The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-10-09
A NEW BOOK ON MUSIC.
Important Contribution to History by Hem
nv E. Krehbiel.

Music and Manners in the Classical
Period" is the title of a book written
by Henry Edward Krehbiel, the schol-
arly critic of the New York Tribune,
and just published by Charles Scrib-
ner's Sons IT is dedicated to Sir
George Grove Mr.. Krehbiel's How
to Listen to Music" his Studies in the
Wagnerian Drama" and his other
books treating of musical topics have
proved so interesting and valuable
that one naturally opens his latest
publication with the pleasantest Of an
ticipations Nor are these eXpecta-
lions unfulhlled This little volume
Of 262 pages is rich in curious inform
alton concerning Haydn, Mozart, Bee
thoven and 18th century Italian COM
posers, and the musical tastes ana nab
it's of their contemporaries. Much
that is of real historical value is here
in for the first time collected and pre-
served in permanent form. Some por-
tons of the material had previously
appeared in Mr. KrehbiePs newspaper
and magazine articles, but not in the
present complete and connected form.
The book is divided into four sec
tions, the first of which treats of the
unique collection of manuscript music
made by Thomas Gray author of THE
yard" while he was sojournlng in
Italy with Horace Walpole. Here are
airs from forgotten operas written by
| forgotten composers, whose very names
are lacking from Groves great Die
tionary Of Music and Musicians" 1t
| is worth while to note that this col
| lection contains but the veriest scrap
| of Handel, and the suspicion that Gray
was not an admirer of the composer of
tn he
| by number of facts that are adj
duced. The character of some of the
airs which are reproduced, gives Mr.
Krehbiel opportunity for some lucid
remarks concerning the vocal art of
| the last century as compared with that
| of the present, as well as some obser-
vations concerning the male sopranos
and contraltos who did not lose their
occupation in opera till the beginning
of the present century. AS a COM
mentary upon the music of the last
century, these three chapters are of
no small value.
The second section of the book is de-
voted to Haydn's only preserved note
book relating to his life in London and
to his English sweetheart Copious
| extracts are reprinted from the note
book, copy OF which came into Mr..
| hrehbiels possession = through the
late Alexander w. Thayer the biog-
rapher Of Beethoven. Many Of these
notes are amusing, some are personal
and inconsequential, but curious, and
others give the composers personal i'm
pTessions and comments on the con
certs and music Of the day, and the
manners Of the English. Women, with
out regard to theire musical attain
ments, will be interested in the love
letters which passed between Haydn
and Mistress Schroeder, No. James
street, Buckingham's gate" She was
! lovely and amiable, and l should have
married her if 1 had been single" was
Papa Haydn's confession to a friend.
There was Mrs. Frau Haydn in VII
emma, who, tradition says, was neither
lovely nor amiable These letters and
the contents of the notebook are now
in permanent form for the first time
In third section of the book, Mr..
Krehbiel gives a viyacious report Of the
Mozart centenary which was cele-
brated in Salzburg, in 1891, and which
| the author attended. There is an appre-
ciative chapter upon Social and artis-
tic Salzburg," a sympathetic essay upon
the domestic life Of Mozart, and finally
a trustworthy biographical notice of
Lorenzo de Ponte, Mozart's great lib
rettist, the author of the book of Don
Giovanni and other masterpieces. For
a time he was professor of Italian in
Columbia College, New York, and like
the composer, the place Of his burial is
unknown. Here, too. Mr.. Krehbiel has
made real contribution to history
In some respects the most vital sec
| ton Of all is comprised in the two chap
tiers relating to Beethoven. These con
tain materials which Mr. Krehbiel has
extracted from the voluTninous notes of
the late Alexander w. Thayer, the COM
poser's biographer, which have been en-
trusted to him. They are Of especial
moment, because Mr.. Thayer did not
live to complete his great work, and
they have never been put in print. They
serve to correct a variety of popular
misrepresentation in regard to the &C.
centric Beethoven, and to dispel some
Of the mist Of myth surrounding him.
Here Is another significant piece of his
torieal work.
Mr.. Krehbiel includes in the volume
his admirable account of the Beethoven
museum at Bonn, and concludes with
an instructive essay on the Weimar,
that city which was so long a centre Of
literary and musical activity in Europe
There is ample warrant for the asser-
tion that this little book is both an in
teresting and valuable addition to
contemporary musical literature.