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Musical Courier 1905-11-29: Vol 51 Iss 1340, 1905
99 lines. Read by computer on 24 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1THE NATIVE OR THE FOREIGNER—WHICH?
3(From an Exchange.)
5ARTHUR RECK, whose excellent piano playing at the Chicago Musical College before his sojourn abroad was readily recognized, reports that "Reisenauer accepts pupils in about the same way in which Liszt used to meet them. He does no actual teaching." There is the rub. Now, then, if no actual teaching is done, what on earth is the pilgrimage to Leipsic good for? We are not informed as to the exact proceedings at these pleasant conversational lessons, where a dozen or so advanced musicians meet, all uniformly drilled to arise simultaneously when the master (sic) enters, and conscious of a hush which (according to Reck) falls upon this strange crew in search of musical lore. Some student, bolder than the rest, humbly begs for a chance to play, and then performs something which the aforesaid master wishes to hear. Without any desire to animadvert on Mr. Reisenauer's work as an instructor, of which I know absolutely nothing, one cannot help reflecting upon this strange state of affairs. Here are thousands of students who have passed into an advanced artistic state of musical development. The period arrives when their present resources fail to satisfy them. They must seek larger domains of art. Well and good! But why submit to the above sort of thing, which the identical people who trapse 4,000 miles to obtain, would not tolerate for one minute here in America?
7Exactly the same conditions prevailed in Berlin with Theodore Kullak when I placed myself under his tutelage in 1874, and at Weimar with Liszt in 1876. The class system, always a farce in which the weaker musical vessel acts the clown for the remainder of the class, degenerated into a complete mockery in those years. It is absurd to assume that a lesson submitted in this manner to even the greatest authority can be of any benefit; as a matter of fact the performance of the student is unnatural, strained and incomplete; he is at a complete disadvantage and everything is against him. The reproduction of his lesson by the master does not help one iota; it simply demonstrates how it is done but not how to do it. The parallel with Liszt is rather lame. In the first place, Liszt had the pick of the world so far as material went, and then again during his lifetime a period of study at Weimar proved a valuable trademark, for no one escaped being his favored pupil.
9The Liszt pupils who reached eminence and represent the traditions of the grand old man most brilliantly have without exception enjoyed his personal and private counsel and advice. Among them we rank Mr. Reisenauer himself, Mlle. Aus der Ohe, Rosenthal, d'Albert, Sauer and Siloti, and among the older school, Von Bülow, Bendel, Sgambati and Tausig. As to Liszt himself, one may well say: "Nature made him and then broke the mold."
11Almost all foreigners who favor our shores with their august presence contract a tired feeling very soon after they arrive. Hard work is not at all what they are after, and they find that teaching in Chicago, St. Paul, Cincinnati, Denver or San Francisco is a different proposition from living in that happy elysium where a hush falls upon the pupils when the master enters; I suppose the corresponding emolument is called hush money. The newcomer finds the very pupil, who was so complacent and easily satisfied and so grateful for so very little in Europe, a very hard nut to crack here. He now wants the value of his money, he wants to know, you know, he asks questions; in fact, he wants the pound of flesh which he has paid for. This jars upon the sensitive artistic organization of the long haired and fur coated individual from abroad, and sooner or later he deserts our shores and returns to his more comfortable and profitable bunco game in some rue or strasse.
13From the above list of American cities I have intentionally omitted New York and Boston, as these two musical centres have long since ceased to be active factors in our American musical affairs as far as music teaching is concerned. Chicago is today teaching a greater number of music students than any other American city, as much on account of its geographical advantages as the available pedagogic talent.
15The West's the thing. Life, energy and vitality are in the very air. Competition is keener than down East; every teacher is on his mettle and the student derives corresponding benefit. Very little driftwood goes down the stream; everyone is alive and doing. The American teacher does "actual teaching," and when he collects his fee he has the gratifying consciousness that he has well earned it and that he has delivered the goods to the purchaser.
17Damrosch Engaged Ada Chambers.
19THE New York Times of Friday, November 10, published the following story of Ada Chambers' career:
21Although she has never sung with an orchestra, Ada Chambers, twenty-two years old, has drawn a prize of the New York musical season that many better known and more experienced singers have sought. She will appear as the soprano soloist with the New York Oratorio Society when it gives Beethoven's "Missa Solemnis," at Carnegie Hall on December 9. Frank Damrosch, director of the Oratorio Society, looks upon her as a valuable "find."
23Miss Chambers is the daughter of a judge, in Cambridge, Ohio. When she was about sixteen she went to Boston to study music. She came to New York about two years ago, and continued her studies with Madame von Felitzsch, who believed she would succeed, but held her back from appearing in public because she had not matured.
25Miss Chambers made her first public appearance with John Philip Sousa this autumn, singing with his band in an engagement of three weeks, and appearing with it in New York at Sunday night concerts. It was then decided that she was ready for more ambitious work.
27Recently she asked for a hearing by Frank Damrosch, and the result of that test was told by him yesterday: "I had been looking for four months for somebody to sing the soprano role in this mass," he said. "A great many qualities were required—voice, temperament, musical intelligence, and, I should have thought, considerable experience. The part is a most difficult one, which would tax a singer of much experience in oratorio. I had tried many voices, but I had not found one that suited my various requirements.
29"When Miss Chambers sang for me I was surprised. I handed her the score of the part, and she surprised me again by reading it, difficult as it is, at sight. I asked her if she had ever sung with an orchestra, and she said no. Yet, after talking with her I told her I would give her the chance of a lifetime if she was willing to take it and study hard. She agreed, and so she is now engaged in the work."
31Miss Chambers has been engaged to sing with the Arion Society at one of its concerts, and will have the soprano part in "Samson," when it is given in Baltimore. She has also been taken up by some prominent society persons of New York, having sung at the Pulitzer-Webb wedding.
33People's Symphony Concert.
35IN celebration of the fifth anniversary of the People's Symphony Concerts, Franz X. Arens, the conductor, arranged an interesting program of Bach, Beethoven and Wagner compositions for last Thursday evening's opening concert in Cooper Union Hall. The audience, which was largely composed of students and wage earners, seemed to get much enjoyment from the orchestra's skillful playing of Bach's "Chorale and Fugue" in G minor (arranged for orchestra by Albert), and the air for strings from Bach's suite in D minor. Mr. Arens' explanatory remarks in regard to the fifth symphony in C minor by Beethoven also seemed to add interest to their appreciation of its interpretation. Eleanor Marx, soprano, sang the "Elsa's Dream" in a dramatic style, and the orchestra concluded the program with the prelude to "Die Meistersinger."
37The same program was repeated at the Grand Central Palace Friday night and at Carnegie Hall Monday night, November 27. This season, as previously announced in THE MUSICAL COURIER, the People's Symphony Society has increased the number of its concerts from six to fifteen. Every music lover, every musician and every citizen who desires every good thing for this great city will be glad to know that wealthy men and women are supporting the society, but more money is needed, and above all, New York needs a large downtown music hall as a permanent home for the society and its glorious work.
39Shanna Cumming's Song Recital.
41SHANNA CUMMING'S lecture song recitals are winning new admirers for the talented soprano. The following paragraphs are reproduced from a review in the Highland Democrat (Peekskill):
43The lecture-song recital given by Shanna Cumming to the cadets of Mohegan last Friday evening was a musical treat which will live long in the memory of all who were privileged to hear her. Madame Cumming, who is the soprano in Dr. S. Parkes Cadman's church in Brooklyn, is best known through her oratorio singing. This was her first appearance in lecture-recital, which she chose to give the cadets to instruct as well as entertain, and if she should conclude to make such evenings a feature of her professional work, her charm of manner, her interesting narrative and her gift of song, would be sure to delight as well as profit. * * * Beginning with the seventeenth century songs, written within one octave, and following the development of the art down to the present, she gave the following program: one of two readings
44The lecture-song recital given by Shanna Cumming to the cadets of Mohican last Friday evening was a musical treat which will live long in the memory of all who were privileged to hear her. Madame Cumming, who is the soprano in Dr. S. Parkes Cadman's church in Brooklyn, is best known through her oratorio singing. This was her first appearance in lecture-recital, which she chose to give the cadets to instruct as well as entertain, and if she should conclude to make such evenings a feature of her professional work, her charm of manner, her interesting narrative and her gift of song, would be sure to delight as well as profit. * * * Beginning with the seventeenth century songs, written within one octave, and following the development of the art down to the present, she gave the following program: one of two readings
46Amartilla …………………………………………….. Caccini one of two readings
47Amartilla ………………………………………….. Caccini one of two readings
48Nymphs and Shepherds ………………………………. Purcell one of two readings
49Nymphs and Shepherds ……………………………. Purcell one of two readings
50Sleep ……………………………………………………. Handel one of two readings
51Sleep …………………………………………….. Handel one of two readings
52Qual Far Faletta ……………………………………… Handel one of two readings
53Qual Far Faletta …………………………………. Handel one of two readings
54Ah Lo So ………………………………………………. Mozart one of two readings
55Ah Lo So ………………………………………….. Mozart one of two readings
56Creation's Hymn ……………………………………… Beethoven one of two readings
57Creation's Hymn ………………………………….. Beethoven one of two readings
58Was Ich Nicht Eric Halm ……………………………. Tchaikowsky one of two readings
59Was Ich Nicht Eric Halm …………………………. Tchaikowsky one of two readings
60Standchen …………………………………………….. Strauss one of two readings
61Standchen ………………………………………….. Strauss one of two readings
62Der Nussbaum ………………………………………. Schumann one of two readings
63Der Nussbaum ……………………………………… Schumann one of two readings
64Rose Leans Over the Pool …………………………… Chadwick one of two readings
65Rose Leans Over the Pool ……………………….. Chadwick one of two readings
66If Only Thou ………………………………………….. Klein one of two readings
67If Only Thou ………………………………………. Klein one of two readings
68Spring Song …………………………………………… Weil one of two readings
69Spring Song …………………………………………. Weil one of two readings
71It would be difficult to say which of the selections gave the keenest pleasure, the exquisite, tripping music of Purcell, Handel's "Sleep," the brilliant aria from Mozart's "Magic Flute," the grand memories of Beethoven's "Creation's Hymn," the passion of Tchaikowsky's music, or the tenderness of Schumann. The ease and brilliancy with which Madame Cumming accompanies herself must always be a surprise and pleasure to those who know how difficult it is. The cadets are anticipating her promised return to them in the spring, with an evening given to the study of oratorio.—The Highland Democrat, November 18, 1905.
73Marie Hall's First Recital.
75AT Carnegie Hall, on Wednesday afternoon, November 22, Marie Hall gave her first recital before a large audience, and earned brilliant musical laurels and no end of applause in her performance of the following program:
77Sonata, E major ……………………………………… Bach
78(Violin and Piano)
79Concerto, G minor ………………………………….. Max Bruch one of two readings
80Concerto, G minor …………………………………. Max Bruch one of two readings
81La Folia (Variations Serieuses) …………………….. Corelli one of two readings
82La Folia (Variations Serieuses) …………………… Corelli one of two readings
83La Complaisante ……………………………………. Ph. E. Bach one of two readings
84La Complaisante ………………………………….. Ph. E. Bach one of two readings
85Le Bayelet Flottant ………………………………… Couperin one of two readings
86Le Bayelet Flottant ………………………………. Couperin one of two readings
87Menuett ………………………………………………. Mozart one of two readings
88Menuett ………………………………………….. Mozart one of two readings
89Le Cygne …………………………………………….. Saint-Saëns one of two readings
90Le Cygne ………………………………………….. Saint-Saëns one of two readings
91Moto Perpetuo ………………………………………. Novacek one of two readings
92Moto Perpetuo ……………………………………… Novacek one of two readings
94There is not much to add to the enthusiastic opinion of Marie Hall's art which was published in these columns after her debut in New York with orchestra. There remains but to say now that in the old music, which formed the larger part of her program last Wednesday, she revealed the same interpretative versatility, the same sound musicianship, and the same charm of delivery and infallibility of technic, which were apparent in her playing at the earlier concert in such "modern" music as that by Brahms and Paganini. Her Bach reading was masterful in style and breadth; her playing of the Bruch concerto proved her possessed of heart and a melting tone full of sensuous tints, and the Corelli and Couperin numbers were strictly traditional in mode, and yet not lacking in that warm temperament so characteristic of Miss Hall's playing. Her success with the audience was extraordinary and in every sense well deserved. Hamilton Harty played the accompaniments accurately and musically.
96Russian Symphony Holiday Concerts.
98THE "Christmas" suite of Rimsky-Korsakoff will be one of the novelties at the Russian Symphony Orchestra's Carnegie Hall concerts of Saturday evening, December 30, and Sunday afternoon, December 31, under the leadership of Modest Altschuler. Another will be the "Rhapsodie Hebraique" of Zolotaryoff, based on modern Jewish songs of Russia. Maud Powell will play a new violin concerto of Arensky, and Giuseppe Campanari will sing an excerpt from Tschaikowsky's "Pique Dame."
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