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THE MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
RUSSIAN PIANO MUSIC.
DLJSSIA now abounds in composers for
^ piano whose works are much too re-
cent to be widely known. It was not until
1850 that a man could support himself by
music alone in Russia, and even now the
best musicians are obliged to locate in
Moscow and St. Petersburg, the two great
musical centers of Russia. In this connec-
tion, Edith Lynwood Winn says you will
ascertain by study and reading that the
best Russian composers were obliged to
follow some other profession until they ac-
quired a sufficient competence to become
composers and to depend upon leisure
hours for their composition moods. A Bos-
ton teacher who has visited Russia de-
clares that most of the men of the new
Russian School of Music are millionaires.
That may be, but they certainly did not ac-
quire their wealth through the profession
of music, for music "does not pay," even
now, in Russia. It is difficult to gain a
hearing for native operas, although the
Russian loves the opera and the theater as
he loves his life. There are indeed only
six theaters in which native works can be
performed for the first time.
HEflR ZELDENRUST.wWHO WILL BE HEARD HERE NEXT SEASON ON THE BALDWIN PIANO.
MONUMENT TO BRAHMS.
from the report made by Mme. Melba, who
• A MONUMENT to Johannes Brahms has returned to Paris from her Australian
^
was unveiled over the grave of the tour. She had not only a royal reception
master in Vienna on his seventieth birth- at all points visited, but her first nine con-
day last month. It is executed in marble certs realized $105,000, and at the last con-
by a young woman named Use Conrat. cert the house was worth $13,000. These
The Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde sang are stupendous sums—sufficient, speaking
some of Brahm's part songs at the cere- metaphorically, to make the mouth of an
mony, and a poem by Max Kalbeck, the American manager water.
Viennese critic, was read.
HOPES TO RIVAL SOUSA.
ELLISON VAN HOOSE.
D E R L I N is now exploiting a policeman-
N our front page this week appears an
composer who bids fair to rival Sousa.
excellent portrait of Ellison Van Hoose, Fritz Teike was recently presented to the
the famous tenor, who will especially return Kaiser as the composer of the popular
from Europe to sing at the Worcester Festi- marches played by the Potsdam Band.
val in September, 1903. He will remain in Soon afterward all the bands in Germany
America for the months of October, Novem- began playing Teike's marches. The mu-
ber and December, appearing in a limited sical policeman's fame has even extended
number of concerts previous to his return to to England. Teike has been asked to send
Europe for an indefinite period to sing in a composition to England to be played by
opera.
the military bands there.
Ellison Van Hoose's magnificent work in
*
the leading oratorio performances and his
NEW MUSIC FOR ."MY COUNTRY."
successful appearances with most of the im-
HE Society of the Cincinnati has had for
portant orchestral organizations throughout
some time a standing offer of a gold
this country, and again through his recent medal for any composer producing acceptable
wonderful interpretation of Elgar's great music for "My Country 'Tis of Thee," which
work, "The Dream of Gerontius," which was for years has been sung to the same air as the
produced by the New York Oratorio Society national anthem of Great Britain. The medal
was awarded Wednesday to Prof. Arthur
under the direction of Frank Damrosch, Johnstone, of St. Nicholas avenue and 114th
March 26, 1903, in which Mr. Van Hoose street, conductor of the Amicitia Band, an
achieved a veritable triumph, has placed this amateur musical organization. The melody
sterling artist among the greatest tenors of has been played twice at a private concert at
the organization's rooms in Turn Hall, Lex-
the day.
ington avenue and Eighty-fifth street.
K
Prof. Johnstone will be the guest of honor
MELBA'S GREAT EARNINGS.
at the Fourth of July banquet of the Society
' T H E old proverb that "A prophet is not of the Cincinnati at Providence, R. I., when
'
without honor save in his own coun- his work will be heard for the first time at a
try" seems to have been falsified, judging general gathering.
T
The Russian presents a definite picture
in tone. One detects the influence of Liszt
and Wagner in piano music, while in or-
chestral works one more frequently finds
the strong influence of Schumann and
Chopin. Schumann reveals himself in im-
promptus, novelties and intermezzos, as
well as in larger forms. The young Rus-
sian composer finds salon music somewhat
more profitable than symphonies. The
great quantity of piano and chamber music
which he gives to us shows a prolific and
versatile mind. The new Russian likes
brilliant technical effects. He is also fond
of the Etude. In this respect he shows
the influence of Chopin. He also leans to
preludes, mazourkas, valses and the
scherzo, but he presents comparatively
few sonatas and concertos of worth.
•£
PAGANINI'S VIOLIN PLAYED.
A N impressive function that would prob-
ably be possible only in Italy has just
been repeated in Genoa. The treasured
Guarnerius violin that Paganini left to the
city has been ceremoniously removed from
its "crystal case" and played on by Huber-
mann—apparently the now adolescent in-
fant prodigy who aroused admiration and
regret here some years ago. For several
years after Paganini's death it was the
custom to give an annual concert at which
Sivori, a pupil of the great virtuoso, played
on the sacred instrument; but since he,
too, has died, the violin has had a long rest.
The young Hubermann played a piece by
Paganini and thanked the authorities for
the honor accorded him, which he re-
garded as one of the greatest of his life.
Various ceremonies were gone through
and documents executed, on replacing the
Guarnerius in its case. It was an artistic
event well calculated to furnish valuable
material to the press agent.
•6
The School of Musical Art is being organ-
ized with headquarters at 128 E. Twenty-
third street, with Chas. A. Kaiser, the popu-
lar tenor and soloist of St. Patrick's Cathe-
dral, as director. The faculty is an unusually
strong one.