Omaha daily bee., 1899-03-12
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MUSIC.
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nothing specially interesting about the
particular day, but the appearance of those
two very old men right in the midst of the
wholesale district attracted much attention.
There had been exciting times just a
few weeks before, owing to the presidential
election. for the year Of our Lord 1864 was
a terrible year in many ways. Readers will
remember that in that year the terrific
storms disabled many of the Transcon-
tnental Air Lines, and traffic was almost
entirely abandoned. The Daily Mail e.
Express running between New York and
London, was several hours overdue each
day, ships leaving New York not arriving
in London until late the next morning
But that is foreign to the story. These
octogenarans were in a reminiscent mood.
The enterprising reporter of The Omaha Bee
was passing and heard the following con-
versaton:
well | remember 1t very distinctly. L
cast my first vote that year; let me see, 1t
was just sixty-six years ago when | voted
for Mckinley, in the great Mckinney
Bryan campaign. Oh, l tell you, those
were the good old days. Of course we
didn't have these silent street trains with
atmospheric power. nor these artificial rain
clouds nor any of these new tangled in
ventions. But we had noise and plenty Of
it. The kids in those days did not make
spaeches on the Fourth of July as they do
now. but instead OF that they shot off fire
crackers and made all kinds of racket and
there were bands in those days, not the
kind of bands we have now, but the real
thing"
Yes" said the other, II have heard my
father tell about the old days and he used
to sing in thing called a choir and he
says the music used to sound grand. have
heard him tell about the times they used to
sing the 'Hallelujah' chorus and The
Messiah and The Elijah and Others
which were called oratorios. You cannot
hear any of them now and they say that the
only oratorio book in the town is to be
found in the Omaha Public library in the
Byron Reed collection. Of course, / was
too young to remember those days myself, I
was just 10 years old when Mckinley was
elected
well, l was a singer myself in those
days. | sang in a boy choir at st. Barna-
bas, a little church that was then on Nine
teenth street l remember we'll how the
professional was sung on Easter Sundays
and the anthems and the te deums and
the But let us talk of something else.
1t breaks me all up to think of those days
whom the churches used to be filled with
people and the music was so inspiring, not
like things are now, when you hear moth
ing but a scientific lecture on the 'Devel-
opment of the proofs contradicting the gem
orally accepted idea that Sinai was noun
tain No music. No music. Everything
talk"
Yes" responded the friend, "even at
the theaters you hear no more fine over
lures. Those electric orchestra boxes and
automatic figures are not the real music
in, INV
that men used to sit down at the big church
organs and play them. l wonder if that
was So"
Yes, indeed 1t was. I remember well
the crowds that used to so out Sunday
afternoons to hear them played but now
compressed air has done away with that.
There are no organists here nowadays.
You sec the younger generations have
grown up without any taste for music
Why, ! can remember when they used to
te ach all about music in the schools. But
now there is nothing but rag time, rag
time, until we eat and walk and talk in rag
time. and l declare | cannot settle down
to a good nights rest without the evil
spirits of bad dreams running over my bed
| and dancing in rag time The man that
| invented this awful rag time lived about
! eighty years ago and, sad to relate, he died
a natural death.
| "In these days men would state publicly
! that they hated music. They wanted no
orchestras. no choral societies, no pianists,
no soloists. vocal or instrumental-all they
wanted was rag time. They got it, and the
worst Of 1t was they have handed it down 70
us. You know that old building that is on the
corner of Eighteenth and Douglas? Well,
| 1t looks pretty bad now, but can remember
when that was a fine building. That was
! the Auditorium. 1t was built In the year
1900 | remember well when the foundation
was laid. Rag time killed that, and now it
| stands a ruin, and no one knows what to
do with it,"
But why" asked the other. "did music
die in that way? Didn't the people like
i musc?"
Yes" was the answer, "some OF them
did. But most of them said they did not
want to hear music. They wanted to make
money. They did not want symphonies.
They wanted real estate. Concertos were
not in it with corner lots. They were ap-
pealcd to again and again, but in vain.
Then they were asked to help the cause
along for the sake of the city, and their
children and art. But they said, Nay, nay,
what good Is music to a city, and wnere is
the money in art. and as for our children,
we will send them to our dancing academies
and have them taught rag time And they
did.
We'll it was not long before they had no
musicians to support. They went away and
every one said 1t is a good thing But
after a while, in the course of a few years
the people grew lonely. They wanted to
hear something else besides rag time. And
they sent away and tried to get musicians
to come in and settle. But the musicians
said, Nay, nay, our brothers, and fathers
and cousins were there, and they We're
driven out, and now they will stay away
Then the people sent all through the country
to get musicians to come here, But the
musicians were all doing very we'll in other
lines. They were making money themselves
and they could not come. Then the people
sGid; Who will deliver us from this rag
time. for our asylums are filling up rapidly
because our people are actually beginning
to think in rag time There is no order il
anything.
Did you hear Of the dlsgraceful thing
that occurred at the mayors funeral tn,
other day? The horses had been useC
some months for professions, etc, and th'
minute the funeral cortege started thesr
horses pranced around in rag time anc
| spoiled the whole affair
80 now We have no music and we are no