The Music of Spain

by Carl Van Vechten

"Carl Van Vechten opens a new field of adventure for the music-lover. Of the many biographers of musicians none has entered into so close an intimacy with the singer and dealt with the mental grip of her artistic conception of character."—"Reedy's Mirror."

"There would be less profound cant and meaningless ceremony about the art of music if more musical critics wrote with the simplicity and directness of Carl Van Vechten.... His critical creed is nicely stated in the essay on 'Why Music is Unpopular.' No musical writer in America, save James Huneker, comes nearer to this ideal than Mr. Van Vechten himself. He says divertingly what he has to say; and, agree with him or not, you feel the mental stimulation which only a keen ardent intelligence can bring to a subject. Moreover, he is young and in sympathy with modern tendencies in music. He is not too prudish to say a good word for ragtime, nor to confess that one hearing a year of the Beethoven Fifth is enough for him. He is as unaffected in discovering the æsthetic virtues of a 'movie' concert as in painting those sympathetic portraits of Mary Garden, Nijinsky, Chaliapine, Erik Satie and other artists, celebrated or obscure."—"The Philadelphia Press."

"Mr. Van Vechten has achieved that which, as a rule, appears to be past accomplishment. That is to say, he has proved himself able to be both simple and interesting upon a subject which, highly specialized in itself is held commonly by both artists and critics to the exclusions of an unknown tongue."—"Washington (D. C.) Evening Star."

"Carl Van Vechten is temperamentally more of an interpretative artist than an analytical critic whose emotions are subservient to the reasoning faculties. He is subjective rather than objective in mind and method and consequently he must differ from the critics who can see and hear great operas without having their emotions stirred. His gibes at the professional critic spring therefore from the same sources as the melodies of a composer."—"The Musical Courier."

"In his new book, 'Interpreters and Interpretations,' Mr. Van Vechten is off on another joust against the orthodox and the dull, and the reader who follows him will have an enlivening experience."—"The Louisville (Ky.) Courier Journal."

"'Interpreters and Interpretations' is Carl Van Vechten's latest volume of essays on music. Don't reach for your hats. This is going to be fun. Carl Van Vechten writes essays so delightfully that they seem like stimulating conversations.... He could write about a cuneiform syllabary and give it the charm of a sophisticated chat on the Boul Michigander. He can talk about singers and dancers and artists of all sorts in a way that makes them all seem like the folks next door.... 'Music and Bad Manners' was the most entertaining volume on music that came to my jaded notice last year. 'Interpreters and Interpretations' is a fit sequel to it. Neither of the books is a volume for the musician alone.... A person who had never heard an opera would have a vicarious joy in Pelléas et Mélisande when Carl Van Vechten tells how Mary Garden interpreted it.... Perhaps the secret of the charm of his essays is that they're really very learned in material but not the least bit in treatment. We all like to know that we're listening to the word of authority, even when it's sweet music to the ear."—Fanny Butcher in "The Chicago Tribune."

"Regardless of how much or how little you may know of music and its interpreters you cannot fail to enjoy the delightful manner in which Carl Van Vechten tells you of them in his book, 'Interpreters and Interpretations.'... Without stirring from your easy chair or making the slightest effort to entertain you may share a pleasant intimacy with Mary Garden, Olive Fremstad, Geraldine Farrar, Waslav Nijinsky, and others equally interesting. Carl Van Vechten discourses on the art of music in a way that even the tired business man can understand and enjoy."—"The Argonaut" (San Francisco).

"There is nothing pedagogic in Mr. Van Vechten's volume entitled 'Interpreters and Interpretations.' The interpreters who are sketched with literary facility and genuine interest are Fremstad, Farrar, Garden, Chaliapine, Mazarin, Guilbert, and Nijinsky.... Much the better part of his book is that about interpretations. His best essay is 'The Problem of Style in the Production of Opera,' which is both practical and ideal and which is, above all, interesting and suggestive. Next in importance is 'Why Music is Unpopular,' a refreshing bit of personal temper."—W. J. Henderson in "The New York Sun."