Scan 29
Musical Courier 1894-11-21: Vol 29 Iss 767, 1894
83 lines. Read by computer on 20 September 2026. Printed page 30. See the scan on archive.org.
1Something Pleasant About Sousa.
3Sousa's Band has been concertizing during the last week with its accustomed great success in the cities along the New York Central Railroad, including Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, Poughkeepsie, &c. It has now passed into New England, where its tour will be continued as far as Bangor, Me. It will play in Boston next Sunday evening and also three days of the week following.
5The band will then return through Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, passing through New York, dropping two concerts, on December 8 and 9, by engagement in Brooklyn, and thence on to Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, &c., returning to New York December 16 for a much-needed rest during the holidays, after the unprecedented season of daily concert giving of forty-two weeks, beginning last February, embracing the Manhattan Beach and St. Louis Exposition engagements, and tours as far west as San Francisco and San Diego; south as far as Little Rock, Memphis, Nashville, Louisville, &c.; north to Chicago, Grand Rapids, Saginaw, Detroit, &c., and east as far as Bangor, Me. This has all been accomplished without the break of a day in concertgiving, except one between Salt Lake City and San Francisco and another between Sacramento and the same city on the return, consumed in travel. It is unnecessary to say that this entire season has been a continuous success. Such great organizations can only keep the road when generously patronized by the people.
7The band will repeat this experience next season. It is already under contract to fill its annual engagements at Manhattan Beach and the St. Louis Exposition, will put in ten consecutive days in the great Auditorium in Chicago, a week in Buffalo, and proportionately longer periods in other larger cities than heretofore, in response to the popular demand. It will make a tour through the South to New Orleans immediately after Easter.
9Among the incidental successes connected with this great organization may be mentioned the marvelous growth in the sale of Sousa's own compositions. Messrs. John Church & Co. put into the hands of the blushing but receptive Sousa on the 1st day of October a check for $6,388—this being the royalties for the three months ending that day on only two of Sousa's marches, the "Liberty Bell" and "Manhattan Beach." Considering that three years ago Mr. Sousa was the leader of the United States Marine Band at the beggarly government salary of $1,500 a year, his present position and income may be regarded as proud achievements.
11The First Philharmonic Concert.
13The first concert of the Philharmonic Society took place last Saturday evening at Carnegie Hall. The usual public rehearsal was given on Friday afternoon. The attendance was very large—larger than at any previous season. Mr. Anton Seidl conducted this program:
15Overture, "Sakuntala," op. 13…………………………….Goldmark
16Concerto for violin, No. 3, B minor, op. 61………………..Saint-Saëns
17Allegro non troppo.
18Andantino quasi allegretto.
19Molto moderato e maestoso, allegro non troppo.
20Mr. Eugene Ysaye,
21(His first appearance in America.)
22Fugue, A minor……………………………………………..J. S. Bach
23Adapted for string orchestra by J. Helmesberger.
24Scotch Fantasia, for violin, orchestra and harp…………….Bruch
25Introduction, grave.
26Adagio cantabile,
27Allegro. (Dance.)
28Andante sostenuto.
29Finale. Allegro guerriero.
30Mr. Eugene Ysaye.
31Symphony No. 5, E minor, op. 95, from the "New World," (by request)……………………………………………..Dvorák
32Adagio, allegro molto.
33Larghetto.
34Scherzo, molto vivace.
35Allegro con fuoco.
37This program was entirely too long. Two hours of music at the utmost should be sufficient for the greatest musical gourmand. Mr. Seidl is not a skilled program maker, and he invariably overestimates the endurance and patience of his public. A long overture, a long fugue, two very long works for violin (the Bruch fantasia is even longer than the Saint-Saëns concerto) and a very long symphony by Dr. Dvorák. Mercy, Mr. Seidl, mercy!
39The playing of the society both at the public rehearsal and at the concert was not up to its usual standard. Virile it was to be sure, but coarse, harsh and unrefined. Nuance has no place in the lexicon of Mr. Seidl. There was a brutality, no other word can express it, in the reading of Goldmark's beautiful overture—a brutality that was not atoned by the enormous crescendo which the conductor extorted from the orchestra toward the close. One reverted sorrowfully to Gericke and Nikisch. The piano fugue orchestrated by Helmesberger was rudely given. The strings were hard in tone and not brilliant, and the composition was rushed through without tonal variety or any pretense of Bachian spirit. Nor were the accompaniments to the violin works done as well as we expect at Mr. Seidl's hands.
41A few more rehearsals would have materially mended matters.
43Dr. Dvorák's symphony in E minor is always interesting, although more artificial in feeling than his earlier works. It suggests, as the symphony in D minor does not, forced moods and strenuousness. Of course it was more Scotch than ever, and when it was not Scotch it was Slavic. But for clever treatment, subtleties of color and rhythm it is charming. The slow movement seems more genuine than its companions. There is more of out-of-door feeling, more landscape painting in the work than the dramatic dissection of moods or the philosophic musings which we find in the music of Tchaikowsky and of Brahms.
45The symphony was played with abundant energy—muscularity, as Mr. Krehbiel would say—but it laid bare the weakest department of the society, the woodwind. Even Mr. Wehner, the flutist, whose tone is usually irreproachable, was not at his best, for his breathing was too audible in his attack. But Mr. Seidl has the tradition of the tempi, and parts of the symphony were the most satisfactory orchestral numbers of the concert. But tonal discrimination and variety are unknown quantities in the playing of the Philharmonic Society. Must this ever be so?
47The Belgian violin virtuoso, Eugene Ysaye, made his first appearance on this occasion, and instantly won the suffrages of his audience. He is a large, magnetic young man, who plays with enormous dash and fire, and whose tone, while it is not as large as was Wilhelmj's or Wieniawski's, yet is pure, penetrating and musical. He has the true virtuoso touch; he is brilliant, and he can be infinitely tender. He has the true ring of pathos in his tone, the warmth of a marked individuality. He suggests the ardent young cavalier while César Thomson suggests the sage of the violin.
49Thomson is ever objective. Like Von Bülow, as d'Albert, he seeks ever to give you the core of a composition. Ysaye is always subjective. He is Ysaye in all he plays, whether Bach or Lauterbach. But his is an interesting personality. He is never mawkish in the expression of sentiment, as was Paderewski. He is always broad and manly. His pose suggests the virtuoso, and the tossing mane, quite à la Rubinstein, the sweeping attack; but for all that Ysaye is a great artist, and his playing of cantabile is admirable in taste and feeling. He is technically not as impeccable as his contemporary, Thomson, for his methods are bolder. He plays with more color and with less care for structural detail. He is an impressionist. He belongs to that school which makes effect the end-all be-all. He is dramatic and fascinating.
51But Mr. Thomson is, nevertheless, the greater violinist of the two men. His is the more legitimate school—the school of art for art's sake, without that tincture of the sensationalism which flavors M. Ysaye's playing at times. Ysaye's tone is not large, but it is a carrying tone—a bright tone which easily makes itself felt in a heavy orchestral tutti. It is large in intention, his conception is big, and if his intonation and technic are not flawless, criticism is silenced by the audacity of his attack and overpowering rush. He played the Saint-Saëns with great effect. The "Scotch Fantasia," not Bruch's masterpiece by any means, was wonderfully given, especially the andante and the crashing finale. At the public rehearsal Mr. Ysaye played as encore numbers from the D minor sonata of Bach. He was not at his best, and after all Bach is the supreme test for a violinist.
53At the evening concert he gave in response to enthusiastic encores an etude by Joseph Lauterbach, the Bavarian violinist, who at one time resided in Brussels, but is now living in Dresden. It is in D minor, and is a very difficult but sprightly bit of writing. It was irreproachably played. Ysaye has the temperament that excites public admiration. He has some of Wieniawski's fire and chivalric dash, and none of Wilhelmj's repose and classic breadth of tone. He will never rank with these two giants, and his playing abroad has not been classed with Ondricek's and others; but he is a charming artist, a marked personality and a man who easily achieves popular triumphs.
55At the next concert of the society, December 15, E. A. MacDowell, the celebrated composer, will play his own D minor piano concerto, and Miss Blauvelt will sing an aria.
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