Scan 8
Musical Courier 1896-03-04: Vol 32 Iss 835, 1896
113 lines. Read by computer on 20 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 9. See the scan on archive.org.
A town on its own line is one of the directory's headings. That is where the town on a maker's page comes from.
1seemed of such particular attractiveness to concertgoers in the German capital that not only was the large hall absolutely crowded for the public rehearsal to this concert on Sunday forenoon, but also the concert itself was so well attended that not a single seat in the house was vacant. Besides this, so many hundreds of people had to be denied admission to the hall that the committee of the Wagner societies found it advisable to announce a repetition of this same concert to-morrow (Wednesday) night at popular prices.
3What made this concert so extremely popular was a combination of circumstances. First of all, the ninth symphony of Beethoven was on the program, and that immortal work remains a lasting favorite here. Then there were some rarely heard Wagner excerpts, the soli in which were taken by Lilli Lehmann and her husband and pupil, Paul Kalisch, both of whom are well liked and greatly admired here, and lastly Dr. Karl Muck, our genial Hofkapellmeister, conducted for the first time a Wagner society concert, and as he is rarely seen as concert conductor his many friends seize upon the few occasions when they can enjoy him in that capacity.
5The program opened with Siegfried's Death and Funeral March. The last utterances of Wagner's great hero were sung with beautiful tenor voice and fine effect by Paul Kalisch. He surprised the whole audience by the power of his formerly not very great voice and through his manly, simple and straightforward conception. He has unquestionably learned a great deal both vocally and musically from Lilli Lehmann.
7The grand funeral march with its heathenish irrelentlessness of grief and deepest gloom was impressively performed by the Philharmonic Orchestra, which had been increased for the occasion.
9Not quite so well did Muck do with the Tannhäuser overture, which according to his nature, temperament and habit he took more slowly than is customary, and this lack of passion on the part of the conductor was also detrimental to some portions of the bachanale of the Paris version of Tannhäuser, which was next given. The dialogue between Venus and Tannhäuser was, however, perfectly grand, owing chiefly to Lilli Lehmann's superb delivery and consummate art. These were all the more worthy of admiration, as Venus does not exactly lie well within the best notes of her voice. Kalisch also left nothing to be desired. You may perhaps remember that both these artists sang the same excerpt at a concert performance under Seidl in New York in Chickering Hall some five or six years ago. Kalisch has much grown since then in every way, and Lilli Lehmann has lost none of her former dramatic power and vocal beauty and skill. Only in endurance she seems to have had to submit to the ravages of the tooth of time. For while in the above Venus music she was simply superb and her voice sounded glorious, she went to pieces fast in the solo quartet of the ninth symphony.
11The three orchestral movements of the chef d'œuvre of Beethoven were interpreted by Dr. Muck with a fidelity and carefulness in working out all details which made his reading highly interesting to an attentively listening musician. Still it was by no means an ideal performance, not even in purely technical reproduction. The tympani organ point in the first movement was, for instance, very weak. Bilow used to get over the difficulty of these thirty-nine bars by employing two performers, the one of whom only beat the sforzati, which are too fatiguing for one player. But there were other lame moments and the clarinets were out of tune, the slow movement dragged considerably, and yet with all these drawbacks and a general lack of élan these three movements were interesting.
13As for the finale, I must say that I have rarely, if ever, heard a better performance than this one under Dr. Muck, with a chorus which had been gathered ad hoc and which could not have had any too many rehearsals. I have always maintained, and here I had a proof of the fact, that Dr. Muck is one of the best of choral as he is surely also one of the finest of operatic conductors in the world. The chorus consisted of members of the Augmented Munzinger Female Chorus and the Male Teachers' Singing Society, and they did, as I said before, remarkably well.
15The solo quartet consisted of Mmes. Lilli Lehmann and Marie Ritter-Goetze and Messrs. Paul Kalisch and Josef Staudigl, of whom the last named deserves a special word of praise. Paul Kalisch sang his solo splendidly, winding up with a clean high B flat which rang out sonorously above the full orchestra.
17The audience was as enthusiastic as it was numerous, and all artists, especially Lilli Lehmann and Dr. Muck, came in for vociferous applause and many recalls.
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21The Royal Orchestra gave the first of two concerts at Leipsic under Weingartner's direction with tremendous success last week. For particulars watch Mr. Kranich's Leipsic letter.
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25Prof. F. Gernsheim's new symphony will be brought out at one of the next Berlin Philharmonic concerts under Nikisch's direction.
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29As I hoped and predicted in my last week's budget, the vocal teacher, Georges Graziani, was released by the police on the promise of one of his rich Berlin patrons that all of his financial obligations in Austria will be made good.
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33Heinrich Hofmann, the most fertile of the local composers, has just published two new works with Breitkopf & Härtel, in Leipsic. His op. 117 contains five lieder, and his op. 118 is a solo soprano scene with orchestral or piano accompaniment, entitled Die Verlassene.
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37The Lavins met with as much success at Würzburg, where they appeared as guests in Lucia last week, as they had done at Stettin. I learn, however, that William Lavin is suffering from a bad cold, and that their second appearance, therefore, has to be postponed for a few days.
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41Etelka Gerster is soon going to remove from Bologna to Berlin and intends to establish here a vocal school.
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45The telegraph just brings the news, simultaneously with the death of Ambroise Thomas at Paris, of the demise of Prof. Carl Reinthaler at Bremen. He was an excellent musician and teacher, and a good but not a great composer.
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49Miss Vera Maourina, a highly talented young Russian pianist, at present a pupil of Busoni, played for Manager Wolff and a few friends in Bechstein Hall yesterday some works for the piano, among which the Busoni transcription of Bach's Chaconne. The young lady surprised her listeners by the breadth of her conception and style and the fine touch as well as remarkable technic which she displayed. She seems to be thoroughly musical, with lots of temperament under safe control. I predict for her a fine artistic future.
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53Among the callers at THE MUSICAL COURIER Berlin headquarters were last week: Mrs. J. H. Rohrabacher, from Detroit, Mich.; Miss Marion Weed, of New York, who is studying with Lilli Lehmann; Prof. Philipp Scharwenka, Arthur Nikisch, Miss Erika Wedekind, court opera singer, and Miss Margarete Fleischer from Dresden; court pianist, George Liebling; Christian Sinding, the Norwegian composer, who is going from Berlin back to Scandinavia; O. Novacék, formerly with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Mr. S. H. Mildenberg, father of the talented New York pianist, Albert Mildenberg.
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57Teresa Carreño, this most gifted of women, has just finished the composition of a string quartet which will soon be performed here by the Halir Quartet. O. F.
59"Has attracted so much attention of late in the musical world."—Musical Times.
61"FROM BRAIN TO KEYBOARD."
63MACDONALD SMITH'S
64System for Touch and Technique.
65As acquired and in daily use by Professionals and Amateurs at the leading academical institutions of London, in all parts of the United Kingdom, in the United States, Canada, Australia, &c., including holders of degrees of Mus. Doc., Mus. Bac., and of diplomas of A. R. A. M., A. R. C. M., F. R. C. O., &c., &c.
67"We make no comparison, but say simply, from personal experience, that Mr. Smith's system of training does all that he claims for it. . . . .
69"The interest it immediately excited, and still sustains, bears witness to the value of Mr. Smith's researches in the science of physiology for the benefit of musicians."—Musical News.
71"Wonderful work is being done by Mr. Macdonald Smith in the application of his new system. . . . . He is giving hundreds of lessons by mail with the very best results."—Musical Courier.
73Complete Course of Six Lessons by Mail, 3 Guineas ($15.00).
74Enlarged prospectus, 16 pp., post free.
75Lecture at Musical Association, Trinity College, &c., post free, seven stamps (14c. stamps).
77MACDONALD SMITH, Steinway Hall, London, W.
79Musical Items.
80Galloway Eightieth Recital.—The eightieth recital of the Galloway School of Music, Searcy, Ark., took place on Monday evening, February 17, and consisted of piano duos by Miss Thekla Theodora Burmeister and Mrs. Emma Warde Hoffman, assisted by Mrs. Marguerite Carter, soprano. Deprosse, Schumann-Burmeister (Marche Finale from Etudes Symphoniques), Reinecke, Thern, Duvernoy, Saint-Saëns and Chopin were the composers played. Following notice of the recital is taken from the local press:
82A very successful concert was given last night at Galloway College by Miss Thekla Theodora Burmeister and Mrs. Emma Warde Hoffman. These excellent pianists joined forces this time and played a program consisting of two-piano compositions only.
84The many good qualities which characterize their fine performance created great admiration. Both players possess clean, smooth, abundant technic and warmth of feeling. Their thoroughly musical artistic interpretation of the given works was distinguished by perfect ensemble. Every number seemed to give pleasure to the listeners, from the classic variations of Deprosse, the weird Danse Macabre of Saint-Saëns to the charming, exquisite rondo by Chopin. The Feu Roulan Etude was given at such a speed, delicate grace and most minute ensemble that it was loudly redeemed by the audience, who showed their warm appreciation by long, enthusiastic applause.
86Mrs. Marguerite Carter, who had given her kind assistance, sang four short songs—little gems—in a delightful manner, with refinement of taste and artistic style. Her beautiful soprano voice was in excellent trim, and her fine singing contributed in no small degree to the enjoyment of the recital.
88From Constantin Sternberg's Latest Speech.—At the occasion of a pupils' recital Mr. Constantin Sternberg, of Philadelphia, addressed a large audience; some of his remarks, while wholly characteristic of him, were of a general character and will be found interesting. After thanking the audience for their appreciation, he said:
90"If you should have heard that I have expressed myself privately and in public prints as bitterly opposed to pupils' recitals I shall have to plead guilty, for I am opposed to them. Nevertheless, I believe that I can explain away the seeming inconsistency of this present one. Pupils' recitals are given for the purpose of furnishing the audience with a criterion of the pupil's ability and the teacher's pedagogical skill; but do they? I need not tell you that almost any pupil, irrespective of his talent or the teacher's method, can be drilled into playing one piece tolerably well mechanically, and even into imitating the teacher's expression. It is merely a question of patience and persistence on the teacher's part. Of course such drilling does not advance the pupil, but rather retards his progress, and when accomplished gives no evidence whatever of his ability, which begins and ends with that one piece.
92"Now, I could not and would not deliberately interrupt a pupil's course of study for the sake of making a show, and hence I did not invite you to a musical feast as some people spread a dinner when there is 'company,' but rather welcomed you to take 'pot-luck' with us; for what you have heard was nothing but our regular lesson work. An exact evidence of the students' abilities I have not furnished you either, it is quite true; but instead of wheeling you into an overestimate, I have shown you only a portion of their ability; an ability that admits of great expansion under special preparations, such as I have not permitted them to make. That you liked their playing nevertheless, and took it in good faith for a real and well prepared recital, and applauded them accordingly, why, that simply scores us a big point, and gives you the assurance that your sons and daughters and friends can play a great many things equally well; that their general musicianliness is on a level with their playing; that you, so to speak, surprised them at that point of their studies where they were at; and that with more careful preparation they can do a great deal better. I thought you might like to feel that assurance."
94CAMILLA URSO,
95The Great Violin Virtuoso.
96…..
97As a violinist she stands to-day a model for many of the virtuosi who have caught the popular ear."
98—H. E. Krehbiel, Esq., in New York Tribune.
99Address,
100LUÈRE & HORNE'S one of two readings
101LUERE & HORNE'S one of two readings
102Musical Bureau,
103Room 74, Decker Bldg.
104NEW YORK.
106FRIEDA SIMONSON,
107THE CELEBRATED
108Youthful Pianist.
109THE PRESS OF TWO CONTINENTS UNITE IN HER PRAISE.
110Toured with Patti, Melba, Albani and Sir Augustus Harris' Operatic Concerts, London. American tour last season with Gilmore's Band.
111Address POTSDAMERSTRASSE, 27 B.
112BERLIN.
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