Scan 16
Musical Courier 1895-01-09: Vol 30 Iss 774, 1895
112 lines. Read by computer on 20 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 17. See the scan on archive.org.
1Marie Maurer.
3MARIE MAURER, the well known dramatic contralto, of whom we print a portrait on the front page of this issue, has by dint of hard study and innate talent obtained recognition on the part of the various leading operatic and concert organizations in Europe and in this her native country. Her engagement by Walter Damrosch for his coming German opera season has already been announced, and it is expected that Miss Maurer will be assigned the following parts in Wagner's operas: "Magdalen" ("Meistersinger"), "Fricka," "Erda," "Flosshilde" and "Waltraute."
5Miss Maurer's career has been one uninterrupted success. The New York Liederkranz Society often called for her services as a soloist at the artistic concerts given by the society, before she determined to visit Europe for the purpose of completing her musical education. After studying with Professor Julius Hey, she sang in opera and in concerts under von Bülow, Professor Klindworth and many other renowned conductors.
7Miss Maurer when in Berlin had a call from the Wagner Verein to sing as a "Flower girl" in "Parsifal." Rosa Sucher, W. Grünung and Bulss were also in the cast.
9After her return to America she sang under Anton Seidl, on a Western concert tour and under Walter Damrosch she sang in Grell's Mass at the first concert of the Oratorio Society last year.
11Miss Maurer also sang last summer at the Brighton Beach concerts under Seidl, and was one of the soloists at the Wagner Festival at the Beach. Previous to the beginning of her opera engagement she will be heard during January in concerts and recitals.
13"Kenilworth."
15NO one interested in dramatic music should fail to welcome a new work of decided merit at a time when mediocrity is rampant. We are glad that a young composer, whose sound knowledge and technical skill are equal to his natural gifts, gives fair promise to become one of the greatest dramatic writers of our century.
17Unlike Mascagni, Leoncavallo and a host of others, he did not trust to his natural genius alone, but has acquired sound learning, and made himself a master of the technic of composition. Even then he did not start out to write operas, but cultivated first of all, and with marked success, the highest and most difficult kind of writing—symphonic music. His great sonata, op. 10, and suite, op. 25, rank, according to Dr. Wm. Mason's estimate, among the finest specimens of modern piano literature.
19The natural result of this proceeding is that his first opera is the work of a master in all respects. The composer is no other than our well-known Bruno Oscar Klein, and the name of his first opera is "Kenilworth."
21"Kenilworth," an opera in three acts, will be brought out next February in Hamburg, with the world famous Wagner interpreter, Mme. Klafsky, as "Amy Robsart." The piano score has just been published by Hofmeister in Leipsic.
23The whole opera shows a strong individuality. Amazing technical skill serves the highest artistic purposes. Only a writer of such fiery temperament as Mr. Klein can utter such passionate strains as the superb prelude, the finale of Act I., the duet, quintet and gorgeous march of Act II., and the divinely beautiful death song of "Amy."
25It is safe to predict from the piano score a most enthusiastic reception of this opera.
27More will be said when the opera shall have had its first production.
29ALFRED REMY.
31Chicago's Marine Band.
33CHICAGO has at last its own marine band, and one too that bids fair to become as famous as the aggregation of players over whom in former days Sousa wielded the baton at Washington. It is perhaps needless to say that this band is identified with the First Battalion of Illinois Naval Militia, the gallant boys who have already made a record equalled by no other military organization. Their patriotism and courage do not rest on bloody encounters; these men put down rampant riot without killing a rioter or losing a man. The proof of these young tars' patriotism was evinced in the fact that a majority of them lost their situations by being true to their colors and standing by their guns in the never to be forgotten turbulent times of last July.
35Their armory and necessary accoutrements are now in ship-shape trim, and can bear public inspection. Though Lieut.-Com. B. M. Shaffner has labored indefatigably to obtain this end, he is often asked by visitors on board why an opportunity is not given the public to hear his band in concert.
37To gratify this oft repeated request, which will serve a dual capacity, that of exhibiting Chicago's only concert band, as well as assisting to lighten the debt of the battalion, Mr. T. P. Brooke, the conductor of the band, acquiesced to the public sentiment, and has arranged for a series of twelve concerts to be given at the Central Music Hall, commencing Wednesday evening, January 16.
39Musical Director T. P. Brooke is known all over the country as a band leader and one of the best writers of band music. He was a warm friend of the late P. S. Gilmore, was his assistant for years and often took the great leader's place as conductor of his band. Under his baton the public sentiment will be gratified and popular music discoursed.
41The band itself numbers fifty artists, and altogether the equipment of the band is the best that money and skill can make it. That the concerts may receive a liberal patronage popular prices will reign throughout the series. Surely 25 cents, 50 cents and 75 cents are prices that will certainly meet the public's approbation.
43Official Report of the Fourteenth Annual Meeting of the Ohio Music Teachers' Association.
45DELAWARE, Ohio, December 26, 27, 28, 1894.
47THE city of Delaware is noted from an educational standpoint because it is the seat of the great Methodist school, the Ohio Wesleyan University. The musical department of this school is by no means a secondary one, being directed by Mr. S. H. Blakeslee, who has just been elected as president of the O. M. T. A. for the ensuing year.
49The halls and rooms of the university, which were gratuitously tendered to the O. M. T. A., were especially suited for the purposes of the convention. After the addresses of welcome and the business meeting of the first day, a complimentary concert and reception were given by the faculty of the Conservatory of Music to the members of the association.
51The second and third days of the meeting were opened with round-table discussions of public school music topics. The importance of the elementary branch of musical art has been fully recognized by the O. M. T. A. in the programs of the last two years. As a consequence the discussions were very spirited and instructive, and a public school commission of three was appointed to further the dissemination of this branch in public education. It was a noticeable fact that musicians of all ranks of the profession took a lively personal interest in this branch. Similar discussions were held on topics relating to voice and organ. All these topics were introduced by five-minute papers, and those participating in the discussions were limited to three minutes, hence there was a general warm interest which the long papers of the past have always prohibited.
53On the programs of the recitals and concerts were found the names of the following pianists: Miss Minna Wetzler, of Cincinnati; Miss Idalette Andrews and Mr. Peirce, of Dayton; Messrs. Evans, Doerner, Bohlman, A. Gorno and Krueger, of Cincinnati; Wilson G. Smith and Miss Blanche Hart, of Cleveland, and Mr. E. L. Powers, of Delaware. The vocalists participating were: Miss Edith Gardner, of Washington C. H.; the Turner Concert Company, of Dayton; Mr. Oscar Ehrgott, of Cincinnati, and a local chorus of mixed voices, directed by Mr. S. H. Blakeslee. The violinists were Mr. Marsteller, of Dayton, and Mr. Marco, of Delaware. The organists were Miss Hayner and Mr. F. R. Adams, of Delaware; Mr. Zwisler, of Dayton, who also played 'cello in the ensemble numbers, and Sterling, of Cincinnati. The Schumann recital by Miss Wetzler was one of the artistic features of the meeting. Unusual interest was excited by the magnificent performance of the "Faust" symphony, by Liszt, as presented by Messrs. Bohlman and Gorno, with assistance of organ and male chorus.
55The meeting as a whole has come nearer to the realization of the motto of the association ("Art, Progress and Professional Fraternity") than any previous one. The spirit of progress was certainly dominant; fraternal feeling was sub-dominant, while the tonic, the generating spirit, was prevalent in the excellence of the performances, among which ought to be recorded Mr. Marsteller's performance of the chaconne (Bach), the Dvorák trio, op. 65; the sonata for piano and violin, op. 12, by Godard, and the "Funeral March" and "Hymn of the Seraphs" (Gulimant) by Mr. Adams.
57A special vote of thanks was unanimously accorded Mr. A. J. Gantvoort, of Cincinnati, the retiring president, for his faithful, energetic and musically administration of the last three years. The O. M. T. A. certainly owes to him its existence as a progressive, active body, full of vigor, health and enthusiasm—the result of his fostering care.
59JOHN A. BROEKHoven, College of Music,
60Cincinnati, Ohio,
61F. R. ADAMS, Delaware, Ohio,
62L. R. MARSHALL, Newark, Ohio,
63Committee.
65C. N. Colwell's Pupils' Concert.—The pupils of Mr. C. N. Colwell, of Grand Rapids, Mich., gave their twenty-fifth recital yesterday evening, assisted by Mrs. J. G. Steketee and Miss May Bosley.
67A Novelty.—Edwin Star Belknap and Harvey Worthington Loomis, the former a monologist, the latter a pianist and composer, a pupil of Dr. Dvorák, have conjured through their united talents a répertoire that has the merit of novelty, if no other. While Mr. Belknap recites, Mr. Loomis accompanies with music of his own composition suitable to the recitation.
69"The Messiah" at Plainfield.—"The Messiah" was given by the Plainfield Choral Society at their first private concert on December 27. The orchestra was our own New York Philharmonic Society under the direction of E. J. Fitzhugh, assisted by the following soloists: Mme. Zipporah Monteith, soprano; Miss Gertrude May Stein, contralto; Mr. David G. Henderson, tenor; Mr. Conrad Behrens, bass.
71Fannie Bloomfield-Zeisler.
73MRS. BLOOMFIELD-ZEISLER appeared in concert at Lausanne, Switzerland, and from the local papers we take the following:
75"Nouvelliste Vaudois," Lausanne, December 11, 1894.
76As regards Mrs. Bloomfield-Zeisler, she fully justified her brilliant reputation; she was simply superb, joining with an infallible technic great sincerity of feeling, combining a touch of velvety softness with remarkable energy and power. The very first measures of the Rubinstein concerto revealed the grand artist she is, and the balance of the program did but serve to confirm the impression of her qualities as those of a pianist di primo carrello.
78"Gazette de Lausanne," December 8, 1894.
79The task of the critic is both easy and agreeable to-day. He has to bestow naught but praise. Mrs. Bloomfield-Zeisler is by common report a great pianist. She proved it yesterday from the moment she struck the first chords. It is no small undertaking, particularly for a woman, to attack a work like Rubinstein's D minor concerto. The master himself played it here some ten years ago. The habitués of our concerts will remember with what mighty art, with what entrancing fire! Two years ago Slivinsky played it for us, and we applauded his virtuosity and his great talent. Last night Mrs. Zeisler triumphantly stood this formidable test of her powers, and surprised her audience by the astonishing vigor of her playing. One would have to be hypercritical indeed to find in it anything to criticise; it was marvellous.
81And in Chopin, in the charming compositions of Scarlatti, in Liszt's paraphrase of the "Erlking," which the artist kindly added to her program to respond to the enthusiastic applause of the audience, as also in a second encore, a piece by Moskowski, what exquisite art, what subtlety, what delicacy of touch, what admirable wealth of tone color, what conscientiousness and what infallibility of technic, and above all what perfection of good taste!
83Mrs. Zeisler is not only a virtuoso; she is an artist endowed with the sense of the beautiful and of the dignity of her art. She showed this by her perfectly classical earnestness and her respect for the works which she interprets. It is rarely that one hears a pianist of such worth. The manner in which she interpreted Schubert's so dramatic compositions showed that she allows her subject to penetrate her very being to its profoundest depths, and understands how to give expression to her own emotions in such a way as to enrapture her audience.
85"The Scarlet Letter."—In connection with Walter Damrosch's opera on the subject of "The Scarlet Letter," it is interesting to recall the following paragraph from Hawthorne's "English Note Books," dated Liverpool, 1855: "I saw in an American paper yesterday that an opera, still unfinished, had been written on the story of 'The Scarlet Letter,' and that several scenes of it had been performed successfully in New York. I should think it might succeed as an opera, though it would certainly fail as a play."
87Where They Feed.—One sees the lesser lights of the opera at small French and Italian restaurants about town, and observant persons recall the time when some of the greater lights frequented such places. It is noticeable that the latter no longer dress in such fashion as to attract attention, but eccentricities of attire sometimes distinguish the less known singers.
89FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOOLS
91FINE EDITIONS OF STANDARD WORKS.
93"RICHARDSON'S NEW METHOD FOR THE PIANOFORTE."
94The new edition. Just published. Revised, enlarged, embodying the latest ideas in teaching, including new amusements, new annotations and Dr. Mason's celebrated system of Touch and Techniques. 50,000 of the old edition sold. Price, American or Foreign Fingering, $3.00.
96Johnson's New Method of Harmony. Boards, $1.00.
97Richter's Manual of Harmony. Cloth, $2.00.
98"Johnson's New Method of Thorough Bass." Boards, $1.00.
99RICHTER'S TREATISE ON COUNTERPOINT. Cloth, $2.00.
100"Richter's Treatise on Fugue." Cloth, $2.00.
102Peters' Burrowes' Piano Primer. Invaluable to teachers in conjunction with any method of instruction. Including the "Letters" of Czerny. Boards, 40 cents; Cloth, 50 cents.
103"Lobe's Catechism of Music." A splendid edition of this famous book. Paper, 40 cents; Boards, 50 cents.
104"Kinkel's Copy Book." A simple course of elementary study with blank music pages for the use of the young copyist. 75 cents.
106Any book sent postpaid on receipt of price. Send for Descriptive Circulars and Catalogues.
108Oliver Ditson Company, 453-463 Washington St., Boston. C. H. DITSON & CO., N. Y. J. E. DITSON & CO. Phila one of two readings
109Oliver Ditson Company, one of two readings
110453-463 Washington St., Boston. one of two readings
111C. H. DITSON & CO., N. Y. J. E. DITSON & CO. Phila one of two readings
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