Scan 11
Musical Courier 1905-03-08: Vol 50 Iss 1302, 1905
32 lines. Read by computer on 23 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 12. See the scan on archive.org.
1MUNICH, FEBRUARY 15, 1905.
2HE present month was ushered in with a remarkably fine "Volks-Symphonie" concert at the Kaim Saal.
3The program comprised Dvorák's concerto for 'cello and orchestra, and Schubert's seventh symphony in C major.
4Whether it was that the divine beauty of the two works inspired the musicians, at all events the orchestra surpassed itself; and Raabe conducted not only with his usual wholesouled ardor and earnestness, but with a firmness, evenness and authority that revealed immense progress of late in his art, and spoke good things for his future possibilities.
5Heinrich Warnke, of the Kaim Orchestra, played the 'cello solo in the concerto with great taste and feeling, but his performance was unhappily marred at times by his small, weak tone, whose fault lay possibly less with the player than with his instrument.
6Apart from this feature, the one flaw to be found in the concert was its brevity.
7Willy Burmester gave two concerts here on February 3 and 10, respectively. He was ably assisted by the pianist Willy Klasen, from Vienna.
8The first evening opened with Mozart's sonata in C major, for piano and violin, played by both artists with entrancing beauty of tone and expression. In the next number, Mendelssohn's E minor violin concerto, Burmester made a tremendous impression.
9The enthusiasm wrought by his rare musicianship and virtuosity waxed warmer and warmer as the evening progressed; until finally the wonderful Chopin étude in F minor nearly brought the house down, and had to be repeated.
10After two encores at the close of the concert, the great artist was literally overwhelmed with the applause of the audience and the congratulations of his friends.
11His second recital in every way duplicated the success of its predecessor. Burmester is, without question, what one of the Munich reviews happily terms him, "Ein König der Geige."
12The singers Knote and Senger-Bettaque celebrated their recent return from America by appearing in a superb production of "Lohengrin" at the Royal Opera last week. The house was crowded to its utmost capacity, for in all the principal roles the chief favorites were to appear. Knote as Lohengrin, Morena as Elsa, Bender as King Henry the Fowler, Feinhals as Telramund, and Senger-Bettaque as Ortrud made up the important part of the cast. Excellent singing, fine acting, magnificently brilliant and effective staging won the enraptured appreciation of the audience. one of two readings
13Monday, February 6, Bernhard Stavenhagen gave at the Kaim Saal a "Modern Evening"—the first of an intended series of three—with the eloquionary assistance of Ernest von Possart, intendant of the Royal Opera. The usual force of the Kaim Orchestra was considerably increased for this occasion. one of two readings
14The singers Knote and Senger-Bettaque celebrated their recent return from America by appearing in a superb production of "Lohengrin" at the Royal Opera last week. The house was crowded to its utmost capacity, for in all the principal roles the chief favorites were to appear. one of two readings
15Knote as Lohengrin, Morena as Elsa, Bender as King Henry the Fowler, Feinhals as Telramund, and Senger-Bettaque as Ortrud made up the important part of the cast. one of two readings
16Excellent singing, fine acting, magnificently brilliant and effective staging won the enraptured appreciation of the audience. one of two readings
17Monday, February 6, Bernhard Stavenhagen gave at the Kaim Saal a "Modern Evening"—the first of an intended series of three—with the eloquently assistance of Ernest von Possart, intendant of the Royal Opera. The usual force of the Kaim Orchestra was considerably increased for this occasion. one of two readings
18The program included "Der Islandfischer," a musical tone picture by Pierre Maurice, which I did not hear; Richard Strauss' "Don Quixote"; "Das Hexenlied," a lugubrious work of Max Schillings', conducted by the composer; and "Symphonic Variations," in E minor, by Jean Louis Nicodé.
19Schillings' conducting has the regular precision of an automaton. It is rigid, frosty, unmagnetic; but it is doubtful if the most ideal leadership could infuse into his dismal composition any glow of color or interest. The audience at large appeared to think otherwise, however; and the number was extremely well received.
20Its most prominent feature was Possart's histrionic manifestation.
21In Strauss' "Don Quixote" and Nicodé's "Variations" Stavenhagen led with firmness, skill and temperament. The orchestra does most excellent work under his baton.
22Hilde La Harpe gave a song recital on the following evening, with the assistance of Marianne Brünner, pianist, and the Kaim Orchestra, under Peter Raabe. The singing proved the negative feature of the occasion.
23Hilda la Harpe has a voice in no way remarkable; nor does it bear the stamp of culture or training. Therefore, it is needless to say, her performance was of a very inferior order. She was completely eclipsed by Marianne Brünner, who scored a genuine success with her brilliant rendering of the two concertos, played with faultless technic and crystalline purity of tone.
24She was a trifle cold in expression, but as the character of her numbers called for brilliancy and vigor rather than tenderness of sentiment it is possible that her lack of warmth arose rather from overconcentration of her energies upon these qualities than from incapacity for such expression.
25The gifted young pianist is a former pupil of Stavenhagen and lives in Vienna.
26"Fidelio" was given at the Royal Opera on February 8. Morena, as usual, sang as Leonora, Florestan was represented by Knote, but his voice and style are too heavy for the part. Sieglitz as Rocco cannot be compared to Bender, who with his splendid voice and fine presence and acting is superb in almost everything he does.
27The People's Symphony concert, under Raabe, gave on February 8 the following program: Overture, Wagner; "See Jungfräulein," concert scene for soprano, with orchestral accompaniment, d'Albert (given for the first time), and Liszt's "Dante" symphony. Rose Geller sang the vocal solos and Josef Kainradl presided at the organ.
28The season's second production of the "Nibelungen Ring" has just been concluded. The "Rheingold" was given on Thursday of last week, followed the next day by "Die Walküre." "Siegfried" was given on Sunday and yesterday the "Götterdämmerung" closed the cycle.
29The roles in which the casts differed from those of the previous production, were those of Brünnhilde, Alberich, Fafner and Fricka, in which Senger-Bettaque, Desider Zador, of Prague; Bender and Frau Preuse-Matznauer, respectively, appeared on this occasion. Knote was to have sung as Siegfried, but being prevented by a sudden attack of hoarseness and sore throat Carl Burrian, of the Dresden Royal Opera, again represented the part in which he had created so favorable an impression at his former appearance here.
30Feinhals makes an imposing Wotan, which is considered here to be one of his greatest roles.
31Madame Senger-Bettaque does not appear to have suffered any wear and tear from her American trip. Her Brünnhilde was the very impersonation of noble, vigorous
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