Scan 4
Musical Courier 1898-06-01: Vol 36 Iss 952, 1898
99 lines. Read by computer on 22 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1Berlin Branch Budget
3BERLIN OFFICE MUSICAL COURIER, BERLIN, May 7, 1898.
5THE MUSIC EXHIBITION—COUNT ZICHY'S OPERA "ALAR."
7FROM present appearances it would seem as if Richard Wagner after all is to be the first composer whose memory will be honored in Berlin by the erection of a statue or monument. Surely the fund for the long planned and still longer spoken of triple monument of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven is so slowly increasing that, if wonders in the shape of a governmental or city contribution will not be done, the newly created subscription to the fund for the erection of a monument to Richard Wagner will quickly outstrip its classical rival.
9In behalf of the Wagner monument a number of rich people and some fashionable folks from the Tiergarten quarter of the German capital have been interested, and they have been bled pretty freely, so that a formidable nucleus for the fund is already in existence. To increase the same a music exhibition has been planned and executed, and the Emperor's sister, Hereditary Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Meiningen, has been chosen protectress of the undertaking. She is quite a Wagnerite the Princess, and her husband, Prince Bernhard, is a musician of no mean attainments. Both these august personages were present to-day at the opening ceremonies of the said music exhibition, which proved to be quite an imposing affair. Miss Eva Lessmann, one of the most lovely young ladies of Berlin, received the Princess with a big floral offering, then old man Sucher conducted the performance of Wagner's "Kaisermarsch," played by the New Symphony Orchestra, and Otto Lessmann greeted the assembly with an appropriate speech, in which he set forth the purposes of the exhibition, and closed with a Hoch to the high protectress of the undertaking. Then an excursion through the exhibition—which, like all other and previous exhibitions, was not quite finished and ready on the opening day—was made, and finally, after the illustrious guests had withdrawn, a gala dinner, with lots of wine and speeches, united the committee and a few invited guests, mostly members of the press.
11As far as the exhibition itself is concerned, I doubt very much whether it will be much frequented by the general public, for first of all the Mess Palast, in which building it is placed is not situated very favorably or in a fashionable or easily accessible quarter of the town, and secondly the objects exhibited are not of special attractiveness to a general visitor, but are of interest only to musicians and musical amateurs. And even they have visited the principal attraction of this exhibition, the royal collection of ancient musical instruments, loaned by the Government, in its proper quarters. It is a very complete and quite valuable collection, a description of which I gave in THE MUSICAL COURIER many years ago, when the collection was still the personal property of the collector, Paul de Witt, editor of the Leipzic Zeitschrift fur Instrumentenbau. He sold it to the Prussian Government and immediately began a new collection, which is now one of the notable sights of the Athens on the Pleisse, and which contains some of the finest specimens of the lute-maker's as well as of the old clavichord manufacturer's art.
13Not the entire royal collection, but some of its most important and above all the historically interesting instruments are shown at this Wagner monument fund loan exhibition, in which it occupies four rooms. The most precious specimens exhibited are the celebrated quill grand piano of Bach, the traveling pianos of Mozart and of Frederick the Great, the most exquisitely decorated salon grand piano of the unfortunate Queen Marie Antoinette, the two hammer grand pianos of Carl Maria von Weber and of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy and a number of instruments owned by lesser musical lights. The traveling piano and some other relics of Meyerbeer, donated to the royal collection by the heirs of that composer, are of interest. Special admiration is elicited by the beautiful and wonderfully well-preserved Renaissance grand piano of Viti de Trasuntinis, which was built in 1562, and which thus is one of the oldest of pianos in existence. Its peculiar, rich sound satisfies even a spoiled modern musical ear.
15Then there are specimens of the old instruments long since out of use and the name and species of which are better known to musical historians than to musicians, such as Rankett and Pommer, Dulcimer, or rather Dolcian and Schalmei, Zink and Krummhorn; they all are worthily represented. Also musical instruments which are considered antiquated nowadays, but which were employed by Bach, Händel and Mozart in some of their immortal works, such as oboe d'amore, viole d'amour and viola de gamba are largely in view. Of special interest to Americans is a specimen of the glass harmonica invented by Benjamin Franklin, and from which can be produced voluptuous sounds. For the best recommendation for all of these specimens of former generations' musical activity is the fact that they are all in playable condition, and that therefore one can admire them with the ear as well as with the eye. Prof. Dr. Oscar Fleischer, the custodian and arranger of this most noteworthy collection, keeps all his pets in the best of order, and knows how to play upon them.
17In the fourth room occupied by the royal collection, the one which contains the wind instruments, the German Edison Phonographic Company has also opened up quarters with an apparatus for graphophonic takings. It is the intention to take 100 specimens, to be incorporated into the Royal Museum. The voices of all the renowned people of Berlin are thus to be transmitted to posterity. The hereditary Princess of Meiningen was the first to speak into the apparatus. The Joachim Quartet will also give a lasting proof of its wonderful and classical ensemble playing.
19The most important collection of musical manuscripts and autographs of musicians exhibited is that of Herr Nicolaus Manskopf, of Frankfort-on-the-Main. It is well known as one of the most valuable and most complete collections existing to-day. What time, patience, effort and money the man must have spent in getting together this musico-historic material which fills three large rooms! One of the most interesting specimens contained in this collection is an hitherto unpublished poem, "To the German Army Before Paris," by Richard Wagner, which he wrote in January, 1871, and which reads as follows:
21Was schweigt es doch im deutschen Dichterwald?
22Verlang, Hurrah, Germania! füch so bald?
23Schließ bei der Liedertafel — Nacht am Rhein
24beruhigt samt "lieb Vaterland" schon ein? one of two readings
25beruhigt sanft, "lieb Vaterland" schon ein? one of two readings
26Die deutsche Wacht,
27da steht sie nun in Frankreichs eitlen Herzen; one of two readings
28da steht sie nun in Frankreich's eitlen Herzen; one of two readings
29von Schlacht zu Schlacht
30vergleicht ihr Blut sie unter heissen Schmerzen;
31mit füller Wucht
32in frommer Zucht
33vollbringt sie nie geahnte Thaten,
34zu groß für euch, nur ihren Sinn zu rathe.
36Das eitle Wort, das wügte freilich Rath,
37da im Geleis es sich gemütlich trat:
38der Deutschen Lieder-Klang und Singer-Sang,
39man wählte, selbst Franzosen macht er bang.
40Du treues Heer,
41haßt du's mit deinen Siegen nun verbrochen,
42dah jezt nurmehr
43in Kammerreden wird von dir gesprochen?
44Das hohe Lied
45dem Siege — Fried'
46jetzt fingen ängstlich Diplomaten
47vereint mit ärgerlichen Demokraten. one of two readings
48vereint mit ärgertlichen Demokraten. one of two readings
50Zu viel des Sieg's! Mögt ihr bescheid'ner sein:
51begnügt euch friedlich mit der Wacht am Rhein!
52Lacht uns Paris, wo sich's so hübsch verschwört,
53und seid zufrieden mit der Schlacht bei Wörth!
54Doch unbetört
55in ernstem Schweigen schlägt du deine Schlachten:
56was unerhört,
57das zu gewinnen ist dein männlich Trachten.
58Dein eig'nes Lied
59in Krieg und Fried'
60wirst du, mein herrlich Volk, dir finden,
61mög' drob auch mancher Dichterruhm verschwinden.
63Das Lied, blicke ich auf deine Thaten hin, one of two readings
64Das Lied, blic' ich auf deine Thaten hin, one of two readings
65aus ihrem Werthe ahn' ich seinen Sinn,
66fast singt's wie: "Muth zeigt auch der Mamelud,"
67dem folgt: "Gehorham ist des Christen Schmud."
68Es ruft der Herr:
69und ihn versteht ein ganges Volk in Waffen,
70dem Ruhmgeplär' des Nebermuths ein Ende da zu schaffen.
71Es rafft im Kampf
72zu wildem Kampf
73sich auf des eitlen Wahn's Befenner:
74der Welt doch züchtet Deutschland nur noch Männer.
75Drum soll ein Deutscher auch nur Kaiser sein;
76im weifßen Lande solltet ihr ihn weih'n;
77der treuen Muth's sein Werbeamt erfüllt,
78dem sei nun seiner Thaten Werth enthüllt.
79Die uns geraubt,
80die würdevollste aller Erdenkronen,
81auf seinem Haupt
82soll sie der Treue heil'ge Thaten lohnen.
83So heisst das Lied
84vom Siege, Fried',
85von deutschen Heeres That gedichtet,
86der Kaiser nah't; in Frieden sei gerichtet!
88I'll wager dollars to doughnuts that it will puzzle a good linguist to turn this Wagner poem into English, and its highfalutin verbosity is probably the reason why the poem was discarded or rather disregarded by Wagner himself, for it is not to be found or even mentioned (as far as I can remember) in the complete edition of his published writings.
90Of the modern musical instruments exhibited at the Mess Palast I mention with pleasure and pride some particularly fine specimens of American organs, made by Mason & Hamlin, the world-renowned Boston manufacturers.
92* * *
94The Royal Opera House intendency is making up for lost time. During the recent conductor's crisis we have had but few of the promised novelties; in fact, during the year of 1897 only four new operas were brought out—"Enoch Arden," by Victor Hausmann; "Haschisch," by Oscar von Chelius; Puccini's "La Bohème," and Spinelii's "A Basso Porto." Incidentally it may be interesting to note that of all the operas produced in 1897 Lortzing's weakest work, "Undine," proved the most popular one. It was given no less than fifty times, probably because its fairy-tale like mise-en-scène at the Royal Opera House exercised an unusual attraction. Next in favor stood Humperdinck's "Hänsel und Gretel," which was given nineteen times, while "Tannhäuser" and "Mignon" follow next, each with eighteen performances. A peculiar mixture this. Of the classical repertory Mozart operas were given twenty-six times, Beethoven's "Fidelio" had five performances, and Weber represented by "Freischütz" and "Oberon" filled the house bill on nine evenings of the entire year of 1897.
96The year of our Lord 1898 will show a very different aspect of statistics, especially in the matter of novelties. Scarcely have we survived the not very exciting première of Bungert's "Odysseus' Return," when another new work is brought out in the presence of the composer. It is Count Géza Zichy's "romantic" opera "Alar," which on last Tuesday night was given here for the first time with a fair, not overwhelming, but still undisputed success. The work was first given at Budapest at the Hungarian National Opera House, of which famous institute at one time Count Zichy was the royal intendant. It there met with so pronounced a success that it was given no less than twenty-five times. "Alar" next appeared at the Carlsruhe Court Opera, where, under Felix Mottl's direction, it was also received with approval. The Berlin première which Dr. Muck conducted was attended by the Emperor, upon whose specially expressed desire, it is stated, the opera of the Hungarian nobleman was produced here. His Majesty indeed appeared to be very pleased with the performance as well as with the work, and while he requested Count Hochberg to express his satisfaction and give his thanks for the excellent representation to all parties concerned in the cast, he invited Count Géza Zichy into the royal box after the close of the opera, and there made to the composer some very flattering remarks. The first-nighters at the Royal Opera House were perhaps not quite as enthusiastic as was His Majesty, but they called the composer before the curtain some two or three times after each of the three acts and applauded a little even after the Vorspiel, which means the musico-dramatic introduction, for the work has no purely orchestral overture.
98To me personally "Alar" was a very pleasant disappointment, for, generally speaking, I have not a very high idea of titled composers. They are usually amateurs of a nondescript sort, who, by means of their position and influence, succeed in having their works brought out. Of Count Zichy the word amateur can only be used in the most complimentary way, in so far as he has always placed his very eminent abilities as pianist at the service of charity, and hence cannot strictly be counted as a "professional." Moreover, he has only his left hand, having lost his right arm early in youth, and consequently he could appear as a pianist merely as a specialty. In his way, however, he is little short of wonderful. Whoever
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