MUSICAL COMPOSITION

10 MUSICAL COMPOSITIONnecessary contrast to defined richness of chord combinationjAn excellent instance of the result of thissystem is to be found in the last movement of the NinthSymphony of Beethoven, where the theme is first presentedwithout any combination at all, and is repeatedwith gradually enriched surroundings. Of this exampleand of the Prometheus Variations (used also in thefinale of the Eroica Symphony) mention will be madelater. The first principle to be laid down is, therefore,to study counterpoint first, and through counterpoint tomaster harmony.It is not necessary to remind a student of musicalhistory that this was the process by which were trainedall the great masters from Palestrina down to Wagnerand Brahms.The policy of putting harmony before counterpointis of comparatively recent growth; the growth hasunfortunately overrun a great deal of low-lying land,and it is easy enough to note where it flourishes fromthe results of its miasma. To the advanced modemstudent it may be interesting to point out that suchworks as the Meistersinger, Parsifal, and the GermanRequiem did not grow on this tainted soil; nor, to goto the other extreme of style, did the waltzes of JohannStrauss.The second principle is that the study of counterpoint,if it is to be of real value, must be strict. Ithas recently become the fashion to speak of counterpointas if it were divided into two branches, strict andfree. There is no such thing as free counterpointfrom the standpoint of technical study. It is only apedantic name for composition. All musical worksare in free counterpoint, and the use of this quasi-