The Modern Orchestra Leader

1895

The modern orchestra has been converted into a great, composite musical instrument, on which the conductor actually plays, and the specific skill he has developed of playing on this ideal instrument is an exact counterpart of what we call virtuosity in the individual performer. A generation of "virtuosi of the orchestra" has sprung up, exercising the same fascination over the great crowd of music lovers that other virtuosi have time out of mind.

The orchestral conductor is fast becoming the cynosure in the musical firmament, with the pole star of safety or shipwreck beaming at his baton's tip. Lightly warbling soprani, tenors storming the Jericho of the people's heart with "miraculous sound," and sonorous basses of Bashan will have to look to their laurels. Some fine day they may find them encircling the conductor's Olympian brow.

In a word, the modern conductor is essentially a performer, and whether he be a popular favorite by reason of his virtuosity or of the scope modern musical performance gives to the artistic initiative of all performers, his virtuosity per se is unquestionably the element by which he most gains his ascendancy over the public. — Scribner's Magazine.

"The Lost Chord"

1895

Perhaps the most successful song of modern times is "The Lost Chord," whose sale in Great Britain has exceeded 250,000 copies. The story of its composition, as told by Mr. Willeby in his "Masters of English Music," illustrates that in art, as in statesmanship, success came to those

Who knew the seasons, when to take
Occasion by the hand.

For nearly three weeks Arthur Seymour Sullivan had watched by the bedside of a dying brother. One night, when the end was not far off and his brother was sleeping, he chanced to come across some verse of Adelaide Procter's which five years before he had tried in vain to set to music.

In the silence of that night watch he read them over again, and almost instantly their musical expression was conceived. A stray sheet of music paper was at hand, and he began to write. The music grew, and he worked on, delighted to be helped while away the hours of watching. As he progressed he felt sure the music was what he had sought for and failed to find on the occasion of his first attempt to set the words. In a short time it was complete and not long after in the publisher's hands.

His First Violin

1895

Caesar Thomson Made a Boat of It and Set It Sailing.

When M. Thomson was asked the impression made upon him by his first violin, he replied: "I was so young at the time that I cannot remember. I do remember, though, what I did with it. I made a beautiful boat and set it sailing in a pond. As a result, I was soundly whipped. I was always more enthusiastic over music than over the violin. The orchestra is the greatest violin. To me my instrument is a means of expression and the best I have. I never studied much and received no more lessons after I was 11½ years old.

"Dupuy, my first master, died then, and I received a few lessons from Leonard, who went away from the town in which I lived after the war of 1871. At the age of 15 I went to Italy to play in the orchestra of Prince von der Veis, under the direction of Herr Muller-Berghaus, to whom, through association, I owe much musically. I remained there ten years, and the Italians interested me greatly. It was not music that I studied in Italy, but the plastic arts. It is the art atmosphere there which makes upon one such a profound impression. In the presence of the works of such a man as Da Vinci, architect, sculptor, painter, what are we all? "Having free access to the royal libraries, I studied the old Italian writers for the violin. We walk in a path made by those who have gone before. From justice we must study them. Among other manuscripts that I examined were 40 compositions, hitherto unknown, by Valentini, written for the violin in 1690. I had them copied and in due time will publish them. As far as my technique is concerned, it is not the result of arduous practice, but of concentrated thought. As a small child I studied three hours a day. Now, with four or five minutes I can accomplish with concentration the work of three or four hours.

"Then why practice so much? I study in a scientific manner and do not believe in so much practice. I study the relation of things by mathematics. Through trigonometry, through the study of angles, I accomplish my work. My unfailing technique has been mentioned. That is due to the simple means through Which I obtain it. I hesitate to make my method public, nor do I know when I shall do it. Joachim desired me to, but it will awaken too strong opposition. It is too directly opposed to existing traditions." — New York Commercial Advertiser.

Rubinstein and Grain

1895

How the Two Great Musicians Were Brought Together In London.

"My impression of Joachim as having the worst hat in London had its pendant," writes a correspondent, "in my recollection of Rubinstein as having the thickest boots. No musician was ever less of an exquisite. He had no affectations. He wore black broadcloth with a nap on it of the kind that parsons used 60 years ago and a soft felt hat, and, notwithstanding this prosaic setting, looked like a Japanese Beethoven — like a Beethoven that had fallen off the side of a teacup.

"He had not, I fancy, much humor, but he had great good nature, and once I saw it tested. It was during his second visit here, when all London was mad over him, and there was something like a Paderewski fever prevalent, and they were fortunate who could hear him play in private. At this party all musical London was assembled, and he was one of the first guests asked to play. Every one knows how excited he used to get over the piano and how fond he was when his work was over of the solace of a cigar. So this night he withdrew from the instrument with his host, and the grateful fragrance of a weed asserted itself from the little anteroom, whose door was discreetly closed.

In due time the hostess had to call on another guest, and there was some interest to see who could succeed Rubinstein.

"She asked Mr. Corney Grain. She was almost a bride, new to the ways of London life, but it was often afterward pointed out as evidence of her savoir faire that she should have called on the one musician in the room whose absolute opposition of style made rivalry impossible. I remember Corney Grain sang something about

"Meet me when the lark's asleep,
Ere Flora fills her dewy cup,
When festive beetles homeward creep
Before the early morn is up.

"He was sitting with his back to the door, a back even then of commanding proportions, and gradually the fragrance of that cigar became more and more in evidence. The door opened first a little, then a little more, then completely, and at last Rubinstein glided out, with Felix Moscheles by his side, and stood near the piano delighted with what he listened to. The artists were introduced. I remember the evening as well as if it were last night. It was the more memorable because that night he did not break a string." — Pall Mall Budget.

Mechanical Music

1895

The Wail of a Professor Who Declares That Learning Is a Lost Art.

"What for I look blue?" said the professor. "I will tell you. I look blue because my beezness is being — what you call him? — keeked out. No — ah, yes — knocked out by the maker of those stupid mechanique instruments of music. There is no longer any need to learn the piano, for, see, all you do now is bring in the telegraphique wires from the street, and the piano will play itself. Organ — no. Buy some rolls of papaire and put him in the organ and turn the crank, so, and out will come anything you wish from Strauss to Cherubini. Mandolin — no. For some much too clever Yankee has make another something which you shall button to the piano, and there, my faith, you have your mandolin. Zither — no. For there are the zithers now that you play with a steek. Chord of F, press this steek; cord of B, press that steek, and so on. There is no more need to learn anything.

"Mademoiselle say to me, 'Ah, professor, why should I practice any more when Mees So-and-so, who nevaire took the lesson in her life, has an electrique piano which can play everything as well as you do when she press a leedle button?' And I say, 'Why, indeed?' Then madame say to me, 'Ah, professor, I shall geeve up the mandolin, for I can put a leedle thing to the piano and make it play like the mandolin weeth two fingers.' And I say, `Ah, so?' Then monsieur say, 'Professor, I guess I give up the organ and buy one of those windyphones like Billee Sweetzer have, where all you have to do is to move the feet, and the music come out joost as good as you play,' and I say, 'Was that so?'

'And it ees so. The mechanique music have knocked me out. There is no heart any more to learn anything that take time and patience when you can have all the good music that you like by pressing the leedle button and moving the feet. It ees not the music of the soul, to be sure; maybe it ees not the music of the expression; maybe it ees not music at all. Bah! Who cares? All you want is the tune, just like the organ man and piano woman on the street. Arteest be dam. Vive la mechanique! I am going home to invent a violin electrique and an automatique flute that you shall play with your knees." — New York Sun.

A Fine Compliment

1895

And It Was Paid to a Famous Ballad Singer by General Grant.

A lot of show people were sitting around one evening swapping experiences.

"The finest compliment I ever had paid me," said a famous ballad singer, "was by General Grant. You know, he was not very fond of music, and once, when we happened to be stopping in the same hotel for a night, and after the performance, I was asked to sing for him. I did not feel very much like complying. In fact, I refused him at first because I had heard that music bored him dreadfully, and he only agreed to hear me because the committee that was entertaining him included me in the attractions.

"About midnight, in the parlor of the hotel, I met the general, and shortly afterward I sat down to the piano to play my own accompaniment to a simple ballad I had selected. The general sat near the piano, and I kept my eye on him so that I could see if he were going to be tired, and if so I was going to quit as short as I could reasonably do. As I sang, however, I became interested in the melody and forgot the general and sang straight through to the end. Then, as the last strain died away, the general rose suddenly, and as he brushed his hand across his eyes he said, 'Confound your music' and walked away. It was not quite what I expected, but it was the greatest compliment he could have paid me, and I told him so when later he came and apologized for having spoken as he did." — Detroit Free Press.

Moments To Remember - The Four Lads

Try To Remember - The Brothers Four

Stone Bandstand; New Idea

1916

Iowa Town Takes an Advance Step in Architecture.

CENTERVILLE, Iowa — A Bedford stone bandstand is something new in the world. And Centerville, which always leads, boasts its possession. The design, which was drawn by Miss Nell Reynolds, a milliner of Centerville, also leads off into an original type of bandstand architecture, it being built on the lines of a colonnade with a pergola top, its dimensions being 18x24 feet and the floor being 3 feet and 3 inches from the ground, which is reached by a flight of five steps at either end of the stand.

The side walls, which extend [*] inches above the floor, are surmounted by four stone columns on each wall, upon which rests the pergola top. Ten 16-inch electric globes are ranged along the sides above the columns and at the center over either of the entrances, while on the side of each column are the lights for musicians.

The stand, which cost $1,200, was built by popular subscription, thru the efforts of the Centerville Association of Commerce.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 3.
[*] Number missing, two-digit number.

Cases of Queer Revenge

1901

In England, where men have more time for everything, including revenge, some queer methods of playing even have come into the courts.

Albert Bewdley of Leeds had a dog that howled at night. A naturalist next door did not like it, but had no legal recourse.

One day ants of the minute red variety began to overrun Bewdley's house. Nothing that could be done headed them off. They grew worse and worse. He had made up his mind to break his lease and move when one night he heard a noise in his dining room. Slipping down, he found the naturalist emptying a bag of ants on the floor. In court the naturalist paid damages, but he did it smilingly.

Rowley, the late English violinist, was hard to beat on his perseverance against one who had incurred his ill will.

Rowley had a quarrel with a horse dealer named Brant. It was a trivial matter, but Rowley took the next house to Brant, set up a piano, bought a cornet and proceeded to make insomnia for Brant.

After one or two assault cases in court Brant moved. Rowley bought out the next door neighbor and followed with piano and cornet. Brant went to law, but found he could do nothing. Failing, he took a detached house. Then Rowley hired brass bands and organs and assailed him. This was actionable, and Rowley paid £1,000 for his revenge. — Chicago Tribune.

The Lady and the Cobra

1901

An English woman residing in India one evening found to her horror that a huge cobra had coiled itself about her veranda rails, near which she sat playing the violin. She was too near the snake to run with safety, so she continued playing while she gradually edged away. At first her only idea was to keep the creature thus engaged while she escaped, but when she had gained a safer distance and perhaps fascinated by the unwonted sight a strange inspiration seized her. She played air after air of different characters.

The effect was magical. That snake behaved like an ardent, hot blooded disciple of Paganini. Every variation in the music, whether of volume or of tone, produced instantly a corresponding change in the attitude of the cobra. If she played a lively dance, it swayed its body sideways in quick time and yet in graceful curves. Once she struck a number of false notes in rapid succession on purpose, The cobra winced and writhed in pain as if suddenly struck with a whip.

Thus the creature behaved like a mad musician till the lady, getting tired of the sport, gradually worked herself farther and farther and then made a sudden bolt into her room and banged the door, leaving the cobra to wander disconsolate to its lair in the fields.

At Last! Substitute for Booze Is Found

1920

Good Music Takes Place of Whisky, Says Pianist.

It's here! That long sought substitute for John Barleycorn has been found — and just in the nick of time. Hereafter, when the gentleman with the lustrous nose gets that longing that used to lead to the family entrance, all he'll have to do is to start the phonograph.

For music not only soothes the savage beast, but takes the place of fine whisky, declares Moses Bogulawski, the great Russian pianist in Chicago. He urges it as the social and industrial fire extinguisher of the future.

"The economic cancer with which the world is confronted now can be easily treated with music as the healing spirit," he declares. "The laboring classes have lost their curse — liquor — but good music can take its place. Beautiful tunes will put in harmony the world chaos and will soon become more popular with the laboring man than liquor was in days of yore. Good music should thus be compulsory in our homes and schools."

Professor Bogulawski also stated that social and moral conditions could be improved by the greater diffusion of a good quality of music.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 7.

Gounod's Opinions

1901

Music is the most beautiful art, but it is the most detestable profession. But is not that right? That which belongs most to heaven should fare worst on earth.

The public moves much faster than the individual, and therefore the individual must place himself before his age if he desires not to be behind it. Wagner has some idea of this sort. It is a necessity which every true artist must realize. Great men may be said to be for every age save their own. Small men are for their own and none other. — "Reminiscences," in Macmillan's.

Music and Bombs

1920

Music and the making of bombs do not go together, and the man who is radically against his government has no music in his soul, asserts the New York Mail. These facts are both evident, say reports of those who have investigated the homes of "suspects" for the Government.

"No musical instrument, not so much as a harmonica, has ever been found in a home that was raided by Government authorities in connection with Bolshevism," says M. M. Roemer, member of a music goods sales corporation.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 6.

Murdered for a Cent

1910

A quarrel over a single penny led to a murder in Hoboken the other day. A man from Nebraska, who stopped at a hotel in Hoboken while awaiting the sailing of the steamer for Europe, put a penny in the slot of an automatic music box in the dining-room of the hotel, but the box refused to pour forth the expected ragtime tune. The Nebraskan became indignant and upbraided the German porter. The latter explained to him that it required a nickel and not a penny to set the mechanism of the music-box in motion, but that explanation did not satisfy the man from Nebraska. He became abusive and when the porter threatened to put him out, he pulled a revolver from his pocket and shot the porter dead.

Whittier's Dog

1901

During one of the last birthday celebrations of the poet Whittier he was visited by a celebrated oratorio singer. The lady was asked to sing, and, seating herself at the piano, she began the beautiful ballad, "Robin Adair." She had hardly begun before Mr. Whittier's pet dog came into the room and, seating himself by her side, watched her as if fascinated and listened with a delight unusual in an animal. When she finished, he came and put his paw very gravely into her hand and licked her check.

"Robin takes that us a tribute to himself," said Mr. Whittier. "He also is 'Robin Adair.' "

The dog, hearing his own name, evidently considered that he was the hero of the song. From that moment, during the lady's visit, he was her devoted attendant. He kept by her side when she was indoors and accompanied her when she went to walk. When she went away he carried her satchel in his mouth to the gate and watched her departure with every evidence of distress. — St. Nicholas.

Ignore Them — Mosquitoes

1910

The best way to get rid of the mosquito, says the Brooklyn Eagle, is to get the habit of not minding him, like the natives. No native or resident of a few months in a mosquito section minds mosquitoes any more than he does flies. But this method is slow in its appeal to the man who finds the pests attack him with more zeal than they do the natives.


He Knew About Ice Cream

The first time three-year-old Ray noticed a rainbow he shouted: "Oh! That looks just like ice cream in the sky!"


Money Well Spent

"I suppose to educate your daughter in music costs a great deal of money?"
"Yes; but she's brought it all back for me."
"Indeed!"
"Yes; I'd been trying to buy out my next door neighbor at half price for years, and could never bring him to terms until she came home!"

Prince Discovers New Fish 20,000 Feet Down

1920

PARIS, France — The Prince of Monaco has discovered a new fish which lives at a depth of 20,000 feet under a pressure of 600 atmospheres. Although at such a depth there is practically no light, the Grimaldichthys profundissimus, christened after the Prince's family name, has rudimentary eyes.

The fish was brought up during one of the Prince's oceanographical cruises off the Cape Verde Islands. Two other species not hitherto known were caught at a depth of over 16,000 feet.


Invents Music Sheets for Piano

A Frenchman has invented piano music printed on long sheets, so mounted on motor driven rolls that they are advanced as rapidly as a user wishes saving the work of turning pages.

The Polka Dot

1919

Because in 1835 a Bohemian peasant girl danced a new step in a little village near the Polish border a Hungarian dancing master introduced it in Europe under the name of Polka, which is the feminine of Polak or Pole. By 1844, at the time James K. Polk was running for the presidency, the dance had spread to America and the name "Polk" and the word "Polka" formed a coincidence at once appealing to everyone. The manufacturers, merchants and designers immediately presented Polka hats, Polka shoes, Polka gauze and the "newest design in fabrics for gentlewomen."


Pretty Smart Chickens

A recent morning a Missouri farmer placed three crates of chickens and five bushels of potatoes in his trailer, hitched the trailer to his automobile and started for town. He was almost there when he discovered he had no trailer. He found he had parted company with it a quarter of a mile from home, and when he got back to it the crates were empty and the potatoes frozen.

He presumed, of course, the chickens had been stolen, and was greatly surprised when he went to the henhouse early next day after breakfast to find every one of the chickens there. Not one was missing. They had all returned home, but how they got out of the crates probably will always remain a mystery.

What German Soldiers Want for Christmas

1915

The Berliner Tageblatt has published the replies of the various German armies to its inquiry of what the soldier boys would like to have sent them for Christmas.

Following is a summary of what the soldiers ask for:

Army of the Crown Prince: Red wine, cigars, cigarettes, smoking tobacco, canned milk, sewing materials, chocolate and cheese.

Army of Von Hindenburg: Honey cakes, herring, preserves, mitts, mufflers, ladies' muffs, sewing material, chocolates, mouth harmonicas, pocketknives.

Army of Mackensen: Sausage, lard or butter, dried fruits, chocolates, smoked fish, accordions or harmonicas. No woolen goods.

Army of Gallwitz: Cigars, cigarettes, chocolates, soap, sardines, fish, preserves, sewing materials, darning needles and wool, any kind of musical instrument, picture books and comic papers.

Army of Loewenfeld: Cigars, cigarettes, smoking tobacco, chocolates, stockings, handkerchiefs, canned milk.

Army of Von Kooster: Stockings, mitts, mufflers, towels, handkerchiefs, soap, chocolates, pickled meats, wine, beer, electric pocket lamps, pocketknives, funny papers.

The list offers variety for all tastes and purses.