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TH-. MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
new school, Italian in its fundamental the expiration of which time he came
principles, but destined to be universal in down stairs and went to the piano. Throw-
ing the instrument open he began to play,
its truth, purity and beauty.
All this caused surprise, but it was ac- and bar by bar 'The Lost Chord' was
cepted as current. It did not seem possi- evolved. The composer sadly put his new
ble that there could be anything false in composition on paper and stored it away,
'' The song is the wail of a throbbing
this matter. Lorenzo Perosi must cer-
heart,
the grief of desolation. All through
tainly be a genius, a God-gifted being,
its
beautiful
harmony can be heard the
called to a noble mission.
strain
of
grief.
So profound an impression
. This belief lasted until unprepared and
did
the
association
of the song with the
unprejudiced opinion had its opportunity.
In Paris, where the peculiar influences at de^th of his brother make on Sir Arthur
work were still operative—in a degree, at that he is said to have, even at this late
least—dissenting voices were heard. They day, an aversion to hearing it performed."
*
were not numerous, but they spoke with
authority. Then in turn, Amsterdam, IN consequence of a clerical row, the
Vienna, Berlin sat in judgment, and the * amount spent on music in a certain
truth began to filter out. Perosi's fame church in this city was made public by the
tottered. It remained for New York to authorities recently. This turned out to be
give the coup dc grace to his unde- so much less than might be expected that
served reputation. The deed was done, it gave an element of cheapness to the
brutally perhaps, but the provocation was singers. As some of these were supposed
a great one.
to be in receipt of princely salaries, the re-
sult is real embarrassment. All of which
IV A ANY theories have been advanced to goes to show that things are not always
*** explain this extraordinary " boom- what they are said to be.
ing " of Perosi. None is convincing. The
one that seems most plausible suggests a pvOCTOR WAETZHOLD has made a
veritable conspiracy—a worthy one, per- *-" bid for reputation of some sort. He
haps, when its purpose is considered—but, contributes a paper to a French medical
nevertheless, one open to the same objec- journal in which he expresses the opinion
tions that attach to all applications of the that "the chloroses and neuroses from
maxim, "The end justifies the means."
which so many young girls suffer may be
The theory advanced is that it was largely attributed to the abuse of the
deemed necessary by the spiritual mentors piano."
of the Italians to counteract in some way
He states further that the tyranny of
the materialistic tendencies of the contem- compelling young girls to paw the ivory,
porary composers of Italy. The young or as he expresses it in translated French,
men, born and bred under radical and "to hammer on the keyboard," before they
revolutionary influences, were writing are 15 or 16 should be limited in applica-
music of passion and sensuality] They tion. Even then, he maintains, only those
found inspiration only in tales of drama- possessing talent and robust constitutions
tic purport — protests against established should be permitted to indulge in these ex-
forms, codes and conventions.
Their ercises.
music stimulated human yearnings for
Doctor Waetzhold proceeds to demon-
freedom in every direction. They were strate that out of one thousand girls study-
becoming dangerous, and a countermine ing the piano before the age of twelve, six
was laid.
hundred were afflicted with nervous troubles
It was an ingenious plan, for it appealed later in life, while only one hundred among
to the musical instincts, the patriotism and a similar number who had never touched
the religion of a people. It had other aims, this instrument were affected. He con-
too, less special—the restoration of music tends that the study of the violin works
to its original and higher purpose—the even greater damage to the nervous system
service of religion.
than that of the piano.
Had Perosi really been a genius there
Doctor Waetzhold may be away up in
would have been a revolution. Unfortu- " G " as a medical authority, although his
nately he is not such, and the bubble is fame has not set fire so far to any Gallic or
burst. .
Teutonic river. While his erudition may
be of the highest, it is to be feared that,
T H E R E have been many stories pub- instead of checking, his article will increase
1
lished regarding the birth of "The the maddening habit of piano playing.
Lost Chord," that famous song which has He has warned players that they are liable
been sung in every quarter of the globe, to "neuroses" and "chloroses." These
and which will live forever. The so- called diseases sound aristocratic and fashionable
"most authentic" is open to doubt. This and the tendency will be to tempt hundreds
is one of the latest:
who have heretofore refrained from touch-
"One day Sir Arthur Sullivan was ing a keyboard to contract them for the
notified that his brother Fred was very very unmusical purpose of being consid-
ill. He made every effort to reach the ered swell invalids.
house where his brother was lying at the
*
point of death, but arrived too late to see [N the Seidl memorial book, recently
him alive. The two brothers were devoted ' published by Scribner & Sons, to which
to each other, and the blow was a bitter noted artists have contributed many inter-
one for Sir Arthur. He was closeted with esting anecdotes and tributes of affection
the body of his brother for two hours, at we find the following from Marianne
Brandt who writes: " I became better
acquainted with Seidl in the Summer of
1881. Wagner had sent for me, and asked
me to sing Kundry. At that time Wagner
was going over the ' Parsifal' score with
Seidl, who was the favorite of the whole
family. With ' Seidl I studied Kundry's
narrative at Wahnfried, and he played the
accompaniment when I sang.before Wag-
ner. It was the first time that Wagner
heard this part sung by a female voice; his
eyes were full of tears. He ran out of the
room and called, ' Cosima, Cosima, come
quickly; you must hear it!' I had to sing
the part again for Mrs. Wagner, and when
I had finished, Wagner said: 'What I
have done there is not so bad after all.'
" Wagner was at that time in very good
humor, and we often made music after
supper. One evening, while Seidl played
the piano, Wagner ran suddenly into his
library and brought a big book, which he
opened and placed on the piano. What
was it? Rossini's 'Othello.' Wagner turned
the leaves for a while, told Seidl to play
this or that air, softly humming the tune.
When he found a trio for soprano, tenor and
bass, he cried: ' We must sing this !' and
we started at once. Wagner sang bass,
Seidl the tenor part, and I, Desdemona,
soprano. It was a very florid air, where
one after the other sings his passages, until
all three voices are joined together, and
we let them roll out just as they came, of
course, almost bursting with laughter. I
never again saw Wagner and Seidl so
merry as they were that evening."
*
QPEAKING of the increased popularity
^
of Wagner's music as evidenced in the
opera season recently closed in this city,
the Sun says that the time has passed when
it was possible to describe the work of that
music lord as heavy. It is no longer an
explanation of his cult to say that it is the
right thing to like him. His operas have
even triumphed over the anti-Teutonic
prejudices of Paris. And here the growing
demand for the fruits of his genius has
made it necessary for the great singers, no
matter what school they belong to, to turn
their eyes in the direction of Bayreuth
and its traditions. Wagner has been the
main factor in changing our opera season
from a social function to something better
and higher. And our fashionable society sat
through three performances of the Ring
with all the reverence that the most scrup-
ulous of music-lovers could have demand-
ed. The domination of Wagner's work in
the operatic world, however, is only one
side of the question. There is more con-
clusive proof of its strength in other direc-
tions where even the suspicion of musical
fashion does not exist. In the smaller
musical clubs and associations one finds the
same tendency. And here it is not pos-
sible to avoid the simple conclusion that
Wagner is popular simply because Wagner
is liked.
*
TT may, of course, be said that any soci-
* ety which pays attention to the ethical
side of the art of music naturally finds
Wagner fruitful. In his case there is plenty