Music Trade Review

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THE
MUSICAL EDUCATION IN AMERICA.
A London Paper's Views on the Rapidity of Its
Progress Discussed by Mr. Finck.
The London Spectator is surprised at the
rapidity of progress which has marked the musi-
cal education of the cultivated classes in Amer-
ica. One reason for this it finds in the fact that
the tyranny of Italian opera, which prevailed in
England more than a century and a half, lasted
in America only sixty years. Another lies in the
large number of German immigrants; though in
vocal music it is the American woman who rules
supreme. "Music now forms as large a part in
the social life of the leisured American as it does
with us, and in point of equipment and efficiency
of performance there is little to choose between
the great American cities and those of Europe.
. . . A pessimistic critic once called America
the grave of art, but musicians, whether resident
or visitors, will not endorse this gloomy dictum."
The writer also makes some interesting remarks
on the modification of racial characteristics in
the crucible of American life. He recently heard
a curious story of an Italian singing master who
had migrated to an American city from London.
The inducement was that, owing to the higher
remuneration, he could earn enough in nine
months to spend the remainder of the year in
agreeable indolence in Italy. Unfortunately, he
gradually became infected with the "accursed in-
dustry" of the Americans, with the result that he
could never enjoy his holiday because of the
longing to get back to work, and presently he
gave up his annual visit to his native land alto-
gether.
The Teutonic temperament also is, according
to the Spectator, radically modified in America.
It illustrates this in the case of some of the crit-
ics, one of whom is so thoroughly emancipated
from Teutonic conventions and traditions as to
place Chopin's pianoforte music above Beethov-
en's while he consistently depreciates Brahms,
and claims for Mr. McDowell a place alongside
of Schubert and Schumann as a song writer. An-
other of these critics is Mr. Huneker, the London
edition of whose recent volume, "Overtones," fur-
nishes the text for the Spectator's article. The
reviewer remarks facetiously that, "just as he
credits Richard Strauss with the invention of a
new musical speech, so Mr. Huneker has adopted
a new form of criticism, in which, generally
speaking, superlatives are employed in the place
of positives, the obvious is shunned like a plague,
and incontestable truths are stated in violent
terms." But the critic admits that, "however
much one may dissent from Mr. Huneker's views,
there is no gainsaying the force and picturesque-
ness with which he expresses them. No modern
musical critic has shown greater ingenuity in the
attempt to correlate the literary and musical ten-
dencies of the nineteenth century."
The influence of American life on music is also
discussed in the World's Pair number of The Mu-
sic Trade Review by one of our foremost com-
posers, Mr. Henry Holden Huss. He maintains
that American teachers have far more analytical
minds than most of the European, hence they
have been able to grasp the essence of things and
to save years of time in the accomplishment ot
results. Such men as Dr. Mason and Mr. Joseffy
have a way of coming straight to the point with-
out wandering around and about to produce their
results. "Meanwhile, the health, strength, and
nerves of the pupil are not undergoing any such
strains as a course of thorough foreign study en-
tails." "On the whole, there is no possible doubt
that there is better instruction available in Amer-
ica, even in the smaller cities, than in the corre-
spondingly small cities of Europe." Concerning
the future of American composition, Mr. Huss
makes this prediction:
"I think we will find that the present condi-
tions will produce concentrated incisiveness, born
of the American's capacity for sending a ten-page
letter in a ten-word telegram. We live in epi-
grams, and we will probably express art in the
same form eventually. Also, the rush in which
we live will affect the old forms; there will be
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
no more long-winded symphonies, but everything
will be straight to the point, strongly rhythmic,
and our music will certainly make for the spirit
of definiteness, without losing the beauty of the
melody and the strong sense of color, which, in-
deed, is the American's birthright.—Henry T.
Finck, in Evening Post.
OPERA ORCHESTRA ROW ENDS.
Conried Will Re-Engage Old Men, but May
Reduce the Number.
The members of the Metropiltan Opera House
orchestra have settled their differences with Mr.
Conried, and the same men will next year take
their places in the orchestral pit. The contracts
for the players have all been drawn up and will
be signed this week. Nahan Franko has been
engaged as concert master, and the only change
under consideration is in the size of the orches-
tra. It is possible that the sizo of the orches-
tra may be reduced. In the days of the Grau
regime it consisted of sixty-six players. That
number was increased by Mr. Conried to ninety-
one.
EDGAR S. KELLEY LOCATES IN BERLIN.
Edgar Stillman Kelley, the celebrated Ameri-
can composer, who has been visiting Ber-
lin, has found such an appreciation of his
taients in that musical city that he has
decided to locate there. His lecture recitals
in Berlin were very popular, and he found so
much demand for instruction in composition, that
any predilections toward returning to his native
land were put aside. The departure of Mr. Kel-
ley, although temporary, is a distinct loss, but
then it is the old story over again that a man
is not without honor, save in his own country.
SAVAGE'S PRODUCTION OF "PARSIFAL."
Henry W. Savage, of operatic fame, has at last
amicably settled the differences which have ex-
isted with the Musical Mutual Protective Union,
and he has engaged the sixty musicians for the
orchestra which will assist in his production of
"Parsifal" in English. Rehearsals will com-
mence at an early date, and Mr. Savage promises*
a production which scenically, if not musically,
will equal that which Mr. Conried gave us at the
Metropolitan last season. Mme. Kirkby Lunn,
who is engaged to create the role of "Kundry"
in the first production of "Parsifal" in English,
was a feature of the "Ring of the Nibelungen,"
given at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden,
London, this summer, under the direction of
Hans Richter.
MASCAGNI OPENS MUSIC SCHOOL.
Mascagni, he of "Cavelleria" fame, has definite-
ly settled down to a business calling. He has
opened a school of music in one of the old pal-
aces in Rome, and is most enthusiastic on the
subject. He declares that the classes are already
well filled, and that he is sure this move will be
a success. He is now at work on a new opera
"Amico," which is for a French publisher, and
which he believes will add decidedly to his fame.
He has also recently finished an opera entitled,
"Vestilia," which is an ambitious effort. Expe-
rience has demonstrated, however, that Mascagni
in his larger works has not scored a tremendous
success.
SCHUMANN-HEINK IN COMIC OPERA.
Ernestine Schumann-Heink, the great contralto,
who returned recently from a short visit at Villa
Tini, her home at Koetzschenbroda, near Dresden,
has just closed a short concert tour, ending at
Ocean Grove on July 23. Since then she has been
rehearsing the new comic opera by Stange and
Edwards in which she is to be the star, opening
at the Broadway Theatre on October 3. Mme.
Schumann-Heink is quite' enthusiastic over the
new opera in which, by the way, she will play the
role of a wash woman.
FAVORS BOYS' CHOIRS.
J. Christopher Marks, the Distinguished Irish
Organist, States Why He Prefers Boys'
Voices for Church Music.
J. Christopher Marks, organist of the Church
of the Heavenly Rest, to which he was recently
called, will begin in the autumn the training of
a boy choir such as is only to be found on the
other side of the water, where settled ways help
to artistic perfection.
In the darkness of the church the other day
Mr. Marks talked, after his organ practice, about
his work. He is a composer well known in Ire-
land, where until recently he was organist at the
Cathedral in Cork. His father, James Christo-
pher Marks, Mus. Doc. of Oxon, was composer
choirmaster, and organist before him.
"However, differently manifested our love of
music, we agreed upon the choir training," Mr.
Marks said of his father, "and in teaching the
boys I use the same methods. At least a thou-
sand boys have passed through my father's hands.
He was at St. Finbarr's in Cork for forty-three
years, with never less than twenty boys. At least
ten left every year.
"Training of choir boys amounts to a musical
education as practiced abroad. A boy should be
trained from about the age of 8. They go to th&
choir boarding schools abroad as soon as they
can read, and remain there. The American boy
would not stand for that. He would think him-
self done for if he had to attend practice every
day. But as a rule the finest, most intellectual
singers are those who were trained in choir work.
"There are no institutions here where the same
amount of time is given. Consequently, no Amer-
ican choir can equal the fine choirs abroad. It is
due, not to any difference in capability, but to
time and care. In my new work here, which is
of course in embryo, I hope to make a proper
start in September and to make the choir service
v/hat it ought to be."
In regard to the much discussed question of the
difference between women and boy choirs, Mr.
Marks is on the boys' side.
"There is no comparison in the brilliancy of
tone," he said. "After the boys know their work
they sing with more vigor, better attack. Boya
go at the work simply because it is there, and a
boy's voice is clear, bright and crisp, like a reed,
toneless, far better suited for ecclesiastical pur-
poses than a woman's voice.
"The introduction of the voices of women who,
being of riper years, are able to understand and
achieve, condenses and blends the boy choir and
may be used with good effect. At St. Bartholo-
mew's the choir of thirty women produce a very
fine tone. But given an equally fine boy choir
there is no comparison. A woman's tone is more
dulcet and round. It saves an organist work to
introduce a few women's voices; it steadies the
tone, they are more reliable and from her woman-
hood and knowledge a woman can be depended
upon for comprehension.
"But there is an affected style about a woman's
singing—it lacks simplicity; it has light and
shade, striking effects, more fitted for the concert
stage or the dramatic. The boy's voice has only
the pure notes.
"Only about one in a thousand has absolute
pitch. The pitch must always be given. Too
many, also, are hurt under an incorrect method
of forcing the tone. This lacks quality and is
ugly—the forcing, straining at forte passages at
the expense of tone. It is most injurious."
DE PACHMANN'S CONCERT TOUR.
Vladimir de Pachmann, the pianist, is to give
eighty or more concerts in America in the coming
season. He is already engaged by the Boston
Symphony Orchestra for appearances in Boston,
New York, Brooklyn and Philadelphia, and dates
are arranged for him with the Philadelphia, Pitts-
burg, Cincinnati and Chicago orchestras. He will
give three recitals in New York, three in Boston,
and will go about January 1 to the Pacific coast.
He will play the Baldwin piano.