Books › Musical Courier 1909-09-15: Vol 59 Iss 11, 1909 › scan 26
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Musical Courier 1909-09-15: Vol 59 Iss 11, 1909
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1MINNEAPOLIS, Minn., September 11, 1909.
3Well, one thing is settled, and that is the price of opera seats for the season of educational opera which Minneapolis is to enjoy early in January. The price is to be on a sliding scale from $5 down to $2, instead of from $2.50 down, as was stated when the engagement of the Hammerstein Opera Company was announced. The educational opera is to be brought here under the management of Mrs. F. H. Snyder, and it is generally thought that she would have the matter of fixing the prices in her charge. But a telephone message received from New York early this week is to the effect that only the opera management is allowed to fix the prices, which will be $5 for the best seats and $2 for the cheapest seats in the gallery. There is a disposition on the part of many to find fault with the prices charged, and for the reason that the opera company has not announced any new works for performance here. "I declare if it is not disagreeable to contemplate the way we are being treated in the matter of opera," said a very prominent musician (James A. Bliss, to be explicit), to the writer. "They treat us as if we were in the inaccessible outposts of Alaska or the wilds of Labrador and had never heard an opera, or any music for that matter. And what are they bringing us? Such delightful old chestnuts as 'Tannhäuser,' 'La Traviata,' 'The Barber of Seville,' 'Carmen,' 'Lohengrin.' Now, isn't that a pretty array of operas for musicians to look forward to? Operas that we have all heard until we have grown tired to death of them, operas that are played by every ten, twenty and thirty cent company on the road, and are probably given here because they are the cheapest things they can give. It seems to me that we should have three or four new works at least. Have we got to go to New York or Boston or Philadelphia to hear 'Louise,' or 'Pelleas and Melisande,' or 'Thais,' or 'The Juggler of Notre Dame,' or 'Tales of Hoffmann,' or 'Salome,' or 'Manon,' or some other new work? And if we must listen to old operas why not give us those that are never heard, like 'Fidelio,' 'Otello,' 'Tristan,' 'Mefistofele,' or 'Figaro.' There are, in fact, a large list of old operas that have never been given in the West, are seldom given anywhere, and it would be much better to hear those than to be obliged to go to seven performances of operas that have been worn out. The opera management states that it is bringing high priced stars here and putting on high priced performances. Very good! Then give us high priced operas. We don't care especially about hearing the high priced stars, we can hear them in concert, but we do care to hear something new in the line of opera and it is a shame if we cannot have it." Mr. Bliss is not the only musician who has spoken his mind on this subject. Many others feel the same way and do not hesitate to let their feelings be known.
5Mr. and Mrs. Harry P. Mulheran left Monday evening for New York City, whence they sailed for Germany where they expect to remain for several years. Mrs. Mulheran (nee Mollie Gleason) will study for the opera, and Mr. Mulheran will take a course in a university.
7Hermann Zoch will give a recital of Liszt compositions the latter part of October or early in November. He has the program practically completed and is now playing it mornings for some of his friends. After the writer had listened to it the other morning Mr. Zoch said: "Liszt is not yet appreciated as a composer, but he is slowly and surely forging to the front as one of the greatest composers the world has produced. I heard him play once when I was a young student in Vienna and I think it was about the last time that he played in public. At that time it could not have been called a public performance for he played only for his friends after a concert of the Liszt Choral Club; but there were over a thousand people present (members of the club only were admitted to the concert), and so it might be called a public performance. It was in January, 1880, and Liszt, then in his seventieth year, had long since ceased to play in public. But this choral club was singing his oratorio, 'St. Elizabeth,' and he had been invited to be 'present at the performance, which was given in the recital hall of the Boesendorfer Piano House, where all prominent concerts of the time were given. I was not a member of the club but Mr. Boesendorfer told me to go in just as if I was a member and to put on a very bold face and let no one think I did not belong there. So I rushed down to the hall that night only to find the door closed and at least 5,000 people jammed against it, all bound that they would get into the hall. I presume all of them were going to try the same ruse as myself. I was considerably discouraged on looking at the mob but made up my mind to get next to the door and as I was very small and slender I squeezed this way and that until, after two hours work, I just managed to reach the door. As I got there I heard the last notes of the oratorio and was in despair, fearing that, after all, I could not get in. Just then some one opened the door and came out, and as he came out I slipped in and the door slammed shut behind me. There was just one vacant seat on the front row (the door I had gone in at was the side door next to the stage) and into this I slipped very quickly. Oh! how my heart beat as I looked on the stage. There sat Liszt, Von Buelow, d'Albert and Boesendorfer, with several princes and women of the royal family. As I was sitting down Boesendorfer went over to Liszt and talked to him earnestly and Liszt shook his head continually and scowled. But Boesendorfer persisted and finally took Liszt by the arm. Presently Liszt jumped to his feet and walked over to the piano. There was absolute silence in the room. No one seemed to breathe. He began to play, at first softly, reminiscently, and then more impassioned, fuller, and broader. It was ten o'clock when I went into the hall and it seemed only a few minutes until Liszt finished his playing and sat down, yet when I glanced at my watch it was one o'clock in the morning. I could hardly realize that he had been playing for three hours—and all the time there was never a sound of applause. When he had finished the people went out silently without making any demonstration. Such piano playing as that I had never heard before and can never hope to hear again. It was like nothing I had ever dreamed of and it is beyond all description. At times it was like an orchestra, again like a great organ, then it had a sound like a beautiful choir, or of a splendid singer accompanied by a chanting chorus; it was wonderful. For weeks afterward I could not bear to touch the piano, and it was only by a great effort of the will that I at last overcame my repugnance and started practicing again."
9Olive Adele Evers, president of the Northwestern Conservatory, has returned from a fortnight's trip to Chicago, New York City and other Eastern points.
11The Northwestern Conservatory recently installed a fine two manual Mason & Hamlin pipe organ in the recital hall. The organ is a very large one for conservatory uses, having five banks of stops and over 800 speaking pipes. The motive power is electricity. Next Saturday morning the first faculty recital will be given and at that time several new members of the faculty will make their first appearance. The new organ will also be inaugurated on that day. Miss Dobyns and Miss Dickinson, of the piano department, returned from their vacations this week. The conservatory opened Tuesday with a very large roll of pupils, and the outlook is that the year will be the best in the twenty-five years of the conservatory's history.
13Mr. M. H. Hanson announces:
15CHOPIN CENTENNIAL 1909-1910
17Mme. RISS ARBEAU
18PIANIST
19Greatest Chopin Exponent
21Plays from memory every piano composition of Chopin, beginning with the Rondo, opus 1.
23Orchestral organizations can have selection of either or both concertos, together with any additional works of Chopin.
25Ladies' Musical Clubs can select for their approaching Chopin celebration any of Chopin's piano compositions.
27M. H. HANSON, New York, has made special engagement of this remarkable French pianist for the purpose of enabling Chopin's memory to be honored in every section of the country.
29Terms for this artist, moderate, though in keeping with her standing. Apply sharp for dates and all details to
31M. H. HANSON
32437 Fifth Avenue, New York
34The convention of the State Federation of Women's Clubs will be held in Lake City for three days, beginning September 21. Mrs. W. O. Fryberger and Eleanor Nesbitt Poehler will attend from Minneapolis, representing the Thursday Musical Club. Mrs. Fryberger will lecture on "Music, a Common Pleasure," and give some original ideas of the manner in which rhythm, melody, harmony, form and content may be taught to the musically uneducated. She will illustrate her lecture at the piano, playing the Chopin nocturne, op. 62, No. 2. Mrs. Poehler will sing a group of English songs at one of the evening concerts, selecting songs by MacDowell, Willeby, Lohr and Mary Turner Salter. Although this federation has existed since 1891 this is the first time that music has been given a place on the program of the conventions. Of the nine sessions of the convention three will be given up to music. About 400 women will attend. OSCAR HATCH HAWLEY.
36NEWS OF MUSICIANS FROM NEAR AND FAR.
38Wright D. Holmes, who has just received the appointment as organist of the Dutch Reformed Church, Flushing, L. I., goes to this church with seventeen years' experience in church work, fifteen years being spent in three churches. Mr. Holmes received his early training, up to the time of his entering the Metropolitan College of Music, from his mother, who is a very successful teacher and organist of Chicago. Mr. Holmes' services as an accompanist are much in demand. In the past three months he has been substituting at the Mt. Morris Baptist Church, Fifth avenue, New York, and at Calvary M. E. Church, East Orange, N. J.
40Alice Merritt Cochran, the soprano, has been engaged for the performance of "The Children's Crusade," which the Minneapolis Philharmonic Club will present November 19.
42Arthur Leroy Tehbs has been elected musical director of the Dayton (Ohio) Philharmonic Society to succeed W. L. Blumenschein, who served as conductor for more than quarter of a century.
44George Oscar Bowen, formerly at Northampton, Mass., has removed to Yonkers, N. Y., where he has been appointed supervisor of music in the public schools. Mr. Bowen's home is at 312 South Broadway.
46During the summer months Miltonella Beardsley, the pianist, has added compositions by American composers to her lists. She has studied works by Albert Mildenberg, Claude Madden, Rubin Goldmark and Bruno Oscar Klein. Mrs. Beardsley has also included in her programs some new works by Granville Bantock, the young English composer. The Bantock compositions are particularly of the salon style. Mr. and Mrs. Walden Laskey have given song recitals devoted exclusively to Bantock compositions.
48Ferdinand Dunkley, of New Orleans, has accepted the position of organist and choirmaster at Christ Church, Vancouver, B. C. Mr. Dunkley made an extended tour in the Far West and it is reported that Seattle also wanted this musician. He may decide to spend one-half of the year in Vancouver and the other six months in Seattle. For the past eight years Mr. Dunkley had charge of the music at St. Paul's Church in New Orleans. He was also organist for six of these years at the Touro Synagogue in that city, held the position of supervisor of music at Isidore Newman Training School, and was founder of the New Orleans Choral Symphony Society and the New Orleans Apollo Club. Mr. Dunkley is a native of London, England.
50The Wagner class (!) at the Vienna Conservatory will be under the direction of Hermann Winkelmann.
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