The World of Music News

At Home August 1910

THERE has been a successful convention of the music teachers of Ohio at Columbus.

A CONCERT was given recently by the Young Peoples String Orchestra, of St. Louis, with great success.

MR. SOL Marcosson, assisted by Mrs. Marcosson, recently gave an interesting concert at the Fortnightly Club, of Cleveland, Ohio.

A PERFORMANCE of "Bethany" has been successfully given by the Prospect Hill Baptist Church, Prospect Part, Pa., under the direction of C. W. Conklin.

AN interesting series of concerts was given at the Northwest Music Teachers Association, at Tacoma, Wash., in connection with the convention.

WE have received an interesting list of programs of recital and commencement programs from the Norfolk branch of the Western Conservatory of Music.

THE first to received the degree of "Mus. Bac." at McGill University, Montreal, is a member of the fair sex. The degree has only recently been instituted.

A CONCERT was given recently under the auspices of the Women's Auxillary of the Y.M.C.A. at the Madison Club, New York, of which Mr. Henry Weston Smith is the conductor.

AN account of a very fine musical festival at Grand Forks has reached us. We desire to congratulate both those who took part in and those who supported the movement with such enthusiasm.

"THE MIKADO" has been revived in New York with an "all star" cast. It has apparently lost none of its old attractive force, even though the "all star" cast is not altogether happily selected.

A VERY successful performance of excerpts from various operas, sung in English, has been given by the pupils of Mrs. N.J. Corey, at Detroit, from whom were selected both chorus and soloists.

Mr. Francis L York has been kind enough to send us a copy of the program given at the graduating class of the Detroit Conservatory of Music. Very excellent work has evidently been done at this institution.

THE State of Missouri has offered a prize of $1,000 for a Missouri State song, particulars of which may be obtained from Professor W. H. Pommer, University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo.

THE program of the thirteenth annual concert and commencement of the Sherwood Music School shows that there has been no falling off from the high standard maintained by this institution in the past. We congratulate the graduates on having secured a very excellent training.

WE have received an account of the doings of the American Organ Players Club, of Philadelphia. Thirteen recitals have been given during the past season, and, while attention has been given to the organ music of all nationalities, special efforts have been made on behalf of American composers.

A NEW musical society has been formed in New York to serve as an auxillary of the New York City Association of Musicians. The officers elected include W. L. Bogart (president), Miss Amy Fay, Miss Kate Chittenden, Miss Fannie Hirsch, Mrs. Charles Wood, Mssrs. Gustav L. Becker, L.A. Russell and Carl G. Schmidt. Many prominent teachers of New York have become members.

THE Trinity University School of Music, of Texas, which is under the direction of Paul r. Utt, and which has been doing a notable work in the Southwest, has a plan of offering subscriptions to The Etude as inducements for particularly good work, and for the purpose of inducing graduates to continue their interest in music. The idea seems to be much appreciated by the students.

NORFOLK has been the scene of a picturesque and wholly successful music festival. Among the visiting artists were Fritz Kreisler, Maud Powell and Colerdige-Taylor - who came over from England on purpose to conduct his "Hiawatha" and an orchestral work composed expressly for the occasion. The Litchfield County Choral Union, which was founded in 1899, was in excellent form, and the festival was a tremendous success.

AT the Ohio Valley Exposition an American opera (both libretto and music) entitled "Paoletta" will be given, sung entirely by American singers, both soloists and chorus. Pietro Floridia is the American composer, and Paul Jones the author. We also note that the cast includes an American born dove! We trust this bird will prove an adequate substitute for the eagle as a national emblem on this auspicious occasion.

IT is said that Mme. Schumann-Heink's receipts for the last year amounted to $133,000, and it is estimated that her engagements for next season will even exceed those of the past. If this is the case it would seem that there is "money in music", after all, and good music at that. No one could possibly accuse Mme. Schumann-Heink of "pandering to the popular taste". She has a voice and she knows what to do with it, and gives the public the best she has got. Other singers please copy.

THE newspapers have been having a good deal of fun out of the fact that the Russian Government has refused to admit Oscar Hammerstein into the land of the Czar on the score that he is a Jew. As a matter of fact, there is nothing funny in it at all. Everybody knows that Oscar is a very dangerous person. His plan, at the very least, must have been to throw a bomb at the St. Petersburg Opera House and knock the roof off, then to descend in an aeroplane and capture all the singers and to fly off with them to America, where he would alight gracefully, having secured all the Russian songbirds and evaded the American and Russian custom houses at one fell swoop!

THE City of New York has at last definitely decided to give free concerts for the people all the year round. It is not yet decided how or where it shall be done, but it is comforting to know that something is going to be done. Various departments are interested - the Park Commissioner, the Comptroller, various educational authorities - they all feel that the matter concerns them; but no doubt the affair will be adjusted, and then one more step will be taken in helping forward the cause of music. There can be little doubt that the more people are given an opportunity to hear music the more they like it, and the greater the opportunity for the music teacher. Now the big cities are doing so much municipally to foster a taste for music, some of the smaller cities will also come forward with similar plans.

LOUDON Charlton, the concert manager and Canon William Sheefe Chase, of Brooklyn, have been having an elaborate discussion as to the desirability of having Sunday concerts in Brooklyn. Naturally the dignitary of the church resents the encroachment of the business element into the matter. He is willing that the public is not expected to pay for admission. Loudon Charlton not unnaturally answers that what is given to the public for nothing is usually valued at the same amount. There can be no doubt as to the genuine desire of the Philharmonic organization of Brooklyn to give the people what it believes they really need, for they have been systematically working at a loss, which has been borne by guarantors. The question is: Granted the undesirability of breaking the Sabbath, and granting the necessity for giving the public good music, are Sunday concerts permissible? Without entering into the discussion ourselves, it seems to us that, provided the concerts do not interfere with church services, many of those who loaf about the streets on Sundays because there is no opportunity for them to find any other amusement would be better employed listening to first class music, even though a certain amount of "business" was entailed thereby.

MUSICAL conventions given by the different organizations of the music teachers in various States have become more and more successful each year. The musical convention movement was founded in a large measure by the efforts of the publisher of this paper, who organized the Music Teachers Association many years ago. Few of the State conventions which have sprung from this national work are more enthusiastically attended than the New York Convention, the latest of which were given June 28, 29, and 30 at Syracuse. A large number of enthusiastic teachers were present, and many celebrated artists, among them Mr. David Bispham, took an active part. The surroundings were ideal, and the convention hall was a part of the extremely well equipped Syracuse University. The best families of the city competed for the privilege of entertaining the teachers, and the whole event was most complimentary to the profession of music teaching.

THE Metropolitan Opera Company has been having brilliant success in Paris - that most conservative of cities musical. It is curious to note that while the republic on this side of the Atlantic is willing to extend open arms to all and sundry whom Europe has to offer, frequently to the neglect of the domestic product, the republic to the south of Germany is very hard to convince that there is anything good in the world outside of Paris. In the meantime, affairs at home promise to be interesting so far as opera is concerned in the coming season. It seems possible that the Metropolitan is not going to have it all their own way, after all! That stormy petrel of the operatic world, Oscar Hammerstein, having sold his right to produce "grand" opera, is apparently setting to work to produce "opera comique", which is very like the same thing under another name. "Opera comique" can in no wise be translated as "comic opera", for it bears no relation to comic opera as we have come to understand it. The difference between "grand opera" and "opera comique" lies apparently in the interpolation of a little spoken dialogue. "Carmen" is classed as "opera comique" despite its tragic ending and atmosphere of passion. There are many works similar to this which are also classed as "opera comique". But Oscar Hammerstein is not the only Philistine who is going to trouble the Metropolitan elect. There is going to be a British invasion! Thomas Beecham is coming over to give a season of opera in English, much encouraged by the success of his efforts in this direction in London. He is backed also by a well filled pocket book and boundless energy. Anything which will encourage opera in English is to be welcomed. Mr. Beecham avows, however, the he "intends to give opera at moderate prices, not necessarily in English", so perhaps our raptures are a little previous. The interesting point for Etude readers, however, is that the more opportunity there is for the public to hear the best in music the more will they want to know something about music, and here is the music teachers opportunity.

The Etude Magazine August 1910