OCR Text |
Show CONCERT HALL AND THEATRE Hj Thobo who attended thu lecture of B ; '"- ,Illl,1,nr(l loxt Friday night wero moro thnn pleased with the ovonlag's ,, entertainment. Mr. Hubbard hlmsolt Hj was entertaining and decidedly ro- B fieshlng In his clear denunciation ot K I Bonw or the weaknesses ot tho music al loving public. Mr. Alfred Bergen lllus- i tinted features of Mr. Hubbard's lec ture by Blnglng somo ballads and somo classical music. Ho possesses a good barltono voice which far excels anything which wo ordinarily havo , tho opportunity to hear. Assisting Mr. H Hnrgen was Mr. Charles Lurvoy, who m .' Is a most dovotcd student of tho pi B no, and who Is In ovcry way enthus- B ' lastlc about his work, Tho three' men aro earnest students of tholr respect-tvo respect-tvo arts ,all In tho field of music and dovotcd to tho olovatlon ot tholr sphoro ot action. Tho ovonlng, It must follow, was moro than ontortalnlng to nnyono who Is Interested in music. Mr. Hubbard as music editor ot tho Chicago Trlbuno occupies ono of tho most commanding positions as n -music critic in America. Ho Is more than that ,too. His devotion to lltorn-turo lltorn-turo has won for him nn art of ox-I'lcssion ox-I'lcssion that teaches. Ho says things In nn entertaining way, and has tho happy faculty ot emphasizing (the, valuable parts ot his discourse, iriieroforo, his attack on Insincerity In jjvrlticlsm of music nnd what ho terms tho InartlBtlcuoss ot tho American au-dlcnco, au-dlcnco, was wisely and effectively executed. ex-ecuted. Tho art ot delicately and sympathetically sym-pathetically picturing humorous conditions con-ditions in tho American musical world, and nt tho samo tlmo strongly striking at its weaknesses, characterized character-ized his lecture Often boforo, wc had read somo of his criticisms which had mado us wonder what sort of a man ho Is; when wo heard him tho other evening wo understood better bet-ter how ho had boon nblo to say so much ot an opera or a musical concert con-cert ,and to say things which wero truly interesting. One of the filings that ho most earnestly ear-nestly attacked was the demand ot American audiences to hear operas In their original language. Ho made clear tho fact that tho English tongue Is Just as good a medium to portray tho emotional valuo of music to an English audience ns Is the native na-tive tongue of the rouipositlonM Fly mai nu Interesting story thltr ,fact was brought home to the nudlenco, Ono story In particular shows this almost universally .American fault ' An Italian opera vrb-. being heard by n group of Italians who occupied a box well to the front of the house. When n sopnuia began n 1 beautiful aria the audience was spellbound;.' and tho Italians wero Impressed.-''. Thon enme tho tpnor, slngbug as merrily and ns cirneslly as (ho Italian tenors very well knowr.hpw.r The. Americana win transported, with the delightful, aria, the emotional valuqof thuinuslcof tho great human passions that wore being so strongly portrayed Hut the Italian group broke fortli In, to merry laughter, t which tho dignified American audience very rightfully took deplded umbrage, and deprecated deprecat-ed the unhollness ot tho European bores. In tho profundity ot ilgnornnco and insincerity of tho American audlenco au-dlenco could bo found no good excuse for tho loud laughter of tho'ltallans; yet tho Italians found much to disturb dis-turb their true appreciation ot tho soulful portrayal ot tho grand passions pas-sions of tho music; for the tenor, coming up behind tho soprano, saw a moBt disconcerting sight and loudly loud-ly beseeched his presumed lady love to "keop your face to tho audience; our hair Is coming down." Tho Italians Ital-ians could find no great emotion, other than a ridiculous fear on the part of the tonor that a stage calamity was about to befall the berolno; the Americans, though, wero most enthu sla8tlc about tho wonderful lntepro-tlve lntepro-tlve power of the i'iger Mr. Hubbard pointed cut tnat it would bo oVcr so much better to have tho Amu lean students, upon le turning home, sing grand opera tu Americans In tholr native tongue. Tho Interpretive value of English Is as great to English audiences as Gorman Gor-man Is to Gorman audiences. French operas when sung In Germany must be sung In German The same should hold truo In Amerlcn This frank do claratlon on tho part of such a critic as tho lecturer reveals tho sourco of his power; ho is honest in his convictions con-victions and Just to his art. Ho further fur-ther struck a most responsive chord In tho hearts of music-loving people of Logan who wero present when ho declared de-clared for porfect frankness on the pnrt of all as to whether or not they llko a given musical production. At tho conclusion of the lecture, Mr. Hergcn sang two or Ihreo old English ballads. Mr. Dorgen's voice is rich In quality lits power to express ex-press tho emotions of tho songs which ho sang denoted u studied effort ef-fort to bring out tho features of Mr. Hubbard's lecture. We have heard the prologue, to 11 I'agltaccl sung In Italian, oven, by men trnlned undor tho composer's direction; but Mr. Bergen mado 'us understand what It was' all about and accurately lnter-p'rofod lnter-p'rofod tho 6motlonnl Valuo of thu rinusc. o Jlth "Arinlo Liiurle,1 tho emotional vjilue ot the bnjilad, with tlio..quaitio.'i,of the music Itself, wag distinctly Interpreted nnow nnd In a milch belter way than wo hnd over hen.rd before. We .regret oqly that Mr. Bergen's wordstdld not stand out ns tlistlnctly a' hls""splendiil"""tones and. Interpretation; ,but our position In 'tjio lions may have prevented us hearing ns Others did, and robbed us nf,i,unx justness In making this criticism.- |