Scan 13
Musical Courier 1892-05-11: Vol 24 Iss 638, 1892
133 lines. Read by computer on 19 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 14. See the scan on archive.org.
1Europe as well as in this country, and has been advocated by noted teachers. By class instruction you have the opportunity of hearing so many different voices, you learn so much music and the different ways of training the many different voices. At the same time it makes the pupils more confident in their public appearances. I had admission to the classes for French and Italian opera. Although I had studied two years in Norway with the noted Finnish singer and teacher, Ida Basler-Magdalen, and four years at the conservatory at Weimar, Germany, with a vocal teacher like Mrs. von Milde, I shall never regret my last year in Paris with Mrs. Marchesi. Her method was to me in some respects a revelation. I repeat she is a genius, and every one of her pupils who has had the patience and ambition to study and continue with her and the fairness to overlook peculiarities will agree with me.
3Minneapolis, April 27.
5Omaha, Neb., News.
6April 28, 1892.
8The most notable musical event of the month in Omaha was the singing of Dudley Buck's new cantata, "The Story of the Cross," by Trinity Cathedral Choir. This organization, made up of an excellent mixed quartet, a good sized adult chorus and a well drilled company of boys, is the largest and most effective choir in Nebraska. Under the careful training of Mrs. J. W. Cotton these voices have been brought to a degree of excellence which is not only creditable to their talented instructor, but a means of furnishing to music lovers some very enjoyable entertainments. "The Story of the Cross" afforded an opportunity for an audience to judge their work intelligently, because the musical requirements were so exacting and varied. Mrs. Cotton took her place in the quartet, sang the several soprano solos, and without once appearing as conductor or using a baton kept the movements so well in hand that the impressive cantata was sung from beginning to end without a single perceptible jar.
10The cantata itself is a remarkable composition. Mr. Buck has long been noted for an ecclesiastical style of musical writing, but one rarely finds such wonderful adaptation of music to words as is met with in this work. Mr. W. B. Wilkins sang the words of Jesus admirably, being in excellent voice and evidently in harmony with the spirit of the occasion. I have listened to a good many sacred concerts and have had quite extended connection with our musical affairs in Omaha, but I do not recall an occasion when all things worked together more harmoniously or with better effect than in the "Story of the Cross."
12On Thursday evening of last week Miss C. C. Tennant C'ary, assisted by local musicians and singers, gave the first of a series of concerts in Y. M. C. A. Hall. Miss Clary came well recommended and gave evidence of being able to fulfill the prophecies of her friends. Owing to rain the audience was not large, but the program was very well rendered.
14Hans Albert, our favorite violinist, entertained the Ladies' Musical Society very delightfully on Wednesday afternoon, furnishing eight of the twelve numbers on the list. Mr. Albert is something like Paderewski in the matter of hair, and I sometimes wonder why some musical Delilah doesn't catch these eccentric geniuses asleep and clip off the un-sightly locks. It is to be hoped that our American musicians, who are beginning to wield an influence in the musical world, will be able to disprove the idea that a man must have a flowing mane or frightful foretop in order to become a "genius."
16Theodore Thomas with his full orchestra, Mrs. Genevra Johnston-Bishop, vocalist, and Fanny Bloomfield-Zeisler, pianist, will open a series of concerts at the new Boyd Theatre May 10. From present indications the audiences will be immense.
18On Monday evening of this week a new male quartet and several soloists of note, including Mrs. Fred. Nye, an exceedingly pleasing contralto, entertained a goodly audience in Y. M. C. A. Hall. This is the fifth male quartet that seeks to draw shekels from the public with vocal tone pictures.
20The University of Michigan Glee and Banjo Club gave a concert in Exposition Hall on Tuesday evening. The boys sang well, played well and were well received.
22I am pleased to mention in these columns the recent coming to Omaha of Mr. John Carver Aiden, for several years one of the most prominent piano teachers in the New England Conservatory, Boston. It was the writer's pleasure to know Mr. Aiden several years ago, when his musical accomplishments were much above the average, and the present association is made still more pleasant by the discovery that intervening years have rounded out and greatly enlarged what had seemed to be well developed musical talent. Mr. Aiden has taken a position as teacher of piano and harmony in the Omaha School of Music.
24Cincinnati Correspondence.
25Grauns' "Der Tod Jesu," as mentioned in my last letter, was performed at Music Hall on the evening of the 14th in the presence of a very large audience, and probably only the wretched weather that prevailed that night prevented every seat from being filled. The performance may, on the whole, be classed as fair and adequate to the demands of the oratorio, although the severely critical declare that it was not up to a standard of excellence at all. While this may be true it is scarcely worth while to be over severe on an initial production, especially as much of the beauty of the oratorio centres in the arias, which were so well rendered by three of our local artists as to place it far above mediocrity. By far the weakest part of the performance was the string orchestra, which was given to some painfully squeaky passages at intervals.
27The chorus of eighty voices trained by Professor Guckenberger was not as thoroughly balanced as it should have been, but it nevertheless showed careful training and responded to the baton with commendable promptness and decision. The concerted work in the choral numbers was mainly very good and when reinforced at times by the noble volume of tone from the great organ it swelled into a grand effect that aroused the audience to enthusiasm. Mrs. Corinne-Moore Lawson, the soprano, was in magnificent voice, singing all her arias in an effective and artistic manner, and reaching her triumph of the evening in the aria "Lo! the heaven descended prophet," which she sang gloriously.
29The tenor, Mr. W. A. Lemmon, was in excellent voice and gave his arias with peculiarly effective grace, particularly in the solos "Now arms are clashing," "O weak and faithless spirits!" and in the duet with the soprano with the concerted refrain, "Such forgiveness Christ doth show."
31The basso, Mr. F. E. Tunison, was assigned several of the finest and most telling passages in the oratorio, and he acquitted himself admirably. The aria "As stands a lofty mountain" is one of the grandest and most inspiring of the entire oratorio both in sentiment and musical expression, and Mr. Tunison's triumph for the evening culminated here, winning him quite anovation at its conclusion. The depth and quality of Mr. Tunison's voice are very fine, but he needs more ease and smoothness in execution.
33To Professor Guckenberger, who did all the hard work connected with the production and who wielded the baton at the performance, much credit is due. Also to Professor Eisenheimer, who presided at the organ, and to Mr. Henry Froelich, Concertmeister.
35The oratorio gave great satisfaction to every one and a number of our leading citizens have declared themselves in favor of having it repeated next year. The presence of a large number of the clergy was especially noticeable, also of judges, lawyers and professional men, and the praise from these since has been quite marked. There is little doubt that it will be repeated next year.
37On Monday evening, April 11, the annual memorial services of the college were held in the Odeon. This custom is in accordance with the time honored rites which honor the deceased benefactors of the college within the year. The mournful roll of honor for the past year includes the names of Jacob Burnet, Jr., William Gibson, Carlos H. Gould and Geo. K. Schoenberger, each one a liberal and beneficent patron of music.
39In imposing array on the stage were seated the president of the college, Mr. Peter Rudolph Neff, the professors, a number of the trustees, and the choir of the Second Presbyterian Church, and the clergymen who assisted in the exercises. An appropriate program was rendered, Professor Sterling presiding at the organ and Gen. Jacob D. Cox delivering an eloquent and fitting address.
41On Monday evening, April 18, there appeared at the Odeon Mr. Emil Zoch, a renowned pianist from Berlin, heralded in advance by press notices of the highest order. Despite the lateness of the season and the surfeit of music that we have had the Odeon was filled with one of the largest audiences of the season. In the face of all the glowing accounts that preceded him, it must be said that Professor Zoch excels only in the mere technical and mechanical part of execution. He is brilliant, but cold; Beethoven is beyond his depth; he cannot fathom the heart of Chopin and Schumann, and his delicacy and fineness are all in his finger tips, with no poetic grace to inspire them.
43It was all merely notes, notes; no fire, no passion, no inspiration.
45About the middle of the program Mattioli was hailed with salves of applause as he appeared on the stage with his 'cello, and gave "Une larme," by Dunkler, and "Vito," Popper, with that enchanting effect which is the very essence of everything musical. An encore followed as a matter of course. Mattioli never escapes a recall.
47Mrs. Guckenberger's rich, finely trained voice was heard to great advantage in several songs that suited her very well. "He, the Best of All, the Noblest" and "Thou Ring Upon My Finger," Schumann; serenade, Brahms; "A Little Song," Bungert, and "The Brook," Dvorak. Professor Guckenberger accompanied in a delicate and finished manner.
49Theodore Thomas came down from Chicago last week and directed a rehearsal of the May Festival chorus in Music Hall, afterward expressing great satisfaction with the progress of the work. Michael Brand and twenty of the best men in the Cincinnati orchestra are to play in the Thomas orchestra of one hundred at the festival.
51Mrs. Helen Hopekirk, the distinguished virtuoso, acknowledged everywhere to be one of the greatest artists of the day, gave two recitals here lately, which, artistically considered, were among the finest of the season, but the audiences were painfully small.
53Mrs. Hopekirk's interpretations are essentially fine and sympathetic; her technic is admirable and is dominated throughout by the insight of a musical temperament warm and poetic in its conceptions. Her face is at once sensitive and intellectual, and when she plays she imparts to her rendition both the grace and the power indicated by her appearance. Her reading of Beethoven was especially good.
55There are joy and rejoicing in musical circles because d'Albert is to be here with the Boston Symphony on May 10, and is to play the famous "Emperor" concerto. It is safe to predict that this famous combination will pack the Odeon to the walls and standing room will be at a premium.
57Miss Elizabeth Hetlich, a Cincinnati girl who has won honors in New York and elsewhere, has been heard here several times lately, and has won fresh laurels on each appearance. Miss Hetlich's voice is a pure sustained soprano, of fresh quality and even power in the different registers, while her sweetness of tone and expression are simply captivating. Miss Hetlich seems to possess all the qualities of a true artist, and her future has every promise of brilliant success.
59The Apollos closed their tenth season last Thursday evening at Music Hall in the presence of an immense audience that was altogether given over to enthusiasm and recalls. The stalls were filled with the wealth and fashion of the city attired in rainbow-like spring gowns and marvelous Easter hats, and the audience that filled the main body of the great hall and the balcony to overflowing was the very cream of the social and intellectual circles.
61The tenor was Mr. W. H. Rieger, of New York, whose voice of lyrical sweetness and fine dramatic expression created a furor and brought him back to the stage time and again. There is something positively entrancing in the quality of his voice, which at once captivates the senses and convinces one of his ability as an artist from a critical standpoint.
63Mr. Rieger is firmly established in favor here, and he will be warmly welcomed on his return, which is foregone conclusion.
65Our own Mattioli and the orchestra gave one of the finest numbers of the evening, which the unsatiable audience demanded repeated. Mattioli is an unequalled artist with his 'cello, and he is one of our local artists whose ability is fully recognized. Vale, Apollos, until next year.
67On the 28th and again on the 30th we are to have Remyen. To say that his coming is hailed with delight is putting it mildly. Of the wizard of the violin, more anon.
69Fidelio.
71Cincinnati, April 26, 1892.
73I have been silent for some time, not that Cincinnati's musical life has been stupid, but because I myself have been engrossed with a variety of professional employments. To-night I had a rare pleasure, namely, the hearing of a concert which really lifted me up and sustained me at a high emotional altitude.
75As one gets older in the art and habit of concert hearing he grows, I presume, not blase precisely but discriminating. I know not how it may be with other critics and musicians, but for myself I find that music awakens a delight even more poignant than it did ten years ago, but it takes better music to produce any impression at all.
77The concert I refer to was the third and last of a series given by a newly organized ladies' chorus of this city, called the Euterpe Society. This is a recent enterprise, modeled upon the general mode and character of the Apollo Club, which has been for the last eight years a surprising success and has attracted an immense amount of fashionable support; but in the case of the Euterpe another peculiarity comes to the front, viz., that it consists altogether, or very nearly so, of the pupils of one teacher, Miss Vigna, who came here in 1882 and has done ten years of the most thorough, faithful and successful voice training that our city has ever known. During the whole of that time she has been identified with the faculty of the College of Music and has produced many pupils who rank high, not only in our provincial world of music but of elsewhere.
79The director of the Euterpe is Mr. Campania, the head of the violin and orchestral department of the college. He is an Italian, who before coming to this country earned the honorable sobriquet of "the Italian Joachim," given him by Sir Julius Benedict in London. He has been with us two years and has now signed a contract to remain three years more.
81The concert this evening consisted of a charming cantata by Henry Smart, called "The Fisher Maiden," followed by a number of separate choruses and one solo. It was throughout vocal, and more than that, femininely vocal, and for once you begin to shudder with a sense of the monotony of sugar. I presume you will say, "Two or three caramels are good, but not an entire dinner of them."
83Here you are mistaken. Hitherto I have shared the impression of most critics that an evening of female chorus would be decidedly colorless, but this society easily surpasses anything I have ever heard in our city. We have had other meritorious organizations—at least five that I could mention—but this in every particular equaled and in some respects surpasses the best of them. All the voices being trained voices, at once a great superiority is found over any such large body of singers as our May festival chorus, where at least two-thirds or three-fourths of the material are half seasoned children.
85Not only can greater volume be obtained but the sound is of a much purer metal and rings with more sweetness. Then the added musical intelligence enables the chorus to master works more quickly and to get the details with greater precision.
87Miss Vigna's school is that of the modern dramatic Italian type, not perhaps above criticism for solo purposes, or rather, let us say, a type of vocal art which differs from others and about which one may quote the Latin proverb "De gustibus," &c.
89In this mass, however, of chorus voices the effect was simply magical. The body of tone developed was in the first place remarkably powerful. These fifty-five voices made fully as much tone as any ordinary 200 or 250. In the next place the emotional quality of the tone was thrilling, especially in the expression of every strong and fiery feeling. Again, in pianissimos there was more resonance and firmness than we ordinarily hear from choruses, and in all such musical effects as prompt attack, neat pronunciation, uniform phrasing, animated cadences and the like, the work was almost beyond criticism. One thing was even more conspicuously excellent than the rest, that was the elasticity of the time, the accelerations and retards made a graceful and perfect rubato, and the singers followed the director's baton with the oneness of inspiration.
91John S. Van Cleve.
93Philadelphia Correspondence.
94Philadelphia, April 30, 1892.
96The Boston Symphony Orchestra, under Mr. Nikisch's skillful direction, was heard in the concluding concert of the season on Monday evening last. Financially and artistically the series has been eminently satisfactory. The program presented embraced Goldmark's "Sakuntala" overture, Beethoven's symphony in F major, No. 8; Liszt's symphonic poem, "Les Préludes," and vocal numbers contributed by Mr. and Mrs. Henschel; an aria from Massenet's "Herodiade," by Mrs. Henschel; fantasia from Act II. of "Tannhäuser," "Blick ich umher," by Mr. Henschel, and a duet from Goetz's "Taming of the Shrew."
98Patti, in "Martha," sang to many empty benches at the Academy of Music on Tuesday evening, though the price for the best seats was only $5, and not $7 as was erroneously reported in a former communication. The waning popularity of "La Diva" is not at all surprising in view of the dreariness and utter listlessness manifested during the performance. For lovers of music of the "Martha" school Patti sang excellently, but her leading support, together with the chorus and orchestra, were all equally wretched.
100Constantin Sternberg's entertainment at the Art Club proved to be a very enjoyable occasion. His program, interspersed with interesting chat, was as follows:
102Sonata, op. 7, in E minor…………. "Papillon"………………… Poème érotique, from op. 48…………. Au printemps," from op. 48…………. Ballade in G minor, op. 24…………. Marcel" ("The Huguenots"), op. 66…………. "Pan" ("Pan and His Flute"), op. 50…………. Vénétienne………………… Menuet…………. Gigue…………. Valse…………. Polka…………. Mazurka…………. one of two readings
103Sonata, op. 7, in E minor…………. "Papillon"………………… Poème érotique, from op. 48…………. Au printemps," from op. 48…………. Ballade in G minor, op. 24…………. Marcel" ("The Huguenots"), op. 66…………. "Pan" ("Pan and His Flute"), op. 50…………. Vénétienne………………… Menuet…………. Gigues………………… False…………. Polka………………… Mazurka………………… one of two readings
105From "Ancient and Modern Dances," op. 103…………. Benjamin Godard
107I have always been much interested in Gustav Hinrich's efforts to popularize grand opera in Philadelphia, and he deserves much commendation for the results already achieved.
109I believe it can be said without fear of contradiction that Philadelphia is the only city in the world supporting grand opera for a long season, which this year comprises twenty-four weeks. While far from ideal the performances by the American Opera Company have always been characterized by the earnest and conscientious efforts of the artists making up its personnel.
111The orchestra and chorus, while numerically weaker, do far better work than anything we have heard this winter from the forces under Vianesi.
113Among the novelties announced for the coming season are Mascagni's "L'Amico Fritz," which will receive its American premier during the fifth week of the season, and Bizet's "Pearl Fishers," which will also receive its first production in this country.
115Four of Wagner's operas, "Tannhäuser," "Lohengrin," "The Flying Dutchman" and "Die Walküre;" Meyerbeer's "Huguenots," "Le Prophète" and "L'Africaine;" Mozart's "Don Giovanni" and "Marriage of Figaro;" "Offenbach's" "Mariage aux Lanternes," with Mascagni's "Cavalleria Rusticana," are among the important works underlined for production.
117The last subscription concert of the season was given by the Philadelphia Chorus last evening, when Dudley Buck's cantata "The Light of Asia" was given with pronounced success. Mrs. Furch-Madi, William Dennison and Max Heinrich were the soloists, and with the exception of the latter, who was in poor voice, did excellent work. The Germania Orchestra of fifty-five men was led by Charles M. Schmitz.
119Lilian Russell, who has improved both vocally and dramatically and who is as handsome as ever, has been crowding the Broad Street Theatre this week. "La Cigale," a rather pretty trifle, has been the opera presented.
121A. H.
123Philadelphia, May 6, 1892.
125Gustav Hinrichs was inaugurated on Monday evening last, when Verdi's perennial "Il Trovatore" was given a generally effective rendering before a large house. Several of the company, who are established favorites here, were the recipients of notably cordial receptions. The cast was as follows:
127Leonora…………………………………….Mrs. Koert-Kronold Manrico…………………………………….Albert L. Guille Conte di Luna………………………………..Giuseppe del Puente Ferrando…………………………………….Ludovico Viviani Azucena…………………………………….Clara Poole one of two readings
128Leonora…………………………………….Mrs. Koert-Kronold Manrico…………………………………….Albert L. Guille Conte di Luna………………………………….Giuseppe del Puente Ferrando…………………………………….Ludovico Viviani Azucena…………………………………….Clara Poole one of two readings
130Orchestra and chorus, though showing the lack of sufficient rehearsals, were in fairly good form.
132"Tannhäuser," produced by the company for the first time on Tuesday evening, was a rather uneven though meritorious performance. Payne Clarke, who has much improved since he was last heard here, was a fairly good "Tannhäuser." Mrs. Kronold was a good "Elizabeth" and Mer-
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.