sky,
Debussy and others. These symphonies have been called "huge pieces for
four hands" which were afterwards orchestrated, and the allegation is
not without truth, as real orchestral glow and brilliancy is so often
lacking. Each one, however, has notable features, _e.g._, the sublime
Adagio of the 2d, and the touching Romanza of the 4th, and each is
worthy of study; for Schumann in certain aspects furnishes the best
avenue of approach to the modern school. In the Fourth Symphony he
obliterates the pauses between the movements and fuses them all
together; calling it a Symphony "in einem Satze" and anticipating the
very same procedure that Schoenberg follows in his String Quartet which
has had recent vogue. Schumann's chief contribution to the development
of the German Song lay in the pianoforte part, which with Schubert and
Mendelssohn might properly be called an accompaniment, however rich
and varied. But in Schumann the pianoforte attains to a real
independence of style, intensifying in the most subtle and delicate
way every shade of poetic feeling in the text. In fact, it is often
used to reveal some deep meaning beyond the expressive power of words.
This is seen in the closing measures of "Moonlight" where the voice
ceases in suspense, and the instrument completes the eloquence of the
message. Schumann's great achievement as a literary man was his
founding, in 1834, of the _Neue Zeitschrift fuer Musik_, to which he
himself contributed many stimulating and suggestive essays, opposing
with might and main the Philistinism which so pervaded the music of
his time. He even established an imaginary club, called the
Davidsbund, to storm the citadel of Philistia.

The best eulogy of Schumann is the recognition that many of the
tendencies in modern music, which we now take for granted, date from
him: the exaltation of freedom and fancy over mere formal
presentation, the union of broad culture with musical technique, and
the recognition of music as the art closest in touch with the
aspirations of humanity. He was an idealist with such perseverance and
clearness of aim that his more characteristic work can never die.

DES ABENDS.

The _Fantasiestuecke_[191], op. 12, of which this piece is the first,
amply justify their title, for they abound in soaring thoughts, in
fantastic, whimsical imaginings and in novel modes of utterance and
structure. Every number of the set is a gem, _In der Nacht_ being
perhaps the most poetic o