Part 40

=Arthur Foote= was born at Salem, Mass., in 1854. His musical education was wholly acquired in Boston, his leading teachers having been Stephen A. Emery and B. J. Lang. Mr. Foote is also a graduate of Harvard University. His home is in Boston, where his professional work is that of an organist, and teacher of piano and composition. His most important work in large form is a suite for orchestra, Op. 36; in addition to this he has written successfully in the domain of chamber-music, works for string orchestra, a quartet, a quintet, a trio and a sonata for piano and violin; he has also written excellent works for chorus with orchestra, “Wreck of the Hesperus,” piano and organ pieces, a number of fine songs and part-songs. He is perhaps at his best in writing for male voices, notable works being “The Skeleton in Armor” and “Farewell to Hiawatha.”

=Hadley=.—A younger composer than those mentioned, whose work in the large forms has received commendation, is Henry K. Hadley, born at Somerville, Mass., in 1871. His father was a member of the musical profession, and first taught his son, who later went to Boston to study with Emery, Chadwick and Allen (violin). In 1894, he went to Vienna to study and wrote several works for orchestra while there. In 1896, he returned to the United States and taught in St. Paul’s School, at Garden City. He has written several symphonies, suites, an overture, a cantata and a number of songs; two comic operas are also among his works. He has won the Paderewski Prize for composition.

=Frank van der Stucken=, born in Fredericksburg, Texas, in 1858, of Belgian descent, was educated abroad, mainly under Benoit, at Antwerp, and entered professional life in Europe, yet he is classed with American composers, for he has spent a great part of his active musical life in this country. It was in 1884, that he came to New York City as conductor of a large German singing society, at the same time giving much attention to conducting orchestral works, in which branch he had had considerable experience in Europe. In 1895, he went to Cincinnati as conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of that city and two years later, was dean of the College of Music, from the active management of which he retired in 1903. Although he has written a number of orchestral pieces, his most important work, modern in form and scored for the full modern orchestra is “William Ratcliffe,” a symphonic prologue, which has a very dramatic program. He has also written songs that are in the extreme style of the most advanced composition.

=Mrs. Beach=.—Few women have won any success in composition in the large musical forms. A most notable exception is Mrs. H. H. A. Beach (Amy Marcy Cheney), who was born at Henniker, N. H., in 1867. She showed marked inclination for music while still a child and was given regular instruction when only six years old. Soon after this her parents moved to Boston and she continued her musical education there under Ernst Perabo and Carl Baermann. Her studies in composition were largely made without teachers, guided principally by the most thorough and extensive study of the scores of the masters. She was married in 1885 to a prominent Boston physician. Mrs. Beach’s most important works are her “Gaelic” symphony, a mass for chorus with organ and small orchestra, a sonata for violin and piano and a piano concerto. In addition to this she has written a number of piano pieces and songs.

=Loeffler=.—An account of music in the United States would not be complete without reference to the work of Mr. Charles M. Loeffler, one of the most important figures in modern musical composition. Although he was born in Europe (1861) and educated there, he has spent his adult life in this country, having been for many years a violinist in the Boston Symphony Orchestra. His best-known work is the “Death of Tintagiles,” founded upon Maeterlinck. Rollinat and Verlaine have also furnished inspiration to him. A concerted work for violin and orchestra shows his skill both as composer and violinist. Of late years, Mr. Loeffler has turned his attention to song composition.

=Other Composers=.—In a concise account of the work of American composers, short mention only can be given to a number of men who have worked earnestly in composition, a field in which appreciation seems to be granted freely to the foreigner but grudgingly to the compatriot. Conditions are not favorable to development along the lines of public performance of works in large forms, orchestras are under the control of foreign conductors, most of the players are foreigners, and the concert-going public gives but scant attention to works by an American. Therefore much credit is due to those who have worked quietly and with but little hope of hearing their works, doing their best to produce music in accord with the best canons of the art. Such men are =Frederick Grant Gleason=, born at Middletown, Conn., 1848 (died in Chicago, 1903), studied at home and abroad; =Adolph M. Foerster=, born in Pittsburgh, Pa., 1854, who was educated in Germany, and is now a resident of his native city; =Ernest R. Kroeger=, born at St. Louis, 1862, educated at home, and still a resident of the city of his birth; =Henry Schoenefeld=, born at Milwaukee, 1857, educated at home and abroad; =Henry Holden Huss=, born in Newark, N. J., in 1862, studied in New York and at Munich, under Rheinberger, now a resident of New York City; =Arthur B. Whiting=, born in Cambridge, Mass., 1861, educated in Boston and by Rheinberger, at Munich, a resident of Boston; =Louis A. Coerne=, professor of music at Smith College, who was educated in Boston and Munich (Rheinberger); and =Harry Rowe Shelley=, of New York City, who was born at New Haven, Conn., 1858, studied there and in New York (Buck and Dvořák). These composers have by no means confined their work to compositions for orchestra, chamber-music, cantatas, etc., but have also written useful piano and organ pieces, and in a number of cases, songs that have become extremely popular.

LESSON LIX.

AMERICAN COMPOSERS: VOCAL FORMS; PIANO AND ORGAN.—MUSICAL LITERATURE.

=Cantata Composers=.—A number of American composers have turned their attention to composition in opera and cantata forms. Some of the composers already mentioned have written works of this character. The first of American composers to work in the field of the cantata was =J. C. D. Parker=, born in Boston, in 1828, a graduate of Harvard, and a teacher with many years of splendid work to his credit. His musical education was received at Leipzig. In 1854, he located in Boston and took up a varied career as organist, conductor, and teacher of piano and harmony, at the New England Conservatory. His large works include a cantata, “Redemption Hymn,” a secular cantata, “The Blind King,” and two works in oratorio form “St. John” and “The Life of Man,” the latter showing him at his strongest. =Dudley Buck=, organist, composer and teacher, is also one of the veterans of American music. He was born at Hartford, Conn., in 1839, attended Trinity College several years, began his musical instruction at sixteen years of age, went to Germany several years later, giving his attention principally to the organ and composition. In 1862, he returned to the United States, worked professionally in Hartford, Chicago, and Boston; in 1874, he went to New York, later to one of the leading churches of Brooklyn, which position he retained until 1905. His choral works in large form are “Don Munio,” “The Voyage of Columbus,” “The Golden Legend,” and the “Light of Asia,” his largest and most important work, which has been given in England. He has written many works for church use, much organ music, songs and concerted vocal music, especially for male voices.

=Opera=.—In opera we note the work of =Paine= (“Azara”); =Chadwick= (“Judith,” a sacred opera); =Walter Damrosch=, composer and conductor, born in Germany, in 1862, but a resident of the United States in childhood, and hence identified with music in this country, who has written a work of serious character to a libretto founded on Hawthorne’s “Scarlet Letter”; =Reginald de Koven=, born at Middletown, Conn., in 1859, with a list of several successful light operas to his credit, as well as many songs which have had wide appreciation; =Edgar Stillman Kelley=, born at Sparta, Wisconsin, in 1857, educated in Chicago and Germany, a resident of San Francisco for a number of years, where he brought out several notable works of a popular character for the stage as well as the orchestra, employing in the latter Chinese musical idioms with success in a humorous direction. A composer whose work in light opera has had much success is =Victor Herbert=, born in Dublin, Ireland. His professional career has been largely spent in this country, his work as conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra being notable.

=Song Composition=.—In the field of song composition, American composers have done very good work. The American seems to turn naturally to song and few of the most prominent of the native composers have neglected this field, as will have been noticed in previous paragraphs. Among those who have won high reputation in this line we note =George L. Osgood=, of Boston, born in 1844, composer, singer and teacher; =Frank Lynes=, of Boston, born in 1858, who has also written good concerted vocal music and piano pieces; =Clayton Johns=, born in Delaware, in 1857, but a resident of Boston during the greater part of his professional career, with a long list of part-songs and some piano pieces to his credit; and =Ethelbert Nevin=, born near Pittsburgh, in 1862, educated in the United States and in Europe, whose songs have a truly poetic character joined to music of a high order; a number of his piano pieces have also been most favorably received. He died in 1901.

=Piano Composition=.—The dean of American teachers of the piano and of composers for that instrument is =William Mason=, born in Boston, in 1829, a son of Lowell Mason, who studied at home and abroad and spent two years with Liszt at Weimar. It was in 1854 that he came back to the United States and located in New York City. In addition to his works for the piano, some of which have been widely played, he is the author of an important technical work, which stamps him as an educator of originality and strength. A composer who is generally classed as American, although his ancestry, education and environment incline strongly to the French, is =Louis Moreau Gottschalk=, born in New Orleans, in 1829. He early showed marked inclination for music and was sent to Paris to study. His first reputation was won as pianist. He traveled over Europe, the United States and parts of South America, giving concerts, in which he gave the principal place to his own compositions. He died in Brazil, in 1869. In later years, American composers for the piano have not done such distinctive work as the two writers just mentioned, yet the names of =Charles Dennee= (1863), =Wilson G. Smith= (1855), =James H. Rogers= (1857), and =William H. Sherwood= (1854), composer, pianist and teacher, whose work in the educational field is most important; =Edward Baxter Perry= (1855), who has splendidly triumphed over the infirmity of blindness, and through his unique lecture recitals has been a strong factor in musical progress in the United States; and several men of foreign birth who have identified themselves with American musical education: =Rafael Joseffy=, in New York City, =Carl Baermann= and =Carl Faelten= in Boston, =Constantin von Sternberg= in Philadelphia, and =Emil Liebling= in Chicago. Two other names should be mentioned here, =Henry Schradieck=, of New York, whose influence as a violinist and teacher has been great, and =F. L. Ritter=, who occupied the chair of music in Vassar College, a pioneer in college musical work.

=Organ Composition=.—Nearly all of the best-known American composers have been organists, yet certain men have made that line of musical work peculiarly their own. Such men are =B. J. Lang= (1837), of Boston, organist, conductor and teacher; =George E. Whiting= (1842), who in addition to his high rank as an organist and teacher, has written most acceptably for his instrument, and also for the orchestra and in the large choral forms; =George W. Warren= (1828), and =S. P. Warren= (1841), whose sphere of activity is identified with New York City; =E. M. Bowman= (1848), organist, conductor, pianist and teacher; =Samuel B. Whitney= (1842), organist, noted for his work in training boy choirs, also his musical compositions for the Episcopal Church service; =Clarence Eddy= (1851), organ virtuoso with an international reputation; =Henry M. Dunham= (1853), who has written well for his instrument and has had an active and useful career as a teacher. Among the younger men of prominence as American organists who have put themselves abreast with modern progress, and have studied all schools, may be mentioned =Everett E. Truette=, =Wallace Goodrich=, =Wm. C. Carl=, =Gerrit Smith=, =Charles Galloway=, =J. Fred Wolle=, who organized the Bach Festival at Bethlehem, Pa., =H. J. Stewart=, a representative California organist.

=Musical Criticism=.—When indicating the various agencies for the shaping of musical appreciation in the United States, special mention must be made of a group of writers whose contributions to musical magazines, to the daily press in the large music centres, as well as their work in permanent form have influenced the taste of the American public to a degree not paralleled in any other country. These writers have enjoyed unusual opportunities and have used them well. The leading newspapers of the United States give much space to reports of musical events and have called to their aid writers of keen insight into musical matters, thorough equipment on the score of musical knowledge, and gifted with much skill in expression as well as mastery of literary style.

=The Older Critics=.—The first of these critics to claim our attention is =John S. Dwight=, born in Boston, in 1813, a graduate of Harvard, and a student of theology as well. Gifted with a sound taste in art matters, his reviews of musical works, concerts, etc., were very useful and helpful and much appreciated by the best circles of the city, for his associations were with the most famous literary and scientific men of his day. In 1852, he established a musical paper, _Journal of Music_, which lasted nearly thirty years. He died in 1893. Another of the older writers is =George P. Upton=, born in Boston, in 1834, a graduate of Brown University, who entered journalism at twenty-one, as a member of the staff of the Chicago _Journal_; after some years of service with that paper, he went to the _Tribune_, with which he has ever since been associated. Mr. Upton’s critical work covers the period of the growth of Chicago, which has been phenomenal in art as well as in commercial directions, and has been a most valuable factor in musical upbuilding. In recent years his pen was a great aid to Theodore Thomas in his efforts to establish the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. His works in permanent form are “Woman in Music,” a series of books descriptive of the principal oratorios, operas, cantatas, and symphonies, translations from the German of Nohl’s biographies of musicians, and a “Life of Theodore Thomas.” Coincident with Mr. Upton’s work in the West is that of =W. S. B. Mathews=, born in London, N. H., in 1837. He was educated in Boston; after some years of musical work in the South, he located in Chicago, as organist, teacher, writer on musical matters. His reviews on local musical affairs appeared in several of the leading dailies, he was a contributor to Dwight’s _Journal_, and to all the musical papers that have come into the field since. Perhaps no contemporary writer on education in music has influenced, and so strongly, as many teachers and students of music as Mr. Mathews. He has written a “Popular History of Music,” “Hundred Years of Music in America,” “How to Understand Music,” “Primer of Musical Forms,” and several works on the great composers, with critical studies of their works.

=Boston Writers=.—The three leading Boston writers of recent years are Louis C. Elson, Wm. F. Apthorp and Philip Hale. =Louis C. Elson= was born in Boston, in 1848. He was educated for the musical profession, at home and at Leipzig. In 1880, he became connected with the New England Conservatory, and at the present time is head of the theory department of that institution. His journalistic activity covers a period of about thirty years and his writings have appeared in Boston and New York papers, as well as in the leading musical journals. His works in book form are ten in number, the most valuable to the student of history being a large volume on the “History of American Music.” The other works are critical, technical, and biographical. =Wm. F. Apthorp= was born in Boston, in 1848, graduated at Harvard, and began his critical work in music in 1872, being connected with several Boston papers. Mr. Apthorp’s published works are few in number, “Musicians and Music Lovers” and “The Opera, Past and Present.” In addition to this he supplied program material for the Boston Symphony Concerts for a number of years, educational as well as descriptive and critical. =Philip Hale= was born at Norwich, Vt., in 1854, graduated from Yale and was admitted to the Bar in New York in 1880. His interest in music and musical work proved too strong for him and he went abroad to Germany and France to study. In 1889, he located in Boston and began work as musical critic on the staff of several of the papers. For a number of years he was Boston correspondent for the _Musical Courier_ of New York. Two other men whose work in musical literature has been significant are =Alexander W. Thayer=, born at Natick, Mass., in 1817, who wrote the standard biography of Beethoven, and =Thomas Tapper=, of Boston, who has written a number of valuable educational works in music.

=New York Critics=.—New York City has four men of the first rank as writers on music, not only for critical acumen and technical knowledge, but also for literary style. =Henry T. Finck= was born in Missouri, in 1854, graduated from Harvard University, and studied at German universities for three years. When he returned to the United States he joined the editorial staff of the _Evening Post_ and the _Nation_, which places he still holds. His works in musical literature are “Wagner and His Works,” “Paderewski and His Art,” “Songs and Song Writers,” and “Chopin and Other Essays.” =Henry E. Krehbiel= was born at Ann Arbor, Mich., in 1854. His first newspaper experience was in Cincinnati; later he went to New York to the _Tribune_, which place he still holds. His contributions to musical literature are “Studies in the Wagnerian Drama,” “How to Listen to Music,” and “Music and Manners in the Classical Period,” besides contributions to the leading musical papers and general magazines. =William J. Henderson= was born at Newark, N. J., in 1855, graduated from Princeton University, afterward entering journalism in New York City, being connected with the _Times_, and later with the _Sun_. His books are distinctly educational in tone: “The Story of Music,” “How Music Developed,” “What is Good Music,” “The Orchestra and Orchestral Music,” “Richard Wagner: His Life and Dramas,” and “The Art of the Singer.” A writer on music who has made a fine reputation in literary and dramatic criticism as well is =James Huneker=, a native of Philadelphia, whose active work has been done in New York City. His books of interest to the musician are a “Life of Chopin,” “Mezzotints in Modern Music,” “Melomaniacs,” “Overtones,” “Iconoclasts” and “Visionaries.”

=Other Writers= in this field whose work deserves mention are =Edward Dickinson=, of Oberlin, O., with two works, “History of Music in the Western Church” and “The Study of the History of Music”; =Philip Goepp=, of Philadelphia, “Symphonies and their Meanings”; =Daniel Gregory Mason=, of Boston, “From Grieg to Brahms”; =Lawrence Gilman=, of New York, “Phases of Modern Music”; Professor =Hugh A. Clarke=, of the University of Pennsylvania, “Music and the Comrade Arts,” “Highways and By-ways of Music,” and several excellent theoretical works; =O. B. Boise=, Peabody Conservatory of Baltimore, with a work of a historical and critical nature, “Music and Its Masters,” and some theoretical works; =Rupert Hughes=, “Contemporary American Composers.

LESSON LX.

MUSICAL EDUCATION.

=Early Musical Education=.—The training of students in music has been the special care of the greatest men connected with the art, a subject close to the heart of men of rank and of means, and the object of Governmental and municipal subvention. In most of the countries and many of the larger cities of Europe, Art is considered a legitimate object for public aid and fostering, and music receives a fair share of funds set aside for that purpose. In the period before the Christian Era, musical education was carried on to prepare singers and players either for the religious service, and in the hands of the priests, or for entertainment and by slaves. Pope Sylvester founded a school for singers, at Rome, in the 4th century, and the Church all through its history has laid stress on means for training executants for its musical services. Guido of Arezzo, credited with a number of reforms in the teaching of vocal music, is said to have had a school for training singers to read musical notation. Like him, many of his successors in prominence were in charge of classes of pupils, yet this method by no means accords with our ideas of systematic, logical education in music. It was largely the personal power and eminence of the master that attracted and retained pupils.

=Musical Education in Italy=.—The first examples of the founding of schools of music or conservatories take us to Italy. The noted theorist Tinctor or Tinctoris started a school at =Naples=, in 1496, but this did not last very long. In the early part of the 16th century, several institutions were founded by private contribution for the purpose of affording homes and instruction to orphaned children. Ecclesiastical music was at first the special object of these schools. The pupils sang in choirs, various religious offices, processions, etc. There were four of these institutions: _Santa Maria di Loreto_, founded in 1535, which had on its roster such eminent musicians as Alessandro Scarlatti, Durante, Porpora, Sacchini and Guglielmi; _San Onofrio_, founded in 1576, some famous pupils being Gizzi, Jommelli, Piccini and Paisiello; _De Poveri di Gesù Cristo_, established in 1589, numbering among its pupils, Greco, Vinci, and Pergolesi; _Della Pietà de’ Turchini_, started in 1584, having among its pupils, Leo, Cafara, and Feo. In 1797, the first two named were united, the third was changed into a seminary for priests in 1744, and in 1808, the last was closed, and a school of music was established to take the place of the remaining institutions. This school, which received the title _Reale Collegio di Musica_, still exists.