Scan 5
Musical Courier 1902-05-28: Vol 44 Iss 1157, 1902
32 lines. Read by computer on 22 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1he sings, and when he finishes singing—be it even so unchurchly an affair as "Wotan's Abschied," which was the selection on this occasion—one is irresistibly compelled to say "Amen—Selah!" But he is going to make an operatic debut at Covent Garden, and his hymnatical methods will doubtless be appreciated by that saintly audience. Why does he not learn how to pronounce German before singing in that language? Seriously, why does D. T. Fortissimo (Ff) Rangcon Davies take himself so seriously?
3The next two concerts brought before the audiences at Queen's Hall the unquestionably two greatest concert conductors of Germany, Nikisch and Weingartner. Here then a chance for a comparison was so obvious that it became hard to suppress it. As for myself, I always like to avoid this method of criticism, if it is possible, and as moreover my views upon the merits of just these two chefs d'orchestra have been given so frequently and exhaustively in these columns, I prefer to quote instead the opinion of one of the best as well as most unbiased among the London critics, "Sforzando," who thus precisely voices my own sentiment on the subject in his résumé, contributed to the Morning Leader:
5The contrast between Nikisch's conducting on Wednesday night and Felix Weingartner's yesterday afternoon was almost too sharp. The two men are at opposite poles in temperament. Nikisch is Hungarian, and revels in strenuous passion. The lyrical side of his nature is more developed; he does not care for restraint except as an artistic means to heighten his frenetic outbursts. Weingartner is Teutonic, a sworn foe of the tempo rubato, prima donna conductor. Weingartner has energy for a climax. But it is a precise, objective energy. On the lyrical side he seems to me a trifle dry and wanting in impulse. Last year he gave us a wonderful performance of Beethoven's C minor Symphony, but, when all is said, it was more amazing for its intellectual qualities than for its poetical. It was brilliant in the extreme; the orchestra scintillated with piercing white lights; everything was as clean cut as the facets of a diamond. But I missed a golden glow; the magnificence was chilly. Yesterday he chose a dull program, which helped to make the contrast between him and Nikisch more marked.
7Nikisch conducted the "Meistersinger" and "Tannhäuser" overtures as beginning and end of a well selected program, and carried the house as well as the orchestra with him. The applause of the latter body was the most persistent I have so far ever witnessed on the part of the members of an orchestra for their own conductor. It reached a climax and so did the enthusiasm of the public after the final movement of the gloriously played Fifth Symphony of Tchaikowsky. On the works of this master, especially the last two symphonies, Nikisch seems to hold a sort of mortgage, for I have never heard anyone interpret them with more innate sympathy, warmth and understanding than does Nikisch. Less satisfactory was the too labored and raffinirt reading of the "Tristan" prelude and Liebstod, in which the reaching of every climax striven for was weakened before it came to a head by too much attention to detail worked out with the brain, instead of following the impulses of the heart.
9Miss Alice Nielsen, if I mistake not, despite her northern name, an American, sang the waltz song from "Romeo and Juliet" with the natural American coloratura voice and with a suavity that was delightful.
11Mark Hambourg was the other soloist of the occasion, and he played the Tchaikowsky B flat minor Piano Concerto with uncommon verve and an amount of fire which amounted very nearly to fierceness. In every other respect it would be manifestly unfair to criticise his performance, for the young artist was too severely handicapped by his instrument to be able to do himself justice. Why such a concert grand as this Erard should have been chosen in a city in which the artistic instruments of Steinway, Bechstein, Bluthner or Ibach could be secured in one and the same street I am at a loss to comprehend.
13Weingartner was the only conductor of this congress of conductors who enjoyed the privilege of leading two concerts, a matinee on Thursday and an evening concert on Friday.
15Why he should have chosen the Brahms D major Symphony for his chief number of the first concert is hard to comprehend, for he has confessed in his pamphlet on "The Symphonies After Beethoven" that he is not in sympathy with the writings of Brahms. Moreover was this fact plainly discernible throughout the whole performance of the work. The brightest of Brahms' four symphonies sounded dull and the reading was as devoid of interest as of climaxes. True to his taste, however, he was in the opening and closing numbers, Gluck's "Alceste" and Beethoven's third "Leonore" overture. Give me Weingartner for interpretation of the classics. Here he also did not fail to score a legitimate success with the audience, which seemed on the whole somewhat cold. But that an English audience can after all be roused, despite its proverbial or "English" state of apathy and nil admirari lethargy, I saw on the previous evening, when there was enthusiasm galore, genuine, red-hot enthusiasm at that! So don't tell me that it is entirely their fault if they seem unresponsive, for once you get them, you cannot imagine a more grateful public, and they remain so forever. In the latter respect they are far preferable enthusiasts to the Americans whose taste and allegiance to an artist are so fickle that the god of to-day may become the outcast of to-morrow, and with whom merit but all too frequently is measured by the standard of earnings.
17Hugo Becker played the difficult and not over grateful Dvorák 'cello Concerto very well and Clara Butt, the giantess singer gave us the the "Divinité du Styx" aria with all the bigness and brutality of her phenomenal voice.
19The evening concert opened with a fine but not great reading of Schubert's Unfinished Symphony, the andante of which was taken, just as Weingartner also did in Berlin, much faster than usual. Mme. Kirkby Lunn sang the "Mon cour s'ouvre à ta voix" aria from Saint-Saëns' "Samson and Dalilah" in a more British than French style. She has a fine voice, but sings rather indifferently and has little passion and less distinction or charm of delivery.
21Of his own symphonic poem, "King Lear," the conductor-composer, Weingartner, gave a magnificent performance. The work itself was much discussed among the critics, some of whom liked it, while others didn't. I belong among the latter category, as I demonstrated in my criticism after the first Berlin performance of "King Lear" in one of the Royal Orchestra's symphony soirées.
23Busoni was the soloist of the evening, and as you may imagine, he gave a fine reading of the Beethoven "Emperor" Concerto, but the "execution" on the whole was this time quite indifferent and the touch hard and glassy.
25The Queen's Hall Orchestra again did itself proud in the performance of the "Eroica" Symphony, which was a fine one, albeit Weingartner's reading and conducting were somewhat rigid and cold.
27The most interesting, because though quite modern, also quite variegated program, was the final one and the proceedings gained in artistic importance and significance through the co-operation of Camille Saint-Saëns, who shared the conducting with Mr. Wood.
29The latter opened the concert with a rousing and vigorous performance of Richard Strauss' orchestral fantasia, "Don Juan," which was the only time his name occurred in this six days' music festival. It amused me to read the d-d patronizing remarks of the annotator in the program book, who condescends to call Richard Strauss "one of the most gifted of the 'younger sons' of musical Germany," and further on vouchsafes the information that "as a composer Strauss is still sub judice." Heaven save the mark, and this after all of James Huneker's verveffentlichte Schriften on the greatness of Richard Strauss' works!
31Camille Saint-Saëns was enthusiastically received by the audience, when the dapper French composer, who is now in his sixty-seventh year stepped upon the platform with the elasticity of a youth. His conducting, however, has little of the same quality and really resembles automatic time beating more than a composer's authoritative guiding of an orchestra in the interpretation of his own work. Nevertheless, the orchestra, which evidently was on the
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