Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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536 SONG
the simpler rules of classical form. These works
may not have any strong interest of a direct
kind for the musical world, but they have considerable
value in so far as they fulfil the purposes
they are meant to serve. The most famous and
most classical examples of this kind are dementi's
sonatinas, of opp. 36, 37, and 38. And
much of the same character are several by
F. Kuhlau, which are excellently constructed
and pure in style. Of modern works of a similar
kind there are examples by L. Koehler. Those
by Carl Reineoke and Hermann Goetz are equally
adapted for teaching purposes, and have also in
general not a little agreeable musical sentiment,
and really attractive qualities. Some of Beethoven's
works which are not definitely described
as such are sufficiently concise and slight to be
called sonatinas : as for instance those in G and
G minor, op. 49, which were first announced for
publication as Senates ' faoiles ' in 1805. That
in G major, op. 79, was published as a Sonatine
' in 1810, though it is rather larger in ' most
respects than the other little examples. Prior
to Beethoven the average scale of sonatas was
so small that it seems difficult to see how a
diminutive could be contrived ; and indeed the
grand examples which made the degrees of comparison
specially conspicuous were not yet in
existence. A modern work on such a scale, and
made in the conventional manner, would probably
be considered as a Sonatina, and apart
from teaching purposes it would also be likely
to be an anachronism. c. H. H. P.
SONG. Introduction. In relation to the
study of music, a Song may be defined as a
short metrical composition, whose meaning is
conveyed by the combined force of words and
melody.
The Song, therefore, belongs equally to poetry
and music. For the purposes of this Dictionary
the subject should properly be treated with
exclusive regard to music ; but the musical
forms and structure of songs are so much
determined by language and metre, and their
content by the emotions the words express,
that their poetic and literary qualities cannot
be put aside. In the strictest sense, lyrical
pieces alone are songs ; but adherence to so
narrow a definition would exclude many kinds
of songs whose importance in the history of
music demands that they should be noticed.
Attention, however, will be directed chiefly to
homophonio forms of secular songs i.e, songs
for one voice or unisonous chorus.
It 'should, moreover, be mentioned that the
history of the Song in this article will be
treated in regard to country and not to period.
For the study of any other branch of music
among the leading nations of Europe,* a chronological
arrangement would probably be more
scientific and instructive ; but the Song is that
1 Scotland, Trelnnd, and Wales are purposely left out of this
aeheine, as tlie artfeles In this DictlonaiT on the music of those
countries give eiltflclent Information on the Songs.
branch of music in which national peculiarities
and idioms linger longest, and international
affinities grow most slowly. Again, without
attempting to trace the origin of Song, or to
say whether or not Song preceded speech or
language, it may safely be asserted that certain
successions of sounds or intervals varying with
different nationalities, have in all ages possessed
some particular significance and conveyed some
message of meaning from man to man. So
that the music of each nation has qualities and
idioms of its own as distinct and definite as
those of its language.
Vocal music is probably the oldest branch of
the art ; but from the fact that dance-songs
preponderate in the music of nations whose
musical culture remains in a primitive stage, it
is reasonable to conclude that vocal music may
have been at first a mere accessory of the dance.
(See Dance -Rhythm.) Choral singing at
religious and other festivals was also a practice
of very remote antiquity. Recitations by bards,
commemorative of the exploits of heroes, were a
further and distinct development of vocal music.
Hence the work done by the minstrels, Troubadours
and Trouv^res, Minnesinger and Meistersinger,
will call for notice in their different
countries.
During the last quarter of a century, the
Song as a branch of music has assumed great
importance. "With regard to the Folk-song,
scientific musicians and composers in most
European countries have deemed it worthy of
serious study. They have assiduously collected
and made use of what remains of the indigenous
musical material still left untouched by the
hand of civilisation. Governments have given
aid to such enterprises, thereby showing the
value they attach to the preservation of the
songs of their people. Folk-lore has become a
scientific study ; societies have been formed to
collect and arrange in musical notation the
songs orally handed down by uncultured singers,
and tmly the object is well worthy of the
labour. For the folk-song is the origin of all
our modem music. From it we have derived
not only our scales, but the shape of our
melodies, the outlines of our musical form, and
indirectly even the art of our harmony and
cadences. 2 Hence in treating the history of
the Song in each successive country, it is necessary
that the folk-song should hold its place.
There is another form of Song which, for want
of a better term (where a distinction is necessary),
it is convenient to designate by theGerman
phrase KwmtUed, or Art -Song. These songs
are more regular and finished compositions,
written with conscious art by men who have
made music their study. But formerly there
was no branch of music so freely handled by
inferior and unpractised hands. The lyric song
may not need so accurate a knowledge of formal
2 See Parry's Art of Music, p. 52 et seg.