RUSSIAN MUSICIgor Stravinsky

SIX

Igor Stravinsky was a pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov. One day the young composer played for his teacher a few bars of the music of one of his ballets. The older man halted him suddenly: “Look here,” said he. “Stop playing that horrid thing; otherwise I might begin to enjoy it!” This ballet was one of the works that made Stravinsky famous. Igor Stravinsky was born on June 17, 1882, at Oranienbaum, near Petrograd, Russia. The date of his birth has been disputed, but this date is the one given by Stravinsky himself. He was the son of Fedor Ignatievich Stravinsky, the celebrated singer who was associated with the Imperial (Maryinsky) Theater in Petrograd. Igor was destined to study law, but at the age of nine he was already giving proofs of a natural musical bent; and in particular he showed an aptitude for piano playing. To the study of this instrument he devoted a great deal of time, under the instruction of a pupil of Rubinstein.

In 1902, when Stravinsky was twenty years old, he met Rimsky-Korsakov at Heidelberg—a meeting which marked an epoch in his life. The older composer had much influence on the career of Stravinsky. Their views on music differed greatly, however.

Stravinsky worked hard. He attended concerts, visited museums and read widely. Rimsky-Korsakov, though alarmed at the revolutionary tendencies of his pupil, predicted for him great success. During the years 1905 and 1906 Stravinsky worked at orchestration. At this time his friends were members of the group surrounding Rimsky-Korsakov, including Glazounov and César-Cui.

On January 11, 1906, Stravinsky married. Soon after his marriage he finished a symphony which was performed in 1907 and was published later. Following this, in 1908, came his “Scherzo Fantastique,” which was inspired by a reading of Maeterlinck’s “Life of the Bee.”

When Rimsky-Korsakov’s daughter was married in 1908 Stravinsky sent his composition, “Fire Works,” a symphonic fantasia, which, curiously, had been submitted for the approval of an English manufacturer of Chinese crackers. However, before the gift arrived by mail Rimsky-Korsakov died. As a tribute to his master’s memory Stravinsky composed the Chant Funèbre.

In 1909 Stravinsky wrote “The Nightingale,” a combination of opera and ballet, based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale of the same name. This was produced in 1914.

Then came the discovery of Stravinsky by the director of the Russian ballet, Serge de Diaghileff. The young composer was commissioned to write a ballet on a Russian folk story, the scenario of which was furnished by Michel Fokine. Leon Bakst and Golovine, the scene painters, collaborated with him. This ballet, “The Fire Bird,” was finished on May 18, 1910, and produced three weeks later. This production established Stravinsky’s reputation in Paris.

The second of his ballets, “Petrouschka,” was completed on May 26, 1911. It was first produced in Paris in the same year. The scene of Petrouschka is a carnival. One of the characters is a showman, and in his booth are three animated dolls. In the center is one with pink cheeks and a glassy stare. On one side of this is a fierce negro, and on the other the simple Petrouschka. These three play out a tragedy of love and jealousy, which ends with the shedding of Petrouschka’s vital sawdust. One critic has said: “This ballet is, properly speaking, a travesty of human passion, expressed in terms of puppet gestures and illumined by music as expositor. The carnival music is a sheer joy, and the incidents making a demand upon music as a depictive medium have been treated not merely with marvelous skill, but with unfailing instinct for the true satirical touch. ‘Petrouschka’ is, in fact, the musical presentment of Russian fantastic humor in the second generation.”

“The Crowning of Spring” was composed during the winter of 1912 and 1913, and was produced both in Paris and London during the following spring and summer.

Recently Stravinsky has composed several songs which are done in the same spirit as that in which he wrote his compositions for the orchestra.

PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATIONILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 4, No. 18, SERIAL No. 118COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.

THE MENTOR · DEPARTMENT OF FINE ARTS · NOV. 1, 1916.

By HENRY T. FINCK

Author and Music Critic

I. TCHAIKOVSKY

ANTON RUBINSTEIN

MENTOR GRAVURESRUBINSTEINMOUSSORGSKYTCHAIKOVSKYRIMSKY-KORSAKOVGLINKASTRAVINSKY

MENTOR GRAVURES

RUBINSTEINMOUSSORGSKYTCHAIKOVSKYRIMSKY-KORSAKOVGLINKASTRAVINSKY

Entered as second-class matter March 10, 1913, at the postoffice at New York, N. Y., under the act of March 3, 1879. Copyright, 1916, by The Mentor Association, Inc.

So far as the world at large is concerned, Russian music—which has come so much to the fore in recent years—began with Rubinstein, who lived till 1894. There was, indeed, one other composer of note before him—Glinka—but Glinka’s music, though very popular in Russia, remained almost unknown in other countries, whereas Rubinstein, and, after him, Tchaikovsky (also spelled Tschaikowsky), conquered the whole world.

Folk music, it is needless to say, flourished many centuries before Glinka. Folk tunes are like wild flowers, and in all countries the composers have heard the “call of the wild” and tried to woo these flowers and bring them to their gardens. This is particularly true of Russia, which has an abundance of folk songs that are unsurpassed in beauty and emotional appeal; indeed, Rubinstein and another eminent composer, César Cui (kwee), claim absolute supremacy for their country in the matter of national melodies. The tremendous size of the Empire, including, as it does, one-sixth of all the land on this globe, gives scope for an unparalleled variety of local color in songs, suggesting the great difference in costumes and customs. Asiatic traits are mingled with the European. Many of the songs are sad, as is to be expected in a populace often subjected to barbarian invasions, as well as to domestic tyranny; but perhaps an equal number are merry, with a gaiety as extravagant as the melancholy of the songs that are in the minor mode. As a rule, Russian peasants seem to prefer singing in groups to solo singing. There are many singing games; some of the current songs are of gypsy origin; and we find in the collections of Russian folk music (the best of which have been made by Balakiref and Rimsky-Korsakov) an endless variety, devoted to love, flattery, grief, war, religion, etc. Eugenie Lineff’s “Peasant Songs of Great Russia” (transcribed from phonograms) gives interesting samples and descriptions. Lineff’s choir has been heard in America.

SINGING AT AN OUTDOOR SHRINE

RUSSIAN PRIEST CHANTING

Church music is another branch of the divine art that flourished in Russia before the advent of the great composers. Five centuries ago the court at Moscow already had its church choir, and some of the Czars, including Ivan the Terrible, took a special interest in the musical service. Peter the Great had a private choir which he even took along on his travels.

In 1840, the French composer, Adolphe Charles Adam, on a visit to St. Petersburg (now Petrograd) found that church music was superior to any other kind in Russia. The choir of the Imperial Chapel sang without a conductor and without instrumental support, yet “with a justness of intonation of which one can have no idea.”

A specialty of this choir, which gave it a “sense of peculiar strangeness,” was the presence of bass voices that produced a marvelous effect by doubling the ordinary basses at the interval of an octave below them. These voices, Adam continues, “if heard separately, would be intolerably heavy; when they are heard in the mass the effect is admirable.” He was moved to tears by this choir, “stirred by such emotion as I had never felt before … the most tremendous orchestra in the world could never give rise to this curious sensation, which was entirely different from any that I had supposed it possible for music to convey.”

RUSSIAN ORGAN GRINDER

Similarly impressed was another French composer, Berlioz, when he heard the Imperial Choir sing a motet for eight voices: “Out of the web of harmonies formed by the incredibly intricate interlacing of the parts rose sighs and vague murmurs, such as one sometimes hears in dreams. From time to time came sounds so intense that they resembled human cries, which tortured the mind with the weight of sudden oppression and almost made the heart stop beating. Then the whole thing quieted down, diminishing with divinely slow graduations to a mere breath, as though a choir of angels was leaving the earth and gradually losing itself in the uttermost heights of heaven.”

Like all other European countries, Russia more than a century ago succumbed to the spell of Italian music. Young men were sent to Italy to study the art of song, while famous Italian singers and composers visited Russia and made the public familiar with their tuneful art. It was under the patronage of the Empress Anna that an Italian opera was for the first time performed in the Russian capital, in 1737. She was one of several rulers who deliberately fostered a love of art in the minds of their subjects. Under the Empress Elizabeth music became “a fashionable craze,” and “every great landowner started his private band or choir.” Russia became what it still is—the place where (except in America) traveling artists could reap their richest harvests.

PLAYER OF REED PIPE

The high salaries paid tempted some of the leading Italian composers, such as Cimarosa (Cheemahrosah), Sarti, and Paisiello (Paheeseello), to make their home for years in Russia, where they composed and produced their operas. Near the end of the eighteenth century French influences also asserted themselves, but the Italians continued to predominate, so that when the Russians themselves—in the reign of Catherine the Great (1761-1796)—took courage and began to compose operas, Italian tunefulness and methods were conspicuous features of them.

The operas of Glinka, as well as those of Rubinstein and Tchaikovsky, betrayed the influence of Italy on Russian music. Though not the first Russian opera composer, Michal Ivanovich Glinka is the first of historic note. Rubinstein goes so far as to claim for him a place among the greatest five of all composers (the others being, in his opinion, Bach, Beethoven, Schubert and Chopin), but this is a ludicrously patriotic exaggeration. His master work is “A Life for the Czar,” which created a new epoch in Russian music. The hero of the plot is a peasant, Soussanin, who, during a war between Poland and Russia, is pressed into service as a guide by a Polish army corps. He saves the Czar by misleading the Poles, and falls a victim to their vengeance. In his autobiography Glinka says: “The scene where Soussanin leads the Poles astray in the forest I read aloud while composing, and entered so completely into the situation of my hero that I used to feel my hair standing on end and cold shivers down my back.” It is under such conditions that master works are created.

ROMANTIC DANCE

A MOUJIK (PEASANT) DANCE

Although following the conventional Italian forms, “A Life for the Czar” is in most respects thoroughly Slavic—partly Russian, partly Polish. While composing the score he followed the plan of using the national music of Poland and Russia to contrast the two countries. In some cases he used actual folk tunes, including one he overheard a cab driver sing. In other instances he invented his own melodies, but dyed them in the national colors. As the eminent French composer, Alfred Bruneau (bree´-no), remarked, “by means of a harmony or a simple orchestral touch,” Glinka “could give an air which is apparently as Italian as possiblea penetrating perfume of Russian nationality.” By his utilizing of folk tunes in building up works of art—he did the same thing in his next opera, “Ruslan and Ludmilla”—Glinka entered a path on which most of the Russian composers of his time, and later on, followed his lead; but his influence did not stop there. He was also the pioneer who opened up the road into the dense jungle of discords, unusual scales, and odd rhythms, which have made much of the music by later Russian composers seem as if written according to a new grammar. Furthermore, Rosa Newmarch, who is the best historian in English of Russian opera, writes that “it is impossible not to realize that the fantastic Russian ballets of the present day owe much to Glinka’s first introduction of Eastern dances into ‘Ruslan and Ludmilla’.”

MICHAL GLINKA

Clearly, Glinka was the father of Russian opera. He wrote some good concert pieces, too.

Anton Rubinstein is considered to have been, next to Franz Liszt, the greatest pianist the world has ever heard. His technical execution was not flawless, but no one paid any attention to that, because of the overwhelming grandeur and emotional sweep of his playing. Like Liszt, however, he tired of the laurels of a performer, his ambition being to become the Russian Beethoven. He got no higher, however, than the level of Mendelssohn. Both Mendelssohn and Rubinstein were for years extremely popular. If they are less so today, that is owing to the superficial character of much of their music. Yet both were great geniuses; in their master works they reached the high water mark of musical creativeness. Rubinstein is at his best in his “Ocean” symphony, his Persian songs, some of his chamber works for stringed instruments, alone or with piano, two of his concertos for piano and orchestra, and his pieces for piano alone, the number of which is 238. Among these there are gems of the first water.

PEASANT WITH ACCORDION

A Rubinstein revival is much to be desired in these days, when so few composers are able to create new melodies. When it comes, in response to the demands of audiences, which are very partial to this composer, at least three of his nineteen operas will be revived: “The Demon,” “Nero,” and “The Maccabees.” Opera goers love, above all things, melody, and Rubinstein’s operas, like his concert pieces, are full of it. He was himself to blame for the failure of most of his operas, for he stubbornly refused to swim with the Wagnerian current, which swept everything before it. He hated Wagner intensely, yet he might have learned from him the art of writing music dramas of permanent value.

Five of his operas are on Biblical subjects. They are really oratorios with scenery, action and costumes. He dreamed of erecting a special theater somewhere for the production of these “sacred operas,” as Wagner did for his music dramas at Bayreuth; but nothing came of this plan, and he became more and more embittered as he grew older, because so many of his schemes failed.

Apart from their abundant melody there is nothing in Rubinstein’s best works that fascinates us more than the exhibits of glowing Oriental and Hebrew “coloring”—as we call it for want of a better word. He also made excellent use of national Russian melodies, though not nearly to the same extent as Glinka and his followers, the “nationalists.” Before considering them it will be advisable to speak of the greatest of all the Russian composers.

MUSIC AMONG THE LOWLY

It is commonly believed that in music the public wants something “quick and devilish”; but this is far from the truth. For social, political, and especially climatic reasons, the Russians, with their long and dreary winters, are supposed to be a melancholy nation. The most melancholy of their composers is Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, and of his works the most popular by far, throughout the world, is the most lugubrious of them all, the heart rending “Pathetic Symphony,” which is today second in popularity to no other orchestral work of any country. “All hope abandon, ye who enter here,” might well be its motto. More than any funeral march ever composed, it embodies, in theadagio lamentoso, which ends it, the concentrated quintessence of despair, “the luxury of woe.” It was Tchaikovsky’s symphonic swan song. At the time of his death there was a rumor that he had written it deliberately as his own dirge before committing suicide; but it is now known that he died of cholera.

What endears the “Pathetic Symphony” to such a multitude of music lovers is, furthermore, its abundance of soulful melody. This abundance characterizes many of his other compositions. Indeed, so conspicuous, so ingratiating, is the flow of melody in his works, that one might think he was one of those Italian masters who made their home in Russia. It must be borne in mind, however, that the Italians have not a monopoly of melodists—think of the Austrians, Haydn, Mozart (who was the idol of Tchaikovsky’s youth) and Schubert; the Germans, Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, Wagner; the Frenchmen, Bizet and Gounod; the Norwegian, Grieg; the Pole, Chopin. With them as a melodist ranks Tchaikovsky, and this is the highest praise that could be bestowed on him. The charm of original melody gives distinction to his songs, the best of which are the “Spanish Serenade,” “None but a Lonely Heart,” and “Why So Pale Are the Roses?”

STREET MUSICIANS

THE MUSIC LESSON

There is less of it in his piano pieces, but his first concerto for piano and orchestra, and his violin concerto, have an abundance of it and are therefore popular favorites—as much as his “Slavic March,” his “1812” overture, and his “Nut Cracker Suite,” which is also full of quaint humor, and which had the distinction of introducing a new instrument now much used in orchestras—the “celesta”—a small keyboard instrument, the hammers of which strike thin plates of steel, producing silvery bell-like tones. This suite consists of pieces taken from his ballet of the same name.

Among his stage works are eight operas, only two of which, “Eugene Onegin” and “The Queen of Spades,” have, however, been successful outside of Russia; but in Russia the first named has long been second in popularity only to “A Life for the Czar.”

MODESTE PETROVICH MOUSSORGSKY

One of the works most frequently performed at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York during the last three seasons has been the “Boris Godounov” of Modeste Petrovich Moussorgsky. It is concerned with one of the most tragic incidents in the history of Russia. Boris Godounov usurps the imperial crown after assassinating the Czar’s younger brother, Dimitri. After he has ruled some years, he is driven to insanity by the appearance of a young monk who pretends to be Dimitri, rescued at the last moment and brought up in a monastery. In setting this plot to music Moussorgsky adopted the principles of musical “nihilism,” which consisted in deliberately disregarding the established operatic order of things. The musical interest centers chiefly in the choruses, leaving little for the soloists, apart from dramatic action. Moussorgsky not only liked what was “coarse, unpolished and ugly,” as Tchaikovsky put it, but he refused to submit to the necessary discipline of musical training, the result being that not only “Boris Godounov,” but his next opera, “Kovanstchina,” could not be staged successfully until Rimsky-Korsakov had thoroughly revised them, especially in regard to harmonic treatment and orchestration. The charm of “Boris” lies in the pictures it presents of Russian life, and its echoes of folk music.

PEASANTS IN MOSCOWListening to public band concert

PEASANTS IN MOSCOW

Listening to public band concert

Of the songs by its composer few have become known outside of Russia. Some are satirical—he has been called the “Juvenal of musicians”—and it has been said of his lyrics in general that “had the realistic schools of painting and fiction never come into being we might still construct from Moussorgsky’s songs the whole psychology of Russian life.”

Moussorgsky and the man who helped to make his inspired but ungrammatical works presentable to the world—Nicholas Andreievich Rimsky-Korsakov—belonged to a coterie of composers known as the nationalists. The other three were Balakiref, whose output as a composer was small, but whose two collections of Russian folk tunes are considered the best in existence; Borodin, who is best known in this country through an orchestral piece called “In the Steppes of Central Asia” and his “Prince Igor,” which has been produced at the Metropolitan Opera House, and César Cui, who is more interesting as a writer than as a composer. He has well set forth the tenets of the “nationalists,” chief of which is that a composer cannot be a truly patriotic Russian master unless he uses folk tunes as the bricks for building up his works.

MILI BALAKIREFRIMSKY-KORSAKOV

MILI BALAKIREF

RIMSKY-KORSAKOV

ALEXANDER P. BORODIN

Because Rubinstein and Tchaikovsky did not do this to any extent these nationalists looked down on them, and decried them as cosmopolitans—belonging to the world rather than to Russia. Rubinstein, who had a caustic pen, retorted by declaring that the nationalists borrowed folk tunes because they were unable to invent good melodies of their own. To a certain extent this was true, but it does not apply to Rimsky-Korsakov, who is, next to Rubinstein and Tchaikovsky, the greatest of the Russian melodists and composers. Theodore Thomas considered him the greatest of them all. With this opinion few will agree, but no one can fail to admire the glowing colors of his orchestral works, the greatest of which is “Scheherazade,” which is based on “The Arabian Nights,” and is concerned with Sinbad’s vessel and Bagdad. Of his dozen or more operas none has become acclimated outside of Russia. As a teacher he might be called the Russian Liszt, because not a few of his pupils acquired national and international fame; among them Glazounov, Liadov, Arensky, Ippolitov-Ivanov, Gretchaninov, Taneiev (tah-nay-ev) and Stravinsky.

Four of the most prominent Russian composers have visited America: Rubinstein, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and Scriabin. Rachmaninov, the only one of the four still living, owed the beginning of his international fame to the great charm of his preludes for piano. Scriabin was one of the musical “anarchists” who now abound in Europe—composers who try to be “different” at any cost of law, order, tradition and beauty. One of his quaint conceits was an attempt to combine perfume and colored lights with orchestral sounds. Musical frightfulness is rampant in some of his symphonies, in which horrible dissonances clash fiercely and “without warning.”

ALEXANDER GLAZOUNOVALEXANDER SCRIABIN

ALEXANDER GLAZOUNOV

ALEXANDER SCRIABIN

The latest of the Russians who has come to the fore—Igor Stravinsky—also revels in dissonances, but in his case they are not only excusable but even fascinating, because there is a reason behind them. He uses them to illustrate and emphasize humorous, grotesque or fantastic plots and details, such as are presented in his pantomimic ballets, “Petrouschka,” and “The Fire Bird.” There is an entirely new musical “atmosphere” in these two works, and the public, as well as the critics, have taken to them as ducks do to water. If the Diaghileff Ballet Russe which toured the United States last season had done nothing but produce these two entertainments, it would have been worth their while to cross the Atlantic. They have made the world acquainted with a Russian who may appeal, in his way, as strongly as Rubinstein and Tchaikovsky. His latest efforts are reported to be in the direction of the cult of ugliness for its own sake. But perhaps he will get over that—or, maybe some of us will come to like ugliness in music as we do in bulldogs. Opinions as to what is ugly or beautiful in music have changed frequently.

CÉSAR A. CUISERGEI RACHMANINOV

CÉSAR A. CUI

SERGEI RACHMANINOV

The musical character of the great masters is unmistakable. When an expert hears a piece by a famous composer for the first time he can usually guess who wrote it. But when it comes to judging thenationalsource of an unfamiliar piece, the problem is puzzling. It is true that Italian music usually betrays its country. Widely as Verdi and Puccini differ from Rossini and Donizetti, they have unmistakable traits in common. The same cannot be said of the French masters, or the German. Gounod and Berlioz, both French composers, are as widely apart as the poles. Flotow, who composed “Martha,” was a German, but his opera is as utterly unlike Wagner’s “Tristan and Isolde” as two things can be.

The question, “What are the characteristics of Russian music?” is, for similar reasons, difficult to answer. As in other countries, there are as many styles of music as there are great composers. Moreover, Rubinstein is less like any other Russian than he is like the German Mendelssohn. If a “composite portrait” could be made of the works of prominent Russian composers, it might, nevertheless, give some idea of their general characteristics. Tchaikovsky’s passionate melody, reinforced by inspired passages from Rimsky-Korsakov and by the tuneful strains of Rubinstein, would give prominence to what is best in Russian music. A more distinct race trait is the partiality of Russian masters for deeply despondent strains, alternating with fierce outbursts of unrestrained hilarity, clothed in garish, barbaric orchestral colors. In startling contrast with the alluring charms of Rubinstein’s Oriental and Semitic traits are the harsh dissonances of Moussorgsky, Scriabin, and Stravinsky. Blending all these traits in our composite musical portrait, with a rich infusion of folk-songs of diverse types, both Asiatic and European, we glimpse the main characteristics of Russian music.

MAKERS OF THE RUSSIAN BALLETFrom left to right—Leonide Massine, dancer; Leon Bakst, costume and scene designer, and Igor Stravinsky, composer

MAKERS OF THE RUSSIAN BALLET

From left to right—Leonide Massine, dancer; Leon Bakst, costume and scene designer, and Igor Stravinsky, composer

THE OPEN LETTER

RUSSIAN BALLETA scene from “Soleil de Nuit,” one of Serge de Diaghileff’s ballets. The ballet was arranged by Massine, who occupies the center of the group. The music is by Rimsky-Korsakov, and the scenery and costumes were designed by Leon Bakst’s favorite pupil, M. Larionoff

RUSSIAN BALLET

A scene from “Soleil de Nuit,” one of Serge de Diaghileff’s ballets. The ballet was arranged by Massine, who occupies the center of the group. The music is by Rimsky-Korsakov, and the scenery and costumes were designed by Leon Bakst’s favorite pupil, M. Larionoff

Russian composers of our time are in luck. A wealthy timber merchant named Balaiev (bah-lah-ee-ev) appointed himself their special patron a number of years ago. In 1885 he founded a publishing house at Leipzig, and spent large sums of money printing the works of Russian composers and financing productions of Russian music all over the world.

In America the missionary work has been carried on in a number of ways. Rubinstein toured the States in 1872, and gave 215 concerts, which created a tremendous sensation and drew attention to Russian compositions. Tchaikovsky visited America as the special guest of the festival given in celebration of the opening of Carnegie Music Hall in 1891, and during his visit, many pieces of Russian music were performed. Slivinsky, the pianist, made a tour of America, and Chaliapin, the celebrated Russian bass, appeared for one season at the Metropolitan Opera House. For several years the oldest orchestra of America, the New York Philharmonic, had for its conductor one of Russia’s leading musicians, Wassilly Safonoff, who frequently introduced novelties from Russia into his programs. On a larger scale, Russian standard works have been performed in New York City and on tour in America, by the Russian Symphony Orchestra, which was founded in 1893 and conducted by Modest Altschuler.

During the 90’s, Mme. Lineff brought over the large Russian choir that made Americans acquainted with their peasant songs and their unique way of singing them. Then came the Balalaika Orchestra. The Balalaika is the Czar’s favorite instrument, and the Imperial Balalaika Band, which came to the United States by the Czar’s permission, devoted itself largely to Russian folk music. Several of the numbers played, especially the “Song of the Volga Bargemen,” made a sensational success in concert. The Balalaika is used to accompany folk songs in the manner of a guitar, but the Balalaika has a triangular body and only three strings, which are made to vibrate like those of a mandolin.

And now we have the Russian Ballet, made familiar to the American public by the famous dancer Pavlowa, and, within the last year, by the Diaghileff Ballet Company, of which the leading spirits are Stravinsky, the composer; Leon Bakst, the master designer, and Massine, the accomplished actor-dancer. Surely the day of Russian music has come.

(signature)W. D. MoffatEditor

W. D. MoffatEditor

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Ancient Athens51. The Barbizon Painters52. Abraham Lincoln53. George Washington54. Mexico55. Famous American Women Painters56. The Conquest of the Air57. Court Painters of France58. Holland59. Our Feathered Friends60. Glacier National Park61. Michelangelo62. American Colonial Furniture63. American Wild Flowers64. Gothic Architecture65. The Story of the Rhine66. Shakespeare67. American Mural Painters68. Celebrated Animal Characters69. Japan70. The Story of the French Revolution71. Rugs and Rug Making72. Alaska73. Charles Dickens74. Grecian Masterpieces75. Fathers of the Constitution76. Masters of the Piano77. American Historic Homes78. Beauty Spots of India79. Etchers and Etching80. Oliver Cromwell81. China82. Favorite Trees83. Yellowstone National Park84. Famous Women Writers of England85. Painters of Western Life86. China and Pottery of Our Forefathers87. The Story of The American Railroad88. Butterflies89. The Philippines90. The Louvre91. William M. Thackeray92. Grand Canyon of Arizona93. Architecture in American Country Homes94. The Story of The Danube95. Animals in Art96. The Holy Land97. John Milton98. Joan of Arc99. Furniture of the Revolutionary Period100. The Ring of the Nibelung101. The Golden Age of Greece102. Chinese Rugs103. The War of 1812104. The National Gallery, London105. Masters of the Violin106. American Pioneer Prose Writers107. Old Silver108. Shakespeare’s Country109. Historic Gardens of New England110. The Weather111. American Poets of the Soil112. Argentina113. Game Animals of America114. Raphael115. Walter Scott116. The Yosemite Valley117. John Paul JonesNUMBERS TO FOLLOWNovember 15. CHILE.By E. M. Newman, Lecturer and Traveler.December 1. REMBRANDT.By John C. Van Dyke, Professor of the History of Art, Rutgers College.THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, Inc., 52 East Nineteenth Street, New York, N. Y.Statement of the ownership, management, circulation, etc., required by the Act of Congress of August 24, 1912, of The Mentor, published semi-monthly at New York, N. Y., for October 1, 1916, State of New York, County of New York, ss. Before me, a Notary Public in and for the State and county aforesaid, personally appeared Thomas H. Beck, who, having been duly sworn according to law, deposes and says that he is the Publisher of The Mentor, and that the following is, to the best of his knowledge and belief, a true statement of the ownership, management, etc., of the aforesaid publication for the date shown in the above caption, required by the Act of August 24, 1912, embodied in section 443, Postal Laws and Regulations, to wit: (1) That the names and addresses of the publisher, editor, managing editor, and business manager are: Publisher, Thomas H. Beck, 52 East 19th Street, New York; Editor, W. D. Moffat, 52 East 19th Street, New York; Managing Editor, W. D. Moffat, 52 East 19th Street, New York; Business Manager, Thomas H. Beck, 52 East 19th Street, New York. (2) That the owners are: American Lithographic Company, 52 East 19th Street, New York; C. Eddy, L. Ettlinger, J. P. Knapp, C. K. Mills, 52 East 19th Street, New York; M. C. Herczog, 28 West 10th Street, New York; William T. Harris, Villa Nova, Pa.; Mrs. M. E. Heppenheimer, 51 East 58th Street, New York; Emillie Schumacher, Executrix for Luise E. Schumacher and Walter L. Schumacher, Mount Vernon, N. Y., Samuel Untermyer, 37 Wall Street, New York. (3) That the known bondholders, mortgagees, and other security holders owning or holding 1 per cent or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages, or other securities, are: None. (4) That the two paragraphs next above, giving the names of the owners, stockholders, and security holders, if any, contain not only the list of stockholders and security holders as they appear upon the books of the Company, but also, in cases where the stockholder or security holder appears upon the books of the Company as trustee or in any other fiduciary relation, the name of the person or corporation for whom such trustee is acting, is given; also that the said two paragraphs contain statements embracing affiant’s full knowledge and belief as to the circumstances and conditions under which stockholders and security holders who do not appear upon the books of the Company as trustees, hold stock and securities in a capacity other than that of a bona fide owner; and this affiant has no reason to believe that any other person, association, or corporation has any interest direct or indirect in the said stock, bonds, or other securities than as so stated by him. Thomas H. Beck, Publisher. Sworn to and subscribed before me this twenty-first day of September, 1916; J. S. Campbell, Notary Public, Queens County. Certificate filed in New York County. My commission expires March 30, 1917.THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION,Inc.52 EAST 19th STREET, NEW YORK, N. Y.

The Mentor Association

ESTABLISHED FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A POPULAR INTEREST IN ART, LITERATURE, SCIENCE, HISTORY, NATURE, AND TRAVEL

THE MENTOR IS PUBLISHED TWICE A MONTH

BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC., AT 52 EAST NINETEENTH STREET, NEW YORK, N. Y. SUBSCRIPTION, THREE DOLLARS A YEAR. FOREIGN POSTAGE 75 CENTS EXTRA. CANADIAN POSTAGE 50 CENTS EXTRA. SINGLE COPIES FIFTEEN CENTS. PRESIDENT, THOMAS H. BECK; VICE-PRESIDENT, WALTER P. TEN EYCK; SECRETARY, W. D. MOFFAT; TREASURER, ROBERT M. DONALDSON; ASST. TREASURER AND ASST. SECRETARY, J. S. CAMPBELL

COMPLETE YOUR MENTOR LIBRARY

Subscriptions always begin with the current issue. The following numbers of The Mentor Course, already issued, will be sent postpaid at the rate of fifteen cents each.

NUMBERS TO FOLLOW

November 15. CHILE.By E. M. Newman, Lecturer and Traveler.

December 1. REMBRANDT.By John C. Van Dyke, Professor of the History of Art, Rutgers College.

THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, Inc., 52 East Nineteenth Street, New York, N. Y.

Statement of the ownership, management, circulation, etc., required by the Act of Congress of August 24, 1912, of The Mentor, published semi-monthly at New York, N. Y., for October 1, 1916, State of New York, County of New York, ss. Before me, a Notary Public in and for the State and county aforesaid, personally appeared Thomas H. Beck, who, having been duly sworn according to law, deposes and says that he is the Publisher of The Mentor, and that the following is, to the best of his knowledge and belief, a true statement of the ownership, management, etc., of the aforesaid publication for the date shown in the above caption, required by the Act of August 24, 1912, embodied in section 443, Postal Laws and Regulations, to wit: (1) That the names and addresses of the publisher, editor, managing editor, and business manager are: Publisher, Thomas H. Beck, 52 East 19th Street, New York; Editor, W. D. Moffat, 52 East 19th Street, New York; Managing Editor, W. D. Moffat, 52 East 19th Street, New York; Business Manager, Thomas H. Beck, 52 East 19th Street, New York. (2) That the owners are: American Lithographic Company, 52 East 19th Street, New York; C. Eddy, L. Ettlinger, J. P. Knapp, C. K. Mills, 52 East 19th Street, New York; M. C. Herczog, 28 West 10th Street, New York; William T. Harris, Villa Nova, Pa.; Mrs. M. E. Heppenheimer, 51 East 58th Street, New York; Emillie Schumacher, Executrix for Luise E. Schumacher and Walter L. Schumacher, Mount Vernon, N. Y., Samuel Untermyer, 37 Wall Street, New York. (3) That the known bondholders, mortgagees, and other security holders owning or holding 1 per cent or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages, or other securities, are: None. (4) That the two paragraphs next above, giving the names of the owners, stockholders, and security holders, if any, contain not only the list of stockholders and security holders as they appear upon the books of the Company, but also, in cases where the stockholder or security holder appears upon the books of the Company as trustee or in any other fiduciary relation, the name of the person or corporation for whom such trustee is acting, is given; also that the said two paragraphs contain statements embracing affiant’s full knowledge and belief as to the circumstances and conditions under which stockholders and security holders who do not appear upon the books of the Company as trustees, hold stock and securities in a capacity other than that of a bona fide owner; and this affiant has no reason to believe that any other person, association, or corporation has any interest direct or indirect in the said stock, bonds, or other securities than as so stated by him. Thomas H. Beck, Publisher. Sworn to and subscribed before me this twenty-first day of September, 1916; J. S. Campbell, Notary Public, Queens County. Certificate filed in New York County. My commission expires March 30, 1917.

THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION,Inc.

52 EAST 19th STREET, NEW YORK, N. Y.

THE MENTOR

TO ALL MEMBERS:

The Editor’s lot is not always a happy one. There are, however, many pleasures in the task that warm the heart.

Whenever I help you—help any of our members—it pleases me tremendously—more, indeed, than anything else I do.

I am pleased now because I have secured for you a special concession. I have succeeded in arranging with our Directors to permit you to enroll your friends at special rates.

Here is the Special Holiday Offer:

BY THIS PLAN YOU SAVE $1.00

I assured our Directors that if we made this concession it would double the number of Christmas sales. Therefore I ask your co-operation—I beg you to send your gift subscriptions in at once.

W. D. MOFFAT,Editor

THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.52 EAST NINETEENTH STREET—NEW YORK, N. Y.

THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.

52 EAST NINETEENTH STREET—NEW YORK, N. Y.

MAKE THE SPAREMOMENT COUNT

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