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Musical Courier 1895-06-05: Vol 30 Iss 796, 1895
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1MR. GERRIT SMITH gave his 200th free organ recital on Monday afternoon, May 27, at South Church, Madison avenue and Thirty-eighth street, the compositions performed being all in MS. and dedicated to the organist himself. We append the program:
3Impromptu (Alla Marcia), Henry Holden Huss; Pastoral, E flat, G. W. Chadwick; Fantasietta avec Variations (sur une theme Provençal) A flat (Arthur P. Schmidt), T. H. Dubois; Study for two flutes (Pastorale), B. Luard Selby; quartet, The Lord Is My Shepherd, (King David), Gerrit Smith, Mrs. Gerrit Smith, Mrs. Albert McGuckin, Mr. Charles Herbert Clarke, Mr. Francis Fischer Powers; Fantasietta, F, Alexandre Guilmant; Early Morn in the Monastery, Intermezzo, Evening Prayer, Bruno Oscar Klein; Concert Satz, B flat minor—major, Charles A. E. Harris; quartet, There Is Sweet Music Here (King David), Gerrit Smith, Mrs. Gerrit Smith, Mrs. Albert McGuckin, Mr. Charles Herbert Clarke, Mr. Francis Fischer Powers Eurydice (a phantasy), F, Lucien G. Chaffin; Concert Fantasie, F; minor, Arthur H. Bird.
5The wet, storming afternoon did not deter a goodly sized audience from attending. The occasion was somewhat auspicious, Mr. Smith's ability and musicianship receiving a culminating testimony of honor and approbation in the dedication of a program written expressly for this recital. For over ten years these free organ recitals have held their place as an interesting and educational feature of New York musical life. Mr. Smith's repertoire is enormous, and embraces organ literature of all schools. A recent pamphlet published by him gives, under the heads of their respective composers, a list of the works performed by him at these free afternoons. It is a stupendous list, numbering not less than 700 works of the best standard, and more than enough in its magnitude and difficulty to appal the average organist completely. How well they have been given by Mr. Smith throughout these past seasons organ students and musical people in general know to their advantage. That Mr. Smith purposes to continue these instructive recitals is a matter to look forward to with pleasure.
7To his dedication program on Monday week Mr. Smith lent himself with sympathy and vigor. He played extremely well, although not every number struck him in native vein. The Guilmant Fantasietta, rich and assertive, was well adapted to him. The Concert Satz of Charles A. E. Harris is a brilliant and sonorous work and the Concert Fantasie of Arthur Bird showy and effective, if not too heavily besprinkled with ideas. The Eurydice Phantasy of Chaffin Mr. Smith played with poetic regard, but it was somewhat difficult to reconcile the music with the text, except in episodes where it was remarkably telling. Averagely considered, it lacked the characteristic storm and tumult, but its plaintive, poetic moments were skillfully treated.
9The quartet of singers sang very well, notably so in the second quartet from Mr. Smith's cantata, King David. There Is Sweet Music Here, in which the harmonies are no sinecure to deliver purely. This quartet is really a very beautiful bit of music, and Mrs. Gerrit Smith, Mrs. Albert McGuckin, Mr. Charles Herbert Clarke and Mr. Francis Fischer Powers acquitted themselves in it with musicianly intelligence and taste.
11A continuation of this recital took place Monday afternoon, June 3, too late to speak of in this issue. It will be treated of in the next. Works of Salomé, Capocci, Grison Rousseau, Tombelle, Bartlett, Woodman, Brewer, Dethier and others, all dedicated to Mr. Smith, were performed.
13This is the program of the concert given on Monday evening May 27, at Carnegie Hall by the People's Choral Union and Singing Classes, originated two seasons ago and conducted by Mr. Frank Damrosch:
15Part I.—Awake, choral from Die Meistersingers; solo or orchestra number; Lauda Sion, Mendelssohn. Part II.—Men of Harlech, Welsh national melody; solo or orchestra number; Fair Ellen, Max Bruch; solo or orchestra number; My Country, 'tis of thee.
17Quite an ambitious program for a body of 1,300 voices taken in their uncultured state from the masses of the people. The results were a veritable surprise.
19The Symphony Orchestra assisted, and the soloists in Mendelssohn's Lauda Sion and separate numbers were: Miss Kathrin Hilde, soprano; Miss Sara Baron Anderson, contralto; Mr. F. B. Miller, tenor, and Mr. Ericsson Bushnell, bass.
21To accommodate the huge body of singers the stage was extended almost midway into the parquet. There was little of the bourgeois air about these singers from the people, who had all garbed themselves most freshly and brightly for the occasion, and made a picture quite fair and refined to view. The number of their friends extended out through the entrances on to the curbstone of the street, and the honor to the sons and daughters of the populace of raising their voices in music of Wagner, Mendelssohn or Bruch was reflected in the faces of the enthusiastic audience. Mr. Damrosch received from the delighted listeners rounds of applause and a young garden of flowers.
23The chorus sang with unbounded vitality, with purity, too, and were always true to the attack. Mr. Damrosch has certainly worked wonders. Nobody was on the lookout for subtly artistic touches, and yet in the chorale from the Meistersinger particularly the singers had been so carefully drilled as to afford one or two surprisingly refined touches. Precision and tune have been well mastered by this choral union, who sing in perfect sympathy, and to judge from their present stage of progression, if the same members hold together, Mr. Damrosch by another season may bend their efforts into symmetric artistic form. It has certainly taken immense pains and energy to bring this crude mass of material into its present flexibly intelligent state, and this last concert, one would be inclined to state, reflects more honor on Mr. Damrosch's ability and energy than have done successful efforts of a more artistically ambitious nature, where the initial venture had ready-made talent to support it. In any event here is cordial congratulations to Mr. Frank Damrosch for his admirable work with the Choral Union and People's Singing Classes. These, by the way, are divided into "advanced" and "elementary," with music appropriately apportioned. The complete body were heard in the national hymn America with really stirring effect. The orchestra played the Tannhäuser overture, and the soloists, particularly the fine forthcoming tenor, Mr. Miller, acquitted themselves well.
25On Monday evening, also May 27, the vocal pupils of Sig. Cav. Luigi Meola, assisted by Sig. Oscar M. Newell, pianist, gave their annual concert at Chamber Music Hall. Works of Bizet, Tosti, Verdi, Meyerbeer, Miceli, Denza, A. Thomas, Rossini, Gounod and Meola himself were sung creditably, and the pupils who took part were Miss Gill, Miss Schoup, Miss Riley, Miss Schindler, Miss Hardy, Mr. Floyd and Mr. Hardy. A welcome novelty in the concert room was the chattering woman's quartet from Falstaff, sung tunefully and volubly by the Misses Schindler, Gill, Riley and Schoup. There was also the big soprano and contralto duet from Aida, sung by Misses Schindler and Gill, and the perennial Rigoletto quartet, sung by Misses Hardy and Gill, Messrs. Hardy and Floyd. The pupils all sang intelligently, and had the advantage of a piano of equal and mellow tone to accompany them. They had also an audience of good size to listen to and applaud them.
27On Saturday evening last the Baton Club, conducted by Mr. Wm. C. Carl, gave the second choral concert of its second season in the chapel of the First Presbyterian Church, Fifth avenue and Twelfth street, assisted by Miss Mary H. Mansfield, soprano; Mr. E. E. Giles, tenor; Mr. Luther Gail Allen, baritone; Mr. Fred B. King, clarinet and Mrs. Laura Crawford at the piano.
29This was the program:
31Part I., Pastoral, Diaphenia, C. Villiers Stanford (Damelus' song to his Diaphenia), the Baton Club; Clarinet solo, air, de Robert le Diable, Meyerbeer, Mr. Fred B. King; Part song, Spring (new), Frederic H. Cowen, the Baton Club; Solo, A May Song, William C. Carl, Miss Mary H. Mansfield; Part song, The Sands o' Dee, Frederic Clay, the Baton Club; Solo, Off to Philadelphia, Battison Haynes, Mr. Luther Gail Allen; Chorus, Wedding March (Midsummer Night's Dream), Mendelssohn, the Baton Club. Part II., Rebekah, a Scriptural Idyll, by Sir Joseph Barnby; Rebekah, Miss Mansfield; Isaac, Mr. Giles; Eliezer, Mr. Allen; maidens of the city, attendants, &c.
33The night was so insufferably hot that it would have been small wonder if the energies of chorus and director relaxed to vanishing point, but the temperature seemed in no wise to impair them; neither did it prevent the pretty hall from being crowded with a nice audience, who kept up Orientalwise a monotonous wave of fans too and fro without succeeding in setting a breath in motion. It was beyond doubt an almost impossible night to make music.
35But the Baton Club, under Mr. Wm. C. Carl, is enthusiastic and waxes not faint because of a thermometer. The voices are principally those of untrained amateurs whom Mr. Carl has taken at the beginning of the musical alphabet and brought to a point where they can give a work of the length and character of Barnby's Rebekah with consistently good effect, and can sing detached choral numbers with excellent taste and sympathy. The lovely opening chorus from the Rebekah, Now Day's Golden Glory Declineth, than which there is not in the domain of cantata a more gratefully harmonized bit of work, was excellently sung, and its closing fugue, O Praise the Lord, was extremely clear and creditable.
37We would have liked more power occasionally in reaching a climax. The chorus missed it once or twice, but this may have been the heat, as they certainly seemed to have the forte in them, and Mr. Carl's beat was not lacking in impetus. They just escaped the culminating point, however, which was the one disappointment they furnished throughout the evening. For the rest they did excellently, sang with purity and color and were always obedient to their director's baton. In the chorus with soprano solo, Who Shall be Fleetest and First? they sang with charming grace and rhythm; and, if the tone quality is not exactly remarkable, the results of careful drill are pre-eminently so, and the members of the Baton Club are in a valuable school for musical training.
39That they appreciate this fact was testified by the gift they had prepared for Mr. Carl and which was presented to him on the stage at the close of the first part of the program with a brief address made by the president of the club, Mr. Howard Duffield. The memento was a handsome gilt clock, which, Mr. Duffield remarked, typified in its time-keeping the regularity of Mr. Carl at his labors, and in the matter of holding its hands before its face the director's modesty regarding his own musicianly merits. The large supports which upheld the clock Mr. Duffield pointed out as significant of the hearty and enduring support which was due Mr. Carl and would always receive from the Baton Club. Upon which there were very hearty cheers.
41Mr. Carl replied briefly and to the point. He thanked and bowed and said he would register a promise by the clock never to be late at rehearsal, upon which there were more cheers, and Mr. Carl stood quite a lion for a space.
43Miss Mansfield sang deliciously, although, like the chorus, she, too, reserved apparently some force. Her voice has a lovely, luscious quality and an inborn feeling. The tenor, Mr. Giles, also did his part well, though there is nothing especially appealing in his quality. Mr. Luther Gail Allen sang very well in Rebekah, but made a mistake in singing Off to Philadelphia. Plunket Greene had the Irish in his blood, although he did not sing English with a brogue, and the rollick and recklessness were native to him, without which a song like this means nothing. The clarinet solo of Mr. King was a success.
45The entire Baton Club Concert was a success. It closed practically the concert season. This season is now dead, dead as ever was Dickens' old Marley. There are a few stray episodes ahead which are worthy to garner, but they are very few. Music after this must mingle with the plash of water or the rustle of leaves to be endurable. From the Metropolitan point of view it is gasping out its last breath.
47Comic Opera at Minneapolis.—Arrangements were made whereby the Grand will be reopened for a short season of comic opera at cheap prices, the date of the commencement being one week from to-morrow. The company which will appear is the popular Wilbur Company, the only organization representing opera at cheap prices that ever drew good audiences in Minneapolis.
49WALTER J. HALL,
50LESSONS IN VOICE PRODUCTION,
51ARTISTIC SINGING and
52ADVANCED PIANOFORTE PLAYING.
53Studio: Nos. 705 & 706 Carnegie Hall, New York.
55J. H. McKINLEY,
56TENOR.
57Concert and Oratorio—Vocal Instruction.
58STUDIO:
59126 WEST 66th STREET, NEW YORK.
61Prima Donna Contralto.
62Concert and Oratorio.
63Past two seasons Contralto at the following Festivals: Worcester, Springfield, New Bedford, Indianapolis, Hartford, Providence, Ann Arbor, Columbus, Toledo, Pittsfield, and numerous concerts.
64ADDRESS
65965 PARK AVENUE,
66NEW YORK CITY.
68NOW READY, ALBERT MORRIS BAGBY'S MUSICAL NOVEL,
69"MISS TRÄUMEREI," A WEIMAR IDYL.
70ORNAMENTAL CLOTH, $1.50.
71By ALBERT MORRIS BAGBY. A novel of interest to the generality of readers, as well as musicians. A story giving new insight into LISZT'S home life, methods of teaching, etc. Sent postpaid upon receipt of published price.
72Published by the Author, 52 Lafayette Place, New York.
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