Scan 15
Musical Courier 1901-11-27: Vol 43 Iss 1131, 1901
49 lines. Read by computer on 22 September 2026. Printed page 16. See the scan on archive.org.
1HOTEL CECIL, LONDON,
2November 9, 1901.
4F all the many foes with which concert givers have to contend fog is perhaps the worst. Such unfortunate artists as have elected to give their concerts during the present week have been peculiarly ill-fated in this respect, for London has been visited by one of the most objectionable and continuous fogs that have fallen to its lot for many years. The consequence is that singers with bad husks in their throats have been producing the choicest efforts of their vocal art for the exclusive benefit of rows of empty seats.
6The concerts that took place on Saturday, November 2, were many and varied. At St. James' Hall yet another quartet performed at the Popular Concert. On this occasion the quartet was led by Signor Arbos, his associates being Julius Klingel, Friederich and Alfred Gibson. These constant changes cannot but militate against the success of the Popular Concerts. Plenty of ensemble practice is a sine qua non if quartet playing is to be good; but such practice is, under these circumstances, quite out of the question. London has now several resident quartets and the Popular Concerts will, if they are not careful, soon find themselves left behind.
8The program on Saturday was interesting enough and included Beethoven's Quartet for strings in C major and Dvorák's Piano Quintet in A, in which the executants mentioned above were joined by Miss Fanny Davies. The vocalist was Dr. Theo. Lierhammer, who gave songs by Schumann, Reynaldo Hahn and Hans Herman in admirable style.
10While St. James' Hall was occupied by the Popular Concert Miss Margaret Vereker and the Saltaire Prize Choir, describing itself as the "Premier choir of the North, and holders of the Yorkshire Challenge Shield, 1901. Winners of twenty-seven first and twelve second prizes, including the 100 guinea prize, London, 1896." The choir is one of great merit, so far as its singing is concerned, but it wasted its talents upon the veriest trash; out of the rich field of part music it only selected two good specimens—Brahms' "Night Watch" and Elgar's "My Love Dwelt in a Distant Land." The less said about its other selections the better. Miss Vereker is a contralto with a good voice and a better taste than the choir. Her phrasing, however, was sadly at fault.
12The first London Ballad Concert, given at Queen's Hall on the same afternoon, has already been chronicled.
14On Monday afternoon the Wietrowitz Quartet, consisting of Fräulein Wietrowitz, Miss Lucy Stone, Miss Cecilia Gates and Miss Florence Hemmings, gave an attractive concert at Bechstein Hall. Two concert pieces were played, Schumann's Quartet in A minor and Mozart's Piano Quintet in G minor, Miss Margaret Wild being the pianist. The vocalist was James Campbell McInnes.
16At Steinway Hall Hayden Coffin gave the first of a long series of concerts. Mr. Coffin is, of course, best known to frequenters of Daly's Theatre, where he rarely is able to do himself justice as a singer, owing to the fact that his roles of lovesick heroes afford few opportunities for anything except a peculiarly uninteresting type of song. On Monday he made the most his temporary freedom and sang a number of songs, principally by young English composers, with some success. He was assisted by George Giddens, Maurice Farkoa, Johannes Wolff and Mr. Hollman.
18In the evening the most important concert was the Richter at St. James' Hall, but it calls for little notice, as the program was principally made up of Wagner excerpts, which Dr. Richter has often played before over here.
20Simultaneously with this a piano recital was given by Mlle. Správka, a very clever young pianist, at Bechstein Hall. She took Bach's Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue somewhat fast, but she played several Brahms pieces with great neatness and taste.
22At this concert the somewhat unusual spectacle was afforded of a reigning sovereign on the concert platform, the Ranee of Sarawak joining the concert giver in an excellent performance of Schumann's Andante and Variations for Two Pianos.
24Plunket Greene seemed to be suffering from the fog, but he nevertheless succeeded in giving excellent performances of Brahms' "Feldeinsamkeit" and "Vergebliches Ständchen." The latter, indeed, could hardly have been more beautifully sung.
26Miss Fanny Davies provided an interesting program for her recital at St. James' Hall on Tuesday afternoon. It included Schumann's "Novelleten," op. 20; Bach's English Suite in A minor and a set of compositions by such modern French composers as René Lenormand, Louis Aubert, Saint-Saëns and Fauré. Her interpretations were all thoroughly sound, if not supremely interesting.
28The Chaplin Trio, three admirable players, gave a concert at Steinway Hall on the same afternoon. The great advantages to be derived from constant ensemble practice were very evident in the playing of these three sisters, and Schumann's Third Trio went remarkably well, particularly the slow movement.
30At this concert Meurig James sang William Wallace's four freebooter songs. His performance was noticeable for two reasons: one was the dramatic power with which he sang and the other was the remarkable hardness of his tone. If he could mend the latter he should make a good singer.
32In the evening Miss Aline May gave a concert at Bechstein Hall.
34On Wednesday afternoon an enormous audience assembled at St. James' Hall to hear two hours and more of ballads of doubtful worth. The singers were mostly taken from the front rank, and included Mme. Ella Russell, Mme. Alice Gomez, Ben Davies and Kennerley Rumford, while Mlle. Chaminade was the pianist. The musician who knows what to expect shuns these concerts like poison. They are, however, very popular with a certain type of amateur.
36In the evening Kalman Ronay gave a violin recital at St. James' Hall. When a performer drops the "Mc" before his name, as does this violinist, one is generally given the impression that he has become justly famous like Padewrski, Kubelik or Ysaye. Those, however, who applied the rule in this case were doomed to disappointment, for Mr. Ronay proved as ordinary a violinist as ever appeared on the platform. His reading of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto, to which he only had a piano accompaniment, was dull and thin to a degree, and he displayed a terrible tendency to play out of tune. A bright spot in the program was the singing of Mrs. Gordon Cleatner, who gave excellent performances of several songs by Korbay.
38Apropos, one would like to put a question to the writer of the words of one of the tenor songs. What does he, or she, imagine a "Forest Idyll" to be that it should be impelled to "sink to rest," as distinctly stated in the song?
40On Thursday afternoon a delightful concert was given at Queen's Hall by Ysaye and Busoni. The program consisted of three of Beethoven's sonatas for violin and piano, those in G, C minor and A (the "Kreutzer"). The two great players were at their best, and in the matter of sympathy, delicacy and richness of tone their readings could hardly be surpassed. These recitals have now become regular features of the London musical season, and long may they continue to be so.
42In the evening the Royal Choral Society began a fresh season, but not a fresh repertory. It would be difficult to say how often that society has given Mendelssohn's "Elijah," but it certainly forms part of their annual scheme. It must be a very valuable asset, too, for the big hall was packed with people. That the music was sung well goes without saying; after all these years of practice the society ought to be able to sing it without music. The principal quartet of soloists consisted of Mme. Ella Russell, Miss Ada Crossley, Ben Davies and Andrew Black, and the secondary quartet of Mme. Mary Beare, Miss Emily Foxcroft, Fred Norcurp and Bertram Mills.
44On the same evening Edward Iles sang a number of interesting songs at Steinway Hall, and Donald Tovey, a young pianist and composer who is coming to the front, gave a chamber concert at St. James' Hall.
46In the afternoon, Fräulein Wietrowitz gave a violin recital at Bechstein Hall, at which she was assisted by Mrs. Montague Fordham and Miss Fanny Davies.
48On Friday afternoon Mme. Blanche Marchesi gave a song recital at St. James' Hall. Madame Marchesi cannot, it is true, lay claim to very remarkable vocal powers, but she chooses delightful songs and she knows how to sing them. Her program included some charming old
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