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Page 37
"I shall play numerous concerts and recitals in Europe the coming
season, but shall not be in America. I know your country well as I have
made several tours and have lived there. I left it the last time under
sad circumstances, as my sister, who always accompanied me, had just
passed away after quite a long illness. So you see I have not much zest
to return.
"However I am fond of America, and admire the great progress you are
making in music and art. And you have the courage of your convictions;
you do not admire a musical work simply because some one else says you
should, or the critics tell you to. You do not ask your neighbor's
opinion before you applaud it. If you do not like it you are not afraid
to say so. Even when it is only ragtime that pleases you, you are not
afraid to own up to it. When you learn what is better you say so. It Is
this honesty which leads to progressive results. You are rapidly
becoming competent to judge what is best. I have found the most
appreciative audiences in America."
Miss Aus der Ohe had much to relate of the Woman's Lyceum. The
Department of Music was founded by Aus der Ohe herself. Not long ago
there was an exhibition of woman's work in music. Women composers from
all over the country sent examples of their work. Our own Mrs. H.A.A.
Beach, who has been located for some time in Munich, was well
represented. There are branches of this institution in other German
cities.
Several paintings of large size and striking originality hang on the
walls of the pianist's home. They all illustrate religious themes and
are the work of Herr Aus der Ohe, the pianist's only brother, who passed
away at the height of his career.
"Yes," said the composer, "my mother, brother and sister have been taken
away, since I was last in America, and now I am quite alone; but I have
my art."
XIX
ELEANOR SPENCER
MORE LIGHT ON LESCHETIZKY'S IDEAS
Eleanor Spencer, whose first American tour is announced for the coming
season, happened to be in Berlin during my visit there. I found her in
her charming apartments in the Sch�nberg section of the city, far away
from the noise and bustle of traffic. Her windows look out upon a wide
inner court and garden, and she seems to have secured the quiet,
peaceful environment so essential to an artist's development. Indeed
Miss Spencer has solved the problems of how to keep house, with all the
comforts of an American home, in a great German city.
"I grew so tired of living in _pensions_ that I took this little
apartment over two years ago," she said, "and I like it so much better.
"I have been away from America for nine years, so the foreign cities
where I have lived seem almost more like home to me than my native land,
to which I have only paid two short visits during those nine years. But
I love America, and perhaps you can imagine how eagerly I am looking
forward to my coming tour.
"The first eight years of my life were spent in Chicago, and then my
family moved to New York. Here I studied with Dr. William Mason. When I
was about fifteen I went to Europe for further study, and although I had
another master at first, it was not so very long before I went to
Vienna, to Leschetizky, for I felt the need of more thorough preparation
than I had yet had. There is nothing like a firm technical foundation;
it is a rock to build upon; one cannot do great things without it. I
have had to labor hard for what I have attained, and am not ashamed to
say so. I practise 'all my spare time,' as one of my colleagues
expresses it; though, of course, if one studies with the necessary
concentration one cannot practise more than five hours to advantage.
[Illustration: To Miss Brower in appreciation and pleasant remembrance
of our Berlin meeting ...ELEANOR SPENCER]
"I thoroughly believe in practising technic outside of pieces; I have
always done so and still continue to do it. This brings the hand into
condition, and keeps it up to the mark, so that difficult compositions
are more readily within the grasp, and the technical requirements in
them are more easily met. When the hand is in fine condition, exhaustive
technical practise in pieces is not necessary, and much wear and tear of
nerve force is saved. In this technical practise, to which I give an
hour or more daily, I use very simple exercises, but each one contains
some principle of touch, movement or condition. Hand over thumb and
thumb under hand; different qualities of tone; staccato or clinging
touch; scales, arpeggios and various other forms are used. Part of the
technic study period is always given to Bach.
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