Scan 11
Musical Courier 1902-01-01: Vol 44 Iss 1136, 1902
34 lines. Read by computer on 22 September 2026. Printed page 12. See the scan on archive.org.
1727 EMMA SPRECKELS BUILDING, SAN FRANCISCO, December 21, 1901.
3THE holiday season, with its gay shop windows, its Christmas greens and promenaders, the crowds who surge up and down Market street bent on Christmas purchasing, is here in full force, and it is as much as one's life is worth, not alone to get waited upon in the stores, but to pass along the streets at night after the masses, released from work, are free to go about their holiday shopping. Venders of Christmas greens, red holly berries that mingle their pungent odor with the sweeter scent of violets, are to be met with on every street corner, while the Christmas editions of the various papers and magazines are already on the market, and are being sold from improvised news-stands on the sidewalks. The weather is as balmy as early spring, and sunshine and winter flowers go far to make one feel the general festivity.
5Music of the ordinary sort is giving way to the rehearsing of Christmas music in the church choirs, some of which is to be given on Sunday. Others are preparing splendid music for Christmas Day. Trinity choir, under the direction of Louis H. Eaton, the organist and director, is preparing an unusually fine program, as is also St. Dominic's Choir, under the direction of James Hamilton Howe. The Park Congregational, under the direction of Mrs. Jessie Dean Moore; Central Methodist, under the direction of Roscoe Warren Lucy, and the choir of Grace Methodist, under the vocal direction of Harry Barnhart. There will be special music at Grace Episcopal, St. Luke's, and all the prominent churches in town.
7During the past week there has been quite a little musical entertainment in different places, one of the most important being the recital of Hugo Mansfeldt, at Sherman-Clay Hall on Thursday evening. A large crowd was present at this, the first of Mr. Mansfeldt's recitals since his return home from Europe, and a splendid program was given in Mr. Mansfeldt's finished technic and inimitable style. The program was played from Beethoven, Bach, Schumann, Chopin, Rubinstein, Balfe and Mendelssohn-Liszt.
9The Gavotte from the English Suite of Bach, Mr. Mansfeldt took in octaves after his own arrangement, making a very difficult but splendid effect. The Schumann numbers were given with wonderful poetry and grace, and realized to the full Schumann's poetic musical conceptions. I think I have never heard anyone give to the difficult works of Bach so great a degree of delicate execution and finesse in phrasing. One so often hears these inimitable compositions thundered out in great technical style, but with every bit of the poetic side left entirely out. Indeed, I have often heard it said by those who were old enough to know better that there was no poetry to be found in Bach's works, that the only opportunity he gave one was for technical display. One had only to have heard Mr. Mansfeldt's interpretation to have become convinced of the contrary, as he brings out of the writings of Bach all there is in them of possibility.
11Mrs. Oscar Mansfeldt and Hugo Mansfeldt announce for the near future a series of four piano recitals in which they will be assisted by some of the best local artists. As Mrs. Mansfeldt is known to be a pianist of wonderful attainments, the combination will doubtless be greeted with much interest in musical circles.
13Percy A. R. Dow gave one of his interesting pupils' evenings on the 10th, with Mendelssohn as the subject for interpretation. There were excerpts from the oratorios "St. Paul," "Hymn of Praise" and "Elijah," as well as many of the Mendelssohn songs by the following pupils: Mesdames Robb, Hunt, Mendenhall, Taylor and Fuller; Misses Murray, Gyle, Robinson, Koenig, Barrows, Churchman, Coyle, Lavalee, Lynch, Monges, Greninger, Hipkins, Aldersley and Bartholdi, and the Messrs. Pendleton, Wood, Crichton, Kent, Corder, Kincaid, Lawrence, Webb, Bay, Batten and Mattern. The accompanists were Misses Levinson von Manderschied and Marrack.
15The evening of December 17 gave us the Christmas concert of the Loring Club at Native Sons' Hall and the piano recital of the pupils of the California Conservatory of Music at Sherman-Clay Hall.
17The first had on their program an unusual display of good things, and the work was given with an uncommon degree of spirit and fine phrasing. The best number sung by the club was the "Folksong," by Kremser, which was given with delightful dash and spirit, fairly bringing down the house with applause. Another favorite number was "King Olaf's Christmas," which won such favor at the last concert it was repeated on this program by request. In this number the solos were taken by Herbert Medley, who improved greatly on his last rendering of the same solos, and Dr. J. F. Smith. The outside soloist was Mrs. J. E. Birmingham, and I never heard her sing with better effect. She was in splendid voice, and her rich, mellow contralto was heard with magnificent interpretation and finish in "Mignon's Song," by Liszt, which was rendered in German, and "Es Liegt," by Fielitz, to which she gave in response to an encore, "Sleep, Holy Babe," which was beautifully suited to her deep sympathetic tones, and was given with a tenderness that made it the gem of all the songs she sang during the evening. The Loring Club is one of the most progressive clubs in the city from one standpoint, and in another is said to be 'way behind the times. There is a sad need of tenors in the ensemble work, though there are many fine voices in the city whose aid would greatly improve the choruses. I was told that the only reason that they were not asked to join the club was that the club was so very conservati.e. Imagine that, in this day and generation! Musical progress should be the watchword of an organization of this sort, and everything that could be brought to bear for its improvement should be seized upon without any such motives to hinder its upward movement as are attributed to this, the foremost and oldest men's musical club in the city. For the sake of what is possible to this favorite organization let us hope that if it is animated by any such foolish and ancient ideas it will forego them, put its conservatism in its pocket and forge ahead, as it is capable of doing, with the best material to be had numbered on its roster.
19A good program was presented by the piano pupils of the California Conservatory of Music, under the direction of Otto Bendix, which included numbers from composers ancient and modern. The work shows great progress on the part of the pupils, some of whom have won golden opinions for public work in times past, notably Miss Hansen and Miss Toklas. Miss Rosa Woolf is not so well known to the San Francisco public, but from the finished style of her execution one may safely predict that she will be far better known in the future. It is not possible to particularize, but as the work all showed a marked degree of excellence, and shows the superior finish given by the instruction received, more is really not necessary. The program was given in full as follows:
21Fantaisie …………………………………………………….Mendelssohn
22Sonate, op. 2, No. 3 (Allegro)……………………………Beethoven
23Sonate (Allegro Con Brio)……………………………….Hummel
24Rondo (for two pianos)………………………………….Chopin
25Ballade, No. 2…………………………………………….Chopin
26Minuet………………………………………………………Beethoven
27Staccato Etude…………………………………………….Scharwenka
28Impromptu on Schumann's Manfred (two pianos)……..Reinecke
29Rigoletto Fantaisie……………………………………….Liszt
30Andante Spianato and Polonaise………………………..Chopin
31Miss Edna Drynan.
33Samuel Bollinger recently received a very flattering letter from the eminent pianist, Fannie Bloomfield-Zeisler, in acknowledgment of a manuscript sent her by Mr. Bollinger and dedicated to her by him. The composition is entitled "A Sonnet," and Madame Zeisler speaks of it in her letter in the most congratulatory terms, and accepts the dedication with thanks to the author. Mr. Bollinger, though a young man, has been long identified with music, having been the founder of the Bollinger Conservatory of Music at Fort Smith, Ark., where he was born and reared. His education was acquired in the Leipsic Royal Conservatory of Music, where he studied under Reinecke, Zwintscher, Schreck and Quasdorf in piano and theory. Coming to California for his health, he took up music as a profession in San Francisco, and is now on the road to recognition as one of our best local composers, and one whose works have had the merit of being presented to the public by such artists as Godowsky and Margarethe Schaub, among others. Among some of Mr. Bollinger's compositions may be named a "Danze Melancholique," a Romanza, which Zeisler specially commended; a Scherzo, a Mazurka, as well as a Symphonic Poem, and many other things yet in manuscript. All Mr. Bollinger's instructors in the conservatory speak of his ability in terms of the highest order, and the public is sure to be interested in the results of his efforts. Mr. Bollinger was a member of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, and the works of his composition have been played by the orchestra.
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