New-York tribune., 1919-07-27

went on popularizing the older works
by his productions of Moussorgsky and
Rimsky -Korsakov, and only the impos
sibility of procuring male ballet pre-
vented him from giving Prince Igor
"The service that the war did to
music in this country consisted simply
of giving our public greater number
of fresh experiences in four years
than it would have had in fourteen
years without the war. 1t could not, as
| have said, alter the constitution of
any ones musical palate. One could no
more like all French and Russian music
ind iscriminately, for merely patriotic
reasons, than one could rank all French
or Russian novels on the same plane.
The great thing was that a barrage
had been put up against German music
"a barrage through which only the
I best can hope to get in the future.
In the old days concert committees and
the public were far too easily inclined
to take anything that came from Ger
many without question. One remem-
bers, for instance, ths specimens of
German mediocrity that Balling used
to foist upon the Manchester public.
German music is bound, sooner or
later, to reappear in our concert rooms
and opera houses. But it will no longer
be able to swagger in simply because it
is German music; it will be admitted
only because it is good music. And,
needless to say, our public will hence
forth be equally critical of French and
Russian and English music. 1t may
like or dislike wrongly, but it will only
take to what it likes There will
never again, one hopes, be any such
uncritical acceptance of any nations
music as there used to be of German
music; we must listen to it all
friendly, neutral and enemy-wth open
ears and an open mind, and with the
application of precisely the same acid
test to it all. In this way we shall
receive the maximum Of stimulus and
run the minimum chance of again put
ting our taste to fetters or even in
leading strings.
"Things being as they were, we could
not hope for any great new Towering
of purely British music during the
war. None of the actual war music
amounted to very much, except that of
Elgar In other spheres the older
men have we'll sustained their reputa-
tions-Elgar by his recent chamber
music, Bantock by his Hebridean Sym
phony and his latest songs, Delius by
his later instrumental music. John
Ireland has strengthened his claim to
be regarded as one of the most sig
nficant of our coming composers; he
seems to be of the type that develops
rather late, and no doubt the full
revelation of his thoughtful person.
ality has yet to come Eugene Coos
sens has quickly made place for him
self. At present he is shade too
cerebral; if his extraordinary ear and
his brilliant technique were mated
| with greater emotional power he would
add q new chapter to British music.
Hoist, too, has confirmed the good i'm
preston given us by his earlier work.
He has a personal imagination and an
independent style.
"There is ferment among t.e
younger men the results of which we
shall all await with curiosity. The
war has given our own men chance
as orchestral and operate conductors
that t:.ey have been prompt to seize,
and Sir Thomas Beechams activities
have done more than anything else
during the war to raise the tone and
quicken the pulse of the public's "a
t probation Of music, especially in the
provinces Everything is conspirng
TO give Us that confidence in ourselves
c that until few years ago we so de-
$ plorably lacked
= THE biological probabilities are
t that a great deal of fine talent has
4 been wasted in the past through lack
- of the proper environment for it's de-
velopmeut That environment should
- come now, with our public weaned from
many Of ios less intelligent alterations
q quickencd interest in other forms OF
music than the ethical or sentimental
type to which both German and Eng
ash music was too much inclined t(
run, and the clear proof that the ca
pac'ty for music making is not tho
monopoly Of any one race"