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Musical Courier 1892-03-02: Vol 24 Iss 628, 1892
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1shrewdness to pretend to like only such music as bores him and to condemn as trivial and unworthy anything that most people like. And he shall confess that Beethoven has the faculty of dullness beyond even Milton; that a Beethoven sonata seems always getting ready to begin—unless Beethoven passes through the sensitive nerve cells of a melancholy Paderewski. Then a Beethoven sonata or a Chopin dirge becomes, not music as music goes, but an exposure of soul that makes one almost ashamed in a crowd; there is a sense almost of impropriety in this public play on deep lying emotions.
3It is in the Polish blood. The Slavic peoples appear to be particularly free from emotional restraints—the conditions of their life are such as to preserve the vividness and daring of the imagination from the corroding influences of the experimental sciences. We analyze more, we study art from the scientific side, much to our gain; but they make music because they feel it. Anyhow, Paderewski is a Pied Piper of Hamelin and does his will with us.
5There are no doubt musical pretenders in Milwaukee as in all cities, and they should be rebuked for their affectation, but the manner of this rebuke is to say the least singular. It sounds as if the editorial chair of the Milwaukee "Sentinel" was occupied by a decided Beethoven hater. Still the criticism is as a whole sincere and certainly singular.
7E. M. BOWMAN AT VASSAR.
9SINCE Mr. E. M. Bowman assumed control of the musical department of Vassar College affairs have been going on most swimmingly. Just glance at the list of examination questions in musical history:
111. What is the origin or primal cause of music, i.e., what prompts man to make music?
122. Music, in its developed form, is a composite of fundamental elements. Name them in the order of their historic development.
133. What was the probable origin of the drum and instruments of percussion, of stringed, of wind instruments?
144. Define the difference between genius and talent?
155. On what will the rank of a composer depend?
166. Into what two great eras do we divide musical history?
177. To which era do harmony, counterpoint, musical form and instrumentation belong?
188. To what origin did the Oriental civilizations ascribe music, and what did they accomplish in the art?
199. Describe or write the Pentatonic scales. What nations employed them?
2010. What kind of instruments predominated in China?
2111. What kind of instruments did India probably contribute?
2212. What countries claim the lyre and harp?
2313. State what you know of Egyptian musical theory.
2414. Describe the Greek tetrachords and their octave species.
2515. Of what did the Greek complete musical system consist?
2616. What kind of music was employed in the religious services of the early Christians?
2717. What was their attitude toward instrumental music?
2818. What edict was promulgated by Clement of Alexandria?
2919. Why was progress in musical development slow?
3020. When, where and by whom were singing schools established?
3121. What was the notation of that era?
3222. Who revived the Greek modes (scales) for ecclesiastical purposes?
3323. What scales were they? Describe them.
3424. What error was committed and what was the result thereof?
3525. What did Gregory the Great add and what names were applied to the two classes of scale?
3626. To what nation for about 900 years did the Church owe its musical progress?
3727. To whom may we trace the dawn of the era of polyphony?
3828. Who hit upon the first crude method of indicating the pitch akin to that now employed?
3929. What improvements in the rudiments of music are ascribed to Guido?
4030. When did Guido die?
4131. What were the beginnings of mensural music (notes, rests, &c.)?
4232. With a notation capable of accurately representing pitch and tone lengths, what kind of music became possible?
4333. Who were the chief workers at this time?
4434. What was the influence of the Crusades on musical development?
4535. Mention the approximate era of the Troubadours, the Minnesingers and the Meistersingers.
4636. What kind of music did they foster and what differences characterized them?
4737. What can you say of folk song and its development?
4838. In what centuries were the Netherlands the musical leaders?
4939. Mention some particulars showing the state of musical theory at the beginning of their era.
5040. After the invention of notation and counterpoint in what particular was music next to be developed prior to its artistic use as a means of emotional expression?
5141. Name five great leaders in the Netherlands school according to their chronological order.
5242. Mention some of the particulars in which each improved the art.
5343. How did the early Netherlanders treat the words which they set to music?
5444. What kind of subjects were chosen as the foundation for the masses they composed? Mention instances.
5545. Name some of their successors, Netherlandic and Italian.
5646. What class of composition was specially cultivated during the Netherlandic era?
5747. What English composers wrought in the same field?
5848. With whom did the first great classical period terminate? Give date of birth and death.
5949. What centuries are included in the Dark Ages?
6050. What inventions did most to terminate that period?
6151. What great movements and counter movements followed?
6252. Explain the influence on musical development exerted by the conquest of Constantinople.
6353. What effort led to the invention of the opera? Who were the workers?
6454. Whose compositions, by virtue of their emotional qualities, had prepared the way for the opera?
6555. Who invented the aria, i.e., song with orchestral accompaniment?
6656. Name the composer and librettist of the opera first publicly performed.
6757. What was the name of the opera? When and where was it performed?
6858. What was the second, and on what occasion was it performed?
6959. Did the opera and oratorio have their origin in the same intellectual movement?
7060. Trace briefly the steps which led finally to the first full fledged oratorio.
7161. What was the subject, and who were the composer and librettist?
7262. How came the word "oratorio" to be applied to this form of art?
7363. Enumerate the musical means employed in the early opera and oratorio.
7464. In what did they differ?
75Who were the fourteen principal composers between 1750 and 1840?
761. Year of birth and death.
772. Lived and labored where?
783. Famous as a composer in what forms of art—oratorio, church, opera, chamber, orchestral or instrumental solo?
794. List of principal works.
805. Style, characteristics and aims as a composer.
816. His influence.
821. Was taught by—
832. Was specially influenced by—
843. Was the teacher of—
854. Characteristics as a man.
865. Characteristics as a worker in art.
876. Some of his contemporaries.
887. Success (artistic and financial) during life.
898. An incident.
91THE OPERA AGITATION.
93MR. MAURICE GRAU now declares that he is perfectly willing to undertake the management of the opera next season, but "My partner, Mr. Abbey, is disgusted with the opera and will have nothing to do with it." So that apparently disposes of Messrs. Abbey & Grau so far as operatic management at the Metropolitan Opera House is concerned. "Apparently," for no one is certain yet but the New York "Recorder," in its issue of last Sunday declares that the news has leaked out that Edmund C. Stanton will manage the opera next season in the interests of the stockholders, and that Anton Seidl will conduct the orchestra. But this rumor has not yet been verified and in the meantime Sir Augustus Harris, the leading manager of grand opera in England, cabled over to Col. Henry Mapleson, his American representative, last week, a new proposition for the giving of opera at the Metropolitan Opera House next season. In his cablegram Sir Augustus said that he was prepared to bring over his entire organization, chorus singers, property people, &c., for a season in this city of four months next season, providing he was guaranteed by the directors of the Opera House £1,000 a performance. Colonel Mapleson said that in view of the expense of such an undertaking he thought Sir Augustus' demands were most reasonable, and that he would present them to the directors of the Opera House at their next meeting.
95Sir Augustus' company for the season of 1892 includes Melba, Sucher, Malten, Eames, Laura Schirmer and Scalchi, Van Dyck, Jean de Reszké, Alvary, Edward de Reszké, Jean Lassalle and Victor Maurel. Most, if not all, of these people would come over with him. Besides he would have an orchestra of 100 pieces, twice as large as the orchestra at the Metropolitan this season, a chorus of 150 and a ballet of eighty. His conductors would be Hans Richter, Vianesi and Manchinelli. Besides the regular Italian and Wagnerian repertoire he would produce at least four novelties—"Le Roi d'Ys," "Esclarmonde," "Sigurd" and "Le Mage."
97This scheme is a delightful one, but there are several serious hitches in it. First, the stockholders of the Metropolitan Opera House will not pay $5,000, even if the chorus was composed of these mythical half birds, half men, angels. Second, Hans Richter, as has been many times stated in THE MUSICAL COURIER, cannot visit this country while he is under contract with the Vienna Opera House, unless, indeed, he breaks that contract for such an uncertainty as an operatic engagement in this city.
99There appears to be some truth in the rumor that Mr. Stanton will manage affairs next season with that great operatic conductor, Anton Seidl, in the conductor's chair. Performances could easily be given in German and Italian, or, for that matter, Volapük, only so they are good musical performances.
101Wagner in Spain.—The Spaniards boast that Wagner's operas are better given in Barcelona than in Berlin; and in Madrid, too, Wagnerism is making rapid strides. On February 2 a grand Wagner concert was given there by an orchestra of 100 and a chorus of eighty. The tickets were all sold before noon, although most of them were in the hands of speculators who had doubled the prices. The program comprised selections from "Parsifal," "Rheingold," and "Tristan." The "Tristan" prelude—that quintessence of Wagnerism—which had never been heard in Madrid, aroused such a storm of applause that it had to be repeated! Evidently the world moves.—"Evening Post."
103PERSONALS.
105Paderewski Continues to Draw.—A telegram to THE MUSICAL COURIER, received too late for publication last Tuesday, and signed by Messrs. C. L. Gorham & Co., of Worcester, Mass., states that the receipts for the Paderewski recital in that city on the previous afternoon amounted to over $1,700. This sum about represents the average receipts at Paderewski recitals in cities of the size of Worcester, Mass.
107Stahlknecht Is Dead.—Julius Stahlknecht, violoncellist, a well-known musical veteran in Berlin, has passed away at the age of seventy-five.
109What Sullivan Is Doing.—Sir Arthur Sullivan is getting on fast with his new comic opera, written to Mr. Sydney Grundy's libretto. He was joined in his temporary home in the Riviera last week by Mr. and Mrs. D'Oyly Carte, as the scenery and other details for the production at the Savoy must, of course, now be settled.—London "Figaro."
111Gayarré Remembered.—On the second anniversary of the death of Gayarré a bust in bronze of the deceased tenor was placed in the vestibule of the Madrid Opera House.
113Paganini's Earnings.—Much has been said of Paganini's large earnings, and an illustration of this is furnished by the particulars of a concert given at the Paris Opera House in the year 1831, at which he performed. The amount Paganini received was 16,500 frs., and a Parisian dilettante, with a penchant for calculating, entered into the following curious details. Paganini performed during the evening three pieces, each occupying five pages of music, of about 91 bars to the page. The fifteen pages thus contained 1,365 bars, by which the 16,500 frs. are to be divided. The quotient will be 12 frs. for each bar, or the proportions will be as follows: For a semibreve 12 frs., a minim 6 frs., a crotchet 3 frs., a quaver 1 fr. 50 c., a semiquaver 15 sous, a demisemiquaver 7 1/2 sous, and for a minim rest 6 frs., a crotchet rest 3 frs., &c. This left a residue of 42 frs., which could not be distributed except in fractional parts.
115A Wagner Bust.—On the 13th ult., the deathday of Richard Wagner, a bust of the master was unveiled at the Dresden Court Opera House, at which he once was the first conductor. The bust is by Prof. Dr. Gustav Kietz, who, a few years before Wagner's death, made a model of the master's head from life at Bayreuth.
117Mr. W. H. Lawton's Offer.—"Natural breathing is abdominal, while breathing for singing is in the thorax or chest, guided by the diaphragmatic muscle. The latter manner of breathing I would recommend to everyone, as it is the most healthful position in which to carry the body. This most important effort can best be understood when explained by examples personally, which I shall give to anyone who will call at my studio, free of charge, between the hours of 5 and 6 p. m." Mr. Lawton resides at 239 West Forty-third street.
119Mrs. Poole Pleases the Public.—Mrs. Clara Poole, the well-known contralto's reception, at the concerts in Cleveland, Cincinnati and Louisville, given by the Symphony Orchestra of New York, when she was their soloist, was very flattering. Her artistic success was very pronounced. She appears to be in better voice than ever, and is one of the few singers who are always seeking novelties in the vocal line, instead of giving worn out melodies.
121Her success at the last Orpheus Society's concert of Columbus, Ohio, was also deserved, as her rich, sympathetic voice was heard to advantage.
123Goring Thomas' Health.—It is satisfactory to learn that Mr. Goring Thomas, who met with so serious an accident just previous to Christmas by a fall downstairs at his uncle's house, has sufficiently recovered to enable his removal to Malvern, where it is hoped that the balmy air and timely rest will contribute to his speedy recovery.
125Death of Massart.—The death of Lambert Joseph Massart at the age of eighty-two removes an interesting link between two generations, for Massart was the pupil of Randolph Kreutzer (to whom Beethoven dedicated the finest of violin and piano sonatas) and of Rode, and was the teacher of Wieniawski. Born at Liège, Massart, a Belgian by birth, he settled in Paris as a teacher of the violin when about thirty years old. His wife, originally Miss Masson, who died in 1887, was a well-known pianist and teacher. Massart became professor of the violin at the Paris Conservatoire in 1843, and has enjoyed a long career of artistic usefulness.
127Death of an Old Musician.—There recently died at Clapham, England, in comparative obscurity, Wilhelm Kloss, a once famous pianist and composer. Early in life he manifested a happy disposition for his art, and was sent to Cologne to study under Dorn. Kloss enjoyed the great and unusual advantage of having Mendelssohn for his later instructor, who enabled the young aspirant to win the King's Scholarship, thus enabling him to escape conscription for the army. Possessed of several letters of introduction he went to England, and performed before Her Majesty at Windsor. One of the appointments he held was pianist to the late Duke of Saxe-Coburg.—London "Musical News."
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