Scan 4
Musical Courier 1891-05-20: Vol 22 Iss 587, 1891
375 lines. Read by computer on 19 September 2026. Printed page 521. See the scan on archive.org.
A town on its own line is one of the directory's headings. That is where the town on a maker's page comes from.
1THE MUSICAL COURIER.
2-A WEEKLY PAPER-
3DEVOTED TO MUSIC AND THE MUSIC TRADES.
4ESTABLISHED JANUARY, 1880.
5No. 587.
6Subscription (including postage) invariably in advance.
7Yearly, $4.00; Foreign, $5.00; Single Copies, Ten Cents.
8RATES FOR ADVERTISING: SEE TRADE DEPARTMENT.
9All remittances for subscriptions or advertising must be made by check, draft or money order.
10NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 1891.
11MARC A. BLUMENBERG. OTTO FLOERSHEIM.
12BLUMENBERG & FLOERSHEIM,
13Editors and Proprietors,
14JAMES G. HUNEKER, HARRY O. BROWN.
15ASSOCIATE EDITORS.
16Offices: No. 25 East Fourteenth St., New York.
17WESTERN OFFICE: Chicago, John E. Hall, No. 236 State-st., Manager.
18GENERAL AGENCY FOR GERMANY:
19FRITZ SCHUBERTH, Jr., 63 BRÜDERSCHASSE, LEIPZIG.
20NOTICE.
21Electrotyes of the pictures of the following named artists will be sent, prepaid, to any address on receipt of four (4) dollars for each.
22During eleven years these pictures have appeared in this paper, and their excellence has been universally commented upon. We have received numerous orders for electrotyes of the same, and publish the subjoined list for the purpose of facilitating a selection.
23Adelina Patti
24Ida Klein
25Sembrich
26Christine Nilsson
27Carlo
28Trebelli
29Marie Roze
30Anna de Bellocca
31Helika Gerster
32Nordica
33Josephine Yorke
34Emilie Ambré
35Emma Thurnby
36Teresa Carrozzo
37Kellogg, Clara L.—2
38Minnie Hauk—2
39Materna
40Albani
41Anna Louise Cary
42Emily Winant
43Lena Little
44Murio-Celi
45Andrew Carnegie
46James T. Whelan.
47Eduard Strauss
48Elenor W. Everest
49Jenny Broch
50Marie Louise Dotti
51Marie Jahn
52Pusch-Madi—2
53Catherine Lewis
54Zilde le Fèvre
55Blanche Roosevelt
56Antonia Mielke
57Titus d'Ernesti
58Anna Bulkeley-Hills
59Charles M. Schmitz
60Friedrich von Flotow
61Franz Lachner
62Heinrich Marschner
63Edmund C. Stanton
64Notoro Calimino
65William Courtenay
66Josef Staudigl
67Lulu Veling
68Mrs. Maud Richards
69Florence Clinton-Sutro
70Arthur Friedheim
71Clarence Eddy
72Franz A.
73Fredrik Bloomfield
74S. R. Jacobsohn
75C. Mortimer Wiske
76J. O. Von Prochazka
77Edvard Grieg
78Johann Halbig
79Eugen d'Albert
80Lilli Lehmann
81William Candideus
82Frank Kneisel
83Leandro Campanari
84Franz Rummel
85Blanche Stone Barton
86Amy Sherman
87Thomas Ryan
88Achille Errani
89C. Jos. Brambach
90Henri Schradieck
91John F. Rhodes
92Wilhelm Gercke
93Frank Taft
94C. M. Von Weber
95Edward Fisher
96Kate Rolle
97Charles Rehm
98Harold Randolph
99Minnie V. Vandever
100Ada Aus der Ohe
101Karl Kladwitz
102Edwin Klahre
103Helen D. Campbell
104Alfred Carilli
105Wm. R. Chapman
106Otto Roth
107Anna Carpenter
108W. L. Blumenschein
109Leopold Auer
110Albert Venino
111Josef Rheinberger
112Max Bendix
113Helen von Doenhoff
114Adolf Jensen
115Hans Richter
116Margaret Reid
117Emil Fischer
118Meredith Hopkinson, MD
119S. B. Bond
120Paderewski
121Stavenhagen
122Arrigo Boito
123Paulo Janko
124Carl Schneider
125John Lund
126Edmund C. Stanton
127Heinrich Gudehus
128Charlotte Huhn
129Teresa Tua
130Lucca
131Ivan B. Morawski
132Leopold Winkler
133Costanza Donita
134Carl Reinecke
135Heinrich Vogel
136Johann Sebastian Bach
137Peter I. Tschaikowsky
138Jules Pottoti—2
139Adolph M. Foerster
140J. H. Hahn
141Thomas Martin
142Louis Gagneur
143Louis Gage Courtney
144Richard Wagner
145Theodore Thomas
146Dr. Darmoch
147Campanini
148Julius von Bernuth
149Constantin Sternberg
150Dengremont
151Galaxie
152Hans Balatka
153Mathilde Wurm
154Libera
155Johann Strauss
156Anton Rubinstein
157Del Puente
158Josephy
159Julia Rive-King
160Hope Glenn
161Louis Blumenberg
162Frank Van der Stucken
163Frederic Grant Gleason
164Ferdinand von Hiller
165Robert Volkmann
166Julius Rietz
167Max Heinrich
168A. E. Lefebre
169Ovedi
170Anton Udvardi
171Alcuin Blum
172Joseph Koegel
173Bethel Wakefield
174Carlo Sardesia
175Carl Retter
176George Gemündes
177Emil Liebling
178Van Zandt
179W. E. Edred Heimendahl
180Mrs. Clemmeli
181Albert M. Bagby
182W. Waugh Lauder
183Mrs. W. Waugh Lauder
184Mendelssohn
185Hans von Billow
186Clara Schumann
187Samuel S. Sanford
188Franz Liszt
189Christine Dessert
190Dora Henningsen
191Amy Sherman
192Ernst Catenhusen
193Heinrich Hofmann
194Charles Fradel
195Emil Sauer
196Jeanne Lett Davis
197J. Burneister-Petersen
198Willis Nowell
199August Hylested
200Gustav Richter
201Kaver Schawenka
202Heinrich Boetel
203W. E. Haslam
204Carl Martin
205Jamie Duffin
206Walter J. Hall
207Conrad Ansorge
208Carl Baermann
209Emil Hahn
210Paul Kalisch
211Louis Svecenski
212Henry Holden Huss
213Neally Stevens
214Dyson
215A. Victor Benham
216Mr. and Mrs. Carl Hild
217Anthony Stankowitch
218Moriz Rosenthal
219Vilhelm Hartel
220Martin Roeder
221Joachim Raff
222Felix Mottl
223August Ohrstrüm
224Dr. D. Kunkel
225Dr. F. Ziegfeld
226C. F. Chickeirig
227Villiers
228Louis C. Elkan
229Anna Monehey-Burch
230Mr. and Mrs. Alves
231Ritter-Goetze
232Adele Lewing
233Pauline Schöller-Haag
234Marchesi
235Henry Mason
236P. S. Gilmore
237Neupert
238Hubert de Blanck
239Dr. Louis Maas
240Max Bruch
241L. G. Gottschalk
242Auguste K. Kontski
243S. B. Mills
244E. M. Bowman
245Otto Bendix
246W. H. Sherwood
247Stagno
248Victor Nessler
249Johanna Cohen
250Charles T. Trebar
251Jennie Dickerson
252E. A. MacDowell
253Theodore Reichmann
254Max Treuman
255C. A. C.
256Montefiori
257Mrs. Helen Ames
258S. G. Pratt
259Emil Scaria
260Hermann Winkelmann
261Janetti
262William W. Gilchrist
263Ferranti
264Johannes Brahms
265Meyerbeer
266Moritz Moszkowski
267Anna Louise Tanner
268Filoteo Greco
269Friedrich Rück
270Fannie Hirsch
271Michael Banner
272Dr. S. N. Penfield
273F. W. H. Bergberg
274Emil Mahr
275Otto Suhr
276Carl Faetlen
277Belle Cole
278Carl Milde
279G. F. W. Laurent
280Georges Bizet
281John A. Brockhoven
282Edgar H. Sherwood
283Poulenc
284Edith Edwards
285Carrie Hun-King
286Pauline l'Allemain
287Verdi
288Beethoven Monument
289Berlioz Monument
290Haydn Monument
291Johann Svendsen
292Strasburg Orchestra
293Anton Léonak
294Saint-Saëns
295Pablo de Sarasate
296Jules Jordan
297Albertus Parsons
298Ther' e Herbert-Forster
299Bertha Pierson
300Carlos Sobrino
301George M. Nowell
302William Mason
303Pasdeloup
304Anna Lankow
305Maud Powell
306Max Mahr
307Josef Hofmann
308Händel
309Carlotta F. Pinner
310Marianne Brandt
311Gustav A. Kerk
312Henry Duzenai
313Emma Juch
314Fritz Giese
315Anton Seidel
316Max Lasker
317Max Spicker
318Judith Graves
319Hermann Ebeling
320Anton Bruckner
321Atalile Claire
322Mr. and Mrs. Lawton
323Fritz Kreisler
324Mackie Wickham
325Richard Burmeister
326W. J. Lavin
327Niels W. Gade
328Hermann Levi
329Edward Chadfield
330James H. Howe
331George H. Chickeirig
332John C. Elkanmore
333Helen C. Livingstone
334M. J. Niedzielski
335Franz Wilczek
336Alfred Sormann
337Juan Luria
338Carl Busch.
339OF the many criticisms on the Pittsburgh May Festival which we saw in the papers of the Smoky City last week those of the Pittsburgh "Volksblatt" pleased us best. They are certainly superior both in knowledge and style displayed to anything that appeared in the German papers of New York on the subject of our own May Festival.
340ALTHOUGH Mr. Peter Illitsch Tschaikowsky is not a piano virtuoso we would not be surprised to find his name attached to a piano testimonial on an American piano before he gets through with his American experiences. And it is all right, too, for Mr. Tschaikowsky is in many respects a better judge of a piano than some pianists.
341ALL reports about the signing of contracts for next season's Italian opera must be taken with a large grain of salt. We learn that the De Reszke brothers have not actually signed, but are awaiting developments. The same is the case with Van Zandt, Melba and Eames.
342Mr. Grau has really only begun his negotiations in Europe.
343AFTER Chopin's death, in 1849, there was a death mask taken of the great composer's face, of which three copies only are extant. One is in the family of Chopin's sister, the second belongs to Princess Czartwyska, and the third was in the possession of Mr. Herbault, a partner in the Paris piano house of Pleyel & Co. After this gentleman's death (he was an intimate of Chopin's) his son willed the cast to the Conservatory of Music of Paris, where it now is.
344THE Chicago "Inter-Ocean" prints the following:
345The advertising ways of piano men are past finding out. The instrument used in the Boston Symphony Orchestra concert last night was not adorned with the usual sign, and Frank King (Chickering) thought this oversight should be atoned for by a public announcement of its identity from the stage.
346We think that Mr. King is perfectly justified in expecting that the piano should have its maker's name attached to it.
347It is a custom that doth obtain very much as a means of legitimate advertising, hence we side with Mr. King.
348PHILIP G. HALE, who is nothing if not revolutionary in his methods, wrote in last week's Boston "Home Journal" the following about a subject that THE MUSICAL COURIER has been agitating since its existence:
349Our pianists, local and foreign, are too apt to arrange their programs in some such manner. We hear the same things over and over again. A little Chopin, a little Schumann, a little Beethoven; the eternal berceuse, the everlasting fantasy, the immortal "Waldstein" sonata. When one looks over the enormous mass of ancient and modern literature one is hardly to be blamed if he accuses the pianists of ignorance or laziness. How often, for example, are the names of Scarlatti, Couperin, Haydn, Mozart found upon a program? The modern Russian school is almost entirely neglected, for Rubinstein cannot be called a representative Russian, and our knowledge of the modern French writers for the piano seems to be limited to a few works of Saint-Saëns and a mazurka by Godard. There are writers of the modern German romantic school that are apparently unknown, and yet Herrmann Scholtz, for example, has written charming music full of genuine poetry.
350Why does not Mr. Hale include Brahms in the list? The Brahms solo piano works are remarkably fresh, and contain musical pabulum enough to have furnished a dozen Liszts with ideas.
351A Brahms propaganda would be much more fitting than a revival of the musty banal compositions of the Hungarian piano virtuoso.
352THE "Times" last Sunday thus summarily disposes of a recent article in the "Critic:"
353The amiable "Lounger" of the "Critic" is distraught because the music critics of the daily press refused to flame with enthusiasm over the return of Santley. Here is the outcry:
354"I wonder what would be thought of critics of literature if they were as prejudiced as most critics of music are. If a reviewer of books declined to see any merit in the writings of any other nation than the French, no matter how much better the others might be, what should we say of him? If we spoke the truth we should say that he was a very one sided and very narrow minded man, and yet it seems to be accepted as a matter of course that the music critics of some of the leading New York journals should see no good in any music except that of German composers, no merit in any singing but that of German singers. It cannot be that there is no other good music to be heard or that there are no other good singers. When such an artist as Charles Santley gives a concert here these critics sit through a part of the performance, and when they write of it they do so in terms of amiable condescension. I wish that German opera had given us such an artist as Santley. What is the standard by which these critics judge of the singing voice? Is it the power to split the ears? Certainly they understand music and they must know that we have never heard a singer with a more beautiful voice or finer method than Santley's. If knowledge of music tells us anything it should tell us this.
355Then why is it that these critics, who ought to know, cannot or will not recognize what is patent to every musician whose ears are not stuffed with the cotton of prejudice?"
356All of which makes it plain that the "Lounger" is not a music critic. It may be well, however, to note one assertion made in this plaint. That the leading New York critics utter a large amount of praise of German music is true. That they even go so far as to say that certain German music is better than any other music ever written is also true. But even the "Lounger" must admit that it is not the fault of the critics that Bach, Händel, Haydn, Gluck, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Weber, Mendelssohn and Wagner were Germans. And it is also not the fault of the critics that this list contains the names of at least nine immortals. The critics of New York did not make the history of music. No doubt some of them would be glad to have done so, but they were denied that privilege and they must take things as they come.
357And surely the "Lounger" does not, in calmer moments, deny that the local music critics award the full meed of praise to Tschaikowsky and Rubinstein, who are Russians; to Chopin, a Pole; to Berlioz, Gounod and Saint-Saëns, Frenchmen; to Dvorák, a Bohemian; to Verdi, Bolto and Ponchielli, Italians?
358As for singing, the critics, again, must not be blamed if the best singers they have heard in recent seasons have been, with one or two notable exceptions, such as Patti, Germans. The "Lounger" ought to know that there is only one daily newspaper in this city which holds that German singing is better than Italian. The other papers are quite ready to admit that in singing, pure and simple, the artists trained in the Italian style are the best in the world. But of recent years we have learned to hunger for something more than mere polished voice delivery, and this something more is what Patti and her kind cannot give us.
359In view of the variety of works of composers of different nationalities heard in New York city it is absurd to call us one sided. The metropolis is eclectic in its musical tastes.
360AS TO MUSIC FESTIVALS.
361IT is not too early to criticise the New York May festival, for the simple reason that the most effectual criticism would have been that which would have prevented the actual occurrence of such a musical monstrosity as a festival. New York was in no need for such a thing, for to listen to three or four days of consecutive music is enough to tax the digestion of a musical ostrich. We get lots of music every year in this city, so the raison d'être for a festival was utterly lacking. In small towns the May music festival is a great musical educator; in New York a May musical festival is a bore and an impertinence.
362Then, too, the programs were not ideal ones, and it goes without saying received any but an ideal interpretation. Let us have no more music festivals in May or any other month of the year.
363A LETTER FROM THEODORE THOMAS.
364FROM his Massachusetts tusculum Theodore Thomas sends us the following gratifying letter, which will no doubt interest many of THE MUSICAL COURIER's readers:
365FAIRHAVEN, Mass., May 13, 1891.
366To the Editors of The Musical Courier:
367DEAR SIRS—Your account of the dinner which my friends were so kind as to give in my honor prior to my departure from New York I read with much interest and pleasure. I must request you, however, to allow me to make clear one utterance of mine which seems not to have been understood correctly. In saying that I objected to Wagner's "exerting an undue influence" I meant that Beethoven should not be played in the style of Wagner, and Mozart should most decidedly not be sung in the style of Wagner, &c., as we so often hear it nowadays. But I should be the last person to advocate that Wagner's music should be banished from the concert room altogether, as I hope to live to arrange many programs including his music yet.
368Very truly yours,
369THEODORE THOMAS.
370We, and with us all musical America, fervently wish that the hope expressed by Mr. Thomas in the last sentence of his letter may be fulfilled and that he may be spared us for a long, long time to come. A better program maker never lived than he, and this is true of all of his programs, whether or no they contain excerpts from Wagner's works. We are glad, however, that Mr. Thomas has seen fit to explain the somewhat mystical allusion he made to Wagner's influence upon our musical life in his after dinner speech, and we confess, and have often proved, that we thoroughly believe in the same ideas that he expresses with regard to the interpretation of the classics.
371THE SEASON WANES.
372THAT veracious chronicler Mr. E. I. Stevenson, in an interesting review of the past musical season, which we have reprinted elsewhere, states as an actual fact that we did not listen to a new symphony during the season.
373This is startling, but true, and is itself a commentary on the kind of a musical season we have just passed through. A singular absence of novelty, of vitality, characterized the year's music.
374Quantity, and not quality, was present. There were piano recitals in abundance, and few great pianists; orchestral concerts galore, but few that clung to the memory; singers innumerable, but none that conveyed to us any particular vocal message.
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