294 



The Review of Reviews. 



MUSIC AND ART IN THE MAGAZINES. 



Etchinus of Mr. Josei'h Pennell. 



Writing in the Canadian Magazine for February, 

 Mr. Britton B. Cooke draws attention to the work of 

 Mr. Joseph Pennell as an etcher and as an illustrator. 

 Mr. Pennell's " portraits of places " — New York sky- 

 scrapers, London scenes, etc. — are outstanding from 

 the rest of his work. He finds out the beauties of the 

 scenes and the atmosphere in which they lie, and 

 represents these. He does not make a sketch of the 

 subject and work it up afterwards in his studio. His 

 most beautiful etchings have been executed at street 

 corners. Three centuries ago Rembrandt became the 

 printer of his own work : the fa.stidious Whistler did 

 likewise ; and now Mr. Pennell is doing the same. 

 Mr. Pennell was born in Philadelphia, of Quaker stock. 

 New York has always been a source of delight to him, 

 and, as Marion Crawford once remarked, he has 

 " made architecture of the New York buildings ! " 



Gluck and His Portraits. 

 The February number of the Art Journal opens with 

 an article by Sir Claude Phillips on " Some Portraits 

 of Gluck." The portraits referred to are four, all by 

 French masters, and all representing the composer in 

 the full vigour of his late maturity. The famous bust 

 by Houdon was placed in the joyer of the Opera House 

 in the Royal Palace in 1778. It was left unharmed by 

 the conflagration which destroyed this old opera- 

 house, but only to perish in that which destroyed the 

 Grand Opera in the Rue Lepeletier in 1873. The 

 Louvre contains a fine marble copy of this fine work. 

 The painted portraits arc two by Duplessis, and one 

 attributed to Greuze. All belong to the years 1774-79, 

 and, adds Sir Claude, Houdon, Duplessis, and Greuze 

 have, by their consummate art, done as much as the 

 distinguished chroniclers of the eighteenth century and 

 the distinguished critics and biographers of the nine- 

 teenth century to enhance the glory of the German 

 master who revolutionised French opera. 



A Musical Despot. 

 [n a most interesting article contril)uted to the 

 Revue de Paris of February ist, M. Romain Rolland 

 tells the musical life-story of Frederick the Great. He 

 writes of the great King's early passion for music. 

 Music, then, was the King's best friend, the only friend 

 who had never deceived him, while his flute was called 

 " My Princess," and he vowed he would never ha\'c 

 any other love than this princess. Wc have an account 

 of the operas which were written in French by the 

 King. The Court poet translated them into Italian, 

 and another poet translated them from Italian into 

 German. 'I'hc King had no love for German poetry and 

 literature. Graun composed the music, for the King, 

 though a composer, had his limitations. Then came the 

 Seven Years' War, which entirely changed the nature of 

 the King. During the war he continued to play his 

 (lute, but before it was over he had become an old man. 

 His artistic sense seemed to become petrified. Worst 



of all, when he lost all real interest for music his musical 

 despotism survived. He became severe and tyrannical 

 with his musicians. One of the principals. La Mara, 

 once said she was unable to sing, and to punish her her 

 husband was imprisoned in a fortress. She persisted 

 that she was ill and unable to sing. Two hours before 

 the performance a carriage, accompanied by eight 

 horsemen, arrived at her door. The actress was in bed, 

 but the Captain who entered said he had orders to 

 take her dead or ali\e to the opera, and he would 

 carry her off with her bed. She was obliged to go and 

 to sing. M. Rolland pities the great but poor musicians 

 compelled to pass their best years at the Court, 

 especially Philip Emmanuel Bach and Franz Benda. 



A Choir of Lancashire Mill-Girls. 

 The Gentlemen's Concert at Manchester on 

 January isth enabled the public of that city to 

 realise the real significance and greatness of the work 

 being done amongst the girls of Ancoats by Miss Say 

 Ashworth, says a writer in the February number of the 

 Musical Times. Ten years ago she started with abso- 

 lutely raw material ; perseverance and a constant 

 pursuit of the highest ideals have enabled her to raise 

 a choir which, on .this occasion, was well worthy of 

 association with Sir Henry Wood. Among the works 

 given was Debussy's " Blessed Damozel," and this was 

 the first hearing of the piece in Manchester. There is 

 food for much thought in this juxtaposition of Lan- 

 cashire mill-girls, Rossetti's " Blessed Damozel," and 

 Debussy's elusive music, observes the writer. What 

 was the power that enabled these comparatively 

 untutored girls to give us the quintessence of such 

 subtle music } Why should they succeed where more 

 cultured folk entirely miss their way } Sir Henr)- Wood 

 stated it was the most beautiful performance in its 

 absolute truth and rightness that he had yet con- 

 ducted. One of the soloists, like the choir, was a 

 product of the competitive festival movement. 



The Oi'era King. 



Mr. Arthur Farwell contributes to the February 

 number of the American Review oj Reviews a short 

 article on Mr. O.scar Hammerstein, the American 

 impresario, who, in April, 1910, startled the world by 

 selling his Manhattan and Philadelphia Opera Houses 

 (the former opened in December, 1906, and the latter 

 in No\'ember, 1908) for something like two million 

 dollars, and agreed to withdraw entirely from the local 

 field of grand opera. W'nh the operatic anchor thus 

 weighed, he sailed, quite lilerall)-, in quest of new 

 worlds to conquer, and landed in London, where he 

 announced his intention of giving up-to-date opera. 

 As is usual with Mr. liammerstein's opera-houses, the 

 building was completed a few minutes before the 

 raising of the curtain on the first performance. If Mr. 

 Hammerstein has anything that can be regarded as a 

 fundamental principle of success, it is the use of a vast 

 deal of common sense — common sense based upon a 

 knowledge of common humanity. 



