Evening star., 1935-12-25
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
Margaret Cermond.
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF BEETHO-
VEN. BY Edouard Herriot. New
York: The Macmillan Co.

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF BEETHo-
VEN. BY Edouard Herriot. New
York: The Macmillan Co.
As more and more books about music,
| composers and master musicians flow
from the publishing houses in a steadily
| increasing stream belief in the power OF
| the greatest of the emotional arts to full
| fill one of the major spiritual needs OF
mankind becomes forcefully convincing.
When the historians of the future trace
the cultural development of America 1t
| is certain that year somewhere near the
close of the first third of the twentieth
| century will be set down as the beginning
| of the "age of music" That is not to say
that there has ever been a lack of appre-
| citation of great music in this country,
but rather is it an acknowledgment Of the
| limitations which until few years ago
| excluded the masses from the privilege
of hearing the magnificent productions
| of the worlds most famous composers.
| Twenty years ago those who were
| familiar with symphonic and orchestral
| music numbered into tens of thousands.
| Today countless millions have welcomed
| into their homes the concerts of classic
music played by orchestras of Nation
wide renown. One wonders what the
tabulated answers would have been
twenty years ago had an intelligence queS-
tionnaire, such as that in popular use
today, bearing the name of Beethoven or
Bach or Mozart, been sent throughout
the land. How many, even in the large
cities, would have known whether they
were inventors, statesmen, astrologers,
philosophers or composers? Today the
dwellers in huts, novels and palaces alike
| ri randnT
the exquisite creations of these and other
masters of their art. Names and the
music which they represent have a
spiritual significance for the lowly as well
as the privileged society of the Nation,
and the thirst for knowledge and under
standing is increasingly evident in the
continual demand for books about the
men whose genius has given expression
to the beauty which universally lies in
the soul of mankind.
In this work on the life of Beethoven
the author has deviated from the straight
biography and undertaken to present
more of picture of the times and the
conditions in which the great composer
lived That era was particularly signih-
cant in many ways, and through study
of the social political religious and cul-
tural forces at work during the creative
years of his life a more appreciative
understanding of the sources of Beetho-
vens inspiration and of the influence of
his productions has been reached. Lit
erature was mounting to high peaks OF
romanticiSm, Napoleon was rising toward
the heights of fame, Austria was the
center of political activities and liber-
alism was growing at rapid pace. A
new spirit was becoming evident in the
classic arts and music was exerting
powerful influence in the political as well
as the social life of Europe.
1t is against this mosaic background
of rulers, politicians, artists, men of let
ters, composers and social leaders that
the Beethoven of this volume IS pre-
sented, with many new sidelights on the
influences with which Beethoven and his
contemporaries were surrounded. A book
that gives to the layman as much as
1t does to the musician is good piece
of work. This volume meets that re-
quirement and will be a welcome addi-
ton to the many private libraries that
are now being accumulated to the end
of a keener appreciation and more
profound understanding of the majesty
and the beauty of great music.
The work has been translated from
the French of Edouard Herriot by Adel-
held and William Mitchell.
POOR JOHN FITCH. BY Thomas Boyd.
New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons
When the late Thomas Boyd conceived
the idea of writing this unusual biog-
raphy of one of the most pathetic heroes
in the chronicles of America he selected
| subject for whom every red-blooded
American who has studied the history OF
navigation should hold profound re-
spect. For it was John Fitch who built
and piloted the first boat ever to be
propelled by steam, even though his
| name is practically unknown today. Had
he possessed bit of education and not
been a victim of poverty and had ne
been less of an eccentric the rivers OF
| this broad land would have known the
possibilities of steamboats, twenty years
before Fulton's craft was an accom-
plished fact.
But John Fitch was poverty stricken.
In the seventeen hundreds education was
for the sons of rich men only. For the
poor. If an education were deemed de-
sirable, the only avenue lay in the pond
ing of a child to wealthy family, for
which an education was promised IN re-
turn for so many years OF labor. Jonn
bound himself over to a clockmaker 10
get himself away from the poverty OF his
home and to acquire the education Tor
which he longed. as we'll as to learn
useful and profitable craft. His years OF
bondage. however, yielded nothing put
hardship and labor.
The struggle for existence against
heartbreaking odds until he had grown
into manhood failed to dim the ambition
which burned within him, though his
mature life never held more than a fleet
ing release from dire want. AS gunsmith
for the American Army during the Revo-
lutionary War, as button maker, silver
smith, clock mender and in various ac-
tivities in which he engaged to exc out
a living, success came but briefly because
he was driven by ambition to strive for
the things that fate never intended him
to have.
The unusualness of this biography lies
in the fact that it is almost an auto
biography presented by John Fitch him.
self. Before he died he was urged to
write down the history of his steamboat
invention, together with a description
of his lonely, disappointed and curious
| life. He wrote completely frank docu-
ment, but left with it an injunction that
| II must not be opened until thirty years