New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1876-10-19
CONCEPTS AND COLLEGES.

President Eliot or harvard naS lauely SCI III
example of liberality which ought to be
widely emulated in opening the Saunders
Theater of the new Memorial Hall for series
of concerts, to be given under the general
supervision of Mr. J. X. Paine, pro-
fessor of music at the university. The
scheme was initiated by some of the
most prominent citizens of Cambridge,
including the poets LOngfellow and
Lowell Mr. w. d. Howells, John FisEe,
and several Harvard professors, and has been
sustained by more than five hundred sub
scribers, so that success is assured. The first
concert will be given in November by TheO-
dOre ThOmaS's orchestra, and the series Will
comprise orchestral, choral, concerted, and solo
music of high order. The design is to bring
out new works and revive famous compost
tons rarely heard, as well as to produce music
that is more generally known.
The establishment of these concerts will I'M
doubtedly be of no small value to the under
graduates and professional students OF the uni
versity. OF late years, under the new elective
system of study, the students have entered the
regular course of music in classes aggregating
rs high as n hundred members. There is no
more potent means for the higher culture than
good music; and this interest on the part of
the young men augurs well. But what we
specaly wish to call attention to is
the fact that the beneficial influence
which President Eliot has thus encouraged
ought to be extended to the undergraduates
of other colleges and the communities adjOin-
ing them. The condition of Cambridge Is
somewhat peculiar: the difficulty of going sew
eral miles to Boston and back by street cars
on Winter nights favOrs the importation OF
musical entertainment. The population Of
Cambridge, too being over thirty thousand,
can supply subscribers in plenty. But
though circumstances may be less IA
yorable elsewhere, there would still be
many instances III which Il project similar to
the one above described could be carried out.
The giving of concerts, to be sure, is no part
of the regular work of a college; but the de-
sirable point is that institutions of learning
should add their sanction and influence to
every scheme for spreading refinement and
culture. William Black in one of his novels
points out that the University of Oxford
misses IL great opportunity by leaving the
local thcater to amuse or corrupt undergrad
yates as it will, without attempting to secure
the best plays, or that acting which is fine
art, so as to make the stage a source of gem
erous culture. Cambridge has no scenic stage,
but Harvard has shown n wider cOmprehen-
sion than Mr. Blacks Oxford.
Agencies of this sort are hardly called for in
larger places But Yale might profit by the
suggestion; and why not Union, Princeton, Cor
nell. Vassar. the new Vanderbilt University ut
Nashville or Ann Arbor, with others that
might be named Even where the depend
ence would have to be on students alone,
full subscription by them would secure one or
two entertainments in Winter, or more than
that if the concerts were simple. But the plan
has wider application, which needs only be
mentioned at present. 1t would enable the
best citizens or the people of the best judg-
ment to assist popular taste, and it would null
tiply apprcciatiye audiences competent in turn
TO develop or encourage native talent. In this
way much might be done to relieve the UNI
melodious monotony and the bivalyular calm
of life too apt to reign at distance from our
great centers.