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44 PAGES.
With which is Incorporated THE KEYNOTE.
VOL. XXV.
N o . 6.
Published Eyery Saturday at 3 East Fourteenth Street. New York, August 7,1897.
VERDI IN HIS OLD AGE.
This is the age of "grand old men,"
and Giuseppe Verdi is the grand old man
of music. At the age of four years above
four score Verdi is as bright mentally as
he was when he wrote " I I Trovatore,"
and if everything told about him be true
he is just as severe and uncompromising
as ever when he is wielding the baton.
They tell a story of him to illustrate
this trait. Not long ago he was con-
ducting an orchestra in a town in Italy.
The orchestra was a local one and each
of the players had his own ideas about
the importance of his own instrument
in concerted pieces. The drummer
had special notions concerning the
necessity that devolved upon him to
pound the sheep skin severely, to the
extent of drowning out the sound of
the other instruments.
Verdi's nerves suffered." Every vig-
orous thump caused his heart to bound
and his nerve centers to shrink.
Finally, unable to bear the strain,
the grand old man stopped the re-
hearsal.
"Give me that drum," he said in
peremptory tones, "and the sticks."
The frightened drummer gave up
the instrument.
"Now, go and seat yourself in the ;'i
parterre."
The drummer did as he was told.
But the maestro told him to go further
back. Then the orchestra was ordered
to resume the passage in which the
objectionable drumming occurred.
Verdi played the drum accompaniment
with a pretty little tap.
" Can you hear that ?"
" Yes, maestro."
Then the drummer was ordered up into
the first gallery, and Verdi continued his
gentle tapping. He again asked the drum-
mer if the tap was audible, and that per-
former was again forced to admit that it
was. Next Verdi sent him to the furthest
seat in the highest gallery, and tested his
capacity for hearing there. Of course, the
drummer saw the error of his ways, and
after that the master had no difficulty in
persuading the members of the orchestra to
play their parts as he desired them to.
Verdi will never permit any stranger to
be present while he is rehearsing. Indeed,
he will tolerate the presence of no one but
those who take part in the rehearsal. Once
when he was rehearsing "Falstaff" at La
Scala the great publisher, Sonzogno, wan-
dered into the theatre and sat down in the
parquet. The great leader's back was
turned, but he felt instinctively that some
GIUSEPPE
VERDI.
$3.00 PER YEAR.
SINGLE COPIES, 10 CENTS.
organist in Milan. His first work was a mus
ical drama, entitled "Oberto di San Boni-
fazio." The "Lombardi," the first of his
serious operas, made a strong impression in
Italy, and laid the foundation of his fame.
©
AN AIR "WITH A PAST."
An interesting history of an old ancP
well-known comic tune has been given
by a professor of music. He said that
when the army of the first Napoleon
was in Egypt in 1799 the camp for a
while was near the Pyramids.
One afternoon about sunset, the
band was playing. The inhabitants
of the desert had collected near, and
were listening to the music. Nothing
unusual happened until the band struck
up a tune which we now hear under the
name of "We won't go home till morn-
ing."
Instantly there was the wildest
demonstration of joy among the
Bedouins. They embraced each other,
and shouted and danced in the delirium
of their pleasure. The reason was
that they were listening to the favorite
and oldest tune of their people.
The professor states that the tune
had been taken to Europe from Africa
in the eleventh century by the Cru-
saders, and had lived separately in
both countries for over 700 years.
^•" This is certainly enough to make "We
won't go home till morning" a classic.
Its origin is more of a mystery than
the source of the Nile.
©
strange presence was in the place. With-
out turning he stopped the music and said
that somebody was in the parterre, and
asked who had opened the doors. Some
one explained who the great visitor was,
but Verdi would not resume the rehearsal
until he had left the house. Verdi has pe-
culiar ideas about matters of this kind. He
holds that a rehearsal is a purely private
consultation between himself and his or-
chestra, and that no one should be present
except those who are directly concerned.
When he upbraidsa performer for an error he
does not believe it should be done in public.
Verdi's life began among the lowly. His
father was an innkeeper at Rancala and
Giuseppe's first lessons were taken from an
A recent discovery in New Mexico is a
mysterious musical cavern. Sounds of an
orchestra playing "Nearer, My God, to
Thee," proceed from it. Hundreds of peo-
ple are said to have visited the place, but
fear and superstition have prevented an
examination to ascertain the real source of
the music.
0
The remains of Suppd, the composer of
"Boccaccio" and "Fatinitza," have been
transferred to a place in the musical corner
of the Viennese Cemetery, next to Her-
beck's grave, where a monument by the
sculptor Tautenhayn has been erected.
©
SenorManen, the young Spanish violinist,
will be heard in concert in New York the
coming season.