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Musical Courier 1895-06-26: Vol 30 Iss 799, 1895
64 lines. Read by computer on 26 September 2026. Printed page 6. See the scan on archive.org.
1and poetically that everybody was delighted. Miss Nathan likewise was delightful, and so were the Cologne young ladies, Misses Freyberg, Englehardt and Keseberg, in the smaller soloistic episodes. The chorus greatly distinguished itself on this occasion, and even that most difficult of choruses, the chorus mysticus, of which the full, lengthy, and not as usual the shortened version was given, was sung with the utmost precision and great refinement of shading. It seems to me that in order to attain the greatest possible and the best artistic effect this chorus mysticus should be invisible and should be sung behind the scene by a smaller number of specially selected voices.
3If I took special pains and great pleasure in praising all bands for the execution of the above number, I cannot on the other hand disguise the fact that they were much less worthy of praise in the next program offering, which consisted of the final scene from Wagner's Parsifal. It also became apparent to me that it is true what others have maintained before me, that Wüllner's limit is reached with Schumann, whom he is said not even to fancy particularly, and that Wagner, for whom he is said to profess the greatest admiration, is after all more or less of a sealed book to him. This was shown already in the Verwandlungsmusik, and became an undeniable fact in the choral episodes, which were neither as broad and noble in conception nor as ponderous or precise in reproduction as they are heard at Bayreuth under Levi's baton. Birrenkoven as Parsifal deserves all praise, while Perron as Amfortas was not up to his previous effort, and again fell into his habit of sickly mannerisms.
5The close of the program was reached after half an hour's intermission with Beethoven's Eroica symphony, which was performed in true music festival style, with verve and precision, albeit technically it did not quite reach the perfection with which Mozart's symphony in the same key was given.
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9The third and last day of the festival was the usual "soloist's" day, with a variegated program of the regular concert order. This day of the festival always shows the greatest attendance on the part of the general public, and such was also the case here at Cologne.
11The program opened with Brahms' third symphony in F major, which was finely executed by the festival orchestra under Wüllner's direction. Schubert's immortal name had so far not occurred on the programs of this purely German festival scheme. Instead of with at least some of his finest Lieder (if there was no room for anything greater), he was represented with a lugubrious recitative and aria from an unfinished Easter cantata entitled Lazarus. Whoever dug out this unknown fragment from poor Lazarus did no special service to the manes of the most glorious of melody inventors the world has so far known. Perron sang the aria as if he was about to give up the ghost, and the effect of the whole was depressing to a degree.
13But now came Eugen d'Albert, and he was greeted like a prime old favorite. Rumors as thick as molasses had been promulgated the previous day that "the little giant" had been killed in a duel by his now greatest enemy Stavenhagen. That there is a feud between those two pianists, both of whom also want to be conductors and neither of whom really can conduct, cannot be doubted. The cause is that d'Albert sneaked into the Weimar court conductor position long ago coveted by Stavenhagen during the latter's recent exploits in the United States. And now they don't speak as they pass by. Things are said to be pretty lively in Weimar in consequence, which they usually are not, and hence the rumors about the mortal combat. They are all untrue, however; for not a hair on d'Albert's richly hirsuted head was missing, and he shook his mane as richly as ever whenever the agitation of the moment made him throw his head to one side or the other. I did not think so much of his selections for the festival program, the Weber Concertstück and the Liszt E flat concerto, both of which are amply hackneyed; moreover, Liszt can hardly be reckoned among the German composers; he was if anything a true cosmopolite.
15However, be that as it may, the fact remains that I have never heard Eugen d'Albert to better advantage. He never played better in his life, and he agreed with me in this judgment of mine when later on I had a chance to ask him about it. His technic, especially in the Liszt concerto, was almost Rosenthalean, and his tone so full and his touch so broad as those of a little giant ought to be. Musically these two works demand no specially great conception, but this time d'Albert imbued them with a verve, brilliancy and vitality which lent them renewed interest. After the Concertstück he was recalled half a dozen times, and after the Liszt concerto there was no end to the enthusiastic applause and recalls. D'Albert, however, refused to grant an encore, and in this he was wise in his day, for the program was overlong anyhow and consumed four hours and a half of the afternoon and evening's time.
17Engelbert Humperdinck's Die Wallfahrt nach Kevlaar was the pièce de résistance for the chorus on the final day. This time the early work of the now famous composer of Hänsel und Gretel was much more to my liking than when I had first heard it from the Stern Singing Society at Berlin. The far better Cologne performance no doubt had much to do with this. The chorus was again at its very best and so was Birrenkoven as the sick boy, while Miss Huhn once more seemed really disappointing to me, vocally and dramatically, in her reproduction of the mother's utterances. The performance of this work on a Rhenish subject from a Rhenish poet and by a Rhenish composer seemed an especially felicitous and appropriate selection. Humperdinck, who had returned from Italy only two days previously, was made the subject of a well-deserved ovation and a double call to the podium, all of which he absolved in his most genuinely modest manner.
19His opusculum was followed by Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream overture, which was finely and most finishedly performed by the orchestra.
21The second part of the program was ushered in by the hymn of praise from Max Bruch's latest Biblical oratorio, Moses. Bruch also is a Rhinelander, and besides he anyhow deserved a place in so comprehensive a German festival scheme. I only could have wished that it had been filled with something better from his fertile pen than with this hymn of praise, which is rather highfalutin in every way. I missed the divine spark of inspiration, however. Of course it is well written for chorus, like most everything of Bruch's, but the orchestration is rather more obstreperous than effective. The solo phrases of Moses and Aaron were sung with fervor and taste by Messrs. Perron and Birrenkoven.
23The most heaven storming and also the most important of the younger school of German composers (I am sorry there are not many of them), I mean of course Richard Strauss, was represented with the Vorspiel to Guntram and the Narration of Peace from the same opera, about both of which I have spoken repeatedly and at length heretofore, and therefore need not now repeat myself. As for the performance, Professor Wüllner and the superb orchestra did not quite come up to my indeed very high expectations in the Vorspiel, but the exceedingly difficult and stirring heroic tenor episode from the opera was given with splendid élan, power, endurance and musical certainty by Willy Birrenkoven, who thereby greatly distinguished himself, and at the same time gained a success which was, as he told me, far beyond his own expectations.
25Miss Charlotte Huhn made good many of her former shortcomings by the finely conceived and well delivered singing of three of the more rarely heard Lieder by Franz, viz., Die Verlassene, Abschied and Im Walde, to which was added Schumann's Schöne Wiege, and as an encore upon not too very urgent demand Clärchen's Freudvoll und Liebend, from Beethoven's Egmont music. Professor Wüllner, the indefatigable, accompanied at the piano in most musicianly manner.
27The grand piano itself, as I came near forgetting to mention, was one of the finest and most sonorous of C. Bechstein's celebrated Berlin factory.
29The concert and entire festival closed most auspiciously and befittingly with Hans Sachs' address, Verachtet mir die Meister Nicht and the final chorus, Heil! Heil! Heil der Deutschen Kunst, from Wagner's Die Meistersingers, which was splendidly sung by Perron and the festival chorus.
31After the last C major chord a grand and tempestuous ovation for Professor Wüllner was indulged in by the delighted audience and the chorus, and in which the orchestra joined with a fanfare. The beloved and venerable conductor had also all through the festival been the recipient of great and deserved honors, especially after the performance of his Te Deum, when he was loaded down with laurel wreaths and a more substantial and lasting token of public esteem in the shape of a valuable and artistic album, designed by Toni Avenarius, a direct descendant of Richard Wagner's youngest and most beloved sister, Cäcilia Avenarius. The album represents the different cities in which Wüllner has worked for nearly half a century as a most faithful pedagogue, conductor and composer. All the honors were richly and honestly deserved by Cologne's great musical chief, who was as fresh, energetic and enthusiastic during the last moments of the festival as he had been all through his arduous and tiring self-imposed task.
33After last night's concert a festival banquet took place, at which good cheer, good speeches and general good will toward everybody prevailed and predominated.
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37A concert with a program of Van der Stucken compositions will probably be given at Cologne in the near future.
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41From here I leave indirectly for Braunschweig for the Tonkünstler meeting on the 12th inst. O. F.
43Eros.—Anent the opera Eros, which was recently given at the Theatre Pagliano, at Florence, an inspiration of the prima donna Gemma Bellincioni, though Enrico Golisciani made the verses and Nicolo Massa composed the music, a local paper says: "In its music, science and technic are preponderant over inspiration; it is a uniform and melancholic music, which produces depression of feelings; there is much richness and variety in the instrumentation; in fact, it is a work which will be received with much applause at all theatres where they judge more with the head than the heart."
45Singing to the Phonograph for a Living.
47Away out in the extreme northwestern part of the city, near the Milwaukee railroad tracks, Silas Leachman puts in four or five hours every day singing at the top of his lungs, though not a soul is in hearing but his wife, say the Chicago Tribune. When he gets tired of singing he varies the proceedings by preaching a negro sermon, or gives an imitation of an Irish wake, and altogether conducts himself in a way that would lead the neighbors to consider him a fit subject for an insane asylum—if there were any neighbors, but there are not. This is the very reason Mr. Leachman chose the lonely spot for his residence. No one ever goes out there to hear him sing, and yet he is getting rich at it. He earns something over $50 every day, though he never sees one of his auditors. Mr. Leachman sings for phonographs, and as he has a monopoly of the business in the West, he contrives to keep busy, and has even been heard to express a wish that he were twins. He has better protection in his monopoly than a copyright or an injunction or unlimited legal talent could afford. Nature gave him the peculiar qualities that enable him to reproduce his voice perfectly on the wax cylinders. Hundreds of persons have attempted to break in on his profitable monopoly, but the result of their efforts put an effectual stop to their attempts. And so Mr. Leachman goes on enjoying the monopoly and reaping the profits thereof.
49There are four other men in the East that also do work for the phonograph, but while they have to have a man to play the piano while they sing, another to make the announcement, another to change the cylinders and a fourth to keep the machines in order, Mr. Leachman is the entire show himself. Furthermore he can give an unlimited number of impersonations, while the other four men are limited to a few specialties each. Mr. Leachman is a natural mimic, and therein lies the secret of his success. He sings ballads, negro melodies and Irish, Chinese and Dutch dialect songs. He plays his own accompaniment on the piano and takes care of the machines. He prepares three "records," as the wax cylinders are called, at one time. To do this three phonographs are placed near the piano with the horns at one side, pointing away from the keyboard at an angle of 45°. The horns have to be placed very carefully, for a fifth of an inch makes a great difference in the tone the cylinders will reproduce.
51When the horns have been adjusted exactly right, Mr. Leachman seats himself at the piano, and turning his head away over his right shoulder, begins to sing as loud as he can, and that is pretty loud, for he is a man of powerful physique, and has been practicing loud singing for four years. He has been doing this work until his throat has become calloused, so that he no longer becomes exhausted after singing a short time. As soon as he has finished one song he slips off the wax cylinders, puts on three fresh ones without leaving his seat and goes right on singing until a passing train compels him to stop for a short time. In the four years he has been in the business he has made nearly 250,000 records. So great is the demand for them that he cannot fill his orders. It is such exceedingly hard work that he cannot sing more than four hours a day. He gets 35 cents for every cylinder he prepares. He has a repertory of 420 pieces, and his work is put on the market under a score of names. He has a remarkable memory, and after once hearing a song can not only repeat the words and music correctly, but can imitate excellently the voice and expression of the singer.
53Katharine Jungens.
55The frontispiece this week contains the portrait of a distinguished amateur vocalist, Mrs. Katharine Jungens, of All Saints' Chapel, Newport, R. I. Mrs. Jungens has a powerful mezzo-soprano voice, in fact a dramatic voice, endowed with color and virility. She is a pupil of Mrs. Bella Thomas Nichols, the well-known vocal teacher of this city, and it is probable that she will visit Europe next fall to take a course with one of the distinguished Berlin teachers.
57In appearance Mrs. Jungens is an ideal Brünnhilde, and she may apply herself altogether to the study of Wagner in Germany.
59Zurich.—The old Tonhalle of Zürich, Switzerland, has been given up and Händel's Messiah was the last performance. A new and splendid music hall has been built, which will be inaugurated in October by a three days' festival.
61Two Dresden Pupils.—Aglaja Organi, of the Dresden Conservatory, has furnished two of her pupils for the operatic stage. Edith Walker is engaged at the Imperial opera at Vienna, and Wally Grub for the Court Opera House at Darmstadt.
63Marschner's Centennial.—The composer of Hans Heiling, The Vampire and The Templar and the Jewess, Heinrich Marschner, was born August 16, 1795, at Zittau, and the 100th anniversary of his birth will be celebrated in a suitable manner throughout Germany.
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