Scan 12
Musical Courier 1894-08-29: Vol 29 Iss 755, 1894
108 lines. Read by computer on 21 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 13. See the scan on archive.org.
A town on its own line is one of the directory's headings. That is where the town on a maker's page comes from.
1is all distorted. It taxes the singers, to say the least; none but the strong can endure.
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5In May, just the same, Paris will have a little treat of Italian opera. They will be indebted to M. Edouard Sonzogno for it. "Cavalleria Rusticana," "I Pagliacci," "l'Ami Fritz," and operas by Franchetti and Samara will be given at the Porte Saint-Martin in May.
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9Among foreign musicians who have made Paris headquarters are: Tschaikowsky, Cui, Svendsen, Gernsheim, Goring Thomas, MacDowell, Spohr, Th. Carrefio, Gluck, Mozart, Piccini, Cherubini, Spontini, Meyerbeer, Rossini, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Kalkbrenner, Alboni, and now Paderewski, Ziloti, Hollman and a host of others.
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13MASSENET ON COMPOSITION.
15"There is an individuality for libretto as for music in the mind of the composer," says Massenet.
17"The plot that will inspire one would be perfectly incongruous with another. 'Les Huguenots' was a plot for Meyerbeer. What would Wagner have done with it, or Meyerbeer with 'Walküre?' Also, a libretto that is a good plot may be wholly bad or useless for music.
19"I do not know why one plot strikes me and sets music flowing through my being, while another touches no key. I never could tell; but it is a vivid appeal, I can tell you.
21"After that comes it means write. The first search is for the truth of the sentiment—to reject that which does not accord with the soul of the words and to become imbued with the personality of the characters. The difficulty of doing this with the thoughts of another, which may accord in part but not in all with one's own sentiment, is the 'travail de soul' for the opera writer."
23The "sentiment" is wholly different in each of his operas. The passion in "Werther" is of a wholly different character in his mind from that in "Thais." "La Navarraise," again, is wholly unlike the others. The sentiment it is which forms a coloring around which the music rhythm revolves.
25"The music of to-day is too rich!" he says. "It must become simpler. The intensity of civilization and Wagner impulse have set music blood mad.
27"People must learn first to listen and second to know when that to which they are listening is true. A critic should be a musician and an inspired oracle besides."
29The composer has but little to do with the dressing of a part. But he, of course, works in connection with the librettist to secure the best expression. The creation of costume, such as in "Thais," is no easy matter, and is, moreover, a very important one.
31Massenet's portfolio is never without two or three creations in different stages. He always hopes the next one will be the best.
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35You never realize how Americans, especially American women, lose through "hurry-burry" and thoughtlessness till you get to France. It is dreadful the mistakes they make. One American musician that I know gave five wrong addresses in a week, and endured or had other people endure the results. One had a number of people come to her musical the day after it was over, through "haste" in writing the date. I have had music books and papers returned by French people from all quarters of Paris, many bringing them personally and going far out of their way lest I might be inconvenienced. The only piece of music that has been gone over three months, and I do not expect ever to see, was lent to a New York choir singer. I have had hundreds of interviews in six months; the only one that cost me time and inconvenience, through thoughtlessness, was an American. FANNIE EDGAR THOMAS.
37A High Priced Violin.—One of the violins which belonged to the late violin virtuoso Robert Heckmann was recently sold at Mannheim to a virtuoso of Holland for 12,000 marks ($8,000).
39THE NEW FIRM OF
40R. E. JOHNSTON and Joseph Arthur,
41Decker Building, Union Sq. W.,
42NEW YORK CITY,
43Present the following Artists for the Coming Season:
44"YSAYE," the Violinist.
45HENRI MARTEAU, the distinguished young French Violinist.
46FRANZ WILCZEK, the Austrian Violinist, supported by an excellent Company of Artists.
47Mme. ROSA LINDE, Contralto.
48Miss THEODORA PFAFFLIN, Soprano.
49Miss MARGUERITE WUERTZ, Violinist.
50Mons. AIMÉ LACHAUME, Pianist. And
51LITTLE TUESDAY, the celebrated Child Impersonator and Dancer, supported by her own Company.
53The Behnke System of Voice Training.
54THOUSANDS upon thousands have received the benefits accruing from instruction under this system from the late Emil Behnke, whose life work so firmly established, is efficiently carried on by Mrs. Behnke and their only daughter, Miss Kate Behnke, both of whose portraits appear in this number. Mrs. Behnke was always fully in sympathy with her husband's work, frequently giving lessons and generally acting as his secretary. This long and intimate association has amply qualified her to efficiently teach this system, which was the result of years of scientific research and practical observation and experience. I had the pleasure of an interview with this accomplished and highly esteemed lady recently, and in answer to my question as to what the Behnke system is she kindly gave me the following explanation:
56To summarize a man's life work in a few sentences is not easy, and to give you an idea of Mr. Behnke's system of voice training I must necessarily include many biographical details of my late husband's life. Originally a German vocalist, with a remarkably fine baritone voice, he had the misfortune to contract a serious illness when on a concert tour in Russia, while sledding from one town to another in the night, in order to arrive in time for the next concert. A snow storm prevented the party from proceeding, and Mr. Behnke took a chill, which settled on his lungs and ultimately obliged him to give up public singing. Always struck by the empiricism of various systems of training, he set himself to work at an early age to discover a scientific basis for all voice training. This was his life study. His exhaustive investigations by laryngological examination of hundreds of throats in the act of singing, and by auto-laryngology into the formation, extent and use of the different registers, and his lucid descriptions of the best way of uniting and blending them so as to make an "even voice" of the whole compass are well known and recognized. His definition of the term register is clear, concise and universally adopted: "A register is a series of tones produced by the same mechanism."
58During the greater part of our married life my husband and I were fellow students and co-workers, and as he greatly disliked writing I acted as his secretary, all his correspondence and everything he ever published passing through my hands. He invariably discussed every point with me, and we delighted in this unity of interest and work. During the latter years of his life I also assisted him in teaching. The benefit to me now of those years of training is incalculable, and I owe to it the great success which has followed my work since my husband's lamented decease.
60The basis of this system, in brief, is science in opposition to empiricism. His detestation of the slipshod inaccuracy of empirical directions is well exemplified by the following anecdote:
62Mr. J. Spencer Curwen, publisher of Behnke's "Mechanism of the Human Voice," said to him one day, "What does it matter if a man tells you to send your voice up through the top of your head, or out through your eyes, or if he says that the voice originates in the chest, provided he gets good tone, and turns out good singers?" "My dear sir," replied Mr. Behnke, "I can only deal with physiological truth or falsehood; it is not the slightest use asking me to approve such nonsense." I should like to add that not only are these and similar directions nonsensical, but they are absolutely prejudicial. They have no basis in fact, and the pupils in blind endeavor to follow them out make extraordinary and wholly wrong muscular efforts, which abuse of functions brings on serious throat ailments, accompanied frequently by deterioration and ultimate loss of voice. I am often puzzled and astounded by the looseness and inappropriateness of nomenclature which singers and speakers pick up in their wanderings from one master to another. Names are given to sensations and rules of practice formed from imagination of the causes of those sensations which are confusing and misleading in the highest degree.
64Mr. Behnke's intimate and accurate knowledge of the use and abuse of all the muscles connected with the vocal and speech apparatus enabled him to devise exercises for bringing many of them into action for the purpose of strengthening them and of overcoming defects. In my own practice of his methods with my pupils I often notice with astonishment and admiration the effect produced by them. This ability to give voluntary control over automatic muscular action makes his system stand out in strong contrast to the bewildering directions, to whom the exactness of science is a sealed book, and is even more remarkable than the patience, endurance, skill and scientific enthusiasm which enabled him as early as 1871 to obtain photographs of his own throat in the act of singing. This afterward gave him the idea of adding photographs of the larynx to the early English editions of "Voice, Song and Speech," which he wrote in collaboration with Dr. Lennox Browne.
66Some of the main points of the system are natural or diaphragmatic breathing, with perfect management and control, which is the foundation of all good tone production; careful cultivation of the resonators of the voice, i.e., of those resonating cavities over which we can easily obtain voluntary control, by which means the inherent quality of the vocal tone is reinforced. This constitutes "timbre." Education of the mouth in the production of vocal sounds in order to suit the different pitches of the voice; careful training of the voice, so as to effectually bridge over breaks between registers; the ability to demonstrate how to acquire the mixed voice, which has enabled public singers to avoid equally the Scylla of forcing up the thick register, and the Charybdis of the falsetto. These are perhaps the principal points, which are explained fully in Mr. Behnke's published works.
68My experience has been that the training of singers and speakers runs on parallel lines, and that this system has been the means of saving many public speakers and many of the clergy from loss of living. A memorandum was recently issued by the Council of the British Medical Association on "Voice Training for Speakers." I am glad to say that this was the result of my husband's work. It would take too long to go into details now, but there is an excellent account of a meeting of the Laryngological Section, at which my husband demonstrated his treatment of voices, in the "Medical Press Circular," of April 6, 1892. The resolution then proposed and carried was in reference to Mr. Behnke's work. I have also found this system an effectual cure for stammering. I have several stammerers in my house now whose progress you can test for yourself, and I have cured a very great many. Mr. Behnke devised the system, but as a rule he left the application of it entirely to me. Every stammerer who has self-control and perseverance can be cured in time, except some cases caused by deficiency of brain power.
70My daughter and myself are both very busy carrying on all the branches of my late husband's work, and I am thankful to say that we are very successful as regards results. My daughter was carefully trained by her father, and she also studied under Mr. Sims Reeves, taking a further course in Germany, thus qualifying herself to teach artistic singing, as well as the scientific production of the voice. We have pupils from America, India and Australia as well as England. I like teaching Americans. They are eager, receptive, painstaking, and appreciative, but a little too fond of getting a smattering of everyone's method, which must leave their minds in a very confused and chaotic state by the time that they re-cross the Atlantic. One of the best examples perhaps of the utility of our method is the case of Mr. Ben Davies, who came to Mr. Behnke with a falsetto upper register. His medium tones were rich and ringing, and although he had been well taught the artistic side of singing, his voice production was seriously wrong. He was taught by Mr. Behnke how to use the mixed voice, and his naturally fine organ, which had doubtless been injured in the upper register by improper use, was saved in time. Mr. Ben Davies, who is a charming man, has always acknowledged in a most candid and
72INNES' FAMOUS BAND.
73An Incomparable Band that Does Not Run Away from Comparison.
75The Fall Tour of this biggest and best organization in America will continue from August 14 to December 4, including an engagement for the entire season at the Pittsburgh Exposition and the Grand Army Encampment in that city.
77A special feature of the concert tour will be the production of "War and Peace," a great historical musical spectacle just completed by Mr. Innes, and undoubtedly the most thrilling and exciting descriptive story ever told in melody.
79"War and Peace" will be given with the united forces of the great band, a fife and drum corps, Scotch pipers, tub. bands, military companies, G. A. R. posts, four eminent special vocal soloists, massed chorus, and a battery of electric firing artillery to be boomed at a safe distance from the stage in exact time with the music.
81This is a splendid card to create a sensation and draw enormous crowds to watering places, parks or large buildings. Nothing like it since the Gilmore Jubilee.
83For information regarding "War and Peace," festivals, concerts or other engagements, address
85F. N. INNES, Director,
86HOWARD PEW, Business
87J. H. LAINE Managers.
89The Chelsea,
90New York.
92Seidl Society's
93Brighton Beach Concerts,
94Under the direction of
95ANTON SEIDL, with his Metropolitan Orchestra.
96(no line here) one of two readings
98A SEASON OF TEN WEEKS . . .
99BEGINNING JUNE 30,
100ENDING SEPTEMBER 3.
101(no line here) one of two readings
103at Brighton Beach Music Hall every afternoon at 3 and evening at 8. On Saturdays and Sundays well-known vocalists will assist, and selections from the prominent operas will be given. Orchestral novelties, symphonies, new works, also light popular music will be rendered.
104(no line here) one of two readings
106Address Brighton Beach Hotel,
107New York.
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