Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-08-15
LONDON PA0TIMES.
How the Gilded Youth Amuse Them
selves.

LONDON PAsTIMEs.
How the GiIded Youth Amuse Them.
selves.
Correspondence ofthe Galveston News.
Ihe London ,swels are the most inveterate
betters In the world. The time hangs so heav-
lily on their hands that In the excitement OF
uncertainty they ind grateful relief.
curious bet was made in one Of the London
CLUBS some years ago that will doubtless point o
moral. 1t was that o certain member Gould not
within two hours on London bridge sell 100
new guineas at q penny piece. The man took
his place on the bridge with 2 little tray, on
ers-by that they were genuine gold coins from
the Bank of England and that they were to be
% q Sm Wen the ms
such Is human incredibly, that he had sold but
Two, which :! maid servant bought to amuse
Another peculiar bet made in London was by
well-known barrister for q large amount, that
he would at a certain hour block Fleet street in
the busiest part of the day at the narrowest
point Half an hour before the appointed time
ne TOOK his stand on the opposite side of the
large lion over the door. He was dressed like q
necrOmancer, with long cloak and wearing q
Under one arm he carried an enormous book
and In his hand he held q large telescope, which
every few minutes he pointed at the lion, after
and he told that in the book Of Balderdash it
was written that in half an hour that lion
%is ns fa WsRng np at
the lion through his glass, he attracted the at
tention Of everybody, and the waiting crowd
stopped to see what the trouble was, and these
jammed the others until the whole street was
crowded and impossible. The barrister slipped
away in the crowd, but O most obstinate jam
ensued, and 1t was more than an hour before
the police could clear the thoroughfare.
Musical Pitch.
Fiom the Spectator.
1t was during the dictatorship of Costa that
musical pitch in England rose to the height at
or about which it now stands, and a full recog-
nitiOn of the merits Of that great conductor
should not blind us to the two evil effects en-
and sonority-we mean the harm done to the
voices of public singers and the wrong inflicted
upon composers whose works had to be mutt
lated in order to bring Thorn within the range
OF the human voice. For instance, the enor-
NOUS intrinsic difficulties presented to vo-
calists by Beethovens mass in d were so far
enhanced by the pitch adopted by Costa,
that at the performances of that work in S54,
1861, and 1870 by the Sacred uarmoaic So
certain numbers of The vocal score. The resou-
ton OF the meeting of tho Society Of Arts was
d dead letter. and when crisis did occur nine
years later it may fairly be said to have been
forced on by the single action OF great vocalist.
Mr.. Sims Reeves declined to sing fUr the Sacred
Harmonic Society, giving as hisrcason in let
ter to the -1Hen9HnI, the abnornally high pitch
then prevailing. DetractOrs were not slow to in-
sinuate that he was merely consulting the inter
sicians as q whole. The odium n,usicuns was
aroused, and the papers of the day were
n nl with correspondence on the subject.
strike on the part Of an invaluable
artist gave an entirely practical turn to the
eontroversy. An enterprising firm Of musical
series Of OratOriO concerts, with Mr.. Sims Reeves
as a. their chief attraction, and the adoption Of
program. A new organ, tuned to the diapason
normal, was built for the purpose, the neces-
stry wind instruments were purchased in
Paris, and the services Of MIR. Barnby secured
as conductor. Now, as no mention whatever
was, made at tue. recent public meeting,
test Of the lower pitch, which ext Extended
over several seasons and was attended with re-
markable success, we may be allowed, in order
pitch question, to summarize the net results Of
this experiment SO far as they can be gathered
from contemporary press notices. From these
Afforded TO the singers, no perceptible falling off
in briliiancy or sorority was apparent. The
critics were almost unanimous in following the
lead set by the writer in the TImes-presuIn-
ably the later Mr.. DaSison-who candid!y con.
feSsed that the difference between the pitches
into serious account. A great number of these
gentlemen took no notice of the change at
all; and after the first season, press refer
ences to the altered pitch were almost eXclu-
siyely confined to the statement that it was
still upheld. One newspaper which had a,sa!ed
the innovation ut the outset was obliged to ad-
nit, on the occasion of the performance OF the
mass In ID, that the adoption OF the French
pitch was great advantage; and in another
journal the dinpdson normal was attacked for
the grotesque reason that no grand piano tuned
to that standard being available, the "queen Of
pianistas''-Mme Arabella GOddard-was com
PEELED to submit to the indIgnity of performing
the pianOfOrte solo in the Choral Fanta-
STA upon semi-grand. Eventually the
need Of more extended accommodation for the
performers induced the promoters of these
oratorio concerts to migrate to Exeter Hall,
where they were obliged to CONFORM to the
pitch of the organ, and abandon the didpuSon
nOrnlrl. The general public had ceased to take
an interest in the question of pitch, and the
musical world at large refused to be convinced
Of the expediency OF the alteration. Thus the
movement may be said to have died q natural
death, but not before it had practically demon
strated the feasibility OF the change where the
question of expense was not allowed to stand
in the way