Scan 25
Musical Courier 1902-08-27: Vol 45 Iss 1170, 1902
79 lines. Read by computer on 22 September 2026. Printed page 26. See the scan on archive.org.
1WASHINGTON, D. C., August 23, 1902.
3Musical Outlook for Season 1902-3.
5The musical outlook in Washington for the coming season is brighter and more promising than ever before within the memory of the oldest inhabitant of the Capital City. The reason therefor is not far to seek. The First Lady of the Land is musical, and is fond of giving constant proof of her devotion to the art by publicly encouraging it on every possible occasion.
7Last year she infused new life into slow going Washington. She introduced into the smart set and the diplomatic set the New York idea of hustling. Like her good husband, the President, she was the personification of the strenuous life. The New York invasion produced by a President from your State took the old resident set by storm, and there was nothing for them to do but to follow the lead of the White House. They yielded to the new order of things gracefully and even vehemently. They learned to talk, eat and walk fast. They thought fast and they lived fast. Everything the occupants of the White House liked was smiled upon by Washingtonians; what they disliked met with scorn and contumely from all folk afflicted with the society bee.
9The President and his lady showed partiality for horseback riding and carriage driving. Straightway the fashionables abandoned their automobiles, and got out their old vehicles or bought new traps. In the small details of dress and etiquette the women obeyed Mrs. Roosevelt's dictation to the letter. Washington society became a vast school for practicing and mastering the Roosevelt laugh, the Roosevelt talk and the Roosevelt walk. When Mrs. Roosevelt and Alice had their pictures painted, other Washington dames and damosels had their likenesses splashed on the canvas and held receptions of their friends to view the portraits and sip claret punch.
11This game of "Follow My Leader" at the national capital last season was nothing new. It was the usual "Follow the Man from Cook's" act, which the fashionable and official sets of Washington, either from duty or preference, are so successful in performing whenever a new administration succeeds the old. Meanwhile the society devotees organized themselves into a procession of imitators, losing all originality and becoming absorbed in the general Roosevelt craze. They ceased to think or act for themselves, and became mere pawns in the social game which was being played so vigorously by the family in power after the so recent tragedy and national calamity at the hands of the Buffalo assassin.
13Fortunately for the artistic growth of the city it happened that Mrs. Roosevelt had a penchant for music. With characteristic energy she inaugurated a series of White House musicales, to which the élite of the town were invited. Eminent soloists were engaged, who played under the historic roof before notable assemblages.
15Immediately her example was followed, and other hostesses gave musicales, just as they would give teas, garden parties or receptions. There was a perfect fever for music. The exquisitely gowned women knew and cared little, perhaps, for the sounds, mellifluous or otherwise, that issued from the grand piano, but they had to pretend that they could distinguish a Chopin Nocturne from a Beethoven Sonata, and this they did to perfection. Some of them readily enjoyed the music, and there were others who, while not able to tell a tenor from a bass, appreciated the music better than ping pong or bridge whist.
17Music became decidedly the style last winter. This winter the momentum once started will increase, and we shall have, probably, the most brilliant and successful year, musically, Washington has ever known. We shall have concerts and private musicales galore, for society, to whom the fine arts look for their very existence, does not confine itself to parlor music alone, but, clothing itself in its finest raiment, graces box and orchestra chair at the large public concerts, and next morning reads in the so called music criticism department of the daily paper its own name in the "among those present" paragraph.
19We shall have many, too many, concerts next season. We shall even be obliged, no doubt, to stop our ears against the jargon of piping, tooting, fiddling and screeching which will besiege us this coming season. This surfeit of good and bad music will not necessarily indicate a growth in musical appreciation or a refinement of taste for the Washington musical public. It is a mooted question whether society or any individuals in it will ever take music seriously enough to derive any benefit from good music. It is doubtful whether any of the individuals in the coming social whirl of the capital, which will almost surely eclipse New York this year, will take the trouble to learn how to tell when the first movement of a concerto ends and when the second begins.
21The outlook for the coming season is that we shall have a few—a very few—orchestral concerts, some chamber music séances, a fair number of choral concerts, no grand opera to speak of and soloists, soloists, soloists.
23While the numerous concerts will be of no benefit to unmusical people, they will at least have one good effect. They will furnish the opportunity for music students to hear some of the works of great masters. But the increasing of the number of concerts per season cannot by itself change an unmusical into a musical city. Washington cannot expect to take rank with musical communities until she has a well established orchestra, which gives weekly concerts, well filled classes of pupils for the study of harmony, counterpoint, orchestration, musical history and the other branches; and local newspapers that will devote space to professional criticisms instead of the amateurish descriptions of musical performances and the indiscriminate hysteria which they usually inflict on their musical readers. When this era of progress is reached in the capital of the nation—and not till then—will it be time for the local music reporters to publish long articles in their papers, showing that Washington is a musical city; for if they continue the senseless bragging in which they were so fond of indulging last season, every time a foreigner sang or played in the city, our capital will become, in a musical sense, the laughing stock of the entire musical world.
25Berenice Thompson.
27I. EDWARD SUCKLING
28MANAGER AND AGENT FOR
29JOSEFFY
30AND OTHER CELEBRATED ARTISTS.
31ADDRESS STEINWAY HALL, NEW YORK.
33Tuesday, Oct. Fourteenth,
34REOPENING OF THE
35Guilmant Organ School.
36SEND FOR CATALOGUE.
37Address:
3834 West 12th Street, New York.
40RAOUL PUGNO
41PIANIST.
42[Morning Post, London, June 13, 1902.]
43The piano recital given by M. Pugno at Queen's Hall on Tuesday afternoon was an artistic treat. There is no greater pianist living. His technique is magnificent. He can turn the piano into an orchestra, and also play with the most exquisite softness and refinement. Every gradation of light and shade is realized with perfection. It is not only the absolute command of the instrument that enables M. Pugno to so high a rank; it is the extraordinary way in which he is able to interpret the thoughts of the different composers, the poetry and charm of his playing.
45MANAGEMENT:
46HENRY WOLFSOHN.
48Booked with Boston Symphony Orchestra.
49The Brilliant Belgian 'Cellist.
50Management: HENRY WOLFSOHN.
52ELSAS RUEGGER,
53ENTIRE SEASON 1902-3.
55New York College of Music,
56128-130 East 58th Street.
57ALEXANDER LAMBERT, Director.
58Private Instruction in Piano, Singing, Violin, 'Cello and all branches of music, by a faculty unsurpassed for its excellence.
59SPECIAL DEPARTMENT FOR BEGINNERS.
60All instrumental and vocal students receive free instruction in harmony, counterpoint, vocal sight reading, ensemble playing and free admission to concerts, lectures, etc., etc.
61Students received daily. Catalog sent on application.
62ETHEL L. ROBINSON
63(LONDON CONCERT DIRECTION)
64Telegrams: 11 Wigmore St., Cavendish Square, W.
65"Musikchor, London."
66LONDON, ENGLAND.
67FÉLIX FOX, Pianist
68Address HENRY WOLFSOHN, 131 East 17th St., NEW YORK.
70Royal Manchester
71COLLEGE OF MUSIC.
72Patroness – HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN.
73President – Sir W. H. HOULDSWORTH, Bart., M. P.
74Principal – Dr. ADOLPH BRODSKY.
75The NEW TERM begins on Tuesday, September 23d.
76Every Branch of Music taught in the College. Special Houses of Residence recommended for Students.
77Fee for the Year, £30, payable in instalments of £10 at the beginning of each term. The Prospectus, Diploma Regulations and Entry Forms on application.
78STANLEY WITHERS, Registrar.
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