The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-11-21
MUSIC AND MUSICIANS.

Brass.pand contests which ere so enor-
mously popular i'll the north OF England, par
ticularly in Lancashire and Yorkshire, have
been introduced into London In con-
uection with the Musical Trades Exh1.
bition, The contests have taken the fancy of
the Londoners, and it is now settled that they
will see at least one annually. Next to his
bull terrier the typical Yorkshireman seems to
love his euphonium or his trombone, while in
Lancashire brass-band contest is as great
draw as an intercounty cricket match. for
weeks before the day of the contest the par
tisans of the leading competitors go about
canvasslng the chances OF the struggle ana
telling all who will listen that their own par
ticular pets can't be beaten. The followers OF
the Wyke band will declare that although
their men "are nobbut GOLFERS" they intend
giving an excellent account of themselves.
The equally famous "Besses o. tn Barn" de-
clare that the Bosses can win hands down,
and should well-known band, Black Dyke or
Kingston, fail to enter for one of the larger
events you will find their rivals going about
triumphantly and truculently demanding
"Wheers Kingston, all wonder? There's
summat wrong somewheer, ah'm thinking.
Enthusiasm of this kind demands Its own
journalistic organs, and there are several
papers devoted to chronicling the stable news,
so to speak, of every band in training. An
popular parsonage, for feeling occasionally
runs high Sometimes the disgust of defeated
competitors takes the form of letters to the
papers. Sometimes, as in the Derby district
recently, more active manifestation OF re-
sentiment is made, and the judge has to be
protected by the police. while number of
new instruments have to be subsequently pur-
chased to take the places OF those damaged in
the scrimmage-and yet there are people who
raG, ,fv,rv inf nm
on the masses.
A recent corresp ondence addressed from st.
Petersburg to the Neue Freie Presse gives some
details with regard to the late Anton Rubin
stein, not generally known to the public. The
correspondence presents him in his character
as director of the Royal Conservatory of st.
Petersburg. His activity was something in
credible and the reforms which he executed
were nothing to those which he was projecting.
Small and great benefited equally from his
solicitude, but he applied himself particularly
to leveling the exterior barriers which the diff
ferences of fortune raised between the pupils
With that end in view, he introduced a rule
commanding that the toilette of the girls
should consist of simple brown dress without
any kind of ornament, his object being to pre-
vent the daughters of the ricn from wounding
the sensibiiities of the poor pupils by dis
of the girls classrooms should be of glass. In
his mind this did not imply suspicion OF the
professors, but necessary precautiop against
the possibility of idle gossip or scandal. Before
Rubinstein's time, teachers were in the habit
OF arriving late or sometimes of not arriving at
all. The master soon changed all that; q cele-
brated pianist, professor in the establish
ment, came late several times. She was taken
to task sharply and made to understand that
her artistic caprices must never interfere with
her duties as a teacher. Rubinstein daily lis
tened to the pupils lessons and toward the
end, in spite of failing health, he underwent
the most trying fatigues in following the de-
velopment of the pupils in all the branches
taught at the Royal Conservatory.
1t would be premature to say that a greater
virtuoso than Paderewski has arisen in Emil
Sauer, but the new pianist is proving very
satisfactory consolation to European audi
ences for the absence of the Polish pianist,
who is fulfilling his American engagements.
Sauer first achieved some popularity in Berlin
in 1885. Last spring he went almost unher-
aided to London and announced q series of re-