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""THAT there is considerable similarity
between the folk songs of Servia and
Ireland—is apparent from the following
example of a Servian love song:
Nightingale, sing not so early. Oh
nightingale, sing not so soon. Wake not
my lord for me. To sleep I did rock
the babe, and I alone will rouse him. Now
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
n
placid and filled with peace and happiness.
In the midst of Chopin's florid composi-
tions is a vein of sadness, a melancholy
tinge, even in his dance music, where it is
plainly apparent, or rather felt.
And so through the entire list of the
truly great ones of music, whose individu-
al characteristics are sufficiently marked to
cause their works to be colored
by them. And as most men of
genius have been persons of
strongly marked characteristics,
most of our great music is clearly
tinged, beautified or blighted by
the reflections of the composers
whose live> are thus perpetuated
and carried on down through the
ages.
ing with his father, who is a well-known
violinist. He created quite a furore at the
concert given by Bach Assembly No. 1,
Order of Registered Musicians, on the even-
ing of Oct. 20th.
J\ A USICAL critics sometimes
* ' * make strange discoveries
when they are without the need-
ful firearm with which to bag the
game. But of all strange things
thus seen or heard the strangest
is that which a writer for the The
Montreal Evening Star has cap-
tured and Mr. Lederer's press
agent is exploiting. It is a bass
singer who produces tones like
the harmonics or flageolet tones
of the violin. These tones add
nearly two octaves to the compass
of his voice. Prodigious.
of high noon recitals
A SERIES
will be given at Sherry's
BARRON BERTHOLD.
will I go to the garden, there to pluck a
spray of sweet basil with which to tickle
his cheek. Then shall the darling wake.
Hasn't it a Gaelic flavor ?
*
T T has been said that a great deal of mu-
* sician's character is shown by the style
and manner of rendering a piece of music;
by the way he interprets the composer.
The characteristics of the composer may
certainly be even more apparent in his
work. In Handel, for instance, we see
the lofty influences of an intensely devo-
tional nature. His mighty choruses are
overwhelming in their religious fervor, and
his celestial solos stand unmatched in their
exultation. Beethoven, through the mar-
velous melodies of his later years, throws a
shadow of his own gloomy forecasts. His
growing infirmity which denied to him the
pleasure of listening to his own music, the
recollections of his earlier disappointments
and even the petty annoyances which filled
his life seem to find a place in some of the
deathless works of his great mind and fer-
tile imagination. And how the restless,
defiant and resistless character of Wagner
speaks forth in his music. There is all
through it the challenge and the fear-
less cry of the knight in armor whose
way can not be stopped. In Mendels-
sohn we have, on the contrary, the
calm and lovely music of one who has no
opposition to fight; no need of any fear or
anxiety concerning the result of his work
or of his place in history. It is the beau-
tiful music of a contented mind whose ma-
terial needs are secure and whose life is
Tuesdays, Dec. 5 and 19, Jan. 9 and 23, and
Feb. 6. under the management of Mr. Vic-
tor Thrane. At these salon musicales es-
pecially ar ranged programmes will be ex-
clusively presented by the following artists:
Alexandre Petschnikoff, violin; Elsa Rueg-
ger, 'cello; Leonora Jackson, violin; Ham-
bourg, piano, and eminent vocalists will
assist. Tickets of admission will be obtain-
able only through a committee of promin-
ent New York society women.
*
NUMBER of leading cities in Great
Britain are now supporting municipal
orchestras. The latest to fall in line is
Leeds. At a recent meeting presided over
by the Lord Mayor steps were taken to
form an orchestra of forty performers with
an eminent musician, as conductor. It is
planned to subsequently increase the or-
chestra to ninety. The enterprise is to be
supported partly from the city funds and
by private subscription.
A T the first of the Kaltenborn orchestra
**• concerts to be given at Carnegie Hall
to-morrow night, under the management
of Victor Thrane, the soloists will be Elsa
Ruegger, Louise B. Voight, soprano,
Marguerite Stillwell, pianist, and Emilio
de Gorgoza, baritone. Franz Kaltenborn
will conduct. The orchestral numbers will
be selected carefully by Conductor Franz
Kaltenborn, who has shown ability as a
programme maker. The concerts are to be
continued throughout the season.
*
\17ILLIAM LUDWIG,the Irish baritone,
** was the chief attraction at the Irish
Musical Festival given by the Gaelic So-
ciety at the Lenox Lyceum on the evening
of Oct. 17. At this concert the Gaelic
renaissance in the musical field was em-
phasized by the singing of old Irish songs
by a number of eminent artists.
*
HP HE following excerpts from John Rus-
* kin's works are excellent reading:
" The end of art is not to amuse. . . . The
end of art is as serious as that of other
beautiful things—of the blue sky, and the
green grass, and the clouds, and the dew.
They are either useless, or they are of
much deeper function than giving amuse-
ment."
" The best music, like the best painting,
is entirely popular; it at once commends
itself to every one, and does so through all
ages. The worst music, like the worst
painting, commends itself at first, in like
manner, to ninety-nine persons out of a
hundred; but after doing them its ap-
pointed quantity of mischief it is forgotten
and new modes of mischief composed. The
A
the cleverest violinists for his
O NE age of which
we have heard in some
time is Master Andrew Byrne, a young
American who is winning no small share
of public notice these days. Although
but in his fourteenth year he has an ex-
tended repertoire, embracing some of the
most difficult numbers, which he has ren-
dered with orchestra. He reads at sight
the most difficult music. His technic is
wonderful, while his expression and breadth
of tone, combined with singing quality,
shows a maturity of musical comprehen-
sion that surprises. Master Byrne is study-
E. N. KNIGHT.
less we compose at present the better; there
is good music enough written to serve the
world forever."
"The airs of songs by great composers
must never be used for other words than
those they were written for. Nothing is
so destructive of all musical understanding
as the habit of fitting a tune that tickles
the ear to any syllables that it will stick on."