Books › Musical Courier 1907-03-20: Vol 54 Iss 12, 1907 › scan 21
Scan 21
Musical Courier 1907-03-20: Vol 54 Iss 12, 1907
44 lines. Read by computer on 26 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 22. See the scan on archive.org.
1the Steinway in America next season. It will again be a great piano season, and it will again prove the alliance between the virtuoso and the piano house. Besides the above a number of other virtuosi will play the great grands such as Knabe, Everett, Wissner and others not in the foregoing list.
3"Parsifal" and "Salome."
5Quoting from today's Telegraph, which is usually well informed, and this time officially I submit the following:
7Our Vienna correspondent writes: Hans Richter, in a letter from England to his friends here, positively contradicts the report that he intends going to America. Dr. Richter in this letter, which he expressly desires to be made public, dwells with bitterness upon the fact that "Parsifal" has been produced in America without the permission of the family of Richard Wagner, while the representation there of "Salome" has been forbidden. He remarks: "Strange to say, the 'Parsifal Pearl' has been laid before the sensation loving opera frequenters in America without the least embarrassment being evidenced; but when it comes to the performance of a passionate theatrical play, this is prohibited, and for reasons which do not appear to us valid. Quite as pious as the Americans are the inhabitants of Breslau, Cologne, Mayence, Milan, Turin, and other places where 'Salome' has been performed without question." Dr. Richter continues: "No, my worthy colleagues in art, to America I shall not venture. My principles, my views of artistic honor and artistic duty, are of too old a date to be changed for all the dollars of the New World. But everywhere in the Old World where good music is valued I will gladly go."
9How often has this paper remarked that the "Parsifal" outrage will never be forgotten! How often has this paper called attention to the continued existence of the law and order of the universe that resents acts of such a nature, whether committed in the zone of mere physical offenses or in the more significant zone of spiritual or ethical offenses! Here it is again.
11"Parsifal" was produced like "Salome," merely and purely as a money making scheme, because opera cannot exist unless the financial result can be assured. To assure it, such sensations as "Parsifal" and "Salome" were necessarily introduced, "Salome" under a business arrangement with that eminent financier, Mr. Richard Strauss, and "Parsifal" against the protests of the owners and heirs, who were helpless under the law, and who could not succeed in impressing upon the American public that it should not patronize a work presented for patronage under such forbidding circumstances. The outrage was committed, and "Parsifal" brought hundreds of thousands to the Opera, but it gave the United States such a black eye as all the railroad steals and the swindling propositions of watered corporations could not give in a century. Why? Because ideals of national honor were shattered in the "Parsifal" case. We are considered below par! See what Richter says—Richter, a man who has never had an anti-American prejudice! He merely reflects the general opinion and that is the true opinion.
13The hypocrisy of all this is nauseating—accepting "Parsifal," to which we had no rights, and rejecting "Salome" on the plea that it is immoral! How unutterably absurd. We steal "Parsifal" and rush to fill the house over and over again, never blushing at ourselves, and when "Salome" dances or kisses a decapitated head, a mere symbolism, we, who stole "Parsifal," express our moral indignation at such a trifle as a suggestive dance. And then we expect the respect of Europe or of those Americans who joined THE MUSICAL COURIER's protest at the time. And let me say that it will be found that those people who defended the "Parsifal" infamy were the very ones who were shocked at "Salome," and naturally, because the hypocrite must exhibit himself, that being part of the character; the chance for illustrating a sanctimonious tendency is never overlooked by those who belong to that ilk. That very tendency is our weak spot in America. Going to church on Sunday after having filled on Saturday a corporation's stock with a few worthless millions to be unloaded on the ignorant or innocent on Monday, is just as logical and consequential as supporting a "Parsifal" steal in 1903 and protesting against "Salome" in 1907. What a pack of hypocrites we have nourished in America! And do they actually believe that the intelligent world of Europe and our own outspoken people at home ever overlook these things? Well, Hans Richter has shown that there is no such thing as forgiveness for national offenses. "Parsifal" will rest as a blot upon us for years to come, and that blot surely cannot be erased by appearing to be shocked at "Salome."
15BLUMENBERG.
17FRITZ KREISLER COMING.
19The definite announcement that Fritz Kreisler has signed a contract with Henry Wolfsohn for a tour through the United States next season has created widespread interest in musical circles and given anticipatory joy to scores of violinists and students of the violin. As the present season, to a large extent, has been monopolized by pianists, it is likely that the season of 1907-8 will be significant principally on account of the presence in this country of the violinist who, by common consent, has no superior living.
21Fritz Kreisler will again come to America to illustrate the beautiful art of violin playing. This Austrian master, who has been climbing higher and higher year by year, has reached the loftiest promontory of violinistic altitudes. If no other celebrity should come to the United States next year, the season would not lack in brilliancy. Four times already has Kreisler visited this country; therefore, he is not a novus homo to American music lovers. As a boy, he toured through this country and was exploited as a prodigy. Many concertgoers who heard him then remember his astonishing precocity and boyish virtuosity. They, however, have a fresher recollection of his later tours, when, grown to the stature of a full fledged artist, he gave the most impressive performances which were heard here since Vieuxtemps made his last visit to this country.
23When he was here on his last tour two seasons ago, Kreisler made a very great stir in musical circles and aroused violinists and admirers of the violin as they never had been aroused before. Two years ago, when Kreisler played in Carnegie Hall with the New York Symphony Orchestra, he essayed a task which few violinists would dare to undertake. He played in their entirety the Brahms concerto, the Beethoven concerto and Tartini's "Devil's Trill" sonata. His brilliant, profound and scholarly interpretation of these master works evoked the highest praise of all who were capable of criticising his playing.
25In describing the powers of Kreisler and analyzing his art and comparing his style and ability with those of the few pre-eminent violinists of the day, superlatives are inevitable. A virtuoso in the best sense of the word, Kreisler is the impassioned poet of the violin; yet is he a well poised artist, who can display the highest virtuosity or exercise that repressive power which is rare even among the greatest violin masters. His dexterous bowing, the flexibility and strength of his wrists, the certainty and fleetness of his fingering, his severely classic style, unexceptionable taste, and, best of all, his flawless purity of intonation, as well as his finish and finesse, scholarly and sympathetic reading, constitute his artistic equipment. Kreisler's conception and execution of such works as the concertos of Brahms, Beethoven, Tschaikowsky, Spohr, Viotti, Saint-Saëns, Bach, Mozart and others have stamped upon them his transcendent ability. More than any other violinist now living Kreisler is, perhaps, the most eclectic. In his style are fused the best that there is in all the schools of violin playing. Many of his admirers assert that Kreisler is the legitimate successor of Joachim. Persons who are qualified to pass an intelligent judgment declare that Kreisler has made astonishing advance within the past two years; that since he was last in New York his development in certain phases of his art has been most noticeable.
27Devotees of the violin are indebted to Kreisler for resuscitating many quaint and beautiful works of the earliest writers for the violin. The compositions of Corelli, Tartini, Locatelli, Pugnani, Vericini and their successors have been played by Kreisler in his recitals, and they never fail to impress his hearers deeply.
29Mr. Wolfsohn says that the forthcoming tour of Kreisler already has aroused unusual interest, and the indications thus far ahead are that it will prove the greatest tour Kreisler has ever made in the United States.
31ROSENTHAL and his stock of trained thirds are traveling in the Far West and creating a furore wherever they show.
33THE Metropolitan will close next week and at about the same time "Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth" is to come to town. Thus New York is never without its circus.
35IN spite of the know-it-all biographies published on every side in connection with the death of Maurice Grau, THE MUSICAL COURIER is the only newspaper which remembered that he headed the Covent Garden Opera for two seasons, and that he was started on his larger managerial career by the elder Steinway, who made the Rubinstein-Wieniawski tour possible. one of two readings
36In spite of the know-it-all biographies published on every side in connection with the death of Maurice Grau, THE MUSICAL COURIER is the only newspaper which remembered that he headed the Covent Garden Opera for two seasons, and that he was started on his larger managerial career by the elder Steinway, who made the Rubinstein-Wieniawski tour possible. one of two readings
38JOSEF HOFMANN, who has just finished a triumphal series of concerts in Russia, where he occupies the position as a popular piano virtuoso formerly held in that country by Anton Rubinstein, will start his tour in the United States late next October, and expects to visit every city of importance in the Union and Canada. The Steinway piano will be the instrumental medium through which Hofmann is to make his musical proclamations to our public.
40ELGAR's visit to the United States is well timed, for he comes to "study conditions," as he told an interviewer. Let him note particularly the condition of our uncleared streets. If that points no moral and suggests no material for Peyton lectures at Birmingham (or is it Manchester?), Sir Edward should study carefully the condition of the Brooklyn Bridge at crush hours, the system of police grafting, boodling in the Board of Aldermen, smash-ups on our railroads, the doings of our predatory corporations, and the gentle activities of wire tappers, Wall street pirates, bank fund jugglers, insurance vampires, coal, lumber, oil and steel barons, tax dodgers and—but that is enough to keep Sir Edward busy for a while. one of two readings
41ELGAR's visit to the United States is well timed, for he comes to "study conditions," as he told an interviewer. Let him note particularly the condition of our uncleansed streets. If that points no moral and suggests no material for Peyton lectures at Birmingham (or is it Manchester?), Sir Edward should study carefully the condition of the Brooklyn Bridge at crush hours, the system of police grafting, boodling in the Board of Aldermen, smash-ups on our railroads, the doings of our predatory corporations, and the gentle activities of wire tappers, Wall street pirates, bank fund jugglers, insurance vampires, coal, lumber, oil and steel barons, tax dodgers and—but that is enough to keep Sir Edward busy for a while. one of two readings
43MUSICAL anniversaries for the last week in March: Franz Bendel, born in Schönlinde, in 1833; Giovanni Battista Viotti, born in Fontanetto di Po, in 1735; Wilhelm Taubert, born in Berlin, in 1811; 24, Maria Felicita Malibran, born in Paris, in 1808; Julius Alsleben, born in Berlin, in 1832; 25, François Joseph Fétis, born in Mons, Belgium, in 1784; 26, Ludwig van Beethoven, died in Vienna, in 1827; Mathilde Marchesi, born at Frankfort-on-the-Main, in 1826; 27, Vincent d'Indy, born in Paris, in 1851; Edgar Tinel, born in Sinay, Belgium, in 1854; 26, Anton Seidl, died in New York City, in 1898; Antoine Edouard Baptista, born in Paris, in 1820; Theodore Hentschel, born in Schirgiswalde, Upper Lusatia, in 1830; 29, Johann Wilhelm Hassler, born in Erfurt, in 1747; 30, John Hawkins, born in London, in 1719; Bernhard E. Scholtz, born in Mayence, in 1835; 31, Franz Joseph Haydn, born in Rohrau, Austria, in 1732; Franz Abt, died at Wiesbaden, in 1885.
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