Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
7V^\JSIC TRHDE
time to listen to unfinished crudities in art
just because we are expected to encourage
native talent. That is an injustice to those
"Why are contraltos so conspicuously who are coming along, it is unkind to those
rare?" asked some one the. other day. Americans who are really great, and it is a
This question is not so difficult, to answer as death blow to the future of art in this coun-
it might seem. To be strictly truthful, though try.
brutal, I would say—"Because there are so
It has been quite shocking to those who
many women in the world that are gifted
know
that charming and altogether fascinat-
enormously with the voice, and where the
ing
actress,
Pilar-Morin, to hear that she is
brains should be there is a yawning chasm."
meeting
with
the fate of many women who
: Every teacher can quote hundreds of cases
are
married
to
men of talent, which must be
where she has put time and energy, brains
conceded
to
Aime
Lachaume. How far art
and heart into work upon pupils who have
and
happiness
are
compatible has been the
beautiful contralto voices to be met with the
subject time and again, and the longer one
remark: "Well, I appreciate what you have
lives where it is the privilege to study the
done for me but you know I don't want to
question, the more one realizes that it is al-
be a contralto, and my friends say that I have
most as easy to fall from a seventh floor and
a soprano voice, and their teacher says that
to emerge unhurt as to marry an artistic tem-
he can make me a soprano," etc.
perament and to expect happiness. It is
What is to be done in the face of such positive that every time we hear art at that
idiocy? Nothing; and that is why there are height where it means a genuine pleasure to
such sloughs of useless screeching sopranos, those who exact much, it has been reached
and such a dearth of good contralto voices.
through tears and suffering of the artist's
In the original condition there are quite as family and friends. Art is most selfish and
many contralto voices as there are sopranos, the one who is pursuing it is the least affected.
but the owners of these organs are not musi- Perhaps Lachaume is correct when he says
cal enough or intelligent enough to appreci- that he must work for his music, that he must
ate the beauty of the contralto quality. Why be isolated from everything and everybody,
this should be so, no one will ever under- that he must crush every other thought and
stand, but so it is.
every other feeling. If he is in pursuit of art
he is correct. There is no other road to per-
"Why is New York such a magnificent fection except that of utter and absolute immo-
field for foreign artists?" is asked contin- lation—would that the penalties fell only upon
ually by those who do not know the wheel those who some day might find comfort in
within the wheel. Neither is this difficult to what had been accomplished. But no, the
answer. It is because those who are follow- hardship falls upon the wife, the mother, the
ing the musical life of this city are compelled sacrificing sister, and the artist comes forth
to put their talents to financial use before with heaving bosom—"See what I have ac-
they are really fit to appear, and after they complished !" and the worst of it is that he
have the taste of the footlights and the pub- really thinks that it has all been his own ef-
lic—Good-bye study. Study is broad; when fort.
it is not, it is little better than no study at
all,. Vocalists will not study music, and
One of the most charming compositions of
there is nothing more to be said in the matter. Henry Holden Huss had its origin in the cir-
"My teacher wants me to give up the piano cumstance which deprived one of his most
and devote myself to the voice alone; he talented pupils of the use of her left hand for
says I would accomplish much more than I several months. She was to play at a recital
do."
when she sprained her wrist, and more than
At the teacher's door, then, is the blame to the pain was the fact that she could not ap-
be laid. No pupil accomplishes so much who pear upon this occasion, when with that in-
studies vocal music only, as does she who ventive genius which is definable in all the
studies vocal and instrumental. Music is works of that noted teacher he wrote a study
broader and greater than the greatest voice for the right hand, which besides being an ex-
that ever existed; music is greater and nobler quisite piece of music gave the young lady
than any instrument that was ever invented; the opportunity to play it with one hand
music is wider and more important than any "done up in a sling,."
orchestra that ever discoursed the master-
This occurrence was brought to mind by
pieces of music.
the timely- loss which Sousa sustained in Lon-
How weak, puny and miserable is any re- don when the trunks containing the music of
production in the face of the immensity of the his band failed to materialize. Perhaps the
art itself! It should never be a matter of business manager failed to pay the tips, or
voice or of instrument, but of music—of art. perhaps indeed, he paid the baggage men to
Because it is not, because music is regarded retain the trunks for well he knew that such
as so little and the organ as so much is the a trifle could not disturb the equanimity of
reason for the results and the unhappiness the noted bandmaster and his equally noted
and the failures. The conditions are not to organization—and it was a "whopper" in the
blame, because they have been created by the way of an advertisement.
weakness of the system and the unhealthiness
Did you ever read "The Sentimental Jour-
of the atmosphere surrounding the study.
It is possible to give towards charities, to ney?" No? Well, wait until Mascagni re-
visit the sick- and destitute, to go down into turns to. Italy and writes of his meanderings
the slums, in fact to undergo any self-denials in America. But Mascagni must love the
which may be' required of mankind in its re- Stars and Stripes, for otherwise how could he
lation to its fellow-beings, but it is not pos- be so persistent? Now he is going out to San
sible to lend one's presence, to give one's Francisco to try his luck, but it is doubtful
as she is too immature to be commanding in
her musical utterances.
T
HERE are several momentous questions
before New York at present. One of the
most important is, "Will Mr. Grau really rest
for a period of time?" Of course he won't. He
will get more assistance and go on. Opera is
a part of New York life and the hue and cry
that is being raised as to whether there will
be opera next season or not is to say the least
very useless. Of course there will be opera,
of course Mr. Grau will run it, of course it
will be a financial success, of course the sing-
ers will all come back; what is the use sup-
posing anything else?
Reciprocity is the basis of all intercourse
between nations, and indeed there is much of
it in art too, if we may be permitted to re-
gard the fact that we are to give a produc-
tion in this country of Elgar's "Dream of
Gerontius," before London has so honored the
composer, as reciprocal for the attentions
showered upon Horatio Parker. It will be
interesting to note how many people are in-
terested sufficiently in new works when the
Oratorio Society presents the Elgar work at
its next concert. The "Messiah" and the
"Elijah" can draw; it is almost safe to say
that nothing else can. This is in no way en-
couraging to Frank Damrosch, whose admir-
able efforts in behalf of the best choral work
that can be shown in America, should inter-
est a larger number of people. That this
form of music is not more interesting may be
attributed to two causes, the principal one of
which is that most of the works are too long
and not varied enough. A symphony pro-
gram would hardly be endurable to the rank
and file if it consisted of one number which
were to last two hours.
The charm of the "Messiah" is in its re-
markable versatility. Indeed, it ranges
through every style of music and this is evi-
dent in the recitatives as well as in the chor-
uses or the arias. Many choral works suffer,
or rather make the hearers suffer, from being
too scholastic and too academic. To the aver-
age hearer one work is like another; certain
harmonies, certain progressions prevail and
there is little more to be said. Of all writers
for chorus few are more academic than our
gifted countryman, Parker, but it is fortun-
ate that besides judging him by his "St.
Christopher," he has given us the "Hora No-
vissima," and one marvels that in the presence
of the one he could have written the other.
Henschel's "Requiem" will be heard in Brook-
lyn and in all probability in New York; it
will arouse interest because of its composer,
and probably Miss Henschel will sing the so-
prano because her father wrote it, but that
will not make her equal to the work in hand,