The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-07-30

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| ~,
/ Philadelphia Post Mascagni, the ia
nous composer of "Cavalleria Rusti-
cana" a few years ago was asked
to entertain the royal court in Rome
He did SO, and delighted his audience.
When he had finished playing he
started conversation with a little
! Princess who had stood near the piano
during the recital and had shown ev-
cry sign of deep interest. AS a matter
of fact, she had been instructed by her
mother to say, if any question should
be asked, that Mascagni was the
/ greatest musician in Italy"
The composer asked her which of
the great living masters she liked best,
and the proud mother turned toward
the child to hear the pretty little
speech which had been taught to her.
Instead of the compliment came the
whitening remark:
There are no great masters living.
They are all dead"
! The musician gave a little start and
then said:
/ Your excellency, permit me to con-
graduate you. You are the most truth
full critic in Europe"
Paris correspondence Pail Mall Ga
zette: Nine. Calve is to open at the
| Opera House in the part of Ophelia
| in Ambrose Thomas Hamlet 1t
was in this role that she scored her
4 G Opq al WIN
was produced at Venice in 1885, Nine.
Calve is fond Of relating an amusing
adventure that befell her on this oc-
casfon. 1t was arranged that she
| should be carried from her hotel TO
the Sale Fenice in a sedan chair that
| had been specially made for the use
of Nine. Adelina Patti. The opera
oversize was recalled thirty-three
times in the course of the performance
she remained at the theater for some
little time chatting with Ambrose
Thomas. At last she proposed to re-
turn home, and looked round for her
maid, Valerie. The maid, however,
was nowhere to be seen, and at the
! entrance to the theater it was found
| that the sedan chair had also disap-
peared. AS search was being made
! for some other conveyance. Valerie
| came hurrying up with the vanished
chair and explained what had hap
pened. After the performance she had
| gone out to see that the carriers were
ready. She was no sooner at the stage
door than a crowd of enthusiastic gen.
| tlemen in waiting there in evening
| dress seized upon her, and in the be-
lief that she was Nine. Calve in per-
| SON, lifted her into the sedan chair
and proceeded to convey it in triumph
to the hotel, where their error was ex-
planned to them by the proprietor, who,
! hurrying out to meet Nine. Caiye,
found himself face to- face with her
maid, whose protests had not been
| listened to.
Rupert Hughes, in a recent number
of the Musical Record" comes out
/ boldly in defense of the so-called rag
time music, which occupies so large
a portion Of public attention at the
present time. Mr.. Hughes thinks il
entitled to more respect than is usually
given it by the musicians. He says:
Neither the reproach or 'Reminis-
cence.' nor the equal odium of 1nnova-
! vital musical idea, and feel safe in
! predicting that rag time has come to
stay; that it will be taken up and de-
iveloped into a great dance form, to be
handled with respect, not only by n
learning body of negro creators, but
by the scholarly musicians of the whole
world.
To attempt to prove what the future
is going to do, would be idle, and
must rest content with trying to de-
! scribe ragtime music as it is, after
pausing to remind the skeptic that all
oaks were once acorns; that the ven
crate sonata was once a bundle OF
popular dances; that all national
musics are founded on the ground
work of humble and unlettered and I'M
I known musicians, whose only thor
ough-bass was natural talent and emo
ton, and that such dignified forms as
/ the Courante, Gavotte with it's part
| ner Musette), Menuet, Tambourin, Pol
! onaise, Mazourka, Valse-what not ?
are all of most plebian origin, taken
up from the populace by the scholar
and formulated and modified to his
| need. The dignifed Pavane was a
| Peacock dance; the Sarabande (sanciti-
fled by Bach), was named for it's in
ventor a Spanish ballet master; the
Tarantella is supposed to represent the
frenzy due to the bite of a tarantula.' y
In the excellent translation of De
Lenzs book on the great piano vir-
tuosi is this interesting anecdote:
/ In the Cite d'Orleans, where Chopin
lived, lived also Danton, George Sand
and Pauline Viardot. Chopin took me
there once. On the stairs he said:
you must play something, but moth,
ing of mine-play your Weber piece
/ the Invitation George Sand said
not word when Chopin introduced
me. That was uncivil. For that rea-
son I Immediately sat down close to
! her.
/ will you not come to ST. Petersburg
some time" said I, IN my politest man
ner, to George Sand, where you are
read so much and so highly respect
| al