Scan 5
Musical Courier 1909-03-17: Vol 58 Iss 11, 1909
58 lines. Read by computer on 26 September 2026. Printed page 6. See the scan on archive.org.
1growing and gaining, especially on the side of depth and expression. He caught the true Beethoven spirit and played with great penetration, with absolute finish of tone and technic and with a warm, subdued glow. It was a Beethoven performance to be remembered, and it elicited rapturous applause.
3Efrem Zimbalist, the youthful Russian violinist, who made a very auspicious debut here a year ago last November, made his rentrée last Saturday evening at Blüthner Hall with the Blüthner Orchestra, under the baton of August Scharrer. The artist's selections were the Beethoven concerto, the Bach chaconne, and Max Bruch's "Scottish" fantasy. Zimbalist has visibly added to both his vocal and artistic stature since his last appearance here. This young Russian is a personality. He and his countryman, Elman, represent the two opposite poles of violin playing; Elman is a robust, temperamental, brilliant performer, while Zimbalist is a poetic, lyric and dreamy artist. He has a much purer and warmer tone than Elman, and he also plays with greater finish. His left hand technic is perfect; in the most difficult passages every note stands out clear as crystal and always in perfect tune. He bows with great freedom and ease and elasticity, which accounts to a great extent for his sympathetic tone; although, of course, the soul of the artist is the foundation of this. His Beethoven and his Bach were admirable, barring his tendency to drag the tempo in the Beethoven slow movement; but he seemed to be most in sympathy with the Bruch number. He scored a triumph. It is probable that he will give a second concert soon.
5Ellison van Hoose, the American tenor made his Berlin debut with the Philharmonic Orchestra at Beethoven Hall on the same evening. He appeared as soloist in the concert given by Friedrich Weigmann, a new conductor. I am informed that Van Hoose made a splendid impression. His beautiful, warm, vibrant voice, which has the real tenor character, went to the hearts of his listeners, and he displayed a high degree of vocal skill and a great deal of musical and artistic intelligence in the interpretation of his selections. He sang an aria from Massenet's "Herodiade," and a group of lieder, to wit: Liszt's "O kommt im Traum" and "In Liebeslust," and Brahms' "Botschaft." The critics, who have spoken of him very highly, thought he was best in the Massenet aria, but he made a greater hit with the public in the lieder. At any rate, he scored a big success. Weigmann is said to be a conductor of routine and circumspection, but his readings lacked geniality.
7Another American was heard during the week, Dallmeyer Russell, a young pianist from Pittsburgh, who has been studying here for some years with José Viana da Motta. He gave a recital at Bechstein Hall, playing the Schumann fantasy, the Beethoven E flat sonata, op. No. 7; Busoni's arrangement of the Bach preludium and fugue in D major for organ; a ballad by Da Motta, and Liszt's D flat study and second polonaise. Mr. Russell made an excellent impression. In the Schumann fantasy, in which I heard him, he displayed a clear, clean-cut, reliable technic and a plastic touch. His conceptions show that he has true musical and artistic instinct. He is a thoroughly legitimate artist; one feels that he can always be depended upon to do good work. He overcomes difficulties with ease and stands, technically, so far above his task that he can give his chief attention to interpretation, and it was a well rounded, artistic, satisfying performance of the favorite Schumann work.
9Alexander Heinemann was in exceptionally fine form at his second recital, which was given at Beethoven Hall on Wednesday. This phenomenal baritone has an immense following here; indeed, his following is not limited to Berlin, nor to Germany. He has been proclaimed a supreme artist in all parts of Europe, wherever he has appeared. His recent successes in Scandinavia were sensational. Heinemann is the only singer who has been decorated by the Kaiser with the golden medal of the Red Cross; he has also had conferred upon him the Spanish Red Cross Order of the first class by the King of Spain and the golden medal for Arts and Sciences by the Duke of Anhalt. But to return to his song recital: His voice, which is so noted, both for its volume and beauty, sounded unusually powerful on Wednesday evening, and yet he produced his greatest effects with his exquisite pianissimi. He has an inimitable way of spinning out a pianissimo until it gradually dies away into nothing. Heinemann is a very fine musician; he was formerly a violinist and played for several years in orchestra, and the knowledge thus gained stands him in good stead in his vocal work. In his delivery his extraordinary range of expression impresses one at the very start. He sings with careering tenderness or with the greatest fire and abandon; also, with the most delightful mezzo tints. What dramatic power he has! Messchaert, who stands very high in Germany, is tame, in point of expression, compared with Heinemann. He is a king among baritones.
11Cosima Wagner's son-in-law, Franz Beidler, conducted the last concert of the Wagner Verein, giving Liszt's "Faust" symphony and excerpts from "Parsifal." His reproduction of the Liszt work fell far short of the performances by Nikisch and Weingartner that we have heard. Beidler has not the magnetism necessary to put himself at once in sympathetic contact with the musicians, and his performance made the impression of having been hurriedly and insufficiently rehearsed. The concert stage is no place for the "Parsifal" music, and Fraulein Reine proved to be quite inadequate to the demands of the part of Kundry, nor did the singing of the flower girls show any special merit. The concert, as a whole, was not very edifying.
13Xaver Scharwenka conducted the seventeenth symphony concert of the Blüthner Orchestra. His program was made up of Beethoven's seventh symphony, the "Liebestod," from "Tristan"; Friedrich Gernsheim's "Waldmeister Brautfahrt," and his new piano concerto. He also figured on the program as composer and virtuoso, playing his own piano concerto in a masterly manner. Scharwenka is all too rarely heard as a pianist in late years. He is a performer who combines a genial conception and a large-minded and large-souled delivery, with a finished technic and a beautiful tone. As a conductor, he also displayed his superior musicianship and his perfect command over the orchestra.
15Two violinists who played last evening would both do well to confine themselves to ensemble work. They certainly have not the qualities necessary to succeed as virtuosi. Vladislav Waghalter concertized at Blüthner Hall with the Blüthner Orchestra, playing the Gernsheim concerto in D major under the composer's direction, and the Viotti and Brahms concertos, under the leadership of his brother, Ignatz. Waghalter, a disciple of the Hochschule, is a correct, academic player, who does justice to the letter of the law, and that is all that can be said of him. Individuality and temperament, the two most potent factors of the concert performer, are wholly lacking, nor has he beauty of tone nor any of that charm of style which counts for so much. Yet, I recall the time when this young man had, in embryo, all of these qualities. They were simply driven out of him at the Hochschule. Joseph van Veen, the other violinist spoken of, gave a recital at Scharwenka Hall. His program consisted of Sinding's D major concerto, which is so rarely played, but which Sinding himself, as he told me, considers superior to the well known A major; Corelli's "La Folia," a new sonata, which I did not hear, and works by Spohr and Wieniawski. Here, too, is a violinist of a great deal of natural ability, who has become dry and academic through his studies at the Hochschule. He has a good deal of facility, although his intonation was by no means perfect, especially in the Sinding concerto and the Wieniawski "Tarantelle." His attitude toward the works he interprets show that he is a good musician, but the divine spark is wholly lacking. There is nothing in his tone that ever touches one and nothing that ever shows a high flight of fantasy.
17Richard Strauss' "Electra" scored a big success at its premiere in Elberfeld last night, as I am informed by telegram from H. H. Wetzler. There was tremendous enthusiasm and thirty-one curtain calls. The performance was splendid.
19Elsa Hirschberg, an American girl, who has been doing vocal work with Madame Lurig and coaching with Madame Nikisch, will make her Berlin debut in a song recital at Beethoven Hall on March 20. Miss Hirschberg comes from Newark, Ohio. With her beautiful voice she has aroused the interest of no less a personage than Madame Schumann-Heink, who prophesies for her a brilliant career.
21Muriel Gough, a gifted English coloratura singer, who has been studying in Berlin with Teresa Emerich for the past year, sang the other day for the Intendant of the Weimar Court Theater at Emerich's studio, and he was so pleased with her work that he requested her to go to Weimar and sing for him there, so that they might hear her voice in the theater. She did so, and the Intendant was so delighted that he immediately engaged her for the leading coloratura parts. She will enter upon this engagement next September.
23ARTHUR M. ABELL.
25Cecil Fanning's Engagements.
26Last week, Cecil Fanning, the baritone, assisted by his excellent piano accompanist, H. B. Turpin, gave recitals at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Oberlin, Ohio; for the Woman's Musical Club, of Peoria, Ill.; at Villa de Chantal, in Rock Island, Ill. This week the Fanning-Turpin bookings include Milwaukee, Wis., Lenten course of concerts; Baltimore (Peabody Institute), and a private engagement in Washington, D. C.
28RICHARD LOWE
29Königlicher Hof-Kapellmeister
30INSTRUCTOR IN SINGING, COACHING AND FULL PREPARATION FOR THE OPERATIC STAGE
31Some of his pupils are: Emmy Destinn, Royal Opera, Berlin; Maria Labia, Comic Opera, Berlin; Theodore Bertram, Royal Chamber Singer, Berlin-Bayreuth; Anne Worill, Coloratura Singer, Comic Opera, Berlin; Desider Zador, Baritone, Comic Opera, Berlin, Prinzregenten Theater, Munich; Willard Andelin, Bassist, Royal Court Opera, Hanover; Alfred Barutian, Heroic Tenor, Landes Theater, Prague, Royal Opera, Vienna; Desider Matray, Heroic Tenor, Royal Opera, Karlsruhe and Bayreuth; Emili Teleky, Coloratura Singer, Royal Opera, Dresden and Vienna; Helene Hieser, First Altist, Royal Court Opera, Stuttgart; Wilma Kjaer, First Altist, Theater an der Wien; Leona Ney, Royal Comic Opera, Budapest.
32BERLIN W., GERMANY, KURFÜRSTEN STRASSE 10
34PIANO SCHOOL OF THE LESCHETIZKY METHOD AND SCHOOL OF INTERPRETATION
35Pupils received in the house and practice supervised. In charge of MRS. POTTER-FRISSELL, pupil of Stepanoff, Prentner (certificated) and Leschetizky. Highly endorsed by Emil Sauer and leading Dresden musicians. Dunning System of Improved Music Study for beginners also represented. Instructor in Ehrlich's School of Music, Dresden.
36Apply Nurnbergerstr. 54, Pt. r. DRESDEN.
38EDGAR STILLMAN-KELLEY
39COMPOSER
40STUDIO ADDRESS: Tauenzien St. 19A, Berlin,W.
42MAURICE ARONSON
43SERLIN-CHARLOTTENBURG
44Mommsenstrasse 43
45Pianist and Instructor of Advanced Piano Playing.
46For ten years the only assistant to LEOPOLD GODOWSKY
48LEOPOLD GODOWSKY
49VERNON SPENCER
50TEACHER OF PIANO
51Pupils prepared for Concert Stage and for positions as Specialists in Piano Instruction
52Studio: Spichern St. 22, BERLIN W., GERMANY
54GEORG FERGUSON
55BARITONE
56Vocal Instructor
57AUGSOURGER ST. 64, BERLIN W., GERMANY
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