Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
usually those who have succeeded in
mastering the tricks of ''musical poli-
tics." The man who sits inside may
be a better artist, and the fact that he
accepts a place considered less import-
ant may be due to his modesty or to
his ill-luck. The rows in the orchestral
family usually originate with the first
violins. The men who play second violin
are apt to be far less obtrusive. Destined
to play "second fiddle" for a livelihood,
they yield more easily in all matters. The
viola players also act in company like men
not accustomed to being first. Their in-
strument, like that of the second violin is
what is called a "filler." It is essential,
but does not lead.
'Cellists are usually large, fine-looking
men, who give the impression that they
are as profound, noble and sympathetic as
their instruments.
The bass players
frequently appear heavy and phlegmatic,
like their huge "fiddles." Flutists as
a class are charming, kindly and re-
fined, and the bird-like quality of the
instrument they play suggests all that
is cheerful and delightful in life. The
oboe, the most trying of all the reed
instruments, sometimes has a peculiar
effect on the men who play it. If a
colleague wants a favor of the oboe
player he will not forget to ask it before
the concert, for after the performance the
oboeist emerges from the stage snarling
and generally out of sorts. The oboe has
a narrow, peculiar mouthpiece, and the
fragile, lovely tone which the instrument
is capable of emitting depends on the flex-
ibility of the muscles of the player and his
control over them.
That queer-shaped member of the wood-
wind family, the bassoon, has been referred
to by one writer as the "humorist of the
orchestra." If the men who play the bas-
soon are humorists they are of the quiet,
solemn type. The men who play the awk-
ward-looking trombone are sometimes as
awkward in appearance as their instru-
ment. The horn players look calm and
dignified, like the tones they get from
their instruments, and the cornetists are
sometimes heard before they are seen. The
drum players are apt to be merry fellows.
The player who sits way back with the
great bass tuba rolled about his shoulder
and arms like an immense pretzel is gener-
ally a large, fat man who corresponds in
all respects with the ungainly but neces-
sary brass instrument he has learned to
fondle as tenderly as a good mother does
her babe.
*
I T is rarely that an impresario has the
I good fortune to secure so many brill-
iant artists under his direction as has fallen
to the lot of Charles L. Young. As has
already been announced in these columns
Mr. Young will direct the forthcoming
American tour of Mme. Emma Nevada,
the peerless prima donna soprano, and
Rose • Ettinger, an American girl, whose
brilliant colorature soprano voice has been
the sensation of Europe and as a fitting
climax arrangements were made during
the past week whereby Clara Butt, the
famed European contralto was secured
for a limited number of engagements.
Miss Butt, who is recognized as Patey's
successor in oratorical and ballad singing,
has been the sensation of all Europe dur-
ing the past few years. She studied under
Mons. Bouhy in Paris and later under
Etelka Gerster in Germany. That Miss
Butt will prove the sensation of the com-
ing season goes without saying. She will
make her American debut at the Metro-
politan Opera House at the same time as
Mme. Nevada on November 12th and will
this clever, interesting opera-comique has
been coarsened, the lyrics have been translat-
ed into slang and the dialect of the street, the
music has been treated—that is, its charac-
teristic eloquence, its ingenious elaboration
in details, its charm to educated ears have
been twisted and turned into melodic triv-
iality and rhythmic commonplaceness. The
public refuses to recognize Francis Wilson
other than as the mirth-provoking come-
dian of olden days.
All this is sad, and the principal cause
for regret is that such a fine musical score
should h a v e been
"doctored." Those
who heard it before
it underwent treat-
ment must have en-
joyed its many beau-
ties of expression, its
harmony with the
varying spirit of the
scenes, its illustrative
cleverness, its formu-
lation of the fact that
music is a language
for comedy as well
as tragedy.
JV/IUSIC is one of
also visit Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati,
Columbus, Cleveland, Detroit, Washing-
ton, Philadelphia and Boston. Manager
Young is to be congratulated on his great
success in securing such artists. His series
of concerts to be given at the Metropolitan
Opera House are already being looked for-
ward to with great anticipation by lovers
of the higher art. On this occasion only
the best known vocalists and musicians
will be heard and inasmuch as the pro-
gramme will be augmented by the presence
of a celebrated orchestra, the rarest treat
is in store for all.
of the most delightful and musi-
cianly compositions ever turned out
by Victor Herbert is the score of the opera,
"Cyrano De Bergerac" now playing in this
city and which, owing to its refinement, has
unfortunately failed to catch the popular
fancy. As a consequence the dialogue of
* * * the many and
related forms of edu-
cation that together
have made possible
and so enriched the
high civilization of
the present that the
world would be poor-
er if, in its march,
any one of these
would be left behind.
It might be possible
for many things to
c o n t i n u e without
music. Legislation,
law, medicine, lan-
g u a g e , literature,
science, building and
the thought and work
of the world might
go on if there were
no musical college,
no singers, no players. Yes, that might
be. One can not certainly say in refer-
ence to music, as one can in mathematics
or chemistry, just what it has done,
or enabled man to do; but this we do
know, that music has journeyed along
with and been a part of the life and growth
of civilization, and no one can say what
the world would have been without it.
Music has rocked the cradle and blessed
the homes and gladdened the ears and
lightened the toil of each generation; it
has cheered the lonely, soothed the sor-
rowing, and inspired the worship of the
millions. It has gone with the soldiers to
the battle and the mourners to the grave,
and mingled with all earth's dreams and
hopes of heaven.
Boston Symphony Orchestra an-
T HE nounces
the following soloists for its