38 TH E ETUD E GRIEG'S music is very popular in London. BERLIN is said to have 118 musical schools, each of them well attended. A BIOGRAPHY of Joachim, the great violinist, has re-cently been published. PADEREWSKI is announced to give twenty concerts in Russia as well as a series in England. ACCORDING to the Paris "Figaro," Saint-Saens has become an enthusiast on the subject of astronomy. IT is reported that Sousa's income from his operas, his band, and his compositions aggregates $75,000 a year. DEKOVEN'S new opera, " The Three Dragoons," was announced for the first performance in New York city, January 30th. MME. TERESA CARRE$O has returned to the United States, and has started on a concert tour that will extend to San Francisco. THE Abb6 Persi says of his so called oratorios : " It is not sacred music that I compose, but operatic music such as a priest may write." A PIANO has been designed by Jan van Beers, a Bel-gian artist, to cost $20,000. It is to be exhibited at the Paris Exposition in 1900. A NUMBER of prominent French musicians have con-tributed to the fund for the Brahms monument to be erected at Vienna, which now amounts to over $10,000. A PIANO trade journal says that there are indications that the pooling custom is likely to be tried, and that a piano trust or some other form of large syndicate is likely to be formed. A NEW YORK reporter claims that fully 3000 singers have arrived in that city since the beginning of the musical season. And yet foreigners say that the Amer-icans are not musical ! THE latest report is that the famous Chickering piano house has made arrangements by which their instru-ments are to be placed on sale at Wanamaker's big de-partment store in Philadelphia. THE Filipinos, according to a traveler, are the most musical of all nations. Yery few are unable to play some instrument. Like the Gipsies in Europe, the Filipinos supply the Asiatic demand for bands. A CHICAGO piano-tuner says that he was requested by a patron to tie the loud pedal down to save her the trouble of keeping it down. This young lady has numerous relatives over the land. Her name is legion. EMIL SAUER, who ILL meeting with such marked suc-cess in his concerts in this country, received his early training as a player from his mother. Later he became a pupil of Nicholas Rubinstein, and after that was with Liszt at Weimar. MME. PATTI recently said in an interview that she intended to write her memoirs when she had definitely retired from the stage and concert-singing. Does this mean another farewell trip ? Perhaps the new husband wants to see the world. VICTOR MAUREL, the French baritone, who will give a series of song recitals in the various cities of the United States, has recently published a work under the title of " Ten Years of My Career." It contains several essays on American musical conditions. A NUMBER of public-spirited women of Philadelphia are raising funds to establish a symphony orchestra in that city, and $100,000 has already been secured. A num-ber of the largest contributors are understood to favor Walter Damrosch for conductor. THE music-box industry has become well established in the United States. The late inventions, which use the revolving disc, have made great'inroads on the old-style music-box, and to-day, according to a trade paper, American music-boxes are being sold in Switzerland. THE Broadwoods, a prominent firm of piano manu-facturers of London, have placed on the market an ingen-ious arrangement whereby a singer can accompany him-self on the piano without sitting down, the invention of the well-known singer, Mr. George Henschel. MANY of the large hotels and restaurants of the prin-cipal cities have permanent orchestras for the entertain-ment of their guests during certain hours of the day and evening. Another example of "the utility of music." It promotes digestion and crowded dining-rooms. ONE of those persons who is always collecting statis-tics says that fifty per cent, of the Germans understand music, sixteen per cent, of the French, and two per cent, of the English. Where do Americans stand in such a list ? Was it a German who prepared the statis-tics? WAGNER'S operas, or some of them, are to be given in English in New York city. We predict that the measure of success will not be small. The American public is much more likely to learn to like the Bayreuth master's works under such conditions than when given in a foreign tongue. THE value of American musical instruments exported during 1898 was $1,383,867; in 1888, $680,540. In other words, in ten years the value had increased two-fold. American manufacturers say that the American-made piano is going to every part of the world and win-ning its way rapidly. GEORGE GEMUNDER, known the world over as a maker of fine violins, died in January, in New York city, aged eighty-three years. He made instruments for Ole Ball, Wilhelmj, and Remenyi, as well as for many teachers and orchestral players of note. He was a native of Germany. MR. GERICKE, conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, has recovered from his recent severe illness, and is able to take charge of his orchestra again. The management of the Philadelphia series of concerts by this orchestra sold every reserved seat in the large Academy of Music at the beginning of the season. ANNOUNCEMENT is made that Jean de Reszke is in-terested in a project to build a new opera house in Paris. A number of people high in the world of finance and fashion are also associated with the matter. A school of acting and singing is to be attached. It is hoped to make the new house a feature of Paris during the coming exposition. EDOUARD HOLST, a well-known composer, died in New York city in January. He was forty-five years of age, and is said to have published 2500 pieces. According to " Grove's Dictionary," the number of Beethoven's com-positions, excluding his arrangements of national airs, is less than 400. Is genius in inverse ratio to the num-ber of published works ? WHY is it so difficult to keep together a body of musi-cal people for real earnest work ? In several cities the effort has been made to get well-equipped professionals to form organizations to promote the interests of the best music, but all, or nearly all, broke on the rock of attend-ing rehearsals. How many of these unwilling members have, at some time or other, prated about their devotion to art? NEW YORK is to have a concert-hall especially designed for the rendering of choral works, with the assistance of an organ. The intention is to have as perfect a hall, from the acoustic viewpoint, as possible. The organ is to have three manuals, with a 32-foot pedal stop. This project, if carried out successfully, should make it possible to give oratorio under the very best possi-ble conditions. NEWSPAPER criticism is frequently so severe and un-founded that it is but natural that one should wonder if the great artists read what the papers say of them. It is reported that the de Reszkes, Nordica, and Sem-brich read press notices very carefully, that Melba is in-different to newspaper comments, and that Mme. Eames-Story's husband edits all clippings very carefully before he allows his wife to read them. THE series of concerts given in Boston on Sunday evenings under municipal patronage for the nominal admission fees of ten, fifteen, and twenty-five cents has been well attended. A Boston paper announces that after the close of the present series another course will be arranged, to be given in different parts of the city, without charge to the public for admission. There is also some talk of occasional free opera. ACCORDING to the annual report of the Librarian of Congress, the Music Department had on hand, November 1, 1898, 198,894 pieces. The report says : " It has been our effort to strengthen the Music Department, obtain-ing, through purchase or exchange, books of reference, the scores of the classical masters, together with whatr may illustrate the music of all nations, ancient and modern, savage as well as enlightened." THE London School Board has advertised for a lecturer on voice production, the addresses to be delivered to the school-teachers, and to treat of voice production as in-volved in the teaching of singing to the children. What a lively time there will be when choice is made ! One maybe chosen, but a hundred others will denounce him as a charlatan, and as one who will ruin all the voices under his charge. The vocal 11 expert'' knows no good out-side his own " method." COLONEL HIGGINSON, the backer of the Boston Sym-phony Orchestra, says that orchestral music suffers in effect when given in a hall in which the audience is largely composed of women, because the latter will persist in wearing furs and hats full of feathers and ribbon. He may be right, but an audience of men only is as impossible at a concert given by a symphony or-chestra as in a church. Were it vaudeville, perhaps— but "that's another story." THERE is on exhibition at the warerooms of the Estey Piano Company, in Philadelphia, a large collection of tuning-forks, gathered by the late Governor Fuller, of Vermont. Among the many forks is that made in 1714 by John Shore, who is considered the inventor of the tuning-fork. A tuning-fork which belonged to Handel is included in the collection. There is a great varia-tion of pitch in these various forks from the present standard of 435 vibrations to A, second space, treble clef. A NOTICEABLE thing in regard to concerts this season is that u analytic programs" are quite the rage; this in spite of the fact that many critics have indulged in caustic space-writing at the expense of such programs. Perhaps these explanations have not all the merits claimed for them, yet they do give the people something to think about, and when the historic 4'pendulum" swings the other way, it will be because people have acquired sufficient musical knowledge and culture to do without them. A PERFORMANCE of Handel's " Messiah" was re-cently given in London, the orchestration used being that of the original form. A London contemporary calls attention to the manner in which the proportion between chorus and orchestra has changed since Handel's day. Then a favorite chorus numbered about twenty-three voices ; the orchestra, thirty-five players. In 1784 the chorus of the Handel Festival numbered 526 ; in 1791, 1068 ; in 1834, 1635 ; in 1857, 2500 ; and at the last one 3000 voices, with an orchestra of 500. THE censor of Vienna has fallen foul of music, and his iron hand has been felt in the prohibition of certain pieces. He says : "Melodies, in themselves, are in no way illegal. It is, however, otherwise with the time or rhythm. It is possible to excite a body of people by joining in or even merely hearing a song having a rhythm corresponding to the prevailing feeling. When thousands sing a popular air, the effect is quite other-wise than when sung by a single person. Music is further calculated to excite the passions, aid thereiore is capable of taking on an immoral character."
< Page 6 | Page 8 >