Books › Musical Courier 1907-10-02: Vol 55 Iss 14, 1907 › scan 27
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Musical Courier 1907-10-02: Vol 55 Iss 14, 1907
78 lines. Read by computer on 24 September 2026. Printed page 28. See the scan on archive.org.
1THE MUSICIANS OF WASHINGTON.
3WASHINGTON, D. C., October 1, 1907.
5It is because Washington is a city of seminaries and because she is rapidly coming to be the educational center of the South, perhaps, that her people interest themselves so cordially in the doings, great and small, of the musicians of town. Deep down in his heart the Washington music lover may know that the highest appreciation of music is to be found in an enthusiasm for composers and their works. He may feel sub-consciously that a discussion relative to the merits of Richard Strauss and Puccini is far more elevating than a vigorous contention as to the superior qualifications of my singing teacher over yours. Yet, it so happens, it is just this very form that musical enthusiasm in Washington generally assumes. The fight for supremacy among the contending factions in the managerial and teaching fields of music here being fashioned after those political feuds which go to make national politics interesting, one might as well try to stop Niagara Falls with a toothpick as to discourage that personal and individual view of music which pervades the city; and, after all, there is cause for congratulation that Washington music teachers and concert managers have come at last to share with prize fighters and baseball players that somewhat fickle manifestation, public interest. Let it be not forgotten that Washington musicians and musical affairs have more than once during recent months inspired leading editorials in the daily papers.
7Very nearly all of the principal singing, violin and piano teachers are employed in the leading seminaries as private instructors in music or as chorus directors. At one of the large girls' schools in town, I am told, there were 160 pupils for private voice culture lessons. The instructor there was so occupied with this work that he was obliged to discontinue all private studio classes of his own and devote his time solely to pupils of the institution. Among the schools in Washington which devote especial attention to individual music instruction are the Bristol School, National Park Seminary, Mrs. Somers' School, (Mount Vernon Seminary), Holy Cross Academy, Miss Madiera's School, Madison Hall Seminary, Martha Washington Seminary, National Cathedral School, Washington College, Fairmont Seminary and the Laise-Phillips' School. Also the Georgetown University. Among the teachers of music employed in these schools as special instructors are H. H. Freeman, organ, piano and singing; Dr. J. W. Bischoff, harmony, singing, organ and piano; Ernest Lent, stringed instruments, piano and harmony; S. M. Fabian, Virgil Clavier piano method; Anton Kaspar, Josef Kaspar, Sol Minster and Herman C. Rakemann, violinists; Felix Garziglia, B. Frank Gebest, Anton Gloetzner, John Porter Lawrence, Mrs. Ernest Lent, Mme. Von Unschuld-Lazard, Harry Patterson Hopkins, Ella Stark, Mary Heath Hobart, Grace Adele Freebey, Harvey Murray, Edith Allen Robinson, piano; Oscar Gareissen, Mrs. Kaspar, Joseph Wiley, Florence Hill Horness, Adela Kleinschmidt-Payne, Alice Edwards, W. Edward Heimendahl, Otto Torney Simon, Edwar Priest, Mrs. Otis D. Swett and Sister Angelica at the Holy Cross Academy, singing teachers; Marguerite O'Toole has harp pupils and Lawrence Callan, mandolin and guitar classes; Messrs. Hopkins and Gloetzner teach harmony as well as piano.
9The Marine Band will leave Washington on Sunday for its annual fall tour. It will be heard in two concerts daily at the Pittsburg Exposition for one week. A concert will be given at the Hippodrome, New York City, and for two weeks beginning October 7 it will give programs at the Boston Food Fair. The band will have no women soloists on this tour; the principal solos being given by Jacques L. Vanpoucke, the concertmaster and solo clarinetist of the band; Ole J. May, euphonium (also cartoonist and program annotator), and Arthur S. Witcomb, cornet.
11The "Associated Studios" is the name chosen by a triumvirate of Washington musicians, viz., Felix Garziglia, pianist; Fitzhugh Coyle Goldsborough, violinist, and Otto Torney Simon, vocal professor. In order to relieve the monotony of the private studio, these members of a future musical trust propose to gather their pupils together fortnightly in the spacious parlors of Mr. Goldsborough's residence on K street and lecture or play to them as the case may be, inviting the more talented and advanced members of the classes to contribute occasional numbers.
13The board at the First Congregational Church having denied the application of the Mission Society of the church for the use of the church auditorium by the Choral Society for one of its concerts, the number of concerts by the organization this season will in all probability be limited to two.
15Oscar Franklin Comstock, organist, vocalist, pianist, chorus director, and instructor in these various branches, has returned to Washington from Brooklyn, or properly speaking, Flatbush. Mr. Comstock is a thorough believer in the groundwork of music, and to accentuate his theories has had a handsome new hardwood floor laid in his spacious studio, over Veerhoff's.
17B. Frank Gebest, the pianist, will be the first Washington musician to open classes in musical journalism. His piano class this year is a large and flourishing one.
19Mrs. Bradley McDuffie's studio is gorgeously, though tastefully decorated internally.
21Mrs. Oldberg's pupils continue to adore their teacher, much to the detriment of the great masters.
23Mrs. M. R. Waldecker has returned to town and is busy with her classes.
25Mary A. Cryder returned to Washington last week. The Musical Courier's representative called upon her a couple of days too early. Closed shutters and a darkened house were there; and a kindly neighbor suggested a visit to the adjoining house, which was paid.
27BERENICE THOMPSON.
29Rare Ona Talbot.
31Ona B. Talbot, of Indianapolis, has just issued her pamphlet of the sixth annual series of her concerts in that city. They will take place in Calib Mills Hall, which has a large seating capacity. For this series Miss Talbot announces Schumann-Heink, Kubelik, the Boston Symphony Orchestra (which will appear in Indianapolis January 29), Paderewski (March 27), De Pachmann (October 2) and Carreño (December 10). These constitute the six notabilities.
33If there is one person who understands the concert system in the interior of the United States, and how it should be operated successfully, it is this Ona B. Talbot, of Indianapolis, and she is to be congratulated upon her knowledge.
35Frederic Mariner and His Studios.
37The name of Frederic Mariner must be enrolled among the piano instructors who inspire their pupils. Mr. Mariner is what has been happily called "a born teacher." Every one does not possess the gift of imparting. Many good pianists are poor teachers, but Mr. Mariner is among those who get results and gets them without any waste of time or temper. The Mariner studios are conveniently located and handsomely appointed, at 37 West Ninety-second street, New York City. The studios are equipped with stage, fine pianos, practice claviers, and able assistants, who work along in harmony with Mr. Mariner, enthusiastic over his method. Recitals by pupils will take place Thursday evenings. Invitations may be obtained on application.
39Pommer Promoted.
41W. H. Pommer, of Columbia, Mo., the well known composer and theorist, has been appointed to the chair of music at the University of Missouri.
43New York Symphony Local Plans.
45The New York Symphony Orchestra, of ninety-five players, will assemble for rehearsals next week, preparatory to the most active and comprehensive season in the organization's history. The orchestra will show but few changes in personnel from previous years. The horn quartet has been improved and the third trombone has been retired. A few new first violins and cellos have been added, while the French woodwind players who were engaged for the orchestra three years ago will continue as heads of their respective departments. The schedule for New York comprises eighty private rehearsals, eight Saturday evening and twenty Sunday afternoon concerts, all at Carnegie Hall.
47Many Bookings for Petschnikoff in Germany.
49Alexander Petschnikoff has many engagements booked in Germany for the coming winter. The Russian violinist will remain on the Continent of Europe all season, playing in recitals as well as soloist at orchestral concerts. Mr. Petschnikoff, with Mrs. Petschnikoff, their two children, and Mr. Petschnikoff's aged mother, sailed from New York some time ago, after a successful tour of this country. The mother of the violinist will hereafter reside in a comfortable home in Berlin.
51Zelie de Lussan a Bride.
53The White Star steamer Adriatic, due at the hospitable shores of New York on Thursday or Friday of this week, will bring Zelie de Lussan, the prima donna, now the bride of Angelo Fronani, the pianist. The cables last week reported that the wedding took place at a Roman Catholic Church in London, September 11, but it seems the general public knew nothing about it until a fortnight later. Mr. Fronani, the bridegroom, is a son of Emmanuele Fronani, vice-consul to Portugal, at Washington, D. C.
55Faculty Concert at Lachmund Conservatory.
57Carl Venth, recently added to the violin department of the Lachmund Conservatory of Music, 132 West Eighty-fifth street, New York City, will give the first faculty concert Thursday evening, October 10. The program will be devoted to Norwegian music, illustrated by stereopticon views, as well as violin and piano, and will embrace reminiscences of Grieg. Mr. and Mrs. Venth visited the composer in Norway last year, and they have many interesting things to tell of the charming days passed with Grieg in his Norse home.
59Mrs. Turner-Maley's New Home.
61Florence Turner-Maley, the soprano, is now living at her new home, 601 West 136th street, New York City. During the month of September Mrs. Maley sang at the West End Collegiate Church, Henry H. Dunckler organist and choirmaster.
63André Benoist Again With Gerardy.
65André Benoist, the pianist, will again accompany Jean Gerardy, the cellist, this season. Last year, after the successful tour to the Pacific Coast, Mr. Benoist, who, by the way, resides in New York, was immediately re-engaged.
67Not Stolen.
69A feature of the music program at the Lyceum Theater is to be an overture called "The Thief," which has been specially composed for this production by Carl Hauser, first violinist of the Lyceum Orchestra, and for seventeen years a member of the Philharmonic Society of New York.
71Conductors Combine.
73Wiesbaden, Germany began a music festival on Monday, September 30. The conductors are Strauss, Mahler, Mottl, Steinbach and Mannstaedt.
75New Franco-German Alliance.
77The Bremen Teachers' Singing Society was booked to give a concert at the Trocadero in Paris, on Monday evening, September 30, under the auspices of the German Embassy.
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