MUSIC
■- (By "Treble-Clef.") " New Touring Cround. ' ' s With America flooded with Cour tmontal artists, refugees from war- '■ stricken .Europe, the touring ground for professional musicians has become • very restricted in this sphere, and 1 until a reliable service to Mars, Jupiter, and some of tho other neighbour■J ing planets is evolved, these talented 0 minstrels have to seek out what few " remote but possible touring grounds J aro left open to them. Ono of those » is Java, a very rich country with from " 40,000 to 50,000 Dutch population, a largo half-caste race, anu some 30 to J 40 million natives. These latter need not count, as they are not trained by tho fine processes of European culture to appreciate music as wo understand r i*"i r i 0 Dufccn and a section of tho > half-cast population, however, are ■ music-lovers m the best senso of the term. Only recently tho great islands of Sumatra and Java were visited by Mms. -Alfred Mirovitch' and- Michael ' Piastre, Russian musicians both, of . oufstandiiig, merit and gentlemen of culture. ' Their oxperionco was a . happy one. They gave upwards of i fifty concerts, and every one was a comi plete financial as well as artistic suc- . cess. Indeed, as soon as the dates wore- arranged, the plans filled up. • They travelled from toira to town by . motor-car and had a most onjoyablo experience, if one excepts certain inconveniences caused by the heat. M. , Piastro had an anxious time with his valuable violin, which canio to pieces twice owing to tho intense heat melU ing tho glue. Eventually it was repaired by one skilled in tlio uso of a certain fish glue, which is impervious to tho effect of high teinporaturcs. These musicians intend to re-visit Java and Sumatra early in the coming year. Through their oxperionco Miss Catherine Uoodson, tho emiuent pianist, has arranged to givo a series of twenty-fivo recitals in Java, and M. Bucker, under whoso management Miss Goodson will play, has no doubt about the success of the undertaking. With such artists to pave the way, one may expect to hear of other musicians taking Java into serious consideration as a field for artistic endeavour. Amorioa and Music. ."There is no reason- to worry about the so-called slow development of American music," said Pasqualo Amato, tho renowned baritone of the Metropolitan Tpera Company, in answer to somo questions on the subject of American music and American art in general, "because, as a matter of fact, it has not been really slow at all. Tlio fact of the case is," he continued, "that America is still a comparatively young country, and therefore all its art' is comparatively young art. It will take somo time for it to roach full growth, but it is bound to arrive at that pofnt eventually as long as thero is a sufficiently great potential desire for it to do so existing in tho minds of a number of Americans. Of course there arc certain national characteristics which" impede tho evolution of art in this country, but that has been' true of European nations as well. "Tho most important of these at the present time is what might be called : tho American abhorrence of manner. To the American mind the important thing is to got whatever ono happens ' to be doing.done, rather than to get ; it done in a certain manner. For oxample, when an objection is raised to the method employed by an individual j in accomplishing his end, thoro aro ai- j ways plenty of people on hand who will ■ defend him by saying: 'That's all right, ' hn got's it dono, doosn't ho?' which, J while it is undeniably the caso, docs j not really answer the objection at all. j "Another illustration of tho Amori- ! can neglect of manner is tho fact that ' over here 'manner' is_ nearly always de- ■ clarcd fo be 'mannerism.' That is be- ,! cause by nature Americans aro a conservative nation of individuals who hato j' to be conspicuous or different, because they arc afraid of being called queer. ' For tin's reason, for example every ono ' dresses like every ono olse, whether tho v stylo in vogue is becoming to every t one's personal appearance or not. This I continual striving after sameness makes <j artistic endeavour difficult, for an ar- I tist, above everything olse, is an indi- pvicinal with idoas peculiar to himself. ( ' Put musicians are breaking away from their wish to be all aliko as individuals and thov will break away from it as a nation in time." a
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Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2932, 18 November 1916, Page 13
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759MUSIC Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2932, 18 November 1916, Page 13
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