Scan 5
Musical Courier 1903-08-26: Vol 47 Iss 1222, 1903
56 lines. Read by computer on 22 September 2026. Printed page 6. See the scan on archive.org.
1and Sophie David (second soprano) were as delightful as at Bayreuth. Mrs. Hermoine Bosetti, who sang the part of the first Rhinedaughter, has a voice replete with purity and charm of tone. Briesmeister, the Bayreuth Loge, overdid things in a mimic way, but sang well. Feinhalas as Wotan, Charlotte Huhn as Fricka, Hofmuller as Mime, Bender and Kloepper as Fasolt and Fafner, as well as Georg Stieglitz as Donner, are well known artists of standard merit. New was Ada Robinson, from Wiesbaden, a lovely Freya, and Otto Wolf, from Darmstadt, a youthful and pleasing Froh.
3Ernst von Possart's mise-en-scène was in grand style, notably the sporting display of the Rhinedaughters at the bottom of the river; the glittering of the sun rays in the rippling waves, the appearance and gradual vanishing of Erda and the rainbow bridge, with the splendid castle upon the hill in the background, offered scenic and decorative effects of the most picturesque, artistic and rarest kind.
5The principal interest of the "Walküre" performance was centred in Ernest Krauss, who, after a moment of fatigue in the middle of the first act, sang with most brilliant and glorious voice and acted with intense dramatic verve. Bertha Morena was histrionically a tender, truly feminine Sieglinde and sang with a good deal of expression, although her still young and fresh voice is already affected by a slight tremolo. Among the Valkyries were such artists as Schumann-Heink, Pauline Schoeller, Ottilie Metzger and Ada Robinson, which, of course, secured a most forceful ensemble. Mrs. Senger-Bettaque was the Brünnhilde and acted and sang with spirit, but little dignity. Zumpe dragged the tempi of the first act, but from the second act on the performance was superb.
7Last night "Siegfried" was given, and according to telegraphic reports received here this morning it was the best performance of the three. The mise-en-scène was superb, with the exception of the dragon killing, which was not skillfully arranged. Among the artists concerned in the cast, most all of them members of the Munich Court Opera personnel, Knote in the title part stood head and shoulders above his environments.
9His Majesty the Emperor has bestowed upon Prof. Adolph Schulze, head and first teacher of the vocal department of the Royal High School for Music, the order of the Red Eagle, third class with the rosette, an unusually high distinction for a musician.
11After having read Henry T. Finck's article on Grieg, Prof. Arthur Nikisch has decided to place the "Peer Gynt" Suite on the program of the first of next season's Philharmonic subscription concerts as a sort of "post" festive sixtieth birthday anniversary commemoration.
13Prof. Otto Taubert died last week, aged seventy, at Torgau, where for many years he acted as first choral conductor. He was also a very versatile musical littérateur of considerable merit. He was born at Naumburg and first studied philology before he entered the musical field.
15Alban Foerster, hitherto conductor at Neu-Strelitz, has been chosen successor of the late August Klughardt in the more important position of court conductor at Dessau. Foerster, a native of Reichenbach, in Saxony, is now a little over fifty years of age, and not only a conductor but also a composer of some consequence, one of whose operas some years ago was successfully brought out at the Berlin Royal Opera House.
17The season of 1903-4 will begin at the Royal Opera House on the 16th inst., the opening performance being "Carmen."
19Felix Mottl has just published a revised edition of John Sebastian Bach's dramma per musica, "The Quarrel Between Phoebus and Pan," for concert use. This witty work of the great composer is a satire upon a Beckmesser of his day, who seems to have worried Bach considerably. It was performed here at the Bach festival for the first time a few seasons ago, and met with equal interest at the recent Silesian music festival, where it was interpreted by Dr. Muck, and the Goerlitz audience seems to have enjoyed the quaint, humorous and genial composition as much as did the Berlin public. The piano score with text of the Mottl revised concert edition has been arranged by Otto Taubmann, the eminent Berlin composer and musical littérateur.
21The board of aldermen of the city of Barmen have voted for the maintenance of a standing orchestra such as its twin city of Elberfeld also boasts of. Every self respecting city of more than a hundred thousand inhabitants in Germany (and some of them with much less) has its standing orchestra, and that is one of the principal reasons why musical culture is spread far wider here than in the United States, where even cities with millions of inhabitants like New York and Chicago have to rely upon the good will and liberality of some of the rich private citizens in order to be able to maintain a standing orchestra.
23For the twenty-seventh birthday anniversary of the late King Ludwig II of Bavaria, Richard Wagner sent to his "royal friend" as a tribute of gratitude his own manuscript orchestral sketch of the third act of "Die Götterdämmerung" with the following poetic dedication, which is now after thirty-one years published for the first time in the Munich Neueste Nachrichten:
25VOLLENDET DAS EWIGE WERK!
26Wie im Traum ich es trug,
27Wie mein Wille es wies,
28Was bange Jahre beengt
29Des reisenden Mannes Brust,
30Aus winternächtigen Wehen
31Der Lieb' und der Lenzes Gewalten
32Trieben dem Tag' es zu:
33Da steh' stolz zur Schau,
34Als kühner Königsbau
35Prang' es prachtig der Welt!
36Zum 25. August, 1872.
37RICHARD WAGNER.
39The Prussian Secretary of Culture, Herr Von Studt, has signified to the Wagner Monument Festival Committee his intention "to further officially its efforts to the best of his ability, and that he will delegate a Government representative as participant in the International Music Congress." Herr Von Studt also became a personal member of the honorary committee for the Richard Wagner monument celebration. With this written declaration His Excellency places himself in open juxtaposition to a number of German musical authorities, among them academic teachers of renown, such as, for instance, Prof. Dr. Joachim and Dr. Stumpf, who in their public pronouncement declare themselves as opposed to the holding of an international music congress in connection with the Wagner monument celebration. This declaration of independence on the part of the Prussian Secretary of Culture is hailed by many with unfeigned pleasure, for it is the first one on record since two generations, all of His Excellency's predecessors being sworn in upon Joachim and his faction.
41In artistic circles of Budapest the sudden disappearance of the young violin virtuoso Franz Hegedus is causing quite a commotion. During the past season this highly gifted artist scored great successes in Hungary and England. From the latter country he returned a few weeks ago and took a room in one of the first hotels of the capital of Hungary. To his friends he said that he would take summer lodgings upon Marguerite Island. Last week the employees of the hotel remarked that since two days Hegedus had not returned to the hotel. They found out that he had actually visited Marguerite Island, but had not remained there for any length of time. As the artist was suffering from nervous troubles and showed signs of a severe melancholy, it is feared that during the night he jumped from Marguerite Island into the Danube.
43Among the callers at THE MUSICAL COURIER'S Berlin office during the past week was the eminent Chicago pianist, Hans von Schiller, who intends to return to the United States on the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse week after next. Furthermore, Dr. Reiniger, editor in chief of the Bucharest Tageblatt; Mrs. Hunt N. Slater, from Washington, D. C., and her sister, Mrs. Horatio Nelson Slater, from Boston, Mass. The writer had a pleasant chat also with the Sutro sisters, from Baltimore, who, with their mother, the widow of the late Otto Sutro, are spending their summer vacation in Berlin. David H. Salins, a violin pupil of the late Professor Jacobsohn, of Chicago, and bearing a letter of introduction from John E. Hall, of the Musical Times, of that city, was likewise a caller at this office. Mr. Salins intends to complete his violinistic studies in Berlin under the tuition of Prof. Carl Halir, at the Royal High School for Music.
45Arthur Voorhis Weds Madame Carre.
47ARTHUR VOORHIS, the pianist and teacher, and Mme. Ottilie Carré were married Wednesday night of last week at the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration (the Little Church Around the Corner). Twenty friends witnessed the ceremony. Mr. Voorhis was attended by Lyman Otis Fiske as best man. The bride was given away by her friend Mrs. William P. Roome. Mr. and Mrs. Voorhis will reside in New York when they return from their bridal tour. Mr. Voorhis belongs to an old New Jersey family, and the ancestry of Mrs. Voorhis is equally distinguished in Germany. Mrs. Voorhis is a woman of excellent education and varied accomplishments, being both a linguist and a musician. She held the position of private secretary to the late Colonel Waring, and more recently has been in charge of a department in the office of the corporation counsel. The engagement of Mr. Voorhis and Madame Carré was announced last May after the pianist gave his recital at the Waldorf-Astoria.
49Madame Force's First Tour.
51LOUDON G. CHARLTON announces for her first tour this coming season in this country Mme. Harmon Force, who returns from abroad fully equipped for engagements in concert, oratorio and recital. This distinguished young dramatic soprano has studied under the best masters here and abroad. In 1896, after some serious work in New York with William Courtney, she went to Paris and took an extended course with Sbriglia, and since then she has coached at different times with both Randegger and Georg Henschel in London. Her repertory embraces all the standard oratorios, cantatas, operatic arias and German, French and English songs of wide range and variety.
53American Debut of Edwin Grasse.
55ONE year after young Edwin Grasse, the American violinist, who makes his first concert tour in this country this season, was admitted to the Royal Conservatory in Brussels, he won the first prize with distinction. In 1901 the "Prix de Capacité" was awarded to him with highest honors. Grasse was a special student under César Thomson, and he is a protégé of Joachim, upon whose advice he began his career in Berlin last year.
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