Scan 13
Musical Courier 1902-05-14: Vol 44 Iss 1155, 1902
43 lines. Read by computer on 22 September 2026. Printed page 14. See the scan on archive.org.
1gram contributed by the Amphion Male Quartet, and Mrs. Mary Hissem de Moss, soprano; Miss Martha M. Henry, soprano; Miss Alice Sovereign, contralto, and Mrs. Ruland, contralto. The selections were all by New England composers and poets:
2Part song, Ballade of June………………………………………Hadley
3The Double Quartet.
4Baritone solo, Bedouin Love Song……………………………Hawley
5Mr. Engel.
6Part song, On the Seashore…………………………………….Eisfeld
7The Amphion Male Quartet.
8Soprano solo, Where the Lindens Bloom……………………Buck
9Thou Art So Like a Flower…………………………………….Chadwick
10The Lark Now Leaves His Watery Nest……………………Parker
11Mrs. De Moss.
12Part song, Two Flower Songs……………………………Mrs. H. H. A. Beach
13Mrs. De Moss, Miss Henry, Miss Sovereign, Mrs. Ruland.
14Tenor solo—
15Up to Her Chamber Window……………………………….Foote
16Love Me if I Live……………………………………………..Foote
17Mrs. Lieberman.
18Part song, Twilight……………………………………………..Buck
19The Amphion Male Quartet.
20Contralto solo, He Was a Prince……………………………Lynes
21Mrs. Ruland.
23CONCERT BY THE LAURIER CLUB.
24The Laurier Musical Club gave a concert at the Embury Memorial Church last Thursday evening for the benefit of the Woman's Branch of City Mission. An excellent program was presented by local singers and performers: Miss Elsie Ray Eddy, soprano; Miss Eva Louise Quintard, contralto; Albert E. Angus, tenor; Hugh E. Williams, baritone; Miss Kate Waldo Peck, piano; Miss Hattie A. Peck, piano; Carl H. Tollesfien, violin; Laurence J. Munson, accompanist; Miss May Livingston Mills, accompanist.
26THIRD CONCERT BY THE CLEF CLUB.
27Augustus C. Metz conducted the third concert of the Clef Club given at Crosby Hall. The soloists were Miss Belle Newport, contralto, and David Mannes, violinist. The club, composed of professional and amateur orchestral players, performed these familiar pieces: March, "Roman Carnival," Mendelssohn; excerpts from "Maritana," Wallace; Mozart's G minor Symphony in three movements—the minuet, andante and finale; "Aragoaisne" from "Le Cid," Massenet; "Norwegian Dance No. 3," Grieg, and the waltz, "Wedding of the Winds," Hall. The members of the orchestra are: Augustus C. Metz, director; Joseph Grunewald, concertmaster; violin, Albert Stotzer, John Hollinger, John Rogers, T. B. Johnstone, Frank Butterworth, G. A. Blochbon, Charles Mauser, H. Chait, L. T. Cross, R. M. Robinson, Carl H. Tollesfien, E. M. Renner, A. Wiltsey, Charles Stockcien, A. H. Faust, Henry Koster, C. B. Nolan; viola, W. A. Donaldson, T. Berthune, W. H. Kruse, Paul O. May, W. Hooton; 'cello, H. C. J. Oelecker, W. C. Jaeger, W. Davies, J. Hegarty, E. D. Kelsey; bass, A. Tomes, J. Davidson; flute, A. Hoffman, C. Birkner, H. Morgan; oboe, F. Landoit; clarinet, A. Keller, E. Hide; bassoon, W. C. Gallaer, J. J. Wuerstlin; horn, H. Sandiford, H. M. Pilkington; cornet, C. H. Stoeckle, W. Murphy; trombone, M. T. King; percussion instruments, S. M. Coles.
28Mr. Mannes played the "Adagio Pathetique," by Gounod; "The Bee," by Schubert, and "The Fiddler," by Wieniawski. Miss Newport sang "Stride de la Vampa," from "Il Trovatore"; "Ecstasy," by Mrs. Beach, and "The Trout," by Schubert. The accompanists were Miss Elsa Venth and Mrs. Mannes.
30This evening (Wednesday) George Francis Moore will give an organ recital in the Flatbush Reformed Dutch Church.
32ELIZABETH WELLER.—Miss Elizabeth Weller was the accompanist for the performance of "Ganymede" which was given at the Carnegie Lyceum on May 2. The affair was a distinct social and musical success, and much credit is due Miss Weller for her untiring efforts both in the rehearsals and in the public performance.
34OPERATIC ENTERPRISE AT COVENT GARDEN.
35By B. W. FINDON.
36THE conditions of opera in the United States and England are so much alike that such criticism as applies to the one applies to the other, and I have always admired the courageous manner in which THE MUSICAL COURIER has advocated the cause of national art and fearlessly opposed the wealth and might of the New York elect. But in strict justice one has no more right to attack Maurice Grau for supplying the identical article which American plutocracy desires than one has to take exception to the dry goods merchant who puts in his shop window the articles best calculated to attract customers and provide the wherewithal to purchase his daily bread. Every impresario must be a tradesman at heart; if he is not, he will sooner or later have to undergo his public examination in the bankruptcy court. He can foster art, it is true, by insidiously encouraging a taste for the best, and when that taste is sufficiently developed again he has to cater to it from a well considered commercial standpoint.
37Now America, like England, has neither singers nor operatic composers of the first rank. But perhaps this sweeping assertion stands in need of some qualifying remark. America is lucky in having given birth, to a sufficient number of prime donne to carry through a decent opera season, and the women singers in the vernacular, who have made big successes in London, have come from America. But America has produced no tenors, and we have not one who can measure himself with any degree of complacency with such men as De Marchi, Van Dyck, Saléza, or even those whom we regard as of second continental rank. So that, although I am strong in my advocacy of English art for Englishmen, I realize that in this particular we must take a back seat, or else content ourselves with mediocre performances. We have shown some promise in our composers, and if they were treated more liberally I believe that within the next two decades we should boast writers who would hold their own with any of the men abroad; indeed, the two or three operas that have been produced by Englishmen of late years have been quite equal to those which have been introduced from the Continent. But in art, as in present day commerce, we are a slow creeping nation. We oppose the introduction of labor saving machinery and lament the loss of contracts, and because for upward of a century our opera has been an alien growth, manipulated by strange hands, it never occurred to us that if a cutting were taken and grafted on to our modest rose bush, in the fullness of time the tree would blossom and we could cull its flower with grateful hearts.
38For one whole generation during the last century the ears of our forbears were tickled with the works of Cimarosa, Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini, and just at its latter end this quartet was reinforced by Verdi and Meyerbeer. Then came Auber, Weber, Gounod and Bizet, and there we marked time until the vogue of Wagner. Balfe, it is true, put in an occasional appearance, but until the management of the late Sir Augustus Harris an English composer had as much chance of seeing an opera of his mounted at Covent Garden as the camel had of passing through the eye of a needle, or, if the same authority is to be believed, a rich man has of entering heaven. We are slowly creeping out of our shell, and quite independent of that farcical fad, a national opera house, we shall in time arrive at a period in our musical history when the performance of an opera by an English composer will savor no more of strangeness than one by a Frenchman, German or Italian. I do not see at present the same hopeful sign in America, but if the Union Jack gives the lead I am quite sure the Stars and Stripes will not remain long in the rear. This may be thought a long introduction to a brief article on the coming season at Covent Garden, but it was necessary because I wanted to make some excuse for the present state of opera in England, and to show that we are on the right track, and that year by year something is done which brings us nearer to the desired goal. My slapdash, Viking friend, John Runciman, has always 'arf a brick in his hand to chuck at the Covent Garden syndicate, and if things are not wholly up to his standard of perfection away goes his brick at the syndicate's windows; he never stops to think if a word or two of extenuation might not be said, and that a little honey mixed with vinegar has a more healing effect on the inflamed larynx than vinegar in its virgin state. Then there is Fuller Maitland (you have all seen the picture of the white rabbit in "Alice in Wonderland," haven't you?), but his hand is too weak to hurl brickbats, and he is compelled to content himself with little pellets of dough from the kitchen, which he lobs through the open casement of the manager's room, carefully wrapped up in the printed pages of a monthly review.
39But Maitland is a man with a grievance; he cannot persuade the world to believe that Hubert Parry is Bach born again, and that Villiers Stanford is a combination of Mozart and Richard Wagner. He brought all his skim milk of invective to bear against the opera syndicate a few months ago, and when one had dismissed his dreary platitudes the gist of the syndicate's offense was that "Messaline" has been given several more performances than Stanford's "Much Ado About Nothing," which on its merits it deserved. I believe in Isidore de Lara's opera, and feel there is the grip of a man in it, and I am sorry that it did not make a better impression in America. I have mentioned Runciman and Maitland because, although they are as wide asunder in their way of thinking as the poles, they have each thwacked the Covent Garden syndicate to the best of their ability. I hold no brief for Earl de Grey and H. Higgins, but I believe watering a fern is a better way of encouraging its growth than jumping on it. I look back upon the progress we have made during the past ten years, and I say there is every reason for congratulation. In the middle '80's our grand opera was next to death's door. Poor Signor Lago tried hard to galvanize its palsied frame into some semblance of life, but he could not do it.
40Then Augustus Harris came on the scene and by his tremendous energy, business instinct and the fortuitous assistance of Jean de Reszke he brought back society to its boxes, he established opera on a sound commercial basis, and did his best to give creditable representations. He started a new epoch in the history of the art; he was never backward in introducing new works—in one season he gave us half a dozen—and several were from the pens of English composers; he revived the "Ring des Nibelungen" after it had lain dead for years and made it popular, or the "Ring" made Covent Garden popular; he introduced the English tongue on to the grand opera stage; and we may wait a long time before we get together such another group of singers as that which was associated with his management. The syndicate took up the mantle which he dropped; their financial success is greater than his, and their profits are being spent for the general good. The new machinery which was put into the stage last year cost over £20,000 sterling and this year other improvements are being effected, which will do much to increase the comfort of the audience. Ten of the most important operas have been provided with new scenery, and at the time of writing scene rehearsals are going forward daily, so that the mechanical effects and the lighting will leave as little cause for complaint as possible.
41Now, when one sees a body of men so earnestly bent on doing the right thing it behooves us not only to do all that in us lies to keep them up to the mark, but also to give them that measure of praise which will make them feel that their work is appreciated, and so put heart into them for further endeavors. The forecast of the approaching season's program is not such good reading as the résumé of the work accomplished by Mr. Grau during his recent season in New York. But we always cast an envious eye across the Atlantic because the American season is our bête noire. The artists go there fresh and invigorated with an autumn's rest and they return from their sojourn in New York city and wandering throughout the States physically and vocally worn out, and the result is an obvious deterioration in quality and tone. A notable example last year was Saléza, who cracked up in the first month of the season and had to go to a more congenial climate to rest and recuperate. But so long as the American dollar is more almighty powerful than the English sovereign we shall have to grin and bear it, until the time arrives when we are strong enough to say that the singer must choose between the two engagements.
42Our repertory for the season consists of eleven Italian, eight German and five French works, with a novelty by
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