Omaha daily bee., 1900-02-11
MUSIC.



One can respect an open enemy. Cue can
even learn to become accustomed to the
friend who tells you your faults to your
face and not behind your back. One can
learn to love the man who is kind enough
to tell the bad things about a person, be-
hind the PERSONS back. so that the person
is not conscious of it. But of all the choice
weapons of the eternal enemy there is none
sharper. more cutting or more unpleasant
than the skulking. back alley cowardice,
which holds a plain, honest article up to
the light and tries to find something be
tween the lines"
Some time ago the writer said in this
column something about aspiring organists.
In the same page of the paper the name OF
Mr.. Walter E. Young appeared and of
course the two remarks are coupled and the
musical critic of The Bee is unjust, unfair,
prejudiced, etc. There has been so much
of this kind of nonsense lately. coming to
the ears of the critic aforesaid, that he
can no longer let it go unchallenged in
justice to himself, The Bee, or the victims.
Mr.. Young, who is now in charge of a
church organ and choir at Council Bluffs,
is a musician, OF English education and OF
the deep and thorough school of organ play
ing. BY this is not meant a musician who
goes to Europe and stays three, six or nine
months, returning a thoroughly educated
scholar in everything from prosody to philos-
ophy and from Greek verbs to the science
of the occult. MIR. Young is thorough in his
work; he is a gentleman by nature and he
is a fine organist.
The next glaring instance was the allusion
in these paragraphs, sometime ago, to the
work of Mr.. Gareissen's chorus. Because,
forsooth, the gentleman was accorded seine
degree OF congratulation there must have
been something wrong, something between
the lines.
Now, here cometh another illustration.
Last Sunday an article appeared in this
column in more or less violent attack on
free organ ~recitals, free concerts, etc. And
the cosby body-snatchers, who always
work in the dark, suddenly discovered that
the whole article was aimed at Mr.. j. f.
Butler, personally.
1t is but just to say that nothing of the
sort was intended. Neither was it an as
sault on Mr.. Wheeler. Both of these gentle
men are strong factors in the musical des-
tiny OF Omaha and both are warm personal
friends of the musical department of
The Bee. They are, of course,
wrong on the subject in question;
that is, we think they are, and either we
shall have to convert them or they us.
} Difference of opinion, says the wise man,
makes horse races. Why should we not
have those differences and air them for the
good of the cause? 1t is all in a spirit of
: good faith.
Mr.. Wheeler showed his feeling about the
last Sunday matter by writing in the EX-
celsior this week a most complimentary
. and generous notice of the present writer's
: concert. And Mr.. Butler, whose Irish wit Is
. as keen as his heart is big. writes a note
: personally, as he sends his program for to-
=, days recital, reading thus: "If not too soon
after your article on Free Organ Recitals,
please make note of this Sunday"
There are some people who are so small
: themselves that they cannot imagine any
magnanimity in others, Their horizon is
- bounded by their piano keyboard and their
> souls by the diatonic scale.
A tempest in a teapot-such is the only
way to allude TO a recent episode in which a
few persons recently framed a manifesto
! and sent it to Philip Hale, the editor of the
Boston Musical Record, Two names at
y tached to the document must surely have
been signed without a careful reading Of
the article, for they represent two of thu
leading musicians of the town. The Others
= are not connected in any way with TIT
q musical strength of Omaha, nor have the!
W been, but they represent themselves as rep
n rcscntative musicians. 1t Is not in thu
II province of the writer to pass upon thu
merits or The domerlts Of the cause which
II produced the manifesto, but it is a pleasur,
IA to know that the rough, unpublished billings
4 cate therein contained defeated its owl
~ object. Had the article been written in de
cent Enslish, with some show of dignity, I
might have been considered seriously. Tn
% critics are alluded to as being lover
- 2ealous," or "over-jealous,' which in itsel
~ is quite a joke. And thus. the muslca
~ colony is aroused, and sleeps again. Wha
next?
= In connection with the announcement
- made by the musical department of tn
=, Woman's club some time ago in all tn
III local papers as to the Whitney Mockridg
= Concert company it would appear from tn
following letter that the department wa
the victim of a little confidence game some
IS where,
r CHICAGO. Feb, $40 the Musical Crit
of The Bee: | notice by the papers that
IN am billed TO sing in your city. | shall deer
it a favor II you will have this corrected /
ne your columns, as II is evidently intended a
4 a fraud on the musical public, for there
sh no Whitney Mockridgc Co Zach Of n
latter words is Underlined in the letter. |
"a. November and part Ct December | made
= few ~dates-Kansas City, ST. Joseph, Chicag
etc-supported by a c~ontralto and a violin
re list, and evidently there is something grie,
eusly wrong somewhere. ! wrote at once