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Scan 100
The violinist, 1900
13 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1A Review of Violinistic Conditions
2BY OVIDE MUSIN
4In glancing over the growth in the field of music which has taken place in this country since the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers, nearly three hundred years ago, we should find great advancement, considering the length of time which has elapsed and the vast sums of money spent on music of late years. In some of the branches, and from the commercial point of view, we do find that such is the case. Americans are great lovers of music, and an astonishing amount of natural talent is continually manifesting itself, irrespective of nationality; but in certain respects the development might have been greater had America followed the example furnished by several European countries, which about eighty years ago founded government music schools, and where for hundreds of years previous to this the art and science of music and instrument making were fostered by the church, rulers and the nobility.
6While the purpose of this article is not to criticise, I trust a few comments on some of the other causes which I believe have retarded the development of native musicians—violinists in particular—may not come amiss, notwithstanding the fact that we could mention the names of several who have reached a high plane without going abroad.
8Just as the Puritan beliefs have been a great moral force, "the leaven which has leavened the whole lump" of national character, so must the Puritan religion which frowned on music have exerted for a time a powerful influence in checking the development of music as an art and its being chosen as a profession. Aside from hymns sung in the congregation, music in the early days was considered a wile of the evil one, and musicians inferior creatures. Learning was otherwise promoted and endowed by government and private wealth, and as time went on and European artistic influence crept in, organs were installed in the churches and piano playing became an accomplishment in the education of young ladies, and eventually New Englanders took the foremost rank in regard to singing and oratorio societies.
10With the advent of opera came musicians of different nationalities whose influence has been great in the musical uplift. European stars (singers, pianists, violinists and others—the cream of Europe, in fact), who have appeared here season after season for many years, have gradually awakened artistic aspiration and emulation throughout the length and breadth of the land. Real appreciation is beginning; but only musicians and artists who have done the work know from personal experience what it means to become one, and in order to supply an artist with an audience of connoisseurs the study of music in this country should be taken much more seriously by people in general.
12An idea exists here that one who accepts financial aid in getting a musical education is more or less an object of charity, and that any one who respects himself will get it somehow by his own efforts, perhaps at odd moments taken from some other occupation whereby a little money may be made to enable him to pay for instruction. The fact is that to become an expert in any profession requires concentration and ample time. Violinists need to begin very young, the younger the better, and for
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