Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1901 Vol. 33 N. 10

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
10
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
ible network of the auricular canals an ava-
lanche of microscopic particles.
A little less of the salts of lime or magne-
sium in the gateway of the brain and we
should not have had "Salammbo" or "Samson
and Delilah" or "Manon." Why shall we
not, perhaps, sooner or later discern some
method of penetrating into the internal ear
of a living subject so as to modify the den-
sity, of composition of these magic humors
where harmony resides ?
HO knows whether we shall not be able
That should not, after all, be more difficult
after a time to make artificial Mozarts than to operate upon the brain, as is now
and unexpectced Paderewskis? And that frequently done with success.
merely by an operation on t\w ears of any
unmusically ordinary mortal. Such are the iVA ISS Cornelia Van Etten, prima donna
soprano, who will appear this season un-
hints that are thrown out to us as we reflect *
der
the
management of the Charles L. Young
upon the undreamed of importance attaching*
to the role of the liquids of the inner ear. It Amusement Co., is a most interesting lady.
is only lately that we have been studying She has quite an extensive repertoire and
is well known as a teacher. She has also
them. The results are momentous.
It used to be a favorite saying of the cel- been secured as one of the teachers for Mr.
ebrated German physiologist, Helmholtz, that Young's conservatory of music, which will
the human eye was a sadly defective instru- be located at 305 Fifth avenue.
ment, so much so that any good optician could I F the word "England" wherever mentioned
improve upon it with comparative ease. This
in the following excerpt from some re-
Helmholtz would have been unable to assert marks by J. F. Runciman were replaced by
of the ears of men, whose perfection, so to the word '"America" it would seem familiar
speak, is quite irreproachable.
reading. He says: "One of the many cur-
The internal ear comprises an inextricable ses under which music in England has long
complication of canals, ducts and the like, staggered is this everlasting craze for the
where circulate specific liquids. These av- exotic. In the old days nothing but Italian
enues terminate in nerves, whose duty it is music could get a hearing and hardly a mu-
to convey any sensations of sound to the sician could get a hearing unless he called
brain.
himself Signor. Then the country went mad
When the sound waves are collected by the over Mendelssohn, and, after Mendelssohn,
outer ear and directed into the auditory tube, over Wagner, and, in certain coteries, Brahms.
they strike against the ear drum and the lat- Incidentally it has been bitten by Griegism
ter is set into motion, vibration. This vi- and Dvorakism. It likes its pianists to be—
bration is transmitted by a chain of diminu- or to call themselves—Polish; it takes its
tive bones to the internal ear. Here the im- violinists from Spain or Hungary. In fact,
pressible liquids of the labyrinth in their turn England will take its music and music inter-
enter into vibration and finally influence the preters from anywhere save England; and it
acoustic nerve.
will never forgive an English musician for
C XACTLY what, in this complicated and being an Englishman. As long as this is our
**-' delicate telephony, is the part played by attitude we shall never have a musical school,
the liquids in the internal ear? Are they a mode of expression in music, entirely and
mere passive instruments, like a species of exclusively our own. There is no encour-
gearing, or have they clearly defined indi- agement for a man who tries to speak his
vidual functions to perform? No one knew own tongue. The elders are driven to ora-
until recently, when M. Marage of Paris be- torios or cantatas written in a modification of
gan his investigations, when it became appar- the Handel or Mendelssohn idiom; and the
ent that the part performed by these invisible youngsters, while still in the imitative stages
liquids, of whose character and value we have and susceptible to exterior influences, see no
so long known nothing, is of capital impor- chance of getting so much as a hearing un-
less they try to catch the public ear by surren-
tance.
The fluids—paralymph and endolymph, dering themselves to the music and mu-
the scientists somewhat barbarically term sicians that happen to be in the public favor
them—are, it seems, volatile oils. In them for the moment."
Truly this is a somewhat extravagant and
are dissolved bicarbonates of lime and of
magnesium, with an excess of crystals of the parochial view of the situation. Irritating,
insoluble carbonates. This constitutes a sort of course, it must be to some that Chinese
of syrup which conducts sound marvelously walls can't be built around musical England,
well. So we may suppose that the density of and we may say musical America, for that
the auditory liquids is the function of the matter. There is a small army of dyspeptic
"know-nothings" who would, if they could,
musical sense.
This would explain the delicacy and accu- place art on a commercial basis, to the end
racy of the musical ear and also the transcen- that the doors of this country may be closed
dent aptitude of a virtuoso or a maestro, says to "foreigners !"—God save the mark!
And it is noteworthy that the men in
Emile Gautier. And thus the work of the
England
and in this country who indulge
beneficent fairy whose wings the poets tell us
in
this
kind
of talk are largely the sons of
brush the forehead of the musical genius, may
foreigners!
They overlook the fact, as did
be reduced at the last to the condensation of
a
past
generation
in the political arena, that
some oily solution bearing through the invis-
the majority of the people of this country
were all foreigners at one time. These for-
eigners have been civilizing factors. They
brought to our shores music and art—oft-
.* .
times, it is true, at "high prices of admission."
But we were rich enough to stand it in the
past as we are to-day.
J\A LLE. MARIE TITIANO, who will be
' *• heard in this country in November,
is one of the several American singers who
returns to her own country this season with
many honors won abroad. In Paris she
studied under Leandro Campanari, although
her first apearance was with the Boston
Symphony Orchestra in Boston, where she
achieved such a success that Gericke en-
gaged her to accompany the organization
on a tour. She has a soprano voice of re-
markable range, and sings G in alt. with
ease, and the quality of her upper notes is
full and sonorous. She is a native of Penn-
sylvania of Welsh ancestry, and her real
name is Titus. Her operatic debut was
made in Varese, where she sung with Ta-
magno.
T" HE wide prevalence of the mistaken no-
tion that the vocal cords vibrate in the
axial direction of the larynx makes it de-
sirable to point out that observations by the
laryngostroboscope—a combination of a la-
ryngoscope and an adjustable intermittent
source of illumination—have proved to the
contrary for the male chest register, writes
Prof. E. W. Scripture, of Yale University.
With this method it is possible to follow a vi-
bration slowly through its phases. This has
been done by Musehold, who reports that
in singing in the chest register the cords touch
along their whole length; that in loud tones
the edges have a slightly rounded form, es-
pecially in the middle, indicating strong con-
tact in the middle and weaker contact at the
ends of the glottis; that in weaker tones the
line of contact appears even and thin, while
Iflusical glub $ jjjjiusement pirector
(Copyrighted igoi.)
The most complete and reliable
book of information ever pub-
lished in reference to first class
entertainments and allied inter-
ests.
A Necessity to Every
Manager, Artisf, Conser-
vatory, College of Music,
Private
Teacher and
Musical Club.
EDITION,5,000. 1,000 pages
6% x 10X.
Cloth covered. I l l u s t r a t e d .
Price, $3.00.
THE CHARLES
L. YOUNG
AMUSEMENT
CO.
General Information
Bureau and Ad-
vertising Agency.
No Registration
Fee
Artists booked and
Engagement s
secured.
Artists are requested to send in their names and permanent
address, or change of address, at once.
Note: THIS COHPANY is NOT controlled by any NEWS-
PAPER, and is under the personal management of
L..
ZWUIItf,
( S u i t e I]IO>
Townsend Bldjj.
All oar Instruments contain the full iron frame and
patent tuning pin. The greatest invention in the history
of piano making. Any radical changes in the climate, beat
or dampness, cannot affect the standing in tone of our in*
ttruments, and therefor* challenge the world that
vill excel any othec
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
the top of the cord becomes flatter; that the
edges of the cords move out sidewise, and
not in the axial direction of the larynx.
In connection with the remarks of Pro-
fessor Le Conte on a previous occasion, it
is interesting to note that with the same meth-
od Musehold was able to observe the lips of
a performer on a horn, with the result of see-
ing that the lips vibrate as cushions and not
in Hie direction of the axis of the horn.
AMERICAN COLLEGES MUSICALLY CONSIDERED.
T^ONE ART in the American Colleges
was the subject of a recent paper by
W. S. B. Mathews, who sums up the con-
dition of affairs in this wise: "At Harvard
they have a professor of music; also at Yale,
Columbia, and Chicago. At Harvard, Yale,
and Columbia the professors of music con-
duct certain courses and classes designed to
qualify professional musicians, especially
composers. All higher cultivations of music,
intended to influence the undergraduate
body, and to lead them to an appreciation of
the value of music as an art and its qual-
ities for beautifying life, are ignored. In
some of the schools, notably in Michigan
University, a school of music exists affil-
iated with the university to some extent,
which is in point of fact a conservatory of
music, designed for the training of practi-
cal musicians, amateur and professional. At
Michigan strong influences of a general char-
acter are brought to bear on the undergrad-
uate to increase his appreciation of music
as an art and his understanding of its claim
upon his attention. So far as I know, noth-
ing of this sort is being done as yet at Har-
vard or at Yale. At Harvard, however, they
have the advantage of proximity to Boston,
and a few symphony concerts are given every
year in the Sanders Theatre by the Boston
Orchestra.
"At Yale College, as I understand, there
is an orchestra. The precise amount of w r ork
done by it I have not learned, but at least
the young men in this experience will learn
things about music which they would not
learn in any other way. The same is true
of Ann Arbor, where there is a college or-
chestra doing a good deal of extremely meri-
torious work. At Chicago University prac-
tically nothing has been done, and the musi-
cal standard is as near nothing at all as it
would be possible to define. A few lectures
upon musical subjects are given in Chicago
by the acting professor of music, Mr. Ward-
ner Williams, and the musical selections at
chapel exercises are carefully arranged with
reference to correspondence in metre be-
tween the hymns and tunes in which they
are sung. There is also a choral society,
which occasionally takes a shy at the 'Mes-
Professional Girds in this
department, including
subscription, $5.00.
siah' or 'Elijah.' Further than this a few
chamber concerts are given in the Kent
Theatre, and this is the whole of it. There
is no school of music connected with the
Chicago University, nor are there any facil-
ities there for the study of music, except-
ing, perhaps, a few lessons in singing or in
composition by the acting professor. In
some of tne smaller colleges, such as Beloit
and the Nebraska University, very useful
work is being done."
TO PRODUCE FANCIULLI'S OPERA.
M. A. THOMPSON, manager of the
Rose Cecelia Shay Grand Opera Co.,
has signed a contract for the production of
Sig. Fanciulli's grand opera, "Priscilla, the
Maid of Plymouth," or "The Courtship of
Miles Standish," the first performance ot
which will be given in Washington on Nov.
4th. The opera is founded on the poem of
Longfellow and the libretto is by Isaac Eaton
of Plymouth.
Col. Thompson has selected this opera for
the coming debut of Miss Shay because of
its purely American theme and treatment.
Miss Shay is a Cincinnati girl, the daughter
of Col. Thomas F. Shay. Her early musical
education was under the direction of Ameri-
can teachers and this was supplemented by
a two-year course of study abroad. Miss
Shay has but recently returned to America,
and her father decided to equip an opera
company for her under Col. Thompson's di-
rection. The members of the cast who will
support her are all American, both principals
and chorus.
Francesco Fanciulli, the composer of the
opera, is the leader of the 71st Regiment
Band, and well known as a composer. He
was for five years the leader of the Marine
Band at the national Capital, succeeding
Sousa. The Shay Opera Co., after its open-
ing in Washington, will tour the principal
cities in the East.
PRIZE FOR THE BEST OPERA.
n
GOUNOD'S ADVICE TO PLANCON.
DOL PLANCON is one of the most famous
singers now on the stage, and he owes
much of his success to his having followed
this bit pf advice which Gounod once gave
him: "Singers too often forget what they
are singing about. Forget that you have a
voice, speak your words, and think of what
you are singing, and the voice will come with
the expression of the words." In a recent
talk with Mr. William Armstrong, Plangon
remarked: "In studying a song, I always
begin with the words, getting the sense of
them thoroughly fixed in my mind. The
picture must be painted in the imagination
before you can paint it in tone. Then I sing
the music over, and later both music and
words, thoughtfully working at each sepa-
rate phrase until it is finished in a way that
I feel I cannot improve upon."
BRIEPLETS.
""THE Verdi monument to be erected in
Milan will cost about $100,000, a
large part of which has already been col-
lected. Rome and Busseto are also to have
Verdi monuments, and a humble memo-
rial to the great composer was erected a
few weeks ago in the Italian summer resort,
Montecatini, where he used to spend the
warm months. Henry L. Mason, of Boston,
is taking an active interest toward erecting
a Verdi monument in this country.
JV/I ME. NORDTCA has just completed a
* * book for singers, enlivened by per-
sonal reminiscences of her stage career.
William Armstrong, who edited and pre-
pared the book for publication, has just ar-
rived in the United States with the manu-
script.
DUDOLPH ARONSON has engaged
1
^ Vittoria Carpi, the Italian baritone,
who-has had a career in his own country
and has sung in the leading European opera
houses. He has already spent five years in
this country as a teacher. He has a reper-
toire of fifty-eight operas.
'"THE Moody-Manners Opera Co. of Eng-
land has offered a prize for the best opera
submitted within a year. The judge for the
A course of lectures on the instruments
Italian works is to be Luigi Mancinelli; for
of
the orchestra illustrated by various per-
the German, Otto Lohse; for the French, Ca-
formers
is to be one of the new courses at
mille Saint-Saens (who has just been dec-
the
New
York College of Music, which
orated by the German Emperor) ; for the
opens
during
the first week in September.
French operas and for the English, Hamish
Macunn has been selected. His task will
Emil Paur, who is now abroad, will re-
probably be the lightest. It was from the
turn to this city to begin the rehearsals of
same source that several years ago a prize for
the Philharmonic Society during the third
a one-act opera was given and won by Wal-
week in September.
ter Maclean, a nephew of Paul Potter. When
j*
this one of the fifty operas submitted was
Mile. Breval is not to return to this coun-
sung in public the wonder was what the oth- try next season, but will sing "Isolde" at
ers that were not thought worth the prize the Opera Comique in Paris when the work
must have been.
is performed there next winter.
PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY
CONSERVATORIES
H ERBERT H. JOY, 116 Carnegie Hall, N»w York.
PIANO INSTRUCTION AND PIANISTS
I^LINGENFELD COLLEGE OF MUSIC, 108 Han-
rv cock St., Brooklyn, N. Y.
MME. HELENE MAIGILLE, 1211-1215 Carnegie
Hall, New York.
r\R. HENRY G. HANCHETT, Pianist,Teacher,
Lecturer, 13« Fifth Ave., N. Y.
ISS FLORENCE E. H. MARVIN, Hardman Bldg,
138 Fifth Are., N. Y. Tuesday, Thursday a»d
Saturday.
R8. HENRY 8M00K BOrCE, Hardmaa Bldg,
iLBERT GERARD-THIER8, Vocal 8tudio, 649
138 Fifth AT*.. N. Y. Monday and Thursday.
» Lexington Are.. N. Y.
RS. ETTA EDWARDS, Steinert Hall, Bostoa,
|E£8ICA DE WOLF, 210 W, 85th street. New York.
VOCAL INSTRUCTION
U EINIUCH GEBHARD, 8 Mill at., Boston, Mass.
ay Hall, N. Y.
LKXANDEK RIHM, 100 Jttoduey St., BrooklyD.
N. Y.
!__!___
ENRY HOLDEN HUSS, 318 East 150th St. and
Carnegie Hall, N. Y.
EUGENE A. BERNSTEIN, 160 East 70th St.,
^ N. Y.
ME. LIZA DELHAZEWICKES, 2 West 95th St.,
TDLIE RIVE-KING, 52 East 21st street
N.
lew York.
RT~8AMDEL BOWDEN^MOVLE-English p»c,
VRIE L, POTVIN, 122 West 45tb St., New York.
tion a Specialty-1§6 Fifth Are., N. Y,
M
H
M
M
M
M
This Professional Directory will
be extended to all branches
of art at the same rate-

Download Page 8: PDF File | Image

Download Page 9 PDF File | Image

Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).

Pro Tip: You can flip pages on the issue easily by using the left and right arrow keys on your keyboard.