Books › Musical Courier 1909-03-17: Vol 58 Iss 11, 1909 › scan 32
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Musical Courier 1909-03-17: Vol 58 Iss 11, 1909
99 lines. Read by computer on 26 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 33. See the scan on archive.org.
1ory and composition. He is a graduate of the Royal Conservatory of Music at Warsaw. At the Newark school, Mrs. Svet assists her husband, she being the pianist and piano teacher of the institution.
3Siegmond Grosskopf, the violinist, was a most artistic success when he played at the concert given some weeks ago at Teutonia Hall by the Danish singer, Herskind. Wednesday evening, March 17, Mr. Grosskopf will play at a concert in the Woman's Clubhouse, at East Orange, N. J. The following translation, from a Danish paper, is a tribute to Mr. Grosskopf:
5Mr. Grosskopf is a violinist of distinction. With a large tone of beautiful quality, wonderful purity, he interpreted De Beriot's violin concerto before an enthusiastic audience. As an encore he played Godard's berceuse.
7Cora Remington, a pupil of Laura Morrill, whose studios are in the Hotel Chelsea, West Twenty-third street, gave a successful recital in the Pouch Gallery last Tuesday evening. Miss Remington will sing at Mrs. Morrill's studio recital next Tuesday evening, the 16th, and will be heard in concert in Jersey City on the 17th, and in Kingston, N. Y., on the 19th. Miss Remington has been re-engaged as soprano soloist at the Fifth Avenue Baptist Church.
9Helen Gauntlett Williams, now of New York, was the contralto soloist at the recent performance of "The Sleeping Beauty" at the Hyperion Theater, New Haven, which was formerly her home town. Miss Williams made an excellent impression in the attractive cantata.
11Emma Roderick, the well known vocal teacher, whose studios are at 324 West Fifty-seventh street, is enjoying a very busy season. Of her many pupils, Lucia Nola and Nance Morgan Grotecoss, will be heard in concert next season.
13Lucy Marsh, a pupil of John Walter Hall of Carnegie Hall, who at the beginning of the past two seasons has been offered the position of soprano soloist at the Old South Dutch Reformed Church, Brooklyn, has accepted a reengagement at the Madison Avenue Reformed Church, Madison avenue and Fifty-seventh street.
15Lena Doria Devine has issued cards for a song recital by her talented pupil, Aimee Delanoix, at the Devine studios, 136 Fifth avenue, Thursday afternoon, March 25. Miss Delanoix will sing songs and arias in Italian, German, French and English.
17Mr. and Mrs. Henry Holden Huss have issued invitations for an "Hour of Music" at the Huss studios in Carnegie Hall, Wednesday afternoon, March 17 (today).
19The Granberry Piano School has engaged Alice Ives Jones, the violinist, to take charge of the intermediate sight playing classes in the study of works written for piano and violin. Miss Jones is a graduate of the Joseph Joachim Violin School.
21Burritt Studio Notes.
23William Nelson Burritt, contrary to his habit of spending the summer abroad, will be in New York during the coming summer, and will devote several days each week to teaching. Singers, teachers and students anticipating coming to New York for summer work can address Mr. Burritt at his Carnegie Hall studios.
25Prominent among the late appointments from the Burritt studios to positions of importance is that of Mabel Huey-von Dahlen to the directorship of music in the Horace Mann High School, New York. Mrs. von Dahlen has a soprano voice beautiful in quality, and is a scholarly interpreter of song.
27Helen Waldo, the artist-contralto from the Burritt studio, has lately signed a contract with the First Reformed Church of Brooklyn, a choir position second to none in Greater New York; William G. Hammond, organist.
29Sulli's Birthday Musicale.
31The New Haven daily papers made mention of the birthday musicale arranged by pupils and friends of Giorgio Sulli in that city last month. It was given at the Sulli studio in the Insurance Building, and besides New Haven pupils of the maestro, several pupils from the New York and Bridgeport studios assisted in the musical program made up generally from operatic excerpts. The singers included: Sopranos, Mrs. Henry Parrish, Antoinette Jerome, Emma Gleason, Lucile Hines; mezzo, Mrs. William H. Hegel; contralto, Mrs. Raymond Hemming; tenor, Alan Cassidy; baritone, Alexander Mackall. Frank D. Gleason, in a clever speech, presented Maestro Sulli with forty-five silver dollars, one for each year, and some flowers, as tributes from his pupils. The music of the evening was mostly from the works of "Aida" and "Traviata."
33New York Church Engages Litta Grimm.
35Litta Grimm, the young and talented contralto, has been engaged as soloist by the Second Church of Christ, Scientist, Sixty-eighth street and Central Park West. The music committee of the church, naturally, thought at first of engaging a soprano (there is no quartet), but the individual members were so pleased with the beauty and richness of Miss Grimm's voice that they established an innovation by engaging a contralto as the one solo singer for the Sunday services. Not only did the music committee choose Miss Grimm among a strong list of applicants, but they informed her that she would be permitted to fill her concert engagements as heretofore.
37As announced some time ago in THE MUSICAL COURIER, Miss Grimm, who is an Indianapolis girl, was a favorite pupil of Alexander Heinemann, the Berlin teacher and lieder singer. During her studies abroad, Miss Grimm sang with much success and many of the critics and musicians who heard her were greatly impressed by her voice, vocal method and style of singing.
39Miss Grimm has a remarkable voice, for its flexibility enables her to undertake music usually impossible for low pitched voices. In Europe, particularly in Germany, she was at once singled out as a singer who would be heard from. Her lieder singing is notable for intelligence of the highest order. "It is soulful," one of the exacting Berlin musical reviewers stated.
41Vocal experts, who look first and foremost for the vocal equipment, have declared that Miss Grimm's voice is correctly placed, with registers properly equalized and blended. Too many contraltos and mezzos are "at sea" in the proper use of the voice. In this respect, then, Miss Grimm has been most fortunate, for having her voice scientifically developed there is no danger of harming a lovely natural organ.
43Speaking of Miss Grimm's engagement at the Second Church of Christ, Scientist, an admirer of her art, who, nevertheless, has not the honor of a personal acquaintance with the young singer, said he believed the church would not regret having accepted a contralto, instead of a soprano, as has been the custom heretofore.
45The Singing of Children.
47New York, March 12, 1909.
49To The Musical Courier:
51I have read with much interest the letter of Elizabeth Van Fleet Vosseller on the subject of the training of children's voices. Having trained some of the best boy soloists in New York, I may perhaps be allowed to say a word on the subject. Comparatively few people understand the child voice, and until it becomes criminal to destroy it the state of things complained of by Mrs. Vosseller will doubtless continue to exist. Because a boy sings in his "chest" he is not necessarily an alto, but in nineteen cases out of twenty a soprano who is singing in the wrong register. All children have head notes, if they knew it; then why not use them? A musical ear cannot stand chesty singing. Who can possibly enjoy the tone of the boys who sell newspapers at every subway entrance? Only a short time ago I was asked by a fond parent to hear one of the most powerful voices she had ever listened to. "He could fill any hall," etc., etc. I heard him. The effect was excruciating. I could no doubt have trained this boy to be useful, but I was regarded as being ignorant of a fine voice because I did not approve of such noise. As to not allowing children to sing at an early age, that is all nonsense (Marchesi notwithstanding). The natural use of the voice cannot harm it. How soon does a canary begin to sing? I myself was supposed to possess the best male soprano voice of my day. I sang all the soprano part in the "Messiah" at the age of twelve, and have continued to sing up to the present day. It is quite right to say that voices should just slip gradually down. Mine did. I went from soprano into alto, then bass, and no break. Sims Reeves always stoutly maintained that a voice perfectly used (as his was) should not break. I had hoped that the Association of Singing Teachers would have accomplished something in this direction, but it looks doubtful at present. And so the game of ruining young voices goes merrily on. Most choirmasters train boys almost exclusively on O or U (oo) because it gives a soft sound. Certainly the Italian U (oo) is the softest vowel, but the Italian A (ah) is, or should be, the natural tone of the voice. Owing to the thinness of the English vowel sounds it is somewhat difficult (if not perfectly natural) to sing a good A at first. But what is termed a good natural voice can always sing a good A, on which the other vowels hinge. He who sings a good A with widely open throat, can sing all vowels well, but to use the vowel U (oo) exclusively is to cultivate a hooting tone. An English choir trained on this vowel sang the Hallelujah chorus, and it sounded like "Hoolooloojou"! It is a mistake to train a child to sing up the scale from chest to head tones. This usually develops a break. Sing softly down the scale from a head tone with the throat wide open on the pure vowel A. He who can do this, using only enough breath to gently vibrate the vocal chords has conquered much more than half the difficulty of the so called "production" of the voice, a difficulty which is far more imaginary than real. I cannot too strongly advise beginners to acquire a fair knowledge of the Italian language. The reason why the Italian voice is naturally finer than others is simply because the main vowel A (ah) tends from earliest infancy to open and loosen the throat.
53I must apologize for trespassing on your valuable space, but I feel strongly on a subject of so much importance to parents and children, and your cooperation is of the utmost assistance.
55R. Horwood,
56Pupil of Signor Manuel Garcia.
58LITTA GRIMM.
60Cornell Studio Recitals.
62The third in a series of song recitals given by artist-pupils of Alfred Y. Cornell took place at the studios, Carnegie Hall, March 12, when George W. Reardon, baritone, sang the following program:
64Come raggio di Sol…………………………………………..Caldara one of two readings
65Come raggio di Sol …………………………………………..Caldara one of two readings
66Cesar's Lament (Scipio)………………………………………Handel one of two readings
67Cesar's Lament (Scipio) ………………………………………Handel one of two readings
68Der Hidalgo…………………………………………………….Schumann one of two readings
69Der Hidalgo …………………………………………………….Schumann one of two readings
70Bitte………………………………………………………..Franz one of two readings
71Bitte ………………………………………………………..Franz one of two readings
72Widmung…………………………………………………….Tchaikowsky one of two readings
73Widmung …………………………………………………….Tchaikowsky one of two readings
74Don Juan Serenade…………………………………………..Leoncavallo one of two readings
75Don Juan Serenade …………………………………………..Leoncavallo one of two readings
76Prologue (Pagliacci)…………………………………………Amy Horrocks one of two readings
77Prologue (Pagliacci) …………………………………………..Amy Horrocks one of two readings
78Song cycle, Greek Love Songs………………………………Amy Horrocks one of two readings
79Song cycle, Greek Love Songs ……………………………….Amy Horrocks one of two readings
80To Garlands.
81In the Springtime.
82To the Ships.
83Heliodore.
84The Crier.
85King Charles…………………………………………………Maud Valerie White one of two readings
86King Charles …………………………………………………Maud Valerie White one of two readings
87Once I Loved a Maiden Fair……………………………….Parker one of two readings
88Once I Loved a Maiden Fair ………………………………..Parker one of two readings
89The Pauper's Drive…………………………………………Homer one of two readings
90The Pauper's Drive …………………………………………..Homer one of two readings
91Who Knows?……………………………………………….Max Heinrich one of two readings
92Who Knows? …………………………………………………Max Heinrich one of two readings
93Woo Thou Thy Snowflake (Ivanhoe)……………………..Sullivan one of two readings
94Woo Thou Thy Snowflake (Ivanhoe) ……………………..Sullivan one of two readings
96Mr. Reardon's sustained, quiet power in "Come Raggio," by Caldara; his warmth of delivery in "Don Juan's Serenade"; a high G of resonant and expressive quality in the prologue to "I Pagliacci"; his excellent German enunciation and distinct articulation of English—all this showed the thoughtful singer, one of musical temperament and intelligence combined. He sang also Amy Horrocks's song cycle, "Greek Love Songs," and various songs by English and American composers. Mr. Cornell's accompaniments provided support and sympathy. The next recital, to be given by Gertrude E. Hallett, soprano, is set for March 26. Mr. Cornell and Mildred Graham-Reardon, soprano, gave a joint recital in Springfield, Mass., March 5, the program made up of twenty songs by classic and modern composers. Mrs. Reardon is another artist-pupil of Mr. Cornell.
98Pfitzner's "Die Rose vom Liebesgarten" was produced at Prague, under Bodanzky's direction.
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