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June 7, 19 2 3
diplomatic career.” “Ah, a statesman?” “No, an operatic impresario.”
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Says the Evening Telegram: “So far as we can see, June hasn’t made the world safer for anybody except oysters.” And music critics, possibly.
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Macrobius, in a criticism on Homer, written about 1,500 years ago, says that discord, even though it extend to mutual devastation and war, is still discord. No doubt some of the modern discords, though extended to the length of fantasias and sonatas, are still discords.
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An instrument has been invented which enables doctors to see the human heart beat. It would be interesting to know the findings of the apparatus in the case of a child which has just been informed that its music teacher is ill and cannot come for the lesson.
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I hose newly fledged conservatory graduates look so happy these days because they have not yet found out that their real study of music is about to begin.
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This, from the New York Times Book Review of last Sunday, leaves us somewhat puzzled:
Robert Nathan, author of Autumn and Youth Grows Old is the proud possessor of what he believes to be •the largest piano in existence. It takes up a floor space of 337.6 square feet, and its tone is so loud that it can be plainly heard sev-eral blocks away in the offices of his publishers, Robert H. McBride & Co. When his day’s work is done Mr Nathan opens his window, sits down at the piano and, by his playing, signals to his publishers his own opinion of what he has written. The Grieg Concerto or l’Apres Midi d’un Faune informs them that all is well, while Sibelius’s Val.se Triste announces that he is far from satisfied with his work What the neighbors think the deponent sayeth not.
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Ihe British National Opera Company is giving Wagner opera in English and doing it very successfully. Why can't this be done in America ? Maybe they understand English better in England than we do in America. By the way, the London Times praises not only the performances but also the scenery of the B. N. O. Company and remarks particularly about Rhinegold: “The new setting gets rid of the steam which always grotesquely suggested that the journey from the bed of the Rhine to the environs of Valhalla was made by train, and, moreover, interfered with the hearing of one of the finest orchestral passages.” In the Walküre the horse race in the clouds is not shown but left to the spectator’s imagination, a very good plan. The episode always has been ridiculous, whether carried out with the hobby horses on wires (as in the old days at the Metropolitan) or with the aid of moving picture effects. Also the actual fight with the Dragon (in Siegfried) should be eliminated and the action suggested off stage or in a darkened cavern. Our local dragon, with its incandescent green eyes, was once described as looking like a Lenox Avenue express and the comparison has clung. Audiences always titter at the Dragon and its obviously mechanical niovements. Knote, the tenor, told us the other evening that in one^ of last winter’s out of town performances of the Wagnerian Opera Company he was singing Siegfried and in the fight with the Dragon he hit the beast such a mighty blow with his sword that he cut open the head of the man inside and a doctor had to be called to stitch it up. “I thought it was a real Diagon, said Knote plaintively; “how was I to know they had a man inside operating pulleys and ropes ?”
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Some^ Parisian critics accuse Muratore of having-become “too American” in his singing. Perhaps thev mean that his tones are golden.
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. Pick-Mangiagalli has written a Pantomima Mimosin fomca, and this gives us the idea to construct a comidrama filmofarcerhapsody.
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Before any one else advises us to do so, we shall include in our summer reading W. F. G. Swann’s Electrodynamics of Moving Media H H H
Hearing artists of the concert stage by radio is just about as satisfactory unless you enjov seeing their tonsils.”—Evening Telegram/
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In this epidemic of revolver wielding women we are waiting for a matinee shooting which will give us a chance to say something about The Automatic at the Breakfast Table.
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Drawing room tenors are borne.
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Nilly—“I love Tschaiko Willy—“Well, Pol Rog
MUSICAL COURIER
VARIATIONETTES
By the Editor-in-Chief
the entire thirty-two Beethoven sonatas at seven recitals. We thank his manager for this ample notice.
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And apropos, let us quote what Bronislaw Huber-man, the violinist, said recently in Europe, after pointing out that the basis of present day American musical appreciation is the reproducing machine, which takes the place of the “house music” .which Europeans make for themselves:
This canned music, as they call it there, has aroused the first musical hunger in many a man. They wish to hear the artists whom they have heard on the gramophone; and so they become zealous concertgoers. But only the true artistic personality is valued there and has success, plainly because the average American feels a strong need of strong personalities. But the American is a working man whose evening s artistic pleasure must be served up, in a certain manner, ready made. He likes to hear classical pieces which he already knows, listening to which is no effort to him. This is true especially of the smaller cities. Nevertheless, I have made it a rule to begin every program with a sonata. To play two or three sonatas in an evening, however, as Artur Schnabel does, is not advisable. But in these last years the understanding for the deeper, more complicated and modern music has increased with a rapidity conceivable only in America. But in general the American comes to a concert unprepared, not ready for cooperation with the artist, as in Vienna, but only for enjoyment.
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No, Marjoline, a mixed choir is not necessarily one that is mixed only in voices.
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The artist, being a true artist, does not say to himself, “How many persons I am benefitting by singing over the radio,” but asks himself: “How many persons would come to my concerts and pay if I didn’t sing for them for nothing over the radio?”
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The other illustrious Ben might have constructed an aphorism from the attached, for his Poor Richard collection:
Dear Variationettes:—
In reading the Musical Courier, particularly of recent issues, I cannot help noticing how many artists, and how many of the managers of artists, have gone or are going to Europe this summer, but so far I have not been able to discover the name of a single local manager who is to do likewise. But there is no doubt that much of the local manager’s money is being used for the purpose! and it is equally true that the local managers are already preparing to raise money during the coming season so that the artists may go abroad again next year. And although the above is said in more or less fun there is an element of truth in it that makes one pause and wonder if all the contracts entered into are mutually satisfactory—not to say beneficial. Many a true word, etc.
Yours cordially,
Ben Franklin.
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Which reminds us of the story about William Jerome Travers, the famous stuttering banker, whose host at Newport was pointing out to him the sights of the harbor at that lovely resort.
“See that big double funnel steam yacht out there ?” he asked Travers.
“Y-y-yes.”
“That’s broker Gould’s.”
“See the white one, with all the flags ?”
“Yep.”
1 hat’s broker Fiske’s. The black, ocean-going yacht is broker Morgan’s. The one with the two decks is broker Sage’s. The three-masted beauty is
broker Hutchinson’s. The--------”
“H-h-hold on,” interrupted Travers, “where’s the c-c-c-customers’ yachts?”
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It is not difficult to tell the innocent bystanders from the guilty claque at the Opera. The i. b. applaud only when applaus'e is deserved, and their features frequently wear an expression of pleasure.
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Critics too often forget the wise injunction: Re-, buke with soft words and hard arguments.
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It is strange how many proverbs are not effective when applied to music and musical persons. For instance, there is the old saying, “Self conceit leads to self destruction.”
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Thought for critics: Some of us are so used to disguising ourselves from others that we end by disguising ourselves from ourselves.
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“Of each one thousand people who ask their friends for criticism exactly one thousand are fishing for praise.”—Evening Telegram.
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When Fortune Gallo was introduced to Clemen-ceau, he said to the Ti
iger : “I, too, am following a
Critics aim at the stars, but do not bring them down.
When new oil fields are discovered outside of America international diplomacy always reminds us of several managers trying to land the same concert date.
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Tryparsamide is the new cure for sleeping sickness, and taken in large doses it might keep us awake at a Parsifal performance.
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Modern times have dispelled effectively the old idea that a man of artistic genius is unfit for business. H H H
Most women, when they read in the headlines of a Liquor Ring, think it’s something that happens when the thoughtless guest sets his glass upon the piano.—F. P. A. in The World.
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It is a common musical fallacy to say that any composition written hastily lacks artistic merit. To give only one instance to the contrary, some of Schubert’s best songs were conceived and set down by him in an almost incredible hurry—and often in a café.
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According to reactionary critics, when composers die they are famous, and if they live, they are infamous. For the use of the general public we offer a motto to be pasted in the hat or bonnet:
Close your ears to this suggestion:
“Is it old or is it new ?”
Only ask yourself the question,
“Is it false or is it true?”
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The only cabled musical news from Europe in the dailies last week was that the Duchess of York has the whooping cough.
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Kipling’s famous “last critic” is sure to criticize the phrasing of Gabriel’s horn solo.
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J. P. F. inquires: “Who gets out of more tight places, Houdini or an operatic impresario?”
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A suggestion to composers: Elsie Janis wrote a song called Molly o’ Mine and she wished John McCormack to include it in his repertory. John, now in Paris, lives at the Hotel Crillon and Elsie’s room being near the tenor’s she sang her song whenever she knew he was at home. Fnnally he became interested in the composition and sought out the performer, of whose identity he was in ignorance. The result was that he bought the song and will sing it in America next season.
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Rudolph Ganz and the St. Louis Orchestra have been on tour and under that conductor the concerts were a striking success everywhere. At Stephens-ville, Tex., an amusing incident occurred which is described as follows by our correspondent: An oil man of the place was so stirred by the American Fan-tasie of Victor Herbert (played at the end of the concert) that he jumped on the platform, waved a $50 bill and called on volunteers to give $500 so that “the boys could play another hour.” It was too late, however, to take advantage of his enthusiasm and the concert ended with the performance of the Herbert patriotic medley.
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Distance lends enchantment to the radio enthusiast H H H
General application might be made of Mark Twain’s story about John Fiske, the historian. The Twain tale runs: One day when Fiske was deeply immersed in his work, his wife came in, much moved and profoundly distressed, and said: “I am sorry to disturb you, John, but I must, for this is a serious matter and needs to be attended to at once.”
1 hen, lamenting, she brought a grave accusation against their little son. She said: “He has been saying his Aunt Mary is a fool and his Aunt Martha is a damned fool.” Mr. Fiske reflected upon the matter a minute, then said: “Oh, well, it’s about the distinction I should make between them myself ”
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James L. Butler named one of his two year old horses Variation and we appreciated the compliment deeply until we bet on the nag and saw it run last Thursday at Belmont Park. It finally arrived at the finish and made us feel like the Irishman whose horse came in last and who shouted at the jockey: “What delayed you?”
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In 1924-25 Artur Schnabel, who has just left for Europe, will return to America in order to play