Books › Musical Courier 1913-05-28: Vol 66 Iss 22, 1913 › scan 20
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Musical Courier 1913-05-28: Vol 66 Iss 22, 1913
81 lines. Read by computer on 26 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 23. See the scan on archive.org.
1exactly take hold of the point of his letter. His claim appears to be that rag time is the cause, or will be the cause, of degeneracy. He says that this danger "is threatening the morals and the very life of America." That, of course, is not true, for, even if we acknowledge the degeneracy of rag time, it is evident that it cannot be the cause of America's degeneracy but can only be the effect of that degeneracy. Music, of whatever kind it may be, is the expression only of a certain mental attitude. Mr. Kenilworth's argument may be that this music is spreading among the many the mental attitude of the few. But that cannot be the case either, for it requires a very strong natural leaning towards a certain form of musical expression on the part of a very great majority of the people to bring about the enormous popularity of that particular form of musical expression. In other words, although most of us cannot write rag time we find our innermost sentiments and feelings exactly expressed by that particular rhythm. There are even many among us who have been brought up in the strictly classical school and yet find pleasure in good rag time, and to say that, because of this, we all have a tendency towards degeneracy is hardly correct. Rag time is the expression of a strong, vigorous, healthy nature, and for this very reason it is making its way all over Europe, where the healthy, normal portion of the population are welcoming this expression of their own natural feelings which their native, effete musicians are unable to give them. Rag time is the expression of boisterous good humor. "It is to laugh," and that's all there is to it. Of course, some of the texts allied with rag time music are—but that is not the subject under discussion.
3One of the reasons why it takes music so long to reach in America the same high and serious plane it occupies in Europe is the publication in our daily papers of paragraphs like the following from the New York Sun of May 13:
5LOST HIS ALL—A VIOLIN.
6PARIS WORKMAN DRANK TOO MUCH, AND IT WAS STOLEN.
7(Special Cable Despatch to The Sun.)
8PARIS, May 12.—A poor workman whose sole treasure was a violin signed "Joseph Guarnerius, fecita, 1715," a contemporary of Stradivarius, went to sleep in a cafe here last night after having been drinking freely. When he awoke the violin was gone.
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11The workman lodged a complaint with the police, stating that the instrument was worth 120,000 francs, or $24,000. The magistrate thought the man was insane and sent him to jail.
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14Meanwhile there is a suspicion that the thief is on his way to America with the violin.
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17It is so discouraging to comment upon the foregoing production that THE MUSICAL COURIER refuses to do so, beyond remarking that the Sun appears to be utterly indifferent to the cost of its cable service, a policy which, generally and journalistically speaking, is admirable indeed.
19"Marc A. Blumenberg, the founder of the American music paper, THE MUSICAL COURIER (1880), has just died in Paris. The funeral services which preceded the transportation of the body to America were attended among others by the American Ambassador, Myron T. Herrick; the former Ambassador to Berlin, Dr. Hill; the American Consul General, Frank Mason; the European correspondents of the paper, among them Abell, Patterson, Osgood, Mrs. Kaesmann and numerous other musicians and patrons of art. Blumenberg, who founded a stock company ten years ago, which took charge of the paper, remained the soul of the editorial department to the last, writing from Paris his 'Reflections.' He stood for musical progress and did much to pave the way in America for Wagner, Tschaikowsky, Brahms, Strauss. He also prepared the way for many virtuosi. His paper circulates over the entire musical world from San Francisco to Moscow."
20(Dr. Otto Neitzel, in the Kölinsche Zeitung, April 10, 1913.)
22BEETHOVEN AN ADVERTISER.
23Occasionally one comes across musicians who consider it unethical to advertise their professional activities. Generally such persons are not averse to receiving free notices, and in most cases engage frequently in the endeavor to secure publicity without expense to themselves. THE MUSICAL COURIER on many occasions has called attention to the importance of publicity for musical professionals, whether they are public performers or teachers or composers or conductors. To those who look upon advertising as reprehensible in artists, we would like to call attention to a personal advertisement which appeared in 1825 and put forth by no less a musician than Beethoven. It appeared, as shown herewith, in a paper called Caecilia, published in the early part of the nineteenth century in Mayence, Germany. There is no doubt that had Beethoven been living at the present time, he would have advertised in the columns of THE MUSICAL COURIER, for the reason that he knew everything worth knowing musically and therefore would have known that this publication is the best one to utilize for the purpose of reaching those interested in the tonal art and all its manifestations and ramifications.
25Warnung.
26Ich halte es für meine Pflicht, das musikal. Publikum vor einem ganzlich verfehlt, von der Originalpartitur abweichenden Clavierauszüge meiner letzten Ouvertüre, zu 4 Händen, welcher unter dem Titel: Festouverture von L. v. B. bey Trautwein in Berlin herausgekommen ist, zu warnen, um so mehr, da die Clavierauszüge zu 2 und 4 Händen, von Herrn Carl Czerny verfasst, und der Partitur völlig getreu, nachstens in der einzig rechtmässigen Auflage bey B. Schotts Söhne, Grossherzogl. Hofmusikhandlung in Mainz, erscheinen werden.
27L. v. Beethoven.
28(Translation.)
29WARNING.
30I deem it my duty to warn the musical public respecting the entirely unsuitable (verfehlt) arrangement for piano, four hands, of my latest overture, entitled "Festival Overture, by L. v. Beethoven," published by Trautwein in Berlin. Particularly so, as the piano arrangement for two and four hands, by Mr. Carl Czerny, which is absolutely true to the score will shortly be published in the only authorized edition by B. Schotts Soehne, Grossherzohl, Hofmusikhandlung, in Mainz.
31L. v. Beethoven.
33ITALIAN ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY.
34The inaugural concert of the Italian Orchestral Society now is an event of the past. After the vicissitudes incidental to symphonic orchestras in general and to Italian orchestras in particular—for was not this society almost threatened out of existence at the beginning of its career by the Mafia militants?—the concert came to a happy ending very near the morning of the next day, the first day being no less an auspicious date than the centenary of the birth of Richard Wagner, May 22.
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37It may have been purely a coincidence, as practical and skeptical persons are wont to say, or it may have been the irony of fate that the Italian concerts should begin on the birthday of the composer who has been so potent in turning aside the natural current of Italian melody into the foreign and flowery channels of Teutonic harmony. Certain it is that, with the exception of Cherubini, not one of the composers represented on the program has escaped the influence of Wagner. Strauss also has made his manner felt beyond the Alps. In Martucci's symphony the third movement is distinctly Brahms, not only with regard to the melodic contour and in harmony, but in orchestration, with its oboe solo and pizzicato string accompaniment, like the allegretto grazioso of the second symphony.
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40Sinigaglia's "Danza Piemontese" was one of the most thoroughly Italian works on the program—Italian in its rhythmical energy, and not at all influenced by that slow, deliberate, broad manner which Strauss can use with magnificent effect, but which makes Italian imitations very tiresome because they are unnatural to the Italian temperament.
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43Cesare Sodero, the conductor, was placed at a disadvantage as a composer by appearing too late on the program. He is an excellent musician in every way, and it is to be hoped that New York will offer him sufficient inducements to keep him. There is a very large Italian public in this cosmopolitan city, but, unfortunately, only a small percentage of that same public could be inveigled into Carnegie Hall for this inaugural concert. Those who were present, however, manifested tremendous enthusiasm at times and voiced their fervor with forcible persistence, but not for the symphony orchestra, though that came in for a goodly share of applause.
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46It was the singers who carried the house by storm, as one might expect at an Italian concert. Excellent and admirable as the vocalists were on this occasion, it was not a wise move on the part of the directors to overshadow the slender shrub of Italian symphonic work with the towering trees of Italian vocal composition and execution. Everybody knows what Italian opera is. It needed no exploitation. It really speaks well for the skill of the conductor that he was able to rouse the enthusiasm he did, considering how unfamiliar and sometimes how un-Italian the orchestral music was to an audience which had such a passionate admiration for the songs and the singing of Ciaparelli Viafora and Giuseppe Gaudenzi.
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49The explosion which startled the audience during the intermission was not a bomb, but a flashlight for a photographic record of the historical event.
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52The orchestra proved itself a capable and well trained organization. Cesare Sodero has authority and temperament as well as a sane and musical conception of the works he interprets.
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55It is altogether likely that the future concerts of the Italian Orchestral Society will not be exclusively Italian in program, for it is quite as interesting to hear a foreign conception of a standard work as it is to hear only a native performance.
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58Heaven forbid that the London Symphony Orchestra should play only English works, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra only American!
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61The Italian program follows:
62Overture, Anacreon …………………….L. Cherubini
63Sinfonia (In Re) ………………………..G. Martucci
64Andrea Chenier, Improvviso ……………U. Giordano one of two readings
65Andrea Chenier, Improvviso …………….U. Giordano one of two readings
66Signor Gaudenzi.
67Danza Piemontese (In Sol.) ……………L. Sinigaglia
68Nella Foresta Nera, Impressione Sinfonica…A. Franchetti
69Boheme, Mi chiamano Mimi …………….G. Puccini
70Madama Butterfly, Un bel di vedremo……G. Puccini
71Madame Ciaparelli Viafora.
72Serenata Medicevale …………………..R. Zandonai one of two readings
73Serenata Medievale …………………….R. Zandonai one of two readings
74Cello solo, two horns, harp and strings.
75Minuetto ……………………………….Bolzoni
76Strings only.
77Suite Romantique ………………………..C. Sodero
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80To say in advance of the initial production of a grand opera that it is, or is not, a great work is a most foolhardy prediction, as there are many elements to be considered beside the musicianship, melody, and orchestration apparent in the score. An opera is meant for the stage and until it has been heard and seen on the stage all guessing as to the effectiveness of the work is futile. Experience teaches also that sometimes indiscriminate advance "booming" militates against any chance of success possessed by the production so misused. The poet once cried out, "Save me from my friends." The composer can sympathize with him
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