Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1886-07-17
DRIFT.

tl-DlN llhN ttl' NlhlutS NNttlil lllAl IL - NtAh
top, while within the outside and lower mar
gins are eNtraragmtIy, disprOrortonatelN
wide, and the inside IA eXtravagantly narrow
ess close is the imitation in two remarkably
| neat and dainty little volumes from the pres
of A. c. McClurg n Co, the successors to the
| leading firm of Chicago publishers, Jansen,
McClurg a Co While the binding OF theSt
is very much like that OF the Aldines, the
volumes are tritle thinner the paper is MOI
rs creamy, soft and heavy, but the proportion
| of print and margins is better preserved thai
| in the book oi Scribners. Taking them nj
together both 'The Bookloyer" by Prof
Baldwin, and "Woman i'll Mustc,' 10y Geo
| +. Upton, are most satisfactory specimens O
the art Of book making. They are the STYLE
OF books which it Is a genuine pleasure to
| handle; their size and neat binding are CRATE
ful to the touch, while their clear type and
| appropriate ornamental initials and head and
tail-peces fairly boguile the eye to rest upon
the page and drink in Its contents. our
| Eastern publishers certainly Will have IL
look to their Iaurels for some of these West
| eru firms, at least this Que OF McClurg a Co.
are fast coming up to them in the excellence
and artistic quality uf their work.
| Nor are the contents OF the two little books
| referred to unworthy of such beautiful set
| ting don't know of any recent work on
| the subject more thoroughly interesting,
more gracefully written, and more practi-
| cally helpful and useful than PROT Baldwin :
delightful chapters III 'The Book lover As
an incentive and guide To the choice aud read
ing of ''the best that has been thought and
said in the world" they deserve place hv
the side of Carlyle's "ChoiCe of Books,
Ruskins "Sessme and Lilies Richard son 5
"Choice of Books" Harrisou's essays on the
same subject, aud pryiC's "llighways of
Literature - and in some respects, for spe-
ctic practical guidance, 1t has marked adj
ysutareS over every one of these standard
works--n notably in its most excellent lists of
books given in the unusually sensible
''course. of reading I" which part of the
volume Is devoted.
"WuMNN IN MU~Iy' Is work which
will be highly appreciated by the members
of our Lancaster Musicale, and Just as much
by our host of other musicians, particularly
lady musicians Its two hundred and
twenty odd pages are teeming with curious
musical, literary and artistic facts charming
bits OF biography, vivid characterization,
acute criticism and interesting anecdote.
Is the very interesting aud suggestive
first chapter MIR. Upton propounds and tries
to answer the following question Why is
it, he asks, that woman, "who * the inspira-
ton oflove, who has q more powerful and at
the same time more delicate emotional force
than man, who Is artistic 10y temperamenL
whose whole organism Is seusitively strong,
and who is religious 10y natuTe-whN Is II
that woman, with all these musical elements
i'm her nature, is receptive rather than crea.
tive? Why Is it that music only comes to
her As a balm, a rest, ar a SOlace OF happiness
among her pleasures and her sOrrOws, her
cOmmOnplaces and her rcnnNentlonallues, ana
-. 4. E,,I So o.
her? In other fields OF art woman has been
creative. Rosa Bouheur is mans equal upon
canvas. Harriet Husmer has made the
marble live with a mans truth aud force ana
skill. Mrs. Browning in poetry, Mary
Somerville and Caroline Ilerschel in science,
George Sand, Charlotte Hrunte, and Madame
do Stael in fiction, have successfully rlNa!Ied
man in their fields ut labor; while George
Eliot, with almost more than masculine iorce'
has grappled with the most abstruse prob
lens of human life, aud though an agnOstIc
has courageously siited the doubts OF science
and latter day cultured uubeiet, and plucked
many a rose of blessing for suffering human.
ity from amid it's storms OF sorrow and
pain ~ but in all that tune no woman "has
written either an opera, OratOrIo, symphony,
or in strumeutal work of large dimensions
that is in the modern rePertory.
THAT does seem queer, d"eSn't 1t? And
guess it is true too. Why - it,
MIR. UproN thinks he has answered this
question. | don't The first reason hc gives
- that woman Is more emotional than man.
"Man controls his emotions, and can give an
outward expression of them. In woman they
are the dominating element and SO long as
they are dominant she ahsprts music That
doesn't strike meas answering, but only as
s'begginy the question: Woman's being
more intensely emotional i to my mind one
of the chief reasons why shc should be best
able to reproduce her emotions in musical
creation. Nor il our authors second reason
any more satisfactory, namely, that woman
loses her interest IN music with age, while
mans increases the Older he grows, But did
not the majority of great composers display
their creative powers early III youth SO
far as that is concerned woman has had the
same opportunity but she Las not come up
to il. The question still remains, why not
THE third reason given Is "thc inability OF
woman TO endure the discouragements of the
composer and TO battle with the prejudice
and Indifference, and sometimes with the
malicious opposition OF the world, that OBJ
struct his progress" | think this Is a gratu.
tous assumption. There Is no evidence
whatever of its existence as an actual fact,
but rather great deal OF evidence to dis.
prove il, In every sphere OF lie woman has
abundantly proved her powers Oi endurance,
and heroic courage and strength IN the midst
of every form of encouragement and suffer-
ing. In whatever else shu may De mans in
ferior it Is lust in this that she Is, II anything,
his superior.
IL the last circumstance adduCed by Mr..
Upton, however, it appears To me we can find
at least one cause, aud principal one, for
| tho dearth of great female composers. "lt is
| a curious fact" he says, "thst nearly all the
great music of the world has been produced
| in humble life, and has been developed amid
| the environments of poverty and in the stern
struggle for existence. ..... Sebastian Bach
was the son of IA hireling musician. BeethO-
yen's father was a dissipated singer. Cheru.
| bni came from the lowest and poorest ranks
| of life. Gluck was a forester'5 son. Lulli in
| his childhood was a page and slept in palace
| kitchens. Haydn's father was a wheelwnghti
and his mother, previous To marriage, was a
cook in the kitchen OF Count Harrach,
| the lord OF his native village. While on his
| deathbed, Beethoven called liummefs atten'
| ton to picture, and said see my dear
| Hummel, the house in which Haydn wa
| born to think that so great man should
| have first seen the light i'll peasants wret
| chcd hut" MoZart's father was a musician
| in humble circumstances, and his grand
| father bOOk-binder. Handel was the son O
| barber and surgeon. Mehul was the sor
| of cook. Rossini's father was miserable
| strolling horn player who led wild BOhe
| mian life Schubert was the son OF poor
schoolnaster and his mother, Ike Haydn's
| was in service as "A cook at the time OF hel
| marriage. Cimarosa's father was "A mason
| aud his II other washerwOlnan. SchumanT
was a booksellers son aud Verdi the son o
AT.l.. IL