Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-10-04
THE MUSIC WORLD.
Present Status and Future of the
Divine Art in America.
MONEYS PART IN ITS PROGRESS.
Something About the Reception Of Wag-
ners Opera at Paris.
AT THE DUQUESNE AND AT THE EXPO.

AH interesting contribution, ulscusSiis
the present status and the future Of musl'
in America, has been received from MIR
Homer Moore and is printed below in ac
cordance with the policy of this depart
ment to encourage such contributions
especially from local musicians, and to give
them as much space as the conditions per
nit:
To the lover Of America very little salts
1actlon comes from reading O world-hlstorS
OF music, for upon its pages he will look III
vain Tor great name or great composition
that was or is indigenous to the New World
In nearly every other department of human
greatness We find names of which We arc
justly proud, and which make our nation
what it is to-day. But when we come to the
field of music the brightness has fadca the
glory has never been.
AS there is no effect without an adequate
cause, there must be cause for this one
great weakness i'll our nations endeavor.
That Americans have tried tn write music
goes without saying, since the country IS
flooded with their productions. The guam
tlty is more than sufficient. but the quality
as general thing will reflect more credit
on Hs the less it is known and appreciated ut
its real value. We have no national music;
no national style of composition which
would distinguish us from Germany, Italy
or France.
That the music of few European COM
poscrs is the best that has ever been pro-
duccd cannot be denied, but it must be re-
membered that from their earliest child
MOOD they wera surrounded by an atmos-
phera of critical musicianship. BY attend
ance upon concerts, both public and private,
upon the opera, the grand mass and the
oratorio, the music of the time became
almost part of their being. They were
hlled with it as is q strong body with
vitality by which it can asslmilate the
nourishment taken in. and they were able
to digest what they heard, and by the con-
sequent development to acquire the
strength to produce in their turn the
works which thrill us with admira-
tioh and wonder But though their
music is the best the world has yet heard,
Its virtue does not compensate us for the
lack of a e-production possibly inferior.
Our national musical ability is not strength
ened when some other nation does the work
and gets the training. We see the results
and admire their beauty and power, but orr
own weakness by comparison, increases in
proportion.
Developing Talent in America.
In order that public taste may be devel-
oped, the public must hear good music as it
should be rendered. The overture to Tam
hauser" is practically q different compost
tion when played by the Boston Symphony
Orchestra than when the ambitious organist
plays it for himself upon his instrumeIE
America suffers from the lack of facilities
Tor the proper rendition of great musical
works. With small chance of his muSi.
being published, the American composer
cannot vie with the European along that
line, and with no opportunities for it to he
performed no stimulus to his exertion re-
mains.
Men do not sit and write year after year
just to see their own multifariouS aggrega-
tions of ink spots on otherwise valuable
paper, and tho feeble struggle American
has made has been, in spite OF
the fact that its productions would never
cases proved to be a groundless hope
that the old rule would be broken. Occas-
fonally the compositions of Americans have
been produced, and, compared with the
greatest masterpieces OF Europe, found to
be inferior and condemned. OF course this
has not always been the case, and occasion
ally the more or less valuable excuse may
be advanced that, being accustomed to the
onjuring influence OF mysteriously great
names, the mystic influence was absent
which usually. occasioned sympathetic,
appreciative mood, and so, like one whose
OF liver was out of order, what was
taken in could not be digestcd and assimil'
Ated. Besides, very frequently tho compo-
sitions have been improperly rehearSed, i'm
conducted-frequentlyb by the COM
poser himself-improperly performed; SO
another reason appears for the failure.
Furnishing the Money.
In discussing Americas futnre in musical
art We are driven from every point back to
the Une question of finance, and it is right
that it should have the gravest consdera-
tion by everyone who cares for the musical
standing of our nation before the world. The
question naturally divides into two parts:
First. shall the manager attempt to develop
public taste into public desire for the best
in music ard dissolve his scanty means
In failure; or, shall the burden be
n small surplus that may be lost
without producing suffering to the individ-
ual? 1 do not here refer to the common
notion that it is the duty of the rich to sup
port such undertakings. 1t Is very danger
Ous to attempt to determine what any mans
duty may be, and duty all by itself, either in
the abstract or concrete, and unassociated
with any individual life, is Al difficult prob
lem to solve. ] refer to that vast multitude
in our country who are well-to-do, and can
afford such pleasures, comforts and advan-
tageS as are outside the limit Of necessities.
In every city of f2oQOO0population i'll America
there are enough such to support musical
of artistic worth, and to mlin-
tain high grade of musical appreciation.
In the larger cities the means and advan-
tages could be increased in proportion until
they would enjoy every advantage pos
sesscd by the cities of Europe.
Time is required to accomplish this, but of
all things at present n beginning is the most
necessary. Strange as 1t may seem to soune
there is nearly as much enjoyment in u
symphony as in n minstrel show, and con-
siderable moro benefit. When the people
all over this land have as abundant oppor-
tunities to hear symphonies as they have
had to hear minstrel shows they will be on
the way to as thorough a knowledge of the
first as they now have of the second.
The question is, how can beginning be
made? 1t cannot be done all at once, but
some city must lead the way by furnishing
perfor nances of the highest order at II
req Sonable cost. Men of influenced and means
alone can bring this about. They can place
such an enterprise upon a sound, permanent
basis, feeling sure that in time their efforts
will be appreciated and the thing itself be-
come seli-supporting. Courage and public
spirit are prominent attributes of Ameri-
cans: our nation, our Government our COM
merce, ourindustries, are everlasting mon
of the greatness of the individual
men and women of the land, and when they
put their hands to the work, not only Amer
ca for Americans, but American music for
will be heard from New orll to
SAN Francisco. The undertaking is not too
small for their notice nor too great for their
accomplishment.
In vocal music there are two SUBMITS
toward which the ambitious composer can
strive. The first is the sacred, as to be
found in the oratoriO: the second is the sec
ular. as in the usic-drama or opera. All
other forms OF vocal music are isolated parts
or features of one or the other of these great
forms: For the standing and merit of the
first the church is largely responsible Pom
llar taste is greatly influenced in It's devel-
ment by the sort OF music to be heard in the
churches
What Churches Can Do.
In the Sunday school the children learn
their first songs and as the associations of
children deepen in after years and become
precious, so the music of childhood gets a
yet deeper hold upon the soul, and influ-
ences all that it comes in contact with Ont
side OF the important fact that frivolous
church music develops irreverence for re-
igion itself, in this connection let it be
noticed that it depraves the whole musical
nature and blights development which was
to be'upward. When the churches
Danish from the Sunday school and the
service all o: a "Gospel-song" character.
and demand sacred music that can express
the longing of the soul after God, the music
will be ready and religious development
easier and surer.