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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
ear (from a professional point of hearing)
to bear upon the works submitted. Do,
then, the majority of unskilled listeners
receive no worthy gratification? The ques-
tion may be variously determined: but it
P* may be suggested that a perfect aesthetic re-
ceptability may exist without much, if any,
knowledge of the technics, the architech-
TELEPHONE NUMBER. 1745.--EIQMTEENTH STREET.
nics, and the other academic virtues of the
The musical supplement to The Review is art. A fully intelligent and appreciative
published on the first Saturday of each month. imbibing of the musical sounds and their
spirit may be possible even without much
science. And indeed, instances have been
1VJO ONE who enjoys melody will have plentiful, on the other hand, of an actual
*• cause to complain this season. Even exhaustion and killing of the primitive
at so early a period as this we have reason- aesthetic delight after a too scientific pur-
able assurance that next winter will be suit of the art has been made.
notable in music. The impresarii of grand
opera have completed their plans, and the JVAISS SARA ANDERSON, whose por-
directors of concert, chamber music, or- ' " * trait occupies the place of honor on
chestral performances, are busy preparing our cover page this month, is perhaps the
and announcing their engagements. There youngest soprano now appearing before
is nothing indefinite about these vocal and the musical public. Although but in her
instrumental promises. Managers of mu- twenty-second year, she has won a prestige
sical enterprises cannot afford to take the in the artistic world of which she can well
haphazard chances or to give the illusive feel proud. Her first appearance was at
programmes of theatric speculators. The the Worcester Festival and her success was
man who undertakes to provide opera for instantaneous. Throughout the season one
us is forced to depend for the financial suc- success followed the other, and this season
cess of his venture on preliminary sub- will find her one of the busiest singers now
scriptions. He must give an accurate before the public. While singing at the
account of what he is going to do and the Louisville May Festival she sang at one of
artists by whose assistance he will do it the evening concerts the ever beautiful
before we purchase tickets for his series of song "Thou art like unto a flower," by
performances. Last year our citizens paid Rubinstein.
Miss Anderson's soulful
a goodly fortune to the Grau Company, rendering of the song brought down the
before the Metropolitan doors were opened house with tremendous applause and
in order to guard the management against cheers. The following morning she was
loss.
the recipient of a magnificent wreath of
Grand opera is the most costly of luxu- violets, with the inscription:
ries, and no impresario would attempt it if
" Thou art like unto a flower."
the public did not in some measure guar-
(Signed) From the ladies of Louisville.
antee its expenses. But in order to gain
Next season she will be under the man-
this practical support from the people a agement of the Henry Wolfsohn Musical
manager must tell us clearly his objects Bureau.
Lately Miss Anderson, while
and the exact means by which he will singing in London at a private musicale,
attain them.
was surprised to have learned that Mr.
This stipulation has been observed. Mr. Maurice Grau had heard her, and the out-
Abbey has returned from Europe with a come was that she was offered a contract
satisfactory list of artists and with agree- for the balance of the season at Covent
ment to produce a certain number of new Garden and also to sing at the Metropolitan
operas.
Opera House next season.
The concert managers have also bound
themselves to introduce many artists who
of our eminent writers describes
are at present known to us only by their
this age as " the era of mediocrity,"
foreign reputation, and also engaged to and says that in his opinion the dis-
renew our acquaintance with celebrities semination of knowledge and not the con-
Whose talents have already established centration of culture appears to be the
them in our favor. Indeed the plans of marked characteristic ot our present stage
the various musical directors provide an of democracy.
Unusually appetizing menu in vocal and
There is much truth in this analysis of
instrumental enjoyment.
present day conditions, but the most
lamentable thing in this connection is that
| N view of the multitude of concerts the knowledge disseminated is not endur-
* which engage the attention of the ing. We seem to be suffering from an
lovers of music throughout the season, the epidemic of intellectual scorching, to use
philosophic mind is inclined to put forward the bicycling expression, and it is as rife
one question—namely, what percentage in the musical as in the book field. A
of a fairly high class audience takes that decade or so ago music, like books, was
intelligent interest in the better pieces much dearer and scarcer in every way,
submitted to it which the musician would than it is to-day, and its value and the
assume as that alone proper to the rightful benefits derived more lasting.
audition of music? It may perhaps be at
To-day with free libraries and cheap •
once admitted that only a very small mi- music, serious study, like the true reading
nority of even a good and representative habit, seems to be fast disappearing.
audience actually bring the requisite trained Every one reads and every one plays some
musical instrument,—in fact there is an
amazing activity of superficial faculties.
The great majority of people seem prone
to intellectual scorching, so much so that
it is becoming the curse of the age.
Frank Stockton is said to have given this
class of readers the name of "scorching
skimmers," which seems to be a parti-
cularly appropriate term. The "scorching
skimmer " looks upon music, literature, or
whatever comes under consideration as
something to be raced through without
serious consideration, and the consequence
is but little true pleasure or lasting benefits
are derived by a large element among our
people—the element, mark you, who aspire
to culture.
To this mental condition may be traced
the rag-time vogue, and the appreciation of
the thousands of inane songs which have
tended so much to vitiate the healthy
taste of the people for ballads which are
clean in verse, and possess sufficient musi-
cal merit to enable them to rank with sim-
ilar productions in other countries.
It is an interesting question if, after all,
it is a greater national feat to have the
mass of our people dominated by the rag-
time craze than to await years for the arri-
val of the few super-eminent masters.
*
C O R the forty-second annual festival of
the Worcester County Musical Asso-
ciation to be held in Worcester, Mass.,
this month, the Boston Symphony Or-
chestra of sixty pieces, with Frank Kneisel
as concert master, has been engaged, and
George W. Chadwick will conduct the
chorus of 400 voices. The principal chorus
and orchestral works to be given are:
Tuesday evening, Sept. 26, Haydn's
"Creation"; Wednesday afternoon, Gold-
mark's " Sakuntala " (overture), Beethov-
en's fifth symphony; Wednesday evening,
Parker's "King Trojan," Chadwick's "Lily
Nymph"; Thursday afternoon, Converse's
symphony, first movement, MacDowell's
" Suite No. 1 " (piano concerto not yet se-
lected); Thursday evening, Mackenzie's
overture, "Britannia," excerpts from Wag-
ner's "Lohengrin,/ Saint SaSns' "Om-
phale's Spinning Wheel "; Friday after-
noon, Mendelssohn's "Athalie " (overture),
Tschaikowski's fifth symphony; Friday
evening, Berlioz' " Damnation of Faust."
Mme. Schumann-Heink, the popular con-
tralto of the Metropolitan Opera House,
will not sing at the festival. In her place,
Mme. Marcella Sembrich will be the lead-
ing star, arrangements for the prima donna
being completed with the festival commit-
tee and Mr. Henry Wolfsohn. The other
leading artists of the festival are: D.
Ffrangcon Davies, Gwilym Miles, Evan
Williams, Vladimir de Pachmann, the Rus-
sian pianist, Miss Florence Houghton, W.
Theodore Van York, George J. Hamlin,
Miss Louise B. Voight and Miss Grace
Preston, contralto.
r
T H A T delightful pianist, Emil Sauer,
* who captivated the American musical
public last season, dropped some valuable
hints recently, in the course of a talk with
a European paper, on piano study. He
said: "Nicolas Rubinstein was truly a