New-York tribune., 1919-05-25

and he is lucky if he gets off without
being told that 1t was reminiscent. 4"
He is merely asked to have a very high
degree of skill, resourcefulness, fresh
ness OF inspiration, and to please not
take himself too seriously.
Accordingly. an amazing amount Of
gay and artful music is taken for
granted in the course of a seasons
procession of musical comedies. A few
observing ones remember the names
OF Friml, Hirsch, Kern, jacob and
Helm, but to the vast majority they
are not very distinctly remembered
names, no matter how pleasant their
recolections of "Going Up" or ooh.
Boy or "The Riviera Girl are.
voices are raised to combat the dis
paragement under which light music
falls, and the young men who make
it are too strenuously engaged in out
pacing each other to talk about their
work
1t was not easy to make Mr. Jerome
Kern talk. "Who cares about the
composer anyway" he said. "He's the
least spectacular part of show" But
cunningly prodded him. "Is it true.
Mr.. Kern" I asked, "that you all get
your hits by Raging the classics ."
Mr.. Kern grew little white around
the mouth, but he exercised a
magnificent restraint. However, the
remark moved him to talk fuently
and spontaneously. ~ seem to re-
member" he said, Clearing that
literary people have only sixty
plots with which to work, and that
there are only thirty-four dramatic
situations. If it we're analyzed it
might narrow itself down to a smaller
number than that. Anyway, there are
limited number of musical figures
too, and if an old combination pops
up again 1t doesn't necessarily mean
plagiarism. l don't deny that popular
effects have been got by ragging old
war horses of the classics, but when
that has been done the intention has
usually been admitted. On the whole,
however, men like Friml and Jacob
and Hirsch have an amazing fertility
of musical ideas. 1 have seen jacob
score as many as seven different musi-
cal themes for single song.
'The whole misconception seems to
be that we all hail from 'Tinpan AL
ley Now there are a few natural
nlelodists among US, like Irving Berlin
and George M. Cohan, who have great
talent but no training-but most of us
are pretty hard working musicians
with years Of study behind us. The
simplicity Of a popular song and the
smoothness Of a successful score are
deceptive. 1t takes a good deal Of
workmanship to get it over. Now, I'm
not asking for an academic standing
that might be good deal more of
hindrance than a help-but there is a
good deal Of unnecessary condescension
about light music. There are made-to-
order pieces, of course. A manager
will call in a man and ask him to write
music to order, but that should
not detract from the fact that a
good deal of fresh and original
music is written in the course of each
season. We dare not let up in our cf-
fort to produce something new. Com
petition is too keen.
81 have very little patience with those
people who are continually invoking
the music of Sullivan as the forever
unattainable ideal of light opera. Good
as 1t is, it had its faults. It's orches-
tration was monotonous and often it
was no more than the most saccharine
tinkling. 1t was, above all, written for
its time and generation, and a much
simpler time and generation than this
one. The people for whom Sullivan
operettas were written came in from
Putney twice a year to go to the thea
tre--once to see Christmas pantomimes
and once to the Savoy to hear the
D'Oyly Carte pieces. Then they went
home and talked about them for the
rest Of the year. The people for whom
We write music are a good deal more
sophisticated and complex. They've
gone everywhere and heard everything
and it's hard to get reaction from
them. I think it's a good deal harder
job to write the music for the Zicg-
field Follies than the Sullivan operet-
tas. / could undertake to write music
OF the sort Sullivan wrote, and with
feeling that / should make a pretty
fair job Of it, but nothing would in
duce me to attempt tho Follies music.
1t means writing music for jaded, SO
rhisticated people who are not unac-
uuainted with the best. They are peo-
pie who go to hear grand opera and
orchestral music, and VINO are continu-
ally on the keenest lookout for new
sensations.
"The best new light music Is not all
jazz or syncopation. Jazz is a freak
that is destined to go out, if only be-
cause it is fundamentally offensive and
uncivilized. Syncopation is so an
integral part of light music that its
legitimacy is beginning to be admitted.
real feeling for what is graceful and
high spirited and humorous undcrlie
it,"
Jerome Kern intended to be pianist
and began his musical studies at the
tender age Of five. He began writing
songs when he left school, and this
led him into the employ of T. B.
Harms, a music publisher. He demon