Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
REVIEW
V O L . XXXII. N o . 1 4 . Published Every Saturday by Edward Ljman Bill at 3 East Fourteenth Street, New York April, 6,1901.
THE CULTURE OF PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.
NE of the most interesting points in the
human mind is its limitation of recep-
tivity. Looking back on my appreciations
and want of them, not only with regard to
music and the arts but also to human affairs
and human beings, it is a perpetual source of
interest to myself, says a writer in the Lon-
don Standard, to watch the growth of a dif-
ferent mental attitude, from the first doubt
of one's preconceived opinions to the ulti-
mate clear vision that those opinions were
wrong. The process generally begins with
an uncomfortable sense that there may be
something to be said on the other side. If
the development stopped at that stage one's
opinions would remain unaltered, for I do
not believe in the reality of the mere mental
balance which reasonably admits that there
are two sides to a question, and that perhaps
something may be said for the other side.
That attitude merely results in what may be
called "well-balanced" criticism, and it is an
attitude so easily adopted by the apostles of
culture that the process ends by becoming
automatic. Thus when you hear a pianist
give a reading of a Beethoven sonata, say
Mons. de Pachmann, and that reading seems
to you a travesty of the Beethoven idea, it is
the easiest thing in the world to turn round
on oneself and say, "But, perhaps, after all,
there may be something in his view of Beeth-
oven"—as possibly there is in detail. I have
known this habit of well-balanced criticism
grow into a sturdy vice, so that the critic who
is its slave has no real and vital opinion of his
own. In fact he allows this automatic bal-
ance of mind to become such a characteristic
of his mental attitude towards music, and
towards everything else, for that matter, that
he ends by having no opinions of his own at
all, and he becomes merely the transmitter of
second-hand thoughts which are given to
him by other men in conversation and in
writing.
The fact is no opinion is worth a cent un-
less it be the outcome of personal experience
and feeling, and for that reason it is so hope-
less to endeavor to influence people's minds
by a direct appeal to intellect. They will
agree with you mentally with the utmost
ease, just as they will admit that the earth
goes round the sun, and that the firmament
contains millions of suns, and that there can
be no such thinkable matters as time and
space. Indeed, the whole of human educa-
tion is formulated on the idea of making hu-
man beings accept facts mentally which they
cannot grasp in their reality. The only men
who attempt to get behind formulas and
really grasp facts not only as mental abstrac-
tions but as realities are those madmen whom
the world calls poets, and their incapacity
for ordinary human affairs, which are car-
ried on so largely by those who have most
facility for juggling with the formulas
which, as it were, are the counters represent-
ing facts in the game of life, is not encour-
aging to the adoption of a mental attitude
which shall attempt to get behind the dry
verbal expression of facts. When I say that
all our education is formulated on the basis
of a man accepting facts mentally which he
cannot grasp in their reality, I have only in
proof to point to the mental attitude of chil-
dren who have arrived at the time of life
when their brain has developed to a certain
extent and has stored certain impressions
which are the germs of ideas.
CENTURY LIBRARY OF HUSIC.
TH HERE has, probably, never been a more
elegant or valuable work upon music
than that which is now being issued in twenty
volumes by the Century Company. For act-
ual value it is remarkably inexpensive, and
for its value as a work of art, of reference,
of instruction, of authority, it is beyond esti-
mate. The music, which has been edited by
Paderewski, consists of a wide repertory in-
cluding the best in piano literature. The
editing cannot be passed over lightly, as the
markings are most minutely and carefully
done with special attention to the pedal
marks, the embellishments, and all of the
smallest details which are absolutely neces-
sary for art.
The literary portion is not less fascinating
as the contributions have the novelty of being
written by musicians, and this gives them a
peculiarly musical and artistic atmosphere,
which could not have been secured in any
other way. One of the most beautiful speci-
mens of this is the article on Brahms by Josef
Weiss, which is exquisitely and intelligently
written. Grieg has written an admirable
sketch of Schumann, and also of Mozart.
Saint-Saens wrote a hugely interesting story
of Liszt and his colossal accomplishments.
Dr. William Mason furnishes the article upon
Grieg, and so a history is secured that can
be had from no other source. There are short
articles which bear upon musical subjects,
and there is another remarkable feature in
the work of Bernard Boekelman, who went
to visit all the noted pedagogues of Europe
to question them about the vital points, and
the statement of each one is given in such a
$2.00 PER YEAR.
SINGLE COPIES 10 CENTS.
way that it is possible for one to know what
is being taught by these masters. The illus-
trations are of more than ordinary value,
most of them being copies of rare works and
having some historical or artistic connection
with the subject. The great value to the mu-
sic student will at once be apparent, not only
as a work of art, but under conditions and in
places where it is not possible to get authori-
tative information this work is beyond esti-
mate. Fanny Morris Smith, one of the most
intelligent musical writers of to-day, has edit-
ed the literary part of the work and has con-
tributed several articles in her rarely fascin-
ating and brilliant vein.
The Century Company has certainly kept
its standard for the very best at the highest
plane, for the typographical side is in every
way on a level with the artistic.
TRIBUTE TO ANTON SE1DL.
f~\ N the 28th of March it was the third an-
^"^ niversary of the death of the greatest
exponent of Wagner that America has ever
known—Anton Seidl. It is no wonder that
his memory is dear to those who through his
wonderful personality no less than through
his memory is dear to those who through his
darkness into the brilliant light of the Master
of Bayreuth. No one will ever replace Seidl
at the helm of a Wagnerian production, for
Wagner was his soul, his life and his intel-
lect. Seidl's was the unselfish and self-abne-
gated devotion to a man and his work. In
truth, he served as a faithful servant, he gave
his mind and his life to glorify the works in
the manner which he knew to be authorita-
tive and authorized.
He was content to shine in the light of the
composer, or, in fact, not to shine at all. This
was his strength, for he was utterly unaffect-
ed, simple and sincere. As tribute to his
memory, the Seidl Society of Brooklyn gave
one presentation of Lohengrin by the Grau
forces at the Academy of Music. Mrs. Laura
C. Langford, through whose efforts Seidl's
orchestra concerts in Brooklyn and Brighton
were so successful, devoted herself to making
a success of this memorial and memorable
performance.
The Leeds Musical Festival will this year
be held in the second week in October. It
was stated at a meeting of the committee
that the authorities of St. Paul's Cathedral
could not see their way to sanction the per-
formance of Sir Arthur Sullivan's "Te
Deum" at Leeds until it had been given in
the Cathedral, as intended, on the proclama-
tion of peace in South Africa.