Scan 23
Musical Courier 1900-10-31: Vol 41 Iss 1075, 1900
107 lines. Read by computer on 22 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 24. See the scan on archive.org.
1Passing Mention, By Aodh.
3I HAVE not lately been reading much French, but after THE MUSICAL COURIER's allusions to the "Carmen" at Biarritz I turned to a file of my old friend Figaro. He is no longer the "Figaro qua, Figaro la" of old times, but a respectable gentleman of mature years. Yet he can combine the vivacity of youth with the sobriety of middle life; sobriety of thought, vivacity of expression. And, oh! after reading our yellow journals, our ponderous journals, above all, after reading our comic journals, what a joy to meet a man who can write his own language! The author of the article on "Carmen" is no professional stylist; he has none of the affectations of the young school, but he is always pure, pellucid, a master of nuance. But he is more than this; he teaches morals without moralizing.
5His description of the scene and the audience are naturally, brightly written. He tells how the common herd sat boiling in the sun, how the rich people sat under cover, how the Carmen, a lady of the name of Van Wyn, was a perfect cigarrera from the top of her comb to the ends of her green stockings, and then he says, diverging from the stage to the audience: "Who is that pretty woman near the President's seat? Is she married or unmarried? Well, it is all the same. Her slender figure, her refined "gentille," almost puerile (there's nuance for you) expression proclaims her to be adolescent. But one look at her hard black eyes will startle you. Beneath the broad brim of her hat, with its velvet ribbons, you see her eyes abnormally dilated with expectation. Beneath her white linen corsage, with its blue belt, you see her bosom heaving with a longing for sanguinary voluptuousness. Such were the patrician ladies who at Rome bent forward to see the dying agonies of the gladiator.
7I am writing this from memory, as I am too lazy to translate. But 'twill serve.
9Then he tells of the bull and the bull fighter; how the man, after having had one round with Il Toro, came in limping, ragged, "pale, with the fixed look, the drawn features, the pinched lips of a man going to his doom, like a Christian martyr exposed to the beasts in the Coliseum." Then he turns to other personages in the audience. "Look at these over there! Decent bourgeois. Honest shopkeepers, who would not hurt a fly. See the longing of murder in their faces, the hereditary passion for gore; the soul of the cave dwellers in their souls."
11I have always pitied the husbands who have wives that possess what they call the artistic temperament, and who go to Italy to prepare for the operatic stage. Now, however, we shall soon arrive at transferring our pity to the ladies, if many cases like that of Mr. Bowie occur.
13Mr. Bowie has the artistic temperament; he longed to go to Italy and study music and prepare for the operatic stage. In Mrs. Bowie he possessed an angel, not only in the lover's sense of the word (although I believe angels are always masculine), but in that of the theatrical manager. She paid his expenses to go to Italy and prepare for the aforesaid operatic stage. And now he has not appeared either at Milan or Sanpierdarena; he will not come home to his wealthy spouse, and she is seeking for a divorce. Such is the effect of the artistic temperament even in the stronger sex.
15I rejoiced to see that "Martha" was revived last week. It is my favorite opera. How often have I gone to the Academy of Music to hear the "Huguenots," or "Semiramide," or "Don Giovanni," it is no matter which, only to be confronted with the notice, "In compliance with the unanimous request of the boxholders and the general public, Flotow's opera 'Martha,' with Mme. Dotti, will be revived this evening." O Colonel Most Britannic, where art thou, genial adventurer? I always wonder why when he had a voice, and a good one, too, he did not become a singer-manager. Actor-managers make money nowadays, what would a baritone-impresario have done in the old days of E. T. Smith?
17Attention is being called by European cities to the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. He is a genuine Finn, born in 1865 in the southwest of Finland. He studied law at Helsingfors in 1885, but at the same time prosecuted his music studies under Wezelius and was second violin in the string quartet of the Musical Institute there. From this period date his earliest attempts at composition; they are chamber music pieces, especially noteworthy being a string quartet and a piano quartet. These works gained for him a scholarship from the State which enabled him to go to Berlin and study (1889-90) under Robert Becker. He next went to Vienna to study with Goldmark and Albert Fuchs. His first orchestral work, a concert overture, shows traces of the former's influence. In 1892 he was back at Helsingfors, teaching theory and music in the Musical Institute and the Philharmonic Society, positions which he still holds. His published works comprise a symphonic poem, "Kallervo," a suite, "Karelia," a Saga, three cantatas, a symphony and a suite, "King Christian II."
19Leonora Jackson on Tour.
21LEONORA JACKSON and her company started on tour on October 16. The public and press alike shower on the young violinist, as well as the company, flattering eulogiums. Leonora Jackson, young and graceful, with all the power of production of tone that could be expected of any violinist, with a technic that is wonderful, with an understanding of the music which she plays that is seen only in the oldest musicians. The assisting artists are all of the highest degree of ability and are doing most creditably.
23The program played in Holyoke on October 22 was a most interesting one, and we reproduce it:
25Polonaise …………………………………………………Liszt
26(no line here) one of two readings
27Mr. Pratt. one of two readings
28Aria, Caro Nome, from Rigoletto………………………..Verdi
29Declaration, from Lohengrin…………………………….Wagner one of two readings
30Miss Elburna. one of two readings
31Declaration, from Lohengrin………………………………Wagner one of two readings
32Mr. Van Pyk. one of two readings
33Fourth Concerto, D minor……………………………….Vieuxtemps
34Duet, L'Addio (The Adieu)…………………………….Nicolai one of two readings
35Miss Jackson. one of two readings
36Duet, L'Addio (The Adieu)……………………………..Nicolai one of two readings
37Miss Elburna and Mr. Van Pyk. one of two readings
38Piano soli—
39Abends (At Evening)…………………………………….Raff
40Toccata…………………………………………………….Sgambati one of two readings
41Toccata …………………………………………………….Sgambati one of two readings
42Mr. Pratt. one of two readings
43Violin soli—
44Nocturne, D flat…………………………………………..Chopin-Sarasate
45Humoresque (Russian)………………………………….Tchaikowsky
46Madrigale (Italian)………………………………………Simonetti
47Hungarian Dance………………………………………….Brahms-Joachim one of two readings
48Hungarian Dance…………………………………………Brahms-Joachim one of two readings
49Miss Jackson. one of two readings
50The Night Hath a Thousand Eyes………………………..Gaynor
51Ouvre tes Yeux Bleus……………………………………Massenet
52The Maiden's Wish………………………………………Chopin
53(no line here) one of two readings
54Miss Elburna. one of two readings
55With Thy Blue Eyes (Swedish)………………………….Arlberg
56I Love Thee (Norwegian)……………………………….Grieg
57My Dreams……………………………………………….Tosti
58Rondo des Lutins (Hobgoblin Dance)…………………..Bazzini one of two readings
59Mr. Van Pyk. one of two readings
60Rondo des Lutins (Hobgoblin Dance)……………………Bazzini one of two readings
61Miss Jackson. one of two readings
63The following are extracts from the press reports on the concert at Holyoke, Mass.:
65Miss Jackson seemed to be at her best last night, and showed a wonderfully clear and brilliant technic in the Vieuxtemps Concerto. While this melodious and well written work made a decided hit, the group of smaller numbers was even more popular, and in even the smallest selections the same fineness of finish appeared, every detail of bowing and fingering showing the most careful study and artistic control. Few violinists have so smooth and graceful a movement of the bow arm, and the marked purity of her tone is the result. The rest of the company was composed of Miss Josephine Elburna, soprano; Tor Van Pyk, the Swedish tenor, and Selden Pratt, pianist. Mr. Pratt is a good player, but worked against heavy odds, his instrument not being fit for concert use. Both the Raff "Abends" and the Sgambati Toccata were well played. Miss Jackson gave two encore selections, the Jocelyn "Berceuse" and after the "Hungarian Fantaisie," by Ernst, which closed the program, Bazzini's "Rondo des Lutins." The audience was enthusiastic, and was hardly willing to go home when the concert was over.—Springfield Daily Republican, October 23, 1900.
67The Leonora Jackson concert was given at the opera house last evening and was well received. Mr. Van Pyk rendered a tenor solo from "Lohengrin" which was fine. Miss Jackson rendered "Madrigale" (Simonetti) and "Humoresque" (Tchaikowsky) in exquisite style.
69The finest production of the evening was the violin solo, entitled "A Hungarian Fantaisie" (Ernst), given by Miss Jackson. Her touch is really marvelous and the harmony grand. Appreciators of music lost a treat when they failed to listen to such an concert.—Holyoke World.
71J. D. A. Tripp.
73J. D. A. TRIPP, of Toronto, has again entered upon a busy season. The brilliant pianist's class of pupils is large and particularly promising, and he has accepted many concert engagements in Canada and the United States. There is a probability of his playing with orchestral accompaniment in Toronto this winter.
75Recently this musician declined two offers of directorship at prominent institutions respectively in the West and South. Toronto's Male Chorus Club, which he conducts, is a flourishing and artistic organization numbering eighty voices.
77The following estimates of Mr. Tripp's pianistic ability are selected from a long list of favorable press comments:
79Mr. Tripp is a brilliant and skillful pianist, having a supple and beautiful technic, which he uses to advantage, inasmuch as his playing is full of tonal contrast, with abundant power, and so regulated that the various grades of tones from fortissimo to pianissimo are artistically effected.—W. O. Forsyth in The Week.
81Mr. Tripp has never appeared in concert in Toronto to so much advantage as he did last night. His opening number was the difficult Tausig arrangement of the Bach Toccata and Fugue in D minor, which he rendered with a fluent and clean technic, and with a clear delivery of the different parts. Another tour de force of a widely different order was his execution of Rubinstein's exacting Staccato Etude, which was a very brilliant achievement. The Moszkowski Valse in E major displayed his facility in a lighter and more discursive style, while a group of short pieces by Schumann, Grieg, Rameau and Chopin served to complete the illustration of his versatility and his artistic grasp of a wide range of style.—E. R. Parkhurst in Toronto Globe.
83The piano solos contributed by Mr. Tripp, which included Liszt's "La Campanella," Rubinstein's "Barcarolle," and, as an encore, Paderewski's "Melodie," served to strengthen the good impression already created by this gifted performer upon the music-loving public of this city. The brilliancy of his technic, his finished style and the warmth of his tone were admirably shown in his chosen selections.—A. S. Vogt in Toronto Saturday Night.
85He belongs to the latter day school of pianists who cultivate dynamic power as well as beautiful tone and brilliant technic. There was extraordinary virility in his playing when the composition demanded it, as in the Bach-Tausig number; there was evidence of fine intelligence and noble reverence in his interpretation of Beethoven; there was a lovely, liquid singing quality of tone in the Rubinstein "Barcarolle," and there were dash and brilliancy, force and delicacy, an exciting virtuosity and a beautiful clarity in the Paganini-Liszt number. He can throw off chords with splendid power, but his force while producing sonorous and clangorous effects never results in harshness.—Syracuse (N. Y.) Post-Standard.
87Moritz Moszkowski writes: one of two readings
88Moritz Moszkowksi writes: one of two readings
90Mr. Tripp's playing is marked by a full, rich, penetrating tone, pearly passage playing, and surety in all technical difficulties. I have the highest hopes for his future as a concert pianist.
92JULIAN PASCAL
93Pianist. Concert, Recitals, Musicales.
94For Terms and Dates address care of
95MUSICAL COURIER, 1135 Broadway, New York.
97THIS SPACE IS TO BE DEVOTED TO THE INSERTION OF
98PORTRAITS OF SUCCESSFUL
99BOWMAN PUPILS
101FRANK J. BENEDICT, A. C. M.,
102HARTFORD, CONN.
104E. M. BOWMAN, Piano and Theory Studio; Steinway Hall, New York.
105Office Hour, September and October, 3 P. M.
106Organist and Conductor Baptist Temple Choir, Brooklyn.
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