Scan 34
Musical Courier 1896-03-04: Vol 32 Iss 835, 1896
113 lines. Read by computer on 22 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1OPERAS IN NEW YORK
3WITHOUT empty preluding or preliminary boasting Walter Damrosch and German opera came to town last Monday night and pitched their tent in the old Academy of Music, a house full of sacred traditions and pulchritudinous memories of the Italian music drama of Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini. Mr. Damrosch preferred to open his season soberly with Beethoven's great classic, Fidelio, a work that contains within itself all the germs of the modern music drama.
5Irving place at 8 o'clock reminded one of the beginning of the run of a big spectacular piece. It was crowded, and the main entrances of the Academy were inadequate to accommodate the mob that thronged the lobby and overran into the street.
7Mr. Damrosch had finished the regular Fidelio overture and the people were not yet seated. In a word, it was a crowded house that witnessed the opening of the German season of opera. If the pace is kept up for the next three weeks the ambitious young conductor need have no fear about results, artistic or pecuniary.
9The performance was an artistic and earnest one. Fidelio, by reason of its strenuous intellectuality, its symphonic character and the intensity of the prison scene, is a work which demands more of its auditor than even the largest Wagner music drama. There is little relief after Leonora comes on the scene, and then it must not be forgotten that the unvocal style is extremely exacting. To say that a singer has successfully compassed the rôle of Leonora is to award her the highest praise possible.
11The old phrase once so gib in the mouth of the now almost extinct anti-Wagnerian was that Wagner placed the statue in the orchestra and the pedestal on the stage. This was also said of Mozart. It might be more apposite if said of the Beethoven of Fidelio. The work is one huge prolonged symphony. Never does the orchestra lose the symphonic character and the voices fill in phrases, round off periods, and, except in a few instances, are used in a true instrumental manner. Wagner's vocal style is by comparison lucid and germane to the voice.
13So when Katharina Lohse-Klafsky sang the tremendous Abscheulicher aria last Monday night with enormous power, genuine musical feeling, tenderness, rage, despair, and with the true dramatic accent, we felt reassured about the second act and its thrilling climaxes.
15Klafsky is a stoutly built woman, nearer forty than thirty, and in her youth's costume her legs were massive, to put it mildly.
17The lady has also a massive torso, a fitting reservoir for such a powerful voice. She has a strong neck set on wide shoulders, and her face shows intelligence and sensibility.
19She is dramatic or nothing. She quivers with feeling; she burns with it. Her whole nervous system, backed by a bull-like physique, is aflame at the sound of the orchestra, and give her a situation and you get a dramatic actress in full play, steam up and all sails spread! She gives you her all. She sings with overwhelming passion and never mutes her phrases. one of two readings
20She is dramatic or nothing. She quivers with feeling; she burns with it. Her whole nervous system, backed by a bull-like physique, is aflame at the sound of the orchestra, and give her a situation and you get a dramatic actress in full play, steam up and all sails spread! She gives you her all. She sings with overwhelming passion and never minces her phrases. one of two readings
22She is reckless, improvident with her vocal resources and showers fortissimos with astonishing ease. She is a great temperament; she is a great artist.
24She indulges in numerous exaggerations. Such a medal must have its obverse. She forces her tones to a hard brilliancy, and she deviates occasionally from just pitch. Not that she ever sings out of tune, but, as she does nothing in a neat, careful or deliberate manner, she sags in pitch and is occasionally sharp. The voice is used in the German fashion; it is big, warm, luminous, and in the lowest tones has a contralto quality. On top it is shrill and penetrating. It gives one the impression of a noble organ in the hands of an artist of unstable moods, but always an artist. It is also an organ that has been abundantly used. It can be very thrilling, and it is very musical.
26The four voice canon went badly. Klafsky was evidently nervous in the opening measures, and she was aided and abetted by her colleagues, with the exception of Emil Fischer, who is a tower of tonal strength at all times.
28The duo in the second act with Rocco was telling, and her recognition of Florestan most affecting. The duo with Florestan was lyricism gone mad. The two artists, Gruening and Klafsky, sang their best, and also their worst. This number is very trying, but it was received with enthusiasm of a solid sort. Klafsky is an excellent actress, with a solid, histrionic technic, and she will give us great things as Ortrud, Isolde and Brunnhilde.
30The new tenor, Gruening, is large in stature, reminding one a trifle of Niemann and Albert Stritt. His voice has a baritonal quality and is powerful, but not altogether free from throatiness. It has the dramatic timbre. He made an excellent impression and was recalled with Klafsky many times.
32The flower nuisance loomed up early in the evening, and Gruening narrowly escaped a knock-out blow from a quick curtain while endeavoring to gather roses and pansies, violets and sunflowers and other floral monstrosities for the prima donna.
34Gadski was a sweet Marcellina and sang her one solo fluently and with taste. Fischer, of course, was a Rocco of high artistic merit. It is a familiar rôle for him. Paul Lange was the Jaquine and Conrad Behrens a stately Minister.
36The baritone, Demeter Popovici, a name that suggests both old Rome and beyond the Balkans, is a man of good presence and the possessor of a powerful, vibrant baritone. He is a trifle hard in phrasing, but he has unquestionable dramatic gifts. He acts with authority. The chorus is well trained, thanks to Elliott Schenck, and the scene settings good, but not especially noteworthy. A fly drop in act second was out of the picture and the stage is too waxy to resemble Mother Earth.
38Mr. Damrosch has played some strong musical cards and more are to follow. He conducted the Leonora No. 3, but while it was smoothly given it lacked sonority and weight by climaxes because of the sunken orchestra. Beethoven did not write for the "mystic gulf," and which is better suited to Wagner's higher pitched and more brilliant orchestral color.
40Altogether a most auspicious beginning, Mr. Damrosch! This evening Lohengrin will be given, with a notable cast. The Elsa is Fr. Miika Ternina, who makes her New York début in this part. The Ortrud will be Frau Klafsky; the Lohengrin, Herr Wilhelm Gruening; Telramund, Herr Demeter Popovici; King Henry, Herr Emil Fischer, and the Herald, Herr Wilhelm Mertens. On Friday evening Mr. Damrosch's opera, The Scarlet Letter, will have its initial production here. The success of this opera on its first production in Boston is such that its performance here is confidently expected to be equally as great a triumph. The cast is as follows: Hester Prynne, Johanna Gadski; Arthur Dimmesdale, Barron Berthold; Governor Bellingham, Conrad Behrens; Rev. John Wilson, Gerhard Stehmann; Roger Chillingworth, Wilhelm Mertens; Captain, Herr Gerhard Stehmann; Jailer, Julius von Putlitz. The first matinée on Saturday will be devoted to Siegfried, with Alvary in the title rôle, and Fr. Ternina as Brunnhilde. Others in the cast will be Fr. Vollmar as the Forest Bird; Herr Paul Lange as Mime; Herr Gerhard Stehmann as the Wanderer, Herr Julius von Putlitz as Fafner, and Herr Wilhelm Mertens as Alberich. On Thursday night a performance of Tannhäuser will be given at the Academy of Music in Brooklyn, with Herr Alvary, Fr. Gadski, Herr Fischer and Herr Mertens in the cast.
42Monday evening next Tannhäuser, and on Wednesday Die Walküre will be sung.
44Chaminade May Come.
46THE regular Chicago music letter in this issue contains the announcement that Mme. Chaminade, the French pianist and composer, may visit this country under the management of Wolsohn's Musical Bureau, which is also to conduct Moriz Rosenthal's tour here during the same season. Henry Wolsohn is in Chicago, and THE MUSICAL COURIER correspondent accordingly received the above information.
48Mr. Wolsohn has been negotiating with Mme. Chaminade for an American tour for some time, but so far as can be learned the terms of the contract are not yet complete. Anyway, the matter has been so far advanced as to warrant the assertion that the visit of the French artist may be placed among the musical attractions for next year.
50Yaw Welcomed Everywhere.
52ELLEN BEACH YAW is being crowned with success everywhere she sings. The following dispatch was received from Chicago at the hour of going to press:
54"CHICAGO, Ill., March 2, 1896.—Yaw to-night (Monday) Central Music Hall. A great and enthusiastic audience. Encored three times. St. Louis to-morrow (Tuesday) night. House sold out."
56Dresden.—Fritz Spahr played the sonata in G minor, by Tartini, here with great success.
58WE can offer a good position to a first-class gentleman vocal teacher. Address Dean Howell, College of Music, University of Denver, Denver, Col.
60Josef Hofmann Coming.
62THE following letter was received at THE MUSICAL COURIER office on Monday and gives information which will be of general interest:
64NEW YORK, February 27, 1896.
66Editors The Musical Courier:
67Johnston & Arthur have the honor to announce, by a partnership contract with Abbey, Schoeffel & Grau, that the famous Josef Hofmann, pianist, will revisit America, opening in New York about November 10 next.
69Applications may be made direct to Johnston & Arthur, Decker Building, 33 Union square, or to Abbey, Schoeffel & Grau.
71Johnston & Arthur beg to assure their patrons that in this connection they are perpetuating their policy of presenting only distinguished artists to the American public.
73Mr. Johnston left for California last week in order to complete arrangements for the forthcoming tour of Anton Seidl and his orchestra to the California coast.
75Very respectfully yours,
77JOHNSTON & ARTHUR.
79Mr. R. E. Johnston, of Johnston & Arthur, the musical managers, was in Chicago on Sunday, and has reached Denver by this time to arrange further details of the transcontinental concert tour of the Seidl Orchestra. We give the route below as arranged up to date.
81Thirty-nine players constitute the orchestra, but in Chicago and San Francisco the force will be increased to sixty-odd men. This is not the Metropolitan Orchestra, of New York, but a specially engaged orchestra.
83ROUTE.
85May 2 and 3………………………………………Rochester, N. Y.
86May 4, matinée and evening…………………Buffalo, N. Y.
87May 5, matinée and evening…………………..Cleveland, Ohio.
88May 6, matinée and evening…………………..Chicago, Ill.
89May 7, evening…………………………………St. Paul, Minn.
90May 8, evening…………………………………Minneapolis, Minn.
91May 9, matinée…………………………………Omaha, Neb.
92May 9, evening…………………………………Lincoln, Neb.
93May 10, 11, 12…………………………………Denver, Col.
94May 14 and 15…………………………………Salt Lake City.
95May 18, for two weeks………………………….San Francisco.
96Balance of route to be arranged.
98***
100Regarding the engagement of Josef Hofmann, the piano virtuoso, Mr. Johnston states that Hofmann will make his début at the Metropolitan Opera House about November 10, with a large orchestra, probably more than 100 men. Hofmann is under the joint management of Abbey, Schoeffel & Grau, and Johnston & Arthur.
102Musical Items.
104A Gerard-Thiers Pupil.—Miss Louise Gérard, who is at present in Paris, is one of the few successful singers who have received all their education in America. She is attracting much attention from the fact that her method of voice production is beyond the criticism of even the vocal teachers. She was for some years the pupil of Albert Gerard-Thiers, of Carnegie Hall, this city.
106Eloped and Married.—Solomon Fingerhut, a piano teacher, and Louisa Bloch, both young and from Vienna, eloped to this country and arrived here last Monday. The young woman is the daughter of the wealthy Jewish theologian and editor Dr. Joseph Samuel Bloch. The couple were married, and Solomon may now settle and teach piano. He has a good name for a typewriter or a pianist.
108Taft Will Direct the Cantata.—On Tuesday evening, March 10, Mr. Frank Taft, organist, will direct at the Madison Avenue Reformed Church the first performance in this country of Bach's "Coffee" cantata. This work, of the origin of which Bach's recent biographers seem to know nothing beyond that it is Bach, will prove of uncommon interest. The program will include other numbers, and the soloists will be Miss Kathrin Hilke, soprano; Mr. David G. Henderson, tenor; Mr. Frederic G. Hilliard, baritone; Mr. Caston Blay, violin; Mr. Louis Blumenberg, 'cello; Mr. Ferdinand Q. Dulcken, piano, and Mr. Carl Wehner, flute with a second vocal quartet.
110Albani in Toronto.—Our Toronto correspondent reports the Albani concert in that city on February 21 as having drawn an audience largely in excess of the seating capacity (3,500) of Massey Music Hall, and attributes much of the popular enthusiasm not only to the drawing powers of Mrs. Albani as an artist of Canadian birth, but also to the clever way in which Mr. I. E. Suckling, manager of Massey Hall, handled the attraction. In addition to Albani, those taking part were Mrs. Marie Vanderveer-Green, mezzo soprano; Mr. Norman Salmond, an excellent basso; Mr. Ernest Schelling, pianist; Mr. Frederic Rucquoy, flautist, and Mr. Jehin Prume, violinist. Messrs. Harriss & Vert have the direction of the Albani tournée.
112Stainer.—A committee has been formed at Absam in the Tyrol to erect a new memorial tablet to the famous violin maker Jakob Stainer, as the old one is weather worn and illegible. Stainer, "the father of the German violin," was born at Absam July 14, 1621, and died there a lunatic and in poverty in 1683.
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