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Musical Courier 1905-11-29: Vol 51 Iss 1340, 1905
30 lines. Read by computer on 24 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1LUTE virtuosi are rare birds nowadays. In former times, on the contrary, the flute was very popular as a solo instrument. Frederick the Great gave a great impetus to that branch of musical performance, both by his own example (for he was an admirable performer on the instrument), and by his encouragement of flute playing talent. He engaged Quantz, the greatest flutist of his time, and retained him at his court for many years. The evening soirées of Sans-Souci became famous throughout Europe. In fact, one of the late Adolf von Menzel's most noted paintings is that of a concert at the court of Frederick the Great, in which the monarch himself is depicted playing the flute. Old Fritz was not only a very fine performer, but he was also keenly interested in music in general. He built the present Berlin Royal Opera House, and in other ways did a great deal for the development of music in the Prussian capital. He undoubtedly was the best musician of all the monarchs that ever lived. With the development of the modern grand piano, however, and the momentum given to violin playing by such giants as Paganini and Spohr the popularity of the "soft-complaining flute" began to wane.
3Emilio Puyans, of Paris, gave a flute concert in Bechstein Hall Tuesday evening. He is a flute virtuoso in the best and highest sense of the word. Technically he has complete command of his instrument, and he produces a beautiful soft tone—not so loud as that of some of the first flutists in the German orchestras, but a tone warm and sympathetic, and of lovely quality. His interpretations, too, showed him to be a good musician, and he has a pleasing, polished style. His whole performance was characterized by purity and finish. It is really surprising how much music can be gotten out of such a little reed. With the assistance of Ella Jonas, pianist, Puyans played the Mozart G major concerto for flute and piano, a "Fantasie Pastorale Hongroise," by F. Droppler, and a concertino by Chaminade. His capabilities were best displayed in the Droppler fantasy. Musically this piece does not take high rank, but in it Droppler's treatment of the flute corresponds to the characteristic handling of the violin by Ernst, Vieuxtemps or Wieniawski.
5Since Francescina Prevosti's magnificent interpretation of Violetta no singer has given that role so convincingly as Gemma Bellincioni, who appeared in Verdi's well worn "Traviata" at the West Side Opera on November 4. The famous Italian prima donna enjoys the reputation of being a great interpreter of passionate, dramatic roles, like that of Santuzza, for instance, but in the part of Violetta she loved, suffered and died in a way so refined, so touching, so wonderfully realistic that the audience was moved to tears. Her playing is so sincere, so forcibly expressive, so vivid, that one feels her joys and sorrows with her, and withal there is no exaggeration of expression, mimic or action. It was all done so naturally, so easily. It was the consummation of art—the art that conceals art.
7All doubts of the diva's ability to interpret the role with subtlety and refinement vanished from the minds of the most skeptical. Vocally, Bellincioni was less satisfying, yet, barring a few slurred passages, her coloratura work was clear, telling and brilliant. Her greatest achievement, however, was the dramatic intensity with which she invested the part. Notwithstanding the unusually high prices the house was well filled, and the celebrated prima donna was applauded to the echo. She will appear here several times again.
9The first of a new series of concerts organized by the Concert Management Léonard, under the brilliant young conductor, Oscar Fried, took place in the Philharmonic on Wednesday evening. The services of the Philharmonic Orchestra and the Stern Singing Society were enlisted for the occasion, while for soloists Emmy Destinn, of the Royal Opera, soprano, and Martha Stapelfeld, alto, were engaged. Aino Ackté had been announced for the soprano part, but on account of the troubles resulting from the great strike in Russia she was unable to come. For the past few months she has been resting in her old home in Helsingfors.
11The program was made up of Max Reger's choral cantata, "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden," two songs with orchestral accompaniment, to wit, "Der Fischerknabe" and "Die Lorelei," by Liszt, and Gustav Mahler's third symphony, in C minor. The Reger work is a purely ecclesiastical composition, and thoroughly Bach-like in style. It was extremely well performed, both by orchestra and chorus. The two Liszt numbers were sung by Destinn with beautiful voice and intelligent "Vortrag."
13The chief attraction of the evening was Mahler's symphony. This opus, in my opinion, is his greatest symphonic work, both in point of substance, and of workmanship. It is far more interesting, for instance, than his fifth symphony. It has ideas in abundance, and it has masterly treatment of the orchestra. Mahler's many weaknesses are also in evidence, such as his heterogeneous style, his inability to know when to stop, padding, and so forth. The symphony contains five movements, namely, an allegro maestoso, an andante and a scherzo, these three being for orchestra alone; then follows a movement called "Urlicht," for alto solo and orchestra; while the finale is for alto, soprano, full chorus and orchestra.
15The first movement contains some good thematic material, but it is not well distributed, nor well worked out. There is unnecessary padding, which makes the movement much too long. This allegro is very modern in its tendencies. All the more surprising, therefore, was the andante, which is quite antediluvian in style, and no more in harmony with the rest of the work than a Haydn adagio would be with a Richard Strauss symphonic poem. Indeed, it is quite Haydn-like in style. The symphony as a whole is not homogeneous. We hear a little Beethoven, a little Haydn, a little Schubert, a little Schumann, a little Goldmark even, and a good deal of Mahler himself. It is this lack of continuity in style that is Mahler's greatest weakness.
17The scherzo is much too heavy. The "Urlicht" seems to me the most important movement of all the five movements.—There is "Stimmung" in it, it sounds well, and great skill is displayed in the handling of both the alto voice and the orchestra. The finale, which at its close calls for full orchestra and choral apparatus, is a pompous, fine-sounding piece of writing.
19The performance of the symphony, under the genial direction of Oscar Fried, was magnificent. The Stern Singing Society has made enormous progress since Fried has been at its head. The alto solo was also excellent. Mahler himself was present, having come up from Vienna expressly to attend the performance. The Mahler fanatics, of course, were out in full force, and Bedlam reigned in the Philharmonie. Both composer and conductor were called out again and again.
21An interesting concert was given by Bernhard Stavenhagen at the Philharmonie on Monday evening, with the assistance of the Philharmonic Orchestra and Ernst von Possart. Possart recited in Alexander Ritter's melodramatic setting to Felix Dahn's ballad, "Graf Walther und die Waldfrau," orchestrated by Siegmund von Hausegger. He also declaimed the part of "Die Sangelist" in Friedrich Klose's symphonic poem for orchestra, organ, female chorus, and recitation. Both of these works are new to Berlin. The Klose composition, however, I heard a year ago last May at Heidelberg, in connection with the Frankfurt Music Festival, and at that time wrote my impressions of it in full. It was then given with sunken orchestra and in a darkened hall. The composer calls for these conditions, but in the Philharmonie they were impracticable. The Ritter composition is not of great musical worth. Its author's fund of melody is not rich, and the instrumentation, though excellent, reveals nothing new. Possart's declamation, as always, was wonderful. He is a past master of enunciation, and his voice has a remarkable carrying power.
23The only pure orchestral number of the evening was "Odysseus Heimkehr," the last of four episodes by Ernst Böhe, based upon the "Odyssey." Like its three sister movements, it displays great skill in orchestration, being quite remarkable for judicious use of the various instruments, and for blending of the different tones. Böhe has a marked sense of orchestral color and "Klang." His thematic invention, however, is not strong. With him it is a question not so much of what he says as of how he says it.
25Arthur Hartmann, just returned from a triumphal tour of Scandinavia, gave a concert in Beethoven Hall on the same evening, but at a later hour. He played three big Bach numbers, namely, the E major concerto (with accompaniment), and the A minor fugue and the chaconne, (for violin alone.) As a Bach player, Hartmann takes high rank, and as an interpreter of the chaconne especially he has won renown. His conception of the gigantic work is individual, and although all violinists might not agree with it on some points, his rendering of it is virile, consistent and logical. He never fails to produce a tremendous effect with the work.
27The last half of Hartmann's program was devoted to novelties. He was heard in Sitt's arrangement of a Tschaikowsky barcarolle, in a berceuse by Arensky, in Arbos' Spanish dance, called "Tango," and in Mackenzie's new concerto, "Pibroch." The Arbos work is a very cleverly written piece. It is admirably adapted to the violin, grateful, and effective. Hartmann's playing of it is simply perfection. He made a big hit with it, and was obliged to repeat it. The Tschaikowsky and Arensky numbers are also pleasing bits of writing, but I draw the line at the Mackenzie concerto. More dry, uninspired, academic, aggravating, tedious music I never heard. Then, too, with all its tremendous difficulties it does not sound; it is not effective. The storm of applause which broke forth at its close was meant, not for the composition but for Hartmann's admirable rendering of it.
29Carl Flesch's third historic violin recital, which took place at Beethoven Hall, Thursday evening, purported to cover in brief the development of the violin literature from Viotti to Ernst. I could not wholly agree with the concert-giver in the choice of all his numbers, for the works of Alard, David and de Beriot that he played were weak, especially on the musical side. Yet they are not without
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