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48 PAGES.
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With which is Incorporated THE KEYNOTE.
VOL. XXVI.
N o . 6.
Published Every Saturday, at 3 East Fourteenth Street.
WHEN YSAYE PLAYS.
H. E. Krehbiel writing of the personality
and art of Ysaye, the celebrated violinist,
evidently yields to the spell of remembered
enchantment, for some of his phrases come
near taking flight in song. He says:
" H i s is a potentiality that can be dis-
cussed without calling in the aid of make-shift
comparison.
From first to last a puissant
figure; a man of extraordinary physical attri-
butes; a large, sound man; a normal man in
appearance, yet singularly engaging because
of the expressive mobility of his face, and the
freedom from affectation which marks his
bearing—he is sanity of body, mind, and soul
personified. He sways to and fro while play-
ing, but the movement seems unconscious,
and does not disturb the feeling of reposeful-
ness in the spectators which his conscious
but modest strength inspires. Like no other
player that I can recall, he illustrates the
intimacy which exists between a violinist
and his instrument—which must exist if
we are to be told what violin music is. A
wonderful instrument, closer than any but
the human voice to him who excites it to
speech, more tightly interknit with his be-
ing. Mark how it nestles under his chin,
and throbs synchronously with his soul.
Not a twitch, not a tension, not a relaxa-
tion of the muscles of either hand or arm,
acting under the stimulus of emotion, but
will speak itself out in the voice of this
thing of wood and hair and strings. Al-
most as unvolitionally as the human voice
takes changing color and pitch and dyna-
mic intensity from variations of feeling
does the voice of this marvelous instrument
respond to emotional stimuli. Therein lies
the mystery of Ysaye's playing, the miracle
of his expressive tone. He feels much, and
the violin is his vehicle of expression. He
sets his bow to the strings; the hairs seem to
bite them with human purpose; the tone, as
faint as a ghostly whisper, or ringing like a
martial shout, fills the room and is saturated
with feeling. There is an answering throb
from the listeners; the chords of their hearts
are swinging in unison. Cold judgment is
bound hand and foot, the critical faculty
carried captive. How brilliantly all tech-
nical difficulties seem to be overcome! Are
they so? A thrust of the bow, and a shower
of glittering notes comes bursting from the
strings. What was the passage? Alas! come
New York, February 5,1898.
to think of it, we know not. Standing out
bright, strong, self-reliant now, anon it is
blurred and unrecognizable. It has been
suggested, not played; yet so obvious was
its musical purpose, so perfectly did it fit into
the symmetry of the whole, that we failed to
note its imperfections. Our mind is upon
only one thing, the music—the music! How
it sings and croons, and weeps and wails and
laughs and shouts for the mere joy of ex-
pressing itself. It is the eloquence of ro-
manticism, the spirit through which music
came into being, that Ysaye's violin pro-
$2.00 PER YEAR.
SINGLE COPIES, 10 CEWT*.
and a dollar for the best seats than there was
over anything done the past six weeks at the
Academy.
"Are there no novelties in the operatic
world, nothing to which such an organization
as the Damrosch Company can give its atten-
tion with any profit? We had ' The Scarlet
Letter,' to be sure, but even that we have
had before. Our final point upon this season
is that it showed no enterprise. The Euro-
pean theatres are ablaze with new operas:
are none of them worth bringing to America?
And will Mr. Damrosch attempt his New
York season with only these, not twice only,
but many times told tales?"
O
YSAYE.
claims, whether the composition in hand be a
modern piece surcharged with dramatic feel-
ing, or one of those old sonatas of Bach
which sound with the fullness of a quartet,
breathe a marvelous tenderness, and scintil-
late in the very gladness of their awakening
when Ysaye plays them."
©
THE TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH.
The following editorial from the Philadel-
phia Evening Telegraph on the recent Dam-
rosch season of grand opera in that city is so
pertinent to the situation in New York that
it is good and timely reading:
"It had no mark of special distinction. It
gave society people an opportunity which
they very largely improved, but it did noth-
ing original or memorable for art, and excited
no enthusiasm apart from one of a very spe-
cialized sort. There was more intensity of
interest when Mr. Hinrichs brought out
'Cavalleria Rusticana' at the Grand Opera
House at twenty-five cents general admission
THE WAR OF THE THEODORES.
The National Federation of Woman's Musi-
cal Clubs made its first convention notable
by a petty squabble between Mrs. Theodore
Sutro and Mrs. Theodore Thomas.
It seems that Mrs. Sutro as temporary
president of the Federation sent out some
circulars with the name of Mrs. Thomas at-
tached as chairman of the executive commit-
tee without her consent, but under the im-
pression that the use of her name would be
agreeable to her and with no intention to
offend.
Mrs. Thomas did not take it in this spirit,
and she became quite angry. She would not
be placated and when the Federation met in
Chicago recently there materialized a power-
ful opposition to Mrs. Sutro, who every-
body expected would be honored with the
presidency in recognition of her services in
bringing the Society into existence.
The Westerners stood loyally by Mrs.
Thomas, and Mrs. Sutro did not receive "the
s'mallest bit" of an office. " She took it all
philosophically, however, and in a very clever
speech declared her loyalty to the Federation,
and her intention to work for it to the best of
her ability. In the meantime Mrs. Edwin
F. Uhl, wife of the former ambassador to
Germany, was elected president. It was truly
a historic battle, and a victory over the
effete East, which will probably be handed
down "in song and story."
o
Mr. Wm. C. Carl is engaged to inaugurate
new organs at London, Canada, and Carlisle,
Pa., during the present month. He leaves
this week on a concert tour through Ohio
and other Western States.