Scan 6
Musical Courier 1892-03-09: Vol 24 Iss 629, 1892
125 lines. Read by computer on 19 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 7. See the scan on archive.org.
1man, with a sweet tenor voice which he cherishes. He is an artist besides all this, but neither his talent nor his voice is of the type which awakes mad enthusiasm. His brother, on the contrary, is an astounding man; he astonishes and bewilders as Tamagno could do. His personal appearance is magnificent. He is a giant in proportions, and a giant who is well made and a picture of romantic grace. He is an actor and he is possessed of a tremendous bass voice—an overpowering voice, that every now and then filled the vast opera house and rolled round like thunder inside the great dome. Some of these notes were a volume of sound that in richness were unequalled. They were deep and gorgeous as Syrian dye, round and sonorous, never metallic, and, unlike Tamagno, he never came down to the footlights and bellowed defiantly at the parquet as if he pined to leave them all stone deaf.
3His singing of "The Calf of Gold" roused even the languid ladies in the boxes, and they clapped their hands, carried away by the storm of enthusiasm that swept over the house. The hand clapping rose all over, and from the gods there burst inarticulate cries of excited rapture. The singer bowed; the two long scarlet feathers standing up in front of his cap like red antennae quivered and wreathed together like live things; then coming down on the footlights, a scarlet Titan, with his chest expanded and his head thrown back, he once more unloosed his tremendous voice, which reverberated through that great place like thunder echoes rolling among the Alps.
5What a glorious singer he is! What lessons in vocalism (as friend Stevenson would say) we have been imbibing this past season. Such a trio of giants, the De Reszkés and Lassalle! I only hope they will come back next season. I want to hear Edouard de Reszké sing "Wotan." I want to hear Lassalle in the "Flying Dutchman" (we may hear him in this opera in a couple of weeks). I want to hear Jean as "Tristan," an ideal "Tristan," he would make, but if Sofa Ravogli is cast for "Isolde" I will not go near the Opera House; far, far better to see Maggie Cline dance a Wagnerian trilogy with her face at that temple of the muses, Tony Pastor's.
7Did you see that touching cut in the "Evening Sun" recently? It was headed "A Great Artist, How Broken Down, Now Restored," and was not, as you might suppose, a bichloride of gold advertisement, but a certificate from the best banjo player in the world who is pictured lying across the keyboard of a grand piano with his banjo crouching at his feet. He had probably been trying to play the octaves in the A flat polonaise and the poor dumb animal (I mean the banjo) succumbed. But Black's nervine fixed it all right and its merry plunk-plunk once more warbles through the grove. Great is the power of advertising!
9Here is something intended for the eye of Signor Seidl (he is "Signor" since he conducted "I Maestri Cantori, of Canton, Ohio,") alone, so skip it and read what I have to say about the Fitzsimmons-Maher fight—no, I mean why I write items for "Sprit, Whoosick and Mamma" about the "pianistic proclivities of pigeons!":
11GRAND OPERA | Broad and Montgomery avenue,
12HOUSE, | T. F. Kelly, Manager.
13Week Beginning Monday, Oct. 19th POPULAR PRICES 25c. Admission. one of two readings
14Week Beginning Monday, Oct. 19th POPULAR PRICES 25c. Admission, one of two readings
157 GRAND POPULAR FESTIVAL CONCERTS
16First appearance in Philadelphia of the great Comedian
17ANTON SEIDL
18and his famous
19METROPOLITAN ORCHESTRA OF 60 MUSICIANS,
20assisted by the following soloists.
21Selma Koert, Kronold, Mrs. Van Hartung, Clara Poole, Maud Powell, Emil Fischer, John Cheshire, Victor Herbert, Rafael Joseffy.
22This from "Our Lady of Mercy Bulletin," Philadelphia, Sunday, October 25, 1891.
24Can't you imagine Willy Henderson, the managing editor of the New York "Dimes," getting off something like this:
26The Annex Girl's Mistake.—She was at the college tea, telling the poor sophomore all about the recent schools of German philosophy. As they talked a piano on the floor below began to sound. "Oh! that is Wagner, isn't it?" she exclaimed. "No," said the '94 man, whose knowledge came in handy, "That is Jonesy."
28Well, it appeared in the Harvard "Lampoon," but it sounds very much like "Live Musical Topics."
30This is evidently from the facile pen of Balz, the man of many faces:
32No Use for Barbers.—Customer (in barber's chair)—"So you haven't Von Thumper, the world famous pianist?" Barber—"Naw. Doze bianists neffer batronize me, an' zo I neffer batronize dem."
34An article in a recent Sunday "Herald" describes the many resemblances 'twixt Wagner and Rider Haggard. Poor haggard Wagner!
36After carefully skimming Lombroso's book about genius and insanity, I have reached the conclusion that a better rôle to play in life than that of the commonplace young man cannot be found. But I don't agree with the eminent Italian, for I have discovered aberrations enough among non-geniuses that, if possessed by even a man of talent, would have at once called forth the facile cry: "Oh! he is a crazy genius." A writer in the "Evening Post," in reviewing Lombroso's book, sums up the situation, to my mind, very briefly as follows:
38Now, the brain of a genius—say of a great mathematician, a Gauss or a Dirichlet (of which two brains Professor Lombroso gives drawings)—is seen at a glance to be quite unlike that of a common man. It may be larger; it is certain to be far more complicated and implicated. These foldings imply that the parts are more disconnected. Its connections of parts being different, such a brain must act differently from common brains, and consequently it will in general be less adapted to the ordinary purposes of life. It is not disease, but greater development; yet the unfortunate man whose shoulders have to carry it becomes the victim of his own higher organization. Of course, there will be special things for which such a highly complicated brain will be specially adapted; and, in being exercised continually on those things, as it naturally will be, it will grow more adapted to them. Such actions will not be insane; they will be like the operations of common sense, only more perfect. In doing such work such a brain will take steps for the advancement of mankind of which ordinary heads would be quite incapable. The world will reap the benefit of it, and the unfortunate individual will have to pay for it. But, circumstances being generally unfavorable, the energies of such a brain are largely spent in vainly trying to make it do things for which it is entirely unadapted, though other brains do them with ease. The result is that first derangement, then disease ensues, and we get the phenomenon of aberrations of genius.
40The craziest of all men, however, are those who think they are crazy geniuses, and cultivate their personal peculiarities as one would a mustache or a sweetheart.
42From their presence may the great Pan deliver me!
44As it is impossible for me to be serious to-day I will close with the best poem yet written about Paderewski, and when I say it is from the gentle poetic brain of him who composed the sonnet on the "Sonnet," I need say no more about this bit of music:
46"HOW PADEREWSKI PLAYS."
48I.
49If words were perfume, color, wild desire;
50If poet's song were fire,
51That burned to blood in purple pulsing veins;
52If with a bird like thrill the moments throbbed to hours;
53If summer's rains
54Turned drop by drop to shy, sweet, maiden flowers;
55If God made flowers with light and music in them,
56And saddened hearts could win them;
57If loosened petals touched the ground
58With a caressing sound;
59If love's eyes uttered word
60No listening lover e'er before had heard:
61If silent thoughts spoke with a bugle's voice:
62If flame passed into song and cried, "Rejoice! Rejoice!"
63If words could picture life's, hope's, heaven's eclipse
64When the last kiss has fallen on dying eyes and lips;
65If all of mortal woe
66Struck on one heart with breathless blow on blow;
67If melody were tears, and tears were starry gleams
68That shone in evening's amethystine dreams:
69Ah, yes, if notes were stars, each star a different hue,
70Trembling to earth in dew;
71Or if the boreal pulsings—rose and white,
72Made a majestic music in the night;
73If all the orbs lost in the night of day
74In the deep, silent blue began their harps to play;
75And when in frightening skies the lightnings flashed
76And storm clouds crashed,
77If every stroke of light and sound were but excess of beauty:
78——If human syllables could e'er refashion
79That fierce electric passion;
80If other art could match (as were the poet's duty)
81The grieving, and the rapture, and the thunder
82Of that keen hour of wonder—
83That light as if of heaven, that blackness as of hell—
84How Paderewski plays then might I dare to tell.
86II.
87How Paderewski plays! And was it he
88Or some disembodied spirit that had rushed
89From silence into singing; that had crushed
90Into one startled hour a life's felicity,
91And highest bliss of knowledge—that all life, grief, wrong
92Turns at the last to beauty and to song!
94December 18, 1891. R. W. GILDER.
96The Leeds Festival.—The Leeds (England) Musical Festival Committee arranged to hold the triennial festival on October 5, 6, 7 and 8 next. The chief choral works decided on for performance are Bach's mass in B minor, Mendelssohn's "Elijah," Brahms' cantata, "The Song of Destiny," a selection from Wagner's "Meistersinger," and the new choral works to be specially written. Händel's "Messiah" and Mozart's "Requiem" are also under consideration.
98Strauss' "Ritter Pasman."—Strauss' grand opera, "Ritter Pasman," has been repeated a number of times in Vienna, and is now to be given at Budapest under the composer's supervision. The "Neue Zeitschrift für Musik" finds in this work the true type of the comic opera of the future, modeled partly on Wagner's "Meistersinger." That periodical prides itself on the fact that it was Germany that first realized the significance of Strauss (apart from his dance music). "Not only did Richard Wagner, in his treatise 'On Conducting,' refer to the works of Strauss with especially sympathetic appreciation, but the German public took a greater interest in his music than his Austrian countrymen, for whereas his melodious operetta, 'The Bat,' was given in Vienna only 150 times, Berlin had over 300 performances of it, and it is a German publisher, Simrock, who has secured the score and various arrangements of his latest opera. * * * In 'Ritter Pasman' we find the esprit and the grace of French opéra comique, united with German depth of sentiment, and that spontaneous melodiousness which is an Austrian specialty, that flow of fresh and natural melody which we find in Schubert and in Haydn."
100PERSONALS.
102Falcke in Dresden.—Mr. Henri Falcke, the eminent piano virtuoso, appeared with the Harmonic Orchestra in Dresden, on February 5, scoring a decided success. His program, which included Saint-Saëns' G minor concerto, Chopin's etude in C sharp minor, an impromptu of Fauré, and his own brilliant "Menuet," called forth high praise from the leading Dresden journals.
104Remenyi at the Exposition.—Remenyi, the well-known violin virtuoso, has made application for a space of not less than 400 square feet in which to exhibit his great collection of rare African ethnological specimens. The selection, which comprises over 1,500 carefully selected specimens, has been formed during the last forty years, and is beyond question the most perfect of its kind. It is especially rich in the ancient regal symbols in use among the Zulus, including sceptres, royal bracelets, which were used instead of crowns, and other emblems of hammered silver, of carved and polished ivory and of rhinoceros horn. The royal bracelets are especially interesting. They are hollowed rings made from transverse sections of huge elephant tusks and, until his death, were never taken off after once placed on the arm of the king. There are also several splendid specimens of the exceedingly rare and beautiful royal silk mantles of the sovereigns of Madagascar, 300 and more years ago. These mantles are curiously adorned with broderies of metal and of uncut precious stones and of feather work. Every specimen in the collection is perfect and unique of its kind.
106A Monument to Mozart.—The statue to Mozart, which the sculptor Tilgner is preparing for a position at the back of the Vienna Opera, has been viewed by the Emperor's brother, the Archduke Charles Louis. The monument will be in a small temple with columns, with figures playing instruments, a design thought to be much too dainty and delicate for a public thoroughfare.
108Lilli Lehmann's Health.—That great and popular singer's state of health is, according to the latest news received by THE MUSICAL COURIER, not much improved and, in fact, gives cause for grave fear. It seems now almost certain that the greatest of living dramatic sopranos will never be heard in public again, even if she should regain her health, which at present writing seems more than doubtful.
110Arthur Mees Resigns.—Mr. Arthur Mees, the excellent musician and conductor, resigned last week his position as conductor of the Beethoven Männerchor, probably for the same reasons that induced Max Spicker to lay down his baton some three years ago.
112Musicians Decorated.—The Court Conductors Sucher and Weingartner and Stage Manager Brandt, of the Berlin Royal Opera House, were recently decorated with the cross of the "Star of Roumania" and Oberregisseur Tetzlaff, of the same institute, received the cross of the Roumanian crown order. Prof. Heinrich Hofmann and Kammermusiker Sturm, of Berlin, were decorated with the order of the Crown, fourth class. The Vienna Hellmesberger String Quartet, who some time ago made a concert tournée through the Balkan peninsula, were decorated at Sofia by Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria as follows: The two Messrs. Hellmesberger received the officers' cross and Messrs. Egghard and Schwendt the cross of the order Pour le Mérite. The city of Vienna has decorated Anton Rubinstein with the great golden medal of St. Salvator.
114A Presentation to Nikisch.—On the occasion of the Boston Symphony Orchestra's benefit concert on Wednesday of last week the members of that organization presented to their conductor, Mr. Arthur Nikisch, a magnificent French clock in gold and enamel, engraved with the legend: "In gratitude and admiration."
116Hofmann and Hegner.—"Little Josef Hofmann," who has now however grown tall, is about to commence a two years' finishing course of study under Moszkowski at Berlin. Otto Hegner is playing with his old time success at London.
118A Pianist's Reminiscences.—The reminiscences of the pianist Arabella Goddard are being edited by her son, Mr. Charles Davison.
120Hans Richter's Engagement.—Dr. Richter having, by imperial command, to conduct the concerts to be given at the Musical and Theatrical Exhibition in Vienna during next May, he will only be able to conduct six concerts this season at St. James' Hall, London, instead of the usual nine. The first will take place on May 30 and the last on July 4, as Dr. Richter is engaged to be at Bayreuth by July 6 to conduct the rehearsals and performances of "Die Meistersinger."
122Paderewski's Influenza.—The great Ignace is suffering with influenza, but as the statement, dated from Cleveland the 4th inst., came to THE MUSICAL COURIER in his own handwriting and the letter also contains the reassuring news that he is playing seven times a week, there seems to be no cause for great alarm. Paderewski's last concert here will take place on the 26th inst.
124Mrs. Page Thrower.—Among the visitors to the office of THE MUSICAL COURIER this week has been Mrs. Page
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