New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-06-03
YusrcxI coMmSSE
= .sc,xxrre or NEGRO M1NsrRrIsT-rHE

.>c,rxrva OF NEGRO MIEsrRrLsT-THE
$50 r,ryo-opEaA A GENERATION AGO.
= .,,,r.,, number Of Hsrpers Magazine mr.
y - ss,,,ton ESSAYS to trace the history OF negro
t1aiss,.. 3, AmerIca, and succeeds In bringing
nn ,.pgr oumber OF interesting facs IN con-
pses ,s,,h Early music and theatricais' In one
$3.50 tss most surprising Of those isots u uhe quo
rs2ss ~. ..,nor,ty of Mr.. Charles White, an OLD
sss..,n COMEDIAN which credits MT Orsupher
- ss,sx the father Of negro song inIs ofSuP'
- 10 have sung The Gay Negro BOY, u 0ns,"o
z. accompanying himself on the oanIC' a. 90 zoo :,
s...son6 act al oroonoko' on December So i''o, a.
-, str.., Theatre Boston. Here - another
-. a. 4hs can of a German musician VINO perVaaes
- 49, =, ,cvssc IN Boston like no other lnui'iuu9i'
80. I.ot,l,eh C;raupner, hautooyist VINO played
=. ,As hand az Hanovenan regimen ior Peiiou
.,,or N Aprjl 1875, then went 10 Lohuo' su''' % ~
fvish. ssys, Splayed In Haydn's Orsne
rrs,t master brought oat LIS tweNe ionN o'
nnon,s in solomon concerts, l'ol'o-' Won 'n'HS0
- prince Edwards Island, next 70 Cnssies, :, ~
where he married and spent some une' - 80"
Boston in 1903. In Boston he leu Iov sho niar.S
oa FEDERAL street Theatre, kept muso snoP, p"'o"
~. 49,. ,hs double-bass and nearly every otner IN
--..,. s.vo lessons in music. organized FhnnaC>
800 so.,stv IN 1910 and Joined IN the mrs, call tor
an. n.r.ni.atIon Of the Handel ana hsyuh society III
MaroA 1915 MI. Gsapner gave oonDei'' una =.
~, srs. IN New. England In ssem' OIL "S' 40 i''o nv
.s,. CONCERT his wife, who became one OF tne most
r,om,nout of Boston's yoeaiS's, sang he Iipes 0o
49,, :, uook ana took part In quartet and
sWee" w w. nsns. % the Fiddle and Tabor from
a aass - .suIred opera Of Lock and Key"
.,, .O,ourn in Charleston suggests
-, =. !. german became acquainted with the
"a .,,o Offers evidence on the question mooted
A., r,,,top whether or not the banjo was common
" - ar .,.y,s Of the South. This Is only con-
$3.50 hovsver Thomas Jefferson, In his Notes
-, v,rs,pias says; %The instrument proper to them
f,S, HACKS Is the bantar, which they brought hither
trom Ahscas when the controversy between Joel
Chanrer Harris and George W. Cable concerning the
hanto was 10 progress five six years ago Mr. kreh-
b,eI stnpted to give genesis Of the Instrument In
TIA Tsibane. His conclusions were these:
Z ANA that our negroes got 1t from Africa, but
i,s srsass and fngerboSrd tell OF advanced cyDiEa
lion think that the instrument from which the
ksnjo has been developed in America was Ill Oriental
iastsarnent which had degenerated in the hands OF
as ssvsges The influence Of the Arabs has peneusted
ssninstois Of stFinged instruments and credited
with having introduced the guitar family into Europe
or rcnccs ar friend Of mine ' in New-oriesns, from
whom lately had letter. says that German who
lived in Neworleans thirty years, ago told him that
the negroes OF that time IN louisiana used, IN i'd
dition to hand-clappiug and drumming, to accompany
themselves upon curious sort of banjo made out
vessel They bSsred tSe strings Several tribes Of
negroes IN Africa have bddles that look as II made
OF cigar-hoxes.
Mr. Jeerson's @bsn,ar" Is interesting as Increasing
the little light which eymOlogy throws on the origin
Of the banjo. The natives OF senegambia have an
instrument Of the guitar kind which trey call baniss
That seems likely root for banjo There Is another,
possibly, in pandora old ute-shapcd either with
win strings that were twanged with plectrum.
Mr.. Hutton's article is exceedingly entertaining
ard suggestive. IL is pity that for the sake Of
an of-hsnd, gossippy style he should have set down
some things calculated to encourage missppreheasiop
For instance. there is absolutely doubt that sor
Palmo's operate venture began in February 1874,
In an opera house built by him in Chsmbers-st
which was afterward known Burton's Theatre
There Is Just little doubt CMr. Hutton and a
popular phrase 10 the contrary notwithstanding that
Nero did not fiddle for the dancing Of the flames
that consumed Rome nineteen hundred years ago"
Nero was singer with baritone voice, little
weak and boarse e Quamqusm eHguae vocis ct fuscae"
Is suetonius's remark this point, and he played
tho kithars, hydraulic organ chor1c flute and bag
pipes, but be was not fiddler for the very sufficient
reason that neither the Greeks nor the Romans
possessed instrument Of the VOL family II Is well
to preserve the verties Of history even in perstsse
There was interesting and Instructive reading for
sfhe than edos and politicians in the letters FROM
Horace Greeley 70 Mr. Daus, published two weeks
go in " Tho Sun" and Tribune. One of them called
w "reminiscences Of the operate proolo ln NswIork
illrty three years ago. Mr.. Greeley plsytuiy asks
nd suggests that Mr.. Dana have 1t done and sond
be BILL to him. This Ineendiary proposal was called
SATURDAY. previous had omitted some comments sent
son Washington on National affairs and devoted five
.oHn,ns orr. G,eeley, exaggerated the number 70
falisn .epera in New-Yorh, The Article which
excited Mr. Groeleys ire would be reading
now when the operate problem does not soem any
icsrer solution than It did in January, 1886. But
hss wonderfully changed its phases season 81
he academy Of Music under the management Of Mr.:
usual. II had teen disastrous. Mr. Fry gave his
opinion as 70 tho reasons and suggested 9 remedy.
sbe season was modelled on that Of London, a few
weeks at high prices, though the social conditions
we're different. The masses were not appealed TO.
brosdway whllo all the successful theatres on
Z. Mr.. Fry wanted longer season. al lower prices
ormsd alternately in italian, and ihs yernseuisr
rom his article Il appears that such singers as
rhe total cost Of Mr.. Payne's troupe $4,000 .
Month, which b considerably less than the cost OF
u present
hon that has passed since Mr. Fry wrote fve-column
articles on tho opera In The Tribune. Think OF la
sssd x i WSes s TSs former S orS
" the finest vOcSllsts OF tho century. who here
IN her prime; the latter tenor. whose skl in dress
ng dramatic Intelligence. graceful bearing and hand
sone figure enabled him TO succeed splenddly in ono
ssPeyA and DO fairly well in two others, but whose
specially taose winch require Iyricai style he IS
simply dreadful innrilOn who win try to esiai-
hsh the proper relationship between artistic merit and
seiNs III tne lace OF such an anomaly
-
NE. LEsLIs's FRIENDS GIVE HIM DryyER
Fred Leslie, Of the Gaety Company was ente,tained At
inncs 90 Delmonieos last night BY numbe, q, A,Ic.n
comedians and personal friends. De Wolf Boppar prs