Scan 19
Musical Courier 1895-12-25: Vol 31 Iss 825, 1895
72 lines. Read by computer on 26 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 20. See the scan on archive.org.
1The Musical Courier.
2PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY
3BY THE
4MUSICAL COURIER COMPANY.
5(Incorporated under the Laws of the State of New York.)
619 Union Square W., New York.
7TELEPHONE: 1953-18th. one of two readings
8TELEPHONE: – – – 1953-18th. one of two readings
9Cable Address, "Pegujar," New York.
10MARC A. BLUMENBERG, Editor-in-Chief.
11THE BERLIN, GERMANY, Branch Office of THE MUSICAL COURIER, 17 Link Str., W., is in charge of Mr. Otto Floersheim.
12Single copies for sale at the music store of Ed. Bote & G. Bock, Leipziger Strasse, 39 W.
13THE LONDON, ENGLAND, Branch Office of THE MUSICAL COURIER, 15 Argyl St., Oxford Circus, W., is in charge of Mr. Frank Vincent Atwater.
14THE LEIPZIG, GERMANY, Branch Office of THE MUSICAL COURIER is at Elster Strasse, 27.
15Single copies for sale at P. Pabst, Neumarkt, 26.
16THE PARIS, FRANCE, Branch Office of THE MUSICAL COURIER, 8 Rue Clement Marot, Champs Elysee, is in charge of Fannie Edgar Thomas.
17THE CHICAGO OFFICE of THE MUSICAL COURIER is at 225 Dearborn Street.
18THE BOSTON OFFICE of THE MUSICAL COURIER is at 17 Beacon Street.
19LONDON: Single copies, Principal London Publishers.
20PARIS: Single copies, BRENTANO's, 37 Avenue de l'Opéra, and Gallignani Library, 224 rue de Rivoli.
21DRESDEN: Single copies for sale at H. Bock's, Pragerstrasse, 12.
22Subscription (including postage), invariably in advance:
23Yearly, $4.00; Foreign, $5.00; Single Copies, Ten Cents.
24RATES FOR ADVERTISING.
25PER INCH.
26Three Months………….$25.00 | Nine Months………….$75.00
27Six Months……………..50.00 | Twelve Months………..100.00
28Advertisements on reading pages are charged at double the above rates.
29Special rates for preferred positions.
30All remittances for subscriptions or advertising must be made by check, draft or money orders, payable to THE MUSICAL COURIER COMPANY.
31Advertisements for the current week must be handed in by 5 P. M. on Monday.
32All changes in advertisements must reach this office by Friday noon preceding the issue in which changes are to take effect.
33American News Company, New York, General Distributing Agents.
34Western News Company, Chicago, Western Distributing Agents.
35ESTABLISHED JANUARY, 1880.
36No. 825.
37NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 25, 1895.
38NOTICE.
39"THE MUSICAL COURIER" DOES NOT CLUB WITH ANY OTHER PUBLICATION, AND ALL REPRESENTATIONS OF THAT NATURE ARE WITHOUT AUTHORITY FROM THE MUSICAL COURIER COMPANY.
40"THE MUSICAL COURIER" DOES NOT HAVE ANY FREE LIST, AND ITS COMPLEMENT OF EXCHANGES HAS ASSUMED SUCH PROPORTIONS THAT IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO MAKE ANY ADDITIONS THERETO.
41NEW SUBSCRIBERS TO INSURE PROMPT DELIVERY OF "THE MUSICAL COURIER" SHOULD REMIT THE AMOUNT OF THEIR SUBSCRIPTION WITH THE ORDER.
42IT IS NOT ALWAYS POSSIBLE TO FILL ORDERS FOR BACK NUMBERS OF "THE MUSICAL COURIER" UPON THE DAY OF THEIR RECEIPT, BECAUSE IN MANY INSTANCES THE EDITION IS ENTIRELY OUT, AND IT IS NECESSARY TO WAIT FOR SUCH RETURNS AS MAY COME FROM THE DISTRIBUTING AGENCIES. EACH ORDER IS ENTERED IN ITS TURN AND FILLED IN ITS TURN, BUT DELAYS ARE AT TIMES UNAVOIDABLE.
43IF ANY OF OUR READERS ARE UNABLE TO PURCHASE THE CURRENT ISSUE OF "THE MUSICAL COURIER" AT THE NEWS STANDS, BOOK STORES OR AT ANY PLACE WHERE PERIODICALS ARE OFFERED FOR SALE, WE CONSIDER IT A FAVOR IF THEY WILL NOTIFY THIS OFFICE, GIVING THE ADDRESS OF THE STORE OR STAND AND THE DATE ON WHICH "THE MUSICAL COURIER" WAS ASKED FOR.
44PADEREWSKI'S receipts will, if they continue on the present average, excel any other in the concert line either here or in Europe. In fact, the concert incomes of Paganini, Liszt, Rubinstein or Patti will appear diminutive in comparison. The receipts at the concert in Cleveland on Thursday night amounted to $4,716.40, and the totals for the season up to and inclusive of that concert were $80,413, an unprecedented record.
45AUGUSTIN DALY is expected to apply for an injunction to enjoin the Hinrichs Opera Company from producing Humperdinck's Hänsel and Gretel in Philadelphia to-day. The Daly performances were in English and Hinrichs is to give the first German production. Judge Dittenhoefner is the attorney for Hinrichs. Daly in reality represents Sir Augustus Harris, of London. Mr. Hinrichs maintains that an injunction cannot hold, as certain portions of the opera were published in this country before the copyright was secured. Negotiations are pending to produce the opera in German in this city.
46MAJOR COLTON, a Baltimore banker, a great lover of music and an old opera patron, has been in the habit of running over here from his home in Baltimore to attend the opera for many years past. He usually brings the libretto of years past with him, and at the recent performance of Aida he showed us an Aida libretto of 1873, with this cast, at the Academy of Music: Rhadames, Campanini; Aida, Torrani; Amneris, Annie Louise Cary; Amonasro, Victor Maurel, and Ramfis, Nannetti. The orchestra consisted of forty-eight performers, and Signor Muzio conducted. The major preferred the performance of 1873 to the present from a vocal point of view. All the artists were in their glory then.
47THE following regarding the appearance of Mascagni is published by the Frankfort Chroniqueur, and will interest those of our readers who are conversant with the German language:
48Schlanco nobilo gestalto!
49Molto eleganto halto!
50Kopf in italiano stilo,
51Edlo classico profilo!
52Blassi glattrasiriti wangi.
53Haari: dunkelbruni langi,
54Nasi: assai grandiosi!
55Stirno: bello maestoso!
56Occchio interessantso, one of two readings
57Occchio interessanto, one of two readings
58Con fuoco, fulminanto!
59Tutto Kerlo hoechst patento!
60THIS number of the paper closes the sixteenth consecutive year of its publication. With it THE MUSICAL COURIER has reached the dignity of the greatest musical newspaper on the globe. It has its home office here in New York, with branch offices in Boston and Chicago.
61The London MUSICAL COURIER is issued every week from the London office and is a separate edition printed and published in London. We have branch offices in Berlin and in Paris, and special correspondents in Vienna, Rome, Leipzig, Dresden, Weimar and other continental cities. We have special correspondents in all the large cities of the United States. The London office has special correspondents in all the cities of Great Britain and the colonies. The general scheme of the paper, to cover all great centres of civilization on the globe, has now been completed and we are prepared to give our readers all musical news as promptly and as completely as the service can be rendered.
62There is no other publication that, in any sense, can compare with THE MUSICAL COURIER.
63UNDER the title of La Musique et les Musiciens M. Albert Lavignac has published a work of considerable novelty and complexity. Beginning with a study of musical sound and acoustics, he proceeds to a series of monographs on separate instruments, their character and resources, leading on to a study of orchestration. Next come musical theory, harmony, counterpoint, fugue, &c. The chapter on aesthetics is remarkable; it contains an analysis of musical forms, sonata, symphony, concerto, vocal compositions, notes on Wagner's method, tonality, musical development, the beautiful in music and improvisation. After remarks on the music of the ancients and the peoples of the Orient, M. Lavignac passes to the question of the neumes, diaphony, discant, the system of hexachords, faux-bourdon, plain song, &c. Finally he gives a series of biographical notes on musicians of all the schools, composers, virtuosi, theorists, writers, manufacturers, &c. Mr. A. Pougin describes it as a very complete manual, enlivened by 100 figures and more than 500 examples of music.
64D'ALBERT'S GHISMONDA.
65LETTERS from Dresden report that the performance of Eugen d'Albert's new three act opera, Ghismonda, met with great applause. The applause, however, lacked the warmth and spontaneity which is often aroused by works of nearly the same merit; this was due partly to the choice of a libretto and the action of the drama, but chiefly to the deep tragic tone of the musical creation, which is hostile to external effect, and renders it difficult for a first night audience to appreciate the artistic intentions of the author.
66D'Albert himself in this work, as in The Ruby, wrote his own libretto and displays unmistakable poetical talent; his error lies in taking Immermann's five act tragedy as his basis, and neglecting Wagner's rule that the librettist must make natural men the objects of his work, not men who are under the stress of historical and conventional surroundings.
67An old vassal Dagobert comes to the court of Prince Tancred, of Salerno, to place his son Guiscardo in the prince's service. A brilliant feast takes place to celebrate the betrothal of Ghismonda, the Prince's daughter, to Duke Manfred, whom she despises. In the festivities some "living pictures" are introduced, in which Ghismonda is to appear as Luna, but she has no Endymion. The new page then comes in and is cast for the rôle. During the performance, while the living pictures are in the frame, he loses his head and his heart, springs up from his slumber, and offers his homage to Ghismonda. Then, amid a scene of disorder, Manfred vows revenge. In the musical representation of this scene the composer fails, not for want of talent, but because the events do not admit of musical treatment. The voices are treated throughout as recitative, the melodic element is restricted to the orchestra, and in it the necessity of characterizing each event musically compels a perpetual rhythmic change.
68The change to the second act is magical. The music enters its proper field, the world of emotion. Here we see Ghismonda in the moonlit garden, whither she has fled from the festive scene. Guiscardo enters. She, overcome by his passion, at length listens to his vows of love, and conquered by his eloquence sinks into his arms. During the conversation Manfred glides in, sees what is going on, and summons the Prince, who enters just as his daughter has left. He seeks to extort a confession from Guiscardo, and on his refusal stabs him to the heart. In this scene of sentiment and passion d'Albert's art is displayed in a striking manner, both in the voices and the orchestra. The fearless loyalty of Guiscardo, the wrath of the Prince and the shudder of death are powerfully characterized.
69In the death of the hero the dramatic effect of the piece might be expected to fall off. To a certain extent it does so, but the loss is compensated for in the music and its sublime expression of Ghismonda's feelings. She is sitting with her maidens, but her soul still thrills with remembrances of that night of love. She tells the tale to her companions in the form of a dream. She then hears of the death of her lover and struggles with her sorrow. The castle is attacked by friends of Guiscardo, who come to avenge his death. Among them is his father, Dagobert, who loyally defends his prince until Ghismonda informs him that it was the Prince who slew him. She orders the corpse to be brought in, waves Manfred away from the bier, for "here," she cries, "lies my betrothed!" She sinks down by the dead lover's side, embraces him and dies.
70D'Albert has made good use of these opportunities, and if the situation in the second act recalls Tristan and Isolde's dialogue, this one has some analogy with Isolde's Liebestod, but only in the dramatic situation. The composer retains his individuality, and it may be truly said that the musical effect surpasses that of the previous act. The prelude to this act is of great beauty, so is Ghismonda's dream and the chatter of her maidens, especially in the orchestral accompaniment. Equally effective is expression of approaching death, in the death march and the scene at the bier. Here the music represents in striking fashion the tragic woe, the apotheosis and death of the heroine.
71The instrumentation is marked by discretion as much as talent, and a thoroughly graceful but difficult task is assigned to the voices, especially to the
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