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Title: The Mentor: Russian Music, Vol. 4, Num. 18, Serial No. 118, November 1, 1916
Author: Finck, Henry T.
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Mentor: Russian Music, Vol. 4, Num. 18, Serial No. 118, November 1, 1916" ***
THE MENTOR 1916.11.01, No. 118,
Russian Music
LEARN ONE THING
EVERY DAY
NOVEMBER 1 1916 SERIAL NO. 118
THE
MENTOR
RUSSIAN MUSIC
By HENRY T. FINCK
Author and Music Critic
DEPARTMENT OF VOLUME 4
FINE ARTS NUMBER 18
FIFTEEN CENTS A COPY
Several Natural Questions
Q.--How big is Russia, and what is its population?
A.--The area of Russia exceeds 8,660,000 square miles, or one-sixth
of the whole land surface of the earth. Its population is over
150,000,000--or at least it was so before the war.
Q.--How many famous Russian composers are there?
A.--Less than a dozen.
Q.--How old is Russian music?
A.--Less than 150 years. Catherine the Great (1761-1796) was one of the
first to encourage national music in Russia. Before her time the music
performed in Russia was imported, and was largely Italian. Catherine
caused productions of music by Russian composers. She supplied the
libretto for one opera.
Q.--What is the origin of Russian music?
A.--Both the music and literature of Russia had a common
origin--popular inspiration. The form and spirit of the music and
literature were drawn from the legends and primitive songs of the
people.
Q.--When did music in Russia become, in a real sense, national?
A.--Not until the first part of the nineteenth century. Composers had
been trying for fifty years to establish a national movement in music,
but it was not until the advent of Glinka and his opera, “A Life for
the Czar,” in 1836, that the Russian school of music can be said to
have been inaugurated.
Q.--Why were music and literature so late in coming to this great
nation?
A.--On account of physical and human conditions. Russia is and has
been a vast and absolute monarchy, consisting of millions of people
held in subjection and ignorance, and with only a few great centers
of civilization. Petrograd has been for years a city of brilliant
cultivation, but in contrast to that there are countless towns,
villages, and farms in which dwell millions of poor and ignorant
people. It is only within the last century that Russia has wakened
to a national consciousness and begun to shake off the grim, feudal
conditions of the Middle Ages. In this new era the voice of music is
first heard as a national expression.
[Illustration: MICHAL IVANOVICH GLINKA]
_RUSSIAN MUSIC_
_Michal Ivanovich Glinka_
ONE
Michal Ivanovich Glinka at an early age showed that he possessed two
characteristics that were to have a very important bearing on his
whole life--an extremely nervous disposition and a lively aptitude for
music. His grandmother, who was responsible for his early upbringing
and who was an invalid herself, encouraged the first; while his father
stimulated in the boy the second. Glinka, mollycoddled from childhood,
never wholly succeeded in throwing off an inherited brooding tendency;
but he became a wonderful composer and musician.
Glinka was born on June 2, 1803, at Novospassky, a little village in
Russia. His father was a retired army officer and not particularly well
off, but his mother’s brother was fairly wealthy, and often when the
Glinkas had an entertainment this brother lent them a small private
band which he kept up. It was to this early association with music of
the best class that young Glinka owed the development of his taste.
He spent his earliest years at home, but when he was thirteen he went
to a boarding school in Petrograd, where he remained for five years,
carefully studying music. It was in 1822, when he was only seventeen,
that he composed his first music--one of his five waltzes for the
piano. During these school years he paid attention to the other
branches of education also, learning Latin, French, German, English and
Persian, and working hard at the study of geography and zoölogy.
Glinka had a nervous breakdown in 1823, and he made a tour of the
Caucasus, taking a cure in the waters there. On his return home he
worked hard at his music, although as he had not then decided to devote
his life to a musical career, his studies were somewhat intermittent.
He went to Petrograd and took a position in the government department;
but in 1828 his family gave him an allowance and he decided to devote
himself to music alone. While at Petrograd he made many friends.
However, he saw that a round of pleasure did not aid him in his music,
so in 1830 he began his thorough musical education, leaving Russia for
Italy, where he stayed for three years studying the works of old and
modern Italian masters. His training as a composer was finally finished
in Berlin.
Glinka returned to Russia in 1833, and was soon the center of an
intellectual circle at Petrograd. It was one of these friends,
Joukovsky, the poet, who suggested that Glinka compose an opera on
the subject of the heroic patriotic deeds of the Russian hero, Ivan
Soussanin. Baron de Rosen wrote the libretto for this work, which was
called “A Life for the Czar,” and which was first performed on November
27, 1836.
The plot of this opera was based on the following story: In 1613 the
Poles invaded Russia and attempted to assassinate the newly elected
Czar, Michael Romanoff. The Polish leaders, however, did not know where
to find the Czar. Without letting him know who they were, they asked a
peasant, Ivan Soussanin, to guide them to the monarch. Ivan, however,
suspecting their designs, sent his adopted son to warn the Czar, and
himself led the Poles to the depths of a forest from which they could
not possibly find their way. The Poles, when they saw that they had
been deceived, killed Soussanin.
This opera was the turning point in Glinka’s life. It was a great
success, and in a way became the basis of a Russian school of national
music. The opera enjoyed extraordinary popularity. In December, 1879,
it reached its 500th performance, and in November, 1886, a special
production was given, not only at Petrograd, but in every Russian town
that had a theater, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of its first
performance. It was presented at two theaters in Moscow at the same
time.
Glinka had married in 1835, but misunderstandings arose which finally
ended in a separation some time afterward.
His second opera, “Ruslan and Ludmilla,” did not appear until 1842.
It did not appeal to the popular taste and was a dismal failure.
Glinka thought that it was superior to his first, and he was bitterly
disappointed at its failure.
In 1845 he made his first visit to Paris, and later he went to Spain.
After two years in that country he returned to Russia, where he spent
the winter at his home, and then went to Warsaw, remaining there for
three years. In 1852 Glinka started for France, paying another visit
to Berlin on the way. When, however, war broke out in the Crimea in
1854, he returned to Petrograd. While there he became interested in
church music. In order to study this type of music he went to Berlin in
1856. This was his last journey. Early in January, 1857, the composer
Meyerbeer arranged a special concert devoted to Glinka’s works. On
leaving the hall the Russian contracted a chill. He died on February
15, 1857. Glinka was buried in Berlin. Three months later, however, his
body was taken to its present resting place in Petrograd. A monument
was erected to his memory there in 1906.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 4, No. 18, SERIAL No. 118
COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
[Illustration: ANTON RUBINSTEIN]
_RUSSIAN MUSIC_
_Anton Rubinstein_
TWO
There has been a curious uncertainty as to the date of Anton
Rubinstein’s birth. He was born on November 28, 1829, but due to
a lapse of memory on the part of his mother, he always celebrated
his birthday on the 30th of November. He was the son of a Jewish
pencil manufacturer at Wechwotynetz, Russia, who later went to
Moscow. In his autobiography Rubinstein tells of this migration: “My
earliest recollections are of a journey to Moscow in a roomy covered
wagon, undertaken by the three families, with all the children and
servants,--nothing less than a tribal migration. We reached the city
and crossed the Pokròvski bridge. Here we hired a large house belonging
to a certain Madame Pozniakòv; it was surrounded by trees and stood
near a pond beyond the river Iowza. This was in 1834 and 1835.”
The mother of Rubinstein was an excellent musician, and she gave the
young boy his first music lessons. In addition he had as a teacher a
master of the piano named Alexander Villoing. To the end of his life
Rubinstein declared that he had never met a better master.
When he was only ten years old Rubinstein made his first public
appearance as a performer, playing in a theater at Moscow. Two years
later he went to Paris, and roused the admiration of Liszt and Chopin
by his playing.
After this Rubinstein traveled for some time in Holland, Germany and
Scandinavia. In 1842 he reached England, where he made his first
appearance, on May 20th. He made a brief visit to Moscow in 1843, and
two years later went with his family to Berlin, in order to finish his
musical education. There he made friends with Mendelssohn.
Then Rubinstein’s father died suddenly. His mother and brother were
forced to return to Moscow. Anton went to Vienna to earn a living.
For nearly two years more he studied hard there, and then went on two
concert tours through Hungary. The Revolution broke out in Vienna and
prevented his return to that city, so he went to Petrograd, where he
studied, composed and lived pleasantly for the next few years.
About this time he came near being exiled to Siberia through an
unfortunate error of the police. He was saved from this by his
patroness, the Grand Duchess Helene.
He composed several operas during the next few years; and he visited
Hamburg and Leipzig and then went on to London, arriving there for the
second time in 1857. He remained there for a short time and reappeared
the following year, in the meantime having been appointed concert
director of the Royal Russian Musical Society. In 1862 he helped to
found the Conservatory at Petrograd. Of this he was director until 1867.
Rubinstein then traveled for some years, visiting America in 1872--a
tour which brought him $40,000. So popular was his playing that he
was afterward offered $125,000 for fifty concerts; but he could not
overcome his dread of the sea voyage. He returned to Russia from
America, and after a short rest continued his concert tours. For the
remaining years of his life he lived in turn at Petrograd, Berlin, and
Dresden, devoting his time to concerts, teaching, and to composition.
In 1885 he began a series of historical recitals, which he gave in
most of the chief European capitals. Rubinstein died near Petrograd on
November 20, 1894.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 4, No. 18, SERIAL No. 118
COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
[Illustration: MODESTE PETROVICH MOUSSORGSKY]
_RUSSIAN MUSIC_
_Modeste Petrovich Moussorgsky_
THREE
Moussorgsky’s artistic creed might be summed up in one sentence--he
was devoted absolutely to the principle of “art for _life’s_ sake.”
This is quite the opposite of “Art for art’s sake.” Moussorgsky looked
on musical art not as an end in itself, but as a means of vital
expression. He was a full-blooded realist, and his music throbs with
life.
Modeste Petrovich Moussorgsky was born on the estate of his father at
Karevo on March 28, 1839. His father was a man of moderate means, and
the boy spent his first ten years in the country and in close touch
with the peasants. This early environment inspired his later feelings
of sympathy with the land and its people. Long before he could play the
piano he tried to reproduce songs that he heard among the peasants. His
mother was pleased at this, and began to give him lessons on the piano
when he was still a young child. At the age of seven he was able to
play some of the smaller pieces of Liszt. Sometimes he even improvised
musical settings for the fairy tales that his nurse told him.
In 1849 Moussorgsky and his brother were taken to Petrograd, where they
were entered in the military cadet school, for the boy was intended for
the army. At the same time, however, his parents allowed him to pursue
his musical education. Moussorgsky’s father died in 1853, and three
years later the youth entered his regiment. It was in 1857 that he
began to have a distaste for his military duties, and two years later
he resigned from the army. During the summer following his resignation,
however, he was unable to do any work with his music, as he was taken
sick with nervous trouble. Also from the time he left the army he was
never free from financial embarrassments.
Moussorgsky went to Petrograd, and he and five friends formed
themselves into an intellectual circle. He soon, however, began to feel
the pinch of poverty and was obliged to do some work of translation.
Later he even took a small government position. His mother died in
1865, and he wrote a song at the time which is now regarded as one
of his finest works. Toward the middle of this year he was once more
attacked by his nervous trouble. It was necessary for him to give up
his position and to go to live in the country. He improved gradually,
and during the next two years he wrote some songs which later attracted
some attention. Most of the year 1868 was spent in the country. In
the fall of this year he returned to Petrograd. He secured another
position, this one in the Ministry of the Interior. This left him with
some leisure, which he employed with his music. About this time he
began to work on the music of his opera, “Boris Godounov,” based on the
work of the dramatist Pushkin. This was first produced in Petrograd on
January 24, 1874. Shortly after he began to work on “Khovantchina,”
another opera, which had its first complete public performance in 1885
at Petrograd.
Shortly after the production of “Boris Godounov,” Moussorgsky began to
devote himself to the composition of songs, among which was the song,
“Without Sunlight,” and the “Songs and Dances of Death.”
Then Moussorgsky began to enter into a mental and physical decline.
He was low in funds, for the small salary derived from his
government position was insufficient for his needs. He began to play
accompaniments at concerts, but very little work of this kind was
obtainable. In 1879 he made a long concert tour in South Russia with
Madam Leonoff, a singer of repute. This was very successful. He did
very little work during the following winter; his health grew worse,
and he was forced to give up his government appointment. He lived for
a time in the country. At last it was necessary for him to enter the
military hospital at Petrograd, where he died on March 28, 1881. He was
buried in the Alexander Nevsky cemetery. Some years later a few friends
and admirers erected a monument over his grave.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 4, No. 18, SERIAL No. 118
COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
[Illustration: PETER ILICH TCHAIKOVSKY]
_RUSSIAN MUSIC_
_Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky_
FOUR
Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky in the first part of his life held an office in
the Ministry of Justice at Petrograd. While he was an excellent amateur
performer, he did not think seriously enough of his musical ability to
consider music as a career. It was Anton Rubinstein who induced him to
take up music as a profession.
Tchaikovsky was born at Votkinsk, Russia, on May 7, 1840. He was the
son of a mining engineer, who shortly after Peter was born removed
to Petrograd. The boy picked up a smattering of musical knowledge
as a law student. Then when he was twenty-two, Rubinstein, the
director of the conservatory at Petrograd, persuaded him to enter
it as a pupil. Tchaikovsky, therefore, resigned his position in the
Ministry of Justice and took up the study of composition, harmony, and
counterpoint. Four years later, on leaving the conservatory, he won the
prize, a silver medal, for his cantata on Schiller’s “Ode to Joy.”
In 1866 Tchaikovsky became professor of the history and theory of
music at the Moscow Conservatory, which had just then been founded by
Nicholas Rubinstein, a brother of Anton. For the next twelve years he
was practically first chief of this conservatory, since Serov, whom
he succeeded, never took up his appointment. While serving in that
capacity he wrote text books and made translations of others into
Russian.
At Moscow Tchaikovsky met Ostrovsky, who wrote for him his first
operatic libretto, “The Voyevoda.” The Russian Musical Society
rejected a concert overture by Tchaikovsky, written at the suggestion
of Rubinstein. In 1867 Tchaikovsky made an unsuccessful début as a
conductor. His star was not yet in the ascendant, for in 1869 his
opera, “The Voyevoda,” lived for only ten performances. Tchaikovsky
later destroyed the score of this work. The following year his operatic
production, “Undine,” was rejected. In 1873, at Moscow, his incidental
music to the “Snow Queen” proved a failure. During all this time the
composer was busy on a cantata, an opera and a text book of harmony,
the last of which was adopted by the authorities of the Moscow
Conservatory. He was also music critic for two journals.
Tchaikovsky competed for the best musical setting for Polovsky’s
“Wakula the Smith” in a competition, and won the first two prizes.
On the production of this in Petrograd, in November, 1876, however,
only a small measure of success was gained. A greater success came to
the composer with the production of the “Oprischnik.” From 1878 on he
devoted himself exclusively to composition.
On July 6, 1877, Tchaikovsky married. It was a most unfortunate match
and rapidly developed into a catastrophe. Tchaikovsky had too much
temperament--result, many stormy scenes. A separation occurred in
October. Tchaikovsky became morose, and finally left Moscow to make his
home in Petrograd. He fell ill there and attempted to commit suicide by
standing up to his chin in the river during a cold period. He had hoped
to die from exposure, but his brother’s tender care saved his life.
Tchaikovsky had begun work on the opera, “Eugen Onegin,” in 1877. This
work was produced at the Moscow Conservatory in March, 1879, and it was
then that real success first came to him.
In the meanwhile, however, Tchaikovsky went to Clarens to recuperate
from his illness. He remained abroad for several months, visiting Italy
and Switzerland, and moving restlessly from one place to another.
In 1878 he accepted the post of director of the Russian Musical
Department at the Paris Exhibition. He resigned this later on. In 1879
he wrote his “Maid of Orleans,” which was produced in 1880. During
the next five years he continued his travels, working all the time
at composition. For some time he lived in retirement at Klin, where
his generosity to the poor made him much loved. In 1888 and 1889 he
appeared at the London Philharmonic concerts. He also visited America,
conducting his own compositions in New York City at the opening of
Carnegie Hall in 1891. In 1893 Cambridge University made him a doctor
of music. In the same year he died from an attack of cholera at
Petrograd, on November 6.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 4, No. 18, SERIAL No. 118
COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
[Illustration: NICHOLAS ANDREIEVICH RIMSKY-KORSAKOV]
_RUSSIAN MUSIC_
_Nicholas Andreievich Rimsky-Korsakov_
FIVE
Rimsky-Korsakov was one of the many Russian composers who took up a
musical career after a future had been planned along the line of some
other work. In his case the Navy lost where music gained. Nicholas
Andreievich Rimsky-Korsakov was born March 18, 1844, at Tikhvin,
Russia. He had the good fortune to spend his early life in the country,
and at the same time to hear from infancy the best music. On the estate
of his father were four Jews, who formed a little band. This band
supplied music at all social functions that took place at the Korsakov
home. He began to study the piano when he was six years old, and three
years later he was improvising.
The boy’s parents, although they were glad to have him study music,
planned a naval career for him. When he was twelve years old, in 1856,
he was sent to the Petrograd Naval College. While studying there,
however, he continued his music. In 1861 he began to take his musical
studies very seriously. The following year, however, he had to conclude
his naval education with a three years’ cruise in foreign waters. When
this cruise was over, in 1865, a symphony that he had composed had its
first performance. This symphony bears the distinction of being the
first musical work in that form by a Russian composer.
In 1866 began Korsakov’s friendship with Moussorgsky, which lasted
until the latter’s death in 1881. From then on, for the next few years,
he worked hard at musical composition. It was during this time that he
first began to turn his attention to opera, of which “Pskovitianka,”
begun in 1870, was the first. In 1871 Rimsky-Korsakov was appointed a
professor in the Conservatory at Petrograd. Two years later he decided
to sever his connection with the Navy altogether. This year also saw
the beginning of his collection of folk songs, which were published in
1877. The year before this, Korsakov had married. His wife was Nadejda
Pourgold, the talented Russian pianist.
In 1874 the composer was made director of the Free School of Music at
Petrograd, which position he filled until 1881. His second opera, “A
Night in May,” was finished in 1878. He began another opera, “The Snow
Maiden,” two years later. His operas, however, always attracted less
attention abroad than his symphonies.
In 1883 he was appointed assistant director of the Imperial Chapel
at Petrograd. This post was held by him for eleven years. Two years
later he was offered the directorship of the Conservatory in Moscow,
but he declined it. In 1886 he became director of the Russian symphony
concerts. Three years later he appeared in Paris and conducted two
concerts. He was enthusiastically received, and entertained at a
banquet.
In 1894 Rimsky-Korsakov gave up the assistant directorship of the
Imperial Chapel. He was now at work upon an opera in which the
element of humor predominated. This was “Christmas Eve Revels.” It
was produced at the Maryinsky Theater in Petrograd in 1895. Korsakov
continued to work at opera, producing, among others, “Sadko,” “The
Czar’s Betrothed,” “The Tale of Czar Saltan,” “Servilia,” “Kostchei
the Deathless,” “Pan Voyvoda,” and “Kitej.” His last opera, “The
Golden Cock,” was censored during the interval between its composition
and the composer’s death. It was not until May, 1910, that it was
produced at Moscow. It is supposed that chagrin at the fate of this
opera contributed to the suddenness of Rimsky-Korsakov’s death, which
occurred on June 20, 1908.
“In him we see,” says one writer, “the Russian who, though not by any
means satisfied with Russia as he finds it, does not set himself to
hurl a series of passionate but ineffective indictments against things
as they are, but who raises an ideal and does his utmost to show how
best that ideal may be attained.”
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 4, No. 18, SERIAL No. 118
COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
[Illustration: IGOR STRAVINSKY]
_RUSSIAN MUSIC_
_Igor Stravinsky_
SIX
Igor Stravinsky was a pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov. One day the young
composer played for his teacher a few bars of the music of one of his
ballets. The older man halted him suddenly: “Look here,” said he.
“Stop playing that horrid thing; otherwise I might begin to enjoy it!”
This ballet was one of the works that made Stravinsky famous. Igor
Stravinsky was born on June 17, 1882, at Oranienbaum, near Petrograd,
Russia. The date of his birth has been disputed, but this date is the
one given by Stravinsky himself. He was the son of Fedor Ignatievich
Stravinsky, the celebrated singer who was associated with the Imperial
(Maryinsky) Theater in Petrograd. Igor was destined to study law, but
at the age of nine he was already giving proofs of a natural musical
bent; and in particular he showed an aptitude for piano playing. To the
study of this instrument he devoted a great deal of time, under the
instruction of a pupil of Rubinstein.
In 1902, when Stravinsky was twenty years old, he met Rimsky-Korsakov
at Heidelberg--a meeting which marked an epoch in his life. The older
composer had much influence on the career of Stravinsky. Their views on
music differed greatly, however.
Stravinsky worked hard. He attended concerts, visited museums and read
widely. Rimsky-Korsakov, though alarmed at the revolutionary tendencies
of his pupil, predicted for him great success. During the years 1905
and 1906 Stravinsky worked at orchestration. At this time his friends
were members of the group surrounding Rimsky-Korsakov, including
Glazounov and César-Cui.
On January 11, 1906, Stravinsky married. Soon after his marriage he
finished a symphony which was performed in 1907 and was published
later. Following this, in 1908, came his “Scherzo Fantastique,” which
was inspired by a reading of Maeterlinck’s “Life of the Bee.”
When Rimsky-Korsakov’s daughter was married in 1908 Stravinsky sent his
composition, “Fire Works,” a symphonic fantasia, which, curiously, had
been submitted for the approval of an English manufacturer of Chinese
crackers. However, before the gift arrived by mail Rimsky-Korsakov
died. As a tribute to his master’s memory Stravinsky composed the Chant
Funèbre.
In 1909 Stravinsky wrote “The Nightingale,” a combination of opera and
ballet, based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale of the same name.
This was produced in 1914.
Then came the discovery of Stravinsky by the director of the Russian
ballet, Serge de Diaghileff. The young composer was commissioned
to write a ballet on a Russian folk story, the scenario of which
was furnished by Michel Fokine. Leon Bakst and Golovine, the scene
painters, collaborated with him. This ballet, “The Fire Bird,” was
finished on May 18, 1910, and produced three weeks later. This
production established Stravinsky’s reputation in Paris.
The second of his ballets, “Petrouschka,” was completed on May 26,
1911. It was first produced in Paris in the same year. The scene of
Petrouschka is a carnival. One of the characters is a showman, and in
his booth are three animated dolls. In the center is one with pink
cheeks and a glassy stare. On one side of this is a fierce negro, and
on the other the simple Petrouschka. These three play out a tragedy of
love and jealousy, which ends with the shedding of Petrouschka’s vital
sawdust. One critic has said: “This ballet is, properly speaking, a
travesty of human passion, expressed in terms of puppet gestures and
illumined by music as expositor. The carnival music is a sheer joy,
and the incidents making a demand upon music as a depictive medium
have been treated not merely with marvelous skill, but with unfailing
instinct for the true satirical touch. ‘Petrouschka’ is, in fact,
the musical presentment of Russian fantastic humor in the second
generation.”
“The Crowning of Spring” was composed during the winter of 1912 and
1913, and was produced both in Paris and London during the following
spring and summer.
Recently Stravinsky has composed several songs which are done in
the same spirit as that in which he wrote his compositions for the
orchestra.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 4, No. 18, SERIAL No. 118
COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
THE MENTOR · DEPARTMENT OF FINE ARTS · NOV. 1, 1916.
RUSSIAN MUSIC
By HENRY T. FINCK
_Author and Music Critic_
[Illustration: I. TCHAIKOVSKY]
[Illustration: ANTON RUBINSTEIN]
_MENTOR GRAVURES_
RUBINSTEIN
MOUSSORGSKY
TCHAIKOVSKY
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV
GLINKA
STRAVINSKY
Entered as second-class matter March 10, 1913, at the postoffice at New
York, N. Y., under the act of March 3, 1879. Copyright, 1916, by The
Mentor Association, Inc.
So far as the world at large is concerned, Russian music--which has
come so much to the fore in recent years--began with Rubinstein,
who lived till 1894. There was, indeed, one other composer of note
before him--Glinka--but Glinka’s music, though very popular in Russia,
remained almost unknown in other countries, whereas Rubinstein, and,
after him, Tchaikovsky (also spelled Tschaikowsky), conquered the whole
world.
Folk music, it is needless to say, flourished many centuries before
Glinka. Folk tunes are like wild flowers, and in all countries the
composers have heard the “call of the wild” and tried to woo these
flowers and bring them to their gardens. This is particularly true of
Russia, which has an abundance of folk songs that are unsurpassed in
beauty and emotional appeal; indeed, Rubinstein and another eminent
composer, César Cui (kwee), claim absolute supremacy for their country
in the matter of national melodies. The tremendous size of the Empire,
including, as it does, one-sixth of all the land on this globe, gives
scope for an unparalleled variety of local color in songs, suggesting
the great difference in costumes and customs. Asiatic traits are
mingled with the European. Many of the songs are sad, as is to be
expected in a populace often subjected to barbarian invasions, as
well as to domestic tyranny; but perhaps an equal number are merry,
with a gaiety as extravagant as the melancholy of the songs that are
in the minor mode. As a rule, Russian peasants seem to prefer singing
in groups to solo singing. There are many singing games; some of the
current songs are of gypsy origin; and we find in the collections of
Russian folk music (the best of which have been made by Balakiref
and Rimsky-Korsakov) an endless variety, devoted to love, flattery,
grief, war, religion, etc. Eugenie Lineff’s “Peasant Songs of Great
Russia” (transcribed from phonograms) gives interesting samples and
descriptions. Lineff’s choir has been heard in America.
[Illustration: SINGING AT AN OUTDOOR SHRINE]
[Illustration: RUSSIAN PRIEST CHANTING]
_Russian Choirs and Basses_
Church music is another branch of the divine art that flourished in
Russia before the advent of the great composers. Five centuries ago the
court at Moscow already had its church choir, and some of the Czars,
including Ivan the Terrible, took a special interest in the musical
service. Peter the Great had a private choir which he even took along
on his travels.
In 1840, the French composer, Adolphe Charles Adam, on a visit to St.
Petersburg (now Petrograd) found that church music was superior to any
other kind in Russia. The choir of the Imperial Chapel sang without a
conductor and without instrumental support, yet “with a justness of
intonation of which one can have no idea.”
A specialty of this choir, which gave it a “sense of peculiar
strangeness,” was the presence of bass voices that produced a marvelous
effect by doubling the ordinary basses at the interval of an octave
below them. These voices, Adam continues, “if heard separately, would
be intolerably heavy; when they are heard in the mass the effect is
admirable.” He was moved to tears by this choir, “stirred by such
emotion as I had never felt before … the most tremendous orchestra in
the world could never give rise to this curious sensation, which was
entirely different from any that I had supposed it possible for music
to convey.”
[Illustration: RUSSIAN ORGAN GRINDER]
Similarly impressed was another French composer, Berlioz, when he heard
the Imperial Choir sing a motet for eight voices: “Out of the web of
harmonies formed by the incredibly intricate interlacing of the parts
rose sighs and vague murmurs, such as one sometimes hears in dreams.
From time to time came sounds so intense that they resembled human
cries, which tortured the mind with the weight of sudden oppression and
almost made the heart stop beating. Then the whole thing quieted down,
diminishing with divinely slow graduations to a mere breath, as though
a choir of angels was leaving the earth and gradually losing itself in
the uttermost heights of heaven.”
_Italian and French Influences_
Like all other European countries, Russia more than a century ago
succumbed to the spell of Italian music. Young men were sent to Italy
to study the art of song, while famous Italian singers and composers
visited Russia and made the public familiar with their tuneful art. It
was under the patronage of the Empress Anna that an Italian opera was
for the first time performed in the Russian capital, in 1737. She was
one of several rulers who deliberately fostered a love of art in the
minds of their subjects. Under the Empress Elizabeth music became “a
fashionable craze,” and “every great landowner started his private band
or choir.” Russia became what it still is--the place where (except in
America) traveling artists could reap their richest harvests.
[Illustration: PLAYER OF REED PIPE]
The high salaries paid tempted some of the leading Italian composers,
such as Cimarosa (Cheemahrosah), Sarti, and Paisiello (Paheeseello), to
make their home for years in Russia, where they composed and produced
their operas. Near the end of the eighteenth century French influences
also asserted themselves, but the Italians continued to predominate,
so that when the Russians themselves--in the reign of Catherine the
Great (1761-1796)--took courage and began to compose operas, Italian
tunefulness and methods were conspicuous features of them.
_Glinka, the Pioneer_
The operas of Glinka, as well as those of Rubinstein and Tchaikovsky,
betrayed the influence of Italy on Russian music. Though not the
first Russian opera composer, Michal Ivanovich Glinka is the first of
historic note. Rubinstein goes so far as to claim for him a place among
the greatest five of all composers (the others being, in his opinion,
Bach, Beethoven, Schubert and Chopin), but this is a ludicrously
patriotic exaggeration. His master work is “A Life for the Czar,”
which created a new epoch in Russian music. The hero of the plot is a
peasant, Soussanin, who, during a war between Poland and Russia, is
pressed into service as a guide by a Polish army corps. He saves the
Czar by misleading the Poles, and falls a victim to their vengeance.
In his autobiography Glinka says: “The scene where Soussanin leads the
Poles astray in the forest I read aloud while composing, and entered
so completely into the situation of my hero that I used to feel my
hair standing on end and cold shivers down my back.” It is under such
conditions that master works are created.
[Illustration: ROMANTIC DANCE]
[Illustration: A MOUJIK (PEASANT) DANCE]
Although following the conventional Italian forms, “A Life for the
Czar” is in most respects thoroughly Slavic--partly Russian, partly
Polish. While composing the score he followed the plan of using the
national music of Poland and Russia to contrast the two countries.
In some cases he used actual folk tunes, including one he overheard
a cab driver sing. In other instances he invented his own melodies,
but dyed them in the national colors. As the eminent French composer,
Alfred Bruneau (bree´-no), remarked, “by means of a harmony or a simple
orchestral touch,” Glinka “could give an air which is apparently as
Italian as possiblea penetrating perfume of Russian nationality.” By
his utilizing of folk tunes in building up works of art--he did the
same thing in his next opera, “Ruslan and Ludmilla”--Glinka entered a
path on which most of the Russian composers of his time, and later on,
followed his lead; but his influence did not stop there. He was also
the pioneer who opened up the road into the dense jungle of discords,
unusual scales, and odd rhythms, which have made much of the music by
later Russian composers seem as if written according to a new grammar.
Furthermore, Rosa Newmarch, who is the best historian in English of
Russian opera, writes that “it is impossible not to realize that the
fantastic Russian ballets of the present day owe much to Glinka’s first
introduction of Eastern dances into ‘Ruslan and Ludmilla’.”
[Illustration: MICHAL GLINKA]
Clearly, Glinka was the father of Russian opera. He wrote some good
concert pieces, too.
_Rubinstein, the Russian Mendelssohn_
Anton Rubinstein is considered to have been, next to Franz Liszt, the
greatest pianist the world has ever heard. His technical execution
was not flawless, but no one paid any attention to that, because of
the overwhelming grandeur and emotional sweep of his playing. Like
Liszt, however, he tired of the laurels of a performer, his ambition
being to become the Russian Beethoven. He got no higher, however,
than the level of Mendelssohn. Both Mendelssohn and Rubinstein were
for years extremely popular. If they are less so today, that is owing
to the superficial character of much of their music. Yet both were
great geniuses; in their master works they reached the high water mark
of musical creativeness. Rubinstein is at his best in his “Ocean”
symphony, his Persian songs, some of his chamber works for stringed
instruments, alone or with piano, two of his concertos for piano and
orchestra, and his pieces for piano alone, the number of which is 238.
Among these there are gems of the first water.
[Illustration: PEASANT WITH ACCORDION]
A Rubinstein revival is much to be desired in these days, when so few
composers are able to create new melodies. When it comes, in response
to the demands of audiences, which are very partial to this composer,
at least three of his nineteen operas will be revived: “The Demon,”
“Nero,” and “The Maccabees.” Opera goers love, above all things,
melody, and Rubinstein’s operas, like his concert pieces, are full of
it. He was himself to blame for the failure of most of his operas, for
he stubbornly refused to swim with the Wagnerian current, which swept
everything before it. He hated Wagner intensely, yet he might have
learned from him the art of writing music dramas of permanent value.
Five of his operas are on Biblical subjects. They are really oratorios
with scenery, action and costumes. He dreamed of erecting a special
theater somewhere for the production of these “sacred operas,” as
Wagner did for his music dramas at Bayreuth; but nothing came of this
plan, and he became more and more embittered as he grew older, because
so many of his schemes failed.
Apart from their abundant melody there is nothing in Rubinstein’s best
works that fascinates us more than the exhibits of glowing Oriental and
Hebrew “coloring”--as we call it for want of a better word. He also
made excellent use of national Russian melodies, though not nearly to
the same extent as Glinka and his followers, the “nationalists.” Before
considering them it will be advisable to speak of the greatest of all
the Russian composers.
[Illustration: MUSIC AMONG THE LOWLY]
_Tchaikovsky, the Melancholy_
It is commonly believed that in music the public wants something
“quick and devilish”; but this is far from the truth. For social,
political, and especially climatic reasons, the Russians, with their
long and dreary winters, are supposed to be a melancholy nation. The
most melancholy of their composers is Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, and
of his works the most popular by far, throughout the world, is the
most lugubrious of them all, the heart rending “Pathetic Symphony,”
which is today second in popularity to no other orchestral work of
any country. “All hope abandon, ye who enter here,” might well be its
motto. More than any funeral march ever composed, it embodies, in the
_adagio lamentoso_, which ends it, the concentrated quintessence of
despair, “the luxury of woe.” It was Tchaikovsky’s symphonic swan song.
At the time of his death there was a rumor that he had written it
deliberately as his own dirge before committing suicide; but it is now
known that he died of cholera.
What endears the “Pathetic Symphony” to such a multitude of music
lovers is, furthermore, its abundance of soulful melody. This abundance
characterizes many of his other compositions. Indeed, so conspicuous,
so ingratiating, is the flow of melody in his works, that one might
think he was one of those Italian masters who made their home in
Russia. It must be borne in mind, however, that the Italians have
not a monopoly of melodists--think of the Austrians, Haydn, Mozart
(who was the idol of Tchaikovsky’s youth) and Schubert; the Germans,
Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, Wagner; the Frenchmen, Bizet and Gounod;
the Norwegian, Grieg; the Pole, Chopin. With them as a melodist ranks
Tchaikovsky, and this is the highest praise that could be bestowed on
him. The charm of original melody gives distinction to his songs, the
best of which are the “Spanish Serenade,” “None but a Lonely Heart,”
and “Why So Pale Are the Roses?”
[Illustration: STREET MUSICIANS]
[Illustration: THE MUSIC LESSON]
There is less of it in his piano pieces, but his first concerto for
piano and orchestra, and his violin concerto, have an abundance of it
and are therefore popular favorites--as much as his “Slavic March,”
his “1812” overture, and his “Nut Cracker Suite,” which is also full
of quaint humor, and which had the distinction of introducing a new
instrument now much used in orchestras--the “celesta”--a small keyboard
instrument, the hammers of which strike thin plates of steel, producing
silvery bell-like tones. This suite consists of pieces taken from his
ballet of the same name.
Among his stage works are eight operas, only two of which, “Eugene
Onegin” and “The Queen of Spades,” have, however, been successful
outside of Russia; but in Russia the first named has long been second
in popularity only to “A Life for the Czar.”
_Moussorgsky and Musical Nihilism_
[Illustration: MODESTE PETROVICH MOUSSORGSKY]
One of the works most frequently performed at the Metropolitan Opera
House in New York during the last three seasons has been the “Boris
Godounov” of Modeste Petrovich Moussorgsky. It is concerned with
one of the most tragic incidents in the history of Russia. Boris
Godounov usurps the imperial crown after assassinating the Czar’s
younger brother, Dimitri. After he has ruled some years, he is driven
to insanity by the appearance of a young monk who pretends to be
Dimitri, rescued at the last moment and brought up in a monastery.
In setting this plot to music Moussorgsky adopted the principles of
musical “nihilism,” which consisted in deliberately disregarding the
established operatic order of things. The musical interest centers
chiefly in the choruses, leaving little for the soloists, apart
from dramatic action. Moussorgsky not only liked what was “coarse,
unpolished and ugly,” as Tchaikovsky put it, but he refused to submit
to the necessary discipline of musical training, the result being that
not only “Boris Godounov,” but his next opera, “Kovanstchina,” could
not be staged successfully until Rimsky-Korsakov had thoroughly revised
them, especially in regard to harmonic treatment and orchestration. The
charm of “Boris” lies in the pictures it presents of Russian life, and
its echoes of folk music.
[Illustration: PEASANTS IN MOSCOW
Listening to public band concert]
Of the songs by its composer few have become known outside of Russia.
Some are satirical--he has been called the “Juvenal of musicians”--and
it has been said of his lyrics in general that “had the realistic
schools of painting and fiction never come into being we might still
construct from Moussorgsky’s songs the whole psychology of Russian
life.”
_Rimsky-Korsakov and the Nationalists_
Moussorgsky and the man who helped to make his inspired but
ungrammatical works presentable to the world--Nicholas Andreievich
Rimsky-Korsakov--belonged to a coterie of composers known as the
nationalists. The other three were Balakiref, whose output as a
composer was small, but whose two collections of Russian folk tunes
are considered the best in existence; Borodin, who is best known in
this country through an orchestral piece called “In the Steppes of
Central Asia” and his “Prince Igor,” which has been produced at the
Metropolitan Opera House, and César Cui, who is more interesting as
a writer than as a composer. He has well set forth the tenets of the
“nationalists,” chief of which is that a composer cannot be a truly
patriotic Russian master unless he uses folk tunes as the bricks for
building up his works.
[Illustration: MILI BALAKIREF]
[Illustration: RIMSKY-KORSAKOV]
[Illustration: ALEXANDER P. BORODIN]
Because Rubinstein and Tchaikovsky did not do this to any extent
these nationalists looked down on them, and decried them as
cosmopolitans--belonging to the world rather than to Russia.
Rubinstein, who had a caustic pen, retorted by declaring that
the nationalists borrowed folk tunes because they were unable to
invent good melodies of their own. To a certain extent this was
true, but it does not apply to Rimsky-Korsakov, who is, next to
Rubinstein and Tchaikovsky, the greatest of the Russian melodists
and composers. Theodore Thomas considered him the greatest of them
all. With this opinion few will agree, but no one can fail to admire
the glowing colors of his orchestral works, the greatest of which
is “Scheherazade,” which is based on “The Arabian Nights,” and is
concerned with Sinbad’s vessel and Bagdad. Of his dozen or more operas
none has become acclimated outside of Russia. As a teacher he might
be called the Russian Liszt, because not a few of his pupils acquired
national and international fame; among them Glazounov, Liadov, Arensky,
Ippolitov-Ivanov, Gretchaninov, Taneiev (tah-nay-ev) and Stravinsky.
_Stravinsky and the Russian Ballet_
Four of the most prominent Russian composers have visited America:
Rubinstein, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and Scriabin. Rachmaninov,
the only one of the four still living, owed the beginning of his
international fame to the great charm of his preludes for piano.
Scriabin was one of the musical “anarchists” who now abound in
Europe--composers who try to be “different” at any cost of law, order,
tradition and beauty. One of his quaint conceits was an attempt to
combine perfume and colored lights with orchestral sounds. Musical
frightfulness is rampant in some of his symphonies, in which horrible
dissonances clash fiercely and “without warning.”
[Illustration: ALEXANDER GLAZOUNOV]
[Illustration: ALEXANDER SCRIABIN]
The latest of the Russians who has come to the fore--Igor
Stravinsky--also revels in dissonances, but in his case they are not
only excusable but even fascinating, because there is a reason behind
them. He uses them to illustrate and emphasize humorous, grotesque or
fantastic plots and details, such as are presented in his pantomimic
ballets, “Petrouschka,” and “The Fire Bird.” There is an entirely new
musical “atmosphere” in these two works, and the public, as well as the
critics, have taken to them as ducks do to water. If the Diaghileff
Ballet Russe which toured the United States last season had done
nothing but produce these two entertainments, it would have been worth
their while to cross the Atlantic. They have made the world acquainted
with a Russian who may appeal, in his way, as strongly as Rubinstein
and Tchaikovsky. His latest efforts are reported to be in the direction
of the cult of ugliness for its own sake. But perhaps he will get over
that--or, maybe some of us will come to like ugliness in music as we
do in bulldogs. Opinions as to what is ugly or beautiful in music have
changed frequently.
[Illustration: CÉSAR A. CUI]
[Illustration: SERGEI RACHMANINOV]
_The Character of Russian Music_
The musical character of the great masters is unmistakable. When an
expert hears a piece by a famous composer for the first time he can
usually guess who wrote it. But when it comes to judging the _national_
source of an unfamiliar piece, the problem is puzzling. It is true that
Italian music usually betrays its country. Widely as Verdi and Puccini
differ from Rossini and Donizetti, they have unmistakable traits in
common. The same cannot be said of the French masters, or the German.
Gounod and Berlioz, both French composers, are as widely apart as the
poles. Flotow, who composed “Martha,” was a German, but his opera is as
utterly unlike Wagner’s “Tristan and Isolde” as two things can be.
The question, “What are the characteristics of Russian music?” is, for
similar reasons, difficult to answer. As in other countries, there
are as many styles of music as there are great composers. Moreover,
Rubinstein is less like any other Russian than he is like the German
Mendelssohn. If a “composite portrait” could be made of the works of
prominent Russian composers, it might, nevertheless, give some idea
of their general characteristics. Tchaikovsky’s passionate melody,
reinforced by inspired passages from Rimsky-Korsakov and by the tuneful
strains of Rubinstein, would give prominence to what is best in Russian
music. A more distinct race trait is the partiality of Russian masters
for deeply despondent strains, alternating with fierce outbursts of
unrestrained hilarity, clothed in garish, barbaric orchestral colors.
In startling contrast with the alluring charms of Rubinstein’s Oriental
and Semitic traits are the harsh dissonances of Moussorgsky, Scriabin,
and Stravinsky. Blending all these traits in our composite musical
portrait, with a rich infusion of folk-songs of diverse types, both
Asiatic and European, we glimpse the main characteristics of Russian
music.
[Illustration: MAKERS OF THE RUSSIAN BALLET
From left to right--Leonide Massine, dancer; Leon Bakst, costume and
scene designer, and Igor Stravinsky, composer]
_SUPPLEMENTARY READING_
A SHORT HISTORY OF RUSSIAN MUSIC _By Arthur Pougin_
THE RUSSIAN OPERA _By Rosa Newmarch_
THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF TCHAIKOVSKY _By Modeste Tchaikovsky_
ANTON RUBINSTEIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY
PEASANT SONGS OF GREAT RUSSIA _By Eugenie Lineff_
A HISTORY OF RUSSIAN MUSIC _By M. Montagu-Nathan_
_THE OPEN LETTER_
[Illustration: RUSSIAN BALLET
A scene from “Soleil de Nuit,” one of Serge de Diaghileff’s ballets.
The ballet was arranged by Massine, who occupies the center of the
group. The music is by Rimsky-Korsakov, and the scenery and costumes
were designed by Leon Bakst’s favorite pupil, M. Larionoff]
Russian composers of our time are in luck. A wealthy timber merchant
named Balaiev (bah-lah-ee-ev) appointed himself their special patron a
number of years ago. In 1885 he founded a publishing house at Leipzig,
and spent large sums of money printing the works of Russian composers
and financing productions of Russian music all over the world.
* * * * *
In America the missionary work has been carried on in a number of
ways. Rubinstein toured the States in 1872, and gave 215 concerts,
which created a tremendous sensation and drew attention to Russian
compositions. Tchaikovsky visited America as the special guest of
the festival given in celebration of the opening of Carnegie Music
Hall in 1891, and during his visit, many pieces of Russian music
were performed. Slivinsky, the pianist, made a tour of America, and
Chaliapin, the celebrated Russian bass, appeared for one season at
the Metropolitan Opera House. For several years the oldest orchestra
of America, the New York Philharmonic, had for its conductor one
of Russia’s leading musicians, Wassilly Safonoff, who frequently
introduced novelties from Russia into his programs. On a larger scale,
Russian standard works have been performed in New York City and on tour
in America, by the Russian Symphony Orchestra, which was founded in
1893 and conducted by Modest Altschuler.
* * * * *
During the 90’s, Mme. Lineff brought over the large Russian choir that
made Americans acquainted with their peasant songs and their unique
way of singing them. Then came the Balalaika Orchestra. The Balalaika
is the Czar’s favorite instrument, and the Imperial Balalaika Band,
which came to the United States by the Czar’s permission, devoted
itself largely to Russian folk music. Several of the numbers played,
especially the “Song of the Volga Bargemen,” made a sensational success
in concert. The Balalaika is used to accompany folk songs in the manner
of a guitar, but the Balalaika has a triangular body and only three
strings, which are made to vibrate like those of a mandolin.
And now we have the Russian Ballet, made familiar to the American
public by the famous dancer Pavlowa, and, within the last year, by the
Diaghileff Ballet Company, of which the leading spirits are Stravinsky,
the composer; Leon Bakst, the master designer, and Massine, the
accomplished actor-dancer. Surely the day of Russian music has come.
[Illustration: W. D. Moffat
EDITOR]
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are: American Lithographic Company, 52 East 19th Street, New York; C.
Eddy, L. Ettlinger, J. P. Knapp, C. K. Mills, 52 East 19th Street,
New York; M. C. Herczog, 28 West 10th Street, New York; William T.
Harris, Villa Nova, Pa.; Mrs. M. E. Heppenheimer, 51 East 58th Street,
New York; Emillie Schumacher, Executrix for Luise E. Schumacher and
Walter L. Schumacher, Mount Vernon, N. Y., Samuel Untermyer, 37 Wall
Street, New York. (3) That the known bondholders, mortgagees, and other
security holders owning or holding 1 per cent or more of total amount
of bonds, mortgages, or other securities, are: None. (4) That the two
paragraphs next above, giving the names of the owners, stockholders,
and security holders, if any, contain not only the list of stockholders
and security holders as they appear upon the books of the Company, but
also, in cases where the stockholder or security holder appears upon
the books of the Company as trustee or in any other fiduciary relation,
the name of the person or corporation for whom such trustee is acting,
is given; also that the said two paragraphs contain statements
embracing affiant’s full knowledge and belief as to the circumstances
and conditions under which stockholders and security holders who do
not appear upon the books of the Company as trustees, hold stock and
securities in a capacity other than that of a bona fide owner; and this
affiant has no reason to believe that any other person, association,
or corporation has any interest direct or indirect in the said stock,
bonds, or other securities than as so stated by him. Thomas H. Beck,
Publisher. Sworn to and subscribed before me this twenty-first day
of September, 1916; J. S. Campbell, Notary Public, Queens County.
Certificate filed in New York County. My commission expires March 30,
1917.
THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
52 EAST 19th STREET, NEW YORK, N. Y.
THE MENTOR
_TO ALL MEMBERS_:
The Editor’s lot is not always a happy one. There are, however, many
pleasures in the task that warm the heart.
Whenever I help you--help any of our members--it pleases me
tremendously--more, indeed, than anything else I do.
I am pleased now because I have secured for you a special concession. I
have succeeded in arranging with our Directors to permit you to enroll
your friends at special rates.
_Here is the Special Holiday Offer_:
1 Yearly subscription $3.00
2 One-year subscriptions 5.00
OR
1 Two-year subscription 5.00
BY THIS PLAN YOU SAVE $1.00
I assured our Directors that if we made this concession it would double
the number of Christmas sales. Therefore I ask your co-operation--I beg
you to send your gift subscriptions in at once.
W. D. MOFFAT, _Editor_
THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
52 EAST NINETEENTH STREET--NEW YORK, N. Y.
MAKE THE SPARE MOMENT COUNT
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Mentor: Russian Music, Vol. 4, Num. 18, Serial No. 118, November 1, 1916" ***
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