SOURCE: Edwards, John S. “Sidney Lanier: Musical Pioneer.” The Georgia Review 22, no. 4 (winter 1968): 473-81.

[In the following essay, Edwards examines Lanier as a musician and explores three distinct periods of his creative output, the Early Period (1841-1864), the Middle Period (1864-1873), and the Late Period (1873-1881) for both his musical and literary compositions.]

Although Sidney Lanier has enjoyed wide reputation as an American poet, his importance as a musical figure has been based on conjecture and reputation. References to this subject are usually anecdotal, referring to his virtuosic performances and his youthful serenading of young ladies. Though a great many works have been published concerning Georgia's poet-laureate, none emphasizes the great importance music held in his life.

From the standpoint of musical activity, Lanier's life may be viewed in three periods: 1) Early Period, 1841-1864, 2) Middle Period, 1864-1873, and 3) Late Period, 1873-1881. Each of these periods is distinguished from the others by Lanier's attitude toward music.

In the Early Period Lanier was active as an amateur musician. He showed an aptitude for music while quite young, learning to play the violin, flute, guitar, piano, and organ. Yet, as was the case with most early American musicians, Lanier received little formal musical training. He wrote of himself:

… my own Musical history … comprises the entire span and range of music from earliest times: for I commenced by rhythm alone,—I used to be sent for when a child to come into the parlor and beat the drum at which I had great dexterity—next I managed an increase of culture: I learned the bones, and soon afterwards began to sing, and then to whistle, accompanying myself with bones, at which I became quite expert. I heard no music save Virginia Reels, and Strathspeys, negro melodies of plantations, popular tunes brought out by the hand-organ, Negro Minstrels, and the circus bands, and the like. These I quickly acquired, accompanying myself with the bones, etc.¹

Lanier evidently overcame to a great degree the handicaps of his humble musical origins, for his talents were frequently demanded at social functions. Even during the Civil War he carried his flute through battle and prison camp entertaining friends, officers, and young ladies of the community. Though he recognized his own talent, he still considered music only an avocation. He wrote home from college:

I am more than all perplexed by this fact: that the prime inclination—that is, natural bent (which I have checked through) of my nature is to music, and for that I have the greatest talent; indeed, not boasting, for God gave it to me, I have an extraordinary musical talent and feel it within me plainly that I could rise as high as any composer. But I cannot bring myself to believe that I was intended for a musician, because it seems so small a business in comparison with other things which it seems to me, I might do. Question here: (What is the province of music in the economy of the world?)²

During the Middle Period, Lanier worked as a tutor, as a school principal, and as an assistant in his father's law office. Even so, his musical activities increased. In Montgomery, Alabama, he was employed as an organist and choir-director of the Presbyterian Church. In addition to playing for church and in flute concerts Lanier devoted some time to musical composition. According to a letter written to his brother, Clifford Lanier, “The Woodlark” for solo flute and “The Song of Elaine” for soprano with piano accompaniment were composed during this period.³ The latter is based on a passage from Tennyson's poem “Lancelot and Elaine.” A third composition, “Sacred Memories” for solo flute, was performed by Lanier on a concert at Wesleyan College, Macon, Georgia.⁴

In 1868 Lanier returned to Macon and joined his father's law firm. Business frequently carried him to New York City where he first became acquainted with the active cultural life of that city. While there, he heard several concerts of the newly-formed Theodore Thomas orchestra, a recital of Christine Nilsson, and several operas. These experiences evidently had a profound effect upon Lanier, for his letters home are filled with many details.

Hoping to find a climate that would not exacerbate his tuberculosis, Lanier moved to San Antonio, Texas, in December of 1872. It was here that the flute solo “Fieldlarks and Blackbirds” was written.⁵ He also participated in the German amateur musical society called Männerchor and performed frequently at private parties and concerts. At this time Lanier made the decision that changed the direction of his life. Memories of the musical events in New York City and the excitement of his own increasing musical activity led him to consider the career of professional musician. In a letter to the poet Paul Hamilton Hayne, Lanier wrote: “I don't know that I've ever told you, that whatever turn I have for art is purely musical, poetry being, with me, a mere tangent into which I shoot sometimes.”⁶ With thoughts such as these he determined to enter the field of music as a professional performer and left San Antonio in the spring of 1873 for New England, where more opportunities existed. This move marked the beginning of the Late Period of his life.

Lanier considered Asgar Hammerik, a protegé of Berlioz, one of the foremost composers of the nineteenth century. Consequently, Lanier was overjoyed when his friend Henry Wysham arranged, without his previous knowledge, an audition with Hammerik in Baltimore. For this occasion Lanier played his “Blackbirds,” which Hammerik called “the composition … of an artist.”⁷ Hammerik offered Lanier the position of first flute in the new Peabody Orchestra at a salary of ＄120 per month.⁸ Lanier was ecstatic over Hammerik's approval, since he regarded Hammerik a composer “just below the classic Beethoven and Mozart, whose compositions are played along with those of the great masters, and who has been accustomed to hear and to conduct the finest music in the world.”⁹

However, Lanier was determined to explore possibilities in New York City and left Baltimore with a letter of introduction from Hammerik to Theodore Thomas, conductor of the New York Philharmonic. Most of his time in New York was spent introducing himself to persons in the music world and auditioning for influential figures.

One of the first persons for whom Lanier performed was Frederic Shwaab, music critic for the New York Times. He played his compositions “Blackbirds” and “Swamp Robin.” Shwaab “was greatly stricken, expressing himself in fair terms, and allowing himself to be drawn into as much enthusiasm as was consistent with his Exalted Position.”¹⁰

In New York there were recitals and auditions before other well-known musicians. Alice Fletcher, later to become known for studies in the music of the American Indians, declared that Lanier's music differed from that of previous Americans in that it was not in the German style, and that he was “not only the founder of a school of music, but the founder of American music.”¹¹ Lanier was often invited to play chamber music, including duos with some of the best flutists in the city, and performed in several private concerts. He also composed a flute solo, “Danse des Moucherons,” of which he wrote to his wife, “I think enough of it to let it go forward of Opus 1.”¹²

During this period, in an attempt to raise money, Lanier submitted some of his compositions to publishers. However, he was unable to find a firm which would offer him payment in advance of sales. Nevertheless, he was always optimistic. In a letter to his wife he wrote:

My music will also sell, in a little while. It is so original, that I have, as all original writers do, to ‘make my public’ and this I am rapidly doing, by various influences which I have brought to bear, but which would take me too long to detail.¹³

To his brother he wrote:

I am getting up a cheaper Method for the Boehm Flute than the one now in existence (which costs ＄7.50, while mine will not cost more than ＄2. to ＄2.50.): I am also getting a lot of music ready to publish: and expect to have a pupil or two on the Flute, ere long.¹⁴

Lanier also experimented in constructing a flute that would play in a low register and also would improve intonation. However, no evidence has been found to establish whether or not he completed work on the flute.

Lanier had received encouragement that he might be employed by the Theodore Thomas orchestra. When he found that Thomas would be unable to enlarge his flute section, he became more interested in accepting Hammerik's offer with the Peabody Symphony in Baltimore. Hammerik was unable to raise the amount of money he had originally offered, but he negotiated a contract with Lanier to be his flauto primo for the 1873-1874 season at the salary of ＄60 per month for four months.¹⁵ The orchestra rehearsed two hours, four times weekly, and presented one concert each week. At the opening concert, Hammerik introduced his new musicians by having each play a short solo. For this occasion Lanier played his composition “Blackbirds,” which was noted in the newspapers as a highlight of the evening. He composed “Longing,” another flute solo, during the same year.¹⁶

During his first year with the Peabody Symphony, Lanier also played in several Männerchor orchestras, churches, and homes, and in the orchestra of the Concordia Theater. After the orchestra season ended, he toured West Virginia and Ohio as part of a group accompanying Jenny Buch, coloratura. As the tour did not prove to be financially rewarding, Lanier never repeated the engagement.

On March 21, 1874, he became a member of the musicians' union.¹⁷ This reflects Lanier's positive attitude regarding the performing musician's profession. He felt that he should join this professional group even though the Peabody Symphony was not composed entirely of professionals; it included semi-professionals, amateurs, and professors from the Peabody Institute.

The second year in Baltimore, Lanier accepted fewer musical engagements and devoted more time to literary efforts. He produced an essay, “The Physics of Music,” a review of a performance of Gounod's Faust, and a review of a lecture on acoustics for the Baltimore Gazette. He also set his poem “Wedding Hymn” as a “duet with contralto solo.”¹⁸ He sought a research chair in physics of music or in metaphysics of music at several colleges, but was unsuccessful.

Lanier continued at his orchestral position during the 1875-1876 season, but his correspondence shows an increasing interest in literary activity. He seems not to have engaged in musical activity outside the orchestra; his letters no longer relate musical events. In fact, in early 1876 he wrote that there had been a dearth of musical engagements.¹⁹ During that year the essay “Bacon to Beethoven” was published in Lippincott's Magazine in May and “The Orchestra of Today” was published in Scribner's Monthly on November 6.

After a year in Florida, Lanier returned to Baltimore in October 1877 to rejoin the orchestra when its season opened in December. According to Anderson:

Lanier was by this time the most indispensable member of the Peabody Orchestra. Though this was partly attributable to his character and personality, it was also partly because of his musicianship. On the announcement for the season of 1877-1878 his name is printed at the top along with the professors of the Conservatory and the guest artists, the only regular member of the orchestra so listed. At the seventh concert, March 2, 1878, he was assigned by Hammerik a full solo, Emil Hartman's G Minor Concerto, Lanier playing the violin part on his flute. …²⁰

Lanier now felt that he had established a place for himself in the life of the city, and accordingly moved Mrs. Lanier and their sons to Baltimore in 1877. Prior to this time, Lanier had never considered Baltimore his home. He had left his family in Macon and returned to spend each summer with them.

In 1878 Theodore Thomas offered Lanier a position with his New York orchestra for the ensuing season.²¹ Although Lanier's ambition for many years had been to become a member of this esteemed orchestra, he was unable to accept. The New York climate would have been too severe for Lanier, whose health continued to fail. He decided to spend another season in Baltimore playing in the Peabody Symphony, but collapsed at the first rehearsal and had to be carried out.

Unable to maintain the vigorous schedule of a professional musician, he turned to teaching and writing, delivering a series of literary lectures at Peabody and at The Johns Hopkins University. For the Baltimore Sun he wrote a series of reviews of the Maryland Musical Festival (May 28, 29, 30).²² In June his essay “Mazzini on Music” was published in the Independent. Lanier not only investigated the works of past scholars, but kept abreast of new developments as well. In his experiments on the physics of sound conducted by the literature class at Johns Hopkins, Lanier suggested the use of the phonograph—the invention of which had been announced that very year.

In the fall of 1879, though he grew progressively weaker, he returned to his old place in the Peabody Orchestra, and continued to play until 1881. In a desperate effort to find a suitable climate, Lanier moved into a tent in the North Carolina mountains. It was there, near Lynn, North Carolina, that he died on September 7, 1881.

Sidney Lanier had been unable to support himself as a musician. There were not many opportunities in America for a performer who lacked formal training. The profession was populated primarily by Europeans who looked with disfavor upon self-taught musicians. Lanier's training was inadequate to qualify him for the best orchestral positions or for the college positions which were available. He realized that he would have to create an area in which he could establish a reputation. His plans included securing a music professorship, experimenting on the physics of music, improving wind instruments, and developing a method for educating the public in music appreciation. Unfortunately, illness prevented his realizing these ambitions.

There is little doubt that Lanier was a flute virtuoso. Statements from eminent musicians attest to his exceptional performing ability and frequently express amazement at his sight-reading facility, Concerning Lanier's performance, Hammerik wrote:

It has always been a wonder to me where Sidney Lanier learned to play as he did, with such execution, sweetness, and expression of tone, considering that he never had any proper teacher. He would read at sight with great facility the most intricate music. I came to the conclusion that Sidney Lanier was an exception to the general rule: that his natural disposition for music; his immense love for art in all its branches; supported by a faultless ear, and a thorough education as a gentleman, had easily conquered all difficulties and made him master on the instrument when he got to be a man. …²³

On another occasion Hammerik commented on Lanier's general performance:

His art was not only the art of art, but an art above art. I will never forget the impression he made on me when he played the flute concerto of Emil Hartman … the audience was spellbound, the orchestra softly responding. Such distinction, such refinement, he stood, the master, the genius!²⁴

Ronald McDonald, music critic of the New York Times, wrote of him:

… he is a thorough master of florid styles, executing the most brilliant passages with the utmost ease and grace. His facility in reading elaborate compositions at first sight is a marvel to all who have heard him.²⁵

Lanier made no attempt to become a professional composer, though he did attempt to profit from the works he had written. Probably one of the primary reasons that he could not sell his compositions was the economic stringencies imposed on business by the post-war depression. He did receive offers from firms which were willing to print his music, but no firm was willing or able to buy the works from Lanier for cash payment, which was his condition of sale.

Lanier's influence on the musical life of America ended with his death. Only two of his compositions were published, and these were not of the nature to influence other composers. One, “Little Ella,” was a sentimental ballad of the popular type; the other, “Il Balen,” was a set of variations intended for amateurs. Nor had he any influence as a teacher of music. However, Lanier did have an influence of quite a different nature. This can best be shown by the words of one of his more illustrious pupils, Waldo Seldon Pratt:

It is curious … how little I remember of the substance of the course the lectures on “English Verse,” but somehow I gained a distinct impetus in thought and feeling that had been a lifelong impression. Much was due to the fact that after the lectures … Lanier and I frequently, almost habitually, walked home together, as we lived in somewhat the same region. Here again, I cannot recover what we talked about. But, general sense of contact with a rare and choice spirit has always remained. Mentally he had an almost startling keenness and grasp that was not so much philosophical as intuitive. He had no pride of knowledge, but an insatiable desire to know and understand, and spiritually there was something that seemed unique in the quality and texture of his nature that exhaled in all he said and did, in his judgements, and opinions, in his impulses and enthusiasm. At the time I simply felt rather vaguely the impression of his strength and gentleness, his earnestness and mirth, his reverence and mischief, his aspiration for himself and his self-expenditure for others. All these contrasts in his nature did not become clear to me till later, as I came to know his poetry and as I grew better able to analyze my own experience with him.²⁶

Of Lanier's youthful attitude he wrote:

The more I think of it, the more I recognize that his soul was incapable of aging. … This absolute freshness of heart and spirit seems to me to have been one of the highest notes of Mr. Lanier's genius.²⁷

Lanier's place in the history of American music was determined by his environment. As was the case with most nineteenth century American musicians, his ability developed in spite of the great obstacles, lack of training and prejudice of European musicians who were musical leaders at this time. Furthermore, vacillation between a music career and a literary career restricted the development of his musical talent. By the time he had decided to enter the music profession, he was physically hampered by an advanced case of tuberculosis.

He was not a pioneer in the sense that he attempted to establish an indigenous American art form; he was content to remain within the framework of European musical culture. He did not leave a substantial body of composition, and that which does remain gives no indication that Lanier was capable of musical innovation.²⁸

Though Lanier did not make a substantial contribution to music, he should be placed in that group of American musicians who contributed to the development of a truly American musical culture. His acceptance by the musical leaders of his day undoubtedly aided in dispelling the current prejudice against American musicians and opened the way for recognition of future native musical talents.

Notes

1. Charles Anderson, editor, The Centennial Edition of the Works of Sidney Lanier (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1945) Vol. II, pp. 339-340. This edition is hereafter referred to as C. E.

2. Aubrey Harrison Starke, “Sidney Lanier as a Musician,” Musical Quarterly XX (1934), p. 385.

3. C. E., VII. p. 200. Letter dated September 30, 1865.

4. Starke, p. 348. The manuscript has not been preserved; consequently this piece has been lost.

5. C. E., IX, p. 250.

6. C. E., VIII, p. 347. Letter dated May 26, 1873.

7. Starke, p. 389.

8. C. E., VII, x.

9. “Poet's Musical Impressions: From the Letters of Sidney Lanier,” Scribner's Monthly XXV (1899), p. 625. Letter dated February 14, 1873.

10. C. E., VIII, p. 395. Letter dated October 6, 1873.

11. Scribner's Monthly, pp. 626-627. Letter dated January 8, 1874.

12. Starke, p. 391. Lanier also calls this composition “Gnat Symphony.”

13. C. E., IX, p. 90. Letter dated September 24, 1874.

14. C. E., VIII, p. 432. Letter dated December 19, 1873.

15. C. E., VII, xi.

16. Aubrey Harrison Starke, Sidney Lanier: A Biographical and Critical Study (Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 1933), p. 174.

17. C. E., VIII, xvi.

18. Starke, p. 399.

19. C. E., IX, p. 305. Letter dated January 22, 1876.

20. C. E., VII, xxv.

21. Edwin Mims. Sidney Lanier (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1905), p. 133.

22. Lanier's last review was of a Peabody Orchestra concert, written for the Sun in 1880.

23. George F. Wicher, “Sidney Lanier's Letters,” Forum CVI (1946), pp. 354-355.

24. Mims, pp. 132-133.

25. Starke, p. 399.

26. Starke, p. 375.

27. Starke, p. 375.

28. See John S. Edwards, “Sidney Lanier: His Life and Work in Music” (unpublished Master's Thesis, University of Georgia, 1967) for copies of the compositions and commentary on Lanier's musical style.