The record-union., 1896-06-21

manager. who is tied to tree while
Taglioni is dancing on the green.
Clara Schumann survived her IA
nous husband forty years, though she
was only nine years younger than ne.
She had won fame as pianist before
he1 marriage, yet it was not till she
came into daily contact with his genius
that her talent ripened fully. For what
ne did for her she fully repaid him by
taking every occasion, ON her concert
tours. to familiarize the public with his
pieces which, i'm those days or Men
delssohn worship, were shamefuuly
neglected. But the world owes her much
more than that. Love has ever been the
chief inspirer of genius. and it was dur
ing the period of his courtship and the
first years of married life (before his
mind became affecteD that he wrote
his best works. In the year of his mar
riage he wrote over 100 songs, and, ac-
cording to his own confession, the piano
pieces written during the period of his
courtship reveal much of his personal
experience and feeling.
The Placerville Nugget comments
sharply, after thus quoting from the
Record-Union,'' wherein we said
The Dramatic Mirror says that the
hope of the elevation of the stage lies
in the education of the actor. That
has the very least to do with it. The
elevation of the stage lies in the cor
rection of the public taste and the
education to decency of the average
theatrical mana ger. He excuses him
self on the ground that he gives what
the public taste demands, and the pub
lie say in reply that taste has been vi
tiated by the practice of the managers
in catering so much to the cheap, vul-
gar and offensive that the decent has
been crowed off," And thus the Mug
GET: Right you are And have you
ever noticed what a similarity lies be-
tween the pandering theatrical man
ager and the proprietor of the big met
ropolitan wrapping papers? 1t may be
true that the big daily has not trav-
eled the downward path quite so rap
idly as the panderer has dragged down
the drama, but difference in numbers
is the cause. There are more big COM
panieS than big dailieS. Somebody has
made this a bread and butter age, and
there are no more professions that
have high artistic worth as their goal.
Among the letters of Schuman pub
lished in two volumes by Breitkopf q
Hartel (and which have been translated
into English), none are more charming
than those he wrote to Clara before they
We're married; they contain many rev.
elations of exceptional geographic and
esthetic value. OF the sDavidstanze
he says: "They are dedicated to you
more than any of my other works. If
ever 1 was happy at the piano, it was
when I wrote them.'' ''The other day, in
waiting for a letter from you, I COM
posed whole volumes of pieces.
How you will open your eyes when you
see them! 1 am often SO full Of music
now that I feel as if l should burst"
"I frankly confess that it would give
me great joy if I should succeed in
writing a piece that would make the
public, after hearing you play it, run
against the walls in the frenzy of de-
light; for vain we are, we composers,
even if we have no reason for being
So"
In another letter he says: do you not
also write poems, Clara? No-you are
a poem yourself" OF one of her own
pieces he writes: Your Romanza
showed me once more that we must be
man and WIFE, Every one of your
thoughts comes from my soul, as in turn
I owe all my music to YOU" when I
wrote my first songs 1 was entirely alb
sorbed in you. Without such a bride it
would be impossible to write such mu-
sic" After hearing a Schubert SYM
phony: 81 was supremely happy, and
my only wish was that you We're my
wife and that I, too, could write such
symphonies" Occasionally he has some
good advice for her: do not improvise
too much; that leads to great waste
of material that might be used in a
better way. Make up your mind to put
everything ON paper at once. That will
lead to economy and concentration of
thought Her musical character is
touched on in the following:
Il sometimes think that those things
which you as a girl esteem least
in music. namely, the cozy, simple, and
unaffected. You seem to prefer storm
and lightning, and, if possible, every
W.
speaking, l fear sometimes that we shall
perhaps often quarrel about matters of
taste in music, in which everybody is so
easily wounded; in that case beg you
to be charitable to me; in the heat of
the combat | am capable of scratching
with broken glass. One more favor: l
beg you most fervently never to allude
to Jean Paul or Beethoven as second
to any one; in such a case / would be
able to really hate you for a moment"
A London critic who listened to a
Partisan performance by electrophone.
gives this account Of what he heard:
The sound, 1T is true. was rather faint,
very different, for example. from the
performance at London theaters lis
tened to through the e,ectrophone; but
the voices came out with delightful
clearness, particularly that of NJ. Del
mas, who was playing the villain Gau-
thier in NJ. Duvernoy's new opera
'Helle;' and the tenor, NJ. Alvarez.
who was singing for the last time in
raris prior to his visit to Covent Gar
cen. The female voice was not quite
so distinct, nor were the violins of the
orchestra very audible, but the brass
Instruments of course We're, and a
phrase for oboe (apparently IN an or
chestral interlude) came over the wires
with great clearness. Only about a
dozen scientific and musical people
were present at the experiment, and
after the applause of the French audi
ence, heard like the rustling of leaves
through the double telephone, had
marked the end of the act, we were
turned ON for short time to the varie-
ties''