University Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1908-1916, 1913-05-29
MUSICIANS AND LONG HAIR
Those With the Flowing Locks and Spectac-
ular Ways Are Passing, Prot Pommer
Says--Women's Place in Music.

| II is the composer whom we shOulC
applaud. The interpreter is just llke
a wall, the sound comes to him anG
he echoes it back TO US. And man!
of them know no more of real music
than wall. They are merely ex-
perts in interpreting the music Ol
the composer.
The composer of music is at
disadvantage with the public. vi
course the dramatist has his plays
produced by others, but YOU can get
Shakespeare's plays and read them
for yourself and appreciate the abili-
ties of Shakespeare. The poets work
you can read direct. You can see
the painting of the artist or the
statue of the sculptor, but most OF
us have TO have the C .mpositions OF
our great musicians interpreted for
us. That places him in the back
ground.
Temperament in 4 musician is
merely an excuse for queer actions
TO attract attention. 1t is confined
principally to a few of these inter-
prefers or performers.
We were discussing the other day
in my class in tLe appreciation of
music why there are no great woman
composers and why there can not be.
Did you ever think OF it? There are
only a half-doZcn women that have
done anything in composing at all,
and they have attained no higher po-
sition than thousands Of men, medi-
ocre composers. We have great wo-
men poets, like Elizabeth browning.
great woman novelists, like George
Eliot adm George Sands, great wo-
men paitncrs and sculptors, like
Rosa BOnheur, but no great woman
architects or musicians. 1t is notice
able in the other arts that only a
very few women have attained the
high mark, and that almost all of
these have been mannish appearing,
with masculine minds. The noyelists
even took mems names. Rosa Bon
hcur wore her hair short and ap-
peared as mannish as possible.
Possibilities in Equal Suffrage.
There is only one woman who has
come near producing such stuff as
can be classed with the great COM
posers, and she lives in England and
is an ardent militant suffragette. So
you see, if we have equal suffrage,
the militant type may make good
music composers.
Il think that this lack of woman
is due to a lack of con-
structive ability. The nOvelists
work is more of a description OF a
part of human life OF course thereis
some constructive work in the other
arts in which women have attained
high position, but intuition, snap
rather than logical rea-
soning is needed. OF course intui-
ton is needed to compose music, but
the ability to construct and build
tones into harmonious structure is
what is needed and what a woman
does not have. The same thing ap-
plies to architecture, in which | said
there were no women who had at
tanned the top.
Women are the best interpreters
of music They play and sing bet
ter than men. But they cannot COM
pose the really great works like the
master musicians. Those men are
strong, robust, manly men with
strong mems minds, such as are
needed. There are few feminine
characters among the composers,
who write the sonatas and lyrics,
Just as there are the wOmanish men
who write the lyric poetry. But the
best composers are manly men,"
c. NJ. f.