Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1917-02-11

to the contemplation OF
something perhaps which you think
isn't trash?
And who are you, pray, that you
are SO quick to judge Of compost
ton?
Are you a highly-educatcd musician,
versed in theory and filled with sound
musical knowledge which gives an
authority to your opinion? All right,
if you are we will listen to you. But
so many times you are not, yet you
arc just as ready to condemn this or
that piece OF music as though you
really were, nay, sometimes reader
1t is no crime for composer to
write small composition instead Of
a large one. And because it is small
one is no reason that it should be nee
essarily scorned as trash and cast
aside without further thought. 1t
isn't even crime to write song in
the English language, providing the
song contains poetic and musical
ideas developed in keeping with its
sentiment and style.
o.
But often if you hear nice little
number which you have heard about a
thousand times before, you whisper,
Trash, my dear, pure trash" If you
hear nice little new number, in
English, which you can understand at
the first hearing, you murmur again,
i'll bored accents, Trash, just simply
trash" But how do you know it is
trash? Why is it some OF you hear
number on an artists program and
say, Lovely" and hear another just
as musically fine and say, Trash ?"
What arc your standards for judg-
ing? There is a vast deal of music
written and performed which one
must admit is poor. Sometimes there
is poverty IN musical ideas of conf
position, sometimes in the knowledge
and use OF musical material that
makes it unavailable for the purpose
tor which it was written, mainly as
piece Of music. There are some
pieces Of large dimensions which suf-
fer from poverty OF musical ideas and
a woeful dearth Of interest.
There are vast number of small
as we'll as large compositions
written which are poetic in thought,
consistently though simply worked
out, and technically well written.
But Just how do you separate the
wheat from the chaff in musical NUN
bers? .s
The trouble with some of US musi-
cal eonnoisseurs and even musical
performers is that We are afflicted by
terrible germ. A sort of unique
germ by the way in that it has no
physical body, and cannot ever be
segregated 1--WE never will know how
many millions OF it can stand on the
point Of pin}, bat a vicious and
dreadful germ and none the less dead
ly for all that 1t is the germ of
musical snobbishness.
1t makes its victims act in such a
peculiar manner. 1t makes them 60
to a concert and sit in rapt attention
listening to very mediocre piece
and rave over its beauties and depth.
Sometimes it will cause them to ap-
plaud and rush up and congratulate
some ordinary performer for his or
her rare art, which really, alas, isn't
rare at al and causes them to ignore
some one vastly superior musically. 1t
is the thing which makes them say
trash" to piece which they have
heard more than once, but which
errs in being modern rather than
classic. which one could wager that
il they heard for the first time on
some highly aesthetic artists pro-
gram they would think a wonderful
little musical gem. 1t obscures their
normal and common sense point of
view. their modesty Of opinion and
often makes them unreasonably and
unjustly intolerant. 1t keeps them
also from separating the good from
the best.
With singers and players it ma kes
them always appear in operate arias,
or concertos and other things Tor
which they are not ready, instead
Of sending them to hunt for less pre-
tentious lieder or compositions which
are artistically written and CRATE
full to present, numbers which are
perhaps just as beautiful as many of
the others, but for various reasons
lesser known. 1t sometimes makes
them present pieces which are in
themselves not interesting, and which
cause certain of the listeners to Won
der how they ever happened to select
it. .-,.
But there is a cure for this germ,
deadly though it may be. The vic
tim must take lot OF bitter medi-
cine, and with careful and systematic
education in more sanitary ways OF
listening to and carefully judging