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48
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
Conducted by B. B. Wilson
PUBLISHERS AS PURVEYORS OF FREE ENTERTAINMENT.
Send Singers to Demonstrate Their Songs at Various Flaces Where Admission Is Charged-
Free Talent for "Smokers"—Furnishing Music Free for Cabaret Nights in Burlesque.
There are always new methods being discovered
weekly "cabaret night." Cabaret performers are
for having music publishers furnish free entertain- drawn from neighboring restaurants, who are re-
ment for audiences from which other parties profit, paid by having the eating emporium thus obliging,
either by direct admissions or through increased advertised by signs and word of mouth during the
popularity. First we have the cabaret of high and
show. The bulk of the special entertainment dur-
low degree, where the regular singers are paid by ing the cabaret night is furnished by music pub-
the management and ithe management is more than lishing houses, who sent their pluggers and who
repaid by the public. The cabaret singers get their are not paid, but who simply get the advertising
music free, both the vocal parts and orchestrations, provoked by (their songs.
which is perhaps as it should be. The trouble
The average professional manager at the present
commences when the pluggers representing the time is constantly on the go in an endeavor to
mus.'c publishers are invited and urged to sing. cover a dozen places with six singers, and to ac-
They get nothing but the advertising, which would complish the impossible feat of having both him-
probably be secured through the regular perform- self and each of his singers in two places at the
ers, and in addition they help entertain the diners same time. And all (that service is given free,
and attract dollars to the management.
and without charge of any kind.
Passing by the cabarets we come to the One singer endeavored to justify the existence
"smokers" and "music publishers' contests" that of demonstrators and the demand of dealers for
appear to be devised for the purpose of capturing demonstrations in their stores by pointing out that
money for someone through the medium of enter- manufacturers of foodstuffs, soaps and other house-
tainment that costs nothing. At a "carnival of
hold devices and toilet accessories all were great
ragtime," held recently by the students of the City believers in demonstrations and considered that
College, practically all the leading popular pub- they made money under ithat system. That is all
lishers of New York were represented. They very true, but it must be considered that the dem-
footed the bills for the singers, everybody had a onstration of a song sells only one copy to each
lovely time and somebody carried off the admission person interested and the cumulative results lie in
fees.
the impression created by the music upon the
friends, which is too vague to be figured out. The
Now comes ito the front a "progressive" group of
burlesque managers, who, foreseeing the ultimate sale of a commodity as a result of a demonstra-
and natural death of the "amateur night," even tion means, if the article is really worth while, con-
when professional "amateurs" were impressed to tinued sales for probably years to come. It repre-
keep up appearances, conceived the idea of the sents a big and costly difference.
"All of which leads me nicely to the statement I
have been wishing to make, which is: Oscar Ham-
Oscar
Hammerstein, in Recent
Interview,
merstein's grand opera, sung in English, will be
States That the United States Is Now Ready
real grand opera, comparable with such opera as
for Opera in Native Tongue—Public Wants
New York music r lovers have been accustomed to
to Understand Words as Well as Music.
receiving at my hands before.
"The prices to the public are to be only half whait
"Am I anxious to get back into opera here?" the Metropolitan charges; but there will be no
was the reply recently made by Oscar Hammer- complaints forthcoming so far as quality of the
sitein to an interviewer. "Well, I sha'n't be expos- coming performances is concerned. That has
ing any secret intentions when I say I am. Some usually been one of the drawbacks of so-called
people have said I was crazy to contemplate going grand opera in English. It has lacked almost every-
into this industry; that was before I ever did. thing good except English, and sometimes that, too.
Perhaps I was, but I am crazier than ever I was
"I have always considered there were two most
to get back into it, right here in New York City. difficult things in the world: one, how to keep
"Matters are not settled yet. They are in what young; the other, how to remain honest. Now,
some persons might call 'process of evolution.' there is to be added to these problems another, and
However, I have every confidence that they will that is: How can the finest quality of grand opera
evolute ito a conclusion which will cause me to be given at a moderate price to the public?
build another opera house—a habit I seem to have
"Well, if the Metropolitan Opera Company di-
-^in which New Yorkers can find grand opera, rectors are willing ito give me permission to pro-
sung in the English tongue, and well sung."
ceed with my plans I believe I can solve that prob-
"Where is this opera house to be, Mr. Hammer- lem. At any rate I shall try, and possibly by next
stein?"
fall the first opportunity to taste the sample of the
wares I prepare will come.
The manager smiled and replied:
"Wherever fate leads me. It may be one place;
"I have itwenty-two grand opera productions in
then, again, it is quite liable to be another. But London. That is nucleus enough for the largesl
there is one point I would like to emphasize—em- sort of an enterprse. My contracts with singing
phatically. I shall not begin my first season of
artists are still in force, and I can handle a first-
grand opera in English here with 'Bohemian Girl.' class company on a sufficiently economical basis to
Neither will that work with the impossible book make both financial ends meet.
be followed by those equally uninteresting operas,
"The United States is ready now for its educa-
'Martha,' 'Esmeralda' and 'Puritani,' which seem tion in grand opera. The time has been gradually
usually to crop up whenever the word English is approaching for years, but until now—this moment
mentioned in ithe remotest way* with opera.
—conditions have never crystallized, y' know.
"I'm an educator, if you wish to put it that way.
Harold and Helen Ballou's
I have always wanted to give those operas which
POST CARD SONGS
I felt the public should have; operas they didn't
Have Caught the Hearts and Purses.
know much about. There were 'Louise,' 'Pelleas et
The ONLY novelty in printed music. Original,
catchy, complete with accompaniment and pleasing
JSidii-ande,' 'Thais,' 'Tales of Hoffmann,' 'Elektra,'
sentiment. Samples, List and Prices at your call.
'Salome/ 'Herodiade' and other novelties I risked
HAROLD AND HELEN BALLOU, Publishers.
rry cwn money in for the sake of ideals of bring-
Maritime Building,
Seattle, Washington.
ing to my patrons what I felt they should have."
They ginger up the music trade.
MAY OFFER OPERA IN ENGLISH.
NEW COMPOSER WINS SUCCESS.
Music of "The Firefly," the New Operetta by
Rudolf Friml, Makes a Strong Impression on
New Yorkers on Presentation Monday Night.
Rudolf Friml, a new composer, is chiefly re-
sponsible for the substantial success won by "The
Firefly" at its first performance in the Lyric The-
ater on Monday night. The score he has written
for the new comic opera is not only full of melody
but with this essential quality, it combines sparkle
and spirit to an unusual degree. Every number
in it was received with great applause and after the
finale of the second act, with its effective orchestra-
tion, the audience gave the new writer a tribute
of enthusiasm rarely won nowadays by contribu-
tors to the light musical stage.
The general effect of the opera would have been
better if its libretto had been of a quality that
harmonized more delicately with the texture of the
musical setting. Otto Hauerbach, the author, evi-
dently experienced difficulty in spinning a story
suitable for Emma Trentini, who sang the leading
role.
OPERA COMPOSER DEAD.
Burton E. Leavitt, Prominent in Musical Cir-
cles in New England—First to Take Full
Musical Course at Yale.
Burton E. Leavitt, a well-known composer, died
at 'his home in Putnam, Conn., recently, after an
illness lasting over a year. Mr. Leavitt was forty-
one years old and was the first man to take a full
musical course at Yale University. He composed
"Frogs of Windham," "Idyl of the Mill," "Char-
ter Oak" and other operas, and at the time of his
death had just passed on the final proofs of a new
opera, "Tea-Tephia," which was founded on a
Biblical subject and was scored for an orchestra
of forty musicians.
SACRED MUSICJY S. LITTLE.
Setting of Cardinal Newman's Hymn, "Lead
Kindly Light" Fublished by Chappell & Co.,
and Claimed by Many to Be One of the c inest
Examples of Sacred Music.
In the course of filling the volume of orders for
the music of "The Count of Luxembourg," "Oh !
Oh! Delphine," "The Pink Lady" and the other
productions and individual successes of which Chap-
pell & Co. are the publishers, Walter Eastman,
manager of the New York and Canadian branches
of the company, found time to enthuse over the
securing by the Chappell house of "Lead, Kindly
Light," with a beautiful arrangement to music of
Cardinal Newman's world-famous hymn, by S.
Little, whose former effort, "Abide With Me," is
heard wherever the gospel has penetrated. Many
of those who have heard the hymn hold that it is
one of the finest pieces of sacred music ever writ-
ten.
.
NEW SINGING ACTS.
Talented Soprano Hides Her Face—Another
Artist Does a "Sister A c t " All by Herself.
Lasfweek a clever soprano masked her face and 1
appeared in vaudeville in New York as "Madame?"
and the man who discovered the stunt is being
congratulated on the success of the venture, which
has resulted in the singer being booked for the
second week. This week there comes a young
lady who does a "sister act" with a talking ma-
chine, singing duets in perfect time and carrying
on a lively dialogue. With real singers disguising
themselves and singles doing sister acts all by
themselves, the ordinary plugger will be kept busy
discovering new ways for "getting by."