26 



T H 1-: C U B A R E V 1 E \V 



CUBAN MUSICIANS AND THEIR WCRK 



VIOLA UNKNOWN DISCIPLINE IN ORCHESTRA ABSENT NO PROTECTEE 



ORGANIZATION EXISTING 



Leonard L. Vosburg, of the American 

 Federation of Musicians, writes an inter- 

 esting letter to the International Musician 

 concerning orchestral music in Culia. He 

 says : 



"At my first orclu-stra rehearsal in Ha- 

 \ana there were tliirty-nine musicians in 

 the i)it. Eight of them were on "percus- 

 sion.' Nineteen of them had violins in 

 their hands. Three of them were equipped 

 with rotary valve E flat alto horns, and, 

 my interpreter tells me, they would play 

 my French horn parts. All the clarinets 

 — there were four — were 'C instruments. 

 There was one five-string contra bass and 

 one three-string, which made a good 

 average in this important section. There 

 was one 'cellist (a Mexican), and one 

 man to play the flute parts, who was 

 equipped with a Db band piccolo only. 

 And one lone cornetist who had an Amer- 

 ican cornet. 



"The 'percussion' end of the orchestra 

 was the first to be dealt with, and to say 

 the least, they were interesting. One of 

 them had a bass drum which was over 

 20 inches in diameter, and to beat it he 

 had a hollow gourd. This gave a fair 

 tone, too, but the man and his equip- 

 ment were absolutely incapable of produc- 

 ing but one variation of volume, and such 

 a thing as pianissimo or a sforazando was 

 impossible. This latter characteristic I 

 found to be universal with the whole or- 

 chestra. The others had a cymbal with 

 a wire beater, a triangle whfch would 

 weigh at least two and a half pounds: a 

 one-headed snare drum, two very ancient 

 looking tympani — a man for each ; and 

 the other two had an assortment of hollow 

 gourds which were elaborately carved and 

 upon which they produced some very 

 queer tones by scraping them together or 

 scratching upon them with small pieces of 

 wire. 



"The viola is almost unknown here, but 

 two of the violinists played from a A'iola 

 part, which produced surprising results in 

 some of the passages. This orchestra, 

 which is in the largest theatre in Havana 

 ("Theater Payret), is considered very -fine 

 here, and they play opera for the numer- 

 ous Spanish and Mexican repertoire com- 

 panies which come here. They can at 

 least play in tune, notwithstanding some 

 of the queer tones they get. Some of the 

 violinists show excellent schooling, but 

 absolutely no real theatrical experience, 

 from our American viewpoint. 



"Discipline in the orchestra is very con- 



spicuous b}- its absence. At ))erformances 

 the musicians stand up at will and watch 

 parts of the performance. They all 

 smoke cigarettes at all times. A stop 

 to assist one section of the orchestra 

 during rehearsal means that the majority 

 of the others will roll and light cigarettes, 

 and a consequent delay of from three to 

 ten minutes always. To get them to a 

 rehearsal at a given hour is absolutely im- 

 possible, and 1 always give them at least 

 a half hour leeway. During a performance 

 the conversation in the orchestra pit is 

 often so unbearable, that boys in the 

 gallery will shout 'Musica silencia!' The 

 musicians here are more independent than 

 anywhere else in the world, I belie\fe. In 

 Havana, with a population of more than 

 300,000, there are less than 100 'business 

 players,' and they constitute a law unto 

 themselves. 



"There is no union or other protective 

 organization of any kind among them, and 

 they work under what I would call the 

 'padrone system' entirely. This theater 

 orchestra here is controlled by a man who 

 is not a musician at all. but who has four 

 brothers in the orchestra. He engages 

 the men and contracts with the 'teatro 

 impresarios' to furnish them with an or- 

 chestra for a given amount, which is paid 

 during each and every performance. The 

 Cuban people do not trust each other for 

 a minute, and if the money for an en- 

 gagement is not paid into their hands be- 

 fore the performance is completed, it 

 never will be completed. 



"The individual pay varies from 40 cents 

 to $2. SO CSpanish silver) per performance. 



"The total cost of the orchestra here to 

 the theater managers is $.")0 per perform- 

 ance, and their agreement with the 

 'padrone' calls for not less than thirty- 

 two men. 



"During our first week here I had from 

 thirty-five to forty-five men in the pit, and 

 they explained it by saying that some of 

 them came in to 'practicar' (obtain ex- 

 perience). I soon determined that the 

 principal reason for the changes was that 

 they came to see the show, and I had it 

 stopped with but little difficulty. 



"T will say that these people are very 

 polite, deferential and hospitable, espe- 

 cially to Americans. Not because they 

 admire us so much, as for the reason that 

 Americans are superior to the Spaniards 

 in their treatment of the Cubans. They 

 recognize American justice and progres- 

 siveness, and are very quick to adapt new 



