On Music In Howards End

Howards End is a masterpiece of the famous English writer E.M.Forster.The story revolves around three families in England at the beginning of the 20th century:The Wilcoxes,rich capitalists with a fortune made in the colonies;the half-German Schlegel siblings(Margaret,Helen,and Tibby),whose cultural pursuits have much in common with the Bloomsbury Group;and the Basts,an impoverished young couple from a lower-class background.Their fierce collision of values embodies the unreconciled conflicts among classes.At the same time,it also reflects Forster's deep concern over the living predicament of the middle class in the changing society.Except for being a writer,Foster is also an amateur pianist.He is obsessed with music during his lifetime and his musical life begins even earlier than his writing career.Combining his musical activities and the theoretical guide of some professors of Music,Forster gradually forms his own views on music,which can be reflected in his novels.First,he considers music as an integrality with its inner harmony,and a novel should be fastened up on the outside by music.Second,music has the power to stimulate passion and empathy.Third,music can be morally enlightening and bring divided classes together.In Howards End,Forster expresses his concern to the Edwardian middle-class through writing against his views on music.Firstly,Forster considers Beethoven's Fifth Symphony as a perfect musical piece with inner harmony and he uses it to fasten up the outer structure of the novel.However,the death of Ruth Wilcox,the compromise of the Schlegels and the murder of Leonard Bast appear to be the disharmony in the novel.Secondly,Forster gathers the characters in the Queen's Hall Sunday Concert,which is featured by Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.Being very familiar to Beethoven's music,Margaret is listening to the music without any imagination while Helen can only feel the heroism in the music.None of the sisters are emotionally touched by Beethoven's music.Moreover,Leonard Bast,who is considering all about the stolen umbrella and the two-shilling ticket,is totally not listening to the music.Music has not stimulated the pretentious Schlegels' empathic feeling to other people and it also has not morally enlightened the struggling Leonard Bast.Thirdly,Leonard Bast regards music as a tool to get closer to the upper class while the Schlegels,the cultural elites,have excluded him from their group.As a result,music can no longer be an emotional connection and fails to build group consciousness among the middle class members.In conclusion,Forster has presented the spiritual predicament of Edwardian middle-class through writing against his views on music.By this way,Forster conveys his great appreciation of art,for it can save the spiritually apathetic people.At the same time,he advocates that the society should treasure the value of art.