New-York tribune., 1919-01-12

tSkCSt. iduOlOilS StuUcnLS, WHO are I
'arge clement in pianofortc recital au-
diences. want to hear from master
his Interpretation of the music they
are studying or arc ambitious to play;
the people who are merely lovers of
pianoforte music, or admirers of the
performing artist, want to hear the
music which they know and love. The
more familiar it is the better. 81 know
that" said Holman to the writer re-
Gently; "if all that | was after was a
| the Chopin sonata with the funeral
march, 1t is a fact worth recording,
for which VIC can vouch, that Mr.. Hof-
mann has met with difficulty in his
efforts to persuade the managers of
concerts in a considerable number of
cities in the United States to accept
has American programme. In some in
stances he has compromised by intro
ducing Il number or two from it in his
! older-style schemes, admitting that he,
too, wants to learn whether or not with
them he can establish proper y'upD0rt
between himself and his audiences.
But in some large cities with wide
musical culture-Boston. for instance
he has stoutly stood by determination
that the programme shall be heard.
Why then did Mr.. Holman arrange
programme of music by living Amer
lean composers: Was it to humor the
foolish oh ;n, ,ct; ol,
fomented a year ago. or to show SYM
pathy with it? Not at all. That he
vigorously disclaims in his private con-
versation. Yet Mr.. Hofmann admits
that it was because of the effort to
suppress German music that he re-
solved to give a recital of music by
American composers only. AS he eX-
plains his act, it was the expression of
desire to turn the assumedly patri-
otic feeling or prejudice from merely
destructive into constructive channel.
If German music, of which much was
heard, was to be proclaimed tabu, let
US not content ourselves with replacing
it with the music Of the peoples with
whom we are at present allied, but
take advantage of the opportunity to
give hearing to music of native COM
posers who have not been heard. In
this light it is, after all, only matter
of nationalistic opportunism. We do
not believe that Mr.. Hofmann intends
TO present a challenge of national val
ues, or that he is disposed to assert ,
that he plays the music of Rubin Gold
mark, McFadyen, Mason and the others
because it is as good as the best music
of the European masters whom they
replace for this occasion. That is sure
Characterization of their works This
characterization, in turn, is illumina-
tive of the spirit in which he has made
his study. He insists upon the fact
that each of the composers discloses
an original creative spirit; but his
knowledge of pianoforte literature has
led him to see in each instance an
analogy between the pieces of the
Americans and compositions by ac-
knowledged foreign masters-to discern.
each case the creative impulse went out.
This is only to say that the American
composers of to-day are in a stage Cor
were in the stage when they wrote the
pieces in the list) that young com
posers have been in in all time the
world over. No genius springs fully
armed from the head of Apollo as
Minerva sprang from the head of Jove.
Moods, harmonic combinations and sue
cessions, technical elements, exert a
fascination on receptive minds and in
fluence the matter as we'll as the man
ner of expression. If Mr.. Holman does
, nothing more he wifi at least stimulate
large and pertinent curiosity touch
ing the influences which are at work
upon the creative mind Of the musi-
clans of the United States. They. as
Colonel Roosevelt said of all Of us as
citizens, are children of the melting
pot,