Scan 26
Musical Courier 1901-12-11: Vol 43 Iss 1133, 1901
76 lines. Read by computer on 22 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 27. See the scan on archive.org.
1SECOND PHILHARMONIC CONCERT.
3THE second brace of this season's Philharmonic concerts was given at Carnegie Hall on Friday afternoon and Saturday evening of last week. This was the program played:
5Symphonic Prologue to Sophocles' King Oedipus (new)…Schillings
6Symphony No. 6, B minor, op. 74, Pathétique………..Tschaikowsky
7Concerto for 'cello, A minor, op. 33…………………Saint-Saëns one of two readings
8Concerto for 'cello, A minor, op. 33………………..Saint-Saëns one of two readings
9M. Jean Gérardy.
10Overture, Leonore, No. 2……………………………Beethoven
12Again it contained a novelty—the Schillings number. There is a deep seated belief in the minds of the musically dissatisfied ones, who contend that the golden age of music is not behind us, that new masterpieces are written every day only to fill the composer's portfolio. But those who delve in modern scores find many of these musical swans to be geese—and stuffed geese at that. Despite discouragements, Mr. Paur continues on his hunt for interesting new works worth the trouble of playing and hearing, and as a result the Philharmonic concerts are looked forward to with unusual expectancy.
14Max Schillings is not entirely unknown here, his Prelude from an opera, "Ingwelde," having had performance at a Symphony Society concert five years ago. He is a German who absorbed his musical education in Munich, and was—clearly shown in the "Ingwelde" excerpt—influenced by Wagner to a vivid extent. Since then, however, he seems to have slipped these moorings, and is sailing a very straight and uneventful course of his own. Perhaps it is a voyage of discovery. At all events, to judge by this more recent work, the musical egg has not been made to stand on its pointed end.
16For the performance of Sophocles' tragedy at the Berlin Schiller Theatre Schillings composed this Symphonic Prologue to "King Oedipus," and reasonable allowance must be made for the fact that while it was composed to accompany a scenic reproduction we hear it only in all the nakedness of absolute music. This circumstance does not favor it, since the composer has striven for a mood severe and unelastic, which does not respond readily in the bleakness of a concert hall. Furthermore, there is a lack of hearty climax, a feeling of a message uncompleted, or, even more than that, a feeling that the message itself must not be sought in the music but in the tragedy to which it is a prologue. And from this field of view the composition is not a satisfying one.
18On the score Schillings has quoted the pessimistic lines of the chorus which serve him for a motto to his work:
20Gleich dem Nichts
21Acht ich der sterblichen Menschen Geschlechter.
22Wem, wem ward
23Mehr von Glück als des Wahnes Rausch
24Und vom Rausche die Ernüchterung?
25Stehst vor Augen mir, Oedipus, one of two readings
26Steht vor Augen mir, Oedipus, one of two readings
27Dein Verhängniss, ja deins, so scheint mir
28Nichts mehr glücklich war sterblich ist.
30These find musical utterance in the first broad, accented theme voiced in bald unison, which is immediately answered by a tender, almost timid counter theme which might stand for a patient people awed by the fearful words of the chorus. After a shortened repetition of both of these a contented melodious subject is introduced which outlines a picture of the King's self-satisfaction. This is then developed, and to it is added a middle episode still in the glorifying vein, but grandiloquent. After a moment's pause this material is again rehearsed and gives rise to the most beautiful incident in the work when the flute chaunts the Oedipus theme, solo, against an occasional obligato by the violin. In the following development the fate of the King is hinted at and the composition ends somberly.
32The composer, once a student of philosophy, evidently has tried to write his philosophy in musical notation, which results in making his Prologue sound experimental. That he is not devoid of emotion is heard in the first and second working out sections, when he almost attains to a climax; and what he may do on these lines with a more malleable subject remains to be seen and heard. His orchestration is very clear—at times there is a sweet limpidity, nearly Mendelssohonian, in his tone color; and violence has no place in his scheme. His greatest plea for public favor is his originality, but in this he has little daring. A long list of famous names, running from Bach to Strauss, has proven to us that in music only he who dares may live; this bodes little good for Schillings' future—but the critical oracle has fallen off its tripod too often already. one of two readings
33The composer, once a student of philosophy, evidently has tried to write his philosophy in musical notation, which results in making his Prologue sound experimental. That he is not devoid of emotion is heard in the first and second working out sections, when he almost attains to a climax; and what he may do on these lines with a more malleable subject remains to be seen and heard. His orchestration is very clear—at times there is a sweet limpidity, nearly Mendelssohian, in his tone color; and violence has no place in his scheme. His greatest plea for public favor is his originality, but in this he has little daring. A long list of famous names, running from Bach to Strauss, has proven to us that in music only he who dares may live; this bodes little good for Schillings' future—but the critical oracle has fallen off its tripod too often already. one of two readings
35Tschaikowsky's Sixth Symphony is not heard here very often, which is fortunate; as steady diet it would soon lead to morbid indigestion. The English can hear it as often as they eat porridge and yet remain stolid—which defines the emotional calibre of that race. For us once a season is quite enough, and even then the gloom of the last adagio drabs our view of life for days. But with each hearing, especially if one anticipates the emotional, it becomes more and more obvious that there is much in it that is banal and unsymphonic—always excepting the last movement—and that some very meagre themes are made presentable only by the glorious garb of orchestral coloring which hides their bareness and misleads the unwary into admiration. But all protest is silenced by the tremendous last movement, in which the composer has made the orchestra his mouthpiece and through it has voiced some untranslatable griefs. However, one movement does not make a symphony; and it seems rational to predict that Tschaikowsky's fame as a symphonist will rest rather with the Fifth than with this work.
37Gérardy's playing of the Saint-Saëns 'cello concerto was another exhibition of artistry with which his name has become linked. His technic is amazing, but not obviously so; his sense of tone color discriminating; his phrasing poetic. And over it all is stamped the personality of the great artist that Gérardy is. His reputation as a very great player need not be shored by a constant repetition of his praises.
39The concerto itself is interesting. Not as grateful as the Lalo, it has some inspired moments and is entirely within the range of the instrument. Saint-Saëns has not, like some other composers of 'cello music, tried to prove that music can be written for the instrument which cannot be played upon it.
41Although Gérardy received applause galore for his wonderful playing he here should be applauded once more for having refused to play an encore. And it having been proven to Mr. Paur that a Philharmonic concert can be brought to a peaceful end without this inartistic indulgence, perhaps he will profit by it and forbid them for all times. A footnote on the program would save the audience any disappointment. Paur schemes his programs too carefully to have them thrown out of balance by any catchy thing it might come into the performer's head to play as a recall number.
43Beethoven's "Leonore" Overture No. 2, seldom heard, was the closing piece. Coming after the work of a modern and a symphony by the most brilliant of colorists it had a fine opportunity of sounding old fashioned. But to the contrary it shone with that unmistakable splendor of immortality. There are in it mood, atmosphere and music, undying music, music which needs not the opera to keep it alive. In parts it is more interesting than the popular overture No. 3 of the same name, although not so mature. Certainly it would be worth while to revive the No. 1 at these concerts.
45Of the performance of the orchestra there is something to be said and, unfortunately, not all in praise either. At the Friday afternoon concert some things went pretty bad indeed and Paur evidently was not in the mood for his best work. So it would be more charitable to judge the playing of Saturday evening alone. Save for the "Leonore" the band was not in its usual form. The brass lagged persistently and refused to be urged into tempo speed. Then the woodwind earned some reproaches by its slips and intonations—that choir is not evenly balanced yet. There was in the Schillings Prologue a flute solo so beautifully played that it offset many of the later shortcomings. Paur's reading of the "Pathetique" was not as sympathetic as one might have expected it to be. Tempo is something which musicians discuss only when the temper is sour; and it is so arbitrary a quantity that a discussion of it leads nowhere; so Paur probably was as much justified in taking the "Pathetique" at the tempi he chose as some other conductors are in not doing the same. But the proof of everything is the result: There were emotional places in this work out of which Paur made amazingly little, and there were ineffectual spots, which were made to stand high and clear in all their shrieking ugliness. Still he had to labor too strenuously with his men to obtain easily the best results. The "Leonore" was read beautifully and with absolute control of all forces. As a conductor of Beethoven and Strauss, Paur has few equals. The accompaniments to the 'cello concerto were sympathetically subdued. Large audiences attended both concerts.
47CARBONE.—The success of the pupils of Signor Carbone proves his reputation as a vocal teacher is due to his deep knowledge of the production of the voice, and that this is the secret of his own success. At the last Eclectic Club concert at Delmonico's two pupils of Signor Carbone, Miss Marie S. Dax and Baroness von Ryhiner, made a great success. The Mail and Express of December 5 says: "The vocal numbers showed excellent training as well as individual magnetism. The sweet purity and perfect legato of Miss Dax's singing is well known, while Madame von Ryhiner's rich and sympathetic contralto always pleases." C. Wallmann, bass, and C. Levesen, baritone, are also two successful pupils of Signor Carbone, the former well known in Brooklyn musical circles and the latter in Newark. Signor Carbone's devoting himself to teaching deprives the grand opera stage of a distinguished artist, but gives to the students of the art of singing a great instructor.
49STRONG WEST.—Tenor Edward Strong left for the West this week to fill the following engagements: December 10, song recital at Wooster, Ohio; December 12, soloist at the Deutsche Club, Milwaukee, Wis.; December 13, Eau Claire, Wis.; December 16, song recital at Owatonna, Minn., when he will sing songs by Miss Harriette Ware; December 17, Faribault, Minn.; December 18, "The Creation," at Northfield, Minn. On the 21st he returns, in time to resume his place as solo tenor at the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. Last Sunday night he sang at Roseville Avenue (Newark) Presbyterian Church, his second appearance there this season.
51LOUDON G. CHARLTON, Carnegie Hall, NEW YORK,
52Announces under his Exclusive Management—SEASON 1901-1902—
53Mme. LILLIAN NORDICA.
54Transcontinental Tour in SONG RECITAL—November to April.
55ZELDENRUST, . . . . Pianist
56HAST, . . . . . . . . . . Tenor one of two readings
57HAST, . . . . . . . . . Tenor one of two readings
58MACONDA, . . . . . . . . Soprano one of two readings
59MACONDA, . . . . . . . Soprano one of two readings
60FISK, . . . . . . . . . . Contralto one of two readings
61FISK, . . . . . . . . . Contralto one of two readings
62HEYMAN, . . . . . . . . Pianiste one of two readings
63HEYMAN, . . . . . . . Pianiste one of two readings
64NIEBUHR, . . . . . . . . Contralto one of two readings
65NIEBUHR, . . . . . . . Contralto one of two readings
66WEBB-GARDNER, . . Soprano
67VAN den HENDE, . . . 'Cellist
68HOFMANN, . . . . . . . . Baritone one of two readings
69HOFMANN, . . . . . . . Baritone one of two readings
70LEONORA JACKSON, . . Violiniste one of two readings
71LEONORA JACKSON, . Violiniste one of two readings
72By arrangement with JACKSON & WAKEFIELD.
73HAMLIN, . . . . . . . . Tenor one of two readings
74HAMLIN, . . . . . . . Tenor one of two readings
75In the South and East.
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