Evening star., 1897-03-13


be considered the most thoroughly musical
of all American Cities said the proprietor
of well-known music establishment TO a
reporter for he The Star the other day
Although i have possessed this idea for
great many years-ever since. in fact. /
engaged in the music business here and had
something of opportunity to feel the
pulse of the musical community-it struck
me with peculiar force during the prepara-
tons for the musical portion of the inaugu-
raj festivities, ana while the festivities
themselves Were being held. For instance
/ am perfectly certain that there is no city
in the United States of twice or even three
times the population of Washington that
could. on such short notice. have assembled
together such a remarkably welI-trained
and effective body of singers $40 of them,
men and women. who constituted the inau-
Eural chorus Even in getting together
these SD perfectly competent vocaists the
held of men and women in Washington
with excellent voices and first-rate musical
educauonS. was only SKINNED. and. from
data which the inaugural music commit
tee had AT hand. probably three times the
number of Volunteers the greater number
of them solo singers of more than average
ability. could have been secured for the
really inspiring chorus that so aStonished
even the most sanguine of us by its noble
rendition Of some Of the most exacting
operate choruseS in the entire range of
music. and this. it should be borne in
mind. with hardly more than half dozen
rehearsals
Won't stand Inferior Attractions.
The managers of experience and fame of
the great concert and operatic organiza-
tions always count with the greatest cock
sUreness upon the strongest support here
in spite of the fact that Washington is one
of the smallest. if no. the smallest. city on
their circuits and in this presumption they
Rave very rarely gone astray. 1t is only
when the inferior, second-rate outfits
brought down here by managers of greater
or less bUnccing propsnsities that the dis
crimiia-ion of the Washington musical
public is strongly shown. ! don't think
there is a community in the world. not even
the old country that is less willing to ac-
cept the doubtful offscourings of music. or
that more emphaticaIly exhibits its disap-
ProVal than Washington For stance the
foreign press agents began to inunGate the
United States coaple of years ago with
the most extraordinary tales of the phe-
nomenal violin playing of Pole. who had
hitherto been unheard Of. but who. accord
ing 20 the rain makers was said to make
Joachim. Ysaye, Sarasate. and the other
really pre-eninent viDlinists OF the world
the mereSt rddleTS by comparison. The
V!olinist finally arrived in this country. and
in New York. Philadelphia and several
other large cities, because he had bovine.
poetic eye and long hair. ne was enthusi-
asticaily accepted great musician.
He finally came to Washington to play for
two nights : succession on the first
night h- had an audience that in the mere
matter of numbers was warranted by his
fame abroad and in this country. But a
NicllniSt he simply fell fiat 1t was seen at
CT that he a musical charlatan. a
mere trickster with the how. hardly more
than theatrical Hungarian band fiddler.
He did not get a mere d4mning with faint
IraiSe' from the Washington newspapers
hut he got positively roasted. Moreover.
the musical people OF Washington come
together pretty often and talk over these
things, SO that on the second night of this
fddler's appearance the house was prac-
tic5,lly empty.
Extensive Home Music.
Perhaps because the number of peo-
PIE whose hours of leisure consider
able form a much greater proportion of the
population than In other cities, the vol
GTne of what is known as home music is
extraordinarily great here. From the
III iteG statistics OF the agents OF the piano
manufacturers here, the interesting fact
Is shown that. III proportion to the num-
ber OF families living in this city. Wash
iugton homes have more pianos than any
other American city and this In spite of
tle many thousands of very poor colored
Seople who help to make up the census of
the District of Columbia. The actual FIG
ures are that in six out of every ten Wash
ingtor homes there IL a piano The city
ton IL this respect Is Boston. where there
is plane in four out of every ten homes
The Washington home however humble
that does not possess at least one musical
instrument. is the exception. Another in
teTeStiEg tact is that, despite the famous
CcnservdtOTtes of music in Boston and
New York, there more students of
the violin. the king of Instruments, in
Washington than in either of those cities,
and. singularly enough. a considerable ma
JoElty OF these Washington students of
the violin arr women, chiefly young girls
" u crly quite recently that the fact
mas become generally known among pro-
i-sslondi teachers that there is an extra
ordinary interest in the violin in Wash
IN the past two years New York and Bos-
ton cor seryatorics ha.e lost several of
their Rest known violin teachers who have
settled IN Washington.
Girls and the Violin.
II remember when the extraordinary de-
sire to learn the violin first broke ont
among the girls and women of Washing
ton Ii WIS contemporaneous with the ap-
pearance Of Mrs. Humphreys Wards ia
nous novel. Robert E.lsmere In that
book one of the leading characters is a
young woman. who's violin playing set
the drawing rooms Of London in a furore
The beauty u: the young woman and ner
extreme grace as she played. were dweIt
upon at great length. Within n month af-
country, and when the sensation Ii arousets
vas At lis height. there began to be an
u'tSual demand FOR yiolins here the buy
"rS beiHg pretty girls for the most part
disposed Of "a! the violins at that time
hat had been hanging covered with dust
upon my walls for years. within a com
paratlvely snort time. and | could hardly
oFGer enough Of them TO supply the de
iuaui- The teachers who were here AZ
tiat time turned away pupils by the score
ot course this craze could nos in the ma
tufe or things be of lasting character
but among the great number OF young wo-
men VINO took up the instrument simpIv as
a rad were many who discovered thai they
had talent. ard who declined TO be dis
couraged over the almost insuperabIe dim
cultIes OF mastering the violin so that
today Washington is literally nlled with
astcIishingly good lady VioiInists When
camilla Irso. the famous Swedish VIOLIN
Isl, was In Washington a month or So
ago. she was tremendously astonfshed by
this fact. as she told me in the store here
one afternoon Since | came here she
said. i have been visited by scores and
scores OF young girls who wished me 10
pronounce upon their playing and there
was hardly one OF them whom 1 had 10
discourage. Even in Europe / never saw
such equal merit among many
Talented Singers
II have already spoken of the surprising
1fx2. - w~N