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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 25, 1908)
THE SU.NDAr OKEC.ONIAX. TORTLAXD, OCTOBER 1903. (4 ' , ' Yxi .- JbACK INTO. fiA,WOBKAT' VBSJTA. ji " lV:-! V " V ' MORE HOraFil THAN M 1 '4 ft V.I AI.M.V A. r.OGErtS. PKANVIS KICIITKK lias taken up t!i routine of stutlfnt life again, liaving returned to Vienna the 3d of September. A few daja later Tro er Itbor. lii teacher in composi tion, also returned, and lessons were renewed at once. Mr. Rieliter Is so desirous of master ing t!ie idrtu-e of music that he has started in on two lessons weekly. Ho Is now in third part counterpoint, a section that abound in technical prob lems, the solution of which is necessary to correct construction of musical com position. The les-sons with Irofessor Ijabor are alway a delight to the young student. It Is the Herr 1'rofessor. it will b remembered hy those who are follow inif Mr. Kichtcr's progress, who taught him the Hraille. Tims the study In Franie progresses with the study of music. "The exercises to he solved are written down in the Braille musical rotation. - The stmh-nt then works them out at the p'ano. copl.-s them on Mj Br.iillo typewriter, and returns the copy to hiff teacher. I don't thiok 1 have mrtnltoned the Kraille typewriter before. It is a small machine with six piano keys, correspond ing to the si. dots usful in the Kratlln. Tty different combinations of these dots the alphabet and notes are represented. letters being used for the latter. typewriter reduces th labor of writing oulte one-third. To write by hand a dou ble slate of metal punctureil with tiny holes in sections of six is required. Heavy paper is placed between, the slate closed and the writing accomplished by means of a sharp pointed tool, the stylus, being inserted thrunfch the metal holes into the paper. .A series of raised d'rts results, which the student in time learns to read with great rapidity. - At first the work is very slow and trying, each dot of each character having to be counted. But as the pupil gains in his conception of form, he begins to observe tl angles formed by the dots as ell as their number, and when proficient follows the angles almost entirely. Vancis ltichtcr is well along in this last stage. l;i-litrr"s TchcIkt in New Location. We were quite surprised to find .that the Uabor family had left the old house in which they have lived for more than OS years, every corner of which was fan)iliar to the Herr 1'rofessor. It is one of the oldest houses in Wien. I should fancy, with a narrow court presided over by an ancient house bosorgerin a woman who takes care of the halls and opens the door t night, besides serving the landlord in the capacity of agent i. The LAbor woh nung Has at the top of the our long and narrow circular flights of stairs. Years ago. when Herr labor's sister's husband, a sculptor, was living, the old house Is aid to have been the gathering place ot artists, musicians and poets. Many me mentoes f the sculptor s art remain. The new woiinung is in a modern house with large, lofty rooms, one of the largest of which is set apart as the llr-r Professor's studio. The room is high enough to p. rmit of the placing of the fine pipe organ, which waa the gift of a musical society 15 years ago. In addition arc two concert pianos, several bookcases filled with Braille volumes, sculptures and various rih hons and otucr mementos of the public honon accorded to 1'rofessor libor. who not only holds the gold medal of the Society of Arts and Sciences, a must distinguished honor, but has also been accorded the title of Hoyal Organ ist to the Court by the Kmpcror Franx Joieph. A jrroup of a doaen or so tiny busts uf great musicians is interesting from their suggcstlvencss of models which t-he sensitive fingers of the blind nrtist have -no doubt lovingly studied. To have his ortan at hand must be a great Joy to the Herr Professor, and effort! compensation for the strange ners inelaent to new surroundings. The Id roenui were too low to allow the organ to rn, set up. We were privileged to hear the organ rt the' last composition lesson, when Herr Iabor p'ayed the Bach Faniasie and Fugue In G minor for his pupil, whom he wishes to acquaint with or gan literature. Nobody in Vienna can play the organ like Herr Ijibor. The instrument has a splendid tone. It Is one of Francis Richter's dreams to pos sess a pfoe crgan of his own. and. since everything seems to be coming to him these davs. no doubt the oraran will be along- when it is needed. It is strange how nature sometimes withholds the showers until hope is almost spent, and then pours them out in torrents. Krjoicing Over Braille. Mr. Richter spent his vacation with his aunt and cousins in Germany and re ports a fine time, of which he gives evidence in Improved personal appear ance. Last year wore off a good many pounds, but he .has them all back now, and has returned rejoicing in the work before him. He now perceives the sig nificance of the Braille to his life, and Indeed I do not think a single day since his return has passed without some ex pression of his joy In it. 1 w ish every person who has assisted in giving him this opportunity could hear him ex claim, as I many times have: "O, my lovely Hraille, my lovely Braille." It Is literally opening a new world to him to take the place of the one which la t hut out. Perhaps here I had better say that nothing can be done for his sight. His case has been passed upon by three of tne chief oculists in Kurope: Pr. Fuchs, whose position at the head of his spe cialty in the Vienna Medical clinic has made him known the world over, as well as his hooks; l"r. Meller, a younger man. noted for skillful operations; and third, Ir. Pgenstecher, of Wiesbaden, who has performed some remarkable cures. Each one pronounced the case absolutely hope less. So now the best thing seems to be to turn all possible attention to the Braille, which gives him a 'measure of independence that nothing else can. I fumy the most bitter drop in the cup of tlie unseeing is the dependence on others which it engenders. rlting Into Literature. Wh-n Mr. Illchter left Vienna the middle of last June, he could scarcely be said to have passed the painful stage in the acquirement of the Braille. He car ried with him a book of contractions in the Knglish. While every letter In the alphabet has its own sign, the advanced reading is condensed by means of the contraction of words, something after the phonetic method, and sometimes by arbitrary signs. That is, instead of writing out the words in full, they are reduced as much as possible to save time and space. A Braille book is a bulky matter. Thus "ab" stands for about, "aftn" for afternoon, while merely a cer tain sign represents "and." There are something less than 3X1 of these con tractions to be memorized before the ad vanced books can be read. Francis Richter learned all that were in his book, about 1 and upon his return. I at once sent to lndon Kugllsh Fraill cannot bo had here for his tirst books. They were "The Merchant of Venice," with which he is familiar, and "Ivanhoe,' the latter til abridged form. We learned then that there are now three grades of Braille, the first grade without contractions, the second mod erately contracted, and the third more fully contracted. I,ast Sunday was really an event day in his history. He read the news of the week in a magazine of Braille in the second grade. He was so happy he said he felt like jumping Into the atr. Francis Richter unexpectedly found a helper in tlie Braille this Summer In the person of his 1-year-old cousin, who be came greatly interested and learned the system. Together they created several bulky volumes, copying Schiller's "Bell" In the German, (without contractions. He now has the German contractions also) and other things. So that the young man has already the beginning of a library. The photograph shows tlie two cousins and. tile Braille typewriter. Th cousin put his new science to an amusing use which shows the boy side of It. He is the presiding officer of a secret society of boys about his own age. five or six of his playmates. It occurred to him that the Brllle would make a fine secret code. So he intro duced it into the body, and now those boys are the envy of every other boy In school. Rk hter Gives a Concert. Francis Richter gave a concert in the neighboring city of Kalbe during his vacation. The Dress reports, written by m n .. - si fx --'.-'MiL : , f - i a professional musician, are gratifying la the extreme. H!s repertoire consisted en tirely of numbers studied here, among them the Sonata Appasioiiata. by Bee thoven, his last study with Prentner. His Bach playing was called perfect. I re met that I have no translation . of the article. Mr. Richter was also the subject of a most unusual notice In the June Musical Leader, New York, written quite un known to us hy the musical correspon dent of that paper who was present at his improvisations on the Odyssey. The Hem also contains at clever al lusion to Leschetitky's fourth marriage, which occurred about - the same time, he having succeeded in divorcing his third wife in order to marry a pupil. Numbers one and two were likewise di vorced and are still .living. The new bride is jit a little matter of 50 years younger than her TS-year-oId husband. The correspondent deem th marriaje an evidence of Leschetizky's "love of the lull quartet chord The subject of Ieschetizky reminds me of a good story. Let me preface by say ing that the general idea of Amaricane over here is that they are a people of strange and sensational attributes. iven to as great extravagances of action as of money. The incident occurred in the Leschetizky house. The new bride and some friends were celebrating the Herr Professor's birthday no they plarrncd a little drama representing lxschetizky in the process of an interview with an T-llJL .liii 'u-iw i wui U'tliw- - - J""" "' 1 " ''""'I'" "" '' I munii rn i a- ianiHi - mhwi. . umt r n nw ' -.'' ' '' 7 American prodigy, brought over by his adoring inammu. The prodigy wore short trousers, bare legs and child's high white ruffle although his head was on a level with the Herr Professor's. The dialogue runs in this wLsc, after the adoring mamma has come to a period: Leschetizky: "How old is your son, madam ?" Adoring Mamma: "Six years. Professor, ho is the twin of his brother." Leschetizky: "But I thought you said hiu brother was &?' Adoring Mamma: "O. all things are possible in America, Professor." These Wonderful Americans. This Summer when I was spending some weeks In the -Kaxnic Alps in Southern Austria, we took come walking tours among those splomlfd and little-known mountains. Upon one occasion we met a middle-aged German, who looked like he might be a college professor, with his wife, returning from our objective point, and we stopped to ask the way. They informed us that Seisera was half an hour further and that it would iiflt be possible to makeit and traverse fne six miles back to the station in time for the train, as they tbemsslves had only sufficient time. We went on, found the wild little valley at the foot of a bleak, jagged mountain and stopped at the inn for coffee. The keen mountain air quickly revived our weary bodies, and even infused itself into our minds suf ficiently to exude as sentiments written in the traveller's book, and on the in evitable postcards. Twenty minutes were consumed, and then we took the trail back. The dread of havin to walk four mtles more from the station gave wings to our feet and we arrived there just as the German "Professor and his frau leisurely walked in. Phey greeted us smilingly and we entered into conversa tion, covering points of interest in the vicinity and Switzerland. When they learned that we had climbed the Grindel wald glacier, said to be the most danger ous in the Schweiz. to a point of be tween 9000 or 10.000 feet in ordinary clothes and tshoes, the guide taking only the precaution to rope the three of us to him, the German lady threw up her hands and exclaimed in good-humored deprecation: "Diese Americaner!' Changes of the Grand Opera House. Opera under the new management shows numerous changes. Mahler, now of the Metropolitan, New York, was a stickler for the classics. His successor, Weingartner, has put on several new operas and for the first time in 30 years opera, has been heard in French. This last innovation is due to the presence of a new tenor star, Delmores, who- is winning many laurels. He was even per mitted to sing his role in Carmen in French while the balance of the opera was done as usual in German. Samson and Delilah was given entirely in French. He is already engaged in the Manhattan Opera-house, New York. Kric Schmedes, the favorite Siegfried of the Hofoper, lias obtained leave of absence and goes now to the Metropoli tan for a season. He will sing Parsi fal, Siegfried' some others, and the new opera of Tieflanti, which has made a sensation here. It is written by D'Al bert, the famous musician of Berlin. As I expect - to accompany Francis Richter there tonight, I may have something more to say of it next time, as well as our experiences in seeing the Wagner operas. Under Mahler, tlie entire Wagner cycle was given three times a year, and there is considerable curiosity as to what his successor may do. "Wagner holds as nothing else. In spite of the fact that the other operas beside the Ring are repeated many times a year, seats go so 'quickly that they ere difficult for .students to ob tain. Sometimes in the first ha If -hour after-the opening of the bx office all the low-priced seats are gone. We early learned, however, that the "bu reaus buy up seats, and we often ob tain them there at the advance of a krone. The programme for the season of the Philharmonic, Tor.kunstlcr. Concert Verein and other societies ,are out with a simply bewildering wealth of musi cal offerings. If one were hearing music . simply for pleasure, one could easily fall into hopeless confusion in trying to make a selection. But as we adhere strictly to the educational line, we have at least a guiding principle. Last Sunday morning we had a break fast consultation, as usual. Indeed, the consultation, also as usual, was the greater part of the breakfast, we hav ing become accustomed to t he Kuro pean fashion of coffee and rolls. Marcel de Bouzon read tlie entire list of con certs and Francis Richter selected 60 that he just couldn't miss. So the strenuous days are beginning. Vienna, October 2. A Wife in Kach Place. New York Press. Sherman is an excellent story teller. It is said he can beat Drpew and Adla! Stevenson. Our candidate for Vice President is credited with the following: "There was an awfully irreligious fel low in Utica who had been given up as a hopeless case by his family and friends. He cursed end swore like a pirate, and was always kicking up a row about nothing. One day the Rev. Ir. G. happened to hear one of his outbursts and said to him: 'My friend, just drop a few of those hard words. Did you ever stop to think where you will go when you die? 'Go!' shouted the fellow. 'Go! Why, to heaven or hell; it doesn't make much difference. I have a wife in each place " Frcachinjc and Practice. Puck. I h-ard him in the courtroom. His speei-h transfixed the crowd; "Never," said he. "should violence Or mob rule be allowed. Rise calm o'er passions, slow to judge; Heed well tlio ancient saw, 'Obedience to authority ls frie keynote of the law.' ' I saw him In the grandstand, Hattess and out ot breath. He joined the crowd that clamored For the helples umpire's death. "You robber, saphe&d. ruffian, thief, ' You cheat! We bad this cinched Till you butt- In. you dough-head dolt! Too bad you can't be lynched!" And when the ump wont down mid b!o and l:i'-k Twas my frienda hand that fired the fatai briuk. f
