MUSIC BETWEEN 1887 AND 1897.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCVIII, Issue 11334, 30 July 1897, Page 7

MUSIC BETWEEN 1887 AND 1897.

(“Leipzig” in Sydney Mail.) What changes of musical taste and culture and the position and environment of musicians have taken place since that memorable day in June, sixty years ago, when Queen Victoria assumed the sceptre in Westminster Abbey! Then the sugared melodies of Donizetti. Bellini, and Rossini were heard everywhere, vying with Meyerbeer’s airs for supremacy. Wagner had done nothing except the opera Die Feen and Das Liebesverbot —the latter living for only one night, and the former unstaged—and a few small instrumental .works, an overture from which had been received jjosa roars of laughter at the Leipsic Opera House ; and no one, excepting perhaps the indomitable composer himself, had any idea of the revolution which he would cause in the world of harmony. Mendelssohn, a young man of twenty-eight, had composed St Paul, and was just entering upon his best day S—those between this and 1846 when the immortal Elijah was produced. Spohr was all powerful then ; but with the exception of his 'violin music how little is he heard now, his# cold, pure style not having sufficient of human passion in it to stand the passage of years. Schumann was only on the threshold of his life as a composer, and had not yet produced any of those splendid works which have engraved his name on the roll of fame. Those were the palmy dayscfltilian opera, when fair dames and gallants used to assemble at the theatres to flirt and chatter, stopping only when Mario or Grisi or some other great singer came forward to warble a favourite air. Serious and earnest listeners were rarities. Is it so certain that, in these colonies at least, very much improvement has been made in this respect ? Possibly the greatest change which her Majesty’s reign has seen is the popularising of music among the masses, for in 1837 it was only the luxury of the'wealthy classes. Printed music was terribly expensive (Mendelssohn’s St Paul, for example, .cost thirty-two shillings when Novello first published it), and cheap pianos unknown. Now every house has a piano, and music forms part of the ordinary education of every child. Another great change is the difference in the social position of musicians. Nowadays, when the English Heir apparent and his Princess dine with leading artists at their residences, and when royal dukes publicly lead large orchestras, it is amusing to lookback and remember that a rope used to be laid down on the carpets of fashionable London drawing - rooms to warn the musicians that there • was a strict boundary-line between them and the nobility, and that on the continent it was the habit of Royalty to hear the performances of the greatest artistes of the day while dining. There were no immensely wealthy musicians then like Paderewski, who can make •£IOOO in one concert, and no singers like Patti, who own castles, and live and travel in • .’a - more ■ luxurious. \ style than many monarchs can afford. A Queen taking afternoon tea with a prima donna (as Queen Victoria has often done with Madame Albani) would have certainly been considered eccentric. Liszt is undoubtedly to be thanked -for this social change, for he allowed Royalty to see that he considered himself on the same level, and did not omit to snub even Emperors when necessary. He it was who stopped playing in the midst of a solo at the Winter Palace in St Petersburg because the Czar started talking, and also once threw the jewels of Frederick William IV. into a corner after having just received them on the stage after his peformance, and who refused to play before Queen Isabella because the Spanish Court etiquette forbade the introduction of musicians to Royalty. Composers could not then have any chance of drawing thousands a year from their works, as Sullivan, Mascagni, the Wagner heirs, and others do at present. The improvements time has wrought have been very great, and in no respect greater than in the increase of good musical instruction, which is everywhere obtainable in large centres all over the world, for it is now ■ common to send talented young.people, .to. the celebrated European conservatoriums, such as Leipsic, Berlin, Stuttgart, &c., from all parts of the universe, even from such great distances as Australia, where many of the most gifted come from. When these students return and become teachers, they naturally raise the tone of their art in their pupils and headers, and the cause of good music is aided thereby. Tbe class of mixsic now taught is vastly different from that in vogue during the early part of the reign, for then only weak fantasias on popular airs, appalling sturm und drang pieces like the “Battle of Prague” and trivial salon inanities were the things oiven to pupils, whereas now no good teacher would allow the practice of anything but true classical music and works by the best of our modern composers—such as Grieg, Brahms, Reinecke, Eheinberger, Moszkowski, and so on, and a refined taste is therefore cultivated. Australia has participated well in this general improvement, and during this month, when excellent and high-class performances are given here by our big societies, and hardly a day passes without some concert taking place, it is interesting to note that in June of 1837 not a single musical entertainment was heard in Sydney. Now, several of the greatest singers of the day—Melba, Ada Crossley, Saville, Sherwin, and others—hail from this continent, and highly talented Austra-

lian instrumentalists, like Maud Mac Carthy, Elsie Stanley Hall, Kruse, and the like, are to the fora iu European concert-rooms. Science, medicine, and the industrial arts have all made tremendous strides during those sixty years, and music can certainly also lay claim to have shared iu the general advance. The orchestra has been a great gainer, for it has now reached a stagethanks to Berlioz and Wagner—beyond which it is difficult to conceive anything further, as those who have been privileged to hear the orchestras of the Leipsic Gewhandhaus, of the Berlin and London Philharmonic societies, of Eichter’s concert in Vienna and London or of the Bayreuth Festival, and of Lamoureaux and Colonne in Paris, will know. The piano has also reached a high state of perfection, as has the pianist’s technique, thanks again to Liszt. Nothing more difficult .could now be done on the instrument than has been already achieved by players. Allarb’und the sabie high state of technical proficiency is seen" acquired by violinists, (cellists, organists, and; other perfbriners bn their various instruments. Great competition has made that necessary, and tfiib means for acquiring that proficiency are ' now within everyone’s reach. What need is there say more ? The period of the Eecord Eeign has in no respect been richer than in the advance made by music in every braneh and direction, and this improvement is not the least significant feature of these sixty years. ' ’