The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 30, 1902, Page 22

.:\ T BY BLANCEE HUNEKER ASSERTS STRAUSS IS THE MOST INTELLECTUAL OF THE LIVING MUSICIANS +| PARTINGTON. = CLEVER SOUND ARTISTE WHO | WILL BE HEARD IN CONCERT AT SHERMAN & CLAY HALL. ICHARD STRAUSS is a man of us; perverse, tumultuous, rad- | bitten by = Wrons- s—yet a genius. But ar- all headed theori 36 years old, he has in his brief all life summed up and has planted vi new ambiguous territory. FPre- g as Chopin, Strauss ss lacked individuality until his | tieth opus; though signs were not ing in the early compositions to as- tistic the acute, imterested critic that a sew man was at hand. Von Bulow felt the paw of the young lion wheq he saw Opus 7, the serenade for wind " imstru- | meats; and Alexander Ritter, recognizing | the gifts of the youth, pointed out to um | the way wherein he would prosper ar-| The interior force we call| which Goethe named his daemon, | accomplished the rest. Richard Strauss | to-day 4s emperor of the or- | chestra.” | So wrote James Huneker, American | sponsor of Strauss, two years ago, of th largest figure on the twentieth centu musical horizon. To-day Mr. Huneker speaks in fless mistakable terms, surer of the vision and voice of this modern prophet of orchestral art, of his reach and relation to absolute music. As with Beet- hoven, royal revolutionary of five score | years ago; as with Wagner, the great her- etic of the last century, so Strauss to-day is regarded as the arch anarch of the art musical, a religion to tne illuminati, a rebellion to the mass. Yet he has many followers, and of these, it seems, that fol- Jowing that is best worth having. He bas already arrived at the dignity of at- tention from the pamphleteer, and is ing explained, dogmatized about and en- yeloped in the mystery that always | shrouds the new thing in art. By one he is hailed as the musical Messiah, and wel- comed by a lesser pagan as the Lucifer of harmony. To ears initiate his har- monies touch the intimate heart of music, 10 others shut to his appeal he seems the past master of cacophony. Hear Mr. Huneker again on the particular Strauss genius “Richard Strauss is the Jectual of living musicians. pointed out over a decade ago the master part harmony would play in the music of the future, and Strauss realized that mel- ody 9s ne longer sovereign in the King- dom of Tone; his master works are mar- vels, vet, melodically, no new thing is said. In structure, in rhythmical com- plexity, in striking harmonies, ugly, boid, most intei- Saint-Saens brilliant, dissonantal, his symphonic poems are without parallel. Berlioz mever dared, Lizet never dreamed, such miracles of polyphony, a polyphony beside | which Wagne: is child’s play, and | Bach’s is out-rivaled. And this learning, | this titanic brush-work on vast and | scmber canvases, are never for music's | sake; indeed, one may ask if it is really music, and not new hybrid art. It is al ways intended to mean something, say | something, paint some one’s soul; it 1s & half-mad attempt to make absolute mu sic articuiate. * * * Of mere sensuou or decorative music-making there is none. Strauss is ever beset by the idea; whether dramatic, metaphysical or romantic- Iyric, the idea takes precedence of the sound that accompanies it. So there is little pretense of form, little thought of | vocal exigencies (Mr. Huneker here | speaks of the Strauss lieder), while the | plano accompaniments are the most dif- ficult ever written.” ) e A little of Strauss the man. Richard | Strauss, first of all, is not of the famous | Viennnese waltz kings, but is the son of | horn player of Munich. He is now 26| years old, “tall and slight, with a large, finely developed head and long, spidery arms. Very blond, with big, fatigued blue eves, he is outwardly the typical Scandi- | navian. The brow is both bold and re- | fiective: the general bearing of the man self-controlled and masterful. Decidedly | a personality of a twentieth cenlur.y Ubermensch.” He played the’ piano at | 4 years of age and composed at 6. He | began to study compositicn at 10, in 187, violin and piano training going before, and three of his songs were sung ip 1880, His first symphony, written in his fif- teenth year and still unpublishéd, was given a hearing. Von Bulow then became | attracted to the clever youngster and put | the Serenade (for thirteen wind instru- ments) into the Meiningen orchestra re- pertory, and in his twentieth year Strauss became music director at Meiningen. Here he met Alexander Ritter, by whom and by Von Bulow he was powerfully in- fluenced, and also made his debut as pianist, Von Bulow conducting. He suc- ceeded Von Bulow in the Meiningen chair. 1p 1886 Strauss left Meiningen for Munich, | pieces, op. 3; Stimmungsbilder, op. | cording to the interest awakened in this story. The listener catches first the unmistakable | | roar of the sea’dashing spray against the clift | the | €39 Market there to become director of the Munich | Court Theater, leaving that post in 18% at a call from Weimar. Later he became Court Kapelimeister at the Berlin opera, and has done much brilliant conducting | in other fields. —for which detail 1 am in- | debted again to Mr. Huneker. Up to date the last published list of Strauss’ wo included eleven orchestral compositions Festival March, op. 1; Serenade for wind instruments, op. 7; First Symphony, op. 12; From Italy, op. 16; Don Juan, to.ie poem, op. 20; Macbeth, tone poem, op. 23; Tod u. Verklarung, tone poem, op. 24; Till Eulenspiegel, op. 25; Alsosprach Zara- thustr Don Quixqte, op. 35, and | Heidenleben, op. 4. Then there are eighty-five songs, some with orchestral| accompaniment; a sonata for piano, op. 5; a violin and piano sonata, op. 18; a *cello and piano sonata, op. 8, and a con- | certo for violin and piano. There are | three sets of piano compositions, five and | Burleske for piano and orchestra, op. 49. | There is a concerto for the French horn, | two string quartets, seven male choruses, | and lastly an opera, “Guntram,” and a| “melodrama” for veice and piano, “Enoch Arden.” . s s Up to now we have had here in San Francisco exactly one song out of all this wealth, a “Serenade” given by Mme. Nor- s week somewhat repairs the | jency. We have Max and Julia Heln- | those clever and sound artists, with | h Arden,” to be given next Tuesday evening at Sherman & Clay Hall. Ac- event will be the likelihood of another part Strauss programme, to include eleven Strauss songs that will later be given if the “melodrama” creates Its legitimate stir. Also “Enoch Arden” may form part of Saturday afternoon’s programme. The second concert is on Thursday evening and will number five songs by E. A. Bru- giere on its programme. The programme has this to say of the melodrama: Richard Strauus’ “‘Enoch Arden” is a musi- cal comaocsition of so nmovel concestion that considerable difficulty has been experienced in securing for it a title at once comprehensive | and explanatory. It differs in plan, idea and manner of development from any musical form hitherto employed by any composer. i Strauss himself has called it ‘‘Melodrama for the Pienoforte.”” It is in reality a seris of deseriptive tone pictures knit together by the wording of Tennyson's poem. Its har- monic richness and intensity are such that under the hands of & true artist it may be given an cffect well nigh deceptively orche: tral. At the same time the themes are of a | clearly defined melodic nature, ineffably sweet and penetrating, like the atmosphere of the lines of Enoch’s village. Even now surely may be heard the overwhelming sadness of Enoch's fate swelling out from the instrument at the first mention In the poem of .Enoch’s name. One catches also the charm and gentleness of Annie, first in daintily playful cadence, then more deenly, portentously, as loneliness and poverty nrees close about. Perbaps the two most beautiful pictures are Annie’s dream, with the sweep of harps lightly flashing as from a vague golden dawn, and iong after Enoch’s death when tones melt into tones, rise into the soaMng fervor of praeter- human renunciation, sink to the speech of wrecked lips and glow into heroic suggestion as the life is set free. Mated with these tableaux of tone is the elocutionary rendition of portions from the | riginal poem so selected as to give the story | entire. At times the voice of the reader is | alone; at times the music only is heard; and | again, the reacer's half-chanted cadences and scund-suggestion @re blended each tol ach. The reading explains the music as the music interprets the reading—the one being the | perfect complement of the other. | “I admire Mr. Greenstuff immensely."” “Why, he doesn't think so.” “That’s just why I like him—because he has sense enough to know I can't tolerate him.”—Indianapolis News. i Anxious Young Man—Camilla, is your love for me absolutely dead? Beautiful Maiden—It is, Philip. I havé applied the cyanide of potassium test, and it does not respond. Henry—If 1 were rich, darling, you love me more than you do? Clara—I might not love you any mere, Henry, but I know I would leok forward to our wedding day with a degree of im- patience that never seems to possess me| at present.—Tit-Bits. would “Did you take any part in the launch- ing of the battleship Missouri?” asked one of the colonel’s friends, “You bet I did!” exclaimed the colonel, his eye kindling. “I stood on the bank and smoked a corncob pipe as she siid down into the water!"—Baltimore Sun. —_—————— Ex. stronz hoarhound candy. Townsend's.® —_—— Cai.-glace truit 50c per 1b at Townsend's. —_——— Special information supplied dafly to business houses and public men by the Press Clipping Bureau (Allen’s), 230 Cali- fornia street. Telephone Main 1042, . —— Townsend's Callfornia glace fruit, 50c a und, in fire-etched boxes or Jap. bas- cts. A nice present for Eastern friends. st., Palace Hotel building. <« HE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, MARCH 30, 190%. THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL. JOHN D, SPRECKELS, Proprietor. SUNDAY Address Communications to W. =. LEAKE, Manager . .MARCH 30, 1902 Publication Office ., THE CLERICAIL. DEMAGOGUE. MONG the evil ways into which restless and ill-balanced orators of the church too readily stray is that of playing the demagogue and the agitator in times of popular ex- citement. Eager for the glory of leadership and feeling no sense of responsibility to the duties of their high caliing, such men rush to the front at meetings where discontented men are gathered, and with something of frenzy in word and manner they rouse and madden the more reckless or more sensitive of the mob until some of them, as ill-balanced as the clerical ora- tor himself, but more prone to blows than to speech, rush away to the’ commission of crime. The power of oratory over excited minds is well known. When a whole community is dis- turbed, when for a time respect for law wavers and men begin to believe that lawlessness may be justifiable, when bitterness increases daily between contending factions, when the reckless are stimulated ‘by the contagious influences of large crowds, then the duty of an orator becomes a most serious and responsible one. An inflammatory speech uttered by one having some show of authority may set fire to the spirits of the mob and precipitate a riot, when calmer and wiser words might have restored respect for law, and re-established thie harmony that is necessary for the general welfare. Of all orators at such times those who are most dangerous are the clerical demagogues who feeling sure they will not be involved in the fighting, and having nothing to lose by anything that may happen, give free rein to .the on-rushing wildness of their eloquence and urge, per- suade, exhort and impel excitable men to open riot or secret crime. The very dignity of his call- ing which should have been a restraint upon the clerical demagogue is used by him as a means to make his words more dangerous. With cunning skill he weaves into his harangue quotations from Holy Writ, speaks now as a pastor of the people and now as a revolutionist, owing allegi- ance to nothing., The unreflecting listeners, burning with the flaming blaze of lurid rhetoric, cannot distinguish between the pastor and the demagogue, the Bible and blasphemy. They ac- cept all as the teaching of a institution they have been taught to revere from childhood; and in a whirl of passion are led to violate the long established and well-known precepts of the church by the very distortions which the clerical agitator niakes of his clerical influerice. The evils wrought by the wild utterances of these seekers after mischief and notoriety are far-reaching and affect many, but they work their direst wrong and harm in the households of those who are most susceptible to the mad teaching. Mothers, wives, sisters and children have had bitter cause to repent and mourn that the men of their families have been too ready to act upon the declamatory utterances of such orators. Many a weeping woman has seen some loved one hurried into crime and borne away to prison, knowing in her heart that the real guilt rested not with the excited man who struck the blow, but with the vindictive, malignant, reckless dems agogue in clerical garb whose words roused him to madness and impelled him to crime. Nor is it strange that outbreaks of violence should so frequently follow the harangues of the irresponsible agitators who leave the pulpit and the peace of the church to enjoy the thrill and the excitements of the stump and the mob. Such orators have been known to taurt and sting American audiences by telting them they are ruled over by domineering plutocrats; that they are being robbed of their earnings, forced into serfdom, lashed into subjection, brutalized, trampled on and crushed into slavery and cowardice, and reduced to a condition worse than that of the slaves of old Rome by a money power more greedy and more heartless than Ngro. Throwing exaggeration to the winds and resorting to direct falsehoods, the clerical dema- gogue screams out that the employers of labor in America are seeking to turn wage earning into slavery and to reduce the mass of the people to want, wretchedness and political degradation. With vehement fury he calls upon the idle to rise, to strike a blow, to fight. He tells them it is cow- ardice to keep the peace, that it will be valor to break the law. After listening to such an inflammatory harangue some man goes forth and strikes a blow at his fellow-man. Arrest, trial and condemnation follow. Two homes have been broken up. In one there is lamentation fot a husband slain; in the other a heart-broken mother weeps over a son whose life has been blighted by the commission of crime and who goes td a felon’s doom. Meantime, the excitement having blown over, the clerical demagogue whose false and flaming or- atory fired the spirit that committed the crime sits in his study, fat, rosy, whistling, well pléased with the reputation he has made, and never thinks of ministering to the grief of either home. His only thought is that of getting a chance to make another speech where he will be free from the restraints of the pulpit and the high requirements of truth. WELL-TIMED ADVICHE. OOD counsel has been given by Mayor Schmitz and by the San Francisco Labor Council to the street-car employes with reference to their controversy with the Mar- ket-street Company. Both the Mayor and the Council advise the car men not to precipitate a strike at this time, but to await the transfer of the lines into the hands of the new managément which is soon to take charge; and there can be no questioning the sound- ness of the grounds upon which the advice is based. At the present time the Market-street Railway Company is passing through a sort of in- terregnum. The old company has transferred the lines to a new company, but the new has no* vet taken active charge of the operation of the roads. There is no one now in official control of the lines who is vested with authority to act or even speak for the new owners. Consequently were a strike ordered at once it would tie up the street cars for a long time, since there is no one on the spot to negotiate terms with the strikers. Even were a compromise effected by the present ad- ministration of the lines it would not be binding upon the new a(lministrati(on, and therefore would be of but a fleeting value to the car men or to the public. The street-car employes cannot be ignorant of the high importance of their work to the community and particularly to workingmen. By reason of the facilities for rapid transpcrta- tion the workingmen of modern cities frequently live far away from the shops and localities where they are employed. By making their homes in the suburbs or in parts of the city distant from the business and in(lust:jia! center they are enabled to live with better surroundings ard at a less expense for rent. To maintain homes in those localities, however, while at the same fime reporting promptly for work. it is essential that the street car service shall be at all times regular and reliable. Were the cars tied up for any considerable number of days, the workingmen of the city would be seriously embarrassed in going to and from their homes and their work, and to many of them the embarrassment might mean a heavy loss which they can ill afford to bear. By postponing their demands upon the company until the new management enters upon control of the lin?s the car men will\lpse nothing. They wil! in.tact gain in public sympathy by attesting their fairness and their willingness to conserve the general welfare by the exercise of patience and tact rather than to rush into a strike and so inflict hardship -upon people who are in no wise responsible for the action of the street-car management. It is to be borne in mind that the new company comes to the city with a record acquired by the management of roads in other cities which gives good reason for the expectation of beneficial changes in our street-car service. Improvements have beenpromised wherever they can be advantageously made. Among them will doubtless be some system of providing a better under- standing between the higher officers of the road and the employes. Stuich being the case the advice of the Mayor and of the Labor Council is the best that could have been given. It is both wise and timely. Tt tends to conserve the interests of the pub- lic without sacrificing any right or waiving any claim the street-car employes may have, and if it be followed will win for them the approval of the public. = Towa's two Senators, Allison and Dolliver, voted against the shipping bill, and the press of the State is commending them for doing so. Iowa has no ships and doubtless her people think they have no need of them, but all the same when the bill becomes a law, and under its in- fluence the American merchant marine begins to widen the markets for American industries, the Iowa fellows will be just as eager to get their goods to market as the people of California. ! o It is noted in London t_hat Joseph Chamberlain is no longer neat in his dress, nor wears a flower in his buttonhole; so.it would seem the Boer war is wearing on him a little and inclines him to thoughts of sackcloth. e Senator Hanna has once more announced that he is not and will not be a candidate for the Presidency, but the boom for him will continue just the same for some months to come. The silly season is just opening. S | white impassionate cuffs, MORGAN, BUT \ HAMLET IS TOO EASY, SAYS NEXT SUMMER ~ MAY SEE HIM IN SHYLOCK BY GUISARD. - T ERHAPS there is no suggestion of provinclalism that one repels more vigorously than that of early rising, both for one's self and one’s _ adored San Franeisco. Therefcre, when E. J. Morgan’s irreproachable six feet strode into the Columbia Theater at 1 p. m. the other day to meet me, I managed quite a decent smothered yawn, to match his of the very genuine Gotham varlety. Profusely apologetiz, but I fear still hungry, Mr. Morgan ex- plained—he was a little late—that he rad been annexing a cup of coffee in a nearby restaurant and the clock was slow. That it was tremendously early—wasn't it? I agreed, with patriotic forgetfulress | of the plebeian stretch of sunny hours that lay behind me. But San Francisco Qid get up a Mttle earlier than New York? Still, it was a “bully” place. Of course, in New York one had one's chief meal after the performance and that meant a couple of hours for the process of assim lation—usually conducted at the Lam Club, or any of a dozen other places, and 1 knew what that meant. He must own to being a *‘night owl” he supposed, but I would forgive his lateness? and with a | particularly -attractive smile the we: Jehn Storm made his peace. Beyond 'what Laura Jean calls an “in- teresting pallor,” Mr. Morgan does not look at all like a night owl. There is a | good six feet of him and a proportionate breadth, a light, clear blue eye that comes surprisingly with the darkness of his brown hair, and lips of a Rossetti redness that stands out strikingly against the aforesald interesting pallor. It is a well-drawn head, set cleanly upon a pair of young, massive shoulders—that set me wondering as to what would happen to Jittle Miss Leslie if the incumbent John Storm ever *played to the limit” in the scene where he attempts Glory’s life. Al- together, in his well-cut gray and black tweeds, with—for the matinee girl’s bene- fit—a black and red tie, and blue and Mr. Morgan looks just the big, healthy Englishman that he is, with perhaps a need of the for- gotten morning sunshine to -touch the portrait to complete ccviction. | “You are English?”’ I asked, for though | there was little doubt in my mind, a cer- | {ain softness of the Morgan accent be- | spoke another influence. “Yes, Welsh, that is,” Mr. Morgan re- plied. ‘‘Aberystwith has the honor of be- ing my birthplace, South Wales, you know,” and I remembered then the “Johnny Jones and Oswald Morgan.” of the famous Welsh Eisteddfod ballad. “But you are identifiled with the Amer- ican stage?’ “So far as the American stage will per- mit,” laughed the actor. We were sitting in the little cage where the voluble boy nightly swaps opera glasses for 25-cent | pieces and Mr. Morgan looked rather large for his quarters. “How did it happen?” “My being on the stage? Simple enough. I got broke,” Mr. Morgan said. “Then?"” “I went on the stage to make a living. Of course I was always fond of it, but that was the immediate incentive. You see, I came to America some twelve years ago, to Chicago, and while working in a store there used to ‘supe’ occasionally for fun. Yes,” with a merry and most un- Storm-like mischievousness, “I have as- sisted Lawrence Barrett, Mansfieid and other famous stars and have been pro- foundly surprised at _their inability to recognize my commanding talents under the bushel of a tin helmet or footman's wig. For two years the stage invited me ! in vain. Then, as I sald vefore, I went | broke and the footlights came with new | appeal into my horizen. Since then I | have been with the Frohmans, with varl- ous stock companies, and now I am with the unsyndicated Liebler people.” “What next?"” **The Eternal City,' probably,” said the acter, “though there are a few weeks between -the tour of ‘The Christian’ and | the production of ‘The Eternal City’ that | I may fill in with something else.” “What would you do if you might choose —to ask a modest question?” With a laugh showing the handsome Morgan teéth, and without a hint of the Morgan clench—which is mostly forgotten in conversation—the actor described a sig- nificant circle with his capable white | hands, looked me up and down and said: | “What would I like to do? Why, what all the big men have done. I should first like to try ‘Shylock,’ then ‘Macbeth’—not to be at all diffident.” “I don’t seem to fit you into those parts, Mr. Morgan,” Isaid. “You seem the very essence of modernity.” ! “There have been as many Shylocks as men who have played the part, one fash- ion of conception after another, varying with the era,” agreed the actor; “why not a twentieth century Venice usurer ‘We all belong to our day, inevitably, and | the type Is an eternal one.” “Does not ‘Hamlet’ also beckon?" I in. quired. \ *“ ‘Hamlet’ is too easy,”” was the aston- ishing rejoinder. “Pray do not misunder- stand. 1 mean that the audience in ‘Ham. let’ is with one from the first. He is such a lovable chap that you have not the task of winning sympathy for the char- acter, and any one of a decently pleasing personality must meet with some measure of success in the part. Then Hamlet's moods are so complex thet he is a very ¢ fool marksman who cannot hit some of Il ACTOR s WHO | TOO | NOWN “HAMLET" them. Shylock and Macbeth are both tre- mendously different.” “How about Romeo?" The actor’s slightly contemptuous shrug was sufficient answer, and then I told him of our encouraging Shakespeare sea- <on last year. “That is the advantage of San Fran- co, bully place!” he said. “In New York one can only produce Shakespeare inder most luxurious circumstances. Not that the best is too good for him; but the plays can be put on medestly here, and give a fellow a show to try what he can do. I'd like—"" And then it came out, as the bareést pos- sibility, that this Shywocxk of the future may try it on the dog—so to speak—here, this summer. “You spoke of the _while ago, Mr. Morgan; ticular idel?"” “Oh, the old man.” “Ah—Jefferson, or Mansfield?”” I hesi- tated, for the actor seemed so sure of the unmistakable identity of his “old man.” “No, no, I mean Irving. He is the big- gest of them all, a truly great man, great even in his limitations. He has an enormous personality, and it is a liberal educatjon to be in his company. He is a compléte code of the actor’'s art, and he will be the great artist until his last call. I take off my hat here.” PERSONAL MENTION. Dr. N. B. Campbell of Patton is a guest at the Grand. 1. Dannenbaum, a merchant of Vallejo, is a guest at the Grand. A. R. Stewart, Deputy Collector of the Port of Iloilo, is at the Occidental. O. A. Turner, a mining man of Toro- pah, is at the Palace, accompanied by his wife. John Cross, a railroad contractor of Los Angeles, is among the arrivals at the Palace. C. R. Van Osdel, Tuolumne County, Grand. Dr. James F. Kearney, surgeon for the Alaska Packers' Association, left yester- day for the north. *A. P. Stewart, traveling passenger agent of the Chicago and Alton, is a guest at the Occidental. Colonel N. S. Bingham, a prominent officer of the National Guard, who resides at Sacramento, is registered at the Occi- dental. Ernest F. Bigelow, a young clubman of New York, returned yesterday from the Orient with his wife. They are at the Palace. Kenneth Mason, a business man of Ne Mexico, is at the Occidental. He has just returned from Manila, where he was studying the commercial prospects. Three Chances Everybody Has Oae if They Come Early Enough We are going to give the public a chance al three pianos this week, to be sold at exactly cost as an advertisement in order to bring you to our store. Ome second grade old standard piano, Hallet & Davis, regular price $275, al cost, $162; and two high grade standar¢ make nianos at cost. If you cannot afford to pay the actual cos! of a standard medium_ or high grade piano then we have over 50 slightly used planos, in- luding: _High grade—2 Steinway, $163: Heine, $290: 3 Chickering, §145. Medtur grade—10 different makes from $30 up. Rent: $§2 up: installments %3 up. Agents wanted everywhere. HEINE PIAND CO.. HEINE HALL, 235-237 Geary o ‘big men’ a little who is your par- a lumber dealer of is registered at the ADVERTIS: