Show CLASSIC KUSIC It is a fact that not everybody has an ear for music JJ This may be disputed but its truth cannot be overcome over-come It is also a fact and one which cannot be denied that a great many people manifest the outward evidences of ecstasy over musio who have no = musio in the soul Both these assertions were too plainly proven at the Theatre last evening Of course that was a musicloving audience If anybody male or female fe-male hadnt been a lover of music he or she wouldnt have spent money and time merely for the sake of patronizing the Theatre There was enthusiasm in the audience that is to say all those people were there who go wild with delight as they drink in delicious strains Doubtless twothirds of the audience could tell all about the music of Schumann and Liszt and Rubenstein and Beethc I J ven and Chopin and Gluck and I Bach and Schubert and all the other famous composers and distinguished distin-guished pianists Anybody would gfeel feel offended to be told that he j was not an ardent admirer of all these worldfamed people and their classic work Now how many of that intelligent audience really understood un-derstood the music or could tell that the performer was one of the most expert ex-pert and gifted pianists on earth If Joseffy had been announced as John Smith and he and his instrument hidden from view where his skill in fingering was invisible how many j could have told that his selections were from Liszt or Schumann or that his performance was extraordinary extraordi-nary Yet there is no question as to Joseflys ability as a pianist some going so far as to pronounce i him and his performances phenomenal i phenom-enal Ae very nearly the entire audience seemed to be in the same Ij boat we believe no one will be offended of-fended if we refer to a startling exposure ex-posure of ignorance that took place at the close of the performance It was in this that with remarkably few exceptions the audience did not know when the entertainment was concluded though everybody bad a plainly printed programme giving the names 01 the pieces and compose com-pose re The programme was arranged ar-ranged in divisions and subdivisions and during the first part these were distinctly marked by the performer arising at the conclusion of each selection se-lection and bowing acknowledgments amid vociferous and of course intelligent intelli-gent applause 80 long as Josefiy did this the deaf could follow him < Via the programme But he fin I 1 > c I ally got into the way of leaving out I the punctuation as it were playing two selections together without hyphenating hy-phenating them by rising from the chair In this way the audience was misled for notwithstanding notwith-standing its knowledge of classic musio when Joaefiy began on a selection selec-tion from Schubert and closed with one from Schumann the listeners gave Schubert credit for the whole In this manner the audience did not keep the place in the programme and when the performer bowed himself him-self ofi the stage at the close of tie entertainment the people in front sat there looking inquiringly into each others faces wondering if the performance was over if they had beard all the divine music for the evening yet not daring to move for fear of exposing their ignorance When this condition of things had existed long enough to i become painful it dawned upon the i company that the end had been reached and the entertainment was at an end when they hastily left the building some of them wondering wonder-ing if they really did know anything of music and the honest among them acknowledging at least to themselves their complete ignorance ignor-ance The mathematics of the people had been correct but their music was bad In other words they knew bow to read and count but not bow to distinguish between the Schu bertLiszt Barcarolle and Chopins Concerto No 2 in F minor or between be-tween Liezts brilliant fantasia on the Ruins of Athene II and the Khap eodie Hongroise No3 u The real truth IB that about nine out of ten people who profess a love for music that goes beyond the simple airs and melodies of childhood days and who are enthusiastic in their I praises of the classic compositions like i those of last evening are deceiving others if not themselves Their gush is pure affectation and displays dis-plays the vulgar est sort of ignorance I I It may be fashionable but it is foolish |