Music Trade Review

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THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
MUSIC AND POETRY.
THE D'ALBERTS COMING.
Some of the Difficulties of Writing an Indian
Poem for Music Admirably Defined.
The Famous Pianist Will Be Accompanied by
His Wife, Mme. Fink-D'Albert, Soprano.
In recently looking over some of the present
writer's lyrics, B. C. Stedman, our well-known
critic and poet, remarked: "There are laws in
the literature of music for its construction which
differ from those governing the architecture of
versification. Your poems show the effect of a
close study of the methods of musical composi-
tion rather than the following of the usual meth-
ods of poesy. The effects are unique, but some-
times misleading to the writer." And this sug-
gested the question which I have often heard dis-
cussed: To what extent do the laws governing
the construction of a musical composition guide
a poet in his preparation of the lyrics for his
composition; and is it better to write the lyrics
before the music is composed or to write them
afterward to the measure of the music?
The writer has composed a number of lyrics
which have been set to music, and in writing
them has experienced no more difficulty than is
usual to the desire to produce a finished piece of
work. But when Mr. Rollin Bond asked for some
lyrics to set to his Indian intermezzo, "Sacaja-
wea"—so named for the Indian lass who piloted
the Lewis and Clark expedition through the west-
ern wilderness—I found before me another, and
a more complex, proposition. First there was a
story to tell as nearly as possible according to
facts. It must be told in a certain measure, and
that a very peculiar, weird though beautiful
measure, suggestive of Indian life and movement,
as well as of virgin wildwoods and primeval na-
ture. Furthermore, there must be atmosphere,
genuine Indian atmosphere, which meant a
goodly amount of reading about Indian life, cus-
toms, haunts, dress, habits, songs. And with
everything thus blocked out the words must
swing into beat with a wild spontaneous spirit,
and with no suggestion of difficult workmanship
in their finished state.
After many days of labor, disgust, despair, re-
construction, uncertainty, "Sacajawea" was com-
pleted, and sent on its way to the ladies of Ore-
gon, who are erecting a statue to the Indian hero-
ine, to be exhibited at the Lewis and Clark cen-
tennial. And while the lyrics at length bore the
stamp of a poet's approval, the versifier will at
once see the difficulties of writing spontaneously
and enthusiastically, restrained and limited by
so many conditions, and I would advise him not
to allow his musician to break silence until his
own composition has taken the initiative.
The farewell tour of Eugen D'Albert, who de-
serves the name of one of the greatest pianists
of all time, will open in January when this great
master will be heard with all the great orches-
tras in this country and in recital as well. He
His technique, which is regarded as the most
startling of the present time, is lost in the intel-
lectuality and the cunning of his musical expres-
sion and he is held before the hordes of pianists
as the great example of what nobility in piano
playing should consist of. He has selected the
Knabe piano as his medium of interpretation.
LET "DIXIE" BE.
A
EUGEN D'ALPERT.
will be accompanied by Mme. Fink-D'Albert, the
operatic singer who became his wife not very
long ago. Mme. D'Albert will ping the D'Albert
songs which have never been properly exploited
in this country. In addition to D'Albert as pian-
ist we will become better acquainted with him as
composer in which capacity he ranks among the
great modern Germans.
The tour of D'Albert is regarded by all who
speak of musical affairs as a foregone success, in-
deed, it will, no doubt, be one of the most sensa-
tional tournees that has ever been made in this
country as the achievements of this miraculous
GENEVIEVE FARNEIX.
CULTURE AMONG MUSICIANS.
Too Much Technical Training and Not Enough
General Culture—Broader View of Life Re-
quired.
"Too much technical drilling stupefies and bru-
talizes the mind. It actually sends pianists into
idiocy, and I could prove this assertion if I had
statistics." This statement was recently made
by Dr. Frederick Niecks, professor of music in
tne Edinburgh University, and in the course of
his remarks he quoted Sir Frederick Bridge's
amusing criticism of the many who come to him
to learn the pianoforte, but who would like to
do nothing but sit down and practice eight hours
a day: "They won't go to hear a symphony
played and they won't read a book; they will do
nothing but thrash a pianoforte as if they re-
garded that as the business of their lives."
Dr. Nieck's plea is for a wider general culture,
a broader life, a training that would give us
fewer musical acrobats and more musicians.
Something more than even that is needed. There
MME. FINK-D'ALBERT.
are faculties higher than those which we call in-
tellectual life. Culture in its wider sense, in- pianist have filled the whole of Europe with un-
cludes that something higher, which expresses it- bounded enthusiasm, especially where breadth is
self in character—the life . of the soul. Unfor- concerned. The press of Germany and of London
tunately the word culture has become narrowed have placed him in the most enviable position
in its meaning through a general and persistent as has the press of every other country on the
European continent.
misuse.
Southern Paper Utters Some Sensible
Words
on the Discussion
Regarding
Changing the Words of the Old Southern
Song—How Music Wrought Its Spell.
Let us call a halt to the further discussion of
"Dixie" and whether or not the wording shall be
changed. It is very evident by now that there
never will be any satisfactory agreement between
those who favor the change and those who op-
pose it. The original words are fatuous and fool-
ish to the point of disgusting the reader, while
the version proposed at Nashville was rhythmic
and ringing in the extreme. And yet the one will
never be substituted for the other.
Who thinks of the words, anyway? Who ever
quotes them, except, perhaps, the excerpt:
In Dixie Land I'll take my stand;
I'll live and die for Dixie Land.
No, the words are nothing, and the music every-
thing!
Very recently the writer of these lines was
walking rapidly along the street, his brain occu-
pied with some problem of the moment, when,
subconsciously, almost, he became aware of the
strains of "Farewell, farewell, to thee, Araby's
daughter," played very softly, but with exquisite
expression, in the house he was passing.
Twenty-five years vanished as though they had
never been; the intoxicant blood of youth was
bounding in his veins and the glorious golden
future—that so few, alas, attain—lay fair before
him; he was leaning upon a piano at which a fair
young girl played the accompaniment, while the
air was carried by a flute as only Sidney Lanier
could play a flute.
Then the present returned. The dreamy-eyed
poet he remembered rested in the grave and the
golden future lay a gray and cheerless past be-
hind; but for one brief moment music had
wrought its magic spell.
So it is with Dixie. The martial measure awak-
ens memories of youth and ambition; of long-
dead, well-loved comrades; of bivoucs in the rain
and the crowded hour of glorious life when the
blood ran high and the rebel yell of victory
soared higher still.
The stern, cold realities of the present return
when the music dies, but for a few blissful min-
utes, the merry, maddening strains have led them,
hand in hand with memory, through the battle-lit
scenes of other days.
Do you wonder that they reverence the air?
Do you wonder that their sons and daughters
have learned to love it, too?
No, "Dixie" the music is immutable.
The words are immaterial.
Hence, let us cease to discuss their change.—
Augusta Chronicle.
HOFFMANN'S LATEST COMPOSITION.
August W. Hoffmann, the prominent teacher
and composer, has recently brought out through
Breitkopf & Hiirtel, of New York and London,
a very charming cradle song, which is destined
to win no small share of appreciation from teach-
ers and good players of the piano. As a left hand
study, it is admirable, while the melody is dis-
tinguished by that beauty and originality which
are always features of Mr. Hoffmann's composi-
tions. This number is dedicated to Dr. William
Mason.
Mary Clayton Connor, the clever young pupil
of Mrs. Ankie Greene Parker, was one of the
soloists at a recital given recently in Gadsden,
Ala. She played numbers for the piano and vio-
lin, and her efforts were highly praised by the
local press.