Music Trade Review
Issue: 1901 Vol. 33 N. 23 - Page 10
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THE
ELLISON VAN HOOSE.
Y\7 I T H youth, a magnetic presence, a
beautiful voice of power, richness and
quality, a thorough understanding of how to
use this voice, combined with the fact that
he is an excellent musician, Ellison Van
Hoose is one of the most reliable tenors in
America, and his services are sought after
by conductors and societies in all parts of
the country. In the two > most important
festivals of the season of 1900-1901 he has
made a conspicuous success at each. He
was specially engaged to sing the "Passion"
during the Bach festival at Bethlehem, Pa.,
ELLISON VAN HOOSE.
May 23d to 26th, and so successful was he
in that most difficult part in the whole range
of oratorio that the critics one and all pro-
claimed him the success of the festival. At
the Worcester festival his success was alike
instantaneous and he established himself as
a prime favorite, the distinguished critics
being enthusiastic in their praise of his work.
At the recent Wagnerian program given by
the Boston Symphony concert he sang with
Ternina and achieved almost as great a suc-
cess as the great Wagner specialist. In-
deed, it has seldom fallen to the lot of an
artist to receive such unqualified and unani-
mous praise from the press.
The chief thing that makes Van Hoose
so useful is his marvelous versatility. H e
sings equally well in German, French, Italian
or English, and is at home in concert, ora-
torio or opera. He is a native American,
born in Tennessee. His father is of Dutch
extraction and his mother Scotch-American.
He has received most of his education in
America, though he has spent almost two
years abroad, singing, and at the same time
studied with some of the best masters in
Europe.
7VYVSIO TRKDE
REVIEW
ELBERT HUBBARD ON ART.
A RT is the expression of man's joy in his
work. The province of art is to impart
a sublime feeling—to bestow a beautiful emo-
tion. Thus the artist is one who expresses
his highest and best in a way so that others
are able to share in his joy.
The playing of the "Pilgrim Chorus" from
Tannhauser affects me into silence and tears
and uplifts my spirit so that there come to
me thoughts that are beyond speech; for
me, Wagner makes the room a sacred chan-
cel, the player a priest and all things for the
moment holy.
Wagner is gone, but the
mintage of his soul is our
heritage. He expressed him-
self, we have the net result
of his highest emotions; and
the loftiest moods of his
great soul speak to us out
of the past. Wagner is not
dead—he is here. His mu-
sic imparts to us his feelings
and thus through art he has
expressed for us the joy, the
mingled sadness and aspir-
ations of his soul.
Wagner, Millet and Whit-
man speak the same gospel;
but each expressed his life
in his own way. One im-
parted his emotions through
the sense of hearing, another
through the sense of sight,
and the other through the
understanding. But the "Pil-
grims' Chorus," "The Sow-
er," and "Drum Taps," are
one in their message.
Through art we are heirs
to the highest and best that
the world has ever thought,
or known, or felt. The man
himself was often depressed,
unreasonable, his life faulty.
At such times he symboled
no beauty. But occasionally
his spirits arose to transcend-
ent heights, and the record of that brief home
of Divine Love comes to us in his art. Al-
fred Tennyson may have been, at times,
whimsical and absurd, but no matter—all
that is gone, and only the harmony of his
life is ours. We have the "In Memoriam."
The desire to impart his highest emotions
is what causes the artist to express—he
wishes to share his joy with another. The
creative impulse in art is the desire to give
out your thought to others.
I know a little girl, just four years old,
who goes to kindergarten, and there she
sticks little red and blue paper wafers upon
cardboard so as to make pretty geometrical
figures. And when she sees that she has
produced a beautiful result, she wants to
run all the way home to show the result to
mamma. That is, she is so happy that she
wants to share her joy with another. And
thus we see that this little girl has supplied
us the true and best definition of art—it is
the desire to impart a feeling. And the high-
er and greater and more sublime the emo-
tion the keener the desire to give it out.
One can endure sorrow alone, but it takes
two to be glad. Only by giving out our
joy, do we make it our own—by sharing, we
double it.
SEVEN GREAT COMPOSERS SUMMARIZED.
I N a recent program Dr. H. G. Hanchett
*• thus cleverly sums up the merits of seven
of our greatest composers: Bach, the greatest
and most artistic master of counterpoint and
the writer to whom all modern composers
acknowledge highest indebtedness. Beetho-
ven, by common consent the greatest master
of music, especially of symphony. No col-
lection of classical music is so widely known
as are his sonatas for the pianoforte. Chopin,
the greatest master of harmony and of the
pianoforte as a solo instrument—the most
original and one of the most poetic of com-
posers. Schumann, the most romantic of
composers, a critic and thinker, who has
exerted a most powerful and enduring in-
fluence upon the development of musical art.
Grieg, the greatest master of harmony since
Chopin, and a composer who has made most
use of characteristic national traits of pop-
ular music. Wagner, the greatest of dra-
matic tone poets and the one most influential
over present-day composers; a true epoch-
making genius. Liszt, the greatest of pian-
ists and the greatest master of purely musi-
cal resources—that is, the one who has pro-
duced the greatest effects by means of
rhythms and tones without the aid of wojds
or scenery.
STATUS OF MUSICIANS.
HP H E status of musicians in the social
* world to-day as compared with a cen-
tury ago is pertinently emphasized in some
facts brought to light by L. C. Elson, of
Boston, who says: "It is not so very long
ago that the musician was held to be of a
very inferior caste, generally unfit for the
circles of polite society. In the eighteenth
century we find advertisements in the papers
for servants who are musical, one reading:
Wanted—A valet who can take full charge
of his master's clothes and who can bear a
violin part in a string quartet when desired.
In 'Pepys' Diary' we read of Mrs. Pepys'
maid, Mercer, taking part in vocal duets and
concerted music, and later on this musician
receives a beating from Mrs. Pepys for stay-
ing out against her orders. One reads of
Schubert living with Prince Esterhazy's ser-
vants at the castle of Zelesz, of Haydn be-
ing addressed by the same family with the
contemptuous third-personal pronoun "Er,"
which is only used in Germany to very lowly
inferiors, and of Mozart being thrown down
stairs by the steward of the Archbishop of
Salzburg when he came to ask for his dis-
charge. These are but a few instances of
the status of the musician and teacher in the
past centuries. One might write an entire
article upon the slights and contumelies that
have been put upon great musicians, and
the lesser ones suffered in proportion."
Charlotte Maconda is reaping new honors.
She is now singing with great success in
California.
Prof. Semnacher and his clever pupils will
be heard in recital at Carnegie Lyceum early
in January. An interesting program is being
prepared.
THE
ELLISON VAN HOOSE.
Y\7 I T H youth, a magnetic presence, a
beautiful voice of power, richness and
quality, a thorough understanding of how to
use this voice, combined with the fact that
he is an excellent musician, Ellison Van
Hoose is one of the most reliable tenors in
America, and his services are sought after
by conductors and societies in all parts of
the country. In the two > most important
festivals of the season of 1900-1901 he has
made a conspicuous success at each. He
was specially engaged to sing the "Passion"
during the Bach festival at Bethlehem, Pa.,
ELLISON VAN HOOSE.
May 23d to 26th, and so successful was he
in that most difficult part in the whole range
of oratorio that the critics one and all pro-
claimed him the success of the festival. At
the Worcester festival his success was alike
instantaneous and he established himself as
a prime favorite, the distinguished critics
being enthusiastic in their praise of his work.
At the recent Wagnerian program given by
the Boston Symphony concert he sang with
Ternina and achieved almost as great a suc-
cess as the great Wagner specialist. In-
deed, it has seldom fallen to the lot of an
artist to receive such unqualified and unani-
mous praise from the press.
The chief thing that makes Van Hoose
so useful is his marvelous versatility. H e
sings equally well in German, French, Italian
or English, and is at home in concert, ora-
torio or opera. He is a native American,
born in Tennessee. His father is of Dutch
extraction and his mother Scotch-American.
He has received most of his education in
America, though he has spent almost two
years abroad, singing, and at the same time
studied with some of the best masters in
Europe.
7VYVSIO TRKDE
REVIEW
ELBERT HUBBARD ON ART.
A RT is the expression of man's joy in his
work. The province of art is to impart
a sublime feeling—to bestow a beautiful emo-
tion. Thus the artist is one who expresses
his highest and best in a way so that others
are able to share in his joy.
The playing of the "Pilgrim Chorus" from
Tannhauser affects me into silence and tears
and uplifts my spirit so that there come to
me thoughts that are beyond speech; for
me, Wagner makes the room a sacred chan-
cel, the player a priest and all things for the
moment holy.
Wagner is gone, but the
mintage of his soul is our
heritage. He expressed him-
self, we have the net result
of his highest emotions; and
the loftiest moods of his
great soul speak to us out
of the past. Wagner is not
dead—he is here. His mu-
sic imparts to us his feelings
and thus through art he has
expressed for us the joy, the
mingled sadness and aspir-
ations of his soul.
Wagner, Millet and Whit-
man speak the same gospel;
but each expressed his life
in his own way. One im-
parted his emotions through
the sense of hearing, another
through the sense of sight,
and the other through the
understanding. But the "Pil-
grims' Chorus," "The Sow-
er," and "Drum Taps," are
one in their message.
Through art we are heirs
to the highest and best that
the world has ever thought,
or known, or felt. The man
himself was often depressed,
unreasonable, his life faulty.
At such times he symboled
no beauty. But occasionally
his spirits arose to transcend-
ent heights, and the record of that brief home
of Divine Love comes to us in his art. Al-
fred Tennyson may have been, at times,
whimsical and absurd, but no matter—all
that is gone, and only the harmony of his
life is ours. We have the "In Memoriam."
The desire to impart his highest emotions
is what causes the artist to express—he
wishes to share his joy with another. The
creative impulse in art is the desire to give
out your thought to others.
I know a little girl, just four years old,
who goes to kindergarten, and there she
sticks little red and blue paper wafers upon
cardboard so as to make pretty geometrical
figures. And when she sees that she has
produced a beautiful result, she wants to
run all the way home to show the result to
mamma. That is, she is so happy that she
wants to share her joy with another. And
thus we see that this little girl has supplied
us the true and best definition of art—it is
the desire to impart a feeling. And the high-
er and greater and more sublime the emo-
tion the keener the desire to give it out.
One can endure sorrow alone, but it takes
two to be glad. Only by giving out our
joy, do we make it our own—by sharing, we
double it.
SEVEN GREAT COMPOSERS SUMMARIZED.
I N a recent program Dr. H. G. Hanchett
*• thus cleverly sums up the merits of seven
of our greatest composers: Bach, the greatest
and most artistic master of counterpoint and
the writer to whom all modern composers
acknowledge highest indebtedness. Beetho-
ven, by common consent the greatest master
of music, especially of symphony. No col-
lection of classical music is so widely known
as are his sonatas for the pianoforte. Chopin,
the greatest master of harmony and of the
pianoforte as a solo instrument—the most
original and one of the most poetic of com-
posers. Schumann, the most romantic of
composers, a critic and thinker, who has
exerted a most powerful and enduring in-
fluence upon the development of musical art.
Grieg, the greatest master of harmony since
Chopin, and a composer who has made most
use of characteristic national traits of pop-
ular music. Wagner, the greatest of dra-
matic tone poets and the one most influential
over present-day composers; a true epoch-
making genius. Liszt, the greatest of pian-
ists and the greatest master of purely musi-
cal resources—that is, the one who has pro-
duced the greatest effects by means of
rhythms and tones without the aid of wojds
or scenery.
STATUS OF MUSICIANS.
HP H E status of musicians in the social
* world to-day as compared with a cen-
tury ago is pertinently emphasized in some
facts brought to light by L. C. Elson, of
Boston, who says: "It is not so very long
ago that the musician was held to be of a
very inferior caste, generally unfit for the
circles of polite society. In the eighteenth
century we find advertisements in the papers
for servants who are musical, one reading:
Wanted—A valet who can take full charge
of his master's clothes and who can bear a
violin part in a string quartet when desired.
In 'Pepys' Diary' we read of Mrs. Pepys'
maid, Mercer, taking part in vocal duets and
concerted music, and later on this musician
receives a beating from Mrs. Pepys for stay-
ing out against her orders. One reads of
Schubert living with Prince Esterhazy's ser-
vants at the castle of Zelesz, of Haydn be-
ing addressed by the same family with the
contemptuous third-personal pronoun "Er,"
which is only used in Germany to very lowly
inferiors, and of Mozart being thrown down
stairs by the steward of the Archbishop of
Salzburg when he came to ask for his dis-
charge. These are but a few instances of
the status of the musician and teacher in the
past centuries. One might write an entire
article upon the slights and contumelies that
have been put upon great musicians, and
the lesser ones suffered in proportion."
Charlotte Maconda is reaping new honors.
She is now singing with great success in
California.
Prof. Semnacher and his clever pupils will
be heard in recital at Carnegie Lyceum early
in January. An interesting program is being
prepared.
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).