I. When we try to picture to ourselves the intellectual and moral state of Europe in the Middle Ages, some fixed and almost stereotyped ideas immediately suggest themselves. We think of the nations immersed in a gross mental lethargy; passively witnessing the gradual extinction of arts and sciences which Greece and Rome had splendidly inaugurated; allowing libraries and monuments of antique civilisation to crumble into dust; while they trembled... more...

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 imperiously my duty, in conformity with the... more...

CHAPTER I. AS IT WAS IN THE BEGINNING. "The Organ breathes its deep-voiced solemn notes,The people join and sing, in pious hymnsAnd psalms devout; harmoniously attun'd,The Choral voices blend; the long-drawn aislesAt every close the ling'ring strains prolong:And now, of varied tubes and reedy pipes,The skilful hand a soften'd stop controuls:In sweetest harmony the dulcet strains steal forth,Now swelling high, and now subdued; afar they floatIn... more...

I. THE TITLE AND PURPOSE OF THIS BOOK My book, "How to Appreciate Music," in the chapter devoted to the pianoforte, contains a paragraph relating to the Pianola and its influence in popularizing music and stimulating musical taste. I confess that before I started that paragraph I was puzzled to know what term to use in designating the instrument I had in mind. "Mechanical piano-player" is a designation which not only does not appeal to me,... more...

THE EDUCATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE OF HELLERAU At Hellerau two things make an ineffaceable impression upon the mind—the exquisite beauty of movement, of gesture and of grouping seen in the exercises; and the nearness of a great force, fundamental to the arts and expressing itself in the rhythm to which they attain. Jaques-Dalcroze has re-opened a door which has long been closed. He has rediscovered one of the secrets of Greek education. A... more...

COWBOY YARNS The centipede runs across my head,The vinegaroon crawls in my bed,Tarantulas jump and scorpions play,The broncs are grazing far away,The rattlesnake gives his warning cry,And the coyotes sing their lullaby,While I sleep soundly beneath the sky. OUT WHERE THE WEST BEGINS OUT where the handclasp's a little stronger,Out where the smile dwells a little longer,That's where the West begins;Out where the sun is a... more...

CHAPTER IDICKENS AS A MUSICIAN 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 taught there, and that Dickens... 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 Whelp.One Evening late she... more...

EUGÈNE YSAYE THE TOOLS OF VIOLIN MASTERY Who is there among contemporary masters of the violin whose name stands for more at the present time than that of the great Belgian artist, his "extraordinary temperamental power as an interpreter" enhanced by a hundred and one special gifts of tone and technic, gifts often alluded to by his admiring colleagues? For Ysaye is the greatest exponent of that wonderful Belgian school of violin playing... more...

In Defence of Bad Taste In America, where men are supposed to know nothing about matters of taste and where women have their dresses planned for them, the household decorator has become an important factor in domestic life. Out of an even hundred rich men how many can say that they have had anything to do with the selection or arrangement of the furnishings for their homes? In theatre programs these matters are regulated and due credit is given... more...