Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-10-11
SKETCH OF MASCAGN|
Composer Of Intermezzo Not
an Apollo,
BUT GOOD LOOKING
AMUSING MISTAKE AT THE MUsI-
CLANS EXPENSE.
Another Instance of the Ingenuity of
New York Thieves-Other
Gotham Gossip. =

Special Correspondence of The Evening Star
NEW YORK. October IL. 1902.
There seems to be occasion for some one
to rise and remark that Mascagni isn't as
good looking as his pictures which. as ev
erybody knows. are very romantic and Ro-
meo-like indeed.
But, for all that the composer of the Won
drously sweet ''intermezzo" Is a very fair
looking sort. He has a somewhat stocky,
well-fed conformation. where all of the
music-loving young women were led to sup
pose that he was Of the 1.-the. sinewy. leo
nine type Of masculine makeup, and he
has rather commonplace. slouching gait,
and many Latinesaue mannerisms of the
hands. The vulgar mind can apprehend no
| distinct difference between his jerky con-
versational manner. with it's rataplan of
vowels and somewhat strident tones and
the excited oral method of Diego or Giu-
seppe of the railroad construction gang. He
I has no such an asset of hair as his pub
1ished portraits exhibit, and he looks con-
siderably older and more seasoned than
those portraits. His countenance has the
blush tinge such as Is worn by actors who
shave a great deal. and 1t Is quite plain
that his street clothing was manufactured
for him somewhere In the south Of Europe
Hair-splitting critics have expressed the
opinion that his people should see to it that
he fares forth with less Of dandruff upon his
coat collar. and with a better brushed hat
and more glistening shoe leather. But he
frames up pretty well in evening coat.
and. for the RESTLESS Mascagni.
Humorous Features of His Visit.
There was humorous feature or two in
connection with his advent here on the
ship the other day. One of his fellow voy-
ayers was the venerable Gen. Booth,
founder Of ho Salvation Wh
fleet of tugs with welcoming bands went
down the bay to greet the originator of re-
ligious ministration in the streets and
slums. Sadly enough, Mascagnf fancied
that these tugs had swung down the bay
with their bands to acclaim him, and he
stood by the Starboard rail. far forward,
bowling and waving his hat in mistaken
appreciation of the welcome. until he was
made aware of his error, whereupon he re-
tired to his cabin with chagrined flush.
But there were assuredly enough of his
countrymen the pier to greet and graf
ify him. all Of them in exceedingly unyield-
ing-looking frock coats and queerly shaped
top hats. and each of them bearing a most
formally devised. filigree-paper-wrapp
bouquet for Lena" the Teutonically named
and distinctly pretty wife of the composer.
Sfgnora Mascagni has great mass of red
DISH brown hair, which fell into picturesque
disorder on the pier when the little woman
began to rush around in a frenzy of worri-
ment over her baggage. When one Of the
reception committee succeeded in assuring
her that her baggage would be taken care
Of all right and sent along to the hotel,
Mascagni was stood up in a corner of the
vast shipping shed. and, while his smiling
spouse leaned upon him. several of the
members of the reception committeeman
they all looked very warm and moist and
Observation-Disclosures speeches at him, hail
ing him the hope Of Italy and other
complimentary things too numerous to
mention. Whereupon the hope of Italy.
would have liked to swing baton in order
to give his hands some sort of an occupa-
ton, said a few words in the space of
about a minute. The things that he said
in the progress Of that minute give one
high idea of the speed which Italian ste
nographers must possess in order to catch
verbatim the utterances of their country
men.
serenaded by Street Pianist.
Mascagni and his Signora took one of the
second-f1oor suites at the Savoy, and on
the evening of his arrival huge street
piano, rugged out with a snare and base
drum and many other making appli-
ances, the whole outfit inclosed in a wagon
| pulled by a horse, was hauled up alongside
the curb in front of the house. A we'll
known New Yorker about town who is
famed for this sort of thing had chartered
the street piano and his instructions to the
grinning manipulation of the thing Were
front of the Savoy until further orders
Needless to say this tune Mascagni's
'Intermezzo."- Now, the "Intermezzo."
hackneyed as it has become-it has been
even more abused than the immortal Mis-
erere" of Verdi-is nevertheless singular
ly tender and appealing bit of muslc-for
strings. When. however, it is done in wing
dance tempo by hand-organ affair that you
can hear at least ten blocks away and when
every other note of it is emphasized by
the horror of snare and bassdrum pounding
well, the wonder is not great that Mas
cagni who had been seated in one of the
front windows of his suite when the barrel
organ drew up. began to claw at his hair
when the infamy pierced his ears. He
quickly disappeared from the window, but
the barrel organist went right on doing his
brawny porters raced out of the hotel and
booted him out of the neighborhood.
Perry Belmont in Angry Mood.
Speaking Of music, there is said to have
been large amount of that same in and
around the immediate neighborhood of Mr..
Perry Belmont for a number of days and
nights Defeated for Congress last year by
a hitherto totally unknown young repub-
lican person of the name of Montague Less
ler the soul and spirit of Mr.. Belmont are
said to have become very wroth indeed. At
that time. when disaster overlook Mr.. Bel
mont 1t was ungenerouSly pointed out by
the New York commentators that only one
individual on Manhattan Island knew pre-
cisely the size of the check which had
boosted along the Belmont campaign, that
Tammany person bearing the unpoetic
name of Battery Dan Finn. However,
Mr.. Belmont did not publicly repine. On
the contrary he is said to have brought his
strong teeth together with a forceful click,
and to have vowed that he'd get along to
Congress anyhow. When the cohorts of de-
mocracy sped joyously up to Saratoga for
the convention which nominated the ac-
quisitive and unenthusing Coler for the gov
ernorship, Mr. Belmont went along with the
outfit, his immediate companions on the
Chilly Pat McCarren, "Eat-em-up- jack
McManus, ''Two-Spot" Mcmahon and other
eminent personages with equally meililuous
applications Mr.. Belmont was in good
humor, for it had been all arranged that he
was to take the nomination for Congress
few days after the convention from one of
the safa arnrnany districts On the very