February 8, 1923
MUSICAL COURIER
52
THE AMERICAN COMPOSER AND THE AMERICAN PUBLISHER
(Continued from page 12)
The inference is plain; the American music publisher writes off every such investment as a generous contribution to the cause of American music.
Exceedingly few American firms can stand the financial strain involved in the publication of a noticeable number of such exorbitantly costly works. More firms are in a position to content themselves with the stimulation of the American composer of, for instance, songs of serious artistic aim and high artistic quality. But again, what is the controlling fact? Compressed into a few words, the astounding and humiliating answer reads: rarerly more than an average yearly sale of two hundred copies, frequently less. True, every prominent publisher has in his catalogue fairly numerous American compositions of absolute art-value of which he sells every year thousands of copies, but the great majority of such compositions enjoy only a regular sale of a few hundred copies, if that. Indeed, with ease several concert-programs of American songs could be devised, not one of which need fear comparison with contemporary European songs of similar artistic calibre, but every one of which would be found to sell less than fifty copies a year in a country of more than one hundred million inhabitants!
What incentive for publication, if not of speculation combined with idealism and a sense of duty toward music as such and towards American music in particular, can the American music publisher possibly have with such disheartening business prospects before him? He is not starving, far from it, but he would be starving if he adopted the principle of publishing only music of indisputable quality regardless of profits.
By way of_ contrast, the standard publisher, so called, knows that his confrere, the popular publisher so called, counts the sales of “popular hits” by the hundreds of thousands of copies while the going is good, and that in a few exceptional cases the sales have reached into the millions of copies. Perhaps the standard publisher does not care to descend to the level of “popular” music, and he decides to draw the line at “semi-popular” music of the grade of, let us say, A Perfect Cay. While the sales record of that song is dazzling, there exist many pieces of a similar or slightly lower type which reach tens of thousands of people by way of sales. Confronted by such actualities, by the gulf between the commercial allurements of such music and art-music, is it to be wondered at if even a high-minded publisher in weak moments loses courage, turns from the path of rectitude and prays to the golden calf? It is but human that he begins to heed the anything but lofty arguments and example of colleagues who call themselves publishers but think essentially in the terms of music peddlers, who_ confuse commerce with commercialism, who view art-music as a nuisance, as an illegitimate kind of “business,” who would abolish it altogether as “uncommercial,” or, at any rate, would publish, instead of as much as is consistent with sound business conduct, as little of it as possible, if they were not ashamed of public opinion.
Deeply as I personally regret and oppose that attitude of mind and its pernicious influence on those to whom the musical world has a right to look for maintaining the music publishing industry in America by their example above such a debased level, in fairness to the tempters and the tempted it must be said that in the conduct of business affairs the actual conditions with their violent contrasts cannot but exercise a benumbing effect on lofty theories.
bear. For that reason over-production lies in the very nature of his profession. Not, of course, an over-production which smothers, but an over-production which gives to him a greater number of chances than to the conceited fool who in the publisher’s lottery gambles on a few numbers as if he can pick the winning numbers without fail by special favors from the goddess Fortuna.
The wise publisher, furthermore, prefers the danger of over-production to the, for him, greater danger of underproduction. Under the most favorable conditions, only a minority of the works he adds to his catalogue will prove to be commercially valuable; the maj ority will peter out. Thus the number of profitable works gradually dwindles and the profits from them must float the ever-increasing number of those that • rapidly become commercially obsolete. This dead wood accumulates alarmingly as the fashions in musical taste change from decade to decade. The residue of permanently valuable publications will not in the long run save him from disaster. He must continually reforest his catalogue, for otherwise-his business will die of sclerosis.
In publishing the ordinary run of American songs, piano pieces and the like, the publisher sacrifices nothing except perhaps occasionally his self-respect, the respect of good musicians and the comfort of the music dealer, if the stream of such “novelties” inundates the latter’s cellar. Let that be understood without hypocritical self-praise on the part of the publisher, but let also another incontrovertible fact be understood: only the lucrative sale of such minor things permits in America a publisher to indulge in fostering the cause of the American composer’s major works. Maybe Carl Engel’s cynical remark that the American music publisher is compelled to publish so much trash because he has laboriously made the public believe it wants trash, contains the essence of truth. The humiliating fact stares at us nevertheless that the publisher, as a rule which fortunately has its exceptions, publishes American music of artistic value at a financial loss and can indulge in that sport only by publishing a lot of lucrative music of no particular artistic value whatsoever. On music in the larger forms he may rarely cover his expenses and does not dream of a profit.
In Europe the publisher’s potential market for orchestral and chamber music stretches over ten times as many organizations as here and to these European organizations our miserably few American organizations must then be added. His is a world market, whereas until the outbreak of the War, the American publisher’s market was practically restricted to America, if for no other reason than that Europe cared little for American music. Since then there has been an increase of interest, but simultaneously Europe’s purchasing power has decreased and especially of the Central European orchestras none can now afford to purchase American works. Hence, the American publisher continues to ׳be confined to America and he is cut off from what might have become his best paying market.
The total publishing and business cost of a single work may run anywhere from five hundred to two. thousand dollars or more. Against this place the number of American orchestras which may feel inclined to purchase for performance the score and parts, for, let us say, fifty dollars.
accept them with gratitude for past favors and with hope for better things to come. If the new works measure up to the composer’s best, the atmosphere in the editorial office changes as if by magic. All the nauseating trash is forgotten, the publisher and his “readers” give the work their keenest attention and absorb it with admiration. Indeed, I have seen otherwise blasé “readers” shed actual tears of delight over beautiful American songs, for instance, and comment on them with expert praise so extravagant as to make me dubious of their prophecies.
If any American composer believes that in reputable publishers’ offices, where such experienced, sensitive musicians act as readers, he does not receive fair treatment, he is mistaken. Another absurd notion is that musicians must spend hours over six pages of manuscript of a simple Nocturne for piano, before they may presume to appreciate the composer’s fine points. One does not have to eat the whole omelette to know that a bad egg went into it; generally, it requires just as little time to spot a good or bad composition as to taste the difference between a good or bad omelette.
True, a composition may be good and yet may be returned to the composer, for, try as one may to avoid it, the strictly personal taste enters into the problem of critical appreciation. Nevertheless, no really good American composition nowadays is likely to escape publication, if the composer but have the sense to submit it in turn to any one of a half-dozen or more publishers of known standards. Rejection of a composition by a publisher by no means always means that he did not like it. Often enough he would like to accept it, but so many other compositions are patiently waiting for publication that sound business operation demands rejection at the risk even of allowing a promising piece to pass into the hands of a competitor less embarrassed by accumulations.
Granted that all American music publishers issue a lot of things of little or no real musical value, in their totality their publications undoubtedly represent the best the American composer has to offer in whatever field. The teacher, the concert-artist, the critic, the public see, as a rule, only what •is published; the publisher sees also what is not published, and that outnumbers the published music at least one hundred to one. Compared with the level of the rejected music, that of published American music is very high, incredible as that may seem in view of some of the stuff inflicted on the public by even the best of us. Hence, if it be wicked not to publish more of the music perpetrated in America, the American music publisher ought to be encouraged to persevere in such wickedness.
The survival of the fit plays a role in the publisher’s life as important as elsewhere. Nature plays safe by “wasting” more seeds than she permits to germinate. The publisher cannot, any more than the farmer, predict with certainty which of the seeds he sows will ultimately bear fruit. The best he can do is to use critical and experienced judgment in the selection and care of his wares. For the rest he largely depends on good Luck, but precisely because many more seeds must be sown than will germinate, the wise publisher seeks to turn the law of probability in his favor by publishing more “novelties” than the traffic apparently can
EFFA ELLIS PERFIELD DIRECTORY OF TEACHERS
By EFFA ELLIS PERFIELD, 41 lA West 45tli Street, Mew York City	Phone: Bryant 7233
NEW YORK C. KATE BEACOM Piano and Class Work 621 E. 29th St., Brooklyn Phone: Mansfield 1297	RICHARD McCLANAHAN Grad. Mus. A. B. Director of Music, Riverdale Country School Telephone Kingsbridge 3123	ETHEL Y. THOMPSON President, Roseville Music Club Individual and Class Lessons 11 Pittsfield Ave., Cranford	MISSOURI FLORENCE E. H A M M O N Examining Normal Teacher Nine Assistants Musical Art Bldg. St. Louis
	MME. SCHUBERTH-NEYMANN Piano Ensemble and Individual Lessons Steinway Hall, Studio 9B, New York Phone: Stuyvesant 0500	CALIFORNIA ADELE DAVIS Piano Belvedere. Phone: 3-M	
EDITH BEARDSLEY Piano and Classes Pupil of Xaver Scharwenka 253 West 91st St., Tel. Riverside 1215			OKLAHOMA LEILA G. M UNSELL Pianist, Teacher and Accompanist Muskogee
	MRS. WILLIAM D. REED 34 West 96th St. Riverside 4634		
		ETHEL MAE OSBORN Piano and Classwork 427 Moss Ave., Phone: Oakland Piedmont 4659-W	
EMMA BECK 124 West 12th St., New York Phone: 3715 Chelsea			PENNSYLVANIA CORA SHEFFER ANTHONY Piano and Voice Individual and Class 616 West 3rd Street Williamsport
	LESLEY GUEST REILAND, Mus. B. Member of the Piano Faculty, Syracuse University, Syracuse, N. Y., 1911-1918 Studios: 809 Carnegie Hall, New York City 1410 Avenue H, Brooklyn, N. Y.		
RUTH CARLMARK Accompanist and Piano Instruction Pupil of La Forge-Berumen Studio 436 Sterling Place, Brooklyn		ETHEL ALAIR Piano 167 W. Washington St., Pasadena Phone: Colorado 4593	
			TENNESSEE MATTIE EZELL Piano and Class Work 185% 8th Ave. N. Nashville Phone Main 3432
	A D E L*E F. SOUTHARD 11 West 96th St. Riverside 9773		
MAUDE TUCKER DOOLITTLE 164 22nd St., Jackson Heights, Elmhurst, L. I. Phone: 2477 Newtown Carnegie Hall, Room 803-4, Wednesdays Phone: Circle 1536		EDNA WHEELER BALLARD Harp 1101 Pine St., San Francisco Phone: Prospect 2306	
	E MILY L. SNOW Piano and Class Lessons 204 East 18th St., N. Y. 1836 Stuyves&nt		
		ILLINOIS LUCY SP ENCER Director Children’s Dept. Columbia Conservatory of Music and Dramatic Art Aurora Phone: 235	TEXAS NEL LIE HALL Piano and Class Lessons Eriburg, Apt. 2 Ahilene Phone 390
KATHRYN DRIGGS Pupil of Moszkowski and Victor Wittigstein Teacher at Scoville School for Girls 15 Clarke St., Brooklyn Phone: 2384 Main	ALICE M. SPAULDING Piano, Coaching and Accompanying Scientific Muscular Pianoforte Technic Individual and Class—All Ages 313 West 74th St., N. Y.		
OLGA FISHER Piano and Class Work 93 Junction Avc., Corona, L. I. Phone: Havemeyer 0531			WASHINGTON ALICE REYNOLDS FISCHER 314 E. Birch Walla Walla
	MARY G. S TOWE Teacher of Piano Pupil of Raif, Moszkowski, Thuel Burnham 275 Central Park West, N. Y.		
		INDIANA EDITH L ACEY . Pleasant Lake	
RUTH JULIAN KENNARD Piano and Class Lessons 530 West 113th Street, N. Y. Phone: Cathedral 5613 MARY EDNA LAWRENCE Musical Pedagogue Individual Piano Lessons Class Lessons in Musicianship Gold Street, Rosedale, L. I. Phone: Laurelton 1746			FLORA McCONAUGHEY 50 Park Walla Walla
	MRS. A. B. THOMPSON Voice and Piano Certified 22 Bayshore, L. I. Phone: 300 Bayshore		
		IOWA HAWAIIAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC Mrs. Nina Warner, director (All Stringed Instruments Taught) 701 2nd Ave. East, Cedar Rapids	CHARLOTTE McNEELY Piano 2603 Everett Ave. Everett
	MABEL COREY WATT Examining Normal Teacher Directress of Music Flatbush School Four Assistant Teachers 94 Prospect Park W., Brooklyn Phone: South 3688-J.		WISCONSIN MADISON MUSIC SCHOOL Laura J. Richards, director Piano and Harmony 132 Lathrop Street Madison Phone: Badger 3243
		ETTA GABBERT Teacher of Piano, Pipe Organ, Harmony and Theory Individual and Class—All Ages Studio: 1934 Farnam Street, Davenport	
IDIS LAZAR Concert Pianist and Teacher 50 Morningside Drive, Apt. 42, New York Phone 7770 Cathedral			
	HARRISON E. WOOD Piano 5 Robins Place, Yonkers Phone: 3652 Yonkers		
		MASSACHUSETTS MARY BLACK 156 Newberry Street Boston	FOREIGN
JEANNETTE C. LEIDY Piano and Class Work 416 West 122nd St., N. Y. Phone: 4475 Mom.			
			CANADA CARA FARME R Piano and Class Lessons, Demonstrations Certified Normal Teacher Mothers’ Creative Music Course 750 Bathurst, Toronto
	MAUDE BALLARD WOOD Teacher of Pianoforte 150 Lenox Road, Brooklyn Phone: Flatbush 8872-J.		
GERTRUDE LEONARD Pupil of Heinrich Gebhardt Teacher 1920-21 at Smead School, Toledo, Ohio: 1922 at Riverdale County School, N. Y. 29 Orchard Place, New Rochelle.		ANGIE WILDE Piano Summer Address: Duxbury Winter: 169 Park Place, Brooklyn, N. Y.	
	NEW JERSEY RUTH E. JONGENEEL Piano Lessons 119 North 9th Street, Newark Phone: Branch Brook 4745	MICHIGAN DORIS GLEZEN Piano and Theory 517 Village Street Kalamazoo Phone 995	CHINA EMIL DANENBERG Pianoforte Instruction Pupil of Teichmuller (Leipzig) The Albany, Hong Kong
• JENNIE S. LIEBMANN Piano and Class Lessons 1140 St. John’s Place, Brooklyn Phone: 0981 Decatur