Scan 13
Musical Courier 1906-09-26: Vol 53 Iss 1383, 1906
20 lines. Read by computer on 23 September 2026. Printed page 14. See the scan on archive.org.
1invigorating air of Gastein, and, it would seem, with good reason, for he looks ten years younger.
3The Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory has just engaged Maria Speet, the celebrated singing teacher, as head of the vocal department. This school has always had an exceptionally strong faculty for the instrumental and theoretical departments, and now Director Robitschek evidently intends to elevate the vocal department to the same high plane. He certainly has taken an important step in this direction in engaging such an authority as Mme. Speet. She is a wonderful teacher—a teacher who gets results, and that is the main thing.
5Theodor Spiering, who spent the summer at Heppenheim, near Heidelberg, will concertize in Europe on a much larger scale this year than last. On October 8 he will give a concert at the Singakademie in this city. On the 11th he will make his London debut in a recital at the Aeolian Hall. On the 22d he will give his second concert in the same hall, and for the 27th he has a Manchester engagement, together with Leonard Borwick, the well known English pianist, and Carl Fuchs, 'cellist of the Brodsky Quartet. On October 31 Mr. Spiering will give his second violin recital here at the Singakademie. He will appear during the season as soloist at the Symphony concerts at Bielefeld with Traugott Ochs, at Lausanne with Alexis Birnbaum, at Leipsic, Munich, Göteborg (Sweden) with Hammer, and at Cologne with Steinbach. Mr. Spiering has strong inclinations in the direction of orchestral leading, and on December 17 he will make his debut in this country as a conductor in a concert at Munich, given with the famous Kaim Orchestra. He will also conduct one of the "Popular" concerts of the same orchestra. Mr. and Mrs. Spiering made a Rhine tour during the summer, and at Cologne they were the guests of Dr. and Mrs. Otto Neitzel. At Darmstadt, where they spent a few days, they were the guests of Dr. Olbrich, the distinguished designer and architect.
7Last Wednesday the soloist of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra concert at Scheveningen was Pepito Arriola, the nine year old Spanish musical wonder—"the second Mozart" as he has often been called. Little Pepito is indeed a wonder. At Scheveningen, as everywhere, he created a furore. The large Kursaal of the fashionable Dutch watering place was packed full, for Pepito's fame had preceded him, and the audience went into raptures over his playing. He was recalled a dozen times. His selection was the Beethoven C minor concerto. The child was accompanied to Scheveningen by his mother, and his teacher, Alberto Jonás.
9This greatest of all musical prodigies of our times was discovered in Madrid by Arthur Nikisch a few years ago, when the great conductor was on a tour of Spain with the Philharmonic Orchestra. Nikisch brought him to Leipsic, a stipend having been secured from the Spanish Court, and there the child studied for several years under his personal supervision. A year ago he was brought to Berlin; here he studied first with Martin Krause, then with Mayer-Mahr, and after Alberto Jonás' great success at his concerts here last March the child insisted upon studying with his countryman. Since then he has worked hard with Jonás, making extraordinary progress. Pepito has been engaged as soloist of one of the "Elite" Concerts to be given here this season, and he will also play with orchestra in Dresden. The accompanying photograph shows us the eminent Berlin sculptor, Otto Richter, at work upon a bust of Pepito. The abnormal development of the skull is clearly shown in the bust.
11Madeleine Walther, the brilliant young French coloratura singer, pupil of Etelka Gerster, will sail for America next week. She will settle permanently in New York as a singing teacher. As will be remembered, Mlle. Walther taught last year at the Loeb Institute, as preparatory teacher for Mme. Gerster. I recently heard the young lady sing, and found her to be the possessor of a bright, sympathetic voice, a pleasing style, and a remarkable technic. Her trills, runs, and especially her staccati, were astonishing. Mlle. Walther is a native of Havre. She came to Berlin, and took a long course with Mme. Gerster, after which she concertized in Germany, France and Belgium, meeting everywhere with success. Being, however, more interested in teaching than in public singing, she has decided to make a specialty of instructing. She will also do some concert work in America.
13Rudolph Ganz will be heard four times in Berlin this season. He will give a concert at Beethoven Hall with the Philharmonic Orchestra on October 6, when he will play the Liszt concerto in E flat major; concerto in B minor by Emil Paur (a "first time" rendition, under the direction of the composer), and the Liszt concerto in A minor. On October 18 he will be heard in compositions by Brahms, Chopin, Grieg, Alkan, Ravel, Debussy and Liszt in a recital at Bechstein Hall. On November 2 he will give a second orchestral concert in Beethoven Hall, when his program will comprise the Tschaikowsky concerto in B minor, Vincent d'Indy's "Symphonie Montagnarde" (the composer himself conducting), and the concerto in D minor by Brahms. Aside from these three concertos of his own, he will appear as soloist at one of Busoni's orchestral concerts on November 8, devoted to new and little known older compositions. At this concert he will give the first performance of two dances for piano and string orchestra by Debussy, and the C minor Beethoven concerto, with a cadenza by Alkan in the first movement.
15Willy Burmester made a summer trip through Italy and the Tyrol. He has rented a villa at Wannsee, near Berlin, and will stay there the entire winter; that is, his family will, for he himself will be on voyage most of the time. He is booked for a large number of engagements.
17Georg Fergusson, after attending all six performances of the Bayreuth Festival, from July 22 to 28, went to Vikingness, on the Hardanger Fjord, Norway, where he spent the month of August, taking a complete rest. He is most enthusiastic over the majestic beauty of the Norwegian fjords and the bracing air, and he even contemplates conducting a summer school of singing there next year. Mr. Fergusson returned to Berlin on September 1 and has resumed his teaching. He will be heard here this season in two recitals, one on October 16, and the other in February.
19Two new Hungarian rhapsodies for violin and piano by Arthur Hartmann have recently been published by Otto Junne, of Leipsic. One of them is entitled "Szomozusag" (which means tristesse, or sadness). This is dedicated to Fritz Kreisler, who will play it here this winter. The other one, called "Szall á Madar," is dedicated to Tivador Nachez, who will play it in London. Although brought up in America, having been taken thither when but two years old, Hartmann's Hungarian blood is strongly in evidence, both in his playing and in his compositions. These two rhapsodies catch to perfection the true Hungarian spirit—the morbidness, the melancholy, and the fiery temperament of the Magyar. They sound like improvisations of gypsy musicians. Hartmann will play them, or one of them at
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