Music Books

On August 18, 1814, Admiral Cockburn, having returned with his fleet from the West Indies, sent to Secretary Monroe at Washington, the following threat: SIR: Having been called upon by the Governor-General of the Canadas to aid him in carrying into effect measures of retaliation against the inhabitants of United States for the wanton destruction committed by their army in Upper Canada, it has become... more...

I CHOPIN THE GREATEST GENIUS OF THE PIANOFORTE Leipsic, the centre of the world's music trade, exports about one hundred thousand dollars' worth of music to America every year. I do not know how much of this sum is to be placed to the account of Chopin, but a leading music dealer in New York told me that he sold three times as many of Chopin's compositions as of any other romantic or... more...

INTRODUCTION My friend the publisher has asked me to tell you what I know about Old Fogy, whose letters aroused much curiosity and comment when they appeared from time to time in the columns of The Etude. I confess I do this rather unwillingly. When I attempted to assemble my memories of the eccentric and irascible musician I found that, despite his enormous volubility and surface-frankness, the old... more...

By Sir John Burtonhead. [Listen]   LL Christians and Lay-Elders too,For Shame amend your Lives;I’ll tell you of a Dog-trick now,Which much concerns you Wives:An Elder’s Maid near Temple-Bar,(Ah! what a Quean was she?)Did take an ugly Mastiff Cur,Where Christians use to be.Help House of Commons, House of Peers,Oh now or never help!Th’ Assembly hath not sat Four Years,Yet hath brought forth a... more...

Wagner Wagner's music, more than any other, is the sign and symbol of the nineteenth century. The men to whom it was disclosed, and who first sought to refuse, and then accepted it, passionately, without reservations, found in it their truth. It came to their ears as the sound of their own voices. It was the common, the universal tongue. Not alone on Germany, not alone on Europe, but on every... more...

About the sweet bag of a beeA chieftain to the Highlands boundAe fond kiss, and then we severAgincourt, AgincourtAh, my swete swetyngAlas! my love, you do me wrongAllen-a-Dale has no faggot for burningAll in the Downs the fleet was moor'dAll ye woods, and trees, and bowersAnd did you not hear of a jolly young WatermanAn old song made by an aged old pateA parrot from the Spanish mainArm, arm, arm,... more...

CHAPTER I. WHAT THE FACE TELLS. "And the light dwelleth with him."—Daniel II: 22. Once a master said to a child: "If thou wilt study diligently, learn, and do good unto others, thy face shall be filled with light." So the child studied busily, learned, and sought how she could do good unto others. And every little while she ran to the glass to see if the light was coming. But at each... more...

APOLOGIA IT may reasonably be asked by what authority a mere landsman publishes a book on a nautical subject. I may, therefore, plead in extenuation that I have all my life been closely connected with seafaring matters, especially during childhood and youth, and have literally 'grown up with' shanties. My maternal ancestors followed the sea as far back as the family history can be traced, and... more...

CHAPTER I The attempts to instil the elements of music into Charles Dickens when he was a small boy do not appear to have been attended with success. Mr. Kitton tells us that he learnt the piano during his school days, but his master gave him up in despair. Mr. Bowden, an old schoolfellow of the novelist's when he was at Wellington House Academy, in Hampstead Road, says that music used to be... more...

PREFACE The following rhythmic plays compiled by Mr. John N. Richards of the Newark Department of Physical Education have been devised to meet the needs in the transition of Physical Education activities between the kindergarten and the first few years of the primary school. The physiologist tells us that the nervous organism of early childhood is injured by the strain of strict, immobile attention... more...