| "America's Musical Future," New York Herald--Paris (May 28, 1893) "America's Musical Future," New York Herald. European Edition--Paris (May 28, 1893). Courtesy of Maurice Peress. What Eminent Viennese Composers Think of Dr. Dvorak's Negro-Melody Idea. --------------------------- A Cold-Water Douche. --------------------------- General Opinion that the Classics are the Necessary Basis of a School. --------------------------- [FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.] Vienna, May 25. Vienna has been one of the great musical centres of the world. It was the home of Bach, Gluck, Haydn, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert, and the tradition has never been lost, for the city at the present time can claim as its own many of the most celebrated composers and conductors of the age. Foremost among the composers are Herr Johannes Brahms, the friend of Liszt and Schumann; Herr Anton Bruckner, whose symphonies may be heard from one end of the world to the other, and who is considered to be the finest living organist; Herr Edward Hanslick, Herr Richard Heuberger and Herr Eusebius Mandyczewski. The most famous conductors are Herr Jahn, manager of the Imperial Court Opera; Herr Hans Richter, conductor of the orchestra at the Opera; the Helmesbergers, father and son; and, for light music, both as composers and conductors, Messrs. Johann and Edward Strauss. I have been fortunate enough to obtain the opinion of several of these distinguished musicians with regard to the future music of America, and especially with regard to Dr. Anton Dvorak's theory that the future music of the Western world must be based on its negro melodies. PROFESSOR BRUCKNER'S VIEWS. My first interview was with Professor Anton Bruckner, whom I found sitting in his study by nearly a hundred wreaths, all bearing ribbons with inscriptions commemorative of one or another of his triumphs. He is an elderly man, has been brought up amid the traditions of the strictest school, and I was therefore little surprised when he asserted that the basis of all music must be found in the classical works of the past. German musical literature, he declared, contained no written text emanating from the negro race, and however sweet the negro melodies might be, they could never form the groundwork of the future music of America. Professor Bruckner, I may add, is no admirer of Wagner, and, though he believes in progress and study, and is ready to admire genius wherever it is found, is of opinion that the modern school has produced nothing that can be compared with the great masterpieces of old. Before I left him he referred to the immense success of his symphonies in New York, Boston, Chicago and other great cities of the United States, and concluded by expressing his admiration for the American nation. "Ich verehre die Amerikaner, eine grosse Nation" [I honor the Americans, a great nation], he said. A COMPATRIOT OF DR. DVORAK. Professor Eusebius Mandyczewski, whom I next visited, expressed somewhat similar views. He said that the airs or melodies of a race, exquisite as they often were, especially among the Slavonic nations, could never be considered as forming the basis of its future music, indeed they were hardly ever to be found in the text, unless some composer had taken the trouble to note them down. Professor Mandyczewski thought his musical compatriot, Professor Dvorak, was influenced greatly by his surroundings, for in no German or Slavonic musical literature (though he admitted that there might be in English musical literature) was any passage referring to negro melodies as forming a basis for a country's future music to be found. I then called upon the celebrated leader of the Imperial Opera Orchestra and Philarmonic Concerts, Professor Hans Richter, who is about to leave for London to conduct the Philharmonic Concerts in that city. This gentleman is very enthusiastic concerning America and believes greatly in its future music, but he could not realize that this could emanate from the negro race, nor would he admit that persons playing by ear could be taught music properly, or had ever given evidence of talent in this respect. He spoke of the gipsy race in Hungary, every man, woman and child of which plays by ear, but said that it was quite an exceptional thing for a gipsy to play from written music. |