Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
TELEPHONE NUnBER, 1745—EIGHTEENTH STREET.
The musical supplement to The Review is
published on the first Saturday of each month.
The past season has evidently been an
"off" one in the matter of grand opera.
With the exception of New York, the West-
ern and Southern cities have been as chary
in their welcome as they have been in
monetary support.
This applies to both
the Abbey, Schoeffel & Grau and Damrosch
companies.
The services of a seer are not necessary
to understand the why and wherefore of
this. The fact of the matter is the schedule
of prices must be changed and at once unless
opera is for the " exclusive few." We have
gone through a severe commercial depres-
sion in this country which compelled most
everyone to be economical in expenditures.
Grand opera managers must have been
aware of this. Then why wail because the
public failed to pay an unreasonable tariff?
The proof that prices are at the bottom
of the unsuccessful tour of the Grand Opera
Co. was demonstrated in Chicago. At reg-
ular prices the season was an appalling fias-
co.
When prices were reduced to a popu-
lar basis, the Auditorium was crowded to
the doors. The managers did not, however,
make the change soon enough. That was
one of several lessons they have learned
recently.
The popular success of opera in this city
or elsewhere in the future depends on giv-
ing opera at prices that will not be extrava-
gant. In this connection we are entirely in
sympathy with the views of Mr. De Koven,
who said recently : "Were the Abbey-Grau
syndicate to cut prices in two, pay their
artists accordingly, engage the best artists
they could under the circumstances, not
losing sight of the fact that the public is be-
ginningto show an interest in native talent,
and put themselves frankly and unreserved-
ly into the hands of the public on whom
they must depend for support, the present
rather precarious operatic situation would
be solved and an era of success both finan-
cial and artistic inaugurated at the Metro-
politan."
Q
The Board of Education is contemplat-
ing appointing a director of music for the
public schools of this city. An excellent
move truly. In this connection there is a
movement on foot to further the candidacy
of Mr. Frank Damrosch for the position.
A number of prominent men have ad-
dressed a communication to President
Hubbell, of the Board, in which he is
highly commended as a musician and as a
teacher.
Mr. Damrosch is certainly well fitted for
the position, and we trust that the Board
will see fit to appoint him. He has splen-
didly demonstrated his ability as conductor
of the People's Singing Classes. Out of
raw material—composed almost entirely
of the wage-earning classes of this city—
he has obtained marvelous results. Mr.
Damrosch's success in this connection has
been frequently commented on publicly.
At the last public concert of the People's
Singing Classes and Choral Union, the
chorus numbered two thousand voices, and
the manner in which all concerned acquitted
themselves was the best possible evidence
of their conductor's skill.
There is immediate need for such a man
as Mr. Damrosch as director of music for
the public schools; the present system is
an absolute failure and needs thorough re-
vision.
o
The problem involved in the popularity
of the music halls is no new one. Mme.
Bernhardt expressed the opinion some time
ago, that the public was driven to variety
houses by the excessive prices charged in
the homes of the legitimate. In spite of
her claims to respect as an authority, she
does not explain everything. A musical
authority writing upon this question seems
to come nearer to the facts of the case. He
says: "The popularity is due to the pre-
vailing freedom, to the absence of conven-
tional respectability, to the determination
of the artists to please, and of the audiences
to enjoy themselves." But he goes fur-
ther: "The skill of the gentleman who jug-
gles is not very unlike the technical skill of
Paderewski or Rosenthal; and when Rosen-
thai and Paderewski play to astonish and
are not interpreting they are on precisely
his level. Rightly to estimate the piano
virtuoso it is absolutely necessary to have
seen and considered the virtuoso on such in-
struments as a set of ivory balls, the silk
hat of commerce, the candle and the candle-
stick, the lighted cigar and cigar holder, and
so forth." But itispossible to go even fur-
ther than this. There is no telling what effect
the problem play,withitseternal wearisome-
ness, has had in driving sensible persons to
the music hall. There, at least, it was not
necessary to analyze motive, or dissect con-
duct. There is nothing ethical in the flight
from a trapeze into a net, or the chorus of a
good song. When the theatre takes on
the aspect of a matter of serious thought,
the crowd will take its ease at a variety en-
tertainment.
0
A personally conducted study tour of the
old world will be undertaken next June
under the personal guidance of Mr. W.
Waugh Lauder of Chicago. The tour,
which will cover a period of sixty-eight
days, is for the advantage of the young
graduate, professor, music student, singer,
pianist and amateur hungry for knowledge.
Musical amateurs or college clubs can join
the pilgrimage; in fact many are already
interested at this early day. All of the
great art centers of the old world will be
visited and every opportunity afforded for
viewing places of interest to musicians.
A stay of sufficient length will be made in
Bayreuth to permit of attending the per-
formances of the second cycle of Der Ring
des Nibelungen. Mr. Lauder, assisted by
others, will deliver a series of lectures en
route on the different places to be visited.
Such an interesting vacation trip will no
doubt be eagerly taken advantage of.
M. Alexis Chavanne, doctor of medicine
and maker of verse, has emitted a thin vol-
ume of maxims. Here are a few:
The social instinct finds its expression
among us in words, among the Americans
in works.
History is the product of two factors:
First, the eternal law of things; second,
man, who eternally misinterprets it.
Inequality of condition among men comes
of inequality of powers. Bring these to
equilibrium and you have the state of
rest; there is neither movement nor life.
Meditate this point: Liberty and equal-
ity are two opposite, irreconcilable terms
of thought. The only possible condition
of equality is that of equal servitude.
Happiness? Stick to your aim and get
there.
And afterward? Afterward begin over
again.
©
There is a romantic story going the
rounds about Rosenthal, the celebrated pi-
anist, which could be utilized effectively by
some of our light novelists, opera librettists
or dramatists. It seems that when Rosen-
thal was taken ill in Chicago, a young wo-
man of rare beauty answered the call for a
nurse, and she performed her duties with
such solicitude and extreme devotion that
through her efforts he was nursed back to
life from what seemed to be an almost fatal
illness. The fair young nurse accompanied
Rosenthal to California during his conval-
esence and it is now rumored that the pi-
anist and his good nurse are engaged to be
married. Furthermore, it appears that the
young woman is not only pretty but the
daughter of a Western millionaire. She
was a steady attendant at Rosenthal's re-
citals and was so smitten with his charms
that she adopted this romantic means of
proving her affection. Verily, this is "just
too sweet for anything."
Minnie Maddern Fiske has found in Stod-
dard's dramatization of Hardy's novel
" Tess of the D'Urbervilles " which is still
running at the Fifth Avenue Theatre, a
medium through which to reach all sorts of
people from the critical to the careless.
Mrs. Fiske is an actress possessing abilities
that amount to genius, and in no play
does she demonstrate her gifts and accom-
plishments as in the title role of this
drama. Her characterization is so human,
so real, so truly artistic that it will not
soon be forgotten. Were a foreign actress
to acquit herself as capably as Mrs. Fiske
in this role, our critics would devote col-
umns instead of inches to praise, but that
is the way of the world. The company
supporting Mrs. Fiske is a strong one, Mr.