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Musical Courier 1906-06-13: Vol 52 Iss 1368, 1906
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1Mainz, that golden city on the Rhine, has been honoring the memory of Handel, creator of the oratorio, with a special Handel festival (May 17 and 18). Under the patronage of Ernst Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hessen, and under the direction of Dr. Fritz Volbach, the well known Handel specialist, so-called "Musteraufführungen" (model performances), of the famous composer's "Judas Maccabaeus" and "Saul" were given.
3In connection with this festival some features of Handel's life and career will be of interest. The great old composer did not early devote himself to the branch of music which he was to make his own; he turned to the oratorio only after losing his entire fortune in unhappy operatic ventures. It was not until 1740 at the age of fifty-five that Handel bade farewell to the opera. To be sure, he had come into evidence as an oratorio composer before that time. He had previously written two oratorios at Rome, and several in London, but not until later did he perfect the form.
5In 1732 Handel brought out his "Esther," and in the following year his "Deborah" and "Athalia." These works awakened great interest in that circle of London music lovers which had made its appearance with the founding of the "Academy of Old Music" in 1710. The society saw in Handel's work a realization of its plans for the renewal of antique tragedy upon the basis of Biblical history. Moreover, the oratorio offered material far better suited to this end than did the contemporary Italian opera, especially after the question whether oratorios should be presented with dramatic action was answered in the negative by Gibson, Bishop of London. The oratorio chorus especially was capable of much freer treatment than that of the opera, approaching the higher importance and significance of the ancient Greek chorus.
7Notwithstanding, the public did not greet the Handel oratorio with open arms. Even the masterly "Messiah" had its first performance, not at the capital, but in Dublin, while it found its way into Germany as late as 1772. The great works finally pressed into public favor, however, until all England became oratorio saturated. During the latter part of Handel's life, productions of his compositions possessed an added interest in that the master himself, blind as he was, officiated at the organ.
9From Bible history Handel drew material for no less than sixteen oratorios, fourteen of which deal with Old Testament, and two with New Testament subjects. Each of the Old Testament works is a unit in itself, but taken together in their chronological succession, the fourteen big compositions depict the entire development of Israel's history. The series is concluded with the "Messiah" (1741), and "Theodora" (1749), an oratorio based upon mediaeval saintly legend. The original texts are of course, in English, and are principally the work of Thomas Morell, Newburgh Hamilton and Charles Jennens.
11This is the season of music festivals in Germany, but as many of them occur at the same time it is impossible for me to attend them all in person. I leave today for Essen, where the greatest of all the spring music festivals, the forty-second annual meeting of the Allgemeiner Deutscher Musikverein, takes place.
13A special festival in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of Schumann's death is now in progress at Bonn. At the double grave of Robert and Clara Schumann, a preliminary service was held on Sunday, a service worthy to commemorate the great "Tondichter" and his wife. Two daughters of the immortal composer were present, and Joachim, the intimate friend of both the Schumanns, spite of the pouring rain, stood uncovered by the grave. The Bonn male chorus, which sang ten years before at the burial of Clara Schumann, opened the ceremony with the Cornelius "Requiem." Then Joseph Joachim addressed the assembly, giving a tender memorial of his two friends. He paid tribute to Schumann's character as a man, and said that his work as an artist would speak best through his mighty compositions. Joachim also made reverent mention of the loyal companion who stood beside her husband all the way, who made his house a home, and was literally light and sun upon his path. It was a memorable sight to see the silver haired master standing in the rain, honoring the dead with words of earnest tribute. In conclusion he bent down and laid red and white azaleas upon the grave already blooming with countless decorations. The Bonn male choir then gave another choral, and the solemn service was concluded.
15Seldom has a musician had to fight so hard for his art as Robert Schumann, the "master of the small form in composition." His career was one continual contest—successful contest with the material chains which cramped his expanding poet nature, and later, bitter, useless contest with the brooding melancholy which crept upon his soul and fettered mind and body. At the sudden death of his father, the sixteen year old Robert had to give up his passion for music and turn to legal study. The musty law books had no hold upon the boy's fiery spirit, and he gave his mother no rest until allowed to devote himself to music. Then he lamed the second finger of his right hand and was obliged to relinquish a promising virtuoso career. Undaunted by this blow, the young artist betook himself to composition; and here, too, he met with trial. His depth of thought was entitled madness; his instinctive grasp of modern harmony was styled dangerous innovation, and his whole souled enthusiasm for art won him the name of a fanatic.
17Even Schumann's love for Clara Wieck, the famous girl pianist, necessitated strife. Again and again did Friedrich Wieck refuse his daughter to the unpractical, penniless musician; and only through special permission of the court (given in 1840) were the lovers enabled to marry. The marriage itself was one of the happiest ever celebrated; but the strain of the continual contest had shattered Schumann's nervous system. The period of his betrothal and early marriage gave the world a priceless wealth of songs—the "Frühlingsymphonie," "Paradise and the Peri," the splendid "Faust" scenes, and other notable works; but the time of fruition was not to be for long. In 1843 Schumann overworked at the Leipsic Conservatory, and suffered his first ominous breakdown. In 1849 he went to Dusseldorf, where for four years he labored as "Stadtsicher Musikdirektor," his melancholy becoming always deeper. In February, 1854, Schumann leaped into the Rhine in a fit of momentary insanity. His life was saved; but the once glowing fame of genius and of intellect was quenched forever. He was taken to the asylum at Endenich, near Bonn, where he died on July 29, 1856.
19To his varied, restless life, in spite of its strain upon his health and mentality, Schumann no doubt owed much of his unique musical appeal. He was the most broadly educated of all the great composers; and he expressed in his compositions every phase and feature of general life which his widely assimilative mind could weld into musical form. In a letter to Clara Wieck he writes of himself as follows: "Everything that happens in the world affects me. Politics, literature, people—I think over in my own way everything which can make room and vent for itself in music. That is why so many of my compositions are hard to understand—because they are linked to objects of remote, though of undoubted significance. It all comes from the fact that everything noteworthy in the times takes hold of me, and makes me express it again in music. For the same reason few compositions satisfy me, for apart from any lack in workmanship, they meander around in musical emotion of the pettiest type, in common lyric declaration."
21The final public performance of the Stern Conservatory operatic class offered one act each from Mozart's "Don Juan," Verdi's "Un Ballo in Maschera" and "Aida," and a duet from Gounod's "Romeo and Juliet." The young singers who appeared were disciples of Alexander Heine-mann, Selma Nicklass-Kempner, Blanche Corelli, Anna Wüllner and Nicholas Rothmühl, and the work done was excellent. The three performances reflect great credit upon Gustav Holländer, who directed; Nicholas Rothmühl, the eminent baritone, who has control of the school class in opera, and the individual singing teachers. The performers were, of course, too numerous to be criticised in detail; I will simply mention the most prominent members of the casts. Max Begemann, a young baritone, again distinguished himself as Don Juan. His voice is smooth, flexible and pleasing, and he sang with vigor and esprit. Helen Reusch played Donna Anna with great dramatic feeling, and with excellent vocal effect. Hugo Philipp and Friedrich Hoberg gave evidence of good histrionic ability as Leporello and Mazetto respectively.
23Perhaps the deepest impression of the evening was made by Luise Meiling, a pupil of Blanche Corelli, who sang the part of Amneris in the fourth act of "Aida." This young lady has a rich, expressive soprano, of deep, dramatic timbre. She uses her voice with skill and fine effect, and the intensity with which she depicted the jealousy, the murderous rage, and the final remorse of Amneris proved that she has rare dramatic instinct. Fräulein Meiling has every prospect of making a name for herself.
25The Basle (Switzerland) Liedertafel, a male chorus of 150 voices, gave a concert at the Philharmonie on Wednesday, under the efficient leadership of Hermann Suter. The Swiss chorus possesses exceptionally fine vocal material. Its basses sing with sonority and power, and there is a ringing clearness, force and brilliance about the work of the tenors which might well be the envy of a larger choir. Moreover the men's interpretation of works by Schumann, Schubert, Liszt, Strauss, Hegar, Huber and others was marked by remarkable purity of intonation, precision of attack, and splendid contrast and blending of nuances. Strauss' "Lied der Freundschaft," especially, with its awkward rhythms and impracticable intervals, was given with a choral virtuosity and an interpretative zest worthy of the highest praise.
27Between the choral numbers Emilie Herzog sang Swiss folksongs with bell like clearness of tone, and Anna Heg-
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