The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-11-12

!
In the reports of the Bavarian
Academy for last year, an article by
/ the well-known scholar, Ed. Won
Wolff1in, is devoted to program mu-
sic and tone painting In the days OF
Haydn, Beethoven and Mozart, abso-
| lutte music was simply what its name
! implied. The composer of Instruments
music simply wrote music and re-
Trained from any Characterization OF
the contents. Program music has been
wrongly called tone painting, but tone
painting is merely the musical render
] ing of something heard. The word is
often enormously applied to other
sensations than those derived from the
sense of hearing. Some enthusiasts
have discovered that Rheinberger rem
dered musically the scent Of roses and
pinks in the setting of THAI des
Espingo," but to this charge Rhein-
berger pleads not guilty. If we go to
representations or attempts to repre-
sent objects Of sight, Liszt in his
"Christus" seeks to render the star thai
appeared in the east by a high C sharp,
which is continued as long as the three
wise men are singing. Handel tries to
give the impression of duration of time
when the sun stands still, in Joshua, y
| by prolonged trumpet note. Tone
painting can only present what is aud
| ible, and the difficulty in the task lies
in doing so by purely instrumental mu-
sic. It has to give, for example, the
song of birds; but birds do not sing by
notes, they know nothing of equal tenn
permanent or any other temperament
and they possess quarter tones. So all
the composer can do is to suggest bird
song On this subject Wolff1in makes
some interesting pathological remarks
and traces the tone painting of bird
song from the violinist Farina to
Papageno and the Waldvogel, and gives
us the information that the col legno,
with which the wing movement of fiut-
tering birds is given in the Barber OF
Bagdad," was not introduced till
after the death of Cornelius, and then
by no less a person than Felix Motif
Anything in motion can be expressed
musically, for music has rhythm at it's
command. Thus it cannot represent
death as a skeleton, but can do so as
reaper; it can represent the drawing
back of the scythe and the swing Of
the seythe.
The Paris Figaro" points out, apro-
pos to Verdis age, that he is one of
the oldest members Of the French In
stitute and gives some particulars which
seem to show that admission to the
distinguished company in question is
10 laoc Of fo oh
members of the Institute are as such
senior to Verdi, namely, Legouve, elect
ed in 1855; Faye QS4O, Bertrand and
Hermite 1856, Blanchard QS629, Ra-
vaisson- Molten 1S49 - WALTON QS5O),
Delisle QS5O. The date of Verdps
election is 1864. The Figaro" notes
also that the famous composer is the
only Grand Cross of the Legion OF
Honor to be found zoutside the ranks
Of royalty and eminent statesmen.
Some time ago Saint Saens protested
against the growing habit of making
speed the main consideration in the
performance of piano pieces. A Lon
don critic took up the matter. evidently
to the relief of concert-goers, one of
whom wrote to him: Thank you for
speaking out respecting the absurd
tempt now in vogue. OF course, vir-
tuoso can, if he or she chooses, force
the speed of presto But. is it really
artistic to do 500. Surely, the artists
object is not vulgarly to go one bet
ter but to bring out all the grace, all
the vivacity. of the work played
that committee has been formed at
Warsaw for the purpose of establish
ing there philharmonic society similar
to that of the Leipsic Gewandhaus..
NM. Paderewski and Jean de Reszke
are named among the artists support.
ing the movement. A hall is to be
built, in which the concerts will be,
given, under the direction of NJ.
Mlynarski.
w. R. Chapman has been doing some
pleasant and useful missionary work in
Maine. In 1897 he went from town to
town, awakening musical interest
which led to choral festival in Port
land and Bangor, at which Nine. Nor
dca was an extra attraction. This
year he has repeated the experiment.
with the same excellent results, both
artistic and financial. Nine. SemDrich
and Mr. Burmeister were among the
soloists. and the chorus included repre-
sentatives from all the leading towns
in the State. Here is an example worth
initiating in other States. Mr. Chap
man has a, special talent for organizing
and training choruses and the greatest
compliment ever paid to him was that
Anton Seidl repeatedly secured two OF
the Chapman choirs for cooperation at
his concerts.
England now has musical Rudyard
Kipling. At least that is what the
Telegraph" calls S. Coleridge-Taylor
1.-THE musical man of the hour" giving
the following details:
He has written, everybody knows.
work called "Hiawatha's Wedding
Feast Let us see how that stands
at the present time. 1t is to be per-
formed this week at Norwich, and.
three weeks later, at the North Stat
fordshire Festival 1t is in the winter
program of the Peoples Palace Choir,
also in that of the Bermondsey Settle
ment Choir, and in that of the High
bury Philharmonic Society. Two choirs
in Birmingham have it on their re-
spective lists. At Manchester the Vocal
Society promises it, at Liverpool a sim
liar society has it in hand; and South
Shields awaits it. That is pretty we'll
for one work. but the young Anglo
African has written companion for 1T,
1.-THE Death of Minnehaha," as yet I'M
published and unperformed This will