Scan 14
Musical Courier 1898-05-25: Vol 36 Iss 951, 1898
53 lines. Read by computer on 23 September 2026. Printed page 15. See the scan on archive.org.
1Boston Music Notes.
2BOSTON, Mass., May 21, 1898.
4MRS. L. P. MORRILL has issued a dainty little card of invitation to a vocal recital which will take place at Pierce Hall on the evening of May 26.
6Although H. Carleton Slack is one of the younger set of vocal teachers in this city his success has been most marked from the very beginning of his career as a teacher. The past season has kept him closely confined to his studio, every moment of his time being occupied. Mr. Slack has the highest testimonials from Sbriglia, who regards him as the best exponent of the Sbriglia method in this city, unhesitatingly saying so whenever asked about teachers in Boston. It is possible that Mr. and Mrs. Slack will go abroad this summer, although their plans are not yet fully determined.
8After a busy and most successful season Mrs. Etta Edwards leaves for Europe May 26 on a Cunard steamer, going directly from Liverpool to Paris, where she will spend her time in study during the summer months.
10Miss Frances Wellington, one of Charles R. Adams' pupils, sang recently in Lowell with great success.
12The vocal recital of the pupils of Arthur J. Hubbard takes place at Association Hall on the evening of May 25. Mr. Hubbard will introduce some fine voices to the public upon this occasion.
14Mrs. Katherine Frances Barnard has issued invitations for the annual concert of the Copley Square School, of which she is the principal, at Association Hall, June 8.
16The Handel and Haydn Society held a special meeting last week, a preliminary to the annual meeting May 23. Nominations were made without difficulty, the proceedings being thoroughly harmonious. These were the nominations: President, C. P. Boynton; vice-president, F. E. Long; secretary, Stephen P. Dow; treasurer, J. W. Risdon; librarian, J. A. Leonard; board of government, F. E. Chapman, L. B. Guyer, F. E. Keay, Walter C. Martin, James McCormick, C. A. Ricker, C. R. Adams, F. M. Leavitt.
18A recital for the benefit of the Tyler Street Day Nursery will be given at the Tuileries next Tuesday morning at 11 o'clock. The artists are Miss Caroline Gardner Clarke, soprano; Miss Mabel Klock, soprano; Miss Jean Foss, contralto; Mr. C. B. Shirley, tenor; Dudley Fitts, baritone; Miss Helen Bean, contralto; Miss Elena de Ollogue, pianist.
20Edward Baxter Perry has just returned from a season of success in Europe. Of his recital in Paris on April 21 the Messenger of that city writes:
22Last evening Edward Baxter Perry, of Boston, played a program which taxed every resource of the modern virtuoso, and showed a technical grasp and scholarliness seldom equaled, even in these days when the piano is supposed to have yielded all its secrets. He is entitled to a high rank among the great players of the world, and his gift at analysis and composition are very rare among musicians who are primarily instrumentalists.
24Mr. Perry gave a recital for the Royal Normal College in London on April 29, of which the Crystal Palace Chronicle writes as follows:
26Mr. Perry proved himself a master of piano technic, whose skill is reinforced by a warm poetic temperament. His tone is full and resonant and unusually soft and elastic in quality. His legato effects in arpeggios and passagework, and the octave technic of the left hand, are points in which his playing particularly excels. His interpretations show a strong feeling for the emotional and dramatic in musical art, and by appealing to these sentiments in the listener his playing succeeds in holding the attention and interest of an audience to a degree unusual with a piano program.
28Mr. Perry cut short his London stay on account of the war troubles at home, and arrived in Boston by the Cunarder Cephalonia on Friday last. He goes next week to his summer cottage at Camden, Me.
30Miss Aagot Lunde sails for Norway May 26 to spend the summer. Besides visiting her friends and family and doing some sight seeing, she intends to study with Grieg.
32A series of lectures by Louis C. Elson will be given at Asbury Park from July 15 to August 2.
34"VOCAL METHODS" AGAIN.
36Mr. F. W. Wodell did a rather unusual thing last Friday evening in giving a lecture on "Vocal Methods" in Chickering Hall, this city, and presenting several of his pupils in vocal numbers. Evidently this teacher has the courage of his convictions and is ready to stand or fall by the results of his work. The program was made up of numbers by Mozart, Gounod, Costa, Henschel, Randegger, Brounoff and others. A noteworthy item was a charming "Spring Song" for contralto, composed by the concert giver. The pupils who took part were: Mrs. M. B. Swift, soprano of the First Church, Malden; Misses M. J. Fraser, J. Crockett, E. B. Richardson, M. L. Stringer and Alex. M. Watt. It is but simple justice to say that taken as a whole the performances of these singers gave genuine pleasure.
38Mr. Wodell's instruction is based on the principles of that Italian school which holds beauty of tone to be the most important requisite in the voice, and it is a fact that sweetness of tone characterized the singing of these pupils—sopranos, mezzos, contraltos alike. Not all were equal in range and power, and differences in interpretative power were observable. But all these ladies sang with a noteworthy absence of forced, disagreeable tone. Mr. Watt, the bass, has a fine natural voice, from which a good deal may be expected when he has done more work to get it under control. He is quite young and blessed with genuine musical talent.
40Mr. Wodell's lecture was rather informal. It might almost have been called a "talk," and was perhaps the more interesting for its lack of formality. He spoke without notes, and in the course of his twenty minutes' effort referred to some of the many methods now advocated and taught, and contended for a system of voice training based on principles, not merely upon devices—a system dealing with primary causes instead of secondary symptoms and effects. The leading principle underlying his work appears to be the development of the "artistic singing breath" from the "natural breath," control of breath below the larynx without undue raising of the chest, and "looseness" at the neck, which includes "open throat," and free jaw, tongue, lips and face. "The art of respiration is the art of singing." The lecturer was heartily applauded, and after the concert the opinion was quite generally expressed that he had shown himself to be a well-informed and intelligent professor and capable teacher. The Svendsen Trio—Miss L. E. Waitt, piano; Miss Marie Nichols, violin; Miss A. L. Tolman, 'cello—assisted, playing numbers by Haydn and Gade. There was a large audience.
42Cantata in Middletown.
44Dudley Buck's sacred cantata "Christ the Victor," composed for performance during Ascensiontide, was given at Grace Church, Middletown, N. Y., on the evening of May 18, before a representative congregation. The chorus was the regular thirty voiced choir of the church, under the direction of Harvey Wickham, the soloists being Mrs. Harvey Wickham, soprano; Miss Julia Wickham, contralto; Harry Fisher and Z. K. Green, tenors, and H. L. Adams, baritone. This is the fourth cantata given by this choir during the present season.
46Elsa Von Grave.
48Miss Elsa Von Grave, a pianist of unusual powers, who recently came to this country from Germany, has just finished playing in several large festivals with the Boston Festival Orchestra. Miss Von Grave is a pupil of Von Bülow, and a young woman of exceptional talent.
50Henry L. Mason, who heard Miss Von Grave in a recital last winter in Detroit, and who is enthusiastic about her artistic career, received the following telegram just after the tour was over:
52"Von Grave great success. Mason & Hamlin concert grand magnificent."
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