Scan 20
Musical Courier 1900-11-28: Vol 41 Iss 1079, 1900
34 lines. Read by computer on 23 September 2026. Printed page 21. See the scan on archive.org.
1enough to decline to advertise the small music papers could not exist. The musicians want them.
3Another difficulty in this case is the fact that the daily papers are not sufficiently pushed to get far beyond their local circumference and a small percentage of readers only are interested in the music department. This reduces their influence materially. San Francisco people do not read Denver or Detroit papers, Chicago people do not read Cincinnati papers, and vice versa, and New York people do not read Boston papers as well as St. Louis people do not read New York papers. All the great dailies virtually—90 per cent.—remain closely relegated to their own limited spheres, and only about two per cent. of each paper pays the slightest attention to the music column. The dailies do not pay much attention to music, because the percentage of readers is so insignificant. Even if the people of the cities would interchange their reading of the dailies of the various cities it could do no good, because the musical items refer chiefly to the local events. Patti, Mark Hambourg, Gabrilowitsch or a Rosenthal, Fannie Bloomfield or a Godowski or Macconda are heard in dozens of cities; the daily papers will all speak of these artists and the people of all the cities will read of the same persons.
5For these excellent reasons a Musical Courier had to arise and was bound to circulate all over the globe, as it does, and was sure to secure the attention of the whole world of music and create its 250,000 readers. They could find no other means of learning each week what the world of music 'outside of their own local world of music was doing. From the daily they learned considerable about their local music world, although not as much as The Musical Courier now gives them, because the daily papers pay no attention to the performances of music unless the business managers of the performances advertise in the dailies. That difficulty the Chicago Times-Herald overlooked entirely. The music critic of that paper will not be allowed to give a preliminary notice even, much less a criticism, of any musical artists or companies going to Chicago unless it is known by the manager of the Times-Herald that the artists or the company will be advertised in the Times-Herald.
7That excludes the mention of many meritorious musical workers, because the daily press makes it a question purely of business, which is correct, for even the critic of the Times-Herald will not write his criticism unless he is engaged by the paper to receive pay for his work. Everybody should be paid. Artist, manager, critic, owners of halls, railroads, hotels, boarding houses, music publishers, doorkeepers, publishers of daily papers, &c., &c., and the little music paper starting out to make its living should not be paid? And then if those little sheets that have no other means of existence because they have no subscription and circulation income charge a musician a few dollars after days of soliciting and worry and loss of time, temper and appetite, are the Times-Herald and The Musical Courier, both with their great armies of readers, to denounce these worthy, hardworking and ambitious little people, and cut them off on the ground that because they have no expenses they should not receive any money?
9And why charge them all with corruption in such a general denunciation? Why not pick the offender and castigate him by quoting the specific case, thus proving the charge and relieving the others from an onus? Outside of this the Chicago Times-Herald gives an excellent idea of its own views on certain kinds of music journalism, but as long as it charges it must not make it a criminal offense if the struggling music papers charge. As quickly as the Times-Herald will print all its music advertising free of charge the small music papers will at once disappear, but they have really learned how to charge by following the example established by the Chicago Times-Herald.
11SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN.
13SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN died in London of heart disease last Thursday morning, the 22d inst., at 9 o'clock. He had not been well since his return from Switzerland last September. He caught a chill there and his lungs became affected. Indeed there was a false rumor of his death in Paris early this fall. His health mended sufficiently for the composer to return to London. He was sitting up in his bed last Thursday, taking his morning coffee, when he fell over, exclaiming, "My heart!" Despite immediate attention he never recovered from the syncope, and his end—like his father's—was painless. The grief in London was sincere and universal.
15Sir Arthur Sullivan, all said and done, was the most popular composer England ever produced. He rescued from the depths of musical inanity and vulgarity a charming musical form—the operetta. Not a profoundly original musician, it is a mistake to underrate his attainments. His training was sound, his knowledge varied, and, a winner of the Mendelssohn scholarship, he enjoyed the acquaintance and advice of Sterndale Bennett, Hauptmann and Moscheles. Sullivan—who was of Hebraic origin—had the gift of easy, unforced melody; and then he was that rara avis, a musical humorist. His jokes in orchestration have become classic. Master of a smooth, facile style of instrumentation, he did more to rehabilitate comic opera in this country than even Offenbach or Strauss. He wrote captivating lyrics, highly effective cantatas, and his partnership with Gilbert is without parallel in the musical world—one must go to the field of letters, to Erckmann-Chatrian, to the Goncourts, to encounter just such a happy welding of artistic gifts. Sullivan's has long been a beloved name, and his music to-day is as fresh as when it was written. What higher praise could be awarded?
17Arthur Seymour Sullivan was born in London, May 13, 1842. He was the son of an Irish bandmaster and clarinet player. He began his own musical career as one of the children of the royal chapel, where he was noted for his sweet voice and his sympathetic style of singing. There, too, he began his work as a composer, publishing in 1855, "O Israel," a sacred song. In July, 1856, he was the first Mendelssohn scholar in the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied under Goss and Sterndale Bennett until he went to Leipsic in the fall of 1858. In that institution he was a pupil in various departments of Plaidy, Hauptmann, Richter, Rietz and Moscheles. He returned to London in 1861, bringing with him his music to Shakespeare's "Tempest," which was produced at the Crystal Palace the following year.
19Some of his more important works at this period are "Kenilworth," a cantata, the book by Chorley, the critic. It was written for the Birmingham festival of 1864; ballet music, "L'Ile Enchantée," Covent Garden, May 16, 1864; Symphony in E flat, March, 1866; overture, "In Memoriam," Norwich festival of the same year; Concerto for 'cello and orchestra, produced by Piatti, November 24, 1866; oratorio, "The Prodigal Son," 1869; overture "Di Ballo," 1870; "On Sea and Shore," a cantata, 1871; and in 1872 a festival "Te Deum" to celebrate the recovery of the Prince of Wales from a severe illness.
21In 1873 Sullivan produced at the Birmingham festival his popular oratorio, "The Light of the World"; and for the Leeds festival of 1880 he wrote "The Martyrs of Antioch," an oratorio. In 1886, for the Leeds festival, he composed his famous cantata, "The Golden Legend."
23In the domain of operetta Sullivan won his real renown. His first work of the sort was "Box and Cox." This was first performed privately at the home of Arthur J. Lewis and publicly produced at the Adelphi 1867. December 18 of the same year saw the production of "The Contrabandista," by Burnand and Sullivan, and at St. George's Opera House. It was a great success. With William Schwenk, Gilbert and Sullivan made their first joint attempt in "Thespis," an operatic extravaganza, produced December 26, 1871.
25It was just four years later that this talented pair entered on a career which was for them replete with honors and gold. "Trial by Jury" was produced March 25, 1875, being followed by "The Sorcerer," November 17, 1877. This was brought out at the Strand Theatre by R. D'Oyly Carte who made a fortune himself by managing Gilbert and Sullivan. The same theatre saw, May 25, 1878, the production of "Pinafore," the most popular of all the works of these two men. It ran 700 nights in London. It was produced in the United States in 1879, first in Boston, and afterward at the Standard Theatre in New York. It ran six months here and made much money. There was a "Pinafore" craze for many seasons, and the end is not yet.
27Gilbert and Sullivan came to New York in the autumn of 1879 to look after their interests, and in 1880 produced at the Fifth Avenue Theatre, "The Pirates of Penzance," which was brought out in London April 3, 1880. "Patience" was produced April 25, 1881, and "Iolanthe" November 25. These charming compositions were given here at the Standard Theatre, under the management of William Henderson and D'Oyly Carte, and enjoyed a prosperous run. "Princess Ida," a beautiful burlesque of Tennyson's "Princess," was produced at London in 1884 and at the Fifth Avenue Theatre the following year. "The Mikado" dates from 1885 and was first heard here at the Fifth Avenue, where its success was almost equal to that of "Pinafore." "Ruddigore," 1887, and "The Yeoman of the Guard," 1888, were made known to the Americans by the late John McCaul at the Casino.
29Of "The Gondoliers" and "Utopia, Limited," the former made known here at the theatre now called the Herald Square, and the latter at the Broadway, little can be said. They seemed to show that the two writers had about worked out their vein of literary and musical wit, though some are of the opinion that "The Gondoliers" failed only through inadequate performance. "The Gondoliers" was produced in London December 7, 1889, and "Utopia, Limited," October 7, 1893.
31In the course of the run of "The Gondoliers" Gilbert and Sullivan had a misunderstanding, which was brought about through a quarrel with their manager. The result was they parted company. Mr. Gilbert sought new musicians, and Sir Arthur a new librettist. The composer was supplied with a very unsatisfactory libretto by Sydney Grundy, entitled "Haddon Hall." Mr. Carte tried all sorts of experiments at the Savoy Theatre, which had been the home of the Gilbert and Sullivan works since the production of "Patience," but could not repeat the successes of the two famous co-laborers. However, in the course of time they were brought together again, and the unfortunate "Utopia" was the issue.
33The latest score of Sir Arthur Sullivan to be made known in this country was that of "The Rose of Persia," of which the book was by Basil Hood
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