The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-18
MUSIC CENTER
 OF TIE FUTURE
New Inspirations From Old
 Irish Melodies
THE WORLD AWAKENING
IreIand-works Contain Rare Materials for Opera Li-
 bretttsts

From the Baltimore News.
 1 The marvellous strides made by thu movements for the revival of Celtic lit. erature and music in Ireland of late years furnish the foundation for the op. tjmistic belief of Chauncey Olcott that iE some not very far distant day we shall go to the opera houses to heal great great works written in a new school of music whose inspiration will come from the old Irish melodies, so fa- miliar to us all our lives.
 The assertion Of such a belief may seem very strange" said MT. Olcott to group of musicians last week, and might be considered a wild dream if one did not take the trouble to look into the matter a little. There is a movement now going on in Ireland that will give an impetus to the study of music in it's l broadest sense, as well as a development | Of the national melodies such as none can expect who does not know the earn estness with which it is being conducted and the propaganda work if one might call it such, that the devotees of the art are prosecuting.
 Every year shows increasing inter- est In the musical revival by the general public In Ireland, and large musical fes- tiyals are being held in all of the larger cities, and In some of the smaller ones. too where local singers and performers on various instruments compete for prizes oHered by enthusiastic supporters of the movement. In Dublin there is an annual national musical festival, which they cali 'Fels Cecil' and in which the competi- tons are open to the winners of the prizes at the local meetings. In other words, the festivals in the smaller cities serve as elimination contests for the more Important national festival in Dub lln where famous musicians are engaged 10 serve as adjudicators
 Foundation for the Future II IS not the hope of even the mos. sanguine of the promoters of these fes tiyals that the results from them will be seen immediately. but they are laying a wonderful foundation for the future Every child with musical taste is being | instructed in the old Irish melodies and ta7ght their importance in the national lie of his race. The theory Is that some day 8 composer will come from the peo- l pie, saturated with the Characteristic music of Ireland and will give expression | m the most scholarly fashion to his mu- sical thoughts, but strongly colored with | tho strange, weird melodies so near tc | his soul. Thus will a new school of music l be created
 Norway had such an accident ir l Grieg It can we'll be called an accident l for the formation of his mental trend was not deliberately planned, as had been l that of the coming Irish composer. Griee came from the people. His mother sang the old Morse melodies to him in the | nf ha ha, | or the hillsides and in the cabins all through his boyhood and his early youth and became thoroughly saturated witt them. When, later on his talent devel oped and he learned the science of put ting his thoughts on paper in the mos artistic manner, he found that all his thoughts were strongly affected by tho l songs of his childhood and he developed | that characteristic coloring, instead oj subduing 1t. as the young Morse musi. | clans who went before him made the | mistake of doing, and thus founded wha- we now know as the Scandinavian schoo of music
 This is what the Irish people expect to do. Up to the present time the Irisf musicians have gone to Italy and Ger | many for their inspiration, but now the, are turning back to their own country | and finding in the wonderful old melo dies a source of rare musical wealth Sir Charles Villiers Standford is per | haps the first to recognize that fact bu he did not begin soon enough and hi. works are more German in their char acter than Irish. Hamilton Harty comes | nearer to the mark than onyone else He is thoroughly Celtic in his style an, is doing good work. I hope to hear goot things of him later; big things, in fact
 Coming Irish Composer
 "Ihe literary treasures of Ireland fur nish unbounded materials for the opers librettist. The ancient sagas or legend, are quite as fanciful and romantic as any of the stories that come from tho themes of the Wagner operas. It Is only Of late years that the world at largt has become acquainted with them. Will liam Butler Yeats, Lady Gregory, Jere miah Curtin. William Latminie and sev | eTal others have translated and collected | number of these superb legends and if you have not yet read them there is q wonderful treat in store for you. Or | the shelves of the great libraries of Ire land and even on the continent are many Irish manuscripts as yet, untranslatet | and in which will doubtless be found a | least as many more of these interestin. sagas as we know at present. At any 1 rate there are enough of them to furnisl the dramatist or librettist with themes for long time to come.
 "I really believe that the day is not ia distant when the Irish composer will ar rive on the scene, for there are man, young men now displaying great promise and we will have grand opera whose stories will be taken from these old le | gends. Naturally, the headquarters Q | such school would be Dublin, and firm y believe that the world, tired of th' trite works of the older schools, will gt to the Irish capital for the performance l df no mn Of Calf, composer. Such a scheme is not impos sible by any means and from the progress that has already been made in that di rection I am quite convinced that th' characteristic Irish music will be tn, music of the future.'