New-York tribune., 1922-05-21
Acrobatics and Readings
OF Orchestral Conductors
French Critics Observations on Things Not Unfa
mliar in New York; Men Who Interpret
Themselves Instead of the Music


mont at some length on the lbcrtie
taken with the orchestral classics b,
conductors for the purpose, as WI
thought, of attracting the attention o,
the groundlings at our concerts, or, n
least, for the sake of being different
We believe there was less exhibition o1
such mountebankism in the season JUS
ended than before, though we took oc
casion in the regular course of the sea
sons duties to analyze tho vagaries Of
three or four conductors in their din
terpretations" or readings" Of Bee
thovens Seventh Symphony. 1t wa.
apropos of this article and her earnest
appeal for n higher standard Of criti
cism than that prevailing in the press
that Mrs. A. G. Bates sent us the fol
lowing translation which she had made
Of an essay published in Paris twenty
years ago. Mr.. Weingartner is not un
known In New York, and had he MOI
put himself in an unfortunate (fo1
him) position by signing the document
Of the German "Intellectuals" Justify
ing the violation of Belgium's neutral
ity and the invasion of Belgian terri
tory and the heinous outrages commit.
ted on Belgians by the German sol
diery he might have been among those
Germans who are now seeking extrava-
gantly lucrative employment in the
TIy,s%oI C+o%np r. 10 nt ~ q -
Of him individually, but as an illum-
NATIVE discussion of the subject of the
attitude which conductors have as
sumed within the last twenty-five years
or so and their methods Of popular ap-
peal that we make room for Mrs
Bates's translation Of Jean Marnold's
essay on "The Virtuosi Of the Orches-
ira. H. E. X.
At this time every year Mr.. Vein.
gartner's periodical visit comes to an
nounce spring to US. I confess to hav-
ing been struck less by this pleasant
coincidence, month before last, than
by the fortuitous circumstance tina.
led to his conducting his two concerts
between Shrove Tuesday and mid-Lent
Mr.. Weingartner was the pioneer, with
us, of virtuosity in orchestra leaders
Since him we have had to endure the
teutonic feats of a whole litany of
his congeners, with their ever different
and implacably personal "interpreta-
tions" Of the works of the dead mas
ters. But no "time beater" has ever
surpassed Mr.. Wcingartner in gcsticu-
latory volubility. l shall not dwell to-
day on the liberties he has taken, this
time, with the music of others; on the
singular pleasantly that possessed him
to suppress-or to permit the suppress
sion of-one of the bells Of the "Sym-
phonie Fantastique"; to replace the
knell of the final &c, C, g" with the
worn out expcdient Of three successive,' ,
and moreover false, "c's"; or further,
on the inept, sentimental pianissimo
with which it suited him to render in
sipid the rustic melodies in the begin
ming Of the "Scene aux champs; but
can hardly think that so much tur-
bulence is absolutely necessary to the
obtaining from the excellent Lamour-
eux Orchestra Of results in keeping
with his wishes. What seems positive
to me is that this interposition of an
agitated parsonage between the work
Of art and the auditor is little likely
to further the direct influence of the
music on the latter. We are really
obliged to observe, in tho first place.
its effect on Mr.. Weingartner himself.
it is more than revealed, translated and
made significant by an abundant and
expressive pantomime. For whoever
wishen to resign himself to this sub
stitution of comedy for concert the
spectacle Is sometimes diverting, but
If one prefers experiencing a purely
musical emotion anxiety on the score
OF Mr.. Weingartner's breaking some
part of himself in the course Of his
evolutions can render these eymnastic.
horripilating.
The slenderness Of the amiable
kapellmeister is assuming the propor-
lions Of a calamity. We realize the
advantages of a corpulency that in
duced Pasdeloup and Lamoureux To
keep their feet, at least, in one place.
For one Of Mr.. Weingartner's nimble
Juvenility (who would dream of his
being thirty-nine years old on the Cd
OF next June) pirouetting on the heels
is mere child's play; as we'll as. be-
s'des, all the jumps, sdestepping. or
oendings over, proceeding from the
lower extremities, while the active
oestlrrlng OF the upper extremitiss
mas no intention of yielding anything
IN point of locomotivity to their op-
pos1tes. We see him in profile. his
BODY bent precisely in an obtuse angle
knitting, with the left finger and the
right baton, the difficult passage fallen
TO the vlolins, then turning suddenly
throwing an invisible hook into tho
mouthplece of the trombones or amonc
the circumvoluted windings of the
norns' The moment after, the delicate
magnetism Of his ebony wand trans
mlts the adequate effluvium to tho
shaded sigh Of the clarinet; an i'm.
perlous spasm authorizes or restra;ns
the rumbling Of the bassoons: under
the trajectory Of an olympian ziozac
the drums eruct their thunder. linn