Fifty Years Of Music

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Fifty years of music

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K I K T Y Y K A II S K M 11 S I C

Till-: AUTHOR

FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

by
WILLIAM BOOSEY

ERNEST BENN LIMITED
LONDON: BOUVE1UK STREET, K.C.4

First Published

1931
Printed

in
Great Britain

CONTENTS

PAGE

FOREWORD ...... 9

PART I
The House of Boosey

CHAP.

I. BOOSEY & COMPANY AND THEIR BALLAD

CONCERTS 13

II. ROYALTIES TO COMPOSERS AND SINGERS 23

III. EARLY LAWSUITS .... 31

IV. GRAND OPERA AND SOME PRIMA DONNAS 39
V. OPERETTAS AND LIGHT OPERAS . . 46

VI. AMERICAN MEMORIES ... 54

VII. PARIS FIFTY YEARS AGO ... 59
VIII. GRAVE AND GAY IN THE MUSICAL

WORLD 65

PART II
The House of Chappell

IX. CHAPPELL & COMPANY AND THEIR

POPULAR CONCERTS ... 77

X. WILLIAM AKERMAN . . . .83

XI. MY CONCERT EXPERIENCES . . 89

xn. QUEEN'S HALL . . . . ' . 102

XIII. MUSIC PIRACIES .... 112

KANSAS CITY (MO.) PUBLIC LIBRARY

6 CONTENTS

XIV. GEORGE EDWARDES . . . .122

XV. COMPOSERS WHOM I HAVE KNOWN . 136

XVI. THE COPYRIGHT ACT OF 1911 . . 145
XVII. LIGHT OPERA : THE FRENCH AND

ENGLISH SCHOOLS . . . .158

XVIII. LIGHT OPERA : THE VIENNESE AND

AMERICAN SCHOOLS . . . 165
XIX. THE PERFORMING RIGHT SOCIETY AND

BROADCASTING .... 174

XX. SOME PIANISTS .... 180

XXI. FURTHER PERSONAL MEMORIES . . 186

XXII. AMERICA REVISITED , , , 191

EPILOGUE : MY GALLERY OF GHOSTS . . 194

INDEX 197

ILLUSTRATIONS

THE AUTHOR Frontispiece

FRIEDA HEMPEL, THE PRIM A DONNA, AND A

LITTLE FRIEND OF HERS . . facing page 38

THE AUTHOR, EXCHANGING A WORD WITH

MARY GARDEN ON THE FIELD OF WATERLOO 46

THOMAS PATEY CHAPPELL, WHO FOR MANY
YEARS DIRECTED THE DESTINIES OF
CHAPPELL & CO. ..... 82

F. PAOLO TOSTI, THE COMPOSER OF "GOOD-
BYE" AND COUNTLESS BEAUTIFUL AND
POPULAR SONGS 88

FRITZ KREISLER, THE EMINENT VIOLINIST . 102

FRANZ LEHAR, THE COMPOSER OF ^THE MERRY

WIDOW" AND OTHER FAMOUS LIGHT OPERAS 166

THE AUTHOR, WHO PUT UP AS A NATIONAL
CANDIDATE, ADDRESSING A POLITICAL MEET-
ING AT THE BYE-ELECTION AT TEWKESBURY
DURING THE WAR . . . . .190

TO

MY DEAR WIFE

FOREWORD

"THIS year, next year, some time, never." These
are the few little words that have recently been
causing me considerable perplexity. To be as brief
as possible, I have been asked to collect and publish
my musical reminiscences, the which cover a period
of fifty years, dating from January 1880 to the
present year of grace. To make my task more
difficult, I have kept no diary, and so cannot
specialise in dates. Obviously, then, the sooner I
take my task in hand the better.

I think I can give a fairly full summary of the
many musical facts and features with which I have
been associated, firstly at Messrs. Boosey's, and
secondly at Messrs. ChappelPs, whose chairman I
still am.

I do not wish you to look upon these reminiscences
as a history of fifty years of music. Treated from
such a point of view, they would probably bore
most of us to death.

I want you to consider that you and I are going
to have a chat about interesting things that have
happened in the world of light music during the
fifty years that I have been, naturally, a somewhat
prominent figure.

I am even prepared occasionally to digress if I
find you nodding, till I have been able to assert
my ability to keep you amused and awake.

We shall discuss grand operas, light operas,
concerts, serious and otherwise, publishing and

10 FOREWORD

performing rights in music, music piracies, and,
more particularly, the desperate and costly lawsuits
that have had to be embarked upon from time to
time to teach the hardened Philistines - and their
number is legion - that musical property is entitled
to the same legal protection as other property.

We have, further, to deal with the terrible inroads
that have been made upon composers* rights by the
invention of mechanical music. This new form of
music has made shocking havoc of the sale of the
composer's printed copy without any adequate
monetary compensation to the owner of the same.

One of the most potent factors in the future of
music has been the introduction of broadcasting,
which, so long as a reasonable sum is paid to the
composer for the use of his work, does make him
some amends.

Finally, I will endeavour as far as possible to give
an idea of the personality of some of the various
artistes I have met, both men and women, without
a knowledge of whom it is very difficult to appre-
ciate the world of music as it actually exists.

PART I
The Howe of Boosey

CHAPTER I

BOOSEY & COMPANY AND THEIR BALLAD
CONCERTS

IN 1880 I was just sixteen years of age. My uncle,
John Boosey, the director of the publishing depart-
ment of Boosey & Co., had adopted me, and had me
educated at the Charterhouse. Partly, perhaps, on
account of his already failing health, he was anxious
I should at once embark on a business career. John
Boosey had been for many years a conspicuous
figure in the music-publishing world. He knew very
little about music, but he had a fine taste for
literature. He was a man of exceptional ability,
and would no doubt have made a big position for
himself, no matter what business or profession he
had adopted.

It is curious to recall the circumstances which
eventually necessitated Messrs. Boosey & Co. giving
up their old-established book-publishing business
and devoting their time entirely to music publishing.

My great-great-grandfather was a parson. I
expect it was from him that I inherited the austere
side of my character. My great-grandfather was
originally a book publisher. His address was Pater-
noster Row. In the course of his business he had
occasion to import a great quantity of foreign music,
particularly operatic music, into this country. It
was about this time that Verdi was already becom-
ing famous by the production of his epoch-making

13

14 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

operas, II Trovatore and La Traviata, to mention only
two among a long series of remarkable successes.
Messrs. Boosey were the sole agents for these and
other Italian operas, the publishing rights of which
they controlled for this country. It was obvious
that here was an entirely fresh field for publishing
only waiting to be exploited. By degrees, therefore,
Boosey & Co. devoted less time and attention to the
literary side of their business, and, by the time they
settled down in their new home in Holies Street, the
whole of their efforts was devoted to the pushing
of their by now very remarkable musical catalogue.

Some time, however, after they had established
themselves as music publishers, they received
a severe check. They had always looked upon
themselves as owning the copyright for Great
Britain in these various foreign publications. Other
music publishers, no doubt jealous of their success,
questioned the validity of their title. It was claimed
that, under the then existing copyright law, the
works were non-copyright. The opera that was made
a test case of was Bellini's Sonnambula (Jeffrys v.
Boosey). The judge's ruling was against Messrs.
Boosey & Co. In consequence, Boosey & Co. not
only lost a very expensive lawsuit, but all their
valuable Continental copyrights into the bargain.
John Boosey, who had a considerable knowledge
of copyright law, always maintained he thought the
position might have been reversed on appeal. I
never went sufficiently into the subject to form an
opinion.

Meanwhile, it was evident Messrs. Boosey* & Co.
must build up their catalogue in another direction,
and John Boosey lost no time in shaping his musical
adventures afresh. He was one of the first, if not the
first, English publisher to publish cheap editions of

BOOSEY'S BALLAD CONCERTS 15

all the classical pianoforte music, thus bringing it
within reach of that public who had not had the
opportunity or perhaps money to buy it before.

As a matter of fact, at the time I am writing of,
most big music-publishing houses ran a musical
library, and any music required of a classical or
serious nature could always be obtained through
the same. There were many more music-publishing
houses in those days than we can find in London
to-day. The three leading houses were always
Boosey & Co., Chappell & Co., and Novello & Co.
Messrs. Augener and Schott represented important
foreign catalogues, and other prominent publishing
houses were Messrs. Hutchings & Homer; Ashdown;
Enoch; Cramer; Francis, Day & Hunter; Joseph
Williams, also Robert Cocks.

John Boosey, by way of striking out another new
line in publishing, decided to make a feature of
British ballads. The concerts were the outcome of a
chat between Madame Sainton Dolby and John
Boosey. The actual year of the first ballad concert
was 1867, but ballad concerts did not concern me
until I arrived at Boosey's in 1880. The concerts
were given at St. James's Hall.

St. James's Hall was owned by a private company,
but a great proportion of the shares were held by
the Chappell family. Thomas Patey Chappell, the
head of Chappell & Co., was chairman of the com-
pany, and his brother, Arthur, for many years
directed the Saturday and Monday Popular cham-
ber concerts, which were one of the most con-
spicuous musical features of the hall. John Boosey,
therefore, had to be content with concerts on a
Wednesday afternoon or evening, and his concerts
obviously were of a completely different character
from those run by Chappell's. John Boosey's object

16 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

in giving these concerts was to engage the best
ballad writers of the day, and also the best English
singers obtainable. By this means he obtained almost
a monopoly in this class of publication.

It would take far too long to give the names of
the various famous artistes, both vocal and instru-
mental, who appeared at these concerts, but in
passing I may mention, among others, Madame
Carlotta Patti, Miss Louisa Pyne, Madame Sainton
Dolby, Madame Antoinette Sterling, Madame Tre-
belli, and Madame Patey, who, with Weatherly and
Stephen Adams, godfathered "Children of the City,"

Eyes that never saw a meadow,
Hands that never plucked a flower,

were two of Weatherly's happiest lines. Sims Reeves
was, of course, the star turn. Other distinguished
artistes were Edward Lloyd, Foli, and Charles
Santley. Carlotta Patti had a very beautiful
voice and was a great artiste. Unfortunately she
was afflicted with lameness, otherwise it was the
opinion of a great many critics she might have vied
with her sister, Adelina, on the lyric stage.

Sims Reeves, of course, was always an enormous
draw - 1 should say he was the biggest draw as an
English artiste, whether for oratorio or popular
concerts, that our concert world has ever known.
The trouble was you never could tell whether he was
going to turn up. An impression on the part of the
public was that he did not take sufficient care of
himself. This is quite inaccurate. He was a most
careful man in his living, and, through the anxiety
of his wife, almost too much care was bestowed in
endeavouring to shelter him from every possible ill
or accident. I remember a very humorous incident

BOOSEY'S BALLAD CONCERTS 17

happening on one occasion. Sims Reeves was down
in the programme to sing for the first time a new
song, words by Longfellow, and I think music by
John Francis Barnett. The song had a most un-
fortunate title. Longfellow's two first lines began as
follows:

Stay, stay at home, to stay at home is best,
Home-keeping hearts are the happiest.

The moment Sims Reeves endeavoured to impart
these absolutely praiseworthy sentiments to the
public, a roar of laughter went all round the hall,
and he was compelled to come to a dead stop. He
looked round in amazement, and could not think
what had made people laugh. However, he was the
idol of the public, so they very speedily settled
themselves down and allowed him to tell them all
about the beauty and comfort of staying at home.
While on the subject of Sims Reeves, I may note that
Tennyson's poems were just becoming famous. Soon
after the publication of his "Maud, ' 'John Boosey sent
the poem "Come into the Garden, Maud" up to Balfe
and asked him if he would set it as a tenor song for
Sims Reeves. Needless to say, Balfe's inspiration
was a most happy one. Sims Reeves made a big hit
in the song, and it is still a classic ballad to-day. Of
course this all happened long before my time.

Another great favourite was Madame Antoinette
Sterling. Her musical education had probably been
very sketchy, but she had a gorgeous voice, and in
songs like Arthur Sullivan's "Lost Chord," the
Scotch song "Caller Herrin'," and "The Better
Land," by F. H. Cowen, she used to bring down the
house. Molloy and F. E. Weatherly's little gem of a
song, "Darby and Joan" was another great favourite.
If in a hundred years' time the whole world has not

BM

18 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

flown itself to death or motored itself to death - in
fact, is not a sheer tangled wreck, owing to the mania
for speed - some dear old gentlemen with a love for
antiquities and folk songs will unearth such a ballad
as "Darby and Joan" and discuss the marvellous
beauties of the folk songs of a generation ago.

Handsome Michael Maybrick, as is well known,
composed songs under the nom de plume of Stephen
Adams. He was particularly happy in the songs he
wrote for Edward Lloyd. "The Blue Alsatian
Mountains," "The Maid of the Mill," "The Star of
Bethlehem," and "The Holy City" are among the
many hits Edward Lloyd helped him to, "The
Holy City" sold by millions of copies in America*
This class of song was often, and I believe still is,
sung in the American churches. We must not forget
also Stephen Adams 5 famous song "Nancy Lee."
When Maybrick first brought it to John Boosey, it
had sentimental words. John Boosey said it must be
a sea song, and he was right. Some of us possibly
can still remember a very droll sketch by Du Maurier
in Punch, depicting an evening party at which ten
young baritones turned up, each armed with a copy
of "Nancy Lee." This, of course, was long before the
vogue for community singing. Maybrick used to
tell a very funny story against himself. He and
Molloy had been dining with John Boosey a little
way out of town. They talked so much that they
lost every means of conveyance home and had to
walk. Molloy mixed very little in the musical world,
so there is some excuse for what followed. Maybrick
had been singing at John Boosey's, and Molloy said
to him half way up to Town: "You have got a
splendid voice, Maybrick; what a pity you waste it
on those rubbishy songs of Stephen Adams'!" Both
gentlemen reached Town safely, so presumably no

BOOSEY'S BALLAD CONCERTS 19

blood was shed. After the sad tragedy of his brother's
death, Maybrick's appearances on the concert plat-
form were few and far between.

Molloy was a great raconteur. It was he who told me
the delightful tale of two bachelor friends who never
had a secret from each other. Suddenly one man, to
the great surprise of his friend, got married. He asked
his friend down to meet his wife. After dinner his
wife retired into the drawing-room, and the married
man said to his friend across the table: "Tell me, what
do you think of my wife?" "Well," said his friend, "I
don't like her!" "Neither do I," said the married man.

Another interesting remembrance was the way in
which Theo Marzials was discovered. He had pub-
lished his charming little ballad, "Twickenham
Ferry," on his own account at Messrs. Weekes in
Hanover Square. Randegger brought Marzials' song
and, last but not least, the new Welsh soprano, Mary
Davies, to John Boosey. He at once recognised the
charm of the composer, who often wrote his own
words, and the possibilities of thenewsoprano. Mary
Davies was engaged for the ballad concerts, and parti-
cularly in Marzials ' ballads became one of the principal
attractions. She had a keen sense of humour, also a
very refined and beautiful style in serious work. Her
rendering of "Rose Softly Blooming" and Mendels-
sohn's "Hear My Prayer" were perfection.

Diplomacy is a valuable quality in publishing, as
in most other walks of life. On one occasion when I
was away from Boosey's, Marzials sent up a manu-
script, "Never to Know." On my return, John Boosey
said: "That manuscript of Marzials is no good; send
it back." I looked at it and liked it, but I did not say
so. I used to casually play it at home. One morning,
John Boosey said: "What is that you are playing?"
444 Never to Know,'" I replied. "Have you sent it

20 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

back?" he enquired. "No," I said, "I have been too
busy." "Keep it," he said; "it will be a success."
And it was.

Marzials used to pretend his nationality was
obscure, as he was born in the train somewhere
between Paris and Brussels. I believe he was dis-
tantly related to the Brontes.

It is curious how, if a composer once loses touch
with his public, he never regains it, even if he
recommences to write as well as ever. Authors
probably suffer from the same experience. Marzials'
royalties on the sale of his songs dwindled by degrees
almost to nothing. His last letter acknowledging
a small cheque was quite in his old vein: "Thanks
for your cheque," he wrote, "it won't make me
much richer nor you much poorer, thank God."

Charles Santley was another favourite who had a
wonderful sense of humour. "The Vicar of Bray,"
"Simon the Cellarer," and "The Curate's Song" by
Gilbert and Sullivan were among his big successes.
No one ever sang Hatton's famous song " To
Anthea" as he sang it. "To Anthea" is probably
the most inspired English love lyric, both in respect
to its words and its music, that exists in the concert
world of England to-day. It is curious to note how
Hatton's songs now seem to be quite forgotten.
"The Wreck of the Hesperus" is another fine ballad
of his, which Santley used to made a big success
with. It is hardly eyer heard now.

Jack Foli was originally discovered, I believe, by
his wife, in California. He was engaged upon the
roughest work, but she heard him singing and brought
him over to Europe to be educated. He was a real
good-hearted fellow. I remember an occasion when
Vert, the then celebrated agent, had run a tour in
the provinces, for which Foli had been engaged.

BOOSEY'S BALLAD CONCERTS 21

Foli knew that the tour had been very unsuccessful,
but he did not learn it through Vert. When Vert
handed him his cheque for the tour, he tore it up and
threw it on the fire. I am reminded of another mu-
sician who twice did the same thing in connection
with myself. On two separate occasions I had bought
a light opera of Howard Talbot's (he will be re-
membered as the composer of The Chinese Honey-
moon). Both these other operas, however, were
total failures, and in both instances he tore up the
cheque we had sent him and refused to accept a
penny. Poor fellow, his real great stage success was
The Arcadians, written in collaboration with Lionel
Monckton. We must not forget, though, that his
Chinese Honeymoon ran for one thousand nights at
the Strand Theatre.

It is all important to find the right new song for
the right new singer. It is not so easy to make a suc-
cess as a newcomer at a ballad concert, and prin-
cipally for the reason that you only havethi^a-rwr
four minutes on the platform r --jdui!iBg~^ : B3ch time
you have got to get hold of your audience. Of
course, some newcomers are lucky enough to have a
new song in readiness for their first appearance
which is absolutely adapted to their style.

In this connection I am reminded of the occasion
when Alfred Scott-Gatty brought Plunket Greene to
me. Plunket Greene introduced the famous ballad
"Off to Philadelphia," and of course made an ex-
traordinary success immediately. We must not for-
get, also, that Plunket Greene is the author of a
delightful book on dry-fly fishing and its surround-
ings. It is entitled Where Bright Waters Meet.

Some new singers do not come to a concert al-
ready equipped, and in their case it is a question of
taking a lot of time and trouble to find a number

22 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

that really suits them. I had great difficulty in find-
ing a song for Muriel Foster. Her style was almost
too severe for an ordinary ballad concert. Another
artiste who wanted careful nursing was Susanne
Adams. Neither of these artistes could claim they
were handicapped by a poverty in good looks.
Anyhow, they were both happily placed at the finish.

Kennerley Rumford's first success at the ballad
concerts was made in a burlesque version of "Long
Ago in Alcala," from Messager's Mirette. He followed
this up with Maude White's "Three Little Songs."

I used to find ballad concerts handicapped by it
being necessary so very frequently to repeat the
same songs and solos over and over again. I oc-
casionally introduced a totally different element into
my programmes. On one occasion, Violet Cameron
sang Tosti's "Good-bye/' Edna May also sang a
ballad. The concert artistes, I am afraid, were scan-
dalised. On another occasion a noted prima donna
wrnte me a most indignant letter, because a bril-
liant light-opera artiste appeared in the same pro-
gramme as herself! I wrote and said I regretted her
distress, but that at all events the light-opera artiste
sang absolutely in tune. I heard no more.

Among the humorous incidents of the old ballad
concerts I notice that an unfortunate baritone, by
name Alfred Moore, apparently always sang the
last item on the programme, and, by a cruel shaft of
satire, almost always seemed to sing the song with
the, under the painful circumstances, distressing
title of "Fly Not Yet." Imagine the unhappy public,
after three solid hours of ballad singing, being
requested by the last artiste on the programme
to "Fly Not Yet. 5 ' I have no doubt a large number of
them did fly before he sounded his imploring note.

CHAPTER II

ROYALTIES TO COMPOSERS AND SINGERS

ONE of the greatest difficulties in the early days of
music publishing was to know how adequately and
fairly to pay a composer for his successes and to
mitigate one's loss in the event of a failure. Many
instances occurred of the purchase of valuable copy-
rights, particularly operas, at the price of a mere
song, the which works often resulted in a very big
profit to the publisher. On the other hand, the pub-
lisher would pay a heavy price for subsequent
works the purchase of which would result in a dead
loss. These results were obviously unsatisfactory
both to composer and publisher.

Two of the most noteworthy instances on record
were in connection with two of the most popular
operas ever written. The whole of the publishing
rights in Gounod's Faust were acquired by Messrs.
Chappell for a sum round about 100. It is true that
Faust was not a pronounced success at its first pro-
duction in Paris. It was Henry Chorley, the well-
known critic and librettist, who always insisted that
Faust was bound to become a big favourite with the
public. Thomas Chappell had immense difficulty in
securing its production in London. Would-be critics
insisted there was only one striking melody, "The
Soldiers' Chorus," in it. Thomas Chappell happened
to know it was the late Queen Alexandra's favourite
opera, and it was only his tact and insistence on this

23

24 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

point that enabled him to place the opera with the
two rival London opera managers of the day, Gye
and Mapleson.

Gounod's next opera was Mireille. John Boosey
paid 1,000 for it. The music was delightful, the
libretto impossible. The purchase was a melancholy
one for Boosey & Co.

The other instance was Lecocq's La Fille de Ma-
dame Angot. Messrs. Boosey & Co. paid round about
100 for the whole of the publishing rights in this
opera. It was, of course, a gold-mine. Lecocq's next
opera was entitled Pompon, named after the curious
little knob that some French infantry regiments
wore upon their casquettes. One thousand pounds
was paid by Boosey's for this opera, and the opera
was absolutely stillborn.

If I remember rightly, Madame Angot, a classic
in light opera if there ever was one, was refused in
Paris, and was ultimately first produced in Brus-
sels. I believe that Les Cloches de Corneville, by
Planquette, had a similar experience. The most
experienced of theatre managers may make mis-
takes. Bizet's immortal opera Carmen was quite a
failure upon its first production in Paris, The Merry
Widow, Lehar's masterpiece, had a peculiar send
off. It was ^produced by the Direction of the
Theater an der Wien as a stopgap. The management
had no belief in it. The Press was less than luke-
warm. But the public took to the opera immediately.

I remember Lowenfeld standing up in the dress
circle of the Prince of Wales' Theatre after the dress
rehearsal of Audran's La PoupSe, and saying he
would sell the whole production, lock, stock, and
barrel, for 500. Not that Lowenfeld was a manager
of experience. Perhaps for this reason he loved to
have a little argument with his public on a first

ROYALTIES TO COMPOSERS AND SINGERS 25

night. Another production of his certainly did not
please his first-night audience. He asked his audi-
ence what was the matter with it. A wag in the
gallery replied it was "made in Germany."

I must confess I most strongly deprecate any
speeches from the stage on a first night. The custom
is constantly abused. It only panders to an hysterical
element in the gallery. One cannot be surprised if
one occasionally hears a voice from upstairs calling
out: "This is very slow, I am going home!"

Talking of opera composers, it seems pathetic to
think what enormous sums would have been netted
by composers such as Balfe and Wallace, had they
not lived, in a sense, so long before the time when
they might have come into their own.

New ballads were often in the same predicament
as new operas, so at last John Boosey, profiting by
experience, decided that the only fair course was to
pay composers a royalty upon all copies of their
works sold, something like ten per cent, on the
marked price of the copies. This was indeed a
revolution, but a well deserved one. In due course,
composers of position decided they would like to
have a sum down on account of their royalties, and
I certainly do not blame them. As soon as one
publisher initiated the royalty system, the other
publishers were naturally compelled to follow suit.

The royalty system is practically unknown among
French publishers. They generally pay the composer
a lump sum for so many performances of an opera.
They pay for each separate performance. The
French publishers also control the material, that is
to say the bnd parts, etc. These are only hired out
to the theatre manager, Choudens, the well-known
French publishers, must have made a fortune out of
the hiring of the material of Faust and Carmen.

26 FIFTY YEABS OF MUSIC

These two operas, and many more published by
Choudens, still bring in a handsome revenue.
Heugel, of Paris, is also equally well placed, he
being the publisher of practically all Massenet's
works, in addition to many other operas, which
help to make up the standard repertoire in France.

French publishers are not always too generous to
their composers. For some strange reason they have
always refused to make them any payment upon
the sale of discs of their compositions in connection
with mechanical music.

In this connection I was immensely struck by the
hardship experienced by a little Italian composer,
Silesu, with a composition entitled "Un Peu
d' Amour." His French publisher purchased all his
rights for all countries for 5. The French publisher
offered it to Chappell's on a royalty basis, 3d. a
copy, I believe, on all copies sold. It sold by thou-
sands. It was after this that I discovered the posi-
tion of the composer. I was so shocked - imagine a
publisher being shocked - that I gave him a volun-
tary royalty - 2 d. a copy, as far as I remember -
on all further copies of the little work sold in Great
Britain and America. I am glad to think that the
poor little composer even then received some
hundreds of pounds on the further sales of his com-
position.

In the old days the leading singers also received a
royalty for a term of years upon all new songs intro-
duced by them. Antoinette Sterling, for instance,
would have a royalty on "The Lost Chord' 5 of
Sullivan's, "The Better Land" of Cowen's, "Darby
and Joan" and "Love's Old Sweet Song," both by
Molloy. These are merely a few among her many
successes. There was a special reason for giving the
leading singers royalties, because if a leading

ROYALTIES TO COMPOSERS AND SINGERS 27

soprano, contralto, tenor, or baritone introduced a
new song at the ballad concerts, all the smaller
singers, according to their voices, would take up the
ballads made popular by the star artistes: After a
while, however, a certain W. M. Hutchinson ap-
peared on the horizon, and he saw at once, being
publisher and composer, that he could never get his
songs advertised through concerts under the big
ballad concert system. He therefore approached all
the smaller singers, and paid them so much a time
for so many concerts, provided they sang one of the
songs that he was pushing. The type of song that
Hutchinson wrote and published was much of the
same type that Lawrence Wright has made so popu-
lar to-day. It is a class of song that appeals to quite
a different public than the ordinary musical public,
who are specially catered for by the big publishers.

I was the first of the leading publishers to under-
stand immediately that this new system was going
to deal a severe blow to our old system, so, although
we still paid the big singers royalties, I set to work at
once subsidising the small singers in the same way
that Hutchinson did. Hutchinson often used to say
to me that art and he were strangers. I never dis-
puted the fact with him. But he was certainly a
very astute business man.

I believe Dame Clara Butt is almost the only
one, other than the artistes who preceded her, one
might almost say by a generation, whose marvel-
lous voice and strong personality compelled pub-
lishers to pay her a royalty in the same way that
royalties were paid to singers so many years pre-
viously,

It seems a strange thing, seeing that in these days
women can almost always do everything that a man
can do - and can very often do it better - that in

28 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

the realm of musical composition, although they
have been extraordinarily successful as song writers
and writers of dance music, they have practically
never produced an opera or big musical work that
has held the stage or concert platform. I approach
this subject with extreme trepidation, because I feel
somehow that Dame Ethel Smyth's penetrating eye
is focused upon me., I can almost hear her saying:
"What about me?" Granted she has gone much
further than most women; but, as a rule, success has
only come to the women who have written popular
songs.

Before I arrived at Boosey's, Claribel's songs,
although entirely unpretentious, were a household
word. So were Virginia Gebriel's. They must have
had a charm, as is witnessed by the big public they
commanded. Madame Sainton Dolby, in addition to
singing, used also to write ballads.

Coming to a later date, we of course have the
popular songs of Amy Woodforde-Finden. Her
"Indian Love Lyrics" have had an enormous sale
both here and in America. Liza Lehmann also had
frequent successes. Some of her concerted vocal
numbers in narrative form made an instant appeal.
She was very happy with some of her settings of
Lewis Carroll and other authors with rather a
similar sense of humour. Her "Persian Garden" of
course was a big success. I blush to say I refused it.

Prominent also among English women writers is
Maude Valerie White. There is, at times, something
intensely virile about her music, and, in addition to
being an admirable musician, she has an unfail-
ing command of dramatic melody. She has been
writing an opera for some years, but it has not yet
matured.

When I first came to Boosey & Co.'s, women

ROYALTIES TO COMPOSERS AND SINGERS 29

composers, and certainly new women composers,
had ceased to be plentiful. I came across Florence
Aylward through a chance MS. sent through the
post. One very rarely picks up anything worth
having submitted in this way. I gave Florence
Aylward the words of "Beloved, It is Morn" to set,
and it was her big success.

Another woman composer who had a very big
vogue was Hope Temple. She did not need dis-
covering, she was one of the most beautiful girls in
London. I found the words of u An Old Garden"
and sent them to her. It is very useful if you can hit
upon words which you think are adapted to a par-
ticular composer, and make good with them. Hope
Temple was very ambitious, and insisted on going to
Paris to study music seriously. It very frequently
happens that under these circumstances a composer
loses his or her natural gift of simplicity and melody.
She commenced her musical studies under Andr6
Wormser, the composer of the delightful L'Enfant
Prodigue. Sir Landon Ronald's brilliant rendering
of the music of this play at the piano will not easily
be forgotten by music lovers. Hope Temple subse-
quently studied under Andre Messager, and, even-
tually having married him, probably came to the
conclusion she had studied him or with him suffi-
ciently. I shall never forget my surprise at a musical
at-home given by the Messagers in Paris. Reynaldo
Hahn sat down at the piano and sang, in English,
Hope Temple's "Colin Deep." The words were
written by myself.

Madame d'Hardelot for many years had a whole
string of successes. Many Continental artistes of the
first rank have made a feature of her songs, and
naturally this sympathetic assistance has helped
very much to establish her reputation. One of the

30 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

most popular of her songs, "Because," was pub-
lished by Chappell & Co.

Another woman composer who has had very big
hits is Teresa del Riego. "O Dry those Tears" had
an immense sale here and in America. It only had
one verse when she brought it to me, but I explained
to her how easily she could add a second verse,
without which the song would have been too short
and slight to introduce at concerts. The song
"Homing," introduced by Madame d'Alvarez, was
another of her big successes.

The fact remains that women, except in the
lighter forms of music, have not been conspicu-
ously successful. I am not overlooking Chaminade,
with her delicate art and charm.

Women's limitations are equally marked in the
realms of poetry. An exception must be made,
however, in connection with Elizabeth Barrett
Browning's "Portuguese Sonnets," surely among the
most beautiful love-sonnets in our language.

CHAPTER III

EARLY LAWSUITS

MY experience of copyright lawsuits was not so
varied at Boosey 's as it was destined to become later
on at Chappell's. Not that John Boosey was a
pacifist. He loved a fight over a copyright. And -his
most devastating campaign was in connection with
Villiers Stanford. He had read in various newspapers
that Stanford was the coming English composer.
John Boosey delighted to back up the coming
man, a very spirited and correct frame of mind.
Stanford certainly came, but in not quite the fashion
that John Boosey contemplated.

One of my first publishing experiences abroad
was shortly after I came down from Charterhouse.
John Boosey read in the Press that Stanford's first
opera, The Veiled Prophet, had made a big success in
Hanover. I was promptly packed off to Hanover to
report upon it. I was so young that my elder cousin,
C. T. Boosey, was sent over with me to chaperone
me. When we arrived at Hanover, we found there
would be no further performances of the opera for a
week. If I remember rightly, the baritone had been
dining out somewhat frequently. Well, we made the
best of the situation. The same afternoon we visited
the Hanover Zoological Gardens. There we met
several English boys who were over in Hanover to be
crammed in French and German. Among them was
Charles Monckton, a younger brother of Lionel

31

32 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

Monckton, also at Charterhouse, who was destined to
be later on one of my most popular Chappell com-
posers, Charles Monckton and I shared the dis-
tinction of sitting at the bottom of the classical form
during the first term we were at Charterhouse.
Masters at classical schools such as Charterhouse
do not recognise any claim to intelligence on the part
of their scholars except through the medium of
Latin or Greek. Monckton during a short stay in
Hanover had perfected himself in French and
German. My classical education being very deficient,
my form master, Romanis, a delightful man other-
wise, satisfied himself I was equally foolish in other
educational directions. We read Shakespeare once a
month. One afternoon, when we were reading Julius
Ccesar, Romanis suddenly asked me: "Boosey, what
is the meaning of the line: 'Shall Brutus bootless
kneel 3 ? " I simply longed to say: " Without his
boots, sir," but, being at that time young and timid,
I gave him the correct answer. Later in the afternoon
he asked the form what was the difference between
the speeches of Mark Antony and Brutus. The class-
ical scholars did not know. It was an easy question.
I said: "Mark Antony appealed to their passions,
Brutus to their reason. 55 "Come up top, Boosey, 55 he
said. Once there, however, and classical authors
being restarted, I rapidly made my way down to the
bottom of the form again. I was really rather glad,
because Monckton honestly seemed to have missed
me, and was genuinely glad to have me back again.
When the examinations came on at the end of the
term, I obtained 98 points out of a possible 100
for the Shakespeare paper. I think Brutus's boots
must have pulled me through. I merely mention this
little incident to draw attention to some of the
peculiarities of a classical education.

EARLY LAWSUITS 33

Another humorous incident occurred at the same
time. I must note it before I forget it. I sent a little
poem to the Carthusian., the school paper. The
editor replied to me through the agony column:
"Poeta nascitur non fit." Even my scanty know-
ledge of Latin enabled me to perceive that the
editor thought none too well of me. Nothing
daunted, I sent the poem to the Weekly Graphic,
then edited by Arthur Locker, the father of poor
Locker who died the other day. A few days later a
little rosy- faced boy with black curly hair who was
at Gown Boys introduced himself to me, and said
his father had written to him to ask if I was one of
the masters or one of the boys. I should add that
the Graphic sent me a very pleasant little honor-
arium for my poem, the proceeds of which I rapidly
conveyed to the school tuck-shop.

Upon the night of Forbes-Robertson's representa-
tion of Hamlet at Drury Lane, his definite retire-
ment from the stage, some twenty old Carthusians,
among whom, for some obscure reason, I was pre-
sent, gave him a little supper at the Carlton Hotel.
On looking through the list of those present, I
noticed the name of my little friend Locker. I found
a big man with a black beard, but with the same
kindly face that graced him years before. He intro-
duced himself to me, said he easily recognised me
again, and we had a chat over old days. He himself,
as we all know, made a big position for himself in
the journalistic world.

To get back to music. I should add here that the
kindly German baritone had a second round of din-
ners, in consequence of which we stayed another
week in Hanover. I am not sure Boosey's did not
suspect us of taking the baritone out!

This is all a digression, you will say, and has

CM

34 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

nothing to do with lawsuits. I admit it. But I warned
you. Now to return to the dusty atmosphere of the
Law Courts.

Well, John Boosey asked what I thought of The
Veiled Prophet. I said it was a very effective opera,
but I did not see commercial possibilities in it. There
was one beautiful old Irish air in it, "Bendemeer's
Stream," delightfully handled by Stanford. John
Boosey said that if the opera was effective on the
stage, he was satisfied and would buy it. He did not
seem to take into account the fact that the central
figure, the Prophet, had to appear all through the
evening heavily veiled. So John Boosey went ahead.
He bought for a big sum Savonarola, Stanford's
next opera, and subsequently gave Gilbert a Becket
and Stanford a commission to write a third opera,
The Canterbury Pilgrims. This work was produced
by Carl Rosa at Drury Lane Theatre.

So far John Boosey had not heard a note of Stan-
ford's operas on the stage. He and I had the stage box
for the first performance of The Canterbury Pilgrims
at Drury Lane. In due course we listened to the over-
ture. John Boosey looked at me, I thought, rather
wistfully. "A little like Mozart," he said. "Yes, a
little," I replied, by way of cheering him up. Well, I
was never quite sure if it was Mozart or Stanford who
disappointed him. But he left the box quite early,
and did not appear again. Subsequently, Stanford
called on me at Boosey's, and said I should be glad
to hear that Frank was giving a series of opera per-
formances at Drury Lane in German, and was going
to produce Savonarola. I said I was very glad to
hear it; but that, of course, as he had already re-
ceived 500 when the opera was produced in Ger-
many, he would not expect a second payment of
500, which was due upon the first production of

EARLY LAWSUITS 35

the work in London. Stanford said he certainly did
expect the second 500. This was the subject of the
lawsuit. John Boosey had rather thoughtlessly made
the contract for the second payment to turn upon
the production of the opera in London and not in
English. A season of German opera had never been
given in London before, hence John Boosey's mis-
take. Upon this point he fought the action, and I
think quite justifiably lost it. I said to John Boosey,
however : "You have bought, at Stanford's re-
quest, the performing rights in the book. If Frank
wishes to produce the opera, you are entitled to
demand a sum for the performance of the libretto."
This perfectly fair demand was met by a refusal.
The judge's ruling was that the opera was of no use
to Stanford unless he controlled the libretto, which
we had paid for. I have always maintained that, had
this decision been taken to the Court of Appeal, we
had every chance of upsetting it. John Boosey, how-
ever, was so weary of the money spent, and the
worry of it all, that he decided not to appeal, and
that was the end of my first serious lawsuit.

The second lawsuit was of a lighter character. A
country manager called on me one day and said he
wanted to give a revival of Offenbach's Brigands in
the provinces. John Boosey had acquired the copy-
right of practically all Offenbach's operas. The Grand
Duchess, Trebizand, and many others. I told the
manager we were quite prepared to license the
Brigands, and that it had the inestimable advantage
of an English adaptation by the great W. S. Gilbert.
The contract was accordingly practically settled.
Meanwhile, I thought it would be very unfair to
Gilbert to produce a juvenile work of his after he had
justly acquired such a great reputation, so, although
we had bought all rights in his libretto, I wrote to

36 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

him explaining all the circumstances, and said if he
would revise his work, we would tear up the old
agreement and make any terms with him for the new
version that were fair and reasonable. Mr. Gilbert's
reply was characteristic:

"DEAR SIR" (he wrote me), -"You know per-
fectly well my version of the Brigands was never
intended for stage representation; it was only a
hack translation for copyright purposes, and I
shall always retain a vivid sense of your dis-
courtesy in not consulting me in connection with
your proposal to revive the work."

Obviously I had nothing to reply to this. Let the
good work proceed, said I. Incidentally, Mr. W. S.
Gilbert's statement was incorrect. No doubt he had
forgotten. His version of the Brigands had been
produced for a run in the provinces some time pre-
viously. I was able to produce the programmes of
these performances. Mr. Gilbert's next move was to
apply for an injunction to restrain us from pro-
ducing his version of the opera.

The application came before Mr. Justice Denman
late in the afternoon after a heavy day. I was very
dissatisfied with the way our case was presented by
a well-known Q.C. of his day. By the merest accident
Mr. Justice Denman said that the argument was
very complicated, and that he would take the case
the first thing in the morning. That delay just saved
us. I said to our solicitors, upon the adjournment,
that I could not permit the Q.C. to take our case into
court the following morning. My solicitors were
dumbfounded. "What are we to do?" they said.
"Such a situation has never arisen before." "I am
sorry," I said, "but it has arisen now. It is vital I

EARLY LAWSUITS 37

win this action. I wish the junior to take the case
into court." I insisted, and the necessary steps were
taken. The following morning, when we went down
to the Law Courts, a telegram awaited us from John
Boosey, who was very ill at the time. He said we
must settle with Gilbert at all costs. "What are we
to do?" said our solicitors. "All the expense has been
incurred," I said. "We will adopt John Boosey's
advice when the case has been heard." So we went
ahead, and we won hands down. John Boosey was
duly grateful. And, strange to say, the Q.C. was
sweetly amiable, and on a later occasion in the Law
Courts he invited me to tea with him. Needless to
say, I did not go, although I thanked him in my
best diplomatic manner.

Awkward situations often arise between counsel
and clients in the Law Courts. Some years later,
when I was fighting a desperate battle against the
music pirates in connection with copyright, our
counsel, who was a most gifted and brilliant man,
was not able to turn up in court on the most vital
day of our argument. He sent a demand for 40
as his refresher, although he was not there. I
refused to pay. "You can never engage him again
if you don't pay," said my solicitors. "I am terribly
sorry," I said, "but I won't pay" ; and I didn't.
There are certain traditions in the Law Courts
which it is very difficult for a layman to understand.
This was one of them.

To return to Gilbert. Only recently I turned up a
very charming letter from Sir Arthur Sullivan asking
if he could not mediate between us. I explained how
hopelessly impossible it was. Gilbert, having lost
his action, wrote to The Times saying it was very
unfair that Keen and Colman could protect their
mustards and that he could not protect his literary

38 FIFTY YEABS OF MUSIC

property. I replied to The Times that the only al-
teration I had made in his work was to cut out one
lyric. I asked them to print it, since he apparently
attached so much importance to it. This they did.
It really was a very bad, let us say sad, lyric. Gilbert
replied that, his work being a translation, he could
not be responsible for the gymnastics of the French
authors, Meilhac and Halevy. I am compelled to tell
this story as it happened. But I am equally com-
pelled to add, being in no hope of favours to come,
that no one has a greater admiration of Gilbert's
talent as a master of the art of writing lyrics than I
have myself. Thus ended my second important ex-
perience of copyright legislation and the Law Courts.

FRIEDA HEMPEL
THE PllIMA DONNA AND A 'FKIEND OF UE11S'

CHAPTER IV

GRAND OPERA AND SOME PRIMA DONNAS

I REMEMBER being present one day on the stage at
Drury Lane when Gus Harris was producing a new
melodrama. I forget for the moment the name of the
play, but it was the one that introduced the De-
fence of Rorke's Drift. I suddenly noticed Gus con-
ducting round the stage, with great cordiality, a
newcomer who was unknown to me* He was invited
to inspect the Maxim guns and all the other stage
properties that were to give an air of reality to the
mock combat that was to follow. On enquiry I
found that the newcomer was Harry Higgins. Hig-
gins, with Lady de Grey and other Society leaders,
was organising a syndicate that, under Harris' di-
rectorship, was to revive grand opera in all its former
splendour at one or the other of the national
theatres, Covent Garden or Drury Lane. If I re-
member rightly, Gus Harris for a short time ran
grand opera at both these theatres simultaneously.
It was the introduction to the British public of those
great artistes, Jean and Edouard de Reszke and
Planon. Also - although ladies should be mentioned
first - of Melba, Madame Emma Eames, Calv6, and
others. I am only mentioning a few prominent
names.

For some seasons, Harris, with Higgins 5 support,
kept this venture going by means of subscriptions
from all the most prominent members of Society.

39

40 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

It was the first serious attempt, since the rivalry
in the old days between Gye and Mapleson, to pre-
sent grand opera in London upon a grand scale.

We must remember that grand opera has never
received any Government support or subsidy in this
country. Grand opera could not exist in any of the
leading capitals of Europe without liberal State aid.

The latest suggestion of a subsidy from the State,
of 17,500 per annum, for the stabilisation of grand
opera in this country is, of course, an extremely
humorous one!

Higgins was at one time a Guardsman, and was
eventually a very prominent solicitor. He had a
pronounced sense of humour. On one occasion a
prima donna from abroad was asking him very high
terms for an appearance. Higgins, in the whisper of
a voice which he was compelled to make use of,
murmured in her ear: "We are only asking you to
sing, you know!"

When the Harris-Higgins combination faded
away, other brilliant seasons were given at Covent
Garden, many of them too recent to make it neces-
sary for me to give details of them. But their exist-
ence is generally limited to only twelve weeks in the
year. Opera on this scale has never been possible
for a longer term, and it remains very much a
fashion of Society, a hot-house plant. There has
never been a sufficiently large public in London to
support opera for any longer space of time. Of
course, the expenses were and are enormous, as also
are those of orchestral concerts generally.

Talking of grand opera brings my memory back
to poor Goring Thomas. He never contrived to have
either of his operas Nadeshda or Esmeralda pro-
duced during the grand opera season. They were
produced by Carl Rosa.

GRAND OPERA AND SOME PRIMA DONNAS 41

No amount of experience can guarantee you
against not occasionally missing a composer who is
destined to become popular. On the other hand,
some composers, through no apparent fault of theirs,
never attain the popularity their works entitle them
to. There may be causes and accidents beyond their
control.

Goring Thomas had a most refined and delightful
gift in composition. He had studied mostly in Paris,
and the school that influenced him was obviously the
French school of Massenet and his followers. Natu-
rally, he was not content to be merely a writer of
poetical imaginative songs, although they did,
and rightly, attain a wide popularity. I have only
to cite "A Summer Night" and "Time's Garden"
among the most prominent of them.

His whole thoughts were centred upon a success in
opera. Both his grand operas produced in London
only had a succds d'estime, and I think it broke his
heart. His first opera, Esmeralda, founded upon
Notre Dame of Victor Hugo, contained some de-
lightful music and a great deal of real poetry, the
libretto being by Theo Marzials. Georgina Burns,
Barton McGuckin, my old friend Ben Davies, and
Leslie Crotty were all in the caste. Nadeshda, in
which that very charming woman and admirable
actress, Madame Valleria, appeared, was even less
successful than Esmeralda.

It is true that this British soil is an arid soil for
the cultivation of grand opera in any case.

A short while before his last illness I offered
Goring Thomas, on behalf of Boosey & Co., a settled
income for three years, leaving it entirely to him to
devote himself to any form of composition he pleased.
Whilst very grateful for the offer, he said he could
not accept it. He would feel tied.

42 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

He was one of the most delightful and gentle of
men, the essence of courtesy and consideration for
all he met. He could not have had an enemy in the
world. He always reminded me in type of another
old friend of mine now dead, Sir Frank Dicksee.
In their separate arts they were equally first of all in
search of beauty, and the enemies of the affectations
that so often pass for art in this present day.

Prima donnas of distinction are always in one
sense or another interesting personalities. I re-
member the late Dame Melba once telling me
that I had no conception of the enormous power and
influence which a great prima donna exercised both
in the political, social, and financial world. I said
I quite appreciated that the position must be a very
commanding one.

One of the most remarkable instances of the
advent to fame in the case of a prima donna, in my
opinion, came with the first appearance in this
country of Madame Tetrazzini. She had sung for
some years in South America and in the Western
States with considerable success. I think I am right,
however, in saying that her first big European suc-
cess was made in England some years ago at Covent
Garden. The critics suddenly discovered that she
was another Patti, and such was the force of public
and musical opinion in this country that Tetrazzini
from that time forth did occupy the position of a
big prima donna, and, with it, all the commanding
influence that Melba stated to me appertained to
the distinction.

I can still just remember Madame Patti and
Madame Christine Neilson. I remember as a small
boy asking Josiah Pitman, at that time a well-
known factotum at Covent Garden, if he could let me
have two tickets to hear Patti at the opera. His

GRAND OPERA AND SOME PRJMA DONNAS 43

reply was very significant. "My dear boy/' he said,
"I cannot oblige you. You do not seem to realise
that Patti's notes are banknotes!" The last time
I heard Christine Neilson sing was at a concert at the
Albert Hall. I remember she walked up and down
the platform the whole time she was singing. It
seemed to give her more freedom.

I remember on one occasion a prima donna being
furious because she had paid for thirty bouquets to
be handed to her over the footlights upon a very
important first night of a new opera, and only
twenty-eight bouquets turned up!

Upon another occasion a very famous prima
donna arrived late for a rehearsal. The musical
conductor, also a very great man, was an autocrat.
"You are late, madame," he said. "Late," she
replied; "you forget I am a star." I suppose she
imagined it was the privilege of stars to be only
visible at a very late hour. The conductor replied,
witheringly, "Madame, the only stars I recognise
are those that are in heaven!" Many curious inci-
dents followed upon this first meeting.

Miss Mary Garden was another very interesting
personality. When I first met her she was possessed
with a desire to assume more liberal proportions
physically. Evidently she shares the opinions of the
witty Frenchman who stated that there were three
sexes: "L'homme, la femme, et la femme maigre!"
In our day la femme maigre has been taking pre-
cedence of la femme. I am all for la femme. It is so
long since I last met Mary that I am unaware if she
attained her ambition in this direction. She has
certainly attained it in other directions. In America
she is more than a prima donna, she is a director of
prima donnas and grand opera. She of course was
always an enormous favourite in Paris. It was not on

44 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

account of the quality of her voice, but because of
the artistry of her singing. In Paris they attach far
more importance to this quality than to the sheer
quality of the voice itself. It speaks much for their
artistic perceptions. I remember hearing Mary
Garden in Manon of Massenet's at Brussels. I have
never forgotten the impression she gave me of being
a very great comedienne.

I remember Tom Chappell once telling me that in
the old days, before my time, when Madame Grisi,
Mario, and Ronconi were enormously popular, they
had the greatest dislike of appearing at private
musical at-homes. I believe all three of them, by
way of putting a prohibitive price upon these en-
gagements, refused to appear at any of them for a
sum of less than 30 each for the evening. How these
conditions make us smile when we remember the
enormous sums that musical stars to-day command
when asked to appear at Society functions.

Madame Calv, of course, I know very well. She is
delightful company.

I also just remember hearing Madame Gallet
Marie at His Majesty's Theatre many years ago in
Carmen. She was the original creator of Carmen in
Paris. Naturally, her physical equipment when I
heard her was gravely impaired, but one could well
understand how it was she made such a big success
in this amazing r61e.

Destinn had a gorgeous voice, and was superb in
rdles like Madame Butterfly, although she was not
physically suited to the part.

As far as I can remember, the last concert I ever
gave at the Queen's Hall was a recital for Frieda
Hempel, unrivalled in her rendering of Mozart
operas.

Madame Nordica was another very beautiful

GRAND OPERA AND SOME PRIMA DONNAS 45

prima donna. Her husband went up one day in a
balloon and never came down again. I am perfectly
certain it was not because he had any wish to run
away from her.

I must not forget that delightful prima donna,
Jeritza, whom I met on one of my return visits from
America. She used to play a great deal of chess with
her husband, and it seemed to me she generally con-
trived to win. I came to the conclusion eventually,
however, that it was perhaps just the natural
chivalry of our sex - we being always prepared to
make any sacrifice so long as we can add to the
happiness and content of a pretty and charming
woman - that permitted of these victories.

CHAPTER V

OPERETTAS AND LIGHT OPERAS

IN my early days at Boosey's one of the most suc-
cessful composers of operettas was Edmond Audran.
Audran's operetta Olivette, which was a failure in
Paris, had been produced in London with an adapt-
ation by H. B. Farnie, and in it Florence St. John
made one of her early successes. H. B. Farnie had
the gift of turning many French operettas that were
comparative failures in Paris into London successes.
Audran's next success, published by Boosey & Co.,
was the famous La Mascotte. This piece ran for one
thousand nights in Paris, an extraordinary run in the
French theatrical world. The American Rose Marie
has recently had the same experience. The libretto
of La Mascotte handicapped its chance of success
in London; the subject was considered rather risqut,
but it came through all right. We were particular in
those days. The Comedy Theatre, in Panton Street,
had just been built, and Alexander Henderson opened
it with this production. Violet Cameron, who was at
that time the prima donna, made a great personal
success. I remember that after the first night of the
piece the first theatrical supper-party I ever at-
tended was one given by Alexander Henderson, the
then producer of all the light opera successes in
London. There were many charming women pre-
sent, including Violet Cameron, Florence St. John,
and the unapproachably lovely Kitty Munroe, one of

THE AUTHOR, EXCHANGING A WORD WITH

MARY GARDEN ON THE FIELD OB' WATERLOO

OPERETTAS AND LIGHT OPERAS 47

the sweetest and prettiest women that ever graced
the London light opera stage. There were also a
great many men of distinction at the supper-party,
an altogether different class of man to the men who
frequented similar supper-parties under the new
regimes which succeeded that of Henderson. Hen-
derson was a man of very superior manners, very
good-looking, and something of a sportsman also.
He was a good whip, and drove a coach and four.
H. Brougham Farnie, his lieutenant, who was re-
sponsible on the stage for all his productions, was an
extraordinary type. He had an intensely plebeian
appearance, but at heart was an absolute aristocrat
and Tory, It was he who dictated to Alexander
Henderson which French light operas it was neces-
sary to produce.

Lecocq I orily met once, I met him at the finish of
his career. I went to Brussels to see the first night
of his piece Ali Baba, which had a very good Press,
but was a hopeless failure.

These were the days, also, when Planquette,
Serpette, and others were writing. Serpette, a very
cultivated composer and good musician, spoke a
little English and delighted in trying to make jokes
in English. On one occasion he turned up to see me
one Sunday morning, and with a pathetic voice
said: "What a funny country! I could not get a
shave this morning. Everybody say, 'God shave
the Queen/ and nobody shave poor Serpette. 55

Lacome also at this period was still writing oper-
ettas. I happened to see in The Times a notice of a
new piece of his entitled Ma Mie Rosette. I went over
to Paris to have a look at it, and was charmed with
the story and even more so with the music. I bought
all the rights for Messrs. Boosey, and with a separate
company I produced the opera at the old Globe

48 FIFTY YEAES OF MUSIC

Theatre. We had a wonderful cast. First of all, that
remarkable artiste, Oudin, played the part of Henri
IV, the dominating personality in the opera. I was
able to secure Juliette Nesville, who created the
soprano role in Paris, and who, speaking very pretty
English, made an equal success in London. I also
had in the cast, Courtice Pounds, Jessie Bond,
Frank Wyatt, Leonard D'Orsay, and that little
picture of a woman, Jennie McNulty. The piece was
very indifferently received by the Press until it had
run a hundred nights. George Dance wrote the adapt-
ation, for me. It was his first introduction, I be-
lieve, to the operatic stage. Ivan Caryll was the con-
ductor, and added some charming numbers to the
score also. The piece was not a financial success, al-
though Lacome, upon its withdrawal, wrote me a
letter stating that he could not express too warmly
his appreciation of the wonderful interpretation I
had obtained for his piece in London. We had the
chance of paying a large sum of money to transfer
the piece to the, at that time, quite new Prince of
Wales' Theatre, but, in point of fact, it never once
at the Prince of Wales' played to as good business as
at the Globe. Meanwhile, Penley, who had just pro-
duced Charley's Aunt at the Royalty, took up our
lease of the Globe Theatre and ran Charley's Aunt
there for one thousand nights. Ma Mie Rosette was
a big success in Australia.

In the meanwhile, and some time before the pro-
duction of Ma Mie Rosette here, Alexander Hender-
son had produced Planquette's melodious opera
Rip van Winkle also at the Comedy Theatre. This
was the opera in which Fred Leslie, that extra-
ordinarily gifted artiste, made such an overwhelming
success in the part of Rip. There was a touch of
genius in his creation. During the run, Fred Leslie

OPERETTAS AND LIGHT OPERAS 49

had a disagreement with Farnie, and Farnie said he
proposed to get rid of Leslie, as there was a man in
the country who could play the part equally well.
I said: "If you do, you will make one of the biggest
theatrical mistakes of your life." Farnie would not
listen to reason, Fred Leslie's agreement was not
renewed, and the new man who came to London
to play the part was not accepted as a suitable sub-
stitute for Leslie.

Among the other French successes were Madame
Favart, with Florence St. John as lead, and Falka,
one of Violet Cameron's most successful parts.
Suppe's Boccaccio was also given, and, although the
music was delightful, the piece did not catch on.
This opera remains in my memory as the first opera
in which Marie Tempest appeared. She had pre-
viously sung at Arthur Chappell's Saturday and
Monday "Pops," under her own name of Miss
Etherington. I remember Farnie saying to me that
he did not think she would ever make good, as she
could not hold the stage. Those who have studied
our Marie's appearances since then can well afford
to smile at this premature judgment.

Audran was the most generous of little hosts.
When I visited Paris he took me everywhere, and
refused to let me spend a penny. He had many other
successes, including Miss Hellyet, La Poupee, The
Grand Mogul, and, lastly, Gilette de Nar bonne, which
he always told me brought him in more money from
the French provinces than any of his other operettas.
Henderson and Farnie arranged with John Boosey
to do Gilette de Narbonne in London. At the last
moment they wanted to back out of their agreement,
and John Boosey released them, because Kate
Santley wished to do the piece at the Royalty
Theatre. This she did, but not with the success that

DM

50 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

would have attended its production had it been pro-
duced by those dictators in London of comic opera.

I recall quite well that, when little Audran
became hopelessly ill, his wife and he used to dine
every Sunday evening at the Restaurant Larue,
and there I used to meet them. When dining with
them one Sunday night, one of the most pathetic
and curious experiences I ever came across in a
restaurant was seeing the great violinist, Sarasate,
dining there all by himself at a table among a crowd
of people and reading some letter which apparently
had profoundly affected him. He was crying like a
child, oblivious to all the other diners sitting round
him. I knew him quite well, but thought it was
kinder not to intrude upon him at such a moment.

I have often wished I could obtain a criticism,
from someone qualified to judge, of the respective
merits of Sarasate and that other great artiste,
Kreisler. Surely they had many points of resem-
blance in common ?

It is pitiful to reflect upon the amount of beauti-
ful music that has been lost to the world through
the incapacity of composers, again and again, to
select librettos which visually tell their story and
hold the stage quite apart from the music.

In plain words, a grand opera should be able, in
the first place, to tell its story through visual in-
terpretation, whether the words sung are under-
stood by the public or are incoherent.

Two of the most notable examples in this respect
are the operas Faust and Carmen. In both instances
the librettos live and make their effect quite apart
from the music. It is impossible in the case of these
two operas not to follow the narrative, even if the
opera itself, through over-heavy orchestration or
indistinct singing, should be otherwise obscure. The

OPERETTAS AND LIGHT OPERAS 51

same criticism applies to works such as La Vie de
Boheme, Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci, and even
Madame Butterfly.

I first saw Madame Butterfly as a play produced,
I think, at the St. Martin's Theatre. A few days
later, Puccini was lunching with me, and I asked
him to see the play, which I told him should make,
in my opinion, an excellent subject for musical
treatment. Puccini saw the play, agreed with me,
and in due course Madame Butterfly was the out-
come of our conversation. When I suggested Madame
Butterfly , however, my idea was that it should be a
one-act opera, or at all events an opera in two scenes.
I did not consider the subject sufficiently strong to
build up upon it a three-act opera. However, the
ultimate success of the opera was sufficient to nega-
tive my suggestion as to the form in which it should
be presented.

My general criticism with regard to librettos ap-
plies with equal force to works of a lighter character.
There is no doubt that Edward German's delightful
scores, Merrie England and Tom Jones, would have
permanently held the stage had the librettos been
on an equality with the music.

Arthur Sullivan always impressed upon me - not
that I needed conversion - that Edward German
was the one British composer who was capable of
carrying on the tradition he had established of a
delightful new form of English light opera. What a
pity, therefore, that he never had a W. S. Gilbert,
or a libretto worthy of his setting. Basil Hood wrote
admirable lyrics, witness "The Yeomen of Eng-
land," but he had not the dramatic instinct.

Another instance of a charming score lost through
a deficient libretto was that of Montague Phillips'
Rebel Maid. Messrs. Chappell have sold thousands

52 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

of vocal scores of the opera simply because the music
made such an appeal to amateur operatic societies.
The fact of the libretto being amateurish naturally
did not weigh with amateurs, who were only inter-
ested in reproducing the musical side of this delight-
ful composition.

I once asked Albert Carre, who was the director
of the Opra Comique in Paris and the author
of La Basoche, why La Basoche was not a greater
popular success than it had been. For the libretto
was in itself a masterpiece of stage construction
and intensely interesting in addition. Carry's reply
was that the action was so complicated it was
impossible for the audience to follow the plot unless
they were seated in the theatre at the absolute
rising of the curtain.

Among other composers who have grievously
suffered through the inefficiency of their librettos
are those two masters of light music, Franz Lehar
and Louis Ganne.

I was present at the first performance in
Dresden of Richard Strauss' Elektra. Elektra was
modelled on the severest form of old Greek tragedy,
the chorus were practically charged with the task
of informing the audience as to what was happening
off the stage in connection with the drama. The
orchestration was all-powerful, in fact overwhelming,
so that when the chorus endeavoured to inform us
of all the horrors that were taking place at the back
of the curtain it was quite impossible to follow what
these horrors were, even if you were proficient in
the German text, which I confess I was not.

Speaking of first nights, I remember a curious
experience when I attended two first-night suppers
on consecutive evenings in Berlin. The first supper
was given in connection with the production of a

OPERETTAS AND LIGHT OPERAS 53

light opera by Oscar Straus, and the second supper
the following night was given to celebrate the pro-
duction of a new work by the great Richard Strauss.
I need hardly suggest how very different the per-
sonnel of the two supper-parties was ! Berlin was a
very gay city before the war. The night-life was
amazing.

Speaking of the importance of opera librettos, I
am reminded of the last time I met that gifted little
composer, now dead, Victor Jacobi, at the Ritz Hotel
in Budapest. He was about to produce his new
opera Sybil. He gave me the story of the libretto,
and I considered it so strong that I said I did not
require to hear the music, and that I would purchase
the opera right away, which I did. It was one of my
great disappointments that the opera did not make
a big success in London. Something went wrong
with the adaptation, and unfortunately, in passing
it on to another management, I had parted with the
right to supervise and approve it. It contained some
very delightful music.

Of course there have been occasions when a beau-
tiful libretto could not save indifferent music. I
always considered the libretto of The Beauty Stone
among the most beautiful subjects for a grand opera
that I can imagine. Albert Carre shared my opinion,
but he was not sufficiently impressed by the music.

CHAPTER VI

AMERICAN MEMORIES

I HAVE made so many visits to America that I am
rather confused as to their chronological order years
ago. The first time I went to America was on that
very uncomfortable little Cunarder, the Umbria.
She was only 6,000 tons, and she rolled most ter-
ribly. I went to America with a view to looking
into the question of our publishing agency over
there, we being represented by Messrs. Pond & Co.
I came to the conclusion that it was essential we
should have a house of our own, and in due course
I took premises and started a branch there. I think it
was in 1891 that I opened up in New York, and
engaged Mr. George Maxwell as manager. George
Maxwell subsequently has for a long while repre-
sented Messrs. Ricordi and the popular Italian
operas in America.

It was on one of my early visits to America that I
travelled over with Loie Fuller. She had at that
time lost all her money in her production of A Mid-
summer Night's Dream at the Globe Theatre, and
she had not yet invented her wonderful new skirt-
dances. I remember that she and I gave a concert
on board, and Mr. Chauncy Depew took the chair.

I took her out to supper in New York, and can
still see her sitting in front of a huge pink water-
melon twice the size of herself. I was so frightened
she would fall into it. It was the first time I heard

54

AMERICAN MEMORIES 55

from a neighbouring table the once popular expres-
sion, "What funny things you see when you haven't
got a gun. 55

America was a very different proposition for a
visitor in those days. In a sense, the hotels and res-
taurants were very primitive. I stopped at the
Hoffman House in New York. Among other subjects
I had to tackle was the question of the new United
States copyright law. It was at the time that
America insisted that copyright could only be
claimed by authors outside the domicile of the
States on condition that their works were set up in
America from American type. The same applied to
engraving. A very able man and a delightful fellow in
addition, Mr. Scaife, a well-known lawyer in Boston,
claimed that music was exempt from this formality
probably through a slip in the wording of the Act.
We tested the point in the law courts in America,
and we won the day. It was of enormous importance
to English music publishers and composers, as it
avoided the necessity, either of engraving works
twice over, or having the whole of our engraving
done in America. It is not worth while at this
moment going into the details of the legal argument.

I remember arriving in Boston in very hot
summer weather, and for some extraordinary reason
I found myself arrayed in a frock coat and a silk hat.
I went to see Scaife, who put me up for his clubs,
and, in the course of a stroll through Boston, we
arrived at a famous park with a big ornamental lake.
Upon this lake they had various white mechanical
swans. You were able to sit across these swans as
though you were riding, and, by means of machinery,
paddle yourself across the lake. I insisted, in spite
of my costume, on making this experiment, and I
remember Scaife was absolutely dumbfounded at

56 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

the idea of an Englishman not being sufficiently self-
conscious to refuse to divert himself, in spite of his
garments, in this particular manner. Any how, it won
his heart, and he took me down to his country seat
outside Boston, where we had a wonderful time.

In the course of my wanderings I found myself up
at Chicago at a famous little hotel called the Riche-
lieu, long since extinct. It had quite a distinguished
company of foreign artistes staying there. I re-
member the divine Sarah Bernhardt, with a large
St. Bernard dog. Beamish came up to me in the hall
in a state of collapse, dragging the dog after him.
"What am I to do?" he said. u Madame insists I am
to take this dog down the town and get him mar-
ried!" Minnie Hauk and many others, and that
never-to-be-forgotten good fellow, Cecil Clay, with
his wife, Rosina Yokes, were also staying at the
hotel. Cecil was Fred Clay's brother.

It was at Chicago that I heard for the first time
the opera Cavalleria Rusticana. Minnie Hauk was
singing in it. We could have bought it even then for
3,000. I cabled over to Boosey's, but they were
rather scared at the price, and nothing happened.
Only imagine what thousands of pounds were made
by Ascherberg out of the purchase of this opera and
Pagliacci.

Beamish, in addition to owning the most chic
hotel in Chicago, and there were very few chic hotels
at that time, was a wine merchant, and electrified
me, after a long period of search on my part - all
their champagne being hopelessly sweet - by pro-
ducing some of the original famous '74 Pommery &
Greno. I was only there three or four days and re-
ceived a lot of hospitality from the Cecil Clays.
Beamish was also good enough to take a great liking
to me, and it was very hard for an Englishman at

AMERICAN MEMORIES 57

that time to make much headway in the States.
When I left the hotel he insisted on making me a
present of two bottles of the famous Pommery and
some whisky.

I think it was on this occasion that I met Marshall
Wilder, He was a very small person, but during one
or two seasons was very popular in London Society
as a raconteur. His head barely came above a dining-
room table, and he used to run round the table at
dinner-time rather like a black retriever, retailing
his latest new pieces of humour. I must confess I
was not greatly impressed by his stories. There
was only one I remember which made an impression
upon me. He was describing how a well-known
clergyman was preaching in the States one Sunday,
and was very annoyed by a little man sitting under
the pulpit, who kept on potting at the congregation
with a pea-shooter. The clergyman leant over the
pulpit and remonstrated with the small person
beneath him, who replied: "All right, old man, you
peg away with your yarn; I'll keep the beggars
awake!" I think the word he used was beggars.
The American spelling may be different from the
English.

It was on this occasion also that I met Forbes-
Robertson, who had gone to New York to take up
the leading part in a very strong play of Sardou's,
he being engaged by an American Society lady who
wished to make her appearance on the stage as a
professional. I remember the play quite well and
the superb performance that Forbes-Robertson
gave in it.

It was during this visit that I first of all heard the
brilliant orchestra that used to give big concerts on
a Sunday evening at the Madison Square Hall.

I shall have a great deal more to say about the

58 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

United States on a later occasion. This was one of
the visits upon which I received my first impressions.
On this occasion I remember going as far north as
Quebec, and it was a wonderful experience after the
cooking that then prevailed in America, to arrive at
the well-known H6tel Frontenac, where the cooking
was of the best French order and where you were
able to obtain the best French wines. Front enac
reminded me very vividly, on account of its position
looking over the river St. Lawrence, of the view
opposite Pest, when one stayed at the Hungaria, and
looked across the Danube to Buda on the other
side, lighted up all night.

CHAPTER YII

PARIS FIFTY YEARS AGO

WHEN one thinks of Paris as it was fifty years ago
one can realise how many changes have taken place.
I used very often to stay at the little old-fashioned
and chic hotel, the Meurice, in the Rue de Rivoli.
Very often also at the Bristol on the Place Vendome.
At the latter hotel one often experienced the excite-
ment of being woken up by a crowd in front of the
hotel, indulging in a demonstration of welcome. It
took you a little while sometimes to realise that
they were not cheering you, but celebrating the
arrival of some European potentate who had turned
up at the hotel overnight.

How many of the old restaurants, too, have
disappeared, and how much more flashy are many
of those which have supplanted them. The Maison
d'Or is no more. The restaurant boasted it was
never closed all through the famous Siege of Paris.
The famous Caf6 Anglais is another landmark that
has disappeared, also the Caf6 Bignon.

The Cafe Voisin no longer exists. It had long since
lost its original character. It was said to be possessed
of the finest cellar of red wine in Paris. I think
Nicol of our Caf6 Royal must have been inspired by
it. And the proprietor was a great racing magnate.
What an air of distinction he had! Even as I write
these lines the famous Paillard is no more!

59

60 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

Paris, in fact, generally has lost a great deal of
the distinction and elegance it possessed in those
days. It is no longer so refined! The change was
inevitable.

The invasion of the nouveaux riches, of all the
younger financially successful nations, no doubt
demanded a different standard of entertainment.

The glittering Pr Catalan has taken the place of
the quaint little old farmhouse so famous in the
early morning for its glass of milk and other sim-
plicities.

Gone are all the little, horse victorias. The shriek
of the motor-horn has replaced them.

There is only one thing that never changes in
Paris, that always remains old-fashioned; it is the
intense seating discomfort of the theatres.

Another thing that strikes one forcibly is the
change in the night-life of Paris. In the old days,
visitors always took part in it. To-day it appears
to be run entirely by professionals. The visitors
look on. Maxims, perhaps, of all the night-houses
retains its character, or want of it. How different
to the night-life of Berlin, particularly before the
war.

The famous restaurant, Durand's, is also a
memory of the past. I remember taking the night-
train from London to Paris in the old days and arriv-
ing at the Hotel Meurice in the early hours of the
morning. It was a gorgeous sunrise. And it was the
day following the appalling fire disaster at the
charity bazaar.

The last time I ever breakfasted at Durand's was
during this visit. I suddenly looked through the
window against my table, and, between us and the
Madeleine, innumerable hearses of the unhappy
victims of the fire were all gathered in the square

PARIS FIFTY YEARS AGO 61

together. They made a mass of the most gorgeous
spring flowers one could imagine. Paris lends itself
to these dramatic and picturesque surprises. What
beauty and what tragedy side by side!

I first met the famous Josef at the old Paillard's
before it was rebuilt. Josef had very clearly defined
views as to how the real gourmet should breakfast
and dine. "One plat for breakfast/ 5 he used to say to
me, "and two plats for dinner, the best possible, and
to which you should be permitted to return more
than once during the meal." I frequently thought of
it in after days when I used to shoot every 12th of
August with an old friend of mine in the North.
The dinner menu on the 12th invariably consisted of
some twenty plats.

Josef, after leaving Paillard's, opened a restaurant
in the Rue Marivaux. This was before he migrated
to the Savoy Hotel.

Josef used to tell me of a curious experience he had
in America. He was engaged as private chef, at a
fabulous salary, by one of the American millionaires.
On arriving at New York he was told he could not
land until he had paid a tax percentage value upon
his salary as imported labour. The amount of the tax
staggered him. He refused to pay. Meanwhile, he
sat on the quay with his wife and his child in a
blinding snowstorm until the millionaire heard of
his plight and came down and released him. He did
not stay in America long.

Of course there are many other famous old
restaurants that still exist and maintain their
reputation. Such are the Tour d'Argent, La
Perouse, and the always delightful Foyots, the
last one with the saving grace of no music during
meals.

At the same time there was a restaurant at

62 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

Brussels, L'Etoile, which before the war had no diffi-
culty in challenging comparison with any of the
famous French houses. Frenchmen would journey
all the way from Paris to lunch and dine there.
I trust L'Etoile still exists. Also the Filet de
Sole.

No, Paris is not the Paris that it was fifty years
ago.

The circumstances attending the first production
of La Basoche in Paris were very curious. Some
little while before La Basoche was produced, I was
at a dance in the old Marlborough Rooms, Regent
Street, given by Henry J. Leslie to his company to
commemorate the hundredth performance of the
Red Hussar. Miss Marie Tempest was, of course, the
leading lady. Among those I met that night was
Ivan Caryll, the composer. It was the first time I
had met him, and I soon noticed he could be very
useful picking up new light operas abroad. On that
particular evening he gave me an idea, in his broken
English, of the story of La Basoche, which was on
the eve of production in Paris. He subsequently
played the music over to me. I was very enthusiastic
over the work, and said we must go to Paris and see
it. He said there was a difficulty in that direction. It
appears Edward Chappell knew that Leslie's thea-
trical ventures had not recently been prospering, and
Edward ChappelFs project at the conclusion of the
dress rehearsal was to come forward with an offer
for the work, presuming that Leslie's option had
lapsed through want of sufficient funds. I said to
Caryll I thought that difficulty might be surmounted.
"Let us take Leslie with us to Paris," I said, "He
has the option, and Messrs Boosey & Co." with
whom I then was "have the money." This was
agreed upon, and in due course we found ourselves at

PARIS FIFTY YEARS AGO 63

the dress rehearsal of La Basoche in Paris. We had
not been five minutes in our stalls when Edward
Chappell hurried over to see me and asked if we
were intending to buy the opera. I said yes, if we
liked it well enough. I was still more enthusiastic
over the work at the conclusion of the dress rehear-
sal than I had been before. Edward Chappell then
suggested it would be absurd for us to bid against
each other, and would we entertain the project of
jointly publishing the opera with Messrs. Chappell,
either party to retire if they did not wish to go fur-
ther, I said I was perfectly agreeable to share with
them, and there we left the matter.

That same night I was having supper at the Caf6
Americain with Gus Harris and Henry Pettitt, the
dramatist. I spoke at some length about the opera,
and said that, were I a theatrical manager, I should
not hesitate to buy it for London. On the other
hand, I said, it required very serious alterations for
the English stage, and I doubted if there was any
manager in London clever enough to do what was
wanted. The next day I went over to London, and
Gus Harris asked if I would go and see him. Partly,
possibly, owing to my warm recommendation of
the piece, he had gone to Choudens, the well-known
publishers, the first thing next morning, and had
bought all the publishing and performing rights in
the work for Great Britain, I think for a sum of
2,000 or 3,000. When I got back to London, he said
if my firm would like to take half his bargain he
would be prepared to sell half at the same price it
cost him. Messrs. Boosey & Co. did not care to pur-
chase the half share, which was necessarily repre-
sented largely by the performing rights. No doubt
they looked upon it as rather a gambling transac-
tion. In this case we should have made a very

64 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

handsome profit when Gus Harris sold it to D'Oyly
Carte for, I think, 6,000 or 7,000. D'Oyly Carte
was compelled to buy it, having opened the Royal
English Opera House with only one opera, Ivanhoe,
in his so-called repertoire.

CHAPTER VIII

GRAVE AND GAY IN THE MUSICAL WORLD

THE question whether we are a musical nation has
agitated our Press and our public for many years.
What is the correct answer ? I think it may be
safely affirmed that for many years there was a
genuine taste for oratorio and ballad concerts; also,
up to a certain point, for chamber music. The
Saturday and Monday "Pops" had an immense
vogue, until the popularity of orchestral concerts
gradually supplanted them. In the old days very
few orchestral concerts existed. Auguste Mann
gave orchestral concerts at the Crystal Palace, and
the Philharmonic Society gave occasional concerts
also. It is curious, however, to think that in these
recent days, in spite of orchestral concerts under
the baton of the most distinguished English con-
ductors and the most famous conductors from
abroad, the Lener Quartette, whose programmes are
made up of the old classical chamber-music favour-
ites, should have once more achieved a remarkable
success in this country.

So many quaint stories exist as to how far we are
a musical nation. Arthur Chappell used to tell me
a tale of a dear old lady, who was at a big dinner-
party, and was asked if she was musical. "God for-
bid," she replied ; "I am Wagnerian!"

Another quaint story in the same direction was
related to me by Henri Loge, the pianist and

EM 65

66 FIFTY YEABS OF MUSIC

composer. He was asked to play the piano at some
distinguished duchess' house after a dinner-party.
The piano was evidently something very ancient, and
was a small upright, propped up against the wall
of the salon. Loge at the end of his effort apologised,
and said he feared he could not quite do himself
justice upon the particular piano in question. The
Duchess' reply was extremely brief and cutting.
"That piano," she said, " has been in our family for
sixty years, and nobody has ever complained of it
before!" This incident somehow suggests to me Mr.
Snowden's mental attitude towards Free Trade.

Robert Newman, whose acquaintance with the
concert world and the music-loving public was very
extensive, always declared that the public you could
rely upon consistently for concerts never numbered
more than ten thousand. Of course there are plenty
of musical snobs among us who turn up for special
occasions, because they think it is the right thing to
do. They probably have never heard of one of
Sheridan's immortal flashes of wit, when his son
said he would like to go down a coal-mine. "Why?"
asked Sheridan. "I should like to say I have been
down." "Say so, then," replied Sheridan. However,
the musical snobs have to pay for their seats, so
obviously we must encourage them.

Certainly there is no such genuine taste in Eng-
land for grand opera as that which prevails almost
universally on the Continent. Meanwhile, we shall
no doubt continue to call ourselves a musical nation,
because, although we are not adepts at humbugging
other countries, we have a perfect genius for hum-
bugging ourselves.

One curious point in connection with our artistes
is the loyalty of our public to old favourites. Once
they have established a reputation, they can go on

GRAVE AND GAY IN THE MUSICAL WOULD 67

singing until there is not a musical note in the box.
How very different is the condition of artistes with
big musical reputations in Italy. The moment they
go off the note, or fail to satisfy the artistic require-
ments of the music public, they are overwhelmed
with an avalanche of disapproval, a disapproval
openly and violently expressed. The fact speaks for
itself.

When Sims Reeves sang for us at St. James's
Hall shortly before his retirement you would hear
one old lady say to another, in a rapt voice as they
left the hall, "I have seen him, my dear." The ques-
tion of hearing him did not arise. On one occasion a
similar old lady actually penetrated into the ar-
tistes' room and implored me to let her stand in the
corridor as the great man passed out. "Of course
you can, my dear," said kind-hearted Ella Russell;
"stand here." When the great tenor appeared it was
too much for the old lady. "Oh, Mr. Reeves," she
said in a quivering voice, "I heard you sing for the

first time in the year " and she mentioned a

year somewhat around the date when Noah led the
animals into the Ark. Reeves was most indignant
"Nothing of the sort," he said, and swept past her
as though she had been so much dust. "Poor old
dear," I thought, "heart-broken a second time, and
at her age, too." Treats like these never come to con-
cert-givers and publishers. It made me think of
Marzials. Whenever I had to refuse one of his man-
uscripts he used always to say : "Never mind, in
the next world we shall publish and you compose,
and then we will get our own back again!"

Before passing on to the second part of my me-
moirs, which deals with my experiences at Messrs.
Chappell & Co., it is worth while recalling to
mind one or two of the humorous incidents that

68 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

had so far attended my progress in the musical
world.

I remember on one occasion Lamoureux was con-
ducting a rehearsal at the Queen's Hall for a big
concert he was giving. The tenor who was rehears-
ing was running through "Salve d'Amore," and
when he arrived at the C in alt, it was obvious that
it was out of his reach. He, therefore, obliged with a
falsetto C, so as not to be altogether out of the pic-
ture. Lamoureux looked extremely surprised and,
turning to the orchestra, said: u Le bateau est parti!"
The orchestra were greatly amused, and the tenor,
not understanding, took it as a high compliment to
himself and bowed his thanks.

I remember another very humorous incident in
connection with a tenor. A well-known tenor came
in to me one day and said he wished to speak to me
very privately. I said: "With pleasure," and con-
ducted him into a fairly dark corner of the estab-
lishment. He explained that this corner was not
nearly secluded enough for him to impart to me the
important news that had brought him to see me. I
thought to myself: "This must mean a tenner at
least," It did, but not in the sense I imagined. When
he felt himself quite secure from any interruption he
broke his news to me. He said: "I am going to let
you into a secret, which I have not yet revealed even
to my own mother." I was half excited and half
alarmed. I may mention he was a high baritone, and
a very clever artiste. He said at last: "What I want
you to know is I believe my voice is really going to
be a tenor." I gave a thankful sigh that the news
was not more alarming and expensive. Subsequently
this artiste did sing as a tenor. But he was a really
good baritone.

Sometimes a very comical incident used to occur

GRAVE AND GAY IN THE MUSICAL WORLD 69

through the post. I remember receiving a letter in an
unknown hand- writing from a gentleman who evi-
dently lived in the purlieus of Putney. He wrote to
me and said: "Dear Sir, - For years past I have
been in the habit of setting words to music, and have
now in my possession some 200 or 300 of these MSS.
It occurred to me it would be an excellent thing for
you to come down and dine with me one evening
<a la Bohemian and sans ceremonie,' when I could
give you a better impression of my work at my
piano here than I could give you elsewhere, and at
all events, if no business resulted, I trust and be-
lieve you would not spend an altogether unenter-
taining evening." I first of all thought of replying
that all our dining- out staff were engaged that week,
but subsequently concluded it would be better to let
his letter flutter gently into the waste-paper basket.
Two days afterwards I received a further letter,
which said: "Dear Sir, - As you have not responded
to my invitation, I hereby beg to withdraw it."

Another very curious incident happened to me.
I had to attend the funeral of someone sufficiently
well known in the musical world. I arrived at
Golder's Green, and in due course took my place in
a back pew. I naturally did not look about me very
much, but by degrees was very surprised to find that
I did not know anybody present. At the conclusion
of the service I met a friend outside and said: "I
cannot make out why I did not see any of you
fellows in the chapel." He said the service had duly
taken place, but apparently there were two chapels
and I had been attending the wrong funeral. I had
been weeping over an unknown person. Funerals,
we know, are grave occasions, but I could not help
being struck by the humorous side of my experience.

It somehow recalled to my mind the story I had

70 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

recently heard of a nervous curate, who in the
absence of his pastor had to conduct a similar
service. At the conclusion of the service, just as the
sorrowing relatives were gathered together before
parting, the poor little curate felt he must say some-
thing, so, approaching them blushingly, he stam-
mered and exclaimed: "The cemetery is filling up
nicely, isn't it?"

A very well-known individual in the musical
world came to me one day and asked if I had heard
his wife had died. I said I had not, but I expressed
the usual regrets customary on these sad occasions.
"Well," he said, "perhaps it is best she should have
gone first. After all, a man can always pop into his
club and have a cigar!" This quite seriously.

I remember on one occasion a well-known com-
poser bringing to me a new song. He was evidently
very bent on finding a home for it, and brought
along for the first time his little boy, I suppose the
boy was about eight years old. When the father had
finished playing the MS., he turned to his hopeful
son and said: "You've heard that before, my little
man, haven't you?" "Yes," the little boy replied,
"and we're all sick of it!" Poor little boy, I hope he
was not badly smacked when his father took him
outside. It just shows it is sometimes dangerous to
tell the truth even to your own father!

I remember a very interesting occasion when the
Fishmongers' Company in the City gave one of their
famous dinners, to which they invited a great many
eminent writers both in the theatrical world and in
the world of fiction. Comyns Carr, better known as
Joe Carr, was making an after-dinner speech. He was
one of those -itfen who spoke most admirably on
occgjsions like these, although he was not always so
Chappy when he put pen to paper. He was discussing

GRAVE AND GAY IN THE MUSICAL WORLD 71

a subject of rather a broad nature when he suddenly
looked up at the gallery* Those who know the Fish-
mongers' Hall will remember that there is a gallery
overlooking the dining-tables, and that at intervals
along the gallery certain golden lyres are placed.
Joe Carr happened to look up at the gallery at the
moment that various ladies were entering to hear
the speeches, each seating herself behind one of the
lyres in question. "I see I must moderate my re-
marks," said Joe Carr; "the ladies have arrived.
They are behind the lyres. Perhaps I ought to say
their husbands are in front of them."

Seymour Hicks and Joe Carr were very funny
together, Seymour one night at supper said to
Carr: "You remember that awful failure of mine at
Drury Lane, Joe? It only ran a fortnight." "Ran?"
said Joe, "It never ran at all. It walked."

On another occasion I was at a little supper-party
at the old Graf ton Galleries. One of the little fairies
was drinking milk. "Milk!" said a very cheery friend
of mine who was present. "The very first drink I
ever tasted." "Yes," I said, "and even then you
pinched it!"

Referring to our old friend Farnie, whom we have
discussed briefly, he happened to be lunching one
day with John Boosey and his wife, I being present,
and he enquired as to whether an old and confiden-
tial employee at Boosey's, named Cherry, was any
relation to Cherry the composer. Mrs. John Boosey,
who had a very quick wit, replied at once: "No,
Mr. Farnie, these cherries are not off the same
tree."

It was Mrs. John Boosey who, when Punch had
been running for months a series of short para-
graphs supposed to be humorous and entitled
"Happy Thoughts," wrote to the editor and said:

72 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

"Happy Thought, discontinue 'Happy Thoughts. 5 "
The hint was taken.

I shall have occasion later on to refer to some
more humorous incidents, but I think I may well
conclude this part by quoting a very comic little
verse that my old friend F. E. Weatherly once
addressed to me. He always insisted I was a sort of
understudy for the German Emperor. This was
before the war. Here is his verse:

I must not call you Emperor,

I dare not call you Kaiser,
Prime Minister, or Councillor,

Or Spiritual Adviser,
Mikado, Pope, or President,

Or even Holy Czar,
Such names are not th' embodiment

Of all you really are!
One name alone remains to me,

I use it willy-nilly,
Henceforth to me you can but be

My dear, my little Willie!

What far distant days these early reminiscences
take me back to. These indeed were the days of
"The Glory of the Young Green."

The glory of the young green

That groweth with the bud,
It sets the pulses singing,

It dances in the blood;
It stirs the young to madness,

It wakes the old to mirth;
The glory of the young green

Is over all the earth!

GRAVE AND GAY IN THE MUSICAL WORLD 73

The glory of the young green,

It drinketh in the showers,
It heralds forth the ring-time

Of birds and bees and flowers;
It mingles with the blue skies,

A flag of life unfurled;
The glory of the young green 9

Itfilleth all the world!

PART II
The House of Chappell

CHAPTER IX

CHAPPELL & COMPANY AND THEIR
POPULAR CONCERTS

THE house of Chappell was founded apparently
much about the same time as Boosey's. The original
partners were Samuel Chappell, Francis Tatton
Latour, and John Baptist Cramer. Their first deed
of partnership was dated December 3rd, 1810.

Very much interesting matter might be written in
connection with their beginning, but it is outside the
scope of these memoirs. Their first newspaper ad-
vertisement is worth recording. It appeared in the
Morning Chronicle of January 23rd, 1811, and ran
as follows:

"Chappell & Co. beg leave to acquaint the
nobility and gentry that they have taken the
extensive premises lately occupied by Goulding
& Co., 124 New Bond Street, and have laid in a
complete assortment of music of the best authors,
ancient and modern, as well as a variety of instru-
ments, consisting of grand and square piano-fortes,
harps, etc., for sale or hire."

It is interesting to note also that a portion of
ChappelFs present pianoforte salons are built upon
ground that once formed part of the garden of the
great William Pitt, who became Earl of Chatham in
1766.

77

78 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

Messrs. Chappell also appear to have been among
the most active in forming the famous Philharmonic
Society.

One of the most interesting documents in their
possession is a letter from the great Beethoven in his
own handwriting, addressed to Ferdinand Hies in
1819.

Speaking of a new work he wishes to find a pub-
lisher for, he writes: "Pardon if I come heavily upon
you, but my income is such that I have to look to
every side and corner for bare life. Potter says that
Chappell in Bond Street is now one of the best
publishers."

Chappell's for a considerable time, commencing in
1866, financed and ran the famous "Readings by
Boz," a series of reviews by Charles Dickens in
lecture form from some of his best-known novels.

He appears to have had much the same appre-
ciation of Chappell's as Beethoven had. He wrote as
follows:

"I do believe that such people as the Chappells
are very rarely to be found inhuman affairs. To say
nothing of their noble and munificent manner of
sweeping away into space all the charges incurred
uselessly, and all the immense inconvenience and
profitless work thrown upon their establishment,
comes a note this morning from the senior partner
to the effect that they feel that my overwork has
been indirectly caused by them, and by my great
and kind exertions to make their venture success-
ful to the extreme. There is something so delicate
and fine in this that I feel it deeply. 55

William Chappell, Tom Chappell's elder brother,
had retired from the firm some time previously to my

CHAPPELL'S POPULAR CONCERTS 79

arrival. He is best known for his remarkable col-
lection of national English airs, published in book
form subsequently under the title of Popular Music
of the Olden Time.

Arthur Chappell, Tom Chappell's younger bro-
ther, directed from 1859 to 1901 the world famous
series of Saturday and Monday " Pops." Ad-
mirers of Robert Browning will remember the
tribute he pays to Arthur Chappell and the "Pops"
in a well-known sonnet.

The building of St. James's Hall owed its incep-
tion to the house of Chappell & Co. Tom Chappell
largely financed it during the earlier stages of its
existence. It cost 70,000 to build and was opened
on March 25th, 1858, oddly enough with a concert
in aid of the Middlesex Hospital, the hospital which
Messrs. Chappell have been closely associated with
ever since.

One of Tom Chappell's most notable and lasting
enterprises was the acquirement of practically all
the remarkable Gilbert and Sullivan operas, which
D'Oyly Carte produced first at the old Opera
Comique and subsequently at the Savoy Theatre.
H.M.S. "Pinafore" and The Sorcerer were the only
two operas of the series that were published else-
where.

Arthur Sullivan and Thomas Chappell were close
personal friends. It was Arthur Sullivan who pro-
posed Tom Chappell as a member for the exclusive
Portland Club, and certain clubs were very exclusive
in those days. 1 believe Tom Chappell was the only
instance of anyone connected with trade who was
ever admitted as a member.

Tom Chappell was one of the original directors of
the Royal College of Music, also one of the original
governors of the Royal Albert Hall.

80 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

Thomas Patey Chappell, "that prince of music
publishers," as Gounod once called him, remained
until his death an example of all that was highest
and most honoured in the world of music publishing.

I first came to him in 1894; he died in 1902 at the
age of eighty-three. He was in office until the very
end.

Although they have already been published, I
make no apology for reproducing here some lines I
wrote in appreciation of him almost thirty years ago.

"The death of Thomas Patey Chappell, while it
has removed from the musical world a unique and
charming personality, has deprived the music-
publishing world of the head and chief of its
representatives. Thomas ChappelPs experiences
extended over a period of nearly seventy years,
and during that time there were practically no
musical celebrities he had not come into contact
with. It is not the intention of this sketch to
present a dry record of his career, which is already
a part of music history; but it may be noted, in
passing, that the publisher of the long-famous
operas, Gounod's Faust and Balfe's Bohemian
Girl, was identical with the publisher of the com-
paratively recent brilliant series of light operas by
Gilbert and Sullivan. Although the fact is not
generally known, Thomas Chappell was the
actual founder of the Saturday and Monday
popular concerts. They were first started with a
view to making St. James's Hall the leading con-
cert hall in London. The hall itself was originated
by Tom Chappell, he having been its first, and
during his lifetime its only, chairman. But, so far
as the management of the concerts was concerned,
he remained always in the background, having that

CHAPPELL'S POPULAR CONCERTS 81

somewhat rare quality in people of conspicuous
ability, a dislike of personal notoriety. He was also
one of the original directors of the Royal College of
Music, and was associated with many other enter-
prises that required for their furtherance the
support of a high character and an unblemished
reputation.

"The name of Tom Chappell stood for that
commercial integrity which has given the English
people so proud a position in the world of com-
merce. In all the many departments of business
which he controlled, to clearness of judgment and
broadness of views he added a splendid liberality:
sure factors of success in any walk in life. Added
to which he possessed that rarest of qualities, the
gift of being successful without making enemies.

"It is to the personal side of his character,
however, that it is most delightful to turn. Tall, of
slight build, singular distinction of appearance and
refinement of manner, together with a courtesy
that was born in him, he was in the best sense of
the word an aristocrat. He was the personification
of that old school of English gentleman that it is
so often asserted has died out from among us. And,
in whatever sphere of life he had been placed, this
same quality would have made him stand out
from all other men.

"In his home life he was possessed of one of
those sweet personalities that bring sunshine into
the lives of all who come into daily contact with
them. He was ever even tempered in turns
grave or gay - but always delightful in conversa-
tion. Neither in heart nor mind was he ever in any
sense an old man; and that almost constant at-
tendant upon unhappy old age - selfishness - was
a quality unknown to him.

82 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

"At the early age of fourteen he was called away
from school to be a support to his father who was
stricken with blindness; and this circumstance
possibly added to what was evidently the natural
bent of his character. As a young man, old people
leaned on him; and as an old man, young people
leaned on him.

"It would be quite impossible for me to
conclude this quite inadequate sketch without
introducing one brief personal note. I found him
with me - as he was with all the world - princely
in his generosity; and it was not merely what he
gave, but his way of giving, that endeared him so
much to the many he benefacted. In an age that
contains so much that is flippant and fugitive he
was a man to respect as well as to love; and there
are few men who can command these two attri-
butes.

"He was laid to rest in the little churchyard of
old Teddington Church in the same sweet simple
manner in which he had lived. It was a day full of
soft warm sunshine and gentle breezes; and, as I
looked upon the little corner of earth that con-
tained him, into my heart came the immortal
words:

"His life was gentle, and the elements
In him so mixed that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world, 'This was a man!' "

THOMAS PATEY CHAPPELL

WHO FOR MANY YEARS DIRECTED THE DESTINIES OF CHAPPELL & CO.

CHAPTER X

WILLIAM AKERMAN

DURING the period that elapsed between my leaving
Boosey's and going to ChappelTs, I made a very
serious attempt at writing.

Literature always appealed to me as the most
delightful way of passing one's time and earning
one's living. Unfortunately, my inclination lay more
in the direction of verse. I used to write under the
name of William Akerman, Akerman being my
mother's family name.

Among other efforts, I wrote a version of Rip Van
Winkle as a grand opera. Franco Leoni set it, and
it was produced at His Majesty's Theatre with
Hedmondt in the title role. I also wrote an English
version of a delightful French play by Xanrof, Le
Prince Consort. It was given at the Comedy Theatre
under the title of His Highness, my Husband.
It had an admirable cast: Miriam Clements,
Lottie Venne, Leonard Boyne, Eric Lewis, and my
poor brother, Philip Cuningham. Subsequently,
when Dolly Ulmar meditated giving up the musical
stage and devoting herself, as Marie Tempest had
done before her, to legitimate drama, I wrote for
her a dramatic version of Henri Murger's La Vie de
Bohgme. We never produced this. I fancy we con-
cluded the great popularity of Puccini's opera would
give the play no chance. I am not so sure, however,
upon reflection, whether we judged rightly.

83

84 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

It is an advantage even for a music publisher to
have some acquaintance with literature and verse.
Certainly the most prolific lyric writer and the
happiest in his ideas was Fred Weatherly. But it
is very rare for the happiest lyric author to approach
the gorgeous lyrics of the Elizabethan period. Take
the following two lyrics, for instance, which are not
particularly well-known. The first is entitled " Grieve
Not, Dear Love," set to music by Frank Moir:

Grieve not, deare love, although we often parte,

But know that Nature doth us gently sever,
Thereby to traine us up with tender arte

To brooke the day when we must parte for ever;
For Nature doubting we should be surprised

By that sad day, whose dread doth chiefly fear us,
Doth keep us daily schooVd and exercised,

Lest that the fright thereof should overbeare us.
Grieve not, deare love, although we often parte,

But know that Nature doth us gently sever,
Thereby to traine us up with tender arte

To brooke the day when we must parte for ever.

The second one is "An Old English Love-song."
The latter was beautifully set by Frances Allitsen.
She was a Miss Bumpus, so it is not surprising she
had a fine sense of literature:

Dear, if you change, Til never choose again-,

Sweet, if you shrink, Til never think of love-,
Fair, if you fail, Til judge all beauty vain',
Wise, if too weak, more wits Til never prove.
Dear, sweet, fair, wise,
Change not, shrink not, nor be weak,
And oh! my faith shall never break.

WILLIAM AKEKMAN 85

Earth with her flow'rs shall sooner heav'n adorn,
Heav'n her bright stars through earth's dim globe

shall move,

Fire heat shall lose, and frost of flames be born,
Air made to shine, as black as night shall prove.
Earth, heav'n, fire, air,
The world transformed shall view,
Ere I prove false to faith and strange to you.

Speaking of Henri Murger, Julia Neilson and
Fred Terry sang and recited a poem of his, "La
Ballade d'un Desespere," very little known, I believe,
in this country. Bemberg wrote a charming musical
setting. Here is an English version of it:

A BALLADE OF DESPAIR

(From Henri Murger's "Ballade d'un Desespere.")

SCENE. A miserable attic. A rickety chair and table.
A mean bed in a corner of the room. A poet
sits at the table, his head buried in his hands. A
half-starved dog crouches at his feet. The snow is
falling in the street and forcing itself through a
broken pane of glass in the window. Knocking
heard without.

POET.
WHO knocks at my door so late?

VOICE WITHOUT.

'Tis I! Let me inl

POET.
Your name!

VOICE WITHOUT.
Let me in! Let me in!

86 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

POET.
Your name!

VOICE WITHOUT.
Let me in! Oh Heaven, the snow falls fast in the

street!
I am cold as the dead, as the dead are my hands and

my feet.
I am come from the north and the south, and the

east and the west,
And I seek but to sit by the embers, to warm me

and rest

POET.
Your name!

VOICE WITHOUT.

Let me in! Let me in! Give me shelter awhile!
I am Fame! I am Glory! Immortal the light of my

smile!
You shall longingly hold me, entreat me so softly to

stay

POET,
Mocking shadow, away!

VOICE WITHOUT.
Oh listen, my voice is the voice of your youth, of

your love,
Twin gifts from the hand of the pitying Father

above -
I am Youth! I am Love!

POET.

Take thee hence; she I loved is no more;
She was false, we are parted, the dream of my
madness is o'er!

WILLIAM AKERMAN 87

VOICE WITHOUT.
I am Art! I am Song! I am strong, and will make

for thee wings
To sing and to rise from this earth and these animal

things!

POET.
Too late: I have sung, and the world's jaded senses

were dumb.
I shall ne'er sing again, for my lips and my heart

they are numb!

VOICE WITHOUT.

I am Wealth! I am Riches! The world shall be
spread at your feet!

POET.

What is wealth without love? My love's heart has
forgotten to beat!

VOICE WITHOUT.

I am Power! I am Empire! All mighty the pride
of my state!

POET.

Can you bring back the dead that have left all my
days desolate?

VOICE WITHOUT.
Let me in! Let me in! You shall know me, and

know of my name;
I am Death -Death himself. From the sepulchre

silent I came.
You can hear the keys rattle and clank at my lean,

hollow side,
They shall open the gates of f orgetfulness swiftly and

wide.
I am come from the shadows of nothing to bring you

release

88 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

From the pain and the press of the world, and my
word it is - Peace.

POET.

(Throwing open the door, through which a flood of light
streams into the room.)

Come, enter, sweet comfort of Heaven, my poverty

share,
Make your home on my threshold, my threshold of

hunger and care;
Despair is my portion - eat, drink, and be merry

with me;

I am weary of waiting -I long, I am praying for thee.
How oft have I sought thee! How oft hath a horrible

fear
Laid hold of me, stricken me, keeping me prisoner

here!

Hath death any terrors or body or soul to dismay
Like the dread of this living? Come, carry me

painless away! -
Away - stay - here's one, my poor dog, hath ne'er

done me an ill;
One caress of my hand, honest friend, then lie silent

and still-

Oh Death, a brief moment, he also is waiting for thee,
'Tis the one living thing that will weep for the

memory of me!

[He falls dead as the light dies away. The
dog crouches beside him, his head on the
shoulder of the dead man.

So much for verse. The fact is that, the moment
my work became very exacting at Chappell's, I
realised it was impossible to pursue the double
vocation of would-be poet and publisher.

F. PAOLO TOSTI

THE COMPOSER OF **GOOD-BYF." AND COUNTLESS
BEAUTIFUL AND POPULAR SONGS

CHAPTER XI

MY CONCERT EXPERIENCES

IN 1894, Mr. Edward Chappell, son of the late Mr.
William Chappell, and Mr. Tom ChappelTs nephew
and junior partner, being in failing health, Mr.
Chappell engaged me to assist him in directing the
publishing destinies of the house.

Mr. ChappelPs first idea was to engage me solely
to run a series of ballad concerts. I explained to him,
however, that he was securing the least valuable
half of the loaf, and that the concerts would be of no
use to him unless he could count on me to provide
him at the same time with a new ballad catalogue.
Mr. Chappell saw the force of this argument, and so
it came about that I was fully engaged to promote
the general publishing interests of Messrs. Chappell.

I should mention that it was about this time that
Messrs. Boosey & Co. removed their famous ballad
concerts, which they had given at the St. James's
Hall for .twenty odd years, to the newly constructed
Queen's Hall. This was the main reason why Tom
Chappell decided to run a series of ballad concerts at
the St. James's Hall. These concerts were run as the
"St. James's Hall Ballad Concerts," under my
direction.

During my direction of Boosey & Co. I had been
responsible for the exploitation of the majority of
Molloy's successes, including "Love's Old Sweet
Song"; the majority of Stephen Adams' successes,

89

90 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

"The Holy City" being the last song I published for
him; all Marzials 5 successes; and likewise the many
hits of Hope Temple.

This is what I was up against.

I had a desperate struggle at the beginning. I had
some single successes, such as Denza's "May
Morning," Leslie Stuart's "Bandolero," Capel's
"Love, Could I only Tell Thee," and others. But,
when a business has been going down hill for a long
while, you have got to stay the avalanche before you
can push your enterprise up the hill again. Chappell's
had had no successes except some charming ballads
by the always delightful Paolo Tosti, and one big
hit with Isidore de Lara, "The Garden of Sleep."
This last song followed on several songs written by
de Lara for ChappelFs. Alfred Cellier was spending a
week end with Tom Chappell at his delightful home
at Teddington. Tom Chappell showed him the MS.
of "The Garden of Sleep." Cellier said to Tom
Chappell the same evening: "That song of de Lara's
has a phrase that sticks in one's memory. It ought
to go." And it did go!

Meanwhile, Boosey's, always through the in-
fluence of their ballad concerts, were still bound to
command those of the first-rate ballads that came
on the market. Clara Butt was an invaluable ally
of theirs. She introduced Cowen's "The Promise of
Life," a very big success, also "Abide with Me," by
Liddle, an equally big success, and finally Elgar's
"Land of Hope and Glory." Boosey's also had a
very big run with Wilfrid Sanderson, whose legiti-
mate success was helped by their backing; some big
runs with songs by W. H. Squire; and lastly Amy
Woodforde-Finden's enormous success with the
"Indian Love Lyrics." Lastly, they had a remark-
able sale for "I Hear You Calling Me," the one song

MY CONCERT EXPERIENCES 91

out of dozens written by Charles Marshall that
instantly established itself. No doubt it was greatly
helped in America, particularly, by McCormack's
singing of it. Nor must I forget to mention "Bird of
Love Divine," by Haydn Wood.

However, at last our efforts by means of our
ballad concerts were rewarded. Florence Aylward
headed our list with "Beloved, It is Morn"; George
Aitken came along with "Maire, My Girl." Molly
Carew, anew composer, wrote several hits. Coningsby
Clarke, once my secretary at ChappelTs, wrote
several very popular little songs last but not
least, "The Blind Ploughman," the fine words by
Marguerite Radcliffe Hall, author of The Garden of
Loneliness. Eric Coates began to come to the front;
Dorothy Forster, with "Rose in the Bud," had
several big successes; Alma Goetz, with "Melisande,"
and Sheridan Knowles, with "Fat LiT Feller,"
added to the list. Guy d'Hardelot came out with
"Because," and followed up this, her first big suc-
cess, with several others. Frank Lambert contri-
buted "She is far from the Land" and several other
winners; Liza Lehmann, with several light songs and
some excellent concerted numbers illustrating hu-
morous words, stood in a class of her own. My very
old friend and loyal supporter, Hermann Lohr,
beat all his previous records with "Little Grey Home
in the West," of which none of us at the beginning
expected such great things. The war helped this song
enormously. "Where My Caravan" and other songs
of his were already big favourites. Montague Phil-
lips, with his musicianly but always melodious songs,
was another of our staunch supporters. Teresa del
Riego, with "O Dry those Tears," which had an
enormous sale, "Homing," introduced by Madame
d' Alvarez, and several others, made good. Finally,

92 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

Haydn Wood, who somehow slipped through Messrs.
Boosey's hands, landed up with "Roses of Picardy,"
an enormous favourite with our boys at the Front,
and several more real successes. All these songs owed
their inspiration to the Chappell ballad concerts.
This was the more valuable half of the loaf I pro-
mised Tom Chappell, if he would make the con-
certs the foundation for the publishing.

Apart from Gilbert and Sullivan, however, Chap-
pell's were very poorly supplied with light operas.
In this respect they were suffering from an overdose
of Hopwood & Crew. Some time previously, Tom
Chappell had bought Edward Chappell a share in
Hopwood & Crew. Naturally, Hopwood's had to be
looked after too. Thus it came about that they
published The Geisha, The Belle of New York, Little
Christopher Columbus, etc. This was a difficulty I had
to deal with, and by degrees an alliance was formed
between Chappell's and George Edwardes. Chap-
pell's published practically all the operas that Ed-
wardes produced. And, to make our position
stronger, we had an agreement with Lionel Monck-
ton, Paul Rubens, Ivan Caryll, and others to write
exclusively for us.

Meanwhile, and shortly before Tom Chappell's
death, I felt our board of directors wanted strength-
ening, and I urged him to invite Harry Chinnery,
once a well-known member of the Stock Exchange,
to join the board. Harry Chinnery had married a
stepdaughter of Tom Chappell, one of the Misses
Ellis, famous beauties in their day. Harry Chinnery
did join us, and a great asset he became. He was a
splendid fellow and the most loyal of friends. Inci-
dentally, he gave me more work to do, but I cannot
blame him. He insisted on making a new agreement
with me in which I was to make myself responsible

MY CONCERT EXPERIENCES 93

for the running of Chappell's huge piano-factory.
As he rightly said, what was the use of my making
money out of the publishing if it was lost, on the
other side, by the pianos. I took the job on, but it
did not make my task any easier.

The famous Saturday and Monday "Pops," ac-
cording to Groves' Dictionary of Music, registered
their thousandth performance on April 4th, 1887.
The Monday "Pops," so far as Chappell's are con-
cerned, definitely closed down in 1898. The Saturday
"Pops," however, under our direction, continued up
to the season 1902-1903. By this time, Arthur Chap-
pell had retired. Meanwhile, Johann Kruse appeared
upon the scene. He said he would like to make an
attempt to revive the "Pops" with his quartette.
I warned him in the frankest manner he would
probably lose a lot of money, but he was not to be
put off. He booked St. James's Hall for forty
concerts, twenty Saturday "Pops," and twenty
Monday "Pops." He did his utmost, but I fear my
prognostication proved only too true. The "Pops"
definitely disappeared with the end of his season.

I continued to run ballad concerts for Messrs.
Chappell for two years at the St. James's Hall. We
then migrated to the Queen's Hall. The story of our
acquisition of the Queen's Hall I shall tell later.

We started the ballad concerts at the St. James's
Hall with practically the same artistes who had been
associated with the hall previously. We had Mary
Davies, Louise Dale, Antoinette Sterling, Sims
Reeves, poor Joseph Maas (a victim to salmon fish-
ing), Ben Davies, Santley, and Foli. All of them
artistes whose reputation was already made. To
these later on we added Alice Gomez, introduced by
Hamilton Aide, Carmen Hill (a real ballad singer),
Margaret Balfour, Dora Labbette, and others. We

94 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

had also three delightful tenors, each with a dis-
tinction of his own. First of all the ever-to-be-re-
gretted and lovable Gervase Elwes, Evan Williams,
who when he was v in good voice was unsurpassable,
and the always delightful Joseph Hislop. All these
three tenors had certain resemblances. They were all
exquisite artistes. Madame d' Alvarez had already
made a success on the opera stage in New York, but
was practically unknown to the concert world in
London until we introduced her. In addition to her
success in her classic repertoire, she made, as before
stated, big hits with us in "Homing," by Teresa del
Riego, and "The Blind Ploughman," by Coningsby
Clarke. We also had Emma Calv6, Alma Gluck,
Mary Garden, and Guilia Ravogli. I still felt, how-
ever, the necessity of breaking new ground. It is true
we always had a humorous interlude. Margaret
Cooper was inimitable with songs at the piano.
Maurice Farkoa was another great favourite. His
tragic death in New York hardly received any at-
tention in the London Press. Others we introduced
were Cissie Loftus, then in the height of her popu-
larity, Nora Blaney and Gwen Farrar, and that
little genius, Ivy St. Helier. Lily Hanbury recited
in a beautiful work by Thom6, "The Trumpeter's
Betrothed," the violin obligate played by Johann
Wolff. Lastly, Julia Neilson and Fred Terry ap-
peared in the "Ballade d'un D6sesp6r6," already
quoted in the previous chapter.

Meanwhile, it occurred to me that it would be a
great attraction to the public to see the leading
stage-favourites on the concert platform. This was
quite an experiment and immensely successful.
Lady Bancroft led off with Tennyson's "I'll be
Queen of the May, Mother." When she came to the
moving death-scene, I turned the organ on. The

MY CONCERT EXPERIENCES 95

organ before now has saved many a bad ballad. So
no wonder Lady Bancroft triumphed. Madame Ella
Russell, my leading soprano that afternoon, burst
into tears and fled from the artistes' room, weeping.
Hope Temple shortly followed her example. It was
one of the moistest afternoons any artistes 3 room has
ever experienced. Sir Squire Bancroft gave "The
Raven." He was not quite so successful as Lady
Bancroft, although "Nevermore" came out very
clearly. Dame Madge Kendal was one of my great suc-
cesses, also Mrs. Pat Campbell in "She Dwelt among
the Untrodden Ways." The fee I paid Mrs. Pat was a
very handsome one. If only Wordsworth could have
come back again and asked for a small performing
fee! Mrs. Langtry gave us "A Lesson with the Fan."
This was before Guy d'Hardelot had set the words,
which were to make such a success with Marie Tem-
pest as interpreter. Lady Tree also appeared for us*
Likewise Lewis Waller. I could not persuade Ellen
Terry to join the glad throng. She wrote to me that
she recited abominably, and only saved the inflic-
tion for her friends. I have no doubt I replied by
saying how much we missed by not being counted
among her friends ! Florence St. John, Violet
Cameron, Edna May, Ada Reeve, and others all
appeared for us at different times, but it was the re-
citations that caught on.

The result of my great success, however, in in-
troducing the most famous actors and actresses into
my ballad concerts as reciters was the discovery by
those Society ladies who are always busy doing good
for some charity, generally at other people's expense,
that here was a gold-mine open to them in connec-
tion with the various charitable causes they were
interested in.

Society ladies were able to advertise three or four

96 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

star theatre-turns at the same concert, because
they paid the artistes nothing. The ladies, how-
ever, received all the kudos for organising the great
entertainment. Meanwhile, we, who had to pay
artistes, could not afford to compete, and the
artistes lost their fees. I have often said to these
amateur concert-givers, when they have asked me
if such and such an artiste could be induced
to appear for a certain charity: "Do you realise
this artiste's appearance costs you nothing, but
you are asking her [or him] to subscribe 400 or
500 towards your charity?" Take the case of
John McCormack, or Kreisler the violinist. If either
is announced for a concert, charity or otherwise, the
concert may realise anything up to 1,000. If the
artiste gives another concert the following week,
for his own benefit, his receipts are bound to be
grievously affected.

I was bound, finally, to make a contract with my
artistes that one of the conditions of their engage-
ments must be that they could appear at no charity
concerts without my permission. This answered its
purpose quite well where musical artistes only were
concerned ; but, naturally, stage artistes were much
more independent, as my offers to them were only
few and far between.

This reminds me of a very humorous incident told
me by my friend Sir Harold Boulton when he was
one of those all too kind ones called in to arrange a
charity concert. He interviewed a very popular
singer whose husband had recently died. She was
evidently a strong advocate of the late Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle's creed that after death you could
converse with those you loved and who presumably
were inhabiting another planet. This lady replied to
Harold Boulton that she must consult her husband

MY CONCERT EXPERIENCES 97

as to whether she could help him with his concert.
She left poor Harold Boulton very bewildered while
she went out of the room to get into communication
with her late lamented consort. Upon her return she
said she had had a chat with her husband, and that
he advised her she could not possibly sing for less
than a sum which she named. Harold Boulton ex-
claimed: I am afraid we could not possibly pay as
much as that; would you mind going back and
asking him if you could not take a little less? 55 She
said she would try, but was doubtful of the result.
She once more left the room, but reappeared very
rapidly and said that her husband was absolutely
firm. Those were the lowest terms she could accept.
The result was negotiations came to nothing. I only
hope for Harold Boulton's sake that he discovered
another lady singer whose husband was not recently
deceased.

At one time, when heavy orchestral concerts
became very much the vogue, I thought it would be
a good idea to introduce a light orchestra into the
ballad concerts. For this purpose I engaged Ivan
Caryll as conductor, whom I considered, for light
opera and light music, one of the best conductors
we have ever had. He and I went abroad, and got
together a wonderful repertoire of light music from
the various Continental spas, where such pro-
grammes were very popular. The orchestra we
engaged was practically the Eichter Orchestra.
One or two of the critics, who did not know it was
the Richter Orchestra, said the tone of the orchestra
was very coarse. So little was this class of music
understood in this country at that time that others
spoke with contempt of Luigini's "Ballet Egyptien."
Messrs. ChappelTs reply was to offer a prize of 300
to any English composer who would write as good

GM

98 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

a suite. Puccini, Messager, and, I think, Edward
German were the judges. No one qualified for the
prize, but George H. Clutsam was proxime accessit,
and we duly rewarded him and gave him an audition.

We only had two vocalists at each of these con-
certs, but the concerts did not catch on with the
ballad-concert audiences. They wanted all ballads,
and looked on ballads as their illustrated catalogue,
of which we were depriving them. At a later stage
the concerts began to go better, but I found we were
losing our ballad audience, and drawing a new
audience altogether, and this we could not afford
to do.

Subsequently we engaged an admirable light
orchestra conducted by Alick MacLean, which at
the Queen's Hall ballad concerts, used more spar-
ingly, was greatly successful. Henry Wood also
conducted light music at the "Ballads" with his
Queen's Hall orchestra.

In connection with our modified new policy, I had
occasion to write the following letter to The Times:

"THE PASSING OF THE BAT/LAD

"There is a certain amount of misunderstanding
in the very kind preliminary notices that the
Press have given to the new form of concert we
are inaugurating on the Saturday afternoons at
the Queen's HaU, alternating with the symphony
concerts. In many directions it has been stated
that this change signifies the passing of the ballad.
This is really not accurate. We do not think the
ballad is ever likely altogether to pass, but it has
become necessary to review its present position
under existing circumstances.

MY CONCERT EXPERIENCES 99

"The fact is, there is such an enormous amount
of music published to-day, as compared with
yesterday, that an immense number of very feeble
ballads help to strangle those of real merit. A
much severer test of criticism, in our opinion, has
to be applied in bringing new ballads before the
public. For this reason we find that concerts made
up entirely of ballads are a hindrance, rather than
a help, to the best ballads, more particularly as it
is not so easy to find vocalists of the first rank.

"The fact that we give sixty promenade con-
certs during the season, in the second part of
which we always give two ballads; the fact that
at the Sunday afternoon concerts at the Queen's
Hall a good new English song is always included
in the second part; and lastly, the fact that there
will always be two good ballads included in our
new programmes is, we think, a sufficient answer
to the general statement that the ballad is
passing."

Among the last and most successful concerts
artistically that we gave at the St. James's Hall was
a series of recitals by those two inspired artistes,
Marie Tempest and Chaminade, whose art and
temperament were most happily blended.

Another great difficulty in giving concerts is to
compete with the numerous, sometimes very good,
artistes who give recitals and who must have the
hall filled even if hardly anybody pays for a ticket.
There is no means of getting rid of this very terrible
form of competition.

I have often wondered if there is anybody living
who has given as many concerts as I have. They can
be numbered by hundreds. When one realises, how-
ever, that I have given concerts almost without

100 FIFTY YEAHS OF MUSIC

intermission for fifty years, including the immense
number, serious and otherwise, that I gave for
Chappell's at the Queen's Hall, it can be easily re-
cognised how I have broken all records. The question
may be asked: How far has music benefited by my
efforts? My modest reply is: The artistes have cer-
tainly benefited.

One of the most trying experiences of anyone
giving concerts is the holding of auditions.

If the novice, he or she, is really very bad - and
they both generally are, because they insist on en-
deavouring to appear in public long before they have
studied sufficiently - 1 generally shake them warmly
by the hand, and thank them for having let me hear
them. This pleases them, and at the same time
exonerates me, because it removes the necessity of
my having to hear them again.

One of the great difficulties in the profession is
that so many attempt a career as singers, and, when
they fail, promptly become teachers, so that in a
very short while, if not already, the teachers will
largely outnumber the pupils.

And so the snowball daily grows. An occasional
humorous incident occurs. I remember a very
famous lady golfer coming down to a voice trial. I
suppose she did not think I knew anything about
golf. Neither do I. But I knew all about her. When
she appeared on the platform, I said: "Do you mind

teeing off from this side, Miss ?" (No, I shall not

reveal the name.) She is a fine upstanding girl with a
charming personality. Well, she sang, and I said to
myself: "If only your voice would carry half as far
as you can drive a golf-ball, your fortune would be
made!" But it didn't.

I remember another occasion when a very emi-
nent professor in the musical world sent an artiste

MY CONCERT EXPERIENCES 101

down to me, and it took us about ten minutes to get
her on to the platform, she was so damaged about
the legs. Really, he had no sense of humour.

But I dare not pursue this topic further. I might
exceed my time limit.

CHAPTER XII

QUEEN'S HALL

IT will undoubtedly interest people in the musical
world to know how it was that Messrs. Chappell ob-
tained the lease of the Queen's Hall.

I was very startled when Mr. Thomas Chappell,
the chairman of the St. James's Hall company, in-
formed me one morning that he had had a very good
offer for the St. James's Hall, and that, as a good
many of the public were shareholders in the hall, he
did not feel he would be justified in refusing such an
offer if it matured.

I explained to him that the loss of the St. James's
Hall would be a great blow to our interests, since
it was the hall where the famous Saturday and
Monday Popular Concerts had always been given
and since it was also the hall where I was then
running ballad concerts for Messrs. Chappell. Tom
Chappell replied that he quite appreciated all this,
but his duty to his general shareholders must come
first.

I admitted the justice of his argument, but merely
asked him, if he had to sell, at all events to give me,
as managing director of his business, a month's
notice before his final decision was given, so that I
could have a chance of making arrangements to
place our concert interests elsewhere. This he
agreed to.

102

FRITZ KREISLEE

THE EMINENT VIOLINIST

QUEENS HALL 103

Subsequently I never referred to the subject
again, because I was satisfied that any decision he
came to would be come to on public grounds, and
would not be assailable by any arguments of
mine.

Shortly before his death he said he had come to
the conclusion he would not sell St. James's Hall. I
did not know what his reasons were, but naturally I
was very cheered by his decision.

After his death, certain parties interested as share-
holders were again approached with an offer for the
hall. They thought naturally it would be judicious
to accept it without saying a word to me or to
the then chairman of the company, Mr. Stanley
ChappelL

The lease of the Queen's Hall, through a variety of
circumstances which would not interest the general
public, had eventually become vested in Messrs.
Ravenscroft, who were represented by a very intel-
ligent solicitor, Mr. J. S. Rubenstein.

Rubenstein always felt that the Queen's Hall
would do much better if St. James's Hall no longer
existed; and ChappelTs, from their point of view,
had equally positive views as to the position of
the Queen's Hall as a rival to their St. James's
Hall.

Rubenstein, in his lighter moments, used to ask
why we did not sell St. James's Hall for a big popular
restaurant, and I in reply used to say that he had
much better convert the Queen's Hall into a per-
manent circus, the shape of it being eminently
suitable for some such scheme. ,1 even pictured
to him visions of himself in a red coat, cracking
his whip and leading a piebald horse into the
arena.

This of course was all very frivolous, but when

104 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

I discovered, as I have explained previously,
that the St. James's Hall had been sold, I
realised that we were in a very dangerous position
with regard to the future of the various concert
enterprises that were so important an asset to our
business.

I must, however, first explain what led up to my
dramatic discovery in connection with the hall.

I was passing along the Strand one morning when
I happened accidentally to meet a lawyer just
opposite Romano's. His firm were connected
with some of the Chappell family, and he, having
a cheerful disposition, said : "Will you step into
Romano's and have one?" Naturally, I replied:
"Yes."

While we partook of a rapid cocktail, he startled
me by saying: "Is not this good news about St.
James's Hall?" I said: "What news?" He evidently
realised at once that I had heard nothing, and sought
refuge in the peculiar characteristics of the oyster,
which, I am told, sometimes can be extremely se-
cretive. Anyhow, I, having been put upon the track
that St. James's Hall had been sold without my
knowledge as managing director of Messrs. Chappell
& Co., thought: "This is desperate." However, I was
suddenly inspired.

The Queen's Hall at that time was in a transitory
stage, principally because one or two musical agents
who had run the hall found they could not make it
pay. The question of the lease was more or less in
the air. I picked up the telephone and rang up my
friend Rubenstein.

"You have often suggested to me, Rubenstein," I
said, "what a splendid thing it would be if St.
James's Hall could be sold. The Queen's Hall would
then be the only possible concert hall in London."

QUEEN'S HALL 105

"Yes," he replied. "Well/ 5 I said, "supposing the
hall were sold, would you consider Messrs. Chappell
& Co. responsible and desirable lessees for the Queen's
Hall?" "Naturally," he replied. "Well, now," I
said, "if you can give Messrs. Chappell & Co. a lease
of the Queen's Hall within twenty-hour hours with-
out saying a word to a soul, you will find that St.
James's Hall is sold and that one of the dreams
of your life has been accomplished."

He promptly agreed, and within twenty-four
hours I had signed, on behalf of Messrs. Chappell, a
long lease of the Queen's HalL My word had been
kept, St. James's Hall was sold.

Subsequent to the sale of the St. James's Hall, it
being bought by some speculators who had in view
the building of the present Piccadilly Hotel, certain
delays occurred, and the purchasers informed me
that they would not be able to start their building
operations for a couple of years. They proposed,
therefore, to keep St. James's Hall open as a Con-
cert Hall until they were ready. This did not suit
my book at all. I saw that there might be a question
of cutting prices where the rent of the two halls was
concerned, and that my Queen's Hall deal might in-
volve me in a loss much more considerable than I
contemplated. I therefore promptly made a deal
with the building syndicate to take St. James's Hall
off their hands at a fixed rental, by which means I
was able to maintain the rent of the two halls and to
make competition impossible.

Messrs. Chappell ran the two halls for two seasons,
and came very well out of the deal.

The obvious moral of this page of musical history,
as you will no doubt have gathered, is that, had I
been a teetotaller, Messrs. Chappell would never
have acquired the Queen's Hall!

106 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

Upon the outbreak of the great European War,
Sir Edgar Speyer, an intimate friend of the then
Prime Minister, Mr. Asquith, was a tenant of Messrs.
Chappell & Co., the lessees of the Queen's Hall, and
was running at the Queen's Hall the famous prom-
enade concerts under the musical direction of Sir
Henry Wood. He was at the same time financing the
equally famous symphony concerts, also under the
musical direction of Sir Henry.

Messrs. Chappell & Co. were very soon awake to
the fact that, in spite of the war, Sir Edgar Speyer's
programmes were aggressively German in fact, con-
tained nothing but German music. Messrs. Chappell
came to the conclusion that under war conditions
such a position could not be tolerated. They there-
fore gave Sir Edgar notice that his tenancy must
be terminated. On the other hand, Messrs. Chappell
did not like to feel that through their necessary
patriotic action so many orchestral players were
thrown out of work for an indefinite period, and
therefore they decided to run the promenade con-
certs and the symphony concerts themselves. They
ran the symphony concerts from October 1915 to
March 1927, and the promenades from August 1915
to October 1926.

Messrs. Chappell & Co. meanwhile continued to
run their ballad concerts, and in addition gave 220
afternoon and 136 evening orchestral concerts on
Sundays during this period, also 57 Sunday evening
ballad concerts from November 1912 to March
1915.

Particular stress also must be laid upon the fact
that while the Royal Albert Hall, licensed by special
charter, may give concerts on Sundays for a profit,
concerts given at the Queen's Hall on Sundays are
only tolerated under the licence of the County

QUEEN'S HALL 107

Council on condition that any profits made are to be
handed over to this or that charity. It may be taken
in a general sense that there are no profits on con-
certs run on these broad lines, but our Government,
in spite of this fact, insists religiously on the pay-
ment of the entertainment tax, a monstrous tax
demanded upon receipts, and not on profits. This
tax, spread over a series of years, represents a pay-
ment of thousands and thousands of pounds, a fur-
ther eloquent tribute to the encouragement given
to art and music by those in authority. Artistic en-
deavour in other countries is subsidised by the
various Governments. In this country it has to be
paid for as a luxury for providing the great army of
artistes with a living wage. It never occurs to our
authorities, also, that it is a monstrous thing to per-
mit one hall to trade for a profit on a Sunday, and
the other hall, not only to be liable to have any pro-
fit made confiscated, but to be taxed out of existence
for the pleasure of making a yearly loss. This state
of things is on a par with the marvellous system
by which places of entertainment on the north
side of Oxford Street are compelled to close their
doors and have their refreshment licences termin-
ated half an hour earlier than similar houses on the
southern side of Oxford Street. Truly we are a re-
markable people, and we still cherish the fetish that
we are more business-like than our Continental
neighbours.

There is no doubt that Sir Henry Wood rendered
an inestimable service to orchestral music in this
country when he absolutely refused to recognise the
deputy system which prevailed so long among
orchestras. It will be remembered that Sir Henry
originally conducted the London Symphony Or-
chestra, which admittedly contained all our best

108 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

orchestral players. He was, however, up against
the detestable custom which permitted the best
players, when it suited their convenience, to absent
themselves from an important concert and to send
a deputy to represent them. Hence the formation
of the Queen's Hall Orchestra.

Over and over again, when I have been producing
a new operatic work of importance, I have been
notified by one or other of the orchestral agencies
that they could guarantee me the engagement of an
orchestra, containing the best players in London. I
have always replied, "Yes, they attend when it suits
their convenience." But my experience has often
been that on the first night of a new operatic work
I have found seven or eight or more players in
the orchestra who have never attended a single
rehearsal of the work, but appeared upon the
scene because the principals considered that they
had a better engagement at the last moment
elsewhere.

In the first place, this system is grossly unfair to
the younger members of the orchestral union, in-
asmuch as they are only handed the leavings of the
leading players, who retain everything of import-
ance in their own hands. The younger members of
the union have admitted to me that the system
worked very unfairly against them. It was much
more satisfactory to have an orchestra whom you
could rely upon being present in their full strength
at every rehearsal and for a first performance, even
if they were not always the pick of the orchestral
profession.

A great deal of nonsense is written in the Press
about the superiority of the Continental orchestral
players. I say, without hesitation, that the best
orchestral players in England can hold their own

QUEEN'S HALL 109

against any combination of similar artistes from
abroad. It is only the wretched system that occa-
sionally lets them down. Foreign conductors have
again and again spoken to me of the extreme merit
of our leading players, and particularly of their ex-
traordinary ability to read new scores. On the other
hand, I have always maintained with great regret
that their attitude has been extremely difficult, in-
deed often tyrannical. The climax was reached re-
cently when I, as chairman of the Performing Right
Society, was informed by a deputation of these
artistes that they understood the Performing Right
Society was increasing its fees to one or two of the
leading restaurants and hotels who made a feature
of light music, and that in their opinion this increase
of terms was going to throw many of their members
out of work. I discussed a case in point with these
gentlemen. It was a case where one of the most
prominent hotels during the season thought nothing
of paying 1,000 a week for the possibly two or
three orchestras who performed for them daily and
nightly, and in this case the Performing Right
Society was asking, for the benefit of composers, a
paltry l or 2 a week extra for the right to perform
their English and European repertoire. I asked these
gentlemen where they would be but for the reper-
toire which enabled them to take their 1,000 a
week in fees. I asked them whether a payment of 5
a week by a very wealthy hotel was an excessive
payment to make to composers for performing
rights when the executants took 1,000 a week. I
warned them, at the same time, very prophetically
that, if they wanted to fight, they had much better
reserve their energies to combat the terrible in-
vasion of mechanical music which, at so many
cinemas and even restaurants, was breaking up

HO FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

orchestral playing altogether. My words have not
been forgotten*

Meanwhile, I notice with the greatest pleasure
that the London Symphony Orchestra, under their
new conductor, Mengelberg, are undertaking to
drop their so-caUed privilege of supplying deputies,
and agree to attend in person at all rehearsals and
concerts. This is a great victory for Sir Henry Wood,
and he thoroughly deserves our heartiest congratu-
lations upon the success of the firm stand he long
ago took up.

With conductors such as Sir Thomas Beecham
and Sir Henry Wood we are also quite on an equality
with conductors from the Continent, although it is
an excellent thing to invite eminent conductors
from the Continent to visit us.

I was much impressed by a remark Robert New-
man once made to me. He said very few conductors
would have the requisite vitality to carry through
a continuous series of promenade programmes, every
night for two months, such as Sir Henry Wood did.

I often wonder if some of the quaint old stories of
conducting are quite forgotten. I am thinking first
of all of a, in his time, well-known caterer who used
to run the Covent Garden promenades. He was
terribly indignant one night because, during an
orchestral selection, a brief solo passage for the first
violin occupied a few moments. He wanted to know
why he was paying all the orchestra when only
one was playing! He was equally indignant on
another occasion when a piano passage was being
played. He wanted to know why he had so
many in the orchestra if they could not make more
noise!

We must not forget, either, another famous
occasion, when the conductor had a little difference

QUEEN'S HALL 111

with one of his orchestra. The member of the
orchestra concluded the argument by saying: "If
you speak to me like that again, I will follow your
beat!"

Lastly, I must not forget a priceless story which
Sir Landon Ronald is responsible for. It appears
he was conducting an orchestral concert up at
Glasgow. A distinguished conductor from the
Continent, whose name I forget, also conducted
two or three numbers in the same programme.
After the concert one of the little flapper fiends, who
are daily in search of autographs, came and asked
Sir Landon for his autograph. He wrote it down
in her book, apparently in pencil. Very shortly
afterwards she returned and said she had made a
mistake. She thought he was the conductor from
abroad, and it was his autograph she wanted, and
not Ronald's. She asked if he could lend her a piece
of indiarubber!

CHAPTER XIII

MUSIC PIRACIES

IN dealing with this subject - and it is well to re-
member that, at one time, musical piracies threat-
ened to annihilate musical copyright altogether
it is necessary to turn to the Copyright Act of 1842.
This Act was the first serious attempt to protect
literary, artistic, and musical property, and so to
ensure to the author or composer a fair reward for
the creation and labour of his brain.

The Act of 1842 was in many respects a much
better drafted Act than the last Copyright Act of
1911. In one serious direction, however, it hope-
lessly failed. If a starving man steals a loaf of bread
he is subject to imprisonment. Sheep stealing was at
one time, as we know, a hanging matter.

The only way to protect a man whose brain work
was stolen was to proceed against the culprit in a
civil court and sue for damages. In the case of book
piracies the protective clauses in the Act of 1842
were probably sufficient. And for this reason. The
process of setting up a book in type, purchasing
sufficient paper, printing it, etc. was a very costly
one. A pirate who wished to steal must obviously be
a person of means. Heavy damages could be awarded
by a civil court, and the delinquent would pre-
sumably be able to pay.

It was quite a different matter with music. Popular

112

MUSIC PIRACIES 113

songs only required two or three pages of paper,
and they could be photographed or litho'ed in any
old shed or barn which happened to be handy. They
could then be retailed to an army of street hawkers
for distribution. This in fact was what was done,
and in 1902 popular songs were sold by thousands,
both openly on the London streets and everywhere
throughout the provinces.

What was to be done? We formed, on paper, a
very formidable "Musical Defence League." But our
supporters were merely moral. They occupied much
the same position as do Society ladies whose names
appear on the programmes of charity concerts. But,
in using the names of our sympathisers, our prin-
cipal object was to drive the fact into the heads of
the general public, and simultaneously into the
heads of several very dense Members of Parliament,
that composers were not able to live upon suction,
but required quite as much nourishment to keep
body and soul together as any other members of the
community. It is amazing to think how difficult it
has always been to make the public understand that
music must be paid for in the same way that any
other commodity must be paid for that the people
are in daily need of.

Our greatest opponent in the House of Commons
all through our campaign, was a Mr. Caldwell,
member for one of the Glasgow divisions, a very
wealthy man, who, I believe, made his fortune out
of copyright patterns on calico. At one election in
Glasgow we ran a Socialist candidate against him,
in the hope of securing the seat for the Conservative
candidate. We were not successful, however.

Meanwhile, we did obtain a small measure of
assistance from the Government. They gave us the
Copyright Act of 1902, This Act gave a constable the

HM

114 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

right to seize upon sight any music in the street
he had reason to think was pirated, without a
warrant. Previously to this Act he could only
seize music upon a warrant, and how could this
possibly help him against an elusive street
hawker?

At last one day a solicitor, Percy Becher, intro-
duced by Hermann Lohr, came to me and said he
thought there was a roundabout, admittedly a
difficult and expensive, way by which we might be
able to seriously undermine our enemies, the pirates.
Briefly it was this. To publish and sell pirated music
on one's own initiative, without any outside help,
was only a civil offence. But, if you could prove that
two or three persons had conspired together to
reprint and sell your music, a charge of conspiracy
might lie against them, and they would be subject,
on conviction, to imprisonment. We took this
matter into our careful consideration, and even-
tually submitted a case to the late Mr. Muir, a
counsel with an extremely clear mind and with a
remarkable gift of clarity in submitting his argu-
ments. Mr. Muir was of opinion we could succeed,
so we went ahead at once. We secured all the neces-
sary evidence, and launched our prosecution against
two or three of the most notorious pirates. We
obtained judgment in our favour, and a severe
sentence was passed upon more than one pirate
king. This was our first great victory, but it was
only obtained at an enormous cost, and it was
obvious we must secure further legislation to enable
us to hold our ground. We had to make, if possible,
the printing and selling of pirated music an offence
punishable by imprisonment, and we eventually
succeeded.

In 1905, however, the situation grew worse and

MUSIC PIRACIES 115

worse, and, at a fully attended meeting of music
publishers, we notified we could accept no more
music for publication and could make no further
payments to singers until our mutual wrongs were
righted.

The following is the notice we published (reprinted
from the Daily Telegraph of April 10th 9 1905):

"Music PIRACIES

"IMPORTANT ACTION OF THE PUBLISHERS

"At a meeting of the Music Publishers' Associ-
ation, held on Friday, at the office of the associa-
tion, 27 Regent Street, it was unanimously
decided by the undermentioned firms that, in
consequence of the present deplorable position of
music composers, and of the music publishing and
retail trade, brought about by the want of pro-
tection against music piracies:

"1. No further new publications shall be issued
by any of the firms in question until further
notice;

"2. No fresh contracts for payments to artistes
and singers of new publications shall be entered
into for the present;

"3. No further money shall at present be spent
upon newspaper advertisements.

"The undermentioned publishing houses par-
ticularly desire to point out that their present
attitude is dictated by no hostile spirit towards
any person or persons connected with the music
trade or the music profession, but is merely a

116 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

measure of self-preservation on behalf of the
music industry and the music composers.

"E. ASCHERBERG & Co. HOPWOOD & CREW, LTD.

EDWIN ASHDOWN THE JOHN CHURCH Co.

BOOSEY & Co. METZLER & Co., LTD.

CHAPPELL & Co., LTD. PRICE & REYNOLDS

J.B. CRAMER &Co.,LTD. G. RICORDI & Co.

ERNEST DONAJOWSKI CHARLES SHEARD & Co.

ENOCH & SONS JOSEPH WILLIAMS, LTD.

EVANS & Co. M. WITMARK & SON

A. HAMMOND & Co. KEITH PROWSE & Co."
HAWKES & SON

We were always being informed that we had
brought the piracies on ourselves by the prohibitive
price at which we sold our music. Mr. Caldwell was
particularly attached to this argument. Smuggling,
he said, was the outcome of heavy duties on wine,
spirits, tobacco, etc., piracies were the outcome of
our high-priced music. He would no doubt have
been interested to study the present iniquitous tax
of two hundred per cent, upon whisky as against a
twenty per cent, tax upon foreign wines imported
into this country.

It was about this time that some wag hit upon a
further device to draw attention to our position.
Lord Balfour (then Mr. Balfour, and at that time
Prime Minister) had just published a little treatise
on Free and Fair Trade. It was in a paper cover, was
very brief, and was published at Is. Suddenly a
pirated copy of this little work appeared on the
streets, retailed at one penny. It contained a note
by the editor on the front page, stating that the
work educationally was of such value to the masses
that it had been found necessary to bring out a

MUSIC PIRACIES 117

penny edition, the shilling edition putting it out of
the reach of the average purchaser. Messrs. Long-
mans, the publishers of the original edition, imme-
diately rang up the music publishers, asking first
if we had seen the pirated copy, and particularly
asking our advice as to how they could deal with the
matter. Our reply was very short and to the point:
"As we have not yet discovered a means to protect
our music, it must be obvious to you we cannot
suggest any method by which you can protect your
book."

About the same time several of Kipling's poems
were pirated and also put upon the streets at Id.
a copy. I read a statement in one of the journals the
other day that those penny editions of Kipling's
poems, being very rare, were being sold at 3 and
4 a piece, but I can hardly credit it.

The Acting Committee of the Musical Defence
League already numbered among its names the
following:

Sir C. Hubert H. Parry Mr. Hamish MacCunn

Sir Alex. C. Mackenzie Mr. Stephen Adams

Sir Chas. Villiers Stan- Mr. Ivan Caryll

ford Mr. Edward German

M. Andre Messager Mr. Lionel Monckton

Signor F. Paolo Tosti Mr. Paul A. Rubens

Mr. T. Stanley Chappell Mr. Sidney Jones

Sir Edward Elgar Mr. Leslie Stuart

Dr. F. H. Cowen Mr. David Day
Dr. W. H. Cummings

Mr. Alfred Littleton
(Chairman, Messrs. Novello & Co., Ltd.]

Mr. Arthur Boosey
(Messrs. Boosey & Co.)

118 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

Mr. W. EL Leslie

(Managing Director, Messrs. John Broadwood &
Sons, Ltd.)

Mr. J. Herbert Marshall, J.P.
(President, Provincial Music Trades Association)

Mr. William Boosey
(Managing Director, Messrs. Chappell & Co., Ltd.]

An indignation meeting was organised by them
at the Queen's Hall to protest against the continued
neglect of the authorities to protect the property of
the composers. They also organised a petition to
Parliament, which eventually numbered some hun-
dreds of signatures. A few names taken at random
are given here to illustrate how widespread at last
was the realisation of the public as to the nature
and justice of the agitation:

Sir Lawrence Alma The Marquis of Down-

Tadema shire

Professor Hubert von Lord Arthur Hill

Herkomer Lady Arthur Hill

Sir Henry Irving Mr. W. S. Gilbert

Sir Squire Bancroft Mr. Rudyard Kipling

Sir A. Conan Doyle Captain Basil Hood

Sir A. C. Mackenzie Mr. Sidney Grundy

Professor Ray Lankester Mr. Louis N. Parker

Madame Melba Mr. W. W. Jacobs

Miss Marie Corelli Mr. Jerome K. Jerome

Mr. Arthur Bourchier Mr. Anthony Hope

Mr. Cyril Maude Mr. Israel Zangwill

Mr. George Alexander Mr. John Hare

The Countess of Gains- Mr. Fred Terry

borough Mr. Arthur Collins
The Countess of Lucan

MUSIC PIRACIES 119

But among all the names one stands out prominently
as that of the man without whose aid all our efforts
might have been in vain. That man was the late
T. P. O'Connor. He was an enthusiast, he loved
music, and above all he loved championing a cause
which had for its incentive the protection of the
weak against the strong.

He assisted in drafting the Bill of 1906, and by
his influence induced the Government to star the
Bill, which indicated that, although a private Bill,
it had their full support.

The session was nearly at an end. Had we not
forced our Bill through that session, the whole of
our work at the next session would have had to be
gone over again. The Bill passed the third reading
in the House of Commons, and all it required was
the confirmation of the House of Lords and the royal
assent. We had arrived, however, at the last night
of the session, and apparently the House of Lords
was not sitting. A special meeting of the House of
Lords was called. T. P. himself told me it was the
only occasion, to his knowledge, that the House of
Lords had been summoned to pass a private Bill.
Three members of the House of Lords attended.
I think it was Lord Ribblesdale who introduced the
Bill. Our difficulties were not yet at an end. It had
to be laid on the table of the House of Commons
before the morning, otherwise the royal assent could
not have been obtained. By some extraordinary
coincidence it was the one night that the House of
Commons adjourned at a comparatively early hour*
T. P. was just in time, as the House was being locked
up for the night, to get hold of one of the clerks of
the House of Commons, and with his assistance to
slip through the door and lay our Bill upon the table.
The curtain was then rung down. We gave a dinner

120

FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

to T. P. to celebrate his great achievement, His
Grace the late Duke of Argyll kindly consenting to
take the chair. Among those present were:

Sir Alexander Mackenzie
(Chairman of Committee)
The Earl of Plymouth
The Earl of Lytton
Viscount Knutsford
Lord Balcarres, M.P.
Lord Monkswell
Lord Burnham
Sir Edward H. Carson,

K.C., M.P.
Sir Harry B. Poland,

K.C.

Sir Charles Wyndham
Sir C. Hubert Parry
Sir Charles Villiers Stan-
ford

Sir Edward Elgar
Sir Ernest Clarke
Sir J. Herbert Marshall
C. B. Stuart- Wortley,

Esq., K.C., M.P.
Horace E. Avory, Esq.,
K.C.

T. E. Scrutton, Esq.,
K.C.

J. M. Le Sage, Esq.
H. Beerbohm Tree, Esq.
George Alexander, Esq.
A. W. Pinero, Esq.
J. Comyns Carr, Esq.
J. M. Barrie, Esq.
M. Andre Messager
Signor F. Paolo Tosti
Edward German, Esq.
Hamish MacCunn, Esq.
Ivan Caryll, Esq.
Lionel Monckton, Esq.
Leslie Stuart, Esq.
Michael Maybrick, Esq.
Paul A. Rubens, Esq.
Sidney Jones, Esq.
Howard Talbot, Esq.
Landon Ronald, Esq.
Bernard Partridge, Esq.
T. Anstey Guthrie, Esq.
Henry J. Wood, Esq.

T. P., in his speech after dinner, stated that but
for me there would have been no Copyright Act of
1906. He was far too generous. I did not spare my-
self, but the victory was his, and he deserved all the
credit.

In 1911, when the long-overdue Copyright Bill
was passed, all preceding Copyright Acts were

MUSIC PIRACIES 121

annulled, with the exception of our two little Acts of
1902 and 1906. The curious position, therefore, now
is that it is a criminal offence by statute to pirate
music, but only a civil offence to pirate books and
other forms of art copyright.

CHAPTER XIV

GEORGE EDWARDES

IT is impossible to complete these memoirs with-
out devoting a whole chapter to that remarkable
man, George Edwardes.

I met him first of all when he was acting manager
for the Cartes at the Savoy Theatre. When he left
them they were not able to give him a benefit, as ,
I believe it was against the rule of the theatre, but
I believe they treated him very generously. He then
proceeded to invent the entertainment which was
practically his own creation. He produced light go-
as-you-please farces with music. In Town was the
first of them to make good with the public. The
book of this production was by Basil Hood, and in
it Arthur Roberts made a notable success.

Edwardes always had a curious way of producing
his pieces; one might almost say that half of them
were written on the stage. By degrees he extended
his operations, and eventually we found him in
complete command at Daly's Theatre, having justly
gained a reputation for producing the most lavish,
beautiful, and entertaining musical comedies that
had ever been put upon the London stage.

One may say that he invented the term "musical
comedy"; but, when his big success came, his pro-
ductions were altogether on a broader scale. He pro-
duced the very best works by English composers of
light music that were procurable, and he also opened

122

GEORGE EDWARDES 123

his theatre and theatres to all the recognised big
successes of the Continent, including more particu-
larly the run of theatrical hits that owed their origin
to Vienna and Budapest,

He had an unfailing flair for pretty faces. The
ladies of his choruses were always the prettiest and
most elegant girls that even this wonderful country
can provide. They were always a source of wonder
to Continental managers, whose chorus ladies natur-
ally were built on entirely different lines.

He had an equal taste in costume and scenery,
and never lost sight of the extreme importance of
having strong comic relief in each of the operas he
produced.

If I were asked what was the final reason of his
success as a producer, I should be inclined to say
it was his extraordinary gift in knowing what to
discard.

He very often made a slight mistake in selecting
numbers which did not come up to his expectations,
but he invariably was able to tell at rehearsal such
numbers as he knew would not please the public,
and, the moment he formed his decision, these
numbers were ruthlessly cut.

Daly's Theatre, of course, was his own specula-
tion. At the Gaiety Theatre he was managing di-
rector of the Gaiety Company. He also produced
several successes at the Prince of Wales 5 Theatre.
The direction of these three theatres gave him a
commanding control of the best artistes. All of our
best composers of light music wrote for him, and,
in addition to Harry and Percy Greenbank as lyric
authors, he had enlisted the services of that very
serious Cambridge don, Arthur Ropes, better known
for his brilliantly witty verses under the name of
Adrian Ross.

124 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

Previously to George Edwardes' directorship of
the Gaiety Theatre, John Hollingshead had been in
management there. Hollingshead was first of all a
literary man, and upon the staff of Punch. It seemed
an odd freak of fortune that transformed him into
the manager of a burlesque theatre. But for a time
he was very successful at the Gaiety with Nellie
Farren, Connie Gilehrist, Kate Vaughan, Edward
Terry, and Royce. Meyer Lutz, with his brilliant
orchestra and his famous pas de quatre, was a con-
spicuous figure in those days. My last memory of
Hollingshead was when he was manager of the then
famous Corinthian Club (now the Sports Club),
where all the young bloods of their time collected
for supper and dancing. Very smart it was. I have
known nothing like it since. Perhaps, however, the
eyes of youth lent an extra glamour to it. Hol-
lingshead had a supper-party there one night - one
among many - and introduced me to a noble lord
who, he informed me, was a lineal descendant of
a great nobleman at the time of the Armada. I had
a very quaint American with me named Drake, and
I assured the company he was a lineal descendant
of Sir Francis. I am afraid the deception was too
transparent.

Edwardes also made an early success at the Gaiety
with those wonderful artistes, Nellie Farren and
Fred Leslie. I believe there was a good deal of
jealousy between them at first, but they soon learnt
to appreciate each other's sterling qualities.

In succession to them, Edwardes by degrees built
up that wonderful company that, in the new Gaiety
Theatre, helped themselves, or were helped by their
manager, to success after success.

Seymour Hicks was in the heyday of his vivacity
- infact, he has changed very little since. My charming

GEORGE EDWARDES 125

little friend, Ella, was a wonderful foil to him.
I never see a little piece of string without thinking
of her! When I was first married we lived at Bed-
ford Park. She was living there also, and I danced
with her when she was twelve years old. Yes, I am
much older than she is. She never seems to have
grown up in the hard sense of the word. Lucky Sey-
mour! Seymour was and is a marvellous fellow. He
once sold me an operetta entitled Captain Kidd.
There was a lot of "kidd" about it. I had scarcely
recovered from this first blow when he sold me an-
other operetta, Cash on Delivery. He produced this
under the title of C.O.D., so with "Kidd" and "Cod"
I was amply provided for. And yet no one believes
in the simplicity of music publishers.

Kitty Seymour, Teddy Payne, Arthur Lonnen,
George Grossmith - what a foil to Teddy Payne -
fascinating Gertie Millar, Connie Ediss, who would
frequently smoke a big black cigar at a morning
rehearsal: what names to conjure with! It is only
necessary to add to these attractions the names of
Monckton and Caryll with their delightful numbers,
and Ivan Caryll in the Gaiety orchestra as a prince
of light-opera conductors!

We must not forget, also, Olive May and Rosie
Boot, both of whom still grace the peerage. Then
there was Maggie Fraser, who when she donned
Scotch kilts made you feel you would be quite pre-
pared to live on haggis for the remainder of your
life, if you might be permitted to share it with her.
Grace Palotta, too, was inimitable in Lionel Monck-
ton's "Soldiers in the Park."

I remember during the Boer War all these girls
rehearsing a new song by Lionel Monckton, "When
the Boys Come Home Once More." One of the verses
ran:

126 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

girls, only tell us this,

Is there nothing that you miss?

Arerit you longing for a kiss

When the boys come home once more?

It was too much for the poor girls, they burst into
tears, and the rehearsal had to be held up until they
had pulled themselves together. Poor little dears,
if they could have foreseen the Great War th#t came
after.

At Daly's Theatre we had an equal galaxy of
talent. We had Marie Tempest, Maggie May, Evie
Greene, Letty Lind, Lily Elsie, and that most charm-
ing of women, Lilian Eldee, who had considerable
literary ability, and was responsible for the English
lyrics of Messager's little masterpiece, Veronique.

Hayden Coffin was in his prime, Huntley Wright
inimitable; George Huntley; in due course Berry, in
fact every artiste of note in the light opera world,
was at our command.

Arthur Roberts, as before stated, had made a big
hit in In Town, one of George Edwardes' first suc-
cesses. Roberts had, however, previously, in addi-
tion to his success in pantomime, appeared in light
opera under Farnie's management. Prince Soltykoff
at that time was much interested in the theatre.

Had one space, there are many delightful tales to
tell of George Edwardes. I remember on one occa-
sion George Graves had made his first big success in
a light opera at the Prince of Wales' - the music, if
I remember rightly, by Leslie Stuart -in which
Graves played a peppery old colonel with a very
rough cough. George Graves was rehearsing a new
piece, and did not like his part. He came up to
Edwardes on the stage and said: "Governor, this is
an awful part; I can make nothing of it." Edwardes

GEORGE EDWAKDES 127

took the script in his hand, and said: "My dear boy,
what is the matter with it? It is a beautiful part. Why
don't you make that funny little noise you made
as the colonel in the last production here? 55 George
Graves looked at me, and we could not help smiling.

Poor Edwardes was very muddled up when Tol-
stoi died. Arthur Cohen came into his room and
said: "Have you seen, George, that poor Tolstoi is
dead?" Edwardes replied: "Is he? What a pity!
Such a charming fellow! What was that lovely song
he wrote - c Good-bye, My Love, for ever'? 55 The
idea of Tolstoi writing one of Tosti's love ballads
also appealed to my risible faculties.

I must also tell a golfing tale which Edwardes was
responsible for and which was quite a classic in
golfing circles. I was playing golf with Edwardes at
Aldeburgh. We were neither of us quite in the front
rank. At the second hole, I sliced, and he pulled, and
it was quite a long time before we met again on the
second green. "How many, George?" said L "The
same number as you, Willie," he replied. As he had
not seen me since I left the tee, I thought it was very
clever of him. Edwardes then addressed his ball for
a putt, and said: "Like as we lie. 55 1 turned round to
Paul Rubens, who was walking round with us, and

said: "Like as we lie be d d, it's lie as we like! 55

Paul Rubens subsequently put this into one of his
lyrics in the Three Little Maids:

Golf is a game where you're like as you lie,
You can lie as you like if you will.

"That's mine," I said to Paul, "Yes," he replied,
but it comes in very well here. Not that Paul Rubens
had any occasion to depend upon others for his wit.
I remember when he was in a nursing home off the

128 FIFTY YEAES OF MUSIC

Marylebone Road, and I said, by way of cheering
him up: " After all, Paul, you have a charming view
from this window. Here in front of you is the temple
of Castor and Pollux. 55 I was referring to a curious
church with a Greek dome. Paul in a flash replied:
"Castor Oil and Pollux! 55

Speaking of George Edwardes and his tact with
artistes reminds me of Gus Harris. Gus was sitting
at his managerial desk when Barton McGuckin, the
tenor, in an evident fury, invaded the sanctum. It
was during a dress rehearsal, I think of Nadeshda
by Goring Thomas. Barton was indignant at a
helmet he had been given to wear; said it made him
look an idiot. Gus put it on his own head, with a
beautiful smile. "What is the matter with it? 55 said
Gus. "Do I look an idiot? 55 No one understood all
these little managerial artifices better than George
Edwardes.

It is curious how the opera Dorothy originated.
As far as I remember, owing to some stage dispute,
B. C. Stephenson had to write his libretto to the
music already written by Alfred Cellier. George
Edwardes first produced Dorothy, and the original
cast consisted of Marion Hood as soprano, Redfern
Hollins as the tenor, Hayden Coffin, and, of course,
Arthur Williams. The opera met with no success
originally, but Henry Leslie saw it and thought he
could make a success with it. At one time, Henry
Leslie looked like becoming a big light-opera
manager. He died most unhappily at New York,
becoming blind before his troubles ended.

Anyhow, Leslie put Marie Tempest into the title
role of Dorothy, and substituted Ben Davies for
Redfern Hollins. This, of course, gave him a tre-
mendously strong cast. At the last moment, Tom
Chappell, who was publishing the opera, said to

GEORGE EDWARDES 129

Leslie: "You have got a singer. Coffin, who has just
made a big success, and you have not got a single
song for him in the opera." Tom Chappell ransacked
the shelves that contained derelict compositions by
various composers, and discovered a printed copy of
the famous song, "Queen of my Heart," actually
written by Alfred Cellier, which had lain on the
shelves for years and was absolutely unsaleable. He
and Alfred Cellier took this song down to the
management, and, in due course, Coffin sang it and
made an enormous success with it.

Coffin had just previously made his stage debut in
an opera by the young American, William Fullerton,
and had immediately established himself as a
favourite with the public.

There is no doubt that the introduction of this
one song largely contributed to the opera's eventual
success.

B. C. Stephenson, the librettist, was a very
interesting man. It was he who was originally
responsible for the acquiring of a royal charter
for Lloyds, the famous insurance centre in the
City.

I was always informed that B. C. Stephenson had
many years previously acted as private secretary
in turn to Disraeli and Gladstone, but I was never
able to verify this. He had also written a good many
adaptations of French plays. He was always ready to
tell you a good tale, even if it was against himself.

I remember his telling me one of his experiences
which I never forgot. He had just produced an
English version of a famous play by Sardou, which
he entitled Peril. He told me that one morning he
was walking along Piccadilly when he met a friend
of his. His friend said: "By Jove, Stephenson, that
play Peril of yours is immense." Stephenson felt

IM

130 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

fearfully flattered and said: "Do you like it, old
man?" " 'Like it'? I never miss a performance of it.
I am there every night." Stephenson was in the
seventh heaven. "Yes, old man," his friend con-
tinued. "You know that scene in the boudoir, when
the two are on the sofa? I always feel that, one
night, something might happen, and I should not
like not to be there!"

The death of George Edwardes found Messrs.
Chappell & Co. with a considerable holding in
shares in the Adelphi Theatre, which Edwardes
had been managing, and a further holding in shares
in the Gaiety Theatre Company. I was chairman of
the Adelphi Company, and had to consider what
programme to adopt. Edwardes had had a big
success with The Quaker Girl, by Monckton. The
first thing I did was to engage W. H. Berry for the
theatre. We then produced a light opera, Tina.
Most of the music and very delightful it was - was
by Paul Rubens. Haydn Wood also wrote some
very pretty numbers for us. The book of Tina was
founded upon a very clever Hungarian libretto,
but here again the adaptation was far from giving
me satisfaction. We had a very strong company
among others, that sweet actress and singer, Phyl-
lis Dare; a gallant young baritone, Godfrey Tearle;
Mabel Sealby, and, last but not least, our old
friend Berry. Incidentally, also, I gave Margaret
Bannerman, in Tina, her first appearance on the
stage.

Almost at the same time I had to find a pro-
gramme for the Gaiety Theatre, which was in very
low water. George Grossmith and Paul Rubens
were very anxious to produce a new work of their
own. I, however, with my frequent experiences of
the result of weak librettos and charming music,

GEORGE EDWAHDES 131

was not satisfied with the prospect. Fortunately,
about this time, I happened to be in Berlin. I was
at the Hotel Bristol, a most comfortable hotel,
famous for its wonderful lunches. One afternoon in
the lounge I heard the orchestra in a fascinating
intermezzo. I immediately asked the name of it,
and was informed it was a well-known number from
a very popular German operetta entitled The Opera
Ball. Oddly enough, I had never heard of this
opera. I looked through the opera, and found that
the intermezzo, from a popular point of view, was
the only number that appealed to me. What I did
discover, however, was the fact that the libretto of
the opera was none other than our famous old
farce, The Pink Dominoes. Here, I thought, is our
subject for the Gaiety, with one of Paul Rubens'
sparkling scores to make sure of a triumph. I think
my friend George Grosssmith, will remember I had
a terrible struggle to convert him and Paul Rubens
to my way of thinking. But I succeeded at last, with
the result that To-night's the Night re-established
the Gaiety, and saved the situation financially.
Meanwhile, I persuaded Sir Alfred Butt to come
along and join our two boards. I was much too
busy with other matters, and had no intention of
devoting my attention entirely to theatrical manage-
ment. The piece I wanted to produce at the Adelphi
- and I had much opposition from my friend Pat
Malone-was High Jinks. It had a big part for
Berry, made a great success, and re-established the
theatre. Alfred Butt followed this with his irresis-
tible production of The Boy, the joint work of
Pinero and Lionel Monckton. Eventually, Alfred
Butt brought us along a wonderful offer for our
shares in the two theatres, and we all came to the
conclusion we could not do better than accept it.

132 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

One of the great successes I made for ChappelTs
was the acquiring of a half -interest in the lease of the
Lyric Theatre, in which it will be remembered that
William Greet and Engelbach were joint lessees and
held a sub-lease. When Greet died, Engelbach said
to me: "Would Chappell's care to take his half-
interest?" as he, Engelbach, was very old and did
not care to be saddled with the whole responsibility.
On behalf of Chappell's, I accepted his offer.

At this time, Doris Keane had just produced her
famous Romance at the Duke of York's Theatre, and
it had not immediately caught on with the public, so
Engelbach suggested that we should bring it up to
the Lyric, which we did, and we all know what a
phenomenal success the play had.

Our general policy at the Lyric has been to let the
theatre. By letting it we could always show a sub-
stantial profit.

One of our directors, I remember, was very careful
of the pennies. One morning he was going out of the
office to get a shave. He suddenly remembered it
was Queen Alexandra's Rose Day, and he had not
a rose. He borrowed a rose from one of the clerks!

While on the subject of Greet and Engelbach,
owing to circumstances which for the moment are
not very fresh in my mind, Messrs. Chappell found
themselves sharing a lease of the Savoy Theatre
with Greet and Engelbach upon the death of D'Oyly
Carte. We did not hold the theatre very long, but
one of our experiences in connection with the
theatre was such that it is extremely difficult to
give an explanation of it.

We revived from time to time all the various
Gilbert and Sullivan operas with their original
casts, and we never succeeded in giving any revival
that was good for more than a six or seven weeks'

fcEORGE EDWARDES 133

run. Some considerable time afterwards, when I was
associated with George Edwardes on the board of
the Adelphi Theatre, I suggested to him that, as
the Gilbert and Sullivan operas were playing to big
business in the provinces, it might be worth while
to once more attempt a revival of the series at the
Adelphi Theatre. George Edwardes would not hear
of the idea, and said that the attraction of the
operas, at all events in London, was finished.

After George Edwardes 5 death, when I was again
puzzled for a while as to what we should do with the
Adelphi, I returned to my old belief, and thought I
would like to try the revivals which Edwardes had
some time previously turned down. I approached
Rupert Carte on the subject, but he said he could
not do any business, as he meant eventually to pro-
duce the operas in London himself. As we all remem-
ber, he has since fulfilled his intention, and has had
the most amazing success with the London revivals.

At another time I had intended to bring a French
company to the Lyric to give some performances
of the big Paris success, Ta Bouche. Just before
signing the contracts, I was informed that the Lord
Chamberlain could not license the piece, even in
French. The Lord Chamberlain gave me an inter-
view, and was most courteous. He seemed amused
when I told him I thought anything might pass in
French. He asked me why I thought so, and I said
because some amazing plays in French introduced
by Sacha Guitry had passed the censorship. My
efforts, however, were all in vain. The book of Ta
Bouche was quite possible. The lyrics, I admit, were
very daring. The musical score was a little gem.

How is it that some actresses preserve the gift of
never growing old? Phyllis Broughton possessed this

134 FIFTY YEAItS OF MUSIC

gift in an extraordinary degree. I very well remem-
ber my last meeting with her. I was taking a train
up from Margate, I believe. On taking my seat and
looking round, I perceived a very charming lady
sitting in the corner of the Pullman. I said to my-
self, "There is no mistaking who that fellow pas-
senger is." Some of us will, no doubt, remember
Phyllis Broughton invariably on all occasions wore a
dark red carnation. There was Phyllis, and there was
her carnation. I said to her, "Phyllis, your carnation
betrays you." She did not look a day older than
when I first knew her. I asked her whether, on
arriving at Victoria, I could give her a lift in my
car. She said it was unnecessary, as she was always
met by a four-wheeled cabman, who had a white
horse and whose name was George. She said he was
an old pensioner of hers.

She informed me there was only one occasion
when she felt uncommonly like a snob. She had
been to some big garden-party - 1 think at the
Rothschilds - and, on coming away, flunkeys were
fetching up one by one the big imposing cars. A
flunkey came to her and said, "Can I call your car,
madame?" She said, "Yes, call George." Whereupon
George, with his white horse, appeared upon the
scene of splendour!

On getting out, eventually, I saw George right
enough, and safely deposited Phyllis in her coach. It
was only three or four weeks afterwards that I read
of her death.

Another actress who has the gift of never growing
old is Germaine Gallois. I met her at lunch one day
during her last appearance in London with Sacha
Guitry and the delightful Yvonne Printemps. They
were playing in IS Amour Masque.

I have known Madame Gallois for some years* It

GEORGE EDWARJDES 135

was always a great regret to me that I had never
heard in Paris the score which I always understood
was one of Andre Messager's most happy efforts in
the lighter school of music he occasionally permitted
himself to indulge in. I refer to Isoline. Part of my
regret was owing to the fact that, in this production,
Germaine Gallois had appeared in the role of Venus,
and I had not seen her in it. She always was Venus,
and, judging from my most recent experience, she
still retains her invincible title.

Certain stage beauties seem to possess the gift of
defying the march of time. Just such another was
Marie Studholme.

The last occasion that I met Gertie Millar and
Lily Elsie was at the first perfomance of the delight-
ful little Evelyn Laye in Bitter Sweet, when that
charming artiste, Peggy Wood, had to retire for two
or three weeks after a long and strenuous run of over
500 nights in Noel Coward's opera. Both Gertie
Millar, in severe black, and Lily Elsie were present,
and, quite apart from any question of dates, one
could not have met two more charming types of de-
lightful English womanhood.

CHAPTER XV

COMPOSERS WHOM I HAVE KNOWN

I FIND it impossible to fill in various gaps in con-
nection with my work for Chappell & Co. without
referring to the many ventures which I made in
connection with the Italian composer. Franco LeonL
Leoni was originally brought from Italy by Barton
McGuckin, the tenor, who considered he might have
a good chance of making a career for himself in this
country.

I published songs for Leoni at Boosey's, and sub-
sequently some further songs at ChappelTs.

I then got him to write a choral work on the sub-
ject of Sardanapalus. This work was given at the
Queen's Hall with soloists, chorus, and orchestra,
but the performance was rather a scratch one.

I then introduced him to Messrs. Novello & Co.,
who gave him a choral work to write entitled The
Gates of Life.

This work was done at the Albert Hall, and ex-
tremely well received by the public, but fiercely
assailed by the critics.

I believe it is at present one of Novello & Co.'s
most popular standard choral works.

After this I asked Leoni to make a musical setting
for the opera stage of Basil Hood's charming play,
Ib and Christina, founded upon Hans Andersen's
story.

We had this work performed at the Savoy

136

COMPOSERS WHOM I HAYE KNOWN 137

Theatre, but it was a little beyond the compass of a
light-opera theatre ; we therefore gave some special
matinees of it at Daly's Theatre, during George
Edwardes' regime, with a very strong cast, who gave
a very fine reproduction of the work. Susan Strong,
Edna Thornton, Ben Davies, and Gordon Cleather
were in the second production. They were all good,
and Ben Davies just delightful.

Some time afterwards, Hedmondt, the tenor,
produced a grand opera version of Rip van Winkle,
also composed by Leoni, at His Majesty's Theatre.
Meanwhile, I took Leoni over to Paris and got
Albert Carre to give him an audition of Ib and Chris-
tina, with a view to its being produced at the Opera
Comique. Albert Carre accepted the work.

I also introduced Leoni to the Covent Garden
people, and they produced the opera of his entitled
L'Oracolo, which had considerable success, and
which Scotti, the baritone, made quite popular in
America.

Subsequent to this, I had an opera of his, Tzigane,
on a gipsy subject, presented at the Opera House at
Genoa.

Finally, I organised, on behalf of Messrs. Chap-
pell, a big choir and orchestra for the production of
great choral works at the Queen's Hall. Leoni was
the conductor.

He there produced a very big sacred work en-
titled Golgotha, for full choir and orchestra, and
with the additional advantage of Maggie Teyte,
Clara Butt, Gervase Elwes, and Kennerley Rumford
in the leading solo parts.

Meanwhile, Albert Carre was not able to produce
Ib and Christina, owing to the difficulty of finding
children to play the two important roles, which
had to be rendered by little people. He therefore

138 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

accepted, in place of Ib and Christina, a version by
Leoni of Paolo and Francesca. This work was even-
tually produced at the Opera Comique,

I am not aware as to what other works Leoni
has produced since he left England and returned to
Italy.

I shall never forget my first meeting with Mario
Costa. Mario Costa's great-uncle, Sir Michael Costa,
had been a very famous figure in the English musi-
cal world, many years before my time, as a great
conductor. Mario Costa made his debut before the
English public - or, rather, I should say, the Eng-
lish smart set -in conjuction with our delightful
friend Paolo Tosti. These two used to sing duets to-
gether at all the smart Society functions, and were
very much sought after. Mario Costa perhaps
shared with Tosti the reputation of being the most
popular song-writer in Italy. He is best known
to our public, in a popular sense, by his famous
"Francesca" march. Andre Wormser, a most gifted
musician and composer, had produced at the Prince
of Wales' Theatre, London, his marvellous little
play, VEnfant Prodigue, a pantomime in music
without words. This play was an entire novelty at
the time. The work was assisted by a small orchestra,
and the musical standard of the whole production
was very high. Subsequently, another play upon
similar lines was given at the Prince of Wales'
Theatre, I think, by Lowenfeld. This was UHistoire
d'un Pierrot, by Mario Costa, which had achieved a
great popularity abroad. Following immediately
upon Wormser's work, it had not the same appeal
by way of novelty, and, of course, Wormser was a
musician of extraordinary attainments. The qualities,
however, that Mario Costa's work did contain were
those of the purest form of melody and intensely

COMPOSERS WHOM I HAVE KNOWN 139

sympathetic and moving themes. The work made a
profound impression on me, and I made up my mind
to meet the composer.

Costa was in Paris at the time, and on my next
visit to Paris I wired to him to come and see me -
in fact, to dine with me. He missed the first appoint-
ment, but next morning I, having been rather late
the previous evening, was informed by my waiter
that Signor Mario Costa was coming upstairs to
make himself known to me. I was only just awoken
from my slumbers, and did not feel like receiving
any kind of composer, but it was too late to hold up
the entrance of Mario. I sprang out of bed and flung
a Burberry round me, and Mario gazed at me in
amazement. "Why," he said, "I thought you would
be a Jew publisher with a black beard, and you are
a sportsman!" Anything less like a sportsman than I
felt at that moment cannot be imagined. Anyhow,
be that as it may, we became the greatest of friends,
and the next three or four days we spent wandering
about Paris, sitting about till all hours of the morn-
ing and talking of the various forms of art that in-
terested both of us. These were the days before taxis
existed. We had a dilapidated victoria, driven by a
weird English coachman, probably well known, to
many habitues of the Paris of that date. His name
was William, and the animal that was associated
with him was a mare which he informed us was
known as Louise Michel. Mario and I agreed that
Louise Michel went much more piano than her
namesake.

I could tell many delightful tales of our adven-
tures, but I fear these memoirs are already becom-
ing too lengthy, so I will only add that I spent many
years doing my utmost to secure for my loyal little
friend the recognition which I was sure he was

140 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

entitled to. We eventually did produce his opera,
Capitaine Fracasse, at the Opera House in Turin.
This same work has been rewritten and strength-
ened, and has been revived at Monte Carlo with
great success last December.

It was finally completed and scored when I was
living at Streatley-on-Thames. I had a sweet little
house in Streatley Wood and, incidentally, two gar-
deners' cottages. In one of these I installed Mario,
and there he resided until he was able to show me
his work was absolutely completed.

Mario Costa has this supreme quality, which is
shared by so many brilliant men - his extraordinary
simplicity and a heart which obstinately refuses to
grow old with the march of years. He admits him-
self that he has made big sums of money for
Choudens, Ricordi's, and other publishers, and that
the house that has endeavoured to treat him with
all possible generosity is the only house that has not
financially benefited from the wonderful gifts he
possesses.

Among these brief sketches of character, I cannot
pass over a generous tribute to Paul Rubens. He
was educated at Winchester and Oxford. He had a
most engaging personality. He was generosity it-
self, and charming to all the world. It was the
greatest pleasure to me to work for him and to help
him as much as I was able. He had a wonderful gift
of refined, joyous, and delicate melody. Like Lionel
Monckton, he was never banal. He also had an ex-
traordinary gift for writing very brilliant lyrics with
very witty ideas. Such lyrics as "The Miller's
Daughter," "I Loved Her in Velvet," and many
more are not easily forgotten. I often begged him to
spend a little more time in polishing them, but that
was not in his nature. He occasionally wrote his own

COMPOSERS WHOM I HAVE KNOWN 141

librettos, but I do not think he was so happy in this
direction. He had not Noel Coward's extraordinary
sense of the theatre and gift for what is drama,
humorous or otherwise. He was a gentleman in the
purest and most delicate sense of the word, and it
was a terrible blow to his many friends when he
passed away from us at so comparatively early
an age.

Lionel Monckton was also a very old friend of
mine, and a very strange character. He was at
Charterhouse at the time I was, and he subsequently
migrated to Oxford. By nature he was somewhat
caustic in style and distinctly a cynic, but in his
business relations with me I always found him the
fairest and most reasonable man I could hope to
deal with. He had an extraordinary gift of melody,
as we all of us still remember, and he also at times
was wonderfully happy in his lyrics. He wanted
knowing, but when you knew him you could rely
upon him, and he was very loyal.

Ivan Caryll was, perhaps, one of the most extra-
ordinary characters, certainly as a musician and
composer, that I ever met in the light-opera world.
He was generous to a fault, he had not the slightest
idea of the value of money, in fact he only used it for
the entertainment and enjoyment of himself and his
friends. Wherever he took up his quarters, either on
the Riviera, in Long Island, America, or elsewhere,
you always found him installed in a palatial resi-
dence. On one occasion, I remember, he spent his
morning walking about the boulevards in Paris
meeting various acquaintances and asking them all
to dine with him at La Rue's the same evening. I do
not think I am exaggerating if I say that we sat
down to dinner numbering not less than forty guests.
He was extraordinarily clever in making contracts

142 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

with managers for the production of his operas in
fact, he made far more contracts than even his in-
dustry and rapidity of work enabled him to fulfil.
He was an excellent judge of a scenario or play,
which stood him in good stead on several occasions.
His success with May Yohe in Little Christopher
Columbus was remarkable, and one must not forget
how happy was his collaboration with Lionel
Monckton for many years at the Gaiety. I maintain,
without hesitation, that he was one of the finest
conductors of light opera I ever met. He was not
only so exceptional in the brightness and brilliance
of his orchestra, but he knew how to produce a
perfect ensemble between his orchestra and the
artistes on the stage, and it must be remembered
that the artistes in this particular kind of work are
not all possessed of wonderful voices, and many of
them required a lot of nursing. It is not impossible
he found the process of nursing some of them very
pleasant! There were some very pretty women at the
Gaiety. At one time it looked as though he really had
outrun the constable, but he eventually made good
with the extraordinary success of The Pink Lady>
which enabled him to clear off all his liabilities and
start the world afresh.

The score of his which Ivan Caryll always looked
upon as indicating the high- water mark of his talent
was the opera which George Edwardes produced
entitled The Duchess of Dantzig. It will be remem-
bered that this was the opera in which Evie Greene
made such a big success - in what we may call the
prototype in music of Sardou's great play, Madame
Sans-Gne, so brilliantly presented by Madame
Rejane. The production of this play also gave me an
opportunity to make the acquaintance of Sardou
himself. I was always most anxious to meet him, as

COMPOSERS WHOM I HAVE KNOWN 143

I had such an admiration of his work. I remember
we had a long talk about The Duchess of Dantzig.
I was explaining to Sardou that George Edwardes,
when producing The Duchess of Dantzig, went to
enormous expense because he would insist on all the
furniture upon the stage not being imitation but
real. I remember Sardou saying how very foolish it
seemed. " After all," said Sardou, "the theatre is an
imitation of life, it is not life itself, and obviously
imitation furniture serves its purpose every bit as
well as would the furniture were it genuinely old and
of the period."

I remember that at that time we still heard a good
deal indirectly of the famous Dreyfus case. As is well
known, Sardou and Zola were two of the foremost
champions on behalf of Dreyfus. There was also a
mysterious veiled lady, often referred to in the
French Figaro, who was helping Sardou and Zola
to unravel certain mysteries. The story is that,
when Dreyfus* innocence was established, Sardou
asked this little lady what they could do for her to
show their appreciation of the help she had given.
Her reply was: "Maitre, I have only one ambition
in the world, and that is to write a successful play."
I have heard it stated often that Sardou either
made her a present of a scenario or assisted her in
putting one together. Be that as it may, the lady
did write a very successful play, which was not
only produced in Paris, but in London also.

At one time Ivan Caryll was collaborating very
frequently with George R. Sims, whom I knew very
well. They wrote a light opera, Dandy Dick Whitting-
ton, which was produced at the old Avenue Theatre,
and from which we hoped great things which did
not mature. It was about this time that George
Sims gave a dinner at Verrey's, the oldest French

144 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

restaurant in London, older even than the famous
Cafe Royal. The dinner was to celebrate George Sims'
success with his prize bulldog at the big show of the
year. An effigy of the dog, in ice, graced the centre of
the table. I remember that I could make nothing of
my neighbour on the right, who lived in Kensing-
ton Palestine Gardens and apparently was a mil-
lionaire. I tried him on every subject, sport, theatres,
books, politics - no response. At the end of dinner I
unearthed his secret. He informed me that he went in
for breeding bulldogs, and that the process was so
absorbing he had no leisure or desire to interest
himself in any other subject. I wonder if he is still
breeding!

CHAPTER XVI

THE COPYRIGHT ACT OF 1911

IN discussing the Copyright Act of 1911 it is im-
portant to remember that no comprehensive Copy-
right Act had been passed by Great Britain since
the year 1842. It is extremely unlikely that the
Copyright Bill of 1911 would have found its way on
to the statute book except that the Government
were compelled to pass an up-to-date Act, enabling
them to become signatories to the famous Berne
Convention, which was a convention signed by all
the principal European Powers for the protection of
international copyright.

The Government, as a first step, appointed a
Royal Commission to report on the whole subject of
copyright with a view to giving them guidance as to
the wisest provisions that should be made in the
new Act, which was obviously necessary. The Com-
mission consisted of the following:

Lord Gorell E. Cutler

L. Alma-Tadema Anthony Hope Hawkins

G. R. Askwith W. Joynson-Hicks

H. Granville Barker Algernon Law

William Boosey Frederick Macmillan

C. W. Bowerman Walter Raleigh

Henry R. Clayton T. E. Scrutton

Henry Cust E. Trevor LL Williams

KM 145

146 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

The only name of importance missing was that of
T. P. O'Connor, who fought so hard for the pro-
tection of musical copyright. He was unavoidably
absent abroad at the time this enquiry took place.

In many respects the 1911 Act was an admirable
act when first drafted, but, unfortunately, on its
passage through the House of Commons - and more
particularly through one of those lethal chambers
which are called House of Commons Committees,
and consist generally of some forty members totally
ignorant of the subject they are discussing the
unhappy Bill when finally returned to the House
was so torn to pieces and dilapidated that it was
obvious certain of its provisions when brought into
a court of law would bewilder the most brilliant
judges that ever sat upon any Bench.

In the first place the Bill was in charge of Sir
John Simon, and, so long as he was in charge of it,
his admirable knowledge of his subject and his
lucidity of expression prevented ignorant people
from making the Bill grotesque by their various
amendments. He, unfortunately, through stress of
work, was called away at the most critical moment,
and from that date onwards the unhappy Bill was
tossed about from one ignorant person to another,
and absolutely idiotic amendments were passed
which we unfortunate people interested, who sat
listening to the discussion in the committee room,
were powerless to give any advice upon.

With regard to the original report of the com-
mission to the Government, the point I wish to lay
the greatest stress upon is that the whole of the
commission, with one exception, that of Mr. Trevor
Williams, chairman of the Gramophone Company,
came to a definite conclusion that a composer's rights
with regard to mechanical music should be on

THE COPYRIGHT ACT OF 1911 147

exactly the same basis as were his rights with regard
to the printed copy. This vital recommendation was
absolutely ignored when the Bill had to be finally
dealt with in the House of Commons. The gramo-
phone companies, who have always been very ably
represented in the House of Commons, brought
forward a pathetic appeal that if the unhappy com-
poser were to be allowed to be properly remunerated
for the records of his composition, which were
obviously going to seriously affect his profits on his
printed copy, a grave injustice would be done to the
workmen who were engaged in the manufacture of
mechanical instruments. The Labour bugbear, as
usual, terrified the Government.

A great many weeks were taken up in hearing
evidence from every possible source as to the fair
way of dealing with this newly created property in
music. It would serve no useful purpose to give a
long list of names of authors, composers, book pub-
lishers, and music publishers who all testified to
the necessity of properly protecting music under
the newly discovered conditions by which it was
reproduced mechanically.

The question became so urgent that we peti-
tioned Mr. Winston Churchill, who was then at the
Board of Trade and a member of the Government,
to receive a deputation from us on the question of
mechanical music and how it affected composers'
rights. I shall never forget the interview. Mr.
Winston Churchill, with the rapidity which I sup-
pose always characterises brilliant brains, stated at
once that he did not consider the question at all
complicated. He said he had evidence that experts
could read pianola records of music without it being
necessary to place the same upon the instrument
which reproduced them. On the other hand, he said

148 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

he was satisfied that no one could read the gramo-
phone records, and that it was necessary for them
to be mechanically reproduced to give effect to the
invention of the composer. He therefore said that,
in his opinion, pianola records were an infringement
of copyright and that gramophone discs were not.
I stared in amazement at his decision, and, being
still very young and inexperienced, I am afraid I
lacked the courage to tell him what I thought of his
amazing proposition. He was, however, as usual,
perfectly satisfied with himself, and perfectly cer-
tain that he had found the solution of this difficult
question. I asked him by what right gramophones
could make money out of the composer's invention
without paying, as apart from the question that the
pianola would be infringing rights. He said he did
not require to discuss it, it was obvious.

By some amazing tradition in Government offices,
copyright matters at that date were in charge of the
Board of Trade, who handled railways. What on
earth railways had to do with artistic invention,
goodness only knows. Possibly these wiseacres dis-
covered some affinity between a train of thought
and the ordinary locomotive. Anyhow, with such a
view being held by a member of the Government
who was responsible for artistic property and the
protection of it, it is not surprising that the Act of
1911 was defaced, so far as mechanical music was
concerned, with a tissue of absurdities.

As I before stated, the moment Sir John Simon
had to abandon the unhappy Bill in the House of
Commons committee, there was no hope for us.
Amendment after amendment of an absolutely
impossible nature was proposed by people totally
ignorant of their subject, and in almost every case
accepted. One of the worst off enders - although,

THE COPYBIGHT ACT OF 1911 149

I have no doubt, with the most excellent intentions
- was Mr. Josiah Wedgwood. The result was that
the first time a dispute arose in connection with
mechanical reproduction, and the point was raised
in the law courts, the judges expressed themselves
as totally unable to make head or tail of the mean-
ing of the clauses which dealt with the reproduction
of music mechanically. I refer, of course, in par-
ticular to the clauses under section 19 of the Copy-
right Act. It would serve no useful purpose to em-
bark on a legal argument here as to the clauses which
are appallingly inscrutable and idiotic. I fear they
will remain on the statute book for many years be-
fore Parliament finds another opportunity to deal
with this vital question. It is true the Act gave us
the power after a certain number of years to peti-
tion the Board of Trade to revise the rates of pay-
ment payable on reproductions of copyright works,
and this right of appeal we took advantage of very
recently. After a long and tedious enquiry the Board
of Trade awarded us an increase of a fraction of
a penny.

The whole point is this. The composer should have
the absolute right to deal with his mechanical rights
as he has to deal with his printing rights, and it was
a sheer robbery to place him in the condition he was
placed in, by which, if he parted with his work, he
had to part with it at a compulsory fixed percent-
age, no matter what its merit might be. Further-
more, the second injustice was that, if he parted
with his right to one maker of records, he was com-
pelled to part with his rights on the same terms to
all other makers of records. The greatest hardship
was that all these other record makers had the right
to reproduce these compositions at any price they
pleased. Consequently, they being only governed

150 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

by the necessity to pay the same rate of percent-
age that the more expensive records had to pay,
the amount received by composers from the cheaper
records was absolutely contemptible. What is even
more grossly unfair is that the interpreter of a
musical work, be he or she singer or violinist or in-
strumentalist, has absolute freedom of contract and
can command any terms before granting permission
for the reproduction of his or her rendering of the
work on any mechanical instrument. In other words,
artistes like Melba and Caruso could command thou-
sands of pounds from the sale of records of Puccini's
music, while the wonderful Act of 1911 only per-
mitted Puccini to draw hundreds of pounds upon
the same records.

It is necessary to note that it was only our won-
derful legislators who contrived this humiliating
position for the composers. None of the other signa-
tories to the Berne Convention dreamt of placing
their composers in so humiliating a position, al-
though of course, so far as this country was con-
cerned, they naturally could only obtain the same
benefits that our composers obtained under our Act.

The only concession we have reason to be thankful
for in connection with the Act is, therefore, as be-
fore stated, that it is still a criminal offence to pirate
music, but only a civil offence to pirate books and
other forms of artistic property* We trust that
authors, artists, book publishers, etc., are content
with their position.

I think it is not out of place to reproduce here
a condensed article which I wrote for the National
Review in March 1928, which seems to put in a con-
cise form the present position of composers so far
as mechanical music is concerned under the Copy-
right Act of 1911.

THE COPYRIGHT ACT OF 1911 151

"MECHANICAL Music
(Published in the "National Review," March 1928)

"Briefly, how far has the discovery and develop-
ment of mechanical music affected the composer
and his ability to earn an income commensurate
with his talent.

"Fundamentally, the whole of the mechanical-
instrument industry is based upon the creation of
the composer. Without the composer, the gramo-
phone industry would be non-existent.

"It is true the legislature gives the composer
power to withhold his work altogether from me-
chanical reproduction, a proviso not to be lost
sight of, But it then pronounces that, if he wishes
to exercise the right granted him by statute, he
shall only be permitted to do so under the most
iniquitous conditions.

"It will be necessary, in the first place, to re-
view the Act of Parliament under which authors
and composers for the first time had their pro-
prietary rights, so far as mechanical contrivances
are concerned, recognised in the artistic property
created by them.

"That Act was the Copyright Act of 1911,
which, incidentally, with two exceptions, re-
pealed all previously existing Copyright Acts.

"In the first place, to prepare the way for the
new Act of 1911, the Government of 1909 ap-
pointed a Royal Commission, of which I was a
member, to report upon the whole subject of copy-
right. With regard to the new and difficult ques-
tion of the mechanical reproduction of musical
and other copyrights, our recommendation was
as follows:

152 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

" 'The committee, with one dissentient (the
chairman of H.M.V.), have come to the con-
clusion that the author shall have freedom of
action with regard to the exercise of his right. 5

"Article 13 of the revised Berne Convention of
1908 expressly states:

" 'The authors of musical works shall have
the exclusive right of authorising (1) the adap-
tation of those works to instruments which can
produce them mechanically, (2) the public per-
formance of the said works by means of these
instruments. 3

"At the Berlin Conference of 1908 the delegates
made the following express declaration in connec-
tion with composers and mechanical instruments:

" c ln view of the wide field left open to me-
chanical instruments by the convention as re-
gards works already published, it may be con-
sidered that, in future, composers should be put
in a position to make their own terms with re-
spect to their property, and that the differences
between rival owners of mechanical instruments
can best be settled on ordinary commercial
lines. 5

"This clause was subscribed to by Sir Henry
Berne and Lord Askwith, who represented Great
Britain at the Berlin Convention, and was re-
commended to our Government.

"These weighty recommendations, however,
were defeated by a very clever parliamentary
manipulation on the part of the gramophone
people, who first of all pleaded that they were
a young and struggling industry, and secondly

THE COPYRIGHT ACT OF 1911 153

that, if the poor composer were to possess the
same rights in his music in mechanical form as.
in its printed form, the public would be made to
suffer by being deprived of the wonderful benefits
accruing from an admittedly marvellous inven-
tion.

"What was the result? The Legislature, by a
series of amazing provisions in section 19 of the
new Act, after admitting that the composer had
the same rights in the mechanical reproduction of
his work as in the printed copy, immediately pro-
ceeded to rob him of those rights. He was first of
all informed that his rights must be subject to
a compulsory licence; that, if he gave permission
to one record manufacturer to make use of his
property, he must grant permission to all manu-
facturers. He was further informed that he must
submit to a compulsory remuneration of 5 per
cent, on the marked price of the record. If his
composition occupied only one side of the record
and another composer occupied the other side, he
must accept 2| per cent, on the marked price.
Furthermore, and this is one of the wickedest
features of the section, he had no control as to
the price at which the record should be published.
Should a popular composition of his be published
on a 3s. record, and he receive his miserable 5 per
cent, or 2|- per cent, on the same, there was no-
thing to prevent the manufacturer round the
corner publishing the same record at Is., giving
him in proportion the same paltry percentage,
and ruining the sale of the more expensive record.
It is true that the Government, by a benevolent
benediction, decreed that the royalty should in
no case be less than ^d. per copy, to be divided
between the composer, the author, and the agent

154 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

who had created the popularity of the composi-
tion.

4 'Imagine such a condition of copyright pre-
vailing in the book world! An author publishes
a work, say, at 10s. , a publisher round the corner
publishes the same work at 6d. on a compulsory
remuneration of 5 per cent. What becomes of the
author's property? As a matter of fact. Wool-
worth gramophone records, containing innumer-
able copyright matter, are sold to the public at
6d. each.

"Now, let us see what has been the result of
this legislation. The sale of the composer's printed
copy has been practically wiped out of existence
by the success of the gramophone records. More
than one well-known music publishing house has
gone out of business, others are following. Mean-
while, let us study the increased profits of the
gramophone companies. The l shares of the lead-
ing companies are five, six, and seven times their
original value. They pay enormous dividends and
huge bonuses. One of the biggest gramophone
companies within the last few weeks, as certified
by their balance sheet, made a net profit of over
1,000,000 on the year's turnover. The dividends
they declared amounted to 400,000 odd, and
they carried forward to reserve over 500,000.

"During the present year, to quote the City
Editor of the Evening Standard, the ordinary
shares of the five best-known gramophone com-
panies have increased in market value by a total
of more than 8,500,000, and most of them are
still rising. To-day the market value of the or-
dinary shares of these companies is more than
14,704,000, although the nominal value is only
about 1,500,000, for most of the companies have

THE COPYRIGHT ACT OF 1911 155

built up their present position on comparatively
small capital. It is estimated that over sixty-six
million records are now being manufactured in
this country yearly. One company alone is pro-
ducing at the rate of about ten thousand records
an hour."

[It must be remembered that these figures
apply to the year 1928.]

"To add to the bitterness of the pill, while the
composer is starved, no sum is too extravagant
for the gramophone companies to pay to the
executants of the composer's music. It is currently
reported that the singing royalties of two very
popular dark comedians during the last year have
totalled the sum of 80,000.

"I am not attempting to suggest that the public
are not entitled to have their music in any form
they please. Just as they are entitled to live on
potted meat, if they so prefer, so are they equally
entitled to take their enjoyment out of tinned
music. When I speak of 'tinned music,' I intend no
reflection upon the frequently extremely artistic
records produced by gramophone companies;
but, tinned or otherwise, the music is the com-
poser's invention, and he is entitled to be paid
for it.

"And remember this also. The gramophone
companies have none of the expense of making
music popular. They only fatten on the successes
made by the enterprise of others, either by theatre
productions, concert speculation, or other means
of advertisement.

"It is interesting to note in Greville's recently
published Memoirs a letter he quotes as written
by the poet Southey to Lord Brougham when
Southey was offered a title. Southey writes:

156 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

" 6 A11 that he asked for was a repeal of the Copy
right Act, which took from the families of literary
men the only property they had to give them. 5

"History repeats itself. All that the composers
ask for is the repeal of the clause of the Copyright
Act which similarly robs them of the property
which is their own creation.

"Let these enormously wealthy gramophone
companies come into the open market, and bid
for what copyrights they wish to acquire. This
is what the publisher has to do, and he has in
addition to create the demand for the composi-
tion before it is of any value to the mechanical-
instrument exploiter. It is a monstrous travesty
of justice that our Legislature should have de-
liberately robbed the composer of half his copy-
right, and that, so far as popular music is con-
cerned, the more valuable half.

"Our Government has always been notoriously
backward in its protection of artistic property.
France and Italy are far ahead of us in their legis-
lation. Germany is the only other country besides
ourselves that retains the compulsory licence
clause. And even Germany does not fix arbitrarily
the amount of the royalty that shall be paid upon
the record.

"Energetic steps are now being taken to form
an international union of all those authors and
composers whose countries of origin are signa-
tories to the Berne Convention, and to induce
those Governments who have deprived the
composer of so valuable a part of his property
to come into line with the more enlightened
Governments who have recognised that the
advancement and protection of copyright are

THE COPYRIGHT ACT OF 1911 157

among the first evidences of a nation's civilisation.

"Mean while, the copyright lamb is being penned
up with the gramophone wolf, and naturally the
gramophone wolf, as befits his kind, is out to
nibble off all the wool he can from the back of
the poor lamb.

"The British composer is worse off, so far as
mechanical contrivances are concerned, than the
composer of any other of the Powers that are
signatories to the Berne Convention. Surely it is
not too much to ask the Government to remedy the
grave injustice our composers are suffering from."

Subsequent to the above article comes the
gravest news from Russia that the Soviet Govern-
ment, in conformity with their notorious Five
Years Plan, are embarking upon a mass production
of gramophones and more particularly records . Their
output of records during 1931 is estimated to reach
8,000,000, and in 1932 they estimate to produce
1,250,000 gramophones and 15,000,000 records.

In face of this amazing proposed output, it is
vital to remember that Russia is not a member
of the Berne Convention Copyright Alliance, and
that no copyright treaties exist between Russia
and the other European Powers.

Considering that there is a distinct falling off
in record sales to-day, it may well be that the
Soviet pirates are biting off more than they will
be able to chew. Nevertheless, it is the gravest
menace to the property of unhappy composers
who do not happen to be blest by being Russian.

Determined efforts will very shortly be made
to place these pirate copies in countries who
guarantee protection to the composer for the
exploitation of his property.

CHAPTER XVII

LIGHT OPERA: THE FRENCH AND
ENGLISH SCHOOLS

IT is very interesting to note the various schools of
light opera that have followed one another, each the
product of a different nationality, the which was
predominant for a term of years.

In 1880, when I first entered the field of publish-
ing, French operetta almost universally prevailed.
The immortal Offenbach, who one might almost say
invented, and he certainly perfected, this form of
composition, was already disappearing into the past.
His works are seldom heard now. La Belle Helene,
however, is constantly in the French repertoire. It
is odd it has never been revived here. Offenbach had
the inestimable advantage of two admirable libret-
tists, Meilhac and Halevy. Later on they were to
inspire Franz Lehar in The Merry Widow.

The successor to Offenbach was Charles Lecocq.
His Madame Angot was a masterpiece. Girofle Girofla
and others of his works were a considerable success
abroad, but Madame Angot was the only one of his
operas that fairly established itself in this country.

Little Audran, a great friend of mine, and Plan-
quette had not the same musicianly qualities as their
predecessors, but their music had great charm.
Audran had numerous successes. He told me once
that, at the finish, Gilette de Narbonne was his biggest
annual source of income from the French provinces

158

LIGHT OPERA: FRENCH AND ENGLISH 159

alone. It was a failure here. Chivot and Dura were
his two principal librettists. Chivot, a little, short,
plump, and rosy man, was responsible for the senti-
mental side of his librettos, and Duru, a tall, thin,
melancholy man, provided the comic relief. There
was an admirable reproduction of the two of them
years ago in Punch. Planquette was best known in
this country by his Rip van Winkle, a fascinating
light-opera score, which gave Fred Leslie his first
opportunity to establish himself as an absolute
genius.

Serpette also was an admirable musician and a
great wag into the bargain. He was credited with
helping many a French composer with his orchestra-
tion. Lacome was an exceptionally fine musician.
His Jeanne, Jeanette, and Jeanetton was produced
here with success, and I also produced a charming
opera of his at the Globe, Ma Mie Rosette. On Ivan
CarylTs advice, a very sound critic, I bought a grand
opera of Laeome's for Chappell's somewhat on the
lines of Carmen. I never found an opportunity to
have it produced here, but were it produced, and it
has a strong libretto, I feel sure it would compel
admiration.

Another of the most brilliant composers of the
French light school was Louis Ganne. One might
almost say he was the last of his school. In addi-
tion to providing France with two national anthems,
"Marche Lorraine 55 and "P&re, la Victoire," every
kind of music, where melody, technique, and in-
spiration are required, came equally easy to him.
Among countless compositions, his trio, "L'Extase,"
stands out pre-eminently. So does his fascinating
ballet suite, "Phryne. 55 He was never banal, but al-
ways commanded a wealth of melody. H. B. Farnie
used to say to me that, however superior critics

160 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

might sneer, the gift of original melody was a quality
you could not put a price on. The gift of popularity
he also said was often unattainable, but frequently
inspired. It is curious how many composers have
not the gift to write more than eight consecutive
bars of real melody. Those who can may easily rank
among the immortals. Louis Ganne was a very in-
different business man, and not always happy in his
librettos. I was present at the first night of Les
Saltimbanques in Paris. What a delightful score. Un-
fortunately, a day or two before, I had bought an-
other new operetta in Paris founded also on a circus
scenario, L'Auberge de Tolnu Bohu, which was pro-
duced at the Comedy Theatre under the title of The
Topsy Tuny Hotel. There is no doubt the success of
Les Saltimbanques was greatly helped by the libretto
being founded on circus incidents. A circus always
appeals passionately to a French audience.

In conclusion, I am bound to say, although my
late friend, Andre Messager, would be horrified could
he hear me, that I consider his lighter operas by far
the happiest of any of the music that he wrote.
Veronique may be considered the high- water mark
of French light opera. Messager shared with Mark
Twain the privilege of reading his obituary notices
before he was dead. They cheered him up a lot. He
wrote several lighter works, after reading them,
which had a great success in France last but not
least, IS Amour Masque, rendered by three great
artistes, Yvonne Printemps, Germaine Gallois, and
Sacha Guitry.

The English composers, who began to create a
school first of all of musical comedy and subse-
quently of light opera, may be dated from the arrival
of George Edwardes to the command of Daly's
Theatre and the control of the already famous

LIGHT OPERA: FRENCH AND ENGLISH 161

musical house, the Gaiety. I am excepting from this
general survey the permanent success of the Gilbert
and Sullivan operas, which were a creation in them-
selves, quite distinct from ordinary light opera in
the general acceptance of the term. The composers
who headed this new movement were Sidney Jones,
Lionel Monckton, Leslie Stuart, Ivan Caryll (al-
though he was a Belgian by birth), Howard Talbot,
and, last but not least, Paul Rubens. All these
composers were sooner or later under the control of
George Edwardes for production purposes, and
under the control of Chappell & Co. for publishing
purposes. George Edwardes and Chappell & Co.
worked together for a long period and established
a formidable run of successes.

Our composers were very much handicapped at
the start, so far as the Continent was concerned,
because all their musical hits were immediately
made use of on the Continent for the purpose of
propping up and furnishing Continental revues at
music halls, particularly in Paris, with the result
that our hits were already familiar on the Continent
before we had the opportunity of playing our pieces
in their entirety on the Continental legitimate
theatre stages. This unfortunate circumstance was
primarily due to the operations of the minor French
Performing Right Society, who claimed that, as our
composers were members of their society, they had
the right to license the separate numbers to the
music halls who subscribed to their repertoire. I
fought energetically against this rule, and eventu-
ally succeeded in establishing a protective clause in
conjunction with the society. The society agreed
that in no case would they grant permission to their
subscribers, music halls or otherwise, to introduce
our musical numbers into their revues until a full

LM

162 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

two years had elapsed after the first production of
our works in their entirety in the various capitals of
Europe. Gilbert and Sullivan's Mikado had already
been produced with conspicuous success on the Con-
tinent. The first of George Edwardes 5 productions,
however, which took our Continental neighbours by
storm was the brilliant Geisha. The music of San
Toy was also principally written by Sidney Jones;
but, by this time, Lionel Monckton was a consider-
able contributor to the Daly successes. In collabora-
tion with Ivan Caryll, he was also creating success
after success at the Gaiety. But, with the production
of The Country Girl at Daly's, Monckton established
his right to create a score entirely of his own making.
Even in this instance, however, George Edwardes
was always on the qui vive to introduce new com-
posers with special numbers to add to the strength
of his organisation. It was in this way that he in-
troduced Paul Rubens. Monckton's Quaker Girl,
produced by George Edwardes at the Adelphi
Theatre, was a further confirmation that Monckton
was quite sufficiently equipped to stand on his own.
It would serve no useful purpose to give a full
account of George Edwardes' many successes. They
are all recent theatrical and musical history. I have
often wondered why Sidney Jones did not follow
up his original brilliant success of the Geisha. Mean-
while, Lionel Monckton, in conjunction with Ivan
Caryll, wrote success after success. I have only to
name The Girls of Gottenberg, The Messenger Boy,
Our Miss Gibbs, The Runaway Girl, and The Torea-
dor, among many others. Monckton seemed to pos-
sess an inexhaustible flow of melody, always refined
and popular in the best sense. Added to which, upon
occasions he was equal to writing very pointed and
happy lyrics of his own. Ivan Caryll, in addition to

LIGHT OPERA: FRENCH AND ENGLISH 168

the productions in which he collaborated, was re-
sponsible for The Earl and the Girl, The Duchess of
Dantzig, Cigale, written in collaboration with Au-
dran, and incidentally giving Geraldine Ulmar the
biggest success of her career; also the phenomenally
successful Pink Lady, founded on a French libretto.

Among Paul Rubens' notable successes, as distinct
from his separate numbers, were The Three Little
Maids and Miss Hook of Holland, produced by
Frank Curzon.

Leslie Stuart's biggest success was, of course,
Florodora, produced under Horace Sedger's manage-
ment at the Lyric Theatre. Here also was produced
Little Christopher Columbus, by Ivan Caryll, where
May Yohe made such a big hit in the two numbers,
"Lazily, Drowsily" and "O Come, My Love, to Me."

In concluding this brief survey of English light
operas, I cannot omit to mention the remarkable
scores ofMerrie England and Tom Jones, by Edward
German. In both these instances the shortcomings
of the librettos alone interfered with a huge theatri-
cal success.

I have often wondered what became of an English
composer, Harold Garstin. He wrote a most charm-
ing score for a light opera produced at the Adelphi
Theatre, but I have never heard of him since.

I have often wondered, also, why Hubert Bath
did not follow up his big success of Shon Maclean
with a light opera on similar lines. I should have
liked to have seen Frank Bridges also represented
on the lyric stage.

Meanwhile, my greatest pleasure is to remember
that the last light opera I purchased before I re-
signed my direction of Messrs. Chappell & Co. was
the work of an Englishman, both libretto and music.
I refer to Bitter Sweet, by Noel Coward.

164 FIFTY YEABS OF MUSIC

Noel Coward is a remarkable young man. I for-
get for the moment the name of a very clever play
of his that I saw in N"ew York. That beautiful
actress, Jane Cowl, was playing in it.

The first musical piece of Noel Coward's that was
offered to me was This Year of Grace. I did not
hesitate a moment about taking it.

I don't suppose Coward ever professed to be what
one may call a professional musician. But he has
a charming gift of melody, and his harmonies always
enable him to steer clear of the commonplace. He
writes brilliant lyrics, and he has an absolute genius
for stage effect. When you add to these qualifica-
tions the fact that he is an admirable actor himself,
and has the rare capacity of selecting his company
and being able to get exactly what he wants out of
each of them, the success of Bitter Sweet is not hard
to understand.

I am sure he would be the first to admit how much
he owes to Charlie Cochran. There are three degrees
of theatrical managers: the first and rarest, the man-
ager who can judge of a play or an opera by reading
it and visualises it before it is put on the stage; the
second, he who can sometimes judge of a play when
it has been put upon the stage; and the third, he
who cannot judge of a play under either of these or
any conditions. Cochran belongs to the first order.

CHAPTER XVIII

LIGHT OPERA: THE VIENNESE AND
AMERICAN SCHOOLS

UPON taking into consideration the Austrian and
Hungarian school, which in a sense followed upon
the English school, it must not be forgotten that
Vienna always possessed composers who had & flair
for stage music of the lighter quality. One only has
to remember that masterpiece, the Fledermaus,
written by the inspired Viennese, Strauss, of
"Blue Danube" fame and many other wonderful
waltzes.

Fledermaus was a very fine comedy as a book.

Then again, Suppe occupied a conspicuous place
in the domain of light opera, handicapped only-
the old story - by insufficient librettists. The music
of Boccaccio is very hard to beat.

Franz Lehar was the acknowledged king of light
opera in Vienna, and by dint of The Merry Widow
established a European reputation.

Other acknowledged masters were Leo Fall, a
very fine musician, and Straus of Waltz Dream
fame.

They also had serious competitors in Budapest.
Kalman, Jacobi, and Szirmai were constantly pro-
ducing hits. They were great friends, and were
known as "The Three Musketeers." Kalman had
big successes in every capital of Europe except in
London. His Gipsy Princess had a phenomenal run

165

166 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

everywhere, and the sale of the music was corres-
pondingly enormous. The Gipsy Princess failed
in London, I fear, through the selection of the cast,
which in some instances was not happy. Poor little
Sari Petrass appeared in it. I shall never forget
her initial successes with Jacobi in the Marriage
Market, produced in Budapest. What a picture
she was!

Szirmai also was very popular on the Continent.
I shall never forget Szirmai's tales to me of the
Bolshevist invasion of Hungary. According to
him, the most crying need of the Bolshevists was
for boots. Szirmai was so obsessed by this idea that
he told me he hid his boots in his piano. I said he
ought to have been inspired, under the circum-
stances, to write a world famous march!

My first introduction to The Merry Widow hap-
pened very curiously. Mario Costa had asked me to
endeavour to secure the musical rights of a very old
German comedy entitled Peace in War. I told him
I had an appointment in two or three weeks' time
with Sliwinski, the famous Berlin agent, who dealt
very largely with operettas in all countries. I was
on my way to Prague in connection with the pro-
duction at a Prague Theatre of Leoni's Ib and
Christina, which was duly produced there. Accord-
ing to arrangements, Sliwinski met me there. I
explained to him that I wanted him to obtain the
rights of this old German comedy for Costa. He
said that, by a most extraordinary coincidence, this
very play had been set to music by Rheinhardt, the
composer of a very successful Viennese piece called
The Sweet Maiden. He actually produced from his
bag the contract in connection with the same, which
he was taking to Vienna for Rheinhardt to sign. He
said he had two pieces coming out in Vienna in the

.An

FBANZ LEIIAE

THE COMPOSER OF "THE MERRY

AND OTHER FAMOUS LIGHT OPERAS

LIGHT OPERA: VIENNESE AND AMERICAN 167

autumn: this piece of Rheinhardt's and an opera
entitled The Merry Widow, by Lehar. He said, if I
would bring George Edwardes to Vienna to see
these pieces, he would hold them back and give us
the first offer of them. Curiously enough, about this
time, Lord Kilmarnock, who was attache at the
Viennese Embassy, wrote to Paul Rubens, and
suggested that Rubens should acquire The Merry
Widow, as he felt sure it would be a hit in London.
Paul Rubens at that time was running the Apollo
Theatre. Paul, knowing I was going to Vienna,
asked me to see to the matter for him, but I was
compelled to tell him I had already given the option
to George Edwardes. Such is luck in theatrical
matters. With considerable difficulty I induced
Edwardes to come to Vienna in the autumn, although
he was very busy. We heard Rheinhardt's piece
the first night of our arrival, and it turned out
to be of no use to us. On the second night
we went to The Merry Widow, which, as I have
elsewhere stated, was put on at the Theater an der
Wien more as a stopgap, and which the manage-
ment thought very little of. Edwardes and I
saw the piece, and it was clear to both of us it was a
certain hit. On the following morning, Sliwinski came
up to me at the Bristol Hotel in Vienna, and said he
understood Edwardes was going that same day on
to Budapest, and was he actually going to leave
Vienna without purchasing The Merry Widow*!
I said I could not imagine it was possible. I saw
George Edwardes, and pointed out to him that, if he
did not secure The Merry Widow at once, somebody
else would have it. I finally induced him to sign for
the piece at once with Sliwinski before he left
Vienna. The Merry Widow came to Edwardes at a
very happy moment, because he had produced one or

168 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

two pieces recently in London which had not come
up to his expectations.

I have often wondered why it never occurred to
any French composer of light opera, the French
being so quick in dramatic perception, to discover
the musical possibilities of one of Meilhac and
Haleyy's best comedies, La Veuve Joyeuse.

It is very interesting to remember other instances
in connection with The Merry Widow. George
Edwardes had a conviction that Lily Elsie would
make a big hit in this part. I confess I did not quite
share his opinion, as she had had very little oppor-
tunity up to then of displaying the qualities which
eventually made her such a big favourite with the
public. I can remember - and I am sure Lily Elsie,
whom I greatly admire, will forgive me for men-
tioning it -meeting her for the first time at the
Savoy Hotel at a dance which was given to cele-
brate the thousandth performance of The Chinese
Honeymoon. She was in the cast of The Chinese
Honeymoon. As I first remember her, she had no sort
of claim to the distinction she obtained afterwards.
She did not waltz very well, and she altogether
lacked the extraordinary charm which she acquired
later on. It is interesting to recall what a perfection
of charm and grace she did become later on, and
Edwardes' foresight was amply justified. It is true
The Merry Widow is what is called an actor-proof
part. I can recall many humorous incidents in con-
nection with this and subsequent productions of The
Merry Widow which, for reasons, I must not publish.

Curiously enough, about the same time, Ivan
Caryll's Nelly Neil was produced at the Savoy
Theatre in London by Charles Frohman. On the
first night I saw, for the first time, Joe Coyne in the
production. It was his first appearance in London.

LIGHT OPERA: VIENNESE AND AMERICAN 169

I crossed over to George Edwardes in the stalls, and
said: "George, there is your Danilo." Edwardes re-
plied: "I think you are quite right." Joe Coyne was
duly engaged. At the dress rehearsal of The Merry
Widow, Joe Coyne said to me: "I am going to make
the failure of my life in this part." I said: "You
need not worry, you are going to make the hit of
your life, and it will establish you as a permanent
favourite in London." I am glad to think my prophecy
came true.

Among Lehar's other big successes at Daly's were
The Count of Luxemburg and Gipsy Love. Jacobi also
had a big success at Daly's with The Marriage
Market. I always regretted that George Edwardes
did not live to produce Sybil., by Jacobi. It was a
wonderful book in the original.

Hugo Felix, another Viennese composer, at one
time also appeared likely to make a big success. We
bought a piece of his in Berlin entitled Madame
Sherry. This was unhappily produced, and did not
repeat its Continental triumph, although the music
was delightful.

There are so many dangerous accidents to guard
against in producing pieces of this quality, and they
can be so easily shipwrecked. One always felt that
with George Edwardes, when he had the right
quality of musical play, he would make the very
best of it.

Franz Lehar still commands a production of his
new pieces in practically all the capitals of Europe,
owing to his justly high reputation as composer and
musician. Where he fails is only when his librettist
does not sufficiently support him.

It would be the dream of my life, were I still a
manager, to produce Lehar's Endlich Allein at a
first-class London theatre. I refer to his original

170 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

version. There were only two characters in it, a man
and a woman, and the scene was the summit of a
snow mountain, where just a man and a woman
found themselves together. In my opinion, this
music is the high-water mark of Lehar's talent
as composer. Lehar subsequently dealt with the
opera on the ordinary level of a musical play, and
the first and third acts were commonplace and
utterly unworthy of the second act, which stood
alone as a great achievement in beautiful and pas-
sionate music.

What a delightful city Vienna was in the past. The
night-life and dancing were most fascinating. Now
the city looks an absolute desert. Budapest also
was a very charming town. I was present at a
concert there when Kubelik made his debut before
the public. What a sensation he made!

I came across the by now famous light opera
Lilac Time quite by accident. Seymour Hicks,
Captain Harry Graham, and I were all in Vienna
together. We had come across to see Kalman and
to make final preparations for the production of
The Little Dutch Girl in London. This was a very
pretty opera, and it had the great advantage of
Maggie Teyte's appearance in the title role. It was
not a success in London, however. It is curious what
a lottery theatrical productions are. Kalman, with
innumerable successes on the Continent, has never
had a real success in England. Anyhow, one Sunday
afternoon, as we had nothing better to do, I sug-
gested to Seymour Hicks and Captain Graham we
might try to find a matinee. We found Lilac Time.
I immediately came to the conclusion there ought to
be a lot of money in it for England. I produced it
eventually at the Lyric Theatre. It ran for nearly
two years in London. It made, and still makes, a lot

LIGHT OPERA: VIENNESE AND AMERICAN 171

of money in the provinces, and the demand for
Schubert's charming music is naturally bigger than
ever. Curiously enough, after buying the piece in
Vienna, I saw a jazz version in America, which did
not appeal to me, I also saw a French version pro-
duced in Paris, which was equally ineffective. I
remember a little incident at the Hotel Bristol,
Vienna, when we all arrived there. The waiter of
our sitting-room looked at Seymour Hicks very
curiously, and Seymour returned his inspection. It
turned out that he had been butler at some Scotch
estate where Seymour had been up to shoot on two
or three occasions. Naturally this was before the
war. The poor old waiter seemed very glad to have
a chance of making use of his English again.

I remember being in Vienna with my daughter a
very few weeks before the assassination of the
Grand Duke.

A semi-public dance was announced at the famous
Concert Hall, which is such a picture in scarlet,
white, and gold. Anybody staying in a first-class
hotel was able to buy tickets; the ladies were in
dominoes. We took a box. The Grand Duke and
Duchess arrived, attended by their suite. They
passed through the motley crowd on the ballroom
floor without any sort of police or military escort.
They took their seats on a slightly raised dais at the
end of the hall, and then received the various mem-
bers of the foreign embassies. I remember saying to
my daughter what an element of danger this absence
of precautions presented. Within a few weeks after-
wards the tragedy occurred that plunged Europe
into the most appalling war of modern history.

A very curious custom prevails at the semi-
public supper-parties frequently given at Budapest.
You are invited as a guest, and then introduced to

172 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

some charming lady whom you take into supper.
Naturally, you wait in expectation that supper will
be served to you, but it is not done in that way.
Apparently, you order your own supper and the
lady's too. This does not mean that the Hungarians
are not hospitable. They are the essence of hospi-
tality. It is just the etiquette on these occasions,
but naturally at first it very much puzzles a stranger.
I had this experience one night at the public supper,
previously referred to, given to Kubelik at his first
appearance at Budapest, and also at a supper given
to Felix Wagner.

Finally, we have to chronicle a long list of suc-
cesses from the American light-opera stage. The ball
was first of all set rolling at the Winter Garden
Theatre under the direction of George Grossmith
and Leslie Henson. Jerry Kern has been one of the
most consistently popular American composers of
light music. Sally was among his first successes at
the Winter Garden Theatre. The Cabaret Girl and
Sonny were both very successful productions. Pos-
sibly, Jerry Kern is so much of a millionaire now he
will not bother to write much more music. I was
reading in an American paper the other day that his
library, which I know he had spent large sums of
money upon, purchasing rare editions and in some
cases valuable MSS., realised the sum of 300,000
at a recent sale. Apparently it cost Kern a little over
100,000 to complete his collection, so his profit was
certainly an amazingly happy one.

George Gershwin also came very much to the fore
in the light-opera school, but subsequently was
rather tempted to diverge into more classical fields.
Vincent Youmans had a very big hit at the Palace
Theatre in No, No, Nanette, and of course there was
a remarkable series of American light operas on a

LIGHT OPERA: VIENNESE AND AMERICAN 173

rather larger scale produced by Sir Alfred Butt at
Drury Lane. Rose Marie, by Rudolf Friml and Her-
bert Stothart, was the initial success, and The Show
Boat also did well. Finally, The Desert Song, by
Romberg, was a very big success both at Drury
Lane and in the provinces, and is still to-day one of
the most popular talking films.

My own impression is that the production of
American operettas has been rather overdone. No-
thing is so damaging to first-class productions as
are second-class productions that attempt to imi-
tate something better in their own line that has gone
before.

CHAPTER XIX

THE PERFORMING RIGHT SOCIETY
AND BROADCASTING

IT is very interesting to survey the present position
of the Performing Right Society in this country. In
the far distant past, I admit, I was absolutely op-
posed to the principles of the society. I considered
that the payment of a fee for the performance of
new music, and even established music, was calcu-
lated to injure seriously the sales of established
favourites, and was very detrimental to the popular-
ising of new works. In principle, I was often at war
with Mr. Alfred Moul, who controlled the destinies
of the Performing Right Society, in the old days.
On one famous occasion, I remember, he brought an
action against me, because I compared his methods
with those of the notorious Harry Wall. It was
stated in evidence that Harry Wall's record in other
directions had not been altogether in the said gentle-
man's favour. Counsel, therefore, suggested that I
compared Mr. Alfred MouPs operations with those
of another dealer in performing rights very much to
the prejudice of Alfred Moul. I was totally unaware
of the evidence brought forward in connection with
Harry Wall, and had not the slightest intention of
suggesting that Alfred Moul's experiences were
identical with Harry Wall's. Be it as it may, the
jury awarded Alfred Moul 300 damages. What I am
arriving at, however, is this. I have always kept a

174

THE PERFORMING RIGHT SOCIETY 175

perfectly open mind as to the necessity of altering
our methods of business according to changing con-
ditions, and I was gradually becoming aware that,
probably, eventually a composer's performing rights
might even be more valuable than his publishing
rights. I was further struck by the fact that the Per-
forming Right Society was already enormously suc-
cessful abroad, and that foreign composers were be-
ginning to reap a harvest in Great Britain which the
English composer was not sharing in. From that
moment, on my advice, Messrs. Chappell & Co. en-
tirely reshaped their policy. I am only too happy at
this moment to think that I foresaw what was com-
ing. The introduction of mechanical music was the
first blow that our composers received. It need not
have been, had the clauses in the Copyright Act of
1911 not been so iniquitous so far as composers'
rights were concerned. At the present moment, com-

Eosers are enormously dependent upon the fees col-
>cted for them by the Performing Right Society.
Naturally, the society has had to contend with a
huge combination of vested interests, who are al-
ways out to fight and see if they can obtain some-
thing of value for nothing. Fortunately, our posi-
tion has been made so strong that even such an
inane Bill as the Bill seeking to amend performing
rights in the last session of the House of Commons
has been laughed out of court. This Bill was god-
fathered principally by a collection of wealthy hotel
and restaurant proprietors. The repertoire of the
Performing Right Society includes the works of all
the most popular composers in this country and on
the Continent. In the season, some of these hotels
would pay from 500 a week to 1,000 a week to
their orchestras, and they grudged and fought
against a paltry 3 or 4 a week to the composers,

176 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

British and Continental, without whose music they
could have had no orchestras at all. It has never been
suggested that, if I go to a restaurant and consider
they are charging me an unfair price for a chop or
a steak, I should have a right to appeal. The remedy
is quite simple. If I don't like their prices, I go else-
where. In the same way, if they think the price of
my music excessive, they can get their music else-
where. I have dwelt somewhat at length upon this
subject, because, perhaps, the public through it may
be able to appreciate what a desperate struggle we
have had to make the composers 5 music rights recog-
nised at all. The printing of the evidence heard in
committee in connection with this recent comic
performing right Bill cost nearly 500 - pleasant for
the poverty stricken public! Why should not the
wealthy promoters of the Bill pay it?

I foresee the day when composers will depend al-
most entirely for their income upon the fees ob-
tained for them by the Performing Right Society,
more particularly as the broadcasting authorities
have had to recognise that they are powerless to
reproduce music for public performance except by
treaty with those who hold the copyright.

The Performing Right Society is absolutely fair
in its operations, and I am glad to see it in a stronger
position than it ever was. It has the further advant-
age of possessing in its new chariman my young
cousin, Mr. Leslie Boosey, a personality that com-
mands the respect of everybody. He will see that
justice is done to all parties. He no doubt greatly
helped in exposing the recent Bill.

It should be added that, when the music pub-
lishers decided to pursue an active campaign in
connection with performing rights, they also unani-
mously decided to return all performing rights to

THE PERFORMING RIGHT SOCIETY 177

composers in past contracts, although the said per-
forming rights had actually been assigned to them.

Under our new r6gime, Mr. John Woodhouse, the
well-known lawyer, was general manager of the
society. He was a desperate fighter, perhaps almost
too much so, but he was a most able organiser, and
rendered invaluable help to the society in establish-
ing it on a sound and fair business basis.

Representatives of the different Continental soci-
eties meet from time to time in the most prominent
European capitals. These meetings are not only use-
ful, but are very entertaining. On the last occasion
at which I was present we met in Rome, and inci-
dentally I had the great pleasure of a brief intro-
duction to Signor Mussolini, whose personality
naturally interested me enormously.

The introduction of broadcasting, especially under
Government auspices, was an innovation of pro-
found importance.

When broadcasting was first introduced, it was
suggested to me that this discovery was going to be
of immense help to the concert world, because it
was going to enormously popularise the giving of
concerts and the attendance of the public at them.
I totally disagreed with this theory. The more per-
fect broadcasting became, the more obvious it was
that many of the public could sit at home and enjoy
the music, for practically nothing, that they could
only otherwise participate in by leaving their com-
fortable homes and taking their chance of obtaining
seats at a concert hall. I also felt it was inevitable
that by degrees, broadcasting being more or less a
subsidised Government undertaking, the tendency
would be for the broadcasters themselves to become
concert-givers. This is what has actually happened.
We already find serious complaints made by

MM

178 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

conductors of important provincial concerts, such as
the Halle concerts at Manchester and elsewhere, of the
utterly unfair competition which they have to wage
against a Government undertaking which is placed,
by means of its tax on music, above the reach of the
profit and loss account which is of such essential
importance to the average concert-giver. I found the
powers that govern the broadcasting world became
so far-reaching in their demands and intentions that
they were bent more or less on taking the place of
the ordinary concert-giver altogether. So clearly did
I recognise this issue that I came to the conclusion,
on behalf of Messrs. Chappell, it would be far more
profitable for them to let the Queen's Hall direct to
the powers that govern broadcasting, both for the
famous promenade concerts and other big series of
concerts, rather than to embark on a competition
which was really a competition with the Govern-
ment itself.

I had occasion quite recently to bring an action,
on behalf of Andre Messager, against the broadcast-
ing authorities for reproducing a complete opera of
his, Veronique, without his permission. They claimed
they had authority from the George Edwardes
estate. My reply was that their only title to perform
was by payment of a percentage upon gross receipts.
The legal arguments by which the decision was ulti-
mately governed were very complicated, and would
not interest the public in detail. I can only say I
totally disagree with the decision, although, after
a very convincing judgment in our favour in the
first courts, the Appeal Court gave a decision em-
phatically against us. Even then, however, a new
point arose which has not yet been decided. Sup-
posing the Broadcasting Corporation, under the
authority which they considered they had received,

THE PERFORMING RIGHT SOCIETY 179

were justified in producing this opera in its entirety,
the fact remains that the broadcasting of the work
could be produced, and probably was produced, in
France and elsewhere as against rights held in those
countries which no one in this country had any con-
trol of. In other words, the broadcasting was, unin-
tentionally, probably a severe infringement of in-
ternational copyright treaties.

Meanwhile, it is satisfactory to note that the
broadcasting authorities are paying a fair and rea-
sonable sum to composers and copyright owners for
the use of their property. In my considered opinion,
his performing right is the only right which for a
long time to come will bring the composer in any
substantial income.

I do not believe that broadcasting in its present
form is going to make the fortune of any new artiste.
The artiste's reputation must be made legitimately
first of all. I would go further and say that music is
not machinery, but that music by machinery
threatens more and more every day to put the
musician out of his profession. However, these are
some of the propositions that are going to present
the most terrible difficulties to the musical world for
a long while to come.

The introduction of broadcasting on its present
lines is what finally decided Messrs. Chappell to
give up concert giving altogether.

CHAPTER, XX

SOME PIANISTS

I THINK there is a general impression among the
public that the great pianoforte-players, apart from
their one great gift, have personalities of no great
interest. I used to have this impression myself until
I was undeceived.

A very intelligent man once said to me that he
was no judge of the finest pianoforte-playing, because
when pianists attained a certain stage of mechanical
perfection it was difficult for him to judge as to how
far one was more gifted than another. There is a
great deal in this, but I think a study of the per-
sonalities of pianists partly accounts for the reason
why they hold so more or less commanding a posi-
tion in their profession.

One of the most entertaining pianists I ever met
was the great Madame Carreno. In addition to a de-
lightful presence, she had a wonderful gift of con-
versation and a keen sense of humour. She was ex-
plaining to us one night a very comic adventure
that befell one of her husbands when he was in
South America.

Apparently this husband had taken a grand-opera
company to South America, but, owing to business
being terribly bad, practically the whole of his
company had left him. He finally landed up in a
certain town with only a pianist, a soprano, and a

180

SOME PIANISTS 181

flute-player. He announced some performances - 1
think it was of The Daughter of the Regiment, by
Donizetti but at the last moment even the poor
flute struck, he being owed several weeks 5 salary.
He sued Carreno's husband, and the action came up
for trial, according to Madame Carreno, in an extra-
ordinary rough court-house, where the judge was
sitting on the so-called bench in his shirt-sleeves,
with a mug of ale beside him.

"What is this claim?" he asked.

Carreno' s husband replied that it was a claim by
the flute-player for a very large sum of money,
naming the sum.

"And you dispute it?" said the judge.

"Yes," said Carreno's husband.

"On what grounds?" said the judge.

"Your Honour," said the opera director, "may I
ask the flute-player to perform here in court the
music he has to play, and you shall judge if his
claim is a fair one, or otherwise?"

"An excellent idea!" said the judge, and the un-
happy flute-player was called upon to perform his
share of the music.

One can imagine the agony of the flute-player
and the rest of the court while he wandered through
his incomprehensible part, the efforts of one instru-
mentalist as a soloist who should have been sup-
ported by a full orchestra. After some time the im-
presario said to the judge: "Well, Your Honour, what
do you think of that?"

"It is a preposterous claim," said the judge, "and
I non-suit him."

On another occasion I happened to meet the great
pianist, Rosenthal, on the train, we being both on
our way to Vienna. Rosenthal was telling me of a
very curious experience he had had with a leading

182 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

newspaper. He had given a recital in London of some
of Brahms' music. The critic said that, although no
doubt technically he gave a very fine performance of
Brahms' numbers, it was an extreme pity that he
evidently had no notion of what Brahms meant by
his music, or how he had intended it to be inter-
preted.

Rosenthal in reply produced a letter from Brahms,
who was a great friend of his, and, in this letter,
Brahms said he had never known any pianist who
had such an extraordinary gift as Rosenthal had for
absolutely fathoming the deepest meaning of his
music and reproducing it so faultlessly.

While we were laughing over this incident, Rosen-
thai said it reminded him of another curious incident
that occurred in Vienna.

One of the great Viennese painters had painted a
portrait of a very famous Austrian Grand Duchess.
The portrait made a great sensation, but, when the
husband saw it, all he said was: "It may be a very
fine painting, but it is not a bit like my wife, the
Grand Duchess." When this criticism was repeated
to the painter, he said: "I should like the Grand
Duke to understand it is the business of his wife to
be like the portrait I paint of her!"

Speaking of criticism, I have again and again
urged on The Times and other newspapers that all
their notices of art work should be signed, in fact
should bear the signature of some one so eminent
in the art world that at all events his opinion,
whether correct or not, would carry weight and
dignity. This custom universally prevails amongst
the big leading papers on the Continent, and it is
extraordinary that one cannot induce any of the
London papers to follow so natural and intelligent
a lead. It may be they think that the signing of an

SOME PIANISTS 183

article detracts from their dignity, but, to take the
French Press as an example, if a new grand opera is
produced in Paris, articles criticising it are, or were,
all signed by some master of music, such as Bruneau,
Andre Messager, or someone of equal rank in the
artistic world. This must add to the dignity of the
intellectual side of a newspaper, and cannot detract
from it.

I cannot conclude my present notes on pianists
without referring to an old friend of mine, MyraHess.
I had to ask her to lunch one day, because I was
afraid she was going to forsake the famous Chappell
piano she had always played on, and transfer her
allegiance to my friend, William Stein way, who had
a piano named after him. I thought the lunch was
going to be very depressing. But it was far from
it. I had quite forgotten that already a great pianist
had made me laugh!

I met Myra Hess again in New York when she was
engaged on an American tour. She always affected
very dark hotels in New York. I expect she found
them more restful, and I don't blame her. I called on
her one day to take her out to lunch, and, on arriving
in the hall, I got the impression I was in a coal-
mine. Eventually, from a distance, I noticed two
little white specks approaching me. When they ap-
proached nearer I found they were Myra Hess'
white gloves. It was a droll experience.

Before sailing for England, I sent her some roses
to the same hotel, but took the precaution at the
same time of sending her an electric torchlight, so
that I could be sure she would not mistake the
colour of the flowers.

I remember on one occasion being so inspired by
a charming lady pianist that I addressed the fol-
lowing lines to her:

184 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

Oh, Velvet Eyes, sweet Velvet Eyes,

I realise it is not wise

To dedicate this virgin heart

To one who only lives for art,

Who, to be truthful, only dotes

On sharps and fiats and nasty notes,

Who, soul secure, disdains all gales

Of passion save arpeggio scales!

Mere man can only hope to please
You through the mystery of keys,
Ah, Velvet Eyes, there is one key,.
If you will take the truth from me,
That from all keys stands far apart,
It just unlocks a human heart,
And all the harmonies you prize
Are hid within it, Velvet Eyes.

Speaking of pianists, a curious incident once
occurred which I think is worth recording.

Certain promoters of star turns invited me some
time ago to attend a matin6e at the Hotel Cecil.
They claimed they had discovered a pianist who
would be absolutely blindfolded, as testified by well-
known doctors, and who, in spite of this extra-
ordinary handicap, would be able to sit down at the
piano and play correctly any piece of music put in
front of her.

Of course there are so many means of deluding
the public in this kind of entertainment, but I was
sufficiently interested on this occasion to go to the
Hotel Cecil to see what happened. Two doctors tes-
tified that the lady was blindfolded, and she had
then put before her an overture of an opera written
by a well-known French composer, who was very

SOME PIANISTS 185

little known in this country. She played this over-
ture absolutely correctly.

By way, however, of testing this challenge, I
asked Sir Edward German if he would come down
with me. I also asked him to write some music es-
pecially for the occasion, so that we could really
discover if this lady could do all that she claimed
to do. Edward German, who was a terrible sceptic,
agreed, and he wrote out a theme in the very
smallest handwriting, which was hardly legible. In
addition, he purposely wrote down harmonies ex-
tremely complicated and difficult.

I asked the master of the ceremonies if the lady
would be prepared to perform, as a test, a piece of
manuscript music I had with me, written by Sir
Edward German expressly for the occasion. He said
manuscript music might present certain difficulties,
but that the lady was quite prepared to do her best.
The little scrap of music was then placed on the
piano before this blindfolded musician, and she,
mechanically but correctly, reproduced every note
of it.

Edward German was astonished.

We never had any explanation of how this result
was arrived at, and, strangest of all, although her
matinee was brilliantly successful, we never heard
any word of her subsequently.

We naturally assumed that she would have been
brought forward as one of the big turns of the music
halls. From that day to this, her name and her work
are buried in obscurity.

CHAPTER XXI

FURTHER PERSONAL MEMORIES

A VERY amusing incident happened to me on one
occasion in Paris. The great pianist, Saint-Saens,
had often appeared for us at the Popular Concerts,
but I had never had the opportunity of a chat with
him. He had asked me when next in Paris to call and
see him. I made enquiries as to where his flat was,
and was directed by a stranger to the escalier de
service. I knocked at the door, and found myself in a
kitchen, surrounded by every form of kitchen
utensil. Facing me was an open stove, on every side
pots and pans! Saint-Saens happened to hear my
voice in the kitchen and came and released me. He
was extremely amused at my very original way of
calling upon him. I had a very interesting chat with
him, and he illustrated to me at the piano the
Chinese music scales. I am afraid they were much
too complicated for my comprehension.

One night in Paris, at the Caf6 de Paris, I heard a
very pretty new valse. I could not for the life of me
find the name of the publisher or composer. Six
months afterwards a young Frenchman turned up
at Chappell's with a letter of introduction from a
lady I knew in Paris. Would I look at some music of
his? "The usual waste of time," I thought, and
opened his packet. There on top lay the famous
"Valse Bleue," which I had been looking for every-
where. It had a very big run. Poor little Alfred
Margis - he died quite young!

186

FURTHER PERSONAL MEMORIES 187

Another delightful valse writer also disappeared
when the big war broke out. I am speaking of
Rudolph Berger. How delightfully Marie Tempest
sang his valses! He lived in Paris, and always ac-
counted himself a Frenchman, but at the outbreak
of hostilities it was discovered he was really an
Austrian, so of course he had to quit Paris at the
shortest possible notice. He was a pathetic figure.
He was never heard of again.

We occasionally had very humorous experiences
at the music halls in the old days. On one occasion
I had to see the famous Brothers Isola in connec-
tion with some business. It will be remembered that
for some time they directed the destinies of the
Opera Comique. On the occasion to which I refer,
however, they were running one of the well-known
music halls. It was before the war, at the time when
Paris had gone quite mad over the desperate
struggles of the various champions who were fight-
ing for international honours in the wrestling world.
On this particular night the Isolas wanted to show
me a little delicate attention, and asked if I would
like to have a couple of chairs on the stage to see
the final of some wonderful wrestling match between
two huge and very imposing-looking champions.
I accepted with pleasure. I sat for some time on the
ropes, together with a few privileged persons, while
these two mountains of flesh kept rolling over each
other and trying to secure the final coup that would
mean victory.

Suddenly there was a stir in the front of the house.
Something had evidently gone wrong. The specta-
tors had come to the conclusion that neither of these
two gentlemen seriously meant to win; and, quick
as lightning, an official called out: "Lower the cur-
tain." We knew what that meant. The public picked

188 FIFTY YEAKS OF MUSIC

up the little wooden stools that are still one of the
usual uncomfortable appendages of the French
theatre, and hurled the whole of these stools upon
the stage. It was an avalanche, and I consider that
my friend and I were extremely lucky to have
escaped with our lives. What eventually became of
the two stout gentlemen I never heard. I quitted
the hall quite satisfied with the warmth of my recep-
tion and the compliment that had been paid me.

The Great War brings back some quaint memories
to me. On one occasion, not so many months
before hostilities commenced, I was supping at a
popular night restaurant in Berlin with several
young German officers. We were discussing the
next war, presumably between France and Germany.
My young friends astonished me by saying that
by far the most popular war in Germany would be
one against England. It was all discussed in the
most amicable spirit, but it certainly left me most
amazed. I have no doubt it owed its origin to the
Fashoda incident, which in his own country had
created a very bitter feeling against the German
Emperor himself.

Another very humorous incident occurred to me
during the war itself. I was playing golf at Sunning-
dale with George Askwith. It was the day he had
received information of his elevation to a peerage.
He played a very fine game of golf and hopelessly
out-distanced me. At the conclusion of the game
I was informed of his very well deserved distinction,
which no doubt accounted for his exceptional form.
I determined never again to play golf with any man
on the particular day he had been elevated to the
peerage. The humour of the situation, however,
was not yet reached. We returned to his house -
it was a dark autumn afternoon - and he introduced

FURTHER PERSONAL MEMORIES 189

me in his smoking-room to a friend who I under-
stood was a Sir William Robinson, a well-known
resident at Sunningdale. We began discussing^ the
progress of the war, and I gave my amateur views
on the general situation. The man in the corner
never said a word. Shortly afterwards the smoking-
room door opened again, and Askwith introduced
me to a new comer, Sir William Robinson. Heavens
alive, I thought, who is the other man? It was Sir
William Robertson! And I had been expounding
my views as to the war before him! What a situa-
tion! I have often wondered since if Sir William
Robertson appreciated the pitiful humour of my
position!

Lord Northcliffe, who was anxious to speed up
the war, asked if I would contest a by-election at
Tewkesbury in the National interest, as apart from
the combined political party interests. I imagine
his attention had been drawn to me because I had
been helping Tommy Gibson Bowles, who was en-
gaged upon a similar mission at Leicester. I in-
troduced myself to Bowles, being greatly taken
by his patriotism and pluck. We became great
friends, and he put me in charge of the Market
Harbor ough side of the constituency. We had a
very spirited contest, but naturally had no chance
of success against the combined Conservative and
Radical forces.

Still less chance had I at Tewkesbury, but I did
my best. The constituency covered some hundreds of
square miles, and I had less than three weeks to get
over all the ground. By the aid of a rapid motor, I
addressed four separate meetings every night,

Pemberton Billing was then at the zenith of his
popularity. Our opening meeting at the Cheltenham
Town Hall was absolutely packed. Hundreds were

190 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

turned away. They told me it was a record political
meeting for Cheltenham. Such was the curiosity
to hear and see Billing.

During the day-time I used to address various
villagers also. As often as not I would pull up my
car on the village green. I soon found out that I was
followed around on my pilgrimage by two or three
brakes full of bookmakers. It seems that, when the
racing season is over, the bookies are habitually
employed and paid for political purposes. They
were quite polite. They would pull up opposite the
meeting and say: "Fire away, Guv'nor; we'll have
a go at them when you've finished."

Occasionally when I was very late and the village
halls were all closed, my final meeting was held in
the village churchyard. I found the village tomb-
stones most inspiring. I was able to visualise the
dear departed turning in their graves at the thought
of the political struggle being waged above them.

On polling day the combined Conservative and
Radical cars numbered over four hundred. I had
six at my disposal. It makes one smile when one
realises you may petition to unseat a successful
candidate if hired cars have been used to bring up
the electors to the polling booths. However, the
electors obviously did not want me, so it was not
worth while wasting more time and money over
such a desperate adventure.

It was a very interesting experience, although it
cured me of any ambition to ever become a member
of the House of Commons. Within a very few weeks
of my defeat, however, our object was secured, and
the change in the Government that we were fighting
for was accomplished.

CHAPTER XXII

AMERICA REVISITED

IN 1920 I again visited America, and it was on this
occasion that I was staying with poor Ivan Caryll
in one of the many mansions he occupied from time
to time. He had a delightful place on Long Island*
About this time I was considerably worried as to
the future of our American house. It had been very
profitable up to date, but I was very doubtful as to
what the morrow might bring. I remember sitting
in a wonderful old Italian garden in the bright sun-
shine one Sunday morning,, and I expressed some of
my disquietudes to my host, Ivan Caryll. He re-
plied to me that it was quite useless for me to ask
for his advice. I said, "I think I know why. You con-
sider we should be wise to exchange our catalogue
with the famous Harms catalogue, we representing
Harms in London, and they representing us in New
York." Caryll replied, "Yes, you know I have always
thought so." "Very well," I said, "let's follow your
suggestion. Will you ring up Harms on the tele-
phone." Caryll did so. We had five minutes' con-
versation over the telephone, when the whole of the
deal was settled there and then. Since 1920, Harms
have represented us in New York, and we have re-
presented them in London. I give every credit to
Ivan Caryll for this proposal. During all this period
I have found Messrs, Harms the fairest people in
the world to do business with, and I think neither

191

192 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

they nor ChappelFs ever regret the treaty made be-
tween us. It is musical history that Messrs. Harms
have since acquired a controlling interest in Messrs.
Chappell's business and are at present directing its
destinies.

I cannot forget on one occasion arriving at New
York at six o'clock in the morning. It was a bitterly
cold day, and everything was frozen. I had one of
my most unpleasant experiences with the Customs
on the quay on landing. I had to undo every case
and submit to a rigorous search. When I got up to
New York I called at one of the clubs to see a very
amusing American friend of mine. I complained of
my sad experience, and the only sympathy I got
from him, and he had the most wonderful stutter,

were words to this effect: "I think you're a d-d-d d

1-1-1-lucky fellow to get into a dry country like this
at all with a name like yours! ! !" It reminded me
of a famous occasion when I was leaving the old
Eccentric Club at two o'clock in the morning, and
dear old Arthur Roberts came into the club con-
siderably over the odds. As I went out of the club
he was gazing at the ceiling, and I said, "Good night,
Arthur." He replied, "I know you, you are Boosey;
I am sober."

My very last visit to America was an extremely
painful one. Caryll was rehearsing a new piece, and
it was during these rehearsals that the fatal illness
developed that carried him off. I was with him
when he died. Strangely enough, during the same
week, little Victor Jacobi, who was in New York,
told me he was feeling very ill, and had been ordered
to a nursing-home. I went and saw him in the home.
I never, however, imagined he was as ill as he was.
Two days afterwards they told me he was dying.
After poor CarylTs burial I got on to the steamer

AMERICA BE VISITED 193

for my return to England, and had only been a few
hours out of the harbour from New York when a
cable was handed to me on board that little Jacob!
had died that morning. As the cable was handed to
me - I was in the Ritz grill-room - the orchestra on
board were playing the charming music of his opera
Sybil.

I cannot refer to Ivan CarylTs death without re-
calling a very painful incident. Caryll had bought
from Sacha Guitry the right to set a libretto of his
entitled L? Amour Masque. He had paid Guitry
1,000. Guitry's libretto arrived almost the day
before Caryll died. Upon Caryll's death, I, as an
executor of the Caryll estate, wrote to Guitry and
explained the painful circumstances, and said I
feared the Caryll family would be left very hard up.
Under the circumstances, I said to Guitry that no
doubt he would be willing to refund the 1,000 as
it was all important the Caryll family should collect
all that was due to them, and Guitry of course would
be free to place his libretto elsewhere. Guitry replied
he did not see his way to refunding the 1,000. 1 was
compelled, therefore, to bring an action against him
in Paris for the return of the same, which case I
won. Guitry then appealed, and the appeal was not
reached in the Paris courts until nearly three years
later. I won the case again in the French Court of
Appeal, but by that time, what with the collapse
of the French franc and the ghastly expense of
litigation, not one penny returned to the Caryll
family from the 1,000 originally paid by Caryll.
What made the position even more pathetic was
that Sacha Guitry had his libretto set to music by
my old friend Andr6 Messager, and the piece in
Paris and in the French provinces scored a very
big success. Such is life!

NM

EPILOGUE

MY GALLERY OF GHOSTS

My gallery of ghosts,

I pass down it every day;
I see all the well-known faces

That have come and passed away.
There is naught to mark their passing,

Save a little slab of stone,
And I stand amid the silences,
Alone!

AN old friend of mine once said: "The first part of
one's life is spent in making friends, the last half in
losing them." I am terribly conscious of the truth
of this dictum.

My memory itself I find often plays me false. I
begin to wonder if I shall one day resemble a dear
old gentleman I used to meet at a southern watering-
place. He had once, I believe, been Postmaster-
General in one of Gladstone's administrations. After
I had known him and talked to him for a fortnight,
I came into the hotel one afternoon and found him
in the smoking-room. The first thing he said to me
as I sat down beside him was: "Do you happen to
know a Mr. William Boosey in this hotel? He is a
charming fellow! I think you would like him!" I said
I knew him quite well, and agreed he was a charm-
ing fellow! What else could I have said? What would
you have said, reader?

194

EPILOGUE 195

In the world of music all the old landmarks have
been obliterated. Everything is in the melting-pot.
There will be many surprises; none of us can tell
what the outcome of it all will be. There will be a
great many disappointments; there may be some
successes. It will be very much easier for the new
generation to lose money over music, and very much
harder to make it. We shall not live to see the ulti-
mate outcome of these tremendous changes. My
own mind is perfectly clear on one point. It is for
the younger generation to entirely reconstruct the
world of music. Mechanical music and music broad-
cast are revolutionaries. It is for the young men of
to-day and to-morrow to find the method of deal-
ing with them. They must not emulate some of the
poor old politicians, dear old gentlemen who cannot
realise that the face of the whole world has changed.
Music must not, shall not, be all mechanical. But
the young men must see to it. They have a desper-
ately difficult task in front of them; but youth, as
it should do, glories in surmounting obstacles, no
matter how imposing. I, myself, am deeply conscious
of the more than generous appreciation that has
marked my long passage through the world of music,
both on the part of colleagues and rivals as pub-
lishers, and, last but not least, on the part of artistes
and composers. To the younger generation, authors
and composers, singers and artistes, generally, as
I leave them, I bestow upon them my blessing and.
my warmest good wishes for their ultimate success.

We must not part upon a sad note. We must never
despair. The world is always young, or rather it is
always being born again. There was never a winter
was not followed by a spring. That is mankind's and
music's salvation*

I appeal to Sir Henry Newbolt:

NM*

196 FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC

This is the song which year by year,

While in its place the school is set,
Every one of its sons must hear,

And none that hear it dare forget;
This they all with a cheerful mind

Bear through life like a torch aflame.
And, falling, fling to the host behind:

"Play up, play up, and play the game"

INDEX

A BECKETT, GILBERT, 34

Adams, Stephen, 16, 18, 89, 117, 120

Adams, Susanne, 22

Aide, Hamilton, 93

Aitken, George, 91

Alexander, George, 118, 120

Allitsen, Frances, 84

Andersen, Hans, 136

Argyll, Duke of, 120

Askwith, Lord, 145, 152, 188

Asquith, H. H., 106

Audran, Edmond, 24, 46, 49, 50,

158, 163

Avory, Horace E., 120
Aylward, Florence, 29, 91

BALCARRES, LORD, 120

Balfe, 17, 25, 80

Balfour, Margaret, 93

Balfour, Lord, 116

Bancroft, Sir Squire, 95, 118

Bancroft, Lady, 94, 95

Bannerman, Margaret, 130

Barker, Granville, 145

Baraett, John Francis, 17

Barrie, Sir James, 120

Bath, Hubert, 163

Beamish, 56

Becher, Percy, 114

Beecham, Sir Thomas, 110

Beethoven, 78

Bellini, 14

Bemberg, H., 85

Berger, Rudolph, 187

Berne, Henry, 152

Bernhardt, Sarah, 56

Berry, W. H., 126, 130

Billing, N. Pemberton, 189, 190

Bizet, 24

Blaney, Nora, 94

Bond, Jessie, 48

Boosey, Arthur, 117

Boosey, C. T., 31

Boosey, John, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19,

24, 25, 31, 34, 35, 37, 49, 71
Boosey, Leslie, 176
Boot, Rosie, 125
Boulton, Harold, 96, 97
Bourchier, Arthur, 118
Bowerman, C. W., 145
Bowles, T. Gibson 189
Boyne, Leonard, 83
Brahms, 182

Brentford, Lord 5ee Hicks
Bridges, Frank, 163
Bronte family, 20
Brougham, Lord, 155
Broughton, Phyllis, 133, 134
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, 30
Browning, Robert, 79
Bruneau, 183

Bumpus, Miss. See Allitsen, F.
Burnham, Lord, 120
Burns, Georgina, 41
Butt, Alfred, 131, 173
Butt, Clara, 27, 90, 137

CALDWELL, 113, 116

Calve", Emma, 39, 44, 94

Cameron, Violet, 22, 46, 49, 95

Campbell, Mrs. Patrick, 95

Capel, J. M., 90

Carew, Molly, 91

Carr, J. Comyns, 70, 71, 120

Carre", Albert, 52, 53, 137

Carreno, 180, 181

Carroll, Lewis, 28

Carson, Lord, 120

Carte, D'Oyly, 64, 79, 122, 132, 133

Caruso, 150

Caryll, Ivan, 48, 62, 92, 97, 117, 120,

125, 141, 143, 159, 161, 162, 163,

168, 191, 192, 193

197

198

INDEX

Cellier, Alfred, 90, 128, 129

Chaminade, 30, 99

Chappell, Arthur, 15, 49, 65, 79, 93

Chappell, Edward, 62, G3, 89, 92

Chappell, Samuel, 77

Chappell, T. P., 15, 23, 44, 78, 79,

80, 81, 89, 90, 92, 102, 103, 128
Chappell, T. S., 117
Chappell, William, 78, 89
Cherry, 71
Cherry, Walter, 71
Chinnery, H. J., 92
Chivot, 159
Chorley, Henry, 23
Choudens, P., 25, 26, 63, 140
Churchill, Winston, 147
Claribel, 28

Clarke, Sir Ernest, 120
Clarke, R. Coningsby, 91, 94
Clay, Cecil, 56
Clay, Fred, 66
Clayton, Henry R., 145
Cleather, Gordon, 137
Clements, Miriam, 83
Clutsam, G. H., 98
Coates, Eric, 91
Cochran, C. B., 164
Coffin, Hayden, 126, 128, 129
Cohen, Arthur, 127
Collins, Arthur, 118
Colman, 37
Cooper, Margaret, 94
Corelli, Marie, 118
Costa, Mario, 138, 139, 140, 166
Costa, Sir Michael, 138
Coward, Noel, 135, 141, 163, 164
Cowen, Sir F. H., 17, 26, 90, 117
Cowl, Jane, 164
Coyne, Joe, 168, 169
Cramer, J. B., 77
Crawford, Earl of. See Balcarres,

Lord

Crotty, Leslie, 41
Cummings, W. H., 117
Cuningham, Philip, 88
Curzon, Frank, 163
Cust, Henry, 145
Cutler, E., 145

D

DALE, LOUISE, 93

D' Alvarez, Marguerite, 30, 91, 94

Dance, George, 48

Dare, Phyllis, 130

Davies, Ben, 41, 93, 128, 137

Davies, Mary, 19, 93

Day, David, 117

De Grey, Lady, 39

De Lara, Isidore, 90

Del Riego, Teresa, 30, 91, 94

Denman, Mr. Justice, 86

Denza, L., 90

Depew, Chauncy, 54

De Reszke, Edouard, 39

De Reszke, Jean, 39

Destinn, E., 44

D'Hardelot, Mme. Guy, 29, 91, 95

Dickens, Charles, 78

Dicksee, Sir Frank, 42

Disraeli, B., 129

Dolby, Mme. Sainton, 15, 16, 28

D'Orsay, Leonard, 48

Donizetti, 181

Downshire, Marquis of, 118

Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan, 96, 118

Drake, 124

Dreyfus, 143

Du Maurier, G., 18

Duru, 159

E

EAMES, EMMA, 39
Ediss, Connie, 125
Edwardes, George, 92, 122-28, 130,

133, 187, 142, 160-62, 167, 169,

178

Elde"e, Lilian, 126
Elgar, Sir Edward, 90, 117, 120
ElBs, Miss, 92
Elsie, Lily, 126, 185, 168
Elwes, Gervase, 94, 137
Engelbach, 132
Etherington. See Marie Tempest

FALL, LEO, 165

Farkoa, Maurice, 94

Farnie, H. B., 46, 47, 49, 71, 126,

159

Farrar, Gwen, 94
Farren, Nellie, 124
Felix, Hugo, 169
Foli, Jack, 16, 20, 93
Forbes-Robertson, Sir Johnston,

33,57
Forster, Dorothy, 91

INDEX

199

Foster, Muriel, 22
Frank, 34, 35
Fraser, Maggie, 125
Friml, Rudolf, 173
Frohman, Charles, 168
Fuller, Loie, 54
Fullerton, William, 129

G

GAINSBOROUGH, COUNTESS of, 118

Gallois, Germaine, 134, 135, 160

Ganne, Louis, 52, 159, 160

Garden, Mary, 43, 44, 94

Garstin, Harold, 163

Gebriel, Virginia, 28

German, Edward, 51, 98, 117, 120,

163, 185

Gershwin, George, 172
Gilbert, Sir W. ., 35-38, 51, 80, 92,

118, 132, 161, 162
Gilchrist, Connie, 124
Gladstone, W. E., 129, 194
Gluck, Alma, 94
Goetz, Alma, 91
Gomez, Alice, 93
Gorell, Lord, 145
Goulding, 77

Gounod, Charles, 23, 24, 80
Graham, Harry, 170
Graves, George, 126, 127
Greenbank, Harry, 123
Greenbank, Percy, 123
Greene, Evie, 126, 142
Greene, Plunket, 21
Greet, William, 132
Greville, 155
Grisi, 44
Grossmith, George, 125, 130, 131,

172

Groves, 93
Grundy, Sidney, 118
Guitry, Sacha, 133, 184, 160, 193
Guthrie, T. Anstey, 120
Gye, 24, 40

H

HAHN, REYNALDO, 29
Hatevy, 38, 158, 168
Hall, M. Radcliffe, 91
Hanbury, Lily, 94
Hare, John, 118
Harms, 191, 192

Harris, Augustus, 39, 40, 63, 64, 128

Hatton, J. L., 20

Hauk, Minnie, 56

Hawkins, Sir A. Hope, 145

Hedmondt, E. C., 83, 137

Hempel, Frieda, 44

Henderson, Alexander, 46, 47

Herison, Leslie, 172

Herkomer, Professor Herbert von,

118

Hess, Myra, 183
Heugel, 26
Hicks, Seymour, 71, 124, 125, 170,

171

Hicks, Sir W. Joynson, 145
Higgins, Harry, 39, 40
Hill, Lord Arthur, 118
Hill, Lady Arthur, 118
Hill, Carmen, 93
Hislop, Joseph, 94
Hollingshead, John, 124
Hollins, Redfern, 128
Hood, Basil, 51, 118, 122, 136
Hood, Marion, 128
Hope, Anthony. See Hawkins
Hugo, Victor, 41
Huntley, G. P., 126
Hutchinson, W. M., 27

IRVING, SIR HENRY, 118
Isola, Brothers, 187

JACOBS, W. W., 118

Jacobi, Victor, 53, 165, 166, 169, 192,

193

Jeffrys, 14
Jeritza, 45

Jerome, Jerome K, 118
Jones, Sidney, 117, 120, 161, 162
Josef, 61

K

KALMAN, EMMERICH, 165, 170

Keane, Boris, 132

Keen, 37

Kendal, Dame Madge, 95

Kern, Jerome, 172

200

INDEX

Kilmarnock, Lord, 167
Kipling, Rudyard, 117, 118
Knowles, Sheridan, 91
Knutsford, Viscount, 120
Kreisler, Fritz, 50, 96
Kruse, Johann, 93
Kubelik, 170, 172

LABETTE, DOBA, 93

Lacome, Paul, 47, 159

Lambert, Frank, 91

Lamoureux, 68

Langtry, Lily, 95

Lankester, Professor Ray, 118

Latour, F. T., 77

Law, Algernon, 145

Laye, Evelyn, 135

Lecocq, C., 24, 47, 158

Lehar, Franz, 24, 52, 158, 165, 167,

169, 170

Lehmann, Liza, 28, 91
Lener (Quartette), 65
Leoni, Franco, 83, 136, 137, 138,

166

Le Sage, Sir J. M., 120
Leslie, Fred, 48, 49, 124, 159
Leslie, H. J., 62, 128, 129
Leslie, W. H., 118
Lewis, Eric, 83
Liddle, S., 90
Lind, Lettie, 126
Littleton, Alfred, 117
Lloyd, Edward, 16, 18
Lloyds, 129
Locker, Arthur, 33
Loftus, Cissie, 94
Loge*, Henri, 65, 66
Lohr, Hermann, 91
Longfellow, 17
Longmans, 117
Lonnen, Arthur, 125
Lowenfeld, 24, 138
Lucan, Countess of, 118
Luigini, 97
Lutz, Meyer, 124
Lytton, Earl of, 120

M

MAAS, JOSEPH, 93
McCormack, John, 91, 96
MacCunn, Hamish, 117, 120
McGuckin, Barton, 41, 128

Mackenzie, Sir Alexander, 117, 118,

120

McLe'an, Alick, 98
Macmillan, Sir Fredk., 145
McNulty, Jennie, 48
Malone, J. A. E., 131
Mann, Auguste, 65
Mapleson, Henry, 24, 40
Margis, Alfred, 186
Marie", Madame Gallet, 44
Mario, 44

Marshall, Charles, 91
Marshall, J. Herbert, 118, 120
Marzials, Theo. 19, 20, 41, 67, 90
Massenet, 26, 41, 44
Maude, Cyril, 118
May, Edna, 22, 95
May, Maggie, 126
May, Olive, 125
Maybrick, Michael. See Stephen

Adams

Maxwell, George, 54
Meilhac, 38, 158, 168
Melba, Dame Nellie, 39, 42, 118, 150
Mendelssohn, 19
Mengelberg, 110
Messager, Andre", 22, 29, 98, 117,

120, 126, 135, 160, 178, 183, 193,
Millar, Gertie, 125, 135
Moir, Frank, 84
Molloy, J. L., 17, 18, 19, 26, 89
Monckton, Charles, 31, 32
Monckton, Lionel, 21, 31, 92, 117,

120, 125, 130, 131, 140, 141, 142,

161, 162

Monkswell, Lord, 120
Moore, Alfred, 22
Moul, Alfred, 174
Mozart, 84, 44
Muir, 114
Munroe, Kitty, 46
Murger, Henri, 88, 85
Mussolini, Benito, 177

NEILSON, CHRISTINE, 42, 48
Neilson, Julia, 85, 94
Nesville, Juliette, 48
Newbolt, Sir Henry, 195
Newman, Robert, 66, 110
Nicol, 59

Nordica, Madame, 44
Northcliffe, Lord, 189

INDEX

201

O'CONNOR, T. P., 119, 120, 146
Offenbach, 35, 158
Oudin, 48

PALOTTA, GRACE, 125

Parker, Louis N., 118

Parry, Sir Hubert, 117, 120

Partridge, Bernard, 120

Patey, Madame, 16

Patti, Adelina, 16, 42

Patti, Carlotta, 16

Payne, Teddy, 125

Penley, Charles, 48

Petrass, Sari, 166

Pettitt, Henry, 63

Phillips, Montague, 51, 91

Pinero, Sir Arthur, 120, 131

Pitman, Josiah, 42

Pitt, William, 77

PlanQon, 39

Planquette, R., 24, 47, 48, 158, 159

Plymouth, Earl of, 120

Poland, Sir Harry B., 120

Potter, 78

Pounds, Courtice, 48

Printemps, 4 Yvonne, 134, 160

Puccini, 51, 83, 98, 150

Pyne, Louisa, 16

R

RALEIGH, SIR WALTER, 145

Randegger, Alberto, 19

Ravogli, Guilia, 94

Reeve, Ada, 95

Reeves, Sims, 16, 17, 67, 93

Re"jane, Madame, 142

Reinhardt, 166, 167

Ribblesdale, Lord, 119

Richter, Dr. Hans, 97

Ries, Ferdinand, 78

Roberts, Arthur, 122, 126, 192

Robertson, Sir William, 189

Robinson, Sir William, 189

Romanis, The Rev. P. W., 82

Romberg, Sigmund, 173

Ronald, Sir Landon, 29, 111, 120

Ronconi, 44

Ropes, Arthur, 123

Rosa, Carl, 40

Rosenthal, 181, 182

Ross, Adrian, 123

Royce, 124

Rubens, Paul, 92, 117, 120, 127, 128,

130, 131, 140, 161-163, 167
Rubenstein, J. S., 103-5
Rumford, R. Kennerley, 22, 137
Russell, Ella, 67, 95

ST. HELIER, IVY, 94

St, John, Florence, 46, 49, 95

Saint-Saens, 186

Sanderson, Wilfrid, 90

Santley, Charles, 16, 20, 93

Santley, Kate, 49

Sarasate, 50

Sardou, 57, 129, 142, 143

Scaife, Laurie, 55

Scott-Gatty, Alfred, 21

Scotti, 137

Scrutton, Sir. T. E., 120, 145

Sealby, Mabel, 130

Sedger, Horace, 163

Serpette, Gaston, 47, 159

Seymour, Kitty, 125

Shakespeare, William, 32

Sheridan, 66

Sil6su, Lao, 26

Simon, Sir John, 146, 148

Sims, George R., 143, 144

Sliwinski, Adolph, 166, 167

Smyth, Dame Ethel, 28

Snowden, Philip, 66

Soltykoff, Prince, 126

Southey, 155

Speyer, Sir Edgar, 106

Squire, W. H., 90

Stanford, Sir C. Villiers, 31, 84, 35,

117, 120

Steinway, William, 183
Stephenson, B. C., 128, 129, 130
Sterling, Antoinette, 16, 17, 26, 93
Stothart, Herbert, 173
Straus, Oscar, 53, 165
Strauss, Johann, 165
Strauss, Richard, 52, 53
Strong, Susan, 187
Stuart, Leslie, 90, 117, 120, 126, 161,

163

Stuart-Wortley, C. B., 120
Studholme, Marie, 135
Sullivan, Sir Arthur, 17, 26, 37, 51,

79, 80, 92, 182, 161, 162
Supp, 165
Szirmai, Albert, 365, 166

202

INDEX

TADEMA, SIB LAWRENCE ALMA,

118, 145

Talbot, Howard, 21, 120, 161
Tearle, Godfrey, 130
Tempest, Marie, 49, 62, 83, 95, 99,

126, 128, 187
Temple, Hope, 29, 90
Tennyson, Alfred, Lord, 17
Terriss, Ellaline, 125
Terry, Edward, 124
Terry, Ellen, 95

Terry, Fred, 85, 94, 118

Tetrazzini, 42

Teyte, Maggie, 137, 170

Thomas, Goring, 40, 41, 42, 128

Thome", 94

Thornton, Edna, 137

Tolstoi, 127

Tosti, F. Paolo, 22, 90, 117, 120,

127, 138

Trebelli, Madame, 16
Tree, Sir Herbert, 120
Tree, Lady, 95
Twain, Mark, 160

U

ULMAB, GERALDINE (DOLLY) 83,
163

W

WAGNER, FELIX, 172

Wagner, Richard, 65

Wall, Harry, 174

Wallace, 25

Waller, Lewis, 95

Weatherley, F. E., 16, 17, 72, 84

Wedgwood, Josiah, 149

White, Maude Valerie, 22, 28

Wilder, Marshall, 57

Williams, Arthur, 128

Williams, E. Trevor Lloyd, 145, 146

Williams, Evan, 94

Wolff, Johannes, 94

Wood, Haydn, 91, 92, 130

Wood, Sir Henry, 98, 106, 107, 110,

120

Wood, Peggy, 135
Woodhouse, John, 177
Woodforde-Finden, Amy, 28, 90
Woolworth, 154
Wormser, Andre", 29, 138
Wright, Huntley, 126
Wright, Lawrence, 27
Wyatt, Frank, 48
Wyndham, Sir Charles, 120
Wordsworth, 95

X

XANBOF, 83

VALLEBIA, MADAME, 41
Vaughan, Kate, 124
Venne, Lottie, 83
Verdi, 13
Vert, N., 20, 21
Vokes, Rosina, 56

YOHE, MAY, 142, 163
Youmans, Vincent, 172

ZANGWILL, ISRAEL, 118
Zola, Emile, 143

114481