Leading Articles in the Reviews. 



461 



A PROUD MUSICAL RECORD. 



The Monthly Musical Record, in its Sep- 

 tember number, states that it was born in 

 January, 1871, and that the August issue was 

 No. 500. It is a proud record for a paper 

 devoted entirely to music, and it is attributed, 

 in part, to the increasing interest taken by lovers 

 of music in matters concerning the art, and to 

 the fact that the magazine has kept pace with 

 the times. For many years after the magazine 

 was founded there was continued opposition to 

 Wagner's music in England, but Professor 

 Prout, the first editor of the Record, and Pro- 

 fessor Niecks, still a contributor, were among 

 the first to recognise the importance of the 

 new art. Schumann, too, met with mucli 

 opposition, but the Record fought on behalf 

 of this prominent champion of the romantic 

 school. Later on the same thing happened 

 with Brahms, and again the Record espoused 

 the cause of a composer whose fame is now 

 assured. From the beginning the Record has 

 also encouraged British composers and British 

 music. Besides the notices of new works, new 

 books, concerts, etc., the magazine publishes 

 technical and historical articles, and an ex- 

 cellent feature is the foreign correspondence, 

 which chronicles the leading musical events of 

 Germany, France, Italy, Russia, and America. 



HARROW SCHOOL-SONGS. 

 Of what use is it that every boy who goes to 

 Harrow learns some fifty songs, written in 

 praise of himself and his surroundings? asks 

 " G. E. \V.," who contributes an article on 

 Harrow -School-Songs to the October number of 

 the Arena. 



AUTHORS AND COMPOSERS. 



If the school-songs do nothing else they at 

 least, replies the writer, inspire a boy with a 

 pride in his school, and in after life keep alive 

 memories " of the great days in the distance 

 enchantcfl. The Harrow songs, he says, arc 

 unrivalled, both in quality and in quantity. Fic- 

 sidcs her National Anthem, " Forty Years On,' 

 H.irrow has fifty-five other songs of high merit 

 and knou n by heart by every boy long before he 

 leaves sihool. The Harrow Song-Buok con- 

 tains the songs of eleven writers and three com- 

 posers. The first and largest part gives the 

 songs with music by John Farmer, composed 

 between 1862 and 1885; the second those by 

 Eaton Faning between 1885 and iqoi ; and the 

 third the compositions of Dr. Percy Buck since 

 1901. The.se composers have been the music 

 instructors at Harrow since 1864. The most 

 prolific of the authors has been Mr. Bowen 

 (" f-;. K. B. "), whose contributions number 



twenty-nine. Other contributors include E. W. 

 Howson, C. J. Maltby, the Rev. James Robert- 

 son, etc. 



" FORTY YEARS O.N." 



The last and most famous of the Harrow 

 songs is " Forty Years On," the combined work 

 of Mr. Bowen and John Farmer. Written in 

 1872, it is now almost a national possession, for 

 it is known in many another school in Britain. 

 The third verse is the Old Boys' verse, and at 

 terminal concerts they sing alone of " the great 

 days in the distance enchanted." The first and 

 the last verses run : — 



Forty years on, when .ifar and asunder. 



Parted are those who are singing to-day, 

 When you look back, and forgetfully wonder 



What you were like in your work and your play ; 

 Then, it may be, there will often come o'er you 



Glimpses of notes, like the catch of a song — 

 Visions of boyhood shall float them before you, 



Kchoes of dreamland shall bear them along. 



Forty years on, growing older and older. 



Shorter in wind, as in memory long, 

 Feeble of foot, and rheumatic of shoulder, 



What -will it help you that once yon were strong? 

 God give us bases to guard or beleaguer, 



Games to play out, whether earnest or fun. 

 Fights for the fearless and goals for the eager. 



Twenty and thirty and forty years on ! 



ABUSE OF THE PROGRAMME. 



The second number of the Music Revic^v 

 (12, Noel Street, Soho), a quarterly edited by 

 .Mr. R. Stuart Welch, opens with an article 

 on " Music and the Progratnme. " 



The writer, Mr. John Henderson, points out 

 the present tendency towards realism in musical 

 expression. The public dein.mds .1 story, and 

 the composer, working for a living, endeavours 

 to please the public. What does the music 

 represent? What is it about? Such questions 

 are constantly asked, and must, it seems, be 

 as often answered before an audience can 

 appreciate fine music. No musician will despise 

 the help obtained from an analytical explana- 

 tion of the structure of a work, but we ought 

 to rid ourselves of the habit of affixing labels 

 to musical compositions. Beethoven's " Moon- 

 light " Sonata and Tschaikowsky's " Pathetic " 

 Symphony arc cited as instances. Programme 

 writers arc exhorted to have a care lest the 

 music of the future be hampered by their 

 endeavours in the present. Those who educate 

 the public are asked to remember that the 

 greatest music is what we call absolute music. 

 They should use their words rather to teach 

 that such music must be its own explanation, 

 and that to attempt tt) find a hidden plot is 

 to attempt to discover the scent of the rose 

 by tearing away the petals. 



