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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
for all that the ' Fall of the House of Usher '
is original. It is barely possible, of course,
that the Paleolithic Age swarmed not only
with monsters (now happily extinct,) but
with purely original geniuses, but in modern
times it would be as useless to search for
the one as for the other."
The moral of all this unquestionably is
that the words "original" and "original-
ity" are possessed of a mighty big per-
centage of antiquity.
\ \ 7HEN we come to originality of expres-
sion in the arts we are dealing with
a more or less artificial expression of char-
acter. That is to say, no man can be abso-
lutely original, for. he has to express him-
self in the terms of art, and it has taken
generation after, generation to build up
music, so that before the young composer
can be said to be sufficiently cultured to
compose he must have assimilated all that
has gone before. This is the more easy,
as there are always great modern composers
who influence the young musician, and
these great modern composers represent in
themselves the art of music so far as it has
gone.
Thus, for a young man of to-day the
compositions of Wagner and Brahms con-
tain all that has been achieved in music by
Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven, besides the
personal achievements of Wagner and
Brahms. The young man may study the
works of these men, and be blissfully un-
conscious that his music is a development
of what has gone before; but all the same,
when that young man's works are per-
formed, you will see that they could not
have been written unless the old composers
had once lived. In this sense, of course,
there is no such thing as originality.
No man stands by himself, be he musi-
cian, artist, or scientist; no man can think
•without having assimilated the thoughts of
those who have gone before; or if he does
think, his thoughts are, as a rule, of no
particular value, as they have probably
been proved to be utterly fallacious. And
music being so much a matter of expres-
sion, it is natural enough that the young
composer's work should show distinct
traces of the masters he has worshipped.
'"THE song recitals given by Albert Ger-
* ard-Thiers at Christian Science Hall,
Thursday evenings during December,
D D H I f f N ' C Bronchial
D K U W N
O Troches
were highly successful both in excellence
of program, rendition and attendance.
Mr. Thiers has an assured place in the esteem
of music lovers and he has been most
happy in surrounding himself with assist-
ing artists who never fail to contribute to
the enjoyment of his entertainments.
*
T H E prejudice against the so-called au-
* tomatic instruments is rapidly van-
ishing in face of the actual achieve-
ments of the Pianola—the wonderful new
piano-player, and the latest and most per-
fect result of years of effort by the ^Eolian
Co. to produce an artistic semi-automatic
substitute for a human performer. The
remarkable attributes of this invention
have been acclaimed by Moriz Rosenthal as
well as by the leading lights in the piano
world.
15.nil Liebling, iti the December issue of
The Etude, speaks of the accomplishments
and possibilities of such an invention as
the Pianola in this wise: "The other night
I had the opportunity of listening to a per-
formance of the Wieniawski concert waltz
by one of the mechanical instruments and
it was enough to make one very thought-
ful indeed, and apprehensive of inevitable
results, so far as executive art is concerned.
This very difficult selection was not only
played with a vim and technical proficiency
which no living virtuoso could emulate,
but with a nicety of phrasing and a variety
of tone that effectually disarmed all criti-
cism which might have been made on that
score. If this sort of thing goes on, it is
difficult to perceive the necessity of indi-
vidual effort, for this mechanical device, to
most intents and purposes, does away with
the artist, who, even after endless practice,
can never hope to equal its perfection,
either in force, rapidity, clearness or pre-
cision.
"If the proper enjoyment of music lies in
its being heard, instead of being assisted
by the visual sense, I for one am free to
confess that I have heard many famous
artists who, after a lifetime of study, fell
far short of the instrument quoted above."
Boston, Manager Charles Ellis an-
nounces an opera season of three
weeks, or eighteen performances in all,
beginning on January 23 at the Boston
Theatre. The singers engaged, and their
repertory as well, are known already in Mr.
Ellis's Philadelphia season. The orchestra
will be of players from the New York
Symphony Orchestra, and the conductors
will be Walter Damrosch, Signor Seppilli
and Herr Fried.
*
C M I L PAUR, the distinguished conduc-
*-^ tor, who has now made his home
among us, and who is doing such effective
work in the orchestral field, made some
interesting remarks in last Sunday's Sun
regarding the musical development of the
Nation, which are timely and interesting.
When asked regarding the musical outlook,
he said: "Bright. The anomaly is that
New York is without its own permanent
orchestra. It is the largest and wealthiest
city in the country.
It has more music
than the rest put together, yet it hasn't its
own orchestra. It could support one with-
out a doubt—at least in a few years. All
of the great singers come here. All of the
great pianists and violinists and other
artists come here. And the public seems
to care more to hear the men and the
women than it does to hear good music
itself. At present the demand is for stars.
But that will gradually adjust itself. The
orchestras here play just as good music as
the foreign ones play. Gradually the cost
of giving this music will grow less because
more people will want to hear it. The
thing acts both ways."
A CURIOUS story is told of Paderew-
^*- ski's " Minuet," perhaps the most
popular of all his compositions. Paderew-
ski, while still a professor at the Conserva-
toire of Warsaw, was one night at the
house of Swicztochowski, the Polish litter-
ateur. The poet declared that no living
composer could ever compare with Mozart
in simplicity and beauty. Paderewski at
the moment simply shrugged his shoulders,
but on the following evening he returned
to the same house and sat down at the
piano.
'' May I play you a little thing of Mozart's
which perhaps you do not know ? " he said.
He played the minuet. Swicztochowski
was enchanted, and exclaimed,
" Now you will acknowledge that a piece
like that could never be written in our
time! "
" Well," said Paderewski, " that happens
to be a minuet written by myself."
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