STUDENTS'CHRISTIAN FEDERATION

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 206, 25 May 1908, Page 4

STUDENTS'CHRISTIAN FEDERATION

.On Saturdsy'-cvdningj'-'at Victoria College, Miss -Rotiso' addressod .a' meeting of. members' of* ; both-branches oFtHe Students' Christian - Uftitftf,''oh-- Siiii'day I, aftßmoon she spoke' ; at the ■Women's' Stu'dc'ntS H ''Hofctel, and oil Sunday ovenirig' Jolm's'Selidolroom she gavo an ■ address''.on .tlie'workVtbat is being done in different' countries'by tho' ; Women's Student Fedorfition,;' making /special reference.tq Eng-' land-,-Holland^'Gcrlriariy, and China.'..Tho ■beginning .:6f2-tho"'movement was in 1893, when' .'seven': men'fi'diii Cambridgo University joined . the China Inland'.Missibn,, .tho; .-. first members • of. tho .-students'; t volunteer • movomeiit/'wliiohi has 'taken imany' graduates tol.the: mission-field,"i'ln 1894. the-. Students' Chnstian:;Foderatioii'''was formed,'and Miss Rouse gave- ah'eryi interesting account ,of the Svay.rin/Tvbich.tbeistildonts of oiio country influenced -another,: speaking of the .inspiration.. :that-a published -lifoi of one brilliant English member ' oftho > lUriion•■ had had on ■ certain students',;, in | [Holland,; .whence in turn an . organising - secretaryof the Federation ' was sent. ; to,Germany. irThe-'Federation, is to-day 'doing, excellent vvorkj,among the men', and women studonts in Tientsin, and in 'both England and in America, whore there I 'aro. largo .numbers,'; of; Chinese students, every-ef-fort is' made to bringthem 1 into'the TJiiioii", as it' is recognised that China raajj'd'ecitW' to' doors.:.to"'foreign' -in-'fln^M)-;wlien;th^';tirill .be' no longer .an Sop-, pbr'tiiiiity ib ! 'cvangph'sb.ihe'nation. ;

WOMEN MUSICAL COMPOSERS. ':The; : world'.roprpablies':' tho'. raco ■ of; women; .'Vfor'doing ■^•••lftjle; i % musical c'pmposi-. tipri.-''. It is'acknowledged'. that women,:' in' A.irieri'ca f rparti'cuKriy, u ;aro tho ears, of music -fthat'-i withoutHh'eniWtherb. would V.bo, : no' concert.3—tHat' , 'as 1 ' .pat?ons i 't'licy establish .th'o vogrio .'of- musicians through'' their, 'faculty' of recognising- geniu-s; though; alive; that; they J aro the.- inspired;yoicp •of 'music no jesi than :irieii','-havg' over been.-; : It- is sometimes admitted that, they are thb' , 'insj)iratiori''itself 'bf : .music., ...i-yet "thevroproach -remains:: Tho -world: asks %hy: is-';thWfe' nP. woman' Bach, no woman - ;'-'BQe|hove'ni;«:rio. .woman - AVagne'r ?' •Gdzoiat: tlie opposifo : -.'sido. : of: tho slate. .- A hundred.'■..tfiousaiKl'y.uncn- 'cbmposersj-.'-and', more/ there:.have jljeeiif-a hundred, men' for every:.:womann'ri''.tho:'art—and 'yet out' of this sum ■■ total-. :'of ■: oportunity and: practice. 'only ibflp. Bach :has'beeiivproduced, one Bo'othoven, ■ one .AYafener.!;-.'Consider . tho, ,implication. '.•When...there' 'havoi. been one hundred- ;tliousarid..women composers* of equal, opportunity and. ; 'practic6y.A,,tlieii ;,oijo ;i, may. justly -: qhallengb„thp.:jSex;ifor, its supremo masters, ■ and then,. as; ;a ; purely.,;iaathomatical solution: by ratio -. and ..ipropprtioiii.jv'ill. indicato,: .the sex wdlliot-be found,iwantiiig: ,Af present tho, . hundred thousand malo compos'ers.;;j'opre3erit ,-jpss ':'a! magnitude of achiovenierit tliali'.magnitude:, of wast-0... Out, of that . prodigious amount .:of trained effort, it; is .truly extraordinary that''Micro have beon ,so feWjCulmmatjpns. into greatness..:,..: ; ' Thb', mosV^universijlly:' known. among ,'thp,' great' wom'eii composers' is ..Cecilo Cliamihadp, - 'aud''it'"is;priricipally 'tlifbugh l her songs 'that sho.'-te?thps..pS^^riy^amous. 1 - If:demandis ■ aiiy; criterion-' of''exbolleneo; in music, r slio stands -at- the'' head ••of 1 thb.. song-writers of Franco',' "according'-to ■ the 'statistics of -tho. Frericli^miisic-ti'adorHvTiich, informs •us'.-that .more ; off hfci' , iVqrk"3 , sold than of any•■other .salon. ;Somo of •tho best known of her "sbrigs in this 1 country , .are ■--:April;"? J '"Madrigal,".Amoroso," " Cp'lettc,-. , ''-: :!,, 'My - ! "Neighbour,": "As- in :Octbbor, ! "' Captivef'f'Lovo," " Berceuse," arid so oil, and'they ! arb nainos that bring a •thrill of ariticipatiqitiwhen they are niot on a concert:programiiid. : :, Mile, i Cnaminadb's power 'to ''stir: and trouble thb' heart with her songs, or to s.oothe and delight always to haunt it, is so definite-;ariiiiniluencp of hers that ,it;has.;come "to^-■ bo; cnibodied. in her name: Gbaminade .-is.Avoll acquainted, too,: with the lriorb intricate :forms .of. musical composition. •;;•■'She-has! l'nadej the highest • typo of • prchestrah ospro3sioni her medium 'in her |. aymphouios ,vii "''Les _ -Amazones " : arid j,"sallirrho&s andihaa!written concertos and pianb ;.and -.viojjA music 1 besides.

.', GlaijsKl;;with- k Chatninado are Augusta Holmes.-;and ';t-lie -ryiepmtesse' de Grandval. Thq,latter-is,, tlib'most versatile of .women : ,comppsors.i.irw:There ' is no form sho has : h'ob':"niastercd. jlpr seven chief operas ;ha>;p: bee;i .prpducejlT ij;ith, success, in, various . and, her.church iiirisic ' is", considered ibo of tho best of modern ,c6^pbspr3. ( X;Biit no doubt the great;est" woinari ooihposer or France, and perhaps, of tlio world, was Augusta Holmes, who diedin 1003 at the.age. of, .fifty-six. Her works 1 moriS 'pf-o'fiiHdity''"thaii. thoso of, Cliamiinade, and have a wider range. .Imbert- pro--nouncea-ih.er-;:^'mMtci;ly in her easo,"' and declares that " all the,resources of. orchestratibif At twenty-seven. sli6/ , pr^ujb^/' s hpf'';^rst'. / opera'/." Hero cfc Leandro'/' i'ana'b'ymphonics.: : •' ."Ono"bf ; th'b' , 'll.bs.t i ,ibmposors . in Paris is Princfc6s i r( " Cabanno.'' She . lias acliieVed' "tlijs Vojijitation by. plenty; of' talent and a\great aifipuntVofhard work. Sho has written .: ftrib'n'er'h; f called "La Rose du Ca|if;"..; wliicli ;waß received' with great 'en:thusiasm'in.Nice,'aniris'now at work oil an equally': 'composition. Sho has writto'n" The best known ,of these ( is;''Eve:" She has. had equal sue-. xci;s'-';a-3"'a'|e(}Wpbser°of"soug3, and "has put ln'aiiy :of rAhdei'Sen'S 'Ij'airy Tales to inusie. 1 Slid' . had' uniwual _ training for this Work, being an able Violinist and organist. Not" satisfied-;, with tlie instruction sho re;oeived ' iri Paris,' to London to perorgan and counici•part;' ' •; ' .. Being' in the region of tho superlative, ono would logically ; 'liiclude Mrs. H. H. A. • woman-' composer ol ■ America, and,' ncrliaua, ol the living world. .'..-Mrs."Beach-.lives, in Boston. Sho comes Lot pure ''America® stock of ancient lineago, iand was born Amy Marcv Chenoy, in the small town of Henriiker, New' Hampshiro. Sho .is;.gift^tl,V.^th,, /ill absolute sense ol ■'pitch, l 'and n,,m,e,uiory./for music'so remark- ■ able that 'when slio was only two /years old she could ,sing; with, accuracy inoro than ' forty.. different,. tunefC, : Alice Mary Smith, known also as Mrs. is ..somotimos . called Biiglftnd'V foremost .woman composor.' She has '.written ' symphonies, "bverturbs, concertos, ' and otlior largo works, but tho world in general knows her best from her exquisite

sotting of ■" Oh, That Wo Two Wero Maying." Greater work, however, is being dono by another Miss Smyth, of England, Ethel M. Hor " Mass in D" is equal to anything of its class in modern music, and her opera, Dor Wald," has been performed at Berlin and at tho Metropolitan Opera House in New York. Her most recent work, " Standrecht," was given in Leipsic last year.;