New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-09-27
MUSICAL COMMENT.
COME MORE BOoKs-MUsIC IN ENGLAND
AN ENTHUSIASTIC POLE AND THE
poI,oNAIsE - SONGS FROM THE
NORTE-NEWs NOTES.

A., Frederick J. Crowest has written THE Story
~ british Music" which comes to us from Chares
S.r,hnsr,s Sons The author is not a complete
stranger to those who concern themselves with
musical literature. for book on the Great roho
poets and another Of Musical Anecdotes from
his pen have been placed before the public botn
- them disclose the characteristics OF this later
o-r Though neither has so ambitious a purpose
Mr. Crowest is a man Of many words. He writes 10
All naCes not to convey thoughts He tells US IN MS
nreface that he has not attempted a learned DOOR,
hut at the same time would have II appear that ne
,s q cleaner In a fresh field This he most decidedly
&c not THE Story Of British Music Is not quite 30
ha,d q compilation as It's predecessors. but 1t is
hardly more discriminating. and he would have
tsen eve indeed who would ind anything valuable
IN II that lie new. anything new that Is valuable
It's bones are ancient facts which have been wrap
ned about with integument Of words more Voiu-
rninous than artistic. II Mr.. Crowest has any con-
,.ntion II Is that the musical history OF Great
Britain has neglected heretofore by the writer's
xho are considered standards but to the state
n,ents Of those writers he has nothing to add that
s vital TO the subject. For the hundredth time we
hear Of the evidence Of the musical forwardness OF
England in the thirteenth century anorded oy
the rota "sumer is Icumen In and to the we'll
known cuts of drawings. paintings and carvings
from old manuscripts and cathedrals he adds por-
traits OF various kings from Alfred the Great to
Richard III-which do not help to an understanding
~
For the rest the STORY Of British Music" is the
s,orv which students know with a mass Of extra
neous matter drawn from general history Helpful
4, NAV be to luxurious readers who do not like the
labor OF themselves consulting the authorities. but
only In this valuable 1t is a contribution to
comfort not to knowledge
There is something like Mr.. Crowest's ambition
N say the known and again In H. Hol-
brook Curtis's Voice Building and Tone Placing"
n 70 mr. (vuyfta ta
wel-known local physician. specialist in diseases
Of the throat who enjoys the patronage and friend
shin OF the majority Of the operate artists ad-
nred in New-York He has dedicated his book
70 NJ Jean de Reszke, and in order. probably that
II might not appear to be merely a physiological
treatise he begins II with chapter on the Origin
Of Music" which restates mass Of legend. specu-
Istion and determined fact which have as much to
do with voice building and tone placing as they
have with the sQuaring Of the circle. Having thus
established himself a literary footing. the doctor.
who really has something to proclaim. comes to
Hecuba and have chapters on the anatomy and
physiology OF the larynx. respiration. the vocal
resonators, tones and overtones. vocal registers.
tone-placing and oice-buildng. with final -four
sh on the figures which acousticians get from VI
brating rods strings plates. ETC.. and the voice
pictures of Mrs. Watts-Hughes in London. BE-
ginning end and some of the middle Of the book are
like the flowers that bloom In the spring In their
want Of all connection with DR.. Curtiss case. This
is stated and argued in Chapters VII and VIII
He believes and the tudicious believe with him.
that "a majority of singers lose their voices not
from overwork but a result of improper emission
and respration' and the remedy which he recon-
mends is the exercise Of the vocal cords on lines
which he has found effcacous instead OF drugs and
sprayings. We have no inclination to follow him IN
his theories either for praise or condemnation; that
is left the teachers of singing who no doubt
will rend him with much energy as they do each
yvhO
The rest of the world has been accustomed so long
% sentimentaze about the Poles when talking
about Chopn's music that II does not strike one
with special wonder to hear the note reechoed with
emphasis in the lectures by Professor kleczynski'
which have the same topic No one ought TO be
blamed however. II in view of what a critical mind
may find In Polish history and Chopins lie ana
music he should indulge in an amiabie smile at the
height reached by the professors aduiation OF MS
countrymen in "Chopn's Greater Works. wnich
book has been translated by Natalie Janotha' pub
lshed by w Reeves in London and added TO the list
of Charles Scribners Sons. AS rule, the lectures
making up this book are distinguished by modera-
ton in statement and a commendable lack OF tnat
rhapsodica style of utterance to which so many
writer's on music addicted. They are straight
forward practical talks the Interpretation OF
the Preludes Ballads Nocturnes. Polonaises and
Mazurkas and provide multitude Of technical
hints TO the pianoforte student. The Poonases.
however calling up, as they 90 because OF tner
name), pictures of proud Polish mobiles dehling be-
fore their king, carry the genial professor off his
feet for a while and he makes music TO his own ma
jestic march through the air in this key and man.
ner: o...-,..,. -, 81.
Polish type is a certain knighthood which
find perfectly expressed in the gorgeous appear
ances and warlike personalities OF our own no.
bility as we'll in its loud and somewhat brusque
conversation In the dance and forth. This rather
L. hnEv ftn IA io
mitigated aesthetically. 1t gives to all the dances
of Chopin the warm color the fire which glows in
them and gives them mysterious dignity Of
beauty. In the private life Of the Poles the sharp
ness Of the type Is smoothed by Unborn goodness
accompanied by courtesy; not the spurious kind.
consisting in externals but the delicate one In SYM
pathy with the panss and suferings OF a neghbor
whose misfortunes II compassionates and In whose
prosperity 1t delights. Let us add TO this type
righteousness and truth, heartiEess social SIM
plicity good humor. and we shall get type purely
Polish and strictly aesthetic. which, reflected In
art will be in the highest degree sympathetic
type II is such as we are. People may laugh at
our Impractical bility and complain of our want of
political instinct: but they must love US Tor our
nobility. whereby glow for great IDEAS. our dis
interestedness. so rare In nations. and also our
probity and goodness. in virtue OF which we are
ready 10 render 10 every one his due. AS we are,
such is our type In music 1t does not wish to rise
above others or to despise them. as is the strong
tendency Of the German type. We are ready TO be
brethren TO ALL
Who could think OF laughing at such people
.oaivairous good courteous. righteous. hearty sim
pie. good humored noble dslnterested and
generous weak only In practicability and poetical
Instinct? II the Germans despise them the Ger
mans ought TO be ashamed of themselves. We
Americans. who hope have all these lovely
traits Of character practical besides. and have
a notion or two about politics. can only glow with
enthusiasm In unison with the professor. Mean
while. what is TO be done TO the German Franz
Boehme. who in his "Geschichte des Tanzes In
Deutschland proves that the Polonaise which Pro-
Klecz nall hIpk sos