identical with the 'rotta,' so frequently depicted in There were apparently six strings; these were fixed to Continental manuscripts, and the 'rote,' used in the bottom of the frame and, passing over a long England during the Middle Ages. A good illustration is to be seen on the North Cross at Castledermot (co. Kildare) of the 8th century. The size of the instrument was about eighteen inches long by thirteen inches in width: it had five strings (Fig. 1). We shall probably be told that this small lyre-shaped crot was an ecclesiastical instrument, and that it is for this reason it appears in the manuscripts and on the crosses; that side by side with it was the harp, the instrument of the warrior and the banquet hall. But there is nothing in the old records to support such a FIG. 2. theory; in fact, such a distinction in usage was impossible in the days when kings were priests and priests were soldiers. Again, however, we are met with the objection that in incidents referred to the 7th and 8th centuries we read of a small crot and a large crot, and of their playing together. It is doubtful of course, how far such allusions made by writers of a much later time reflect the actual practices of bygone centuries; but, at a slightly later date, we are not without illustrations of these two kinds of crot, for the sculptured crosses of the 9th and 10th centuries give reliable examples. For our present purpose we will take the famous carving on the 9th century cross at Ullard (co. Kilkenny)-famous because Edward Bunting, having received a rough sketch of the instrument, displayed it in his 'Ancient Music of Ireland' (1840) as the first specimen of a Harp without a fore-pillar' hitherto discovered out of Egypt, and therefore suggestive of a close affinity between the Irish people and the land of the Pharaohs. Later writers have taken the assertion and illustration as truth, and, though it is due to Miss Panum to say that in her interesting article on the 'Harp and Lyre in Northern Europe' (I. M.S. Quarterly Magazine, October, 1905) she has hesitated to accept the statement, she has after all but given us, in an incorrect engraving, an idea of what the instrument is. I realised that only a personal inspection, with rubbings and photographs, could clear up so important a matter, and accordingly the June of 1909 found me at Ullard, and the doubtful points were soon settled. The instrument depicted represents a large quadrangular crot (Fig. 2)-the original having been probably about three feet in height by about one foot eight inches in its widest part-with the usual forepillar or support, though the stone is in part decayed. bridge resting on a sound-box which only partially covered the back of the instrument, were attached to pegs or pins placed in the upper curve or headpiece. The illustration is taken from a photograph of a careful rubbing on linen. Similar crots are represented on old crosses at Duiske Abbey, three miles from Ullard, at Castledermot (S. Cross), Kells (S. Cross), and Clonmacnoise (W. Cross), and in Scotland on the Great Cross (St. Martin's Cross) at Iona. Instruments of like character, but slightly different in outline, are illustrated on the Crosses of Monasterboice and Durrow, and also in an Irish manuscript (Brit. Mus. Vit. F. XI.) of the 9th century. But none of these instruments are harps, they are all of the lyre type: and if I were asked from whence they were derived, I should be inclined to attribute their appearance in Ireland to the close contact which existed between that country and the East in the 8th and 9th centuries, Greek priests finding refuge there and Irish laymen and ecclesiastics exploring the historic soil of Asia Minor, Egypt and the Holy Land. For these forms of lyre approach more closely the shape and structure of the upright psaltery, which was a common instrument in the countries bordering on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. So far, then (ie., up to the year 1000 A.D.), we have no proof at present of the use of the triangular or true harp by the Irish people the Keltic lyre and its affinities were the national instruments. The harp, though probably known, was not recognised, for the simple reason that it was not Keltic. The appearance of the harp in Britain coincides with the coming of the Angle, Saxon, and Northman to our shores; though whether these sea-rovers, who were and it is needless to repeat the constant allusions in the yet later literature of our country to show the popularity of the instrument. It was to be found everywhere, in the camp, and at the feast; the harper was welcomed by all and allowed a liberty of action that was often turned to strategic purposes. It is of greater interest to our present inquiry to observe that at the same time as the Kelt was carving on his crosses the lyre-shaped crot, large or small, the Englishman, as a true son of Scandinavia, Christian though he was, was adorning similar works of piety with representations of his beloved harp. It is to the eastern side of Scotland that we go for illustration, for there was found the stone on which the sculptor could work. These East-coast crosses, as at Aldbar (8th to 9th century), Nigg (9th to 10th century), Dupplin and Monifieth (10th to 11th century) show us only the triangular instrument, and it is known that at each of these places the English or Angles formed early settlements. On the other hand, it is not until the 13th or 14th centuries that on the West coast of Scotland we find the true harp depicted in a similar way-as at Iona, in St. Oran's Chapel, and on a column of the cathedral; also at Keills, in Argyll. The Nigg harp is illustrated in Fig. 3. I have already said that the harp was probably not unknown in Ireland before the year 1000 A.D., though it was not recognised by the Irish minstrels. As early as the 6th century the communication between England and Ireland was close; the educational facilities found in the Irish monasteries, and the advanced state of learning which they had reached, gave opportunities of culture to an ambitious Englishman of which he readily availed himself. Το FIG. 5. With the onward march of time, however, the instrument was forced into a prominence which was bound to command attention. Appearing first as marauders and pirates, Northman, Scandinavian and Dane-to whom the instrument had been for centuries a treasured possession-at last fixed their settlements on Irish soil and, in the 9th century at Dublin, Waterford and Limerick, established kingdoms which defied the attempts of Irish warriors to annihilate. Recognising their fate, foes, when not actually fighting, agreed to live together as friends, and frequent were the marriages between Danish chieftains and Irish princesses. The banqueting hall reverberated with the strains of the harp, and the Northman's minstrel rapidly became the rival of the Keltic crot-player. In this and in other ways the English harp' (as Gerbert terms it) was popularised among the Irish, and all the more readily because, during the 10th century, the influence of the clergy and monastic schools, with their affection for the past was diminishing, whilst the national poets and singers, with their attendant musicians, were receiving greater honours as they recounted the more turbulent phases of human life, and gloried in the deeds of battle and of pillage which were all too frequent. Yet it needed but the sounds are rapid and precipitate yet at the same time sweet and pleasing. It is wonderful how in such headlong rapidity of the fingers the musical proportions are preserved, and by their art kept faultless throughout.' only the strong hand of one of the greatest of Irish chieftains, generally known as Brian Boru, a thorough musician if we may trust tradition, to weld into one the more discordant elements which existed among his own people as well as among the settlers; and when, So the clarsech became the national emblem of in the year 1002, he assumed the kingship of Ireland, Ireland, and found a place in the 13th century on her a ten-years' peace ensued, the longest known for coinage and insignia. The twenty-nine strings, centuries, in which art and industry alike could flourish. plucked with the pointed nail, were gradually increased It was at this time, I consider, that the harp, owing to thirty-eight or even more, and the sweep of the to the brilliancy of its tone, which the Irish name graceful harmonic curve was extended until, in the Clarsech suggests, definitely displaced the less resonant 17th and early 18th centuries, the clarsech stood lyre-shaped crot for all heroic and festive purposes. pre-eminent among diatonic harps for beauty of design The earliest illustration we have of the instrument in as well as richness of tone. The Bunworth harp Ireland occurs on the west front of Ardmore Cathedral, | (Fig. 5), which was made by John Kelly in the co. Waterford, which was built in the 12th century, year 1734 for the Rev. Charles Bunworth and is now though possibly the series of sculptures, in which the the property of the present writer, shows that even harp is portrayed, may be a century earlier (see though the original which suggested the clarsech 'Journal Soc. Ant. Ireland,' vol. 33). was English, the elaboration of the instrument was undoubtedly Irish and the result an instrument unique in the history of Musical Art. The fact that it first occurs amongst a Danish Christian community, closely connected with England and the English Church, is suggestive. Of the beautiful and characteristic example on the famous Shrine of St. Mogue or Moedoc, in the Dublin National Museum, I hesitate to say much; the workmanship of the shrine has been attributed to the 9th century, owing to the long hair of the female figures represented on one of the ancient metal plates attached to its side; but the ornamental work still affixed to one end of the shrine, and in which the harp appears, seems on close inspection to be of later date, certainly not earlier than the 11th century, though the figure of the harpist has been made to correspond more or less with those on the metal plates. The reliquary of St. Patrick's tooth, on which another fine example of the instrument appears, was made in 1376; and one of the latest illustrations of the instrument in sculpture is to be seen on an altar tomb of the 15th century at Jerpoint Abbey, co. Kilkenny. As already stated, the clarsech, or Irish harp, appears in Western Scotland on stonework of the 13th and 14th centuries, having been introduced by Irish settlers, whilst Dante (c. 1300) informs us that the Irish harp had been introduced into Italy in his day, with which country Ireland had long been in ecclesiastical contact. PHILIPP SPITTA. BY JEFFREY PULVER. 'Homer is not more decidedly the first of heroic poets, Shakespeare is not more decidedly the first of dramatists, Demosthenes is not more decidedly the first of orators, than Boswell is the first of biographers,' wrote Macaulay; and what Boswell was to Johnson and English literature, that and something more was Philipp Spitta to Bach and music. Something more, because Spitta's work is not only pure biography, and a mirror for the reflection of the age in which his subjects lived; it is always work of the greatest importance to musical history, and of the highest value to musical historians. A slight sketch of so eminent a man and his work will therefore surely not come amiss now, just seventy years after his birth; a man who, had he but lived a life of average length, could have easily still been with us. Johann August Philipp Spitta, the son of a famous and popular poet, was born on December 27, 1841, at Wechold, near Hoya (Hanover), and after passing through the course of education usual in Germany, completed his studies in philology at the University of Göttingen. With a love for pedagogy stronger than that for any other profession, Spitta commenced his activity as teacher at the Ritter- und Dom-Schule' in Reval, at the comparatively early age of twenty-three. This post he held from 1864 till 1866, when he migrated to Sondershausen. The Gymnasium of this town enjoyed the benefit of his instruction until 1874 ; a year at the Nikolai Gymnasium in Leipsic followed. If, however, we deny to the Irish minstrels the honour of the invention of the harp, with which some patriots would credit them, we must nevertheless acknowledge the skill which they brought to its practice, and the peculiar improvements which they made in its construction. The English, or Northern harp, was strung with twisted horsehair or with sinews, but the Irish musician had been accustomed on his crot to use metal strings of drawn wire, either of 'findruinne,' a sort of brass, or of silver. With metal strings he therefore strung his clarsech and obtained a It is at this point that we discover the first link brilliancy and resonance unknown on the gut-stringed which was afterwards to connect the names of Bach harp; to resist the tension of the wire strings he and Spitta so firmly. The formation of the famous strengthened the framework of the instrument and Bach-Verein was going forward, and Spitta, entering increased the depth and size of the soundboard. The the movement with enthusiasm, was one of the prime oldest Irish clarsech extant (Fig. 4)-now in Trinity promoters of the scheme. His fame, principally on College, Dublin, though it is not so ancient as the days account of the publication of the first volume of the of Brian Boru, to whom it has been ascribed-shows Bach biography, was now beginning to spread us, however, the great difference between the Irish throughout Germany; and academic Berlin was at last instrument of the early 13th century and the small impressed. A call to that city was responded to with light-framed harps depicted in English manuscripts of alacrity by Spitta, now in his thirty-fourth year, the same date. Little is it to be wondered at that the and in 1875 he commenced his duties as professor of performances of the Irish minstrels on such instruments musical history at the University of Berlin, to which excited the admiration and wonder of all who heard was added the position of permanent secretary to the them; their skill is beyond comparison superior to Royal Academy of Arts. Soon after, a third post, that of any nation I have seen,' writes Giraldus that of professor at the Hoch-Schule für Musik, was Cambrensis at the end of the 12th century; 'the offered him and accepted; and in 1876 he joined the modulation is not slow and solemn as in the council of directors of that institution; in 1882 he was instruments of Britain to which we are accustomed, | elected active director for life. The life story of Philipp Spitta is thus easily told, for it amounts to nothing more than a list of dates, and an indication of what advancement his learning brought him as these succeeded each other. Of the enormous amount of work he was able and obliged to perform in connection with his three posts, none of them a sinecure by any means, only passing mention can be made; but some idea of it may be obtained by considering his works, an account of which follows. An earnest and painstaking worker, Spitta preferred the company of men of learning, and cared little for circulating in the society to which his high positions entitled him. It is therefore a little surprising, although by no means undeserved, that the title of honour, Geheimer Regierungsrat (Privy Councillor) should fall to him (1891). No one more than musicians will regret that so useful a life should have been so short a one; Spitta died on April 13, 1894, in Berlin, having scarcely begun his fifty-third year. We have two means of keeping the memory of Philipp Spitta fresh. For the world in general there is the fine statue in Berlin by Prof. Hildebrandt; but for musicians is reserved the enjoyment of a far finer memorial, the works of the departed. First among these, as much on account of its magnitude as of its importance, stands the greatest monument Spitta could possibly have raised for himself, the two volumes which contain all that ceaseless endeavour and tireless energy could collect concerning the greatest giant of music. Leipsic, Forkel's little work 'Ueber Johann Sebastian Bachs Leben, Kunst und Kunstwerke' was valuable on account of its author's intimacy with Bach's eldest son; and although the enthusiastic Forkel occasionally 'took something from the air' and indulged in a little fantasy, Spitta knew how much to use and what to reject. This unpretentious work of the cobbler's son who rose to the eminence of Doctor, honoris causa, enjoyed great popularity, and was translated into English in 1820 (Boosey), and into French in 1876. In 1884-85, Novello & Co. (then Novello, Ewer & Co.) published the three volumes which were of such inestimable value to every English musician. I refer to the translation into English of Spitta's 'Bach' by Clara Bell and J. A. Fuller Maitland. Had Spitta written nothing beyond the Bach biography he would still have deserved the fame that came to him, and have been but one more example of a great man whose reputation rests upon a single work. But this is not the case; he gave the world some of the most illuminating essays, articles and criticisms that were ever penned in the domain of musical literature; and it is to this less-known of his work that I wish to draw attention. Between the years 1875 and 1882 the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, edited by Friedrich Chrysander, was greatly enriched by some of Spitta's best work. In Nos. 1 and 2, for 1875, we find that wonderfullywritten essay on 'Die Anfänge Madrigalischer Dichtkunst in Deutschland' (The origin of madrigalian poetry in Germany), also reprinted in the Musikalisches Wochenblatt. To popularise the Bach'Johann Sebastian Bach,'-published in Leipsic by Verein, in which he was at that time beginning to Breitkopf & Härtel, the first volume in 1873, the take so great an interest, Spitta contributed to No. 20 second seven years later,-is the work by which the (1875) an article on 'Der Bach-Verein zu Leipzig,' world knows Spitta; and rightly so, for I know of no which explained the constitution and the objects of single work of biography that is so ordered, so the Society. Nos. 46 and 47 of the same year consistent, so rich in information and so straight-contained the essay Über das Accompagnement in forward in style as this; nor do I know of any other den Compositionen Sebastian Bach's' (taken from the work of this kind whose abundant store of knowledge Musikalisches Wochenblatt). This seems to have is so easily accessible. As I mentioned at the outset, called forth some criticisms from J. Schäffer, to which Spitta's work is not merely biography in the ordinary Spitta replied in No. 49 of the same journal. The meaning of the word ;-it is much more. In its pages issues for 1876 contained only one specimen of Spitta's we find not only the life-story of the subject and a work; the speech which he, as secretary to the history of his works, but also a wealth of original Academy of Arts, delivered in Berlin on the Emperor's historical criticism; chapters that are invaluable birthday, on the 'Bildende Kunst und Musik in ihrem adjuncts to the history of music; and information on gegenseitigen geschichtlichen Verhältniss' (The the predecessors, contemporaries and successors of instructive Arts and Music compared). This subject the subject, so that the reader receives, not a detached was renewed when Spitta delivered the lecture Poesie account of one man lifted out of his environment, but als Mittlerin zwischen Bildende Kunst und Musik' rather one of a man in his natural surroundings; an (Poetry as connecting link between the Arts and account which demonstrates clearly the various forces Music), on March 22, 1878. From 1880 to 1882, that made their influence felt by him who is treated of, inclusive, the Allgemeine printed several reviews and and the dominion he, in his turn, held over his criticisms of Spitta's, notably those in Nos. 26 and 27, 'Zur Herausgabe der Briefe Mozarts,' a review of Nottebohm's publication, Mozartiana' (1880), and the critical review of Ranieri de Calsabigi's' Paride ed Elena. Nos. 47 and 48 (1881) and No. 16 (1882) brought to the public eye Spitta's essays, entitled Bachiana' (on the various arrangements of and uses made by Bach of strange original compositions); and with this article his connection with the Allgemeine ceased. successors. The 'Life of Bach' by Philipp Spitta is, in fact, a history of the development of music and musical form during the period of the Cantor's life. In the preface to the first volume, dated from Sondershausen, March, 1873, Spitta gives an account of the work and his method of writing it; from this preface we gather that for the account of Bach's life he turned for information first to Forkel, occasionally to Gerber, and chiefly to various autograph letters and other documents of Bach's. Every possible paper that had any connection with Sebastian or his family, every letter, and even genealogies, were consulted, and since Spitta did not accept the information they gave unless he could verify it, we can form some idea of the magnitude of his task. A few words on Forkel's work, which formed the nucleus of Spitta's, may perhaps be acceptable. As Spitta himself says, this was the first advance on anything that had been previously written on Bach. Published in 1802 by Hoffmeister & Kühnel in · In 1885 Spitta founded with Chrysander the Vierteljahrschrift für Musikwissenschaft (Musical Quarterly), the editorship of which was placed in the able hands of Dr. Guido Adler. To this periodical Spitta frequently contributed reviews and criticism, and some few important articles such as 'Sperontes Singende Muse' (1885), which is a mine of information in respect of the history of folk and home music. Another is the valuable historical, bibliographical and critical article on 'Rinaldo di Capua' (1887). Two other articles too important to leave unmentioned are, first, one on the Arie from Bach's 'Johannes '-Passion (1888), and the other on 'Die musica enchiriadis und ihr Zeitalter' (1889), the latter being a splendid monograph on medieval music. From 1889 onward nothing of importance appeared from Spitta's pen, except some few lesser reviews; and his death in 1894 brought the publication to a standstill. Several of these essays, together with some that were new, appeared in book form. The first series, entitled 'Zur Musik,' is a collection of sixteen essays on subjects as far apart as Kunstwissenschaft und Kunst' and 'Beethoveniana.' The preface is dated Berlin, February 27, 1892. A second set appeared in 1894, under the title 'Musik geschichtliche Aufsätze' (Musico-historical essays), and the preface to this work, dated March 9, was probably the last thing Spitta wrote. In it he explains that the volume under consideration was published with the primary object of giving publicity to the first essay it contains-that on Heinrich Schütz, Leben und Werke.' As we will see later on, Spitta was engaged upon the editing of a complete critical edition of Schütz's works, and the reason for this desired publicity is easy to understand. The essay was afterwards reprinted in the Allgemeine deutsche Biographien. I must now mention two of Spitta's articles which will be of special interest to English readers. They are the masterly biographies of Schumann and Spontini, which were written for 'Grove.' That on Spontini, running to thirty-three columns, is one of the finest lives of this very interesting individual we have, especially when we consider the condensed form in which it had to appear. The one on Schumann is longer, and occupies seventy-six columns of 'Grove.' This latter biography was also given in Nos. 37 and 38 of the 'Sammlung Musikalischer Vorträge' (Collection of musical addresses), published in 1879 by Breitkopf & Härtel, and edited by Paul Count Waldersee ; but, according to 'Grove's' article on Spitta, it was originally expressly written for that Dictionary. The collection just mentioned also contains a splendid summary' of the 'Life of Bach,' by Spitta. I said 'summary'; it is that only when we compare it with the greater work-considered alone it is most comprehensive. The series up to date consists of seventeen volumes. Nos. i. to xiv. are Philipp Spitta's work, vols. xv. and xvi. were edited by his brother Friedrich, and vol. xvii., appearing in 1909, by A. Schering. The musical works of Friedrich the Great, King of Prussia, next occupied him, and in 1889 Breitkopf & Härtel published the two beautifully-executed volumes which contain the royal musician's flute sonatas, concerti, &c. Of this work the British Museum possesses a copy of the edition de luxe, presented by the German Emperor. There remains only the History of the Romantic Opera in Germany,' which Spitta left unfinished; it is a thousand pities that death should have robbed the musical world of so interesting a work, especially so since it was almost completed. It will now be seen that Spitta's claims to recognition rest on a much firmer foundation than that provided by the great Bach biography, however superlatively excellent that alone may be, and it is much to be regretted that his other writings are not so well-known in this country as the one with which he attained to his greatest fame. THE TEACHING OF MUSICAL COMPOSITION.* No middle-aged man can look back on the last thirty years of English music without being struck by the immense progress of the nation in the quantity and quality of its composers and their works. Even the hardiest laudator temporis acti would find it difficult to maintain that in mid-Victorian times our national output was either substantial or convincing; and though we do not pretend, as do some false prophets, that in these few decades the grub has developed into the perfect butterfly, yet we can reasonably claim that serious English composers have now reached so high a level of technique, and reached it in such numbers, that nothing seems lacking in their work save those great ideas which are the gifts of the gods alone. Difficult as it always is to gauge the tendencies of the time we ourselves are living in, yet few will be found to refuse the title of Renaissance to the period of which Another most interesting essay touching Bach is the we are speaking. After a long winter of discontent one Spitta wrote for the 'Historische und the arrival of spring is heralded on all sides; and Philologische Aufsätze,' dedicated to Ernst Curtius, on though the full harvest is not yet here, the early the occasion of his seventieth birthday. It is called garnerings are irrefutable proof of the germination that Über die Beziehungen Sebastian Bachs zu Christian has been taking place. The causes of this germination Friedrich Hunold und Mariane von Ziegler' (Bach's are, like the causes of all artistic movements, subtle and connections with C. F. Hunold and M. von Ziegler); various; but, in so far as they are outward and visible, these two worthies being writers contemporary with it is generally and justly admitted that they spring the great Cantor. A sketch on Bach's 'Passion-Musik' largely from the work and influence of two men-Mr. (1893), two speeches on Händel und Bach' (1885), Corder at the Royal Academy and Sir Charles Stanford and contributions to the Grenzbote, the Deutsche at the Royal College. Mr. Corder gave us some years Rundschau, the Allgemeine deutsche Biographien and ago the fruits of his experience in one of the most Eitner's Monatshefte für Musikgeschichte, complete, as practical books ever written; and now Sir Charles, faras I amable to trace, the list of Spitta's literary works. leaving alone the purely practical aspect, provides a There remains to be considered only Spitta as a complementary work of subjective wisdom. From musical editor. In this connection he served on the what we have said it will be realised that we are not committee directing the publication of the series niggardly in our gratitude to these two great sowers 'Denkmäler deutscher Tonkunst' (1892) (Monuments of seed, and we will further add, in regard to Sir of German composition), on which he was associated Charles's book, that we can imagine nothing on the with such men as Helmholtz, Chrysander, Brahms, same lines more suggestive or complete; but in view and Joseph Joachim. Far more ambitious and of the fact that many thoughtful watchers of the important was his publication, in two folio volumes, of rising generation, sanguine and even confident of the Buxtehude's organ works (1875-76). To each of these ultimate issue, are yet gravely concerned at the volumes he wrote an invaluable preface, teeming with immediate outlook, it will be pardoned if we abandon historical, critical, and analytical notes of the greatest the conventional manner of reviewing the book before importance, followed by a Kritischer Commentar.' us in favour of a broader consideration of its method In 1885 he commenced the editing of the complete and significance. works of Heinrich Schütz (mentioned above), The two schools of composition-teaching to which published by Breitkopf& Härtel. Here again he provided we refer may justly be judged, as to process, by the a critical and historical preface, besides an interesting treatise explaining the ancient musical notation. 'Musical composition. By C. Villiers Stanford. (The Musician's Library: Macmillan.) |