Evening star., 1901-10-26
DISAPPOINTMENT USUALLY

/ iia0S1Sdl SOuCdtloUS Oh I0elT OHSpTinE OF
proteges than any other people in the
| world, said well-known local musician.
Il am speaking now Of those who put their
| children or the talented children of impe-
cunious persons through what is called The
| finishing process on the other side of the
sea, and not of those who merely educate
| the young folks in whom they are interest
! ed in music a private accomplishment.
| Every day we hear of this or that young
| woman or man being sent abroad to COM
| plete his or her musical education. These
young men and women are unquestionaply
talented l won't say they have learned al!
| of the art of music that is capable of b.
ing taught in this country for that
wouldn't be true But they have reached a
fairly advanced state of perfection in thn;r
| respective specialties, and it is regarded
| as the proper thing by those looking after
| them to ship them to Europe to go through
| what is called the polishing-off process
| under the 'mahsters How many of tasse
young persons are ever heard of in the real
| musical world? They study abroad for four
| or five years, often even longer, become,
! we will admit, pretty thorough musicians,
| but the end of 1t all is that they discover
| that while they no doubt possess plenty of
talent, they have not that indefinable thing
| called genius, and it is only the genius that
| rises to the surface in this age of wide
spread cultivation in music. The home
| quent references to their tremendous prog
| ress in their studies in Europe while they
| are over there, and rosy pictures paint
| ed in these papers as to how the local stu
dents abroad are going to set the world
| aolaZe when they set out their public
| careers But only once in a thousand
| times, or l might almost say in ten thou
| sand times, is such a forecast ever realized.
| The young student returns to the United
| states, gives few exhibitions of his or her
| art to an admiring and enthusiastic home
audience and then sets about the business
/ or making a public name. And that's
| where the hard fall usually comes in.
suppose the student is young woman
| who, after great study in this country, has
| spent four or five years in Germany per-
| fectlng herself as a pianiste. She wins, say
| one of the numerous conservatory prizes
| at the wind-up of her studies and then,
| flushed with victory and foreseeing a great
| career on the pianoforte, she crosses to
this country, expecting the concert mar
ayers to bid furiously for her services She
| plays for them and they tell her that she
does beautifully. They praise her exceed
ingly. But they don't book her for con-
cert tours. They perceive that the girl is
pretty good player but that she has no
rating whatever as great performer, and
| they know that If they attempted 20 fea-
ture her as a great performer they would
not only be laughed at by the critics, but
that they would lose money. So the young
woman, good deal chagrined, and with the
feeling deep in her soul that she is not ap-
preciated and that the concert managers
are an ignorant lot when it comes to sim
Cling out artistes, returns to her people,
plays a good deal at home affairs, develops
an inevitable discomfort over The worlds
lack of appreciation, and, In nine cases out
of ten, winds up by getting married aud re-
luctantly abandoning her aspirations for
career in the musical world i'll favor OF
domestic duties.
1T is the same way with young women
who go abroad to have their Voices cult
waited. We read in occasional European
letters written hV martial friends that these
young women are going to make Patti and
Melba seem foolish when they emerge from
their conservatories and set out on their
operate careers, and we experience thrill
over the coming success of an American
girl. Only one out of a great many of these
ever reaches the point where she makes
an actual appearance in a notable operate
role, and when she does get to that point
she generally makes a success OF il. There
are exceptions even to this rule, however.
You'll remember the case of that chicago
girl who was so prodigiously boomed by
cable after a few appearances in Paris a
few years ago and who when she appeared
| in New York later on, made a positive
fzzle, showing a sweet but small voice and
not enough dramatic talent to he worth
mentioning.
saThe girls with expensively cultivated
voices who fail to achieve an appearance
| in Europe return to the United States look
/ ing for their chance and very few of them
indeed ever get it. I once stood by while
| Walter Damrosch tested, on the bare stage
| OF carnegie MUSIC f1dH III NEW L VI n, lllS
voices of sixteen young women who had
spent years studying in Europe. They had
not succeeded in accomplishing European
| appearances in opera, and they wanted Mr..
| Damroschs pronunciamento to their
voices a means of getting into the grand
opera companies organized in the United
States. Only one of the girls was found by
Mr.. Damrosch worthy of being classed as
the possessor of a high-grade voice, and
this girl was so utterly devoid of dramatic
talent that she hasn't yet succeeded in get
ting the operate boards. A good many
of these young women eventually drift into
the cheaper grand opera companies, and
some of them-with heavy enough hearts,
after their long familiarity with great mu-
Sic-go into the comic opera field.
This or that American youth, we hear,
has exhibited such wonderful talent on the
violin that his moneyed friends have got
together and decided to send him abroad TO
complete his education on the king of in
| struments. He remains away for the con-
ventional length of time, and at the finish
he is able to extract mighty sweet music
from the violin-but there are thousands of
youths all over Europe who can do that
and who are nevertheless looked upon as
only fair performers. This job of becoming
q great vioinist is the heaviest of ALL
shouldn't say becoming a great violinist,'
however, for nobody becomes that The
great violiniSt is simply born to it, and the
merely talented handler of the bow might
study and practice for a thousand years
without ever achieving the rank of gem
| fuses like Ysaye.
| The American youth returns to this coun-
| try and displays his technique to those in
position to push him along toward fame
| and they frankly tell him that they can't
| get audiences into concert halls to list an
| to violinists who are not known and an
| proved masters Of the instrument The
| young violinist goes to his home and or
| ganiZes philharmonic orchestra or he ne
| comes the leader of theater orchestra
| and eats his heart out when compelled TO
| play rag-time between the acts, or he goes
| to teaching. In any case his life is one
| long disappointment.
Il am not, understand me- in any wise at
| tempting to discourage the musical educa-
tion of our young people. 1 would be fool
| tsh to do that, considering that 1 get my
| livelihood by teaching. But 1 know that
| the great majority Of the young men ana
| women who go abroad to study with high
| hopes of great careers doomed to life
| long wretchedness Of spirit over their lack
| Of success when they are through with the
| 'polishing-of process. 1 think send too
many of them over to the other side with
| ideas in their heads that are bound to
| be rudely dispelled. 1t would ye a good
| thing if some sort of Oual frat on hoa rd