Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1889-04-14
NEW YORK LETTER.
Won BuLow, TIE GREAT PIANIST ~.
1EsviEwkn By TEs DISPATCH
CORRESPONDENCE
Rs Says America Has Advanced in Mus,c-
interesting chat-FhOnoSraphic roys-
A HigS-Born Clerk, &c.
'cOrr"'OOOaenoc o. tue Richmond pl.p.,ca.,


"ln music America has advanced ,,;th
sevenfeague boots and with Edison cleo
iriciiy pace, If may be permitted so 10
term It, came too soon before. and
besides ! WIS in bad health. and in any,
thiuS but pleasant temper"
Hans Won Bulow. toe great German
pianist, smiled and pniied his cigarette
vigorous N when he finished the remarks
above Tie was seated IN an arm. chair
at tae Hotel Normsndie and conversipR
with some friends. For three hours pre-,
Nious he had been rehearsine. and he
said that he cltaBything but lively. bis
actions and conversation. however.
showed that he was very much elated
end anything but latigued.
HANS Won BULow.
He wore a black frock-coat somewhat
frsyed around the edges and pair of
trodscrs that may have seen service when
he visited the country years ago Right
IN tie front and on the ton of his head
De is bald. and unlike many aged but
vain men he never attempted TO plaster
over the exposed surface with the fringe
Oi gray hair doing dutv lower down on
bis Uranium. I he Doctor has blue eyes.
little gray goatee and moustache, and
looks more ike a trenchman than
German.
Then you como 10 America this time
IN your normal condition, do you not,
Doctor ?" asked the writer.
All ] come. as | should have come
before, feeling IN splendid condition,
md in Rooi humor. II makes all tie
difference in the world. The fact Is
expect 10 find the fountain Of youth il
America, and renew myself. Everything
Is so different from what il was when /
first came over. / do not think there
viii be any .I0tT pas 10 mar the pleasure
Of NY trip.
fnd that Wagners music has taken
hold If the people here, and in many
respects, that is commemorate. IT shows
some advancement. When ( was here
before the Italian school was all the
rage.
"Whnt do you think Of Hen seidl as
q conductor
MUSICAL CONDUCTORS.
Herr Scidl can conduct for the Bay
reuth school. but be will not DO for the
classical. For Beethoven and such com
can interpret them correctly. Why,
Walter DamIosch can conduct such
operas IS Iannhauser and lohongrin
better than HCTr Scidl. ! was sur
prsed 10 SEQ that the orchestra at the
METROPOLITAN Opem-House had only
one harp Wagner always had two,
and the eject Is much better | recon-
mended another harp to Mr.. Stanton, and
] think lie has taken my advice. J con-
fess. however, that the operas here are
put on the stage better than they are
IN Europe. The SINGERS? Well. now, IN
tend 10 speak plainly. Wagncrian sing
ers are highly interesting As a rule, hut
they get TO barking, many of thea, and
where is the melody? There was Scbott
and Niemann. whom Americans praised
highly, who were onlytwo great harkers.
Take tho Nalkier- Tor instance, and what
did they 90 ia that but play mimlcs =?
They knew nothing about phraslng. The
fact Is, Macuer's operas, many Of them,
give a singer chance merely to pose be-
fore large audience and make a noise
for they 40 not sing. Now, there IS Al
vary. ! do not blame New York women
for kissing aud hugeing him. because he
is really q singer. II Is true he was no
body IL Germany. hut nc has developed
in America. / call him Ph9niX-a
product of the New World.
Won BuLow or WAGNER.
"Do I understand you 10 say that
YOU are not Wagnerian above and TO the
exclusion Of other composers y
" Iou did, Tor | am not ultra-Wag-
merriam. and l dcprecste the attempt TO
place his works on a pedestal above
many other great composers. knew
Richard Wagner well, and helped to adj
vance the Nagnerian school in Ger
many, but I am sensible and unpreju-
diced enough te believe there are other
composers. ] appreciate his greatness
and recognize the compliment paid him
IN America, but ! want it distinctly I'M
derstood that / am not an ultra Wsg
neYian.
Then Won do not put Wagner at the
head Of the list OF composers
81 will answer that by telling yOu
what ! wrote in young lsdy's album
recently. 1t was, Il believe in Bach the
father, beethoven the son, aud IN
brahms, the holy ghost OF music To
Johannes brahms, OF Vienna, ! owe my
redemption from the ultra Wagnerlan
school. The fact is l renewed my musl-
cal youth by lis acquaintance tie
taught mo that there are many com
posers, many musicians, not one and l
owe him much for bringing me out OF
the sloughs of prejudice where the one
man worship prevails l could talk TO
you for hours about that great musician,
but what have already said will show
YOU that he Is broad and catholic IN his
musical views.
HARD on VERDI.
"Do YOU ever see Verdi these DAYS ?"
"Do YOU mean Verdi, the Italian?
Hnmph / hear of him now and then.
Is there any music in his Otello can
not understand how an omelette can be
made without eggs. and do not see how
music can be made without melody.
Verdi has no melody in anything be com
noses. He cannot help it because II IS
not in him. Wagner is anything but IN
ternational, confess, but when 1t comes
20 preaching mp Verdi, as some unedu-
Gated people do, AZ an universal expo
pent OF music, then become filled with
laughter and regard ii as prepOsterous
ossuunption. Think, or rather try to
imagine, Russian or Italian Washing
ton. and then consider Verdi from musi-
calstandpoint. Hisalleged melodies smell
of low people, OF ths vulgar, the unedu-
Gated. Where is that perfect expression,
the eyes. the nose, the entire face, that
conveys the resemblance, in fact the
exact portraiture of beautiful woman
or handsome man, so 10 speak, to be
found in Verdi's work? 1t is not there.
An eve, or part OF the musical face is
. there. but that is all. We ind n perfect
expression, though, in such operas as
Sompambua and Norma. do not like
one thing. however, in Othello. and that
- IL IL IL iharn hnrv