New-York tribune., 1902-03-02

"Meomaniacs" is a curious book. While tho
/ brief compositions Of which il is made haV,
some of the characteristics of fiction, it would
/ not be absolutely accurate to describe them as
short stories; and while they abound in criti
cism and satire, we can scarcely call them es-
says. They rather the imprOvisations now
, frankly whimsical and now almost serious, of
/ writer who cares for music and has considerable
/ insight into many of its mysteries. but has also
/ too keen a sense of humor to be learnedly mys-
terious himself. Mr.. Huneker knows the mas
ters. and may be sure that at bottom hC
has profound reverence for them. But he has
no illusions about them, either and his dispOsi-
ton to approach them in merely sane ant
human mood is strengthened by what he ha:
seen among modern music lovers, so called, anG
modern musicians. He has looked with amuse-
ment upon the Obligations of the hidebounC
! Wagnerite; he has watched the latter day
| herophant of music eXpounding his twaddly
notions; he has, we imagine, encountered the
hysterical worshpper of Bayreuth or Pade-
rewski, or JEAN" and while the spectacle has
moved him to disgust it has also walked his
mirth. SO we have in this book a series OF
| sketches in which he mingles witty ridicue o.
all those who debase the musical art by laying
| silly hands upon it, with constant flashes OF
| that critical intelligence by virtue of which H.
| cannot even let himself go in sheer fantastica.
| speculation without being interesting.
| The reader who turns these pages in thei.
| order grows the more appreciative as he
goes on. THE Lords Prayer in B." which.
opens the book. is very clever study
| in the bizarre; "A Son of List" which
follows it, is grmly effective bit of drama
and in "A Chopin of the Gutter" Mr. Huneker
paints the portrait of a figure that is at Orcc
grotesque and somehow persuasive. But it is
in his fourth piece. The Piper Of Dreams that
| hp hcr iS ipcyIJ
ing with brilliant force a suggestive idea anC
giving to the production artistic form which
| We are sorry to say miss more than
| elsewhere in the volume. 1t is the story of {
composer Of the future. and it is fun of imagia-
ative power the character of the man and hi
personality being hit off in wonderfully vivid
touches and the nature of his musical achieve
| ments being handled with an audacity that is
the more plausible because it flows from some
| thing like definite demonstration of the
authors ideas on music know it at the
present time The following passage we'll illus
trates the kind of writing which Mr. Huneker
gives US, along with his purely ina aginativc
| flights:
new art must be evolved. not synthesis
| of the old arts dreamed by Wagner but an art
| consisting of music alone; art for the TWEEN
teth century. democratic art in which poet
and tramp alike could revel To the profounGest
science must be united clearness of exposition
that only Raphael has. Even peasant enjoys
all Athens Worshipped its marbles, and Phidia.
was crowned King of Emotions. Music alone
| Jagged in the race music, part speech. part
painting, with a SurEing undeTtoW Of passion
music had been too long in the labora tories Of
! the wise men To free IT from its Egyptian
bondage. to make it the tongue of all life, the
Interpreter of the worlds desire IllOWSk.
dreamed the dreams of madmen.
Chopin who OWNED this truth went first
| the people. later to Paris. and thenCefOrward he
| became the victim of the artificial Beethoven
| was born too soon in world grown gray under
scholars ShaCkl"S. The symphony like the OLD
Man of the Sea, weighed upon his mighty shoul-
drrS: music, he believed, must be formal To be
understood. IloWski, in his many wanderngs.
pundcred these things; Berlioz on the trail.
in his efforts to formulate science of inStru-
mental timhrcS. Wagner CaptiVatcd by the
glow of the footlightS; saw List. audacious
List, led 10y Wagner, and tribute laid upon his
genius by the Bayreuth man; saw TSchai-
kowsky struggling away from the temptations
symphonic Pocrn-a new and vicious version {.
that old pitfall the symphony. CeSar
Franok the Belgian mystic narrowly Craze the
truth i'm of his chamber music. and then
fall victim To the destinations of the word: as II
the word spoken or sung We're other than
clog To the free wings Of imaginative music.
Illowsi noted the struggles of these dreamers
noted Verdi swallowed by the maelstrom of thu
theatre; noted Richard Strauss and his hesita
tion at the final leap
Mr. Hunckcr is often discoursing in this vein
and is accordingly readable in the best sense
Of that much abused term. He never takes him
self too seriously. These critical excursions Of
his are perfectly adapted by their tone to the
general drift of his book, with its playful can
dor about all things good and bad in the world