Scan 31
Musical Courier 1895-01-09: Vol 30 Iss 774, 1895
135 lines. Read by computer on 22 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 32. 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.
1portray the "fantasy," the passion, the fire, the dreamy transitions and the little reveries, but the splendid athleticism produced only the crash of forced tones, the caressing touch only, the tones of uncertain timidity. His crescendo could be seen but not heard. The odor of the flowers suspected, but their color not perceived. To select this piece was to put his piano maker to a crucial test.
3The balance of the afternoon, however, was of unexpected delight. Stavenhagen plays superbly in Philadelphia. Whatever he may accomplish or fail to accomplish elsewhere, his performance has had but one limitation here, and that beyond his control. The whole program, as I have said, was charmingly given, but there was one movement that was so notably fine as to cause that ecstatic feeling of satisfaction never evoked except by the magnetism of perfection and genius combined—I mean the first movement of the Beethoven sonata for piano and violoncello. In comparison with this movement the rest of the sonata—yes, the balance of the afternoon—was only of ordinary importance. It may be that Stavenhagen supplied the music and the Gerardy boy the magnetism, but such a performance it was as will long dwell in the memory of that audience. Beethoven nearly always reached the supreme heights of his genius in his first movements, and this is conspicuously the case in this sonata. The players had a great chance, and they made the most of it. The temptation was strong in the minds of many musicians there to redemand that movement. The players used their notes.
5***
7Which leads me to reflect: The mentality necessary to remember one's music is of the most exacting nature. Stavenhagen's memory is fine, but he often seems to be simply "reciting." Can it be that the effort to remember robs his playing of the spontaneity which would pass for genius and magnetism. Although deeply prejudiced in favor of this pianist he reached heights in his playing of this sonata that I had deemed almost impossible for him.
9***
11I wish pianists would not be afraid to use their music oftener. The false idea that to be great one must memorize everything done in public robs concert-goers and amateurs of the pleasure and profit of hearing many masterpieces.
13***
15The fine old teachers have the same fine old list of pieces with which to feed and polish off their pupils. And the public has listened to that fine old list until the berceuse of Chopin and the "Moonlight Sonata" are about as welcome as "Sweet Marie" and "Silvery Waves."
17***
19Out of four piano recitals here this winter by three pianists, the thirty-two variations, C minor, Beethoven, stand at the head of three programs, which is why I remark.
21***
23Mr. Carl Gaertner, the violinist, who stands in the front rank of those musicians who have given this city its fine foundation in musical education, gave the second of his series of violin recitals in the lecture room of the School of Industrial Art last Thursday evening. Mr. Gaertner is a technician of fine power and a musician of scholarly interpretation, with a fire and feeling all his own. The program might have been termed historical, including as it did the famous sonata of Tartini, "La Trille du Diable," and a sonata by Pietro Nardini. The date of Mr. Gaertner's third recital will be January 31. Mr. Hamilton J. Orr was the pianist, and Miss Julie Blautholz sang with great acceptability the air "Religieuse de Stradella."
25***
27Miss Kate Hull Bundy, the young pianist, who is a pupil of Mr. Constantin Sternberg, and who has received her musical education in Philadelphia, will make her debut in grand concert at the Academy of Music on January 23. She will play Rubinstein's D minor concerto, with the assistance of the New York Symphony Orchestra. I venture the prediction that she will acquit herself with great credit and put a gorgeous feather in the cap of Mr. Sternberg. This is an event of great importance—Philadelphia teacher and Philadelphia pupil. A pity it is that Mr. Sternberg had not called upon a Philadelphia orchestra for the accompaniment.
29***
31Adele Aus der Ohe will play the Schumann A minor concerto to-night with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The only novelty will be the orchestra's playing of Dvorák's overture, "Carnival."
33***
35Miss Aus der Ohe, who stands in favor here like unto that formerly held by Teresa Carreño, will give a recital on Wednesday evening, in aid of the Girls' Recreation Club. The program is worthy of special notice as follows:
37Variations, C minor………………………………………Beethoven
38French suite, No. 5, G major…………………………….Bach
39Allemande, courante, gavot, loure, gigue.
40Two Songs Without Words……………………………Mendelssohn
41F major.
42"Spinning Song."
43Valse, E minor…………………………………………..Chopin
44Andante, spianato and grand polonaise…..
45Barcarolle, F minor………………………………………Rubinstein
46Etude………………………………………………………..Adele Aus der Ohe
47Rhapsodie Hongroise, No. 12………………………..Liszt one of two readings
48Rhapsodie Hongroise, No. 12………………………….Liszt one of two readings
50The Girls' Recreation Club is a charitable and social organization productive of social, moral and physical advancement of working girls. The recital, which takes place in Association Hall, will have the strong social patronage of the managers and promoters of the club. The patronesses are as follows:
52Mrs. B. W. Andrews, Mrs. Matthew Baird, Mrs. Singerly Balch, Mrs. James Bateman, Miss Emily Bell, Mrs. James L. Bispham, Mrs. T. Hewson Bradford, Mrs. D. Murray Cheston, Mrs. John Barron Colahan, Mrs. Edward P. Davis, Mrs. William Colwell Downing, Mrs. Horace Fassitt, Mrs. Thomas Dixon Finletter, Mrs. Walter Freeman, Mrs. Walter Jackson Freeman, Mrs. Edmund H. Frishmuth, Jr., Mrs. George Gardom, Mrs. William Purves Gest, Mrs. John McArthur Harris, Mrs. I. Minnis Hays, Mrs. Herbert M. Howe, Mrs. William H. Jenks, Mrs. G. Frederick Jordan, Mrs. Charles B. Keen, Mrs. John L. Le Conte, Mrs. Joseph Leidy, Mrs. William H. Long, Mrs. John B. Maddock, Mrs. Charles W. McKeenan, Miss McVicar, Mrs. Richard Wain Meirs, Mrs. Byron P. Moulton, Mrs. Effingham Perot, Mrs. Frank H. Rosengarten, Mrs. J. Warrington Rulon, Mrs. Sarah E. Russell, Mrs. James W. Sagers, Mrs. William Ellis Scull, Miss Susan G. Shipley, Miss Sweatman, Mrs. William J. Taylor, Mrs. Charles L. Thurlow, Mrs. Peter Van Voorhees, Mrs. Samuel Price Wetherrill, Miss Mary K. Wiseman, Miss Ellen G. Wood, Mrs. William Brewster Wood.
54The managers of the club are the following: President, Mrs. Walter Jackson Freeman; vice-president, Miss Lida Stokes Adams; secretary, Miss Florence Keen; treasurer, Miss Lucille Andrews, Woodbury, N. J.; Miss Lida Stokes Adams, Miss Lucille Andrews, Miss Bessie G. Bockius, Mrs. Walter Jackson Freeman, Miss J. Anna Gardom, Miss Mary Heilner, Miss Dora Keen, Miss Florence Keen, Miss Janet B. MacAlister, Miss Anna B. Maddock, Miss Annina C. Rondinella.
56Next week I fear I shall crowd my columns; Boston Symphony Orchestra, Aus der Ohe recital, two operas, "Il Trovatore" and "Faust," Ysaye violin recital and a number of local concerts of great importance. The point of this mention is that everything will be well patronized.
58***
60The "boom" is genuine and has come to stay.
62SAN FRANCISCO.
64December 28, 1894.
66AFTER a month or two of the most delicious weather possible this side of Paradise we are now in the midst of a Christmas drizzle. But San Franciscans seem so to enjoy it, by way of a change, that the shopping and amusement going suffer no interruption.
68A particularly wet night for Scheel's fifteenth weekly symphony concert did not abate the attendance. On the contrary, the audience was larger than usual.
70The program contained Beethoven's eighth symphony; Bizet's suite, "L'Arlésienne;" Goldmark's overture, "In the Springtime;" a rhapsody by Lalo, and a horn fantasia, composed and played by Mr. Joseph Reiter, entitled "Mephisto," which proved so pleasing and worthy that it was redeemed. The vocal element, which Mr. Scheel occasionally introduces, was provided by Mme. Sylvain Salomon, who sang with orchestral accompaniment an aria from Gounod's "Queen of Sheba," and for an encore Bizet's "L'Absence." The lady is lately from the Paris Conservatoire.
72Mr. Scheel's series of concerts is nearing its 100th, which will be noted by the first appearance of Scheel as a solo violinist. He will play Mendelssohn's E minor concerto to commemorate the occasion.
74The Tivoli is in a most flourishing condition—never more prosperous. It is giving for its holiday attraction a home-made version of "Lalla Rookh," to which Mr. Hirschbach, the new conductor, has written the music. Mr. Hirschbach is considered a decided success in his new position, and is very much liked. He has just arranged with Mr. H. J. Stewart for a reproduction of "His Majesty," which was played there soon after the author gave it with amateurs last year.
76Mr. Stewart has written three operas here, only two of which have yet been played. He has just made arrangements to resume his old place as organist of Trinity Church, now occupied by Mr. Louis Sch. idt, Sr. Mr. Stewart is now at the Unitarian Church, where his late series of organ recitals was very delightful. The church is new and elegant, but the organ is only revamped and its former demerits somewhat extended and intensified, as it were. The authorities failed to remember the Lord's remark about "new wine in old bottles" when they expended a lot of money to put new life into their venerable "kist o' whistles." But Stewart will get all there is out of the old organ, however little he may enjoy the grind.
78The Christmas "Examiner" was entirely managed and written by a delegation of ladies, who undertook the task in behalf of a local charity, and cleared many thousand dollars for it.
80No article of the whole forty pages was more noticeable or wittier than "The New Opera House: Will It Succeed?" purporting to be a reportorial interview and expression of opinion from several rather prominent gentlemen regarding that topic, in which their foibles are so neatly exposed as to set the whole town laughing.
82The endeavor to get Morosco to relinquish his Grand Opera House for a season of the Abbey & Grau Company was a failure, and we are to be deprived of a visit from them. This state of things has led to some talk of a new opera house, which has not yet resulted in anything more pleasing than the charming skit which was the gem of the ladies' edition of the "Examiner."
84Mr. J. H. and Madam Rosewald, with Mr. Lisser and Mrs. Leila Ellis, constituting the musical and elocutionary faculty of Mills College, gave a very enjoyable entertainment at the college the other day. I was unable to avail myself of an invitation kindly sent me by Mr. Rosewald, so missed the excellent program they furnished their hearers.
86Mr. Fred. Katzenbach, who has been a prominent teacher of music here for years, has just supplied a "long-felt want" in issuing a very complete musical vocabulary or glossary in the form of a desk pad to be fastened to the rack of a piano, where it can be referred to without the slightest inconvenience. I received from him a specimen, and commend his scheme most heartily. It is a good thing, and will help dissipate the cloud of ignorance pervading pupils' minds regarding the intention of all those remarkable foreign words which seem to infest music text.
88Miss Kitty Black, a young lady with a beautiful voice, who filled the soprano position at Grace Church for a while, recently gave a concert at Golden Gate Hall, which I am glad to record as having been successful in a pecuniary as well as artistic degree. I have great hopes of Miss Black, though she never had the advantages of study away from home.
90Mrs. Lydia Titus Yeamans, who made such a furore during her engagement at the Orpheum last spring, is repeating her triumph at that house this week.
92The "Aladdin, Jr.," spectacle is crowding the Baldwin Theatre, being billed for three weeks. One of its songs commemorative of the "Golden hair which hung down her back" proved a trifle tart for our local taste and was therefore considerably eliminated by Manager Henderson. It seems we are more particular about such things than many less Occidental cities, in which it has been sung with impunity.
94Haverly's Minstrels have reopened the long closed Aleazar Theatre and seem to be doing "as well as could be expected," considering the rather aged and obsolete style of musical entertainment they follow.
96H. M. Bosworth.
98TOLEDO.
100TOLEDO, December 28, 1894.
102ON December 11 the Mathias Orchestra, composed of the very best local talent and directed by the veteran leader whose name it bears, gave the first of a trio of concerts arranged for the season. The slim attendance was a forcible reminder of the truth of the old proverb that a prophet is seldom honored in his own country, and spoke volumes for the indifference of patrons of music to home talent, which is sometimes quite as good as, if not better than, what is secured from other places.
104A grand overture from Auber was the initial number of the orchestra, and gave an idea of the program to follow. The performance of the "Adeste Fideles," the Christmas anthem so familiar to church-goers, was full of tender feeling and religious fervor, while the final chords, soft and solemn, floated out like a grand amen. The "Bridal Chorus" of "Lohengrin" was well played, and the stately tones rose and fell with careful modulation.
106The string orchestra gave Steck's "Flirtation" in a delightful manner, and surely no composition was ever better suited to its name. Full of sweet notes and playful movements, of dainty caprice and sudden changes, it was full of surprises and as "fitful as a woman's mood." It carried out its suggestive name and touched a responsive chord in every listener. The andante from Beethoven's first symphony was the heaviest and should have been the best number, but owing to a disposition on the part of the wind instruments to assert their rights too strongly the strings were thrown in the shade and the charm was lost.
108The vocal numbers were contributed by Miss Anna Newcomb, and while some were pleased with the singer's voice and style, there was much disappointment. Miss Newcomb has a soprano voice of average range, and while some of her test notes were clear and resonant, others were a little uncertain; but that might be attributed to atmospheric influence more than to defect of tone quality, and one is inclined to believe that the singer was not at her best on this occasion.
110Every city has its pet organization, and the Apollo Club as a social and musical institution is an important feature here, and the concerts given by them invariably attract and please.
112The first concert of their third season was given on the 21st inst., and the National Union Auditorium was the centre of attraction on that evening. The Apollo Club opened the program with Atttenhofer's "Evening Song," and gave it with splendid effect. The "Yeoman's Wedding Song" followed, but did not show the club at its best, for this number was quite faulty. "Reveries" and "The Long Day Closes" were sung with careful modulation, and "Thou Art My Dream," with Mr. Willett's baritone solo and the humming chorus by the Apollos, was an attractive number.
114Mrs. Geneva Johnstone-Bishop was the soprano. Miss Clary, contralto, was unable to appear, and at the very last moment Harold Jarvis, of Detroit, was secured as a substitute. He gave an aria from "The Prodigal Son," and sang "Shout the Glad Tidings" with splendid effect, while "O That I Had Thy Wings, O Dove," with Mrs. Bishop, was the gem of the evening.
116Mrs. Bishop, in conjunction with the entire Apollo Club, gave Mohr's "Ode to the Genius of Music," and closed the program.
118One of Mrs. Bishop's prettiest numbers was "Under the Trees," by Arthur Korthener, of this city. The composer was her accompanist, and the audience acknowledged their appreciation of him.
120Miss Whiting did good part as accompanist, and Professor Whiting as director was perfectly at home.
122The Apollo Club is doing excellent work, but it must be owned that the bass voices are superior to the tenors, and some pruning might be attempted with success.
124F. E. Wilkinson.
126TORONTO.
128TORONTO, Ont., December 28, 1894.
130ACCORDING to a well worn aphorism human nature is pretty much the same all the world over, and however much we may preach creeds of broad humanity and lofty ideals, what we practice is too often selfishness. The veneer of pretense is patent to every analytical mind seeking for a motive, and the astonishing thing is that in these days of hard-headed practical thinkers people so often take to such worn-out devices as they do to gull the public.
132Next to the creatures who wear a mask of hypocritical piety surely the disciples of music, who prate of the dignity of their art—its beautiful, refining influence lifting one's soul above the sordid cares of life, &c.—but who are everlastingly reaching for dollars and resorting to contemptible tricks for their own advancement, are the most to be despised. I am not attempting to talk from a pedestal of morality, but from one of common sense, and it is the exercise of the latter function in reference to some humbug displayed in this city which moves me somewhat strongly.
134A constantly inspired howl is raised in Toronto for the employment of home talent and the barring out of visiting musicians. Now, I don't suppose anyone would wish to see home talent
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.