The San Francisco call., 1904-12-18

tie and courteous in praise ana censure
alike
"Ah. but that is beautiful Gorgeous
the first movement, But the waltz
always. Tschaikowsky spoils every
masterpiece with his waltz move
ments,"
Now, have something Of weakness
fer that same 5-4 lifting, drawing
movement and so said
"Ah." Paderewsh laughed; then with
the drollest expression he threw one
hand in the air, reached for the floor
with the other and said: Ballet, I
see this. one leg in the air, all through
No, it is the weakest point, and very
unworthy of the rest OF the work. 1t
is the same with the piano concerto. in
the operas. all through. waltz, waltz.
I listen to the 'PathetiQue,' but that
movement I could not bear TO hear"
How did Slavic color come up then?
It led 10 Paderewsk deprecating what
is known as the Slavic note being so
regarded or as desirable TO be so per-
sistently struck. He asked: How
would it be if in your national school
of music"
Thank youl" I murmured.
Il am supposing one" he jested. and
then went on, but if the Dvorak New
World symphony. for example, were
to be taken as a pattern for all Amer
lean music. as it is undoubtedly par
TALLY characteristic The desperate,
sad songs of Russia, on which so much
of the Slav music is based, voice only a
part of the national consciousness. And
why not express the racial character
istics in absolute music?"
You get that dominant somberness
in the literature. too" 1 contended. lin
Tolstoi, Gorky, Turgeniev-"
Less in Turgeniev than in the 9TH
ers." Paderewsh reminded me.
And he is the greatest Of these"
ventured.
He is immense" Paderewsld said, a
delightful reverence in tone and look
He has the Latin culture superim-
posed upon the Russian. All he is
national and beautiful. The others are
national and try to be as ugly as pos
siblei Whom is one asked TO meet in
their pages? Mostly drunkards and i'm
moral women. There are other people.
There is the sunshine as well as the
shadow. But think, now, of the three
most notable of the later Russian nov
els-Dostoievsky's Crime and Punish
ment' the Resurrection of Tolstoi, the
Gcrhy 'Forma Gordyeef.' Look at their
heroes-all alike. True, there are differ
ences of social standing, outside differ
ences-but they have the same souls.
And what souls And the womenl 1t
is a choice, perhaps, they think between
the interesting woman and the repre-
" are not representative. No. think it
an artistic mistake. The authors lack
esthetic measure-and good taste
put in a plea here for the art pur-
poseful, for the arguments sake,
with a comment upon the cruel socio-
logical conditions upon which the nov
els are founded. 1 had forgotten then
that the Pole was a Russian subject.
He reminded me of the fact. Two of
his henchmen, who had been sitting in
silent worship for the most part, also
gently reminded me of the fact. 1t
means things to be a Russian subjecti
From the artistic side, however, the
pianist was perfectly ready to discuss
the Russian. He resumed his criticism
Of the novels aforesaid with: You do
not see Balzac Daudet, Flaubert
or even Anatole France doing that kind
Of thing. And think Of the three great
ones, Shakespeare, Balzac and Moliere
the latter for the comic side. Their
work is for all countries, all languages,
all times, and yet is most truly national
and characteristic. No, Russian art is
yet not so great as the country. a coun-
try profoundly interesting, of the great
est contrasts, the greatest riches and
poverty, culture and ignorance. liberal
ism and the reverse
The French habit then, Of the most
literary or ignorant person, of the poll
tician or poet, of chasing the French
as the greatest poetry came in for
amused reference from the Pole. ven
tured a suggestion that the language
itself was not poetic. He thought it
'rhythmical" but possibly not poetical-
ly musical AS to the poets soul he
said:
What Of De Musset. truly a great
soul. and that poor soul, Rousseau-he
was also a great SOUL
Berlioz he dubbed a great inno-
vator," chief among the French COM
pCsers, but not great among the great
ones. He told me OF Hanslick's bon
mot on Berlioz and David, when the
works of the two were being given
side by side in Vienna at a French
festival. Said Hanslick: David has
genius without talent; Berlioz talent
without genius"
Richard Strauss Paderewsh classes
as a bigger Berlioz," but by much
the largest figure on to-day's musical
horizon. His 'Enoch Arden" melo-