. The fact is that these last works are of an almost matchless harmonic depth and originality, as superior to his earlier works as Wagner's last music dramas are to his first operas. I make this comparison with Wagner advisedly because, although I have the most exalted notions of Wagner's grandeur and importance, I do not for a moment hesitate to say that in his own sphere Chopin is quite as original and has been almost as revolutionary and epoch-making as Wagner. Schumann was the first to recognize the revolutionary significance of Chopin's style. "Chopin's works," he says, "are cannons buried in flowers;" and in another place he declares that he can see in "Chopin's G minor Nocturne a terrible declaration of war against a whole musical past." I. CHOPIN, THE GREATEST GENIUS OF THE PIANOFORTE, II. HOW COMPOSERS WORK, III. SCHUMANN, AS MIRRORED IN HIS LETTERS, IV. MUSIC AND MORALS, V. ITALIAN AND GERMAN VOCAL STYLES, VI. GERMAN OPERA IN NEW YORK
Henry Theophilus Finck (1854-1926) was an American writer and music critic who was a leading promoter in the United States of Richard Wagner and his musical theories. Born in Bethel, Missouri, and raised in Portland, Oregon, he was taught piano and violoncello, and instructed himself in Latin and Greek so thoroughly that he was able to enter Harvard as a sophomore in 1872 where he studied philosophy, the classics, and music, graduating in 1876. In that year he attended the Bayreuth Festival, writing accounts for newspapers and magazines. Having been awarded the Harris fellowship from Harvard, he spent three years from 1878-81 in the study of physiological psychology in Berlin, Heidelberg and Vienna. Upon his return to the US in 1881 he became musical editor of the New York Evening Post and was on the editorial staff of the associated journal The Nation, remaining connected with both for 40 years. While at The Post he also served as the epicurean editor and reviewed all the new garden books. This work, subtitled A Gastronomic Guide to Health and Good Living, was first published in 1913 with illustrations by Charles S. Chapman together with photographs. Siting the French as the nation with the best understanding of the vital importance to health and happiness of raising only the best foodstuffs, cooking them in savory ways and eating them with intelligence and pleasure, Finck asserts that America has the material for the making of an even more gastronomic nation than the French, and that Americans, especially if caught young, can be taught to eat in a leisurely way and to refuse to accept anything that lacks appetizing flavor. In preparation for writing the book he made a gastronomic tour of Europe, gathering first hand information in the market places, gardens and restaurants of France, Italy, Germany and England. Finck also stresses the importance of understanding that cookery is both a science and an art.
Finck (1854-1926) was an American writer and music critic who was a leading promotor in the United States of Richard Wagner and his musical theories. Born in Bethel, Missouri, and raised in Portland, Oregon, he was taught piano and violoncello and instructed himself in Latin and Greek so thoroughly that he was able to enter Harvard as a sophomore in 1872 where he studied philosophy, the classics and music, graduating in 1876. In that year he attended the Bayreuth Festival, writing accounts for newspapers and magazines. Having been awarded the Harris fellowship from Harvard, he spent three years from 1878-81 in the study pf physiological psychology in Berlin, Heidelberg and Vienna. Upon his return to the US in 1881 he became musical editor of the New York Evening Post and was on the editorial staff of the associated journal The Nation, remaining connected with both for 40 years. While at The Post he also served as the epicurean editor and reviewed all the new garden books. This work, subtitled 'Their Development, Causal Relations, Historic and National Peculiarities', was first published in 1887 and is reprinted from an edition of 1903.
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