Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1897 Vol. 24 N. 14

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
TELEPHONE NUnBER, 1745—EIGHTEENTH STREET.
The musical supplement to The Review is
published on the first Saturday of each month.
The past season has evidently been an
"off" one in the matter of grand opera.
With the exception of New York, the West-
ern and Southern cities have been as chary
in their welcome as they have been in
monetary support.
This applies to both
the Abbey, Schoeffel & Grau and Damrosch
companies.
The services of a seer are not necessary
to understand the why and wherefore of
this. The fact of the matter is the schedule
of prices must be changed and at once unless
opera is for the " exclusive few." We have
gone through a severe commercial depres-
sion in this country which compelled most
everyone to be economical in expenditures.
Grand opera managers must have been
aware of this. Then why wail because the
public failed to pay an unreasonable tariff?
The proof that prices are at the bottom
of the unsuccessful tour of the Grand Opera
Co. was demonstrated in Chicago. At reg-
ular prices the season was an appalling fias-
co.
When prices were reduced to a popu-
lar basis, the Auditorium was crowded to
the doors. The managers did not, however,
make the change soon enough. That was
one of several lessons they have learned
recently.
The popular success of opera in this city
or elsewhere in the future depends on giv-
ing opera at prices that will not be extrava-
gant. In this connection we are entirely in
sympathy with the views of Mr. De Koven,
who said recently : "Were the Abbey-Grau
syndicate to cut prices in two, pay their
artists accordingly, engage the best artists
they could under the circumstances, not
losing sight of the fact that the public is be-
ginningto show an interest in native talent,
and put themselves frankly and unreserved-
ly into the hands of the public on whom
they must depend for support, the present
rather precarious operatic situation would
be solved and an era of success both finan-
cial and artistic inaugurated at the Metro-
politan."
Q
The Board of Education is contemplat-
ing appointing a director of music for the
public schools of this city. An excellent
move truly. In this connection there is a
movement on foot to further the candidacy
of Mr. Frank Damrosch for the position.
A number of prominent men have ad-
dressed a communication to President
Hubbell, of the Board, in which he is
highly commended as a musician and as a
teacher.
Mr. Damrosch is certainly well fitted for
the position, and we trust that the Board
will see fit to appoint him. He has splen-
didly demonstrated his ability as conductor
of the People's Singing Classes. Out of
raw material—composed almost entirely
of the wage-earning classes of this city—
he has obtained marvelous results. Mr.
Damrosch's success in this connection has
been frequently commented on publicly.
At the last public concert of the People's
Singing Classes and Choral Union, the
chorus numbered two thousand voices, and
the manner in which all concerned acquitted
themselves was the best possible evidence
of their conductor's skill.
There is immediate need for such a man
as Mr. Damrosch as director of music for
the public schools; the present system is
an absolute failure and needs thorough re-
vision.
o
The problem involved in the popularity
of the music halls is no new one. Mme.
Bernhardt expressed the opinion some time
ago, that the public was driven to variety
houses by the excessive prices charged in
the homes of the legitimate. In spite of
her claims to respect as an authority, she
does not explain everything. A musical
authority writing upon this question seems
to come nearer to the facts of the case. He
says: "The popularity is due to the pre-
vailing freedom, to the absence of conven-
tional respectability, to the determination
of the artists to please, and of the audiences
to enjoy themselves." But he goes fur-
ther: "The skill of the gentleman who jug-
gles is not very unlike the technical skill of
Paderewski or Rosenthal; and when Rosen-
thai and Paderewski play to astonish and
are not interpreting they are on precisely
his level. Rightly to estimate the piano
virtuoso it is absolutely necessary to have
seen and considered the virtuoso on such in-
struments as a set of ivory balls, the silk
hat of commerce, the candle and the candle-
stick, the lighted cigar and cigar holder, and
so forth." But itispossible to go even fur-
ther than this. There is no telling what effect
the problem play,withitseternal wearisome-
ness, has had in driving sensible persons to
the music hall. There, at least, it was not
necessary to analyze motive, or dissect con-
duct. There is nothing ethical in the flight
from a trapeze into a net, or the chorus of a
good song. When the theatre takes on
the aspect of a matter of serious thought,
the crowd will take its ease at a variety en-
tertainment.
0
A personally conducted study tour of the
old world will be undertaken next June
under the personal guidance of Mr. W.
Waugh Lauder of Chicago. The tour,
which will cover a period of sixty-eight
days, is for the advantage of the young
graduate, professor, music student, singer,
pianist and amateur hungry for knowledge.
Musical amateurs or college clubs can join
the pilgrimage; in fact many are already
interested at this early day. All of the
great art centers of the old world will be
visited and every opportunity afforded for
viewing places of interest to musicians.
A stay of sufficient length will be made in
Bayreuth to permit of attending the per-
formances of the second cycle of Der Ring
des Nibelungen. Mr. Lauder, assisted by
others, will deliver a series of lectures en
route on the different places to be visited.
Such an interesting vacation trip will no
doubt be eagerly taken advantage of.
M. Alexis Chavanne, doctor of medicine
and maker of verse, has emitted a thin vol-
ume of maxims. Here are a few:
The social instinct finds its expression
among us in words, among the Americans
in works.
History is the product of two factors:
First, the eternal law of things; second,
man, who eternally misinterprets it.
Inequality of condition among men comes
of inequality of powers. Bring these to
equilibrium and you have the state of
rest; there is neither movement nor life.
Meditate this point: Liberty and equal-
ity are two opposite, irreconcilable terms
of thought. The only possible condition
of equality is that of equal servitude.
Happiness? Stick to your aim and get
there.
And afterward? Afterward begin over
again.
©
There is a romantic story going the
rounds about Rosenthal, the celebrated pi-
anist, which could be utilized effectively by
some of our light novelists, opera librettists
or dramatists. It seems that when Rosen-
thal was taken ill in Chicago, a young wo-
man of rare beauty answered the call for a
nurse, and she performed her duties with
such solicitude and extreme devotion that
through her efforts he was nursed back to
life from what seemed to be an almost fatal
illness. The fair young nurse accompanied
Rosenthal to California during his conval-
esence and it is now rumored that the pi-
anist and his good nurse are engaged to be
married. Furthermore, it appears that the
young woman is not only pretty but the
daughter of a Western millionaire. She
was a steady attendant at Rosenthal's re-
citals and was so smitten with his charms
that she adopted this romantic means of
proving her affection. Verily, this is "just
too sweet for anything."
Minnie Maddern Fiske has found in Stod-
dard's dramatization of Hardy's novel
" Tess of the D'Urbervilles " which is still
running at the Fifth Avenue Theatre, a
medium through which to reach all sorts of
people from the critical to the careless.
Mrs. Fiske is an actress possessing abilities
that amount to genius, and in no play
does she demonstrate her gifts and accom-
plishments as in the title role of this
drama. Her characterization is so human,
so real, so truly artistic that it will not
soon be forgotten. Were a foreign actress
to acquit herself as capably as Mrs. Fiske
in this role, our critics would devote col-
umns instead of inches to praise, but that
is the way of the world. The company
supporting Mrs. Fiske is a strong one, Mr.
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
Chas. Coghlan coming from England es-
pecially to play the part of Alec D'Urber-
ville. This production places Mrs. Fiske
right in the front rank of the many clever
actresses of our day.
o
vStephen Collins Foster, the Pennsylvania-
Irish bard and balladist, was the subject of
an interesting paper read recently by Rev.
Dr. Henry C. McCook in which he said
that the pathetic songs written by Foster
and sung all over the country were a pow-
erful factor in arousing sentiment against
slavery, and as they were popular in the
South as elsewhere, they brought a feeling
of consideration for the slaves in all that
land. "Foster sang away the idea of hu-
man chattels," he said in conclusion, "and
thus disposed of the idea that men and
women could be bought and sold. His bal-
lads softened the relations of lives in the
border States and drew the hearts of the mas-
ter and theslave closer together. Who could
sing 'Nellie Gray' and not feel strongly the
injustice of human slavery ? I regret to say
that nowhere has a monument been raised
to Stephen Collins Foster, who has done so
much for American minstrelsy. I hope
Pittsburg, the town in which he was born
and which he loved so well, will soon rec-
tify the wrong."
0
In connection with the "know nothing"
agitation so actively prosecuted by some of
the musical papers we notice they fail to
report the wide recognition accorded Ameri-
can artists abroad. This, however, is hardly
surprising for it would make the ammuni-
tion harmless which they are discharging in
such quantities. Any one who follows the
European papers must be impressed with
the distinction which our musicians are
winning in the artistic centers of the old
world. The fight against high salaries is
commendable and entirely merited,-but
the cry against artists because they are for-
eigners will not and should not be serious-
ly considered by an enlightened and pro-
gressive American public,
o
There is a beautiful and suggestive story
told of an old musician and his pupil which
we can all afford to take to heart. "Why,"
asked the master, "have you come back to
Bqlogna? You are already the most accom-
plished singer in the world." "Because,"
answered the pupil, " I feel that I have not
yet fairly begun to know how to sing."
"Ah," replied his teacher, "that is what
none of us will ever know in this world;
for when we are young we have the voice,
but not the art, and when we are old we
have the art, but not the voice."
©
We are pleased to notice that the teach-
ing of music in the public schools has been
receiving the attention it deserves from
musicians and writers during the past win-
ter. At the present time, progress, or
really satisfactory results are impossible
in this branch of education as long as a
standard of excellence is not required of
teachers, also by reason of the absence of a
uniform system in the method of teaching.
Much has been done, it is true, in recent
ing delightful quotations from the poet's
journal:
April 20—"When an author is entering
the dreary confines of old age, and the crit-
ics begin to cry 'Go up, thou bald-head! '
it is not strange that he should want to let
0
the bears loose upon them." May 7—"Af-
Paderewski has decided not to appear at ter the holidays the old mill begins to grind
any pianoforte recital in London this again; and I, one of the millers, my hair
spring. He will play Mackenzie's new white with meal, pour in the grist, and
open and shut the gate, and try to sing
fantasia at the Philharmonic, and at the amid the din and clatter." May 27—"As I
Crystal Palace on March 20 he performed was standing at my front door this morning
Chopin's F minor concerto and Liszt's con- a lady in black came up and asked: 'Is this
certo in E flat. He will also give six reci- the house where Longfellow was born?'
tals in the provinces, but his appearances 'No; he was not born here.' 'Did he die
here? ' 'Not yet.' 'Are you Longfellow?'
in England will be strictly limited to those 'I am.' 'I thought you died two years
engagements. Paderewski proposes to pay ago.'"
0
London a somewhat longer visit than usual
Bertha Pierson, who was one of the dra-
in the autumn, when he will give one or matic sopranos at the Royal Opera in Ber-
more recitals and will also tour under the lin for a long time, and who appeared in
management of Mr. Adlington.
thiscountry with the American Opera Com-
0
pany, has announced her final retirement.
The Metropolitan Opera Co. will give a Frau. Schroder-Hanfstaengl, who sang here
series of farewell performances in the during the days of the old German regime
Metropolitan, beginning with "Faust" on at the Metropolitan Opera House, has also
the night of April 12; "Siegfried" will fol- followed suit, making her last appearance
low on Wednesday night, and on Friday in Frankfort in " Les Huguenots." She
"Carmen" will be the night's bill. The has been thirty years a singer. She in-
opera for the Saturday matinee has not yet tends to devote herself to teaching,
been chosen, but it will be some work in
o
which Mme. Jean and MM. Ed. De Reszke,
The fifth annual meeting of the Kansas
Lassalle and Mme Calve will appear. It Musical Jubilee will be held in Hutchinson,
will be their farewell performance and last May 18 to 21. Two thousand dollars will
appearance. An opera will also be given be given away in prizes. Prof. F. W. Root
on Saturday night at popular prices, the of Chicago will act as judge of the vocal
same as during the regular season, and on contests. Prof. Allen H. Spencer, of the
Sunday night, April 18, the only concert American Conservatory of Music, Chicago,
will be given.
has been secured to act as adjudicator of
o
the instrumental department. The jubilee
Commenting on the effort made in this heretofore has been very successful and we
country to control or do away with the the- have every reason to believe it will be more
atre hat nuisance, a London paper brings so this year.
©
the historic fact to light that at the
Carlyle had not a very great opinion of
time when the public were crowding musicians, judging from the following re-
to Handel's oratorios, as given under mark which he made to Joachim: "They
his direction, ladies were requested to seem a vain, windbaggy sort of people."
leave their hoops at home and gentlemen Carlyle cannot be accepted as an infallible
to put their swords in the ante-room; authority, but many will agree that this
whereby it was made possible to crowd opinion is not farfetched.
several hundred more hearers into a hall.
O.
O
Richard Mansfield has in preparation a
Rosenthal has definitely concluded not to new play called "Mozart," based on the
appear in America again this season. He life of the great composer. It is said that
will leave for Europe the middle of this "Don Giovanni" plays an important part
month and rest at his country home in in the play. This will be one of the first
Abbazzio. He will go to London during plays ever prodiiced treating of the lives of
the season in June for a limited number of the great masters of music.
concerts, remain in Switzerland during the
0
summer, and return to the United States
Yerdi is at work on an oratorio and not an
early in September to begin his season on opera as was reported some time since. He
the Pacific coast in the beginning of Octo- is working on it leisurely, however, and it
ber.
will not be ready for a long time to come.
years in'the matter of raising the standard
of music in public schools, but much re-
mains to be done, and the general interest
now excited should be prolific of good re-
sults. We sincerely trust it will.
©
Dr. Holmes is remembered both for his
poetic genius and for his delightful gift
of humor, but probably his fame relies
more on the latter than on the former ac-
complishment. With Longfellow the case
is far different. He will always be the
poet of lofty thought, apparently disdain-
ing all that would appeal to the risibilities.
Yet the poet had a high sense of humor,
and his wit was as sparkling as champagne.
In an interesting article on Longfellow's
humor, Dr. J. E. Rankin makes the follow-
0
Mme. Teresa Carreiio will give her next
recital on Tuesday afternoon, April 27,
in Carnegie Music Hall. On this occasion
she will play one of her most brilliant pro-
grams, a number of the compositions be-
ing entirely new to the New York public,
o
It is said that M. Jean Lassalle has pur-
chased the French rights of Herbert &
Smith's opera, "The Serenade," from
Messrs. Barnabee and McDonald, of the
Bostonians.

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