The connection of occultism with music was recently discussed by Mr. CYRIL
SCOTT in his interesting volume on Modernism in Music. It is satisfactory
to know that the subject is not to be allowed to drop. Grave discontent is
rife in orchestral circles at the monopoly enjoyed at spiritualist
_séances_ by the tambourine, and it is reported that Mr. ERNEST NEWMAN, the
distinguished and outspoken musical critic, will shortly deliver a public
lecture on behalf of the admission of other instruments to these mysteries,
and in particular the tuba. The claim of the tuba, Mr. NEWMAN holds, is not
only based on the profundity of its tones, but upon long literary
tradition. Nothing could be more conclusive than the reference in the old
Latin hymn:--
"Tuba mirum spargens sonum
Per sepulcra regionum."
It is anticipated that the discussion will be attended by Signor MARCONI,
Lord DUNSANY, Mr. YEATS and Lieutenant JONES, the author of _The Road to
En-Dor_.
* * * * *
Meanwhile the conflicting current of musical materialism is running strong.
_The Daily Mail_, always in the van of artistic progress, has espoused the
cause of the insurgent Georgians with intrepid zeal. Mr. JULIUS HARRISON is
extolled in a leading article for finding a theme for an orchestral work,
not in any of the misty or metaphysical abstractions which appealed to the
effete Victorian composers, but in plums. And, mind you, not Carlsbad, but
honest Worcestershire plums, without any Teutonic taint. Mr. JULIUS
HARRISON'S patriotic example is not likely to be lost on his brother
composers. Indeed it is asserted on credible authority that Mr. GRANVILLE
BANTOCK, who has completely forsworn all Oriental and exotic subjects, is
engaged on a gigantic symphony, with choral interludes, entitled "Yorkshire
Pudding;" and that Mr. JOSEF HOLBROOKE is collaborating with Lord HOWARD DE
WALDEN in a romantic historical opera in fifteen Acts called "From Woad to
Broadcloth."
* * * * *
Mr. BERNARD SHAW, who, it may be necessary to remind youthful readers, was
a musical critic on _The Star_ and _The World_ before he achieved fame as a
dramatist, has been causing his friends and admirers serious misgivings by
his article on Sir EDWARD ELGAR in a new musical journal, _Music and
Letters_. Sir EDWARD ELGAR has a great following; he has written oratorios;
he is an O.M.; yet Mr. SHAW salutes him as the greatest English composer,
the true lineal descendant of BEETHOVEN, one of the Immortals and the only
candidate for Westminster Abbey! To find Mr. SHAW taking a majority view is
bad enough; it is a case of proving false to the tradition of a lifetime--a
moral suicide. But why drag in BEETHOVEN? So left-handed a compliment
prompts the suspicion that, after all, what appears to be eulogy is in
reality nothing more than an essay in adroitly dissembled obloquy. _Mutatis
mutandis_, Mr. SHAW would not thank Sir EDWARD ELGAR for calling him, for
example, the Voltaire _de nos jours_. What he does enjoy is the frank
disparagement of Mr. WILFRID BLUNT, who describes him in the second volume
of _My Diary_, just published, as "an ugly fellow, his face a pasty-white,
with a red nose and a rusty red beard, and little slaty-blue eyes."
* * * * *
An interesting but, we regret to say, decidedly hostile estimate of
Mr. LLOYD GEORGE as a musician appears in the columns of a leading
anti-Coalition daily. The critic discusses the PREMIER both as vocalist and
instrumentalist, and in both capacities finds him sadly wanting. The volume
of his voice is small, the timbre is unpleasant, the production faulty and
the intonation far from pure. Admitting that Mr. LLOYD GEORGE has a certain
flexibility and facility common to all Welsh singers, the critic condemns
his habit of resorting to an emotional tremolo which frequently degenerates
into a mere "wobble." The PREMIER, he continues, shows agility and spirit
in florid passages, but his declamation lacks dignity and his articulation
is often indistinct. As a pianist he is equally unsatisfactory; his
repertory is extremely limited and he is quite unable to interpret the
complex harmonies of the Russian School.
* * * * *
A painful example of Mr. LLOYD GEORGE'S ignorance is forthcoming in the
astounding fact that he is, or was, under the impression that Karsavina was
the name of a town, and that the only musician of the name of Corelli was
the author of _The Sorrows of Satan_. The critic concludes with a masterly
analysis of the results of these short-comings on the vitality of the
Coalition Cabinet, already weakened by the withdrawal of Mr. BALFOUR, a
very sound and accomplished musician of the old school.
* * * * *