Scan 5
Musical Courier 1907-11-20: Vol 55 Iss 21, 1907
50 lines. Read by computer on 23 September 2026. Printed page 6. See the scan on archive.org.
1The first was published in the Boston Journal of Thursday, November 14, the second in the Boston Herald of November 16:
3Mr. De Pachmann Speaks.
5BROCKTON, November 13.—As an au revoir Vladimir de Pachmann, the celebrated Russian pianist, who gave a recital at the City Theater last night and departed today, delivered himself of a caustic bit of comment on the lethargy and lack of soulfulness of American audiences and declared that he should never, never again favor the folks on this side of the big briny puddle with any more concerts.
7"They are too cool, these American people," said the distinguished visitor, shivering and wrapping himself all the tighter in his long coat. "Appreciation? They have none. Rapture? The word is not in their vocabulary. I shall never play in America again. I am going back to Europe as soon as I can get there. When can I get a boat? America does not appeal to me in any way, shape or manner. It is too bizarre, too indifferent, too cheap."
9There was nothing cheap about the tickets of admission to de Pachmann's concert last night. Nevertheless, he found a full house awaiting him when he appeared on the stage, gave the piano stool a few artistic whirls, plumped himself down and set the ivories galloping. Everybody was liking it first rate when, along toward the end of his third number, the pianist suddenly stopped, whirled about and made a gesture of mingled despair and disgust.
11The piano was lop-sided, he said. The tone came out crooked. No more harmonies till the instrument was put on the level. There was a great scurry by the ushers for programs, newspapers, bonbon wrappers—anything—and a motley bundle was rammed under one of the legs of the piano. A critical squint or two satisfied the artist and he then proceeded with the recital.
13That de Pachmann is a man of eccentricities is known to some of the waiters at the Commercial Club, Brockton's best eating place, but at that they were visibly surprised this morning when, after seating himself at the table, he immediately ordered a pan of water "on the boil." They got it for him and waited to see him drain it, but instead de Pachmann thrust into it in turn his knife, fork, spoon, plate, butter holder and napkin. After thus sterilizing them he ate something. He also drank some coffee, but not in a cup. It had to be turned out into a pot. They do it that way in Russia, he said, and he wished to feel as much at home as he possibly could.
15Mr. Paderewski Speaks.
17"I think America is a great country musically, and I am very glad to be back here again with the three new works of mine which I brought into your country free of duty," laughed Paderewski yesterday afternoon in the artist's room at Symphony Hall. The great audience outside were still persistent in their demands for an encore, although the master had broken the rule of the Symphony concerts and already played one encore. Many of those out front had stood for hours in the hope of getting into the hall to hear the maestro, and he appreciated it.
19Mr. Paderewski was in the happiest of moods, and not a shadow marred his happiness until the conversation turned on the alleged remarks of Mr. de Pachmann, who said that the American people were without souls and musical appreciation, and that he wanted to get back home as soon as possible.
21"All I can say about this talk," said Mr. Paderewski, "is that I can see no reason why a person holding such views should care to be in your great country at all. Why does a man who talks like this care for your applause, your patronage, in a word, your money? No, the American people love music. I do not say that they are a people who have not been learning, and who continue to learn, for while the standard of taste has not varied much in Boston and New York since I first played in these cities, and the critical appreciation is about the same, the conditions are the reverse in the smaller cities. There I find a great advance."
23And then Paderewski was asked to talk a little about himself.
25His New Compositions.
27"Well, I have brought three new compositions with me, as I said. My variations and fugue I have already played in New York, and my sonata I will play to you here in Boston. And I am going to play Liszt's B minor sonata, which the critics don't like, but which I think is a very great work. In composing I am not following the elaborate ultra-modern school or returning to the simplicity of the great masters exclusively. We moderns are especially fortunate in that we can express ourselves as we desire. Sometimes the soul of a composer is complex and sometimes not. I believe in his expounding it through the school that best suits his particular mood.
29"It may be that I am prejudiced, but I do not care for frock coats, evening dress or modern mise-en-scenes in grand opera. There is an absurd, incongruous something about the mixture I don't like. On the other hand, in operetta, like 'Die Fledermaus,' I think it is very effective. Wagner was right when he put the opera in unfamiliar scenes; he lent realism. Opera is incongruous anyway. Let us make it as probable as possible.
31"In America you have most interesting conditions musically. You are doing good work. I want to mention George Chadwick, of Boston, among others, as a man whose compositions I admire.
33American Schools.
35"In the subject of musical education in the university that gives general instruction, I do not agree with you entirely. Take Harvard. If a man is studying music there he may get some good out of it, provided he is only seeking for it in a general way. Such a musical education would be good for the man who is to follow such a profession as a scientist, but when it comes to getting a musical education for the musician, these schools where music is taught with other subjects—oh no, no.
37"I tell you what it is," he said, "the real musical education, the education that counts, can be obtained only where there is a musical atmosphere. Your born musician cannot live without this atmosphere any more than a fish can live without water. This is all very serious for me; I am speaking just as I feel about it, most sincerely, and I want to be taken very sincerely."
39The question of the American Bayreuth which Madame Nordica is anxious to found was of great interest to the Polish pianist, who believed the idea was a splendid one.
41"Well, in a word, I am very glad to be back, and did you like my playing this afternoon? Oh, I am delighted to hear you say so. Was it the first time you had ever heard me play? No, and you liked me better now than ever before? Oh, I am delighted, for now I see that I am improving." and Paderewski laughed at his witticism.
43The Compared Contrast.
45In the first place, De Pachmann could never play unless the stage were level with the piano; neither could any other piano artist. The attempt to make the article funny shows that the newspaper man understood how to make it acceptable to its editor, and it proves, in itself, how true De Pachmann rang. Read our daily papers and notice how cheap the contents are. Police court and court records at large are the mine from which two-thirds of the daily newspaper material is drafted. Scandal, Crime, Sport, Sensationalism generally and wholesale cheapness are the subjects, and De Pachmann in his own case stands vindicated. All he need do is to point to the two interviews.
47If we had appreciation, the very first thing we would do would be the recognition of our own, our American artists. Had the Boston Symphony Orchestra filled its 17 vacancies with Americans it would have lost subscribers. Had Kneisel taken one of his own pupils in place of the second violinist he engaged from Holland, he would have lost quartet caste. (By the way, the Kneisel quartet is owned by Kneisel. He engages and discharges. I have always claimed that it is a one man quartet.)
49What we do appreciate is the sensational, the exotic, the
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.