Scan 12
Musical Courier 1893-10-18: Vol 27 Iss 710, 1893
143 lines. Read by computer on 23 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 13. See the scan on archive.org.
1careful observance of dynamic gradations, there was a sense of value in estimating the importance of the various voices; but there was something lacking, and that was perhaps the expression of a great musical river with its contributory streams.
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5Surely the andante con moto of the symphony was taken at too slow a pace. Leave any discussion of the proper meaning of the Italian phrase out of the question, the melos suffered by the slowness, nor was the phrase sung and bound together as it might have been. But it is a fashion with some in these days to confound an andante with an adagio.
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9Mr. Paur wore patent leather pumps, if I am not mistaken; but when he conducted the waltz from the serenade by Tchaikowsky he seemed to exchange them for rubber boots that came above the knees. The daintiness, the delicacy, the coquetry of this Franco-German movement vanished in thin air. The dancers moved laboriously in a ploughed field.
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13So in the "Tannhäuser" overture, there was more of thoughtfulness than of spontaneity in the performance. The drawing was possibly all right; but the colors for the most part were thinly spread, and in this overture color may be thrown on with a palette knife.
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17Mr. Paur seems to be an honest, hard working, vigorous musician. The first impression is that he is, first of all, a schoolmaster.
19And perhaps a schoolmaster would be now of greater benefit to the orchestra and the public than a frenzied poet.
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23This is the program of the concert of October 21: Volkman's "Richard III.," Dvorák's Second Rhapsodie, Schubert's C major symphony. Nordica will sing.
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27The Welsh Ladies' Choir gave two concerts at Music Hall the 20th and 21st, and they sing at the Boston Theatre this evening. I expected to revel in hearing the folksongs of Wales, and I was prepared to write a long-winded article on Wales, stuffed with references to Owen Glendower, Cadwallader and his goats, the symbolism of Taffy and the hidden meaning of the rarebit. I was prepared to dilate on Druids, Bards, Triads and the Mabinogion; to examine the origin of "Hob Y Deri Dando" and "Gadael Y Tir." But I went to the first concert. I heard no harp, no crwth, no pibgorn; not even a pybean. A young lady, however, smote the piano like a grown man. The program was long: Sixteen numbers, and recalls without end. There were five Welsh folksongs. I heard one sung with commendable precision and intelligence by a chorus of hearty matrons and maidens, all adorned with wealth of hair. But when a long line of soloists began selections from such Welshmen as De Koven, Tosti and Mascagni, I confess that I was disappointed. Nor did the individual singers reconcile me to their musical disloyalty.
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31The Adamowski Quartet will give five concerts in Chickering Hall Tuesday afternoons, October 31, November 21, December 19, January 16, and February 20.
33Mr. H. Clarence Eddy, of Chicago, was in Boston on the 11th, as the guest of Mr. S. B. Whitney.
35Messrs. Theodore Thomas, of Chicago, and H. E. Krehbiel and W. J. Henderson, of New York, attended the first public rehearsal of the Symphony Orchestra this season, under Mr. Paur.
37Mr. Otto Roth is preparing Molique's A minor violin concerto for public performance this season.
39The first concert of the ninth season of the Kneisel Quartet will be given in Chickering Hall the 23d. The program includes Beethoven's F major quartet, op. 59; Haydn's quartet, G minor; Brahms' F major quintet, op. 88. Later programs will include Smetana's E minor quartet; d'Albert's E flat major quartet; quartet A minor, op. 132, Beethoven; quartet E flat, op. 127, Beethoven; Brahms' piano quintet, F minor.
41Emma Eames and Sofia Scalchi, assisted by an orchestra conducted by Mr. Carl Zerrahn, will appear at the first of the Suffolk musicales at Music Hall the 17th.
43De Pachmann's first recital this season will be in Chickering Hall the 19th.
45Lillian Nordica, supported by the full Germania orchestra, under the leadership of Mr. Emil Mollenhauer, will sing at the first concert of the Star course at Music Hall the 16th.
47Mr. H. W. Parker has written lately a quintet for strings, songs and a Christmas cantata.
49Mrs. Sofia Scalchi is studying the part of "Mrs. Quickly" in Verdi's "Falstaff" with Mr. Augusto Rotoli, of this city.
51Many of the members of the Symphony Orchestra are delighted with "Venus." They say that they enjoy particularly Mr. Kerker's music and the singing of Miss D'Arville.
53PHILIP HALE.
55Alexandre Guilmant in Newark.
57THAT Newark is fully capable of appreciating the visit of a truly great artist and genius was very apparent by the immense representative audience which filled the Peddie Memorial Church on Wednesday evening, October 11, when Alexandre Guilmant discoursed at length upon the immense organ, which E. M. Bowman had the honor of placing at his disposal.
59No other organ in the city can equal the one that was erected under Mr. Bowman's own supervision. It has four manuals and a pedal of full concert scale including an electric organ of fifteen stops, and altogether is one of the largest, finest wind and most completely equipped instruments in the world.
61The program which Mr. Guilmant gave at this, the sixth season of the Caecilian Choir, is as follows:
63Toccata in F……………………………………………..Bach
64Offertory in D flat, op. 8………………………………………Salome
65Sonate Pontificale…………………………………………..Lemmens
66Allegro moderato.
67Adagio.
68Marche pontificale.
69Fugue-Fanfare.
70Invocation in B flat………………………………………Guilmant
71Finale in E flat……………………………………………..Guilmant
72"Funeral march and Hymn of Seraphs"…………………Schumann
73Canon in B minor…………………………………………..Schumann
74Toccata in G……………………………………………….Dubois
75Improvisation on a theme to be given.
76March for a church festival.
78The toccata in F opened without prelude, and was given in a beautiful clear and incisive manner. The staccato passages were played with the most delicate expressiveness, and the pedal phrasing was one of the finest exhibitions of the great organist's playing. The "Sonate Pontificale," by Lemmens, was an extremely gratifying composition, given in four movements. The allegro moderato, of the first movement, is by far the most difficult and complex, although the adagio and Marche Pontificale were more enjoyed, while the Fugue-Fanfare, with its peculiar and fascinating effects, produced the greatest demonstrative interest.
80Three numbers, the compositions of Guilmant, were most cleverly constructed. The "Invocation," in B flat, was charmingly conceived. The finale in E flat was generous and broad in style, and the "Funeral March and Hymn of Seraphs," which I understand was composed for the opening of the organ in Notre Dame, Paris, was the most elaborately effective number of the program. Mr. Guilmant delivered it in a noble and majestic manner. The theme throughout was clearly defined, and the climax was one of splendid culminating effect. At its finish the audience was aroused to the highest degree of enthusiasm, and the artist was recalled four times, until he was obliged to respond by giving an additional number.
82The Canon in B minor, by Schumann, was quite unknown to many in the audience, and was written by Schumann in the year 1845. The Canon abounds in romanticism and lovely passages, full of suggestiveness and delightful possibilities. There were no difficulties for Mr. Guilmant to overcome in the matter of organ technic, and as every other attribute which constitutes the artist are his, of course a smooth, even and highly artistic performance was to be expected. To listen to him was not only an education, but an actual lesson in organ phrasing, contrapuntal passages and marvelous tonal coloring, a remarkable dexterity and versatility of touch, and a wonderful smoothness in attacking the various manuals, in fact an ensemble of perfections which tend to make Mr. Guilmant a peerless virtuoso, and it is quite beyond the power of expression of my pen to dilate further upon the innate musical temperament and conception of this greatest of living organ poets.
84But the Caecilian Choir sang remarkably well upon this occasion, so much so that Mr. Guilmant applauded, and after the performance of a charming part song, "The Two Cupids," by C. V. Stanford, he shook hands with Mr. Bowman, congratulating him upon the excellency of their work. The other numbers sung by the Caecilians were "The Knight's Tomb," by Stanford, and "There is Music by the River," by Pinsuti.
86Mr. Bowman conducted. Mr. Sauvage was in splendid form. His first number was the recitative and aria. "Yes, she flies from me still," "She alone charmed my sadness," by Gounod, which he sang in a masterful manner, and with great dramatic effect, after which, so tumultuous was the applause that he encored by singing "The Friar of Orders Grey," a fine old English song. He next sang a group of three folk songs, "My Slender Boy;"—Welsh; "Long, Long Ago"—Hungarian, and "Where Be Going"—Cornish. They were bright and peculiar, and genuinely sung. He was recalled and gave Rossini's "Tarantella" and being a second time encored sang, as only Mr. Sauvage can sing, Traherne's "Laughing." Tonzo Sauvage as usual accompanied his father, and in all his work acquitted himself like a young artist. He is a pupil of Mr. Bowman's, who predicts for him a musical future.
88On Thursday evening October 12 the Green Street School Alumni gave their annual concert in Saenger Hall.
90Miss Carlotta Maconda and William R. Williams were the soloists.
92Miss Maconda did not sing in as large a voice as she did at the same place last season, but the sweetness and quality of tone were as noticeable as ever, and her vocalization limpid and true. Her two solos were "Marriage de Jeannette," by Masse, and "Villanelle," by Del Aqua.
94Mr. Williams was in excellent voice and sang "Penso," by Tosti; "Spanish Serenade by Rüder Martin, and "Songs of Araby," by Clay.
96Voso had the orchestra in charge and Mr. Phillip Egner, as the 'cellist, played "Danse Hollandaise," by Dunkler and "Lamento," by Marie.
98MABEL LINDLEY-THOMPSON.
100Broad Street Conservatory of Music.
102GILBERT R. COMBS founded the Broad Street Conservatory of Music nine years ago at 1331 South Broad street, Philadelphia. He had but little to begin business with other than the qualification of a thorough musician, a gentleman and an active business brain. These he employed to the best advantage, and as a result the Broad Street Conservatory of Music is both an educational and financial success.
104Mr. Combs can look back to the first year of his conservatory venture, when the profits barely paid the rent of the house in which he was doing business, and when to meet other expenses he found it necessary to fill an organist's position on Sunday and an orchestral position during the remaining evenings of the week—a year in which the greater part of his patronage came from abroad—he received scant recognition from Philadelphians. Mr. Combs looks back to this first year, and with commendable pride compares it to the present condition of his Broad Street conservatory.
106He has now under instruction over nine hundred pupils, coming from every state in the Union. His following in Philadelphia is so numerous as to oblige the opening of a branch at 716 North Broad street, for the accommodation of pupils from that portion of the city. He is employing thirty professors of acknowledged superiority. There has not been one year in the nine in which advancement has not been made.
108The Broad Street Conservatory of Music, in making its announcement for 1893-94, says:
110It is with considerable pride that the director of the Broad Street Conservatory of Music announces several improvements and extensions at the commencement of the season of 1893-4, indicating a continuation of the steady, substantial growth of an institution that has fully merited the almost phenomenal success attained. Supplied as it is to-day with a faculty of the best teachers that money can pro-
112TOUR OF THE HENRI MARTEAU CO.
114Henri Marteau,
115The Great French Violinist,
116IN CONJUNCTION WITH
117Mme Rosa Linde,
118The Celebrated American Contralto.
119EDWIN M. SHONERT,
120The Eminent Pianist.
121UNDER THE DIRECTION OF
122RUDOLPH ARONSON.
124NOTE.—The Marteau Concert Co. may be engaged after November 20 by addressing
125R. E. JOHNSTON, Manager, Belvedere House, 4th Ave and 18th St., New York
127THE NEW YORK School of Opera and Oratorio, 106 & 108 East 23d Street.
129EMILIO AGRAMONTE
130AND
131CHARLES B. HAWLEY, DIRECTORS.
133A SPECIAL SCHOOL for instruction in all branches of vocal art, which are taught in a scientifically graded and systematized course, from their elementary principles to their supreme expression in Opera and Oratorio. The School will be inaugurated September 25. Candidates for admission can apply from September 1.
135FACULTY:
136Singing, Solfeggio and Musical Dictation, Chanting, Opera and Oratorio—E. AGRAMONTE, C. B. HAWLEY, MME. THEODORE BJÖRKSTEN, MISS MARIE S. BISSELL. Harmony—C. B. RUTENBER. Physical Culture, Elocution, the Art of Acting and Opera on the Stage—MISS ANNA WARREN STORY, MR. HENRY L. WINTHROP, language—Dr. LUIS BARALDI. HERR FREDERICK RADEMACHER, MME. EUGENIE LEHRE, MME. ANNA OPERA, ECCLESIASTICAL Music and Oratorio and other studies; prominent lecturers. one of two readings
137Singing, Solfeggio and Musical Dictation, Chanting, Opera and Oratorio—E. AGRAMONTE, C. B. HAWLEY, MME. THEODORE BJÖRKSTEN, MISS MARIE S. BISSELL. Harmony—C. B. RUTENBER. Physical Culture, Elocution, the Art of Acting and Opera on the Stage—MISS ANNA WARREN STORY, MR. HENRY L. WINTHROP, language—Dr. LUIS BARALDI. HERR FREDERICK RADEMACHER, MME. EUGENIE LEAVER, MME. ANNA OPERA, ECCLESIASTICAL Music and Oratorio and other studies; prominent lecturers. one of two readings
139The courses stem and the separate branches system, both used. School open all year. Lessons in the evening also. School home for out of town pupils, 458 W. 23d Street, Miss E. Chater in charge.
141For terms and prospectus apply to
142LOUIS ALBERTI, Secretary.
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