Part 14

=63. Musicians.= Madame Romeau says: "Few women have been engaged in musical compositions, and they have rarely undertaken important works. In painting and literature one is pre-occupied only with the work of the author. In music, it requires the coöperation of two persons--the composer, and the performer. Books and paintings act upon us without any intermediate objects, while the piece of the composer, to be understood, needs the flow of harmony noted on the paper in hieroglyphic signs, and must escape under the fingers from the instrument. It is necessary to animate the inert matter--to make it yield to the wish of the performer and reproduce the inspirations of the composer. Few women compose songs. A musician leads a different life from an artist, who lives in her studio and has few expenses. A musician must face the crowd, and hear its dissatisfaction, and smile at its applause. A cantatrice, or songstress, often travels from town to town like an actress." Some persons think none of the arts can be purely religious except music. "Mozart in music, and Raphael in colors, have taught us the spiritual ministry of the senses." A comparatively small quantity of music has been composed in the United States. The study of a lifetime is bestowed by very few on music. Some American ladies have gone to Europe to perfect their musical taste, and a few have acquired distinction. With musicians, as with vocalists--those who, in this country, have reaped the greatest profits in the shortest time were foreigners. Some were pianists, some flutists, some violinists--some one thing, and some another. The composition of music for soirées, fancy balls, masquerades, tableaux vivants, private theatricals, operas, dramas, musical farces, ballets, &c., might occupy all the spare time of musicians capable of composing. There is a circulating library in London of 42,000 volumes. There is, also, one in New York and one in Brooklyn. Subscribers to the one in Brooklyn pay in advance for one year $12, with the privilege of selecting from the catalogue $6 worth of music at the termination of the subscription; for six months, $6; for three months, $3; for a single piece worth less than $1, 6 cents per week; less than $2, 9 cents per week. Mr. G. thinks a lady can never become a good violinist, because it requires great strength in the right arm. The muscles of violinists are as rigid as a blacksmith's. I have heard that occasionally a pianist acquires such strength in his hands that he could almost prostrate you with one of his fingers. A gentleman told me, ladies could not become superior organists; that they cannot have sufficient power developed. It requires much strength of hands and feet. He remarked, the organist, at the church he attended, was a lady, but made no comments on her qualifications. I have known two lady organists, who were considered superior performers, and received as good salaries as gentlemen would have done. One received $500 for playing twice on Sabbath. On week days she gave instruction. I was told that she supported her whole family for years by her musical talents, and laid by money with which she purchased a comfortable dwelling in a city in New York State. The salaries of organists are small considering the amount of talent and practice required; but most organists teach music, or stand in music stores, or act as agents for manufacturers of musical instruments. "In the summer of 1860, among the Marblehead band of female shoe strikers in the procession at Lynn, Mass., was Miss Margaret Hammond, fifteen years old, who beat the drum in martial style the whole line of march." "In Ohio they have a lady drummer, who has received a diploma for her skill. Her name is Minerva Patterson, a daughter of Major Elisha Patterson, a wealthy farmer of Jersey, Licking Co." The French papers have given some insight to the prices paid great musicians, Malibran received in London, for every performance at Drury Lane, $750; Lablache, for singing twice, $750, and for a single lesson to Queen Victoria, $200. At a soirée in London Grisi received $1,200. Paganini charged $400 a lesson. "Herz and Thalberg each made about $60,000 in this country." There is a female musical society in London which gives concerts for benevolent objects.

=64. Music Engravers and Folders.= Mr. L. engraves and prints music, and employs two ladies to fold it. There are but few music engravers. The smaller the number of persons in any one kind of business the higher the prices they can command. A lady in New Orleans engraves, whose husband is a music printer. It would require but two or three years to learn it. Some ingenuity, a knowledge of the value of notes in music, and judgment in the arrangement of them are necessary to make an engraver. In New Orleans, eight months are usually considered a year, I believe, in business arrangements. At a music engraver's the young man told me that he never heard of a woman engraving music in this country, but he knows that some do in Paris. The work they turn out, he added, is not good; it will not wear, because women have not sufficient strength in the wrist to engrave as deeply as a man. A person who engraves plates for music can earn from $3 to $5 a day. German work is considered the best, because the quality of the ink used is better. Music engraving is divided into two distinct branches--one is lettering and engraving the title page--the other is engraving the notes. No steam machinery has ever been invented for printing music, because the ink must all be put on the way the work is done. Music is one of the first things dispensed with in hard times.

=65. Opera Performers.= The first opera of modern times was performed about the close of the fifteenth century. At the first introduction of the opera into France and England, it was much ridiculed by wits and critics. Voltaire, however, and others, came to its rescue, and with what success may be known, when it is acknowledged to be one of the favorite amusements of the fashionable world. The want of adaptedness of the opera to the English language has to a great extent excluded successful efforts at translation. Yet some operas have of late years been performed in English. "In Paris, the Italian opera is patronized by the Government, as a school of vocal music; and the managers are careful to maintain a complete and skilful company." In an opera, the music is the most important part, while at the theatre the music is subordinate to the play. The orchestra in some parts of the opera accompanies, and, in others, seems to respond to the sentiments of the piece. The operatic performance is not so warm, so impassioned, so abandoned, as that of the theatre. The trilling and sudden starting, so common in operas, is rather too artificial to please the unsophisticated. A conversational style is seldom used, but the words are expressed in a recitative style that is graceful and effective. In Germany, however, dialogue has been introduced. Good imitative powers are essential to success. The noble talent of music has been desecrated, in some operas, by the impure thoughts and language expressed. In the United States probably not more than thirty, out of the entire audience of several hundred, sufficiently understand the Italian, to follow the play without considerable effort; but it is so much of a pantomimic character that much is gained by the sense of sight. Much of the zest and interest are lost to those who are indifferent to the accessories. On this account, we suppose it can never become a favorite amusement with the generality of people. The French papers give some curious statements in regard to the salaries paid to great musical artists. We learn that Hummel left a fortune of $75,000, and twenty-six diamond rings, thirty-four snuff boxes, and one hundred and fourteen watches, which had been presented to him at various times. In modern days musicians are quite as extravagantly paid. Alboni and Mario get $400 every night they sing; Tamberlik, every time he sings a certain high note, demands $500; Madame Gazzaniga was paid $500 a night recently in Philadelphia; Lagrange, at Rio Janeiro, is now receiving a princely salary; and Piccolomini cost her manager over $5,000 a month; and these prices are said to be moderate, compared with those often paid in Europe to distinguished musical artists. At the opera house in Paris, for the present season, Mr. Colzado, the manager, pays as follows: to Tamberlik, for seventeen representations, $8,000; Alboni, $2,200 for seven representations; Mario, $15,000 for a season of five months; Grisi, $5,000 for two months; Madame Perer, $14,000 for the season; the Grazioni brothers, $15,400; Corsi, a baritone, $4,000; Galvani, $3,600; Nantin Didere, $4,000; Tecehini, $3,600; Mlle. de Ruda, $3,400. The chorus and orchestra cost for the season $17,600. "Parodi, the American prima donna, receives no less than $30,000 per annum, a larger salary than that paid to the President of the United States." "Miss Hensler, the American prima donna, has been engaged by the manager of La Scala for fifteen months, at the rate of $170 a month." "Sophie Curveth receives $2,500 a month, for eight representations; for every representation beyond eight in the month, $300 more."

=66. Painters.= "Less prejudice exists against artists than teachers in France. They have privileges that teachers have not. Painting is considered the most desirable profession by parents for their daughters. The girl begins early in life to fit herself for her profession. The work is less severe than that of an author. Painting does not require such close application of mind, nor is it necessary to spend so much time in solitude, nor are the expense and anxiety so great as that of authorship. Gratuitous schools of art exist in Paris, where instruction is given principally in perspective. Most students prosecute the art in studios, paying from $4 to $6 a month. Most of them spend the whole day in the studios, from eight in the morning until six in the evening. The artist that instructs them visits the scholars only two or three times a week. The studio is a sort of mutual school, where pupils teach each other; they are of all ages. All conditions of society are represented. Three kinds of painting are done by them--face or portrait, landscape, and flowers. Most of the girls of the higher classes prefer landscape. Female artists compete with men, and wear their hair short. Few women like the physical fatigue of a painter's life. There is not the same play for coquetry in artists, as in singers or actors. It requires great perseverance for a female artist to acquire firmness of execution; she does not possess it to the same extent as man. Some artists are willing merely to copy paintings, paint portraits, and give lessons. The school of landscape painting is one well fitted for young and original talent. Women succeed in painting portraits; also, in painting flowers and fruit; very few have tried historical paintings." Painting is certainly a profitable employment for a lady artist of superior ability, if she can have enough to do. Miss F., New York, established a life school for lady artists. One subject is used at a time; the classes are limited--two classes--eight or ten pupils in each. Those that need instruction will pay $12 for twenty-two lessons; those without instruction, $6. There will be two sittings a week, of from three to four hours. A person of sensitive, nervous type, susceptible to every impression of a pleasant kind, is most likely to succeed as an artist. Mr. R. Peale told me that many ladies in Europe paint portraits. He considered it a higher style than landscape, or still life. He thinks painting itself not injurious to the health. The turpentine used is sanitary, and the white lead is deleterious only when taken into the lungs. What is inhaled in breathing can do no harm. Mr. Peale thought that the principal reason of artists being so poor in health, is because of their long and close confinement indoors. In painting the first coats are often applied by an assistant, employed by the artist; and in some cases, by the students of the artists. Miss Merrifield, of England, has written a work on the art of painting. A number of ladies in England, and in the United States, are winning a reputation as artists. The prospect to lady artists in the United States is very encouraging. Ladies are allowed the privilege, on proper application, to copy paintings in the Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, the Düsseldorf, and the Bryant galleries, New York. According to the census of 1850, there were 2,093 male artists; but there are said to be not more than 600 or 700 superior artists in the United States. The patronage the best receive is such as to keep them well employed. A meagre support and a long life of labor are necessary to establish a reputation as an artist, even to one that has talent. But the way in which most of our first-class artists live, that are prudent and steady in their habits, and possess any business qualifications, contradicts the opinion, quite common, that an artist's life must always be one of self denial and poverty. We think artists fare as well as most people, and we do think it a life very inviting to the young ladies of our country. Those that have the time, the means, and the talents, will find it an absorbing, a fascinating employment. Women succeed best in painting pictures of their own sex, and of children. The more tender and delicate organizations are best suited to their talents. Most of our artists live in the metropolis, New York; the Western country is too new and crude. There are materials enough, but not much appreciation of talent. Besides there is less wealth, and another thing is, that artists must keep themselves where mention will now and then be made of their pictures, to bring them into notice, and where the most ready sale will be found for them. During the last few years a taste has been developed in St. Louis, that promises some golden fruit. A gallery of paintings has lately been opened there. Why is it that a talent for painting and poetry is so often combined? Is it that the quiet, contemplative state that produces poetical inspirations also favors the visible expression of beautiful thoughts? A poet painter is more frequently to be seen than a poet musician. One, I suppose, of a quick, lively disposition, and very impressible, might be more likely to possess musical talent than one of a quiet, thoughtful nature. But genius is not fettered by temperament. There is a society of female artists in London; the first public exhibition of their paintings took place in June, 1857. It is managed by a committee of eight ladies, and bound by twenty-three articles. A portrait painter writes: "The artist requires a high, well-developed anterior brain, a healthy body; and a brain and body well regulated and balanced; a love of the beautiful that inspires the character with patience and indomitable perseverance, and a contempt for applause; for 'art is long,' and, unless one is willing to 'scorn delights and live laborious days,' he can never meet with real success. If women can attain to excellence as artists, they can command the same remuneration as men receive. Art knows no sex." A professional artist remarked to me: "Amateur painters never attain excellency, because it requires not only talent, but constant application." I think if there is anything that should have its full value, it is a painting, because of the patience and perseverance necessary for an artist to excel, and the long and costly preparation requisite. It commands, too, a certain style of talent that many do not possess. In addition to this, those who can afford to buy paintings are those who can afford to pay a good price.

=67. Animals.= We know of no artist in this country whose talents have been devoted to the painting of animals, and of but one lady, in any country, that has distinguished herself in that line--the far famed Rosa Bonheur.

=68. Banners.= We saw an ornamental sign painter decorating a large flag. Stars are painted on the silk, and then sized and gilt. The flag was stretched on a frame like a piece of tapestry, but upright like an easel. Mr. M. had never known of any women being employed in the trade. He decorated banners for processions, political campaigns, &c. This is evidently a field for female industry.

=69. Crayon and Pastel.= Crayon drawing seems to have been much in vogue in Italy in the seventeenth century; and we read of an Italian lady, as far back as 1700, devoting her time to pastel painting. The soft, light, dreamy effect given by the use of pastels, peculiarly fit the style for the portraits of ladies and children. Mrs. Dassel, of New York, was noted for her excellency in the use of pastels. Mrs. Hildreth, of Boston, is very successful in her crayon portraits. She charges from $30 to $40 a head. Mrs. M. A. Johnson, of Massachusetts, has spent some years working in crayon. "Her indefatigable patience in the execution of details, the fidelity of her likenesses, and the delicate perfection of finish in her pictures, are remarkable." Miss Clark received $20, and over, for crayon portraits in Boston, a few years ago. Before Miss Stebbins, of New York, became a sculptor, she drew crayon portraits, charging $50 per head. Her execution was said to be clear and forcible.

=70. Flowers and Fruit.= During the latter part of the eighteenth and the first half of the present century, a number of lady artists have distinguished themselves in flower painting. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a few devoted themselves to it in Holland, Germany, Denmark, and France. For a few years past some American ladies have turned their attention to flower painting with marked success. A number in England have also obtained distinction.

=71. Fresco.= The wife of an artist told me her husband knew of a fresco painter in England, whose daughter would assist him when he was hurried. But the lady thought working with men was objectionable. I heard of a young lady in New York, who assisted her father, by filling up the outlines, as he drew them on side walls. Mrs. Ellet states that Angelica Kauffman assisted her father in the interior decoration of a church, in Schwarzenberg. She painted, in fresco, the figures of the Twelve Apostles. Her success in an undertaking so difficult excited considerable attention. Mrs. N., wife of a fresco painter, thought the work unfit for women, because they would be compelled to work with men, and stand on platforms to work on ceilings; consequently are liable to exposure of person. They might paint the side walls, and let men paint the ceilings.

=72. Historical.= But few ladies have devoted themselves to historical painting. The most lived during the latter part of the last century, and the commencement of the present. Catarina Vieira painted several church pictures, after the designs of her brother.

=73. Landscape.= In the past century Holland gave to the world the largest number of female landscape painters. America and England bear away the palm for the present century. American scenery opens as wide a scope for the talent of the landscape painter as any on the globe. Mrs. ----, one of the first landscape painters of our country, thinks landscape requires more care and talent than portrait painting, but the latter pays best. She says there are some ladies in Boston, who are very good landscape painters. She thinks it would be very difficult for a young artist to become established in New York, without influential connections, and the means to keep her until she does become established; but would be more likely to succeed in cities in the South and West. She thinks there are good openings in Baltimore, for artists of every kind. She says art is much more encouraged in the United States during the last few years, and a good artist need not fear starving. The artists of New York have three receptions during the year. The object is to make known their paintings, with a view to selling. At the last annual sale of pictures for the New York Artists' Fund, $2,000 were received. Some artists copy a landscape exactly as they see it; some select the most beautiful parts of different landscapes, and combine them; and a few draw entirely from imagination. Good painters of scenes for theatres, I have been told, often receive from $25 to $40 per week.

=74. Marine.= Some very good marine views have been executed in this country, but none by ladies.

=75. Miniature Painters.= "We may run back as far as the twelfth century, and find a few miniature painters among the fair sex. Margaretta von Eyck devoted most of her time to painting miniatures, in the fifteenth century. In the seventeenth century, an Italian lady of Palermo distinguished herself as a painter in oils. Mrs. Wright, an English miniature painter, died in 1802; and Maria Conway was a noted miniature painter, living in London, who died in 1821. In the seventeenth century, Maria Rieger was employed to paint miniatures in the aristocratic circles of Germany. In the same century, a Swiss lady, Anna Wossar, began at the early age of thirteen to win a name in the same branch of painting. In the same century, almost every country in Europe gave birth to one." Mad. Goldbeck, of English birth; Mrs. Hill, of Boston; Miss C. Denning, of Plattsburg; Miss Anne Hall and Miss O'Hara, in New York, are the principal miniature painters in the United States. It was reported that Miss H. occasionally received as high as $500 for a miniature. Mrs. Hill received from $75 to $100 for a miniature. The popularity of photographs has caused many portrait and miniature painters to devote themselves to that branch of art. Some artists succeed in giving an ideal, _spirituel_ beauty, truly astonishing. I think it is more observable in miniatures on ivory than any other style. Mr. W. writes: "In the department of miniature painting women find profitable employment and are ofttimes very expert at the work. I know a lady in Washington who paints very beautiful miniatures, for which she receives from $10 to $15. This is very nearly the same rate paid to men. Woman's delicate sense of touch and facility of expression make it a branch for which she is especially fitted."

=76. Panoramas=, we suppose, have pretty well paid their way, particularly the first that were exhibited; but we know not that any lady has ever engaged in this branch of painting. Mr. D., a scenic and panoramic artist, says the "decorative workshops" of Paris are 250 feet long, and 50 feet wide. The cloth for panoramas is laid on the floor, and the paint then applied, as it would run if hung up. There are galleries around the walls, some distance above, from which the artist may judge of the effect of his painting. Many dioramas are used, and might be colored by ladies. Panoramas have not been so common since Banvard painted his. Painting them does not always pay for the trouble and expense. It requires a certain order of talent for painting panoramas, and probably as high an order as any other.