Scan 11
Musical Courier 1896-09-16: Vol 33 Iss 863, 1896
62 lines. Read by computer on 21 September 2026. Printed page 12. See the scan on archive.org.
1to give this magnificent song a permanent place in his repertory. Miss Emily Squire gave a passive rendering of Elizabeth's Greeting, from Tannhäuser, and she and Mr. Mills joined in a duet selection from Die Meistersinger. The whole program was admirably carried out. As far as these concerts have gone, I am of the opinion that Mr. Wood is conducting even better this season than last, which is saying a good deal.
3Tuesday evening was devoted to Arthur Sullivan, a composer whose greater compositions we hear too seldom. The overture to Macbeth deserves to be played oftener, but the Imperial March hardly shows this gifted composer at his best. Miss Maggie Davies, Mme. Belle Cole and Mr. W. A. Peterkin were the vocalists, and their songs were in nearly every case encored—a display of enthusiasm on the part of the audience that is not to be wondered at when the melodious and beautiful songs of Sullivan are sung as they were on this occasion.
5Wednesday night's program was, in spite of the wet, attractive enough to draw together a goodly number of Mendelssohn admirers. The grace, charm and skillful musicianship of several of the master's finest overtures—A Midsummer Night's Dream, Fingal's Cave, &c., and the Italian Symphony, as well as several vocal items by Mme. Clara Samuel, Mme. Belle Cole and Mr. Hirwin Jones—held the attention of the audience to the end. Mr. Arthur W. Payne played the middle and last movements from Mendelssohn's violin concerto with finish and dash. I must also speak of the cornet playing of Mr. Howard Reynolds, who manages to get an unusually musical tone from this too often blatant and disagreeable instrument.
7Thursday night was a popular night, and last night was devoted to Beethoven. I shall speak of the later performance in particular in my next letter, when I shall also speak of a new Idylle Dramatique by Th. Dubois, performed this evening for the first time, entitled Xavière.
9A WARNING TO BAYREUTH.
11Mr. J. A. Fuller Maitland, in the Nineteenth Century for September, speaks in a pregnant manner anent "The Influence of Bayreuth." While praising without stint where praise is due, he points out that if Bayreuth is to hold its own it must move with the times. Certain improvements are needed in regard to stage management; but the principal point seems to be that if the singers are chosen exclusively from Germany because they are Germans and not because they are the best vocalists obtainable then Bayreuth will no longer set the standard in the art world, and the great house built by Wagner will be abandoned and "Ichabod" written over its portals.
13THE PIANO RESONATOR.
15A letter from the great French pianist and teacher to Mr. Daniel Mayer anent the piano resonator:
17AUGUST 1, 1896.
19DEAR MR. MAYER—I have examined your resonator with great care, and I hasten to send you my heartiest congratulations on your invention, the simplicity and ingenuity of which make it so easily adaptable to all pianos.
21The resonator increases the fullness and purity of tone in new pianos, while in old instruments—by various makers—I have proved its very great usefulness as regards the quality and volume of the sound, to which it seems to restore all its strength and richness.
23This is a real and genuine advance, which will benefit artists and amateurs alike, and I am happy to attest the double success you have thus attained.
25Yours sincerely,
27(Signed) FRANÇOIS THOMÉ.
29GLADSTONE ON MUSIC.
31A grand fête was held in the grounds of Hawarden Castle on Tuesday last in aid of the Hawarden Institute and Working Men's Club. The weather was fine, and the attendance numbered about 20,000, including excursionists from almost all parts of England and Wales. The chief attraction was an open brass band contest, for which eleven bands competed. Before the judges' decision was announced Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone appeared on the terrace amidst loud and enthusiastic cheering. The veteran statesman, who was looking remarkably hale and hearty, listened with evident appreciation throughout the performance. The result of the band contest was announced by one of the judges, and the conductor of the winning band, the Black Dyke Mills Band, of Yorkshire, came forward to receive the prize from Mr. Gladstone.
33The right honorable gentleman, who on rising to hand over the reward was loudly cheered, said: "Sir, it gives me most sincere pleasure to place in your hands, as conductor of the band declared to have deserved the first prize, this token of the distinction you have won; and I think you will agree with me that, in many of these competitions, the prevalent sentiment is that the chief glory of those who have won is that they have won the prize against such formidable competitors, and the consolation of those who have not won is that they will try harder to win another time.
35"I must say, speaking entirely without authority, and as a person very ignorant in the subject matter, but capable of taking pleasure in good music, that I feel myself as one among these many thousands of hearers greatly indebted not to the winning band alone, but to all those who have taken part in the musical performances of to-day, for the skill and efficiency with which they have performed their task. I think, sir, that you will feel, and I think we all must feel, that in the execution just now of the Hallelujah Chorus by eleven bands, brought together without the advantage of previous rehearsal, each in our several capacities, and not pretending to more authority than we possess (but some of us at any rate must be tolerable judges of music), must feel that the bands have been subjected to an ordeal extremely severe, and that from the precision and efficiency with which they performed that great, that noble piece of music, we may well and justly say that they have come through the ordeal triumphant. I shall not, therefore, condone with those who do not stand in your happy position of winners of the first prize, because I feel that the standard of general excellence has been maintained on so high a level. Notwithstanding, I venture to offer you, as the conductor of the band that has won the first 'prize,' my most hearty and cordial congratulations, and I will say, without prejudice to any other county in England, in Wales, or especially in the North of England, that the fame of Yorkshire for its music is too well established, and has been too long established, for it to require external testimonies of any kind.
37"I hope it may long continue, and that the example thus set by Yorkshire alone in the prosecution of the study and practice of instrumental music may be widely copied, for music is of enormous advantage both to those who hear and those who perform.
39"It is great blessing to the people, and I think that there are few satisfactions greater than to witness the progress that has been made in the course of the last fifty years—a progress which is hardly to be measured, so vast is the difference between the English people of to-day and the English people of half a century ago, and I trust that progress may continue."
41THE FAILURE OF VOCALISTS.
43An operatic manager came to London recently in search of an artist for his forthcoming season—not one with a world-wide reputation, but a young singer with a good, well trained voice, an operatic répertoire of moderate dimensions, and intelligence and histrionic power sufficient to please, if not impress, a strange audience. In sporting parlance he wanted a "dark horse."
45Was there ever an easier quest? Dozens of singers who have spent time and money on training for the operatic stage, and who say that all they want is an opportunity, are to be met in all musical circles, and yet—incredible as it seems—he was disappointed. Here was an opportunity, if ever one occurred, for a young singer to make her mark, and a success in his company would have been chronicled in these columns to every operatic centre in the world. Yet he found not one of sufficient development, or even promise, to suit his purpose.
47Failing among the untried vocalists, he sought his prima donna among the lesser lights of the operatic world of England, and again met with discouraging results. The few good artists were already over-booked with engagements, many were not trained for his line of work, and the majority, alas! were trained to little purpose. It was the old story over again of mistaken vocation or lack of application to complete one of the most difficult of all trainings.
49Before commencing a course of study with an operatic career as the goal more careful consideration should be given to the many details to be mastered if success is to follow in even a moderate degree. It is not sufficient to have a naturally good voice and to imagine when that is trained all is accomplished. A cultivated mind is also an essential, in spite of a few singers whose general education is glaringly deficient, and who have snared success rather than won it in fair fight. Memory must be trained to better service than it bestows on ordinary mortals, and imagination be well nourished and yet kept within bounds. The ability to conceive a character must exist before there can be a possibility of embodying that conception and making it convincing to others. To that end general education and "the noblest study of mankind" should receive more attention than is usually bestowed by vocal students. Then the voice must be trained, and every movement of the body must be studied until they are so completely under control that sense of effort is lost, and the singer is master of the art which conceals art.
51To accomplish this is not a matter for a few months, but for years, and the first step is to turn a deaf ear to the over-encouragement of would-be friends and face a spell of serious work with a brave, determined mind and continuity of purpose. It is a hard, continuous, often wearying and discouraging struggle, and it would seem from the experience of those who have attained success that the greatest artists are those who have suffered the most during these years of preparation. It develops individuality strong enough to break through the casing of conventionality which protects the student but hampers the artist.
53It is commonly supposed that great singers are recognized and accorded their high position quite early in life, while the fact is that though a few succeed at thirty, by far the greater number win fame when they have left thirty-five behind them. They rarely acknowledge their true age however, and thus deceive the public—which is no matter—and those who are striving to follow in their footsteps, which is a far more important affair.
55Failure can very often be traced directly to parents and friends who consider their boy or girl has a superior if not phenomenal voice, and that in a very short time they should blossom into great singers, receiving high fees and public commendation. Natural rivalry between students, added to a fear of disappointing these high expectations, leads them to exaggerate their progress and to rush through their course rather than plod on steadily and earnestly, shirking difficulties rather than overcoming them. The teacher is forced to encourage the rush or he will lose his pupil and be thought desirous of prolonging the student life for his own pecuniary benefit.
57The consequence is the unfortunate vocalist finds himself or herself "finished" when a proper training would have scarcely begun. They are required to leap before they have learned to stand firmly, to swim in deep water after practicing the arm strokes on dry land. Moreover their physical development is far from complete, but they are in a position requiring an endurance which can only be gained in maturity. Their voices are expected to develop independently of the slow growth of the body, instead of with it. "Finished" in such cases would be more correctly written "ended."
59Some day the mass of failures will teach the difficult lesson that "slow and sure wins the race." The training of vocalists may then be carried on slowly and gradually, together with the development of the intelligence, and the maturing of the body, instead of rushed on ahead to the destruction of voice, health and all chance of success.
61FRANK V. ATWATER.
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