The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-02-14

better element. But in the past TWEEN
ty years vaudeville has really improv-
ed very little in refined musical en-
tertainment. In vaudeville theatres
of the highest class one will hear the
coarse jokes and the "blue" songs
which are a product of Englands low
est type musical hall, besides the in
evitable ragtime.
The singers say they cannot put a
song over unless it is risque." Three
fourths of the acts put on at the mcT-
ing picture and cheap vaudeville
shows are singing acts, and a record
kept of the class of songs used in
these acts shows that ninety per cent
are either ragtime or songs with sug-
gestive titles or lines.
Now the fact is that these same
moving picture shows are drawing
their audiences from the better as
well as the lower classes of our cities
populations, and it is the younger set
who take up the music and sing it in
their own homes.
Then, again, the cabaret, that prod
uct of the cheaper restaurants of
Paris, is keeping alive the incentive
for our song writer's to put out moth
ing but trash, without measure, metre
or melody. It is true that
there are still few writer's who pride
themselves on trying to keep up the
interest of the music-loving public by
writing good class songs, and who will
not prostitute their talents by the
writing of degrading ragtime and sug-
gestive songs to please the taste of a
perverted public. But the good songs,
the ballads, or the clean comedy num-
bers have little chance today with the
popular doggerels that are patronized.
Good Music Inspiring.
There is nothing so elevating, so
exalting and so inspiring as to hear
good music. More than beautiful
paintings, poetry or sculpture, it is
the one are that seems to stir the soul
by God-given gift. 1t has come down
through the ages as the one beautiful
element that we should foster, cherish
and hold almost sacred. Where are
our American classic composers to.
day? There are practically none
They are swept aside in the great
maelstrom Of commercialism. The
classical composer starves in his attic
while the illiterate one-fingered piano
FOUNDER gathers in the shekels from a
generous public, and this very truth
is what made one of our famous popu.
lar song writer's, Paul Dresser, re.
mark, IT would rather have a porter.
house for dinner than a tombstone
after am gone"
1t is this very greed for money that
has entered into the spirit of our tai
ented musicians and taken away all
pride and ambition to produce good
music that will last and inspire it's
hearers to the refined and beautiful
things in life.
In days gone by when the compos
ers of old wrote out their lasting mas
terpieces, they had not the advan
tages in the way of musical instru
ments that we have today. The mod
ern piano and many of the wind and
string instruments had not been in
vented. Their compositions were
drummed out on a little four-octaved
harpsichord which today is relegated
to our museums as a relic of the past
Still those old martyrs, most of them
living on starvation incomes, did not
cast their pearls to the swine, but
gave to the world the grand and noble
symphonies that have come down tt
US, and which will live on and on LONG
after the popular stuff of today is bur
led in the trash heap and forgotten.
With the piano, the pianola or the
photograph in nearly every home
there is no reason why we should not
have the best of instrumental music
and the most beautiful of songs to ado
to the collection Of the old masters in
stead of our being amused, entertain
ed and satisfied by the absurd, mean
ingless and vicious songs that we
nourish and support today.