Scan 4
Musical Courier 1895-05-15: Vol 30 Iss 793, 1895
98 lines. Read by computer on 20 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 5. See the scan on archive.org.
1THE MUSICAL COURIER.
3BERLIN BUDGET BRANCH
5GERMAN HEADQUARTERS OF THE MUSICAL COURIER.
6BERLIN, W., LINKSTRASSE 17, April 24, 1895.
8THE regular and real Berlin concert season closed last night with one of the most befitting and praiseworthy musical undertakings, an adequate performance of that grandest and noblest work in sacred musical literature, Johann Sebastian Bach's High Mass in B minor. It was given by Siegfried Ochs, to whom Berlin owes no end of gratitude for the many musical deeds of valor he has been performing of late years in presenting to the public of the German capital in worthy reproduction such rarely heard works as Berlioz's Requiem Mass, Tinel's Franciscus, Bach's B minor Mass and others of less scope and importance, which probably would not have been given without him. He has trained his big Philharmonic chorus in so efficient a manner that I know of no other choral organization of equal dimensions either here or in the United States which is capable of producing such fine and reliable work, which has strength and freshness of material, such good and musical voices, pays such strict attention to equal dynamic shading, rhythmic precision and clearness of pronunciation and enunciation. Regularity in breathing all through the chorus, and of course the keenest cleanliness of intonation, are self understood matters with a chorus led by so sensitive a musician as Siegfried Ochs.
10When I heard the B minor Mass performed by such a chorus and with such an orchestra and organ, I had to think of what Richard Wagner wrote in his letter of appreciation to Steinway about their grand piano. I do not exactly remember the master's wording, but the sense of it is that Bach must have mentally anticipated something like the Steinway concert grand when he wrote the chromatic fantasia and fugue, for on the instruments of his day an adequate performance of this giant-work for the piano was simply a physical impossibility. Thus it was and must have been to even an augmented degree with a work like the B minor Mass. In Bach's time they knew nothing of such circumpect preparations as were made for weeks and months for this performance. They did not possess even the more technical means to overcome the difficulties which are heaped up in works like these, for the singers as well as for the instrumentalists. And such works Bach had performed in his time with about thirty performers, all told. In order to comprehend how this could have been accomplished at all, it must be taken for granted that the technical side was far more developed in both vocalists and instrumentalists at the time of Bach than it is nowadays, or else that these great and difficult compositions were given in anything but perfect style.
12The former acceptation has since many times been disputed and almost undeniably disproven by musical historians, more especially as far as instrumentalists are concerned. It can be taken for certain that for instance the almost unexecutable high trumpet parts in the Mass were just as difficult, or even more so, to the trumpet players of Bach's day as they are to our modern musicians. And as for the complicated vocal parts it would seem that if even the choristers were endowed with abnormal capabilities, some twenty-odd persons would be unable to carry through even mere portions of the work without unconquerable fatigue. It is therefore almost certain that Bach never in his life was granted the satisfaction and the highest of all musical enjoyments of hearing his own work performed as he had imagined it, and that it is only in these modern times of increased orchestral technic and enlarged choral forces that these works can be and are adequately performed.
14Through the courtesy of the directors of the Royal High School for Music, who loaned a number of ancient and nowadays antiquated musical instruments, the B minor Mass was, moreover, performed with exactly the orchestration which Bach prescribed. I cannot say, however, that this was always of the most pleasing effect, especially not in the great bass aria, which looks far better on paper than it sounds through the overelaborated contrapuntal accompaniment of obligato, bassoons and cor di caccia. Ochs had very wisely increased the Philharmonic orchestra, so as to afford a tonal balance for his strong chorus. Thus the woodwind, for instance, contained eight flutes, six oboes, six clarinets and six bassoons. The very beautiful grand organ of the Church of the Garrison, at which the concert took place, was under the skillful manipulation of Dr. H. Reimann, but there was always a slight and still very disagreeable discrepancy in the attack of the organ. I don't know whether this was caused through any technical deficiency in the mechanical apparatus of the organ, that perhaps the pipes spoke too slowly, or whether it was perhaps the distance that separated the organ (at the back of the podium) from the conductor, or whether the organist could not see the conductor, or, finally, whether the acoustic properties of the vast church were at fault; anyhow the fact remains that the organ lagged throughout the entire performance about a half a second behind chorus and orchestra.
16The choral portions went superbly, and I particularly liked Siegfried Ochs' manner of shading and general dynamic nuances, as, for instance, the pianissimo throughout the Qui tollis, and again in the beautiful B minor et incarnatos, where afterward the chorus, in telling contrast, breaks in fortissimo in D major upon the words et resurrexit. These are finesses which are not only in very acceptable, but really in most desirable contrast with the customary and prevailing method of singing Bach all the way through with an even tenor of strength. The Kyrie eleison, however, Siegfried Ochs took at considerably too slow a tempo and it dragged unmercifully, while in the beginning of the Sanctus the soprani took by mistake a doubly too rapid tempo, and the conductor had to stop and start over again. Barring this one accident, the chorus and orchestra did wonderfully well, and among the solo instruments Messrs. Witek (violin), Quensel (flute), Grimig (oboe d'amore) and Moffert (horn) greatly distinguished themselves.
18The same, however, cannot truthfully be said of the vocal soloists, none of whom was extraordinarily good and two of whom—the ladies—were even extraordinarily bad on this August occasion. They were Misses Emma Pluedemann and Anna Stephan, of whom the former has a pleasing soprano voice but no Bach style and no rhythm, and the latter has very little to commend her at all. They both got out in the first duet, and did not do much better with the rest of their music. The gentlemen were Carl Dierich, tenor, and Anton Sistersman, bass, who did not spoil anything. Sistersman is a good singer, but his voice is not heavy enough for the part. one of two readings
19The same, however, cannot truthfully be said of the vocal soloists, none of whom was extraordinarily good and two of whom—the ladies—were even extraordinarily bad on this august occasion. They were Misses Emma Pluedemann and Anna Stephan, of whom the former has a pleasing soprano voice but no Bach style and no rhythm, and the latter has very little to commend her at all. They both got out in the first duet, and did not do much better with the rest of their music. The gentlemen were Carl Dierich, tenor, and Anton Sistersman, bass, who did not spoil anything. Sistersman is a good singer, but his voice is not heavy enough for the part. one of two readings
21For the performance the Emperor had decreed the free use of the Church of the Garrison (the soldiers' church), which vast building was completely sold out. This good financial result is all the more to be hailed with pleasure as the receipts are destined to go to the building fund of the Emperor William Memorial Church, which noble and beautiful new edifice is now nearing completion.
23Artistically too the result was so encouraging that Siegfried Ochs has been prevailed upon to give a repetition of the performance of the B Minor Mass, which, however, in view of the close of the present season, will have to be deferred until the beginning of the next.
25My Berlin colleagues this morning very nearly upset themselves in their efforts of giving the historical data about the High Mass. Beyond the fact that the Kyrie was written in 1730 or 1731, and that the remainder of the work was composed during several periods of Bach's life, the Mass thus not having been composed in one sitting, as it were, I don't think the critical erudition of my confrères is of any practical interest to the readers. If there, however, be any among them who are especially interested in the subject, they can easily read it up in Spitta, where my most esteemed colleagues in all probability also gathered their superior wisdom.
27*
29There were several minor concerts during the last week, of which the most worthy of mention was the regular popular Philharmonic concert of last Wednesday night, because Professor Mannstaedt had a new symphony by Guido Peters upon his program. This young composer from Vienna gave two concerts earlier in the season at Bechstein Hall, which received due notice in this budget. In one of these concerts Mr. Peters had a quartet for strings performed by Halir and his associates. That work received and deserved approval for its dignified tone and sound, though not too original musical qualities. Mr. Peters' Rustic Symphony, however, did not raise him in my esteem. In it his one sided development and predilections, which had been apparent in his chamber music, made themselves painfully felt.
31One may perhaps ignore the influence of Beethoven's great successor—Schumann—in writing a string quartet and still make his music acceptable, but in order to make a symphony edifying one must endow it with the spirit of the present; take cognizance of and employ the contrapuntal and instrumental modes evolved by recent masters. This Peters does not do. Schumann, Raff, Berlioz, Wagner and Brahms have all made no impress upon his productive models. His themes and their treatment are equally reminders of Beethoven (especially the Pastoral symphony) but not of this great master's spirit—only of his outward forms, Peters in fact leans so heavily upon Beethoven in this symphony that I was lead to doubt his possession of independent individuality. This gentleman need not fear the influence of even the most ultra modern orchestral compositions upon his style. He should, indeed, study Berlioz and Wagner before he attempts more orchestral writing.
33*
35Thursday night Raimond von Zurmuhlen gave a second Lieder evening at the Singakademie, and again before one of the largest, really paying and at the same time most enthusiastic audiences I have seen during all the past season. I have spoken of this gentleman as one of the most refined and most pleasing of all German Lieder singers hitherto, and therefore content myself to-day with repeating his tasty and varied program, no less than six numbers of which (marked by me) were redemanded. I also want to mention that the Vortrag of Schubert's grand song Allmacht was the most powerful individual reproduction I have ever heard from a tenor in a concert room.
37Die Allmacht………….Schubert
38Du liebst mich nicht………….Schubert
39Der Musensohn………….Schubert
40Deine Stimme………….Schumann
41Meine Rose………….Schumann
42Geistermähe………….Schumann
43Aufräge (da capo)………….Schumann
44Die Kränze………….Brahms
45Am Sonntag Morgen………….Brahms
46Ständchen (da capo)………….Brahms
47Meine Liebe ist grün (da capo)………….Gounod
48Maid of Athens………….Chaminade
49L'anneau d'argent (da capo)………….Chaminade
50Ronde d'amour (da capo)………….Chaminade
51Mistress Prue………….Molloy
52Morgenhymn (da capo)………….Henschel
53Im Wandern………….Hans Schmidt
54Ständchen………….Schütt
56*
58If Thursday yielded vocal satisfaction, Friday revenged itself by bringing vocal disappointment. The concert giver was Miss Agnes Ziegler, an alto who has little beauty or other favorable quality of voice, and still less of style or delivery. Like Scalchi, she seems to have about a dozen different registers, but she has nothing else of that delightfully bad singer. The pronunciation of the text in Gluck's Orpheus aria, Ach Erbarmt, was so dreadful that people looked at each other and laughed. Still there were a few friends of the singer in Bechstein Hall who applauded.
60The "assistance" at this concert was better than the main "attraction," although it was also nothing phenomenal. It consisted of Messrs. Ed. Behm, piano: Theodore Krelle, violin, and O. Leudemann, violoncello, of whom the last named is the best player and who jointly gave a pretty smooth performance of the Beethoven D major trio, op. 70. In the slow movement they slipped up once, but such accidents will happen in the best regulated chamber music organizations as well as families.
62*
64On Saturday night again I attended a vocal concert at Bechstein Hall. It was a far more satisfactory one. The Kulenkampff Frauenchor, a well trained female chorus of some thirty voices, and conducted by Gustav Kulenkampff, sang accompanied and a capella quartets in nice style and with most pleasing effect. Of the various numbers on the program I liked best the two a capella quartets by Kleffel and the peculiar setting for female chorus and baritone solo of Am Traunsee by Thieriot. The baritone solo was given with a good deal of expression and fine resonant voice by Arthur van Eweyk, who also was heard in some other solos and duets with Miss Clementine Engelmann. This young lady figured on the program as an alto; the timbre of her voice however is pronouncedly mezzo soprano, and has none of the rich alto quality or flavor about it. She sings fairly well, albeit a little coldly. Otto Bake, as usual, accompanied with taste.
66The program was for the greater portion a modern one, and as some of the names and numbers thereon may be new and therefore interesting to you, I take occasion to append it in full:
68Im Hain der Nacht… für Frauenchor… Oscar Eichberg
69Im Herbst………….Meyer-Olbersleben
70Gesänge aus der Dichterliebe………….Rob. Schumann
71Herr van Eweyk.
72Meine Lieder, meine Sänge… C. M. v. Weber
73Heimlicher Liebe Pein………….C. M. v. Weber
74Der kleine Fritz………….C. M. v. Weber
75Fräulein Engelmann. one of two readings
76Fraulein Engelmann. one of two readings
77Das verschwundene Sternelein… vierstimmig… Arno Kleffel
78Altddeutsches Jägerlied… a capella… Ferd. Thieriot
79Solo: Herr van Eweyk.
80Trabant………….E. E. Taubert
81Schwebe, blaues Auge………….Gust. Kulenkampff
82Wiegenglied………….W. Etze
83Fräulein Engelmann. one of two readings
84Fraulein Engelmann. one of two readings
85Natur………….Gust. Kulenkampff
86Margareth' am Thore………….A. Jensen
87Herr van Eweyk.
88So wahr die Sonne scheint………….Rob. Schumann one of two readings
89So wahr die Sonne scheinet………….Rob. Schumann one of two readings
90Beharrliche Liebe………….Georg Henschel
91Nun bist du worden………….Eugen Hildach
92Fräulein Engelmann, Herr van Eweyk. one of two readings
93Fraulein Engelmann, Herr van Eweyk. one of two readings
94Frühlingsnähen………….Ernst H. Seyffardt
95Wonne des Liebenden………….Volkslied
97The jubilee performance of Faust for Edward Lassen's fiftieth artistic anniversary celebration came near ending with a great disaster at Weimar last Saturday night. Messrs. Brock and Weiser, the Faust and Mephisto of the
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