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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
KEVIP
ARTISTS'
\
DEPARTMENT.
EM1LIE FRANCES BAUER, Editor.
TELEPHONE
NUMBER.
1745—EIQHTEENTH
STREET
The Artists' Department of The Review is
published on the first Saturday of each month.
MECCA, MUSIC AND MORALS.
A QUESTION heard daily, and not with-
out cause, is, why do so many musi-
cians congregate in New York, where there
is actually starvation to be expected, when
there are so many smaller places which
are not by any means small cities where
thorough musicians are so very much
needed? This question is not difficult to
answer and, indeed, most of these musi-
cians come from interior cities of different
styles and sizes.
The first cause is that most of those cities
do not know how to treat a musician or
rather his art, and secondly, the lack of
true art is so degenerating that a sincere
musician feels that he cannot hold his own
and never hear aught that can give him
inspiration or help. It is a pitiful con-
dition in the smaller cities that preju-
dices, social conditions, and innumerable
other things bear upon musical life to the
extent of assisting to the front certain
people who have no right to patronage and
withholding it from others who by every
reason should be entitled to all that can
be accorded them.
This is not the only hard feature, but
the proper patronage is not accorded visit-
ing artists from whom there is so very
much to be learned and the musical con-
ditions become unbearable to a true, art-
loving musician and he emigrates to that
great Mecca, New York, or he goes to that
more intimate field, Boston, because as he
says, "I am willing to starve six days in
the week, if I can scratch up enough to go
to the Boston Symphony."
Even if one be ready to give up all ex-
cept teaching in such a place, teaching is
fraught with a thousand more difficulties
than it is in New York or Boston. It is a
constant fight, a constant worry, a con-
stant source of disappointment, a never-
ending struggle with ignorance, bigot-
ry and prejudice.
Yet it were a
great thing for the morals of the musi-
cal world if young men and women were
not sent away from home for study, if
while in comfortable well-ordered homes
they might enjoy the benefits of good in-
struction and the possibility of hearing
good music.
It behooves all parents who have talent-
ed sons and daughters to build up musical
CROTCHETS.
conditions in their own cities, so that this A MONG the latest series of articles to
continual cry and desire to leave home to
be presented is one wherein such sub-
acquire a musical education might be jects are to be discussed as:
How it feels to be the Wife of a great
stopped.
The American mother is too quick to say Pianist; How it feels to be the Wife of an
of her American daughter, "Oh, I can Opera Singer; How it feels to be the
trust my daughter anywhere; in America Wife of a Matinee Idol; etc. There are,
a girl can go anywhere and be perfectly strangely enough, no questions asked
safe, etc., etc." If these over-confident as to how it feels to be the wife of a club
mothers could realize their mistake, they man, or a banker, or a butcher, or a baker,
might be more careful beforehand, or more neither is there a question asked as to. the
difference between being the wife of a
forgiving afterwards.
A girl has no business away from the pianist who is a good respectable, respon-
side of her mother or watchful guar- sible man—for surely the most cynical will
dian to study music or anything admit that there are a few—and having the
else in a large city, unless, indeed, her misfortune to be tied to a worthless, errat-
mother be willing to pay the penalty. ic man, just as many doctors and lawyers
You who have talented children, make and army officers are. There are also men
your own cities bearable for first-class from a few other callings in life, were it
teachers and you will have them. En- necessary to enumerate, who are not model
courage the foreign artists who come husbands.
The private lives of artists shotild belong
to America by according them good
to
themselves, and the mere handling of
houses, and you will get them just
the same as New York does. No art- such subjects is an impertinence of im-
ist comes to America for the exclusive measurable dimension. If these articles
purpose of playing to New York; he are to be contributed by the wives them-
knows—his manager knows that the money selves, the wife of the exquisite artist, De
Pachmann, would be likely to give a differ-
comes from the outer cities.
It may be that you can not have Grand ent idea of life than would the wife of
Opera. Well you will find life is bearable Edward A. MacDowell, who, in addition
to being a scholarly artist, is an admirable
even without it, and the probability is that,
man. It is unfair and unjust to cover all
even being in New York, frequent visits
of a certain class of people with odium
to the opera would be impossible.
because of the misfortune or misdemeanor
If the smaller large cities would encour-
of a portion, however great or small
age orchestral music, the country's best
the portion may be. On the other
orchestras would visit them.
hand, if one woman should give a glow-
Every city in the Union can not have
ing account of how it feels to be the wife
the Boston Symphony weekly, even New
of a great pianist, there is no assurance
York cannot have that, but they could have
that this would be the experience of all
occasional, perhaps monthly, visits of a
great pianist's wives any more than one
first class orchestra.
happy woman's fate might be that of all
Cultivate chamber music in your homes.
others who marry.
When your young people congregate for
The whole thing is too silly to waste
amusement, try to keep the atmos-
paper
and ink upon. It would be more in-
phere purged from the music of the
teresting to know how it feels to be the
day.
president
of a club where such things are
When
your assistance is asked
to accomplish something helpful to music the brightest topics that the members can
in your community, do not refuse because evolve—and in the twentieth century too!
it is not your "set," or because you are not
the present outlook it seems very
at the head of it, or because it is not the
safe to state that "little" Paloma
teacher that you are trying to push, or be- Schramm is to join the same category as
cause you yourself may not enjoy it; but the boy drummer of the Rappahannock,
stand ready to help keep good teachers in the boy preacher, et al., for doubtless when
your midst, to encourage good artists to she will be a grandmother she will still be
visit your city so that your musical chil- featured as "Little" Paloma Schramm,
dren may not starve for the advantages of the prodigy pianist. Paloma's story
New York, until you feel that you owe would be funny if it were not so
them the duty of giving them that advan- pitiful, but it is a typical case of
tage, even though you know that it is a the child prodigy and it were well indeed
moral murder to permit a young girl or could all such cases be blotted out of ex-
boy alone in the maelstrom of student life istence.
In 1898 Paloma came to San
in New York or Boston,
Francisco from the land of sunshine, south-*