New Britain herald., 1926-01-25
THE AMERICAN COMPOSER

THE AMERICAN COMPOSER
 When the Mendelssohn Trio broadcast In Hartford the other night 1t included one of the great est of American compositions, the trio by Arthur Foote, the cole- brated resident Of Salem, Mass, who, largely self-taught, has been able 10 contribute works 10 musical literature that rank with the best of their kind.
 Yet it is no oxaggeration 10 say that the trio by Foote has not at tained wide recognition as such things go. When 1t was first issued there was much talk in musical circles regarding its great merits and how 1t compared more than favorably with many similar works by the classic masters. Tho last movement was played at a concert given under the auspices of the Woman's club of New Britain twelve years ago, which was the first time any of 1t was heard here. Since that time there have been intermittent hearings; but the
 other night the Mendolssohn Trio
 gave 1t complete to thousands Of
 listeners over the radio and it's
 magnif1cence was unimpaired
 When the New Britain ensemble
 played il in private recently there
 were trios by the classic masters
 played the same evening, and the
 consensus of opinion was that the
 Footo trio was considerably su-
 perior to any of the others played
 at that time.
 It is idle 10 imagine that Amer
 jeans cannot or havo not written
 profound music; the chief difficulty
 lies in the fact that their output
 Is not played often enough in thoil
 native country. The fault lies prl'
 marily with the music schools ant the teachers of music, all of whom
 profess to be interested in nativ' products but make little effort t , promulgatc them on an even foot : ing with the foreign product. / visiting pianist to the city recent r in private played a dozen or so 0 . American compositions and not ) listener could think otherwise tha = that they were the equal of mos of those printed in the muslca :. merchandise books issued by com :, mercial institutions who find Q cheaper to reprint and distribut
 the writings of composers Ion
 dead than to bring out new work
 One can turn from Foote 0 Mcdowell. for instance, ano'hc - New Englander who achieve S greatness in the realm Of music O composition. One will rarely find r foreign executant touring "tl f states" for shekels who will il c clude any of MacDowell's works Q his offerings Yet 1t has not bet II many years ago that musical crit l. united in saying that tho greate o niano sonatas of modern tim d were written by Mcdowell; and y was none other than Rupe ,- Hughes, whom he was mus
 critic and writer of music ,c books. who wrote that America ', could rest at ease in the knowlcd 70 that the finest of such works in d modern idiom were the product g q fellow citizen. But our forci II pianists will continually regalc | 1t public with anything hut Ma
 Dowen, although they will adn st as true all the nice things said lg him. That, in fact, is as far as th ly Will go.
 IL Tho public, however, is not Il le fair. MacDowell's little gem, "To ce Wild Rose" is loved because es reaches their hearts and the p' vi pie instinctively realize it is a m,
 terpicce. About a dozen of ty other little masterpieces by { a. eminent American are just ct great and are not allowed 10 d as and as for his "Wiich's Dane si- who ever wrote a moro signifc' on and alluring small piece for It piano? And his Shadow Dance les in the same class. There are tn lte sands Of pianists playing Brahi nj Beethoven. Schubert and ScI nv mann. who could include such h of class American works in their