CHAMBER MUSIC. The name given to music particularly designed for performance in a room or small hall with few performers, as contrasted with music requiring many perform ers and given on a stage in a larger hall, or in the opera-house. It is generally, though it was not formerly, applied to instrumental music only. Originally it meant music for the few, usually, of course, the wealthy, who cultivated it in the privacy of their homes and who, as in the case of the Esterhazy family, in whose serv ice Haydn spent 30 years of devoted effort, made of it a formal function. As early as the time of Louis XIV, with his °Maitre de la Musique de la Chambre de Roy,x' chamber music was recog nized as a separate branch of the art. Dance tunes were its earliest basis and in the form of suites were written or arranged for various combinations of instruments. (The lute figured prominently at first, but was gradually elbowed out by the members of the violin family). A little later, the more highly developed sonata form was utilized; and while to-day this desig nation is confined to pieces for piano or piano and one other instrument, the first sonatas were written for instruments in combination and especially for stringed instruments. Corelli, one of the greatest Italian composers (1653-1713), composed no less than 60 sonatas, among them 24
The string quartet (written for two violins, viola and 'cello) is the typical chamber music of modern times and, beginning with Haydn, nearly all of the great composers have con tributed generously to its literature. While not a pioneer in this field, Haydn is entitled to the credit of giving to the string quartet the stamp of perfection as an art form, which has belonged to it ever since; and to the Esterhazy family as his patrons, and to other noblemen who bore somewhat similar relations to Mozart and Beethoven may be attributed much of the impulse to this character of musical composi tion. In the immense volume of Haydn's works, his chamber music bulks Directly in spired by Haydn's efforts, Mozart began to write quartets and he dedicated six of the best to Haydn. The relations of Haydn and Mozart, and their remarkable reaction on each other, form a most interesting chapter in musi cal history. Haydn, who outlived Mozart many years, composed his best chamber music after Mozart had died, and it bears the unmistakable impress of the younger •man's influence.
Beethoven's activities in chamber music furnish clear evidence of the high seriousness with which composers have always approached this branch of their art. Comparatively early in his development, he wrote six quartets (Opus 18) ; and he made further essays as his career progressed. Finally, his sonatas and symphonic works and his great mass in D finished, he turned for his last expression in music, his peroration, to the quartet and wrote five, which rank with his finest works. Since Beethoven's day, chamber music has undergone little change or development. There have been beautiful accessions to its literature. Schubert, Schu mann, Brahms, Franck and Tschaikowsky have all poured rich new wine into the old bottle; but it remains as Beethoven left it, the most chaste receptacle for musical thought yet fashioned. In addition to the string quartet, chamber music furnishes compositions for many other combinations of string instru ments alone — trios, quintets, sextets and still larger groups — also, quite frequently, for piano and strings and, less often, for combinations including one or more wind instruments. Schu bert's octet for two violins, viola, 'cello, bass, clarinet, horn and bassoon is one of the most important works in this field. But here, ob viously, the approach is definitely toward the orchestra, with its variegated tonal tints, which are foreign to the true conception of chamber music. Next to the string quartet, the piano quartet and quintet are the favorites of the more modern composers. The piano quintets of Schumann, Brahms and Franck form a magnifi cent triumvirate. To the musician universally, chamber music represents the purest form and the highest achievement in the art. Without the extraneous attractions of program, orchestral color or scenic effect, depending for its appeal on the most abstract presentation of creative thought, it has evoked from composers the finest manifestations of their genius; and the contributions of Debussy, Ravel, Schonberg and others of the ultra-modern schools show that the appeal is as potent to-day as it was in the last century. Consult Kilburn, N., 'The Story of Chamber Music' (London 1904) ; Krause, E, 'Die Entwicklung der Kammermusik' (Ham burg 1904) • Schering, A., (Geschichte des Instrumentalkonzerts' (Leipzig 1905).