The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-05
MUSIC AND MUSICIANS
RAOUL PUGNO THE FRENCH PIANIST,
A LADIES' FAVORITE.
Paris Critics Have Some Sharp Words
for Wagner Worshipers
Notes and Incidents.

The pianist who is to succeed Paderewski
among the feminine adorers in America is
Raoul Pugno. of the French Conservatoire,
now visiting this country with Ysaye. He
Is described as a soulful artist, perfect
genius, and man Of middle age, whose
rare accomplishment Of making the piano
speak every emotion" has made him the
idol of Paris He is an instructor in the
Conservatoire. and the young women in his
classes fairly worship him. They take his
criticisms amiably After each lesson he
takes his fair pupil by the hand and ca
resses 1t and makes her feel that it is the
fault of the composition and not herself
that has made any criticism from him pos
sible. A writer who had met him said that
he is very anxious that the people of Amer
lea shall like him. and further says that il
the people could meet him as they do the
President and shake his hand they would
be won to him Immediately. "for the man
ner in which he takes ones hand makes one
feel what a great big comfortable, syspa-
thetic, loving world this is" The women
and girls throng the greenroom when he
plays, and hover about him at receptions
and clamor to be in his presence. The man
is well on to middle life and has face
covered with whiskers and yet for all this
L
this country was made with Ysaye at the
Astoria last week. but the critics were I'M
able to gush over his performance.
Mr.. Joseffy was also the piano soloist at
one of SeidPs concerts given at the Astoria,
in New York, recently. A critic thus writes
of him: "Mr. Joseffy was the hero OF the
occasion. His number was Chcpins e Mi
nor Concerto, Taussig's arrangement. a de-
lightfully refreshing work in itself. The
gifted artist played it as it has seldom been
played in New York. In fact, he has not in
recent years been heard to better advan-
tage than he was last evening. His inter-
probation OF the Romance was most poet
ical, while his treatment of the sparkling
Rcndo was full of dash and spirit. AS an
encore he played, in manner that should
send home conviction to the heart of the
most strenuous antI-Brahmsist, one of the
.latter-day classcists last works. The au-
dience was unusually demonstrative in it's
art" $50
The New York Sun says: "Just why Nine.
Melba should have come to this country UNI
der the name of Mrs. Armstrong is ques-
tion Nine. Melbas real name is, in fact
Armstrong, and her husband, from whom
she is at present separated, was an officer
in the English army. Returning prinla dom
mas are usually willing enough to have their
arrivals duly noted, and Mime. Melba's
course in landing under name by which
she would not be recognized, is very eXcep-
tiOnal. Nine. Melbas name recalls the fact
that she is to have as a protege this winter
young Canadian girl who comes from To-
ronto, and has called herself Toronto, Just
as Nine. Melba decided to carry the fame
of her native Melbourne as far as her own
triumDhS extended, and Mime. Albani made
the capital of this State a particularly IA
miliar name in English music. Mile. Totonta
has been studying with Marchesi, IN Paris,
and her expenses there have been paid by
a wealthy woman of Toronto, who heard of
her talents and helped her to develop them.
Now the young woman is coming to sing
here, and Mime. Melba has promised TO look
after her in the unfamiliar surroundings of
stage life Philadelphia will have the greater
share of Nine Melba'S operate appearances
this season. She has sung Marguerite and
VioIetta there during the first week of the
opera season, and will be heard later in The
Barber of Seville
"A symphonic balla0e' entitled "Voy-
vode," by Tschaikowsky, was recently sung
In New York. The symphonic ballade by
Tschaikowsky. ''voyvode." was published
after Tschaikowsky's death from a manu-
script score in possession Of one of his
pupils. This gentleman picked 1t up from
the floor of the stage, where Tschaikowsky
had thrown it in disgust after rehearsal
of the work which had not been to his
liking. The ballade follows closely the
famous poem of Pushkin's, in which the
old Voyvode (the prince) comes home to his
castle after the war to find his young W1fe'S
sleeping room empty. Bidding a servant
follow him, he enters the garden in search
of her, and there in the moonlight, under
the trees, he finds his wife and her former
lover. AS they whisper to each other the
story of their love and final separation
through her marriage to the prince, the
Voyvode bids the servant take one of two
pistols that he has brought with him and
to aim at the lover. while he (the prince)
would kill the faithless wife. But the SER
ant, whose tender sympathies are aroused
by the sad story as he hears it from the
lips of the young pair, says he cannot aim
his hand trembles. The Voyvode COM
mands him to fire, and as the servant
Shoots the voyvode falls to the ground
shot through the heart
Some of the Paris critics event for Wag-
ner severely, on the recent production of
ssDie Meistersinger'' there. A writer in lie
Gaulois said: Formerly a musician was
simply poet, with two ears and heart.
Now, however, he must be provided with
a brain of artificial development, which
gives rise to the new and fashionable dis
ease called undergraduates containing germs
of philosophy mathematics and chemistry.
AS a philosopher. the modern musician has
given to music an aggressive personality
and egotism; as mathematician, he has
evolved the trigonometry of the double
Quaver, and as chemist, he has pulverized
the chord of major in the symphonic NOR
tar 1t is now a crime TO speak OF Weber,
Auber and Boieldieu. Beyreuth has become
Mecca of these melomaniacs and Rich
tn Wagner is their demigod.
The production~of Wagner's Die Meister-
singer in Paris was a great success. The
chorus numbered $50, and for the finale of
the third act showing the march of the
guilds, it was planned to have $50 persons
on the stage. The sum expended on the
production is said to be $4,000. The cuts
made in the opera to shorten 1t all had the
sanction of Nine. Wagner, and they We're
the customary elisions that have been made
for performances at Lyons and Brussels,
as wei, as at some of the German towns.
Mr. John Philip Sousa has been very
busy man during the past ten months, dur
ing which time he has Travelled $4,000 miles
and given more than four hundred con-
certs. In addition to this he has written
the words and music of his new comic
opera, 1.-The Bride Elect" which has just
gone into rehearsal at the Knickerbocker
Theater. in New York and will be produced
in Boston at the Boston Theater, on the Sd
of January. Besides all this, Sousa has
been engaged in some extensive and costly
litigation with the estate of the former
manager of his band, and has also planned
the details of the extended European tour
which his musicians will make next sum-
Taer The general management OF his band
has been under Sousa's immediate super
vision for the last six months, and now, In
addition to directing the rehearSals or "Ihe
Bride Elect" he has commenced TO Write
tho music for De Wolf Hopper's new opera
for next season, which will be called Ihe