6o4 



The Review of Revikyvs. 



MUSIC AND ART IN THE MAGAZINES. 



The London Svmphonv Orchestra. 



The Musical Times for November contains an 

 article on the London Symphony Orchestra, a new 

 orchestra formed on co-operative lines in 1904. 

 Nearly all the hundred or more members of which 

 it is composed are British-born, so that the organi- 

 sation is to all intents and purposes a British 

 orchestra. Not only is it an e.\ceptionally fine band 

 of players, but it is generally recognised that no 

 orchestra in the world possesses instruments of 

 greater value. An important feature is that it has 

 no regular conductor, an advantage in many respects. 

 The public by this means has an opportunity of 

 hearing and comparing the readings of the most 

 eminent conductors — Dr. Richter, Herr Nikisch, 

 Herr Weingartner, M. Safonoff, and others. The 

 one-conductor system, on the other hand, secures 

 unity of execution and of expression, but it has the 

 disadvantage of stereotyping one view of the music 

 performed. Owing to the co-operative basis of its 

 constitution the orchestra is its own master, and for 

 its own concerts it elects its conductors. In April, 

 191 2, this orchestra will make a tour in the United 

 States and Canada under the conductorship of 

 Herr Nikisch. 



Mahler and His Eight Svmphoxies. 



M. Jean Chantavoine contributes to the first 

 October number of La Revue a sympathetic article on 

 Gustav Mahler and His Symphonies. Mahler, who 

 died recently, was a great conductor as well as a 

 composer. When he was studying at Vienna he was 

 too poor to pay for a seat at the theatres and 

 concerts, and it is said that he heard for the first 

 time a large number of well-known symphonies and 

 dramatic works when he came to conduct them ! He 

 composed eight symphonies. Characterising them as 

 a whole, three features, says the writer, stand out 

 conspicuously — their enormous dimensions (some of 

 them take an hour and a half to perform), the 

 importance of the orchestral apparatus, which includes 

 not only all the known instruments, but many which 

 are obsolete, besides bells, etc., and the frequent 

 union of the voice with the orchestra. From 

 Beethoven's " Choral Symphony" Mahler claims to 

 have advanced in the footsteps of Liszt, who gave us 

 the Faust Symphony and the Dante Symphony, and 

 of Bruckner, who tacked the Te Deum on to his last 

 symphony^ The German folk-song of semi-Slav 

 Moravia and Bohemia plays the same part in 

 Mahler's works as the Tzigane melodies in the works 

 of Liszt. 



"My Time will Come!" 



In the Month for October, Mr. Edward F. Curran, 

 writing on Liszt, remarks what a number of eminent 

 musicians have hailed from Hungary — Joseph and 

 Michael Haydn, Hummel, Joachim, (ioldmark, Liszt, 

 besides instrumentalists and singers. As Liszt was 



first and foremost an ex[)crimentalist, it may be that 

 he will always be considered in that light. Some of 

 his Rha])sodies, howe\cr. are pretty sure of a 

 permanent place on the shelves of pianists ; but of all 

 his works, his songs, in the opinion of Mr. Curran, 

 run the best chance of surviving. Today there is 

 .still too much jircjudice and too much partiality for a 

 correct well-balanced judgment to be given ; but in 

 some quarters, where a few years ago his works would 

 not be listened to, there is every appearance of a 

 change of opinion. Perhaps his own prophecy may 

 yet prove true : " My time will come ! " 



The New London Museum. 



Mr. Guy Francis Laking contributes to the Art 

 Journal for November an article on the new London 

 Museum, now housed at Kensington Palace, and soon 

 to be opened to the public. Eventually, it is hoped, 

 a building more accessible may be acquired for this 

 collection of relics of the past. The object of the 

 trustees is rather to bring forward the less antiquarian 

 and the more popular features of London. In the 

 section devoted to costumes, for instance, eflbrts will 

 be made to give life to the various acquisitions. The 

 figures will be dressed and placed naturally in the 

 vitrines equipped to receive them, and there will be 

 furniture and other fittings of the day. Scenes will 

 be reconstructed as truthfully as possible, and genuine 

 antiquity will be suggested. Mr. J. Seymour Lucas's 

 collection of historical costumes has been secured, 

 and it is proposed to arrange everything chronologi- 

 cally as far as possible. Innumerable relics recovered 

 from the bed of the Thames — pottery, domestic 

 utensils, weapons, and appliances of all kinds — will 

 all be grouped in their respective periods. The 

 museum will in no way compete with the existing 

 museums. No rigid standard of craftsmanship will 

 be maintained, and things of no particular value 

 from an artistic point of view will often be acceptable 

 on account of their association with an era. The 

 trustees hope that collectors will render assistance by 

 filling up gaps which at first will be inevitable. 



A Collection of Mathematical Instruments. 

 Just as the man who loves violins longs to possess 

 instruments made by Stradivarius or Amati, the 

 collector of old mathematical and topographical instru- 

 ments is eager to discover instruments bearing the 

 initials " E. H.," because he know s that these letters 

 stand for Erasmus Habermehl, a consummate artist 

 and maker of such instruments. In the Art Journal 

 for November Dr. G. C. \\'illiamson describes a 

 collection of these treasures owned by the Strozzi 

 family, every instrument being the work of Erasmus 

 Habermehl. One instrument, a torquetum, w^as 

 designed to measure latitude and longitude ; another 

 was used to measure height ; a third was intended to 

 take the apparent height of the sun ; and a very 

 attractive instrument in the collection is the cylindrical 

 sundial. .\ll the objects are rare and very beautiful. 



