Music and Some Highly Musical People Part 30

"It is an unusually fine company, and superior to any that visit here."

"The Baltimore News" says,--

"There is no approach to vulgarity. Their audiences are the most fas.h.i.+onable. No minstrel company can compare with Callender's."

"The Brooklyn Union" says,--

"They are superlatively excellent."

"The Memphis Appeal" says,--

"They are masters of minstrelsy."

"The Baltimore American" says,--

"All other companies are tame in comparison with these."

William Lloyd Garrison writes,--

"It is gratifying to see that no imputation is brought against them of presenting any thing offensive to the eye or ear."

Mr. P.T. Barnum says,--

"They are extraordinary, and the best I ever saw. They fully deserve their large patronage."

Said Dexter Smith, the eminent song-writer,--

"Boston has unconditionally yielded to the Georgia Minstrels. If you wish to see the brains, beauty, and fas.h.i.+on of the musical metropolis, a peep into Beethoven Hall will give you an insight of it. Never has a minstrel troupe created such enthusiasm in any American city as the Georgia Minstrels have done in Boston."

And the Boston "Folio," that excellent journal of music,--

"The Georgia Minstrels, who are nightly appearing before crowded houses at Beethoven Hall, deserve more than a pa.s.sing notice, on account of their excellence, and the utter absence of aught that could offend the most fastidious. 'The Traveller' expresses our sentiments so exactly, that we cannot indorse them better than by quoting:--

"'There is a freshness and a completeness about the whole performance which ent.i.tle it to the fullest praise. As for the whole evening's enjoyment, it may be characterized as novel from the fact that it is native and not imitative, commendable because it is wholly refined, and most pleasant because it is always artistic. The comedians are very numerous, and all unite in giving a perfection to the rendering of the whole bill.'"

"The Boston Herald" said,--

"Beethoven Hall was well filled last evening by admirers of Ethiopian delineations, a.s.sembled to see and hear the original Georgia Minstrels, who have returned from a very successful tour in Europe, and are now located at the above-named hall for a short season. The company is a novelty from the fact that all the members are colored, and their performances possess a genuineness which no burnt-cork artists can fully imitate. Their music, both vocal and instrumental, is excellent. Each performer seems to be not only a natural, but a cultured artist; and all have the faculty of being exceedingly mirthful, without overstepping the bounds of refinement. In fact, each performer seems perfect in his _role_; and all appear to be masters of minstrelsy."

Again the same paper said,--

"The Georgia Minstrels have burst upon us like an avalanche.

All the reserved seats were sold last evening before the performance commenced; and the house was filled by a fas.h.i.+onable audience,--one rarely seen at a minstrel entertainment. The troupe have made a decided hit, and their performances last night were received with great enthusiasm.

Their songs and choruses are excellent; their puns, jokes, and stories, fresh and laughable; and their special acts new, and of a superior order. The performances of the troupe have happily filled a void which existed in the amus.e.m.e.nt field.

"This troupe of native artists has won the very highest praise from every one wherever it has appeared. In England and America over three thousand performances have been given. The troupe has appeared before the Queen of England, and bears the highest testimonials of the press from across the water."

"The Boston Advertiser" said,--

"They (the Georgia Minstrels) are at the head of the minstrel business in this country."

The "Chicago Post,"--

"The company merits all the praise which has been bestowed upon them."

I need only further mention, in conclusion, that several members of this troupe possess musical and histrionic abilities of an order so high as to fit them to grace stages of a more elevated character than the one upon which they now perform. Indeed, one formerly attached to it is now a valuable member of the "Hyers Opera Company." On the minstrel boards his talents as a singer and actor were developed. It is to be hoped (and here I crave the pardon of Mr. Callender, their gentlemanly director, who is requested to try to appreciate the good _motive_, at least, that prompts a suggestion which seems to aim at the disintegration of his famous company) that others of the "Georgias" will follow his example. Their motto should constantly be, "Excelsior!"

I have been informed that in the city of Boston, at a certain time, not many years ago, the then directors of the three princ.i.p.al theatre orchestras were persons who had previously been members of minstrel troupes. It is also known that several of the finest operatic singers in this country learned their first lessons at this same school,--the minstrel stage. In their new, higher, and of course far more desirable positions, these persons have achieved artistic results which reflect upon them the highest credit, and which show also that the minstrel profession has some beneficial, elevating uses, notwithstanding all that may be truly said against it.

PART SECOND.

OTHER REMARKABLE MUSICIANS,

AND

THE MUSIC-LOVING SPIRIT OF VARIOUS LOCALITIES.

I.

"They are the abstracts and brief chronicles of the time."

SHAKSPEARE.

On the following pages I shall make mention in collective form, and somewhat briefly, of a number of artists whose histories, although not less important than those by which they are preceded, could not, owing to various causes, be placed in the first part of this book.

The true value of musical proficiency does not consist alone in the power it gives one to win the applause of great audiences, and thereby to attain to celebrity: it consists also in its being a source of refinement and pleasure to the possessor himself, and by which he may add to the tranquillity, the joys, of his own and the home life of his neighbors and friends. And here will be found, therefore, a brief mention of those, who, although they are not public performers, are yet sincere devotees of the art of music, who possess decided talent, and who in their attainments present instances of a character so noticeable as to render the same well worthy of record.

It is considered proper to say, also,--a caution which perhaps may not be necessary,--that I shall here make mention by name of none but persons of scientific musical culture; of none but those who read the printed music page, and can give its contents life and expression, generally, too, with a fine degree of excellence, either with voice or instrument; and who evince by their studies and performances the true artistic spirit. The singer or player "by ear" merely, however well favored by nature, will not be mentioned. This course will be followed, not because persons of the latter cla.s.s are regarded contemptuously,--not by any means; but because it is intended that the list here given shall be, as far as it goes, a true record of what pertains to the higher reach and progress of a race, which, always considered as _naturally_ musical, has yet, owing to the blighting influences of the foul system of slavery, been hitherto prevented from obtaining, as generally as might be, a _scientific_ knowledge of music.

Nor must the list of names furnished be understood as an exhaustive one. Had the author the time in which to collect more names, or had he here the s.p.a.ce for printing the same, he a.s.sures the reader of this only partial chronicle that one could be furnished which would be many times larger. And moreover, if any meritorious musician shall complain because his name does not here appear, I ask him to pardon the omission, made not from choice, nor with the purpose of giving personal offence.

If the first edition of this book shall be received with such favor as to warrant the issuing of a second one, I shall, if it be found necessary, take the time and pains to supply in it such omissions as appear to be made in this one. If it be found necessary, I say; for I am inclined to opine that ere long,--judging from a "view of the field" that I have lately taken, and after witnessing there the many delightful evidences of musical love and culture,--that ere long neither such lists as this, nor just such books as this, will be considered as necessary.

Nevertheless, the writer requests all who are interested in the more general cultivation of music by the people to send him such names as have been here left out, together with all facts that may additionally ill.u.s.trate the subject treated in these pages; all names and statements to be accompanied by as strong confirmation as can possibly be procured. These will be published in case other editions of the book are issued.

It is hoped that the persons here mentioned, on seeing that their present achievements in art are regarded as of so much value in indicating the aesthetic taste and musical capacity of their race, may be impelled thereby to put forth even greater efforts, and to thus attain to that still higher state of usefulness and distinction, which, it is believed, their talents and present accomplishments show is quite possible.

In the city of Boston, which is the acknowledged great art centre of this country, the amplest facilities for the study of music are afforded. There the doors of conservatories and other music schools, among the finest of any in the world, are thrown open to _all_; the cost of admission being, considering the many advantages afforded, quite moderate. A love of the "divine art" pervades all cla.s.ses in Boston; and there the earnest student and the skilful in music, of whatever race he may be, receives ready recognition and full encouragement. It is, in fact, almost impossible for one to live in that city of melody, and not become either a practical musician, or at least a lover of music.