Music after the great war, and other studies — Inside the Classic

Stravinsky and the Rejection of 'Working-Out'

Van Vechten devotes considerable attention to Igor Stravinsky, whom he presents as a composer who deliberately abandons traditional development. He quotes critic M. D. Calvocoressi, who observed that in The Nightingale 'working-out plays no part'—the music simply expresses the text without leitmotiv or formal elaboration. Van Vechten links this to the Russian 'Five' and Moussorgsky's dictum: 'Plain truth, however unpalatable, and nothing more.' Stravinsky himself is quoted saying he aims for 'straightforward expression in its simplest form' and shuns 'vagueness and ambiguity.' Van Vechten does not endorse or reject this approach; instead, he presents it as a logical extension of earlier Russian nationalism and a direct challenge to Wagnerian and impressionist methods.

The Russian Ballet as a Synthetic Art

In 'The Secret of the Russian Ballet,' Van Vechten examines how the Ballets Russes achieved its impact through a fusion of dance, music, and stage design. He emphasizes the collaborative role of artists like Léon Bakst and the choreographer Michel Fokine, who broke with classical ballet conventions. The essay treats the ballet not merely as performance but as a total aesthetic experience—one that, like Stravinsky's music, resisted easy categorization. Van Vechten's analysis is grounded in specific productions and their reception, avoiding vague praise in favor of noting how the company's innovations in movement and decor challenged Parisian audiences accustomed to more static forms.

Massenet and the Question of Popularity

The essay on Jules Massenet takes a different tack, examining a composer whose work was widely performed yet often dismissed by critics. Van Vechten notes Massenet's ability to write for women's voices and his skill in crafting melodic lines that appealed to the public. He contrasts Massenet's approach with that of more 'serious' composers, suggesting that popularity does not preclude artistic merit. The essay draws on specific operas and their librettos, but Van Vechten stops short of claiming Massenet as a neglected genius. Instead, he uses the case to probe the criteria by which critics judge value—a recurring concern throughout the collection.

Van Vechten's essays are best read as period documents that capture a moment of aesthetic upheaval. He writes as a partisan of the new, yet his arguments are built on concrete observations about harmony, structure, and reception rather than mere advocacy. Readers interested in early twentieth-century criticism will find a writer who takes his subjects seriously without resorting to jargon or hyperbole. The book rewards those who approach it as a series of provocations rather than settled judgments.

There’s something tender about how Van Vechten caught music changing, the old forms fraying into something new. I thought of that reading The Pipes of War A Record of Achievements of Pipers of Scottish and Overseas Regiments during the War, 1914-18 — Edition Insights, where a very old sound carried men through an unimaginably new horror. Both books hold that ache—tradition leaning into the dark, hoping it still means something.