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Musical Courier 1893-01-04: Vol 26 Iss 670, 1893
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1Connecticut M. T. A.—The report of proceedings at the third annual meeting (1892) of the Connecticut Music Teachers' Association has just been issued. It contains a full report of the meetings and recitals, as well as much other information of interest to musicians.
3Trouble at the Oratorio Rehearsal.—At the last private rehearsal of the Oratorio Society on Wednesday afternoon last, many of the members of the chorus were surprised to learn that only one escort for each member would be admitted. As many of their friends were from out of town, Mr. Damrosch's order created no little dissatisfaction, especially as no warning had been given. In many cases it was necessary for their friends to wait outside in the street till the conclusion of the rehearsal, though a number offered the full price of admission to a regular performance, which was refused. Inside Mr. Damrosch kept the chorus repeating the more difficult numbers or even a few bars, though it was understood this was to be a full rehearsal, spoiling the pleasure of those who had been admitted. The trouble has caused much hard feeling among the chorus and there is talk of calling a meeting to discuss the matter.
5The Boxall Concert.—Miss Avice Boxall, harpist, gave a concert at Chamber Music Hall, Tuesday evening of last week, with the assistance of Miss Hettie Bradley, soprano, and the Dudley Buck Quartet. A large audience attended and apparently derived much enjoyment from the program. Miss Boxall is a capable player and was heard to advantage in a number of selections. The quartet also deserves recognition for its fine singing.
7"The Messiah" at Newburgh.—The first entire performance of an oratorio ever given at Newburgh, N. Y., occurred on Wednesday evening of last week, when "The Messiah" was sung by a chorus of 160 members of the Church Music Association, under the direction of C. B. Rutenber, of New York. Miss Fannie Cartzafner, Mrs. Clara Poole-King, Mr. J. H. McKinley and Mr. Carl Dufft were the soloists. The chorus has been in rehearsal since last spring, and the work was given with smoothness and finish.
9For a Newer Music Hall.—Plans have been filed with the Building Department for extensive alterations to the Music Hall to cost over $300,000. On the corner of Fifty-six street and Seventh avenue, now occupied by an unsightly dwelling and saloon, will be erected a tower and building in harmony with the present structure, the addition, however, being three stories higher than the old building. A new concert room with a capacity of 1,300 is contemplated, as is a roof garden to occupy almost the entire roof space, and perhaps to be connected with the new concert room.
11Work on the alterations will be commenced about May 1, and will not interfere in any manner with the use of the concert room or studios now in use.
13The Future of the Opera House.—Some indefinite and contradictory reports have been heard within the last few days in regard to the disposition of the Metropolitan Opera House. The legal forms necessary to its sale are not yet completed. It has been hinted that the house would not probably be rebuilt, and it has been asserted that it would. A report that Adrian Iselin had been buying a controlling interest in the stock probably arose from the fact that he has acquired the greater part of the stock of the company which owns the Broadway corners of the building occupied by apartments. It is said that several combinations have been formed among the stockholders for the purpose of buying the house.—"Tribune."
15A "Jupiter" Jumble.—Chicago, December 27.—By reason of the failure of the Digby Bell Opera Company forty members of the company are absolutely penniless. A benefit performance at one of the local theatres has been arranged, in which E. S. Willard, Pauline Hall and nearly all the other theatrical people now in town will take part. Several cash contributions have been received, and all members of the company will be taken care of.
17It is expected that the company will be reorganized, Henry E. Dixey replacing Mr. Bell.
19Manager French Must Pay.—Lillian Russell objected to the comic opera "Maid of Plymouth" after her manager, T. Henry French, had signed a contract with Thomas Pearsall Thorne, the composer, and Clay M. Greene, the librettist, to produce it at the Garden Theatre after "La Cigale" last season. It was said that she did not like to appear as a homely Massachusetts maiden after the splendor of "La Cigale." Manager French was ordered by Judge McAdam, of the Superior Court, yesterday, to pay $2,000 in liquidated damages to Thorne and Greene.—"World."
21The Lawton Recital.—Mr. W. H. Lawton, the musical instructor, and Mrs. Beebe Lawton, soprano, will give another of their invitation lecture recitals at Hardman Hall on to-morrow afternoon, January 5. Mr. Lawton's lecture will be upon the cultivation of the voice, and will be illustrated by a song recital in which he will be assisted by Mrs. Lawton.
23The New York Symphony Concert.—The next concerts of the Symphony Society will be on Friday afternoon and Saturday evening at Music Hall under the direction of Mr. Walter Damrosch. Mr. Adolph Brodsky will be the soloist and will play Tschaikowsky's concerto for violin with orchestra. The orchestra will play Mozart's symphony in G minor, Dvorák's dramatic overture, "Husitska," the "Siegfried" idyl, Wagner, and the theme and variations from Suite 3, Tschaikowsky.
25Cyril Tyler's Concerts.—Master Cyril Tyler's next appearance in this city will be at the Madison Square Theatre, instead of the Casino, as it has been announced, on the afternoons of Tuesday and Friday, January 10 and 13. He will have the assistance of an excellent concert company.
27To Reside in New York.—Rafael Diaz Albertina, the violin virtuoso, has decided to make New York his permanent home as a soloist and teacher.
29Nordica Operatic Company.—Mr. C. A. Ellis, manager of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, has organized the Nordica Operatic Company, which will begin a tour of the States on January 16. The company will consist of Mrs. Nordica, Mrs. Scalchi, Miss Helen Dudley Campbell, Andreas Dippel, Del Puente and Emil Fischer. Mrs. Scalchi is expected to arrive in New York within two or three days.
31Hammerstein's Opera Company.—Mr. Oscar Hammerstein announces that his season of English opera at the Manhattan Opera House will begin on January 23 with Moszkowski's "Boabdil," an opera that has been received with great favor in Germany and in Russia. It has been translated into English by Mrs. Helen Tretbar. The second performance will be "Carmen," in which Mr. Duwand Lely, the London tenor, will make his American début. The chorus rehearsals are now going on under the direction of Mr. Liesegang. Mr. Sam Franko will be the leading violin of the orchestra.
33Emma L. Heckle.—Miss Emma L. Heckle has been engaged to sing in Newark, N. J., January 11 and 23.
35Three Wagner Concerts.—Three Wagner concerts will be given by the Symphony Orchestra in the Music Hall the latter part of February, under the auspices of the lady board of managers of the Orthopedic Hospital and Dispensary, for the benefit of that institution. Several soloists will be engaged, and there will be a chorus of 500 singers.
37Wilkie's Ballad Concerts.—Alfred Wilkie, who is well known in the East, has been giving a series of ballad concerts at Maple Hall, San Francisco. A daily paper says of him:
39Alfred Wilkie has made one of the hits of the new season with his afternoon ballad concerts. Yesterday a large and elegant audience filled the Maple Hall of the Palace Hotel to pass judgment on Mr. Wilkie's musical venture. The verdict was unanimous that the popular tenor understood exactly what was wanted. The hour was happy, the program of proper length, the style of the whole entertainment caught the ladies and the musicians alike, and altogether the first Wilkie "Afternoon" was a brilliant success. The program satisfied all tastes. It included solos by Mrs. Berry Fisher, Mrs. Dickinson and Messrs. Wilkie, Carroll and Fleshman, and part songs and duets by the same vocalists. Mr. Wilkie sang in excellent style "The Anchor's Weighed," declining an encore. The ladies were kindly received, but it seemed to be the gentlemen's day. Victor Carroll was not allowed a simple bow in answer to a hearty recall for his "Brigand's Life," but was forced to repeat a verse. Mr. Fleshman, the pianist, one of our boys of whom we are proud, was also compelled, after his superb playing of a Moszkowski polonaise, to satisfy the audience with a second brilliant number. The glee and madrigal were gems in their way. One of the prettiest features of the concert was the wearing of bonnets and calling gowns by the ladies taking part. There was a tone about the entire affair that is not usual in afternoon concerts. Mr. Wilkie is to be congratulated on No. 1 of his series.
41Late Cablegrams.—Verdi, the great composer, who in his long lifetime has seen one school of music rise and another fall into semi-decline, has just taken a journey to Milan to superintend the production of his new opera, "Falstaff." In spite of his great age, he is as eager and intense over this new child of his fancy as Mascagni, the young, is over his latest.
43Something of the querulousness of old age has added to the natural querulousness of the musician and he has wrapped his new opera about with extraordinary precautions of secrecy. Not a line of the score is to be seen; the mise en scène is kept a profound secret, and the only thing known of the libretto is that it has been drawn by Boito from Shakespeare's "Henry IV." and "Merry Wives of Windsor. There are ten principal parts—two sopranos, one mezzo, one contralto, three tenors, two baritones and one basso. The singers have all been selected by Verdi himself, and, beginning to-morrow, the opera will be gone over with the minutest care. It will be produced just a month from to-morrow's rehearsal.
45Meanwhile Mascagni is not idle, and his new opera "Radcliffe" will have its first showing in March. The young composer is working as hard over it as his volatile nature will permit.
47Since the production of "I Rantzau" people are asking why he does not stick to melodrama, which made him famous. When asked that question last week he said: "How on earth am I to go on writing melodramas, if by melodramas you mean works like 'Cavalleria Rusticana?' To begin with, it is the hardest thing in the world to get a good libretto. In 'Cavalleria' I found a treasure, and when I find another one of the same sort, or at least one as spirited and dramatic, why, then I will do, my best to write another 'Cavalleria.'
49"But, then, there is another thing—the public taste. If I had followed my first success with an opera of the same sort I should have had to put still more pepper in or it would have seemed flat.
51"Now, leaving out of the question all idea of musical inspiration and so on, I could not stand the nervous strain that is involved in writing two such operas, one after the other. I love my work, but it is frightfully exhausting. Even a thing like 'I Rantzau,' which you call idyllic and gentle, takes a tremendous deal of energy out of me," and, looking at his worn face and his air of general weariness, one could well believe it.
53"So, you see, I have thought it better to give a little rest both to the public and to myself by varying the styles of my operas. The one that will be done next, 'William Radcliffe,' is melodramatic enough to satisfy all.
55"By the way, let me be honest about that. I see that it is spoken of as a new opera, but as a matter of fact it was written seven years ago, when I was twenty-two."
57"But you are at work upon a really new one, are you not?"
59"Oh, yes, 'Neroné.' I have always wanted to handle that subject. It is so full of dramatic opportunities,' and his eyes lit up with a strange fire, while he was thinking of the great scenes that he would plan.
61"Now, one last question. Have you any definite musical policy? Are you working to further any particular views or aims for the future of Italian music?"
63Mascagni hesitated a moment. "If I say yes outright, you might perhaps think me egotistic, but I assure you I do not overestimate my own importance. Certainly I have aims—perhaps wishes would be the better word. My artistic ideal is the even balance of truth and beauty. I want always to be true, even to be realistic, but I want never to lose beauty. I do not know how to put it quite accurately, but I cannot express myself better than by saying that I should like to do for Italian music something of what Wagner did for German. I endeavor always to portray in my music the emotion of the instant, and to preserve always the ideal of Italian melody."—World.
65"L'Amico Fritz"—The first production in New York of Mascagni's opera, "L'Amico Fritz," will be given at the Music Hall on Tuesday evening, January 31, by Mr. Walter Damrosch and the orchestra of the Symphony Society, for the benefit of the Young Men's Hebrew Association and the Hebrew Institute. The leading artists will be Mrs. Selma Kronold-Koert, Mrs. Clara Poole, Mr. Giuseppe Del Puente and Mr. Payne Clarke. A chorus of at least forty voices will take part. The entertainment will be under the management of Mr. Morris Reno.
67A LIBRARY OF MUSIC.
69On your shelves are Shakespeare, Scott, Dickens, Thackeray and all your favorites in literature; these you have always by you and can enjoy when you please. But Beethoven, Wagner, Chopin and the many masters of music—for the works of these, when you desire to hear them, you are obliged to go to the concert or opera, and even then you are not permitted to make your own selections, but are compelled to listen to programmes arbitrarily arranged by others. If you owned an Aeolian this would not be so. This instrument makes the masterpieces of music as available as those of literature; besides your favorite authors you can have your favorite composers, and no home need be without a complete musical library.
71It is always a pleasure to display the AEOLIAN to those who favor us with a visit.
73The Aeolian Co.,
7418 West 23d Street, New York.
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