The sun., 1910-05-08
ART VERSUS ADJUSTMENTS
THOUGHTS SUGGESTED NJ a
REMARK OF ROOSEVELTS

New I.aag WM 70 Take Vs 10 Ap-
nreelato Glneke AFe We AFthtlrs
Theodore Roosevelt lold the s'ollanders
tha other day that Il took them a thousand
yenrs 70 develop their music and that
tharefore no one had any reason 20 find
fault with the United States because IL
he'd not vet producsd any great art
Without doubt Col Roosevelt had sDent
a few minutes running through the eight
vahlmes of Wander Straeten's ia Mu-
uique aux raya-Bas.' took a glance at
the hrst ave volumes Of ATibrOs's -Ce-
nchichte der Musk, ran his eve luicAly
over the tsO prize essays Of kiesewetief
and Fesls on the Netherlands scho,l and
than was primed for the honest Dutchmen,
Iat ua. hnNeyar. nOt do him an injustice.
"a nav also have ran,bIpd through the
-CorFoapondanoa ct uuyrea Musioales'
o9Constantiin Huygens and dipped into
tSe eiiayinR -Htsioire de- lHarmOnie an
Mosen Ara Of Edmond Cousseu aker.
Hls gwosp Is lIks TIE eAgls's ard HE power
of AsalmilaliOn wonderful
The HoilandeFs we're doubtless de-
lighted, Ihsy have long known that IL
tepk them about thousand years tO adj
vancH from the tentative harInonies Of
IIacbad 10 the operas and ballets 1t
Anlcn BERLIN. but Il probably dld not
dawn on them that it was likely to take
the Amsricans another thousand years
% onFrive at The creation Of operas or other
music Of their o~a,
We are z young and hopeful people.
Va ara wiling TO labor and Co wait; hut
We Do n0t wish to wait thousand yeaTs.
Fortunately L b not TO be expected thst
We shall have 10 do 20. Whatever we
ere going to accomplish will ba done in
much leua time. The musicians of tho
LOW Countries had 10 do much of the
slemsntary constructive work Of their
arG. They had 20 pick out slowly and
eapsrlmentally the first thin combina-
tinns Of tones II was not tn the fifteenth
century that the fundamental teohnic
Of polyphonic composition was sufficiently
advanced TO psrmit the construct ion
% fun blown works Of ART by their com
peaRrs.
Unacoompanied choral composit ions
wpre the only works attempted by musi-
clhns tn near the end Of the sixteenth
century. Then independent Instrumental
forma began 10 appear. yet il was
not till the era Of Bach that the instru-
msntal fugue fnlflled its destiny. while
the symphonic form reached It's funda-
mental shape with Haydn.
Amefican musicians do not have to
Do all this work. The pioneers Of the
sFt did IL for them. What they have 70
Do n learn how 20 adapt the eEtAnt ma
teTials to the expression of American
idsas. Up to the present time they have
n eeurug n0t done this. for they have
hsun toe bu1y trying 10 master the tech
Hics oi oOn8p0aition developed by the
musicians oi Europe.
The American school Of composition
IA IN iis infancy. and II Inevitably doss
e. infancy must: Il initiates grown up
achievement. But Il h altogether un-
lihsly that Il will occupy a thousand years
N adVaneinG 90 far - Dutch musical
ara. Cor the simple reason that Il has rs-
ceived from Europe a ready made cDds
Of rlles. which Europe had 20 discover
BY experiment and gradual insight
There are certain grave olstE-le~ IN
ths way OF rapid artistic development IN
music In this country. The most serious
% them all is ths attitude ol the general
public toward art. II j. not that of a
people 10 whom art v a gospel of en-.
llghtenment II h not that of nation
70 which art u a thing oi vital import.
Europaanh are fond Of tellinE ~ that
wa are . nation Of money mAxsrs. This
makes ~ Indignant. but we know Il il
almost true. We know that w. DO not
reverence intellectual pursuits and that
most Of us are inclined 10 regard a man
who devotes HE life tO them ~ a singular
fellow. We have a real respect for high
scholarship In the physical sciences. he
oallas wo have seen il produce the tels-
RSaph and the telephone and wireless
eoGnmunioAiiOn. Thess are practical re-
suits. with stock quotations attached 90
them; but Of surety II this country we're
lust NON 70 bring forth a Kant or a William
Hamilion hs WOuld be looked upon A. one
Of the vass and irresponsible army ot
scrmnks'
This condition h natural. Our country
h mostly psopled by immigrants from all
the other lands 0f the earth. who have
come here chiefly IN the hope of betterinR
their condition. This was just ~ true
Ia the days Of the Pilgrim Fathers a. Il u
nOw and it is just a. true now a. il was
then. Landing hsre. al these people have
found themselves Possessed Of a territory
bursting With material riches and the
few short years which have elapsed since
the Colonies liberated themselves have
hean AssiduOusly devoted 10 the develop
nant % these material resources.
Tho tremendous progress of the last
Afty years has swept aside the literary
ahd artistic promise which hourished in
earlier times. Men wonder why va have
no lOngsr q Concord school Of sages. Why
W have no literary circle like that ol
Irving. Emerson and Hawthorne. We
pgoduos no new Poe We have no second
ThOreaU.
We might almost a. we'll ask why
0srmany produced no opera during the
ThiFty Years war. why Italy gave birth
tone sDiviha COmmedia- during the
supremacy OF Spain. We have been too
busy 70 eRioy what Irving always hun
Rsrsd for. life Of lsttered ease in the
haunted shades Of the AlhAmbra. We
have had 20 sew up the wound Of q
severed country. draw the maps Of q
hundred railways. open the mighty
commsEc6 Of the lakes. scour the
wf.msa,sa y,lafwa 18th th. -t..,.. 60.