Scan 33
Musical Courier 1898-01-19: Vol 36 Iss 933, 1898
34 lines. Read by computer on 21 September 2026. Printed page 34. See the scan on archive.org.
1what you accomplish by hard work and patience. Do not hope for what cannot come. Before all, don't regard suicide as the most efficacious antidote to thwarted ambition. Half an apple is better than none. Life may not be all "beer and skittles," but if one looks about him he can find enough "beer and skittles" to make death a horrible contingency.
3If you meet such students whose hopes have been blighted, who are plodding the dark paths of misery and despondency, do not tell them "be patient," "work hard," "practice makes perfect," and similar senseless platitudes; talk of home, of brothers and sisters, of friendship, of maternal longing and filial duty, of sunshine, of spring, of love. Those are the chords that resound in almost every human breast. When a man is disheartened he can often be more easily redeemed and brightened by a few cheerful words, a kindly grasp of the hand and a warm, friendly smile, than by whole shelves of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche.
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7Christmas influences are disastrous to the flow of the concert-tide. At present it is ebbing, but last week brought a few concerts of some interest.
9On Monday evening, in the Singakademie, Emilie Sauret introduced his young pupil, Aldo Antonietti, to the Berlin public and critics. I heard the worthy disciple of a worthy master play Bruch's G minor concerto and Saint-Saëns' "Rondo Capriccioso." (The program contained, besides, Dvorák's Concerto, A minor, op. 53, and an Elégie, op. 48, by Sauret.) Antonietti's playing is aptly characterized by the German word "liebenswürdig," of which our English equivalent, amiable, is not a satisfactory translation. The young Italian has a fluent, facile technic, which does not even border the sensational, yet seems ample to conquer all difficulties with utmost ease and grace. His tone, of the velvety kind, has a certain languorously, which will always unseat the emotions of women and estrange the sympathies of men.
11To me it seemed delightful, for at no time during the hackneyed adagio of the Bruch concerto did the player for a moment waver in rhythm or drift into that sickly sentimentality which instantly robs a violin performance of all breadth and dignity. In the Saint-Saëns number (which nobody plays quite so well as Sauret), Antonietti plainly revealed the influence of his master, especially in his bowing. The finale, played with a movement varying between détaché and spiccato, was taken at breakneck speed, and earned the player enthusiastic recalls. Sauret led the orchestra with precision and authority. His accompaniments were an object lesson to Rebiczek, the regular leader of the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra.
13In order to report two concerts on Tuesday evening, I heard half of each. In Saal Bechstein Felicia Kirchdorffer played Brahms G minor sonata, together with Prof. Dr. Joachim. The G. O. M. of the fiddle was in superb trim, and having a worthy partner in Miss Kirchdorffer, accomplished a memorable performance. I consider this work ill suited for the concert stage. It is true chamber music—too intimate, too personal to be played outside a room. In her solo numbers, of which I heard an intermezzo and rhapsodie by Brahms, the pianist displayed large intellectual mastery and abundant technic.
15At the other concert, devoted exclusively to compositions by E. E. Taubert, music critic of the Berlin Post, I heard a quintet for piano and wind instruments, and a cyclus of songs from Julius Wolff's "Tannhäuser." I am sorry Taubert is not a director, for then I should finish this criticism in very short order by calling his works "Kapellmeistermusik." He has evidently delved deep into the rules and formulas of musical composition, and knows well his Beethoven and Bach.
17In order to be a creator of works that shall not be forgotten, even before they are known, it is necessary to possess other qualities besides industry, patience and technical knowledge. In place of enumerating these qualities I shall recount an anecdote told about Liszt. The famous pianist was once conversing with a friend about Reinecke. "There are just six reasons why Reinecke could never become an eminent composer," remarked the friend.
19"What are the reasons?" asked Liszt. "The first," continued the friend, "is that he lacks inspiration; the second—" "Enough, enough!" cried Liszt, "spare me the other five. They are superfluous."
21The Quintet, scored for piano, flute, clarinet, horn and bassoon, is a laudable attempt at the resurrection of a form of composition long since become obsolete. Brahms did much to encourage the use of wind instruments in chamber music, but even that great master could not make the combination more than barely palatable. The "Tannhäuser" songs, sung with lusty voice but no finish, by Herr Kurt Sommer, of the Berlin Royal Opera, are typical German music of the most pedantic kind. The texts have been followed so closely there is not a measure of spontaneity in the setting; consequently the whole sounds artificial, labored.
23After a triumphal tour, embracing such critical centres as Hamburg, Dresden and Leipsic, little Paula Szalit, the eleven year old Bohemian piano-playing prodigy, gave a concert last week in Saal Bechstein. The wonderful child had received most enthusiastic praise in these columns last year from Mr. Otto Floersheim and myself, and I was curious to know whether I should be of the same opinion after her concert this year. The program opened with Haydn's Sonata in E flat major, which the tiny creature played with phenomenal finish. Her technic is not relatively, but absolutely perfect; her tone is large, and by means of astounding variations in touch and pedaling, changes color with nearly every phrase.
25Two of Mendelssohn's "Songs Without Words" were sung with exquisite poetry and naïveté, while a Suite in D minor, by Josef Hofmann, played with firm attack, accurate rhythm and appropriate tempi in the Allemande, Courante, Gavotte and Gigue, proved her ability to distinguish correctly between different styles and schools. A Chopin nocturne (F minor) roused the audience to unbounded enthusiasm. The diminutive virtuoso played the piece with mature repose and rare sense of tonal values. In the middle was a skillful climax, which dwindled away to a mere whisper in the concluding rapid figurations. Every known nuance of touch and expression was employed in that one piece. No wonder the audience applauded itself tired and shouted itself hoarse.
27Two compositions of her own, Mazurka and Praeludium, showed considerable originality, and would redound to the credit of some of our best composers of salon music. The F minor barcarolle, by Rubinstein, and the Chopin-Liszt "Chant Polonaise" (Maiden's Wish) concluded the program, and were received with such spontaneous outbursts of delight and pleasure that Paula was forced to add Mendelssohn's "Spinning Song." Although called out a dozen times, the tired child would play no more, and not until the piano was closed did the audience leave the hall. Truly, Paula Szalit is the prodigy of prodigies, the marvel of marvels.
29At the second chamebr-music matinée of the Halir Quartet I heard the trio, op. 50, by Tschaikowsky. Alexander Siloti played the piano part. The performance was good, but by no means above reproach. The first movement, pezzo elegiaco, is diffuse in form, and unless the ensemble be perfect is apt to sound incoherent. The three instruments were not always in perfect sympathy; there was too much individual display, too little general effect. Siloti seemed indisposed, for his technic was faulty and his tone very harsh. Some of the variations in the second movement were omitted. In the finale Professor Halir did noble work. The other numbers on the program were quartets in C major and A major by Mozart and Schumann.
31William Bassett, the talented New York composer, pupil of O. B. Boise, has just completed a "Fantasiestück" for violin, with optional piano or orchestral accompaniment. I am glad to see that Mr. Bassett is one of the few young composers whose muse has not impelled him to pour out his woes in the form of a "Romanza." This "Fantasiestück" by no means lacks the romantic element, but that constitutes only one of many changing moods. I feel myself justified in predicting the quick success of Mr. Bassett's new work, as it contains in lavish degree the qualities essential for popular favor, variety of humor, simplicity of melody, titillativeness of rhythm, and, most important of all, discreteness of proportion. In composition the modern tendency is toward succinctness, toward saying multum in parvo—much in little. That the taste of the public runs in similar lines is amply demonstrated by the success of such shorter violin pieces as Saint-Saëns' "Rondo Capriccioso," Sarasate's "Faust" and "Carmen" fantasies. Tschaikowsky's "Capriccio," Wieniawski's "Faust" fantaisie, his polonaises, Vieuxtemps' polonaises, Bazzini's "Rondo des Lutins," and Loeffler's "Divertimento" (played recently with greatest success in Cologne by Professor Halir).
33Mr. Bassett's "Fantasiestück" is cast in the rich key of E, and opens with a bit of lyric melody especially attractive because of its movement, accomplished by means of flowing figuration in the violin part. The accompaniment, opulent but not ornate, teems with interesting harmonies and skillful manipulation of color. Here and there deft touches involuntarily reminded one of Tschaikowsky (in his B flat minor piano concerto), but the resemblance lies not in melodic similarity, but purely in the affluent treatment of the several themes. A quasi cadenza, based for harmonic support on a resounding chord of E minor, leads to a short epitome of the leading subject, carried out by the piano alone, and without undue suspense we are led through natural harmonies to the logical second part of the piece, in the key of A minor and rhythm of 6-8. Here the violin assumes melodic command, and for a few measures the accompaniment serves merely to denominate the harmonic changes. Almost at once, however, the movement is rendered more full by ingenious contrapuntal figures in the bass, that finally resolve themselves into an imitation of the piquant theme previously allotted to the solo instrument. Throughout this episode the violin is treated most generously, scintillating spiccato passages in accessible positions, and racy rhythmical variations, falling to its share in sufficient abundance to delight even the most selfish performer. The tonality shifts through C minor and A flat to D major and after a phrase reminiscent of
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