The Night Side of Europe as Seen by a Broadwayite Abroad Paperback - 2201

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1914. Excerpt: ... VIENNA'S HALL OF FAME VIENNA'S HALL OF FAME THE city of Vienna is one of the musical centres of the world; the Cafe Museum, at the junction of the Friederichstrasse and the Operngasse, is Vienna's Hall of Fame, or, speaking more particularly, a certain corner of the cafe discharges this important function. To the casual visitor this corner betrays no characteristics which might distinguish it from any of the other three. It has the usual number of small tables; it has the usual number of placid men sitting at them, and these placid men are, as is usual, contentedly sipping coffee. Nothing in the atmosphere indicates the presence of genius, and yet there it is. Above one of these tables--the central one--is a bust in marble, and beneath it in the flesh sits the original. He is Franz Lehar, the waltz king, and this is his throne room--the Lehar Corner of the Cafe Museum, where, every afternoon at four o'clock, he gives audience to such as desire and deserve it. It was Wagner who said that his music was the music of the future. Franz Lehar might use all three tenses and say his was of the past, is of the present and will be of the future. "The Merry Widow" is dead; "The Count of Luxembourg" is living; "The Ideal Wife" is yet to come, at least so far as New York is concerned. And much more is still expected to follow. For its guidance in the discernment of genius the public has one motto, to which in general it adheres. "By your past performances," it says, "shall we know you." Quite true, a number of geniuses die before the public recognizes the fact that they can perform, but this is not possible in the case of a waltz king. When light amusement is in question, the public knows its own needs. And Franz Lehar composed "The Merry Widow." Therefore it is willi...