Music Trade Review

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THE
fflJJIC TIRADE
VOL. XLIf. No. 2 2 .
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill at 1 Madison Ave., New York, June 2, 1906.
SOMETHING ABOUT MUSICAL LIONS.
Studies of the Artistic Temperament by the
Manager of Many Famous Singers and
Musicians.
Henry Wolfsohn chatted the other day about
the celebrities whom, in the course of twenty-
five years, he has brought over for the enter-
tainment of tne American public. Joseffy, Wil-
helmj, Caesar Thompson, Marteau, De Pach-
mann, Aus Der Ohe, Josef Hofmann, Schumann-
Heink, Pugno, Sarasate, Richard Strauss are
among them.
"I have been asked many times," said Mr.
Wolfsohn, 'if I had any difficulty in getting
these world famed artists to come to America,
and I have to laugh whenever I answer. In
the experience of a quarter of a century there
are only two names that occur to me as belong-
ing to celebrities who even hesitated.
"Both of these were afraid of the long ocean
voyage. One was Joachim and the other Hans
Richter. Distances in Europe are short; an ar-
tist can travel from one city to another and
fulfil his engagements without loss of sleep and
without becoming irritated by the thousand and
one little things that rasp the nerves here.
Considering what they have to endure, even
now, and wnat they used to put up with here
twenty years or so ago, it is a marvel that
tne American dollar has proved so potent.
"The artist thinks a great deal of his condi-
tion and his personal comfort, and it is quite
right that he should. You can't subject a fine
machine to the same usage that you could a
locomotive.
"Rubinstein was one of the first European
celebrities that ever came to this country in my
day. Naturally, when he returned he was asked
that ever original question, as to how he had
enjoyed the tour, and he replied that the best
thing about it was the knowledge that he had
made so much money that he would never have
to come back. He lived up to the privilege
gained.
"There is a distinct change, if not in the at-
titude toward America, at least in the remarks
concerning it. You no longer hear the artist
inveigh against the fact that we have no art
atmosphere over here and that everything is
sordid and commercial. It is possible that they
have waked up to the fact that when an artist
deliberately turns his back on the country where
art atmosphere simply permeates the place and
comes over here to play or sing for filthy lucre,
abhorring the nation and its customs, he is
more sordid and more commercial than the
people who are simply, endeavoring to get the
best talent that the world affords for their
education and treating that want with com-
mercial foresight.
"We have to-day the best artists and the most
appreciative audiences in the world. My own
experience is that we are more critical and
more just in our criticisms than any other
country.
"Take, for example, the case of Berlin. There
is a city that gives sometimes 800 concerts a
season, and the participants get good press
notices and are always loudly applauded. I
know for a fact that if many of these same con-
certs were given in America the people would
rise and leave the place. They would not be
bored by mediocre talent of that kind for a
moment.
"Even in London the celebrated ballad con-
certs that are one of the features of the season
could not succeed with us unless they put more
of the real thing in them. As they are now,
at every concert there are thirty or so num-
bers and perhaps one or two stars at the most.
"Many of the singers and instrumentalists are
never heard of again. Where they come from,
where they go to nobody knows or cares; but
what is heartrending is the fact that the ma-
jority of the participants are allowed to bore
people who love music and should have the
best, especially at places like that. There is
too much mediocrity in art; what we need is a
weeding out!
"I believe the foreign press is to blame for
much of this so-called talent. It is the truth
that a musical agent cannot depend at all on
the press notices of a foreign country. As a
general thing they are fulsome, superlative and
nauseating in their praise, and their denuncia-
tions are equally mistaken.
"In America you do not have that condition
of affairs. There is no musical critic whom you
could buy it you wanted to, and especially in
the larger cities criticisms are just and based
on thorough knowledge of the arts.
"I should say, roughly speaking, that there
are probably 700,000 artists in the world clamor-
ing for recognition, and of these there are
not more than seven or eight that make big
money. By big money I mean from $1,500 to
$2,000 a night.
"Among the latter is, yes, Josef Hofmann,
who has the double attraction of being a genius
as well as one of the few child wonders who
have really fulfilled predictions. My own ex-
perience is that the child wonder is a musical
blunder.
"The trouble is that he gets his success too
soon and is consequently, when the charm of
his youth and innocence is gone, absolutely de-
ficient in the qualities that go to the making
of an artistic career. He must have something
besides musical talent, he must have the ex-
perience and the knowledge of life that pro-
duce temperament. If these qualities are de-
manded in geniuses, it is very evident that
when the talent is of the mediocre variety, they
are absolutely essential.
"In engaging stars, many things have to be
taken into account. An artist's personal ap-
pearance goes for a great deal.
"He must know how to come on a stage, how
to leave, for he must appeal. If he sets his
audience on edge in the beginning, no matter
how well he plays or sings, he will be a failure.
I have had that experience over and over.
"Engaging stars is a gamble. You have abso-
lutely nothing to work on. You cannot depend
on press notices, you cannot depend on hearsay,
you cannot even depend on the audiences of the
past, for they are notoriously fickle. I have
made many blunders, not so many now as I
used to, but when I was more inexperienced
I took greater chances.
SINGLE COPIES, 10 CENTS.
$2.00 PER YEAR.
"One thing that has to be taken into account
now is the improvement in the musical educa-
tion of the public at large, and in consequence
the difficulties of making successful tours with
but the very best known talent. Nearly all
cities of any size have a series of orchestral
concerts, and for these season tickets are large-
ly sold. At these concerts the most celebrated
singers appear, and when an artist attempts to
travel on his own account he has that competi-
tion."
Speaking of the chances and changes of the
artist's life to the "Sun," Mr. Wolfsohn said:
"It is not generally known that the first ap-
pearance of Fremstad as a star was a mere
matter of chance. She was engaged on a con-
cert tour with Scalchi by Seidl, and the latter
was tremendously advertised. Nobody had heard
about Fremstad; she was one of the seconds in
the race for honors.
"But at the last moment, in one of the big
Western towns, Scalchi fell ill and Fremstad
had to take her place. Her success was as-
sured then, and any one who heard her that
night, as I did, could not be surprised at any
future fame that comes her way."
THE PRODUCTION OF MME. BUTTERFLY.
Henry W. Savage has selected as conductor
for his production of Puccini's "Madame But-
terfly" Walter Rothwell of Paris, Berlin and
Bayreuth, who, it will be remembered, occupied
the conductor's desk in Mr. Savage's "Parsifal"
production last season. Joseph Sheehan will be
in the cast. Mr. Savage will confine his ef-
forts in the grand opera field the early portion
of the coming season to the production of
"Madame Butterfly." In this presentation the
opera will have a separate and distinctive pro-
duction, and as the libretto of this composition
has been furnished by John Luther Long and
David Belasco, this collaboration for the first
time in many years, of American librettists with
such a distinguished foreign composer as Puc-
cini, naturally incites a wide interest in mu-
sical circles.
WILL DR. MUCK BE SELECTED.
Reports from Europe are to the effect that Dr.
Karl Muck has been engaged as conductor of
the Boston Symphony Orchestra. This is abso-
lutely denied by Henry L. Higginson and may
be due to the fact that premature announce-
ments are against the interests of the organiza-
tion. Indeed, it may be that there is nothing
in the rumor.
RICHARD STRAUSS TO CONDUCT.
"Hofkapellmeister" Dr. Richard Strauss, of the
Berlin Opera, has been engaged to conduct the
"Tannhauser" performances at the Wagner-
Mozart festival to be held in Munich from Aug.
2 to Sept. 7. Among other engagements is that
of Rudolph Moest, of the Hanover Royal Opera.
In the eleven years of its existence the Pitts-
burg Orchestra management has expended more
than $200,000 above receipts from the public;
636 concerts have been given; 320 in Pittsb \v$
and 216 in other places.