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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
GOOD MUSIC BENEFITS
AM Who Hear It—Some Remarks in This
Connection Which Are Worth Reading.
If there were in your mind a photographic
plate, what would you want exposed before it?
What would you want fixed on it for life?
The "if" need not be there. The soul is such
a plate! it receives impressions the most easily;
\l "fixes" them, as the photographers say, uncon-
sciously but securely, and one cannot get rid of
them if one would.
This being true, it is well seen that the student
of music should, in so far as his power lies, ex-
pose the sensitive plate of his musical soul only
to such performances and such music as will be
of advantage to him in further development of
his musical self.
A plate cannot continuously be exposed to taw-
dry views and then display the finest of scenery.
No more can the mind be saturated in trivial
music and then be opened to and retain the deli-
cate impressions of that which is of the most
skilful handiwork and the most artistic repro-
duction. In other words, hear as little trash as
possible; hear as much good music as possible.
Waste no time or money on concerts of only
mediocre value. Save your efforts for those of
the best grade.
What does it profit a man if he gain a whole
world of notes and lose his own musical soul?
A young pianist may pay a high figure to hear
a recital by a very celebrated performer. But
is it not well invested, provided the student has
a sensitive plate in his soul? If he goes to that
recital simply to enjoy manual dexterity it is
wasted; a circus would do as well. But if he is
ready to let some artistic spark be kindled into
flame,, then i t is the best investment he ever
made. For it could do what no ordinary lessons
could, unless his teacher has as great artistic
powers as the performer he hears.
This is a short sermon, but it has much in it
lor the student who is willing to learn from the
experience of others; and once in a while there
is found such a one.
Saint-Saens, and two of the eminent French-
man's best works, his third symphony, in which
the composer played the organ part, and his Bib-
lical cantata, 'The Deluge.' The audience was
wild with enthusiasm."
DUSS SUES NORDICA.
John S. Duss, the bandmaster who is giving
summer concerts at Madison Square Garden, has
brought a suit for $20,000 damages against Lil-
lian Nordica, the grand-opera prima donna, be-
cause she failed to appear as soloist at his open-
ing concert one week ago to-night. The action
was brought by Attorney Charles Mace.
Mme. Nordica was widely advertised to sing,
but at the last moment sent word that she could
not appear, and Mr. Duss was obliged to refurid
much money. He says that the audience was
disgusted and blamed him, and that in conse-
quence his whole season will be affected. Mme.
Nordica said she was ill, but Mr. Duss avers that
there were other reasons for her non-appearance.
ARTHUR WHITING IN ENGLAND.
last page he discovered its author's name in the
margin, written as follows:
"Richard Wagner, den 15ten. Marz, 1837.
Konigsberg in Preussen."
Mr. Gamble has submitted the manuscript to
musical experts, and thinks there can be no doubt
of the genuineness of the discovery. The over-
ture has parts for the serpent and the ophicleide,
and at one place introduces the air of "Rule Bri-
tannia" scored for four French horns. It has a
finale scored for a full military band in addition
tc the thirty-one instruments.
CONRIED HUNTING FOR SINGERS.
Heinrich Conried, of the Metropolitan Opera
House, is visiting Germany this week after a
visit to London, where he found it impossible to
secure the tenors for Italian-German operas
which he requires next season. When asked
about De Reszke's talked of concert tour of the
United States, ho said, "There is nothing to it;
it may be dismissed as fiction. If De Reszke
sings in America it will be as a member of the
Metropolitan Opera Company, but I believe his
aloofness at present is owing to the feeling that
he is unable to do justice to the roles. You may
rest assured that when so great an artist as Jean
de Reszke, who loves his art, gives up singing
opera and starts a school it is for some such rea-
son and is not a question of dollars."
Arthur Whiting, well known in New York as
a composer and pianist, is on his way to Eng-
land, where he will give recitals before the musi-
cal clubs of Oxford and Cambridge Universities,
under the auspices of W. H. Hadow and Sedley
Taylor, respectively. He will also appear at one
MASSENET TO HOFFMANN.
of the concerts of the orchestra of the Royal Col-
lege of Music in London, conducted by Sir August Wm. Hoffmann, the well-known pianist
Charles Villiers Stanford, playing his own fan- and teacher of this city, is constantly receiving
tasy for piano and orchestra, and he expects to letters congratulating him on the excellence of,
give a number of private concerts in London be- his pedagogical work, "Left Hand Etudes," based
upon passages from Bertini's opus 29 and 32,
fore the season is ended.
which he recently published. Many prominent
teachers in Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Stuttgart,
WAGNER'S "RULE BRITANNIA OVER-
Munich and Cologne have paid tribute to the ex-
TURE."
cellence of this work in enthusiastic testimonials.
A very important musical discovery has just Even the great Massenet is not behind hand in
been made in Leicester, England, by the finding, recognizing the splendid work accomplished by
in the most unexpected manner, of the long lost Mr. Hoffmann. Here is what he writes.
score of Richard Wagner's "Rule Britannia Over-
ture." The overture, which was written at K6-
nigsberg in 1836, was sent to the London Philhar-
DVORAK'S GREATNESS.
monic Society in 1840, but it was not produced
and
was in some mysterious way lost. The score
Now that Antonin Dvorak is dead his genius
has
never
been traced until a few days ago, when
will soon be appreciated at its true value, says
Mr.
Cyrus
Bertie Gamble, of Halford street, Lei-
the Evening Post. Brahms once expressed his
cester,
came
across it in a pile of old manuscript
admiration of the great Bohemian in these
music.
The
"Rule Britannia Overture" was the
words: "Dem fallt immer etwas ein" (he always
only
work
produced
during the year that Wagner
has something new to say). That, precisely, is
what distinguished Dvorak from most of the mu- spent at Konigsberg during a very unhappy
sicians of our time. He was a sort of modern epoch of his life. It was written as a tribute to
Schubert; ideas constantly bubbled up in his the English people, and from that point of view
mind as sparkling water does in a mineral the discovery in Leicester is doubly interesting
and valuable.
spring. He disputes only with Tschaikovsky and
The identity of the manuscript was disclosed
Grieg the honor of being the greatest melodist
since the death of Wagner. He has more musical in a very curious way. A good many years ago
ideas in a page than Richard Strauss has in the conductor of the band of the Leicester Opera
twenty pages, and it is by the abundance of ideas House was a musician named E. W. Thomas. He
that the rank of a composer is ultimately de- was a man of ability, and had been a pupil of
Moira and Spagnoletti, while he was also in his
cided.
earlier days associated with Weber, Spohr and
Mendelssohn. Mr. Thomas at one time of his life
CONDUCTORS FOR PHILHARMONIC.
appears to have devoted a great deal of his leis-
A suggestion has been made by Henry T. Finck ure time to musical composition. He had pre-
to the directors of the Philharmonic Society viously been master of the Liverpool Philhar-
which, if adopted, would bring delight to music monic Society, where he gained a high reputa-
tion. Thomas, however, fell on evil days, and
lovers in all parts of the country. He says:
"Now that Dvorak is dead, the two greatest liv- the contents of his house in the Humberstone
ing composers are Grieg and Saint-Saens. Grieg Road, Leicester, were sold off, including all his
it would no doubt be impossible to persuade to music, the quantity of which may be imagined
cross the Atlantic; he is not robust and dreads from the fact that his MSS. more than filled a
even the short sea trip from Bergen to Christi- large truck. They were all bought by Mr. Gam- Mr. August W. Hoffmann.
Sir and Dear Colleague:—I have just finished
ania in his own Norway; but how about Saint- ble some time prior to 1892; for in October of
reading
your Etudes. They are what I call beau-
Saens? He is a great traveler, apt to disappear that year Thomas died, utterly broken, in a work-
without notice in Africa and other remote re- house in North Wales, at the age of 79. Sine* tiful and pedagogic music. I send you my high-
gions. If he could be persuaded to conduct one then a considerable portion of the music has est praises. Always yours,
Paris, Nov. 10th, 1903.
I. MASSENET.
or two of our Philharmonic concerts it would be been stored away as comparatively useless.
an event of historic importance. Unlike the con-
Recently, however, Mr. Gamble happened to be
A novel form of "protection" is threatened in
ductors who visited us last year, he could also looking through the pile of MSS., when he Sweden, where there is a strenuous movement,
appear as soloist, as he is an excellent pianist. chanced on one which bore the title "Rule Bri- supported, it is said, by the Government, to tax
On a recent Sunday he played at a Conservatoire tannia Overture." On looking through its forty- all concerts and performances given by artists
concert in Paris. The result was that the supply one pages to see how the subject had been treated who are not Swedish subjects, the tax varying
of tickets was exhausted while hundreds were
(as he at first imagined) by Thomas, he was sur- from $1.50 to ?55 each concert, and the test, no
still eager to get them. The programme in- prised to find that it was scored for no fewer doubt, being the amount of money taken for
cluded a Mozart concerto for piano, played by than thirty-one instruments, and on reaching the tickets.
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