Daily inter mountain., 1900-12-15

at her chateau built up his body with
the fresh country air and living, and
he had the leisure to compose. To this
| intrigue the world is indebted for the
Voluminous memoirs George Sands pub
lished regarding Chopin. She described
his painstaking method. sometimes re-
| writing a single bar a hundred times,
going over and over it until he was
entirely satisfied. She declared he often
wept and walked the floor when he
could not put on the page the beautiful
ideas struggling for expression.
Mrs. Price passed hurriedly over the
last return to Paris and the long, lin
gering, miserable death. She told Of the
grand public funeral and Of the per-
formance of Mozart's Requiem by the
finest singers of Paris; ana how the
Polish song was taken from the cher
ished silver goblet and torn in frag-
ments above his coffin. His heart was
sent back to Warsaw and is now in
the Polish church. Then she described
the heartless destruction of his pos
sessions by the Russians, and the paper
| ended
The next on the programme was a
violin solo by Miss Irene Hamann ac-
companied by her sister, Mrs. Sullivan,
on the piano. Miss Hamann played a
dainty Chopin conception. but would not
respond to an encore. Mrs. II. V. VIM
chell, although suffering with a severe
cold. sang two of Chopn's gems Mir
aus den Augen" an1 "The Maiden's
Wish.' but could not sing again, al
though the club cruelty urged her to.
Mrs. Mayme Mcfarland came next
ys-st l.
Franz" Her paper was brief, far too
brief. Mrs. Mcfarland said that when
she looked over the year book she found
that she was expected to tell some
thing of Robert Franz and then she
found that she knew absolutely nothing,
save many of his songs She could find
no book of references which would yield
up any secrets regarding the gentle Ger
man composer. She ransacked the books
in the public library and as she had
hoped for an easy subject for her paper
and been given the hardest of all she
felt aggrieved, for then she could have
just copied by the yard from some
magazine or encyclopedia but everything
failed. Still she assured the program
committee they had given her infinite
pleasure by assigning her the subject.
Somehow Mrs. FcFarland did not look
as if she were delighted.
He was born in Halle, Prussia, June
lS. lS15 and died at the same place Oc-
toDer "A, 1892. being II year old at the
time of his death. He lived in and for
his music. His songs were all of love
and nature The sad. sorrowful plaintive
style seems to predominate. His songs
convey the impression to every lover of
music that they are the embodiment of
his own nature which was like Beeth-
oven. sad one, probably owing to the
fact that he was deaf for 20 years be-
fore his death. His music is probably
more like Schumann's than any other
writer he could be compared with. He
was, without doubt. the greatest con-
temporary German composer his songs
numbering over 800. 1 believe they are
not universally known or sung by most
Americans, while all Germans know and
love them I confess I know little of
Robert Franz as German composer and
never heard many of his delightfcl om-
positions until now. The first compo-
sition of Robert Franz published APP
peared in 1913. In later years he devoted
his entire attention to editing works OF
Bach, Handel and to his own composit-
ions
OF his songs Tears" For Music. .
Two Faded Roses" For Somebody, "
The Mourner,' and I'm Your Ewes. .
are probably some of the best known
While most of his songs carry through
them sad plaintive air, for one who
has written so many, there is very little
sameness in his composition, except ir
the length. Two songs "Sweetheart r
There and "In Autumn the Heather is
Brown" will serve as an illustration of a
wide difference in two distinct styles OF
song. In speaking of the difficulty ir
securing data and subject matter to d
musician of the club, she suggested that
possibly / might be able to sing the
songs of Robert Franz better than
could write about them. 1 decided t1
act on her suggestion hoping to secure
better results than I feel I have accomp
J lished in my paper
Mrs. Mcfarland then sang I'm Aut-
umn The Heather is Browne nd for az
encore sweetheart Is There"
: Miss Esther de B. Pettibone read ar
interesting magazine sketch of Robert
| Franz and showed the club picture o
him. 1t narrated an interview an Amer
lean had with him and at the time Fran;
said to him: AN American again
Why, nearly all my visitors are Ar,eri
cans and five out of every six letters
receive are from Americans" He wen
en- then talking genally and amons
| other things said I'm America, in al
other countries composers and artists
, are recognized. In Germany they ar,
5 Eever recognized until they are dead
and then a statue is placed over them"
His great dislike for camera whicl
f he called an Internal machine he ex
planned by saying they never got
decent picture of him. He was describes
as large man. with broad face ant
chin, resembling in a certain way Liszt
His marriage to Marie Henrick, hersel
- song writer was told. This closed tn
, program and the club adjourned.
/ WEST SIDE SHAKESPEARE CLUE
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