gives a hint of the echoes of the great tabernacle, imparting to the music a different quality from that of studio-made music. CAPRICE ESPAGNOL (Moszkowski). Played by Josef Hofmann. Duo-Art. As might be expected when a Russian writes something Spanish, the "Caprice" abounds in exciting rhythms. It is a show piece and is musically interesting as well. Hofmann plays it with fiery technique. We cannot recall any other piano roll that shows so clearly the playing of a masterful pianist. SAKUNTALA OVERTURE (Goldmark). Played by Milton Suskind and Julius Buerger, conducted by Artur Bodanzky. In two rolls. Ampico. Here is a wholly enjoyable transcription of orchestral music. Bodanzky crams the interpretation full of orchestral feeling. By skillful technique, the performers have "depianized" the piano, and for the moment the listener forgets the lack of instrumental color and feels himself in the presence of a full orchestra. The music itself is interesting; it has both lyric charm and a dramatic intensity akin to Beethoven. EIGHT VARIATIONS ON THE THEME "TANDELN UND SCHERZEN" (Beethoven). Played by Ethel Leginska. Duo-Art. Miss Leginska's crisp, sharp playing is a pleasure to hear in Beethoven. The composition is uneven in interest, but at times is Beethoven as we should like to have him always. BALLADE, Op. 52, No. 4 (Chopin). Played by Julius Chaloff. Ampico. NOCTURNE, Op. 37, No. 1 (Chopin). Played by Ignaz Friedman. Duo-Art. Both are orthodox Chopin interpretations. The "Ballade" is diffused with wistfulness, and is less banal than most of the oft-aped Chopin sounds to our Fears to-day. The "Nocturne" is distinguished by its chorale-like passage of religious fervor. Why Great Composers Have Died Poor IF By THEODORE STEARNS IF the hidden lives of most great composers were written, there would be many a Hans Andersen fairy story found, and, by the same token, the general public would probably have difficulty in understanding why these men. suffered so. The enormous thought necessary and the titanic physical toil expended by a d Bach, a Beethoven, a Wagner, or a We're Not the the Only Ones who know what a rich and varied store of experience and advice there is in the Hotel and Travel Bureau. An inquirer tells us: "The envelope containing your very helpful circulars arrived this morning. The whole affair is so full of interesting suggestions and surprises that I want to thank you for the pains, time, and sympathy evidenced by your answer to my inquiry." That's what each inquirer receivesa complete answer to questions and that something more-suggestions and individual interest. What's your next trip? Let the Travel Bureau take care of the bothersome details for you, or answer those little questions that will come up. Franz Schubert in giving to the world his symphonies, operas, and songs brought these great creators of melody undying fame but very little money. Although they toiled with the day-andnight persistency of a Burbank or an Edison, their brain work, strictly speaking, did not pay. Up to the day of his death Richard Wagner was practically supported by his friends. Schubert died in poverty, and Mozart was buried in a pauper's grave. Beethoven, quite true, left a small legacy, but his case was an exception. As a matter of fact, Mendelssohn was the only composer who lived and died untroubled by the wolf at the door, but this was because he was the son of well-to-do parents. Like Washington Irving, he never had to write for his bread. With these two general exceptions, our great music of the last two centuries was conceived in poverty, reared in struggle and heart-breaking disappointments. Most of its creators died not knowing that their music was going to live. When the opera "Carmen" was first produced, it was a failure, and its composer, Bizet, died a broken-hearted man. Classical music is sold everywhere, and for fifty years here in America symphonies, grand operas, and concerts have been largely attended; but it has been the publisher, the singer, and the instrumentalist who have taken in the moneyseldom, if ever, the composer. The reason for this begins to be plain when one realizes that the writer of a great symphony or an opera is a good deal like an inventor. He is a highly specialized man, usually in only one line. His creations, from the point of their conception to the last note on their final pages, have engrossed his entire thought and time. His life-work is to take "the stuff that dreams are made of" and put it down in black and white. He catches his inspiration out of thin air and transcribes it, with his technical knowledge of musical theory, onto paper, that the eyes of others may read and the stranger artist play or sing. But until the composition is finally complete it is not a bankable proposition. Unlike the novelist, the composer cannot dictate his thought to a trained stenographer or typewriter. Unlike the painter or sculptor, he cannot place his finished product against a wall and say: "There it is. Look at it. How do you like it?" The musical composition must be played it must be heard. The composer cannot very well carry a symphony orchestra or a grand opera company around with him; consequently his product, for the most part, must be accepted on faith. There are no general arrangements in this world for paying a composer a salary during the time spent on working out his brain creations. Kings and countesses used to subsidize composers so that they might compose in peace; occasionally rich music patrons have done the same thing for young students, but almost never for composers. Without a bank account, therefore, the " man who starts in to spend all his time in writing music is a self-confessed bankrupt, according to all business standards. He is bound to be. He has to live, it is presumed; therefore, without outside financial assistance, he runs into debt. Your real composer cannot help composing. That's the tragic part of it. It is all very well to say: "Why not take a job as a salesman and spend the evenings in composition?" Right there, however, the hitch occurs. The man who can give the world a great opera or a great symphony can no more mix business with his creative inspiration than he can stir oil into water. There are no business offices up in the sky. A bird: may either fly or walk, but it cannot do both at the same time. Regarding the purely mechanical labor required in composition, take the full score of "Butterfly," for instance, or "Tannhäuser." In each of these scores there are easily over one million notes and musical notations. Take a pencil and start making just dots on a piece of paper. Do it as fast as you can. How far can you keep up the count? Roughly speaking, the time necessary to complete an opera is from two to three years. Debussy spent six years on his "Pelleas et Melisande." Now Puccini and Wagner and Debussy had practically to engrave their final full scores, so that, somewhat like a double-entry ledger, they were legible, understandable to other musicians, and without flaw. But, unlike the commercial engraver, these composers drew no salary while doing this. They simply took chances on getting some returns on this labor later on, after the work was produced. The most startling thing of all is tha the inspired modern composer of to-day is facing the same handicaps that faced Schubert, Wagner, and Mozart. One' reasons, Why compose at all? The answer to that is that real composers can't help composing. If the world calls them inspired freaks, that is probably the fault of the world, not of the man who composes. Grand-opera performances and concert halls continue to be crowded, and it is natural that musical literature must be added to as time goes on. Meanwhile the composer is the goat, and very unjustly so. In writing to the above advertisers, please mention The Outlook 1 Volume 142 Senator Wheeler in Legal Good Standing U NITED STATES Senator Burton K. Wheeler, of Montana, has scored another, perhaps the final, victory in the effort to clear himself of the charge of unlawful conduct in connection with oil-land manipulations. The Supreme Court of the District of Columbia has dismissed the conspiracy indictment against him on the ground that it fails to charge a violation of the laws of the United States. Legal proceedings against Wheeler began when he was pressing the investigation of Harry M. Daugherty, then Attorney-General of the United States. Wheeler and his friends have always claimed that revenge for what he did to Daugherty is the motive back of the prosecution. It has been a hard-fought contest, and the score is now three to nothing in Wheeler's favor-exoneration by a Senate committee of which Borah was chairman, acquittal before a Montana court of a fraud charge, and now dismissal by the District of Columbia Court of an indictment charging conWhile an appeal Espiracy to defraud. International Senator Burton K. Wheeler Number 2 a single permit. The Court rules that this regulation is not in conformity with the law, and is therefore void. In the opinion of the Court, the Department of the Interior confused prospecting permit with development. lease, and, since only one lease may be granted to any particular person under the law, the Department concluded that only one permit may be granted. The Court pointed out the error in this conclusion by showing that wherever, as in Alaska, Congress intended to limit the number of permits it did so expressly. There is a significance in the decision. in the Wheeler case which goes beyond its effect upon Senator Wheeler. If it stands, the Department of the Interior apparently must modify its method. of dealing with the prospecting-permit situation. A number of Western Senators and others are greatly pleased with the decision for this reason. Members of the Public Lands Committee, who toured the West last summer, are quoted in the daily press as saying that this is only one of a number of points on which the Department of the Interior has gone. outside the law in issuing restrictive regulations. Senator Oddie, of Nevada, is quoted as seeing in the decision a means of escape from "law by bureaucracy" and of correction of "a great deal of bungling by the Interior Department in administration of the land and other laws." Coincidentally with the dismissal of the Wheeler indictment there came another echo of the scandals that shook Washington and the Nation for a year. The United States Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction of Colonel Charles R. Forbes, former Director of the Veterans' Bureau, and ruled that he must serve the sentence imposed upon him by the trial court. The Shenandoah Findings HE loss of the Shenandoah was "part TH of the price that must inevitably be paid in the development of any new and hazardous art." Nobody was to blame. It was, as the old law writers used to say, "an act of God." This is the finding of the Naval Court of Inquiry, submitted to Secretary Wil bur after long and careful consideration. The Court recommends that no further proceedings in connection with the wreck be prosecuted. More significant, it recommended that development of lighterthan-air craft go forward with even increased vigor. He admits that the quarantine acts as a While the Navy Department and the hosts of three insect pests-two bulb flies commander and crew of the Shenandoah were cleared of any negligence or lack of caution, the findings of the Court indicate that some things were not entirely as they should have been. The report discourages for the future anything in the nature of exhibition flights unless under decidedly exceptional conditions. It praises the discretion and courage of the dead commander, but it indicates that if he had followed the advice of his meteorologist to change his course, the track of the storm might have been avoided. It holds that the strength of the ship had not been impaired by changes in construction, but that the reduction in the number of automatic gas valves from eighteen to eight was inadvisable. It refutes most of the arguments of structural weakness, negligence on the part of the crew, and misconduct on the part of superiors made by Captain Anton Heinen, Colonel William Mitchell, and Mrs. Margaret Ross Lansdowne. The findings of the Court were unani mous. The Alien Narcissus Taboo THE HE restrictions on the entry of narcissus bulbs, authorized by Secretary of Agriculture Wallace three years ago, went into effect without modification on January 1. Secretary Jardine made his ruling on the next to the last day of the year, after having the record of the hearings under advisement since early in November. The effect of the quarantine is that, for commercial purposes, narcissus bulbs may not be brought into the United States. They may be imported, in limited numbers and under strict supervision, for experimental and certain other purposes, such as increasing by propagating in this country from imported stock the supply of any variety of which there is a shortage. J Bulb importers and bulb growers have been at war over this question, the former, of course, insisting that narcissus bulbs be admitted and the latter that they be excluded. Secretary Jardine holds, however, that neither of these groups has an interest that is compelling. and an eel-worm. One of the bulb flies Wide World Photos a Henri Bérenger of alfalfa. It is admitted that all of There is some consolation for the im- and importations of these bulbs will be subject meanwhile to inspection and such other safeguards as may be thought necessary. Many a layman-and horticulturist too, for that matter-still finds it hard to understand why, if the peril was so great, the doors were deliberately left open for three years (long enough to admit countless flies and worms); and why, if the peril was not so great, the doors needed to be closed at all. Clean Shows Win A YEAR ago there was a great to-do about obscene and risqué plays in the New York and Chicago theaters. Producers saw themselves getting rich by putting on a drama a little more shocking than the last. A year's experience has pricked that bubble. They have learned that the public as a whole wants clean shows. New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia turned a profit for plays such as "The Ladies of the Evening," "The Firebrand," "Desire Under the Elms," and "The Demi-Virgin." Whatever the dramatic merits of any one of them may have been, each of these was the subject of discussion because of its capacity to shock the common sense of decency; but when they went out "on the road" and attempted to draw crowds in the smaller cities the box-offices registered deficit after deficit, and the totals began to show up in red ink on the producers' books. On the other hand, plays like "Lightnin'," "The Bat," "The First Year," "Turn to the Right," and "Seventh Heaven" were not only solid successes in New York, but they are still reaping large returns from tours into every corner of the country. Salaciousness on the stage draws a certain few, but the wisel manager will heed the experience of others; that is, that Americans in the home towns prefer wholesome plays. |