The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-03-06
U. s. HAS GREAT
 MUSICIANS TO,
 SORRENTlNO SAYS
Noted Singer Declares That Americans Do Not Fur nish Sympathetic Au- dience For Native
 Masters.

Umberto Sorrentino, the eminent Italian tenor, is spending few days with friends in town. He has just returned from a concert tour through New England. In an interview with representative of this paper Sorren- tino expressed himself as being pro- foundIy interested in the future of musical and artistic development in America He admitted that great ad- vances had been made toward cuIti- vattng a love of and appreciation for good music, but suggested that much greater things were in store for us.
 For, said he, patriotism is not yet sufficiently awakened in America. The general musical spirit is not ade- quately developed. If, for instance. instead of playing, singing, struIn- ming and even utilizing the hand-or- gan in grinding out the Melody in F. s'The Palms La Donna Mobile or the "Sextette'' from Lucia-which are hackneyed. tiresome and passe.
 the AI1er1can public would familiarize itself with the gems of composition of the modern school, and also of it's own very excellent composers, it would profit exceedingly thereby.
 sTake, as example, the beautiful opera 'Mona," by MT. Parker of your Yale University, or the splendid Mad eIine,'' by Victor Herbert, or the schol- arly and extremely interesting '-Cyra- no. de Bergerac" of MT. Walter Dam rosch, and the work of equally bril- liant composers-as Chadwick, Regin- ald DeKoven and others. These are permitted to languish from lack of | cultivated interest on the part of the American public.
 ..Now. positive musical genius'' SorE rentino, waxing enthusiastic. .'is not l at all rare among American musicians and composers. It is only a nation . al lack of appreciation. of that genius
 that is at fault During a recent l concert tour through the West. and l still more recently through New Eng I land, I was entertained at the homes I of a number of prominent musicians, who modestly played and sang for 'I me some of their own work. In De- I troit listened with delight to a tNro- I act opera-a work of genuine artistic merit-wrttten by an American born and bred. And judge my surprise Iwhen,@i in Providence, R. l.. had the great pleasure of meeting MT. Jules
 Jordan, an American whe has grown l old in the service of the most beauti- full of all the artsHwho has spent the best years of his life in fostering the love of music in New England.
 .sHe charmed and astonished me by sl playing a three-act opera-typically Italian in text, treatment, and scope
 It is a work of such quality that no sf living composer need be ashamed to acknowledge it as his. own compost ton. =
 T ssBut Americans generally are too T volatile. Tangoes. and. turkey trots absorb too much of their attgntion, to the exclusion of the best in music Now, if America had more patrons
 and supporters of music. like Otto
 Hahn of New York. Mr.. Jordan. of Boston, Mrs. Mccormack of Chicago,
 and men and women of that type, it
 would be to-day the worlds musical T centre.
 tFor instance, the other night, I I heard MT John c. Freund, the editor of Musical America speak at the Musicians Club in New York. ven I ture to say that if MT. Freund had been an Italian subject he wou1d-in recognition of his patriotic services I to the art of music-have been made Ia Commander of the Crown,,' or at least Cavalier" For. MT. Freund's contributions to the cause of music and it's advancement in America are, in essence. patriotic. He has assist
 ed everybody in the musical field
 everybody that showed themselves taI-
 ented, worthy of encourageme nt. Poor vioIfnists, humble tenors, Ger
 man bassos, French sopranos, in fact, II everybody who came to America,
 willing to fight for success. That 1 wonderful man, in his inspiring g
 speech, brought the tears to many eyes. Mind you, MT. Freund has worked forty years to build a musical magazine that has protected, and pro
 tects to-day, everybody that makes a
 living through the divine art of sound.
 tHe said to his brilliant audience,
 with the emotion of a father, T have
 but few years to live These years Il shall dedicate to the advance of music in Ameriea-and to the devel- sl opment of the art in this beautiful country.
 "A man like MT. Freund should l live forever. in order to assist in what might term the intensive cultivation