The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-06-23

letter of mine in the New York Musical
Courier regarding local effort by means
of a popular subscription to tide Mr. Fritz
Scheel and his foreign orchestral players
over the vacuous summer season, pub
lished an article on s.Stall-fed Musicians
Our local artists ran their somewhat agi-
tated eyes over the undue prominence
given these newcomers. Returning after
an absence in the East of month, find
the disturbance by no means allayed. Our
own musical prophets are still mourning
their increased lack of honor in their own
country.
| The announcement was made the other
day by President Hallidie of the Mechan-
ics' Institute that Mr.. Fritz Scheel had
been engaged to furnish the music at the
coming fair. He prefaced this news with
the assertion that the public would be
delighted to hear it. Assuming his expec-
| tations to be correct, what is the basis of
this supposed qualification?
| 1t is only to be accounted for on the
grounds of public stupidity, ignorance, in
| gratitude. servile imitation, fickleness, fad
| dism, selfishness and a general indifference
regarding our duty toward a number of
musical fellow-citizens who have served us
! long and well in years past
| / think it i'll becomes Mr.. Hallidie, at the
| head of an institution fundamentally de-
voted to the development of local industry
! and art, to congratulate the community
! upon the supplanting of native artists by
recently imported non-naturalized, nom
taxpaying, nom English-speaking musi-
clans.
There is no justice or consistency in the
proposition. There is no wisdom in it
either. Scheel has been signal failure in
the case of the Park band. Witness the
shower of protesting letters received by the
Commissioners since he assumed the baton
there.
Now, have been thirty years listening
to good and bad music, and | assume,
without apologizing for being an Ameri-
can, that my musical sensibilities are Just
as virile, sensitive and correct in taste as
those of any one else. l therefore claim
the right to speak as authoritative]y as
any one else.
One of the most absurd and offensive
things about American taste In certain cir
cles is that it seems to presuppose any,
thing foreign to be thereby superior to the
home article. While this prejudice is so
nearly universal, in nothing is it better IL
Illustrated than IN the matter of music.
While Anglo-mania, France-mania and a
mania for anything else of European origin
is a national weakness. certain San Fran
ciscans are always in search of new idols in
favor of whom to turn their backs upon
the older ones. Even Ysaye, had he, de-
ceived by the palaver Of local alteration,
transferred his shrine to Oakland, would
have become an unknown god ere many
moons, and his worship would have sunk
into 'innocuous desuetudc."
| believe ii better to encourage musical
| development among our own citizens,
even slowly, than to snow our local talent
| under with foreign lmportatons.
! San Francisco is often accused Of being
Jay town. No phase of its jayness
| portrayed by certain clique is more con-
/ spiclIous than its characteristic manifesto
| ton of undue enthusiasm over Mr.. Fritz
! Scheel and his orchestral invaders One
might infer that we had never been favored
with any orchestral concerts hitherto.
Even admitting that Scheel's performances
excelied previous concerts-and am only
willing to grant this with regard to very
limited number of compositions-was there
| no good in anything previously done?
Shall we turn our backs upon all other
conductors from the venerable Rudolph
Herold down to Hinrichs, Spadina, Ca
sassa, Bauer, Brandt and others who have
! the misfortune of local citizenship?
Adolph Bauer gave more than one series
of the most successful, instructive, we'll
attended and satisfactory symphony con-
certs ever attempted IN this City, some of
his interpretations OF the classics being far
better than those of Mr.. Scheel. He did
this with no aid from imported talent, but
| L
/ even his starvation by popular subscrip-
ton. He had been conductor at the Tivoli
SO long before these concerts were given as
| to lose the advantage of being new
conner, thereby failing to achieve that
! "jay" alteration with which faddists
worship at the Scheel shrine.
! am heartily willing to accord to Mr..
Scheel all that is his due I have enjoyed
his music and admired his conducting, but
/ / am not one of those who seem to think
him the only one fit to lead the Park band,
/ the Institute band, the amateur orchestras,
or to furnish symphony music-certainly
not when to do so involves the overthrow
and artistic discontinue of worthy pre-
| decessors whose past services are entitled
to grateful recognition.
Until | am convinced that so out of 100
listeners could appreciate the superiority
of Scheels performances-say for in
Stance, at the Mechanics Fair-to those
OF his predecessor, l shall not be "glad to
| hear" that he has supplanted Charles
Casassa, who for years has raised the
standard of music there to the high level
| it has attained-even though Mr.. Scheel
does receive a higher salary.
Comparative artistic excellence, which
at best is matter of indefinite determine
! ton, and dependent upon the unreliable
verdict of diiettanteism and much imagin-
| ary nonsense of the la-de-da order, is not
the only desideratum in matter of this
kind.
I am sellishly American to the extent of
preferring the encouragement of home in
| dustry in raiment, food, wines, cigars, and
even in music, when the homemade arti-
Gle is good enough to furnish fair degree
of enjoyment.
If previous performances of musical
masterpieces may have been a trifle lack
| ing in perfection, one ought to be able to
supply by Imagination any lapse, or
should at least refrain from making in
vidious comparisons.
Music is essentially food for the i'm
agination. l seldom hear any music that
method of its Interpretation. 1t might be
; played faster, slower, louder or softer.
These things are largely matters of indi-
viduai feeling. Shakespeare wrote one
play of Hamlet" but has received many