Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-09-27
MUSIC AND MUSICIANS.

Music is a great and beautiful art
am not musical myself. which has al
ways been a source of great joy to my
friends, but in the course of many
years Of enforced association with mu-
sicians have got to know something
about the music business.
did not voluntarily contaminate my
young soul with the society of musi-
clans. have ever cherished deep
distrust of the criminal classes; but
fate orders a mans life for him. | can
only say in eXtenuation of my sin that
have never known musician with
out being sincerely sorry for it. sooner
or later-eXcept in the case of one
man who had his trombone in pawn
and couldn't get it out to play to me.
Musicians run in the scale Of moral
ity from bass-drummers down to vio-
lnists have known bass-drummers
to be estmaDle citizens, in good gem
eral repute. But the vioinst is man
who has sinned beyond redemption.
do not say that the violinist does not
do great work in this world. think
he does. He inclines other men to
lead good and vrtuous lives, SO that
they may not meet him in the hereaf-
ter And there are, of course, except
ions to every rule. II the violinist
calls himself a fiddler, and speaks of
his instrument AS fiddle, there is
hope for him. He may be lurcd from
classical music and induced to play
plain and recognizable tune, and then
there is chance of reclamation.
The Inconsistency of musicians has
often been noticed. | have known
pianists to deny their artistic knshp
to organ-grinders. have argued
with them and tried to point out to
them that the difference between the
two styles of operators is but a differ
ence of degree and not of kind. and
that it comes to much the same thing
in the end whether pain is inflicted by
sheer manual dexterity and the tips of
the fingers or by the interposition OF q
crank. But you can not reason with
musician.
There is another popularity about
musicians which everybody must OBJ
serve who mingles with them for any
length of wasted time-there are no
good musicians except the one who is
talking to you and few who are dead.
All others. you will find in the course
Of the conversation. are hopelessly on
the wrong track, as far as true art is
concerned. Some of them may be
well enough in their way, but their
way is all wrong. When they are
dead. very dead, like Beethoven, and
Handel, and Bach, they are frequently
spoken of by other musicians in terms
OF high praise. l have heard Beetho-
ven warmly commended by man
who played the cornet in picnic gar
den on the East river.
Bach is an exceptional case. All
musicians like Bach. He is extremely
dead, and the general sound sentiment
of the people may be relied upon to
keep him dead. The resurrection and.
reyivitication of the late Bach would
be warmly opposed by any civilized
people. Bach's chief claim to respect
among musicians is that he wrote
much OF his music so that 1t can be
played backward as well as forward.
This kind OF thing he called u fugue.
Fugues are used for cmptying concert
halls and other places of public resort.
They are even more sure and effective
than an alarm OF tire.
When musician dies his friends
cast u gloom over the joy that ami
mates the neighborhood by going to
the house of the departed and playing
dirges over him. They then send in
their bill TO the stricken widow for
their services as band. After that
they pass resolutions testifying to
their grief at tho loss OF thei. col
league and their sympathy with his
afflicted family. The resolutions, how
ever, are not passed until the bill is
paid.
Yes. music is a great and beautiful
art, Alphcus, my son; and what there
| is about 1t that makes most musicians
mean aud envious and cross-graned
and cranky, don't know. But 30
they are. and so they will 20 on, and
the world will forgive them TOR musio's
sake.