Omaha daily bee., 1908-11-01
Music and Musical Notes

fronts us If a recital is to be made a
success, It must be carefully worked up
from the business standpoint.
Nothing will draw on its own merits!
Think this over, and see if it can be safely
contradicted. .,..
Now comes Mr.. Landow with the plan
Of getting around those conditions. which
prevail. His attitude is practically this,
that the worry and annoyance and excite
ment in connection with a public recital,
the campaigning for seat sales, the dis
agreeable items in connection with such
an affair, are not worth the comparatively
small sum which comes to the treasury;
and then the audience will probably be just
small enough to dispel whatever feeling of
magnetism the artist may radiate, and just
large enough to give vigorous applause and
a temptation to try one more recital along
that line. Then the audience, or a large
part Of it, feels that 1t has "patronized"
the artist.
But in the recital which one gives only
before those whom he has specially invited,
all of these conditions are absent, and the
feeling is one of spontaneous exuberance
and unalloyed delight. because the artist
is at his best; the audience is large and
enthusiastic; the spirit of good feeling is
all-prevalent, and, largest and greatest of
all, the artist can play or sing just what
he, the artist, wants to play or sing.
In the other style of recital one must,
of necessity, take the tastes and proclivi-
ties of the audience into consideration, to
some extent, at least. In the private or
Invitation recital, one can present Just
the works he wants to present. and in this
uynN agn yaa1Ivr I,gA~ a. fl II "
people many great and beautiful treasures
which to the ordinary pay-at-the-door or
subscription audience would be 'caviare,"
as Hamlet says.
The present writer has a great desire to
present for consideration of his friends
some of the beautiful songs of Schumann.
Schubert, Brahms, Wolff, Roger. Straus,
Sinding and others. But when an audience
assemblies after hard work of the manage
ment, said audience wants not the greater
things as a rule, but wants something in
the way of regalement and-shalI it be
said-entertainment.
1t Is utterly useless to grumble, or to
be discouraged by these conditions. lust
now. because they are prevalent every
where, or almost everywhere. But the
suggestion is pertinent that one might
give a concert or two for the public, which
pays the money, and include in that concert
the things which they would be likely to
be attracted by, and al the same time which
would be of unquestioned standing from a
program point Of view; making an effort
to present a scheme of popularizing good
music, or of making good music popular,
and making popular music good.
For instance, in the realm Of singing.
there is very much in the way of quiet
humOr, and of the lighter vein, in songs
which have come under the writer's notice.
and in plano literature there is a regular
prairie of humor in print. A mingling of
these in the public progrom always light
ems up things, and then there is the
school of the romanticists which is Just
coming into its own.
The private recital could then be given by
invitation, and one need not make IT a very
expensive affair, and could charge it to
advertising. The musical recorder of The
Bee takes great pleasure in thinking over
the idea OF Mr.. Landow and in thus ex-
plotting it for the consideration Of others,
and If necessary, for their discussion.
%
There is room for a strong musical organ
ization among the younger women Of
Omaha. The writer knows Of many young
women who are talented and who are not
actively Unidentified with any of the musical
organizations of "A club nature. II seems
a pity that this tremendous power can not
be put into action, There is a great field.
Who viii be the pioneers to SOW the seed
which must end in a very abundant har-
vest? THOMAS J. KELLY.