Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1897 Vol. 25 N. 14

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
MAINE MUSICAL FESTIVAL.
October will be a great month in Maine.
It will be made memorable by the occur-
rence of the greatest musical event that
has taken place in the East for several de-
cades. It is the Maine music festival; and
in the grandeur of its personnel and pro-
portions, it suggests the glorious Jubilee
concerts at Boston, which marked the re-
turn of peace to a long suffering nation and
people, and the echoes of those harmonies
were heard around the world. The Maine
festival will easily be in the same class,
musically and artistically, with the Peace
Jubilee. The Maine festival, or rather
festivals, will be held in two cities—at
Bangor, Oct. 14, 15 and 16, and at Port-
land, Oct. 18, 19 and 20—precisely the same
artists appearing and the same programs
being rendered in each city.
There will be a great chorus of 1,000
voices, selected from the principal cities of
Maine, supported by a grand orchestra of
seventy members, including soloists from
the celebrated Seidl orchestra of New York,
all under the direction of William R. Chap-
man of New York, director-in-chief, and
one of the most celebrated choral conduc-
tors in the country. At the head of the
list of artists is Madame Lillian Nordica,
and the following famous soloists will take
part in these concerts: Lillian Blauvelt,
Gwilym Miles, Grace G. Couch, Evan Wil-
liams, John Fulton, Hans Kronold, Carl E.
Dufft, Heinrich Meyn and Carlos Hassel-
brink. A local charm is given by repre-
sentative Maine soloists, including Ethel
Hyde, Lou Duncan Barney, Blanche Ding-
ley, Herman Kotzschmar, Lillian Carll-
smith, Edith M. Bradford, Mary A.
Kotzschmar, Fred G. Payne, Antonia Sav-
age Sawyer, Grace H. Barnum, Oscar E.
Wasgatt and others.
Five concerts will be given in each city,
three evening and two afternoons, as fol-
lows: First evening, oratorio; second even-
ing, opera; third evening popular music;
first afternoon, lecture, orchestra and so-
loists; second afternoon, Maine composers
and singers.
will not be neglected during the spring who makes the traveling arrangements,
season. The further announcement that and secures engagements for concerts.
Theodore Thomas is to bring his Chicago The usual duration of a trip is about three
Symphony Orchestra here for a single con- years. Few of the girls come to grief.
cert in March or April, assisted by Mme. Many help to support their parenUs with
Lillian Nordica, will be appreciated. The their earnings, while others bring back a
season will open with a vocal recital by dowry which facilitates marriage at home.
Mr. and Mrs. George Henschel, on
October 13.
Gasb, jeycbange, IRentefc, also
O
EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGES.
5ott> on J6ass payments
This is the season of the year when am-
bitious young men are planning to use
their leisure evenings for self culture. The
advantages offered by the West Side branch
of the Young Men's Christian Association,
318 West Fifty-seventh street, should have
a strong attraction for all who wish oppor-
tunities for improvement.
The building was erected last year at a
cost of over $550,000. The equipment
throughout is exceptionally fine. '1 he gym-
nasium has a floor surface of 52 by
THREE O O O R S W K T O F BROADWAY
109 feet, with skylight over head. There
is an elevated running track, a swimming
pool, bowling alleys and lockers with forced
ventilation. The instruction in gymnastics
given both afternoons and evenings in
graded classes will begin the first of Octo-
IT. "ST.
ber.
On Monday evening, October 4, the
All oar instruments contain the full iron frame and
whole building will be open for. inspection patent tuning pin. The greatest invention in the history
of piano making. Any radical changes in the climate, heat
to the public and the opening exercises or
dampness, cannot affect the standing in tone of our in-
of the evening educational classes will be struments, and therefore challenge the world that otu»
will excel any other
held in the large Auditorium. The sub-
jects taught are especially intended to help
young men to advancement in business:
arithmetic, penmanship, book-keeping,
commercial law, stenography, typewriting,
English grammar and composition, me-
chanical, architectural and industrial draw-
ing, electrical engineering. Subjects for
general culture are elocution, vocal music,
orchestra music, first aid to the injured.
On Tuesdays and Friday nights lectures,
concerts or social receptions will be given
in the auditorium or parlors.
The fee for membership is only $5.00
per year with small additional charges for
educational classes and gymnasium. Full
©
information concerning the work may be
MEDICATED
THE BROOKLYN INSTITUTE.
had of the secretary, Dr. D. E. Yarnell.
ARSENIC
Extensive plans have been laid by the
o
(OMPLEXION$OAP
department of music of the Brooklyn In-
GIRL ORCHESTRAS.
The constant use of FOULD'S MEDICATED ARSENIC
stitute for the fall and winter series of
Bohemia has ever been noted as a land COM
FLUXION MOAP realizes the FAIREST CO VI-
concerts. Perhaps through no department of itinerant musicians, and, according to a FLEXION. It i9 admirably adapted to preserve the health
of the SKIN and SCALP of INFANTS and CHILDREN
to prevent minor blemishes or inherited skin diseases
does the Institute exert a greater influence German periodical, Der Tourist, the latest and
becoming chronic. As a shaving soap it is far superior to
than through the department of music, specialty of that country is the forming of any now on the market.
FOULD'S* MEDICATED ARSENIC SOAP purifies and
the pores of the skin and imparts activity to the
which seeks to cover its particular field girl orchestras, which make tours to all invigorates
oil glands and tubes, thus furnishing an outlet for unwhole-
matter, which, if retained, would create PI.M I'LES,
comprehensively. The work of this de- parts of the world. The center of this art- some
BLA( KHEA1)», HASHKW, and other complexional blem-
The gentle and continuous action on these natural
partment will begin considerably earlier industry is the town Pressnitz, where there ishes.
lubricators of the skin keeps the latter TRANSPARENT,
FLEXIBLE and II fr.ALTHY, and cures or pre-
than last year, while an even greater vari- is a special conservatory for young women SOFT,
vents KOUI'H, CKUKKI), or SCALY SKIN, and
lessens TAN, SUNBURN, PIMPLE*, FRE< K-
ety of high-grade entertainment will be who are anxious to become members of speedily
LES, MOTH, LIVER SPOTS, REDNESS, and all
blemishes known to science, whether on the FACE, NECK,
offered. There will be a series of autumn such bands. Most of the girls are said to ARMS,
or BODY.
song recitals by eminent artists; parallel be pretty, and as they are well taken care
series of chamber music concerts, and a of, the daughters of officials, doctors, THERE IS NO OTHER SOAP LIKE IT ON EARTH FOR
LIKE PURPOSE.
winter series of mingled*piano and violin teachers, and even clergymen, do not TRY IT AND BE A CONYINCED
OF ITS WONDER-
FUL ME HITS.
recitals. The Boston Symphony Orchestra hesitate to join these organizations. A
WE GUARANTEE EVERY CAKE WE SELL TO
ENTIRE SATISFACTION OR REFUND THE
will give ten concerts instead of nine, but further inducement lies perhaps in the fact GIVE
MONEY.
FOULD'S MEDICATED ARSENIC COMPLEXION
the hours will be transposed, the matinees that not a few never return, having found SOAP
is sold by druggists in every city in the world. We
send it by mail securely sealed, on receipt of price, 50c.
being given on Fridays and the evening husbands in foreign lands. When a new also
When ordering by mail address
concerts on Saturdays. Rosenthal, Ysaye band is made up, the girls are carefully
and Guilmant will appear in special recital selected for their proficiency on their chosen
concerts, while choral and oratorio music instruments, and a manager is employed, Room 3.
214 6th Avc, NEW YORK.
C0.
H. B. FOULD,
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
TRANSCENDENTAL HUSIC.
I think that the refined and sensitive
artistic mind naturally recoils from the
vulgarly obvious and clear in art; it pre-
fers the vague and suggestive shadowy
visions which incite the dreamer's own
mind to the work of creation, rather than
hurl facts at it. This is particularly the
case during the enthusiastic years of stu-
dentship, and is probably the reason why
the art of composition is hard to learn and
so hard to teach. In the dissection of
one's vaguest artistic imaginings into dead
fragments of mathematical shape, in the
building up by icy law and passionless
principle a vital emotional form, there is
something 1 incongruous, something repug-
nant to the youthful artist. He finds it
hard, even impossible, to believe that his
untaught efforts are quite valueless, and
that ideas will only come when the lan-
guage to express them has been mastered.
As Browning so beautifully describes a
young poet:
"At first I sang as I in dreams have seen
Music wait on a lyrist r for some thought,
Yet singing to herself until it came."
Transcendental music is indeed music
waiting "for some thought." If the stu-
dent's intellectual faculties are not—how
shall I say?—on friendly terms with his
artistic faculties, if he persists in believ-
ing that art is a heavenly inspiration, not
amenable to gross theories of A and B, he
is in danger of becoming a confirmed tran-
scendentalist. The gift of an extremely
fine ear (which is the same thing as " a
talent for music") may save him, but if he
has only a moderate musical capacity, and
ideas do not easily present themselves, or
differentiate themselves from non-ideas,he
is of the stuff of which transcendentalists
are made. This is the kind of a man who
says—having written something unusually
crude—"That is how I imagined it, and I
can't alter it." Why, your real or properly
educated musician can put his thought in
a hundred different lights, and what we
call his genius lies in the swiftness and
certainty with which he can decide which
is the best. The young man who cannot
alter what he has written should be made
to write variations constantly until he
learns to rule his ideas—not let them rule
him. People who try to work in a fine
frenzy are, in fact, "duffers." Only this
vulgar epithet is suitable to so vulgar a
class. Not that the fine frenzy itself is
bad or anything but a lofty emotion; with-
out enthusiasm and poetic ardor, our com-
positions would come down to the igno-
minious level of the exercise cantata, than
which there is no lower artistic depth; but
the musician must not trust to his feelings
for assistance in composition.
Critics-
they are, none better, but nothing else.
Comparison with the works of your great
predecessors is your only beacon-light, yet
a transcendentalist said to me once—"I
don't want to hear any more music for fear
of being influenced by it and so writing
what is not original." It was useless to in-
quire of such a wrong-headed creature
what his idea of original music was, but I
did ask him if he thought he
could have written better if he
had never heard or known of
any music whatever, and he
said, "Yes." Certainly if he
composed anything under those
circumstances it would be more
interesting than are his present
works. But, it will be argued,
there are certain men who can-
not be reproached for not hav-
ing studied, who yet write
vague or transcendental music
deliberately and of malice afore-
thought.
What shall be said
of these? Truly these men
may have studied, but that they
have studied enough is what I
absolutely deny. A person
with the hand of a laborer, ill-
formed and stiff, can be brought
to play the pianoforte by ju-
dicious and long training: one
of the very greatest of present-
day pianists is an instance in
point. But others with his de-
fect, lacking the resolution to
overcome it, remain with a
wooden touch all their lives.
XAVER SCHARWENKA,
Berlioz, with all his artistic The noted pianist who will be soloist at three of the Chickering Concerts.
temperament, can have had
but little, if any, natural gift
for composition.
He studied hard, but ignoring all sense and meaning, like the
under protest. Is it not unnatural that he tyro's first chaotic attempt to compose an
should never have learned to play any in- oratorio. In the one case the obscurity
strument decently? How can a man com- comes from a too great amount of ideas, in
pose who cannot improvise? He studied the other from an almost total lack of these
hard, but if he had studied ten-times necessary articles. The great masters, in-
harder his compositions would assuredly deed, are on rare occasions obscure; but
have been at least twice as clear. Liszt, as we feel the force of Poe's words, says a
a boy, seems to have shown considerable writer in an exchange, when we contem-
aptitude for composition, but he never plate, say, the slow movement of Beetho-
tried to develop it; consequently his ven's Pianoforte Concerto in G, the most
music, poetic in conception, gorgeous in shadowy thing he ever wrote. The means
coloring, is often deficient in aim and con- taken to attain this intentional and ex-
struction. To say that Liszt wrote with- quisite dreaminess of outline are obvious;
out plan would be incorrect. He took two it is a glorified recitative,a poetic dialogue
or three-minute phrases—often some one between the solo instrument and the or-
else's—and endeavored to build with them chestra. Actual shape, beyond this, it has
a large design ; but how can ideas be am- none; but the phrases follow one another
plified and expanded without the aid of in natural sequence, as opposed to the
other ideas? Wagner is sometimes ob- hysterical breakings off and recommence-
scure—never incoherent. The vaguest ments in another key of, say, Liszt's"Ham-
thing he ever wrote was a concerted piece let," or even "Les Preludes." Chopin
in the third act of "Lohengrin," always shows how the utmost refinement of poeti-
omitted in performance. The wildest cal sentiment is not incompatible with the
scenes in the "Nibelung Ring" and "Par- simplest of dance forms,and his rare lapses
sifal" become perfectly intelligible with a into obscurity {e.g., the first movement of
little careful study. Yes, the great mas- the Violoncello Sonata) are only caused by
ters are sometimes obscure, but there is his struggling with a task beyond his pow-
just the difference between them and the ers, like a young poet trying to write a
transcendentalists as exists between, say, sonnet and getting hopelessly hampered
Browning and Blake. "Sordello" is hard by the required rhymes.
©
to understand, but it has a simple story
SARCASfl.
hidden beneath a crushing wealth of de-
Baron Haussmann was a fellow pupil
tail, like a symphony by Brahms. "The
with
Berlioz at the Paris Conservatory, then
Mental Traveler" sounds like poetry, but
under
the direction of Cherubini. Berlioz
it is the work of one writing by ear and
{Continued on page T6).
TEACHERS WANTED!
Over 4,000 vacancies—several times as many vacancies as members. Must have more members. Several plans ; two
plans give free registration ; one plan GUARANTEES positions. 10 cents pays for book, containing plans and a {500.00
love story of College days. No charge to employers for recommending teachers.
SOUTHERN TEACHERS' BUREAU.
S. W. Cor. Main & 3d Sts., Louisville, Ky.
\ Rev. Dr. O. M. B u t t o n A.M. I
S U T T O N T E A C H E R S ' BUREAU,
I
PRKSIDINT .AND MANAGER
I 69-71 Dearborn Street, Cicago, II].
Northern vacancies Chicago Office.
Southern vacancies Louisville Office.
One ee registers in both offices.

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