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56 PAGES;
With which is incorporated T H E KEYNOTE.
VOL.
XXVIII. No. 5.
Published Every Saturday at 3 East Fourteenth Street. New York, Feb. 4,1899,
TO ROSENTHAL.
'Twas Rosenthal who played
When star storms swam across the glade
Of night, and through gold bars
Ten myriad eyes half-veiled in musk,
Looked dazzling down ; and passion-swayed
Pale lilies sang themselves to stars
And lips of rose kissed eyes of dusk ;
1'he stilled moon reeled, as if afraid,
Behind the earth and hid Ler scars;
And where night's temple rose serene,
An angel touched a satyr's hand—
A rainbow'd arch of peace that spanned
From earth to Heaven, and Christ was seen.
—Rhea Lummis.
*
commemoration of his seventieth birth-
J N day,
Dr. Wm. Mason, the veteran
teacher and composer, was honored by his
many pupils and friends on Jan. 24th when
he was presented with a magnificent loving
cup, designed by Tiffany & Co., as a token
of the esteem in which he is held. The
presentation was made in the beautiful
Steinway Salon, which was exquisitely
decorated for the occasion, Prof. E. M.
Bowman doing the oratorical honors. Dr.
Mason replied in some modest but appre-
ciative words which were received with
enthusiasm by all present. After a short
musical program, Chas. F. Tretbar, of
Steinway & Sons, was introduced. He
made a very happy address, abounding in
reminiscences of his long-time acquaint-
ance with Dr. Mason, and closed by pre-
senting him on the part of the firm with a
magnificent grand piano.
To the many well-deserved compliments
paid Dr. Mason on this festive occasion
little need be added. He has, during his
lifetime exercised a most beneficial influ-
ence toward the inculcation of high ideals
in musical art, and the honored place which
many of his pupils hold to-day in popular
esteem is a monument to his tireless efforts
which have always been toward the right.
That he may long remain among us is the
earnest wish of his many friends among
whom we desire to be counted.
ITALY is rather behind the age in some
* ways. The "Mikado" has just been
translated into Italian and performed, for
the first time in Italy, in the Teatro della
Pergola, in Florence. The audience took
well to the production. But if Italy is
slow to take up English comic opera, Eng-
land and America are disgracefully slow in
taking up the far more important musical
work of the interesting "Young Italy"
school. There is much that is beautiful
there, but we have not yet got beyond
"Cavalleria" and "Pagliacci," says that
exceedingly interesting magazine The Cri-
terion. The " star " nuisance is at the
bottom of it. We will not yet take to
opera for the sake of opera, but must have
our expensiva stars, who, knowing that we
grovel in admiration anyhow, are very slow
to trouble themselves to learn a new part.
Mme. Nevada-Palmer is a brilliant excep-
tion to this rule. She writes from Italy
that she is studying "Fedora" with the
composer Giordano, and " L a Boheme "
with Leoncavallo, and expects to make her
debut with "Fedora" in Holland in the
early Spring. Let us hope she will find
some opportunity of bringing these inter-
esting works to her native country. With
all the money that is spetii on opera here
it is a pity we should not be able to keep
a little more up-to-date in regard to new
productions. Every little provincial opera-
house on the Continent is ahead of New
York on that score.
*
T H E NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF
'
MUSIC, No. 179 East Sixty-fourth
street, Wm. H. Semnacher director, ar
nounces a Students' Concert at Carnegie
Chamber Music Hall, on Wednesday even-
ing, February 15th, at 8 o'clock, for whic^
invitations will be sent on application.
*
A CCORDING to John S. Van Cleve we
^ * have not as yet any American musical
art. " Americanism in our music there is
in abundance, at times a superabundance,
but a true, ripened art, not yet." He
proceeds to state " that we have in Amer-
ica the three necessary conditions of art-
life, viz., accumulated wealth, passionate
national pride, and a high degree of that
technical training which makes possible
the expression of our inspired impulses.
But as music is the latest developed of the
arts, it is not surprising if we are still at
the day of small things in American music.
"American musical life is in much the
same heterogeneous, even chaotic, state as
American society," says Mr. Van Cleve.
"Here is a country fashionable on one
side of a street and plebeian on the other,
proud of its progressiveness, yet patiently
tolerant of abuses of public franchises such
$2.00 PER YEAR.
SINGLE COPIES 10 CENTS.
as would disgrace the most despotic nation
of the Old World; dividing itself sharply
more and more into two classes of human
beings, those who have more money than
is good for them and those who have less
money than is good for them; a nation
which is no longer a country but an
empire, which contains every climate of the
globe, every nation of the human race, and
keeps its citizens in every possible degree
of varied circumstance. Is it strange that
such a people should pay thirty thousand
dollars per year in royalties to such a
march-maker as Sousa, and such a waltz-
maker as the author of 'After the Ball'?
Should feed its religious life upon such a
mild mixture of milk, warm water, sugar,
and bread crumbs as the Gospel hymns
and the like outputs, yet patronize the
great artists of the operatic world with
such lavishness that they may well bless us
and laugh at us alternately? Demand of
the orchestral director all the latest works
bf the Germans, French, and Russians, and
pour themselves in tumultuous waves to
hear the most abstruse creations of Bach,
Brahms, and Berlioz, as they do at the
Cincinnati May festivals? Surely a strange
land this dear America, with her muddy
•stream of street music and her crystal
ountains of most sacred art, with her
worship of Handel, and her toleration of
banal Sunday-school ditties."
*
IGNOR MANCINELLI'S " Ero e Le-
andro," which will be given here ear-
ly in March, was sung last week at Genoa
with success. It will employ here practi-
cally the same singers that gave it in
London. Future productions at the Met-
ropolitan include " L a Juive," with Jean
and Edouard de Reszke and Mines. Leh-
mann and Adams in the cast. Milka Ter-
nini, who came here to sign Wagnerian
roles with the Ellis company, will return
to Europe without having once appeared
in opera. She sang in a concert, but her
throat has been in so bad condition ever
since her arrival that she is going to Italy
in the hope of recovering.
*
T H E question of musical mnemonics is
'
an interesting one. Rubinstein once
said that his memory never failed him until
he passed his fiftieth year. Musicians
noted afterward ttJat when lapses occurred
he would improvise without hesitation.