The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-02-20
"GERMAN COMPOSERS" NOT GER
MANS.
The DlsquietinE Contention OF M. Hadow,
Native or Croatia.

Tho DlsquietinE Contention OF M. Hadow.
Native or Croatia.
London musical circles have been thrown into
n ferfnent by tho declaration made by NJ.
Iadow that many of those German com.
poser" whose distinctions have been sung by
admirers are not. in fact. German composers at
all. but musicians whose nativity has been as
cribed to Germany %unjustly, unreasonably. and
without any warrant Of geography whatever {!
NJ. Hadow has issued n book in England on
this subject and according to it not only Ger.
many but Italy as well has reaped no little
fame that belongs properly to that obscure
Hungarian province. Croatia. of which. it need
hardly be added. NJ. Hadow is n native. Two
illustrious composers heretofore uniformly re.
gardod as German. Franz joseph Haydn and John
Sebastian Bach, NJ. Hadow claims as Slayonians.
ana he attributes their supposed German ma
tionality, to the custom which until recent times
their namcs-or, rather, Of adapting and trans.
lating them into tho language of the country in
ww IIcM wa ,hey hnRpen nc 10 have seta!ef: h 1y
as n South Crnatian by ancestry, and he de-
clarcs that the Bach family John Sebastian was
Prcssburg and were Slavonians. The name OF
Bach as borne by their descendants settled at
OF the time for Slavonians established in German
cities to Germanizc their names.
serious "ep% enough h'f but N. OF u nsGn a goes h2 fSrthd Is
and declares that the illustrious and immortal
Beethoven. who was u native OF Bonn in lthe-
nish Prussia, was really Flemish. and that
iumIncl was u bohemian, whose origin Is in.
dictated by his Christian name, 'Nepomuk."
Zingarolli and Tarini were ltalianiZcd Croa.
tian5. Most OF the Slavonian musicians who
cmigratGd from their own poor homes passed
into ncighboring German lands and adopted
German names. Weber, to whom NJ. HadOw
does not refer in hiss book. has been accepted
generally as n German composer, though the
fact Is that he was not a native or
Germany. and it was, never contendod by any
one that he was. Weber was born in Eutin, in
IlnR az A1nNEaRhnnH and ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, ."n
table and authentic Germans. were born in
berlin, and the other German composers whose
nationality NJ. IIadow. tho C~roatian. does not
disruto are Mozart, Handel. Schubert. Schu-
mann and Wagner. Paer. who has sometimes
been described AS n German composer. was a
native OF Parma, Italy, and IT is undoubtedly a
fact that many musicians born in other Coun-
tries were educated, developed and achieved
distinction in either Germany or Austria.
There Is much popular appreciation Of rudi-
mental music in Hungary and many HunRa-
rians have gained great distinction locally
without achieving tho fame which spread bo-
yond the borders OF that Kingdom. tho most con-
spiCuous exception cling Franz List. The
CrOatinns are neighbOrs of the Hungarians,
rather than friends. and their love for music is
very marked. NJ. lladow declares in his book
that every third man in Croatia is n singer, n
player. or n COMPOSER, and makes an abundance
of citations to show that HRydn's wonderful fer
tility in beautiful melodies mad It's origin in the
melOdiC character Of Croatlan popular songs.
But even with the loss Of u few, Germany has
enough composers left