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VOL.
XVIII. No. 18.
published Every Saturday.
*
f/eu/ Yoi% pfovember 25, 1693.
THE WEEK'S
SUMMARY
FOUND IN THIS NUMBER.
OUR £UROP£AN
BUDGET,
M. PADEREWSKI—GOUNOD'S UNPUBLISHED SONGS
—M. MASS ART IN A ROLE TO TRY ONE'S SOUL
—LEONCAVALLO'S NEW OPERA — M.
TSCHAIKOWSKY'S DEATH — T H E
HANDEL FESTIVAL FOR 1894—
THE ROYAL ORATORIO
SOCIETY.
SCHUMANN'S OPERA BY THE STUDENTS OF THE
ROYAL COLLEGE OF MUSIC—THE SARASATE
CONCERT — BANQUET IN HONOR OF
MUSIC—ADVERTISING 'STIMULATED
BY M. PADEREWSKI — PIANO
TRADE IMPROVING.
LONDON,
November ioth, 1893.
DEAR MUSIC TRADE REVIEW :
M. Paderewski has evidently taken London
by storm. At St. James's Hall, on Tuesday,
over ,£1,050 represented the money value of the
audience, and how much was refused it is im-
possible to say. People began to arrive about
half past ten, so that they had to wait four
hours and a half before the entertainment com-
menced. And all this to hear one man play the
pianoforte for two hours. M. Paderewski, re-
ports say, was hard at work practising until
nearly four in the morning, that he might do
justice to his fervid English admirers. He was,
to my mind, least satisfactory in Beethoven, and
altogether unapproachable in the music of his
compatriot, Chopin.
The success of his provincial tour exceeds all
precedents. It was a regular triumph. In each
city he well might say, li veni, vidi, via." M.
Paderewski will play in Dublin on the n t h ,
where he is sure of receiving an enthusiastic re-
ception from a large musical clientele in Ire-
land's capitol.
GOUNOD'S UNPUBLISHED SONGS.
It is stated that Gounod has left a number of
unpublished works. Among the latest of these,
according to the Gaulois, are a song entitled
"Aveu," to words by Jean Rameau, and a
third " Ave Maria," written in September last,
in honor of the birthday of his daughter,
Does Copyright Proteot ?
Morris Steinert's Book.
Helmholtz to Steinway.
Todd Betires.
Ney & Forshay Assign. ^~
Braumuller's Affairs.
Success of the Conover.
Recent Patents.
Miller & Hutchinson Assign.
Gleitz, of Washington.
About Mahogany.
Exports and Imports.
Stratton & Scribner.
Vose & Son's Success.
Sohmer's Gold Piano.
Europe at a Glance.
Conn on the Tariff.
Business With Hallet & Davis.
The Pullman Piano Co.
Trial of Lewis.
Schimmel Nelson Co. Enlarge.
Lindegreen Sells.
Madame de Lassus. The first, and by far the
most famous and successful " Ave Maria" is
that adopted to Bach's prelude. A few years
ago a humorous dictionary of musical biography
was published in Germany, in which it was
said of Bach that his sole title to fame was the
fact that he had supplied an accompaniment to
a famous melody by Gounod.
Right here, in London, Phillips & Page, of
Oxford Market, are publishing what they pro-
claim to be Gounod's last English song, " When
the Children Pray." As a matter of course
there will be quite a number to come.
M. MASSART IN A RoLE TO TRY ONE'S SOUL.
I hear that a grievous drama, unsuspected by
the spectators, took place the other evening at
Brussels, while the opera of " Le Prophete "
was being played. Just at the moment when
Massart, the well-known tenor, who was taking
the part of Jean de Leyden, was to sing his
adieux to his mother Fides, a messenger came
to tell him that his mother, aged eighty-four
years, was dying. What should he do ? Leave
$3 00 PER YEAR.
SINGLE COPIES, 10 CENTS.
the theatre, or go on with the scene ? Massart
observed his professional duty, and when he
came to the part when he was to sing '' I wish
to see my mother, my darling mother," his
anxiety became so great that the tears rolled
over his cheeks, and the spectators, touched by
this moving expression of filial-love, which they
considered only acting, broke out in long and
reiterated applause. When M. Massart returned
into the coulisses, he was perfectly overcome,
and could not reply to the congratulations on
his success which his friends came immediately
afterward to ofFer him.
LEONCAVALLO'S NEW OPERA.
Some of our well-known musicians, including
Sir Augustus Harris, have left for Milan, to be
present at the first performance of Leoncavallo's
new opera, " I Medici." In a conversation with
a German author the other day, Signor Leon-
cavallo said : '• I followed in the shining foot-
steps of the great master, Wagner, in my first
work, but I now go my own way. I have turned
from legend to truth and to history. I do not
want to produce an opera after the style of
Meyerbeer's ' Les Huguenots,' but a work which
might be absolutely true. In ' I Medici,' the
plot is strictly historical, and many parts of the
text are taken from historical sources. The pre-
liminary work, the collecting of material, oc-
cupied me many years. The ' Medici ' is the
first part of a trilogy which embraces the period
of the Italian renaissance, and is to lend it a
dramatic and musical embodiment. The second
part will be called 'Jerome Savonarola,' the
third, ' Cesare Borgia.' For this third part your
celebrated countryman, Gregorovius, gives me
some valuable material. It will take six years
for me to complete the second part of my
trilogy." " Were you prompted by Wagner's
example to write the poetical text of your operas
yourself? " asked the interviewer.
" Most
certainly. Wagner's music and text melt into
one in such perfection as will never be attained.
It would also be quite impossible for me to put
another person's words to music. I do not
understand how anything truly artistic can be
produced in that way. With me, words and
tones come gushing forth together. Of course,
while I am writing the text, only the frame-
work, the skeleton, of the music is formed in
my mind. The working out of it comes later.
I never set down a musical inspiration at once
on paper, but keep it in my memory, which is
excellent. I dislike crossing out, or working
out anything again. I have the passages of the
composition in my head till I write them down,
finished to the last note."
M. TSCHAIKOWSKY'S DEATH.
Tschaikowsky's death has been received with
expressions of sincere regret by the British
musical public. His departure narrows down
the few great composers, and concentrates the
public mind on them. Who the great coni-
{Continued
on page
6.)