Scan 17
Musical Courier 1901-04-24: Vol 42 Iss 1100, 1901
96 lines. Read by computer on 21 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 18. See the scan on archive.org.
1ANTON KASPAR is one of our local musicians who is achieving a reputation throughout the country. He is a violinist of rare ability and possesses a fine old instrument, which he knows how to play in the most charming manner. I want to speak of his excellent tone work. The tones which he gets out of his instrument are more mellow and finer in quality than the tones usually produced on this instrument. Everyone knows the slight edge which is heard in the tones commonly made on the violin by the best players when the bow is drawn across the string in an entirely faultless manner. It is the tone which we expect to hear from a violin. It is not a scrappy tone, for scrappy tones are the result of a mistake on the part of the player, but it is the recognized violin quality itself which has this edge to it, and which we naturally expect to hear whenever a violinist stands before us with his instrument in his hands.
3Now the tone which Mr. Kaspar gets out of his instrument is different from this ordinary quality we are accustomed to. If you can imagine the ordinary violin tone, with all of that edge and thinness taken out of it and with the addition of the pearly quality of a flute and with resonant, vibratory lower tones, you will gain some conception of the satisfying sounds Mr. Kaspar extracts from his violin. The decision as to what is good and what is poor tone rests largely upon the same principles in the case of a violinist as in that of a singer. Singers aim for the perfectly clear, free, bell-like quality. As soon as there is an effort of the throat the tone is ruined. If there is the least edge about it, it is not a pure, good tone. It then suggests friction, not freedom. Something is rubbing, scratching, scraping against something else. It is then not peace, rest, perfection, but it is toil, unrest, disease and imperfection. So it is with the violin, and to my mind it seems that Mr. Kaspar reaches the highest results in this direction.
5He starts soon on a Southern tour with Miss Carrie Bridewell and a pianist. After returning to Washington he will go abroad for the summer, studying in Paris while there, preparatory to his concert work for next season.
7"The reason why our musicians here do not get more engagements," said a lady who is in a position to know, "is that they will continue to sing and play at fashionable functions for nothing. One society woman in town told me that she never pays singers for their services, as they are glad of the prestige which comes to them, which, of course, is no prestige at all."
9If the professional musicians would take the stand which Mrs. Browning and a few others have taken, there would be some hope for better prices and more engagements. Take commodities of any kind. Who voluntarily pays for what he can get for nothing? And who will pay singers and players, who will give their services gratis? The musicians who do this have no one to blame but themselves, and no sympathy should be shown them.
11Mistakes Corrected.—In the issue of two weeks ago the first sentence should read "How many vocal students have found their professional careers checked—entirely ruined—by a few handicaps" (not handicaps). The sentence regarding Mrs. Ward's singing in one of the March numbers should have read "I was unable to hear her sing in this style." The song which I heard at this concert was Mrs. Beach's "Ecstasy," which is not a coloratura song, and thus not particularly adapted to Mrs. Ward's voice. I had hoped to hear her voice in coloratura singing.
13Mrs. Frank Byram's Easter Monday concert should hardly be criticised, as it was a choir benefit. Some very good work was done and there were a few bad patches also, although the good predominated. Especially good were the ladies' quartet, composed of Mrs. Bayly, Miss Dudley, Miss Houchen and Miss Wingate. Douglass Miller and Miss Amy Low sang the "Garden Duet" from "Faust," artistically, and Florence Stevens played her violin piece very well, indeed. James Mahoney, of the Lafayette Square Stock Company, was superb. He took the place of Charlemagne Kohler, A. M., who was called out of town by a death in the family. Miss Wieser, Mrs. Thomas P. Stephenson and the choir also participated.
15"At Roderick's request Allan sang to him of the fight, during which Roderick died." Who was Allan's singing teacher and what method did he use?
17Dr. E. S. Kimball is one of the long established vocal teachers of Washington who has turned out many fine singers, some now famous. He was the teacher of Lizzie MacNichol, and taught also Mrs. Florence Hill Hormess. His daughter Mary is considered one of the finest pianists in this section, being a pupil of both Moszkowski and Leschetizky. At the time of Seidl's death she had been engaged as soloist for one of the future Seidl concerts. Gabriowitsch and Hofmann were both here this week.
19WASHINGTON, April 20, 1901.
21The Washington Saengerbund celebrates, beginning tomorrow, its fiftieth anniversary. The celebration will continue three days, and will include a grand concert, a ball and a banquet. There will be a chorus of sixty voices and a full orchestra, under the direction of Henry Xander, the musical director, who has composed a chorus with orchestral accompaniment particularly for this occasion. The words of the chorus were also written especially for this anniversary. They are by Frank Claudy, the president. The soloists are Charlotte Maconda and Franz Wilczek, and the program includes three orchestral numbers, three choral numbers, Mr. Xander's composition with orchestral accompaniment, two violin and two soprano solos, and an address in English and one in German. one of two readings
22The Washington Saengerbund celebrates, beginning tomorrow, its fiftieth anniversary. The celebration will continue three days, and will include a grand concert, a ball and a banquet. There will be a chorus of sixty voices and a full orchestra, under the direction of Henry Xander, the musical director, who has composed a chorus with orchestral accompaniment particularly for this occasion. The words of the chorus were also, written especially for this anniversary. They are by Frank Claudy, the president. The soloists are Charlotte Maconda and Franz Wilczek, and the program includes three orchestral numbers, three choral numbers, Mr. Xander's composition with orchestral accompaniment, two violin and two soprano solos, and an address in English and one in German. one of two readings
24Miss Mary A. Cryder's methods of teaching sight singing at her class last Monday interested the writer, who observed that Miss Cryder makes a strong point of teaching absolute pitch. She divided the lesson hour into three parts, devoting the first to musical dictation, the second to some of the concome studies in two parts and the third to a three-part song—the "Lullaby," by Brahms. The members of the class are the Misses Edith and Maud Wetmore, Miss Hay, Miss Alice Hay, Miss Josephine Boardman, Mrs. Eustis, Miss Alice Lovering, Miss Robeson, Countess Marguerite Cassini, Miss Sara Todd, Miss McMillan and Miss Horstmann, some of whom have already departed for the summer.
26Miss Sara Todd, one of the members of the class, has composed the music for a recent song. It is entitled "Shadows," and the words are by Elsie Gregory Jackson. It has a pleasing melody and is tastefully harmonized.
28On Tuesday the last Bischoff concert took place. The second part of the program was devoted to "The Prodigal Son," by the choir and quartet of the Congregational Church, and the first part contained miscellaneous numbers, among which were an organ solo by Dr. Bischoff and the D minor Saint-Saëns Concerto, with John Porter Lawrence at the organ and his pupil Miss Hope Edna Hopkins at the piano. Dr. and Mrs. Bischoff played the accompaniments. A marked improvement was noticed in the singing of Mrs. Hattie Meads-Smith, whose work was most praiseworthy.
30The Damrosch Society did some excellent work at its Wednesday concert, one of the best features being the clean cut phrasing which the chorus has cultivated under the direction of the leader. Miss Shannah Cumming was heard to best advantage in one of her encore numbers, for which she played most admirably a difficult accompaniment. McKenzie Gordon showed a good quality of voice, but he has a bad habit of rising on his toes and scales simultaneously and of always making his voice weep and the audience smile on the last lines of his songs. The accompanists were Mr. Winchester and Arthur Mayo.
32On Thursday Mrs. Florence Hill Hormess presented Howard Butterworth, Miss Bangs, Gertrude Harrison and Mrs. Wilson Young, her pupils, at a musciale at her home. They were assisted by Miss Kimball at the piano and Miss Lucas, violinist. One of the most charming features of the program was Sauzay's "Chanson Ancienne," which was sung by Mrs. Hormess, with a violin part by Miss Lucas. Mrs. Hormess has a beautiful mezzo voice of rich and vibrant quality, and the tones come without an effort. One of the proofs of the real excellence of her singing is that she sings well even when indisposed. The accompanist was Mr. Olmstead. Mrs. Young was enthusiastically encored, as was also Mrs. Hormess.
34Mr. Freeman gave an organ recital at Christ Church, Georgetown, this afternoon.
36Albert Gérard-Thiers is arranging to give in Washington the lecture which met with such success at the Waldorf-Astoria and other places.
38Miss H. Theodora Wight has probably been engaged as often this season if not more than any other contralto in town.
40The criticism of several concerts has been necessarily omitted, and on account of the excessive number those which have been reported are very inadequately covered. I should like to speak at length of the playing of Miss Kimball, Mrs. Graves and others.
42BERENICE THOMPSON.
44Tonkünstler Meeting.
46THE members of the Tonkünstler Society assembled for their fortnightly meeting at 114 East Fourteenth street last Tuesday (April 16) evening. The program presented by Ludovic Breitner, the pianist, and the Bendix Quartet proved one of the most delightful heard this season. The merits of these artists are well known, and the music played before their fellow musicians was of the kind that arouses intense admiration. Here are the compositions played:
48Trio for piano, violin and 'cello (F minor, op. 65)………….Dvorák
49Ludovic Breitner, Max Bendix and Leo Schulz.
50Suite for piano and violin (D, op. 44)……………………..Schütz
51Ludovic Breitner and Max Bendix.
52String Quartet, Aus meinem Leben (E minor)………………Smetana
53Arthur Friedheim will play for the Tonkünstler at the meeting on April 30 and Mrs. Friedheim will sing.
55Van der Stucken Sails for Europe.
57FRANK VAN DER STUCKEN, conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and dean of the College of Music of that city, left for Europe on the Maria Theresa last Saturday, to be gone during the summer.
59Distinguished Artists and Organizations under the exclusive Nixon management include:
61HELEN CULVER, Oratorio, Opera, Concert, Recital. one of two readings
62HELEN CULVER, one of two readings
63The Great Contralto.
64JUSTIN THATCHER, The Incomparable Tenor. one of two readings
65Oratorio, one of two readings
66Opera, one of two readings
67Concert, one of two readings
68Recital. one of two readings
70JUSTIN THATCHER, one of two readings
71The Incomparable Tenor. one of two readings
72Oratorio, one of two readings
73Opera, one of two readings
74Concert, one of two readings
75Recital. one of two readings
77THE CHICAGO CONCERT CLUB—AN IDEAL ENSEMBLE—EXTENDED TOUR SEASON 1900-1901.
79LORRAINE DE L'ARCHET, Concerts, Recitals, Musicales. one of two readings
80LORRAINE DE L'ARCHET, one of two readings
81The Brilliant Violaiste.
82HATTE BARTON KERLIN, Concert Pianiste. one of two readings
83Concerts, one of two readings
84Recitals, one of two readings
85Musicales. one of two readings
87HATTE BARTON KERLIN, one of two readings
88Concert Pianiste. one of two readings
90The Carlisle-Carr… …Concert Direction,
91108 NEW BOND STREET,
92LONDON, W., ENGLAND.
93Opera, Oratorio, Concert, Recitals, AGENCY. one of two readings
94Opera, Oratorio, Concert, Recitals, one of two readings
95AGENCY. one of two readings
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