The Indianapolis journal., 1899-10-10

so incorrect as TO require challenging and
correetlon. You state: His pieces were
technical skill although much of this was
made necessary by the antiquated tuning
tthe spanish) TO which Mr.. Bane seems to
cling with inexplicable tenacity" Well-in-
formed guitarists know that the Saxton
method, which Mr. Bane is the exponent
Of, is new system. he (Mr. Bane) having
some years ago. the new Saxton system ele-
waiting the guitar to a sphere heretofore
undreamed of. In the days of Sor. Carulli
and other guitarists of their class the Sax
ton system was unknown. In all branches
of music and art almost every generation
has brought forward some genius who finds
new possibilities TO his particular instru-
ment. Spohr gave violin students new
bowling and lingering, Liszt added third
of an octave TO the piano-forte. and Wag-
ners instrumentations, so un2ppreciated
during his life, led to radical changes in
many of the orchestral instruments then
In general use, and the author Of the Sax
ton method has given the world a work
that is revolutionizing. guitar playing.
The Journal critic also says: 1T limited
his otherwise meritorious performance in
that 1t made a chromatic progression, ex-
cept In octaves. almost impossible.
cnromauc progression is not musical form
10 especially aspire to. nor do musicians
Judge of an artists ability by his powers
to render them or not. but as your critic
seems TO believe the Saxton system is to be
condemned because he is unaware that
chromatic progressons are more easily OBJ
tdinSu py ltS use thdn Oy the OLD methodS i
would call his attention to the Chopin
'Nocturn, Op. 8. No. ." which Mr.. Bane
rendered that evening, every note of the
melody being played as in the original piano
score the piece being full of chromatic
progreSSionS.
Mr. Philip Hale, the well-known Boston
critic. after hearing Mr.. Bane, he using at
the time the Saxton system, had the fol-
lowing TO say in the Musical Record: 1T
would be difhcult 10 speak too highly of
Mr. Bane's playing. Greater masters of
the guitar may have been upon the Ameri-
can platform, but the present writer has not
heard them. His technique, his delicate ap-
probation OF the fine points of his inStru-
ment and the artistic manner in which he
took advantage of them, the class of music
which he played and the manner in which
he played 1t gave his audience an insight
into the finer rarer possibilities of the in
Strument which was wonderful as Ii was
delightful. There was no tours de force or
manual dexterity no painful straining after
unnatural and dazzling effects. The whole
evenings work was that of the artist so
sure of his instrument that its mechanical
difficulties were intuitively overcome, leav-
ing him free to give himself up wholly to
the spirit of his music"
my purpose IS not to laud him, you were
really generous in your acknowledgment Of
his ability, but to correct an error in regard
to the system you criticised, possibly from
berS from his repertoire many Of them i'm
possible by the old system, are a refuta-
tion of the claim that he was limited by
the new system he uses: Mendelssohn's
Spring Song" Chopin's Waltz, A Flat
two of his mazurkas, Weber's Invitation
"Cavalleria Rusticana." Wieniawski's
Polish National Dance" and others of like
character. JNO. W. KEYES.
indianapolis, Oct. g.