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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
TELEPHONE NUMBER, 1745—EIGHTEENTH STREET.
The musical supplement to The Review is
published on the first Saturday of each month.
NOTED VIRTUOSOS COMING.
Four pianists of international repute,
two of whom haveneveryet appeared in this
country, will be heard in concert the com-
ing season. One of the most interesting of
the newcomers is M. Raoul Pugno, the
French pianist. In Paris he is compared
to Rubenstein, but as the French critics
are notoriously poor judges of piano play-
ing, M. Pugno's first audience in this coun-
try will be a curious one. He appeared
several years ago in London, and was there
received with much enthusiasm. He is
acknowledged to be a composer of more
than ordinary merit, his sonata in D minor
being an especially graceful and well writ-
ten work. Several years ago he was re-
ported to be at work on an opera, the
libretto of which was to be by Alphonse
Daudet. He has also written the music
for a number of pantomimes and ballets,
and is professor of harmony in the Con-
servatoire of Paris.
M. Pugno's principal rival in the piano
field will be MoritzRosenthal, who returns
to this country to finish the concert tour
that was so unfortunately interrupted by
his illness. He is Paderewski's "only
rival" and by a great many is believed to
be even greater than the blonde Pole. An-
other pianist, new to this country, is Siloti.
He has a big reputation in Europe and
made a hit last season in London. He was
one of Liszt's favorite pupils, having lived
in the house with the great pianist and
acted as his secretary for a number of
years. The group of pianists is completed
by Sieveking, with the steel fingers, whose
admirable work last season won him a
host of new friends and admirers.
pianists and violinists. Paderewski ap-
peals more to women than to men, and
d'Albert more to men than to women; Sara-
sate is particularly a feminine violinist,
whereas Joachim and Ysaye are not. In
order to disarm gathering indignation, I
may as well say that by masculine and
feminine I do not refer to the mere acci-
dent as to whether a human being is born
a man or a woman, but to the essential
cast of mind and temperament, and the
word woman is to be taken as applying to
many who go about the world in the guise
of manhood, and the word man to many
who speak to us in the voice of women and
angels."
0
OPERA FOR NEXT SEASON.
The Damrosch opera season will open in
Philadelphia on Nov. 29. C. A. Ellis, Mr.
Damrosch's business partner, who recently
arrived from abroad, said to a newspaper
correspondent that Mme. Melbamay arrive
in the United States early in November.
"We shall open the opera season soon after
she arrives," said Mr. Ellis. "After the
season closes in London she will go to
Bergamo to take part in the Donizetti cen-
tenary in the latter part of August and the
first of September. Then she will return
to England, where, in October, she will go
on a concert tour of three weeks.
"Alvarez has not been engaged, but I
think that we have a tenor who is destined
to create a sensation here. His name is
Ibos. He has sung in Paris, although he
does not come directly from there. For
the last two seasons he has been in Madrid.
He is a young man, I should say about
thirty-two, and a fine dramatic singer.
Bimboni will share the conductor's desk
with Mr. Damrosch. Mr. Damrosch will
conduct the German opera. We have
twenty operas in our repertoire, and Melba
may appear in a number of new roles.
We have engaged the Metropolitan Opera
House for our season. Mr. Grau told me
in London that there was to be no opera
there during the season."
0
Clarence Eddy, the famous organist of
Chicago, who recently gave a recital at the
Trocadero in Paris, has been warmly com-
©
plimented by Parisian organists and musi-
MASCULINE AND FEniNINE IN MUSIC.
cians. His program on the occasion em-
Roughly, one can divide composers into braced all schools.
two classes: that which appeals to men,
©
and that which appeals to women. Among
THE PIANO ACCOHPANIST.
the first a writer in a London paper puts
Few listeners have any adequate com-
Brahms, Bach, Beethoven, Wagner, and prehension of the arduous and responsi-
•Schumann, and among the second, Men- ble duties devolving upon the person who
delssohn, Grieg, and Chopin. Some com- is modestly placed as accompanist. The
posers appeal to both men and women, as requirements of an accompanist are numer-
Wagner. He says: " I am not at all sure ous and varied and demand a much greater
that women really care for what is best in amount of attention and study than is
his music. They like his emotion, but generally supposed or than the exponent
do they admire his solidity, the richly of the art of accompanying is credited with
embroidered purple of his harmony, the giving. A distinguished writer and an
wondrous web of his polyphony, the sombre authority says he must be a quick and ac-
emphasis of his declamation? All women curate reader, able to readily grasp the
like Chopin, on the other hand, just as intention of the composer as in progress
very few women really care for Beethoven the ideas of the composition are unfolded.
unless they be educated musicians—for To this end the phrasing must be correct,
education balances the influence of sex. and the quality of the touch employed
Then there are masculine and feminine must be such as will produce the tone re-
quired to properly represent the sentiment
expressed by the composer.
While having a fairly decided conception
of his own, he must be prepared to absorb
the conception felt by the soloist, and so
mold his own ideas that they blend with
those of the soloist and form a complete
and well developed background to the
musical picture of which the solo is the cen-
tral figure. In carrying out this design
great care is necessary, so that the soloist
receives just the proper amount of support.
The accompaniment should not force or
override the solo; neither must it be of that
dragging character which causes the singer
to feel as if pulling a heavy burden up a
steep incline. To preserve this "happy
medium " is the crucial test of a true ac-
companist, and the possession of such abil-
ity may well condone the lack of some other
traits. For the time being soloist and ac-
companist should be as one. To accomplish
this desirable result the player should have
as complete knowledge of the composition
as the singer.
While he must be a correct timist, it is
necessary to possess that flexibility of
temperament that will enable him to flow
along with the principal through bars of
ever changing value,'irrespective of what
the time signature may be. Of course he
must be able to transpose to meet the re-
quirements of pianos of incorrect pitch or
the effect of the weather upon the voice of
the soloist.
MUSIC IN THE PARKS.
The quality of the programs furnished
by the bands in the different city parks
during the summer is a perennial subject
for discussion. We notice that the daily
papers contain the usual quota of letters
complaining of the prevalence of musical
twaddle, and the absence of classical music,
which a number of well meaning and in-
telligent citizens consider essential to the
"elevation of the masses."
It seems to us that it is between the so-
ealled "twaddle" and the ^"classics"—the
happy medium—that the bandmaster can
find the correct "prescription" or program
to effect the necessary "elevation" and to
please the public.
Up to recent date—and we say "recent
date" advisedly, for Neyer's Sunday pro-
gram in Central Park is a big improvement
over that of his predecessor's—many band-
masters apparently overlooked, as they do
to-day, that in order to be "popular" it is
not necessary to descend to vulgarity.
There is not a musician of note in the world
who would dare to raise his voice against
music that is essentially popular. Beeth-
oven founded his great symphonies upon a
simple melody. But there is a great gulf
fixed between the music that has left its
impress upon the heart of a generation of
workers, and the mawkish strains that
catch the ear only to be forgotten in the
craze for some new melodic monstrosity.
Some time ago Walter Damrosch speak-
ing on this subject said, "I do not object to
popular music, and it would be absurd to