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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (June 27, 1915)
THE OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL, PORTLAND, SUNDAY IIG21TTIZQ, JUITE 27, WIS. ..jkmM.awmm ,;yyY' . ""---'K' . . vr y:y'i ...C, yy- Y:4:- r Y y. i't !'"sr?: Y:;y y--y,- Yy-y-yyy y.-yyIy YY' ?4 r.-Y -S Yr'YYr- ;y- .1';yYyy YY;YirY-? V'-'-y-yY--'!--' -YY'YyYv -i-Y-vY;-.?:.,- .H' y-'-Yy-y v1. Mailed Fiot of War Cut Short Composition That Genius Believed" Would Be His Greatest Work He Says, Will Eventually Prove a Boon to ; plifying It and Giving It a New Virility BEX the last gun is fired In the great conflict of nation now raging In Europe art will be born anew -but not the elaborate art to which we hare been accuatomed. The effect will be1 the same a on human life a. tendency toward ahnpUficatios. - Thla la the opinion of Ignace Jan PaderewaU, the noted plaoiBt, whose rUlt to America in the Interest of devastated Poland Indicates, that lore of country- rirala music la the heart of thla genine, - Paderewski,- griering orer the un happy fate or iu land, has not played the piano since the beginning of hoatlUtlea, derotlng all of his time toward raising fond with which to assist the millions of famlHea that are helpless, hungry and aick. -J "All of us, eren the poorest, indulged in some luxuries during the. days of eace," said PaderewskL "The first accomplishment of the gigantic struggle was to simplify our mode of living. Those who sad horse found them commandeered. Automobiles and carriages, too, were requisitioned. The net result was to make people partake of more exercise, especially that of walking, and to eat more whole some food in fact, to lead a simple and aane life. "As art Is, after all, the reflection of human life, so will it be simplified. Artists will try to find more accessible forms of expression. I presume it will be a benefit for art itself, which in every one of its branches tended toward excess and eitfjeratiea to the detriment of real thought" ; Cancels Engagements to Work for Poland. Paderewski waa in England when he learned that the war presaging general hostilities had been de clared. He Immediately canceled all engagements and returned to his chalet in Switzerland, where he formulated plans to aid unhappy Poland. While in England Paderewski had begun the com position of what he believed. would be hie master piece. From the start of his career it had been his ambition to compose musio rather than to play it Well-known musicians will tell you that some of his interpretations of the masters, especially in his earlier years, were marvelous improvisations, for the magic of his talent supplied what at the start his knowledge lacked Paderewski has not supplied a 'single note to sis composition since the war began. "How can XT" he asked, tears filling his eyes. He wasn't ashamed to cry. When you know that in times other than these Paderewski often played seventeen hours a day, a muscular task which the world's strongest men would not care to essay ; that he frequently indulged In the strenuous exercise of swimming that he per soaally superintended his estate and was even a breeder bf horses, you are compelled to readjust the f bought that this great artist is effeminate. , Vast Area Is Laid Waste. "How can IT he repeated, "when my Poland is ia misery'' War is raging over her soil, sweeping away every sign of civilisation, destroying dwellings, devastating fields, gardens and forests, starving and exterminating human beings and animals alike. An erta equal in slxe to the states of New York and Pennsylvania has been laid waste. Two hundred towns, fourteen hundred churches, seven thousand five hundred villages have been completely ruined. "A total of eighteen million inhabitanta, includ ing nearly two million Jews, are continually endur ing the horrors of this gigantic struggle. Only very few cpuld flee to the places which are still 'holding their own against the aggressors ; the great majority, Almost eleven millions of helpless women and chil dren, homeless peasants, unemployed workmen, the very essence and strength of a nation, have been driven out into the open. Thousands and thousands are hiding among ruins, in woods or in hollows, feed ing on roots and on the bark of trees. "And you ask me why I do not compose! Why I do not play in concert! Can one with true pa--. trlotlsm, true love of country, set his mind on -aught else than the heartrending cries of his people, 'Some ' bread for Polish women and children 1 Some seed for the Polish farmers !' " ' A glance went, instinctively, to his hands. They were as long, as thin, as white, -as delicately shaped as ever. ... . "Ah, but they are stiff said Paderewski, divin ing the meaning of the glance. "And my wrists they, too, are no longer wrists of steeL" ' o World's But Weir, by Sim- This Striking Portrait of Paderewski, Taken a Pew Weeks Ago, ' Has Been Pronounced By His Wife to Be. the Best Likeness of the f Polish Pianist Ever Made: Copies of tt Are Now Being Sold to Swell the Fund ' to Relieve His Suffering Countrymen. ' ' " "' ' ' " Jj ' . . f ----- -T- - - - g -Vff 'SJWISftt I, , ' It. CCoprrigtat. Chicago Herald, 1915.1 Yearns to Return to Own Work. He said it pitifully, as if he yearned to return to the strenuous life of concert work which Henry T. Fink described so well in the following extract from an article he wrote eeveral years ago: - J "Genius involves hard work, in a pianist as in a poet, e Ease and finish are the rewards of years of tolL When we know how persistently Paderewski works, to perfect his playing we hardly wonder that he shirks the duty of writing letters. His triumphs were no too easily won ; he had to practice and study many years to earn them. To this day he will : practice ten to twelve hours or more a day when pre paring for a concert tour, to keep his fingers supple and his memory reliable. S But the secret of his suc cess lies tnthls, that he practices not merely with his fingers but with the brain too. He once told me that he often lies awake for hours at night, going ever his next program ' mentally, nete after note, trying td get at the very essence of every bar. "This mental' practice at night explains the per fection of his art, but It is not good for his health. Indeed, If he ever sins it is against himself and the laws of health. He smokes . too many f dgarets, drinks too much lemonade, loses too much sleep, or sleeps too much in the daytime. : For this last habit as is, however, not entirely to blame; for whenever he gives a concert all his faculties are so completely engaged that he is quite exhausted at the end, and unable to go to sleep for hours. His favorite anti-s dote to this artistic insomnia is a game of billiards. Of this game he ia passionately fond, and he regards it as a sort of tonic, for, he says, If I walk or ride or merely rest I go to thinking all the time, and my nerves get no real rest. But when I play billiards I can forget everything, and the result is mental rest and physical est combined." -, And to return to ibis life is Paderewskl's wish, but grief forbids. Were Paderewskl's emotions and sentiments less delicately tuned;. if he could woo back the perfect contentment of mind which he says Is necessary to musical genius, he could aid his country materially by concert work. Following .are a few figures cov ering fourteen consecutive concerts on his second tour of America : - Binghamton, $1,500; New Xork, $5,069; Boston,' $2,364 ; New Haven, $1,628 ; New York, $3,069 ; Rochester, $1,S62 J Albany, $1,350; Hartford, $1,915; Boston, $2,995; New York, $5524; Buffalo, 12,050; Philadelphia, $5,324; Brooklyn, $3,162; Boston, $3,999; total, $4390, or an average of $3,113. i - What Concerts Really Pay. " - v.'- The total number of concerts given during this second tour in twenty-six American cities was sixty - seven, and the receipts amounted to $180,000 a sum never before equaled by an Instrumental performer. Of this amount about $150,000 was net "But It is impossible for me to play until the war is over rather until my Poland rises from the ashes of her unhappy fate," said the master pianist re cently. He rose to prepare for an address to Polish sympathisers in behalf of the General Polish Belief Committee. Paderewskl's gift of oratory is second only to his genius as a musician, as shown in the i following extract from speech he made: ' "We are in sore need of strengthening, of reln spiration. Blow after : blow has fallen upon our stricken race, thunderbolt after thunderbolt ; our whole shattered country quivers, not with fear, but with dismay. New forms of life which had to come, which were. bound to come, have waked among us on a night of dreadful dreams. The same wind that ' blew -to us a handful of healthy grain has over whelmed us in a cloud of chaff and -sittings; the' clear flame kindled by hope of universal justice has reached us fouled by dark and blackening smoke; the light breath of freedom has been borne toward us on choking, deadly waves of poisoned air. ' "Our hearts are disarrayed, our minds distorted. We are being taught respect for all that is another's, contempt for all that is our own. We are bidden to love all men, even fratricides! and yet hate our own fathers and brothers should they think otherwise, albeit' no less warmly, than ourselves. ; Our new teachers are Stripping us of the last shred of racial ' instinct, yielding the past in prey to an indefinite futue, thrusting the heritage of generations into the clutches of the chaotic ogre whose monstrous form may loom- at any minute above the abyss of time. - "The immemorial sanctuary, of . our race, proof until now against the stoutest foe, is being assailed y by brothers who batter at the wall, meaning to use Bj0ksVtvasMVIMesMj1MsM' Grief Over War Stays Hand of Polish, Genius HOW can I compose when my Poland is in misery? War is raging over her soil, sweeping away every sign of civilization, ; destroying dwellings, devastat ing fields, gardens and; forests, starving and exterminating .human beings and ani mals alike. Only very few could flee to the places which are still holding their own against the aggressors;-the great majority, almost eleven millions of helpless women and children, homeless peasants, unemployed workmen, the very essence and strength of a nation, have been driven out into the open. Thousands and thousands are living among ruins, in woods, or in hollows, feeding on roots and on the bark of trees. And you ask me why I do not compose! Why I do not play in concert! Can one with true patriotism, true love of country, set his mind on aught else than the heartrend ing cries of his people, "Some bread for Polish women and children ! Some seed for Polish farmers 1" - . . , . : our scattered stones for the building of new struc turesas if these poverty-stricken architects were unable to afford material of their own. The white- -' winged, undefined, most holy symbol of our nation is being attacked by croaking rooks and ravens; ' strange, ill-omened birds of night circle around her, screeching; even her own demented eaglets defy . her." ' '":r " . -Ar , - Paderewski Not a Youns Man. - Paderewski is no longer yonng he was born in 1860 and he spends the greater part of the day in , conference with the leaders of branch relief societies. Yet no weariness shows in his dignified figure or in his eyes, and be talks with animation. This anima- Hon is partcularly noticeable when Poland Is the subject of conversation. On music, painting, Amer ica on most subjects he talks with interest, but with.no great eagerness. But when the wrongs of Poland are mentioned he rises from' his chair and speaks with fiery passion. 1 His masterpiece?' "It shall not be born for the time being," says PaderewskL But when it is given to the world who doubts but that it will express yearning maidenhood, grave manhood, tragic and sad old age, light-hearted, joyful : youth, r love's - enfolding - softness, action's vigor, valiant and chivalrous strength ail of Poland, for whose tragic fate Paderewski grieves, and which , is dearer to his heart than music Itself? Is Love a Disease? If WThalfc Is ttlie Coire? IS LOVE a disease? ' Nearly three hundred theories, the majority of them scientific, exist as to the nature of love. Most are physiological theories.:' It remained, for William Brown, M. A D. So, of King's College, London, to show" that the mental y phenomena in volved the ideas, thoughts and feelings of lovers can be to some extent explained by mental causes. Says Professor JBrown : "Whatever may be the theory adopted to explain how it comes about that the ideas and emotions of two people become centered each about the idea of the other, we are still left with the striking re-, semblances which love presents to certain forms of mental disease. Besides the fixed idea' there is the period of Incubation, during which the in dividual does not know what is the matter with him, but feels restless, depressed and 'out of sorts.' There is feebleness of will power, which may, in a few eases, even persist after love' has become mani fest Again," there is often a complete change Jof temperament and character. "Once more: Some natures seem to be more susceptible to the love fever than others, and would appear to be possessed of a special mental 'diathe ses' or. disposition, resembling the physical diathesis . the tendency to cancer, scrofula and so forth so well known to the physician. And the greater proneness to the affliction when in 111 health, mentaf or physical, brings it also into Hne with physical disease. There are, however, exceptions. "Again, a love affair of a certain type makes the individual, in many cases, partly or entirely Immune to one of a'slmilar-nature for the future. Whether It is possible to be in love with mare than one per son at the same time is a difficult question, but we are, perhaps, a little too ready to answer it in the negative. "No one will deny that extreme cases abound which are obviously diseased, but these shade off tooths so-called normal cases by imperceptible de grees, and the dividing line is not easy to draw. How are we to regard the numerous love tragedies of history? What are we to say of the love mur ders and suicides which we read about in the news papers? Can we honestly convince ourselves those of us who are not entirely Inexperienced in thewnat ter that these cases belong to a class by them selves, and have no closer relation to ordinary love than, say, a cancerous liver to a normal one? Per haps if larger proportion of people were insus- ' cepUble to the passion that some such, people exist 4 : cannot be doubted wb should be more ready : to class it among our diseases. "If disease It is, we must lookf for its cause in the subconscious, and therefore thetordlnary healing methodof 'suggestion,' in which the patient's inter- - est is turned in some other direction, is In most cases useless unless helped out by some means of getting down to the subconscious life of the indi vidual Such means are afforded us by the method of 'psycho-analysis invented by - Professor Freund of Vienna and employed by him and his disciples." The principle of this method is similar to that of cross-examination as; employed In a court of law, except that single words instead of questions are used as the bait The physician learns of the cause of the disease simultaneously with the patient and is then able to help the matter by thoroughly "talk ing the thing out" with bind It has been used with remarkable success, ssy scientists, in certain forms , of mental disease. "The case of love is very similar," adds Professor Brown. "Love Is a disturbance in 'which the sub conscious is largely involved, hence its seeming mys 4 teriousness . and. irrationality. ; Not all love affairs need, to be cured,' but in cases , where this is - deslr able the method of psycho-analysis enables the rea son and will power of the lover to be directed upon the- irrational emotional tendencies that have gained a footing in his subconsciousness, so that they; are seen In their true light and combated accordingly, ."Let us imsgine the instance of a pair of lovers where,' owing to some internal reasons, Jealousy, for ' . instance,' love y Is not f flowing smoothly If these two people be tested separately and independently - ;wlth the same list of words much information can be obtained as v to the nature of their subconscious ' selves,' snd, also of the more bidden parts of their explicit 'consciousness. "Cases of hopeless love' could be treated in a , similfr wsy, so that Indirectly the . method might even prove to be a new and efficacious way of curing some cases of consumption, or at least directing the physician's attention to the mental' factor which is not infrequently present in these instances. The actual curative treatment .so far as it is mental, would in every case take.the form of 'suggestion and the talking of the matter but with the patient; the psychologist -would prescribe measures .' for dl- . recting the flow of the patient's ideas and emotional tendencies Into other channels." , Therefore, from the - viewpoint of Professcj Brown, leve in some, cases is a disease.