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THE
REVIEW
ffflJSIC TIRADE
V O L . x x x i v . NO. 18
fa.oo PER YEAR.
SINGLE COPIES to CENTS
pmiisM Ever? Sat. ly Edward Lyman Bill at 3 East Fonrteentli Street, New York, May 3,1902.
ANOTHER NATIONAL HYMN?
JOHN PHILIP SOUSA, the well known
composer and director, has written music
for James Whitcomb Riley's poem "The Mes-
siah of Nations," and it will be sung for the
first time by a chorus of 150 male voices
under the direction of Franz Bellinger, ac-
companied by an orchestra, at the dedication
of the soldiers and sailors monument in In-
dianapolis on May 15th. The text is as fol-
lows :
THE MESSIAH OF NATIONS.
In the need that bows us thus,
America!
Shape a mighty song for us—
America!
Song to whelm a hundred years'
Roar of wars and rain of tears
"Neath a world's triumphant cheers;
America! America!
Lift the trumpet to thy mouth,
America!
East and west and north and south—
America!
Call us round thy dazzling shrine
Of the starry old ensign—
New-baptised in blood of thine,
America! America!
Dying eyes through pitying mists,
America!
See the assassin's shackled wrists,
America!
Patient eyes that turn their sight
From all blackening crime and blight,
Still tow'rd heaven's holy l i g h t -
America ! America!
High o'erlooking sea and land,
America!
Trustfully with outheld hand,
America!
Thou dost welcome all in quest
Of thy freedom, peace and rest—^ .
Every exile is thy guest,
America! America!
Thine a universal love,
America!
Thine the cross and crown thereof,
America!
Aid us, then, to sing thy worth;
God hath builded from thy birth,
The first nation of the earth—
America! America!
"The Messiah of Nations" was written by
Mr. Riley last fall, not long after the as-
sassination of President McKinley. Sousa's
setting of the song to music will be awaited
with some interest. If not too ambitious a
work it may become one of our national
hymns.
GREAT ORCHESTRA PLANNED.
A MOVEMENT is under way to raise a
^~* fund of $1,000,000 for the establish-
ment of a permanent orchestra in this city.
The sum has been fixed upon after a careful
study of the question. It is the same as that
with which Mr. Higginson has endowed the
Boston Symphony Orchestra. The point is
that the fund should be big enough to pro-
vide for all expenses from its income.
Among those interested in the scheme,
which has not progressed far enough as yet
to be formulated in detail, are Henry W.
Poor, Mrs. John E. Cowdin, Samuel Unter-
myer, Mrs. Howard van Sinderen and Mrs.
Charles H. Ditson.
THE SEASON'S SHOWING.
NE of our musical critics of a mathe-
matical turn of mind figures out that
during the season now ended, there were
more than three hundred and thirty con-
certs of various sorts. Of these forty-eight
were symphony concerts, fifteen were choral,
forty-four were of chamber music, and one
hundred and seventy-five were in the form
of recitals—vocal and instrumental. This
record covers a period of twenty-four weeks
and makes it clear that as a musical centre
New York stands in the same rank with Lon-
don and Berlin.
At the symphony concerts, symphonies by
Beethoven, Brahms, Goldmark, Hadley, Liszt,
Haydn, Mozart, Schumann, Schubert and
Tschaikowsky were heard. Orchestral nov-
elties included Elgar's "Cockaigne" overture,
Glazounow's "Overture Solenelle," Von
Hausegger's "Barbarossa," Victor Herbert's
"Woodland Fancies," Max Schilling's "(Edi-
pus," Josef Suk's "Ein Maerchen," Sibelius'
"Lemmenkaineri" and Richard Strauss' "Love
Scene from 'Feuersnoth.'"
No less than forty pianists, twenty violin-
ists seven 'cellists and eighty-one singers
were active in their respective phases of mu-
sical art.
In all these figures no place is given to
private functions by glee clubs and the like,
military band concerts and entertainments of
a mixed character.
CUBA AND MUSICAL CULTURE,
''"THE Island of Cuba, which makes its bow
*
as a Republic early this month is, con-
trary to the general belief, quite a seat of
musical culture, although if one were search-
ing it would not be the first place one would
look. Havana alone supports an opera sea-
son each year that lasts on an average of
three or four months. A company from
France furnishes French opera for the music-
thirsty populace, and an Italian company per-
petuates the fame of sunny Italy in a similar
manner. It is said that the principal charac-
ters are assumed by first-class artists, while
the choruses compare favorably with the best
in the United States. The orchestra is
formed from the ranks of resident musicians.
A standing chamber music organization also
had a very successful season last year, its
concerts being patronized by the most fash-
ionable and cultured people of the city. The
Municipal Police Band of Havana is one of
the best organizations of its kind in the
world, and enjoys a wide popularity.
Among the native musicians and compos-
ers the most noteworthy are Jiminez and
Cervantes, the latter having received his mu-
sical education in Paris, and the former
under the eminent masters at Lcipsic and
Vienna. Both have won distinction abroad
and Cervantes is especially noted as a
composer of characteristic Cuban style, one
of his most famous compositions for the
piano being "Serenata Cubana."
Other cities in Cuba are not without their
musical attractions, but Havana appears to
be the most progressive. Nothing so marks
the advancement of a people, both morally
and intellectually, as the manifest apprecia-
tion of the best in the great art of music.
„<*
NEW WORK BY BEETHOVEN.
C R O M Berlin comes an interesting story
which tells of the discovery of a hith-
erto unknown work by Beethoven. It is not
a great symphony to be added to the nine
immortal ones, which still stand as the mon-
umental achievement of man in music; it is
not a sonata, nor a gem of chamber music.
It is a simple little adagio, rich in melody
and exquisitely harmonized, written by the
master to be used in a dainty music box as
a gift to the young daughter of a friend.
This treasure has been unearthed by Dr. A.
Kopfermann, who found it under the lid
of the music box, which was hidden away in
a lot of rubbish in the house of the grand-
child of the person for whom it was com-
posed.
THE MANUSCRIPT SOCIETY MEETS.
" T H E sixth meeting of the twelfth season
*
of the New York Manuscript Society
was held in the Wanamaker galleries on Sat-
urday night. A very large audience listened
to a well presented program prepared by
Frank L. Sealy. Those who participated
were Miss Cecilia Bradford, Mrs. Florence
Mulford Hunt, Charles W. Russell, George
Seymour Lenox and Dr. Henry llanchett,
who gave some interesting piano solos by
Sherwood, Mason and W. H. Dayas.
Dr. Hanchett gave the same numbers in
addition to an elaborate program on Mon-
day evening at the last recital at Adelphi
College, where he has been giving some val-
uable and interesting analytical recitals this
season.