The Washington times., 1918-12-12
MUSIC TASTESFA
APART AS POLES
BY J. MneB.


likes in music, as well as the in
dividusIity Of artists in their inter-
pretations. are as far apart as the
poles. 1t is this "difference" in music
that makes II 50 attractive.
Take the pianists. alone. Padere-
wski, Hofmann: Gabrilowitsch, Bauer;
Leginska, Granger. How different
they are!
Socn we are to have q now point OF
comparison, with national c7OIactHr-
istics doubtless very much In evil
dence, in recitals to be givea by
Cortot. the eminent French pianist,
and BY Rachmaninon, the Russian,
! whom VIC know alone as ebIdpossf.
The Rachmanoff concert viii come In
January, SO the music messages OF
these two artists will be close enough
To o. ing their ideas and their ideals
into an interesting comparative study.
Discern Players Thoughts.
Just what an interpreter thinks in
the music he re-creates, every time he
plays IL, Is the thing the heareT Is
supposed to discern. Alfred Cortot.
m his first New York recital, added
program notes to the lwenty-four
preludes Of Chopin. believing as the
program stated. that he was not OVER
stepping the mark IN acting the
modest role of interpreter in sense
in aiding his audience to Pvoke, az the
same time as himself. tno romantic
fi5Ircs, ardent, poetic, and despe' ate.
thar SuIGrst themselves tn rim in the
pages of the most wonderful music In
history"
I, :he 1 snto. A miner. for tnsiaISe.
he puts sad mediations: In the dis
4 Ia uNafCE n
our own Edward MacDowsll stamped
his music pictures. Again for the
Chopin idyls, NJ. Cortot writes. Al
legro motto, d major, "a tree full III
! song" Motto agitato, F sharp minor,
The snow falls, the wind hoTis, the
/ tempest RACES, but In nv sad heart
there is a more terrible storm"
SThe End Of Poland"
The Largo, z major, he calls The
End OF Poland" Poland, in the drama
and in. the music OF Mime. Sans
Gene" bears an historical analogy Of
an interesting point about Poland to-
day, in its readjustment In the new
made nations Of the world.
| If one remembers. Napoleon made
this picturesque heroine of the drama,
the Duchess Of Dantzig." 1t IL be-
ing urged today that that same sea-
port of Dantzig be given to Poland to
| insure her access to the sea, thereby
indorsing President Wilson's demand
for the creation of q strong, inde-
pendent Polish state, with an outlet
| to the sea But. as Senator Lodge
points out. Dantzig Is n German city.
Thus, in music. 10 registered
across a century-this pivotal point
in world politicsi And IL iSsfor the
! freedom of this Poland that the great
Paderewski has devoted his energies
through the war, with strong sugges-
tions that he be selected as the first
president OF a new republic there.
The famous pianist Is now on his way
to Europe to attend the peace confer
ence at Versailles-Versailles where
/ the Duchess Of Dantzig" had her
little hour with the world conqueror
of France.
jacques Thibaud, who occupies a
place among Violinlsts siniilarato that
OF Cortot among pianists, says OF
him: "Cortot Is one OF the best mu-
Ficians we have in France ..
After finishing at the conservatoire,
before he was twenty, he went to
| Germany to study, and became very
much interested in Wagnerian music.
The Wagner family took a fancy to
him, and gave him every facility for
learning all there was to learn at
| Bayreuth. In fact, he was assistant
conductor there at one or two festi-
| vaIs Then he came back to France.
and at the Theater du Chateau d'Eau
gave some OF the operas of the
Ring the first hearing they ever had
/ in France"
War Injuries Music.
And now with Rachmaninoff comes
| the Russian music messaKe-Rach-
| maninoh who was much talked about
| as a possible conductor of the Boston
/ Symphony Orchestra before the final
decision put that great organization
under the baton OF the distinguished
! Frenchman. Henri Rabaud.
Serge Rachmaninoff. who Is now es-
| tablished in New York. spoke upon
| his arrival there in November OF con-
| ditions in Russia as being scarcely
! propitious to music. The de facto
J government. he reports, has made
| promises IL finds impossible OF fulhll-
ment. and. while all Russians desired
: a revolution. they could scarcely have
| looked forward to such a chaos as
| now reigns. The great mass Of the
people, the pessantry, are at one with
! the intelligentsia in opposition to the
| Bolsheviki. and cultural activities are
| at a standstill
The composer left Russia New
/ Years Day. 1918. just after the Boi-
sheyik uprising. for Denmark. where
/ also music is not fourishing. The
! Danes are not overmusical in the bes,
! OF times. and the eXigencies OF war
/ help to prevent musical growth. Mr..
| Rachmanincff was fearful that an
! archy. sweeping through Germany,
4 would seize the Scandinavian coun-
| tries as well and do much injury to
music and other artistic and cultural
! interests and activities.
Separate National Styles.
| In speaking OF music, this greatest
OF living Russian composers said In
an interview in Musical America.
Musical internationalism: Never.
I Indeed, there must always be sep1-
I rate national styles. Artistic dill
! feTences between nations will con-
! tinue because of the immutabie diff
/ ferences in climate. If for no other
! reason"
! lie makes another comment tina.
substantiates the original motive OF
| this discourse. and links. as we'll the
! eastern and the western ideals Of
music in Europe today.
| Yes. the use of a program. the
! Introduction OF an element OF poetic
interest. has come to stay; not pro-
Gramism as Strauss. for instance. has
: sometimes employed 1t, an attempt to
/ translate into musical terms what