Music Trade Review
Issue: 1904 Vol. 38 N. 14 - Page 4
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
EARLY CELTIC MUSIC.
"KING OLAF" AT CARNEGIE HALL.
HAROLD BAUER'S SUCCESS.
Interesting Analogy Between the Chinese and the
Gaelic Music—Bunting's Valuable Volume.
The Brooklyn Oratorio Society Will Give Its Next
Concert in New York With Waltqr Henry
Hall Directing—Secretary Connelly's Valued
Aid.
To Sail for South America—Will Come to Us
Again Next Season.
Researches being made within the last few
years in the matter of Celtic music are not
without their significance. One of the chief
characteristics of Celtic music, the penta-
tonic scale, arises from the limitations of the
instrument used, the harp. Examples of the
pentatonic scale are not common to-day either
in Scotch or Irish niusic, although one finds
instances in a few well known Irish airs, such
as "The Groves of Blarney." The latter,
with certain additions and interpolations,
came to be known in the early part of the last
century as "The Last Rose of Summer."
It is interesting to know that until noo
B. C, the Chinese had only the five notes of
our ordinary pentatonic scale, C, D, E, F, G,
but in that year F sharp and B natural were
added. This scale was used for several cen-
turies until at the time of the Mongolian in-
vasion there was introduced another scale,
having the F natural instead of F sharp. The
result of this was something so very like con-
fusion, or so it appeared to the Chinese, that
we are told an imperial edict went forth that
no subject of the emperor should, after that
time, use the interval of a semi-tone; and so
the scale was reduced to C, D, F, G, A. There
is an interesting analogy here, but whether
there is any immediate connection between
the musical system of the two countries is not
yet determined.
While dwelling upon the matter of Irish
music we may say that we had the privilege
this week of examining that very valuable
and authoritative work of Edward Bunting's,
which contains some important and valuable
data on the music of Ireland, as well as its
national instrument, the harp. This volume
of seventy pages was published by Clementi,
of London, in 1809, and is in a splendid state
of preservation. It contains all the ancient
music arranged for the piano the titles being
in Gaelic. The autograph of Professor
Crouch, composer of "Kathleen Mavourn-
een," adorn an inside page. This valuable
book is now the property of W. Murdoch
Lind, of this city.
On account of the destruction of the
Brooklyn Academy of Music by fire the mu-
sic-lovers of New York are to have a treat in
the way of an appearance of the Brooklyn
Oratorio Society at Carnegie Hall. It is but
natural that Walter Henry Hall should bring
over to New York his body of singers as he
has even a larger following on this side of the
bridge than in Brooklyn, where he has been
director of the Oratorio Society for many
years. Mr. Hall is identified with the great-
"PARSIFAL" PUBLICITY
Inures to the Benefit of Cosima Wagner—The
Performances at Beyreuth Sold Out a Month
Ago—Some Deductions.
WALTER HENRY HALL.
est choral singing, being conductor of the
combined societies the Apollo and the Musur-
gia into which the two have been merged.
Mr. Hall is also organist and choir master at
St. James, where he has one of the most re-
markably trained boy choirs in this country.
Mr. Hall has made of the Brooklyn Oratorio
Society an organization which stands among
the foremost singing societies of this country
and it will not take long to realize that as di-
rector of this sort of work Mr. Hall has few
equals.
He has upheld not only the musical stan-
THE MONUMENT TO JOHANN STRAUSS.
dard but the enthusiasm and in this he has
had the invaluable assistance of Howard W.
Communications have been sent out by the
Connelly, who, as secretary of that organiza-
Princess Croy-Sternberg asking that those
tion has given his time, strength and financial
interested in the erection of a monument to
aid whenever it was needed and in whatever
the memory of Johann Strauss the "Waltz-
way it served the purposes of the upbuilding
King" should apply to her for membership
of the Oratorio Society. In this capacity Mr.
in the Monument Committee. Such a com-
Connelly has served for as many years as the
munication was sent to I. N. Fleischner of
society is old and through his faithfulness
Portland, Ore., and he was also asked to act
much has been gained that would otherwise
in the West. Mr. Fleischner wrote accept-
have been impossible. The work to be pre-
ing the position and enclosed $25 as his con-
sented April 29th is Edward Elgar's "King
tribution to the fund. Of this the Vienna pa-
Olaf" which will have its first presentation
pers were full as it happened that the first
in America. Shannah Cumming will sing the
money received was from Mr. Fleischner and
soprano and Herbert Witherspoon will have
' it created no small amount of astonishment
the baritone parts.
that it should come from the very farthest
corner of the Northwest.
DUSS AGAIN AT MADISON SQUARE.
Edward Elgar, whose "Apostles" was
given in New York last week by the Oratorio
Society, has just had a three days' festival of
his music in London. The King and Queen
attended the opening performance, at which
"The Dream of Gerontius" was presented.
Harold Bauer has just concluded a tour
through the West where he met with tremen-
dous success. It is conceded that a greater
artist than this modest and unassuming man
had never visited the Pacific coast—and they
have heard nearly all the pianists that have
come to America at one time or another. Mr.
Bauer is due in the East shortly, where he has
yet a number of engagements to fill. He
plans to sail from New York for South
America May 5th. It is good news to those
who love the highest type of piano playing
that Mr. Bauer has been engaged for next
season again and there is no doubt that he will
have one of the busiest seasons that any artist
has ever enjoyed, as the engagements on the
books already would be sufficient to satisfy
most artists.
According to the news from Beyreuth, it
appears that the vast amount of free advertis-
ing which "Parsifal" received in Europe
through its production in New York, has re-
dounded to the pecuniary advantage of Cos-
ima Wagner. The seats for the first series
of six performances to occur in Beyreuth,
commencing July 22, were entirely sold out a
month ago. This includes "Tannhauser,"
"Parsifal," and the Nibelungen Ring. This
will probably be followed by four successive
"performances" of "Parsifal"; the rest of the
festival programme is not yet decided upon.
Apparently Mme. Wagner, instead of find-
ing fault with Herr Conried, should have
paid him a commission as an advertising
agent. She must be certainly converted by
this time to the value of publicity.
An extremely interesting and important
confession in regard to "Parsifal" is made in
a letter addressed to the Munich Allgemeine
Zeitung by Dr. Strecker, representing the
publishers of that opera, B. Scott's Sohne, of
Mainz. In it the admission is made that the
publishers never for a moment believed that
the agreement which every purchaser of a
"Parsifal" score had to sign not to use it for
a public performance, had any legal validity.
WHY ARE MUSICAL PRODIGIES COMMON?
Why are genuine musical prodigies com-
paratively common, whereas in other branches
of art they are practically non-existent? We
say "genuine" because it is undoubtedly the
case that, while of course not every precocious
musician is heard of in maturer life, nearly
every great musician has in his time been a
prodigy. One need only instance Mozart,
Schubert, Haydn, Chopin, and among execu-
tants of to-day Joachim and Norman-Neruda,
to realize that this is so. Have psychologists
explained why the genius of music should
and does awake in the soul years before that
It is announced that the Madison Square of painting and the allied arts?
Garden management and Loudon G. Charlton
The last concert of the series of the Rus-
have contracts about to be signed which will
sian
Symphony Society occurred Thursday
result in the reinstallation of Venice and Duss
evening
at Cooper Union and was largely
and his orchestra as a spring attraction at the
attended.
Garden.
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
EARLY CELTIC MUSIC.
"KING OLAF" AT CARNEGIE HALL.
HAROLD BAUER'S SUCCESS.
Interesting Analogy Between the Chinese and the
Gaelic Music—Bunting's Valuable Volume.
The Brooklyn Oratorio Society Will Give Its Next
Concert in New York With Waltqr Henry
Hall Directing—Secretary Connelly's Valued
Aid.
To Sail for South America—Will Come to Us
Again Next Season.
Researches being made within the last few
years in the matter of Celtic music are not
without their significance. One of the chief
characteristics of Celtic music, the penta-
tonic scale, arises from the limitations of the
instrument used, the harp. Examples of the
pentatonic scale are not common to-day either
in Scotch or Irish niusic, although one finds
instances in a few well known Irish airs, such
as "The Groves of Blarney." The latter,
with certain additions and interpolations,
came to be known in the early part of the last
century as "The Last Rose of Summer."
It is interesting to know that until noo
B. C, the Chinese had only the five notes of
our ordinary pentatonic scale, C, D, E, F, G,
but in that year F sharp and B natural were
added. This scale was used for several cen-
turies until at the time of the Mongolian in-
vasion there was introduced another scale,
having the F natural instead of F sharp. The
result of this was something so very like con-
fusion, or so it appeared to the Chinese, that
we are told an imperial edict went forth that
no subject of the emperor should, after that
time, use the interval of a semi-tone; and so
the scale was reduced to C, D, F, G, A. There
is an interesting analogy here, but whether
there is any immediate connection between
the musical system of the two countries is not
yet determined.
While dwelling upon the matter of Irish
music we may say that we had the privilege
this week of examining that very valuable
and authoritative work of Edward Bunting's,
which contains some important and valuable
data on the music of Ireland, as well as its
national instrument, the harp. This volume
of seventy pages was published by Clementi,
of London, in 1809, and is in a splendid state
of preservation. It contains all the ancient
music arranged for the piano the titles being
in Gaelic. The autograph of Professor
Crouch, composer of "Kathleen Mavourn-
een," adorn an inside page. This valuable
book is now the property of W. Murdoch
Lind, of this city.
On account of the destruction of the
Brooklyn Academy of Music by fire the mu-
sic-lovers of New York are to have a treat in
the way of an appearance of the Brooklyn
Oratorio Society at Carnegie Hall. It is but
natural that Walter Henry Hall should bring
over to New York his body of singers as he
has even a larger following on this side of the
bridge than in Brooklyn, where he has been
director of the Oratorio Society for many
years. Mr. Hall is identified with the great-
"PARSIFAL" PUBLICITY
Inures to the Benefit of Cosima Wagner—The
Performances at Beyreuth Sold Out a Month
Ago—Some Deductions.
WALTER HENRY HALL.
est choral singing, being conductor of the
combined societies the Apollo and the Musur-
gia into which the two have been merged.
Mr. Hall is also organist and choir master at
St. James, where he has one of the most re-
markably trained boy choirs in this country.
Mr. Hall has made of the Brooklyn Oratorio
Society an organization which stands among
the foremost singing societies of this country
and it will not take long to realize that as di-
rector of this sort of work Mr. Hall has few
equals.
He has upheld not only the musical stan-
THE MONUMENT TO JOHANN STRAUSS.
dard but the enthusiasm and in this he has
had the invaluable assistance of Howard W.
Communications have been sent out by the
Connelly, who, as secretary of that organiza-
Princess Croy-Sternberg asking that those
tion has given his time, strength and financial
interested in the erection of a monument to
aid whenever it was needed and in whatever
the memory of Johann Strauss the "Waltz-
way it served the purposes of the upbuilding
King" should apply to her for membership
of the Oratorio Society. In this capacity Mr.
in the Monument Committee. Such a com-
Connelly has served for as many years as the
munication was sent to I. N. Fleischner of
society is old and through his faithfulness
Portland, Ore., and he was also asked to act
much has been gained that would otherwise
in the West. Mr. Fleischner wrote accept-
have been impossible. The work to be pre-
ing the position and enclosed $25 as his con-
sented April 29th is Edward Elgar's "King
tribution to the fund. Of this the Vienna pa-
Olaf" which will have its first presentation
pers were full as it happened that the first
in America. Shannah Cumming will sing the
money received was from Mr. Fleischner and
soprano and Herbert Witherspoon will have
' it created no small amount of astonishment
the baritone parts.
that it should come from the very farthest
corner of the Northwest.
DUSS AGAIN AT MADISON SQUARE.
Edward Elgar, whose "Apostles" was
given in New York last week by the Oratorio
Society, has just had a three days' festival of
his music in London. The King and Queen
attended the opening performance, at which
"The Dream of Gerontius" was presented.
Harold Bauer has just concluded a tour
through the West where he met with tremen-
dous success. It is conceded that a greater
artist than this modest and unassuming man
had never visited the Pacific coast—and they
have heard nearly all the pianists that have
come to America at one time or another. Mr.
Bauer is due in the East shortly, where he has
yet a number of engagements to fill. He
plans to sail from New York for South
America May 5th. It is good news to those
who love the highest type of piano playing
that Mr. Bauer has been engaged for next
season again and there is no doubt that he will
have one of the busiest seasons that any artist
has ever enjoyed, as the engagements on the
books already would be sufficient to satisfy
most artists.
According to the news from Beyreuth, it
appears that the vast amount of free advertis-
ing which "Parsifal" received in Europe
through its production in New York, has re-
dounded to the pecuniary advantage of Cos-
ima Wagner. The seats for the first series
of six performances to occur in Beyreuth,
commencing July 22, were entirely sold out a
month ago. This includes "Tannhauser,"
"Parsifal," and the Nibelungen Ring. This
will probably be followed by four successive
"performances" of "Parsifal"; the rest of the
festival programme is not yet decided upon.
Apparently Mme. Wagner, instead of find-
ing fault with Herr Conried, should have
paid him a commission as an advertising
agent. She must be certainly converted by
this time to the value of publicity.
An extremely interesting and important
confession in regard to "Parsifal" is made in
a letter addressed to the Munich Allgemeine
Zeitung by Dr. Strecker, representing the
publishers of that opera, B. Scott's Sohne, of
Mainz. In it the admission is made that the
publishers never for a moment believed that
the agreement which every purchaser of a
"Parsifal" score had to sign not to use it for
a public performance, had any legal validity.
WHY ARE MUSICAL PRODIGIES COMMON?
Why are genuine musical prodigies com-
paratively common, whereas in other branches
of art they are practically non-existent? We
say "genuine" because it is undoubtedly the
case that, while of course not every precocious
musician is heard of in maturer life, nearly
every great musician has in his time been a
prodigy. One need only instance Mozart,
Schubert, Haydn, Chopin, and among execu-
tants of to-day Joachim and Norman-Neruda,
to realize that this is so. Have psychologists
explained why the genius of music should
and does awake in the soul years before that
It is announced that the Madison Square of painting and the allied arts?
Garden management and Loudon G. Charlton
The last concert of the series of the Rus-
have contracts about to be signed which will
sian
Symphony Society occurred Thursday
result in the reinstallation of Venice and Duss
evening
at Cooper Union and was largely
and his orchestra as a spring attraction at the
attended.
Garden.
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).