The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-07-05

piece Of music which il extremely difficult
which We, perhaps very vaguely, think
he has not lived long enough to master
So We wonder how he contriyed ii. That
these precocious children ever move us 10
tears by their untaught powers of express
sion is the veriest nonsense. Our tears are
the product of our own maginations, of
our sentimental misconcepton of what is
going on before IFS. We are, in the plainest
of English, just waiting 10 be humbugged
Secondly, grown-Gp artists can play any
and all music better than children. There
is no child pianist who can rival Paderewsky
or Jcseffy or Teresa Carreno, or even SO
gentle and thoroughly domesticated
New York artist as Madeline Schiller.
Children cannot play like grown-up people
because they cannot think like them The
Interpretation of music, which is n langua &c
Of moods, requires a deal of human ex-
perience What can a little boy or girl
know of Chopin's G minor Ballade or the
Brahms Violin Conccrto2
Season after season goes by and the
critics pour forth one long lament Mt the
scarcity of adults who give satisfying inter-
pretatons of the masters. If adults often
fail. how many times shall children sue
coed? But when such interpretations are
given they come from men and women
who have lived and felt
Then. since children cannot interpret
the works of the masters, why should we
be invited to go and hear them try? We
know beforehand that all We shall hear
will be the notes. These may be PLAYED
correctly and very fast so that We shalt
marvel at the dexterity of the young one.
But that ia all. No: there is absolutely
no reason why any one should be asked
to listen to a child's performance of music.
If you 90 simply to he astonished, you do
not go for the sake of the music. If you
90 for the sake of the music, you must 20
when an adult artist il to interpret it,
Finally, dear brethren, these public ap-
pearances are injurious to these immature
human beings, both as children and as
artists. The smoking and the drinking
NAV be harmful to the youthful minds.
Not being either preacher or teacher,
this writer cannot pretend 10 speak eX
cathedra on that point. But az an ordinary
observer of human nature, he can say
without hesitation that the worst little
prigs in the world are the conceited and
silly boys who have played in public a few
times and been fused over by lot of half
historical women. These little creatures
lose all semblance of children in n short
time and become animated windbags.
Does any one think that is good for them3
And what about the little grls9 How
long Ia il before they begin to assume prima
donna airs and to treat every one around
them with insufrerable insolence? This
il not guesswork. gentle reader; it is the
result of quarter Of century's observa-
ton and experience in the curious world
of music. Little children should be seen
and not heard. Let them go to the concerts
If thew like music don't make them go,
If they do not like it), and hear adult artists
play; but do not let them show other people
show smart they are by appearing on
the stage themselves.
The injury to the children as artists ia
the direct outcome of the injury TO them
as children. When they acquire fine
self -conceit, they develop with it a belief
that they have arrived. No longer need