The record-union., 1899-07-16

sAal MS mother was the greatest col
rector of busted junk in the State OF
New York, says Leon H. Vincent in the
July Atlantic" That mother prob
Aply had the virtuoso temperament,
Wnlle the boy had not. The virtuoso
temperament is fussy; it busies itself
ABOUT the marks on china, the niceties
OF adjectives, the glorifying misprints
OF hrst editions. To be a collector
means in general to have nerves. This
type of mind studies how to avoid
snocks, and is itself shocked about
tnlngs which most people are content
not to notice. The virtuosO has hor-
Tor OF being useful, because to be use
1ul comes pretty near to being vulgar.
he plans work, but never carries them
out He,is bored by people with a pur-
pose; they are so insistent, and magnl-
~ their office. He protects hlmseiI
from bruises. He publishes his books
anonymously, not from the wish to be
unostentatious, but from sheer disgust
at the thought of the worlds coarse
abuse or even coarser approval.
The virtuoso temperament will not
permit of a mans going with the null
titude even if they are bound heaven
ward. When people stare after a prod
v,
opposite, he refuses to look. Kirkpat-
rick Sharpe wouldn't have read a line
of "Quo Vadis,' nor can you imagine
him standing on the curb to look at a
squad of returning Rough Riders. He
liked the sun. the moon, and the stars,
but he disliked comets. He "spolSe dis
respectfully" Of the comet of 1911.
which was very popular. "Oh, this tire
X s<-1,4 rt,,
my temper, for all the people in this
mansion have got nothing else of an
evening to do but to look at it; so
there's talk about it, too tedious-with
every ten minutes easement cast up,
with a current of cold, damp, tooth
achy air, and a provoking exclamation
of Dear how very clear the tail is to-
night do come and look at it, which
1 never do by any chance" He pro-
fessed to think that comets tail was
1.-The dullest of all possible tails" Il
would not give one twinkle of my par
rot's for all the comet tails in the uni
verse!" Here is the virtuoso tempera-
ment to excess. 1t shifts at the pea
cock splendors which are apparent to
all the world, and says, my parrot has
more interesting tall
At the Temple Theater on June Goth,
music-loving Louisville listened to the
celebrated oratorio, 1.-THE Resurrection
of Lazarus" by L. Perosi. given with
orchestral accompaniment. The solos
were sung by the leading singers. or
Louisville and seventy-five select sing
ers in the chorus. Carl Schmidt's or
chestra served under the direction of
Of ha
The Leipsic opera has shown
greater readiness under trying circum-
stances than any heard of recently. A
young singer named Adrienne Osborne
was singing Carmen" and had just
finished the habanera, when she stag
gered and fell heavily to the stage. 1t
was necessary to take the singer home
as she was i'll, and there could be no
more Carmen that night. But the
theater does not possess repertoire for
nothing. The stage manager announced
that the last two acts of Lortzing's s
'Czar and Carpenter" would be given,
and within a quarter of an hour the
new performance was under way. One
of the principals had not sung his part
before for eight years.
The decline of the art of singing" IS
lamented every day But the eminent
teacher P Tosi, wrote in 1123 on the
decline in the number of great Italian
singers in his own time, misfortune
which he attributed to want of earn
estness and enthusiasm on the part or
teachers and pupils alike. Profession
al yocalists," he said, usually belong
to the poorer classes, and in these de-
generate days Q723 parents are too
eager for their children to begin to earn
money. and apparently think that the
possession of a good voice is all that is
necessary for them to win speedy for
tune or spring to fame They either
will not or cannot spend sufficient cap
ital upon the musical education OF their
offspring, and, therefore, drive them
into the professional career long before
they have mastered their art"
In Europe, the smaller opera-houses
are subsidized by the municipalities
and the larger ones by the sovereigns
or the State The amounts are large
and each opera-house is, of course. rent
free. but there usually is a deficit, al
though. for the most part, the COM
pany is a troupe d'ensemble, rarely
comprising more than one or two e1-
pensive vocalists At Berlin, the state
contributes roughly S225. 900 between
the opera house and the Court Theater,
the deficit of about $4,000 being paid
by the Kaiser. At Vienna, the court
opera and the theater receive Sl2o,0Oo
the deficit, paid by the Emperor, being
about So, 600 a year. At Paris, the
Grand Opera receives S16O,O0O, and the
Opera Comique 100000 year from the
State. At Munich, the opera-house
costs the Regent about $4,000 year.
At Dresden, the King of Saxony has to
contribute about the same. At Darn
stadt. the sovereign gives $4,000, and
at Stuttgart and Carlsruhe, $4,000 a
wear. The subsidy at Frankfort (So0,-
GOO between opera and drama) comes
from the municipality, but in all the
larger cities the subsidy is paid by the
soyereign-a fact which. when he be-
came ruler of Coburg, rather startled
the Duke of Edinburgh.
The question is often asked how blind
musicians acquire their repertoire, says
..Musical America" Perhaps the best
example of the well-educated musician
who has been handicapped from child
hood by loss of sight is Edward Baxter
Perry, the pianist, capable concert
player, and an intelligent and well-in-
formed man. His plan, which prob
ably resembles that of most blind mus
fcians of the higher grade, is to have
some one read to him the notes of a
new composition. measure by measure,