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Musical Courier 1891-12-02: Vol 23 Iss 615, 1891
94 lines. Read by computer on 19 September 2026. Printed page 644. See the scan on archive.org.
1The Mozart Symphony Club.
2The group of artists who are portrayed on the first page of THE MUSICAL COURIER this week form the well-known musical organization "The Mozart Symphony Club." The club is composed of the following artists, whose names are a guaranty of their musical worth: John F. Rhodes, violin virtuoso; Theodor Hoch, cornet virtuoso; Oscar Hentschel, flute virtuoso; Miss Camille Toulmin, harp virtuoso; Miss Mary Forrest, dramatic soprano; and Richard Stoezler, viola and viola d'amour soloist, and Mario Blodeck, violoncello soloist. The last two gentlemen are directors and proprietors of the club. A word about the personnel of the Mozart Symphony Club would be very apropos.
4The famous violinist, John F. Rhodes, was born in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England, on December 7, 1865, of English parents. He, however, was brought to Philadelphia, Pa., at the early age of four months and thus has a perfect right to claim the proud title of being a Philadelphian. Mr. Rhodes went to Leipzig, Germany, in the fall of 1878, where he studied for three years under Messrs. Schradieck and Herrmann. His first public performance there of note was at the great examination in the Gewandhaus in 1880, when Mr. Rhodes played the Mendelssohn concerto and scored such a success with it that he was asked to repeat the performance before King Albert of Saxony at a reception given to his majesty at the conservatory.
6For many seasons this gentleman has been a concert star in American musical circles, and every audience is always delighted to find his name on the program.
8Theodor Hoch is a graduate of the Musical Conservatory of Berlin, and bearer of a special gold medal bestowed upon him with honorable artistic mention by Emperor Napoleon III. for his "wonder work" on the cornet during a series of grand concerts in the French capital. He was also soloist of the famous Kaiser Frank Band, of the German empire, when they took part in P. S. Gilmore's gigantic Boston Peace Jubilee.
10Mr. Hoch was quoted by the New York "Herald" of November 13, 1881, as the leading cornetist in the world. Mr. Hoch is the possessor of the great golden Fretano medal, with the crown of science and art, and an honorable member of the Circle Fretano, at Larino, under the special protection of His Majesty Dom Pedro, ex-Emperor of Brazil, and the Duc d'Aosta.
12Oscar Hentschel, the flute virtuoso, had the good fortune of being a pupil of Professor Anderson, of Berlin, under whose tuition he remained for three years, and at whose recommendation he went to Sweden on an extensive concert tour, traveling as soloist through that country and receiving everywhere the highest encomiums.
14Miss Mary Forrest, soprano soloist of the club, is an American lady and native of New York, of estimable accomplishments; pretty and highly educated musically.
16Her voice is a very high soprano, full and very rich, of great range and compass.
18For many years she studied under the able tuition of Professor Hey and Matilde Mallinger, in Berlin, and subsequently she became the favorite pupil of Artot Padilla and Thesiere in Paris, where she was on many noted conservatory occasions and celebrations claimed to be the coming vocal artist of the world. After concluding her studies, she appeared in many high-class concerts in the city of Paris and leading cities in Great Britain, being mentioned repeatedly as the possessor of the richest soprano voice on the concert stage.
20The harpist of the Mozart Symphony Club is Miss Camille Toulmin (this is her first appearance in America), a member of a well-known musical family and pupil of her father, Alfred Toulmin, the eminent harp composer and harp virtuoso (whose solo work in the Thomas Orchestra of several years ago created such widespread enthusiasm). The management takes much pleasure in introducing this excellent technical and artistic virtuoso for the first time to the American public.
22Mr. Mario Blodeck, the violoncello soloist, stands pre-eminently among the greatest virtuosos of to-day on this pleasing instrument. He was the ablest and first prize student of the conservatory in Prague. Following his graduation he became a member of the Royal Opera orchestra in Vienna, and was a prominent member of the same during concert tours of Austria, Hungary, Southern Russia, Norway and Sweden, in all of which he met with unbounded success, artistically and financially. Later, Mr. Blodeck accompanied the world renowned violin virtuoso Ole Bull on an extended tour in grand concert through his fatherland.
24Mr. Richard Stoezler is the viola and viola d'amour soloist of the club, and was born in Leipsic, and is a graduate of the conservatory of that name. Very few musicians graduate with more marked ability than this gentleman, and surely none have become more distinguished, for shortly after his conservatory course we find him a leading soloist in the Crystal Palace symphony concerts and Euterpe concerts under the direction of such eminent directors as Sitt, Nikisch, Reinecke, Wagner and other renowned composers. For many years Mr. Stoezler was principal soloist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra Club, which position he only recently resigned to become interested in the Mozart Symphony Club. He is an ardent worker in the musical world, and one whom everybody throughout the land admires for the excellent technique, shading and expression he displays on that most difficult of instruments, the viola d'amour.
26As may be readily seen this is a remarkably strong concert organization, and their success is therefore not surprising. To quote only one contemporary, the "Evening Mail," of Toronto, which writes as follows:
28"The best concert so far this season" was the verdict of everyone in the select and appreciative audience gathered last night in the Pavilion to greet the first appearance of the Mozart Symphony Club. Seldom indeed has there been such an excellent company of instrumentalists seen in the Pavilion, and those who, unmindful of the other powerful attractions in the other places of amusement of the city, attended this concert went away well satisfied. Each number was applauded to the echo and repeated, and some of the performers had to answer to a second recall. The music was all of the best description, embracing selections from all the representative schools, from Father Haydn to the latest star, Mascagni. The ensemble playing was excellent. The volume of tone, considering the small number of instruments, was surprising, while in Czibulka's "Love's Dream," which, by the bye, is a piece new to Toronto audiences, the notes were as soft and dreamy as the "amber notes of love" itself.
30The program opened with the minuet movement from Haydn's D major symphony by the orchestra, which was well received. Mr. Oscar Hentschel followed with a flute solo, "Carnival Russe," by T. Anderson. He gave as an encore "Albumbliatt," by the same composer. Miss Mary Forrest, a singer heard for the first time in this city, sang the "Page Song" from Meyerbeer's "Huguenots." Miss Forrest is a new American star—a New Yorker. She has a fine stage appearance, and is a first-class musician and a composer of no mean order. Her voice is a very agreeable mezzo-soprano of great compass, and rich and powerful in the middle and low registers. Her execution was good, her articulation splendid, and her phrasing left little to be desired. She was encored, and gave Lady Arthur Hill's "Let me forget thee." Her second song was Arditi's "Parla Valse" song, which gave her a splendid opportunity of displaying what Wagnerians might call vocal pyrotechnics; but she sang the song so well that an encore was demanded, and she gave a romance song, "Fair Enchantress," composed by herself, playing her own accompaniment on the piano.
32Mr. John F. Rhodes played Leonard's celebrated violin solo, "Souvenir de Haydn." His playing was very fine, his stopping and harmonics were perfect, his tone pure and strong, and his interpretation most musically. As an encore he played the "Chaconne" by Bach. Richard Stoezler gave Wagner's "Prize Song," from the "Meistersinger," on the viola d'amour, an instrument seldom heard in this city. He showed himself a complete master of this difficult instrument, and as an encore gave a romance, arranged as a viola solo, from Shakespeare's "Storm." The harp solo by Camille Toulmin was well received. She played "Autumn," by Thomas, and was recalled twice, giving variations on "Annie Laurie" and a Hungarian military march, by Zanara. Theodor Hoch, the cornet soloist, gave a fantasia arranged by himself, and on being encored gave a selection from "Ratten Fanger," by Neundorff. He has a good tone, and his triple tonguing was very good. The club pieces were a harp serenade for harp, violin and cello, by Oelschlegler, "Love's Dream," by Czibulka, the andante from op. 47, Rubinstein, the intermezzo from "Cavalleria Rusticana," and Gouvy's "Tarantelle." After the performance at Ottawa, at which the Governor General and party were present, Lord Stanley wrote a letter thanking the club for their artistic playing.
34The Paderewski Piano Recitals.
35As was previously announced, the Paderewski piano recitals took place last week at the pretty concert hall of the Madison Square Garden on Tuesday evening, November 24, Thursday evening, November 26, and Saturday matinée, November 28. The programs for the two last referred to recitals were printed in THE MUSICAL COURIER last week. The program of the first recital was as follows:
37Sonata in F minor, op. 57…………………….L. van Beethoven
38Impromptu…………………….Franz Schubert
39Menuet…………………….Franz Schubert
40Moment Musical…………………….Schubert-Liszt
41Divertissement Hongrois…………………….Schubert-Liszt
42Fantasie, op. 17…………………….Robert Schumann
43Etude…………………….Fred. Chopin
44Nocturne…………………….Fred. Chopin
45Valse…………………….Fred. Chopin
46Mazurka…………………….Fred. Chopin
47Scherzo…………………….Anton Rubinstein
48Barcarolle…………………….Anton Rubinstein
49Cracovienne…………………….Paderewski
50Rhapsodie Hongroise…………………….Franz Liszt
52The versatility of the pianist demonstrated that he has explored the heights and depths of piano literature.
54The great F minor sonata of Beethoven was his point of departure. The pièce de résistance was the C major Schumann fantasy, and the climax of the night was the "Twelfth Hungarian Rhapsody" of Franz Liszt. Here's variety with a vengeance!
56The Beethoven sonata received most loving treatment, particularly the beautiful middle movement with its tone arabesques. Exception might be taken to readings in the first and last movements, but they are founded only on scholastic precedent.
58Paderewski plays with the utmost elasticity of tempi and leans about "within his bars," as they once said of Chopin. His rendition of the Schumann fantasy was the noblest Schumann playing heard in this city for many years.
60Tender, massive, fiery, subtle, musical, Paderewski rang the changes of this wonderful music as few living pianists could.
62The march was the least satisfactory, for in it the pianist's temperament got the better of his taste, and, like a horse with the bit between his teeth, he ran away, and so the skips at the end were not all pure and clear. He made much of Liszt's C minor divertissement, and in the group of Chopin soli he was at his best. They were as follows: the wonderfully played G sharp minor etude, which sounded like a poem, not merely a study in double thirds; the seldom heard F major nocturne, the D flat valse, which had to be repeated, such a novel reading did Paderewski give it; the B flat minor mazurka, with its poetic close, and Chopin's first and greatest scherzo in B minor, op. 20, which was played most impressively with the chromatic octaves introduced at the end, as Leschetizky's pupils always do.
64Paderewski's own "Cracovienne," with its strong national coloring, he gave superbly, as he also did the "Twelfth Rhapsody," which sounded like a whirlwind of glittering colors and fiery rhythms.
66The audience was large and enthusiastic. Quite a contingent of Boston newspaper men was present, attracted by the reputation of Paderewski.
68After the concert a reception was tendered to the great pianist by Mr. C. F. Tretbar, at Heim's, on Twenty-seventh street, where local critics and friends met in friendly union.
70Something like the construction of his programs is the secret of Paderewski's success in this city. At every concert there is a steadily growing crescendo, and the end is not yet, and at the second recital the enthusiasm amounted to an ovation.
72The soloist had to play in addition to his regular scheme the Strauss-Tausig valse, "Mann Lebt nur Einmal," the F major etude of Chopin, besides repeating the G flat etude by the same master and the pianist's very clever Slavonic mazurka in A. After a sensational reading of Liszt's sixth rhapsody he responded with a Mendelssohn "song without words," in F major, which he literally sang on the keyboard. Quite a recital in themselves, these encores! The best work of the evening the pianist did in the Schumann "Carnival," in which his fanciful imagination had full swing, and rarely have these musical cameos been heard in this city given with such perfection, and above all with such musical feeling and fantasy. Chopin, Paganini and Aveu were simply perfection. Chopin's great fourth ballad, the seldom heard one in F minor, was nobly played, and with the true Chopin rubato and superb tone coloring.
74Paderewski also played the second impromptu in F sharp, by Chopin, with a polish and tenderness that were most charming. He opened the evening with a performance of Beethoven's A flat sonata, op. 110, a performance that was lucid and musical, and particularly praiseworthy in the Chopin-like arioso, but which lacked as a whole much of the great German giant's distinguishing characteristics. Paderewski is too poetic to ever become scholastic. That was very plain to be seen by his playing of the fugue in the finale of the sonata, which he delivered too beautifully for the relish of the true Beethovenite, who likes lots of bitterness in his interpretations of the master. The other numbers on the program were Haydn's quaint F major variations, the Chopin berceuse and the A minor barcarolle of Rubinstein. After his brilliant and forcible performance of the Liszt rhapsody, Paderewski was seen to wipe the keyboard off before playing the Mendelssohn piece. He is a fiery young man who believes in drawing blood in a good cause.
76Concert goers were reminded last Saturday afternoon of the Rubinstein furore of 1873, when the approaches to old Steinway Hall were choked by music lovers, carriages and curiosity seekers. It was a privilege on this occasion to get inside the doorway without a tussle, so great was the jam.
78Paderewski demonstrated one thing at this matinée—that he is the possessor of a musical intellect that far transcends his technical abilities, transcendental though they be. He played Beethoven's thirty-two variations in C minor, and the Waldstein sonata in C, op. 53, in a manner that effectually silenced those who claim that he should not meddle with that classic master's music. Schumann's fanciful sketches, "Papillons," forerunners to the "Carnival," were most charmingly played.
80The Chopin group consisting of the A flat ballade, the D flat preludes, D flat etude (the difficult one in double sixths) the B major, op. 62, nocturne and the Liszt Chopin "Chant Polonaise" were played in extraordinary fashion. Indeed, such an exhibition of polished technique, combined with deep poetic feeling and manly vigor, has seldom been heard before in this city. Paderewski also played a caprice and legende of his own, the former being a dazzling bit of piano music and all that its title implied.
82The matinée closed with a Liszt etude in F minor, from the set of three Concert etudes and the same master's "Twelfth Rhapsody." For encore the pianist responded with a noble version of Chopin's A flat Polonaise.
84The fourth Paderewski recital occurs this afternoon at 2:30 o'clock at the same place. An excellent program is furnished forth.
86NEW YORK COLLEGE OF MUSIC.
87ALEXANDER LAMBERT, DIRECTOR.
88Mme. FURSCH-MADI, Principal of Vocal Department.
89ALL BRANCHES OF MUSIC TAUGHT
90Faculty comprises the most eminent instructors.
91NOTICE.—The New York College of Music WILL REMOVE
92September 1, from 163 E. 70th St., to its new and handsome building
93128 and 130 EAST 58th STREET.
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