222. The Song and Ballade.—Just at the epoch when the most gigantic types of dramatic and choral writing were being undertaken, the smallest of the important vocal forms, the song, at length secured its destined maturity and eminence. The most original path-breaker was undoubtedly Schubert, though his full greatness was not seen until years after his death. Soon after came Mendelssohn, who also kept closely to classical models of form. Later, Schumann treated the problem of the song in a manner much less regular and popular, but richer in personal expression and in imaginative suggestion. By about 1850 we find that important composers rarely failed to cultivate song-writing to some degree, and by this time several eminent specialists in the song field, like Lowe and Franz, were already in evidence. The sudden expansion of song literature about the middle of the century, like that of piano literature, is bewildering to analyze or summarize.
A few salient types should be emphasized in thought, though they are
not always actually distinct. One of the simplest is the 'folk-like'
song (volkthümliches Lied), which emulates the naïveté of the genuine
folk-song, with its balanced lines, recurrent stanzas, obvious metric and
harmonic patterns, and unobtrusive accompaniment. In such a song the
sentiment resides in the total effect rather than in the details, and success
often depends much upon the indefinable magnetism of the singer.
From this type branch off innumerable varieties of more deliberately
'artistic' songs (Kunstlieder), in which either the tonal structure is
studiously elaborated for its own sake, or homely symmetry and transparency
are replaced by a reasoned effort to render fully the contrasts,
evolutions and depths of feeling implied in the text. In such songs the
details assume great expressional importance, successive stanzas are
often handled differently and the functions of the accompaniment are
highly elaborated. Nothing is more distinctive of the romantic period
than the manifold discoveries then made of ways to compress exquisite
beauty and thrilling passion into brief phrases and passages, where
words, vocal melody and instrumental setting are so blended as to reflect
the deepest emotions of the heart. Still a third type is that of the
'ballade,' which is not so much lyric as epic or dramatic. This has
an essential kinship with the operatic aria, but its treatment is more condensed
and nervous, and it is wholly independent of theatric action and
accessories, even when in intensity it attains tragic sublimity.
The simpler types of song are specially apt for private or domestic use, while the more complex ones are obviously adapted to the salon and the concert-hall. At every point the evolution of song music presents analogies with the evolution of the smaller forms of piano music. From the study of the song as an artistic type came a fruitful stimulus for
