Scan 13
Musical Courier 1895-12-11: Vol 31 Iss 823, 1895
81 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 14. See the scan on archive.org.
1BOSTON, Mass., December 8, 1895.
3THE first concert of the Cecilia, twentieth season, Mr. Lang conductor, was held in Music Hall the 5th. The tenor solos—for the Quid sum miser was presented as a solo, and not by all the first tenors—were sung admirably by Mr. J. C. Bartlett. The eight pairs of kettle drums were present, but the four small orchestras of brass instruments were far from answering the demands of Berlioz; neither were the percussion instruments, except the kettle drums, all there.
5I doubt whether Berlioz saw much in the text of the Requiem except those passages that refer directly to the last dread Trump and the theatrical terrors of the Judgment as understood by centuries of rigid believers. The idea of a separate personal judgment in which the man is finally condemned by his better self is to me more terrible than all these stage effects and the belching of brass and the pounding of drums.
7I knew a man years ago who had written the long looked for great American play. He was a reporter attached to the New York Herald. A manager in San Francisco talked of bringing out the play, for he knew the cleverness of the author. He naturally wished to read it. The manuscript was returned with this note in pencil: "Impossible. Last act is the Day of Judgment. Our stage is not big enough."
9This comment might be well applied to the Requiem of Berlioz. Long had he dreamed of the supreme, tumultuous expression of the Last Day. In the mass, afterward burned by him, that he wrote for St. Roch—the mass that was given in 1827, St. Cecilia's Day, at Saint Eustache—he was chiefly inspired by the Et iterum venturus, which was accentuated by the use of six trumpets, four horns, three trombones and two ophicleides. You will find the phrase given to the chorus in a letter of Berlioz to Humbert Ferrand, Lettres Intimes, pp. 5, 6, and in this letter he tells his emotion "at the sight of this picture of the last judgment, at this announcement, sung by six basses in unison; at this terrible clangor tribarum, at these cries of fright from the multitude, represented by the chorus." Yet he was not satisfied. He meditated an oratorio, then an opera in three acts, Le Dernier Jour du Monde."
11The sketch of the libretto was as follows: A tyrant rules over the earth; corrupt civilization; impious court; a handful of religious people. War and victory. Combats of slaves in a circus. Female slaves resist the desires of the conqueror. Atrocities. The chief of the religious approaches the despot and announces the end of the world. The despot immediately organizes an orgy. The feature of this entertainment is a burlesque judgment day. There is the valley of Jehosaphat; winged children with little trumpets; imitation corpses quit their tombs; the tyrant plays the part of the judge; suddenly there is a real earthquake; true angels blow terribly the last trump; "the true Christ appears, and the genuine Last Judgment begins." Berlioz knew the meaning of sarcasm and irony. This scenario proves that he had no sense of humor. After the Requiem was performed nothing more was heard about any Judgment scene.
13Is this Tuba mirum, the pivotal point of the Requiem, of genuine artistic effect? Or does it merely stun? I can offer no personal opinion, for I have never heard a really satisfactory performance of it. But it seems to me that the first six measures, followed by the solo gong in Cherubini's Requiem in C minor, strikes greater terror to the soul, and by simple means.
15It seems to me that outside of the spectacular points of the ritual Berlioz was neither interested nor interesting in this mass. I admit the ingenious beauty of the Salva Me and the Et lux perpetua, the ethereal Sanctus and the final Quia pias es. Thrilling are the strange orchestral effects at the opening of the Agnus Dei and that inspired progression from D major to B major in the Introit. On the other hand, there are dreary wastes of stiff, awkward part-writing. The Lacrymosa is for the great part cheap and vulgar, the alla capella chorus is wrung out with sweat, and Lord, that Hosanna with the final banal flourish!
17The performance was surprisingly respectable. The confirmed lover of Berlioz might justly protest against this adjective. There was false intonation in the Introit, you might have quarreled occasionally with tempos taken by Mr. Lang, who has a child-like faith in the inflexible authority of metronomic directions; there were too few trombones to secure the desired effect in the Hostias; but when you consider the difficulties, which are enormous, the performance on the whole was a creditable one.
19* * *
21The program of the seventh Symphony concert, December 7, the 1,330th performance by the orchestra, and the 717th performance in Boston, was as follows:
23Overture, Nature (first time)……………………………Dvorák
24Concerto for piano, No. 2, G minor……………………Saint-Saëns
25Overture to Donna Diana (first time)…………………..Reznicek
26Symphony No. 1, B flat major………………………….Schumann
28The feature of the concert, in spite of the many excellences in the performance of Mr. Martinus Sieveking, was the acquaintanceship with Reznicek's overture. I do not know whether you have heard it in New York; it is likely that you know it; here in Boston novelties come late. This overture is conspicuous for its spontaneity, grace, originality, and, above all, for its true comedy spirit. It is the tendency of many Germans to exhaust the resources of the orchestra and the patience of the hearers by attempting to be profound and symbolical when they are setting a light and sparkling subject to music. This overture of Reznicek is full of chatter, badinage, woman's laughter, playful intrigue, ironical reflections. Itself is pure comedy from beginning to end. Masterly is the treatment of the chief theme, and the instrumentation is a surprise and a delight.
30I hunted about to learn something of Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek. The Signale said lately that he was the son of an officer of high rank; that he was born in Vienna in 1860, and that about 1880 he studied at the Leipsic Conservatory.
32Does anyone over here know the merits or the weaknesses of these operas by him: The Maid of Orleans, Prague, 1887; Satanella, Prague, 1888; Emmerich Fortuna, Prague, 1889? Reznicek is his own librettist. A requiem mass by him was performed in Prague in November, 1894.
34The overture by Dvorák seemed inconsequential and long drawn out. The dress was brave and glittering, but the body was poorly nourished and of little substance.
36Mr. Martinus Sieveking is a pianist of fluent and equally developed technic. His touch is eminently agreeable. In bravura passages he plays as a rule with crystalline clearness and with a certain unostentatious distinction. And there was something last evening very charming about his performance. He came dangerously near belittling the first movement by an abuse of ritardando, and the first measures of the second movement were none too clear. But with these exceptions his performance was such as to elicit genuine admiration. The audience, charmed by him, recalled him again and again.
38PHILIP HALE.
40Boston Music Notes.
41BOSTON, December 7, 1895.
42On Monday evening Mr. Emil Tiferro, assisted by Miss Aagot Lunde and Mr. Heinrich Schüecker, will give a concert in Steinert Hall. The program promises to be an interesting one.
44Margarethe…………………………………………..Ch. Gounod
45Longings……………………………………………..A. Rubinstein
46Maiden with the Lips so Rosy………………………..J. Gall
47Nissun lo Sa (Barcarola)……………………………L. Vannucini
48Miss Lunde.
49Romance……………………………………………..Godefroid
50Preghiera…………………………………………….Rossini-Alvars
51Mr. Schüecker.
52O, Lass Dich Halten, Gold'ne Stunde…………………O. Jensen
53Dedication…………………………………………..R. Franz
54Vorrei Morir………………………………………..A. Tosti
55Mr. Tiferro.
56Duette—
57Der Engel…………………………………………..A. Rubinstein
58Wanderers Nachtlied……………………………….Miss Lunde and Mr. Tiferro.
59Serenade……………………………………………..Parish-Alvars
60Mr. Schüecker.
61Das Wirthshaus………………………………………F. Schubert
62Letzte Hoffnung…………………………………….Mr. Tiferro.
63Der Kobold…………………………………………..C. Reinecke
64Swedish Polka……………………………………….J. Damström
65Miss Lunde.
66The Asra……………………………………………..O. Eichberg
67Am Stillen Herd (from the opera Die Meistersinger)….R. Wagner
68Mr. Tiferro.
70At the memorial services in honor of Alexander H. Rice, in Music Hall on Tuesday evening, the Herbert Johnson Quintet Club, of Boston, assisted by Mr. Joseph L. White, sang a number of appropriate anthems.
72Miss Emma Hosford sang at Mrs. Gardiner G. Hammond's Thanksgiving evening after the large family dinner. Miss Hosford has a studio in the Pierce Building. She has received a warm welcome from her many Boston friends this winter, and they are all delighted at her return to the city. Miss Hosford will also sing at Mrs. Robinson's lecture on Monday morning.
74Mrs. L. P. Morrill sang last Friday night for the Metaphysical Club at Association Hall, and with Mrs. Mary A. Livermore was tendered a reception at the close of the evening's entertainment. Mrs. Morrill holds her second reception on Wednesday, December 11, from 4 to 6.
76At the Festival Concert, Salem, Mass., last week, Mr. C. L. Staats was one of the soloists. He also played at the Mount Hermon Lecture Course on Thanksgiving, when Mr. Heinrich Schüecker, Mr. Wulf Fries and Miss Eve Mae Clark were also soloists.
78A lecture on December 16, in Association Hall, promises to be of much interest. The subject is "Chanties, or Sea (Hauling) Songs," their history and use. The songs will be illustrated by sailors from sea going vessels. Mr. Henry C. Lahee, who will deliver the lecture, has given much time and research to these songs and has classified them as outward bound, second dog watch and homeward bound. There are many people living in this vicinity who have probably heard these songs sung on shipboard years ago.
80At the Bradford Academy concert on Wednesday afternoon Miss Bertha Cushing sang as an encore The Scythe Song, words by Andrew Lang, the music by Mrs. Conway Blanchard, a charming little song written especially for Miss Cushing's voice. Mrs. Blanchard is a pupil of Miss
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