Scan 4
Musical Courier 1905-09-06: Vol 51 Iss 1328, 1905
30 lines. Read by computer on 23 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1THE MUSICAL COURIER.
3LUITPOLD STR. 24,
4BERLIN, W.,
5AUGUST 20, 1905.
7HE Vienna Conservatory has hit upon a novel plan for affording its students interesting entertainment, together with a judicious admixture of musical instruction. A course of so called "Kunstwanderungen" is being mapped out, in accordance with which the pupils of the Conservatory are to visit all the accessible places in which the famous music masters have lived and worked. The house selected for the first invasion is "No. 8 Schulerstrasse." This four storied old edifice, in spite of its dark stairs and gloomy court, is alive with interest for musicians, for, in 1784, Mozart and his family moved into its first étage, and within its walls the great composer wrote his "Don Juan." Here every Sunday morning the master gave musical lectures, to which admission was charged, and here, besides "Don Juan," he wrote "The Play Director," "The Marriage of Figaro," and numerous symphonies and sonatas. Tradition likewise recounts that to this house Haydn brought awkward young Beethoven to call upon Mozart, and in alluding to the embryonic Titan, said: "Wolfgang is the best musician of his age!" and here, again it was that Mozart, as he listened to Beethoven's piano playing, turned to the other hearers and said: "Look out for him! Some day he'll make the world talk about him!"
9Further light upon the first performance of "Tristan and Isolde" now comes in the shape of a newly published letter in Musik, written by Ludwig Schnorr von Caruldsfeld, the first Tristan, to Joachim Raff, and speaking of Wagner and Von Bülow, and their joint sojourn in Munich. The relations existing between the artists and the king, and the opposition with which they met in Munich, Schnorr describes as follows:
11"Just as I thought—there is not a word of truth in the rumors of royal disfavor or in the reasons alleged for the disfavor. Wagner's friendship with the king has the strength of a rock, so that he could not misuse it if he would, and he is far, far from wishing to. No—he has every reason to believe in a miracle, the miracle that brought about the birth of this king in his behalf, and he does believe in this miracle. Just now he has nothing in his head but his work and the performance—all his efforts are turned toward that end, and the problems in connection with it are so great that he has no room for other interests. The king guarantees all the means as far as money is concerned, and so it seems that, if God grant us life and strength, the first production of 'Tristan and Isolde' can take place in May.
13"Munich is a difficult fighting ground, and to Wagner in particular a number of factions are opposed, and factions that are hostile to each other. The ministerial faction sees in Wagner a 'Lola Montez,' because of his desire for expenditures, and also, ridiculously enough, fears his political influence. The priests make up the second faction; they fear Wagner, and with reason, as the enemy of all churchly darkness. The third, and not the weakest faction, is that of the musicians. Those are the three opposing parties. On their first attempt they ran aground, and were of great profit to Wagner, for the public does not join in on a covert assault, and least of all after Wagner's and Bülow's explanations could have expected an open visor. These opposing gentlemen, however, have remained concealed in the fog, and that is Wagner's gain. Thus far I have seen him often in association with all sorts of people, and those who are not his friends, and I can only say that I find his nature refined and adaptable. As I said before, the final realization of his plans takes away his raw, repellant individuality, for he has only one goal before his eyes, and nothing positive can be thrown in his way.
15"Bülow's position I consider very difficult and tiring. Yet I hope that when he has recovered his physical balance he also will find the strength and staying power to conquer his hindrances. Of course there is a good deal of self abnegation attaching to his position, not only because he must act solely as a reproductive artist, but also that even in this line he must begin at the beginning and pass a school examination. The people of Munich are not hospitable; they mistrust all strangers, and by his very profession Von Bülow is a stranger to them. Not perhaps that they wish to form their own opinions, for the people here read no newspapers, and those they read bring in no foreign news. Still, anyone who bears invincible weapons with him, as does Bülow, need not think of such difficulties. And certainly he himself would laugh at Munich's barbarous standpoint—but he is ill, and very ill. He cannot recuperate, and as he says, he has been ill for eight months. It's really too bad, and he can't be blamed if he doesn't always see clearly."
17The Leipsic Signale has an interesting account of how Hermann Götz's opera, "The Taming of the Shrew," finally won a hearing and its first performance. According to the author of the Signale's story (Herr Gestner, of Frankfurt) Ernst Frank, the kapellmeister, of Mannheim, came to his house one evening in the year 1873 all enraptured over a new opera which he had discovered. On being pressed to tell the story of his discovery the worthy kapellmeister first enthusiastically sang to the company bits from "The Taming of the Shrew," and then told the following story:
19"Yesterday, when I was coming out of rehearsal, dog tired, I saw a pale, blond, glum faced man sitting in the vestibule. First I thought him one of those everlasting beggars, but then he held out to me a fat note book with the inscription 'The Taming of the Shrew, Comic Opera, by Hermann Götz,' and said to me wearily: 'There! You're the last one I'll bother! If it doesn't suit you, the Rhine'll swallow it!' and a big tear rolled down his hollow cheek. 'It's too bad, but how is a poor schoolmaster and musician to get his wife and children through it all if no one will listen to his music?' Herr von Bülow sent me here from Hannover with his greeting.'
21"At supper, and with a glass of wine to encourage him, Götz told me more of his trials with the opera, and of his other compositions. Then he took me to the piano. With each number my interest in him grew, and as at 3 o'clock he struck the last chord, I embraced the luckless composer and promised him from the depths of my heart, 'We Mannheimers will perform it!'"
23The promise of the genial kapellmeister was not hard of fulfillment. The fascination and sparkling beauty of Götz's music soon won recognition from the committee in charge of the Mannheim Opera performances. The first performance of "Der Widerspenstigen Zähmung" was the speedy outcome of Herr Frank's kindly interest, and the soul weary composer had the satisfaction of seeing his work produced and placed on the none too overflowing list of standard comic operas.
25I recently spent several weeks at Westerland, a famous German watering place on the island of Sylt in the North Sea. It is a delightful spot in which to recuperate, but the music there was abominable. The local Kur-Orchestra was beneath criticism, and the conductor was worse. He has occupied this position twenty years, and why the management tolerates such a superannuated, incapable man is a mystery. The atrocious playing of the band gave rise to the following good conundrum, which went the rounds of the place: "Welche Ahnlichkeit Zwischen der See am Strand und dem Kur-Orchester?" Answer: "Wenn man zu lange davor steht wird man von beiden fortgespielt." (In the Saxon dialect "Spülen" and "Spielen" are one and the same word.)
27I marveled at the difference between the quality of the music at Westerland and that at Nordeney, where I spent some time last season. The latter place has a splendid symphony orchestra, recruited from good opera house orchestras from all over Germany, and its daily concerts and quite especially its big weekly symphony concerts under Josef Frischen, can be compared with the best winter series of concerts in any of the leading German cities. The orchestra this year seems to have been better than ever, for the Nordeney Kur Zeitung, in writing of the first concert, which took place July 13, says:
29"Yesterday's initial concert of the Royal Kur-Orchestra set a high water mark for the year's performances hardly to be surmounted. The concert opened with Beethoven's powerful C minor symphony. This symphony, as no other, is the touchstone on which the qualities of both director and orchestra are tried, and therefore we can affirm with pleasure that the Royal Kur-Orchestra gives proof of a brilliant material in its makeup. The list of its members includes the best from the great court opera orchestras, and the excellence of the organization, which stands unique among all the Kur-Orchestras in Germany, in union with the genial leadership of Frischen, in spite of the short time for rehearsals, resulted in a public performance which elicited our unqualified approval. In the first movement of the Beethoven full due was given to the heavy accents; one could revel in the absolute tonal beauty of the wonderfully rendered andante con moto; and in the scherzo and finale one marveled at the fine rhythm and brilliance that carried everything before it. Herr Frischen, who laid his men under a spell with his fascinating art of directing, was stormily called to the front at the close of the symphony and loaded down with floral gifts. The rest of the evening brought 'Tod und Verklärung,' in which the orchestra again proved itself adequate to all demands that might be made on a first class orchestra, for it followed the slightest,
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