New-York tribune., 1919-11-09
Music
Concert of Boston Symphony
Orchestra at Carnegie Hall
That Needed Motion Pictures
By H. E.. krehb;el

We had a little music which VIVA
music for it's own sake and great
dea! of music, which was of the mic
'ure-book order at the concert Of the
Soston Symphony Orchestra in Carne-
gle Hall yesterday afternoon. For the
.ormer Mr Monteu& went back almost
80 ,ne klndergarten period of the sym
lhony and brought forth Haydn's little
'ork in fat which in the catalogues
bears the title "La Reine de France !"
aho TO one of the dusty shelves of Bee
ahoven, where he found Beethovcn,s
ovN~turc - "Ki0c stephen"
NO doubt the Haydn Symphony has
ol'en been played in New York, though
we can recall no performance in our
day. 1t is one of the set written for
Paris to which that which has been on. On.
tied The Bear" also belongs. 1t is a
brlght little piece which has washed its
hands IN lnnocency, so far as passion
or dramatic emotion of any kind is con-
cerned; but there was considerable more
music tqua music) in it than in the
composition by Haydn's great pupil and
successor. The overture to King
Stephen" finds place upon our pro-
grams occasionally. 1t is like a comet
hev NJ q periodci,y (Which we
should calculate at about ten years. but
1t has no cometary refulgence. 1t was
written for an occasion (the opening Of
E the National Theater in Pesth) and it's
history has been mournful and even
humlnatlng one ever since. 1t was part
OF the incidental music composed for a
spectacular show, sort of pageant con-
cocted by kotzebue, and had "The Ruins
OF Athens" as a companion, piece.
Beethoven sold it twice few years
after he wrote it, but no publisher was
found willing to print it until after
Beethoven's death. 1t is in the double
sale of the work and the incidents
accompanying them that the humi iating
part of the story lies-humilating to
the character and memory Of Beethoven.
on Charles Ncate's hrgt visit to Vienna
he carried commission to Beethoven
from the London Philharmonic Society
for three overtures. Beethoven sent
his friend and admrer back with three
scores, for which ne took the money o.
/ fered by the society. In his receipt
he obligated himself not to publish
either scores or instrumental parts
anywhere and reserved publication
rights for q pianoforte transcription
only. Yet when he signed this docu-
ment he had already sold the works
to his Vienna publisher, Steiner. (The
original contractual receipt, by the
way, is one Of the treasures in the
! library Of Mr.. Richard Aldrich musical
critic Of THE New York Times.w
The Philharmonic Socety's directors
were so disappointed, not to say dis
gusted with the music that they put it
i aside without performance, and when
Neate next went to Vienna it was with
Society's directors: "For Gods sake,
don't buy anything from Beethoven!"
Birchan, the English publisher re-
fused to print the overtures. with the
remark that he would not take them as
g gift They were "King Stephen"
Fur Namensfeier" and "The Ruins Of
Athens" the second having been com
( posed to take the place of the first, I
! believe, when Kotzebue's bit Of fam
I hoyant patriotic buncombe was per-
/ formed in Vienna.
overtures to that which Beethoven was
producing at the same time accounts
/ Cor the fact that it is SO seldom
heard. though Beethoven enthus.e ests
have always striven to find things
worthy of the master in it. They might
better be permitted to rest in oblivion
so that their history might also be
/ forgotten. 1t is fresh in this writer's
mind only, because the correspondence
on tn subject passed through his hand
while preparing the English version Of
/ Thaver's Life of Beethoven" 1t is
not set 'orth in the German edition.
The picture book music in Mr.. Mon
: teux's scheme was Cesar Franck's sym
phonic poem "Le Chasseur maudit,"
based on Burgers ballad Der Wilde
Jager,' and suite Of pieces from
! Stravinsky's "L'Oiseau de Feu," the
ballet which the Russian dancers Of
Diaghileff performed at the New Thea
ter in January. 1916, and at the Met
ropolitan Opera House in the spring
/ of 1917. There was as great a differ
ence between Franck and Stravinsky as
between Beethoven and Franck. 1t is
the habit Of ,rogram annotators when
cxpounding modern ballet suites to say
that scenic accompaniment is not es-
sential to the music, which is self -suf-
tlcient in its beauty. The cases in
which this is true of modern ballets are
rare indeed The public of today has
grown accustomed to being told what
It must think or feel or imagine when
ever a piece of music with q descrip-
tive title is performed. Without the
help of stage pictures or pantomime
or verbal explanation the sophisticated
minds Of our grown-up musical chill
dren are at a loss.
There amusing illustration
of the truth of this statement yester-
day when the audience left Carnegie
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