Scan 14
Musical Courier 1892-06-15: Vol 24 Iss 643, 1892
107 lines. Read by computer on 22 September 2026. Printed page 15. See the scan on archive.org.
1Correspondence.
3Honolulu Musical News.
5OVIDE MUSIN, the renowned violinist; Annie Louise Tanner, the American nightingale, and Eduard Scharf, solo pianist, arrived here on the steamship Australia from San Francisco on the 17th inst. They remain here until June 2, when they leave for the Australian colonies. The company gave a concert in the Royal Hawaiian Opera House on the 19th inst. and were greeted with a crowded house. Her Majesty the Queen and suite occupied the royal box. The concert was a grand success. Musin's playing created a furore, and he was repeatedly encored. Such violin playing has never been heard in Honolulu before. Miss Tanner's singing was delightful, and she was accorded a most enthusiastic reception. Eduard Scharf is a pianist of much ability and his accompaniments were perfect. The program on this occasion was as follows:
7Overture, "Semiramide" ……………………………………………. Rossini
8Royal Hawaiian Band.
9Valse, from Gounod's "Faust" ……………………………………… Liszt
10Eduard Scharf.
11"Brilliant Bird" ……………………………………………………….. F. David
12Annie Louise Musin.
13"Souvenir de Haydn" ………………………………………………. Leonard
14Ovide Musin.
15"Reverie Sentimental" …………………………………………….. Alberti
16Royal Hawaiian Band.
17Variations for soprano and violin ……………………………………. Artot
18Annie Louise Musin and Ovide Musin.
19Soli for piano—
20"Norwegian Bridal Possession" ……………………………………. Grieg
21Mazurka ……………………………………………………….. Godard
22Rigaudon ……………………………………………………….. Raff
23Eduard Scharf.
24Songs for soprano—
25"Open Thy Blue Eyes" ……………………………………………. Massenet
26"List to the Voice of Youth" ……………………………………… Annie Louise Musin.
27Bravura variations, on a theme of Rossini, on one single string …Paganini
28Ovide Musin.
29March, for orchestra, "Princess Royal" …………………………… Meyer
30Royal Hawaiian Band.
31Hawaii Pono'i.
33The company gave a second concert Saturday evening, the 21st inst., the opera house being crowded in every part. The greatest enthusiasm prevailed. Musin played a caprice of his own; also cavatina, by Raff; "The Fly," by Bohm, and mazurka, by Musin. Magnificently did he play throughout. The company may give other concerts.
35The Royal Hawaiian and the United States flagship San Francisco bands gave a combined concert in the grounds of the Hawaiian Hotel on the 17th inst., which was listened to by a large audience.
37A number of citizens in Honolulu have recently presented Her Majesty the Queen with a J. & C. Fischer grand piano, the case of which is made of rose, an island wood. The piano stands in the theatre room and makes quite an ornament. The tone is somewhat of a disappointment to those who have tried the instrument, and whether it will improve time will tell. A musicale will be given on the 12th inst. to christen the new piano, as it were. A large number of local artists will appear, by request of the Queen, who is quite a musician herself.
39On the 3rd inst., a lecture on Beethoven was delivered in the Y. M. C. A. Hall, by F. M. English. A small audience was in attendance. The following musical program was rendered on this occasion:
41Anthem, "Come, Holy Ghost" ……………………………………… Atwood
42Choir of boys.
43Solo, "There is a green hill" ……………………………………… Gounod
44Master R. Mist.
45Trio in E (adagio) ………………………………………………… Beethoven
46Misses McGrew and Castle and Mr. English.
47Song ……………………………………………………….. Beethoven
48Mr. Paul Isenberg.
49Sonata, "Moonlight" …………………………………………….. Beethoven
50Miss C. Castle.
51Song, "Adelaide" ………………………………………………… Beethoven
52Mr. Harry von Holt.
53Anthem, "Cast thy burden" ……………………………………… Mendelssohn
54Choir of boys.
56A grand testimonial concert will be tendered Henri Bergh, bandmaster of the Royal Hawaiian Band, on Thursday, June 2. On that day he will complete twenty years' service. It promises to be a big success.
58HAWAII.
60Omaha Observations.
62June 7, 1892.
64SEVERAL causes combined have kept me from writing the usual monthly résumé of musical happenings in Omaha until now, but as there has nothing taken place which seemed to demand earlier attention I presume the delay will not be noticed.
66Early in May the closing concert of the Apollo Club drew together the largest and perhaps the best entertained audience of the season. This was an outcome of great importance to the club, because the organization of the most pretentious, permanent choral society that had yet been made up of Omaha singers was an undertaking of considerable magnitude, and its members were naturally anxious concerning the judgment which would be invited by the season's work. The club had given "Enchanted Swans," "Fair Ellen," and Spohr's "Last Judgment" acceptably, reserving "Elijah" for the last.
68Within twenty-four hours from the opening of reserves at the box office every desirable seat in the new Opera House had been marked off.
70A good orchestra, eighty ladies arrayed in white, with here and there a colored gown to heighten the effect; sixty gentlemen in swallowtails, George E. Holmes, of Chicago, baritone; Mrs. L. A. Torrens, soprano, and Miss Kennedy, contralto, made up an ensemble that elicited hearty applause when the curtain rose.
72Mrs. Fiske, the noted solo contralto, had been engaged to sing the leading alto numbers, but an unfortunate washout in Iowa left her stranded about 100 miles away. Scarcely three months' rehearsing had been given to the oratorio, but the choruses were excellently sung. Mr. Holmes is entitled to more than passing notice. It was his first appearance in Omaha and little was known of his ability. His voice is very good indeed, well trained and well placed. His phrasing on this occasion could hardly have been excelled. Every word could be easily heard all over the house, yet he sang with ease and without affectation.
74Mrs. Torrens sang her parts easily and smoothly. Her method is good, her interpretation of the sentiments excellent, leaving little to be desired except volume. Her voice is not strong enough to be effective in oratorios and suffered somewhat by comparison with the robust tones of Mr. Holmes, but the audience applauded her musically singing. Miss Kennedy accepted the numbers assigned originally to Mrs. Fiske, at the last hour, because of necessity, and is entitled to warmest praise not only because she sang well but as a tribute to her courage in undertaking the task. Mr. Wilkins and Mr. Treynor, of Council Bluffs, took the tenor solos, the former gentleman singing the aria very well indeed.
76After its own work in the way of entertainment had been finished the Apollo Club took the responsibility of bringing the Chicago Orchestra, Theodore Thomas director, to Omaha for a series of three concerts. The venture would doubtless have netted a handsome sum but for unfortunate circumstances. Owing to a delayed train the orchestra did not arrive till 9 o'clock, and without refreshment began the first concert at a quarter before 10. Many had gone away, but the "stayers" were well entertained. With the orchestra were Mrs. Geneva Johnston-Bishop, soprano, and Fannie Bloomfield-Zeisler, pianist. A fine audience assembled the second evening, but the ground lost financially, through delay and bad weather, could not be recovered, and the Apollos made a small draft upon their "jeans" to meet the deficiency.
78L. A. Torrens, director of the Apollo Club, has a great deal mapped out, musically, for the summer. He has 1,400 young ladies at work on choruses in Omaha and Council Bluffs, and about 800 adults similarly engaged in these two cities and surrounding towns. These great choruses are to be brought into service during the Omaha-Council Bluffs Chautauqua and the Chautauqua to be held in Fremont, Neb. Mr. Whitney Mockridge, tenor, and Nellie Bangs Skelton, pianist, of Chicago, are both engaged together with the Apollo Club and an orchestra of thirty pieces.
80Mrs. J. W. Cotton, vocal teacher, and director of Trinity Church choir, will leave shortly for an extended stay in Europe. Most of the time will be devoted to study in the line of her profession. During her absence Mr. W. B. Wilkins will have charge of the choir.
82A musical event of considerable moment for Omaha is likely to be brought about for next season. Plans are now being perfected and subscriptions taken to put the matter in shape. I am not at liberty to give details now, but hope to make it the subject of a communication in a couple or two of weeks.
84The Y. M. C. A. is making up its regular star course for next season, having booked the Lotus Glee Club, of Boston, Leland Powers and one other attraction. The completed list will be ready soon.
86Park concerts have been begun, and at least twice a week the best bands available will fill the air with music, and this will pretty nearly cover entertainments now in sight for the summer.
88ZAD.
90Chopin.
92TWO musical geniuses rescued piano music in the first part of this century from wrecking on the shoals of superficial artifice and pedantry. Imbuing its forms with soul, which their pianistic contemporaries seemed to have forgotten, they revolutionized its entire domain. They enriched the realm of harmony by a multitude of new progressions, by a new application of old rules, by the creation of new forms where the old had become inadequate. They drew forth the latent powers of the piano and endowed it with a wealth of tone colors, which they knew how to blend and mix as no one had known before. They were the founders of a pianistic era; but while the one left behind him only a few disciples, owing to his morbid sensitiveness which made him shrink from contact with the great mass, the other in his capacity as world famed artist, inimitable conductor and brilliant writer attracted a host of enthusiastic followers. The two met in Paris, which Chopin had made his home; they became friends, and when Chopin died Liszt erected to his memory an imperishable monument, one that will outlast the stone raised over his grave in Père Lachaise, and bearing the image of his delicate features.
94He wrote his book on Chopin, dated Weimar, 1850, a year after the premature death of the greatest musician unfortunate Poland had produced. Save the sublime reverence which permeates every word of Wagner when he speaks of Beethoven, this book is the most beautiful tribute that ever one artist paid another. It adds a leaf to the laurel wreath that encircles the Olympic brow of the man who had not only one of the greatest musical minds of the century, but also the noblest, kindest heart on earth. That heart dictated Liszt's book, for no memoir, no biography can surpass it in the spirit of loving devotion to its subject. What profound insight into the character of the Polish artist it displays! What a psychological study it is! What a masterpiece of aesthetic analysis the author gives in the chapters devoted to Chopin's works in general, his polonaises and mazurkas in particular! It is the work of a poet, a philosopher—it is a revelation. One cannot pay homage to Chopin without referring to the man who understood him as only one genius understands another.
96The life of Chopin was unlike that of most artists; it was uneventful. He was born near Warsaw March 1, 1809, as the son of a French professor of languages and a Polish lady. His early education was acquired in that city, where the family later resided. His instruction in music was entrusted to the care of a teacher who was a fervent adherent of Bach and the classical school. He was early admitted to the society of the Polish nobility, and many a time during his life did his memory recall the days when he moved in that atmosphere of wealth and refinement, where beautiful men and women danced the polonaise and the mazurka with that indefinably noble grace of which we now have an example in Paderewski and which in the tongue of that highly gifted musician and countryman of Chopin is called "elegansko niedbale." After graduating from the Warsaw Lyceum he visited Berlin and Vienna, and at the latter place gave two concerts, being received with great appreciation.
98In 1829 he was to go to Italy, but his love for a young singer made him delay his departure until the following year. When he had gone as far as Vienna the news reached him that a revolution had broken out in Poland, the last struggle of that unlucky country against the tyranny of Russia. He could not return to Warsaw and he had no desire to revel in the beauties of Italy when at home all was in uproar. He remained in Vienna and the next year decided to go to Paris. On his way through Germany and England he gave concerts. In September, 1830, he arrived in the Seine city, which was to become his second home. He played in a few concerts and in the salon of Camilla Pleyel, herself an eminent pianist, surrounded himself with a circle of faithful friends, chosen mostly from the emigrant nobility of his country and the world of art and literature, and devoted himself to teaching and composing. But soon his health, which had never been strong, began to fail and developed in him that subtle tenderness and morbid seclusion which tinged his works with a sweet melancholy, and cast over them a shade of gloom that prompted Field to term him "talent de chambre de malade."
100(To be continued.)
102W. S. B. Matthews.—W. S. B. Matthews, of Chicago, editor of "Music," was a visitor at this office last Monday. Mr. Matthews will remain in the city this week.
104An Opera by a Woman.—The novelty of the production of an opera by a woman composer occurred at the Grand Theatre, Bordeaux, a short time ago. The opera is by Mrs. de Grandval. It is named "Mazepa," and is in four acts and six tableaux. The local critics speak in high praise of the music.
106WANTED—Professional organist and choir master desires position, quartet, chorus or boy choir. Thorough musician, fifteen years' experience. Will give references and testimonials. Address "L. A.," THE MUSICAL COURIER office.
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.