New-York tribune., 1920-11-07
By II. t. Krehbiel

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The Beethoven Association set out
upon its second season with a concert
in Aeolian Hall last Tuesday evening.
Lntoward circumstances made re-
view Of the affair in this journal on
the following morning impossible-a
fact which we regretted then more than
We do now. With the mind Of the
public occupied by the Presidential
election, it would have been impossible
10 obtain the attention to the concert
that II deserved. We shall try to make
good the deficiency now
The new policy Of the association.
neralded in its advance notices, was
emphasized by the performance or
Brshms's Pianoforte Quartet in minor
as the concluding number of the pro-
gram. Last year no composer save
Beethoven was allowed q place upon
the programs. This year, being the
l50th anniversary of his birth, a con-
tnuance Of the plan might have seemed
jusslfiahle; but the artists who are ac-
tive IN the association and who give
the concerts and take the qualification
OF an ideal for their compensat ion
seem 10 have concluded that their aim
and public desire might be satisfied ST.
multaneously by including the works OF
other masters. Their purpose, they ar
gued, was TO cultivate music Of the
highest class, concerning whose excel
lence there could be no question in
the public mind. For music Of this
character the name of Beethoven
stands rather than for propaganda in
any special field.
We can easily imagine plan Of wide
scope, every feature of which would
nevertheless revolve like a planet
around the central sun and be uti
mately illumnative. Thanks to Bee
shoven's biographer, Thayer. we are
1uIly Informed of the music which in
Nuenced the youthful genius when he
was a member of the Electoral Chapel
at Bonn and i might be even more in
'eresting to hear some of that music
shan his own early efforts at compost
ton. We know that he gave credit to
teacher in Vienna for instruction in
the art OF writing string Quartets and
It would crafty something more than
Careless curiosity to hear one of that
teachers quartets, which were mis-
taken By critic Of the period for hls
own. His name was Forster and
Beethovens gratitude TO him was great
and enduring.
1t would even he interesting and edu-
eational to have one of his pianofortc
sonatas brought into juxtaposition with
similar work written by one of his
rivals who held the popular ear when
me supremely great genius was in his
prime. AS for his influence on his sue
cessors, that has endured for evil ss we'll
US good down to to-day; for evil, since
mere has been no vagary in compost
tion since Beethoven proclaimed his in
dependence, for which its perpetrators
or their defenders have not pleaded his
eSsmpe torgetful OF the maxim; QNNd
Hcd Jori non licet hovi.
London Quartet Gives Services
But 1t is not for US to attempt to in
tfuct the fine artists who direct the
Affairs of the Beethoven Associatlon
We must needs be grateful for their
"Nerings whatever they be, and that IS
en- obligation easily fulilled. Last Tues
Gay the admirable artists of the Lon
o9n String Quartet gave their services
I 70 the lovely cause and we heard Bee
noven's quartet in fat, Op. "A (the
harp quartet as il is called in Ger
Nany, because Of its piSxicato effects,