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Musical Courier 1892-03-02: Vol 24 Iss 628, 1892
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1nerweise." The latter Mr. Becker has played very recently, and the fact that it is similar in style to the first named should have prompted him to make a different selection. By these constant repetitions Mr. Becker gives the impression that his repertoire is limited.
3Mr. Impett was formerly a resident of this city, going from here to Troy. He is said to be the highest salaried tenor in the State, receiving for his services in church $2,800 per annum. His friends turned out en masse last night, but many of them would doubtless have preferred to remain at home could they have foreseen what terrible ravages time had worked on his voice.
5Mr. Impett was endowed with a beautiful voice, which he failed to cultivate in time, and now that nature is taking its course there is no art to hide the evidence of decay. Mr. Impett never sang artistically, but he had a certain agreeable style gained by careful observation and could sing an English ballad in a very pleasing manner, but anything of a broader nature was always beyond him.
7Yet Mr. Impett has had many remunerative concert and oratorio engagements, albeit they have been for the most part in provincial localities, where falsetto passes for mezzo voce and where the distinction between a "sweet voice" and an artist is not very finely drawn. Fortunately the country is fast becoming educated to an understanding and appreciation of musical art, and the day is approaching when frauds and quacks in the musical profession will, like political hucksters, have to go.
9Pizarro.
11Dayton (Ohio) Music.
13THE Ladies' Choral Society, under the direction of Mr. Harry Brown Turpin, made its first appearance this season on the evening of February 13, in the Main Street Lutheran Church. Pergolesi's "Stabat Mater" was given, with the organ accompaniment well played by Mr. Douglass Phair.
15The chorus of about fifty voices and the soloists—Mrs. Binn, soprano; Miss Marot and Mrs. Gebhart, alto—did well, barring the pronunciation of one of the ladies, all her vowels having the color of the sound made by blowing into an empty bottle. I believe it is what is understood here as being the Italian method—none genuine unless name is blown in the bottle. The effect is something like this: Oodoo, mooooko, tooboo, zootoo, lololo, &c., and is quite interesting and amusing.
17The performance was attended by an audience or congregation which filled the church, standing room being at a premium. There was no charge for admittance, but, according to the announcement on the program, "Baskets will be placed in the rear of the church" to receive contributions to cover the expense of the entertainment, the possible surplus to go to the Deaconess Hospital.
19It would be interesting, by way of digression, to inquire what good the baskets would do "in the rear of the church."
21Mr. Brown Harry Turpin distinguished himself as director, the chorus following his timekeeping (beats is such a suggestive word) with promptness. The second part of the program contained six very miscellaneous numbers which completely spoiled the good impression made by the "Stabat Mater." The tenor voice of Mr. Webb, however, deserves mention for its agreeable quality and clear enunciation of text.
23It would be unjust to the ladies to omit mentioning how sweet they looked. Some were in solid green, others fiery red, still others in modest white and sedate black, some in variegated hues too numerous to mention, a few in pink tinted arms and necks, but all looked lovely, and they all sang in Italian—no! beg pardon! it was Latin, real, genuine, truly Latin, not the kind attributed to the product so recently unembargoed by our friends across the water.
25A very interesting chamber concert was given by Professor Marsteller and his string quartet, assisted by Miss Marot and Miss Andrews, at the latter's studio (beautifully decorated) for the benefit of the W. C. A., February 16. Beethoven's piano and violin sonata, op. 38; Bruch's concerto No. 1, Saint-Saëns' aria from "Samson" and a Mozart quartet in C major formed the very excellent program. Miss Andrews played the piano parts very well, but should have had the piano lid at least partly raised. The sordina sounded thin and, though the rooms are not large, lacked resonance.
27Professor Marsteller is always listened to with pleasure, even though he did not play with his usual vim on this occasion. A repetition of the Bruch concerto after a majority of the audience had departed proved much more effective with the piano lid raised.
29Miss Marot sang exceptionally well and responded to an encore with a pretty little trifle.
31The quartet played by Professor Marsteller, Miss Freeman, Miss Stivers and Mr. Sigler was very much enjoyed. Careful rehearsing, notwithstanding the very uneven abilities of the players, brought about a very fair ensemble.
33The audience which filled the rooms were very much pleased with the music and a neat sum was realized for the W. C. A.
35Detroit Items.
37DETROIT, Mich., February 23, 1892.
39ANOTHER month of musical events has passed and musical attractions have been so numerous as to please tout le monde. Among the principal and noteworthy entertainments were the Remenyi Concert Company at the Detroit Rink, which attracted one of the largest audiences that has been present at any of the Star Course entertainments. Remenyi was the drawing card and was enthusiastically received, having to respond to encores after each number.
41The second entertainment given in the Detroit Rink was for the People's Course. The musical programs of the series are under the management of Prof. Charles Stevens, our popular tenor and chorus director. For this occasion an illustrated lecture by Dr. H. C. Wyman on the subject "The House We Live In" was listened to with interest, and the musical program which preceded was one of the best and varied of the series. The numbers were as follows: Symphonie Concertante, for two violins, op. 33, Alard, played by the accomplished little daughters of Professor Vet, Blanche and Cora; recitation by Prof. Will Cowper; vocal, "The Star," by Faure, Miss Sadie Carr; violin solo, Mazurka de Concert. Muslin, Blanche O. Vet; vocal, "The Day Dream," Streleszki, Miss S. Carr, with violin obligato by Professor Vet. After the violin solo, Mazurka de Concert, Blanche Vet received a perfect ovation from the 5,000 people assembled in the rink, and the persistent applause could not be subdued until one encore was given, which was a selection on the piano, Staccato Caprice, by Max Vogrich.
43The Tuesday Musicales gave a real treat to their patrons by engaging Mr. Max Heinrich, who gave a song recital which was much appreciated by a large and fashionable audience. On the 16th a very fine program was rendered by members of the club. The pianists on this occasion were Mesdames Carpenter, W. Gray, Smith, Dow, Sibley, Delano, A. Andrus. The vocalists were Miss Doelitz, Miss B. Stridiron and Misses Robinson, Andrus and Gilmore.
45The club has made arrangements for the appearance of the celebrated pianist d'Albert.
47The Philharmonic Club gave their fourth concert at Philharmonic Hall. The following numbers were played: Anton Dvorák, quartet in E major, op. 80, and Mozart quartet in F major, No. 9.
49The Vet Musical Academy gave a matinée musicale at Schwankovsky's Music Hall. A varied and choice program was rendered by the piano, violin and vocal pupils of this institution.
51The Grünfeld brothers gave two concerts at Schwankovsky's Music Hall, which were well attended. These two artists have been engaged to appear again in the next concert given by the Detroit Musical Society.
53The Harmonic Society (German) gave an excellent performance of Flotow's "Martha" before an audience which completely filled Harmonic Hall. Mrs. Bertha Yunck as "Lady Harriet Dunham" and Miss Fleisher as "Nancy" played their parts with such life and spirit as to win much praise. Messrs. A. Dierkes and Robert Suc'ert as "Lionel" and "Slankett" did their allotments very well. The orchestral work under Prof. Wm. Yunck was excellent and further better than many opera companies which are on the road.
55The fifteenth concert of the Butler Club, under the able direction of Prof. Edw. T. Remick, gave a splendid program at the Y. M. C. A. Hall. Miss Jennie Stoddard, contralto; Miss E. Carr, child soprano, and Alfred Hoffman, cellist, assisted. The chorus showed by their execution the skillful training of Professor Remick.
57Prof. F. Apel gave an instructive piano recital at Schwankovsky's Hall. The program contained selections of ancient and modern works.
59A well attended concert was the one given by a team of three excellent musicians, Harold Jarvis, tenor; Arthur Depew, pianist, and Frederick Mills, violinist. These gentlemen are new comers in Detroit, and they are doing excellent work. The program was much applauded.
61TOSTO.
63Young People's Concert.
65THE fourth young people's concert took place last Monday afternoon at the new Music Hall, Mr. Walter Damrosch conductor. The program was as follows: Overture, "Fi gal's Cave"…………………………… Mendelssohn Norwegian melody, "Spring"…………………………… Grieg "Dance of the Blessed Spirits"……………………….. Gluck Toccata and fugue ……………………………………… Bach-Tausig Mr. Courtlandt Palmer. Andante from fifth symphony…………………………. Beethoven Introduction to Act III., "Lohengrin"…………………… Wagner Turkish march, from "The Ruins of Athens"…………. Beethoven "Chanson sans Paroles"………………………………. Saint-Saëns Staccato etude………………………………………….. Rubinstein Mr. Courtlandt Palmer. Waltz, "Morgenblätter"………………………………. Strauss Mr. Courtlandt Palmer, who was a pupil of Mr. Ferdinand Sinzig before he went to Paris to study, is a young man of twenty decidedly of pianistic talent. He has not yet matured musically, but with his technical equipment and evident ambition there is no reason why he should not in time push his way to the foremost rank of American born pianists. Mr. Palmer was at his best last Monday in the Rubinstein etude, in which he displayed a very light wrist and some carefully studied effects in shading. At present he is in that transition period 'twixt incipient virtuosity and artistic fulfillment, but there is no doubt about his musical future.
67A Reply.
69SYRACUSE, February 4, 1892.
71Editors Musical Courier:
73YOUR issue of January 27 contained an article on "Syracuse Music," by a certain "Pizarro," which was unfortunately so remote from being a fair and musicianly criticism, in fact so unjust a misrepresentation of the occasion in question, that it did not merit a place in your most excellent journal; wherefore I am certain you will allow me to make a few general defensive statements.
75Had the writer of that article signed his true name I might have been able to judge whether his standing in musical art entitles him to the expression of any opinion whatever about a musical faculty of such thorough artistic education and acknowledged eminence as that with which I have considered it a pleasure to be connected. I might then have judged to what degree his article was prompted by ignorance or by deliberate and wilful malice. As it is, though ignoring the unknown writer, the high reputation and wide circulation of your journal render it imperative to state that this article, which your readers would naturally accept as an accurate account of the faculty concert given in Crouse Music Hall on January 19, is to us and all acquainted with the truth an obviously intentional misrepresentation.
77Your correspondent speaks with a "censure that cannot be too severe" (in his opinion) of the program of the concert, in which he fails to find that almost rigidly classical dignity which usually distinguishes our choice of compositions. And yet he must have known, just as well as we and the public, that this program had been selected for an occasion when, contrary to our usual custom, an admission fee was to be charged, and therefore was made more with a view to attracting than educating our public. Had the program appeared in your columns, I question, even under these circumstances, whether any really intelligent critic would have detected a single weakness worthy of mention. "Pizarro" would have your readers infer that it was a trashy, amateurish affair, against which some of the composers represented on the program (Hesse, Haydn, Liszt, Wagner, Chopin, Gounod, Rubinstein) would doubtless strongly protest.
79My word against that of "Pizarro" (whoever he may be); it was an excellent program and excellently rendered. And of this fact our large audience (our audiences are always large, whether music "has been scarce in the city" or not) seemed to be fully convinced, judging from their hearty recognition of the various numbers. And our audience is, in very truth, as your writer declares, discriminating, thanks to the ever active, ever increasing and ever refining influence exerted by the musical department of the Fine Arts College, Syracuse University. By giving a place to these few lines you will be correcting an inaccurate account and serving
81Yours very faithfully, PERCY GOETSCHIUS, Professor of Music, History, Theory, Composition and Piano, Syracuse University.
83Musical Items.
85Pachmann Not to Play.—Pachmann, the pianist, will not play in Chicago March 9, other arrangements having been made.
87Miss Aus der Ohe Sails.—Miss Adele Aus der Ohe, the pianist, left for Germany yesterday on the Trave. She will spend her well earned summer vacation in Berlin, Bayreuth and Switzerland and intends to return to this country in September next.
89Gossip at the Opera House.—As THE MUSICAL COURIER goes to press there is a rumor that a meeting of the board of directors of the Metropolitan Opera House was held and that a proposition from Messrs. Abbey and Grau had been favorably received.
91At last Monday night's performance of "Faust" (a remarkable one in many respects) the organ in the cathedral scene refused to respond to the organist's efforts, and there was a mauvais quart d'heure until Conductor Vianesi, with his intellectual visage a radiant carmine, hurried to the organ and pulled out the motor strap, which the organist, Mr. Americo Gori, had entirely forgotten. After that all was smooth sailing and the scene was sung by Edouard de Reszke (one of the greatest bassos this generation has listened to) and Emma Eames in the most dramatic fashion.
93Miss Cecile Schiller.—This young artist will, after several years spent in Berlin under Xaver Scharwenka, make her rentrée Sunday evening, March 13, at the new Music Hall with the Damrosch Orchestra. Miss Schiller, who it may be remembered was a Neupert pupil, will play on this occasion Beethoven's G major concerto.
95Jeanne Franko Plays.—Jeanne Franko, the violin virtuoso, will play the following concerts in March: 5th inst., at the West Presbyterian Church; 8th inst., Steinway Hall; 10th inst., Steinway Hall; 26th inst., Rythers Hall.
97Emma Heckle in Cincinnati.—Miss Emma L. Heckle, the soprano, will be the soloist of the concert to be given by the United Singing Societies, March 20, at the Music Hall, Cincinnati.
99Old Singing Masters.—The great old singing masters never classified voices or made receipts for various categories, but set about developing to the utmost the individual voice of their pupil, without seeking to define or name it; so that, were it not for the soprano, contralto, and tenor clefs (used rather at random) in which the vocal parts were still noted, we should often be in utter ignorance of the voice possessed by the most famous men and women of those days. The old Italian theatrical habit—the habit of the national commedia dell' arte—of giving full license to a performer, and the musical circumstances of the times, which isolated each voice in an opera and developed its individual qualities to the utmost, resulted, therefore, in that strange eighteenth century custom of letting the singer not merely give what reading he chose of another man's notes, but of allowing and expecting him to introduce all the detail ornament and to give a new presentation of the chief themes in the form of variations and cadences. For this reason, as Mancini explains, every singer must give some years to the study of thorough bass. He did so because, to a certain extent, he was as much a composer as the man who had written out the score and who sat directing the opera at his harpsichord.
101But the Italian actors did not merely invent a portion of the words; they also improvised them on the spur of the moment, and to the belief that no two voices are alike was added by the eighteenth century singing masters the further opinion that no single voice or vocal disposition is identical on two separate occasions. Hence the singer gave to the composer's notes his own reading and his own additions and variations, which were by no means always the same. Of all the great singers of the eighteenth century, we read that their powers of invention were remarkable. "A perfect judgment of what can be executed" is a necessary quality in the pupil described by Tosé and Mancini, for, without that, there would be danger of his inventing passages and proving unable to carry them out. Such invention and such judgment were cultivated by a special exercise of making extempore variations, a practice probably continued throughout every great singer's career, since it appears that so late as 1824 or thereabout the last two singers trained in eighteenth century habits, Crescintini and Velluti, amused their leisure, after retiring from the stage, by weekly meetings over an apothecary's shop, near the Pergola Theatre, in Florence, where, with Meyerbeer and Pietro Romani to accompany them, they read and made variations on those exercises of Leo which must have formed the study of their boyhood.—Vernon Lee in the "Fortnightly Review."
103Grieg and Dublin.—If it be ultimately decided to hold a musical festival at Dublin, Grieg will in all probability contribute a new cantata, and go to Ireland specially to conduct it.
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