Scan 17
Musical Courier 1905-10-18: Vol 51 Iss 1334, 1905
24 lines. Read by computer on 23 September 2026. Printed page 18. See the scan on archive.org.
1They see in all music just so much silver, gold and greenbacks, and the more of those colors they get from music the better that music is. It is a curious phase of local music criticism, but hardly calls for any scientific investigation.
3WE reprint the following from the October 7 issue of THE MUSICAL COURIER EXTRA (Saturday edition), and invite the discussion of violinists on the idea suggested in the article:
5A NEW SCHEME.
7A distinguished violin maker of New York will essay an experiment the outcome of which will be watched with interest. It is better to permit him, in his own words, to explain his project. "For many years past," said he, "every distinguished pianist who has come to the United States to play has been backed up by an American firm of piano manufacturers. Soon after the importation of eminent transatlantic pianists was undertaken, a rivalry among two or three of the most prominent manufacturing institutions in this country was excited and the result was an immense advance along artistic lines in the making of concert grand pianos. One distinguished house, which I could mention, rather monopolized the business for a considerable time, and, under its auspices, several very distinguished artists from abroad made tours through the United States. Had this house not backed up these foreign artists, they could not have achieved a financial success. The thing worked both ways. It worked advantageously for the visiting pianist and for the piano manufacturing establishment which supported him. The exploitation of these celebrities from the old country does as much as anything else to develop the growth of music in New York and other large cities. It does more than all of the other agencies combined to popularize the piano and to elevate the taste of its votaries. Within recent years the few distinguished houses which so long monopolized this concert business have relaxed their efforts somewhat, and it seems as if their enthusiasm has considerably abated. At present the four or five houses engaged in concert work are employing accomplished artists to illustrate the beauties of their instruments. I notice in THE MUSICAL COURIER EXTRA of the week before last a formidable list of pianists, imported and domestic, who will be heard in orchestral concerts and recitals during the season which will begin in a few weeks and run until next spring. Whenever a pianist comes to the United States, long in advance of his arrival statements appear in the newspapers regarding the make of piano he will use on his tour. This is a most important feature and is emphasized in all advanced notices. This is a matter of business which has been developed to the point of a fine art by several of the piano houses.
9"When a great violinist comes to the United States it is announced in connection with the preliminary press notices that he will play a famous example of Stradivarius, Guarnerius, Amati or the less renowned masters of the ancient and classic era, wherein the luthiers of Italy wrought with the greatest success. When Ysaye, César Thomson, Kubelik, Hugo Heermann, Marteau and other violinistic celebrities visit this country, many articles are written descriptive of the valuable old violins they will play. Now, most of these instruments were made several centuries ago, and their creators long since have mingled with the dust; so that the mention of their names cannot possibly benefit them:
11"Now, I have an idea. And it is this: I am going to Europe to get some eminent violinists to come to America for a tour through the country, and they will be exploited just like imported pianists, and it will be announced in every notice that they will play exclusively the violins which are manufactured by our house. This is an experiment which I purpose to make, realizing at the start that it will be somewhat risky and expensive. Yet, it is my determination to test it. I am convinced that we have stored away in our salesrooms violins of our own make which are not one whit inferior to the instruments which were produced by the old masters. In competitive tests with the finest examples of the famous violin makers of Brescia and Cremona, our violins have held their own. In every test which was made, the total excellencies of our products was clearly demonstrated. Several of the most skillful violinists in New York co-operated with us in this trial of the new versus the old, and sat as a jury. After painstaking comparisons, involving the playing of dozens of compositions, first upon one violin and then upon another, the verdict was rendered that our modern violins actually exceeded in purity of tone, in brilliancy, in power and in resonance the very best examples of the famous old violins. Now, while we are confident that this is true, and are very proud of the merits of our violins, knowing that they could be used advantageously by violinists, yet we have failed to derive any substantial emoluments thus far. The great mass of violin players, violin students, violin collectors and connoisseurs do not know this, and that is why we have determined to use the method of publicity just described in order to bring this knowledge to the masses. Whether this experiment shall prove successful or not, it assuredly is a fascinating one, and I am somewhat enthusiastic about it. Of course, I shall count upon your valuable paper as an able ally."
13Revolutionary as the plan seems, there is no logical argument to be urged against it, and the statements made by the violin maker in the foregoing presentment are all irrefutably true. Most of the great pianists who tour this country are in an indirect way subsidized agents and salesmen of the makes of pianos which they play. That is legitimate, for without such support those artists could not tour here at all. It costs about $10,000 to haul about the country the several pianos required during a season's tour, to keep them in tune, to box and ship them (often by express) after each concert, to transport them for miles by wagon when there is no railroad convenient, to cart them from the stations to the concert halls, to unpack them there, &c. How could a pianist play here, then, without the co-operation of a piano house? Who would put up the $10,000? The pianist himself or his manager? The piano house is desirous of pushing art, of course, but also of pushing the sale of its pianos. That is why it not only cheerfully pays the $10,000, but in many cases also hands over to the player a bonus for playing the instrument. This bonus is nearly always the sole guarantee on which European pianists come to this country for recital tours. American managers do not guarantee; they merely act as agents, on a commission basis, or are engaged by a piano house to take charge of the tour of its subsidized pianists. All the contracts on which European artists play in America are made between those artists and the piano houses, not between the artists and the managers. Often a manager secures for a pianist a piano house willing to "back" him, but even in such an event the pianist's style must please the piano house and be conducive to showing off the best qualities of the instrument made by that piano house, or else a contract for the aspiring player and his manager would be as impossible as a flowering rose bush in the Desert of Sahara. If piano makers, therefore, are enabled to show off their wares by engaging great artists to play them in public, why may not violin makers do the same? The scheme is legitimate, businesslike, and worthy of a trial, and of the hearty support of all unprejudiced musicians.
15WE have gleaned some interesting facts about the young tenor who was "discovered" on the East Side, pushing a huckster's wagon, and whose voice, "without any training whatsoever," was said to equal "that of Caruso and De Reszké combined." Among the "discoverers" of the marvelous tenor were a couple of music critics, a comic opera star with grand opera experience, a manager of musical comedy, a throat specialist of international fame, and several newspaper men. Information now in the possession of THE MUSICAL COURIER tends to show that Isaac Routman, the singer in question, who was supposed to have no previous training, studied for two years under A. S. Sterling at the Cincinnati College of Music, and put in another year of private study under the same teacher. Then Routman re-entered the Cincinnati College of Music, and spent his fourth year of study under Mattioli. During most of that time the lad was singing in the choir of Dr. Philipson's synagogue in Cincinnati, and that gentleman paid for Routman's tuition at the college. Last May he appeared in the "Don Giovanni" production given by the Cincinnati College of Music, and sang the tenor role. All this is nothing to the boy's discredit, of course, but it seems amusing to think how easily he succeeded in passing himself off as a singer without any training upon the musical and learned gentlemen—including the music critics—who constituted the committee of "discoverers." Any real musician, with a practical knowledge of the voice, would have been able to detect in an instant whether the singer's voice had received schooling or not. The daily newspapers which printed the ridiculous story are not to blame. They are the legitimate prey of the press agent, and they are not in a position to know for what purposes their columns are utilized when they give them up to what appears on the surface as a splendid news story. Incidentally, we are informed by Routman's former teachers that he has a very good voice, but that Caruso and De Reszké need not tremble for their reputations.
17IN a certain prominent town in the United States, where Creatore played, advance programs announced "The Entry to Walhalla" as one of the numbers. Creatore, however, does not always follow the printed program. At the last minute in rehearsal the slightest absence of the electric spark in himself or in his men, the least lack of possible order in any quarter of the musical body, is sufficient to cause the leader to withdraw the offending number, and to replace it by another more satisfactory to his exacting musical sense. At all events, in the rehearsal in point something went wrong with the "Walhalla" at the last moment, and the "Damnation of Faust" was substituted and played.
19Next morning, bless you, three "prominent critics" of as many "important newspapers" in that celebrated city, all three, spoke with length and with learning of the performance of the "Walhalla" of the evening before! They spoke in praise and in blame, both of course. They touched upon the "rendering" of the German masterpiece by the fiery Italian, commented upon certain "mannerisms" which "interfered notably" with the "traditions" (sic) of the German school, spoke upon the inadequacy of the instrumentation for "Wagner color" so clearly exemplified in this case, and suggested even that the Latin confine himself for his text to purely Latin composition, &c. The others praised highly in spots the able rendering of the gods entry to Walhalla, worded differently the same and other stupidities, and ambled on to the period mark. Although there was some tittering done among the musicians, the ignorant weakness, if seen at all, went down with the general public. Not a voice was lifted in defense of truth, or to expose the penny-a-liners.
21In the "program analysis" following, it spoke of the "Traviata overture," when selections from "Trovatore" had been played, discussed the "Tannhäuser overture" when only the march had been performed, and praised highly the "majestic and grandiose rendering" of Massenet's "Angelus." (A "majestic" Angelus, mark you, and majestic anything with Massenet at that.)
23These are no fairy tales. The newspapers' black and white with date attachment tell the stories. Plural stories, alas, for, alas, it is not only one. Of course, now the high and valuable testimony of such high and valuable authority should be held at its proper valuation. It certainly should be made the guide and director of musical taste in the country. It should. It is also true that these people must live, and they must make a living at something. They must. It is just the slightest bit of a pity
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