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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
TELEPHONE
NUMBER.
1745.-EKJHTEENTH
STREET.
The musical supplement to The Review is
published on the first Saturday of each month.
\ I 7 H A T is destined to be one of the
* * great musical libraries of the world
is the department of music connected
with the Congressional Library at Wash-
ington. The Librarian in his recent re-
port considers that as a collection of Ameri-
can music it is unsurpassed, and with little
cost it can be made as rich in the music of
other nations as in the music of our own.
The total number of pieces now on hand
amounts to 198,894.
"It has been our effort, so far as the class-
ification of the various departments has
permitted," says this report, ' 'to strengthen
the music department, obtaining either
through purchase or exchange, books of
reference, the scores of the classical mas-
ters, together with what may illustrate the
music of all nations, ancient and modern,
savage as well as enlightened. Music in
its best sense is a science belonging to all
ages, as well as all nationalities and con-
ditions of men, and the library of Congress
should contain its earliest as well as its
latest and most complete expression.
"When so much has been done by the
arrangement of what came from the old
library, it would be a misfortune not to
continue our additions to the library until
our present already invaluable collection is
a complete embodiment of the history, as
well as of the science, of music. Among
our purchases are some modern classical
scores, as well as an assortment of Con-
federate music."
The librarian suggests the necessity of
placing rmisical instruments in a room ad-
joining the musical library so the scores
could be read. The experiment has been
tried by placing a piano in a closed room
where students can gain access to the
musical scores and interpret rare and clas-
sical music. This is an aid to litigants
with copyright interests at stake who can
by access to the copyright music establish
property claims.
T H E opera season at the Metropolitan
*• will continue until March 5th, after
which the company will be heard in Bos-
ton, Pittsburg, Washington and Baltimore.
The season has so far been prosperous in
spite of the heavy expenses involved.
The public has responded most cordially
to Maurice Grau's splendid programs, and
it is possible from present indications that
Yhe success of the season will continue.
Not an opera has been sung in the regular
performances which could not be repeated
with success. Even "Le Nozze di Figaro,"
which has not been able to draw a large
audience for years here, was listened to by
one enormous house an£ a second that
would have been just as large but for the
storm. "Tristan und Isolde," which did
not draw two seasons ago, can be repeated
several times with certain profit. "Don
Giovanni," even with star casts, never in
the past attracted such audiences as this
opera has during the present season. "II
Barbiere di Seviglia," after the unprece-
dented number of four performances in as
many weeks, v/ill be sung twice again, and
"La Traviata" will be repeated the same
number of times. The two operas are, of
course, successful through Mme. Sem-
brich's wonderful singing and acting, and
it is particularly illustrative of her brilliant
success that in each of these operas she is
alone, save for the presence of M. Edouard
de Reszke in "II Barbiere." But in the
other opera which has this year drawn two
unprecedentedly large audiences Mme.
Sembrich is the solitary star.
*
JV/IME. CARRENO, the incomparable,
' * the "Valkyrie of the piano," as she
has well been called, now in the zenith of
her artistic career, is augmenting her
already great reputation by such superb
performances during her present western
tour as have rarely been heard. Her
playing of MacDowell's D minor concerto,
No. 2, in Chicago, will long be treasured in
the memory of all who attended. The
same may be said of her superb interpre-
tation of the Rubinstein concerto with the
Symphony Orchestra in Cincinnati, on
Jan. 13th. Carreno is journeying triumph-
antly to the Pacific Coast, and her admirers
in the East can only rejoice over her suc-
cess and await patiently her appearance in
this city.
*
DROF. PARKER, of Yale, who helped
*
to compile the present Episcopal
hymnal, has been going for our modern
hymns. He says: "The ancient tunes
are dry, but they keep well. The modern
tunes are not dry, but they fail to keep.
They carry in themselves the seeds of de-
cay; in fact, some of them are already
gamey. I will take my own medicine;
here is No. 53 of the hymnal, ' The Day of
Grace Is Done'; I wrote it myself. It is
not without its redeeming features; it is
tolerable enough except for its end, with
an unprepared dissonance. I have heard
it characterized as measly. Now, a taste
for this modern weak music is worse to an
artist to-day than a taste for our grand-
father's rum would be to you, for it is
weak and effeminate, while Medford rum
is a strong and a manly drink." It is
about time someone spoke " right out in
meeting." Much of the distinctively mod-
ern church music would be a disgrace to
light opera. It is too bad Prof. Parker
did not realize the " error of his ways " at
an earlier date. However, "there is more
joy, etc."
*
DEROSI'S oratorio "La Resurrezione di
*• Lazzaro," which has met with great
success in Milan, Rome and Bologna, is to
be given shortly at the Berlin Royal Opera
House. This will be the first performance
of the work in Germany. The composer
has been invited to conduct the first per-
formance. At the Roman performance the
Basilica was used, with the Pope's permis-
sion, though it cost 20,000 lire to convert
it into a concert hall. Everybody is now
singing and whistling his melodies, which
are of the simplest and most naVve descrip-
tion. It is rumored that his next subject
will be the Song of Songs.
*
T H E musical talents of Robert Brown-
* ing have been the subject of many
articles in the English papers recently.
Some reminiscences of the great poet, con-
tributed to Lippincott's Magazine, nine
years ago, by Mrs. Bloomfield Moore, are
apropos in this connection:
"He possessed the gift of improvising at
the piano. To listen was to be entranced
as by the rapt strains of Beethoven's com-
positions or of Mendelssohn's glorioiis mel-
odies, as the poet's hands swept the keys,
passing from one theme to another; but
you could listen only once to the same
strains; the inspiration came and went;
the poet could never repeat his melodies.
Few there were who knew of this divine
gift, for only to those who were most inti-
mate with him did he reveal himself in this
way. He shunned everything like osten-
tation."
That Browning had also a sound techni-
cal knowledge of music no one who has
read "Abt Volger," "A Toccata of Galup-
pi's," or the most animated and amusing
description of a fugue in "Master Hughes
of Saxe-Gotha," can deny, while no less
an authority than the late Sir Charles Halle
has remarked on the poet's familiarity with
music by certain of the earlier, little-known
composers, of which even he (Halle) was
unaware.
Had Browning's genius found its outlet
in music instead of literature, what a mu-
sician we might have had!
*
A QUESTION which was never answered
*y has been frequently asked in recent
years. It was, "What will New York's
opera do after Jean de Reszke retires? "
M. Salcza's presence this season has ans-
wered that. It is to be hoped that many
years may elapse before M. de Reszke
ceases to sing here. But when he does his
place to a certain extent can be filled by
M. Saleza. It is not certain now that he
will ever be able to sing the heavy Wagner
roles in which M. de Reszke has lately
triumphed. But that power may come
after a while. They were only the results
of M. de Reszke's mature art.
*
\ 1 7 E hear much nowadays about that
elusive element, the Celtic spirit,
but so far it has evaded anything like defi-
nition.
Early Irish literature, both in
prose and verse, reveals many phases of it,
all abounding in a strange natural magic;
in all early artistic creations of the Celt it
is met, delicate and mystical, but it is
hardly too much to say that ancient Irish
music has been, consciously or uncon-
sciously, made the vehicle for every phase
of this many-sided Celtic spirit. The pre-
vailing note in Irish music is undoubtedly
one of sadness, and this feeling it ex-