Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-09-22
THE MUSIC WORLD.
Andrew Carnegie's Desire for Har-
mOny Among Musicians.
A HIGH-CLASS ORGANIZATION.
The Good Work and Large Membership of
the Mozart Club.
GOSSIP ABOUT OUR LOCAL MUSICIANS

Mr. Andrew Carnegie printed IN IhE
DISPATCH on Wednesday morning nave
attracted much attention among muslcal
circles. Apropos of the question OF erect
ing an organ in the new music hall that
forms parts of the Carnegie Library Build
ing in Allegheny-of which more later on
the public spirited ironmaster said;
"By the way, wish Pittsburg musicians
could he drawn together in loving bonds
and a creditable society organized. read
oftbeir unfortunate dissensions with pain.
If tbev would only combine, should like
TO play patron saint to music in Pittsburg,
for | know of nothing so refining and ele-
waiting in its influence, but one has no heart
to do anything for discordant factions
1t is perfectly natural that Mr.. Carnegie,
or anyone else not constantly on the ground,
should mistake the clouds of dust raised by
the unfortunate dissensions between the two
local unions to be signs of regular Donny-
brook Fair condition through our whole
musical community. More than once has 1t
been pointed out in this column that such
suuabbles in one department tended to cast
discredit, however undeserved, upon mus
ical Pittsburg as whole.
As matter of fact, however, these dis
sensions have occurred only among the
PLAYERS of band and orchestral instruments,
among those who make their livelihood al
most entirely by playing in the theaters, at
dances and similar engagements The dis
tinctiyelv artistic circles of our musical
community have not been directly engaged
in the STRIFE and have been indirectly In
terested it only on the quite rare occasions
when an exceptionally large orchestra had
TO be secured tor some high-class concert.
1 \ E-oa ,1r,N -
drance to artistic interests has now
been removed, since the available and
efficient orchestral players have, almost to
man, become entirely independent of the
NJ. NJ. P. Q. These players, now organized
as the Allegheny County Musicians Union,
and including at least two score men whose
individual abilities are quite up TO the
average of those to be found in most of the
larger cities, have at last got the opportunity
and the disposition to raise themselves up to
the higher artistic plane. They are now
Organizing themselves into a permanent and
fairly complete orchestra tor high-class work
and will next month begin weekly reheArsals
in order to gain the discipline,
the practice in ensemble playing
and the familiarity with musical
works in the larger forms, that are needful
to transform number of players into an
orchestra. This important step forward is
taken by the players on their own response
bility and without any form of guarantee or
definite engagement in view.
So, even out of the department where dis
cussions have prevailed, is now developing
an organization of great artistic promise
and full OF encouragement for the future.
##x
But Mr.. Carnegie need not await any
future developments in order to fulfill his
most praiseworthy desire to "play patron
saint to music in Pittsburg." With the
mists of dissension confined to the valleys
of musical business, where they belong,
single glance will disclose q hilltop OF
musical art rising in quiet dignity and
solid strength far above the cloudy zone.
There is already "a creditable society organ
ized'-one that is now entering its twelfth
season of steady progress toward the artistic
ideals that have ever been the sole object of
Its existence.
: The Mozart Club, of course, is meant. Its
commanding eminence in Pittsburg's
musical life is disputed by no rival what
ever. A number of those who were leaders
in the rival organizations that once
hourished, but have since fallen by the way
side, are now its acti managers;
the rest are now ~ 4ted in with its associate
members and constant supporters. In
word, the Mozart Club combines the
suffrages of all the better elements In our
musical community as mas no other organ
ization at any period in local history.
And it deserves to do SO. There has been
nothing sensational or adventItious in this
clubs activity and development. 1t has
worked its way up from small beginning
by the sheer force of artistic enthusiasm
among its members and managers. 1t has
Trno rr-odf for 4lso
some selt-seeking leader; nor has the giving
of big sensational entertainments ever been
its moving impulse. 1t has thus far striven
above all to cultivate by normal, straight
forward methods all the musical resources
of the city, choral, solo and orchestral. Its
fostering of local talent has been productive
OF untold good, permeating all the channels
of our musical life.
In its function as the foremost concert.
giver OF Pittsburg, the Mozart Club has now
reached the inevitable point where its
chorus is much more efficient than the solo
and orchestral force which it can command
with Its present means. The chorus, upon
undoubted testimony (such as that of Will
helm Gericke, for iustance) is the peer of
any body of singers of similar numbers in
the country. As a matter OF course, the
local soloists and the semi-amateur orchestra,
cannot be upon this, the highest plane of
efficiency. Hence the impossibility of
giving complete and well-balsnced produc-
tions of the works for which the chorus, BY
itself, is amply adequate.
Realizing the situation, the club has been
making every endeavor to secure the needed
foreign aid in the solo and orchestral de-
partments. The Boston Symphony Orches-
ira and several eminent singers were en-
gagged for the clubs last concert in Nav,
and few hundred dollars were lost there.
by. Nothing daunted, the club announces
for its twelfth season five regular concerts
instead of four, and promises to engage for
the last two the Boston Symphony Orchestra
or some other band OF the first rank. To
carry out this enterprising and altogether
praiseworthy policy as it should be, there
ought TO be fully 500 of the associate men,
bers whose subscriptions of $40 apiece form
the only reliable revenue. Last season
there were only about 170 associate men,
bers. The number who have already SUBJ
scribed for this season is about $50, showing
an increase that marks no little growth in
public appreciation, but still falls far short
of the support that should be given,
Here, then, is an organization with a
record of IL years to prove its
permanence; with no rivals or duarrels to
hamper its usefulness; with no taint of per-
sonal interest or money making (eyen the
conductor works without salary to dimin-
ish its public character; with corps of
officers composed of representative and re-
sponsible men from the various walks of
professional and business life; with an
achieved reputation for choral excellence
unsurpassed all over the country and with
the lines already laid toward similar excel
lence in the other ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS