Scan 7
Musical Courier 1910-03-02: Vol 60 Iss 9, 1910
15 lines. Read by computer on 26 September 2026. Printed page 8. See the scan on archive.org.
1THE MUSICAL COURIER
3OLGA STEEB,
4Pianist from Los Angeles.
6In concert work it does not pay to be an imitator, as has been demonstrated over and over again. There was a striking illustration of this truth at the Singakademie on Thursday evening, when Marie Soldat-Roeger gave a concert with the assistance of the Philharmonic Orchestra. Madame Soldat-Roeger and Gabrielle Wietrowetz have always been considered the two greatest women pupils of Joseph Joachim, whose style and objectivity they both imitate to a minute degree. It is sad, but true, that both ladies are signal failures as solo performers. Fr. Wietrowetz, because of lack of recognition, has almost entirely given up solo playing, and a like fate seems to be rapidly overtaking her colleague. Madame Soldat-Roeger's program on Thursday evening was precisely what would have been expected of a violinist trained at the Hochschule under Joachim; that is to say, it was severely classical and comprised the Brahms and Beethoven concertos, and four movements from Bach's E major suite for violin alone. I wandered to the Singakademie that evening with very vivid recollections of the strong impression of this artist's performance of the Brahms concerto made on me some ten years ago. Even then her playing lacked temperament and individuality, but it was masterly, if cold. It was difficult to realize on hearing her again that it was the same violinist. In the first place, the old mastery is gone; her technic is no longer sure, her intonation is often faulty and her tone is harsh and dry. She has cultivated the objective viewpoint so long and has so systematically denied all emotional impulses that her playing seemed utterly sapped; it was brittle, like dry wood. Of temperament and warmth there was not a trace, and as she abstains from the vibrato practically all of the time, her tone was wholly devoid of life and vitality. Never have I heard at the hands of a violinist of repute the allegretto of the Beethoven concerto sound so dull, so dead, so utterly devoid of interest. Madame Soldat-Roeger has so blindly followed the teachings of Joachim and put the composition only in the foreground and subjugated her own nature so long and so thoroughly that it has become a fixed habit; she now seems incapable of any real impulse. It is musical asceticism. Where the virtue of such a proceeding comes in, I fail to see. I would as soon listen to a musical automaton. Why kill temperament, why kill individuality, why abstain from the vibrato, which lends charm, quality and carrying power to the tone? Why eschew all these things that appeal to the public and make for success of the concert performer? Where is the reward? Madame Soldat-Roeger's success was very meagre this time. Joachim was a great artist and a man of such overpowering personality that he maintained himself at the top of his profession throughout his remarkably long and active life, but as a teacher of solo playing I maintain that he was a false prophet and it is only those Joachim pupils that refused to have their individuality killed and their temperament deadened, who have succeeded. Those who followed him blindly are out of it, so far as success on the concert platform is concerned.
8Olga Steeb, the young American girl from Los Angeles, is rapidly coming to the fore and gaining recognition as a pianistic genius of the first rank; such authorities as Otto Neitzel and Fritz Steinbach have proclaimed her as such. I heard only the first half of her first recital, given here before Christmas, so I was glad to hear her again in a complete program of two hours' duration. There can be no doubt that the young lady possesses pianistic gifts of a very extraordinary nature. The delicacy, crispness, fleetness and certainty of her finger technic in all kinds of difficult passages and filagree work reminded one very much of Godowsky. Very remarkable, too, is her chord playing; she produces massive, ringing chords with a virility of tone production that belies her age. Like Busoni, she shows a special predilection for Bach and Liszt; her playing of the Bach A minor fugue was remarkable for lucidity and for mental grasp. On the other hand, her rendering of Chopin waltzes and etudes was highly commendable. A certain naive charm of conception was very winning and the exquisite finish of everything pertaining to the mechanical was thoroughly delightful. The young lady has a very superior musical intellect, as was revealed by her reading of a MacDowell sonata, which she played with a noteworthy depth of understanding. In fact, her playing throughout the program was characterized by a great deal more abandon than she displayed on the occasion of her debut here. Then she seemed to be holding back by main force; this time she gave free rein to her feelings and showed that she has real emotion. The Liszt arrangement of Mendelssohn's "Midsummer Night's Dream" music suits Miss Steeb to perfection; it would hardly be possible to play the scherzo of this with greater deftness, clearness and brilliancy. All in all, it was a very interesting and convincing exposition of piano playing and Olga Steeb undoubtedly is a name that will often be heard in the musical world in time to come.
10At the eighth Nikisch Philharmonic concert on Monday evening, a violinist of a very different style and school was heard. This was Stef Geyer, a Hungarian miss of about twenty summers, who played the Jacques Dalcroze concerto. Miss Geyer has that which I so much missed in Madame Soldat-Roeger—individuality. She also has warmth and an appealing, emotional tone that goes to the heart. Her technical command of the violin is also admirable. We have in this young lady an excellent combination of beautiful, soulful cantilena and technical mastery. I have heard her on former occasions in numerous other works which better displayed her virtuosity; in the Vieuxtemps E major concerto, for instance, she played with bravura and an astonishing staccato in the finale. She is one of the most interesting personalities among violinists of the fair sex. The orchestral numbers of the program were Schubert's "Rosamund" overture, Bruckner's ninth symphony and Bülow's arrangement of the Liszt first rhapsody. I do not suppose there is another living conductor who can interpret the Liszt rhapsody in such a wonderful manner as Nikisch; he is a Hungarian himself, but he has all the finesse of a Frenchman and all the barbaric abandon of a Cossack, when the composition requires it. The audience seemed bored with the Bruckner symphony, which, indeed, is a complex Chinese toy to all but the initiated.
12There was a premiere at the Volksoper again on Wednesday evening. Director Alfieri deserves a great deal of credit for introducing to us so many new works and also so many old, half forgotten operas during this, his first season. It was a one act music drama entitled "Ahasver," by Fritz Ritter, that was presented on Wednesday evening. The libretto is by Paul Rache and is taken from the play of the same name by Hermann Heijermans, a successful Dutch playwright who lives in Berlin. The novelty met with an emphatic success, but this was due more to the subject and the clever way it was acted than to the music. It is a very realistic tragedy and deals with an episode of the recent persecution of the Jews in Russia. Karalik, a poverty stricken old Jew, living with his wife Lubascha in a wretched hovel, is bemoaning the supposed fate of his son, Petruschka, who has been absent from home for three days. The father suspects ill treatment at the hands of the authorities. He and his family have been for years persecuted because of their religion, and his father had been killed and his mother had had her tongue cut out and her eyes put out, because they refused to be baptized. In the absence of the father the son returns home and confesses to his mother that he had become baptized in order to save his life. She is horrified and is about to drive him out into the night, when the father comes in; as the old man is a far greater fanatic than the mother, neither dares tell him what has happened. But when Cossacks appear and drive the father and mother out of the village, because they cannot produce papers to prove that they have permission to live in the village as Jews, the old man, in surprise that the son is not compelled to go with them, asks the reason. When the leader informs him that the boy can remain because he has embraced the Christian faith, Karalik falls into a paroxysm of rage and curses his son, his son's children and their children's children, for all time to come. The old couple leave the hovel, and the boy falls prostrate in front of his blind grandmother. It is a grewsome subject, but it is intensely dramatic and very effective. Julius Rünger, baritone, was magnificent as Karalik and Rosa Sachse-Friedel, alto, gave an admirable delineation of his wife. Franz Zornitz, tenor, was also very acceptable. Ritter's music lacks originality. He adheres to the declamatory style of singing, but his treatment of the orchestra is more like that of the new Neo-Italian school. There is an abundance of melody in the orchestra, but one misses the individual form of speech. Following the novelty came a very commendable performance of the "Daughter of the Regiment." Else Theile as Marie revealed a sweet voice and excellent schooling; Carl Fischotter as Sulpiz, Siegward Rolf as Tonio and Elizabeth Kempner as Marchesa were also excellent.
14Arrigo Serato, the well known Italian violinist, scored a big success at the Singakademie last Saturday evening.
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