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56 PAGES
NEW YORK
LIBRARY
JSTOR, LENOX AND
OEN FOUNDATIONS.
With which is incorporated THE KEYNOTE.
V O L . XXX. N o . 9 .
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill at 3 East Fourteenth Street. New York, March 3,1900.
A PROPO.S a recent article in the Wash-
**• ington Post on the approaching" end
of the "rag-time" craze W. J. Henderson
says that in this article it is assumed with-
out the slightest appearance of doubt that
the most determined opponents of the
rag-time music are Wagnerites. This, of
course, is not surprising, because in these
days of Wagnerism all persons who up-
hold the best in music are called Wagner-
ites. But the truth is that the most ear-
nest advocates of rag-time in music are
two writers who are frequently held up to
scorn as arrant Wagnerites, namely, the
musical editors of The New York Tribune
and The New York Times. The former
has especially aroused the indignation of
his contemporaries in Boston by his fre-
quently expressed belief that the negro
melodies and the Indian chants offered
the only possible basis for a distinctively
American music.
This theory was first exemplified in the
compositions of Antonin Dvorak written
while that eminent Bohemian was in this
country. He is a thorough believer in
nationalism in music, and he holds with
many composers of other lands that the
folk music of a people affords the only
material in which distinctively national
traits are to be found.
Tschaikowsky,
though he never put forth any theory
in regard to the matter, followed this idea
in his practice, and the same thing has
been done by others. The most essen-
tially German music is what the Ger-
mans themselves call " volksthiimlich."
Dvorak, in his "New World " symphony,
employed rhythms and melodic sequences
intended to reproduce the character of the
negro and Indian music, and in his Amer-
ican quartet and quintet he did the same
thing. The first theme of the first move-
ment of the symphony and that of the
first movement of the quartet are as
surely rag-time music as anything ever
sung by May Irwin or by Williams and
Walker. There is no mistaking the negro
character of these themes, except in Bos-
ton. The cantabile theme of the sym-
phony's first movement is also clearly a
negro tune, and it has a touch of the syn-
copation known as rag-time.
Any one
of the rag - time composers could take
either of these themes and, following it
out to its easiest conclusion, make of it
a "coon" song. Dvorak, who was en-
gaged in making symphonic music, did
not, of course, do this; but the germ of a
rag-time song is in each of the themes re-
ferred to.
The Washington Post wonders whether
the decline of the rag-time song is to be
followed by a return to the former maud-
lin sentiment of the popular tunes, and
suggests that the Wagnerites would rather
have the "coon" songs. In this our con-
temporary of the capital is decidedly on
the right track. The "coon" song is at
least a thing of our soil. The other thing
is fit only for Hades.
j*
many years it has been customary
for American authors to complain
that they are not given a fair chance by
their countrymen, and especially by Amer-
ican publishers. The charge has been
made repeatedly that the publishers will
have nothing to do with American books,
even though at the same time they may be
breaking their necks to secure the copy-
rights of English works. If this complaint
ever was justified, it is certainly not justi-
fied at the present time. The American
author has come into his own, and his
work is now in demand. Some recently
published figures on the book output show
that of 4,749 books published in this coun-
try during the year 1899 no less than 3,-
626 were by American authors, whereas in
1898 th*e number was 628 less. The ad-
vance made by the American author is
further emphasized by the fact that 263
less books by foreign authors were pub-
lished in this country in 1899 than during
the preceding year.
The American books were not only the
most numerous, but they were also the
most successful. The three works of fic-
tion that enjoyed the largest sale last year
were "David Harum," " Richard Carvel"
and "Janice Meredith," each of which is
by an American author. It is somewhat
remarkable that the author of the first
named book was utterly unknown to the
reading public until his book appeared,
while the creator of "Richard Carvel " en-
joyed no great degree of fame. Yet each
of these books created a furore and the
novels of English writers were compara-
tively neglected. Even in England these
American books have sold well, showing
that the American author's opportunity is
not limited to this side of the ocean. So
»».oo PER YEAR.
SINGLE COPIES 10 CENTS
long as he writes books that are worth
reading neither the public nor the publish-
er will stop to consider where he resides
or to what nation he belongs.
A FTER thirty years of service as or-
'*• ganist and musical director of St.
Thomas's, Fifty-third street and Fifth
avenue, Dr. George William Warren is to
sever his connection with that church on
May 1 on account of old age and because
some of the congregation feel that the
style of music should be changed. Many
of them believe that there should be a
vested boy choir. The new director has
not been decided upon.
Dr. Warren went to St. Thomas's from
Holy Trinity Church, Brooklyn, in 1870.
He is lecturer on music in Columbia Uni-
versity, and when he leaves St. Thomas's he
will receive a pension for the rest of his life.
J*
TT is immaterial whether the conversation
*• took place at Chicago or at New York,
but it was overheard:—
Mrs. Newgold (at Box Office): "Are
Opera tickets on sale here ?
Clerk: Yes, Madam. Do you require
them for any particular date ?
Mrs. N. : Well, what night do Lohengrin
and Carmen sing together ?
G to the lethargy of the directors
and members of the Society of
American Musicians and Composers, Presi-
dent Edward McDowell has resigned. The
inactivity of this organization is to be la-
mented. Were every member to do his
duty an influence might be generated that
would serve to advance the cause of Amer-
ican music and musical appreciation.
A T the request of the Ontario Minister
** of Education, Mr. A. T. Cringan, of
Toronto, has been studying the songs of
the Iroquois Indians. He found his task
difficult owing to the way in which the
singers slide from note to note, the way in
which they use the tremolo, their perplex-
ing tonality, and the whoop and grunt
with which their songs close.
A UGUST WM. HOFFMANN, the well-
•**• known Pittsburg teacher and com-
poser, is about to become a resident of New
York. His widely acknowledged ability
should win him a large measure of support
in the* metropolis.