Art and Its Equilibrium

Horowhenua Chronicle, 26 March 1915, Page 3

Art and Its Equilibrium

THE CHEItNIA V'fcSK fS

(interview with Mr Harold Edie,j

"A wonderful tour this has turned out," said Mr Edie, inipressario for ' Leo, Jan and Mischel Cherniavsky, when seen by a representative of the Horowhenua <Daily Chronicle and the Cherniavskys feel delighted that they indelibly planted their music in the hearts of the people of New Zealand. That tile people of the Dominion have fallen in love with the work of these great Russian artists is amply demonstated by the number of record houses they are at present attracting throughout the length and breadth of the country. "Do you think," asked oui lepresentative, "that the propaganda in the cause of art that the Cherniavskys and you. have associated yourselves with is bearing fruit?" lam certain of it," replied Mr Edie. "No sincere thought directed in the right channels is ever futile; but in the present case there is no occasion to rest on the merely probable, for there is practical evidence forthcoming. The mere fact that following on his art propaganda the Cherniavskys have achieved tlic greatest musical successes since Madame Melba's and Clara Butt's visit«, is in itself startling wlien one considers the depressed' state of affairs caused by the' war. Another interesting piece of evidence is that one of the leading music teachers of Auckland tokl me after our concerts and propaganda that he had applications" for more pupils than he had ever had before. Another Auckland teacher, a gentleman whom I believe is considered the leading professor of music, told me that many of his pupils had been inspired to study Tschaikowsky's trio. When one considers that this work is monumental and one of the most difficult compositions ever written and one that even virtuosi hesitate to tackle, it in easy to see that the ambitious students have been stimulated to greater efforts. The fact of the matter is that the Cherniavskys' mission in life is to give artistic" impulses and there are many who believe that music and art play an enormous part in the uplifting of humanity. That is the reason the brotherhood of arts has been formed. Its objects are:— I.—To form a nucleus of the universal communion of workers. 2.—To uphold the spiritual ideal In all arts, crafts and industries. 3.—To insist upon beauty as an essential factor in education, and a necessity in the lives of the people. 4.—To-work in the spirit of service, in mutual tolerance, sympathy and respect. s.—To encourage the comparative study of arts, crafts and industries, and exchange of ideas and output between workers of different races and traditions with a view to establishing and expressing the .unity underlying the arte. 6.—To educate and help workers in aIL possible ways in tliis comparative study. 7.—To study, and where necessary, to help to preserve ancient arte mid crafts. B.—To encourage initiative and originality in the worker. 9".—lnvestigate the inner laws of the arts, and the hidden traditions relating to ancient industrial organisations, and to apply the result of such investigation to the development of the modern worker. "But," asked the representative, ''is not music and art handicapped in its mission by the commercial spirit which pervades it?" "No," said Mr Edie. "The commercia spirit never penetrates true music and art any more than dirty water of the cellar finds its way into the champagne stored there. The commercial spirit is at present merely the vehicle, the means whereby humanity is presented with the opportunities that music and art affords. Probably later on when the world is more civilized, philanth.rophists will realize that there is a great field in art and music for the direction of their unselfish actions, and then probably the commercial side to art will become offete. By then we can hope to have artists who will give their life to their work for the love of it, or for the love of service to humanity. Then we can hope to save sacred temples of art, for the artist can only recover that equilibrium that once was his, when he is again prepared to wed religion and art and when priest and artist are one. for these two aspects of the divine mind must be in unison to achieve the great work that is waiting to he performed.''