New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-11-26

-,ls,c impression as he did on that memo
o. al. occasion. His second number was more 10
ming OF the audience. being Wienaski's fam
,, an themes from Gounods Faust" The
'.ssrs were Nine. scachi and NJ Plancon. who
rv recalls a, each appearance.
A. Carnegie Hall on Saturday evening Mr. FL
~, Schenck gave concert at which ne en-
,.,,ored 10 show to the public what skill ne has
mined ir the twofold capacity Of composer and
.,tuctOr i VAS public concert. and though the
.,bic manifested very little interes; I'm II Uhe
audience bang largely composed of the young mans
rsrsonal fIicn -. ii is OF III subject for
,,blic conn ea; This might fairly begin with
.,,-sssoa Of doubt touching the wisdom Of the
,srt,rmance for Mr.. Schenck has neither
me age nor the experience in eithe- Of
me departments in which he essayei 70 Justify so
v,nturtsomc an experiment, in city like New
York where there Is no want OF conductors of
knowledge and experience. and where noveltie;
never make appeal for their own sake alone Still
his Is MS affair. and it is only be regretted
that the demonstration which he made did not come
nearer the standard of excellence which must DE
enforced here His compositions. called SYM
phonlc poem on Olive SChreiners THE Los, Joy"
and an overture. "Perseus and Andromeda." are
amlieurish in thought and execution. though occa-
.onally scored with good effect anu showing free
dom from c0nyenionality in harmonic treatment.
But they lack consistency and logical development.
Mr. Schenck conducted the orchestra in these
works. the overture to "Egmont," the minor
symphonic torso by Schubert. Wagner's kaiser
na-sch" and the Accomplishments to some ars
sung by Nile. de Beridez. with abundant conf
isnce and with signs OF familiarity with the theory
as well as the practice Of that difficult ART.
The first week Of the opera gave evidence OF
keen AMI generous public interest in the enterprise
o, Messrs. Abbey and Grau. and the beginning
-lst De SCI down extremely suspicious. The
managers plainly have ample confidence in the
rlingness of the public TO support them. and
oniemplating 4 series of SATURDAY night repre-
citations at reduced rates of admission. j.
ruli be an extremely interesting experiment, and
a. entirely practical one withal, in view Of the
large number OF artists composing the company.
What singular convolu,ion is it in the brains of
poets and novests that tempts them often 10
refer to music in a manner to disclose an ignorance
Of the simplest facts about the art OF which
child ought to be ashamed? Here is a character
In The Royal Marine" who is represented as
composer. permitting another character to refer TO
the moonlight concerto" ard simply replying
What does he know about concertos ] should
ike to know" This from writer who lives in
lew-Y York and lectures literature, Neither is
his first offence OF the same kind. all anna
eurs know who read his "Etelka Talmeyr" where
n enigmatcal creature sings Schumanns
'Warum." In "Snubbin' through Jersey" painter
lays 1.-THE symphonies of Beethoven on a vioon-
,ello for the entertainment OF his artist friends.
/, is easy enough forgive Charles Lamb for
saying In his Chapter Ears that he could not
distinguish a soprano from a tenor. but could some
times contrive guess at the thorough bass
from its being "supereminen,ly harsh and disa-
greeable." for the passage occurs in a confession
ot ignorance: but If a novelist wishes TO help along
ii.,, 9 10 h,- raFe n
compositions he ought at least 10 be correct
Apropos of this what shall be said OF such mortal
sins as stain Hezekiah Butterworths book on The
Great Composers" recently republshed in a re
yised and enlarged editiOn"-a book written for
instruction. but which discoses on every page the
crasses kind Of ignorance concerning the art. and
contains perhaps many misspelleI names as
correct ones? Where are the inspirations o.
Palestrina familiar in every cultivated
iome?' In Boston? surely not In Ne"-forH
There are many things in the book that VIII APP
pear diverting to even the tyro in music Here
are few specimen bricks:
With the coming OF Christianity the reed sue
ceedei the cord. the organ the har;. ana melody
and harmony the Greek rhapsody. a. -
Church chants, introduced four new tones. and
wrote solemn musical composition "ncn en-, ~ mom
by the Catholic church. and is used by the Eng,
fish and Eastern church during Lent SeVeta ~
=
music among them "Omutz' and Hamburg.
are evolved rom IT, In Europe the orsanist gives
rtone or half-tone in advance of the singing .
Before the sweet symphony. the classic o'eI ' 9
understand them great progress In musical IN
vention had to he made Counterpolnt me Dea1a
= the soprano. alto. tenor and bass OF me c9h!Vn
;orm Of musicbegan to be undeTstood IN ,, ,ns
Middle Ages: and about the year 100 the piitS
increased 10 sx-bass barytone. tenor con-
raho. mezzO-soIrano and soprano.
There you have definition and history gone "
seed With vengeance. Mr. Butterworths DO
graphical material is scarcely less amazing MO
Fart was seven years old when he went TO LONDON
yet this b.osrapher finds room for this anecdo'e
Nozarts running you down In England, wro,e
ship
4 cannot believe it," cried Haydn. ''If 1t be
"ae will forgive him.
Mr. Butterworth thinks that In ancient Hh"s'o'
whenever the composition was in unison IL was
called symphony; that the serpent ana Dus'e
are Instruments in the modern orches"a' "''
Dee'hoyen's C-sharp minor sonata was an i'hp'o'
isa,ion to the moonlight that Mendelssohn com
posed an Irish" well as a scotch syihpho"''
INA, the sensualists. Chopin ana I-isz'' were
Creatures OF infinite tenderness. that recoiled win
ssaudder whenever they came In contact WIN inc
wicked world. that Rossini is the greatest u'"-
matte composer OF the present century 'ha' ""s
ner wrote descriptive music. in when sou'u -
made 10 interpret sense. almost without meiouE'
called his methods the music OF the future anu
predicted that his works would find great app
claton in the New World; that WEBER was VIZ
zarts cousin: that Schumann wrote "a symphony
~ Bhat minor; that Sai1tSaens WAS one OF my
musical conductors at the Chicago fxnlDlhOn "
10" and hundred other things equally absurd
and fantastic. The book is disgrace 10 au'hor
and publisher
8 The enthusiasm OF the lovers OF Wagner music
IN France has long been known 10 the visHoIs 10
SaYeuth. No pilgrims to the Wagneran Mecca
are so uncompromising in their devotion az those
Who come from the beautiful land beyond the
hnne This fac,, together with the Juror caused
IN Paris by the production OF "Lohengrin ana
,walkure' at the Grand Opera recently occa-
s.ohed a bon mot which has been repeated WIN
approval by Of the Paris newspapers lnimcaI
70 wagner few weeks ago Siegfried wagner
nm on the pOet-composer. who passed through
rsrls. talking about the musical situation. re
wa THE French are more Wagnerlan tnan
NY father was"