Scan 31
Musical Courier 1903-01-28: Vol 46 Iss 1192, 1903
59 lines. Read by computer on 23 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 32. See the scan on archive.org.
1MANNES QUARTET CONCERT.
3The second concert of the Mannes Quartet, at Mendelssohn Hall on Tuesday of last week, was not distinguished by quite the careful ensemble and the admirable reserve which Mr. Mannes and his associates revealed on the occasion of their first appearance this season. Then this reserve was perhaps a trifle too pronounced and bordered on artistic timidity. Last week no such charge could be brought. The leader was assertive and the other players several times burst forth into individual song where combined effort would have been more appropriate and certainly more effective.
5Because it is "romantic," Schumann's A major Quartet, op. 41, does not justify tonal and rhythmical exaggerations. In performance every quartet should be treated with the canons of objectivity. Schumann deserves the same reverence that is accorded Beethoven. It will be found, moreover, that a strict observance of the letter of Schumann's scores is often more productive of the real romantic spirit than a personal effort to infuse the proper mood by extraneous means. This lack of perfect understanding between the players led to a certain roughness of attack.
7A manuscript Quartet, in E minor, op. 38, by Louis Victor Saar, proved to be a work of exceptional significance. Saar has long ago established his claims as a serious composer of dignified piano and vocal music, but in this new quartet he takes such a large stride forward that his future at once assumes most important proportions.
9The very misleading "annotations" printed on the program called attention to points in Saar's work which are by no means its salient features. The device of "community of theme" is neither new nor rare. Its employment in the Saar Quartet was merely an incident, and the composer had a sterner purpose than merely to exhibit his contrapuntal cleverness.
11The opening episode, vital and majestic, eloquently proclaims the character of the entire work. It is bold, broad, heroic, built on large lines, classical in form and conception, and yet free from slavish obedience to rule. In harmony, in color and in instrumentation Saar's musical thoughts have an essentially modern complexion. Gifted with a wealth of melodic invention, he does not spend himself upon merely mechanical details. There is no padding in his first movement, and there is no endless development section to take the place of imagination. No limping muse is Louis Victor Saar's. He flies high, but he evidently knows how to move in dizzy altitudes. There are no weak places in this first movement. It is a clear, strong musical story, told in terse and idiomatic phrase.
13The second movement, an elegiac adagio, is "sweetness long drawn out," but it is sweetness of the masculine and healthy order. Saar knows how to differentiate between sentiment and sentimentality. The second subject is a genuine inspiration, and it was handled with rare distinction. It is not every composer that knows when he has exhausted a musical idea. The adagio ends at the moment when another dozen measures or so would make it just too long. A scintillating allegro molto vivace forms the scherzo, and a better contrast to the restrained adagio could not well be imagined. Rubinstein is suggested in the romp and rhythm of this dainty movement, but, unlike the Russian, Saar never makes his appeal on the surface. The treatment of the piano in the scherzo is unique. It almost loses its monochromatic character. There is also a clever reminiscence of the leading theme from the first movement, changed in outline and garbed in new harmonic dress. In some respects the finale, allegro con brio, usually the weakest movement in modern quartets, is the best part of Saar's work. There is a return to the heroic spirit of the beginning, and the climax of the first movement is repeated with but slight alteration, yet the means by which this familiar climax is reached are totally new. The true ring of passion is in the finale. Turbulent is its mood and irresistible its effect, a fitting conclusion to a work that could consistently bear the subtitle "eroico." Saar writes like a man who has made a thorough study of the orchestra. No one need be surprised if this quartet is but a stepping stone. Louis Victor Saar has in him the making of a real symphonist.
15Between the two quartets there was sandwiched a set of pieces by Schumann, "Stuecke im Volkston," op. 102, for violoncello and piano. The master certainly never made his reputation on these lugubrious attempts. 'Cellist Leo Schulz could do nothing with them beyond demonstrating the consoling fact that even a great composer has his uninspired moments.
17Miss Katherine Ruth Heyman, the pianist of the evening, is an admirable musician and one not surpassed this season as an ensemble player. She was refined and tactful, sympathetic and supporting. Her technic is fluent and distinct, but she made it subservient to the exigencies of the occasion. Such moderation is more difficult than it sounds.
19A report of the concert would be incomplete were no mention made of the fact that the Mannes Quartet played the Saar number much better than the Schumann. Of course, they had the benefit of the composer's effective coaching.
21Richard Kay in Watertown, N. Y.
23ASSISTED by Mrs. Caroline Gardner Clarke, Richard Kay gave a violin concert in Watertown last week. The leading daily of that city, the Watertown Daily Standard, gives a half column of space to the affair, praising the boy virtuoso, in part as follows:
25Mr. Kay has been heralded by the press of the country as the boy phenomenon, and he clearly demonstrated his claim to that title last night. He is, in fact, merely a boy, and his appearance upon the stage reminds one of the proverbial country schoolboy. Yet, when he plays, one begins to wonder if he were not born with a violin in his hands, and it is plain to be seen that he is to become a master of the art, if, indeed, he is not one already. There is artistic precision in his work, and his tones, full of beauty, have the additional charm of appealing harmony. He plays with that ease which comes only of innate talent, and his modesty and sincerity, too, win for him many friends. His numbers last night were "Scotch Fantaisie," by Max Bruch; "Havanaise," by Saint-Saens; "Variations Serieuses," by Corelli; Cadenza, by Leonard, and, finally, Scherzo No. 11, by Tchaikowsky, a program which will convince any audience that the player has done a great deal of careful, conscientious study and therefore deserves the highest approbation. Those who were present last night evidently appreciated his talent, and he was often roundly applauded. one of two readings
26Mr. Kay has been heralded by the press of the country as the boy phenomenon, and he clearly demonstrated his claim to that title last night. He is, in fact, merely a boy, and his appearance upon the stage reminds one of the proverbial country schoolboy. Yet, when he plays, one begins to wonder if he were not born with a violin in his hands, and it is plain to be seen that he is to become a master of the art, if, indeed, he is not one already. There is artistic precision in his work, and his tones, full of beauty, have the additional charm of appealing harmony. He plays with that ease which comes only of innate talent, and his modesty and sincerity, too, win for him many friends. His numbers last night were "Scotch Fantaisie," by Max Bruch; "Havanaise," by Saint-Saëns; "Variations Serieuses," by Corelli; Cadenza, by Leonard, and, finally, Scherzo No. 11, by Tchaikowsky, a program which will convince any audience that the player has done a great deal of careful, conscientious study and therefore deserves the highest approbation. Those who were present last night evidently appreciated his talent, and he was often roundly applauded. one of two readings
28Miss Metcalfe's Song Recital.
30SONG recitals continue in their upward and downward course at Mendelssohn Hall. Miss Susan Metcalfe was among those heard last week, and her afternoon belongs to the days that may be numbered as instructive and delightful. Miss Metcalfe has a small mezzo voice, limited in range, yet sympathetic in quality. Her singing is distinguished for refinement, taste and musical expression. In other words, Miss Metcalfe is an interpreter, not in the tragic or deeper emotional styles, but of songs requiring dainty sentiment and piquancy. A large audience applauded her in numbers by Italian, French and German composers.
32Tuesday afternoon, February 3, is the date of the second recital.
34A Cantata in Newark.
36THE cantata, "The New Jerusalem," by Charles E. Davis, will be given in Newark, February 4, in Association Hall. There will be a chorus of sixty voices under the direction of David D. Eaton, assisted by the following artists: Mrs. Lottie Elverson Kirwan, soprano; Mrs. Alexander Irving, contralto; Raymond W. Smith, tenor, and Paul Petry, baritone.
38THE SOUL OF THE 'CELLO.
40BY ELSA RUEGGER.
42In olden times instruments of the violin family had no bows, and there is an old story to the effect that once upon a time a maker of instruments had an unusual number of lutes drying in his shop, and that in the middle of the night he was awakened by the most beautiful sounds he had ever heard.
44Rushing into his music room, he found that two of his lutes had become entangled in such a way that the strings of one were being pulled across those of another by the wind. Enchanted by this new music, the maker tried drawing the strings on one across those of another himself, and was so delighted with the result that he spent the night sounding his various instruments in this new combination, and the result was the first violin bow.
46Just when the violin's great-greatgrandfather lived no one knows, but we do know that in the early times there came from Arabia "players upon the viol," and that there were still earlier players upon a rude instrument of like nature in Scandinavia. Witches strung hairs across the skull of their victims and played upon them, and many, many years before the Amati family or the Stradivari or the Guarneri were famous for their instruments, there were various other kinds of instruments of similar nature all played upon with more or less skill by their possessors.
48It is said that a violin maker, while experimenting with the models of his instruments, made a violin so large that he could not hold it upon his shoulder, and had to grasp it between his knees. Everything was on a magnificent scale, the strings and bow matching the instrument itself.
50When finished he could not cease playing upon it, and swore that it was a human being, and that there was a human soul entrapped within it. Nothing could tempt him to leave it, and all day and all night "he drew from it the most beautiful music."
52And so the legend runs "in every 'cello made there is imprisoned a human soul." And that is what makes the 'cello the most soulful of instruments. It seems attuned more nearly to the heart than any other, and there are those who really believe that the first 'cello maker took the heart strings of his lady love and strung them on his instrument, and that was the reason, he claimed, "there was a human soul entrapped within."
54The Reynolds Sisters.
56HELEN L. REYNOLDS and Mabel O. Reynolds, violinist and 'cellist respectively, are heard in many concerts and musicales this season, and the Brooklyn Standard-Union of January 18 said of them:
58At a recent entertainment at the Pouch two very charming young women of Manhattan were among the performers and received a large proportion of the applause—Miss Helen L. Reynolds, violinist, and Miss Mabel O. Reynolds, 'cellist. That they are sisters was apparent to all, and that they possess unusual talent and have had the advantage of excellent training were soon equally patent. Miss Mabel Reynolds, who was a student with Victor Herbert and later completed her training under Jacobs, of Brussels, and with Hausman at the Berlin Royal High School for Music, handles her instrument with a grace which one does not expect of a woman, despite the fact that the 'cello is of late years becoming a favorite instrument with the fair sex. She has a big tone and an excellent technic. Miss Helen Reynolds plays understandingly and with sentiment. Clean bowing and a nimble left hand result in accuracy of pitch in the most difficult runs, trills and cadences. With her sister, Miss Helen Reynolds studied at Brussels under Ysaye, and, going to Berlin, had two years' training under Joachim and Halir. Since their return to America the Misses Reynolds have been quite successful in concert work, and it is likely that they will have a more extended hearing in Brooklyn before the close of the season.
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