Scan 4
Musical Courier 1909-09-15: Vol 59 Iss 11, 1909
22 lines. Read by computer on 25 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1REFLECTIONS
3BY THE EDITOR.
5Paris, September 3, 1909.
7Among those subjects that have occupied much of the time and space of this paper for years past is the practice of musicians to sing and play free of charge, a habit condemned by this paper on the general principle so epigrammatically put by Ibsen, that a thing for which nothing is paid is worth nothing. We also are opposed to the practice because it lowers the professional standing of the musician and it also is an injustice to those musicians who insist upon receiving pecuniary recognition for their services. It therefore reads well to reproduce the following short notice from the well-known London Era:
9Charitable Performances.
10The furniture dealer, the butcher, and the florist of the parish are not expected to send goods gratis to be sold at bazaars; why should actors and actresses be expected to give their artistic efforts, free of charge, to one of these entertainments, the result of their good nature being to "make themselves cheap"?
12Here it is: To make themselves cheap. Why should any musician make herself or himself cheap by supplying a demand without charging for it? Will the European visiting artist do it in America? How can any one expect a remunerative line of engagements who sings or plays free of charge, particularly when it is probable that other musicians had already refused to do so? It has been the ruin of many artistic careers, this charitable work. Besides, if a singer or musician is engaged for money the probability is that the entertainment will be more largely attended because of the fact that the artist charges. In that manner the receipts are increased. Every one connected with the charitable enterprise will proclaim the value of the artist then and people will be anxious to hear her or him. But to sing or to play free of charge is suicidal and no one need expect to make a career who indulges in that extravagance.
14Who Is It?
15A society was organized some time ago in England for the study of music through a series of lectures, and among those lecturers invited for the coming winter is Rutland Boughton, one of the younger English composers. Mr. Boughton selected as his subject "Wagner." As soon as this was announced an English composer, a prominent English composer, whose name is withheld, offered the society $500 if it would withdraw the "Wagner" lecture. The society refused to accept the offer and Mr. Boughton has now demanded from the composer his reasons for opposing a "Wagner" lecture. It is well known that there exists in England a large and influential circle of musicians and English composers (we must always accent the English) which is filled with a spirit of antagonism against Wagner, an intolerant set that upholds the theories of Handel, Mendelssohn, Moscheles, Sir Sterndale Bennett, and that, curiously enough, entirely overlooks the great Purcell. Now, while Handel and Mendelssohn are among the great composers, which no one denies, yet "there are others," as we say in America, and among these others is one Richard Wagner. This Richard Wagner somehow represents a tremendous force in music, and to ignore him now means self-effacement, which, however, is not understood by the English music pseudoists. They are opposed to Wagner without even showing the willingness of the intelligence that will listen. In other words, they close their ears to Wagner and yet denounce him. Is there another land on earth, including Japan, in which such an episode could take place in the year of our Lord 1909? It is hardly conceivable that orthodoxy in music will go to that length in its refusal to participate.
17Riss-Arbeau.
18Madame Riss-Arbeau, who is to appear in America this season, is not only a Chopin specialist with the extraordinary record of playing every one of his 175 piano works from memory, but she is also a versatile pianist in direction other than Chopin, playing the usual and unusual repertory of the instrument. She is now performing in the Low Countries and playing concertos with several of the German orchestras, as I hear from her agent here. The remarkable feature of her playing, outside of the amazing feat of memory, is the self-control and authority which she impresses upon her performance, for, outside of an extraordinary technical command of the keyboard, this woman artist also has a refined temperamental interpretation, rarefied and free from any exaggerations. She makes no display, only play. She does not force to the front a personality, but gives us a true objective insight into the works she performs. In other words, it is artistic throughout, what she does. It is, of course, appropriate to have her in America to perform Chopin during the centennial celebrations of his birth. She is exactly fitted for that co-operation.
20Rosenthal.
21A few days ago I cabled to the paper that the American tour this season of Moriz Rosenthal, the great pianist, had been abandoned and only as a result of a friendly arrangement. The facts are that after the Steinway-Aeolian alliance had been made there was no reason why the Aeolian Company should continue its virtuoso system, this belonging rather to the Steinway house. Rosenthal had a contract for $80,000 as I now know, although I at one time, in consequence of certain information not questioned by me, doubted this. I have since then explained the matter in these columns. This $80,000 contract has been cancelled under certain arrangements made between the Aeolian Company and Rosenthal and after this season Rosenthal will again be at liberty to make a concert tour throughout the United States, where he has an army of admirers. Unquestionably there will be some arrangement made which will again give us the benefit
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