Scan 10
Musical Courier 1895-10-16: Vol 31 Iss 815, 1895
65 lines. Read by computer on 20 September 2026. Printed page 11. See the scan on archive.org.
1and the thought that human nature is not a variable quantity in two or three centuries, almost lead one to doubt the past records of glowing triumphs and the sincerity of the noisiest eulogists. Take the case of Jenny Lind, for instance. Is not the cool statement of Chorley more reasonable than the frenzy of those admirers who kept dinning into the public ear, "And then, you know, she's so good."?
3But let us go back a moment to The Bohemian Girl, whom we have left behind us. For the sake of record, let it be stated that Miss Clara Lane sang prettily the part of Arline. Miss Kate Davis was the melodramatic Gypsy Queen. Mr. Persee, as Thaddeus, refused nobly to drink to the Emperor who had assisted in ploughing the fair land of Poland. Mr. Wolff was Devilshoof, the Gypsy with a rude sense of humor. Miss Davis and Mr. Wolff sang realistically—that is, as though they had slept for some years in tents. The performance was a smooth one, but no one of the singers was conscious of the Sun Myth or the portentous significance of the opera.
5This week Sullivan's Mikado will be the operetta at the Castle Square.
7The first Symphony concert will be given in Music Hall next Saturday evening. The program will include Brahms' first symphony, andante and variations from Mozart's Divertimento in D major (the last of the set), Dvorák's capriccio and Beethoven's overture to Leonora, No. 3. A program radiant with novelties! There are the two B's so dear to Boston; why was not something by Bach played instead of the Dvorák piece, and then we would have paid homage to the three B's? I still maintain that my plan is best of all, and that Mr. Paur should have devoted the program of the first concert to the works of composers whose names begin with A. Then B would have its turn, then C, and so on. This would be a truly educational scheme.
9The tickets this fall commanded an unusually high premium. There are good reasons for this. The orchestra is a legitimate source of civic pride, whether you approve heartily or disapprove mildly of the conductor. Then the list of soloists seems to be unusually strong.
11I spoke last week of "Rainbow Music, or the Philosophy of Harmony in Color Grouping," by Lady Archibald Campbell, published by Quaritch, London, 1886. It is a little book of thirty-four pages, handsomely printed, oblong form. There are quotations from the Duke of Argyle, Pee, Shakespeare, E. W. Godwin, Landor, Castel, Jamieson, Feré. There are allusions to Velasquez and Jimmy Whistler, Euclid and Moyas, Martinez del Mazo and the late W. Burges, Arcimboldi and Madame de Stael.
13In a description of an "Iris Parlour"—don't set this up "Irish"—is found this beautiful sentence: "Not only is the choice and adaptation of one of nature's most precious curios, a sea shell, as the diapason in my harmony, but also in the proportionate disposition and repeated application of its melting hues in rhythmic ebb and flow." Hold on to your seat firmly and hear what follows: "By inter-marriage of Shell and Iris is simplicity, a certain singleness of purpose accentuated pattern given through contrast of form and line, unity throughout the color scheme. The shell contributing the ever-changing curvature of the volute, the spiky reed and flower-barbed shaft of the water-plant the required opposition in design. * * * Inquisitive readers may say, 'In what key are you playing?' According to the Castel scale, clearly in the key of B minor." And then Lady Archibald sets the "Laureate's beautiful rainbow words" to music, with the "accompaniment played two octaves higher;" and she adds: "I have been prompted to publish these notes, believing that to those whose soul feeling is stirred by nature's harmonies, they will bear some meaning."
15It's a singular book, this story of a woman's flirtation with a great truth. The curious will put it on the shelf by F. L. Hoffmann's treatise, Castel's papers and the records of the modern examinations and experiments made by Suarez de Mendoza and Millet. Then there is this year's literature suggested or provoked by the color organ of A. Wallace Rimington. To the dreamer Baudelaire said the final word:
17Comme de longs échos qui de loin se confondent
18Dans une ténèbreuse et profonde unité,
19Vaste comme la nuit et comme la clarté,
20Les parfums, les couleurs et les sons se répondent.
22PHILIP HALE.
24Boston Music Notes.
26October 12, 1895.
28Mr. George W. Chadwick, who has been hard at work this summer at his home in West Chop, returned to town a few weeks ago. Among the works he has completed is a suite for the Festival Orchestra, which they will play at the music festivals next spring and at the concerts they give while on tour. His third symphony in F major is now in print. The Lily Nymph is just published, and will be heard in New York early in the season.
30Melba will be the soloist at the first concert in New York given by the Boston Symphony Orchestra November 11.
32Mme. de Angelis already finds herself very busy with her pupils, who come from all parts of the United States. Three young Western girls, two of them from Peoria, one from Carrollton, have taken an apartment in the Copley, where Mme. de Angelis lives, and will devote themselves closely to music this winter. This will be their second season with Mme. de Angelis, and they will go abroad with her next summer. Miss Membery, who went to Europe with her this year, also continues her studies this winter. Mme. de Angelis has a charming, luxurious home, and is greatly admired and beloved by her friends and pupils.
34Miss Clara Munger arrived home last week after four and a half months spent abroad. Her niece, Miss Marion Munger, sang at several concerts in London during the season, where her voice was greatly admired. While in Paris all the young ladies of her party studied with Delle Sedie and other masters, and the entire trip was most successful in every way. Just now Miss Munger is busy trying voices and arranging hours for her many pupils.
36Miss Priscilla White sang at a concert last week in Bangor, Me., with Miss Shaw, harpist.
38Mrs. A. F. Sheardown has taken a studio in the Pierce Building, Copley square, where she will be every Monday morning.
40The choir of the Ames Unity Church, at North Easton, is gathered from all points of the compass. Mr. Aiton Paul, the organist, comes from Fairhaven; Miss Grace Bonner, soprano, from Taunton; Miss Minniebel Smith, contralto, Boston; Mr. George Sprague, bass, Brockton; Mr. Marshall, the tenor, being the only one who resides in North Easton.
42The First Parish Church of Watertown has recently been enlarged to accommodate the new $5,000 organ presented to the society by Mr. George A. Stearns. The organ was heard for the first time on Friday evening, when Mr. Everett E. Truette, of Allston, gave a recital. Mr. Truette has been engaged as organist of the church.
44The Virgil Piano School, of New York, gave a piano recital in Union Hall on Thursday evening.
46Mr. Morawski has resumed teaching after his return from Europe, both in Boston and Worcester.
48The weekly Thursday evening recital at the New England Conservatory of Music was given this week by the pupils of the advanced classes.
50Mr. Francis W. Perry has recently opened a bureau of registry for church singers and organists, with headquarters at 179 Tremont street. The manager, having directed church choirs for the past eighteen years, ought to understand the needs of church choirs, and the intention is to try voices and only register such people as are competent to fill positions, thus sparing trouble and annoyance to music committees.
52Mr. Frank M. Davis, violinist, who has been engaged by the Copley Square School this season, is an Ohio man who began his career in Oberlin, but after two trips to Europe for study settled in Boston, where he has been busy for several years with concerts and teaching. Last year the Boston Philharmonic Concert Company, of which Mr. Davis is a member, gave a number of concerts during the season, while during the spring months Mr. Davis' pupils were heard in a series of recitals, when they were assisted by various well-known artists.
54A grand German charity concert is to be given on Sunday, November 8, in the Boston Theatre. A special feature of the concert will be the singing of the grand choruses of male and mixed voices. Dr. Louis Kelterborn, director of the Orpheus Musical Society and the Boylston Mixed Choir, has charge of the choruses. German works exclusively are to be produced, it being the object of the promoters to bring before the public representative German music. The best German musicians in Boston have volunteered their services for the occasion, and an orchestra of seventy-five is already assured. Mr. Carl Zerrahn has consented to lead the orchestra, to the delight of his many friends. A fine list of soloists is promised, among them being Mr. and Mrs. Emil Paur and Mr. Charles Molé. The proceeds of the concert are to be put into a trust fund for a non-sectarian home for aged German people projected by the Deutscher Frauen-Huelfsverein, a charitable organization for relieving destitute women and children.
56Mr. Ed. Rosé, 'cellist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, assisted at Miss Shaw's harp recital in Bangor last week. The press were unanimous in praise of his playing upon that occasion, and the audience testified as to their appreciation of his artistic execution and feeling by warmly encouraging him.
58The rehearsals of the Boston Symphony Orchestra began on Friday morning. There was also a rehearsal on Saturday morning, and during next week there will be at least four private rehearsals before the public one on Friday afternoon. During the season there are always three rehearsals a week, often four.
60Monday night at the Music Hall the opening concert will be given of this season's Boston Star Course. The Star Course management have secured Miss Emma Juch to give this concert, and she is to be assisted by the Germania Orchestra of forty musicians.
62The Apollo Club will repeat its first concert of the season—which is to be Professor Paine's Oedipus, with Mr. George Riddle to read portions of the play—a few days after the performance in Music Hall in Sanders Theatre, Cambridge, where the work was originally produced in 1881. This will be an "extra" to the associate members of the club, and will give them an opportunity to hear the club in a hall of much more suitable size than Music Hall.
64The Kneisel Quartet announces a course of eight chamber concerts, to be given in Association Hall (on the corner of Boylston and Berkeley streets) on Monday evenings, October 28, November 25, December 30, January 12, February 17, March 9, April 6 and April 27. Standard works by Beethoven, Brahms, Dvorák, Mozart, Rubinstein and Schubert are announced, besides the following novelties, to be given for the first time in Boston: J. S. Bach, Concerto Grosso for string orchestra(MS.); Emile Bernard, Suite, opus 34; Johannes Brahms, Sonatas for piano and clarinet; Antonin Dvorák, Trio (Dumki), for piano, violin and 'cello; César Franck, Quartet in D major; G. F. Händel, Concerto Grosso for string orchestra; C. M. Loefler, Octet. The following artists will assist: Mrs. Georg Henschel, Miss Geselchap, Mr. Carl Baermann, Mr. E. A. MacDowell, Mr. Ernst Perabo, Mr. Arthur Foote and Mr. Leon Pourtau.
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