Scan 23
Musical Courier 1905-03-08: Vol 50 Iss 1302, 1905
68 lines. Read by computer on 23 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 24. See the scan on archive.org.
1ed by Toscanini, and one, with chorus, under the direction of Falchi, devoted to works by Carissimi, Handel and Bach. Five concerts of chamber music are to be given in the Eternal City by the Joachim Quartet in the Palazzo Farnese.
3WILLIAM K. ZIEGFELD, the business manager of the Chicago Musical College, is in town, and it is understood by those who possess inside information that the Ziegfelds are contemplating the removal of their successful institution to New York at no very distant date. This would be a tremendous blow to Chicago's musical prestige, but it would mean a corresponding gain to New York. San Francisco also put in a strong bid when the fact became known that the Chicago Musical College was casting its eyes eastward, and a syndicate in the California metropolis immediately offered to build a magnificent home there for the college, and to make extraordinary financial inducements. When asked about all these rumors William K. Ziegfeld merely remarked upon the state of the weather, but when pressed he admitted that "nothing is strange that happens nowadays." The musical world will await further Chicago developments with unusual interest.
5THE Chicago papers of Saturday, March 4, are enthusiastic regarding the conducting of Mr. Stock, the successor of Theodore Thomas. Mr. Hubbard says in the Tribune that the audience was charmed and interested keenly, and that if Mr. Stock can cause his men to read the other Brahms symphonies as he did the F major the orchestra has in its present conductor a Brahms interpreter whose superior would be difficult to find in this country or Europe.
7The Inter Ocean says: "Mr. Stock read the Brahms symphony with a decision never felt before in his work, and his climaxes lent life and enthusiasm to the performance."
9The Examiner says: "Mr. Stock is to be congratulated on the grand reading he gave the symphony. It was a masterpiece," &c.
11Evidently Chicago is taking stock in Stock.
13CHICAGO, March 6.—The body of Theodore Thomas, the late orchestra leader, which had been in a vault at Graceland Cemetery here since the funeral last January, has been taken to Boston and interred in Mt. Auburn Cemetery. The burial took place privately on March 4. Mrs. Thomas accompanied the body, and was met in New York by relatives, who accompanied her to Boston. It was the intention originally to have the burial later in the spring. The plans were changed at the instance of Mrs. Thomas.
15STRANGE destiny; the city that appealed least to Theodore Thomas to be the home of his mortal remains! Boston did not give support to Thomas. Outside of New York and Brooklyn and Cincinnati and Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia were the only two large communities that could have enjoyed the luxury, but those cities did not respond. And yet Theodore Thomas rests forever near Boston. Strange destiny!
17THE Savage English Opera Company opened in San Francisco last week, and the metropolis of the Pacific Coast has capitulated completely to the extraordinary work done by Mr. Savage's splendid company. It seems more than likely that he will have to extend his time on the Coast and make an annual visit there in the future.
19D R. VIOTTA, of Amsterdam, has received a protest signed by some of the leading conductors in Germany, and directed against his projected performance of "Parsifal." The protest is signed, among others, by Dr. Hans Richter, Prof. Julius Kniese, Dr. Muck, Dr. Richard Strauss, Josef Sucher, Georg Schumann, Karl Panzner, Siegmund von Hausegger, Fritz Steinbach, Otto Lohse, Prof. Arthur Nikisch, Dr. Fritz Volbach, Felix Mottl. Felix Weingartner is not on the list, and there is tall thinking thereat in certain quarters.
21HENRY T. FINCK writes in a recent issue of the New York Evening Post:
22A year or two ago Richard Strauss conducted all of Liszt's symphonic poems in succession at his Berlin concerts. This winter Busoni is doing a similar service for the piano transcriptions made by Liszt, which arouse the enthusiasm of even Dr. Leopold Schmidt of the Tageblatt, who is not a Lisztite, but admits that the "Don Juan," "Rigoletto," "Robert the Devil," "Lucrezia," &c., fantasies of Liszt, are as entertaining as ever. "It seems to me," he writes, "that if we are to be called on to admire the art of playing the piano, such programs are much more suitable for concerts than the customary sonata programs with their serious educational physiognomy. The audience was evidently of the same opinion, for it was genuinely enthusiastic."
24HEINRICH CONRIED has been complaining in print because his opera company attracted only a poor advance sale in Boston. "I always considered Boston a musical city," said Mr. Conried. And so it is; and the fact could not be more potently proved than when Boston prefers its symphonic music to "grand" opera. It has been demonstrated time and again that those American cities which support permanent orchestras do not care for "star" opera. THE MUSICAL COURIER always suspected Boston of being the most musical city in this country. Now we know it.
26FROM advance sheets of the "History of Egypt" (by G. Maspero, the well known Egyptologist), to be issued by the Grolier Society, of London, we quote:
27In music the ancient Egyptians excelled. The banjo is strictly evolved from a prehistoric type, and the word banjo is of Egyptian origin. The oldest harps also are very similar to the modern instrument. One very old and curious picture shows a lady harpist kept cool, by means of a revolving fan, while she played. At Alexandria the earliest forms of musical notation were discovered, an ancient manuscript by Alypius showing signs for musical notes in harmonic pairs.
29EUGEN D'ALBERT was the soloist at the fourteenth evening and afternoon concerts of the Pittsburg Orchestra, March 3 and 4. He conducted his "Improvisator" prelude and played his E major concerto with tremendous success. The public and the press of Pittsburg combined in unequivocal recognition of d'Albert's significance, both as a composer and as a pianist. At the same concert Emil Paur received an ovation for his leading of Brahms' second symphony. The next two concerts of the Pittsburg Orchestra will be the last for this season.
31THE Geneva daily paper, La Suisse, recently sent a circular letter to its subscribers asking them to send in a list of their favorite operas. Many thousand answers were received. The favorite opera was "Faust," with 2,015 votes; then came "Manon," with 1,792; "Carmen," with 1,756; "La Bohème," with 1,646, and "Mignon," with 1,256. Wagner does not come into consideration at all.
33J. S. SHEDLOCK says that birds were the first music masters. There are some music masters of today who are birds—but of a different kind!
35S. C. Bennett's Lecture-Musical.
36"PSYCHOLOGICAL Principles of Voice Development" was the subject of S. C. Bennett's lecture-musical in his Carnegie Hall studio on Tuesday afternoon and evening of last week. His remarks, being of an instructive nature, were especially appreciated by the large number of students present, and they were aptly illustrated with vocal selections by three of his talented pupils, namely: Florence Hands, soprano; Mrs. Walter Hubbard, soprano, and L. W. Rainey, baritone. Lucille Semnacher and Edith Morgan played the accompaniments in a musicianly and sympathetic manner.
38Musical Briefs.
40Mrs. Boice Wood, the soprano, whose press notices are published on another page, sang during February at concerts in Freehold, Jersey City and Newark, N. J., and in Brooklyn, N. Y.
42Monday morning the Severns played by request the Grieg sonata, op. 45, at their ninth "Sonata Talk." Mr. Severn gave the usual analysis before the performance, at which the lecturer-violinist was assisted by Mrs. Severn at the piano. For the tenth and final afternoon, March 20, Mr. Severn's trio will be played by the Severns—Edmund Severn violin, Arthur Severn 'cello and Mrs. Edmund Severn piano.
44Grace G. Gardner will give a musicale at her home, 36 West Twenty-fifth street, Thursday evening, March 9.
46Maximilian Pilzer, an American boy violinist who studied with Joachim, will give a recital at Mendelssohn Hall, Thursday evening, March 9.
48YSAYE RECITAL.
50SUNDAY afternoon, at Carnegie Hall, Ysaye appeared in recital for the first time here this season and attracted his usual enormous audience and earned his usual enormous success. There is no steadier and more reliable artist before the public than Ysaye. His playing is always a revelation, always a serene exhibition of Olympic musical delights. He is a giant in every way among the violinists, and as far as the American public is concerned he has made it hark back to the B. C. days, for our music lovers have made Ysaye an idol and are worshipping him with ever increasing fervor. But he is a true musical god, so the worship is justified.
52The opening of the Bruch concerto has never been played here with more bigness and boldness than Ysaye gave it on Sunday. The first movement throbbed with passion, the lovely slow movement was replete with lyric beauty and mellifluous sentiment, and the finale tugged and thrilled and compelled, as though the violin had suddenly been transformed by Ysaye into a whole orchestra and become possessed of a hundred voices instead of only one. It was a performance that brought the audience to its feet with wild cheers, and will be remembered as long as fiddle tradition exists in this city. In Bach's chaconne Ysaye was in his supreme glory, and he played the noble music with a degree of beauty and pathos which he has rarely before reached in all his many New York appearances. Other numbers on Ysaye's program—every note of which testified to his marvelous mastery—were Handel's G minor sonata, Wagner-Wilhelmj's "Parsifal" paraphrase, Schumann's "Abendlied," Tchaikovsky's "Sérénade Melancolique," and Saint-Saëns' "Caprice Valse." Of course there were encores and recalls galore. Jules de Befve accompanied at the piano with more musical than technical control.
54Vernon d'Arnal, the Chicago baritone, contributed variety to the concert by singing a well arranged group of songs selected from the compositions of Caldara, Legrenzi, Schubert, Wolf, Brahms, Kaun and Weingartner. Mr. d'Arnal is an artist of unusual graces, who uses his polished and sympathetic voice with rare art. His delivery is enhanced materially by reason of his clear enunciation and his ability to give dramatic life to the text of the song. His musical intelligence dominates his performance, but his voice possesses so much natural charm and freshness that his interpretations never become surcharged with intellect at the expense of emotion. D'Arnal is a singer who has found himself, and he maintains in his performances that perfect balance between the vocal and interpretative adjuncts which makes for true art, and reaches it naturally and easily. D'Arnal should be heard often in New York, where he is sure to make many friends, judging by the enthusiastic reception which was given him last Sunday. one of two readings
55Vernon d'Arnelle, the Chicago baritone, contributed variety to the concert by singing a well arranged group of songs selected from the compositions of Caldara, Legrenzi, Schubert, Wolf, Brahms, Kaun and Weingartner. Mr. d'Arnelle is an artist of unusual graces, who uses his polished and sympathetic voice with rare art. His delivery is enhanced materially by reason of his clear enunciation and his ability to give dramatic life to the text of the song. His musical intelligence dominates his performance, but his voice possesses so much natural charm and freshness that his interpretations never become surcharged with intellect at the expense of emotion. D'Arnelle is a singer who has found himself, and he maintains in his performances that perfect balance between the vocal and interpretative adjuncts which makes for true art, and reaches it naturally and easily. D'Arnelle should be heard often in New York, where he is sure to make many friends, judging by the enthusiastic reception which was given him last Sunday. one of two readings
57A Benefit Concert.
59SOME excellent artists are to give a concert for the benefit of the Fifty-sixth Street Synagogue, at the Harlem Casino, March 21. Those united in the affairs are Adele Ledermann, soprano; Mary Porter Mitchell, alto; Pauline Serhey, violinist, and James F. Nuno, baritone.
61Cunningham in Denver.
63MANAGER FITZHUGH W. HAENSEL reports that Claude Cunningham, the splendid baritone, will sing in "Elijah" at Denver, on March 9, with the fashionable Trinity Church Choir, one of the leading choral organizations of the West.
65Margaret Keyes Congratulated.
67THE well known alto Margaret Keyes was quite showered with congratulations upon her singing at the Speaks musicale. Her solos were, "O That We Two Were Maying" and "Summertime's Song," both by Speaks.
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