Scan 5
Musical Courier 1905-10-18: Vol 51 Iss 1334, 1905
33 lines. Read by computer on 23 September 2026. Printed page 6. See the scan on archive.org.
A town on its own line is one of the directory's headings. That is where the town on a maker's page comes from.
1largest cities. And even when studying with a Joseffy or a Sauret the student's opportunities for artistic expansion are not what they are in a European art centre. In almost every large American provincial town there are music teachers who consider themselves equal to any in the world, and think that they can take a pupil from the start to a perfect finish. Many of these instructors, no doubt, are good for preparatory work, and all right as far as they go, but some of them have the audacity to bring their pupils abroad and to have them give concerts here without having studied with any acknowledged master. Such a line of action, of course, is prompted by the personal self seeking of the teacher, who is looking forward to the glory and advertisement of himself which he expects will fall to him if his pupil is successful.
3A pitiable case of this kind occurred here only last Thursday. A young lady pianist from one of the large American cities was brought over by her teacher expressly that she might give a concert here and come out as his pupil, without having studied with any acknowledged master. I will not mention the names of the girl and her instructor. The teacher was very sincere in his belief that the young lady was a finished artist, and that she could make a success here in this hotbed of music. As was to be expected under the circumstances, her appearance was a downright fiasco. There are hundreds of amateurs in Germany who play far better, and yet they never think of giving a public concert. Her work had not one redeeming artistic feature, and yet the girl's natural talent shone through it all. Had the poor thing studied with some great pedagogue she might have had a fair success. How can a teacher living in an unmusical American city, where there is scarcely one good concert a month, and where it is impossible to keep pace with the musical world in a practical way, where there is no opportunity of comparing the playing of his pupils with that of great artists, and thus setting up a proper standard for them, where there is absolutely no artistic atmosphere, no rivalry even—under such circumstances how can a man be so blinded as to believe that he can fit a pupil for successful public playing just as well as the finished artists and pedagogues of a city like Berlin, where both teacher and pupil constantly hear the best the musical world affords, and where there are all the advantages that a big, well established and progressive art centre has to offer? It is ridiculous and unbelievable.
5Cases similar to that which I mentioned above are constantly occurring in Berlin, and almost always with disastrous results. Then the American teacher leaves in a rage, and says that the Berlin critics are prejudiced against foreigners, and against Americans in particular, or that they are not honest, or that they really do not know enough about music to judge of his protégée's merits. All this is bosh. I have had a long and intimate acquaintance with the Berlin critics and I know whereof I write. I know that the critics here are absolutely unprejudiced against any nationality, that they are above being influenced in any way, and that they are good, practical musicians—with remarkable powers of discrimination. (In fact, they are not at all like the New York critics!) All the critics of the leading papers of this city are professional musicians. It is, therefore, idle talk to lay a Berlin fiasco to a critic's lack of judgment or of honesty. No critic is infallible, and each has his own peculiar tendencies; but when all the critics unanimously condemn an "artist," as they did the pianist of last Thursday, that artist may be sure that she is mediocre.
7Patriotism is commendable, but fanaticism is not. It is not right to try to impress upon the American people the fact that they "know it all." For the truth is that in the way of music America has still much to learn from Europe.
9Elizabeth Clark-Sleight, the New York vocal teacher, is, as I have lately mentioned, one of those broad minded artists who realize that there is still much to be learned in Europe, and she therefore wisely comes over here every summer to get new ideas. I recently had an interesting chat with her on voice production, and as her remarks and illustrations were all put in the most simple and common sense way, I herewith reproduce them. They cannot fail to be of interest to all singers. Mrs. Clark-Sleight spoke in the main as follows:
11"In the first place, it is to be understood that the singing and speaking voices are identical, so far as the mechanism of tone production is concerned, the only difference between them being that in speaking we use the medium voice, with very few pitches, whereas in singing the range is much greater. The higher we go the greater the tension of the muscles, and the difficulty lies in adjusting the vocal apparatus so as to secure equal pressure and resistance, which are essential to correct vocalization.
13"The foundation of all good singing, of course, is correct breathing. As is well known, the tone must always rest on the breath, or be supported by the diaphragm. In ascending the scale, on account of the high pitches involved, the tension of the vocal chords becomes greater. Therefore, the control of the vocal mechanism becomes more difficult. One has the sensation that the breath is pushing up, and that the tone is resisting this upward tendency; and here we have the pressure and resistance to which I just referred.
15"Individuals differ so much that it is impossible to give a cast iron rule for voice production. During my long experience, however, I have found that most pupils grasp the idea when it is put to them in this way. The object of every teacher should be to develop the tone that is characteristic of each individual pupil, this tone, of course, always being based on correct principles of artistic tone production. Fauré has said that the singer's voice should resemble steel with cotton around it. I prefer to liken the voice to bone and flesh, the bone representing the individual tone and characteristics of each voice, and the flesh, as that of the arm, full of symmetry and grace, representing the beauty, bloom and timbre of the voice. This is merely expressing Fauré's idea in another way.
17"Now a few words in regard to resonance. If the strings of a violin are stretched and set in vibration they produce a tone. Attached to the violin, which acts as a sounding board, they give a reinforced or augmented tone. So it is with the vocal chords. If they could be stretched and vibrated as the strings of a violin they would give forth a tone. This tone, passing into the mouth and nasal cavity, becomes augmented just as in the case of a violin. In the lower pitches the tone has more head resonance, whereas in the higher pitches one is conscious of great resonance in the mouth cavity. In other words, as a celebrated singer has written in a treatise on the vocal art, there are two currents of air, one passing through the nostrils, which is the nearest approach to the outer air from the head cavity, and the other through the mouth. From this it will readily be seen what important factors these two cavities are in producing tone color. This, of course, is but a mere outline of my way of teaching tone production."
19In a recent issue I wrote about Caruso's testing his vocal powers on a Chicago audience by singing for his colleague, Reiss, behind the scenes. This anecdote went the rounds of the German press. Now Mr. Reiss makes a correction. He writes: "It was not a joke of Caruso's, but a joke of mine. I had sung the 'Serenade' from 'Pagliacci' probably fifty times, and I never had the least bit of applause. At this, I openly confess, I was much enraged, and in order to convince myself whether it was my fault or the fault of the 'Serenade,' I requested Caruso to sing the part for me one evening. Caruso, who is a very obliging colleague, willingly did so, and to my great satisfaction and to his astonishment not a hand was raised in applause. That was two years ago in Boston. Since then at every presentation of Bajazzi I have asked Caruso to repeat the performance, but as the Boston experience had greatly provoked him, he refused. Finally, last winter in Chicago, one evening, when he was in particularly good voice, he accepted my invitation and gave the 'Serenade' for the second time. He sang like a young god, and took great pains with the especial intention of calling forth applause from the public. Not a hand was moved. He then said that he would never do it again."
21The historical museum of the famous Leipsic music connoisseur, Paul de Wit, is to be removed from its present situation and to pass out of the possession of Leipsic. It has come into the hands of a Cologne music lover, who intends to bestow it upon the Cologne Conservatory. Rumor says that De Wit closed the sale only after he had failed in his attempts to obtain from the Leipsic municipality a free site for the museum. As his collection comprises a very valuable set of old instruments, as well as interesting souvenirs of Leipsic musical life, the town, doubtless, will have cause to regret its shortsighted parsimony in regard to the matter.
23Julius Falck, a young violinist, from Philadelphia, who has studied for the past two years with Sevcik, in Prague, recently had the honor to play before King Edward at Marienbad. It was at a reception arranged for the King by Mrs. Potter Palmer, and in all there were only twelve persons present. Young Falck was down on the program for two numbers only, but his playing so pleased the monarch that at His Majesty's request he was obliged to play nine times. The King talked with him for several minutes, showing great interest and knowledge of music. It was a great honor for the young violinist and he naturally feels much elated. Falck is one of the best of the Sevcik pupils. The Bohemian, as well as the European press, commented upon the reception, and upon the impression which the playing of the young violinist made upon the King.
25Glazounow has finished a new violin concerto in A major. Its first performance in Germany will be at the Gewandhaus.
27Ugo Afferni has become a great favorite and a drawing power in Wiesbaden. The young Italian conductor, who has been at the head of the Kur-Orchestra since May, has been remarkably successful. Not only the local press, but also representatives of foreign papers who visited Wiesbaden during the summer wrote enthusiastic articles about Afferni's conducting. He is becoming one of the leading conductors of Germany, and was just the man for the important Wiesbaden position. It is a much coveted position, as the 138 competitors who applied last spring show. Afferni has distinguished himself not only as an orchestral conductor, but as a program maker also. His programs for his summer concerts were varied, interesting and instructive, showing catholicity in taste and a profound knowledge of musical literature. For his coming winter series of twelve big symphony concerts, too, his programs rank among the best, and are of the same standard as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Leipsic Gewandhaus, the Frankfort Museum concerts. In the choice of his soloists, moreover, Afferni shows that only the best will do for him. The twelve dates are already filled and the artists engaged are Teresa Carreño, Fritz Kreisler, Ossip Gabrilowitsch, Carl Burrian, Otilie Metzger-Froitzheim, Ernst van Dyck, Maikki Järnefelt, Pablo de Sarasate, Baptist Hoffmann, Katharina Fleischer Edel, Erika Wedekind and Jacques Thibaud.
29Still another pianist is to settle in Berlin. This time it is Olga Zeisi, a pupil of Ferdinand Hiller. James Kwast, will accept a limited number of advanced, talented pupils.
30Address care of Musical Courier
31Luitpold Str. 24
32BERLIN
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