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The National Music of America. 73
of accent, to drown his competitor in an ocean of harmony."
Holyoke, one of Billings's more cultivated successors, held a very different opinion in this matter, for he says that this sort of music "produces a trifling effect."1
" For the parts falling in, one after another, each conveying a different idea, confound the sense, and render the music a mere jargon of words."
There need, however, be no discussion about the fugues used by the early American composers, for they were not fugues at all, merely short passages of contrapuntal imitation, generally defying counterpoint in a manner that proved that freedom was a fundamental principle with every musical American. Not one of the composers aforesaid had the remotest idea of what constituted a fugue, although they glibly explained "fugueing" in almost all of their musical collections.
* Preface to " Harmonia Americana." Boston, 1791. |
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