Scan 4
Musical Courier 1901-12-25: Vol 43 Iss 1135, 1901
48 lines. Read by computer on 26 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 5. See the scan on archive.org.
1PARIS, DECEMBER 12, 1901.
3FOR several consecutive seasons it was a sort of rule or custom that there should be an American prima donna at the Grand Opéra, of Paris. During the last few years, however, this unspoken rule has appeared to be in abeyance. On Monday night last it was, however, revived in the person of Miss Bessie Abbott, who was announced to appear as the ill-fated lyric heroine in Gounod's "Roméo et Juliette." In a role associated with surely every soprano since it was created by Madame Miolan-Carvalho, I am glad to say that Miss Abbott achieved a decided success. Her voice is of a bright, telling quality, which, while possessing a certain warmth of color, rang out admirably in the more dramatic and impassioned phrases in the opera. Her vocalization, too, except in one or two passages, was sure and distinct. The first phrase of Juliette, "Écoutez, c'est le son," with its florid ending ascending to the high D, was delivered with such effect as to secure the good opinion of the audience at once for the young débutante, further confirmed by the valse ariette, which was encored. The suffrages of the audience were retained by the effective manner in which Juliette's share of the Madrigal duet, "Ange Adorable," and the grand duet of act four, with its beautiful phrase "Non, ce n'est pas le jour," were delivered. In short, it may be briefly said that Miss Abbott scored a real and merited success, and that even her few defects were simply those of extreme youth and inexperience. Even these seem to give an ingenuousness and charm to her impersonation of the girlish heroine. In appearance Miss Abbott was simply charming as Juliette. She appears again in the same role on Saturday next, and has been chosen to sing the music of the Forest Bird in the coming production of Wagner's "Siegfried," with M. Jean de Reszké in the tenor role.
5By the way, in view of recent reports that I have read in THE MUSICAL COURIER as to the treatment of certain foreign singers at various German opera houses, and at some of the lyric theatres of Italy, I asked the direct question as to Miss Abbott's relations with her professional colleagues at the Opéra, and was assured by her that one and all had been most kind and sympathetic to her. The Paris journals are uniformly generous, one critic (Pierre Veber) saying that she sings "without an accent." As there are at present Mlles. Courtenay and Garden, American; Mlle. Nervil, English, at the Opéra Comique; Mme. Acté, Finnish; Mlle. Abbott, American, at the Opéra—not to speak of Jean de Reszké, Polish—Mlle. Wanda de Boncza (Rutkowski), Russian or Pole, leading actors at the Comédie Française, not to speak of other foreign artists in Paris, whose name at present I do not recall, it would seem as if the outcry of nationalism in art were perhaps not so well founded after all, or is it that the Gallic nation has so strong a feeling for art and such natural politeness of manner as to prevent any petty demonstrations such as those I have alluded to. I cannot tell; I have simply stated what I know. I remember that excellent artist Santley saying that he did not believe any foreign singer had ever taken an ounce of food from his mouth. Personally I do not think that nationality is any bar to success. No, but mediocrity is. And as we have in Paris several instances of artists successfully singing and speaking in a foreign tongue, the matter of diction is not an insurmountable difficulty; it all depends how you go about it.
7I have never been very enthusiastic about piano duets. Prejudice on my part, no doubt, but I have never cared either about the literature or effects to be gotten out of this form of musical art. It was, therefore, with a feeling of resignation to the inevitable that I leaned back in my chair at a recent matinee musicale in a certain Parisian salon when I saw two young and charming girls, most becomingly gowned—"confections"—where the same fanciful conceit was carried out in different colors—seat themselves at two grand pianos. After the first few bars, however, my attention was at once enlisted. It was not that there was simply a beautiful tone quality produced and a sure technic displayed. In this pianistic age one seems to expect those things from every pianist. It was that with these there was a unanimity that was never rigid or mechanical, a perfection of ensemble that conveyed no idea of its having been attained through working with a metronome, but as if one mind had grasped the interpretation of the composition and manifested it through the medium of four hands on two pianos. From a technically perfect point of view, the performance was equal to the best work of its kind I have heard; from an artistic and intellectual standpoint, much superior. These two sisters—Mlles. Sondheim—come from Berlin and Vienna, and are shortly to make a Parisian début at the Salle Erard.
9At the last Lamoureux concert a splendid performance of the Pastoral Symphony was given, thus continuing the chronological order of Beethoven's symphonic works. As surely everything has been said that can be said on this great work, or at all events as I find nothing new to say, I merely mention the fact of its having been given. Mendelssohn, who is not often performed in Paris, was represented by his music to a "Midsummer Night's Dream," and the prelude to "Dante's Vision," by Raoul Brunel, of which I spoke last week, was also given. Madame Raunay was the vocalist, and gave in excellent style excerpts from Gluck's "Alceste" and Meyer's "Statue." The picturesque valse of "Mephistopheles," by Liszt, with its ingenuity of color and rhythm, was given at a most extraordinary pace.
11At the Conservatory concerts nothing of any importance is to be noted except a symphony by Mehul, for the first time, and a chorus for women's voices, by Massenet, called "La Chevrière."
13At the Colonne Concert the Symphony by César Franck, in D minor, which had been redemanded, seemed to spoil the ear for Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony, which followed closely after. This work, although admirably performed, appeared commonplace, particularly the first movement. Comparing the last part of this work—the Saltarello—with Berlioz's "Carnival Romain," a critic said that Mendelssohn's composition seemed to him like an individual on a balcony throwing confetti among the crowd, while Berlioz's reminded him of someone taking an active part in the mad frolic underneath. The vocalist was Mme. Rose Caron, the once famous cantatrice, who created Meyer's Salammbo. Imagine a singer who has once been great, but out of whose voice all beauty is entirely gone, and who even on the concert platform tries to atone for the insufficiency of her vocal means by dramatic gestures in order to bring her conception of the composer's idea more clearly before the audience. Madame Caron's voice is nearly gone, not so her art. The color and accent, the dramatic fire and pathos she infused into a recitative by Gluck, from "Alceste," formed a lesson for all students of singing. one of two readings
14At the Colonne Concert the Symphony by César Franck, in D minor, which had been redemanded, seemed to spoil the ear for Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony, which followed closely after. This work, although admirably performed, appeared commonplace, particularly the first movement. Comparing the last part of this work—the Saltarello—with Berlioz's "Carnival Romain," a critic said that Mendelssohn's composition seemed to him like an individual on a balcony throwing confetti among the crowd, while Berlioz's reminded him of someone taking an active part in the mad frolic underneath. The vocalist was Mme. Rose Caron, the once famous cantatrice, who created Meyer's Salammbô. Imagine a singer who has once been great, but out of whose voice all beauty is entirely gone, and who even on the concert platform tries to atone for the insufficiency of her vocal means by dramatic gestures in order to bring her conception of the composer's idea more clearly before the audience. Madame Caron's voice is nearly gone, not so her art. The color and accent, the dramatic fire and pathos she infused into a recitative by Gluck, from "Alceste," formed a lesson for all students of singing. one of two readings
16The Schorg String Quartet from Brussels played at the third concert of the Philharmonic Society. Ensemble admirable, and excellent effect produced in the Quartet in D major, by C. Franck and that in D minor, by Schubert. Frederick Lamond, the Scottish pianist, gave a magnificent performance of the Sonata Appassionata of Beethoven, and Mlle. Vicq sang songs by Schubert in a French translation very tastefully. The first violin—M. Schorg—chose as his solo number a fragment of Bach for violin unaccompanied.
18I have already spoken of the excellence of the music given at the Odéon Theatre of Paris during the entr'actes. As a further instance of this liberality in artistic matters I me mention that at the next performance of "Le Mariage de Figaro"—I mean the comedy, not the opera—Colonne has been engaged, with his orchestra, to perform the following program: Overture, "Marriage of Figaro"; Symphony in G minor; Quintet in A; Turkish March; Symphony in C major; Quartet in D minor, all by Mozart. Most theatrical managers would consider it an absolute waste of money to engage a distinguished orchestra and with its conductor to play classical music between the acts of a play.
20MARGARET GOETZ.—During the season Miss Margaret Goetz has given seven folksong recitals, representing seven different nations, and in addition three recitals with Schubert programs. Miss Goetz, being an accomplished linguist, is enabled to sing folksongs in the original tongues. However, in the educational recitals the songs are translated to the audience.
22HOTEL CECIL, LONDON,
23December 14, 1901.
25AN appetite of a Gargantua is needed if one is to appreciate the gigantic feasts of music with which Mr. Newman provides us at his symphony concerts nowadays. This, for example, is the program of the last that took place, that of December 7:
26Overture, A Midsummer Night's Dream………….Mendelssohn
27Recitative and air, O ma Lyre immortelle (Sapho)………..Gounod
28Mme. Kirkby Lunn.
29Symphony No. 6, in F (Pastoral)…………………Beethoven
30Piano Concerto in D minor………………………..Brahms
31Signor Busoni.
32Overture, Les Barbares……………………………Saint-Saëns
33(First performance in England.)
34Aria, Ah rendimi quel core (Mitran)………………Rossi
35Mme. Kirkby Lunn.
36Trauermarsch (Götterdämmerung)…………………Wagner
37Entrance of the Gods Into Walhall (Das Rheingold)……Wagner
39I do not know at what hour it was over, as I did not wait to see. It began, however, at 3 o'clock, and Saint-Saëns' new overture ended at 5:15, so the program was presumably finished shortly before 6. At any rate no one can complain of not getting enough for his money.
41The new overture is an interesting work, but so complex that several hearings must be needed before it can be fully appreciated. Placing it so late in a long program, too, was a mistake, for the brain is inevitably wearied and cannot grasp all the points. It is, however, a good example of the work of the composer in his most serious mood and fully merits a closer acquaintance. The performance of the symphony was as good as are all Mr. Wood's performances, but the best feature of the concert was Signor Busoni's fine reading of the Brahms Concerto. He reached his highest level in his reading of the beautiful second movement, which was as full of poetry as could be.
43A short but interesting program was given at the Salle Erard by Signorina Maria Bambacioni, a singer with a good voice of unimpeachable taste, who would, however, do well to pay some attention to her phrasing, which is sometimes so faulty as to spoil the effect of her songs. She gave an interesting selection, which included Pergolesi's "Célébre Siciliana" and Bach's "Liebster Jesu." That excellent pianist, Miss Angela Anderson, though she did not play any big work, gave a number of small pieces in good style. These included Scarlatti's Pastorelle and Capriccio, which she played with remarkable neatness and sympathy, while she displayed her fine technic to the best advantage in Liszt's Thirteenth Rhapsody.
45On the same afternoon Kocian, the new violinist, who is expected by some to oust Kubelik from his pinnacle, gave his first concert at St. James' Hall. Kocian and Kubelik are both pupils of the same master, Sevcik, and both of them possess that wonderful technic which Sevcik is famous for imparting to his pupils. Kocian is, perhaps, hardly Kubelik's equal as yet, but he has youth on his side (he is some years younger than the violinist of the moment), and there is no saying what he will do. One thing, however, is certain, and that is that he has the making of a very fine player. His performance of Ernst's F sharp minor was brilliant to a degree, and it was indeed only his skill in playing it that made that appalling composition tolerable. Kocian was, perhaps, rather unwise in allowing his artistic powers to be judged by his performance of the "Kreutzer" Sonata. It is a work that only the most experienced player should attempt, and youth and experience cannot possibly go hand in hand. His artistic powers are, however, evidently above the average, and his performance, though not entirely satisfactory, had some very good points. Miss Marguerite Elzy, who was his associate in the "Kreutzer" Sonata, played some piano pieces very brilliantly.
47In the evening Walter Ford gave the second of his historical recitals of German songs, and, as was the case with
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