The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 12, 1895, Page 16

16 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, MAY 12, 1895. TRUE AMERICAN MUSIC, Ysaye Wonders What Becomes of the Native-Born Violinists. WHY HE ONCE PLAYED BACH. A Strange Reason for Hoping His Own Children Will not Be Virtuosl. Ysaye arrived by the overland train yes- terday covery which filled him with satisfaction. French tobacco—the genuine French to- bacco that he smokes at his home in Brus- sels: admitted to the great pianist’s presence I found him overflowing with good will and at peace with the whole world, not except- ing a departing visitor, who had heroically | sh, a | been trying to interview him in language of which the jovial musician has a choice vocabulary of about twenty words. morning, and before he bad been | four hours in the city he had madea dis- | sto be procured here, and when I was | not like to see my son treading on my name. Then for the daughtersitiseven | worse. In Europe a girl must be a prin- cess or a telegraph operator. If she cannot | rise above all her rivals by the powers of | her brain she must earn a pittance by working with her hands. There is no | p]bfl(‘e there for women artists of mediocre a y. | “Now in America you talk a great deal | about the emancipated woman. Well, I have observed both in Bohemian life and in society and now Iam quite sure that though you have more societies for eman- cipation here, the woman—and above all the artist woman—is more emancipated in Europe.” T It seems that Ysaye has also 1gpheq his philosophical observations to American audiences. *“Your audiences are not blase,” he said, waving his arms, to convey the idea of the breeziness and freedom from ennui which characterizes the American concert-goer. “When your audiences applaud they manifest their admiration in a natural outburst, which shows that they have the consciousness of music.” - “You have played in so many countries, which public have you found the most alive to classical works?"’ I asked. Ysaye took a second or two to consider this question and then replied, as he slowly refilled his pipe: “I do not meas- ure musical taste by latitude. No one can say, ‘In this degree of latitude music grows, further north or south it ceases to exist. Music is not a problem in geography. “There are no bad audiences by nature, but there are many bad artists, and in | some places they have vitiated public “IN OPERATOR,” EUROPE A GIRL MUST BE A PRINCESS OR A TELEGRAPH EXPLAINED YSAYE. [Sketched for the “Call” during the interview yesterday afternoon by Nankivell.] “You pardon me, yes, if I smoke?” he said in French, filling a little blackened briar pipe with the precious weed. “Ido not indulge often, but never since I left New York have I found anything like this,” and he put a match to his pipe and inhaled a long breath, which caused the little black pipe to glow like a furnace and showed the enormous strength of Ysaye's The great man—great both artistically and physically—does not resemble the niml)ering pictures of him which have lately adorned the town. The real Ysaye is more massive, coarser and runs more to flesh, but his strong face and powerful form denote a dominating | personality, which is lacking in the pic- tures. A powerful, jovial man he looks, able to enLovlife’s pleasures to the full, and yet g ilosopher enough to moralize upon all he sees. He was dressed care- lessly yesterday in a summer suit and his long black mane, which was straight ana | from the heat, kept falling in | clamm ltngglmg locks over his low, overhanging forehead. ‘When ‘this hupfiened he smoothed the rebellious hair back quickly with his strong supple right hand—the left onealways held the precious pipe. K “lpnnve found a pupil of mine here— Bechman. It was as much pleasure to meet him as to find the tobacco,” said Ysaye. ‘‘He took lessons from me in Brussels, where my home is, and my wife and four little children now are.” In answer to the question whether any of the four showed signs .of becoming in- fant phenomena, Ysaye answered with the greatest satisfaction that they had so far exhibited no tendency that way. “They ‘break violins, but they do not try to play upon them,” he said with a jovial laugh, “and T am glad of it. 5 “It is common among artists not to de- sire the ehildren to become artists. There are few examples of art descending from generation to generation. “The fatheris a celebrity, good ; then look at the son: is he ever as great a celebrity? No. W was ‘a great man; Siegfried ‘Wagner E:s a little talent, but he cannot stand alone, he is le fils a papa. I should taste. If you give tough meat to a savage who knows nothing but bananas and | sugarcanes and say ‘this is good beef- | steak,” he may eat it till his digestion is | ruined, but if you had given him some- thing good as a first experience then you would not have ruined the taste of that savage. “Is that clear? “L will give an instance of my meaning. Some time ago I was in remote a country village in Norway, so far from the world that the people had never heard any music. They came to the concert that I gave in a little room, no lar§er than this, and as I took up my vioiln I thought, “‘What shall I play them? They know no music and | may take more kindly to something popu- lar,” but my conscience said, ‘Give them the best you have,’ so I played Bach. “Well, those rpeople listened seriously, and I conld feel that they appreciated and | understood. Do you see my meaning? That audience had heard absolutely noth- ing, I gave them the best there was—Bach. If T had played them something popular with the mental consciousness ‘this is as much as they can understand,’” I should | have made them one degree lower than | they were before—they would have had a lesson in bad taste, which is worse than having no taste at all. I tell you the pub- lic is & child and yon must educate its | tastes, just as you do a child’s.” “Do you consider that American audi- ences haye advanced beyond the infantine stage?” I asked. saye seemed rather pained and shocked at the question, as if it were a reflection on the enthusiastic receptions he has met with here. ‘‘American audiences are quiteon a |par with European audiences,” he answered. “In your tastes you are Ger- man, mixed with an originality of your own, which makes you more vivacious, more spirited in your tastes than the Ger- mans. But take care—yes, prenez garde. I tell the Americans that if for twenty | years more they always eat German music, as they are doing at present, they will lose their own originality. It will be stamped out—washed away in the wave of German tastes. “How is it that you have so little nation- alism in your music?”’ continued the Belgian artist, even forgetting “his pipe in his excitement over the problem.” “You hsge painters—many nll:“t ¢ 4 C§uld name— and great liter: men, but where is your music? I dom;xyot see why it nhonlg be more difficult to become a good musician than to be a good painter. % “In my opinion, the reason is that your institutions are badly regulated. You spend $20,000,000 a year in educat- ing students in music, and have no National results. Who are the people in your orchestras? Are they Americans? No. They are Germans, Austrians, French—what you will—but not Americans. That shows how little figure the desire to have a National art cuts in your calculations. These men who come from abroad to play in your orchestras are not paid a quarter as much at home, where they are satisfied, and yet here, where they are overpaid, they are discontented and always meaning to return home. Do they help vour National art? They cannot, for all they come for is money._ ‘“‘Again,” you have no National music bureau; you have no great masters. Little masters you have without end, but when your students grow advanced they are sent to Berlin to study with Joachim, or to Brus- sels to Ysaye. Dvorak is a great master, but he has not made his note heard yet, and he is teaching in a conservatory that is not a National institution, and a school of musicrun by private enterprise is subject to vicissitudes, capricious changes, that must affect the studies of the pupils.” Do you think that the musical salvation of Americais in a National conservatory supported by the Nation?’ I asked. “{"esl yes!” cried Ysaye enthusiasti- cally. “The Americans have struck the note of nationalism in everything but music, and strange to say they seem indif- ferent about cultivating it there. If you had a National conservatory—a conserva- tory of the Nation, with as many as five professors, each in his way as great as Dvorak, I tell you that in five years you would have made steps toward having a National music that would astonish even go-ahead Americans.” Marie EVELYN LisTER. SETLE THE STATE FRST, F. W. Dohrmann Will Make a Suggestion to the Half- Million Club. His Plan to Attract a Deslirable Class of Home-Seekers Through Bureaus. On Tuesday, the executive committee of the Half-million Club will meet and ap- point working committees who are to devise the best ways and means of pro- moting the State’s interests and accom- plishing the aims and objects for which the club was organized. As it will be necessary to work upon a plan to secure the desired results, the views of the mem- bers of the club will be asked. F. W. Dohrmann, president of the Mer- chants’ Association and an active member of the club, will at that meeting present a plan which many state is the best sugges- tion offered so far. As a preface, Mr. Dohrmann will review briefly the reasons of the southern parts of the State being so much more prosperous than any other locality in the United States. ““The reputation of the southern coun- ties as health resorts drew to that locality thousands of wealthy people from the Northwest, who went there first to avoid the severe winters of their homes,” said he. “The visitors number between 40,000 and 60,000 annually, and each person spends from $100 up, which gives & profit of 75 per cent to the hotel-keepers and dealers of all kinds. The natural attrac- tions of the country induce a large num- ber of the visitors to become permanent residents. It is the wealthy class of the Northwest that has built up that section, aided to a great extent by a through rail- road from Ehicsgo to Los Angeles. *Now we in Northern California have as fine health resorts as those of the south, and these should be developed and adver- tised by the Half-million Club. Itis folly to try and increase the population of this city without first developing the_interior. ‘When the State is settled as it is in the southern parts the population of San Fran- cisco will of necessity increase by the es- tablishment of manufactories ':oluppli the wants of those in the other parts of the State. There is no better way of settling the State than by Plfldnf, in_ Chicago, which is a central point in the Northwest, a burean of information concerning the en- tire State, its resources and possibilities, its available lands and its chmate. At that bureau should be a splendid permanent exhibit of the products of the State, such as is seen at the California State Board of Trade rooms on Market street. ““This feature would attract the attention of thousands of people, who even now re- gard California as the garden spot of the Union. Nota single item of information should be exaggerated or colored. The cost of maintaining such a burean and ex- | hibit would not great. In this City ithere should be a similar bureau, where | prospective residents can learn where they {can get lands and make homes. This | burean should have a list of lands for sale | throughout the State, and all the data | preliminary thereto. | “In addition, the Half-million Club should take a lively interest in bringing | out excursions and securing reduced rates for bona-fide settlers. In a hundred ways the club c%n l;m] itsligfluence] and dlid in assisting both wealthy people an or farmers to find homes and land and obpv.gin easy terms. “To my knowledge there are hundreds of large landholders in the State who would only be too glad to cut up their holdings and sell at reasonable rates to home-seekers and small farmers. The ar- gument has been raised that our own farm- ers are unable to get anything for their crops, and that any more producers would drug the market worse than ever. Now, California farmers are doing as well as the farmers of any partof the Union. The present low prices for farm and orchard Froducu are only temporary and cannot ast long, and all will get better prices as the times improve. The plan I suggest I am satisfieq is the most economicai and the most effective of any advanced so far.” CLOSED TO CALIFORNIA, The Girard and Other Eastern Insur- ance Companies Refuse to Do Busi- mess at Cut Rated. The Girard Fire Insurance Company of Philadelphia has withdrawn from Oali- fornia business because of the rate war that has been raging more or less for over a year. This, it is said by the Pacific Coast manager, Mr. Wilson, is not due to any weakening on the part of the com- pany, which is particularly strong, with a gigantic reserve fund and Philadelphia millionaires as stockholders. The com- ;\any is very conservative and simpl‘ Te- uses to cut rates in order to secure busi- ness. ‘The American Insurance Company of New York has also closed its books against Pacific Coast business in the San Fran- cisco agency. The American has rein- sured its business with the Pheenix of Brooklyn, and the agents of the two com- Flnies named have been so informed by heir principals. The Glen Falls and the Traders’ In- surance Companies do not care to longer compete for business at cut rates but re- main inactf¥e without any local repre- sentatives. Voss, Conrad & Co. were the Pacific Coast agents of the two com- panies, but they resigned some time ago and no successors e been appointed. puEsrble 2 “LIKoLA"—Prepared from the kola nut at Wakelee & Co.’s, northeast corner of Bush and lgongamery streets, and Polk and snt;.er s'reets. THE STORY OF AN OPERA, How a Girl Refused a Title and a Hundrea Million Francs. BARON ALBERTO FRANCHETTL The Itallan Composer Who Owed His Inspiration to an American., At the concert on the last night of the rose show there was a tall fair girl among the vocalists who was enthusiastically ap- plauded on account of her fine voice. A few people observed that hidden away in the lace of her corsage was a pin in the form of a gold scroll, inscribed with some bars of music, but only a few of her inti- mate friends know that there is a romance connected with Miss Sistermans’ orna- ment, involving a title, a hundred million francs and the inspiration of a great opera. Every one who takes an interest in music has probably heard of the Italian composer Baron Alberto Franchetti. When his opera ‘‘Asrael” was produced atthe Scala a few years ago the young composer spent a fortune in having it staged with a splendor that was unheard of even in that magnificent theater. Sometimes para- graphs find their way into the American papers about the vast wealth of the Fran- chettis. ‘Their palace in Venice has the finest marble staircase in the world, and its hau‘fings of old Gobelins cannot be matched. Even the kennels inhabited by the pater- nal Baron’s dogs are all of solid silver, for the Franchettis rank high among the great families of finance, and the young Baron’s mother was a Rothschild. ‘When Alberto showed a talent for music no obstacle was thrown by the family in his way. Hisadmiration for Wagner led him to study in Gcrmlni, where he pro- duced a symphony which'has been played by most great orchestras, including Seidl’s. Franchetti’s taste, however, was all for opera, and he had found a mystic, Wagner- ian cast of libretto, but all his efforts to tell musically its story of Asrael and Nefta proved unavailing. Strolling down a street in Dresden one afternoon, the Baron heard a girl’s fresh voice singing one of Ortrude’s airs from “Lohengrin.” He stopped to listen, and when the song ended, Franchetti had de- cided that “Nefta’” must be written for the same kind of voice as that girl’s, and he had also decided to become ac- uainted with the singer. Inquiries eveloped the fact that she was an Ameri- can, studying at the conservatory, that her name was Josephine Sistermans, and that one of Franchetti's friends, Ugo Rohr, was here accompanist. Within & few days the Baron had secured an introduction to her, and he vowed to Rohr, all the way home, that he had at last met: his ideal, his “heavenly’’ Nefta. . Robr only laughed, but Franchetti was in deep earnest. Under the influence of his new-found passion he composed the “Nefta” theme, one of the lezding motives in ‘‘Asrael.” Delighted with the music, he had the first bars of the beautiful melody engraved on a little gold scroll and took it to Miss Sistermans, and begged her to accept it, with his heart and hang. A young man of 25, who is heir to a title and 100,000,000 franes in his own right, with more to follow, is not thrown at a 5;!1‘5 feet every day, ‘but Miss Sistermans id not hasten to take Franchetti, indeed she only consented to accept him provi- sionally, till his family ratified their en- glfiemem. 0 sooner was her promise given than Franchetti plunged feverishly into the work of composition, always making his best inspirations center around “Nefta.”” ‘When his lyric drama was produced later at the Scala its powerful music and weird theme made all musical Italy and Germany talk of it. The first scene of “Asrael” is laid in Hades. Asrael, an angel who fell from heaven with Lucifer, and who has given himself up to infernal joys, complains of his fate, and begs Lucifer to let him re- turn to earth for one year. In return for that permission he promises to bring back a pure soul. Lucifer consents, and the act closes with the terrible chorus of the damned. The next act represents the celestial regions, where the angel Nefta prays the unseen Madonna to let her return to earth, 1o win a soul for heaven, and a chorus o saints gives her an affirmative answer. The action changes to Brabant, where the daughter of the Duke has been bewitched, and is not only invulnerable to love, but no man can support her glance. The Duke has offered a vast reward and his daugh- ter’s hand to any one who will look her in the face, but knight after knight fails, till Asrael steps forth from the crowd an boldly stares her in the face, whereupon the Duke orders theirimmediate marriage, but _Asrael scornfully refuses. After this the Duke’s vassals, enraged at the insult, give the cry to arms, wgen Nefta, dressed as a holy nun, enters and at once stills the tumult. A number of other tragic incidents take place, in all of which the gentle sister is Asrael’s good genius. The last day of his gur on earth arrives; already he sees the lemons preparing for battle and ‘hears their terrible chorus. Nefta entreats him to pray, but he is only thinking how he can take this nun’s pure soul with him as his tribute to Lucifer, and as Nefta begs him to repeat the words of the Ave after her he vows he cannot. Suddenly, however, Nefta triumphs, for in spite of himsel Asrael takes un the beautiful theme of her song, and the demons’ chorus dies away in the distance as the triumphant chant of the celestial beings is heard. This_gives some idea of the plot of the lyric drama which Franchetti composed under the spell of his love for Miss Sister- mans. When the second act was com- pleted he gave a grand_musicale at which she sang Nefta’srole. Most of the leading musicians in Dresden were present and the Baron was hailed asa worthy disciple of Richard Wagner, and warmly congrat- ulated on the young artist who in- terpreted his Nefta so sympatheti- cally. As he plunged feelingly into his music Franchetti became more impatient to persuade his Nefta to consent to a se- cret marriage. ‘‘My parents will forgive us when there is no remedy for it,” he said, but the American girl always refused to enter a_family that would only receive her on sufferance. In vain Franchetti urged that he was a Jew, she would have to change her faith before there could be any hope of his parent asking her in marriage, accordin, to the Italian custom. ‘‘My father woul object to your having no fortune, and my mother to your religion, but if ,you would only marry me first and then—"" “Don’t falk of it. I will never slink into your family in_that contemptible way,” said Nefta proudly. “Then adofit our faith,” he replied, “Idon’t ask you to change yourreligion, and I shall not change mine,” and the American_girl was so determined that Franchetti, in despair, gathered up his completed opera and went to Venice to see what he could do toward moving his parents. . |~ When he got home he found that ar- rangements were being made between his parents and those of a wealthy girl of his own faith to contract an alliance— that is how great moneyed marriages are expressed—with 17,000,000 francs. Parents over there are in the habit of disposing of their children without saying “by your leave.” The young man made a final appeal to Nefta, iut she wrote a nice little letter congratu- lating him on his_approaching marriage, | ana saying that without his parents’ con- sent al{ was at an end between them. Shortly afterward ‘Asrael” was pro- duced at Reggio, and made such a success BARON ALBERTOFRANCHETT) that the King of Italy invested theffoung composer with the order of the Italian Crown. The great publisher Ricardi bought “Asrael.” and it was brought out in Bologna, Milan, Madrid, Berlin, New York and other musical centers, generally with success. Franchetti married the heiress, but the strangest thing is that his genius seems to have perished when he lost sight of his Nefta. His ‘““Christopher Columbus” has been a failure; his “Alpine Flower,” produced not long ago at the Scala, has scarcely been heard of since, and Franchetti’'s fame to-day still rests on “Asrael.” STANFORD MEETS DEFEAT, Unliversity Boys Go Down Before Olympic Club Mem- bers at Baseball. Central Park the Scene of the Struggle Upon the Natlonal Sporting Diamond. Btanford, with all its brilliancy, suc- cumbed to the polish of the Olympics when the nine men representing the Uni- versity at Central Park yesterday after- noon crossed bats with the sons of Olym- pia in the national game of baseball. With half an inning to spare, the Olympics (as the athletes style themselves), had a score of fifteen runs as against eleven by the col- lege boys. Time and again has the college yell gone up from the bleachers when the chrysan- themum skinned the football around the field, but yesterday that yell was wanting. _O'Kane and Weldon delivered and tipped away the artillery for the Olympic Club. They were something more than a batterv. O’Kane had the rattrap over his face half the time, but a slight twirl of the in- dex finger caused Weldon to let fly the white sphere with an inside-outside sud- den drop which simply appalled the bat- ;elg ‘:ho appened to stand over the home With all their secret motions the boys from across the bay managed to secure twelve safe hits, while five men fanned the air and retired to the lemon-box to rest be- cause McLane of the university pushed enough balls across the plate with such accuracy that judgment was at fault on the part of the batter. Russell and McLane attended to the box and orchestra. Between the two there was ;ll the music any lover of baseball could esire. McLane’s Ted sweater with its big White 8 struck terror to some of the Olym- gvlic batters. It had such an effect, coupled N th the rapid-slow-droj and-curve de- ivery, that six of the athletes poked the One of e preracy masted io rest. ettiest plays of the ‘was a hit by EVIute of FheyUnivemityE. ::vel the subsequent work of Kreling of the Eigh e Witte ment s b 61 1502 Wi Yhen White went to bat. A big sign Mamaloa mawaa; TO-DAY—DRY GOOD! SILKS! SILKS! NEW AND ELEGANT GOODS SN TS ONE-THIRD REGULAR PRICES! Commencing Monday, May 12th, we will offer 25,000 YARDS GENUINE FRENCH BENGALINE COTELET, in fancy weaves and newest colorings. Price g ner Yard, The regular value of these Silks is $2.50, $3.00 and $3.5@ per yard. In addition to the above we will also offer 50 pieces FRENCH TAFFETA PLISE (the latest French novelty), in 15 choice colorings, Price $1.00 per Yard, Former price $2.50 per Yard. B These are positively the greatest values ever offered in San Francisco. Oy GQQRPORAQ.O Cv v 1es2. 111, 113, 115, 117, 119, 121 POST STREET. o SEAVEY'S.” WHOLESALE AND RETAIL. 1882 MARKET STREET. GREATEST BARGAIN SALE EVER KNOWN IN MII.I.LINERYXY! COMMENCING MONDAY, MAY 18th. one edge of the field. White drove the | ball from a hip hit _straight for the sign. Kreling ran for it, lost his hat, and just as the sphere was about to touch the ground, got under it with his right, held the ball, and White was declared out, although making a gallant dash for second base. Grimmell made two home runs by knock- ing the ball over the fence upon different occasions. This is what gave the athletes the score they secured. The following is the makeup of the teams and the scores: Olympic. O'Kane. Position. Catcher. Stanford. Bliss.... Fallonsberg. .Shechan Kreling.. ...Jefls Olympics—Hits 7, errors 10, assists 14, put outs 27. Stanfords—Hits 12, errors 11, assists 11, put outs 24. Struck out by Weldon 5. Struck out by McLane 6. —————— A sign of the decline of the new schools of poetry in France is the appearance of a treatise on the new prosody, explaining their forms of versification, and the mean- ing of their hidden symbols. Chemical Analysis S and a careful micro- scopical examination of the urine, is aval- uable aid in determining the nature of many chronic diseases, par- ticularly those of the nervous system, blood, liver, kidneys, and bladder. Th:se aids make it possi- ble to treat such diseases successfim’y at adistance, y:thon’}gersonal examination of the patient. us Bright’s Disease of the Kidneys, Inflammation of the Bladder, Gravel, and other Diseases of the Urinary Organs, “ Liver Complaint,” Dyspepsia, or Indigestion, Dropsy and many other maladies are successfully treated and cured without personal con- sultation with the physician. 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While it lasts—this fight to a finish ——while we are chastising the pre- judice of local dealers against home products by submitting our home - and - white - labor- made shoes direct to the judgment of the people. You can buy at exactly the same dealer prices as the If your dollar is dear to you, Shoe: let your s be less dear. P ] ROSENTHAL, FEDER & CO., WHOLESALE MAKERS OF SHOES, 581-583 MARKET ST. NEAR SECOND. Open till 8 P. /1. Satarday Nights till 10. 5 TAILO 10.00. R-MADESUITS! BEST AND CHEAPEST IN THE CITY. D CAILLEAU, AR%—?sN;mAxY snu:m-,A 4 Corner Grant Avenue. HE LATEST DESIGNS In WOOLENS---FOR SPRING 1895, HAVE ARRIVED. 622 Market St., up H.S. BRIDGE &G '« stairs, opp. Pal. H otel