Scan 7
Musical Courier 1906-09-05: Vol 53 Iss 1380, 1906
45 lines. Read by computer on 23 September 2026. Printed page 8. See the scan on archive.org.
1HOTEL CECIL,
2LONDON, AUGUST 22, 1906.
4The air is thick just now with rumors of operatic enterprises for London. If they are all fulfilled we shall be getting as much opera as any of the big German towns. It seems strange to see the name of Mapleson mentioned once more in connection with an operatic venture. Col. Henry Mapleson (who is, of course, the son of the famous J. H. Mapleson, of the old Her Majesty's Theater in the Haymarket) is trying to acquire the London Coliseum for an opera house. He is acting on behalf of the Société Internationale de Musique, of Paris, of which he has recently been elected president. The society has found £160,000 ($800,000) for the venture, and it proposes to acquire the Coliseum for £120,000 ($600,000), reserving £40,000 ($200,000) for initial working expenses. From a private but trustworthy source I learn that the purchase will probably be made by September 1. The price asked for the Coliseum was £300,000 ($1,500,000), but the shareholders are in a desperate state, and the debenture holders are favorable to the offer, for the theater is closed and the expenses of maintenance and the rates and taxes are very heavy. As for the ordinary shareholders, they are not likely to see any of their money again.
6The theater would undoubtedly make a fine opera house, and the structural alterations necessary would only be slight. One of the drawbacks is that there is no fine approach to the building; it is situated in a narrow street, and the carriage question would be a serious one.
8Colonel Mapleson says that he will run the opera there on "Continental lines," whatever that may mean. He definitely promises, in the event of the fruition of this scheme, we shall have the best of the Continental novelties from time to time, also those works which, although hackneyed by now in France and Germany, are unknown here, such, for example, as Charpentier's "Louise." Also we are promised a roof garden on the top of the Coliseum.
10The Promenade concerts had a very successful opening on Saturday evening. I arrived at the hall a quarter of an hour before the start, and they were announcing "house full" to numbers of disappointed people. Mr. Wood, who received the warmest of welcomes, has already got the orchestra well in hand, and even on this first night they showed a perfection of ensemble which should develop into something remarkable as the season goes on. The principal change in the personnel of the orchestra has been in the matter of the first horn—a weak spot for the past two seasons. The gentleman who now occupies this position is W. C. Breethoff, who comes to us from the Concertgebouw Orchestra, of Amsterdam, and whom Strauss declares to be one of the few fine horn players in Europe. There was not much opportunity for judging his powers on Saturday, but one will be able to do so on Friday, when he is to play Strauss' horn concerto in E flat, which is a severe test of virtuosity.
12Saturday's program was composed almost entirely of familiar items, so that detailed comment is unnecessary. The orchestra played remarkably well, with much brilliance, but the brass and the percussion at times were somewhat too exuberant. One of the best things of the evening was the playing of Mozart's flute concerto in G by A. Fransella, the solo flutist of the orchestra. He is a wonderfully fine artist and the variety of tone he produced from his instrument was no less remarkable than his exquisite phrasing.
14There are several points of interest in the programs for this week. Three novelties are down. The first was given last night, too late for me to refer to it here in detail—Busoni's orchestral suite from the music to Gozzi's "Turandot," which one notes is the pianist's op. 41. Tonight Ethel Leginska makes her first appearance at the Promenade concerts, and she will play Henselt's F minor concerto. Tomorrow Vaughan-Williams' "Norfolk Rhapsody," founded on old folk tunes which the composer has dug up out of the Eastern county, will be played; also Fini Henriques' suite in F major for oboe solo and strings. Smetana's symphonic poem, "Vltava," which I cannot remember as having been heard at the Promenades before, is also in the program, and a new singer, Eva Simony, from the Brussels Monnaie Theater, will appear.
16On Saturday A. Liadoff's orchestral suite of eight Russian folk songs will be given its first performance here.
18Next Tuesday the American flutist, Marguerite de Forest Andersen, will make her appearance, playing in Chamande's "Concertstück" in D, for flute and orchestra. Glèrè's symphony in E will also be heard on that evening, and on Thursday Liadoff's "Baba-jaga" is down for performance.
20For one thing in particular the management of the orchestra deserves warm praise. It is giving a number of members of the orchestra the opportunity of appearing as solo artists, which is one of the finest ways of improving the orchestra that could have been devised. No less than fifteen of them have been thus honored, Henri Verbrughen, the assistant leader of the orchestra, heading the list. Mr. Verbrughen conducts the last item of the program each evening.
22The familiar figure of Percy Pitt is missing from the concerts this year. For twelve seasons, since the commencement of the concerts in 1894-5, he has acted as accompanist and organist to the orchestra. His resignation, as I explained some weeks ago, is entirely due to the fact that his duties are increasing at Covent Garden. The autumn season there will be largely under his artistic management.
24The first recital of the autumn concert season will be given by Kreisler at Queen's Hall on September 29. He will play Porpora's sonata in C major, Bach's "Allegro—Courante," double of the sonata in B minor, a study on a Handel choral by Benda, a fugue by De Angelis, Vieuxtemps' romance in F major, Zarzycki's mazurka, two Wieniawski caprices, three by Paganini, and the last named composer's "La Clochette."
26He will be followed a few days later by Wilhelm Backhaus, who will also give a recital at Queen's Hall during the first few days of October. In the latter month, too, the Hambourg brothers—Mark, Jan and Boris—will give an orchestral concert of Russian music.
28The London Choral Society has completed its arrangements for the coming season. Elgar's new work, Bossi's "Paradise Lost," Brahms' "Requiem," Dalhousie Young's "The Blessed Damozel," and Saint-Saëns' "Samson et Dalila" will be given, and one concert will be reserved for any successful works from the autumn festivals.
30One of the young German composers, Ernst Boehe, of Munich, whose orchestral episode, "Odysseus' Fahrt," is to be performed for the first time here on September 11, will pay his first visit to England on that date, and he intends to take a holiday tour in the United Kingdom. Boehe, who is only twenty-seven years of age, is already considered a coming man in his native town, and his works have met with acceptance both there and in one or two German cities. Strauss is said to think highly of him.
32The Moody-Manners season of opera in English at the Lyric Theater has been very successful, and the audiences have always been large. Last Thursday Mr. Manners mounted "The Marriage of Figaro," and tried the experiment of limiting the orchestra to twenty-four performers, the exact number which Mozart is said to have had for the first performance. I was not present, but a friend tells me that the orchestra did not sound too thin, as the theater is such a small one. Such an arrangement would never do, of course, in a big theater, like Covent Garden.
34It seems strange to see such a familiar singer as Mme. Kirkby-Lunn announcing her "first recital in England." Yet that is the description applied to a concert which the gifted artist is giving on November 3, at Bechstein Hall.
36Godowsky announces three piano recitals at Bechstein Hall, on November 5, March 2, April 27.
38The directors of the Winter German Opera announce that arrangements have been made to give a four weeks' season of German opera at Covent Garden, commencing on January 14 of next year. In addition to evening performances some matinees will be given, and moderate charges will be maintained throughout the house. The repertory includes "Der Fliegende Holländer," "Tannhäuser," "Lohengrin," "Tristan," "Meistersinger," "Walküre," "Fidelio," "Freischütz" and Smetana's "Verkaufte Braut." The last named opera is a novelty at Covent Garden. The singers will be of the first rank, and an earnest endeavor will be made to reproduce Bayreuth conditions, more especially as regards the instrumental music on the stage. The performances will be under the direction of Ernest Van Dyck; a competent German chorus and a well known Wagnerian stage manager (from Germany) have been engaged, and the London Symphony Orchestra retained for the entire season.
40Felix Mottl, of Munich and Bayreuth; Dr. Viotta, of Amsterdam, and Carl Armbruster, will be the conductors, the last named undertaking the direction of the chorus. A full list of the artists engaged will shortly be issued.
42Half the amount required as a guarantee by the opera syndicate has been deposited, and the rest will be forthcoming shortly.
44Many great artists familiar to the American and English public have recently been appearing at the splendid orchestral concerts so ably directed by Mr. Rinskopf, at the Kurzaal, at Ostend. Caruso, who is engaged for eight concerts during August, had to sing eight times on Sunday last.
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