Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
make an analysis of the sound of the bagpipes,
and goes on with the interesting process thus :
"Big flies on window, 72 per cent.; cats on
the midnight tiles, 11*4 per cent.; voices of in-
fant puppies, 6 per cent.; grunting of hungry
pigs in the morning, $y 2 per cent.; steam
whistles 3 per cent.; chant of the cricket, 2 per
cent.''
*
The miserable death, as a tramp in Kansas,
of E. W. Dunbar, the author of that popular
hyni", " A Light in the Window for Thee, " re-
calls that of the author of "Home, Sweet
Home, " and also that of the author of " Everot
Thee "—two songs which have had a run of
Madame Christine Nillson, now the Countess popularity unparalleled in our song literature.
of Miranda, lives in a fine house in Madrid. In Like Dunbar, their authors died in destitution,
its internal decoration she has displayed a cer- self-exiled from frien 's and relatives, while
tain amount of eccentricity. Her bedroom is their songs were the light and life of almost
papered with sheets of music from the scores of every household in Britain and America.
various operas that she has interpreted—" Aida,''
#
'.' I Puritani, " "La Favorita, " "La Traviata, "
Sarasate, the great violinist, is a singularly
" Faust," etc., while the walls of the dining- small man of swarthy complexion, with a mop
room are covered with a collection of hotel bills, of ebony hair and a sparse moustache. He is a
the result of the diva's many professional Spaniard by birth. There is a boy sh charm
travels in both hemispheres.
about his manner, which the triumphs of two
* * *
hemispheres have not spoiled, and no great
Music seems to run in the Royal families ot artist was ever freer from affectation of any sort.
Europe. King Oscar of Sweden, for one, is a In his native town of Pamphina he is extra-
composer and musician of no mean order. He has ordinarily popular, and the picturesque little
just completed a beautiful and pathetic ode to the place is always en fete when he pays his annual
memory of the late M. Gounod. He is the proud visit there after his season abroad.
possessor of one of the finest and most complete
*
musical libraries in the world ; collected the
One of the French papers having published an
greater part himself. He was the first to intro- account of the death of M. Camille Debans, the
duce church music into Sweden. If it had not well known novelist, he has written the follow-
been for him they would probably still know ing letter to the editor: " My Dear Friend—
nothing of its beauties there.
Yesterday one of my comrades came and in-
* *
formed me, on the authority of the Echo de
An irreverant newspaper critic professes to Paris, that I was dead. Imagine my confusion.
I knew nothing about it. The fact did not seem
to be absolutely official, but nevertheless at that
moment an undertaker came to tnke my mea-
sure. I was obliged either to give into the
evidence or to figure as a refractory corpse It
was the latter course I determined upon Be
good enough to announce that the news is at
least premature.''
* * *
M. Paul Blouet (" Max O'Rell ' ), who is now
in London, is well primed with a new supply of
anecdotes, which he is retailing as " original."
One which he let fall a day or two ago is one of
his gleanings " out West. " An intense jealousy,
it seems, exists between the cities of Minneapo-
lis and St. Paul respectively, and it is forcibly
ilustrated by an incident alleged to have taken
p'ace at a church i-i the former city. The
preacher began his sermon with the announce-
ment, "Brethren, I shall take my text this
morning from St. Paul." The congregation
rose as one man and left the building.
The novels of Alexandre Dumas the elder
yield his son a revenue of between 30,000 francs
and 40,000 francs a year. There are annually
sold about 10,000 copies of " The Three Muske-
teers, " and 5,000 or 6 000 copies of " The Count
of Monte Christo."
*
What shall we do with our choirs ? seems to
be the persistent problem of a good many
churches at present Some clergymen can sym-
pathize with the woes of operatic managers
through experience of those who have sweet
voices and bitter tempers.
* * *
Sir Edwin Arnold says that there are about
30,000 " poetesses " in Great Britain ! ! !
JJUfHEQTIC HAIJD-
TTJ3STEES
THE
OVER
PRICE
One Dollar.
Scientific, Technical and Practical .
Instructions relating to Tuning, Regu4 r , ^/^,
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ILLUSTRATED.
T
T
By DANIEL SPILLANE.
E D W A R D L Y M A N B I L L , Publisher,
•
3 East Fourteenth Street,
. •
•.:
1 .
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- -
NEW YORK.