Wakefield High School - Oracle Yearbook (Wakefield, MA)

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ways been considered one of the most musi- cal in all Europe. Foremost of all Bohemian composers was Anton Dvorak, famous for his New WorM ■ Symphony. ' Some of the most delightful music of re- cent days has come from Scandinavia, Nor- way, Sweden and Denmark. The northern folksongs are of a peculiar and exquisite charm, and they have tinged all the work of the Scandinavian composers more or less, part ' icularly since the European Romantic movement threw the attention of the art world I)ack to the charaeteristic national suljjccts and racial feeling. By Scandinavian music we find that we com- monly mean Norwegian, for in music, both popular and artistic, Norway far excels Den- mark and SAveden. Of this Norwegian group, Edward Grieg was the most ijnportant figure. Musical culture among the English-speaking luitions, for a long time imijerfcctly developed, has begun to attain in the last few years a new vigor. The masses of the people are now learn- ing to appreciate what is best in musical art, and this learning is being strengthened by private teaching, schools, societies, and an ex- pajiding concert system. Musiq is vapidly becoming a part of popular life. Arthur Sulli.van was one of the first of the modern English musicians to gain distinction. . Following closely after Sullivan was Edward Elgar, reckoned by some as the greatest of modern English musicians, Samuel Coleridge- Taylor, born in 1875, was another to rank high among English musicians. Of the English composers now living, three esi)ecially deserve mention, Percy Grainger, Cyril Scott, and Ralph Vaughn Williams. The outstanding reason that I chose this subject was the vast importance of being familiar witli the musical tendenc ' iCs and charact eristics of not only our own country liut those of the others also. DOKIS FROST, ' 24. LIGHTS ABOVE The sun went down, And o ' er the hills The moon stole up, A sphere of gold, Lighting the dark woild ])elow. The stars put on their twi.nkling coats, To help the moon in hi ' fe good wprk. Making the black sky A niass of merry, shining, little lights. WINIFRED GEIZER, ' 26. Many times the question has been asked, When is a person educated? Walter Pater, a famous English writer, once gave this definition: Our education becomes complete in proportion as our susceptibility to impressions of the world iii which we live, received through the senses, increases in depth and variety. This definition nmy seem very complex to many of us, but perhaps if an example is given, i|t will become clearer. At Christmas time, through the effort of the Art Department, little drawings, appropriate for the season,, were made in some of the rooms. One of our teachers, upon entering the class room the next morning, was much moved by the beauty of this little sketch. All that day lines kept forming in her mind, and the next day she placed a little poem on the board. Within two days four original Christmas carols, three of these with original music, were passed to her. If the minds of these pupils had not been trained in some degree, neitlier the sketch nor the poem would have made any impression on them, nor would they have desired to put into their own words the emotions which they felt. It is this spontaneous exjjression of impres- sions tiiat wo receive from the world about us that reveals the degree of our education. BERTHA VIK. MAY May, beautiful May, month of love and hope, welcome ! We welcome you l)ecause you fre« life from fiuitful germs; because you prepare and se- cure the vintages and harvests; because you pour joy into man ' 8 heart. For you the sky clears; for you the earth covers itself with fragrant flowers and with fruits exceedingly sweet. Oh May! The heart of man is like a pre- cious cup which should not be enii)ty. Pour, lovely May, into it a yearning for al new joy, a. ncAV hope. Genial May! Warm these soft germs whi.ch we with careful hand and kindled mind, con- fide to the earth and moisten them with spring showers. Oh lovely month of May, warm, renew, fer- tilize! CORRADO ZAMMITTI.

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MODERN MUSIC The school of Modurii JMusic in geiifr:il is a direct outgrowtli of the Roiiiaiitie school. It may be said tliat as Richard Wagner ' s works mark Ihc highest achievemeufr of the Romantic school, and are the fonndation of modern opera, so tlic woi ' ks of Franz Lis ,t staiul in the same relation to instrumental music. With the exception of Brahms, the greatest modern Gei man master, and his followers, ' ill mo(U ' rn composers of instrumental and oper- at ' c music, have founded their work on the two basic principles of the Romantic school — programme music and nationality. We know that programme music is music written to depict a series of scenes, events, or incidents. But what do we mean by na- tionality Ever since the writing of music 1 ecame a consciously developed art, there have been certain tiai ' .s, certain eiiaracteristics in the music of any one nation oi any one race, wliicli distinguish it from the music of any other. Thus the Italians early became identified with sweetness of melody; the Germans witli massive chords and rich har monies; and the French with distinctive rhythms. The Romanticists and musicians of the modern school have not only respected these national peculiarities, but have sought to define and emphasize them. By study- ing the folk tunes of their own people, some of the best modern composers have been able to catch a genuine national spirit, and incor- porate it into their own works. In doing so, they have given music, as a whole, a new in- terest and a new vitality. The music produced on French soil has always had a decidedly national flavor; its vitality has never been exhausted ; and in no country at the present day is musical energy more active, ambitious, and individual. At the same time there is always to be found in France, a marked tendency toward the pro- gramme type of music. The French mind is disinclined to think abstractly. It demands words, a subject, a story, a definite hint of some kind to stimulate the fancy and give a pict uresque character to the composition. Those qualiti.es of picturesqueness and nation- ality, combined with a newly-awakened in- terest in purely instrumental music, may be said to dominate the newer school of French musical art, out of which have developed many of the outstanding mastarpiecea in modern instrumental music. The true founder of the modern French school was Csesar Franck (1822-1890) whose entire life was given to the cause of develop- ing French instrumental music. Until his recent death, the senior among great modern French composers was Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921), who wrote a great numlior of works in all forms. The uni(|UO genius of the modern French school, an ultra-modernist so-called, was Claude Debussy (1862-1920), whose rare comljinations of instrumental effects are ab- solutely original in the world of mus c. While France was thus reaching forward to newer and newer possibilities in musical express ' iOn, her neighl)ors, the other Euro- pean countries, were meeting with various degrees of success i art. Italy, once the standard-bearer of musical progress, shows at the beginning of the twentieth century, no such vitality and promise as France. Italian composers have been numerous, but few have made a deej) impression outside of their own country. Two of those who have arc Mali- piers and Riapighi. But i,n the general mind, Italian music is associated with opera. Verdi and Puccini are the composers in that line whose names rank first in Italy. Indeed Puc- cini (1858- ) i§ the foremost Italian com- poser of opera today. His reputation has reached its height in the operas La Boheme (1897), Tosca (1900), and JNIadame Butter- fly (1904). The last-named work has made an especial appeal to the world, by reason of the delicacy and beauty with which the touch- ing history of the deceived and forsaken Japanese girl is treated by the composer. Among the new national schools, the later Russvin holds an especially conspicuous place. The relation of art to national life is no- where more ajiparent than in Russia, for just as the people ' s voice is heard in Russia ' s pow- erful and gloomy literature, so likewise a tone of struggle is perceptible in its music, a con- sciousness of undeveloped strength, an un- certainty as to what direction shall be taken when this strength is at last set free. Russia is searching for the native materials that shall give her music and individuality, grati- fying to the national pride. Among some of the famous Russian com- posers are Anton Rul)iiistein, Peter Tschaikow- sky, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Modeste Mous- se rgsky. In any broad discussion of modern music, Bohemia — once described by Wagner as the land of harp-players and street musicians — deserves a generous share of attention. In- deed that strange, romantic country has al-

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THE MODERN DIOGENES He was just ii plain, simple, law-abiding detective. He smoked a pipe, as all detec- tives do, and all in all he reminded me very miieii of the well-known and much-loved Sher- lock Holmes. I had met him several times and our acquaintanceship was becoming more and more congenial. On this particular morning I discovered him on one of Boston ' s most prominent streets. He wore a long gray ulster and a ponderous cap with far-reaching visor. Tlic inevi|table pipe was protruding from one corner of his mouth. Pie was walking along, bent over in the act of scrutinizing through a magnifying glass, something that evidently lay along the sidewalk. Being much interested, I went up and tapped him on the slioulder. He started as if from a profound reverie. ' ' Ah, it is you, is it? lie said, smiling his peculiar one-sided smile brouglit about Iiy :i compression of the lips to hold the pipe in place. Sure, it ' s me, I replied, having uothing better to say and feeling certain tha.t t!ie grammatical error would never be noticed by one so absorbed in hi|S work. What ' s the mat- ter? I continued; out of a job? No, he said. On the contrary, I am vciy busy. Sijenco enstied while I watched him. Thi n I said, What arc you hunting for? Did somebody lose a diamond out of their wedding ring? There was a moment of silence which fol- lowed and I began to speculate on the prob ability of a reply. Tlien in his uncanny voice, No, I ' m hunting for honesty! I jumped, i(t came so suddenly, desi)ite his delay in returning an answer. Honesty! T repeated, honesty doesn ' t leave footprints, docs it? On the contrary, he replied, it gives very marked evidence of its presence. I waited with growing impatience for him to speak. At last he paused in his work to say : Look at that man ' s footprint for instance. ' ' I looked. SeeJpg nothing peculiar about it, I remarked, Well, Diog enes? He looked] up at the appelation. Then grasping the connection, he smiled Ji second time. It ' s this way, he said. Of cours3 anyone that was honest would have a certain feeling of honesty about him. Tliis w ould give him a certain feeling of assurance which would show in his walk. See, this fellow has only i slight impression of the northeast part of the toe. That is the unfailirig sign of theft, no matter how small. He will carry it with him all his life. If he were honest, each part of the foot wouUl give a like impression. Now this man — hold on, ho has just purchased a pair of new shoes, so that you can ' t tell much about it. But this woman does not show the southwest part of the heel. This shows, in a woman, false pride. And so it goes on. He paused, resuming his careful study. Having nothing to say, I said it. hi a little while he went on. What are the retiuirements of honesty? Up- right conduct, no cheating, that is, being fair in every way, both to yourself and to others, no stealing, frank sincerity, candor, no deceit, and absolutely no lying. ' ■Stop, stop, I said, not so fast, surely ly- ing doesn ' t come under that list. You ' re mixed mixed up with the truth. One must be truthful to be honest, he an- swered simply. From my observations I have found that there is nobody who is hon- est, nobody, and that i,ncludes you and every- l)ody else and no free passes. But — surely — , I stammered, not liking to be accused of so gross a thing. Surely I — Vou, he said interrupting, a short while ago said, ' It ' s me. ' How many vows have you taken during Education Week that you would use nothing i)ut the best English? Are you not dishonest? I was overw-helmed. I had never looked at it in this way before. Do you mean — ? I began. 1 mean what 1 say and nothing more. Bi.t don ' t misunderstand me. A good many pc- sons think they are honest because they are not dishonest. This is not true in the way they think of it. To be dishonest they say is merely to clieal in selling something, applied especially hen thej- are the purchasers. No v, between this and honesty there is such a loophole as to enable them to crawl through. And they go about holding their heads hig ' i in the air, thinking, the while, tliat they are honest. Maj be they are; but ii ' thej ' are, I don ' t want to be honest. He left me pondering over what he had said. His slander was so vast that I could not grasp it all at once. I slowly turned and re ■ traced my steps examining them as I weut along. LOEES McCLOSKEY, ' 25.