Scan 11
Musical Courier 1900-04-11: Vol 40 Iss 1046, 1900
89 lines. Read by computer on 21 September 2026. Printed page 12. See the scan on archive.org.
1MUSIC IN BROOKLYN.
3A PERFORMANCE of Haydn's "Creation" was the musical event of the week in Brooklyn. The oratorio was presented at the Academy of Music last Wednesday evening by the Brooklyn Oratorio Club, in cooperation with the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. Early in the season it was announced that at the spring concert of the club, a work by a modern American composer would be given, but the great success of "The Messiah" last December convinced those directly interested that the music lovers of Brooklyn would prefer to hear one of the famous oratorios rather than a novelty. As "The Messiah" of Handel's is the work for the Christmastide, Haydn's "Creation" seems appropriate for the springtime. The music of "The Messiah" is sublime and that of "The Creation" joyous. The sunny-natured Haydn was fifty-seven years old with he wrote his immortal oratorio, and in almost every bar the score reflects the sweetness and symmetry of his disposition.
5The Brooklyn Oratorio Club is composed of some two hundred voices, many of them trained for solo work. The excellence of the ensemble is due partly to this individual cultivation. However, a score more tenors and a dozen additional basses would improve the choral forces and give a balance which is lacking at times. The sopranos and contraltos could hardly be better. In the matter of intonation and phrasing no better choral singing is heard anywhere. Walter Henry Hall, the conductor of the club, deserves the thanks of the community for his thorough and conscientious drilling. The rehearsals are held once every week, and this regularity has provided Brooklyn with a fine body of artistic choral singers.
7Each one of the three soloists of the evening scored an emphatic success. Mrs. Marie Zimmerman, soprano; Theodore Van Yorx, tenor, and Ericsson Bushnell, basso, are oratorio singers. Mrs. Zimmerman's voice has the sympathetic quality and her presence the sincerity, that finds favor with an audience. Her enunciation is distinct, and she sings always with a tone that is delightful. It is many years since a Brooklyn audience heard "With Venture Clad" and "On Mighty Pens," sung with such flexibility, sweetness and intelligence. The audience was particularly cordial to Mrs. Zimmerman, because many present remember how one year ago she came on from Philadelphia, and on very short notice filled, in a highly satisfactory manner, the place of a singer who had become suddenly indisposed.
9Mr. Van Yorx always sings with taste and intelligence, and last Wednesday evening he received an ovation after his aria "In Native Worth and Honor Clad." His earnestness and manliness, combined with his artistic ability, make his appearance a welcome factor upon the oratorio and concert stage. Mr. Van Yorx especially distinguished himself in the recitatives, accentuating the sentences with appealing melodiousness.
11"The Creation" affords the basso a fine opportunity, and Mr. Bushnell proved equal to it all. His interpretation of the opening recitative impressed the audience with his force and eloquence. In the aria, "Rolling in Foaming Billows," Mr. Bushnell displayed a noble voice and throughout the oratorio he revealed again and again those gifts which have established his reputation. Mr. Bushnell is very dignified, his enunciation is fine and his phrasing correct, and these are the characteristics at the foundation of the oratorio singer.
13An orchestra of forty men, with Gustav Dannreuther as concertmaster, did effective work. Felix Lamond accompanied at the piano some of the recitatives. Mr. Hall conducted with zeal and received with becoming modesty his share of the honors.
15For Holy Week Brooklyn has an appropriate attraction in the exhibition of the Tissot Paintings, at which Master Earl Gulick sings at three sessions daily. The celebrated boy soprano may be heard at 3 p.m., 4:30 p.m., and at 8:30 p.m.
17* * *
19To-morrow evening (Thursday) Arthur Whiting and three members of the Kneisel Quartet will be the last in the series of chamber music concerts before the Brooklyn Institute.
21* * *
23The pupils of the Berta Grosse-Thomason School for Piano will give a musciale at Chandler Hall, Saturday afternoon, April 14. Amy Ray, a young contralto, will sing.
25* * *
27By special request, the Laurier Musical Club repeated its concert at the Bedford Presbyterian Church last Thursday evening, for the benefit of the Woman's Branch of City Missions. The program, which was most excellent, and arranged by the president of the club, Miss Elsie Ray Eddy, was as follows:
29Madrigals—
30Down in a Flowery Dale………………………………….Festa
31Come, Let Us Join the Roundelay………………………….Beale
32Miss Elsie Ray Eddy, Miss Eva L. Quintard, E. H. Dexter and E. F. Hermann.
34Piano solo—
35Moment Musical, op. 94………………………………….Schubert
36Humoresque, op. 33………………………………………Bird
37Arthur Rowe Pollock.
39Baritone solo—
40Love Is a Bubble…………………………………………..Allitsen
41At Parting…………………………………………………….Rogers
42William Howell Edwards.
44Violin trio, Sommerlust…………………………………….Schumann
45Miss Marion Kinne, Mrs. Grace F. Ryan and Miss Johanna Ophuls.
47Soprano solo—
48The Fairy's Lullaby………………………………………Alicia A. Needham
49Visions………………………………………………………D'Hardelet
50Spring………………………………………………………..Tosti
51Miss Elsie Ray Eddy.
53Piano solo, Hark, Hark, the Lark!………………………..Schubert-Liszt
54Miss M. Clyde McCarroll.
56Contralto solo, My Guest…………………………………Harris
57Miss Eva L. Quintard.
59Violin solo, Schottische Rhapsodie………………………..Venth
60Miss Marion Kinne.
62Quartet, O, My Love's Like a Red, Red Rose………….Garrett
63Miss Eddy, Miss Quintard, Mr. Dexter, Mr. Hermann.
65Violin Trio, Soirée en Famille…………………………..Lieblich
66Miss Kinne, Mrs. Ryan and Miss Ophuls.
68The Laurier Musical Club was organized seven years ago, and the success of its musical activities has been mainly due to the clever work of the president, Miss Eddy, who has held the position of executive for six years.
70* * *
72Last Sunday evening, John Philip Sousa and his band gave a concert at the Amphion Theatre in the Eastern District, before a highly enthusiastic audience. The overture to "Tannhäuser" and the Grail music from "Parsifal" played in the first part of the concert, seemed especially appropriate for Palm Sunday. Mr. Sousa, as usual, received an ovation after the encore numbers, which included "The Stars and Stripes Forever," and "Hands Across the Sea." The other numbers played by the band to excellent advantage were Tschaikowsky's "Capriccio Italien," Gillet's "Dance Caresse," Sousa's "Man Behind the Gun," a tarantella by Albert, and Sousa's descriptive settings to "The Quotations," "The King of France Went Up the Hill," "And I too was Born in Arcadia," and "Nigger in a Woodpile." The soloists were Miss Blanche Duffield, Miss Bertha Bucklin, and Walter Rogers. Miss Duffield and Miss Bucklin, as heretofore announced, made the entire tour with the band. Mr. Rogers is one of the cornetists of the band. The solo on Sunday evening was one of his own compositions, "Souvenir of Naples." The solo was delightfully played, and for an extra number, Mr. Rogers gave "Ah, 'Tis a Dream," by Lassen. Miss Duffield sang brilliantly, "Maid of the Meadow," from Sousa's "Bride Elect," and, after several recalls, sang "The Swallows," by Frederic Cowen. Miss Bertha Bucklin played the third violin suite by Ries, during which she displayed the sincerity and other admirable qualities of her style. Sousa will give one more concert before sailing for Europe, and that will be at the Metropolitan Opera House, Manhattan, Monday evening, April 22. The "March King" and his fine band will sail on Wednesday, April 25, and in addition to the engagement at the Paris Exposition, will make a tour of Belgium, Germany, and Italy. The tour about to be closed now has been one of many triumphs, and it might be said of Mr. Sousa that no man bears his honors more graciously or more modestly.
74Musical "Calls."
76I THINK the pleasant system of agreed-upon musical calls, between individuals who are accustomed to being together, is becoming more and more common, and it certainly is an amusing and interesting thing. A bar of music—a simple strain, not adopted from any well-known or popular air—serves the purpose. That is the "call" that belongs to some two or more people, and whether it is on the lake, or in the woods, or among the crowded canoes at Riverside, or in the most crowded part of Washington street, it serves the purpose perfectly; it is like the call of a bird to its mate; the two hear it, and fly together. Sometimes the rules of the game require that the person who wishes to call the other shall whistle or hum one-half a bar or cadence, and the other person shall finish it. The two together thus become a sufficient identification, like the halves of the Chinese moral precept which Wong Sing, the laundryman, uses to bring about the union of the proper shirts with the proper customer. One such musical call will always linger in my memory, though it was never mine; it belonged to a man and a girl, and I often heard it—sweet, quaint, minor, peculiar, belonging to the little-known folk-music of a European people.
78The trouble about calls used so intimately is that observant ears may hear them and learn them, and use them delusively, as hunters master the call of birds and lure them to their ruin. I know another call, used by more than a dozen people, who are accustomed to spend much time together in the summer. There is no secret about this call, but no outsider seems to borrow it. The other day, on Washington street, in the midst of a crowd, I happened to whistle softly a bar of a tune that is not familiarly known. I had but just finished it when I saw a good-looking man a few steps ahead of me turn about quickly, and stop, and look swiftly and inquiringly at everybody in sight. He did not catch my lips in a pucker, but his look was one of surprise and expectation. If he had not heard in the somewhat vaguely whistled bar a "call" that he was well used to, and was wondering where the person was who had given it, I quite missed my guess.
80—Boston Transcript.
82A Von Klenner Pupil to Sail.
84MRS. ADA MAY BENZING, the contralto, will sail for Europe Saturday, April 14. After filling several engagements in London, Mrs. Benzing will go to Breslau, and study for grand opera with Theodore Habelmann. The friends of the singer expect her to make a brilliant success.
86Mrs. Benzing came from Boston to New York several years ago and studied with Mme. Evans von Klenner. Her distinguished teacher took a sincere interest in her progress, going to the extent of giving a special musicale to introduce her to musical circles in New York. Through Mme. Von Klenner Mrs. Benzing met a number of social leaders and important musical people.
88Among the latter was Mr. Habelmann, with whom she is to study for grand opera abroad. During Lent, Mrs. Benzing sang at a number of private musicales in New York and Boston. In Boston she was particularly successful at one of Mrs. "Jack" Gardner's "Thursday afternoons."
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