Evening star., 1928-10-21
The Box Office
Decides,
Says Kreisler
As Told in an InterUiet0 By
FRITZ KREISLER,
World Famous VioliniSt

modern garb. When 1 asked my con-
cierge who he was, I was told that he
was the most celebrated man in the dis
trict. He was the poet Mallarme. In
those days a mans talents were not es-
timated in figures. No one cared how
much money Brahms. Beethoven. Wag-
ner or Rubinstein made. The only thing
that mattered was that they were great
musicians. We have changed all that.
Public favor and not the Judgment Of
experts is the ultimate court of appeal.
Artists are classed according to their
box-ofice value and not by their
talents.
This statement only means, of course,
that the road to success has changed.
- does not mean the public is wrong.
public admiration is instructive and
fundamentally right in the long run,
and very few artists who have attract
ed this admiration are unworthy of it.
The gist of the whole matter is that
artists nowadays have to fight harder
than their predecessors in days gone by.
We have to remember that the public
Judges without fear or favor, and takes
no account of previous judgments. 1t
also changes its views rather rapidly
The favorite of today is not necessarily
che favorite of tomorrow.
We are often told that America is re-
sponsible for the present habit of meas
uring artistic talent in terms of money.
In this connection I must take the op-
portunity Of rectifying a mistaken no
ton. America does not pay artists
better than the great cities of Europe.
En for oVnoriQnAo artist
can make as much money in Europe as
in the United States.
But we must not lose sight Of the fact
that America can give the artist some
thing more than money. It gives him
the inspiration to be found only in a
young, ambitious, enterprising country
and not cbtainable to the same extent
in the older civilization Of Europe. In
America every CITY, store, factory and
train-even the rivers, the air and the
soil-exhales tremendous activity. Every
thing seems to be full of electric vibra-
tions which are only waiting to be
tapped.
They are the stimulants that cannot
fail TO inspire an artist to greater ef-
forts. You feel 1t in the streets and IN
the concert hall. You feel it when you
stand before an enthusiastic audience
Of thousands of people and when you
makes America tremendously inspiring |
force, requiring an artist to give of his |
very best, and at the same time sup |
plying him with the means.
And here must contradict another |
erroneous conception about the United |
States. The American public has often |
been put down as inferior to the Euro |
pean public. With this assertion can
not agree. The American public is in |
AaIa afvAlh fra ne fncf fySl
the standard of its requirements. We |
pnust not forget that the European pub |
DC of today is not what it was. 1t has |
been largely deprived of its best element |
the upper middle class, composed OF |
men and women who were not only |
eager to learn, hear and see, but were |
Intellectually trained. This class has |
suffered so severely in the material
sense that it cannot keep up its former |
standard of living, and it has been
compelled to sacrifice, concert-going.
may be called the ambitious section,
which is always striving after culture
and refuses to be satisfied with medi- |
ocrity in art or artists.
Let me now discuss another side OF !
this complex question-how art and |
artists are Influenced by money and |
the public.
must frankly express my belief that
It is not always good thing for an
artist to make a great deal of money. |
recently read a book by a medical |
man in which the effect of hunger on |
the creative faculties was discussed,
and he came to the conclusion that |
hunger was an actual Stimulant, both |
physiologically and psychologist |
With this I am inclined to agree. though |
3 I do not, Of course, suggest that hunger |
is indispensable to creation. But there |
can be no doubt that actual hunger |
and uncertainty about the needs of the |
morrow are strong incentives to the |
creative faculties.
The artist is always in need OF incen- |
tive, and therefore it is good for crea- |
tive forces that, though he may have |
established his position and be quite |
sure of tomorrow's dinner, he be sub |
ject to the influences of sorrow, ankle |
ties, love, friendship, the desire for |
distinction and the thousand incidents |
of life, which all help to stimulate the |
nerves and keep the creative forces |
from going to sleep.
There is another point worth notice. |
The amassing OF money can only be |
side issue in the life of an artist. It |
can never be a deliberate purpose. In |
the case of an artist it must be sub |
sidiary motive which has its good and |
bad sides and carries with it both good |
and bad inspirations
Speaking for myself, I should still |
play my violin even II nobody paid me |
for doing it, and even if were fined or |
otherwise punished. There was time, !
in Russia, when the government tried |
to keep ideas from the public, and GER
tain books were prohibited, but that did |
not prevent people from reading Her
t~~.4 A1& lzxaa
would incur penalties II they were found |
out. I feel the same about playing my
violin, and it is certainly not my fault |
If I am paid for doing it!
To be frank, must admit that en- |
thusiasm on the part of great number |
OF people does not inspire me more |
than that of select few-an audience, |
let us say, of a few hundred cultured
people. Perhaps the reason for this is !
that my youth was spent in the at
mosphere of a monarchy, and the old
influences are still lingering at the back
Of my mind. Although have acquired
other views, have spent good many
hours in argument over these matters
with person who is very close to me,
whose opinion is OF great Importance in
my eyes, and who is Of an entirely diff
ferent way Of thinking. This is my
wife, who, being American born, Is a
thick-and-thin democrat, and does not
agree with my leanings toward mon
arches: but cannot deny that they
remain, and no doubt this is why the
idea Of creating for the great mass of
the people fails to act as an incentive
in my case.
am convinced that great artist,
after the pattern of Michelangelo,
would not build Sistine Chapel nova
days for the crowd. On the other hand,
I am prepared to admit that there is
more justice in the present manner of
settling these points than there was in
the old days, when an artists fate was
decided by a few connoisseurs. The