The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-05-21

In the Philadelphia Musician W. S.
b. Mathews writes regarding the
American composer, George W. Chad
wick:
Best of all of Mr.. Chadwick's work.
1 believe, are the songs, of which he has
written great many. The most beau
tiful set, 70 my way of thinking, is that
upon Arlo Bates cycle of poems: Told
in the Gates They are love songs Of
the most imprisoned character, and
beautifully does the music of Chadwick
respond to the warmth of the poet.
David Bispham told me that he consid-
cred o Let Night Speak of Me- in this
set, to be one of the noblest and most
beautiful love songs, words and music
together that have ever been written
He is singing it with the greatest pos
sible success. Different temperaments
and voices will find themselves attract
| ed to different ones of these songs, and
the student should examine the whole
set. They form one of the most ad-
vanced landmarks of really expressive
music which American composers have
as yet attained-if 1 may be permitted
to advance so sweeping an opinion.
Il have not the pleasure Of knowing
Mr.. Chadwick personally, but I should
infer that his works have suffered
somewhat from three causes unfavor-
able to the best development Of his
brilliant natural powers. First of these
his training was not begun soon
! enough. Second, the unfavorable at
mcephere toward American compost
lions. This is much less harmful in
Boston than elsewhere in this country
since there it affects the composer as
perhaps but another and not SO very
severe phase of the typical east wind
Of the environment; yet even this, IN
! the case of a sensitive banana plant
| like a really musical composer, has
great repressive tendencies. Third, and
perhaps not less important, the lack
of American training. Our young men
are taught to write only German music
by their German masters. Now the
American mind wild not work quite in
the German groove. and some of the
boys give up the attempt as hopeless
while others make a compromise and
do the best they can toward writing
German music, retaining nevertheless
more than a flavor of American spirit
In this category place Chadwick"
Of the Wagner Cyclus, w J. Hen
derson says, in the New York Times:
ITO enter into the spirit of this drama
in four chapters, one must be prepared
! to throw aside all performed concep-
tions of opera, all ordinary ideas of the
operate libretto, and to follow Wagner
along his new path to nights of imagi-
nation which an amusement loving pub
lie can hardly attain. The embodiment
in these dramas of the Subject matter
of racial mythology +, embraced the
| introduction of symbolism as deep
as the racial thought, as broad as the
racial life. Those who take the aerial
flights of the Valkyrs, the killing of the
/ dragon, the reading Of the talk of
birds, the surroundings of the Valkyrs'
rock with fire. the piercing of that fire
1 by the young hero; and, above all The
mastery Of the world of dwarfs by the
lord of the ring and the whole struggle
for it's possession. as the mere fancies
of an age of fable, and who smile at
them because of the discrepancies be-
tween their pictorial representation and
I Wagrers tremendous seriousness in
their poetic and musical treatment
those mistake entirely their deep sig
nihcance. These things were not in
their original shape the pretty fancies
OF children, but the imag inative en-
I bod1ment of the elementary aspira tions
and achievements of abpeople. and. in
deed, Of humanity; for they are as
much older than Morse legends as the
! search of Jason for the Golden Fleece
! or the rescue of Andromeda by Per-
seus.'
1t took Wagner's Holy Supper of the
/ Apostles" f1fty-six years to reach Lon
oon, where it was performed a few
weeks ago under the direction of Sir F
j Bridge. The "Athenaeum' thus s11ros
up its Impressions:
This work, for twelve soloists (repre-
senting the twelve Apostles), three
cho1rs, and orchestra, was composed
and produced at Dresden in 1919. It
was given at Birmingham in 1876 under
the late Sir Michael Costa, but until
| last week had never been heard in
London. At the time. it was written.
wagner had completed "Rienzi" and
sketched "Tannhauser," and therefore
1t is not surprising to find in the Love
Feast''-a more Appropriate title than
the one attached to the vocal score
traces of both works, especially of the
latter In 1913 Wagner heard Mem
delssohn's est. Paul" under the direc-
ton Of the composer; and just as in
'Rienzi' Meyerbeer was his model so
in this Love Feast" he seems for a
moment to have initiated the flowing
rhythmical style of Mendelssohn. How
ever 1t may be, his work is pretentious
and hollow. There is no true ring about
/ 1t, and it is not surprising that it should
have passed almost into oblivion.
Various relics of Chopin have been
gathered together and placed in the
Czartoryski Museum at Craeow. The
grandfather of the present Prince Gar
torysh was one of the warmest adj
mirers of the composer, while his wife
had always been considered one of the
j best pupils of the master. In the muse
UNI are to be seen, among other things.
] Clesingers marble bust of Chopin. a
portrait by AIRY Schefer, and a. bronze
cast of the composers right hand.
j There are also nineteen letters written
by Chopin to his friend Count Albert
/ Grzymala, but, curiously, no musical
! autographs.
New York Post: Nine. Litvinne. who
sang the role of Isolde so we'll at the
Metropolitan Opera house a few sea-
sons ago, has been engaged to take the
same role at ten performances of Wag-
ner's opera. which are to be given next
! October by LamoureuX in the Theater
i Nouveau, Paris. This engagement was
| probably due to her great success in
Nice recently. concerning which the