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THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
AMERICA AND MUSIC OF THE FUTURE.
By EMILIE FRANCES BAUER.
A S we stand and attempt to look into he was born when the country from North
** the veiled future, time rolls on, and be- to South was bleeding and torn.
* * *
hold ! it has become the past. So grad-
ually it has come upon us that even in its
In certain sections of America the In-
presence we knew it not until it was gone. dian and his rights represented the cause
For years, yes, scores of years, the past of much bloodshed and tragedy. This
generation waited for the "music of the red man of the wildwood and the doom
future," and now it has come to be that of which hung in heavy clouds over him gave
the present. Wagner himself pronounced America one of its most picturesque and
his creations as belonging to an era far dis- poetic epochs.
tant; it is doubtful that he anticipated with
Harriet Beecher Stowe, Longfellow and
what a broad sweep he would capture the Whittier have given their stories to the
musical world when that day which repre- world; MacDowell, Burton and other mu-
sented the future to him would arrive. But sicians of to-day have crowned those sto-
it has come, and he is here not only in his ries with music not alone because of their
own works, but in the compositions of all "search for American subjects, but because
the modern writers who unwittingly, no they are allied to them by the atmosphere
doubt, reflect him from all sides, except, of the time surrounding their birth.
perhaps, the thematic. It is now our turn
The same influence may be found in
to peer behind the heavy curtain which di- painters such as George de Forrest Brush,
vides to-day from to-morrow, and we ask Harry Roseland, Remington, Rinehart
from where—from what source—from and others working along those lines, and
what country—will our "music of the a glance at the novels written in America
future" come? We may incidentally ask to-day will prove that old-time war sub-
what the music of the future will be? jects seem to be the only attraction. This ,
Wagner has been out-Wagnered long ago. is not accidental—it is clearly and purely
Richard Strauss does not stand alone in the result of the conditions surrounding
this—shall we say crime? All of the mod- the day when in addition to the drama en-
erns have run the gamut to the fullest pos- acted by the Indian, the negro in his
sible extent, and it seems reasonable to fight for emancipation, his helplessness in
suppose that we will come back to pure that new-found freedom, the loss of life
music devoid of blood-curdling stories and and property, the tragedy of the man
horrid problematical philosophies.
who died to set a people free—created the
•
* *
most dramatic era that America has ever
known.
The country was a boiling vat
It cannot be suggested, even in the most
of
emotions.
Patriotism, love, hate, pity,
remots manner, that the American is not
bitterness,
exultation,
charity—in fact, it
equal, if not more capable than he of other
would
be
hard
to
name
any emotion which
nations. There is absolutely no doubt that
was
not
then
at
its
height.
That was
we have teachers who can stand compari-
the
day—not
this—that
gave
to
America
son with any in the world; there are more
the
composers,
the
artists,
the
writers,
the
people working vigorously in the cause of
music in America than anywhere else on painters, which have done it credit.
•
* *
the two continents; there are few of the
But
the
life
and
customs
of the present
world's greatest artists who are not heard
are
very
far
from
what
they
were then.
and appreciated in this country, and yet,
The
growing
tendency
of
the
American
for the music which tingles with the red
blood of life, which caresses with the note is to crush emotion, to cultivate stolid
of sympathy, which ripples with the laugh- indifference, to live within self and for self
ter of glee, which lingers like the memory or family, which is no less a form of selfish-
of a dream, which startles with the cry ness because it is a pardonable one. The
of pain, which crushes with the weight of kinship of Man to mankind is being eradi-
tragedy, which sneers with the jeer of cated, and it is being accomplished in the
mockery, which sanctifies with the purity only place where it can possibly be efficient
of love, which elevates with the holiness —in the cradle of the babe. . . .
of religion—can we—dare we—look to
When the only thought from the cradle
America?
to the dark river is one of controlled
American life, with its hurry and hus- emotion, antagonism, or protection of self,
tle, its waste of nervous energy and its where is the possibility of temperament,
tendency to make machines of its people, spontaneity and all the minor necessities
is a great barrier to the development of which, although minor, are still necessi-
any art that must come from emotion. ties, to make up a nature that is capable
But the menace to American art does not of accomplishing great things? One fact
fall upon to-day with the same force that would seem apparent from the foregoing
it does upon the future, for the men and standpoint, and it is that art cannot
women who are giving us great things in come from the overcrowded city, as, in
art or in music at the present time were addition to the life and the atmosphere
born in a totally different atmosphere for study, the city offers only the most
from that of to-day, as a glance into the severe hardships. It is almost impos-
history of the "fifties," "sixties." and sible to be housed if there is a suspicion
even later will prove. In consequence of that one is a music student. And one
this the American should be at a great cannot blame people for not wishing to
height now, if ever, in this generation, for add to the clang of the trolleys, the whirr
of the elevated trains, the rumble of the
wagons over the cobble stones, the ad-
xlitional sounds which good, conscientious
practice entails. The American city, with
its noises, its jostle, its selfishness and
the conditions heretofore named, does not
seem to be conducive to art, and still, here
is the only opportunity to hear the best
that the musical world has to give, and
there is no possibility of accomplishing
great things without hearing great things.
The teachers of greatest ability are to be
found in the large cities, even though they
make but bare subsistence, while the small-
er places have to take anything that comes
along.
* * *
Not until this is entirely changed can
we hope for great things from America,
except in the few exceptional cases that
have always existed.
The large cities are musical and will
easily bear comparison with Paris, Lon-
don, Berlin, or Vienna; but the smaller
cities, even those of considerable impor-
tance, lack this atmosphere sadly. It is
not because of Paris and Berlin and Vi-
enna that Europe is the musical center
that it is, but the whole country is musi-
cal.
Dresden, Munich, Hamburg Nice,
Lyons, and all down the line have their
orchestras and their permanent opera.
d every hamlet can appreciate the great-
est classical masterpieces. If, in Amer-
ica, besides enjoying the quiet and beauty
of a life close to nature, a student might
have the very best instruction as also the
atmosphere of art; if he might hear in
his own home the great artists who visit
America; if the orchestras of the large
cities might receive enough encourage-
ment to give them their quota of concerts;
if home chamber music organizations re-
ceived proper support, the entire situation
would change, and the change can only be
effected by the people who live in the
smaller cities.
* * *
Every one who knows the situation
knows that every artist heard in New
York is available everywhere in America,
that he does not come for New York alone,
but for the whole country, and if he is not
heard among you it is because he knows
that he will not receive the necessary sup-
port and financially he cannot come.
The very best teachers of Europe or
America would be happy to live in the
smaller cities if they were encouraged
and permitted the privilege of making
great musicians instead of being treated
the way they are at present, which, from
'the social side, may be very delightful,
but from the professional it is such as
to unfit them entirely for good work, and
finally demoralize them and render them
useless, unless they have yet enough
money or ambition left to leave for other
fields, where thev can come back into
a musical atmsophere and become mas-
ters of the situation, instead of slaves
of it.
It will therefore be seen that it is not
possible for New York, Boston, Chicago,
Philadelphia and San Francisco, either
alone or all together, to solve the prob-
lem of art in America. America must