Scan 14
Musical Courier 1895-06-05: Vol 30 Iss 796, 1895
90 lines. Read by computer on 23 September 2026. Printed page 15. 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.
1Yaw's Triumph at Cleveland.
3Five Thousand Music Lovers Listen to the Young Singer's Wonderful Voice.
5ELLEN BEACH YAW, the famous high range soprano, has closed a unique concert season. Almost a total stranger in the concert field, she stepped in an incredibly short space of time into the front rank of artists who had been favorites. There seems no dissenting voice among the public and the critics in the cities where she sang, and we read constantly that she gave as much satisfaction as Nilsson, Gerster, Patti or Parepa ever did. Of her Cleveland, Ohio, concert the Leader speaks as follows:
7"Almost a stranger, having sung in Cleveland but once before, Miss Yaw came and conquered. She came to this city, whose inhabitants are conservative and more influenced by well established precedents than by novel and bewildering phenomena, and not easily led into wildfire enthusiasm. So much the more remarkable was Miss Yaw's signal success, and that with an audience who represented the aggregate musical intelligence and culture of this city and its environs.
9"Through the courtesy of the different railroads it was possible to arrange excursion trains for the music-loving people from Canton, Oberlin, Berea, and other towns, and thus fully fifteen hundred people were added to the audience at Music Hall.
11"The vast hall was devoid of other decorations, yet it presented a magnificent appearance. Bright spring costumes were everywhere, every balustrade, row of seats, nook and corner of the big house, with its seating capacity of 5,000 people being aglow with color.
13"Miss Ellen Beach Yaw, the great soprano singer from the Golden State, verified last evening even those preceding statements concerning her voice that seemed too extravagant to deserve credit. Her first solo piece was not yet over before the singer, a tall blonde, with deep blue eyes, a winning smile and a charming little curtsey, had won the hearts of all present. Those who went to the hall with the incredulous smile of the opinionated disbeliever became renegades in a twinkling, went back on their own beliefs, and more than one brand new pair of gloves was split with furious plaudits.
15"It was Miss Yaw's wonderful voice that perpetrated this seeming miracle. Rich, glossy, clear as a bell, and, more yet, true to the slightest vibration, coming home to the hearer's innermost heart—such is Miss Yaw's voice.
17"But the theme most interesting of all, discussed by the uninitiated hardly less intently than by the musicians—Miss Yaw's almost preternaturally wide and high range—that was the object of the keenest watchfulness. Thousands noted it last night, and went into raptures of delight over it. That wonderful high note came as natural and as unconstrained, incidental with the composition, as could be. Miss Yaw did not laboriously scale it, but she soared up to it on invisible wings, cheerfully, like the skylark at morning's dawn. Rising from the solid foundation of a full and powerful soprano tone, rich and sombre, like a beautiful alto timbre, she rose in trills and passages of whirling velocity to a pitch such as the rafters of old Music Hall never heard before."
19Miss Laura Burnham.
21IT is with pleasure that we announce the successful appearance in London of another soprano. We have plenty of what is understood as mezzo-sopranos, and they seem to be indigenous to the soil, but those rare creatures whose voices lie in what is known as the range of the pure soprano are not plentiful, and an addition to the small number is always welcome, especially when combined with musical intelligence and high vocal culture.
23That Miss Burnham possesses all these qualities was amply proved at her début in Queen's Hall last week. In the test aria from The Magic Flute she surprised everybody with the fluency of her vocalization, purity and range of her voice and her artistic singing. She again charmed her hearers in the extremely difficult Sweet Bird, from Händel, with flute obligato, and showed her versatility in a most sympathetic rendering of the old English ballad by Clifton, Sweet Stream.
25Genuine artistic success is not won in a day, and Miss Burnham comes rightly to hers after a period of study and experience, and then further study, which gave the requisite finish. She was born in Essex, Mass., where she lived until twelve years of age, when her parents moved to Boston, where she was educated and studied in the New England Conservatory, taking a thorough course, including piano, harmony and part singing, as well as voice training.
27After receiving a diploma from this institution she continued her studies under Mrs. Long for one year, at the close of which she made her Boston début at the Artists' Operatic Festival, one of those grand meetings when a feast of good things is interpreted by the best artists available, including Mme. Nordica, Mme de Vere Sapio, Mme. Clara Poole, Mr. Myron Whitney and Mr. Heinrich, under the conductorship of Herr Nikisch. The press was most enthusiastic in its praise of Miss Burnham's work on this occasion, saying that she was the first pupil who had acquired such a high standard of singing after studying only in America. This success immediately led to an engagement for an extended tour for the United States, where she sang in over 105 concerts, appearing in most of the leading cities in the East, West, North and South. She also sang for such organizations as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Worcester Festival, &c.
29Feeling that she would like to continue her studies, she came abroad and studied for two years with Mme. Marchesi, devoting herself to preparing for concert work. During this time she learned a large number of operatic arias, to say nothing of numerous French, German, Italian and English songs. She also perfected herself in French diction, and enjoyed the other advantages available in Paris. The best indication of Mme. Marchesi's opinion was that she was asked to sing at one of her matinées in the Salle Erard immediately after commencing her course of study. She achieved success, and at her second appearance at this Salle, in one of Mme. Marchesi's concerts, had a flattering offer for opera, which she declined, preferring to continue her concert work.
31After her professor said she was finished and ready for work in her chosen field, she went home to Boston for a visit, and en passant made a three years' engagement with Mr. Daniel Mayer, under whose direction she appears in London.
33Another qualification that has helped to fit Miss Burnham for her work was the extensive practice she had in church singing from an early age up to the time she left America. Two positions she filled with much honor to herself were in Dr. Duryea's Central Congregational Church, and the Bromfield Street Congregational Church. She attributes much of her success to the proper foundation of her voice by Mrs. Long, and Mme. Marchesi had no corrections to make in her methods when she went to Paris, thus enabling her to make the best possible use of her stay in the French capital.
35The portrait that appears as a frontispiece of this number of THE MUSICAL COURIER is an excellent likeness of Miss Burnham. Her pleasing manners and excellent address will be a great assistance to her in helping her on in the successful career she is bound to attain.
37Wagner at the Garden.
39MR. ROSS JUNGNICKEL, director of the National Symphony Orchestra, gave an extra concert to a large and demonstrative audience in the Madison Square amphitheatre last Thursday night. The following was the program:
41Tannhäuser, (a) March, (b) Overture and Bacchanale (Parisian version), (c) Romanze, Evening Star, Wagner; trombone solo, Mr. J. Pfeiffenschneider; Siegfried Idyl, Wagner; overture, Rienzi, Wagner; Meistersinger, Prize Song (Wilhelm), solo arranged for all the first violins, Wagner; Die Walküre—(a) Ride of the Valkyries, (b) Wotan's Farewell, (c) Magic Fire Scene, Wagner; overture, Tell, Rossini; waltz, New Vienna, Strauss; Torchlight Dance, Meyerbeer.
43Mr. Jungnickel once more made forcible the fact that he is a capable and reliable conductor.
45The features of the evening included Herr Pfeiffenschneider's trombone solo, the Rienzi overture and the Evening Star romance from Tannhäuser. The calls for a repetition of these numbers were candid, a merited acknowledgement of Mr. Jungnickel's abilities as a director.
47The giving of these concerts has already called forth many letters of praise to Mr. Jungnickel, and his work has been fruitful, inasmuch as he has already received excellent offers for the future. Friends are advising him to spend two or three years abroad, and he has the matter under consideration.
49***
51We understand that the efforts of certain ladies who comprise a committee are bent in the direction of providing the public with a series of summer night concerts in Madison Square Garden, to begin about the middle of July.
53In view of this fact, it is a logical conclusion that Mr. Ross Jungnickel will be engaged as conductor. In fact, it is said that a number of the ladies who have interested themselves in this matter have expressed a decided preference for Mr. Jungnickel's services, and this notwithstanding the fact that the names of other orchestral leaders have been mentioned in this connection.
55The reasons given why Mr. Jungnickel should occupy the place and why he is entitled to it are that he has proven himself to be a thoroughly competent director with his National Symphony Orchestra, capable of handling a large number of men in great works, as was made evident in his success in the Wagner compositions. He has his material well in hand and his men have expressed a preference for remaining with him in the city. Besides, he has measured the possibilities of the amphitheatre, and understanding the acoustic properties of the building, he is in the position to make the most of the opportunities that must necessarily arise from the getting together of such an orchestra. Indeed, it would seem preposterous for a conductor to engage another orchestra when such a first-class aggregation of musicians as Mr. Jungnickel controls may be had for these concerts.
57Besides, it is the public that pays, and the public has rights which the minority must respect, and the prerogative to reject the performances of a mediocre orchestra comes within this pale.
59The matter should be pushed to a head at once. Mr. Jungnickel is ready, his men are ready and the public will respond.
61Mr. Fique Protests.
63Editors The Musical Courier:
64YOUR Paris correspondent, Fannie Edgar Thomas, as, speaking of the recent Tannhäuser performance in that city, says that, "thanks to French taste or French blood, rather much of the immoral exhibition which is a repugnant feature of the Wagner drama was suppressed."
66I will not stop to argue the point whether the French are deadly foes of the immoral on the stage; let their well-known dramas (for instance, Clemenceau Case, Nana, &c.) speak for themselves; but as a musician and an admirer of Wagner allow me to enter my decided protest against the allegation that "immoral exhibition is a repugnant feature of the Wagner drama," for it is not. Tannhäuser shows the salvation of a soul from sin through the love of a pure woman, and the only scene which your Paris correspondent can possibly have in mind when she speaks of immoral exhibition is the Venus grotto scene. Allowing that to be immoral, we must condemn on equal grounds the garden scene in Faust, the second act of Carmen, the entire Cavalleria Rusticana and many other treasures of the operatic stage. "Immoral exhibition" will then be the repugnant feature of all drama.
68Fannie Edgar Thomas continues: "The blood of the Latin race does not need slow cooking by the hour as does that of the North Pole bear across the Black Forest, and so the long drawn out, bed chamber effects of the German drama are insupportable on a French stage."
70What does the writer mean? What is a North Pole bear across the Black Forest? Is there a specimen of it in the Museum of Natural History? And, as regards the bed chamber effects, will your Paris correspondent kindly inform me what they consist of, and where, in what act or scenes of Tannhäuser they occur? The information I ask for will no doubt interest every musician, so I beg your Paris correspondent not to withhold it.
72Respectfully,
73CARL FIQUÉ.
75Cincinnati Conservatory.—The third of the chamber music concerts given the past season under the auspices of the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Clara Baur directoress, was held at Pike's Opera House on May 13. The Times-Star writes:
77"Let it be said at once that last night's concert was one of the most thoroughly delightful and satisfying performances of music in its noblest form that has been heard here for many a season. No one could ask for a better program. The rich, sensuous coloring of the Schumann, the vivid and brilliant effect of the Beethoven sonata, the ingenious subtlety and rhythmic oddity of Dvorák formed striking contrasts. The Kneisel Quartet seemed imbued with the spirit of devotion to its work. Its convincing harmony of purpose, its absolute pliancy and purity of tone are the result of something higher than mere technical attainments. Nothing could be truer or richer in contrasted expression than the variations of the D minor andante.
79"The much discussed African theme of Dvorák's quartet seems to be particularly to the viola, where Dvorák seems to reach his ideal 'to come into touch with the common humanity of the people.' The work was played with breadth and fervor.
81"Mr. Krueger's playing was delightfully subdued and sympathetic; in fact there were moments when the piano might have asserted itself a trifle more forcibly. The performance was an excellent one; particularly effective was the opening allegro. Mr. Krueger played it delicately, in full sympathy with the violin and with no little finess of expression. His success was emphatic and deserved.
83"Mr. Georg Krueger, who is now a year with the conservatory, is a graduate of the Berlin Royal High School and a pupil of Leschetitzky."
85FRANK TAFT ORGANIST
86A BOOKLET containing list of 70 new organs inaugurated by Mr. Taft, giving names of builders, number of manuals, etc., mailed upon application.
87ADDRESS
88Chickering Hall
89New York
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