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Musical Courier 1892-02-10: Vol 24 Iss 625, 1892
85 lines. Read by computer on 23 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 10. See the scan on archive.org.
1From the Boston "Home Journal."
2Editors Musical Courier:
3With this week's issue of the Boston "Home Journal" we make the first of certain changes which we have long had in contemplation, and which we hope and think will be in the line of progress. And while we have paid attention to the appearance of the paper we do not forget that it is to its contents that we must look for results. Its policy of absolute honesty in all its expressions and careful avoidance of anything which can make it other than its name implies will always be kept in view. The more popular of its old departments will be kept and new ones introduced. Its criticisms will be unbiased and from authority, and its editorials will be brief and to the point. In a word, we wish to make a bright, crisp, honest and substantial paper. How well we are likely to succeed you best can judge from this issue when it reaches you, and if you will give it consideration and make such mention or criticism as you think it deserves we will be only too happy to reciprocate whenever it lies in our power. Will you kindly send us a marked copy of your paper containing notice! Very truly yours,
4W. WALLACE WAUGH, Manager.
6A Romance of Modern Music.
7There are moments in a man's life when, a task of some kind being completed, a duty done, one likes to stay a while in rest and idleness, enjoying the fruits of labor. It is in moments like these that the toils and cares of everyday life become more than ever nauseous to one, and an intruder is looked upon as a mortal foe, a base ruffian whom it would be bliss to destroy utterly.
9Well, the other day I happened to be in just such a pleasant mood. I was sitting in my office, my private sanctum in the Rue Rivoli, having just completed a long and complicated series of articles on the much debated question as to whether marriage is a failure or not (at least I think that was the principal subject), when suddenly my amanuensis, a pale young man, with carrot hair, informed me that a man was waiting outside in the passage and desired a few minutes' conversation.
11"Show him in!" I said blandly, smothering down the string of wicked expressions which rose to my lips as I contemplated the probability of a protracted business harangue.
13He came in accordingly. A tall, lank, spectral looking individual, with a weird, uncanny growth of untidy dark hair. What was it that made me think of Rubinstein? He carried a dirty green umbrella, which he proceeded to prop up in the cleanest corner—to the detriment of the wainscoting—with a care that was almost motherly. Then he deposited his greasy hat on the table and hauled out of an inner pocket a bundle of much-worn papers. I scented a commercial traveler, and shuddered accordingly. The thought! of a double barrelled gun reposing in the next room gave me a momentary relief. I started into conversation:
15"May I ask what——"
17"Certainly, sir," said the long haired individual, with a sudden assumption of extraordinary cheerfulness; "certainly, sir; you desire to know my name; you would wish to know the history of my life——"
19"But," I interposed, hoping to check him.
21He refused to be checked, and sailed on serenely.
23"You must know, sir, that I am a musician; a dabbler in sweet sounds, a tickler of fugitive harmony. I play, I sing; why should I not? My mother had me taught the piano at an early age. I taught myself the violin and the trombone. It was fine exercise, too! especially the getting downstairs with my trunk when it became necessary to change our apartments. Ah! that was a happy time. Would that it had always continued thus!
25"Alas! we cannot foresee the great changes that are in store for us in this vale of tears. In an evil hour I bought a ticket for the 'Götterdämmerung.' It was in New York that it was given, at the Metropolitan Opera House. I heard it—every note. I raved! I enthused! Then I went to hear 'Rheingold,' and I felt that I had found a profession for myself. Two days later I hired a stall at the corner of Madison square, and started to sell Leitmotifs."
27"What?"
29"Leitmotifs, sir! It was a splendid business. You see, I came to realize that as in every well constructed music drama each person ought to have his own fixed musical phrase, which accompanies him continually through the mazes of the drama, sticks to him, in fact, closer than a shadow, closer than a wife, closer than fly paper—so man on his journey through this sordid, unromantic world ought to possess a motive of his own, to soothe his sorrows, heal his wounds and drive away his tears (pardon the quotation). Sir, it is my firm conviction that such a companionship would be a blessing to thousands; no home should be without one. But to continue.
31"At the time when this great change took place in my career I became engaged to a beautiful girl, Miss Terebenthine de Bovril—you have heard the name? No? Well, it does not matter. Her father, the Count Bovril, offered to settle a handsome annuity on us. Alas! tidings reached him from America (he was in Paris at the time) that I was doing a flourishing trade in Leitmotifs. He swore, he stamped, he vowed he would never let his daughter marry a common tradesman. one of two readings
32"At the time when this great change took place in my career I became engaged to a beautiful girl, Miss Terenthine de Bovril—you have heard the name? No? Well, it does not matter. Her father, the Count Bovril, offered to settle a handsome annuity on us. Alas! tidings reached him from America (he was in Paris at the time) that I was doing a flourishing trade in Leitmotifs. He swore, he stamped, he vowed he would never let his daughter marry a common tradesman. one of two readings
34"I heard of his anger, and hastened to Paris, where he and his daughter were vegetating in the place known as the Grand Hôtel.
36"I brought with me a packet of my choicest wares—Leitmotifs in all imaginable keys—Wagnerian and barbarian, Italian and Moody and Sankey.
38"It was no use. He ordered me to leave the room. I proffered him a chromatic motif in A minor; he kicked me downstairs! The beautiful Terebenthine wept copiously; it was all of no avail; I was dismissed, rejected, dishonored! one of two readings
39"It was no use. He ordered me to leave the room. I proffered him a chromatic motif in A minor; he kicked me downstairs! The beautiful Terenthine wept copiously; it was all of no avail; I was dismissed, rejected, dishonored! one of two readings
41"Nothing daunted, I set up a small office in the Rue Cha-teaubriand, just over a laundry. I advertised my wares; the police stepped in and arrested me for extorting money on false pretenses.
43"I was brought before the magistrate. I pleaded not guilty and tried to explain my system. He ordered me to prison for a week. I offered to play him a solo on the trombone—he sentenced me to be flogged! I asked to be allowed to perform a fantasia on the German flute—he sentenced me to be hanged!
45"What need to dwell on my miseries? In prison the bread was stale, the wine was bad, the company low and disgusting—I never heard a note of Wagner—oh, it was terrible!
47"I assassinated my jailer—I fled, disguised in his clothes. Some rude gendarmes captured me. They shut me up in some horrid place beside a river, where there were bars across the windows which marred the landscape. My cunning did not forsake me—I escaped again. Now, sir, if you will kindly do me the favor to look over my stock of goods, I will guarantee that I can sell you a Leitmotif that will prove satisfactory in every——"
49"Not to-day, my friend—call around in a week, or——"
51"Now here, sir, is a sweet thing in E flat—the same as supplied to the leading members of the aristocracy——"
53"Hang the aristocracy."
55"Lord Fitz-Boodle sleeps with one under his pillows."
57"I don't care what Lord Fitz-Boodle does—please get out."
59"Babies like it—children cry for it——"
61The door opened suddenly. A company of gendarmes walked in and collared the vendor of Leitmotifs.
63"I hope, sir," said one, "that he has not been disturbing you?"
65"Not at all, my friend; he is very amusing. Who is he?"
67"An escaped lunatic from Charenton!"
69So ended that strange adventure.
71LANCELOT BAYLY.
7237 AVENUE DE LA GRANDE ARMEE, Paris, January 24, 1892.
74The Piano and Its Technic.
75LAMARTINE has said that "Music is the literature of the heart; it commences where speech ends." This is in the main true, but who dare say that the music of Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, Wagner and other great composers does not appeal, if it be understood, to the loftiest intellects, to the most educated and receptive minds? In its germ I might say it is merely a sensation, but in its full and elaborate development an ideal. From the fact that everyone can assimilate it to his or her own passions, because it offers no resistance to the imagination, not being restricted to any precise sense, it is a fountain to which all may go and receive therefrom whatever coincides with their feelings, or whatever the intellect grasps as food for reflection. It is both objective and subjective, as are also the great schools of piano playing. Objective, when we listen to it passively, and it suggests to us impressions; subjective, when we take it to ourselves and we see reflected as in a mirror, our own feelings, mentally and physically.
77Music is mysterious; air, vibration and rhythmic symmetry are the three principles of which it is composed. Strike an object where there is no air and it produces no sound; destroy vibration and immediately sound ceases; change the rhythm of a simple tune by altering its note values and it becomes unrecognizable, because the symmetry is destroyed. The grandest instrument yet invented for the interpretation of this beautiful yet mysterious art is the piano; it stands open to all, it will repay tenfold in pleasure and profit (I mean to the mind) what it costs to learn it. Those of you who heard the magnificent piano playing of Arthur Friedheim, when he was in our city a fortnight ago, will have heard its wonderful resources in vivid, lyrical and delicate effects and in mighty orchestral playing. I see by the program of the convention that we are indebted to the Canadian Society of Musicians for further opportunity to hear two artists perform on it, one our friend, Mr. Thomas Martin, who plays this afternoon, and Mr. De Pachmann, who plays to-morrow evening.
79We owe our thanks to the Italians for the invention of this remarkable instrument, "the pianoforte," the name being first used by Paliarino, an instrument maker about the year 1598. It is not known whether this instrument contained hammers, making it in that respect similar to ours of the present day, or not, but it was left to other countries to develop the great possibilities of this, to-day, marvelous instrument. When it came into pretty general use about 1760, the art of playing had attained a high degree of efficiency, for Bach, Couperin, Scarlatti and many others were wonderful performers for the time, when we take into consideration the quality of instruments then in use. Bach preferred the clavichord to all other instruments, but with the piano came an entirely new kind of expression, the power to play soft or loud by the touch alone. Now the cultivation of touch, or the principle of tone production on the piano, is quite a different thing from the principle of touch on the organ. There is no art in producing a beautiful tone on the organ, it comes naturally of itself so long as the key is pressed down, and the bellows are supplied with wind; but on the piano it is different. Here the tone may be made hard and metallic, or soft and sympathetic, according as the hand and indeed the arm is stiffened (cramped) or in a free and elastic state in the act of producing the tone. I hold that every educated pianist or teacher should have a perfect knowledge of the organs of touch: he should know the structure of the arm and hand and the forces with which he is to work. If this were known there would be fewer students playing with stiff, cramped hands and wrists, producing such short, snappy, hard tones, and there would also be a proportionate degree of ease and flexibility in their performances. one of two readings
80We owe our thanks to the Italians for the invention of this remarkable instrument, "the pianoforte," the name being first used by Palianino, an instrument maker about the year 1598. It is not known whether this instrument contained hammers, making it in that respect similar to ours of the present day, or not, but it was left to other countries to develop the great possibilities of this, to-day, marvelous instrument. When it came into pretty general use about 1760, the art of playing had attained a high degree of efficiency, for Bach, Couperin, Scarlatti and many others were wonderful performers for the time, when we take into consideration the quality of instruments then in use. Bach preferred the clavichord to all other instruments, but with the piano came an entirely new kind of expression, the power to play soft or loud by the touch alone. Now the cultivation of touch, or the principle of tone production on the piano, is quite a different thing from the principle of touch on the organ. There is no art in producing a beautiful tone on the organ, it comes naturally of itself so long as the key is pressed down, and the bellows are supplied with wind; but on the piano it is different. Here the tone may be made hard and metallic, or soft and sympathetic, according as the hand and indeed the arm is stiffened (cramped) or in a free and elastic state in the act of producing the tone. I hold that every educated pianist or teacher should have a perfect knowledge of the organs of touch: he should know the structure of the arm and hand and the forces with which he is to work. If this were known there would be fewer students playing with stiff, cramped hands and wrists, producing such short, snappy, hard tones, and there would also be a proportionate degree of ease and flexibility in their performances. one of two readings
82Teachers should know the living organism of the hand and arm, the muscular system with its tendons and sinewy apparatus. The muscles of the upper arm (which is formed of one strong bone from shoulder to elbow) are either extensors or flexors of the lower forearm, with its two bones, the ulna and radius. The muscles of the forearm move either the radius inward or outward, the hand and fingers. The nervous tissue serves for the production of sensations and intellectual activities. If the hand is allowed to stiffen the free working of the tendons is impossible, the hand is tied as it were, all freedom is destroyed, consequently rapidity of action, and the tone produced is unmusical to a degree. I do not believe in the method of teaching a beginner to hold the hand in a certain position, because the pupil in endeavoring to do so will stiffen the hand unconsciously, and the result is one of the worst of all habits is formed right under the teacher's eye. I advocate rather that the pupil should be taught that each finger has a distinct individuality and should be as free and elastic as the keys of the piano—that the hand governs those fingers and the arm the hand, the whole being controlled by the mind. Aim at once in producing independence and a loose, easy motion of each individual finger, regardless of position if needs be; and after this freedom is attained by the way indicated and by the loose holding of the metacarpus (wrist), the hand and fingers may be molded, as it were, to the most perfect and graceful position, with easy vestige of stiffness and non-elasticity destroyed. And then, again, legato and staccato playing (with their derivatives; finger legato, singing legato, produced by the principle of pressure—arm, wrist and finger staccato, &c.) should be cultivated from the very beginning, as only by those combinations of touch can a perfect, beautiful technic be acquired and developed.
84When one thinks of the vast army of piano students in this country, many with excellent talent, who are methodically pegging away every day and year after year, and so few in comparison to the number that study who really make an artistic success, it proves to my mind that there must be something radically wrong in the methods of teaching. There are too many teachers who rigidly adhere to old fogy principles of playing the notes and forcing the pupil to retain such or such a position to the utmost total exclusion of freedom, or cultivation of ease or simplicity. Nor is it the number of etudes which are played or the number of exercises laboriously practiced which produce a pianist, but carefully selected materials suitable to the pupil, and seeing that those are done perfectly regarding touch, legato, staccato and portamento, tone, tone color, rhythmical and metrical accentuation, &c. Pupils should be taught also at the very beginning to listen carefully to their tones, that keys played by the stronger fingers (particularly the thumbs) do not produce greater tones than those played by the weaker ones, so that eventually all may be equalized as regards power as well as independence. When once this habit of listening to the tone quality is formed it should be carried into everything studied, exercises, scales, pieces, &c.; every note and chord is carefully weighted by an artist in study and performance and should be given the strictest attention by pupils. I venture the remark that in a few more years the best teachers throughout the world will discard one half the etudes and exercises they now use and obtain their technical material from classical works, which tend to cultivate the mind as well as the hand. For this purpose nothing can be better than the sonatinas of Kulau, Diabelli, Clementi, Reinecke, &c., the little preludes and inventions of Bach, and the ancient dance forms, such as the gavote, bourée, menuet, &c., by such composers as Rameau, Scarlatti, Gluck, Haydn and others. And for further technical material one or two books of Kalkbrenner's etudes could be used with advantage; Heller's and Schmitt's etudes, Jensen's etudes, op. 32, which are useful for phrasing and extended positions, and moreover most interesting. All of the foregoing should be carefully analyzed and the form shown to the pupil, with the various cadences and half cadences. For purely finger exercises, scales, &c., there are many excellent works, which will be doubtless familiar to most of
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