Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-09-09
NEWS OF MUSIC
BY IRVING LOwENs


What with all the hula
balloo about this being the
Mozart year, a few other i'm
portant figures in the world of
music who are also having
major anniversaries in 1856
have been pretty well lost in
the shuttle.
Just 100 years ago this sum-
mer - for example - Robert
Schumann died. All too few
have paused to pay tribute to
his memory. Schumann is out
of fashion at the moment, but
there was not really as much
difference in eXpreSSiveness
between his music and Mo-
zart's as there would seem to
be today. Possibly in years to
come, even the Incompatible
Mozart will be out Of fashion,
and it will be stylish to hymn
the beauties of such as Schu-
mann, Brahms and List, all
Of whom are now considered
old hat. Stranger things have
happened.
It is even worth recalling
that 1856 is a memorable ami
versary year for music-lovers
without Mozart and Schu-
mann, because, had he lived
six years longer, one OF the
greatest music critics of all
time would have celebrated
his Tooth birthday just a few
months ago.
George Bernard Shaw has
been getting pretty rough
treatment as a playwright and
a social philosopher since his
death in 1850, but his writings
as a practicing music reviewer
in London from 1888 to 1894
are coming to be treated with
increasing respect.
Wrote Singing Reviews
Shaw's viciously barbed wit,
his nonconformity. his bump
tious originality. his deft way
with a word, his lack of respect
for the big shot just because
he happened to be a big shot.
his inability to compromise
all these qualities had free
play in his reviews of the Lon
don concert world of the sos
and '90s.
There was nothing kindly or
soft about his criticisms. They
hurt. He was not popular with
the artists and the impresarios
who came under the whiplash
of his pen. He was a severe
critic-and a genius who knew
his onions.
It gives me a warm feeling
to repeat that G. B. S. began
his career as a music critic
with The Star.-in his case,
The London Star. He stayed
with that paper for two years
and then moved to The World
for four more.
Invented Odd By-Line
AS Shaw tells the story, he
recognized the need OF signed
criticism (then pretty much OF
a novelty, but G. B. S. meant
nothing to the public in those
days, so he chose to invent a
fantastic title with something
like an exotic flavor.
In his own words, he wrote:
1T thought of Count di Luna
"a character in Verdi's 'Tro-
vatoreo, but finally changed
It for Como di Bassetto, as it
sounded like a foreign title,
and nobody knew what a
corno di bassetto was"
OF course, the corno di bas-
setto is not a foreign title but
a musical instrument known
In English as a basset horn.
Last year Washingtonians
who were fortunate enough to
attend the all-Mozart concert
at the Library of Congress
conducted by Leopold Stokow-
ski had an opportunity to hear
this rarely used wind which
nobody blows good.
Fit for a Funeral
ut is a wretched instru-
ment," noted Shaw. now
completely snuffed out for
general use by the bass clario-
net. It would be forgotten and
unplayed if it were not that
Mozart has scored for it in his
Requiem, evidently because its
peculiar watery melancholy,
and the total absence Of any
richness or passion in its tone,
is just the thing for a funeral.
-. If had ever heard note
of it in 1888 I should not have
selected it for a character
which I intended to be SPAR
king. The devil himself could
not make a basset horn
sparkle"
But despite the name, Como
di Bassetto sparkled.
Next month the National
Symphony Orchestra will be
opening the 1956-57 season,
billed as "the greatest concert
series ever presented" with is
pairs of concerts. No doubt
Como di Bassetto would have
guffawed in his beer at such
brazen puffery-it would be
more accurate to state that it