Richard Strauss's Die Frau ohne Sthatten. His Alpen-sinfonie, which, designed before the war, appeared in 1915, was a great disappointment, amiably commonplace in " programme " and sentiment, and hardly more than automatic in its characteristic " road-hog " technique. As to Die Frau ohne Schatten, Strauss's style is no longer a new sensation and it cannot be easily proved to be less automatic here than in the Alpen-sinfonie. The intention of the work as a whole must be ascribed to the poet Hofmannsthal; and so we still seem to leave room for the argument that Strauss, like other adroit opera-writers, has little more to do than to avoid hampering the poetry and action. But it is at least equally possible to assert roundly that Strauss is here at the height of his power and inspiration; that his mastery of composition and texture has never been seriously in dispute, whatever exception may have been taken to the extremes and licences of his style; and that, if the poet's intention is noble, the composer has made its realization vivid as no one else could imagine. The intention of the work is such as can be carped at only at the peril of the critic's Tightness of thought. One of the real difficulties in the understanding of Wagner's art was, and still is, that whereas his mature music shows his strength, the ethics of his poetry often shows his weakness. For one person who appreciates the tragic nobility which drove Tristan and Isolde to drink what they took for a death potion, there are a dozen who get and mean to get from the whole music-drama nothing better than a view of life as the irresponsible intoxication of a Liebestrank. This is not fair to Wagner, yet it is largely his fault. But if the world will only allow itself to be emotionally stirred to the same extent by Strauss's Die Frau ohne Schatten, then a great musical work will have played a historic part in restoring the health of the nations. From the twilight of 19th- century and recent erotic art, and from its always selfish and sometimes abnormal sexual preoccupations, Die Frau ohne Schatten breaks away, and its plea for love is nature's plea for life. Musically it is, more copiously than any of Strauss's former works, an occasion for beauty; as a dramatic spectacle it is a gorgeous fantastic pantomime, of which the allegorical meaning leaves it hardly less childlike than Die Zauberflote, which it in some points intentionally resembles. It is altogether a noble and heroic work, unassailable by any cavil that does not condemn itself as ignoble.
In the early summer of 1921 a new kind of double keyboard for pianofortes, invented by the eminent Hungarian composer Emanuel Moor, and manufactured by Messrs. Schmitt-Flohr of Berne, was demonstrated in Berne to large audiences. There is no reasonable doubt that it must soon render the ordinary pianoforte as obsolete as the harpsichord, and that it is by far the most important invention in musical instruments since the pianoforte itself. The principle is simple and might just as well have been discovered when the pianoforte was first invented: in which case Mozart's pianoforte-technique would have begun considerably beyond the point where Beethoven 'snow leaves off. Two manuals are placed, the one so slightly raised above the other that a perfect legato in rapid passages is obtainable between them by one hand. The second manual is an octave higher than the first. Thus the normal stretch of one hand is two octaves instead of one; and with the cultivation of a new set of move- ments of the hand, backwards and forwards as well as laterally, the possibilities of pianoforte-writing already seem limited only by pure musical aesthetics. But this is not all; the two manuals can be coupled together by a pedal, so that the instrument possesses much of the property of the organ and also of the harpsichord, in the power of doubling a whole mass of harmony or any part thereof in " four-foot tone." The restoration of harpsichord effects is completed by a lever which operates a kind of sordine, producing a surprisingly good representation of harpsichord tone.
The invention is conservative as well as revolutionary. The pianoforte does grave injustice to many aspects of harpsichord music, but this " Duplex Coupler " system leaves purists at liberty to play classical pianoforte music without even altering a fingering; they have but to refrain from using the back keyboard and the couplers. There is a vast new technique awaiting long study and exploration; but the merest rudiments of it produce astonishing results in a short time, for the pianist who gave the first public demonstration did so within six days of setting eyes on the instrument. It cannot fail to have an enormous effect on the future study of music. Doubtless, it will develop its own vices as well as resources, but it begins by depriving pianists of occasion for four-fifths of their worst habits, and sets a premium upon a Bach-like and Mozart-like cultivation of polyphonic cantabile. Many composers use the pianoforte in the act of composition far more than they are willing to admit. They know it to be a bad habit because it tends to cramp their invention in two directions: it confines phrasing to the obvious sequences that muscular memory best grasps, and it confines part-writing to the compass and convenience of the hands. The second limitation is now removed, and those composers who suffer from " pianistic " habits will speedily show greater freedom in their writing for other instruments and for orchestra. Thus there is no region of music which will remain uninfluenced by Emanuel Moor's Duplex-Coupler pianoforte, and this instrument will be a very important source of interest and inspiration in the music of the future.
MUSTAPHA KEMAL (1870-1922), Turkish pasha, was bom of humble parents at Salonika. By his great energy and the political connexions that he formed as a leader of the Young Turks he rose to military eminence in the Turkish service. In spite of slight physique and a dissolute life, his reckless courage and ambition brought him into prominence in the war against the Italians in Tripoli; he was made aide-de-camp to Wahid-ed-din, afterwards the Sultan Mohammed VI. In Aug. 1915, as com- mandant of the Turkish detachments in Anaforta Bay (Gallipoli peninsula), he gave proof of his ability, and enjoyed the especial confidence of the German commander-in-chief, Gen. Liman von Sanders. In 1917 he commanded the III. Caucasian Army. In the winter of that year, after coming into violent conflict with Gen. von Falkenhayn, he resigned. When, however, a little later, Falkenhayn was recalled from Palestine after his complete failure there, Mustapha Kemal held a high command under Liman Pasha, and after the conquest of Palestine Mustapha Kemal took over from Liman Pasha in Adana the remnants of the Turkish forces. Out of these and a number of volunteers he organized the Nationalist army. He put himself at the head of the Nationalist Government, and won through in his strenuous campaign against the legal Government in Constantinople. He afterwards ruled with almost absolute power in Angora, and thence conducted the counter-offensive of the Turkish Nationalists against the Greeks when the latter, in 1921, made their ineffectual forward movement in Asia Minor, which was brought to a standstill in the autumn. On Jan. 14 1922 it was reported that he had been assassinated.
MUTSU HITO (1852-1912), MIKADO, or EMPEROR, OF JAPAN (see 19.100), was represented in 1911 at the coronation of King George V. by H. I. H. Prince Higashi Fushimi, both Adml. Togo and Gen. Nogi being on the imperial staff. A year later the Emperor was stricken down by illness, and succumbed to it on July 30 1912. The simplicity of the Emperor's personal life, and the concern he had always displayed for the welfare of his subjects, had endeared him to his people. The obsequies took place on Sept. 13 and 14, with Shinto rites, at Moyayama, near Kioto, and, in addition to the presence of special ambassadors from the foreign Powers, a guard of honour from the British navy testified to the alliance between the two island empires of East and West. A profoundly touching impression was created throughout the whole world by the suicide of Gen. Count Nogi and of the Countess Nogi, at the moment that the body of the Emperor was leaving the palace.
