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74 opening phrase of the allegro, on the other hand,

four bars in length, is repeated, as the quotation given shows, three times on different degrees of the scale, a repetition which weakens and does not enforce its effect, and was of course eventually struck out.

The ' Skizzenbuch ' brought to light a mass of interesting material referring among otiiers to the Pianoforte Sonata, D Minor, Op. 31, to the sonatas for pianoforte and violin Op. 30, and the pianoforte variations in E Flat, Op. 35. The most interesting sketches are those referring to the piano and violin sonata in C Minor, and the solo piano- forte sonata in D Minor, the latter especially show- ing how completely in some cases Beethoven was from the outset master of his own purpose. Though the means by which he attains his end may not be at first perfectly clear, the essential characteristics of that remarkable sonata, its strongly dramatic effects and intensity of language, are as clearly stamped on the first preliminary sketch as on the printed page. In the C Minor violin sonata sketches we are made witnesses of a process of development at work in the artist's own mind, as again and again he erases from his notes traces of influences from which his own strong originality was so soon to free itself. The extracts are too numerous and also too lengthy for (juotation. Moreover, the ' Skizzenbuch ' has been twenty-three years before the public, and the matter it treats of is more or less familiar to all earnest- minded students of the art.

The ' Beethoveniana ' and ' Zweite Beethoveniana,' on the other hand, which each contain much valu- able material, are yet, for lack of translation, com- paratively little known in this country. The first of the two volumes was published so long ago as 1872, but it is only now, since the publication of the second volume, that any complete or com- preliensive view of different sketches relating to one time and to the same compositions has been rendered possible. What is more, the sketches published in these two volumes give us a tolerably complete picture of the whole of that period of Beethoven''s career in which the works we recognise as specifically Beetlioven were produced. Leonoka Youxg.

ETWEEN October 17 and February 18 last,— four months' time, — there were ninety-three performances of German Opera in two theatres in New York City, si,ty-four in one, and twenty-nine in another; and, in the whole season of 1887 to 188S, only two brief efforts at Italian and English Operas, as such, both of which were disastrous failures. The twenty- nine representations at the Thalia Theatre were, of course, of a lighter character than the sixty-four given at the Metropoli- tan Opera House, but were all in German, and by German artists, and adhered closely to the old favourite operas of Verdi, Flotow, and Meyerbeer. It must not be forgotten that number- less other renderings of lighter comic operas took place in other places throughout the city. Of the sixty-four representations at the Metropolitan Opera House, thirty-six were of Wagner's own composition, four of Beethoven's FiJclio, four of Gounod's Faust, four of Weber's KitryaiUhe, four of Spontini's Ferdinand Cortex, three of Haleny's Die Jiidin, seven of Nessler's Troinpcter von Sdkkingen, and two of Meyerbeer's Der Prophet. Of pieces never given before in America, Nessler's Trontpeter had seven repre- sentations, Wagner's Siegfried eleven, his GotterdSmtncrnng seven, Spontini's Ferdinand Cortez four, and Weber's Euryanthe four. The production of five such grand works for the first time, within less than three months, is an achievement in itself, almost pheno- menal, and indicates clearly how nearly exhaustless the energy and zeal of a management may be. When one adds to this that the enterprise of sustaining German Opera in New York is at the sac- rifice each year of from two to three thousand dollars apiece on the part of three or four score shareholders, it may be conceived what the interest in its success is.

Probably because of the furore created by Josef Hoffman's appearance, most of the musical ventures of the year were, financially, far from successful. Hoffman played three, four, even five times a week, for eight or ten weeks, with but small attendant expenses, and reaped a fortune. A species of insanity took possession of the American people, and the healthful progress of musical taste was entirely broken up for the season. Individual performers, whether in singing or playing, must be content with the proceeds of their vocation, as a livelihood, and not presume to appropriate all the earnings of the occasion to their own purses. Public performances, requiring a large number of participants, and a large outlay of money, time, and trouble for preparation, must liave large audiences at a low rate of admission, and must remunerate the performers at a proportionately low rate apiece, to cover all the outlay. To do this, the taste of the millions must be brought up, and the financial ambition of the few performers brought down. General culture in music and in singing has reached a higher point, and there are hundreds, even thousands, in private circles who sing the highest class of opera and oratorio music to very great perfection. We expect on the dramatic boards, with the fine performance of voice, the full assumption of the part ; we wish this luxury without the aid of Government treasuries or Stockholders' purses, and we think that in some measure we have attained it. Worte.