The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-05-04

THIS town, who IS rot musical told ms
quietly the other day that the fool
music" affected him in some wav. tina;
after he got home and to bed. he couldn't
get TO sleep He would be mobbed in this
town # il got out on him Another. pro
fessional man told me that the next
morning he couldn't get down 10 work;
that he ordered his stenographer 10 drop
work and listen TO him tel about the
recital; he said he had 70 tell somebody
about it.
But before Paderewsld cane We. n
the Eagle Office. had determined TO be
sure about him. We delegated Farmer
Doolittle. our hog reporter. TO 20 10 the
recital and report. Now Farmer. who
was a constituent of Lincoln back IN
Illinois. who doesn't know a piccolo from
q butter-tester and doesn't know . blessed
thing about music. went His report
was that the recital made him dizzy.
I write all this in defense OF ny be
lief that Paderewski ought 10 have the
support of The Globe. which doesn't hes
itate to hand . flower garden over 10
merit as quickly as 1t win move a brick
building over TO a fraud. a brick at a
time. Paderewslzi is net fraud. nor a
freak: not a hypnotist. He can simply
play the piano.
Now we come TO the second item about
one-finger virtuosos. That item was good
1t is so true. out at my house on the
piano is the score of Wagners Isolde.
That score has been there a great many
years. At the start Of that opera Wagner
begins on natural. lie never stops. never
gets back 10 c natural. but just w;.nders
on People you know. say they DO. not
understand Wagner. But you ought 10
see the one-dnger crowd get into that
book. One VIII just happen 10 sit down
at the piano. ana 90 10 fooling with the
bool. and pretty soon the player is gone.
/ think at first he is trying TO find the
end of the piece. and the music gets him
somehow. he VIII go pegging along for
couple of hours before he is satisfied.
OCCASIONALLY he viii come across a phrase
that paralyzes him with its sweetness.
He will play it over excitely. get Up and
hunt somebody TO listen 70 it, and a.,er-
ward wonder why on earth people don't
rave over it. Wagner is a bHly-heu on
bass, and it doesn't worry the one-hnger
crowd to slam the left hand down on
an odd chord, although they faint at the
sight OF a run.
I have been jabbing away st that score
for a good many years. II Wagner es-
capped any tone combinations in Isolde.
it was purely an oversight. / got after a
time, insight into the possibilities of
harmony. Then I began wild hunt for
interpreters 1 never had a whack At
grand opera, but I didn't miss any con-
certs, and put in recital tamateur) oe-
casionauy. But they didn't reach me.
Ny wife. who had heard Paderewski
number Of times. told me that Paderowsl1i
had the missing something. I didn't
go to Kansas City because I believed
the hall too big. I went to Chicago. Keep
your ear on the bass" said my wife. 1
did. He reached me. He reaches all the
one-fngered crowd. who as you say. are
always disagreeable except 10 themselves.
Now I recommend that you get the
score of Isolde. stick it UP on the piano.
organize a one-fngered crowd, and let
them sail in. 1t viii beat your brass
band scheme for musical cultivation Of
the masses all hollow.
VICTOR MURDOCH.
We know Victor Murdoch 10 be a very
bright man. and a capable musician. but
we do rot accept his ideas. No man or
woman can move as with piano playing.
We do not like the instrument But
there are thousands of intelligent people
who do Ike the piano. and we cheerfuily
accord them the right. We do not ike
stories. We know hundreds
Of intelligent PEOPLE who do ike Thack-
cray. ard We do not call them fools
People are different"
They have a right TO be.
Some people ike lodges. We do not
but we 90 not find fault with "A man who
enjoys attendance on a lodge. Thousands
of people enjoy attendance on church
They have q right TO- q ran VINO docs
not enjoy church attendance. hes a tight
to remain away.
Always remember that your ueighbor
may be as good man as Yourself and
reject all your notions and ideas There
IS saving that there arc two sides %
q question"
Two,
There arc a hundred.
We viii never admire Paderewskl we
,ant Go it. Cur makeup is such that
Te can not appreciate h.s skill or his
greatness We also doteat rag dme. We
cannot tolerate sousa's marches But Ne
win walk as far as the next man 70
hear a symptom orchestra. q profession
Il brass bsnd. q great chorus. p perform
snce q grand opera, Or q good comie