THE GREAT GERMAN COMPOSERS
By George T. Ferris
NOTE.
The sketches of composers contained in this volume may seem arbitrary inthe space allotted to them. The special attention given to certain nameshas been prompted as much by their association with great art-epochs asby the consideration of their absolute rank as composers.
The introduction of Chopin, born a Pole, and for a large part of hislife a resident of France, among the German composers, may requirean explanatory word. Chopin's whole early training was in the Germanschool, and he may be looked on as one of the founders of the latestschool of pianoforte composition, whose highest development is incontemporary Germany. He represents German music by his affinitiesand his influences in art, and bears too close a relation to importantchanges in musical form to be omitted from this series.
The authorities to which the author is most indebted for material are:Schoelcher's "Life of Handel;" Liszt's "Life of Chopin;" ElisePolko's "Reminiscences;" Lampadius's "Life of Mendelssohn;" Chorley's"Reminiscences;" Urbino's "Musical Composers;" Franz Heuffner's "Wagnerand the Music of the Future;" Haweis's "Music and Morals;" and articlesin the leading Cyclopædias.
Contents
THE GREAT GERMAN COMPOSERS.
BACH.
I.
The growth and development of German music are eminently noteworthyfacts in the history of the fine arts. In little more than a centuryand a half it reached its present high and brilliant place, its progressbeing so consecutive and regular that the composers who illustratedits well-defined epochs might fairly have linked hands in one connectedseries.
To Johann Sebastian Bach must be accorded the title of "father of modernmusic." All succeeding composers have bowed with reverence before hisname, and acknowledged in