Litchfield enquirer., 1878-05-16
Bands.

AAoAANAeo DSNh eAAob SA COIucL lA6Sc instruments are bright, showy and easily learn ed up to certain point. With few winters practice bands can play martial, out door music very tolerably Then, if It is a country band, it starts on a decline at least as rapid as it's ascent: The real musicians grow dissatisfied with the very narrow sphere al- lowed them. Those who have little natural love of music tire of the drudgery, and so the band breaks up. In many respects such an organization lowers rather than raises musical taste The music they play is of the shallow est, fashiest description and their performance of 1t is snappy and lively indeed, but {, in the long run, extremely tiresome to those who have any acquaintance with better styles of music and of musical performance. The street band, indeed, has degraded the cornet in the eyes of real musicians far below it's true place among instruments. The pure tone, the variety of light and shade, and the neat artic- ulation of which it is capable, make it extreme ly effective in combination with stringed or keyed instruments, and entitle it to most i'm .portant place in the small orchestra There 1t covers something more than the ground oc- cupied by the soft, pure-toned, French horns, and the rattling trombones and trumpets of the great orchestra. But for such playing, the practice of street music in the brass band is very bad school. The snappy, shallow style of the band has to be laid aside for the small orchestra. There the cornet takes the melo- dies very effectively, but they should be played in the French horn, not in the trumpet style, and the player must guard most assidu- ously against too great prominence in accom- paniment We refer specially to the cornet because it is so effective in it's true place, and because it is so seldom found in that place.
 We are glad to see that the string band is now largely taking the place of the brass band. It is matter of vastly slower growth, and much less satisfactory at the outset but it re- pays the real musician for the trouble he takes, which the brass band, unless under es- pecially favorable circumstances, can never do. The great difficulty is in the preliminary training. There are very few instructors among us who can teach the violin. An occasional German strays into the rural districts who has been thoroughly taught after the thorough manner of his native country. Generally, however, our fiddlers, if they accomplish any, thing learn, unlearn, and learn again, vast ing vast deal of time in arriving at very in- different results. What a string band needs therefore, of all things, is a competent teach CT.
 Having some good preliminary instruction, the next want is good music. Here the SUD- ply is equal to any demand. Quartets, Trios, Quinte ts, by the finest musical composers are to be had in abundance. The literature of the stringed instrument is as excellent in quality as it is boundless in quantity. There is no need to confne the string band to dance mu- sic, and overture music, and shallow adapta tons of shallow operas. This is of especial moment to players of subordinate instruments of any ambition In dance music the first vio- lin, the comet, clarionet or flute, may have parts of some merit, but the lower string parts are utterly lean and barren. Such is not at all the case with true concerted music, where every part is full of interest.
 There is another pleasant feature of string pracice in region abounding in pianos. There are numbers of extremely fine trios for piano, cello and violin quartets, for piano, violin, viola and cello; and some, though not so many, quintets for piano and four stringed instruments. In most of these compositions the difficulties are mainly thrown upon the piano !; the string parts being comparatively easy. These are not mere adaptations. but music written expressly for piano and strings by such composers as Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Schubert
 As far as our experience goes, however, | there is great difficulty in obtaining really | good music for a small orchestra for instance | for piano, four or five strings, cornet and | flute; without a vast deal of trouble in mak- | ing special arrangements No doubt, howev- CT, as string bands" increase, this want will be gradually supplied. For somewhat larger | orchestras-of nIne or ten instruments, without l piano-arrangements can be more readily pro. | cured.
 The time for the repeal of the bankrupt act
 has been finally fixed at September 1st. Many
 of the New York papers regret the abolition
 of the national system of bankruptcy, but we
 doubt whether any system likelyto be devised
 would be as convenient as our our state law
 and our state courts The Federal Courts
 are few, and transacting business with them
 must nece ssarily involve much inconvenience
 much loss of time and money. The trial of a
 matter in United States bankruptcy il
 Connecticut, takes the parties to Hartford o
 New Haven, and the Register or Assignees il
 Bankruptcy often live forty miles from tht
 baukrupt's own place of resi- dence. In shor l the United States Courts can never be as cheal
 as the state courts, and proceedings under any
 national bankrupt act will necessarily be dila
 tory expensive and unsatisfactory.
 HARpEa's MAGAZINE contains: Along tn,
 Shore (1S Illus ); Dutch Falence [3O Illus. The Battle of Monmouth Court House Q Illus ); Telemachus versus Mentor, by Ere
 Harte; The Drinkwater House; An America Sculptor 0 Illus. j. Heligoland, the Enchante' Isle (S Illus. j. Macleod of Dare; Hugh Lat mer; The Return of the Native; The Poetr of Indians; In Storm; Music in New Tor
 Thirty Years Ago; Gretas Boys; How sha our Boys be fitted for the Scientific School ? A Trio; Fitz Green Halleck and the Villag Belle; Captive Queens in the Market Russia Literature A Manufactured Comet; Song C the Clay; Editorial Articles.
 Harper & Brothers, New York, $4. year
 Goshen, No. 338.
 : HoRsE KILLED.-Mr. Albert Wadhans los his horse, last week, it's leg being broken in s sluice in the West part of Terrington. s HARNESS SHoP.-Mr Seaton is now convel u l ientlY located and can accnrntnndate his cn