Music Trade Review

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VOL. XXXIX. No. 23.
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Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill at 1 Madison Ave., New York, Dec. 3,1904.
SINGLE COPIES, 10 CENTS.
$2.00 PER YEAR.
TAYLOR ON NEGRO MUSIC.
HARVARD'S MUSICAL DEPARTMENT.
PADEREWSKl'S TOUR.
The Eminent English Composer Spoke Inter-
estingly on This Subject During His Recent
Visit to Washington.
Besides Prof. J. K. Paine, the Faculty Includes
Some Men of Note in the Musical World.
The Great Artist Who is About Due in San
Francisco Will Add Further Luster to a
Notable Musical Season.
One of the most prominent of living English
composers, S. Coleridge-Taylor, was a visitor to
Washington and Baltimore last week to conduct
concerts. It is well known that his father was
an African, his mother an English woman. He
himself is only twenty-nine years old, and he has
just been appointed conductor of the Handel So-
ciety in London. He considers conducting a
much larger and better field than composing,
although his "Hiawatha" and several others of
his works have enjoyed unusual popularity in
England. To a reporter of a Washington paper
he spoke entertainingly about negro music. Be-
ing asked his opinion of coon songs, he
answered:
"The worst sort of rot, in the first place there
is no melody, and in the second place there is
no real negro character or sentiment in these
'coon songs.' However, I will not object to the
term 'coon songs.' They may be that; but they
are not negro melodies. Few real negro melo-
dies have ever been heard in this country, or in
England, for that matter. Of all the alleged
negro songs with which you Americans are so
familiar, I doubt if any have not been adulterated,
as it were. Something has been added or some-
thing forgotten. A prominent French musician
recently made a tour through that portion of
Africa where the original negro lives and flour-
ishes. He visited many districts where no white
man had ever been and he collected songs and
melodies which I think are charming. At least
they have the advantage . of being absolutely
new, none of them ever having been heard in
either England or America. I am now at work
on a volume which will include these, and also
the few from this country which I believe to be
pure. I am also at work on what may be termed
symphonic pianoforte selections, based on negro
melodies of both America and Africa."
WEINGARTNER'S NEW SYMPHONY.
Last week Herr Weingartner brought out in
Dresden a new symphony, which he will produce
in America. Richard Burmeister, the pian-
ist, and long a resident of the United States, the
same evening, in connection with Herr Wein-
gartner, rendered Franz Liszt's two-piano . con-
cert pathe'tique, rewritten and adapted by Herr
Burmeister for one piano and orchestra. The
Dresden critics regard both works as remark-
able.
AVERAGE LIFE OF MUSICIANS.
W. Thayer, in an article in the Forum, wishing
to show the longevity of Anglo-Saxon men of
genius during the nineteenth century, is never-
theless unable to deny the premature death of
many musicians. Of thirty musicians with an
average age of sixty-two years, Auber was
eight-nine years old when he died and Verdi
eighty-eight, while four died young—Bellini,
Bizet, Schubert and Mendelssohn.
The growth of the department of music at
Harvard University has been surprising. Besides
Prof. J. K. Paine, the musical faculty now in-
cludes Prof. W. R. Spalding and two instructors
—F. S. Converse and H. L. Stone. Some of the
classes number over a hundred students. Pro-
fessor Paine, the pioneer in this branch of uni-
versity education, has reason to feel proud of the
success of what, three decades ago, seemed a
The forthcoming tour of Paderewski will make
this season a memorable one in more respects
than one, for it is hinted, by those who claim
to know, that while Paderewski is in New York
there will be a recital of his latest songs writ-
ten upon the text furnished by Catulle Mendes.
It is unnecessary to speak of Paderewski as a
pianist, as there is no one within the bounds of
any civilized country that does not know his
status as artist.
His tour will open in San Francisco, where
he will arrive from Australia. The exact dates
will be announced when he lands, and he is now
enjoying the absolute rest which a man of his
energy can only experience on board ship, away
from all disturbing influences of the outer world.
He is not, however, without his magnificent
Steinway piano, which is his constant companion,
and upon this instrument he will again delight
thousands of people who are always eager and
ready to welcome Paderewski.
The announcements for his New York concerts
have not yet been made, but, of course, he will
be heard in many recitals and in orchestral con-
certs. A very excellent portrait of the great
master appears on the cover page of this issue.
M. C0L0NNE CAPTURED THE CROWD.
J. K. PAINE.
more or less questionable experiment. He him-
self lectures this term on the history of music,
and has a class in instrumentation, a branch of
the art in which his own later compositions show
him to have few living equals. One of Profes-
sor Spalding's branches is counterpoint, on
which he has lately produced a treatise which
is highly esteemed by those who have ex-
amined it. His definition of counterpoint is par-
ticularly lucid: "Counterpoint applies the prin-
ciples of harmony to the melodious treatment of
the several voice-parts in combination." In the
harmony course, the works of Prout and Chad-
wick are used; in the instrumentation course,
those of Prout and Berlioz. Students of the
course on musical form use Prout's treatise, and
also have to do collateral reading in Parry's
"Evolution of the Art of Music," Haddow's "The
Sonata Form," Sherlock's "The Pianoforte So-
nata," Grove's "Beethoven and His Nine Sym-
phonies." No instruction in instrumental play-
ing is given at Harvard, but an alliance with the
New England Conservatory in Boston may be
made ere long. Special students of music are
accepted at Harvard, although they have not
passed the usual examination for admission to
the college. It is worthy of notice, says Henry
T. Finck, that the august Harvard professors do
not disdain to make use, for purposes of illus-
tration, of some of the semi-automatic instru-
ments—one of America's contributions to music.
M. Colonne, who conducts the Philharmonic
concert to-day, made quite a sensation at the
first of the season's concerts in Paris the other
day. The concert lasted three hours, and it in-
cluded two of Beethoven's symphonies—the first
and the last, separated by the third of Pfirilbou's
"Scenes Gothiques" and the third violin con-
certo of Saint-Saens. Before M. Thibaud got up
to play this concerto, M. Colonne came forward
and made a little speech, in which he said that
he had received threatening letters from the per-
sons who have undertaken to banish all con-
certos from the concert halls. He said there
were only three persons in this conspiracy and
he advised the audience to let them hiss. He
would then begin the concerto over again, and if
they hissed again the police would take car© of
them. The result was that the music was heard
in silence and at the close Thibaud was twice re-
called, without opposition.
THE FAVORITE OPERAS OF PARIS.
Of all the grand operas presented in Paris
"The Huguenots" leads in popular favor. It has
been sung 1,018 times and is no less popular now
than it was a score of years ago.
Next to "The Huguenots" comes "Faust." It
has been sung 918 times, while "Robert le
Diable" has reached the 758 mark and holds third
honors.
Among the operas of living authors "Samson
and Delilah" has been played 198 times since it
was staged in 1892.
"Tannhauser" has to its credit 233 perform-
ances since 1895. "Lohengrin" has been sung
234 times since 1891, and "Die Walkiire" 135
times since 1893.