"From the opening chapter until the final page the book is replete with interesting matter."--"The Buffalo (N. Y.) Commercial."
"'Music and Bad Manners' by Carl Van Vechten is a series of seven essays on musical topics that is intensely interesting.... The book will be of deepest interest to all musicians."--"New York Herald."
"Mr. Van Vechten considers modern tendencies with an open mind. He is to be no more deceived into disapproval of innovators by their apparent disregard for tradition than awed by tradition itself (in this case the Bayreuth tradition) into accepting the present specious and old-fashioned methods of staging Wagner as the sacred intention of the master.... Mr. Van Vechten is a well informed specialist, a bold champion, and an entertaining gossip."--"The New York Evening Sun."
"This volume of musical essays may be cordially commended to music-lovers who neither bow down to the youngest nor the eldest composer, but seek to listen honestly according to their powers. The author is a critic of discernment and sincerity."--"The Providence (R. I.) Journal."
"This study of music and music makers is as lively as some of the new tunes that have been given to us recently, but it is not at all commonplace. It sets a new mark in musical criticism."--"The Portland (Oregon) Telegram."
"Carl Van Vechten, whose book, 'Music After the Great War,' excited considerable interest in artistic circles last year and drew upon him the censure of certain conservatives because he did not agree with them as to the entertaining value of chamber music, has published a new volume, that is bound to extend his reputation as an original thinker and investigator."--"The Evening News" (Newark, N. J.).
INTERPRETERS AND INTERPRETATIONS [12mo., 368 pages, $2.00.]
"Mr. Van Vechten has a liking for the queer, the new, the perverse, and the personal. He is as gossipy as Samuel Pepys, Jr. (and is in the way of being a Pepys in the musical world).... Another distinguishing characteristic of Mr. Van Vechten is his forehandedness. He has a perfect genius for being on the side of the street where the car stops--which for most of us is the other side.... He in short is doing his best to throw a bomb into that parlour of musicians described by Charles Lamb, in which they sat all silent and all damned. He apparently sees no reason why music should not be a cheerful business."--N. P. D. in "The New York Globe."