The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1877-05-12
Piano and TOm-TOm.

The Chinese quarter in San Francisco has its
Theodore Thomas in the person of Lee Tom,
who is organizing mammoth orchestra. The
instruments used are the Chinese fiddle, the
devils banjo, the tabor, the tom-tom and the
gong. A reporter of the Chronicle, who was
invited to attend one of the preliminary re-
hearsas, states that the fiddles and banjos first
struck in with wild, voluptuous swell, which
suddenly broke off in mild staccato on the
fortissimo grade, resembling the most gigantic
cat fight that ever took place on earth. Pres
emily the professor signalled the bass to turn
itself loose upon passage illustrating how the
devil flies away with junk load of Chinese
pirates. The reporter adds that the swell of
the tom-toms was simply terrific, compared
with which the widest passages of Wagner's
"Lohengrin" would have been as an infants
lullaby
believe there has been no more pernicious
influence upon music than the transformation
which the pianoforte has undergone since
Beethoven's time, and it's diffusion over all the
world. 1 do not refer to the cruelties which il
is daily tine means of inhicting upon inoffens-
i've families aud true lovers of music, but to
the effect that it has had upon composition and
upon performance. The former it has helped
to be at once flashy, dull, intricate and shallow;
the latter it has led to be astonishing. Bril-
liancy, crowd Of notes, sorority, all without
beauty of form or emotional srggestiveness-
this is the music which the modern grand piano
forte has brought upon US. Not only piano
forte music, but in measure all music, has be-
come a brilliant fantasia by Signor Rumble.
stominiski. We DO not sitsin passive silence to
listen to it; we talk, or are tempted to talk
against it; and the praise we give it is not
look Of serene joy, with that tipge of sadness
which Shakespeare had in mind when he made
Jessica say, .'I'm never merry when 1 hear
sweet music, but clapping OF the hands
and congratuation upon brilliant triumph
Aud then we turn aside and go on again with
our society gable. Orchestral leaders and per-
formers.are not content unless they have full
score to interpret" They must have big,
brilliant noise. The pitch has been raised un-
til singers shrek in order that the tone of the
instruments may be brilliant. Our ears must
be shot through and through with piercing
shafts of sound. The time is q1ckened, un-
til allegro has become presto, and presto mad
dened, indstinguishable rush. Even Theo-
dore Thomas loses some of the majesty of the
final movement IF the Fifth Symphony" by
too quick movement; and in the trio of the
scherzo he drives the BASES into headlopp
scramble up and down the scale. When the
| clear succession of notes becomes iudstinguish-
able, musical form, and with it musical beauty
is lost, and the performance becomes mere vic
tory over musical difficulties. And this quick
enlng OF the time is exactly what should not
nave taken place Our orchestras have in
creased in size and in volume of sound since
the days OF Mozart and Beethoven. As larger
bodies, therefore, their movement should be a
| little slower to produce the effect which the
| great composers had in mind. But in our rage
| for brilliancy we have hastened the movement,
| as If We should make an elephant galop like
q horse. Moreover we have fallen into the
ia al error of making the finish, it not the
difiulty of execution superior to the present.
| atom OF beauty in form and in expression.
l : Richard Grant White IN the Gala1y for June.