Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
July 5th, 1881.
169
THE MUSICAL CRITIC AND TRADE REVIEW.
DEDICATIONS OP MUSIC.
S old copies of favorite pieces of musi« grow tattered and tumble to
pieces with much playing, and are replaced by new ones, I am sur-
prised and sorry to see that the dedications have disappeared from the new
editions. I find no exception ; it is the same whether published by old or
new houses. There may be a reason for this, and I hope that there is, and
a good one, as otherwise it is a species of robbery. After a composer's death,
the fame of his works belongs to him, the profit to his publishers, the senti-
mental association to those to whom they were originally inscribed. The
dedications are data for the men's memoirs. There are, no doubt, unwritten
ones, not always understood even by those to whom they are addressed.
The young daughter of Count Esterhazy, one of Schubert's generous friends,
herself the ideal love of his short, sad life, asked him once why he never
dedicated anything to her. "Everything I write is dedicated to you," he
replied. So, doubtless, said Chopin to George Sand, whose name, written
so indelibly on his life, appears on no composition of his. These dedications
belong to the inner, secret history, which is told only in the music. But
on the title-page of the first copy is generally the name of a splendid patron,
like Beethoven's Prince Lichnowsky ; of a woman of fashion, whose smiles
have encouraged the artist, and perhaps brought him into notice ; of a
brother or sister musician, composer or performer ; sometimes of an humble,
obscure friend. With many of these, noble or obscure, the dedication is their
best title to remembrance, and the honor which was paid them by a genius
should connect their memory with his. All dedications have historical value ;
Thackeray's to the tailor who gave him credit is a tonching bit of biography.
In taking a number of books from the shelf at hazard, I find the original
dedication in the latest editions. If this right of property is respected in
literature, why not in music ?—July Atlantic.
A
EUaENIO MAURICIO DENGREMONT.
I
WISH that all the children in the world might get together some beau-
tiful June day, and then there certainly could be nothing more charming
for them than that they should all be still for a while, and listen to the
wonderful violin-playing of Eugenio Mauricio Dengremont, the child-artist.
Let me tell you what I know of him : He was born March the 19th,
1866, at Bio Janeiro, Brazil. His father, having other boys, as well as girls,
and being a musician in moderate circumstances, had no idea of making
musicians of his children, and did not dream that the son born to him this
day was so gifted. But, at the age of four, Mauricio asked his papa to teach
him to play the violin. This his father did not feel inclined to do. He was
himself a violin-player in the theater orchestra, and felt the life of an ordin-
ary musician an uncertain one and not desirable for his son ; but the child
never gave up the idea of being a violinist, and would leave his play at any
time to stand near his father and eagerly watch bis practice.
At last, in 1872, when the boy was six years old, his father removed to
Montevedio, where he played again in the theater orchestra, whither the boy
usually accompanied him. Here Mauricio begged so earnestly to study the
violin that his father, taking him at his word, decided to gratify him, and
said:
" Well, my boy, if you begin to study'the violin, you will have to carry
the business through."
" I shall do so, papa," said the boy ; and his lessons began.
Ho was so small ! and so much in earnest ! and his father spent hours
bending over the tiny figure, and guiding the boy's little arm in the bowing.
And now take notice, all boys and girls who "would so much love to play
well, but can't bear to practice." Great as this child's natural gifts are, he,
at first, practiced three and four hours faithfully every day. To be gifted,
no doubt, makes the work easier, but a certain amount of real drudgery
must be done by one who succeeds in any art, no matter how gifted he may
be.
After four months' study, Mauricio could play the scales—and in thirds,
also, (quite difficult on the violin)—as well and as rapidly as his father ; and,
besides, he played so remarkably that his father discovered him to be really
a genius, as his name indicated, and so he faithfully and strictly attended to
the boy's teaching.
After fourteen months' study, the father decided to allow the boy to give
his first concert, but fearing lest his son might not have the self-control
necessary for a successful public performance, he took him to a little town
Paysander—up the river, to make trial.
The concert at Paysander entirely satisfied the father of the boy's nerve
and self-command, and, returning to Montevideo, he gave his first concert
there to benefit the unfortunate victims of a railroad accident. Here his
playing created a great excitement, and after that, every appearance of his
in public concerts was an ovation.
Since this modest beginning in the South American town, the boy has
been petted and flattered by all Europe, although he is singularly unspoiled,
both son and father being of a generous nature. But I like to think of him,
in his childish grace and beauty, beginning his musical career with this
kindly deed. He seemes to me capable of doing such a thing nobly.
After the concert in Montevideo, and a grand concert in Rio Janeiro, he
left his brothers and sisters, and his mother—whose personal beauty he
inherits,—and went with his father to try his fortune in the Old World.
He went first to Lisbon ; thence to Madrid, where he played before the
King, and received no end of honors and decorations; and from there to
Paris, where he gave ten concerts.
Think of it : scarcely ten years old !
From this time—1876—he had private lessons from Leonard, in Paris.
These lessons hardly would have occupied more than a year, if given without
a break, but they extended over a longer period, during which he traveled
over all Europe, excepting Russia and Italy. Everywhere he met with great
success.
Such is a meager history of this wonderful boy's child-life—enough,
however, to give us hope of a glorious manhood for him, for Mauricio is not
an unnaturally precocious child,—a forced hot-house blossom,—but a
healthy, fun-loving, boyish boy, with buoyant animal spirit, and as ready
for wholesome fun as for earnest study : and withal, certainly much more of
a child than the average American boy of his age.
But, then, when his face is quiet, the violin under his chin, and his bow
in motion, he is again something strangely above us,—a true musical genius.
—From St. Nicholas/or July.
ON THE CAUSES OF THE RISE IN ORCHESTRAL PITCH AND THE
METHODS OP OBVIATING IT.
ABSTRACT OF A PAPER READ AT A RECENT MEETING OF THE MUSICAL ASSOCI-
ATION, LONDON, BY DE. W. H. STONE.
R. STONE commenced by observing that, after his recent lecture at
the Royal Institution, he had been asked what practical suggestions
D
he had to make on the subject which he there treated mainly in its theoreti-
cal aspect. It had occured to him, and to the excellent secretary of the
Musical Association, that a supplement of this character might well be
brought before the latter society, which consisted, in great part, of practical
musicians.
He had stated that four causes, at least, contributed to the tendency
towards sharpness—namely,
1. The excess of true fifths, as tuned to by violins, over corresponding
octaves.
2. The rise, by heat, of modern wind instruments.
3. The difficulty of appreciating slow beats, leading players, for the
sake of prominence, to tune slightly above absolute unison.
4. The predominant effect on the ear of a sharper over a flatter note,
causing a steady rise in the instruments susceptible of tuning.
On the first of these little time need be spent. Twelve fifths and six
major tones respectively exceeded seven octaves and the octave by the Pytha-
gorean comma (equal to 0.2346 of a semi-tone). The stringed instruments,
tuuing to the perfect untempered fifth, would have an obvious inclination to
exceed the octave, which did not exist on their instruments, and which was
not so closely guarded by painful dissonances as the smaller interval. The
second cause really only applied to the wood-wind—flutes, oboes, clarinets,
and bassoons. The brass instruments had unlimited power of tuning to
any pitch—the horns by crooks and slides, and the slide trumpet and trio of
trombones (which formed the only quartet of true intonation in the orchestra,
with the exception of the strings), by their power of varying the length of
their slides to any given degree by ear.
It was, therefore, from the wood-wind quarter that the main opposition
to a rational lowering of our present high pitch came. Flutes were com-
monly sharp, and the notes were so easy to modify in this respect by turning
the embouchure inwards or outwards from the lips, that it was difficult to
catch them tripping.
The oboe had the prescriptive right to tune the orchestra, derived pro-
bably from times when it was the only wind instrument present. It was,
however, easy to flatten as well as to sharpen, from its thin double reed;
indeed it often sank, after heavy playing, from the failure of the player's lip
muscles. The rise of the clarinet with heat was enormous, far greater than
was admitted by players. Between freezing point and the heat of a warm
concert-room (about 75 deg. F.) it amounted, from the speaker's experience,
to quite a semi-tone. Nor was it easy to flatten again, as the pulling out of
the mouthpiece acted with greater effect on the notes at the top than on
those at the lower part of the tube.
The bassoon, being an eight-foot tube, does not warm up so quickly or
so thoroughly, and in consequence is more under the player's control.
In all cases the difference of pitch, owing to the various seasons in our
changeable climate, required to be borne in mind: the winter pitch of a large
band like that at Covent Garden being considerably below their pitch in the
summer opera season. M. Mahillon, the eminent instrument maker of
Brussels, kept two harmoniums at an interval of more than a comma, for
tuning purposes; the flatter in winter, the sharper in summer. The free
reed of the harmonium had been already shown to vary very slightly with
changes of temperature.
The third point depended on the acknowledged difficulty of tuning to
unison. Indeed, the method had been totally discarded by Scheibler in his
later experiments. He found it far easier and more accurate to tune to an
intentional difference of four beats a second. There is apparently a small
space on either side of unison in which beats are so slow as to be unnoticed,
and to be differently estimated by different ears. This physiological fact
had already been noticed by the speaker in a former paper.
Mr. Hipkins, of Messrs. Broadwood's, had informed him that if two
pianos of different quality of tone, tuned by means of beats to absolute
unison, were successively tried by practised musicians, they invariably con-
sidered the softer and fuller toned instrument to be the flatter. In the case
of uncommon qualities of tone even serious dissonance might be overlooked,
as in the recent performances of a toy symphony at Covent Garden, where
the toys were at the normal diapason, and the accompanying instruments at
the high English pitch.
The predominant effect of a sharp note on the ear was another physio-
logical fact which should not be forgotten. It was this which caused con-
ductors to attack players in a band for flatness, but hardly ever for being
sharp. To this cause also was probably due the fact that solo stops, such
as tubas in organs, were usually voiced considerably higher than the accom-
panying diapasons. In the late Crystal Palace organ this defect was so pal-
pable that it formed the subject of complaint from the wind instrument
players themselves. The practical suggestions flowing out of the preced-
ing remarks might be briefly given:—
1. Conductors should use a free reed as their standard of pitch, in pre-
ference to a tuning fork.
2. They should tune downwards instead of upwards; noticing those play-
ers who were sharp instead of those who were a little flat, as the latter defect
tended to cure itself.
3. If great accuracy were required, as for an organ, the method of tun-
ing by consonance should be employed. In this the pipe or other instru-
ment was varied until a large tuning fork on its resonance box spoke by sym-
pathy.
4.. Some society or institution, like the one addressed, should undertake
the systematic tuning and pitching of instruments, on the system adopted
for weights and measures, and for thermometers at Kew.
Moritz Strakosch is forming an Italian operatic company, headed by
Mdlle. Rolandt, of Wiesbaden, for a tour in France, Italy, Spain, and
England.
De Ferrari and Monleone are forming a joint stock company in Genoa,
with a capital of half a million francs in shares of 20,000 francs each, to carry
on the Carlo Felice, Paganini, Doria, and Politeama.