The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1914-12-24


business but not in music. MIR Ronanz
hIhg' and his family. are the dramati
personae. They are at the opera be
cause 1t Is betting their position a
people Of wealth But the music O
the great singer fails to interest or en-
tertaln them until Melba sings 9TH
Last Rose of Summer. "
Extracts from Mr.. Arens' article ar
given below.
Again and again, the grand SINCE
drags her loug train over the stage
smiling and bowing, with the littl,
eala-headed chamber flutist to Hi
majesty the King of X, ever trippin,
nehind her. Finally, tired out. n,
doubt, Melba stops. The little bald
headed man lays aside his flute on th,
grand piano and 10 his accompaniment
the great singer. with rare diplomacy
sings as an encore in English an ex
qnisltely simple and beautiful rendition
OF The Last Rose of Summer.
up to this moment, Mrs. Bonanz;
King had been jeaiously admiring tn,
perfect ease and grace with which tn,
great prlma donna managed her Ions
train. but the encore causes her to for
get her Jealousy and she in turn an
piauds loudly and noisily until She
hears the Senator's voice whispering
gently: Maria, let us go home. III
not go to the club tonight" and turn.
ing she saw that he, too, had tears in
his eyes.
Am | holding up to ridicule the Sen.
ator and his wife? Far from it! | am
simply reciting scenes which in this
country are re-enacted at each anC
every orchestral concert, particularly
in the west. simply mean to show,
that while the appeal of music in one
form or another is universal, yet music
IN its highest forms must be heard
again and again to be appreciated. For
music, like beautiful, shy maiden,
Will lovingly reveal all her charms and
beauties only when wooed and won by
the lovers s constant devotion.
1t was no fault of the Senator that
In his early formative period, the only
approach to music which he heard were
the more or less shady" songs of the
camp and saloon that his soul became
hardened in his battle with frontier
conditions, with crooks, gamblers, road
agents and Indians. Nor is it to her
discredit that Mrs. Bonanza King, in
her formative period, had to earn a
living by turning her mind to fapiacks,
thus winning both fame and husband.
In those days of hard tack and bacon
of the mining camp and the pony ex-
press it was even easier than nova
lays to reach mans heart through
MS stomach.
That something of the divine spark
ay dormant in both their souls was
made manifest by the wondrous appeal
If the human-voce, which melted the
rust with which nature, in her desire
or self protection, had been obliged to
weave around their inner natures to
'ender them impervious to the brutal,
lard knocks of frontier life; just as
The renders the hands of the luberman
,allous, thus fitting them for their hard
laily task. 1t was further proved be-
'ond the slightest doubt by their
Maria Cynthia. Cynthia had been we'll
3ducated at Wellesley College. She
lad the golden opportunity of regular
y hearing the Boston Symphony once
/ week. Analytical lectures on music
ubjects had taught her not only to un-
lerstand the form and Instrumentation
# the great masterpieces, but more
han that, to grasp the inner meaning
# the musical, poetic and dramatic
contents of this form. She had had the
are good fortune to receive this train
ng at an age when the mind had not
ret been made callous by life's eXigen-
lies, when the heart and soul were still
,lad and free as the morning breezes.
t is a truism that music will yield her
most precious treasures only when
Vooed and won in the formative period
# youth. Hence, it is as rare for
person advanced in age to develop
rue appreciation of symphonic mas
erpiece, as it is for man advanced in
lge to win the true affection and love
# a young girl. The very exceptions
prove the rule.
1t is no fault of our sturdy argonauts
# '48 and so and the early '60s nor of
heir immediate descendants, that our
musical masterpieces are as so many
ealed books to them, whose priceless
treasures they may never hope to un-
,arth. Theirs was great task, and
hey performed it nobly. Hence, they
hould never be objectsIof ridicule, but
If compassion and pity at the thought
hat all their wealth may never be the
sesame, wherewith they might open
he portal of the charmed temple of
musical art. 1t is their loss, which
fortunately they do not realize, just as
he plains people back in the Dakotas
fortunately never can realize what
hey miss, not living in Hood River for
Instance.
No! these sturdy pioneers and their
Immediate descendants are not to be
criticised because of their misfortune
n matters artistic except in one in
tance when they deny their children
his golden opportunity which they
themselves never enjoyed: when they
n their ignorance haughtlly MAINTAIN,
hat it is the height of absurdity to
mend money for symphony concerts,
r. worse still, to support a symphony
,rchestra-then such ignorance becomes
veil nigh criminal in that it tends to
withhold from the children the highest
manifestation of the human heart and
oul and brain, as laid down in the
works of the great masters in music,
which works vie in greatness with
hose of a Homer, Virgil, a Dante,
Michel Angelo, Goethe, Shakespeare,
2afael or VeIasquez.
Because you are bored when sur
ounded by the master works 10 the
.ouvre. would you order your children
q sit in a cafe on the boulevards OF
paris instead? Because you yawn or
cad the latest report of prize hght
II a master performance OF Hamiet,
would YOU for that reason insist that
,onr sons and daughters remain equal
y IGNORANT of the genius of Shake
'neare? Just so with the works OF a
Zach. a Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner
md others. Because you, like our Bo-
,anaz King, hear nothing but confused
,oise when listening to a symphony
pould you for that reason withhold the
ndescribsble beauties thereof from
lour children?
Ch;,dran take Billiards. Horehound