The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-12-30

he had entered his ideas from day to
day Many of them have been quoted
so often that they have become like old
saws, but here are a few, translated
from the Russian, which are quite new;
1.-THE truth, In art as in life, is not al
ways to be told. A lie is sometimes nee
essary." Pretty women do not know
how to grow old, and artists do not
know when it is time to retire; they are
both wrong" az consider Brahms as
the continuation of Schumann; I have
tried to be the same to Schubert and
Chopin. Between us, l believe we COM
prise the third epoch of the musical art"
There are some thinkers who come into
the world too soon, others too late. The
first are martyrs-the second useless.
The difficulty is to arrive Just at the
right time, and those privileged persons
are few in number" death some
times comes so suddenly that I am con-
stantly haunted by this thought. In
an instant thou wilt be no more!" Is it
not this fear which explains my exagger-
ated application to work? I also would
leave something to posterity." 'If one
asks my opinion, 1 give ii without re-
serve even If it is disagreeable to hear:
but If it is not asked for, very willingly
hold my tongue" Talent, even genius,
without application, does not go far.
Without talent, but with application, it
is quite the contrary. That is why gen.
iuS so often comes to nothing while sim
pie workers succeed in becoming valua-
BILE" THE public is not always hydra
with a hundred heads. It is often a
most excellent many-headed being I
have arrived at this conclusion in going
to the theater. In nearly all the splendid
edifices which have lately been raised in
large cities, a part only of the public see
the stage and can follow the action, an
other part only see half. and the third
part see nothing. And Notwithstanding
all pay the same price for their places
and nobody protests (This must have
been written before the high hat era.)
shall we ever arrive at the time when
dramatic and lyric artists will play
roles corresponding, not only to the char
acter of their talent but also TO the ma
ture Of their physique? 1 remember
having assisted at a representation of
Tphigenia In Tauris' by Gluck. where
the role of Iphigenia was taken by a
celebrated singer who had passed the
forties and whose embonpoint was truly
excessive, while a svelte young girl of
twenty incarnated the character of ely
temnestra- And this esthetic contra
diction is constantly seen on the stage.
How many big soprani at the side of
small tenorSi"
Richard Strauss much talked of SYM
phonic poem, Thus spake Zarathustra,"
was performed in New York last week
and evoked much, and varied, criticism
To stimulate the imagination of the COM
mon-place listener an exhaustive and
analytical programme describes the SEN
sations and emotions which the music is
intended to inspire. But even with this
assistance the impressions are likely to
be confused and obscure. A New York
paper says: In conception and in exc
cution the symphonic poem is huge
almost stupendous. It is intended to
convey the enduring human aspiration
toward a receding ideal. the incessant
strivings and longings and dissatisfac-
ton of the sons of men and the varied
and empty rewards of their quest It is
intended as a kind of epic of the restless
ness of certain minds III these last years
of the nineteenth century. There is no
doubt Strauss has tried to force and
overpass the limits of music in THUS
Spake Zarathustra-" Music cannot rea-
son; 1t cannot reflect mental states.
There are times when the listener is
ready to call the symphony a Shilling
shocker." There are other moments.
though much fewer, when he Is equally
ready to use the word sublime 1t tests
the capacity of the modern orchestra to
ments required is impressive-one piccolo
flute. three flutes. three oboes, one Eng
lish htrn, one E-flat clarionet, two ortif-
nary clarionets, one bass clarionet, three
bassoons, one double bassoon. six horns,