Books › Musical Courier 1907-11-20: Vol 55 Iss 21, 1907 › scan 13
Scan 13
Musical Courier 1907-11-20: Vol 55 Iss 21, 1907
16 lines. Read by computer on 23 September 2026. Printed page 14. See the scan on archive.org.
1THE MUSICAL COURIER
3LEIPSIC
5Liepsic, October 30, 1907.
7The fourth Gewandhaus program, played October 30 and 31, had the Nicolai festival overture on "Eine feste Burg"; the Emanuel Moor G major violin concerto, op. 62, played for the first time in Leipsic by Jacques Thibaud; the Schubert unfinished symphony; the Bach "Chaconne" for violin, and the Mendelssohn "Scotch" symphony, in A minor. Largely in consideration of Moor's unusual industry as composer, the violin concerto had an especial interest. It will be recalled that last year a new symphony and a new piano concerto were given here in Albert Halle. The symphony consisted of a rather impersonal but at times interesting music, constructed according to the composer's great fault of changing subjects continually. The piano concerto was a little better inspired, but broke from the motion even more frequently than the symphony. By reason of very good playing that concerto was not a total failure.
9The violin concerto heard today seems to have by far the most inspiration of any of the Moor works, but there is no gain to report in sticking to a text. New material jumps up anywhere, like a scared hare, and vanishes as suddenly, all to the disappointment of the hearer. The whole proceeding seems to have no definite trend, but goes drifting—of course, very interestingly at times, under the magnificent Thibaud playing. Judging from the amount of material shown, the composer might have kept the piece going for a couple of hours, but in order not to detain a busy public, he wrote only enough to occupy thirty-eight minutes. The technic involved embraced about everything found in the violin literature of the last decades. The orchestration was not to be complained of, much industry and some very pleasing results being discernible. If the composer should cultivate a habit of thinking for awhile in one direction there would come useful things from his pen. Until then his music looks to be needlessly impracticable. Thibaud's playing of the Bach "Chaconne" was of imposing beauty in tone and conception.
11Since last week's report on the Reger orchestral variations, op. 100, that work was heard again at the evening concert at the Gewandhaus. Meantime the orchestra had taken additional work on the composition and the result was playing that left nothing in doubt. The finer performance showed some of the variations to be more like miniatures, and one or two of them certainly have so little character as to bear omission. But the fugue was found to be more remarkable than before. The orchestra had become so perfectly balanced as to allow everything to be heard plainly, and those passages that had been cloudy were as easily heard as a single voice. It was, therefore, a great virtuoso performance by the Gewandhaus men, and no orchestra in the world could have played with more finish or intensity. The Gewandhaus evening audience proved itself abjectly impervious, for the applause was even meager. Reger was present, but was not called. Knowing the public, neither he nor Nikisch was surprised. Thus the old musical heads of the old town so mildly rejoiced at the birth of a fugue that is nothing if not astounding.
13The second Philharmonic concert, on October 28, was conducted by Carl Schroeder, for many years at the Sondershausen Conservatory, but now a resident of Leipsic. The orchestra played the Liszt "Mountain" symphony and a new fantastic scherzo by Josef Suk, second violin of the Bohemian Quartet. Soloists were Florizel von Reuter, in the Vieuxtemps E major concerto, and Erika Wedekind, of Dresden, in the Thomas "Hamlet" aria and songs by Grieg. Schroeder, a brother of Alwyn Schroeder, formerly of Boston, will conduct concerts here from time to time, and judging from this work will be a welcome addition to the Leipsic forces. He is not a virtuoso conductor, but holds the attention of his orchestra, and generally gets prompt, decisive playing from the men. The Suk scherzo is light, but very agreeable, music in a waltz rhythm. Every one was delighted with the chance to hear this interesting and little known symphony by Liszt. Reuter gave a finely finished and intense performance of the Vieuxtemps. Frau Wedekind's once bird-like voice is showing the hard wear of the last decade.
15The public, which has heard a great deal of the early violinistic maturity of Florizel von Reuter, will be doubtless surprised to know what attention he is giving to composition. He has not reached sixteen years of age, but he has nearly completed his third symphony; has written three violin concertos, and has nearly completed the fourth concerto, which he thinks may be good enough to play; furthermore, a suite in old style for string orchestra, an "Overture Melancolique," an Oriental march, a symphonic poem "Atala," a descriptive fantaisie for large orchestra, a dramatic song for soprano and orchestra, a sonata for piano and violin, and many small pieces for violin and piano. He intends to disown the first symphony, written when he was twelve years old, and on this reckoning, the second, now the "first" symphony has been conducted by him in Vienna, Athens, Strassbourg, London, Manchester and other English cities; the symphonic poem and the string suite in Göteborg and Berlin; Marceau gave the string suite in Geneva; the composer has played the sonata with Harold Bauer in Paris and with other artists in many cities of South America and Mexico. The funeral march has been played frequently by orchestras in England and Sweden. Notwithstanding the growing frequency of his public playing and the necessary travel, he does not allow the composition work to be interrupted. He expects to complete the present symphony in February, with a view of possible performance at Bucharest in March, under the eye of the Queen of Rumania. While the young artist was in Leipsic he was heard to play from memory almost the complete piano score to the four movements of this symphony, then showed the correspondent his orchestral score, well under
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