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Musical Courier 1896-12-23: Vol 33 Iss 877, 1896
110 lines. Read by computer on 26 September 2026. Printed page 5. See the scan on archive.org.
1THE MUSICAL COURIER.
3BERLIN BUDGET BRANCH
5GERMAN HEADQUARTERS OF THE MUSICAL COURIER,
6BERLIN, W., LINKSTRASSE 17, December 1, 1896.
8THAT parents are blind with regard to their children is a proverbial saying; that occasionally they are also deaf is perhaps not proverbial, but it is true nevertheless. One of the most glaring examples of this parental deafness is Prof. Julius Hey, one of Berlin's most renowned vocal teachers. He has a daughter, Miss Otti, a charming, good-looking and sweet young lady, and one who is said to be a valued assistant in the professor's extended teaching practice. How this is accomplished I don't exactly understand, for the young lady's own vocal efforts are anything but technically flawless, despite the fact that she seems very musical as well as intelligent by nature. But what is still more surprising to me is the fact that quite unquestionably the renowned father does not hear that his pretty daughter has no voice to sing with, and a vocal recital such as I heard on Tuesday of last week in Bechstein Hall was not a pleasing exhibition, and ought not to be indulged in by a man of Professor Hey's standing, even if the friends of the family lend assistance in the way of attendance and applause.
10The second half of the program contained the following novelties:
12Heimkehr, op. 15, No. 5,……………………………Rich. Strauss
13Die Königskinder (altdtisches Volkslied), op. 10,………….H. Zumpf
14Liederscenen, op. 10,………………………………….H. Zumpf
15Liebesanruf………………………………………………….Ed. Behm
16An die Nachtigall, op. 5,………………………………..Ed. Behm
17Neue Liebe, op. 10,………………………………………Ed. Behm
18Kinderlieder—
19Guten Abend…………………………………………………J. Hey
20Tanzlied………………………………………………………..J. Hey
21Wiegengedicht einer alten Magd……………………………F. Mott
22Frühlingsbotschaft…………………………………………..R. v. Procházka
23Singt mein Schatz wie ein Fink, op. 16…………………….H. Sommer
25On the same evening I heard in the cold concert hall of the Hotel de Rome part of a very interesting chamber music soirée by the G. A. Papendick organization. The program was made up of Dvorák's string trio, op. 74, for the rare combination of two violins and a viola; Saint-Saëns' C minor piano and 'cello sonata, op. 32; Schumann's F major string quartet from op. 41, and the Beethoven B flat piano trio, op. 97.
27Mr. Papendick is an excellent pianist for chamber music, and his string quartet, consisting of members of the Royal Orchestra, Messrs. August Gewitz, Richard Jaeger, Martin Thronicker and Bruno Wendel, proved in Schumann's difficult work that they had given time and thought to a satisfactory musical ensemble. The 'cellist, Mr. Wendel, also pleased me very much in the finale from Saint-Saëns' sonata, which was the only movement of this work I heard.
29On Wednesday evening I heard the concerted efforts of the Mueller-Ronneburger Vocal Quartet given at the Hotel de Rome. A vocal solo quartet is not always a thing of beauty. Its principal charm lies in the mating and blending of the four voices which must be well matched and suited to each other in timbre as well as force, and above all in absolute purity of intonation. Both these qualities were missing, and the last named at moments distressingly so, in the efforts of the Mueller-Ronneburger Vocal Quartet. The woman after whom the organization is named is a no longer youthful or pleasing soprano. Anna Hecht's alto voice does not blend with hers. Our old friend Julius Gantzberg's tenor was clogged by a cold in the head, and the bass, Anton Däseler, has a dry, unyielding and uncompromising voice. Now you can imagine what the effect of this ensemble was, especially if I add that in the way of intonation each singer maintained his or her own individual pitch, which frequently varied with that of the piano used for accompaniment, and of course with each other in the a capella selections.
31Again the program was fairly interesting, and for that reason I herewith reproduce it:
33Quartet, Sonntags am Rhein……………………………G. Vierling
34Arie a. d. Legende Der Geiger v. Gmünd (neu)………….R. L. Hermann
35(Mit Violine und Clavierbegleitung.)
36Katharina Müller-Ronneburger, Professor Jacobsen.
37Quartet a capella—
38Marienlied…………………………………………………F. v. Holstein
39Verstohlen geht der Mond auf……………………………L. Schlottmann
40Die Brünnlein, die da fließen……………………………G. Vierling
42Aus dem Serbischen Liederspiel (neu)…………………Georg Henschel
43Quartet, Schlumm für die Männer.
44Duet, An die Nachtigall.
45Quartet, Unter dem Mandelbaum.
46Duet, Ich vergönnt' es ihm.
47Solo, Die Braut.
48Quartet, Die gefangene Nachtigall.
49Quintet, Ueber allen Gipfeln ist Ruh (neu)…………..R. L. Hermann
50Lieder—
51Komm wir wandeln zusammen………………………….P. Cornelius
52Der Hidalgo……………………………………………….R. Schumann
53Julius Gantzberg
54Duet. Still wie die Nacht………………………………..C. Götze
55Anna Hecht, Anton Däseler.
56Quartet a capella—
57Aus der Fremde…………………………………………..B. Vogel
58Liebesfeier…………………………………………………R. L. Hermann
59Quartet, Frühlingslied (manuscript)…………………..Martin Jacobi
61You will notice that Georg Henschel's Serbischen Liederspiel is given as "new." I heard it in New York more than six years ago. Reinhold L. Hermann's vocal quintet is very pretty, while the aria with violin by the same composer did not strike me as a very felicitous effort. Professor Jacobsen, from the Hochschule, performed the violin solo miserably.
63Martin Jacobi is a local composer who has some lyric invention of commonplace order, but many of his published songs are popular in Berlin.
65***
67The committee having in charge the usual Thanksgiving function at the Kaiserhof honored me with an invitation to turkey, dance, &c., so I cast concerts to the winds for Thursday evening. The committee was composed of Ambassador Uhl, Vice-Consul Zimmerman, ex-Consul Kreismann, O. B. Boise, Messrs. Griscom, McGee and McFadden.
69Ambassador Uhl presided, and in proposing the Emperor and President made the best speeches that I have heard at any Berlin celebration.
71Consul Carroll, from Dresden, responded to "The day we celebrate."
73Ambassador Uhl introduced a very welcome innovation in deferring the speeches until dessert was brought on. Our dinners have heretofore been delayed, and consequently half spoiled, by the introduction of speeches between the courses. As the company assembled they were graciously welcomed by Mr. and Mrs. Uhl, who exerted themselves throughout the evening to make the affair a social success.
75After dinner the tables were quickly cleared away, and the room was soon filled by bright faces and becoming toilets. Dancing continued until after 2 o'clock, everyone seeming to enjoy the occasion to the fullest.
77Among those present were the wife and daughters of Ambassador Uhl; Mr. Thompson, of Yale College, who is to marry Miss Lucy Uhl on December 9; First Secretary Jackson, Mrs. Jackson, and her niece, Miss Rutter; Second Secretary Squires and Mrs. Squires, Vice-Consul General and Mrs. Zimmerman, with their daughter; Mr. and Mrs. John D. Jones, of Washington; Mr. and Mrs. Trowbridge, of New York; Mrs. Dr. Webb, with two nieces; Mr. and Mrs. McGee, Mrs. John Worthington and daughter, of New York; Consul and Mrs. Moore, from Weimar; Mr. Percy Martin, Arthur Nevin and Mrs. Cottlow and Miss Augusta Cottlow.
79***
81César Thomson, the great Belgian violinist, made his Berlin début on Friday night, in Bechstein Hall, before a rather small but enthusiastic audience, among which there were many connoisseurs. Thomson, as well as Ysaye, was at one time concertmaster of the formerly famous Bilse Orchestra in Berlin. He is therefore well remembered here.
83Of his playing I need say but little, because Thomson you all heard in the United States last season, and, moreover, our violin expert Abell was in attendance. The cycle of concerts Thomson intends giving here has so-called historical programs, but wherein the historic part consists I cannot see, for this first program contained, varied by vocal soli, the following violin selections: Tartini's Devil's Trill, played with wonderful facility of execution and perfect cleanliness of intonation; an adagio by Ries; Thomson's arrangement of a Passacaglia, by Händel; a fantasia by Paganini, and Ernst's Concerto Pathétique, in F sharp minor. Interspersed were two groups of Lieder, by Brahms, Richard Strauss, Mendelssohn, Massenet, Wagner and Vidal, of which I heard only the first and second. They were sung by Mrs. Lydia Hollm, a vocalist who can boast of few claims to appear publicly in conjunction with such an artist as César Thomson.
85***
87The event of the week, so far as our American colony at Berlin is concerned, was Miss Jessie Shay's concert, which took place in the Singakademie the same night, and which showed a full and enthusiastic attendance. About the success of the pretty young lady from New York I have already advised readers of THE MUSICAL COURIER by cable. It now remains for me to confirm my cablegram and to give you a few of the details of the evening.
89Miss Shay made her début with the Hensel F minor piano concerto, a work which has not been heard in Berlin for a good many seasons, and which, because of its great technical difficulties, is played but very rarely anywhere. I came into the Singakademie just in time to hear the brilliantly performed finale of the first movement, which was received with tokens of approval by the audience. The larghetto was tenderly sung on the piano, and the allegro agitato, with its giddy but somewhat too banal and trite waltz theme, carried the audience into ecstasy and brought on salvos of applause, in which the members of the Philharmonic Orchestra and their leader, Professor Mannstaedt, joined heartily.
91A group of solo pieces, consisting of Raff's prelude in B flat, Schumann's Prophet Bird, and a concert study in A flat by Schloezer, again showed Miss Shay's virtuosity, the suppleness of her fingers, and neatness as well as variety of touch to the best advantage. It was noticed that the selections had been made with an apparent preference for the display of the technical side, but in Schumann's little Idyll of the Woods Miss Shay also gave some conclusive proof of the poetical potencies she is possessed of.
93The great attraction on the program to me was Paderewski's Polish Fantasy, which on this occasion was performed for the first time in Berlin and which up to that evening I had heard only from the composer. I can pay Miss Shay no higher compliment than to say that her interpretation strongly reminded me of Paderewski's, especially in the more lively portions of this superb work. In the short adagio episode, slightly reminiscent of the second theme from the slow movement of Rubinstein's Dramatic Symphony, Miss Shay lacked tenderness and warmth. Moreover, she was most severely handicapped by the orchestral accompaniment, which was too heavy throughout, and which at intervals dragged unmercifully. Professor Mannstaedt seems to grow more indifferent from day to day, so far as orchestral accompaniments are concerned, and I therefore do not regret that he will cease his Berlin activity by the end of the present season, and intends to return to Wiesbaden, where he will conduct opera, just as he did before he was called to Berlin.
95Instead of quoting all of the Berlin critics on Miss Shay's concert, I shall, as they all agreed upon the exceptional merits of Mr. Alexander Lambert's favorite pupil, content myself with translating Max Marschalk's criticism in the Vossische Zeitung, because it is at the same time the most exhaustive and the fairest report. He said:
97The number of American concert givers is on the increase. Since the beginning of the season we have had three of them and now Miss Shay, a pianist, has joined the number. Generally the Americans pursue their musical studies in Europe, especially in Germany. Miss Shay, however, has been educated in her native land, in New York, by Alexander Lambert. She is an honor to her teacher, who, however, has had a very gifted pupil in Miss Shay. The young woman is endowed with remarkable artistic abilities. She possesses power of touch even to that high degree which is demanded in the Hensel F minor concerto. Besides, her tone is noble and supple (geschmeidig), as well as capable of variegated shadings. With tenderness, for instance, it was applied in the larghetto of that concerto, and in Schumann's Prophet Bird. The performer's technic was equal to all difficulties, no matter whether they consisted in brilliant bravura passages or in flowing and pearl-like figures. In her delivery Miss Shay combines clear insight with her natural musical feeling.
99That settles it!
101I could not stay at the Singakademie after the storm of applause which must have followed the Polish Fantasy (which some of the Berlin critics who know little or no French call a Fantasy Polonaise, though the work is not even in triple time), and could not await the satisfying of the encore fiends, for I had to catch the night train for Cologne, where on the following day, Saturday, November 28, took place the premiere of Reinhold L. Herman's opera Wulfrin.
103***
105Here again I am in a position to fall back upon and corroborate my cablegram to the effect that Reinhold L. Herman's music drama Wulfrin, constructed on Wagnerian lines, was an unqualified success at its Cologne première, and that the composer, as well as the chief artists, among whom were the two American singers Olive Fremstad and Marion Weld, were called before the curtain more than a dozen times, and that laurel wreaths were thrown upon the stage in abundance.
107The libretto of Wulfrin, which opera was finished only a few weeks previous to its première, was written by E. Wolfram, the same poet who wrote for Herman the book of last year's successful opera Vineta. The story of Wulfrin is taken from one of the most admired and most powerful of German novels, Conrad Ferdinand Meyer's Judicatrix, the Woman Judge, and the difficulties the intricate story offered for the purposes of dramatization have been surmounted by Mr. Wolfram in a masterly manner.
109In the time of the old German empire, then stretching southward as far as Northern Italy, there lived in the northern parts of the Alpine mountains Count Wulf, a brutal, self-willed, vicious ruler, whose gentle and delicate wife, by whom he had a boy, was one of the principal objects of his abuse and capricious hatred. The preca-
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