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The Review of Reviews. 



MUSIC AND ART IN THE 

 MAGAZINES. 



The newest work on Mozart hails from France, and 

 is the joint production of M. Feodor de Wyzewa and 

 M. Georges de Saint-Foix. In the Correspondant of 

 April 10, M. Michel Brenet has an interesting article 

 on Mozart d. propos of this book. Born at Salzburg 

 in 1756, Mozart quitted it for Paris in 1777, where he 

 remained till 1781. He died in 1791 at the age of thirty- 

 five. The authors of the new book, which runs to 

 two volumes (923 pages, not including appendices), 

 deal with Mozart's works down to the time of his 

 departure for Paris, the first twenty years, the period 

 before maturity and his great masterpieces. The 

 plan adopted resembles that of a thematic and chrono- 

 logical catalogue, in which an analysis, with commen- 

 taries, of each numljer is included. The various 

 influences under which Mozart came are indicated, 

 and biographical and historical summaries are added. 

 Critics have divided Beethoven's life and works into 

 three styles, and ten styles have been allotted to 

 Palestrina, but the present authors have divided 

 Mozart's first twenty years and his 288 early com- 

 positions into thirty-four periods, some of which cover 

 only a few months and represent only one or two 

 works. Apparently the authors do not propose to 

 deal with his later works. 



A Singer of the Gerontius Music. 

 The career of Mr. Gervase Elwes is briefly sketched 

 in the Musical Times for May. Born in 1866, and 

 educated at the Oratory (Birmingham), Weybridge 

 and Oxford, Mr. Elwes left the university in 1888. 

 He married in 1889, and then studied for the diplo- 

 matic service, which he entered in 1891. But in 1895 

 he resolved to abandon this profession and remained 

 several years without any clear views as to his future. 

 Acting on the advice of a friend, who urged him to 

 study singing, he put himself under various teachers, 

 and only made his first professional appearance as a 

 tenor in 1903, when he was thirty-six. In the inter- 

 pretation of Brahms's songs Mr. Elwes is now an 

 acknowledged master. In 1904 he sang in " The 

 Dream of Gerontius " for the first time, and was an 

 immediate success in the part. Up till now he has sung 

 in the work no fewer than sixty-three times. His 

 singing is distinguished by much subtlety and refine- 

 ment, and the intellectuality and spiritual elevation 

 uf his interpretations fascinate his audiences, 



A Musical Centen.vrv. 



An article by Herr Wilhelm Klatte in the Garten- 

 laube, Heft 8, reminds us that April 26 last was the 

 centenary anniversary of the birth of Friedrich von 

 Flotow (1812-1883), the composer of " Martha," 

 " Stradella," and other operas. " Martha " was 

 produced at Vienna in 1847, but it did not reach this 

 country till eleven years later. The scene is laid in 

 England, and "The Last Rose of Summer" is intro- 

 duced into the score. " Stradella " had remarkable 



success at Paris, but when it was brought out in London 

 in 1846 it proved a dead failure. 



Rubens ,\nd His Two Wives. 

 In the May number of the English Illustrated Maga- 

 zine there is an interesting article by Mr. Evan Gray 

 on " Woman's Influence in the Life of Rubens." A 

 search in the records of the Antwerp Town Hall has 

 revealed the fact that Rubens was not only a painter, 

 but a great diplomatist, a friend and adviser of rovalt\! 

 and one of the most influential and highly-esteemed" 

 burghers of his day. Both of Rubens's wives were 

 daughters of prominent Antwerp burghers. His most 

 famous portrait of the first, Isabella Brant, hangs in 

 the Royal Gallery at the Hague. Other portraits or 

 pictures of her are to be seen at the Pinakothek, 

 Munich, and at the Hermitage, St. Petersburg. His 

 second wife was Helen Fourment, a beautiful girl, 

 who figures in many of his pictures. When she was 

 only twelve years old he chose her as a model for 

 the Virgin in " The Education of the Virgin," which 

 is one of the glories of the Ro\al Gallery at Antwerp. 

 The face of St. Anne in this picture is said to be that 

 of Rubens's mother. Rubens never tired of painting 

 Helen Fourment. He seems to have been singularly 

 happy with both his wives, and nothing is known to 

 have marred the harmony between the children cf 

 Isabella Brant and those of Helen Fourment. 

 The Moore Family of A,rtists. 

 Among English families who have done good service 

 in the world of art, the " Moores " of York hold an 

 honourable place, says a writer in the May number of 

 the Connoisseur. No fewer than six members of this 

 family have attained distinction as artists. William 

 Moore (1790-1851), the father, was a portrait-painter 

 of more than ordinary abilitv, and his five sons all 

 inherited his artistic talent. Edwin Moore and William 

 Moore, junior, were art teachers and painters of con- 

 siderable skill ; John Collingham Moore, a prolific 

 exhibitor in the Royal Academy, was well known for 

 his portraits and Italian scenes ; while Henry Moore, 

 the marine painter, and Albert Moore, the decorati\'e 

 artist, were among the greatest exponents of nineteenth 

 century art. 



The Four Elements in Art. 

 In the mid-May number of the Revue des Deux 

 Mondes M. Robert de La Sizeranne writes on the 

 French Salons of 191 2. One of the great imaginati\e 

 works of the present exhibition in Paris which he 

 singles out for special notice is that of M. Aman Jean, 

 entitled " The Four Elements," which is destined for 

 the Sorbonne. Hitherto painters have persisted in 

 giving figures to the four elements, Air, Earth, Water 

 and Fire, and it is surprising that it should ne\er 

 before have occurred to them to represent the elements 

 together by one single figure, a figure at once plastic 

 and picturesque, antitjue and modern — namelVja potter. 

 7'he potter working with the earth cannot gi\e it a 

 shape without water, he cannot preserve that shape 

 without fire, and without air there can be no fire. 



