Selected Content from the Musicology Department

Content is listed chronologically in the order originally published by "The Etude".
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Lessons in Musical History. - November, 1887

In the logical order of thought, the consideration of the nature of music naturally precedes the investigation of its function. But its function was undoubtedly perceived ages before there was any thought of investigating its nature on scientific principles. Read More

The Polka. - August, 1891

The origin of the polka is being discussed in some of the Parisian journals. The universally popular dance is said to have been invented in 1830, by an Austrian cook, who, finding herself dull in her kitchen, sang and danced... Read More

Analysis and Logic in Music. - July, 1893

It has been my ambition of late years to analyze cer­tain compositions of one of the greatest masters the world ever saw. It is to him I owe the discovery of a new way to expose analytically the construction of the fugue-form, by means of colors and differently shaped notes. Read More

Finck's New Biography of Wagner. - July, 1893

That Hanslick and his fellow critics were stupid will now be generally, although not universally, admitted. The Wagnerian music-drama has now made its way to genuine popularity. There are thousands of men and women who find in it greater evidence of genius and more of inspiring, uplifting power than in any other music whatsoever. Read More

Music In Its Relation To Health. - January, 1897

The danger of blindness that is incurred by the great composers and conductors (Bach and Handel are the most prominent names in this unfortunate category) is chiefly incurred because of the abnormal use of the eye in reading orchestral and organ music. Let the reader of this article attempt to view the contents of six or eight lines simultaneously and he will have a faint idea of the difficulties connected with score-reading and the strain put upon the eyes of a conductor. Read More

Usefulness Of Some Recent Composition - JAROSLAW DE ZIELINSKI. - July, 1897

Usefulness Of Some Recent Composition. BY JAROSLAW DE ZIELINSKI. A Flemish musician, Jerome de Cockx, once visited Martin Luther, and was astonished, on his introduction to the great reformer, at seeing on the table a flute and a guitar. "Here,"... Read More

Recollections of Gottschalk - October, 1897

BY JOHN FRANCIS GILDER. I have heard many pianists of note, dating back into the "forties," beginning with Henry Herz, and extending through to Paderewski. Of the entire number, I consider Thalberg, Gottschalk, and Rubinstein the three greatest. Each possessed... Read More

An Apology For the Piano - December, 1897

BY HENRY T. FINCK. Professional musicians have an inveterate habit of decrying the pianoforte as being inferior not only to the human voice, but to the violin and other orchestral instruments. In this allegation there is some truth and... Read More

The Great Masters As They Reveal Themselves - July, 1898

BY RUTLAND BOUGHTON. Bach.—" Come pray with me. Thank God for your birth, your life, aye, and your death. Come within the Cathedral and pray with me. Praise God for all His mercies. Go with me into the fields, the... Read More

When Only Men Played - July, 1898

"Two hundred years ago no one thought of a girl playing the piano. Only men played." Of course, strictly speaking, two hundred years ago neither girls nor men played the piano as we to day understand it, for the instrument... Read More

Robert Franz. - June, 1899

Wagner declared that the voice should be at the command of the composer, whereas Franz was convinced that the "human voice should command the first attention, accompaniment or orchestra forming but a background." "Instruments," said he, "can be improved to meet the demands made upon them; the human voice is given;--who dares venture beyond its limits?" Read More

Acoustics as Part of a Musical Education - September, 1899

By Louis C. Elson.   A few years ago two courses of lectures on musical topics were delivered at the Lowell Institute, in Boston, both being practically free to the public; one course, on "The Symphony and the Symphonic... Read More

Schumann's Early Loves. - January, 1900

It would be unfair to inquire minutely into the inevitable boyish passions of the young Schumann, were it not that his uncommon candor in describing them to his friends, the fullness of his confidences, and the rapid shifting of the objects of his devotion give amusing glimpses into the cloud-land of romance in which his youth was spent. Read More

Moritz Moszkowski. - January, 1900

Moszkowski has had among his pupils many Americans. His Berlin studio has been described by one of the latter as having contained "little furniture, a desk, chair, and music cabinet, with busts and pictures everywhere, well-known faces of Liszt, Von Bülow, and the fathers of classic music--Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Read More

A. Schmoll - February, 1900

Herr Schmoll's works are mostly for the piano. Among the most used are his primary method; 80 etudes, op. 116-119, moderately difficult; 10 sonatas, op. 61-70; 50 "Grandes Etudes," op. 121-123; and "Album de Lectures," op. 96-99. A selection of his studies has been issued recently in this country. He has composed some two hundred drawing-room pieces, which are used extensively in France. The scene of his activity is Paris, where he publishes his work himself. His most popular composition in America is his "Spinnino," which has been reprinted by most American publishers. Read More

The Apotheosis of St. Cecilia. - March, 1900

BY FANNY MORRIS SMITH. Among the saints of the poet's calendar none is more universally sung than St. Cecilia; her church and academy in Rome still attest her graces. She is the only saint in England, except St. George, that... Read More

St. Cecilia in Art and Poetry. - March, 1900

BY REV. H. T. HENRY. What St. Cecilia represents in music is adequately defined by her symbolism in the kindred arts of painting and poetry. This symbolism is not—like so many others—a fiction founded on fact, but rather a fact... Read More

What St. Cecilia Represents in Music. - March, 1900

BY W. J. BALTZELL.  The Greek mythology represented music by one of the Muses, giving it a special divinity in accordance with their custom. As we know, the Christian church in its early days followed many of the customs of... Read More

St. Cecilia - March, 1900

St. Cecilia, the patron of church music, suffered martyrdom at Rome under Alexander Serverus about the year 229 A.D., although the date of her death has been variously placed by historians as occurring as early as A.D. 176 and 180,... Read More

Recent Reminiscences of Liszt. - April, 1900

By the term the "pupil of Liszt" was not to be understood a pupil in the ordinary sense of the word. Liszt never accepted remuneration for his lessons. They were given to artists or rising stars who desired the honor of playing before Liszt. Liszt could refuse no one, the consequence being that much chaff was found among the wheat. Bülow wanted to bring a change Liszt saying he did not have the heart to be harsh to anyone, Bülow replied: "Then leave it to me." Read More

Modern Polyphony - January, 1901

ROBERT GOLDBECK.   Polyphony refers to that style of musical composition most fully represented by the fugue, in which two or more independent voices or parts continue their play from beginning to end. During the earlier period of fugal... Read More

Music in the Twentieth Century - January, 1901

LOUIS C. ELSON. PROPHECY is, in general, a very hazardous undertaking, and in the field of music it is especially so, for, while the other arts have their fixed rules, composition has not a single law which may not... Read More

The Development of Music in the South During the Past Twenty Years. - July, 1901

While the South has always been recognized as the land of "music, love, and flowers," it has only in the past few years responded to the great wave of musical development that is sweeping over our nation, making us the proud and happy possessors of artists and composers of international reputation, good schools of music, fine orchestras, and singing societies, and--in some localities--of annual Music Festivals where the more important choral works are given a satisfactory rendering. Read More

Dr. William Mason - The Nestor of American Musicians. - October, 1901

Dr. Mason's book, as may be expected, includes memories of the most famous names in modern music,--from his delicate picture of Moritz Hauptmann, on whose "stove, a regular old-fashioned German structure of porcelain nearly as high as the ceiling, there was always a row of apples in process of slow baking," to his unexpected addition to the Brahms ana,--every picture is graphic and delightful. So much has been said about Liszt's friendship for Brahms that we quote the description of their first meeting verbatim. Read More

Mozart as a Worker. - December, 1901

From "Mozart: l'Homme et l'Artiste," by Victor Wilder. Mozart was not simply a composer of extraordi­nary fecundity; he was music itself. His entire being was absorbed in his art, and all his thoughts took naturally a melodic and rhythmic form.... Read More

A Mozart Revival. - December, 1901

Mozart's name has at times been obscured by the many-colored mists of modern realism and romanti­cism. Signs, however, are not wanting to show that the twentieth century will set the seal of a deeper and broader recognition on his works than has been the case for a long time past. Read More

Mozart: Boy and Man. - December, 1901

By THEODORE STEARNS. The greatest stranger to Mozart was Mozart him­self. The greatest gifts he made were given to those who never helped him. More than any other light in music he needed a true friend; he never found one.... Read More

Mozart Literature. - December, 1901

By FRANK H. MARLING.   C. F. Pohl, the learned librarian of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, in Vienna, has made the following striking statement about Mozart: "Mozart has often been compared with other great men, Shakespeare, Goethe, Beethoven, Haydn, etc.,... Read More

The Art of Mozart. - December, 1901

BY H. A. CLARKE. It may seem rather late in the day to discuss the "Art of Mozart," but, in view of the fact that there is a large and growing class who flippantly dismiss Mozart as old-fashioned or antiquated,... Read More

Suggestions for Programs from Mozart's Piano-Works. - December, 1901

By EMIL LIEBLING Mozart was one of those darlings of fortune to whom everything came easy. At a very early age he astounded the world by his precocity in piano-playing, solved most intricate musical problems with perfect ease, and continued... Read More

The Impress of Mozart on Musical History. - December, 1901

By EDWARD DICKINSON Three kinds of masters. The question of the influence of Mozart on the history of music belongs to a class of prob­lems in art-history difficult to solve. The impression which an artist makes upon the subsequent course... Read More

Mozart's Genius, by C. von Sternberg - December, 1901

There is a serious doubt in my mind whether our imagination, so ready to conjecture and to depict the future, is equally capable of grasping and representing the past to our intelligence. The histories of the world, of science, or of art, furnish a superabundance of data, to be sure, to assist our imagination; but, to the majority of minds, these data are just data, and nothing more; they do not unveil the picture of the world as it looked before some great mind impressed it with its stamp. Read More

The Listener to Mozart's Works. - December, 1901

BY J. S. VAN CLEVE. Mozart was the supreme utterance of absolute beauty in music. It may appear to be an esthetic fallacy even to hint that music may contain any­thing else than pure beauty, but this is as true... Read More

Mozart as Piano-Writer. - December, 1901

By W. S. B. MATHEWS.   In order to understand the influence of Mozart in the world of music, and in the world of piano-music in particular, it is necessary, first of all, to take ac­count of his personality and... Read More

Mozart: An Appreciation. - December, 1901

Mozart's position in the world of music is abso­lutely unique. There have been other musical prodi­gies, but never one so gifted. There have been others who were composers in their early youth, but none so remarkable. There have been other great music-masters, but none who attained distinction at so immature an age. Read More

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, January 27, 1756-December 5, 1791. - December, 1901

The time was when history was studied by learn­ing a mass of facts and a long array of dates, a dry chronicle of events rather than the story of men and women who lived, worked, and died, but whose works and aspirations died not with them. To-day we study the man and his deeds. With many of them there is no need for us to go to history to learn of them. Their influence is still felt. Those who labor to-day do their work on lines, in part, at least, laid down by those who worked years ago. Our libraries are full of their creations, from which we can re­create, before our mental visions, the man as once he breathed and lived. One of those characters who made history in his day, whose works still live to make us better and to influence us to high and pure endeavor, was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Read More

The Term "Sonata." - February, 1902

A summary description of the modern sonata since the Haydn-Mozart period might be worded as follows: A composition for the pianoforte, or for the pianoforte and one other instrument, oftenest consisting of three movements, sometimes of four, and now and then of two, at least one of them in what has been called first-movement sonata form. Read More

Criticism of J.S. Bach By a Contemporary - April, 1902

CRITICISM OF J.S. BACH BY A CONTEMPORARY. “HE is really the most distinguished among the musicians. He is an extraordinary performer, both on the clavier and on the organ; and at the present time he has only met with... Read More

Transcriptions for the Piano by Franz Liszt. - May, 1902

Whatever may be thought or said of Liszt as an original composer, in his piano-transcriptions he has never had an equal, scarcely even a would-be com­petitor. His work in this line is of inestimable im­portance to the pianist, both as student and public performer, and forms a rich and extensive depart­ment of piano-literature. Read More

Liszt as Pianist and Piano-Composer. - May, 1902

From the material of his playing it seems quite certain that the early distinctions of Liszt were due to his captivating manner, which as a boy was seri­ous, charming, and full of sensibility, and as yet without the circumambient "atmosphere" of the suc­cessful virtuoso. Read More

Liszt as a Musical Influence. - May, 1902

Liszt's effect upon the music of the last half of the nineteenth century is by no means to be meas­ured by his own work in composition or by his great abilities as a pianist. His power as a composer was scarcely understood during his life-time, although Wagner ranked him as among the very highest in this field, and his abilities as a performer were veiled from all but a select few by his early retirement from the concert-platform. Read More

Victorious Liszt. - May, 1902

It is useless to say that nothing aroused his wrath so much as the receipt of an invitation to play the piano at some festival concert by a "friendly" committee which tactlessly ignored the fact that he was a composer as well as a pianist. Though he was the most genial of men, I suspect that he had said to himself: "If they will not listen to my compositions, they shall not hear me play either." Read More

How Schubert Composed. - November, 1902

From a biography of Schubert, by Richard   Heuberger, we learn something of Schubert's methods of composition. Even as early as his sixteenth year he had formed a regular system of work, which he carefully criticised and improved. After the... Read More

Munich, Bayreuth, and Wagner Festivals - August, 1903

Those who have read the excellent biographical and descriptive works of Finck, Chamberlain, Mathews, and others have a faint idea of the awful financial strain to which Wagner was subjected at that time. That the Bayreuth Theater was built at all was a marvelous indication of Wagner's financial ability, and of his extraordinary confidence in the principles which he knew to be right, a phase of his character too often omitted from the biographer's catalogues of the marvelous man's human achievements. Read More

The Esthetics of Modern Music - August, 1903

BY DR. HENRY W. GILES. KUBELIK, the celebrated violinist once said: “Man longs for something—he don’t know what it is; I supply that want.” He might have named the composer as coadjutor with himself in filling this want. Apropos... Read More

Theodore Leschetizky - December, 1903

Prepared by FANNY MORRIS SMITHfrom the biography just issued by the Century Co. Our library of books in the English language on music has increased greatly during the last twenty years. Letters, autobiographies, memoirs, and criticisms have multiplied in... Read More

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - The Masters as Students - March, 1904

  BY ARTHUR L. MANCHESTER.   WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART.   I. In the preceding series of articles under the head of Student Life and Work I have endeavored to set forth principles which underlie real study. I have based... Read More

Johannes Brahms - Studies In Musical Biography - March, 1904

BY ARTHUR L. MANCHESTER.   JOHANNES BRAHMS. Of very different personality from that of Tschaikowsky is the subject of our study this month. The morbid temperament of the Russian, coloring with dark hues his life and compositions, contrasts vividly with... Read More

The Etude Music Study Clubs - March, 1904

Has Heaven bestowed on you a lively imagination, you will often, in solitary hours, sit entranced at the piano, longing to express in harmonies your inward fervor; and the more mystical are your feelings while you are drawn, as... Read More

Ancient and Modern Songs - March, 1904

BY HORACE P. DIBBLE.   The art of singing and the art of song writing represent to-day, in their respective spheres, their share in the great evolution of the art of music. There are fashions and fads in music as... Read More

Classic and the Romantic - March, 1904

 By SMITH N. PENFIELD   The above terms, as denoting two schools of music, are often used by the public generally and even by musicians without clear ideas or well-defined limitations. It will help toward a proper use of... Read More

The Astronomy of Music - March, 1904

BY JACQUES DE LYONS.   The ancient Egyptians speculated upon astronomy as the "Harmony of the Spheres." They theorized a systematic relationship between the seven-toned diatonic scale, as they formulated it, and the seven planets; the ratio between the... Read More

Lessons in Musical History - April, 1904

The work of the Florentine circle, as recounted in The Etude for February, had given impetus to the movement for reform in music, and the idea spread to other Italian cities, Bologna, Parma, Rome. One weakness of the Florentine... Read More

Studies in Musical Biography - Richard Strauss - April, 1904

BY ARTHUR L. MANCHESTER.     Richard Strauss. The student of musical biography may quickly perceive that of the many who have entered the lists as creative musicians, few have risen to heights of distinctive eminence above their fellows.... Read More

The Masters as Students - Franz Joseph Haydn - April, 1904

 BY ARTHUR L. MANCHESTER.   Franz Joseph Haydn.   I. The stress laid upon the preparatory period in our lives, the steadily increasing machinery of school, college, university and technical institution, and the attention paid by eminent educators to... Read More

Studies of Musical Compositions - April, 1904

BY PRESTON WARE OREM.   IV. In the interpretation of a piece of music it should constantly be borne in mind that every properly constructed composition is a series of effects, carefully planned and consistently carried out. If the... Read More

Antonin Dvorak - The Masters As Students. - May, 1904

There is no life that can more profitably be studied than that of Antonin Dvoràk. The reader must be ready to understand what is not written as well as that which is set down. He should know something of the history of Bohemia and surrounding nations, and he must make his deductions wisely. Read More

Antonin Dvorak. - Studies in Musical Biography. - May, 1904

The story of his life from this time until 1892, when he, in the fulness of his powers as a composer, came to New York, is the story of a student. He studied the works of Beethoven and wrote, made mistakes, perceived and corrected them, and persevered in the face of repeated discouragement until he won a grant from the Austrian Kultusministerium which enabled him to devote more time to composition. His compositions are not such as the piano teacher can use, but his position as a leader among his countrymen, his success in England, and his universal acceptance as one of these who have definitely influenced modern music gives his personality and life a place in our scheme of biographic study. Read More

VIENNA: The City of the Masters - European Centers of Music Study - July, 1904

Who can ever estimate the contribution of Vienna to the art of music! Who can ever sing the praises of this marvelous city of Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Gluck, and Brahms! At almost every street corner one can see the reasons for its greatness as a musical center. It lies in the public appreciation of music and musicians. With monuments, tablets, and innumerable other ways have the people shown their love for the great tone-art. Read More

The Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences - Its Musical Work. By James Francis Cooke. - September, 1904

The Institute itself was originally started in the year 1823 by a few gentlemen including Augustus Graham, who determined to establish a free library for the apprentices of the town. On July 4, 1825, General Lafayette laid the cornerstone of the first building. From this very small beginning has grown this Institute, with a membership of 6600, giving over 4000 concerts, lectures, and meetings a year, and holding properties valued at $2,500,000 and upward. Read More

What is a Sonata? - September, 1904

What is a sonata? The question is shorter to ask than to answer. To follow all the changes in the significance of the word, several centuries old, requires time. We will consider it briefly. Read More

Has Each Key an Individual Character? By Percy Goetschius Mus. Doc. - September, 1904

If this could be proven; if, as many of the most sensitive and critical musical observers believe, each separate major key has its own peculiar mood or atmosphere, then we might point to still another, and probably the best and most convincing answer to the question: Why is music written in so many keys? Read More

Lessons in Musical History. - September, 1904

At the present day we are so accustomed to the idea of a person's studying singing that we may sometimes think that there was always a science of singing. Not so. The first songs were undoubtedly rude war-chants and religious songs, which were merely a sort of declamation, partaking in no sense of what we call melody. Read More

Theodor Leschetizky - Studies in Musical Biography. - September, 1904

Theodor Leschetizky was born in Poland, his father being a music-master to a noble Polish family. The father's marriage to a well-endowed young woman of good family after he had been in the nobleman's service some time made the relation between employer and employed a very pleasant one, and the boy's early years were happily spent in the home made for his parents in the castle. Read More

Harmonic Perception. - October, 1904

The more intricate chords--sevenths, diminished sevenths, or accidentals--are understood readily only by the few in all lands who are better trained or more musically gifted than their brethren. The most expert among us, the great composers themselves, become so advanced in understanding that they go beyond their time, and write harmonies that their hearers condemn, but future generations grow to appreciate. Thus it was with Beethoven and Wagner, and thus perhaps it will be with Strauss. Read More

The St. Petersburg Conservatory of Music - December, 1904

A. Lwoff, an amateur violinist and conductor of the Imperial Choir, also the author of the Russian national anthem, made some strenuous and praiseworthy efforts in this direction, but failed. He asked for financial support from the crown (which is distinct from the emperor), but he had to deal with ministers of state and other high officials, who ridiculed his "visionary" project out of existence. Read More

Schubert: The Education of the Masters - January, 1906

Like Mozart, Schubert is commonly supposed to have had a mind for music and nothing else. In The Etude for October, however, I presented documentary evidence indicating that Mozart might have made his mark in other branches of intellectual activity had not music absorbed every minute of his time till he succumbed to the struggle for existence. In the present number I wish to show that Schubert, also, was a man with a more varied mentality than he usually gets credit for. Read More

John Knowles Paine - The First Of The Great American Composers - March, 1906

By LOUIS C. ELSON At the present time we possess a numerous band of native composers of even more than national fame, for the works of Chadwick, MacDowell, Van der Stucken, Parker, and many others, have been performed in European... Read More

Comments on European Musical Topics. - March, 1906

Not all music is national. Bach's exquisite polyphony and Beethoven's classic tonal architecture belong not to Germany, but to the whole civilized world. The ideal sentiment of Schumann, the poetic fire of Chopin, the fairy-like grace of Mendelssohn, the brilliance of Liszt, the superbly colored scenes of Wagner, these are not essentially German, Polish or Hungarian, but belong to all the world. Read More

The Modern Virtuoso. - July, 1906

The virtuoso faces two conditions--the spirit of the times and the limitations or possibilities of the instrument. To deal primarily with the day, it is obvious that everywhere we find the tendency to restlessness, to emotional outbursts, to the ruggedness of the elements, and music perhaps more than any other art has received the outpouring of this intense condition. Read More

Schumann's Fantasy Pieces, Opus 12 - July, 1906

Schumann's grandest visions of beauty are apparently seen "as through a glass, darkly." His thoughts seem at times too big for his musical vocabulary. Or rather perhaps his ideas are poured forth from the volcanic depths of his genius, in a molten state, too rapidly to solidify into separate forms; but intermingle, overlapping and blurring each other. Read More

How an Opera was Written. - July, 1906

"Do not worry," the young wife pleaded; "in spite of our poverty we have so much for which to be thankful. We are both strong, have each other and our sweet child. Think how it would have been if death, so near a few months ago, had separated us and laid me in an early grave!" Read More

The Making of an Artist - The Views of Alfred Reisenauer. - July, 1906

When I had reached a certain grade of advancement it was my great fortune to become associated with the immortal Franz Liszt. I consider Liszt the greatest man I have ever met. By this I mean that I have never met, in any other walk of life, a man with the mental grasp, splendid disposition and glorious genius. Read More

The Great American Composer. The Where, the Why, and the When - July, 1906

What will be the distinguishing marks of the American composer, when he actually reaches us in a complete way? Will he speak a dialect peculiarly American? Will he stand out as a reformer? Will he confine himself to American subjects? Will he address himself to the popular taste or to those who really know music? Read More

A Hero of Music - August, 1907

The reader of books has choice of works bearing such titles as "Heroes of Discovery," "Heroes of Science," etc. The musician who has read widely in the story of music knows that it is possible to make quite a... Read More

The Development of the Pianoforte - August, 1907

The Origin of the Piano. From the earliest dawn of civilization musical instruments have been in use, and all our music-making machines to-day are descendants of those which were used in the remotest ages of antiquity. It is a far... Read More

Hans Sachs - August, 1907

When you were young did you not like to while away some idle moments watching men at work? The present writer spent many such moments in a cobbler's shop, watching the artisan at work, cheerily chatting about the affairs of... Read More

Nicolas Rimsky-Korsakoff - August, 1907

By Edward B. Hill   In spite of the many brilliant achievements of the younger school of Russian composers, the unquestioned recognition accorded to Rachmaninoff, Scriabine, (who has been for some months a resident of New York), Ippolitoff, Ivanoff and... Read More

The Remarkable Case of the Late "Blind Tom." - August, 1908

"What was he? Whence came he? Was he the Prince of the fairy tale held by the wicked Enchantress; nor any beauty--not even the Heaven-born Maid of Melody--to release him? Blind, deformed and black--as black even as Erebus--idiocy, the idiocy of mysterious, perpetual frenzy, the sole companion of his waking visions and his dreams--whence came he, what was he, and wherefore?" Read More

With Anton Rubinstein in the Classroom - December, 1908

All who saw Rubinstein playing at the piano had to admire his whole bearing, the complete repose of his body and head. He tried to train his pupils to bear themselves in the same reposeful way while playing. Here is an example of this quoted by Mrs. E. N. Vessel: "How are you sitting at the piano! Please get up!" said Rubinstein to a pupil; he himself took the chair and placed it exactly in front of the middle of the keyboard. "Always take care how you sit at the piano. You should keep your body still while playing, the fingers and hands only should move." Read More

The Story Of Musical Prodigies - April, 1909

Away back in the tenth century there existed, at the court of Charles the Bold, king of France, a pipe-organ. It was a very different instrument from the church organ of to-day. Its keyboard did not extend to two octaves, and each key was about five inches broad and six or seven inches long. Each key had to be pressed down about a dozen inches before the pipe would speak. The player pushed it down with his clenched fist. Yet this cumbrous organ was played with considerable effect by a youngster of nine years old, whose fingering, or rather "fisting," was the wonder of the court. This is the earliest "musical prodigy" of which there is any historical record. Read More

Garcia the Great - May, 1909

The Story of the Teacher of Jenny Lind   An Account of the Most Remarkable Career in the History of Musical Education—How One Man Lived to See a Century of Musical Advance in Which it Was His Privilege to Take... Read More

Carl Czerny - June, 1909

Czerny's compositions, some of which embrace fifty numbers, approach the formidable number of a thousand, not counting the piano arrangements of numerous symphonies, oratorios, operas, overtures, etc., nor a German translation of Reicha's voluminous work on harmony, nor his own grand method for the piano so well described in Adolph Kullak's (1823-1862) "Æsthetics of Piano Playing;" nor his own "Treatise on Composition;" nor, if I am not mistaken, twenty-four masses with orchestra, four requiems, three hundred graduales, motets, concertos, symphonies, quartets and quintets, songs with and without orchestra, all of which are still in manuscript. Read More

The American Woman Pianist of To-day and Yesterday - July, 1909

An Entertaining Account of the Remarkable Advance in Piano Playing Made by the Women of Our Country During the Last CenturyBy Lorna GillTHE ancient civilizations vested the supreme power of musical inspiration in their goddesses; the Christian Era saw Saint... Read More

The Influence of Women on the Great Composers - July, 1909

How Many Art-works Have Been Inspired by Women PROBABLY in no way has the influence of women been directed to better advantage than in its bearing on the works of great composers. The sublime utterances of the great tone-poets... Read More

Saint Cecilia, the Patron Saint of Music. - July, 1909

The tradition which associates St. Cecilia's name with music is that an angel heard her sing and was attracted to earth by the beauty of her song. In most of the paintings of St. Cecilia this tradition is represented. Grove says, however, that the early writers make no mention of her wonderful musical skill. Read More

The Influence Of The Amateur In Music - August, 1909

What the musical amateur Robert Browning knew of the art our readers may seek for themselves in his "Abt Vogler," his "Toccata of Martini Galuppi," and his "Master Hugues of Saxe-Gotha." He has made occasional errors in his musical allusions, as in his "Sixths, diminished sigh on sigh" (the "Toccata" above mentioned), which would be an ugly succession of consecutive fifths in disguise. But other poets have joined him in such mistakes, as when Coleridge, in his "Ancient Mariner," speaks of "the loud bassoon," meaning the trombone, or when Tennyson builds up a band--in "Come Into the Garden, Maud"--of violin, flute, bassoon," a score which we should not stay long to hear. Read More

Historical Review of Italian Musical Art from the Beginning to the Present Day - January, 1910

By FREDERIC S. LAW   I. GREEK MUSIC IN ITALY. For its earliest musical art Italy had to thank the Greeks, the artistic people par excellence of antiquity. Greece, indeed, occupied much the same position that Italy held fifteen... Read More

Italy's Musical Influence on Other Nations - January, 1910

By ARTHUR ELSON   It is undoubtedly true that Italy has been the most important nation in musical history. Other countries have usurped her place in the last century or so, but her supremacy was of long duration, and... Read More

Musical Genius in Youth - January, 1910

It was Vincenzo Bellini who once said, "Genius seems indeed to have smiled upon great musicians in their youth," and according to the biographers of the famous composers he was right. The great maestros, with rare exceptions, have shown their... Read More

Personal Recollections Of Verdi - January, 1910

It has been erroneously stated that Verdi was refused at the Conservatory of Milan because he did not give evidences of talent. This was not the case. As a boy he was wonderfully talented, but at the time he applied for admission to the Conservatory he had not had the technical training sufficient to enable him to pass the requisite entrance examinations. Milan's admiration for the famous composer is happily indicated by the fact that the Milan Conservatory has been renamed the Verdi Conservatory. Read More

The Paris Conservatory of Music - January, 1910

I have often wondered why it was that in Europe, as well as in America, so little is known of the musical life of Paris and why such erroneous ideas prevail of its character and artistic signification. Though it is no longer as it was in the time of Cherubini, Berlioz, Meyerbeer, Rossini, Auber, Chopin, Liszt, etc., the supreme center of all musical interest, of all the cities in the world it contains the greatest amount of musical talent. Read More

The Future of Italian Opera in America - January, 1910

It is very gratifying for me to realize that the operatic compositions of my countrymen must play a very important part in the operatic future of America. It has always seemed to me that there is far more variety in the works of the modern Italian composers than in those of other nations. Read More

Short Biographical Notes Upon Italian Musicians - January, 1910

Amati (Ah-mah'-tee). A celebrated family of violin makers of Cremona, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, of whom Nicoli Amati, 1596-1694, was most noted.   Ambrose, St., Bishop of Milan. He lived about 374- 397, and with Pope Gregory was one... Read More

Prodigies and the Gift of Music - February, 1910

By HENRY T. FINCK   [Editor's Note.—Over a year ago Mr. Louis C. Elson wrote an article for The Etude citing some of the dangers surrounding the musical prodigy who is carelessly exploited. In the present article Mr. H.... Read More

Methods and Customs of the Paris Conservatoire - February, 1910

The following is a continuation of M. Moszkowski's article in the January Etude but may be read with interest as a separate article. No living composer for the piano is more famous than Moszkowski. In honoring The Etude with the first article he has written in many years we feel that our readers should join with us in making our appreciation more practical by informing as many musical-lovers as possible of this excellent description of the usages at one of the oldest institutions of musical learning in the world. Read More

Lowell Mason, American Educator And Musical Pioneer - March, 1910

BY J. CUTHBERT HADDEN [Editor's Note.—The following excellent biographical article concerning Lowell Mason, father of William Mason, the famous American pianist, teacher and author of "Touch and Technic," appeared in a leading English publication called "Musical Opinion." Dr. Lowell Mason's... Read More

The Friends Of Beethoven - March, 1910

KATHARINE BEMIS WILSON The average student and lover of music, generally, receives from the start, an unfortunate impression of the character of Beethoven. He has been represented as an extremely rough, overbearing, uncultured man. Many stories are told of his... Read More

What Early England Gave to Music - April, 1910

By JAMES FRANCIS COOKE(From "The Young Folks' Standard History of Music") [A few chapters suitable for periodical publication selected from the above mentioned work have appeared in past issues of The Etude. These are part of a series of forty... Read More

The Passing of Carl Reinecke - May, 1910

Remarkable career of one of the most influential musicians of the past century   In the last issue of The Etude there appeared what was doubtless the last article of Prof. Dr. Carl Reinecke, the eminent pianist, composer and musical... Read More

Some Famous Conservatories - June, 1910

The name conservatory is derived from the Latin word,conservare, which means "to preserve," and was used to denote the idea of preserving music from corruption. The idea of a school of music for this purpose emanated from Italy, the... Read More

Chronological View of Schumann's Life. - June, 1910

1810. Born at Zwickau, Saxony, June 10th.1817. Wrote his first musical composition.1816. Studied piano with Kuntzsch, organist of the Marienkirche in Zwickau.1821. Wrote choral and orchestral works (in his eleventh year), although he had had no instruction in musical composition.1820-28.... Read More

Most Beautiful Romance in Musical History - June, 1910

By HENRY T. FINCK   [Editor's Note.—The remarkable love of Robert Schumann for his talented and faithful wife is one of the very brightest spots in the story of musical art. Mr. Finck is peculiarly adapted to write upon... Read More

Schumann's Fateful Accident - June, 1910

By FRANCIS LINCOLN   The accident which changed Schumann's career from that of the virtuoso pianist to that of the composer has been frequently related, but its real part in the career of one of the greatest of masters... Read More

Schumann the Romanticist - June, 1910

By EDWARD BAXTER PERRY   Together with the author's personal recollections of his lessons with Clara Schumann   In considering Schumann as the ablest and most fearless champion of the modern romantic school of composition we must take into account... Read More

The Influence of Heredity and Youthful Training Upon Schumann's Career - June, 1910

by CLARENCE G. HAMILTON   For the sources of a man's greatness we must look to his early surroundings. Parental tendencies and tradition, natural environments, youthful friendships, all have their influence upon budding genius, and tinge the full flower... Read More

A Short Sketch of Music in America - By JAMES FRANCIS COOKE - July, 1910

Musical History is really an extremely interesting subject when the matter is presented in a thoroughly understandable manner. The object of the work of which the following is one of forty story lessons is to make the subject of musical history accessible to the beginner and at the same time inviting and inspiring. The work is designed for adults as well as young people, the only distinction being its simplicity and popular style. Read More

The Measure of Musical Fame. - August, 1910

BY D. C. PARKER.   In a recent publication fame was defined as "not being published at sixpence during one's lifetime." The remark is not without its substratum of truth. It serves to remind one how fickle is the... Read More

Why Bach Wrote the "Well-Tempered Clavichord." - August, 1910

BY SARAH A. PALMER.   The scientists of to-day are able to tell us just how many vibrations per second produce a given tone, just what ratio this number of vibrations bears to that of every other tone, just... Read More

Have Women Had Just Opportunities in Music? - August, 1910

In a recent issue of the London Musical Times Mr. Ernest Newman, the eminent English critic, has been discussing the ever-interesting subject as to why there are no great women composers. He points out the fact that women have... Read More

Events in the Life of Robert Schumann. - August, 1910

HIS FIRST ORCHESTRAL CONCERT. Robert Schumann was the son of a man in whom the love of literature and the aesthetic side of life had finally triumphed after confronting many difficulties. It may therefore be imagined that the youthful... Read More

Peculiarities of the Genius of Famous Musicians. - August, 1910

BY CAROL SHERMAN.   That genius and insanity are allied has been a long-accepted fact among scientists. By insanity of the kind represented in the cases of famous musicians the reader should not paint a picture of the kinds... Read More

Analysis of Teaching Material (The Sonatine) - August, 1910

BY THOMAS TAPPER   In these days the quest for attractive teaching material for the young pianist not infrequently leads us to seek the element of novelty, irrespective of any higher consideration. It is true that this must be... Read More

A Poet's Influence Upon the Music of His Day - September, 1910

One of the most significant characters in the musical history of the eighteenth century and at the same time one of the least known at the present day was the Italian poet, P. A. D. B. Metastasio, whose dramas... Read More

The Forgotten Rivals of Great Composers - September, 1910

For a long time, people of real musical taste had deplored the increasing lack of sincerity in opera, but not until Gluck's advent had a man of the necessary ability and stamina appeared to effect the long-hoped for reforms. Read More

Franz Liszt and the Origin of the Symphonic Poem - September, 1910

Liszt understood that to introduce new forms, he must cause a necessity to be felt, in a word, produce a motive for them. He resolutely entered on the path which Beethoven, with the Pastoral and Choral Symphonies and Berlioz with the "Symphonie Fantastique" and "Harold in Italy" had suggested rather than opened, for they had enlarged the compass of the symphony, but had not transformed it, and it was Liszt who created the symphonic poem. Read More

Forgotten Rivals of Great Composers - October, 1910

When we come to the day of the tempestuous Beethoven, and those years of significant and colossal work in his art, we see him with no opportunity for even a hearing of his efforts, while the Viennese flocked to the operas of the versatile Italian, Rossini. In his indignation, Beethoven would send no more new compositions to the managers of Vienna. Read More

How Verdi Preserved His Originality - November, 1910

Verdi seldom wrote a letter. When he did write one he usually had something interesting to say. Seven of his letters to friends were recently printed in the Roman Marzocco. In one of these he touches on the question... Read More

Some Approximate Pronunciations of the Names of French Musicians. - November, 1910

By Fannie Edgar Thomas.   There is often some diffidence upon the part of Americans in pronouncing the names of French musicians. Even when an oral example is given it is sometimes impossible for some Americans to imitate closely... Read More

The Completion of a Great Musical Work - November, 1910

The appearance of the fifth volume of the revision of the Grove Dictionary is an event of much importance in the musical world. The combined labors of many of the most distinguished musicians of our time have contributed to... Read More

Wagner on Mendelssohn and Schumann. - November, 1910

No musician was ever more severely criticised than Richard Wagner, and it is equally certain that Wagner spared no opportunity to express his contempt for those who believed in views contrary to his own. Nevertheless, he was not by... Read More

The Influence of the Folk-Song on German Musical Art - May, 1911

From an Interview with the Eminent Composer and Director GUSTAV MAHLER Secured expressly for THE ETUDE Mr. Mahler gave his opinions to our interviewer partly in German and partly in English. Consequently it has been impossible to employ his... Read More

From Beethoven to Wagner - May, 1912

Third and Last Article in the Extremely Interesting Series upon The Ten Most Important Epochs in Musical History   By PROF. HERMANN RITTER Of the Royal Conservatory at Wurzburg   THE PERSONIFICATION OF THE BEST IN MUSIC.   And now... Read More

Johannes Brahms - The Etude Master Study Page - January, 1913

Brahms' family name appears in some forms as Brahmst. At least it may be so found upon the program of a concert given in 1849. The master's father was an able but little known musician, Johann Brahms. He played the viola, violin, 'cello, flute, horn and contra-bass. Here and there he managed to pick up an odd job in addition to his regular work as a performer on the double bass at the theatre and in the Philharmonic concerts, and as a member of the town military band. Despite his versatility and ability, Brahms' father was so poor that he was not above "passing the hat" when he played in summer gardens. Read More

Pianoforte Music by Some of the Modern Russian Composers - March, 1913

"Prince! let the mad world loud praises shout,Every day as the bright down comes round,I with my toast can your proudest state flout;Here's a health to the Kings of Sound." W. E. STEBBING. For the last twenty-five years a strong... Read More

A Biographical List of Russian Composers. - March, 1913

Many names are included which are not to be found in Grove, or indeed in any one musical dictionary, as a variety of sources of information have been drawn upon. Read More

The Music of the People in Russian Masterpieces -- Modest Altschuler - March, 1913

In thinking of Russian music as a national music we must realize at once that the music which developed in the Russian Imperial Court, while of immense value to the progress of the country, was of a totally different nature from that of the people. Read More

The Romance of the Chopin Preludes - By Mrs. Burton Chance - August, 1913

The Romance of the Chopin Preludes By MRS. BURTON CHANCE With Fanciful Illustrations by the Noted German Impressionist, Robert Spies Read More

The Real Haydn - The Etude Master Study Page - October, 1913

HADYN'S (sic) EPOCH. Change comes slowly to the pleasant little country villages of Europe. Many, indeed, stand to-day very much as they stood nearly two hundred years ago. As we observe their rustic simplicity we can imagine how much more... Read More

Memories of Franz Liszt - November, 1913

"With the passing of the time, the image of Liszt grows continually greater. While he was with us upon earth, we were constantly called upon to wonder at his achievements, but now that he is gone, we stand astounded at his accomplishments. Moreover, we are amazed at compositions, which very few people know intimately, and which very few can play, and which very few people will ever play." Read More

Berlioz - The Etude Master Study Page - November, 1913

Berlioz came into the world just as the French democracy, that allowed Robespierre to barter his insatiable ambition for his life, was merging into the Empire which was to offer Napoleon a similar tragic opportunity. In 1804 "the little corporal" importunately snatched the crown from the hands of Pope Pius VII and placing it upon his own head with his own hands declared himself Emperor of France. During the childhood and youth of Berlioz he saw upon all sides the significant "N" of Bonaparte. France was ascending to new power and new glory. Berlioz was all patriot. He loved his France and particularly his Paris. Mercurial at all times, his disposition and life experiences were not unlike the fortunes of his native land. During his entire life the French people seemed to be struggling for republican freedom --a freedom, which did not arrive in anything like a permanent form until the year after the death of Berlioz. Read More

Impressionism in Music - January, 1914

MUSICAL THOUGHT AND ACTION ABROAD. BY ARTHUR ELSON   IMPRESSIONISM IN MUSIC.   IN Die Musik Walter Niemann has written on the impressionism of Debussy and his contemporaries, while in the same number Hans Pfeilschmidt treated the subject of... Read More

An Odd Musical Custom In Remotest Russia - January, 1914

BY EUGENIE LINEFF. [EDITOR's NOTE.—Some years ago Mme. Eugenie Lineff toured America with a company of Russian peasant singers, affording American music lovers one of the most unique experiences we have ever had. In the following, which is a... Read More

An Appreciation of Contemporary Music: Claude Debussy - June, 1914

"Interviewers have often ascribed to me surprising things which I greatly marveled to read. It is often difficult to say much upon the subject of contemporary music. Events are accumulating with incredible speed, and to try to focus them is often to strive after impossibilities. At the point actually reached by musical art, who could make a choice between the many diverging roads that composers follow? The task is distressingly puzzling." Read More

A Concise Biographical Dictionary of Noted Composers Who Have Written Music in Lighter Vein. The Salon, The Dance, The Operetta. - September, 1914

The composer who has not written music in lighter vein is to be pitied. Greatness does not mean sombreness. Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Wagner and even Brahms have been responsible for some of the merriest music ever written. Whether it be... Read More

Sigismund Thalberg - Prince of the Salon - September, 1914

By AUBERTINE WOODWARD MOOREIncluding the Author's Personal Recollections of Thalberg's American Tours. Nothing could better illustrate the transitoriness of a virtuoso's fame than the neglected centenary, January, 1912, of the once popular Thalberg. Although by no means the most eminent... Read More

The Salon and Its Music in France - September, 1914

The salon has played a leading part in our country, particularly in the eighteenth century. It was at that period the meeting place of good company--not infrequently of bad--great nobles, famous financiers, illustrious gentlemen of the robe and of the sword, of the pen and of language well or ill put together, frequented the salon to talk about everybody and everything. New social orders, policies, scandals and slanders were formulated in the salon. Academicians were made, ministries unmade--such was the bill of fare, sugar and salt, at this charming resort. A little of everything was made there, but not much music. I cannot say a great deal about this period except from hearsay as I was not admitted into these select centres, for two reasons. First because I had not yet been born, ... and that relieves me of the need of giving you the second. Read More

A Concise Biographical Dictionary of Noted Composers Who Have Written Music in Lighter Vein. The Salon, The Dance, The Operetta. - October, 1914

Lysberg, Charles Samuel (real name, Bovy). Born Lysberg, Switzerland, 1821; died Geneva, 1873. Pupil of Chopin, an excellent teacher and the composer of many excellent piano pieces, including Baladine-Fountain, Awakening of the Birds. Read More

Some Interesting Facts About Frederick Kuhlau. - October, 1914

In the autumn of 1825, Kuhlau visited Vienna and spent a lively day with Beethoven, who then lived at Baden, close by. The two friends and some other congenial spirits had a picnic in the open, at which, inspired by good cheer, Kuhlau and Beethoven vied with each other in improvizing canons. Read More

Save Beethoven from His "Friends!" - October, 1914

One author, Wasielewski, has had the courage, in his remarkable "Life of Beethoven," to tell the plain truth about these sonatas. They were written, as he points out, at the time when Beethoven was completely absorbed by his Missa Solemnis, which left him little time to bestow on these piano pieces. Moreover, in these last years of his life, he had lost his interest in the piano, which he referred to contemptuously as a "clavicembalo miserabile;" while on another occasion he remarked that the piano "is and remains an insufficient instrument." Read More

Johannes Brahms and Johann Strauss, Jr. - October, 1914

Brahms was much more of a human being than are many of his admirers. His love for children is well known, and one can well believe the story told by a young American lady, traveling in Europe in 1895, that "We saw Johannes Brahms on the hotel verandah at Domodossola, and what do you think! He was down on all fours, with three children on his back, riding him for a horse." Read More

"Zal" the word that expresses the soul of Poland. - February, 1915

Every language contains untranslatable words—more than that, every nationality has them. An Englishman cannot possibly make clear to Americans that peculiar product of his own peculiar civilization to which he refers when he speaks of a "bounder." Neither can... Read More

Concise Biographical Dictionary of Noted Musicians Born in Poland - February, 1915

While this List Does Not Pretend to be Complete it is Certainly the Most Comprehensive in the English Language.   Henry and Joseph Wieniawski.   Adamowska, see Szumowska-Adamowska. Adamowski, Joseph. Born Warsaw, Poland, 1862. Noted 'cellist. Pupil of Slavenhagen and... Read More

Egotism, Eccentricities and Mannerisms Among Famous Musicians - April, 1915

By LORNA GILL   The vanity of the musician is a theme upon which few disagree. The "big head" is the plague that counts its most numerous victims upon the concert and operatic stage, where it assumes so many... Read More

A History of the Pianoforte in a Nutshell - November, 1915

The pianoforte is the result of an evolution having its beginning many centuries back. The very first stringed instrument was possibly some form of the ancient lyre, associated with poetry and Greek history, although the instrument originated in Asia,... Read More

MacDowell's Period - The Etude Master Study Page - November, 1915

With MacDowell we have a new and distinctively different type. Mason and Gottschalk were both born in the year 1829. MacDowell was born thirty years later, and those three intervening decades were of the greatest significance to the music of the new world. Much of this was due to the splendid initiative of Theodore Thomas as well as to the activity of Dr. Mason. When MacDowell was a boy in New York, Thomas was organizing his Symphony Orchestra that was to do such magnificent pioneer work. Read More

The Physiology of the Piano Tone - November, 1915

By Hans Schneider   When we consider the popularity of the piano and the fact that it has been in use for several centuries, one would think that a great many vital improvements would have been made, and yet... Read More

The Artistic Musical Temperament - November, 1915

And What a Few Kings Did in the Tonal Art   By Louis C. Elson   Etude Readers will find the noted Boston critic in his happiest mood in this very readable and instructive article   Some years ago... Read More

MacDowell's Distinguished Career - November, 1915

Several of the following excerpts appeared in past issues of The Etude. When coming from outside sources full credit has been given. They are assembled here for the convenience of many Etude readers desiring a fuller knowledge of MacDowell's accomplishments. Read More

Beginnings of Modern Instrumentation - November, 1915

By Arthur Bird   It takes much time to discover the waters of the musical seas, but still more to learn to sail on them.—Berlioz.   The dream, of almost every student of music is, or most certainly should... Read More

A Beethoven Piano in America - November, 1915

By James Frederick Rogers   Though most of the instruments of the large Steinert   collection, now to be seen in the Memorial Hall of Yale University, are older and quainter, without and within, the lover of music lingers longest... Read More

A Classified List of Some "Futurist" and "Modernist" Composers - May, 1916

The following list of composers who by their music have earned a place among the advanced musical thinkers of today—even though some of them are dead—does not pretend to be complete. It simply serves as an abbreviated "Who's Who"... Read More

Will the Music of Ultra-Modernists Survive? - May, 1916

A Symposium By Eminent Musicians    Arthur Foote The eminent American composer makes an interesting discrimination which will interest Etude readers. The progress of music has so far been through evolution, not by means that negative all that has... Read More

Sanity and Insanity in Modern Musical Composition - May, 1916

Written Expressly for The Etude by the Eminent British Composer SIR CHARLES VILLIERS STANFORD   "Man is all symmetric, Full of proportions, one limb to another." —George Herbert.   It has been said that the dividing line between genius... Read More

Was Liszt the Paganini of the Piano? - August, 1916

What Liszt did for the piano was infinitely more than what Paganini had done for the violin. The greatest pianists--such men as Paderewski, Joseffy, Hofmann, D'Albert, Gabrilowitsch, Busoni, Pachmann, Friedheim, Schelling--are the most ardent admirers of his achievements for the piano Read More

The Two-Fold Vitality of Anglo-Saxon Music - February, 1918

Americans and British are to my mind intensely musical races, especially from a creative (compositional) standpoint, but we are musically primitive races when viewed in the aggregate; at bottom closer allied to the musical instincts of South Sea Island Polynesians and African Negroes than to those of Hollanders, Frenchmen and Germans, for instance. Read More

Famous Musical Women of the Past. - November, 1918

The casual reader imagines that women in ancient times were wholly wrapped up in household affairs-- the "Kinder, Küche, und Kirche" that some unprogressive Germans have prescribed for the fair sex in mod­ern days. It is true, that the average wife of the Greek or Roman epoch was kept at home pretty regu­larly, but even in that early period there were some who stood for women's rights and an emancipated feminism. The profession of music offered them pub­licity, even then. Read More

An Authentic Biography of Rachmaninoff - October, 1919

Especially Translated from the Russian of I. Korzuchin By KURT SCHINDLER   This Biography Has Been Read by the Great Composer In Person, and Is, Therefore, Accurate   Rachmaninoff is now 45 years of age. He was born on... Read More

Beethoven--Iconoclast, Democrat, Genius - October, 1919

By the Noted Critic and Author HENRY T. FINCK   [Editor's Note:—Just when the spark of Democracy commenced to flicker in Germany no one knows. Our own republic was well established when Beethoven reached his prime, and it is... Read More

How Music Saved a King - October, 1919

One of the fascinating little bits of mediaeval romance is the tale of Blondel, the minstrel to Richard I. After the King was captured by his enemies, he apparently dropped out of existence. Blondel then set out upon a... Read More

Johann Sebastian Bach - Secrets of the Success of Great Musicians - July, 1920

The advent of a man of genius is not always an erratic phenomenon, but the combined result of his antecedents and of the character of his age and outward circumstances in which he developed. J. S. Bach was the child of a family who had for four generations cultivated music, not as a mere profession, but as an art, as the object of their lives, and his hereditary talent was fostered and turned into its peculiar channel by the spirit of the age in which he lived. Read More

Ultra-Modern Music Explained - September, 1920

In what does this evolution--almost a revolution--consist? What is C. Debussy's contribution to modern music? These are the points we shall endeavor to explain, by analyzing the principles of contemporary music. We shall try to set forth the genesis of this art, its texture, the causes leading to its formation, at the same time showing very impartially the advantages and disadvantages of this evolution. Read More

Thurlow Lieurance - The Musical Soul of the American Indian - October, 1920

To know the heart and soul of the American Red Man has been the dream of my life. This wonderful race which, in its branches, had manifested a remarkable phase of civilization long before Columbus ever dreamed of coming to America, has a fascination for the intelligent white man who realizes that in all civilization there is a scale of character from the lowest to the highest. Read More

The Soul of Poland in Music - March, 1921

ZAL, then, was the principal motif of Chopin's charming music. And, it has been the principal motif of all Polish music from its very birth, especially from Nicholas Gomolka (1539) down to the last echo of Ignace Jan Paderewski. Read More

What Was Liszt's Technic Like? - April, 1921

It has been said that Liszt learned certain things from Thalberg. Even Duncan Hume, Thalberg's biographer in Grove's dictionary, inclines to believe it. But the admirers of Thalberg, who have set this tale afloat, overlooked two significant matters: Thalberg's mission (if it deserves to be called a mission) consisted solely and exclusively of the display and exploitation of his beautiful touch, an important but none the less auxiliary matter. Liszt used his playing in the most unselfish manner, as a propagandist for Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, and for championing (also in composition) the Neo-German movement in music, a movement of which he was the head and in which Schumann, Wagner and Peter Cornelius were congenial followers. Read More

Some New Facts About the Creator of The Nocturne - JOHN FIELD of Dublin - April, 1922

Secured for The Etude by the Eminent MusicologistW. H. GRATTAN FLOOD, Mus. Doc. K. S. G. Together with unique portraits of the composer and a newly discovered youthful composition. [Editor's Note: William Henry Grattan Flood was born at Lismore, Ireland,... Read More

Symphonies in Color -- Silent Music - June, 1922

The Clavilux was exhibited privately and then publicly in New York, once at an auditorium patronized by esoteric groups always glad to revel in anything unusual from pink cats and opaque verse to cubist nightmares and musical epilepsy. Read More

The Humor of Richard Wagner - Written Expressly for The Etude by the Son of the Great Master - SIEGFRIED WAGNER - January, 1924

The underlying trait of my father's character was a lofty artistic earnestness. Along with this, however, there poured forth an illuminating humor and a sunny happiness which, notwithstanding the difficult life situations and the disappointments, rarely resolved into satire or irony. Read More

Virtuosity Versus Musicianship - Cyril Scott - August, 1925

And what is Zopf? For all music students should learn the meaning of that word, seeing that Zopf caused the downfall of Grecian music, was carried over into Roman music, and has reappeared from time to time throughout the whole of musical history. Read More

Amateur Composers - November, 1925

In sketching an account of amateur composition it is not altogether easy to decide where to make a chronological beginning, or even to decide definitely what an amateur really is. It would be possible to start the list of upper-class composers with Nero, who certainly made music and who is said to have been inspired to a great burst of inspiration by the burning of Rome in A. D. 64 --a calamity he not only was believed to have originated, but which--if Suetonius and other historians are to be believed--he accompanied on the cithara. But it would scarcely be profitable to drag the ancients into this discussion. Read More

The First American Treatise on Harmony - December, 1929

PROBABLY few people outside of Pennsylvania have heard of Conrad Beissel, the founder of the Ephrata Kloster, or cloister. He was a member of a sect of German-American Baptists existing in America in the early eighteenth century. The members of... Read More

The Music of War Torn China - January, 1938

The Music of War Torn China By VANYA OAKES   Shortly before the roar and the horrors of war broke loose from the clouds over Shanghai, the following peaceful and interesting article came to THE ETUDE. It describes the age... Read More

The Renaissance of the Band - April, 1939

The band itself was largely to blame for its own downfall. The musicians felt that they were secure in their positions; and their chief interest, and in many cases also their only interest, was in the pay envelope. The result was that many of the bands were terrible. Read More

"Sound the Trumpet, Beat the Drums!" (From Handel's "Judas Maccabeus") - April, 1939

EDWARD VII and his son the Prince of Wales (later George V) were, according to the Court Calendar, to appear in a military ceremony to take place before St. James" Palace in the heart of London. As an American youth... Read More