The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-05-21
r.cha,kov.ky and HI. Music

"The music festival programmes are de- lightfully varied, and while many classic pieces are presented not single one of the five concerts will be regarded as heavy'' said an old music lover. So far from any one of the programmes being severe or dry, it is generally remarked in
 musical circles that Victor Herbert has
 selected for presentation here music of high artistic merit, which is at the same time tuneful. We are to hear Bach, Mozart and Beethoven, but very modern music predominates. The composers to | whom preference is given in the make-up 1 of the programmes are Wagner and Tsch- aikowslky. On half of the Wednesday mat | inee bill appears the name of Wagner, but if the length of time required for rem dering the festival numbers be considered, Tschaikowsky in the matter of quantity
 ranks first. Two of his large works will be play yed-the B fiat minor concerto and
 the No symphony. Of the lighter music we are to have Tschaikowsky's Nutcrack- CT suite. and the festival will conclude with Tschaikowsky's stirring Slavic march. AZ recent authority says:
 q" The national music of Russia, which during the last quarter of century has made such marvellous progress, may be divided intoFtwo great classes-the music of those composers who assert a passion ate nationalism In their work, such as Moszkowski, Balakirev, Cui, Moussorg- sky. Borodin Rimsky- K Korsakox and Glazounow-and the music of those who, employing Russian themes and motifs, treat them according to rules of compost ton and harmony of the classicists of other nations. Of this latter class Tschai- kowsky is the greatest representative. His writings are full of the wild melancholy. the morbidness and passion so characteris- tic of his cultured but primitively emo tonal nation, yet they display mas terly use of musical technique
 Peter Iljitch Tschailkowsky was born May :, 1S40 at Votinsk, in Vaitlla, of the Ural district, where his father was an en- gineer at the imperial mines. In 1850 the elder Tschakowslxy was appointed to the dictatorship of the Technological institute and moved his family to St. Petersburg
 where he placed his son in the school of jurisprudence The composer made some proficiency in music in his boyhood days, but it was not until he was % years of age that he determined to become a mu- sician; and resigning a government posi- ton entered the conservatory as regular music student, studying composition un- der Anton Rubinstein and counterpoint and harmony under Zaremba, until loo, when he received the prize medal for a cantata on Schillers ode to Joy and was graduated from the school. In 1872 he published his text book on harmony and began acting as critic on two Russian papers, Journalistic work which he contin- ued to do until 1876. In 1877 his chivalrous nature led him into a most unhappy mar riage with d young woman who had de- clared her love for him, thus working upon his tenderness. It Is said that al- though he separated from his wife almost immediately after marriage, the experi- ence made deep impression upon his sem sitive temperament, and he wrote to a friend. On the whole, am robust. but as regards my soul, there Is a wound there that will never heal.' He sought to forget his unhaopiness in travel. He vis- ited Venice and spent some time in Italy and Switzerlafm. He made long concert tour through Germany in 1888. In 1891 he came to America. and at the dedication of the Carnegie Music hall conducted his own compositions Victor Herbert. by the