Scan 4
Musical Courier 1901-12-11: Vol 43 Iss 1133, 1901
59 lines. Read by computer on 22 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 5. See the scan on archive.org.
1Berlin Branch Budgets
3German Headquarters of The Musical Courier, Berlin, W., Linkstrasse 17.
5November 25, 1901.
7Nikisch's program at the third Philharmonic concert was neither too frivolous nor yet too severely classical. One or two of the fire eaters among the critics grumbled in print at being deprived of their customary Beethoven and Brahms. They are a curious set. When Nikisch plays no classics they complain; when he does, they rend them into shreds. How, then, is poor Nikisch to act? He is to do precisely what he does; that is, prepare his own programs, play them in his own way, and say to the critics what Commodore Vanderbilt once said to the American public. Nikisch is many things, and brave. one of two readings
8N one of two readings
10IKISCH'S program at the third Philharmonic concert was neither too frivolous nor yet too severely classical. One or two of the fire eaters among the critics grumbled in print at being deprived of their customary Beethoven and Brahms. They are a curious set. When Nikisch plays no classics they complain; when he does, they rend them into shreds. How, then, is poor Nikisch to act? He is to do precisely what he does; that is, prepare his own programs, play them in his own way, and say to the critics what Commodore Vanderbilt once said to the American public. Nikisch is many things, and brave. one of two readings
12Berlioz's sumptuously orchestrated overture, "Le Carnaval Romain," opened the program. What a painter, what a superb mixer of musical colors, was that strange genius, Hector Berlioz! Assuredly, it seems early to talk of him as one of the dead composers. Our young orchestral writers are learning from him every day. Nikisch and his orchestra gave the work a splendid reading, full of force and fire.
14Fritz Volbach's new symphonic poem, "Es waren zwei Königskinder" ("There were two children of kings") is a composition that requires neither much explanation nor comment. The tale that underlies the music is based on the ancient legend of the bold youth who nightly swam a swift running river, in order to reach the arms of his lady love. The legend is probably best known as that of "Hero and Leander."
16Volbach dwells more on the lyrical, the romantic side of the saga, than on the tragical. In his music are yearning, impatience, joy, bliss. The episode that describes the tragedy—to my mind the strongest moment of the story—is surprisingly short. Several unresolved chords and a few commonplace chromatic passages denote the treacherous extinguishing of the guiding torch, and the agony of the frenzied lad, battling in inky darkness with the torrent. Possibly Volbach means this musical terseness to express the quick end of the youth, but that would be a bit of cleverness which is not displayed elsewhere in the score. In an orchestral composition, as in every work of art, there must be light and shade, contrast, balance. The purely lyrical portions of the piece were melodious and rich in romantic coloring. "Es waren zwei Königskinder" was readily understood and liberally applauded by the audience.
18The symphony was Schubert's in C. Of this posthumous work, discovered by Schumann in Vienna, that generous critic wrote: "The symphony is of a heavenly length." Nikisch's performance did much to make this length interesting. Unusual tempi, unfamiliar phrasing? That may have been naughty, but it was nice. That is why he is Nikisch, and the other—Rebieck.
20Godowsky, rapidly becoming one of Berlin's few favorites, played the Tchaikowsky Piano Concerto in B flat minor. This work has been heard here often. Godowsky gave us an interpretation new and radical. He played it as he plays everything, with rare musical mastery and amazing technical grasp. A few false notes mattered nothing. In fact, coming from a man with such impudent technic they were rather a relief. Godowsky's conception was new, inasmuch as he made of the work a logical, cohesive whole, and not a formless fantaisie, like most other pianists. Personally, I do not care for logic in Tchaikowsky; but I must admit that Godowsky's always sounds convincing. At times I could have wished for a bit of that theatrical temperament which Godowsky, serious artist that he is, despises so heartily. His success was spontaneous and decided.
22Our Royal Opera devoted most of last week to an extensive Mozart Festival. On Wednesday the beautiful C minor Mass was performed. The opera chorus sang with precision, volume and taste. This was the first Berlin production of the Mass. It made a deep impression. On Thursday there was a splendid performance of "The Magic Flute"; on Friday "Figaro" was married to vocal music very much marred in execution and intonation. On Friday evening the Joachim Quartet played some familiar Mozart numbers in familiar style. On Saturday Weingartner led the Symphonies in G minor, in E flat and C ("Jupiter"). On Sunday there was a production of "Don Juan," and on the same day, in the morning, a repetition of the C minor Mass. There was only a lukewarm interest in the festival, and public patronage fell very much below managerial expectations.
24Richard Strauss is holding the even tenor of his way with the Tonkünstler symphony concerts. The second took place last Monday, and differed from the first, in that it attracted a larger audience, presented a more interesting program, better played, and aroused the audience to what seemed a superlative degree of enthusiasm.
26The work of the players deserves greatest praise; Richard Strauss is above it. Several minor slips in the brasses sounded as if they were caused by the desire to do too well.
28The long program opened with D'Indy's "La forêt enchantée," a symphonic legend, based on a ballad of Ueland.
30Harald and his host ride through a wild forest by night. Ghostly voices hum about them. Sirens appear and tempt the warriors from their horses. Immediately the weaklings lose their souls. Only Harald resists the caresses of the sirens. Deserted, alone, he wanders about, and finally drinks from a limpid brook. The draught puts him to sleep, and there, deep in the woods, he slumbers to-day, his head sunk on his breast, his beard grown long and white, his idle sword rusting at his side.
32To transcribe this poem into music requires a sure orchestral technic and an intimate knowledge of the forest music in Wagner's "Siegfried." Vincent d'Indy seems to possess both.
34Tchaikowsky's Symphonic Ballad, a posthumous work, his op. 78, tells an infinitely more human tale, and is correspondingly dramatic and vital. A Russian squire and his man are galloping over the steppes toward home. The squire is tortured by mad jealousy of his young wife. Arrived home, he finds her gone. Master and man, the latter armed with a gun, steal into the garden. Here, in an arbor, sits the young wife, at her feet a pleading youth. The two men crawl nearer. At the moment that the woman throws herself into the youth's arms the squire commands his man to shoot. A report is heard and the bullet buries itself in the heart of—the squire!
36I tell the story of the poem, for a description of Tchaikowsky's music could contain nothing new. Tchaikowsky is always himself—a fact more remarkable than it sounds. The galloping of the horses, the savage fury of this feudal lord, the love passages, the shot, the death struggles, all are characterized with startling faithfulness. It is said that Tchaikowsky did not wish a public performance of "The Woywode," for it is one of his earliest compositions. We are not always competent critics of our own work.
38Hausegger's "Dionysian Fantaisie" is a puzzling piece. Puzzling because it portrays a puzzling poem. The program presented us with 144 lines of close print by way of explanation and illustration for one of the most complicated orchestral scores ever penned. We were given only a few moments for the reading of the 144 lines. I, for one, neither finished the poem nor understood what little I had time to read. It was necessary, therefore, to judge the composition as absolute music and to let it tell its own tale.
40It told me that Hausegger is a painter of huge musical canvases, that he has an eye and an ear for mass effects, and that he is an artist in the presentment and arrangement of these effects. It told me that in this "Dionysian Fantaisie" Hausegger tries to do more than merely tell a story of bacchanalian revel. There were martial strains, lyric episodes, climaxes that suggested the struggles of great armies, harmonies that spoke of gloom, despair, death, and a glorious apotheosis, triumphant, religious, celestial. The whole seemed like an optimistic portraiture of the life and fate of man.
42Hausegger's orchestration is of the most modern. He blends Berlioz, Wagner and Strauss into colors that are radiant and sometimes blinding. We are reminded of Kipling's seven league picture and the brush of comet's hair. The harmonies are frequently cacophonous, and the noises almost deafening. There is no halting in thematic or orchestral invention. The work sweeps on with tremendous force and vitality, and to me, at least, in spite of its elemental ugliness and its looseness of form, is eminently convincing.
44Some day I shall read those 144 lines, in order to see whether I carried away the correct idea of the music.
46By way of contrast to all this symphonic fare, Professor Halir played Charles Löffler's "Divertimento," for violin and orchestra. The first two movements of the work are dainty beyond comparison. The orchestration is woven about the solo part like a gossamer of finest texture. Rarely has there been accomplished such extreme delicacy in the treatment of a large orchestra. Professor Halir played the first two movements with extreme taste and technic. Then he practiced some passages in thirds. That was the last movement of the "Divertimento," variations on a theme from the "Dies Irae."
48Liszt's "Tasso," sounding very bombastic and blatant after the frenzied dynamics of Tchaikowsky and Hausegger, ended an exceptional program, exceptionally played.
50At the second concert of the Joachim Quartet these delightful novelties were given: Quartets, E major, by Cherubini; B flat, op. 67, by Brahms, and E minor, op. 59, by Beethoven. These composers proved to be not without talent.
52During the past few years there has been almost a deluge of very young men who play the piano extremely well. Josef Hofmann, Ossip Gabrilowitsch, Ernst von Dohnanyi, Mark Hambourg, Akos von Buttykay, Richard Buhlig and Gottfried Galston are some of the names familiar to persons who watch the trend of pianistic events. To this list, and yet apart from it, belongs the name of Arthur Schnabel. He must be mentioned separately, because, first and foremost, he is a composer of individuality, and secondly, because he is a pianist of individuality—two artistic qualities that are rarely united in a young man just out of his teens.
54I heard Schnabel play his own concerto in D minor, with orchestra. It is a work of strong originality, an opus that justifies me in predicting for the youthful artist a more than ordinarily brilliant future as a composer. Schnabel is not a seeker after the pretty phrase, nor a friend of perfunctory harmonies. He is brusque and bold, and often sacrifices beauty for truth. He is astounding clever in avoiding what we expect. Whether this trait is the result of extreme skill, or an integral part of the melodic conception, it is most difficult to determine. I am inclined to give Schnabel the benefit of the doubt. In either event, the result is very refreshing. The broad opening theme, the darkly-colored slow movement, and the naive rondo were the best moments of the piece.
56In his playing young Schnabel revealed himself as a pianist of the objective type, absolutely serious and legitimate. He has a clear, logical idea of everything he plays. It is his endeavor to set in the plainest possible light the entire harmonic and melodic structure of a piece. Variety of touch and clean-cut technic constitute his other artistic virtues. Altogether an extraordinary youth, amazingly sane and well balanced, this Arthur Schnabel.
58Professor Halir did nothing new at his concert, except his own Concerto, D major, for violin. The piece is extremely interesting and of splendid workmanship. The themes in the first movement are broad and melodious. The andante is exquisite in conception and treatment. The last part reminds one too much of Ries' "Perpetu-
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