Scan 5
Musical Courier 1895-12-11: Vol 31 Iss 823, 1895
56 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 6. See the scan on archive.org.
1ment. As regards the new string quartet, it proved anything but interesting. The composer is teacher of composition at the Prague Conservatory and is said to be a personal friend of Johannes Brahms. Both circumstances did not prevent him from putting down on paper a work which Tappert more tellingly than gracefully described as Flunkereien, which, translated into the vernacular, means rot.
3Not much more than rot is Nápravník's piano trio, which is distressingly bare of ideas. The composer, however, tries to cover up paucity and poverty of his musical thoughts through ingenuity of thematic treatment, only he goes too far in this direction, and his labored workmanship soon becomes tedious to the ear, which is vainly waiting for at least one bit of real melodic invention. What was the hardest surprise and disappointment to me was the playing of Dr. Muck. He who handles an orchestral accompaniment with the nicest of discretion and finest of musical instinct simply pounded out the piano part upon a half opened concert grand, and drowned both Professor Hollander and Mr. Schrattenholz so completely that at times their playing was absolutely inaudible.
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7On the same evening Mr. Harold Bauer gave a concert, with orchestra in the Singakademie. He arrived here entirely unheralded, but met with an instantaneous success and recognition of his really remarkable gifts as a pianist. Mr. Bauer bears a German name, but is an Englishman, and now lives in Paris. In London he was known as a violinist of ability, but he felt a stronger inclination for the piano, and when he, a few years ago, played for Paderewski, the latter found so much talent that he advised Mr. Bauer to come to Paris, where he would give him lessons. The advice of such an artist and the generous offer of gratuitous instruction from such a master decided Mr. Bauer to change his whole career. Judging from the results I heard on Saturday night Mr. Bauer did well, and I predict for him an exceedingly brilliant future.
9I did not hear the Beethoven E flat piano concerto, but I was in time for the Saint-Saëns G minor one, and I can tell you that for finish, brilliancy, dash and élan I have not yet heard the equal of the interpretation of this concerto. The finale was taken at a perfect breakneck speed and carried through without the slightest technical mishap. The Liszt Hungarian Fantasy was played with tremendous tone, and again with a vim which was perfectly irresistible. Both the audience and the critics were carried away and the battle was won the very first evening.
11Mr. Bauer will give a piano recital here next Saturday night, when we shall hear some Schumann, Chopin and a few novelties, among them a nocturne by Paderewski.
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15Last night the Philharmonic chorus, under Siegfried Ochs' direction, gave a superb performance of Bach's high mass in B minor, at the Philharmonie, which was sold out for the occasion. I have spoken at length about the first reproduction of this noble work, the grandest, perhaps, in all musical literature, which took place last season at the Church of the Garrison. The acoustic properties of the building, however, were against the best display of the chorus, and the effect at the Philharmonic was much better, in fact an overwhelming one. Such glorious chorus singing, such fine pianos and pianissimos, such rhythmic precision I have rarely, if ever, heard from such a vast body of amateur singers.
17Ochs' treatment of chorus singing differs widely and favorably from that in vogue with most larger choral societies, such as here the Singakademie, the Stern Singing Society, with whom dynamic shading is an almost unknown quantity and who take and carry through everything in about the same mezzo forte. This is what they call the "classic tradition." Well, Bach's noble music as it sounded last night was proof sufficient that the "classic tradition" should be done away with, the sooner the better. Dr. Heinrich Reimann's handling of the organ was very effective, and so were this time the soloists among the increased body of the Philharmonic orchestra, including the two antiquated oboi d'amore, which were well played by Messrs. Hanisch and Vonderbank. Concertmeister Witek performed the two violin obligatos with taste and nice, sweet tone, and exceedingly good was the difficult horn obligato in the first bass aria, which Herr Paul Meffert played. The flute soloist, Herr Alfred Quensel, and the usually very tart, but this time tolerable, trumpet player, Herr Otto Fuist, should come in for a word of praise.
19Over the instrumental soloists I came near forgetting the vocal ones, and yet they are just as deserving of eulogy. Mrs. Herzog's light soprano voice is not exactly suited to oratorio singing, but she was in good style, albeit not in the best of condition. Mrs. Joachim still showed the remnants of her once glorious contralto voice, and of course her delivery was most artistic; toward the end, however, her vocal organ came near refusing further service, and it was only with apparent effort that she could safely reach the end of her second aria. Heinrich Vogel, the renowned Munich tenor, sang the Benedictus with elevating musical diction and unimpaired voice. The bass part was to have been sung by Johannes Messcheirt, of Amsterdam, who at the last rehearsal was still able to "indicate" his two difficult and lengthy solo arias, but on the day of the concert his cold grew so bad that he had to be excused from singing. For a time it looked as if the performance would have to be postponed, but at the eleventh hour (virtually at 4 o'clock in the afternoon) our American baritone Arthur van Eweyk was found and jumped into the breach without even the chance of a rehearsal. Under the circumstances he did exceedingly well and deserves unstinted praise. The funniest part of the proceedings is that three or four of the most prominent Berlin critics were not aware of the change, and mistook Van Eweyk for Messchaert, which is as much of a feather in the artist's cap as it reverts to the lack of ear and judgment of the said prominent Berlin critics. one of two readings
20Over the instrumental soloists I came near forgetting the vocal ones, and yet they are just as deserving of eulogy. Mrs. Herzog's light soprano voice is not exactly suited to oratorio singing, but she was in good style, albeit not in the best of condition. Mrs. Joachim still showed the remnants of her once glorious contralto voice, and of course her delivery was most artistic; toward the end, however, her vocal organ came near refusing further service, and it was only with apparent effort that she could safely reach the end of her second aria. Heinrich Vogel, the renowned Munich tenor, sang the Benedictus with elevating musical diction and unimpaired voice. The bass part was to have been sung by Johannes Messchaert, of Amsterdam, who at the last rehearsal was still able to "indicate" his two difficult and lengthy solo arias, but on the day of the concert his cold grew so bad that he had to be excused from singing. For a time it looked as if the performance would have to be postponed, but at the eleventh hour (virtually at 4 o'clock in the afternoon) our American baritone Arthur van Eweyk was found and jumped into the breach without even the chance of a rehearsal. Under the circumstances he did exceedingly well and deserves unstinted praise. The funniest part of the proceedings is that three or four of the most prominent Berlin critics were not aware of the change, and mistook Van Eweyk for Messchaert, which is as much of a feather in the artist's cap as it reverts to the lack of ear and judgment of the said prominent Berlin critics. one of two readings
22The audience was so elevated by the fine performance that, although applause is not usually indulged in here during oratorio reproductions, the people could not refrain from showing their appreciation, and they applauded most heartily after each of the three sections of the mass, and at the close they vociferously recalled Siegfried Ochs upon the platform, when the chorus joined in applauding its beloved leader.
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26Mr. Otto B. Boise's second lecture on music, at the American Girls' Club, dealt with the early stages of musical evolution, which he calls music's first era—the present era dating from the adoption of notation. Mr. Boise endeavored to throw light back into that dark period, drawn from the ancient history of Egypt, from what has been learned with regard to the original Aryan race, the Grecian branch of that race in its glory, the South Sea islanders, the American Indians, &c., tracing the grades of culture in each environment, then deducing from these general conditions the probable stage of music's development. Mr. Boise quoted a letter from Count Pfeil, describing the musical exercises of the South Sea islanders, among whom he has spent many years. They are the lowest human beings known, and their music touches our art at the lowest point in its evolution. The American Indian is more human, and his music is consequently less beastly, although not pregnant with the finer germs.
28Beginning with these low standards, as known, Mr. Boise traced—taking into account the vital nature of music—the influence of recorded conditions in the history of various peoples on the evolution of our art.
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32Mary Howe made her second appearance at the Berlin Royal Opera House on Sunday night, when as Lucia she again duplicated her original success. She will also be the soloist at a concert which Arthur Nikisch will conduct at the Leipsic Opera House on the 27th inst., on which occasion the King and Queen of Saxony will be present.
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36Richard Strauss' opera Guntram was brought out with great success at the Munich Court Opera House, under the composer's direction, last Thursday night. On the same evening Sir Arthur Sullivan's Chieftain, which was given in German at the Gaertnerplatztheater, met with a fiasco. Humperdinck's musical fairy tale, The Seven Little Goats, was brought out for the first time at the Stuttgart Court Opera last week, and scored a big success. The libretto, like that of Hänsel and Gretel, is from the pen of the composer's sister, Mrs. Adelheid Wette, of Cologne.
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40Would you believe it that a music critic could lose his position for speaking in terms of praise about the oratorio St. Paul? It sounds preposterous, and yet it is true. Mr. Ertel was asked to resign from the Berliner Tageszeitung because he "bestowed eulogy on the work of a Jewish composer." This is the same anti-Semitic paper which refused to print an obituary of Anton Rubinstein, "because he was a virtuoso of Jewish descent." All this happens at the fag end of the nineteenth century and in a city which prides itself upon its intelligence!
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44Through a joke of the paragraph writer (who probably relied upon its rectification by the proper authorities), Musikdirector Freudenberg was last week called in a morning issue of the Boersen Courier Musikdirector Schmerzenthal. The joke would grow upon you if you knew the party in question, who is one of those malcontented individuals whom Daudet, in Jack, calls les ratés.
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48Among the callers last week were Miss Rohrabacher and her mother, from Detroit; the young lady has nearly finished her pianist education under Professor Barth, and intends to return to the United States shortly; Miss Adele Aus der Ohe, who will give a concert here by the end of the week; Mrs. Otto Sutro, of Baltimore, and her two talented daughters, the latter with fresh laurels won in England, and soon, I hope, to be renewed and increased in Germany; Mr. Harold Bauer, the pianist mentioned above; Miss De Marian Dana Macdaniel, of New York; Mrs. Emmy Kuzzer-Vallacky, of Dresden, an oratorio singer of ability, who wishes a concert or church engagement in the United States; and Mr. Le Roy, the indefatigable manager of Nikita, who has just signed a contract for the charming young lady's appearance in twenty operatic performances in the first theatres of Germany, and who in April next will take Massenet from Paris to Russia, where the French composer is to conduct four orchestral concerts with programs made up from Massenet's works. O. F.
50Magri.—Milan dispatches announce the death of Francesco Magri, aged seventy-eight. He was originally famous as a dancer at La Scala, and later as a choreographer. Among his most famous ballets were The Odalisque, Preziosetta, Dream of a Grand Vizier, The Duke of Beaufort and A Vision in the Harem, music by Usiglio.
52For Bayreuth.—Wilhelm Ginning, the Hamburg tenor, is engaged by Cosima Wagner to sing both Siegfried parts in Bayreuth in 1896. From London Miss Susan Strong has been engaged as Sieglinde, and as further artists from London there are Miss Brema, Miss Macintyre and some of the English orchestra. one of two readings
53For Bayreuth.—Wilhelm Gümmer, the Hamburg tenor, is engaged by Cosima Wagner to sing both Siegfried parts in Bayreuth in 1896. From London Miss Susan Strong has been engaged as Sieglinde, and as further artists from London there are Miss Brema, Miss Macintyre and some of the English orchestra. one of two readings
55Sondershausen.—The theatre of Sondershausen produced, November 18, Der Tod Balders, grand oratorio, text and music by Otto Beständig, conducted by Carl Schroeder, of the Cecilia Society, with the assistance of the Court Orchestra and the choral classes of the Conservatory, the singing society Adelheid of Ebeleben, the female chorus of Greussen, and court opera singer Settekorn, of Brunswick.
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