The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-11-02
FAMOUS COMPOSERS.
Inst Notice.

B, Millet company, Boston, entitled Ia
nous Composers" has reached It's comp,e
tion, the last five parts containing bio
graphical sketches OF Tscna,so"sny ny
w. j. Henderson, an exceedingly sympa-
thetic article on Liszt by w. Laughans,
sketch Of Grieg by Mrs; Ole Bull with q
Gade by Louis C. Elson, sketches. of Will
liam Byrd, William s. Bennett. Dr. HUI
bert Parry and Charles Villiers Stanford
by W. S. ROckstrO: q sketch OF Henry
BY Charles l.. Capen, one Of Balfe by B. p:
Woolf, sketches OF Sir Arthur Sullivan and
DIR. Alexander C. Mckenzie by Florence
A. Marshall, and three papers-one by
Henry T Fnek on MuSe nsrmor in Eussa snd
Hungary:" one by w. s. Rockstro on
.'Music in England" and, in conclusion.
II. L: krehbie's very fair estimate Of
"Music in America" to which we shall
at the beginning of this enterprise that If
the standards of the pioneer parts were
sustained throughout the numbers TO
come. the music-loving public could thank
the publishers for the most important
CO, i. .shution to the literature of music
made within the memory of the present
generation. Now that the thirty parts lie
before us, this does not seem an extrava-
CANT forecast. The attempt to compress
within the limits Of such publication the
salient facts in the biographies of all the
great composers together with critical
estimates of their work and influence anu
essays briefly narrating the history or
music in the various schools naturally
necessitated much condensation, yet IN no
place does it's performance seem made
quate, and the illustrations with which
the text has been illumined represent a
wealth Of pictorial matter such as we
have never seen surpassed In any other
publication of like character
/. .--
Ut. Krahh
"Music in America" 1t is, we know, a
common lament that there is no such
thing as music in America, Very ire
quently one hears remarks by persons
trained in the atmosphere Of foreign art
disparaging the achievements of our ma
tive musicians, and dismissing the whole
subject Of home performance in, say, COM
position with the flippant comment that
there ''are no composers In America. A
case In point occurs to US as we write, so
apropos that we shall set it down despite
the fact that 1t treads on somewhat deli
cate ground. There is lady residing in
q city not many leagues from Scranton
who, although American born. received
an exhaustive musical education In Ger
many, under conservative and possibly
narrow instructors who taught her to hold
In contempt everything not bearing the
ultra Teutonic stamp. 1t SO happens that
this lady's husband is a German by birth.
and also in touch with German inspira-
tions and ideals; yet, having chosen to
make his home In America he has man
fully endeavored to deal fairly with Amer
piano anything OF American composition,
and will listen to such music only under
protest. The mention Of an American
composers name In her, presence Is sure
to elicit some uncomplimentary comment.
II Paine. his music is stuff II Dudley
Buck, rubbish" II Arthur Foote, NON
sense, sheer nonsense" But the husband,
viewing. things more literally, is pro-
r1r xf tIrA #nnvv, ,y..Ngt n
each Of these men, and of some other
native composers besides; and once In Gu"
hearing rebuked the narrowness of his
wife In these words, which We commend
to the perusal Of others afflicted with
similar prejudice:
my dear. have you ever stopped TO
think what would have happened to the
Teutonic composers II Germany had been
settled, about the middle of the seven
teenth century, by a race Of pilgrims who.
for more than one hundred years, decreed
by law against the use Of any musical
instrument as goddess and profane, and
very day. view in the church organ a
stumbling block to grace and In the violin
a mechanism of Satan for the seduction OF
human souls? Did 1t ever occur 10 you
that II in Berlin or Vienna, as IN New
York, the date Of the first operate per-
formance should run back scarcely more
than century; and OF the organization
of the first permanent orchestra, back
hardly more than fifty years. possibly the
achievements of the great German mas
ters, of whom you are so infatuated, might
not have been, upon the whole. much bet
ter than are the present achievements Of
your American composersT
No. 1t had not. She was forced to con-
fess that she had not thought of the mat
ter in quite that light. Yet she was eager
to condemn her own countrymen, regard
less of the facts In the case. and willing
10 assume what every American ought to
1%H, lfvntr tr u tIat tnl
tions the palm of supremacy in any line Of
endeavor would belong to n foreign race.
Are there not many such persons, who
similarly speak before they think?
II.
Mr. Krehbiel finds three distinct starting
points In the history OF American music.
One Is the church. which has New England
as its habitat; another in the theater, the
influence of which began and yet remains
paramount. in New York; and for the
third he takes the German "mannerge-
sang" which may be regarded as belong
ing to the region of which the city of Gin
cinnatitis the present center Mr. Kreh-
biel defends his selection of the last
starting-point In these words:
1.-THE attitude of Germany toward
America In respect of the latter's musical
culture is like that Of ancient Greece to-
ward the Roman empire. 1t would be as
unwise to attempt study of music in
of the German influence, as 1t would be
to account for the origin and development
II Latin literature and Latin learning
without considering Hellenic influences.
Germany has sent her teachers and per-
formers to us. as Greece sent her teachers
and artists to Rome. Moreover. two Of the
most important features OF our present
musical life are almost wholly the fruit
Of the German element In our population.
Without 1t we should not only be without
Orchestras, but. also without that wide
cultivation Of the four-part song for mems
voices which has done so much to spread
love and appreciation for the art. There
is another people to whom should be glad
TO pay an equal .meed of praise were It not
that its musical activities are restricted to
single communities. This people Is the
Welsh, choralists ,of singular excellence.
but who still practice that separatism In
this country that their ancestors did, In
their native land. wherefore they were
enabled to maintain their individuality as
race through all the revolutions. poiiti-
cal and social, to which their island was
subjected by Saxon, Norman and Dane"
We cannot hope to follow our. author
through the many details Of his Journey
ings in tracing the influence Of these initial
agencies upon American music. AT best
we can but snatch a sentence here and
there. For instance. after contending that
the Puritanical opposition to music which
SO long sterilized the art instincts Of New
England was religious in origin, rather
t than artistic; being in fact the battle Of
biel delivers himself Of this opinion con-
cerning the hymn compositions df william
Billings Q747-1SOO who is called the first
american composer, and his followers:
These hymns were as crude and vulgar
IN text as In music, fit precursors indeed
of the so-called gospel hymns which are
30 much admired today, and which are
as frivolous and commonplace in melody,
meagre In harmony,and secular in rhythm
their words gnOCknO N Of IA.