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MUSIC. 183 MUSICAL FESTIVAL. is thematic invention; the themes lack spon- taneity. The list of English composers is a very long one. The following deserve special men- tion: (Dramatic music) Bishop, Balfe, Barnett, Jlacfarren, Wallace, Benedict, Sullivan, Stan- ford; (Instrumental and choral nuisic) Costa, Beiuictt, Barnby, Stainer, Parry, Cowen, Mac- kenzie. Coleridge-Tavlor. XXXVi. The American School (1880— ).— We have seen that the English sch(j(d of the Restora- tion (XV.) was obliged to rebuild what the Puri- tans had destroyed, ilusic beginning in America with the Puritan psalm-tunes and under Puritan inlluence naturally could not develop. Its growth came only with foreign inllucnces ; and even then considerable time had to elapse before any works by . ierican composers appeared. Even at this present day there is no American school showing distinctive traits; the best works show German influences. The use of American themes (negro or Indian melodies) adds perhaps local color, but is not sufficient to create a school. It is a significant fact that the best works in which na- tional themes are employed were written by a Bohemian, Dvorfik. Among the composers who have produced works of sterling merit are: Gil- christ, Poote. Chadwick, Bird, Horatio Parker, van der Stucken. Klein. MacDowell. For further information the reader is referred to the separate articles on FoLK-ilu.sic ; Mrsic; Opera; Oratorio, and on the various important composers, forms of music, and musical instru- ments. Consult also: J. Hawkins, A General History of Music (London, 1875); Oxford His- tor;i of Music (Oxford, 1901 et seq.) ; W'. S. RocUstro, General History of Mtisic (London, n. d.) ; A. W. Ambros, Geschichte der Musik (Leipzig. 1887-91): W. Langhans, Geschichte der Musilc im 17., IS., 10. Jahrhunderl (Leipzig, 1884-87) ; A. Svoboda, Illiistrierte Musikge- schichte (Stuttgart, 1892) ; E. Naumann, Miisik- geschiclitc (Berlin, 1885), translated also into English by F. Praeger (London, n. d.) ; A. Souliies, Bi.sloirc dc hi mtisiijue (Paris, 1900). MUSICAL ART SOCIETY. See Choral Societies. MUSICAL DICTATION. A branch of musi- cal training of very recent date. The instructor sings or plays short musical selections or phrases which the pupil is required to fix in musical no- tation on paper. The object of musical dictation is not only to train the ear, but chiefly to de- velop the power of quickly grasping and fixing musical ideas. The beginning is made of course with simple melodies progressing in simple in- tervals. Gradually melodies with more difficult intervals are introduced. The next step is to melodies with a simple harmonic basis. A class for musical dictation was established at the Conservatory in Paris in 1871. Some of the German conservatories soon followed (Hamburg, Dresden, Karlsruhe, etc.). An elaborate treatise on the subject was published by A. Lavignac, Coiirs complet dc dictfe musicale (Paris, 1882). Smaller works are: Gotze, Miixikalischc I'fehreih- iihunqen (Breslau. 1882); and Muaicnl Dicta- li'm (London, 1880) by Dr. Ritter (in Novellos series nf Music Primers). MUSICAL DRAMA, or Mu.sikdrama. A term now generally employed to distinguish the later works of Wagner (Tristan mid Isolde. Die Meistersinger, Die yibelungen, Parsifal) from his earlier ones, or operas {liienzi, Der fliegende Hollander, Tannhuuser, Lohengrin) . Of a musico- dramalic work Wagner demands that the literary drama be the first and music the second consid- eration; whereas in the opera the music was almost the sole consideration. In his introduc- tion to Oi)er iind Drama U'agner declares em- pluitically: "The error in the art-form of the Opera consisted in the fact that a means of ex- pression (music) was made the end; the end of expression (the drama) a means." After Lohengrin Wagner wrote chiefly theoretical works dealing with the method to be followed by the poet and composer in the production of a new form of art, which was to take the place of the opera. Several years elapsed before be began the composition of Die Xibelungen, according to his new artistic convictions. In the nuisical drama the fundamental material from which the music is constructed is the leading motire. (See LEIT-MOTIV.) By this means artistic unity is ob- tained, whereas in the opera the difl'erent ii»m- hers may be artistic wholes, but can never be welded intimately together into the higher unity of the entire drama. Wagner's musical dramas have exerted a powerful and lasting influence upon all dramatic composers. For full informa- tion, the reader is referred to Wagner's Oper nnd Drama, vols, iii.-iv. of his Gesammelte Sehriften iind Dichtungen. (Leipzig, 1887) ; Das Kunstwcrk der Zukiinft. vol. iii. of same ed. : Eine Mittei- lung an meine Frcunde, vol. iv. ; Ziikntiftsmnsik, vol. vii. See also articles JIelos : Opera; Wag- ner. MUSICAL FESTIVAL. The performance of some large choral or orchestral work with a very large chorus or orchestra. The real era of musical festivals begins with the festival perform- ances of the great Handel Commemoration held from 1784 to 17S7 and again in 1791. It is true that previous to this time regular musical festi- vals ;ere held in England : but they were prac- tically unknown on the Continent. In England choral singing had always been more extensively cultivated than in any other European country, and the efficiency of English choirs led Handel to turn his attention in the direction of writing for large choral bodies in his oratorios. Since the first performance of the .Uessio/i in 1749 it has remained a custom in London to perform that work with greatly augumented chorus and orchest ra everj' j'ear at Christmas. These performances on a grand scale in the English capital roused a feeling of national pride in the Germans, who felt that the great master belonged to them by birth. Festival perfcuniances of Handel's ora- torios were first given in Berlin on the London plan and were imitated in other German cities. Soon the works of other composers were per- formed in a similar manner. And as on such occasions there was always a large orchestra, it was but natural that this body of instrumental- ists was utilized in the performance of large orchestral works. Thus at the beginning of the nineteenth centuiy several organizations devoting their energies to the ju-oduction of any great work, whether choral or purely instrumental, sprang into existence in various parts of Ger- many. Among these the oldest and even to-day mast famous are the Grsellsehnft der Miisik- frcunde in Vienna and the yiederrhrinische Mu- sikfcste, which take place yearly in some city of