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PUBLIC LIBRARY
33954A
ASTOR. LEJ4OX AND
TTT
56 Pages
With which is incorporated T H E KEYNOTE.
VOL. XXXI. No. l .
Published Every Saturday Dy Edward Lyman Bill at 3 East Fourteenth Street. New York, July 7,1900.
the value of song and the musical
progress of this country S. K. Saen-
ger, president of the Northeastern Saen-
gerbund and Brooklyn Saengerfest, has
this to say: It is natural that a young
country should at first be lacking in music
and art. When an immigrant lands at the
Barge Office his first desire is to find work
and to accumulate some money. He does
not buy a violin or piano until he has pro-
vided a home for his family. Material
necessities come first, both with individu-
als and nations.
But the time has now come when Amer-
ica can take her place among the older
nations in the cultivation of music and
song. A European training is no longer
necessary for a singer. At the Saenger-
fest now being held in Brooklyn every one
of the soloists, with only one exception,
was born in this country.
It is not true that Americans have no
ear for music nor that the English language
is harsh. I have often, while listening to
grand opera in New York, heard apprecia-
tive comments upon Wagner's music which
made me feel like a schoolboy. Wagner
is not only liked in America; he is under-
stood r which is far more.
The progress that we have made in sing-
ing is amazing. Who does not remember
the church choirs of fifteen or twenty years
ago and the way in which they murdered
the anthems and hymn tunes every Sun-
day? Compare those old-time choirs with
the trained singers who delight the con-
gregations of to-day.
Of all the influences that soften and
civilize the human heart song is easily the
most effective. There is nothing selfish in
song. There is nothing sordid in it. We
love it for its own sake. If there is any-
thing noble and tender in a man song will
find it out and develop it. It counteracts
the dangerous passion for war. The
patriotism of song is higher than the
patriotism of the sword, because it tends
to create sympathy and fraternity.
The national sentiment of a country be-
comes embodied in songs and so is carried
on from one generation to another. That
national spirit which is greater than laws
and institutions expresses itself in those
songs that remain popular.
"Let me
write the songs of a nation and I care not
who makes the laws," said a great thinker,
and his beautiful sentiment is indorsed by
every lover of song.
We have invented many wonderful musi-
cal instruments, but not one of them
equals the human voice. What music can
be sweeter than the singing of a choir of
little children? Those who have attended
our great singing festivals can never for-
get the thrill and enthusiasm when "The
Star-Spangled Banner" was sung by four
or five thousand trained voices.
Our whole spiritual life is sustained by
a deeply implanted sentiment, which finds
its most pleasing expression in song. Is
not song our faithful companion from the
cradle to the grave? Does it not divide our
sorrows and double our joys? Is it not a
gift from Heaven itself, rejoicing all who
* 2 .ao PER YEAR.
SINGLE COPIES TO CENTS
ever met, but the Boston orchestra is the
finest in the world."
This tribute paid this great Boston or-
ganization is not a "jolly." Meet in
Europe any noted singer and player who
has been heard in this country and you find
them most enthusiastic about the Boston
Symphony Orchestra.
Notwithstanding
the backwardness of New York in the
orchestral field, it is some satisfaction that
the "City of Culture" can boast of a mu-
sical organization that leads the world.
This is something of which the entire
country can feel justly proud.
Vaudeville Managers' Association,
which controls one-third of the book-
ing of the vaudeville houses in the coun-
tjy, already has two rivals. Hurtig & Sea-
mon have organized the Western Amuse-
ment Co., bought the Lyric in Chicago
and established a chain of independent
houses from New York to the Coast. Wil-
liam Morris has also organized a circuit.
The so-called trust has yielded on one
point and is booking acts through agents,
paying the usual commission, a practice
which it hoped to abolish. Players from
the legitimate are demanding and obtain-
ing their former salaries. The wages,
however, of the conventional performers
have been cut as much as fifty per cent, in
some cases.
ALICE VERLET.
C R A N K VAN DER STUCKEN sailed
*
for Europe on Thursday. He will
return to Cincinnati to resume his work
with the orchestra there in the autumn. It
has
been decided to repeat next year the
JVALLE. ALICE VERLET, the popular
successful
music festival held last spring
* * * soprano, will form part of the large
in
Louisville.
It was necessary to call for
contingent of celebrities who will honor
only
15
per
cent
of the guarantee fund,
us with their presence next season. Her
and
sufficient
money
has already been
admirers in this country are legion and
promised
to
make
the
next
festival a cer-
they seem to increase every season.
tainty. The chorus of women's voices was
TN a recent interview in London, Ignace highly praised last spring by all the pro-
* Paderewski expressed himself as quite fessionals who heard it.
in love with the United States and its
T^HERE is a rumor in London that the
people. "The Americans," said the famous
* next opera by Sir Arthur Sullivan at
pianist, "you know, are so quick. The
the Savoy, will be upon an Irish story.
country has a great future before it. Why,
The "Rose of Persia " has, however, first
everything has a grand future in America.
to finish its run, and there will probably
There is no place I like to travel in more
come a Gilbert and Sullivan revival before
than America. The English are too
a new opera may be wanted in the late
philosophical, too deeply imaginative; but,
autumn.
dear me," he added, "there is no compari-
son between the two peoples The Amer-
L. GRAFF announces having en-
icans are making wonderful progress mu-
gaged Mme. Sembrich for a tour
sically. The New York and Chicago or- under his management in opera and con-
chestras can compare with anything I have cert, beginning next December.
sing and all who listen to its sweetness,
and awakening a thousand echoes in every
heart?