"Tristan und
Isolde" and "Parsifal" are constructed upon a chromatic scale. The old
one has had to lose its privilege, to resign itself to becoming simply
one of a constantly growing many. If this step is not a colossal one, it
is still of immense importance. The musical worthies who ran about
wringing their hands after the first performance of each of Wagner's
works, and lamented laws monstrously broken, and traditions shattered,
were, for once, right. They gauged correctly from which direction the
wind was blowing. They probably heard, faintly piping in the distance,
the pentatonic scales of Moussorgsky and Debussy, the scales of
Scriabine and Strawinsky and Ornstein, the barbarous, exotic and African
scales of the future, the one hundred and thirteen scales of which
Busoni speaks. And to-day there are no longer musical rules, forbidden
harmonies, dissonances. Siegfried has broken them along with Wotan's
spear. East and West are near to merging once again. No doubt, had there
been no Wagner, the change would have arrived nevertheless. However, it
would have arrived more slowly. For what he did accomplish was the rapid
emptying of the old wine that still remained in the wineskin, the
preparation of the receptacle for the new vintage. He forced the new to
put in immediate appearance.
Pages:
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26