to ignoble uses, there is little opportunity. For the
piano has become such a ' common drudge ' among us
that it has no longer any ' power to soothe the savage
breast' of the British Philistine, who demands the
rarer charm of a 'cello or a guitar to tickle his jaded
ears. Piano music in the strict sense only appeals to
distinctly musical people, who at present form but a
small minority, and though the number is always
increasing, the amateur performer is losing at one end
the api)reciation which he is gaining at the other. For
it is in piano-j)laying that the ampler oppoi-tunities of
hearing professional performances of high merit have
been most marked in recent j'ears. The remarkable
development in the mechanical perfection of the
instrument, and the accompanying exploitation of its
resources, have raised the standard of competence to
such a pitch that none who cannot make a specialty of
its study may hope to win success. The people who
are much interested in piano-playing' are mostly those
who play themselves to some e.xtent, and are fairly
well acquainted with the music which has been written for the instrument. They have heard most of it rendered by artists of eminence, and the remembrance of such renderings makes them intolerant of any less worthy interpretations, either by themselves or by others.
Is this paralysis of effort inevitable.' Is piano-playing bound to fall exclusively into the hands of specialists, and must the talents of all who are unable to give the whole of their time and energy lie entirely' buried.' Must the proficiency which has cost so much labour count for nothing, and should the effort ex- pended on it have been directed into other channels f I think not. Even if it were granted that the amateur who cannot become a specialist must be allowed to give up his place as a performer on the piano, it would not imply that his study of the instrument had been waste of time. For the critical taste vhich has condemned his own performances is in large measure the result of his individual experience, and could not otherwise have been gained in anything like the same degree. This may seem a high price to pay for the development of a critical temper with such impatience of mediocrity, but it must be remembered that an exclusive taste is the only portal to the choicest treasures in the palace of art. It need not, however, be granted that the amateur pianist is right in abdicating his social functions. There is still a place for him, though that place is emphatically not the charity concert. This hateful institution is growing to such dimensions that an incidental protest against it may be pardoned. It is natural enough that the promoters of charitable enterprises should try to exploit the amateur musician, for it costs them nothing, and they may count on the performers bringing their sisters and their cousins and their aunts to hear them, and of course paying for their tickets in exchange for their applause; but it is difficult to understand how the victims should be led like lambs to the slaughter, without any suspicion that the whole affair is a solemn farce. What do they care about the charity .' Do they imagine that the prices of admission represent a fair equivalent from the public for the musical treat they enjoy .' Have not vanity on the one side, and curiosity on the other, more to do with the matter than benevolent sympathy ? Apart from its economic objections, the charity concert is one of the chic-f hindrances to the development of a healthy musical taste. It introduces extraneous motives into what should be purely a matter of musical appreciation.
Under cover of a beneficent purpose, it gathers an audience of miscellaneous taste, which has to be gratified by lowering the artistic standard. It drains away the money that might other'ise be spent on supporting genuinely musical entertainments, and it accustoms the public ear to a low level of technical capacity. The amateur musician whom the spirit moves to seek a wider s])here than the drawing-room is doing an injustice to professional artists when he declines to challenge public fa'our on his own merits alone. If his pretensions are too slight for him to compete on equal terms, or his dignity too sensitive for him to accept the value of his services, then the concert-room is no place for him. The truth is that in musical matters the question of taking money has been artificially strained into a hard-and-fast line of distinction for the express protection of the amateur. In literature there is no such impassable gulf. No one thinks it undignified to accept a fee for a magazine article, although writing for the press may not be his regular occupation ; and the consequence is that here there is only one standard of merit, and the public are not asked, for extraneous reasons, to read what was not good enough to deserve payment. The interests of music demand that the same principle should be asserted there ; that the public should never be invited to attend a concert for any other reason what- ever than that the music is worth what they have to pay for it. There need be no fear that any useful charities will suffer; the support they deserve will reach them without any meretricious modes of appeal. Let the benevolent amateurs give their concert b}' all means, only let them announce it boldly on its own merits, without deprecating criticism by calling themselves amateurs, and without prejudicing the public by declaring the object. In this matter it is much better that their right hand should not know what their left hand is doing. Then after it is all over let them quietly hand over the money (if there is any!) to whatever charity they wish to aid. If this principle were carried out there would be a marvellous clearing of the ground, and the place of many a second-rate amateur would know him no more.
But this does not help to find a jilace for the amateur musician of the better class, who already avoids the public concert-room, and who, as we have seen, is now beginning to shrink from performing even in private. Is the diffidence which is overcoming him to be en-
