Scan 19
Musical Courier 1893-09-27: Vol 27 Iss 707, 1893
131 lines. Read by computer on 20 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 20. See the scan on archive.org.
1before. Upon his arrival there in the morning, after the usual greetings had been exchanged, he asked to be allowed to play a little. He was ushered into the music room and began at once. In vain his hosts waited for his reappearance and at dinner time it was necessary to send word several times before he came. At the table he was absent-minded and continued to make finger exercises upon anything within his reach. He seemed to exist only for his art. After dinner he again sought the piano, oblivious to all attempts of his hosts to divert and entertain him. A small audience soon congregated in the room and listened for a long time to his playing of compositions by old and modern masters—Liszt's "Don Juan Fantasia" and similar difficult pieces; but no Beethoven. At length the hostess said to him: "You have played nothing by Beethoven; will you not favor us?"
3"Oh, madam, you must excuse me," modestly replied d'Albert; "I am not yet so far advanced."
5***
7Mr. Paur has spent the summer in Brunneck, Tyrol, recuperating for next season's work in Boston. He is now in Mannheim, will sail for America the latter part of September, and will upon his arrival remain a few days in New York. Mr. Paur's artistic career here was very brilliant, and with the proper encouragement he will become quite a factor in the musical development of America.
9***
11"Asrael," by Albert Franchetti, will receive its initial performance at the opera on September 16. The same has been rehearsed by Capellmeister Panzer, and the parts are distributed as follows: "Asrael," Mr. De Grach; "Nefta," Miss Von Vahsel; "Loretta," Mrs. Krzyzanowski-Doxat; "King of Brabant," Mr. Wittekopf; "Lidora," Miss Osborne; "Lucifer," Mr. Knüpfner, an excellent cast.
13***
15"Mikado" has been revived at the Altes Theatre, and has been given repeatedly the last few weeks. "Poo-Bah" is described on the program as Collectioinministerporte-feuilletonist.
17AUGUST GÖSSBACHER.
19Paris Letter.
2027 AVENUE DU MAINE, PARIS, September 11, 1893.
22MUSICAL matters are at a standstill, and the legion of teachers which abound in Paris will not resume their lessons until the beginning of October. The Lamoureux Orchestra will not begin their series of Sunday concerts before November, as they will make a tour in Holland, Belgium, Switzerland and England. The Colonne series of concerts will begin in October, as well as the one of d'Harcourt.
24We had the great pleasure to meet the young French virtuoso, Henri Marteau, who, after a well deserved vacation of a few weeks in the southern part of France, has returned to his native town, Reims, and goes occasionally on a lark to Paris to visit his numerous friends. Mr. Marteau, who is studying composition with the celebrated teacher Theodore Dubois, has been hard at work preparing his program for his coming tour in the United States. Mr. Marteau will sail on the 16th inst.
26In the last concours of the pupils of the Conservatoire Messrs. Maquarre, first prize for the flute; Bulteau, first prize for the bassoon; Lambert, first prize for the trumpet, and Morfau, first prize for trombone, belong all to the First Regiment Band, which is in garrison in Versailles.
28The following donations were given to the laureates of the last concours of the Conservatoire: Prix Nicodami (500 frs.), Miss Grumbach, first prize of tragedy and comedy; Prix Guérineau (270 frs.), Mr. Bourtet and Miss Lafargue, prize of singing; Prix Georges Hainl (900 frs.), Mr. Hérouard, prize of 'cello; Prix Popelin (1,200 frs.), Misses Pignata, Desmoulin, Bailliet and Fernet, prize of piano; Prix H. Herz (300 frs.), Miss Desmoulin, prize of piano. The house of Erard & Cie. gave one harp and two grand pianos. The house Pleyel-Wolff gave several grand pianos, and Mr. Bernardel gave a beautiful double bass bow to Mr. Tourmente and fine 'cellos to Messrs. Hérouard, Hasselmans and Mulet, and also an excellent violin to Mr. Capet. The houses of Mill, Millereau and Besson gave choice wind instruments to all the prize winners. The reopening of the Conservatoire is on October 5. one of two readings
29The following donations were given to the laureates of the last concours of the Conservatoire: Prix Nicodami (500 frs.), Miss Grumbach, first prize of tragedy and comedy; Prix Guérineau (270 frs.), Mr. Bourtet and Miss Lafargue, prize of singing; Prix Georges Hainl (900 frs.), Mr. Hérouard, prize of 'cello; Prix Popelin (1,200 frs.), Misses Pignata, Desmoulin, Bailet and Fernet, prize of piano; Prix H. Herz (300 frs.), Miss Desmoulin, prize of piano. The house of Erard & Cie. gave one harp and two grand pianos. The house Pleyel-Wolff gave several grand pianos, and Mr. Bernardel gave a beautiful double bass bow to Mr. Tourmente and fine 'cellos to Messrs. Hérouard, Hasselmans and Mulet, and also an excellent violin to Mr. Capet. The houses of Mill, Millereau and Besson gave choice wind instruments to all the prize winners. The reopening of the Conservatoire is on October 5. one of two readings
31On Tuesday last the members of the Theatre of the Eiffel Tower celebrated the 100th performance of the amusing piece "Paris-Chicago," which has drawn pretty full houses on the first platform of the tower.
33The Opéra Comique has reopened with "Phryné" and "Le Toreador." Miss Sybil Sanderson, whose engagement with Mr. Carvalho does not expire for a month to come, will sing the title rôle of Massenet's opera.
35Mr. Alvarez sang for the first time last week the rôle of "Siegmund" in "Valkyrie" at the Opéra, and was much applauded.
37Camille Saint-Saëns attended a rehearsal of "Phryné" at the Opéra Comique in order to hear Miss Brelay, who is to replace Miss Sybil Sanderson when the latter's engagement expires.
39Mrs. Caron made her reappearance after her annual holiday in the rôle of "Salammbô" in Mr. Reyer's opera, and never has the great lyric tragédienne, so beloved of Parisians, appeared to better advantage. Her voice had been rested after the fatigue of the Wagner répertoire, and she was applauded again and again.
41The great violinist Sivori, who has been in Paris for the past three months, is dangerously sick in his hotel. Mr. Sivori is now seventy-nine years of age. À une autre fois.
43A curious and fortunately unusual incident occurred one night last week at the Menus-Plaisirs, where "La Timbale d'Argent" is being played. At the time when the orchestra ought to have begun the overture not a single musician was in his place, and as the time went on and the band still remained conspicuously absent the audience began to grumble. Eventually one of the actors appeared before the curtain and announced that "ces messieurs de l'orchestre ne se rendent pas à leur devoir," they would be replaced by a piano. The audience took the contretemps in good part.
45C. M. V.
47George Hollow Wilson.
49I AM delighted to find that Mr. George W. Wilson has not lost any of that refined musical taste that made him so noteworthy here before he departed for Chicago to take on himself the burdensome duties of secretary of the Bureau of Music at the World's Fair. It was with a thrilling sensation of pleasure that I read the other day of the horror he experienced in hearing "After the Ball" played in Jackson Park. If the account that met my eye was true, he "shrivelled up like a red apple in a Kansas sand storm" as the profane strains shocked his "delicate Wagnerian ear." While regretting that such painful physical results have overtaken Mr. Wilson, and with the sincere hope that he may outlive the shrivelling and puff out to his normal condition, I feel that he owed it to his Boston training and his Boston associations to go to extremes in manifesting his disapproval of such an outrage as the performance of this tune within the sacred precincts of the Fair. I have no practical acquaintance with the susceptibility of the red apple to the severities of a Kansas sand storm, nor can I exactly see the felicity of the comparison between Mr. Wilson and a red apple, whether grown in Massachusetts or in the Far West; but the simile is a forcible one, and admirably adapted to give a vivid idea of the misfortune that overtook Mr. Wilson under stress of the warring emotions that struggled within him as the vulgar popular tune saluted his ears.
51It does not appear, however, that he took any immediate action in the matter. He was probably too thoroughly stunned to do so, to say nothing of the surprise that must have filled him on finding himself suddenly shrivelled up. However, while still in a semi-conscious state, another band struck up a favorite negro melody. This brought his scattered senses into line again. He had already been shrivelled as far as the process was practicable, and so there was nothing more to be apprehended on that score. The insulted critical instinct in him was aroused, and when the musicians laid aside their instruments and sang he arose to the full height of the situation, and instead of succumbing further to any metaphorical Kansas sand storm, he became a veritable sand storm himself; for he repaired incontinently to his office, or, to be literally correct, his bureau, and issued a peremptory order that more dignity must be imparted to the music selected for performance in Jackson Park, and that under no circumstances should the strains of "After the Ball" be again permitted to pollute the atmosphere surrounding the locality.
53It is not unlikely that Mr. Wilson exceeded his authority in launching this fiat against tunes that the visitors to the Fair both appreciated and enjoyed; but some consideration must be paid to his outraged artistic sentiments. After a man of fine aesthetic nature has been shrivelled up like a red apple in a Kansas sand storm by the aggressive and soul sickening commonplace of a low tune, he cannot be expected to act calmly and to float with discrete willingness on the side of popular favor. It is true that Mr. Wilson could have thrown himself back on the programs of the Boston Symphony concerts, that he edited for so many seasons and in which he set forth his theories of musical art and his profound knowledge of its technical intricacies with such skill and profundity; but what did Chicago know of his work here? Besides, if it had known it thoroughly Mr. Wilson was aware that Boston had its eye on him; that though lost to sight he was to memory dear; and he asserted himself as he did in order to show that even if he were miles upon miles away from that musical centre, whose taste he had done so much to form, he was not unmindful of the danger of letting it imagine that he had fallen from grace. Should he ever return this way, in order to follow up his priceless services in advancing our musical cultural, it will, nay, must be remembered to his lasting honor, that unmindful of personal inconvenience and the ravages that it made on his manly beauty, it was he who, on hearing "After the Ball" played on a spot that had been saturated by Wagner, shrivelled up like a red apple in a Kansas sand storm. But why a red apple, and not a green one?—"Chatterer," in Boston "Saturday Evening Gazette."
55Brull.—Ignaz Brüll's last opera, "Check to the King," will be produced for the first time at Munich November 17.
57PROGRESSIVE STUDIES
58FOR THE
59PIANOFORTE.
60EDITED, ARRANGED IN GROUPS, AND
61THE FINGERING REVISED AND
62SUPPLEMENTED
63BY
64FRANKLIN TAYLOR.
66THIS Collection of Studies is intended to illustrate the various elements of a complete course of pianoforte technique, and to provide students with the means of attacking and overcoming the different special difficulties which have to be encountered.
68With this view the Studies have been arranged in groups, those in each group being placed in progressive order and having reference to some one particular difficulty.
70The greater part of the Studies themselves have been selected from the standard works of the most eminent Study writers, and with these are included numerous others which though of equally great practical utility, have hitherto been less generally accessible.
721. FIVE-FINGER STUDIES. Part 1
732. " " " " " 2
743. SCALES. Part 1
754. " " " " 2
765. BROKEN CHORDS. Part 1
776. " " " " 2
787. " " " " 3
798. " " " " 4
809. " " " " 5
8110. LEFT HAND. Part 1
8211. " " " " 2
8312. " " " " 3
8413. " " " " 4
8514. ARPEGGIO. Part 1
8615. " " " " 2
8716. " " " " 3
8817. VELOCITY. Part 1
8918. " " " " 2
9019. " " " " 3
9120. " " " " 4
9221. " " " " 5
9322. " " " " 6
9423. " " " " 7
9524. FIGURES IN SEQUENCE. Part 1
9625. " " " " 2
9726. BROKEN THIRDS, SIXTHS AND OCTAVES. Part 1
9827. BROKEN THIRDS, SIXTHS AND OCTAVES. Part 2
9928. SHAKES. Part 1
10029. " " " " 2
10130. " " " " 3
10231. DOUBLE NOTES. Part 1
10332. " " " " 2
10433. " " " " 3
10534. " " " " 4
10635. OCTAVES. Part 1
10736. " " " " 2
10837. CHORDS. Part 1
10938. " " " " 2
11039. STACCATO.
11140. REPETITION AND TREMOLO. Part 1
11241. REPETITION AND TREMOLO. Part 2
11342. REPETITION AND TREMOLO.
11443. PART-PLAYING. Part 1
11544. " " " " 2
11645. ORNAMENTS. Part 1
11746. " " " " 2
11847. ACCOMPANIED MEL- ODY. Part 1
11948. ACCOMPANIED MEL- ODY. Part 2
12049. EXTENSIONS AND SKIPS. Part 1
12150. EXTENSIONS AND SKIPS. Part 2
12251. RHYTHM. Part 1
12352. " " " " 2
125FIFTY-TWO BOOKS, PRICE 50 CENTS EACH.
127One Sample Copy Mailed Free on Application.
129NOVELLO, EWER & CO.
13021 East 17th Street, New York.
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