symphonies, piano music and songs; his brother Xaver Scharwenka, also of Berlin, born in 1850, a fine pianist, with 3 important piano-concertos and many other piano works, church music and many songs; Moritz Moszkowski of Berlin, born in 1854, another able pianist, with numerous popular orchestral and piano works, songs, the opera Boabdil (1892), a violin-concerto, etc; and Ignace Jan Paderewski, born in 1859, still more famous as a virtuoso on the piano, with works for his instrument, the opera Manru (1901), etc.
Here may be added the name of Jean Sibelius of Helsingfors, born in 1865, a pioneer in developing Finnish music, with 2 symphonies, several symphonic poems, choral cantatas, part-songs and many songs.
233. Music in the United States.—The development of advanced musical interest in America seems anomalous when compared with contemporaneous European experience, though, if one were to go back far enough, some analogies might be found. In rapidity and variety, however, it is phenomenal. In the brief space of a half-century a strong new aspirant has come into the circle of musical countries, claiming its share in the finest attainments and achievements of the world, and increasingly ambitious to be known as a producer as well as a recipient. The American situation is far too complex to lend itself to brief statement, but it has several points of interest.
As has been noted (see sec. 224), a change began to be seen about
1850. Before that time operatic singers and instrumental virtuosi had
found welcome, but music of importance was exotic and sporadic. The
influx of well-trained foreign musicians, the influence of native-born
students who went abroad for culture, and the general rise of interest in
literature and art—all these prepared the way for a healthy expansion.
Soon after the Civil War came the epochal activity of the great conductor
Theodore Thomas (d. 1905), whose extensive tours spread a knowledge of
orchestral music. He was speedily followed by many other cultivated and
progressive leaders and organizers. Hence, as regards the public performance
of important musical works of all kinds, both the appliances
and the popular interest to sustain them have advanced with signal
rapidity. Now, New York, at least, is one of the most brilliant operatic
centres in the world. A considerable number of more or less permanent
orchestras are statedly at work, of which the New York Philharmonic is
the oldest (see sec. 224) and the Boston Symphony (sustained by the
liberality of a wealthy connoisseur) the most famous. Chamber music is
receiving careful attention from several noted quartets in the East and the
Middle West. Choral societies of size and proficiency are not infrequent,
the oldest of importance being the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston
(founded 1815). In all the larger cities expert instrumental and vocal
performers are numerous. In a number of cases American sopranos have
won distinction throughout the world. Most of the principal cities are
